Let It Snow!

Along with the other 50 million people in the mid-atlantic/northeast U.S., we got a TON of snow yesterday! On the downside, all our plans were cancelled. On the upside, we had a ton of fun!

Swiper No Swiping

If you're familiar with Dora (and CAN I PLEASE HAVE YOUR LIFE if you aren't), you know all about Swiper, The Sneaky Fox. He basically takes things Dora needs for her adventures, and is a terrible influence on impressionable 3-year olds. Second only to Grand Theft Auto, which is why Gabe only plays that on weekends. Anyway, Gabe has taken to "swiping" things around the house, and hiding them in sometimes obvious but usually not-so-obvious places. This is the reason I'm late to work most days: when I spend 10 minutes looking for a brush only to find it in Gabe's underwear drawer, it's understandably difficult to get out the door. At least it's a more clever excuse than being hungover again. Anyway, I was pretty darn amused to find our Christmas stockings had been swiped today. Here are some pictures of the empty mantle and where I discovered the stockings later!

Earache

Poor Gabe! Last night we went to Longwood Gardens to see the lights and trees, and Gabe was cracking us up the whole time. Every tree was a "red Eiffel Tower!" or a "yellow Eiffel Tower!", instead of...um, A CHRISTMAS TREE! But then about an hour into the trip Gabe started complaining that his ear hurt. We thought it was the cold, so we went inside the cafeteria for a snack. Once inside he started crying, and once he started no amount of distraction (including a Santa cupcake with sprinkles) would make him stop. And when her big brother cries, Riley can't help but join the choir, so we got the heck out of there and high-tailed it over to CVS for some emergency Motrin and headed home. I spent the night going back and forth between Gabe's bed and mine (every 3-4 hours as the drugs wore off) and then today the doctor confirmed the obvious: ear infection. Any parent with a kid in day care will be shocked when I say this is our first ear infection, so now I know how lucky we've been! Anyway, yesterday was also Gabe's Christmas program at school, and it was ADORABLE. When I figure out how to upload video from our video camera (and not my phone) I'll post it but for now here are some pictures!

The forecast for the weekend is snow and more snow, so should be a low-key few days at home. Wish us luck!

Ho Ho Ho!

Sorry for the long overdue post! We have been predictably busy since Thanksgiving, with lots of work craziness, parties, events, and...well, life. Speaking into Turkey Day, here are some pics! Gabe & Ca-Ca making a gumdrop tree! And of course I have some funny stories to share!  

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  We were reading one of MANY Christmas books last week and Gabe was looking for elves. I wasn't sure if he knew what elves were exactly, so I asked him if he knew what elves looked like. "Of course I do" he replied, then ran to the refridgerator and took off the "L" magnet. HILARIOUS.
• Today he was drinking milk out of a new Santa Claus cup, which Ryan hadn't seen before. "Gabe", he asked, "what is that your milk is in?". Exasperated, he replied "It's a cup, Daddy".
• Gabe was playing with some sticky play-doh like stuff and threw it up to the ceiling, where it stuck. "Look!", he said, "it's a magnet!".
• Allegedly, Gabe knows the words to "Jolly Old St Nicholas", a carol he's learning for his school program. But each time he sings it he gets stuck on the "Don't you tell a single soul..." line. "Why can't we tell a soul?" he'll ask. "WHY? Is it a secret? Why is a secret? Why?" and so on FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES. Once we get past the inquisition, we try to get him to sing the rest of the song. "What song? We're not singing, silly!"

And now for the best part. For the past week Gabe has been entertaining us with the Christmas songs he has been learning at school for his little Christmas program next week (a first! We are beyond excited for it.) This is the first time I've posted video and I'm not sure it will work right, but give it a try. It's worth the trouble!