Friday, December 25, 2009

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Buffalo in the Snow


We had a wonderfully warm October and November here, but we finally got a little snow earlier this month (and the forecast is for a lot more this week). The kids couldn't wait to put on their snow pants and frolic in their own winter wonderland.





Merry Christmas!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Fall

It doesn't seem fair to punish all of you for my blogging slacker-ness, but life is pain (anyone who says differently is selling something). So prepare yourself to absorb all of Autumn in one fell swoop (or, should I say, one fell blog post). We'll be covering Mui-mui's birthday, a visit from Grandma and Grandpa P., Halloween, a trip to the pumpkin farm, etc. Because I really do like you guys, I'll spare you the sagas of the craft fair from hell, the person at church who CTW (Chose the Wrong and stole my coat), and Erik's exciting business trips. Don't you feel better now.

We'll start with Halloween.

My brother-in law, Justin, made the coolest Optimus Prime costume in the world (here he is with my cute sister, Rainbow Brite - AKA Ellen):



So, I don't think it's possible to beat Justin, but I did make the 2nd best Optimus Prime costume in the world for Go-go (plus, it actually transforms - check out the video taken at his Preschool halloween party). Thanks to Libby for the awesome "Go-go Prime" shirt - he LOVES it:






Mui-mui was a fabulous pumpkin at some parties and an adorable monkey at others. Sadly, these are the only picture I have (the back of the pumpkin head is her at her preschool party). I promise that I took others, but they're on my stolen phone (or on Grandpa's camera):




Go-go's preschool had two parties, so he went as a pirate/cowboy on the day he wasn't Optimus (reversible vest)




His preschool also had a halloween field trip to a great pumpkin farm. Grandma P., Mui-mui and I came along too and the kids got to pet a chicken, milk a goat, brush a horse, ride a pony, take a hayride, and choose pumpkins. It was perfect weather on a perfect farm - all in all, a perfect day.



We did lots of other fun things while Grandma and Grandpa P. were here. We took a cruise on the Erie canal and got to go up and down through the locks, went to the Anchor Bar and Grill - home of the original Buffalo wings, and took a trip to Goat Island at Niagara Falls. It was so fun to see them and show them around our new house and neighborhood.






October was also Mui-mui's birthday. I can't believe my little baby girl is two years old. She's talking up a storm and is just cute, giggly, and playful. Her Grandpa P. made her the most fabulous ducky booster seat ("duckie seat!") and Grandma and Grandpa got her lots of cute ducks to go with it (toys, purse, towel, and bath confetti). She gets a lot of practice saying "Quack!"



Grandma and Grandpa B. sent a great tea set which goes perfectly in the play kitchen we got her. She loves to pack the set in the cupboard then pull it out and "dink tea". When Go-go saw the kitchen, he declared that he had to give her a present that was as big as Mommy and Daddy's present. So he had a great idea to make a playhouse for the backyard - he wins - it's bigger!



So, there's our fall in a nutshell. Grandma and Grandpa B. are coming for Thanksgiving, so I'm sure we'll have lots more adventures in the coming weeks. And maybe I'll actually blog about them sooner than two months from now. Tune in to see.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Boundaries

The past three days have been pretty hellish around here (from my perspective anyway). I've been caught in the grips of what I'm fairly certain is H1N1 and haven't been able to do much more than lie in bed in a fevered stupor wishing for the oblivion of death (or at least the oblivion of sleep uninterrupted by hacking, wheezing coughs). Erik has heroically been serving as both single parent and nurse this weekend, but today was the day I've been dreading - the day Erik went back to work and I somehow had to become responsible for the well-being of myself and two small children. To facilitate this, we put the blow-up bed in the living room for me, and the kids have been watching movies and jumping on the bed (and on mommy) while I lay there like a large, lethargic, blob of yuck. The two-year old decided that it would be fun to play hide and seek with all of the stuff on the shelves. So the cell phone was hidden down my shirt, I had a book up the left leg of my pants, and my waistband was stuffed full of 7 or 8 DVDs. And, yet, I barely registered that any of this was happening or that I might want to stop it until I heard myself saying, "No, Mui-mui, 'A Bug's Life' does NOT go in Mommy's underwear." After all, a girl's got to have some boundaries, right?

