Simple Joys

Melanie has been asleep for the last hour. Isabella and I used most of that time to decorate the Christmas tree together. Just now we are eating cheese and crackers while singing (over and over again) "Cheese, glorious cheese... cheese, glorious chee-eeze".

I try to enjoy these sweet moments without clinging to them... like sunrises - beautiful in the moment but then they are gone, each one a unique beauty that will never happen again.

Isabella's 4th Birthday Party

Today was Isabella's 4th birthday party. Several weeks ago I decided that I wanted to cook a full meal for everyone coming to the party. So call me a glutton for punishment, I cooked the following for over 30 ppl -

• Green lentil dahl with spinach (Indian)
• Creamed chicken with cashews and raisens (Indian)
• Cauliflower and carrots baked in olive oil with garam masala (pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)
• Fresh green salad
• White rice
• Yellow cake with milk chocolate ganache frosting (decorations with white chocolate ganache)
• Almost a gallon of chocolate ice cream

About a day into the 2 day cooking process I was kicking myself pretty hard for taking so much on. The cooking wasn't necessarily so hard, but add the whole while-watching-2-kids part it all gets a bit overwhelming. My friend Darcy saved the day by coming to help for the last 2 home stretch hours before the party started. Thank you Darcy! Anyway in the end the food turned out great and I'm glad I did it.

Once all the guests were done filling up on Indian food, cake, and ice cream, the present opening began.

The delight was, well, delightful! "Look Mom, Uncle Heath gave me a PLANE!!!"

Isabella's friends pitched in and helped with the present opening. Perhaps rather than 'helped' I should say that it was a complete FRENZY of excited kids ripping open presents. Seriously... ravenous present opening warriors.

We gave Isabella a Drs kit and a Drs costume. She immediately put the costume on and wore it (mask and all) for the remainder of the party.

The fun lasted well into the evening after the guests left. Isabella and John made fresh whipped cream with her little toy mixer (from Jeanette, Ray, and Sylvie). Seriously, the cream actually whipped up inside this little battery powered toy!

And Isabella used her new Drs kit on Ellie. She took Ellie's blood pressure and even gave Ellie a shot of medicine.



At the end of the day, Isabella did not want to leave her toys behind, so we allowed her to take some into bed with her for the night. So cute!

All in all, a truly wonderful day. Good food, good friends, happy frolicking kids. What more could I want in life?

Thank you Mary, Heath, Austin, Michael, Ryan, Kai, Cindy, Mike, Charlotte, Jeanette, Ray, Sylvie, Topher, Marjorie, Henry, Mohammed, Kahina, Antionette, JohnE, Jean Mikel, Pachi, Maetesha, Bill, Maddie, Ran, Yonatan, Ella, Adam, Marcie, Peter, and Elise for sharing it with us.

Holiday party (or - Like Mother, Like Daughter)

Last week John and I went to his Holiday party. Here's us!


And here is a picture of me. I'm providing a full length shot to show that -

1. I have lost most of the pregnancy weight!

2. I am my mother's girl. I bought this dress for $9.99 (plus tax) at the local Value-Village. My mother is the most amazing bargain hunter I know, and I'm not sure there is anything that would make her prouder than to know that her daughter can find a bargain too!

Field trip

Yesterday I chaperoned Isabella's field trip to the Museum of Flight. It was one of those days that I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera. Picture me with Melanie in her baby carrier on my chest, Isabella by one hand, Kahina (her pre-school classmate) in another hand, and Darien (a boy from the class) alternating between holding Isabella's hand, holding Kahina's hand, and running off.

Chaos!

Or rather, some sort of magical controlled chaos. Each of us parents had 2-4 kids on hand. Inevitably, one would run off. As the parent turned to chase that kid, another would run off. Fortunately, another parent would notice and would help that parent during that difficult moment. It reminded me of... what was that game... pong? A ball bouncing around and you try to move your little line at the bottom of the screen to bounce the ball back in, like tennis? Except in this case there were many many balls, and many of us lines (parents), and somehow all the balls seemed to stay on screen. Magical slightly controlled chaos.

In fact, there was some sort of magic to the whole day. On the drive over there I heard Isabella and Kahina in the back seat chatting. "What do you have for lunch? I have peanut butter and jelly." or "I like your socks, see my socks?" or "Do you want to come over to my house for a sleepover sometime?" They chatted back and forth and I delighted in the simplicity and sweetness of two little friends, not a trouble in the world. They ran around together, argued over who got to use the controls when sitting in various airplanes, and shared snacks at lunch.

Then, after 2 hours, we all went back to the car, I strapped 4 kids into car seats, and we drove home. For them - just another day of playing. For me - a day of delight and exhaustion. I know now that this is just the beginning of me volunteering to chaperon class trips, as I can't help but savor these sweet moments - aware that they are fleeting, aware that my 2 little ones will be grown up before I know it.

Blog Withdrawl

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while. I actually really love blogging, but almost everything besides mommying, sleeping, cooking, and exercising seems to fall off my plate. Anyway, I am bursting with stuff I want to blog about, so prepare for a flurry of holly-ness!!!