Showing posts with label Josie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josie. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2016
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Josie's second birthday
We planned with some neighbors to have a real Halloween party for the kids in our building. We had to push it back a weekend so it landed by Josie's birthday on the 11th, thus the Halloween party became Josie's birthday party.
A couple days before the party we thought we may as well send out a Whatsapp message to the group of parents from Lily's class, thinking only a couple would come with it being such short notice. Many came :)
The result was a party extravaganza with over 30 kids plus parents. There are smaller weddings.
We had an owl cake made by Lisa, banana cake muffins with green slime (actually delicious cream cheese frosting colored green), a vomiting Jack-o-lantern carved by Oli minutes before the party, 100 glow bracelets, colored cellophane for kids to put over the lenses of the flashlights we told them to bring, a trick-or-treat session where the kids ran around bombarding the parents on the patio with "Trick or treat?!" to get candy off them, and after that I got talk to adults and drink mulled wine for 30 minutes before cleaning up.
The only snafu was that Josie is 2 and we threw her a Halloween party to which kids and adults came wearing hideous masks and face paint. We had to hold her for an hour, then she got over it just in time for singing happy birthday, which we only had to do twice because I realized I hadn't lit the candles the first time.
Final observation. I thought the kids would come in simple costumes, but having never gotten to do proper Halloween, these kids came decked out in cool and frightening costumes!
Happy birthday, Josie!
(Even though we don't have a photo of you at your party. Maybe there's one on Dad's phone? We were kind of busy throwing a party.)
Update: We found one...
A couple days before the party we thought we may as well send out a Whatsapp message to the group of parents from Lily's class, thinking only a couple would come with it being such short notice. Many came :)
The result was a party extravaganza with over 30 kids plus parents. There are smaller weddings.
We had an owl cake made by Lisa, banana cake muffins with green slime (actually delicious cream cheese frosting colored green), a vomiting Jack-o-lantern carved by Oli minutes before the party, 100 glow bracelets, colored cellophane for kids to put over the lenses of the flashlights we told them to bring, a trick-or-treat session where the kids ran around bombarding the parents on the patio with "Trick or treat?!" to get candy off them, and after that I got talk to adults and drink mulled wine for 30 minutes before cleaning up.
The only snafu was that Josie is 2 and we threw her a Halloween party to which kids and adults came wearing hideous masks and face paint. We had to hold her for an hour, then she got over it just in time for singing happy birthday, which we only had to do twice because I realized I hadn't lit the candles the first time.
Final observation. I thought the kids would come in simple costumes, but having never gotten to do proper Halloween, these kids came decked out in cool and frightening costumes!
Happy birthday, Josie!
(Even though we don't have a photo of you at your party. Maybe there's one on Dad's phone? We were kind of busy throwing a party.)
Update: We found one...
...showing half your face.
Love ya, babe.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Second child guilt
As predicted, Josie will have cause to one day ask, "Why are there no photos of my early childhood and millions of Lili's?"
We've been slacking for the last 15 months. But, I'd like to point out that this is Josie's fault.
Sometimes I can't believe that two kids is just a 1:1 child-to-parent ratio. I suppose it doesn't help that we don't have grandparents around such that we're ALWAYS on duty. 24/7 FOREVER. And it doesn't help that Josie is terrible at sleeping. If she didn't smile and stroke our faces lovingly as part of her nighttime wakefulness, we'd probably have gifted her to some loving Spaniards by now.
But alas, all this shall pass and we'll miss having our little crazy people running circles 'round us, so less complaining, more blogging.
What's Josie doing lately?
- Very good singer. Now can quite quickly pick up tunes you hum to her and hum them back, though her favorites are The Imperial Death March and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
- Says "Hello" or "Hola" to almost everyone she sees on the street, when the phone rings, and at the skype screen...on repeat.
- Obsessed with small stoops in front of doorways along the street. Did a celebratory dance the other day when she stepped down on her own from a ledge that was 1 inch off the ground.
- Scratches. Lili's face is pretty banged up. Poor Lil. She tries to sooth enraged Josie who responds by scratching Lili's face. Lots of Neosporin.
- Able to say "I'm Sorry." After lashing out with a swipe or a scratch she's quick to stroke your face and give a hug. (Future domestic abuser?)
