Coin Another Phrase

Another typical weekend day mixed with errands and family time. Among Danelle's errands was a trip to JC Penney's to look at new blinds for the sliding door in the kitchen and the big window next to it. Penney's is having a huge sale - 75% off. She was able to find several that she liked and will get them ordered tomorrow. I'll be glad to see the old curtains go. Kind of looking forward to the installation project too.

The kids played well together today. This morning they went from room to room leaving a mess in their wake. Kristin said it looked like a 'toynado' had hit the house. For sure.

For dinner I was in the mood for a frozen pizza with tater tots, so the kids and I made a trip to Safeway. They were both excited that the 'car carts' were both dry and available. They picked a blue one. Kristin is getting so big that she hardly fits in the car carts anymore.

We got the kids out this afternoon after I mowed the lawn and mulched the leaves (hopefully for the last time this season). Danelle fixed a light that had gone out and the kids had fun on their bikes. Kristin noticed that our new neighbor Erin had more Christmas lights up than we do and said, 'Dad, Erin is beating us. She has lot's more lights than us. She even has lights in the trees like Zoo Lights'. A Clark Griswald in the making:

Movie Night

Today was another busy day with some errands. Kristin and I headed to ToysRUs this morning to get a couple birthday gifts for 2 upcoming birthday parties for Kristin's friends. Later I went out to get my hair cut and get a couple of other errands run.

Tonight we decided to stay in and have movie night including popcorn. Kristin picked Toy Story to watch and Kellen was pretty interested in the beginning. Kellen just doesn't sit still for a whole movie, but was busy playing and watching me put the Christmas tree up. The tree is up but no lights or ornaments yet. A task for tomorrow.

A Quiet Day

We had a relaxing day today. Ran a few errands to Safeway and Winco. Danelle went to Safeway sans kids and made short work of it. The kids played together pretty well all day. Kellen had the Duplo legos out and Kristin was busy practicing on the Little Professor. She was proud of herself for getting 10 out of 10 on the Level 3 addition. I thought it was pretty good too, especially since there are only 4 levels.

Danelle got the rest of the Christmas lights up while Kellen was napping. Kristin hung out with Danelle while she was putting up the lights. We made the trip to Winco a family event, sort of. Kristin and I detoured to the shopping center near the grocery store and did some Christmas shopping. After that we all went out to eat at Sharis, which is like a Perkins. Kellen actually did pretty well tonight - he's been having trouble sitting still at restaurants, but he did good tonight.

Here's another picture from our trip to Zoo Lights. Check out Kellen's face.

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving! We all had a good Thanksgiving and enjoyed a large lunch. I made what I would consider almost everything. The kids watched some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while I cooked. Uncle John came over for lunch and the kids had a lot of fun with him. Kellen wasn't even shy! Kristin kept Uncle John busy with card games and puzzles after lunch. Kellen actually took a late nap. He was still tired from our busy day yesterday and was rubbing his eyes, so we put him down for a nap.

I still feel stuffed tonight. I guess we need to get outside tomorrow for some exercise... hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Thanksgiving Celebration and Zoo Lights

Happy Thanksgiving! (Assuming you don't read this until Thursday). Today was a busy, busy day. Kristin's class celebrated Thanksgiving and the whole family was invited. She shared a portfolio of various projects and things they have worked on throughout the year. We watched a slideshow of pictures from class activities, and then the kids sang a few Thanksgiving-themed songs to us. We also got to have cookies and juice. That was Kellen's favorite part.

After the celebration in Kristin's classroom, the school day was over. We dropped Kristin off at the gym where she has been participating in an 'extreme PE' after school program on Wednesdays. Today was the last day for this program. So Danelle, Kellen, and I went home for about an hour and Danelle managed to hang up the Christmas lights outside. We then went an picked up Kristin and surprised her with dinner out and then we went to Zoo Lights.

We had a great time at Zoo Lights. It was the first night of being open and the weather was great. They do a really fantastic job with the lights and seem to add new things every year. Afterwards Kristin told us her favorite was a gingerbread house and Kellen's favorite was the elephants. The real elephants. Can't go to the zoo without seeing the elephants.

Danelle has been learning a lot of neat things with the camera and did a good job capturing the exhibits.

No Buggie

Kellen and I kept pretty busy this morning. We ran a quick errand and had time to play outside. Kellen wanted to catch a "buggie," but we couldn't find any. He walked around with a net most of the time. He also mowed with his bubble mower. I got the patio and sidewalks swept. It was nice to have some time out in the sun! During Kellen's nap I started on Thanksgiving dinner preparation by making potato roll dough.

Kristin had a good day at school and came home with a backpack full of past assignments and worksheets she works on in class. A lot for Aaron and I took look through to see what she has been learning. :) The kids chased each other around a bit tonight. Kellen was wanting Aaron to play follow-the-leader, so Aaron played a couple times. This never lasts long because Kellen is off to the next thing. Ah, the attention span of a 2 year old. :)

What Happened to Lazy Sundays?

Whew, what a busy day. I dropped Kristin off at CCD and then ran an errand to Home Depot. Went back to pick up Kristin and then we went to lunch together at Quiznos, which is always a big hit with her. After that, it was off to run more errands. She was good and showed a lot of patience with all of the stores. She would size up each store within a few minutes of being there and then announce if it was boring or not.

We didn't get home until about 3pm, and Kellen was just waking up from his nap. Danelle had laid down too since she hasn't been feeling well. So she headed off to the urgent care. It was a long wait for her, but they did get her diagnosed with a sinus infection. They caught it before it moved into her lungs, so that's good anyway. I got the kids set up with dinner (actually, Danelle had chilli going in the crock pot, so it was a piece of cake) and when Danelle got home she feeling better and had caught a second wind so I was out the door to hockey.

These are pictures from earlier in the week. Kellen was hamming it up for the camera. He hadn't used the spoon prior to me getting the camer out. Note the slimy fingers on his right hand that he used to eat his yogurt. Kristin didn't want to be left out of the fun, so she started playing a version of peek a boo where she pops out of the chair and sees if I'm fast enough to get a picture. I was. Turns out she was giving me a different goofy face each time.

Small Project Day

This morning I took Kristin into Portland to the local Girl Scout store. She really had fun picking out her troop number badges, etc. Now I need to get her tunic washed and get to ironing. While we were running that errand Aaron and Kellen went to Home Depot. Today Aaron kept busy with some small projects in the house. New toliet seat in the main bath, a cover for the "slug hole," and hung some hooks in Kristin's room. Kristin helped with the screws on the hooks in her room. The "slug hole" is this little hole in the wall in the living room that likely had cable line running through it at one time, but the hole was hollow with a peice of conduit in it. So, a week or so ago we saw a slug on the wall nearby and we figured it came in through the hole. YUK! Aaron sealed it off, which will also help that corner be warmer. :) The rain held off for most of the day and Aaron was able to get the kids outside for a little bit while I was running an errand to the mall.

Spaghetti

Kellen was having fun with Play Doh when I got home today. He had me put the spaghetti press together and he was proud of himself for being able to squeeze hard enough to make the spaghetti. He has taken to jumping and galloping when he gets excited, which is pretty often. This time he jumped over to me to show me the spaghetti.

Kristin did really well on her writing homework this week. Tonight was the night in the process where we correct her spelling and grammar. She didn't really have any grammar errors this time and her spelling is getting much better. Even when she mispells words it's getting a lot easier for us to figure out what word she had intended. Her writing was about Zoo Lights, and one of the evenings' homework is to draw a picture. She drew a picture of the zoo train all outfitted with lights.

Kristin is up to 38 laps in the running club at school, which is pretty good since the program is only on Tuesdays and Thursdays after the lunchtime recess. They have parent volunteers there at that time to count laps.

