v.2

Last Saturday there was a big snowstorm a coming! It was expected to be at least 6 inches, if not more. I don’t know about other areas but we only got a measly 3 inches, if that! It was quite windy so there was snow drifts. Yves was disappointed he couldn’t take out the snow blower. He’ll get another chance tomorrow as they say a real blizzard is coming! At least 12 inches! We’ll see! Anyway, Sienna “helped” Yves do some shoveling, we all walked Skippy and played just a bit in the snow. Sienna doesn’t have a snowsuit anymore (I can’t find the one she wore last year so I must have given it away!) so she got cold pretty fast. Then we went inside and all had hot cocoa. We tried to get Sienna to take a nap but she didn’t want to, nor has she for the past couple of days. Sigh. Yves changed her crib into a toddler bed the Saturday before so I suppose she is enjoying the freedom of going in and out of her bed. (Although she did take a nap on Sunday after a fun playtime at the indoor playground in Park Slope).

This is how Sienna “helps” her dad shovel snow. HA!

She did a real great job walking Skippy! Only dropped his leash a couple of times.

I was trying to get her to go all the way on the snow but I suppose it was probably a good thing she didn’t.

One of her snow Angels.

She gobbled down her cocoa and wanted some marshmallows on the table (even tho there were some in her mug)

A close up of her cocoa mouth!

You can see another video of Sienna walking Skippy on my flickr page here

Snow Angels from Lisa on Vimeo.

Comments(2)

The last week of January was the last class of the winter semester of the Little Gym. We opted not to join again. I am happy to say that Sienna was in a great mood for the last class! I was worried there for a bit because the previous 2 classes she was quite moody and did not want to do anything and would cry at a drop of a hat. I guess it could also do with the fact that the month of December and January was a bit crazy with the holidays and doctor appts so our schedule was off (but I also learned that Pisces are moody, oh yay! I thought Cancers were moody-which is what I am, so poor Yves!)  Sometimes she is really great at class and is first in line to do the skill of the week. Well, she didn’t actually do that this time but she did do all the skills! It was nice to leave the Little Gym on a good note.

All Smiles!

Miss Josephine and Miss Winne. Of course my battery died when they had Sienna look up and wave to me!

Wheelbarrow on the high beam followed by a forward roll.

Rolling over the donut

Getting her ribbon

Bubbles

An attempt at a group shot! HA!

Comments(3)

 I got a couple more food related posts, hence the title.

A couple of  weekends ago we had lunch in the ‘hood at Jay and Lloyd’s Kosher deli. Sienna picked a hot dog for her kid’s meal but was soon discovered that she quite enjoyed Yves’ pastrami sandwich! I got some matzoh ball soup and a pastry knish (potato with the skins). During the course of our meal, they were also handing out free samples of liver (which nobody sampled), fried zucchini and potato pancake. Yum!

I know you can’t see the pastrami (it also seems like she’s eating her fingers!) but it’s there!

And here is a funny video of Sienna while we were having pizza for lunch the other day after the Little Gym.

Too Much! from Lisa on Vimeo.

Comments(3)

My friend Pete trekked out to our house this past Sunday for a visit. Sienna hadn’t seen him since summer and was super excited to see him! Thankfully we were smart enough to not tell her too early in the day that he was coming because once we did, she kept looking out the window and saying “Where’s Uncle Peeder? Where is he? I don’t see him!” He arrived for lunch where we were having cold cut sandwiches and I actually made a potato soup, a relatively easy recipe I cut out from the newspaper last week (minus the celery and added extra potatoes not on purpose). I also made these parmesan cream crackers (they were good but the middle parts were more doughy and needed to be baked slightly longer). And Pete presented us with some awesome donuts from our neighborhood shoppe.

Sienna took her nap and we were able to play some Boom Blox 2 on the Wii. Pete brought the Wii Fit Plus with him. That was a lot of fun and am considering getting it. Time to dust off that Wii Fit board! Sienna woke up while we were playing on the board. Since there were multi player options, we were taking turns doing stuff on the board and Sienna wanted to join in. It was funny watching her on the board! We all kind of worked up a sweat on the games we were playing so Yves took the opportunity to put on football. Sienna happily played with Pete; doing puzzles, dancing in her room and having stories read to her.

