no party

 
We came home from Boston earlier than we would have liked in order to prepare for the now annual New Year's Eve party. My goal this year was to have enough done in advance so that instead of frantically working up to the moment of the first knock on the door, I might actually gussy up a bit. And two days out I was in good shape. The house was mostly decorated. Food was being prepared. Dishes and serving platters were ready.

 
I had even used a magic trick to polish silver soup spoons. And then . . .

 
Theo came down with the same bug that plagued Gus over Christmas. So, because he was miserable, and drippy, and hacking, and, most likely, highly contagious, we canceled the party. And then we were all sad.

 
So on New Year's Eve we tried to make things a little festive. We all ate twelve grapes for a prosperous new year. And there was onion dip, cause nothing says 'festive' like onion dip! Except it turns out the boys do not share my love of onion dip. But the chips were a hit.

 
We rented the Curious George Movie, which was our second attempt at showing the boys their first movie, but like with Cars, fifteen minutes in it got too scary (this time a mean doorman appeared) and Gus made us turn it off. We were all disappointed.

 
So we moved on to the our version of the Times Square Ball Drop. It was filled with lizards and snow confetti, so that cheered us up.

 

 
10 . . .9 . . .8 . . .7 . . .6 . . .

 
5 . . .4 . . .3 . . .2 . . .1!!!

 
Happy New Year!!!!

 
Tackle and repeat a dozen times.

christmas

 
Somewhere between Philly and Dedham, Gus developed a horrible cold. But that did not keep him and Theo from decorating the Christmas tree, playing with Grammy's village, and having a merry time.

 
How could they not with all those new toys? We had a really nice week at Grammy and Grandpa's.

west hartford

 
The boys and I headed off to Grammy and Grandpa's today with a pit stop at the children's museum in West Hartford CT. It is not as new as the museum in Norwalk, but fun nonetheless. How could it not be with this awesome Lego race track? I am sure we will stop here again.

 

 

macy's light show

 
No matter the season, if we go to Macy's Gus asks if we can see the light show. The light show is a Philadelphia tradition that was started at the Wanamaker Department Store in 1956. When Macy's took over the building, I think from Lord & Taylor, it inherited the Wanamaker organ and light show. Finally, it is light show season again. Gus was psyched until it was over. "Is that it?" he asked. Not as good as he remembered, I guess.

 
Theo, well he just slept.

playing in the snow

 
Theo might have missed the light show, but he did not miss his chance to play in the snow.

 
Not too many people were out, but he did find this puppy.

 
Gus was a good sport considering he could not get out of the stroller.

 
It helped that he had Theo as a target for his snowballs.

gingerbread

 

 

 

 

storm of the century

 
The snow started before we woke up on Saturday morning and the boys were so excited to see it.

 
Of course they were only content to watch it from the window for so long, but because of Gus's cast we could not let them out in the garden to play. So Jonathan and I bundled them up in the stroller and pushed our way down the mostly unshoveled sidewalks. Lots of people were walking around in the snow and everyone was happy and super friendly. We made our ways to Five Guys for lunch. Lots of families had the same idea. It was really good snow day.

 
And when we woke up on Sunday the snow against the garden door was as high as Theo. Pretty mind blowing. The official snow fall was 23 inches.

menorahs

 
Check out our new dangerous looking menorah (the one lit). Gus could not go to school the day his class made these because he was waiting to get his cast, but his teacher made one for him. Kind of crazy, no?

cookie party

 
We hosted a Chanukah cookie decorating party for Gus's preschool class. It was fun and Gus really enjoyed having his school friends over. I plan on hosting two parties next year, one for Gus's class and one for Theo's. But note to self: 22 dozen cookies was about 15 too many. Prepare half as much food as I think I need. Or probably better yet, skip supper all together.

 

 

 

 

 

cast

 

Poor Gus, fractured his tibia jumping into the kitchen from the third step ("because I am three and should jump form the third step"). He looks sad in this picture but mostly he looks like this . . .

 

This little walking cast is not slowing him down. Jonathan even caught him attempting to jump down the stairs again. For those keeping count, this is Gus's fifth injury, and the seventh for the brothers. Good grief.

chanukah party

 
We all had a great time at the annual family chanukah party.

 
Theo made himself right at home on the lap of a cousin

 
and watched Gus assist the magician with his routine.

 
The boys could not wait for their turns to pull out a fist of coins form the fishbowl.

 
When it was time Theo climbed right on to the table.

 
They had playing fooz ball with Ella

 
and PopPop

 
The party went down hill for me when the magician started making balloon animals and weapons.

 
But the boys sure liked them.

 

 

morris trains for the holidays

 
Tonight we went to the train party at Morris Arboretum. I have been waiting for this event since we joined the Arboretum in September. It was fabulous! But it would not have been even half as great if we had not met up early with our Mt. Airy friends, Nate and Meredith.

 
We arrived before sunset and had fun rolling down hills. The log cabin was locked . . .

 
but the Summer House was as fun as ever.

 
It is so cool. My pictures do it no justice, but you can tell the boys like it.

 
Then Nate brought us to this tree bench, which we had not discovered before. I love the arboretum.

 
When it got dark we headed back to the train display for hot chocolate, cider and cookies, and to see the trains running through the village decked out for the holidays.

 
Again, hard to capture the beauty of the train display. But the highlights for the boys were visiting the tree house in the dark (!) and rolling down a huge hill in the dark(!)--which turned out had a lot of goose poo on it. But you know what they say about an arboretum party, it is not a party unless you get covered in goose poo.