Magic Marbles

I've been on a bit of a cleaning and organizing kick lately. The youngest is six now, which means whole categories of baby, toddler and little kid stuff can be taken to the curb one and for all.

The amount of space this is clearing for giant Lego structures and lacrosse sticks is welcome, as older kids have as much crap as younger ones, it's just different crap.

Among the many things I found when cleaning up the kids' rooms, were these three marbles. If you're seeing this photo and asking, are those ordinary marbles? The answer is yes, yes they are.

But once upon a time, they were magic marbles. I forget the exact circumstances, but as soon as I saw them I remembered how these were the most prized possession in all the land. Now, I ask the kids, "anybody want these?"

And they answer, "Nah, We don't need any marbles."

And here I am again, providing one of my many mom services, to save and cherish the memories that even the kids have forgotten.

But don't get me wrong - I cherish the memories. The marbles are happily nestled in the giveaway box.

From the Archives: The Best Thing My Three Year Says

As part of my New Year's Resolution to clean my house, I'm also going through the 300+ unpublished draft posts on my blog. (Mostly to procrastinate from actual cleaning of my house, but whatever. I'm still counting this as a "productive use of my time.")

Most of the drafts are getting deleted on the basis of them being either utterly old news or totally unintelligible. But this one is seeing the light of Internet day, solely because of the cuteness.

My son Ziggy when he was three (now age five!) used to always say:

Can you give me a leaf pile?

As in:

Mom, I'd like a leaf pile of chips.

Can I please have a leaf pile of strawberries?

I want a leaf pile of cheese!

And how could I forget:

You call that a leaf pile of chocolate chips? That is not a leaf pile! That is only three leafs. Not a leaf pile!

Favorite Things Friday: My Most Favorite Song Ever

I know lots of people couldn't possibly pick just one song as their most favorite song, but Bob Mould's "See a Little Light" is mine, and has been for about twenty years now.


The video above is from a performance of the song on the David Letterman Show on March 6, which was just re-released in Workbook 25, reissued to commemorate the album's 25th anniversary, and includes additional songs as well.


So I guess it's actually been my favorite song for about twenty-five years.


Time flies.


Just in case there's any question, this is totally not a sponsored post. It really is my favorite song.

The Real Groundhogs of New Jersey

With Groundhog Day tomorrow, I'm getting nostalgic for when we had our own groundhog family as summer guests last summer. We still miss them. Sorta-not-really-at-all.

Here's my story of The Real Groundhogs of New Jersey:

We have a groundhog mom and her two groundhog babies making themselves at home on our porch and in our backyard - and they're not the sharing kind.

I'm totally OK with it because:

1. Animal Control assured me the groundhogs would leave on their own within three to four weeks - and I totally wasn't planning on using my porch, or backyard, for the month of June so it's fine. Really.



Our deck/groundhog haven

2. Animal Control made me feel like a horrible person for even considering that the groundhog mom and her clawing hissing ways to be a nuisance to me by explaining, "Give her space. She's just a mom trying to do her job. She's protecting her babies!"

Mama Groundhog patrolling my porch and back yard

Yes, Animal Control played the Mom Card on me. And I gotta admit... well played, Animal Control. Well played. Fine, fine have it your way. I will give Mama Groundhog her space.

3. The baby groundhogs have attracted all the local hawks in the area. So while my kids cannot play outside, they can watch Animal Kingdom Live! through the windows every day.

Baby groundhog, admittedly adorable.

4. Groundhog mania inspired my daughter Kay, age 6, to make this delightful dinner:

Now just try and tell me you don't want to come over for dinner at our house. All the delicious Groundhog Meatloaf you can eat, and a free hawk vs. baby groundhog show! Summer doesn't get any better!

31 Days of Halloween: Day 19 - Halloween Today Vs. Halloween 1970s Style

Below I show you what passes today in 2012 as a Native American "Indian" Halloween costume for girls and tweens:

 

And below here, I show you how it looked when I rocked "Indian girl" back in the late 1970s... along with my creepy brother:

I think I liked Halloween better when things were old-school.

