Fireside Bedtime

Like many of my friends, we have a bed time routine for each of our kids. Sweets is still in the "I am too tired for anything at bedtime except kisses and my bed" phase, so we generally kiss her goodnight and put her to bed. Doodle on the other hand, has what has become a long drawn out bedtime that has lots of manipulating parts. And when I say manipulating I am referring to a two way street.

Generally her bedtime routine has been bath, jammies, classic Mickey Mouse cartoon, story, prayers, singing. This is longer than we ever wanted it to be, but gives her some quiet time with both of us (assuming my Favoritest is home for bedtime). And the length also allows us some choices and consequences. For example, if it is late we will make Doodle choose either a mickey cartoon or a story. Of course she usually chooses a story. We have also been known to take away portions of the bed time as a consequence for poor choices during the evening. The point of all this rambling about our bedtime routine is that it has become streamlined and almost sacred during our time in the hotel-house.

The girls are sharing a room. The first few nights we put the to bed at the same time. For about an hour this is what we heard "I-zeeee. Nite-nite. Bink Bink Bink. Hi! I-zeee. Helwoo!" Sweets wouldn't stop talking to Doodle. And while it was cute the first night, it was causing cranky kids in the morning. So we started putting Sweets to bed before Doodle. Hoping that Sweets would fall asleep and then we could put Doodle in bed. This plan would have been perfect, if Doodle had a variety of volumes, but she only does loud. So Sweets wouldn't fall asleep.

And then, I had an idea. A beautiful, wonderful idea. Doodle and I would take her new Junie B, Jones book to the lobby and read a couple of chapters aloud. Then come back to the room for prayers and singing. And so began our hotel-house bed time routine. Now, Doodle is rushing to put on her jammies, pack up a few friends and her dessert and head to the lobby.

We snuggle up in front of the fire and we read. We both love it. I get 15-20 minutes with my big girl that is uniterrupted by life. She is in heaven, getting me all to herself. And she is loving chapter books. One night, as I carried my big sleepy girl back to the room on my back, she whispered in my ear " mommy, I really like going to the lobby to read chapter books. We should remember to do this when we get home". I quickly said the same thing.

 

And made a promise to my self to not let this slip away into the hustle and bustle of our house at night. Promised myself not to take away this precious time as a consequence. Promised myself to not allow her choices about this one thing. We both need this time. And all to soon, she isn't going to want to snuggle in my arms and read about the adventures of Jack and Annie and Junie B.

 

 

Most nights when we come back to the room Sweets is either asleep or groggy enough that she doesn't talk to Doodle. Both the kids are getting to bed at a better time. It's a win win! And I get to look down at this for a few minutes every night!

 

 

 

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My Cup Runneth Over

It's taken me a little while to get us settled and find time to post pictures of our holiday fun. Despite the upheaval of Christmas Eve, we managed to celebrate and keep up our traditions. The girls thorougly enjoyed the holiday, and in spite of everything so did I. So here are a few pictures from Christmas morning. Bubbie is recouperating from knee replacement surgery and I hope this post will perk her up! Also, as I got halfway through typing this I decided that while we tease and call Sadie TerrorTot, I dont want her to look back at this and think it a negative nickname. Henceforth she will be known as Sweets in the blog-o-sphere. I promise, no more name changes for her!

 

Doodle asked Santa for a telescope becuase "I have never been to visit outer space and I would like to see what outer space is like". I hope that she enjoys it when we get back to our house!

Doodle was up and ready to open presents.... meanwhile Sweets took a little while to wake up.

Doodle had a snack cup and snuggles while she waited!

 

We finally gave up and let Doodle wake Sweets up. She rolled Sweets' Santa gift into the room and then woke her up so it would be the first thing she saw. It was really sweet!

And then since everyone was awake and together (Bubbie and Zayde stayed in the hotel with us) it was time for everyone to rip in!

Sweets got a camelbak in her stocking. By far, one of her most favorite gifts!

