Ben at Christmastime

6:12 a.m.  Tuesday
Ben (walks downstairs):  "Dad, is it Christmas yet?"
Dad:  "No, not for a few more days."
Ben:  Sighs.  Walks back upstairs.  Climbs into bed with me.

6:13 a.m. Tuesday
Ben (singing, loudly):  "Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus."
Ben:  "Mom, did you know Christmas is in a few days?"
Mom: "Really?"
Ben: "Yeah, it is. Dad said so."

7:00 a.m. Wednesday
(Scott stayed home sick from work, so he was sleeping in.)
Ben:  "Why are you still sleeping, Dad?"
Scott:  "Because I have a cold."
Ben:  "Do you need some medicine?"
Scott:  "Ben, you know, laughter is the best medicine."
Ben (wisely):  "So laugh then."

7:20 a.m. Wednesday
Ben is deep in battle using light saber.  There are bad guys everywhere. Ben is in peak Jedi form (see photo).  After battling for while, Ben turned on some music on the CD player as background for the fighting.  What song do you think he picked?  A Christmas CD?  Some Star Wars soundtrack music?  No, he picked Elton John's "Can't You Feel the Love Tonight?"  I don't know about you, but Elton John doesn't scream light saber battle to me.

7:00 p.m. Thursday
Ben:  "Mom, do you think I'm going to throw up, like I did on Christmas last year."
Mom:  "Awwww, buddy, do you remember that from last year?"
Ben:  "Yeah, I remember throwing up on the carpet on Christmas."
Mom:  "Well, hopefully you'll have a good day this year."
Ben:  "I sure hope so."

Can you believe that he remembered that from when he was 3?

Longwood Christmas

One of my very favorite holiday traditions is visiting Longwood Gardens at Christmas.  This year's displays were grand and certainly did not disappoint!  I decided to take my tripod this year to capture some longer exposure outdoor shots.  While I had an excellent time playing photographer, Scott scrupulously studied to the lighting displays to get some ideas for our house next year.  This year's theme was gingerbread; there were large and small gingerbread decorations incorporated elegantly throughout the gardens.

Full-size Trees Made of Gingerbread!

Rainbow Grove

Inside The Conservatory

I asked Scott to play model and "catch the light."  

Time to cast him on America's Next Top Model, right?

Outdoor Displays

The Fountain Show (always a favorite!)

Visions of Sugar Plums

An original poem, written in my current state of Christmas preparation delirium.

The week before Christmas, and all through the house,
Scott's decorated everything with lights, to the chagrin of his spouse.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care,
with fragile globe lights around them, so better beware.

There are lights in the kitchen; lights on the stairs.
Lights in the bedrooms; now our house sure has flare.
(and a soaring electric bill)
  
And, try through I might to get it to fall,
the wacky wall walker is still stuck to the wall.

  
But what, might you ask, about all the rest of the prep?
While Scott's been alighting, I've done the rest with vigor and pep.
  
The cookies are baked; the cards are (almost) all sent.
The calendar's finished; and the money is spent.
  
The presents are wrapped; the tree is put up.
Holiday plans have been made with menus to sup.
  
It is almost time to celebrate the season. 
So raise your glass!  It's (almost) the holidays! (And, don't forget the reason!)

just how messy can one candy cane be?

Turns out, pretty messy.

What really baffles me is why his hands are so wet.  Do your hands get wet when you eat a candy cane??

I ♥ NYC

We decided to take the family on a little Christmas adventure to Manhattan to visit with Uncle Brian this past Saturday.  Rather than driving, we took the NJ Transit train from Trenton, which, speaking from experience, is a decidedly more relaxing trip than driving anywhere in or near NYC in a mini-van with out-of-state plates.  Unlike our usual planned adventures, we decided to just "go with the flow" for the day and see where our feet led us.  That turned out to be good plan!

Since it is conveniently located nearby Penn Station, we shopped a bit at the largest store in the world: Macy's (which looked even better illuminated at night). The store was jammed packed with people shopping.  While I do not love crowds, somehow the masses made Macy's shopping more exciting.  Children's clothing is way up on the 8th floor, so we rode up wooden escalator after wooden escalator upstairs.  The girls felt very glamorous trying on their dresses. Caroline found a charming red dress with ribbon swirls.  Abby picked a black and white dress with a black ribbon around the waist.  I found out later that Abby's main criteria for dress selection was that the dress was available all the way up to a size 16, so it was definitely a "big girl" dress.  That gave me a chuckle.  I was hoping she'd base her choice on, you know, dress style or color or something related to fashion.

