Getting ready for the holidays!

I had a big report due on Monday at work and then I was off Tuesday and yesterday. So I'm back at work today and ready to blog ..er...work. Right. Work.

I don't have anything really profound to say, so I guess I'll just get down what's been going on the last several days.

Last Saturday, we went to our friends Mark and Kelly's house and made reindeer cookies with Naomi and the boys!

I love that Kelly tried to get Naomi to eat a sandwich first. (She's shoving M&M's in her mouth by the handful.) Ha-Ha-Ha!

It was so much fun, we're going to do it again with a few other friends -- with more kids, yikes! -- this weekend at our house! Although I doubt it will be as fun as it was with Kelly and Mark because 1) Kelly is so laidback and cool about everything, that it was just really relaxed and nice and not manic like it probably will be when it's at my house, because I'm crazy and 2) Kelly made super delicious coquitos -- coconut eggnog with rum! Yummm!

It was so nice to see them all. I wish I lived closer to all my friends! Sniff.

Lester's big Christmas present this year was tickets to see Lauryn Hill at the 9:30 Club on Sunday!
We went to dinner in D.C. first and marveled at how much the neighborhood around Howard University, my alma mater, has changed. Things are developing/gentrifying so much that this restaurant we went to had only been open a week. And it was packed! And there were only a handful of black people. People who know anything about the Shaw/Howard U. area know that that is CRAZY.

Here we are, out. Alone. No kids. Alone. Having a drink. Alone.

The concert was really good (despite it being at the 9:30 Club, a standing-only venue which is impossible for shorties like me). For those of you who don't know anything about Lauryn Hill, suffice it to say that she is this incredible talent who got totally plowed over by her good-looking, charming cad of a baby daddy (Bob Marley's son Rohan) who left her and their FIVE kids to go off and marry some model. After that, Lauryn went cuckoo for cocoa puffs. She shaved her head, acted loopy at concerts (when she showed up at all), got in trouble with the IRS, went to JAIL!! and just seriously had a really hard-to-watch, broken-hearted breakdown.

But she's making a comeback and Lester absolutely loves her, so we took a chance and bought tickets to see her perform. I'm so glad we did. She sings with so much passion -- even moreso now that she's been through so much. It was a really good night, spent rockin' out with my baby. :-)

Before the concert, our friend Callie invited us to the Baltimore Museum of Art to hang out and make instruments during the museum's arts and crafts time. So we trudged over there and got to see the boys' friend Spirit, who Dean just loves. And we met some other very nice families and made a big mess with glue and scissors, construction paper and ribbons.

The boys surprised the heck outta me by being able to cut! I had no idea. In my house, we stay far away from scissors. Good thing their teachers are more adventurous. Also, Clair glued her lips together, using the glue stick like Chapstick. My kids are so creative.

And, lastly, I really made the most out of my days off.

Tuesday, I spent the day with Lester, hanging out and picking up a few things we needed to finish our Christmas decorations. And yesterday, I rode the school bus with my boys to their field trip (a play at Goucher College), came home, had lunch with them and went out and got my hair done!

I also got to just spend quiet, middle-of-the-day time with my kids, playing Christmas music and witnessing moments like this:

Which was really, really nice, because you all know how it is when you get home from work - all the harried task-completing, and end-of-the-day meltdowns. It's nice to get to see my children during a more relaxed time, warm and comfortable, safe, happy and loved.

If I didn't get another thing for Christmas, just having had this time with them would be absolutely enough.

