Top of the Pops

For whatever reason, I've always had a fondness in my heart for little girls singing along to pop tunes on the radio. So, when Stella was finally bitten by the pop-bug late last year, I was thrilled.

It started in the car. If I had a top-40 station on the radio, I began to hear faint voices signing along to the songs. Even though many of the words were wrong, it was still adorable.  Stella started first, and (as always) Marni picked it up a short time later.

Where they originally heard the pop songs, I am not sure. We rarely listened to top-40 in the car. But there's no stopping it now.

The words are still wrong.
The pitch is way off.
But I love it!





(This post contains video that is only viewable from the website.)

Marni's First Date

Marni has found her Pre-K soul mate. His name is Ishaan and he came over the other day for a play date. They both had been counting down the days until play date day. It's all that either could talk about.

Marni has already told us that they kissed each other on the lips in class. She also told us that Ishaan promised to buy her a musical jewelry box and that she was going to buy him a light saber.

I guess that's the dowry.

Tickle-Me Shepard

Tickle-Me Elmo has been hanging around the house for a couple of years now. He was popular for a while just after we bought him. But he's spent most of his life languishing, batteries dead, on a high shelf somewhere.

For some reason, he caught Marni's eye a week ago. And so I brought him down off his shelf, dusted him off, gave him fresh batteries, and handed him over to the kids.

It was like Hanukkah all over again. He fascinated Stella, frightened Marni, and entertained both... all over again.

Then Stella got it into her head that she wanted to imitate Elmo's cool moves. And so she and Marni did. Stella did an exceptional job of capturing Elmo's subtle movements.

Enjoy the video...

Overheard #34

Marni's new boyfriend from Pre-K (Ishaan) is coming over for a play date later today. They are both VERY excited about this. When asked what their plans are for the play date, Marni replied... "We're gonna say bathroom words together."

On the Slope

The Shepards jumped into Goldie and headed up to Westchester on Saturday for some sledding with the Imhoff/Stefanoff gang.

Other than a few runs down Nana and Papa Shepard's driveway, I've never sledded with the girls (although they did some sledding in Albany without me). And I'm not sure that I've gone downhill on a sled since childhood.

We headed over to Croton Point Park and quickly got into the swing of things. I did a run with Stella. Lots if fun. And then the 6 girls were off on their own, sledding down the hill in every possible configuration of partners and sledding devices.

Stella/Jessie
Marni/Jasmin
Stella/Jenna
Marni/Stella

And so on, and so on, and so on... Stella and Marni were living large. Covered in snow. Laughing. Running. Playing. Throwing snowballs (Marni: "Don't you dare throw that Daddy!").

After a couple hours, toes began to get cold and the sun began to dim.

Hot chocolate and warm cookies at the Stefanoff compound. Then, after a stop for dinner at the girls' favorite restaurant (Applebee's), we headed for home.

As you can see from the photo below, the girls were a little tired after their winter adventure.

(This post contains video that can only be viewed from the website.)

Overheard #33

The family was at a movie theater to see "Yogi Bear". Before "Yogi" started, there was a Road Runner cartoon. When it was over, Marni leaned over to me and said (about Wile E. Coyote)... "That guy never wins!"

At Last We Meet

The last time we saw the cottage was September. Since then, it has been knocked down, carted away, and rebuilt.

We've watched all of this progress via photos and movies from Papa Art, but today we got to meet the new cottage in person.

We headed out from Natick early in the morning with a blizzard nipping at our heels. The plan was to make the trip up to Maine and back before the blizzard hit Massachusetts. Snow was already falling as we headed north in Goldie for her maiden voyage to Old Orchard.

We made good time and at around 11:30 we got our first glimpse of the new cottage. We pulled into the snow-filled driveway and scampered out of the car to inspect the construction. We inspected everything inside and out (the furthest we could get inside was the basement). The girls gave the cottage two thumbs up as they played with various bits of dangerous construction materials.

Once Stella and Marni completed their inspection of the cottage, they headed down to the beach. Not surprisingly, the beach was empty (given that it was 21 degrees outside). Instead of people, there were quite a lot of washed up lobster traps and a bizarrely enormous amount of gigantic clam shells.

We snapped some photos and then jumped back into Goldie to warm up. Then... we were off. Heading for home after the shortest visit to Maine in history. We stopped for some lunch and we stopped for some booze, and we didn't hit the blizzard until we were well into Massachusetts again.

It was nice to finally meet the new cottage, in person. "She" looks good. And I don't think it's going to take a lot of time to get use to our new summer home.

Eclipse

I did not take this picture.

Stella's nightly migration from her bed to our bed is not a rare thing. But what is rare is a total lunar eclipse coinciding with the winter solstice.

Last night, just such an eclipse coincided with Stella's migration.

