Labels: business, photography

Nestled all snug in their beds while visions of tape dispensers danced in their heads (read on)...

Gotta love the red painted nails and stamp on his hand.

We went from "not making a big deal" out of Santa last year, to making hohoho noises outside Evan's room, shining a red flashlight, and leaving this note. Shaun did the acting, while I listened outside the door of their room to their squealing...

When they ask, "is Santa real," though, I still say, "I don't know... what do you think?" I still let them draw their own conclusions as opposed to declaring it as truth like I do other things, BUT perhaps that's not very consistent with making noise, shining flashlights, and eating his cookies, eh?? Let me just say this- Shaun and I both had parents who worked the Santa thing big-time, and it gave us both great joy then- and even now- to know that they enjoyed our excitment that much... besides which, Madalyn woke up and came out to see me assembling her dollhouse, so as soon as she connects the dots, her believing days are over anyway...

Madalyn's loot- she later told us Santa Clause wrote her name on the sleeping bag with his special, magic pen. I had no idea!

If you try to play dollhouse with her, be prepared to follow orders. Do not dare say, "I, the daddy, am going to take a shower." You will be told, "no you can't take a shower. " The best thing to do is ask, "what should I, the daddy, then do with myself." "Go lie in the baby's room," you will be told. The way she plays is absurd and makes NO sense whatsoever, but it is her new toy and she knows it. So if the house is not their house but Disney World and she wants to spend the night there, don't argue, gosh darnit.

Jack's TWO vacuums... the Hoover is from Grandma and Dadaddy and looks exactly like mine- that's his favorite... the other just came with the janitor kit and we didn't want it to be anti-climatic for him so we put them out together. He played with his cleaning supplies longer than we've ever seen him play with any toy.

Evan's loot... what kind of kid wants paper and crayons and a tape dispenser for Christmas? His favorite gift is probably the book-making kit you see here. He has spent HOURS at this desk in his room that he now calls his "office" where he does "a lot of work."

Sleepy eyes, excited kids...

The best part of it is still just being together, isn't it, Jacky boy?

Labels: Christmas

I was folding laundry about an hour ago, just before we feasted on macaroni dyed red since it is Christmas Eve. Evan had just made himself a Santa Claus hat out of paper when Madalyn initiated the following conversation:

Madalyn: I'm Mrs. Claus.

Me: Oh, you are? And do you live with Mr. Claus at the North Pole?

Madalyn: No. I live at my own pink North Pole.

Me: I see. Is the snow pink?

Madalyn: No, not the snow. The North Pole is pink. Now come with me.

Me: I can't.

Madalyn: If you don't come, I will give you a BIG spankin'.

Me: You are not a very nice Mrs. Claus, then.

Madalyn: Yes! Yes I am- I am just doing my job.

Me: I see. Well I still can't come right now.

Madalyn: If you don't come, the North Pole will fall right on your head.

After dinner, Shaun and I sat on the couch together and watched Jack sprint down the hall towards his room with white pieces of paper trailing from his head, flapping in the breeze. Evan was quickly on his tail yelling, "wait! Your antlers are falling off!"

Both Shaun and I burst into laughter. This is the stuff you can't write. This is the stuff you shouldn't even try to write because it's so much funnier in person. But one day I will want to remember it, and so I do write.

Merry Christmas to you and your funnies!!

Katie

Labels: Christmas

Youtube downgraded my children's precious faces! But you'll get the idea... you can still see the nervous twitches if you look closely, and the pbj on Evan's face. :)

Labels: Christmas

Last night we left Jack with the sitter again and went to have dinner at Jason's Deli (free ice cream cones,) and to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks."

The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves... except for one moment when Madalyn fell off her theater seat and hit the cement with both knees and a loud "THUD" that shook the entire theater. I handed her to Shaun while her mouth hung silently open, just before the pain caught up with her vocal chords, and he exited right when the wailing began. TEAMWORK! Hoo-ah! High-five!

They were back five minutes later, her temprament- just dandy.

