Road trip!

Headed to Minneapolis for the weekend! Happy New Year everyone!

t -3 and counting

We're coming into the homestretch, people. I CANNOT WAIT until noon tomorrow when I can walk out of my office and not come back until January 3rd. I made a batch of peppermint bark last night (my 4th? 5th? I'm losing count...) and realized when I was finished that I had totally forgotten to add the peppermint extract. Oof. That's when I knew it was time to hang up the apron and call it a night.

We are hosting a party for Matt's team tomorrow night at our house, which is totally nuts but also something I'm really glad we're able to do. Matt's a tough coach on the court and it's nice to be able to open up our home to the guys and show them that there's more to him than whistle-blowing and barking orders to run suicides.

We haven't put any gifts out under the tree yet for fear Matteo would tear into them. This morning I caught him throwing his basketball into the tree like it was a hoop. Nothing is safe around that boy.

There are still presents to wrap and treats to box and share with the neighbors. And I still have a short list of things to do for tomorrow's party including cleaning the house and decorating cookies for the team. But my shopping is done. My packages are mailed. Teacher and co-worker gifts have been given. My Christmas cards are mailed (well...2/3 of them are anyway). The DVR is stocked with Christmas movies. We are in good shape.

happy birthday, roscoe!

Today my sweet boy is 10 years old. We had a little bit of a scare this month. Roscoe had a couple of very painful episodes that seemingly came out of nowhere where he was crying and shaking and not able to bear weight on his right hind leg. We went to see the vet and they told us they suspected a knee injury, a pinched nerve in his back, or...less likely but much more worrisome...something more sinister. He was prescribed rest and pain meds and thankfully, seems to be back to his old self again. (I'm fairly confident it was a pinched nerve, which must be horribly painful but seems to be responding to treatment.)


at the vet

I've had many moments this month where I stop and look around me and appreciate that my life is a dream. We have a happy family, a precious dog, a sweet kitty, a snug little house, dear friends - we are very blessed in so many ways. As spry as Roscoe is he won't be with us forever and so, newly reminded of this, I am trying to be more mindful of just how good we have it and savor these times.

Happy birthday my sweet, handsome boy.



(If you would like to know more about Roscoe, see here and here.)

happy birthday, dad!

Oh, hello. Remember me? The woman who used to post here nearly every day? That woman is a leeeetle busy these days trying to get ready for the holidays, but I am popping back in to wish Matt's father a very happy birthday (+ 1 day - his birthday was actually yesterday. Oops).

Here is a classic shot of Matt's brother Kevin, his father John, and Matt. Look at those muscles! Look at that flowing hair! Look at those golden tans! I sure married into one handsome family, didn't I?



We hope you had a great birthday and we love you very much!

holiday cheer

Holiday baking is officially underway in our house and even Matteo is in on the act. Last night I gave him a hammer and together we smashed candy canes for the peppermint bark topping. He's such a good little elf. Except when he's yanking Christmas balls off the tree and throwing them.

I don't know what it is but this year I really feel like I'm on top of the holidays and have found that magical balance of efficiency and enjoyment. Is it that I've done this long enough to finally get the routine down pat? Is is the fact that now that with an unpredictable toddler underfoot, I have had to become much more efficient and productive with my free time? Or maybe it's that I merely feel on top of it all, but I'm totally missing something and it's all going to blow up in my face at the last minute. (Please don't let it be that last one.) Whatever the reason though, we're really having a lovely December.

and so it begins

Basketball season is underway, which means time with Matt is at a premium. Matteo is constantly asking for his Dada, which is kind of sad but also really wonderful when you see how excited he gets when Matt finally gets home after practice. They've played two games so far and, amazingly, Matteo was able to last for the whole game both times. While we can't go to all of them, we know enough people in the crowd at the home games who can help me keep an eye on him.

19 months

first visit with Santa

Doesn't he looked thrilled?

happy birthday, uncle jim!

It's a big birthday today for Matt's godfather. Happy birthday, Jim! Keep swinging!

football moves

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(Matteo's teachers have been joking that he must have eaten a lot of turkey over Thanksgiving weekend because he came back to school with such a big belly.)

go dog go

One of Matt's favorite books as a kid was 'Go Dog Go'. We have a copy of the original, but we also have a copy of the abridged board book for Matteo. Without any prompting from Matt, Matteo quickly claimed that book as one of his own favorites and wants us to read it to him all the time.



The last page is a picture of a big dog party in a tree, and whenever we get to that page, we always read that line in a really excited voice like, "A DOG PARTY!!!! YEAH!!!!"



The other night after his bath, Matteo grabbed 'Go Dog Go', sat down, and started reading it himself.

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yooooo gabba gabba!

Check out this story on ABC News about Yo Gabba Gabba!

(Or as Matteo calls it, "Bo Bo BO! Bo Bo Bo! BOOOOOH!")

goodbye mom

My mom came to visit us for the weekend and just left this morning. I love having her come, she totally spoils us. She is so good with Matteo and so helpful around the house and I miss her so much when she leaves. Roscoe came to the airport with me to drop her off and as we pulled away without her he started to cry.

(I'm still figuring out my iphone so photos have been light. I love all of the cool features and photo apps but there is a bit of a learning curve to it all. It also seems that right now I'm taking fewer photos because I keep forgetting I have my camera with me. Duh.)

happy thanksgiving!

Cheers to a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

sick!

Matteo is sick, like projectile vomit sick. He's also teething and had a shot at the doctor yesterday. Fun times in our house today! We've been trading off being home with him so we can both get some work done.

In other news, Matt and I finally replaced our old beater phones with iphones. I'm in love, especially with the photo apps.







Hey, at least it's Friday. Break it down for us, little man.

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raking leaves is fun!

recall

And so it begins.

great wolf

One of my Dad's clients is Great Wolf Lodge and he very generously booked us two nights at the Wisconsin resort for this past weekend. We spent hours at the water park, played arcade games, ate at a restaurant that had a train running through it that delivers your food, and drank lots and lots of coffee from the in-house Starbucks to keep up with Matteo (as fun as they may be, there is absolutely nothing restful about vacationing with a toddler).

It was exhausting in the best of ways.


















And now, baby on a water slide!

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we're back

We spent the weekend at a water park resort in the Wisconsin Dells. Basketball season officially started today so it was our last bit of concentrated family time before we lose Matt to his team for the next few months. We're tired and trying to get back into the swing of things, but more to come soon!

happy birthday kevin!

I love you little brother!

birthday love

We celebrated Matt's birthday last night with tikka masala for dinner and a homemade Smith Island cake. Matteo loved helping open all the presents and tore through the wrapping paper like crazy. I have a feeling he's going to be really into Christmas this year.

18 months

happy birthday, matt!

Happy birthday to our favorite guy. We love you so much!

halloween!

The Halloween parade started right on time this year, which meant since we were running late we only caught the tail end of it. But we hung out in the park with lots of neighborhood kids and then went home for trick-or-treating. We were only going to stop by a few houses so our neighbors could see him in costume, but Matteo figured out the routine by the second house and got pretty into it - walk up to door, look cute, take candy and put it in pumpkin, wave bye bye, NEXT! - so we ended up being out for quite a while. He carried that pumpkin the whole time, even at the end of the night when it was heavy with candy.










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This house was pretty decked out, it even had a fog machine. Matteo was a little overwhelmed. He sat down on the front walk and wouldn't get any closer. The homeowner, who was dressed as a cat, had to come out and bring his treats to him.





In a funny coincidence, our next door neighbor was a lion too!