Happy Birthday Grandma Marilyn!

We get to have Grandma Marilyn here for her birthday and we had all kinds of fun today making a special meal to honor her birthday!  The tireless Grandma Marilyn spent the day playing with the girls.  Here she works on a ONE HUNDRED PIECE PUZZLE with Ava and Amelia...

Somehow I have it my head that Grandma Marilyn's favorite cake is pineapple upside down cake.  After several attempts I believe I have found THE recipe, here.  Ignore the sloppy caramel and marvel at the pineapple, caramel-y goodness....  

Happy Birthday tooooooo yoooooouuuuuu.....

An assist from Amelia....

And here's Orbit patiently waiting after dinner for his evening cuddle....

Worth every single dirty dish - especially these scalloped potatoes!

Some favorites....

We had a wonderful Christmas with an embarrassment of riches bestowed on our family. Leading up to the holiday the girls had some things they asked for - time and again - and naturally those found their way under the tree.  They also had some things that were given that have quickly revealed themselves to be favorites...  

Like these little toys from my cousin Jessie.  They are Japanese toys - about the consistency of erasers, with tiny removable parts that Amelia played with for almost two hours this afternoon....

Or this mineral mining kit - a last minute addition to an Amazon order that Ava has simply adored....

But, of course, we have Amelia's number one gift.  The one we've been hearing about for months.  The gift that Grandma Jo and Papa Ray purchased and then smuggled into our house on Christmas Eve because we were worried what would happen if Amelia awoke on Christmas morning and it wasn't under the tree.  According to Amelia it is the Princess American Girl Doll.  What it is a Belle doll.  My Grandma Jane gave her a winter nightgown, a cradle, blanket and pillow.  It has all been by her side nearly every moment since she opened it...

Oh and Ava... Sweet Ava.... wanted an iTouch worse than anything.  After much dithering we decided to get it for her. I had a double coupon at Target which made the price a bit more in line with what we were comfortable spending.  As presents were being passed out she KNEW she would get it  And then... less than 10 hours after she opened it I dropped it on the tile floor at my parent's house shattering the screen.  My tender hearted girl was the sweetest combination of forgiving and disappointed.  In a nice moment of grace,  I had purchased the iTouch on American Express.  Betsy's boyfriend Mack suggested calling them and they offered product protection for 90 days... our account will be credited for the purchase price and Ava has her second iTouch in 24 hours....

Orbit got a stuffed dog that is currently in pieces all around our house.....

We hope Santa was good to you!

Merry Christmas 2011!

As we re-group from a wonderful, eventful Christmas I am again reminded of the abundance I have to be grateful for.....

Taking Leave of Our Senses?

This week an email arrived in my in-box - here's the first line:


This January, forget typical New Year resolutions. Don't make a promise you can't keep. Make a pact with yourself to run for life. On 01/02/12, apply for the ING New York City Marathon 2012.


So I forwarded it to John, without comment.  Here's his reply:


LOL -- Wanna go for it? Love, J-


So I said:


Leave it to the fates to decide if we run a marathon next year? Love, K-


He replied:


Feeling like Thelma and Louise, but ok!


To which I pointed out the obvious:


Except you're not a girl....  It would be the perfect race to celebrate the two months I'm 40 while you're 50. We'll let the universe and the New York Road Runner's Club lottery decide.


Only about a third of the people who apply for the New York Marathon get in each year.  It doesn't seem likely that both John and I would both get in, but it is fun to think about!

Happy Birthday!

Last night we celebrated Grandma Jo and Uncle Marc's birthdays at Zombie Burger.  Ava ate a ton of fried brussle sprouts.  Amelia polished off more than her share of Grandma Jo's birthday milk shake.  We had a grand celebration!

Me with Marc and Jay... But what in the heck am I looking at?

Ava and Amelia with the birthday girl!

Me and sweet Amelia...

You Always Hurt the Ones You Love

This is what used to be Orbit's very favorite toy.... 

Christmas Fail?

Ava has an iPod, which she alternately uses constantly, then ignores.  She's in the "uses constantly" phase right now.  And Amelia, being Amelia, is totally jealous. Tonight she is listening to my iPod shuffle (and sharing with her sister) and I'm wishing I wasn't done Christmas shopping.  Should I have gotten her an iPod instead of a Nintendo DS that she's been asking for since June?  Music feels like a more redeeming value than video games....

