happy new year! now make a wish...

Tonight at dinner we dined on our favorite rotisserie chicken from a local restaurant.  Towards the end of the meal I saw the wishbone on Scott's plate so I picked it up and showed it to the kids. Briefly, I explained the process of breaking the wishbone, stressing several times that it's strictly a superstition, but that it might be fun to try it.  Especially on New Year's Eve.

So I told the kids to make a wish. And then I strategically gave Zuzu the bigger half.  (Gage, if you are reading this ten years from now, I'm sorry.  You are clearly stronger and more competitive and I had to give the poor girl a fighting chance.)

So they grasped and they pulled.  And they broke the wishbone.  And Zuzu, surprise!, ended up with the larger half.  

Immediately we began reiterating that it's only a superstition and that doesn't mean that either wish will or will not come true.  Then Zuzu giggled and said, "Oh, mine won't come true.  My wish was just a fairy tale."  And then she proceeds to tell us her New Year's wish.

"I wished that Ariel was my Mommy."

Nice.

So I turned to Gage to ask him what his wish was. "I wished that our family would have two hundred billion dollars (or some absurd number like that... I don't remember exactly).

So I took the larger part of the wishbone from Zuzu and gave it to Gage.

We all laughed for a quick bit. No one took any of it seriously as I was afraid they might and Zuzu accepted the smaller half of the wishbone for her fairy tale wish.

When the giggling subsided I asked Zuzu, 

"If Ariel were your Mommy, then who would I be?"

"An old lady"

Nice.

"How old?"

"Oh, about twenty"

So, the family would have two hundred billion dollars, Ariel would do the actual parenting, and I could just sit back in my twenty year old body and observe?  Well, hell, Happy New Year to me!

But seriously folks.  From our dysfunctional family to yours I wish you a happy and healthy new year.  And as a wise friend just posted on Facebook, "I wish you enough".

ocd vs. I don't really give a rat's ass

We all know our children are unique and that personality traits can vary wildly among siblings. Child rearing 101. But the differences can rear their hysterical heads in the most surprising of moments. Without looking too carefully at the actual gifts (that would clearly give it away), can you match the child with the appropriate pile of Santa gifts? One meticulously laid theirs out, gift by gift in a neat row. The other literally tossed them in the air (albeit appreciatively) and moved on.

you're the one that I want

I didn't suspect anything when she came out in all black and asked me to put the belt on her.  But when she requested my orange heels I knew something was up.  You're the one that I want.  And a four year old who thinks she's sixteen.

nothing for Christmas

This is not entirely true.  He is getting  a few things.  But Grandma and Grandpa bought them all. Mommy and Daddy aren't mad. 
They're just busy.

bonehead

Lucy gives a whole new meaning to the term bonehead.

on the road again

Zuzu packed her own bag for Florida this week (as if). It took me about 30 minutes to convince her that no, we wouldn't be taking her clothes on the plane in her rolling Dora the Explorer backpack, but that I would be sure to take her choices into consideration when I packed the *real luggage*.

I let it sit there packed for a day an half. 

Franky, I was a little nervous to open it.

But last night, in her absence, I did.

She had packed:

Three short sleeve t-shirts (all with rhinestones). 

Three coordinating lightweight skirts (all with ruffles). 

Two short sleeve disney princess nightgowns. 

One pair of socks (also sparkly).

Two pairs of underwear.

One bikini (sparkly). 

I'm actually pretty darn impressed.  

And yes, I will keep my promise (gritting teeth).

there was a little girl that had a little curl...

...right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good she was very, very good.

And when she was bad she was horrid.

Pretty much describes Zuzu.  Also describes the relationship between her and her brother.  When they are in agreement it melts your heart and when they fight it turns your hair gray. Literally. Well, the hair part at least.

Last weekend Zuzu schlepped out from her bedroom one morning in a pair of cozy hello kitty slippers, graciously handed down from our friend Jamie Bean.  She's had them a few months now but this morning, being particularly cold and slow moving, they were perfectly appropriate.

Gage saw them, looked at us with longing eyes and said, "I want slippers"!  Gage has no slippers.  Never has.  And honestly, I can't picture him ever really wearing a pair.  But that morning, he probably would have.  Without blinking Zuzu turned and trotted back into her room.  "Gage, I have slippers you can wear!", she screams as she attempts to run away (a little hard in slippery slippers).  

She returns with these.  See, heart melting, right?  Gage and I look at each other silently and exchange a look that said, "Wow, that was pretty darn sweet.  But there is no way in hell those slippers are going on." 

our festival of lights

 

Terrible thing for a **blogger** to write, but I really don't have time to get into the details of our religious backgrounds right now.  Let's just put it this way.  We are a family intertwined by Judiasm & Christianity, and ironically, held together by a renegade that generally likes to see things for herself before she believes anything... and figures it's her birth right to simply decide on her own (in due time of course),  what this life is all about.

Nevertheless, we make a feeble attempt at teaching our kids the fundamentals of as many religions as we can.  And we throw in some science for good measure.  And we practice traditions.  Like lighting the candles on the menorah for eight nights.  Eating fried latkes.  Writing wish lists, hanging stockings & leaving cookies and milk for santa.  And giving presents.  Yup.  We've got the presents part down.

For Hanukkah this year we decided we'd all be far better off spending the same amount of money on just a few fabulous presents than spreading it out on eight fairly uneventful presents for each kid.  Sixteen presents last year.  Three this year.  We'll see how the next seven nights go with no gifts but tonight, I'll have to say was a huge hit.  The kids got an xbox 360 kinect (dad does the advertising for the product so it was kind of a no brainer), Gage got a kindle (hello, he high tailed it off to the other room to, get this... read) and Zu finally got her very own pink ipod. 

As I sit here and reflect on our lovely first night of Hanukkah something does strike me as slightly ironic.  We try relentlessly to instill the meaning of our celebration, so that the kids understand that it's really not all about the presents.  So every year we tell them the story of Maccabees struggle, and how there was only enough oil to fuel the flame in the Temple for one day.  But how do we teach the kids about "the miracle of a container of oil" this year?  By lighting the candles, singing the prayer... and then powering up and plugging in.  

And I video taped the whole thing.  Go figure.

Here's Zu singing with her new ipod.  Funniest part here?  You get to hear what she actually thinks the words are.  You can blame Grandma for the "drunk" line.  I, surprisingly, had nothing to do with that one!...

And here's the kids on the new Kinect.  We have a financial interest in the success of this product.  So if you think our kids look like they're having a blast and you allow video games in your home.  Go buy one.  Or four.  Now...