Random wintery, pre-Christmas thoughts

Random thoughts:


When did Clair learn to say "sure?" -- You ask her to do something, she says, "Sure!" It is too funny. She also likes to tell "stories" using mostly nouns, but some verbs, like "crying" or "sleeping" or "falled." I love having conversations with her -- can't wait to hang out with my chatty girl when she's older. P.S. Can't believe she will be 2 in February. Good grief.
***

Still no tree in the Davis house. In fact, there are pumpkins sitting on my front porch (covered in snow) and scarecrows on my dining room window sills. I don't know when (or if) we're going to take Christmas card photos -- and then address and send the cards to friends and family. And I haven't pulled out the Christmas music yet. I am really behind this year. Like, woefully. (P.S. How do pumpkins last so long?)
***

I really enjoyed this newspaper article about what toys inspired girls who eventually became engineers/scientists:

I especially loved the connection between Legos and code-writing (something which I totally wish I understood anything about. Even just a little html would be nice to know.)

Note to Santa: Add more Legos to the Christmas bounty!
***

It has really gotten cold here - today won't even make it past 30-degrees. One super-annoying thing about winter weather: fastening two big boys into their safety seats with their tremendous, puffy coats on. Seriously, I break out into a sweat trying to get them buckled in and always have to stop myself from saying words no 3-year-old should hear. Today, after my frustrating struggles to get them clicked in, the boys spilled the beans that when Daddy takes them to school, sometimes he doesn't buckle them in. "He says, 'It's OK. We're just going around the corner!'" they told me.
Tsk, tsk, Daddy! Someone's getting a lump of coal in their stocking this year.
(I also had to laugh that they totally told on him! Hahaha! You can't do anything around kids this age. They will let the cat out of the bag. Trust.)
***

I am almost finished with Book 2 of Game of Thrones. Reading these books is definitely an investment, but really worth it. Even if you're not a fan of fantasy, if you like well-written, character-driven stories, with intricate, fast-moving plots and great dialogue (especially from Tyrion, the Imp) you would like these books. Take it from me. And actually, the "fantasy" part is somewhat incidental, I think. But you guys need to read 'em to see for yourself.

Speaking of GoT, I called my Dad this morning on my way to work and we had a little mini bookclub, talking about where I am in the books and Dad's thoughts on it, etc. It was really nice. I absolutely love being able to talk about books (or anything) with my Dad. One of the best parts of my life.
***

My friend Olivia wrote a Christmas letter that was so funny, I am determined to write one for this blog. It won't be as good as hers, but I am pledging right now that I am going to get down the highlights of 2013 in one place. Just as soon as I finish this MONSTER report at work, toss the pumpkins, get a Christmas tree, decorate the house, come up with something to put on the front of a Christmas card, and drive the family insane with repeated playings of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas."

After all that, if my end-of-the-year letter comes next year, I'm sure you'll understand.

Post-Christmas photo post

Merry Christmas all!!!!

I just ran into work to fill out and fax my Flex spending forms (yes, I am still old school and use the fax machine). So I thought -- while I wait to get the confirmation that my forms have been received -- I'll catch up on reading friends' blogs and post a few pics from our lovely, lovely holiday.

Christmas Eve was so, so great. Lester took the boys to the Symphony of Lights (which they LOVED), and when they got home, they got into their PJs and had hot cocoa and cookies. 

Then we left cookies out for Santa (who is lactose intolerant, apparently).

Even though Clair fell asleep while the boys and Lester were on their way home from the Symphony of Lights, I managed to coax a sleepy pic out of her under the tree. I didn't get a Christmas Eve pic of all three of them, though, so that's a bummer.

She was SO tired, but she gave me a tiny little smile.

Handsome boys! Can you believe this is Christmas No. 3 for them?

In the morning, when the boys woke up, they came toddling into our room. We asked them, with great excitement: "Did Santa come?!" And they both shrugged and said, "No. He didn't." LOL.

So we had to tell them that you actually have to go downstairs and look under the tree. So off they scampered, and when they got to the middle of the stairs, Dean yelled, "Yes he did! He did come! Santa did come and he brought presents!" It was the cutest thing.

The boys got a kick out of Santa's bitemark.

Santa brought the boys Lincoln Logs and "professional people" for them to play with, lots of books, tin drums and stethoscopes. They really loved everything, but the drums were a huge hit. They marched around the house saying, "Marching band! Marching band!"

