All I Want for Christmas Is.....

...for people to update their blogs!!!!! Is that too much to ask?!?!? I have the most pathetic blogroll - you scroll down it and all you see is "updated 4 months ago," "updated 1 year ago,", "updated 9 millenia ago," etc etc etc. Or else I'm going to have to find myself some new blogging friends!

Bah humbug!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Seasons greetings! For your viewing pleasure (we hope!), please allow us to present our 2009 family Christmas tree:


Connor and Noah picked it out, and did a very nice job selecting a nice, fat soft-bristled tree that smells divine! And then all three kiddos did the decorations pretty much by themselves, allowing me to lounge on my tushie with a hot chocolate, just enjoying the sights of my living room.


And the most astounding sight to see were all three of my little cherubs actually getting along, singing together, and decorating the tree (I think there was only one scuffle about the proper placement of an ornament and only one broken ornament). It surely IS the season of miracles!


I absolutely LOVE this photo of Noah - either he's squealing in glee about Christmas presents or he's shrieking about Connor grabbing him in an awkward spot. And Shelby is just rolling her eyes at them - as we keep telling her, "Shelby, for better or for worse, they're your brothers forever."

And finally, here's our Christmas Advent calendar - you know, where you open a new picture each day of December, but with a twist - chocolate on each day! My mom made this for my brother and I and it was always our most favorite holiday decoration and tradition, and it's SOOOOO much fun to be using the same one, now for my kids! They love it as much as I do/did. Well, almost. I remember that one year I took most of the candies off and ate them all at once, and then sneakily replaced them later - now that is true advent calendar devotion, my friends. When my kids start doing stuff like that, well....I'll be so proud of their ingeniousness!

Happy holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, this year we had our own little family Thanksgiving at home here in New York, just by ourselves. And since the only person who would eat much turkey is Mark, we thought cooking a turkey was kinda silly. So, we decided to make each of our favorite foods and share with each other.

We began our Thanksgiving feast by reviewing the Thanksgiving story, and explained to the kids about it being a holiday that celebrated the bountiful harvest from the land that the pilgrims and Indians shared. Here's our idea of a bountiful harvest....

Connor with his favorite food - Fettucine alfredo and an Edible Arrangement (and the ever-present-sixth-family-member-Spongebob):


Shelby with her favorite food - homemade French fries:



Noah with Spiderman macaroni:

Mark and his favorite food - pie:

And if you think I'm posting a pic of myself chowing down on my favorite food (Angie's wings) you have GOT to be kidding...you should be thanking me for NOT posting that lovely sight with wing sauce all over my face and hands.

As you can see, the closest thing to a bountiful harvest food were the potatoes used for Shelby's french fries, BEFORE they were french-fried.

We also did the common tradition of going around the table and sharing what we were all thankful for:

• Connor: Was thankful for Shelby
• Noah: Was thankful for his imaginary friend of about a year now, Yana (we don't know much about Yana except that she's a girl, she has black hair, and she was sick last week)
• Shelby: Connor & Noah decided Shelby was most likely thankful for her amazing brothers
• Mark: Was thankful for his wife (good answer, that might just get you another Christmas present, Markli!)
• Estelle: Thankful for our warm, clean, spacious, gorgeous home in which to spend the holidays - we've had a lot of house issues lately, but a remark from a friend recently reminded me of how terrific our home really is and I've seen it in a whole new light and was reminded of how blessed we are to have this beautiful home - thank you, friend. However, IF it would EVER snow here, I would have been thankful for the snow, darnit!
  

And yes, you probably noticed that we're all still in our pajamas...we were all grateful to have no plans and therefore no need to get dressed, and we love our pajamas! We even went to Lights on the Lake on Thanksgiving evening, all of us in our pajamas and happy as can be.

Oh, and just a little funny photo to share...my pumpkins "helping" clean up our Halloween decorations a few weeks ago. Yes, in pajamas again. Do we ever get dressed, you wonder? Only if we have to! Oh, the boys thought they were SOOOOO funny (and truth be told, they were!)!:

Need a unique Christmas gift idea? Allow me...

Did YOU know my husband's book is published?

The book he's been working on for about a decade?

Did YOU know? Because I did NOT. I...me...Estelle...his loving, gorgeous, supportive, thoughtful wife, did NOT know this rather important piece of information. So, how did measely insignificant ME find out it was published and out? I just overheard him talk about it in a phone conversation. "bla bla bla oh yeah, you should check out my new book...it's on Amazon now. bla bla bla"

NICE, huh?

So, I just found it on Amazon. It took me a few spelling errors but I finally got it right and found it (17 years later and I still really truly honestly have no idea what my husband does for a living, much less be able to spell it). Interestingly (or not), along the way, I found a book by Mark A. Ritchie called "God is the Pits." Anyway, here's Mark E. Ritchie's new book:

So yeah, if you're having trouble with your Christmas shopping, especially finding a unique gift for that person in your life who has everything, I guarantee you that they do NOT have this book (and I can also guarantee it will be more potent than Ambien in treating their insomnia problems - bwa ha ha!). Problem solved! Merry Christmas and peace to all!

(Oh, and all I can say for that husband of mine is that this is grounds for me DOUBLING the dollar amount that my new Christmas handbag had better be.)

