Welcome February!

After the longest month of at least one person in our house being sick that I can remember ever.... we made it to February.  Since MiniM.E. was born I cannot remember a week (let alone a month) where we stayed inside or I took as few photos as I did last month.

But we made it through, and I'm happy to say that the first weekend of February showed lots of promise!

Saturday we went out for Saratoga's Chowderfest.  We'd been since we moved to Saratoga-- the first year was a bit of a shock-- Bob had to work and I took 2 1/2 month old MiniM.E. by myself to a festival full of people and lines for tiny cups of chowder... not so impressed.  Last year, MiniM.E. had no desire to sit in a stroller and wait in lines, though we got there super early to make sure to taste some of the best... we still ended up spending most of Chowderfest at a coffee shop.

So I didn't have high expectations for this year.

And we had a blast!

We took the bus into town (which was probably the best part for MiniM.E.)

She brought Dolly in her carrier and walked the streets:

We made footprints in the snow (also a highlight):

Managed to taste the two best chowders in town and swing by Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream chowder for MiniM.E. before she needed a break to walk the park and throw rocks in the stream:

We hit up a few more chowder spots... spent half an hour at Northshire Books and three times that long putting the dollies to bed at G. Willikers before ending our day at Druther's where MiniM.E. insisted we push through the hundreds of people in the courtyard and wait in a 30 minute queue for a table...

All in all, Chowderfest was a blast the third time around.


Sunday we finally had weather good enough (if you call mid 30's with drizzle good weather) to try skiing with MiniM.E. on the new skis we bought her.  She has been talking about it since the first snow fell and she was SO excited.

West Mountain seemed like a good first time skiing choice.  With the magic carpet and the easy sloping bunny hill, we made a good choice.

All decked out and ready to go.

Magic carpet!

(forgot you can't take sideways videos...)

Video of skiing to come... technical issues with the video camera... 

The magic carpet was obviously much more fun than actually going down the hill on skis, but we made a total of four runs, which was four more than I thought we would make.

After a snack by the fire (and another in the lodge), MiniM.E. said she was done for the day and we packed up to go home.  (She said she wanted to ski again as we were walking to the car... next time...) I think it was a successful first ski day!

So Far, 2014...

I am not a fan...

So far, we all got sick.  So far, we are all still coughing and Mommy- despite her job requiring full days complete with toddler activities, multiple toddler snack preparations, chasing, carrying, princess castles, playing doctor, grocery shopping, errands, baking at request of toddler, preparing meals for the whole family, bath time, story time, bedtime and sit-by-the-bed-until-someone-falls-asleep-time- is still not feeling that great.

Thank you, at least, for not being the year of zero naps (she is napping now).

We have had some fun in the past couple weeks: sledding, meeting a new baby, a 2nd birthday party, and lots of toddler outings.  But it has also been either -13 degrees or miserably chilly and rainy for the better part of the last two weeks.  Pair that with not feeling well, and we've had a LOOOOOOONG two weeks of playing inside.

I don't have photos.  So far 2014 has been relatively photo-less.  But really, the dreary weather makes for unappealing indoor photos.  And even if the sun is out, I feel less apt to pull out the camera to take spontaneous photos of MiniM.E. if her nose is running into her mouth or her finger is stuck up it....

BUT, I have to say, MiniM.E. has been a trooper.  We've had days where I was thinking of bedtime at 9:30am... but she has been, for the most part, content.  And of course adorable.  And the things that come out of her mouth never cease to put a smile on my face.


This morning, Bob is drinking his coffee, MiniM.E. wants to play doctor and she has Chicka Chicka Boom Boom playing on the TV.

"Daddy, come play doctor with me!"

Daddy: "MiniM.E., come sit and eat your breakfast and watch your show.  Daddy has to finish his coffee first."

"It's okay Daddy," (pulling on arm) "you can come slowly (which means carefully) with your coffee over here to play doctor.  Then after we doctor dolly you can come back here and watch your show."

(MiniM.E. won, Daddy played doctor.  How can you say no to that?)



Today we were driving to gymnastics and passed Wal-Mart.  I said, "Almost there, it's just past Wal-Mart."

"Wal-Mart?  Is that the Wal-Mart there?  Is that where walruses live?"

I told her she was being silly, walruses don't live at Wal-Mart.

"Toy walruses, Mommy."


So that has been our 2014 so far.  It's got to get better from here!  Just wanted to post something... even if it is photo-less...

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Bring on the Snow!!

Here we are in 2014.  It's been a blur of a couple years... I never believed people who said once they had kids the time just flew by, but here we are with a two-year-old and many times it seems like we brought her home from the hospital weeks ago.  I won't recap AGAIN all the changes that's meant for us over the past two years, but it's been CRAZY and AMAZING.  I can't wait for what this year brings- I am pretty excited... even though I have no idea what to expect.  I can probably say we will stay here in Saratoga, probably in our same house and I can definitely say we won't be getting a dog this year.  Other than that, it's all up in the air.

Anyway... back to a few weeks ago when Christmas was still something we were looking forward to...

We went to NH Christmas Eve, arrived in time for the early evening mass at church (where MiniM.E. was great despite asking repeatedly if it was over starting after the pre-mass choir), ate tons of delicious food including a super fancy cheesecake from our neighbor, woke up at a reasonable hour Christmas morning and opened a slew of presents (most of which MiniM.E. opened halfway, just to see what things were, and immediately moved on to the next present).

