Thankful

Here’s what I’m thankful for this year:

Happy Thanksgiving!

October ~ I hardly knew ya.

This is how October looked to me while at work:

Intimidating. Yeesh.

Here is how October looked when I wasn’t at work:

We became a Brownie. How cute is that uniform? All the Moms insisted on the beanie caps. My vote was for purely photographic and scrapbooking purposes. Can you blame me?

We hung out with family.

Celebrated birthdays and flexible little girls.

We roasted pumpkin seeds.

And carved that bad boy. The kids and I love eating roasted pumpkin seeds (olive oil, garlic salt, kosher salt) – the tall man does not. Whatever. More for us.

The grand finale – Halloween.  Oh yeah, and a Gator football game.

Look at all those characters!

Hannah Montana gets a lift from her Mom.

Davy Jones & Lady Liberty (my favorite statue) graciously posed with me before heading out for the night.

Now it’s November… and I don’t anticipate things slowing down anytime soon.  

 

Busy: By the numbers

1 – Cello

1 – Huge addiction to Facebook.

6 - Little Brownies in the Troop

1 – Trip to the midwest

1 – Additional Hotel

2 – Fried computers

A bunch of birthdays.

And some pumpkins.

Okay, so I lost count.  Hey – I said it was busy.

We’re rich!

We decided it was time to try our hand at gold mining. I mean, the economy isn’t that great, so maybe we could strike it rich and retire this way. Sure… it could happen. 

It was worth a try. And we did find some gold… flakes, anyway… and some rocks and minerals.

See! Look at all those treasures!

Speaking of treasure… take a look at these gems:

See – I told ya we were rich!

Vacation: By the Numbers

near herald square

• 28 hours driven up & back
• three hotels (and only one decent one)
• five boroughs visited (or driven through)
• four bridges crossed
• 441 photos taken by me (not counting the photos the kids took)
• two New York pizzas (okay, one was technically in New Jersey, but we’re counting it anyway)
• 150+ blocks walked & walked & walked
• 45 degrees – the average temperature for the week!
• 2 ferry rides
• three uncles, one aunt, one grandfather, three cousins and their lovely other halves, plus two little ones
• two sisters missed
• 4 teary-eyed moments
• five seven Starbucks visits
• 1,000 times explaining to the boy that the Hudson is a river and not the ocean
• 1 whale in the NY Harbor (which didn’t help the argument above)
• 1 amazing Broadway Show

And countless other memories.

top of the rock

I had her when I was, um, 20. Cough.

This girl turned 8 a couple of weeks ago. Eight.

I’m having a hard time believing that my baby is eight. And I guess I should admit that she’s not a baby anymore.

Wasn’t she just a toddler yesterday watching Playhouse Disney and Blues Clues?

She’s, like, a girl. A person.

She’s got her own ideas, opinions, and fashion sense. 

I’m just not sure where she gets her independent spirit, her craziness… her character.

But if I find out, I’ll let you know.

Me and Rip Van Winkle

They say that the way you spend your New Year’s Eve will determine how you spend the upcoming year.

I’m okay with this.

(it’s not like I couldn’t use the beauty sleep… because, clearly…)

Mack and I fell asleep long before the ball dropped. We were nudged awake in time to see the last few seconds of 2008, give kisses all around, and then we went right back to sleep.

Happy New Year, sleepy heads.

I don’t know about you.

But… at my house we like to lay under the tree with all of our baby dolls and our favorite blankie, uh, I mean, blanket.

And after today… I plan on joining her.

Because I’ll be ON VACATION!

What’s with the plastic bag?

Over the years when people see my Christmas tree, they often ask me about the plastic bag that is sitting on the branches. You can’t really see it when you glance at the tree; its only noticeable when you really get up close. This is the view:

The plastic bag is always situated near the Statue of Liberty centennial ornament (in front of a green light, of course) & the gold tree with the photo of my grandmother (Noni) swimming. (She didn’t learn to swim until she was a grandmother six times over – so it was quite the momentus occasion.) The bag is to the bottom left.

This is the bag outside of the tree:

Nice, huh?

I guess when I was about three or four years old, I decided to take a few clothespins (the fabulous 70’s green-orange-and yellow plastic kind) and a paper napkin in order to make a super-special ornament for my Noni’s Christmas tree. Even at that age I was doing some sort of crafting. 

Noni hung it up on her tree every year. I didn’t realize until I was older that she continued to do that. When it started to fall apart she put it in a ziploc bag and hung that on her tree.  

After she passed away in 1992, my grandfather gave it to my Mom who put it on her tree for a little while. Or did I get it before then? Hmmm… I can’t remember. Anyway. It must go on my tree every year. And in my mind, it makes perfect sense to put it behind the ornament of her swimming & the Statue of Liberty. (we’re from New York, you know..and it’s my most favorite statue.)

(Everyone has a favorite statue, right?)

It’s my small tribute to my grandmother who I miss very much… every day… and especially at Christmas.

The Usual Suspects

We celebrated the end of October like we always do:

The girl studied pumpkin anatomy.

The kids designed spooky gourd decor.

We seasoned and roasted the specimen’s insides so we could eat them.

Met up with a gang of fellow candy-loving hooligans. (in disguise, of course)

Encountered danger and horror at every turn!

Through all the adversity, we prevailed, and came home with lots of treasure!

I mean, like, an obscene amount…

in the end, we all rejoiced in our good fortune, plentiful candy, wonderful friends & family! (and cute hair)