Any Similar Revival

I really did mean to blog more during the holidays. But then, I got this horrible sinus cold and people were coming over, and I had to clean the house and finish wrapping. And two days after Christmas, Chad came down with a raging case of conjunctivitis in both eyes, so he was home for 11 days straight. Then, I was just tired, not taking pictures, and not editing anything I had taken. ANYWAYS. I’m back. Here are some photos from the past two weeks.

Meredith was in town for Christmas! Here we are at the Schley family holiday shindig.

Goodies at the Christmas Eve Tea.

Cuties at the tea.

A good tea was had by all!

Christmas morning!

Being a dork with my camera remote.

Nummy Christmas breakfast!

My present! Fuji mini instax camera! I will scan and upload photos from it later.

Yesterday, Chad and I got all dolled out and left the children with our dear Linda. I’d been giddy with anticipation all day, not just for what we’d be doing that evening, but because we’d be out by ourselves, which happens so rarely anymore. Here we are, so adorable and ready to go:

We started our evening at The Flying Fig, where our good friend Mike is a chef. I would show you pictures but they’re all on Chad’s IPhone and I don’t have access yet. I’ll try to get them up later. Mike sent out some Medjool dates, which I think are my favorite things in the whole, wide world. Really. My FAVORITE things. Big, juicy dates filled with all kinds of wonderfulness and wrapped in smoky bacon. SIGH. Then we got a few starters, some fluffy, chocolately Christmasy martinis, and tried to decide what to order. Mike had told me about a pasta dish earlier this week, and I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, so I got that. Homemade papardelle with braised lamb and Italian sausage and the sauce was SO good. Chad got the strip steak, over which he made many appreciative noises. Then Mike sent out desserts: chocolate molten cake and bread pudding. Mmmmmmm. . . .

When we were able to stand up, we walked through the REALLY cold streets of Cleveland to our car. The wind chill was almost unbearable, but we managed to not die of hypothermia. On to Playhouse Square to hear Manheim Steamroller’s Christmas concert at the State Theater. I know MS is kind of fluffy and silly, but that was part of the appeal for our Christmas date. The concert was packed, entertaining, and fun. It would have been better if the guy sitting next to me (not Chad. the other side) had NOT been stinky-burping up his dinner all night. I used my program as a fan and tried not to make little disgusted noises. (not my strong suit, I’m afraid)

All in all, it was just what I wanted it to be: fun and light-hearted, indulgent and a little bit silly. I’m already thinking about next year’s Christmas date.

Things are pretty festive around here, despite the leaking ceiling in the back room and frigid temps that keep us inside. We’ve been visiting friends, making cookies, watching shows, playing hard, reading books, scrapbooking, and looking forward to having daddy home this weekend.

An old lady under the tree:

Funny bunnies playing hard:

Hope you’re having a merry little Christmas!

Hello! I haven’t been out of the house since Sunday. It’s mind-numbingly cold outside, I have an extra child today, and there is a boil alert for the entire city. Yay! So far, my strategy has been to leave the children in their jammies and make cookie dough. The Big Snow hasn’t been as big as last week’s Big Snow, but the cold is much colder.

These are from yesterday:

Yes, through a miracle of timing, I did manage to capture an image of my dog peeing for this shot. Excellent.

Hoping for a fun day despite the challenges of bad water and house-boundedness. If anyone wants to come visit me, I’d be most ecstatic. Also, bring me some flour. I’m almost out.

Aiden is way more interested in Santa this year, even though we’ve decided not to push the whole Santa thing in our family. But we aren’t avoiding him either, and Aiden sees him everywhere and is figuring out that Santa is kind of a cool guy. Yesterday, at the foster care Christmas party, Aiden got to see Santa and get, as he calls it, a “prize.”

Little Baby Who was not so interested.

Thank you Santa, for the noisy, battery-operated Percy flashlight. Is there anyone out there who will get a kid something that is NOT battery-operated? Please, anyone?

It’s like a conspiracy!

So, Aiden has been begging to make a “no mam” since July. I kept telling him we had to wait for winter, and then the snow had to cover the grass, and then it had to be warm enough for it to pack, and finally, finally, No Mam weather came. Linda was here the day the No Mam conditions were right, so she had the fun of building the snow man.

