The Miserable

After a wonderful winter break visiting friends and family, Lincoln came down with a fever Monday night, and stayed home from school today.  He is still rocking the mid-101's, so will be home again tomorrow.  As you can see, Yeager has been his faithful companion. As for me, it is a treat to have ginger ale in the house!

The Year of the Rabbit

The kids and I avoided the Super Bowl pregame hype and headed to Chinatown on Sunday for the Chinese New Year Parade. Enjoyed dim sum with our friends the Haydens and found a great parade-watching spot on top of a mail relay box on Broadway. Each got a special treat. Lincoln chose a berry push-up pop and Greta opted for a silk kimono. As Greta told me: "Linc's lolly will be gone tomorrow, but this dress will fit me for a year."

Day with the Haydens

Unplanned, we spent Saturday with our pals the Haydens. Sarah and I started things off with a 4-mile trail run through the reservation, then we all met up at Dragon Playground after lunch. I helped Steve hang a falling gutter while the kids ran around. We ended the day with pizza, salad and calamari and the kids were asleep by 7. I conked out on the couch about an hour later. Carey read The Mockingjay until about 1am.

Those of you who read this blog for book recommendations (and those of you who enjoy fiction for young adults), check out The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's the first in a trilogy. My office read it like wildfire and now a colleague is letting Carey borrow her Kindle to read the three books. We haven't talked to each other since Monday. 

Weekend respite

Don't know about you, but it was a long week of work and school here at the Merrills. So we're ending it with a restful weekend. Not too much planned -- lots of errands, maybe a trip into the city to check out the Macy's window displays and the Rockefeller Center tree. I'll fire up the Canon and the Flip, promise. Until then, a couple shots of the kids admiring their Christmas tree.

Millburn Snowflake Parade

A little video mash-up from our Sunday afternoon experience at the Millburn Snowflake Parade. Trivia: Millburn's most famous export? Oscars 2011 Co-Host Anne Hathaway.

All's well...

Just a post to assure family and friends that the Merrills are fine despite three days of blog silence. The coughing jags have finally ended for all of us. Now the hard work begins -- getting the kids to sleep alone again. We're recording a daily Christmas special on ABC Family and that is the highlight of our mornings. If the kids are downstairs and dressed by 730, they get to watch a little Rudolph or Frosty or Night Before Christmas before we pile in the car at 8. They also kickstart their nutritional regimen each morning with a chocolate from their advent calendar (thanks, Aunt Chris!) before they eat breakfast. Well, they have their vitamins, then their chocolate, then their breakfast.

I have a video from the Millburn Snowflake Parade last weekend that I'm finishing up tonight and will post later. Until then, to all a good day.

Flip fun

We lost Carey's Nano, so we picked up a Flip Ultra HD at Costco this weekend. Here's what the kids sang when I asked them if they loved me.

PJs

Photo caption dictated by Greta:

Posing at the top of the stairs when Daddy comes home. My brother's wearing my pajamas and I'm wearing, like, three layers of them. The End.

Label me this

Greta has started to use flash cards at school to practice recognizing sight words, so naturally she wanted to bring the habit home as well. Carey bought some green note cards and asked her to label various things in her room. Greta would spell the word, then Carey would write the correct spelling underneath. Give our daughter A for effort, but her spelling needs some work. That's dor, dgisrs, pichrl, wol, lite and siling.

More tree trimming pics

Super Sunday

Call me crazy, but this was my idea of a perfect Sunday:

• Sleep until 730
• Eat egg white fritatta with gorgonzola and guacamole
• Drink Raspberry Snapple
• Drive through the ghetto to drop off Aunt Kathy at Newark train station
• Drink Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate while kids eat Dunkin' Donuts munchkins in a cup
• Shop at Eden Gourmet
• Decorate the Christmas tree
• Watch the Giants beat the Jaguars and Federer beat Nadal [first full 1pm football telecast this year, while Carey took the kids to Josephine's third birthday (one of Lincoln's classmates)]
• Play with kids while Carey bakes sweet potato/pumpkin muffins
• Give Greta a bath
• Listen while Greta reads "Katy Duck" aloud to me before bedtime
• Watch "Meet the Press"on DVR and rediscover my crush on Peggy Noonan
• Watch Colts vs. Chargers shortly

Artsy shot above suggested by Carey while trimming the tree.