She seems to be having mini-traumas at every outing so that when we now ask, "wasn't that fun the other day?" the answer is something like "yes, but I fell on the floor and it hurt" or "yes, but LEE TEE scared the bleepity bleep out of me."

There's that small clause to the end of the fun that was had.

Of course, I suppose Evan's following suit, as just now we were making fudge and he had poured in the chocolate chips, and just when I said, "don't touch the bag to the fudge- it's really hot," he grabbed up the part of the bag that had been near the heat of the fudge and started screaming bloody, burning murder. The fudge was at a critical point of needing to be stirred, so as is becoming routine, I called on Shaun for damage control and flung the child in the rough vicinity of him and the running sink water to continue stirring.

Yeah. Not my most maternal moment. I KNOW.

Evan recovered quickly, though, and was soon tasting warm fudge. Their first experience with fudge inspired these remarks:

Evan: "I want to eat fudge forever. I want to eat a fudge mountain."

Madalyn: "I want to eat a fudge bird."

Now you KNOW you want the recipe that inspires talk of eternity, mountain peaks, and water fowl:

My Favorite Fudge from Tara Van Dyke

1 jar marshmallow cream

2/3 cup evaporated milk (not condensed)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 stick of butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 11.5 oz. bag milk chocolate chips

1 6 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir first five ingredients over moderate heat. Keep at a rolling boil, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir till combined and then add vanilla. Pour into foil-lined square baking dish. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Labels: Christmas, let there be butter and sour cream

Last night I attended a Christmas party for my Bible study group.  The hostess, Jaime, made these candy canes.  I brought some home with me and this morning we had them with our coffee...

This was how Madalyn had hers- in hot cocoa, of course.

This was how Jack had his. 

Evan was at school already, but he's not a huge fan of candy canes anyway.

About an hour later, we pulled out the dip I took last night and Jack thought he was the coolest when he was allowed to dip his own crackers:

Then, when Madalyn and I turned our backs, he got a little out of control...

Ohhh, that's right, boy!  You are SOOO BUSTED!  Get off that table!  GET!

But the dip- back to the dip- the dip is the best hot dip you'll ever put in your mouth.  (I just said dip four times in one sentence.)

Heart of Palm Dip from Lynda Wilkerson

2 14 oz. cans Heart of Palm, drained and finely chopped

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Mozzarella

1 1/2 cups mayo

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

2 T minced green onion 

Mix ingredients and spoon into shallow and greased casserole dish.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so until bubbly.  Serve with Triscuits and/or Wheat Thins.

Labels: Christmas, Jack, let there be butter and sour cream

On the way to get Evan from school:

"Mommy, how many more days till Christmas?"

"Um, 12... I think..."

"Oh."

"You know there's a song about the 12 days of Christmas..." 

(Mother breaks into song she doesn't really know all the words to... or the tune to...)

"Stop!" sounds from the back seat.

(Mother keeps singing.)

"Stop!"

(Keeps singing.)

"Mommy, STOP bodd-er-ing me!" 

It was getting personal.

"HOW am I bothering you?  What part of you am I bothering?  Your ears?"

"YES!"

"You don't like my singing?"

"NO.  Will you turn the music on?"

"Oh my music? You want to hear my music again?"

(Mother begins song...)

"Noooooo!  STOP!  I'm sick!!"

Four days ago: Madalyn sucks the length and breadth of every pole and handrail Universal offers her while waiting in line for Lee Tee, and despite our scolding to stop already, haven't you heard about germs yet because WE TELL YOU ABOUT THEM ALL THE TIME?

Three days ago: She incubates. She is, unbeknownst to us, a walking Petri dish.

Two days ago: She crawls in our bed at 4AM and coughs like she surely will die in the next 24 hours.

One day ago: She begins running a low-grade fever and throws some more deathbed coughs in for effect.

Tonight: Katie and Madalyn drive all over Orlando looking for a place that will take her and her spiking fever (as well as her drama-queen-whooping-cough.) Minute Clinic says she's too little. Pediatric After Hours says her chest is clear as can be, but finds her throat culture most positive for Strep.

