Merry Christmas!

Funny story. It's Christmas Eve and we're all up in the Adirondacks getting ready for the big day. Everybody's going skiing at Gore Mtn and I decide to take Jake out for his first lesson. I haven't been skiing in 15 years, and only in the powdery and forgiving snow of Colorado, but after I get skis on, it seems to come back to me. Jake wasn't really in the mood to learn that day, but I was having a blast on the bunny hill, and feeling like it was just yesterday that I was skiing black diamonds in Aspen. We took a break for lunch and then Uncle Bob (here's where I would post a link to a blog entry about our near tragedy in the Pacific Ocean, but that was back before blogs) suggested I head up the mountain and ski with the big boys. At the time, I couldn't think of any better way to spend a sunny December afternoon.

We head down the slopes and I'm feeling great. But Bob points out that I'm snowplowing and need to keep the skis parallel. That sounds familiar so I put them together and start to remember how to turn. But something's different. Where is the powder up to my knees? What's all this icy snow doing here? Before long, I'm face down and feeling pain everywhere, but mostly in my right hand. I go to stand up and my thumb does not agree with the plan.

I made it down the mountain and for some reason decided to take the gondola up for another run. This time, I'm realizing my thumb is toast. I get down to the bottom again and head for the bar. An ice water for my thumb, and a nut brown ale for me.

Ali's Dad Mike takes me to the hospital, about 40 minutes away and they do X-Rays and confirm the break. It's still lined up, but I'll need to keep it in a splint so it heals properly. It's about 7:30pm by now and we're headed back to the lodge. I get the cellphone to call and let them know we're headed back and to see what we've been missing on Christmas Eve.

The phone rings and rings. It took a while for someone to answer, because Ali, expecting our call, had run to the phone and badly stubbed her toe on a table. And had broken it. The toe, not the table. No, I'm not kidding.

Of course, they didn't know at the time whether it was broken. When we finally got back to the lodge, Ali was being fed shots of whiskey and the Uncles were convincing her that they could manually correct the errant toe. We headed right back to the hospital.

The ER docs and nurses are probably still chuckling about us. They didn't even try to keep straight faces when we showed up with the second broken bone. And when the doctor found out we had two toddlers he really lost it. "So, how are you going to take care of them?? You can't walk and you can't carry anything! HAHAHHAHA!!!" It was a Christmas miracle that we were able to give these poor ER workers such amusement with our wounds. Isn't that the true spirit of Christmas?

Today we had our follow-up visit with the orthopaedist (why do they insist on the funny Greek spelling? It's not like we take the kids to Paediatricians) and we brought laughter and happiness to a whole new office of medical professionals. "Oh we couldn't wait when we saw that you were both coming in. What happened? Who beat up who? Did a thumb wrestling match go horribly wrong?"

Ali's Dad likes to call the whole episode a "Love Story," which I think is the best spin anyone could possibly put on this comedy of errors.

Here's to a healthy 2010!

Oh, Christmas was a blast, besides the injuries. Here are a few pictures from our trip to Warrensburg NY, including the crazy 80's party we had on 12/26. And here's a video of Jake playing his new drumset!!

Excited for Christmas!

I think this might be the longest I've gone without a blog entry. I blame Facebook, except that I haven't been posting there either. Tonight was such a great night. We didn't do anything special-- well we did go out for pizza at Flippin Pizza because Sadie asked so nicely. But otherwise it was just a nice fun family night. The kids are so excited about Christmas. Jake is literally counting down the days. Sadie is singing Frosty the Snowman. And with the snow coming (12" expected), they're even more excited. We let them stay up late tonight to see when the snow started falling. Around 9:00, we looked out the window and saw the first flakes start to collect on the ground. It was like a budget Norman Rockwell painting up in here. Jake and Sadie have been having so much fun together lately. They really seem like brother and sister these days-- looking out for one another, sharing, pretending together, and fighting too. And I love hearing them crack each other up. I love it more than food and Bo Diddley.

