Blogland

do you miss me??

maybe, maybe not. But I promise I will be back with more fun stuff soon. Things have been crazy here, in a good way. I will say, that while I do really love blogging, life always does and will come first. Lately, life has been front and center. I have been cleaning out closets and freecylin' and donating like crazy. If it isn't nailed down and I haven't used it in the past two days, gone. I am taking the quote "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful", (William Morris) to heart. Unfortunately, useful must include eight million small toys and clothes, but trust me I have purged my fair share of them as well. Then, last week we installed (with the help of contractors) a new ceiling in our back bathroom and I painted it, again. It looks awesome, but now needs new curtains. Tack that on the list of stuff to make. I was doing good at digging out and getting somewhere I felt good about until I decided to take apart my sewing room, drag furniture up from the basement and down from the third floor (have I ever mentioned how much having a renewable pool of undergrads who will work for $20 and homemade cookies rocks!!!) and totally rearrange it. I now have a cutting table AND a sewing table, and new fabric storage. Yeah, it rocks. I will say that in the past few days things like the floors and the bits of the kitchen eric fails to notice to clean have suffered. But I am still on top of laundry and the rest I promise to catch up on soon. Then, let the sewing projects commence!!!!

More on the crazy children soon!

Boba Fett...

...Has landed in our house. Otto is super in to all things dress up, he has been for a long time. What i love best about his dress up games is how he takes regular toys, or objects and turns them into costumes. Hooded towels become Jedi robes, too small winter vest, Han Solo outfits (even better when you add the snow boots). For his birthday i have been toying with the idea of making him a Jedi cape, but I don't want to undermine his creativity. I had settled in the idea of making him some rocket boosters for when he is Bobo Fett and then he declared the backpack I made for him to take to school to be rocket boosters. I wasn't quick enough. While the backpack does make good rocket boosters i felt it could use a little more. With his permission I added flames. $2 worth of tulle later....




Making his best serious bounty hunter face.





- posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I don't do it on purpose

Remember a few weeks ago when i mentioned we added additional heat to our third floor? Well, it couldn't have come at a better time. First we were stuck in the house for what seemed like weeks on end (really just a week or so, but it felt like more to me!) in a failed attempt to avoid the stomach bug. We held it a bay for a long time but eventually fell, as I knew we would.

Now that we have all recovered from the firm grasp of nausea and all that goes with it the temperatures have plunged to the negative numbers. Cold, even for a winter lover like myself. This morning it was a whopping 1 degree, at half past nine. I am all for taking the kids out in cold weather, with the decree that "there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing" but even I couldn't muster the strength to get us out today. Just to prove how cold it is, you will see in the following photos that otto is actually wearing slippers. Otto, the kid who doesn't admit he is cold when he is trembling with blue lips. He has also taken to sitting on the heat vents under chairs like a cat. So, yeah, it is cold. So, Belinda and Rachel, with your sunny weather, while i miss you both dearly, you don't want to come back just yet!

What do you when it is too cold to go out and the small folk in your group are LITERALLY (did I mention I can't wait for preschool tomorrow?) bouncing off the walls?

You crank up that new heat on the third floor and have a dance party. Today we were kicking it to Duran Duran, Girls on Film. When otto asked who they were I told him they were a band from the 80's. To which he replied, "what is the 80's?". When i told it was a time period twenty years ago he gasped and said "oh my gosh, that was before the dinosaurs!!!". No, but you are making it feel that way.

***Disclaimer**** I would like to say, that while i seem to do this all the time, with every member of our family, i did not mean to dress the kids in matching jammies. However, once i realized what I did, i knew i had to bust out the camera.

Rad moves:















This also qualifies for the promised third floor rubber playroom photo series i promised. Complete with chalkboard wall as seen here.


While the third floor was lovely escape today, i am very much looking forward to school tomorrow, playgroup on Wednesday and getting out of the house in general.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A little video action

Just before eric went down with the stomach flu he managed to get this little number cut together. Enjoy!

Me too

After a month long winter break otto goes back to preschool tomorrow. His teacher sent a postcard saying they would be studying animals and he was to bring in a favorite stuffed animal. We have been talking about who would make the trip to school for the big day. At first Baby Alligator was the chosen one, but after careful consideration it was decided that he is too special to take to school and should instead stay home and guard Otto's bed with Blankie. Otto has a small stuffed bat who became very popular after there was a real live bat flying around in the living room this past fall. He seemed to be the strong second choice.

Today i was getting things ready for school tomorrow and i asked Otto if he still was sure he wanted to take Batty. He agreed that was his first choice. He seems very excited to get back to school and see his friends which is really great. We haven't been out of the house much lately in our failed attempt to not get sick and the kids have turned into quite the home bodies. It was pretty hard to get them out the door to CVS this morning. I was a bit worried otto wouldn't be excited about school and would resist going in the morning.

