http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=1755139666841541603 about a dream: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

i can't believe how warm it was today.

well i don't know what the high was today, but it was lovely! mid 50s at least. 60 maybe. what a way to end november!

the girls and i were out hunting for a christmas tree this afternoon. it's been so warm that it's taking a bit of effort to get into the christmas spirit, so we're listening to christmas music, making wreaths, and hunting for our tree. so far there's nothing on our property, but we'll expand our search and maybe grab something from the neighbors. hehehe.

also, i have a break up to announce. i know, the blog is a terrible way to drop news like this, but... nina and gabe are no longer an item. she told me today that they've broken up. i didn't know they were an item. when i pressed nina for details, she explained that she assumed they'd broken up, since gabe doesn't follow her around "like this" (arms outstreached, eyes smitten, a pose that we've dubbed "the gabe.") it was funny to hear her say "broke up," and at first i assume she'd heard the term at school, but on second thought, she could easily have heard it here. but don't worry, she still has charlie, plus 4 other guys that she loves. papa, grandpa, uncle erik, and uncle micah! so sweet. when i asked, "what about ethan and wyatt?" she said, "oh yeah, 6 guys i love!"

tonight margarete also re-affirmed that she wants to live with uncle erik and aunt isabelle, who she loves best of all, and watch TV with them all day. promises promises! she wanted me to read a book to her (another book i should say, i'd already read at least three), and i said "i will, but first i have to change into my pajamas." and she said "NO BUTs!!!" i guess i should have just put on the TV.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

we're getting in the christmas spirit around here!

last night the grinch was on TV, so we let the girls stay up to watch it. they love it. their huge smiles as it was starting were just too cute.

we've also made some fantastic wreaths, which are easy when it's 60 degrees and we can make them outdoors! we even made one as a gift for erik and isabelle in boston. i wish i'd taken a picture of it, nina decorated it with painted and glittered leaves and pinecones, and it was a thing of beauty. plus it had this big yellow construction paper circle attached that said "happy thanksgiving aunt, uncle, chester." she didn't have space for the full names. such a practical child!


we have such a busy few weeks coming up. on saturday, the Y arts chorus sings for santa's arrival in town, which means cookies at the library, carriage rides, and sitting on santa's lap (maybe). plus there are the trees at the opera house, the live nativity at church that they're going to be in, and the harbor lights festival. hopefully we'll remember to bring the camera for once!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

went to the boston science museum yesterday

it was fantastic! we saw so much, i can't even begin to recount it all. the highlights for maggie were the 2 triceratops skeletons at triceratops cliff--one made almost entirely of real dinosaur bones (only a very few small bones were casts, like the toes and some small part of the skull. it was one of the most complete triceratops skeletons ever found), and the skeleton that was made as a cast of real bones. they also had a model tyrannosaurus rex, with skin and all, that was very cool. her other favorite was the donation thing they have where you spin the coins down, and the more precise model they had with steel balls in the math area. plus the demonstration of how items fall at the same speed regardless of weight, and the demonstration of how nanomaterials try to mimic properties of real materials (in this case, cabbage leaves). oh yes, and the balls rolling down the ramp, to see which shape ramp is the fastest.

nina was going to tell me her favorites, but she's having too much fun reading to chester. well, her favorites definitely included riding the escalator, the entire light exhibit, and the physics in the park exhibit, which had lots of playground toys. fun fun fun!!

there was in area in the human body exhibit with actual psychologists (from boston college!) doing research about children and the way they recognize emotions in faces. maggie and nina both participated. the women started by asking the girls a few questions about feelings, and with maggie's interview, it went something like this:

researcher: we're going to talk about feelings, like happy, sad, and pax (pax was part of the study, explaining would take too long). have you ever felt happy?
maggie: no.
researcher: have you ever felt sad?
maggie: yes. i'm sad right now. i want to naney.
the researcher continued without missing a beat, but i was kind of embarrassed. not much, because i'm used to maggie, but a bit. she has felt happy before!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

almost thanksgiving....

the girls are so excited. they've been hopping and running all over the house all day. it rained too, so i couldn't get them outside to burn off any of that energy in the great outdoors. instead, mom and i took them to ikea, and they spent about an hour in the giant ball pit they have in the kids play area. close enough!

isabelle and i made some cornbread and 2 pies tonight, dinner tomorrow should be good!

happy thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

maggie is really something else with math

she loves grapefruits. LOVES them. we're buying them by the big bag at the store these days, and earlier this week we were at hannaford's, and maggie asked for more grapefruit. so i picked up one of the big bags, and maggie wanted to count how many there were. 6. then she started saying, "i ate 3, and nina ate 1, so we have... 2 more left at home."

