Happy Birthday Susan

Since we had to leave for Chicago unexpectedly last night due to weather, I ran out of time to post a happy birthday wish to my sister, Susan.

Happy Birthday, sis. I'll put a better post up when I get back to St. Louis!

Adam

Adam was talking to his Papa Jack today about Santa. Papa said that Santa was making his list and checking to see who had been good boys and bad boys. Adam said he "was worried about that...".

He probably should be!

Then, when I was putting him to bed, he was very concerned that Santa knew that the "spaceship with little alien guys" could be purchased at Sam's Club. We then had a discussion about how Santa and the elves make toys, but Adam was still concerned that Santa's Sam's Club membership had expired.

I then explained to Adam that if you look at Santa's tummy, which shakes like a bowl full of jelly, it was rather obvious that Santa HAS been to Sam's club lately to enjoy the great pizza and soft pretzels at their snack bar.

Merry Christmas, Blago!

Jingle Bells!

Reindeer Food

Oh those reindeer are in for a treat. When they visit, they will be receiving oatmeal, dried beans, skittles, and crushed windmill cookies (we'll have to keep Shawn out of the bag) laced with glitter.

Of course I have to wonder - with the glitter, this might look similar on the way out of Rudolph as it does on the way in...

Adam's Christmas Show

Adam's preschool class sang their Christmas songs for all the parents this last week. The show was typical, but the subplot of Drake knocking Adam in the head with his bell was entertaining.

Where did we go wrong?

Songs about dismembering Barney, poisoning the minds of children, and the batmobile losing a wheel? Where have we gone wrong?!

Happy Birthday Papa Jack

Sick Patrol!

Emily enjoyed a trip to her friend Madison's house after school yesterday because Amy and Adam were on their way back from the JCAR Christmas Party in Springfield. It was a great end to a fun day at school, filled with Christmas parties, an assembly, and not much real schoolwork.

Emily and Madison from Christmas, 2007

Amy picked the girls up because Madison was going to stay the night - these too goofs are good friends, and were excited for whatever it is 8/9 year-olds do.

We had some pizza and then hopped in the car for a trip to Tilles Park to see the Winter Wonderland display - the St. Louis County Parks and Recreation Department does a great job transforming the park into a sea of light displays (shameless plug). Madison mentioned a few times that she felt hot, so I figured I still didn't know how to operate the heat in the new car correctly.

The Gingerbread House at Winter Wonderland

Madison's comment would later pop back into my head as the poor kid threw up her dinner in our den. Needless to say the sleepover was cancelled. All involved were sad. I, however, was thrilled that she managed to wait until she was out of the car before she got sick.

So, we find ourselves on sick watch, hoping that IF the kids are going to get sick, they get it out of the way before Tuesday when we are scheduled to head up to Chicago for Christmas.

As of this morning, all is well (knock on wood).

After breakfast today, the kids exchanged the Christmas gifts they picked out for each other. Emily gave Adam some cars (police cars and Scooby-Doo cars), and Adam gave Emily a Littlest Pet Shop play set, despite his true desire, which was to buy her some dinosaurs (good job to Amy convincing him that 8 year old girls really aren't in to dinosaurs - I still don't know that he understands this, because who wouldn't like dinosaurs?).

We let the kids exchange their gifts today for 2 important reasons. First, there is less stuff we have to drag up to Chicago, and second (and perhaps more importantly), it keeps the little buggers occupied for a few minutes.

Christmas presents

I allowed Emily to "ditch" dance class last night to enjoy a night of crafting! She started work on a gift for Aunt Shawn and worked on another craft for her grandmas. She's REALLy into making gifts this year which has been really fun!

Gingerbread Houses

We've been talking about doing Gingerbread houses with the kids for ages! I happened to see some kits at Michael's for WAY cheaper than it would cost us to actually bake and gather candy decorations.

I think Emily did a GREAT job with her house! Mom needs a little work on her "piping" technique, but overall, her house looks great.

Adam's house - weeellll...he is 3 after all. We went with the minimalist approach due to his short attention span. Adam did direct me to draw a circle on one window which he then decorated with one gumdrop!

From Bob and Tom's website

Paul is a HUGE Bob and Tom Radio Show fan and has been listening to them for years. Today he saw this on the Bob and Tom website. Just thought we'd share:

Dear Bob and Tom,As part of teaching my fifth grade class in Pontiac, Illinois, I take the students to Springfield, our state capital, to see governmental and historic sites. In October of 2007 we were touring the state Capitol and the governor, Blago, stuck his head out and asked if anyone wanted to meet the governor. He took the fifty or so students and the teachers into his office. This is the picture taken of the teachers and the governor. I am the one holding the "job application."Paul Aplington

A Trip to See the Big Man

The kids went to see Santa at the Kirkwood train station last Thursday. We were happy to see that the reindeer, Bojangles, hadn't lost his antlers yet this year. The line was long, but not horrible. As always, it was fun to see the kids' eyes get bigger as they got closer to the front of the line. Predictably, Emily got nervous right before the big moment, but recovered in time to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas this year.

