Thanksgiving weekend

I absolutely love this picture....Callum and Maira in Maira's crib. I love the expressions. I love Callum's usual hammy self, and I love Maira's deadpan personality. She reminds me a lot of the Amanda's grandmother with her personality (with the exception that Maira likes me). As far as looks, however, I think Maira is starting to look more like her two grandfathers. What do you think? It is awesome to see Callum and Maira starting to 'play' together. Speaking of playing....

look at these two goons--Callum and Jackson--playing on Thanksgiving morning.....we are looking forward to seeing the Favrys and Nannie and Upbob again in a couple of weeks for Maira's first birthday (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT...ALREADY???). Callum is looking forward to seeing everyone. But he asked if upbob could leave Nannie at home because, and I quote, "I dont like how she follows me to wipe my nose...." But he loves his Nannie. He tells me so.
And POOF!....Maira has already done more cooking than Amanda has in the past year......

Both kids really love playing with "kitchen" sets---at Jackson's house, at the church nursery, etc--and we will probably get them one for Christmas....
Playing store......
At Thanksgiving was my cousin Kelly.....I remember when she was born....I used to hold her....and now she has her own little girl (Amanda is holding Adriella, and Kelly is holding Maira). I am getting OLD.

Thanksgiving 2011

The first turkey!
Turkey Head....

transfixed by Bob the Builder...


Since I am tired and sick--and Amanda is sick. And Callum is sick. And Maira is sick. I have decided to do a Thanksgiving blog post in a "lecture notes" sort of fashion...much like I would do at school when pressed for time....

THANKSGIVING: It was awesome.....a solid, complete trip....plans changed due to storm, etc....

TUESDAY: Come home from school....pack....leave at 615 to put kids to bed in car and drive down to Ct...do this to 'miss' snowstorm in Fairfield that would inevitably dump almost a foot of snow....hit MAJOR rain on way down....get to CT safely....go to bed

WEDNESDAY: Cold morning....go on errands with Anthony to dump, Home Depot, etc....go pick up stuffing and potatoes at Mystic Market....return home in time to see girls and kids off to get pictures done....Anthony and I keep the tradition alive by going to sit at a pub and consume a couple of ice beers whilst watching ESPN....this time we went to Shipyard Pub in Mystic....go home, order Valentino's pizza...put kids to bed....view 'Modern Family' and 'Happy Endings'....later that night Callum would throw up 4.5 times in bed with us...

THURSDAY: Happy Thanksgiving! Beautiful day....play football outside....fry two 21 pound turkeys...make my creamed onions....Amanda makes delicious pumpkin pie...visit with family dont often get to see....Callum and Jackson proceed to watch Bob The Builder Christmas for 26th time in row....boys continue to play trains....boys and 'Ukka Ja-ed' walk down to visit the three horses...horses are subsequently named Thomas, Percy, and James by the two boys....leave at around 7 to drive home through the night again, returning at 1130 or so to a foot of snow...have to shovel doorway to get into house....fun!

Maira being Maira.....

So many changes JUST in the past week or so....

First of all, last night, she slept through the WHOLE night without getting up once!!

Her favorite word to say is "ditty!!" which she says when she calls for "daddy" or when she sees Lupine and says "kitty." She loves to wave and say DIE! to people (she is saying BYE)....

She is suddenly WICKED fast as a crawler....way faster than her brother ever was...she loves to be chased

She HATES being thrown up in the air and caught like Callum used to....

Favorite food? Goldfish and apples. She says "fish" a lot when she wants them....

She said her own name today. She says "birthdays which is hilarious. I dont think I could phonetically spell it out. Sorry.

A true joy

A Fantastic Season!

It ended a couple of weeks ago, but I really haven't gotten around to writing about it. Winslow Cross Country is amazing. What a fantastic experience. My own coaching, personal training, and running education improved dynamically. As I wrote before, our boys team made it to the State Championship, and we had two girls qualify as individuals. The race, on Oct 29, took place at Twin Brook Recreational Center, which is down in Cumberland. World famous XC Ski trails. Just as good for running. Our boosters were awesome, and always had all our WHS XC "bling" fully ready for us! Here is one of our tents at the state meet. Notice the propane tank heating the hot water for coffee, cocoa, and every team member's staple: Cup O Noodles.....

Milling around before the start of the Class B race. There were LOTS of people at this. The energy was just amazing.....
The week after the season ended, we had our banquet at the high school. Amanda and the kids came for some of it--the banquet didnt start until 630, and they kids had to leave to go to bed! An excellent night with some fantastic food. I think I mentioned before about the sweatshirt and water bottle I got. Below is an interesting photo: I SERIOUSLY think this might be one of only two (the other one is from Santa's Village) pictures of the whole Goldsmith family....in existence!! One of only two that "I" have ever seen, anyway....
Fellow coach Chris and I gave out the awards to the kids--a lighthearted and sentimental affair...
And now I have a little more time for the truly important things in life......

