National Christmas Tree

To keep the holiday spirit flowing, we all headed down to the National Mall to look at the National Christmas Tree. It was actually a pretty cool spectacle, as the larger tree was surrounded by 50+ decorated trees representing all of the states and U.S. territories. We, of course, had to scope out our local trees. Traci's Pennsylvania tree was O.K., including balls filled with abstract prints and tinsel. (She was hoping for something more significant to the state itself.) The Virginia tree was simply a bunch of Christmas symbols painted on metal. And, Mike's Michigan tree, strangely enough, was filled with snow flakes and cardinals. (That is strange in the fact that MI's state bird is the robin....) Our favorite trees tended to have ornaments that typified their state. For example, the Texas tree had a tiny space station and sandy beach. And, the Maine tree had a huge lobster net thrown on as garland. In spite of the bone-chilling temps, everybody had fun looking at the trees and model trains; and we plan to make this a holiday tradition!

Christmas, Part One

Whooooooaaah - we had quite a whirlwind weekend here to kick off the Christmas holiday! Grammy called on Thursday night to surprise us with the news that she and Papa would be down to visit and deliver their presents. Needless to say, Katie was beside herself with excitement. The caravan (or should we say sleigh?) pulled in Saturday lunchtime filled to the brim with presents from all kinds of relatives in Pennsylvania. Actually, the sheer amount of presents was so overwhelming that Katie honestly asked for a break in the middle of opening things. So many thanks go out to all of the OVER-generous relatives that sent things...we wish you could all see the smiles that the kids had while opening and playing with everything. Katie especially loved her new dress-up clothes, and Michael...? Well, his favorite thing was the styrofoam cooler that Grammy brought the Christmas ham in. He is 15-months-old, you know? Please take a moment to look at our photo album from the festivities. Merry Christmas, Part One!!

K-A-T-I-E!

Guess what our kiddo can do now??? That's right - write her name!! Katie's preschool has really been working on letters with the kids, and Katie finally has the small motor skills to really start writing letters. Yesterday she was perfecting her name. Today, she literally wrote KATIE, DADDY, MOMMY, and MICHAEL!! It's so exciting to see your child on the cusp of some big things to come.

Adequate ROI

Today was our first real snow fall of the year, so, of course, Katie was begging to go outside to play. Now, as every parent knows, you really have to weigh the pros and cons of getting everybody bundled up for such a snow adventure. Will it be worth all of the hassle to get everybody outside? Once outside, how much will your youngest one even tolerate? Will the older one whine about getting snow in her mittens? You get the picture. We definitely got what we would consider an adequate return on investment today: only 15 minutes of tugging, pulling, screaming, and kicking to get outside...and 30 minutes of good fun once we got to the snow! Even Michael did a pretty good job walking in his snow boots! We were getting well-prepped for our journey to Michigan next week. Knowing Grand Rapids, Katie will not want for snow there!

His Father's Dance Moves!

G-Bread Time!

Last Tuesday, before all of the stomach bugs (ugh!) started to settle in to our house, Traci was able to slip out for a fun evening of gingerbread house decorating with her Book Club buddies. All of the ladies had a blast munching on candy and food, sipping some wine, gossiping, and...oh yeah...making some beautiful little houses for our families to enjoy. A very special thanks goes out to Kim for hosting AND building every single house for the rest of us. You go above and beyond, Kim, and we are all grateful. Pictured with our houses (L to R): Kim (the lovely hostess), Julie (the slow and thoughtful one), Traci ("ew, get the chocolate away from me" one), Angela (the only one who could honestly say that she was eating candy for two), Emily (the one who built her first-ever house), Jasmine (the creative one who built a train depot for her boys), and Jamie (the one who topped us all by building a wrought-iron fence out of pretzels!!)

Did Somebody Say Skirt?

Just Katie being Katie....she can find a way to play dress-up no matter what is in her path. In this case, it was the tree skirt, while we were decorating the tree. Surprisingly, it fit her well. Notice the thing on the TV pointing at her in an accusatory manner....

