Best Gift, Worst Gift

Best Gift for Sylvie: Bopping bouncy ball she can ride on. Hard to capture, but here's my Sylvie lady in all her dressed-up new costume glory bopping around the living room!

Worst gift-

Cupcake maker. I admit grandma asked permission before buying it and I consented.

How to make a cupcake

1. Spend half an hour washing everything and hoping it all dries


















2. Find three pieces of equipment you actually need in massive pile of useless equipment.

3. Spend 10 minutes trying to get the wrong piece onto the main cupcake maker. Walk out of the room to read it in "quiet" as children will not quiet for even a moment while you try to make sense out of instructions.

4. Find alternate piece. Put frosting inside piece.

5. Watch as frosting spills out the bottom of piece. Remember that the frosting they give you makes 1 tablespoon at a time and start freaking out. Look how much frosting is on my hand, and how much is left in the bowl.





















6. Tell children cupcakes cooked individually in the microwave are still hot, please do not touch. Repeat 50 times.

7. Get frosting all over everything but the machine. Make second batch of frosting (they only give you about 3 "batches" total). Insert into machine.

8. Let child press lever to make beautiful frosting swirls. Cupcake spins around to make frosting look prettier. In reality, cupcake attempts to escape and frosting is flinging across the room in pretty swirly patterns. Let kids decorate with minute ball-type "sprinkles".




















9. Watch kids enjoy 1 bite each of cupcake and then run towards your furniture covered in chocolate. Run after then wielding baby wipes and threats.

10. Repeat 1/2 hour washing time for each piece now caked with chocolate and package carefully into basement for "next time."

Merry Christmas!!!!

The pictures from Christmas morning are blurry, there just was not enough light and the kids were moving too fast! I took lots of video instead. I'll post one from the night before Christmas....getting ready for Santa!

This year Logan was sooooooooo excited about Santa coming. Sylvie cried about Santa being in the house after I put her to bed. I reassured her I would stay downstairs and make sure he was in and out quick as a wink and did not come upstairs at all.

There was a fun get-together on the 24th for Jorge's family and then home to get ready for Santa and then bed. The 25th was awake, presents, church, and then to my family's house for lots more fun. The highlight of my parent's house was after we all opened presents my mom said we should go downstairs. There was this big row of "BIG" gifts all wrapped up and she said there was one for each of us! So Logan, Sylvie, Jamie, Bobby, Joe, Jorge and Kristin each got a big present. I think we all felt like kids again. It was so much fun!

Tally: Our favorite gifts

Jorge: Laptop Backpack, Fun gadget Digital Tire Gauge, New Suitcase, New books, new movies

Kristin: Jorge got me 2 down pillows and cases, a fleece throw for the family room, and the movie "The Women" - all perfect. From his family I got a new coffee maker, perfume and a steam mop. From my family I got paintings of the kids from my brother (so cool!), IKEA toy shelf/ bins (so I can out them away for real at night!), boots, gloves, clothes, tickets from my aunt to legoland as a family (great idea!) and we actually have a few gift cards. It was a big Christmas and I didn't expect that at all!

Logan: Transformers, Transformers, Transformers (he's in 7th Heaven!) , games, Star Wars guys, Hot Wheels racing loop-the-loop, Power Rangers- the whole Jungle Fury team, Bakugan!, and lots of other boy toys

Sylvie: FP3 Player (music with headphones), Tinkerbell flower houses and dolls, Cupcake maker (can't wait!), and a nursery to take care of her dolls (Craig's List deal!), clothes, a little puppy in a purse. And one of her favorites was a Mermaid book from my mom with her name in it and our family members. So cute!

From my parents, the kids got these cool castles you build with styrofoam tubes. Just to let you know Bobby and I assembled Sylvie's a lot faster than it took Jorge, Logan, Joe and my dad to complete Logan's playhouse. Just so you know:)

We had a fantastic blessed Christmas and it was so wonderful to be around our family.

Here are the kids getting ready for Santa! They were disagreeing about what drink Santa wanted to have with his cookies. So we left both orange juice and milk for him!

Breakfast Chatter

Pancakes...Sausages.....snow falling outside.....

"Daddy! That's enough" Sylvie demanding that Jorge stop putting syrup on his own pancakes.
"Sylvie, are you watching my cholesterol now?"
"No, I'm watching Little Einsteins."
:)

Countdown to Christmas!

"Hey honey, didn't you say we needed wrapping paper?"

"Look at the tag. How much does that roll cost."

"$8"

"That's 4 times the price that I would pay."

"That's why men don't take care of these things."

Yup!

This is the first Christmas week I think I've worked in ages. When in grad school I always had the week off. And I had two winter babies, and I got laid off last Thanksgiving and started in January. Kinda weird working in an empty office. BUT...oh man almighty the free food is covering tables from sponsors and manufacturers. I went in the kitchen to cut up a pear and came out with a plate containing a pear and a triangle of chocolate cake. Evil!!!! So far so good though, getting things done. Despite snowfall and frigid temps. We even went out last night and got the last few gifts. And almost everything is wrapped:)

The other day began at 6am for me looking out the window at this:

Scarier still, this is what it looked like at 10 am. Windchill was -30 I believe.