Another day at the office....

I miss being on summer vacation with my kids--I cannot believe we are just about three months into the school year already. First Quarter ended just last Friday. Amanda, who is home on Mondays and Wednesdays, gets to capture a lot of great moments during the day...like when these two goons play with each other. Funny: The HAVE a playroom...but they bring all their stuff into the living room...because that is where all the action is, right? Me? I'll take the downstairs den (which, in the past few months, has become a total mess...NOT the 'piltdogs' I wrote about a few years ago--only TRUE goldsmith5 blog purists will get that reference...)
Look at Maira's little curls in the back! I think she is going to have hair just like her mommy....
I realize I haven't blogged much about Cross Country. I should do a whole post about this. This season was amazing, to say the LEAST. Now, it is over. And, although I value having some time back in my life, I miss it terribly. The kids are just so amazing and I really hate going on runs alone. Co-coach Chris and I are doing some marathon training in hopes of preparing for the Sugarloaf marathon, which is in May. We'll see how crazy the training is--and we'll see if I have the time for it! But we had a great XC banquet last week, and it was lovely; Chris and I gave out awards to all the kids with superlatives like "rookie of the year" and "never complain award" and stuff like that. The captains gave out "gag" awards like "most likley to always wear spandex" and "laziest" and "most likely to win the warmup" and stuff. All good natured. We watched a half hour slideshow (set to music) and I was given a copy of the DVD. And the kids wrote some fantastic stuff on some posters and cards for me...AND they pitched in to custom make me a Winslow XC hooded sweatshirt as well as a 'clean canteen' water bottle with the team's photo on it! I was very touched. I absolutely love this coaching gig. Okay. Back to the kids playing....
My beautiful little girl. She says hi and bye and waves. Her latest trick--as of today--is she shakes her head NO to me (get used to it daddy...). Also, she now takes things, shows them to me, and says "this??" with a sort of lisp. I tell her what "This" is, and she then tries to say the word. Usually it sounds nothing like it is supposed to. She has really taken a liking to this "car slide" thingy that I will have to show a picture of. Also, she loves trains--particularly the Thomas the Train "Sir Topham Hatt" car. I think she just wants to be like her brother.....
An afternoon serenade....

ORANGE DAY

HONORS ENGLISH
1. Same as black day class....I collected your essays

COLLEGE PREP 9
1. O.W.L. 1: take notes on homonyms and words used incorrectly. The test for this will be next MONDAY, since we have no school on Friday
2. Pit and the Pendulum
-writing in class: What was the most prominent sensory image used in this Poe story? Use your notes and explain in detail....this will be graded using the participation rubric I passed out!

Halloween 2011

As always, Amanda made the children's costumes. This year, after toggling between being a knight, a digger, an excavator, a cup of coffee, and a dinosaur, Callum decided on being a nutcracker--not merely a 'toy soldier,' like some thought--but, rather, a nutcracker from THE famous ballet...which he loves. He also decided that Maira would be a "pink" nutcracker. What vision. I took this paper on Sunday night at around midnight or so, as Amanda was finishing the costumes.....

Ben, Betsey, Polly, and Brownlow came by to Trick or Treat--although I wish they had time to stay longer and have some of the great chili I made! Polly was an adorable ladybug, and Brownlow was a monkey.....please note Callum's "things" he brought with him: his sword (obviously), his pumpkin trick or treat bag with his name on it that Nannie got him (obviously) and his stuffed puppy named Teddy (obviously).....
Here's Amanda and our adorable, pink, chubby little nutcracker....she loved being dressed up and laughed all night!
I would say we got close to three hundred kids again....we went through seven and a half bags of candy. Callum and the kids started at five (and were done by 5:15) and then we had the rush hour from about 6-730. By 8 the place was a ghost town. I only had two drunk/under the influence of drugs kids this year. My friend Dave can vouch for that! A good year...haha
Bill and Terry across the street gave Callum and Maira their own customized little bags....very cute and thoughtful! Inside Maira's was a box of shortbread butter cookies, which she LOVED. I know someone else in the house--who isnt Callum or me--who also loves these types of cookies....like mother like daughter.....
Our friends Dave and Muriel came by, as they did last year. Unfortunately, in the tumult of putting the kids to bed/eating dinner/cleaning up, we didnt get any pictures of them. Too bad! But we were happy to have them, as always!

Here's me and my wonderful kids as we prepare to go rape the neighborhood of candy......
Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday in Nov.....why can't Halloween always be on a Saturday?? Who says?? Mondays suck for kids and candy.....