561 Infected Files Later....

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, we're back online! Sorry about our absence over the past week...our computer was taken over by a nasty virus last weekend and we had to have it scrubbed clean by the Geek Squad. 561 infected files, a new Christmas tree, a few stomach bugs, a couple birthday parties, a gingerbread-house making venture, and another (failed) recital later, we are back. We continued to take some good photos and video while our computer was away, so we'll do some catching up this week. We'll start with today's activities: putting up our Christmas tree! We decided to go with a short, but plump, tree up on a table so that Michael would do minimal damage. We'll see how our strategy works. Katie did a FABULOUS job helping to decorate this year, while Michael did his best to tear apart all of the tissue paper that packed all of the ornaments. So far, we have only had to clean up two smashed ornaments, so we'll see....

Dumping Grounds

What is it about the act of dumping one's toys out of a bin that causes such glee in children? Is it the instant gratification of getting to what you want? Is it the loud sound that emanates from all of the toys scattering everywhere? Or is it just the plain, ol' mess left behind? Whatever it was, Katie, Michael, and their buddies Sam (almost 4-years-old) and Oliver (21-month-old) sure reveled in some good, old-fashioned DUMPING (with a capital D!!) during their playdate today. I honestly don't think there was a toy left untouched by the time these crazy kids were done. Please note Michael, pictured in what is left of the art bin. While his partner-in-crime Sam got the bin opened, Michael was the one who climbed in and decided to dump every last marker and crayon out of their respective boxes. Oh well, at least the kids had a fantastic day!

Do Not Adjust Your Monitor

Ahhhhhhh! Our TV keeps SHRINKING! No, just kidding. But, unfortunately, our old-school 19-inch TV does not have enough AV input-outputs to simultaneously handle our cable box, DVD player, stereo system, etc. So, we have now turned to our super-duper 7-inch portable DVD player to watch DVDs. Poor Katie and Michael were squinting their eyes to watch Belle and Beast this afternoon. They're going to need glasses before they even get to school if this keeps up!

Gobble, Gobble

Eating. A lot. That was basically the theme of our entire Thanksgiving vacation. A conservative estimate would have our family of four putting on a good 20 pounds or so, what with all of the delicious foods that we stuffed into our mouths. Whether gathering for TWO large T-giving feasts with friends/family, eating out at the fine Brockway establishments, or baking some awesome reindeer cookies with Katie (see picture), we were never at a loss for good eats. Of course, we did lots of other great things, too. Thanks to all of those who hosted us and allowed us to catch up with long-lost relatives and friends. And a special thanks to Papa and Grammy for allowing Mike and Traci to slip out and catch the new Harry Potter! Was great to see a movie in the theater and to enjoy some coffee/tea afterwards.

The kids did adore seeing their grandparents, cousins, and other family members. This shot was from our last night in Pennsylvania. Katie stayed up long after her bedtime, enjoying a late night reading session with Papa. You simply can't beat that!!

Thanks, Everybody!

Happy (early) Thanksgiving, everyone!! Since Thursday is the day we give thanks for all of our blessings, we wanted to make sure that we thanked all of YOU! Presumably, if you are keeping up with our blog, you are a special person in our lives. (If not, then you are a creepy stalker. Leave now.) Ahem...anyway, we love posting the ordinary (and not so ordinary) moments in our lives so that we can share them all with you. Thank you all! We'll see you all again after a fun T-giving break!

Now, for an ordinary moment in our life...here's Katie posing with her turkey creation after "Wear Brown to School Day" at preschool. We thought she represented the school spirit rather well, wearing about as much brown as she could.

The Town Drunk

We just can't keep his drinking under control...just look at his embarrassing stagger and stumble! (And if you think this is bad, you should see if we dare to put shoes on him...)

Scrawny Vision

Look, Ma - this thing is PUUUUUUNY! Looks like that is what Michael was trying to tell us when he saw the "new" TV. You see, our ol' 36-inch television which faithfully served us for 10 years finally died today. We were stuck as to what to do until Mike remembered that he still had his 19-inch TV from college. So, now we are living the HIGH life...watching our programs in such huge, crystal-clear detail that you all would be jealous. (Even Katie made fun of the TV, asking why Dora was so small....)

If you have made it this far without laughing at our TV, please do note the large perforated-board cut-out in the entertainment center that fit the old TV. Nothing says C-L-A-S-S-Y like an uneven, cheap cut-out constituting the main focus of your living room!

It's Been Awhile...

Due to various illnesses that ravaged both of our homes, we have not seen our good buddies, the other McGs, for awhile. Katie's bud Connor (3.5 years-old) is doing really well at school, and little sis Madeline (9 months-old) is pulling up to a stand and pointing. It's fun to see these guys hit all of their milestones right along with our kids. We wish they could meet up for their weekly playdates forever...

