Prompted by the Rosses, we started hosting Teacher Dinners after Hamish's first school year. We've added teachers as the years have gone on. The first year we had four (two teachers, two directors); our second year we invited six, but only two could come; last year we had a full house with 9 guests. This year our guest list was 13. We have had some teacher overlap over the past two years since the Manimal has been there.
Hamish wrote a welcome sign to hang on our door and another one on the easel inside. I think our teachers felt loved and welcome.
We always trust the Lord to bring the right teachers each year, and this year we had five guests. None of our new teachers could come this year, sadly, but we were so grateful for the ones who have joined us year after year. Jan and Gayle came to our very first Teacher Dinner, and seem happy to keep coming back.
The weather was perfect this year, so it was the first year we were able to eat outside. It was lovely! It's much quieter outside with nine people talking!
We had a small cheese board to start. Then grilled kabobs, kale salad with sesame ginger dressing and watermelon salad with mint and feta. We ended with Kyle's homemade lemon sorbet.
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Friday, December 16, 2016
It's been a big year for Nana. We had her 80th birthday celebration in February in the Bahamas. In May (for my birthday) she got a new hip. And earlier this month Hamish and I took her to New York.
Nana and I have been talking about going to New York since Mom and I went eight years ago. This was the year. Hamish, of course, is a New York pro now, so we knew she'd be up for it.
We just spent two nights, but we packed that time full. I got a great hotel on Priceline: the Hilton Garden Inn in Midtown Manhattan. Great location, nice rooms. We flew up on Saturday morning and went straight to our hotel to drop bags. Hamish was wearing her jammies (it was early!) so she changed clothes, got lunch at a diner on the corner, and then we walked up to Columbus Square and Central Park.
Nana had wanted to take a carriage ride through the park, but we were convinced to take a pedicab instead. Our tour guide--Madison--was friendly and entrepreneurial. He gave us a tour of the park and then took us all the way to Times Square. The ride was cozy and fun, but the best part might have been arriving in Times Square. The look on Nana's face! Especially when our apparently-fearless pedicab driver pulled into the middle of the street to do a quick 360. Priceless!
From there we hopped on the same City Bus Tour Mom and I took. It was a welcome rest (Hamish slept a bit) and a lovely overview of the city.
We did the entire loop and it was dark by the time we got back to Midtown. My always adventurous friend, Leah, (she came to Lisbon with me when I was pregnant with the Manimal) met us in Midtown to go see Rockefeller Center. She was a Godsend.
See, although Nana is the proud owner of one brand new hip. She also has one 80-year-old hip. And that one was not up for the absolute crush of people at Rockefeller Center.
With Leah on Nana's arm, and Hamish on my shoulders we saw the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue, saw my favorite light show to Carol of the Bells, and of course saw the Christmas Tree. Hamish gasped when we turned the corner. "It's so big!"
We talked about getting dinner with Leah that night, but we were all swamped. She suggested delivery instead, and we happily went home in a cab and ordered Steak and Shake for delivery. Milkshakes and french fries for dinner. Yum.
The next day we got up and had breakfast at Starbucks--coffee for us and hot chocolate for Hamish. Then we got back on our bus for another trip downtown. We got off at Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty.
It must have been snack time because as we passed a cart, two separate conversations were happening on either side of me. On the left I served as a stabilizing presence for someone who wanted "Nuts! Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!" On the right I was restraining someone who wanted "Hello Kitty! Mom! Hello Kitty Popsicles! Can I have a Hello Kitty Popsicle?"
Somehow everyone survived the walk to the Staten Island Ferry and we got our snack aboard the boat instead. We stayed inside out of the wind, but we got a great view of the Lady Liberty as we passed by. And I bought nuts and dried fruit at the snack bar.
We caught a cab uptown from the Ferry Terminal back to our hotel to change and take a mini-rest for the highlight of the trip: the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker at Lincoln Center.
Last year Nana got Hamish a book about the ballet and it aligned with Balanchine's ballet perfectly. She knew exactly what was going on, and couldn't contain her excitement. Every time we clapped--after every number--she looked at me and said, "It's not over is it?!" And the couple in front of us giggled.
Hamish knew her ballet: in the second act when a lone ballerina took the stage I said, "I think that's the Sugar Plum Fairy." "No, mom!" she said. "That's a snowflake!" She was right, of course.
After the ballet we went to the Plaza Hotel to see the tree in the lobby and the hotel bar. Then back to our room to crash.
Monday morning--our last day--we packed up before we left the hotel. At one point I had tickets in one hand and postcards in the other. I carefully put one in my suitcase and the other in my purse. A bit later, when it was our turn to hand in our tickets for the Empire State Building Observation Deck, I realized I'd made a mistake. Thankfully a WONDERFULLY kind guard let us in anyway. We looked just exhausted enough to take pity on.
Our time at the top of the Empire State Building was the worst weather of our trip. We had pretty weather for most of the weekend except--of course--when we were up there. Oh well.