And who would I be to not include a pic of the snowfall we've had! Can't even see the street!

What are the chances...

That Jorge has the flu. He was sick all morning and is sleeping the day away.

And what are the chances that he will give it to us. I spent the morning frantically double-cleaning every inch of our home, light switches, doorknobs, everything I can possibly think of that he would have touched. Ugh. Let's hope it's a fluke and not the flu. It's possible right? I can dream right?

Sweet Baby Logan

Poor Logan. Dad headed out for an hour of alone time while I got the kids to bed with their typical routine. After books, Logan got super upset and told me he didnt' need his blankey anymore. This a a big topic that has been obsessed over for many months and it never ends good. I don't know what it is, it's like he takes out his feelings about life on Blue Blankey. He was obsessing over the fact that he no longer needs it. And I was talking to him and he said he didn't want me to work anymore. Can you say stab through the heart? Ugh, that's so hard to hear! Poor thing!

Just had to write that out. My sweet baby Logan. Still lets me snuggle with him and rock him when he's all rolled up in a towel. Still loves to tell his mommy about each inch of his life.. Still loves his mommy.

Little boys. Best thing on earth:)Hope he's happier tomorrow!

Today...

Today was one of those days that seems like it's been a week since I woke up this morning. Let's see if I can put it in bullet form
~ :) Woke up to a quiet house, was able to creep downstairs and watch the news and call my mom and check on the snowfall before the screaming for mommy commenced.
~:) My husband is home:):):):):):):) Life is so much better with him in it:):):)
~:) Hang out with happy kids excited about ....well, everything.
~:) Give the kids a bath. They are so sweet smelling after a bath.
~:( Head out the door at 11 for my 12:00 work lunch. By 11:10, Jorge has his boots on and is helping me with the car. It is stuck. By 11:35 I am finally on the road to said party. The good news is we survived 20 minutes of the kids behaving and eating lunch inside while we worked hard to figure out how to get that car out of the alley and on to the road!!! Santa, if you are listening, maybe some snow tires would be a good idea?
~:) Work Party= Free Lunch. Jorge took Logan to school in the SUV, which of course has 4 wheel drive and no problems really driving around. Logan had a blast and said most everyone was there.
~:( Work Party Stress: I feel so ridiculously insecure in keeping my job. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Another guy got laid off this week. That makes 5 that I know of in the past month. It's not that big of a company. I hate this feeling. I wanted to throw up. It's a different kind of stress, I feel like the rug could be pulled under me at any moment. I am hopeful for my job to stay around, but not so sure that will happen.
~:) Getting a big hug from my husband after the work party stress
~:( The two MAJOR temper tantrums Sylvie threw today. Seriously out of control.
~:) Super Target: the golden place where I spent an hour getting the rest of everything I need, want , need for gifts, stockings, being Santa, bringing to a party, gifts, and a bottle of wine. Whew. We have one more trip for 2 gifts to one location. Very figured out and can happen anytime before Christmas Day. So should be okay. And neither is crucial.

So that's my day. And that's why I don't have any cute snow pictures to post. But maybe tomorrow I'll take the kids out? Hope you all had a much less involved and stressful day today!

Whew!

Sometimes, when you are looking around, and see too much dust does it bug the heck out of you? My computer desk is the worst offender. It collects dust so fast, I wish it could collect money instead! Would be much more productive and nice of the desk. We have had a very snowy week so the carpet, floors, and every square inch of the house has been suffering from dust, salt from the roads, slush, dirt, etc etc. Blech!

Between coming home from a playdate with Sylvie and getting Logan off the bus, I was able to use my vaccuum and go crazy on the house and floors, even some baseboards.

Boy did it feel good to get that done!!!!!

Preschool and Kindergarten

When they joke on tv about the more wealthy moms needing to decide where to enroll their child in preschool in utero, they aren't really kidding. All the talk amongst moms of my children's ages is when and where you will be enrolling.

For Logan:
He was in two preschools. I chose the one I chose because he wasn't potty trained by enrollment and my neighbor told me it was okay and recommended it to me. Literally, she was driving down the alley and we had this conversation. Thank goodness he likes it! Second year, we chose to continue with what we began. And I've been pleased! Big decision for next year is Kindergarten. I'm pretty sure we'll enroll him in the public K. I've heard great things about it and my neighbor who is a lot like Logan flourished and learned to read well. Only downfall is it is only a few hours long, not a "full-day" which means a third year of drop-off pick-up crazies. Mix that up with Sylvie's own drop-off pick-ups and I may need a chauffer to get them around! There is also the strong possibility that he will get speech services through the school after hourse. And if not, his preschool has a bus that picks kids up for an after-school daycare time at his current school. I figured this might give him the "free-time/play-time" that he'll probably be itchy for.

For Sylvie:
There are 3 preschools in contention for her. The school Logan goes to, the preschool for our church, and the Montessori school. I've heard good about them all. The only real reasons I can think of for switching from Logan's school for her are (1)- We've already been there as a family for 2 years. Why not change it up? (2) It starts late- after 9 am. I start work at 8. Not so easy for any of the babysitters/parents to deal with.

