Happy Halloween!

(Liam and Kieran went trick-or-treating tonight with two friends.)

At Liam’s school last week, the 5th Graders came over to help the 1st Graders carve their very own jack-o-lanterns. Here is Liam with his creation. He was very proud to have carved his first pumpkin, and told me that the only help he needed from the older children was scooping the inside seeds and strands out of the pumpkin.

Have a spooky Halloween, everyone!

For the last several years he has worked for a fireworks company on the Fourth as a pyrotechnician, one of those guys that gets to actually shoot the the big shells at municipal fireworks shows. As usual, yesterday, he was at work. And we have the video to prove it. Enjoy!

It’s a lousy picture, I know, but I got it on the fly with my cell phone. Kieran had been asleep before dinner, and he was cranky and angry all through dinner because we woke him up to eat (and also to keep him from sleeping through the evening and getting up for the day at 4:00 AM). He really was a sight with his crazy messed-up curly bedhead, spaghetti sauce stained shirt, and a face tear-stained from a reprimand delivered for throwing food at the dinner table. We all ate quickly while keeping an eye out for flying tortellinis.

Any experienced parent knows those kinds of dinners – the ones where the best thing to do is end the meal as quickly as possible, preferably before someone gets injured by a flying fork. And tonight I really thought that we were going down the road to the Witching Hour in Chaos City.

Thankfully, I was wrong. And in fact, tonight turned out to be a night where it was just plain fun to be the mother of two small boys.  The fun was started by a surprise find during my weekly grocery shopping trip.

I went shopping this morning and discovered that our usually plain Jane grocery store had pulled out all the stops for Valentine’s Day. Flowers lined many aisles, and fresh chocolate-dipped strawberries and blueberries were available in the produce department. I bought a small platter of fresh blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and then asked the produce clerk to add some of the chocolate-dipped berries. Anticipating happy smiles at a happy family dinner, I made my way home with the chocolates safely tucked up front with me instead of leaving it in the back where a falling milk carton could crush it.

Then, as is often the case with daydreams, real life intruded, this time in the form of Mr. Cranky, age 2.5 years. Our usually sunny and hug-crazy Kieran woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. He was cranky and touchy for much of the day, and to make matters worse, he decided that he would refuse most offers of food. By late afternoon he was tired, and a stop for a quick nursing session ended up as a nap.

By dessert time, Kiri was clearly a tired, tired, tired boy, and he barely managed a smile when we brought out the chocolate. He ate some of the fresh berries, and was about to start throwing food again when Liam handed him a chocolate dipped blueberry. He popped it into his mouth. His face lit up at the first bite, and the tears stopped. It soon became obvious that the usual sweet and huggy Kieran was back amongst us. After eating some more berries and a bit more chocolate his recovery was complete. He hugged his dog, and then turned to hug me. After that, he disappeared upstairs in search of more huggable people.

And now my children have learned a Big Important Life Lesson – sometimes a bit of chocolate and some hugs can dry more tears than can a box of tissues.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Everyone!

]]> http://menageriehouse.com/2010/02/15/happy-valentines-day-2/feed/ 2 liesl 0214101803a http://menageriehouse.com/2009/12/27/merry-christmas/ http://menageriehouse.com/2009/12/27/merry-christmas/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:03:14 +0000 lieslf http://menageriehouse.com/?p=725 ]]> We had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas here at the Menagerie House. As we went through the various holiday rituals and traditions, I was reminded again and again how blessed Kevin and I are to be together for all these years now, and how blessed we are by having our beautiful, playful, and kind boys to raise. Life is so hard for so many in the world, and so we are truly lucky to have only a few problems in our lives.

Here are a few brief snapshots of Christmas 2009 at the Menagerie House:

A White Christmas is a rare thing in New Jersey, but we had one this year! The storm last weekend ended up giving us about 14 inches of snow, and it was beautiful.

Snow angels were made…

and there were sleigh rides…

When we woke up and came downstairs on Christmas morning, all these presents had appeared under the tree.

So we went to work unwrapping them all.

This is Santa’s big gift for Kieran and Liam this year. It’s  Geotrax airline and train system. Kieran had asked for the airport, while Liam had asked for the train, so Santa arranged a set up where the two lines could intersect and mingle. This toy has been a huge hit; both boys love it. If the interest holds there are lots of expansions sets availabale that could be fun for Kieran’s birthday in March!

