As a child, my parents started a Christmas Eve tradition by getting a special ice cream treat at Baskin Robbins. This tradition started when we lived in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I can still remember the Baskin Robbins we went to. It had large windows, was freezing cold by the ice cream and the windows, and the elderly gentleman who scooped our ice cream was super friendly and always had a smile. At the time, I was on a severe banana walnut kick. This evolved into butter pecan, which slowly became mint chocolate chip. I tend to be a sucker for mint, and again, this year, you can see I got me a scoop.
We have continued this tradition with our family and this was the first year the twins had their own ice cream scoops. Laith was so excited when we walked in. He knew immediately what the smell meant and was eager to get a scoop of Gold Medal Ribbon. Vivienne was clueless; her usual happy go lucky self. I ordered her vanilla. Yes, pretty plain, but she tends to like plain flavors. She wouldn't try her ice cream the entire time. Laith gobbled his down. Once I finished mine, Bryan got a large spoonful ready, I held Vivienne's face straight, and he shoved it in. At first, she started these crocodile wails, then suddenly..."Mmmmmmmm! That's yummy!" and the ice cream was soon gone.
I haven't gone through all our Christmas photos yet, but there are a couple memories that stick in my mind. First, is Vivienne's reaction to Christmas morning. We walked into the living room, greeted by a TON of presents and her first sentence was "This is cool!" Second is Laith finally posing for the camera. He has the hardest time staying still but saying cheese over and over, and asking for him to show us his new toy, finally made picture taking click.
Vivienne loves her tablet. I can't underscore love enough times. She's constantly asking for it, takes it everywhere and has hissy fits when it's not in her hands, screaming 'chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!' Yes, she calls her tablet, chocolate. It makes me smile. She does know it's tablet, but the closeness in sound, and the fact that she adores chocolate just as much, makes it an easy transition. She loves to watch videos about her Disney Princess magiclip dolls, color, and lately, has really enjoyed a new shapes app I downloaded. The songs are contagious and the dance moves she does are darling.
One afternoon while I was doing some sewing, Vivienne wanted to color. I got her paper and crayons and had her sit by me, as this was just a couple days after the chalk incident. I kept hearing her say the letter U over and over. Usually I just agree with her, saying the same thing, yet she said it so many times, I looked up. I'm so glad I did, she had proudly drawn a letter U on her paper! This girl is brilliant at her letters, numbers and shapes. She has an ABC game on her tablet she loves to play, and has learned all of this from that game. Yes, I have encouraged her, singing the ABCs, helping her play the game, pointing out letters, numbers, shapes, etc, but truly, all of this genius comes from her and that silly game. Technology is amazing.
Laith had an interesting time while we visited family in Utah. The first day there, while having a lot of fun at Grandma & Grandpa Sadler's home, he had the unfortunate event of choking on a piece of apple. He was horsing around next to me on a chair, caused it to slip out from under him, and get a piece of apple wedged badly. My reflexes were quick and I grabbed him up, flipped him and started hitting his back. After 3-4 hard blows and him still choking, I screamed for Bryan. He was already at my side, grabbed Laith and gave several back blows too. Nothing was working and my son was turning purple. Bryan then did the Heimlich. It took 4 good thrusts to finally get that apple out. Most of it was swallowed though, and we went to the ER just to double check he was truly ok.
Laith was a MONSTER at the ER. He screamed at every doctor, nurse, technician that came to look him over, kicked like a maniac when he had his blood pressure and temperature taken, and sobbed when he had his eyes, ears and mouth looked at. No major tests were done, as the doctor felt he was most likely fine due to the amount of commotion he was causing. Bryan took a picture while we were there, and it captures Laith to a T.
This apple has not fallen very far from his daddy apple tree :)
For our anniversary, we took a drive out to the coast and found ourselves in Tillamook. Of course we loaded up on beef jerky, then started to drive through downtown Tillamook to find a restaurant to have dinner at. We didn't have any luck, however, we noticed a gargantuan hanger with the words Air Museum stenciled to the roof. On a whim, we found ourselves at the doorstep of the Tillamook Air Museum. We were feeling adventrous, so purchased tickets to have a gander. We learned it's the largest wooden structure in the world, and housed blimps during World War II. There weren't many airplanes to view, but it was neat satnding inside such a cavernous building. It's quite dark, really damp, and musty, and chilly.
Splashing in some of the puddles inside the hanger. It was odd to find water inside, but I have a feeling the roof is probably not very waterproof.
Inside the Guppie. First air museum I've been to where it doesn't cost extra to walk inside a plane.
We went on a dinner date for the first time in 3 years. Definitely kind of strange, since we used to dinner date all the time before children. We finally found a babysitter who is amazing! The kids love her, we love her; she's been great. We dressed up fancy for our dinner. Bryan wore his new suit and I put on a new black dress. We like to get a small something for our anniversary that keeps with tradition, and 15 years is crystal. Bryan found me a crystal brooch to wear with my dress. I won't lie, I was...uh, surprised by this choice. Brooches were for old great aunts who smelled like powder and gave wet slobbery kisses. Needless to say, my reaction was...er, priceless. Poor Bryan...he's been joking ever since that he thought he'd given me the plague as a gift. Oops! Better luck next time, right?
We had a wonderful dinner at Morton's steakhouse. Some of the best steaks we've ever had. We splurged and shared a lobster tail, even had the most delicious buttery mushrooms garnished in blue cheese. Dessert was on the house; a divine chocolate raspberry souffle. (I had leftovers as usual, and today they became the most amazing steak & mushroom cheese melt.) I noticed the head chef looked a lot like Dwayne Johnson, the Rock. I kept giggling to myself, as in one of his movies, The Rundown, his dream is to own a restaurant and be a chef. Looks like it came true, haha! We were one of a handful of patrons, as we missed the dinner rush. Even though we were eating at dinner prime time, across the street was a show (not sure what kind, and in Portland, you may not want to know what kind...) and so the mob had already left. It made for a really romantic evening. I am so thankful for good babysitters!
Of course, my little guy needed a picture with his mommy after daddy got a turn. Reminds me so much of my youngest sister and the time she dressed up in her high heels and prettiest dress and had my mom get prom pictures of her. Three years old is a darling age!
With today being Valentine's, I pulled out a few stops and made yummy heart shaped sugar cookies and decorated them. I also slipped some British chocolate in our Valentine penny pockets, so Mr. Valentine could make his trip by our house easier. I also had the twins wear their Valentine shirts we made at Grandma Sadler's. I had hoped to get a picture of both of them in their shirts; alas, Laith had a temper tantrum; cried so hard he got his gag reflex in a tizzy and we had Valentine vomit everywhere. I never knew vomit could be so pink...or that he'd had that many cookies. Yuck!
I even squeezed in a little sewing today. I've been truly hating the yellow walls in our home and in a desperate attempt to keep myself from getting a bee in my bonnet and undertaking the daunting task of repainting every nook and cranny (as the awful hospital yellow is also on our ceilings! stupid contractors and thier horrible tastes!) I've been trying to add some homely decor touches to our living space. These flying geese will become the 'rug' for my printer. Currently I'm using a dainty silk scarf. It was never an issue before the kids, but now that they're into even more, I've noticed it's starting to show some wear. I'm trying to get this small project finished before the scarf gets ripped and completely destroyed. Once this is finished, I'm toying with the idea of some curtains. Nothing fancy, although, I don't want to use a curtain rod, so I'm kicking about this idea of a single hook either side, almost a tournament banner style, like the banners each country carries in honor of their country at the Olympic ceremonies. We'll see where it ends up.