Macy's New York

Not to dwell too much on Macy's, but I would like to add that unlike Macy's King of Prussia where I was recently gift wrapping/greeting, I am totally unfamiliar with the layout of Macy's NYC, which is why it took longer us longer to find our way out of the store than to buy our dresses.

Later in the day, Scott decided he wanted to buy some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor while we walked toward Times Square.  I asked the vendor if he would mind if I photographed his nuts....which I'll remember to phrase better if ever the situation arises again.

Have you ever tried these things??!!  Roasted chestnuts are gross.  I don't know why they are romanticized in Christmas carols.  They don't smell good roasting, and they definitely don't taste that great either.  Maybe they should change the song to something else roasting by the fire.  Marshmallows?  Bacon?

I suggested going to a museum for an hour or two, but the kids really just wanted to play at Central Park.  So, being completely spontaneous parents (ha!), we played at Central Park for a while around 57th street or thereabouts. Central Park has FANTASTIC playgrounds.

 Boulders overlooking the Playground

Spinning (boulders in background)

Other sights from the day:

The New Year's Eve Crystal Ball in Times Square

A closer look

(the colors are lights inside that were changing)

Best School Picture EVER -- seriously!

Check this out:

Yes, that's right.  Ben is wearing a tuxedo and standing next to giant preschool crayons.  I LOVE IT!!!!  We had to buy the tux for a family wedding, so why not get as much use out of it as possible, right?

I'm probably breaking some copyright law(s) by posting a picture of someone else's picture.  Kindly do not download or use this photo. If you would like a copy of a very dapper Ben, I'll order you a legitimately produced reprint. Thanks!

Attention all shoppers...

....there is a person impersonating a Macy's employee in the lingerie section.  Please find her and ask her a random question about the location of merchandise in our store.  Or, even better, about her opinion on your underwear purchase!  She's definitely not busy right now!

What?

That was me yesterday.  I decided to take a break from sediment characterization reports to participate in a little gift wrapping fundraiser for Ben's preschool.  The deal was supposed to be that I would wrap gifts for 2 hours inside Macy's King of Prussia store, and any gift wrapping payments would be a donation to the school.  The gift wrapping table was located in between the Juniors and Lingerie sections, facing the lingerie naturally.

Unfortunately, practically no one wanted me to wrap their gifts, so I only wrapped 3 presents in my 2-hour shift, earning Ben's school a grand total of $13.  

My time at Macy's was certainly anything but quiet though!  It was a bit of a surreal experience, actually.  Since I was standing at intersection of several main shopping paths and trying to make friendly eye contact with all the people holding packages, I apparently looked like an official Macy's employee, even though I was not wearing any kind of identification.

And, since I had nothing to wrap, I got to answer all kinds of questions!

Shopper:  Do you know where the Men's department is located?
Me:  Follow this path to the escalator upstairs on your right.

Shopper:  Ladies' dresses?
Me:   3rd floor

Shopper:  Ladies' handbags?
Me:  2nd floor

Shopper:  Online returns?
Me:  I'm not a Macy's employee, but I would try customer service in the business office upstairs.

Shopper:  Size 8 girl's dress?
Me:  Size 8 child's or Size 8 juniors? 
Shopper:  She a junior, but has a women's body.
Me:  Oh? 
Shopper:  You know, she's developed.
Me:  Oh!  You'll want to try ladies' dresses on the 3rd floor for the best selection.
(I'm not making this up, by the way)

And my favorite exchange (by this time I was really hamming it up)...

Shopper:  Do you like the blue or the green nightgown better?
Me:  I prefer the green. It's a nice neutral sage color and will complement a lot of skin tones.
Shopper:  Great point!  I'll go with the green.  Thanks for your help!
Me:  No problem.  My pleasure!

As I said, I only made $13 dollars wrapping gifts, so it probably wasn't worth the time, but working retail was so much fun I might just go back and pretend to be a Macy's employee again sometime.

Good Times Here.

Our Thanksgiving was delightful, full of family and delicious food.  I enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday until approximately 1pm on Saturday when Caroline started screaming that Ben's head was bleeding.  After almost 6.5 years of intensity, Caroline's screaming doesn't usually ramp up my adrenaline level, but the mention of blood is surprisingly effective at doing that.  So, I sprinted upstairs to find that Ben had somehow managed to gouge his head on the corner of Caroline's dresser.  After wiping away all the blood, I was relieved to find out that the cut was short in length (only a centimeter). But, it was deep and I knew it needed a stitch or two. Fortunately, Scott was at home, so I didn't have to bring the entire clan on the medical expedition, but Abby volunteered to keep Ben company.  I packed some dye-free lollipops and the insurance card.  Off we trooped to the pediatrician first, with the hopes they could do one stitch, but they couldn't (boo!), so we ended up in the ER where Ben was able to get "glued" instead of stapled, and all was well. The glue will fall off/dissolve within a week. He was a trooper.

