just a little something...

a day at the school carnival

Sometimes I have such a hard time believing that I'm the mother of a kindergartener. It's crazy, really.

Madeline has grown so much over this last six months of kindergarten. Sure, she's grown in height, but she's really grown as a little person. She loves to write and make sentences. She gets so excited talking about the things she's learned that day when we spend family time together in the evening, before bed. It's so fun to watch.

The first school carnival - of many in our future - was yesterday, and Madeline couldn't stop talking about it. The weather was crappy - a chilly 47 degrees, rainy, and breezy - but she didn't care. She got to bring her little brother and show him off to her schoolmates, and even to her kindergarten teacher. Maddie was beside herself with joy.

Oliver was a ham, as usual.

Oliver didn't participate as much as Maddie did, but he seemed to have fun anyway. I mean, who doesn't like to have cotton candy for lunch, right?

And pet rabbits! And sheep! And chickens! I insisted that they use alcohol hand sanitizer before and after the petting zoo, and thankfully, we had no gastrointestinal illnesses last night.

And by the way, Nana - your grandson now would like you to buy three chickens to keep at your house. He prefers a red one, a blue one, and an orange one. Good luck with that.

disney day trip

After our trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando for Madeline's sixth birthday in December, we decided to commit to being Florida annual passholders. The annual passes were not quite as expensive as we had imagined they would be, and because of a Disney promotion, we got an extra three months (fifteen instead of twelve).

Yesterday we did our first day-trip to Disney. Orlando is only a couple of hours away, but with small children, those couple of hours can sometimes seem like twelve. Thankfully, I think Madeline and Oliver have now outgrown that phase. The trip to the Magic Kingdom really was very tolerable - other than one minor meltdown over a dropped shoe as we entered Disney property.

Unlike our prior trip, we felt like we knew what we were doing this time. The kids weren't interested in waiting in lines to take photos with characters, so we saved a lot of time by avoiding those lines.

 

The cars were a huge hit. Both kids wanted to drive, so Madeline drove me and Oliver drove Sam. I'm not sure which of us got the worst driver, but I think it was Sam.

 

Sam insisted on doing the It's A Small World ride, and I think it's going to be impossible to ever go to Disney without riding it. It's just one of those classics that we'll have to do each time. Plus, we get to sit down for a solid ten minutes - quite a deal after waiting in 30 minute lines.

The kids refused to let me or Sam help twirl our teacup in the teacups ride. Both Madeline and Oliver seemed thrilled to watch me turn green.

 

We packed some snacks, but we couldn't avoid a stop for ice cream in the mid-afternoon. It may have been my suggestion, but I'll blame Sam if asked.

 

We seem to always start and end the trip with the carousel. It's the one ride you can pretty much always just walk right on without a wait.

 

I don't have pictures to prove it, but Madeline rode Space Mountain twice - once with me and once with Sam - and she was SO brave. In fact, I wouldn't ride that roller coaster if she didn't make me. She also rode on Thunder Mountain and loved every minute of it.

We left the park after the evening parade, stopped for a quick fast-food dinner before getting on the Turnpike, and the kids were asleep within another ten minutes. It was a great day, and we're already looking forward to our next trip back to Disney.

a couple of disney photos

One of the highlights of our Disney trip for Madeline was getting to meet Cinderella during our lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table. Madeline was in awe from the moment we walked into the restaurant within the castle in the center of Disney until the princesses said their goodbyes.

 

The other thing that she adored was riding roller coasters. At her request, Sam and I took turns taking Madeline on Space Mountain. You can see her reaction in the candid photo below. And you can see mine, too. Can you tell who is having a blast and  who is regretting the decision to get on the deathtrap of a ride?

check this one off the list

I keep a running list of things I'd like to do or see one day, a bucket list of sorts. There are some dream vacations on that list -- visit Greece, rent a villa somewhere in the countryside of Italy, sail around the British Virgin Islands -- and there are some dream restaurants on the list, too. I'd love to eat dinner at The French Laundry or Per Se or Alinea, to name a few. In New York last weekend, I was able to check off one of the restaurants on my list -- Le Bernardin, the award winning restaurant led by Chef Eric Ripert. 

We made a reservation as soon as the reservations book opened up, thirty days before the weekend we were planning to go. I did a lot of research before deciding that we'd go there. Sam is a bit picky, as many of you may know, and I had to get his approval on the menu. I showed the menu to him on the Le Bernardin website, he looked at it and didn't say no, so I took that as a yes. 

Our dinner reservation was for 8:15 on Friday, and we were immediately seated on arrival. Unlike our experience at Michael Mina in Las Vegas, when the amuse bouche arrived, I knew I had made the right decision. 

 

I remembered that I'd brought my camera after the second or third course, but unfortunately, the lighting was poor and I didn't want to use my flash and risk disturbing others. We had lots of delicious courses that looked like this one.