Santa did not for get Casey, and even Houdini received a gift bag of raisins and Cheerios, a ferret’s favorite treats.

It was a fun but long day-even the gingerbread reindeer look a bit tired. I think next year I will make these guys a day or two before Christmas.

That’s the quick round-up of Christmas fun at the Menagerie House this year. Now we have ten wonderful days of family time together since Kevin’s company closes between Christmas and New Year. I will be back throughout the week with updates on our activities, and to check in on all my blog friends out there!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my readers!

With a splash and a shriek and a very confused look on his face, Liam emerged from his Mommy’s tummy, all cute, and shiny, and wet, and angry at having fallen out of his nice cozy dark watery world into this place the rest of us call “The Real World.”

Liam wasn’t angry for long though, because the friendly OB standing by Mommy’s feet caught him with warm strong hands, wrapped him up in a soft warm blanket, helped him expel some particularly bothersome strands of mucus and gunk, and then handed Liam to his Mommy, who promptly nursed him for the first time ever. Judging from the look on his face as the first squirts of warm colostrum slid down his throat, all of a sudden being ejected quite quickly from the only watery world he’d ever known did not seem to be such a bad thing after all.

All that took place on Thanksgiving Day 2003, and so for Liam’s proud parents, Thanksgiving took on a whole new richness since this wonderful little boy had come to live with them on Thanksgiving Day.

In Liam’s first  years, we would celebrate Thanksgiving in NJ with GiGi, sometimes Uncle Bob, and Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop. It was  fun-a typical American Thanksgiving complete with lots of food, hugs, football, chatting and sometimes even a long walk in the evening after the kitchen had been cleaned up.That was a lot of fun, and I will always treasure those memories.

But the times, they do change, and things happen and so sometimes even long-standing traditions have to change along with everything else. Almost three years ago, Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop moved to Texas. Since then, we who stayed behind in the Garden State slowly started doing some things on our own to build a new set of holiday traditions, but were largely unsuccessful, mostly because it’s hard to have a traditional feast with only Mommy, Daddy, and one, and then two, little boys.

This year, however we are doing things differently. Our plan was to have a nice Thanksgiving Dinner here at home, and then a long walk on the canal with friends. Then, over the weekend, we would head for the Poconos, where there is a lodge-style hotel complete with an indoor water park. We would drive up in the morning, play in the water all afternoon, and perhaps for a bit after dinner. Then we would go to our room for some reading or a movie. The next day we would splash away the morning, have a good lunch, and return home in time for bedtime and Liam’s birthday celebration at school on Monday.

Well. well, so the first part didn’t quite go as planned, but we are rallying and continuing on with the  first year of of our new tradition. You see, I woke up Thanksgiving morning with a migraine headache. I haven’t had one in a couple of years. thankfully, but I was completely unprepared for this one to strike. By noon yesterday, Kevin and the boys were driving me to the ER. The helpful people there were able to get me some relief quite quickly, which was welcome, but because of all the H1N1 caution, the boys were not allowed to stay in the ER with me. So Kevin had to take them home. It was not the day I had envisioned where I would be cooking goodies for my family and playing with them. On the other hand, though, I did get some much-needed rest as I spent 4 hours waiting for the radiologist in Australia (certain services are outsourced on holidays, apparently) to read my perfectly normal CT scan. Kevin and the boys bounced back and forth between home and the hospital, and at one point one of the nurses came back to tell me that there were two cute boys sitting on the floor out front amusing the receptionist with knock-knock jokes and eating M&M’s. So apparently the boys had a decent time themselves. Poor Kevin, who had to manage these active little ones, was a bit the worse for wear as the hospital didn’t manage to release me for 6 hours.

However, I am proud to tell you that I was fine yesterday, fully functional, and was able to put together smaller version of Thanksgiving dinner. We did indeed take our walk on the canal and spied many treasures such as rocks, colored leaves, sea gulls, and a heron or two..We were accompanied by Liam’s friend K and her parents. K’s Mom and Dad and I first met singing in a local choir. K was born about a year after Liam, and has grown up with him. They are fast friends, and it was to our great surprise and honor that K was placed in Liam’s Kindergarten class this past September She is now one of Liam’s favorite Kindergarten classmates. We all went out to lunch, and then returned home.

