Happy New Year!

The Six Days of Christmas (with one breather day)

Oh yeah. Six full days. Giuliana is aaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllll stocked up for toys. And new clothes (All the right size! yay!) and jammies, and socks. She's good to go. And, thanks to Ryan, her new sneaker that I lost on Christmas Eve Eve was found and is safe and sound in her closet.

So, here was our holiday agenda:

The First Day of Christmas: Christmas Eve Eve at our friends' (Kate and Nick) house. Great Party! G loved the cookies that Kate slaved over. She went to sleep pretty early, but mommy and daddy had a lot of fun.

The Second Day of Christmas: Christmas Eve. Blogged about already. See below.

The Third Day of Christmas: Christmas Day. G doesn't know that you are supposed to wake up EARLY on Christmas. I, however, was awake at 5am because I was soooooo excited for G to open her stocking and to see what Santa brought her!! I contained myself until 7am when I just had to go in and wake her up!

Here's the morning festivities.



Next it was off to John's mom's house. We were there all day. It was craziness. I had a Kitchen Aid Christmas! I am the proud owner of a new, black, Artisan series mixer. With a wisk!, and a bread hook! and a mixing paddle! and a splatter guard! yippee!! And, Gina's fiance (ooo la la), Jerry, bought us this wonderful Italian cookbook that I am in love with. John got his loop pedal that he had been wishing and hoping for. And G? Toys. Lots and lots of Toys. Her favorite from this day, I think, is her Singing Elmo and the Talking Pizza. It's cute, but it only sings ONE SONG. Over and over. It was a love fest of family and food and G survived without melting. It was a good day.


The Fourth Day of Christmas: The Day After Christmas, or Boxing Day if you want to be all chi-chi British. This is the day we have decided to traditionally celebrate Christmas with my parents. More kitchen madness on my part in the morning. Not too bad, just a cheese and cracker tray and deviled eggs. Only I discovered that I don't own a deviled egg tray. I thought I did. I had this vision of this white tray with a gold border that I inherited when my grandmother passed away and I got a lot of her entertaining ware. Turns out my vision was of my mother's deviled egg tray that she still very much owns and is in possession of. So, there was a slight (major) deviled egg landslide on the drive over and we had a deviled mess. Luckily, I was very bright and wrapped the whole plate, so it was contained within the saran wrap. Hey, they still taste good.

So, anyway, we had a leisurely lunch and then got to the present-fest. John and I both were given digital picture frame keychains so we can annoy everyone we meet with many, many pictures of G. My parent's bought us a nice new rocking chair for G's bedroom, as the one we have in there is falling apart. And Miss G, her favorite toy of the day is a tie between the dinosaur drop and roar and a huge bag of mega-blocks. Oh, and my mom loved her birdhouses.


Unfortunately, the evening ended badly for John. He had a major attack and was in horrible pain for about an hour. We decided to call the ambulance several times, but then changed our minds because after 14 months of this, 3 hospitalizations, and about a dozen ER trips we know that absolutely nothing will be accomplished by heading to the ER. They will make us wait for hours. They will draw blood. They may order an ultrasound or CT scan. And they will find nothing other than slightly elevated liver enzymes. And they will "be kind" and give him something for the pain, only it will be fentanyl, which we will tell them doesn't work for John. And they will insist that that is what he should get. And it won't work. And then we will go home with instructions to call his doctor in the morning. Or something like that. So, though he couldn't even walk from my parent's living room to the car without collapsing to the floor, we went home. My parent's followed us home to make sure that John got inside ok and to help me carry in gifts. They really love us.

The Fifth Day of Christmas: The Day After The Day After Christmas. This day was spent with John's extended family downstate in Rock Hill (Monticello area). We drove John's dad down with us and that was fun. He really is a funny guy. There was more food, more gifts, a visit from Santa (after Santa had a few shots of Scotch and I helped him disguise his eyebrows with baby powder and a makeup brush) and lots of family. Again, no major melts on G's part, so, all good. She is not a fan of Santa so far, though. Hmmmm...she didn't like Grandpa for a long time either. Coincidence?




The Sixth Day of Christmas: The Day After we took a break for a day and just stayed home and played with toys and took a walk The Day After The Day After Christmas. Today was a pretty low-key Christmas. John and G and I went to Target this morning to spend too much money. We were seriously low on diapers and milk, and by seriously low I mean G was wearing her very last diaper and there was no milk in the house. And I needed a few grocery things. And I wanted to get a tub for G's mega-blocks and a couple of laundry baskets to store all those toys in. And she needed some more 18 month jammies. And some baby wash cause we were out. And we decided to pick up a few movies to enjoy on our break. And I needed a new book. Thank god for gift cards.

