Our friends gifted us this homemade cocoa kit in a cute fabric-covered box, which we will re-use again and again around the holidays. As soon as I brought it home I placed each of the items ~ chocolate-dipped spoons, sprinkle-covered candy canes, wafers ~ on my kitchen cake stand. Buby and Bleu stared at it all day yesterday. I like to torture them like that. Tonight we'll take our first taste.
Pictured: Grace, Gilly, Alana, Jon, Bleu, Natalie, Allison + Buby.Not pictured: Me, Tom, Eric, Oliver, Benji + Claire.We spent most of Saturday at a friend's house. There was crafting and eating and talking and playing, and a little storybook reading, too. The five older children made darling love cottages and devoured a vast array of comfort foods {a la Allison, Alana + Tom}. Think two chili recipes, corn bread, Ina's mac and cheese, guacamole, cannolies, etc. It was wonderful.
My favorite parts of the day were catching up with my girlfriends and their hubbies, watching Benji and Claire toddle around on their own, seeing Buby so eager to pass out his little gifts, and spying on Bleu and Natalie playing piano downstairs. We all shared a good bit of laughter, and then we realized it was our first gathering ~ in a very long time ~ where nobody was pregnant. That we know... hee hee.
How a two year old envisions a gingerbread love cottage.
Twenty inches of snow fell overnight in the city. This is the view from My Sweets' office above Bryant Park.
Happy weekend, everyone! Tomorrow we are off to party with some of our favorite friends. Sunday we roll out V-Day preparations here at home.
In the car today. Immediately...
After picking up Buby from school.
After pulling into a snow-filled parking lot.
After divvying up snack.
After helping Buby out of his wet snowsuit.
After listening to an excited play-by-play of the last 5 hours.
After nursing on one side.
After singing "Powder Blue" with my Bleu Bird.
After changing a blow-out {and I don't mean the tire} on my lap.
After nursing on the other side.
After burping.
After spitting up.
After another wardrobe change in the front seat.
This is Friday's Face.
Buby calls it "scribble scrabble." He does it throughout the day on whatever paper scraps, napkins, junk mail he can find. Some days he runs into my car at 2:15 shouting, "Look what I made for you, Mommy!" It's never the project he did at school... it's the doodle he did between projects. Even on a torn corner of recycled paper he takes great pride.
I've learned to ask WHAT the picture is. Never assume. He names them all.
This one is named "A cat chasing a family of ants."
January 28, 2006. Back then it was just me and this here fella.
{Looks like Oliver with blue eyes, right?}
I may regret this in the not so distant future, but on our last snow day I introduced Buby and Bleu to the art of pillow fighting. I told you... cabin fever. I had just moved Ollie upstairs for a nap, so it was just the three of us. We'd done handstands and wheelbarrows and horsey races. The kids still had energy to burn.
So I pulled them in close like I had a top secret to share and whispered the "rules" of a new game. Their eyes got wider than the sky. I handed them each a super thin felt pillow and said, "Remember, nothing above the shoulders." They looked at me like I was a crazy. Perhaps. But for a moment I was the coolest person alive, and I needed that.
We all chanted "3-2-1 GO!" while squeals of joy rang through the neighborhood. Two minutes in Bleu stopped and asked, "Mom, can you take our picture and email it to Daddy?" Ha. {When I was her age there was no such thing as email, text, digital SLRs or portable cell phones. I'm so old.} The whole shindig lasted five minutes. Fun fun.
It must be said that when Buby and Bleu are excited and engaged they work so well together. They support one another, exchange ideas and thrive on each other's general awesomeness. Just the other day I heard Buby say to his sister, "Oh yes. There you go, Nola. You are fabulous." She returned the compliment with, "Oh Gavy. You're so sweet." For reals. I don't make this stuff up.
When they verge on bored they fight. Bleu playfully nit picks and bosses until Buby reaches his limit. Eventually Mt. Vesuvius erupts. Bleu cries. It's a mess. Keeping them engaged on snow days is key.
"I have a dream. I am going to be a construction worker when I grow up. I will make the world a better place by building bigger houses for people who need bigger houses." That's the speech Buby wrote after studying Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in class last week.
Ever since Buby was a wee babe we've been thanking God at bedtime for a house to live in, a bed to sleep in, food to eat and clothes to wear. Among other things. He is well aware of our blessings and good fortune. But still I think the idea of someone not having ANY house to live in ~ being homeless ~ is too much for a five year old like Buby to wrap his head around. Instead, he will build "bigger houses" for those people.
Speaking of... over the weekend Buby invited My Sweets to build a castle with him. He begged and pleaded for parent participation and then masterminded the placement of every block. "No. Here. Not there. This way. I'll do it, Dad. Thanks though." He had a vision, as usual, and insisted on creative control. That's when I explained about architects...
Whenever I prep Oliver for his daily exercises {tummy time, sit-ups, bicycle} his brother and sister rush to the scene to participate. And by participate I don't mean assist Ollie. I mean they lay out their own carefully selected blankies on either side and pretend to be three months old again. It's quite hilarious, so I play along.
Happy 3 months, my love.
"My whole life all I wanted to do was fly."
Even on a playroom floor surrounded by siblings. Doesn't he look so peaceful?
I saw this on stephmodo this morning. I'd like it poster size and framed, please.
Such a great reminder to LIVE and LOVE each day.
Ollie Bear would like to book a Daddy Date for Saturday. Right here.
By the way it's been a strange week. Monday was a holiday. Tuesday a snow day. Wednesday a two-hour delay {and Bleu missed gym}. Thursday our only normal day. Today another snow day {and Bleu missed makeup gym}. It's been a stormy January in the Northeast. Buby's school is in a mountainous region, so closures due to ice are common.
Not that I'm complaining. I'm all sneezy today, so a pajama party and no driving sounds just right. Until cabin fever sets in, that is. Oh that cabin fever. It gets us every time.
On Tuesday we baked cookies for a sick friend, played a ton, cooked together, and cleaned house. On the agenda for today: Build a campfire out of standard unit blocks, construct real "flying wings" out of paper, yarn and a hole punch, finish five jumbo floor puzzles, fold at least two paper airplanes, read a whole lot of books, race across the {clean!} playroom in our potato sacks, dance off to Single Ladies, try to make Ollie giggle himself silly, and "skip count" from 1 to 100 by 3s.
I need to carve out a smidgen of time while nursing to deal with health insurance claims, flex spending receipts, Bleu's preschool application, laundry, dirty bathrooms, and a 46-page parent handbook. And the children are just begging for a nature hike down to the bakery. Bien sure.
Happy snow day. Happy weekend.