While eating our delayed Thanksgiving dinner last evening, we announced our travel plans to the boys, who were very much in favor of the trip, as you might imagine. They had a bit of trouble getting to sleep last time as they are quite excited about our trip coming up in under two hours now.

I’m on my way to pack now, but I think that our trip today will be nothing less than wonderful. So with that, I bid you all good day and a happy weekend. The lodge does have wi-fi so if I have time I may post a few pictures and tell some funny stories.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my readers!

Liam: ” Kieran, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day!”

Kieran: “YAY! MOMMY, LIAM SAY SANTA CLAUS COMING!!!!

Liam: “Oh, brother! Kieran, Thanksgiving day is for giving thanks for the good things we have around us.”

Kieran: “Oh, I See. I thankee Casey……….”

And with that he was off to hug his favorite dog:

Happy Thanksgiving from The Menagerie House To You!

But it turns out that the hobgoblin wasn’t such a bad fellow after all. When the children sat down to their snack table after playing outside, they found that each one of the places at the table had been given a tiny wee pumpkin for the child at each spot to take home. So the day before Halloween passed in a fun manner at school.

After lunch, we set to work carving the boys’ jack-o-lanterns. The boys were excited to wake up this morning and realize that finally the day they have waiting for for soooo looooong came—-It was Halloween morning, and trick-or-treating would happen that evening!

We passed the day doing this and that around the house. Finally, it was time to put on the boys’ costumes!

This year, Kiri dressed as Diego, and Liam was a valiant knight in shining armor. Aren’t they adorable? Kieran was almost quivering with excitement when we took this picture. We went around to the immediate neighbors and friends, and then down the block a bit. By the time we’d finished up a dozen or so houses, “Diego” grew tired and asked to be carried. The intrepid trick-or-treaters returned home with their treasure, happy as happy can be.

This is Kieran’s jack-o-lantern. He asked for “two circle eyes, a star nose, and a funny smile!”

And this is Liam’s jack-o-lantern. He’s got the classic triangle eyes and nose. After we brought our tired boys home, we had dinner, and then handed out treats as the older children came by. The lovely pumpkins kept us company.

Happy Halloween from the Menagerie House!

]]> http://menageriehouse.com/2009/11/01/halloween/feed/ 3 liesl PA300357 PA310360 PA310366 PA310369 http://menageriehouse.com/2009/08/19/its-the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year/ http://menageriehouse.com/2009/08/19/its-the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:07:15 +0000 lieslf http://menageriehouse.com/?p=638 ]]> Or, well, so some marketers would like to have us believe. For several years now as the Christmas catalogs arrive earlier and earlier I’ve been vowing to myself to make note of the arrival date of the first Christmas catalog of the season. Just for kicks, you know, and also so I can complain about the egregiously early arrival of the marketing hype. Anyway, the first catalog came today from Northstyle. Here it is, with a look at the excitement on the back cover:

Consider yourself warned-the Christmas shopping season is officially open!

(The fact that today is August 2oth and the thermometer topped out in the low 90′s does put a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm, somehow….)

All four of us ventured down to the beach today. As we got out of our car, Kiri spotted a pair of Canada geese and their eight babies strolling around in the grass. We birdwatched for a few minutes and then walked the couple of blocks down to the beach.We had lunch at a beachside grill and then played in the sand. Kevin and the boys played chicken with the waves, but with 50 degree water I was not that brave. Kiri in particular enjoyed it, but after a while we had to stop the fun since his feet were turning bright red. We lured him up to the boardwalk with an offer of games. Liam and Kevin played skeeball and basketball. Kieran saw some claw machines and begged to try one. He sropped in the coins and told me which toy to try for. With his expert assistance I won two toy Elmo dolls and a really cute stuffed skunk – not bad for the four dollars I paid to play. After a couple of air hockey games we headed back to the sand. We walked on the beach some more, went back up to the boardwalk for ice cream, and headed home. It was a perfect start to the Memorial Day weekend. We didn’t even get stuck in traffic, which is a minor miracle on weekends at the Jersey Shore.

Wishing all of our blogland friends a peaceful and fun Memorial Day!