Our twelve days of STL Christmas

Considering it’s been a month now since we were back in the midwest for the holidays, I figured it was time to get off my arse and post these photos.  As I begin to write this, C is currently asleep next to me on the sofa and M is running laps around the playroom, flitting from one thing to the next.  This is what life looks like around here at 4:30pm – polar opposite children in their respective elements.

So, without further ado…

The Hubs had to work a few days when we first got into town so we spent our first day back with Auntie J and Baby Z, and the afternoon at The Magic House.

This was C’s favorite – the play vet clinic.  She threw a full-on tantrum on the floor when we had to move on to the next area, claiming that the doggies didn’t want her to leave.

The next day I took the girls to Grandma and Grandpa’s new house for some baking.  My parents just moved back to the STL area this past summer, which makes for easily-shared time with both sides of the fam.

I will admit that I had a bit of a food agenda while in the ‘Lou.  There are certain things that STL is really good at and that I’ve missed terribly, that we’ve been unable to find out here in SoCal.  Pizza, for one thing.  Non-chain, good quality, unique pizza.  The Hubs brought home Dewey’s Pizza one night for dinner.  Oh how I love that man!  We also got Imo’s Pizza takeout for lunch one day.  Hmmm… so good!

Frozen custard is another STL speciality.  We met up with my old college roommate after dinner one night and headed to South City to Ted Drewe’s for custard.  I ordered The Big Apple, which is a slice of apple pie all blended up into vanilla frozen custard.  Two words here people: PIE CRUST.  I do believe it has surpassed my previous favorite, The Great Pumpkin (pumpkin pie slice with custard), but either way those big chunks of pie crust get me every time.

We were also able to get a couple of date nights in, for which we were LONG overdue.  Fulfilling yet another restaurant request on my list, we had a lovely dinner at Acero in Maplewood, where my fabulous brother-in-law waited on us and as always, showed off his mad skills.  I tell you, that guy loves what he does and he easily shines as top notch against all of the other servers there.  After that long and leisurely dinner, we opted for a late movie.  A 10:15 showing of Lincoln.  Which is a a two and a half hour movie.  I will admit here, as embarrassed as I am about it, that I slept through most of the movie.  That had absolutely NOTHING to do with the movie, but that fact that I cannot do late movies anymore.  I don’t know what I was thinking, because it’s no different at home either, so I think we’ve learned our lesson.

We spent Christmas Eve brunch at Nanny’s new place with all the Hub’s siblings and their families and did a little gift opening.

And then did our traditional Christmas Eve later that day with the Hubs family at Papa’s house.

We wear our red lipstick so well, wouldn’t you agree?

The Hubs’ Secret Santa (his brother, Jeff) bestowed upon him whiskey and chocolate – PERFECT!

M enjoying snuggles with cousin, Dylan.

CANNOLI!!!

Poor C hit a wall and was so sleepy.  She hung in there probably a good hour and a half past her limit…what a trooper!

It just wouldn’t be a family get-together without some live music.  We have some amazingly talented family members!

On Christmas morning we explained to the girls that Santa had made a few stops for them. We opened gifts at Papa’s and then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Christmas, where we stayed for the remainder of our trip.

While at my parents’ house we had a chance to get together with aunts, uncles and cousins on my mom’s side for an afternoon.  To round out our food fest we also visited nearby historic Kimmswick, MO for lunch at The Blue Owl, which is known for its Levee-High Apple Pie.  I personally opted for a slice of peach crumble, but the Hubs took in the famed slice, if you can even call it that.  The lemon meringue that my mom ordered wasn’t exactly tiny either.

The girls were very excited that we were able to see a bit of the white stuff while in town.  We had a couple of inches of snow on the ground and more still coming down as we headed out one evening for dinner with friends to Trattoria Marcella in South City.

Aside from M boycotting all public potties for the entire day of travel on the way to STL (that girl has a steel bladder) the girls were fantastic travelers yet again, and all in all it was a great trip.  We were excited to get back home though, to our Jenna-dog and to a few lazy days of just the four of us before 2013 kicked into high gear.

Vacation catch-up (last one): Bits and pieces

Total roundtrip hours of travel: 14.  We had the longest way to come yet our trip required the least hours of travel.

Average time taken pre-beach/pool to apply sunscreen: 10-12 minutes by my estimation.  We were all – adults and kids alike – lathered up in high SPF daily with frequent reapplication as well.  So very different from how it was when we were all kids.

Miles I attempted to run in 90 degree plus temps and nasty humidity: five – attempted five, only made it through three and a half.  What the hell was I thinking anyway?

Child-free afternoons at the beach thwarted by thunderstorms: one.  But making brownies while listening to the rain was a good alternative.  And oh how I’ve missed a good storm!

Number of malfunctioning or just plain screwed iPhones: three – Julie’s phone decided to become a mute on the drive down, the Hubs’ took a swim, and John’s pulled an all-nighter outside in the rain.

Facial muscles strained from laughter and perma-grin at my sis-in-law Katie’s karaoke performances: several.  This girl was born to karaoke.  She’s amazing.

Long walks on the beach with the Hubs: just one, but quality of conversation wins over quantity any day.

And to come back to this is just awesome:

Days in the pool before C got up the courage to jump in to Daddy: only a few.