Halloween greetings from the little-known but very ferocious Pirate Clan of central New York

We love Halloween! While the little cherubs are still small and malleable (and bribeable) I try to get our family to do a theme every year (we were bats 2 years ago, last year we did Star Wars), and this year we were a Pirate clan. Mostly, anyway. Noah has developed a very annoying stubborn streak and insisted on being a bat (fortunately I still had Connor's bat costume from 2 years ago that barely fit Noah). I insisted that he at least needed to be a pirate bat. Noah refused. Little booger!

To move this tale along (I'm wordy, I know), one of our favorite family Halloween traditions is attending our church's Trunk or Treat (where you decorate the trunk of your car and everyone trick or treats in the parking lot - typing it out makes it sound really lame, but it's actually kinda fun!). So, in keeping with our Pirate theme, I also transformed our SUV into a fearsome Pirate vessel, complete with sail on top and treasure chest inside, along with fun Pirate music blaring from the stereo. Pirate Mark ( I had envisioned the Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow character for Mark, but the old Michael Jackson wig and my black eyeliner didn't quite get the job done, eh?) handed out the candy and regaled the kids with his HILARIOUS pirate-speak, though it appears here that he's actually sneaking a Snickers for himself:

Okay, now back to my dilemma with Noah - it turns out that not even the promise of wielding a sword could convince him to be a Pirate bat. However, by happy accident I discovered that he LOVED the Pirate music I downloaded, so I sneakily told him that he could NOT listen to Pirate music unless he was a Pirate bat. Convincing done! Noah became a Pirate bat with the aid of a sword, a gold hoop earring on his bat ears and a skull/crossbones eye patch.



And doesn't Shelby make the cutest little Pirate princess?

Grandma Davis from Idaho came out to visit and of course was recruited into our Pirate clan, under threats of making her walk the plank.



Now we have the boys getting ready to start their trick or treating, squaring off on our front porch for rights to the coveted "ghostie" trick or treat bag, as opposed to the nerdy pumpkin one.



Oh, and every year we drive around our neighborhood at least every other night looking at Halloween lights (another favorite tradition), and about 2 years ago this crazy Halloween family moved in and they go ALL OUT. I mean ALL FREAKIN' SCARY out. They were our first stop for trick or treating and we had a blast visiting their crazy setup in person (instead of sitting in the car looking out the windows like sissies) - you know, moving stuff in the yard, creepy sounds, people hiding in bushes, etc. They are my Halloween IDOLS! Anyway, Noah was not quite as brave as he'd planned, and grabbed Mark's hand as we approached the house and whispered, "Daddy, please protect me!"



I know this next photo is blurry, but it's so cute with all the kiddos practicing to be Pirates by practicing sword fighting in the living room. And yes, I KNOW, two of the swords are actually light sabers (obtained from a birthday party 2 years ago and the boys still love them- BEST props ever, Capone family!). You'll notice that Noah, however, has the real costume sword, and yes, seconds after this happy little photo was taken he whacked Shelby in the ear with his sword. Pirate fight OVER.




We also decorate our house crazily every year, inside and out (and darnit, I should have taken photos, but watch for 'em next year) and this is Shelby's first Halloween that she's aware of (well, that she became aware she'd been born into a crazy Halloween-celebrating family). It took a while for her to get used to it all, but in the end, WE GOT HER! She loves the shrieking mummies and talking skeletons and screaming coffins. Here she is pushing her favorite "skeleton baby" around in her shopping cart. How stinkin' cute is that (especially in her frilly little girlie flower pajamas)!??!! (oh, I also just noticed that she has adorned herself with a glow-in-the-dark necklace. Shelby's such a girlie girl!)

And what holiday would be complete without us posting ourselves in premade JibJab videos? So here it is this year, with Grandma & Grandpa Davis with the grandkids. Honestly, we entertain ourselves endlessly for countless hours every year, inserting ourselves into these videos and shrieking with laughter, and I'll admit that maybe they're not as funny as we think they are. Savvy? Anyway, I'll shut up now and present, for your watching enjoyment:

Oh, and by the way, next year's Halloween theme choice belongs to Connor, who has informed me that he wants to be a Greek family...so....ummm.....look for us wearing togas and sandals next year??? Yikes. Now THAT will be really scary.

Just when you want to put 'em up for sale on eBay...

Connor had a seriously bad day (Which means I had a seriously bad day. Which also means Noah had a seriously bad day). I sent Connor screaming up to his room for 15 minutes. When he didn't come down (and the crying stopped unusually early) I figured I'd better check on him. *sigh* I found Connor and his beloved dolphin named Birthday taking a much-needed nap.


And now I want to wake Connor up to give him a big smoochy kiss and hug because he's so darn cute!

Mark & Estelle are delighted to announce the joyous occasion of their beloved daughter Shelby...

We'll be honest, we thought it wouldn't happen before she graduated college...

We feared that she'd turn into an old maid....

We were terrified this "problem" might have her living at home forever...


But that blessed event for which we've all hoped and prayed and wished has finally happened!
At the ripe old age of EIGHTEEN months...

Shelby is walking!!! (kind of)

Watch until the end of this next video and you can witness the famous Shelby Scoot for yourselves (one of the last times this freak-of-nature-event may ever occur and be documented). And as a bonus, you can also witness the even more miraculous event of Connor & Noah playing together without screaming or hitting each other: