Holidays and Single Parenting

Don't mix?

Thankfully, the holidays were before the single parenting, so we didn't have to figure that out.

Monday, we celebrated Chinese New Year. We had the elders over for dinner -- we've got a new one in, Elder something-or-other-Tongan-that-I-can't-quite-pronounce-or-remember-yet, and he was interesting to get to know. We had piles and piles of Chinese food, and brought out the last of the kimchee, which Elder Whatsit really liked. Then we played a game (obviously "created by a sister missionary"), which was also fun.

Monday, the girls were off again -- thank you dead presidents? -- and I took Megan and Caitlyn to see The Lightning Thief. Fun, fun, fun. Sure, it was nothing like the books -- and yes, Megan did gripe a bit -- (and if you haven't read the books, why not?!) but it was still fun. And it held together okay as a movie, which just backs up my assertion that the real problem with the Harry Potter movies is not necessarily the director but the screenwriter. Russell was a dear and hosted a play date for Alison and Kristen here. From what I understand, it involved a circus, as well as much running around.

Tuesday, we celebrated Mardi Gras with another pile of food. (Had to make up for the day's Russell was going to be gone, I guess.) I think something else happened (besides last-minute running around for Russell and decision-making, since our laptop died. Again.), but if it did, I don't remember.

Wednesday morning, bright and early, I drove Russell off to the airport to pick up his enormously huge van (15 seater, which, according to him, was still too small for 13 people). And then our all-girl time started. Caitlyn and Alison had half days the rest of the week (off for parent-teacher conferences, otherwise known as ego-boosts around here), and the weather was nice(ish). We did go outside for a while one day (Wednesday? Thursday? I don't remember), climbing around the ditch with strict instructions NOT TO GET WET. We watched an enormous amount of TV. Including the Olympics (while I can't get them live, we did find out that we can watch most things on nbcolympics.com the day after. We watched figure skating, speed skating, and Shaun White's halfpipe run at least a dozen times. He's awesome.) though not as much of the Olympics as I'd be watching if we had TV reception, which is probably a good thing.

We spent Friday night watching Pirates of the Caribbean, savvy, and Avatar. We all stayed up way too late most nights. We also picked up the Girl Scout cookies -- yum -- which have overtaken the living room for the next few days until we can get them out. For you that ordered them, I'll get them in the mail sometime this week, so you should have them soon! Saturday, I went to donate blood, and then took Alison and Kristen grocery shopping. All I can say is that Russell has the patience of a... dang what's the metaphor? I don't remember. Anyway, he's incredibly patient. And then we cleaned, watched more TV, and basically laid low until Russell got home. YAY!!

(Oh, you want to know about NAL? Sorry. Russell's busy right now. The short version: it was good, tiring but good. He'd rather not drive a van that big again. And they got South Korea for next year.)

And today's been good. We had Stake Conference, which I think we got a bit out of -- something about raising the bar and being a Zion people; eventually our kids will grow up and we'll get there earlier, and actually be able to hear the meeting . Maybe. We're spending the rest of the day being lazy, and fighting over Russell's attention (I win, of course. :-).

There's No Better Way to Protect Your Stuff

than to stick a GIANT sign on it.

NAL

So, it occurred to me that I've never taken any pictures of Megan at an NAL meet. This week was the city championship -- which they won, of course -- and since I couldn't leave the girls home with Russell (who was out of town), I took everyone.

Megan's captain of the third quarter team, which is where they're given a question, and they have 5 minutes in which to make a presentation answering that question.

(She's in the middle, holding the sign.)

They got 23 out of 25 points for their efforts.

The rest of us managed until the third quarter was over...

Kristen danced (and ran around; she was under strict orders to be quiet, which she mostly listened to):


Caitlyn played with texting on my phone, but was sad there was no one to actually text to.


Alison drew pictures of sad people, because she was sad that Daddy was gone.


I'd say fun times, but mostly it was survival. Last time, though.

Short Week... and Other Such Adventures

Monday it snowed. Not as much as say the Mid-Atlantic (wow!), but enough that the district (in all their extreme wisdom) cancelled school. The girls were happy; I don't think any of them managed to get out of their pjs before 11 a.m. The Kitchens called and organized a sledding party, too -- with us and the Chavezes -- and so that afternoon, we trekked over to their house, and then over to the high school to slide down a big, snow-covered pile of dirt. Hey, you have to take the hills you can find here in KS. Unfortunately, by the time we went sledding it had turned nastily cold, and so we lasted about 20 minutes. Tops. Thankfully, the Kitchens were game to have everyone crash at their house for hot cocoa and playing, and so we stayed until it was time to get Russell from work (since the poor schlep had to go in!).

The rest of the week was spent in school (Megan had half days on Tuesday and Thursday for parent-teacher conferences) and doing the usual stuff. We did make an appointment with an orthodontist for Megan, exploring the possibilities about braces. And... decided that we may just have the money... next year. Poor girl. She so wanted braces. (Ignorance is bliss, eh?)

The other big event of the week was Valentine's Parties on Thursday (since the girls were out of school Friday, too -- for teacher in-service this time). We decided, to save money, to make sugar cookies for Caitlyn and Alison to hand out instead of regular Valentines. So much of Wednesday was spent cooking, frosting, decorating, and wrapping those. Not to mention writing out to/from tags. The parties themselves were fun -- Kristen insists she didn't actually "go" to a party (the party came to her?), but she got cupcakes, valentines, and a BIG red heart balloon (one of the boys in class decided to give out balloons to everyone). Lucky girl. Caitlyn's party was typical 4th grade stuff, though she came home with the prize (a huge chocolate bar) for "most beautiful" Valentine's box. And Alison had a grand time at her party; I got to go be part of the handing out of Valentines, and I can say that Kindergarteners really like Valentine's day.

Thursday night was also the chili cook-off at Friends. The older girls got into the whole judging aspect of it, though mostly for booth decoration and not for chili. There was one booth that had a guy dressed up as a squirrel and was hiding in a trash can. When you opened the can, he jumped up and scared you. Alison thought this was the absolute. best. thing. ever. And did it so much that we had to ban her from going over there. Kristen fell in love with the guy dressed up as Friends' mascot (Freddy the Falcon) -- she said, "Mommy! I saw an owl! And his name is Fred!" -- and was literally glued to his side for half the time. Good times.

Friday, I'm sure something happened... Oh, Megan went for a dr's appointment (she's nearly 5 feet tall, much to her excitement; it's the little things in her life!) and then went out to see Valentine's Day with a couple of friends from school. We didn't see her until 2:30 on Saturday... she had a grand time. Alison and Kristen went over to play at the Chavezes for a couple of hours, and Caitlyn... well, she watched iCarly on YouTube for a couple of hours while I read. (We always did say she was a TV junkie.)

Saturday, Caitlyn went and tried out for Wichita Music Theater's production of Annie. There were about 200 kids that tried out over the course of yesterday and today (the newspaper said so!), and they'll take about 100, so she has a 50-50 chance. At the very least, she had a fabulous time. She loved the choreographer, thought he was hilarious and cool, and she made friends with the kids in her group. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. Let this be a lesson to me: just because I am not having a good time, doesn't mean that Caitlyn won't have a good time. :-)

And today's been okay. A low-key Valentine's Day (no one got anyone anything, much to Megan's displeasure. She wasn't upset until she found out at church that other people's parents get them *stuff* for Valentine's Day. Since when did Valentine's Day become a day when you give stuff to your kids? Sheesh.)/Chinese New Year (which we are celebrating tomorrow with the missionaries. Hope they like kimchi!).

Dressing Up for Valentines

While we were putting together Valentine's for class parties today, Alison looked at me and said, "Caitlyn's going to make me hot for the party tomorrow." I think I raised a (mental) eyebrow and said, "Oh, really?"

