Category: Holidays

On Tuesday night Dave’s mom and sister, Lisa, came down to visit.  Lisa was home visiting from Pittsburgh for the holidays and it was great seeing her.  I had Wednesday off and since Dara and Lisa were over they were nice enough to babysit Ajax so that I could do some last minute running around (thank you!).   I didn’t have terribly fun stuff to do, but I had to get an oil change, had to stop by the bank, needed a haircut, and though I love my little guy these things were much quicker with him at home.

I know I have mentioned this before, however, when grandparents and aunts are around – Ajax is a pistol.  He knows he can do no wrong and takes it to the extreme.  I believe this is true of the vast majority of kids, because well, grandparents and aunts are awesome and mom and dad are pretty boring in comparison.

Ajax of course wanted nothing to do with me when his grandparents and aunt were around, and even on Wednesday morning when he woke up, who did he call for?  Yes, grandma grandma!  lol.

My mom told me that I was the same way when I was little.  She said that I would sit at the front door after my grandma Flo would leave and cry and cry.  This apparently went on for years and I was still crying and carrying on at age four.   Come to think of it, I didn’t want my Grandma to go back to Florida after her visit to Michigan this past summer either…

What a day!  Let me recap for you-

I woke up this morning to my guys making crepes.  Yes, those thin little pancakes with fruit.  I had told Dave how I had a hankering for them and he decided to whip up a batch for me with strawberries.  They were great, but Ajax was a little unsure of them.

After morning nap we scooted off to the mall to see Santa.  Although Ajax didn’t cry or scream, he would not smile.  He was unsure of the whole Santa thing, but appeased the adults and sat quietly.   After seeing Santa we had lunch at one of my favorite places – the restaurant in Macy’s Department Store.  I know it seems silly, but I can remember when it was Hudson’s and my mom taking me there for special occasions.  Ajax had pizza, of course, and fruit, and ate so well.

After lunch we did a bit of shopping and then we got in line for the train (there was a small train with four cabooses going around the mall).  I stood in line, while Dave followed Ajax around.  Here’s how Dave relayed this to me (since obviously I was in line and didn’t see it).   Apparently Ajax insisted on following the train around the mall.  He went running after it and then Dave of course was speed walking after him.  By the time the train got to the other end of the mall, Ajax was out of breath, so he planted himself in front of a woman and started jumping up and down shouting, train train!  The woman, unsure of what to do, started saying, oh here comes the train here comes the train!   Ajax was so excited he could barely contain himself and kept pointing and calling.

I ended up taking Ajax on the train and we zipped around the mall.  He waved and said hi to everyone he saw.    He was so cute.

Well Thanksgiving this year was a hit!  What a wonderful, food filled holiday of thanks.

On Thursday morning Dave, Ajax and I headed out to my parent’s home in Brooklyn.  Ajax was so excited to go for a ride and kept running around the house while Dave and I tried to load up the car.   He’s really into going places now and of course his favorite places all involve grandparents.  I’ve certainly noticed that when Dave’s parents or my parent’s are around, Ajax suddenly forgets we’re even present and all that matters are his Grandparents.   How’s that for thanks?

We were the first ones at my folks, which gave Ajax plenty of time to run around and check everything out.  When my mom and Ajax were watching the horses, however, my mom noticed one of them trying to scoot under the fence to get at the green grass.  My mom, yelled – bad horse, bad!  So now Ajax has been going around saying- bad horsie, bad horsie.   He has even gotten a little creative saying bad daddy, bad mommy, etc.

There were a few people out for dinner- my aunt Liz and uncle Tom, their sons, Michael and Ryan; my grandpa V; and some good family friends.   Ajax had a blast running around, ate way too much bread, and even played pool with his older cousins.  We were able to Skype with Emily a bit in Alaska till a large snow storm blew out her internet.

Ajax also found great fun chasing the dog around and around the kitchen table.  Unfortunately it took the dog a long while to realize this was a game.   Ajax is used to Millie up north and playing chase, my parent’s dog, however, found this game a bit beneath her, but obliged nonetheless.

After everyone left and Ajax was in bed, Dave treated me to a late night movie- Harry Potter.  We got out of the movie at midnight and there were already people lined up at the Best Buy, I couldn’t believe it (it was so cold with freezing rain).

Today, Black Friday, my mom and I ended up rolling into some stores at about 11 am (we’re obviously not the hard core shoppers here).  And though we missed all the door buster sales, we each still found a few goodies.

