Five!

People who have older kids always say, "it all goes by so fast".  It didn't seem like it was all going very fast for the first few years, but all the sudden it really is.  I can't believe we are the parents of a 5 year old!  And what an amazing five year old she is.  She's bright, inquisitive, engaging, snuggly, feisty, motivated, and strong.  I have so much fun hanging out with this girl.  She makes me giggle and think in ways that I have never.  We love you Macalister Jane!

Above is the invitation we sent for her party.  We decided to go big for her celebration of the 5th trip around the sun.  She was very excited to donate food to the food shelf after her party and romp around with her friends.  We knew that Dec. 22nd would be a tough day, but more than 20 people responded to say that they'd join us for fun at the Fun Zone at Smugglers Notch.  We were most excited about the fact that three of her cousins, aunts and uncles, and one set of grandparents would be able to make it for the event.

Unfortunately, as the weather gods would have it, the weather was terrible on her birthday.  It had rained and frozen and the roads were all covered with a sheen of ice.  My brother called at 8:30am to tell us that he had called Smuggs to inquire about swimming after the party and the operator told him that the entire resort was out of power.  When I called, they told me the power was back on, but I couldn't get in touch with anyone about the status of the Fun Zone.  Because we had already shopped for all the food, her family was all there, and I thought parents might want to let their kids get energy out in an indoor environment, we decided to keep with the plan.  And I'm so glad we did:

The kids had a ball!

And so did the adults:

While only about half of the guests actually made it to the party, Cally didn't seem to be phased.  She loved seeing her cousins and the friends and families that made it there.  

We made it home for some gift opening

And even got a few good family shots:

Cally got to have her family birthday dinner the night before.  She couldn't decide between eating latkes, falafal, or calzones.  In the end, she choose calzones which she got to assemble herself and eat with her grandparents.  On the night of her actual birthday, the parents went out to dinner while she stayed home with her cousins and got to have her favorite babysitter for the night.  

Santa's Magic

This is a picture of Cally and Hazen's first meeting with Santa.  I know, she's almost five and most kids are plopped on this jolly old man's lap when they are babies........ It just never happened.  It's not like we were trying to avoid the guy, it just never fit into the schedule  (or we missed the boat).  This year, we made it to our local Country Store and it was the real deal.  Santa was there, the line was short, they offered us cookies and candy canes and the kids loved being able to tell them what they wanted (and stuffed owl for Cally and a stuffed frog for H).

Right before we went visit Santa, Cally's good friend, Piper called at the last minute to see if she wanted to go on the Polar Express in Burlington.  The Polar Express is something I'd only really heard about from other parents.  We had recently read the book and I kicked myself for not even trying to get tickets for the event.  It turns out, you have to enter a lottery in order to get a chance to buy tickets or you can volunteer the year before or you can pay an extra $100 to get a chance to get tickets.  None of those options made it on to my "to do" list in October (or July when the opportunity presents itself), so I figured we'd attempt to make it happen next year.  So, when Piper invited to Cally to go, we dropped everything to make sure it worked out.

She had such a great time!  What a treat.  Now I need to figure out a way to get tickets for next year!

Deck the Halls

When I first started dating John, it was the holiday season.  He was a bachelor living with another bachelor, yet he insisted on getting a tree and decorating his house.  He didn't just get a tree, he placed antique skis and sleds around the house with bows on them, put festive candles all around, and even had ornamental snowmen and reindeer on the mantle.  I was touched by his need to be so festive.

This year, John offered to host his office's holiday party at our house, so we had a reason to get the ball rolling on the decorating front. We didn't have to go far to find a tree...... after trying two other tree "farms", we ended up at Whites just down the road.