In a few days we're driving to upstate New York where Ali's Uncle Bob and Aunt Kate have a log cabin. Ali's whole family will be there, and my parents too. We're so lucky that our families not only get along, but have fun together. I'm looking forward to a week of playing in the snow, catching up with everyone, cooking, and maybe playing some ukulele.

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year!

We had a fun night last night, starting out at the Dogfish Head Alehouse. We went for an early dinner and the place was packed with families and kids. When we got home, we did our usual run around the cul-de-sac banging pots and pans to ring in the new year. Here we are, practicing our technique:

Last week, we were all up in Sea Isle City, NJ to celebrate Christmas with our family. We had a great time and luckily Santa found our milk and cookies and left just a few things for the kids.

One of the highlights for Jake was getting to hang with his cousin, Arjuna. Here they are hamming it up for the camera on one of our beach walks:

And the other highlight was playing with his older cousin, Declan. Declan, you were a great sport with those two!

Here's one of my highlights:

We had so much fun with the family -- luau night, karaoke, great food, and lots of laughs.

Check out some pictures here.

What was that last post about?

We're pretty much back to normal today, I'm happy to report. Besides some lingering coughs, Jake and Sadie were pretty much back to their funny, happy, inquisitive selves. Jake, especially, is a little loopy with all the Christmas talk, and getting ready for a week-long family get-together in Sea Isle City, NJ is just adding to the excitement.

Tomorrow, we'll drive up to the (or, "go down the," as Ali would say, preposition-less) shore. DD and Pop are sponsoring a family get together and we're all looking forward to fun times with about 30 Fergusons and Edelsteins and Carrs and Pucas. We're so happy that it's become the norm that both sets of Jake and Sadie's grandparents are together on the holidays. Those kids really are spoiled. Not to mention all the sweets that Ali's always sneaking them.

Here's a video of me and Jake, working on our Christmas song routine:

More pictures from Thanksgiving

Here's Sadie with a funny head-tilt on the 13th green:
And here are Jake and cousin Arjuna hamming it up:
Sadie carefully hanging ornaments on Gram and Poppy's tree:

Overheard while putting out the Christmas decorations tonight:

"Hey look at all these chimney socks!"

And as Jake unpacked a little manger scene:

"Daddy there's a cute little baby in here! She's so tiny!"

Christmas pictures

First post of the new year and I'm already looking back to 2007. Here are the photos from Christmas, from our and Deni's cameras. We're still waiting on the official group photo from Kate's new camera (SUBTLE HINT!)....

I also uploaded the pictures from our visit to the World War II memorial just before Christmas. It was great to finally get Pop there and the kids had fun running around before we moved on to the Air and Space museum.

Happy Friday!

We Survived Christmas

I'll admit, sometimes it felt like I needed a helmet and goggles, but all in all we had a great Christmas. Ali and I hosted this year (30+ people), and here are a few lessons learned:

1) Light bulbs will burn out at twice the normal rate, and primarily in difficult-to-reach locations.
2) Garbage day doesn't come soon enough
3) When purchasing libations, figure roughly three drinks per guest-- or double that if they have a two-year-old
4) Have each guest bring an empty box with a return shipping label -- something WILL be forgotten.
5) And finally, don't forget: batteries are the currency of Christmas morning

Almost Christmas!

Only two more days to go and somebody is getting a little excited! I'm mainly talking about Ali, but all I had was this picture of Jake - who's also a little excited. :)

Ali's parents arrived yesterday and most of the rest of the crew arrives tonight. We're getting ready for fun and crazy toddler times when Jake's 2-year-old cousin, Arjuna, arrives tonight to add to the excitement.

Who's got molars and loves Christmas trees? THIS GUY!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like

I know it's not even December yet, but the Christmas TV shows are already on and Jake's getting excited. "Mommy I saw Rudolph!!" Rudolph was his favorite from last year and we must have watched that show about 765 times. Here's Jake helping decorate the house:

And here's The List, as dictated to Ali: