Figure Skates Would Be Mighty Fine!

We headed to Reston Town Center for some seasonal fun last night and the boys hit the rink. Connor, specifically, hit the rink about 50 times.



He'd taken lessons in the past at the Ashburn Ice House, but that was some time ago. So when he asked for hockey skates at the rental counter, I just shrugged it off. Big mistake. He got about 10 feet on the ice and fell 4 times---each time it took him FOREVER to get back up. He was missing those nice grippy teeth on the front of figure skates. So, Bob lifted him over the rink rail (after getting hockey skate kicked in the nuts a few times) and we swapped them out for some nice ratty size 3 plastic figure skates. Improvement was rapid from there. And Daddy did great--not a single tumble on hockey skates--considering that he calculates that it has been approximately 37 years since he last enjoyed the blades of glory. But it was freezing out there. Despite my mega gloves and silky long johns, it was bitterly cold. I was a bit jealous, but at 19 weeks pregnant, I thought better of it and just watched. I saw a couple of people go down really really hard. One guy cracked his head so hard I actually thought his friends should call 911. And the most adorable, chubby east indian lady (about 50 years old) wearing a black and white houndstoooth jacket over a dark blue sari went down like a ton of bricks. She actually bounced. She shook it off like nothing and skated onward, though. It was nice out there an everyone seemed festive and happy.

We followed that up with a fantastic dinner at Jackson's Might Fine Food and Lucky Lounge. Bob had never been before. It was so good. Really good. The deviled eggs with jicama and maple pecans with bacon are incredible. The lobster mac and cheese cannot be adequately described. And, as usual, my lobster roll was splendiferous. And Connor wolfed down my fire grilled corn on the cob. He had his headphones in watcing a show on his iPod and reached over and banged on my plate near the corn. I asked him if he wanted some and his answer was a nod of the head and the simple statement "ALL OF IT". After dinner I wandered over to Pitango alone to grab some gelato and discovered their Sicilian Almond. Heaven in a cup. Really. This stuff is what I think chubby angels must smell like. And I love going outside with my gelato and not having it melt! You can eat it slowly and really enjoy it. That's one benefit of frigidity!! We went home and watched a Harry Potter movie (we're one behind) and everyone stayed up way too late. Not a creature was stirring in Tatertown until about 9am today.

Open Up

Tuesday afternoon. Kitchen. Thundering feet run in from the family room.

C: Mom! Mom! Come here!
D: What? (turning to face him)
C: Bend over and open up your mouth! (urgent sounding)
D: What? Why?
C: Just do it! Bend over to me and open up your mouth.

Anticipating some grossness will be inserted into my mouth for some deranged 6 year old boy taste test---I resist.

D: I most certainly will not. Why?
C: Because I need to talk to the baby and it can hear me better that way.

Ahhhh.

Christmas In New Jersey

We headed to New Jersey for Christmas this year. Its the first time Santa didn't come to our house and it was a bit of a challenge. But Connor didn't seem to notice the difference so it all worked out fine.

On Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner out with Nana at the Lobster Shanty. That's a three pound crustacean you're looking at there!



We had a really nice waiter named Bob and he joked around with Connor alot. Consequently, Connor thought he was on some kind of comedy show and as soon as Waiter Bob set down his ice cream sundae, Connor promptly dunked his face in the whipped cream for a little slapstick. Result was hysterics everywhere. Just as he likes.




There aren't an abundance of good Christmas morning/present opening pictures. But here's a great shot of the boy in his new Bolle ski goggles. He really could have used them in the snow storm last week!



And here's my silly little Winter Wonderland cake--made entirely from a box and commercial icing. But, it was a big hit. That's red velvet cake inside, so the colors were seasonally appropriate! In the magazine, there were coconut flakes on everything, but we have some coconut haters in the house, so I skipped that. And I also skipped fashioning tiny winter woodland creatures from marzipan. Mainly, because I have no sculpting skills.

The very best thing of the entire holiday, though, occured on Christmas morning. During the night, Connor woke me three or four times asking "is it time to get up?" or "do you think HE was here yet?". So, he was pretty excited. Finally, at 7:15am I told him he could get up, but not until I could wake Nana and Daddy and not until the coffee pot was turned on. Until then, he had to stay in my room. So, he was like a bucking bronco in a cage. Got the picture? Hold it for a moment...

