now it's Jack's turn

geeeeeez.

Jack started throwing up Monday night and hasn't stopped. It's definitely not what dagny had last week. I cancelled his dentist appointment for today, but I will still have to take dagny to hers. I cancelled our sitter for tonight. Dagny is really disappointed. She thinks Ravyn is so cool and was so excited to have her over. Thankfully Jack has made it to the bathroom all but one time. Puking baby days are almost behind me!!

I am getting ready to sign the kids up for Winter/Spring sports. Dagny and her gilrfriends are signed up for basketball through the Y, but it's only one day a week, which is not nearly enough activity for Miss dagny. She does have math class after school twice a week, but she needs physical activity. So I will most likely do a dance class one day and perhaps volleyball one day. Jack wants to keep swimming so we will sign him up again. He's also taking a sports class ( floor hockey, kick ball, dodge ball, capture the flag, basketball, etc) on Mondays while Dagny's at school. It's with Coach Nancy who is absolutely awesome. Sign ups for Spring Break Camps are also next Saturday. I am going to sign the kids up at the pool /rec center for 3 days of Camp Splash. It's all day and hopefully they will come home exhausted !! I have never sent my kids to an all day camp ( they are so deprived) When I read the different descriptions of the camp they hands down picked camp splash. Jack is really excited because one of the activities is cooking !! Maybe he'll inherit that talent from his daddy.

Another nice relaxing day.....

Brian spent the morning cleaning/organizing the garage. I spent the morning doing laundry and the usual stuff. Around noon D's friend's mother called and asked if she was available for the rest of the day. WAS SHE??? HECK YES !! They came and got her and the five of them D and char and our new sitter, Char's sister Ravyn and her friend, went to the North Clackamas Aquatic PArk. Apparantly, Lauren's ( ex?) boyfriend erik was lifeguarding and was quite tickled to see Miss Dagny. She of course, was just as tickled as she has a crush on this older man. It assured mommy to know there was, once again, a very close McConnell family friend there looking out for our children , despite it being in Gresham ( where of course the Eastside Karps live)

Dinner last night with Rich;s family was wonderful. The children fell in LOVE with Dean and Cathy. It was so weird meeting Rich's whole family after knowing him for 15 years. I think it was wonderful for his family to be here and experince Rich's life, instead of him going there. Luckily they had tomato soup and a grilled cheese for Jack and dagny ate sushi until she was full. We have to send Jack and Dagny back there to invade the Ellermeier's in Nebraska !

I didn't run today, walked Barkley instead. We walked about 30 minutes. The Street of New Beginings looks so, so awesome !!

Jammie Day

ahhhhh, it's over. Toys are unpacked and put away. The loads of laundry and dishes from Christmas eve are done and put away. dagny's dancing on her dance mat, Jack's playing Spyro, Brian is assembling a 500 piece Bionicle, I just ran 6.5 miles. All is well and back ontrack.

Brian had to work all day yesterday. After work he picked up chinese and we sat and watched "Love Actually" with a fire going. It was heaven. Tonight we have dinner reservations at Portland City Grill with Rich's family. We have never met his brother or S.I.L so it should be a fun night. Dagny could live off Sushi so she is really excited. Jack , we will have to feed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the car and just order him dessert ;-)


Off to a long hot bath............

Christmas Day

Is sure alot different when your kids are "older" . I got up around 8 I guess, made coffee and started on round 4 of Christmas Eve dinner dishes. Brian sooned joined me and we had coffee and just waited for the kids to get up ! It's been 8 years since I have had to wait for my children to get up !! Dagny was up around 8:30 and we let her open a gift or two. I went upstairs and got ready, still no Jack. He finally got up around 9 or so, opened his first gift of Geomags and proceeded to sit there and pay with them for 20 minutes while his whole pile of presents sat there unopened ! My mom called around noon and I had to tell her we were still in jammies opening gifts ! We are usually done my 7:30 AM! Here it is 4:00 and there are still gifts to be opened.

Their gifts this year included....