In fact, each course of the seven-course tasting menu was simply amazing. The wine that was paired with it was perfect. The service was impeccable - attentive but not overly so, and not stuffy at all. One of the highlights was seeing Chef Ripert walk through the dining room at one point early on in our meal. After speaking with our waiter about him, we were taken back to the kitchen for a quick glimpse of the bustling activity. 

And, I must say, Chef Ripert was so personable. As annoyed as he may have been, you would never have known. I liked him from what I knew of him on Top Chef, and now I like him even more.

Our trip to New York took place the weekend between my birthday and Sam's. The whole trip was a birthday present to ourselves, and the Le Bernardin experience was really all for me. But, Sam had a wonderful time, and I think he has changed his mind about what gourmet dining means. 

 

We walked out of the restaurant over two and a half hours later with a very large tab on the credit card, lots of poorly exposed photographs, an autographed copy of On The Line, an appreciation for seafood done well (really, really well), and huge smiles on our faces. It was a truly spectacular birthday present.

saturday diversion (aka, cupcakes!)

While Sam was away at the Florida-LSU game this weekend, I decided to bake with the kids. We've been overrun by bananas lately, and we can't keep up with eating them before they turn brown. Since I didn't want to make another banana bread, I opted for banana cupcakes. I used the recipe from Bakerella, found here. 

 

I made a cream cheese frosting for them, and the kids helped me with the clean up.

 

Oliver even tried to share with Cookie Monster, but CM isn't as into cupcakes as he is cookies.

Madeline and Oliver decorated their cupcakes with some sprinkles that Maddie picked out at Publix. I would not have chosen Disney Princess sprinkles for banana cupcakes, but they did go well with the pink frosting (color chosen by Maddie, of course). 

 

I never thought that putting sprinkles on cupcakes would be taken so seriously. Or be so much fun.

 

The verdict? Banana cupcakes are delicious. The recipe was a good one - just the right amount of sweetness. The kids were entertained and got a yummy treat at the end. I got my fix of cream cheese frosting. And we got rid of two brown bananas. 

my sweet kindergartener

She did it! Madeline's first day of kindergarten was a glowing success. There were no tears - not even from me - and she tells me she had the best time. She doesn't volunteer information, but once we pestered her enough, she couldn't stop talking about the things she did at school.

She was really worried about homework for some reason. She doesn't even know what homework is, but she was thrilled that she didn't have any. She ate in the school cafeteria and raved about the cheeseburger and the smiley-face french fries. She made a friend, but she tells me she forgot to ask his name. 

Ah. Another milestone accomplished. And it feels good.

playing in the rain

today

Today it didn't rain much at all, unlike each of the last ten days or so. The sun came out and we spent a good hour at the pool. The kids played with their Dad, Maddie swam up and down the length of the pool, I sunbathed, and then we ate sandwiches poolside. It was wonderful.

Today the kids took naps, and they took their naps without complaining or whining. Probably because the sun was out and they spent the morning playing in the pool.

Today I decided to try running again. 

Today my parents made a wonderful Memorial Day dinner on the grill - hamburgers, grilled sweet corn, and potatoes with rosemary and olive oil. The corn was such a hit that we all had seconds.

Today my children made s'mores with roasted marshmallows cooked to perfection by their grandaddy and their dad. Madeline had three in the time it took Oliver to eat one. They were a mess, and it was adorable to watch.

Today we had a fantastic Memorial Day.

si si oui oui

A few weeks ago, we found a notice in Madeline's backpack that her pre-k class was going to be holding a parent-child luncheon with an international theme. Parents were asked to sign up to bring finger foods from a particular country to tie in to the diversity theme that the class was learning about. This was the second lunch that we've been invited to during the school year. I wasn't able to make it to the first one because I was away at a conference, so I was determined to make it to this one. I rescheduled a clinic so that I could make it out in time for the lunch, and thankfully, I made it.

The class paraded out in front of the small classroom, crowded with mothers and fathers and grandparents, all with their digital cameras and handheld video cameras. There were easily three times as many adults as children there. Led by the music teacher, the kids sang several songs about different countries. It was adorable. Madeline was adorable. She did her best to ignore me while performing, but she couldn't help but sneak a glance periodically, giving me a little half-smile and then quickly looking away. 

After the performance, we tried a variety of finger foods from different countries -- samosas, empanadas, bruschetta, mini hotdogs (from the US of course), guacamole, sushi, and numerous things that I have no name for. It helps that Maddie's class is diverse. The food, mostly prepared by classroom moms, was wonderful. I tried a variety of things, but my picky eaters (Sam and Madeline) stuck with things they recognized. Oliver would have had sushi with me had he been there.

I'm so glad I went, and I only wish I had been able to attend the first of the parent-child lunches at her school. She moves to the public school in August, and I vow to attend as much of her classroom programs as I can. Maybe I'll even join the PTA. Or maybe not.

an hour with the butterflies

One day over Madeline's spring break, we made a quick trip to the Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History. I took her about a year ago, or maybe more, but this was the first time she was really into it. In fact, she actually wanted to stay longer than I did, and I had to bribe her with lunch to get her moving.

We saw lots of gorgeous butterflies, and we sat for a good 20 minutes on one of the benches waiting for butterflies to land on us. Madeline was so patient - it was amazing. 

Finally the waiting paid off and a butterfly or two or three landed on both of us. 

There were butterflies of all colors, but lots of blue and green ones in particular. It's really an incredible place. 

st. augustine beach

We got back from St. Augustine Beach yesterday after spending four nights in a two-bedroom condo. We chose a two bedroom rental thinking that one bedroom would be for the kids and one bedroom would be for us. The sleeping arrangements turned out to be a little different than we anticipated. Oliver slept with me in the king bed in the master bedroom while Madeline slept in the closet of the master bedroom. Sam got the second room all to himself. The kids refused to sleep in a room by themselves. 

Some might argue that we let the kids run the show. And they wouldn't be wrong. It's all about surviving the week, and that's what we did. Granted, I didn't sleep much, but the kids went to bed on time and slept until 7 am. What more could I ask for?

The weather was beautiful the first day and then it got windier and colder the longer we were there. Even the first day was a little chilly. The kids loved what little time they spent on the beach, though.

One afternoon towards the end of the vacation, I took Madeline out on the beach even though the wind was gusting up to 20 miles per hour. We donned our jackets - unfortunately we didn't think to pack pants, and I'm not sure Madeline would have worn pants if we had remembered them - and braved the wind. Our legs were sandblasted by the sand blowing off the dunes, but we had a nice time finding starfish and other creatures.

We usually stay at Crescent Beach, not St. Augustine Beach, but those two beaches are really back-to-back. We were just a few miles north of where we normally stay. I liked our location a lot, actually. We were much closer to the center of things (i.e., restaurants and Publix). We've already decided we'll go back again soon, even if just for the day. 

sunday at lake alice

Since the weather was so perfect this past weekend, we tried to spend as much time as possible outdoors. We took the kids to Lake Alice on Sunday to waste some time and to look for alligators. We saw one alligator as we were leaving, but it was pretty far away from us, floating on the surface of the lake like a log.

We did see these:

They were sort of creepy, actually. I think people must feed them, because they started swimming toward us when we walked over to the side of the lake. 

The Baughman center is just beautiful. I can never seem to capture a great photo of it, but this one turned out okay.

Oliver loved being outside, and he loved looking at the water. Later in the day, he kept asking if we could go back to the water. 

o'leno

This past weekend was so nice, especially Sunday, when the weather warmed up to the low-70s. Because of the beautiful weather, and because we were all so tired of being cooped up inside to stay warm, we took the kids out for their first visit to O'Leno State Park. 

O'Leno is named after the town of Keno which was established there on the Santa Fe River in 1940. According to the history books, the town applied for a post office in the late 1870s. The request was denied because Keno meant "gambling," and I guess the postal service didn't want to support that particular vice. The town's name was changed to Leno and it worked - Leno got the post office.

When my brother and I were little, my parents took us to O'Leno quite often. We hiked the dirt paths, mostly avoiding the cypress knees but occasionally stubbing our toes on them. We used to stand in the middle of the old suspension bridge, then jump up and down or rock from side-to-side to get it to sway. When we were older, we used to go there to swim in the summer. My dad used to tell me that deep in the woods at O'Leno were ponds of quicksand. I still have a fear of quicksand based on those stories. Of course, now that I think about it, he might have been making it up just to keep me and my brother a safe distance from murky water filled with alligators and snakes. Or maybe not.

My kids loved it, of course. Madeline spotted the playground when we first arrived, so I was worried that she would obsess about playing on the swings the whole time. She did obsess for a while, but once we got to the suspension bridge and made it sway back and forth over the river, she forgot about the swings and the slide. She and Oliver climbed over tree trunks. They stood at the water's edge, tentatively sticking their fingertips into the water, and soon they were giggling as they stomped in the water in their shoes. 

It was nice to go to O'Leno again, and it was great to see it through my children's eyes.

 

last game of the season

Below are some highlights of our trip to Miami for the game last night. Which game? THE game. You know the one.

Dolphin Stadium, photo taken from our parking space. Not too shabby for $20. Better than the parking we have at UF, actually.

These were our seats. Nice to know what a hefty Gator Booster donation gets you. At least we got tickets, so I can't complain too much.

Steep, huh? After we made it up to our seats, I decided I would be making only one trip down for a bathroom break sometime near the end of the game. I try to work out on a regular basis, but even I was winded after that trek up.

Pregame. After viewing all of the photos taken of me yesterday, I've decided that I will only have my picture taken if the photographer is standing on a 7-foot ladder. No more head-on shots for me.

The huge HD screens in the endzones were lifesavers. Well, that might be an exaggeration. They saved me from having to squint to see plays on the field. It was almost like sitting in my living room watching it on Sam's new flat screen television. Except for the 78,000 other screaming fans, that is.

  

The Pride of the Sunshine has really improved over these last couple of years. I'm always amazed that they've learned how to march in a straight line, much less spell words. In cursive.

The teams got fireworks for scoring. There weren't many fireworks, but Florida got the most. Barely.

I swear, my husband could travel to China and find someone he knows. He ran into some old dental school buddies at the game. Counting these two, I think he knew at least 10 other people on the two rows below ours. 

We got stern warnings from the NCAA not to rush the field. I used to love watching the crazy fans that rushed the field at Florida years ago. It was entertaining watching them be chased down by the police, wrestled to the ground and hogtied. No more of that. Not with these scary warnings.

I think this was the last score of the game. I missed a photograph of the touchdown. I think this is the point after attempt - which was good, of course. See, with a little zoom lens, you really CAN see the field quite well from an altitude of 10,000 feet.

And this is what we drove five hours south to see. Totally worth it.

We stayed to watch the celebrating on the field at the end of the game. It was such a great feeling to watch those players jumping around, hugging each other, so excited to have accomplished this amazing feat.

We couldn't see this from our seats, but thanks to the big-screens, it almost felt like we were standing right in front of Urban, watching him accept the trophy. 

We had the best time. Even though I was up way (WAY) past my bedtime, it was such a blast. Maybe we can do it again next year.

what santa brought us this year

1. A pesky GI bug that kept me home from work on the 22nd after  a night of vomiting and had me taking Phenergan on Christmas Eve when the nausea returned.*

2. Pneumonia for Oliver. Dr. Rosi loaded the poor kid up on steroids, intravenous antibiotics, and nebulizer treatments on Christmas Eve. He felt like a new kid on Christmas day, so it was totally worth the two hours in the pediatrician's office.

3. A hacking cough for Madeline, and her own set of nebulizer treatments over the holiday.

4. A pink bicycle with training wheels for Madeline, and plenty of jelly beans -- the two things she asked Santa for this year.

5. Lots of cars and books for Oliver, who really could have cared less. He's happy to play in the cardboard boxes left over from the wrapping.

6. New bikes for me and Sam.

7. Lots of great food and a wonderful day with family on Christmas day. We're still recovering from all that food, actually. We dumped most of the sweets off on Mom and Dad last night, and I took extra chocolates to work today, so we feel a little better about the status of our kitchen now.

All in all, Santa was pretty good to us, I guess to make up for the illnesses we had last week. For now, everyone seems healthy, and that truly was my only Christmas wish this year. I'm ready to take down the tree and put up the decorations now, but that will have to wait until January 1st. 

*Be thankful I don't have pictures to go along with this one!

madeline turned five

This was a big weekend for our baby girl. She turned five last week, and on Saturday, she celebrated with about 10 of her classmates at her birthday party. We had three girls cancel at the last minute, but there were plenty of kids around to party with her. Oliver tagged along like a good little brother, and Madeline was (mostly) very protective of him.

 

These birthday parties always stress me out. I get anxious about whether I bought enough plates, whether there was enough of a theme to the party, whether the goody-bags are good enough for the kids (and good enough for the moms!), whether there is enough food or drinks. The most important worry I have, though, is whether Madeline will have the absolute BEST time. 

One way I've helped to reduce some of the stress is to have the party at a local party-place - a gymnastics place that is known for their children's party-coordination and their classes (dance, gymnastics, cheerleeding, and more). The great thing about the place is that they set up, coordinate the party, and then clean up at the end. It makes parties so much easier...and helps me to feel less anxious about the little things.

After wearing the kids out running obstacle courses and having bouncy-ball races, the party coordinators let the birthday girl swing on a bungee-like swing. I think it scared Madeline a bit, but she was a good sport, and seemed to enjoy herself, especially when we all cheered her on.

The afternoon turned out beautifully. Madeline did fantastic and had a wonderful time. Her Nana, Grandaddy, and Grammy were all there to watch her have fun with her good friends. She got lots of wonderful presents, and she was flat exhausted by the time the party was over. 

Madeline's only question to me at the end of the night was, 

"Mommy, when will I turn six?"

thanksgiving '08 wrap-up

We had a lovely Thanksgiving -- up until Madeline's tantrum that caused us to leave her grandparents' house early. I took last Wednesday off work since Maddie had the day off from school, and also so I could start working on my contributions to the holiday meal.  We had a very nice day, and Madeline was a big helper in the kitchen. She got frustrated when I wouldn't let her do certain things (like chop with the santoku knife), but she waited semi-patiently for her turn to do things.

Her first task was tearing apart cornbread and biscuits for the dressing. 

While she tore the bread into little bits, I cooked the onions and celery.

She beat eggs, mixed the dressing, then beat some more eggs for the pumpkin pies. She mixed all the pie ingredients and then helped me pour them into the piecrusts. I learned that I am not a very thoughtful food blogger, or else I would have remembered to keep taking photos for the blog. Or maybe I'm just bad at multitasking. I do have a pie picture, so that will have to suffice.

This pumpkin pie recipe is the best one I've run across. Sam likes it so much that whenever I suggest altering it, he forbids me. And I'm too much of a culinary chicken to tempt fate and potentially wind up with a lousy pie.

