Sick. Sick. Sick.

Our holiday was turned upside down, almost from the moment school ended.  Bummer.  Three out of the four residents of our house became violently ill just before, during, and after the holiday.   The fourth resident, for the record who shall remain nameless, was extremely cranky, difficult and out of sorts.  Not exactly helping the already difficult situation. 

So our Christmas stunk.  We barely acknowledged it.  If it weren't for that damn fat man in a red suit and his schedule, we may have postponed the entire holiday. 

But when you have an advent calendar and a Christmas chain, you can't really tell the ninos, "Don't worry, Santa will come tomorrow, I promise."  Instead you muddle through.  Some call it hell.  

At least...the sickness (for me) hit just as I finished preparation.  Thank goodness.  It would have been worse to not be done...and helpless.  Last year we almost lost the gifts to the Great Flood of 2013.  There is always reason to be thankful.

Dyleva was very excited about their gifts.  Eva, when she was able, stumbled to the tree and yelled, "There's 100 presents under the tree!!!"  Dylan's first reaction was "Wow!!!"

So for me, still recovering, I am trying to find the good, out of this five day awful ordeal.  In the end I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas, (just under the absolute worst circumstances), open ended time with my family.   

Here are some photos of having fun-preparing for Christmas, before the great epidemic.

Eva's letter to Santa

Hide and Go Seek during tree selection

Olaf

No!  I'm Olaf!





Eva's Christmas tree for her dollhouse

Presents for classmates

Hard at work

My little musician

Caroling bus

Christmas Morning.  I would like to point out
that this area was surrounded by dry-heaving
individuals.

Thank you Tia Linda.

Digger man

 

Coal

So the ninos and I were watching video messages that Santa had sent to them.  At the end, they either light up red, for "naughty," or green, for "good."

Dylan was in a mood, and said he didn't care what color he was, because he didn't want any presents.

Well this comment clearly was unacceptable to his sister.

"Dylan, you better care.  Because do you know what you get if you don't get presents?  Coal.  And then your hands will get all dirty, and you don't want that.  I wouldn't appreciate it.  I wouldn't appreciate getting coal," she explained very passionately. 

"Eva," I asked, "What is coal?"  Wondering where she has heard this from.

"It's a dirty rock Mommy.  I wouldn't appreciate getting it.  Dylan, you want green so you don't get coal."

Dylan still looked as if he didn't care. 

Gingerbread Houses

Every year a tradition in our house is to create gingerbread houses. 


It is like a two week open-ended project.  They sit at the end of our dining room tables like shrines to the holiday. 

Dylan comes home from school, picks a few dulces off, adds some more, we are good for the day. 


This year Eva was excited because she was able to add the Enano to the house.  Dylan created a gingerbread choo-choo. 


I help them with the initial structure, but the frosting seals them almost immediately.  the ninos are on their own after that.  They frost and decorate away. 


It is a daily work in progress that is ever-changing...until about December 28 when Mommy gets tired of looking at the shrines.... 
 
 
 
 

 

Ice and Icing

Dylan has repeatedly asked me to take him ice skating.  We read books where the characters are ice skating.  "Mommy, can we do that?"  I have always wanted to take them, and this weekend we made it a priority.

We decided to make it an adventure.  We would take the train down.  Our incredibly inefficient metro rail which actually added about an hour into our trip.  But, it was the first time Dylan would remember the train.  And he loved it!  He was a little scared at first, but Eva helped him become more comfortable for she has ridden it several times before. 

Our trip was even flavored with some profanity from the locals as a rider expressed her impatience and annoyance to the driver of the train.  It was a great opportunity to show Dyleva the woman making bad choices.

Eventually, we arrived.  It was fantastic!  Dyleva used these little support contraptions to lean on as they skated, and sometimes Mommy grabbed on....I wouldn't say they are ready for the Olympics, but wow!  They had fun! 

Dylan kept falling to the ice, and then he was laughing so hard, he couldn't pull himself up.  He eventually got sick of using the support and pushed it away and skated on his own...for about 5 seconds.

Eva embraced the support.  She was rocking it.  Her skinny little long legs were jetting out in all direction.  With the legs of the support, she looked like a spider, moving across the ice.  

No broken bones or concussions.  A successful outing.

Later, Dyleva was requested to come to Tia Linda's house.  My children are frosting experts, and Tia Linda, well.  She gets a little crazy.  She is kind of an overachiever when it comes to cooking.  She bakes hundreds of cutouts. 

