Raising Z and Lil' C: Holidays and Special Events

Showing posts with label Holidays and Special Events. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Start of Lent

Yesterday we had a great PANCAKE day :) We had pancakes for breakfast and dinner, read pancake books, dressed up in Marti Gras costumes (Z even had a celebration at school) and listened to our Sparkle Story about Mardi Gras. Z loved the idea of "Fat Tuesday".

Today we begin the season of Lent. I am working on some activities for this month (I will share later on) but today I wanted to share what we as a family will be doing for Lent. Lent is a complicated concept for children but the Martin and Sylvia Sparkle Story summed it up nicely. They explained it is a time of quiet and reflection where families take care of themselves and each other and watch what they eat and or watch what they do.

So with this explanation, here is what our family is doing:

Scott--daily exercise of some form
Jess--trying to eliminate white sugar, giving up Facebook (less time on the computer) ;)
Z--giving up Candy (not that he eats much)
Lil'C--will wait until she is 5 to participate (she doesn't eat Candy anyway)

Family--trying to live without our microwave

What are your plans for Lent??

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Valentine's Day Countdown

Once again we will be counting down the days of February until Valentines Day. I have the envelopes filled with experiences and already hung in the playroom and the house is decorated with the few things we have (all of them homemade). There will be no gifts again this year, just focusing on friendship and love.

Here is what we will be doing each day as we countdown to Valentine's Day.

1. Make Valentines for Family
2. Ground Hog Day Fun
3. Good Deed Day
4. Movie Night (Charlie Brown's Valentines Day)
5. Call/Skype Someone we Love
6. Make a present for our friends
7. Bake cookies for our friends
8. Friendship Day--bring our gifts that we made to our friend's house
9. Play a Game with Someone You Love
10. Adventure Day
11. Special Family Night
12. Make Valentines for Friends at School
13. Candlelight Dinner
14. Valentine's Day and School Party

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Fun of LIving in the Granite State

Today is Primary day! The day where the nation turns to NH to see who they think should be the republican front runner. It is an exciting day, even for an independent like myself. I love the energy that has been building and the fact that in NH we have the opportunity (and many of them) to get close and personal with each of the candidates. I personally have not attended anything (hard to do with kids in tow) but I do know who I am going to vote for and can't wait to bring Z into the polls.

I am also excited that today is Primary day because that means the dozens and dozens of phone calls that we have been receiving over the last two weeks will STOP. It got so crazy over the weekend that S started answering the phone in a different accent and telling each survey/caller that he would be voting for a different candidate ;) Yes we may have upset some polls but it was so much fun to watch him. I even handed the phone to Lil' C twice. The first time she sang, "We are Santa's Elves" and the second she had a long conversation with her Mimi :)

So here is a video of my candidate :) Enjoy!

Friday, January 6, 2012

The Special Gifts

Happy 3 Kings Day, Epiphany, Driekoningen...what ever you may call today. For me it is not only the day that is recognized as the day the three wiseman approached baby Jesus with their gifts, it is also a day of reflection. Three years ago on this day, we said "good-bye" to one of my favorite people, my Noni. And in honor of her and all of the angels I love up in heaven, I'd like to share with you some of the very special gifts that were shared this holiday in our family.

I have had many special Christmas' and have received many special gifts but I cannot recall a Christmas quite like 2011. It started off with S and I working so hard to make as many of our gifts by hand. As you know we have a tradition of making one gift for each of our children and this year we made the doll cradle and super hero cape. They were two of our favorite gifts to give and we loved the moment when we first saw each of the kids playing with their new toy that we created.

S's grandmother, who is 92 years young, worked with her daughter to create a small family cookbook. As the mother of 9 children, she had to have recipes that were tried and true and now they are all together in a small collection. This idea was Kiki's and I was so happy to see it come to fruition. Kiki had always talked about taking all of the family recipes and getting them into one book. We now have 1/2 of the project complete and S and I will treasure this gift from his grandmother forever.

