(I really did send this to him. After 10 years, I'm giving up subtle entirely.)
Dear Mr. Hickman,
This is to remind you that your wife's birthday is 28 days, or 4 weeks, away. She has maintained, updated, and prioritized an extensive wish list that you may take advantage of. Know that items rated "highest" are most wanted, "high" are also much wanted. Some items are noted as "4-for-3" which means if you order any 4 of them, you get the least expensive free. Amazon is known for quick shipping but you should order birthday items at least 1 1/2 weeks ahead of time to be certain. Your wife also loves chocolate and has spelled out her ideal gift box in this blog post, which also includes the link to order it.
It is recommended that you set yourself a reminder for January 21 or 22, which is about a week and a half before her birthday, to do some thinking and shopping. Please flag this email for quick reference. Furthermore, know that any items obtained in exchange for the Christmas gifts you said you would return count as Christmas gifts, not birthday or Mother's Day gifts. Your timely attention to that issue is greatly appreciated.
Finally, Valentine's Day is a mere 12 days after your wife's birthday. It is a time to ponder and express your love for each other. Some of the gifts on her wish list may do that better than others. Flowers and well-thought-out acts of kindness are also good ideas on that day. January 31 is a good day to start thinking about Valentine's Day. It is common to not think about February dates while still in January, so another Blackberry reminder is recommended.
Thank you for your attention to these crucial matters.
Sincerely,
K. Hickman
Hickman Family Administrator
Showing posts with label Ed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ed. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Phew
I haven't been on here for awhile. I've had a few things going on, most of which are over now. Phew.
It was good for her to see what the rest of us do while she's at school; dropping Ginger off at preschool was especially hard for her, being the one that drops off and then runs Mom's errands, which is what Ginger did for two years. But we also got her one of those big kindergarten workbooks so she could keep up her reading and writing progress. I also taught her alphabetical order and two-digit subtraction so she stayed busy. But we're all glad she's back in school.
Phew, Ed's hunting trip is over. He was gone for eight days, which I think is the longest he's been gone since before we left Colorado, since before we had kids. It was extremely difficult for me to be supportive of the trip this year, with Poppy not sleeping well, three kids on my own day and night for over a week seemed trying. I feel a little lame saying that, knowing some readers do more kids on their own for more days on a regular basis, but for me this was hard. Poppy continued to not sleep well, and we all go our first taste of good old-fashioned hard-core crying-it-out so I could get some sleep and function the next day. Single parents have no back-up. That said, by the end of the week I really had my game on, probably adrenaline-fueled, and plus I need to shout out a thank-you to those who invited us over to play, eat and visit (and those to whom I invited myself.)
Ed kept his beard, my one non-negotiable condition of the trip, and while the girls and I loved kissing and rubbing it, Poppy was not a fan. It took her awhile to warm back up to him.
Oh, and for those who care, the hunt was all he hoped for - great weather, major hiking, several dead animals, blood stained clothes, blistered feet, etc.
Phew, the church Halloween party is over. My friend Shanna and I are the activities committee co-chairs and Halloween is definitely our biggest party, followed closely by Christmas. Halloween just has a lot of little parts, all of which need their own supplies and staff. But it pulled together fabulously: trick-or-treating, cupcake walk, 2-and-under room (with balloons and fly swatters, love it), doughnuts and cider, pumpkin carving contest, ring toss, beanbag toss, pumpkin bowling, disk drop (plinko), story time, and new this year a photo booth set up in the foyer. People's costumes were fabulous and now is as good a time as any to show you ours: Ed and I were in togas, and there is Queen Hazel, Mary Poppins and of course our Poppy the Poppy.
So glad that's over. But no time to rest - we are already working on the Christmas party.
Phew, our family photos are in and they turned out well. Thank you Alia! I will do another post soon to show you a few more, but here is a sneak peek:
Cute, right?
Phew. Now on to November!
Phew, Hazel's fall break is over. It was fun while it lasted. Two weeks of kindergartner energy was put to use - a visit from the England cousins, a trip to the zoo, a day at Grandma's, park runs, dentist appointments, and many TV shows, art projects, and baking sessions at home filled our time. 
Phew, Ed's hunting trip is over. He was gone for eight days, which I think is the longest he's been gone since before we left Colorado, since before we had kids. It was extremely difficult for me to be supportive of the trip this year, with Poppy not sleeping well, three kids on my own day and night for over a week seemed trying. I feel a little lame saying that, knowing some readers do more kids on their own for more days on a regular basis, but for me this was hard. Poppy continued to not sleep well, and we all go our first taste of good old-fashioned hard-core crying-it-out so I could get some sleep and function the next day. Single parents have no back-up. That said, by the end of the week I really had my game on, probably adrenaline-fueled, and plus I need to shout out a thank-you to those who invited us over to play, eat and visit (and those to whom I invited myself.)
