Rib Eating Contest

There was a guy who lived near a shoe. He ate so many ribs and kept them down too!

My husband has a competitive side to him. In 2009 his chili won second place at the NJ State Fair. We were so proud of him even though we really thought he should have won first place! When he saw that a local BBQ restaurant was having a rib eating contest he thought it might be fun to enter. He thought and thought and thought. I kept him abreast of the number of contestants who had signed up according to my Facebook news feed and when there were two spots left, the day before the contest, we raced over to the restaurant to sign him up.

The Ribinator in action

Nine out of ten of the contestants showed up. It was a mixed crowd - tattoos and no tattoos, muscular and couch potatoes and young and old. During the seven minute competition, my husband was able to down 29 ribs! A noteworthy feat! But, alas, the winner was able to consume 45 ribs during that time! We were still very proud of my husband for his noble attempt and the fact that he still wanted to go out for ice cream afterwards (I won't even mention the Slurpee he consumed after that!). Needless to say, he does not feel like eating BBQ anytime in the near future. I don't blame him!

After the competition.

Grandpa's Birthday

President's Day was the perfect time to celebrate my dad's birthday since everyone was off from work. The six adults feasted on 200 clams cooked on the grill by my husband. They were delish! We also had hamburgers (Claire ate 1/2 of one!), then sang "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed strawberry shortcake. It was a fun family day!

Claireisms

I started this post back on 11/28/10, but didn't publish it because I kept adding to it and I didn't want to forget anything. This is a list of Claireisms and their definitions. Some of them are pretty easy to figure out, others are a little more difficult and most of them are funny or cute (At least we think so!).

meat snack - Slim Jim
midifier - humidifier
post to - supposed to
chest milk - breast milk
chest-feeding - breastfeeding
chest holder - bra
pasti - pasta
cucake - cupcake
pork a jeez - Portuguese
Handy Mandy - Handy Manny
sumping - something
Daddy's juicy - V-8 Fusion juice
mimis - m+ms
my favorite crackers - Club crackers
my favorite melon - cantaloupe
hop tart - Pop Tart
Lauire Berkmer - Laurie Berkner
Humpy Dumpy - Humpty Dumpty

And, as an added bonus, here are some noteworthy/cute/funny things she's said:

What did you said?

I'm the goodest on Santa's nice list.

Mommy: Hanukkah is coming up. It's a holiday that lasts for eight nights.
Claire: Eight nights?!?!? That's it?????

When talking about holidays, I told her that I celebrated Christmas when I was little and Daddy celebrated Hanukkah, so now that we're married, we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. She thought for a few minutes, then said, "When I grow up I'm going to celebrate all three: Christmas, Hanukkah AND Kwanzaa!!!"

Recently, at a friend's house, Claire complained, "Mommy, ______ (name of friend) hurt my femur!!!"

When she was really little, she used to say, "Can my hold you?" instead of "Can I hold you?" or "Can you hold me?" and "I lub you," instead of "I love you."

Valentine's Day Weekend

On Friday night we went to our friends' house for a Valentine's Day Pajama Playdate. Claire and I wore our pajamas (Claire actually wore her favorite nightgown.). We made some delicious sugar cookies to share with our friends. Claire had so much fun playing with the kids and the mommies had a great time talking and catching up.

We worked on Claire's valentines on Sunday and boy to I regret waiting until the last day to do them!! Claire was "tired" after signing her name to three of her princess valentines. She had 30 to sign! Somehow she got some energy and cranked out all 30, then I addressed them and attached princess stickers to the little cards. She enjoyed mailing them at school on Monday, just in time for her school's Valentine's Day party.

After school we stopped by my sister in law's house for a little Valentine's Day playdate with my nephews and my parents.

Build a Bear Birthday Party

We celebrated Claire's friend Ilana's birthday at Build a Bear this afternoon. The last time Claire was at Build a Bear she was less than a year old. We've managed to pass Build a Bear in the mall and wave to the big bears outside and call it "the bear store." But now she knows the truth! I think my credit card will get more use as a result.

Before the party, Claire was a little nervous, saying, "But, I don't know how to build a bear!" I assured her that we would help her and she would be able to do it and it would be FUN. Once the party got started, she relaxed a little and started enjoying the experience of building her own bear which she named Fantastic. She had so much fun with the other kids as they built, cleaned and dressed their bears. After everyone had their bears, they received a little home for their bear and then we headed to the food court for some treats and one of the best ice cream cakes we've ever had!

It was a great party and we were happy to be able to celebrate with Ilana -- one of Claire's oldest friends.

40th Anniversary

My parents had their 40th wedding anniversary in January. We've never been much for anniversary celebrations, but we decided to do something special for this one because it was a biggie (and my grandmother said we should). We immediately thought of the perfect way to celebrate and made reservations at Perona Farms for their awesome Sunday bruncheon. The last time we went was six years ago to celebrate my dad's birthday.

My parents, my brother and his family, my grandmother and our family all went to the bruncheon which was delicious!!! It was a little more crowded than we would have liked because there were two parties there (including a large group of hungry Boy Scouts who may wish to work on a badge on manners and etiquette), in addition to all of the regular bruncheon guests. We feasted on shrimp, clams, oysters, home made donuts, waffles, blueberry pancakes, eggs, bagels, bread, croissants, fresh fruit and assorted desserts. It was especially nice for my grandmother who used to visit Perona Farms often as a young lady since her parents had a lake house in Lake Mohawk (My parents and grandmother tried to locate said lake house on the way back to our house, but were unable to find it due to the massive amount of snow on all of the properties and the fact that they renumbered all of the house numbers.).

We couldn't let the occasion pass by without a cake. My husband insisted on an ice cream cake since EVERYONE likes ice cream cake. After relaxing and chatting for a while, we enjoyed cake. It was a wonderful family day! Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!!! We love you both sooooooo much!!!

Hiiiiii ya!!!!! (Karate Birthday Party)

We went to a really fun birthday party today for Claire's friend, Brandon. It was held at the karate studio where Brandon takes karate. The kids participated in several physical activities including stretching, an obstacle course, "musical hoops" and a relay race. I have never been to a karate class or studio before and I thought it was fabulous!! After all of the activities, everyone enjoyed pizza and cake. What a fun, fun party!!

Claire going through the obstacle course wearing the hat she insisted on wearing.

Obstacle Course - Claire followed by the Birthday Boy

The End of "Musical Hoops" When all of the Kids Squeezed into One Hula Hoop