At the tree farm (as Daddy grunts and curses under the tree with a hand saw)In mid-November we went to Chicago for Jenny’s brother Levi’s wedding. It was the first chance for the kids to meet Levi. Meeting him helped Oliver fill an important picture of this uncle he’d been hearing about. Karri joined us for the flight over. The kids managed to nap through the middle of the flight. It generally went pretty well. Like her big brother, Zaeda insisted on wearing her own backpack (“bah-pah”).
In Chicago we rented a minivan and a condo. Mike joined us later that night. For the kids room we took a queen sized mattress off the box spring and just put it on the floor. That way they could climb on and off easily and wouldn’t roll off in the night.
We had a free Saturday to explore Chicago, so we went to the Navy Pier and visited all the tourist-oriented shops. Travelling with Mike and Karri, foodies who had done their homework on the best grub Chicago had to offer, allowed us to try some things we may have otherwise missed. We hit a hot dog place at the pier where Jenny just asked me to get her “Something that represents Chicago.” That was their Chicago Dog, a beef hot dog covered with hot peppers, sauerkraut, mustard and several other things. Weeks later, she can still taste it. Later, we drove and searched until we found a crowd surrounding a little pizzeria famous for a butter crust deep dish and a technique of layering long-sliced sausage in the pan. That was my favorite.
The wedding on Sunday afternoon was at a beautiful Catholic Church where my new sister-in-law Megan’s father, a local deacon, officiated. Afternoons are an unpredictable time for the kids. Both of them were dressed in their best and found themselves in a strange place meeting new people. Mid-ceremony, Oliver fell asleep in the pew. Zaeda decided to get chatty during their vows and had to be whisked to the back of the church so she could gesture at the “babies” (angel and cherub statues) and run around making interesting tapping sounds with her shiny shoes.
Afterwards, everyone went to a nearby restaurant where we did our best to keep the kids clean before it was our turn to join family photos. Once the photos were taken, the food arrived and the clean kids we’d been preserving all day disappeared. Zaeda took a single French fry and dipped it into a bowl of ketchup 20 times, sucking it clean until the fry itself gave out. She looked like a vampire.
Here's the ketchup vampire. Sadly, I relied on the camera in my new Blackberry, not knowing I'd later have technical trouble getting them off the camera, and they looked lousy anyway. So no more pics from Chicago!On the dance floor, Oliver joined the boogying partygoers and found himself a corner where he seemed to be doing how own Tai-chi routine, completely separate from the rest of the crowd and much slower too. When I finally asked him what he was doing, he said he was playing Spiderman.
Christmas Time
Yesterday we went to a fundraiser at the kids’ daycare. “Breakfast with Santa” included pancakes and a chance to talk with the big man himself. Oliver told Santa he wants to be a chef.
Guess who enjoyed this more....
After that we went to Karri and Mike’s restaurant where they are celebrating 10 years being open. Congratulations to Philly Bilmos in Vancouver! They recently had visits from morning TV shows around Portland and word is out that they’re the best. We’ve known that for ten years! Also, balloons for the kids!
Aunt Karri at Philly Bilmos
Balloons!We got our Christmas tree last weekend and everything is set up. It about killed me cutting it down and carrying it this year and I wondered if I’m just getting old. It wasn’t till we got home and I measured it that I realized it was several feet taller than we gotten in the past. I needed to cut off a huge piece of the trunk just to get it in the house. At least I had my power tools here at home. Much easier.
My helper
Everyone had great fun decorating the tree. Zaeda surprised us with her focus and patience. Time after time, she took an ornament for the tree, carried it across the living room and either hung it up herself or asked for help. For Oliver it was like seeing old friends. “Look! The guitar!” or “There’s the Pinocchio I broke last year!” What I like are the ornaments the kids have made, or those with their pictures in them. It’s nice to open a box once of year and enjoy those little surprises.
Recent stuff on the kids
When Oliver doesn’t want to do something he now proclaims that he will “never ever ever” do it. For example, “No! I won’t hang up my coat. I’ll never ever do it. Not in a million years!”
Zaeda has a thing with rain boots. She constantly lines a pair up side by side and tries to put them on. Sometimes she aligns them at our feet and says “help me.” Once she has them on she walks across the room and kicks them off. Repeat.
Making cookies with the kids. Of course they licked the mixer beaters!
Not long ago, we moved Zaeda into the bedroom with Oliver. So far it has worked out much better that we expected. While they don’t go to sleep at the same time (Oliver stays up late, Zaeda wakes up early), they show an amazing ability to sleep through one another’s noise. We also now have more of a family bedtime routine; Zaeda dishes out kisses and hugs at the end of the night. Oliver demands a story that he will help steer if he doesn’t like how it’s going.
Oliver is now in pre-kindergarten. It’s the big kid class at their school and he’s pretty proud. They are learning about graphs and writing in journals. Oliver is now reading simple words and we hope to work a lot more with him on reading skills.
Zaeda loves to sing “Row Row Row Your Boat” while being rocked back and forth on her heels. She comes up to us, takes our hands and says “row row!” She is very interested in declaring who people are. She points at mommy and says “Mommy!” Same thing with “Oliver!,” “Daddy,” and the many other people and pets she knows. She’s combining words too. For example, the little kids’ backpacks were a big deal on our last trips and she really likes the word “backpack.” Last week, she looked at my mom’s purse on the table and said “Nanna backpack.” I was so surprised. Her other favorite word is elephant, an animal that can be found in every other book the kids have. When we see one she says “Ella!” really loud. She likes to grab a book (usually one of her favorite 2 or 3 which we’ve read a thousand times) and find one of us parents, yell “book!” and then turn around so we’ll pick her up and read to her.
Speaking of loud, Zaeda likes to scream for pleasure. She gets excited and just belts out a piercing, glass-shattering scream. If you ask her to stop, she smiles very big and does another one louder. I think this is a girl thing.
Jenny’s License
It’s official: Jenny was recently presented her Broker’s License at the US Customs building in Portland. It’s been a long process and I’m so proud of her!
I haven't added a video in a while. This was a practice run for trick-or-treating back during Halloween.