Later in the day some friends of ours came over for lunch and to give G a Christmas present. She got a book and a fun sled, along with a couple of other things. She loves that sled. We had to drag her around the house in it because there is no snow. She also sat in it for, like, 10 minutes, which is much longer than she willingly sits anywhere. It, too, was a really good day.


And that, my friends, was our insane holiday, full of tons of love and family. Just as it should be. Oh, and great food! That never hurts. How was yours?

Christmas Eve

Today was spent in the kitchen. I got everything done about 20 minutes before we walked out the door to go to John's mom's house for Christmas Eve dinner. No pictures, I didn't have time or a free hand.

Highlights of the day:
-G seems to like raw eggplant slices. She kept asking for them while I was slicing them to grill. That was one item prepared...grilled eggplant, asparagus, yellow squash, zucchini, red peppers, and crimini mushrooms.
-G also liked the biscotti (bisqwuatti for Kate) that I made. She had it before it was drizzled with white chocolate and crushed red hots. 3 things: I had to run to the grocery store today JUST to buy white chocolate chips. I forgot them in my marathon shopping trip Monday night. Sigh. Also, I am not a good drizzler. See next item. And, I think maybe G didn't eat anything but cookies and eggplant today. hmm...
-Recipes routinely lie about how much produce you need. I waaaaay over bought for the grilled veggies, based on my cookbook's advice for serving 6. I could serve 15. I didn't grill it all up. And the Apple Pear Tart that I made called for 2 apples and 2 pears. I could have easily done with 1 of each. Is there a produce conspiracy to make me buy/cut up more than I need?? If I were Kristina I could make succatash or something with all my left over squash and zucchini and eggplant. That's what I said I would do with it as I put it in the fridge. I can guarentee you that it will not happen. I also used my drizzle technique on the tart. I was instructed to drizzle caramel ice cream topping over the whole thing. After the second gloppy drizzle attempt of the day I decided that my techinique needs improving.
-I am eternally glad that I married an Italian. John specifically. But, I love, love, love Christmas Eve dinner! Mussels, clams, breaded smelt, spaghetti with calamari sauce, shrimp cocktail. And lots of wine. I didn't eat all day in anticipation.
-I also love champagne! I had a wee bit last night and a weeeeeeeeeee bit more today. We were celebrating Gina and Jerry's engagement today! I'm gonna have a new brother-in-law! It makes me a little teary. We really like Jerry. Gina-GLOWING!! You could say she is happy. It would be a major understatement. Jerry is also giddily happy. And now I can joke with him about marrying into this crazy, wonderful family. I think he is happy for Christmas Eve dinner, too.
-I finished the birdhouses! They are drying with the first coat of mod podge right now.


I just have to mod podge them all one more time tomorrow night. The will dry overnight and then I can wrap them up, just in time for Christmas with my parent's on Friday.
-G is sleeping right now in the dress she wore for dinner and to church after. She fell asleep in the car and I carried her up to bed, asleep. I was able to get her coat off, but not her dress, she kept rolling over. She has no idea Santa has already been here!! Her stocking is full. And her jungle gym is put together waiting for her in the dining room.


She can come downstairs tomorrow morning and start climbing immediately. The cats have already explored the cubby holes in it, too.
-I am so freaking excited for Christmas this year!! G is gonna love it!! Yippee!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Did Somebody Say It's Christmas?

Already??


That would explain this VERY BUSY TABLE today. Tomorrow, it will be the kitchen....all day long. And maybe more on those birdhouses if I can't wrap it up in the next hour or so. I am assuming everyone would appreciate it if I took a shower before Christmas Eve Eve.

A Lovely Christmas Gift

My friend Marci surprised me with this picture she took of me and G a few months ago. Her partner made the frame by hand. And that little pot is called a "Mommy Pot" for holding all the little short stemmed flowers picked for you by little hands. AWWWW! That Marci is one great girl :)

Winer Solstice

Here's what we did to welcome winter...christmas cookies and sledding! And hot chocolate, too. That's how you spend a short day.

Snowy days

Our family has been enjoying the last couple of snow days. We had a literal snow day on Friday, even though there was no snow when we woke up. There wasn't any snow at 8am when we would have normally been getting to work. There wasn't any snow at 9am or 10am either. But...by 11am, we couldn't see the sidewalks anymore! Thank you Maria (our thoughtful Executive Director!) for caring about your staff's lives enough to decide to err on the side of safety and cancel work on faith that it really would snow, and it would be bad.

We stayed inside and played! Then we went outside and played (sort of, what do you expect a one year old to do when the snow comes up to her knees and she is stuffed into a snow suit that makes her looked like a cute blue sausage?) while Daddy shoveled. And then....hot cocoa! G's first time!

