We've got snow!

The weather channel was right! We got snow. I'm not sure what time it started but the boys took a shower upstairs, got dressed and ran downstairs at about 10am and yelled "mom! look outside!" and the parking lot was covered with snow. It was amazing. Let me just back up a little bit by saying the boys were upstairs playing while I was downstairs cooking breakfast (Jason was at work) and they come downstairs completely naked asking if they can take a shower. It was very funny. Apparently, they had also cleaned out our shower buck naked as well. Boys!

Today we have relaxed, lounged in the living room, watched QVC Bare Essentuals, made oatmeal m&m cookies (we don't have any chocolate in the house because Jason apparently made 4 smores yesterday in the microwave) and now I am making split pea soup with our ham bone from Christmas (it was frozen). It is such a good day for lounging. Jason got home about 2pm and now the boys are all outside playing in the snow. They immediately went outside and flopped down and covered themselves in snow. Let me also say it is so incredibly cold. It is about 18 degrees out today! FREEZING.

Snow?!?!

So, I hear we are supposed to get some snow this weekend. Sometime mid-afternoon through the evening it should fall. Apparently only 2-4 inches but areas South of here (Thotlady and Bogey) are supposed to get upwards of 10 inches. Why can't the winds change to bring a lot more here? And can you please, please tell me why the snow always comes on Friday or Saturday and not during the week where I could possibly get the day off or at the very least I would settle for a "2-hour delay". I mean really is that too much to ask for.

Not a lot planned for the weekend. Jason is supposed to work tomorrow (not too long) and Doris may come over to scrapbook Saturday evening after the boys go to bed and other than that no plans. Tonight I didn't get home from work until 8pm (I know) but when I got in the car Leo asked if we could sleep on the blow up bed so we are going to sleep in the living room tonight.

Today, Aidan took another spelling test and got 100% correct (10/10). Hello! Look at that penmanship. He studied really hard and it paid off. We are searching for a preschool for Leo that is affordable (not an easy task) and hmm...what else? That's about it.

Still no doggy.

Ahem, where is Jason's movie review blog?

MIA: Doggy

REWARD

For the safe return of "Doggy"$2 from Aidan

1$ from Leo

We have sent out the search and rescue. Doggy is missing in action. Leo's special stuffed animal known to everyone as "doggy" is missing. We have searched high and low, retraced our steps, and called in the reserves (Doris) to look for doggy with no luck.

We have cleaned the boys' rooms from top to bottom, tore off the sheets, removed all the stuffed animals, picked up their closets, searched under the beds and we can not find doggy. We looked in our room, in our closets, under our bed and we can not find doggy. We can not find him downstairs, under the couches, in the car, or in the extra bedroom. We can not find him any where!?!

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being "whatever" and 10 wailing crying Leo is about a 5 and Aidan is about a 7. Leo said he was sad, yelled at Doris one day that he "didn't wanna talk about it" and asked me if I thought Doggy was scared. Aidan wants to know why Leo isn't more broken up about it and if I was sad. This was good opportunity to talk about Aidan's new vocabulary word, "grieve" that he learned during their school lesson on "Hansel and Gretal". I explained to him that people "grieve" in different ways...some people cry, some people just want to be alone, and some people are their normal selves but that all ways were okay.

Not to get too far down a tangent but Hansel and Gretal is a crazy story for 1st graders to read.

Here are the major points of the story:

1. Dad remarries to a mean lady

2. Dad abandons children deep in the woods

3. Children are on the verge of starving (other vocabulary word taught was "famine")

4. Children pig out on candy house

5. Crazy old lady kidnaps kids

6. Crazy old lady forces Gretal to be her domestic servant

7. Crazy old lady locks Hansel in cage to plump him up to eat him

8. Gretal pushes old lady into burning oven

9. Old lady dies a terribly painful death

10. Children return home and live happily ever after with Dad because Step mom dies

Great! That is not at all scary for 7 year-old first graders.

Back on point: So we are all sad we can't find doggy and we are all totally perplexed as to where he could possibly be. Leo asked me if I thought doggy was scared and I told him probably not because he gets to sleep all day which doggy loves and when Aidan asked if I was sad I said "yes" but that doggy lived a long and good life. Aidan totally agreed. We reminisced about doggy's history, born in Switzerland, entered our life as a gift from Jennifer and Craig (our special friends in Geneva) to Aidan and then was specially selected by Leo to love.

Any ideas of where doggy could be. If you find him there is a $3 reward!