Babysitting/Daycare/School/Activities to enroll in: are such complex things to decide. They may not seem like it to some, but ugh they sure can keep you up at night. Or, you might just start thinking of them obsessively when you are already up because you are getting whacked in the head by your future preschooler.

I lost a lot of sleep last night...

Because Sylvie was a wild child, screaming ,kicking, wanting to be in our bed, but definitely making a lot of ruckus. Screaming at us, sitting up and acting like she was awake when she was definitely asleep. Crying whenever a blanket touched her.

So this evening we know she is definitely getting a cold. But she spent the morning adamently telling Daddy "I not sick Daddy. I don't need to go to the doctor." When he asked her about the bad dreams she said she was dreaming scary things about the Disney Store.

Good grief! Send some sleepy vibes our way for tonight, please? Oh, and Logan has no recollection of the night-long scream-fest.

"Practice" for Christmas Pictures

We ended up with different Christmas pictures. But picture the scene. Me in heels on Thanksgiving frantically bribing, begging and threatening to try to get pictures. Husband makes smart remark and I flip out on him that they are dressed and "camera ready" would he like to accomplish that at a time more convenient to him? So yeah, I was a bit of a mess this day. But dad did manage to get some laughs from the kids. I love the bottom series of pics though. Siblings- LOVE having my boy and my girl!

A picture by Sylvie

Sylvie drew a picture of "Grandpa" this morning. The squiggle at the bottom is "I wrote Grandpa's name." and the little thing to the right (when asked by Logan what it is ) is "A mouse house." And there you have it. Also, she made a point of mentioning "He has Loooong arms."

Big Words

Logan has come forth with some big words lately....

-Recipe: "Mom, if I put butter on my rice, it's a recipe and I'm making my dinner."

-Dressing: "Mom, I don't like dressing on my carrots."

-"How much does it cost." Not a big word per-se, but he really is getting the concept of how expensive things can be, and asked how much his box of cereal cost before asking if we could get it again. My little bargain hunter!

I'm sure there are more, I'll have to write them down. But I feel like there's this huge explosion of vocabulary lately. It's so much fun!

Also, he learned a little song at school that he likes to sing before we eat like a little prayer. I love it! He reminds us to say it before we eat at home....

"Please and Thank you are words we say, when we eat together every day." So cute!

Snowy Park Visit

Logan kept asking what we could do today. I already took Sylvie out to a gym this morning as part of my mom's meetup group, so I wasn't really in the mood to do something like that again. So we went outside bundled up and went to the park! His buddy was there ad they had a blast!

Logan's pictures- Age 5

My sweetie has done some neat pictures of late so I thought I would share. He can write his name, albiet backwards, on things as well, but that didn't make it to the picture

Hard to see but he's finally feeling comfortable writing letters sometimes. The green sheet is a person he drew. He never liked to draw people until this year- it's so fun! On the blue page, I drew some patterns to see if he could finish them and he did! And the bottom of that page is numbers he drew. And I like the sunflower picture he made at school. So fun!

Holiday Tag

I was tagged by Anna!

Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate!
Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? Wrapping all the way. But some big presents are just there for the excitement factor.
Colored lights on tree or white? Colored, but not blinking
When do you put your decorations up? Stockings are hung, but the tree is usually 1-2 weeks before Christmas, or the next warm weekend!
What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Alcohol?
Favorite holiday memory as a child: Just the general excitement of prepping and waiting for Christmas. And waiting at the top of the stairs til the coffee was ready for mom and dad before we could go down.
And how did you learn the truth about Santa? I found all my presents with my brother and still believed. My mom had to break the news to me.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We used to exchange siblings gifts and get new jammies growing up. Now my husband's family Christmas is the 24th.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Family ornaments, lights
Snow! Love it or dread it? Each time it snows I wonder how we will still be able to carry on with our lives, how we will ever get to where we need to go, but then it clears from the roads and life is better. I LOVE watching it snow. If I can stay home.
Can you ice skate? I miss ice skating, I love it!
Do you remember your favorite gift? Dolls. My in-laws have given me some beautiful things.
What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Holiday spirit. I love stories of happy things people have done to help one another.
What is your favorite holiday dessert? Fudge!
What is your favorite tradition? Our big cousins/aunts/uncles party. We do a fun gift exchange game now and I love it!
Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. I can hardly contain myself as the pile of presents grows downstairs!
What is your favorite Christmas Song? All of the religious ones. Oh Holy Night. Silent Night. and the Gene Autry Rudolph and Jingle bells. Traditional.
Candy canes! Yuck or yum? Yuck
Ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably! Maybe more for the kids. But not that I remember. I have used gift cards from other things to buy presents when things are tight.

If you're reading this, answer it for yourself on your blog!

School dropout attempts to finish her degree....

At least 5 or 6 years ago, Abby was enrolled in doggie training school. On the last day, the "Graduation" day, the snow was so thick, I had to turn around and come home instead of taking her to class. So we always joke about her being our "School Dropout."

Today my mom went out the door to get Logan off the bus from school. The driver said "We have a visitor." but it didn't phase her. She got Logan from the back of the bus to turn around and see Abby, the dog, on the schoolbus. Apparently she had rushed out the door after her and followed her right onto the bus!!!!

