Noodle and the Goose Again

And then there was Easter

Which was a beautiful, warm, sunny weekend in NC.

Perfect for egg dying (with samples) on the porch on Saturday.

Poor doggie in jail.

Pretty, pretty eggs.

And since we couldn't let all that dye go to waste, a few impressionistic tie-dye pieces drying in the sun.

N & G took to the street for some chalk art.

Guess whose footprints are whose.

She really is a Goose. Partly.

While I was distracted by the Green. Leaves. And. Blue. Sky.

 Then we made piles and piles of biscuits for Church Easter breakfast.

Overnight the Easter Bunny arrived and left behind some baskets.

And my girls got their first taste of Peeps. Not a big hit.

After church there were eggs to collect in the front yard.

And dinner. Grandma Matilda's clove studded ham with potatoes. And eggs. Lots of eggs.

But most importantly Grandma's (my mom's) Stawberry Yum Yum for dessert. The awesomest dessert ever and we didn't share it with anyone else!

How yummy is the Yum Yum?

I caught Goose through the window actually licking her plate clean.

Our festivities ended with the eating of chocolate bunnies (head first) and the reading of that classic Easter story,

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes. 

I love that bunny.

And covet the little gold shoes.

Welcome the Year of the Dragon!!!!

 

 

 

Why yes, we did do Christmas.

For the most part it was quite merry.

Filled with presents at home.

Presents in Ohio.

And family, family, family.

We got to sing with Oma.

And hang out watching football with Opa

and Cousin Hengree.

Goose went flying in the back yard.

And we snuggled the newest member of the family.

Dogs and kids ran amock.

And my family all got together to eat. And talk. And eat. And talk.

We came back home to yet another fun, fun package of gifts, which made everyone very happy.

Especially Miss Zora who both lost her mind and forgave us for our absence over a cat-nip filled jingle ball.

Merry, merry, merry.

Christmasing

So far Christmas at our house has been pretty much equal JOY JOY JOY to Be. Here. For. Christmas! and sad, sad missing my Mom and mourning the changes in our family , with a whole lot of OVERWHELMED by the season thrown in. We're working at finding our feet and enjoying what needs to be enjoyed.

Last weekend we got all dressed up and revived the tradition of seeing The Nutcracker. Noodle kinda remembered it but it was Goose's first time. She was enchanted until the pas de deux when she fell asleep. We had front row seats so we had both the dancers and the orchestra to watch (I was a bit anxious and may have actually purchased tickets the day they went on sale back in, oh maybe October?).

It was a closing weekend performance (University of North Carolina School of the Arts) without any hot-shot guest dancers so it was a bit uneven (though the Cavalier did not, in the end, drop the Sugar Plum Fairy despite a rather iffy hold - and the momentary look of terror on Sugar's face - and I'm guessing that beyond the second row no one even noticed) but it was FUN. And magical.  And Christmasy.

Also Christmasy? Baking,

And decorating Christmas Cookies.

With assistance from Zora.

And support (for falling frosting bits) from Maizie.

Our windows are all holidayish.

A Victorian Christmas Village has appeared on top of the Cabinet.

Complete with the Horse whose legs Noodle broke when she was 2.

Yup, still broken.

And we have a tree. A big glorious real smelly Christmas Tree. We had to restrain ourselves from buying the 10 foot one (8 foot only) and we've been savoring it. Eating our meals by its light, sniffing indiscriminately, cuddling up to watch Christmas movies under its branches. I haven't yet gotten a good photo of it in all its glory, but trust me, it is NOT THIS TREE.

Noodle/Goose Household Tree 2010 Yogyakarta Indonesia.

So not that tree.

We put every single ornament we could find on our tree. Every single ornament. Including all the ones I brought home from Indonesia and from my Mom's house and the ones that Noodle made special for this year and the ones in our Christmas box and the ones in my closet and...

So many memories - Muttley's bone, the glass cardinal someone gave me the year we were waiting for Noodle, kitties galore, old glass bulbs from my childhood, so many memories.

Except for this one, which I just found under the tree this morning. Never saw it before in my life. I would suspect that Santa's reindeer left behind some sleigh bells, but, well, you know, as Goose says, "Santa Claus isn't REAL!!" and pretty much never early. The sad truth is most likely that Maizie brought these bells home from a neighbor's holiday display. I'm actually afraid that the holiday display may have been inside a neighbor's house. My dog is very social.

Ho, ho, ho.

Noodle Hits Double Digits

Noodle celebrated her birthday while we were in Florida. This makes her, as I noted she wrote recently, "Currently 10" and chomping at the bit to grow older (despite my pleas to the contrary).

