For Christmas Aunt Cindy bought the kids a pirate book (with sing-a-long CD) and a CD with various pirate stories and songs.
Innocently enough this weekend as we drove in the car I said "Hey do you want to listen to the pirate CD?" Big mistake. After that it was all over. We have been listening to those CDs non-stop for the last two days. We spent all morning playing pirates. The kids climbed into their ship (formerly known as the daybed) and set sail. They happily threw their stuffed animals off and cried out "Man Overboard." Then poor Guinness and Cooper made the unfortunate choice of coming upstairs to see what we were up to. Well, they couldn't drown in the ocean (formerly known as the floor) and so up onto the ship they went to become unwilling crew.
After a little while it was unacceptable that their ship had no flag so they sailed into port for a little R&R and craft time and they each made their own Jolly Roger.
Thankfully after that it was lunch and then nap so I have gotten a little pirate break but I have a feeling we will be hitting the high seas this afternoon. Arghhhhmaties.
For Christmas I got a new camera (thanks Nini and Dede) which I have been happily snapping away on since Christmas morning. What is even better is that this camera also has a built in video recorder too. My old camera did as well but the resolution left a little bit to be desired so I never used it all that much but this one takes really good videos. What a better way to break it in than to video the kids first skating trip - which I did and got lots of pics and little videos of them skating.
Here's the rub. On my old camera you could take video either way - portrait or landscape and then Raif had a nifty program to flip it on our computer. Well so such luck with this camera - Raif tried for several hours last night to no avail. Of course I took ALL of our videos portrait - which means they are all on their sides (sigh). I know how much Grandma is eagerly waiting for the videos so I am posting them anyway (along with some regular pics). So sit back, cock your head to one side and enjoy.
So another Christmas has come and gone and as usual it went faster than expected - there are still Christmas crafts yet to be done and Christmas cookies yet to be baked. Oh well - maybe next year.
I wish I could post pictures of my children opening their presents but as usual I got caught up in the moment - I had the video recorder and camera standing by and not a picture was taken. Oh well - maybe next year.
The highlights of the day were as follows - big girl bike for Quinn, hockey skates for Greyson, a new camera for me and Vibram Five Fingers for Raif. And both kids loved the little kid camera from Aunt Susie. Last I looked they had taken a little over 200 photos - of everything. I even caught Greyson opening the fridge to take a picture of the inside. At least we have some photos of the day!
So I have a confession to make..... Before today I had never been to the Nutcracker. The two major metropolitan areas I lived in growing up really didn't support a ballet so I never saw it as a child and when I was an adult there was always too much to do around the holidays to fit it in.
But once I became a mother I really wanted my children to experience it so this year I bought our first Nutcracker tickets. After I bought them I wondered how the kids would react to two hours of an event where nary a single person spoke. I thought it might be helpful to them to know the story beforehand so last month I went out and bought an abridged children's version of the Nutcracker. For the last week or so we have been reading it and discussing it and we were all set. Then on Friday I was talking with a friend of mine at Greyson and Quinn's school: Anna Claire told me how much she loved seeing the Nutcracker as a child and always left the ballet dancing around like Clara all the way home. Clara??? Who is Clara?? The child in story of the Nutcracker is Marie. The only mention of Clara in the story we read is a one line mention of Marie's favorite doll. So I went on-line and did some research. The original story of the Nutcracker has little to do with the actual ballet. The Nutcracker ballet only encompasses pretty much the prologue of the story that we read. How the Nutcracker becomes the Nutcracker - how he breaks the spell of the Mice Queen to free Princess Pirlipat and then how he himself falls in love with Marie completely excluded from the ballet. The story that I drilled into my kids head for the last week in anticipation of the ballet - totally irrelevant from the ballet's perspective. To make matters worse I learned as we walked in tonight that the Nashville ballet does its own interpretation of the Nutcracker based on the city. Arghhh I thought - were the kids going to be confused and was this going to be a complete cluster???
As usual my fears were unfounded - from the moment the curtain went up they were enchanted. Greyson sat wide eyed at all the magic that appeared before him. Quinn laughed and giggled all the way though it telling me about a thousand times that this was so silly. I did feel a bit sorry for those sitting around Greyson as he asked Raif a million questions about everything that was going on including my favorite "Why isn't the Nutcracker wearing any pants?" Greyson loved it so much that when the lights went up at intermission he got misty eyed and asked "It isn't over is it?"
My roommate in college's family always had the perfect tree - literally. Every year Steph's mom hired a decorator who decided on a theme and decorated the whole house accordingly. The tree was always massive, perfectly cylindrical and had those gossamer ribbons flowing down it like you see in museums and high end department stores. The ornaments were perfectly and evenly placed and always coordinated. Everything was perfect.