What I wasn't anticipating was when i asked Otto if he was still set on taking Batty, Mette responded with "I am going to school too and I am taking baby crocodile." Not only is she not going to school tomorrow but we don't have a baby crocodile. I think we are going to have to have a girls date at Cherry Alley for hot chocolate after we drop off Otto tomorrow if i am ever going to get her out of there. She usually wants to stay, I can't blame her, it does look like a lot of fun, but she really is set on the fact that tomorrow she is going too.

****And just for a good family update, eric fell hard as victim to the stomach flu tonight and from the sounds of it, I am RRALLY hoping this passes me by!*****



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I knew we were related when she kicked me in the head

It's that time of year. Time for colds, runny noses, coughs and the dreaded stomach flu. Since having children, well since Otto was almost 2, we have had a bad case of the throw-ups every winter. This year I am very thankful that it didn't cause me to go into labor early (or that i am not pregnant for that matter) and that we didn't wake up in the middle of the night before Christmas to sick children and mommy.

Last night around 10, just as we were thinking of heading up to bed, over the monitor i heard the dreaded strange cough and whimper combo that means a child has thrown up. I went up to check on Mette and the smell as i entered the room confirmed my fears. I carefully removed Mette from her bed and carried her to the bathroom and drew a bath. Eric came up and started stripping sheets and starting what we knew would be a night of laundry.

Mette was beyond sweet and charming. She cheerfully told me how good the bath felt and how much she loved me. After a goos scrub and some potty trips we had her back in clean jammies and ready for bed again. Always trying to learn from the past we thought it would be smart to prepare for otto to get sick soon since when one goes, usually the other is just behind. It was decided that Mette and i would sleep in our bed covered in towels and eric would pull out the sleeper sofa in the library and get that ready with towels and wait for Otto. Mette was wide awake at this point so we brought up a laptop and she and i had a little movie hour in our bed. I finally convinced her to go to sleep 30 minutes later. It was then, laying in my bed about to fall off the side because mette insists on sleeping sideways and kicking you in the head that i started to reflect on the situation. While no one likes being sick, stomach flus are in the grand scheme of things not that bad. Especially since at this point eric and i have not gotten sick (though i am sure it is coming), not being sick while taking care of kids makes it so much easier. It is also nice to know that Mette prefers sleeping in beds the proper way, sideways taking up as much room as possible.

Sure enough, two hours later Otto was sick. Luckily we were prepared. I don't really think any of us got any sleep last night but we are making up for that by spending today in bed watching movies and snuggling.

The biggest bummer about all of this, we had a babysitter lined up for tonight and were planning on a super fun feast with good friends. We will reschedule, but i was really looking forward to it.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Less Talky, More Showy

In response to eric's comment about all the chatter and no photos, I will provide only limited captions here. What follows are some highlights of 2011, so far.

Mette found a pair of flip flops she got a gift and insisted on wearing them around the house. The photo is blurry because she DOES NOT STOP MOVING EVER some days. She is also sporting her outfit of choice, undershirt and undies. It works well with the flip flops, very summery. The only draw back being our house is a very chilly 66 degrees, which does not seem to phase her at all.

I could do an entire post of photos taken at Otto's request of him posing with Star Wars toys.
Before we headed off to Philly last weekend I deep cleaned the house so it would be nice when we returned. This included clean sheets for everyone's beds. The kids hear me putting clean sheets on our bed and they come out of the wood work to roll around on the bed and mess it up.

The sheets by the way were a Christmas gift from me to eric. He is always cold so I broke down and got flannel sheets (I was worried I would be too hot) for the bed. They are actually really great. I made the duvet cover out of a flat sheet from another set and the flat sheet from this set. It is white cotton on one side and the snowflake flannel on the other. It is very cute and a simple winter pattern.

While wondering the Alice in Wonderland exhibit at the Please Touch Museum Otto was on the look out for Alice.
He was so excited when he found her. He wanted to stay and hang out with her for a while.
Otto REALLY, REALLY loves dress-up. He goes through about 6 outfit changes everyday as he imagines he is someone else. Vests for Han Solo, cape (hooded towel) for Jedi Master, cooking apron for Darth Vader, drivers suit for race car driver or astronaut and countless others. I spend the majority of my daily mental power remembering who he and Mette are at any given moment.

He was the only kid there who was putting on the gear and he had it all on, the shirt, the goggles, the gloves and the tool belt.
Mette found a small space with a bed and needed to pretend to be sleeping and waking up for a long time!
Getting Otto out of this outfit was much harder than getting him in it.

