Book Club

In early 2006, I started a book club because I loved to read and wanted to spend more time with my friends. These woman have become some of my closest friends and I am amazed at how our club has both stuck together and grown! Getting together and reading the same material and sharing opinions brings us closer to one another than I would ever get with most of the people I work with day in and out chatting about the weather or the weekend. These girls know I hate the romantic, perfectly plotted stuff of Nicholas Sparks and know I love works of fiction that delve into societal issues while giving us an interesting plot with interesting characters. And they know I LOVE to eat, in fact we all do and tend to choose the next read depending on the type of food we want to eat. I would rather choose the book first but the majority rules.

The first book club of 2011 gathered at Melissa's house in nearby Snohomish last weekend. Since we had chosen two books with Japanese characters, we had a sushi making party and I tried my hand at yakisoba. We don't regularly take photos so I am glad I have this one to remind me of how lucky I am to have these ladies in my life!

from left to right: Ellyce, Melony, Tina, Ashley, Melissa, Brennan, Sara, Alicia and Raina

The Many Days of Christmas (day The Last)

On New Year's Day, Michael's family came to our house after spending Christmas on the Washington coast. On Christmas Day, we Skyped with them from Las Vegas and it was really cool to be able to connect with them "face to face" although the proper way to open gifts is in person so you can really experience the joy. Of course the bulk of the gifts were for Harrison and by this, the LAST day of Christmas, he knew what to do and was fairly adept and tearing off wrapping paper. The hardest part is that he gets a toy he wants to play with and it is hard to keep him moving on to the next gift. At some point, I started tucking already opened presents behind large bags or behind the wall into the next room. When Zaidy gives you a cork pop gun and a dolphin that "ee-ees!" one can see why you would want to stop and play with everything!

Our dear family friend Sally made Harrison this fun fleece hat as well and these pictures were too cute to leave out; it kind of looks like his modeling in the last picture, striking a pose!

Dad and I saved Harrison's "big" gift until this day and I think he was thrilled with it overall. Not only did he get his own retro red wood kitchen, mom ensured he got all the right accessories. Wooden: pots and pans, cookies, apple pie, sushi, pizza and fruits and veggies you can "cut." Everything comes in smaller pieces and can be assembled using Velcro, so he can put the cookies on the pizza or fill the pie with carrots. Lots of fun!

My mom was going through some old photos and sent me this oldie of my first kitchen. I don't remember it, but I do remember the wagon as well as the Santa hanging on the door. Of course that wall paper will always come to mind, as well as the mirrored wall and wood paneling that you can't see!

Although this may have been the last day of Christmas, Harrison's birthday is in just a few weeks... I wonder if he will think it is still Christmas...

The Many Days of Christmas (day umpteen)

On December 27th, a weird snow storm hit the area but only in a convergence zone which evidently converged right above our house. Although the buses couldn't get in and out of the parking lot, once I drove about 5 miles south, there was no trace of snow or rain. Harrison's day care closed early anyway so mom and baby grabbed Winston and played in the snow in the park.

Harrison's snow mittens are too big so picking up the tennis ball is like you doing it wearing giant oven mittens. Despite that, he still managed some good tosses.

Now in the umpteenth day of Christmas festivities, Grandpa Dale's gifts arrived so that we had more boxes to open and snow showers of packing peanuts. Start to finish, it took me nearly two hours to get through layers of packing tape, gallons of packing peanuts and mounds of bubble wrap and then pack it all into trash bags.

Seriously, a quintuplet of Harrisons could fit in the box.  

Can you tell what it is?

NEIGH, NEIGH! Harrison's very own, hand made rocking horse, compliments of Grandpa and his woodshop in his garage. Cousin Argenta also received one which we saw side by side before they were shipped. Of course it is cool that my father made it but it's great that they are not identical, each unique in it's own way. Grandpa complained that Harrison's got a bit of a dent on the seat but that doesn't bother us at all, it just adds character. That and Harrison probably would have put it there himself given enough time.

As if this prize winning pony wasn't enough, Grandpa also made Harrison a cart to move around his toys. As a disclaimer, I was the one who put the toys in the cart but rest assured that Harrison pushed his toys in his cart all over the ground level of the house!

You may also recognize Uncle Jon's wood blocks in the cart he made for Harrison last year at Christmas. His block stacking skills have improved and he can how stack and balance upwards of 7 blocks of all shape and sizes and thoroughly enjoys it. What excellent gifts!

The Many Days of Christmas (days 6-8)

We spent the Tuesday through Friday and Grandpa Dale's and Oma Barbi's house and Harrison was excited to find many "creatures" in their dessert landscaping. The giant tortoise was a particular favorite and he wanted to climb on it every time we got out of the car.

