just a little movie...

... of the kids skiing yesterday. Jeff took lots of photos for me as well.... but I'll put those up later in a separate post.



I had a witty little credit at the end listing Jeff as director, videographer and voice over talent, but it cut it off :-(

days 14 and 15....

Day 14...
Alex and I played Monopoly Deal after he finished school for the day on Friday. Like I mentioned before... it's our current favorite. I also took this to record my love of my automatic card shuffler! I honestly love this thing. First of all, I'm not exactly skilled at shuffling and second, I have fond memories of card shufflers. My grandparents used to get together with different groups to play cards on a regular basis (Pinochle, if I remember correctly). Sometimes I would go along with them and, on occasion, I got to run the card shuffler! I asked for one for Christmas for years... but no one took me seriously. I finally got one a few years ago and it makes me happy. :-)

Day 15...
Jeff came in the back door and found the kids like this... huddled together playing their ds's. He came and got me.... and said "this should be your photo of the day"... and so, now it is! It makes me happy that they enjoy each other's company so much.

saturday...

Yesterday was a crazy "Easter Egg Hunt" of looking for our ski gear in the house. It's amazing how some of those items just seem to wander off!

By late afternoon, everything had been located and packed up and it was time for Jeff to load the car...
The gear....
Our new car came with a ski bag that allows your skis to go inside the car, up through the middle. Pretty cool!

Since the rest of the long weekend was going to be about friends.... we decided that Saturday night needed to be about family. So... it was time for Family Game Night! Santa had thought that we needed to spend more family time together so he gave us a family game night pack for Christmas. It had a family wii game, card games, popcorn and theater size boxes of candy.

Last night we played our current favorite, Monopoly Deal, and broke out the Mike and Ike's and Dots....


Even Mango was in on game night... however, I think her interest in being up at the table was mainly about trying to figure out how to snag some candy for herself! :-)

Day 13...

I generally like to post at least a couple of my project{365} photos at a time... but yesterday I only took one photo. And since I'm trying to keep up with a post a day AND I have a thing about every post *needing* a photo... day 13 will get it's own post. I did have plans for other photos. The boy and I have a little routine each night after his sports class that I wanted to document... but given that the boy got into a little bit of hot water with me before class... the "routine" was canceled yesterday. Maybe next week. :-)

Day 13....
... new ski boots!! Jeff has new ski boots too but they gave him the wrong pair at pick-up and when I took this photo, he was in the process of returning to the store to exchange them (if you're wondering about mine... well, I don't ski). They all got skis as well... but Jeff took those straight down to our storage closet, so I never saw them last night.

It looks like we got them just in time! We already had plans to go skiing with friends on Monday... but then on Tuesday, Jeff got an email from the dad of one of Alex's friends asking if they would like to join them for a day of skiing on Sunday! Well... of course!! I heard a rumor though that the boys may end up taking a snowboarding lesson together that day... but I'm sure the skis will get plenty of use that day as well.

Days 10-12

Day 10....
... my poor sick girl. She had some 24 hour stomach bug that had her down. She was so miserable that she sobbed most of the day.... poor thing!

Day 11...
... Clara was feeling better but not ready to go back to school (she hadn't eaten anything since Sunday night).... so after they both had finished their school work, Alex enlisted her help to run the camera for the Lego stop motion animation movie he's been working on. (working title: teleportation)

Day 12....
... feeling like her old self again and back to dance. Her friend was joining the character class for the first time, so Clara was helping her with her shoes.

oh those pants...

Not a chance that I'll lose him in a snow drift, is there?

Oh how I regret purchasing those bright green pants. I thought it was a good idea at the time. He was on a swim team whose colors were green and black... he had a black team sweatshirt with green lettering.... I thought these would be good to go with it to wear at meets. That would have been just fine had he confined his wearing of the pants just to meets.... but, sadly, he did not. He decided to wear them yet again yesterday and this time he paired it up with a forest green Yoda t-shirt. The coach of his sports class (a woman) asked me what was with all of the green when she saw him. I had no other excuse other than he's male.... and, in his world, what matches green pants is a green shirt (regardless of the shade of green). He has a blue t-shirt with blue track pants picked out for Thursday.... but that combo is definitely less jarring than the green.

On the way home, he told me he had a bit of bad news.... he had worn holes in the knees sliding into bases during their kickball game.... let me tell you, I was crushed :-)

bulls...

The boys went out again last night... this time to the Bulls' game.

Jeff is such a good sport with taking the camera along to take some photos for me!

First up... the rabid fan photo of Alex...
... I made a comment about this one last night and Jeff told me that it's their tradition now to take at least one crazed fan photo. Love it!