what the heck! that's some really advanced math for a 3.5 year old! nina hasn't brought anything like this home from school yet this year, but i would assume it's considered first grade level. i was totally blown away.

whew, what a busy weekend!

on friday night we all went to a birthday party for one of the girls' friends, saturday was the early bird sale, frozen turkey hunt, and another birthday party, and today was church, sunday school, and some fun play with our friends the mosses. whew!

the early bird sale was kind of a bust for us, we got there after 9 and the 2 sales we were interested in (grovers and shermans) were over at 9. poop. but we still got what we needed, support local business!

i told nina that in order to get 25% off at shermans, i had to wear my pajamas. the conversation pretty much went exactly like the poo-poo platter one. she did not believe me. (i think that's the first time in the history of this blog that i've used bold. amazing). she let me pack my robe in the car, and was shocked to see that i wasn't lying. people all over town were in their pajamas! of course, maggie was too, but this time everyone thought it was intentional. i assume that since we went straight from the early bird sale to the frozen turkey hunt at the botanical gardens, people just thought maggie had her pajamas on from that. well, people who don't know us of course. and guess what, we actually got a turkey this year! amazing. ok, we didn't actually find an apple with a green sticker on it ourselves, it was kind of a pity turkey, but whatever, we got one. :-)

then it was home for just a few hours before we went back out to a birthday party for one of nina's classmates. nina had said the girl said that parents and siblings could stay, but i don't think that was accurate. luckily, the mom didn't mind if maggie stayed (she knows all of the girls from nina's class since we visit so often), so she did. what fun! nick and i ended up having a lovely dinner at mcseagull's with mom and dad. score!

and today, church and sunday school. maggie was quite the handful at church, twice trying to escape (one of our parishoners told me at social hour that when she was 2, she put on her hat and walked outside while her mother was up getting communion. the church was on a busy street in boston too! so see, it could always be worse!). then we made new angel wings for the live nativity in 2 weeks, with lots and lots of glitter. is it any wonder i'm so tired i can barely type?

but the weather has stayed beautiful, it was in the high 50s today and just perfect. yesterday was a little cooler i guess, but it had to be in the mid 50s when we were at the gardens. if it wasn't, it sure felt like it while we were running around!

we've got lots more coming up, too. the Y-Arts group is singing before santa arrives downtown on the 3rd, the weekend after that nina's ballet class dances at the gingerbread festival, and then there's the live nativity and the harbor lights festival. is it any wonder we actually look forward to january? it's the first time we really get a chance to rest up!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

maggie loves dinosaurs

the other night, nick was reading maggie a book about dinosaurs she and i had gotten from the library, and already read a few times. they got to part about this dinosaur, and nick said "oh, that's a baby triceratops that hasn't grown any horns yet." and maggie said, "no, that's a pro-TO-seratops." emphasis like that. i told nick that maggie speaks slowly when she's dealing with someone who doesn't understand. he's lucky she didn't call him stupid.

seriously though, that girl does not forget a THING. today at dinner we had chicken, and she wanted the leg, and started talking about whether the chicken was a boy or a girl. and she said, "oh, it's a boy, because the girls lay eggs so they keep those, and they kill the boys." i'd explained that to her a few weeks ago, and she just does not forget!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

letters to santa

nina wrote her letter to santa last night, and after she wrote her own, maggie dictated hers to nina.

nina wrote:
Dear santa
I want 10 books for crismis!

Anina Halter

and maggie's says:
I love you santa!
I want a little flufy dog with bows in her eres!

(that's ears)

but, that's not exactly what maggie said. when nina said, "maggie, what do you want for christmas?" maggie responded "a loving mother" (honestly). nina said, "maggie! you already have that. what else do you want."

so at least one of my kids thinks i'm a loving mother. the other one has requested a back-up mother, preferably aunt isabelle.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

my happy birthday banner


i made this banner a few weeks ago as a birthday present for wyatt, but i didn't put a photo up so i could surprise vanessa with it (because it was more for her than wyatt, really. but hey, she did all the work the day he was born! haha!)

but anne and erik and isabelle didn't get to see it, so here it is. i was so happy with the way it came out!

