Christmas and the days just preceeding

We had just about a week at Mom and Dad's after the birthday party, mostly spent just hanging around.  We stayed down on the river, and Mom had fully decorated for Christmas.  Mom had found some gardens in Richmond that had a special Christmas lighting display, so we loaded up the mini-van (Mom, Dad, Jared, Stephanie, Kevin and me) and headed to that.  It was super cool, and I was super glad at this point that Kevin had come to Virginia, as he toted Stephanie around on his shoulders the whole time, making her experience there far more fun than I would have managed alone.  They had a story time for kids, and Santa in residence (whom Stephanie wanted to see, but not really talk to or even get all that close to).  The gardens were pretty spectacular, I only wish we had gotten there in the daylight (we didn't head down until after Stephanie's nap) to see it all.  As it was, we got a good (cold) walk around the property to see the lights and got to visit the library on site for the story time and see the plants and trains in the Conservatory.  

Stephanie was NOT interested in having her image captured that evening

Bird of Paradise plant

The library had these really cool little terrariums on display.

We also got to eat at a favorite BBQ place in Richmond that night, which is a bonus to any family adventure.  Christmas followed a few days later, and Mom made sure that there was no shortage of gifts, so many in fact, that we had to leave some behind to play with the next time we visit.  We also got to spend Christmas (and a good bit of time before Christmas) with Tonya and Jared, which is an added bonus, as Tonya works a lot.  We ended up also visiting my Aunt and Uncle and cousin and wife and their two year old daughter, which I never seem to find time to do on my regular trips home.  

Additionally, Mom made a big deal over the special forks and spoons she had for Stephanie to use at her house and then gifted us a set.  We desperately needed new silverware for her to love, as her favorite set was my college set, and we were limping along with two or three forks and spoons each, and were getting very tired of washing silverware for every meal.  Sure, maybe they have Christmas trees on them, but her favorite cup and plate are from Halloween, so at least we are branching out.  

Good thing we drove, but we would need a bigger car for all of this...

It was nice enough a few days to get some outdoor time.

Took a few days, but Granddidy eventually became popular, and as a reward, got to enjoy some time watching Dora the Explorer.

Good news folks... Only one, maybe two, blog posts about our Christmas trip left!  I won't get to it today, but, spoiler alert, it will be about getting back across the country with Alaina in tow in a four door sedan PACKED, while stopping in several cities to see what adventures we could find. 

The second (and last) third birthday party

As Valentine's Day has come and gone, I thought it might be time to wrap up my posts about Christmas... After staying in New Jersey for about a week, we all headed together down to Virginia to see my parents.  Originally, Kevin was not going to come with me, but changed his mind at the last minute.  Ostensibly, he did not want to miss Christmas with Stephanie, but he did change his mind shortly after overhearing my conversation with my mother about what kind of ice cream cake she should get for Stephanie's birthday party she was throwing, so I am not entirely sure what his motivation was, because I would change my plans for Friendly's ice cream cake.
The birthday party was our first night at Grandma's.  Stephanie loves unwrapping gifts, but by far, the most exciting part was the helium balloon tank that Mom had bought and Dad had used to blow up at least half a basement full of balloons, and the ice cream cake was, as could easily have been predicted, plenty popular.  We even had Minnie Mouse hats, plates and party blowers.  Not too shabby for a second third birthday party!  Thanks Mom!

It's not a birthday party until Jared helps Didy put a party hat on!

In what I consider a great Thomas tradition, Mom thought of everything except birthday candles!  We worked it out!

Having some birthday ice cream cake.

Did I not mention the ice cream cupcakes, because Mom got those too!  Did we let her eat both? Yes, yes we did.

No Bueno!

At some point, Kevin and I picked up the expression "No Bueno" from Alaina.  I'm actually not sure of the standard context in which Alaina uses the expression, but in our house, Kevin and I use it exclusively to refer to something inedible, as in, "No, Stephanie, we don't eat the grapefruit peel, it's no bueno."  And, just as we picked the expression up from Alaina, it was only a matter of time before Stephanie picked it up from us.  At first, she seemed to be using it in our context.  The first time we heard her use it was at my Mom's house.  She got in the play oven and popped out and told Kevin that he could eat her, "but not my feet, they are no bueno."  Weird, yes, but it does make some sense.  Quickly, though, she started using the expression to refer to food she simply doesn't want to eat.  It is really comical to sit at the dinner table and be told, "I don't like that, it's no bueno."  I doubt her teachers at school have no noticed the expression yet, as it is unexpected, but I am waiting for the day that they catch it and ask about it.
Thanks to Dora, this is not Stephanie's only Spanish-  she also says, "gracias" and LOVES when you say "de nada".  Sometimes she says "Thank you for...." just to get you to say "de nada".  We can always tell by the tone that she uses that she is looking for "de nada", and are happy to oblige.  Kevin has a knack for languages; me, not so much, but thus far Stephanie is doing just bueno.