The kids were thrilled to decorate:

And we now have a beautiful tree twinkling in our living room:

Meanwhile, Cally participated in the Senior Sing at the Underhill Community Center.  Last year, she barely participated and this year she was belting out tunes, doing the hand signs, and smiling a lot:

We also go to to get a first peak at Santa Clause in Stowe:

Watch candy cane get made:

And even tried skating on the new rink in Stowe:

The kids took a hay ride with one of Santa's "reindeer":

Decorated Christmas Cookies:

And took a tour in Smuggler's Notch:

And finally, we rounded our our weekend with some caroling at the Round Church in Richmond:

Thankful

I am thankful for so very much this year!  Within one week, I was able to celebrate another trip around the sun for that guy, snow, time off from school, and food with wonderful friends.  It had been a crazy week leading up to Thanksgiving break-- John had obligations with his class and the Outing Club in the evenings and I had Parent-Teacher Conferences and a massive pile of grading to do.  We all seemed to pass like ships in the night-- even on the night of John's actual birthday.  However, once Friday came along, we were all ready to start celebrating all for which we are thankful.  I was able to take my sweetheart out to dinner and the kids got a night with their Uncles Scotty and Tommy.  And the next day we packed it up and headed up to Montreal.

We don't have many pictures...... because you DON'T keep your iPhone on in Canada.  But we had a great time with the Mahoney's.  We ate crepes and fondue and drank wine in Old Port, visited the Science Museum, and had an amazing dinner near our hotel in the heart of the city.  It's hard to find dining that is suitable for kids in Montreal-- let alone in the city center.  However, we stumbled upon an Italian restaurant.  We almost walked by it because it looked too "nice".  When Claire inquired, they told us we could have a room to ourselves in the back of the restaurant.  The kids drew pictures and the waiter/part owner brought them scissors and tape to make puppets.  At the end of the night he told us how happy he was to see children engaged without using iPhones or iPods.

We only went for one night because I had to work on Monday.  Hazen had daycare, but Cally didn't have Poker Hill, so she and John had "date day".  They went to a meeting at school, put the snow tires on the car, and went out to lunch at a diner.

Because I had to work two evenings the week before for conferences, I got to take Tuesday off.  This time, I got to have a day with Cal, while Dad took Hazey to use Austin's wood working tools:

John had started a little home improvement project this summer, but got slowed down by not having the right tools and then his broken scapula ended all efforts to see the "breakfast bar" come into fruition.  Thanks to Austin's equipment and John's fine woodworking skills:

We've got ourselves a new space to eat, draw and entertain:

While the boys were doing their work, I got to see Cal do some of her "stuff" at gymnastics, we picked up our 22 lb bird, and did a little more grocery shopping for Thanksgiving.

We offered to host our "friends" Thanksgiving this year.  This year there were 4 families (9 kids between the ages of 2-11 and 8 adults).  We have alternated for the past 4 years between the Plimpton-Harris house and the Ganz Clan's place.  I knew that we had less to offer for the kids to do, but I hoped everyone would be happy to be together.  

Claire and I woke up with the birds and got our own fun out of our systems before I had to be home to cook the aforementioned bird (which I had brined overnight).  The skiing was amazing and it set the day up in such a perfect way.  

The families all got here and the kids set out to sled, while the dad's got an outdoor fire going and the mom's made the finishing touches on the meal.

We set up a table for the kids:

And a table for the big kids:

There were several outfit changes:

And we felt like we were moving and grooving:

In the end, it was a fun gathering.  The adults and the younger kids had a great time.  Unfortunately, the older gals got "bored".  I can't really blame them, as our house is not really equipped to entertain "tweens", and felt bad that we didn't have "stuff" to do.  It's so foreign for me to have the time to be bored these days, so it's not something I fret about too much.  I know that the time will come for my kids to say the same thing.  I will recite a saying that my mother always said to me, "only boring people get bored", but I'm sure that it will come up with resistance.  I'm hopeful that I will be patient and understanding, but something tells me I might not.

The rest of the week was filled with sunny ski days, a Christmas tree lighting, a hockey games, a trip to the Swimming Hole, and a visit with cousins:

I'm really thankful for my family, good friends, sunshine, snow, home improvement projects, time off from work, sleep, relaxation, and all the love in my life.