The Housewife Project

It’s The Holiday Season

November 24, 2009 at 9:11 am | In Happy Holidays | Leave a Comment
Tags: activities, family, holiday, traditions

I think I can safely classify myself as a holiday person. For my entire life, I have loved everything about celebrating any holiday – decorating and dressing up, playing games and singing songs, throwing and attending parties. Whether we are spending Easter at the White House, Thanksgiving at Medieval Times, or driving all day to make it to a family Christmas inNew England, around here we seriously do up the holidays. If it’s festive, we’re there.

Having a child has only made each holiday that much more fun and exciting. We get to experience childhood tradtions from the other side, where they are not only delightful but important. And Santa means something again! (And I feel better about myself taking my son to sit on Santa’s lap, instead of my dogs…)

To celebrate the premiere of Dora’s Christmas Carol, Nickelodeon and TwitterMoms is having a blogging contest that asks moms to share our favorite holiday activities we like to do with our kids. Right up my alley! I started all the traditions as soon as I could, even though Luke was a tiny baby, so I am super happy that this year Luke can actually participate in the holiday fun this year. Here’s my top 5 holiday activities:

1. SINGING
I’ll admit it – we already have the Christmas music playing. As I type, Luke is bopping to Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Claus is Coming To Town. I think Mele Kalikimaka Hawaiian Christmas Song is his favorite so far. We are pretty into music around these parts, so I feel like I would be remiss if I didn’t begin the caroling ASAP. It’s an essential part of any of my kids’ musical education. (Side note: does anyone else think they need to make a Christmas Rock Band for Wii?)

2. EATING
Last year, Luke and I spent the entire Thanksgiving dinner nursing in my Mom’s guest bedroom while the rest of my extended family enjoyed the buffet without us. Not so in 2009! We were blessed with a good eater, and I can’t think of anyone who will enjoy diving into a feast of turkey and cranberry sauce than my son. I can’t wait to give him his first taste of hot chocolate and candy canes as Christmas gets closer, too. Yum!
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3. CHOPPING DOWN A TREE
I was all about cutting our own Christmas tree last year, but nature changed our course when the whipping winds at the tree farm prevented Luke from being able to breathe. We sadly had to get our tree from Walmart. Again, not so in 2009! This year, Luke is sturdy and love the outdoors. And he is a huge fan of trees – I am sure his reaction to one in the living room with be priceless. As long as we can figure out how to get it from there to here with our tiny car, we’ll be heading to Ticonderoga Farms for our Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving! Wish us luck!

4. WATCHING TELEVISION
Holiday Specials were a big part of my childhood, and I forced Tom to watch them even when we were just a pair of single adults. Luke has zero interest in TV (other than the hours he spends turning it on and off. Ooh! Buttons!) but I know he will love holiday specials. I already have The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Santa Clause on the DVR to try out on him. If nothing else, I am sure a marching band or two from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will grab his attention. This forcing television onto a toddler may seem like bad parenting, but really, it’s for his own good.

5. STAYING COZY
My parents always gave my sister and I new pajamas on Christmas Eve, as my dad’s parents did for him and his sisters. This is one of the best traditions we had, and I of course adopted it for Luke. I added one more thing to it last year to make into more of an activity – a new Christmas book.

I hope to do this each Christmas Eve, so we can curl up for storytime in our new pj’s and be comfy and snuggly as a family. As general warm weather people it gives us something to look forward to in the cold months! I already picked up a pair of pajamas for Luke from Old Navy, but I am still in the market for a good holiday story. Any recommendations?

What are your favorite holiday activities to do with your kids? Let Twittermoms know and you could win a $25 gift card and a Dora Christmas Carol DVD. Happy Holidays!

Watch Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure Dec. 6 on Nickelodeonif (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget(‘0a0277ef-bb32-4ef8-b222-ce4abc3d23ce’);Favorite Holiday Activities with KidsGet the Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)

Melon Head

November 20, 2009 at 7:29 pm | In Eat This!, Picture Perfect, The Amazing Lukester | Leave a Comment
Tags: baby, Luke, photo, watermelon

The other night I pretended it was summer – broke out the George Forman grill and grilled up some hot dogs, served with corn and potatoes, and some watermelon. Luke had never tried watermelon before, but he was pretty confident that he would not only like it, but be able to eat a whole slice like everyone else. Luckily it was seedless. He was a little confused at first and tried to eat the rind, but he got the hang of it later. Yum!

