The Honeymoon is Over

Every parent in our family has benefited from the early years of their kids' lobster-eating experimentation - that beautiful time when they're big enough to warrent their own lobster at the table, but all they really want to do with it is poke and play - not actually EAT it! So, the poor parents have to step in and take care of the cracking and the eating... all the while narrating the process to their kids, under the guise of teaching them but secretly gleeful about the lobster bounty. For many, many years, as a child I would only eat the claws, and mom and dad weren't too upset about that. My nephew, Aidan, was happy until recently to get his plate piled high with the spindley legs from everyone's lobsters, and my brother would just have to sigh and eat the rest of it. Now, barely four years old, Ollie has completely consumed his first lobster, and there's no turning back - the honeymoon is over!! We're a bit sad, Ollie, but you do make us proud!

The Fire Brigade

It was an exciting night in Tenants Harbor! We were in Maine for Thanksgiving week, and were keeping toasty at home with the woodstoves on. Andy and I put the kids to bed, and were in the living room plunking on our laptops, when I told Andy it seemed a bit cold... so he opened the damper on the woodstove and sat back down. About thirty seconds later, we heard a huge SWOOSH and the woodstove started blasting air through it and sounding like a freight train. We both jumped up and freaked out, and Andy ran outside to look at the top of the chimney, and came back in to declare that we had a chimney fire and to call 911! He went and got the kids out of bed, and a few minutes later there were three fire engines parked outside, red lights flashing (no sirens, thankfully!), and about twelve firemen. Ollie thought this was all VERY EXCITING. His eyes were big like saucers the whole time, and he kept very close to me but also very aware of all that was going on. Andy had shut down the chimney fire pretty quickly when he closed the damper, but the firemen still did a great job inspecting everything, including the attic, and even went on the roof to drop a chain down the chimney and clean it out a bit more. Yay St. George Fire Department! They were so helpful and nice. So, let's hope we don't have too many more exciting nights like this...

Yummy Playdate

My friend, Jenna, had a playdate recently where everyone brought along something "pretty" that they had baked... the idea being that we all like to bake pretty things, but we don't do it much because then we'd have lots of fattening treats around the house all the time! So we decided to make "ghost pops" - fudgey oreo ball fillings dipped in white chocolate and made into lollipops - they came out great!! Jenna made really cool decorated cookes that looked like nametags for "Moms Around the Lake" and "Meetup.com" - very clever. Here's a photo of Ollie and Claire having fun together, as usual. Thanks for the great playdate, Jenna!

All The Leaves Are Gone...

... but thankfully, the sky is NOT gray most of the time! We've had a gorgeous weekend, temps just over 60, sunny skies and crisp air - we did our first and last raking of the season! Our method is simple and foolproof: wait till ALL the leaves fall, and the wind has blown lots of them away, then (and only then) commence raking. They had blown into two smallish areas of our yard, pretty easy job, then Andy and Ollie mowed the whole yard to get the stragglers. I especially don't get leaf blowers - I SWEAR I can rake any yard in a fraction of the time that someone needs to do the same with a leaf blower. I think it's a guy thing - it makes tons of noise and blows the crap out of everything - what could be better? I think I may have swayed Andy on this one; he used it today for about 2 minutes before switching back to the rake. :-)

We're four-season walkers at Kittatinny State Park... the leaves may be gone now, but this warm weekend has pushed back winter in our minds - can Christmas really be just a few weeks away?? Ollie's very excited for snow.

Birthday Boy

Ollie, you turned 4 today -- FOUR!! Four years ago I became a mom, Andy became a dad, and we held this big bundle in our arms, all 10 pounds, 10 ounces of you. We have marveled at your wonderfulness every day thereafter. You're so full of energy and joy and curiosity and kindness. And FUN! Speaking of fun, your fourth birthday was super, super fun... it started on Friday, when you helped me make your big airplane cake. You're such a good cook, and you love to pull a chair up to the counter and help in any way possible, especially if it involves the kitchen sink or cracking eggs (which you're very good at). You decided a few weeks ago that you'd like an airplane cake, so we spent lots of time looking at them on Google images, getting ideas. I finally got up the courage to design a plane that looked manageable, so I drew a picture of it on paper the size of the cake pan, then cut out the pieces. We made the cake together (double recipe! yum!), then let it cool and covered it for the night. Today we put the design pieces over the cake and cut it up, and made a double batch of butter frosting, but the cake turned out to be soooo big that I had to make extra frosting! It took a really long time to frost... you wanted a blue airplane, but this is the closest I could get without using so much coloring that it was yucky tasting. You were SO happy with the cake, and it was super delicious, but the best thing about it was making it together. It took so long to frost that sometimes you would wander away to play, then come back a little later and exclaim, "Wow, Mommy, you're doing a really great job with the frosting!"

