Welcome 2018!

After a whirlwind three weeks of traveling and celebrating, I finally feel like I have my feet back under me. The decorations are packed away. The indulgent treats are gone (almost). And just the general excess of it all has faded back into normalcy. Which, for a Type A like me, feels really, really good.

But, before the holidays slip away into warm memories past, I would be remiss not to post about Anderson Christmas/New Year’s in Chicago. We survived the deep freeze, but it did keeps us rather confined, so the kids were really going wild by the end of the visit. I think I probably should have given everyone Advil for Christmas this year. Soooooo loud (although Grandpa and the Uncles own some of the culpability for that—evidently noisy toys were all that were in stock)!

New Year’s was a quiet evening at the house. We let the kids do a Netflix countdown around 8:30 p.m. Dad and Sharon headed back to the hotel early and (maybe?) did the final countdown there. The rest of us barely made it to the Chicago midnight, although Chris and Sean get a little pass since they’re on eastern time.

Thanks for all the patience and entertaining provided by Grandpa, Sharon, and the Uncles. We all love you, but the kids especially adore having you around. When it was time for Sean and Chris to leave for the airport, Nick ran to the basement crying and refused to say “goodbye,” because he thought that meant they would have to stay. We got him to come around with the promise that it wasn’t a “goodbye”—just a “see you a little later.”

I hope all had wonderful celebrations and are settling into 2018! May it bring us joy, health, and love!

 

 

Christmas 2018

We were all very, merry in Moline for Christmas! Santa proved to be as bad at following through on threats as we are and gave the kids a bounty of toys, when we all know they should have received sticks and coal. In truth, Nick probably would have loved that just as much! Definitely more than the Wowwee Fingerling that he greeted with a disappointed, “Awwww! Why did Santa bring me this?!” No worries, Nick; Santa kept the receipt. He also had zero interest in his Hatchimal (that he asked for) and passed it off to his cousins to hatch. The winners of Christmas in Nick’s world were a six-foot stuffed snake and the Batman vs. Superman Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Brandi). No batteries, sound effects, or animation required to please this kid! He likes things simple.

Lainey, on the other hand, very much liked her little finger monkey and all the other fancy, schmancy electronic toys. The stuffed snow leopard from Brookfield Zoo that she’s been begging for got little attention (but, that purchase is how Nick ended up with his beloved snake, so no regrets). Even though the high-tech toys grabbed most of her attention Christmas day, she loved the simple things, too, like her Mad Libs. I laughed so hard watching her crack up over those! They weren’t even particularly funny combinations, but her laughter was contagious.

As always, we ate very well and had lots of good family time together. I love seeing all the cousins together and watching how they evolve as playmates. I also love that they keep each other busy, so we have more kid-free time to catch up with the adults!

Now we’re back home and gearing up for the Anderson crew to crash Chicago on Friday and ring in the new year with us! Let the festivities continue!

Evolution of a Christmas family photo...

Nailed it!

Honeybunches and Family Planning

The caption to the photo from our holiday lights adventure alluded that it wasn’t the brightest of evenings. The kids were overtired from a busy day and their behavior was fueled by all the kids around them who were overtired from busy days, so there was a lot of whining and stomping and yelling.

But, there was one moment that I keep playing over in my head and know I’ll regret it if I don't capture it in this family diary I’ve created.

 After a pretty big blow-up between Mark and Elaine (the root cause I can’t remember—proof that it’s the happy moments that stick!), I sat crouched in front of two grumpy kids, blowing on hot chocolate to cool it, and quite frankly, wishing we’d just stayed home. Then I heard Nick’s small voice say:

 “Mama, I want a baby sister. I will chub her cheeks and call her honeybunches.”

He said it with such sincerity and his big brown eyes were filled with such longing that it’s a good thing you can’t just pick-up a baby sister at the gift shop. I would have bought him 10!

My heart and my temper melted immediately. I smiled at my sweet boy and explained that I was sorry, but I am not going to make any more babies in here and pointed to my belly. At which point Lainey chimed in with surprise and wonder: “You can control that?!”

Yes, Elaine. Yes, you can, and we will be having LENGTHY discussions about it when you’re older.

 

Ho, Ho, Holy Smokes, I'm Tired!

As promised in my last post, December is moving at a breakneck pace, and I'm white-knuckling it all the way. Mark ended up getting sick with the plague (a.k.a. a cold) this week, so that's really added to the fun. I'd rather have two projectile vomiting kids and shingles than have Mark be sick.

So while I came into the weekend with visions of quiet writing time, where I sat in my favorite chair with a mug of peppermint tea and wrote a humorous, but heartwarming post about our holiday adventures, I am instead going to throw a bunch of photos on the page and let your imaginations carry you. A picture is worth 1,000 words after all...

Zoo lights! Warm weather made for a lovely night...if only we'd left the kids at home.
(These smiles were heavily bribed and very fleeting.)

One of us let our child's whimsy run wild...the other is an engineer.

