Leaf storm

As much of the country is facing terrible winter weather, the worst we have to survive is a leaf storm.

Buzz

Before 

 After

Movies

I took the kids to see Frozen this afternoon so they wouldn't be the only kids who didn't see it over break.  Everyone has been raving about it.  They were very excited to see it.

It was cute.  Most importantly, it is a Disney movie that didn't launch me into an hour-long feminist rant.  That's saying something.

Ito pictures

Even though I took a couple of pictures of my dad with my phone during my visit, I wasn't going to post them on the blog.  He looked pretty old and sick in the pictures, but that's because he is old and sick.  But then my kids started looking at the pictures and asking to see them over and over.  They don't see a sick man; they just see their Ito and that makes them happy.  So here you go, a couple of pictures of my dad.

 Getting a shave from Sharon.

 Managing a little smile.

Here they are with their dad on their way to bed tonight.

Welcome to 2014

Look how peaceful and beautiful Arkansas looks.  Unfortunately, it's also very cold and quite depressing.  This is a plot of land in my dad's neighborhood, but not my dad's house.  I took this picture while on a walk with his dogs.  

Here are the dogs - Bear (on the left) and Max. They are long-haired chihuahuas and very sweet boys.  I can understand why my dad loves them so much and they love my dad.  They miss him a lot too.  

I arrived in Arkansas on Friday evening and spent every day at the hospital with my dad.   Though everyone told me he was doing much better, he seemed so sick and miserable to me.  He had trouble staying awake and we didn't get a chance to talk much, but I did tell him I loved him and fed him ice chips every time he asked.  I felt pretty useless, though I did keep my stepmom company and took my turn doing the long drive to and from the hospital.  While I was there, it was unclear what my dad really wanted.  I don't think he was sure either, but today my stepmom let me know he's decided to go home on hospice.  I'm very sad but very relieved he will be comfortable and cared for as he moved towards the end of his life.  And most importantly, he will be with "his boys" (the dogs).   

Tom was wonderful about sending me support. love and pictures while I was away.  Sitting for hours in the hospital, I would text him these desperate pleas for cheerful updates.  He told me about their donut runs and their garage clean up.  It brought a smile to my face.  Here's a picture he sent me. 

 The kids are not on their way to an ugly sweater party just our local park.  He told me he found these in the back of the drawer.  They were back there for a reason!  I guess he was avoiding doing laundry.  Anyway, I just hope he didn't see anyone we knew at the park.  Of course, a little while later, I got a picture of them hanging out with my friends.  Eek!  At least they are really good friends who just texted to tease me about how fashionable my kids looked.  

 Yesterday, they went on the "Stanford dish" hike.  It's a paved trail that takes you around the radio telescope on the Stanford campus.  Looks like a beautiful day.

 I spent yesterday in the hospital and in airports.  I spotted this gem in the Atlanta airport.

No, I didn't buy it.  I got a trashy magazine about Tori Spellings's marriage drama.

Merry Christmas

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. It was a great day here. It started pretty early, as you can probably tell from this picture that it is still dark outside.

The kids had oodles and oodles of presents.  Serafina got lots of dress up clothes, including this Doc McStuffins lab coat that went perfectly with the talking Doc McStuffins doll her dad got her.

Leo had a very Chima Christmas and received multiple sets of Chima Legos.  A lot of Lego assembly happened today.

Here they are in their matching Christmas pajamas.

The grown ups got some good loot too.  Here's the flavored salt set that Tom got from Nana.

The kids indulged in some Christmas chocolate after dinner.

Tom got comfy in a geeky t-shirt and the super soft lounging pants Leo gave him.

Serafina got a very special present from her teacher, Mrs. Mouritson.  She had colored this Pooh during class and Mrs. Mouritson made it into a pillow for her.  She unwrapped it this morning and I thought it was so touching.  Here's a picture with the Instagram treatment.

Christmas Eve (AKA the longest day for my kids)

I went to a yoga class this morning and it was the longest stretch of the day I wasn't pestered by a kid about opening a present.

We made our traditional Christmas eve cookies (a butter cookie decorated with sprinkles and some get turned into jam thumbprints), but that only took up a few minutes.

As we got into evening, they got to open a gift.  They picked the ones from Ito and Grandma Sharon, which were Lego sets.  It was the perfect thing to do while Tom worked his magic in the kitchen.
Serafina got a Lego Friends treehouse.

Leo got a 3-in-1 truck set.

Tom was hard at work as usual.

After dinner they talked us into one more gift with encouragement from Nana.  They opened gifts from her.  Serafina got the princess dress she had asked for.  Leo had put on his Nana list "something cute" so she picked this minion (from the Despicable Me movies) and it was very cute.

My contribution to the meal was made last night and needed to chill overnight.  It was a pumpkin cheesecake, which I added a caramel drizzle and whipped cream.  It turned out great, but I forgot to take a picture of my piece until I was already half way done.

The kids went to bed late, so we can only hope they sleep in a little.  Either way, it's going to be a crazy morning, but fun.