The view from their seats...
And a self portrait....
And then finally a goofy face from Alex...
They had so much fun together at the game! Alex so enjoys going and he so enjoys the time with is dad! I'm very glad they get the opportunity to spend this time together.

While they were out on their guys' night.... the girl and I were home watching Toddlers & Tiaras. She had a nasty 24 hour stomach bug that made her absolutely miserable yesterday. Poor thing spent most of the day sobbing. She's much better today and has finally been able to keep down some toast and some liquids. Hopefully she'll keep on this path and be ready to go back to school tomorrow.

days 8 and 9 + a bonus photo :-)

Day 8....
... I meant to take some "real" photos while we were out that night... but I'll have to make due with just a photo of the playbill.

Day 9....
... back to church after the holidays. All of the kids' programs started back up yesterday. Glad I remembered to stick my point and shoot camera in my "church purse".

If Saturday was our good friends day.... Sunday was our good family day. We got up and went to church together. Went out for a family lunch afterward. And ended up at the ski shop getting skis for our upcoming ski outings we have planned. So, not only did we spend a lot of time together as a family... but we did something that will help facilitate more family time in the future.

While Jeff was trying on ski boots, Clara asked if we could walk down to Walgreens. The downside of the slumber party she went to on Friday was that she came home *needing* both a snuggie AND a pillow pet. She wanted to check Walgreens to see if they had snuggies.

And look....
... they did! And, as a bonus, they were on clearance. So, now Clara is the proud owner of a purple snuggie. Looks like she made the purchase just in time.... she's home sick today and the snuggie has come in quite handy.

Wolves...

Turns out that this was a big weekend for the "friends" part of my priorities this new year.

Clara attended a slumber party Friday night. She was so excited about it! It was with her friends from ballet. They had been planning some kind of party ever since Nutcracker and they finally got their wish. These girls have become pretty close over the past year... I'm so thrilled that Clara has such good friends in her classes.

Saturday night was my time for friends! My birthday present from Jeff was a night out with my friends, Tracy and Gwen. We started the night out at a restaurant called Hot Chocolate (it was very yummy... especially dessert) and ended with the night by seeing Wicked! I had wanted to see Wicked for years, but it never worked out for us to go when it was here before. I really, really enjoyed it. We had such a good time and it was so nice to be out and not be "mom" for a little while.

While I was out with my friends... Jeff and the kids were out with theirs! Gwen's husband thought it would be fun to take the kids to the Chicago Wolves Hockey game while we were out. Jeff and the kids had never been before.... so they were up to try something new.

They had a great time....

(not sure what's with the silly faces)

They yelled, they cheered, they danced and they sang. They really loved it!

days 6 and 7

Day 6....
... a phone photo of Clara picking out the color/design of her new retainer. She ended up going with the watermelon design.

Day 7...
.... ~20 books + about a week and half overdue = $22.80 in fines

But on the bright side, it did keep my kids reading over the holidays. Mainly Clara, since Alex still has a backlog of books here at home. Both kids have become voracious readers.... it's just that Alex likes big thick 400+ page books and Clara loves to read stacks and stacks of shorter books. Going to school has really helped her come into her own with reading. She had constantly compared herself to Alex here at home and she's just not Alex (especially in reading). Now she's with her whole pack of girls who like to read the same things as her.... she has discovered so many new book series that fit her based on their recommendations.

back on the ice...

Yesterday was a good day... but got a little crazy about the time Clara got out of school. She had an orthodontist appointment right after school so they could take impressions for her official retainer on top. (I took a photo at her appointment with my phone.... that may end up being my photo of the day... still thinking though). But, at the same time, Alex's sports class was meeting again. It's usually only once a week, but since they're preparing for a tournament later in the month, they had an extra class. The tournament is a wrestling tournament! Alex is so excited! Wrestling is a big deal at the camp he goes to in the summer... they have a big tournament for "tribal points" that everyone participates in. However, they've never really taught them how to wrestle. He was thrilled when he found out that this was the sport this month so he could learn a little more before camp. So, we got one of our favorite babysitters and off he went to class while I went to the orthodontist with Clara.

Everything went well with Clara (15 minutes... in and out).... and we were off to her dance class (Alex and the sitter were meeting us there later). We ended up catching an express train that didn't stop again until we got to our stop! We made it down into the loop in about 5 minutes!! That gave her plenty of time to change and eat her salad she had picked out as a snack. Plus she got to hang out with her friends. They were all giggly yesterday.... they have a post-Nutcracker slumber party tonight and they had plans to make :-)

We were supposed to meet friends to skate last night.... but with the temperature and the fact everything was going to be pushed back due to Alex's class, we didn't end up meeting. Alex was hungry after all of his wrestling, so we went out to dinner with a couple of the moms from class. He was re-energized after that and asked if he could still go skate. Sure, why not? So we walked over to Millennium Park for a little bit of skating.

I was playing around with our little point and shoot camera and decided to try some without flash...
.... Alex loves all of the "ghost people" in this one.

A close-up of Alex coming to see me....
Him skating by....
And finally an attempt at a non-flash photo of him....
.... he's not as sharp as I would like.... but I really like how it turned out. You lose so much of the "story" when you use flash sometimes. I like how in this one, you see not only Alex, but the buildings and the other skaters. I love the feeling of movement from the blurs of the skaters going by.

I think my next present to myself might be a better point and shoot. The one I use now is a freebie Jeff got at a trade show years ago. With this photo a day project, I want to try to always have a camera on me and it can't always be my big camera. I don't need it to do anything fancy.... I would just like a little higher quality image. I do have some money coming my way... I came in second in our fantasy football league this year :-) Maybe I should go poke around on amazon to see what I can find!

Days 4 and 5

Okay... the rambling, wordy posts are over.... now back to my regular ol' plain posts :-)

Day Four....

We realized Alex's running shoes were too small New Year's Eve when he went to that retro sports camp for the day... but I had kind of forgotten about it since. Then on Tuesday his sports class started back up again, so it was time to take action. While Clara was in dance, Alex and I walked down to Foot Locker... big mistake. Too many choices with way to big of a price range! He immediately latched on to these...
... the Reebok Zigtech. I had him try on cheaper shoes... but after having these on, nothing else felt the same (of course). So... we got them and I made him promise that he would really use them. He's already signed up for one upcoming 5K and is now contemplating signing up for another one (or two). He also wants to start running the track at the gym. We'll see. I know for sure he'll get good use out of them for his sports class.... but I would love if he used them more :-)

Day Five...

The idle piano on lesson night....
Yesterday was the day for sick music teachers. First thing in the morning we had gotten a call from Alex's guitar/drums teacher asking if we could push his lesson back until 3:00 since he wasn't feeling well. Then around 5:00, we got a call from Clara's piano teacher asking if we couldn't just cancel her lesson that night since he was sick. I hate that everyone was sick, but it made for a really nice evening for us.

We picked Clara up from school and went straight to Alex's lesson. While he was in his lesson, Clara and I went shopping for stuff for Mango. Mango needed a new collar. She had just been wearing the one they gave us at the shelter and it bothered her skin. Clara told the man at the store her story about how she had always wanted a dog and had saved her money to get one at the shelter. He had been helping her pick out a collar while she was telling the story. He told her to wait just a minute and he would be back. When he came back he was carrying a couple of collars she could choose from.... they were clearance leftovers that had just been sitting in a box in the office. She picked out a beautiful Tiffany blue collar with a rhinestone buckle... it had been marked $22 and he sold it to her for $4!! She also picked out a couple of Christmas items off the sale table to put away for next year. Then we picked out the other thing we had gone in there for.... an ID tag. She's micro-chipped... but we still wanted a tag with her name and our number so someone could more immediately get a hold of us if something happened. She picked out a tiny circle tag with a pink heart on it... so cute...and will look nice with her new collar.

We ran into a friend and her mom at music lessons. Alex and the girl had been in book club together and on swim team together. It was nice to catch up again! We went home.... I actually cooked dinner (a real dinner) and we relaxed! With no dance or piano this Wednesday.... it was a really low key evening. Alex and I had picked up Scrabble Flash the other day on a post-Christmas clearance table and we have all loved playing with it. It's addicting.... once you get started... it's hard to stop!

why we take the cta...

I took that quick snap yesterday with my point and shoot camera, thinking it might end up being my photo of the day.... however, I ended up taking more photos later when we got home. This may still end up being my photo of the day.... but I decided it was a good springboard for another long rambling post, so here goes...

We take the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority - public transportation) nearly everywhere we go around the city. I know there are several people out there who question my sanity because of this, so I thought I would throw out my reasons as to why we do this.

1. First and foremost, I hate to drive. I always have, and chances are, I always will. I was in a bad car accident on the way to school when I was 14. The driver of the car (a 17 year old friend), really didn't do anything wrong... just tried to dodge a squirrel that ran out into the road in front of us. He swerved, like a lot of us would have, and flipped the car into a ditch... I ended up in the hospital for a month, with several months of outpatient therapy after that. That scared me... not how you might think it would though. It didn't make me not want to ride with other people.... it scared me in the way that I really didn't want to be responsible for the safety of someone else. For some reason, it never occurred to me to be upset with him or blame him for what happened.... but he lived with a guilt over the whole thing for several years. That's what had the biggest impact on me. I just didn't want that responsibility. So, when at 23, I decided to pack up and move to Chicago... a place where I could get around without needing a car... I went for it.

2. Taking the CTA makes me really think about our activities. Given that we walk or take the bus or train everywhere... I've got to think about our day to day logistics. This has helped keep our schedule in check. When we lived in Texas and I drove ALL of the time... this didn't always happen. I was always racing from one activity to another or driving all over to find something. Now... our outings have to make sense logistically. Are Alex and Clara's activities close enough that I can reasonably get from one place to the other? Are the activities near public transportation? If not... is that activity worth it enough to make special arrangements to get there? If I drove, I know I would over commit even more than I have been doing. I would probably say "yes" to everything since I could just zip on over. Instead I have to say "no" more often than "yes". But is that so bad? We truly have to think about the merit of everything we do... yes, we have probably missed some really cool things... BUT those things we did do, were things we really wanted to do.

3. Taking the CTA keeps spending in check. Oh my.... I was a HUGE Target addict when we lived in Texas. I think I went 2-3 times a week. Being able to drive there was bad enough... but what really made it bad was the fact I was driving home :-) I would go wander around, put things in my cart, wheel said cart to my car, load everything in and then drive right into my attached garage at home. I never really had to think about what I bought. Now, every purchase we make when we're out has to be thought out because we have to carry it home. I don't go to Target here in Chicago but maybe 2-3 times a year.... and you know what... that's okay! We've survived without it! I don't need to be always replacing towels, picking up a few items of kids clothes here and there or impulse buying things because they are on sale. I do occasionally go on minor impulse shopping binges (yesterday was one of those days)... but I didn't buy as much as I could/would have since I had reached the limit that I wanted to carry. Ugh... I was also a Hobby Lobby addict as well... I would get some crazy crafty idea into my head (what makes this really bad is that I'm not terribly crafty) and would rush out to Hobby Lobby to buy all of the supplies for that crazy idea! No thought at all... just go out and get it! I also vividly remember spending a whole day driving from place to place looking for the perfect party favors for Clara's 5th birthday party. How insane that I wasted all of that time, energy and gas, looking for just the right thing for a group of 5 year olds! Okay.... yes... the favors were adorable... but was it really worth it?

4. Not driving makes this exercise adverse person get some exercise. I'm not big on "exercise".... I wish I was, but I'm not. Not driving gets me out and moving. We walk A LOT each and every day. I should actually get a pedometer to see how much ground we cover everyday since I'm curious now. When I was driving all of the time, it seemed like I didn't walk more than a few feet at a time. I didn't have to!

5. We rarely eat fast food. I have to tell you that we were really bad about eating fast food when I used to drive. It was just too incredibly easy to swing through a drive through on our way from one place to another. It was also too easy to drive through just to pick up a drink to sip on all day as I drove around (sitting, not moving). We rarely have fast food now. If we're out and need to eat, we generally make a better choice as we are walking around and have different options. We also don't generally stop to get drinks. I hate carrying around a drink (has something to do with my inability to successfully take a drink while walking, I think). So not only does our walking/CTA taking burn calories, but it also cuts down on the amount of calories we consume.

6. I can't parallel park. Seriously... I failed it on my driver's test at 16 and have never attempted it again.

Yes... there are bad things about taking the CTA.

Dealing with rain and snow when we walk to and from our stops is one. However, to be honest... I would much rather be walking in it than dealing with the traffic issues it causes.

Sometimes the trains/buses are crowded with nowhere to sit. But these times have been learning exercises in common courtesy for my kids... learning when it is the right thing to do to give up your seat to someone else. And really... a little standing isn't all that bad when you're moving quickly toward home while watching traffic at a standstill out of the windows of the train.

And oh yes... there are the crazies on the trains occasionally... those are always fun. But my kids are becoming equipped with coping skills they'll need when they're out on their own traversing the city someday. They know riding in the front car, right behind the driver is a safer choice. They know that getting off the train and waiting for the next one is always an option. Hopefully with having this be part of their daily lives when they are young and we're together, it will just be second nature for them when they are older.

When I drove, we crisscrossed our town in our little traveling bubble.... with little or no interaction with what was going on around us. Now, we talk... we watch out the windows and discuss what we see.... we relax and sleepy children rest their heads on my shoulder. I much prefer that to the chauffeur role I had taken on before.

