someday I'll eat with chopsticks

We went out for sushi the other night with some friends. Lilly joined us, behaved relatively well and was the hit of the place when she picked up the chopsticks like an old pro. Thank goodness for cell phone cameras...

papa!

The language explosion has begun! It seems like every day Lilly has a new word she is blurting out. We are up to 14 now.

Before the family came out for the holidays, we were looking at pictures trying to teach Lilly everyone's names. This daily lesson usually occurred before dinner. Scrolling through the pictures, Lilly burst out with "papa" when she saw a photo of my dad. We were impressed. This was repeated upon their arrival, to much delight. However, just today, I walked into Lilly's classroom to see her on the toy phone ordering "papa". Confused, I asked her teachers. "Papa" turns out, doesn't just mean dad or grandpa, but food. No wonder she would persistently say "papa" when snacks were about.

Sorry Dad, but you and food hold an equal footing in Lilly's mind.

happy new year!

We spent a decidedly boring, LAMP-esque New Year's Eve at home. Friends out of town, overcooked beef stew for dinner, bottle of good wine finishing with a typical 10:30 pass out. I woke up at midnight hoping to see the ball drop in NYC, only to realize that we are in the central time zone and that I had missed it. Oh well.

Today we watched Wisconsin blow the possibility of a win despite hanging our Bucky flag proudly from our porch. Even Lilly got into the action sporting her "Sconnie" t-shirt. Boo. At least she looked good.

christmas madness

As you might imagine, it was nutty here at Christmas. Lilly didn't quite get it...yet...but it didn't stop her from tearing into the gifts. Like last year, the packaging held her interest more than the goodies inside; but with a little help from us, the toys were revealed and everything changed. Many thanks to everyone for the gifts!!

Next year will surely be the first of a string of those typical Christmases where all we want to do is sleep in while all the kiddo wants to do is see what Santa brought. That is why they invented eggnog and mimosas...and irish coffee...really any "morning-appropriate" beverage that can have alcohol added.

The family was here for the week, which was wonderful. Our first Christmas in H-town. Endless entertainment for Lilly. Virtually non-stop good eating. Lots of hanging out. It is such a bummer everyone lives so far away, because it was so much fun being with everyone.


reading with Grandma...

with Auntie Jenn

modeling her new shades

reading her current favorite "Little Pea" with Papa...for the 3rd time that day

Christmas morning

Lights in the Heights

Each year our neighborhood hosts a big holiday event called Lights in the Heights. Basically, three entire streets worth of houses have been decorated with lots of lights and luminaria every 10 feet. Every so often, one house will be hosting a band, group of carolers, elementary school string quartet, etc. and put out homemade cookies to add to the liveliness. As one of our friends said, "it is one of the things that makes living in Houston seem OK". Very true. It was really neat.

We had a bunch of people over before to kick off the evening and then headed out around the corner to take it all in. Our trusty red Radio Flyer wagon was adorned with lights and garland and full of beer and wine. A rolling spectacle, but matched in coolness by many others with the same idea.

Seeing that it was the 20th anniversary of the event, they had a cookie drive of sorts, the goal of which was to bake 10,000 cookies. I did my best to contribute, and ended up baking around 250 cookies. Our freezer was full of baked goodies that we couldn't eat.

offline...and back on

Apologies for the hiatus. Rest assured Team C is chugging along and preparing for Christmas. December was quite a busy month for us, although we stayed put in H-town for a change. There is nothing quite like the holidays to make life incredibly full! The Southern Grandparents and the west coast Auntie are on their way this weekend!!

So, for years in Madison we purchased a Christmas tree from a little-known, slightly shady establishment in the parking lot of Sears on the west side...for the bargain price of $10. Yep, ten smackers for a gloriously schwinty, tiny tree that was always perfect once you adorned it with oranments, garland and way too many lights for safety. This year, we visited a similar establishment and paid $50. Damn. Same skinny, short and slightly misshapen tree but with a hefty southern upcharge. We did find it quite amusing that it was 55 outside when we bought it. Lights were subsequently put on the tree in the driveway, which made it much easier and far less entangling. Decorating the tree after Lilly was tucked away for the night proved a most intelligent move, as the very next morning she found the tree and proceeded to remove and then "rehang" any ornament hung below three feet high.


These days, Lilly is very much into "being helpful". She loves to sweep with the broom, wipe up spills (that she makes herself on purpose) and throwing away trash. I caught her walking over to our trash bin, opening the sliding door and tossing in a used paper towel the other day. Our fear is that she will grab something we don't notice!

While not nearly as cold and wintry as we'd like it down here, we did have frost the other night. Hooray! We are keeping our fingers crossed for a freak Christmas snow down here....

fall...

The travel spree continues! We went to Madison last weekend for a friend's wedding and had a wonderful time. It is a bit strange going back to a place you've lived to stay in a hotel. From the moment we stepped off the plane, we had a game plan that included way too much to accomplish in a weekend. We managed to see many friends, eat + drink at our favorite places, catch the last farmer's market and enjoy a few proper fall days.

Off to New York and New Hampshire this weekend for the holidays. We cannot wait to see everyone.


Lilly having a "youthful tendency disorder" moment playing in the leaves

nothing like this in Houston...*sniff*