My dad decided a couple of years ago that one turkey just wasn't enough, so he added a fried turkey to complement the roast one. This year he decided to add a third turkey, and he smoked that one. Let's just say we had plenty of turkey. Dad's good friend, Jim, got the honors of carving the (three!) turkeys. As a bonus for doing the carving, he got to take the carcasses home to make stock.

Gathered around the table -- well, two tables, really -- were me and Sam, Madeline and Oliver, my brother Clay, my grandmother, my parents, Sam's parents, and my parents' friends Jim and Mary.  Jim and Mary are part of our adopted Thanksgiving-family. They come every year, and we would miss them if they didn't show up.

The kids did pretty well, especially considering the fact that neither one napped. Madeline had the major breakdown that pushed us into leaving a little earlier than expected, but I couldn't blame her. She'd had a very busy day and she was exhausted. Both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home even though it was only 6:30 or so. 

And now that Thanksgiving is over, we move our thoughts to the next in the December line-up of events. I'm headed to San Francisco for a conference next weekend. I get back just in time for Madeline's birthday and her birthday party. Christmas is after that. In a blink it will be 2009. Amazing.

thanksgiving

Thanksgiving might just be my favorite holiday. I love it even more now that I have an interest in cooking. While I'm typing this, two pumpkin pies are baking in the oven, the dressing has been prepared and is waiting for its turn to cook, and I have a refrigerator full of apples ready to be chopped for the Waldorf salad. Sam is outside with the kids letting them run off some energy before we get ready for the dinnertime-bathtime-bedtime sprint. The house is filled with the smells of sage, pumpkin pie, pear from the candle burning in the living room, and a faint scent of cleanness (the maids came today). Just perfect.

So, since I may not be posting tomorrow - or maybe I will, who knows? - I'm thankful for a lot of things this year. I am so thankful that Sam and I have good jobs that we enjoy going to, health insurance and retirement benefits, a solid roof over our heads, two sweet children, and the best husband in the world. I'm thankful that we're all healthy. I'm thankful that we have wonderful family to spend Thanksgiving with. I'm thankful for good friends.

Have a peaceful and warm Thanksgiving. We sure will.

an artsy saturday

The fall arts festival was this weekend, so we took the kids on Saturday morning. The weather was rather dreary at first, with grey, overcast skies and a damp coolness in the air. We wandered the blocked-off streets for a couple of hours, telling Madeline the entire time that yes, we are indeed on our way to the face painting booth. She seemed to believe us, for some strange reason, so she didn't complain much as we wandered. We managed to get a good hour-and-a-half of browsing in before finally taking her to have her face painted in the children's area.

I usually just browse, but I was ready to buy something for the house yesterday. Or Christmas gifts. Sometimes I get lucky at the arts festival and manage to find some unique gifts for friends or family. I didn't have that kind of luck at this year's show. One of my favorite booths was the Gainesville Fruit Co. The other artist I'm drawn to is Peter Carolin. He paints large scale canvases of tall palm trees against blue sky and water. I always look at those palm tree paintings, but I can't find a spot where they'd look right in my house. Maybe the beach house one day. Right.

halloween

Halloween was a very big deal around our house this year. Madeline has been counting down since Oliver's birthday. Oliver didn't know what all the fuss was about, but he quickly caught on. He refused to wear his costume that morning as was requested by his preschool, but he happily put it on when he saw everyone else getting into theirs. Madeline was dressed as Ariel, Oliver was a shark, Sam was Scooby Doo (and quite a hit with kids and parents alike), and I was Cinderella (without the blonde hair). My parents handed out candy to all the trick-or-treaters who came to our house. You can read about Mom's experience here.

The kids did great, with the exception of Maddie's tantrum at the end of the night, just as all our guests were leaving. The kids said "trick-or-treat!" and "thank you" and walked on the sidewalk. Manners during trick-or-treating are hard to remember, but Maddie and Oliver did quite well. 

The costumes have now been put away, and we can move on to thinking about the next holiday. I'm thinking about Thanksgiving and planning what I'm going to make. Madeline is thinking about her birthday, and Santa, and then hunting for Easter eggs at her Nana's house. Sam and Oliver just go with the flow.

october

October is nearly over, and I feel like I've missed nearly the entire month. I took my oncology and hematology boards earlier this week. The entire month (and for months before that), I obsessed about those exams. Even if I wasn't physically studying for them, I was emotionally wrapped up in board preparation -- or board preparation guilt. My favorite month of the year is usually October, perhaps because it's the beginning of our cooler weather, or because I can imagine the leaves beginning to change, or maybe it's just because my birthday is in October.  Regardless, I plan to enjoy the last day or two of the month.

The celebration started last night, with a dinner out with my closest friends, Laura and Julia. We try to go out fairly regularly, and I'm so happy we've been able to keep it up for the past year. Last night we celebrated the end of our board exams, my birthday, and Julia's upcoming birthday. It was also a celebration for Laura -- she had her first dinner out without her two-month old baby. 