When we arrived, she had a banquet of colored sprinkles and frosting for each child to use.  I'm not quite sure how much actually ended up on the cookies.  By the end of the night, Dyleva had invented several new dishes, such as "Chicken Fingers a la frosting" and "Pizza with sprinkles."  Thank you Tia Linda for spoiling my ninos.  We love you.

Gingerbread Women and Cinderella

Today we made cookies.  Not a lot, because when Eva and Dylan make cookies, most the batter is eaten.  But they had a really good time.  For some reason, Eva has continuously asked me to make gingerbread cookies.  Today, Dylan and I went out to buy all the ingredients.  We went to the store with the choo-choo. (Wegmans)

Eva informed me, before we began, that she wanted to make gingerbread women.  "Mommy, I want them to be girls.  We can put a skirt on them to show it."

I had never considered the sex of the gingerbread cookie until now. 

So we began.  They did really well with the cutouts.  We didn't get to decorating today, because Eva and I had a date.

A development that came together this morning allowed us to secure tickets for Cinderella tonight at Shea's.  (Thank you to Mrs. Koslosky and Tia Mandy). 

Eva and I put on some music.  We picked out our outfits for the show.  We got ready, make-up, heels, perfume.  And out we went. 

I can't tell you about the show, because I was too busy watching Eva.  Her reaction was priceless.

She has been to Elmo Live, and a production of "Clic Clac Moo," but other than that, this was her first theatre experience. 

She was enthralled.  She was cracking up at all the funny parts.  She clapped before anyone else.  It was a long show.  It began at eight and ended around eleven.  But Eva was really into it.  We discussed the plot on the way home, which had a curve ball in it.  Eva noticed the same gaps that I did, I was completely impressed. 

The highlight came at the end however, where Eva got to be photographed with the Fairy Godmother.  Eva asked her, how did you do the magic in the show?"  And the Fairy Godmother looked at her and answered as serious as could be, and said, "Well my dear they had to teach me how to do the magic for Cinderella."

 
 
 
 

Christmas Spirit!

Dyleva has been ready to begin the Christmas season for weeks now.  However, we always wait until after Thanksgiving.  So we came up with a plan.  

Their Dad went into the woods to "look at deer" for the weekend.  We decided to begin Thanksgiving two weeks 
early.  The three of us went shopping and created a menu.  

The next day we started cooking to get ready for Daddy to return.  Turkey, homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, and 
cranberry sauce.  We also had vegies and rolls.  Yum!

Dyleva met Daddy at the door with "Happy Thanksgiving!"

The Christmas lights went up the next day.

So this weekend the ninos continued on their delivery of Christmas cheer...with a sprinkle of sibling spats in between of course.

On Friday we decorated the house.  Dyleva successfully took every decoration out of the box, unwrapped it and randomly placed it around the house.  Every two seconds I heard, "Mommy!  Look at this one!"

That night we went to visit family from out of town.  Uncle Starch and Erin were in town from Indiana.  It was great to catch up with our cousins.  It was also Avery's birthday, which made the get together even more special. 

The next day the cheer continued.  First, we went to a local toy store.  (Yes, I know-crazy parents dragging their children to a toy store 3 weeks before Christmas...but we had a good reason!)
I told Eva she had to ask Mr. Herr, otherwise known as Tio Pete, to sign her book.  It was a book-signing event on Small Business Saturday.  We couldn't be prouder of our Uncle Pete that has worked hard to get his book published.  Well, Dyleva thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the toy store.  Dylan kept picking up boxes bigger than himself and dragging them to the register.  "Mommy, I need this."

Later, the party animals continued with a pizza party at the house, and then a quick departure to the Lancaster Fire truck parade with our cousins.  It was loud!  Dylan was mesmerized, or frozen.  Eva was just out to collect the candy.

And still, more holiday cheer the next day as we went to get a tree.  More exciting was the game of hide and seek we played in between the trees.    

What a great holiday weekend we have had.  Enano, our elf, has also put in an appearance and has been keeping Dyleva on their toes. 

Snow Day!

It turns out we live in the perfect location.  We got snow.  We got enough snow to play in, sled in, and have snowball fights in. 
However, about 1 mile north of us, people received no snow.  That's no fun.
And about 1 mile south of us, families got 5-7 feet over three days. 
We did not take these snow days for granted!  We appreciate the unfortunate position some people found themselves in, like being stuck on the thruway for 20 hours.  But this was Eva's first snow day(s)!