- *Sidenote about Lili* She's great at keeping her cool when Josie's being a hot head. If Josie's hitting, 95% of the time Lili will say "No, Josie. Do nice," In a calm voice and stroke Josie's face gently. The other 5% of the time, Lili will either be emotionally wounded and cry, or scream, "I HATE Josie! She's so mean!" But this is only when very tired.
- Independent. Yeah....we're not allowed to help her with much.
- Loves swings. Angry at children who also want turns. Can go down slides on own. Can take 'em or leave 'em depending on her mood. Not like swings. She's always in swing mood.
- Eats everything.
We've been slacking for the last 15 months. But, I'd like to point out that this is Josie's fault.
Sometimes I can't believe that two kids is just a 1:1 child-to-parent ratio. I suppose it doesn't help that we don't have grandparents around such that we're ALWAYS on duty. 24/7 FOREVER. And it doesn't help that Josie is terrible at sleeping. If she didn't smile and stroke our faces lovingly as part of her nighttime wakefulness, we'd probably have gifted her to some loving Spaniards by now.
But alas, all this shall pass and we'll miss having our little crazy people running circles 'round us, so less complaining, more blogging.
What's Josie doing lately?
- Very good singer. Now can quite quickly pick up tunes you hum to her and hum them back, though her favorites are The Imperial Death March and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
- Says "Hello" or "Hola" to almost everyone she sees on the street, when the phone rings, and at the skype screen...on repeat.
- Obsessed with small stoops in front of doorways along the street. Did a celebratory dance the other day when she stepped down on her own from a ledge that was 1 inch off the ground.
- Scratches. Lili's face is pretty banged up. Poor Lil. She tries to sooth enraged Josie who responds by scratching Lili's face. Lots of Neosporin.
- Able to say "I'm Sorry." After lashing out with a swipe or a scratch she's quick to stroke your face and give a hug. (Future domestic abuser?)
- *Sidenote about Lili* She's great at keeping her cool when Josie's being a hot head. If Josie's hitting, 95% of the time Lili will say "No, Josie. Do nice," In a calm voice and stroke Josie's face gently. The other 5% of the time, Lili will either be emotionally wounded and cry, or scream, "I HATE Josie! She's so mean!" But this is only when very tired.
- Independent. Yeah....we're not allowed to help her with much.
- Loves swings. Angry at children who also want turns. Can go down slides on own. Can take 'em or leave 'em depending on her mood. Not like swings. She's always in swing mood.
- Eats everything.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Radio silence, and then, a fat baby.
Inevitably, I have disappeared from the Internet now that I'm back at work.
A quick post to say, after a few exposures to rice cereal, Josie thinks she likes the stuff. Ate two bowls full yesterday morning.
In other news, she is fat.
Oh, I am quite full. And fat.
Wooo. Being fat is fun.
Hm. Let's see what happens when I do this.
Ah! Sorry!
(Have you understood that my baby is fat? And I like it?)
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Jordi
Yo -
This is Jordi. She or he has been living inside of me for 13 weeks now. That is sooooo Jordi.
Jordi is the Catalan version of George. As St. George is the patron saint of Catalunya, everyone here is named Jordi. Thus, this is the in-utero name we have applied to our child in order to avoid calling him or her 'it' and also because we like poking fun at Catalunya.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Angela's Saturday afternoon paella recipe
Start with lots of fish broth and non-long-grain rice. (Rice not pictured.)
Heat some olive oil and grated garlic in a pan. Paella pan preferable. After a minute, add rice and fish broth. 1x rice to 2x broth. Med-high heat.
Add some tomato slices.
Add small prawns. (If you learn that rice takes 900 years to cook on your stove, as we have learned on ours, you can add these guys later so they don't get over-cooked.)
Add saffron.
Add frozen peas. Or regular ones.
Have a beer.
Like this.
Go do some laundry.
Keep adding fish broth and rotating the pan until the damn rice is almost ready. Add mussels. These are open because they were leftover from dinner the night before and are just being re-heated by the steam. Not sure how advisable that is.
Add cockles.
Cover and when your shelled items are open, it's ready!
Feed to undeserving but cute people.
Fin.
Heat some olive oil and grated garlic in a pan. Paella pan preferable. After a minute, add rice and fish broth. 1x rice to 2x broth. Med-high heat.
Add some tomato slices.
