Merry Christ's Mass

tastes of the season

Adrienne had dibs on lickin' the puppy chow bowl.

We sort of went to the Holidazzle Parade (on Nicollet Mall in downtown MPLS) last week.  'Sort of' because it was a bit too cold for the kids that night, and Zach wailed loudly & constantly so we left early.  Also, traffic wasn't stopped for the parade so the floats had to wait for the stoplights.  We didn't have that kind of patience in single degree temps.  Nate and I previously had pleasant memories of Holidazzle - the last time we were there was 13 years ago when we'd just started dating. 

This is what a school holiday party does to a kid-

Josilan Mihiret Renee

We have a new niece!  Erik & Kim waited 2 long years for a referral.  They have to make 2 trips to Ethiopia and Josilan will come home on trip #2 likely this spring.  Prayers for them all that as they wait and make arrangements, their new daughter grows well and stays healthy and safe!

snowmageddon

Another snow event going on here.  What is it now, 3 so far?  But they've been on the weekends, so as the song goes, 'since we've no place to go...' yadda yadda. 

At least the roads were fine yesterday when we needed to get up to Children's Hospital - St. Paul for Zach's outpatient surgery.  Everything went fine and he's doing great, except he won't take the yucky tylenol w/codeine.  Can't blame him, it's 7% alcohol and reeks.

And Adrienne successfully broke her back-up glasses so she's half-blind wearing her very first pair.  Had to go ahead and order a pricey replacement lens.  Oh well.  Not a biggy in the grand scheme of things.  She might be wrecking the car in 7 years.

no future olympians

Adrienne and Nicky are taking a community ed gymnastics course.  We did one of these sessions years ago when A was four.  She would face plant every time she tried to somersault down the big foam triangle wedge thingy.  Five years haven't improved her coordination much, so it's a good thing they're just taking the class for the fun of it.  And it does look like fun - for one, they have a long trampoline the kids get to bounce down.  Wheeeee.

Here's fuzzy Adrienne attempting a cartwheel-

Maybe it doesn't help that she can't wear her glasses while tumbling.  Speaking of glasses, the poor kid is wearing her old ones after losing a lens in her current glasses while at school.  Insurance won't pay for lost glasses/lens or whatever so we'll probably wait till January.

We decided to try a Menard's Christmas tree this year.  It still looked goofy after cutting off the wrap (first pic).  Took a while for it to warm up.

December 1st

New colors for Advent!

And Hanukkah begins tonight at Sundown.  If the PC police had their game together, though, we would hear more about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  "According to Jewish law, Hanukkah is one of the less important Jewish holidays. However, Hanukkah has become much more popular in modern practice because of its proximity to Christmas."

And Yay for Rosa Park's"civil disobedience" anniversary.

just 'cuz

Best e*trade baby commercial yet -



In other kid-related news - yesterday after the bus ride home, Nicky said he saw a dead kangaroo hanging in someone's garage. I told him it was a deer. My dad does that with dead deer. And my folks' house is on Main Street. Growing up, I heard a comment or two about those poor (usually headless) creatures dangling pitiably in our garage for all Waconia to see.

Christ the King Sunday

Oldie but goodie.

weird November

Yeah, we got some white stuff on the ground.  The first snow is usually a wimpy 1/2 inch or thereabouts, so we had to scramble to find snow gear for everybody on Saturday.  I guess it's prettier to look at than dead brown earth.  It almost legitimizes the Christmas music our silly lite FM radio station is playing already.  Almost, but not quite.  Wait till after Thanksgiving, you goofs.  And keep playing it for at least a week after Christmas Day.  It's also the height of stupidity when mall decorations go up as early as October and come down the second Christmas actually arrives.  Anyway, I digress.  The first big snow calls for pictures of the kids frolicking merrily. 

Mmm, hot chocolate.  Hello comfort food season.

My Dad is Red Green

Not the one on TV - a real life one.  He chopped up my poor old childhood swingset and manufactured a deer stand out of it.  He somehow busted his thumb getting down from one last weekend (dunno if it was this handsome one).  At least he went to the doctor instead of fashioning a duct tape cast.

  photo courtesy of little brother Chris

Halloween 2010

 While trick-or-treating at one house, Zach thought the lady didn't put any candy in his pumpkin bucket.  The other kids ran away and he stood there indignantly waiting for his fair share well after she shut her door and walked away.

