All in a Row

Owen got a new pair of shoes today. We stopped at Kohl's on our way home from a few hours of jump-around with Owen's friend Matthew at a local inflatables place called Monkey Joe's. Owen was in serious need of new shoes. Not because his feet are completely growing out of them, but because that kid is hard on his shoes. His old ones were busting at the seams in at least three places. The last pair were retired when a hole appeared in one of the soles. Boys.

Tonight before bed, Owen came jogging downstairs after storytime and requested his shoes, so he could get dressed in the morning before breakfast, he reasoned. In our house, that's typically an post-breakfast activity. But, he obviously was excited about his new shoes.

When I came up to bed tonight, I saw that Owen had set out all his clothes for tomorrow. They are all laid out on his floor, in a line, in the order he will need them. Underwear, pants, long-sleeved shirt, t-shirt, socks, shoes. It was so cute, I had to go back downstairs to share with Jon. And then I had to blog about it, too, of course.

Insert Don King Joke Here

My kids...oh my, how they have the bed head.

Owen has always had a case of it. We affectionately, jokingly, lovingly call him "chickenhead" when the cowlick is at its finest and sticking straight up in the back.


But Nora, she has taken it to a whole other level. She does something in her sleep that results in tangled, frizzy hair almost every morning.


The other day, they were like a matching gnarly-haired set and I just had to laugh. Both displaying a fine mess of tresses, both wearing yellow-hued pajamas, and both displeased that I was taking their pictures at breakfast.

They tried to hide, but the selected objects were far too puny to hide the hair.


I don't think this is what the people at Suave had in mind when they created their detangling spray (pear scent!), because it has little affect.

My Thumb Froze to the Doorknob this Morning

It has been cold here. Highs of below-zero cold. On Thursday and Friday, Owen's school was closed. And my thumb actually did momentarily stick to the doorknob when I went to get the newspaper off the front stoop. So, what does one do on a "cold day,"as opposed to a snow day?

Well...

You use straws to blow bubbles in a tub of water. The water tub also is good for conducting experiments. For instance, we learned that pennies and nickels sink, but marker caps float AND they make cool color streaks in the water.


You eat lunch with your sunglasses on. After all, it is quite sunny in the kitchen.



You cuddle up to watch TV with some blankets, some stuffed animals and a sibling.


You try ice-freezing experiments. It takes about 6 hours for a small container of ice to freeze completely solid. (I was surprised it took that long, actually.) Then you put that ice in the freezer and take it out when Mom wants to take your picture with it. But it's slippery, and you drop it immediately after the picture is taken. And then you blame Momma, 'cuz it was her stupid idea to take a picture.


You try out your silly smile.

The One with a List

A few of my favorite things from Christmas break:

1. Sleeping in. Oh, man, it was so great to sleep until I naturally woke up. Even the kids were sleeping in. I'm not looking forward to the sound of an alarm clock tomorrow morning.

2. My pot rack. This was one of my Christmas presents, something I'd specifically asked for. I'm already loving not having to take all the stacked pots or pans out of the cupboard just to get at one. And I've gained some new space, too. Thanks, honey!

3. Owen learning how to draw a star. He was making a simple asterisk-like star, so I showed him how to make a star using that five-line method we probably all learned as kids. He watched me do it a few times, then was able to do it himself. He's already a better artist than me. We were both drawing dogs earlier today and he made fun of mine, saying it looked like a cat. And it kinda did.

4. Swimming. Spending a couple nights in a hotel meant multiple visits to the pool. Someday, I hope to get back to a gym and in a pool on a regular basis. Being in the water just makes me feel good.

5. Nora learning that "poopy" is the magic funny word for Owen.

6. Owen playing with our cat, Philo. We made a string toy on a stick and he would laugh and laugh as Philo attacked it.

7. Seeing two movies (Valkyrie and Bolt). Even though they weren't the two I really want to see (that would be Milk and Slumdog Millionaire...and Happy Go Lucky, if we're lucky), we have to take babysitters when and where we can, or take the kids with us.

8. That both kids really liked their Christmas presents. I was a little worried that giving Owen a box of paper, Post-its and markers might underwhelm him, but he was pleased as punch.

9. Wine. I'm finishing off last night's bottle right now.

10. Just having the time off. I know I'm lucky to have had two weeks off, and though I don't feel ready to go back to work (do you ever feel ready?), I do feel like I've had a good vacation.

10 Days

It's Saturday night, and I'm on the tail end of a much-needed break. It has been wonderful over the past two weeks to relax, spend time with my kids and husband, knock off a few easy, yet perennially postponed, "to dos" and drink wine in the evenings while not worrying about what needs to be done before morning...because it can ALL wait until morning.

Vacation started a day earlier than planned due to a good ol' Wisconsin snowstorm. It had been in the forecasts the day before, so everyone was prepared that school, work, everything might be called off. And, as it turned out, it was. When I woke up that morning, I could still see the tires on my car. A couple of hours later, not so much.



