Cheers

 The other day Gillian came home and said that they were going to have toast and juice at school. I wondered how they were going to make toast for the whole class but I was too busy to question any further.  They were going to be having a celebration with their 6th grade buddies and read to their buddies their favorite story that they wrote.  So when Gillian got home the next day I asked her how it went and she said they didn't have toast but they had juice and held their cups in the air and said "cheers".  She asked her teacher about the toast and was very confused when her teacher said "that was the toast".  What?  No toast?!  Kind of reminds me of the time when Gillian said after preschool that the next day she needed to bring 2 rotten eggs so that they could kill them.  I couldn't figure out what she meant, and I tried all of my mental faculties to figure that one out (which I know doesn't mean much.)  So I asked her teacher the next day and she laughed and said that she had asked them to bring 2 hard boiled eggs so that they could dye them.

My friend Rebecca told me a funny thing that her son Spencer said the other day.  He was talking about a past president (Clinton), and he said, "Wasn't he the one who was nectarined?" Of course he really meant impeached.  Took me a while to really get that one but when I did I laughed hard.

Crazy hair day

Today was an exciting day.  Drew was up at 5:30am to get ready for crazy hair day.  I made her wait until 7:00am, I mean it's not Christmas morning for crying out loud!  So anyway it took me a total of about 13 minutes to fix her hair.  We could have slept until 7:45am but she can be very insistent.  So I braided her hair, put coat hangers and bent them through her braids and then she wanted to make a unicorn horn out of her bangs.  It held up all the way through school.  I'm not sure I would have been that confident in the 3rd grade.  Gillian was satisfied with 3 ponytails spouting like a fountain from her noggin.  Man, they were cute!  Gilli even got to have pajama day so she has been in her jammies since last night.  They are cute, comfy Santa Claus fleece pj's.  So I guess I don't have much to do to get her ready for bed.

Gavin almost has crazy hair day on a daily basis because he needs a haircut but is refusing.  His hair is course and wiry and he has cowlicks.  His hair gets puffy and grows straight out like a fuzzy dandelion, the kind you blow into the wind.  Crazy redhead, love him!  

Everyone is missing Darren.  He's in Scottsdale again working hard.  I have to remind the kids all the time that he is working hard for us and they should thank him.  I still don't think they get it.  But I do and I am very grateful and proud of him.

Blue clouds

My friend's son (who was born and raised in Washington) once told his mom that there were some blue clouds in the sky that day.  She explained that the sky is blue and the clouds are gray. I can see how he thought this because gray is how the sky is most of the time.  Darren would say otherwise, but he is wrong, wrong, wrong (and slightly demented on this subject). My children think that they need to put shorts on whenever there is a blue sky.  Gillian asks if we can go swimming if she sees the sun.  Crazy.  I'm a California girl and I find this weather lately downright spooky.  I mean, look at my view out of my bathroom window.  Spooky Jack- the-Ripper fog.  

However, the same view, different day below.  Amazing.  I actually have a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier from my bathroom.  This was last week when we had 3 days in a row of sunny skies.   Even though it was 39 degrees it sure did my heart good to see the beautiful sun.  I actually used my sunglasses!
I guess that I'd better get used to this weather.  It sure is a beautiful place though when you can see your surroundings through the fog and clouds.  But I say bring on the sun!  At least 50 % of the time!

Whistle a happy tune

When Gavin was 3 years old he learned to whistle.  I have no idea where he learned it, I didn't teach him.  He would whistle everywhere and often.  Once in the grocery store in Cleveland he did a cat-call "your sexy" whistle and a lady turned around and gave me a funny look.  I was a bit embarrassed as I blamed it on my toddler, who wasn't whistling anymore.  

Both of the girls are very frustrated that they can't whistle.  "It's not fair!"  As if I did something to them to prevent them from whistling.  Nothing is ever fair around here.

So Gavin continues to whistle often and sometimes I have to ask for silence because the washing machine, DS, TV,radio, whining and whistling don't go together very well for me.  But I don't mind that he whistles a lot because he only whistles when he's happy, and he's been whistling a lot lately.

Fun

Fun is a word that Darren outlawed during winter break.  It is because when Gillian has just one second of nothing to do she asks "what fun thing are we going to do today?"  She starts off the morning with that same question.  That is, every morning that there's no school to keep her busy. And she doesn't let up until you give her an answer, and "cleaning the house" is not an acceptable answer.  She insists that every single second is saturated with fun-filled activities.  It's exhausting. So today went sort of like this:

-Wake up and go to the first showing of Mall Cop for the $5 price at 9:50am.

-Get out of movie at 11:30am.

-"What fun thing are we going to do now, can we go to a restaurant?" (we didn't)

-At home, Gillian is starving starving starving.  I need to eat NOW!

-"What can we do fun? I don't want to be bored!"

-After a couple of meltdowns, time-outs and screaming fits we take George to the dog park.  We spent about an hour there.  The girls thought that since it was a blue sky that surely it was summer and they should wear shorts.  I tried to warn them but they have turned into twisted Washingtonians who think that 50 degrees is warm t-shirt weather.  I got cold in my ski coat.  

-"Can we go to a restaurant?"  (we still didn't)

-At home, "I'm bored, I don't want to be bored!"  More screaming.  More time-out.

