Monday, November 29, 2010

Ella's Birthday and other news.

Quick!  Someone take a snapshot of this past week!  It's been a whirlwind of snow and no school and playing games and turkey day and cake and baby girls in pink dresses and chicken wings.  I think every day has been better than the one before and it would take fifteen blog entries to get through every detail.  I haven't been able to blog nice, short, concise entries each day as things happen because I no longer have access to the computer.  Breckin has discovered computer games and now has his own log in for our office computer.  He is ALWAYS on the computer and when he's not, Dustin is.  I'll be as brief as I can but sometimes I rattle on....  Here goes.

So, you've heard about the pre-Thanksgiving Christmas party.  That was last Sunday, November 21st.  What did we do on Monday?  Nothing.  We waited for the snow to start and watched live coverage of Arctic Blast 2010 on King 5.  Those poor saps in yellow jackets reporting from which ever town had the worst wind and the most snow falling in vain attempts at freaking all of us out and sending us darting for the nearest Fred Meyer in search of snow boots and sleds and batteries.  They should be saying "King 5 news sponsored in part by Energizer and Columbia Sportswear."  Breckin already didn't have school planned because he's a 1/2 day kindergartener who is out from Nov. 16th through today for conferences.  But, Dustin went to work and though I called him every 30 minutes to nag him about coming home early, he stayed until 3:00.  He was lucky with a 90 minute commute.  Some people sat on I-5 for NINE HOURS.  You better believe we played in the snow the very second it had accumulated enough to make an angel in.  And, not one hour into a snowball fight, did Breckin get whisked away by a little girl down the street for an indoor playdate. 





Tuesday?  More snow play.  This time, school was delayed or let out early or whatever- I didn't pay attention cause, again, we were already out for the break.  Ten kids plus five plastic sleds plus enough snow to shut down the city of Seattle and we were in hog heaven.    Breckin, Kellen, and Mikah built a snowman.  Complete with a carrot nose and oreo eyes and buttons.  The boys ate him.  Ate him.  Bit his head and ate his whole face.  Also, we have a small hill by our mailboxes.  It doesn't look big but man, those kids were FLYING down that thing on National Lampoon sleds.  Leave it to the dads of the 'hood to think that's not enough and introduce them to sledding in the street.  Thanks, Matt.  I think we spent about 1.75 hours bundling, unbundling, and rebundling children in snow gear between potty breaks, lunch, and thawing out finger breaks.  I'm pretty sure we only came inside for a grand total of 30 minutes on Tuesday.  What a great day in the snow.  Well, Ella doesn't think it's so great when the snow actually touches her.  And, Dustin went to work.  Again.




Wednesday?  A little more snow play but we had to run a few errands.  I mean, we can't just play all week, can we?  Ok, maybe.  The highlight of Wednesday was game night with the Davenports and movie night.  We usually get together on Fridays so the kids can run each other ragged and we can sit at the table and play cards and marginally tell them to behave.  This time, we bumped it to Wednesday because no one had to get up early on Thursday.  Kirsten and I lucked out of cooking- we both enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at our respective parents houses so we relaxed Weds night.  The kids watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer after a lasagna dinner.  They got lofty visions of how much energy they had and started Bee Movie right after Rudolph.  All three fell asleep shortly into it so we finished our game and let them snooze.  I love our game nights!! 

Thursday?  Clearly awesome.  It's Turkey Day and for me, that means browsing the Black Friday ads.  I've gone out on Black Friday shopping since I was a little girl.  Yes, we've evolved from going to Ernst at 7 am to get free popcorn, a free snow globe, and cheap poinsettias to getting up at 3:15 to be at Target shortly after they open to load up the cart for 1/2 the price I would normally pay.  Yep, 3:15 and that's sleeping in cause I didn't really need any doorbusters.  Anyway, I'm ahead of myself.  Mom made a fantastic meal and both of my siblings were there- rare these days!  Mom and Dad already had the tree up- the short story is they had to do it early cause Dad had surgery- but it made the whole day more festive.  Ella's birthday celebration started that day as there were presents under the tree for her.  And everyone else who showed up.  Go Mom!!  

Friday?  Shopping.  EIGHT hours of shopping.  I got everything I needed minus one thing and I'm done.  There will always be one or two more oops things between now and then but for the most part, I'm done.  I killed it at Target.  I saved more than I spent.  I was in there at 4:15- got a cart from someone already flying out the door on their way to the next place- and out of there at 6:30.  It's all the running between stores that slows you down but I made it to Joanns, Old Navy (twice!), Nordy Rack, TJMaxx, and Toys R Us and was home about 12:30.  I LOVE Black Friday. 

Saturday.  Ella turned ONE.  I know her birthday is on the 27th but for me, it will always feel like the day after Thanksgiving.  I will never forget going into labor at the dinner table on Turkey Day and missing Black Friday due to being in the hospital.  No matter what day of the week it falls on, the whole Thanksgiving weekend will be my reminder.  We had a small gathering of family and close friends for pizza and cupcakes.  Stress free and very relaxing.  Well, for all of us except Ella.  She's had a bad cold and took a long nap right into the first hour of the party.  Here's how she felt about her cake.





Not a fan.  We tried to show her how to eat it.  Breckin ate some and made a MMMM! face.  No dice.  She wanted out of there.  She hated her dress cause it hindered her crawling skills.  Fortunately, she did like seeing her granny and family and the fun toys she got to open.  She was so cranky from not feeling well.  What a way to turn one!   



Dustin's birthday was on Sunday.  And, what did he do on his birthday?  Put up Christmas lights for his wife.  He could care less about them but he knows I go nuts about Christmas stuff and it was really our only chance to get them up before too late.  What a guy!  Also, we went out to dinner at Wingers- one of his favs!  Bull, Annie, Clark, We miss you Andi!, Bobby, Mo, and Maggie met us there and made it a really fun dinner out.  His now annual birthday trip to Best Buy was a bust- they didn't have either thing he wanted- but I think he had a good day overall. 

WWHHHHEWWW!  Was that brief enough?  Looks like I'll have to start setting the timer for Breckin and Dustin so Mommy can jump on the computer long enough to update the blog.  I can't handle these week long updates!  Happy Thanksgiving, Birthday, Friday, Birthday, Game Night, Snow Day, and Back to School Monday! 

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