October!

We are over half way through October.  This month has gone by very quickly! 

The last couple of weekends have been dominated by swim meets.  Steven (10 years old, 5th grade) has been busy!  He qualified for the Big Meets in several events, so he's pleased.  We will see how he does in the Big Meets, but it's nice to see him placing high in these local-level swim meets now.  He started year round swimming last year and was lucky to break into the top 20 at that time.  Of course, he's still in the same age division as last year, but it's nice to see him getting more success as time goes on.  The coaches still see lots of areas where he can improve his form.  For example, Steven swam the 100 yard butterfly last week and qualified for the Big Meets.  His coach's comment?  "I think you aged up while you were waiting at the wall in between 25's."  Basically, when Steven hit the wall he paused for a while to take a breath before keeping on swimming!  Poor kid was maybe a little tired?  Maybe?  We now have a break from swim meets for a few weeks.  Yay!  Steven also plays on a volleyball team, but he's missed most of the games this season due to conflicts with swimming.  He likes it, but they play against the girls, so that's a bit awkward for all parties concerned!!  Steven is in his last year of Cub Scouts.  Dare I say that he's losing interest in it already?  He's just too busy, really.  

Steven is our only child who does the year round competitive swimming.  Steven's coach is trying to recruit Izzy, but she's just not that interested.  The middle kids (Steven, Izzy, and Luke) all go to practices regularly, though.  Steven has team practices, Isabel has stroke clinic practices, and Luke has swim lessons.  Once Luke learns the butterfly and the breast (and he's legal in them), he'll do the clinic with Isabel.  Probably not the SAME clinic, but the same idea- just different kids.  Everyone is staying sufficiently chlorinated!

Luke (7 years old, 2nd grade) is playing on a soccer team this fall.  One practice a week and a game on Saturday.  He's starting to understand it more, I think...  He is always willing to go to practice and seems to enjoy it.  Luke is also busy with Cub Scouts.  He's a Wolf this year.  The kids went on a cub scout campout this past weekend- Mac braved the chilly temps and lack of a flashlight to stay with Luke, Steven, and Isabel.  Josie and I stayed for the cookout dinner and the campfire, but then we headed home.  (Ah, climate control and a Sleep Number Bed!!)   Luke loved the camping trip-- he was definitely the most enthusiastic about it!  The others survived...  It was in the 50s overnight, so no one froze but it was definitely chilly.  Mac likes to sleep with the temp at least 70 degrees!  Must be the Latino blood in him??  Anyway, I'm still doing laundry from that camping trip.  And that's remarkable because Mac didn't even have them change their clothes!  Hooah, I guess?  Is that the army way?  Yuck.  (Mac said, "You don't need to put on PJs- we are camping.  Just sleep in your regular clothes!)  I think everyone should be impressed at how often I bite my tongue, really.  I did pack everyone clothes (even Mac), so at least I did MY part!

Isabel (10 years old, 5th grade) is playing on a volleyball team.  She has learned how to do a sidearm serve that's pretty interesting to me, but she says it's more comfortable for her.  When she makes her serve, it's like a little rocket over the net.  Just doesn't offer a ton of control over where the ball goes!  She almost took out one guy in the bleachers last week! She had an exciting game on Sunday where she "passed" a ball to a teammate on service receive-- using her shoulder!  It was so fun to watch her team get excited over playing volleyball, especially when the rallies of 2 or 3 passes happened.  Isabel is having fun and I think her coach is really neat!  Isabel has also grown A LOT!  She's almost as tall as Steven now!  He's always been 3 inches taller than she, always.  But she's really close now.  Steven was just measured at his peds endo appointment last week, and he hasn't fallen off his growth curve in the last 3 months (he gets measured often on a very precise scale because of diabetes), so Isabel has been truly shooting up!  I was shocked this summer to find that she fit into a LADIES size 8 shoe-- I kept trying to find kids size 4 or 5 that would work for her.  Isabel is not in Girl Scouts this year (there are not many troops for her age).  That's a bummer for her, because she enjoyed Girl Scouts, but she is filling her time with reading and drawing and crafting.  She's not missing it too much.

Kate (15 years old, 10th grade) has been playing on her high school soccer team this year. The season is almost over, but Kate has really enjoyed practicing regularly with a big team.  She's only been on smaller teams before, and they've never had enough girls to do a good scrimmage or even a productive practice.  This team has been a fun experience for her.  She plays defense, and she has made lots of new friends from the team.  She is also working this month in a seasonal orchard/farm helping pack apples, move crates, and prep bakery foods.  It's hard work, but she seems to enjoy it.  She works on most weekends with a friend of hers.  Thank goodness it's only this month-- I don't think that Mac and I could stand much more of driving her to and from work!