Sunny Morning

What a surprise to have the whole morning sunny! Kellen and I got out and played a little this morning to enjoy it. It was cool in the low 40s, but it wasn't raining. :) Kellen also stringed some beads and worked on some puzzles. Puzzles are one of his new things he likes to do. He is pretty good at them.

Kristin had a good day at school and her teacher was back. Evidently her teacher had lost her voice. Kristin also had her Extreme PE club this afternoon right after school. Next week is the last week for that. She was pretty proud of herself for running faster in a race than one of her friends that is a 2nd grader.

Traditions

This evening seemed to go by pretty quickly. Kristin worked on her homework. This week she has to write about a family tradition. She chose going to zoo lights with the family. After she wrote her sentences on that, she decided she would do some math from one of the workbooks we have at home. She was looking at centimeters and inches and estimating how long things on the page were. She did better than I did.

Kellen was pretty well behaved. He did a his version of 'sweatin to the oldies' while watching something on TV that had music to it. It was pretty cute. Here's a picture of him getting ready for nap time yesterday.

Blustery Day

What a breezy, windy, blustery day. It is even supposed to get windier tonight. Joy! Hopefully we keep our power. At least it is pretty warm... 60 degrees today.

Aaron took today off. He got to go shopping this afternoon and found a new winter coat for himself. We all have new winter coats! Now we are ready for the cold weather. We also had a plumber come over and look at the master bathroom as it need lots of work. When he went under the house we found out we have a pond. JOY! Now we need to start looking into fixing the drainage first. We figured our side yard drainage line was plugged... now pretty much confirmed.

Kristin had a good day at school. She even came home with another Eagle Eye. She is very proud of herself when she gets one! Kellen had a good day at home with mom and dad. He helped me run some errands this morning. He is a very busy boy and has been literally bouncing around the house today.

Is the Weekend Over Already?

Lot's of errands this weekend. Finally got the lawn mowed yesterday, along with all the leaves. Hadn't been dry enough to mow on a weekend in about a month. Filled up the 64 gallon yard debri bin with leaves and grass.

Danelle had a photography class yesterday evening and got some pointers on how to take pictures at zoo lights. So we'll look forward to that after Thanksgiving.

This evening we all went over to a friends' house for dinner. Kristin plays soccer with their daughter, Sheree. The adults had fun playing bowling and ski jumping on the Nintendo Wii. Kellen had fun exploring a new place. Sheree as a mini trampoline in her room and that was a big hit with Kellen.

Not much for new pictures of late, we'll try to be better at taking new ones this week.

School Dance

Kellen and I had our normal busy Friday morning today. We dropped Kristin off at school, went to Tumble Bus, and got groceries. While Kellen was on Tumble Bus, I met with one of his teachers for a conference. Kellen is doing well. He is slowly adjusting to his new schedule of only being at school once a week, but he is hanging in there.

Kristin had a good day at school. Tonight we dropped off the car at the dealership for some maintenance and will pick it up tomorrow. We had dinner at Wendy's and headed home. Aaron and I are very thankful neither one of us has that commute everyday...what yucky traffic! Kristin had her school dance tonight. I took her and she had fun dancing and seeing friends. The dance had a Mardi Gras theme, so she got a necklace and got to make a mask.

Not Much

Kellen had his checkup this morning for his ear tubes. Everything went great - they're still in there and performing as they should. He decided to skip his nap today, so he was Mr Crabbypants this evening. He had shorts spurts where he was well behaved, but it didn't take much to set him off. We think he's growing again.

Kristin and Kellen were rough-housing with Kellen's plastic tricycle. Kellen then started whimpering and carried the trike out to Danelle and I in the kitchen. 'Kristin broke it'. Sure enough, one of the handle bars is separating from the frame. I asked Kristin if she broke it, and her answer was 'not much'. Joy.

Danelle attended a kick-off meeting this evening for Kristin's new Girl Scout troop. Sounds like that will start the first week of December.