Our last stop before heading home was the American Girl Cafe. Willa came with us and was thrilled (I'm sure?) to be back. And they do such an amazing job, it's a relaxing spot for lunch before we left.
After the requisite delay at LaGuardia we were on our way home. We made some very special memories, but it was a very full trip, and we were definitely worn out. We'll wait until Nana has two new hips before we go back.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
UPDATE: And.... never mind. After two and a half weeks, the roommate experiment failed. Saturday night they gave the sitter a hard time. Sunday at naps they drove Kyle crazy. He finally pulled the Manimal's mattress off his bed and tossed it back into his original room. Tonight we moved his bed. I am so sad about it because they LOVED being together. It was so cute. But that was also the problem. They just egged each other on. They'd giggle and start showing off and the next thing you know they are having a full on party and that's not ok. And it seemed cruel to both them and us to keep this situation where they kept getting in trouble. We have to teach our children not only to resist temptation, but to flee from it. To get out of the situation if you're going to get in trouble. So, they are separated again. The funny thing is, they are actually both pretty happy. They were exhausted. They've both slept SO much better this week. They love each other, but all that love benefits from calm nights on their own. Hamish asked if maybe we could try again when they are older, but no one objected to the move now. So it was the right call.
It's been a week and I think we can officially say that Hamish and the Manimal are roommates.
This plan has always been in our minds. The Manimal's nursery is small and has no closet; Hamish's room is large and has plenty of space. But over the past few weeks Hamish has begged each night to let the Manimal sleep with her. We tried a few times and it just didn't work. Someone was kicking. Someone was stealing covers or bed friends. Every time the Manimal would call us crying an hour later wanting to go to his own bed.
We had slightly better luck when we traveled and it made sense for them to share a bed, but even then we would make an emergency pallet and someone ended up there.
Last week, sort of on a whim, Kyle dismantled the Manimal's bed and moved it into Hamish's room while the rest of us were reading stories. When we took them upstairs to show them, they were absolutely giddy.
Bedtime that first night was an extremely prolonged affair with lots of giggling and roaming around the room. In this room there are lamps the Manimal can reach, and toys, and books. He was drunk on his freedom. Hamish was drunk on an audience.
Since then we've had better and worse nights but we haven't had to separate them. In fact, two nights after we made the move, I collected the Manimal one afternoon after nap. Hamish was still snoozing so I shut the bedroom door to take the Manimal downstairs to play. He promptly lost it. "My own room!" he wailed. "My own room!" I assured him over and over that it was still his room, I was just letting Sissy sleep.
This Saturday was the highlight of the week. Hamish knows she can get up when her clock say 7:00. The Manimal has a lamp on a timer (also set to 7), and he knows he can get up when his light comes on. I woke up with a start at 8:15, surprised to still be in bed. I went to check on them and they were sitting together in the rocking chair reading books. Lovely.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Hooray for two years of our Manimal!!! We love him so.
We kicked off his birthday the day before at Mimi & Grumpa's house. We'd had a full week of running around from Alabama to Tennessee to Massachusetts to South Carolina, and were so happy to be back together on the Manimal's birthday eve to celebrate with cupcakes and Kyle's family. The Manimal loves: cake, candles, and party hats, so he was thrilled.
We drove home that night and spent his birthday week at home opening presents from various friends and family as they arrived.
The child now also really loves presents.
Saturday I had booked a picnic pavilion for a party at the creek, but it rained all day on Friday, so we canceled it. The water would have been way too high to enjoy. We were hoping for something more like this:
As I texted cancellation messages to all of our friends on Friday afternoon, one responded and suggested meeting at Donut Den instead. I didn't really want to go to Donut Den on Saturday morning (super busy time!) so Kyle went and got 2 dozen donuts and several friends stopped by throughout the day to wish the birthday boy a happy day. It was actually the perfect celebration for us.
On Sunday--a full week after his actual birthday--we had lunch with the Rosses and the Wagners and the birthday boy FINALLY got an actual birthday cake.
Hooray for our precious little man. You are a party that goes on and on!!
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Our Hamish-girl is four! For weeks she'd been saying all she wanted was an ice cream birthday with her best friend, P. But about two weeks before the big day, she switched gears on me. A Hello Kitty party. With ice cream. And she started adding guests to the list.
Once they were all sugared up, the storm had blown over and the temperature outside had dropped about 20 degrees. Praise the Lord! We headed back outside for more bouncing and water gun fighting. It was a super fun day.
Happy birthday to our Joyful Hamish. We are so grateful for you!
Sunday, March 6, 2016
We had a great time. It's so challenging physically and mentally--it's a physical puzzle. Kyle completed a few 5.8s; I finished 5.7s. We both climbed walls that were about 40-50 feet high. It was great fun.
She climbed to the top of one of the shorter walls. A friend of ours was belaying her, so she kept taking breaks and enjoying hanging in space, but with some encouragement/bribing she did finish. We were proud of her.
Then we celebrated/made good on our encouragement. Yay milkshakes.
