Happy Day

Have you noticed the lack of blog posts lately? Blame this:

Between preparing for the County's annual lobbying visit to the capitol, and then taking part in it, I've been more than a tad busy. But now it's all over. And life is good.

Since I knew I'd be gone Wednesday, I encouraged the kids to finish their valentine's early. Oh my goodness, that was a lot of work. 

Signing cards, inserting the tattoo stickers that go with them, taping the card to candy. It took a long, long, long time to finish.

Good thing there was extra candy that served as a nice incentive for them to finish.

Wednesday morning arrived. What a special morning. It was the morning of "Breakfast with Books", when parents are invited to come to school for a quick breakfast in the cafeteria. In theory, we're supposed to read a book to our child while we're there, but in reality, I'm just doing my best to keep my kids from spilling juice on the books that are spread across the table.

But that's not all. Besides needing to go to school with the kids, and needing to pack a bag for an overnight stay in St. Paul, Wednesday also happened to be Crazy Hat Day at school, which is somehow supposed to get kids excited about reading. (February is I Love to Read month.) It also happened to be the 100th day of school, so all the kids were supposed to bring in 100 small items to show their class. And I wanted the kids to bring their Valentines (each of them had cards, plus AJ had a "mailbox" he'd decorated) so Jeff would have one less thing to worry about on Thursday while I was gone.

We remembered all that. But forgot Sydney's gloves. Never a dull moment.

And now you know why I've had no time to blog.

Crabby birthday weekend

I could have sworn I'd posted something yesterday. And with the kids going to school two hours late due to snow, I should have had time. But some how I didn't. Have time. Or write.

And this morning is even busier.

So here's some pictures from AJ's birthday celebration at Joe's Crab Shack. I was desperate to go anywhere other than Chuck E. Cheese.

We should have gone to Chuck E. Cheese.

Clever bibs and singing servers. That's what we got. Here's AJ showing his muscles while the staff sang.

How do I know it would have been better at Chuck E. Cheese? Put it this way, the one part of the day that AJ still talking about is the "hairy buttocks" birthday card birthday card he got from my brother.

The card looks like a game of hangman on the front with "HA_ _Y B_ _T_ _ _ _" and when you open it up.... yeah... I've already given away the punchline.

How nice that "hairy buttocks" is now part of my eight year old's vocabulary. And so I think it's only appropriate to share this shot.

(It wouldn't have been funny if it weren't for Zoe's expression.)

Let's sleep for a spell

The conversation I had with Sydney way too early this morning when she woke moaning.

Me: What's wrong honey?

Sydney: (indecipherable mumbles)

Me: Shhh. It's okay.

Sydney: You (mumble, mumble) my bag.

Me: Say that again

Sydney: You forgot to pack my bag.

Me: For Madi's sleepover? I told you we'd do that after school today.

Sydney was silent for at least a minute. I'd thought she'd fallen back to sleep and was about to return to my room. But then...

Sydney: Are there any words you can't spell?

Me: Of course there are. Mostly big ones.

Sydney: Like "here"? That's a big one. It's one of my sight words

Me: I know how to spell "here". Do you remember how?

Sydney: I can't remember.

Me: It's H-E-R-E.

Sydney: H-E-R-E. (pause) I know how to spell "to". T-O. That's easy peasy.

Me: Good. Now can you go back to sleep?

Sydney: I just want to snuggle.

When fear gives way to excitement

Three of the four people in my family love eating at hibachi grill-style restaurants. The other person gets a little spooked when the cook pours oil on the grill and lights it on fire.

But she's getting better. She's gone from running and crying across the restaurant, to cowering in fear behind my chair, to now being brave enough to peak around Daddy and see that it's all okay.

Throw in free chopsticks, and suddenly this might be her choice when we let her pick the restaurant she wants to eat at on her birthday. Never mind that she had the most success when she used the chopsticks to stab the meat.

Daddy did his best to offer instruction, but the tip about holding one stick like a pencil doesn't work so well on a child who still struggles to hold a pencil correctly.

This post really should be about AJ, because it was for his birthday and by his choice that we were eating at Osaka's. It was just hard to get good pictures of him because I was sitting right next to him. We let him pick whatever he wanted from the menu, and he chose chicken and lobster. But what he really wanted - and was the reason he picked this location for his birthday - was the treat at the end.

The lights rotate and a disco version of Happy Birthday to You plays throughout the entire restaurant as the server bring some sort of dough wrapped ice cream to the birthday boy.

Everybody around our grill sang and AJ got really embarrassed. But I know he loved every minute of it.

The tough part is, now I have to try and figure out somewhere else to pick for my birthday.

Lucky number x 2

My baby that was born at 4:44 a.m. and now wears jersey #4 is eight years old today. 

