Aaah the winter

I'll start this post off not with the winter but with Thanksgiving. This year we went to Asheville (normally the Lavelle family goes to Pawley's) but this year we headed for the mountains. Asheville is so great that time of year. The kids and dads went on the Polar Express, leaving from Bryson city heading toward the North Pole (which I believe is in Dillsboro) and then back again. They had on pajamas and drank hot chocolate, very cute. After that was Thanksgiving and we went to Highlands to visit the Wordens and Baboo. It was beautiful and freezing. While we were in Asheville Joel and I went to the movies and saw Men Who Stare at Goats (we're fans of the Cohen bros.). It was a great movie, but even better was the theater, it used to be a Regal but now it was something different. It had a warehouse feel to it when we walked in and then when we got to our theater it had sofas. Not the fabric kind like they have at the Brew and View that are comfy but feel sort of dirty) but nice ones and it felt a lot like watching a movie in my house but without the mess and a really nice TV. Asheville always seems to have a funky something in there.

SNOW SNOW SNOW! A foot of snow, the good kind, not slushy but not too powdery so you can't do snowballs or snowmen. Sam and Ollie loved it. To be honest, Oliver was not too tolerant of the cold. He liked it and then lost it after his feet got cold, but as I recall so did Sam when he was 2 1/2. The went sledding (or sledging as it's called in this house) and had a blast. Leyla Sleime and Sam went sledding for hours over on the southside.

December, since Joel tends to be a bit of a Grinch, decorations are up to me, that's fine with me since they're just the way that I like them. As a side note, every year Joel is becoming increasingly jollier and I think he even put Christmas music on when he was in the car on his own. HoHoHo. Christmas was great. I love Christmas. I'm not a crazy tacky themed sweater Christmas person, I'm more of the carol liking white lights and roping kind. Either way though, it's fantastic. This year the boys really got it. Next year we are going to have to dig a little deeper than Santa though so that they don't end up too simple.

This year Sam wanted a Leapster (a Leapfrog product that is pretty much a gateway drug into a DS system but with "learning" games). We debated it for EVER. It was really difficult, neither one of likes video games and have never really played them so it was a tough call. Our fear was that he would get so into it that it would become something difficult to manage. He didn't ask for anything else, that was it, the only thing over and over. On the one hand, we could get it for him and manage it and maybe he'll get over his fascination by the time he is older. On the other, he could get really into and never stop, lose all of his friends and become a compulsive gamer who gains 87 pounds and yells a lot for things that he didn't want to get up and get. I have to face it, video games aren't going away and it will be a part of his life in some form. But all evidence shows that they are pretty much useless and have no real value or place for a 5 year old. Well, we went for it and got it(suckers). He really doesn't seem to care. He wanted it all the time and now he just wants to show it to his friends. So, as usual I think I know it so well, I'm totally in control and I am pleasantly surprised. Puts me in my place. Oliver got Playmobil. I really like Playmobil toys. They are so fun. I think that Lego and Playmobil have the best business models around. Make lots of small plastic pieces and don't out any of them together and make the kids (parents) do it. They make a fortune, it's not cheap.

Our church has a family service on Christmas Eve and all the kids are in the pageant, there is no rehearsal, they just dress up and are told when to walk up to the manger. Last year they were both barn animals and Oliver sat down on the step faced the congregation and picked his nose for about 15 minutes. This year Ollie was a barn animal. He wanted to wear the goat head and the donkey body and he really couldn't be talked out of it so he was a "gonkey". Sam was a wise man, and if I do to say so myself, he did look very regal (in a 5 year old sort of way). It was precious. That night our friends Ingrid and Steve came over for some wine and cheese and then we ate raclette (Sadly, the French not the Swiss kind - but still good) after we had done all of the elf work.

We stayed at home for Christmas this year on our own without visitors. We were a little scared of being lonely and depressed on Christmas night. Up until now we've been with one family or another. But I think it's time to stay put, so we did. Christmas morning was great. We did have to show Sam the Leapster because he kept opening his presents and disregarding them because it wasn't his video game. The Playmobil knights castle was the biggest hit though. For Christmas dinner we had our 93 year old neighbor over, she is great and I think had she not come it would have been sort of a lonely holiday. We ate roast grass fed beef and had spinach Gruyere casserole (seriously, I probably ate about 1 1/2 pounds of cheese within 48 hours - seriously) and we watched Elf. Couldn't have hoped for better.