Friday, September 11, 2009

Just because they're cute

Go-go's first day of preschool at the YMCA:


Go-go and Mui-mui playing at the window:






Super Kids!


Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Great Weekend


Any weekend that starts off with an ice cream party on Friday night has to be good. We walked a few blocks over to a neighbor's house where there was plenty of ice cream, lots of toppings, tons of kids (and their parents) from church, and good conversation. I started out feeling like I must be the Grandma of the ward - I definitely seemed to be the only person there over 26 or 27 - but as the night wore on, we met some great families (of assorted ages).

And Saturday just continued the fun. The weather was perfect for a breakfast baby shower in the park and it was good to meet even more of the women in the ward. After it was over, three of us (Diana, Amber, and me) just sat under the pavillion and chatted away for several more hours. Eventually, we realized that it was 2:30 and that if we wanted to continue gabbing, we should do it somewhere with food. The obvious answer was endless shrimp at Red Lobster. YUM! Coconut shrimp, teryaki shrimp, garlic shrimp scampi, cajun shrimp - just keep it comin'. Mmm, makes my mouth water just thinking about it. The fact that Erik hates seafood made it all the better - no guilt at all about leaving him out of the fun.


As soon as I got home, it was time for another party - and we didn't have to go far. They closed down the street in front of our house, had a bounce house, a rockin' band, a face-painting booth, food, and tons of people. The block party was just for the 2 blocks of our street, but I couldn't believe how many kids there are here (and I scouted a few potential babysitters as well). Go-go and Mui-mui loved it! Erik and I had a pretty spiffy time too.





The highlight of the evening was the traditional "gutter sundae". The kids all line up on the curb with their spoons at the ready (iphone camera at twilight equals fuzzy, dark photos - but you can hopefully get the idea):


Then the sundae is brought out in the section of gutter that has been passed down from year to year and family to family (and, I'm assured, thouroughly scrubbed) and it's time to dig in.





Go-go was the last one still going at it.




Sunday was a day of rest. I stayed home with a sick Daniel (maybe too much watermelon and ice cream at the block party) and we just had a pleasant day. On Monday, we went to Rochester to the Museum of Play. It is the coolest children's museum I have ever seen. We've been there lots of times, but we never seem to make it very far. This time, we started at the end in Reading Adventureland where we climbed Jack's beanstalk, played in the giant's castle, had adventures in Robison Crusoe's treehouse, solved mysteries with Nancy Drew, and just had a great time. We also saw their amazing butterfly garden (it really was jam-packed with butterflies, despite the fact we didn't seem to catch any on camera).





When we first walked into the museum, I noticed a familiar face in line just ahead of us. Then, two, and three, and four (and then all of their kids - a total of 10 familiar faces!)! It was our new friends Amber and Diana and their families. We felt a little like stalkers (although maybe it was them stalking us - they obviously didn't get enough of me at Red Lobster), but we had a great time all playing together at the museum, and then the park for a little while when the museum closed. Then we all headed to LeRoy, NY (birthplace of Jello) for some delicious chicken pot pie.




All in all, an almost perfect weekend!


Saturday, August 29, 2009

Go-go Transforms!


On Wednesday, Go-go transformed from a 3 year-old into a 4 year-old! It seems impossible that he has been around that long (although sometimes I have trouble remembering life before being a mom, so I shouldn't be too surprised that it's been a while). He's been looking forward to his birthday for about six months now, and (not surprisingly, if you've ever read this blog) has never wavered from his insistence that he will have "a Transformers party, with a big Transformers cake and Transformers game and I'll be Optimus Prime!" (you have to picture this being said with plenty of wild jumping and gesturing).

Who am I to deny a boy his dream?

So, on Wednesday, we had cake:





On Saturday, we had the friends' party. The plan was to do everything in the back yard, but our rainy Buffalo summer put a damper on that plan ('damp'-er, ha ha ha! - sometimes I crack myself up with very little justification!) Luckily, our couches didn't fit into the doorways when we moved in, so we have a big empty room that's just right for decepticon bowling, dance partying, musical pillow flopping, and general merriment-making.



Bowling for Bots




Decorating Cupcakes




Making Personal Pizzas



Pin the Autobot Symbol on Optimus Prime





Opening Presents




And General Merriment