On another note, we proudly announce that this is CuddyCam's 1000th blog posting!! WOW - it's been a wonderful almost-four years of good stories, laughs, and photos. Let's just hope our kids cooperate enough to last another 1000 posts!

Brainwashing Begins

Traci's diabolical plan to brainwash all of the members of her family into loving the Harry Potter series has begun in earnest. Mike has always shrugged off her suggestions that he read the books, claiming that watching the movies was good enough for him. (As if.) He FINALLY relented this week to a bit more Potter exposure, agreeing to listen to the first book on CD on his hour-long commute. Traci jumped all over that concession and dragged the kids to the library today to pick up the CDs. (Of course, she also let them read their own books in the kids' section, but that's beside the point!) Now, she can't wait to discuss the intricacies of the Sorceror's Stone every night over dinner!!

Between the Lines

My, what a difference a few months make... Whereas Katie used to just scribble when doing any kind of art project, she is now a meticulous freak. She'll spend nearly an hour to color a picture "just so." In particular, she is very careful about staying within the lines (definitely a metaphor for her personality, but that discussion could fill a whole blog entry unto itself....). Here is her latest masterpiece, Beauty and the Purple Beast.

Friends' Thanksgiving 2.0

A big special thanks to friends Ben, Angela, Lyla (almost 4-years-old!), and Anamarie (2.5) for hosting a ton of us last night for their second annual Friends' Thanksgiving. It was a fantastic way to kick off the holiday season. Katie got to play dress-up and run around with a bunch of her buddies. Traci gabbed and ate with some of her closest mom-and-dad friends, including some that traveled from Florida for the occasion! (So nice to catch up, Cristina and John.) Alas, the only down part of the evening was that Mike and Michael had to stay home to continue recuperating. Wouldn't want to spread pink-eye right before Thanksgiving!

Oh, and just to give you an idea of how crazy the party got, here's a shot of Mr. Jim (Patrick & Colleen's daddy) getting pummelled by at least four kids. When it comes to all of these kids, ages 6 and under....well: Boys can definitely be boys, and girls sure know to squeal really loudly.

Captain Underpants?

Nahhhhhh....just another procrastination technique for our dear Katie. If you say the magic words "time to get ready," she can think of a thousands ways to play instead. Today, she decided to pretend she was Santa Claus (hence, the red cape), delivering toys to us in her undies. Not exactly the way I remember good, ol' St. Nick.... We'll see what adventures she takes on us tomorrow!

The Great Outdoors

We are so sick of writing about our illnesses around here that we'll avoid it for the day! Although all is not yet completely well, everybody was in a good enough mood to spend a couple of hours at a neighborhood playground. We can't tell you how great it felt to be outside swinging, climbing, eating dirt (Michael only), and running. We even took some time to build a big pile of leaves to run through, jump in, and eat (again, Michael only).

And, here's proof that the little sickling is on the mend. He was thrilled to be back at a playground. He was squealing so loudly that you could hear his happy voice from all corners of the lot. Like we said, we aren't 100% healed yet, but this is a vast improvement!!

Rockin' to Rocknoceros

Special thanks to Miss Angela, Lyla (almost 4 years!), and Anamarie (2.5 years) for coming over and watching the sickling today!!Traci had to go into Katie's school for a parent-teacher conference, so she had to leave Michael at home to the care of others. Very thankfully for Angela, Michael literally slept the entire time that Traci was gone. (After a week of 20-minute naps, Michael's 3-hour morning nap was a godsend!) Katie had no idea that her buddies were coming over, so it was a great after-school surprise for her. Traci treated everybody to pizza; and then the pretty, pretty girls all rocked out to their favorite band, Rocknoceros!! (Even Michael got a little into the act with his own crawl dance.)

Speaking of Michael, he had great periods of non-sliminess today, but his eyes are almost entirely sealed shut. If they don't improve by tomorrow, off to the doctors we go...AGAIN!

Rocky Balboa

Thanks to all of you who have been asking how Michael is faring. As you can see, the poor, little dude is still in pretty rough shape. Three pediatrician visits, nearly $100 (co-pays, antibiotics, Motrin, etc.), countless tissues, and a week later, he's not doing much better than when we started. Thankfully, the antibiotics seem to be taking care of the double ear infection, so his mood has perked up a little. But, he can't seem to shake the extremely NASTY sinus/upper respiratory thing going on in his head. His eyes are so puffy that we have likened him to a little Rocky Balboa. Hopefully, we can get our crazy happy Michael back soon!

