Girls in Trees

This blog post is the result of the combination of me, my girls, my camera, a beautifully warm December day and their desire to give me a heart attack by climbing trees. Enjoy!!

Christmas with Hannah and Lizzie

Here's the short version: We had a great Christmas. Now you can look at the pictures if you want. :)
For those who would like a little more description, here's what we did. On Christmas Eve the girls and I did some baking and some cooking (Lizzie does not like the smell of turnips boiling which she told me repeatedly throughout the hour or so it takes to cook them). Then I gave them their Christmas Eve pajamas (which they are wearing in many of these pictures) and then we went to Aunt Terry's to eat homemade pizza. After a couple hours during which the girls talked NONSTOP we finished the pizza and the snowman ice cream cake and then got in the car to take our annual look at the lights. We passed by our home on the trip and Lizzie wanted to know if -- because of our lack of lights and Christmas tree -- everyone would think we celebrated Hannukah. Then after another hour of so of NONSTOP talk, we came home.
I took NO pictures of any of the above. However once we got home, I did take pictures of the girls feeding the reindeer (this is oatmeal mixed with glitter) which they really enjoyed, even though it was raining. Of course it was only raining on the photographer.

Christmas morning was the usual bedlam, although I am happy to say that no one got out of bed until 7 a.m. The girls were thrilled to see that Santa had not only brought them the gifts they really wanted, but also that he DID remember the Christmas tree. Santa and Mrs. Claus had MANY discussions about when Santa should bring the Tree (Mrs. Claus got outvoted) and Santa assured everyone that he would put the tree up without the help of Mrs. Claus who was wrapping gifts and cooking (and eating chips and salsa.)

As it turns out, Santa was forced to go out in search of AAA batteries at 11 p.m., so Mrs. Claus ended up fixing and decorating the Christmas Tree anyway. Of course, in the interest of full disclosure, it WAS Mrs. Claus who misread the box and thought the toys needed AA batteries, instead of AAA.

Here are Hannah and Lizzie with some of their favorite gifts, standing in front of that Christmas Tree they'd been waiting for, for weeks! Hannah was thrilled to get her American Girl doll and Lizzie got her favorite Webkinz. Standing between them is Butterscotch (named for a robotic pet they wanted last Christmas but didn't get), the Giddy-up and Go Pony, from Aunt Terry. Butterscotch has quickly become a part of our family and even goes with Elizabeth into the bathroom (because she's afraid if she gets off, then Hannah will get on the horse.) And here, you can see Hannah in her full riding gear: The horse actually moves by bouncing up and down on the saddle, sort of like you're posting:And here is Butterscotch joining Lizzie for dessert (he's having an apple): (I can't figure out why everything is underlined -- just ignore it!)

After the gifts we had dinner. The menu was lots of junk food for appetizers (chips, dip, chocolate santas, etc.), prime rib, turnips, fresh baked crescent rolls, creamed onions, green beans with fried onion rings, and garlic roasted potatoes. Dessert was a French Silk pie. Followed by more junk food. I was happy that the roast beef came out okay, as we had not one but TWO meat thermometer malfunctions.

Lizzie and Dad get ready to eat dig in!

And my favorite picture of Hannah eating dessert and Rob saying (I'm sure): "Well if she keeps taking bites like that, there won't be any left for me!!" Hope everyone else had a great Christmas, too!!

Full Circle

Ten years ago or so I went to a school concert starring (in my mind) my nephew Casey. He was in kindergarten or first grade and there was going to be lots of Christmas carols and holiday songs and lots of cute kids.
I love that kind of stuff.
So I got there (late) and snuck in the side door, standing on the fringe of the audience, because there were no seats in the gym. It seemed a fitting place to stand since, at that point I was beginning to think that I'd never really be invited into the gym to sit among the parents.
Ten years ago I had already been through six months of medication and one surgery and was already facing a second surgery to correct whatever fertility issues my body was having. But at that point two doctors had assured me that pretty much nothing was ever going to work. I stood in those shadows with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, glad for the opportunity to be the invited guest, but feeling hopeless that I'd ever be anything more than just that.
So two weeks ago there was no one happier in that same gymnasium than me as I sat in that same school and watched a very different kindergarten class give their holiday concert. This time my sister was the invited guest and I was the parent watching my beautiful daughters sing Christmas carols.
I still had a lump in my throat, but it was caused by the smile in my heart and the knowlege that as it turns out, and perhaps especially at Christmas, there is always hope.

