Bells

Our church recently accepted a gift of hand bells from a local church that closed. Today, B and L played the bells with two other people to a hymn. B said he wants to continue playing the bells, so we're hoping that works out. He seemed to have a lot of fun with it.

Fancy socks

For years we've tossed the kids' socks into a laundry basket and let them sift through them when they needed a pair. Recently, I had them pull out the ones that fit them and (finally!) put them in their underwear drawer. Turns out, the girls hardly have any socks that actually fit them. Guess which one picked out these flashy socks from the store? They look orange in the picture, but they're hot pink.

Yep, it was L. However, I think E would appreciate them, too.

Best email of the day

L recently figured out how to use Gmail. She's been emailing her teacher and today she figured out how to email me. The subject line was "OMG." Her email was simply:

omg i did not know i could email you love you mommy

We need to work on capitalization, but it's a keeper.

My finds

You never know what you're going to find at Oak Park's Economy Shop. I was doing a little shopping after volunteering there recently and found this wrought iron candelabra for our fireplace:

Best thing - they shop was asking $3 and everything in the room where I was shopping was half off, so I got it for $1.50. Of course, it's going to cost me more to find buy the seven candles I need to put in it.

My other find of the day was this glass beverage dispenser. I think it will come in handy for summer time celebrations - graduations, birthday parties, etc. Just picture some lemonade in it with lemon slices floating on top. It cost me $4 and I saw the same one on Macy's website for $40.

Snow heart

L brought this in from last week's snow storm. She put in the freezer and I forgot all about it until she pulled it out this afternoon. It's a snow heart for me.

Homework help

Andy and L snuggled up so he could help her with her math homework - long division.

Sew sew

E was home from school today so her teachers could get their semester grades ready for report cards. We drove out to the Girl Scout store and she picked up a few things she needed for her Senior Scout sash. She came home and starting sewing on badges. We even finished sewing badges on her Cadette sash, which she's put away.

Meal with Neal

After church today, B went out to lunch with his confirmation mentor Neal. B jokingly referred to it as his Meal with Neal. They went to Culver's and talked about all sorts of things. It's a requirement in the ocnfirmation program that the students meet to talk with their mentors at least once a month. B said they had a nice time.

Sleepovers and Secret

Thanks to about 7 inches of snow and the church canceling the youth group sleep over, we ended up with a house full of kids last night. E had her friend, A, sleep over and B had his friend, I, sleep over. They ate pizza, played video games and played a game of Monopoly that went until 2 in the morning. Here's B showing them his Minecraft game on the computer.

Today, they started building an igloo in the back yard, but that didn't last long. Then they headed over to Irving where they were able to dig into a snow pile that the snow plow/truck made this morning. They worked on that for almost three hours before E and A decided to go to A's house and bake a cake. Brad's friend, I, stuck around till 5 p.m. until I suggested Andy drive him home on his way to take E to a golf demo night event. As friend I was leaving the back door with Andy and E, L's church friend, K, rang the front doorbell. She's sleeping over tonight.

My surprise of the day came with the mail. About a week ago, I wrote an email to Proctor & Gamble complaining that not one, but two, of the Secret deodorants I recently purchased wasn't working right. The wheel on the bottom keeps falling out when I turn it. They replied that they were very sorry for the defect and would be sending me compensation by mail. I had no idea they'd send me a box with four different deodorants and a body spray, along with two coupons for free deodorant. That's good customer service.

More snow

The snow started falling just after 9 a.m. today and it's still coming down. E and B were supposed to have a lock-in at church tonight. That's been canceled. L was going to sleep over at Grandma B's and I told her we're not driving over. E had the day off school. Her friend A's gymnastics meet was canceled today so they headed off to the sled at Barrie Park.

Here's the afternoon "rush" hour creeping by our house.

First concert

Tonight was L's first band concert since she started playing the flute last fall. She performed in the beginner band with students from Beye School, one of the other three elementary schools that feeds into the middle school. The concert was at the middle school.

Her band played seven short songs, including "Old MacDonald" and "London Bridge." The performance was a little squeaky at times, but they're beginners. Fortunately, I was out in the hall looking for E while the orchestra played. Those beginning string players are hard to listen to.

Here's L and her friend and fellow flutist, J, standing for applause at the end of their performance. We had planned to go for ice cream after the concert, but when we got in the car and discovered that it was a chilly 5 degrees, we decided to head home. Andy made L and E some hot chocolate and they got a raincheck on the ice cream.

She's official

Over the weekend, E convinced Andy to sign her up for membership in the Illinois Junior Golf Association. Today she received her bag tag, Rules of Golf book and a listing of the benefits. Being in the IJGA allows E to participate in some area golf tournaments this summer. Her golf coaches at the high school suggested she needed more tournament play so hopefully this will help her out.

B had the stitches taken out of his mouth this afternoon. I sat in on his appointment. It seemed pretty painless though he flinched once. The doctor cut the vertical strands, then pulled them out with a big tweezer thing. He only had to tug kind of hard on one. The doctor told B he was his best patient of the day when he had his surgery.

