running errands with a 4 year old

after dinner last night, fin and i went out to run a few errands. somehow he is now under the impression that if he is good, he will get a treat at each and every stop. dont know where that could have possibly come from. the truth is though, i enjoy having the company running errands and he keeps me laughing. last night we had to stop at the liquor store to get some reinforcements for tonight. fin has never been to the liquor store before. when we pulled up, he asked where we were. in efforts to simplify things i said "this is the beer store. mommy needs some beer for the party tomorrow night." quickly followed by "please do not touch anything in this store, because everything is very fragile." he was great in the store, looked only with his eyes (when did i become the mom who says that?!?!) when we got back in the minivan he said "mommy, that beer store made me feel all bubbly." just as i was thinking oh boy, what have i done. he says "i dont like bubbles, they are for grownups." i will be sure to remind him of this the first time he returns home a little bubbly!

not ashamed to admit

i am not ashamed to admit that i frequently make use of dictionary.com. it is a great reference, has a thesaurus built in, its all around great. for example, this week it was particularly useful after a visit from MIL. she loves to use obscure words and really thinks better of herself for doing so. she is one of those people who pronounces croissant as if she were born and raised in paris (and was still living there) even though is an american. this week dictionary.com was so enlightening when i learned the definition of imp. it is particularly wonderful to know that MIL thinks this is a totally appropriate term to use when oohing and ahhing over her grandchild. "max is so impish" especially fun when it is repeated multiple times. of course only after she was done pointing out that "sadly, his eyes are no longer blue" umm, is she hitler?!

just in case you dont want to look it up yourself...
imp –noun

1.	a little devil or demon; an evil spirit.

2.	a mischievous child.

you really can find everything on ebay, pt 2

i know i mentioned this before, but when my sister and i were growing up we had our picture taken each year by a countdown birthday candle. at the time, i am sure i thought it was silly. and i made fun of my mom and her silly traditions - but the fact is, now that i am older i appreciate the traditions. i was really surprised when jon found the same exact countdown on ebay for fin over 4 years ago. so of course i wanted one for max and keegan as well. and therein was the problem. for months, i searched on ebay to no avail. then, about 1 week before christmas, i asked jon if he ever had any luck finding the candle. he said i will go look right now, and lo and behold, there was an auction that closed in two hours. this week the new candle arrived in the mail (i really would have paid any price for it, but we won it at $12.01).

here are the latest installments of the birthday candle collage in the making...

















max was not quite as enthralled

















here they are together...

merry christmas

what a joy to not look at your children through portholes on christmas morning! we have come a long way baby...

















fin had a fabulous christmas morning as well. when he saw the tree first thing this morning adorned with piles of presents he said "WOW, i guess santa didn't know how bad i was!"

a little diddy

merry christmas, merry christmas - my kid is puking out his brains
merry christmas, merry christmas - another has a rash from head to toe
merry christmas, merry christmas - max is still a wheezing fool
merry christmas, merry christmas - at least no one is hospitalized
merry christmas, merry christmas- i think i'll go have a drink
merry christmas, merry christmas- santa better bring me something good

miracle on 34th street

two years ago we started what we had intended to be an annual tradition. last year, as you know by now, it was sort of christmas interrupted for us. at any rate, this year we were back on course. last night with the whole family in tow, granny and pop included, we headed up to hamden and munched on the yummy treats at cafe hon. afterwards we walked over to miracle on 34th street and took in the lights. it was a balmy 40 degrees and we had a blast. i am not sure max and keegan knew was to think - but fin was enamored.





















this year, in the true spirit of entrepreneurship christmas, they even had street vendors and fin got some "santa bling-bling". it is hard to tell in this picture, but i am pretty sure this bling is going to induce a seizure in one of my children with its strobe light effects and glowing candy cane. its a sight to be seen (however not much fun in the *early* morning hours when you are awakened to the sound of "mommy, want to try on my new necklace?") i dont even want to know how much pop paid for this treasure!

here are the rest of us enjoying the lights. if you have never been and want to see a kitschy christmas that BGE is bound to love, check it out.

pillar

being a mom is hard work, no one debates that - whether you are at home with them all day or working outside the home, raising children is a difficult job. even though some days it is hard and i feel like i just want to go get a job where i travel 30 days a month, i love being a mom.

along the way i have been really fortunate to have a lot of support. rarely do i have to ask for it either - it always manages to present itself at all the necessary moments. the pillar though has been my very own mom. i think really, she is part of why i wanted to be a mom myself. it was just part of how she raised me.

by now you know that this time last year was such a difficult time for us. without thinking twice about it my mom just dropped everything and stepped in. i was in the hospital for 5 weeks and i didnt have to worry about fin at all, because she just moved in and took over. then max and keegan were in the nicu for so long, and again she was there to drive me to the hospital to visit them, take fin to school, even to take fin to see santa last year when i just couldnt manage it mentally. she even got fin doing things that i hadnt even considered, like making his own bed.

i get it that she was just being a mom to me by doing all these things. it just comes from such a place of love and i want her to know just how much i appreciate it. it means the world to me to have her be such a huge part of my life as well as my childrens. i love you mom! from the bottom of my heart, thank you!