Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Frohliche

Merry Christmas Constant Reader(s)

The Team is with Opa and Oma C in WV.

After a rather painless and quick trip from our house to theirs. No Land speed record were broken or anything but we made good time with all the other people going Westward.

Christmas Eve and Christmas very low key. Given the current economic situation Mrs. HT and myself decided one present for each other and not alot for the wee man.

Sooooo.

Big day. Wee man only gets 2 gifts but they are very well received.

he gets Elmo live. (From oma and opa) .. and a electric fire truck that he can drive. From us

pictures included....

Merry, Merry, Merry!

Although we haven't had snow of any consequence here of late, the winter solstice arrived yesterday with a blustery wind! It was COLD yesterday and its COLD today. I thought I was dreaming when I started the car and the temperature gauge read 15 degrees. It hasn't been that cold here in a while. The sun is shining so we can all be thankful for that!

We are heading off to the mountains of West By God Virginia to spend time with Oma and Opa Casto on Christmas Day. We hope to visit some old friends and attend a wedding in the 'burg.

The wee man is a jabbering fool. He loves to talk and run and jump! I'll upload some new pics of him. The last time we checked he was 36 inches tall (yes 3 feet tall at 21 months old). We have a Charlie Brownesque Christmas tree that is artificial up right now. We weren't sure how the wee man's allergies would do with a live one so we opted for the 3 ft. mini tree.

Argh....Toddler Germs Suck!

Why is it that when a kid gets sick and then passes it on to an adult it's always worse than what the kid had? Wee man had a stomach virus that Oma MB unfortunately caught (HT and Mrs. HT luckily skirted the virus valiantly). Said stomach virus dissipated, but his weakened immune system allowed for a cold to sneak in. Mrs. HT took the little guy to the Dr. on Thursday when the "barking" began. Yes, the poor kid sounds like he's barking when he coughs. We haven't mastered how to blow our nose yet, so it is a constant struggle to overcome the runny nose. So Mommie now has the cold and feels like crap. Hopefully it will go quickly and we can resume a healthy house!

On a side note - It SNOWED today. Only a little bit, but it's really starting to feel like winter.

Casualities

HT personal Blackberry. Got left in grab distance and got dunked in the bathroom sink.

The bathroom sink you ask? Why yes, dear reader, the bathroom sink. Why b/c the wee man is smart enough to move his training potty over to the edge of the sink and turn on the "agua, agua"

I was angry at him, i walked away vented for the requisite count of 10 and finished the bath time ritual. The Blackberry booted up so its not KIA, but close to MIA

update

HT football team lost 2-1

unfortunately we had people show up late to the game. Thus I had to start out at left winger instead of between the posts as normal.

one of our lovely ladies deputized as GK got caught on the second goal. not bragging I would have got it. (being over a foot taller) Oh and the 35 mph wind made the game tough in the first half. after the second goal I went back into goal for the rest of the game.

Switched field and I got real bored as the jokerswild pressed home the advantage and control most of the run of play in the second half. Several shots on goal vast majority of the possession. I one time i was almost at the half way line. With the exception of 2 really good shots on goal the rest of the time was directing traffic and booting the snot of the ball into the opposing half. If I had a stronger leg I would have tried for a shot on goal (given the wind)

Oh well we did want to promote in to the next higher league anyway.


oh and Google
is awesome the whole team is able to keep in touch.

helpful tip of the day...

Know you rights




Go Fulham!!! 9th in the League.


HT has a playoff game while Mrs HT is going to This

Four word sentence

Yup my kid used a four word sentence

"More elmo daddy please"

pretty kewl huh?

All Hallow's Eve and other silly stuff

So HT's favorite holiday has come and gone. Halloween. The Celts called it Samhain. As Mrs HT said so snappily posted it is also a birthday. So the Mrs and I selected a costume for the wee man this year. We chose a lion. He is a big fan of lions. he likes to roar when ever he hears the word.

Simple right?

Hardly. The costume comes in the mail we wash it to avoid the problem we had last Halloween with an allergic reaction. We put on the bottom half, and he is roaring like a champ. We try and put the mane portion of the costume on and well, we got vetoed in no uncertain terms.

