10 great things about 2011

I could give you a warts-and-all recap of the year, but since I'm such a blithesome optimist (can you hear my mom making gagging noises from where you are?), I'm going to just hit the highlights, in no particular order.

1. I learned how to say no.

This is actually pretty huge. I've been at this freelance business for almost five years now, and until late this year, I just couldn't say no to a job, no matter how impossible the deadline. But behold! There's a new me, one who will actually tell clients when I don't have time (or don't want to give up time with the boys) to do a job. My uncle Kent tells me this gets both easier and more fun (he's a lawyer, and he turns people down with abandon).

2. Liam and Max learned the value of a dollar.

We bought each of them a DS a couple of years ago, but now there's a new game system in town: the 3DS. So we told them that this time they're on their own if they want to buy the shiny new 3DS (and who are we kidding? of course they do). They have been saving for months now, and they are finally within striking distance. It's down to the last $13 for each of them. They earn money by doing chores around the house, and they have also been saving their birthday/Christmas money. I'm tempted to just kick in the last bit myself, but I won't, because they are so proud of themselves for having the discipline to get to this point. I can't wait until they finally reach their goal!

3. Henry's not a baby anymore.

There are lots of good things about babies: They smell nice, they coo, and they come in a handy portable size (just for example). But he's much more interactive now. He talks all the time, and he figures things out by himself. In the mornings, he wakes up and comes downstairs to climb into bed with us instead of crying until I trudge up the stairs to get him. He's stubborn, and fearless, and he has such a big personality for such a little person. Now we just need to work on his little potty mouth...

4. Mike and I are past the seven-year itch.
I wasn't really worried about the seven-year itch thing, but I do think it's a great thing that with every year that passes, Mike and I are even happier to have found each other than we were the year before. I keep thinking that we're going to reach critical mass one of these days, but it hasn't happened yet.

5. I went to the movies!

Hey, this would be a big deal to you too if the last movie you saw in its theatrical release was Horton Hears a Who ... three years ago! On Christmas, after the festivities at my grandpa's house, various family members took up two rows at our local cineplex to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I am perpetually tired, so I worried that I would fall asleep and snore or drool or something, but I needn't have worried: The movie was more than exciting enough (and pretty true to the book!) to keep me awake. Oh! And I also have plans already to see each of the Hunger Games movies with my friend Valerie. The first one comes out in March, and I can't wait!

6. Reading is fundamental fun awesome.
Liam reads (almost!) as much as I did at his age, and even though he is still a beginner, Max is really having fun with reading too. And since I want to see the publishing industry not die, we have more than our fair share of books around here. They're piled up in every room, and while that can be a pain from a cleaning standpoint, I don't really care. What's important to me is that so far we've managed to produce two big readers, and hopes are high for Henry, who finally has the patience and interest to sit through me reading a whole book to him.

7. Nobody got surgery.
Nobody even went to the emergency room (though I guess there's still time). I love it when we are all healthy.

8. We hit the road.
The big vacation to Niagara Falls was incredible, but what really sticks out to me are the day trips we've taken this year. We went to Elkhart to ice skate and hang out with cousin Amelia. We spent a day at the Planetarium, and several at the zoo. We went to Michigan to Barb and Kevin's cottage. We did an overnight in Naperville and explored the Arboretum. Max and I went to the Mag Mile and Millennium Park. Small-town life is great in a lot of really important ways, but it's kind of a lifesaver that we're within striking distance of so many interesting places to explore. And honestly, even though I am a completely anal planner by nature, the best times we've had have been when we woke up in the morning, decided on a destination, and just went. I am already working on my list of day trips for 2012!

9. Charlie's not so bad after all.
Way back when we took Charlie to dog school, the teacher told us that as a puppy, Charlie would drive us crazy. By the time he was a year old, we would think he was all right. By the time he was two, we would think he was pretty cool. And by the time he was three, we would think he was the best dog in the world. And so far, her assessment has been spot on. Charlie is almost two now, and he is turning into a pretty good dog. And this year, as a gift to us all (just in time for Christmas!) we got a new fence, which has opened up a whole new world where we can just open up the door and let him run free without worry.

10. You are swell.
Posting has been kind of light this year because work has been so heavy. But it's nice to know that there are still people out there keeping up with our lives. I always say that this blog is my love letter/baby book for the boys, but the truth is that it's as much for me as it is for them. And I hope it's half as much fun for you to read as it is for me to write. So thanks for sticking with us, and stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

making the midnight noodles

When my grandparents first got married, my Great-Grandma Ethel taught Gram how to make noodles. Grandma Ethel had many talents, but I suspect that "domestic goddess" wasn't a title she really coveted, so she passed her noodle-making knowledge down to Gram (her daughter-in-law) and dusted the metaphorical (and probably literal!) flour off her hands. So every year, for every holiday, Gram would make noodles with chicken served over mashed potatoes. To call it "chicken and noodles" doesn't do it justice: It's not a soup, and the chicken isn't the star. In my family, the dish has always just been called "the noodles" or, as Grandpa calls them, "the midnight noodles," because Gram never had time to make them until late on the holiday eve.

I was the kind of kid (and am now the kind of adult) who was always asking questions: How do you do that? Why do you do it that way? How did you learn it? Can I do it too? And one year, I asked Gram how to make the noodles, and she decided to teach me. We sat at the kitchen table in the evening, and she poured a hillock of flour directly onto the table. Then she carved out a crater and showed me how to separate eggs and drop the yolks in. And then we kneaded, and kneaded, and kneaded. And she got out the rolling pin and taught me how to roll the dough out from the center and lay it out to dry. Later, she showed me how to roll the dough up and cut it with a knife — though not lengthwise, the way my uncle Steve did one year in a misguided attempt at helpfulness, making a thick doughy mess.

And now that she's gone, I'm the one who makes the noodles for the holidays, and every time I'm at once incredibly happy to have this little part of her, and indescribably sad, along with a healthy dose of sick panic that I will forget how to make them the right way and we will all have a noodle-free holiday. Thankfully, that hasn't happened (yet). I do some things differently than she did. Case in point: I don't mess around with boiling a whole chicken for the broth, because I'd probably end up getting somebody hurt by leaving in too many bones and it just seems like so much more work than using breast fillets. And after a few holidays where I spent days picking the dried flour and eggs out from under my fingernails, I got the bright idea to start using the dough hook on my stand mixer. (Why did none of us ever think to get her a stand mixer??) And this year, I'm even making them a couple of days early (though I won't cook them until Christmas), something Gram said she always meant to do but somehow never found the time for. So today, I'm making noodles, and thinking about Gram, and hoping that one day, one of the boys or one of my siblings or cousins or aunts or uncles (hah!) will stop to ask me: How do you do that? How did you learn it? Can I do it too? And I will be happy to show them. After all, it's a (really) big family, and I don't think we could ever have too many noodles.

UPDATE: Avalon decided to try her hand at making a dough ball (though I still rolled it out for her since I was covered in flour and she wasn't). Not bad for a first attempt!

birthday fortune

We got Chinese for lunch today, and I thought I'd look to the fortune cookie instead of a birthday horoscope to guide me through the upcoming year. And then I opened the cookie:

Hardly anyone knows how much is gained by ignoring the future.

Ummmm, okay then. So I should ignore the future? And I will gain something? I think someone at the fortune cookie plant ran out of things to say that were sufficiently obscure but still made a reasonable amount of sense. With that in mind, I opened up another cookie, seeking something a little more concrete.

Face facts with dignity.

Well, it's specific for sure. And as I face the fact of my 37th birthday, I will do so with dignity ... yeah, right. Because I am so very dignified. Forget that. I'm heading into my 37th year with JOY. I'm going to spend it playing games with my boys, spending time with my husband, and maybe even squeezing in some time for myself. I'm going to spend it laughing — a lot! — with the people who matter the most to me. So get ready.

windy city day trip

Max got a special treat on Sunday when we set out on a little adventure. We had planned a trip to Chicago to take Klaudia to the Ugg store and the kids to Millennium Park, but it worked out that Max was the only boy who was able to go. So early in the afternoon we set off: me, Max, Bethany, Loni, Klaudia, and Klaudia's friend. We hit the Ugg store first, and boots were purchased. Klaudia will have a very Ugg-ly Christmas, indeed! Then we walked around the Magnificent Mile for a little bit. The Borders where I used to work is now a Topshop and looks very strange to me. We walked to Water Tower Place and shopped at Macy's, then we went over to the Hancock building and checked out the holiday train display in the basement, which I had forgotten all about. It was like a little walk down memory lane with me telling Bethany all about the places I used to go to all the time when I worked down there. 

After we were done shopping, we headed down to Millennium Park and checked out the Bean and the skating rink. Our original plan was to go ice skating, but we badly underestimated the line for the skate rental place. People were waiting in line for hours just to rent skates! So we ditched that plan and went across the street to get some dinner. By the time we finished eating, it was getting dark, which was just what I wanted. We headed back into the park and over to the Crown Fountain (which was dry but all lit up) and over the bridge to the Art Institute. Along the way, we checked out all kinds of public art.

I was kind of sad that Liam and Henry couldn't join us, but at the same time, it was really great to get to spend so much one-on-one time with Max. He rarely gets to be the center of attention, and he got a whole day of it and just soaked it in. He was funny and sweet so well behaved. The trip didn't start out that way, but I really think it ended up being a wonderful holiday gift for the two of us!

chillin' at the zoo

This year, we, along with our collective siblings, decided that we would much rather ditch the gift exchanges in favor of spending quality time together. This makes me very happy, and to go all Charlie Brown on you for a minute, I think it helps us appreciate the holiday even more. To that end, we all hopped in the van and headed to scenic Brookfield, Illinois, to take the kids to the zoo with Johnny, Erin, and Lucy. Grandpa Kevin was able to join us, too. It was a cold day, but we all bundled up and spent a couple of hours wandering around. A really nice side effect of it being so cold was that there were hardly any other people there, so we could let the kids run a little more freely outside. Max was all about seeing the giraffes, and Liam loved the monkey house. Henry mostly just loved running away from us whenever possible.

After we wore the kids out at the zoo, we headed back to Johnny and Erin's house for a late lunch, during which Max discovered a deep and abiding love for Pillsbury crescent rolls. Then we let the kids open presents, which was a big hit, and just hung out for a little while. Usually when we see them, it's for a family function or in a more purposeful context, so it was good to just spend time together with no particular agenda in mind. Just a nice, fairly relaxing day.