A Beautiful December Day

The boys and I had a fantastic time at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today. We really lucked out with a 70 degree day in December, and even though it was cloudy and windy, the weather was pretty much perfect for our visit. We spent 3 of our 4 hour visit outside enjoying the train, lemurs, wolves, and the Catch the Wind exhibit. It was a great day for the remote sailboats! Inside, we were just enchanted with the Holiday Springs and Sprockets exhibit. Joey was so inspired that he came home and started drawing his own 'machines'. The exhibit runs through 1/5/09, so you still have time to go see it. We reupped our membership today, so here's to lots more memories and pictures at the museum in the upcoming year.

All my pics from today are here.

Sometimes life is not fair!

Nobody ever said life is fair, right? Today, I took the boys to the museum in Durham. We were there for over 4 hours having a blast. When we got home, I was tired and I put in frozen pizza. I thought I'd squeeze in a few chores waiting on it. I grabbed a bottle of spiedie marinade out of the pantry to pour on some meat. I brute force twisted the plastic safety seal off the top and went to shake the bottle. Spiedie marinade for those of you that don't know is mostly olive oil and Italian seasoning. What I didn't realize is that the cap had come loose with the safety seal. I shook, and the marinade went EVERYWHERE. Darn near made a grown woman cry. It was all over the inside of my pantry, on my kitchen floor, on my shirt, in my hair...just a COMPLETE MESS. I didn't get to eat, but at least the boys did while I cleaned up my very icky and untimely accident. If you stop by in the next few days, the house is still likely to smell like spiedie sauce:-( Go easy on me...

A Merry (and Uneventful) Christmas

Well, the fantastic news is that no one needed to go to the hospital on Christmas Eve like they did on Thanksgiving 'eve'.

Dad was able to make it up. The boys were very excited that Poppop was coming to visit not to mention that Santa was on his way.

We had tons of fun with Poppop making Christmas-shaped sugar cookies for Santa. Mom made a nice bottom round roast on Christmas Eve and a Dinner Bell ham on Christmas Day determined not to spend too much time in the kitchen.

While we were waiting for the roast to cook on Christmas Eve, we took a drive with Poppop looking at Christmas lights.

Santas helpers did what they need to do;-)

Joey was very excited with a Nintendo DS. Mario and Sonic are soon to rule at our house I'm afraid.

Johnny loved his scooter (like Joey's only blue) and the Star Wars ships and action figures.

Mom and Dad and Poppop got some neat big girl and big boy gifts too:-)

With kids in the house, the magic of the season was definitely felt at our house:-)

Kids' Christmas Party

We held our annual Christmas party for Joey and Johnny and their friends Saturday. Everyone seemed to have a good time:-) The kids did 4 crafts: wooden ornaments with markers, stained glass plastic ornaments, filling glass bulbs with garland and sparkles and beads, and making a Santa mobile face. We ate nuggets and chips and cupcakes and fruit and sugar cookies that we made. Carols were playing in the background. Little boys were having fun chugging their trains and zooming their race cars around the house. Joey and Eli even made it snow in the garage with cotton balls:-) It was really nice to spend part of the busy holiday season having fun with friends.

The rest of the pics are here.

Move over Santa!

Here's the Chick-fil-A cow!!!

The boys and I were out running errands after work. I figured we'd go through the Chick-fil-A drive thru and then drive around and look at Christmas lights. But, the boys and I could see the CFA cow through the restaurant windows. We love the CFA cow! Tonight wasn't an ordinary night, the cow was dressed up as Santa Cow, and he was taking pictures with all the kids. So, the boys asked to go inside. I said OK, and the girl at the drive thru sent our food to a tray, we parked, and headed in.

I got a couple of nice pictures. The boys and I enjoyed our food including sharing a cookies and cream milkshake. The picture below of Johnny crying...well, let's just say I had to tell him the milkshake was ALL GONE. I have that same feeling every time my Leapin' Lizards coffee drink is all gone too!!!

The rest of the pics are here.

The Joy of the Season

May you experience

the magic and wonder

of the season

through a child's eyes.

I read that in an e-mail that was sent to me today and thought to myself how true that is even if a toy company did send it! I certainly am seeing a lot of magic and wonder combined with joy and delight in Joey and Johnny's eyes this year.

Last night while we were crafting, the boys and I were singing Christmas carols. I am so pleased that Johnny is participating...even spontaneously starting to sing the carols on his own sometimes.