 

 Michael in particular is in a happy candy trance...

Bring on Standard Time already.  I'm tired of all this getting up when it's pitch black and seeing lovely sunrises.

candy debate

Here's a kindred spirit hyperbole-heavy blogger I can relate to - The Top 5 Worst Halloween Candies.

I do have some bones to pick with the author, however.  Get it?  Bones...halloween ...hardy har.

5.  Butterscotch discs - yes, these are gross.  But, he considers butterscotch a suitable flavor for puddings and such, to which I still say barf-a-rama.
4.  Wax bottles - I don't have much experience with these, but I seem to recall chewing on waxy lips or something as a kid and finding it strangely satisfying.
3.  Candy corn/pumpkins - not altogether loathsome.  Not somethin' to hand out to trick-or-treaters, but I think they're acceptable as a once-a-year candy dish item.  He says to hand out jawbreakers instead, even the cheap ones.  No.
2.  Tootsie Rolls - mostly agree.  Real chocolate doesn't masquerade as taffy.  The fruity ones are good though.
1.  Peanut Butter Taffy - yeah, I didn't like getting those.  But they're not straight from hades or anything.

Some dentists give kids a buck a pound if they surrender their candy to them.  This is horrible, and not just 'cause it's a ripoff.  Let kids have one day to OD on candy for pete's sake.  Besides, it's like saying 'Here, you poor child/military person/homeless man, you get cavities.'

tricksy hobbit

Three or four times recently, this little stinker has raided the frig for apples while I'm on the treadmill or otherwise occupied.  At least he's going for something healthy, but fruit ain't cheap, either.

dinner pleasantries

A conversation at dinner tonight (because that's when all such conversations occur around here):

Adrienne to Michael:  Hey, don't touch my wart.
M to A:  What?  You don't have a wart.
A:  Yes I do.
M:  Nuh uh.
A:  Uh huh! 
Nicky:  Adrienne, you're going to make people sick.

Indian summer

Or is it Native American summer?  American Indian summer?  Either way, it's been gorgeous lately.  Weird, though, too, to smell the leafy fall goodness when the temps are over 80.  I'm a little worried our pumpkins will rot.

Saturday we went to Red Wing.   Four years ago we climbed Barn Bluff for the 1st time, and since the weather was great we decided it was time to try again.  The kids thought it was a hideous idea that would take forever, but the hike up and back was only about an hour and 15 minutes.

The hiiiills are aliiiiive....

This year we sprung for the 'Giant Ultimate' chocolate-pecan-caramel covered apple at the outdoor art-fair thingy.  I blogged about our discovery of these beasts last year.

This pic gives me a thrilling idea for a whole new blog - Cross sections of foodstuffs.  Somebody probably beat me to it, though.

the enemy

homecoming week 2010

It's that time of year again.  Toilet paper sales are through the roof and kids are encouraged to look goofy by dressing up in a different theme each day of the week.  Seen here are Wild West Wednesday and Crazy Thursday.

Once again the flash exaggerates.  It's too bad their hair wasn't actually this bright.  A few kids pestered Nicky for wearing *gasp* pink in his hair.  Argh.  I guess silly school boy machismo is alive as early as 1st grade.  Well, I'll be darned if I raise any swaggering macho apes.  Anyway, Nicky is excited because he gets to have his first sleepover at a friend's house tonight, despite the fact that, as he put it, this friend has an "evil dog".  He's such a card.  He's really smart and sweet and unintentionally funny.

family tree project

We've been busy with school stuff the last few weeks.  Michael has had 3 or 4 projects already, including putting together a power point, a big poster, a presentation from notecards...bleh.  He's currently working on a genealogy assignment.  He made a family tree going back to his great-grandparents and interviewed great grandma Esther last night.  She grew up in a home without electricity or plumbing and walked 2 miles to school and back everyday.  She also remembers the advent of battery-operated radios, which Michael thought was cool.  He'll be researching Germany, where half or more of his ancestors came from.  I found this map of European ethnicities yesterday:

I thought it interesting that Germans and Scandinavians are in the same ethnic group, though I guess it makes sense.  I'm half Finnish from my dad's side, which is in a different group (Finland is the northernmost lime green country).  Anyway, I'm a nerd and find this kind of stuff fascinating.