My, how the times have changed.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 13 - Toddler in the Pumpkin Patch

When my third and youngest child Ziggy was a year and a couple months old, I was seriously wracked with guilt. Whereas I had taken his older sisters to all kinds and fashions of pumpkin patches, apple orchards, hay rides and haunted mazes, I had taken him... nowhere. I had no iconic photo of him as a baby in the pumpkin patch, no cute pics of him amongst the corn.

It was killing me.

I went and bought Ziggy a pumpkin outfit (which for the record, I had never done for his sisters despite the other autumn excesses they enjoyed) and invited my mom to join us for the sole reason of documenting our clearly-going-to-be-perfect trip to the pumpkin patch.

So you can imagine how it was a complete and utter surprise - and downer - when it was raining on the day this was all supposed to go down.

"Should I still come?" my mom called to ask in the morning, "Of course!" I screamed. "He's going to the pumpkin patch. Today!"

Off we went, on a miserable day and with a child who it quickly became apparent had a cold, and wanted to be anywhere else but the frickin' pumpkin patch.

I remember all of the actual truth of that day when I look at these photos. But I also believe in this total fiction we managed to capture in film.

And I love these photos as much as I thought I would, and then some.

I'm writing this tonight, with nostalgia, as we prepare to take a family trip to the same pumpkin patch tomorrow. Be back tomorrow with this year's crop of pumpkin photos!

P.S. This is my own little contribution to The Mom Stays in the Picture.

Old Photo Friday: The Yellow Bikini

I keep forgetting about Old Photo Friday! Which I think means it's time to give it a rest for awhile, but first (or should it be last?) these now and then pics:

Me, in a yellow bikini, 1970-something.

My daughter, in a yellow bikini, 2012:

My milestone birthday has come and gone, so I'm ending the old photo thing for now. Instead, Fridays will now be a new feature I'm going to call "Giving the People What They Want." I'll let you know what that is this Friday.

A big thanks to everyone who followed along in my extended trip down memory lane.

Happy Old Photo Friday to Me

It's my birthday today, and it was the reflective/nostalgic mood this particular "milestone" birthday put me in that got me started on Old Photo Friday in the first place.

So of course for today, I'm got old photos from my birthdays. I'm still finding more, so next week I will probably be back with Part II of the birthday collection.

Here, in order, my birthdays from ages zero to eight.

I also love this photo of my brother, who I believed was forced to pose as a party decoration one year.

And from the same year, there's also this photo of me admiring my 1970s loot of a jump rope, hula hoop and my second dog (I got the first one for my birthday the year before) that barked when you clapped, which was the greatest technology ever... in 1978.

So I'm off to enjoy another year ahead, convincing myself that growing older is fine, and trying to embrace another Anna's outlook that it's all good with lots of candles, plenty of cake.

And the kids and I did in fact have plenty of cake, Jacques Torres Chocolate Cake made by my mother, for breakfast this morning. A perfect way to start my birthday. *

* I am going to maintain this lovely memory, and not mention that one of the children may (or may not) have immediately vomited all over me after we finished our perfect cake breakfast.

Old Photo Friday: Last Day of School

Here are my daughters on their last day of pre-school in Manhattan, just about four years ago today. In a few months we would move to the suburbs, but when this photo was taken we didn't know that yet.

It was an odd day - there was a big storm the night before and trees were down everywhere, though you can't see them here.

Next week, I'll have a rising fourth grader and a rising second grader, not to mention an almost-three-year-old.

And the stuffed animal on the left? Yeah, Lodo is still around - though not every single moment of every single day like he used to be, but around just the same.

I post old photos on Fridays, in anticipation of a milestone birthday this summer. Once it passes, I'm on to something new.

Old Photo Friday: Goin' Fishin'

When I was a kid, we had a pond stocked with fish. There was a rickety dock, too as you can see in today's Old Photo Friday.

I have lots of memories of hanging out by the pond - the honeysuckle, the poison berries, the peach tree - but mostly I remember my mom fishing. Out of all of us, she was the real fisherman.

And there was one summer that I remember more than all the others put together.

It was the summer my mother waged a Moby Dick-esque battle against the biggest (and smartest) fish in the pond. This was the kinda fish that fish stories are about. The kinda fish you remember a quarter-century later, and write blog posts about. If fish were celebrities, this one was at least on the D-list.

This fish could not be caught no matter what my mom did.