SO. We took a couple of pictures as fast as we could and here are the results.

As you can see not the happiest of trick or treaters
So we didnt make him wear it for more that these pictures.
Evening approached and we had done some pre-planning in coordination with KM to make sure that when he got treats that wouldn't make him sick

So next door he went and experienced Halloween for the first time

Getting phat lewt
Running around

sitting and enjoying the evening and watching the older kids come to the house

On All Saints day we cleaned up the yard and had a leaf pile. Leaf piles one of the best things about this time of the year.

Someone got chucked in to it. :)


We also had a party to go to. Mrs. HT's friend KT number 1 was celebrating a birthday off cycle for a variety of reasons. But it was a costume party and a good time was had by all.

Unfortunately someone forgot their camera. Luckily there was a professional. To see more from this party click here.

More later.. Soccer Playoffs and the recapture of youth...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Mr. HT is 34 years old today. Doesn't look a day over 40 - ha ha. Little man helped daddy open his presents and cards last night since we knew there would be chaos tonight. Aunt JM is coming up to see little man in his lion costume. First trick or treating - we are very excited. He doesn't quite know what is going on, but he did pick out his own pumpkin! :) Pictures posted later!

CH4 and other sundry items

For people other than my sister that is Methane. And the team has been stuck by a plethora of it much to my chargrin.

It is chilly and wet in the Metro area its been raining most of the day. If I was in ireland I would say it was a soft day for the most part. Fall is here to stay. I doubt we will get any more summer like weather for more than a day.

The wee man is having a pretty good day. 3 Hour nap. this allow the errands to be run. Public Library= awesome. We have saved significant $ on not buying new books every couple of weeks.

We got to talk to the STFU/GBTW clan yesterday for about an hour... Ah the magic of the internet and Skype

SO much for that vaunted SEC defense.
Go Mountaineers....

Can the please election happen right now... Please... So tired of all the crap from both "sides" of the election. Frustrates me that MSM doesnt even allow a 3rd view point. Because honestly there is not much difference on a lot of things. Barring 2 or 3 things [Guns, Sex, Which special interest that owns them] that differ here is the new boss same as the old boss.

Seriously considering getting in politics because of the stark lack of real choice.

Have either of the main candidates spoken about immigration, Secure VOTING MACHINES!!, spying on US citizens, the erosion of civil liberties?? nope. No granted the economic SNAFU is important but not that important.

Chuck E. Cheese & Other New Things

So little man has lots of outings with our dear nanny. They "vamano chopping" in the stroller a lot (window shopping) and they visit with all of the regulars at our local strip mall. Once in a while, our nanny will take little man and her grandkids to the Chuck E. Cheese near our house. Unfortunately, he can't eat the pizza (dairy allergy), but he can ride all of the rides. He loves BOB the Builder, but the Teletubbies scare the bejesus out of him (and rightly so - they are freakish).

In other news, the wee man has learned to jump. I don't mean the normal jump up and down form. I mean the Evil Knievel - let's see how high and far I can jump without a) hurting myself or b) giving mommy and daddy heart attacks at a young age. His newest facination is jumping on the couch and then trying to vault off. Alas, his motor skills aren't that advanced yet and this usually means losing balance and toppling off of the couch. Mommy was at home with little man last night while Daddy worked late for the MAN. So as mommy was trying to put something away in the kitchen the little man had other ideas. Let's just say it didn't end nicely and the crying commences about 2 seconds after mommy heard the "Thud" from the living room. UGH... only 40 more years or so until maybe he realizes he can't fly on his own. But knowing his father and uncles... I sincerely doubt it.

To be 13 again...

Mommy had a girls night out last night and was able to see a band that she was "like totally in love with, like totally" for much of her pre-teen and teen years. Yes, I went to a New Kids on the Block Concert last night at the Phone Booth in DC. I was pleasantly surprised with the show and had a great time with JM and SM. The lights went down and we were 13 again. It was hilarious to see women my age and older screaming and singing along to the old stuff. They did play stuff from their new album, which btw isn't terrible, but the old stuff just brought back great memories. I still remember my father dropping me off at the Festhalle in downtown Frankfurt, Germany for my first, second, and yes third NKOTB concert.