Feisty When Miserable

Sorry that we haven't updated the blog for awhile...it's been a doozy of a week! What started as a seemingly innocent case of pink-eye on Tuesday has turned into one heckava sinus infection for poor, little Michael. The kiddo has been running high fevers since Thursday, and pretty much hasn't stopped crying since then either. He doesn't want to be held, he doesn't want to be put down, he doesn't want to eat or sleep....yep, it's been pretty pleasant around here. And, let's just say that his calm, cool demeanor takes a 180 when he's sick...throwing all kinds of stuff (including his food, pacis, and sippy cups) has become as common as the tears. Thank goodness that Katie has been an angelic big sister, playing by herself, trying to soothe him, and agreeing to long drives which help to calm him down. Sometimes kids just know when to step up to the plate!

Lost in All of the Craziness of the Week...

Oh yeah, did we forget to announce that Michael started walking last week? Ooops!

Sugar High, Anyone?

Halloween Candy Binge + Preschool Day-off - the Limbs of a few Young'uns = Playgroup Pandemonium

(Sorry, Maisie, Oliver, and Maeve!!!)

Cinderelleton (or Skelerella)?

Cinderella

Fear the Skeleton!

 

What a difference a year makes! Katie was really into trick-or-treating this year, asking to go up to every neighboring unit with a light on. Sure beats the two households she had the attention span for last year. Anyway, Halloween was a success all around, and we are all heading to bed to sleep well after the evening sugar-rushes. Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend...

Sanity and/or Fear? You Decide!

What in the world is Traci doing here? Is she at some strange Halloween costume party? Nahhhh, she, along with 10s of thousands of others, headed down to the National Mall today for Jon Stewart's/Steven Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. It was a hilarious hoot to walk around and check out everybody's "sane and rational" signs. The people-watching was just marvelous. And, of course, Stewart, Colbert, and their guests (Ozzy Osborne???) were quite entertaining, to boot. If politics were always this fun, maybe Traci and Mike would better enjoy living inside the Beltway!

You're Going the Wrong Way!

He may be able to scale the highest mountains, but Michael has no clue how to get back down. Just as he does from the tops of slides, he tends to just fling himself down head-first from steps. Suppose that's not the best strategy. At least he usually emerges with a chuckle and a smile!

Who Wears Short Skirts?

Our friend Karen came over for lunch today and brought a special surprise for Katie: a Notre Dame cheerleading outfit!! Katie was ecstatic with her new dress-up outfit and ran like crazy around the house, shouting "Go, Team, Go!" We all had to laugh, however, at the fact that the Size 4 kids outfit basically comes to Katie's waist. Hmmmm, we're either going to have to make sure she has pants on underneath the skirt or just go ahead and hand it down to Michael now! Thanks, Karen, for some great company and a great Katie gift!

Our "Nightmare Before" Halloween (aka Pumpkin Carving 2010)

You want us to do WHAT with that pumpkin? Ewwww, gross!


Notice how super-neat Katie would only help scoop pumpkin goo with a spoon and apron.


Hmmmmm....maybe if I could stuff it in my mouth and pretend that it's playground dirt.


The design work begins....Daddy with the big pumpkin, Katie with the small.


The real artiste in action...carving his Jack Skellington from "Nightmare Before Christmas."


The finished product!!! And, yes, we are currently keeping Jack in the fridge until the outside temps drop below 70 degrees again!!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Great and Small

Today was "Wear Orange to School" Day for Katie, so we figured we would keep the theme going all day with our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Alas, Daddy had to miss out this year as we could not squeeze it in during the weekend. And, between Katie insisting on pulling the wagon everywhere and Michael trying to escape every chance he could, it will be the last year that Daddy doesn't join us. I put Katie in charge of picking our official family pumpkin, and she found a perfectly plump specimen for tomorrow's carving.

As for Michael, he was enchanted by the Michael-sized pumpkins. These were the only things that could keep him still for a few minutes at a time. Unfortunately, by the end, he discovered that he could actually throw these down pretty hard so we had to bolt before he broke any. (Please, oh please, God - don't let this be a precursor to bad behavior and pumpkin smashing on future Halloweens....)