Fishing poles - and more and better fishing poles - were bought.

Bait was finessed.

Times of day were analyzed, considered, debated.

Friends, like Barbara in the photo above, were invited over to give their advice.

But alas, this clever fish could not be caught.

Finally, at the very, very end of the summer my mother was victorious.

She had won the epic battle, and there lay the fish hooked and helpless.

I remember feeling so much elation on her behalf - she had done it! The fish was caught! Sweet victory!

But in the end, my mom couldn't bring herself to keep the fish.

Grown now, I get it.

But then, my child-self could not fathom how you could toss your adversary right back into the pond.

I post stories and photos from the past every Friday. See them all here.

Old Photo Friday: The Memorial Day Beach Special

I will admit: I do love digging around the old photos on Fridays.

Tonight, I found this gem.

Me, around age 6, wearing a red, white and blue bathing suit.  How perfect for Memorial Day weekend!

This awesome, arty photo was taken by my brother who was all of about eight at the time.

And here we are, enjoying a nice summer day at the beach.

Nice visor, bro.

__________________________

I post old photos on Fridays. I'm not quite sure why. Happy Weekend everyone!

Old Photo Friday: Biz School Graduation

Graduation.

More than a decade ago, but not *that* much more...

Old Photo Friday: Ziggy and the Plaid Pajamas

My mom buys the kids lots of great clothes - but often a little on the big size. I understand why - kids grow, and usually, they grow quickly.

And of course, the buying-large strategy means the clothes will last for awhile.

Like in the case of Ziggy and the plaid pajamas which my mom bought him when he was a baby. For reasons she outlined in this email I received from her:

"Bought Ziggy some plaid PJ's since U like 2 dress him in old men clothes and he's in bed a lot."

Here he is wearing his "old man pajamas" as a wee baby:

And here he is still happily wearing his "old man pajamas" just last month:

What about you? When it comes to kids clothes, are you a "buy a size bigger" shopper, or more of a "buy the stuff I like in multiple sizes" kind of shopper?

This is my usual installment of Old Photo Friday, even though (yes, I know) the photos aren't that old.

Linking-up to the always funny, Finding the Funny at My Life and Kids and Kelley's Breakroom.

Old Photo Friday: One Kid as a Bunny and One Kid with Bunnies

Once upon a time, not so long ago in Old Photo Friday terms, it seemed the kids got their faces painted every.single.weekend. Now? Not so much. (Not that I'm complaining.)

So as I was compiling a nice little gallery of their adorable painted faces, I was happy to come across a bunny face perfect for some Easter posting, Jewish kid style.

Kay, as bunny rabbit, April 2009

And once upon a time, it seemed like every urban weekend was spent visiting a makeshift petting zoo of some kind. And now? Not so much. Again, I'm not complaining. Just noticing.

Magpie, with bunny rabbits on the Upper West Side, 2006

I still remember how much you loved petting those rabbits.

You can see more Old Photo Friday posts here, and more Easter posts here. Including one about when my daughters plotted to dress-up their baby brother as - you guessed it - a bunny.

And yes, I realize I'm posting this on Saturday. In my defense, yesterday totally did not feel like a Friday.

I'm linking-up to Finding the Funny with Kelley's Break Room and My Life and Kids because, well... that's what I do. You should too!

Old Photo Friday: Toys for a Third-Born Baby

When my son Ziggy was born, he was lucky enough to already have in place two older sisters. Helpful older sisters. This photo is Ziggy after his big sisters responded to my request to "Get the baby a toy!"

More endearing? Finding the sleeping baby festooned with his sisters' favorite dolls.

May you always be this good to your baby brother, who (as this is after all Old Photo Friday) not only no longer a baby, but is in fact now even closer to being three than he is to being two.

Old Photo Friday: Me Ten Years and One Week Ago

This is me, in Nevada visiting the scenic sites of Hoover Dam and the Red Rock Canyon, exactly ten years and one week ago today.

One marriage and three kids later, I'm sure I haven't aged one bit.

Old Photo Friday: Ducks!

My brother and me, and two "ducks."

Update received from my mother:

They were geese not ducks.  I was going 2 use them as property guards.