So here's a snippet from the concert. Hannah is totally an actress and her song makes me grin every single time I watch it, and Lizzie said that her smile in the middle of her song is because the girl behind her started singing in a funny voice. Sorry for the horrid camera work. I am just really bad at video -- I have no excuse!
Anyway, Merry Christmas Eve from the Rasmussen girls:

Garrity Christmas Gathering

Each year my family gets together a couple of weeks prior to Christmas to visit and talk and get competitive. The competitions vary from year to year. Sometimes we play actual games, but most of them got suspended because of the various methods of cheating that were employed. My father, for instance, once spent an entire round of Facts in Five writing obscure answers that required us to either call correct or look them ALL up in an encyclopedia, where they usually turned out to be correct anyway.

And don't even get me started on all the posturing that occurs during a game of Trivial Pursuit.

So in recent years we've turned to other competitions such as whose luggage was the most lost on international flights or who had the most frequent flyer miles or who spent the least time in London before jetting back to America.

This year everyone started speaking Latin phrases.

Seriously.

Latin.

Needless to say I never win these competitions. My luggage showed up on my one international flight and the only turbulance I ever experience is when Rob drives too fast over a pothole. And pretty much after saying Christ Have Mercy, Lord Have Mercy (remembered from when the Catholic Mass was in Latin -- yes, I am old enough to remember) my knowlege of Latin is sorely lacking. (Because no matter how hard my mother and a fellow school board member tried, she could not get Latin taught in the Somers School district.)

But the food is always good. And it's always fun to see my big, articulate, competitive family. Now you can see them, too. This is the whole gang. My parents are the bookends on the couch, with their grandchildren (except for Brenna who is in my brother TA's arms), and then the rest of us behind them, five children and four spouses:

Here are all the grandchildren. The funniest part of this photo was all the adults behind my camera, trying to make Brenna smile.

My Aunt Brenda sent me a lot of her jewelry that we were supposed to divvy up when we were in the Poconos this summer. I couldn't find it then, so we did the choosing at the Christmas party. We all came away with several pairs of earrings or pins or loose gemstones (I took most of those!):Here a nice picture of my brother TA and sister-in-law Ann. Hannah thinks Aunt Ann looks like Brooke Shields:My sister Terry was the chef for the day:Oh and here's another tradition, started by my sister Aunt Anonymous (you'll see a picture of her in a minute). We always open Christmas crackers, which is why you'll see some of these subsequent photos of us wearing silly paper hats. Here, Hannah and Liz try to figure out what the prizes in the crackers were:

Oh, and while we're looking at twins, here's the ORIGINAL model, my brother TA, and sister Tina:Here are the silly hats inside the Christmas Crackers (Lizzie's prize was a toy dinosaur):It's always lovely to have a toddler around for a Christmas party. Here's Brenna contemplating the candy canes offered by Mrs. Claus:And pointing out a couple of the zillions of penguins Terry has all over her house:Tommy telling Grandma something very important (or speaking Latin ... I can't remember which!):Then Tommy moved on to tell his story to Aunt Anonymous: And this would be Uncle Anonymous:Lizzie has this thing lately about scaring people. I don't know why, but she loves to hide and jump out and yell BOO ... which is hazardous to my health most days since she's very good at here. Here I caught her getting into position to scare someone:Here's Aunt Anonymous in conversation with Hannah and Lizzie (who by the way insisted on wearing these sweaters even though it was not cold in Terry's house, nor did they match their Christmas outfits -- six year olds have very strong opinions!):Grandma and T.A. I just like this picture:I love the expressions in this photo. Tommy is attempting to become a member of the Bentley family and (horrors!) an Eagles fan:Ray and Rob. I'm going out on a limb and guessing they were talking about computers or cars. Probably cars:Snickerdoodles are a family favorite, as you can tell from Hannah's face:We also celebrate my dad's birthday. Terry couldn't fit all 78 candles on the cake due to fire restrictions, but here he is blowing out the seven she did put on the cake:

