Waiting for Christmas--Belated

The kids patiently awaited Christmas morning. Over the month we received several boxes full of presents in the mail. By the end, the kids screamed "presents!" every time the door buzzer rang. We made lots of forts out of the big boxes and surprisingly, only a couple of gifts were stolen and partially unwrapped from underneath the tree.

We celebrated advent every night all month with candles and carols and chocolate. It was perfect for preparing young children for what was to come. They knew exactly what was going to happen on Christmas and why we were celebrating. It made the waiting and anticipating much more fun. We are continuing the celebration through the 12 days of Christmas
and I suspect that this is the beginning of a new nightly routine for our family. There's nothing better than ending the day with a little chocolate and hearing your kids' sweet singing voices.


Christmas Day pictures to come...as soon as they are downloaded for my computer-illiterate use.

Little chefs

The kids love to cook in their little kitchen. Today they made their great-uncle Marshall "eggs, cranberries, and corn puffs." Yummy.

They also beg to sit on the kitchen counter and help us cook. Arthur helps "Dad" (he's dropped the "y" and prefers to call us "Mom" and "Dad" like a little teenage squirt) grind the coffee beans every morning. We don't have tons of counter space, but we try to find a way for them to help if possible. It's really cute.

They made the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. Arthur chose to taste it as his first bite of the feast and quickly vomited everywhere, ending his Thanksgiving meal early. Oh well. It still hasn't discouraged him from further cooking endeavors.

Mom and Dad have also been exposed to new tastes in the kitchens of NYC restaurants (thanks to the generosity of those who took us). We went to the Korean restaurant Temple in the East Village and enjoyed the spicy squid dolsot, or hot stone pot. For our appetizer at Al Di La we had carpaccio (thinly sliced raw beef) with anchovies--both a first for me. Last week with the parents at Applewood we had foie gras over lobster. About half way into the liver, I realized that foie gras can be prepared cooked or raw...and I think I had the raw. It was delicious for a couple bites, but next time I would opt for medium rare. Literally any cuisine is at our fingertips in this city--a place where I am really excited about our little chefs growing up.

Laundry day...living like kings and queens

Here is a picture of laundry day in the Galt household. We have resigned ourselves to drop-off laundry service. Occasionally we find the time for Jamison to watch the kids while I go to the laundromat across the street, but we usually drop it off. I still haven't gotten comfortable with this luxury. We're living like royalty here in Brooklyn! Before you get jealous, we paid royal prices for that cart of laundry Adaline is riding on...around $25. We pay 60 cents per pound, and that's at the cheap laundromat down the street.

Along the same line, pictured is King Arthur and Princess Adaline. Adaline is very much into her dress-up clothes. There have been days when she wears one out to the park over her clothes. Arthur also begs to wear princess dresses--one nap time both of them went to sleep in a dress. He is also known to walk around with clips in his hair and other pink items. I think Arthur is a little envious of the attention Adaline gets over her dresses. So we came up with the king idea. As you can tell from the picture, Arthur is not totally won over to the idea. But it's growing on him, and he's a very handsome king.

Halloween

I was going to blog our Halloween pictures, but Jamison beat me to it. Check them out on his blog: shookfoil.



Adaline was an angel and Arthur was a devil. We were trying to be funny (although these characters often do fit their personalities), but let me tell you the ordeal from a mom's perspective. I was feeling a bit insecure about dressing my kid up as a devil. The angel/devil contrast was funny to us adults, but would my devil child feel neglected? We tested it out at a toddler Halloween costume party on Monday. I walked in the party to see a giraffe, dalmation puppy, duck, ladybug, Tigger, etc. All cutsy cuddly custumes. Meanwhile, I'm forcing some horns and a pitchfork on my son who is crying that he doesn't want to be a devil. I received many stares from the other moms (most of which I had never met) and wondered if forcing your child to be a devil could be considered child abuse.
The next day Adaline said that she was the devil and Arthur was the angel, so I thought that we might do a switch. As it turns out, Arthur was pretty content in his sister's tiny red pajamas and her tail-stuffed red tights tied around his waist. He had no interest in wearing the horns or holding the pitchfork, so by the end of the night he just looked like Richard Simmons in leotards. Oh well, Adaline was truly a perfect angel.

Halloween Silliness

Halloween-candy-related Silliness

The above is a video of the twins acting extremely silly the other night. We were reading a Halloween book and they got very excited about naming and touching the candies drawn in the back of the book. "Candy corn! Gummy worms! Popcorn!" All elicited bursts of uncontrolled laughter. But, of course, with twins the fun never lasts. Sigh.