When I got my first job and apartment I thought about that tree as I decorated for my very first Christmas. I went out and tried to buy matching ornaments and tried desperately to create a 'theme' on my shoe-string budget. What I ended up with was a tree with a lot of balls on it.
Over the years, like most people, I have bought ornaments here and there when on vacation or out and about. I have started collecting my picture ornaments too and my mother has sent the kids an ornament every year for Christmas. Slowly we have built up a decent collection of them.
Last night as I was finishing my hot cocoa I stared at our tree and realized that my definition of perfect has changed a lot because what I used to think was perfect was in fact the furthest thing from it. What I took for perfect was actually a cold, expensive imitation.
Our tree isn't cylindrical and there is a nice hole on one side but it is the one we as a family picked out and cut. Our ornaments don't match but are a patchwork of our lives and adventures over the past decade. And those ornaments certainly aren't symmetrical but rather placed on the tree by giddy children who only wanted their ornaments to be next to each other so they wouldn't get lonely. Honestly, this tree is the complete antithesis of what I used to think perfect was. But now I realize that Christmas perfection isn't seen through the eye but felt through the heart.
Realistically, this is probably my fault. I am big on Christmas - really big and so by virtue of being around me a lot the kids are big on Christmas too. We listen to the Christmas channel in the car coming and going to school and they can sing all sorts of Christmas carols (including the little diddy intro for Holiday Traditions on Sirius). All the books we are reading these days are Christmas related and all are craft projects are Christmas-y too. So it really should come as no surprise that my son has started to pretend that he, himself, is Santa Claus.
He has his own sleigh (his wooden push bike) and his own reindeer (imaginary) and even his own hat. He spends the afternoons collecting toys in his sleigh (he has put a basket on the back of his bike to store them in) and delivering them to good boys and girls or placing them under the tree. Here is where it gets a little sticky. His 'toys' consist of mostly his actual toys however he has also started putting other household items in his sleigh too - like the remote or various cooking utensils he has swiped from the kitchen. So in the midst of cooking dinner I find myself without a needed measuring spoon or a ladle. Attempting to get these items is quite tricky because either a) I get yelled at for stealing them from under the tree because it isn't Christmas yet or b) I have to go into a lengthy diatribe of why I have been good this year and why I deserve said toy as I smell my chicken burning in the kitchen. And he is quite a strict Santa Claus and just doesn't give toys out to everyone - he has got some standards. So at times I am left with making do with what is left and hiding needed items before Santa gets home from school.
Here's hoping that your house is as filled with Christmas as ours!!
Most everyone who reads this knows my love of cooking....Well realistically it is the love of eating well but in order to do that I have to cook - but I digress.
This year I started to do some baking (breads, pastries etc) but my attempts were somewhat restrained by the fact that I did not have a stand mixer. Santa read my wish list and brought me one. OK, it was actually my parents and in the theme of "Christmas Day/ presents are really only important for the grandkids" the box came with them at Thanksgiving...unwrapped.
Even though it technically isn't Christmas yet I busted it out and made some rosemary focaccia yesterday morning and it turned out yummy. Yay me. I am excited for my new kitchen gadget so you may be seeing some more food posts over the next few weeks.
Today was a warm day and so the kids and I went outside to burn off some much needed energy.
Greyson wanted to play football. "Playing football" in our house is a big ordeal. Before you can actually play you have to announce the players - which is Greyson running from the side of our house while the fans (ie Quinn and I) cheer loudly and yell "Go Titans". Normally after this we run all around the yard and fall down and tackle at various times based on Greyson's commands. Today however he added a new twist after the players were announced...
"OK, Mommy you have to be the singing lady, now."
"The singing lady???"
"Yes, the lady that sings before the games. The singing lady"
(The light bulb goes off). "Oh, you want me to sing the National Anthem?"
"No Mommy I don't like that song. You should sing Frosty instead."
This weekend each member of the Erim family painted their own interpretation of Ole St. Nick. I will leave it up to you to figure out who painted who....
So some of you know the whole story and some of you know some and some of you know none of what happened last Wednesday so I will try to be brief but get it all down.
It started out like any typical day - Greyson was a bit clingy but I attributed that to the fact that Raif was out of town. I asked him if he felt OK and he said he felt fine so off we went to school. I got a call about 10:30 that he was running a fever and to come get him. I arrived at school, picked him up (literally and figuratively) and walked outside to put him in the car. He was in my arms as I was putting him in the car seat when I felt something warm run down my chest - he had peed on me then he arched his back, his eyes rolled back into his head and he began to have a seizure.