Okay, I'm back. Had to run for a tissue. Just thinking about my little boy getting so big makes me a bit sappy.

AJ is determined to enjoy every possible moment of his big day. He asked to be woken up early, which I did - at 6:30. That's 10-15 minutes earlier than usual. Silly me for misunderstanding. He wanted to wake up at 4:44. Sorry kid, I haven't gotten up that early for you since you were a baby.

Sydney has vowed to be nice to her big brother all day. So far she's followed him into the bathroom singing Happy Birthday. She followed that up with a hug and later a high five. She's now busy working on a birthday card for him - one that she's now wrapping in tissue paper and for which she apparently needs a lot of tape (based on how many times she's called for help when the tape gets stuck.)

AJ is very aware of the legal significance of turning eight. This is almost as exciting as being old enough to vote or drink. He asked me if I would drive him to school today. Why?

It's his first time riding in the front seat.

As we drove, he pulled down the visor and looked in the mirror. He then excitedly announced, "I think I'm growing a mustache!"

More likely he forgot to wash his face after eating breakfast. But when you're eight, the possibilities are endless of what you're now old enough to do.

Another manic Monday

It's been another hockey-filled weekend, sports fans. Child #1 had a tournament in Silver Bay. Child #2 had a tournament in Esko. Parents 1 & 2 ran themselves ragged transporting the above mentioned children (plus one other player to help out his parents) between the two locations.

And as if all that hockey wasn't enough, AJ still wanted more. As we drove home, the conversation went something like this:

AJ: Do the Wild have a game tonight?

Me: No, it's the Super Bowl.

AJ: So they give the players the night off so they can watch?

Me: (Not having the energy to explain the reality of professional sports and television programming being a business that relies on viewers) Yeah, something like that.

And now it's Monday morning. A Monday morning full of notes from teachers that I couldn't read last Friday because my pupils were dilated from a trip to the eye doctor. A Monday morning with missing snowpants and coats that were eventually located inside hockey bags that had been in the very cold garage all night. (I let them spin for five minutes in the dryer - the outerwear, not the kids - and the children now think I'm a genius.)

Bottom line, I have no time to write something witty and creative. Instead, I give you this: video of one of AJ's goals yesterday. He had a great tournament: seven goals between the three games.

Eight years ago at this time, I was complaining about back pains and how as long as I sat down, they didn't seem so bad. As we all now know, those back pains were the first hint that my hockey star was within a day of making his grand debut.

So I guess compared to that, this morning isn't so bad after all.

E for effort

Oops... I'm only a week late sharing the fun we had on Jeff's birthday. (Which is only slightly less organized that I was in planning his big day.) 

Considering I had no idea what to get him for a gift and waited until the last minute to pull it all together, it turned out pretty nicely. Thus proving that creative efforts can make up for a total lack of effort.

We started with a cake, which I snuck into his work to be presented during an afternoon meeting.

Sydney, meanwhile, made Jeff a birthday crown. Crowns are hugely popular among her peers, so why wouldn't Daddy want to wear one, too? (As I joked on Facebook, behold the power of a five year old. I think it's a safe bet that had the crown come from me, there's no way Jeff would have worn it.)

So back to the problem of not having a clue what to get Jeff for his birthday. I knew he wanted a metal detector, but I also know that this is the kind of item he should pick out himself. And so I needed to come up with a creative way to make that happen.

Jeff likes to lead the kids on treasure hunts at their birthday parties, so we decided to do something like that for him. We sent him from the living room, into our room and then onto AJ's, with cheesy rhyming clues such as:

You've made it this far, but it wouldn't be fun
if with one clue this game was won.
So now to your boy's room you must go
To a place where awards hang by his window. 

Get it? Attached to a bunch of hockey medals was the next note that read:

You found the next clue, but there's still more
On to the next... through Sydney's door.
You'll find a soccer ball, but not one you boot.
For inside, you might find some loot.

And so, attached to Sydney's soccer ball-shaped piggy bank, which is full of coins, we came upon the next note.

And so it continued... each note was attached to some kind of metal. At last we directed him to the office where the final note was propped on the computer keyboard directing him to go online and buy his choice of metal detectors.

All worked out great. Jeff was happy, and I didn't look like a totally lame wife who made no effort to get him anything. Best of all - the new metal detector just arrived. Jeff has tested it out in the house, but apparently has decided to wait until the snow melts and ground thaws to take it outdoors. (And it came in a big box, so the kids are happy, too.)

I hope Jeff is patient, we're back in a deep freeze again, so it could take awhile.

*****

On an unrelated note, today is national Go Red for Women Day. Take a moment - through the food or exercise choices you make - to do something heart healthy for yourself.