(I should've known that's what she meant when she said, "my mouth hurts." But she says this when her stomach hurts, too... like 'my stomach is IN my mouth.') Her cough was just communication; "I think you may have temporarily forgotten how miserable I am, so let me put it this way: if how I felt were a noise, it would sound like this- uhuwaolauhua."

Currently: TWO HOURS and two pharmacies later, we are home and the first dose of Amoxicillin rests soundly in her stomach... right next to a Wendy's frosty. She may not have Pneumonia, not even a speck of phlegm in her chest, but she does have Strep Throat. And Strep Throat hath EARNED her a frosty, gosh darn it.

A friend of mine just commented on my last post and asked if we were now officially theme park people after having such a great time at Universal... um, no. I think this goes to show we are officially NOT theme park people. (At least not until Madalyn stops mistaking the handrails for candy canes.)

Labels: Madalyn, national lampoon family vacations, sick days

...party.

Also titled: More Than Anyone Really Wants to Hear About Our Weekend. :)

Sooooo, it perhaps looks really bad when I admit right after the last post that we ditched Jack for Shaun's office party this year. But we did. We left him with my mom part of the time, and the babysitter another small part... ok, and the babysitter's entire family... but that's another story in which I am very grateful to them for their help! It was a good decision and everyone, especially Jack, was the happier for it.

Shaun's pretty brand-spankin' new at Coleman Technologies, but I would venture to guess his aim is to be old as dirt there some day... it's a great place. They really respect their employees and seem to be a lot of very decent, but driven people. The company is now counting in billions- for fun- hee hee- as they are now a .2 billion dollar company, but only 10 or so years old. They are hiring continually, growing fast, started an enormous federal program and survived the technology crash of (?? help here Shaun??) which says a lot for them, apparently- to have survived that year when they were only a new company at the time. (Obviously I am quoting my husband on this background information, as vague as I'm being...) Point is: a solid company, a good place to find ourselves, thank You, Lord!

Anyway, the office party this year was held at the Royal Pacific Hotel on Universal Studio's property. Shaun was invited to bring his family to stay for a night at the hotel and spend a day at the park, all on them. We were very grateful, as he is still, technically, a contractor there. (Even though his contract includes him rolling permanent soon.)

For the adults, there were cocktails, a gourmet meal, awards, and live band. For the kids, there was a kids party- complete with entrees, toys, and movies in the ballroom right next door. It was SUPER.

The kids were so cute, so excited all Friday. Evan wore his western denim button-down shirt and khakis and belt and Madalyn wore her adorable green and red gingham Christmas dress with the white collar, red trim, and small smocked wreath on front that my mom got her. They were going to be put in separate rooms, Evan having just made the cut-off for the older room, but when two tween boys walked out of the older room and said in canyon deep voices deeper than Shaun's, WE AREN'T LEAVING, WE JUST WANNA USE THE BAAATH-ROOOM, well it was then that we requested Evan be put in Madalyn's room. They were most accommodating, and the kids ran right in.

We then made the rounds at the cocktail party.

In the crowd of 400 or so, Shaun introduced to me to all 5 people that he knew. They were all very friendly and nice but we weren't sure if they wanted to talk with us, or felt obligated, so we gracefully parted ways, stood by a plant, stirred our drinks, and eagerly accepted food from trays of horsd'ouerves while pretending to be somebodies.

The coconut breaded chicken tenders and small Beef Wellington pastries- well, I could've hidden behind a plant and wolfed down a whole tray of those things myself. Oh my GOSH, they were so good. You'd think I hadn't had a meal in months the way I attacked them... (but then, if you know me, this is nothing new.)

When a xylophone signaled us to move on into the ballroom, we tried not to run. We paced ourselves just behind the first 10 people. For a minute we stood there stupidly inside the big ballroom, looking for someone we knew. I felt awkward watching the unfamiliar faces pass, and sensed Shaun did, too, so I whispered, "keep circulating, keep moving..." and we walked around in circles with a pretended goal in mind until we spotted a fellow programmer and sat down with her and her husband at a blue and gold table spread.

