Thanksgiving 2009

We're thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving...

We're thankful for feasts at preschool, where the favorite dishes are kiwi, macaroni and cheese, and cupcakes.


We're thankful to live in such a beautiful place, where two little people can accompany us on a three mile hike without a stroller (many shoulder rides were given on the final stretch home).


We're thankful for four-year-old cheerleaders declaring, "Our Mommy is going to win!" and plentiful high-fives at the end of the neighborhood 5K Turkey Trot.


We're thankful to celebrate the holiday surrounded by family, and many helpers in the kitchen. Ryan makes a terrific pear, cranberry and walnut green salad.


We're thankful to have graduated to the "transition table" at our family Thanksgiving so Lucie, Ryan and cousins Maggie, Milo, and Julie could take over the kids table.



We're thankful for holiday plays organized by Katie and Aunt Betsy where everyone gets stage fright and forgets their lines.


We're thankful for one little turkey who spent the entire drive home (at 10:30 at night) wide awake, playing "I-Spy" with his Uncle Andrew and giving minute-by-minute traffic reports. We're just hoping he'll sleep in this weekend...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Goofballs

Lucie and Ryan's laughter is such a pure, infectious form of happiness, that I'm guilty of trying to provoke it myself. These two can turn a seemingly normal word into a laughing fit of uncontrollable, gut-wrenching giggles. The next thing I know, I'm rolling on the floor with them over something as silly as Ryan saying "beluga whale" over and over again, or a rendition of the latest song from the "Fresh Beat Band" (a music group that sometimes plays after their favorite TV program). L & R's punchy moods can be contagious.

This sweet and simple silliness doesn't always translate to writing, as so much of it is in tone of voice, pronunciation or corresponding dance moves (the best!). Often times too, the intention is perfectly serious, but whatever comes out of their mouth makes everyone laugh. These recent gems are just too funny, sweet, and innocent not to write down.

Lucie: "Ryan, do you want to go on a space mission with me?"
Ryan: "Sorry, can't do it, I have to go pee!!!"

Lucie, at the dinner table: "Daddy, I will NOT eat pizza, I will ONLY eat broccoli!"

While working together sweeping under the kitchen table, Lucie to Ryan: "Ryan, you're making me work ALL DAY!"

Lucie, at bedtime: "Mommy, how do you say I really, really, really, really love you in french?"

And, lastly, one of my recent favorites is Ryan's adoption of the word "perhaps", though out of his mouth, it sounds like "be-haps". It's hard to catch sometimes, but if you hear him say it, I guarantee you'll smile.

"Yegoyand" Revisited

To celebrate a successful effort at reducing finger/thumb sucking and Tate's new status as a big brother, we ventured to Legoland last week. Aunt Rach, Tate, Gigi and Papa all flew down to join us. Sharing the adventure with family, combined with beautiful weather and virtually no lines, made for an all around great day.

We've only been to Legoland a few times, but each time we go I'm reminded why we love it. The park is clean, small, and perfectly suited for the preschool set with tons of simple -- yet to a 3 or 4 year old quite thrilling -- rides and playgrounds. This past trip was particularly special because it was Tate's first time, and Lucie and Ryan got to share all their favorite adventures with him. Our kids also got to try a few rides they hadn't been on before, now that they've reached age four.

Anything that the kids were able to steer themselves was declared the favorite of the day. Lucie particularly liked the car ride, and maneuvered her way around the mini-track with such ease and nonchalance it was as if she had done it hundreds of times before.

One morning a week ago Lucie woke up declaring that she had a dream that night where she drove a car "on the freeway, Mommy!!" So clearly, she'd had some recent practice at this.

Like last year, Ryan was a big fan of the boat ride, again because you could steer yourself. As co-captain, I gave him full control of the wheel and gas pedal. His captaining style involved jerking the boat all the way to the right and then all the way to the left, repeatedly, even spinning us in a full circle as we motored into the landing dock.

Ryan also kept one eye on the water, and the other on a fire fighting show going on right next to the boat ride. Boating while watching fire trucks -- what more could a little guy ask for?

When I asked Tate which ride he liked the best, he said he liked the "dinosaur" ride. Aunt Rach and I both tried to remember a ride with dinosaurs and couldn't come up with anything. Then Rachel remembered that there was a good view of some dinosaurs from one of the rides -- that had to be his favorite. Here he is with Papa, enjoying the view of the dinosaurs (and figuring out that you really didn't have to pedal to keep the train moving).

Houses of Bounce

My lingering cold gives me the opportunity to catch up on a few posts I drafted earlier this year, but never published. Funny side story about bounce houses — L & R were at a party for a preschool friend today and one of the moms (a recent transplant from South Korea) asked Megan if it was normal for American birthday parties to include an inflatable house. Based on our experience, it is in So Cal.

This post should have gone out sometime in April...

We went through a long stretch in February and March where just about every weekend presented at least one opportunity for bouncing. A couple of birthday parties for buddies, the twins club spring party, even a random party at our local park. At first, L & R wanted a parent to bounce with them, but soon figured out that it was more fun with just kids.

By now, they are seasoned pros and are starting to ask if they can have a bounce house for their next birthday.

The Astronaut and the Fairy/Princess/Ballerina/Butterfly

On Sunday morning Lucie looked at me sadly and asked, "Mommy, how come Halloween is only one day?" We had so many celebrations leading up to the big night -- two pumpkin patch trips, a party at preschool, and countless costume discussions -- it's no wonder she felt let down when it was over. Halloween at age four is a lot of fun.

Ever the fashion lover, Lucie had two different looks this year, which was actually quite useful when attending both day and night time events. One was a princess gown, and the other was a fairy costume with a glittering, fuschia tutu. She sometimes was both a fairy and a princess, depending on whether she wore her tiara, butterfly wings, fairy crown, or some combination of the three. If it was pink and sparkled, it was part of her costume (not surprisingly, many girls in preschool shared this same costume criterion).

Ryan passed along his beloved fireman costume to Tate, and decided to be an astronaut this year. Grandpa gave him colorful patches of various space missions, and Ryan helped me sew several on his flight suit. The patches made an otherwise plain costume look quite special, and Ryan felt proud. He liked to tell people that he was off "to the moon!"

After a month's worth of build up, the kids were so excited to put on their costumes on Halloween night and make their tour of the neighborhood with Daddy. I stayed back to hand out candy at home and try to remember all the cute costumes I saw to report back later.

The kids returned from their trick-or-treating exhausted and toting plastic pumpkins brimming with candy. Apparently their candy got so heavy towards the end, they worked out a system where Daddy would carry the buckets between houses and then hand them over when it came time to collect more treats. The kids each dragged home what seemed to be nearly their body weight in candy.

Though they loved the experience as a whole, some aspects of the trick-or-treating adventure were quite unnerving for them. Any house that had too many cobwebs, dangling skeletons, teenagers in gory costumes, smoke machines, or most terrifying of all, recorded spooky noises, was declared "too scary" and completely bypassed. The preferred house decor was a nice, bright porch light with cheerfully carved pumpkins grinning on the front step, and a brimming bowl of Skittles (for Lucie) and M & M's (for Ryan) waiting inside.