And by every time, night time was no exception.

Grandpa even got into the fun, that tortoise was big enough for the two of them!

When the weather finally cleared up, Grandpa and "Auntie" (Chyna) took us to Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin habitat. The dolphins alone were worth the trip and Harrison was really fascinated as he watched them swim by us over and over again.

Auntie Chyna is now 16 and gorgeous. She was worried Harrison wouldn't really like her as they hadn't seen each other since he was ten months old, but the two of them had loads of fun and if she left the room, he would look at me and say "Auntie?" and the hold his hands up like "where did she go?

Just before we left for Las Vegas, Harrison learned how to be the rider to my piggyback as well as the cowboy to my horse. I was sitting on the ground and he ran up and wrapped his arms around my neck from behind to play and I managed to capture this photo... yes, I did tell him not to drink and drive.

The kiddo only managed a 25 minute nap early in the day so when we sat down to Christmas Eve dinner at 5pm, he broke down pretty quick and I had to leave to give him a nap whilst in the middle of my steak. After waking him 30 minutes later, he was moody (which is actually normal) but no kid should be moody at Christmas! After opening lots of fun gifts he eventually perked up. The big gift was a rocking horse and toy cart from Grandpa which will show up in a different post.

Christmas Day we got up early and went to PoPo and Grand Hart's house where Santa had left some fun items in the stockings, notably a harmonica for Harrison! Once we showed him how to use it we could hardly get it out of his hands. He even figured out how to breathe in to make music as well.

Mid gift opening, we stopped to Skype with Uncle "Jon Jon," aunt Audrey and little Argenta and Harrison showed off his harmonica skills. Within seconds, Uncle Jon had found Argenta's harmonica(!) and the two of them enjoyed a jam session via the miracle of the internet.

A lovely gift from PoPo was a copy of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" which had drawings in black and white; she took time to color many of the pictures herself which looked amazing! She has always been so crafty!

The last honorable mention is this awesome astronaut outfit from Jon & co. complete with NASA logos and a hat - so much fun, he looks really cool in it!

The Many Days of Christmas (days 3-5)

On the flight in to Las Vegas, Michael and I kicked ourselves for forgetting our sunglasses. Arriving in Nevada from Washington often makes us feel like vampires. To our surprise, it was overcast and dreary and little did we know that the storm of the century was blowing in from California into the valley. It didn't just rained, but it poured for five days straight; flash floods and wind were everywhere. There were some breaks in the weather we tried to take advantage of including a shopping trip to the outdoor Town Square where Harrison and his PoPo played on the kids playground:

Since Las Vegas is generally sunny, there do not seem to be many indoor activities for kids and poor Harrison was starting to go a little stir crazy. One day we went out back and tossed a couple of Frisbees. Harrison had never played with Frisbees before however he quickly imitated our throwing style and stance, spreading his legs apart and turning his body to the side to throw. Later it started raining harder however he insisted on going out to play by himself. That's our hearty northwest kid!

The Many Days of Christmas

Christmas in the Fein household during even years, such as 2010, seem to go on and on and on since we make the journey down to Las Vegas to visit Raina's family. Shopping, baking, wrapping etc all needs to be completed early so that we can get out of Washington the week prior to Christmas.

Every 2-3 years, I resurrect my mom's tradition of making caramels for the holidays and this year it was time. Mostly because I wanted to eat them. Since the process entails standing over a boiling pot of sugar for 2-3 hours, I really need to be committed to the process and in my 2010 commitment I decided to double the recipe which in hindsight was practically suicidal. Half way through the process, I started to add the requisite cream and in doing so the mixture immediately froths and if not careful will boil over the edges. It quickly became apparent that it would not all fit in my largest pot so I had to take out another and move through the steps extra slow to so all the frothiness remained contained. Picture me standing over the stove top, wearing rubber gloves to fend off the heat and random splatters, stirring two pots at the same time to prevent burning for nearly 2 hours.

I manage to live through the 3 hour affair only to have the very last drops of 144 degree sticky caramel drip onto my left thumb as I transfer the pot to the stink. I tell you, that 2" long blister was not pretty. But my caramels were in the end!

This year we got a "big" Christmas tree, about 7', which seemed huge compared to the previous several years with 2-3 footers, although once we set it up in the room with the highest ceiling it suddenly looked smallish. It was really nice to use almost all of our ornaments though, many of which are from our own childhoods. Harrison kept pointing to a rocking horse and proclaiming, "neigh, neigh!" and the little bears received a resounding "roar!"

