What the...????

I use the phrase, "what the...?!?!" a lot. I don't finish the phrase (usually), because most mature audiences know how that story ends.

Tonight, I threw out a "what the.....?!?!" and Isabelle turned nonchalantly and said...

"No, Mommy, you're supposed to say "what the hell?"

Oops. I know one of my new years resolutions!

On the fifth day of Christmas, my daughter gave to me…

Five Super Bowl Rings!

Tonight, Isabelle was asking when Santa was coming back to bring her more presents. So I tried to explain how giving presents is so much better than receiving them, and asked her if she’d given presents to her Pretty Lamb, Arthur, Baby Lola (and her other cast of characters). She then started handing out ‘pretend’ presents to us.

At one point, she told me she had a very special present for me, and that I should open it slowwwwwly. So I did as I was told. And I pretended to just LOVE my pretend gift, even though I didn’t know what it was. And she asked, do you know what it is, Mommy? It’s RINGS!

Rings, I asked? RINGS?!? Like, maybe….Super Bowl rings?

YES! YES! Super Bowl Rings, Mommy! Are you so ga-cited (aka, excited)?!?!?! (as she jumped up and down, clearly excited she had given me a gift that I truly loved)

Well, YES, that is everything I wanted for Christmas this year, Isabelle! But you know what? We need to give Super Bowl rings to everyone on the team. Like Ray Lewis...

And Joe Flacco, Mommy?

Yup.

What about Ray Rice?

Absolutely.

Does Todd Heap get a Super Bowl ring, Mommy?

Of course he does!

Who else gets a Super Bowl ring, Daddy?

Well, let’s go through the roster…

You see, what some of you faithful readers may not know, is that Isabelle played a key part in the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup this past hockey season. Every day the Blackhawks played in a playoff game (and let me tell you, there are a LOT of hockey playoff games), Isabelle sent a picture of herself in her Blackhawks jersey to Uncle Don in Chicago (well, Uncle Don DID buy her the jersey after all, it was the least we could do). And while the team didn’t win every game that Isabelle sent a picture for, they obviously won MOST of them, because they have the Stanley Cup to prove it.

So, the fact that Isabelle gave me rings tonight as a present, leads me to believe that maybe she’ll be a good luck charm for the Baltimore Ravens obtaining a whole mess of Super Bowl rings this year, and the almighty Lombardi Trophy which has eluded Ravens fans for 9 years.

Festivus Maximus, everyone. May your heart bleed purple, and your new year be shiny and bright.

A Christmas Story

The day was lovely. Our three-year-old slept in until 8am. We ate way too much food all day long. I don’t think there was more than a 20-minute break between stuffing food in our face. Santa was very good to Isabelle this year. It’s nice when you only have one child, because Santa brings it pretty heavy. And well, he should, because she’s a pretty good kid.

The boring gifts were opened first (by design) – books, movies, stickers, flashcards. Then the good stuff came next – dress-up clothes in a trunk, Barbie princess dolls, Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, a Dora Mega-Blocks roller coaster set, a jewelry-making kit, a Chicago Cubs winter hat. And then, the “money” gifts were left until the end…

• a two-sided easel from Geega and Grandpa (magnetic, dry erase board, chalkboard, and more)

• a digital camera from Mommy & Daddy with zooming capabilities, games, and a 400 picture capacity

• a GOLF CART from Santa for the dollhouse people, but then became a golf cart for the new Disney princess dolls (the roof doesn’t exactly fit on with their tiaras and bouffants, but they get around just fine); their first trip in the golf cart was to go to the “store” to buy “beer” because they were going to a really great party that night (ummm, OK, at least she pays attention)

• the 4th annual White House Christmas ornament from Baba (oh how we love those ornaments, they are sparkly and such a great collector’s item)

• $100 towards the “travel fund” from Uncle Don & Aunt Susan (again, still not sure what that thing is, but they keep saying I’ll really love it one day)

• $50 from Grandpa for my “pinky” bank

Mommy and Daddy made me lay down for a nap around 1pm, but I didn’t sleep. I just played with more of my new toys, read my new books, and didn’t stay in bed. Mommy finally let me get up and watch one of my new movies, I chose Snow White. But it was SCARY and I cried and didn’t want to finish watching it. So we watched the Princess stories DVD instead. That wasn’t scary. It was just cheesy plastic deliciousness that I could watch for hours. I guess the Princess era has arrived!

For dinner we had a baked ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, and cornbread. We had a baked apple crisp for dinner. I didn’t eat any of it, except for a few pieces of ham. Then I had oranges, cheese, turkey, bread, and some M&M’s. It was an exquisite dinner indeed.

Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus. Merry Christmas, every one.

Spoiled? Probably a little...

For weeks, Isabelle has not been able to come up with any concrete answers to the, What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas? question. We got the vague answers of...

toys,
   books,
      clothes,
         pretty shoes,
            princess dresses, etc.