Love.

The very serious scientist.

Mette had a great time at the baby shower but the highlight was likely the chocolate covered oreo I let her eat in a total bribe to keep her in the highchair longer.
This year is off to a good start.

Snow Day

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been seriously cleaning and organizing this week. On Wednesday while a beautiful coating of snow fell outside I tackled the kitchen.


The espresso machine found a new home around the corner making way for a new vegetable area.


I even painted the inside of the pantry. That by the way represents the bare minimum of cereal selection around here. It gets pretty dicey when the selection gets low.


I moved the rest of my cook books to the library making room for jars of dry goods and bowl displays.


Aaahh, this makes me feel so good.


The espresso machine in it's new home.


In addition to the kitchen i have tackled the third floor playroom. We had electric baseboard heat installed up there on Monday and it has made a huge difference in how much we use the room already. Pictures to follow soon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Peer Pressure

Is it really peer pressure when I am the peer? I guess not. Still, I said I would have more to offer you tonight, so here I am, computer in hand.

To start, all the photos are uploaded and edited on the iPad which has run out of battery. Yes, I could run it off an USB cable from the laptop but that require getting up, and to be honest, I don't feel like doing that. So there will be pictures tomorrow.

How about a recap to start the new year?

First, Grandma Bah came and stayed with us for the weekend of New Year's Eve. It was a cold weekend for her, but a winter heat wave for us with temps in the 40's. There is precisely nothing open in the burg for the holiday weekend so we did a lot of playing in the house and enjoyed some home cooked meals. I made Choucroute Garne for New Years day and it was amazing. It is a tradition in our family to eat this Alsatian version of pork and sauerkraut for good luck but this was the first time I had made it without my mom. It was delicious. Even the cats ate it!! Nurkel was climbing up on the table for leftovers the next day. Grandma Bah seemed to have a nice time visiting with the kids and they got to open even more presents which is always popular.

Later that week eric, the kids and I headed up to the cabin to visit with Uncle Racer who was home for a week. It was great to see him. It is always too long between his visits. I am really hoping we get a chance to hang out with him in Chicago this summer when we are there. Otto got to see the great giver of Star Wars toys and Uncle Racer even showed Otto how the X-Wing makes noise. Otto had an amazing time playing in the snow with Grandpa and had to be lured in with the promise of hot chocolate and marshmallows. It was a short and action packed visit filled with good food and lounging by the wood stove. Pretty much what every winter cabin visit should be!

We had a quick overnight at home where I madly cleaned the house before we headed out again, this time to Philly. We decided that a good way for the kids to run off some steam before heading to Grandpa Chris and Nona Jen's house would be to go to the ever popular Please Touch Museum. It worked out great. The kids had a great time and really ran off some steam. The only part that was hard was getting Otto to stop playing long enough to eat. He insisted he WAS NOT hungry and then proceeded to inhale a hot dog. Ah, three year olds.... While visiting we took advantage of the food offerings of the city and feasted on Vietnamese food the first night and real Philly Cheesesteaks the second. I have been craving a cheesesteak for so long, it was amazingly good. There are many places here that serve them, but no one makes them right. This was perfect. On Sunday while visiting we went to the baby shower for Jen and soon to be here baby Harrison. It was a big fun introduction to Jen's extended family. There were mimosas and bloody marys for mommies and french toast and chocolate covered oreos for kids. Everyone was happy. Mette also managed to score a chance to play with a small pretend laptop that belonged to one of the little girls at the party. She has since then told me every day that she wants a computer for her birthday. Amazon is taking care of that and sending one our way.

Eric also asked her who she would like to have come to her birthday and she replied "santa". Smart little girl that one!!

Before heading back to the burg we made a stop at the LEGO store to see what goodies could be found for Otto. They had tv's playing LEGO movies and he was really scared they were going to start showing Star Wars things that he would be scared of so we didn't stay in the store for long. It worked out well though because I took him and Mette two doors down (we were in a mall) to the Hello Kitty store and eric went in and stocked up with guys for his birthday. Otto was so cute in the Hello Kitty store. He kept picking things up and showing them to Mette saying, "oh, Mette, look this has Hello Kitty on it!!!". Seriously, I don't think there was a single thing in the store that didn't have Hello Kitty on it, but he was going to help her find it all. We did score a really cute backpack that is just Mette's size so she can go to school just like Otto.

We managed to get the kids fed and in the car just after noon which meant that Mette took her first nap in three days on the ride home!!! She was starting to get a bit manic in the evenings with the thrown off sleep schedule and this was key. Every day we were in Philly the kids were so excited they got up at 5:30. Since we were all sleeping in one room with Mette and I on one bed and the boys on the other, when they are up, we are all up. That combined with no naps was making us all tired. It was worth leaving a little early to have her sleep on the way home.

