How did we spend our Christmas Monday / Boxing Day? Relaxing at home. Nums and the kids watched lots of Christmas movies in the morning and the early afternoon. I remember napping for a bit with Nums in the afternoon. In the evening, I made a quick grocery run to pick up some supplies while Nums made a beef roast for dinner.
The 3-day weekend went awfully fast, and little too busy for my tastes. I hope New Year’s is a little quieter.
Chistmas morning came awfully fast, since I hadn’t had more than an hour of sleep. Someohow, I woke up. We opened presents, and then surprised the kids by taking them upstairs to see the new beds. They were pretty thrilled, video posted below.
Suprising the kids with their new bunk beds from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.
How did I do overall this month on Christmas presents? Pretty well, I think.
We went to church in the morning for services, and then spent the rest of the day at home relaxing. We also got to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol, which we recorded from Friday night.
It was IKEA field trip day, and Christmas Eve with my in-laws day.
The Ipes @ IKEA in Elizabeth, NJ
Now, I haven’t shopped at IKEA in years. I haven’t needed one of their Swedish-named, everything needs an Allen wrench, “How is that bookcase in such a little box?” products in a long time. I think the last item I was there, I went with my former roommate Doug to pick up a Swedish wardrobe for the apartment we shared.
This all comes back to the secret gift for the gifts. Yes, we got little gifts for them already, such as a Derrick Rose / Chicago Bulls jersey, toys, etc, but my wife dreamed up getting them bunk beds for their bedroom. The idea was that the kids would camp out Christmas Eve in the living room, we put the beds together Saturday night, and surprise them Christmas morning. Of course, we had to go to IKEA first to get two twin-sized foam mattresses, new bed linens, blankets, etc. We spent a nice day at IKEA perusing the wares, seeing all the stuff, and $563 later we got all of our needs. We also had a pretty nice lunch at IKEA — the food court is a lot better than I remember. They used to only have hot dogs and Swedish meatballs.
Trying out the beds at IKEA
[Side bar -- I've been on the hunt for a new, bigger, faster, stronger home office desk for nigh on three years now. I'm pleased to say I found it at IKEA. They have this VIka model where the customer can selec the table top and the legs, and put it together yourself. I found exactly what I wanted for about $130, so I expect to pick that up separately Q1 of 2012. Happy happy joy joy.]
Christmas Eve with the Davids
In the evening, we drove over to my in-laws for dinner and presents and all that. The in-laws were there, my sister-in-law and her family as there, etc. We had conversation, dinner, the kids ran around, and plenty more presents were opened.
And now commences the Great Bunk Bed Odyssey. The kids camped out as planned in the living room, but my wife fell asleep next to them. Okay, I get it, she’s pretty tired. So I guess I’m doing this myself. I still had the original mattress, box spring, and all the furniture in the room, so it was some tight quarters when trying to put two beds together. Still, I was prepared with all of my tools.
As usual these days, the almighty Allen wrench is the primary tool to screw everything together. I don’t know why, but it is. At around 3am, I needed to I woke up Nums, as I had the headboards and footboards together, as well as the first bed together. However, there was no more room until we could get the old bed out of there. Once we did that, I spent the next three hours getting the second bed together, putting the ladder together. I woke up Nums again around 5:30-6am to help me get the top bed lifted onto the bottom bunk. After 6 hours of Allen wrenching, my thumbs/hands were achy and nearly non-functional.
The new bunk beds for the kids
Why? Duh, some of the screws go in smoothly, while others need a lot of elbow grease to get them in. I overcame most of the hurdles, until I hit the last wrinkle — the holes between the ladder and the two bed frames didn’t line up, and not just a little. At least a good inch off. Argh. Well, what to do? I tried using smaller screws to fasten, instead of the large joint connectors provided to me, but they didn’t work.
Solution? I said “Screw it!” literally. I figured I’ll drill the requisite new holes, and use the same joint connectors. I didn’t what was wrong, but I didn’t care at 6:30am. Finally, the bed was done. I woke my wife up again, told her to finish with the bed mattresses and linens, etc, and I’m going to put my head down for a nap, and fell asleep briefly next to the kids on the living room floor.
Busy, busy day. I worked from home Friday in the morning, and we got a notification of early dismissal for 12 noon. That worked out great, because my sister and her family were coming over for the annual “Christmas Excellence” dinner that night. There was much vacuuming and dusting and cleaning up to do in preparation. “Cleaning up” also included getting the secret present for the kids out of the downstairs hallway, and into their room.
Fast-forward to the evening, and Christmas Excellence went off without a hitch. I made sliced meats, cheeses, and crackers for appetizers. Namita made a roast, stuffed, pork loin, and her patented carrot souffle, and green beans / potatoes / bacon / onions side dish. It was all delicious. For dessert, my sister brought over homemade cookies. We opened presents, and I hope everyone was satisfied with their gifts. If they weren’t, they aren’t saying.
Julie, Robbie, and Joshua @ Christmas Excellence
I don’t know why getting a family portrait can be such an ordeal. It should be a simple act of scheduling everyone, getting everyone together, and taking a good photo. Instead, twenty different variables come into play.
We’d gone to the Sears Portrait Studio at least three times, and I feel that we never learned our lesson. Inevitably, after paying all that money, it ends up with me paying for one 8×10, scanning it in, and Photoshopping the beejezus out of it to get it respectable. Then send it to Walgreens, and hope the Christmas cards come out well.
This year, no more dealing with lousy Sears. We scheduled an appt with Artist House down in Bellmywr, NJ, which we’ve seen often when going to visit my sister. I mean, there’re a professional photography studio. They have to be better, right?