My personal theory is that she's just itching to go to school like the other "kids" in the family:)

Vegas- the city that never sleeps.

Me...I'm the person who does sleep, but I still enjoyed plenty of Vegas time with Jorge. The kids were happy and loved on and entertained completely by doting grandparents while I met up with him for a few days. It was weird flying alone. Liberating being able to spend so many hours alone. And terrifying because it's flying so I felt this need to make contact with each person on the plane on my way to the back rows, assuring myself that if they made eye contact, they were not terrorists. I mean, what would I have done if someone gave me a horrible vibe? Whip out baby pictures and start begging? Call security? De-plane? Alas, the angels were flying with me on the way there because there was hardly a bump in the ride. Phew!

Then I got to find my bag, find a cab and find the hotel room at the Venetian. Bliss. Really, could I just move our family there into one hotel room?

And the bathroom....divine. I draw bathrooms like this, but it has been awhile since I've bathed in one. I even knew the name of the line of faucets. Put them in my drawings last week at work. Obsessive me spent the hours I was waiting for Jorge looking at each little connection and trim piece, checking out how they laid out the tile, scratching my head over why the shower head didn't line up with the shower handle, looking at the complicated conditions like stairs. Yup. If I ever get a client that says "Make me a house like the hotel rooms at the Venetian" I'll be happy to oblige.

So, let's see. There were two major highlights there that make me smile to remember them.

1- The show at Treasure Island. So hilarious. And so not kid-friendly, despite the massive numbers of pirate toys in their gift shops and the cool pirate ship. I don't think I'll be bringing Logan and Sylvie to this show. I'm not sure which song was more suggestive, the "Sticky and sweet like honey" song or one about going "all the way." But the costumes sure left nothing to the imagination. The premise being a pirate who boards a ship of all scantily clad women and gets handcuffed, while his buddies rip their shirts off and dive into the water from another ship beconing him to come back. Well, you can imagine it being the kind of show that belongs in Vegas. BUT...it was corny and hilarious and seriously a show! There was fire and song and dance and fireworks and jumping into the water and a sinking ship. Well, I enjoyed it.

2-This morning we walked through the lobby at 5 am half-eyes open and saw such a mix of people it was hilarious! There were tons of people at the casino, having never gone to bed! There was a set of 3 hilarious drunken people all leaning on one another and everyone was stepping aside for them to make their way hopefully all the way to their room before collapsing or spewing. There were people in running clothes in their tiptop physical shape getting ready for a marathon that day. And, when we were waiting for a taxi, there was a fight between two guys waiting. I saw the taxi director raise his arms into his "Fight me, go ahead, I've only had 75 years of Navy Seal Training....I dare you" pose. And 30 seconds later, guys came running in black coats with badges. I halfway expected them to parallel down from the roof. But I definitely didn't feel in any danger. After all, the Venetian has a reputation to uphold, and this guy was talking a lot of smack before the guy he was talking at flung a cigarette in his face. Which resulted in a few slaps, punches and thrown cups of beer. But yeah, those guys aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

All in all, it was a great weekend away, enough adult time to appreciate the little ones and family life all over again.

My Nativity

My mom's best friends made this ceramic set for me when I was born. I love it! I just told the kids the Nativity story and they listened and were very excited to unpack and set up the nativity. Christmas is on it's way! And as a side note, is anyone else shocked that this survived 32 years? Let's hope this will not be it's last year in one mostly complete set (there are a few glued-on pieces, but no devastating breaks thus far!)

My favorite time of the day....

has got to be when the kids come home from their grandparent's house. Grandparents don't have to discipline, so it's like culture shock when they first hear the word "no" again. Seems the "welcome home hug" most nights tends to be a time-out for Sylvie. Ugh.

What Daddy's are for...

Last night I got to use my sewing machine (woohoo!) and Jorge sat the kids down on the couch with him...with a snack and drinks.....and introduced them to "Home Alone." He fast-forwarded to the funny parts to their hearts content and lots of giggling was had by all. Logan has always thought it was hilarious when anyone gets hurt on tv (it's a bit scary actually!) , so Tom and Jerry is just fantastic and we knew he would love the scenes where the bad guys get trapped and bungled through the whole house.

I got to get the sewing machine up and running, and we got cloth for my projects at the store. As we were getting things measured, we saw some character cloths so Logan picked out Ninja Turtles and we got Tinkerbell for Sylvie. Jorge found some pillow forms and I made Logan's pillow and a doll bed pillow for Sylvie's itty bitty cradle. Unfortunately, I sewed up her Tinkerbell fabric and she had an all out fit. She was absolutely horrified that I had cut her Tink "blanket" into a pillow. Oh boy. It was quite the half hour around here let me tell you. In the middle of it, Logan decided he was tired and wanted to try out his Ninja pillow so we hauled upstairs and put him to bed, all with Miss Tantrums on my hip wailing and crying. Gotta love life. Sometimes I think siblings know how to tune each other out selectively.

Oh, and bonus, one of the bobbins was threaded unevenly and it messed up my machine, so Jorge helped me pull off a plate to disentangle all the extra thread. Then, while I helped out with the kids, he sat with the book and figured out how to get the machine to stop grabbing all the fabric. I love it! He did fix it too! After that, I got Logan's pillow sewn while everyone sat at the end of the dining table cheering me on. How's that for family?

Update: And it's 8:30 the next day and she's finally ready for the Tink blanket to be turned into a pillow. Peer pressure, she loves Logan's Ninja turtle pillow:) Off to sew!

A wish for you....

Christmas spirit. Not in the Walmart ad, or the red holiday cups from Starbucks. Everyone is asking for help this year. I've gotten 4 charity calls this week and many mailings. How do you choose if you have nothing to spare? A need to give is something that tugs at my heart each year.

Today I opened up my favorite message boards and came across a family in need. The littlest girl has the same birthday as my daughter. I recognize her from the past 3 years of raising our girls and talking about it online. That is my charity this year. I cannot afford a ton, but I gave her 10% of what my generous mother-in-law gave me to spend on myself in Las Vegas. It goes in the mail tomorrow.

I hope with all the charities and families in need this holiday, that you find something that tugs at your heart when your wallet is full.

Conferences

I had Logan's conferences this week. His regular preschool conference was fantastic. Good kid, learning to socialize, not a problem in sight. I mentioned how in the past we had sensory and balance issues and she was shocked. Some of the kids are still dealing with oral sensory issues and he does not seem to have any. Yeah:)

I had his speech conference today and if left me depressed. He works so hard and he is learning how to say his sounds better, but he's just not using them on a regular basis. I saw this in real life. He was spiderman for halloween. Every adult likes to ask a child what they will be for halloween, so he got better at pronouncing it correctly. Then this week someone asked again and it was right back to biderman. And everyone assuming he said fireman. The teacher said basically we need to drill him over and over and she was realistic knowing my little guy wasn't going to want to do that, so she suggested an incentive chart. And she said he will probably go to a regular kindergarten (not special ed) and get speech therapy where they will focus on practicing sounds. Also, throw some mom guilt in there that I probably don't make him do enough practicing at home, and trying to figure out what time of the day I will push for that!

On the one hand, I am eternally grateful that my son's only "issue" is speech. There are kids at the center who are profoundly disabled or need severe routine and all these interventions to function. Seeing that, I'll take a speech issue any day. On the other hand, I feel horrible that my little guy is working so hard in two different preschools and still needs more "practice." He wants to be a kid! I guess it put in my head the whole issue of how far do you push your child in school to do "their best." How much do I push for the science award if they don't care. What if they won't sit and do their paper until Sunday night and are tired and cranky. I was a good student, as was my husband, with that drive to succeed. Obviously far from perfect, but also a natural ability to do well in school. I think it made excited to see what life for Logan in school will be like, learning his way of seeing the world of education, and doing my darndest to help him be his best and enjoy school as much as I did.

Just some musings after a difficult parent-teacher conference.

Surviving Winter: Part 2

Today's suggestion for surviving winter:

Pack your bags and meet your husband in Vegas for 3 days. Without your kids. And smile for 3 days straight. Remember to pack the short-sleeves!

I get to meet my husband in Vegas while he's on a convention. I am so unbelievably excited. We used FF miles for the tickets, and my in-laws and brother in law are dog-sitting and kid-sitting, so I am just over the moon.

Vegas baby, here I come!!!!!

Logan's first funnies

Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?
I've got some work to do tomorrow (not "now" like the song says. Not even sure that's right, but that's how he sings it!)

He was cracking himself up saying that over and over. Sylvie is singing it like crazy and laughing as well. What a big boy. He also tells knock-knock jokes.

Knock Knock
Who's there
Banana
Banana who
Banana on your head!

I'm thinking a good book of knock-knock jokes might be on the list for Christmas.

Doggie Midnight Shuffle

Lights out.

Twist, Turn, Burrow. Harrumph. (settling on her bed in the hallway)

Creak...Groan.....Jingle....Jingle.....Jingle..... (tiptoing into my son's room to sleep on his bed)

"Abby....NO!!!!!"

Scamper, Scamper, Twist, Turn, Burrow. Harrumph. Snoring.

Yeah, she's a sneaky one. Good thing I know all about her bright ideas.

Mr. Imagination and Miss Jaybird

Sylvie is my jaybird for two reasons. She loves to be as naked as I'll let her, thus "naked as a jaybird" Right now she's wearing a see-through "skirt" and "top" from her dress-up trunk. And also, she barely eats. She will tuck away a few things but somehow she can manage to live on air for the other 23 hours of the day. Today I said "Logan, we're going to the grocery story tomorrow, what will you be eating for dinner tomorrow?" And he said "pizza." Sylvie said "Nothing." That about sums it up. My "eats like a bird" girl.

Logan is Mr. Imagination. They just spent a few hours at a local children's museum this morning. It was a 1-room setup, nothing too fancy but the coolest part was a giant lincoln-log set he and a 6 year old used to build a house. Very cute! Then he and that boy and his little brother put on a puppet show! Big deal here. Logan is always so concrete, he would never do something like that, he followed right along and had a blast. I loved it!

Then, after lunch and some down-time at home, he and Sylvie went off to play and play and play for the next 2 hours. He was leading, with all kinds of ideas on what bad-guys they needed to battle, some games with coins, setting up a circle of chairs, lots and lots of games with very little but his imagination and a few toys. It was so cute to watch. They've been fighting a lot this week, so it was 2 blissful hours of them playing well together.

Surviving Winter- Part 1

Since I have survived a few winters now with kids corralled indoors, I figured I'd post a few things as they come to me about what we did to bide the time and still have fun! Boy do I miss going outside though!

Indoor Games:
* Beach Ball: With a beach ball you can play volleyball over the couch, baseball with any kind of non-destructive stick (we have a few plastic tubes and a wrapping paper tube would work well!), you could hold a blanket like a parachute and "pop" the ball and catch it. We have a parachute that works well for this game

* Bowling- is such a fun game! We have a plastic set from Toys R Us, but I think I would look for a pin that is stable enough for a young one to set it up themself and not fall over.

*Forts: Can be so much fun!

Places to Go:
*I joined a mom's group on meetup.com and it has provided tons of new friends and entertainment!

*Because of the moms group, I have realized that the park districts in our area each have so many things going on. I always knew about the classes and such you sign up for. But a lot of the districts have open gym time where they pull out toys like climbers and such and let the kids play for a few dollars. The great thing is, you can go outside your district, you just pay a different fee. Unfortunately, most of our districts don't even list these playtimes, you have to call and find out. So start asking around or calling to find all the local toddler hotspots.

*Mall play areas are always a hit. And fun if you can switch around. We have a lot of malls around here.

*Library times: Our library storytimes were not always great for us, but you can go to the library storytimes at all the local libraries. Ours even has a craft portion.

*Pump it up: Ours has local "open bounce" times you can drop in.

*Craft stores, Bookstores, Pet Stores- are all fun places to take kids and spend a little or none and take your time.

Happy Bundling up! It's a whopping 25 degrees out right now. In the sun.

Holidays are on their way

Logan: "I don't see my school yet. Oh, there it is!"
Me: "Do you like how nice it looks? It's very pretty."
Logan: "Yes, it's made of brick."
Me: "And Shingles."
Sylvie: "Shingle Bells, Shingle Bells, Shingle all the way....." (sung to Jingle bells)
Heheheh. Love it!

One to another

The other day I was trying to see the big picture of how I ended up employed in so many different places (in this economy I have been laid off twice.) I believe in the "big picture" so here's my take on how one has led to the other.

Intro Job: took 100 resumes to get this one. Pre-internet, I grabbed my phone book from home and sat on my dorm bed and sent them out one at a time. He was early in the alphabet. I made $5.00 an hour, which was an actual raise from the $4.10 I made the summer before working as a daycamp counselor!

Lucky Break: We took a trip to Seattle to check out the UW, find an apartment, and get jobs. I remember running out of the interview so excited to be hired for $10 an hour. It was just luck. My first job where I drew on the computer. Worked over the summer full-time and when my classes were not allowing enough hours, they dumped me. Ugh.

Crazy Busy Economy: When I got my next job, I had computer skills so that was huge. I got my next summer job. I sent out tons of resumes (I never send to job postings, just places I want to work) and didn't hear back. I started calling everyone and leaving voicemails. I started getting calls pouring back in so quickly they were going to my voicemail because I was still on the phone. I had a few interviews and got a great "real" job. I loved the people, it was mostly residential and I remember one good friend later told me she heard the interview and asked my boss why he didn't offer me a job on the spot. She said "go down the hall and get her!" I knew I liked her! I got a call soon after. $12 an hour! Three years later, the economy tanked from 9-11 and I spent months watching all my friends get let go, and sending out resumes everywhere knowing I was next.

Details: Because I had been so detail-crazy oriented at the last job, I got a chance with a big commercial firm. Bu-buy residential. I spent the next year working on a big light-rail station and baking Logan in my tummy. Tried to go back after Logan was born, but it was a big failure on no sleep and a crazy intense needy baby at home.

Freelance Work: If you're gonna find freelance work, it's probably in residential. So my mad-house drawing skills landed me about $7000 worth of work while I was home with Logan- woohoo! Got the work off Craig's List and from sending around resumes locally offering just that.

Downtown Crazypants: Well thank goodness for that jaunt over to the commercial sector, it landed me my big downtown job in January in Downtown Chicago when we moved and had to find jobs before we could move out of my mom's house and into our own home. The commute, long days, babysitters for Logan for the first time, finding out I was pregnant (woohoo!), and a boss who was a yeller (at everyone) and crazy, well. I couldn't wait to quit that one on my own! I got myself a nice local job. Doing transportation had been my lead-in into this job. I also did a big bakery for this project.

Local at home: The next job was probably purely out of convenience. I had offered to work from home and my boss was big on work and small on space, so I worked 5 blocks from the office part-time and baked baby #2. It was lonely but good, with tons of time to raise Logan. I got a chance to learn the ins and outs of residential in Chicago and did some other types of commercial projects. Also did my first house in Chicago proper, which is like learning a new language it's that different. When I felt like the boss was going crazy, I gave my notice. Turns out he retired a few weeks later. Aaah, so that's what was going on. I'm a bit psychic about things like that.

Good designer: After working on mediocre design for a bit, it was refreshing to work at a residential firm again with a good designer. I got the job based on that first detail-oriented firm. Thank goodness for that job! It's still getting me jobs! Economy tanked, some projects got pulled, and I got let go last Thanksgiving. It was really tough because I liked working there, and my boss was crying when he had to tell us. Not to mention I was out of luck in finding a new job in a bad economy at the holiday time again- ughs! That is the worst time to send resumes by the way!

Bakery: So, when I had interviewed for a previous job, I had actually received an offer too late from this firm. So I sent them a resume again. He had a bakery project and was excited for my experience in it. He wasn't sure how much work he'd have, but he was willing to give it a go. We did the bakery and it was a good job, until work ran out. I told him I had to send out resumes again and he promised that someday the door was open when more work came in.

All Business: So this firm I work at now is all business. I think a bit of experience in all my residential firms helped me. And doing the house in Chicago clinched it. The past few jobs have offered not too much of a raise, which I think it common, but also indicative of the economy. This company is all business, lots of work on the financial aspect of my field, so I'm hopeful to learn a lot from that. Let's just hope I don't get dumped between Thanksgiving and the New Year again okay?

There you go, my world of architecture experience. Not exactly a cute mommy story, but I guess it tells you more about the person behind the mom mask right?

Calorie Shocker of the Day- Buffalo Wild Wings

I was excited to try this place as I have only been a few times. I sent a request for the pdf of their nutritional information after the fact. Here are some of my favorite highlights. No wonder people who eat a salad for lunch sometimes gain weight. And no wonder they don't publish this information in a convenient internet location.

French fries- Regular- 280 calories and 9 g fat
Nachos- 442 calories and 52 grams of fat (Good thing you split this one right?)
Ballpark Sampler- 1347 calories and 77 grams of fat (Okay, you better be splitting this with about 50 people!)
Naked Tenders (3)- 130 calories and 6 grams of fat (Good thing this is what I ordered, I got 4)
Grilled Chicken Salad- 640 calories and 38 grams of fat (Geesh! This better include the dressing because they list ranch dressing separately as 320 calories and 30 grams of fat!)
Chicken Tender Salad- 990 calories and 68 grams of fat (Holy cow!)
Ribs- 2380 calories and 158 grams of fat!!!! (Weighs in worse than a burger!)

And what would a lunch out be without a nice big slice of
Chocolate Fudge Cake - 820 calories and 33 grams of fat.

God Bless America. Land of the Gingantic everything. Also, my favorite website to see nutritional info is www.DWLZ.com and it has weight watchers points listed at the end. If you click on "Restaurants" they list tons. Buffalo Wild Wings was not on the list. Apparently for good reason!

Zoo-venture

Alone with the munchkins today we went to the zoo. At 10:30 when I was planning to get going, I casually mentioned packing sandwiches and Logan had a total meltodown because he wanted Bakugan Macaroni and cheese. Since they don't sell Pokemon Macaroni (he thinks all things Japanese anime looking are that Bakugan show he saw for 5 minutes) at the zoo, might as well make it at home. So make lunch, eat, scrounge for gloves and hats and finally hit the road an hour later.

We did a lot of the indoor children's museum as it was only 37 degrees out. I was pretty incredulous to see Logan want to do the facepainting. He was such a different child last winter- no face paints, wouldn't touch the animals, freaked out by the elephant house smells, not interested in entering any reptile house except by bribe of the park. Anyway, Big Strides here! And Sylvie loves it all. Especially the dolphin show!

Keeping on top of it all....

So are almost all of you feeling like you're hanging on by a thread? Or is it just me? I love the line in "One Fine Day" where Michelle Pfeiffer says "I have all these balls in the air and I can't stop or they will start falling down...." Totally true. I'm blessed blessed blessed to have a part-time job, and have a few days a week to catch up so we can enjoy family time on the weekends, not laundry, groceries and visit the dentist time.

So it's not totally the idea that I can't stay on top of cleaning the house or getting groceries or doing Preschool homework for 2 different schools for Logan. It's the other stuff. The big projects that loom unwanted. Filling out 20 hours of paperwork for my architectural license. Ordering transcripts from 2 colleges. Finding new doctors and making appointments. Cleaning up the basement that is pulled apart after the floods when we threw everything up high. Starting on some cool homemade Christmas projects.

And the big stuff I need to figure out how to incorporate into my life. Exercising more regularly now that it's frigid cold and wet outside. Finding foods my kids will eat and meal planning and coupon clipping. I can do really well with this when I do it. I saved $45 on one trip recently by taking advantage of sales, coupons, etc. As the kids get older, I am feeling a tug towards "raising" them well. It's not just feeding, cleaning and wiping them anymore. Nor is it just stories and teaching patience at taking turns. I am finding it hard to teach them about this unknown "Jesus," explaining church and traditions, dealing with sibling rivalry.