Pa's Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday Pa! We hope you have a super great day. Burgers and fries with Crow, H, Ethan, Riley, and the Fosters sounds great. We wish we could celebrate with you but know we are thinking about you.

We don't have much going on this weekend. We had dinner with Doris on Friday night. Doris and I picked up take out from Hamburger Hamlet on our way home from work and we went to our house to eat. We all got really yummy burgers and fries. It was a day off the diet for me but I am back on the wagon.

Yesterday Jason worked in Leesburg and the boys and I hung out at home in the morning and then we went to Tyson's Corner I and II with Doris. Doris was getting her haircut and so we went with her. Jason met us at the mall after work at Tyson's I. The boys used their gift cards at Barnes and Noble (thank you Pa and Crow!). Aidan got a book on UFOs and Aliens and Leo got two books about Space. I also got two books with my gift card. After that, we went to Gordon Biersch for dinner. Aidan had a cheeseburger, Leo had a grilled cheese, I had a seafood Cobb salad, Jason had fish and chips and Doris had Mahi Mahi. It was great especially the locally brewed beer.

Today we went to the Dulles Expo Center for a train exhibit. Leo loved it and Aidan could have done without it but he was a good sport. Jason is at a magic lecture at the magic shop tonight and I am trying a new recipe from cooking light. I have no doubt that the boys are NOT going to like it but I'm trying it anyway. It is called Lombo di Maiale Coi Porri (Pan-Roasted Pork Loin with Leeks). If I like it, I will put it in the recipes section on the left of the blog but if you are interested just click on the link.
I am trying to update the recipes section of the blog and I have also added a few new pictures to the left. They are pictures of places we have been over the years and that I think are extra special. In this case, Jason is probably correct that he took them (except for the Palace picture which I took) but let's be honest any more these days the pictures were taken by me, with my new camera (thanks to Jason!).

We're still waiting for Jason to write his movie review. Let's see how long it takes (wink, wink). I'm also trying to really clean out my closet and get rid of clothes and other stuff that I have not used for a long time or know, deep down, that I am not going to use it or wear it any more. I see this as a long term project with me starting with my closet and extending to every floor of the house. We need to down size. Too much stuff stresses me out. Of course it doesn't help that I just bought a few (okay well maybe more than a few) things from Stampin' Up and CM but this is what I love so how could that stress me out?

Tomorrow is Monday. Now that stresses me out. Aidan has the day off. Lucky Dog!

The "Family" Blog

It’s been hinted/told to me that the family blog has become Amy’s blog again. I’ve been told that with the boys giving quotes for Amy to use in some of the blogs, they are actually contributing more than I am. So I have been asked/bullied into contributing material to the blog again.

So without further ado, let me present to you my current and ongoing contribution to the Holma-Ritualo Blog is…the pictures. Nearly every picture on the blog from day one was taken by me. So if you think about it, I’m usually contributing 2-3 items for every one post that Amy does. Just think how boring this blog would be if it wasn’t for all of my hard work. Sure, Amy’s words paint a pretty vivid picture of what was going on or what the boys look like now, but it’s my images that really give this blog some, shall we say, pizzazz. So, sit back, read the blog regularly and enjoy all of my hard work.

I’ve just been told/berated by a certain someone who was reading over my shoulder that my taking pictures that she then has to download to the computer before uploading them to the blog and then edit them to fit into the text, doesn’t constitute “contributing” to the family blog. So after serious consideration/deciding what would be the next easiest thing to do, I’ve decided to start doing movie reviews again.

It’s been awhile since I last did a review so I’m going to start fresh. I’m moving all of the previous reviews from the left hand column and adding them to the end of this post so they will be available to read if you missed them the first time. The new reviews will now be posted in the left hand column starting with the most recent movie I’ve seen, Youth in Revolt.


Recount

An HBO movie about the legal battles that took place in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election that help determine the winner.

A well made film about a somewhat complicated and possibly boring story. There were two things in particular the film makers did that I liked. The first thing was the way they combined actual news footage with the actors to tell the story. The second thing was the way the movie was shot. It was shot using a lot of hand held cameras which gave it a documentary feel. Combined with the news footage and the quality acting, it made if feel very real.

That said, I still wouldn’t recommend this movie. Even with the current change in administration it’s still a little too fresh in our memories to relive this period of political history. And if you were a Bush supporter, you won’t be real happy with the portrayal of your political party. The Republicans weren’t necessarily vilified but there was a definite bias.