I ran back into school and screamed for help. Greyson's and Quinn's preschool is an integrated school - both typically developing and special needs children attend - so the staff has dealt with their fair share of seizures and it showed. Mr. Shaune grabbed Greyson put him on the ground, rolled him on his side, cleared his throat in a matter of seconds. They called 911 and swept a poor confused and scared Quinn back into her classroom. They were incredible. I was a terrified mess. Minutes later, with a still seizing Greyson, the ambulance arrived and off Greyson and I went on our second ambulance ride of our 4 years together.
To complicate matters even further my darling husband was in Tyler TX giving a final presentation of a project he had been working on for 5 months. I was on the phone with him telling him what was going on. I don't know who had it worse - me being there and watching it all happen or Raif being 500 miles away and completely helpless.
By the time we got to the hospital Greyson had stopped seizing but was still unconscious for another good 30 minutes. It took another hour before he would respond and sometime after that before he spoke but slowly my little boy came back to me and the first time he said "Mommy" I wept like a baby.
The doctors think he had a febrile seizure which is a seizure brought on by a rapid rise in temperature. It is apparently somewhat common in children - about 1 in 25 get them. In the medical community they are really non-events. The ER doctor told us that if he has another one that we shouldn't even call 911 unless it lasts more than 5 minutes (yeah right). Apparently they have no lasting effects and most of the time only occur once (only 10% of children who have one have another) and kids usually grow out of them by the time they are 5 or 6.
He has no memory of what happened and the only injury sustained was that he bit through the side of his tongue and that is pretty sore. Otherwise he is no worse for wear. I think the seizure did more damage to me than him.
We went to get him checked out by his pediatrician yesterday who gave him a clean bill of health. Due to his past history however, on a precautionary note, his doctor has ordered an EEG. The best part of this is that it is a sleep deprived EEG. The night before the test we are only allowed to let him sleep 4 hours. How the hell I am going to keep a boy that sleeps a good solid 12 hours a night up for 8 of those is beyond me.
So there you have it - another chapter in the life of Greyson. Oh the stories I have to tell him when he finally has children.
This afternoon Greyson insisted on wearing his elephant costume to do our holiday craft of making snowmen. Because nothing says Christmastime like a pachyderm.
Last weekend when the tree and all the decorations went up the house was teeming with activity and chaos. After all the decorations were hung on house and tree, Raif and I gave each other a high five and collapsed into the couch. A successful Christmas launch without a single disaster.
It wasn't until a day or so later my Mom was cleaning up around the tree and asked the simple question "Did you ever water the tree?" Hmmmm, I didn't but I am sure that my husband did and so I checked. Fuck. The tree was bone dry. After interrogating the whole family I realized that no one had watered the tree. Double fuck. I went online and read that a tree needs water within a few hours of cutting otherwise it develops a layer of sap on the bottom that water cannot penetrate. Considering the tree had gone without water for like 36 hours I was pretty certain that if that sap layer was going to form it was already there. But Raif and I took the positive outlook approach and watered it anyway. Surely the water level would go down and so we waited and waited. It was akin to sitting in the ICU to see whether someone was going to live or die. Every once in awhile we uttered "Check to see if it has gone down." And so we would do our precise measuring of putting our fingers in and attempting to remember how high the water was the last time. "Oh, I think it has gone down a little" we would say but after 24 hours even we realized that the tree was about to be moved from the ICU to the morgue.
So what do we do? Our first instinct was to do nothing and see if it would last until December 26th but then the thought of having a brown tree Christmas morning left a little something to be desired. The kids would notice a new tree, so that was out. So our only option was to cut the bottom of this one off.
Now how do we manage that? The easy solution was to take the ornaments off the tree, cut it and redecorate. Normally that would have worked but my children, particularly Greyson, have become very fond of their ornaments. Every afternoon after school he heads straight to that tree and points to each and every ornament he put up and tells me that he put it up and some story about it. "Mommy, do you see my Choo-choo ornament? It's on its way to Kansas."
Clearly, I would never remember where every ornament was, I can barely remember what I had for breakfast. And so we took a great leap of faith....
I took the most fragile ornaments off - the ones that Raif and I had put on. We took all the dog beds from around the house and circled the tree with them. And then with ornaments on, I lifted the tree out of the stand and my darling husband hacked the bottom of it off with his saw. My shoulders ached from holding that 7 foot tree up. My backed burned from the incessant vibrations from that saw and I sweated profusely over the thought of any of my children's precious ornaments breaking.
Believe it or not, we actually did it. The tree was cut and put back in place without even a minor incident (well except for the large amounts of sap that ended up on Raif. He still smells piney fresh) and the children are none the wiser. The tree started sucking up water like there was no tomorrow and was moved out of the ICU.
Now lets hope we can remember to water it for the next 3 weeks. Perhaps we should have gotten the fake tree.....
For our first Christmas with Greyson (right after we brought him home from the hospital) Raif gave me a beautiful set of picture ornaments with his picture in them. I have kept up the tradition and each year have gotten an ornament for each child and put my favorite picture of them from the year in it. When I am old and grey I hope that I have a tree filled with these memories.....
Normally, I am not a fan of putting up Christmas, Thanksgiving weekend. I have never really understood people who are decorating for Christmas before they have finished their last bite of turkey. It seems to me that Thanksgiving always gets the shaft, as far as holidays go. However, this year my parents were in town for Thanksgiving but won't be here for Christmas so I thought they might enjoy getting the tree and at least spending some of the Christmas season with the kids so off we went the Sunday after Turkey Day to our local Christmas Tree farm...
This is the first year that the kids have hung most of the ornaments and admittedly it was a bit nerve wracking watching them try to put our nice, shiny, highly breakable ornaments on the tree. But we survived relatively unscathed - thankfully the only ornaments that were dropped were made of wood. Christmas here we come...
Saturday we took the kids to the Nashville Children's Theatre to see the play (you guessed it) - Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. With two dressed up young 'uns we decided to break out the camera and take some pictures. Here are some of my favorites.
When you here horror stories about kids and the toilet you always hear about 2 year olds destroying the plumbing so I figured that with a 3 year old and a 4 year old I had passed that stage. I was wrong.
Last week after Greyson seemed to be taking forever in the bathroom I went to check on him and found the majority of his hand down in the toilet. When I asked him what he was doing he told me he wanted to know where his poop went. I explained where it went and then attempted to emphasize the importance of not putting body parts into the toilet. And I think I got through to him - sort of. I guess I forgot to mention the part about not putting anything in the toilet except poop and pee. Fast forward to Thanksgiving night...
About an hour before dinner we heard a blood curdling cry from Greyson. Apparently he decided to put the remote to his plane down the toilet and flush it. We don't know whether this was on accident or on purpose but whatever the intent the result was the same. Adios remote. Greyson was hysterical; Raif was furious. So for the next hour Raif juggled fixing Thanksgiving dinner and attempting to take a toilet apart. He continued that fun project after dinner and well into the night. After a couple hours of manual labor and a whole lot of cursing he didn't find a trace of that remote. Gone, gone gone.
We have a septic system in our house and so are a wee bit terrified that this thing has gotten caught somewhere in the system and that pretty soon it is going to start backing up. The remote was actually a sizeable chunk of plastic and neither of us quite understand how it actually got out of the toilet. I guess only time will tell whether we will need a visit from the plumber. Here's hoping for a little Christmas miracle....
Ironically, the only place we didn't have turkey was on our dinner plate.
We had a scrumptious dinner consisting of lobster stuffed cucumber cups, 5 powder roasted guinea fowl, potato gratin, glazed carrots, prosciutto wrapped asparagus bundles, and homemade bread. Greyson and Quinn were in charge of dessert and made us sugar cookies and from scratch chocolate pudding with real whipped cream. I am so happy that they love to cook with us and am excited that as they get older they will continue to have more involvement in our holiday feasts. And I couldn't have been happier when Greyson said his favorite part of Thanksgiving was the lobster. That's my boy.
Hope everyone else had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we did.
A sunny, brisk autumn morning where the mercury has barely hit 50 degrees - whatever should we do?
Ah yes, the obvious - bring out the hose and pour some freezing water into our trikes mix with mud and leaves (using our hands of course) to make 'apple pie' for Thanksgiving dinner.
As Thanksgiving is upon us it is time to reflect on what we are thankful for and one of the things I am most thankful for are my friends so this one is for all of you.....
Friendship is like wetting your pants - everyone can see it but only YOU can feel its true warmth.
I know it is a bit early to be writing you, seeing as how Thanksgiving is two days away, but considering we saw you at the mall this last weekend I guess you are getting a head start on the holidays so I thought I would too.
Speaking of seeing you at the mall, I first want to apologize for the fact that my children are still terrified of you. They really do like you - just as long as you stay at the North Pole or don't come within 100 feet of them. Don't worry they will be asleep when you come Christmas Eve as I am sure you don't want to hear those ear piercing shrieks of terror again.
But on to my list. I have only a couple of things I want this year and this long notice surely will give you plenty of time to put them under my tree.