Logan is not an easy pupil. I found a book I am trying to track down about boys and how to help them succeed in school. I think however tough this year is, next year will be a doozy. If he's interested, he's tuned in. If he's not interested, oy vey. He had some homework this weekend where we had to discuss Thanksgiving and put things in a bag that he thinks we would need on the Mayflower. I am the type of mom who will always try to get him to do his own homework. If they ask for a story and he tells me one, but it strays from topic, so be it. I'll write what he says. I found some images online and a quiet time during this birthday weekend and started talking to him about the Mayflower and Thanksgiving. The conversation went something like this....

Me: "I want to tell you about our country. Remember, you live in a city and a country. Well, a long time ago, there were Native American Indians here. They look like this. And this other group called the Pilgrims, they wanted to see if there was gold here, so they rode across the big ocean and found our country."

Logan: "Mom! I have 3 Star Wars Guys. I need Darth Vader. I yike that green guy. What's his name? "

Me:"Yoda. I'm so excited that you got great Star Wars toys for your birthday. Let's talk about the Pilgrims.....blah blah pilgrims" (It doesn't matter what I said, he wasn't listening at ALL).

Logan: "Blah, Blah Star Wars....."

Me: "Wow that's neat about Star Wars." (Insert some verbage that makes the pilgrims as interesting as possible).

Logan: "So mom, can we get more Star Wars guys?"

Me:"Logan, this is your homework. If you were stuck on a boat for 30 days, what would you want with you."

Logan: Blank Stare

Me: "Okay, maybe something for your tummy. "

Logan: Yeah, whatever mom.

Me: "And something soft and comfy"

Logan: (crying): "I don't need Blue Blankey. I give it to Sylvie"

Me: (in the interest of just getting the darn homework done): "Okay, what about teddy, food and a tool to fix the ship"

Logan: collects the stuff and spends the next 20 minutes deciding the tool he really needs on the Mayflower is a clamp. Yeah, maybe.

Okay, that was a novel, but I know you laughed right? I'm thinking a trip to the library is on my agenda soon to find that book about teaching boys. Because as a preschool teacher right now for boys, I am failing miserably!

"I'm Really 5 Now!"

Logan Anthony, welcome to your 5th year of life! We had one heck of a party complete with lots of fun games. Even the adults played musical chairs and helped you win! You are well loved by all and the excitement over each and every gift was great! Even some empty containers were met with "Yeah! Tontainers!" Who knew organization could be so wonderful!

I don't really want to include too many pictures because there are too many people in them to ask if they mind being posted in cyberspace. Let's just say for now, you are living, sleeping and dreaming of all the cool new toys you got and all the adventures to come!

I love you my sweet boy Logan!





























This one makes me laugh, so I had to include it, no matter how blurry. They were playing musical chairs. That's my husband with his dad on his back. Hi-larious. We also played musical chairs for my father-in-law's 50th birthday. My husband's family is definitely not boring.

Mr. Bossy

He may be cute, sweet and adorable, but he has his own idea of how the world should work. And now that he is confident enough to speak his mind, he does. All the time.

"Mommy, you can't make the Batman guy do that, he has to shoot his gun like this."

"Mommy, I don't want that. Anything else for dinner?"

"Sylvie! Stop that! You can't play with that playmobile toy guy, you play with this one wearing purple! That's the girl. Mommy! Sylvie is trying to play with the boy!"

"Mommy, I want to wear my spiderman shirt and sweatpants to my birthday party." This one really got to me for some reason. I had to walk away! I told him I get to pick his clothes for his party, he can wear spiderman to his friends' party. Evil mom, yes. Can't help it today!

"Abby! Stop playing with that toy. You need to play with this toy."

If you don't have a 5 year old yet, I have seen this behavior in the little girls in his classroom starting well before age 5. So with any luck, both of my cutie pies could be ordering me around at the same time. Can't wait!

I have a dream....

It's 10:30 on Election Night and the media has officially called Barack Obama the winner of the presidency. How very exciting. To me the dream of the possibilities ahead, mixed with the excitement of an African American president and hope for some change is what this election is about.

He's in Chicago. He's in Grant Park. There are about 50,000 people screaming their lungs out and waving signs and listening to patriotic music and he hasn't even arrived yet! I truly love the hope and excitement of this country. In a rough economy where scary things are happening like foreclosures and prices of things we need to live on are jumping left and right, we need a calming force, a guiding light and someone headstrong and yet open to great advice.

One newscaster made mention of the fact that when Dr. Martin Luther King made his "I have a Dream" speech, Obama was a 2 year old in Honolulu. Between that and hearing McCain's speech where he talked the about support and influences in his life, it struck me how much influence I have and the experiences I provide have on my children. Even from a young age. I think as a mom you get caught up in the day to day and sometimes it's good to step back and ask yourself "how am I raising my children and how am I exposing them to the world?" With Logan as a toddler, we lived in Seattle. I loved that he saw water, trees, green and environment everywhere. Mountains, hills, that was our view out our windows! With Sylvie we added a whole dimension of family time. We celebrate holidays together, but we also celebrate Sundays. And birthdays. And Christenings. It is so wonderful having family in our children's lives and they love it.

I would hope that our children can take in all that we are showing them, providing them with, bestowing on them and doing alongside them, and run with it. In their own way. They don't have to be president, but I would hope for success in their lives. However small. Happiness. And Joy. That is my dream.

Halloween in Pictures