christmas day

we were all filled with the magic of the day. maggie ran straight for her new doll crib, a fast favorite. she loves to march around with her babies, putting them nigh nigh, feeding them their babas, waking them up, wrapping them in their new blankies, marching around, and putting them nigh nigh once again. she likes to hand you the baby long enough for you to rock it and sing to it, and then she snatches baby back for her own agenda. even willy joined in the baby fun.




willy was also enthralled by his own gifts. namely, the small things, but he did love his new computer. as soon as he had it open, he began typing away and called out "okay, i'll be there in a minute!" just like daddy does when he is working on his computer. it was a classic moment.

willy was adorable about all of christmas. some of my favorite moments on this trip were just listening to him over his baby monitor. he chatters away for quite a while in the morning, patient for someone to come get him out of his crib (his big boy bed is still for "decoration" he'll tell you). so he chatters and sings, talking to himself, telling stories... he was singing "santa claus is coming to town, oh you better not pout, you better not cry, you better not, you better not, you better not..." over and over. he was rehearsing the witch in the wizard of oz, saying "i will get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too" and then he'd just chat about the family and maggie and everyone else he knows.



the rest of us basked in their happy smiles and enjoyed our own fun gifts, too. i have a new zoom lens, photoshop elements software, and a new painting set to keep me in creative business for a while. i have already been to joanne's to pick out fabric for my next projects (the gift certificate was also a gift)...

oh, and i now own a label maker, so just let me know if you need any labeling done. i am a labeling fanatic.




oh, happy day. what joy these little ones bring to the holidays.

santa claus is coming to la grange park

Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve and it was almost magical to watch Willy's reaction. He went from frightened- to fascinated- to intrigued- to brave- and then back to intimidated and nervous. Grandpa, I mean SANTA, came by before dinner to drop off the gifts and Willy watched from behind the grown-ups as Santa went down the hallway. I love the shot of him watching from the doorway, with wide-eyed anticipation (of course you can't see his wide eyes, you can only see his leiderhosen and tights).

(This was a separate trick, talking Willy into his long tights, I mean Power Ranger socks. Willy took to calling them stockings and I cracked up over his joke. "Emmy we can hang these stockings by the chimney for Santa to fill. Ha, I am just teasing you, Emmy!") the leiderhosen, too, became his Grinch outfit. We only watched this movie 85 times, but thank goodness for the Grinch and his alpine outfit.


Finally comfortable, soft of anyway, Willy told Santa he wanted a Batman for Christmas.
Well, he got a few other super heroes, but Batman will have to wait until next year.
Does it get any cuter?

christmas readiness

willy and maggie were fully rehearsed for the day. they knew who santa was, what he said, how he got here, and what he was going to do... well, willy did anyway. i even prepared him for the excitement of opening such gifts as hairbrushes in their stockings. of course, the ladies readied these gifts over white russians after bedtime. good quality family time.

SPC: My favorite red head

that's me in the backgrounds, shooting the curls on the back of favorite little red head's red head. her parents call her fire mullet, but i think it is just a georgeous piece of this little angel. this photo was taken after bathtime, for me and the little ones. i figure i have to bathe with them now before they are too old for it, and i mean, come on, who doesn't like to play with floating care bears and bathtub finger paints.
i will post many more family christmas fun pics soon, but tonight is meant for settling in and unpacking a bit.

not hungover yet

i am not huungover yet as i may still be a bit intoxicated from last nights festivities. i still have no sense of balance at all, but fortuntely have not gotten sick. my mother and i split two pitchers of vanilla vodka in coke while we were at a great comedy show. this was after an apple martini at the best rib restaurant ever... it was our big night out in the city while the kids enjoyed their babysitter and a coupla rounds of curious geaorge.
now the preparations begin. sarah's whole in-law family's come over tonight for dinner and gifts and we have food to prepare and gifts left to wrap. ah, the exitement fills the air!

we are in chicago! we are in chicago!

well, we packed all of our bags with mollie laying in between them. i am sure that she was telling us that she didn't want to be fogotten and it was sad to say good-bye before we left.
but after a smooth airport experience, a smooth plane ride (despite the bitchy flight attendant), and a smooth arrival, we are happy to be among lots of the christmas spirit here. willy is excited for santa so he is being good, "not naughty". maggie just giggles and says "ho, ho, ho". and the grown-ups are furiously wrapping all the christmas gifts that they had to fly with.
last night was dad's 68th birthday so we celebrated out to dinner. joe was supposed to join us but his flight was delayed 5 hours. uch. so we had tapas and cocktails and the jazz band played happy birthday for papa willy.
today we are off to the city to see the shop windows, and to have lunch in the walnut room. we're hoping all the decorations will put us all in the chritmas kind of mood, despite our lack of snow (its raining pretty hard, but that's not the same).
i will keep you all posted on our adventures as they come!

red 2: spc

reflections in a red truck: yet another shot taken while out on a walk. i decided to see if i could get a red reflection, and a few other cool effects came out of it too.

relaxed spirit

well, the day has been full of relaxation and my soul filled up with this christmas spirit. after the set up of my 18 inch tree, and the wrapping of all of the gifts for my class and secret santa, i read a good book cuddled up under the blanket that my mom made for us as a housewarming. i was filled with warmth and calm, knowing that i have only a three day week ahead and christmas is already packed in our suitcase. i feel such satisfaction.

todd and i settled in for a romantic evening of martinis and indulged as only grown-ups can, with vodka and sugar rimmed glasses. my sectret santa gave me swizzle sticks, and while you can't swizzle a martini, i still had fun getting them out and arranging them in christmas order. we exchanged only one small gift today in our own private little christmas,
christmas bliss.

