Take it away

I bagged up all the outgrown clothes and toys today for AmVets to haul away tomorrow. I ended up with three large garbage bags, a bag of Andy's suits and a bag of his largest golf shirts. Everything has to be out on the front lawn by 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. It will be nice to have it cleared out of my basement.

Fun Saturday

Andy got home from his business trip late Friday night, after the kids and I went to bed. When they woke up this morning he had a bag full of convention freebies waiting for them. They sorted through stress balls, pads of paper, lots of pens, frisbees, T-shirts, hand sanitizer, bookmarks and magnifying glasses. Andy decided to keep the pens for himself. L is showing off a San Diego T-shirt Andy bought for her. Of course, he got one for each kid.

This afternoon was Irving's annual Fun Fair. Here's L playing Bingo in the school's lunchroom. They also played carnival games in the upstairs gym. E was at a bar and bat mitzvah ceremony this morning, but went to the Fun Fair as soon as she got home. B went for a while then invited his friends over to play some video games.


Tonight, E and her friend, K, carpooled to the bar and bat mitzvah party downtown Chicago. B had his friend, M, sleep over. Andy and I rented "Inglorious Basterds." Pretty bloody movie.

Cupcakes

Tomorrow is Irving School's annual Fun Fair - a day full of carnival games, food and a silent auction. This morning I baked 24 cupcakes for the "Dancing for Desserts" game. The cupcakes are baked, the tickets have been purchased - we're ready for the Fun Fair!

To celebrate my baking skills (and to get out of the house!), I met a friend for a Mexican lunch, a margarita and lots of conversation.

B came home from his camping trip today. He said the best part was finding fossils. He loved the dunes - said he could see Chicago from the top of them. Glad to hear he had a good time. He even tried - and liked! - turkey meatloaf.

Pink eye?

Last night L was trying to get me to make her an eye patch that she could wear to school today. She was rubbing her eye and said it itched. It did a look a little red, but she was rubbing it. Today, the nurse called, saying L had some "yellowish, greenish discharge" coming from her left eye. She suspected pink eye and said L would have to see the doctor and get some eye drops before returning to school. Fortunately, I called the doctor's office and they're calling in a prescription for L without squeezing her in for a doctor's visit. I didn't expect to pay $74 for the smallest bottle of eye drops I've ever seen, though. She has to have two drops, three times a day for the next five to seven days. This should be fun.

Overnight school trip

B left this morning with his fifth-grade class for a two-night stay at the Indiana Dunes as part of the district's Outdoor Education program. They plan on doing a lot of hiking and perhaps some cross-country skiing if there's snow. B said he was up at 3 a.m. this morning and was dressed and ready to go by time I woke up at 6:30 a.m. He seems pretty excited. I hope the trip goes well. He'll be back Friday.

Pretzel art

This is E's specialized art. She first crunched her name out of pretzels during a cart trip. She can also do her last name and B's name too. Kind of weird, but kind of cool.

Asparagus

It's hard to pass up a deal and asparagus was on sale, so I had to have some. Nevermind that none of us eats it. I found a recipe that bakes the asparagus with a mixture of orange juice, garlic and poppy seeds. Neither Andy nor I liked it. I think I'll stick with carrots and corn as my veggies of choice.

Here's a video I made of E and her friend A when they were watching the Olympics. A car commercial came on and they couldn't help bopping their heads along to the beat.

Swimsuit and winter coat

Today was a lazy Sunday. E and I went out shopping and she convinced me to buy her a new swimsuit. And the sale was so good, I sent Andy and B back to buy B a new winter coat for next year. We had to bribe him with White Castles for dinner; he said his current coat is just fine. He's been wearing it for at least three years, but he'll be walking to middle school next winter and needs something warmer. Prior to his shopping trip, B had two friends over (at separate times) to play video games. I spent the day reading (and finishing) Elizabeth Berg's book, "Home Safe."