Dean is so serious about his music, yo.

Mommy and Daddy brought them cute little bath towels -- a green Dino for Cary and a blue sea creature for Dean. These were also a big hit. They clamor for bathtime so they can use them!

Clair's first ever Christmas present: Nesting blocks. She preferred the paper.

These two are twins, I swear.

We spent the morning reading and playing ...

Elephant and Piggie! Big hits! Also favorites: "A Sick Day for Amos McGee" and "Leonardo the Terrible Monster."  I think the book in my hands, though, is "I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words."

And then it was time for a nap, because Mommy and Daddy had to cook and get the house ready for dinner. Somehow, we talked ourselves into hosting Christmas dinner at our house for 11 people (16 if you count us!) Aye-yi-yi!

It actually turned out really nice. My sisters and their kids came, and so did my fabulous parents. Dad fell asleep on my floor. LOL.

Santa White and Mrs. Santa White

Clair was absolutely picture-perfect adorable in the dress that Lester picked out for her.

Seriously, doesn't she look like a Sugar Plum fairy?

And the boys had a blast running around with their cousins and performing a Christmas medley (Jingle Bells and We Miss You a Merry Christmas) for Nana and Granddad.

Nana built them a log cabin, and thank God she did, because Lester and I have no clue how to make those danged Lincoln logs work. How did Ma and Pa and Laura Ingalls do it?? Forreals. I could not have been a pioneer. We'd have been homeless.

These are two of the 12 "professional people" -- a farmer and a construction worker. The construction worker's a woman! And the doctor is too. And she's black! Love this set!!

Aunt Kadija bought Cary and Dean $2 Pez dispensers and they were hands-down the thing they were most excited about!  Everyone browbeat me into letting them eat two packs of that darn candy, so they were WIRED. I honestly have never seen them that bounce-off-the-walls energetic.

Dean was gregarious as ever, cracking everyone up, and Cary was right behind him, but we noticed that he was not quite himself. Both boys stayed up until 11 p.m.!! Craziness!

The next day, it snowed. It was freezing, but so beautiful, the boys just had to get out in it. So out they went to explore. Despite being frozen from head to toe, Lester had to drag them inside for a nap. They absolutely love, loved, loved playing in the snow.

"And after breakfast they went out together into the deep, deep snow." OK, the snow is not that deep. But this picture reminds me of Ezra Jack Keats' "The Snowy Day."

Back inside, though, Cary continued to be lethargic and cranky, and extremely moody. We both noted that he had been saying, on occasion, "I can't hear you," or "I can't hear Dean." So we made a doctor's appointment.

Turns out, my poor Carykins had a double ear infection! And a popped eardrum! No wonder he wasn't himself. Awwww. But he's on his meds now and is healing up well. I feel so bad for my sweetie. We had no idea.

We've got a few more days left of vacation and we're heading to New York for a few days a week from today. So I don't know when I'll get the chance to blog again.

Soooo -- happy holidays to all!! What a glorious time of the year!  LOVE it!

I'm dreaming of NOT having Sickmas

Today, Cary had to stay home from school because of a 101-degree fever that started yesterday afternoon and lingered into this morning.

This was how he looked all morning. Awwww.

This also meant Dean had to brave the big, wide world of pre-school by himself for the first time.

Both boys did great! Cary cried a bunch at first when he realized that he wasn't going to get to go to school with Dean, but the promise of TV-watching soon cheered him.

And Dean, ever the good little brother, brought him popcorn home from school to make him feel even better. "I bringed Cary popcorn because Cary had to stay here because Cary is SICK!" he said when I called home to check on them both.

I'm not sure what exactly is going on with Cary -- he says his "neck" hurts (he means his throat) -- but I hope by the grace of all things good that it doesn't go coursing through the entire Davis family. I am so looking forward to some much-needed time off after this week, and I'd hate to be sick on my staycation. Also, who wants Christmas to be Sickmas? Bah humbug!