Ed kept his beard, my one non-negotiable condition of the trip, and while the girls and I loved kissing and rubbing it, Poppy was not a fan. It took her awhile to warm back up to him.
Oh, and for those who care, the hunt was all he hoped for - great weather, major hiking, several dead animals, blood stained clothes, blistered feet, etc.Phew, the church Halloween party is over. My friend Shanna and I are the activities committee co-chairs and Halloween is definitely our biggest party, followed closely by Christmas. Halloween just has a lot of little parts, all of which need their own supplies and staff. But it pulled together fabulously: trick-or-treating, cupcake walk, 2-and-under room (with balloons and fly swatters, love it), doughnuts and cider, pumpkin carving contest, ring toss, beanbag toss, pumpkin bowling, disk drop (plinko), story time, and new this year a photo booth set up in the foyer. People's costumes were fabulous and now is as good a time as any to show you ours: Ed and I were in togas, and there is Queen Hazel, Mary Poppins and of course our Poppy the Poppy.
So glad that's over. But no time to rest - we are already working on the Christmas party.Phew, our family photos are in and they turned out well. Thank you Alia! I will do another post soon to show you a few more, but here is a sneak peek:
Cute, right?Phew. Now on to November!
Monday, July 05, 2010
Daddy-Daughter(s) Date
Last week Ed took Hazel and Ginger on their first official Daddy-daughter date. It was the sweetest thing you could imagine.
Sometime last winter we borrowed the movie "Mary Poppins" from the library. I thought the girls might like the music, didn't know if they could follow the story. Well, they LOVED it. I had to sit through it a few times answering their questions. Then, once they had the gist, and knew when the "scary parts" were coming up (like Michael and the mean men at the bank), they could watch on their own. And watch they did. We had it from the library so much that we finally bought the DVD for Hazel's birthday, plus this cute Mary Poppins doll. It suffices to say, we're fans.
So when I heard "Mary Poppins" the Broadway musical was coming to D.C., at the Kennedy Center, this summer, I took notice. I thought it through. We would have a new baby. Ginger would be just shy of 3 1/2. I bought three tickets and decided we would figure it out when the time came. We thought if Ginger couldn't stay up late enough, or sit through it, Hazel could take a friend instead. But in the end it would have just been cruel to take Hazel and not Ginger.
So last Friday I made sure they both took good afternoon naps. When they woke up they put on their best Sunday dresses. I unearthed my curling iron, which I honestly don't think I've used since my wedding nine years ago. The girls had no idea what it was so I had to explain it, and once I started curling their hair I remembered how inept I am at it, and why it had gone so long unused. I didn't even have any hairspray in the house to do it right, but it was the process that was fun. Here are the before-and-afters:
Ed came home early to pick them up. He took them to dinner at the Kennedy Center Cafe before the show, where they shared prime rib, vegetables and chocolate pudding, with typically overpriced Mary Poppins souvenier cups of water. Then they took their seats.
I got Ed's report of the evening first, so I would be able to make sense of the jumbling explanations the girls gave me all the next day.
"And there was a bad nanny in this one, and she went in a cage!" (Apparently the story is quite different in the stage show.)
"And Mom, there was no Mom in this one!" (Ginger had a hard time distinguishing Mrs. Banks from some of the other women in the play.)
"Mom, what's a butler?" (No Ellen, a butler instead.)
Despite a few bathroom emergencies, the long line for overpriced concessions at intermission, and a very tired Ginger who didn't want to stay for the second act (Ed persuaded her with "Step In Time", which is her favorite song and hadn't come on yet), it was a fabulous evening. I admit, I was jealous. But I also really wanted Ed to have this experience with the girls, and vice versa. I was asleep when they got home, but they came in with whispery giggles to kiss me goodnight. I hope they know they're the luckiest girls in the world.
So, what did Poppy and I do while they were gone? Got a salad from Wendy's for dinner (they have all new ones, have you seen?) Watched my recorded shows from the week - Top Chef and Burn Notice. I got Poppy down to sleep a few times but she kept waking up crying. I suspect she knew something was up - the house was too still and she missed her sisters. I didn't mind; I was a little lonely myself, so she stayed up with me and watched Michael Westin kick some drug dealer's butt. So satisfying. And finally, once she conked out on the couch next to me, I moved her to bed and went there myself. For me these days, nothing beats climbing into bed and falling immediately to sleep. Not even a spoonful of sugar.
Sometime last winter we borrowed the movie "Mary Poppins" from the library. I thought the girls might like the music, didn't know if they could follow the story. Well, they LOVED it. I had to sit through it a few times answering their questions. Then, once they had the gist, and knew when the "scary parts" were coming up (like Michael and the mean men at the bank), they could watch on their own. And watch they did. We had it from the library so much that we finally bought the DVD for Hazel's birthday, plus this cute Mary Poppins doll. It suffices to say, we're fans.
So when I heard "Mary Poppins" the Broadway musical was coming to D.C., at the Kennedy Center, this summer, I took notice. I thought it through. We would have a new baby. Ginger would be just shy of 3 1/2. I bought three tickets and decided we would figure it out when the time came. We thought if Ginger couldn't stay up late enough, or sit through it, Hazel could take a friend instead. But in the end it would have just been cruel to take Hazel and not Ginger.
So last Friday I made sure they both took good afternoon naps. When they woke up they put on their best Sunday dresses. I unearthed my curling iron, which I honestly don't think I've used since my wedding nine years ago. The girls had no idea what it was so I had to explain it, and once I started curling their hair I remembered how inept I am at it, and why it had gone so long unused. I didn't even have any hairspray in the house to do it right, but it was the process that was fun. Here are the before-and-afters:
Ed came home early to pick them up. He took them to dinner at the Kennedy Center Cafe before the show, where they shared prime rib, vegetables and chocolate pudding, with typically overpriced Mary Poppins souvenier cups of water. Then they took their seats.
I got Ed's report of the evening first, so I would be able to make sense of the jumbling explanations the girls gave me all the next day."And there was a bad nanny in this one, and she went in a cage!" (Apparently the story is quite different in the stage show.)
"And Mom, there was no Mom in this one!" (Ginger had a hard time distinguishing Mrs. Banks from some of the other women in the play.)
"Mom, what's a butler?" (No Ellen, a butler instead.)
Despite a few bathroom emergencies, the long line for overpriced concessions at intermission, and a very tired Ginger who didn't want to stay for the second act (Ed persuaded her with "Step In Time", which is her favorite song and hadn't come on yet), it was a fabulous evening. I admit, I was jealous. But I also really wanted Ed to have this experience with the girls, and vice versa. I was asleep when they got home, but they came in with whispery giggles to kiss me goodnight. I hope they know they're the luckiest girls in the world.
So, what did Poppy and I do while they were gone? Got a salad from Wendy's for dinner (they have all new ones, have you seen?) Watched my recorded shows from the week - Top Chef and Burn Notice. I got Poppy down to sleep a few times but she kept waking up crying. I suspect she knew something was up - the house was too still and she missed her sisters. I didn't mind; I was a little lonely myself, so she stayed up with me and watched Michael Westin kick some drug dealer's butt. So satisfying. And finally, once she conked out on the couch next to me, I moved her to bed and went there myself. For me these days, nothing beats climbing into bed and falling immediately to sleep. Not even a spoonful of sugar.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Spanky Bum Bum...REVEALED!
Poppy Maude Hickman
April 23, 2010 at 12:49 pm8 lbs 1 oz 20 3/4 inches
Adored by all...
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Bed Time
After 6 years on a slightly-broken hand-me-down metal frame, a year on a built-in platform in a rented house, and 4 months of a mattress on the floor in our new house, Ed and I have gotten a bed, a real bed.
Wouldn't it be nice if our room actually looked like that?
We picked it up yesterday and assembled it this morning. It was quite the cause for excitement around our house. The girls could be distracted by neither treat nor TV; they wanted to HELP. So Ed found an empty box (yes, we are still unpacking) and told them if they were going to be in our room, they had to stay in the box. The instructions came in both French and English so we gave them the French instructions and told them to supervise.
When we'd gotten a little further along and were working on the corner feet and brackets, we let them out of the box. They brought in their plastic tools and worked on the styrofoam the bed had been packed in.
The assembly was quick and basically painless. It helped that the bed wasn't from IKEA. It's not quite the finished product yet - we still plan to get the headboard and nightstands, just on a different paycheck - but it feels like a new room. And I'm pretty sure tomorrow, when I only have to get up from a sitting position rather than a squat, I will feel like a new woman. Yes, we're getting there, bit by bit.
Wouldn't it be nice if our room actually looked like that?We picked it up yesterday and assembled it this morning. It was quite the cause for excitement around our house. The girls could be distracted by neither treat nor TV; they wanted to HELP. So Ed found an empty box (yes, we are still unpacking) and told them if they were going to be in our room, they had to stay in the box. The instructions came in both French and English so we gave them the French instructions and told them to supervise.
When we'd gotten a little further along and were working on the corner feet and brackets, we let them out of the box. They brought in their plastic tools and worked on the styrofoam the bed had been packed in.
