Holiday Catch-up

It feels like it was just Thanksgiving!  We had a wonderful Christmas in Philadelphia - full of fun cousin time, yummy food, gingerbread and cookie decorating and lots of presents.  Although there were no tears on Christmas day, there were plenty when we left Philly to head home on Friday. The emotional high of Christmas left an emotional low in its wake.  Charlie and Diego were both so sad to leave. Sofia was also screaming and crying as we rolled out of town - but I think that was due to three days of no naps!

In addition to some little gingerbread houses for Charlie and Diego, we made a big gingerbread house for all the cousins to decorate.  I think they must have used about 5 lbs of candy decorating the thing.  It was an impressive collective effort.   I'm glad Christmas was fun because our attempt at holiday spirit events didn't seem to work well. Twice we went to the National Christmas tree in search of Santa in his workshop and twice we were told that an emergency at the North Pole has caused them to close shop.  I was so annoyed and the kids were so disappointed that it really got us out of the Christmas spirit.  Then we battled traffic to go see the two million Holiday Lights in a nearby park.  The kids were not impressed.  Then we went to Zoo Lights but it was so crowded you could barely move and the kids totally melted down.  Strike Three!

Diego hard at work on his house

The little gingerbread houses on display

The large gingerbread house featured a sleigh, a reindeer, santa head first down the chimney and about 5 lbs of candy

In Philadelphia, we must have been a pretty funny sight collectively.  I got knee surgery on the 23rd so I was hobbling around, Tio Charlie had all four wisdom teeth so he was like a chipmunk eating mush and Kristen looks like she should have popped a month ago.   The car ride to Philly was the most comical. I got knee surgery at 9am that morning and then we packed the car crazy full, shoved me in some how in the back with my leg propped up and took off for Philly.  No one could move.

It turned out that the knee pain I was having was a torn meniscus, not runner's knee and I had wasted two months in physical therapy for a wrong diagnosis.  Finally an MRI showed a bad tear which I had suspected from the beginning.  Unfortunately I found out on December 15th so I didn't have time for a 2nd opinion if I wanted to get surgery done in 2014 (deductible!).  Double unfortunately that week there was a big article on the front of the metro section of the Post about surgery centers as unregulated money making ventures and it featured the place I was heading. I was so paranoid I could barely sleep the night before and told the anesthesiologist that what I was most worried about was not my knee, but rather waking up to see my children.  She looked at me like I was crazy and that was about the last thing I remember until a nurse was helping me in post-op and told me how I kept mumbling on about the Washington Post article and how Joan Rivers died at a surgery center...oh dear. They must get some funny information from people going under...

The kids wait patiently on the stairs before going into open presents

Santa brought Diego pickles from Brooklyn! his favorite!!

Santa outfitted Charlie with LOTS of Nats gear

Sofia wasted no time in learning how to enjoy opening presents

Before Christmas, Charlie and his friend Ian caught 50 catches!  Their goal is 100, at which point I promised to have a big baseball themed party to celebrate.  We decided to have a mini-celebration for 50 catches and so I planned a fun afternoon, including a trip to the movies.  I hadn't been to the movies in so long that I had sticker shock and was equally shocked by the number of previews.  Nevertheless they enjoyed Big Hero 6 and I thought it was actually a fun encouragement for Charlie's interest in robotics.  That's an overstatement, but he asked Santa for only one thing this year: a DRONE!  First he asked me to get it, but I said I didn't have enough money so he turned to Santa instead.  Santa opted for a toy quadcopter, but cool nonetheless!

And finally - our belated Holiday Card!  http://bit.ly/taftvazquezhappyholidays2014

Thanksgiving

The holidays mean trains at the Botanic Garden!

A little late here...We had a super nice Thanksgiving.  Carlos' mom and sister were here as well as a very important extra guest: Quita!  Quita is about a 1.5 feet long and probably weighs less than Sofia.  Yes - she is a dog and the kids couldn't get enough of her.  They chased her around the house, poking, prodding, hugging and pulling at her.  Poor dog.  At one point I was in the kitchen cooking and Sofia was quietly playing at the train table in the living room when Quita walked in.  Sofia erupted into squeals of "doggie, doggie, doggie," her arms flailed wildly and she ran as fast as she could towards Quita.  Luckily Quita is bit faster and could escape her grasps.  The entire visit was like that!    They didn't tire of Quita at all, but the poor dog was certainly tired of them.

Quita wasn't the only excitement.  The kids loved having Veronika and Abuela here and they seem to have as much energy as the kids. They took the kids rock climbing which was a highlight especially for Charlie.  And Tia Mary came in for Thanksgiving dinner which was lucky because without her expertise, I think the turkey and I would have just spent most of the day staring at each other.  It was a delicious meal and just nice to be together.

Of course there were a few mishaps.  Like when I fed Carlos something that gave him his worst allergic reaction to date.  His eyes were so swollen he could barely see and his whole mid-section was covered in hives.  It was terrible and the swelling lasted more than 24 hours.  Or how we went on our annual pilgrimage to the Middleburg Christmas tree farm and spent an hour roaming the farm in the bitter cold only to decide that there was no tree for us there.  As if in revenge, our car died and needed a jump.  Carlos went down the road to a tree stand and found a great looking tree in about 2 minutes!  On top of all that we gave Veronika and Abuela whatever terrible illness we've been passing around. Despite all that, it was a nice Thanksgiving.