Christmas Vacation: Week 2

The last week of our Christmas vacation can be summed up in three words: family, food, and shopping. Adam flew out to meet us - oh how we missed him. We spent Christmas Eve with my mom, Vernon and family, and Christmas day with my dad and Liz. Then we shopped post-holiday sales, ate delicious leftovers, and spent as much quality time with family as possible. I love being home... staying up late talking with my mom and sisters, hitting my favorite neighborhood restaurants, the familiarity and nostalgia of the East Coast. The best is sharing all of this with Adam, Tyler, and Audrey... watching my kids connect with family, and making my home, a bit of home for them, too.

Scrabble with G-Mom

My sisters Lauren and Stephanie. I love these girls!

Audrey had Grandpa wrapped around her little finger.

Trains from Grandpa kept Tyler busy for hours.

Audrey and Vernon

My cousin Katie and her girls, Olivia and Sofie.

The holiday season is coming to an end, and we have had a great one. 

Musician in Training

Over the holidays my stepbrother Vincent gave Audrey her first guitar lesson. There is definitely music in this girl's blood.

Clara

My little niece is perfection - with loads of personality. We miss her already.

Christmas Vacation: Week 1

We are still in Virginia for a few more days, but here's what we did during our first week off. We survived our cross-country flight, just me and the kids. Tyler was amazing on the plane, and Audrey cried her head off for about half an hour, sleeping the rest of the time. Then we did all of this stuff:

Helped Pop-Pop fix things around the house with real tools... a perfect day for Tyler.

Decorated the Christmas tree with G-Mom. Tyler preferred the candy canes.

Went to The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to check out the dinosaur bones. Tyler had been wanting to do this for weeks. Dinosaurs are a new obsession in our house. I wish I had a video of his face when he finally saw the bones... completely in awe.
Made this awesome gingerbread house - our first one ever... just like Mortimer's.
My best girlfriends Jen, Maureen, and Adriana drove down from New York City to surprise me for the weekend. It was amazing to see them. We went to brunch without the kids and talked for hours. I am so grateful to have these incredible girls in my life! Miss you so much already ladies.
Spent tons of quality time with cousins - Clara, Alex, and Ethan.

Also occurring during Week 1 - last minute Christmas shopping, eating too much good food, and major meltdowns and temper tantrums from Tyler. He came completely undone for about two days straight... testing my mommy patience like it has never been tested before. I'm happy to say I passed the test - but barely. Things are much better now, and thankfully dad is here to help. Week 2 coming soon.

Going On Holiday

We are leaving for the East Coast this morning, anticipating more holiday fun. Please send some good thoughts my way as I attempt to survive a cross-country flight with my two children. Adam is meeting us next week. I'll be going on a bit of a blogging hiatus. Posts may be few and far between until the New Year. Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. Have a wonderful and safe holiday season.

First Set of Wheels

Happy early Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Tait. Tyler is in heaven.

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..."

Santa is making an early stop at our house tonight. This will kick off the first of four Christmases for us this season. Our children are nestled, and we are vigorously wrapping, cooking, listening to holiday music... enjoying the first of many late nights playing Santa.

Let it Snow!

Tyler and I had a date last night at The Americana at Brand with our wonderful friends The Schoenis. See, it does snow in LA... you just have to go to the mall to see it.

Vanilla

I love this gift idea I saw on Design Mom today. If I can get my act together ahead of time, maybe I'll try my hand at something similar next year.

Tales No More

Tales from the Crib has closed it's doors. It's been a good three year run and it's a little sad to say goodbye. I am grateful for the community of friends and moms that existed because of the site. In many ways the support of these women helped me become the mom I am today. I will still frequent the site for advice from archived posts, and I will certainly be in touch with my fellow Tales girls for many years to come. Here is my first post at Tales, just weeks before Tyler was born. How things have changed in three short years.

Tyler's Countdown

Every morning Tyler wakes up and exclaims, "Today we're going to the airport!" - already excited for our holiday trip. So I got the idea from Carrie's blog to make a paper chain to help him count down the days until we leave. Each day he rips off a chain that has a little note written on it as to what we're doing that day. The last link in our chain is next Monday's big event - finally going to the airport. Hopefully this will help clear up the confusion, and I don't have to keep answering the question, "Are we going to the airport today mommy?".

Holiday Favorite

Christmas at our house means whipping up several batches of toffee for gifts - and of course for us to snack on, too. Our toffee tradition began when Adam and I were engaged. He loved his mom's toffee, so I got her recipe and attempted to make him some. I had never made candy before and it was a complete disaster. Well, two Christmases and at least a half dozen destroyed batches later I finally perfected toffee making, and now I'm quite the pro if I do say so myself. My recipe is no secret... it's essentially this Betty Crocker recipe with a few tweaks here and there. We use toasted almonds and only the yummiest Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips. This is about as domestic as I get, but there is something fun about making Adam's favorite holiday treat each year. The Tait toffee tradition lives on! And who knows... maybe one day it will be my kids' favorite, too.

A perfect holiday gift

Matinee

I'm going to see Spring Awakening with Anne this afternoon. I'm really excited to see it. If you've heard anything about the show, I'm not sure what I'm going to think... seems like you either love it or hate it. Going to the theatre is by far one of my favorite things to do. It reminds me of when I lived in New York and Broadway was right at my fingertips. I miss that. It's nice to look forward to a girls afternoon - spending time with a great friend, and doing a little something for me.

Hives Update

Remember my old friend hives? Well Audrey got her blood test results back today and she is allergy free! Her official diagnosis is chronic uticaria (the fancy word for hives), which basically means her body will sometimes react to sickness or stress by breaking out in hives. This will probably happen on and off throughout her life. Thanks to Zyrtec and her awesome allergist it is under control. The good news for me is I am now free to get off my crazy diet. Back to the world of ice-cream, pizza, and peanut butter - oh how I've missed you!

Good Morning

This is the smile that greets me every morning. Can you imagine a better way to start the day?