Awkward Sibling Pic, v12.0 (New Year Edition)

Happy 2015! What better way to start off the new year than with an awkward sibling photo?

The kids are visiting Grandma while Mark and I have a getaway, and she texted this gem:

They were going out to eat and she wanted to take their picture and she said they just... lined up like that.

What? Are they playing a game? Are they a train? Does Nathan have an imaginary sibling in front of him? Is Anneliese trying to look creepy? Why is Nathan wearing two hoods? Why does Charlotte look like nothing has ever been more normal in her life? WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING HERE.

Happy awkward new year, I think.

The Christmas When I Forgot Pants

Well, we had ourselves a merry little Christmas. We did the traveling portion of the celebrations before Christmas this year instead of after, which is different for us -- it made the shopping and prep part feel a little rushed, but once we got out of town and got back, we were kind of glad to be home and settled and relax here, just our little family. It felt like far less frenzy than it does some years.

I managed to get all the way to Huntersville, for four family celebrations within three days, and I packed no pants. Zero. NONES PANTS. I wore leggings and a tunic to church on Sunday, and went straight from there out of town. I had packed a bunch of shirts and sweaters but no pants to go with them, and no other tunics or long tops, and no room in our schedule of gatherings to run to Target, so! I wore that tunic and leggings for daaaaaysssss and the good news is I didn't even burn it afterwards.

Anyway. Pictures of Christmas. My outfit on repeat x1000 is barely pictured. Because I can't stand the sight of it. Because obviously.

Reading on his new Kindle, wearing airplane
slippers and reindeer antlers... #doingitright

Anneliese had been asking for colored streaks in her hair for months,
and then Santa put hair chalks in her stocking! She was... excited.

It might be Christmas if your parents let you ride a scooter in the house.

Charlotte also got a new baby doll (she named it Claire, her middle name)
and an Elsa nightgown which we passed off as a dress-up dress. We are smart. 

That awkward moment when you're trying to pretend-
straighten your hair and your dad keeps photo-bombing you.

Giant wall atlas!
Hey Nathan, your Bumgarner is showing.

These magnatiles we gave Nathan were a hit with *all* the kids. RECOMMEND.

Taking pretend selfies with Daddy. Ahhh child of the new millenium.

All the kids/spouses/grandkids were able to make it to Dad's this year! Whoa!

Anneliese and Grandma

Decorating cookies at Ashley's house with my mom.
I'm not saying my decorating was the best, but... it kinda was.

And then I came home and put on jeans and it was awesome, the end.

Christmas Grand Tour, (Mostly Consumerist) Highlights

A crazy Christmas whirlwind, in pictures:

1.) My mom showed up with a Rainbow Brite for Anneliese, and raise your hand if you almost just passed out from jealousy reading that sentence because I totally did.

Anneliese happily strapped her on (the doll is also a backpack, because why not?) and has barely put her down, despite not knowing exactly who Rainbow Brite even was (at first) -- but now that we have read a few books and streamed the 1985 movie (y'all! AMAZON HAS EVERYTHING) she is alllll in: A smart girl with a messy ponytail who runs fast and rides a unicorn with a colorful tail, and whose sidekick is basically a stuffed animal, all while wearing a million rainbows (even leg warmers!) and trying to save the world from being boring and colorless? Just close your eyes and try to imagine anything more Anneliese. See, you can't. She might be Rainbow Brite incarnate. Just throwing a theory out there.

2.) She is also now the proud owner of a glow pet (like every other child in America, apparently) and it is the most tackytastic thing I have ever seen. It is a stuffed animal, that like... unfolds into a pillow? And also glows. 

3.) Nathan got a rainbow loom and he is rainbow looming the crap out of everything (and it takes less and less help from me, which is lovely). These are his first three bracelets: one for him to match his PJs, one for Anneliese, one for Marmie.

4.) My grandpa got out of the hospital (pneumonia) on the morning of our Bumgarner family Christmas, just in time to feed Charlotte a giant bowl of cheesecake and ice cream while she gazed at him adoringly (of course). Yes, that is a cookie in her other hand.

5.) And then in her cake daze, she decided this was a hat. "It's a hat! I found it!" 

6.) My dad got Nathan a Rubik's cube, and much like the puzzles of last year, once he opened it, he was lost to it all afternoon. He also took it to bed.

(He still has not solved it. I know one of you will ask. I am smiling an amused smile at you. Okkkay. No.)

7.) Uncle Sean gave Anneliese a plastic wand with a ribbon on it, and let me tell you, that thing is Christmas GOLD. She has hardly put it down.

I kept joking that she is starting a ribbon ministry and interested applicants should talk to her. (There is a ministry for everything.) (There should not be a ministry for everything.)

8.) Winter coat, socks, no pants: this is the outfit of a child who slipped in a LOT of dog poop at her Aunt Ashley's house. (Five short hours before her big brother did the same thing at Grandpa's neighbor's house. Fourth day of Christmas = dog poop day. You heard it from the Bumgarners first.)

9.) We got Mark's mom a cruiser bike (her new house is near a greenway, and she is Dutch so her brain is probably riding a bike 85% of the time anyway, right?) and y'all, she was so legit excited she just hopped on it right that second and rode up and down the street, waving, while the kids chased and cheered. Maaaaaaybe the best moment of Christmas.

10.) Anneliese got fairy wings. She has asked for them a hundred million times in the last six months, and Grandma found rainbow ones. She wore them to climb on Grandma's new bike. As you do.

11.) All three of my kids now own Devices. There will be firm limits of usage of said Devices, but I am not sure yet exactly what those firm limits will be. For now, the Devices are unlimited Christmas break fun.

(If you're curious, the Devices are LeapPads, they are sturdy and super easy to use, and seem to have lots of games and such available.) They were all very wide-eyed at Opa and Oma's house when they opened these.

12.) We got to use Dad's house as our home base this week for bouncing between relatives' houses in the greater (greater greater) Charlotte area. And we had it to ourselves after he left town (he was on a cruise) (having his house all to ourselves was lovely enough to ease the jealousy of his cruise) (also we ordered a pay per view movie, so) which was hella easy and nice. We spread out ourselves and our kids, Anneliese had the middlest baby honor of getting Grandpa's big bed all to herself, we got pizza from an old high school haunt, and I had a lovely bath. 

(Charlotte and me at Dad's house, taking our selfies instead of going to bed.)

Oh! And I got all four kids to look at the camera at the same time, so I am pretty sure I deserve a medal. 

And that's how you do six Christmases in five days, Boom. (Hashtag exhausted.) Tomorrow Mark and I go home for a few days to ourslves, while the kids ring in the new year here. Christmas travels, the end.

Vegan Feast

So my mother-in-law came to town and if you don't know her, she is very DOWN! DOWN WITH ANIMAL CRUELTY! (and if you do know her or have even met her, you definitely already know this about her).

Nathan invited her to come to his year-end choir festival (festibal, he called it) and it was also her birthday so we thought we should make a big ol' vegan feast for her. Smart, right? I am totally smart enough for that.

Okay but here's the thing: vegan food is mostly weird* and I don't even know where to begin in preparing food that will look and taste normal but is actually like 97% menu items made from various forms of soy.

So we did what any smart people would do and we had a baked potato bar. Complete with chili and real cheese for those of us in the crowd who can only handle so much soy product.

And it took approximately twelve minutes of reading about almond milk to realize the only plausible baking solution was to buy the cake. Which we did. And apparently it tasted lovely.

And Grandma was very happy because birthday cake is one of her very favorite things and she never gets to partake in other people's, or makes it for herself (such a vegan effort!) so basically I was the hero of the hour is what I'm saying. (Kidding.) (Mostly.)

The morning after our feast and before the festibal, the kids also got some Grandma time at the kids museum, so yay for that. Happy happy birthday we love you so much!!

And now we make twice-baked potatoes with our leftovers. Happy MiL's-birthday to us!

*cue comment from Grandma in 3... 2... 1...

Five Christmases in Five Days

Merry Christmas! Yeah yeah yeah. It was a month ago. But who's counting? We can still talk about the holidays, right?

Our usual rush of family visits was somewhat lightened this year because Mark was off work the whole week following Christmas. I mean, it was still five celebrations in five days, but believe me, that is less busy or stressful than some years past. And if you want to get all liturgical semantic (of course you do), we're supposed to celebrate for twelve days anyway. So basically five is easy.

FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS: At home with our babies and coffee and stockings and looking through what Santa brought (this year: a lego table for Nathan, a doll crib for Anneliese, and a push cart full of groceries for Charlotte). Oh and takeout Chinese. Because we're Jewish wannabes? (Nah, because last year I ruined the roast beast so I didn't even attempt anything this time.)

SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS: In Huntersville, at my dad's house. With three siblings missing this year, sadly (Ashley's family was sick, Collin was working, and Brad has that whole pesky living in the virgin islands thing). But all the normal Bumgarner stuff went down properly: Sean brought present wrapped in Bieber paper, my Grandpa snuggled with the kids so hard he fell asleep on the couch, my dad immersed himself in kiddie activities like puzzles and coloring, and of course it's not a Bumgarner Christmas til someone gets defensive and says third cousins don't count! Ahem.

THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS: In Huntersville, with Mark's mom. Y'all, this is what Christmas is supposed to be like. Simple and generous in the best most thoughtful kinds of ways. We ate snacks, we played with new gifts, Anneliese dressed herself as a doctor then planted herself in Uncle Nick's lap and refused to leave his side (you know, like you do). Very sweet evening.

FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: In Mount Holly, at my sister's new house! We opened approximately one bazillion gifts, the most bizzarre of which were a set of plastic sleds. Not one per family. One per kid. You know, because if there has ever been a child who needed a sled, it is Charlotte, the 16-month-old who can't walk and lives in North Carolina. (However, she did love sitting in it and rocking, so there's that. I guess it can be some new indoor seating for us. Good thing it's so... pretty?) Haaaaaaomg. (Love you mom.)

FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: Back in Raleigh, with the very rare treat of having Mark's dad and stepmom for a visit. Charlotte made her first walking attempts, Nathan built legos with Opa, and Anneliese played with her new "computer" (leapfrog game) with Oma until they both cried from laughing.

SEVENTH THROUGH TWELFTH DAYS OF CHRISTMAS: We puttered around at home and on the playground, spent lots of time in our PJs, hit up the kids museum several times, got dressed up for a fancy new year's eve dinner downtown, made a mess of our kitchen celebrating Mr. David's birthday with cake and whiskaaaaay cocktails.

So. Merry (belated) Christmas and happy new(ish) year!

Christmas with Relatives

What's Christmas without a healthy handful of extended family gatherings, right?

Charlotte bonding with Grandma

Uncle John, cousin Liam, and Nathan with his new apron

Great-Grandpa soothes Charlotte the Christmas Elf

Reading books with Grandpa.  Always a win.

Way to go, Uncle John!

Marmie with Liam and Charlotte, the first-Christmas grandbabies!

This collection of pictures is presented as the drama-free version of our family gatherings. Just kidding, it was less chaotic than it looks.  Just kidding, it doesn't look that chaotic, so it was actually more chaotic than it looks.  But not too much drama.  Just kidding, any drama is too much drama but it's unavoidable. Just kidding, it's avoidable but only if you're robots. Just kidding, even robots have drama. Just kidding, I know nothing about robots or their drama. Just kidding, I do, but what I meant to say is Christmas was fine and wonderful and easy. Just kidding, it was fine and wonderful but not easy. Okay I'm done now. Just kidding. No just kidding, I'm really done.

Relatives make me want to say weird snl-related things.  Anyway, merry merry from our people!

Grandparents Galore

Last week we had a steady stream of visitors coming to check out our new arrival. 

For those of you keeping count at home, Nathan and Anneliese and Charlotte have four sets of grandparents.  Although it can be chaotic when it's time to arrange visits, especially around the holidays, most of the time we feel like they're pretty darned lucky to have so many relatives to love (and yes, even spoil) them, and we like being part of a big family.

Marmie (my mom) got to meet Charlotte a week ago Sunday when she brought Nathan and Anneliese back home after their week in Huntersville.

Then on Tuesday, Grandma (Mark's mom) came up and spent the night with us.  She got to finally see our new house, and meet Charlotte...

...and spend some bonding time with all three of her grandbabies.

On Thursday, Opa and Oma (Mark's dad and stepmom) drove up from South Carolina for the morning, and stayed with us for lunch.  They brought toys for big brother and big sister, and lots of hugs for new baby Charlotte.

three generations of Goettsch!

Then in a whirlwind grand finale, Grandpa and Cathy (my dad and stepmom) came to visit on Saturday, bearing barbecue and hugs...

three grandbabies and one more on the way SOON!

...and my Grandpa (who has the distinction of being the only man I know in his generation who never ever seems fazed by baby crying)... 

...and they had Ashley and John hot on their heels.

After all the chaos of the week had died down somewhat, Ashley and John managed all three babies for a few hours so Mark and I could nap.  Together.  Which sounds sweet and sappy but I don't care. It felt oh so good. 

And then they hung out with the kiddies even longer so we could have dinner, just the two of us, out of the house (gotta love the fringe benefits of a baby who learns how to take a bottle way too soon)... and I had my first post-pregnancy beer!  (Which might or might not have made me slightly drunk.  Nine booze free months means it only takes one, apparently.) 

Anyway what all that adds up to is... Ashley pretty much rocks.  And she's going to be an awesome mommy herself in a few short weeks!

For more pictures of Charlotte meeting her grandparents and relatives (and some (non-graphic, don't worry) shots of me teaching Ashley and John about breast pumps)), click here for the photobucket album.