So, this morning you came downstairs to a big stack of presents from us, both grandparents, your cousins in England, and Auntie Mavis. You got a Geotrax train, a remote control amphibious vehicle, books, an erector set, a Peppa Pig t-shirt, and more! We spent a good part of the day putting together your train and making your cake, and then at 3:30 we headed to Titan Gym for your little birithday party. Your closest friends were there - Ryan and Addie, Claire, Emily, Brooke and Maddie, Carys and Lowri, and Georgie of course - your oldest friend in New Jersey. Titan Gym has loads of trampolines, and you all had so much fun bouncing on them! After playing for an hour and getting really hot and tired, you came over to the party area for your yummy cake, juice, and other treats. It's so nice you have such good friends here, and we're happy we could celebrate your birthday with them... our little boy, who's not so little any more. We love you so very much, Ollie, you're the most lovely boy that ever was.

Our Little Dragon

Ollie Bollie, you get your own Halloween post, to show off what a good sport you've been over the years in your first and only Halloween costume - a scary dragon! When you were one, you barely tolerated it, and mostly rolled around on the floor in an attempt to rub the costume off... but you did give us some smiles, as you can see!
You were just getting the hang of it when you were two, and the costume fit you well, with room to grow. That was the year that we'd just gotten back from England, only to find SNOW!
When you were three, the costume was a tiny bit snug, but you still loved it to bits. You really liked trick-or-treating this year.And this year, baby, the costume was truly too small for you, but you squeezed in like a sport, the dragon feet resting a few inches above your own. You were so excited about Halloween this year! You're a wonderful dragon, but you're still our little lamb, and we love you so much.

Halloween in T Harbor!

What a great Halloween!!! We couldn't resist coming to Maine for a long weekend, and the chance to trick-or-treat on Watts Ave.! It was such a nice few days - morning walks down to the harbor with steaming coffee cups in hand, loads of playtime with Grandma and Granddaddy, Ian and Suz and cousin Eli... Granddaddy was super excited to give Ollie his "birthday boat" (a week before his birthday) -- a handmade little wooden boat that had a hidden "Happy Birthday" song in it from a greeting card, and a button on top that you press and hold down to make the song play! Ollie loved it, of course. Andy had to work in his nice office in the garage all day on Friday, where the woodstove kept him extra toasty. Over the weekend we carved our imported pumpkin (fresh from the fields in NJ!) -- Andy quickly got frustrated with traditional carving and opted for a more efficient technique - see photo! We were so impressed with the result, especially the delicate nostrils.

Saturday night was our big night out - Ian and Suz watched the kids for us (thank you!!!!) and we went across the street with Mom and Dad to our friend Beth's famous Halloween Party - she throws a bang-up party every year with a great costume theme that changes each time. This year it was to dress up as a song title, so I went as "Kiss" by Prince (making use once again of my fabulous homemade kiss costume), and Andy went as "Devil in Disguise." I loved mom's costume as well - she went as "Yesterday," and wore a costume made of newspaper from yesterday's paper, and a hat draped with black fabric since she "had a shadow hanging over her" - get it? Awesome!

Halloween day just flew by - Andy had to work in the morning, and I took the kids to G&Gs for a great bagel brunch. Eli came back with us to our house at Maddie's naptime, and he and Ollie had fun playing all day. We had everyone over for a dinner of Andy's famous saffron pistachio risotto with Maine shrimp and peas (super good batch!) and then it was time to get the kids suited up. At first Maddie fussed and struggled to get her tutu off, but pretty soon she seemed pretty happy with it. We all headed down to the East Wind, where they were giving out special goody bags in the lobby, then to Big Dave's house around the corner, and Anne and Tony's... after that, Mom and Dad headed back to our house to give out candy, and we continued on our rounds. It was freezing out (literally), and Ollie got tired and cranky pretty fast, but we all trudged on, the promise of candy keeping Ollie from total meltdown. I was so proud of our cute little house, pumpkins shining, long candlesticks in the front windows, sparkley decoration on the door, woodsmoke rising from the chimney. Such a Happy Halloween!!