A Joyous Christmas 2012

I could not decide which photos to cut, so I included them all!

Here's our Christmas morning portrait.  And for the record for my posterity, I just want to note that one of the only Christmas traditions I can remember from my childhood that I have implemented into my little family is getting dressed on Christmas morning before opening gifts. 

Shari Brooke with pigtails.

Max opening his single gift.  It was a wooden rattle.

 

Scotty *loves* suckers, and the bigger, the better. 

I don't have any pictures of Nicole opening her own gifts, but here she is helping Shari.

Shari is sitting in her Bumbo seat from Aunt Sarah (a year ago!), and giving us her classic gremlin face.

All of the kids picked out a little something for Daddy.  Scotty picked a headlight so Clint could have his hands free while he worked on the cars.  This was really Scotty's idea.  Our neighbor in Phoenix had one, and I think that Scotty is hoping Daddy will share it with him.

Nicole found a BBQ lighter that is in the shape of a gun (rifle?). 

Grant, who is still upset over the election (and disparages any cars bearing Obama/Biden paraphernalia)  ...

... found a political tee.

Daddy liked it so much, he changed into for the rest of the day.

Scotty received a remote control monster truck.

 

 

Grant got a circuit set.

He shared ...

... and showed off ...

... and enlisted the help of Elder Nelson to complete a challenge.

Scotty went for a bike ride with his new bike horn and bike plane and no snow.  It actually snowed terribly the next day.

 

Later in the day, our friends brought over dinner and games.  Scotty and Hannah are best friends and frequently hide away together.  Coat closet anyone?

Don't ask me why Elder Coleman wants to learn how to knit, but Lisa is an expert!  He is trying to knit a pair of wool socks (but not in pink! that's the practice yarn!).

One table, two games, tons of fun!

 

It was a full house, as you can see.  Full of people, full of food, full of children, full of happiness. We didn't have our big family with us, but we were able to share the day with others who were also far from their loved ones. 

Our BIG "Big Apple" Adventure

As sometimes happens to us, we realized last minute that we had an extended weekend available to us right before Christmas.  Never wanting to miss an opportunity, and having always wanted to see NYC at Christmastime, Clint suggested we take a trip.

We began at the infamous F.A.O. Schwarz.  Nicole played on the "Big" piano, which, of course, meant nothing to her having never seen the movie. 

Shari Brooke tried on a Jester's hat, which we should have brought home for our "Great Dalmuti" game.

Scotty could have parked his little self in front of this display until closing time if it weren't for his siblings asking for their turn to explore other areas of the store (we had a "stick together" policy, for it was truly full of last minute shoppers!).

We found the giant Christmas tree in Rockefeller Square, which, I'm sure looks much more impressive at night.  When we got there (by foot), the kids asked, "This is what we came to see?"  It was very cold/windy, and the children, I am ashamed to report, were not conditioned for the amount of walking required in NYC.

At this point in the trip, we decided to return to our car (due to reasons mentioned above), and drive to our next stop.  Turns out that our next stop was on a side street three blocks away from Times Square.  And STOP we did!  Our truck just completely quit, and as fate would have it, in front of an empty parking spot on the road.  We called AAA to tow the truck, and then we unloaded our luggage, our newly purchased toys from the toy store, our carseats and our children onto the sidewalk.  We hailed two taxis because we couldn't all fit in one.  They took us to the train station a mile away.  Clint bought the tickets, we asked policemen for directions and found out our train was leaving in 10 minutes!  We ran to the elevator, descended underground two flights, jumped on the train and were immediately greeted by a man who claimed he didn't have enough money for train fare.  I was shocked when the lady next to us said, "I don't give money out.  Please leave, we have children on this car."  Right then, the doors started to close, and he jumped off.  The lady turned to us and asked, "You're not from around here, are you?"

An hour and a half later, our hotel van picked us up at the train station in New Jersey.  To make this long story short, the next morning, we rented a brand new Suburban and drove back to NYC because we still hadn't seen the statue of liberty for Grant, which was the main purpose of our trip. Grant has been dreaming of seeing Lady Liberty for a couple of years. And now, he finally has!

And not only has Grant seen the Statue of Liberty, but all of our kiddos, all the way down to Mr. Max.

