Overheard #37

Feverish, unconscious Marni.

Marni has strep, and decided she would feel better if she slept upstairs in our bed last night. I had the honor of sleeping with the feverish little snore machine.

At about 3:30 am she awoke and asked for some water. Once she was done quenching her thirst, she decided to get all Ophthalmological on me.

What ensued was a lesson from her on how the "pimples" (pupils) in your eyes get bigger and smaller depending on the light. 

Once she was done schooling me on this topic she declared the workings of the eye "impressive", rolled over, and went to sleep.

She's Got the Music In Her

Last night Marni begged me to put on some music so that she could dance for us. How could I refuse a request like that? The result is below.

I'm crossing my fingers that it will eventually be included in the documentary that will be created about her as one of America's most beloved entertainers.

New Years in Natick

I forgot to mention that we spent New Years in Natick this year. First time ever with the kids (or Lisa, even).

The night we arrived, Natick got hit by a pretty good snow storm. That gave the girls plenty to do the next day, and they took full advantage of their own private sledding hill (Nana and Papa's driveway). The same driveway that Aunt Toots and I sledded down a couple of hundred years ago.

New Years in Natick also gave Lisa and I the opportunity to leave the kids with the grandparents and actually go out for New Years. And then I got the bright idea to get a hotel room for the night for a little mommy and daddy private time (wink wink)!

Lisa was asleep before midnight.

Nana and Papa had a great time with the girls and woke them up at midnight to see the ball drop (another first). Marni was awake. Stella, not so much.

Art with Art

Marni throws snow in her own face. Why not?

Playing "Attraction" with Uncle Glenn.

The First Big Snow of 2013

Last Friday the northeast got walloped by the first blizzard of the winter season. Although other areas received as much as 35 inches of snow, Brooklyn's 11 inches was definitely respectable.

On Saturday we all bundled up, grabbed our sled, and headed to Prospect Park to have some fun. We ended up at the hill behind the Picnic House and got in a bunch of good slides before getting cold and wandering back to Barnes and Nobel for some hot chocolate.

By the way... this is the first time, since the kids were born, that we went to Prospect Park for sledding.

Marni is overwhelmed by the snow suit.

Prospect Park panorama

 

  

All About Girls

Stella and Marni create a lot of artwork. While going through a pile of masterpieces from Marni, I came across this...

It's called "All About Girls" and it lists all the most important possessions that a girl can have (mostly clothes).

Marni's Second 1st Loose Tooth

Anyone who knows Marni well enough has undoubtedly been regaled with tales of the appearance of her very first tooth (Born with it. Had it pulled a few days later).

So she's already lost her first tooth. But we don't count that.

For the past few days, her second 1st loose tooth has been wiggling around in her mouth. This morning it got so loose that it was actually pointing straight forward. But it wouldn't fall out.

Marni was staying home today to recover from a cold. So, before I left I told her to make sure her tooth came out today because I was going away for a week on business and I didn't want to miss the big event. She said okay.

Just as Stella and I were walking out of the building to go to school I heard a very excited Marni screaming my name and running down the hall. When she reached me she held out her hand, which held the tooth, and she showed me the new hole in her smile.

She was a very relieved girl.

My Beauty, Stella - 2012

Official 3rd grade photo...

My Beauty, Marni - 2012

The official 1st grade photo...

The Eight Days (Nights) of Hanukkah

Artwork by Stella Shepard

Down East Thanksgiving

Iron Chef Glenn

History was made this Thanksgiving when the Shepard family (along with the Brenner cousins) celebrated the holiday at The Cottage v2.0.

We started our journey from Brooklyn over various rivers and through various woods at 9:30 am on Wednesday. By 4:30 we arrived at The Cottage where Nana and Papa Shepard greeted us. We said hello to the beach and the girls biked around the eerily deserted neighborhood.

A little later Brody and Macy arrived with Karen and Glenn in tow and, within moments of his arrival, chef Glenn was busy at work.

The next morning we awoke to wonderful smells wafting out of the kitchen.

Stella and Marni and their dog cousins spent most of the day playing outside in the 60-degree weather as the magic continued in the kitchen.

By 5 pm the Shepards, Brenners (and a Kennedy) were seated and dinner was served.

Delicious!

And as the sun set on a fantastic Thanksgiving, the L-tryptophan stupor set in and everyone drifted off into sleepy-land.

On Friday Karen and Glenn headed home with the hounds and Lisa and I took the girls to see The Rise of the Guardians at our favorite restaurant/move theater.

Daddy gets his clams!

On Saturday Nana and Papa headed home and we took the girls candle pin bowling. After a delicious fried clam lunch at Bailey's, we bid The Cottage a final farewell for 2012 and headed to Natick.

On Sunday we returned to Brooklyn.

So, on a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this Thanksgiving holiday a solid 11. The wonderful cottage, awesome cooking, great weather and loving family made this the best Thanksgiving ever (in my opinion). I think we have a winner here. A new tradition.

I vote for a down east Thanksgiving every year!

Papa hanging out with 2 wild animals on Thursday morning.

Dog

My beauties... and a dog.

I'm camping out here until they open again!

Stella watches the master.

 

Stella's Idea of a Love Note

Stella handed this note to Marni today. If you can't read it, it says "I love you Marni just because I hit you a lot."

Well, it's a start.

Halloween 2012

Just in case you were wondering, here's what the girls were dressed as this year for Halloween. Bad witch. Good witch. You decide which witch is which.

And here's us. Boo!

"Extreme Weather" Chicks

So far, Stella and Marni have made it through Hurricane Irene and the Park Slope tornado (which Marni likes to call the Park Slope Tomato).

This past weekend the girls experienced the awesome power of Hurricane Sandy.

It all started on Sunday night as the winds and rain began to kick up. We hunkered down and prepared for the worse. We brought out the candles and flashlights, filled the tub with water, and made more ice cubes. Then I put the ice cubes in the tub and Lisa yelled at me!

The next morning things were still pretty mild, so I headed out for supplies to host a last-minute building-wide movie party for the kids in the building.

With our new friend, Chloe.

At 2:00 the party began with various kids and parents coming and going all afternoon. It was quite a fun time for all. The wind and rain lashed Brooklyn all day but we luckily sustained no damage and we never lost power.

On Tuesday it all began to wind down. We ventured outside for the first time to get some exercise and fresh air and to survey the situation. The girls were fascinated by a fallen tree that crushed a BMW. Later, I entertained the kids by letting them give me a haircut.

Wednesday was Halloween. Daddy drove into an eerily powerless Manhattan to go to work while the girls had play dates. Even though the Park Slope Halloween Parade was cancelled, the kids of Park Slope had a blast trick-or-treating throughout the neighborhood. Marni went out with about 10 of her 1st grade friends. Stella went out with friend Uma and her family. We eventually met up near the end of the night and went home to look over all the loot that was collected.

On Thursday Daddy went to work again while the girls had more play dates. We even had an unexpected sleep-over with Stella's new friend, Lucy. Very cute stuff.

Meanwhile, there hasn't been school all week.

Hopefully power will be restored to Manhattan over the weekend and the subways will start running as usual. And hopefully school will reopen Monday.

The kids have had a blast this week, but it's time to get back to normal.

We were very lucky this time. Others have not been so lucky. And our hearts go out to them.

Marni gives Daddy a haircut. What else is there to do?

Stella's turn

Marni trick-or-treats with a downed tree in the background.

Marni and Maeve et al trick-or-treating

Marni's trick-or-treating posse.

Happy New Year

Tis the season to dress the family up and take pictures. Here are some keepers from the Rosh Hashanah weekend.