Gross in a good way

E wanted to check out the stitches in B's mouth this afternoon so she pulled him down on her and started her exam. Let's hope she doesn't go into dentistry. B wanted to see the stitches himself so I took a picture of the inside of his mouth. It's kind of gross, but it shows no signs of infection. I can't even see where they opened the roof of his mouth. B thought it was pretty cool. He returns to the doctor tomorrow for a one-week check-up.

Today was also Andy's birthday. We went to Jimmy's Place for pizza. The kids and I gave Andy and Oak Park sweatshirt he saw over the weekend at the Visitors Center. Did you know? Andy shares his birthday with Ben Franklin, Muhammed Ali, Michelle Obama and our pastor, Sally.

Surprise

Today was MLKing Jr. Day so Andy had the day off work. Of course, he couldn't resist going to the office while I was out shopping, but he didn't stay long. This afternoon we took L to LaGrange Theater to see "The Adventures of Tin Tin." It was a cute movie, but so unbelievable. L and Andy liked it a lot. I could have skipped it.

When we got home, we were greeted with a trayful of chocolate cupcakes E made for Andy's birthday. She baked and frosted them while we were at the movie. B was her accomplice in that he headed to Dunkin' Donuts to buy them both doughnuts while she baked. At least E paid for the doughnuts.

Study schmudy

E had her final exams coming up this week and what has she done all weekend? Not much. She's claiming she doesn't need to study - she knows the material. Her grades are decent so we're crossing our fingers that the finals don't lower her grade any. We'll see when the report card arrives.

Instead of studying E has:
- cooked herself a ham, egg and cheese burrito for lunch
- checked movie times on the computer
- watched Andy play a golf video game
- slept
- researched junior golf tournaments
- rolled yarn into a ball
- watched TV
- knitted

New shoes

Andy and E went on an excursion today to St. Charles to attend a golf show. Of course, they couldn't leave without buying E some new golf shoes. Andy got himself some tees and a couple of golf gloves.

While they were at the golf show, L was at her church friend K's birthday party. The girls saw "Chipwrecked" at the local theater, then went back to K's house to open presents. Here's L going through the goody bag:

The best therapy

It's Day 3 since B has been out of school and I think the boredom is starting to set in. This morning we played three rounds of Uno - he won two. This afternoon I heard him talking to his computer (not that unusual, really), but then realized he was Skype-ing his friend, L, who moved to Ohio. B was talking better to L than he had to me all day. I think he's been scared of hitting the roof of his mouth with his tongue. That didn't stop him, though, from chatting it up with L.

Winter has arrived

We've been lucky this winter with mild temperatures and hardly any snow. Yesterday, temps were in the mid-40s. The schoolkids were outside playing without their coats on. Today, they were bundled up in heavy coats and snow boots, playing in the snow. They even managed a kickball game at recess when I snapped this picture out our front door.

Meanwhile, my little patient B is doing great. The doctor called to check on him and fortunately I had nothing bad to report. He started eating today and has had at least five pancakes today. I'm guessing his dinner will be more pancakes. Andy and I are both loving the flat skillet I got for Christmas. It makes flipping pancakes so much easier.

Post-op

B had a tooth removed from the roof of his mouth today. This picture was taken on the way home from the surgeon's office. He said the area all around his mouth was numb and he had gauze in so he couldn't talk.

We had a 9:45 a.m. appointment at the oral surgeon. The doctor took him in, examined him, took an X-ray and asked B if he wanted to have the tooth removed today or come back another day. B was all for getting it done. The doctor sent us out shopping (yeah!) for 45 minutes and when we returned they took B right in and started working on him.

I was called into the recovery room about a half-hour later. The doctor said he did really well. B wasn't able to eat or drink anything for six hours before the surgery and can only eat popsicles today. The doctor prescribed some liquid Tylenol with codeine for the pain and amoxicillan to fight infection. He also said B should stay home from school for the rest of the week (B liked that idea!). Monday is MLKing Day so B will be getting a looooong break. Tomorrow B can have soft foods. He's anxiously awaiting a day of pancakes. He even had me ask the nurse if White Castles would be OK and she gave him the go-ahead for those too. Chex Mix, though, is off limits for about four weeks. B goes back next Wednesday to have the doctor look at the stitches.

Here he is, sitting in Dad's chair with a pillow behind his head, one under his feet, comfy in a blanket while watching TV and enjoying a popsicle. His first nourishment since dinner last night was a glass of apple juice at about 3:30 p.m. He's following that up with this, his first popsicle of the night.

Another gift

Today E came home from school with this cute wooden turtle. Her friend, F, went to Mexico over winter break and brought souvenirs back for her entire lunch table. Must be nice to have friends that travel to exotic locations and bring back gifts! The turtle has a bobble head which is pretty cool.

Friendship

E was excited when she came home from school today. I think she was thrilled to be back, though she probably wouldn't admit it. Her friend, R, passed out friendship bracelets at the lunch table. R visited relatives in Israel over winter break. That makes three friendship bracelets E has on her ankle. The bottom one is from her friend, AP; the middle one is from a craft fair E and I go to usually every summer; and the top one is the new one from R.

An Eagle Scout in the family

Today Andy took the girls to Wheaton to see their cousin D's Eagle Scout ceremony. D's Eagle Scout project was fixing up a band rehearsal room at his high school. I had to stay home to pick B up from his confirmation class and attend a meeting about a possible youth group mission trip to an Indian reservation in Wyoming this summer. Here's our Eagle Scout with his proud parents:

Field Museum

Today we loaded up the kids in the Buick and headed to the Field Museum. We had tickets to see the chocolate exhibit (last day!) and the whales exhibit. Even though both exhibits had signs posted to prohibit photography, one couple asked me to take their photo at the end of the chocolate exhibit. They were standing on either end of a huge chocolate box mounted on a wall. "I know you're not supposed to take pictures in here, but this is really neat," he said. He handed me his iPhone and I took a photo though the first one I took was a video. Oops - he had the setting wrong. I tried again and was successful. After that, other people were lining up for their turn to get their own pictures. Security didn't stop anyone so it either wasn't a big deal or they were letting it slide because it's the exhibit's last day.

Here's a picture of the museum's Grand Hall taken from the second floor. You can see Sue, the mastadons and the totem poles. The whale in the background is promoting the whale exhibit.

After the museum, we drove around a bit in Chicago. It was a beautiful, clear day. Not as warm as yesterday, but mid-40s in January is still good. Here's the Sears ... er, Willis Tower view from the museum campus:

And Michigan Avenue:

We had no desire to see this Marilyn Monroe sculpture, but we drove right past it. Neither Andy nor I knew where it was located. We're not sure the purpose of it, but here it is. Hopefully, it won't be around too long.

We had an early dinner at Pizzeria Due - a large half cheese, half pepperoni and sausage. Mmmm. I even have a few leftovers.

After leaving the restaurant, we walked around Chicago a bit more. We stopped for a while in front of the Channel 7 news studio. One of their weekend anchors was sitting at the news desk, but he wasn't on air. The kids wanted to wait around until a live news broadcast because they show the people watching outside on TV. If we did that, I think we would have been there till 10:30. Not my idea of a fun night.

Spring in January

It was cold last week, but we're enjoying temps in the high 50s today. One bank sign said the temperature was 58! L went to the orthodontist without a coat on, then came home and went to the park to play with her friends - in January! Here she is eating Italian ice without her coat on, posing by the in our yard. It feels like spring. B was mentioning yesterday that the grass isn't supposed to be green in January.

Next week, temperatures are expected to get into the 40s, but I'll take that for January.

She loves pink

While out shopping this morning, L saw a pink Christmas tree - $5 on clearance. She's been wanting a pink tree for her room since she first saw them. It's 3.5 feet tall and pre-lit with white lights. I was ready to store it in the garage until next Christmas, but the cashier mentioned that it could be kept up through Valentine's Day because it's pink (thanks, lady). So L went home, grabbed the tree, supposedly cleaned out a space in her room and set the tree up. I'm not sure how she's going to decorate it. I'm sure she'll find a way. I'm betting it will still be up come summer.

Temari balls

E spent most of her day creating temari balls. She made one ball on her own by looking up patterns on the internet this morning and then we went to the library where she checked out a book on the balls.

She takes fabric or lint and wraps it in thread, then creates the pattern with embroidery floss. She spent five hours working on this one, then gave it to me.

Vacuuming 101

Someone is going to get a lesson in putting away a vacuum when I find out who did this.

Snow and nice nails

Finally, we had our first snow of the season with a little bit sticking to the ground. B took this picture this morning out our front door.

L came back this afternoon from her sleepover at Aunt A's today sporting these fancy nails. Cousin C painted them for her - they're pink and orange with black tiger stripes.

New Year's Day

We started the day off by going to church - it was freezing in there! L had a playdate afterward with her church friend, N. We picked her up at 2:30 p.m. and headed to the mall. E bought some cute fleece sheets on sale and a couple of shirts. A couple of weeks ago, we were looking for flannel or fleece sheets for a Christmas present for E's friend, A. Apparently, sheets are a popular Christmas gift because we had a time finding any twin sheets. And, to make matters more difficult, A needs extra long twin sheets instead of regular twin. (She didn't end up with sheets for Christmas - maybe next year).

L bought 10 packages of earrings for $10. I looked for some Christmas deals but nothing looks as good after Christmas as it does before. Inside the mall, Andy and the kids found a glow-in-the-dark mini-golf business and couldn't resist playing. E and I continued shopping. She said she can't putt well with the putters those places use.

When we got home, L packed up her things and headed to Aunt A's for a sleepover.