Crazy

We headed to Maine on Boxing Day - in the hopes that the forecasted blizzard would hit and we'd be able to play in the snow - we were not disappointed.

Our snow fun began after dinner on the 26th when we turned to Oliver and asked - "Would you like to do something crazy?" Asking no questions and without hesitation Oliver answered yes. Moments later we were out on the hill behind Papa and Le Le's house, Oliver yelling "Me skiing! Me skiing!" at the top of his lungs as he raced down the hill in the dark.

He skied until the chairlift (Davis) got tired - at that point we dragged him off the hill with the promise of more skiing when the sun came up.

Over the next couple days Oliver spent several hours testing out his skis at the Snowbowl. He loved every minute of it. We had to bribe him with french fries in order to get him inside at the end of each day.

When not on skis we spent much of our time on the luge run we created at Papa and Le Le's house. The luge began as a fairly easy run, safe enough for Henrietta to take a run on her 6 week birthday.

However, by the end of the our stay in Maine, the run had become slick, fast, turny, crazy, and super fun. I need to get the pictures of our last few runs from my dad, but I am guessing they won't do the run justice. On my last few trips down the luge I launched over the edge and out of the run. Oliver watched decided he too wanted to launch off the track too. We did our best to try and prevent him from flying off the track, but he would have none of it - when he didn't launch he'd yell up from the bottom of the track that his sled was "not workin'." In the spirit of craziness we decided to let him launch - he loved it - screaming "Me launched! Me launched!" as he flew off the track.

Other fun snow activities included chasing the dogs through the snow and gathering big icicles.



We are back at home now - no luge track, no hill outside our door. Oliver has asked if this afternoon we can build a hill in our yard. I wish we could little man - I miss that luge run!

Happy Hollow Days

For the past couple of weeks Oliver has been singing "Happy Holidays," or as he says it- Happy Hollow Days. Thankfully our Christmas was the antithesis hollow - in fact it was chocked full - full of laughter, love, family, food, fun, and - did I mention laughter?

We began our Christmas celebration by attending a Christmas Eve church service. Given the two wee ones we chose a 4:00 family service that included a Christmas pageant. We walked into the church and Oliver, rather loudly, asked "What is this place?" (Clearly we are not regulars.) He followed this up by singing, very loudly, "dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum," (from the book Hand, Hand, Finger Thumb) every time he heard the drum played (part of the pageant). To the relief of many, we ducked out during communion.

On the way home we took a trek through a neighborhood that was decked out in holiday lights. We thought Oliver would be awestruck. Not so, the little man took one look and said, "Let's go to CVS and buy candy canes."

Back at home we had lobsters. After we patiently and painfully explained the life cycle of the lobster and how lobster traps work (and I considered vegetarianism) we managed to get Oliver to sleep - actually much easier than I had imagined given that the guy in the red suit would soon be arriving.

It turns out, we were all good little boys and girls this year and Santa did make a stop at our house - putting presents under the tree and filling the stockings (made by Davis, of course).


It was fun watching Oliver this year. He came down and was so happy to find presents under the tree. He opened one and began to play - he never even considered that the other presents under the tree could be for him as well. Once he caught on, he was quite excited- however, he wanted to play with each and every present before moving on to opening the next. Favorites included train stuff and his rocket. Knowing that Oliver would likely want someone to play rockets with him, Santa made me a rocket too (no wonder Santa spent so much time in his workshop - I had thought it was just an escape from the chaos).


Henrietta slept through much of Christmas, but did spend a bit of time awake - happy and smiling.

Happy Hollow Days!

Motherhood

What does motherhood entail? Running around the house, naked, for about 45 minutes because as soon as my shower ended, before I was able to grab clothes - someone was scaling the bookcase, then someone else needed to eat, at the same time someone was climbing into the refrigerator, then someone else had a massive diaper blowout, then someone was peeing on their bed... It also entails doing the hoky poky in the middle of a crowded Honda dealership then following up the dance with a horrid rendition of Jingle Bell Rock performed no less while driving a toy bus and signing papers with the dealership's finance guy (no, I don't think we were his favorite customers of the day).

It also entails getting everyone dressed, in record time, to get outside and catch the first snowflakes of the year on our tongues - and then take a walk in the snow making tracks with our dinosaur feet (yes, according to Oliver we are now a family of dinosaurs).

It also entails having the littlest dino in the family attached to me most all the time and being able to look down at her sweet, quiet face when I am rushing around - reminding me that there is no need to rush or finish my list - that spending time with my little dinosaurs is the most important thing of all.
And, giving myself a little freedom while at the same time giving the boys another way to bond with Henrietta - whose favorite activities continue to be eating (last week at her four week appointment she weighed 11 pounds and one ounce) and sleeping.

Check out her hands -strangely she sleeps with them straight up in the air.

Talk to me 'bout it

Oliver likes to know what things are and how they work. For example, yesterday I spent much of my day answering questions about clouds and and satellites. "Mommy, what are clouds? How do they work? Mommy, talk to me 'bout them." He was not at all satisfied with my answers so we visited the NOAA website and got some information there - he felt much better about the information he got there. So much better that he decided to ask about something new - satellites. "Mommy, what are satellites? How do they work? Mommy, talk to me 'bout them." "Orbit? Mommy, talk to me 'bout orbit." Again, for both orbit and satellite my answers were too basic for his taste - we had to visit the NASA website - thankfully those guys had the information Oliver wanted.

I am in so far over my head with this kid.

Our pterodactyl

We have a little dinosaur on our hands; Miss. Henrietta is a squawker. While the noises she makes could potentially be heard today, Davis, Oliver and I think it is more likely her noises are based in the Jurassic period - from a pterodactyl to be specific. We'd already started to refer to her our little pterodactyl when, on a family outing to Marshall's, we found a talking pterodactyl toy that, when pressed, sounded exactly like Henrietta. I'm sure she was hoping the toy would serve to relieve herself of the nickname, sorry little one, for now you remain our little pterodactyl.

Our little dino is one month old today - a milestone Oliver is excited about as we promised him we'd have a little birthday celebration tonight and he could be the one to blow out the candles.

Speaking of the older monster. He continues to both crack me up and make me want to tear my hair out. Last night he was eating popcorn and got is everywhere. I gave him the vacuum and asked him to clean up. He did and then asked for more popcorn. When I left the room he was eating it; however, moments later I returned to find him vacuuming up the bowl of popcorn. "Mommy, you told me to vacuum it all up." Touche.

Miss. Molly Doyle has already managed to hit the slopes - the lack of snow here has prevented us from doing so, but Oliver is ready. He's been spending a good amount of time traipsing throughout the house and yard with his helmet and boots on yelling for snow (and in the picture below, wearing the helmet and boots to play with Play-doh). Wile a white Christmas would be nice, I am not sure I am ready for snow yet, and therefore have been asking him to keep his requests for snow a little quieter (although he could be screaming so as to be heard above the squawks of his little dino sister).