We played hard!  Indoor and out.  And to think we were given the gift of 4 snow days!  That is unheard of. 

We took our back path along the silent thruway and went sledding every day.  Dyleva learned how to make snowballs, and destroyed the fort I tried to make.  We created a mini-mountain and the ninos flew over it in their plastic blow-up sleds into a snow bank.

Indoors both Eva and Dylan made a Christmas chain and individually decorated each link.  (Thirty-five days till Christmas just in case you were wondering).

We made a fort in the living room and played Hide and Seek.  We watched a lot of movies.  We painted sticks and pinecones to create something later.  Eva created a hospital for her baby dolls.  Dylan made roads and ramps for his cars. 

We kept busy and I loved every extra minute I got to spend with my babies.

The Silent Thruway
 

Colors of Christmas

Eva has been learning about colors at school and I am assuming it inspired a lecture for her brother the other day.

"So Dylan, do you know what the Christmas colors are?"
"No."
She proceeded to educate him.  "The colors are green, white, and red.  Do you know what red is for?"

"No."

"Red is for Santa's clothes.  Do you know what green is for?"

"Grass."  I said

"No Mommy.  You are close though!  Trees!  The Christmas tree."

"And the last color, white.  Do you know what white is for?"

By now Dylan is completely uninterested and totally focused on his afternoon snack.

"Marshmellows."

"No Mommy!"

"Clouds."

"No, snow!"

"Oh wow.  It's a good thing you cleared that up."

Our Adventure Walk

Eva just fell in the creek.
 

I love days off and playing hooky with the ninos. 
This morning we wished Papa a happy Veterans' Day, and then we looked outside.


Gorgeous, sunny, sixty-degree, winter-fall day.
I remembered the place I took a gira last week with my students.  We were off.

Dylan was ready first for his adventure walk.  He was all excited because I told him he could walk in the creek, if he wore his boots. 



Surprisingly, there were no battles with Eva over her attire either.  A good start to the day.




Daddy was coming too.  We were concerned, because yesterday he fell off the ladder from the roof.  Seriously.
But the doctor cleared him.  I believe something about being "lucky as hell."

We name all our parks, but this one in particular, is not necessarily near anyone we know.  So I told Dyleva about the cranky old man that loved to paint, and didn't care much for children. (Charles Burchfield).  So we named it the "Cranky Old Man Park."


We explored the creek first.  Jeff couldn't get the word 'slippery' out fast enough and Eva was down in the water.  She was upset, but it was warm out and she was laughing about it by the time we left. 

Our coolest exploration is difficult to describe.  After we crossed the creek, we found an area of the park that looks like it was created for 4 wheelers.  There were about 40 "baby cliffs, hills, mountains." 

They were mostly made out of solid dirt and of course Dyleva loved scaling them.  Some were very high!  A little scary for Mommy.  I am just soooo thankful not to have discovered this area of the park with 15 first-graders last week.

We walked, explored, had a picnic, and played.
Aside from muddy, wet, and a few slivers, we returned in good shape.















It was a beautiful day to play hooky. 
 
 

 

 

Earthquakes and Big Blue Blocks

This morning when Dylan woke up, he said we are going to the museum.

Just, out of the blue.  "Mommy, we are going to the museum today."

I lazily looked outside at the cold, freezing rain.  It seemed ambitious. 

I asked Eva.  She was on board too.  So, we went ahead with Dylan's "great idea."

It turned out to be a fabulous idea.  We took our time.  It wasn't crowded. 
Eva spent 20 minutes playing with a bird puzzle, and she was as content as could be.

My highlight of our trip, was watching Dyleva play with the big, blue, foam blocks.  We spent an hour doing so.  During this time, several other ninos joined us.  And as I watched, cringing, waiting for the first explosion, it never came.

Dyleva did an awesome job sharing, using their words, and being patient.  Even when one little boy came and knocked Eva's castle down, she said, "That's okay, we can put it back up again." 

We left a little time to explore the upstairs.  Dyleva really likes the exhibit, "Wonders of our Earth,"  (I think...or maybe "Forces..")

A new spot Eva found fascinating is the earthquake simulation.  There are blocks where she would create a house or building.  When she finishes, there are three levels of earthquake that she may choose to destroy her construction.  Very entertaining.

So as we returned, very tired and ready for a nap, I looked over at Dylan. 

"Hey Dyl."  He looked up.

"That was a great idea you had today; going to the museum."

"I know, Mommy."