What's Crackin'?

Last night, Emily and I got to enjoy a production of the Nutcracker.

Before the show, we went to Olive Garden. Unfortunately so did every other mommy/daughter duo who went to the Nutcracker last night (at least it seemed that way) and so we were almost late to the performance.

Luckily we made it on time. 

The performance was amazing (unlike my camera phone. My apologies) and Emily loved every minute of it. At one point, she said, "Mom, this is the best night of my life". 

I am looking forward to the day when Jane is responsible enough to sit through a performance of the like, but it was lovely to be able to spend some time with my big girl last night.

Four of One, a Third of a Dozen of Another

Jane had her 4th birthday this past week. In lieu of a party we did a special day for Jane. This could be the last year I can get away with this, so I really savored the freedom of not doing a kid party. 

We drove an hour south and went to Jumpin'. Which is wall-to-wall bouncy houses. Jane was a bit intrepid at first, but eventually was able to join in the jumpin' fun.

After that, we went to Build-A-Bear (note: if you happen to go to Build-A-Bear in December on a Saturday, plan at least an extra hour into your schedule for standing in line. Also, pack snacks and water for your kids so they don't have meltdowns in said line.)

In the end, it was all worth it. Meet Lucy and Chuck the Girl. Lucy is the one sporting skinny jeans and Ugg boots. Chuck the Girl is modeling a lovely pair of heels. 

After the Build-A-Bear expedition, we needed sustenance. Jane chose Carrino's. 

When I asked Jane what she wanted for her birthday cake, she said "pink cupcakes". I said I would make some pink frosting and asked her what kind of cake she wanted under the frosting. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "pink cake". So... pink cupcakes with pink frosting it was. 

Then she got some loot. 

Happy 4th birthday, Jane! (And a big shout-out to Chris who really helped with all the birthday stuff this year on account of the sick joke involving huge amounts of stress and time going on at my workplace right now)

Big Cookies, Bright Lights

Let me get this out of the way: I love Christmas with small children. That having been said, Christmas with small children is exhausting. This situation has not been helped by my transfer into a squad that is working mandatory overtime on eight projects. Still, because I have a great husband, Christmas traditions have not been neglected... much.

This year, we actually decorated our house.

Here is Chris doing some of the lighting work while Emily keeps him entertained with tales of that crazy llama.

And we have a tree. I think we'll do a live tree as long as Christmas is magic for the kids. When it stops being magic, I have my eye on one of those shiny foil trees from Charlie Brown Christmas. Preferably with a rotating stand. 

But for now, I wouldn't skip the piney smell for anything. It makes all of this better:

In our family, we have a tradition of having a special ornament every year that represents something we did or experienced. It makes decorating the tree even more fun when you remember where each special ornament came from. This year's ornament was from our Disneyland vacation. When I look at that magical glow, I almost forget the incident in the line for Peter Pan. Almost.

The finished product, decorated mostly by children:

And, because the kids asked, and asked, and asked, we decorated sugar cookies this year. My back is aching and it only took approximately three hours to produce cutouts and frosting (which, to be fair, included making and decorating Jane's birthday cookies for preschool) but it was totally worth it to allow my kids the magic of Christmas sugar cookie decorating.

The sprinkles stayed in the cupboard for two reasons:

1) We already had a frosting mess to clean up and I wasn't about to add sprinkles to the party, and

2) M&M's are one of the most delicious foods on earth AND they serve as lovely tree ornaments as well as Rudolf noses. 

Argue with that.

Thanks to ample help from Chris, the magic of Christmas is alive and well. Now if only I could figure out that last gift on my list. If you happen to be a young father/professional/gamer/techie/bigfoot enthusiast (or are tuned into the needs of such) please leave suggestions in the comment section.

"Thanksgiving" - Because I'm too tired to think up a better title.

So it turns out I haven't blogged since Halloween. I really thought I was doing better than that, but that's pretty typical of motherhood in general.

Thanksgiving in all its glory occurred this past week. It was the first time in several years that my brother and sister and I were all together for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was at my parents' house here. Those of you who know my parents will say, "But your parents don't live here". You would be correct. They do however have a house here. Moving right along...

I abstained from baking for two weeks before Thanksgiving. This was incredibly difficult for me, but necessary so I didn't have to buy big girl pants on Black Friday. It was lovely to finally be able to bake. I won't bore you with pictures of my food because, let's face it, I'm not a professional chef. It was, however delicious and it was delightful to cook up a storm with my mom and sister.

In order to work of some of the serious regret after the big meal, we played Kinect sports.

The kids really enjoyed seeing their cousins.

and their grandparents. Here my dad is playing "Sweet Baby Jane".