The celebration continues tomorrow, Halloween, as we get all dressed up (yes, even Sam and me) and take the kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Our new neighborhood goes all out for Halloween, and trick-or-treating is a huge deal, so we're looking forward to watching Maddie and Oliver have a great time. Madeline is so excited about Halloween this year -- she checks on her costume a couple of times each day, just to make sure it's still there. I'll be sure to post photos of us all. It will give you a good laugh, I'm sure.

The Florida-Georgia game is Saturday, and it will prove to be a good one. It's always filled with excitement and tension. Georgia has become such a huge rivalry, and this sometimes seems like the biggest game of our year.

One last little celebration happens today, October 30th. My sweetie is turning a year older. Happy birthday, Sam!

photo taken by Amy Barry.

PS - Happy birthday to my brother-in-law, Pat, too!

two

Saturday afternoon we had our first party in our new home -- we celebrated Oliver's second  birthday.  I took advantage of a natural theme and went with Gator decor. Madeline voted for a Disney Princess party, but I convinced her that Oliver might not be as happy with that. And, since orange-and-blue are natural colors to be wearing on Saturdays in Gainesville, everyone dressed the part without being told.

Oliver was adorable, as always. He seemed to enjoy the crowd and activity, and he didn't have a single meltdown. We had both sets of grandparents over, his aunt and uncle and cousins from Ocala, and a handful of other friends. Dinner was catered by Moe's, one of the kids' favorites. And, no birthday is complete without a birthday cake from Publix. 

When it was time to sing Happy Birthday, he finally realized what the fuss was all about, and his smile was so sweet. He needed a little bit of help with blowing the candles out, but next year he'll be a pro.

We ended the party with the presents, and Madeline really got into that. I think Oliver opened one or two, but Maddie did the rest. He was content to watch her or to play with the toys already opened.

All in all, it was a good day. Oliver is now two, and such a big boy. He's in the middle of potty-training at his preschool, he's learning new words (although he still speaks a little Spanish -- agua and leche are favorites), and he's calling for mama all the time. He's still my cuddly baby boy, even if he is two.

weekend wrap-up

On Friday night, watched an episode of Weeds while eating take-out deep-dish pizza.

Saturday, watched Madeline and Oliver play dress-up. Oliver is adorable in a tutu. Later, we took a family trip to Publix, the kids napped, and then they rode their tricycles on the sidewalk in front of our house.

Saturday evening, the kids stayed with a sitter while Sam and I tailgated (not as exciting as it sounds) and then watched the Gators beat Miami, 26-3. It was terribly hot and muggy. Home around midnight. Much too late for me.

Sunday, family trip to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to shop for Gator clothes for the kids. Found a hat and shirt for Oliver, nothing for Madeline. She got Gator stickers. After lunch, I stayed home with the napping Oliver and Sam took Madeline to a birthday party. It was a learning experience for Sam and I'm glad he got to participate. I needed a birthday-party break. While they were gone, I hung a fall wreath on our front door and moved furniture around.

Sunday evening, we watched more old episodes of Weeds. Gosh, we love that show.

So that's it. Not the most thrilling, but comfortably satisfying.

boxes

As I sit here typing this, I am surrounded by boxes. I have packed almost all of these boxes myself, which is good because when it comes time to unpack, I'll know where everything is. Theoretically.

I packed up the kids' rooms today, and that was a little bittersweet. I remember painting the nursery before Madeline was born. We painted it a shade of blue that was supposed to be pastel but ended up much darker than we had planned. I used a sponge in the shape of a dragonfly to put a border of green dragonflies across the top of the walls. Madeline has spent over four and a half years in that room and it's hard to imagine someone else sleeping in it.

Oliver's room used to be our office. Then it was our guest room slash office. Then I got pregnant with Oliver, and Sam and I lost the last "free" room in the house. But, we got an adorable little boy who makes my heart melt when he looks at me with those blue eyes. Oliver's room was painted a pale green which also did not turn out to be the color I had anticipated. But, I added some blue accents -- blue knobs on his white dresser, a blue and red sailboat hook by the door, a blue shelf -- and the room took shape. Oliver has spent close to two years in that room, and it's hard to imagine anyone else sleeping in it.

I guess a move is always filled with mixed emotions. I'm so thrilled to be getting a new house, a bigger house with room to grow. But a lot has happened in this house and the memories are strong. I started my residency here...we were glued to our TV in this house when September 11th, 2001 occurred...I became pregnant (twice!) here and both of our children have known no other home.

The movers come tomorrow, and tomorrow night is the first night we sleep as a family in our new home. Time to start working on those next memories...

done

As of June 30th, my medical training is finally over. Because I saved up some vacation days, today was my last official day as an oncology fellow. After four years of medical school, three years of internal medicine residency, one year of chief residency, and three years of fellowship, I'm finally done.

These are my fellow fellows. I've been so lucky to have such amazing people to train with. I'd trust each of them to treat anyone in my family if it came down to it.

Now, the real journey begins...

four and a half

We celebrated Madeline's 4-1/2 year birthday today. "But I'm not big yet, Mommy," she said. "Not until I'm five."