Luke Tunes: Vol. 4 (Beatles Edition)

November 13, 2009 at 6:08 pm | In Luke Tunes, The Amazing Lukester | 2 Comments
Tags: Abbey Road, Revolver, Rock Band, The Beatles, White Album

Since 09/09/09, it’s been Beatlemania at our house. Tom bought a bunch of the remastered CDs and we’ve been listening to 1 a month. So far we’ve rocked out to the White Album, Revolver, and Abbey Road. Throwing in our super awesome $79 deal for Rock Band: The Beatles, we are pretty much eating, sleeping, and breathing the Beatles. It is awesome.

Luckily for us, Luke is into Rock-And-Roll. None of the Baby Mozart stuff for him! Hopefully that means he will be grow up to be somewhat cooler than me, who was raised on Richard Marx and Michael Bolton. I am enjoying my musical education as well, with my faves being Rocky Racoon, And Your Bird Can Sing, and She Came In Through The Bathroom Window. Of course, these are neither Angelia nor Time, Love and Tenderness, but hey, they are still pretty good. HA!

Anyway, here are Luke’s favorite Beatles tunes so far:

Yellow Submarine – Luke is a fan of any whimsical Ringo song, but this is his favorite. Probably because his bathtime book, which we have read to him at every bath since he was born, has a submarine in it. Or maybe just because it is awesome.

Come Together – Luke was already familiar with this song because I snuck the Kris Allen version onto his CD of baby songs we played in the car for a while. I’m sure he appreciates the Beatles version much more. He has good taste, after all.

Yer Blues – It’s clear at this point that Luke’s preferred musical genre is The Blues. This was the first song he responded to, with a cool head bob. Kind of depressing lyrics for such a little kid, I guess, but as long as he’s not hearing prophetic messages from Helter Skelter, I think I’m okay with it.

I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – Luke finds this song inexplicably hilarious. I was driving the other day and he just burst out laughing. I couldn’t really figure out what he found so funny until the song came on again and the same thing happened. This song makes him the happiest of anything in the world. Maybe he’ll turn out to be a badass guitarist or something.

Our December album is Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and I am sure something from that will end up on Luke Tunes: Vol. 5. I’m betting on the bounciness of When I’m Sixty-Four, but the kid is unpredictable so you never know.

Did I say “awesome” yet?

For Veteran’s Day

November 11, 2009 at 2:00 pm | In Family Time, Happy Holidays, Picture Perfect | Leave a Comment
Tags: Memorial, Veteran's Day, Washington D.C., WWI

Luke with his Great Grandaddy (WWII Veteran) and Great Uncle Andy (Vietnam Veteran)
and Tom after Great Granddaddy’s Honor Flight from Charleston, SC

11/07/09 at the WWII Memorial in D.C.

1 year + 2 months

November 6, 2009 at 11:47 pm | In Monthly Update, The Amazing Lukester | Leave a Comment
Tags: 14 months, baby, Luke, toddler

Luke is getting so big – he is really running and climbing now. His favorite thing is to walk on the sidewalk outside. It makes him so happy that he can’t stop giggling. He also tried the slide at the playground recently and thought it was the best thing ever! When he has to be indoors, he loves pushing things around, whether that be his Fisher-Price Corn Popper or whatever box happens to be lying around. He also plays for hours with his Alphabet Train. And of course, any ball he can get his hands on.

We have started to have to discipline him because he has a strong attraction to electronics. He figured out how to use the computer mouse (by climbing on the desk chair) and how to put DVDs in the DVD player. Also he is fond of turning the TV on and off. We are working on a fence system to keep him away from the entertainment stuff and have resorted to turning the chair upside down when we aren’t using the computer. Hopefully that will keep him out of trouble and the 1 minute timeouts in his exersaucer he hates so much.

He still loves dancing and has even started singing! It must be all that Beatles music we make him listen to. He is babbling away saying “Da da” mostly, mixed with gibberish, but I am sure he’ll be saying some real words very soon. He loves food and eats everything, even spicy foods, but still especially loves his Cheerios.

In the next month I think he’ll be getting his first haircut and finally moving to his own bedroom. I’m hoping that his own room will help him finally start sleeping for more than three hours at a stretch. Mom and Dad sure need that. Should be an interesting time!

Baby’s First Trick-Or-Treat

November 3, 2009 at 8:47 pm | In Happy Holidays, Picture Perfect, The Amazing Lukester | 2 Comments
Tags: 2009, Alexandria, Candy, Costumes, Halloween, October, Old Town, Trick or Treat, Vampire, Virginia

For Halloween this year, Luke dressed up as a vampire (old school Dracula type, not the newfangled Twilight kind). My mom bought him the costume based on the fact that everything else required some sort of head gear that we figure Luke would peel off and fling to the ground at the first opportunity. Turned out that is was quite an adorable costume, though!

