New Year, new state, new blog

About six weeks overdue, per my usual. :)


Please do come visit:

www.lovingsinlongbeach.blogspot.com

Just like Dickens

"A Merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon over a bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!”
              - A Christmas Carol


What is smoking bishop?  Wassail.  What is wassail?  Mulled wine.  What is mulled wine?

What I made tonight!

Jonathan usually makes spiced cider in the crockpot.

Our crockpot this year is in storage, and I wanted something a bit more adult.

So I made two types, both with port (and without anise cuz I don't like it, but it is traditional).  Personally I liked the first a little better.


Mulled wine the first:
- half a bottle of port
- tons of honey
- half an orange, sliced
- cloves
- cinnamon sticks
- nutmeg

Stir.  Simmer.  Drink.


Mulled wine the second:
- a tiny bit of port
- tons of brown sugar
- half an orange, sliced
- cloves
- cinnamon sticks
- nutmeg

Stir.  Simmer into syrup.  Add in rest of port.  Simmer more.  Drink.

It rained. I found an indoor play place

Xander stayed home while the two youngest desperately needed to work out their energy.  All hail the fancy McDonald's with the new slide and the table that lit up.  You press a white circle to make it change color or change back.  The entire place entertained them for two hours, with the table itself good for multiple 10 minute intervals!

Hanukkah

What a lovely Hanukkah it was this year!  We celebrated as a big extended family, by ourselves, and even at a friend's house.  A few highlights:

 We figured out how to get Xander to read!  We bought him a Minecraft handbook.  :)

Ari adores his new Ninja Turtle pajamas, complete with door hanger.  This side says, "Do not disturb."

The second side says, "Come in, pizza party!"  So the next night of course we had to have a pizza party and movie.  (The boy is known for his faces, btw, he's a total ham)

Connor loves his cars and trucks and anything with wheels.  Pictures of him forthcoming.

Winter break day in our PJs

Modeling Xander's homemade maze, the Lego calendar where Ari and I painted December, and Connor's bug painting

From coast to coast

Ocean Blvd in Long Beach

I have to say, being home in CA is like putting on a well-worn pair of jeans.  I'm such a West Coast-er in terms of mentality and culture. I don't know why I tried to convince myself differently.  All happens as it's meant to.  Except that we are definitely not going to THIS beach in winter - it's in the 50s here and the water is freezing!

Winter break

Going to the park.  By ourselves and with new friends.

Bike rides around the neighborhood (it had been 15 years since I was on a bike, ouch)

Reading stories.

Playing with Crazy Sand and making new colors.

Playing Qixels (think fuse beads).

Making LEGO creations; here is another Minecraft one.

Watching SuperWhy and PG rated movies.

Having car races.

Going to the movies (for Jonathan and Antonio, to see Rogue One)

Minecraft and Lego Star Wars video games until they had horrible behavior and we took away all electronics for three days.

Painting in the bathtub  (I brought in water soluble paint and paintbrushes, and they painted the bathtub, the tile on the wall, and each other.  Then a very easy clean up after!)

Making and eating jello.

One brother creating mazes, the others doing them.

Train track creations.

Playing catch.

In a space of 10 minutes: Laughter. Yelling when no one listens to the adult. Hugs.  Someone hitting someone else.

In other words, great family bonding!

Marshmallow dreidels

My mom's FB post from a few days ago:

"The first night of Hanukkah. In preparation, Michal and I made edible marshmallow dreidels with the boys, we stocked up on sour cream and apple sauce, and I got a haircut....finally! We lit candles, Jonathan made latkes for dinner, we all sang songs, and Xander explained the true meaning of Hanukkah...love and being together. It was a wonderful evening."

The ingredients: marshmallows, Hershey's kisses, pretzel sticks, Nutella, white frosting, and blue food coloring

(with my infamous Hanukkah hat)

Xander designed and built his menorah all by himself.

Finished creations.

The grease-filled kitchen!  Dinner and dessert clogged our arteries wonderfully and was utterly delicious. :)

Ari reading with Bubby at school

"Breakfast and Books."  

Mom enjoyed the reading.  Ari enjoyed the donuts.

A's amazing kindergarten teacher

I love this teacher and this school.

She communicates to parents constantly through the Bloomz app.

On Monday the kids read a book about the gingerbread girl escaping her captors.  Tuesday they made gingerbread dough. Wednesday they put it into shapes.  Thursday, they decorated them.  And Friday, the cookies "escaped" and the kids had to follow clues to go all over school until they finally found them in the school office.

On Thursday, the teacher, Mrs. Williams, messaged me this photo:

"Ari wanted to make a Jewish gingerbread boy. Note the Star of David on the tummy.😊"

When I thanked her for supporting him, for having them make art menorahs as well as decorated Christmas trees, she responded:

"All children need to know that their faith and traditions are valued at school.  You're very welcome.  I wish you and all your family a very happy Hanukkah!"

The next day I picked Ari up from school and he was ecstatic.

It didn't last even 10 minutes once we got home. But he shared with everyone. :)

The good and the bad

The good: we went on a playdate with Ari's new friend Nora and her sister.

The bad:  our car wouldn't start when we tried to leave their house.

The good:  I got to know people at both AAA and the Nissan dealership, not to mention the family of the playdate.

The bad: I know them all so well because I was on the phone with them for three hours after the playdate ended, at the other family's house, going in occasionally for tea because it was freezing.

The good: I got to ride in a tow truck.

The bad: It was the third tow truck that showed up to the house.  I needed a car lift and dolly, and no matter what I said to the dispatcher, the first two tow trucks didn't show up with one.

