Thanksgiving Weekend!

What a GREAT Thanksgiving weekend we had- and I do think that I am a little sunburned, too- the weather here has been really amazing- sunny, not humid and highs in the low 70s!

We started out the holiday weekend right- Vake's first ever parent-teacher conference was Wednesday- he's doing really well according to Miss Laura. The whole thing was pretty intimidatingly formal but Vake's doing just fine.

Then I ran into work for part-day (until the courts closed) and Mom watched Vake- we had a small hiccup when Mom and my bedframe (!) had a difference of opinion that sent us to the emergency room but FORTUNATELY it was a big no harm no foul- we were in and out of there in less than two hours- pretty amazing.

Thursday was marvelous- our friends the Morses came up from Williamsburg and we had MF, Dennis and Anne in town.

Eric worked like a dog and we were all so psyched for dinner!
I wish I had gotten a better close up of the turkey- it was delicious- so were all the sides- and Eric made the most amazing biscuits- what a challenge because biscuits are NOT easy.

Here we are getting ready to eat- please don't mind me in all my huge glory- it will be over a month from now, thank GOODNESS!!!!

So we had a great meal and today we started to get to work on our Christmas decorations. Vake was very excited to help his Daddy by using the hammer.

And my funny little monkey likes to take the occasional break to check himself out in the mirror!

And we finished off the day (no nap!) by starting to put the decorations on the tree and by putting out the creche (Vake called it a dollhouse).

Of course, as we enter the home stretch, I am increasingly tired and Eric's not only busy at work but is picking up the slack for me at home too.

We get an ultrasound on Tuesday so that they can tell us how big they think the baby is- I'll let you know!

Thanksgiving Hawk?

Don't know if you will be able to see this, but we woke up to turkey day to find a hawk guarding our front porch. Our little urban toddler immediately identified it as a seagull. Eric thinks it is a Cooper's Hawk.

Compared to the city birds we usually see, it was humongous.

Thanksgiving Preparation

What a full kitchen!

It's about to happen- holiday feast 2011. Eric went to three stores on Sunday and stocked up- it is time to get psyched for the annual Chexmix celebration!!!!

Gil's Room- Progress Pics

The room is SO close to being done now- yippee!!!! And it looks really great!!! Here is the quilt that Mom made sometime in the 70s- got it framed at Ben Franklin and they did an amazing job- the light's a little weird in this pic because I took these pics at night- I will have to take more once I finish off the room.
The dresser/changing table got moved from Vake's room to Gil's room- Vake just got a bigger dresser.

Detail from the quilt- it is Noah's Ark- so sweet and I love the bright colors with the soft baby blue- makes for a very good little boy room I think and I really love that you don't feel as though you're going to see this quilt everywhere you go!!!

So here are the roman shades- could the colors coordinate any better?

And the rug worked out so well here- only disappointment is that it is not super soft- and I sort of thought it would be- oh well...

I'll get the room tidied up and then take good pics of it "done"!!!!

Vake and Mary Frances in Living Color

So it is not as easy to get a picture of the two of them as you might think. Last night, everyone put on their holiday best (ok, everyone except me, mostly because I am reduced to a wardrobe that is mostly stretchy fabric now...) to go to an event for the Children's Museum.

Vake was the first to get dressed.

He's been very sweet with baby Mary Frances- he's not quite big enough to really hold her, but he's very willing to try.
This was probably the most successful picture of their interaction.

And here I prove that I have the ability to take a pic where NO ONE is looking at the camera!!!!

And talk about a sweet, tolerant baby.

Vake got to give MF a bottle.

And then we went to Santa night. Vake was SO polite- "Excuse me Santa Claus, may I please have a raft for Christmas?"- in a Thomas DVD that he watches, Thomas is on a raft. The part that he didn't understand is that Santa doesn't immediately hand over the presents- and Vake, who was already tired, just lost it.

Full on temper tantrum in the parking lot of Saks. Awesome.

But at least Mom, Anne and MF look good.

Hoot and a half!

We've been chillin' with baby Mary Frances this weekend- pictures to follow.

You'd be hard pressed to find a sweeter or easier baby that MF.

Mom and I are ALMOST done with the advent calendar- anyone who's crafty should try to make it- the kit is awesome...

Halloween Preparations with Rockstar Daddy

Eric was in charge of the Jack-o-lanterns while I handled the costume. Eric and Vake selected 4 pumpkins (somehow this year we didn't make it to the pumpkin patch- I don't really know what happened- the timing was just never right...) and they set to work.
Vake's getting to be so much fun now- he really wants to participate in activities now- he'll ask, "Can I help?"- very sweet.

Here's the finished product.

Vake of course made scary faces to match the scary pumpkin faces (all of a sudden, "scared" is definitely part of the vocabulary- didn't use to be).

Hard to believe that at this time next year there will be two boys up on the porch with their Dad!!!!

Behind the Scenes- the COSTUME

Ok- so you would not have thought the costume was so freaking hard to make- but it basically took a total of somewhere between 6-8 hours of work- and I like to think of myself as crafty, but COME ON...

Anyhow, once the boxes were painted, I worked on the box that Vake would stand in- first painting the red trim.

Then, I used construction paper to cut out the Thomas "1"- this was about the time that Vake told me he wanted to be Gordon- who is NOT No. 1- and I started to truly freak out. In my defense, I am also preggers, miserable, and Halloween was the day before the trial of my career.
Here's a close up.

Once that was done, I needed to figure out a way to attach the two boxes together to create the "tank engine" part of the costume- one box was resting on its bottom, one was flipped up on its side.

It was looking pretty good at this point, mostly thanks to all the construction paper "flare" I had put all over it.

And from the file of overengineered products, Eric attached 4- that's right- count them- four bolts to hold the two boxes together- then I hot glue gunned the box tops on. Victory.

I think the total cost for this costume was about $30- if I had known how well the construction paper worked, I probably could have saved about $10 in paint costs. Oh well.

Halloween Pics!!! At long last!!!!

Where oh where did most of November go? I've been recovering from the total exhaustion brought about by the Richard Wallace trial- I have to say that I am thanking my lucky stars I will never be 8.5 months pregnant trying what was basically a life exposure case evah again!!!!! Yippee.

So I will say that I am incredibly proud of Vake's costume but I am even prouder of Vake's daddy- dressed up exactly like Sir Topham Hatt. Vake and I are really lucky to have this hardworking man in our family.

I thought about doing posts on the building of the costume and pumpkin carving first, but let's be realistic- the costumes were pretty great!!! So without further ado, I give you Thomas the Tank Engine and Sir Topham Hatt.
Erico even ordered a yellow vest- come on people- it doesn't get much better than that!!!

My little Thomas...

Good side view- Vake really liked wearing the costume, which was sort of touch and go- he was a little less sure about the whole collecting candy component of Halloween.

First we went and saw our neighbors on the Boulevard.

Chug-a chug-a chug-a choo choo...

Please also notice the conductor's hat that Vake is wearing courtesy of Grandma Sue.

Here are Sir Topham Hatt and Thomas headed down the Boulevard.

Collecting candy from our neighbors!

If asked, Vake repeatedly said that he wanted Mommy to be a Mososaur- so whilst Daddy looked dapper as Sir Topham Hatt, my dreams of being Mrs. Hatt, or even the judge from the train show were dashed. Eric did get me an most excellent Mososaur head.

The really frustrating thing was that it basically poured rain and cut our stroll up and down Hanover quite short.

But we did get to check in on Grandmary- who was pretty excited to see Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt.