Whew. We made it.

We made it through the day. The BIG day . . . Christmas Day. The kids had a great time, our house was destroyed and they had so much sugar they were vibrating when they were standing still. We missed being so far from family, but it was important to have a Christmas at our home for the kids. We didn't get many pictures - but we had the video camera running. After we do some editing, we may be able to get a quick video posted here. But until then, here are some pictures to entertain.

Veronica and Alex both got ponies to ride, complete with hats. They also got lots of other toys to distribute in pieces around the room.


Some day Veronica will be very angry with me for this photo. But it's hysterical now. She was sneaking pieces of pumpkin bread off the kitchen counter and I caught her . . . so she snarled at me and I caught it on camera. Very funny.

Oh the horror . . .

I cried last night.

Something happened to my baby boy. Nathan says that I can blame him, but it was me weilding the weapon of destruction.



Here is a picture of Alex, smiling, happy, sweet boy.

And here is a picture of him after the "he really needs a haircut and since you have the clippers out giving me a haircut" comment from Dad.

My baby is bald. Oh the shame - I did this to my son. My poor baby. Yes, he cried too . . . well, he cried only because he wanted milk. He enjoyed the haircut and Veronica loved playing with the hair.

Ho Ho Ho

We had an extra special visitor this past weekend while we were decorating our tree. I'll let the pictures do the talking.



Our smarty-pants Rudolf saw right through the ruse and recognized Santa's helper right away. What a little cynic. I guess it didn't help that we had just seen Aunt Ingeborg and Uncle Dave last weekend and UD had his full beard on. That and Aunt Ingeborg accompanied Santa on his visit. But I think she still does believe, although she's getting a good dose of nay-sayers in school already.

Nate is finally sick! I'm not celebrating, honest. I'm just glad that I don't have to hear about his god-like immune system any longer.

12-12-07 Update: Nathan just reminded me to include a comment about Veronica's enthrallment with Christmas music this year and her versions of it. Our current favorite is: "The leaves naughty-not" sung to the tune of "Feliz Navidad."

Good Grief

So much for my assumption that we were all healthy. Let me outline the past month:

Alexander:
Cold
Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease
Conjunctivitis
Upper Respiratory Infection
Roseola
Update! Fifth Disease
Update! Stomach Virus
Update! Two new teeth
Update! He's been taking tantrum lessons from the grumpy four-year old.

Veronica:
Cold
Strep
Fifth Disease
Update! Grumpy Four-Year Old Tantrum Disease*

Mom:
Cold
Strep
Conjunctivitis

Dad:
----------- (Picture Nathan beating his chest like Tarzan going on about how strong his immune system is.)

*Ok, so this is made up. But her tantrums are unbelievable.

Hello? What is up with THIS? Now I know why he's off to Montana every other week - he's escaping the germs. Veronica had a short run of Fifth Disease on Thanksgiving so we had the feast 2 days in a row so she could enjoy it too. We found out the day after Thanksgiving that Alex was getting over Roseola and we didn't even know it.

Here are some photos from our Turkey Day:
Alex not so sure of the funny-looking bird. He found it quite tasty.










Here's our sick little princess. She just laid her head on the table and didn't touch a bite. Poor thing.




And finally these are our munchkins dressed up for a very cold fall day.

Hurray!

We're all well! I think. No fevers, no rashes, no whooping cough, no oozing eyes. Here's hoping it can stay this way for the rest of the winter.

That even makes me chuckle.

We're still mired in unpacked boxes and furniture where it doesn't belong. We'll be ready for visitors by the 4th of July.

Happy Turkey Day everyone . . .

Veterans Day and a Little Chicken

It's been a crazy couple of weeks . . . Veronica had strep, Alex had hand, foot, mouth and Jen had conjunctivitis (aka PINK EYE.) Jen also had some mystery illness which laid her up all weekend with a fever of 103 . . . crazy. This is the week we all get well. Right? Give me some encouragement here.


Everyone has been asking to see pictures of our Halloween chicken, so here he is - discovering loot. I wish I had pictures from later in the evening, when Nathan decided that giving him a blue lollipop was a good idea. We now have a blue chicken suit.

And this is Veronica and Alexander's tribute to Veteran's Day. Thank you!

Happy Birthday Jen!

When I asked Veronica what today was, she excitedly responded:

"FRIDAY!"

And so I continued to prompt her, "And what else?"

"Pizza Day!"

And I asked again . . .

"Show and Share Day!"

So then I decided to tell her what else the day was . . . and I told her it was my Birthday! Her response:

"I don't care." And she walked away.

Ahh. To be loved and appreciated by your children.

Here's hoping I get my Birthday wish: A good night's rest and stair gates installed! Now I'm going to go bury my Birthday face in lemon meringue pie.

