Posts Tagged ‘Kids’

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Sanders Family Hanukkah

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

We are not converting, we are celebrating Paul, Tyler and Anna’s birthdays and Christmas! We started way back in November (about 10 years ago it seems), we had Thanksgiving and visited w my family. But that last 7 days we have had 7 celebrations. Really 7 in 6 days–tonight is a bye night. Here is the summary:

Day 1, 12/17/09: Anna’s 8th birthday. Paul and I met Robin and Jason, and of course Tyler at Rio Grande for Anna’s birthday dinner. Anna chose the restaurant–Rio G won for the 3rd year in a row. I just LOVE this picture of Anna.

Anna at her Rio Grande birthday dinner, Dec 17

Day 2, 12/18/09: Kids Family Birthday Party. Stephanie and Biz planned a party for Anna and Tyler at their house. Sandie, Brandon, Haley, Hunter and Mom Mom all celebrated with us.

Tyler had a Star Wars cake complete w light up light sabers. Anna had a doll cake complete w Barbie-like doll you lifted out of the cake before cutting.

Day 3, 12/19/09: Tyler’s 6th birthday. Before we could celebrate Tyler’s birthday, we had to play in the snow! That’s right, we had about 7 inches of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning. Then we met Robin, Jason and Lacey (their baby) at Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Tyler’s day.

Anna, Tyler and Frosty. This was after sledding off the ramp Paul built for them!

Ahhhh, my NRA reps.

Day 4, 12/20/09: Extended Sanders Family Christmas/Susan’s half birthday. OK, 1 was celebrated a little more than the other, but still…

Paul and me before starting to open presents at MomMom's.

Day 5, 12/21/09: Susan’s manager Christmas party and Cole’s Annual Christmas party.

(photos unavailable, cameras confiscated by security, paparazzi bounced from property)

Day 6, 12/22/09: Celebrated Paul’s birthday at UNC vs. Marshall basketball game!

My first time in the Dean Dome! I mean... me doing whatever Paul wanted to do for his birthday!

Paul and I are vegging out tonight. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, not sure what the plans are. Then we get the kids on Christmas Day about noon. Then Christmas w Steph and Biz, et. al on Sat afternoon! 9 events in 11 days! Whoooooo hooooooo! Keep in mind this was including 10 loads of laundry, 0 minutes of napping, 3 days of work (which included creating a plan to restructure our cardiac rehab program to make up for $96,000 worth of revenue that we cannot bill for in 2010 and 4 days of 11 state inspectors surveying our hospital), baking 120 cookies and only 30 minutes of physical activity and NO tears shed! Happy Sanders Hanukkah!

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School Is Out Early?

Friday, December 18th, 2009

This morning we got a automated call from the school saying they were closing 3 hours early because of weather. I went to look outside and there was nothing. I picked the kids up at 11:15 and we are currently sitting at home with me wondering why they are out. It is 12:15 now and it’s 37 degrees and completely dry out! According to the weather channel we could get 6 to 10 inches later this afternoon and tonight, but school gets out at 2:15 anyway so I have no idea what the school board was thinking.

To make it worse the kids went at normal time on Wednesday and I know of at least 5 wrecks that morning because of icy roads. So I guess the take home message is that when the road are icy for sure it’s OK, but when it MIGHT snow they need to close early for safety.

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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…. :)

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This N That…

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Not much to report lately, which is kind of nice really. :) We have been getting a few requests to update the blog so here are the highlights:

SICK

I stayed home from work Monday and Tuesday of last week (9/28 and 29). At first I thought it was flu, which means automatic 7 days out of work. Luckily (?) it was only a sinus infection. I am finally feeling back to normal today (10/6) 1 week later. It has indeed thrown a wrench in my training and weight loss progress (more later). But as of tonight (great run!) I am back on track. Paul and the kids had gotten the respiratory funk a couple times in earlier weeks. I think we all are on the mend. I got my flu shot and the H1N1 flu vaccine will be at our site in a few weeks at the latest. Because I am a high risk person (asthma) in a high risk job (healthcare), I am near the top of the list. Which I feel mixed about since they are still looking at long term side affects. I did also get a pneumonia vaccine free at work b/c of the high risk thing and the fact that the H1N1 tends to affect respiratory system and turn to pneumonia.