It was only within the last few days, after we were finished shopping, that she finally came up with a real answer. It was unique, cute, and well...impossible to find. She wanted a golf cart, for her dollhouse people and Barbie dolls, so they could ride around just like they were in Puerto Rico. Ummmm, OK?

So online I went and found one option which was a pink (of course) golf cart for the "High School Musical" doll set. (Whatever that means). Except it was $50. Seriously? I can't pay those prices for this stuff, I just can't.

I also found a die-cast metal one for about $10, but it was way too small for Barbie, and probably wouldn't be amenable to her dollhouse gang either. That dollhouse family is a big, roudy bunch and I could see a fight breaking out between them, Dora, and Diego. There was just not enough room in the die-cast version.

So, I moved to Plan B. Ebay, from where all impossible-to-find toys (and pretty much everything else) can be found. And alas, I found my holy grail. It was an older model of the now-$50 version of the pink golf cart. It used to be for Barbie, and someone was dumping one for $9.00. I won't get it to Edgewater in time for a Santa surprise, but boy, will I look like the rockstar Mom when I give it to her a few days after Christmas!

I had to pay about $15 for shipping, of course, but that still brings the total golf cart purchase to only $25, half of what I might have paid if I caved to the full-price retail 2010 version.

So, you might say she's spoiled. And maybe she is. She certainly didn't need one more gift to open for Christmas, Saturday morning is already going to take forever. But we only get a few years to play Santa, and I get a year-end bonus from work every December. I can't think of any better way to spend it.

Merry Christmas, my little Bean. And many Happy New Years to come!

Izzi's Annual Photo Book

Sorry for the delay, grandparents. Izzi's annual photo book will still be published this year, but we're a bit behind schedule. We're putting the final touches onto the book now, and we will probably order it after Christmas when the crazy shipping rates go down a bit. Merry Christmas to all, and Happy New Year. Just a sneak peek, here is the cover...

The Big Book

I remember when I was a kid, we used to get the BIG book from Toys R Us every year. It was as thick as the phone book (at least in my memory) and filled with brightly colored pages packed with more toys than my little brain could even imagine.

Do they still print The Big Book? I have purchased several thousands of dollars worth of crap made in China by children just a few years older than Isabelle, and I still don't receive The Big Book in the mail. What gives? Does anyone know if it even exists anymore?

In absence of the almighty toy catalog, I sat Isabelle in my lap tonight and accessed The Big Internet instead. We surfed the websites of Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, Kohl's, and K-Mart tonight. I wanted to see what Isabelle wanted for Christmas. I thought, erroneously, that maybe she would see something that really jazzed her.

And boy did she ever. She wanted every single thing she saw. And isn't that the way? When we were handed The Big Book as kids, we wanted everything we saw too. It was fun to "shop" with her tonight, but I still have zero idea what to get her for Christmas. We have a few things purchased already (I start early, since her Birthday is in November).

But we do need at least one show-stopper, and we have to fill the ridiculous stocking that Auntie Gail made her three-plus years ago. The stocking is almost as tall as Isabelle, it's super skinny, and it has zero elastic in the design so the only thing that would truly fit it a very tall, elegant umbrella. I don't think Iz would be too psyched about that gift, so we'll have to get creative. I'm thinking, a few newspapers to occupy at least half of it. Then some balled-up socks, she could always use new pajamas, and a quick trip to the dollar bin at Target -- that should do the trick.

Ed and I have date night at Target planned for Monday night...how romantic! I'm excited to "be" Santa Claus this year. Now if I could just get her to believe in the magic key that Santa will use to get into our chimney-less beach cottage, we might actually pull this holiday off!

The Elf on the where?

The Elf on the Shelf has landed in Edgewater. Geega finally found one last year and gave it to us after Christmas was over so we got to introduce him this year. For those of you know don't know of this new must-have trend, it's a book that comes with a little elf in a santa costume. The book explains how he works. He's sent by Santa himself to watch over boys and girls the weeks before Christmas. Every night, he flies back to the North Pole to give Santa the report for that day (the good, the bad, and the ugly).

Now there are a few rules. He cannot be touched or his magic will dissappear. He can't talk to you, but he is a very good listener. So if you really want Santa to bring you a special toy or present for Christmas, you can tell him what your wish is for.

The true magic of the elf is that he pops up in the oddest places around the house. You might wake up to find him on your bookshelf. You could turn around one day in your playroom and find him staring at you from the window sill. Or he could be a spunky little guy who climbs into your Christmas tree while you are playing in the living room. Hopefully he doesn't scare you when you go grab your juice out of the fridge, he very well might be waiting for you in there.

When he arrives at your house, you have to give him a name. Isabelle named her Elf "Wizzle" with a little help from Ed.

The Angel Gabrielle?

