A Very Bouncy Christmas Party

My mom's side of the family definitely knows how to throw a party. A few years ago my cousins, who taught gymnastics at the local sports academy, came up with the brilliant idea of using the gymnasium for our ever-increasing annual Christmas party.

With giant trampolines, springy floors, jumping mats galore and all sorts of other equipment, what's not to love? Throw in donuts that look exactly like hot dogs and a pinata and my kids never wanted to leave (even after I confiscated most of their pinata candy).

Look who we found from halfway around the world...

Merry Christmas

It's a Christmas miracle: we are all looking at the camera and smiling. Happy holidays!

A vacation to the Dentist

My brother-in-law happens to be a dentist, so when I found myself 3,000 miles away from home with a ginormous tooth-ache and sans dental insurance, I decided it made economic sense to hop on the short flight to go see him (leaving the kids and Pete far away).

It turned out to be a great trip. Zack saw me in the morning and cleared up the two major mouth issues I've been having, and then I enjoyed a relaxing visit with my sister and her family for a couple of days.

Eli and I enjoyed several rounds of chase and "where did it go?" and I sneaked him all sorts of candy and no-nos (I mean yogos). Max just sat there and smiled and slept like some sort of freak alien baby. Karen made a delicious lemon chicken linguini for dinner and we all enjoyed Christmas cookies that a neighbor dropped by as we watched SNL with Hugh Laurie. The next day we even both (alternatingly) hit her neighborhood gym (to burn off the plate of cookies).

5 stars for Zack's dentistry, and 5 stars for the deluxe accommodations. I think I may need to eat more gummy worms so I can repeat this lovely adventure. But let's please not talk about my flight and drive back home (through the blizzard).
Alien Max
Kare-bear
Eli Whereditgo

Is there a doctor in the house? Why, yes, there is.

Calvin came out of his bedroom "dressed and ready" for his self-proclaimed new profession: medicine (incidentally, it took a lot of bargaining and chocolate chips to convince him that this was not an appropriate church outfit).

And it's a good thing too, because after an early Christmas present from Aunt Laura, Bryn is now the proud mother of twins who need constant checkups.

I don't know what all the fuss is about twins and how demanding they are. Bryn's twins sleep 23.5 hours a day, require infrequent feedings with imaginary milk in a bottle, and nap alone in the freezing car during church.

Calvin's bedside manner is very constructive; he's pounding on Baby Hannah with his hammer...er...reflex mallet.

Christmas Party

Bryn made some helpful illustrations for Santa this year: a picture of a doll for her and a picture of a tiger for Calvin.Ding dong ding dong; that was our song; with joyful ring; all caroling (it's still stuck in my head).

Special thanks to EP; half the photos here are hers (the good ones).

Violation of Child Labor Laws

Calvin exhibits his mad folding skills whilst expounding upon the lollipop-holding properties of washcloths.

Baby Bling

Thanks to Laura, who graciously agreed to accompany me to the bead store this afternoon, I was finally able to finish this bracelet/necklace set for a friend's baby. And can I just say how pleased I am to finally have a camera with a decent (super) macro mode? Very pleased.

The Making of the Greenwreath

The second book in Susan Cooper's series The Dark is Rising is called Greenwitch. It's named that for a tradition in a small village where the women of the community get together and make a "Greenwitch," a figure made of hawthorn and hazel greenery, and then throw it into the sea.

So this is what I thought of the first time I attended a wreathmaking party. Last night was wreath no. 7. I'm still enchanted by the idea of this group of women from the community coming together to enjoy a Christmas program of music and readings, and then we create our little green offerings that mark the opening of the Christmas season.

One of these years, I'm going to throw my wreath into the sea when the season is finished (although I think the bow and the frame may land me a misdemeanor and a $500 fine). Special thanks to Carrie for accepting the title of Princess of the Wreathmaking Extravaganza with her pine bough scepter.

The wreathmaking party is always bittersweet because it dredges up memories of parties past and the people who are no longer with us. We miss you all!

Device Wanted: Internal Stabilization Unit

Said unit must be ingestable by a toddler under 3 (i.e. hidden in a donut), able to counteract such actions as but not limited to: a) running down the hall at top speed only to take a dive at the end into the corner of a door, b) falling backwards off a counter stool, c) being carried by an older sister and thrown ("accidentally") into a wooden pew head-first, d) slipping off the top of an eight foot ladder at the playground, and e) all four of the above within a 24-hour period.

Will pay a Finity of U.S. Dollars not to have another mug shot like this (not to mention the goose egg in the back of his head):

Another Wildly Successful Photo shoot

Attention Modeling Scouts (yet again):
We took pictures of the kids this morning for a preschool project, and I thought share the fruits of the shoot. Please try not to be jealous of Calvin's hair. He does it himself: after I spray and brush it down, he runs his fingers through it to give it that "tousled" look.