Monday, November 14, 2011

mmm, lettuce!

last night we had sauteed escarole with dinner. maggie took a look at it and said, "what is this, melted lettuce?"

haha! an apt description!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

One of the fun things about having kids is messing with their heads every now and then

like tonight, i'm wearing a pair of grey leggings with a pair of gray and red striped shorts over them. nina thought the look was pretty dorky. i think i look like a boxer though. plus it's warm, so whatever.

the other day it suddenly occurred to me, in a brilliant flash of insight, that the girls would get a huge kick out of the fact that chinese restaurants often have "pu-pu platter" on the menu. pu-pu, but it sounds like poo-poo (or, at least i assume it does).

so i said, "nina, maggie, did you know you could order something called a pu-pu platter at china by the sea?"
and maggie laughed, and nina looked at me with that look... the one that says 'you're such an idiot,' and said, "no, you can't."
and i said, "yes, you totally can. it's a real thing and it's on the menu."
and she said, "no, it's not."
and i said, "do you think i'm making this up?"
and she said, "yes, i know you're making it up."
and maggie said, "i want to order a poo-poo platter! and a pee-pee platter, and a penis platter, and a fart platter!"
i said to nina, "i'll prove it to you. the next time we go to china by the sea, i'll ask the waitress for a pu-pu platter." i knew that one would really get a reaction.
she said "NO! do NOT say that to the waitress!!"

haha! she still thinks i'm making it up. i'm so mean!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

looks like it's gonna be tofurkey for thanksgiving!


in case you can't read the words, the turkey is saying "don't eat me."


and note the oven mitt on the left-hand side of the photo. the child spares no attention to detail!

Monday, November 7, 2011

today at hannaford....

the guy a the fish counter gave maggie a cookie (they have them behind the counter for kids). maggie was very happy, but she wouldn't eat it because there was just one. even though nina was at school, she wanted one for her. so i told maggie not to worry, we could get a cookie for nina too, and i asked the guy if we could have a second cookie because maggie wanted one for her sister who was at school (explaining lest the guy think we were trying to scam two cookies), and he gave us one and said it warmed his heart to see such a sweet child, and congratulated me on raising such a dear little girl.

happy me! i love it when people see maggie's sweet side, she's such a wonderful little girl. :-)

of course, i was singing a different tune when she was up before 5 this morning, screaming about wanting to nurse and then wanting to put on different pajamas. the girls were out like lights by 7:30 and i'm sure i'll be in bed by 9:30 tonight. oh well, hopefully one day she'll stop screaming to nurse at night. most kids would just give up a few months into the weaning process, but not dear margarete. she has an iron will.

not much else going on. went swimming again at the new Y pool yesterday, one of the girls' friends had a birthday party there. it was fun! they love it, nina wants to stay in for hours but i still get chilly, even in the warm water pool. hopefully nick will be able to last longer than me. maggie loves it too, she swims around in her life jacket and walks up and down the ramp out of the pool.

the weather has been beautiful, too. it had to be in the high 50s today, with a clear sky and a nice warm sun. i could get used to novembers like this!!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

wow, what a day today!

it was non-stop from the time we got up. first i tutored jessie, then i took her and the girls to the YMCA to swim in the new warm water therapy pool. aaaaah! it was so much fun and so warm! usually i'm freezing the whole time that i'm in the water, but this time it took a solid 15 minutes until i even felt cold, and then another 15 minutes to have to get out. victory.

then, the 4 of us (4 being me, the girls, and jessie) and we went to the mall. first we stopped at chuck e cheeze (after that interview with nina, how could we not go?). then we did some shopping (poor nina was desperately in need of some sweaters and long-sleeved shirts), and then we went to the all you can eat chinese buffet (where maggie got to eat a whole plateful of her favorite thing--crawfish!).

we only got home at about 7:30. whew, we're exhausted! the girls had such a good time though, i'm glad we went. i probably would have backed out of going if jessie hadn't been so excited. mention a trip to the mall to a teenager and they get so excited! she also happens to love all you can eat chinese buffets, so all the better.

now i'm going to straighten up a bit around here and then go to bed.

Friday, November 4, 2011

another interview with nina

nina had so much fun doing the last interview that she wanted to do another. this time she came up with the questions all by herself!


1. How do you feel?
Not too well, but well.

2. Who is your favorite author?
Roald Dahl. Because he writes scary books.
Which book of his is your favorite? The Witches.

3. What is your favorite show?
The Witches

4. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A teacher. First grade.

5. What is your favorite place?
Chuck E. Cheeses

6. What is your favorite game?
Stare.

7. What is your favorite food?
Meatballs and tater tots.

8. Who is your mama?
Desiree

9. Who is your papa?
Nikolaus

10. What is your favorite month?
August. Cause it’s my birthday!

11. What is your favorite princess?
Snow white, because I like snow and her name is Snow White.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

quick halloween funny

we were doing the halloween parade through town last night, and some of the boothbay harbor police officers were directing traffic and whatnot. maggie saw one and said, "he's dressed up as a policeman for halloween." and i said, "yeah, he is. is it a good costume?" and maggie said, "no."

haha. apparently the BHPD uniforms are not very convincing.

after that, we got some food at mcseagulls (free food for kids, nick and i ordered a pizza), then went to trunk or treat at the baptist church for more candy, 2 chili dogs (nick), hot cocoa, and a bounce house. what a fun halloween night!