Chase-Salerno Family Events

Happy New Year!
(FYI, I’m working on updating my WyldAcres.com and KitchenOrTheEgg.com websites, so no blogging over there for the time being.)

This part’s called ” ‘Out with the old, in with the new’ meets ‘Careful what you wish for’ “…
I have been asking Mike about taking down the old ugly eyesore gray tarp “temporary” garage thing almost since he put it up, but definitely more since the barn went up. Well, the latest ice storm brought the thing down, doing irreparable damage. : ) So it was an even worse eyesore for a while until it was dismantled. And now, all of the crap that was behind it, waiting for spring clean-up (i.e. free dump day) is visible. Until spring. Mike enjoys grinning and saying, “Hey, *you* wanted it down…..it’s down!”

The beautiful barn.

Here’s the ugly one, post-storm, before Mike and Declan took it apart and brought it to the dump/recycling.

We had a nice “social night” recently, a dinner playdate we used to do weekly with Tracey/Jim/Luca and Nikki/Mike/Norah, but now schedules make it impossible to do more than once in a while. Here are Norah and Declan playing Wedgits at Luca’s house.

Two of Quinn’s favorite things – her Hello Kitty boots from Grandma, and a baseball hat that looks like Mike’s but might be stolen goods from Papa. She just looked hysterical.

After getting iced out on my birthday, we tried again and made it over to the New York Botanical Garden Train Show and had a blast. Since most of my shots are of the back of D’s head as he pointed gleefully to the trains that whizzed around the greenhouse, here are two shots of Quinny. (Mike did a great job on her hair!)

She backs up into Mike’s legs, holds up her arms, and says, “UP HIGH!” until she gets up there. Best view in the house!

Sledding while snacking on snow.

Buddy Cianan (left) and D (right) on a forest adventure out back.

On Monday, we hosted a festive early-Christmas with all of the grandparents, since G & G Chase are celebrating the holiday in Houston with Auntie Vanessa, Uncle George, and cousin Kai this year. We all had a great time eating, playing, and gift-exchanging!

Today, we spent a relaxing morning at home discovering what Santa had left for us, then we headed over to the Salerno’s for more wonderful Christmas cheer.

When we got home, D was excited to light the Christmas candle in our Advent wreath, and now we’re just lounging around together with that we-are-so-stuffed-we’ll-never-eat-again feeling.

Here are some pix of our elves from this week’s two Christmases! Merry Christmas!

It’s almost here! The end of the chocolate Advent calendars means Christmas is TOMORROW! The kids are so excited!

We love that Mike has the flexibility to telecommute sometimes. Here’s a picture of him working at home today… 😀

Lucky Declan got to spend the afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese with his friend Cianan, in honor of Ci’s 5th birthday today. After he got home, Mike took him to the store to buy a Nintendo DS (“dual screen”) handheld game system and the game “Kirby.” Declan was thrilled to be able to purchase the DS with his *very own money* from his scarf sales!

While the boys were out, Quinn and I made the pieces for our gingerbread house.

We used a different recipe for the mortar this year, and we’re not confident the thing will stay together. But it was a lot of fun to make and decorate!

This year, our holiday preparations included elements from other traditions. At sundown, we light a menorah each night (I made my first *successful* batch of latkes on Sunday!), we’ve been lighting our Advent wreath, and we had a winter solstice candle on Sunday.

Declan and Quinn made cookies for Santa and cut carrots for the reindeer. Quinn loved this part! “MORE CARROTS, MOM!!’

Finally, the end of the evening…setting up the refreshment stand for Santa. Quinn had a hard time understanding big brother’s urgent pleading to put. the. cookie. back. on. that. plate. Their letter to Santa this year reads as follows:
Dear Santa,
Do you like the cookies? I hope I get some Christmas money. I hope your reindeers like the carrots. And I hope you like the milk. I hope you like our Christmas tree, too.
Love,
Declan and Quinn

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Us

The festivities this week continued with caroling at the nursing home down the street, a homeschooling holiday party, and SNOW!! The kids love making snow-cones with it, Quinn likes walking around in it, and Declan’s enjoying the sledding and a taste of cross-country skiing around our woods!

How do the chickens like the snow, you ask? Yeah, um, not so much. They huddled under the overhang of the roof out back during the first storm and had no idea how to get back to their coop after it stopped. The chickens experiencing their first snow were completely confused, perched on the fence, hid under the coop, anywhere their feet didn’t have to touch the white stuff. The older girls who have done this before scurried into the coop as soon as Mike shoveled a path for them. During the second storm, I don’t think any of them ventured outside at all!

Declan had a great time caroling and dancing around!

Quinn loves “Jingle Bells” and “Frosty The Snowman” the best!

We had a good turnout this year for the caroling, with a nice mix of ages. One of the residents put on her own Santa hat and joined us as we walked around the nursing home. She was so happy to be around the children.

Cookie decorating at the homeschool holiday party.

Quinn admires the new snowglobe she made!

Enjoying the season’s first snow with Liv, Daniel, and hot cocoa!!

