Christmas dinner

When I first moved up to Seattle, I knew precisely one person, from a summer program she and I had attended while in college. Today, at long last, Meh and I took the family to her delightful and highly successful new(ish) bakery. Congrats to Robin! And a huge success with our own food critics; the boys were big fans of the giant cookie sandwiches.

I mentioned yesterday that Z loves associating holidays with months, and that he was very much looking forward to Christmas. When he learned that we don't actually "do" Christmas, he was sad -- though he certainly brightened up when I indicated we'd be in Disneyland for the holiday this year. And then friends-of-friends C and T expressed an interest in doing a bit of a 'cultural' exchange, where we'll host them for a Shabbat/Chanukah dinner in a few weeks. So tonight we went over to their house, which they had just finished decking out for the holiday (with not only tree and ornament, but also trains, model houses, and more), for a very November Christmas dinner. The kids made snickerdoodles, there was much playing (in two separate playrooms no less) with friends, and everyone even warmed up to the family's friendly golden retriever after a while. Some of the adults even busted out with carols, and it was a lovely evening. Happy almost December to everyone!

Double dates

With Thanksgiving now past us, Z has been focusing on the upcoming month and holiday associated with it - "In December we'll have Christmas!" Er, hm. But at least Chanukah makes the list as well. I do still love the selections (and spellings) that comprise the Z bank holiday calendar; my favorite is "short day", which we figured out to mean days where he has a half day at school.

Movie nights have been a popular non-school-night activity with the boys. Last night we at long last introduced the boys to Star Wars (and despite many online nearly religious debates of correct ordering, we opted to open with Episode IV). O definitively proved himself to be my son by declaring during the opening titles, "This music sounds like Superman!" Both boys had a great time, and O definitively stated that his favorite part "was where they blew up the bad guy space ship". We'll have to slot in the rest of the original trilogy soon; that prequel trilogy is still TBD.

Today the boys each had an activity with a non-parent. Mima and O had lunch at a shockingly original location before heading onward to the local art museum for a project making a toolbox. O did a fabulous job with his, and though the paint is still drying, he *really* wants to put all of the tools that used to go in a little plastic box into the new toolbox. And Z got to go to his favorite park with former summer camp counselor E, who was visiting from university for the long holiday weekend. When Z had heard about getting to hang out with E a few weeks ago, he was super excited -- so much so that on an art project that came home with the names of people he was thankful for, E showed up. (Fear not, the entire atomic family and grandparents made the list as well.) All in all, an excellent time for the boys, and some good quality time for Meh and me to spend with L as well!

Cut the turkey

For this episode of "successful picture of three kids", I present some blur, some looking off camera, but at least all smiles. Happy Thanksgiving! We had a festive and high energy celebration of 22 people (14 adults, 8 kids, 2 babies); needless to say, it was a bit hectic - but lovely and yummy as always; Meh and mima outdid themselves, selecting the breast only cuts from the grocery store meant way too much turkey (though far more success with the actual carving), and of course the challah was in high demand. Grandma and J came to visit from Michigan for the week as well, and had a lovely time hanging out with the boys and L. Grandma even got to put her very first girl in a dress (though one of her friends later disputed this, recalling grandma helping out with one of that friend's baby daughters).

Of course the boys had their traditional sleepover at grandma and J's hotel (it sounded like some amount of sleeping actually did occur, though many stories were read first). L continued to show off her backwards crawling to everyone's amusement, and even chowed down on most everything that was at the Thanksgiving table - turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and more.

In earlier news, this past weekend was another rainy/gloomy affair, so I decided to introduce the boys to the pastime of bowling at a local alley. It was like turning back time walking through the door, with the same combination of banner beer ads, funky carpet smell, pull tabs, and of course the classic rental shoes. Thankfully, these fine folks offered automated bumper bowling, where bumpers would physically pop up in the gutters when it was the boys' turn and then back down for mine -- it mostly worked. The scores were embarrassing (well, mine was), but everyone had a great time rolling (or in O's case, hurling) the ball down the lane. And there were even some light math lessons ("you knocked down 3 pins - how many are left?"). Z was a great fan of everyone's bowling, and would hilariously bowl, cheer quickly, then run back to his seat to watch the ball slowly (sooo slowly, though the boys' balls only got stuck like five times) wobble down the lane. The shoes were the favorite part for O, as of couse they had his favorite color (blue) in them.

Near sighted

O's class pictures were Thursday, and he was arguably more excited than we were about the big day. Without a word or cue from me, he picked out his own ensemble and came downstairs in the morning looking quite dapper, ready for his pictures. "Wow, I look very good today!" And he knows it. This spells trouble I suspect.