The most special gifts for me were the gifts that came from the angels. Lil' C's gift from her Uncle B was wrapped in Kiki's Santa bag. She used this bag each year to bring her presents to the farm for Christmas. This wrapping became a gift for Mimi and I know it means a lot for her to have it. Mimi also worked with the angels and picked a few treasures for each of us, things that had once belonged to Kiki or Grandpa Lou. It was an emotional Christmas with tears after each gift was opened but it means so much to all of us to have these pieces of the people we love and miss so very much.

So today I think of my Noni and also Kiki, Grandpa Lou, Pops, Tante, Grandpa P, Grandpa M, Uncle Howie, Jack, Grandpa F, Di and all of the other angels I miss so very much. It is the day of the epiphany, the day of gifts and each of you were a gift to me.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Good Bye 2011

our celebration....a toast and bubble wrap

It is hard to believe that 2011 has already passed and that it is time to make resolutions for 2012. I love this time of year because of the new beginning. I am the kind of person who loves to turn over the fresh page of the calendar, I love a fresh journal, love to start a new book, love when all of the laundry is clean and put away...I love clean starts :) So as we say good-bye to 2011....I want to first reflect upon the year before looking ahead and making my new resolutions.

A Look Back at 2011

In January we pulled Z out of his preschool and started an "Adventure School" at home and said good-bye to regular paychecks and health care as S started his own business.

In February we counted down to Valentine's Day and had our first power outage of the year.

In March I went crazy with Spring Cleaning and S and I started the sink standoff (it is still not fixed!!).

In April we launched Kiki's Garden in honor of my sister in-law and we had our big yard sale.

In May I started my Power 90 journey with Z as my coach, S's company got funding and I spent a special day volunteering for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer with my good friend Ro.

In June we had our mini family vacation to Boston and started getting a regular paycheck and Healthcare!!!.

In July we spent a memorable 4th of July on top of the Boston Museum of Science, had our first Kiki's Garden Event and had another family mini vacation to Maine.

In August we simplified life and spent time at the lake and had another power outage.

In September Z started at his new Montessori School, we said good-bye to our family dog Mika and we celebrated Z's 5th birthday at Story Land.

In October Lil' C turned 2, we finally laid my Tante to rest and we had a white Halloween with yet another power outage.

In November we said good-bye to our amazing Grandpa Lou and celebrated all that we were thankful for.

In December we welcomed in the Holiday Season with a visit to see Santa (our power went out that day) and celebrated with family and friends.

Looking forward to 2012 and hope that there are not nearly as many power outages as there were in 2011 :)

Saturday, December 31, 2011

A Quiet New Years

New Years has never been my favorite holiday. I always feel like there is a big build and lots of expectations, which never become reality. We've gone to crowded clubs in downtown Boston, took a disappointing Boston Harbor Cruise and I spent 1999 sick as a dog with a fever of 103 while people celebrated around me. Don't get me wrong I have had some fun New Years Eves, I even spent one in Virginia Beach at a Dave Matthews Concert. But thinking back, my favorite memories are of the quiet evenings with a few friends, family or just S and I.

This year we were hoping for a quiet evening with friends but unfortunately our bodies have decided otherwise. S's hectic schedule over the last year has finally caught up with him and he now needs to take some time to get healthy. I have a stomach bug, Lil' C has had a fever the last two days and all four of us our coughing and have been for weeks. So tonight, we are laying low. We will eat a yummy dinner, fill out our New Years Family Interviews, pull out our New Years decorations, watch some home movies and ring in the new year at 7pm with bubble wrap and apple juice. S and I will go to bed at our normal time and we will start 2012 off rested and hopefully feeling better. Tomorrow we will feast on the cinnamon rolls I was suppose to make for Christmas morning and make our New Years resolutions :)

Whatever you are up to tonight, I hope that you are safe and that all your expectations come true!

Happy New Year!!!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Things I Loved About Christmas

-Spending so much time with family and friends....so many laughs, stories and hugs

-Hosting family at our home this year and not having to travel

-The delicious food....oh the food....so much food

-Seeing Z so excited about Creating and GIVING gifts

-My children's excitement as they came downstairs to see what Santa had left

-LEGOs....I love that Z is into them now and love that Auntie A was here to help put them all together.

