Dec 27
Everyone,
I got a Christmas card the other day from a friend I have not talked to in probably 3 years. Oh, we send Christmas cards every year and occasionally I see she looks through my pictures I used to do monthly (bad me…haven’t done it in over a year probably). I knew through some mutual friends what was sort of going on in her life. But the last update I had was probably March of this year.
This year, I got my annual Christmas card from her and it said from her, her younger daughter, and another person. A boy’s name. Who is this boy? I knew her older daughter (19) was pregnant…did she have a boy and now Friend is raising it? That was my original assumption. But I was thinking about her all day today and it occurred to me that Friend may have gotten remarried. How wonderful for her! But now I’m stuck as to who this Boy is and how he is related, if at all.
Now I suppose in the grand scheme of things, not knowing who this Boy is won’t kill me. But I still wonder. I have now realized the reason for all of those Christmas letters. If she had sent one, I would have known who this Boy is. Or even if she had an arrow and a sentence explaining who Boy is, I would have been happier.
There really is a valid reason for these yearly notes. Who knew?
Safire
PS- Both boys sick now. Juice put a ton of vapor rub on them before bed to help them (hopefully) breath a little easier tonight. As I was just putting them down for bed, my eyes were watering with all the vapors going on between them. I hope they sleep well! Last night was rough.
SafireChristmas 2008, mail
Dec 25
Everyone,
For Butterfly that is. Tell me how great this is: getting all your own presents. Having two baby brothers who are old enough to get toys and young enough not to care if you play with them. Guess what that equals out to be?! Three times the toys for one three year old girl! She had the greatest time.
This morning she got up early to go to the bathroom and staggered back to bed, missing the stockings I had put in the hall. We were up with the boys (rough night for me) anyway so I walked into her room. I said, “Merry Christmas, come see what Santa left you.” Her covers went flying and she was running before she hit the ground. She spent the next 45 minutes playing with the boys duplo blocks they got in their stockings. She got some tracing books and pencils and probably would have been more interested in them if I had actually sharpened some of the pencils. She also got breakfast in her stocking which is an idea I read off of another blog. So she got a granola bar, juice box and an orange. Much healthier than all the candy. She loved it! The boys were more interested in eating the blocks than anything else.
I came down to set up the camera. When she came down, she went right for more blocks that I couldn’t fit into the stockings. Then she went to the boys dinosaur (which she got for her first Christmas too!). And finally, she noticed her new kitchen and all of the food that goes along with it. We played with that for a good hour and a half. Not opening any presents. Just enjoying each others company and taking things easy. The boys went down for their first nap and we had breakfast.
We opened a few gifts. Juice got a machete from Costa Rica. Thanks Bro! He wore it all day long. I got a bunch of scrap booking stuff from my mom so now all I have to do is actually print out pictures.
The boys napped horribly. Professor kept crawling on Pirate and then Pirate would scream. When I finally went up there to separate them, Professor had spit up all over Pirate and Pirate was mad. I got them cleaned up and put them in different cribs but they were so unhappy I ended up bringing them downstairs early.
I called my parents and we were able to chat with them. Butterfly got a little camera from them and took a few of these choice pictures today.
After lunch (and another failed attempt to put the boys down) Butterfly had a nap (which she did not sleep in) and Juice and I did some clean up. We currently can not get out of our house with all the boxes stacked in front of our door. Eventually Professor slept but Pirate still did not. I think he’s getting sick because he just wanted to eat or be held all day long. We were able to talk to Juice’s family and get our dinner in the oven.
Our talk with Juice’s family ended in our annual frustration of web cams. But it was fun to see everyone we could. Finally at 5:30pm we did a last present sweep and opened about 10 presents for the boys. Cute things! A new coat, a few balls, and some picture books for them/me. They were only too ready to go to bed and have actually stayed asleep despite our pounding and laughing downstairs.
The big present of the day was our Wii. More importantly: Rock Band. I love this game. I don’t know why it speaks to me but it does. We had to have dinner before we could play (boo). I spent the time making the dinner while Juice and Butterfly played. (Double boo.) Dinner was excellent though and Butterfly went right down (while Juice played again…triple boo.) Finally I was able to play some. I failed the tutorials about 10 times. I am having fun though.