D loves his sled!

This week was full of pre-Christmas festivities!

We went caroling with our local homeschool group in a friend’s neighborhood, and had a blast singing traditional favorites such as Silent Night and Jingle Bells. After the recent ice storm, we had power when many of our friends did not, and we had fun hosting a playdate making Christmas cookies and decorating Santa hats. Gemma and Papa took Declan to see the Nutcracker in Poughkeepsie, which he loved! Grandma and Grandpa lost power after the storm, so Quinn got some, and gave some, early holiday cheer when she had one-on-one playtime with Grandma, while Mike and Grandpa hooked up the generator. Our good friend Nancy (my former yoga teacher and one of my healing teachers) came over for a visit and brought cupcakes and presents for the kids. Declan has tapped into his entrepreneurial spirit once again and delighted in making some cash, and some good trades, selling his homemade holiday dog biscuits and crisped rice treats for the annual homeschoolers Craft & Flea Market Extravaganza.

The kids were thrilled to score some cookies while caroling at our friend’s grandparents’ house. Declan’s on the top step in the light blue jacket, Quinn’s in the pink coat at the bottom.

Decorating (and eating!) cookies.

Santa’s Elves!

Aunt Nancy sure knows how to win these kids over!

D hawking his wares. He loved buying stuff from the other kids with his *own* money.

I’m so happy…..love my husband, love our kids, love our family, love my life…..39 looks to be another amazing year!!

Love,

Erica

Declan asked to host a holiday party, so we got into gear and made it happen this past Sunday. It was a small gathering, everyone brought something to eat or drink to share, we did an ornament craft, and we played an intense game of Dreidl. Quinn missed most of it by somehow napping through it, but she made an appearance toward the end.

We got some great lights off of Freecycle. Declan immediately went to work testing out and replacing dead bulbs. Quinn “assisted” by squealing with delight at the bright colors.

The kids had a blast decorating the tree!

D gets so into it! He wears his Santa hat every day!

All ready for the party!

After seeing a set-up like this at the Children’s Museum in Connecticut we visited last month, Mike helped me to recreate it at home. We got the video camera from Freecycle, we already had the television, and we bought an inexpensive microphone at Target as a prop. The kids love pretending they’re on TV!

An intense game of Dreidl!

We got our Christmas tree this weekend. Declan picked it out and helped to cut it down. Santa happened to be at the tree farm, but both kids were terrified and wouldn’t go near him. They loved the bounce house and toasting marshmallows, though! This is the place we went: http://www.mountainfreshfarms.com/xmastrees.html It was our first time there, but we’ll definitely be back!

Here’s a shot of Quinn wearing a gorgeous hand-knit sweater made for Declan by a family friend. Love being able to use it again!

I think this photo says it all about the feelings around seeing Santa. Mike and I were so excited to have the kids see him in person, for free, in a sweet, comfortable, low-key setting. The kids were wishing they were *anywhere* else.

Hard at work!

Warming up by the fire and toasting marshmallows.

Quinn was distressed that her graham cracker broke as she assembled her s’more.

She picked at it, clearly upset and not sure she could stomach eating a broken s’more.

And then…….all gone! 🙂

We are so deeply grateful for our blessings of family love. On Wednesday, the four of us headed over to Concord, MA to visit Kai, Uncle George, and Auntie Vanessa at her parents’ house for a visit. (They came all the way from Houston, TX for the weekend.) We loved reconnecting with them and the kids had a blast playing together.

On Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving at Gemma and Papa’s house, along with three international students from SUNY New Paltz – two from Japan, one from Saudi Arabia. After nibbling on appetizers and sharing a multilingual blessing on the main meal, we feasted on Olga’s hard work! We ate delicious turkey, stuffing, gravy, corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, salad, banana bread, brownies, and pumpkin and apple pies. We’re disappointed for Grandma and Grandpa that illness prevented them from joining in family festivities this year. Feel better soon!

In other news, one of our hermit crabs, Racecar 7 died. He happened to go during the 14-day warranty, so we picked up a new crab this weekend (name TBD). D’s WinterScarves business has really taken off and he’s having fun filling orders, mailing them out or meeting his customers in-person, and seeing the cash come in. 🙂 http://winterscarves.chasal.net/

Kai applies Declan “hair glue” to her balloon to help it stick to the wall.

Declan and Kai join forces against Uncle George.

Snacktime.

George, Kai, Erica, Declan, Mike, Vanessa, Quinn

Their first American Thanksgiving. Sachiko, the Japanese woman, said on the way home, “In the dorm, I feel different. But today, I felt comfortable, like I was in a Japanese home.”

She took a lot of pictures!

When dessert came out, suddenly, so did Quinn! Here she is, in her favorite spot, in Papa’s lap next to Gemma.

Snuggle time.

Declan is saving up to buy a Rubik’s Cube and to help other families in need this season. He decided to make and sell handmade fleece scarves to help earn the money! Come check out his handiwork here: http://winterscarves.chasal.net/

Go, D!!!