-Seeing my two little cherubs all dressed up on Christmas Eve

-The warm glow of our pellet stove as well all ~~melted~~ gathered in front of it

-Cuddling up and watching our new movies (Wall-E, Ice Age 2, Cars 2 and for the adults Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles..the live action one and the complete season of the BRADY BUNCH)

-The fact that my husband got me the Complete Season of the Brady Bunch so that I could have A Very Brady Christmas on DVD ;) I LOVE HIM!!!

-Listening to Grandpa read Twas the Night Before Christmas to his grand kids

-Christmas lights....I am just not ready to take down my tree or lights. I love the glow of this time of year

-giving all of our homemade gifts....Z's vanilla, our salsa, S's holiday beer, the kids gifts from us and the ornaments

-Lil' C's dollhouse...it is now completely furnished and the family has nicer furniture than we do ;) I've always wanted a dollhouse...can you tell??

-Z and C's matching Christmas pj's....they look so darn cute in them

-The fact that our elves got to stay until the 26th...Thanks Santa, we owe you!

-The wild and Crazy Xmas Eve party at my mom's...this year we had to write a play and I am happy to say that my team (and script) won!!

-Uncle A throwing reindeer food at the window on Christmas Eve so that Lil' C could participate...it was too cold for her to go out with her cough.

-The little British Duck that my dear friend Ben brought back for me....he lives there now and we have a thing about ducks ;)

-Christmas Cards....love seeing all the photo cards on the board in my kitchen

-Gifts from our beloved angels...thanks to Mimi we were all blessed with gifts that use to belong to two very special angels. It made for an emotional Christmas morning.

-The fact that we started the Christmas Pickle game with the kids this year at Mom's. They each have their own to find at this point and each got an "extra" present but it was soooo much fun.

-The Magic that this time of year brings

-Tradition.....I LOVE Tradition

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas in Photos :)

Here is a photo montage of our holiday!

Christmas Eve at Mom's

Christmas Eve Morning Dance Party

She loves that hat!

Z's Kindermusik Glockenspiel!

Legos for Lil C

My nephew trying to throw everything away...including his presents

Playing with one of his two big wishes...dinosaurs!!!

My Niece in her new princess cape

Daddy got Snow Shoes from Neene and Chi Chi

New Toys!!

Playing with Uncle M

All ready for the party

Spreading Reindeer Food with Uncle A, Auntie A and Grandpa J

Grandpa reading Twas the Night before Christmas

Santa Came!!!

The kids got snowshoes from Santa!! Now we all have them :)

Z's big Santa Wish!!!

Auntie A painted that for Lil C

Good Guy Star Wars Jammies!!!

A Race car from Uncle B

George in the cradle

A PONY!!! From Uncle B

Christmas Dinner Table

Auntie A got to spend a couple of extra days so we took her to the planetarium!!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

An Unforgettable Moment

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, I know we did. Ours was filled with family, friends, laughs, good food, smiles, warm fires, hugs and very special gifts. It was an unforgettable holiday but the moment I am about to describe is by far my favorite.

Christmas Eve we had Mimi, Grandpa J, Auntie A and Uncle A sleeping over. We pulled Z's mattress into our room to make room for our guests and so he slept in our room. The adults went to bed on the later side and hoped and prayed that the kids would sleep in (past 6) so that we could get some much needed rest. Lil' C was up once around 5:00 am but after a drink of water and a diaper change, she went back to sleep. I was woken up at 7:18 by Z going to the bathroom...7:18....It was AMAZING!

I waited for Z to run out of the bathroom full of the excitement that Christmas morning brings. Instead I watched my sleepy son, climb back into bed and fall back to sleep. For the next 8 minutes I watched him come in and out of consciousness as he slowly woke up. He'd open his eyes, look around and then fall back to sleep. At 7:28 the child's eyes grew wide and a giant smile crept over his face. Our twinkling eyes locked and he said in voice filled with glee, "It's Christmas!"

I hope to never forget this moment. This moment of innocence, joy, excitement and love. My children helped to make this holiday so special for all that encountered them and for that I am truly grateful.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

December Photo Project--Making Memories

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I hope you have a magical day filled with love, laughter, family and smiles. We are busy celebrating with our extended family but I wanted to share some highlights from the past month.