Bye, car

Today my Malibu went back to the auto body to fix a hole in the bumper. The whole had been there since June, when a car backed into me in a parking lot. I've been fighting with the guy's insurance since and though they still won't pay the whole amount to fix it, they did agree to pay more than they originally offered. Everyone A has talked to said the guy has poor insurance so I guess I better take what I can get. I'm driving the van around town, but I'm a little lost without my car. Hopefully, it will only take a couple of days to fix.

Decorations

Today we put up our Christmas decorations. The kids were so excited to get the tree inside and help put on the lights and ornaments. L loves unwrapping each ornament and saying where/when we got it. We bought new LED lights this year, hoping they last for a few holiday seasons.

In addition to the tree, we decorated the dining room, the mantle and the basement. The kids decorated the tree in the basement with bright colors that we're using as our Christmas Day dinner theme - hot pink, lime green and ocean blue. So far it looks pretty good.

Back home

We headed back home today, stopping for lunch at Avanti's in Normal. We started cleaning toys out of the living room with hopes of putting up our Christmas tree tomorrow afternoon.

E is sleeping over at her friend A's house so they can make more crafts to sell at the Irving craft show next weekend.

Black Friday

E and I were up at 4:10 this morning, waiting for Cindy to pick us and mom up for a day of Christmas shopping. She got to the farm around 4:30 a.m. and we headed to Edwardsville - stopping at Target, Kohls, Best Buy, Michaels and Walmart before heading to St. Clair Square in Fairview Heights for mall shopping.

As the picture of Cindy's full trunk shows, we were able to do quite a bit of shopping in the 13 hours we were out fighting the crowds. Of course, there's still shopping to be done, but it was nice to get a decent start.


E fell asleep in the car on the way back to the farm and I was asleep by 9 that night.

Happy Thanksgiving

L brought this home from school for me the other day. I had to hang it up by the turkey she made a couple weeks ago.


Mom made a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. The oyster dressing, my grandmother's recipe, is my favorite. I think there were 25 relatives there. After dinner, the men played pinochle in the kitchen and the women watched TV in the living room and browsed through the Black Friday ads. We'll be out shopping early tomorrow morning. Cindy made plans to pick us up at 4:30 a.m. I sure hope she remembers to bring me some coffee!

Road trip

We left Oak Park early this morning for a trip to the farm in Staunton. It's a four-drive if you go straight through, but with three kids in the car it took us almost five hours (7:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.) We did stop for a quick lunch north of Springfield. A had to work today so he'll drive down Thursday morning. The kids are always so excited to go to the farm to see Grandma. L was packed Sunday night already.

This afternoon, the girls and I went with Grandma and Aunt C to see the movie "Old Dogs." Afterward we had dinner at Pizza Hut and stopped by Walmart to get B some Ramen noodles. On the way out, L begged Aunt C for 50 cents for the crane game and surprisingly won a cute, stuffed Christmas bear. She claims it was her first-ever crane game win. She was so excited. She named it Lucky.

And good news for E - there was a message on our phone today that she earned her orange belt from last Saturday's testing. Congrats, E!

We saw a deer

Today I chaperoned a field trip for L's class to the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center in Palos Hills, part of the Cook County Forest Preserve District. We started the morning with 1.75-mile walk on the Black Oak Trail. We were supposed to be looking for animals, but the kids were kind of loud so we didn't see much. However, we did end up being the only group of the day to see a deer. I was surprised the kids didn't scare the deer away. The deer was close enough to see, yet too far away for me to get a picture.

L said her favorite part of the field trip was seeing the hawks in the Little Red Schoolhouse.
We had planned on having lunch at a picnic grove, but it started to rain and the teachers told the bus drivers to take us back to school. The kids ate once they got settled in their classrooms.

"Hope"

L has been singing this song, which she says is called "Hope," all the time. She's learning it in music class at school - part in English, part in Spanish - and I think it will be part of the holiday program next month. Here, she filmed herself singing her latest favorite song. You have to see the close-up near the end.

And, as if we didn't win enough things at the church's silent auction Saturday night, L bid on these two, cute "shy dolls." They didn't get a bid on Saturday, so she was able to bid on them during Sunday School. After fellowship hour, they awarded them to the highest bidder, L, for $10.

More jazz

Tonight we went to Fitzgerald's nightclub in nearby Berwyn to hear the Julian Jazz Ensemble play. That was followed by the Brooks Jazz Ensemble, then the headliner of the night, the Chicago Grandstand Big Band. The bands were great and the Julian kids looked sharp in their black pants, black shirts and red ties. They played the same songs as they did at Thursday's concert. E's friend, A, came along to listen to the Julian band.



I'm not sure how long this rose has been blooming, but I just noticed it in our neighbors' yard today. In November? I know it's been a warm November, but still! I couldn't resist snapping a picture.

Busy, busy day

We started today with a drive to the Museum of Science and Industry for the annual members' breakfast with the president. The breakfast (fruit, cinnamon rolls, sausages, bacon, eggs and potatoes) was held in the rotunda, surrounded by more than 50 Christmas trees as part of the museum's popular Christmas Around the World exhibit.



After breakfast, we had tickets to see the new "The White House: A Look Inside" exhibit. The 1:12 scale model is amazing. Each room is decorated (for now) how the Obamas have decorated and the entire house was decked out for the holiday season with Christmas trees in nearly every room. The attention to detail was amazing, with smoke coming out the chimney, the flag on top of the White House waving in the breeze and pics of the Obamas on their bedroom dresser. In the dining room, there was an intricate place setting at each seat.

Here are the kids in front of the tree decorated to represent Norway. They are a bit Norwegian from Andy's grandfather's side of the family. B had the best time in the museum's You exhibit about the human body. He strapped a brain wave monitor to his forehead and, by relaxing, moved a ball toward his teenage opponent and won the challenge. It was amazing to see how quickly he could relax his body and make the ball move. The museum employee who was explaining the challenge said it was impressive how quickly B was able to "shut down."


In the afternoon, E had her karate test. She's a white belt with two stripes right now. She's hoping the test bumped her up to an orange belt, but she won't find out how she did on today's test until her next karate class.

We ended the day at church with the annual Thankoffering Dinner. I made an apple salad for the potluck. The dinner was followed by a silent auction to benefit a charity the Sunday School students are supporting. We donated eight general admission tickets to the Field Museum for the auction and we won a Chili's gift card and an hour of nutritional counseling at the silent auction.

Testing 1, 2, 3

Today after school L was waiting for one of our neighbor's college psychology students to come over and give her a test, a really long psychology test. L was home from school at 3 p.m. and kept looking out the window until the young woman arrived around 4:30 p.m. The testing and interviewing took almost five hours. L is easily distracted, though, so that could have been part of the reason it took so long. She vaguely recalled any of the questions - "I had to draw lines through animals." When I asked why, she said she didn't know. The students do the testing as a class assignment and we agree never to see the results. Since students, rather than professionals, are doing the testing, the results can't be considered accurate so they're not shared with us. I was proud L sat through the long test.

E and B were tested by two of his students last year and couldn't be retested this year because of "test recall." Hmm. That was fine with E, who worked a school dance as a member of the student council, and with B, who had a playdate after school that turned into a pizza dinner.

Jazz night

E had a jazz performance at her middle school this evening, prompting a quick change from her karate outfit to her band uniform (black pants, black shirt and a red necktie). Fortunately, the school is just a couple blocks from her karate class.

E plays piano in the middle school's Jazz Ensemble. Tonight her band, the third and final jazz group to perform, played three songs - "La Noche del Burrito Picante (The Night of the Spicy Burrito)," "When I Fall in Love," "Four Brothers" and "Duke City Stomp." She had a short solo in the burrito song. The Jazz Ensemble performs Sunday night at a local nightclub. From what we saw tonight, it should be a good show.

Jersey Boys

Last night, A and I had a rare night out sans children to see "Jersey Boys" at the Bank of America Theatre in Downtown Chicago. Aunt A came over to babysit which thrilled the kids who had been asking for hours when she was going to arrive. We started the night with dinner at a local Italian restaurant then drove downtown to see the show. It was fantastic! I was surprised at how many of the Four Seasons' songs I recognized.

The pre-show entertainment was pretty good, too. One couple moved from our row (K) in the mezzanine to seats a little closer. An usher asked them to move back to their seats, but they wouldn't, so the usher's supervisor was called in and made them move. Instead of going back to their seats, they moved a bit farther back, which the supervisor said was OK. I suppose it's OK to move to cheaper seats, but not the more expensive ones. To our amusement, the couple tried to move up closer a second time so the supervisor came again and made them return to the seats they had purchased. Maybe if they wanted the better seats they should have paid for them.

Short and sassy

E had been asking to get her hair cut short for a while. It was just a matter of finding time to get it done. She told the stylist how she wanted it (a little bit of bangs in the front, cut to the shoulder with long layers in back). She likes the results and her friends approved too. She said she's ready to go even shorter next time. We'll see.

Silly kids

Sometimes you just need to be a little silly. Here's the looks I got when I asked the kids for their silliest faces.

Laugh for today

I asked B today if he would want to go see the play "Fiddler on the Roof" at E's middle school this afternoon.

"Hitler?" he questioned.

"I said, 'Fiddler,'" I responded.

"Oh. Now, 'Hitler on the Roof' I'd want to see!" B said.

He opted to stay home, but I took E and L to see the performance. L couldn't sit still. She got up seven times - to buy candy, get a drink of water, use the bathroom, another drink, use the bathroom again, toss out her candy wrapper and yet another drink of water. And all of that was before intermission! At intermission, I called A and he came to pick her up while E and I enjoyed the rest of the show.

***

I helped out at Sunday School this morning as the kids made dough for pita bread and stirred together a couscous salad as part of their lesson. L wore her fanciest dress because the kids were serving the food to the congregation during fellowship hour after worship, but wore an apron so she could help cook. When I asked L if she tried any of the food the kids made, she said, "No. I just had a cookie."

Trivia Night

Tonight was Pilgrim Church's annual Trivia Night. B played on a team with me and four other adults. We played 10 rounds of trivia, each with 10 questions. Among the questions was what's the last element alphabetically on the periodic table, how many years does a sesquicentennial celebrate and who was pictured on the now discontinued $100,000 bill.

We ended up winning second place and B brought the trophy home to keep until next year's Trivia Night. E helped our team for a while, but spent most of her time as a waitress for the evening, hawking pop and raffle tickets.

Before the trivia started, B and L played in the church's Fellowship Hall on scooters normally used by Pilgrim Preschool. Here's a video of B riding around.

Thankful on the 13th

L spent lunch today with the school's Circle of Friends group. It's a chance for kids to interact socially with the students in the special ed classes and it's a great experience for all involved.

Today, the kids played Wii games and made a Thanksgiving craft. L wrote what she's thankful for on each feather of her construction paper turkey: family, Mom, Dad, Grama (that's how she spells it and she said she's thankful for both grandmas), Grampa (the one who died, she said), toys, love and friends.

Today was Friday the 13th and E told me that every month that begins on a Sunday has a Friday the 13th. Hmmm. I never realized that. I checked the calendar and, sure enough, November started on a Sunday.


E and B left this evening for a sleepover with the middle school/high school youth group at church. They're in for a night of games, pizza, fellowship and, hopefully, some sleep.

Cookies & a visitor

It's a little too early to begin baking Christmas cookies so I had to satisfy my need for baking with my chocolate chip cookies. There's nothing quite like the smell of cookies baking in the oven. The kids were happy to discover the treat when they got home from school. Happiness is a jar full of chocolate chip cookies.

This morning I was headed out to pick up the newspapers off the front porch and noticed a bird sitting on the ledge of the window next to our front door. In this photo, the bird is sitting in the lower right corner, apparently enjoying the sunshine. It even turned its head to have its photo taken!

Spell what?

Each week L brings home a list of 10 spelling words she needs to study for Friday's test. The list is a combination of words from the teacher, words missed on previous tests and a couple of L's "personal choice" words.

I had to laugh when I saw her "personal choice" word for this week - supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Fortunately, her teacher scratched it out and gave her "would" to study instead.

Play a story

L loves to "play a story" with her sister. Every since she was young, E has had a talent for weaving fascinating stories with our Little People and other dolls. Last night, the girls played a story with Littlest Pet Shop figures. E's biggest complaint is, now that L is getting older, L wants to "direct" the stories. Regardless of who is doing the directing, it's a treat for me to watch my two girls having fun playing together.

Brownies

One of B's favorite things is to bake brownies (with a little help from Betty Crocker) and share them with his class. Today the brownies were a surprise for his class. The class planned a celebration to welcome his teacher, Ms. T, back to school after being out with an illness.

Here's her note to the parents: "I am tremendously grateful to have such a friendly and supportive group of students. Last week I lost my voice and really could not talk. I needed to take Thursday as a sick day so that I could recoup and rest my voice. Today the kids threw me a 'Congrats on Being Healthy' Party! I was touched. There were brownies and juice and they made a beautiful card. I am blessed that they want to share such kindness and thoughtfulness."

What a great group of kids!

It's a strike

Today we took a family outing to the local bowling alley. It was quite the deal at $19.99 for two hours of unlimited bowling, shoe rental and a pitcher of pop. It was fun, but our scores were lousy. First game: L, 78; B, 81; E, 79; me, 90; and A won with a mere 93. Second game: L, 69; B, 81; E, 87; me (the winner!), 121; and A, 113. Obviously, we need more practice to bring up those scores. (Thank goodness we had bumpers - the advantage of bowling with kids.)

Skating injury

E and her friend A decided to spend the evening at the ice skating rink. On the first Friday of every month, the Park District offers a $10 special for middle school students. The price includes admission, skate rental, pizza, nachos and lemonade for two hours. They had planned to stay for an hour and a half, but called and asked to stay the full two hours - a sign they were having a good time.


E's injury came when the girls were returning their skates and A's skates accidentally slipped from her hand onto E's foot. She came home limping, leaning on A for support and asking for ice. We iced it down and E was well enough to hobble over to A's house for a sleepover.


I couldn't resist taking a pic of E and A in the matching T-shirts they won in give-aways at the skate night.