And the award goes to...

Political Dad!







We are so proud of you..but we always knew you were the best.

A Christmas Miracle

Remember this?

PK 1 wanted a box of kittens for Christmas.

Well, low and behold, the son of the Chief of Staff at PD's office brought home a baby kitten the other day.

I knew we had to take the PKs down to German Village to see it. 

They were so excited and the kitten was a really good sport.  I got to have a couple glasses of pricey wine and watch my daughter have the time of her life.  It was honestly the best night of the Christmas season so far.  I really was starting to think we could get one of our own (a kitten, not a pricey bottle of wine), but after about 20 minutes I started melting in a pool of my own mucus...so I guess I am still allergic.

Afterward we went to see this giant Nativity.  This is a picture of it from a couple years ago...my camera ran out of batteries after Catpalooza '08.

Keep it Simple Stupid

Sometimes I really sweat the small stuff. But I just ran out of energy for it this year. I decided that the girls would not have new matching Christmas dresses like they have in the past:

I decided that the Political Dad would not put up the outside Christmas decorations and lights. We would rather have him inside hanging out with us than hanging out on a ladder one morning to put them up and another morning to take them down.

I usually have to lose 5 pounds before I see my gorgeous sisters and sister in law for the holidays. They are all taller than me and with better hair darn it! But this year I am only going to lose 2 pounds. (Bye bye Baileys you are so nummy with crushed ice.)

I even decided not to send out a Christmas card this year although when I think about that, I do have to go breath into a bag a little because I guess I am not 100% cured.

PK1 will wear a beautiful dress that her Great Aunt gave her last year. PK2 will wear a hand me down from another political family.

The only thing I had to buy was these tights, on sale at Kohls for PK1.

As I read over this I am actually wondering whether what started out as altruistic has turned into just plain laziness. Oh dear.

Happy Birthday PK1

We didn't have a digital camera until PK1 was a few days old, so this is the youngest picture I could find.  She was less than a week though I think. She was such a little tiny baby that we called her Birdie. I can't believe that she is six years old today.

To market we will go

On Saturday morning, PD and I went downtown to The North Market  :

We wanted to see some of the cool art vendors and also to eat just a ton of the treats we love.  We were going to take the kids but since the college sister was in town we decided to leave them home, reduce our stress level and not have to share any of the treats.

Here I am reveling in my freedom:

We ate our favorite Vietnamese noodle bowl:

and followed it up with the best ice cream in Columbus..Jeni's.

They use all real, fresh ingredients and they come up with the coolest flavors.  I had Crème Fraîche with Amarena Cherries and PD had Cocoa Zinfandel.  The Political kids would kill us if they knew we went there.  They love it and are so spoiled with this $4 a scoop ice cream.  We even have the Political Grandparents hooked on it!

In case you think we ate too much we did forgo the world class cheese counter:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hot carmel corn:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the German bakery:

The arts and crafts fair had a lot of things I liked too.  This woman made the most beautiful children's purses out of old vintage hard cover children's classics.  But the PKs will have to forgo those at $37 a pop.

I also thought they would look cute in these, but I had already purchased their winter hat with Dora the Explorer on it at Meijer.

I asked the Political Dad to buy me this:

and this to wear to political events:

And I had a great find for the political grandmother for Christmas, but I can't post it because she sometimes reads this blog.

Then I wanted to go to Yankee Trader the weirdest little costume/kitsch/political junk shop that I used to have to go to all the time when I taught theater. It was right next door to the North Market, so we stopped in there and made fools of ourselves for awhile.

It was so much fun, that I didn't even mind that the PKs were covered in College Aunt's make up and half clothed when I got home, or that PD had to leave for a policy meeting right away, or that we got 4 inches of snow that night. 

All I want for Christmas...

I never have my kids make Christmas lists.  At this age anyway, that is just setting everyone up for failure.  They are always thrilled with whatever they get and taxed from opening so many gifts.  But last week, when I was at the gym trying to run off the last of that pumpkin pie, the childwatch teachers had PK1 make a list of what she wanted.  THANKS childwatch ladies!

It isn't so bad because thank goodness PK1 is like her father and very easy to please, very laid back and eternally understanding.  So she is still getting what her grandmothers and I already planned and purchased.