Our seats were nice - 25 rows from the stage (yes, it's amazing how having a job that pays more than 3 bucks an hour (minimum wage when I was a kid) can buy you good seats. We had a wild surprise when about half way through the show we were about 30 feet from the "kids" as they performed a couple of songs on a raised stage with a piano. We sang along to the old school and new school of the Block... and marveled/admired the "Grown Men" before us on stage. They grew up quite nicely :) Video to come soon if I can figure out how to upload it in correct format :) Love camera phones.

Here's Joey crooning "Please Don't Go Girl"








Here's Jordan and Donnie singing "I'll Be Loving You Forever". Note how close we are! :)














Here's something from You Tube (not my recording)

Busy couple of Weeks

Its been pretty busy round the HT house.

Mrs HT is working on this year's BIG project. A good friend at work had a close brush with the big C which hopefully is working itself out.

I went to the Skins and Aints with JEM another Saints fan courtesy of one of guys that works for me. Very good seats very ugly game. Saints Lost 29 -24. Even if the Saints would have won it still would have been terrible. Pretty Lousy weekend for my fandom. Saints, WVU and FFC all lost.

My soccer season has started for the fall but I have not had a chance to play yet. Said football game and vacation but I will be up for the rest of the season hopefully we can make the playoffs again this year as we got relegated last season.

Good news thou

So the whole team went on Vacation to the beach. Pictures included.


We went to Great Gert's House and relaxed with limited interruption of work. My mom made the trip down to the beach to see her grandson. He promptly dubbed her Oma which is what he calls Mrs. HTs mom so all the grandmas are Oma. Much easier than remembering more than one thing for him I am sure. They worked on art projects and had lots of fun at the beach and the playground.



We also made the trip up to NYC to see KVR and Family.


Surprise!

no the Team does not have a new addition. That is IAR and he is the new addition to KVR's family.


oh the the wee man got a new shiny gadget. which ought to be entertaining for future posts.



And i am adding this one because I think it is a cool picture.

New Pics!

You talkin' to me? You wanna start something -- c'mon BRING IT!




Coloring is way cool! And blue crayons taste the best :)




I LOVE to read books. Especially if they have trucks, trains, or anything that moves really! I can say moo, woof, meow, and tweet really well!

Words

The Little man is becoming a virtual thesaurus.

Words and lots of them are all beginning to gel. In both languages.

Ms. HT is off on an adventure on the Left coast. It has been guys only for a couple of days.

In a rough estimate of the wee mans vocabulary we are at approx. 40 words speaking and more in comprehension.

I am not bragging, this make life easier in some instances and MUCH harder in others....

Year of the Girl

HT's friends have been populating the world with girl children this year!

Last year was obviously the "Year of the Boy," but more estrogen has found it's way in the world this year.

In order of appearance (and blog if applicable) here is the roll call:

Porter Jolie Morck (June 26) www.minimorck.blogspot.com

Sylvia Irene Kellermeyer (July 23)

Nora Helen Mulligan (July 28) http://www.larryandlaurie.com/index.html

Expected in December - Baby Girl Sakala (litter sister to Emma)


There were two boy children born and two yet to be born:

Thomas Joseph Miller (May 12) - Little brother to Alexandra
Damien Carlus Collier (May 26)

Expected in September - Toast Randolph (his big sister Keira named him - ha ha
Expected in December - Cole Twomey in Ireland (little brother to Christy)

Two Words

Gastrointestinal Distress

Cranky Boy

Sleep Deprivation...

ah the joys of parenthood.

The blur of motion

Well its been a while readers.

Sorry

Places to go, things to do...

Lets see on the 4th of July we went to Oma and Opa's and didnt manage to see a single firework..

It rained literally all day. From grey wet blanket kind of rain to Thor is bowling for dollars kind of rain. Oh well don't think the little man missed much as that kind of noise probably would not have gone over well.

Pictures from our adventure to WV.



Oh HT heard a blast from the past, I caught up with someone from HS. My how the years have passed.