Johnny asks every morning now if Santa has come? Yesterday he all but insisted that we stop what we were doing and make Santa Christmas cookies. So sweet...

Joey keeps wrapping gifts for people (and our dogs). He finds an item in the house that he thinks will be enjoyed and sets about using paper and tape to wrap it up. He even decorated the wrapping paper for Blaze's gift with a drawing of Tigger and other animals. He keeps saying it's all about giving not receiving repeating what I'm sure he's heard at preschool and in videos. Too cute...

I love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season more than most, but even I am taking time to enjoy all the season has to offer... They're only little once, so step back and soak it all in.

Our best holiday 2008 pics are here.

A trip to the mall...

The whole family went to Southpoint Mall today. The main goal was Build a Bear and possibly a visit with Santa.

Build a Bear was a success. I had a bunch of coupons:-) Joey got the reindeer with the glowing light antlers and called it Moosie. Johnny got a doggie he insisted was a reindeer and called it Rudolph.

The line for Santa was too long for 'all' of us to wait through...about 90 minutes. I thought I remembered this mall using pagers. If they did last year, not this year. Oh well.

Mom loves the red ornament trees at JCPenney's. The boys love all the statues in the mall.

We had good time including a trip to Auntie Anne's pretzels:-)

The rest of today's pics are here.

Are they eagles' nests?

I snapped this photo on NC 751 today. I think these might be eagles' nests. No eagles in the picture, though.

Here's a link to a picture of an eagle's nest for comparison.

Kids Love Presents

And they also love the boxes and bags they come in!

Joe and Debbie stopped by to celebrate Christmas with us today, and the boys really enjoyed their visit!!!

Hi Mr. Heron

If you're observant when you're out driving, and you have your camera in the car with you, you just might get a picture like this:-) I took this today off Hwy. 42 coming out of Fuquay near a water spot.

Santa's Helpers

Who can resist a couple of cute boys in Santa hats? Not their mom, that's for sure! They drove with me to get the Christmas tree tonight. Then, I wrestled it into the stand and into the house. Lights are next of course. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it:-) We have a bunch of Hallmark Star Wars ornaments from past years and this year, and afterall, it is the year of Star Wars for this next generation of kids. We can't NOT put up a tree this year Rick hurt or not!

Why the Silence?

Wow, it's been since 11/25/08 since I put a post on my blog. Thanksgiving has past. Christmas prep is well underway. Problem is, life threw the Goldman family a curve ball on 11/26/08. Rick got home from work early. Dad was on his way up to spend Thanksgiving day with us and eat turkey. The kids and I had been shopping and were in a good mood. Rick decided to clean the gutters on our house in prep for putting up holiday lights. I was super excited about Black Friday shopping.

Rick finished the front gutters, and I thought he was stopping. We don't put lights on the back of the house! Next thing I knew, he was around back...and he fell. I was in my office on the back of the house, and he was cleaning the gutter on the non window wall of the office. I heard a thud and the ladder crashing and another thud. He fell and hit the deck rail and then the ground. He was awake and told me to call the ambulance. Really? That serious?!? I called. They came. Unbelievable...it was the same spot he fell from on May, 14 2004 when I was 7 months pregnant with Johnny no less.

Hours later at the hospital after all the tests, they confirmed that he had 4-5 broken ribs and a broken scapula on the left side and a broken sternum. Bruised lungs too. He would be OK, but he was being admitted.

6 days later, he came home moving slower than usual but moving and home. Pictured is Johnny doctoring him. Rick has a smile from Johnny's good attention and from good pain meds:-)

Work is treating me well as I try to do for the kids what Rick usually does while still trying to work. With the help from some friends, it is going reasonably well. Consider me having tied a knot in my rope until my year end vacation starts on 12/17! Was the Christmas season not hectic enough without this happening?!?

Rick is already walking a lot and restless, so hopefully he'll continue a positive recovery and not be down for the count too long.

Just Me and Johnny

Today was one of those rare days when Joey was in school, and Johnny and I were both off. Rick was working, so Johnny and I just had the day to ourselves.

After we got Joey on the bus, we headed to Cary via a short stop at Lake Wheeler.. Simpkins pond was shaded and cold, so we didn't stay too long. The ducks weren't super hungry either.

Our main mission was to pick up the Santa Paws pictures at Cameron Village. We checked out The Bargain Box thrift store while we were there too. (Guardian Angel wins hands down in my opinion.)