Feastivus

Highlights:

• Laura's rolls (buttery flavor, soft texture, lovely shapes)
• Tim's Pumpkin Pie (keyword: streusel)
• Cranberry Relish- here's a recipe, but I only use 1 1/2 cups of sugar, leave the peels on the apples, and add toasted pecans
• Successfully brined turkey (thank you Joy of Cooking)

I am grateful for the noise in my life

Calvin is grateful for his blanket

Calvin loves his "ammal" blanket Linus style. I'm surprised that it's structural integrity has held up as long as it has: a testament to my mother's quilting and fabric choosing abilities. He has to have it "spread" just right over him so that he can see both the brown and the gray kangaroos.

Peter is grateful for Laura

We went to a dinner tonight in honor of Laura's (my sister) birthday. We forgot the age-old tradition of going around the table and saying what we like best about the birthday honoree, so that what this blog post is for, and feel free to add a comment about her.

Peter likes that he can have an honest conversation with Laura and be very blunt in his statements without offending her. In the rare case he does offend her, she is quick to tell him so and they can talk it out instead of leaving him to wonder what went wrong.
Even after living in two Asian countries on her own, this was Laura's first trip to an ATM ever. It was only a couple of years ago.

I am grateful for Paul Bunyan

Yes, the man who is 63 axe handles high with his feet on the ground and his head in the sky. Why? He allowed me to sleep an extra hour this morning after Calvin awoke way too early. He, along with John Henry, Casey Jones, and Johnny Appleseed also provided the soundtrack for our day as we all at various times started singing the Disney songs from the movie Legends.

Bryn is grateful for the sixth planet

Bryn is grateful for the planet Saturn. She talked about it all the way to preschool today. It all started when Calvin started chanting Sapurn, Sapurn, Sapurn, and Bryn starting crying crocodile tears and said indignantly, "Don't call my favorite planet names!" Later, after she had gathered herself, she informed us that her first daughter shall be named Saturn.

Peter's Eights

I had so much fun projecting my kids' answers on the last tag, that I thought I'd invite Peter to fill out this tag (thanks Sherie!) for himself. So for today, enjoy the guest columnist.

PETER'S ANSWERS:

8 FAVORITE SHOWS
1. The Wonder Years
2. Northern Exposure
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation
4. Lost
5. House, M.D. (though not as much this season)
6. Ed
7. Black Adder Goes Forth
8. Jeopardy!

Edit: As my dad pointed out, I forgot All Things Great and Small, which probably makes the cut before Lost.

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
1. Started a thread at Hatrack on the ethics of parents removing their children's vascular birthmarks, and whether children have a "right to look normal."
2. Read this fascinating paper on inferring Markov Random Field networks from Gaussian or binary random variable realizations.
3. Went to a lecture from two members of "Planet Dinosaur" on their strategy for winning the $1,000,000 Netflix Prize.
4. Read Pres. Monson's conference talk: "Finding Joy in the Journey"
5. Put the kids to bed. Alone. Again.
6. Watched House, M.D. (very disappointing episode)
7. Argued with Cami about the morality of parents removing their children's vascular birthmarks, and whether children have a "right to look normal."
8. Almost slept on the couch.

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
1. Being done with my Network Algorithms exam (this Friday).
2. Tying up some loose ends on some research on coherent probability assessments (this month, Insha'Allah).
3. Going to the mother state for the holidays for the first time in seven years.
4. Next Patriot's Day, because c'mon, it's Patriot's Day (Apr. 19).
5. Changing that "MS" after my name to "PhD" (some time this side of May 2011).
6. Visiting the British Isles (before I'm too old to hike around the Yorkshire moors).
7. My daughter's wedding day (not for a long, long time)
8. Going home (both at the end of each day, and ultimately)

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
1. Aspasia (now defunct)
2. Le Cafe du Commerce
3. Lamb's Grill
4. Blue Ribbon BBQ
5. The Coppermill
6. Thai Moon (Mmmm, crab rangoon)
7. LaBella's
8. Grant Hotel Restaurant in San Diego, CA

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. A new boiler
2. A chimney cap
3. A school scarf in my school's colors (but without the logo on it, at least noticeably)
4. A suitable replacement for the flat cap I lost last winter
5. A weatherized bike, so I can ride to work in the rain and cold
6. President elect Obama returning to the issues that made him interesting back in 2004 (I'm not holding my breath)
7. A healthy, happy family (in perpetuity)
8. Peace on earth, good will toward men

Nine Days of Gratitude

As we approach our favorite food over-consumption holiday, I'm going to post something each day until T-Day (or at least try) of something one of us is grateful for (thanks to Karen who inspired me with her grapefruit).

