Dear Santa

J dictated his letter to Santa to me. He really wanted it to just say, "Dear Santa, I want a Power Ranger, from J" but I told him he had to say something nice first and also explain if he'd been good. So this was his second attempt:

Dear Santa,

Thank you, Santa, because you give things to little kids if they've been good boys. I was good because Mama didn't yell at me or scream at me. I ask when I can take my seatbelt off when I don't hear the engine. I don't say bad things about the dinner. I always ask politely for milk.

Please, I want a Power Ranger.

D has also been good. D would like a car.

I like you Santa. Please.

J

Christmakkah begins

We've been celebrating the first nights of Hanukkah. J is finally old enough to really participate; he loves to light the candles, eat suvganyot (sp?), and spin the dreidle. D is a bit bewildered but the one thing he is definite about is that a kippah is not going to stay on his head, thank you very much. Roni ordered the powdered sugar donuts, but did the fillings himself. I made latkes of ever improving quality, and the two of them were our dinner Friday night. We've since added vegetables so we won't die by the end of the eight days.

Sunday we drove to a tree farm to get our Christmas tree, our first time cutting our own since I was a kid and we cut a couple of spindly trees on our property and put them together to form one decently bushy tree. It was kind of fun wandering about looking for the perfect tree - it had to be round, not too tall, not too wide, very straight, and not be one of the expensive types (I'm tree cheap). We found a perfect grand fir, compared it to all the others, declared it the winner, and then realized that we'd left the camera in the car. Then discovered the batteries were dead. Then discovered after charging the batteries that the camera was dead. So, no pictures of Roni cutting down the tree, but he did a masterful job while the rest of us sipped hot chocolate and gave advice.

Then home, via Costco for a new camera, where we put the kids down for a nap. Roni headed out to the pump house where he tried to change the filter but instead broke off the filter and the pipe it was attached to. Oops. So, no water for us for the next 24 hours.

When the kids got up, we had a great time getting the lights and ornaments sorted out and everyone put some on. J's favorite is his Snow White apple from last year during his crazy-for-Disney phase. D really likes the glass panda since he sleeps with his panda bear every nap and night.

So, an expensive day, what with electronics and plumbers, but in the end a lovely one.

Halloween was only one day when I was a kid

So, in the important question, "Am I the kind of parent who steals Halloween candy from her own children?" the answer has come down to a resounding Yes. In fact, I will even steal the best candies - the Reese's cups and the peanut M&Ms and the Almond Joys. I figure I have to steal now before they get old enough that they are counting, categorizing, rating, and hiding the candy and all that they offer poor Mom is the awful black licorice.

Why do they even have candy, this far from Halloween is the other question. Roni decided to take them to the Zoo's Pumpkin Prowl Sunday night, which turned out to be a preview of the real event for little kids - I guess to have the practice wearing costume without screaming, which D definitely needs. They got a bag full of andy, some beanie-baby bears, and little LED flashlights amoung other loot. D was slow to catch on that if he got out of the stroller, people would give him candy for that minimal amount of effort, but he did figure it out eventually. J, on the other hand, remembers last year, so he had Roni and I help him practice saying trick-or-treat before they left so he wouldn't mess up and risk losing any candy.

D was a caterpillar (cause we have the costume from last year) and J was a fireman - just don't look inside the reflective yellow jacket because I don't think real firemen's coats have floral linings.

Getting into the Halloween spirit

We went out this afternoon to meet up with cousins to explore the corn maze and pick out pumpkins, which is becoming an annual tradition, complete with picture taking on giant pumpkins.

My favorite part is always the corn maze, which is designed to be the state of Washington. We entered on the Idaho border and had to find our way out at Neah Bay. Cousin Todd wanted to hit I-90 and hightail it west, but we let the kids pick the directions at each intersection and ended up spending a lot of time exploring the rural parts of Eastern and Central Washington.

It was a grand adventure until we somehow lost Todd and A and then J face planted into a major puddle. He recovered well, after the screaming died down, and we explained that he couldn't strip off for the remainder of the maze. Mud from toes to his hair. It was a very dramatic splash.

We spent some time in the barn maze as well. Less muddy and with a slide that they thought was so great they had to go around twice.Then we began the great pumpkin search. I have strict pumpkin criteria - they must be round, smallish, and deserving of the label "cute." Also, J must be able to lift them. J participated enthusiastically, but D was more interested in his apple and rather angry that the pumpkins got to ride in the stroller instead of him.

Mother's Day

Mother’s Day went very well. Roni worked very hard in the kitchen, with J’s semi-help, making bagels and muffins and salads for our brunch. Mom came over with Mr. Al and the sunny weather meant we could sit out on the back deck where there are yet to be any flowers, but the green is lovely anyway. (Sitting outside also meant no one commenting on how the dust bunnies are becoming more dust sheep lately, and walking down the stairs is like threading an obstacle course.)

It still amazes me that I am a mother, and that J has been with us for over a year. He is an amazing kid, and we are beyond lucky to have him.

After the feast, we cleared the table for a cut throat game of Froggy Farkel which the three year old won! Despite not knowing the rules, or how to score, or why we were so insistent that all the dice land on the table each time, it turns out little J is a bit of a dice-shark. Luckily he accepted cheese cake instead of cash for his winnings.

J was a little confused over the weekend why Saturday was Papa’s Day (Roni’s 39th birthday) and Sunday was Mama’s Day, but there was no day for him. Explaining that pretty much every day is J Day didn’t work, as a true “Day” is marked with cake, preferably one with a fire truck on it, and definitely chocolate. And he has a point. Everyday would be a little brighter with some chocolate cake in it. But as the Wii has for the first time this year finally told me I was “normal” when I got on the scale, we’re going to have to continue to limit the chocolate cake intake.

Celebrating Spring

We had a great time on Saturday coloring the eggs. J. took great care and pride in his coloring, and the shrink wrap sleeves amazed and delighted him. He's getting pretty good with his balance, so with a little mom help he got to pour the boiling water on some of them to shrink the sleeves.

We only broke two eggs, and we split the damage between us, so it was a success! The eggs won't be very edible as I forgot them while boiling and some of them boiled for over 15 minutes (oops) but how many hard boiled eggs could we eat, anyway?

I'm puzzled by the inclusion of a brown dye pellet. Wouldn't people who wanted brown eggs just buy brown ones?

Sunday we went for brunch to my aunt's house, who had the usual fabulous feast, including a special lamb dish for Roni, who couldn't eat the ham. He brought along matzabrai (sp?) for his bread since all the flour products were also off limits until Pesach ends next week.

J is still a little confused about why a bunny hides his eggs, but he enjoyed finding them, and his slightly older cousin was good about leaving some of them for him - his detection skills mean that the eggs needed to be in pretty obvious spots!

The brunch timing meant no nap - he held up well, but was asleep in the car on the way home before we got to the first traffic light.

Also, to show that all the holidays were covered, on Wednesday we had our Pesach Seder. It was just the three of us, and J's attention span was sorely tested, but it was a moderate success. We remembered all the items for the Seder plate this year! And although J's mini-meltdown left Roni alone at the table at one point, reading the prayers alone, J did last long enough to open the door for Elijah and to hunt down the hidden matzah cracker. And really, considering it is all in Hebrew, and J is only three and had been sick all week, it went as well as could be expected!