And to those patiently awaiting: Halloween pictures will be eventually posted. As will pics of the rental house and other such.

The rumors are true . . .

We're moving back to Georgia. Jen just accepted a job there and resigned officially today. Target date: October 22.

It's hard to leave family . . . but everyone is so busy and we got sucked back into the rat race too quickly.

We have to find a rental until the lease expires for our renters . . . but we'll be back in our house by next year.

And THEN you can write the address in ink. No really. Why are you laughing?

You just never know when we'll have new news.

We just like keeping everyone on their toes.

New Blog - Virginia Roots

Greetings All! It's with a mixture of sadness and happiness that I tell you about our new blog site, Virgnia Roots. Please visit the new site and add it to your favorites. Just like with this site, you'll see a button in the right panel that you can select and it will be added to your favorites automatically. We'll maintain this blog as an archive for as long as Blogger will let it stand.
Much love and Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!
The Root Family

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to YOU,
Happy BIRTHday dear JE-N-N-N(y),
HAPPY BIRTH DAY TO YOU-OOO!

She really did try to sing. I think the first pass, mommy was too busy trying to coax her to talk that she didn't hear Veronica sing to her. Veronica took off with the headset from the office as if she knew she had to wish her mommy a happy birthday. (The parenthetical (y) is for Jen's sisters, who still often lapse into Jennyisms.)

I tried to get video of her dancing with her Aunt Julie's Raggedy Anne to the Cookie Monster singing ,"C is for Cookie." But, just like in nature when you are trying to witness some bizarre blue moon event, she wouldn't do it after I ran to get the camera.

Pardon the mess in the picture. If you haven't heard, we are packing up and heading back to the DC area. This Marietta Roots site will soon become a happy era that we'll be looking back upon with wistfulness, but looking forward to coming as close as we can to finding friends that remind us of the great ones that we have left in Georgia. Of course, we are hoping that our Georgia friends will come visit us. Expect to see all sorts of tourism promos about the benefits of visiting the nation's capital - the free museums of the Smithsonian, the free National Zoo, the Spy Museum, White House, all the monuments of Washington. And of course, the primary attraction for must visitors will be to pay homage to Princess Veronica.

But I digress. Happy Birthday, Jen! Your husband and daughter and dog and cat fall to pieces when you are gone, especially when they try to celebrate your birthday over the phone!

Loot

And here, the results. She took a lot of joy in counting (actually, piling and flinging) her loot on the easy chair, then the couch, then the stairs. I lost track at that point. She was mommy's responsibility by then. I was too busy getting Sully fluff out of my mouth and cooling off from the night's tribulations while wearing a very furry costume that was excellent at retaining body heat.

Trick or Treat!

Okay ... so this is how the night started out. Daddy was the Devil and Veronica was Tigger. We met Evan, Joe, and Sandi, and Ian, Mike, and Amy, to beg for candy door-to-door, using our kids as props. Veronica became a cutie in Tigger clothing (with the Tigger head hanging down the back of her neck) and Daddy became a Monsters, Inc. "Sully" in transition. Unfortunately, we do not yet have photographic evidence of the awesome Sully-suit that Jen got started, though we have been promised from friends who took pictures that night. Stay tuned for updates. (I threatened my mom and dad I wouldn't send pictures of the Sully outfit if they didn't fly out to be with us for Halloween! I swear, I'll get the pictures!) Jen stayed home to throw candy at the kids. I would have been happy to trade places, she may have done better at protecting Veronica from "Spiderman." For the past couple nights, maybe tonight too, Veronica has been having nightmares about Spiderman - one of the neighborhood kids in a Spiderman full body suit that got her freaked out. Of course, if mommy and daddy were both able to be with her to go trick or treating, I'm sure she wouldn't have been afraid at all... (he he)

Her Own Little World, Filled with Candy....and "Choc-O-Late"

Gosh she's cute. Sandi left Evan's treat pail unattended for a second too long (that's Evan behind the paper sack, just to the left of the pail). Veronica's filling it with drool as she contemplates the contents. Of course, you wouldn't know that from looking at the picture. Normal Rockwell could have painted this scene. This taken in the midst of absolute chaos at her daycare, not long after all the wee ones were taken back into the room after their Halloween parade. Most of the kid's mommies and daddies were out in the parking lot, filling their bags with candies...but they didn't come in! More than twenty dressed up howling kiddies, crying for mommy or daddy or both. Ooof. Enough to make the adults cry. Yup, Veronica is good at finding her own little world sometimes.

Now That's Cute

I must say, this is a cute couple. I didn't have to massage this picture at all. I know I'm opinionated, but they are so made for each other. :) Veronica loves pumpkins of all sizes, even the itty bitty ones.