abstractions

professional development

my training over the last few days has actually been fascinating, as well as practical.
we learned about phonics and the sounds of language. we learned about why english is seemingly crazy and we've worked at understanding the patterns and codes of the language- that as we learn to read and spell, most of us just intuit. its been interesting to learn about rules you didn't know existed and the relationship between our understanding and our reading and our writing and our vocabulary and our comprehension. we did a lot of fun activities to demonstrate. we analyzed kids' work to see where they were deficient and how we could best support them.
it was everything you learn in grad school and don't understand--- revisited in a way that makes sense once you've been in the classroom and worked with struggling readers who don't just intuit the stuff. i am feeling refreshed. i feel like i have a whole new tool box to work from.
now its back into the grind to see how i can make it all work.
that is, as soon as this fog burns off...

close-ups

another attempt for photography class: close-ups and patterns in nature. it has been really fun to have these assignments. they have made me look for and try a lot of different things. tonight is the last class, and i think i'll miss it. so if you have any assignments for me, i'm all ears... photographic assignments, i mean. :-)

red 1: spc

i have had a hard time finding red, until today when i went on a walk.
now you see my silhouette in red.
i love this process of looking and finding and discovering. that is the fun of taking pictures.

walking in a winter wonderland

so, this is what december looks like here in maryland. no snow yet, but our first signs of ice are here. todd and i took mollie for a 45 degree walk today, and she got in the water, as always. she's been out sunbathing since, and i am in baking up chex mix and writing lesson plans for my substitute. ah, sunny days...

crafters delight

my friend, robin, sent me this fabric a while back and i have been wondering what i could do with it. well, this year maggie is getting a doll crib for christmas so auntie em is making a doll blanket to go on maggie's baby. she doesn't check my blog, so i can post the project in progress. :-)

imagine

it's been busy here, crafting, creating for christmas. i can't post those pictures because i don't want to spoil the surprises. :-) i am feeling very cozy and at home, and am just enjoying cuddling up and dreaming of the christmas fun to come. (imagine me under a large pile of fabric)

work has been challenging, but doesn't raise my blood pressure in quite the same way anymore, so i guess we are coming to a comfort zone. parent-teacher conference day was on monday, but only 5 out of 11 scheduled conferences showed up. a disappointing turn-out, but what do you do? (imagine me, conferencing with myself)

their winter concert was on thursday and they all shouted their little hearts out, christmas carols and snowman songs at the top of their lungs. joyous music. that also meant high energy all week. (imagine 100 small voices shouting: deck the halls, fa la la la la la la la la...)

next week i am off to a professional development for three days. thursday will be out of whack when i have to come back, but i am hoping a substitute will survive three days in my room without getting eaten alive. i am hoping i survive two upon my return. (imagine spitballs and swears and small children break dancing during your lessons)

last night todd and i were out for a bit of culture. we went to see the baltimore symphony orchestra's presentation of handel's messiah. todd was ready to leave at intermission, but i forced him to stay, i mean, we had to find out how the story ended, right? a baby is born to mary, and he is the son of god--- and then you just leave without finding out the end of the story? i couldn't have handled the suspense.
i really did enjoy it. the music. the atmosphere. the warmth and the singing lulling me to sleep.

today is more cozy times and final touches on christmas preparations. maybe some hot cocoa...

Updates

For my friends out there who check my blog, here's sneak peak of the christmas card photo session that i forced todd and mollie to endure today. i love holiday cards, and photo ones especially. you will all get to see our glowing faces this holiday season.


Otherwise, the week-end has been mellow. we have been enjoying mild weather and the other teachers and i have loved being out in short sleeves for recess duty this week.

todd and i are back in the car market and went out browsing today, in case we trade in two to downsize to one... we've fallen in love with a Honda CR-V with leather seats, so we'll see where that takes us. we are looking for half way between the Honda Element and my VW Golf.

I finished lesson plans today so tomorrow it will be craft central here. I am busting into holiday gear.

Tonight its off to St. Michael's for Midnight madness with the girls from work. I can't remember the last time I've been up until midnight. Last night I was out for the count at 7 on the couch. Maybe that means I am rested up. :-)

Peace, y'all. I am thinking of you this time of year.

spc: another round of glam

it does not get any more glamorous that snake print, metallic gold pants.
yes, i own these.
yes, they are in my closet.
yes, i have worn them, although not for a while... a long while.
and the painted toes, well, they add a touch of glam, too.

more festive fun

The table was set in my wedding fine china (vintage, more than fine, but it was the first use of the good stuff) and mom and I ironed out and folded up the napkins real pretty. We added the flea market and farmers market $3 centerpiece and felt like we were really fancy, too. This table was set for kings.

By dessert my apartment was so hot that the kiddies were running around in their diapers, drinking coffee out of the fancy cups and eating lots of the good stuff, the whipped cream.



We started out all looking nice, and happy, and at peace... and most of the night was spent that way. :-) Those little ones bring enough energy to light up any room, and the laps around the kitchen island kept Willy the Flash quite busy.


Maggie looked for sucker after sucker to take her to see the "neigh, neigh". She'd walk over to you and melt you with her eyes, saying "neigh, neigh" until you agreed to take her down to see the horses. then you'd walk her back and forth between the two. She'd let one lick her and she'd giggle, and then be ready to move on to the other... and by the time you got back upstairs, she'd be looking for another sucker of a grown-up to take her back down.


Its been wonderful to have the whole family here for so long that we can really enjoy each other and feel like we're on vacation. I'm not quite ready for it to end...