HEALTHY

So Paul and I have been in a weight loss contest of sorts w each other for a couple months now. My goal is 11 pounds, Paul’s is 7 (I think). So we weigh in every Wed morning and if we have dropped weight we get a certain amount of money we chose put towards the kayaks that we want (but cannot afford). If we did not lose, but we did our workouts for the week (training for the 1/2 marathon in Dec), we put 1/2 the money back. So far I have lost about 6 1/2 pounds. This means that I am under the cut off for what our life insurance company thinks is high risk. So once I can stay there, I will get re-tested and save us some money!

KIDS

Tyler had a hard time w getting used to school and its routine/restriction/discipline, but he has been doing much better recently. He lost his 2nd tooth yesterday. I woke up in the middle of the night (ok, 10:30) and heard him rolling around, then nothing, then…”yessss!!!!” He had found his quarter from the tooth fairy.

Tyler's first lost tooth

Tyler's first lost tooth

Anna is kicking butt in school. She has her dad’s spelling prowess so we have been working on that, but she has aced her test each of the last 2 weeks. She is very much into mermaids right now.

Both kids love riding their bikes, Tyler prefers trails and Anna the road. Tyler wants to play hoops this winter. Anna changes her mind daily, but did decide she wanted to do a craft from a book she got from Miss Sallie, one of the triathletes I coached through Team in Training this season. Sallie works at Edward McKay, a local used bookstore we LOVE LOVE LOVE. Anna got to go a couple weeks ago and pick some books ($3 worth) b/c she got to 10 on her reward chart (for following the rules at school and home).

FUN

Paul read one of my books about Michael Jordan–its about his retirement and (first) comeback. I recently read 2 books my mom brought me: Never Change (Elizabeth Berg) and Garden Spells (Sarah Addison Allen). Now I am reading Seven Summits–it is about the first 2 guys who climbed the highest mountain on each of the 7 continents. Next comes 2 books I got in Wilmington at one of my favorite little shops, Two Sisters Bookery. My choices are Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work (Jason Brown) or Breakfast with Buddha (Roland Merullo). The weekend of Sept 20th (our anniversary!!) Paul and I went to Wilmington for the race that my TNT peeps did.

L to R: Tom, Sallie, Kathy, me

L to R: Tom, Sallie, Kathy, me

The weekend after that my parents came down and we had lots of fun, especially at the zoo w Paul’s mom, sis and her kids.

Mom, Dad, Susan, Paul at lunch at Fishbones

Mom, Dad, Susan, Paul at lunch at Fishbones

Tyler stylin' in my cap while he fixes my hair (at the zoo).

Tyler stylin' in my cap while he fixes my hair (at the zoo).

Girl time at the zoo!

Girl time at the zoo!

Then last weekend Paul and I went to see B.B. King in Myrtle Beach’s House of Blues. It was SO KICK ASS! I will let him tell the rest. :) No new real house projects in progress. Saturday will be an easy weekend at home so we will have chore day (shhh–Paul and the kids don’t know yet).

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Hilarious weekend pictures

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
OK, technically this isn't from this weekend, but Labor Day weekend. It was just too cute not to share. The dogs are not allowed on the bed normally so it took several tries to get Maggie to realize Paul was OK w it. We have one blurry pic w Barton on there too...only after I staged it though.

OK, technically this isn't from this weekend, but Labor Day weekend. It was just too cute not to share. The dogs are not allowed on the bed normally so it took several tries to get Maggie to realize Paul was OK w it. We have one blurry pic w Barton on there too...only after I staged it though.

On our way to the Dog Splash! 5 very excited heads in that back seat!

On our way to the Dog Splash! 5 very excited heads in that back seat!

Jake was so excited to take a running leap off the deck into the water chansing the ball Paul brought. Katie and Maggie were much more cautious.

Jake was so excited to take a running leap off the deck into the water chasing the ball Paul brought. Katie and Maggie were much more cautious.

Tyler going down the slide. Notice the similarity to Jake?

Tyler going down the slide. Notice the similarity to Jake?

