december 16th

Oh what a day! Actually the day itself wasn't bad... it was the evening.

See... we had three things to get to between 4:00 and 7:30 which would have been a feat no matter what... but add in there wind and snow and it was a nightmare.

First stop was book club at the library... however, it didn't happen. The snow was coming down really hard and the streets hadn't been plowed so the buses were waaaaaaaaayyyyy behind schedule. We gave up took our books back home and walked a couple blocks to stop number 2.

This one was a success! A local store was having a "no parents allowed" shopping night for kids. You gave your kids the amount they had to spend and they shopped with a personal shopper who helped them with choices and kept them within their budgets. At first they shopped together for Jeff and I and then they split (each with their own shopper) to shop for each other. After their purchases were made, they went to the gift wrapping station where they got help wrapping their presents. Once that was done, they sat with their friends, eating cookies and sipping hot cocoa. Thankfully (with the snow storm outside) they had comfortable seating for the moms within the store. A friend of mine brought her kids so we got to chat a bit while we waited.

Then it was off to stop #3.... Alex's Movie Premiere party. Remember the musical Alex was in back in October? Well... the DVDs were in and each year when the DVDs come in they have a movie premiere party for the kids. It's a fun party with food and friends. Alex was determined to go.... even though at this point is was REALLY snowing and blowing and rush hour was in full swing. I called to make sure they were still having the party and sure enough, they were. So, we bundled up and set off. It took us five blocks of trudging through the snow before we found a cab. I immediately regretted it.... we slipped and slid all over the place. I'm seriously shocked we made it to church without hitting someone or something. But we did make it... albeit 45 minutes late (traffic was that bad). Now... that gave Clara and I 45 minutes to grab dinner and come back to pick up Alex. However, they told me when I dropped him off that due to the weather they were cutting the party short and he would be done in 15/20 minutes. Clara and I decided to just wait. Well... the party ended up lasting the whole 45 minutes.

So, when Alex got out we had to go and find dinner. We were done by 8:30 and went out to catch the bus (I wasn't getting out on Lake Shore Drive in another cab at this point). We waited for 45 minutes until a bus came. So at 9:15 we were finally heading toward home... sigh.

It was an exhausting night... for me and the kids...

This is how I found Clara when I went to turn off her light.... sound asleep with her book still in her hands. I had to snap a quick pic with my phone. :-)

Okay... today is baking day and I should get back to supervising! :-)