Overall, an excellent Thanksgiving.

I’m so excited to tell you about our Halloween that I’m having a hard time finding the words to start this post (I’ve been sitting here for a spell now).  Overall, it was great.

Ajax was kind enough to sleep in to 8:00 am today (awesome) and then we bummed around the house.  I filled the crock pots in the morning with spicy tortilla soup and pork (for pulled pork tacos).   We then did a little running around to the grocery and hardware store, and because it was so nice we even went  for a short walk.

My mom and dad, and aunt Liz and uncle Tom, and cousin Mike, all came over for dinner.  Everyone had a great time.  And then around 5:30 we dressed Ajax up in his costume.  I put so many layers on him that we could only stay indoors for a short time before heading out.  He was so darn cute all dressed up as a dragon.

My dad stayed at the house to hand out candy and then my mom, Dave, and I took Ajax up and down our street.  Ajax didn’t really understand why we were going to each house and shouting.  He didn’t understand why people were dropping items into his pumpkin.  But boy did he have fun.   He enjoyed seeing all the other kids dressed up, but after a while he was just wore out, so we placed him in his wagon, covered him with a blanket and called it a night.  He was so tired he didn’t even put up a fight.

After we got home, we did a quick bath and sippy, and then we got a dozen trick-or-treaters.  Ajax had so much fun running out onto the porch and telling everyone, hi and bye, it was so cute.  For Michigan the weather was agreeable, wasn’t too cold, no rain or snow, what a wonderful Halloween.

Dave and I are now watching the original Night of the Living Dead (something Dave has established as a family tradition) and that has been our Halloween.  How much fun!

Till now Dave and I have always left our pumpkins intact, placing them strategically outside our home, in true suburban fashion.  Now that we have a nino, however, we decided it was time to start carving them.    We covered the kitchen table in newspaper, plopped Ajax down between us, and set to work.  We tried to get Ajax involved, but when we showed him how to scoop out the pumpkin innards he looked at us like we were crazy and wouldn’t touch a single seed.  He was quite content to watch us and held his baby pumpkin that he had picked out.

I was pretty impressed with our carvings and placed them outside along with Ajax’s little pumpkin.  In a matter of an hour squirrels had already started eating them and had run away with the littlest pumpkin.  Darn city squirrels.

We actually have a very aggressive brown and tan squirrel that lives in the maple tree next to our back porch.  This thing terrifies me.  He has cornered me and forced me back into the house on more than one occasion.  This past Sunday I had Ajax in my arms and we were leaving to run up to the grocery store.  We stepped out onto the porch and that squirrel was standing next to the tree, about six feet from the house.  As soon as he saw us, he stood up on his back legs, wiggled his nose, flicked his tail, and then came toward us.  Ajax kept saying, kitty kitty, but I tried to use my purse to shoo it away.  The darn thing thought I was trying to feed it and came right up onto the steps of the porch!  I backed up into the door and started screaming for Dave, while trying to fumble with the handle.  I couldn’t get the door open, so I jumped off the side of the porch toward my car and made a mad dash.  In the meantime, Ajax kept calling the thing, kitty kitty.  Dave came out way to late to save us, and I believe I threatened to shoot the squirrel.  Our neighbors think we’re crazy.

Well our long weekend has come to an end.

Yesterday we headed to Royal Oak for the Arts, Beats, and Eats.  It was a lot of fun, but super crowded (on the news the next morning they said they had to stop letting people in because it was so crowded).  Ajax was too excited to eat anything, except of course the ice cream cone we bought him.  He had a blast watching all the people.  I also got to try roasted almonds, the kind that come in a little paper funnel.  I can’t recall ever having them before and they were delicious.

My parents also stopped by in the evening and stayed for dinner, which was nice.

Today we did nothing.  It was wonderful.  I didn’t get in the car once.   I made some comfy food (soup, homemade bread, blueberry muffins, cookies, etc) and we just lounged around the house and ate.  Dave did a bit of work outside and Ajax helped out.  Dave was loading stuff up into the burn pit and Ajax was helping right along, carrying sticks and tossing them in.  Back and forth, back and forth!  I was tired just watching them.

There is just something about stepping off a plane and blasting into your home terminal.  It’s a sense of calm and confidence, and the feeling that you are not the tourist/visitor/businessman from out of town.  I don’t travel often by any stretch of the imagination, but I have accumulated a modest amount of miles.   This is how I felt when I walked off the plane into Metro- home.