Joethy (spelled that wrong, I'm sure- fellow programmer of Shaun's) we found and sat with. She and her husband are from India. They were very kind and interesting and had a son Evan's age, so there was much to talk about. When we went to serve our plates Shaun made a comment about how proud he was of understanding everything they said because he had worked with so many people from India he didn't even hear an accent anymore. I said, "well I understand everything they're saying and I haven't worked with anyone from India." He wanted to know why, then, I kept asking him to repeat things they said for me. "Because I can't hear them over the crowd," I said, "not because I can't understand them." Then I realzied I'd stripped him of his "understanding people of all origins" medal and should have played dumb.

We ate grilled vegetables, pork and beef tenderloin with mustard sauce and horseradish sauce, baked potatoes, salad, rolls, and who can remember what else? Well, dessert. I can remember that, even though I'm not a huge dessert fan. I like my cookies and milk, don't get me wrong, but rich and overly sweet stuff doesn't go far with me...

But it was pretty good, a huge selection: bread pudding with vanilla sauce, cheesecake, some sort of apple dessert, and the chef's special, and mysteriously nameless dessert, and other things.

I stood in line after the dessert spread, with Shaun, to get coffee, holding my dessert plate in one hand- when a lady in red asked me, "oh, that's what I heard about- that dessert- was is that, keylime?"

"No," I said, trying to decipher what it tasted like on my fingertip...

"Is it tart, though?"

"No..."

"Fruity?"

"No... it's more nutty. But with no nuts. Maybe almond, or walnut flavoring..."

"Oh, mmm," said the lady in red who started to take tea bags out of the small basket on the table.

"Are you based here or in Nashville," I asked her.

"Orlando, you?"

"Orlando, well my husband is," I motioned behind me to where Shaun was getting his coffee. "Do you work for the company, or..."

"No, my husband," she said.

I nodded.

"Are you guys liking it here with Coleman?"

"Well Shaun's very new, but yes. Very much," I said.

"It's a great company to work with," she said.

"So who's your husband," Shaun asked over my shoulder.

"Ben," she smiled.

Shaun started laughing. I didn't get the joke. They were both laughing now.

"Ben PATZ?" he asked with emphasis.

She nodded.

Ohhhhhhhh. Ben Patz. The Ben Patz that he'd told me about, was very impressed with. The Ben Patz who owned the company.

"Yes, and here I am stealing tea bags, isn't that awful? But I just love this kind of tea and can't find it anywhere."

"Well, I think you're allowed to steal all of them you want," I said, worrying then, that maybe she would think I was sounding sarcastic or snide because I genuinely liked the woman.

We chatted a bit more- they have three kids, in middle school. One was in a forensic debate tournament (I pretended to know what that was,) and the other rode horses... and the other, I didn't get to hear about because it was time for awards. She was so very down-to-earth. She told me she and her husband had had lunch earlier together because they knew they wouldn't get to see much of each other that night. Very sweet. And her husband is clearly a family man as he started his speech with a story about his son...

Finding a career is like finding a mate. When the event was over that night, as we went to retrieve the kids to go watch a movie in our room together, Shaun said to me, "Yeah, I think this is the one." Translation: he thinks he wants to make a commitment to this company. This is SERIOUS, people. And I have to agree; the office party really sealed the deal for me... (not that it's my deal to be sealed.) But we're married. So in a small way, it is.

The next day we couldn't get dressed fast enough. The kids were dying to get to the park. We ate a DELICIOUS breakfast (that needed to be delicious for its PRICE) in the hotel lobby. We LET the kids have chocolate milk and pancakes for breakfast!! Then we took the ferry to the park.

They held up surprisingly well on that sort of breakfast and walked the entire day with no stroller. First we hit Universal. I brought no camera- needed a break from that- but they took this when we entered and we submitted to being ripped off and bought the smallest one to commemorate the day...