Christmas MEME

I was tagged to do a Christmas MEME by my friend Kristina over at Sweet Pea Wanderings (www.sweetpeawanderings.blogspot.com) and since she also tagged Carrie at www.hammijammijewelry.blogspot.com you should check her blog out, too. I don't know many bloggers, so feel free to steal this for your blog and answer it, if you feel like it!

Here are my answers:
1 ) Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Homemade eggnog, even though I haven't had it in years and even though the raw eggs can now kill you.

2) Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Mrs. Claus wraps stuff until she is bored or out of wrapping paper.

3) Colored lights on tree/house or white? Neither on the house this year. Or last year. A couple years ago we hung those white icicle thingies, but they didn't come down until the summer time. The tree has both colored and white lights.

4) Do you hang mistletoe? Sometimes.

5) When do you put your decorations up? When I get around to it after Thanksgiving.

6) What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Probably a tie between creamed onions and mashed potatoes.

7) Favorite holiday memory as a child? If I have to pick one, it was probably the Christmas we got our poodle, Tammy. Or pretty much any Christmas that my grandmother and grandfather visited.

8) When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What truth? Is there something about Santa I don't know?

9) Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope.

10) How do you decorate your Christmas tree? A little of this and a little of that. I do have some ornaments from my childhood and we have several dreidls that the girls made in preschool that are also on our tree.

11) Snow -- love it or dread it? Love a white Christmas, but after that not so much.

12) Can you ice skate? Probably not, but I used to

13) Do you remember your favorite gift? My favorite gift was the year my sister got a guitar and I stole it.

14) What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family.

15) What is your favorite holiday dessert? Plum Pudding when I make it, or pumpkin pie when I don't make the plum pudding

16) What is your favorite holiday tradition?Hiding the baby Jesus from the nativity. The girls are already looking all over the place for him.

17) What tops your Christmas tree? An angel

18) Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving

19) What is your favorite Christmas song? Silent Night

20) Candy Canes? Yuck or Yum? They're okay.

21) What do you want for Christmas? For my children to sleep past 6 a.m. and world peace

22) Do you attend an annual Christmas party? Nothing work related, but my family gets together each year a couple weekends before Christmas (see a future post for pictures!)

23) Do you dress up on Christmas or wear PJ's? Christmassy clothes that aren't really all that dressy.

24) Do you own a Santa hat? Several

25) Who do you normally spend Christmas with? Usually immediate family -- sometimes we're lucky to include visitors and relatives!

It's Beginning to Sound Like Christmas

Hannah loves to sing more than she loves to do anything else (except maybe, annoy her sister) and so here she is with one of many Christmas selections! (I'm trying to work on my video skills!)

Thanksgiving with the Rasmussens

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, where the fun and the mashed potatoes flowed freely. Here's the star of the show, in her kitchen with the pots boiling and her magic crown in place:In fact, here are ALL the girls (DIVAS!) wearing their magic crowns. Grandma Connie bought the crowns as part of the birthday celebration that usually accompanys Thanksgiving at her house. Lizzie is holding one of her gifts, Tumbles the Dog, which, among other things rolls over and makes annoying noises, just like a real dog.Here he is (after his name was changed to Snuggles Snugs) rolling over:Here he is eating Daddy's shoe. Since Snuggles is not a real dog and we STILL can't keep it from eating shoes, I'm pretty sure that I will never convince Mr. Rasmussen to get a dog.Here's the bird. Hannah and Lizzie could hardly wait to dig in. And although I have no pictures of it, they each devoured a drumstick. An entire drumstick. Each.Here's Grandma (the one who did all the work) getting the turkey ready for carving:

Eventually we did get around to eating. Here is Rob contributing to the festivities by carving the turkey. He was mad because usually his contribution ends at taking the turkey out of the oven. This year he had to actually work (I on the other hand, contribute absolutely NOTHING).Grandma Connie's talents extend well beyond the kitchen though. For years she's been saying that she can play the accordian. And she CAN!!! The girls (and I!) were thrilled. And look at that sparkly gold accordian????!!! She's the Liberace of accordian players.See how excited the girls are? It was really so cool and in the nearly 20 years I've been a part of this family, I'd never seen this talent before!Then of course we have just some random fun photos. Here are Hannah and Aunt Linda:
And Hannah and Uncle Dude:It's not Thanksgiving unless we take a picture in front of a roaring fire:And here's the whole gang, just before we dug into our delicious meal:

Hope your Thanksgiving was equally delicious!!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

I'll be spending the day eating my mother-in-law's mashed potatoes (seriously ... I'll probably steal them right from her plate as they are that good!) and turkey. Which reminds me that my mother in law's mashed potatoes are something that I am thankful for. (And also that she makes enough of them so that I don't have to steal them from her plate...)


Here are some other things, in no particular order:


I am thankful ...

that Hannah and Liz are healthy and happy and funny kids

that Rob's a great dad and husband

that there's nothing wrong with me that a little surgery can't fix

that my memoir is moving along nicely and may actually be finished in early 2009

that chocolate covered pretzels come in 100 calorie packs

that we will soon have a president who has a wonderful command of the English language and ideas that I agree with

that the weather chick predicts a 30 percent chance of a white Christmas

that I have a full time job that I love (that would be Mommyhood) and a part time job that keeps me in enough dough that I can buy the girls shoes whenever I want

that the people I love are healthy this year

that I have a roof over my head, food on my table, and enough left over for charity

that these two are happy and healthy and funny (it was worth repeating because there are TWO of them, after all...):

Quick birthday video

Please DO notice that the girl's cupcake tree looks like it's on fire.

Please DO NOT notice my loud, off-key singing -- I was trying to lead the group but instead it just sounds OBNOXIOUS!

So, without further disclaimer, here are the kids singing Happy Birthday to Hannah and Liz at their party this weekend.

Where Has the Time Gone?

Hannah and Elizabeth are six years old today.

I wasn't there when they were born, but they are as much a part of me as if I had given birth to them and it is more often than not that I actually forget that I didn't. It is, as the girls' birthmom told me once, that she gave them life so that I could give them a life.

And what fun we've had for the past almost six years (our Family Day is at the end of January.)

Hannah and Lizzie's journey began six years ago, born 8 weeks early and weighing four (Hannah) and 3.75 lbs (Lizzie.) They spent the first month of their life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, coming home just in time for Christmas, 2002. I have pictures of them from those first few weeks of life looking small and vulnerable and somewhat like very old men with wrinkled skin and wizened faces.

And even though I wasn't there to rub their tiny backs or offer them a bottle or a snuggle, I admire the courage they had to live and to fight, despite setbacks and problems. Back then Lizzie was diagnosed with cystic encephalomalacia (don't bother looking it up - it's pretty scary and now she's fine) and they thought her hip might have been dislocated during delivery. Hannah did better, but she was still on oxygen for those first few days.

It was their birthparents -- not me -- who snuggled them and fed them and prayed that they'd come home healthy and whole.

I'm grateful that I know that; that they were so well loved in those early days of their lives when they were undoubtedly scared and hurting and new to this world. It's one of the beautiful things about an open adoption.