Add small prawns. (If you learn that rice takes 900 years to cook on your stove, as we have learned on ours, you can add these guys later so they don't get over-cooked.)
Add saffron.
Add frozen peas. Or regular ones.
Have a beer.
Like this.
Go do some laundry.
Keep adding fish broth and rotating the pan until the damn rice is almost ready. Add mussels. These are open because they were leftover from dinner the night before and are just being re-heated by the steam. Not sure how advisable that is.
Add cockles.
Cover and when your shelled items are open, it's ready!
Feed to undeserving but cute people.
Fin.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Loft bed
I've changed Lily's room...AGAIN.
This time, there's a loft bed involved.
See photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=202282&id=659342526&l=46bab63edf
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Streamlining
The house has been needing some tackling: removal of junk we don't use and general washing of surfaces. Today I went at the family room and Lily's bedroom, hotbeds of straggling superfulous toys and craft materials. Surfaces were wiped, un- or mis-used things were recycled or binned. Furniture was rearranged. The end result was a much cooler room for Lil, I think.
Yesterday, before the cleaning began, Lily and I strung up some string and used mini wooden clips to hang some first-word flashcards all around her room. I stole this idea from Simon Hartrich's bedroom in the Kedzie apartment, where, if I remember correctly, the alphabet was strung around the room.
Anyway, it has taken away some of the bareness caused by the high ceiling in a room filled with small-person furniture.
Other new features include:
A revised kitchen area, that now has a baby's bed on the kitchen counter. Not sure about how that works, but....it does. Note the string with clips for Lily to hang artwork. That moon is her symbol at nursery school.
Bedside trinkets - IKEA lamp, souvenirs Georgia and Mircea brought Lily back from China, a Mentink original stencil, and a plant recovering from our time away at the holidays.
A closeup of the Mentink.
Fun hangy things: A felt mobile from IKEA and a wooden spinner found in a shop in the old section of town. Two faithful friends, Elmer the Elephant and Bouncy Black Sheep top the bookshelf. They're waiting for the right tallish lamp to come along to sit behind them.
A cleaned up Marmite jar to hold the marbles and bouncy balls that populate the corners of our home.
I quite like the boudoir I've created. Oli found that little chest of drawers in the street on his way home one evening. The mirror was left by the girls who lived in our apartment over the summer, the musical jewellery box came from Santa, and the dreamcatcher was purchased for one euro today in Barcelona. All-in-all, a good space for a Lil to get herself in order.
My favorite part of the room: the bookshelf flanked by a reading chair and baskets of bags, baby clothes, aprons, ballet slippers and tutus. Ask yourself why you don't currently have these things in your bedroom. Consider the improvement they might make.
Yesterday, before the cleaning began, Lily and I strung up some string and used mini wooden clips to hang some first-word flashcards all around her room. I stole this idea from Simon Hartrich's bedroom in the Kedzie apartment, where, if I remember correctly, the alphabet was strung around the room.
Anyway, it has taken away some of the bareness caused by the high ceiling in a room filled with small-person furniture.
Other new features include:
A revised kitchen area, that now has a baby's bed on the kitchen counter. Not sure about how that works, but....it does. Note the string with clips for Lily to hang artwork. That moon is her symbol at nursery school.
Bedside trinkets - IKEA lamp, souvenirs Georgia and Mircea brought Lily back from China, a Mentink original stencil, and a plant recovering from our time away at the holidays.
A closeup of the Mentink.
Fun hangy things: A felt mobile from IKEA and a wooden spinner found in a shop in the old section of town. Two faithful friends, Elmer the Elephant and Bouncy Black Sheep top the bookshelf. They're waiting for the right tallish lamp to come along to sit behind them.
A cleaned up Marmite jar to hold the marbles and bouncy balls that populate the corners of our home.
I quite like the boudoir I've created. Oli found that little chest of drawers in the street on his way home one evening. The mirror was left by the girls who lived in our apartment over the summer, the musical jewellery box came from Santa, and the dreamcatcher was purchased for one euro today in Barcelona. All-in-all, a good space for a Lil to get herself in order.
My favorite part of the room: the bookshelf flanked by a reading chair and baskets of bags, baby clothes, aprons, ballet slippers and tutus. Ask yourself why you don't currently have these things in your bedroom. Consider the improvement they might make.
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