I think the thing that I liked most about this Christmas was the ability to talk to our family. We talk to them every year at this time. I don’t know what’s different this year but I ache to be home with them. My Nana sent me a sweet email last night that I got this morning when I was feeling the absence of my family the most. I never grew up with family at Christmas time. I thought I’d be used to it out here by ourselves. And every year I have but this one. This time. It’s rough.
So all of you who have family close, treasure this time with them. It is the greatest gift at Christmas.
Safire
PS- I just watched Juice get a 310 note streak on the drums! Man he’s good!
SafireChristmas 2008, family
Dec 24
Everyone,
Today has been very low key. Juice is home and has been a huge help playing with the kids and cleaning the house a little. I spent all morning covered in flour and creating a huge sticky mess in the kitchen. But I made cinnamon rolls and they turned out wonderfully! I have 4 pans so I’ll keep one and deliver the rest to friends later on this evening. The original recipe makes 7 pans, but I kept out a handful of dough to make dinner rolls out of for tomorrow. I don’t think the original recipe is right, because a handful can’t make more than one more pan. In any case, they will be good tomorrow.
The boys were SO CUTE today during their nap. Apparently Professor was crawling on Pirate’s head so Juice put them in separate cribs. (I was out walking the dog.) When I came home, they discovered they can see each other through the slats and had a huge giggle fest playing peek a boo with each other. It is so so cute. Who knew twins would be this much fun?! Juice took a video of it but it’s very dark. I may or may not post it later.
Tonight is going to be filled with Chinese food and movies in the living room. We are also going to read the Christmas story out of Luke and put everyone to bed early. That includes us parents. We had a great time last night wrapping presents. Juice kept shaking his head at me because I kept pulling things out of the closet that I bought months ago. And I switched a few things around. Apparently I bought two different things for stocking stuffers for the boys. I split one thing up and wrapped it in boxes so they can give something to each other. Butterfly got one present each from the boys since I found other things I had bought her.
I am thinking it’s a lot harder to orchestrate Christmas when you have a lot of little kids.
Safire
SafireChristmas 2008, cooking, life with twins, traditions
Dec 23
Everyone,
I remember counting down to Christmas several years in a row with the eves in my journal. So 5 days before Christmas I would write at the top of the page, Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve. I thought it got a little too excessive when I was counting down the entire month when I was about 14. I then just stuck with the numbers. (Of course, I now rarely right in my journal at all so the count down doesn’t happen. Want to know the last time I wrote in my journal? The day before the boys were born. An entry full of doubt, fear, and end of pregnancy done-ness. Maybe I should update that…)
Anyway, today has been a nice day. The boys were calm and took long naps. Butterfly watched movies and bounced around with the boys a little. She has a cold and has wiped her nose so much she’s made it raw. She tells me, “Mommy, there is something under my nose. And it won’t come off. Can you wipe it off please?” Poor little girl. No one else has it. Yet.
Both boys ate a ton of dinner (apples…mmm….). Butterfly had some applesauce too and two tacos. I was able to sweep the floor today and made out the menu for Christmas day. Just a reminder to myself as to what we are having to eat that day so I know what to cook. Want to hear it? No? Skip the next paragraph then.
Breakfast:
Cinnamon rolls, sausage, juice
Lunch: Mac and Cheese (boring, I know) and oranges.
Dinner: Ham, parsley potatoes, frozen veggies, dinner rolls, salad, and cranberry fluff for desert.
The cinnamon rolls I will make tomorrow so that will be all done for when we decide to eat. Knowing Juice, this will be as soon as we get down stairs. No opening presents for him until after breakfast. He says it’s because he’s hungry and doesn’t do well without food. I counter with the fact that he takes his breakfast to work with him every single day to eat at his desk so he can obviously operate heavy machinery without any food just fine. Looking at a few presents before we eat won’t kill him. Sheesh.
Lunch is easy on me so I don’t have to think about it or cook anything big. That way I can focus on the day and dinner. I may make the cranberry fluff tomorrow too…depends on the day.
Butterfly was so cute this evening. She helped pick out the boys’ presents from her and helped wrap them up. She gave them all of her old balls with toys inside them. I believe they are called roller rounds from Fisher Price. She decided who got what ball and wrote out the tags. She picked out the bows and is so excited to give them their very own presents! The boys are giving her a chocolate tree that she kept looking at in a catalogue. Originally I bought it for her stocking but I have other things to give her so they can give her that. I am going to go upstairs now and go through all the presents to see if maybe I have something that each of the boys can give her. Probably do.