I apologize to my brother for the dent the size and shape of Jane's butt he must have in his lap at this point, but she really enjoyed her time with Uncle Ryan.

Last night, we completed our annual Thanksgiving tradition with our local Christmas Parade. I must say it's pretty strange, but we go and freeze every year for the local flavor. And the girls love that they get to drink unlimited amounts of hot chocolate in the battle to fend off hypothermia. 

All in all, it was a fantastic Thanksgiving. Thanks to everyone for putting up with us all weekend.

And now the Christmas season begins. Will I be buying big girl pants at the post Christmas clearance sales? Stay tuned.

This is Halloween... This is Halloween

This past week, we've all had a chance to come together and celebrate the true meaning of Halloween (which is, of course, candy).

Chris got super optimistic about the pumpkin carving this year. We made a deal. He would carve up the squashes and I would make some pumpkin pancakes for dinner. It started off looking like a fair deal. 

But long after the pancakes were eaten and being digested in the bellies of our sleeping children, Chris was dremmel-ing away on the jack-o-lanterns. 

The end result (not witnessed by the kids until the following day) was well worth it. At least from my perspective. Darth Vader was Emily's choice. Puss in boots was Jane's.

This year may be one of the last that Emily wants us to attend her school party, so attend we did. It was everything that a first grade party should be.

Later that night, Emily and Jane both dressed up as Rapunzel (Jane idolizes Emily and wants to be just like her. Once again, this year may be one of the last that happens).  Now, all kids love trick-or-treating, but if you watch my kids do it, you'd think their next meal depends on those little bags of Skittles. They stayed out for two and a half hours. (Mommy switched off with Daddy mid-evening. Neither of us have the dedication or the stamina to make it the whole night.)

They were rewarded richly.

It will be interesting to see how their loot increases in the years to come as their legs get longer and their speed increases. This year, we were only able to cover about four blocks. Next year, come what may, we'll make it five.

One From the Bloopers Reel

Recently we decided Emily was old enough to be trusted with her own eczema medication. Every night, we instructed her to put on her cream and then asked her where she had applied it. It turns out 6 year olds don't always give it to you straight. That's where this whole saga starts.

This past summer we discovered that eczema can develop under fingernails. A couple weeks ago our eczema knowledge base expanded even more. It turns out that, if not treated, eczema can become infected. So, you can imagine that this is what happened after Emily stretched the truth when we asked her if she had applied her cream.

The doctor prescribed a medicine that combined an antibiotic with a sulfa medication. The taste was, apparently, unacceptable to Emily's fine palate. After cleaning up the milk and dissolved pill mixture she so considerately spat upon the floor, we decided a carrot and stick measure was appropriate. The stick was conveniently provided by the internet in the form of gangrene pictures. I won't share them here, but needless to say, she was quite frightened after we told her her infected thumb would look like that if not treated. The carrot was a gallon of chocolate milk, which is normally forbidden in our house. If she took her pill, she could drink a glass of chocolate milk with it.

This all worked fantastically, until she took her final pill last Saturday. Sunday morning, she woke up covered  head to toe in a rash. The doctor identified it as a reaction due to a sulfa allergy. We would have to wait three or four days for the medicine to clear her system.

The next few days passed in a Benadryl haze for Emily. We had to tell everyone she came into contact with that she did not have chicken pox, measles or the like. She became an after school special for drug allergies. "You, see class I can't get sick from touching Emily or from breathing the same air as she does." Finally, the drug cleared, Emily was able to come off Benadryl and life resumed as normal.

I guess the moral of the story is - Never trust a six year old. Rookie mistake. I won't make it again.

Gimme a Hand

Several weeks ago (I know, I'm fantastic at keeping my blog up to date) Jane got a new helper hand. So far she loves it. 

As you can see, her new hand is quite a bit larger than her old one. We may be a bit overdue on this transition... 

Some of the many fantastic uses of Jane's new arm include:

• Trike riding (without having to twist her back in a weird position)

• Pinching indiscriminately (we're working on her not doing this)
• Holding her blanket, leaving her hand free for other uses.
• Better accuracy on xbox Kinect bowling.

I'm sure we'll figure out more uses for helper hand 3.0 as she goes, but she is loving it so far.

It closes via a cable that goes across her back and  loops around her right shoulder. If you ask her how it works, she can't tell you, but she will be happy to show you. She is getting quite accurate at picking up toys and squeezing glue bottles. 

Oh... and just in case you're wondering how supafly Jane is, here is a picture of Aron Ralston wearing the a the same terminal in an adult, slightly more rugged version... oh and for some reason he decided against the ladybug print. Now all Jane needs is a corporate sponsor... and her own feature length film.