Vacation plans

We called in our summer reservations today for Door County, Wis. We've been going to The Landing in Egg Harbor every year since before E was born. (One year we stayed elsewhere when we vacationed with Andy's sister and family). The Wisconsin vacation is always restful. We play mini-golf, swim in the resort's pools, cook out, go to the beach, visit the many shops. Last year we rented a pontoon boat. We'll have to think of something new and exciting to do for the kids this year.

Three more pieces

Tonight when B was sitting down for dinner, he found three of the seven missing puzzle pieces. Still, we were missing four. I wanted to pass the puzzle along to mom when we completed it, but a 1,000-piece puzzle missing seven (or now, four) pieces just isn't a 1,000-piece puzzle. It went in the trash. Maybe we'll have better luck with the next puzzle.

Seven missing pieces

We finished the 1,000-piece puzzle today. The only problem was that ours only had 993 pieces. Guess that's what happens when you buy a puzzle second-hand. I thought the Economy Shop had someone put the puzzles together to ensure that all the pieces were in there. I'll be checking on that next time I volunteer. For $1 though, it provided us with four days of family entertainment. Best deal in town.

Mr. Scratchy

L brought home this clay figurine, "Mr. Scratchy," today wrapped up in the cloth she wove. She says it's a "raccoon bunny rabbit crocodile Elvis."

The icicle got the best of L today. She came home from school, grabbed a shovel and broke it apart. It was even longer than it was in yesterday's photo as it melted throughout the day and froze again. Here she's showing off a few of the pieces.

That's an icicle

This humongous icicle is hanging out of the gutter on our garage. Course, if we had a downspot, we wouldn't have the icicle.

By the way, the puzzle is in Day 2 and coming along quite nicely.

We're puzzled

The kids were off of school today for Presidents Day so I decided to pull out a 1,000-piece puzzle of a waterfall to see how long it would take us to put it together. This project could last a couple of days.

In the afternoon, I took B, L and E and her friends (AB, K and V) to see "Percy Jackson the Lightning Thief" at North Riverside Park Mall Theater. L covered her eyes at all the scary parts. We were surprised to see that it had snowed an inch or so while we were in the movie.

Valentine's Day

We had a nice, relaxing Valentine's Day. We took the girls to Sunday School and church while B went with his friend M to Navy Pier for the afternoon. When he got home, L handed out valentines we bought or made each other. She decorated a shoebox earlier in the week for us to use as a valentine mailbox. Andy and I gave each kid a little Webkinz dog - a stuffed animal that allows them to play computer games.

L's treasures

E had her friend A sleep over last night. This morning they wanted to go to Oak Park's Economy Shop to look for craft supplies. I took them and L tagged along. The girls didn't find any craft supplies they felt they needed, but L managed to spend a chunk of her money in the shop's toy room. This carousel plays "It's a Small World" - over and over. She also picked out a couple of stuffed animals, which she doesn't need. She's really good at spending her money. We definitely need to work on the saving part.

Early Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day isn't until Sunday but for the kids, today was it. Both L and B brought home Valentine's cards from their classmates and enough candy one would think it's Halloween. B, of course, took brownies to his class in lieu of actual Valentine's cards. E came home from school happy with a nice bouquet of carnations. The student council, which E is part of, sold carnations to students for a $1 each and delivered them to their friends throughout the school.

Nice loaner

The Buick went back to the dealership today to finally get the OnStar working. After keeping me at home all morning (the dealership called four or five times - "I'll be leaving shortly" - liars, liars), a man came to drive the Buick away and left me a beautiful 2010 Cadillac with about 30 miles on it. I drove it around the block just to see how it feels and, I have to say, it's a pretty sweet ride. Course, it will have to go back tomorrow when they return our Buick.

At Julian today, E won another B ticket raffle. It's her second win of the school year. This time she chose a cool purple trashcan that will fit perfectly in with her bedroom decor.

Lots of snow

We have between 8 and 12 inches of snow on the ground. Andy was up early this morning clearing the sidewalks before work. Unlike yesterday, today the sidewalks stayed clear as the snow tapered off. Here's L eating an icicle she knocked off the neighbor's garage.