(The photographer had Evan hold his hands like this and told Shaun to point at them and me to act shocked- voila... it looks like Evan's crying but that's just his fake smile. :) Isn't Madalyn's Christmas bow cute? Claire's, man. )

From the "daddy cam"- Shaun's cell phone:

on the ferry ride

We went straight to the kid's zone and got in line for the first ride Madalyn was tall enough for: ET. BIG MISTAKE. She was absolutely, 100% terrified with a capital "T". And I have to say- it was a F.R.E.A.K.Y. ride! Freaky! Wrinkled littles ETs hanging everywhere and singing off-key with loud explosive noises and cars coming out like they might hit you out of every wall. A dark forest with smoke. Freaky stuff! She was so sad. She was personally hurt that they would try to scare her like this.

This incident set the tone for the ENTIRE day. She saw Spongebob, Dora, BJ and Baby Bop, and told each of them, right away, before even saying hi, "I have to tell you something. I went on EL TEE (or sometimes LEE TEE) and it scared me. I cried on cried. It's a black ride. For boys. It's not a girl ride. I'm not doing it again. Only girls rides. Only pink rides." (No, there is no real color-coded rides at Universal, this was simply her way of reasoning and self-soothing.) She also told this to the bell hop, a group of cheerleaders as she played with their pom-poms, our waiters, and anyone helping her on any ride.

From the daddy cam:

telling Spongebob about LEE TEE

telling Barney about EL TEE...

Note that you can actually see the horror on the character's faces as she tells them in the same manner in both pics; nervously picking her fingernails and tilting her head to the side, ever-so-slightly...

We also did the Shrek 4-D, Jimmy Neutron's Cartoon ride, and the Woody Wood Pecker Roller Coaster, which went FAST, and which she loved- because it was outdoors and sunny and involved no freaky aliens or cars trying to run over her.

We ate lunch at the NASCAR Grill at Citiwalk between the two parks- to treat the big kid, aka "daddy".

From the daddy cam:

I had an AWESOME sandwich with incredible honey mustard sauce, and where Madalyn drew a picture on her menu of her riding LEE TEE and crying. "That's me," she told the waiter, "That's me riding LEE TEE and crying, see me crying? I cried- it was sad."

"Do you think I should ride it," asked the waiter.

"No. You might cry," she said.

Then we went to Islands of Adventure to knock out a few rides before heading back to Universal for the Macy's Christmas Parade. At I.O.A. we hit all of the Doctor Seuss stuff and then I took Evan on a raft ride that Madalyn was too little for. That ended up being his favorite ride. It was one of those round rafts that fits maybe 8 or 10 people and he was the star because he was the smallest in the bunch. He was a riot. Totally dug the whole experience, was so into it. Waited for water, said things like, "oh, oh, oh, AHHH!! More water... ahhhhh.... we're gonna get hit! And then he'd giggle and belly laugh himself to oblivion. SO cute. Everyone else thought so, too... especially the little girl next him, about 11, who knew EVERYthing and was sure to tell him EVERYthing he would experience and was experiencing which he was very happy to receive from her in all her superior wisdom.

After that we had to rush back over for the overly-hyped up Macy's parade. We watched about 5 minutes with the kids on our shoulders and then decided to ditch it for ice cream. We found TCBY on Citiwalk and sat in Adirondack chairs while music played and neon lights flashed and made a memory. Then we called it a day- boarded the ferry- retrieved our bags- headed home to meet up with our baby again.

Our baby was spoiled the whole time we were gone and loved all the attention and was not especially thrilled to see us again, but we were all thrilled to see him. The kids were sleeping, actually, but when I said, "do you want to see Evan?" to Jack he said, "Ehhh!" So I took him in Evan's room and he said, "he-llo. Ehhh. hell-o. And lay on him and rubbed his hand thoroughly all over Evan's face till Evan awoke and said, "Jaaaack," so sweetly you'd think he was whispering down from Heaven. We did the same thing in "Maaa,"'s room, only she didn't wake.

It was a good weekend. Thank you, Coleman. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Patz.

(And thank you mom and Doug and Ulmer family for watching baby Jack.)

Labels: national lampoon family vacations