Well, here's the result. Three "hot" girls, ready for their parties.

I think they're more cute than hot, but that's just me.

Biography Day

In fourth grade, they had a biography report due. It ended up being an oral report, and they had the chance to dress up and read the report to the class. Caitlyn chose Laura Ingalls Wilder...

I went and recorded her report, but she's embarrassed because she forgot some things, and doesn't want me to put it up. Sorry.

Snow Day Fun

Monday was another snow day. It didn't really snow enough, but I guess the district was looking for an excuse to let the kids out. On the upside, it made for a very short school week this week...

At any rate, our friends, the Kitchens, called up and suggested we all go sledding. They invited us and the Chavezes, and we trucked over to the high school to slide down a big pile of dirt (there not being many hills here in Kansas...). It was windy and cold, and we lasted 20 minutes, but the girls all had fun.
In the yard before we went to the sledding hill:




And at the hill:



She's on a sled here; you just can't see it.

Okay... maybe Kristen didn't have such a good time!

And... It's February

Even though looking out of the window, you could have fooled me. (At least we don't live in DC anymore...) More snow on the way, too. Blech.

So, the week. Hmm... no one was sick. That's a plus. We mostly did mostly normal things, which was a plus, too. It also means nothing terribly interesting happened. That's not a plus.

How about highlights?

Megan and I went up to Salina on Friday for her semi-annual scoliosis check up. Still driving three hours for a 45 minute appointment. Still have to go back in four months. No change. On the upside, she and I enjoy the drives together (well, at least I do). It's a chance to talk, be silly and sing loudly and off-key without anyone else listening in. Bonding time disguised as a doctor's appointment, I guess.

Wednesday, Elder Parente came by to say goodbye -- he got transferred to ElDorado this week. (Though, on the upside, everyone wave hi to him; he wanted to be added to the email list. *waving*) I was surprised how bummed I was; yeah, I know that all missionaries eventually are transferred and go home, but we really liked having him around. (Ok, enough ego stroking. ;-D)

Tuesday, was book group. We chatted about one of my favorite books Eats, Shoots and Leaves -- and I discovered that I'm in the minority when it comes to being a stickler about punctuation. One of the women told me at church today that she actually started wondering what I would think about the flyers she's making (Oh, no! Melissa might disapprove!)... the disadvantages of coming out of the punctuation closet. It was a fun discussion though, and (as always), great to get out of the house.

Thursday was spent at Wilbur for the first annual Wilburpalooza. It's a fundraiser for the music department, and a chance for the kids to play some non-stuffy music. The band proper didn't get to play (so no Megan), but we went anyway because we're just supporters of school music programs, I guess. It was a short concert -- and the difference between 7th grade and 8th grade is phenomenal; can I tell you one of the things I'm looking forward to about Megan going to High School is HS band concerts? -- and then a long wait in a long line for goodies. Then the band directors' band played. It was late enough that we didn't stick around, except for Megan who caught a ride home with a friend. She had a grand time hanging out with her friends and dancing to the music. Except, she says, she can't dance. Oh, well. She had fun.

I think that's about all the highlights.

Have a great week!

The Great Chocolate Chip Cookie Quest #3

This time we tried a recipe from Rebecca's college roommate. (Hey, you send us a recipe, we'll try it!) I have a friend on Facebook who says he's never had a bad chocolate chip cookie, just varying degrees of goodness. I'm beginning to wonder if he's right...

Anyway, this was higher up on the goodness scale. Nice dough:


The one thing we did the same from last time is rolled the dough into little balls.

Which makes cute cookies. Chewy, yummy (though there were complaints about being too rich), and they kept well, too.

The only thing I didn't like is the 1/2 cup of shortening in the recipe. I try to keep our shortening consumption down to a minimum, so I think I'm going to keep looking for another recipe. However, this one is a keeper in the interim.