Safire
SafireChristmas 2008
Dec 22
Everyone,
Today has been on lazy day followed up by go go go go fast fast fast fast. Since Butterfly’s mild sneezing has turned into a huge watery sniffly mass, I decided we needed some quiet days at home. Much to my dismay. Not that I had anything planned at all. But I’m noticing as it gets colder and the boys get bigger I’m going out less and less. It’s just too hard to do things by myself anymore.
I was brave and went to the post office. And only because I had Netflix movies that needed to go out so I could get new ones. And I had a few other packages to send off. The post office was a nightmare with the crush of disgruntled postal patrons and my hyper bouncing off the wall trying to move her brothers which means she almost tips them over because she can’t move them preschooler and me….trying to address these envelopes and not put her in a box and ship her to grandma’s in the process. But if anyone is getting shipped to grandma’s it would be me. And the boys because they kind of need me to eat. And then we may as all go to grandma’s. Sigh…missing family a lot this year.
One fun thing happened at the post office! Butterfly was chatting away as I was trying to get into the building and I suddenly started paying attention because she kept saying, p p p p. Wait, bathroom trip? Nope, she was pointing out the letters on the building so she names them off: P-O-S-T. She wanted to know what that said. I asked her what she thought it said. She says, “Puh, ooo, sss, tuh. Puh ooo st. Oh! Post! That says post!” One smart cookie!
She took a 3 hour nap, along with the boys, when we got home. Lala, Vinny’s mom, came over to use my washing machine because her apartment complex machines were broken down. Again. We had a good time learning more about each other’s pasts and talking about boys and marriage and old boyfriends, etc. We also watched a Christmas Story because she had never seen it. It was a fun afternoon.
Then I was able to get dinner going, bounced and played with cranky babies and got them fed while Juice was coming home. We then rushed through dinner, shoved the boys into their winter coats (much to their dismay…they wanted nursing and bed time) and rushed out the door to see this.
Isn’t it beautiful? It was so bitterly cold outside though. We met up with some friends from my play group and saw the concert they had tonight. It was a singing ensemble. And man, the instrument guy really got into it. Butterfly and her friend played more with the seats than watched the show but they’re three. We then walked over to see the live nativity and a few of the lights. I tried to get a family picture for them but the little girl wouldn’t cooperate. So they took a family picture for us.
Not that you can see all the family members. It was so cold and the boys were asleep. I wish I could have gotten one when they were awake but no such luck. Juice was great and loaded all the kids into the car and let me run around with my camera to get a few shots.
A good evening but now I’m exhausted. See you tomorrow!
Safire
SafireChristmas 2008, play group, temple
Dec 10
Everyone,
It’s dark. Dark enough that I’ve had to use the lights all day long. And it’s raining periodically. The sky is covered in dark clouds and I am feeling hermitish. Is hermitish a word? Can it be now? I have a few reasons for this new word.
1- It’s getting increasingly difficult to get out with the kids by myself. I thought that it was supposed to get easier as they got older but it’s not. They are bigger. They are heavier. Oh so much heavier. I can barely lift both of them at the same time. And since we live in a town house and do not have a garage, I do not feel comfortable about taking them one at a time out to the car. Silver lining: I do not have a ton of steps to walk up and down every time.
2- I miss snow. I miss seeing it. I miss playing in it. I miss smelling it. I wish we had snow and some good hills near our house to take the kids sledding and come home to hot chocolate and red faces. Silver lining: I do not have to worry about driving in snow weather.
3- I am missing my family a lot lately. It’s this time of year that I miss them the most. I feel like I miss out on all the fun stuff they do together. I wish my kids could know their cousins and aunts and uncles and even more extended family better. I want to go do Christmas related things with them. I want to see my brother and sil sing at their many concerts. I want to play card games at Juice’s mom’s table with family jammed into every available spot. I want to have Christmas Eve dinner at my Nana’s and have my parents enjoy my kids present carnage in person on Christmas morning. Silver lining: Our Christmases are much less hectic here. We really have time to enjoy our presents and don’t have to rush off to a bunch of parties. Juice even has some time off so we’re thinking of taking a major day trip somewhere that week.
I guess those are all my reasons. I think the key to getting over this is to do some fun things with Butterfly to get into our own family traditions. I would like to make cookies with her (and have all the stuff) and also cinnamon rolls (because she asked to). I would like to drag my family downtown and see the lights of the city, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that and skip the boys’ bed time. Maybe in a few years we can do that. At least I can get Chinese food on Christmas Eve watch A Christmas Story after everyone goes to bed.
Safire
SafireChristmas 2008
Dec 07
Everyone,
Here is the conversation I had with Butterfly this morning as she sat next to me and ate her sucker from Santa.
B: Is Christmas over?
Me: No, not yet. He hasn’t come to our house yet or done presents for us.
B: But he came last night to church.
Me: That was so he would know what to bring you. Did you tell him what you wanted for Christmas?
B: No.
Me: That’s okay. I think he’ll bring you something nice.
B: Like a carriage?!
Me: A what?
B: A carriage. You know, like one you push a baby in?
Me: You already have one of those.
B: No, I want a different one.
Me: Oh. Well, you already have a stroller so maybe Santa will bring you something else.
(pause)
B: We don’t have Christmas day. We have Christmas time.
Hope your Christmas time is going well!
Safire
SafireButterfly Sayings, Butterfly-isms, Christmas 2008, Santa
Dec 06
Everyone,
Tonight was our church’s Christmas party. I was in charge of making 10 lbs of potatoes into mashed potatoes. They turned out great, if I do say so myself. But other people brought sweet potatoes, green beans, turkeys, pie, cookies, and mac and cheese. What a feast!
We had a story, the kids did the nativity story, and Santa came. Butterfly is not quite old enough to be a part of the bigger kids and their nativity story. She will next year though! I can’t believe in about 3 weeks she is going to move out of nursery into the kid program. Our little Sunbeam! I’m sure I’ll talk about that when it actually happens.
Anyway, she was old enough to join the stampede for Santa. When Santa first came out, she jumped into my arms and wouldn’t look at him. But all the kids were so excited, I think she got swept up with the rest of the mob. I was excited for her. She actually sat on his lap this year (probably because I told her she couldn’t have the present of the sucker if she didn’t sit on his lap, only fair I think) and actually talked to Santa. Santa was even good enough to hold both the boys AND Butterfly so we could have a picture. Of course, I forgot my camera but I’m sure someone got it (Chef?) and will email it to me. I know Mom, I will send it to you too.
It snowed and actually stuck last night! I think we got maybe a fourth of an inch but we got some! Butterfly and I took some time out to go and play in it. So much fun!
The boys had pears and rice cereal last night and ate it like it was going out of style. They also had tastes of mashed potatoes at the party and Professor had a suck of my orange. These boys are getting so big!
Safire
SafireChristmas 2008, church, Santa
Dec 03
Everyone,
I’ve blogged about this before but our tree is old. (I first typed in very before the old but then I didn’t want Juice feeling very old since this tree is as old as he is.) And for this being it’s 29th Christmas, it’s looking remarkably well. It’s still full. The needles are not smashed or flat. It is a little rough around the edges, especially the top branch where the star goes, but all in all, it’s beautiful.
I was thinking about it today while I was staring at it, that some of my ornaments have hung on this tree for over 10 years. I feel fairly attached to this tree and until it breaks or something, we may never get another.
We had a great time decorating the tree. I always put up our yearly ornaments first. This year, Butterfly picked out the little people barn. 
Juice got Wall-E, the boys got matching first Christmas Winnie the Pooh ornaments, and I got my 20th angel. I have been collecting them since I was 8 years old. It’s the hallmark series that will never die. All 21 of them (they had a special one for 15 years and Juice got it) look great on the tree. They look so good next to all my animals and all of Juice’s big fun ones. He has a dancing mickey, letter to Santa that talks, an ark that moves, and several others. I love pulling out the boxes and seeing all of these things again.
Butterfly moved her barn to 4 different places before I made her pick a place and stick with it. She then hung the boys and lost interest to the little people nativity that we have and only play with at this time of year. Juice and I spent the rest of the afternoon reminiscing over what was going on in our lives when we got each ornament. Butterfly hung two or three more. The boys were most interested in them. Professor was more interested in the tree skirt but Pirate really really wanted to hold/eat/slobber on the ornaments. 
Every time we walked by holding one, he would kick and smile and get all excited like we were coming for him to hold what we were holding. They both stared at the tree for a long moment when Juice turned the light on.
We decided this year not to put any presents under the tree because they (okay, Professor but Pirate may learn this month) are on the move and the tree is out in the open. We moved it from behind our couch like we had it last year. I like it better where it is. We will put the presents out Christmas Eve.