Especially after seeing THIS preview of how adorable Christmas is gonna be with Clair around this year!

OMG. Seriously, y'all.

 Awwwww!

My friend Monica took these and other photos when she came to visit this weekend -- after filling her belly with cheese grits. And I must say, it sure doesn't suck having friends who you love to gab with and drink brandy-spiked-eggnog with -- and who just happen to know their way around a camera and a flash!

 

When you say, "kiss," she leans in and eats your lips!

Dean accidentally broke a bulb and was so horrified about all the slivers of red and gold glass on the floor, he refused to put on other ornaments without adult supervision. It was really cute how serious he was about getting those bulbs on the tree intact!

Seriously, ya'll! Look at that face!

No sir. It doesn't suck at all!

Monica, I LOVE YOU, girl!!!

Ho-ho-ho!!!!!

Thinking hard about Christmas, faith and Santa

This is a hard post to write, because it is me looking hard at myself, seeing where I have fallen short and owning up to it. It is about religion -- what I believe about it -- so if you are not a fan, feel free to skip this post.

Yesterday the kids were looking at a photo of themselves from last year. Michelle had it taken while we were at work, as a surprise gift to us. It's of them with Santa Claus, looking miserable as can be (but still cute). They didn't get the whole Santa thing at 1-and-a -half, and they only sorta get it now.

So, sitting in front of our Christmas tree, I decided to explain.

I showed them YouTube videos of Santa in his sleigh, dropping brightly-wrapped gifts off for good little boys and girls. I taught them the "Santa Claus is coming to town" song. I laughed when Dean told a whining, crying Cary: "Stop it that noise, Cary! Santa Claus won't bring you any presents!"

I thought it was all so cute, I told that story to Lester after the kids went to bed.

And my wise husband said, "Hmmm. I wonder if we should have talked to them about the real meaning of Christmas first before introducing the Santa/presents concept." He said it in a very non-judgmental way, like he was really just thinking of it for the first time.

I stopped in my tracks, realizing that he was right. I -- we -- screwed up big time. He thought of it for the first time last night, but *I* hadn't thought of it at all. Ugh. Ugh. And oy!

I know that we can still go back and talk to them about Jesus, and help them understand on a 2-year-old's level how the two things (sorta) go together. So it's not like all is lost. I know that.

But I'm disappointed in myself.

As long as Lester and I have been dating seriously, we've consistently said that we wanted to make sure our kids had a good sense of God in our lives and theirs.  But ever since Lester and I stopped going to our old church, we have been woefully delinquent in that department. We haven't taught the boys about praying (except for at night and sporadically before meals); we haven't read the Bible (save a few kids' Bible stories). We haven't talked to them about God in any clear and consistent way. Worse, we haven't shown them by example that we intend to live our lives with God at the center.

And now that Christmas is here -- a perfect time to talk about religious traditions and what they mean and why -- I went straight for the secular.

I'm not even one who thinks that you *have* to go to church to be a person who has a heart for God.
But for us, it seems that without the accountability of a church home and family, we slowly have let our faith lapse. That worries me on so many levels.

Without going into private details, I'll just say that coming from a family where I think Mom and Dad did so many things right, except that, I have a heightened sense of anxiety about what can happen to a family where there's no sense that you have a purpose on this Earth other than to serve yourself.

So I have to do better. We have to do better. Whether we find a church home or not, there's no reason not to at least talk to our kids seriously about what we say we believe and value.

This is incredibly important to our family. And we just can't make any more excuses.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The boys went out with Lester this weekend and picked out a fat and wonderful-smelling Christmas tree. Gracious, it smells good in our house!

And then we spent the weekend decorating it, letting the boys hang bulbs and talking to them about some of the more personal ornaments and what they meant to us, like the one we made at a pottery shop in Fredericksburg, Va. on a little mini pre-anniversary trip we took in 2007. (I was pregnant with the boys and didn't know it!)