As an only child, naturally we spoiled Harrison with lots of gifts. Mom thought it best to wrap everything separately to maximize the gift opening experience and then realized it could take 8 hours to get through it all with a 2 year old. So the two nights before we left for Las Vegas, we had Harrison "practice" for Christmas and start opening our gifts. He didn't object in the least. I got him several musical instruments and once he opened them all, he resisted opening anymore and instead enjoyed a musical buffet, playing them for 3 seconds, placing them back in the pile and rotating through until he could start it all over again.

Mrs. Santa's Little Helper

This year Mrs.Kringle did a lot of shopping online and therefore UPS has made frequent stops at our door. Last night, dad had to run an errand after work so momma and baby took the opportunity to unpack and wrap gifts before he returned home. There were a couple boxes so after removing the contents of one, I opened the other and took a few handfuls of packing peanuts out and placed them into the other peanut filled box. Harrison immediately decided he needed to help me in this process and proceeded to remove them just one or two at a time and walk back and forth the 18 inches between boxes. He was so enthralled by this process, I immediately took the opportunity to start wrapping gifts while he was occupied and not making a mess!

10 minutes later this is what I found. Note how clean the floor is!

And 10 more minutes later this is what I found:

He was throwing them up in the air over his head!

I particularly like this photo... doesn't he just look like he is heaven?

While I let him trash the living room with packing peanuts, I wrapped a gift for dad in white paper. I then set Harrison to work on decorating this box while I cleaned up the peanuts by hand. Clearly mom was filled with the Christmas spirit!

Let it Snow!

The Monday before Thanksgiving, the Puget Sound was beseiged by snow. While I was complaining that day care decided to close at 4pm and I had to leave work early for traces of snow (we tend to freak out at snowflakes around here), I was extremely grateful that I left work at 12:30pm... my coworkers that left at 4pm had commute times of 5 hours, 9 hours and even an 11 hour commute - she got home at 3:30am. While it wasn't a blizzard, it was significant snowfall and there were traffic accidents everywhere. Thankfully our family made it home safe and we could watch the snow fall from the comfort of our warm home.

Oddly enough, two days earlier Harrison and I found an awesome second hand kids store and we picked up snow boots and mittens. The zipper on his winter coat broke but that didn't stop him from getting on his gear and heading to the park across the street with mom, dad and Winston. The pictures below are on the last day the snow was around so there was actually more snow than you can see here.

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Uncle John and Aunt Shivonne's house with the whole family, however we have a bad habit of rarely taking photos. While we were there, my brother Jon called me and I told Harrison to say hello to Uncle Jon on the phone... he looked at me funny and then ran away. I thought he simply didn't want to comply with my request and then realized he ran into the kitchen to point to Michael's Uncle John. He never ceases to amaze us. Speaking of names, Michael used to call his older sister Alexis "Gekis" which we taught to Harrison since he cannot prounance her name either... he now calls her "Gekee."

Since mom had to go to work on the Friday after Thanksgiving, dad and baby came downtown to have lunch with mom.

While we avoided shopping on Black Friday, we did venture out Sunday to buy a Christmas tree, some lights and a new giant wreath for the outside of the house. Michael put the wreath over Harrison in the shopping cart and the expression on his face was priceless (although mom was too slow pulling out the camera)... his little mouth formed a big "O" and he blinked his eyes incesantly as if he expected the needles to get into his eyes and once his head was clear of the foliage he got the biggest smile on his face!

Later Sunday mom and Harrison went to the outlet malls as Harrison badly needed some clothes to get to tide him over until he hits size 2T. We picked up an awesome Columbia kids jacket to replace the cheap one with the broken zipper as well as this adorable moose beanie. The hat itself is cute but what really makes it adorable is the way Harrison says moose, like "mooosh." I was trying to get some pictures while decorating the tree and with the slow shutter speed in the low lighting I got this fun picture while the lights were moving around.

 

Look for the winning the picture in a Christmas card coming soon to a mailbox near you!

21 months and counting...

Our baby turned 21 months at the beginning of November and it is evident he is not such a baby anymore. Unless you ask him... new this week he started referring to himself as "baby" in the third person. You know, like Elmo: "Elmo went to the park today and Elmo had fun!" Harrison can't put more than two words together but this is the direction he is headed. He will point to a diaper or toy and say "baby" and it took us a few days to realizedthat he was saying that the diaper belongs to baby Harrison (not that the diaper is for any old baby).

Also in the past couple weeks his speech has exploded. Looking back for a moment, we taught him a fair amount of sign language (his teachers at school couldn't figure out he was telling them he was thirsty one day) which I think he clung onto slowing his speaking skills a little. As we taught him new words we asked him to say them and he often wouldn't try (or even tell us "no!") but recently he is making an effort to say all kinds of words and sounds, his most complicated being "octopus".

