lights, Legos and Santa

Last week we went to the local garden's lighted display.  They run a beautiful event from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  I am a member there, so I go regularly to wander and take pictures.  I was there Wednesday morning for their Bird Hike.  Brrr...  we were pretty cold, but saw quite a few birds.  I'll admit, I am not a serious bird enjoyer, but it is a nice way to start your day - outside in a pretty setting, walking slowly with people who are fairly quiet and get really excited to see the different birds.  Their enthusiasm is fun to be a part of.  We record every bird and how many of each kind are sighted and this is reported to some bird watching agency.  Plus, the people who lead the walk have some cool fancy scope things.  So when we spot a bird, they line him up in the scope and I get to see it closer than my own binoculars get.  Anyway... Wednesday, after the hike,  I got a sneak peek of the Lego display.  Carl was jealous!!  Yeah, I told him. I was getting him excited for the next evening.

They also have a tent set up with a train running and popcorn for sale.  Another tent houses Santa to visit with the kids.  And, all over the gardens, they have beautiful lights hanging from the very tall trees.  Then, of course - the Lego display!   It is amazing.

Here are a few photos from Wednesday morning in the daylight and then again from Thursday night when we were all there at night.

We stopped in to see Santa when we arrived.  The kids thought it was very funny that when they opened the mailbox, there were lit lights inside!

 I love that Santa wears his cool belt when he comes to the garden display!  He is a very sweet man.  Gretchen requested a "blanket with a picture of you and Mrs Claus on it" and he very wisely told her, "Hmmm... I don't know.  I'll see if I can whip something up, but I don't know if I can."  Luckily, I have an in with some elves in a photo department.  Let's just hope that the $10 extra I paid for them to rush deliver this blanket works and it arrives by the 24th.  If not, I can still have Santa give her this gift she is asking for.  See, he always comes to Grammie's house in NY, but then he also stops in NC here at home on his way by.  They find gifts here from Santa when we return from our NY vacations.  It is the only way Santa comes to our home.  My kids have never woken up in their own beds and discovered Santa visited in the night.  We always have to travel.  It's also the reason we have an artificial tree.  Who wants to have to take their Christmas tree down before Christmas?  We couldn't leave it up for more than a week while we're gone and not worry.  So, fake it is.  But, if the blanket doesn't arrive in time, I can be sure it is the present he leaves for her in NC.  It is a photo of the twins with the Clauses from Lew's work party.

It was actually this Santa who, years ago, made sure to let us know that even if they were not home on Christmas Eve that he would stop at our house.  He made sure that we knew what he was telling the kids, too.  He is a wise man.  We have been here almost 6 years, so we have relationships with Santa that we couldn't have if we kept moving every 2 years.

Then, we ran after Carl as he raced to the Lego display!!!

 The train and monorail were running on Thursday.  Some of these shots were from Wednesday when there were no other people there.

 Is this a dream scene, or what???

 The pier complete with fishermen, surfers, and swimmers.

details... tucked into the display - apparently on the wrong side of the tracks.  I think the laser gun is going to triumph over the broken bottle.

 Making snow by the beach

Next, the train display tent.  We grabbed some popcorn and then headed back outside.

Then, just more wandering around.  We actually tossed the popcorn - this may sound hard to believe because we are popcorn fools, but this was actually too salty. I know.  It looks funny to type that, but it was true.

2012 summed up in one little video... how is that possible?

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

mmm... rainbows

12 on 12.12.12

I feel obligated to do a dozen of something today.  This is the last triple date we will see in our lifetime.  Here are 12 lists/groups of 12!

How about 12 pictures from 2012?  One from each month.  in order.  left to right.

How about 12 foods they like to eat?
Carl
1. spaghetti dogs
2. cheeseburgers
3. chicken nuggets
4. pepper strips
5. cantelope
6. Cinnamon Toast Crunch
7.  popcorn
8. gold fish crackers
9. gummy candy or fruit snacks
10. vanilla ice cream
11. shake and bake chicken
12. grapes

Gretchen
1. peanut butter and nutella sandwiches
2. spaghetti dogs
3. corn dogs
4. lettuce
5. cucumbers
6. apples
7. pepper strips
8. pizza
9. cookies
10. cake
11. candy
12. chocolate milk

Well - here are 12 foods one or both won't eat...
1. mashed potatoes (both)
2. soup (both)
3. pork chops (both)
4. macaroni and cheese (both)
4. peanut butter (C)
5. pizza (C)
6. latkes (both say they won't based on the potato factor)
7. spaghetti with sauce on it (both)
8. rice pudding (both)
9.  gravy (both)
10. stuffing (both)
11. pumpkin pie (both)
12.  cake (C)

