3-D experience

Andy and I picked up these 3-D glasses this morning while shopping at Target. The sign said they were free and needed to watch the Michael Jackson tribute on tonight's Grammy Awards show. We thought it would be fun for the kids. Little did we know it would take till 9 p.m. for the tribute to be aired. E was still up, but B and L were already tucked in for the night. It was pretty neat to watch the 3-D parts.

Moderator

This morning we sat through a three-plus hour long congregational meeting at church. The various committee chairs reported on their activities throughout the year, the budget was discussed and approved, and the new church officers were elected. Andy was elected moderator, essentially council president, for a one-year term. He's promised me that it means he'll be attending fewer meetings because he can no longer serve on standing committees; he'll only have council and the search committee. L likes the gavel.

I was a little lucky that I got to sneak out of the meeting to drive E to her friend's temple for the friend's bat mitzvah service. E was there from 9:45 a.m. till about 1:45 p.m. She rested all afternoon then went to meet seven of her friends at 6 p.m. so they could carpool downtown to the party. I had to stick around to get a pic of the girls all dolled up (below). Andy went downtown at 11 p.m. to bring a group of four girls home. E had a great time.

Coffee & conversation

This morning I went for coffee with two friends. We had a long, relaxing conversation - a great way to start off the weekend.

Enough already!

The mail arrived today with 10, seriously 10, pieces of election mail. In addition to lots of mail to recycle, I've also been getting phone calls from politicians. It's nice to have Caller ID - I don't have to answer those "private" number or "800" number calls. And I've had two calls asking me if I plan on voting for Gov. Quinn in the primary. I feel like saying, "Call me again and you can mark me down as a definite NO."

My famous look-alike

This is Doppelgänger week on Facebook. Have a little fun and change your profile picture to someone famous (actor, musician, athlete) you have been told you look like for the week. For years I've been told I look like the actress Laura Dern. I don't see much of a resemblance, except for maybe the blond hair. I'll post her picture. You decide.

Overlooked

Look closely at what's hiding in the plant. L's Care Bear has been precariously stuck between the living room wall and a bookcase since her friend was over more than a week ago. The girls were on the landing upstairs, tossing down all sorts of stuffed animals which they then took and threw into the basement at B and his friend. I keep waiting for one of the kids to notice him and take him back upstairs where he belongs. I could be waiting a long time.

It's cookie time

After several pleadings by E's Girl Scout leader for a cookie mom, guilt got the best of me and I volunteered. I've done it before and it wasn't too difficult. I was surprised it's even easier (so far) this year with online ordering. I have all the girls' order forms and will be submitting the order to the council this week.

The kids were off of school today for a teacher's institute day and made the most of it. L went over to her friend E's house today. They had planned to swim at the YMCA, but her friend's mom hadn't planned on swimming and they wouldn't let the girls in the pool without an adult in there with them. Plan B took them a McDonald's with a Playland where they played all afternoon. L had a blast.

E and her friend, A2, went to see "Tooth Fairy" at the local theater. They said it was OK, but weren't raving over it.

B had his friend L over for a couple of hours of video games.

So sweet

At our church's fellowship hour after service today, B saw one of his favorite, former Sunday School teachers. She's a wonderful grandmotherly type woman and B always has a hug for her when he sees her. In this last week, her father, who had been ill for quite some time, died. B came up to her, at first hugging her from behind. When she realized it was B, she said, "Turn around so I can really hug you." He whispered in her ear that he was sad to hear her father had died. She started to cry and squeeze him even harder. Afterward, she wiped her eyes and told me what a sweet, sweet boy I have. I agree.

Monopoly

B loves to ask me and Andy to play Monopoly. We usually decline because the game takes so long. I offer to play his other favorites - Racko, Flinch, Connect 4 - but he loves Monopoly. Tonight, Andy sat down with B and E and played Monopoly City, a game E received as a Christmas present. They got started about 7 p.m. and finally decided to call it a night at 9:30 p.m. However, they left the game on the dining room table to continue the match tomorrow.

She's in!

L came home from school today so excited to tell me she was accepted into the district's annual Young Artists Workshop to be held Feb. 6 at a local elementary school. According to the letter, L will get to work with two professional artists. In her first workshop she'll be "reinventing the plastic bottle" and in the second workshop she'll be making sculptural hats. This is a great opportunity for L, who is always coloring and drawing.

"Beeing" a good student

After waiting a year and a half, E's name was chosen in her school's "Bee ticket" raffle. Students received Bee tickets from their teachers when they behave in a positive manner. E only had one ticket in the drawing this week. It was from her language arts teacher. After having her name announced on the loud speaker, E went to the office to select her prize. She choose a spirograph-like art kit which she's playing with in the photo. She also got a certificate from the principal that says, "We Buzz Over Good Behavior ... Congratulations! Bee Respectful, Bee Responsible & Bee Caring of Others." Way to go, E!

Something new

As I like to do, tonight I tried a new recipe for dinner - Tuscan Chicken Breasts - from one of my cooking magazines. It included a mixture of chopped red and yellow peppers, some hot pepper flakes and diced Italian tomatoes. I served it over linguine with a salad and have to say it was pretty tasty.

'The Lovely Bones'

This morning while the kids were in school, me and my friend C slipped away to watch the new movie, "The Lovely Bones." When I met C last fall (she has a boy in L's class and a girl in B's class) she was reading the novel by Alice Sebold and when I heard the movie was coming out, I knew I had to read it, too. I bought the book a while ago and it had been sitting on my shelf for months. I finished it over Christmas break and we decided we'd go see the movie together.

We both agreed we liked the book better than the movie, and decided the producers left out a few critical points. And we both thought it was too long - over two hours.

Decisions, decisions

When we moved into our house more than 12 years ago, wallpaper covered the walls in just about every room. Slowly but surely, we've removed the wallpaper and painted. L's room is the last that remains with wallpaper and Andy told her our project this year would be to paint her room.

She has her mind set on pink - her favorite color - but I'm trying to steer her toward a rose, or at least a coral. I found a green that's nice and soothing too. We told her we're not going to paint a color we don't like so we're going to have to agree on something. This could take a while.

Happy birthday, Andy!

Today was Andy's birthday. We celebrated by taking the kids to the Field Museum (B and L chose not to wear coats even though temps were in the high 20s), then heading back to Oak Park for a Mexican dinner at Lalo's. When Andy was at the bank next door making a deposit, B told the hostess it was Dad's birthday. At the end of the meal, the waiters came over and plopped a sombrero on Andy's head, sang to him and gave him a delicious fried ice cream which we all shared.

Pennies from heaven?

This afternoon B and I walked the two blocks to Walgreens to buy Andy his birthday cards. B noticed something shiny on the sidewalk and bent over to pick up a penny. A few steps later, he found another ... and another. I suggested they were "pennies from heaven," but he insisted someone must have walked along with a hole in their pocket, dropping pennies along the way. Perhaps someone put them on the sidewalk and was sitting in their house, watching and waiting to see who would come by and pick them up.

The weird thing, though, was that on the trip back - on the same sidewalk we walked to Walgreens on - we found more pennies that we didn't see walking there. B laughed harder and harder every time he found one. In all, he found 18 pennies.

This morning, Andy and I had to drive back to Lincolnwood to the Buick dealership to learn about all the features of the new car. I think the coolest thing is that we can upload all our CDs to a flash drive, plug it into the car, and they'll play over the radio speakers. The navigation system is pretty cool, too.

Home lunch

Rather than eat the school's lunch or bring his usual salami sandwich for lunch, B likes to come home. It doesn't happen every week, but every so often I write a note that allows him to walk home for lunch. B mixed together two Campbell's soups - Mega Noodle and Chicken & Stars - for his lunch while I had a homemade cheeseburger. It was nice to have his company for lunch.

The yearbook

I never thought when I joined the SHS yearbook staff as a high school sophomore, I'd be designing yearbooks 20-some years later. I have to say, though, that experience has served me well. I've looked over a lot of elementary school yearbooks and ... let's just say I know what I'm doing.

The other day the yearbook company loaded up all the students' and teachers' portraits. That meant it was time to start placing all the portraits on the page and typing in all the names. Once I get that done, I'll send a PDF to each teacher to proofread her class page, let me know if someone goes by a nickname, etc. The book is due to the printer in mid-March, so unfortunately, we don't get to include all the fun activities that happen in spring - the school sleepover, Olympic day, fifth-grade send-off, etc. The books should arrive at the school in late May.

Here's the cover (showing the back at left and the front at right) that the fifth-graders selected for this year's book:

It's a Buick!

For years Andy has had his eye on a new Buick. We've gone over the expenses too many times to count and now that the van is quickly approaching 100,000 miles, we took the plunge and bought it today - a 2010 red Buick Enclave.

When he got home from work we piled the kids in the 2002 Chevy Venture van for the last time and drove up north to Lincolnwood. L, who said she didn't want to get rid of the van, was quiet and pouty for the entire 40-or-so-minute trip.

Once we got to the dealership, we took a short test drive and it was time to negotiate. I watched "American Idol" with the kids while Andy talked to the salesman. The kids had a blast sitting in all the showroom cars. Here's E sitting in a $73,000 Cadillac Escalade. She was excited because her feet actually reached the pedals.


L was talking to all the salesmen, asking them for quarters for the vending machine. At one point, she found a bell (like the kind that sits on a teacher's desk) and was ringing it over and over. One of the salesmen gave her $1 for her to give him the bell back. She took the deal and bought herself Cheetos. I couldn't tell if they were glad to see us go, or grateful for the night's entertainment.

On the way home, L said she liked the car even though it doesn't have a DVD player. Andy and I have to go back to the dealership this weekend to pick up a few accessories for the car and have them run through all the features. We plan to leave the kids at home or with Grandma.

Honor Roll Breakfast

This morning was the Honor Roll Breakfast for the seventh-graders at E's middle school. E got straight A's this trimester. The PTO provides a light breakfast of bagels, sweet rolls, fruit, juice and coffee. The principal introduced the teachers and recognized the students by calling out their advisory teacher's name and having the students stand. It was a nice chance for me to talk to some of the moms I've known since E was in kindergarten, but rarely get to see anymore. Each student received two "honor roll" pencils and the parents got a bumper sticker.

It was funny to see that most kids sat with their friends, leaving their parents to fend for themselves. Suprisingly, E and her friend A stayed at my table throughout the breakfast.

Popcorn and a movie

I treated the kids to a video today after they finished their homework. when they got home from school, and after their homework was done. I rented "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs." It's one of our favorite books and L had been wanting to see it so when I got a code for a free Redbox rental, I decided to give it a chance.

L said the movie was G-O-O-D (spelling it out for me), but B gave it a C grade. Still, he sat there and watched it until it was over. E was at her school play rehearsal and didn't want to see it when she got home.

Happy 80th!

Today we celebrated my Aunt Lorene's 80th birthday with an open house in Alhambra. We had a delicious luncheon (B must have eaten four pieces of fried chicken) and watched a slide show of photos from Lorene's life and family. I was excited to finally get a picture taken of us seven cousins. In all those years of family parties, dating back as far as I can remember, no one ever took a picture of the seven of us. It was fun looking at the photo show and seeing some photos of us with our cousins that I had never seen before.

Aunt Lorene, who's my godmother, always sent me a card on my actual birthday. Even if we were planning the family part a few weeks later, I could go to the mailbox on July 5 and find a card from Aunt Lorene, usually with a few sticks of gum enclosed.

The drive down

We drove down to the farm today in anticipation for Aunt Lorene's 80th birthday party Sunday. We stopped at the new Avanti's in Bloomington to eat. I didn't realize it was out by the airport - kind of out of our way. Saturday night A and I met my friend, D, and her husband for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Staunton.

Orange belt

E did well enough on her karate test in November that she earned her orange belt. Last night at her lesson, she received the belt, along with the sparring gear we ordered. She came home so excited to show off her new moves!