Jack- from santa- Geomags, Widgits, a new fabulous bike ( he's very excited about the leather seat, not like his old one which was plastic. How the hell he knows the difference is beyond me ) Batman game for gamecube, blue bionicle, a build your own remote controlled Scorpion , K'nex reconstructors, Rush hour gamechess game for the computer, small pieces for his Imaginext set up, seamonkeys, Butterfly growing kit, Scholastic green house to grow vegetables, Twister, Battleship from grandma Linda legos and a enormous bionicle, from aunt allison a vey cool science kit.... from Grandma Jean Series of Unfortunate Events game for Game Cube, Madonna book... Imaginext boat, Rockenbok recycling center, another gigantic Bionicle. From Evelyn Imaginext Skull Island....from Brian and Linda a light up basketball and basketball hoop.


Dagny- from santa- Polly hotel, Polly party bus, Gameboy, Barbie spy game for game boy, Connect Four , Dance in the Dark dance mat, Seamonkeys, a new fish ( !!!) named Blue Angel, Hello Kitty nail polish, bubble bath, lip gloss, Breyer horse, Fur Real Love Cub, from grandma Linda- her friends 4 ever dolls and clothes to go with.... from grandma Jean Bride Barbie, Groom Ken four new Barbie Outfits, Madonna book, Spyro game for Game Cube..... from Aunt Allison 3 new CDS for her new CD player. From Evelyn Holiday barbie..... From uncle Brian and Aunt Linda beanie babie

After we opened gifts here, w headed over to grandma's to open more presents and have brunch. It was a wonderful breakfast and my mom go tme a much needed gift....a triple A membership ! I have needed her to rescue me and my car twice this past year, I think she's tired of using her AAA membership on me. We tried to give her a box of Moonstruck chocolates, but Katie found them under the tree before we could get them to her :-(

My Christmas Present is the best one of all. Brian booked a 5 night night stay in Hawaii. The kids have a 5 day weekend in March so we will go then. He is in the process of adding additional features to the trip. We are going to one ( maybe two ) luau's, doing a volcano tour, touring the Dole plant and snorkling . I 'd like to do a sunset dinner cruise. Brian had to work today, but we may go out tonight for a late dinner when he gets home.

Christmas Eve, 2004

Whew, glad it's almost over.

I started off the day running a 5 K with Barkley. Then came home and took a long hot bath. I had been up since about 3:30 thinking of all of the bajillion things I had to do. Anyway, got out and threw Dagny in. Got ready while she was in the tub. Brian and Jack made the gorcery list and left for lunch and a morning of shopping.

At noon we left for the retirement home. There were 5 of her 8 GirlScouts which I thought was a pretty good turnout for Christmas Eve. There are two different retirement homes in one, so the girls sang twice. It was really sweet and they received wonderful applause.

We went back home to finish up cleaning and getting the house ready. Everyone arrived at 4 and we all started eating and drinking. My mom and Uncle Brian brought wonderful appetizers of smoked slamon platter, clam dip, meats and cheeses, sausages. The kids love having Lauren and Alex around to entertain them and play with them. For dinner we had HoneyBaked Ham with two sauces, salmon with sauce, sweetpotatoes, brussel sprouts, rolls with apple butter. Dessert was ice cream and mince meat pie and camel apple pie. After dinner the kids opened their gifts and then the adults did their white elephant gifts. We had Rich's mom Evelyn here from Nebraska, along wit Aunt Allison from Chicago. The kids loved shoing aunt Catherine their rats that they bought with the money she gave them for their birthdays/ Christmas. It was a wonderful night.

School is out ! I have been cleaning all day long trying to get the house ready for tomorrow. It looks very nice and I think we will be able to squeeze 13 adults onto my dining room table. The children and maybe myself can eat in the kitchen. Rich's mom and daughter will be here so that will make for a very special Christmas.