He was so deliberate about every bulb.

Mommy, I want this one to go up high! Way up high!

So far this holiday season has been really great because the boys have been really in to the whole thing -- from picking out the tree, to decorating the house to singing "Jingle Bells" and "We Miss you a Merry Christmas." (That's how they say it.) And we aren't spending every waking moment trying to get them to NOT TOUCH THE TREE! Even Clair hasn't been a problem. She crawls around and touches everything, but not the tree, for some reason. She likes to stare at the lights, though, and kick her little feet at how beautiful it is.
 

Best time of the day: When the kids go to bed! We like to just sit, and have a holiday-cocktail and just look at the tree.

Sunday, my friend Monica came over and had breakfast with us. She's from the South, so I used that as an excuse to serve some good, old-fashioned cheese grits, made with plenty of butter! Lester made pancakes, too (more butter, YUM!). So we had grits and eggs, sausage and pancakes and have never been so happy. :-)

Monica took a few photos of us while she was there, and I can't wait to see them. She's an amazing photographer -- really, simply amazing -- which is why I was so surprised when she told me that her favorite camera right now is her iPhone.

Really? She showed me some photos on her phone that she took with her iPhone and they were absolutely breathtaking! "How can I be down?" I asked her. How do you do that?

So she introduced me to some photo enhancing apps she uses, but most were still too advanced for my Mommy brain. I picked one to play with called Camera +, and I am now obsessed with it!

I apologize in advance for all the photos I'll be enhancing and posting. It's just so cool!

Here are a few existing photos I had in my phone that I enhanced using Camera +:

You're my...Bright-Eyed Girl. Sha-na-na-na-na-na!

Look at the color!

This seriously looks like it could be from back in the day. My boys look so dapper. Their look is what my dear old Grandmother would call "smart!" As in, "Don't those boys look smart?!"

I think this should be an ad in a magazine for something. I don't know what. But for something.

Focusing in on Cary and his favorite activity (after whining and arguing), and making everything else go softly out of focus. Cool!

Again, more color -- and light! And Deanie smiling! What's not to love?

I don't know if there's a filter I could use that would make me NOT love this photo of my two super cool dudes.

 Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, this is my new toy, so indulge me, please. I'm pretty sure this too shall pass. (Until the next thing comes along!)

Oh! Last thing to point out:

This morning, Dean seemed not himself. He was subdued and slow and said he wanted to go back and take a nap. He said, "My tummy hurts." At one point, for no apparent reason, he burst into tears.

I got down on my knees and tried to get him to tell me what was wrong. But he just sobbed.

Finally, I said, "Baby, please tell Mommy what's wrong, so I can help you. What do you need?"

And he said, through tears, "I-I-I-I.... I need a hug."

OMG -- I had to hold back the tears! Seriously, I can't tell you how much that tugged at my heart. My sweet boy!

I hugged him long and hard, and rocked him like a baby.

And it was the saddest and happiest moment I can ever recall.



 

Merry post-Christmas post!

Merry couple days after Christmas all!

I wanted to post this picture of the boys on Christmas Eve, but Lester and I stayed up late trying to figure out how to put songs on a (cheap and annoying) mp3 player I bought my 11-year-old nephew. It took us until almost 1:30 to get it all done, so by then I was too pooped to do anything but conk out.

So -- a few days late -- here are my cuties in their Sesame Street Christmas PJs and Santa hats, on their way to nestle all snug in their beds. All together now: "Awwwwww!"


On Christmas, the boys enjoyed opening the few presents we bought them, and especially loved the Elmo and Cookie Monster toys my Nana sent them from Boston. (Cary was a little afraid of Cookie's gruff voice, at first, but he's over it now.) The biggest hit of all the presents was "My Big Truck Book," which Cary would marry if he could. Well, and Elmo. Elmo can do no wrong in our house, apparently.





