sickies

Remember when I casually mentioned that we had been sick for a month?

Apparently, the universe saw that little blog post as a direct challenge, because someone in our family has been sick pretty much every week since October.

You can imagine how this impacted my Christmas crafting plans.

My little buddy has spent some quality time with the iPad over the last few months.

In some awful horror-movie-esque turn of events, we passed our germs along to Grandma Maggie/Linda over Christmas and seemed to be on a healthy upswing.

But then I got nailed with a little something called tonsillitis (which apparently I have had for about 3 months and 5 rounds of antibiotics!) and then walking pneumonia (which presents in the lucky as a 4-day rash!), and now my doctor wants to send me to an ENT to talk about getting my tonsils out.

Silver lining:  plenty of time to blog while laid up for weeks post-surgery??

christmas card 2012

I had a vision for our Christmas card.

Let me set the stage:  the children would be dressed in casual, yet fabulous clothes in a sparkly yet non-traditional holiday style.  They would be jumping.  (I love jumping photos)  I also had visions of giant balloons.

Things started to go wrong at Paul's office Christmas party, where the jerks he works with stole all of the giant balloons before I could.  Including some awful woman who took TWO (when I WANTED TWO).  Turns out she adopted both of her children or some crap, so nobody was on my side in wanting to kick her and steal what was rightfully mine.

I may have been over-served.

Then I made the mistake of trying to get Eva on board with my idea.  Her response to my VISION?

No.

Instead, Eva sketched her own ideas:  I would create Mr. and Mrs. Claus ensembles for herself and Charlie.

Eva asking me to make her clothing is my kryptonite.

I began crafting.

Charlie was also a challenge to get on board, largely because he prefers being naked.  I had to remind him that this was NOT THAT KIND OF CHRISTMAS CARD.

When the outfits were finished, Eva had what can only be described as a fit.

She informed me that the clothing was fine, but that I had failed to understand the entire picture.  How, she wondered, did I think we were going to pull this off when I had not made her a wig?  And not found a perfectly old-fashioned table and chairs?  (because apparently in her vision, she and Charlie were sitting together at a table)

To punish me, she refused to wear a headband and insisted on wearing athletic socks.

The posing only increased in awesomeness.

This is the shot we ended up using (as it was the only one where both kids were looking at the camera AND smiling).  Except that in the final product, I added a 1970s filter (BECAUSE I LOVE IT), prompting my brother in law to ask if the kids were getting treatment for their jaundice.

Somehow, Eva managed to get the hairstyle I had in 1989 for a moment.  STILL AWESOME.

The other thing that "ruined" the photo according to Eva?  Cleo's insistence in NOT wearing the reindeer headdress we had purchased her.

These were almost the Christmas card instead:

In fact, now I'm wondering what I was thinking.

Because:  PRICELESS.

She did consent to wearing a jingle collar for most of the evening.  

Pretty sure after evaluating the whole "rescuing from the pound" vs. jingle collar thing, Cleo thinks we're even.

featuring the creepiest playground ever!

For our first few days in DC, we stayed in a "town" called National Harbor, Maryland.

I say "town" because National Harbor is some sort of strange planned community, except that the economy tanked while it was being constructed and it is now a newly constructed, half-abandoned "town" full of random shops and mediocre restaurants.

Also, the creepiest playground ever.

But first:  the harbor.

Refreshing, yes?  

Now, the creepy playground:

Told you.

What makes this playground extra creepy is that there is absolutely no explanation for a) why this person is in such agony b) why he is mostly buried in the sand or c) what this statue is doing in National Harbor, Maryland.

Still, the kids begged to go there every day.

And they were not even a little interested in the luxury yacht in the background.  Strange priorities:  my kids have them.