The birthday was celebrated, of course, with dinner. N requested Grandma's Noodles, of course. Between my sister, myself and my Mom's actual noodle kettle, we did pretty darn well at replicating this delicious family favorite. Eaten with apple sauce, of course.

Cake-wise, the girl wanted "White cake with strawberry frosting and strawberries on top".  Which became a Lady Baltimore Cake swirled wtih Strawberry Jam topped with Fresh Strawberry Icing (basically butter, powdered sugar and strawberries) and fresh strawberries - the first of the Florida season and 10 candles.

It kinda cracked down the middle, but it was Good, Good, Good.

There were presents for Noodle and for cousin N, hitting 23 (I think) a few days later and lots of family silly time.

A Birthday Party So Glorious that some refused to lose the lei for days after.

Thanksgiving of Legends

When I was a child, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday.  What wasn't there to love? My sister home from college, waking the wafting scent of Mom toasting bread cubes for her dressing, watching large cartoon balloons floating down NY streets (TV in the morning!!!! amazing), everyone - Mom's side of the family - gathering at Grandma and Pa's house, cousins to play with, Uncles and Aunts to admire, Grandma's clove studded, brown sugar covered ham (oh my!!) and heavenly pumpkin pies, watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the evening. A day of wonder and grace - even those few years where I forced my cousins into performing plays (written and directed by me, of course), one un-named masterpiece, A Thanksgiving Dream and the unforgettable Turkey Feathers: A Thanksgiving Farce.

Good times.

This Thanksgiving?

Was awesome as well.

Noodle, Goose, Maizie and I drove 12 hours (in one day, okay, that part wasn't so awesome since I was the only driver) to be with my sister's family including daughters home from the Northlands, with bonus Niece and Nephew-in-Law from Ohio, in Florida. It was epic. Legendary. And lots of fun.

We played.

We cooked.

Indonesian Coconut Curry & Sambal Tempe Goring (aka Peanut Brittle of the Gods).

With very little left over, after eating (and eating and eating)

We bonded.

And played some more.

We hung out in our jammies all day long.

Ran like crazy around the back yard.

Conspiring together.

We cooked even more.

And ate such a Thanksgiving meal (note esp. the pumpkin pies, Grandma's recipe, my niece's rendition - so good!)

That we had to lay in the back yard sun to re-coop.

We soaked up a lot of that back yard sun.

And even did a bit of landscaping.

Until we were all just too, too pooped to party.

Especially Ms. Maizie.

So we went to the beach for sunset.

And dug our toes into the sweet white sand.

Legendary Thanksgiving.

Now we are six

Or at least, our Goose is.

Initially she thought she might like small party at home with friends, but choose Mama bringing cupcakes and party hats to school instead. It was a beautiful fall day so we partied on the playground.

Under the bright blue sky & colorful maple trees. The school is downtown in the old industrial, now 'arts' district, but has managed to create some lovely outdoor spaces.

After school Goose and I went out for coffee, chocolate milk and girl talk (politics and religion mostly - she's all for Barack of O-mama getting to be President again and all against saying the Pledge of Allegiance), while waiting for Noodle to finish her running practice.

Later, it was egg-drop soup and being carried about by big sister - both at the insistence of THE birthday girl.

Then home for (this round, the third!) present time!!

Including a new "mote" control car/mess with the kitty toy.

And cake. With 6 candles.

Happy happy birthday to our lovely Goose.

Halloween 2011

Noodle wanted to be scary.

She succeeded. Her wild, unkempt, hair alone will give me nightmares for years to come.

Goose wanted to be kinda scary, but mostly just a pirate.

She too succeeded.

But the biggest success of the evening was the Trick or Treating. Our first American adventure in 4 years. Noodle could hardly remember what it was like here and Goose could hardy believe that people kept giving her CANDY just for coming to their door.  We went down to the part of our neighborhood that is wildly decorated, the streets blocked off and the little people (and big people too, collecting various adult beverages) thick. There we found a classmate of Goose's and had a blast. We did discover that houses off the beaten path tended to give bigger and better candies, so we did some of those as well.

The haul was impressive.

Goose hid hers away so that Daddy wouldn't find it while she's at school today.

They have enough sweet stuff (and one apple courtesy of Mama) to last them for a good long while.

Noodle pronounced it the BEST Halloween ever.

48

Nudging ever closer to 50, I am.

Celebrations with 3 of my favorite girls (the puppy? tried to attack the cake and had to watch from her crate)

Goose made me the cake (Carrot with cream cheese frosting - my favorite!).

Noodle invested in some peppermint foot lotion, a hardly tickly at all foot massage and promises of more.

(if you are wondering why my feet look polka-dotted with blood, well, so am I...)

So far 48 has been just fine.