Twelve quotes from 2012:
1. Jan 27 - Carl:  I wish I didn't have a mom like you" ... because I would not let him wear flip flops to the school's talent show that evening.
2.  March - Gretchen was reading a book over and over to prepare to read it in front of the class.  She kept stumbling over the word "bouncy".  Carl would help her.  I asked if she thought she was ready to read it to everyone and she replied, "I think I'll keep trying until I can read it fluently."
3. April 30 - Carl:  Every poopernoise is funny.
4. May 20 - At dinner, Gretchen found a tiny bug crawling on a piece of her hot dog.  Lew took the piece and set it on his place mat.  She went back to eating.  Carl had already finished his hot dog.  A few minutes later he told Lew, "I want that piece of hot dog."  Lew's response: "It had a bug on it."  Carl paused, then asked, "Well, is it gone now?"
5. Sept 19 - riding home from the batting cages
  C: "Gretchen, stare at those people."
  G: "Why?"
  C: "Because they are strangers and I want you to scare them."
6. When the computer stops working, Gretchen says it "sneezes up"  instead of "seizes up".
7. Sept 24 - Carl at the beach:  This is my favorite place.
8. Aug 21 - Gretchen: when asked "What are you most looking forward to at school?" she replied, "What I'm most excited about is the end of the year to see if I have learned another big word."
9. Aug 21 - Carl when asked the same question replied: "To learn things"  (what do you think you will learn?)  shrugs - "I don't know, first grade stuff."
10. October - in the car, Gretchen: "We are the luckiest kids in the whole world"  Carl asked "why?" and she told him, "Because we are the only kids in the world with this mom and this dad."
11. Nov 16 - Carl:  You know everything, right?  Because you're the Mom."
12. Dec 8 - kids were coloring.  C: "Gretchen, you are so creative."  G:  "You are, too."

12 favorite things they like to do - list complied by me
1. play outside (now that it is a little cooler out.  they don't like summer heat)
2. sidewalk chalk
3. play doll house
4. legos
5. matchbox cars
6. baby dolls
7. read
8. crafts
9. scouts
10. eat out
11. jump in the trampoline
12. school


12 faces of Gretchen

12 faces of Carl

12 things I photographed this year other than my kids.....

12 cat photos from 2012!

Things I like to do - list created by Carl:
1. learn at school
2. play out back
3. play with my new toys like the 2007 Hess Truck
4. pretend I am working at Learning Express in the children's museum
5. play in the grocery store at the children's museum
6. be in Boy Scouts
7. celebrate Chanukah
8. go to Grammie's house
9. read books
10. play with my new video game Track Attack (a race car game) on the Wii
11. play Webkinz
12. give you hugs (dictating this list to me!)


Things I like to do (or just things I like) - list created by Gretchen:
1. sing
2. play
3. princesses
4. dancing
5. stuffed animals
6. Hello Kitty
7. I do like reading.
8. going to the children's museum
9. learning
10. sleeping with my yellow blankie
11. traveling to Disney
12. traveling to NY

menorah lighting: link-happy shiksa version

Sunday evening, we headed downtown for the menorah lighting on the second night of Hanukkah.  We were pleasantly surprised to hear that the city council and the mayor have approved the menorah for the entire 8 nights.  This is a big step forward for our city.  So, we gathered in the park by the river with the large menorah and a huge Christmas tree.  Beautiful sign of togetherness.

They had a guy there doing some juggling to entertain the kids as we waited for darkness.  Our kids darted through the small crowd to sit right down in front with the other kids.  Then the guy brought out the huge knives to juggle.  Gee, glad Carl and Gretchen were right in front.  In the guy's defense - he did ask the kids to step back quite a bit... and he did have all 10 fingers still.

Then, the rabbi explained to us that this was a symbolic lighting because a menorah must be lit in the home and with open flames, either candles or oil, to fulfill the mitzvah.  He omitted God's name from the blessing for this reason.  Then, they lit the bulbs.

Mrs. So-and-So was thanked for making the doughnuts and we were invited to nosh.  We ran into the new little girl in the kids' class.  Her family is in the process of moving here from Colorado.  So, the kids bopped off to the doughnut table.  Carl said "no thank you" but Gretchen tried a doughnut and decided she did not like it.  Foolish child.  Then, it turns out I got Carl to take a bite and he had 2-3 bites.  Still, I was forced to finish it for them.  Mmmm.  Gretchen's friend picked up a plastic dreidel and then returned to the table to pick up one for Gretchen as well.  Gretchen grabbed a bag of gelt, too, but again, Carl said "no thank you".