Josie (3 years old, preschool) is full of energy!  She is constantly scribbling on everything she can find.  She calls it her "homework".  After scribbling for a while, she brings it to me to sign, because here the elementary school teachers want parents to initial everything the kids do for homework...  So Josie has picked up on this and I need to initial her "homework" for her too, just like I do for Luke.  Josie is very busy- she has preschool two days a week, Bible School one day a week, and I try to take her to the gym playroom once or twice a week too.  She loves it all!  She struggles to sit still through story time in preschool, but I'm told she's getting better at it...  I was also told by her Bible School teacher (from Community Bible Study- a year-long Bible study that has a program for the moms and the kids running at the same time) that Josie is very quiet in class.  I'm pretty positive that situation will change soon enough.  She learns her verses easily, and tells me the stories afterwards, so I think she's taking it all in!  There are a couple of rambunctious 3 year old boys in there-- I'm just glad she hasn't joined in their antics... yet.  Then there will be trouble!  Josie definitely holds court at home- she is not an easy-going, laid-back child.  She knows what she wants...  and generally she gets what she wants!  But she's just so cute!  She is not supposed to play with pens or pencils or crayons or other Writing Utensils With Staining Potential on any surface other than the kitchen table.  The kitchen table is beyond repair from all the stains on it already.  Anyway, she constantly tries to sneak a pen to any OTHER surface to work on her homework.  Except she'll hold the pen behind her back, look at me sweetly, and say "I don't have a pen behind my back, OK?" as she tries to go to the stairs to color on the carpet.  Sigh.... 

Mac is fairly busy with work.  It's interesting (and a bit dismaying) how much administrative work he has to do.  He sets the call schedules, the OR schedules, manages clinics, etc., etc.  He spent any free time of his last few weeks on filling out the California state medical licensing application which he will need processed and ready to go by July 1.  The California license paperwork packet is huge- a much more involved process than was the Virginia state license.  It's done now, though.  Including the Fat Check that we had to send to California.  Citizens of California, you're welcome. 

I am busy trying to make some headway into our house and sorting out stuff we really don't need anymore (strollers, as if Josie will sit in a STROLLER anymore), and donating the excess.  When I have it down to what we really really need, then I will start to sort out what can be moved into a storage unit.  Finally, after we have this house somewhat emptied out, we'll put it on the market.  Of course, I've made only about 5% progress in the first stage of sorting, so I have a LONG way to go.  And an ever-helpful 3 year old to undo whatever progress I make! 

Oh well...

And Mac and I both upgraded our iPhones to the 4S!  Along with all of the MacNerds on the planet, I was disappointed there is not an iPhone 5, but I guess all the supposed Awesome Features of the iPhone 5 are there on the 4S.  I just think it would be cooler if it were called an iPhone 5.  Again, no one asked me.  Why don't they ever ask me?



 

Back In the Blog...

So it's been a long time since I blogged last...  Suffice it to say we had a very busy spring and summer.  Now we are back into fall, and while it's not less busy, it's just time to blog again.

The kids are all back in school now- even Josie has started preschool.  She's very excited about preschool!  She has only been to the classroom once, and it was with me for a parent/child orientation.  She had no problem staking her claim over all the play food in the play kitchen, though.  The class is small, with only 9 kids or so at this time.  It should be an adventure!  She was disappointed that they didn't have play doh on the first day!  Oh well.  She will be going to preschool twice a week.  People ask me what I'll do with my time!  What a laugh!  Ummm, I don't know...  What will  I do with a whole 2 and a half hours!  Hmmmm.  Actually I plan to go to the gym one day (Tuesday), and go to volunteer at the elementary school on the other day (Thursday)...  But I know that 2.5 hours is nothing, so we'll see what happens...

Here are some pictures from the preschool orientation...  Filling out the Classroom Scavenger Sheet.

Playing with the food and kitchen set.

From the youngest to the oldest...  Kate is in 10th grade.  She is getting used to her classes, but I wouldn't say she's particularly excited about school.  She talks mostly about the child development class she's taking...  That's the class where they will eventually work with preschoolers too.  She's learned the lyrics to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and other such Essential Life Skills.  I don't understand why she needs a class for this...  Especially when she is the oldest sister to 4 younger siblings, one of whom is a preschooler!!  She's also playing on the soccer team this year, which means a lot of practices.  She seems to enjoy that, but honestly she'd prefer just to sleep all day and go on twitter all night.  Pesky school gets in the way of that dream life...  Anyway, this picture is of Kate on her way to catch the bus for the first day of school.  She leaves the house at 6:40 am... She is exhausted all the time!