Luckily everything worked out. After a busy morning of dance classes and soccer scrimmages on December 10th, we dressed up and drove down to south NJ for our photo sitting. Not only were we taking a family photo, we were meeting my sister and her family there. Why? We were also having a photo taken of Josh, Lily, and my niece Abigail.
I’m pleased to say that the photographer was very experienced and professional. He took the time to make sure our pictures came out well, instead of rushing us. He accurately judged when the kids were tired, and all of our photos came out very well.
We just got the photos back today, and they look very good. I had to drive down tonight to pick them up after work, but it was worth it. In my mind, we’ll certainly go back next year.
Family Portrait 2011
Lessons learned:
Our church hosts an annual St. Nicholas Breakfast event in December. Volunteers start making the pancake batter the night before, and get to the church early Sunday to set up. Before the service, you have pancakes, breakfast sausage, muffins, and bagels, hot apple cider, etc. After the service, the kids take a picture with St. Nicholas.
 Josh with St. Nicholas - Dec 2011 |
 Lily with St. Nicholas - Dec 2011 |
And that’s it for soccer for at least a little while. This was the first year where we had both kids in soccer programs, and we found trying to get both kids to practices and games on weekends a bit hectic. We had a few cancelled games, but we did our best to make it to almost all the games and weeknight practices.
Josh has gotten a bit better, as this was his 4th season playing soccer in this particular league since last year. He’s never been very interested in athletics (neither was I growing up), but I think he’s beginnng to grasp the fundamentals and generate an interest in sports.
Autumn was Lily’s first season of soccer. To be completely frank, with Lily’s personality, we expected her to really shine at soccer. Instead, I witnessed a complete lack of interest. Oh, I know she’s just 3 years old. I’m just saying I thought she’d be running and going for that ball. Nah, most games she either wanted to sit and snack on the sidelines, or just stood on the field twirling around, or talking to her friends. Well, better luck next time. Interestingly enough, she’s been enjoying her ballet dance class much more. Who knew?
I’m a little late with this, but I finally scanned in the team photos.
 Fall 2011 - Joshua's soccer team |
 Fall 2011 - Lily's soccer team |
Ah, I love a four day weekend. Today, we bought our tickets early, and took the kids to see The Muppets, the latest Muppets film, which I believe Disney wants to bring back in a big way. Jason Segel both co-wrote and stars in this film. Along with Segel and your favorite cast of Muppets, the film also stars Amy Adams, Chris Cox, Rashida Jones, and a number of actors in cameos.
The film’s premise is reminiscent of the first three Muppet films — a ruthless business tycoon wants to tear down the now-shuttered Muppet Studios and drill for oil. Segel, Adams, and a new muppet named Walter, discover the plot, and work to reunite the Muppets to save the studio. I’ll admit that I’ve struggled in the past to reconcile my memories of the Muppets when I grew up, and the voices of the Muppets in the post-Jim-Henson world. The voices are still different to my ears, but I’m learning to let it go.
I have to say the movie was pretty good. I liked how the premise acknowledged the existence of the original Muppet Show and the earlier films, with many references to the old programs. Those were the old shows and films that they acted in, but now had all moved on. Furthermore, the world had forgotten them, and they now had to find relevancy in 2011.
The Muppets were fun again, the songs were engaging enough, and everyone had a good time. Success. I hope there will be many more new Muppet films.
The Muppets (2011)
As early as last month, there was much discussion within the family as to who would host Thanksgiving this year. Ultimately, my sister Julie and her husband Robbie agreed to host the holiday dinner, while my wife would bring the desserts, and my parents bringing some appetizer. They were also inviting many of Rob’s cousins.
We brought two pies (farmer’s market), and my wife made flan, cheesecake brownies, a fancy bread pudding (?), and I momentarily forget the last one. My sister roasted the turkey and cooked the sides, and they were all pretty good. My parents hung out with their grandchildren, Rob’s cousins had fun with each other, and it was all nice. I was also glad that we didn’t have to clean up all of the mess! Though I did hep out with the dishes.
One note: we hosting “Friendsgiving” this Saturday, which includes roasting a turkey. My sister gave us some tips on brining a turkey as a good way to keep the turkey moist after all the time in the oven. We also borrowed a few of their items, including the roasting pan and rack. Keeping our fingers crossed for Saturday.
Whoa, that was one busy weekend. I’ve had busy weekends, so I’m not gonna rate this one. I just know it was action-packed.
After we got back from Avenue Q and putting the kids to bed, I stayed up until about 5:30am to play Batman Arkham City. Hey, I just got this game, and I’ve barely had any time to sit and enjoy the experience since Tuesday. I played it for maybe 30 mins Tuesday night, and that was it. Would I be tired in the morning? No doubt, but when you’re engrossed in a good game, the time can fly by.
Saturday was a full day. Nums took Lily to dance class, while I cleaned up a bit and watched Josh. We took the kids to their respective soccer games, then we went home to take care of some more cleaning up. In the evening, we met up with some friends at Sigiri in Edison, which is a tiny Sri Lankan casual dine-in & carryout restaurant. One of our traditions is to meet up monthly (or when possible) to celebrate birthdays. After much eating and talking, we went back to someone else’s place to continue the festivities, like drinks, dessert, and some card games. The kids, of course, ran around like loons.
Church in the morning, followed by a hasty exit mid-service to grab a quick lunch in the car, before the next two soccer games. At least it was a nice day. In the late afternoon, I went to the Freehold Raceway Mall to select some much-needed medium-sized shirts, plus clothes for Joshua. He and I seem to have outgrown out fall/winter clothes. I’m smaller and less bulkier than I used to be, and Josh is taller than he used to be. I didn’t find everything I needed, but at least it’s a start.