So unless you’re a Nadar supporter or just enjoy that feeling of anger building up in your gut, I’d stay away from this one.



Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal, an orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is accused of cheating when he is nearing the top prize of India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It’s with flashbacks during the police’s interrogation that you see how Jamal’s life history provided him with the answers to these nearly impossible questions.

Slumdog Millionaire is winning or being nominated for virtually every movie award out there this year. It just recently won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. I can honestly say that I agree with them. I’m sure this is making all the film critics out there breathe easy knowing that I feel they made the right decision. But anyway, this is a great movie. You really care about the characters. You feel like cheering for Jamal’s triumphs and shuddering at the horrors he goes through. It’s very well done from the direction to the acting.

It’s a great film but I can’t imagine India’s tourism board is all that happy with it. I’ve always felt that India is one of those countries I’d never want to travel to, and this film only validates those feelings. It feels like you could actually get hepatitis just by watching this movie.

If you’re a germaphobe I’d recommend staying away from Slumdog Millionaire, but if you’re up to date on your tetanus shots and want to see a good film, go see it.



Caddyshack

This isn’t a new movie. It’s a movie everyone has seen and usually loves and considers a comedy classic. Over the years I’ve seen bits and pieces of it but I’ve never seen the entire thing from beginning to end. So when I saw the DVD at the library I had to get it. I had to see what all the fuss was about.

As I said before, a lot of people consider Caddyshack to be a classic, one of the funniest movies ever. I think the people that feel that way are probably people who saw it for the first time around the time it came out (1980). Comedies are like that. I don’t think they hold up as well 20,30 years down the road for a first time viewing. I think for someone who saw it when it was new and loved it, could still love it and think it was funny today. That’s because it reminds them of the first time they saw it. When, “Did someone step on a duck” was new and funny. I had heard that line so many times by so many different people that when I heard Rodney Dangerfield say it it seemed more like Dangerfield doing an impression of my dad than the other way around.

I’m glad I saw it but if I was in the mood to watch something funny and was looking for something to see, Caddyshack wouldn’t ever cross my mind. In case you’re wondering, I would go for something like 40 Year Old Virgin, SuperBad, Role Models or anything by Kevin Smith

Dad's Night Off

It's not much but we try to give Jason "time off" as much as possible so that he can have some piece and quite or do something he wants to do. He "works" constantly and rarely gets down time. Most of the time his "time off" usually consists of getting to go to the movies alone. I think he enjoys it because he loves the movies. He gets a "movie night" every couple of weeks or so--it's not enough but we try. Occassionaly he gets a little more, thanks to Doris.

A week ago this past Friday, Aidan, Leo and I spent the night at Doris' house so that Jason could have a night of rest. He gets to do whatever he wants, watch movies in peace, play Fifa Wii, watch TV or go to the movies. The best part of the whole evening is that he gets to sleep (really sleep) for one whole evening.

The boys love Doris' house so it is a lot of fun for them. We played games, had dinner and watched Disney Pixar's "Up" in bed and the next morning we made pancakes. We had a lot of fun and really appreciate Doris being so generous and kind to us.

(Extended) Mother's Night Out

Thanks to Allan's generosity, Marcia and I enjoyed an extended Mother's night out. It was only Marcia's second time overnight without the children and it was my second or third night away not on business. On Saturday, we road the (Acela!) train to Philly arriving at about 2:00pm. We headed straight to hotel Sofitel (Bonjour!) where we were staying and while we were waiting to check in and waiting for our room to get ready we spent about 40 minutes with the hotel Concierge planning our trip. He arranged our dinner reservations, evening entertainment and spa treatment for the next day. He was the best!

After we checked into our room and tested our our super comfy beds, we did a little window shopping. We had a wonderful dinner at Sampan where we tried many different (not so small) modern Asian dishes. You are going to drop dead on the floor when you read this but one of my favorite dishes was the brussel sprouts. I know! I also loved the Papaya and Kobe beef salad and the lobster goyza.

After dinner we went to a play called Becky Shaw which was a 5 person cast show. The playwright is Gina Gionfriddo who is a producer/writer of Law and Order. It is a funny and serious story about a date set up and the date is a little wacky and sets in motion a number of events that the family then has to deal with. I have to admit that when I first sat down and the show started, I was expecting them to break into song. Musicals are the only shows I have seen recently. Also there was quite a bit of swearing in the show. I kept thinking "what's with the swearing?" and Marcia and I would keep looking at each other thinking "what with all the swearing?". I think it's because we both have this heightened hearing for swear words...whenever their is swearing on the TV or radio we change it so the kids don't hear and I haven't been to an adult play/musical for a really long time. After dinner and the play we went back to our hotel and had fresh, homemade ginger ale and an apple tartin with cinnamon ice cream in our hotel bar. Yum!

The next day we went to the Spa, Marcia got her hair cut and I got a facial. After that we did some more shopping and then had a fantastic late lunch at the Continental restaurant. It was delicious and probably the best meal we had. I had the veggie burger and french fries and Marcia had a corn, pablano and cheese omelet. For dessert we shared the "liquid" chocolate french toast which was totally to die for. After lunch we headed back to the train station for our 4:12 departure and we got into DC at about 5:45pm. It was a really nice and relaxing trip. We had such a great time.

While I was in Philly the boys went to see Princess and the Frog and ate dinner at McDonald's. They totally love it when I go away because they get to eat at McDonald's. The next day they were home most of the day because we were getting Direct TV installed. Sadly, our run of free cable has ended. Over the last year, the channels kept dropping and dropping. It was a good five year run!

Today we went over to Becs and Jake's house for a wonderful lunch of butternut squash lasagna, salad, baked ziti, roasted cauliflower and garlic bread and for dessert Bec's made the most delicious pumpkin chocolate bundt cake. It was such a wonderful meal and amazing company. Doris was with us and Kevin, Sarah and beautiful Liam. He (Liam of course) was so amazingly good the entire day we were with him. He sat quietly and content in his chair while we ate and he was happy to let us all play with him and hold him. He's a fantastic baby. (I'm going to try to add the cake and lasagna recipes on the sidebar of our blog too!)

Aidan and Leo love Becs and Jake's house because they are super nice, let the boys play Wii and because they have two cats, Reggie and Dewey. The loved watching Reggie jump in and out of the cat window/door, they also loved playing with him and his toys!, and they thought it was super cool that Reggie likes to play with (real) mice. They were mesmerized by the (real) mouse split in half in the front yard. Gruesome, I know, but boys like that kind of stuff. Leo was funny and got some toilet paper to pick up a dead bug for Becs and he used toilet paper to get a stink bug for her too! Bugs and mice how cool!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! We had a very fun New Year. We rented a cabin in Belle Isle Virginia State Park. The State Parks actually rent cabins! Actually it was called a guest house because it was next to a mansion that could also be rented. The cabin slept 8, well actually, probably 9 but we had 8.5. Barb and Dennis, Thotlady, Bogey and Bramwell (cute dog in the pictures) and us 4. Thotlady found it and it was a bit of a risk because none of us had scene it before but it was fantastic! It has a well stocked kitchen, big family room and big dining room. It had one bedroom with double bed, one with bunks beds with the bottom bunk a double bed and the two couches in the living room folded out into beds (our room). It was right on the water. The back of the house is literally 5-10 feet from the water. Belle Isle is bordered by Deep Creek (where our cabin looked out on to), Mulberry Creek and the Rappahannock River.


As you can see we work up to beautiful views out on the creek and in the distance beyond we could see the enormous Rappahannock River. There were a ton of birds surrounding us and we went for walks every day. The last day, January 2, 2010 was freezing cold, unbearably cold but the other days were cold but great.

We took walks in the State Park which we pretty much owned because there was no one else staying in the park while we were there. We played cards, a little old maid, 31, and phase-10. We had lots of snacks (I love snacks) and ate great meals. We each took a meal time. I made chicken enchiladas and rice on New Years, Thotlady made Monkey muffins (yum-o), Barb made Lasagna and Jason made pancakes in the morning.

The cabin had a DVD player and direct TV so we watched Night at the Museum and started to watch Harry Potter, Half-Blood Prince and to my chagrin but in Crow's honor Sponge Bob.

When I asked Aidan what his favorite part of the cabin was he said the "shells". We found some really pretty oyster shells and other shellfish. We saw lots of birds but not a lot of other wildlife but we did see evidence of their existence including deer droppings, deer tracks, and other four-legged animal tracks.

December 31, 2009. Arrival at the cabin. It was quite foggy the day we arrived but beautiful nonetheless

Jason and Leo on our nature walk

The boys searching for shells

Amy playing solitare

Happy New Year everyone! We wish you a wonderful, peaceful, healthy and happy New Year!