christmastime in st. louis

you'll have to excuse me for jumping from one holiday to the next as if nothing happened in between, but the OCD part of me won't let me write about anything current till we're at least nominally caught up ;-)

christmas break came early this year for us.  we set off at 7 pm, friday the 16th of december.  five hours later, we stopped for the night just past charleston, WV.  to everyone's relief, the girls were great about going back to sleep at 2 am, in the same bed and all.  an uneventful drive through kentucky, indiana and illinois brought us over the river, if not through the woods, to grandmother nicholson's house in time for dinner. 

it was a wonderful, relaxing, reunion of a week.  it felt luxurious to be able to go for a run or go to the gym every day or every other day (okay, those who don't have kids may not view running as luxurious, but i do ;-) ).  instead of rushing breathlessly into the festivities, we had all week to lounge, catch up with friends, spend a day at work (only the 3rd time i've been into the office), sleep in... i spent an evening with katie and sara and heather (why oh why didn't i take a picture?!), while ben went out with the guys.  we snuck back into grandma and grandpa's around 2 am ;-)

so, enough talk =)

possibly my favorite pic of the trip!

a lot of game playing took place

everything, err, everyone, was on the table ;-)

enjoying some daffy duck with uncle neil

christmas eve finery

on our way to christmas eve service

gearing up for presents

chloe has first dibbs.. this one was a decorate-your-own piggy bank
from nai nai and ah gong that she wanted to do our very first day back
in maryland, even before breakfast

personalized puzzle stools from g&g nicholson

guess who got a onesie for christmas? ;-)  lucy only spilled the beans, oh,
four or five times in advance ;-)

christmas morning stockings

taking a picture of taking a picture, first of many, i'm sure ;-)

lucy looooves her abigail

as one of our advent activities, we had wrapped a present for Jesus weeks before, with a slit cut in the box. when the girls wanted to 'give a present to Jesus', we wrote it on an index card and slipped it in. 

by christmas, they had quite a collection:

i let lucy choose where she wanted to sleep at naptime, even when she changed her mind twice. love, chloe
i gave chloe a napkin to clean up her oatmeal at breakfast.  love, lucy
i said, 'okay if you want me to' when mommy asked if i could have a 'dilla instead of grilled cheese.  love, chloe
i let jie jie ride my bikey-bikey!  love, lucy
i got lucy a tissue when her nose was running.  love, chloe
i brought a book, a shoelace and a blankie blankie to jie jie.  love, lucy
i let lucy have some extra turns jumping on the couch.  love, chloe
i was helpful and obedient putting on my pajamas and brushing my teeth.  love, lucy
i agreed to get in the bath because mommy asked me to, even though i didn't want to, and got dressed with a cheerful heart.  love, chloe
i spontaneously shared my m&m's with jie jie even though she had already had her treat.  love, lucy
i got mommy's bag all by myself when i saw she was looking for it.  love, chloe
my memory verses:  psalm 9:1, proverbs 19:20, philippians 2:4, proverbs 15:1, etc. love, chloe [she knows about 10!]

christmas day was a beautiful one

as was christmas night

we miss you, grandma and grandpa and uncle neil!!

thanksgiving, blurrily

blurrily because so much has happened since, and blurrily because the spots from the mud puddle day were still on my lens =p

we got up bright and early (for us) thanksgiving day and drove up to nai-nai and ah-gong's house in new jersey, with my renditions of grandma nicholson's cornbread dressing and apple pie on board. 

first, some time outside.  a yard is a wonderful thing!

chloe's picture of our matching chinese slippers

can't you tell i just love turkey =p



dinner is served!



i think we had enough ;-)

'daddy, don't eat the WHOLE THING!!'

snuggled into one bed for the first time

friday we went into new york city to see some college friends.  city life is not for me, but it apparently is for several million other people =p

central park at twilight



times square, no flash required, ever

 saturday we met up with some high school friends of mine at holmdel park, where i spent a lot of time during cross country seasons.  funny to look at the old place with such different eyes, checking out the coolness of the playgrounds rather than the steepness of the hills ;-)

neither of the girls seems much bothered by heights

 finally, saturday night dinner =  hot pot = yummmmm!

and who could resist a late-night peek?

culinary corner: kale + kids?

i got a giant bunch of kale for 50 cents the other day, so i decided to give kale chips another try.  my first try, a few years ago, was promising, but not compelling.  i adapted this recipe:

Crispy Kale Chips from the food network:

1 head kale, washed and thoroughly dried

2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Remove the ribs from the kale and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Lay on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and salt. Bake until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through, about 20 minutes. Serve as finger food.

a few notes:  if you've never worked with kale before, there's a tough rib in the middle of each leaf that you have to remove.  i used enough kale to fill my biggest mixing bowl.  be sure to cut into 1-2" pieces (too big and they won't be crispy, two small and they'll burn), and spread it out in a single layer using 2 pans (rotate pans when you stir).  i  just shook the leaves dry, and used seasoned salt to taste. 

results:  crispy, salty, snacky greens that the girls loved!  i could have eaten a whole pan myself, but i'm probably a little odd =)  bottom line, you won't find a yummier, vitamin-laden veggie that your kids will crunch right up!

nature activities

for those who are curious, i thought i'd post some of our nature crafts and 'preschool' activities of late.  the first few are from a fall crafts book that i accidentally checked out from the library (lucy pulled it off the shelf =p).  my criteria for crafts is easy and available - if i can't figure out in a few minutes with stuff we have on hand, it's not happening!

caterpillars: so easy!  cut out circles and have the kids string them on a pipe cleaner.  twist another pipe cleaner for antennae.  add googly eyes if you have them, or just cut more paper.  you might get martian-looking caterpillars if you let the kids choose the colors ;-)

variation on stained glass leaves:  cut the wax paper in leaf shapes and add a thin stick to each as a backbone.  fun to wave and quite pretty against the sun =)

good night bear:  wish i could post the diagram of this, but that would probably be copyright violation =p  basically, take a paper bag, cut off about 6 inches off the top, cut a U-shaped opening on one side, fold down the top and staple it shut.  glue on fiberfill or cotton ball 'snow'.

seeds+pot set from the dollar bin at target!  if the girls haven't inherited my inability to keep anything green, we might have some basil and forget-me-nots coming =p 

and of course, no nature activity list would be complete without a trip to the zoo.  the girls and i have been to the national zoo twice by ourselves lately, once in the car and once on the metro.  it's definitely a day's work (laurie and joley, where are you when we need you?!), but they really enjoy it, and it does its job of tiring them out ;-)

at the shuttlebus stop

on the shuttle, like daddy!

on the metro

on our first trip, we got quite the panda show

the amazon building - look at the size of those fish!

can you see the lions?

so funny to see this guy walking towards us

we don't call lucy the turtle for nothing ;-)
(though this guy's actually a radiated tortoise)

yum!

amazing

retrieving the turtle ;-)  on the way to the monkeys

we provided quite a few chuckles for fellow passengers on the way home ;-)

rain, rain, go away

the rain didn't exactly go away, but we took advantage of a break in the weather.  shorts and flip flops filled in for lack of rainboots =)

unfortunately, some of the first shots seem to have splashed my camera, which i didn't notice till just now, so pardon the blurriness =p

now time for a bath and a load of laundry =)