Archive for November, 2009

Candy Land

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

No homework this week because of Thanksgiving! I know I am supposed to be supportive of the public education system and all, but homework in kindergarten seems a bit over the top. Anyhow, we were glad. So we watched Toy Story and played computer before dinner. After dinner we played games, including Candy Land.

We MUST do this more often! The saddest thing ever was getting it set up, Anna choosing a card, then saying, “What do I do? I can’t remember!” I should have known we were in trouble when it turned out to only have 2 game pieces (Mom–is that the game from my childhood?). So Paul got a couple more. I was the green man, Anna was the red man, Tyler was a Transformer from McDonald’s named “S” (no one can remember the real name and it has an S on it). Paul was the Emperor from Star Wars, complete w electricity coming from his finger tips. Awesome. I won once, Anna won the 2nd time. There was also the small side game of Paul running around the board as the Emperor electrocuting people.

Then I read some of A Light in the Attic to them. They now think Wild Strawberries are real (with shark teeth and feet and a tail). Then they borrowed a couple books of mine. [my parents brought me a couple boxes of them last year--VERY cool and a HUGE hit w the kids] Tyler got in bed then called me back wanting to know, in a very distressed voice, who colored in that book. He was shocked into silence when I told him it was me. Could’ve knocked him over w a feather…. :)

Way to go, Sue!

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

I survived my first morning getting the kids on the bus alone. Paul had a conference call for work early for a project he has been asked to take the lead on so it was up to me. Everyone got on the bus just fine after newly pierced ears (Anna) were cleaned, pink eye (Tyler) was treated, and cold symptoms were Alka-selzered (Susan; Paul did his own before he left).

We made several life decisions:

  • Tyler plans to live in Alaska so he can hunt polar bears and ride a snow mobile.
  • Anna will live in Boone after she graduates from Carolina.
  • Tyler asked me to drive him to Alaska when he moves there…since he doesn’t know where it is.
    • Caveat–he also requests that I drive him back each week after he grocery shops w Anna in the mountains

We will see how these plans hold up. Last night Anna got shampoo in her eye and said she would never shower again.

39 Days to Christmas!

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Yes! That’s right! I am determined to get ahead of the holidays this year! Last year I was a bit deer in the headlights w all the traveling for work, then Paul’s birthday, then Anna and Tyler’s birthdays, then Christmas. Not to mention cards, work parties, gift getting, giving, thank you notes, oh, and we were training for a marathon.

But am I simplifying… NO!!!! Just planning ahead!!! I found this kick ass website, 100DaysTo Christmas.com. It has really given me a lot of great ideas and resources. You should check it out!

Matter of full disclosure: By mentioning the website here, I get entered in a drawing for a Christmas CD. Paul, Anna, Tyler and I had a fire Saturday night and we decided that we were going to sleep under the tree one night as a family. The kids like to have music on when they go to sleep so a Christmas CD would be great. My wish is for the Enya CD.  Merry Christmas!

Updates before the wild rumpus

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Not too much to report really. I am at Camp Crop a Lot right now waiting for breakfast to open at 8am. A couple weeks ago I had moved all of my scrapbook pages to the server at home so Paul could back it up regularly. Alas, I neglected to move them back to my computer before I left Friday to come to camp. So I have none of my projects that were in progress. I did a few traditional pages (about 10), but I cannot put them into an album b/c the order will be wonky b/c I mixing and matching digital. My plan for camp was to have an extended period of time to carefully map out the album mixing digital and traditional. Riiiiggghhhtt.

I guess you could say this is the calm before the storm that is the holiday season for us. We are in the meaty part of our training for the half marathon. The time change and the COLD has really made it a challenge for us. But the race is only 4 weeks away (read: TAPER IN 2 WEEKS!).

Halloween was fun. We took the kids to the Fall Festival at their school on Friday b/c they were Trick or Treating w their mom. It was neat to see them so into their friends (boy, I will regret those words in a few years, huh?).

Halloween-Fall Festival

Halloween-Fall Festival_0001

Halloween morning we walked in my work’s charity 5k for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Anna and Tyler were so cute they got on the “jumbotron.” Anna was REALLY angry that we only did 2 of the 3 miles (we took a shortcut b/c to get back to do all the other fun stuff that day). That was funny b/c 1 week before that she said she “really wasn’t in the mood to walk.” That seems to be a new phrase for her and Tyler. Love it.

Cuties on the "jumbotron"

Cuties on the "jumbotron"

The whole family at JDRF

The whole family at JDRF