Harrison is now tall enough to take or place items onto the kitchen counter and he knows how to move his little step stool around the kitchen to increase access to prohibited items. The pantry has always been a favorite place to explore and now he likes to find the bag of dog treats and ask me if he can give some to Winston. He also likes to sit on Winston or use him as a stepping stone to get on the couch. Aside from the canine abuse, he also rubs Winston's belly or pets his back.

I think most kids put on their parent's shoes but I was surprised Harrison has started to do this already. He loves to shuffle around in my shoes although when he puts on daddy's dressier work shoes the bigger size, leather and heavier soles don't offer much movement.

The boy has also become quite the mimic. A few weeks ago I sat next to him as he was eating dinner and while we watched Sesame Street together, I rested my chin on my fist, elbow on the table. I looked over to see Harrison looking at me out of the corner of his eye with a smile forming on his lips and realized he was doing the exact same thing! He thinks he is pretty funny and laughs once he realizes I have caught him in the act. The best thing I taught him to mimic was to tap his pursed lips with his index finger and let out a "hmmmmm...." as if in thoughtful contemplation! He's a gas.

Speaking of Sesame Street, his favorite thing is to watch "Elmo" which definitely includes Elmo as well as most of the muppets on The Street. He also enjoys Curious George and animated movies. There is a part of me that feels like a bad parent for introducing tv at a young age and he watches probably 60-90 minutes a day (not all at once) which is more than what is recommended, but let me tell you that it has brought sanity to our lives. It is priceless to be able to just rest your eyes for 5 minutes or start dinner while he is entertained as he would otherwise demand our attention. So you out there, stop judging me!

Maybe this will buy us back into your good graces - our son LOVES books. He loves to have us read to him and likes to ask "what's that?" whilst pointing to a picture. He likes to flip through books on his own as if he was reading. Even though we have a good 50 or more books, we have read them all many times and now he is getting picky, not wanting to hear them again. Please take this as a hint that books would make a great Christmas gift!

BOO!

Prior to Halloween, Harrison had no concept of why I would put him in a blue monster costume every other day for 15 minutes or so, it was just something fun to do. Well the Friday before Halloween, day care wanted the kids to wear the costumes all day (except meal and nap times). Michael drove him to school in regular clothes and when the arrived, dad pulled out the monnster outfit and dressed him. Evidently the kids all walked up and surrounded him, oo'ing and ah'ing and touching the blue "fur." Dad said his costume was the best by far and we were both proud I used my refer-a-friend credit at Zulily to get it for $10 no less!

On Saturday, we loaded Harrison into his red wagon, bundled everyone up from the chill and walked down to the local market and picked out some "Charlie Brown" pumpkins; we named them thus because our arrival so close to Halloween left only the dented, dying and misshaped pumpkins to choose from. We already had one, big, perfect pumpkin from the farm the weekend before so the "interesting" gourds were fun to work with from my point of view.

The white one kept toppling over once we got it home, so I put it on it's side and made it a cat (clearly, we do not use any fancy stencils or even specialized pumpkin carving tools, just our kitchen knives!). Michael had the thought that power tools might make the job go by more quickly and the result is the pumpkin next to the cat. 

I attempted to make the pumpkin on the lower left resemble Harrison's little monster costume, but ears ended up too close to the three eyes so it looks kind of crazy. The last pumpkin was dad's second attempt with the dremel tool and it came out a bit more polished.

On Sunday, we met up with the Smith's at the Town Center for an early Mexican dinner prior to the treat or treating at the businesses. When we walked out of dinner we were surprised to see that evidently the entire population of Mill Creek was outside, ghouls and goblins running amok! Harrison and Amelie both seemed very interested in so many people in costume and were also happy to take treats from smiling strangers at every doorway. Their parents were excited that the donut shop gave away free donuts!

My boys with Amelie and Justin



After 45 minutes of that madness, we went home and joined up with the Tutrows to take the lion, monkey and monster around the neighborhood. Since Harrison cannot say any form of "trick or treat," we taught him to say "boo" emphatically at each door (often before the door was opened); he also helped knock on doors which is a newer skill he picked up a few weeks ago.

Krissi, James and Gavin (he and Harrison are destined to be best buds)

Since many families in our area have children, we have no choice but to leave out bowls of candy while we walk the 'hood with the kids. When we approached bowls with Harrison, I would stay close to ensure he only took one but he had already composed a system of self imposed restraint. He would pick up one, then another, then a third, then put one back, then pick up another, then put one back, then put back another and then walk down the steps with one piece remaining... all those mostly of his own accord! At some point he got some elven peanut butter crackers that he refused to put in his bucket and insisted on carrying with him in one hand the rest of the way home.

Happy Second Halloween Harrison!