Almost summer....

... or it felt like it last weekend...

"Hey, Vasco, look over there.."

"Let's get her!!!!!!!!!"

"I mean it, guys, don't get mommy wet!""

Soundtrack to this photo: incoherent giggling on my part, which I'm sure enhanced my credibility...

"We winned! we winned!" :)

He's covered in butter!!!

...or... in other words, my 2o minutes of being the world's coolest mom. Oh, you want to be sooooo cool too? Here's how. You need a dixie cup, vinegar, water, food coloring, baking soda, and random props.

Take dixie cup. Make into volcano. In other words, use some "sticky balls", cover dixie cup and excitedly proclaim that it looks like a volcano! Random dinosaur prop and, if available, wilted basil leaves, enhance the credibility of the creation.
Next, fill dixie cup 3/4 of the way with water, and 1/4 of the way with vinegar. Add food coloring. Here we start with red. Note aereal view of dinosaur and very very smartly placed giant plastic bag to catch horrendous mess that will ensue.

Next scoop a spoonful of baking soda and plop in cup.
Voila!!! A super duper sizzling fizzling special effects volcano!!
But wait, you say, what does this have to do with butter??? The answer to that, my dear people, is below:

Career day..

It's Monday morning. As I am trying to herd both kids toward their clothes so that we can get out the door, the trash truck arrives. Unfortunately, the kids are now tall enough to be able to peek out the window unassisted by parents or props... Vasco, one sock on and in nothing else but his underwear, yells excitedly, "mooooooooooooooooooooooom, the trash truck is here!!" Lots of noise, lots of excitement as the trash guy shakes the trash can around, dislodges it from the truck and catapults it in the general direction of where we had neatly placed it last night.
"Mooooooom, when I grow up, I want to drive a trash truck!!! And Justine can be the trash lady!!!" Justine excitedly nods, one foot into the stockings.
Yes, dears, you can be anything you want to be....

Hair today, gone tomorrow...

It was a bright sunny lovely warmer-than-the-20-degree-weather-we-had-been-having Saturday morning. I'm sitting on the couch at a friend's house, at a playdate with the kids from their "old school", and I notice something odd about Justine's hair. Namely, that there is a quite obvious bald spot right on top of her head. I call her over, and sure enough, it was not an optical illusion. So of course, I start thinking hideous autoimmune disorders that eat up your hair, and imagine Justine in 3rd grade with a lovely Barbie-style wig... until it occurs to me to start with perhaps a more simple explanation. "Justine, honey, did someone cut your hair??" Giggling. More giggling. "Um, Jenna cut it!" We all take turns rubbing the hair near the bald spot, which is just short of 1/12 of an inch and looks like stubble on a monk's head. She bolts off to play with her friends. As I fixate on the bald spot every time the sun hits her hair, I notice that she is missing a thick lock of hair on the side....

***

Vasco in the shower last week: "Mommy, I want to be a dolphin!"
Me: "But, honey, you can learn to swim like a dolphin, but you can't be one"
V: "But why?"
Me: "Because you are a little boy!"
V: "But I want to be a dolphin"
Me: "If you were a dolphin, you would have to live in the water, and you couldn't live with us!"
V: "But you have Justine!!!"

Luckily, this week he wants to be a frog.

***

Holiday Cheer!

Baby, it's COLD outside! School is out for the rest of the year, and we have been housebound for two days now, after a well-intended but quickly aborted attempt to remain outside for the 10 minutes it would have taken to add on a few candy cane lights to the driveway. The kids stood outside for about 3 minutes and then marched their triple layered, hat-wearing, glove-toting little bodies into the laundry room, from which they announced they were not coming back out again.
Hence, we played school with every single stuffed animal they own:
(btw, those that were "fighting" are lined up near the couch... Um..guys? How often does this happen in real school??)

Then we did an awesome craft:
(btw, you may think of it as an inconsistency, but I see it as sheer artistic genius: note that all four seasons happily coexist in this friendly village-on-the-lake)

And all this, in the happiest holiday-est mood. Merry Christmas to all!

Angels we have heard on high...

Vasco's enthusiasm is... well.. divine :)

'Tis the season to be.. tipsy?

While no doubt it is the season to be the kind of tipsy one associated with bucketfulls of spiked cider, gallons of mulled wine and various warm merry beverages that leave you.. well.. tipsy, it is a different kind of tipsy that we are talking about here.

Sat. Dec 6: 10am. We set out on a mission to purchase the first live christmas tree since the kids were born. Ready for the fabulous smell of real pine trees, we head out: the kids are entirely not sure whether we have finally lost our minds when we assure them that we will bring back the christmas tree strapped to the top of our car. Convinced that the whole world has indeed gone mad, they sipped hot chocolate while the helpful people at the tree lot did exactly as we promised: strapped the tree to the roof of the car.
Once home, millions of pine needles sloughing off as we dragged the tree in, we dusted out the old tree stand and plopped the tree in. Vacuumed 4 pounds of needles. A frenzy of decorating later and half a vacuum bag more of tree needles, and we had a presentable tree.
It even snowed briefly at dinnertime, to finish creating the perfect "I'm dreaming of a white christmas" atmosphere. Books were read under the tree, a christmas carol thrown in for good measure, and happy kids were sent to bed. Happier adults stirred up something called a Hot Russian Christmas with an extra shot of vodka for good measure and settled down downstairs in front of a lovely roaring first fire of the season to watch a silly movie. Spirits flowed and spirits were high, and as Mike was trying to poke at the fire to put it out, I climb happily upstairs to find this:
Atwinkling still, it was indeed a sight to see.. I took a picture and brought it for Mike to see, handing him the camera as I said I hoped he had a sense of humor.

A few sawed branches later.....

.. and a concoction of weights, props, and counterweights, the tree is up again, 7 extra pounds of needles have been vacuumed up, crushed ornaments replaced, water mopped up, and merriment restored!

Happy Holidays!