Confusion reigns in the Siler household. Isabelle got her very own Nativity set this year (thanks GeeGa and Grandpa!). It's a "Little People" set (and no, I don't mean those who are vertically challenged). The "Little People" are a Fisher Price collection of toys/sets.

So in the Little People Nativity Set, there is an angel. And the angel is a pretty little blond female. So Ed and I were trying to give Isabelle the rundown on who's who in the Nativity set, and sadly we were having confusion (to say the least). Maji or Wise men? Stable or Manger? Were Mary and Joseph married or not yet? The set came with 4 animals but no shepherd boy, where is he? And how did those animals get there? Whoa is me!

So we did the best we could. Then last night when I was shopping, I found a BOOK called "The Story of Christmas". And it was geared to Toddlers...perfect! So I read the book for her tonight at bedtime and lo and behold, the book tells it like it is!

The angel sent down by God was Gabriel. And he wasn't any petite blond hottie like the Little People like to pretend. So the 12-page board book took about 30 minutes to get through because of the barrage of questions about why the book had a BOY angel and her nay-tivity had a GIRL angel. And where were the GIRL angels in the book? And why didn't her nay-tivity set have a BOY angel?

Fisher Price, you need to hire a few more Christians to correct your set and add a shepherd boy so those animals don't get loose. Oh, and while you're at it, you might want to find a more PC name for your collection because those vertically challenged people have taken over the Little People name. They even got a cable show now. Just sayin.

La Isla Del Encanto

...or...The Island of Enchantment, for those of you who don't know Spanish. That is Puerto Rico's slogan, if you will. And how fitting it is. We just got back late Saturday night from a fabulous ten days there visiting Grandpa Siler, Abuela Carmen, Aunt Jessie and her boyfriend John, Carmen's son, Luis, and Carmen's daughter, Tashi with her four-year-old son, Nafet.

All ten days were perfect weather, 82 degrees, sunny, light tropical breezes. We only had a few rain showers at night while we were sleeping. Most of the amenities have closed down at Palmas del Mar (the resort where Ed's Dad lives and works) due to the economy and a called bank loan. The golf course, tennis club, and beach club are all pretty much shut down. They have been taken over by the homeowners, though, and plan to re-open in the new year. Preparations are being made now.

We were able to hit the beach club one day when they held an "open house" to try and entice residents to join. The "Beach Club" is a huge pool with swim lanes, volleyball courts (in the pool), a regular swim area, and adult water slides.




They also have a massive kid pool with an interactive water play area with a few small water slides, water guns, and a huge bucket that dumps water every minute.

Izzi had no fear this year, running through the powerful fountains in the kiddie pool. She had a blast, and I have about 100 pictures to prove it.






This was the first year I didn't go down the big-kid water slides at the Beach Club. Because the club was only open one day last week, and it hasn't been open in SO long, it was pretty crowded and I didn't feel the need to stand in line with screaming 10 year olds.

On Tuesday, we went on a ferry ride to Culebra, a separate island off the coast of Puerto Rico (but still part of PR). The ferry ride was ROUGH, to say the least. We all took Dramamine, but Isabelle still got seasick. She was a trooper though, as soon as we got back onto solid land and got some lunch, she was rearing to go! We saw a huge iguana at lunch whose name, apparantly, is Tangelo. He's been a member of the restaurant/bar "Mamacitas" for about six years now.

The water at Culebra was more turquoise than any of the Caribbean water I've seen (Bahamas, Jamaica, Aruba, Cancun). The pictures don't even do it justice, it was superb. The sand was like baby powder. The day we were there, the water was a bit on the chilly side (for that part of the world) and a little rougher than normal so Isabelle couldn't go in too far, but she was, again, fearless in her attempts. That's her in the back trying to catch up with Aunt Jessie, Luis, and John.


The ferry ride back to mainland was much calmer, thank God. Everyone slept the ride back except for me and Carmen. We took pictures and chatted most of the 90-minute ride. We saw one of the best sunsets of the week on that ferry ride. The pictures, again, don't do the sunset justice. The island up ahead is Vieques, another separate PR island located between mainland and Culebra.

One day, we went to Luquillo for lunch, a small town about 30 minutes north of Palmas. They have a group of "kioskos" (kiosks) with tons of choices of authentic PR food and other delicacies. I had the best Peruvian ceviche of my life that day and vow to learn how to make it just as good as I ate that day. I can't wait another year to have it again.


The rest of the week, we lazed around the beach and various pools in the resort. We traversed by golf cart (called golf cars there). We saw a pretty amazing sunset every night, and we took over 500 pictures so we could relive the vacation every day until we return.

Te amo, Puerto Rico, la isla del encanto...

Palmas from the Beach Bohio

Izzi and Ed on the golf cart at Palmas Doradas (our neighborhood)

Izzi and Jen at the Beach Club

Another sunset, from Edd and Carmen's backyard