-5:00pm I call Darren and beg him to come home soon.

-Darren gets home at 6:30pm and Gillian is still bored and bugging me.

Basically she just wears me out.  I appreciate her liveliness but I wish she would tone it down just a bit.  Luckily it's back to school tomorrow and Mrs. Affolter can deal with Gill's boredom.

Stalker

Yes, it's true I have a stalker.  His name is George.  And he truly, truly bugs me as he follows me around the house.  At night as Darren and I relax on the couch he sits 3 feet from us and just stares.  Just out of reach of my foot, not that I would kick him or anything.  Maddening!  I wish that I could speak dog talk with him so I could tell him that I don't like to be followed and stared at all day long.  And I don't like it when he poops in his crate.  Who poops in their bed for crying out loud?!  And it's even more irritating when people tell me that dogs don't do that, they just don't.  It goes against their nature or something.  Yeah right!  Then I have the most special, unique dog in the world.  

But on a positive note, he is very sweet and he kind of listens sometimes.  Drew is very very hooked on that canine.  She worries about him the way that I worry about my kids.  So I will patiently endure him following, me tripping over him from his following, and the occasional poop in the cage.

Mock Meet

Drew is so excited to be on a gymnastics team.  Last Saturday they had a "mock" gymnastics meet to practice for upcoming competitions.  She did well despite the fact that she just started learning the routines a couple of weeks ago.  It's fun to see her so enthused about something.  

Timekeepers and crazy fashion

Everyone should have a little Drew around to keep everyone on task.  I know that she knows how to tell time on a face clock, but she really loves digital clocks.  She is very aware of the time at all times.  It begins every morning with updates about every 5 minutes.  "It's 7:48, Gillian eat breakfast, get dressed.  I don't want to be late!" Runs around frantically packing her backpack, brushing teeth and hair, "It's 8:05, hurry Gilli, I don't want to be late!"  More scurrying.  "It's 8:17!!  Gill, Hurry up!"  I'm starting to think that it is an OCD thing.  Gillian really doesn't seem to care.  Then Gilli shows up at the bottom of the stairs looking like this:  (I had her lift up her sweater to show her lovely shirt.)

And yes, I did let her leave the house like this.  Darren would make her change, but she was so proud of her outfit choice and I didn't want Drew to throw a fit.  

Then they are out the door and notice how dark it is outside at 8:21am.

And it's pretty much been staying that dark all day long.  Dreary, drippy skies for the next several months I'm sure.  Which is why I have these special "Happy Lites" by my computer. That's really what they're called.  At first they kind of gave me a headache as I think my eyes have adjusted to the dark damp place I live.  I'm like a bat, except I don't sleep upside-down. Although that might help my back and neck.  Hmmm.  Anyway, I quite like my Happy Lites.  I need some sort of sunshine, even if it is artificial. 

So, Drew is equally as obsessive at night, starting at about 8:00pm.  "It's 8:01!  I don't want to get up late tomorrow for school!"  Gavin and Gillian could care less.  "It's 8:23!  I need to go to sleep!  Do you want me to be late for school?!"  Wow, what a girl.  Anyone need a wake-up call in the morning, you know where to call.

Well, I'm off to paint the front toy/coat closet.  It's the last untouched, unpainted room in the house and it shouldn't take me long.  It will take longer to go through the toys, junk, stuff that I dragged out of the closet last night.

And a great time was had by most...

We've been skiing 3 times in the past week and a half.  The first time out on Christmas Eve was freezing but we got in a few runs.  The second time on Dec. 26th Drew whined that she didn't want to go until I said that she could invite her friend Isabelle, and suddenly she was excited. They took off and skied gleefully all night together without whining.  Gav had fun with me and Darren.  But the real fun was yesterday.  At least we have season passes so I don't feel too guilty about not skiing until my legs fall off.  Gillian cried and whined the WHOLE time.  Well, maybe not the whole time but it sure seemed like it.  First she wanted poles, we rented poles. She cried that she couldn't hold the poles with her gloves.  "Why didn't you get me new gloves!!!"  Then her hands were cold, she was hungry, she needed to go to the bathroom, she wanted to ski with Natalie and Natalie wasn't waiting for her.   Apparently riding the chair lift with mom and dad is lame.  And skiing with mom and dad is tedious.  "All dad says is make more turns, good job Gilli!  It's annoying mom!"  And I guess she doesn't want me to complement her either, "You keep saying I'm doing great, can't you say something else?"

I sent Darren off skiing with Norm, Gavin skied with Joel, and Drew was with Isabelle.  That left me to the constant streaming complaints from my sweet youngest child.  At one point outside the ski lodge with Gill and my friend Rebecca I kind of lost it.  Gillian was crying about her foggy goggles, her too small gloves, how she just wanted daddy, more tears.... I took off my goggles, helmet, gloves and threw them down on the snow, not caring who saw.  I muttered something about the d@*# poles that Darren had rented while Rebecca practically peed her pants laughing at me.  Maybe she was laughing with me, but I wasn't laughing.  By the time Darren got there I was too emotionally traumatized to ski but I gave it a go.  Truth is is that it was a very cold and windy night and I think that didn't help my grumpiness.  But at least Darren, Gavin, and Drew got in some nice skiing with friends.  There's always next time.