I also thought a trip to the mall would be nice. Let me tell you, it was great just having one child to keep up with, no refereeing, no loud play acting, no fidgets, etc. Johnny and I had a GREAT time. I could have had an equally nice time with just Joey too I'm sure.

I let Johnny get his pic with Santa. We had our usual soft pretzels and Icee lunch (oops, did I admit that?!?). I let him go on the new kiddie rides. Can you believe they are 75 cents each now?!? I even found a gift I was having trouble finding anywhere else. Great time!

The rest of the pics are here.

Another Sneak Peek

I'm just not good with secrets... I'm trying to choose between great smiles but not the greatest pose in the vertical shot and a better pose but J&J not smiling as nice in the horizontal shot. Decisions... Decisions... For our Christmas card.

The rest of the album is here.

Photography Show at Coffee & Crepes

I hung some of my photographs at Coffee & Crepes tonight. C&C, as I love to call it with friends, allows various artists to hang their work for one month intervals. So, my stuff will be up until 12/23/08.

I'm really thrilled to have some of my pics at C&C again. The purple wall has abstract glass shots, and half of the orange wall has nature shots including butterflies and daisies. I had plenty more to hang! Maybe in the spring...

If you get a chance to stop in while you're out holiday shopping, let me know what you think.

Johnny Did It!

Johnny's preschool had it's Thanksgiving program tonight.

It was really touch and go all week whether or not Johnny was going to going to participate or not. During pick-up today, Miss Lori told me to hand him off and leave QUICK tonight. To his protest, that's just what I did. Miss Amy did a great job of taking him from me and letting me make a fast retreat. Whew...

Let me just say that the kids, staff, and the music teacher, Miss Helga, did a great job with the Thanksgiving program. It worked out really well in the new gym/auditorium multipurpose room. There were about 5 songs, and the kids were lively and well practiced and having fun. All the parents really enjoyed it too!

Johnny came in looking for us. I worried he would jump out of line. He did not. Miss Lori was right behind him and got him situated on stage. He was singing to the songs, moving his hands as best as he could with the other kids, and generally doing well. I think the kids forget to smile sometimes when they are concentrating on not forgetting the words, etc. The highlight for Johnny had to be putting the pumpkin in the cornucopia. Big smile there.

Lucky for me, I was right up front (with Joey sitting in my lap), so I got some decent pics:-)

A special thanks to Miss Lori and Miss Amy for all their efforts in helping Johnny to succeed tonight:-)

Enjoy!

The album pics are here.

Madi Play Day

I called Christine Friday night to see if Madi could come over Saturday morning to play. She could:-)

I snapped the adorable couch pictures after we read about 5 Christmas books. Yes, I broke out the Christmas books yesterday morning!

I wanted to cook something with the kids and decided that the soft pretezel/dinner rolls would be fun. YUM!

We did a foam sticky/glue craft that the kids seemed to enjoy. Madi wanted to do a second one:-) There's my craft girl! Johnny was really enthused to come to the table which of course made me really happy too.

Blaze was really motivated to get doggie biscuits;-) She was well compensated.

Christine came over and joined us. Joey showed off his video game skills and we had fun with Lego bricks. Then it was time to feast on the dinner rolls. DOUBLE YUM!!

No one was really ready to stop playing, but after 3 1/2 hours of play, it was time. More Christmas books and crafts soon!

The rest of the pics are here.

Santa Paws Sneak Peak

Since before Joey was born, our family has had our holiday Christmas card picture taken at the SPCA of Wake County's Santa Paws fundraiser. Each year, just before Thanksgiving, we dress up in color coordinated holiday cheer and hop in the car with at least one of our dogs to go get our picture taken. For the last several years, the picture location has been an empty store at Cameron Village. Tonight was our night this year. Black jeans and red and black shirts were the theme. Blaze got to come with us. They took several poses. Now that they use digitial cameras, I could see on the LCD screen that they got at least one good picture. Next Tuesday, I can pick up a CD with the digital images on it and then go to Wal-Mart and get our holiday cards made. Fun!

I took a few sneak peak pictures waiting to get our picture made with Santa and then a few of the boys with Santa after the family picture was made. The album is here.

It cost $40 for our family, and I know it goes to a good cause. If you think you might like to get your family's picture made this year, there are still appointments available.

Last year's Santa Paws picture album is here.