Liberty Island is closed until well into next year because of damage from the hurricane/superstorm, as I saw it reported recently.  We could have taken the Staten Island Ferry for a closer look, but at this point in the trip, I was about ready to head back to our little surburbia in Pittsburgh.

Before leaving, Clint wanted to do a couple of more quick stops.  We drove over the Brooklyn Bridge, which might be the only bridge in NYC that doesn't require a toll. We drove past the new One World Trade Center.  It is only partially completely, but it is HUGE and amazing.  It's hard to believe that man can build something so large.  The outside of the building had temporary elevators built on it to carry up tractors and supplies to work on the top.  We need to go back and stop at the 9/11 memorial center.

We saw this no-name parking garage in Manhatten.

The traffic was completely stopped at the Empire State Building, so Nicole, Grant and I jumped out of the car, snapped a photo and then walked down 34th street to Macy's to check out the window displays.

I think these are little overrated, but if you're in the neighborhood, I guess it's worth a peek.

I know we need to go back.  We have some obvious gaps, such as Grand Central Station, the Museum of Natural History and Broadway, just to name a few.  But we were able to feel the culture of the Big Apple, which was so much more interesting than we had anticipated.  We might drive through again on our New England tour in the spring, but I'm thinking we might need some reinforcements (Grandma?  Papa?  ANYONE?!), a few more years on the young ones, and some cross training to make it all the way through. 

In summary, it was the craziest adventure we have ever had (and our second time having to tow a car on vacation!), but it was fun nonetheless.  At one point, the kids asked, "Does that mean we won't make it home for Christmas?"  I admit I wondered the same thing a few times (and as it was, we arrived home very late at night on the 23rd).  Throughout it all, I was grateful that we could be together safely, and that our biggest problem in the world was only that Clint would have to fly back a week later to pick up our old Suburban.  It was a Christmas memory that Clint and I will never forget.

Milestones I've Missed ...

When Nicole was four months old, I went to WSU to teach a class. While I was gone, Nicole learned to suck her thumb.

When I went to Alaska with Clint for his job interview, my nieces taught Shari Brooke to crawl.

And tonight, while I was at the church, little Grantigrew lost his first tooth! We had been monitoring it for a couple of days, and during dinner, he felt something hard in his potatoes that turned out to be his tooth. He said to me, "Mom, you know what you have to do tonight, right?"

And since I'm in crazy-mom mode, I drew a blank and answered, "No. What?"

"You have to change my tooth for a dollar!" Grant informed me.

Oh, right -- that thing. I'll try to remember.

A Night of Surprise and Humiliation

Just a note before we begin ... I read A Christmas Carol every year, and I fail to find a likeness between Ebenezer Scrooge and myself, particularly when it comes to Santa Claus.  In fact, I don't believe Santa Claus is mentioned at all in the book.  OK, let's proceed.

Clint's work party and our church Christmas fell on the same night.  Since we were invited to the work party first, that's the one we attended.  The invitation stated it would be held at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium.  Having never been there, I mistakenly assumed they would have attractions similar to Phoenix's Zoo.  The whole week prior, Scotty asked, "Will we see elephants?!"  To which I replied, "Oh, YES!"  And then he'd ask about gorillas, to which I would assure him, "Of course we will see gorillas!"  And so on until he had named all of the animals he could think of.  To say that Scotty was excited would be an understatement. 

Now, back in Phoenix, the zoo decorates with Christmas lights, manufactures fake snow, and brings in bouncy slides, etc.  It's fantastic!  Knowing that we would have obviously cooler weather, I dressed the kids in their new Christmas shirts from Aunt Sarah, jeans, heavy coats and hats.  I did not want to be forced to leave early due to anyone being cold.

It took us a good half hour to drive there.  We parked the car, piled out, bundled up, loaded the stroller with the diaper bag and blankets, and put Max in his carrier.  Then we hiked up a hill, took a very steep escalator up three stories and found a shuttle van waiting for us.  So, of course we had to unpack the stroller so it could be compacted, and shift the luggage from the stroller to our arms.  Nicole took Shari, I still had Max strapped to the front of me, Clint handled the stroller in the aisle, and believe me when I say the boys had their hands full just taking care of themselves.  We sat on this shuttle for a few minutes, driving down dark, windy paths before I finally had a moment to look about me.  For the first time, I noticed that everyone on the very crowded shuttle was wearing wool dress coats, tuxedos, and ball gowns.  I wondered where we were going and just exactly where these people were going.  Turns out, we were all headed to the same event. 