I am sure (since you are Santa Claus after all) remember how for Christmas in 2004 I splurged on those really expensive jeans that made my ass look like a super model's. Then remember two short months later I got pregnant? Well I have worked so hard to lose all that baby weight but somewhere between giving birth to 2 kids within 15 months of each other and 4 years of motherhood my hips seemed to have widened a bit. The hip widening was a bit unneccesary considering I never actually used said birthing hips to actually give birth so I was hoping that you could find a way to sort of move them back to their original state. I wore those jeans like 5 times (I really don't want to do the math on the per wear use) and I REALLY want to wear them again. I can't bare to actually get rid of them and they are taking up valuable drawer space so if you could just fit me in them again that would be wonderful.
In a similar vein I would like you to make pizza and ice cream fat free.
I would also like one, just one, night where I sleep 8 consecutive hours in a row without being woken up by a snoring husband, a child's nightmare or insanely loud trip to the bathroom, a dog deciding my head makes a good pillow or a personal trip to the bathroom (a remnant of pregnancy that really needs to go away now).
Finally, I would like my memory back. I seem to have misplaced it and can't remember (ha) where I put it. I don't need to have a Rain Man memory but just enough so I avoid spending 4 hours tearing my house apart looking for my son's mittens only to discover that I sent them with him to school in his backpack. I want to remember where I put my cell phone and my keys on a daily basis. (I am embarrassed each month to look at my phone bill and see how many times I have actually called my cell to find it.) And I want to remember, someone's anyone's, name at school instead of constantly referring to people as "Anna's Mom" or "Finn's Dad" - it sort of makes me look like a tool.
Thanks Santa - can't wait for all my wonderful presents and I will leave you some cookies and liquor by the chimney - that is, if I remember.
And Dancer and all of the rest of them but I bet you haven't heard of these two...
Yesterday afternoon Greyson found an old stick in the yard - well at least to me it was, to him it was a pair of reindeer antlers. As the sun set I tried to herd these reindeer in the house with little success. They both danced around the deck taking turns being the reindeer.
It is Thanksgiving time and what am I thankful for....that no one poked their eye out last night.
At dinner last night we were discussing our days and Greyson was telling us how he was chosen as Teacher's Assistant for the week (a very big deal). He also, with a sly smile, was telling us that Frances was Teacher's Assistant with him. I asked Greyson is Frances was his new girlfriend (if you remember last year Olivia was the love of his life). He said yes then he said "I am going to tell Frances that, but not Olivia." That's my boy - always keeping several pokers in the fire.
Ever since last year's soccer fiasco (as noted here, here and here) Raif and I have been debating if and when to try organized sports again. While we were at dinner tonight I got an e-mail from the soccer league that spring soccer registration was upon us. I decided to gauge Greyson's interest and so I asked "Hey Greyson do you want to play soccer again this spring?" Before Greyson could reply Quinn piped in with "Are you actually going to kick the ball this time?" (Actually - that was my question too.)
Spend any amount of time with Raif and I and you will soon learn that we love good food (and wine). We love to eat good food and we love to cook it as well. I dare say it is one of our passions.
So you can imagine our delight that our children have come to appreciate good food as well. They eat fish, shellfish, all manners of meats, pastas and veggies. While most 3 and 4 year olds tend to stick to plain flavors our children enjoy complex dishes like Beef Wellington and stuffed chicken wrapped in prosciutto.
And recently, along with their interest in eating well they have also taken in interest in cooking. Over the last couple of weeks they have started helping me cook every night. Though sometimes I will say it is a challenge to find something for them to help with I do enjoy their enthusiasm. They help make the salads almost every night and make pancakes now every weekend morning. They have also made pesto and helped to stuff and wrap those above mentioned chickens. They are learning simple cooking techniques and phrases and rapidly becoming budding chefs. Hmmm - I wonder if their college plan covers Le Cordon Bleu?
A friend of mine from Atlanta, Eunice, has started her own girl's clothing line called Loblolly Lane. When I say started - I mean she quit her consulting job and is full time running a clothing company out of her basement and upstairs closet. I have so much respect for her for taking a chance like that. Mad props to you Eunice. Besides having tons of guts, Eunice also makes some adorable and affordable clothes. She has tons of fabrics that you can custom order or have her choose the combos for you. The last time we were in Atlanta Quinn got her custom fitting and got to choose her own fabrics (with a little direction from Eunice). We got her dress and she LOVES it. It is always the first thing out of the closet after laundry day. She put it on this morning and said "Mommy I just look gorgeous in this." As you can see, she does....
So for all you Moms out there with little girls check out Loblolly Lane...It is definitely worth it.
Quinn's cottage
Greyson's Chateau