Not-so-recent Adventures

Monday is Jamison's day off, so we often explore some place in the city. A month ago (actually September 11th) we took the train to Dumbo in Brooklyn where there is a lovely park and view of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge. Then we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. It was one of the most enjoyable things we've done here. It was a beautiful day and it is an amazing view of the city. And the bridge is really amazing too. (By the way, that's our fancy stroller some of you have heard of.)
On the other side, we found ourselves so close to Ground Zero that we decided to visit it for the first time. It was unbelievably crowded and overwhelming, but it felt significant to be there on the 5th anniversary and to hear some of the names read aloud.
I just finished a novel that is about a family who lost their father/son/husband in 9/11-- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I loved it. It feels strange to read books set in this city that we now live (I also recently finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn).
I still feel like I'm on an extended visit or something. New York is significant in so many ways. It is overwhelming to take it all in as a new resident of the city. I feel proud to call it my home.

At home

I'd like to say that we are always adventurous, but we still have our times of sitting in front of the TV just to get through the day.
The kids are very opinionated and particular these days. They demand specific TV shows (and don't seem to understand that I have no control over the PBS lineup), culinary desires (often cupcakes or pancakes or cookies or beans and cheese...which one of these doesn't belong?), and even modes of transportation (bus or train or walking, never stroller). I never knew that 2-year-olds were so opinionated.

Meet our aspiring NYC rock stars.

The kids were having some gender confusion and begged to switch clothes. Adison, this is Arthur's best sexy pose for you (disregard the pink flowers embroidered on his pants).

Daddy really wanted Arthur to have some Brooklyn gear. Unfortunately, Adaline likes the hat more than Arthur...but she prefers to wear it backwards.

Trip to the Catskill Mountains

Gigi and Marshall took us to the mountains for a weekend get-away. It was nice to get out of the city for a little while. Arthur is pictured here with his fire truck rain jacket. He gets very excited everytime he hears a siren in the city. He also is into singing his favorite song--"Fire truck, fire truck" to the same old tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Throwing rocks in the "yaya fall"

This is genious. Who knew that throwing rocks into moving water could entertain kids for so long? It's the easiest parenting I've ever done. I'm thinking about getting one.

Summer flashback

This was in Dallas before we moved to Brooklyn. The kids are pretending to ride cousin Jamison's John Deer tractor in the 115 degree heat.

BBQ New York Style

This is how we barbeque in NYC. We went to Uncle Marshall's rooftop overlooking Manhattan, ordered 7 kinds of BBQ meat to be delivered, and enjoyed our BBQ with 6 choices of sauces from different regions of the country. Pretty great! By the way, what's the deal with the nasty white Alabama sauce?

Trip to Coney Island with Gigi and Marshall

Brooklyn Cyclones game

Boat ride- Coney Island

Adaline relaxed while Arthur drove his sister around and around in the "ya ya" (Arthur's refuses to say water).

Fire truck ride

This was the kids' first ride at an amusement park. We thought that Arthur would be scared, but he loved it. Note: Dad convinced Mom to ride the Cyclone (1st wooden roller coaster). Mistake that he will never make again...Mom's neck is still sore.

Favorite Hide-and-Seek Spot

Ok, I know I said that I would post more often...I'll try again. These pictures are a month or so old. Maybe by Thanksgiving I'll post the Easter pictures. They are really cute. How about I try for next week?

Playing tea party is one of my favorite things to do with the kids now. One minute they're acting like 3 year olds, giving tea and crackers gracefully to the animals. The next minute they clear the table in true toddler style. They've broken 3 chairs, 1 table leg, 1 tea cup, and 3 bear appendages. We'll need a new set by the time they're 3 years old!

Adaline loves imitating Mom by blabbering on the cell phone.

Cave in the botanical gardens. Arthur was afraid (as usual) and Adaline loved it.

Our regular Saturday morning activity is to go to the Botanical gardens. This time, Grandma went with us and took a family picture.

Our spring break camping trip. Lots of fun outside, no sleep.

Arthur begged to have his hair like sissy.

Listening intently to Dad practicing his sermon...or watching Elmo. I can't remember.

Mom has relearned how to blog pictures, so maybe they'll be more frequent. The problem is that I don't know how to get pictures from the camera to the computer. Baby steps... The kids are in to kissing and hugging these days. They are getting along perfectly as this pictures attests.

Arthur just learned that we were out of bananas again...

Arthur loves his jewelry.

Stud.

We had our first snow day that was play-worthy (not slushy and muddy) since the kids have been walking. They weren't incredibly impressed with the snow, but did great at navigating across it. They preferred to splash in the puddles of melted snow in the driveway.

Adaline's first time to wear big shoes...an attempt to keep the snow out.

Snow mission

bling

pretty in pink

we're back, people

dancing