Little toenails that were painted for the first time ever: 20, and with hot pink polish too.  (I still can’t believe I didn’t get a picture.)

Adorable baby sitings: continuous.  Really, half-naked cutie pie running around in Chucks?  Irresistible.

Length of nap on the beach on our last afternoon (child-free yet again): almost three hours.  Absolute bliss.

Speed at which Jenna’s tail was wagging after we picked her up from the doggie hotel (she was at a “dog party”, according to M and C): incalculable.  She’s very happy to be home.

Until we meet again, Gulf Shores.

Vacation catch-up #2: Because “half-assed” is not in my vocabulary

The girls’ 3rd birthday is coming up this weekend, and I had really been struggling with what to do to celebrate.  Most of M and C’s classmates’ parties that we have attended over the past few months have involved an all inclusive party place but we just weren’t feeling it, partly because we still don’t know many of the other parents and families, and partly because I just couldn’t stomach the idea of a big party without our extended family there.  The concept didn’t feel right to me, and honestly made me quite sad.  I also couldn’t stomach “settling” for a ho-hum party without all the details that I so love to pull together.  So we decided on an early birthday shindig with the fam while on vacation.  The theme – Olivia the Pig, of course.  The Hubs came up with the awesome idea of a sandcastle building contest per the Olivia book, with competing teams based on each of the Hubs’ siblings and their families, followed by a birthday lunch back at the beach house.

The Hubs and I work so well together because he starts off with the big picture ideas and I take hold and run full force ahead with the details.  Lot of details.  Possibly more than the average person would even begin to entertain, especially since in this case we would have to get all the party stuff to Alabama with us on the plane, but my inability to half-ass anything ensures that my girls will always have memorable parties.  The upside of being a bit obsessive I guess.  I Pinterest-ed a boatload of Olivia-themed party decor and food ideas (yes, she is one popular partyin’ pig!) and literally starting pulling it all together about a week and a half before we left.  I work so much better with tight deadlines and a little bit of self-induced guilt/pressure.

The end result was a huge hit!  When you have 23 people vacationing together, aside from dinner each day, it really is rare for everyone to be together at once.  To see everyone heading out together that morning on the short walk down the street to the beach to help celebrate our little girls just warmed my heart.  And I again counted my blessings for being part of such a large, close family.

For the record, I adore this pic of C.  I can see the someday-teenager in her face when she smiles like this.  And the girl is getting my freckles too. LOVE.

Getting started… did I mention that our fam doesn’t mess around when it comes to competition?

Nice use of the surrounding sea plants to enhance their castle landscape.

Can you guess which team made the pig?

Goodness, how I missed these two ladies!

Because it’s just not a party without pig ears and noses!

The sandwiches at the back were a Pinterest recipe find and they were ah-mazing!  Everyone wanted the recipe.  These will definitely be my new go-to sandwich for get-togethers.

Red velvet cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, recipe courtesy of Joy the Baker.  (And plain pita chips dipped in leftover frosting is pretty darn good too!)

I seriously could have eaten every last one of these dipped marshmallows all by myself.

Last-minute tops made from this tutorial.

Hammin’ it up for the camera, as usual (pun intended).

Yes, everyone else wore the ears and noses too!

Vacation catch-up #1: You lost me at “bush hoggin’”

I’m currently in the middle of vacation withdrawal after getting my long-awaited family fix in Gulf Shores last week with the Hubs’ family – Nanny and Papa, all six siblings, respective spouses and lots of kiddos.  The girls experienced their first plane trip when we left Saturday morning, and helped to conquer my own personal nerves about over newly potty-trained preschoolers with fears of public bathrooms.  They totally rocked it, and the promise of an ice cream award for dry undies at the end of the day didn’t hurt either.

Our first day of vacay was marked by a dip in the pool by all.  We had just gotten in and I saw a panicked look on the Hubs’ face.  As he grabbed for his wedding ring that was left in the pocket of his swim shorts I said “oh, I thought maybe you left your phone in your pocket.”  To which he reached into the other pocket and tossed his soaked iPhone out of the pool.  Oh. Sh*t.  I seriously thought by the look on his face that he was going to vomit.  No joke.  He’ll likely hate me for saying this but it was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to him.  This is a man who is phenomenally committed to his job (and for which I’m so, so very proud of him) but in turn he’s also seriously committed to that phone.  Its unintended dip in the shallow end forced him to unplug for the week.  Hallelujah!

So what do you do with a soaked iPhone?  Bury it in a bag of rice and let the rice help to suck the moisture out.

Day two involved a little trip into town to the AT&T store, where a very nice southern gentlemen confirmed that the rice trick was the way to go to at least try to dry it out to maybe salvage some data.  He also reviewed our options to get a new phone, showed us a waterproof and sand proof case and then enlightened us on how well that super-duper case works for him when he goes out “bush hoggin'” on his two acres.

Excuse me, what?  Um yeah, you lost me.

Come to find out that “bush hoggin'” (also referred to as “brush” hoggin’, per my brother-in-law) apparently involves a tractor/mower apparatus with a large blade, the ability to hack down even small trees and an end result of not having to mow as much.  See, you really do learn something new every day – even on vacation.  And we did walk out of there WITHOUT a new phone.  The Hubs held out all week with just a few peeks at the iPad and a new phone was waiting for him at his office when we got back.  Well done, my dear.