Steven and Isabel are in fifth grade this year.  Top Dogs at the school-- fifth graders are the Big Kids.  They are both patrols, too.  This gives them the right to yell at other kids, which is awesome.  "Get off the grass!"  "Walk!"  etc., etc.  A real Power Trip.  Sometimes patrols even yell at parents!  They seem to enjoy their teachers and their classes.  But everything is new now.  We will revisit in a month and there may be some complaints!  Steven is swimming with his winter swim team.  He practices 3-4 days a week.  He took a total of 4 weeks off this summer, and you could really tell!  Amazing he could lose conditioning so quickly, but that's ok.  His first meet is the weekend of October 8.  Mom and Dad will be here visiting, so that will be fun.  Isabel starts swim practices later on this month- so far she's just wanting to do the swim clinics, not the team.  We will see if she changes her mind later on!  The coach is very supportive of her trying the team, but understanding if she does not want to.  Steven and Isabel are also playing in a small community volleyball league this fall.  Practice starts tomorrow...  They will be on different teams but will play against each other during the season.  Other activities include cub scouts for Steven (last year in cub scouts- next step boy scouts but I'm not sure we'll continue on), and maybe girl scouts for Izzy.  We have to find a new girl scout troop for her, but...  I'm not eager to add Another Thing to the schedule.  We will see if something pops up. 

Luke is in second grade.  He is finally able to read fairly independently.  I still read with him every day, though.  I think he's doing loads better than he was a year ago.  He's enjoying his teacher, who is new to our school this year.  They have classroom pets, too- a pair of gerbils.  Luke is very excited about those guys, and we get to bring them home for a weekend sometime to babysit them!!!  Yay!!!  I guess...  Anyway, Luke is very excited.  I just hope they don't escape!  Luke will be playing in the community soccer league.  He wanted to do cross country but I steered him away from that!!  How long can he run?  The real issue was they planned to practice two days a week.  I know there's no way I can fit in two practices a week...  Anyway, soccer it is.  And he has swim lessons, and cub scouts.  He'll be busy.

Mac is finishing residency (Happy Dance!).  This is the LAST YEAR!  Yay!  Yes, I have a countdown app on my iPhone that I check every now and then...  The last official day is June 15, 2012.  In the meantime, being a Chief resident means he has a lot of responsibilities and duties at work.  He really is busy, and does quite a bit of administrative work (scheduling residents to clinic, OR, etc.).  He doesn't love the admin stuff, but I think it's just part of the gig.  He is hoping to get good cases in the OR, but we'll see.  There's been a lot of changes at his hospital, and everything is very unsettled now since they combined two hospitals into one (they combined National Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center).  Everyone keeps hoping that things get more settled "by next month".  It's been a huge transition though, and I doubt it will be settled by next year...

I am just busy trying to get ready for The Move in the summer of 2012, and shuttling kids to all their activities, doctor appointments, school functions, etc., etc.  There's just a lot going on.  I am also going to a Bible study in the area here which is like BSF but not quite as strict, so they say.  We couldn't go to the first meeting because Josie was sick.  But next week we should be able to go- they have a kids' program for Josie while I get to spend time talking to grown ups! 

Valentines Day

Valentines Day is one of those holidays for me.  Along with Halloween.  A holiday which the kids (and marketers) love, but I kind of dread.  There's just a lot to do to get the kids ready for their school parties, and maybe I'm too lazy, but...  I never feel much love for Valentines Day.  It's fun in preschool, for your first child, but...  after 10 years or so I've just kind of lost my enthusiasm.

The kids had big parties in their classrooms.  Josie and I went to the parties mostly to be able to help Steven count his carbs...  I gave him an extra dose of insulin to account for whatever he ate at the party.  Usually he only gets insulin with meals and at night before bed.  But, in order to still have fun with his classmates eating all sorts of Junk Food at school (at his desk even!), he needed an extra dose.  He ended up eating over 115 g of carbs...  He had ice cream, gummy bears, chocolate kisses, chips, Capri Sun, lollipops...  Yes, the teachers hold these parties at the end of the day so that the sugared-up kids can burn it off at their own houses!

The main job of Valentines day for me is filling in the Valentines day cards...  We don't give out goody bags, just the cards...  We bought our cards in January during one of the snow days.  We filled out the cards last weekend.  It was fun to see Luke try to fill in all his cards for his classmates without even referring to the class list.  He only forgot one name.  He didn't spell every name correctly, but he could read their names and was able to distribute the cards to the right person.  This was a big improvement for him.  He is really coming a long way in reading and writing.  Math seems to be clicking as well.  For example, the other day he was able to tell me how old everyone will be when Josie is a Big Kid.  Apparently, this happens at the age of 6. Luke told me that he will be 10, Steven and Isabel will be 13 (shoot me now!), and Kate will be 19.  And I will be 39.  He did all that math in his head!  Not too shabby!  Anyway, last year was a big battle to get the Valentines filled out and addressed...  He ended up just writing his name on all his cards because he couldn't legibly write out the names of his classmates, and he certainly couldn't read the names of classmates...  It was fun this year to see him actually be able to fill out the Valentines independently. 

