Singin' & Jumpin'

Andy loves to take a running jump - this can go on and on, with oooos and aaaahs required after each jump. Click on the video to oooo and aaaah yourself!

This is a video of Andy singing about not wanting to go potty, which then morphs into a song about a turtle in his bath, potty and sink, who gets his shell wet and, for some reason, then goes to the emergency.

Christmas

This felt like our first Christmas with Andy because it's the first that he's understood the concept of Santa and the tradition of gift giving. It was so fun to experience Christmas through his eyes! On Christmas Eve, Andy picked the cookies, told me what to write in our note to Santa, and then decorated the note himself.

On Christmas morning, Andy finished off the cookie that Santa left behind.

Andy got his Christmas wish from Santa: a chainsaw! When Andy had finished opening his stocking gifts, he looked at me and said "he didn't bring me a chainsaw" in a soft voice and I had to show him that there were still several gifts from Santa left to open! In the video below, you see his reaction when he opens the chainsaw...so sweet.

Andy made this candle in school with a jar and tissue paper and after opening his gifts from Santa he made sure I opened his gift next. I will cherish that little candle FOREVER.

Andy opened Sylvia's gifts for her and stacked them on top of her in the swing.

Mom prepares chili for a late lunch/early dinner.

It snowed! Shawn took Andy outside to catch snowflakes in their mouths. This is one of the wonderful things about my husband - he knows how to seize a moment!!!

Andy brought his guitar into the office to join an impromptu jam session with Shawn, Kelly and the two Peters. Here's the video, which comes out pretty dark in this You Tube version:

Sylvia got comfy on the couch with her new doll from Santa.

Andy joins Sylvia on the couch for some sweet sibling moments.

Peter and Esther with Sylvia!

After our other guests went home, Shawn and Peter went out to play music, and Esther and I relaxed and played with Sylvia while watching gossip TV shows. The perfect end to a perfect Christmas with family!

Friends, family and a black eye?

We spent Saturday night at my mom's condo eating some pretty amazing risotto with Mom, Tom, Peter, Esther, Gregg, and Rob, Beth and their 7-month-old son Benjamin. With all the kids and kid-related antics, we reflected on how much our get togethers have changed over the years! Andy just wanted to spend every second with Peter, and during one chasing game he took a corner too close and whammed his eye right into the wood corner of the couch. Not to be defeated, as soon as he was done crying, he asked Peter to "do it again," meaning to declare chase again. This time, Andy took the corner a little broader. Our little guy won't even let a black eye get him down!

Shawn and Sylvia rest before our evening out.

Beth, Benjamin, Sylvia and Rob

We put Benjamin and Sylvia on the floor together. When Ben kept patting Sylvia on the head, Andy suddenly leaned in to "protect" his little sister.

Andy's shiner!

Black eye? Who cares!

Merry Christmas to Our Friends and Family

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holiday party 3

holiday party 2

Holiday Party 1

Holiday Party!

This morning Andy's preschool had their annual winter solstice/holiday party. The kids sang Hanukkah and Christmas songs, then had a pinata and a holiday lunch. For the pinata, they went from youngest to oldest a couple of times, and it turns out there's only one child younger than Andy in the whole preschool, but he's as tall as any of them so you wouldn't know it!

On the preschool playground singing their holiday songs.

Andy taking his turn at the pinata! The first round they were blindfolded. This was the second round - no blindfold to speed the pinata breaking process.

Ice Skating

After hanging around the house yesterday with Sylvia, we all decided to go ice skating at the Seattle Center. It was a blast!

Peter and Esther visiting

My brother and sister-in-law are visiting for the holidays from Philadelphia. This is their first time meeting Sylvia, and it's fun seeing Andy bonding with his "tito and tita." But the one who is most excited that they're here? Herbie! He gets LOTS of love when Peter and Esther are in town.

Sylvia fell asleep sprawled out on Esther!

This is not posed - this is exactly how I found them this morning

- Esther was almost falling off the bed because Herbie was taking up so much room! Did I already say how happy Herbie is to have these two around???

Sunday morning

Andy does something unusual with the plastic candy cane ornaments (meanwhile, the Christmas bag he dug out of my wrapping closet is filled with his "big boy underwear"). Too funny! Sylvia watches her inventive big brother from the swing.

Ravs!

Every year, the women in my family get together in mid-December to make ravioli for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner (to go with a roast - the ravs are the first course). We use our traditional Carignani family recipe, doubled for extra ravs. This year, cousin Paul joined us for the first time and can now boast that he knows just how to roll pasta out to a perfect 5! We also took the opportunity to celebrate Sue's 60th birthday, since she'll be in the Galapagos on the 22nd, and surprised her with champagne, cake & candles and the birthday song at the end of our traditional lunch. It was a perfect day. When we were close to making the last of 665 ravioli, we broke into Christmas carols, with spot-on harmony (marred only by our laughter at the height of O Holy Night, when our collective enthusiasm and volume was suddenly VERY funny).
The lunch table - we sit down for lunch after the dough and fillings are made, while the dough rests. After lunch is when we make the pasta and put the ravs together.

Sylvia greets our morning guests.

Paul, Katie and Sue grind the meat in the Kitchenaid grinder, a huge timesaver compared to the hand grinder passed down through the generations. I guess we're taking ravioli making into the 21st century! We use every nook and cranny in my kitchen - this is one time when the double sinks are put to good use!

Michelle makes the pappa - a bread, milk and cheese mixture that is added to the ground meat to make the rav filling.

Adding pappa to the ground meat.

Sylvia was a dream all day - it was great to see her handed from woman to woman - that's the way babies were meant to be raised, by a village!!!

Making the pasta dough is one of the toughest jobs - we've doubled or tripled the recipe, so there's just a lot of flour and egg to combine, plus you have to knead it until it's "soft as a baby's bottom." We were tempted to put our dough to the test by comparing it to Sylvia, but she was sleeping....

Linda making dough.

Starting to form dough into sections.

Sue and Katie knead in small batches.

Paul was a fixture at this machine and did a fantastic job turning out sheet after sheet!

His mom Michelle was our other pasta maker.

After layering the molds with two sheets of pasta and spoonfulls of filling in between, Carol (above) and Linda (below) use rolling pins to press the ravs.

Linda with a mold full of new ravs.

With 665 ravs, we filled my dining room table and two counters in the kitchen! With just 16 people at Christmas Eve dinner, that should be PLENTY!