Snowy day

The snow began to fall overnight and by this morning, a blanket of snow was everywhere. Andy shoveled the sidewalks before he left for work, but you couldn't tell that he did by 10 a.m. In all, it's predicted we can get anywhere from 8 to 12 inches, depending on which weather forecaster you believe. I snapped this photo of kids at Irving playing on the snow - B is walking on the sidewalk on his way home for lunch. When all three kids got home they convinced me they needed some hot chocolate. Why B is drinking it with no shirt on, I'm not quite sure.

Sick day?

That's E, home "sick" today. She's been waking up with a congested nose and sore throat for a while now, and today began the day complaining about a mild ear ache. I suspected her morning slowness had more to do with her bedtime (10:30 p.m. after watching the Super Bowl and the new TV show about a boss doing his employees' jobs, as well as part of the news) than it did with being physically sick. I woke her up at 7:30 a.m., which she said was too late, but she got dressed, ate breakfast and was ready for school. Her friend A stopped by before going to the corner meeting place to begin their walk to school. However, A walked E home about 10 minutes later, saying she wasn't feeling well. She did sleep a little, watched TV and read a book. I guess everyone needs a day off every so often. Tomorrow, though, it's back to school!

Doughnut reward

Last Sunday after church, the Doughnut Committee gave out "awards" for members who have worked the long doughnut season. Andy was given a prize for serving as the doughnut captain on many Saturday mornings. In typical Pilgrim procrastination, the prizes were announced last Sunday, but not awarded till today. Andy was given his very own mini doughnut maker so we'll never be without doughnuts.

My young artist

This morning L went to the school district's 25th Annual Young Artists' Workshop. She participated in two sessions. In the first, she "reinvented the plastic bottle" by turning a plastic bottle into a vase. The artist for this class was the mother of L's art teacher at Irving. In the second session, the made the "sculptural hat." The workshop is free for district students who sign up and are somehow selected to attend. It's a unique chance for them to work with professional artists. Since L loves art, it was the perfect morning for her.

"Bird-woman'

Tonight we went to see E's play at her middle school. In the picture, she's the one in the cool coon skin hat, dressed as a French fur trader. She played the role of Charbonneau (a man) in "Bird-woman," the story of Sacagawea. She had a lot of lines and performed them beautifully. She received a lot of compliments from the parents for her role as a cranky husband. Her yelling on stage even took me by surprise.

After the performance, the cast comes into the lunchroom where E met a few of her friends and L gave her a carnation (that she purchased with her own money!) We finished the night by joining the cast at a local ice cream parlor for a late-night treat. B loved being there with all of E's friends gathered around him, telling him how cute he is. They even took pictures of him on their cell phones to use as their backgrounds - some took several so they could rotate his picture on their phone. What fifth-grade boy wouldn't love the attention of older, middle school girls? He was on cloud nine!

Head Trip

When we attended Andy's cousin's family party just after Christmas, she tried out her "Head Trip" on us. You place it on top of your head and gently push it down and pull it up. It tickles, but is kind of relaxing. We got Andy one for his birthday. Here's a pic of L playing with it (and procrastinating about doing her homework!)

Bat mitzvah fun

At A's bat mitzvah last weekend, her parents brought in a photo booth. E brought home several pics of her and her friends dressed up, posing for the camera. Looks like they had a great time.

Election Day

The most disappointing thing about today's primary election was that in some races, there is no choice of candidates. I hate giving someone my vote just because they have no challenger. Still, I went and did my civic duty.

New month, new hair

L doesn't like to have her beautiful long hair up in a ponytail. She doesn't even like to have it brushed. Today, after feigning an illness to be kept home from school, she said she was ready to have her hair cut short. She wanted it at her ears, but I convinced her to leave it a bit longer. She thinks this will be an easier style to keep brushed and it won't bother her once T-ball season begins. When the stylist was done, L said, "I love it." It does open up her face a lot.