Happy Halloween!

Ruth and I are both currently plague-ridden, which explains why I am sitting here posting on the blog while feeding Ruth pieces of chocolate, instead of out with my family trick-or-treating.  The girls were highly energized while they got ready before going over to Becky and Dante's to trick-or-treat, though, and here are the pictures I took before they left.

 We had Hermione-being-turned-into-a-cat:

 A zombie sleepwalker:

 A zombie bride:

A butterfly (who, it broke my heart, had to wear a heavy coat over her costume since it snowed four inches this weekend!)

 And a surly pre-teen.  Oh, wait, I mean....a bumble-bee.

Poor Ruth never even put on her costume, she is too boogery and unhappy.  She was going to reprise her role as a butterfly, since she still fits into her costume from last year, but it was not meant to be.  Now I am going to go make myself some tea and watch as much of a scary movie as Ruth will let me!  Happy Halloween to everyone!

Picture update

Lucy had a birthday! 

She did not want her picture taken, but I was very proud of the cake.

I did capture her when she wasn't looking, but on reflection I think this is more a picture of my nephew.  Not only because he looks so adorable here, but because of  his role as the masculine center in a sea of women.  I wonder how many more pictures he will take in his life where he is surrounded by girls. ( I tend to think quite a few. )

Easter was wonderful!  The girls had very little patience for pictures, because they were anxious to converge on Grandma and Grandpa Mlinek's house and eat everything in sight.

Between the adorable baby, the fun morning searching for baskets, the sweet and funny girls, the afternoon spent hanging out with family - it was pretty easy to count our blessings this Easter!

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

I never got around to posting yesterday because it ended up being a pretty busy day.  Chris gave me the most romantic gift he possibly could have after what feels like a month of being under house-arrest:  he came home early so that I could go spend a few hours alone at a coffee shop.  I took the laptop (so that I could work on a short story - it's about werewolves, very deep stuff) and - oh the bliss of time spent out of the house and in silence!!!  I couldn't have been happier.

Ruth did her best to help out with the Valentine's spirit by sleeping the entire time I was gone, so that Chris was able to get in a workout and reorganize his stash of beer in the basement.

The girls all enjoyed their V-day gifts (I found very cute and fancy-looking blank books, something we are all suckers for around here) and enjoyed their school parties, double-dosed because the CCD classes that night also had little celebrations.  Back at home we had grouper and lobster for dinner with Bailey's cheesecake for dessert.  (I overheard Beth and Katie talking:  "I don't ever drink alcohol but I know what it tastes like, since Mom and Dad are so obsessed with cooking with it!")  The girls drank chocolate milk out of their heart-shaped champagne glasses (which they loved - thanks, Mom!) and Chris and I had some of our favorite Molly Dooker wine and it was happiness and pink hearts all around.  We wound up the evening with a little Wipeout!, our favorite family show, and......it was just a great day.  I'm not sure how I lucked out like this, because I know without a doubt that I do not deserve to be this happy.

(This video is from a couple of days ago, because I didn't have the camera on when Ruth burst into hysterical laughter yesterday, but her sisters get belly-laughs like this just about every day and I think it illustrates pretty well what happy love looks like:)

 

Claire happened to be exceptionally cute this Christmas!

Our very own Christmas elf!

A perfect hat for Claire-bear

Merry Christmas!

All is merry and bright.....more or less

This was Ruth yesterday.  I dare anyone to NOT have a magical Christmas around this baby and her sweet face!

Merry Christmas one and all!  Poor Ruth is running a fever today so I'll write more some other time.

More from Halloween

They're creepy and they're kooky

Mysterious and spooky

They're altogether ooky

The Addams Family

Da da da da (click click)!

*Accompanied by their 'pet', an extremely stubborn and go-along-with-the-crowd-resistant Hello Kitty.

Days in Rodanthe

This is what we were up to last week. I'm sure you'll understand if it takes us a few days to recover from all this relaxing.

Happy 4th of July!

We had some friends and family over for a little cookout yesterday, and it was a lot of fun! The kids all converged on the pool, the adults lounged (and sweated) on the deck, and then we wrapped it all up with a little fireworks display. It was shorter than the fireworks last year (which went on so long the kids actually got bored) but much more impressive.

Here are some videos - the kickoff, and then later on when the guys were really warmed up.

The children's dreams come true

Chris was in the middle of prepping his famous fish and chips for dinner tonight, when there was a disaster with the cod. Don't ask what it was, because now that the girls are reading this blog I have to be careful, and I want them to stay enthusiastic fish lovers. It was bad, though, so although Chris was already halfway done with the french fries he baled on the fish and ordered pizza.

When the girls came up the stairs to discover a dinner of pizza and french fries, they were understandably stoked.

Katie eyed the table in surprise, "Are you sure Easter isn't tonight?" she asked.

Better late than never

Here are some pictures from Halloween! Sorry for the long delay, but this laptop is such a lemon that it will sometimes not let me upload pictures. I finally have them, though, so here you go!
Katie was Hermione, Beth was a vampire, Claire was an Indian princess, Abbie was Red Riding Hood, and Lucy was.....a psychedelic princess/fairy hybrid. Most costumes courtesy of my amazing mother-in-law!
I would like to point out, specifically, the red lining on Beth's vampire cape. Super cool!

As we usually do, we went trick-or-treating with the Lobers in their neighborhood. The kids form a gang of candy-crazed trick or treaters, Vanessa mixes up some of her awesome spiced (and spiked) cider, and fun is had by all!

I learned my lesson, and for Claire's Fall party made cupcakes with less frosting. The kids got a kick out of them, (and actually ate them!) and I got to feel superior for a few minutes as the mother who brought the best treat. :-)

Easter

I hope that everybody had a good Easter this year! We spent a great day hanging out with the Lobers, something we haven't done in almost forever, and of course ate lots and lots of sweets to make up for lost time.

Here are just a few pics. Katie claims that it was way too easy to find her basket this year. I hope she's ready, because the Easter Bunny takes challenges like that seriously. Very seriously.

I love my Mom! (Despite potential evidence to the contrary...)

I am, without (much) shame going to lay the blame on the five parasites...er, children, for whom I've shed every last remaining cell in my brain.

What happened? Well, in a nutshell, this: I met my mom, my aunt, and my Arizona cousin Katie in Gettysburg for the afternoon. Katie is a professed history geek and is spending a few days enjoying a stroll through the Civil War, and since she makes a wonderful (and cheap) tour guide, my mom and aunt and I met up with her to take advantage.

So I spent almost the entire day with my mom yesterday. It was a great day, it was great to see my cousin again, the museum in Gettysburg is way better than it was the last time I went, and I enjoyed spending time with my mom and my aunt. For the record, I knew without a doubt that my mom's birthday was coming up: I had prepared a cake for her, and I told all the girls to make her cards. I knew her birthday was the 16th, I knew it was right around St. Patrick's Day.........I just didn't realize that all these things had coalesced at that very moment.

Uh, in other words, I forgot that yesterday was my mom's birthday. You know, the woman who is responsible for my existence and all.

Yeah...

So, Happy Birthday Mom! I hope the cake still counts even though I made it thinking that I was - for once - ahead of the curve. I love you very much! And I hope nobody holds it against you that you have such a very stupid daughter.

Happy Mother's Day

It's hard not to have a great day when you are told that you are like a sunflower in the garden!

Happy Easter!

Happy St Patty's Day!

Last weekend we went to one of my favorite events in the world: the Pittsburgh St. Patrick's Day Parade! There are certainly fancier parades to be had, but in my mind you just can't beat a day spent watching dozens of mediocre high school marching bands, random groups of who-knows-who marching for who-knows-why, some of them wearing medieval garb, some of them wearing comfy sweats, some of them wearing chicken costumes.

I freaking loved it.

It was the day before my mom's 60th birthday (Happy Bday, Mom!) and thanks to Uncle Mike and his family, and Rach, we managed to surprise her on the way to the parade. The day began in the premium spots secured by Bobby and Margaret, drinking coffee spiked with Bailey's, and ended with a party at Uncle Mike's, drinking coffee spiked with Bailey's. Perfect.

I'm editing heavily here, partly because it's not possible to describe the awesomeness that is the Pgh St. Patty's Day Parade, partly because it's not possible to describe how happy and amused and heartsick I felt to spend an entire day with my family, something I haven't done in a long while. You guys will never totally know how much I love all of you, and how much the craziness that is the Chesters is a fundamental part of me. I might not join in on the most outlandish events (for instance, I kept my pants dry - and, ahem, on- all day) but I love you, too, for the rambunctiousness I've always envied in some (who am I kidding? most) of you. I really didn't need to see those pictures of Uncle Bob without his pants, though.

Anyway, here's a picture that I think sums up what I love best about Pittsburgh, and my family.

Thanks for a great weekend, everyone! And Happy Birthday Mom! I love you.


My favorite Irish cop (and Uncle Ron.)

Romance

Happy St. Valentine's Day! We are all sick here, so we kept things pretty low-key. I made chocolate-filled pastries for breakfast (which the kids hated) and a flourless chocolate-hazelnut cake with coffee ice cream for dessert (which the kids hated), and Chris whipped up some perfectly cooked delmonico steaks with a rosemary wine sauce for dinner (which the kids hated), so I would say that V-day around here was a success.

Claire began the day by inventing a song that has stuck in my head all. day. long. The lyrics are (frighteningly) as follows:
The girlfriends! And the boyfriends!
They love each other!
They love each other, and they marry each other!
Oh the girlfriends and the boyfriends!

Later that afternoon, Chris and I took advantage of a quiet moment to exchange cards. Every year we just write little letters to each other for Valentine's Day, so we both read our cards and then met in the middle of the kitchen to give each other a hug. As I went up on my tiptoes to give my husband a little kiss for Valentine's Day a voice suddenly piped out loudly from the bathroom beside us.
"I'm going to make a poopie!" yelled Abbie.
We paused, then smiled and rolled our eyes at each other before I went up on my tiptoes again.
"It's a big one!" immediately came that distinctive little voice, "Wow, it's pretty stinky in here!"

It was very romantic.

On top of everything else, poor little Lucy is very sick. She hasn't been sleeping well, and the poor thing has just been exhausted and frustrated all day. So here's a parting picture of tired little Lucy, asleep in her highchair just before dinner.

Notice, as well, how I've subtly managed to place that gorgeous flower arrangement in every picture? Chris very much so surprised me with that, as we usually really only do the card thing. (The flower delivery guy was impressed as well, I could tell, since he came to the front door: the door we never use because the path that leads to it was long ago reclaimed by the - muddy- earth, and the wooden steps that connect to it are, besides shedding half of the peeled white paint, warped and sagging, preventing the screen door from latching. So this man, in order to present me with this huge bouquet of flowers, had to stand on those rickety steps while I first had to kick all of the coats into the living room to access the door, and then had to un-do the bungee cord that we've tastefully employed to keep the screen door from flying away. I'm guessing that he was thinking the flower-money would have been better employed on other things, perhaps a bungie cord that doesn't clash with the decor. I was just happy with the flowers, though!)

Photo for Christmas card, take 1

Aaargh! I took close to 30 pictures yesterday, and this is the best I could come up with.
I don't think it is possible to get all of them to look at the camera, keep their eyes open, and smile without grimacing all at the same time. I need to up my photoshopping skills.

(By the way, Mom - the sweaters were a big hit!!!)

Thanksgiving by Beth

I am thankful for the trees. I am thankful for my sisters. I am thankful for my family because thay take care of me. I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for my teacher so I can lean. I am thankful for the car so I can go placeis.

Elisabeth

More from All Hallow's Eve

Dorothy (from her school parade)
Sleeping Beauty (and yes, I know this is not the 'official' costume. The official costume is lame. This one actually makes her look like a princess, not some cheap shill for Disney.)
The Calico Cat (and Claire's second year as a cat!)
The Fairy ( I fixed the upside-down wings after taking the picture.)
The........uh, cute baby with wings. You don't need a coherent costume if you aren't actually getting candy.