As she was making her way up to our bed at around 3:15 am, I took a look out the patio door and saw the wanning eclipse. I called Stella and Lisa down to see it. Lisa was interested. Stella was a little interested. I told her that it would be 84 years before an eclipse would happen at the same time as the solstice again.

I explained to her that she would be 90 years old then, and that she could watch it with her kids and grandkids. And I asked her to remember her dad when she watched the next eclipse. She said she would.

Tears.

Mortality. Ain't it a bitch.

A Play Date

Stella's first grade buddy, Sasha, came by for a play date on Monday. I have nothing clever to say about this. But I do have two very cute videos. Enjoy.





(This post contains video that can only be viewed from the website.)

Introducing Goldie

Goldie at Nathan's

Last week our first family car, a 2001 Honda Odyssey, died.

I remember buying the car when Stella was only 4 months old. During the test drive she was screaming her head off in the back seat right next to the poor salesman. This has been the only car that Stella and Marni have known. Their little movie theater and restaurant on wheels.

So yesterday, Papa Art and I went on a mission to find our new family car. Before we left to go shopping, I asked the girls if they had a favorite color for the new car. Stella and Marni agreed on gold as the color of choice.

After a grueling day dealing with sleazy car salesman, a replacement was found.

Last night we introduced the girls to "Goldie", our new 2007 Honda Odyssey. Guess what color Goldie is!

The girls gleefully climbed all over Goldie in the parking lot. The verdict? Two thumbs up!

Today we all climbed into Goldie for our first family ride. After gassing up, we headed for our favorite family destination in Brooklyn... Nathan's in Coney Island.

So welcome to our family Goldie. We hope to spend many, many happy years and miles together. And thank you to Nana Bev and Papa Art for all their help this weekend with the new car hunt.

Priceless

Over Thanksgiving weekend, while at my parents' house, Marni came up to me holding a Bed, Bath & Beyond circular. "Daddy, can I show you something?"

She proceeded to open up to a particular page and pointed out a little pink musical jewelry box that she "really, really wanted". You know... the kind with the wind-up, spinning ballerina that plays Swan Lake.

"Please", she said. And then she shot me the sweetest smile.

I told her I would think about it (stock answer) and she went about her business. Her request was so sweet that I tore out the page and brought it home with me.

That next week I located the nearest Bed, Bath & Beyond. It was Beyond where I wanted to walk, but I was on a mission. So down to 19th Street I went. In the rain. Torn out page in hand.

They were sold out.

But the display box looked in perfect shape, so I bought it.

Last night was the sixth night of Hanukkah and time to hand out the jewelry box.

I gave Marni the package and watched as she ripped open the wrapping. Silence. A stunned, good kind of silence. Not a "what is this crap" kind of silence. Eventually she grasped what she was looking at and her excitement started to bubble over.

She and Stella took the box into their room and proceeded to cram it full of their best jewelry. As they were doing this, I jokingly told Marni how I had to trek all the way down to 19th Street to get it. With lots of drama! She smiled.

The girls continued to play with the box. Stella wanted to make up a list of all of Marni's friends who would want to touch the box. And then Marni could look at the list and decide who could touch it. Teamwork!

Eventually, Marni decided that she wanted to sleep with the box under her pillow. Mom put a stop to that and they found a special shelf to put it where Marni could reach it whenever she wanted.

As bed time approached, Marni mentioned to Lisa... "Daddy walked all the way down the street to get this. I love daddy!"

And that was well worth the $9.95 I paid for it.

Stella Does Rudolph

You never know what your tax dollars may be paying for.

With the approach of the holiday season, it's become time for the girls to start watching their favorite holiday movies. Tonight Stella and Marni picked "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" as their dinner time entertainment.

As we reached the end of "Rudolph", the famous Burl Ives tune began to play. To our surprise, Stella jumped off the couch and began to perform a choreographed dance number to the song.

Evidently the 1st grade music class at P.S. 39 has been working hard to choreograph movement to at least one classic Christmas song. We would never had known this if we hadn't put on one of our favorite holiday films. Who knows what other performance gems have been programmed into our children?

Only time will tell.



This post contains video that can only be viewed from the website.

Shepard University

It could be worse.

At least the girls aren't choosing to mimic daddy's bio-noises. Well, actually they are. But that's not what I'm writing about here. The more interesting mimicking is the mimicking of their teachers.

Ever since school started in September, Stella (and to a lesser extent, Marni) has become obsessed with playing the role of teacher. She teaches her dolls. She teaches her sister. She teaches her parents.

Sometimes it's at the easel. Sometimes it's on the rocking chair. Or on the couch. You name the location and it's pretty certain that Stella has set up a classroom.

Lately she's all about tally marks. She loves the tally marks. And she loves teaching about them. Luckily, her little sister loves to learn about tally marks. It's a win win.

But don't mess with this educator. She has learned all the tricks of the trade when it comes to dealing with difficult students. Cross this girl and you may be sent to the principal, or have a note sent home to your parents.



(This post contains video that can only be viewed from the website.)

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular

I know that the holiday season has officially begun when the Radio City Christmas Spectacular commercials begin to air on TV. It usually brings a tear to my eyes.

But I've never actually been to one of these shows. This year I decided it was time.

I took advantage of a special low price for early performances and bought 4 tickets for November 14th.

There was a lot of excitement this morning as the girls dressed up in their favorite dresses. Our subway ride got us to Rockefeller Center early, so we had time to check out the newly erected (but still undecorated) tree. After watching the skaters for a while, we headed in to Radio City. The girls (and their dad) were wide-eyed as we entered the beautifully decorated lobby. I had forgotten how amazing Radio City is.

Our orchestra seats were fantastic and, precisely at 9:59 a.m., the lights dimmed and the show began.

And what a show it was!

The girls (and their dad) were blown away. The Spectacular was truly spectacular. And more tears appeared in my eyes as I watched my girls having the time of their lives.

I think we have a new tradition here.

Pumpkin Time

Last year the girls missed out on Halloween because we were returning from our trip to Germany.

This year we were back in the game!

Marni chose to be a princess and Stella wanted to be a ghost. The princess part was easy. Just grab something out of their dress-up box. Mommy created the ghost costume using a pillowcase, white hat and gloves, and white face paint.

We did our usual trick-or-treating before the Park Slope Halloween Parade with special guest Nana Audrey. Then we watched the parade and eventually joined in as it wound its way to the Old Stone House.

Plenty of candy. Plenty of spooky costumes. Plenty of fun.



(This post contains video that can only be viewed from the website.)

The Bubble Sisters

 

Maybe this is why they say never to put bubble bath into a whirlpool tub.

Going Commando

Last Thursday Marni put aside her nighttime pull-ups and went commando. She was very excited about the whole idea and a little freaked out, but so far so good.

Fun at the Outhouse

Last Saturday the Shepard/Asanovic/Stefanoff-Imhoff gang got together for our annual pumpkin/apple picking festivities. For whatever reason, even though the weather was beautiful, the crowds were not huge.
We started the day off right with delicious fresh made doughnuts and then got right into the usual activities of pony rides, hay rides, yummy food, and rolling down hills.

This year we actually added apple-picking to the mix. We started the picking practically at dusk, and had to use really long sticks to reach whatever apples were left this late in the season. And the threat of poison ivy kept us on our toes.

But we overcame these adversities and fun was had by all.

(This post contains video that can only be viewed from the website.)

Overheard #32

We were ordering in pizza with neighbors and trying to figure out what types of pizza we wanted. Lisa suggested a margherita pizza, to which Stella replied "Yes, a marghertia pizza, but without the booze."

The Shell of the Moment

"Living in the moment" seems to be a very popular phrase nowadays. But I think it means different things to different people.

For me, living in the moment involves slowing down and  drinking in a very special time. Almost like recording it in your brain for playback whenever you want to relive the experience.

I think the first time I tried it was in St. Barts. I was poolside with Lisa at our favorite secluded hotel. It was a beautiful warm day. No sounds except for the rustling of the palm trees. No one else around. The pool was high on a hill and we overlooked the far western tip of the island. I wanted to capture this tranquil moment, so I drank it in and stored it away. It's still pretty much intact. In my brain.

"The Moment" in St. Barts.

There was a day in late August of this year that was also a "living in the moment" moment.

It was one of our last days at the beach. The weather was beautiful and the girls and I decided to take a walk in the surf and look for shells. For whatever oceanographic reason, there were tons and tons of shells washing up on shore this year. Over the summer we filled buckets with clam shells. We found a perfect, large, intact scallop shell. Stella found over a half dozen perfect sand dollars. We even found two live clams and watched them bury themselves in the sand in our bucket.

So whatever marine disaster was happening at sea, we were certainly making out like bandits.

We slowly made our way down the beach. Stella and I knee-deep. Marni off by herself a few feet away in shallower water. Every few minutes we would stop and reach into the water to retrieve another shell. It was very peaceful. Very tranquil. Not a lot of talking. Just the three of us enjoying a relaxing afternoon. After several minutes I paused, looked over to the girls, smiled, and turned the "living in the moment" recorder to the "ON" position. It would be many, many months until we would be able to stroll on the beach again, and I wanted to store this memory for the long cold winter.

The next day I looked through Stella's collection of shells and picked out a nice one. She would never miss it. But I needed it. It traveled back with me to my office where it sits now. I look at it every day. Reach out and give it a little touch. A reminder of a very special moment on a very special day, with my very special girls. It's my Shell of the Moment. Of happy moments to remember, and happy moments to come.