Got Milk?

Here we are on one of our countless grocery store milk runs. (Why does it seem that you always run out of milk when at least one kid is on whole milk?) Notice how Michael is already scheming how to get out of the grocery cart and into the greeting cards next to him? And, notice how gigantic Katie looks in the cart? No wonder people always think she's five.

Hitting the Pavement

Mike ran in (and finished!) the 26th annual Army 10 Miler race this morning. It's a pretty big deal around D.C. and is the third largest race in the world participant wise. The route was fantastic in and around the Potomac River and monuments. But the 30,000 registered runners made for a slow-go throughout, as the running lanes were pretty tight from start to finish. Bottom lines: may try it again next year...no interest in any longer distances...looking forward to returning to less crowded 5K and 10Ks. Best part: coming home to find a "congrats daddy" sign from Katie on the front door!

Halloween Scream!

Our entire family started the annual Halloween celebrations with a trip to a local fall festival today. It's one that we have been going to since Katie was a baby, and we wanted to introduce Michael to many of the fun things-to-do. He loved climbing, cruising, and sliding on his own, but it's hard to tell if he liked the BIIIIIIG slide as much as his mommy!

As for Katie, she had a bit of a rough day. She's currently in a Fear-of-All-Loud-Sounds phase, so she wasn't a big fan of the tractor pulling a hayride around the festival park every five minutes. No matter where she went (her beloved swings, the cool slides, the farm animals), that darn tractor was always nearby. After a bit of a tearful start, we finally calmed her down enough to have some fun. Here she is hamming it up for us...the tractor must have been on the other side of the park at the time!

One Step...And Down

Well, it's not for a lack of trying... Michael is getting comfortable enough with his balance that he is standing on his own, cruising with one hand, and transferring from object to object with a few steps. But, if you just stand him up in the middle of nowhere, he'll take one step and then he's down. He knows that he can get anywhere FAST by crawling, so we guess he'll take his time with the walking.

Mother's Helper

Ahhhhh...parents live for moments like this....Big Sis is taking care of Little Brud and mom or dad can just sit back, watch, and relax. I wish I could say that this lasted for more than 2 minutes or that Katie didn't eventually try to shove Michael out of the car, but let's just focus on the moment captured in the picture...

Climb, Michael, Climb!

OK. So the kid can't walk yet, but he sure as heck can climb! You drop Michael anywhere near a set of steps, stairs, even the slightest ledge, and he's already the whole way up before you blink an eye. He is constantly giving Traci heart attacks as he climbs to the top of playground equipment and then throws himself at the slides. (He is such a fast climber/crawler that she usually only saves him by grabbing on to his pant leg.) This probably does not bode well for the future of his crib...

Snow White, Tinkerbell, and....???

After many scheduling mishaps, we finally had our good friends Kelly, Rose, and Megan (2.5 years-old) over for dinner. Katie was soooo excited for their visit as she loves to share her princesses and dress-up clothes with Megan. (She was so excited, in fact, that she nearly jumped out of her skin when a Boy Scout rang our doorbell, selling popcorn.) Anyway, we all shared a great meal, the girls got to try on dresses and shoes, and Michael got to crawl along for the ride. Let's do it again soon!

Vroooooooooooom

Surprise, surprise. Can you guess what we ended up doing this afternoon?

Wheels, Wheels, Wheels

The theme in our house right now is definitely "Forward Motion!" Katie, ever the slight lagger in her physical feats, finally learned how to pedal a trike at the start of the school year. Now she begs and begs to go to playgrounds or play gyms with trikes available so that she can ride to her heart's content. This morning she probably rode for about an hour straight...talk about good exercise!! I even overheard her telling another mom that Santa will definitely bring her a new tricycle for Christmas. Ahem...we better get on top of that!

Michael is also fully engaged in forward motion right now. He is currently loving any push toy that he can get his hands on. Just look at how enthusiastic he was with this play gym car! But, in even BIGGER news, he took two sets of shuffle steps today! No, we won't count it as walking yet, but he shuffled forward a few inches twice today to grab at snacks. Perhaps we should just put a cookie dangling from a stick in front of him?

Party Girls

 Our friend Francie (J.D.'s mommy) sent us this cute picture from Sunday's zoo party. This was pre-VIP tour, when we were just coloring and hanging out. Just a couple of really happy gals, celebrating an awesome time!