Hello stranger

Oh hi!  Here I am!  You know it's bad when you're snowed in and your Mom tells you "since you're not doing anything else, the blog could stand to be updated!"

I know, I know.  We have been doing a lot but I'm so tired lately that sitting down to write something instead of just wasting time on Facebook seems like too much effort.

We've celebrated Thanksgiving twice and Christmas twice in the past two months.  We've had such a good time with our family and friends.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving in October at my parents house with Michelle, Jill, and Molly who were in from Oklahoma.  It was a wonderful week.

Playing at the park

Testing out the water

Cute Molly

Mom and Dad walking on the beach

Roasting marshmallows may have been my favorite part of the week

Learning the art of roasting

Mom and Dad

Amy and Michelle

The whole family

Since we had the whole fam damily together for the first time in a LONG time, Mom had a photographer come and take pictures.  They turned out so great - I loved them all!  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Blue Angels

So, I'm trying to catch up and update the blog.  I found this draft from back in September. 

Nate loves teh airplanes.  We saw the Blue Angels a few weekends ago months ago and it was so much fun.  An aside - Nate made some little friends while playing a pick-up soccer game before the show.  When asked, he told the boys "I'm 4."  WTH? :)

Gobble Gobble

Gotta admit I'm proud to say I made this cute turkey shirt for Nate.  Ideas are in the works for a Christmas shirt too. I'm so giddy I can hardly stand myself!

I followed the tutorial found here.

We're headed down to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving.  I'm looking forward to spending time with them and another delicious Thanksgiving dinner, much like the one we had last month while Michelle and the girls were there.  Speaking of which,  I need to dedicate another post just to that week.  If I don't talk to you before then, Happy Thanksgiving!

Crafty

We're feeling pretty crafty around these parts lately.  Since Tuesday AM when I hosted a craft play date, Nate has been all about making his own creations.  It was the first time he just hopped up and wanted to do the craft with me.  He had me trace his hand about 10 times.  He discovered scissors and there's no looking back.  I'm quite a proud Mom too, because he holds his scissors correctly.  I think that's awesome dexterity for a two year old.

We made Skype calls to Daddy at the fire station and to Nana and Nate told them all about his "turkey craft". He told me what he is thankful for...it took all day for that stinker to admit he was thankful for Mama.  I was determined to only write down what he told me although I would've cried myself to sleep over the absence of my name. :)  Good thing he came to his senses.

We've since made those cute turkey cards to send to our family.

Nate wants to "cut scissors" all the time now.  It was actually the first thing he asked to do this morning when we came downstairs (even before milk!).  He's taken quite a shine to gluing too.  He's made a lot of "glue paper". 

Last night I asked Nate what he wanted to make and he said a cow. He did all the gluing and here's our finished product.

I've gotta admit, I love this phase - I could do construction paper crafts all day long.

Tonight we're waiting for Daddy to come home and Nate's relaxed and watching Stuart Little 3 for the umpteenth time.  I heart that Netflix is available on the Wii.

Umbrella

I don't get why this isn't a good idea, Mom.

Pumpkin Patch

This is hands down my favorite time of year.  I look forward to cooler weather and warm jammies.  Crisp air, the changing leaves, and wearing a sweatshirt. Since Nate came along, I've loved taking him to the pumpkin patch with our friends.  It was warm on Tuesday, but we enjoyed it anyway.

Almost 3 feet tall

Happy and eating a cupcake

This one is juuussst right.

*Puff*

I knew it was too quiet upstairs...

What?

Big Boy stuff

It seems like just five months ago, we transitioned Nate to his toddler bed.  Oh wait.  Yes, it was just 5 months ago.  Well now he's in a BIG, big boy bed. 

How awesome is the convertible crib?  LOVE the headboard

Nate loves it.  He had been wanting to take naps in either the guest bed or our bed so we thought maybe he's just ready for the big time.  I love it because now I can get really comfy when we read books.  I was giddy to shop for bedding too.  I love his new quilt and the cute polka dot sheets match and were a bargain at Target.

Also, way back when I said we were working on potty training.  Well, when I said working on potty training, I meant just doing what we've been doing for months.  Nate's a nudey butt a lot of the time when we are home.  He pees in the potty 100% of the time when he's naked.  Poop is another story.  He has sat on the potty a few times to poop and mostly it's false alarms.  I think he likes the idea of sitting on the potty and reading books.  He has gotten a wee nugget out twice so that's good.  But other times, he'll start freaking out whilst nudey and saying "Poop! Diaper, Mama!!".  I've tried to put him on the potty in those instances, but he gets wigged out and I just put a dipe on him and then clean him up 2 minutes later.

We did try big boy unders the other day.  He was excited to have a choice of characters.  He picked Lightening McQueen.  It lasted about 20 minutes until he was calling for me saying "Pee pee come out, Mama!"  When I took a look, he had only tinkled a bit, but he turned around and it looked like he had a tail.  So he peed and pooped in his unders despite our reminders to tell us if he had to go potty.  Oh well!  It was cute while it lasted.  He really hammed it up!

Wonderful Weekend

Yesterday we had gorgeous weather so we hit the Taste of Suffolk for a couple of hours.  We had some really good eats - a jerk pork sandwich, chicken curry (even Nate liked it), a hot dog for Nate, and ice cream.  Now that's my kind of lunch!  We ran into our friends and the boys were so excited to see each other.  We ate ice cream together then checked out the animals at the petting zoo.

