Happy Birthday to Abby (and Merry Christmas!)

On Christmas night, eight years ago (yesterday) I was given the best Christmas present I will ever receive:  a beautiful daughter. 

Happy Birthday Abby!  You have brought us so much joy!!! And, if you wouldn't mind, could you please stop growing up so fast??

(almost) 8 yrs old

5-yrs old

3 1/2 yrs old

9 mos old

My apologies to Abby for the day-late wishes, but unfortunately Santa brought Ben a little more than presents yesterday.  Ben would like to return the stomach virus, and instead requests more Legos.  Although he's feeling a little better today, he's currently not playing with his new toys, but is lying on the floor under a blanket waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in.  Poor guy!  And, also poor Abby for having the little birthday attention she gets on Christmas diminished even further. (Fortunately for Abby she will get to celebrate her birthday at least 3 more times this week.  So, I think she'll be just fine!)

The Excitement is Building

Drawn by Caroline before 7:30am this morning:

What are the Chances?

The last three times I started my car, much to my amazement, Mariah Carey was singing her rendition of 'O Holy Night' that includes the one verse with her singing at least three octaves above my vocal range.  I have the car radio turned on one of the local stations playing Christmas carols, and this station is having their Top 100 Christmas Carol Countdown, which I've managed to hit at EXACTLY the same point, three times in three days.  Impressive right?
.
Mariah's song was followed on all three occasions by "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas."  Not to sound too bah humbug about it, but I think the hippo song is one of my very least favorite Christmas songs.  Ben, however, loves this song so much that today when we got in the car he said (even before hearing the song again), "Mom, I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.   No, I'm just kidding.  I want Legos."

Now the really amazing thing to me is that all three errands occurred at different times each day.  What are the chances of catching the same carol in the countdown on the radio?  Really, I'm curious. Fortunately, I took a whole graduate level class in Probability and Statistics and we can easily figure it out (since this type of problem is from Chapter 1)!

(I'm just now realizing there is no equation editor in Blogger.  Bummer.) 

1) For the calculation, each instance of 'O Holy Night' is an independent event.
2) Since B101 is having their Top 100 countdown, the total number of possible songs to hear for each event is 100 songs.
3) The probability of hearing 'O Holy Night' one time when I turned on the radio is 1 in a 100 (P=0.01). The same for the second time and third time. 

Overall Probability= 1/P1 * 1/P2 * 1/P3
P = 0.000001

-OR-

The chances of hear this song right when I turn on the radio three times in three days is 1 in 1,000,000.
ONE IN A MILLION. 

I'm going to go buy a lottery ticket.  
(and change the radio station)

 

Merry Pancakes

Holiday pancake fun!

Ben comparing a reindeer ornament he colored with reindeer pancake.

"Match!" 

 

"GI BINE JONES"

I forgot to mention one detail from our excursion to NYC.  While I was picking up cookies from the Astoria Bakery (which really, really are delicious by the way), Scott and the kids stayed at Brian's apartment to unwind a little from the car ride.  I thought it would be best to watch part of a movie or a little TV rather than letting the kids systematically investigate every nook and cranny of Brian's apartment. 

We decided to turn on an old episode of the cartoon "GI JOE" since I figured it would appeal to everyone (and mostly Ben who was the most anxious go ransacking).  I was a little surprised, but GI JOE was a huge hit with all three kids.  And, we even returned to PA with some other episodes from Brian for future viewing. 

Here's how much they liked GI JOE:
1) I have been continously hearing Ben sing the GI Joe theme song. 
2) Caroline has been begging to watch "GI BINE JONES" again.
3) Ben told me that he likes "all the good guys" and thinks "scarlett is really pretty".
4) We asked Ben what his favorite part about New York was, whether it was the giant Christmas tree, the knight suits, or the playground.  Ben replied, "Both!"  Scott asked, "Both what?  The tree and the museum?"  Ben said, "No Dad, both shows of GI JOE!" 