10 facts about charlie

1.  Loves chocolate.

2.  Is able to download apps on both Apple and Droid products.  Password protection now enforced.

3.  Favorite superhero:  Batman.  (still)

4.  Can open every door in our house.

5.  Describes crying as "sad behavior."

6.  Likes to answer questions with a firm "YES." (or "YEP.")

7.  Prefers to fall asleep with someone there to "cuddle me."

8.  Will correct you if you call pants "jeans." (or jeans "pants.")

9.  Screams "IT'S CHRISTMAS-TIME!" any time he sees Christmas lights.

10.  Says "Mommy, I missed you!" every day when I pick him up from preschool.

navel gazing.

I am definitely not blogging every day.

And, because I occasionally practice therapeutic techniques on myself, I sat down to think about why I was avoiding the blog.  (also:  doing this allowed me to avoid doing housework.  WIN.)

The problem with asking questions like that is that sometimes you get an answer, and sometimes that answer makes you frown.

You see, the next posts are all about our trip to Washington DC.

And every time I look at them, I find myself searching Eva's face to see if I should have seen SOMETHING to tell me she was developing a massive abscess which we could have dealt with earlier.  (maybe?  with magic?  I DON'T KNOW.)

This is what I'm talking about:

Here at the zoo, she looks visibly pale, with dark circles under her eyes and is not smiling.  (also, Charlie is in the background determined to climb into the off-limits area.  no surprise there.)

Same day, about 30 minutes later.  No way is this kid sick!  Any under-eye circles must be from staying up late having fun!

Not sure about this one.  Looks tired, kind of swollen on one side, pale.  Smile is strained.

(her smile WAS strained.  we were waiting for Paul to finish a work call and Eva was regretting her ice cream choice because it melted all over.)

Here, she is obviously ill.

Except that this was taken moments later, and she looks fine.

And here she is approximately 24 hours before we went to the ER.

If I look closely, I can see swelling on one side of her face.  

It breaks my heart.

I fell off the wagon.

So, I was sneakily participating in this bloggity thing where you blog every day in November.

And I fell off the blogging wagon yesterday.  I don't even have an excuse (not even a clever made-up one) - I just forgot.

Don't feel bad though, internet - I also forgot to bring snack for Charlie's preschool today.  MOM FAIL.

But, I'm back in the saddle (mixed metaphors) and bring you some pictures of the fam in the Nation's Capital, just in time for Veteran's Day.

I hadn't walked up to the Washington Monument since I was 17, so it was nice to make the hike again.

Charlie demonstrates his extreme lack of separation anxiety:

We had amazing weather while in DC, which is good because we were relying on maps from Paul's iPhone 5 to direct us places.  We spent much time wandering aimlessly.

We took these pictures right after our visit to the Natural History Museum, where Eva decided that she wanted to purchase her ONE trip souvenir on Day 1 of the trip.

Meet Nina the Giraffe:

We made the purchase while Charlie was passed out.  When he awoke to discover Eva had a new toy and he did not, he expressed his feelings all over the national mall.

destruction, and why I'll never learn.

I'm the reason you can't have nice things.

Yesterday, Charlie got water all over my computer.

In Charlie's defense, the water and computer were on the same surface.

In my defense, I have had my computer there for something like five years, without problems.

Also, Charlie spilled the water because he was busy stacking one full glass of water ON TOP of another full glass of water.  I had expressly told him NOT to do this.

And, horror of horrors, I had not backed up my computer in so long, I am not willing to post the length of time on the internet.  After the Great Data Loss of Spring 2012, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

I occasionally get sucked into design blogs that feature things like "Living with Children:  A Peek into So & So's Beautiful Bungalow."  These posts do not make me feel better about the way we choose to store and display our toys, much less the amount of dog hair on my floor.

So here's a piece of "Living with Children:  a Peek into Maria's Suburban Home."  BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER.  ONLINE.  

Because even when they break your things, you will cry if you lose pictures of your children in the leaves.

ps.  computer is fine.  either I got it to safety in time or the "submerge in rice" trick really does work.  I recommend Trader Joe's Bastamati.