Now, Bob and I are not big gift exchangers. We buy what we want and we're hard to surprise. But we have tried to set a good example for our son and make sure to get each other something so that he sees us modeling something positive. On Christmas Eve, therefore, father and son picked out a pair of lovely princess cut cubic zirconia earrings for me. Now go back to Christmas morning as the bucking bronco emerges from his cage...

He runs down the hallway toward the living room, eyes wide with anticipation. He heads for the loot pile where he sees a few unwrapped toys luring him in. Jumping. Excited. Suddenly, though, he stops. He changes direction and plucks a small box off a different pile. He hands it to me and says "Wait. Here. Merry Christmas, Mom." Wow. Wow. The three grown ups in the room almost fell over in shock. I nearly cried. It was so genuine and heartfelt. Clearly, that was his priority. He got much praise from all of us and a huge hug and kiss from me. I think it was my best gift ever.

And this is the best face of joy that very morning. Happy Christmas, everyone. Hope yours was as sweet and simple as ours.

More On Snow

We had ALOT of fun in that snow. Including 5 total hours of sledding on Sunday. The neighborhood kid's plastic saucers were the best. Our foam speed sled got kicked to the snowy curb. We built a nice jump that you can see in the left lower corner of the pic above. You could catch some serious air on that thing. And, really, only once in awhile did it result in the above outcome. Not that there was anything wrong with that!

We even got some nice driveway sledding and sliding down the snow pile that ended up at the front of the drive. Its been a long time since that snow fell, but we still have a fair amount of it, albeit dirty, lingering in the cooler areas.

The Little Stone Cottage

TA-DA!!!!

The Flakes Just Keep On Coming

Here's similar shots at 10:30am. Snowing hard but you can't really see it in the pics. In the second shot, Bob had just finished shoveling the driveway. Yes--finished. No sooner would he finish a row, it would fill right back up. I had a two hour nap and woke up to the same relentless barrage of flakes. I love it. It's almost 4:30 right now and Connor is out there somewhere in the white-out trying to sled behind the house. Once in a while you see a flash of his green coat. Maybe he should have an avalance pinger on him.

Snow Far, Snow Good!

This is our second substantial snow of the winter. Two weekends ago we had a few inches on a Saturday, but I got no pictures because the office was emptied for carpet installation and the Nikon was missing. It's still missing. I have no idea where it is. And I don't care. I bought that camera this summer and I hate it. The house fairy knew I hated it and hid it for me. So, I got a new Sony Cybershot 12.1 Megapixel this week. Ahhhhhh. So much better.

Here's what the backyard looked like at 7:30 am

And here's the front yard at the same time:

Note that it was clear when I took that picture. Its 10:30am now and it looks like a blizzard out there. Bob and Connor are outside and I'll get a pic for later. Its good practice for Canada, I guess. Sickeningly enough, Bob has to go to work. I'm watching the local news and cars are strewn all over the place, so I'm not too happy about it. And the four-wheel drive on the Montero is broken.

Went to Trader Joe's yesterday (I love that place) and got a fresh stalk of brussels sprouts for $3. Cut them up this morning. Look how fresh and green they are.

Made this recipe with them and they look delicious now that they're roasted.

And to wrap up this seasonally random post, its the last day of Hanukkah and I'd like to wish all my friends who are members of the tribe a happy holiday. I really hope it was 8 crazy nights of fun and celebration. Consistent with that, I share my offspring's craft and artwork below. This is what happens when a shiksa's kid makes a Star of David.

Christmas Cards

Our holiday cards are lame this year. I didn't have time to put together anything fun or creative. Like these were. Bummer.

Carb Neighborhood

Here's a shot of our little town. Created at the Baird's Gingerbread Extreme Makeover party. Connor's is the best one -- on the left.

Annual Trek

We made our annual visit to the National Christmas tree with our friends, the Bairds, last night. Despite the gear, it was nice outside and relatively warm--about 45 degrees. Our warmest visit there, ever. Connor had a nice visit with Santa, we got to pitch plenty of pennies onto the trains, and unlike my poor friend Michelle and her family (who went last week) we hit ZERO traffic and were downtown in 20 minutes (from Fairfax/Fair Lakes). Still kicking myself for not telling her to wait until after traffic. BAD FRIEND!

The boys were jazzed to be out running around on a school night. And everything looked beautiful. All the buildings are decorated for the season, and all the people out and about were in good moods. Happy Holidays!