We tried to run and do errands yesteday but my car wouldn't start. Brian has a most annoying habit of insisting there's "PLENTY OF GAS" even though the line is past E. SO I got to pay the price of his stubbornness yesterday. Grandma came over and we pushed the car to get it started. SHe being the brave one drove it up and filled it with gas ( thanks grandma) We went back to her place to meet Rich's nephew and his wife and her mother. Her parents are living in Oregon now so Jeremy ad Rebecca came to Oregon for Christmas. Then we went to Chez Jose for lunch and to Costco to do some last minute shopping. Later, we walked over to Kristine's house for a playdate.

Today is Dagny's 8th birthday and not one person ( besides her father) has called to wish her a happy birthday. We are taking her to Newport Bay per her request for dinner. We set up her computer last night and installed the educational software we got to go with it. It's great that I can see her progress, including attempts and actual correct answers. Jack can log on under his name and play the game as well. He's doing 2nd grade work !

They are both so excited for Christmas. We bought Jack a really nice bike on Tuesday night. Hopefully he can be succesful on it. It's a Schwinn and the tires are alot heavier than a regular bike. Plus there are FLAMES on it which he will just love. Can't wait to see his face Christmas morning.

Crap. Dagny's sick. She didn't feel well all day yesterday, didn't eat, but was a trooper and ran errands with us. We had dinner plans with friends, but cancelled so she could stay home. By night she was running a fever and in bed by 7. She tried to throw up this morning but as she hasn't eaten in 24 hours, was unsuccessful.

This would make year 3 of having sick kids on Christmas. I am hoping Jack gets it soon and it's all gone by Friday, preferably Thursday as that's dagny's birthday. Today was the day we were going to run a bunch of errands and finish up our Christmas shopping both for presents and for Christmas dinner. Tomorrow is gingerbread house making day and I hope she is well enough to go.

On a up note, we found the Wedgits we have been searching high and low for. Jack will be so excited . We were going to get his bike today and try to get it assembled . Maybe Brian could sneak out while Jack is at school?

One week until Christmas ! The kids have two days of school left and they are getting really excited. Tonight we had carollers ( sp?) which was really neat. D is carolling at the retirement home on Christmas Eve with her Girl Scout Troop and she's been a little whiney about it. Seeing those carollers sealed the deal for her. She is so excited to go.

Today was a phenomenal day. Sunny and warm. The whole neighborhood was alive and outside playing. Jack was in shorts and barefoot ! The kids had their bikes out and were riding all over the place. People were mowing their lawns. It felt like Spring. Jack is going to be one happy camper when he gets a new bike from Santa. He is still riding his big wheel and at 6 he looks abit silly. We went downtown for Dim Sum with daddy this morning for brunch. It was pretty awful. It 's sad to see such an established restaurant slipping.

We are making gingerbread houses at school on Tuesday. I can't wait...it's going to be so fun. We have a buddy class of 4th graders that are helping us. After school classes are starting next month. I wanted to sign D up for chess and acting, but I did math instead. I also asked Lisa for a ton of supplemental material and B is going to make copies. She can work at home on those

Jack has asked for years to play hockey and this January, we were going to let him start. However, he also really wants to enroll in the extended day Kindergarten program. MAny of his friends attend and he is obviously ready. However the cost is pretty steep, so we asked him to choose between Hockey and school and lo and behold, the boy choose school. So starting in January, he will stay for full day on Tues and Thursdays. I will sign him up for some sort of physical sport as welll, probably more swimming, it jsut can't be another $150 a month sport like hockey !

December 16, 2004

JACK LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH !!! How exciting for us all. He has been nursing that damn thing, refusing to let it fall out. Last night I ws tucking him in and he smiled at me, his mouth full of blood. I said "Uh Jack, I think your tooth is falling out" He immediately springs out of bed..."WHAT???? he runs to the bathroom, spits a few times and there it is, stuck to his chin. A proud moment for us all. Of course Daddy was at work and missed it but the three of us celebrated without him.

D's party went very very well. We had 9 kids at the pool at Mrs. Garrett was so much fun. They played tag, marco polo, diving for pennies, sharks and minnows and had lots of free time to perform crazy stunts off the diving board. Then we brought them home for presents and cupcakes. They all had a great time.