(Dean dancing to Elmo!)




We went to my Mom's in the afternoon, and stayed the night. The boys opened more presents, played with their cousins, ate a lot of sweet stuff (and I didn't fuss at anyone about it!) and stayed up way late. We left my parents' late Monday, so that made two nights in a row that the boys had really, really late nights.

So...the best Christmas present for Mommy and Daddy? Cary and Dean slept until 8:45 this morning and then took a THREE-hour nap in the afternoon. That's how wiped they were from all the Christmas revelry. It was great!

Speaking of great Christmas presents, Lester and I had agreed not to spend a lot of money on ourselves this year, because we don't need anything and it's the Year of Austerity (even though he snuck and bought me a beautiful bracelet and earrings! Cheater!), so we decided to spend the money we would have spent on gifts on "Hotel Get-Away Day."

What is Hotel Get-Away Day, you ask? Just the best thing ever!!

A few days before Christmas, when Michelle was still watching the boys, we left the house when she arrived, went and had a delicious, leisurely brunch and then checked into a Marriott, where we promptly took our own THREE-hour nap!! Then we ordered room service, watched some mindless television and just lazed around until it was time to go home and get our boys.

It was so unbelievably restorative and wonderful, I highly recommend it to all parents, especially those who have demanding, small children. I mean seriously, the king-sized bed with the fluffy pillows? The quiet? The people bringing you food and then taking the dirty dishes away? The snuggling? The NAP? It was the best Christmas present ever. We're talking now about doing it on a semi-regular basis. Merry Christmas in April? Why not?!

:-)

Bonus: Just because I have been sooo awful about taking pregnancy pics of myself this time around, I had Lester take a quick iPhone photo of my belly (and me) in the lobby of the hotel, next to this cool display of gingerbread houses made by some local school-children.

I look a make-up-less mess, yes, but remember, this is after sleeping for three blissful hours!! So who cares?

(There's Curve Ball in there! And today we're 31 weeks! Not too much longer now!)

Paging my Christmas spirit. Christmas spirit to the register, please.

I am fresh out of original things to talk about, as the days have been mostly: Work, come home, marvel at the children and their awesomeness, fume at the children and their craziness, eat, check my blood sugars (still outta control), go to bed. Oh, also -- put children in time-out for removing all the ornaments they can reach off the Christmas tree and for insisting on sneakily dropping dinner on the floor (Dean). Oh, and clean up all the papers and miscellaneous items they throw around in our bedroom in the mornings while we're trying to get ready for work. Oh, and fret about whether we will ever get all the things done that need to get done in the two bedrooms upstairs to prepare for Curve Ball's arrival.

That's my life. And even though I put up decorations, went to my office holiday party, ordered gifts for my nieces and nephews and finished my end-of-the-year giving, I still don't feel especially Christmas-y. And when I look at all my blogfriends' blogs, I REALLY feel like I was in the bathroom or something when someone was handing out the Christmas spirit. (That's entirely possible, as much as I'm in the bathroom these days).

I'm sure it will come (I think). But to help it along, I thought I'd post a couple pictures of Christmases past, when my cup runneth over with Christmas spirit!

Me and Lester's very first Christmas together as a married couple. Picking out our first tree (Dec. 2007)!

The boys at our church Christmas pageant, Dec. 2010, enjoying the angels and wise men and singing townspeople. I remember thinking, "One day, these two little angels will be in the church Christmas pageant!!" And getting all teary-eyed.


Christmas Eve, 2010 -- such a warm, memory-filled night. Look how cute and small they were!


Perhaps I need to get the boys something Christmas-y to wear and take some cute photos of them this year. They don't have Christmas pajamas, or sweaters or Santa hats (darn K-Mart excursion gone wrong!) Maybe that's what's missing.

I'll try to work on that this weekend. Ho-ho-ho!