Just realized that I actually have pictures capturing Stephanie's first "No Bueno" moment!

3,200 miles of Christmas, part one

I wanted to finally get started on the Christmas Trip Blog Post Series (an anthology).  This story begins with the decision to (again) drive half across the country with a small child in tow.  We drive for a variety of reasons- cheaper than flying, we have our own vehicle when we get to the destination, we want to see family and friends in NJ and VA, we want the luxury of not dealing with airports and having to limit our packing because of flying, flexibility on dates in case of inclement weather or ever changing work schedules, and frankly, Kevin and I really like to road trip together...  Funny thing- stick us in a closed vehicle for over twenty hours in two days, and we are at our best.  We are great road trippers, so we need to raise a great road tripper, so we happily jam little Stephanie in a car seat and haul her off to where ever we see fit (Michigan in the summers, east coast over Christmas).  She is turning into an awesome little road tripper, too.  We essentially packed no toys (I was assured that there would be more than enough to play with at Grandma's house), one book, a pack of light sticks, and my Nook for emergencies.  The Nook was used, but surprisingly not all that heavily.  Our first day (3 days later than we originally scheduled) we left a little later than planned (that is SO hard to believe, I know!), but we made it as far as Columbus, OH, where the roads were getting a bit dicey by 10 pm, so we snagged a hotel, and headed out the next morning with promises of snow storms in PA.  The snow storms were apparently just in front of us, so everything was plowed and in good condition for our second day.  We did have the warm welcome of east coast traffic in Philly, but made it to NJ respectably close to dinner time.  We spent 5 days in NJ, and got to do some things we missed out on last year.  We had a chance to visit Kevin's friend Seetha and her family (and it had been so long since he had seen her, he hadn't even met her school aged daughters).  I've never met her, but I really enjoyed the time we got to spend with her and her husband and her girls.  We also got up to Grams (Great-grandma Stephanie) and Aunt Chris's house, where we enjoyed a very nice Grams meal and got to have the Stephanies play together.  Grams' house is FULL of interesting and tiny little breakables, so my anxiety level was a bit high, but Stephanie actually left (mostly) everything alone.  At Kevin's Mom's house, we spent some time at the library (must be well stocked with books at all times with Stephanie), and Kevin worked a bit around the house.  Kevin's Mom cooked lots of delicious meals, and we enjoyed relaxing around the house.  

Aunt Chris and Grams, of course, over did it with gifts for Stephanie, but she enjoyed herself!

Back at Granny Gen's house, Stephanie got to open yet another round of presents.

Coloring with Granny Gen

Even Uncle Dave left presents for Christmas and Birthday-  Her wings are super cool!

I gotch-ya!

Before the holidays, we had some icy rain and I ended up slipping in the driveway while holding Stephanie.  It was a more embarrassing moment than I care to re-live, but let's just say I had been told moments before that the driveway was icy, but I decided to give it a go anyway.  Stephanie now has the occasional fear of me slipping, warning me to be careful whenever conditions appear even a little wet, and even warning Kevin when, at their last orienteering race, Kevin was told by the race coordinators that part of the course was slippery.  She kept telling him, "Go slow, go slow!".  The same day I fell, she was extra sensitive, and actually started crying when I told her we were going out to the store.  She didn't want to go out because she was afraid I would slip.  I got her out of the house, as it was no longer slippery out, and she was fine.  The next day we were headed out, and she said to me, "You can hold my hand Mommy, I gotch-ya."  I guess one non-slippery experience gave her the confidence to keep me up-right all on her own!  Still though, I hear the warnings about not slipping every time it is wet out!