I'm happy to report that we had an incident free Sunday.  It is a day of rest, after all.

On Monday morning around 8am, I was putting Caroline's hair into ponytails, as I have been doing for over a month since there are lice at school.  And, much to my horror, I noticed there were brownish-black circular things distributed all over her scalp.  Dirt doesn't usually ramp up my adrenaline level either, but brownish-black dots that look alarmingly like nits are as effective as the mention of blood. It took about 2 seconds to go from normal morning parenting mood (all business) to shear dread about how many loads of laundry I'd have to do, which neighbors I'd have to call since Caroline played with them, etc., etc.  So, I put Abby on the bus, and told Caroline we'd deal with her hair after that.  I thought there was a chance some of the brown stuff wasn't lice since she had been tree climbing, so I gave her a bath after the bus came and scrubbed her head.  Some of the black things came out, but most didn't and they were definitely sticking to her scalp. We dropped Ben off to school, and then visited Caroline's school nurse for a consult.  I was overjoyed (as was the nurse) to find out they were not lice, but we still aren't sure what the dots were.  I picked each and every little sticky black thing out of her hair (which was a joy), and off she went to school (late, but lice-free).

So, that was an exciting start to the week. 

Oh, then it got a little more exciting when Ben threw up all over the carpet this morning.

Ugh.

What are the chances that Ben will be the only one with a stomach virus this week?

Miscellani Part 2

1. Butter.  I am so excited because I fulfilled my lifelong dream of purchasing butter in the shape of a turkey.  Don't judge me. 

Caroline's reaction to this seasonal delight was, "Wow!! Mom, is that really butter?!" Then, "Is it made of turkey?" 

I bought this special butter several weeks ago because I knew it would sell out quickly at Wegmans.  I have been hiding it in the refrigerator to keep Ben from poking at the turkey head.  So far it is still intact. Ben has a habit of poking at food items when no one is looking, for example Aunt Trish's and Uncle Andy's wedding cake (sorry about that Trish!).  And, yes, apparently other people want to buy butter turkeys too.  I checked this past weekend and it was sold out.  So, I'm not losing it.  That much.

2.  Cereal.  Guess what Caroline's favorite cereal has been for the past year or so?  Something sweet or marketed to kids?  No.  She loves General Mill's RAISIN NUT BRAN.  This is the same child who makes me cut the crusts off her sandwiches and will only eat certain colors and shapes of lettuce leaves.  Go figure.

3.  Fire and Battles.  Scott declared that we would be having the season's inaugural fire his past  Friday. Although I mentioned to him that we already had a fire when we lost power overnight during the October snowstorm, Scott decided that the first fire "didn't count" since it was for emergency heating purposes.  A few days before ignition, we decided to watch a few movie trailers using the On Demand movie selection to try to find a movie that would appeal (more or less) to all five of us.  This in itself was a hilarious exercise.  Although I knew X-Men was out of the question as an actual family pick, the trailer was rated PG so we turned it on for Ben. He immediately started jumping up and down on the sofa and screaming, "THIS IS MY FAVORITE MOVIE!!!!! NICE AND BATTLE-LY!!!!!"   I didn't know the word "battle" could be used as an adverb, and I can't imagine what would have happened if we watched the whole thing.  We ended up renting "How to Train Your Dragon" from the library.  The movie was surprisingly good, and it featured both fires and battles.

4.  Paint.  The kitchen painting project is finished!  There are a few residual electrical issues that need to be resolved....but most of the house's wiring is still working properly after Scott changed a few outlets......sigh.....I'm sure the electrician will be able to inexpensively figure out why the outlets in Ben's room are no longer working, right?

When was the last time that you moved your stove and saw what was underneath?  Well, it's apparently been a long time here.  When we moved the stove out to paint behind it, we found the previous owner's oven mitt, knife sharpener, and spatula. Scott declared, "CC, it's Thanksgiving gone wrong under here!" Hopefully we'll fare better on Thursday.  But, I have been wondering how is it even possible to lose an oven mitt under the stove??!!! 

WOW.  In case you were wondering what my kids were up to while I was typing all this, the answer is NOTHING GOOD.  Ben just wandered downstairs wearing nothing but socks on his feet and his underwear on his head.  He's now dancing naked (except for the socks).  Time to stop typing!

Early Thanksgiving

Do you ever have one of those moments that you know that you are truly blessed? 