 

Doodle picked out gifts for the entire family at 5Below (like a dollar store but everything is 5 or less). She was so excited for Bubbie to open her scarf!

Doodle asked Bubbie and Zayde for matching baby dolls for herself and Sweets. Of course Bubbie and Zayde came through!

 

I barely got a picture of her loving the baby before she started dragging it around by it's hair.

We finished opening our packages and posed for our annual "Matches" picture.

And then headed to breakfast... in our jammies. Because when you are at a hotel on Christmas morning the only respectable thing to do is wear your matches to the lobby for breakfast! And we took the babies who are now named Glora (Doodle's baby) and Baby (Sweets' baby)

Did I mention that Uncle Hank gave the girls matching strollers:)

Doodle and Bubbie spent a little quiet time enjoying the "Press Here" book!

Although far from normal, our day was filled with joy and laughter, presents and surprises, family and love! We ended the day with what might have been the most unusal Christmas Day dinner, rouladin (it's a German dish). It was in the crockpot the day of the fire and it seemed like a total waste not to eat it, so we did. I also should mention that for the first time ever, I had more packages than anyone to open. And for that reason and so many more, my cup runneth over!

 

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Oh What A Night!

This morning I awoke with My Favoritest's alarm. I showered and was ready for the day before anyone else in the house woke up. I spent a little time taking some pictures of our elf Murphy's latest activities. She had carefully hung our stockings on the mantle, complete with toule and twinkling lights.

The presents were wrapped under the tree. Doodle's gifts for everyone were chosen with care and lovingingly wrapped with lots of tape and a crumpling technique. Just above her packages were a cluster of ornaments received in the mail the day before. As I focused my lens, I smiled to myself thinking that this is what our Christmas celebration is about.

 

And then I walked to the back of the living room and took a few snapshots of the whole room. And as the Hanukkah decorations and Christmas tree filled the viewfinder, I was so at peace with our whole holiday celebration this year. And not too long after, Doodle woke up and the house started to hum with the noise of my family.

Our day went as most days go. Bubbie and Zayde took Doodle ot a movie. Sadie (who's new nickname is TerrorTot) refused to give in to her exhaustion and wouldn't nap. My Favoritest came home early from work. Dinner was in the crock pot. All in all life was good. I was picking things up around the house, when I caught a wiff of burnt. I made the oven, stove, toaster circut and then headed to the laundry room. Calling for my Favoritest, we quickly realized the smell was in fact the dryer. As I pulled some clothes out, a big billow of smoke came with it and I saw bright orange in the back of the dryer. We called 911, grabbed the baby and the dogs and got out of the house. And we stood in the driveway as snow flurries spit out of the sky and watched smoke billow out of the window. Hearing the sirens grow louder and praying they got there before too much damage was done.

 

To our great relief and amazement, "they" were four firetrucks filled with volunteer firefighters. On Christmas Eve! There were no less than 15 heros on our lawn and in our house.

The fire was real, but thankfully small.

 

The real damage was only to the laundry room.

The house and everything in it smells of burnt stuff. The fire inspector told us it wasnt safe to sleep there, so while our gracious neigbors ordered pizza and entertained my kids and parents, I called the insurance company and My Favoritest and I gathered some things from the house and we headed to the hotel.

One trip to Target, one trip to the gas station store, and 2 more trips to our house and we are settled in a 2 room suite. And as I sit here typing this, I hear the hum of the power screw driver as Zayde builds a shopping cart for TerrorTot's Santa gift. My Favoritest is crunching wrapping paper and he's doing it just for me, so my morning is special. My babies are nestled snug in their beds/newly purchased pack and play.

The presents are stacked around our beautiful red tinsle tree

The stockings are resting in the hotel easy chair.

 

All six of us are in our matching jammies (which were spared from the stench) that we opened together! And although it is far from the image I had of our Christmas Eve, my family is safe and together and we are finding joy in our traditions and making more! I hope this finds you with those you love, laughing together!