All of this excitement combined with some quality time needed to play with the new toys from Christmas has kept us more than busy. There have also been stomach flus and sinus infections circling our group of friends so spending a few days just us in the house has worked out to be just fine.

I have been cleaning and reorganizing like a crazy person. The kitchen and third floor have been tackled and closets and dressing rooms are next. Watch out!

I will be back with more pictures and funny stories soon.

***note*** eric just looked over my shoulder at this post and said "shit, baby, that is epic. Throw the readers a bone and put a picture in." I had to explain that the laptop doesn't have any pictures and the iPad is dead. Sorry again.

Holidays

The great thing about the holidays is that while Eric still goes to work everyday (though I have to say he was home for almost a week, home sick, but still home) the biggest difference is he doesn't work in the evenings. We actually do things like talk and watch movies together! It is crazy! Because of this my blogging suffers. I won't lie, while I love writing here, the chance to hang out with my husband pretty much trumps all.

Have no fear though. He is insanely busy with meetings of great importance right now and any day now he is going to start on getting his classes ready. Who knows, maybe he will even order some books. I really should be sharing with you fun stories of family visits and LEGO adventures but I have been too busy reading my New York Times Cookbook.

I will be back tomorrow with good stories and photos to back them up. Our holiday break is a out to end.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Time makes you bolder *edited*

Children get older. I'm getting older too.

Yes, I'm getting older too

I know, Fleetwood Mac. See, I really am getting older, and cornier.

Was that possible.

Guess the answer is yes.

In the last few months, and really in the last few weeks, days even, it has hit me, where and who I now am. I don't really think it has to do with the fact that I am turning 30 in a mere 9 weeks (but who is counting?) though I am sure on some level it does. 30 as a number and age doesn't really scare me. Not being the youngest anymore though really seems to get under my skin.

I have always been the youngest. In college most of my close friends were older. Which sucked because they could drink legally. Truth be told though, I don't think I was ever carded until I was 22 or 23, and it wasn't because that was my first time out drinking.... I was always the baby. In age, but I always felt like if I wanted to hang out with people who I liked, they had to be older and smarter. Especially boys! Case in point, my husband is 12 years older than me and I believe he needed those extra years. Granted, he is one of the smartest people I know, provided you don't measure intelligence on the ability to find things, remember things that he is not interested in (like how the car seat is installed) or notice if I painted an entire room while he was at work, but in pretty much all other area, he has it covered. That has a lot to do with why I like him so much. Well that, and I really think he is cute!

Somehow this need to be around people who had their act together, were interesting and frankly I just enjoyed more has meant that I have always had friends who ranged from at least a few years older to 5, 1o or 2o years older. And I was fine with how that worked.

Then a few months ago I started reading the bios on some of the blogs I really enjoy. These are mostly design blogs written by hip women whose lives I will admit to envying. They have great taste, live in cool places, know cool people, go to cool parties, wear great one of a kind clothes, and are of course older than me.

Except, they aren't. Some of them are 5!! years younger than me!! When the hell did this happen?? I realize, I have been busy making babies and I think that is very important but still!! This kind of shook me up a bit.

Then a few weeks ago I was for a few drinks with a good friend (who is of course older ;) ) and two (TWO!!) of her friends who we were hanging out with who had big jobs and cool lives, were 3 and 5 years my junior!! Did I mention that I am always the baby! UGH! Not cool.

The reality is that I don't really care whether or not I am older or younger than someone, if they are cool, I will like them. It is more a sudden shift in the greater forces that I wasn't expecting and came at what can only be described as a fragile moment in my birthday process.

To top it all off, in a few short weeks I will be the proud mother of a four year old and a two year old which is beyond crazy.

And, this past October marked the fourth anniversary of when we sold the restaurant. Which means, not only am I old enough to have HAD and SOLD a restaurant, but I did it all more than four years ago.

I know, whine, whine, whine. I am 29, what do I have to complain about?? Right! I know. I will stop now. It's is just a lot to deal with at once.

Did I mention how much my knee hurts.....

****** It has been brought to my attention that I really shouldn't feel old at all. After all, I am going to have a new baby brother in just a few short weeks!! So there age! HAH! For the record I am hoping that he is born on either on Otto's birthday or mine (both within the window of possibility) because my dad is going to need as much help as he can remembering stuff :)!!!*******

She would be so cool in middle school

Tonight in the bath:

Otto: Mette, what kind of creature is Yoda?

Mette: uhmmmm, a Jedi Master.

Keep in mind she will not be two until Feb..


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad