Blizzard of 2011

For once the newcasters' dramatic pronouncements weren't misplaced: The snow and winds began at about 2:30 pm and didn't stop until late the next morning. To amp up the excitement, I told the boys numerous times in a dramatic voice, "Boys! This could be the biggest storm of your LIVES!" Which Gabe would usually follow up with, "I sure hope not!" Yes, husband, I too want the boys to live long and fruitful lives, but since this was in fact the third biggest storm in Chicago's recorded history, it could in fact be the biggest they'll ever see. We ended up with just over 20 inches of "global warming" (as my favorite conservative political site calls it) dumped on us. I negotiated a slight break on our rent with our landlord, so I headed out as soon as the snow stopped to get to work. (The landlord was nice enough to pay me a little extra for taking care of the snow from this storm -- woohoo!)

The view from our back door. I've removed the top layer of snow, but you can see from the sunken footprints how much more I have to go.

With the winds, the snow drifted quite a bit. It was probably 3 feet high or so by our side fence.

Our lightweight little boys sank down only thru the top layer of snow. Otherwise, they'd be struggling thru chest-high powder, "Little House on the Prairie"-style.

The boys helping -- or should I say, "helping," since we all know what a help preschoolers can be -- our neighbor clear her front walk.

Jonah and his "removement branch." I think that it removed the snow? Or something? It ended up being an eye hazard and right now resides in our front yard.

Manny pulled his weight ("lifted his snow"?) with his little bucket.

Iohan stayed inside with Gabriel and watched the fun from his new perch, cackling all the time.

Gifts, part 2

My maternal grandma's table at the holidays often featured her apple plates and her milk glass. As she and my grandpa are beginning to pack up to move from their house into a senior community, she's been kind enough to give me some of her lovely milk glass. There's just something so rich about the opaque white glass that I love. And the design of the bowl below is beautiful -- almost like lace, but with a bit more heft.

Maybe a part of the reason I love the white is that it's perfect for holidays: Pure white suitable for Pascha (Easter), and snow white for New Years, or, as below, for Christmas. Look how nice it is in our Christmas 2010 Christmas spread!

Thank you, Grandma!

Gifts, part 1

For my 30th birthday, my aunt Linda gave me a gingerbread house. Perhaps not the first thing on a 30 year old's birthday wish list, but for me this was perfect. One of my many fond childhood memories is of working on the annual gingerbread house at Linda's house with my sister and our two cousins. In fact, when I think of my aunt and uncle's old house on Powers street, the gingerbread house pops into my head about 50% of the time -- it made that much of an impression. This gift came at an especially perfect time because just a week prior, Jonah had seen a gingerbread house at a store and asked if we could have one. Yes!!

The fantasy...

...the reality. Not too shabby!

The boys attempted to cover their gingerbread man and snowman with colored fondant. Well, what I should say, is that they attempted to *nicely* cover the gingerbread man and the snowman with fondant; you can see that the little figures are definitely covered.

Aunt Linda's note said that, at age 30 and with two young kids and a husband, she wanted to start some of her own family's traditions, and the gingerbread house was one of them. This tradition was shared with many of us outside of her immediate family and has become a treasured memory. I hope to add the house of yum to my own family's traditions so that my own kids might someday look back and remember not just the house, but also the love surrounding it.