Meanwhile, the dancing had begun.  Gretchen and her friend danced with the girls.  She returned shortly after I snapped this photo.  Not her thing, I guess.

Apparently, the music got to be more than Carl could resist, because even though he said earlier he did not want to, he bounded off to dance with the men.

 I missed how this actually happened, but it was fast.  This guy must be very strong!  Carl is not a light dude. He also is not a child who likes to be raised above your head.  He and Gretchen never have been.  They were not toss-em-in-the-air babies.  They both get very panicky when you even try to put them on your shoulders.  So, it was very cool watching Carl dancing on this man's shoulders while laughing and enjoying himself so much.

When he returned to me he exclaimed, "I was way too high!"

We headed home since doughnuts and chocolate coins were probably not a really healthy dinner.  It was late, so I decided to let the kids open the biggest present in their piles.  I actually had 8 different wrapping papers this season, so each day has 2 gifts that are either identical, or meant to coordinate that are easy for them to pick out nightly.  So, on the first night, I had 4 Webkinz animals for all of us.  Well, Carl was so upset because he wanted to open that biggest present.  I wouldn't let him.  I had intended those to be the last ones because honestly, they were the least fun thing in the presents.  But, since it was so late on night 2, I told them they could open the big ones that night.  I think Carl might be putting the lesson together that "good things can come in small packages".  Not that he didn't like the big present, but he loved his Webkinz and he wouldn't have opened his frog already if I had let him open the lap desks I bought first.  On our recent trip to Florida, the kids had notebooks and wrote stories for probably 75% of the drive.  So, lap desks are going to prove to be very useful and really enjoyed over time.  But, you know that practical gifts are not always fun to open.  Most families have a DVD player or hand held video games to entertain their kids in the car.  Not us, we'll strap ours down for 15+ hours with some pencils, paper and the closest electronic toy is their TAG reader books and pen.  And yet they seem to survive.

Happy Hanukkah!  I'll try to take some family photos soon. Oh last night was night 3 and they received new underwear.  Please please please......  no one buy Carl any underwear when we visit in NY.  He pulled a Big Ken after opening it last night.  Yup, before we could stop him, he whipped off his pants right there at the table and put on his new Sponge Bob boxer briefs.  As for my father, I do believe that he never put on new underwear after opening it, but he did put on any other item of clothing he unwrapped.

Today, after school the Brownie and Daisy scouts are caroling at the fire station and police department.  Then, tonight is a Den meeting for Carl and Lew, so another busy holiday evening!  Tis the season!

Santa visit at Daddy's work

Of course, Carl works there, too.  His wife doesn't though.  And his sons, Wilson and Nicholas work at Trader Joe's.  I can't keep track of what car his wife is driving these days.  Sorry.

Anyway, we had another awesome Christmas Party there this year.  They have tons of crafts (seriously, would love to see the glitter glue budget!) for the kids.

They have a table of baked goodies and punch.  They have an area with holiday DVDs playing and popcorn.  Carl spent most of his time sitting there.  Gretchen spent hers with glitter glue.  I wised up this year and brought a cake pan to lay everything down in. Another mom commented on how smart that was.  It only took me 5 years of this party to figure it out.

They have some people dressed in costumes roaming around having snowball fights.  They had 3 huge bags of cotton balls on the table when we arrived.  Within minutes, those were all over the place!

When you arrive, you get a number so the kids do not have to wait in line.  We were a little before 5:00, so we were number 16.  I heard one mm say they were 53 - so there were a lot of families behind us.  They called us up a couple minutes before our turn.  Lindy came to meet us, so I was able to hand him my camera for a family photo.  The company has a man taking your pictures also and then they print them right there for you to take home.  Later on, they put them onto the work's share drive so you can download the files, too.  I don't have those yet.  I will only share my pictures, but Nat got a great face shot of the kids and Santa.   Mrs Claus is always there, too.

Carl wouldn't wear his tan boat shoes because we were going to daddy's work and he had to wear his Daddy shoes.  You cannot argue fashion with this boy.

Oh, and the requests have changed/grown.  Gretchen is now asking for not only the Barbie, but also a blanket with Santa and Mrs Claus on it.  Carl didn't mention anything about a doll house.  He asked for a Santa doll.  "Mom, it's OK if I don't get it.  I'll ask again next year."  

I'll let the elves know.