My folks and brother in 1979? (before Libby existed)

stop looking at me like that!

Asa's birthday post

Asa turned 3 on January 10th. We had another spaghetti dinner but this time at my parents house. He asked for chocolate chip cookies instead of a cake. So made a plate of cookies (with real chocolate and sugar - though not as much as the recipe called for) and we had several flavors of rice dream ice cream. When i asked him a week ago what he wanted for his birthday he said "Chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, and a new gun". So we also bought him a new gun. Actually several people got him a new gun.  I bought him a bubble gun which is just a bubble machine that you hold like a gun. (i'll post a video of him playing in the bubbles). My folks got him a wooden toy replica of an old flint lock pistol (and a fake coon skin cap to match AND a radio-flyer style covered wagon). And my brother made him a rubber band gun (i didn't get any pictures of this, but i will). He had a great birthday i think. And we've been taking advantage of the mild winter and throwing both kids in the covered wagon and pulling them along the drive way to collect acorn caps and shoot at pretend bad guys and food.

i've been slacking and still have yet to write Asa's birthday letter, AND Esther's is long over due now. I feel guilty about it. But not guilty enough to do much about it.

\Here are some pictures to keep you occupied.

January, my old frienemy

So. January. End of...
We're enemies,  January Through mid-March. Or maybe more like frienemies. I think i like winter. i like the idea of winter. i love snow. i even like feeling cold (sort of). But the 8 weeks between the middle of January to the middle of March, is the slowest, most awkward, most bipolar inducing 8 weeks of the year for me. So say hello to one of my many alter-egos "Blubby" (a combination of blubbering and Libby.  Both cause i feel fat these months (shut up) and because i am a whiny blubbering fool.  Other alter egos include "Oblivia" (spacey and slightly hyper Libby), "Libidia" (combination of libido and libby, this also usually involves alcohol) , and "The Liberator" (super hero libby and sometimes trouble maker but in a wholesome way).

A couple years ago i decided that if i plan adventures for Jan, Feb, and March i will have things to look forward to and distract me enough to help get me through the winter without going to the super dark place and making everyone miserable and possibly greeting each person i came into contact with on a daily basis with a punch in the ear (if your so tall i can't reach your ear, i'd likely go for the groin, so no short jokes).

January's Distraction - So last weekend we had the joyous adventure of THE MIDWINTER BALL! The MidWinter Ball is a huge contra dance put on by the Baltimore Folk Music Society. This year they got one of my all-time favorite contra bands to play, Perpetual E-motion.  If you're not a contra dancer or you're a music snob (like my husband) you may not be that into them. But let me tell you, they are REALLY fun to dance to.  Also, the theme of this years dance was "Steampunk". Which, at first, seems very odd. But after some goofing around with costumes, turned out to be a fantastic theme!  So we all dressed up. I say we, because jesy, casey, mom, and myself all went together. So that was January's adventure. I'm not sure how i'm going to fair over the next two weeks while January comes to an agonizingly slow close. But Restaurant week in bmore starts this weekend so maybe food will do the trick.

(photo courtesy of ian)

February's Distraction - So far my scheduled distraction is driving up to pittsburgh (with ben and the kiddos) to celebrate my sister's birthday with her and her husband. Perhaps if we're lucky, it'll be a fun trip with little hassle and lots of sleeping children in the car.  I'm also hoping to schedule ben and my baby-free get away during either february or april, we haven't nailed down a time yet though.  We were considering not planning anything and just driving where-ever the wind blows us and sleeping in the car. you know, for old-times sake. and cause we're poor-ish.

March's Distraction - I bought a plane ticket to Boston. to see Kit again. No better way to round off the winter blues session with a fellow winter-bluer.  If you recall, last February i went to Boston to see Kit for the first time in TEN years. Determined to ensure that it's not another TEN years before i see her again, the gods have been selling cheap airfare through jetblue. So i bought a round trip ticket to Boston for a grand total of $89.

That will likely do it for the winter's distractions. Hopefully, the little things will help to. like doing yoga with jesy this thursday, taking ceci out for her birthday date, driving to the accountants office for the 3rd time in a week to do our taxes because we forgot yet something else...

so how are you this lonely and rainy winter?