Still the list is really really funny.  Of course after a year of phonics I am a little embarrassed about her spelling.  My kingdom for a vowel PK1!  But I am still posting it here for posterity.

In case you can't read it:

The first thing is a stuffed animal "Dere"  or deer.

She does love animals and does occasionally fall in love with a stuffed animal at the store.  Her friend had a stuffed deer and she wants one now too.  Funny sidebar:  I put "stuffed deer" into ebay and it turned up some really pricey taxidermy!

The second thing is a "FLEZTE DOL" Felicity Doll. 

Thank you American Girl company who sent me several glossy catalogs, that I hid... that PK1 found.  She doesn't play with dolls and I have some issues with this brand and their lack of historical accuracy anyway.

The third item.  The piece de resistance is a "Box of KTS"  or box of kittens.

I laughed so hard at that, I dropped the generic iPOD I got last Christmas!  I am allergic to cats and generally opposed to animals sharing our planet and even if that weren't the case, I think it is precious that she went ahead and asked for a whole box!  Go for broke babe!

Merry Christmas PK1 I love ya!

Thanksgiving Poem

The First Thanksgiving
by
Jack Prelutsky (2006 Children's Poet Laureate)

When the Pilgrims
first gathered together to share
With their Indian friends
in the mild autumn air,
they lifted their voices
in jubilant praise
for the bread on the table
for berries and maize,
for field and for forest,
for turkey and deer,
for the bountiful crops
they were blessed with that year.
They were thankful for these
as they feasted away,
and as they were thankful,
we're thankful today.

Thanksgiving Tree

Last year my friend told me about this really great Thanksgiving calendar. Every night in November each member of the family writes something they are thankful for and puts it in one of the little pockets. I liked the idea because it is always good to find holiday traditions that don't involve gifts, shopping, materialism or calories. Well, I got online and the calenders were like $80!




















So I found this idea for a Thankfulness Tree. I made the tree out of sticks ( a little Charlie Brownyish I know) and PK1 and I cut out a bunch of leaves.















Every night we write down on a paper leaf something we are thankful for, and hang it on the tree.

I just happened to take pictures the night PK1 wrote "Bible," not all of them are that lofty.















I was going to do the tree every night, but nothing like a tradition to make glaringly obvious how chaotic your life is! I would say we have done it 1/2 - 2/3 of the nights.















It was special to do it one night with the Political Grandparents and one night with The College Aunt.

We are going to read them all on Thanksgiving!

They're BACK!

Water Park

We're back..and the first Political Family vacation was a success. Check out our family fun:

One Day Vacation

We never do this kind of thing, but to celebrate the end of the election..we are headed here:

See you Saturday!

History Timeline

PK1 is memorizing a history timeline.

It has these really beautiful flash cards that incorporate the Bible and history.

PK2 listens to us do the cards because we do it during our Bible time every morning. A few weeks into it I realized that she knows them pretty well too. We are only up to the Founding of Rome, but I had to post her saying them, because it is hilarious.

We are Most Assuredly Dorks

When PD is home in the evening and we don't have anywhere we have to go, we usually eat dinner at 6, then he plays with the girls from 6:30-7 while I do dishes and then we like to watch Jeopardy. We have a heated little competition to see who can get the most questions right. The girls sometime come and sit on the floor near us while we watch and they say whose team they are on. Despite the fact that I lose a lot, they still choose my team most of the time.

This week my college sister was here and she likes to watch us watch Jeopardy because she is alternately awed by our genius and dumbfounded by our nerdiness.

So lately I have been on a wicked winning steak, maybe it is all the homeschooling, maybe it is because it is college week, but I have been beating the PD soundly of late. When we got to the end the other night, I was gloating about my win and PK1 said: "Well it is just because Daddy wasn't answering any questions!" Exactly.

Our Chinese Brother

Have you met baby Kevin?

PK2 calls him our Chinese brother. We have just enjoyed the heck out of him since he was born 5 months ago. We just saw his portliness last night.

He used to look like this:

Then he looked like this:

then this:

maybe for awhile he was doing too much of this:

last night he looked like this:

and played with them:

he is laughing and rolling all over the carpet. And PK1 got to do this:

I enjoy babies so much more when they come out of someone else's tummy and wake up at 6AM at someone else's house.