So for the gratitude post today, Calvin is grateful for his faithful playmates (p.s. Can you tell he likes to sleep with his head under his blankets?).

Leaves 1 Me 1

The leaves pulled in a big win in today's match up. After spending all morning and lunchtime furiously raking and blowing, I suffered a big loss when the leaves put in a ringer: the rain. So there's a big old pile of leaves sitting in the second parking space in our driveway getting soaked. With my luck, the rain won't let up and then the snow will start and it will be there all winter. Grumble grumble grumble.

The yard's mound-of-dirtness was getting to me after seeing the above picture, so I thought I'd spruce things up a bit in Paint. Here's what it would look like with a luscious patch of grass and, of course, crabgrass.

On a normal day

We had a pretty normal day today, so I thought I'd highlight some abnormal things:

• I watched a blue jay eat Shelob right out of the window frame. It reminded me of a clumsy awkward slow-motion hummingbird as it tried to maintain flight position long enough to nab the spider. If the kids ask, Shelob is in Florida until March (when we'll no doubt get a replacement).
• My kids giggled and giggled at a murder of crows that filled the skies and the empty trees in our front yard. We counted at least 20 in one tree.
• I knew my tire needed a little air, but when I went to take it to the gas station, I realized it needed a lot of air (it was pretty much sitting on it's rim). So I pumped up the car's tire with my bike pump. I'm going to call that my strength training for today.
• I was sitting on the couch with Calvin and noticed a small suspicious bug scaling his cheek toward his hairline. It was a tick. Ewww. That's only the second one I've seen in my life (kind of shocking given my trail-wandering ways).
• I went to work this evening and was ready to find a parking space at a meter like I always do, when I discovered a driveway that led to free parking in the back of my building. Six months of quarters down the drain; I'm ready to pull a Cool Hand Luke on those meters.
• Our internet went out today for the first time since we've had service. Peter tried to fix it and failed, I fixed it (that's just a little rubbing in for him).

And there you have it, even a normal day has randomness if you look for it.

Toddler Dreams

Calvin just came up to me and said,

"Guess what mommy? Last night I had a dream that I was jumping on my friend's trampoline and I jumped so high that I landed on a cloud and ate holes in it (he later told me it tasted like cotton candy) and there was also an apple tree there and I ate a red apple and it was so delicious, but I didn't throw it in the sun."

So now you know what 2 year-olds dream about. I tried to record a version of it (despite Bryn leaping in front of him constantly).
sometimes the blogger video doesn't work, but it's higher quality, so try it first and if it doesn't work you can try this one:

Don't blink

a few hours old...

43,829 hours old

Easy Button

With all the sugary loot we hauled in last week, there has been a lot of talk about how eating too much candy can lead to stomach aches and tooth decay (oh how I wish I could heed my own advice).

I thought I had Calvin convinced to walk the ways of moderation, when tonight he suddenly announced with all of his two year-old wisdom, "If my teeth get decayed, I will just push this button (his nose) and they will be all fixed." Then he asked for more candy.

Another Shelob glamour shot and a fun story

Okay, I know most of you are completely grossed out by the spider pics. But see, my dad and I have this thing about photographing cool bugs and spiders (like this one with babies on it's back), and this perspective photo is for him. So stop reading now if you're squeamish, and for heaven's sake, don't click on any of the links.

Fun story: One time when we were home visiting, he found a really cool cat spider and we had a little photo shoot in the kitchen, and then he took it to the very backyard to release it, and came back inside. We made jokes about it following him home.

Sure enough, few seconds later I actually found it climbing on his collar up to his neck. We frantically flicked it off and threw it back outside. The hair still stands up on the back of my neck when I think about it.

A Hat Trick of Halloween posts

Bryn has a special Halloween treat to share:

The main pages of the story can be seen here.

Spooktacular Creatures (lock your trunks)

Bryn was very insistent about being a bluebird this year. A bird?!? Next year we're going to subliminally push the idea that ghost costumes are all the rage.
Calvin, after hearing Bryn's insistence about being a bluebird, declared that he was going to be a wolf so that he could "eat that bluebird up."
Thankfully, he found lots of other tasty treats to devour. However, Bryn cawed at every kid dressed as a ladybug she saw (and there were more than a few) and shrieked, "better watch out for the Bluebird!!!" I guess there's a new villain in town.





As a side note, Bryn was indispensable in helping me design her costume, although I wasn't able to incorporate those wicked birdy hands she had planned (she drew the one on the right and I tried to interpret it on the left-neither of us have taken a proportions class).

And finally, the most terrifying creatures of all...

Fall Window Scene

Last winter I posted a picture of the view from our front windows, and now here is an autumn scene.

And this is our pet Shelob, also viewable from the front windows. She's very low maintenance (and renewable).