Chase-Salerno Family Events

We had a fabulous time with Grandma at the state museum in Albany. We rode the antique Carousel countless times, saw some great displays including a plow made in Syracuse by great-great-grandpa Chase!, and Declan was thrilled to use a computer for the first time ever in the kids’ Discovery Area.

This weekend we also had a fun playdate with Kathy (Brown) Preston and her daughter Nora, 2 yrs.

Declan racing his horse on the Carousel.

Grandma and Quinn in the spinning seats of the Carousel.

Declan, Kathy, and buddy Nora enjoying Play-Doh.

Quinny lending a hand clearing out the dishwasher.

We’ve been spending lots of time outside, with all of this mild weather.

Enjoy the pix!

Quinny LOVES the swing!

Getting dirty outside is fun!

Making butter with Linda Brook’s butter churn while buddy Olin plays nearby

Jamming with Daddy!

It’s so wonderful how Livi and D just jump in and play together. They were acting out “Diego and Alicia” again and kept calling Quinny “Baby Jaguar” (from the TV show “Go, Diego, Go!” )

We started out with a snack since D hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, and we all enjoyed lots of mandarin oranges. They kept coming back for more. Then….

– Craft/Snack: We made pretzels! (Recipe at end.) After the kids mixed the ingredients, they each got six blobs to form and they created letters and shapes, then gave them toppings: one salt, one sesame, one plain, along with mini M&M’s and red decorating sugar. They enjoyed organic apple cider with their pretzels.
– Storytime: Livi picked “Little Tuppens,” and “The Three Bears.” D chose “Travels of a Fox” and “Three Little Pigs.”
– Outside Time — free play

Soft Pretzels

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. dry yeast (instant)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. oil (I used butter)- Mix dry ingredients together.
– Combine liquid ingredients, stir into dry ingredients and beat smooth.
– Divide dough into 12 pieces.
– Roll each piece into 12″ to 15″ ropes.
– Shape ropes as desired. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets.
– Brush with a glaze of egg yolk mixed with 1 Tbsp. water.
– Sprinkle lightly with coarse salt, sesame, or poppy seeds.
– Bake at 425F for 20 minutes – until lightly browned.

What a fun way to start off our first week of 2007 — with LIVI!!

The two of them jumped right into chatting and playing together, beginning with observations including colors they were wearing when everyone accompanied Livi in the bathroom to pee (I was changing Quinn). They compared colors on their briefs – both had blue, Declan had more blue and wondered if Livi’s were “made with the blue in there” or not (?). Declan insisted he needs a haircut soon, and that Livi did too, and she said no, she’s letting it grow, and Declan said, yes, but when it’s too “big,” she’d need a haircut, and they kind of left it at that. They are insisting in manners with each other, and after almost every transaction of Play-Doh tools, you hear a “thank you” and a “you’re welcome” and an annoyed “You’re supposed to say ‘thank you’/’you’re welcome’!” if one of them doesn’t say it. Declan showed Livi how one of the decals on his sneakers is wearing off. He really covets Livi’s Dora shirt. She told him something about Abey not getting some doll but “got it at a different store,” to Declan’s blank, “Oh.” They’ve both been super sweet to Quinn, kind of outdoing the other on how to be with her, whether it’s about safety, or being loving, etc.

During this Play-Doh time, at some point, they established that they would change tools in “3 minutes” (wonder where they got THAT from! ha) which was so hilarious. Every so often, Declan tries to agitate things by hysterically referencing some monster coming. Livi alternates between playing along and “I’m just doing my work” (Play-Doh).

-Art: Free play using Play-Doh and a bunch of accessories. I let them do this as long as they wanted – they eventually said they wanted to do something else and we cleaned up. They probably played this around 45 minutes.

– Pre-Reading/Writing: Wooden number tile game identifying numbers, counting, and matching numbers and number of items (like matching the number “8″ with the picture of 8 slices of cake)

– Music: They took turns picking songs from the Wee-Sing book — today’s selections included The More We Get Together; Clementine; Sarasponda; The Upward Trail; Down By The Old Millstream; Get On Board Little Children; Heav’n, Heav’n; Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen; Jacob’s Ladder; Swing Low Sweet Chariot; and Rocka My Soul. – Storytime: They each picked two stories – Livi chose “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “3 Billy Goats Gruff.” D chose “Little Tuppens” and “Chicken Soup With Rice.”

