Recently in Family Category

OK, maybe not exactly fashion models, but still part of a national ad campaign.

Here’s the backstory. My youngest sister works for Cole Haan in their NYC headquarters, and as part of their Mother’s Day advertising, they asked for staff pictures with their mothers. My mother probably does a better job explaining from here.

Cole Haan corporate advertising in New York went to staff and asked for pictures of mothers with their daughters to use for this program. So Emily emailed me and I sent her a couple of shots which she actually passed on. … The second picture I actually didn’t expect her to pass on, as it is a close-up of me holding her the afternoon after she was born. I am looking into the camera with a big smile on my face and she lying in my arms, eyes closed, with a little attempt of a bow put in her hair by the nursing staff. My hair is very brown in the picture, and the glasses are real ’70s look….large brown frames! I still have the robe that I am wearing in that picture…

So, I went by the Richmond store for Cole Haan at lunch today, and what do you know — right in the front window to the store was that second picture, as part of a full collage. (It’s on the top row of the collage, near the right corner.) It was on a panel that is plugged in and can be backlit at night (I’m guessing). The staff let me take a picture of it.

So, there you have it. A couple of nationwide fashion models. Congrats on the “fame.” It really looks nice. (I’ll try not to say anything about the glasses.)

Yes, the kids are growing up, so they’re wanting to see movies in the movie theater. With Sean and Daniel now being 3 years old, they can almost sit through a movie in the theater. So we’ve taken them with us to see a couple of movies recently.

Today, we saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. OK, not the best quality movie in the world. And we hadn’t seen the original until this morning (we rented it). But the kids had fun with it, and it kept their attention. The second one felt a bit more forced, and the music just didn’t do it for me (the classics they remade for the original were better, if one can call them that). But this was for the kids, so it was a moderate hit. Still, if you can divert them from spending the money on this one in the theater, do it. (And the original was better than this one.)

Last month, we saw Fantastic Mr. Fox. Personally, I don’t see what the hubbub was about. I actually found myself rather bored by the story. Sean and Daniel certainly weren’t into it as much. We actually went to this one as part of an after-school activity with Will’s second grade class, as they had read the story in school. I have not read the book, so maybe there is more depth in there than was shown in the movie. But the movie didn’t invest me in the fate of the characters, despite me not knowing what was going to happen, so I felt rather let down on the experience. I guess it means different things to different people. (Personally, I think the Hollywood hype, given who was involved in the project, has invested a certain aura-you-should-not-question to the project.)

Anybody with any other kid movie recommendations? We’ve heard good things about The Princess And The Frog.

Yes, we did wind up with a White Christmas. OK, technically it’s not snowing now, and the snow on the ground is almost a week old. But there is snow still there, so I think it counts.

The kids were wild this morning, tearing into their presents. They were really happy to see what Santa and family gave them. But things have now settled down a bit, though you certainly wouldn’t know it by looking at the floor.

But let’s also remember what this season is all about. And Linus and Charlie Brown really seem to have it down. (Yes, this is a repeat from last year. It’s still as relevant.)

I finally got the video and pictures straight from last weekend. After a heavy snowfall on Friday night, we awoke to more snow throughout the morning. But it stopped right before lunchtime, with only scattered snow that afternoon. Sunday morning was brisk, but clear in the sky. And by the afternoon, we started to get some melt on the parts of the road/driveway/sidewalk that had been cleared off.

The pictures cover the full range of the snow. All 3 kids got out on Saturday before lunchtime, but Sean and Daniel napped later in the afternoon when Will and Kellie went out to finish the snowman. Will spent Sunday with Gwama, so our time outside later that afternoon was spent with Sean and Daniel.

As you can see from the pictures above and video below, Sean and Daniel largely confined themselves to the sidewalk. They just didn’t like walking in the deep and uneven snow underfoot. But this afternoon, we got them home before sunset and spent some time outside, and they finally started wandering around in the snow on their own. Sean, in particular, was making fresh snow tracks. And we finally got a toboggan track going that all 3 kids went down a few times. We’ll see if the snow can last until Friday, for a white Christmas.

We shall see how significant this winds up. I have lived in Richmond for 10 years, and this is being predicted as possibly the most snow that I will have seen in my time here — 8 to 12 inches. However, I just found this winter storm warning bulletin, as I was writing this entry, and it looks like they’re predicting at least 12 inches.

Should be an interesting time. In the meantime, just to give you a sense of how fast it is falling, here’s some video shot an hour after the snow started, and then three hours after it started. The snow was already as thick as it typically gets after just 3 hours. (When it snows here, we usually don’t get much to allow sledding or building snowmen, though we did back in March.) And we’ve probably got another 24+ hours of snowfall ahead of us.

11:45pm update: Heading to bed now. The winter weather advisory now reads 16 to 22 inches for the region. And I only checked 90 minutes ago for the image above. I currently have 7 inches of snow on the front stoop, and it’s been snowing slightly less than 7 hours so far. Yes, this one will be a doozy.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. I hope she had a good birthday, although probably not as relaxing as she would have liked. Daniel had to see the doctor this morning about a cough. We seem to have caught it in time. There went much of her free time she had planned on today.

(The photo is one from October, when we visited Aunt Iris and Debbie at their farm. Yes, from an event I haven’t written about.)

Then, it was off to see Legendary Santa. All 3 boys actually sat still (no crying or shyness) for Santa — a first as a group. (There has always been at least one before this time.) More on that later. After all, this is about Kellie’s birthday.

Which meant a birthday dinner out — at O’Toole’s. This one was kind of cool, in that her brother Tim was also in town, so they got to celebrate their birthday together for once. (I guess I should wish him a happy birthday, too.) Of course, 3 kids don’t last forever in a restaurant, so we were the first to leave, while the rest of the Padgett clan stayed behind.

I know she’s tired, but I hope she still enjoyed her birthday. Now, for that backrub she was asking for…

OK, first off, mornings are never good for me. I am not a morning person. But Sean picked up Will’s backpack and put it on (almost the the ground, but he could walk around with it), so of course, it’s picture time. And then Sean and Daniel insisted everyone should have a picture taken. And that lead to this round of pictures.

My second excuse? It’s been seven days since I first came down with the flu. I’m actually over it now (really, yesterday), but sleeping was tough most nights, with all of the coughing. So that’s the “real-life,” droopy-eyed view you get of me. I normally look much more chipper. (I think I also didn’t try to look better when the picture was taken.)

I hope none of you get this flu bug. It’s one of the longest lasting ones I have ever gotten.

At least we wished him a happy birthday as a family closer to his actual birthday, which was last Tuesday (October 6). (Still a day late, but it turns out we likely wouldn’t have reached him anyway that evening. Not that that should be a consolation or anything.)

I’m sure Dad doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I’m here to still wish him a happy birthday, no matter how belated on the Internet. (No, I won’t give away age details.) He got a nice game of golf in on his special day, and he was even able to avoid going in the office. (Good for him.) It was a nice, quiet birthday for him, from what I understand.

So here’s to another year of fun and family for Dad/Grampa. Happy birthday, again — at least one more time this year. Maybe I’ll actually start catching up on some of the other family details that I’m falling behind on.

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve written something. So here’s a quick note to kick off the week.

First, we should note that Will started second grade this year. It was tough to get a picture of Will getting on his school bus because it was raining and pouring outside. It meant I stayed in my car with the twins, so that they could see the bus, while Kellie stood under an umbrella with Will. And holding an umbrella makes it difficult to take a photo while protecting said camera.

Ah well, we have pictures from last year. Not too different, other than the rain.

At least on Labor Day, we were able to be outside and play at the park. I think you can see that it was already getting overcast then, but it still made for some fun times playing there. It’s pretty much a free-for-all, as the kids can climb on almost everything provided — and they really have some neat stuff available. Ah, to have been a kid when the current generation of playground equipment is available. It might have also prevented me from crushing my fingernail that one time, too.

And yes, Daniel insists on playing football with a baseball glove on. All the better to catch with, I guess, though he will catch without it, too. He certainly loves his sports toys, including the batting tee. And you should see him run with a football — and fall down at the end of his run, like he had been tackled. (That reminds me — I have to get video of that some time.)

So, what does this have to do with the title of this post? Well, let’s just say that a certain set of training wheels came off today. Nothing to report yet — not even a little boo-boo. We didn’t get far enough for that, but we did experiment with understanding the need to put feet down when stopping. But there was supported forward, pedaled motion. Stay tuned.

Other stuff that will get greater detail later — Sean is almost potty-trained (at least at day care); Kellie, Will and I went to Busch Gardens yesterday for a birthday celebration; and Will will be joining Cub Scouts this year.

Yup, she had another birthday today — somewhere between the age of 30 and 40. (I won’t give away any more.) She even willingly put on a birthday hat to celebrate.

OK, for those who were there, she actually put the hat on to celebrate Nicholas’s birthday (two weekends ago), but it’s still a groovy hat that she should make a part of her regular wardrobe.

Hopefully, she got some of the presents she wants. So let’s wish Emily a happy birthday today. May she have many more happy and blessed birthdays in the future.

(And hopefully, I don’t pay for posting a picture of her in this hat in public.)