There is a dance at Kristin's school tomorrow (Friday) evening. I think she'll have fun with that.

Gifts and Playdate

Kristin had no school today due to it being Veteran's Day. Thanks to all the veterans out there for your service to our country! The kids and I ran an errand this morning related to Christmas gifts for the grandparents... that is the only hint you get! ;) After lunch, Kristin worked on an project while waiting for her playdate's mom to pick her up. What a deal for me! Kristin had a blast at Elizabeth's house. Evidently Elizabeth has a trampoline in the backyard, so that was a big hit.

Kellen took a short nap, but at least he took a nap. After nap he wanted to make another bracelet. Back story... he wanted to make a bracelet in Kristin's classroom at daycare yesterday and started one while we waited for Kristin to pack up. He has quite the fine motor skills and strings the beads very easily. Tonight was just low key and we played and Kristin worked on her homework.

Abstract Art

We have a cabinet in the kitchen where we store the art supplies. Kellen's latest favorites is the 'dot paints' which is basically paint in containers with sponge dobbers on top. He wanted to paint yesterday evening and headed for the cabinet. We keep it locked with a magnetic lock. Kellen hasn't figured it out yet, but he knows where the magnetic key is kept and managed to get it. He then got distracted and wandered into the living room where he proceed to bang on the TV screen with the magnet. If you've ever wondered what a magnet does to a tv screen, it's pretty cool in an abstract sense, but not if you actually want to watch TV. It left several multicolored spots on the TV. Luckily they went away after we turned it off and let it set for awhile. Good thing we only invested $30 in a used TV after our old one died. We had a feeling we had another year or two to deal with events like this.

Kristin has been enjoying the history lesson at school about the pilgrims and the first thanksgiving. I've been getting an earful about it every evening. Kind of nice, since I usually only hear about recess. She has a playdate tomorrow afternoon at her friend Elizabeth's house. She's looking forward to that.

A special thank you to all of the veterans in the family. We appreciate all the things you've done for our country!

Family History Lesson

Today was a standard day of school for Kristin, work for Aaron and Kellen and I at home. Kellen and I ran a few errands this morning in the rain. Yuk! Kellen was pretty much Mr. Crabby Pants most of the time. Ugh!

Tonight Kristin started on her homework. They are learning about the 1st Thanksgiving and the story of how the pilgrims came to America. So, the writing homework is about how, when, and why your family came to America. Kristin did some research, went over the facts with Aaron, and started her writing. She came up with a great first sentence and she will add more tomorrow as we ran out of time due to bathtime. Kristin seems to be really enjoying this new subject... history.

Busy Saturday, Quiet Sunday

We had a productive weekend, starting Saturday morning. We stood in line for H1N1 shots again in the morning, but this time we actually got them. I got in line over two hours before the clinic opened. The clinic was at a high school and they let the line form in the school, so I didn't have to get wet waiting. Even as early as I was, I bet there was at least 100-150 people there before me and they were all holding spots in line too. The folks running the clinic apparently got frustrated that they weren't able to take an accurate count, so they announced that your family had to be there in the next 20 minutes or they wouldn't be let in the building. This was still just under 2 hours before the clinic opened. But Danelle was able to get the kids in the car and make it in time. So then we all waited in line. Once they opened, the line moved pretty quickly and we were home in time for lunch.

In the evening we got to go to a Winterhawks hockey game and watch it from my company's suite. It was a pretty exiting game. The Winterhawks were down 3-2 and ended up scoring off a face off with 2.7 seconds left in the game. The player that scored the tying goal had all three of the Winterhawks goals in regulation. After a scoreless overtime, it went to a shootout. Of course the player with the hat trick also scored the game winning shootout goal, so it was a pretty exciting finish. Kristin had a really good time and Kellen held up pretty well too. We got home pretty late after that. Both of the kids slept in this morning.

Today was a quiet day spent mostly around the house. We did go to Dairy Queen as a family for Kristin's reward for good behavior this week.

