I love this pic (except for the fire coming out of my child's head). The Nintendo DS was a huge hit. Thanks, Santa!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
December
Lots of illness this month, but otherwise it was a pretty laid-back holiday season. We weathered our first ice storm and enjoyed a peaceful Christmas day in our new home.
Happy 2009!
Happy New Year, y'all! I've resolved to do a 2008 year-in-review, complete with pictures, over the next few days. I'll be working backward, since I'm still hunting for my pics from January. Here's a photo to get things started:
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The Midwest's Many Moods
Peoria had torrential rain and temps in the mid 50s today. I don't mind the lack of cold AT ALL, but the contrast with our recent wintry weather is a shock. It reminded me of the ice storm pics I never posted, so here are a few in honor of our newly departed snow:
Thursday, December 18, 2008
We Need a Little Christmas
I'm curled on the couch tonight watching the ice storm outside. It's pretty dark out there, so...not much to see, but I like the feeling of being cozy and warm by the Christmas tree while the weather is being so cross outside.
The kids' school music program was canceled tonight because of the storm, and they may very well miss their day of movies and parties at school tomorrow if the storm is still raging. Poor mites. What am I going to DO with them all day to make up for missing movies and parties with their classmates? Maybe some holiday baking would be good. The kind where I put my OCD fussing about messes on the back burner (hee) and just let the kids go crazy. Of course we're having a church function here at the house tomorrow night, so maybe I don't want to go making even more messes to clean up before company arrives. Guess we'll see what the morning brings.
The Little Princess watched parts of the Nutcracker yesterday and today on TV. After I changed her diaper tonight she refused to put her jeans back on. "Pretty," she announced, meaning she wanted to put on a skirt (that's her term for girly clothes) like the ballerinas. Man, that girl is a dancer and/or musician in the making. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion. Have I mentioned that when I leave the car door open and it makes that prolonged beeping sound, she'll sit in her car seat and hum the exact pitch until I close the door? She's done that with the garbage disposal too (matched the pitch, I mean). She can also play the rhythm to Jingle Bells on the piano while she sings along. She's 26 months old.
Middle Child is worried about whether Santa will make it on Christmas Eve, what with all the bad weather. He's also asked me several times if he's on the "bad" list. Poor guy. I hope he has a sufficiently wide-eyed, magical Christmas morning. He deserves it. Even if his eating habits make me want to pound my head against the wall.
The First-Born is reading the first Harry Potter book. It's like a rite of passage. I can't wait to hear what he thinks. His school reading program rocks. I'm still in awe of the progress he's made in just a few short months.
Hopefully next week will be calm and full of Christmas cheer. The shopping's done, the packages and cards are mailed. Other than the standard baking and wrapping marathon, I think we're in good shape. Dear Husband is off work all next week (theoretically), so that will be a treat.
The past few weeks have not been kind. Mom went into the hospital on Thanksgiving with pneumonia and intense muscle/joint pain (plus some confusion and slurred speech, which was scary). She's home now but still struggling with some of the same issues. The day she came home our house got hit with a violent flu bug. Mom escaped getting sick, thank heaven, but the rest of us took turns with an evil array of symptoms. After that the Husband had to go to India for eight days. Not Mumbai, but still, it was enough to make his nervous wife keep checking the news.
Calm. Christmas cheer. Say it with me. Calm. Christmas cheer. Here's to a peaceful--and magical--holiday season, and an uneventful 2009!
The kids' school music program was canceled tonight because of the storm, and they may very well miss their day of movies and parties at school tomorrow if the storm is still raging. Poor mites. What am I going to DO with them all day to make up for missing movies and parties with their classmates? Maybe some holiday baking would be good. The kind where I put my OCD fussing about messes on the back burner (hee) and just let the kids go crazy. Of course we're having a church function here at the house tomorrow night, so maybe I don't want to go making even more messes to clean up before company arrives. Guess we'll see what the morning brings.
The Little Princess watched parts of the Nutcracker yesterday and today on TV. After I changed her diaper tonight she refused to put her jeans back on. "Pretty," she announced, meaning she wanted to put on a skirt (that's her term for girly clothes) like the ballerinas. Man, that girl is a dancer and/or musician in the making. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion. Have I mentioned that when I leave the car door open and it makes that prolonged beeping sound, she'll sit in her car seat and hum the exact pitch until I close the door? She's done that with the garbage disposal too (matched the pitch, I mean). She can also play the rhythm to Jingle Bells on the piano while she sings along. She's 26 months old.
Middle Child is worried about whether Santa will make it on Christmas Eve, what with all the bad weather. He's also asked me several times if he's on the "bad" list. Poor guy. I hope he has a sufficiently wide-eyed, magical Christmas morning. He deserves it. Even if his eating habits make me want to pound my head against the wall.
The First-Born is reading the first Harry Potter book. It's like a rite of passage. I can't wait to hear what he thinks. His school reading program rocks. I'm still in awe of the progress he's made in just a few short months.
Hopefully next week will be calm and full of Christmas cheer. The shopping's done, the packages and cards are mailed. Other than the standard baking and wrapping marathon, I think we're in good shape. Dear Husband is off work all next week (theoretically), so that will be a treat.
The past few weeks have not been kind. Mom went into the hospital on Thanksgiving with pneumonia and intense muscle/joint pain (plus some confusion and slurred speech, which was scary). She's home now but still struggling with some of the same issues. The day she came home our house got hit with a violent flu bug. Mom escaped getting sick, thank heaven, but the rest of us took turns with an evil array of symptoms. After that the Husband had to go to India for eight days. Not Mumbai, but still, it was enough to make his nervous wife keep checking the news.
Calm. Christmas cheer. Say it with me. Calm. Christmas cheer. Here's to a peaceful--and magical--holiday season, and an uneventful 2009!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Kid Logic
The middle child and I had a conversation about boy animals and girl animals at the zoo recently.
I explained to him that animals had boy parts and girl parts, just like people.
"Oh," he said as realization dawned. "You mean like girls have headbands and stuff."
Yes, exactly. :)
I explained to him that animals had boy parts and girl parts, just like people.
"Oh," he said as realization dawned. "You mean like girls have headbands and stuff."
Yes, exactly. :)
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
I Heart Chicago
We drove to Chicago again over the weekend. We saw this:
Wood, American Gothic
And this:
Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
And this too:
van Gogh, The Poet's Garden
I could have stood and stared at van Gogh's work all day. Many of the paintings were off display due to renovations, but we still saw Pissaros, Monets, Giffords, and a bunch of others I can't think of right now.
Yeah. I know embarassingly little about art. But still--culture! Grown-up time! (Even though the kids were there and quite loud and not even a little bit patient. I'm so used to people staring and/or giving me dirty looks it doesn't even faze me anymore.)
*happy sigh* It was heaven.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…and also: Wheeeeeeeeeee!
We’re wearing coats and socks and sweaters and long sleeves! Though sometimes I forget the socks. Four years in the Philippines is hard to undo.
There are colorful leaves on (and off) the trees. And it’s cold outside. Like chattering teeth and dry skin kind of cold. Well, except for today, and yesterday, and Sunday and Saturday and even Halloween. Our little warm spell is making it hard to hide the fact that I started this blog update a week ago.
Still, it's our first fall since 2004, and it’s fabulous. Gorgeous. So nice to be shivering instead of sweating.
We visited a pumpkin patch with the kids a few weekends back. We bundled up in cozy sweaters and everything. Of course it was 80 degrees that day, but at least the pics of us in our sweaters look fall-appropriate.
The husband and I drove to Chicago on the 18th to watch a preseason Jazz/Bulls game. The seats were tenth row, the closest I’ve ever been to the floor. As a die-hard Jazz fan it felt a little weird to be in enemy territory, but it was still very cool to see a game at the United Center. Plus I’m 90 percent sure I saw Cameron (Alan Ruck) from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off sitting courtside with his kids. He seemed like a great dad. Very cool.
Now that we’re Midwesterners, we’re slowly getting accustomed to rooting for Illinois teams, plus the Cardinals since they’re so close. I’ve been to see Wicked in Chicago and the arch in St. Louis. It’s amazing to live in a completely new part of the country and visit places I’ve never seen before.
Owning cars and a home again has not been pretty. Since June we’ve experienced:
-Flooded basement, not covered by insurance or home warranty. On the upside, we did get to replace the yellow paint and ugly blue carpet down there.
-Broken garage door spring, not covered by home warranty, though we had to pay the warranty-approved garage guy $95 just to come out and tell us it wasn’t covered. The spring was an extra $350.
-Broken pool pump, partially covered by home warranty. Cost of redeeming the disgusting, algae-filled pool: not covered.
-Broken truck (starter)
-Broken car stereo
-Broken laptop
-Broken refrigerator
Add this to all the things we bought for the house when we got here (planned and unplanned), and our savings is gut-churningly small. Scary stuff, considering the state of the economy these days.
But we also have these gorgeous woods behind our house, with wild turkeys and squirrels and all kinds of birds I’ve never seen before. Apparently once the leaves are gone we’ll be more likely to spot deer. It’s a lovely, quiet street. I love that the kids can go out and play all day and be safe and happy. It’s a very good thing for my peace of mind.
The boys love school. It’s great having them in the US school system again. Of course it helps that they both got glowing reviews at their first parent/teacher conferences. \0/ Kid #1 even made the honor roll.
I’m taking a photography class at the local art guild. It’s fabulous, and something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’ve got this great camera the dear husband bought me for Christmas last year and I’ve been too afraid to use anything other than the auto feature. I’m about two years behind on photos, so scrapbooking is probably a thing of the past. I’ve scrapbooked each of the kids’ first years, basically, so that’s good enough for now. I’m stuck with a ton of supplies though. And I love buying supplies, I do, I do! Guess that’s part of the problem.
I can’t wait to take pictures of the kids when we get our first snowfall.
