Lilly Tales

When I came home from work yesterday, Alexander was working with one of his therapists and Lilly was in our bed watching a movie. I went in to say hello and after a quick hug and kiss this is what I was told:

Lilly: Mommy, I cleaned the walls in your room.

Mama: You did? What did you use to clean the walls?

Lilly: My tongue.

Mama: You licked the wall?

Lilly: Yep. I licked it all over.

Mama: Thanks Lilly.

Later that evening I was preparing a bath for Alexander when Lilly yelled, "Alexander spilled!" Thinking that he spit out his medicine, I began to yell at him until I noticed that he had thrown up all over the floor.

Thank God for disinfectant.

Merry Christmas!

Is it really the middle of January already? I'm fairly convinced that 2010 will be over before I realize that it has begun.

We had a wonderfully mellow Christmas this year. We opted to stay home and spend the day in our pajamas (as everyone should on Christmas day), so we woke up around 7, opened presents by 8 and then enjoyed a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs. The kid's spent the day playing with all of their new toys while Hector and I relaxed. I do my best not to cook on Christmas, so instead of having dinner, we opt for a nice big plate of antipasta that we can snack on through out the day. Hector had gone to "Little Italy" earlier in the week to stock up on Italian cheese, meat, and olives and I simply baked a loaf of olive oil bread to go with the spread. We enjoyed fresh canolli and the kids dug into their sugar cookie house for dessert.

I apologize for taking so long to post our Christmas photos, but here they are all wrapped up in a pretty little slide show for your viewing pleasure.

Getting ready for Santa

Preparations have begun for Santa's big arrival in the Amaya household. We started by making a sugar cookie house. It was my first attempt at such things, so it isn't the most symmetrical thing, but at least it is structurally sound (oh, and it was originally going to be a gingerbread house, but Lilly and I made gingerbread men last week, so I decided to stray from tradition). Lilly helped me cut out all of the shapes and then the two kids covered it in icing and chocolate chips.


Next, it was time to make a card for Santa. Lilly was extremely distraught that she wouldn't be able to stay up and meet Santa (we explained that Santa only comes if everyone is sleeping) and she wasn't willing to share any of her cookies, so Hector came up with the idea of making a card for him instead. I wrote the words, and Lilly drew the rest.
The picture on the left is Santa and the one on the right is Lilly.
On the back of the card she drew a picture of Rudolph, complete with a red nose and a bow in his antlers.
And now the children are tucked into bed, so Santa better get to work before the visions of Sugarplums leave their sweet little heads.

T'was the week before Christmas...

Winter began with a warm front, which brought just a couple inches of snow. Then it cooled down dramatically and we spent all of last week in the teens. Then, last night, it warmed up to 30 degrees and we had a blizzard (by New England standards). With a solid 12 inches of snow on the ground it looks like we will definitely be having a white Christmas.

It also means that we were stuck at home all day long. Church was cancelled this morning so I was forced to finally work on a project that I had been promising Lilly for some time now. - About 2 months ago I made the mistake of letting Lilly watch Martha Steward with me. It just so happened that this episode included a woman showing how to make an easy sew tutu. I printed the pattern off of the website and Lilly has been asking me to make it for her constantly. The other day I finally had some time to take her to the fabric store where she picked out a purple/blue sparkly tulle for herself and a pink sparkly tulle for her friend, Ava. Now that we had all of the supplies, I promised her that I would find some time on Sunday for her to help me make them. I woke up this morning to her grabbing my face and declaring that, "tonight we are going to make TUTU'S!!!" - She helped me with the pinning and Alexander kept a close eye on the sewing machine.

Here she is doing her "ballet pose". I took multiple pictures, but this is the one that she picked out and asked me to post.
While we were sewing, Hector volunteered to brave the cold and dig out our car so that I could go to work in the afternoon.
An hour before I was scheduled to go in to work, the store manager called and cancelled my shift due to the weather. So, against my personal desires, I walked the kids to a nearby park to play in the snow. I figured that since I had taken the time to buy them snow pants and snow boots, I might as well get some use out of them. I was freezing (because, of course, I don't own snow pants and snow boots), but they absolutely loved it. They slid down the slide into big piles of snow, made snow angels and crawled around in the white powder. After 45 minutes, I could take it no more and we headed home. Alexander is eating the snow off of his gloves in the picture.
We took off the layers of wet clothes and Hector plopped the kids right into a warm bath while I made a pot of hot chocolate and spoke with my mom (who complained about how cold it was getting in Hawaii.)
With bellies full of chocolaty goodness and dry pajamas on, we cuddled up and Lilly took a picture of Alexander and me.
What a great way to start the week before Christmas...and to all a good night.