And I want to thank Pete for wearing her out. She didn’t give us any trouble going to sleep that night! She recently started this (hopefully short lived!) trend where she doesn’t want to go to bed. I knew that was bound to happen sooner or later (I was hoping for later!). We would do our usual routine, read her stories and she would climb into bed (she’ll climb in but won’t climb out.) Not more than 5 minutes later she is crying. As soon as we walk in there, she stops crying and informs us in her sheepish voice, “I don’t wanna go to sleep.” She is even started to tell us that the back of her mouth is hurting (we are beginning to think this is a ploy to get tylenol drops, which she loves!) Anyway, we don’t take her out or anything but try to reason with her and have her lay down and go to bed. We walk out of the room. 5 minutes later the show starts again! Monday night it happened for about the 4th time maybe in a week. By the 3rd outburst, we ignored her and she finally fell asleep. Argh! I wish Uncle Peeder could come over every night until this phase is over! (noted to add: it didn’t happen last night! Woohoo! Cross fingers that it’s over!)

Sienna’s turn on the Wii Fit board

Pete showing us the marching game

Puzzles!

(I know this one is blurry but I like how I caught Pete’s butt sticking out and Sienna in mid twirl while they were dancing!)

Comments(1)

The first weekend of 2010 was brutally cold (actually so was the 2nd weekend but finally some relief this weekend with a expected balmy temp of the mid 40’s). So we went back to the Staten Island Children’s Museum. The first time we went was back in October of ’09. It was Yves’ idea to go this time and he was even thinking of becoming a member. I don’t know who has more fun, Yves or Sienna!

For lunch, we opted to head on over to Lento’s, a thin crust pizza place that we loved in Bay Ridge (which closed in 2006). While I never thought the Staten Island location compared, it was better than going down the road for lunch as we did last time. Plus it made Yves so happy! We ordered mozzarella sticks, a salad for me and the pizza with half black olives/pepperoni and half cheese. Sienna enjoyed it was well!

Comments(2)

Since my parents do Christmas presents on the Eve, we didn’t have much planned for the rest of Christmas Day after opening our own presents. I was delighted that Starr invited us over along with Geneva, Layne and Phoenix. I always get so bummed out right after opening presents. So much preparation and excitement and hub bub for the one big day and then bam, all done. Of course it’s fun to play with all the goodies you got but I still get a little sad when it’s all over. So I was happy to prolong it just a little bit with a party at Starr’s house! Woohoo! I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, my now “famous” homemade thin mints, macaroni and cheese and some pretzles with chocolate kisses and M&M’s on top and homemade chocolate lollipops.

We played a fun game while we were there. Everyone gets a sticker on their back with the name of a celebrity that made the news that year. We have to guess who we are by asking yes or no questions to everyone else. It was so much fun! I was Michael Jackson and I was suprised at how long it took me to guess him! Yves was Bernie Madoff and he was the last to guess. So a bit later we did the White Elephant. Everyone brings a gift and one person picks a gift and opens it. Then the next person on the list can either take away your gift or opt to open a new gift. I goofed by only bringing one gift from me and Yves. The kids each got a gift but got to keep the ones they opened! I ended up getting scratch off lottery tickets (no winners, boo!) and Yves got coffee mugs and dish towel/mitt because Geneva was nice enough to be the one short changed a gift. The big prize was the Blue Mountain coffee I gave as a gift. Geneva opened it and it got taken by Starr. LOL. Brian made pulled pork sandwiches with homemade BBQ sauce, collard greens, butternut squash and slaw. Geneva brought over a wonderful green salad with cranberries and walnuts in it. It was really a fun time!

Layne, Yves, Geneva and Starr

Sylvie and a messy cookie

Sienna didn’t do too badly with the chocolate!

Sienna got a platypus for her White Elephant gift, which she promptly called a duck.

Nico watching excitedly as his dad Brian opens his gift (2 frames and M&M’s)

Phoenix got our puzzles!

The kids flocked around Yves a lot that night!

Starr and Sylvie

Some great peeps!