So today, when they turn six as the exuberant, curious, spirited duo that they are, I honor their birthparents who loved them into this world and then loved them enough to place them for adoption when they believed they could no longer parent them -- and who continue to love them today.

And Happy Birthday to my sweet (well, most of the time!) daughters who believe deep in their hearts that God sent them snow for their birthday today. May you always have that innocence and confidence. And may you always feel the love that brought you into this world, as well as the love from Daddy and me, which surrounds you and guides you every day.

Home Sick - updated

UPDATE: After a sleepless night trying to get a 104.5 temp down and to stay down, Lizzie was diagnosed with a sinus infection and possibly strep throat (the rapid test was inconclusive, but showed a slight positive) and is now on antibiotics. Hopefully we'll all sleep much better tonight (or maybe even this afternoon!!)

Lizzie's home sick again today. Hannah AND Lizzie were both home yesterday (a day, of course, when I had two interviews and two stories to write!) and we were all pretty miserable. The doctor seems to think they just have viruses, which turned out to be true for Hannah who is going back to school today after being fever free since yesterday at around noon.

Lizzie, on the other hand, now has a temp of 102.6 which has made her miserable enough to STOP asking me why SHE doesn't get to go to school and Hannah does get to go to school.

They don't like missing school.

This is the total opposite of me of when I was home sick from school. I loved it.

In the Garrity household you were only allowed to stay home from school if you had a raging fever or if you somehow managed to vomit at the breakfast table. Mere tummyaches or headaches or sprains, strains or Math, were not reasons to stay home from school.

Mental health days weren't invented until my contemporaries of the baby boom decided they were important for their children's overscheduled brains. My mom probably saw all five of us going off to school as HER mental health day.

So, on the rare occasion when all criteria were met for me to be able to stay home, it was heaven.

When we were home sick it meant that we had to begin the day in bed. Sick people need to be in bed. But, as the day progressed -- usually around noontime -- we could convince my mother that we were well enough to come downstairs to watch gameshows with her over lunch.

To this day I still associate the $10,000 Pyramid with illness.

If I was really, really, really lucky, Andrea the Avon Lady would stop by. I loved Andrea (her name was pronounced anDRAYa) because she told me to call her by her first name (which my mother veto-ed so I called her Mrs. Borgia) and she wore funky scarves and was somehow acquainted with Anthony Quinn. My mom bought a lot of Avon. Seriously. A lot. Well actually it was a lot of Skin So Soft but if I was home, I got tons of those tiny lipstick sample tubes Avon used to hand out.

Hannah doesn't mind being sick. She'll sit on the couch with me and watch old movies (she thinks Jane Eyre is SO ROMANTIC -- big sigh) and keeps pretty quiet. She loves school, but she also loves to relax and be doted on.

Lizzie, the little sprite who is home for the second day in a row, does NOT like to be sick. Or home. Or watching movies. She wants to be out, about, around, in, under, etc. etc. etc. You get the picture.

So she's just absolutely miserable today. I did manage to get a smile out of her when I said she could help me make pudding this afternoon while Hannah's at school but that didn't stop her from asking me (over and over and over again) why she's still sick and Hannah's all better. Or why she can't go to schol when she's not THAT sick. And what are the kids doing in school now? How about now? Okay, but what are they doing NOW?

Will Hannah miss her? Will she know what bus to get on? Will she remember to tell the teacher that Lizzie is sick? Why do her eyes hurt? What if she barfs? Why doesn't she want to eat a sandwich? What is the snack at school? How did the germs get into her nose?

And, why is she sick?

I'm hoping (praying actually) that she'll be better tomorrow, even though it is Saturday and there is no school. Because then at least she'll be able to go outside and run around the house 47 times (which I think is probably frowned upon by the medical establishment when you have a temp of nearly 103).

But I also wonder if the time will ever come when she'll enjoy the brief time away from the normal routine of school and dance and playdates.

Hopefully Game Show Network will still be showing reruns of the Pyramid.