The kids made Valentines for Great Grandma too.  The following is a snippet from Isabel's card.  I'm sure she'd just about die from embarrassment if she knew I was writing this, but it's so cute.  And so very Isabel.

"Dear Great Grandma...  I love you with all my heart!  I would live with you for the rest of my life if I had to live with only one person, but I might of picked my mom or my friend named Nana, though!"  So funny.  Anyway, Grandma if you're reading this, the actual, illustrated card is on the way!

After all the celebrations at school, the kids were really, really hyper.  Bouncing off the walls.  Josie ate a significant amount of chocolate, too.  She enjoys these school class parties more than the kids probably!  The kids spent the rest of the day running around the house causing mayhem.  Mac came home late, but just in time to help put the older kids to bed.  After that, he ate a little bit and went off to the gym to exercise.

He came home at about 11 pm on Valentines day.  And he brought with him this:

At the time, they were all in one vase.  I've tried to rehab them a bit, pruning and moving the sickest little roses to other vases.  The poor flowers were wilting, and the vase was nearly out of water.  The stems were green for about 3 inches from the flower, and then brown.  This is clearly a bouquet that was destined for the garbage heap of unsold flowers...  Then my gallant hero came and rescued them.  It's like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  The last little tree on the lot...

Here are some more views of the flowers...

 
Alas, much as I appreciate the rescuing of flowers, I told Mac that he really doesn't need to prop up this Valentines day marketing scheme of mass producing roses and selling them at huge profit margins...  I "let him off the hook" so to say...  Maybe a Starbucks next year?  Or some Thai Takeout?  Just not a stuffed bear.  PLEASE not a stuffed bear. 

Anyway, that was Valentines day at our house!  Next big school party?  St. Patrick's Day.  I kid you not.  There will be a party and lots of sugar consumed...

Birthdays and Kitchen Appliances

Is it just me or do they NOT make kitchen appliances to last anymore?  We have lived in our current house for only 8 years.  We started out with mostly new appliances because the ones that were here when we moved in were just horrible.  We tried to make due with the original dishwasher, but it had some condensation problems, so we replaced it about a year after we moved in.   The dishwasher was OK, but the latch broke and it started leaking water, so we replaced it about a year ago.  So far the new dishwasher is working fine.  The oven and stove have been good.  But I kind of wish they'd break because we got the coil burners and they are horrible to clean.  I'd like a flat top stove.  The refrigerator we bought had a freezer on the bottom.  I really liked the convenience of having the refrigerator on the top.  And the shelves were deep in the fridge door, so we could store lots in there.  The fridge was probably my favorite appliance...

That refrigerator, unfortunately, completely died on my birthday.  The fan was still running, the lights were still on, but it was not cooling anymore.  Rather than try to fix it, we spend a few hours this weekend replacing it.  It probably would have been an expensive fix, as I had noticed the refrigerator hadn't been quite working correctly for the past few months.  Freezing milk one day, barely keeping it cool the next...  Plus, we weren't sure how long we'd be without a refrigerator, waiting for parts and what not.  We decided just to replace it.

On Friday night, we moved the food outside in coolers.  Insulin has to be kept in a fridge, so we moved it outside too...  I'm hoping Steven's insulin was kept cool enough.  If his numbers start to go through the roof we'll have to throw out the whole batch of insulin though... 

Saturday morning was really busy, but not unusually so...  Mac and Josie went to Kate's Big Swim Meet (divisionals- she swam a 50 yard freestyle and placed 16th), and I went to the other kids' basketball games.  After lunch, Mac and I drove to the Frederick Costco to look at refrigerators.  Our local Costco doesn't carry appliances.  We found a very basic fridge, it looked ok, and it wasn't too expensive.  So, we packed it up into the suburban and drove home.  Mac almost completely on his own lugged the new one into the house and the old one out to the suburban.  He didn't need to go to the gym that day!  Refrigerator moving was enough of a workout...  By this time, it was getting late.  We had the boys Cub Scout's banquet that night.  Kate decided not to go to the banquet.  I was too tired from all the refrigerator stuff to force her to go!  Oh well.  Luke and Steven earned some badges, and Luke got a huge trophy for winning the pinewood derby race within his Tiger Den.  The Pinewood Derby was held in January.  The banquet also involved a Yo-Yo show which Josie wasn't too interested in.  We were all exhausted by the time we came home from the banquet!   