It is just about as big as he is! Chad named him Bert, and Aiden watched out the window every time the dog went out, in case Myles peed on his no mam. Bert melted a bit in the thaw, but today he is strangely bigger, covered by several inches of fresh, powdery snow. A no mam renaissance!

Look at this cute little Santa mouse ornament! So sweet! I love these guys.

The cats love them too. They love to pull them off the tree and leave them on the floor.

Then the dog finds them.

Carnage:

I think someone needs a new bone for Christmas.

*Surely I'm not the only one who has always heard "Jingle Bells" this way? "Sing a slaying song tonight?" Like a bad holiday horror flick trailer? Or maybe I'm just sick and twisted? Well, everyone knows a turkey!

Yesterday was this sweet baby's four-month birthday! These pics were kind of hard to get, as I was holding him at arms' length and leaning back as far as I could so the camera would focus. And trying to hold him still (Ha!) and trying to get a smile (double HA!), and not dropping him. He looks worried.

But this is what he REALLY looks like at four months:

Adorable, yes? I swear this was a completely spontaneous spit-up. It was also the first shot I got, and it is just so typical of him! He does this all the time. Sorry if it's too gross for some of you. I just look at it and laugh. At least this time I didn't get any on my sweater. Not that it would have made much of a difference, since I already had gotten poop on it earlier. The true sign of motherhood? Poop on your sweater sleeve, and you still wear it the rest of the day.

Cheers!

I am going to attempt posting while wrestling with a snorting baby on my lap. He is fascinated by the typing, so we might just get somewhere.

Anyways, do you know what snow means? SLEDDING!

Yesterday afternoon, Aiden and I met up with Mike and the kids for a fun afternoon of sledding. The little lap snorter stayed at Heidi's, because apparently you can't take a four-month-old sledding. Bummer.

That is Ben on the sled. The sunset was beautiful!

Making the small boy drag the sled uphill.

It's not snowing today! After two and a half days of non-stop snowage, the skies are BLUE today, and the sun is shining. It's quite lovely sparkling on our 16+ inches of snow on the ground. Yesterday, in the thick of it, two of my favorite little hobbits and I had a snowy play date.

Five years ago, I had the stunning opportunity to cross the Pacific Ocean with Meredith on an aircraft carrier. We began this "Tiger Cruise" in Honolulu and ended in San Diego. The USS Nimitz was docked very near to the Arizona Memorial, and as we passed it on our way out of the Pearl Harbor, all the Navy people did this:

It was very sobering and moving, more so than our later visit to the actual memorial.

Thank you, brave Navy!

(Especially you, Navy Girl. You know who you are.)

It's SO beautiful too! So white and fluffy and perfect with the tree lights and Christmas music! And it's supposed to snow for DAYS.

This was taken last night. Now the snow is MUCh deeper.

I love my psycho dog in this one too. Running around like a crazy thing and doing 360 degree leaps in the air, tongue streaming out behind him.

Love seeing the tree lights from outside.

"Since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

So far, packing into the front seat of the truck to get to the tree farm has been my favorite part.

Picking the tree was easy. My goal was Smaller-Than-Usual. It worked!

We put it up, I put the lights on, and most of the ornaments, and then someone wanted to help me.

Done.

Mr. Chad turned 35 on Wednesday. I managed to get a shot of him before he left for work.

Logan looks a little bit dazed. We did go out to dinner later that evening, without children. It was lovely, and quiet too.

I've begun to decorate the house. No tree yet, but the rumor is that today is the day!

And we've been enjoying afternoons by the fire, reading and playing and making noise and being quiet.

My dad was in town last weekend. It was wonderful to see him! I can tell he is taking his new grandpa role very seriously, ignoring all of my carefully thought out guidelines about toys and gifts and getting my boy exactly what would please everyone but mama. Noisy, battery operated things. Thanks dad. Especially for the fire truck that lights up and moves and has a freaking SIREN on it. I could hear you laughing all the way back to California.

Honestly though, I thoroughly enjoyed watching my dad interact with Aiden and Logan. He has always had the magic touch with children (and animals too), charming them almost instantly, winning them over. Look at how Logan is looking at him here:

They are clearly in one another's fan clubs.

And then there is this one, who won't smile for mommy's camera anymore unless bribed.

Little twerp.

And that monkey? Also a gift from Grandpa John. Guess what? If you push a button on its chest, it makes monkey howling noises. No kidding.

Love you, Dad.