We surprised her with a cupcake after her bath, and after Oliver went to bed - just to make it a bit more special for her. She was so happy.

The icing is her favorite part.

 

I must say, she takes after her Mommy on this. If no one was watching, I might just lick the icing off the top of a cupcake. Sort of like this. Maddie did this, I promise. It wasn't me.

Happy 4-1/2 years, Madeline!

recap of the weekend

The kids and I spent Saturday together while Sam worked. Thankfully, it was his last Saturday that he's scheduled to work at his current practice. At his new practice, he'll have fantastic hours -- four days per week, no nights, no Saturdays. Of course, knowing how much of a workaholic Sam is, I'm sure he'll manage to find some extra work to do on that fifth day.

Anyway, Madeline and Oliver and I had a nice day. We spent some time at the mall and I let the kids eat lunch in the food court. After lunch, they both took good naps, and then I let them play outside a bit until their dad came home. Mom and Dad took us to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and the kids -- Oliver especially -- really enjoyed it. Oliver ate salsa directly from the bowl and acted as if it was the best food on this earth.

Sunday we visited my parents at their home and the kids got to go swimming in their pool. After a nice dinner, with the kids fully worn out, we headed back to Gainesville to gear up for our Monday.

I tried to get some good photos of the kids this weekend, but Madeline is not very cooperative lately. She refuses to act natural when I have the camera pointed at her. I can't really blame her -- whenever a camera is facing me, I also have the tendency to look goofy.

On the other hand, Oliver is a fantastic photography subject.

easter recap

We spent our Easter Sunday at my parents' house. Sam's parents, my brother, and my grandmother joined us, and we all had a nice lunch together. Madeline ate her body weight in sugar. When possible, she fed Oliver sweets, too. I think he had his first Dove chocolate eggs and jelly beans yesterday. He loved it, of course.

The candy-binging started at home, before we left for Nana's house. I think the Easter Bunny went overboard this year, especially for Maddie. This was Madeline's basket:

You can't see all the jelly beans and chocolates underneath the big bunny and box of peeps. This was Oliver's basket:

I was sort of proud of the little bunny that I bought here, but Oliver ignored him. He was more interested in the chocolate underneath the bunny.

We had an Easter egg hunt for the kids, but only Maddie was into it. She tried to complete the hunt in record time. Then she tried to eat all the jelly beans inside the eggs in record time. Oliver preferred to play with the garden hose and climb on my mom's dogs.

 

It was a good day, but I sure was happy to pack up all that candy when the day was over. Both kids gave us a hard time when it came time for bed, both going to sleep 1-2 hours later than normal.

I'm pretty sure the Easter Bunny learned his lesson. Um, her lesson.

saturday at the park

We took the kids to the park over the weekend. Sam was going to take them by himself; I was feeling the need for a break from Maddie and Oliver. But, it takes two of us to watch the kids - Madeline heads off in the direction of the big-kid swings, and Oliver tackles the toddler jungle gym – so I went along with them. The weather was just about perfect, so we all had a great time being outdoors.

I'm always a little nervous about Oliver (or Madeline when she was his age, for that matter) on the playground. There are a lot of big kids around, and they usually run around without much regard for the little kids. Oliver is pretty tough, though. He takes tumbles and falls without much crying.

He had a blast on the slide, not so much sliding down it but climbing up. When he DID slide down, what he seemed to like most was lying down at the bottom of the slide with his arms behind his head. I thought it was adorable. The other kids thought he was in the way, but I didn't care all that much. He was just so cute.

   

In the end, the park was just the break I needed. I’m not sure who had more fun, me or the kids.

maddie's first florida game

Madeline went to her first Florida Gator football game this Saturday. Florida played Florida Atlantic University at noon on Saturday, so we figured it was a good game for her to go to (since we could probably leave without missing much). She's been to every spring Orange and Blue game since she was born, but this was the first actual game she's been to.

Since the low on Saturday was 28 degrees, and the high was going to be in the upper 60s, dressing Maddie for the game was a challenge. She doesn't own any long-sleeve Gator clothing, mostly just Gator tank tops and shorts. I managed to piece together something that vaguely resembled Gator gear. Not really, but sort of.

Since her grandparents are braver than we are, Madeline sat with Nana and Grandaddy. She was very excited to go with them, and they made sure to spoil her with lots of junk food. Every time I looked through the binoculars at them across the stadium, Maddie was eating something new -- pink cotton candy, Grandaddy's barbecue sandwich, french fries, popcorn.

In the middle of the third quarter, Nana called us to say they were getting ready to leave. Sam and I met the three of them in the stadium, and we took Madeline back up to our seats in the other endzone. It was so nice to have Madeline sit with us. She was so good, didn't complain a bit. She did the Gator chomp, clapped when something good happened, and happily watched the cheerleaders do their stunts. Since she was missing her nap, I knew she was tired, but she did amazingly well.

I was so proud of her, so proud to have her sitting with us. She's so big and grown up for almost-four.