The Big Three

Stephanie turned 3 (fairly recently)!!!  We had a big day planned, and it mostly went as planned.  We went to see her very first movie in the theater, Frozen.  It was probably a little old for her, but she watched and enjoyed it.  I showed her previews before we left, and she was excited to see the movie with the "snowman".  I rushed us there to be on time, only to fairly quickly realize my mistake.  Trailers were neither interesting nor entirely appropriate for her, and she got a little restless and kept asking where her movie with the snowman was.  Next time, I'll aim for 10 minutes late!  Other than having to switch seats 5 times during the movie, she was actually very happy to sit (or stand or sit in my lap or on the stairs- glad for a low attendance Thursday afternoon movie) and watch.  I thought it would frighten her at times, but she didn't seem to find it scary.  She did get a little upset when one of the sisters started to freeze at the end, but that was it.  After the movie, we rushed over to school to deliver cupcakes to her friends (that we made the night before together).  I did not think I was the kind of parent that brought cupcakes to school, but I had to go in to work to pick up some things, so I thought it would make her feel special to do a little special delivery on campus.  She was so pleased to hand out cupcakes to all of her friends, just grinning from ear to ear.  I made carrot cake, and I also decorated them with little butterflies on toothpicks.  I was worried about the carrot cake going over okay, and didn't consider the toothpicks an issue at all.  When we walked into the room, and I was faced with a group of 3 year old's, I quickly realized that I had 20 cupcakes with 20 little weapons inserted, so I had Stephanie remove them as she handed them out.  It also turns out that carrot cake was not an issue-  put green icing on it, and a group of 3 year old's will inhale them before even tasting them.  In the future, I will be a cupcake parent-  I had no idea how much joy she would find in bringing those to school.  Everyone said "Happy Birthday" and then we stayed for one story and headed to my office, where she got to operate a scan-tron machine, which was fun.  On the way home, she did briefly pass out in the car, but I woke her up when we got in.  Thankfully, Alaina's present had arrived- some very cool magnet tiles and the traditional "God Child" ornament- so I was able to convince Stephanie to wake up and be pleasant.  Unfortunately, I did not think to take pictures because I was worried about getting her in a good mood.  When she opened the tiles, she said "Magna-tiles!".  I thought for an instant that maybe she could read, but then it occurred to me that she must have them at school, which she confirmed.
The last part of her birthday- the "party" if you will, was a moment that I have in every project I do, in which vision and desire don't quite intersect with time and talent.  I had, luckily, mostly decorated the day before, but only actually invited Mary over, and no one else (which is just as well, because that means I don't really have to clean my house- Mary and I are long over that part of our relationship!).  But Mary arrived with a gingertree craft, which was incredibly fascinating to Stephanie.  She concentrated so hard to decorate the tree with icing and candy-  I think her and Mary easily worked on it for an hour.  Kevin made dinner, and I decorated the cake-  and here is where the vision really got lost.  We told Stephanie that it was a Dora birthday cake, and that Dora was going to "Butterfly Mountain".  And sweet Stephanie will tell you to this moment that she had a Dora cake for her birthday, which I find pretty generous because there was no actual evidence of a Dora cake in our house that night!  But she was excited to blow out the candle (note to self, next year face cute number candle towards camera, not child) and when I offered her cake after the candle, she said, "I blow out candle, I open presents now", so we did that first.  Presents are now a big hit, and, luckily for her, she has hit a windfall as Christmas and family visits are now underway (those posts to come!).

The First "Snow" 2013

It doesn't take much snow, apparently, to excite Stephanie (so excited in fact, that she managed to get me to agree to take her out in it before 9 am, and I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about how cold and early it was!). We took just a few pictures to commemorate the occasion.  She actually went upstairs to my closet to request this particular hat... I think because she remembers wearing it in the snow last year.  She used her shovel to shovel snow into the potted mums because the "plants were hungry".  They probably would have been hungry, had they not been very, very frozen.

Two days before, we got word from our in-house meteorologist (i.e., Kevin with a newspaper in hand) that the weather was going to turn ugly very soon-and he was right, because, at this point, it is so cold that even Kevin is willing to admit that it is cold out, but only after the water in his camelback froze in the hose when he was out orienteering on Saturday.   In anticipation of the cold, we got in one more trip to the nature center in town, where we discovered a super fun log!  Additionally, we were discovered by a very sweet neighborhood cat.  I practically tackled him to have a chance to snuggle a cat, but he seemed to prefer to aggressively head butt Stephanie, who did NOT like it.  On the way home, she told me, "I not a big fan of that cat."  I am sure I said that, and she was repeating me from earlier, but it was a very accurate assessment of how she felt.