Overheard:

Amelia had kind of a bumpy landing into home tonight.  She was whiney, fussy and had a total meltdown when I wouldn't drop what I was doing (cooking dinner) to get her what she needed (a birthday gift bag from her closet - huh?).

As I was sitting down to post this to the blog she said, " Do you like how me and and Ava are playing really nice and not bickering?  I'm not talking about when I threw a fit, I'm talking about AFTER that."

Outtakes

My whole family is back in the same zip code and last night we posed for photos for our Christmas cards...  If we're very lucky, actual Christmas cards may arrive before Christmas. Here's some outtakes....

Some good looking Moorlach kids showing how they feel about the family photo shoot!

John with the older kids - don't they look fabulous?

 Me with the little girls.  You can hardly tell I've had pink eye this week, right? Right?

Ava begged to have a picture with just Meghan and Lane...

And naturally Amelia would not be left out....

They really do love each other....  

Running and Dancing

Yesterday the girls and I spent our day doing things we love to do.  John pretty much staffed us through the whole thing!

The day started with a chilly, chilly Jingle Bell 5K run hosted by the gym where I teach. Temperatures were brisk and there was a bracing wind in my face for about half of the course, but it was wonderful to be back outside running.  Since we were having a jingle bell race I decided to try to be a bit festive - the girls loved it!

The girls each had their dance classes, Amelia had a birthday party, then we got ready to go to see the Nutcracker ballet at Hoyt Sherman.  Ava and Amelia were very excited for their fancy outfits and the chance to see real, live, "famous" dancers.  With their dad....

Me and Amelia....

And Ava....

We went out to dinner before the show with Jessica and her mother.  First we attempted Zombie Burger (1 hour wait at 5:30pm), then Centro (45 minute wait at 5:40pm) then finally lucked out at Americana, a new favorite spot of mine.  The girls were on their best behavior and the energy level was high.....

The show was delightful, if not a little long for Miss Amelia.  We didn't get home until after 10:00pm, but the girls were up at their usual time this morning, bursting with excitement for their Christmas program at church today.

My Day With Amelia

We are coming up on a very fun weekend full of great activities, but we are booked nearly solid between now and Sunday evening.  Amelia is an awesome kid, but let's face it, she's my temperamental girl.  Tonight the girls are going to an activity at Ava's aftercare program that involves pizza and Jolly Holiday Lights while John and I attend a holiday party. Tomorrow she has dance class (8:45am) a friend's birthday party (10:00am-1:00pm) and then we are going out for dinner and to see the Nutcracker tomorrow night.  As awesome as all of that is, wow!

Facing down this weekend I decided Amelia and I needed a day at home together to rest and regroup.  We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow.  Amelia was beyond thrilled.  After John and Ava headed out, she jumped into her snow clothes and out into the back yard to make tracks in the snow and some snow angels....

Then we packed up and headed out to the gym.  On our way we dropped Orbit off at the groomer for his first puppy spa experience.  He was getting a bit stinky-puppy (Ava said he smelled like nachos) so it was time. He had a bath, a massage, a blow dry, a manicure and pedicure plus a little bow for extra beauty.  He seems to know he's snazzy! And all for $15. 

Amelia and I ran some errands including picking up items to make chocolate pixie cookies, which Williams Sonoma thinks are chocolate crinkles, but I know better. This is a particularly good recipe - the cookies almost taste like brownies.

Amelia knows licking the beater is the very best part....

My big helper, rolling the cookies into little balls....

And dunking them into the powdered sugar...

The face I saw when I said no to the moon sand.  The evil, evil moon sand that gets EVERYWHERE! I just didn't feel like cleaning it up today. Note Orbit, in the background, giving me almost exactly the same expression!

A Long Planning Process

Since we moved into this house, um, nearly 11 years ago, we've been talking about buying stools to place under the counter in our kitchen.  It is the perfect spot for two stools, for two children to perch, to eat, to play.  For all the years we've been in this house this counter is the spot where mail and other miscellany accumulates.  We frequently revisited repurposing this spot, but have never taken action.  That is, until now....

A couple of weeks ago we found some furniture we liked and placed an order.  This weekend we picked up new stools and now this counter is the place for Hello Kitty purses, scissors, breakfast...  

See what I mean?

The view from behind...  Why oh why did we wait so long to spend a small amount of money on a couple of pieces furniture? Here the girls cut out snow flakes while I cooked dinner.

Oh, and as a side note, this picture was taken to prove that Ava might be a freak of nature.  She is polishing off her SECOND helping of brussel sprouts.  She loves them.