We finished installing the new fridge Sunday afternoon, Mac took the old one to the dump, and then we all went out to eat dinner at Red Robin.  I wanted to go somewhere loud where I wouldn't have to worry about the kids making too much noise and disturbing other diners...  Dinner was fine- my hamburger was raw but they sent me a new one without too much hassle.  When we got home, Mac gave me a couple of gifts from him and the kids, and we stuck a candle into a rice krispy treat for the ceremonial Happy Birthday song...

I think I will remember this birthday as being the one where my refrigerator died! 

Snow and Silliness

We had a big snow a couple of weeks ago.  After having a "snow day" on the day before the storm even started, we ended up getting about 10 inches of snow topped by a coating of ice.  School was canceled for the rest of the week...  Lots of snow days! 

The day after the storm, the kids went out to play.  The snow wasn't great for sledding, but they occupied themselves in our backyard for hours.  Steven worked on his own snow fort, which involved moving as much snow as possible from one part of the yard to another. 

Isabel and Luke worked together to build their own fort, using the snow from the deck mostly.  

Josie went from sibling to sibling to "help".  She really enjoyed playing in the snow.  She stayed out a long time! 

At one point she did a faceplant, though.  Then she decided that it was time to go inside for some hot cocoa...







The kids had fun in the snow that one day, but unfortunately the weather was just not great for playing outside during all the other snow days.  There was an arctic blast of cold air, and the snow was really icy and crusty.  So, we stayed inside a lot during all the snow days.  The kids fought with each other, played the DS, went to extra swimming practices, fought some more...  I even took them all to Costco.  Having a Suburban, I was able to get around town at least! 

It wasn't all fighting in the house.  Josie has discovered the very fun pastime of dress up.  She already knows she's a princess, but it doesn't hurt to dress like one!

And if Josie is the princess, Steven is the Court Jester.  He is very tender-hearted with his baby sister.  After taking this picture, she proceeded to bop him on his head with the toy she is holding...  But she loves her brother!  Really, she does! 

Last week was a much more stable week weather-wise.  No more snow days.  Back to the same winter routine. 

On Saturday we had lots of sports.  Luke, Isabel, and Steven played basketball games. Luke is slowly figuring out how the game works, and he seems to prefer defense to actually touching the ball.  The coach makes sure each player dribbles the ball down the court at least once, but Luke passes the ball away as soon as he can!  In this picture he is getting ready to pass.  Those little guys are so cute!

I didn't get to watch Isabel's game much.  Mac was watching but not taking much in- he had Josie Duty for the morning!  Josie isn't a huge fan of all these sporting events...  Mac did watch Steven's game, and I missed that one due to my turn on Josie Duty...  Mac reports that Steven "ran circles" around the other players.  Steven is in great shape due to all the swimming.  He's having fun with basketball.  If I get decent pictures of Steven and Isabel playing basketball, I'll add them later.

Kate finished up the regular season of swimming on Saturday with a swim meet.  She completed a 200 IM- she'd never swum that event before.  She also did a very fast 50 freestyle leg for her relay team.  Right after her swim meet, we drove straight to her indoor soccer game.  Busy busy Saturday!

What's up?

We are in the middle of the winter doldrums...  Mac continues working in a "local" rotation that has him commuting over one hour each way.  At least he comes home though!  He is enjoying this rotation a lot.  He likes the Big Surgeries.  His favorite surgeries involve breaking the jaw and screwing it back together.  He is able to do a lot of surgery "on his own" at this training site.  He likes the Big Whacks (big surgeries) and the independence.  February is his last month on this rotation...  I am bracing for his next rotation- he's going to be doing far fewer surgeries and far more administrative stuff as he transitions into a chief position.  Should be interesting...

The kids are in the midst of winter sports.  Kate continues on the high school swim team, with meets every Saturday and practices twice a week.  She also has year-round swim practices three times a week.  She's logging lots of time in the pool.  She complains about it all the time!  She is also playing in an indoor soccer league this winter.  Her team plays one game a week.  She seems to enjoy that.
Steven, Isabel, and Luke are all playing basketball in the Upward league.  The Upward league is a Christian league, where the kids are supposed to learn Bible verses and practice Christ-like sportsmanship.  It's going well.  Luke pretty much has no idea what he's doing on the court, but he smiles a lot.  Isabel usually will make at least one basket a game.  She still stops to blush and wave at the crowd after she scores points.  Steven is running his little heart out on the court.  He's very conditioned thanks to all the swimming, and he barely gets winded in a game while his teammates are huffing and puffing...  They all seem to be enjoying basketball.  I am not enjoying driving them in the cold to three different practice times!  At least the practices are very close to the house, which minimizes the amount of time I have to listen to Josie screaming in my ear from her car seat...  She also doesn't enjoy driving to and from practices all day long!

The kids also are continuing with their Winter Swim programs.  Steven and Isabel practice three times a week now.  If that seems excessive, they would agree with you!  However, that's a fairly modest commitment to swimming around here.  There are 9 year olds who practice daily...  Luke has lessons twice a week.  He's been introduced to all the strokes, but I don't think he's legal in anything but the freestyle and the backstroke.  We'll see when the summer swim season rolls around though. He might surprise us all!  Steven continues to enjoy swim meets.  He has about one meet a month.  He usually drops time in all events.  He enjoys the competition, but I still think he likes swim meets most of all because he gets to log in a lot of video game time on his DS in between his swim events!  His diabetes has been much better controlled at meets lately.  We are starting to get a handle on how to manage it a bit better on "meet day". 

Josie is full of life.  She is a big talker.  She loves dress up and playing with her siblings.  Thanks to a lot of snow days, she's had a lot of extra time to play.  She has decided that she likes childcare now, too.  This means we can go to church again.  She happily goes into her classroom, where she has lots of "friends" and she seems very enthusiastic.  The teachers have no idea that she had a history of complete meltdown in childcare from about age 0 to 28 months.  Complete meltdown.  Now, at age 29 months, she is a very secure young preschooler ready to conquer the world!

She will also go to the playroom at the gym, albeit with less enthusiasm than when she goes to her classroom at church.  She plays in the playroom, eats a snack, and watches cartoons.  I get to go to the gym and exercise.  I only take her once a week to the playroom, lest she decide she hates it there and then I'm stuck once again!  I try to go in for a workout on the weekend when Mac is home to babysit, and then one other time during the week, again when Mac or Kate is home to babysit...

So, that's what we are up to. Activities, Mac's busy schedule, and trying to stay warm.  We have had one power outage which only lasted about 5 hours.  We were nervous though.  It's too cold to camp out in our house with no heat!  And we don't have a fireplace, so...  Thankfully the power came back on.  Right now I am hoping all the snow will melt away and we can start to transition to spring.  But, February has historically been a Big Snow Month for us.  We will see what happens!

The 10 Days of Christmas Break Continued...

To recap, Mac had 10 whole days off for Christmas break this year.  Usually he gets 7 days off, but thanks to Christmas Eve falling on a Friday, and thanks to the fact that he gets weekends "off" for the most part on this rotation, he had a nice long stretch of time to spend with the family.

On the first day of Christmas break we did lots of stuff, including helping with an outreach at a soup kitchen.

On the second day of Christmas break we opened presents- this was Christmas day!

On the third day of Christmas break, I can not remember what we did.  I do not know if we did anything special!  I know that Steven had a swim practice in the morning, and we spent the day playing with our new toys.  I can't remember going anywhere special, though. 

On the fourth day of Christmas break, swim practice was canceled due to high winds.  The kids swim in an outdoor pool which is winterized by being covered with a giant dome of sorts.  They nickname it "the bubble".  When it's too windy, they don't allow swimming because I suppose there is a risk of the bubble crashing down. 

Since we didn't have swimming, we went to a movie.  We saw an early showing of Tangled, which is based on the Rapunzel story.  It was really great!  Usually I'm bored out of my mind at kid movies, but this was very clever and fun.  Josie sat and watched the whole thing like a champ.  I think this movie held the attention of all the kids in the entire theatre, and I didn't hear any of the crying, fighting, yelling, talking, etc. that you might hear at any animated movie...  It was a very fun outing!  And that was the Main Event for the day.

On the fifth day of Christmas break, Steven and Isabel both had swimming.  The fun event of this day was shopping and eating out.  Isabel and I went to the mall to take care of some returns and do a little shopping, and then we met everyone else at the Silver Diner restaurant for the Family fun night.  Every Tuesday they have special entertainment for families, plus they give out free milkshakes to kids who are members of the "kids club."  Kate passed along her membership to Josie, who enjoyed her very own Chocolate Shake.  (Kate ordered an adult sized cookies and cream, so don't worry that she missed out!)  The special entertainment included crafts and coloring at a special table away from our own table, staffed by a restaurant worker, and balloon animals and face painting by a local man who does this stuff.  The kids had a lot of fun.  The boys had him make light sabers, and Isabel had a double-bladed light saber.  Josie had a wand with a special heart balloon.  Tragically, the balloon popped when we got home.  She told me with her little quivering chin "my heart balloon all gone."  Ahhhh, poor thing.  So sad.  Luckily she forgot all about it within about 30 minutes.  That's when everyone else's balloons started to pop and lose their shapes.