Later in the afternoon G got a lovely box to play in (crazy UPS drivers! But thanks for making sure our Christmas presents arrived.) Boxes are great, because they can be so many things with a little imagination. Now, granted, at one, you need a little help imagining. But G's box became a fun tunnel, a fire truck, and a drum (not that she needs another drum.)

Today, more playing inside. The box became a drawbridge into her fort under the dining room table! And I finally started the cute birdhouses that I am making for my mom for Christmas. The decoupage one took me about 5 hours today. We took a trip to 5 Guys (Yipee!) around dinner time, and then, back to work! But I got it done. 2 more to go. Those are not going to be as time consuming, I hope.

Here's a few pics, because I can't resist. What did you do during the snow?


What the heck are we doing out here?


This is G "playing" in the snow. John is having fun. Max had a lot of fun, too. For real. He was running around like he was crazy. Wait a minute...

There's the smile I have been waiting for.


Ok, I smiled. I'm done. I'm going inside. You can come...or not. I don't really care. I'm cold.

The pay-off. Hot cocoa!! (why do all my pictures look fuzzy? She is constantly moving!)



You don't want to know how many pictures I took just to get this one...she's not so much a fan of the hat. She puts it on and then takes it immediately off. She's quick! But I did NOT pose her in the box. She loves that thing. She yelled if I took her out.

Leaving the fort.

Decoupage in progress.

Done. I have to paint/craft those other two before Christmas!

On a side note, last weekend we went to Breakfast with Santa at the Binghamton Club. It is an annual event, and G's second time sitting on Santa's lap. Although, admittedly, she slept thought it all last year, being only 2 weeks old and all. This year...not such a big fan on Santa. However, she did better than I expected. You may recall my post the other day about one year old meltdowns. Yeah, I was kinda anticipating a scene...no scene, so I was cool with that. Here is the happy family, etc.

I swear I'm not pregnant. That dress is actually flattering in real life.

Not looking too sure...

Trying to get a group shot of the pretty matching dresses...not happening.

One (Revised)

Let me tell you what having a one year old has turned out to be like in the last week. She is still as cute and lovable as I remember. However, yeah....she's suddenly one. Some switch must have flipped in her brain after eating that birthday cupcake and she suddenly realized, hey, I can do what I WANT TO DO. She developed this fierce WILL OF HER OWN overnight! Milestones...

So, here is what is becoming a typical scene:

G: playing with...anything she wants to play with, books, kitchen utensils, pots and pans, videos, dvds, napkins, stuff on all the shelves at Michael's and the Giant, possibly even toys...

Mommy (or Daddy): Oh, G, we have to go check your diaper out.

G: NOOOOOOO! I want to play! (In baby language, this is much less civilized)

Mommy: This will be quick and then you can come back and play.

G:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I want to play!!!

Mommy: But, G, you are a little smelly, no offense. You don't want to play in that. It will be quick, I promise.

G: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You are killing me inside! I will not stand for this outrage!!! NO NO NO!!

Mommy: G, really, you need some perspective here, it will only take a minute. Hey, please don't kick Mommy. And could you stop yelling in my ear?

G: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NO NO NO NO. I MUST PLAY!!! YOU ARE MEAN AND NOT NICE. I WILL DO WHAT I WANT TO DO.

Mommy: Oww, G, don't kick. Let me get this diaper off you...hey, don't crawl away, you'll fall off the changing table..wait! don't stand up yet. Please stop yelling. Geez, can I just get your pants back on? Then you can go play....There, all done. Go play.

G: "Alllllll dooone" Smile (as cute as can possibly be!), crawls back to book shelf to rip more books down...

(By the way, in the span of writing this post, here is what occured:)

ACK!
(Oh, and in the time it took to upload these pictures, G turned the stereo on at volume 40! Somehow, of course, to a heavy drum solo. I think she may be deaf now. She likes to stand directly in front of the speakers...)

It's Finally Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Thanks to an unexpected afternoon off, due to an ice storm, I finally got my Christmas decorations out. Giuliana has been wide eyed at the lights on the tree all day. And so far, she hasn't stolen a single ornament!

Scenes From a Birthday

Ok, a few days late, but here is the recap in photos of Giuliana's very first birthday party! We had a very good time and it went off with nary a hitch. Giuliana was still a little bit sick and she was a little moody at the beginning as she had just got up from a nap...but she overcame all that and ended up having a ball! Yay!







And, for fun, a few before and after party pics, too.

Enjoying her DRUM SET!!!

That smirk says it all: I'm ONE! people, watch out!!


Cute toes on her bench.

Thanks! I had a great birthday!