Comments(0)

Yes, I realize I am really behind in my posts and in wishing you all Happy Holidays. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and got lots of great presents and spent time with the ones you love! I have the Jamaica vacation to write about as well as lots of swaps but wanted to start off with Christmas.

My parents came over on the Eve (as per tradition) and we all got our red envelopes. We gave my dad a OXO chopper and a melon slicer device. My mom got a calendar of Sienna photos. Sienna got a bunch of presents! She got some a new frog animal (she named Ribbit), wood blocks, a Winne the Pooh computer (which she promptly said that she was going to check her e-mail!), a vest jacket, fleece and sweatshirt with Tinklebell and some Tag books (she didn’t open the actual Tag device until Christmas morning since that was from us.) Then we went to eat at the East River restaurant in the Brooklyn Chinatown. It was all good!

Christmas morning Sienna woke up at 6:20 with excitement to open presents. They usually let me sleep a bit but Sienna came into the bedroom to wake me up! Well, how could I say no? Originally we were thinking of holding back some presents since Yves bought her a bunch of stuff and I bought her a bunch of stuff. We decided to just hold back one present (to save for her birthday) after spending 10 days with a certified brat of a toddler, it made us appreciate how well behaved Sienna is (for the most part anyway, she still is only 3 months shy of being 3!) And the fun begins! Yves got her a bunch of Melissa and Doug wooden toys. She got fake wood food, wood pots and pans and a set of instruments for her “band.” She also got the Tag Reader and another tag book from us as well as 3 more wooden puzzles and a tool set and bench from Santa. My brother sent her a Curious George write your own book set and from Jamaica, a ballerina wooden puzzle and some crocs. I gave Yves a diver’s watch, an F1 driving game, Boom Blox (2nd version) and sports set for the Wii. I also gave him the Christmas version of It’s Almost Sunny in Philadelphia. Yves spoiled me as well. I got the Hello Kitty sizzix that I wanted (for cutting fabric and felt! woohoo!) with a bunch of the dies. I also got a new pocket camera! Mine broke earlier this year and Yves was tired of me asking to borrow his (actually the one that broke was his too! He bought that one when Sienna was born to take quick shots of her!) We ended the fun by having a yummy breakfast of homemade buttermilk waffle and bacon. Later on we went to Starr’s house for a fun party that I will write about tomorrow!

Comments(0)

So I don’t want to leave the last post before vacation to be about pain. So here is something fun!

We went to the Kings Plaza Mall on Sunday. Yves dropped us off. He was supposed to come with us but when we went out to the car Sunday morning, the car wouldn’t start! The battery was dead! At first we couldn’t figure out why, we’ve only had the car for 7 months! Turns out the lights were left on! By Sienna! Sienna likes to sit in the front seat and “drive.” I usually let her but on Friday, we got back from our playdate later than usual so we were behind schedule. She had scooted into the front seat before I can stop her so since it was late, I just grabbed out of the seat. I only saw that she turned the wiper handle so I put that back. I didn’t notice she turned on the lights! I called my dad and he came and gave us a boost. Turns out that my dad saw the lights were on as they had stopped by on Friday just when we got home! He just assumed that they shut off by themselves. Argh! Yves was nervous to go to the mall and shut off the car and be stranded so he just dropped us off and drove back so the battery has a chance to recharge. Everything is fine now.

Waiting for Santa

Getting ready (I got yelled at for having my camera out)

Comments(1)

Speaking of babies, we had a surprise baby shower for Robyn during the October mixer. (Hmm, I guess you can’t really call it a mixer since no cd’s were exchanged!) We went back to the Magician, since it worked so well for the surprise shower they gave me back in January 2007. I was so glad that Robyn was surprised! Whew! Such pressure to keep it a surprise. Of course, we also bought a dozen cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine. Robyn and Eric both loved all the gifts, the cupcakes and the surprise (well, just Robyn since Eric knew about it!) It only took 2.5 years for another CDMOMer to get pregnant, who’s next?!!!

I met up with Brenda before the mixer for dinner. I suppose I should keep that post separate and will write about it next.

Comments(0)

A big warm welcome to my nephew, Saul Ambroise! He was born on Wednesday November 4th. All is healthy and well. Yay!

Comments(2)