It hit 40 degrees today, which is downright spring-like compared to the winter wonderland we’ve been living in. When Neko discovered the rain had melted much of the snow, she got rather indignant, and insisted on pulling out the snow tubes and enjoying what little white stuff was left.
Nancy and Mary Beth were visiting, so we decided to take advantage of the moment to throw everyone outside for some much needed Vitamin D.
Hello sunshine.
(I think Ellery’s boots are on backwards.)
As has become our tradition, we headed to the museum on the morning of Christmas Eve. It is a low-traffic day at the museum, and it gives us a chance to have some solid family time during the holiday. This year, loads of friends joined us, which made it even more fun.
We arrived right as the museum opened, and as we walked in the door, Santa was waiting for us, scooping up little ones for a hello hug. Ellery, who’s often quite shy, jumped right in. From that point on, she was smitten. And Santa, not having a lot going on this day (he said Mrs. Claus had it all under control), spent plenty of time listening to her and admiring the trains.
I love this time, before it becomes about unwrapping and assembling, where we get to spend time in the company of such good folk.
This is Pepper, Mary Beth’s new puppy, who we got to meet today.
She is beyond adorable, and she makes me almost consider a puppy again someday. I will make certain that Nancy relays in excruciating detail every item that gets chewed and how she’s getting up every few hours for bathroom breaks.
Because, omigoodness…CUTE.
The girl in the red sweater is Zan. When she was teeny, she was in my mother’s summer camp, and I was the class “helper.” She was four years younger than me, so we didn’t run in the same circles.
Fast-forward thirty years, and Zan happened to stumble across a picture of home on the web. Which led her to Chris’ website. Which led her to our site. Where she put two and two together and realized we knew one another.
Chris found that blog entry and forwarded it to me. I immediately started an email to Zan, which then sat in my drafts folder for nine months. A few weeks back, I finally got a chance to send the email. And today, while visiting family over the holidays, Zan and her husband stopped by for coffee.
I love when people walk into your house and you can just feel the goodness of them. They like strong coffee and vinyl, and they’re brave enough to hold a chicken, which will earn anyone the seal of approval in this household.
Definitely wander over and read Zan’s blog, which is the delicious kind of writing I aspire to produce someday. You know, when loads of time magically opens up in my schedule.
This photo is what happens when you wait until the last two minutes of a visit to snap a few, and you take them in the vortex of light (our kitchen). This is the moments before we assembled for a group shot which turned out miserably. Really. I should know better. (But I do love that Chris is doing his Sears Portrait Studio 3/4 turn.)
Thanks for visiting, you two. Hope to see you again soon.
Jessalyn came to visit today. We miss her so.
We keep trying to think of ways to convince her that being our live-in nanny would be way better than getting her PhD, but so far we haven’t come up with any persuasive arguments.
If Ellery can let go of her, she might be able to go back to school. Otherwise, she’ll have to learn how to teach while holding a three-year-old.
This spring was ridiculously busy.
So busy that on the heels of Ellery, Neko, and my birthdays, we just never got it together enough to schedule Shep’s birthday party. We celebrated his birthday, of course, but just never had the party with friends. There’s really no good excuse—we just never got around to rescheduling it. Things kept happening. Shep, this will be great fodder to discuss in therapy years from now.
But we promised it would happen. With Farm Day over and the holidays quickly approaching, we were determined to squeeze it in.
We convinced him to keep it small, with just his cousin Chris, another boy from kindergarten, and his video game friend, Eleanor. (And a bonus Chris Glass stopped by, who sort of counts as a five-year-old boy when it comes to video games.) He was so excited that he woke up at 6:30am and asked if it was time to go every thirty minutes for the rest of the day.
When it was finally time, off to the arcade we went, to let Shep play his heart’s content of Dig-Dug and other classic games.
We closed out the day with Lisa Simpson. An excellent day of old school fun.
Happy belated birthday, little man. We won’t drop the ball for your 6th birthday. Promise.
Neko and her friend Celeste have been going to an art class on Saturday mornings. Today was the big art show where they put all the work from each class on the walls, which is always an impressive sight.
Two seven-year-olds hamming it up for the camera is also an impressive sight.
Also wishing my sister Susie a very happy birthday!
Another Farm Day has come and gone, and despite the fact that I carried my camera around for several hours, I took maybe ten photos. REALLY, one of these years I’m going to have an amazing photo set the day after.
A big thank you to everyone for coming out for another fantastic day. I’m always amazed that people carve time out of their busy schedules to come our way. The weather was downright perfect, and the food was spectacular.
This day has come to be my annual reminder that we are so very lucky to be surrounded by such good people. Our families come from near and far. I see our oldest friends deep in conversation with our newest ones. Kids run and chase and romp until well after dark, when they crack out flashlights and glow necklaces. And the most inspiring musicians always close out the night.
I might be a bit biased, but I think there’s something a little magic in these here parts.
Mark your calendars for Farm Day 9: October 8, 2011.
24-hour pass for the grown-ups!
It’s been over two years since I’ve seen The National perform, so it was fantastic to see how their show has matured. (Let’s all pretend I kind of know what that means.)
Tidbits from this weekend:
1. Ellery might have a teensy bit of my OCD overpacking gene.
2. Our hotel room was directly across the hall from a room decorated from top to bottom with balloons, including some that were replicas of certain portions of human anatomy.
3. That hotel room quickly became our former hotel room. Our new room was directly above said anatomically decorated room because someone in the Department of Hilarity thinks that makes for a better story.
4. Everywhere we went in Indy was all on one street—dinner, concert, and breakfast. It was like hipster row. I have no clue what the rest of the city looks like, but I’m thinking we may go back someday.
5. I almost cried when we found out the band didn’t go on until 10:45pm.
6. I am officially the age where I really, really like sitting down at concerts. Sadly, as my feet and back will tell you, this was not an option.
7. The band’s fan base is clearly 95% male. Or the universe did some sort of bizarre inversion. Either way, I felt like woman-kind had achieved some monumental victory as I walked past 20 men in line for the bathroom to discover I could pick from my choice of three empty bathroom stalls. (See fourth photo.)
8. When Mary Poppins is performing in the adjoining theatre, the green room for a band is reduced to the size of a broom closet. Mary clearly has more clout.
9. I desperately need an in-between camera. One that can travel in my bag, but has functionality that makes me smile. Will be researching that whole micro four thirds category…
10. I love traveling with people who make all the restaurant decisions. Especially when they have great taste.
Big thanks to Matt, John, and Vicki (and their friends) for joining us along our fun getaway, and to R&D and Papa Joe for making it possible.