Catching Up

Where does the time go? I feel like every time I blink, another week has passed me by. So here is a quick review of what's been going on.

It has been a beautiful and warm Fall, but Winter has finally settled into New England. We got our first snow fall on Saturday night (fortunately I had just gotten the kid's snow boots on Friday) and are now blanketed in 2 inches of white sparkle.

We had a great time visiting with friends over Thanksgiving week (as Hector posted) and are now trying to get into the Christmas spirit. The stockings have been dug out of the basement, but haven't yet made it onto the wall. Thanks to my mother, we have a beautiful wreath hanging outside our door and Lilly is busy making her Christmas list. Today, she exclaimed, "I can't wait to see what Santa brings me on Christmas!"...at this point, kid, I'm as in the dark as you are.

And now the pictures:

Today, Lilly asked if she could take a picture of Hector and I hugging.
Glasses to help you see the Emerald City in Lilly's new Wizard of Oz book.

Dress up time!

We had the Pyles Family over for dinner before they headed back to Idaho.

Showing Benvolio some love.

Lilly took her new friends on a tour of downtown Boston. She and Nate's daughter quickly became good friends and have already made plans to Skype one another.

Plymouth, Thanksgiving and Being Grumpy

So I’m not usually in the habit of posting on Bree’s blog, but I thought I would share some pictures I took this past week. A good friend of ours from our Calvary Chapel Bible College days is in town. Bree and I haven’t seen Nate since our wedding day, so I was very excited to learn that he was coming to Boston. One of the places he and his family wanted to visit was Plymouth, MA. So a bunch of us made the trip down to see the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock and the Plymouth Plantation.

And here are a few pictures I took from Thanksgiving.

On a totally unrelated note, here is a video I took of Lilly having a rough time waking up. Enjoy.

A Wicked Good Birthday

Last month, Ajja and I celebrated our 31st birthday's in style. Born a mere 2 1/2 weeks apart, we have been friends for the past 24 years, growing up together in Hawaii and somehow managing to both end up on the East Coast. Since moving to Boston, I have gone down to Pennsylvania to visit her, she has come up to Boston to visit me, and we have managed to meet in the middle (New York City) twice.

The last time that we were in Manhattan we tried desperately to see the Broadway play, "Wicked". We stood in line after line to try and win, or purchase, tickets that were under $100 to no avail. So how could I resist when Ajja called to say that she was able to get us into the show for a mere $60?

It turns out that a friend of hers from college had gotten a job as a dancer for the play and offered us the staff discount. So I took the day off of work, called in a sitter, and jumped on the bus to NYC. I got in around noon and Ajja and I met for lunch. Then we spent the day wandering around Chelsea Market (we were very fortunate to have a beautiful 70 degree and sunny day) before grabbing dinner and heading to the show.

Wicked was absolutely fabulous! The sets and costumes were amazing, the script was funny and the singing was sublime. I would see it a hundred more times if I had the opportunity. But the real magic didn't begin until after the show. Ajja's friend (whose name has escaped me) took us on a backstage tour. We got to dance around the stage, see the props, look (not touch) the fabulous costumes and meet other cast members. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

After the tour I quickly ran 10 blocks downtown to catch my midnight bus home. I made with 10 minutes to spare and had a great nap while I headed back to Boston. Unfortunately I had to go straight to work (a 5am shift), but I was so energized from the trip that time flew by quickly and before I knew it I was back in my bed, fast asleep. There's no place like home. Ajja and I onstage at the Gershwin Theater on Broadway.

The freaky green baby prop!

Ajja's friend with her Flying Monkey costume. She is awesome in the show and gets to dive off the top of the theater and fly over the audience every night.