Scooter League

Andy joined his very first team this winter: Scooter League Father/Son Basketball. He dropped those astronauts like a bad habit and it has been all sports all day since. He got his first coach, "Coachchar-lahs" and fell in love with him at first high five. Andy learned to dribble and shoot and huddle up and he got a team shirt and his very first sports medal (which he is still wearing six months later) but most of all, he felt like the star he is. There is nothing sweeter than watching the boy emerge from your child. Andy absolutely loves sports - especially any sport that gives you a number - and his new favorite word is champion, as in "will this broccoli make me a champion Mom?" or "I know I'll be a champion in these shoes." I am certain that I'm his biggest fan. In less you ask Scott.

Blog Panic.

I woke up at 4am and have been, quite simply, a wreck since. It's my blog. I've neglected my happy little place that has been - aside from my mother - my most loyal "ear" for hearing all about the daily around here. The worst part? There have been so many "I hope I never forgets" around here over the last six undocumented months...this much I know...but as I watched the clock move, I couldn't for the life of me think of a single one. So I'm up at 5:33 a.m. and I am pledging to dig through my pictures and try to record the bits I do recall. I do this blog for my children and Scott gets it printed and bound each year (I'm published!) and this has been my very favorite year (I say that every year) (and I think that is a good thing)! Sweet Grace and darling Andy, I am going to try my best to fill in the gaps but I want you to know that you two have officially become too much fun. We're so busy filling our days with adventures and activities and laughter that I haven't had time to work on this gift to you! Keep it up. I'll manage.

God help me.

I remember carting my sweet baby girl to the pediatrician when she was a mere 2 months old. I just knew she was teething and I was a first time mommy and I thought my (ok, her) pediatrician needed to know this so he could record it in the all important chart. Right. He laughed at me and told me that Grace wouldn't be teething for another 2-3 months and that it was quite possible that she was just fussy or might even have one of those God-forsaken gas bubbles. He also told me, quite sternly if we're being honest, that I needed to understand that WE were not going to be decoding every cry. I hope I never learn what he wrote in her chart ("crazy mother" likely) but it didn't matter, a few days later she got that first tooth. And then another. And then 3 more. I was certain that these early developments were a sign of brilliance. I mean, seriously, I had checked out her friends and they were busy staring at ceiling fans. Not my girl, she was making teeth! I remember holding her on my lap and admiring her pearly gifts. I knew then that I was going to cry the day they fell out, especially those front two. It is no secret that I love the baby years. I loved jarred food and burp cloths and diapers (the smell of a fresh pack of Pampers still ranks high on my list). I cried when I folded the onesies for the last time. My mom always warned me that these days would go by faster than any other and she is just so right. About everything. But that is a different post. So anyway, this was the week. We lost the first front tooth on Sunday. The second is hanging by a thread. And I wish that wasn't such an accurate description. I know this is the last night she'll have that tooth. Her little smile will be replaced with a toothless grin. And I'm sure I will love it. She is still, thank God, my sweet girl.

Leprechauns Visit the O'Commins

It was a lucky day indeed. The Leprechauns visited last night while were off dreaming of rainbows and pots of gold. Those pesky small green people made a mess of the kitchen! Milk turned green, juice turned green, even water turned green! There was minor disappointment that the small green friends didn't have room in their green polyester leisure suits to carry presents for the boys and girls...but there was room for a box of Lucky Charms! And after I said yes to a second bowl of the sugar coated stuff, I shipped them both off to school and prayed that I wouldn't hear from the principal.

Grandparents Day!

I have been terrible about updating this blog for the past 2 months (ok, 3 months) but it was Grandparents Day at Andy's school yesterday and if there is anything that deserves documentation around here it is Sweetie. After spending 6 glorious weeks in Destin with some of her dearest friends (Hey Susan!), Sweetie pointed her car to Charlottesville and cared for Grace and Andy for 6 days while Scott and I went to a conference in New Orleans. We returned, she went to Alexandria and stopped by Patty and Paul's before pulling in her own driveway. Scarlett gave Sweetie the royal greeting: she puked all over her. So Mom rolled up her sleeves and helped the Roberts for a couple of days before finally making her way to her own house - all of one block down the street - where she gave her own toilet that same royal greeting minutes after walking through the front door. A mere 2 days later, she got up at the crack of dawn to come to C'ville for Grandparents Day. She held a slightly warm Andy on her lap during the program and then welcomed a very warm Grace from the bus. She did Florence Nightingale duty all night with Grace and is currently stuck between both sickies on the couch as I type. She is going to stay a little later today so that I can run out to pick up antibiotics and search for some kind of juice that Grace will actually drink, and then head back to Alexandria because Patty and Paul are leaving Thursday for a fun trip to Colorado. So here is to Sweetie! We shall celebrate her on Grandparents Day and every other day of the year. What would we do without her?

(Grandparents Day was, appropriately, sunny and warm!)

So Very Merry...

Without question,

the best day of the year...

Santa came!

And he understood that the stockings were lovingly left at Sweetie's last Christmas.

Champagne chilled on snow.

"It's just what I really wanted!"

The artist and her muse...

...but the very best gift of all, just being together.

The First Christmas Pageant...

Grace was an angelically enthusiastic angel and Andy was a downright edible lamb in their very first Christmas Pageant. It was a precious production; not certain that I've ever been prouder. Grandpa Ern and Aunt Ashley (and Cooper!) made it just in time too, another Christmas miracle given the roads and traffic.

