Wordless Wednesday: the holidays

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

This year Thanksgiving was a total success. No sickness to take us down, we were a crew of entirely healthy adults and kids, the universe was looking down on us.

I was thankful for many things this weekend….

To my neighbor Mike for keeping his fridge bare so that I didn’t have to store my Thanksgiving dishes on a windowsill.

For the same neighbor for bringing me flowers on Thanksgiving day. Even after I’d banged on his front door and dragged him out of his shower to unlock it. (For future reference, Mike, please don’t lock your door on Thanksgiving day. That episode gave me an ulcer and female pattern baldness all at once. But thank you, as always, for lending me some of your fridge space.)

I was thankful that Rodney didn’t see me jam my butter-lathered hands up a turkey’s rear end while still wearing my wedding ring. I’m likewise thankful that even after all of the butt jamming, I still couldn’t find the gizzard bag. It’s a Thanksgiving tradition for me to cook the turkey with the bag still inside, and as you all know, it’s best not to muck with tradition.

I was thankful for our new thrift store art that makes me so joyously happy every day. Even if the kids keep bumping into it and making it ever so slightly off-kilter. At least it’s less aggravating than the Sharpie line drawing that now covers our faux Eames rocking chair.

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Blog

The selfie

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Warning, you’re about to see many pictures of me in a faux fur hat. If you’re not interested in seeing this since you hate a) selfies or b) fur hats, feel free to ignore this post and move right along to more intellectually stimulating conversation about Thanksgiving and its history. It’s not boring, I promise you. I limited the history part to one short paragraph, and I can guarantee that you didn’t already know what I uncovered in my research.

Back to the hat. I hate taking selfies, but if it weren’t for selfies, nobody on this planet would know what I look like. My husband doesn’t walk around with his iPhone yelling “Hold on, the light is fantastic! I just need to take a quick picture of you.” My kids don’t say “Wait – Mom- can you make that silly face again?” No, it’s just me, art directing like a maniac, “Sam, stand against this wall, that Mohawk is awesome!” [click] “Emma, show me your bucket of beer, is that yours?” [click] [click].

So yes, sometimes a selfie is necessary. Take for instance the hat that I wore to a skating event in Bryant Park. If you’re in NYC anytime soon, it’s worth checking out the Winter Village, they have a ton of quirky food vendors, and the mother of all skating rinks:

It’s the type of setting where this happens:

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NYC

Wordless Wednesday: MOMA won us over

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Last week the kids had a half day at school, so we spent the afternoon checking out the MOMA. It’s always such a treat to visit because whenever I ask them where they’d like to go, the response is always “dinosaurs”. Sometimes I have to put my foot down.

But after our visit to the MOMA, we all agreed that it’s a pretty cool place. Even without the dinosaurs.

Here’s a quick snapshot of our day, starting with Lauren’s big win: $130 million! Thankfully that’ll cover her college tuition and part of Sam’s.

When we got to the MOMA, the kids wanted to check out the sculpture garden. Because it’s full of bums and bums are funny.

There were some other pretty amazing sculptures, including this 2-headed beastie. The kids screamed when they saw it, but quickly made friends with it.

Once inside, Lauren was on a mission to find a Modigliani. “You know Mom, the ones with the long necks.” We did find one of his paintings, but it wasn’t anything like the one she’d seen in school, which meant that it wasn’t interesting at all.

So I quickly diverted her attention to another piece. She wasn’t impressed.

I tried one more. This one worked.

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Family

Wordless Wednesday: A Movember birthday

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

I’ll be the first to admit that throwing a Movember party for a kids’ birthday party isn’t the most conventional idea. But in a bind, you go for the path of least resistance. This year, it was mustaches.

Let’s back up and talk for a minute about birthday parties. I don’t throw them often, generally speaking. We do celebrate our kids’ birthdays every year with close family, a homemade cake, a few thoughtful gifts, but I have a policy of not throwing over-the-top birthday bashes for my kids every year. Raising three kids is a marathon event, and if I’m sprinting every year, I don’t know if I’ll make it to the finish line. I should say that I will make it, but it won’t look pretty.

But once the kids turn 4 and are able to appreciate a birthday party of their own, we celebrate with friends. And they can do a more involved party like this every other year. It keeps me sane and it keeps it special for them.

They’re still smallish get-togethers, nothing lavish, no banquet halls, no DJ, no bouncy castles or ride-on-ponies. But they should be something memorable.

This year it was Sam’s turn. He turned 4 last week, and in anticipation of the event, I asked him what kind of party he wanted to throw.

“A Halloween birthday.”

“Hm, Halloween was last week, are you sure?”

“Yes.”

He seemed pretty excited about the dress up element. That, I could keep. The orange and black, maybe not.

Which is how we ended up with this: a Movember birthday party. Dress up, funny mustaches, treats, it checked all the major boxes. And the best part was that Sam loved the idea. I mean what’s not to love with mustaches?

So here you go, in 8 easy steps, how to throw a festive Movember birthday party:

1. Shop

2. Frost, glaze, dip

3. Dress to impress

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Family

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

A nearly Wordless Wednesday. To the little guy with the big heart, goofy smile, and self-titled nickname “bad sister”, happy birthday. I love you. Looking forward to a special day together.