We should totally dress him formally more often.

Last year, Luke was so tiny that we stayed in for Halloween. This year, when the kid is running all over the place, we figured that a night walking the streets of Alexandria, trolling for candy was right up his alley. I am normally all about wearing costumes, but this year I was cheap so I just bought a Vampire lover t-shirt at Kmart. It matched up with Luke very nicely, and I was happy. Tom dressed up as a 50’s Greaser. Pretty much everyone thought he was Elvis. Must have been the hair. I kinda like it like that!

Luke is very serious about being a vampire

I love all holidays and always want them to be as great as possible, so instead of Tricking-or-Treating in our run of the mill condo complex, we made the short trip over to Old Town Alexandria. Traditionally, 5 blocks of Lee Street are blocked off to traffic and the residents of the beautiful, historic homes there decorate for the holiday, dress up, and take to the streets to give out candy to all the costumed kids in town (and also lots of dogs). It was very neat to get a peek inside the gorgeous homes (which are also, the centerpiece of one of the Best Christmas towns in America.) as well as see all the creative costumes our fellow Alexandrians came up with. We went for the early shift starting at 5:30, so there were mostly toddlers with us, many of whom were dressed up like bugs. So cute! As it got later, more interesting people came out, including a flamingo, two sets of Ghostbusters, and a Whoopie Cushion! It was very festive. There was creepy fog, bubbles filled with smoke (how’d they do that?), cobwebs, ghosts, and Jack-o-lanterns. There was a haunted house. There was a candidate giving out political paraphernalia. There was even a group dressed up like the Brady Bunch that periodically sang Sunshine Day. Fun times!

Spock + Spiders + Scary Guy in window = Halloween, Old Town Style

Pumpkins!

Bradys

And, oh yes, was there candy.

Luke picked out most of his own, even though the folks were kind of on to us and told him to “pick something Daddy likes.” Um, more like Mommy, people.

Some of us want Snickers!

After a while, Luke just wanted to push the stroller, as usual. Since he’s so small, it was kind of like we had a stroller that moved all on its own. Perhaps carrying an invisible baby. Very Halloweenish.

Watch out! Vampire coming through!

We made it down one side of the street and about halfway up the other before it got very dark, Luke got very cranky, and his stocking feet got very wet. So we packed up and went home with some good pictures, great memories, and a nice little collection of treats.

Let me see your Tootsie Roll

Already looking forward to next year when Luke might actually be able to eat some candy (without the wrapper).

New Set of Wheels

November 2, 2009 at 6:46 pm | In Gear Head | Leave a Comment
Tags: car, Corolla, Explorer, Ford, Toyota

We traded in our 2004 Ford Explorer with a bum transmission and 120000 miles on it for and brand new Toyota Corolla with 4 miles on it. YAY! I am excited to zip around in this tiny car that gets more than 19 miles per gallon and is not on the verge of breaking down all the time. YAY! And it’s a pretty color called Blue Streak. We are in the market for super awesome car names now. Tom’s old Celica was called The Phantom Menace. My old Dodge Dynasty was called Betsy. I think we’re looking for something a little more on the badass side, not the old lady side, for this one. Any suggestions?

Happy Halloween from A Couple of Suckers

October 31, 2009 at 8:14 pm | In Happy Holidays, Picture Perfect, Proud Mama, The Amazing Lukester | 1 Comment
Tags: costume, Halloween, Vampire

Flashback: Luke’s First Halloween

October 30, 2009 at 7:14 pm | In Flashback, Happy Holidays, Picture Perfect, The Amazing Lukester, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Tags: 2008, baby, costume, Halloween

Confession: Halloween is pretty much the reason we have a baby. Tom and I were in Target a week before Halloween 2007 and the adorable baby costumes made me cry. I held a Jalapeno pepper costume in my hands and confessed how much I wanted a little one to fill a tiny outfit like that. By the next Halloween, we had our own little Jalapeno! (I bought the costume in July, two months before he was born.)

Wouldn’t you like to be a pepper, too?

Too sweet to be spicy

Smile! It’s Halloween!

The headpiece was a little awkward, so I didn’t make him wear the costume all day. I did place him awkwardly in the rocker for a pumpkin picture, though!

I am beyond excited to dress Luke up this year. I am sure he won’t love it, but well all know I need my photos of the occasion! Don’t worry, they’ll be posted here for all to see. Parenthood makes special occasions so much more fun, especially for a grown-up kid like me.