My Birdie Sings...

Claire and I did a sneaky thing... It involved the post office, felt, googly eyes, tacky glue... let's just say it involved everything wonderful.
It was really hard not to share this right away but since it involved the post office (which isn't exactly speedy) and was a surprise for a few of the people who read this (OK maybe my entire readership) we are typing it right away and posting it poolside.

We made some chickens... Some puffs with eyes and felt beaks and feet.. simple enough for Claire to do herself but just adorable enough to be super exciting.

After we made a few we felt the need to differentiate between boy chickens and girl chickens. Felt bows are difficult.

Three tries later we had one that was acceptable to the chicken-supervisor who was very specific about how chicken bows should look. One of the rejected bows looked like a super mask so then we had a super chicken and from there they all took on their own personality...

Turns out dressing chickens up is a lot of fun!

After making them all I felt like Jillian Jiggs, it was difficult to part with our wonderful, marvelous Chickens.

But we had gone to the local CVS and bought huge eggs to put them in... so in they went. We taped them up, added some labels and headed for the post office...

That's right, we mailed huge Easter eggs to friends and family and inside them were chickens!

Ba Ha HA!

I'm tickled just thinking of you all hatching them and being so surprised.

Happy Easter!

Some specifics and things we learned or would do differently next time:
-Use packing tape to seal the egg shut the entire way around the seam.
-Attach your addresses with sticky labels would have been a better idea than taping them on with packing tape.
-It cost us under $2 to send each egg and some went to CA.
-The postal officer didn't blink an eye just mumbled something under her breath at us about 'oh, you're sending them just like this?'... she was not amused, even by the toddler who wore a Easter Bunny mask to deliver the eggs to the post office... bah-hum-bug
-we like sending strange items and now that we see how easy it is watch your mailboxes...

My REALLY Nice Valentines Day

Our little family had a great Valentines Day. We made valentines, and fancy dinner (Beef Wellington in puff pastry with a side of stuffed zucchini) and then we had a candlelit 'fancy' dinner. You know it's fancy because we ate in the dark and we used fancy words like 'Darling' and 'Crudite'.
At school the next day Claire told her teacher all about our fancy dinner and the fancy talking and the candles. They thought that was fabulous. So they prompted Claire to share her fabulous story with Dr. McDonald (the principal).
At the end of the story Dr. McDonald asked Claire what her Daddy got Mommy for Valentines Day. Claire got a coy look on her face and laughed out 'Yoou Knoow!' Ms. Kamen winked at me at the end of telling me the story and said 'I'm glad you had a really nice Valentines'.
Of course Claire meant flowers which is what Claire thinks you HAVE to get someone you love/like for Valentines Day.

And what lovely flowers I got- I did have a really nice Valentines Day.

Valentines

These come with a little kaleidoscope (like the kind in the party favor section at the party store)

Jimmy thinks they are creepy - with more contemplation we decided that a lot of Valentine messages border on creepy.
I think they are cute :)

*C wrote her name on them all and glued the eyes on and picked out what color kaleidoscope each child in her class should get.*

Our Big Day

Today we are playing hookey from school (but we don't have a table) and taking the day off of work. We plan to see the Big Jolly man and the Big tree and eat a Big lunch. So we started the day off with Big breakfast!

Then we went to Macy's Like the one of 34th street to see Santa. Who is very popular (like 2 hr wait popular)! Here we are waiting... and waiting... and leaving the line to go potty and waiting and waiting...

They had some neat things to look at while we waited... lots of trains (which were a bigger hit with Nick than Santa was). and even a huge polar express that the line weaved through :)

Finally we got to see the Big guy! He was super impressive, and totally worth the wait. Nick decided he'd view from a distance but Claire jumped right up there and gave him her letter and told him what she wanted for Christmas. (Thomas trains and a basket for her bike)

After Macy's we took a train!!! (wish I had pictures of film of the kids) to Rockefeller Center to see the Big Tree and the ice skating rink. Claire thought they had us on size but our decorations on our tree at home were much better.

Then we walked over to lunch and then another train back to the car.
All in all a great day and one to remember.
Special thanks goes to Grandpa Bill whose idea it was to see the Big Guy and the Big Tree and who played hooky from work to go with us :)

ps. Please don't tell Santa that we played hooky to go see him, I think that might earn us a spot on the naughty list. ;)

O Christmas Tree...

This year the kids decorated most of the tree, I did the garland and lights (things that needed to wrap around the tree) and they did about 95% of the ornament placement. I think they did a great job. :)

A Cornicopia of Thanks

This week I am cleaning 'like a crazy lady' (that's how C described it) in preperation for Christmas' arrival this weekend. So I started with my camera card- and that reminded me that I never fully finished up Thanksgiving. I was at my Gram's for the holiday and I'll blame her lack of Internet for eating my other.... however many more things I needed to complete my list of 100 things I'm thankful for. I was simply thankful for every moment we had to spend with family this holiday season. It had been too long and I almost forgot just how fun they can be.
I am thankful for my Gram and Pap and that they are able to play around with my kids. (C and N are so lucky)
Pretty much I'm thankful for the whole crazy bunch of family we saw this year.

And even the ones we didn't see

We banked a lot of hugs to get us through to the next time we see them and stayed just long enough to remind us how truly crazy they are. In the end it was good to go and it was good to come home (to our sick daddy on the couch).

Now who's ready for Christmas!

Halloween

I really got into Halloween this year. I made themed food for Claire's lunch and adorable favors for her class party. I decorated with light up spiders in the window and a TON of jack-o-lanterns out front. I bought my Halloween candy a month ahead of time (and didn't eat ANY before today). I am counting Halloween a success. We still have to go trick or treating with friends tonight but how could that go wrong?

Oh that's right SNOW!? It's supposed to be all gone but it really made me think about winterizing our costumes... I'm not sure if it would have been possible.

So we'll put on our costumes and hit the streets tonight; have your candy ready!

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat

When I was a kid we went trick or treating a few times. I don't think we went every year. Maybe we did and I just don't remember but a few times really stick out in my mind. Like the time we went to knock on a door and our hand went right on thru because there was no glass or screen in the door. Or getting all dressed up for the parade and getting a fifty cent coin for making it to the end. Or... ok really those are my only trick or treat memories. (good to know if we miss a few years it doesn't matter cause they won't remember anyway)
Anyway, things have changed. now you have to have a cool outfit and all the right accessories. The most absurd accessory is the trick or treat bag or bucket. You can get them in all kinds of shapes and sizes now with the option to personalize or not. But really all they need is a shopping bag (like the plastic grocery store kind you have a million of) or a pillow case if you are feeling especially earth friendly.
But look how cute these are...

Who could deny their perfect little child of such joy? They need to carry around a bag that is, lets face it, as adorable as they are.

So tonight I made Nick one.

It came out pretty cute. (if I do say so myself) And I now feel bad for all those little kids who will be carrying around dirty old pillowcases or disposable plastic shopping bags.
Amazing how having your own kids changes your views on a lot of things.