Day Off... Yes from School

Today, Kristin was off from school again. She only had 2 days of school this week. Today was a furlough day. We had a busy day though. This morning, Kristin tagged along for Kellen's normal Friday morning of going to Tumble Bus. The owners were happy to see Kristin again and they were gracious enough to let her play with Kellen's age group on the bus. She did well and was very happy to be on the bus again. After lunch Kristin had a friend over for a play date. Elizabeth is a new friend that she has gotten to know at recess. They really get along well and the playdate went great. They were both bummed that 2 hours went by so fast. Elizabeth said her dad tells her "in 2 more hours" for things and it seems so long, but today 2 hours seemed so fast! :) I just told her that meant she was having a lot of fun.

Kellen didn't take a nap today. He wanted to play with Kristin and Elizabeth. He did stay in his bed though. He was pretty cranky tonight, but likely is already asleep. Aaron made a fire tonight... first in about 2 years. Last year Kellen was to curious. He is curious now too, but we managed without him touching the fireplace. It has been cold and windy, so the fire is nice.

Danelle took advantage of the nice weather today and took Kellen to the zoo. Kellen liked seeing the waterfalls at the goat, hippo, and 'hairy monkey' exhibits.

Kristin had her 'extreme PE' after school activity today but it sounds like she didn't participate much after the warm ups. They were playing kick ball but Kristin said that her leg hurt and didn't want to play. Probably more growing pains. She's gained another inch since September.

Kristin doesn't have school on Friday so Danelle arranged a play date for her friend Elizabeth to come over. I think Kristin is pretty excited about that.

First Grade Conference

Aaron and I had the 1st conference for Kristin as a first grader this morning. Her teacher is great and we had a good discussion. Kristin is doing very well in math and reading. She is in the top of her class. :) The teacher will be breaking the class out into reading groups soon which will be groups of similar ability. Looks like Kristin will be in a group with 2 other kids she is very comfortable with and hopefully they will all challenge each other. It also sounds like Kristin will start bringing home more difficult math homework soon. We are very proud of her!

Kellen had a good day at daycare, which makes me happy. He is having a hard time with drop off but had a good day so we will take that. He got to paint which seems to be a favorite thing to do right now. After dinner tonight we got rid of most of the Halloween candy. :) I was lucky enough to end up with a yo-yo and bouncy ball that both light up today at work. My boss's daughter works for a bank and brought in some goodies to hand out... after she talked to the owners. Kristin got the yo-yo and Kellen got the ball in exchange for all of their candy except for 10 pieces each. Aaron will be taking the remainder of the haul to work. Kellen also got to paint with the dotter painters tonight and had fun. Kristin joined in and painted too.

A Nice Autumn Day

We've had some dry weather and Danelle was able to get the kids out in the yard this afternoon. She even raked

the leaves from the cherry trees so the kids could jump in the pile. Check out Kellen watching Kristin in the first photo.

The kids were high-energy this evening but also pretty well behaved. Kristin asked me about the division symbol on her Little Professor calculator so we practiced breaking bigger numbers up into equal piles using legos. She picked up on the concept pretty quickly. She really likes math.

This is blog post number 366 on this site, so the blog technically turned 1 year old yesterday.

Calmer Day

This morning we all slept in. Thank you Day Light Saving for the extra sleep. I can't think of the last time I slept 9 hours! :) We went to church this morning and dropped Kristin off at CCD after mass. When I picked her up I finally got to meet her new friend Elizabeth's parents. The two have become quite good friends during recess and they are in the same CCD class on Sundays. We are planning for some playdates soon. Kristin and Elizabeth both looked excited to hear that.

This afternoon Aaron took a nap while Kellen did as he has not been feeling great. He is hanging in there though. Kristin helped me take down the Halloween decorations and get up the Thanksgiving decorations. She also played in her room for awhile and ended up putting on every bracelet she has... which is quite a lot. Other than that it was a pretty calm day from the past 2 days of Halloween and parties.