 

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Shiny and Bright

Both of my grandmothers died the year I was ten. Within 6 months of each other. At 34, the memories are harder to remember. My maternal grandmother, Grandma Mantel, spent winters with us, and I knew her better. She was part of my every day life for months at a time. When she died, I chose to take some small figurines that were on display in the room we always slept in when visiting her in Chicago. Those figurines still find special places in my house, even though they are broken, and chipped, and never quite go with anything. They are a solid link to a memory. My paternal grandmother, Grandma Rupright, was less of a physical presence in our lives. She lived in Indiana, and we lived in Georgia. We visited each summer for a week. I remember snippets of our visits and of her. Being coated in bubble slime on the front drive, ice cream in gallon buckets in the garage freezer, playing with my cousin, walking down the gravel driveway. Holiday packages filled with "nuts and bolts" and divinity. I know she loved us with every fiber of her being, but she was not keen on travel and so our visits were few and far between. When she died, she donated her body to science and there was only a memorial service when her remains were returned almost a year later. I didn't choose anything from her home to remember her by. I have several dishes and beautiful tea set that my mother passed along to me, but nothing that I had a memory of.
About a week ago, my Aunt Jane called me out of the blue. She said she had some of Grandma's Christmas tree ornaments that she has held on to all these years. She asked if I would like to have some of them. Before I could tell her yes, tears were streaming down my cheeks. Not because I remembered the ornaments (we never spent Christmas at their house), or because I had always wanted them (I didn't have a Christmas tree until My Favoritest), but because they were hers. They were a link to a woman who is fading from my memories. They were a link for my father to his childhood. They were something that could be passed to my daughters should they have tress of their own some day. I was thrilled at the thought of them hanging on our tree.
Today I arrived home to a package on the front step. When I saw the return address on the box, I couldn't wait to open the box. Carefully wrapped in styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, and more styrofoam, were eight delicate, scratched, colorful, priceless ornaments. And as I held them each up and looked at them, I couldn't help but imagine a Christmas tree in my granparents livingroom and the bright beauties being hung lovingly by my Grandma Rupright. I hope that if she is looking down on me, she knows that a piece of her holiday tradition has found its way into my home.

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What's A Festival

Me: Doodle we are going to a festival today.
Doodle: What's a festival?
Me: It's hard to explain. You will see when we get there.

And after a full day spent at the Pittsburgh International Children's Festival, I think Doodle understands what a festival is! This is the kind of thing I wish we had done on Saturday so I could post this, tell all our Pitty friends to go, and then go back again ourselves. It was a fantastic day spent together as a family. Here are a few of the highlights.
Our first stop (after lunch of course) was Exxopolis. Because my description won't do it justice, here is the link to the website Architects of Air. It is basically a really big tent that some how transforms the light inside.

Inside the tent it is a little warm and clammy, but positively peaceful and wonderful. The colors are so vibrant and powerful, that the colors of other things are dulled. Doodle was perplexed but the fact that she kept changing colors.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this area of the tent had beautiful panels that mimic stained glass.

After our exploration of the lumminarium, we headed to check out all the booths.

Marbles

Naps (the only 20 minutes she slept the entire day)

Silent Disco (wireless head phones provide the music)

My Favoritest provided added entertainment

And then we made our way to the Petting Zoo

Upon leaving the petting zoo, Doodle plainly stated that we would come back to the animals after we went to our show! I think she enjoyed the animals just a little.
We made our way to the theater for our show Aga-Boom. All I can say is it is a combination of Cirque and Blue Man Group for the under 10 crowd. Doodle was a little nervous at the beginning, but by the end she was loving every minute of it! And what's not to love about a show that ends with a giant paper fight and humongous balloons flying around the audience?

After the show, we attempted to head home but we got suckered into another stop by the petting zoo. And on the way there we discovered some people playing on slacklines. They were letting anyone who wanted try it out. So, Doodle did,

And even though she started off terrified, she walked the whole thing. I was so proud of her for not quiting and she was really proud of herself!
We hit up the petting zoo one more time as promised and then with many small crying fits, we headed home. It was a fabulous family day!

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