Yesterday I returned from a four day trip to Washington D.C., where I attended the annual immigration attorney conference (a must as far as continuing education goes).   I was in class most of the time and that left almost zero free time to see some of the sights, which was a shame as we were near Mt. Vernon and I’ve never been.  Oh well, the discussion regarding advance issues in citizenship will help me far more in the long run than seeing the home of George Washington… right?

While I was gone Dara was kind of enough to come down and babysit Ajax (thank you!).  Word on the street is that the pair had a great time and even ventured an excursion to Ikea.  While I was gone Ajax seems to have changed immensely.  He has three new teeth and his hair is longer (Dave is urging for a hair cut).  Ajax has also fixed “bye bye” onto almost everything.  For example – bye bye mama, bye bye dada.  He also now says – bye bye squirrel, bye bye kitty, and bye bye diaper (he will then take his stinky diaper and throw it away).  How crazy is that?

We attended a Fourth of July BBQ yesterday and today we’re relaxing.  It’s 100 degrees outside with the heat index and I’m exhausted.  There are things going on around town, but I’m just happy being home with my guys.  Our only plans include a watermelon and steaks on the grill.

Yesterday we met some friends for breakfast and then headed out to my parent’s house.  My grandparents are coming up from Florida this week, so I helped my mom get the house in order and Dave helped my dad outside (considering it was 90 yesterday, I think I had the better of the two jobs).  After our work was done we headed to the beach!  It was perfect beach weather.

I was so excited to take Ajax to the beach.  We even bought him a little life vest and swimming shorts.  At first Ajax just put his toes in the sand and was not willing to even step into the surf, so Dave scooped him up and took him out.  It took all of two seconds for Ajax to realize he loved the water.   Dave took him out, I took him out, and then my dad took him out into the water.  We then played in the sand a bit, but Ajax was not thrilled about having his hands dirty, so back out into the water.  What a little fish, I need to sign us up for swim lessons.

After the beach we hit up this great BBQ joint, can I say awesome?  Ajax was such a ham at the restaurant.  He was dancing with the jukebox and flirting with the other patrons near our table.   I was a little worried that he wouldn’t eat very much, but I was so wrong.  He tried – pulled pork, ribs, mac/cheese, brisket and cornbread.  He loved it all and chewed on the rib bones to the point where I had to take it away.

We then headed back to my parent’s place gave Ajax a quick sink bath, put on his PJs and drove him and then right into bed for little man.  What a great holiday weekend.

Dave and I both had Friday off, making this a nice, long four day holiday weekend for us!  The weather has been very cooperative, but a bit on the hot side, nearly hitting 90 each day.  We set up Ajax’s baby pool and bought him a new water toy for outside to help him stay cool (again, because the only place he really wants to be is outside).

We went to Gander Mountain (a camping store) yesterday as they were having a sale on camping grills and we had a gift certificate!  We actually didn’t put Ajax in a cart, but instead let him walk around the store with us.  This might have been a mistake because he was all over the place and kept taking things off shelves and lining them across aisles (cups, pans, a french press, etc).  He would then zip into tents they had set up and run around inside them.  He was very happy till it was time to leave and then he threw a terrible tantrum.

Today while we were out and about Ajax insisted on walking and then fell flat on his face and scuffed up his little nose.  He has the walking confidence down pat and does not want to be confined to a stroller or held, but just wants to explore.  What a busy little guy.

Ajax celebrated his second Easter holiday!  It was a quiet Easter as we were all so exhausted from such a hectic birthday weekend.   We did head over to my Grandpa Nader’s house for brunch and visited with the family.  It was a beautiful day, in the high 60s, low 70s, and sunny (of course) and Ajax just wanted to be outside.  Every time I brought him in, he would lunge at the next person heading outside, he didn’t care who took him, lol.  Outside he tried to keep up with the older kids.  One would run by and he would try to chase after them, then another would zip by and Ajax would change directions to chase the other one.  Round and round we went.

It was too nice to be in, so Dave and I took Ajax to the park.   Ajax spent the majority of time picking up wood chips from the slide platform and throwing them off the side.  He has such fair skin that we didn’t want to be out too long as I forgot a hat for him.   Overall, a lovely Easter Sunday.  Very relaxing, which we all needed.