Happy birthday

Happy birthday, Mom! These are the flowers we had delivered to Mom for her birthday today. She called when she got them and I asked her to take a picture so I could see them. I didn't realize she'd be able to (figure out) how to email it. (Yeah, Mom!)

Meanwhile, we're bracing for a blizzard. The snow is supposed to start tomorrow afternoon and continue for the next 24 hours. The TV stations are predicting 18 to 24 inches of snow. The school district even sent out an email telling us about the procedures and notification process they would use if school is closed Wednesday. The kids are definitely looking forward to their first-ever snow day.

One down, one out

B was home sick today from school. When he mentioned he was sick, E ran upstairs, grabbed his bed pillow and comforter and made him a little bed on the loveseat in the living room. Aw! He was pretty comfy the whole day long.

L, meanwhile, was with her class on a trip to Legoland in Schaumburg. The coolest part, I thought, was the city of Chicago made out of Legos and under attack by Stormtroopers. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge and you can see the Stormtroopers on top of Navy Pier.

L liked this ride the best. She went on it three times.
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The creation

Here's B's long-awaited Jell-O cell project for his science class. When I was in school we learned that cells had a nucleus, cytoplasm and a cell wall. B was making a key of all the items he had to include in his cell and I was floored at what he is learning. Way more advanced than what I was taught. Or, at the least, way more advanced than what I remember. The biggest problem he had was that he used leftover Halloween candy for the items floating in the cytoplasm. Overnight, they disintegrated. Kind of gross.

Here's his cell (the big orange bowl) next to his friend L's cell. L used spaghetti and veggies in his Jell-O for the various floating items.

Extra credit

E couldn't wait any longer. Though her extra credit assignment to make homemade play-doh isn't due until Tuesday, she searched recipes on her laptop until she found one we had all the ingredients for. Green Kool-Aid gave it a weird green color and lime-like smell.

Honor Roll breakfast Part II

Today was B's Honor Roll breakfast at Julian - his first. Here he is goofing off with some of his friends. He was one of 196 students to make the Honor Roll, but they didn't tell us how many sixth-graders there are.

New glasses

E finally got her new glasses today. Here's the old ones:

And here's the new ones:

Already?

Tomorrow is E's "graduation" picture day at Julian. The students will get their photos taken in a graduation robe. I have already purchased a graduation robe for E, at the suggestion of the women I work with at the Economy Shop. I had her try it on to see whether we need to hem it. She said it doesn't need hemming - she's going to wear heels. All we need to buy from the school is a tassel.

Honor Roll breakfast

E made the Honor Roll again at Julian for the first trimester. Today was the eight-grade Honor Roll Breakfast. She's been on the Honor Roll every trimester of her Julian career. The principal said 211 eighth-graders made the Honor Roll this trimester. That's 60 percent of the class. Congrats, E!

Happy birthday

The kids were home from school today for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday holiday so we made cupcakes for Andy's birthday. B put on the frosting, L did the sprinkles and E was the organizer (surprised?) handing the cupcakes to B and then taking them from L and putting them back on the rack.

When Andy got home from work we went to dinner at Lalo's, his favorite Mexican restaurant.

Old friends

Tonight we visited C and his wife, G. Andy has known C since kindergarten and they've remained close friends through the years. C was best man in our wedding. With busy work and family lives we don't get a chance to see them often. They invited us over for dinner and gave us a tour of their recently remodeled home. Impressively, much of the work they did themselves.

I had to snap a few pics of the kids before we left. They played really well together all night long. B and their youngest, M, a kindergartner, spent the night playing Wii games. B was able to get the boy to the next level on Paper Mario so they were all happy about that. E and L played with their girls, K and K, a fourth-grader and second-grader. We'll need to have them over for dinnner soon.

Reaching new heights

E and her friend, A, devised a scheme over the last couple of days to go to Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville this weekend. They first asked A's dad, and he couldn't take them. Lucky for the girls, Andy said he didn't have anything to do this afternoon. He drove the girls out to Warrenville where they did some rock-climbing. E said she almost made it to the top once. The girls had a lot of fun!

So sweet

B was busy typing a homework assignment this morning and wouldn't let me see it. "It's a surprise," he said. A few minutes later, he asked me to read it.

Person I Admire
My mom is the nicest person in the world. She gives me a ride to school if the weather is bad. For example, if the temperature was below 20° F. or raining, she would give me a ride to school. She does the best job in raising me. When we eat it is delicious. Her garlic chicken is cooked to perfection with the flavor of garlic, parmesan, and chicken. The only thing I don’t like that she makes is hamburger helper. She always cleans up the house while we are at school. If the house is extremely messy, when I come home it is spotless. There is no mess my mom can’t clean up. My mom stays home all week long. That’s because she got laid off during 4th grade. She used to be an editor of the “Oak Leaves.” She was born in Staunton and went to Normal for college, where she met my dad. She had 3 kids: Elaine, Lindsey, and me. My mom is the best person in the entire world.

I have to admit I'm not too happy everyone is going to know I sometimes make Hamburger Helper, but the rest of it is really sweet.

High school

Andy went to the high school tonight to get the results of E's placement test and her recommended courses for her freshman year. She was busy looking through the 96-page catalog this morning, mapping out the next four years of her life. She did really well on the placement tests, missing only one question in the science portion.

So far, so good

L is taking really good care of her newly pierced ears. She's been using the antiseptic by herself and cleaning them two or three times a day.

It's here!

Back in December, E and I ordered a "skin" for the Comcast cable remote we keep in the basement. It has an ISU theme to go along with our flag and 80s albums that adorn the wall. It arrived today and it looks great! We were able to purchase the skin with a gift card that E got for selling items for her school band.

Besties

What better way to spend New Year's Day than with your best friend?