Rules of the road

This Thanksgiving brought our first long-haul car trip. A whopping 9 hours of driving (2.5 hours of stopping/eating/playing). To say we were nervous as we pushed off is an understatement. Here is what we learned this weekend:

1. Leaving at 4 am just means the children will wake up earlier. And want to color in the dark.
2. If you fail to bring a roll of paper towels and a plastic bag, one of the children will throw up.
3. Old magazines are the best toy - especially if you're cool with the ripping and folding that will ensue.
4. Upstate New York has no place decent to eat. No - it doesn't.
5. You will go hoarse after the 78th round of Jingle Bells.
6. You will not tire of your daughter taking pretend pictures of all the Christmas decorations (and she will take quite a few).
7. And in the end, you will have a grand Thanksgiving, complete will all the trimmings. You will also learn just how hard it is to photograph 8 children.
   

Fluffing the tree

The title about says it all, don't you think?

The world of make believe just gained a new resident

Jeneric's imagination is increasing at warp speed.

Exhibit A: Skate boarding.


Exhibit B: Fishing.


And Sunday night, she was a cat. Which meant using the litter box - not the potty.

Silver Bells in the City

We may have mentioned this, but around here, we start celebrating the winter holidays early. On Friday, the season officially opened with Silver Bells in the City, which includes an electric light parade. With the balmy weather, the city streets were packed. We arrived a bit later than planned and found ourselves several rows back. Never fear - Eric is tall and we brought the back pack carrier.



Toddler Wily wasn't quite sure what to make of all the lights, the marching bands and the crowd. Jeneric, however, was quite thrilled with the whole procession - especially the marching bands.



And as the evening wore on we discovered that, in a pinch, even Jenni is tall enough!



The floats were quite entertaining. Jeneric, as you might predict, loved the 'rainbow float.'



Tough to get a good picture of the floats, but you get the idea - take a truck or bus and cover it creatively (or not) with lights.

C is for Cookie!

Eric, Jeneric and friends whipped up some no-bake cookies. The recipe called for quick oats - which we don't have - so they substituted regular oats. The resulting cookies were edible, if a little chewy. Toddler Wily, however, found them quite delicious.



More, please!


Jeneric and friend felt that while technically these were cookies, there are better examples on the market.

Fort Jeneric

At a recent play-date, Jeneric and a friend constructed a fort (aka Toddler Trap).



While the older girls reveled in their construction prowess, one Toddler was eying up the joint for a take-down.



The get-away vehicle was fast, if a little incredulous at the ease of the heist.



Figuring the criminal was too far gone with the loot, the girls regrouped and closed construction once again.



Here, the accused pleads her innocence.

Stegosaurus

Jeneric asked for a few things for her birthday, including dinosaur models (if you read the Berenstain Bears, you know that brother has an ever-expanding collection of dinosaur models). Eric found a pack of dinosaur models at a garage sale across the street and scooped them up.





On Saturday, Jeneric started work on the first model - a Stegosaurus. There are a LOT of pieces (recommended ages are 9 and up. 3 squared = 9, so we figure we're okay) but each is numbered. Together, she and Eric have worked through piece/step 15  of about 50.



She can pop out many of the pieces and put them together. Every now and then a piece takes a bit more finesse than her 3-year old hands can manage and Eric steps in.



So far no legs or plates - we'll keep you posted on the progress.



Oh - and thanks to those who voted on the Christmas movies. Looks like the Grinch is winning, followed by A Charlie Brown Christmas and Mickey's Christmas Carol. Thanks!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas movie season. Yes, we're revisiting this topic since we received so many suggestions (both here and on Facebook). In no particular order, the suggestions:

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Nightmare Before Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
The Polar Express
Miracle on 34th Street (the original)
Frosty the Snowman
Home Alone
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol (with Patrick Stewart)
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
The Toy That Saved Christmas
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas
Elf

Yeah, just a few more than our queue can handle. So let's get a little more input - vote for your 3 favorites on the above list. Number them 1, 2 and 3 where 1 is the movie you must see every year and 3 is a good movie you often see annually. We're going to tip our hand and say that we're saving a few movies for down the road, including 'A Nightmare before Christmas' and 'A Christmas Carol (with Patrick Stewart)'.

Happy birthday! (part 2)

Jeneric's actual birthday fell on a Monday. We celebrated quietly with a trip to the park and a pancake dinner.

Swing, swang, swung.


Eine kleine mountain climbing!


Vroom, vroom! Three-year old at the wheel!


And a card that played music (she took the card to bed with her!).


A good birthday? Check!

Now we are three

Yes indeed, Toddler Jeneric, nay Jeneric has turned 3. On Sunday, we had a small party, complete with cake, balloons and friends.
The festivities began with our weekly trip to the supermarket. Jeneric has been begging for a ride in one of the 'movie carts' and we indulged on her birthday weekend. She and Toddler Wily were mesmerized!


On Saturday, the family was in full party-prep gear, with cake baking, vege chopping (yes, we had broccoli at a kid's birthday party!) and decorating. Here, Jenni is getting started on the cake - hmm, what's going on?


Our first game on Sunday was a cross between jumping in leaves and drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. Then we morphed into a rousing game of twister (right hand red!).


Neither the birthday girl nor the guests could wait until the cake to open presents, so we did things a little differently. Presents first, lunch and cake later.




Next up: the first craft of the day. Food coloring on paper towels.


Lunch degenerated into a toddler joke fest: You're a banana. Yeah? Well you're a grape. You're a rabbit ear. etc, etc, etc.


Then we sang while three candles flickered.


Jeneric was good at blowing the candles out.


And even better at eating her rainbow cake.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

The Christmas movie season! Okay - not quite yet, but it's time to get our Netflix queue in order. Toddler Jeneric has reached the age where she'll sit through most of a movie. It's time to introduce her to a few Christmas classics. So, dear readers, reach back into your memory and tell us: What were your favorite holiday movies growing up? What movies should Toddler Jeneric watch this holiday season? Let us know in the comments!

A portrait of the artist as a young girl

While at the local children's consignment shop, Toddler Jeneric convinced Eric to pick up a Fisher Price Art Easel. Jenni declares this a good deal, as Toddler Jeneric has played with it every day since - painting and, more recently, chalking!

Halloween, Part II

But first, a brief movie of Toddler Wily - doing what she does best: wiggling.


So, Halloween night. After saying Happy Halloween to all the grandparents, Toddlers Wily & Jeneric suited up and hit the road.

Toddler Jeneric bounded from one door to another, though her 'Trick-or-treats' were often barely audible.


She was a bit braver when she could tag along with some big kids.


That smile? That's for an amazing, loud and clear 'Trick-or-Treat'!


Toddler Wily, meanwhile, stayed put in what was to become the neighborhood's largest candy bag.


More smiles from Eric and Toddler Jeneric. Toddler Wily is a bit disaffected.


Toddler Jeneric declared that we would go until her pumpkin pail was full, which, lucky for us equated to one trip around the block.


Like all *good* parents, we let Toddler Jeneric pick out 2 pieces of candy to have right away (well, after the bath). She chose the largest piece of candy - a blue Pixie Stick. Jenni couldn't quite convey the correct way to eat a Pixie Stick without eating some, so we dumped it into a bowl, gave her a spoon and let her have at it.


Mm, the lovely glow of artificially colored sugar.