Zach turns the big 0-3

greasy pizza supper and arcade games (check)

Mario, Spongebob, and Star Wars type gifts (check)

big cheeks while blowing out candles (check)

feelin' the love

Last night during supper the kids were talking about what they think they'd like to do when they're grown up.  Michael said he might live in a big city like Chicago when he's finished college.  Adrienne piped up "I'm going to live close to home so I can take care of Mommy and Daddy!" to which Michael replied "Good, then I don't have to do it.  Hooray for Adrienne!"  Pffft.  Ha.  But we did have to set them straight that we won't quite be old enough for adult diapers & walkers when they're in their 20's.

Labor Day & Bak two Skool

We spent some time staining the deck on Labor Day.  Nate had already worked on it a few times while I stealthily stayed away, but I ran out of excuses.  My folks came over and my dad helped us stain while my mom kept the kids occupied.  Turns out it's as tedious and monotonous as I imagined it would be and it's still not done.

Yesterday was the 1st day of school.  Michael gets on the bus at 7 am 'cuz middle school begins around 7:30.  Elementary school starts at 8:30 so Adrienne and Nicky get to sleep in later.  They're in 6th, 4th, and 1st grades.

Zach is in a 'playgroup' for speech/articulation that meets Weds. & Thurs. a.m. so he headed off this morning for the very first time.

It seemed a bit wrong to send off someone in a little Elmo/Cookie Monster jacket all by himself.  And it was a weird feeling to walk back into an eerily quiet house.  I've done this 3 times before but always had someone younger at home.  Transitions, sniff.  I heard from the speech teacher already and she said Zach is having a fun time, so that's good...that he's doing just fine...without me...

I bet they'll never call when they go to college...

last single digit b-day

Adrienne turned 9 last week.  She demanded a cookie cake like Daddy and Nicky had for their b-days.

Lots of other exciting things happened recently too.  Nate power washed the deck.  It turned out to be a heck of a lot of work, but it made a big difference.   Now for the staining.

Nicky lost his first tooth (if you don't count the upper one he knocked out years ago).

Nate and I camped kid-less at Lake Byllesby Regional Park.  It was freaky windy all night which was spooky and had me contemplating our defenseless position.  I was a little worried we wouldn't hear it in time if a crazed murderer snuck up on us.  Not that it would have helped to see an ax murderer advancing our way, come to think of it.  What would we have done, thrown marshmallows at him? 

A swan mooned us.

A Zach pic just 'cuz.

Adventure in the Dells

Yesterday we got back from a long weekend in Wisconsin Dells.  It was the kids' & my first time there, and Nate has only vague memories of vacationing there around age 5.  We stayed in a 'Resort' that probably looked fabulous in the 80's.  Our stay included wristbands for Mt. Olympus Park that were good every day of our stay, so we went twice.  It has more waterpark-type options than our local Valleyfair but doesn't compare otherwise.  I was surprised how the Dells & surrounding area looked.  There were too many kitschy attractions and most of them are crammed right next to each other on a busy, narrow, pothole-laden road. 

We had a fun time riding the Original Wisconsin Ducks.  They weighed something crazy like 7 or 8 tons but could navigate turns and hills pretty well.  The driver told corny jokes the whole time.

The Dells view from our Duck boat

We also saw the Tommy Bartlett Ski, Sky, & Stage Show which was okay but didn't have enough waterskiing action - half of it was jugglers and random Vegas-type acts.

Lower left - some dude with a big head sat in front of us right before the show started.  Argh.

Our kids are not the strongest swimmers yet so we couldn't take full advantage of the waterpark action.  Adrienne was the biggest daredevil.  She went on one of the big ones at Mt. Olympus, but stood in line for an eternity.  Good thing they had just as much fun at the little waterslide at our hotel:

Poor Zach wanted to go on every single ride he saw.  He was content once we found the kiddie rides, though.

And just for kicks, I'll end with this goofy pic of Z.  Must have been a bumpy landing.