It is almost winter break for both kids and they are very excited. D's girl scout troop will be caroling at a retirement center on Christmas Eve. The only one they really know is Rudolph, so I am sure the parents will be doing alot of singing as well !

Friday December 10, 2004

I have taken on the ridiculous task of trying to get the downstairs painted before we host Christmas. This normally would not be a big deal, however, I have also included the stairwell well which of course led me to Jack's room. So now I am pretty much repainting the house. Wrapped all the Christmas gifts ( so far) last night. Still need to get Jack a bike and wedgits.

D's birthday party is this weekend. We invited 8 kids and we are taking them swimming at Rod Harman. Afterwards we will come back here for cake and presents. She is very excited. I love that we alternate birthday parties for the kids, letting them have one every other year. They seem to enjoy it and appreciate it so much more. We bought her a computer for her birthday but it won't be here until most likely after Christmas. Her class put on a production of Johnny Appleseed yesterday. It was very cute. Dagny was in the chorus with her friends. Today is report card day. Can't wait to get Jack's first report card :)

Tuesday December 7, 2004

Home from a busy weekend. B and I went downtown for our 9th anniversary. They upgraded us to the Presidential Suite, which was AMAZING!! Beautiful view, fireplace, bedroom, sunken tub. Saturday we had Dim Sum for lunch and them went and saw "Kinsey" . Afterwards we went to the hotel and had wine in the restaurant. Then we checked into our fabulous room. Latr on, we went to Carlyles and met Dan and Laura. Later we went andsaw the Ramones movie which B loved. It was great.

Sunday was my spa day at the Aveda salon. I had my first facial, manicure and a hair style. When I got back to the room at 1, he was still sound asleep ! We left and did some shopping. Later we went to PCG before the Blazer game. After the game we went to Veritable Quandry for dinner. Turns our our waiter was the son of one of Brian's favorite Poli Sci proffesor in Oneonta ! Brian couldn't believe it.

Monday, my mom brought the kids down so they could see the room. We took them swimming, hottubbing and sauna-ing. Then we threw them in that crazy tub, cleaned them up. We took the train to see Santa, walked around downtown a bit, had lunch at The Oyster Bar and came home! We had a wonderful, wonderful three days. Much needed. Wondeful conversation and we really reconnected. I love weekends like those.

Today was back to business as usual. I worked in D's class and then the library for an hour. J and I went to the gym afterwards. I am hoping I can start running again on Saturday. It will have been two weeks since I ran. I hope my hip has healed. D's birthday party is this weekend and I am looking forward to a fun day.

Friday December 3, 2004

Took the kids to school today. Friday is my day to work in Jack's class so I spent the morning there. Corrected spelling in D's class and was surprised to find there were two spelling tests. SHe and her "boyfriend" situation is getting ridiculous. She seems to be basking in it....

After that, Brian called and needed me to run a belt to him downtown at work. JAck and I headed down and had lunch at B's restaurant. I had a salad and Jack had his usual apple pie ala mode. We headed home for a bit before heading off to get dagny. Friday is swimming so I fed the kids a snack in the car and took them to the pool. Jack is now allowed to use the mens room ( we are the only people at the pool at this time so he's alone in there) I said to him " Jack, listen, you have two socks, two shirts and a pair of pants....bring all of those things back out." D and I go into the womens room. A short time later I hear " MOM ??? MOM??? MOM???" and I know he's out there looking for me. I let him know we are in the women's room so he comes in. He says to me , quietly proudly, " Here you go...two socks, two shirts and a pair of pants" I say, " Well, that's great Jack, but where is your swim suit?" He looks down and turns red. He has just walked through the lobby completely naked screaming for me. OMG it was so funny. ALl of the staff were laughing when I came out !! They all love him so much...he's been swimming there for three years so they all know him very well !!


Came home and snuggled in for the night. B and I are going away tomorrow for two days for our ( late ) anniversary weekend. We have tickets to a Blazer game and I am going to a spa morning while he sleeps. I haven't ran in a week becaue of a hip flexor injury. I am hoping to try to run a 3 miler this weekend , just to see how it feels. I am afraid of hurting it more.