What I miss about Manila (because I have days when I do, weirdly enough):
Lucy
Myrna
Odie
Our neighbors, the Ross family
Garrett and Kelly, even though they had already moved to China. At least they were CLOSER than they are now.
Our favorite mall/restaurant hangouts
Cheap kid clothes
Every once in a while I’ll have a nightmare where we didn’t get out of Manila and we still have a ton of paperwork for the adoption, and I’m running around yelling at people and freaking out. I think it’s the new version of that old dream where it’s the end of the semester and I have a math final and haven’t gone to class all year. The other twist is the one where I’m in a play on opening day and don’t know my lines. I’m afraid the books on dream interpretation wouldn’t have good things to say about how this reflects on my state of mind and/or organizational skills.
Lastly: The writing is slow, slow going. For goodness’ sake, I’m just now getting around to updating my blog after five months. I’m still working on my most recent YA story a few times a week. Maybe when I finally manage a first draft I’ll allow myself back on the writing message boards. At the moment I’m in no state to handle other people’s writing success. (It’s petty, I know, but all too true!)
There are colorful leaves on (and off) the trees. And it’s cold outside. Like chattering teeth and dry skin kind of cold. Well, except for today, and yesterday, and Sunday and Saturday and even Halloween. Our little warm spell is making it hard to hide the fact that I started this blog update a week ago.
Still, it's our first fall since 2004, and it’s fabulous. Gorgeous. So nice to be shivering instead of sweating.
We visited a pumpkin patch with the kids a few weekends back. We bundled up in cozy sweaters and everything. Of course it was 80 degrees that day, but at least the pics of us in our sweaters look fall-appropriate.
The husband and I drove to Chicago on the 18th to watch a preseason Jazz/Bulls game. The seats were tenth row, the closest I’ve ever been to the floor. As a die-hard Jazz fan it felt a little weird to be in enemy territory, but it was still very cool to see a game at the United Center. Plus I’m 90 percent sure I saw Cameron (Alan Ruck) from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off sitting courtside with his kids. He seemed like a great dad. Very cool.
Now that we’re Midwesterners, we’re slowly getting accustomed to rooting for Illinois teams, plus the Cardinals since they’re so close. I’ve been to see Wicked in Chicago and the arch in St. Louis. It’s amazing to live in a completely new part of the country and visit places I’ve never seen before.
Owning cars and a home again has not been pretty. Since June we’ve experienced:
-Flooded basement, not covered by insurance or home warranty. On the upside, we did get to replace the yellow paint and ugly blue carpet down there.
-Broken garage door spring, not covered by home warranty, though we had to pay the warranty-approved garage guy $95 just to come out and tell us it wasn’t covered. The spring was an extra $350.
-Broken pool pump, partially covered by home warranty. Cost of redeeming the disgusting, algae-filled pool: not covered.
-Broken truck (starter)
-Broken car stereo
-Broken laptop
-Broken refrigerator
Add this to all the things we bought for the house when we got here (planned and unplanned), and our savings is gut-churningly small. Scary stuff, considering the state of the economy these days.
But we also have these gorgeous woods behind our house, with wild turkeys and squirrels and all kinds of birds I’ve never seen before. Apparently once the leaves are gone we’ll be more likely to spot deer. It’s a lovely, quiet street. I love that the kids can go out and play all day and be safe and happy. It’s a very good thing for my peace of mind.
The boys love school. It’s great having them in the US school system again. Of course it helps that they both got glowing reviews at their first parent/teacher conferences. \0/ Kid #1 even made the honor roll.
I’m taking a photography class at the local art guild. It’s fabulous, and something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’ve got this great camera the dear husband bought me for Christmas last year and I’ve been too afraid to use anything other than the auto feature. I’m about two years behind on photos, so scrapbooking is probably a thing of the past. I’ve scrapbooked each of the kids’ first years, basically, so that’s good enough for now. I’m stuck with a ton of supplies though. And I love buying supplies, I do, I do! Guess that’s part of the problem.
I can’t wait to take pictures of the kids when we get our first snowfall.
What I miss about Manila (because I have days when I do, weirdly enough):
Lucy
Myrna
Odie
Our neighbors, the Ross family
Garrett and Kelly, even though they had already moved to China. At least they were CLOSER than they are now.
Our favorite mall/restaurant hangouts
Cheap kid clothes
Every once in a while I’ll have a nightmare where we didn’t get out of Manila and we still have a ton of paperwork for the adoption, and I’m running around yelling at people and freaking out. I think it’s the new version of that old dream where it’s the end of the semester and I have a math final and haven’t gone to class all year. The other twist is the one where I’m in a play on opening day and don’t know my lines. I’m afraid the books on dream interpretation wouldn’t have good things to say about how this reflects on my state of mind and/or organizational skills.
Lastly: The writing is slow, slow going. For goodness’ sake, I’m just now getting around to updating my blog after five months. I’m still working on my most recent YA story a few times a week. Maybe when I finally manage a first draft I’ll allow myself back on the writing message boards. At the moment I’m in no state to handle other people’s writing success. (It’s petty, I know, but all too true!)
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