The assembly was quick and basically painless. It helped that the bed wasn't from IKEA. It's not quite the finished product yet - we still plan to get the headboard and nightstands, just on a different paycheck - but it feels like a new room. And I'm pretty sure tomorrow, when I only have to get up from a sitting position rather than a squat, I will feel like a new woman. Yes, we're getting there, bit by bit.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Training
Every August a change comes over Ed. There is a new glint in his eye, a spring in his step. He wakes early to go stair-stepping at the gym. He goes for late night runs. Phone calls with his brother Preston last for hours and Colorado topo maps line every surface in the office. Hunting season is coming. And Ed's in training.
One condition of living on the east coast is that every October Ed returns to Colorado to go elk hunting with his Dad, brothers, and the rest of their hunting crew. I grew up in Fairfax; I don't get it. But I don't have to. After eight years of marriage I know this is something he lives for and loves, and I can support something that makes him so happy. And turns him into a rugged mountain man for a week (grrr)...on the condition that he doesn't shave that red beard off until after he gets home.
So to support the training regimen, we went for a family hike yesterday near Great Falls, about a half hour away. Donning bug spray and sun hats, we embarked on a fairly flat but in some places rocky trail that offered such thrilling discoveries as streams, boulders, wild mushrooms, blue butterflies, mud puddles, acorns and pebbles galore. The girls could have spent all day filling their pockets with pebbles.
When we came near the river bank we took a break to throw them all in the water (the pebbles, not the girls), and Ed gave a brief lesson on skipping stones.
Then it was onward and upward until we stopped for lunch and binocular training.
Though fairly simple, the hike was still an excellent training simulation for our optimistic hunter. On the way in, he packed about 27 pounds of "gear" (Ginger.)
And on the way out, he continued to carry that gear, but added 45 pounds of "meat" (Hazel.)
Because this year, he says, is going to be different. This year, he says, they'll actually get an elk and have something to show for it. That remains to be seen. But in the meantime, we're all in training.
One condition of living on the east coast is that every October Ed returns to Colorado to go elk hunting with his Dad, brothers, and the rest of their hunting crew. I grew up in Fairfax; I don't get it. But I don't have to. After eight years of marriage I know this is something he lives for and loves, and I can support something that makes him so happy. And turns him into a rugged mountain man for a week (grrr)...on the condition that he doesn't shave that red beard off until after he gets home.
So to support the training regimen, we went for a family hike yesterday near Great Falls, about a half hour away. Donning bug spray and sun hats, we embarked on a fairly flat but in some places rocky trail that offered such thrilling discoveries as streams, boulders, wild mushrooms, blue butterflies, mud puddles, acorns and pebbles galore. The girls could have spent all day filling their pockets with pebbles.
When we came near the river bank we took a break to throw them all in the water (the pebbles, not the girls), and Ed gave a brief lesson on skipping stones.
Then it was onward and upward until we stopped for lunch and binocular training.
Though fairly simple, the hike was still an excellent training simulation for our optimistic hunter. On the way in, he packed about 27 pounds of "gear" (Ginger.)
And on the way out, he continued to carry that gear, but added 45 pounds of "meat" (Hazel.)
Because this year, he says, is going to be different. This year, he says, they'll actually get an elk and have something to show for it. That remains to be seen. But in the meantime, we're all in training.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Arlington County Fair
So if you do something twice can you call it a tradition? I think the Arlington County Fair has become one of ours. It's a small fair - no animals besides pony rides and a small petting zoo - but Arlington is a small county. Doesn't mean we can't have a decent fair.We went over two Saturday mornings ago. Hit the petting zoo, bought some tickets, did the obligatory kiddie rides.
Both girls have really matured since last year and actually thought the rides were fun. Nice to not feel like we wasted our money (even though the whole thing is a rip-off, it's relative.)
Got some lunch - it's never as good as it looks or smells or costs, but again, all part of the experience. Got some ice cream for the girls and let them play on the playground while Ed went in the big hall to look at the booths and exhibits.
I had already been in the big hall earlier that week to check on my baked entries. Did I mention I entered some things in the fair? I have a friend who's won a few ribbons, and encouraged me to try it. She said some categories only get a few entries so it can be easy to win. CAN BE, not IS. But I did OK:Chocolate Chip Cookies -
Honorable Mention, Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Crunch Cake - 3rd Place, Exhibitor's Choice Cake
Curry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread - 2nd Place, Banana Bread
Honorable Mention, Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Crunch Cake - 3rd Place, Exhibitor's Choice Cake
Curry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread - 2nd Place, Banana Bread
Not bad for my first try. My friend Rebecca won 1st place in Coffee Cakes with her Key Lime Bread with Coconut Pecan Glaze. (Don't worry, I got the recipe.) I'm already critically thinking about what to enter next year.
Ed came out of the Hall with an armful of brochures, and having entered us in several drawings (which have led to several sales calls.) We caught an impressive performance by a local clogging troupe before heading home for naps. Though it was warm and super humid, it was an awesome day at the fair.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
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