Adwoa und Ama

New stuff added below… I forgot on the original post!

We had a very nice trip to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving and really enjoyed hanging out with the Cotter-Smith clan. It was our first Thanksgiving without Nana, who had been such a terrific Thanksgiving hostess for so many years. I think she would have been so happy to see all of us together from all parts of the US, with some extended family, too.
Here we were before we headed out from my parents’ house on Thanksgiving day.

At the party, there was, of course, delicious food (I took a picture of my plate because it all looked so good).

The pink stuff on the right is (as you may have heard on NPR sometime) Susan Stamberg’s cranberry relish recipe. My aunt made it for the first time this year and it was very, very good. Highly recommended.

In addition to the food fun, it is the only time of the year that our girls get to see the only cousins their age on my side… their second cousins, E, H, and S. So it is special for us to get them together. J and S are only a week apart. Here, my cousin-in-law, Liz, is reading to the June girls.

The kids take over the house; here they are with my Aunt Margie, my dad, and my brother, David.

We all eat together at the long, beautiful table, and the kids all do pretty well. Nanny and E had some time to play with E’s new learning cards, which she got as a party favor.

In addition to Thanksgiving day festivities, we also had lots of nice time with the Cotter family, including a visit to a children’s museum, the Boston Aquarium, a playground, and just hanging out at home, reading books.

The day after Thanksgiving, Michael and I were able to fly back to Chicago for less than 48 hours to celebrate Michael’s cousin David’s wedding to Carolina.

It was a really nice celebration and we were glad to see lots of Michael’s mother’s family including, of course, the parents of the groom, Uncle David and Aunt Cecilia.

David & Josie’s sister, Kathy, and her family came, too. You can see Josie and Kathy catching up below.

You may notice that there are 3 Davids mentioned in this post…. November was full of Davids for us, and we feel very lucky about that.

As for December, the girls are gearing up for Santa’s visit.

The weekend after we returned from Massachusetts, we headed to Iowa City to visit our friends, the Charliers, and to take the Polar Express to see The Real Santa (as E calls him). It was amazingly cold that evening, but so worth it. We all really got into the spirit by taking the special train ride and all the fun that went with it.

Here we are on the train

And, of course, here are the girls with Santa.

E– much to my surprise and chagrin– asked for a Barbie. I loved Santa’s reply. He paused for a second. Then he said, “Well, okay. I will get you a Barbie if you promise that you won’t try to grow up to look like Barbie.” I shot Santa a huge smile and a big thumbs-up. He clearly is THE Real Santa.

We drove home on Sunday and we did manage to get a Christmas tree at a nearby lot. The Charliers are big advocates of cutting down your own tree at a tree farm (or, at least Jacqueline is, having grown up in CA where doing this in December is pleasant). We are not so hardcore yet.

The girls have been able to open a few presents already, including this easel from Nanny & Granddaddy. Toys that 2 can play with at the same time are always a good thing!

Hope you all have a terrific start to 2009!

Today, J’s teacher wrote down a few things that she said….

“Daddy was born a boy, Mommy was born Elizabeth.”
“This ketchup is so spicy, but it isn’t spicy.”
“Daddy said we were going for a trip, but we just shoveled.”
“My mommy said I was a girl, but I wasn’t.”

After bath tonight, we just about fell over laughing when Michael lifted J out of the tub and she said, “I’m outta here!”

We had a great weekend with the Charliers visiting “the real Santa” (according to E) at the North Pole… it was a very cool (and amazingly cold) experience. We will post pics of the North Pole and of our very nice Thanksgiving soon.

The big girl has a stomach bug… poor girl. The rest of us are hoping to avoid it.
Michael got the call and picked the girls up at about 3:30, home by 4…. E went right to bed and she hasn’t made a peep in almost 5 hours. She must be feeling pretty bad.

J is talking in long, hilarious sentences…. her vocabulary and grammar are really good. It is so funny to hear such clear constructions out of such a tiny one.

It is cold here…teens and 20s…. but supposed to warm into the high 40s by Sunday. That would be nice.

Here’s a recent picture that I like a lot. I think it shows the girls’ personalities pretty well.