Adam wore his shirt that said "I ate Santa's cookies" - needless to say this provoked a reaction from the Big Guy. We reassured him that there would be cookies left out by the fireplace unless Papa Jack got to them first.

Santa said that if Papa Jack took his cookies, there would be some trouble.

Read, Right, and Run Marathon Training

Emily is participating in the Read, Right, and Run Marathon this spring put on by the Go! St. Louis Marathon. The program involves reading 26 books, doing 26 good deeds, and running 26 miles over the months leading up to a 1 mile run the day before the Go! St. Louis Marathon in late April (we are running the half-marathon this year).

We took advantage of weather in the 50's this morning to get a mile in. Emily has plenty of speed, but not much endurance yet. We'll have her running 5K's in no time.

A few hours after our run, Emily had a basketball game where she played her typical style of relentless defense. After we got home, she spent time outside with her friends in the neighborhood running about with her favorite dog, Emmy.

I think she will sleep well tonight.

Adam's First Friend Party

Adam was invited to his first friend party yesterday. John, the birthday boy, is in Adam's preschool class at Glendayle Pres. The party was held at a train shop that had a room with a huge train set inside it. After playing with trains for a while, the boys took turns taking their stress out on a pinata.

Despite his allergies, Amy let Adam have some birthday cake - he was done after 2 bites. Good for his allergies, and good for him to feel like he was able to participate.

Happy Birthday Karen!

Happy Birthday KB - see you in a few weeks!

Christmas Cookies

Emily and I worked ALL afternoon today to make some Christmas cookies that she later delivered to some neighbors and gave to her best friend, Madison.

We found a cool recipe for peppermint candy cane sugar cookies, and made some old favorites - ginger snaps and christmas trees.

We're glad we have such good neighbors to give the cookies to, and I'm thankful that the weather will be in the 50's tomorrow so that I can run 6 miles and work them off.

Doing Our Part for the Economy

To help our struggling economy, we decided to replace Amy's old car (that I drove) with a new car (Nissan Maxima). Merry Christmas to us.

Merry Christmas to St. Louis County, the Kirkwood School District, and the City of Glendale as well, because we could all use the extra sales tax revenue.

Amy's '98 Grand Prix was a good car for us, however the time had come to retire it. We had some repair issues, the engine smoked a little bit, etc. (that's not good, is it?)

We got a great deal on the new car, and typical me, I'm just so excited about the integrated iPod.

Sing-a-long...

Now let's all sing to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

Get packinʼ, Rod Blagojevich
The stateʼs in disarray
The Tribune wants you unemployed
At least by Christmas Day.
The TV pundits want your head
Could there be pay to play?

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois !
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

Good riddance Rod Blagojevich
Your Elvis lookʼs inane,
The Senateʼs mad, soʼs Lisaʼs dad.
You drive us all insane.
Our transitʼs broke, the stateʼs a joke,
The Tollwayʼs one big pain.

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois !
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

Good luck old Rod Blagojevich
The feds have quite a place.
Fitzgeraldʼs poked his nose around
And if he has a case,
George Ryanʼs moving stuff around
Creating extra space.

Oh, tidings of comfort and joySave Illinois !
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

Happy Anniversary Jeff and Shawn!

Wonder if Shawn still has him on a short leash?

Dad's Littlest Helper

Paul did some work from home last weekend. He had some help. Wonder what the going rate is for child labor these days?

The children....

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

Happy Birthday, Joe

Happy Birthday to my brother Joe. Look at that mop!

Thoughts on Blago

This is how the city of Springfield, Illinois (our old hometown until we moved to ST. Louis) feels about Blago's legal troubles: While I can say I'm happy he finally got nailed, I can't help but feel sorry for his children. What a horrible example this father has set for his girls.

Merry Fitzmas!

Let's all sing together...

We wish you a Merry Fitzmas,
We wish you a Merry Fitzmas,
We wish you a Merry Fitzmas,
and a strech in the pen!

Merry Christmas, Illinois

It will be a very Merry Christmas for the citizens of Illinois if this is true...

BREAKING: A source said today that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was taken into federal custody at his North Side home this morning. The U.S. attorney's office would not confirm the information, and a spokesman for the governor did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

Happy Birthday Bill

Happy Birthday to my brother, Bill. Oh yeah - Bill's rockin' the 'fro!

2008-2009 Basketball Season

Today was the opening day for Emily's basketball league. The girls were a little rusty in terms of their shooting, but overall it was a good effort for the first time out.


We took the kids for ice cream to celebrate the big day, and then enjoyed the Bears win over the Jaguars in tape-delay.

Here are some pictures from the day...