P is for Plane :Take two December 2010

Wednesday December 22nd, 2010

    Back to the airport we go.  Jeanne did very well again, and thankfully we had no issues getting to the airport or on the flight.  We even landed a little early, and Granmommy was there to pick us up promptly, which of course made Jeanne very happy.  Our first day back in Massachusetts we just went food shopping for and relaxed at home.

Thursday December 23rd, 2010

     We were lucky enough to get a super special visit from Aunt Eileen.  Jeanne was so happy to see her and we appreciate her making the drive out for meet us for breakfast!  I so missed her infectious laugh and warm smile.  Here is a picture of Jeanne beaming up at Aunt Eileen and wearing Eileen's very pretty scarf.

I think this picture is great, she is just so happy to see Eileen.

Friday December 24th, 2010

  We had breakfast at home and packed up the car to get ready for the drive to Connecticut.  We thought it would be a good idea to let Jeanne run around outside for a bit before being strapped in a car seat for 3 hours, so we went to the local track and walked around for a bit.  That certainly seemed like a good idea, until of course we were outside, in the cold blistering wind.  I did not bring all the winter clothes needed for me to walk *slowly* outside, and Jeanne just doesn't own them.  So after a 'quick' trot once around, we got back in the car and headed south.  

I do not miss Winter in New England.

Once in Ct, Jeanne got re-acquainted with her Great Aunts, Uncles and second cousins.  Jeanne is a very social creature, but preferred people closer to her size and seemed wary of the 'tall men' (CJ and Lee).  

I think all the second cousins and a good time and a yummy dinner of lasagna (thinking of you Grandma!).  It took a little wrangling to get K and B off the bed, but they finally made it, despite their excitement. 

We Bakers all slept very well, but Jeanne did wake at 4 asking for her 'ilk'.  I tried to be quite, really I did, but I fear any new sound would have woken K and B anyway, so at 4:15am, I heard little footsteps coming up the stairs, then " Wake up, it's Christmas!"  Graciously K and B went back downstairs and were very, very patient about letting the adults all wake up and have their coffee before massive chaos ensued (thanks guys!).  Although, they must have super-sonic hearing, since they were able to hear Jeanne speaking to hubbers and I on the 3rd floor around 6am and ZOOM, up the stairs they came!

Saturday December 25, 2010

Breakfast was a wonderful egg strata and fruit salad, but with the state of hunger of all the adults in the house (and this pregnant lady), we could see immediately it would not be enough food and we were eagerly awaiting James and Eileen's arrival.  Lee, hubbers and I opted for left over lasagna, since we knew there would not be enough for James and Eileen and we all wanted to make sure they had a yummy warm breakfast as soon as they arrived.

Soon after, our normally orderly Christmas (youngest to oldest opening presents, with the kids opening two at a time usually) was completely abandoned, and all chaos ensued.

Here are a few pictures of Jeanne:

opening blocks from Aunt Laurie (thank you!)

Personally, this is my favorite picture:  She loved the "Heads" book!  Thanks so much Laurie!

A very bad picture of the Baker Family Christmas 2010, (Jeanne was not to be contained).

Another mangled photo of the Bakers 2010, we were top of our game you can see....

Eileen and Hubbers all smiles

Jeanne and I

Jeanne loves to expose my growing belly to give hugs and kisses to 'baby'.

Ohh, what's in here?!

Ah, a happy Uncle James.

Dad and Jeanne reading "Heads".

The Button!

Cousin K receiving awesome gift number 124.

Jeanne tearing into more Mega blocks!  "Open, open!"

Claudia, Lee and Cousin K

I feel like I have this picture of Uncle James, my mother and I somewhere when I was very young... it feels so nostalgic.  Perhaps a Christmas in Boston when I was 4 or 5 when my loving and gracious Uncle and Aunt took Mom and I in? 

Cousin K, Uncle James, Jeanne and I

"THE BUTTON!"

And some videos of her opening her 'Frosty the Snowman card, which was a big hit!
Frosty 1 she immediately figures out what is making the music and tries to take apart the card, too smart!
Frosty 2  Look at the little dance she does, and her excited face.  I've got a cutie here!

Lee, Claudia, Cousin K and B

Dinner was a fantastic arrangement of beef tenderloin, potatoes, asparagus, green beans and salad.  Everyone had seconds and thirds.  Thank you to our fantastic host for such great food!

Dessert, once the two French ladies 'brulee'd' it, was the most delicate, finely created chocolate cake I have ever had.  Most people think that richer is better and the more chocolate you have in a dessert the better, but I rarely take more than one bite of those desserts.  But THIS, this dessert was a masterpiece!  I had a second slice later....  What a joy, thank you Eileen!

Then they spoke French. 
The antics in the video above went on for quite a while, but it took me a bit to get the phone to record this.  They were both having such a great time in there own little world, happy as larks.  I was reminded of an Eddie Izzard stand up routine of trying to work in elementary French words into a conversation while in Paris (following video contains adult language  The monkey is on the branch).  I had to stop the video of Eileen and Mom, because Hubbers  read my mind and was trying to remember the Eddie Izzard line, and at the end you hear Hubbers speak, I lose my ability to hold the phone because I am laughing so hard.  OK now, re-view the video of Eileen and Barb They spoke French

Hubbers and I both agree, that this was our most fun Christmas we've had in a long time.  That's not to say other Christmas' were hell, but that we really had a wonderful time with Jeanne, and visiting with our family.  I'm so glad we were able to fly up here and see everyone, thank you all for making the long car trip!


December 26th, 2010
    “The Blizzard is Coming, the blizzard is coming!”

  We got word the night before that there would be significant amounts of snow all up the East coast, but wouldn’t arrive until late Sunday night/Monday morning in New England.  Despite that, our own “Paul Revere” was good enough to wake us from our slumber to make sure we were packed and out of Connecticut by 9a.m.

[Don’t worry, Lor, we still love you ; )  ]

A quick stop for diapers and milk before we hit the road and away we went.  The four of us had a fun and laugh filled car ride home and made back to Granmommy’s safe and sound.  Jeanne’s favorite new song is “Hey Toast” (Heywood Banks "Toast' song), while my favorite new song is “Nerves" (Heywood Banks Inches and Miles).  I'm sure Granma wishes her daughter would get off any one her her thousands of nerves.

Nine hours after we were woken up, the snow began to fall.... hmm, perhaps sleeping another little bit couldn't have hurt.... ; )  

Once back to Granma's we got Indian food as take out since hubbers and I have been craving it for a couple of weeks now.  We got food fro Kushboo in Lexington, which is normally fantastic and super tasty, but somehow, the aloo palak (spinach with potatoes) were burnt.  You could smell that 'burnt' smell as soon as you open the container.  We also got garlic naan, and navratan korma, but with all the warm food the garlic naan was too 'moist' for Mum, so she put it under the broiler (set on high with the rack approximately 2 inches away from the coils).  When mum begins to put the spinach dish on her plate she says "How do you burn spinach...."  Then she jumps up and grabs the now burnt garlic nann out of the oven.  Hubbers and I laughed and agreed, probably the same way you burn bread, you forget about it.

 Monday December 27th, 2010::  SNOW DAY!

  We woke to snow covered streets, trees, and cars, but not a true blizzard.  It snowed a little more in the morning, but within 5 minutes of waking Jeanne made it clear she did not want to be contained within the apartment walls.  By 10 am we got all bundled up. I did get her fleece pants specifically for our trip, and she had her super warm wool sweater from Eileen so we knew she would be 'OK', we did not have boots though, so after we put her socks and shoes on, we put granmommy's warm wool socks over Jeanne's shoes to act as gators and add another layer of warmth.   By the end I think we succeeded in the proper amount of bundle, which is of course defined by the level of internal combustion just prior to leaving the house.

Here is my snow bunny.  By the way, she loves ice and snow.  By love, I mean loves to eat it.  She calls ice cubes 'ice cream' and thinks its just the best treat in the world to get an ice cube.  So, true to form, she went berserk trying to find the biggest 'ice cream' she could handle, and she did of course succeed.

 

But Ma, how am I supposed to pick up snow with these mittens on!?

Can you read the sign?  It reads:  "Please, no snow piling here.".... Oh well.

Yumm!  Ice Cream!  (Poor thing, her little lips and cheeks were starting to turn blue, but she was so happy)

Big Snow! (video)



Tuesday December 28th, 2010
   My mothers alarm went off at 5am this morning.  Then my hubbers alarm went off at 5:01 this morning.  Amazingly we were all packed and driving at 6:05 a.m.  We checked our flight status many times yesterday, and last night, and again this morning.  Each time they said our flight would be delayed 10 minutes.  'HA' I said.  But, there was no way to prove the negative, so the only thing we could do was go to the airport.  The airport was PACKED, packed I tell you.  But it also seemed like every single employee of every airline was working, so things we actually moving along and all questions were being answered in an orderly and amazingly quick fashion.

  I got a little worried when we tried to get through security, and a family was literally rushed to the front of the line because their flight was leaving 'right now', but other than that, all was fairly organized.
  Our flight was schedule to depart at 8:00am, but we finally boarded around 9:30, and after that, Jeanne was great on the plane!  I can say that because she was in Daddy's lap about 99% of the time....  Thanks hubby!

Bing, Bam, Boom, we were home in a jiffy and all three of us were happy as punch.  Jeanne spent some time making sure all her toys were in perfect working order, then hubby went food shopping while Jeanne napped and I washed all our clothes from our trip.

We really did have a great time up in Boston, and I realized, that it might be the last time I make that trip.  I'm sure I'll visit my family, but it would probably be for a far shorter amount of time.

Now, this trip would not have been possible without my mother.   I would not have been able to bring 'my' family up North for the holiday, and I have really missed seeing everyone, and Jeanne was really starting to miss her Gran(yes!)mommy.

I'm sorry I can be such a pain to drive with, please know I love and appreciate ALL that you have done for us.  Thank you for sharing your apartment, and your time with us, we love you so much!