We came home from church, had shrimp and grits, read the Advent book, placed the Santa on the Advent tree, wrote a letter to Santa, picked out cookies (a gingerbread hippo and monkey) for Santa, and tossed some glittery "reindeer food" all over the back deck. Grace and Andy got to open one present...sleeping bags from Martha Sue! A huge hit. They are currently getting nestled in their new bags up in the studio. As the studio is on the top floor of the house, Grace and Andy were convinced that this would be the very best location to hear the sleigh bells for they know...that Santa's on his way; He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh. And every mother's child is going to spy, To see if reindeer really know how to fly!

Merry Christmas!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Hippo

We are ALL in the Christmas spirit around here!

Snowed in Birthday Party

Andy turned four today...*sigh*

I've always said that Andy has been the biggest surprise of my life. We took two outfits to the hospital: a sweet smocked girl outfit that I bought big because I knew I'd want to put it on her a few times during those early weeks, and a precious boy outfit that my mom purchased and I knew she would never wear. I have a sister. All of my cousins are girls. And of course, I already had a sweet little girl at home. I actually thought Dr. Schmidt was joking when he said "it's a boy!" I really did. And then I held him. Named him Andy after my Dad and fell hopelessly in love. The last 4 years have been pure bliss. Truth be told, the last 4 years have also been an exercise of bolting furniture to studs. We've used a lot of super glue. We've also created new rules like "no jumping off the mantel" and "no sliding down the stairs in a laundry basket" that we never needed with Grace. He has broken 2 bones and been glued shut 3 times...and I am a a self admitted overly protective parent. But my Andy is special. Maybe it's his name. Maybe he was sent here to spread cheer...he literally falls asleep smiling.

So happy birthday Andy. We'll reschedule the bowling party. Our snowed in party was a lot of fun!
We had a modified bowling birthday party...minus the cousins and the bowling alley.

Post candle bowl on the cake.

Grace felt bad about the shortage of party guests so she asked the hippos to stand in for the cousins.

Now that is a lot of snow.

White (almost) Christmas

We have 19 inches as of 8am...another 8-12 predicted. Peppermint mocha snowballs for breakfast. Sleds retrieved from the attic. I do believe that this is going to be a fantastically fun day!
First flurries!
Measuring before bedtime: 5 inches at 8pm, 3 hours after the first snowflake!

Woke up to 17 inches at 7am! Wow. Reliving my childhood today.

Sweet traditions...

It just doesn't get any sweeter than this! Mom is reading the same Advent book to Grace, Andy, and cousin Bayley that she and Dad read to Patty and me every night during Advent season.

The kids are putting the nightly ornament on the Advent calendar that Scott and his sister used when they were children.

Disney. Again!

I know it's been said, many times, many ways...we went to Disney, again. (You're supposed to be singing this to the tune of the Christmas Song, preferably with your best Nat King Cole voice).


A trip to Disney at Christmas has officially become a tradition. We took Sweetie and set the pace to "let's just come back without blisters" and had one of the most enjoyable trips we've ever taken. Parades? Didn't make a single one. Fireworks? Only what we could take in from the top of our hotel. Swimming in December? Absolutely. Ok, that only applies if you're (almost) 4 and (almost) 6. We're pretty sure that the princess phase is waning for Grace (that tattered yellow ballgown that she LIVED in for over a year now resides on the bottom of her closet) but this trip was kind of her princess swan song. We dined with royalty twice and waited in line so many times to meet and greet Belle that she called Grace by name. During the two occasions when we saw Belle but kept walking, Belle spotted Grace and gave her the official Disney Princess wink and wave. As for Andy, he was just happy to be there. He was happy to wait in line, happy to eat ice cream at 10am, happy to go down the big water slide (even though he wont go near the tiny one at home), everything was just plain right in Andy's world...as long as you didn't mention the Tower of Terror or the "back back" water ride in Norway...those two things he "never ever even just one time wants to ride."

The pictures:

The big surprise...at Sweetie's house, which is a mere 5 minutes from the airport.

With a direct flight, within 5 hours of telling the kids, we were in Epcot waiting to have dinner with Belle. Grace is holding the Christmas card that we mailed (and Mommy retrieved) to Belle two days prior to the trip.

Testing the water...it was freezing. Wish that stopped us.

Fearless Andy was a little afraid of the rides, cautious Grace was not. Tower of Terror 5 times.

Thankful People

Sweetie, Patty and Paul, their soccer team, and Grandpa Hysen came to Charlottesville for Thanksgiving. This was our first holiday together in this house and my very first time hosting Thanksgiving for my family. It was crazy and loud and things got broken and sleep was minimal and we loved every single minute! Since we print this blog every year as a keepsake for Grace and Andy, I want them to know what the family traditions are for the Thanksgiving meal.

We had:

• roasted turkey
• fried turkey
• squash casserole
• glazed carrots
• green bean casserole
• mashed potatoes
• sweet potato casserole
• fried stuffing
• beet salad
• Stove Top stuffing (for your dad!)
• Waldorf salad (Hysen's tradition, a new one for us!)
• cranberry relish
• cranberry gel (that no one ever eats)
• pumpkin torte
• sweet potato pie
• apple pie (that the cousins made with Sweetie)
• ginger cookies

Six kids under six...and six very good reasons to be thankful. Half of those six started with fevers today and we've had one round of, ahem, documented diarrhea...join us in prayer.