Let it snow

We woke up this morning to a couple of inches of snow on the ground with at least another 6 expected today. I was set to volunteer at the Economy Shop at 8:45 a.m. so I offered to drive E and her three friends to school. I pulled the car out of the garage, turned it off and went to open the trunk so they could toss their backpacks in there. When we all got back into the car, it wouldn't start. I couldn't close the garage door because the car was still a bit inside the garage. I had the girls get out, get their stuff and head to friend A's house to ask for a ride. Meanwhile, I called the husband who was at work - not sure how he could help.

Fortunately, my neighbor E was pulling out of the alley and saw me on the phone with the husband and asked if I needed help. Yes, of course! She pushed my car back into the garage with her car and gave me a ride to the Economy Shop. I got there around 9a.m. so I wasn't too late. The neighbor even picked me up and brought me back home. What a lifesaver!

Spontaneous party

B asked the other day if he could bring a friend home on Wednesday. Sure, I said. The next day he asked if another friend could join them. And today, he brought home a fourth friend. I was pleasantly surprised when they got here and immediately settled down at the dining room table and did their homework! After about 20 minutes of that, though, they headed downstairs to play video games. L took on her usual waitress role and brought the boys Chex Mix and gummi bears. Nice combination.

I couldn't resist taking this picture of Andy and B. They were watching TV and when I glanced over, they were the mirror images of each other.

Tales kids tell

When L came home from school today she told me her teacher would be emailing me because she happened to mention that her grandpa was in Antarctica and brought us home a big chunk of ice. Huh?

Sure enough, I got an email from her teacher: "L is interested in bringing to school the hunk of ice that either her Grandpa or Great-Grandpa brought back from his visit to Antarctica. Is there any way you can email me a picture of it because it is hard to bring to school? Thanks! Mrs. K"

The closest I know of her grandpa being in Antarctica was when he was in the Army stationed in Buffalo, N.Y. And great-grandpa? The little girl must be having visions. I resisted my urge to email Mrs. K back and tell her that L flat-out lied and dreamed up the whole story, so I told her she must have gotten confused because grandma went to Alaska a few years ago. She never brought us ice though. And what kind of souvenir would that be anyway? I'm hoping L's imagination pays off someday. Apparently, she's quite convincing, too. Maybe she can use that to her advantage.

She did get down to business on one of her homework assignments - to write a poem about an animal. I don't think it's due for a few days, but was surprised to see her so excited about homework. This is what she wrote:

An octopus eats fish

Octopus, octopus, I see you sitting in the sea catching fish with no care.
Using camouflage so you won’t get eaten. You use your suction cups to hang upside down,
Catching fish for lunch.

By L

Packed away

Another Christmas is packed away. Andy brought in the boxes from the garage yesterday and once the kids were off to school, I started taking down all the decorations.

I was surprised to find this in my stocking. L drew me a Merry Christmas ornament out of cardboard, covered it with alumninum foil and slid it into my stocking. I decided to keep it in there until we unpack for Christmas 2010.

I just couldn't take apart L's Bendaroo Christmas tree that she created for our living room wall - complete with star and ornaments. She did a really good job on it.

Last day of break

Today was the last day of winter break for the kids. B and L both hosted playdates and E went to her friend's house. It's been a long two weeks.

At your service

Shortly after Grandma made L this cute car-hop waitress outfit for Halloween 2008, she's been wearing it around the house whenever she wants to play restaurant. Usually, she runs upstairs and puts it on when B has friends over, as he did today. She grabs a pencil and notebook and "takes their orders" depending on what we have in the house to snack on. At least it keeps her busy.

The New Year

It's been our family tradition (why? I'm not sure) to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games on New Year's Day. The good thing is that the place isn't as busy as usual so the kids can easily play whatever games they want.

This year, L brought along her friend, E. L slept over at E's house last night (a couple blocks away) and they rang in the New Year. E's mom said they were up till 11 p.m., celebrated the countdown with New York, but it took till midnight to tuck them into bed. L, as usual, was up bright and early - 7:30 a.m.! She should sleep good tonight!

E and B worked as a team, pooling their tickets and "buying" a gumball machine with the winnings.