– Snack: Thumbprint cookies and cranberry juice (diluted with water). Toward the end of snack, Quinny spilled Livi’s juice all over the floor. Declan screamed and just sat there, saying, “There’s juice on my toy!” Livi sat there with her doll, eating her cookie, looking bummed out about her juice. After a couple of increasingly annoyed-sounding rounds of “I could use some HELP here with disinterested, blank stares coming back at me, I got specific: Livi, please take this towel and wipe up; D, please take this towel and wipe up; It was like I was speaking Greek for a minute, but then they kicked into action….anyway, they were AWESOME helpers after I told them specifically what I needed them to do and wiped everything up and put the wet towels in the hamper. Sometimes I forget they’re only 3….. Quinny just went over to the snack table again and the kids are doing a great job of moving everything over, away from the edge. Fast learners

– cool!

– Outside time…..free play with lots of “Alicia” and “Diego.”

LOVE LOVE LOVE  this special time together!!!!

We loved our start of the new year! We began the day with a fun, delicious brunch with Gemma, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, along with good buddies Luca, Norah, and their parents.

Later that afternoon, Mike, Declan, Quinn, and I went ice skating. It was Declan’s first time, and Mike’s and my first time in probably over 20 years! We were nicely equipped with the wonderful skates Grandma scored for all of us off of eBay. After a few scary laps, and a couple of helpful hints from a good skater who kept going around her, Erica finally remembered how to skate, Mike got a little better as well, and Declan? Well, he’s a natural. He was skating and pushing the balance bar all by himself after only a couple of laps. At one point he turned to me and said, “Mommy – I’m skating just like in my book!” At the end of our time there, Mike and I were taking off our skates, and we heard Declan say, “Look – I can run in my skates!” and we looked up to see him running down the hall, in his ice skates, no problem, like he was wearing sneakers or something. Amazing. Mike and I took turns holding Quinny on the sidelines, and she seemed to enjoy watching us glide around as she listened to the rockin’ hits they seem to play a lot at ice and roller skating places.

Happy New Year!

Post-brunch fun with Luca

Skating 1

Skating 2

What a wonderful couple of Christmases we had this week! On Christmas Day, the first thing Declan wanted to check was the plate of carrots left outside for the reindeer – YES! Santa had come! From there, he bounded into the living room and saw that the cookies and milk had disappeared as well. And presents were under the tree! And stockings were filled! During this family time at home, each child received three presents, in the style of the three gifts presented to baby Jesus: a gift from Santa, a gift from Mommy and Daddy, and an ornament from Mommy intended to represent a special event that took place that year. This year’s ornament for Declan was a horseshoe crab ornament to help remember the good times we had in Cape May and all of the horseshoe crabs we found the last time we visited. Quinn got a crazy-looking sock monkey cowgirl ornament because she just “liked” it when we passed by it at the store, but it marks her arrival into our lives this year and all of the accompanying adventures. When they move out, they’ll take their special ornaments with them to decorate their own tree someday (sniff).

The next day, 12/26, we had such a good time eating and celebrating the holiday at Gemma and Papa’s house along with Grandma, Grandpa, Gumpa, Uncle George, Auntie Vanessa, and Kai! Lots of fun, lots of presents, and plenty of high-octane excitement experiencing Christmas as a large, happy extended family. We’re so blessed to be surrounded by so much love and generosity. One highlight of the day was toasting to the one-year anniversary of “Gotcha Day,” the day Kai came into George and Vanessa’s, and all of our lives.

Then we got to visit the next few days with Kai and family – a neat chance for the cousins to spend time playing together. Declan loves being a “helper” with Kai and was constantly offering her bits of food, or showing her something was “OK” like holding her hand to touch his toy “watch it hatch from an egg” baby dinosaur. Quinn couldn’t get enough of Kai and tried to be near her as much as possible. Kai liked being in our laps for storytime and occasional stolen kisses, but she seemed to welcome a break once in a while from Quinn’s overly-friendly overtures. The time passed too quickly, and they went home too soon. Can’t wait until the next visit together!

