"Twas the night before" Tacos

We, along with our our dear friend Monika, and Amy/Rob's next door neighbor Rachel, joined the entire Howard family for Christmas Eve.  We gorged ourselves on the most amazing homemade tacos ever and a ginormous ice cream cake from Bev's.  Em and Mez had a blast and Monika served once again as the Lisette-whisperer.  It is nice when neighbors become like family.
~klv

Dressed in their Christmas finest.

The Lisette-whisperer in action.

Christmas ham anyone?

Under-the-table-paper-plate-war.

Evidence of Santa's visit.

Emerson's 4th, Lisette's 1st

Christmas that is.

The day started at the respectable hour of 5:30 with baby girl's awakening.  Emerson followed a little less than an hour later.  We all padded downstairs in our pjs and stood in awe of what awaited us (the magic of santa for emerson and the magic of experiencing christmas through your own children for us adults).  Emerson opened a few gifts and then we all paused long enough to make coffee and start a fire. We spent the rest of morning opening gifts, playing, sitting in front of the hearth, and watching Christmas cartoons. Poor baby girls was fighting a terrible battle with her teeth which produced a low grade fever, biblical levels of mucus, and a general feeling of malaise.  Emerson successfully navigated a day full of tv watching, chocolate covered pretzels for lunch, and no nap.  We were able to skype with the Pelletiers of Northfield and the Walshes of Wakefield.  Our friends F.G. and Angie joined us for a dinner of rare roast beast (which was something that Emerson and Lisette didn't mind in the least), potato galette, roasted brussels sprouts, and arugula salad. The meal was rounded out with some delicious wine, Bev's ice cream, and Edna's amazing cake. All in all a wonderful day... we are really so incredibly fortunate.

Wishing us all love, peace, and joy!
~klv

The magic of Christmas morning...

Big Hit - basketball hoop from Grama P!

You can't tell in the picture
but she really is not a happy camper.

This on the other hand
IS a happy camper.

Showing off his shwanky new hat.

Christmas!

It was a GOOD DAY...

Christmas Eve

We are gearing up for the Big Man's big arrival tonight. To get into the Christmas spirit we ventured to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens last night to see the light display. It was nothing short of magnificent. Emerson has been sneaking gumdrops nonstop today and has asked to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" at least 8,146 times.  Lisette doesn't know what in the world is going on but she is still amazingly cute nonetheless.  We will be heading over to the Howard-Nelson's tonight for a mexican fiesta and tomorrow we will be enjoying roast beast with Angie and F.G.  

~klv

Emerson jumping for joy in the children's garden.
Lisette just chillin in the background.

You can't see it's head but that is a lockness
monster type thing in the water behind Em.

Yes that is Emerson pretending to eat the candy cane
you can tell he doesn't get to eat much candy! 

Lisette, donkeys, spiders, and other matters. . . .

It is the end of December here in Richmond (and I guess everywhere) and warm enough to play outside in just a shirt and some pants, which is what Lisette is doing in this video. This is her first time on a swing, and if you listen carefully, you can hear how she expresses her delight: by making the sounds of a donkey. That's our girl!

Of course, it's not all fun and games. While doing some end-of-the-year yard work, we discovered some of these critters living underneath Emerson's sandbox:

Yup. That would be a black widow loving up on one of several egg sacks. She was one of many that we uncovered. Delightful little creatures, really. While the spiders were found are (*cough cough*) no longer with us, I'm sure we'll be greeted by more next spring. Can't wait....

-kdp

A lady in the kitchen

Through all the cooking chaos, Lisette was still able to maintain her lady-like demeanor. This is her wearing her first barrette. As far as I'm concerned, she could be a character on Downton Abbey.

-kdp

Cookie Craziness

Here in the Vendetti-Pelletier household we are being held hostage by flour, confectioner sugar, and chocolate. As I write this, the 2nd batch of biscotti are cooling and pizzelle cover the dining room table.  Crumbs litter the floor like a newly fallen snow. My-editor-in-chief is sitting next to me as I type commenting on every typo I make, so we may not both make it to 2012 with all our appendages, but other than that, things are great. I have attached a photo of the kitchen mid-cookie making.  Emerson was a master at decorating pizzelle and sneaking bits of cookie while Lisette hung out in her high chair, taking it all in. Kevin (aka comma fascist) helped out by making a kick-arse chocolate bark.

As you can tell by the photo, Smitten Kitchen we are not but fun was truly had by all.
~klv

Scooting

So this is Lisette's version of "crawling." While a bit unconventional, it gets her where she wants to go!

Here are the photos from our gingerbread house making extravaganza!

First Blog

December 18, 2011


So today this very NOT 21st century mamma begins a VERY 21st century blog.  Given my extreme anti-facebook stance combined with my 500+ miles away from family and friends I thought a blog would be the happy medium. 


Our friends Tuck, Sully, Jack Lion and Max Lion came over today to help us make gingerbread houses.  Mamma made the houses (thanks to Martha S for the recipe) and the kids put on all the final details while simultaneously filling their bellies with as much candy as they could.


We also discovered that local pizza joints do not open until noon, which was not early enough to tame the hungry beasts.  So we were left to order from the MAN - being Papa Johns Pizza chain; however, this in turn led to the discovery of Papa John's Garlic Sauce so it all worked out in the end. 


Pictures of today's festivities will follow - once I figure out how to add them.  
~klv