The good: The tow truck driver, Paul, was lovely.  He's half-Hungarian, half-American, and his wife is from Japan.  We talked for over an hour waiting for all the various stuff to show up. He even gave me a ride home.

More good: The repair was free.  Thank god for warranties.

Even better good: I got home right in time for bedtime, and missed all the drama that went on in my absence over dinner and bathtime.  I got the snuggles and bedtime stories only without the crying and time-outs.

Abject lesson: there's always good, in everything!  And our car runs smoother than before.

Cat on a hot tin roof

I heard meowing. 

I went outside.

Yentl was not happy.

Behold Yentl meowing for a valiant rescue

My first thought: Where was Rescue Bots when you needed them?

My second thought:  I'll have to get a ladder.

Third thought: Crap, the ladder doesn't reach that high.

Then the phone rang, it was our friend Joe. I told him I couldn't talk as I was trying to coax the cat off the roof.  He sounded surprised.  What, this isn't the usual answer to a phone call?  I texted him the photo to show I wasn't insane.  He reacted with proper sympathy and laughter.

15 minutes later, Jonathan made her a bridge from kindling wood (for the fireplace) and a nailgun.  

It didn't work.  

An hour later, the doorbell rang.  The neighbor's nieces and nephews were over to visit and were very concerned with the cat on the roof.  Thankfully the neighbor had a very tall ladder, and whew, Yentl was saved!

(blog title courtesy of Joe)

Smorgasbord.. kind of

We had lots of tortillas.

We wanted to use them up before they got moldy.

Everyone was tired of quesadillas.

I looked up online, "tortilla meal ideas," and it was amazing. Chicken salad with feta, beef and pineapple tostadas, huevos rancheros in a cup, salami and roasted red pepper wraps, asparagus cigars, all kinds of good things I would love... that my children would never eat.

I tried again.

"Tortilla meal ideas toddlers"

That proved much more helpful.  We had a buffet of wraps.

I split each tortilla into three, so the kids could pick and choose:

Cream cheese and turkey

Apple and cheddar cheese (melted)

Turkey and cheddar cheese (melted)

Apple, peanut butter, and honey

Peanut butter and blueberries

Apple, peanut butter and honey was by far the most popular (I think because of the honey).  They even wanted it in their lunches the next day!

Ari in repose

The first of the Minecraft LEGO

Sorting pieces

Almost complete (Connor drinking smoothie)

The finished product

Showing us all its various iterations

Much, much later... playing.  Complete with sound effects and songs.

X's winter play

He was participating in the musical titled, "It's Electric!" about electricity, volts, and Alessandro Volta (who I had to look up when I get home).  I love this new school.

Even more excitedly for Xander, he won two gift baskets at the raffle, both full of  Minecraft Lego.

Discovered a new park

Jonathan was on fire playing zombie - he chased the two littles all around.  We didn't take any pictures, we were too busy having fun.

Once we got home though:

We put on Superman II and Connor conked out 30 minutes in.  Ari followed 10 minutes later.  

Xander, on the other hand watched the whole movie and thought it was great. :)

Still amazed by technology

When we moved from Cincinnati to Sacramento, Xander would Skype with his friend Yasha on our respective laptops.  It was still new-ish technology for everyone.

Now, we were on our way back from the park, kids strapped in their carseats, when I heard a Skype call on my phone. I answered it, from Ari's friend Elijah in Florida, and handed Ari the phone in the backseat. They spoke for 10 minutes in the car, then Ari carried the phone into the house, still chatting, for another 10.  It's second nature.  Even Connor reached for the phone, saying, "I want talk to Elijah!" and he already knows how to hold the phone and what buttons to press to switch from selfie to regular mode.

Sometimes I feel old.

Partying to the max

One night after dinner last week, we were cleaning up and someone said, "Let's get this party started!" - referencing a Pink song that they know from the movie Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.  Jonathan and I, of course, know the song from... well, being alive when the album was released.

We have the Amazon Echo, a really cool device which, among other things, plays music per request, so as I started the dishwasher I asked it to play "Let's Get This Party Started."

And hence began the dance party in the living room.

I became official DJ, shouting orders to the Echo in our own odd little playlist.

We danced hard to Pink and Beyonce, shook it off with Taylor Swift and heartily sang along with "Everything is Awesome" from the LEGO movie.  Somewhere around Sean Paul we segued into spinning in circles, and during the Black Eyed Peas we played catch with two alef-bet plush balls.  When the little ones started to slow down we grooved to Adele, and we transitioned into bedtime with Sarah McLachlan and Indigo Girls.

The evening ended with Jonathan and I each telling a made-up story to the kiddos.  (His was better, I admit, they always are - this time it was about dragons with diamond scales who breathed fire and ice and acid and the dragonslayers who went after them).

Lights were out by 8:30pm, and Connor only got up once after.

It was peaceful, and loving, and joyous.

I think the universe gives parents these nights every once in a while, to make up for all the others!

Creativity in our own special way

Xander came to me upset because in his music class at school, he's been singing about Santa and reindeer and snowmen and sleighs, but no Hanukkah songs.

He told me he was getting sick of "Jingle Bells," because they sing it every time.

I couldn't help myself.

I did a bad bad thing.

I taught him the "Batman smells, Robin laid an egg" version.

The child has never laughed so hard in his life. 

He actually guffawed.

He blinked a couple times before he allowed himself to laugh, like he couldn't believe that I, his usually-respectable parent, sang it to him.

When we got home, he taught it to Ari.  

Later that day we had to pile all of them in the car to go on an errand, and for 20 minutes, they made up their own bad parodies of Jingle Bells.

Consider this doing my best to pass on knowledge l'dor v'dor, from generation to generation. The tradition continues!