Nate took off his hat and wanted to take off his shirt so he could GET IN the fountain!

Today was a rainy, stay in bed kinda day.  We did get up long enough to eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Then we headed back to bed around 11 to watch (what other than??) Toy Story 2 in bed complete with popcorn.  I "rested my eyes" while the boys watched the movie.  Once it was over, Nate rolled over, closed his eyes, and took a great nap.  Nate enjoyed his first (and second) pig in a blanket for dinner while Mike and I ate grilled cheese and tomato soup.  Did I mention I love this weather?  After dinner, we went to the store to add a new member to the family.

Meet Pookie:

HOME!

Dad's home from the hospital!  Happy dance!!

Happenings

It's been a bajillion days since my last post.  The past 6-8 weeks have been so long.  I've thought about what to write a hundred times, but I couldn't decide what to say.

My Dad had what we thought was routine gall bladder surgery back in July.  He recovered quickly and felt great.  Then he got pathology results a week later that showed malignant cells in his bile ducts.  It was a crushing, frightening, life-changing moment when he called.  You don't want it to be true.  There are so many questions, yet no answers.  I know people get cancer all the time, but not MY people.  It sucks.  And that's truly the most eloquent I can get about it.

He was referred to a surgeon and then on August 13th, he had surgery.  We didn't know what the doctors would find.  We didn't know what the surgery would entail.  In the end, they resected half of his liver.  Even with that, there were some malignant cells along the margins so there will be chemotherapy in his future.  He is still in the hospital.  It's been an up and down/ forward and back journey.  When there is progress, there are also setbacks.  So much has happened and so many emotions are involved.  I want to write about it, even if it's just for myself, but I don't think I can yet. 

We hope he goes home this weekend but I'm afraid to even say that aloud - I don't want to jinx anything.

I love you, Daddy.  Now get your ass home soon and I mean it!

Buzz

Last month I took Nate to a paint-your-own pottery place against my better judgement.  I knew his attention span would be very short.  Knowing that, I just let him do his thing.  We looked at the pottery pieces.  He chose a dinosaur that I didn't like, so I steered him to a different one.  He was happy with that until I spotted Cars and Toy Story themed money banks (that were double the size and double the price of the dinosaur).  His obsession with those movies have apparently turned into my obsession too. 

He chose the Buzz Lightyear bank.  While I was kicking myself for not remembering which colors make up the "Buzz", Nate was making himself at home looking and touching and selecting paint brushes.

Such focus

The artist at work

There were 2 tootsie pops, 3 lazy susans, 4 or 5 paint colors, and about 15 paint brushes that contributed to this piece. Let's just say the whole experience from start to finish lasted about 45 minutes and that's because I was trying to stall.  Why I was trying to stall I'm not sure.  I knew he wouldn't paint the whole thing, but I guess I was hoping for a little more.  At one point to make it more fun, while he put the paint brush to the pottery (red paint), I spun the lazy susan around.  That was the most paint he got on the piece at one time.  And it was fun for 3 seconds.  Score!

Buzz is ready for the oven

Behold!  The masterpiece

Nate loves his Buzz.  And to tell the truth, I do too.  I think it's exactly what it should be and I wouldn't change it.  

We have been putting coins in his bank daily.  Nate gets a coin for the following: feeding Bosco (2x/day), finding coins (at home or out and about), and when Mama is bribing him.  Whatever the reason, he loves it.

It may just be me, but I see pride in his work in this picture.

Denver

I had so much fun with Michelle on our quick trip to Denver last week.  We decided we've not had that much time alone together for at least 12 years.  I'd say we were long overdue!

Reunited and it feels so good!

We did lots of talking and laughing.  There were lots of U-turns and picture taking.  We visited old apartments and other places of significance. 

Helga's German Restaurant was for certain a highlight.  My mouth watered for weeks before I even got there.  We enjoyed schnitzel and conversation with our neighboring table.

Helga's schnitzel and pan-fried potatoes

Jaegar schnitzel, spaetzle, and red cabbage

Mmmmmmm

 

We did some shopping followed by happy hour with cocktails, guacamole, and people watching - my favorite things!

The next day before we headed out to Lilith Fair, we went skydiving.  Yes, you heard me correctly!  Skydiving.  Okay, INDOOR skydiving but still.  We had so much fun!  And we looked like dorks doing it!  Good times!

All the fun without all that pesky worry about possible death

Ready to fly!

Sweet googles

Hahahahahahaha!  And we wore helmets in the tunnel.  Holy rat's nest.

Ahhh...Jason.

So Lilith Fair.  My official report - not nearly like it was 12 years ago but still fun.  We wandered through the tents and heard some music on the small stages.  We found shade and hung out till it was time for the bands to start on the main stage.  

Ingrid Michaelson was awesome.  Her set was great and she was really funny.  It was especially fun when she and her band closed with "Toxic" by Britney Spears complete with choreography.  This video isn't from our show but it's still fun to watch here.

Of course, Sarah MacLachlan was who we were really there to see.  She was amazing as usual.

All the Lilith performers

A gorgeous Denver sky

It was a great trip. I'm hoping for an annual sisters only trip!  Love you, Sha!