A day later, it was time to travel to Illinois for our first Christmas. It was co-old that day and the forecast was for blowing and drifting snow. Wonderful. But, we packed the blankets and headed out to see all the cousins. Owen looks a little less-than-happy in this photo because he was liking some of his cousins gifts more than his own.



He perked up later though, and had fun playing fireman with his cousin.



I had fun, too, especially now that Nora is old enough to happily entertain herself. She toodled about, offering drinks from her new tea set, dragging dolls around by their ankles, eating cookies, finding new laps to sit in, eating more cookies...

Oh, and here's a picture for the kitty lovers out there. It's my sister-in-law's cat, Woody, who likes to hang out in the Christmas tree.



Next on our agenda were a couple of days at home. Mother Nature threw some more snowstorms at us, and by the time Christmas Eve came around, we'd had another 10 or so inches and the piles along our driveway were a good 4-5 feet tall. Sigh.

We had our family Christmas on Christmas Eve day. Owen's big gift was an "art box." I'd picked up a ton of different papers, markers, fun pencils, etc. and put them all in this storage box with his name on it. Then, since he'd also been asking for Post-its, I picked up a bunch of those and filled a little box with them. I think he liked it.



Nora got a play kitchen. Later, she was serving us fish and drumsticks...in drinking glasses.



Next stop was my parents' house for Christmas Day. It was a brief visit, since the snow delayed our trip up there by a day, and we missed our traditional "sleigh ride" into the woods, but we did get some nice outdoor time, and Owen enjoyed playing catch with my parents' dog, Duncan. That dog could play catch for hours, I think. Jon and I also had time to sneak out to see a movie, and then have a beer (and feel a tad old) at a local bar.



Nora even let loose a real smile (OK, maybe it was a little goofy for the camera) instead of her typical semi-scowl.



Then it was off to the Eau Claire area to visit the great-grandparents.



We spent two nights at a hotel there, which meant lots of visits to the pool (fun), and also meant the kids stayed up until after 10 both nights (not as fun). Being in one room together, they just goofed around after the lights were out. Nora has discovered the secret to making Owen laugh -- say "poop" a lot. So after a couple rousing renditions of "Old MacDonald Had a Poopy" and "There Was a Farmer Had a Dog and Poopy Was His Name-O," I had to put the kabosh on their shenanigans with the threat of "no swimming tomorrow if you don't be quiet right now!" That worked.

We came home Sunday, in nice weather, and felt like we'd had good visits all around. Jon had to go back to work, but I was still off with the kids. This week has been pretty laid-back. Monday night, we went down to Kenosha for some bowling -- meeting up with an old, good friend from college who was in the area for the holidays.



New Year's Eve, we had a "party" in our computer room, complete with dancing, loud music, flashing lights (courtesy of Owen and his new flashlight) and streamers. It actually was a lot of fun. I had one of those parent moments when you look at your kids and think, this really is the greatest; this is all I need.



This weekend, I'll have to get some chores done to prepare for the inevitable return to work (declaring a war on laundry for starters). It has been fun. And I'm really going to miss sleeping in until 8 and waking up to the sounds of Owen and Nora giggling in her room. Too bad Christmas comes but once a year.

Willpower

Hi, my name is Heather and it has been one week since I last checked my work e-mail.

I've been out of the office since a snowstorm shut down the city on the 19th, and, after a smattering of e-mails to take care of a few things last Monday and Tuesday, I checked out. There's no reason to be checking in, after all. The whole company is on vacation, so no one no where expects work to get done or questions to get answered. This really is a glorious two-week break from work responsibilities. And yet, I've been tempted to check my darn e-mail. As my mouse passed over the bookmark earlier tonight, I almost, almost let go. But I didn't. Though I am able to take time off and not worry about work, I do check in a lot whenever I'm out. I guess I like knowing what's going on. Maybe that means I'm not able to take time off and not worry. Or maybe there's just a time limit to how long I can go without thinking about my job.

This morning, I woke up making a mental list of what I need to do when I go back on the 5th, but I banished those thoughts. No work thinking until Sunday, I told myself. I'm still on vacation.

Time Warp

I only have a couple minutes to post, partly because of this first thing. I'll post about all of our Christmas adventures soon.

I've noticed this phenomenon that affects the passage of time, yet seems to occur only on weekends and vacation days. The morning hours seem long and luxurious while the afternoon hours gobysofastthatohmygodhowisit4:00already?! Have you ever noticed that, too?

And, ugh, while I appreciate that modern grocery store chains are trying to help the hapless parent shopper, the creation of kid-size carts (i.e. weapons to crash into shelves, other shoppers, little sisters) and "car carts" (i.e. an enclosed space where children are virtually guaranteed to push and shove and disagree over who has the better steering wheel) seem to just be creating new and exciting ways for kids to run wild in the grocery store instead of solving the problem. If they were smart, they'd start stocking mini bottles of liquor next to the candy and gum, because some days, mommy needs a treat after shopping, too.