The fact that the Gators won was just icing on the cake.

october 19th

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. I think my favorite part of the day was having Madeline sing the Happy Birthday song to me. She was so excited, probably because she thought there would be a party. She told me this morning that she was sad because she didn't get to go to my birthday party. I told her that mommies and daddies don't usually have birthday parties. At least, her mommy and daddy don't.

As a present to myself, I treated myself to a spa pedicure complete with a paraffin dip. There is not much better than a great pedicure, especially when it ends with fantastic red toenail polish.

To top off the day, Sam and I went to a wine tasting at the Wine & Cheese Gallery. The focus was on California cabs, and most of the wines were delicious. It was interesting to see how our tastes differ entirely. My two favorites were the Phelps 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2003 St. Supery 'Elu' Meritage. Sam tended to like more of the bolder, bigger wines. We sat with the co-owner of the shop and his wife, and really had a lovely time filled with great wine, great cheeses, and great conversation.

All in all, a very good day. Even without a party.

we're back

We are back from another wonderful vacation at Seaside, my favorite beach spot. It was sad to come back, but, on the other hand, it was nice to get the kids back on their usual schedule.

Sam and I spent the majority of the time taking turns with Madeline at the beach or babysitting our kids during their naps. Although babysitting does not sound like much fun, it's so much more enjoyable to do it while surrounded by white sand beaches and picturesque beach homes. We were able to read a little (fiction! not medical or dental research articles! imagine that!) and visit with my sister- and brother-in-law and their twin girls. We ate good food. I drank good wine (apparently I'm the only wine drinker in the group). We ate more good food.

While Oliver is too young to fully appreciate a beach vacation -- although he did learn that he loves the taste of sand -- it was such a blast to watch Madeline having such a good time. She loved playing with her cousins, Hannah and Erica. If we had let her, she would have spent every hour of daylight playing in the sand, finding seashells with Hannah, and jumping in the waves. It made us feel like we were being tough on her to keep up with naps and bedtime, but we sure did pay the price if she ever missed a nap or stayed up too late.

I posted some pictures in Flickr since there are entirely too many to post in my blog entries. Take a look. It will make you wish you were there.

enjoying seaside, part ii

monday after call

Whew.

I'm breathing a little easier now that Monday is here and my weekend of punishment is over. It certainly was a long weekend, and I'm glad it's over. I feel a little giddy and drunk once the Monday after a call weekend comes. It's probably the lack of restful sleep that makes me feel like that.

Madeline spent the weekend dressed up like a princess in the princess costume her Aunt Belinda got her for Christmas. She put that dress on first thing in the  morning both days, and only took it off after much negotiating. Sam had his friend, Joe, over yesterday to help hook up his new DVD player/recorder, and Madeline spent the afternoon playing tea-party with Joe's wife, Angie. Angie got her fill of imaginary tea and macaroni chips (whatever that is).

Joe and Angie may never come back over...Sam failed to warn them that he is NOT technologically-inclined whatsoever. What should have taken about 30 minutes took about two hours -- and an unplanned trip to Circuit City to buy a forgotten cable. And the project still isn't done. Sorry Joe. Next time we'll understand if you are busy "washing your hair" when Sam calls for help.

Oliver spent the weekend smiling and laughing, eating, smiling, sleeping, and smiling and laughing some more. His new favorite past-time is eating solids. We're not yet through the progression of stage one fruits and veggies, but so far he's enjoyed everything except peas. I'm very happy with that, because it makes me feel a little less guilty about stopping the breast-pumping. I'll have made it to my goal of six months on Wednesday, and I'm very happy to soon have the extra hours in my day to do something OTHER than feel like a dairy cow. Amazingly, I still feel bad about stopping. I've been through this before, so I thought it would be no big deal. Somehow it still is.

Maternal guilt is an incredible thing. If only we could find a way to harness the power of it -- we could eliminate the world's dependence on non-renewable sources of energy.

Sam will be up watching the NCAA championship game tonight. I'll be enjoying my glass of wine to celebrate being off call, then headed off to bed after my nightly pumping session. (Yes, I have a glass of wine and then pump -- Oliver is quite happy with that arrangement, and incredibly smart to boot.) Madeline will fall soundly asleep after a couple of bedtime stories, and Oliver will be cozy in his crib, wearing the mandatory Gator pajamas. It will be a good night at our house.

Go Gators!

first day at swim lessons

It's only a few seconds long, but you can tell Madeline is having a blast at her first swim lessons.

I'm not sure who had more fun -- me or Maddie. It was so exciting to watch her in the water, so thrilled to be able to swim. As soon as the lessons were over, she kept saying to me, "I want to swim again! I want to swim again!"

I'm taking her a couple of times, then her Nana and Grandaddy get to take her to the last four lessons. I wish Sam had been able to see his daughter in action. I tried to take some photos, but I didn't want to seem like a crazy, overbearing mom, so I only took a handful. I inadvertantly made the video above when I turned my camera to the wrong setting. I'm so glad I did, now. I just wish I had taped her for a little longer.