Old Photo Friday: My Cat Casper

When I was five, my beloved grandfather "Gramps" gave me a cat for my birthday. She was a beautiful black and white cat, and I named her Casper, after Casper the Friendly Ghost, my favorite TV show.

Secretly, I knew it didn't make sense, as my Casper was not a white cat, but still, I loved T.V.-Casper and knew it was the perfect name for my cat, whether she was ghostly white or not.

With Casper.

After a few days with Casper, it became apparent that either Casper or my older brother (who it turns out, is deathly allergic to cats) was going to have to go.

In an incredibly rookie move my mom asked me which I'd like to keep, my cat or my brother. I looked at the lady like she was an idiot, and replied like it was the most obvious answer in the world (because to a five-year-old it was) "THE CAT!!!"

The next day, Casper was gone. I was shocked, incredulous - "But I TOLD YOU I wanted to keep THE CAT!"

And yet, despite my crying, wailing, and hysterics there was no reversing of her opinion.

Casper was relocated across the street, in what can only be described as the cat's lucky break. Casper went on to live a long, indulged and incredibly happy life with an elderly, retired and kind couple who gave the cat - really my cat - her very own room, as well as an entire other room just for her cat toys.

And me? I got liberal visitation rights to see Casper.

Visiting Casper in her new home.

And the knowledge that despite all appearances to the contrary, a great wrong had happened here.


I'm taking a trip down memory lane every Friday until I get bored of digging around my old photos, or until I run out of material.

I'm linking-up to Yeah Write, click here to read more stories from this incredible writing community.

Old Photo Friday: Portrait of a Young Fashionista

That's me in the 1970s, at home in semi-rural Virginia. Clearly, I started developing my fashion sense early.

I found the photo as I was digging around for more duck photos for my Big Duckie board on Pinterest.

I haven't found any duck-themed pics yet, but I did find these nice one of my brother and me and our two pet geese.

Oh, what a different time it was.

I'll be posting old photos every Friday until I get bored or run out of material.

HOLIDAY CLOTHES: The Third Edition of Anna's Super-Fun Non-Commercial Holiday Gift Guide

I may be a nice Jewish girl, but I like a Christmas dress as much as the next girl.

Seriously, check out this vintage dress from back in the 1970s - hand-sewn by my grandma.

Arty photo could not have been taken by anyone but my big bro.

Here are some festive and fun clothes for celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, and all the rest of the winter holidays.

From Tea Collection (note: free shipping with code WOWFREESHIP until Friday 12/9):
Tea Collection makes beautiful and holds-up-well-in-the-wash clothing for everyday wear, as well as stunning holiday pieces in their Highland Holiday line that are perfect for winter celebrations.

The Lantana Wrap Dress ($33) in Rumba Red is perfect for holiday photos and parties, and availability in sizes 6 months - 12 years, makes for some fun options to mix-n-match with siblings.

Photo from TeaCollection.com

The dress pairs great with Sparkle Stripe Leggings ($25), and because I can't resist a little bit of matching, I had one daughter in the leggings, and one in the Sparkle Stripe Mockneck ($30)

In Stuyvesant Square, Manhattan

The sparkle striped mockneck also looks great under the Corzo Chambray Dress ($49):

Photo from TeaCollection.com

Again, this dress comes in sizes 6 months to 12 years for lots of matching options, even with mom ($108.50):

From Blume Girl:
This is one of my favorite brands for snazzy dressy tees that are still 100% kid-comfy. My son has been known to wear his tie tees just about anywhere. A few great picks for the holidays are the Small Pocks Baby Tee ($48, also available in kid sizes):

Little Lady Kid Tee with Tie ($52):

And there's even a onesie with a tie ($52) for babies with style:

From Karin Alexis:

I have loved Karin Alexis clothes since I used to be a regular at her Upper West Side boutique, which is sadly now closed. You can still get her amazing designed and made in New York kids clothes. And what could be more perfect for the holiday season than a gorgeous tutu? Pictured here is the fantastic Dorothy Tutu ($42):

What are you favorite holiday clothes?

Next up on Saturday: my picks for holiday pajamas!

You can see all the holiday gift guides here.

Whatever you're wearing... Happy Holidays!

Disclosure: I received some great Tea Collection items for purposes of review, but it did not influence my opinion.