In other news, L continues to be pretty much in love with her brothers, with many smiles and giggles as she watches them and as they all play together.

Today the boys and I had an early guys' movie morning, allegedly at a "sensory-friendly" screening where they would turn down the volume and turn up the lights just a bit. When I bought the tickets, I double checked we had the right screening, and the staff at the ticket counter first had a blank look and then nodded and said "yes, that's the [mumble] screening". As far as I could tell, it turned out to just be a regular showing, but the boys loved every minute of it and did a great job of quietly watching the movie and mowing through an oversized bag of popcorn. Afterwards, there was a giant version of Baymax in the lobby, and Z confirmed for himself that the robot was indeed as huggable as had been depicted in the movie.

Last Prize

Tonight Meh and I had date night, going to see a special screening of a beautiful newly restored print of Meh's favorite unicorn film at a fun city movie theater that serves up food before and during the show. Before and after, the original author of the book (and writer of the screenplay) himself was signing books and memorabilia. We enjoyed the movie (cheesy music, several corny lines, and all!), and then Peter S. Beagle himself took to the stage to answer questions and then help draw raffle of various prizes (artwork, posters, original film cels, etc.).

At the very end, there was one extra special raffle prize whose winner would get to go up on stage with Peter -- and yup, Meh won! She was so excited that she almost bit it getting up onto the stage, but she recovered and was rewarded with a shirt slightly modifying a quote from the movie, and whose explanation was a regaling of the story that somehow Peter Beagle was the first to author a story involving a female unicorn. Meh also picked up a book (unicorn-themed, by a Seattle writer who was at the screening as well) and a cool tote bag that had the entire text of the book printed on it in tiny but legible type, and forming the silhouetted shape of the lead character. What a fun and magical evening!

A portrait by the artist as a young man

Both boys love to watch L explore her new world. Last month we brought out some of the baby toys as well as the modular play mat (she of course enjoys disassembling it as much as practicing her plank pose on it. Z has taken to calling it her "privacy", since he knows that he and O aren't supposed to go on it, a concept reinforced when one of the folding gates came out to circle her toys (as much to keep the boys from playing with them as to keep their own toys out of the reach of baby hands and mouth). Yesterday, Z drew this excellent "Picture of Eleanor in Her Privacy" (2014, pencil on paper), which will most certainly adorn the fridge for some time. Nice job, Z!

Cache and Carry

What? That last post had not a single gratuitous pic of L? Just a Facebook link? Okay, rectified here, with a shot of her at the boys' new favorite indoor rainy day activity, jumping on large trampolines until they get sweaty and exhausted. She obviously enjoys going and watching the activities as well. You're welcome.

I've talked at length about O's obsession with "treasure" (perhaps encouraged a little too much by that trove he unearthed at the beach?); every time we go to a park, he's looking on the ground for treasures that he can keep. More often than not he spies litter (wrappers, bottle caps, etc.), but occasionally there's actually a penny or something interesting and non-gross enough to take home. Over the past few weeks, Meh reminded me of the sport of letterboxing, where people around the country hide a small artifact and then post clues online for others to find the item (and then rehide it for others to discover as well). Many of these are hidden in parks and woods, and sure enough, when I checked, the boys' favorite park was indeed a spot with a buried letterbox. Alas, the sport (or at least this trove) appears to have been aged out of fashion, as the boys and I followed the precise instructions but there was no letterbox to be found (the box had been hidden nearly 10 years ago, and the website was feeling a bit long in the tooth as well).

But never fear, in actuality it appears the pastime has rather just morphed in our connected mobile world to something called geocaching, where in addition to (or sometimes in place of) clues are provided GPS coordinates, and of course apps on every phone (yes, even mine) that let you kind of sort of orienteer to the prize. We returned to the same park, which claimed to have a geocache, and after the prerequisite 'exercise' (me pushing them on the swings), O and I intently followed the instructions while L snoozed and Z played with mommy. We looked very carefully at the hiding place, and lifted a seemingly innocuous rock to uncover a tiny black canister filled with a scroll of paper that you sign indicating you've discovered it. O was in awe and super excited, but also concerned when I indicated it was time to re-hide the cache for the next, um, geocacher? Afterwards, he talked about how cool it was, but how it wasn't treasure because you couldn't take it home with you. I asked if he wanted to do it again, and he said he'd rather find treasure. We'll just have to see if Z gets interested as well.