Like I said since we were mildly worried about being lonely, we decided to have the first annual Simpson Boxing Day party for all the other potentially mildly lonely people sticking around for the holidays. That also went very well. I have to remember not to keep all the alcohol in the kitchen though. You would think I'd learn, but it has to be out of reach of small hands, so it's a little dilemma. Also, don't put brownies close to the edge of the table over the carpet,they're stuck in there for good now.

The day after Boxing day my dear friend Kristin and her new husband came to visit. Sarah and Tony were also in town this year which made it great and we all went to Zeus Gallery, which is always a good call (fried oysters and grilled octopus salad).

Then we left for the beach to have New Years with my family. We had a blast. Francis and Juny got the Wii Fit for Christmas (which now of course, I desperately want). on NYE we had the Wiinter Olympics. We played all the games, ski jump, slalom, snowboard, snowball fight. It was awesome and very funny. I ate a lot of cheese at the beach (and dried meats and steak) It may appear like I am talking about food a lot but Holiday food is good food and good food always needs to be mentioned.

We came home on the 3rd and it's not been so sad, it's OK that all the holidays are gone until next year. Joel and I are taking rock climbing lessons so that is fun and I'm back to working so we're busy.

There ends the chronicles of Simpson holidays 2009 and 2010 has yet to be written but it will be a good story I'm sure and I can't wait to read it.

October (the best month of the year)

We went to see U2 at Scotts Stadium in Charlottesville. It was fantastic. I really didn't have very high expectations. I knew it would be very good, I just wasn't that excited. It was great, they played great songs and played for a long time. We were on the lawn, I think we were the oldest ones there, we were surrounded by khaki and button down UVA students.

We also went to Palm Springs California for my Kristin's wedding. It was so much fun. Great weather, great company and very good scenery and food. We went into the mountains and they were crazy high, just large shoots of granite. You rode up on a gondola sort of thing that rotated around, pretty nice and a little unnerving. . They just shot out of the ground like a massive wrinkle in foil (that is an odd way to pout it, but it is hard to describe) It was breathtaking.

I had a birthday (it's not necessary to put the age in here) it was a nice day. The boys were supposed to go camping overnight (which was very exciting - a whole day on my own!) It rained though. It was a great day anyway.

Now things are crisp and smell like crunchy leaves. Halloween meant we had 2 Buzz Lightyears. They were adorable. Sam got a fever on Thursday night. SO he had to miss his school Halloween parade and a school Halloween party, he was better on the actual day though. We went down to Hanover Ave in the fan to see their street fair. It was incredible. Really large and well thought out house decorations. One made itself into a pirate ship with Pirates of the Caribbean costumes and music playing. There were so many people they had o wait in line to get candy. It was really nice. My only Halloween complaint is that since we weren't around to man our house and hand out candy we have a LOT of it left over.

End of Summer '09

The summer is over and fall is here. I love fall, the boys can play outside without the bugs or the humidity and I get to look at the leaves and rake them into a pile so that they can get thrown all over the place again. It's great. Sam is 5, we had his birthday at Maymont park. It was cold and drizzly but all the superheroes ran around and had fun anyway.

We all went to England for Jonny Moore's wedding. The boys were very good on the plane (sort of). They had a great time in England. Grandma and Grandad's house had apples on the tree and berries on the bushes. All the Simpsons took a spin around Legoland. It was nice for everyone to get a chance to catch up. The actual Legoland Legos were insane! They must have certified Lego architects that can put together all of the major European cities in Legos. Sam's godfather gave Sam a Lego set for his birthday and it is ridiculous how complicated it can seem. Those pieces are just so small, it's really absurd. Needless to say we made the motorcycle and airplane but they did not survive hurricane Oliver.

I also got to see my wonderful friends who moved away from Richmond over to England and see their families. The Peak District of England is much more beautiful than I would have imagined. The kids seemed toplay all together lke they hadn't seen each other in 4 days, when really they hadn't all been together in 2 years. It was wonderful.


Sam started school at Reveille Preschool. He seems happy enough there. Iwas worried that he wouldn't like the switch, but he really doesn't seem to be that bothered. Pretty laid back I guess. Oliver is at St Matthews twice a week, he seems pretty happy too. I decided to teach ESL to adults on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7-9. I like it. The students are really inspiring. They have difficult situations and they manage to come to class for 2 hours after work and struggle through Verb structure and learning kitchen appliance words. Humbling really. Especially when I feel like i can't even find the time to get a shower in on some days.