On the sixth day of Christmas break, Steven and Isabel had swimming practice again. That wasn't enough chlorine for one day, so we headed out to the recreational pool in the afternoon as well.  This was a great treat for Josie, who watches the older siblings swim all the time, yet she never gets to swim herself.  They are all in practices or lessons, and there's just not a lot out there for a two-year-old to do that doesn't involve ME swimming as well.  And poor Josie LOVES swimming.  She really does.  So we all went to a very big indoor aquatic center that is about 20 minutes away from our house to spend two hours in the pool.  Kate didn't go with us, but Steven and Isabel each brought a friend.  This aquatic center has big waterslides and little waterslides, along with water squirting features, and water buckets dumping water on your heads.  All sorts of good stuff for serious swimmers.  The "big kids" went on the big slides most of the time.  Luke took turns dragging Mac and me up to the big slides too, where we would "race" him to the bottom.  Mac and I also took Josie on the little slides.  She loved those.  Most of the time she didn't get dunked in the process, but when she did get dunked she was really good about it.  She didn't cry or throw up in the pool!  Anyway, that was a fun afternoon, and really tiring too!

On the seventh day of Christmas break, we headed in to the city to visit a museum.  Kate had to get up early to come along.  She wasn't too pleased about that, but what's a "family outing" if she's not there?  Anyway, we took the subway in to town and decided what museum to go to when we got to the mall.  We decided to go to the Museum of American History since it looked the least crowded and since I couldn't remember going there since the big remodel.  We got there just as it opened, and were able to see the flag that flew over the Baltimore harbor in the war of 1812.  It was really impressive!  We touched on all parts of the museum, but at a very fast pace.  We all enjoyed the First Ladies' dress exhibit.  It was so interesting to see how fashion has changed and reflected the historical times throughout the years.  Josie loved seeing all the dresses, of course.  We also went through the transportation display, which was a lot of fun, and the military history display, which was impressive.  We ate lunch there, and since Josie was really causing some trouble by that point, we left early to return home.  We were only at the museum for about 2 hours not counting lunch, and that was probably as much as she could tolerate for now!  She is much less patient than I remember Luke being (or even the twins for that matter) when touring the museums...  Maybe that's why we rarely go!

Here are some pictures of our trip downtown.  First we snapped a shot in front of the Washington Memorial.  We've lived out here so long and we've never been up to the top of that thing!  Someday, maybe...  Also, note to self:  Never start off a trip to a museum with a toddler NOT strapped into a stroller. 

That itsy bitsy person next to the sculpture is Isabel.  This is in front of the Smithsonian Museum of American History.



Luke, the clown.  So happy that Mom and Dad are buying a new car.

Mac and I were able to go out for a date later on this day.  Kate watched the kids and put Josie to bed.  Even though Josie is difficult to manage in a museum, and she is known to cry for 40 minutes or more without stopping which strapped into her car seat, she is still relatively easy to put to bed.  She loves her cozy blankets.  She just likes to be in her crib.  This is a fairly recent development, and I know that it will not last.  But...  we are taking advantage of her love for her crib for as long as we can!  Mac and I went to see a movie.  I cringed as he paid $11 per ticket to watch The Black Swan but ultimately we enjoyed the movie, I guess.  It was a strange movie.  It's not really exactly my style, but it was recommended by some of Mac's fellow residents.  Now he can join in at the conversation around the water cooler with the cool kids...  This was the first date for us in over a year!  Unless you count the work Christmas party that we went to.  Which I don't, even though it was a fairly entertaining evening...  Nonetheless, Mac and I, sans children.  I don't know if Date Night will become something we practice more frequently, but who knows!  If I plan it, I suppose it will happen.  But I'm not sure I want to plan yet another thing... 

On the eighth day of Christmas break, Steven and Isabel had a swim practice.  It was the last day of the year 2010.  We didn't have any big plans for the day.  Mac and I suspected that Kate would want to do something with her friends.  Even though she started out having no plans at all, by dinnertime she was debating between three different invitations to different get-togethers...  She chose a quiet sleepover with a friend who lives near to us.  I think she had a good time watching scary movies all night...  The fun event for the kids during the day was going to Toys R Us to spend their gift cards that Grandma sent in the mail.  Each of them had $25!  Toys R Us was pretty cleaned out, but the kids managed to find things to buy. 

Steven bought a couple of racing cars from the MarioKart product line (Luigi and Mario).  He still has some money left on his card and he wants to buy the same Pokemon card set that he bought Luke for the Secret Santa gift exchange.  We'll have to check in at Toys R Us another day for that one.  They were completely sold out of Pokemon cards!

