Tuesday night

Went something like this....



The funniest part may have been Jacob standing in the bathroom crying "stick my nails back OOOOONNNNN!!!!!"

Oh well, we're good for another few weeks now.

Jacob and Mom Day

Last Thursday being my day alone with Allison, today was my day alone with Jacob. We played Cars on Wii, watched the Cars DVD, played with Cars cars, and then headed to the library (with Jacob fervently hoping to find Cars books.) We came home with the new Thomas DVD. According to Brian, there is a Thomas rap involved, but I haven't heard it yet.

We also went swimming at the Y. We were the only non-lap swimmers at the pool, but Jacob had great fun and given the cold temperatures outside, his desire to keep his head above water and hair dry worked out well.

Tonight I made phone calls to drum up support for the school district referendum. Overall, no crabby callers, but the crabbier tending people probably just let it go to voicemail.

It's cold, I'm (stir) crazy

Someday, this post will contain a holiday recap / pictures. Perhaps in another month.

Today, it's cold. School is out for the second day in a row due to low wind chills. BTW - schools are canceled here when the wind chill reaches -30 to -40 below (cold enough to freeze exposed skin in 10 minutes). Yesterday, I went ahead and sent Jacob to daycare and just had a day with Allison. Jacob's school will be closed Monday for MLK day, but Allison's will be open, so this seemed kindof fair. This morning I asked Jacob if he wanted to go to school. "No" Ok. So we're all home and the hopes I had of finishing the prep on my ALP class this week is vanished and my total number of back to school prep days has dropped to 2.5. Time flies.

So this is what's we've done this morning: kids watched the Scooby Doo cartoon for the first time ever and liked it. We set up Jacob's racetrack to race the Cars cars. We traced ourselves on large sheets of paper and colored them. We played MarioKart on Wii. It's 11am. I'm out of ideas. Perhaps we'll try and make that carmel cashew popcorn in Allison's cookbook. We made cookies the other day (which I'm eating all of out of boredom). I thought about going swimming at the Y this afternoon, but then wondered if that was such a good idea. Allison and I hit Target yesterday, so shopping is done.

It's easier in the summer when you get bored and you can swim in the pool, take a bike ride, walk the dog, or go to the park. At least we're having dinner with friends tonight, so we will be leaving the house at some point.

Also, I've decided that while Illinois is an all-inclusive "let's give everyone who wants a holiday a holiday so no one gets upset" kind of state (how else does one explain Pulaski Day?). Wisconsin is an all-inclusive "let's give no one a holiday and then no one can get upset" kind of state. Hence, school on Columbus Day, Veteren's Day, President's Day, MLK Day, Pulaski Day, and probably more. I guess that's how they fit it all in between Labor Day and June 5th. Although, I believe with this third day off today, spring break might have gotten one day shorter.

New Belt

It's been a bit of a tough month for Allison with the excitement of Thanksgiving, followed by a birthday party, a snow day, a birthday, and then more parties plus the countdown until Christmas. But today was a pretty good day for her. She sat through the holiday concert at school, and told me she enjoyed watching her 6th grade buddy sing. Then she got a new belt in karate tonight. They earn a new one at the end of each session by collecting stripes on their old belts. At the end of class, though, her teacher commented on how much better she's gotten since she started and asked if she was coming for the next session (in a way that suggesed they wanted her back, not the "please say no" kindof way). I think, too, now her periodic (and much less frequent) antics amuse her instructors more than annoy them.

Birthdays and Holiday Parties

Here are some back notes....

Allison turned 6 last Thursday. Her birthday party was the Sunday before. I believe the kids had fun, but Brian and I were pretty exhausted. First we cut out cookies and while the cookies were baking, the kids played a pin-the-bow-on-the-cat game (just like at my 6th birthday party) and then hit a pinata in the basement. Allison really wanted a pinata. Then we had cake, opened presents, and finally decorated the cookies. We then sent 8 kids hoped up on sugar home to their parents for dinner.





Also that weekend, Brian had his company holiday party, which was followed by a terrible morning of standing in line for Wicked tickets at the PAC. After 3 hours, including one with Jacob after Brian and Allison had to go to their holiday party, I ended up getting tickets by calling Dad and having him order them when they went online at ticketmaster at 10am.

Then Jacob had his daycare holiday party. Here is a picture of him singing with his friends on stage. It was equally cute to see the kids on stage singing as it was to look out to a sea of cameras and camcorders in the audience.

Snow Day!

We've shoveled three times today. No school all around.




(Note - the shovel is for scale - it's upright. The kids are sitting on top of the snowbank along the driveway.)


New rule in the Douglas household - "No snowangels in the street"

Thanksgiving

I'm belated in posting the Thanksgiving pictures. Apologies - they're from the crappy camera.