ZONKED! All of the dogs were so tired after the pool. Katie and Maggie just climbed in the car to lay down. Jake tried to fight it, but this was only 10 minutes into the ride home.

ZONKED! All of the dogs were so tired after the pool. Katie and Maggie just climbed in the car to lay down. Jake tried to fight it, but this was only 10 minutes into the ride home.

Sunday morning the kids and dogs let us sleep until 7am! Might be a record in our house. We played around with the kids in our bed for awhile, then Paul got them breakfast and cartoons. I managed to get away with reading in bed until 7:45am! So when Anna asked to play the game Trouble at 8am on a Sunday, how do you say no?? Well, if I had known how Paul would respond, I might have waited until I had a little more caffeine. He is RUTHLESS! It literally took Tyler about 20 turns to get a man out to start the game. Then 2 turns later Paul landed on him, sending him back to home. Same to me and Anna. It was so dang funny, I started to take pictures. Tyler just sat under the table w the dogs until his turn came around, then he would take his turn and slide back under the table. The video of the game winning move is SO funny. I have asked Paul to post it so we will see if it is edited at all. :) Meanwhile, check out these pictures!

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A Typical Day With Kids

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

This cartoon describes a typical day with kids.

calvin

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Change of Plans for New Year’s Eve

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Susan was talking to Elli about our New Year’s Eve plans while we were in Florida and Elli didn’t think she was telling the truth. Our plans were to bury a time capsule with the kids and be in bed by 9. When Elli asked me I thought 9 was a little late and that we would probably be in bed by 8:30.

I vary rarely make it until midnight but this year I am going to try my best. Why? Because Susan and I are sitting here watching the Georgetown/UConn game and we saw that Carolina is playing at 10 pm that night. If the game starts at 10 it won’t be over until around 12 so I will try to stay up for that. I could still care less about staying up for the new year though :) . We are riding with Tamara on the 1st at noon so Susan is going to have a hard time getting in her 11 hours of sleep that she needs (although I doubt she is going to stay up to watch the game with me).

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Extreme Makeover–Gingerbread Edition, v5

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

gingerbread-party

Lauren and Elliot Blue host THE most awesome fundraiser EVER each year at Christmas: a gingerbread party! For $25 you get a blank house, all the “fixings” and food and drink (including beer and wine for those so inclined). Last year I went as a single 33 year old crazy cat lady, this year I am a 34 year old married mother of 2. What? What a difference a year makes. What a difference kids make at the G-bread party! Here is the picture that Buck (the official from our wedding) took. We did not have any other pix–I dropped our camera and it is busted. I can’t even talk about it. We are back to the old camera for the kids’ birthdays and Christmas and who knows what else.

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Life Is Not Fair

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Well it looks like Tyler and I are both getting motorcycles for Christmas.

Susan has also seen first hand now that kids are sponges and anything you say will come back at some point. Recently Anna was saying something that Tyler wasn’t interested and his response was “blah, blah, blah”. Later that day Susan was joking with me and said blah blah blah to me…it immediately hit her that he got that from her.

Now back to the motorcycles. We were on our way to my mom’s house to have a birthday party for the kids, and Tyler was talking about us getting motorcycles for Christmas. Susan told him the same thing that she has been saying ever since he first brought it up a few weeks ago, “sorry, but you two can’t get motorcycles.” (I like the idea of getting a motorcycle so I don’t like this answer either :) ). His response was “sorry Susan, life isn’t fair– we are getting motorcycles”.  So December 25th Tyler and I will be excited to get up and see that Santa brought us our motorcycles!

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Kids say the darndest things…

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

I thought it would be fun to keep track of these things in order to embarrass the kids when they are older. Perhaps on their first date even. Well, Tyler at least–Paul will not let Anna date until, well, ever!

Stephanie (Paul’s mom) was trying to get Anna to massage her feet. Anna replied, “Granny, I don’t DO old people!”

Anna is working on things in order–smaller, youngest, newer than this, etc. She is struggling w the fact that I am older than Paul even though he is taller than I am. The other day she was comparing Paul and me and finally got it… sort of. “Susan,” she declared proudly, “is the lowest and the oldest!”

EDIT: A ongoing list of these is going to be kept here.

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