Girls' night when Nick had movie night at school! 

Another warm day got us downtown last night and
reminded us how much we love this city!

I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season! It has been crazy around here, but I still have the Christmas spirit. Actually, now that I think of it, I have all of the spirits...vodka, gin, and scotch...forget the peppermint tea!

Thanksgiving 2017

It has been a crazy few weeks, so I’m a few days late getting in a Thanksgiving post. Luckily, it’s my blog and I have a readership of 10, so I get to make the deadlines and the rules for publishing.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, both kids participated in the Lincolnwood Drumstick Dash. It’s a fun little run divided by age groups, where they pile the kids at the start line and let them loose. Nick wasn’t sure he wanted to race, because he was afraid he would fall down, but in the end, he rose to the occasion. He didn’t do so bad either—definitely a leader of the bunch! Of course, he thinks he won, because he got a medal. Elaine was more than happy to rain on his parade and very dryly point out that everyone gets a medal. But, Nick just ignored her. He won damn it!

Our Thanksgiving was lovely and came and went without any drama or illness (except for Chris, who was pretty sick, but he’s Sean’s problem, not mine.) Sean gets “Uncle of the Year” awards for swimming with the kids at the FREEZING hotel indoor pool—Lainey was the only one who didn’t seem bothered by the frigid water and air temps. It definitely snapped the adults out of our Turkey day food and drink comas!

The weather was great and the travel to and from Ohio really could not have been any smoother. Nick said it best… “You know why I like Ohio? I just love the view!” So, there you have it, Ohio Tourism Bureau, your next marketing slogan. I really do get a laugh out of how geeked-out the kids get seeing all the farm fields, barns, and animals. Seeing the landscape through their eyes gives me a new appreciation for what was just the ordinary growing up.

We traveled back home on Friday, so we had the weekend to deck the halls and start infusing the Christmas spirit! Christmas decorations are up, cards have been ordered, shopping is 95% done, and the calendar is filled with an aspirational schedule of holiday events! Bring on December!

Leading the pack (via creative editing)

And she's off!

 

Happy racers!

 

Two Little Fishies

When the YMCA closed the pool this past June, we were really bummed out. It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened, as far as swim lessons go. Right as the Y pool closed, a new swim school, Big Blue, opened up just five minutes from our house. I took the kids for a free trial lesson and was hooked! Being a new facility, of course it was spotless, but what sold me was the amazing staff and teachers! Everyone has so much energy and seems really excited to be there versus the Y instructors, who barely cracked a smile. Seriously, sometimes walking into Big Blue is the best part of my week, because everyone there just seems to love what they are doing and greet you with such enthusiasm.

All of the above is nice and all, but the place isn't cheap, so I wanted to see results. Well, I've got them tenfold. I really cannot believe how much Lainey and Nick have progressed in just three months. Nick has gone from hiding under the bleachers at the Y to avoid the pool to swimming without any flotation devices and doing some actual swim strokes. He's moved up two levels in the past month. And, oh man, Lainey! She can now swim freestyle and does a mean backstroke. We could drop the lessons right now and she'd be fine for water safety. But, she really enjoys them and is learning better technique (and the other strokes) to prep her to join a swim team. Even if swim team's not her thing, she gets a great workout in at class--they work these kids hard! (Which also means sleeping little ones at bedtime--an added bonus.)

I love seeing how proud the kids are when they reach a new level. I seriously got emotional when Lainey moved up from Dolphins to Junior Team. She flew through the lower levels pretty quickly, so it took her awhile to achieve the next level. The pure joy on her face when she saw that ribbon and new she'd made it made me almost burst into tears. I don't think I'd ever seen her so proud or happy about something.

So glad we found this gem of a place! Can't wait to see how the kiddos keep progressing!

From Guppy 2 to Guppy 3!

Miss Junior Team 1

No more Guppies...Dolphin 1!!!

Tricks and Treats

Halloween was a monster success! The kids partied at school and came home ready to hit the streets and get those treats! The cold temperature did nothing to chill their enthusiasm--they begged for candy for almost two hours! Afterwards, our neighbor hosted a group of us for pizza, so bedtime definitely got pushed and pushed a little more. Can't say this morning was much fun, but seeing their joy last night made up for it (or at least it will when I have those memories years from now; thankfully it's the really good ones that seem to stick!)

The one blight on the evening was some prankster took our bowl of candy we left out on the step. And I mean the actual bowl!!! I know it's always a risk that some older kids are going to take all the candy in one fell swoop, but do they have to be total jerks and take the bowl too? Perhaps it was someone's trick when they happened upon a treatless bowl. Sigh...

In other unfortunate news, Nick got a trick played on him in the form of a nasty stomach bug. He's been throwing up since three o'clock this afternoon. I'm just glad he didn't get hit with this bug yesterday! That would have crushed him!

Hope everyone had a fun-filled Halloween!

The water is dangerous, but the streets are safe!

Check-out that tail!

The crew!