The hilarious event of the day was right after the most exciting event of the day (where MiniM.E. got the puppy in a bag she asked Santa for): Dolly also asked Santa for a present, a giant stuffed horse from Hannaford.  Santa came through and the stuffed horse sat "hidden" on the bouncing rocking horse.  To make sure MiniM.E. saw it, we said, "Look MiniM.E.! Santa brought the stuffed horse for Dolly!! Do you want us to take it down so you can play with it??"  MiniM.E. glared at us and said, almost as if annoyed, "No! That's Dolly's horse."  She hasn't touched it yet.

We had a fantastic prime rib dinner.  MiniM.E. woke up in the night screaming because it wasn't Christmas anymore, and we spent the rest of our NH vacation playing with new toys and visiting with family.  We saw H. & C. on Thursday, my aunt and uncle on Friday, went down to CT to see my other aunt and uncle, their two kids and my grand-cousin(?) Saturday and drove home Sunday.

Here's our week in photos.

what? we aren't leaving til tomorrow??? 

all dressed up for church 

traditional Christmas Eve present

(pajamas she wouldn't wear)

Christmas Eve present #2

so excited Santa brought a puppy in a bag!

stocking

mini xylophone was a huge hit

opening... 

and opening... 

and opening... 

and opening... 

Honey Bunches loved the paper.

modeling her new slippers.  she will only wear them nude.

family photo 

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus cake

festive hat

presents with H.

snow angel! 

playing with SÅND

Baby L. in CT

testing out the baby toys

petting the bunny with Uncle Mark

our family photo

I would love to say that we had an eventful night New Year's Eve, went to First Night and stayed out to see fireworks, but we just walked to a neighbor's for a few drinks, MiniM.E. was done after an hour or so, we came home, put her to bed, watched a TV show and went to bed by 10.  Happy New Year!!

And now here we are on day 2 of 2014 watching the snow fall softly outside.  Keep warm!

SNOW!!!!

It's been a long time since we've had snow on Christmas.  Over the past week we've gotten almost a foot and a half.  (It's supposed to rain here tomorrow and Sunday, so maybe Saratoga won't have a white Christmas, but we're hoping some of the snow sticks in NH!)

MiniM.E. has been asking to go sledding since September so she was especially excited about all the snow.

She has her very own snow shovel and surprisingly made a path all the way from the front door to here:

She also really enjoys pulling the sled.  (More than riding it?  Possibly.)

Our first downhill sledding of the year was Sunday after the big storm. We went to Saratoga State Park to the smallest of hills, perfect for nervous toddlers that "don't want to go really fast".

all geared up

eating snow

Then yesterday we took advantage of the fresh layer of powder that fell Tuesday and went sledding at H. and her mom's house.

snow angel!

trying to get three kids to sit together, nearly impossible.

with smiles!!!

Hoping to get out once more today before the rain melts it or turns it into an icy mess.  And looking forward to lots more snow and sledding for the rest of the winter.

NYC at Christmastime: Take 3

It has become our yearly tradition to visit New York City at Christmastime.  Mainly to visit the Santa at the Plaza Hotel, who, if you haven't visited before, is probably the best Santa ever.  Seems like a pretty ridiculous trip just to see a Santa, but it seems we are suckers for a good one, especially after seeing a few of the local Santas...

You remember the first time we went?  And last year?

This year was, by far, the easiest.  No worries about where to feed her, the nearest place with a changing table or whether or not she was cold or having a good time.

We had a bit of a hitch in the morning as MiniM.E. cried the whole way to the train station and then we missed our train by seconds resulting in an epic tantrum about wanting to be on that train.

But we caught the next one and after a relaxing trip we made it to Grand Central Station.  MiniM.E. looked less than thrilled, but it turned out it was just because...

It was nap time.  While she snoozed Bob and I took a leisurely walk up 5th Avenue through Central Park for a while and MiniM.E. woke up just as we were debating whether to buy tickets to the zoo. Of course when we asked MiniM.E. what she thought she said, "Yes, I DO want to go to the zoo!!!!"

We saw a sea lion show and let her escape from the stroller for a bit.

A few snow leopards and red pandas later, we'd pretty much seen what there was to see at the zoo, but it was a nice activity.

The petting zoo is actually separate and I have to say, wasn't really worth the trek over to it.  All the animals were caged and not very "pettable" and the few activities they had for kids we didn't let MiniM.E. do because it was too cold.

She seemed to enjoy herself anyway.

Then it was back to the edge of Central Park for a hotdog and a black squirrel sighting.  Have you seen these?  MiniM.E. was hilarious as she kept commenting, "Squirrels aren't supposed to be black.  That's silly!"

The highlight of the trip, by far, was FAO Schwartz.  Specifically, the giant piano.  MiniM.E. loved it last year and was even more excited to run around on it this year.

We walked back down 5th Ave. past the tree and through the Bryant Park Christmas Market to Times Square.  MiniM.E. had been begging for another hotdog since we left the toy store so we called it a day with a meal at Ruby Tuesday's, MiniM.E.'s preferred restaurant because "you get to pick out your food to eat."

As soon as we were back out in the brisk winter air, MiniM.E. was asleep.  Third trip to NYC: success!