You have the realization that suddenly hits square in the chest you that you are one of the luckiest people in the world. And, for a brief moment, your eyes are brighter and your heart beats faster, and all you feel is joy and gratitude.  

I don't usually have my camera with me when I have one of those moments. But on Sunday, I did.

Bug off Bug People

True Story:

A few days ago, I received a solicitation phone call from a bug control company wondering whether or not I'd like to take advantage of some reduced pesticide application rates since they will be in the neighborhood treating some nearby lawns.

My first thought, "Which neighbors?"  (Because I really want to go knock on their doors and talk some sense into them.)

Instead I replied, "What infestation are you treating for?"  Even though I ended my sentence in a preposition, I figured if there is some horrible and damaging creature is on the way, like carpenter ants or termites, maybe I would consider some pest-specific pesticide application.

Bug Person:  "Oh, nothing specific.  This is a pre-emptive application of pesticide to reduce spring bugs by 70%."

Me:  "Wow.  70% of all bugs killed?"

Bug Person (very excited):  "Oh Yes!  This application will kill all the eggs and larvae of insects in the spring!!

Me:  "This chemical will linger in the soil all the way until the spring?"

Bug Person:  "Oh yes!  Guaranteed!"

Me:  "What about all the beneficial insects, like ladybugs, spiders, pollinators (bees), and butterflies?"

Bug Person (pausing):  "Well.... it will reduce those too."

 Me:  "Oh.  What areas of my property would you be treating?"

Bug Person (excited again):  "EVERY SQUARE INCH!  Every bit of lawn, every shrub, every tree, and your house!!!!"
 
Me:  "I don't have a lot of problems with infestation in my vinyl siding."

Bug Person:  "We can treat your foundation!"

Me: "It's concrete and steel."

Bug Person:  "Everywhere else then!!!"

Me:  "You know, I really think it is a terrible idea to apply a nonspecific, broad-band pesticide with unknown long-term toxicological effects. In particular, elevated concentrations of these pesticides in higher trophic levels will undoubtedly affect populations of desirable organisms in my yard, like earthworms and birds.  Furthermore, my entire neighborhood lies along a ridge line and is located at the headwaters of not one but two, stream headwaters.  Due to the limited stream volume in headwaters, these habitats are particularly susceptible to runoff of pesticides and fertilizers from overly anxious and poorly educated outfits like you."

OK. I didn't really say that.  But wouldn't it have been awesome if I had? 

Me: "Since you are not treating any particular infestation, broad-band pesticide application is not recommended or warranted in my yard.  Please take me off you calling list.

Bug Person: "Blah, blah blah only $49.95 x 10% "friend discount" off per quarterly application.

(So this means my neighbors are spraying poison into their yard REGULARLY!  Oh joy!!)

Me:  "Thanks for calling."  Click.

People......Let's show a little environmental consciousness here.  Please don't indiscriminately spray your yards with pesticides unless you are really having a problem with a particular deleterious bug, even if it is really, really cheap to do so. Not only do you kill things that you don't mean to kill, but these chemicals end up in your drinking water.  There are so many other reasons to skip pesticide application too, but I'm going to step off my environmental soap box.  For now.

Artichokes

So long (and good riddance) MINT.  Hello ARTICHOKE!

Here is sneak peak of kitchen painting project, which will be finished by Thanksgiving.  I'm too pleased the mint walls are finally getting covered to keep this project to myself.  The flash has made the color look a little more gray than it really is.  Artichoke is a much better complement to the counters than the mint.  Come to think of it, I'm fairly sure any color would be a better match to the counters than the mint.

Scott and I have already finished patched and painted the ceiling a brilliant white (which was made necessary because of a little flood in the upstairs bathroom caused by my darling Caroline).  I don't remember if I blogged about the water pouring out of the ceiling fixture in the kitchen or not, but that wasn't my favorite moment from the past year.  I can tell you, though, when a waterfall suddenly cascades from the ceiling, it isn't a happy feeling.

 Better, right?

Kitchen progress this weekend will be suspended while I take my Brownie troop camping.  These trips always seem like a good idea, until the weekend of the event arrives and I can think of approximately 142 other things I could be doing.  But I have such fond girl scout camping memories from my childhood, I really want my children to have those experiences as well.  So, camping we will go!   In full disclosure, this isn't "real" camping since we will be sleeping in heated lodges, but the sleeping will (hopefully) occur with twelve 8-year olds.  Wish us luck

Miscellani

1) Slime.  Abby had a dentist appointment back on October 25th.  For her "prize" she selected a wacky wall-walker toy from the treasure chest after her appointment.  I don't know which of my beloved children is responsible, but the little slimy red wall-walker has been stuck at the top of my stairwell since October 25th, about 5 minutes after Abby returned home.  It shows no signs of unsticking, and it is too high to reach, even by ladder.  Perhaps we should start a betting pool as to when this thing will fall off my wall?  I was sure it would only take a day or two, but it's been two weeks already and still holding strong.  I was initially a little annoyed, but now I'm fascinated.  How can it stick for so long??

