Happy Thanksgiving 2009

We enjoyed a delicious feast and enjoyed being together on this Thanksgiving Day. No Turkey Trot this year, but we'll work it all off this weekend in NY. Hugo has taken a real liking to photography; most of the following Thanksgiving Day pictures are taken by him. At least Santa knows what Hugo's getting for Christmas!


Hugo describes the Pilgrims' journey to America






Cheers!


Hugo captured our mini pumpkin cakes; a fabulous and unexpected result of what was initially intended to be a pumpkin roll. Rolling the cake led to a breaking mess- out came the cookie cutter and these tasty, little, pretty treats were born!





LEGO(buyyouriixinadvanceifyoumustgootherwiseSKIPit!)FEST
Amazingly Hugo and Portia speak fondly of our adventure to the Hartford Convention Center, where, along with the rest of every family with a child over 3 from the entire eastern seaboard, we braved Legofest 2009 (last weekend). Hugo and Portia love Legos. It started out as just Hugo's love, but Portia has, since she received a big bucket of pink Legos, also fervently jumped on board. So it seemed like a great idea. Problem #1 was that if you've previously been to Legoland, it's really hard to summon many oohs and aaahhs for Legos packed into a room not much larger than your typical high school lunchroom. Especially with these kinds of crowds. Prob 2 was not having purchased tix in advance. Hence on top of the delay to get off Interstate 91, we stood in line for another hour to get tix. Truthfully, though, we did see some pretty impressive Lego constructions- and Hugo and Portia truly seemed oblivious to all of the hassles.


Waiting in line, happy as can be


We're next in line to get tix!






















Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving 2009!!

Local and Seasonal Foods!

These are the keys. And we're lucky to live in an area where we have access to these--they shouldn't be considered luxuries, but they sure seem to be when you walk the aisles of Stop and Shop. I had a changing experience last week at Guilford's Women and Family Life Center last week at a screening of FRESH, followed by a discussion with Dr Kelly Brownell of Yale's Rudd Center. An eye-opening film and discussion about the health and environmental consequences of an increasingly industrialized model of agriculture. It wasn't all doom and gloom, though; the film offers very encouraging solutions, ones that we can put to use in our daily selection of what to serve ourselves and our families. Also worth watching is Food, Inc.,a film featuring author Michael Pollan- author of the Omnivore's Dilemna and a book I am currently reading In Defense of Food.

Here are some links to local resources:


www.ctgreenscene.com
www.ctfarmfresh.org
www.cityseed.org
www.localharvest.org


Be and eat well!!

-- as I crawl into bed, all these thoughts of food contamination and healthy eating dissipate as I relive a moment with Hugo tonight, sitting on my lap referring to me as "Mrs. Wonderful." And apropos food, what a great day both children had at school today, all in celebration of the upcoming holiday. Portia's class made cranberry orange relish; Hugo's class was responsible for 3 Sisters' Soup and cornbread; the other K classes made pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce and a variety of other celebratory foods. All 3 classes joined together for a collective feast. Never had I before heard a child rave so about a bean, squash and sweet potato soup! It's all about being involved in the prep!

On the mend...

What a turnaround! Hugo came bounding into our bedroom this morning, fever-free and full of energy. We stayed home, to be safe. So far, he has been the only one affected. With any luck, it'll stay this way. Pretty amazing to go from 104.8 to 98.6 in 36 hours! We are cautious in saying it's all over, but the signs are definitely encouraging. Dinner conversation revolved around things we are thankful for; for me, first and foremost, my gratitude is boundless for 2 healthy children.

Got it.

Thought we might be spared. Poor Hugo is febrile, dizzy and home. (The latter being most upsetting since, as he yesterday wept: "I just can't stay home. I love school so much.") We are really hoping for a short course since perhaps he will benefit from partial immunity having gotten the H1N1 vaccine five days ago. High fever is the alarming thing about this virus. He's such a good and sweet sport. In between needing to sleep, we've been sneaking in some good reading. Just finished Ramona the Pest, which was good for some much-needed laughter. All in all, this can't be the worst of all days since it started with a popsicle for breakfast. Still, the fever is alarmingly resisant to tylenol and motrin. His humor hasn't left him, though, which I take as a very good sign. Lying together and reading, I had to take my intermittent breaks of kissing him (I will, as a result, undoubtedly be next in line to get this), remarking for the 200th time today how he'll always be my one and only Bootie....then upon stroking his cute forehead, my finger slipped and boinked him in the eye. "Stouch!" he screeches. "Stouch?", I ask, what pray tell is that? "It's a combination of Stop and Ouch," he announced. Forever my little Hugo. Hoping for a quick recovery. Either that or I'll be the next contestant on "The Biggest Loser" (which I saw for the first time in my solitude - Marc's traveling - last night) with all of these apple cider doughnuts, popsicles and PBJ sandwiches lying around to raise my patient's spirits. I wish everyone good health. This is not a fun one.

It's been a hard day's night, and I've been...

ignoring this blog! But, alas, for good reason. Coincidence, perhaps, that a black cat crosses my path two weeks ago (time of last post),the day of the near death experience? Of my hard drive, that is. Yes, I had feared this, even had a super duper external hard drive, patiently standing by to stave off any crash-related anxiety. And there we were, one night: just a black screen, a white cursor, and me. The three of us- totally frozen. Enter stage left, following day: my savior, computer wizard. To whom I owe a lot. So...flash forward a little bit and a teensy bit of nervousness later, and everything's fine, and I am back in business. With mucho memory and enough hard drive space to store not just my own library of four hundred million ten hundred thousand seventeen billion and ten (to borrow Portia's perception of a lot) photos, but probably those of most of our neighbors. So, I'm finally in good shape.

To much more important business! Husband extraordinaire and I, in the interim, have celebrated 8 years together. Indian summer has brought us out to the beach; we're feeling so lucky to be surrounded by such good friends; we've celebrated a host of #4 birthdays; Peanut is learning how to ride a 2-wheeler!; a magnificent Halloween has come and gone. Lots of photo coverage follows.


Hard to believe this was just 2 weeks ago


































Yeah, Baby!


I'm getting there


This is old hat, Sis!


Gotta mix it up when you're learning to ride!

Halloween was a multi-day extravaganza of fun and festivities. School, Lawn Club and neighborhood activities made for a memorable trick-or-treat '09.


Darth and Zeebie












A recent and most surprising (to Marc and me) taking to Star Wars prompted this very un-Hugo, albeit adorable, costume


Hugo with Gunther






School Halloween fair...what's mommy going to do, avoid the 42 oz bag of M&M booth? Beeline straight for it!


Perhaps the greatest, most inventive Halloween event ever, organized and pulled off by a few very generous, creative neighborhood parents. A nighttime candlelit walk (in a neighborhood park) through brush, caves, greenhouses & creepy dark overgrown park corners complete with ghoulish monsters to greet at surprise intervals- here Marc plays the role of the werewolf emerging from red fog...




Pre-Halloween night hike
























Couldn't resist this shot - still in full glory on Oct 31, despite nighttime frost


Excess! In only the best sense of the word, of course.