Building with his new Tinkertoys on Christmas Day with Daddy

Happy cousins

Playing “horsie” on Mike’s lap

Quinn trying to play “store” with Kai

Cutting Uncle George’s practice session a little short to perform some rousing renditions of “Eensy Weensy Spider” and the “Alphabet Song”

It’s been so much fun preparing for Christmas this year!

During one of the days leading up to Christmas, a group of parents and kids from our website “hudsonvalleyparents.com” gathered together for caroling at a local nursing home, and we had a blast walking around and singing along with the guitar one of the dads played. Afterwards, we had some friends over to decorate cookies and do more holiday songs. Quinn enjoyed playing tambourine!

A few days later while we were at the playground with buddy Cianan, we got a visit from Santa who arrived via firetruck and handed out candy canes! The kids were speechless – what an exciting surprise!

In early December, we made a “Star Ladder” with Declan to help with the countdown, where the angel descends one star on the ribbon every day. When the angel arrives “on Earth,” it means it’s Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, Declan was so excited he had his pajamas on at 5:00 p.m.! He changed his clothes to VOLUNTARILY attend the Christmas Eve service at church. (Since it was the second time we’d be attending church that day, we let him choose whether to watch “Frosty the Snowman” or come to church…we were more than surprised to get his answer!) During the service, the kids received “presents” to unwrap pieces of the nativity scene and bring up at the related scripture reading. Declan walked his angel and king to the front all by himself.

By the time we got home, he was ready for his “long winter’s nap,” put out a plate of chocolate chip cookies he made with a glass of milk, cut up some carrots for the reindeer, and eagerly anticipated the arrival of Santa Claus!

Declan participated in his first Christmas pageant this year – he and a couple of little buddies were the “friendly beasts” and Declan was the donkey. Mike helped him along through some delicate negotiations during the rehearsal before church, but we could see the writing on the wall when at the same time during the service, unbeknownst to each other, the three-year olds took off their ears and started getting tired….by the time it came around to pageant time, Declan and the other beasts didn’t really want to go up there by themselves (it was apparently OK to go up with mom or dad) so Mike went up with Declan and carried him/sat with him like the other beasts’ parents did. After it was over, Declan said he wanted to do it again next year!

Another “first” happened for Quinny during the church service, too – she pulled herself up to a standing position in the pew, much to the delight of the family behind us. She held herself up while bouncing and chatting happily with them and is very proud of herself. So proud that she does it all the time, now, on anything and everything!

“Donkey” Declan with Daddy decked out in his ears and tail

Smiling with Daddy

Making pumpkin cookies with Livi

“Can’t wait until *I* can do all of this stuff at the playground like Declan!”

Happy Birthday to me! I’m 37, I feel lucky as hell and love my life. Mike, Declan, and Quinn have made this the best birthday ever. Thank you, Mom and Dad for birthing and raising me.

Celebrating with Declan, Quinlan, and buddy Norah over cake made by Tracey

Declan and I were all set to have waffles one morning, but after we made the batter, we found that the waffle iron didn’t work. Here he is, taking it apart, helping Daddy.

Quinny and buddy Luca

Quinlan turns 9 months old this week. Nine months on the “inside,” nine months out in the world. Nine months of being completely enchanted by her big brother is pretty much the way we’d sum things up around here. Many times when we implore Declan to be more gentle while playing with her, she’s laughing and egging him on. Quinn likes her mobility and is developing a bit of a temper about being restrained when she wants to crawl toward some dangerous, deathly object.

Declan’s enjoying the world of jokes! He has two jokes he can tell by himself – one about two apples and one about two atoms walking down the street. Ask him to tell them to you – he’ll be thrilled! Then, as soon as he has delivered the punch line, he tells the joke again, “his” way, which is a bizarre retelling of the joke with a different number of characters who say completely different things with an abrupt ending. So we thought we’d try knock-knock jokes with him since they’re a predictable pattern. Didn’t really work out. Declan thinks the fact that a banana answers the door is funny in itself! So after we say, “Knock knock,” he says, “Who’s there?” and we say, “Banana,” you never really get to “Banana who?” because he’s laughing about the banana part.

Jamming with buddy Livi

Playing outside in the leaves

Quinn wearing the vest….

Declan wearing the vest!