(see top of photo)

2) Pants.  Ben has finally outgrown some of his 3T (size 3 toddler size) pants.  Yesterday, I went to the store and bought the next size up, 4T.  Logical, right?  I thought so.  Since Ben really loved his blue fleece pants (his "cozy" pants) and I am a creature of habit, I went back to the exact same store (Target), bought the exact same brand (Circo), in the exact same color and style.  Ben put his now pants on this morning and they were waaaay too long.  So I laid the old pants on top of the new pants and the 4T pants are a full 6 inches longer than the 3T.  While I do realize the new ones will probably shrink a little, isn't that kind of extreme?  Apparently Ben needs size 3.5T pants.  (If you run across these, please let me know.)

3) DC.  This past weekend we took the kids to Washington D.C. for the first time.  We had a lovely visit with my family and the Wright family, toured the Washington Monument (outside), Jefferson Memorial, and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. We didn't spend too much time in anyone place, but we really enjoyed ourselves.  Abby wants to be an astronaut when she grows up, so she particularly enjoyed seeing all the rockets, lunar rocks, and space exhibits. 

 



At Dusk

Trick or Treat

The Flash

(he's so fast, he's hard to capture in photos) 

"Baterina" & Grecian Goddess (and Flash)

At Rest

Her Royal Highness

Boo.

Our pre-Halloween snow this past weekend started out kind of fun.  I thought about posting some snow covered ghost and/or pumpkin pictures.

See how cool and spooky the streaky snowfall looks?
(this was taken right at the beginning of the snow on Saturday)

But after 4 or 5 inches of wet heavy snowfall on top of the leaves, the snow definitely wasn't fun anymore.  It wrecked havoc on our trees.

This is the tree where we had a saucer swing for the kids....

Fortunately, both trunks missed all the houses and sheds in the vicinity.

And, here is what is left of our beautiful sweet gum tree.  Nine main branches snapped off like toothpicks.  

Close-up of some of the broken branches 

I guess we're all set for firewood for a while now..... 

Mini Eco Adventure at Hickory Run State Park

After Caroline's soccer game on Saturday morning, Scott and I took the family on a little fall eco-adventure trip up to Hickory Run State Park.  We were hoping to enjoy some fall colors on the Lehigh River. While I know that hiking and biking don't really count as an "eco-adventure" in the minds of hard core trekkers, I'm deeming our little day trip an "eco adventure" for the following reasons:

1) The girls biked for a long time, over 7 miles. This distance is more impressive when you factor in that Caroline's bike is now so small for her she could be in a circus act.  She really has to peddle those tiny wheels a lot to keep up with Scott and me.

2) Speaking of bikes, my bike gears froze in 7th (hardest gear to pedal) for the majority of the ride, which made the ride fairly challenging since I was towing Ben.

3) We climbed on boulders for an hour or so.

4) The weather forecast for sunny skies and 60 degrees didn't materialize, instead it was cloudy and an a brisk 47. That's extra brisk when you are biking.


Side note, Ben does not get "eco adventure" credit for the bike portion of the excursion since he was relaxing with snacks and legos in the carrier.

Ben sitting in the lap of luxury

(Legos are under that blanket)

We planned this trip the hopes of hitting "peak" fall foliage along the Lehigh Gorge Trail.  We missed "peak" color by a week or so, but it was still beautiful.

The boulders at Hickory Run State Park were deemed "super cool".  This boulder field was deposited by glaciers and is the largest geological formation of this type in the Eastern U.S.

There are a LOT of boulders here:

 Close-up Shot

Wider Angle

Really Wide Angle Shot -- Can you find the kids?

(look in the middle for Caroline's blue sweatshirt)

Now I know I shouldn't condone graffiti, but this was kind of neat to run across

Ben Likes....

Ben brought home a little collage from preschool (see photo) showing some things he "likes" that he cut out of magazines.  

I get the cake and the apples.  I get the car and the juice. 

The photo of the legs, though, that threw me.  So, I asked Ben, "What about the legs?" 

Ben responded, "They are women's legs, Mom.  I like women's legs."

I wasn't quite sure what to say next....