Luke bought yet another lightsaber (it's red and makes noise) and a Nerf Football.

Isabel bought a gumball machine, a keychain sized gumball machine, and a skull toy that tells you the answer to any question you ask.  For instance, you ask the skull, "Am I cute" and it will say "Menacinely no".  So on and so forth.  Endless fun.

Josie bought an ice cream cone toy (not real ice cream- it's a stacking toy) and a Cinderella doll.

So, that was Friday, New Years' Eve, 2010.

On the  ninth day of Christmas Break, Steven had swimming practice in the afternoon.  This was New Year's Day.  He is able to say he went to swim practice on the last day of 2010 AND the first day of 2011.  It was a warm and sometimes rainy day.  After practice was done, we decided to go to Zoo Lights to see the Christmas lights display at the zoo and see some of the animals.  We brought Kate with us again, almost kicking and screaming!  Oh well...  Zoo lights was kind of a let down, actually.  There were some Christmas light displays, but nothing like the walk through display we did one year at a nature center, and not as fun as the drive-through display that is closest to our house.  (And, DRIVE THROUGH which can be very nice during the cold weather snaps.)  But we figured we should try it out...  The only parts of the zoo that were open to visitors were some of the indoor animal habitats.  We started out with the small mammal house, which is usually a hopping place full of all sorts of rodents.  We did see a very cute armadillo and some porcupines and a few squirrels, but the most active rodents were the mice that were sneaking into all the enclosures to eat the food the animals left behind...  The Ape house wasn't much better.  There was only one ape visible, and he just sat there staring at everyone.  He didn't even care about the mice crawling around the floor of his cage.  Hey, at least he was awake!  The only other ape (maybe a chimp) had covered himself up with a SHEET and was apparently out for the night.  Why did they give him a sheet to play with?  Anyway, we really didn't see many animals, and the decorations were underwhelming, but the kids really liked their dinners they ate at the zoo's cafeteria.  We went straight home after dinner because we'd forgotten Steven's insulin.  We brought an insulin pen, but it was empty.  Oops.  The insulin pen with insulin in it was left at home...  Anyway, now we can check Zoo Lights off of our list of community events to attend!  That leaves seeing the National Christmas Tree all lit up on the mall.  Brrrrr...  Saving that one for next year. 

Here are a couple of pictures from Zoo Lights.

Again, once Josie was freed from the confines of her stroller, she never went back in again!  Oh well.  I'm going to have to retrain her to enjoy her stroller before we go to Disneyworld in May...

On the tenth day of Christmas Break we gave Kate the day off.  She didn't have to go to a fun family event with us, but she did have to go to church with us!  In the afternoon Steven had a playdate with two friends.  Isabel tried to call her friends to arrange her own playdates, but they were all busy.  Oh well.  After the playdates were done, we went to Chuck E Cheese.  That place is wild.  Really wild.  We were very lucky to get a table, as we arrived just before a big rush of people.  We got the last open table in the place!  Anyway, we were less lucky with getting the pizza order delivered to our table.  They apparently skipped our order or something, because we were number "8" and Mac asked where our order was when he saw number "14" being served...  Eventually they brought out our order, about an hour after we placed it, and the manager gave us 100 tokens as an apology...  Anyway, the kids were playing games the whole time, so they didn't miss the food, but it did extend our time at Chuck E Cheese by a while...  Since we got these "free" tokens, Mac let me play the annoying game where you drop a token down onto a tray that is supposed to push the token against other tokens causing tokens on another tray to fall off the edge into a tray below.  When that happens, you will get tickets depending on how many tokens you drop into the bottom tray.  Mac hates the game because they are clearly using magnets to hold the tokens onto the bottom tray.  He's seen so many people just put token after token into it, and no tokens drop ever.  It's like playing the slots.  Well, anyway, we had all these "free tokens" so we played the game for a while, using up probably around 15 tokens.  And...  even though we didn't drop too many tokens off of the bottom tray, at one point the machine just started spitting out tickets.  Josie was standing right there, pulling just so as the tickets were being spit out of the machine.  She carried all her tickets over to Izzy who was feeding tickets into the ticket reader which spits out a receipt that can be turned in for prizes.  In total Josie got 248 tickets!  It was too funny.  I don't know why she got so many tickets, because we barely dropped any tokens, but...  Maybe the machine saw this cute 2 year old and just couldn't resist!  Anyway, after that we turned in the tickets for some cheapo prizes, and headed home.

That was the end of the ten days of Christmas break.  We made the most out of it, even though we weren't able to go anywhere big this year!