When the shuttle stopped, we were forced to exit with the crowd and were greeted at the entrance to the aquarium by men in white suit coats, black slacks and black bow ties.  No kidding.  I had on a nice sweater and corduroys, but my walking shoes couldn't compete with the other ladies' 5-inch heels, for sure!  Clint was wearing a t-shirt and Nike shoes.  He didn't take his coat off the whole night!  The kids, of course, could not spend the evening in their heavy coats and hats, so we added that bulk to the back of the umbrella stroller. 

We toured the aquarium, ate a fancy dinner and finally made our way to Santa -- all in our casual attire (but aren't the shirts adorable?!).  Scotty was most excited to see Santa, but just like the fire station trip, once we got close, Scotty would not go near Santa.  So we have a picture of the kiddos minus Scotty.

The next day, Scotty was looking at a picture of this Santa, and he said to me, "Mom, that man is a fake!"  I asked him how he knew that, and he pointed to his face, "See those glasses?  He just put those on.  And that beard and mustache is fake.  He's not the real Santa!  The real Santa is building toys!!"  He was very adamant about it, and then told me that was why he wouldn't sit on Santa's lap at the party.  I told him he was very observant, and I did not comment further on the veracity or falsehood of Santa.  I still don't really get the whole Santa thing, but I digress ...

After visiting with "Santa," Scotty asked to see the sharks.  That part was cool because they had an underwater hallway with the sharks swimming above/around us.  Also in this hallway, a dessert table had been placed.  I don't know if this was meant specifically for the kids, but there appeared to be children in abundance in this area.  The three big kids each selected a dessert.  Shari Brooke, noticing the enticing display, started her, "Mmmm," sound like she always does when she wants to eat or drink.  Clint asked if there wasn't something we could give her.  I informed him that we might chance a cookie, but that I hadn't had good luck with it in the past.  And by "not good luck," I mean quite the opposite, as you will see in the following sentences. I handed Shari half of a sugar cookie.  Upon her first taste, a strange look appeared on Shari's face.  I seized the cookie and said, "Clint grab some napkins!"  But, alas, as our night had begun on a bad note, it was destined to end even worse.  Shari brought forth the remains of her unsettled dinner and sippy cups of milk, *all over* herself in her stroller and on the ground around her.  She truly did not quit until her stomach was emptied.  I don't know who was watching in their fancy clothes as I cleaned the ground on my hands and knees and stripped Shari of her disgusting clothes, only to cover her again with her coat (poor thing!).  But it was all out in the open, and there was nothing we could do about it except to leave as soon as possible, which, of course, we did, even as the big kids asked why we had to leave so soon.  ("Hey kids, take a sniff!")

Upon reflection, I am still puzzled as to (1) why the invitation would state that the event would be held AT THE ZOO, if no animals were on display, (2) why anyone would assume that an event at such a location would merit such attire, and (3) why Shari Brooke hates cookies so much!

Musical Beds

On my way to bed, I passed Grant sleeping on the couch. Nicole is asleep in Grant's bed, and Scotty-roo is in my spot! Maybe I will take Nicole's bed so that I don't have to move anyone.

Scotty's Trucks

Scotty has recently taken up drawing. Tonight he gave me a picture of myself dreaming about a monster truck. This is the first time I have ever seen Scotty draw a person, and it's also the first I have heard about my monster truck fantasies.

On a side note, as I was tucking Scotty into bed, he told me that he is almost five. And then he'll be ... (he showed me six fingers). This continued until age 10, "like as big as Nicole's age!" After this, he said, "And then I'll be an adult, and what will I be?!!!"

Going out on a limb, I guessed a monster truck driver. "Ding! Ding! Ding!" Scotty shook his head with a smile as big as his dreams.

This picture just reminded me of another story. I asked Scotty what he wanted to give Grant for Christmas. Scotty proceeded with a very detailed description of a cement truck for the sand box, excitement growing with each succeeding sentence. At the end of his enthusiastic speech, I asked, "Do want to get a cement truck for Grant or for yourself?" He looked at me with a puzzled expression, then he answered, "Uh, actually, yes. Can you just get that for me?"