Christmas in the Big Apple

On Saturday we drove up to NYC to visit my brother and see the city decorated for Christmas. 

Our second stop (after visiting the Astoria Bakery for almond cookies) was to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I've always wanted to visit the Met, but always seemed to end up going to the Museum of Natural History instead.  Ben is a little young for museums, but I thought he might get a kick out of the Arms and Armor exhibit -- all the swords and "boomers" (i.e., shields) and knight outfits (i.e., armor).  He definitely enjoyed it.  He and Dad spent some extra time in this section together.  I believe Scott read the country of origin for all the suits of armor to a very eager Ben.

Abby has been repeatedly asking to visit this particular museum since it is prominently featured in one of the books we read together, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  We never found the exact bed that Claudia and her brother slept in while they ran away to the museum, but the Egyptian exhibit was well received.  Actually, Abby was disappointed that we could not stay in this section longer, so we'll have to visit again.

I was a bit surprised that Caroline most enjoyed looking at the paintings. She really took her time in the 17th and 18th century paintings.  My favorites were the 19th century French impressionist paintings (Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, etc.), which we unfortunately had to zip through since Ben was ready to go outside and play on the playground.  Overall, though, the Met is incredible.  It's immense and treasure-filled!

Van Gogh's Wheat Field with Cypresses

(This is an actual photo of painting that Brian took with his phone -- amazing, right??)

After being somewhat restricted volume- and speed-wise in the museum, we let the kids run free on one of the many fabulous Central Park playgrounds and enjoyed some Hot (not wet) Nuts.  That sweet, nutty smell gets me every time.  $6 for a tiny bag of sugar coated cashews.  Totally worth it!

Although taking the bus was a fallback option, we thought we'd give a 30 block walk a try, straight down 5th avenue at dusk to watch the city light up.  New York at Christmas is worth the trip!  Abby didn't even notice the distance because there was so much to see. The lights on the buildings alone are over the top.  The amount of people as we approached Rockefeller Center was really hard to believe -- a traffic jam of human bodies.  You know the scenes from New Year's Eve with the streets filled to capacity with people waiting for the ball to drop?  It was like that.  I really don't feel like I need to go to NYC for New Year's Eve now since that amount of people is a little unsettling from all the jostling, but, on the other hand it was kind of fun being in "the place to be" for a while. 

The Generation Gap is Growing

I've always known that I will eventually not be "cool" anymore to my kids.  I am pretty sure that is the fate of most parents.  But, I figured I had until Abby hit 6th grade or so for this to happen. 

Apparently, it's going to happen a lot sooner than I thought.

I was washing Caroline's hair in the bathtub yesterday.  After soaping her up, sometimes I create crazy shampoo hairdos for fun before rinsing.  Yesterday, I pulled all of her hair straight up into a single, pointy pony tail, and said, "Look, Caroline, you look just like Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."  I thought to myself, "Aren't you a clever mom coming up with that seasonally appropriate hairdo."

But, Caroline's hair is getting long, and soon her hairdo collapsed over her forehead to the side.

And then she said, "No, Mom, I'm Justin Bieber."

(Justin Bieber, whose name I had to look up how to spell correctly, is a teenage singing hearthrob.  But, how did Caroline know about him???  AND....I also just googled Cindy Lou Who and found out her hairdo is nothing like I remembered anyway. So much for my pop culture references.)

We Interrupt this Blog for....

Errands.
Writing a dredge material management plan.
Creating Christmas cards.
More errands.
Creating Christmas calendars.
Girl Scout Caroling.
Birthday Party #1.
Planning Commission meeting.
Even more errands.
Birthday Party #2.
Girl Scout First Aid/CPR Training.
Comprehensive Development Plan meeting.
Still more errands.
Christmas shopping.
Regular grocery shopping.
Regular weekday stuff.
Regular parenting stuff.

There's probably more, but the last week is kind of a blur!

Gingko Leaves