This past weekend the whole Team went up to NJ to visit grandma and to help out around with stuff that needed to be done. Also to go to concert. (Hagar/Urban/Chesney) Wee left the wee man with Grandma. Aunt JM (who was in town for the concert

and work...

Lucky Girl....

She met us and we drove down to the LINC in Philly and saw the show. Not in the R8 :(. Unfortunately missed Sammy but Urban and Chesney put on damn fine shows. Esp. Chesney who when we went to see him last time at worst venue in America He sucked.

Sunday was busy I installed a new faucet for mum, with help from the wee man who was torn between books and helping...

Apologies to Auntie J

and a speed demon to be... I honestly didnt put him up to this one. He climbed into the car and got behind the wheel... sigh.......




And today we had fun in the sun and H2O....

Ole Ole Ole

The whole Team went to the DC United Game courtesy of Aunt JM. Who happened to get the requisite tickets.

The game of the season because Mr Beckham would be playing for the LA Galaxy and a tough match was going to be had. Given the home field advantage of some of the best fans in the league I was hoping that we would pull out the win.

We got off to a slow start and I made the command decision to take public transportation fearful of the crowd b/c of the status of the game. Well we missed the first half of the game..

And you know what. I am glad. I was absurdly hot and even more so in the upper ring of seats where we had tickets.

We met up with JM and K and began watching the game. the little man was entralled by the clapping and noise after a smidge of being overwhelmed by all the people.

He enjoyed the game. we found some shade behind a camera man a good time was had all.

Random semi Celeb sighting.

Sitting way up in the upper deck.. Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals. Who gets props for being polite in the sweltering heat with people calling out his name.

oh and the game.. Yeah we smoked em.. 4-1 lots of good passing

Climbing... Zoo... oh my

We have been silent for a while... sorry to our faithful reader thanks Mom!

The whole team recently took a trip to the National Zoo with Aunt J and to of Aunt J's co workers

The little man had a great time and was super excited by chasing the pigeons in the stroller and the chipmunks of all things. They are not officially part of the national zoo but the make a nice living protected by the other apex predators that live there. I mean really what feral cat or fox is going to go any where near the wolf pen or the lion's den...




other big news of the day or daze...

Yes, the Wee man has learn to climb on to the top of the dining room table. How you might ask?
It's quite simple -- pull out one of the chairs, with a death grip on the back rail of the chair throw a leg up and voila.. Daddy found this out the hard way after 5 seconds of silence (never a good thing with a toddler) the other night I check on him and he has one foot on the chair the knee on the table and the glass of "agua" that I had thought safe firmly in his hands taking a drink...

Oh and Mrs HT and wee man went to a company picnic where a good time was had by all..





and the trip to Great Gerts for cousin VT b-day




Mozart eat your heart out, my grand ma will teach me to be the best...



Publish Post

New Pics of the Wee Man

He's 14 months old and in to everything. He walks, runs, and is now trying to climb and/or jump on everything. He likes to shake his booty and dance too - very entertaining!!!

Mommie is so excited - reliving her childhood

And yes, I'll be there when they come to DC!

Personality

My son has it in full. Already at 13 months he is a joker and a total ham...
He likes to laugh which is awesome. As pensive as the kid is and can be he also has a giggle streak a mile wide. Now I am not sure where he gets it. I think a solid mixture of the 2 of us.
He also has an honest to goodness Dr. Evil Laugh, which I would love to claim as all from me but am unable to..

The Whole Team spent Mom's day with Oma and Opa.

Quiet weekend in the Rain. and a Well needed relaxing weekend was had by all (except for the drive home in the monsoon. Some dude in an 08 Ark cut me off trying to merge on to 270 south)

On a totally different note the Football team which I support managed what its supporters are calling the "Great Escape" Unlike WetSpam we didn't break the rules.

Any way here are some recent pictures... Of the wee man.

The standoff... Can you hear the western music in the background? Our cat trying to use his Jedi mind trick on the wee man..

Birthday Party!

The wee man had his first birthday party this weekend!
















Relatives and friends traveled from all over to witness this:




































There were some beautiful girls here:
































And some AWESOME little dudes:

Mom, I swear I didn't make them cry!

I had a lot of fun! Can't you tell! xoxox CHCS :)