And taking a picture with two infants on a timer is really pretty silly but still, we did it. Christmas cards are mostly addressed so they will hopefully go out by this weekend. It’s one of my better cards so I’m excited to show it off! Especially since my good friend Chef took all the pictures. I also have loads of extras since I could only buy either 50 or 100. 50 would not be enough, 100 is WAY more than I need. But I figure if worse comes to worse, I can always send them to doctors and dentists and people I don’t normally send them to. I’ll find a way to use them up. If you’d like one, please email me at safirecat {at} gmail [dot] com and one will find it’s way to you.
Safire
SafireChristmas 2008, christmas tree
Nov 29
Everyone,
Thanksgiving was great! We had such a good time and had a bunch of good food. 
The turkey turned out perfectly (see picture). We had an impressive spread and enjoyed every bite. Butterfly and Vinny ate well. Well, Butterfly only wanted to eat cranberries (and probably ate 4 servings of it) and Vinny only wanted to eat butternut squash. And neither would touch the other. I had a great meal. It could have been relaxing.
Only that Lala and I decided to feed our babies solid foods for the first time. For all 3 of them. Mimi is just a few weeks older than my boys. We really didn’t plan that for dinner time, they were just all hungry at the same time. So out come the sweet potatoes and the mess!
I have to admit, I have been putting off feeding the boys solid foods. They were interested, they had had little bites. I just didn’t want to go into the realm of actual solid foods because of the mess. But I am over that hurdle and on we go to solids! They both ate the entire bowl of sweet potatoes and were asking for more at the end.
Today was a little less messy because they learned quickly to keep their hands out of the way of the spoon or they don’t get the spoon. Of course, Professor then sticks his hands in his mouth and manages to get it all over everything. Ahh…reminds me of Butterfly! Pirate is turning out to be a tidy eater and hopefully that will stay true.
Anyway, we got the kids ready for bed and put Vinny and Mimi (Vinny’s baby sister) in Butterfly’s room. Vinny had the bed and Mimi had our pack and play. We then put Butterfly and the boys in the boys’ room. The boys are still sleeping in the same crib and our other crib is up. The boys in their crib, and Butterfly in her old crib. She was thrilled to be sleeping in the same room with them. It also reminded me how big she has gotten. The crib seemed to swallow her up when she was a baby, and now she barely fits in it.
One funny story about them being together. Each time one of them cried, she would pipe up “A baby is crying Mommy!” as loud as she could and they would both stop crying. There was one point when I heard shrieks of laughter coming from their room. I sent Juice up to tell everyone to go to bed. He asked her if she was playing with the baby brothers. She said no. He said to go to sleep. She said, “But Pirate isn’t asleep. He wants to play.” Uh-huh. You aren’t playing with them huh? In the end, they all ended up sleeping. Even Vinny and Mimi slept.
The adults, on the other hand, did not. After we cleaned up a bit and started a load of dishes, we played card games. One specific card game. We love this game. It is hysterical! (If you want to get Juice something for Christmas, we do not have 3, 5, 6, or 7. Just a hint.) In what game can you have shiny false teeth of doom or mutilate Santa’s body to go up a level? We stayed up till 12:30am playing this game. Poor Juice kept getting cursed (there’s a chicken on your head! loose one small item! this item is now useless but stuck to you!, you have to be generous and give away your stuff!) and yet he still won the game 5 of the 8 times we played. Everyone won at least once. Everyone had a dismal game somewhere in there. And every laughed till we cried at one point.
A big thanks to Lala, Vinny, Mimi, and MP for making this a crazy fun Thanksgiving!
The day after…ah the day after. We put up our tree. We opened a great box from my mom with our yearly Christmas ornaments and treats. Music to listen to, Christmas pjs for the kids, and caramel hot chocolate. My mommy loves me. This stuff is AMAZING and I think I had 3 cups yesterday.
In the Christmas box is a kids nativity that Butterfly had to play with instead of hanging up ornaments. Oh she hung a few up, but she “had important people to play with.” The boys stare at the tree every time we turn the lights on. Pirate was especially interested in the ornaments and really really really wanted to eat each one. Professor liked the tree skirt. It’s sparkly.
Now excuse me while I go have another cup of this and listen to my music. Thank you.
Safire
SafireChristmas 2008, Lala and Vinny, NaBloPoMo, P and P firsts, Thanksgiving 2008
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