Pirate Hugo the Tickler

I love these pictures of Pirate Hugo!  This past Friday night we went to a birthday party, at a spot in the mall, which was filled to the brim with jump houses.  The kids went wild.  Hugo's favorite was a structure with a climbing ladder on one end and giant slides on the other.  The girls played and tried out each and every house.  I knew they would enjoy themselves, but they had a blast!  Hugo had so much fun jumping, climbing and sliding that he wouldn't stop to eat.  He barely made it to sing Happy Birthday to Allen and he didn't have any cake.   He climbed and slid.

Hugo walked away from Allen's birthday party with a balloon and a cup full of goodies at the end of the night, which thrilled him to pieces.  Hugo discovered a foam glider in a flat package inside his cup.  Put it together the second his coat was off in the house and tossed it about to fly through the air over and over till bed time.  By mid-morning today, it had been destroyed by the duo named Marlo & Toula.  They happily tore it to pieces together.  Hugo had a melt down.  Back to the cup we looked for some happy inspiration.

Hugo pulled out an eye patch and a fuzzy, stickable mustache.  As I tied the elastic string onto the eye patch Hugo ran from the kitchen.  Soon he reappeared wearing his pirate hat.  The costume that matches no longer fits him, but... I remembered that Auntie Millie and Lucas had included an outgrown pirate costume for Hugo in a box they sent just before departing to Spain.  I reminded Hugo where it was in his room and off again he ran.  So, we put his eye patch on and attached the mustache beneath his nose, he tugged his hat upon his head as I helped him into Luke's old costume.  Hugo was soooo happy!  I declared it was picture time and that he needed some pirate loot, together we hurried upstairs laughing all the way.  I took these pics and then out the door he ran to make the dump run with Papa all dolled up as a pirate.

Stickers

Here is a quick post to inform one and all, that our Miss Marlo loves stickers.  She has even been sticking stickers on her sidekick Toula.  I'm not sure what Toula thinks about stickers.  She doesn't run at the site of Marlo approaching, so I suppose, I'll take that as a sign that Toula must not mind stickers and may even like being stuck with stickers by Marlo.

Sunday

The morning of our last day of Thanksgiving Break, Cesar and I had hoped to sleep in.  I think the kids took pity on us and didn't rise till eight!  Vovo spoiled us with more of her waffles and she made a delicious Portuguese soup for lunch.  Hugo wouldn't touch it.  He didn't even try it.  Well, I tried it, and three bowls later was singing, "there's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so yummy!"  The soup is called Caldo Verde and reminded me a lot of a dish which my family calls Fish Soup.  There is no fish in our soup, you simply have to "fish" for pieces of ham amongst the potatoes and onion slices.  Caldo Verde is a simple potato, chourico (Portuguese sausage) and kale soup.  Delicious. 

Hugo The Movie

On Saturday we decided to see the movie Hugo.  First we took the kids, and Toula, to the park to tire them out.  We were taking the girls with us to the movie, so they needed to play, play, play so that when they ate popcorn and the lights went dim in the theater...  little girlies would fall fast asleep.

So we played, and we ate popcorn, and we ate Maria cookies and drank soda, but there was no sleeping.  Miss Sabine would not settle.  Little Miss Sabine was a giant pill.  We were kicked out of the movie!  I was kinda sorta mortified.  The up side of being kicked out of a movie due to noisy babies, is that your money will be refunded.  We saw about 1/3 of the movie Hugo.  I wonder how it ended?

Black Friday

Black Friday has rarely ever, ever, ever found us out amongst the crowds in the mall shopping, but today, that's just exactly where we were.  And without a stroller!  Cesar wanted to get the Mac Book Air and Apple had a little special, so... off we loaded the tribe into the van, plus Carolina, to the Apple store.  Hugo loves the Apple store because he can sit at his own computer, on a seat shaped like a giant ball, and has before him all sorts of new kid games to try out.  He calls it...  the puter store.  I was surprised how speedy Cesar's transaction was, we were out of there in no time at all.  

We made a quick pit stop into Williams & Sonoma for a gift and then we were off, aimlessly walking the crowded shopping center.  I suggested chocolate malts were in order, Cesar agreed and we were soon pointed in the direction of the food court.   Can you believe we didn't know where the food court was?  This was not my normal, local mall.  So, Cesar got the malts from Johnny Rockets, yummmm!  Two large chocolate malts which he bought for Hugo, the girls, and myself to split.  I had a pouty face on...  Hugo had a malt all to himself while I shared with Marlo and Sabine.  I must admit, that in the end, my tummy had just the right amount of chocolate malt in it even if I had to share (more pouty face).  Marlo and Sabine would have each sucked down their own large malt if Papa would have been splurging for more, but that's another story.  

The sad part of my story, is that Hugo didn't like his malt.  Translation = he thought he was getting chocolate ice cream with sprinkles.  As Cesar helped usher the kids, his mom and I into a booth and seats in the food court we discussed what he should buy, Hugo kept saying, "you know what I want Papa, you know what I want" with this happy face on.  I don't think Cesar heard a word out of his son's mouth.  The food court had a Ben & Jerry's so I had assumed myself that Cesar would have ordered ice cream.  I was pretty surprised when he came back with just the shakes and nothing else.  Okay.  Hugo was bummed he got a malt and not ice cream with sprinkles, which I really think he was only interested in the sprinkles, but in the end, he slurped it down.  So then the really sad part happened.  Hugo accidentally knocked over his giant chocolate malt and it spilled all over our table and leaked onto the floor.  It was so very sad.

Even more sad news, is that we discovered that Charlotte, this super cool German jewelry company that we both like, is no longer in the mall.  I don't know if they went out of business or simply moved to a new location.  I would like to hope they found better digs. 

Then we drove home.  Or, I should write, back to Vovo's house.  Sabine fell asleep in the van on the way home. The photo of Marlo asleep on the floor I couldn't resist taking.  Sabine kept sleeping as I carried her into the house and up the stairs.  Marlo was settled to sleep with her lavender unicorn pillow pet and her blankie upon the air mattress she shared with Hugo.  I guess she got up and did some exploring before she crashed in a heap on top of her quilt, for when I crept into the room to check on her, I discovered she had ransacked all our bags searching for who knows what.  Little girls, little girls.  

Oh, and Cesar has been playing backgammon with anyone who will sit still long enough to indulge him.  And Hugo's favorite game?  Sorry.  Or, in Hugo Land it needs to be pronounced as SoooooREEEEYY!

Thanksgiving

Things I am Thankful for:  Love in my Life, my Children, our Home, Food in our pantry, Recipes to Make, Ideas to knit, Paint samples, spring time Bulbs, Down comforters, a gigantic Wood pile, our Families, Sisters, my Camera, Kisses, New Words spoken from sweet mouths, Risois, a hot Shower, Contractors, Hugo Dancing, Sunsets, a warm November, Friends, my Testimony, Holiday Spirit, the Breaks in our van, Slippers, Lavender anything, hand Holding and puppy Dogs.