Resolutions and Project{365}

I'm not sure I really have a "resolution" for this year... but more of a shift in priorities and trying to find the willpower to stick with this shift. My main shift in priorities is family... and the second is friends.

I know it sounds crazy... but with the kids being 10 and 9, as a good friend in Texas once pointed out, our time with them at home is halfway over (assuming they go off to college or out into the world at 18). Our time with them is too short to be booked 24/7, with no time for family outings and vacations. Alex loves acting and has had decent success at it... and I got an email yesterday asking if he would audition for an upcoming musical. Our first instinct was to answer "yes... of course!".... but we sat down last night and looked over the rehearsal and performance schedule. It would mean giving up and/or limiting the skiing weekends we had planned, it would mean shows three nights a week and a matinee AND it would mean giving up the trip we had planned over spring break. We had to ask ourselves, was this project worth it? And the answer was "no". There would have been a time, before I really thought about my priorities, that we would have gone for it.... we would have canceled trips, been running in different directions and compromised our family time. Does this mean that he's done acting? No... it just means that we're going to think more seriously about what we're committing to BEFORE we get into it. There will be times that it will be worth it and we'll rearrange everything... but it can't be for every thing that comes along.

The second part of my shift for the new year is friends. I fell into the trap of being overbooked last year and I hated it. I hated always having to say "no" or "can we change the time/day" every time when one of the kids' friends asked for a playdate. Now is the time to have friends and play... real play... and not be cooped up in classes all of the time. With the registration for a new session of classes starting, we have worked hard to find the balance between letting the kids pursue their interests and still allowing them to have plenty of free time for family and friends. We've sat down with the kids and whittled the classes down to their top priorities and now have a manageable schedule that basically keeps our weekends free. We've also figured out ways to sneak friend time into our day... while Clara is in dance, we have plans to go ice skating with friends and some of the siblings from the class at a rink near her class. It's a win-win... Clara's in a class she loves with her friends and Alex is skating with friends at the same time!

I guess the third component, which I didn't list before, but keeps popping up in my head as I type, is commitment. Through all of this, we are making it a priority to fully commit to those things we sign up for. Last year, when we were overbooked, I found that we were skipping classes in order to go do other things that came up. That was so wrong! If we couldn't commit to the class, we shouldn't have signed up. If it was a bigger priority for Clara to go skating with her friends on a Saturday... why in the world did I sign her up for a Saturday afternoon class? Alex was invited to be part of a local theater group's young ensemble program this fall, yet we kept having to leave early for the first few weeks because he was double booked. Our excuse was that we had no idea he would be invited into this group and these were prior commitments. But, again... I hated having to call up each time and tell them that he would miss or have to leave early. I felt like I was telling them that they were second rate.. and these other things were much more important. I know they understand that we had prior commitments... but it compromised Alex's experience with this really cool program. He missed the first three weeks of work on their fall project and because of this... it compromised his involvement in the piece, and the relationships with both the other kids and the instructors since they had had three more weeks to get to know each other. From now on, when we commit to something.... we commit to it as fully as we possibly can. I'm not going into things knowing we'll have to miss several classes.... if that's the case, we won't sign up. I had been thinking about this a lot lately while trying to figure out if we might be able to juggle a few things.... then yesterday I read the following on a friend's facebook status and it really drove it home...

"When you overbook yourself, you screw over other people a lot more than you screw over yourself."

I don't want to be "that person"... I tend to think of it from just my view. So what... we can miss whatever it is.... the kids can catch up when we get back, they won't miss us just this once, we're just out the money I paid for that class and I'm okay with that this time, etc.... but this quote really made me think about the other side, and how "they" may be viewing us.

So, with all of this in mind, we are yet again making an attempt at project{365} (the photo a day thing)... however, along with my "shifts in priorities", we are making this more of a family effort. Most of the photos will be taken by me, but they also may be taken by Alex, Clara, Jeff or someone else who was with us at the time. This year's project is a focus on us as a family and the time we spent together and with friends!

With that out of the way.... let's begin!

day one...
The cinnamon raisin bread the kids and I made together... sliced and ready to be made into some really yummy french toast!

day two...
Alex's last exit from the stage at Miracle.

day three...
Alex at the Michigan State game at Northwestern. He went with Jeff and some of Jeff's coworkers... he loves hanging out with the guys (taken by Jeff).

Okay... so that was a long and wordy post! I just feel like, at times, in order to commit to something I have to put it out there so I feel like people are holding me accountable for what I said. :-)

The last day of Miracle...

Sunday morning Clara was still at her sleepover, so we worked on taking all of the Christmas decorations down and putting them away. It was a pretty low key morning. After lunch it was time to go to the theater for the last performance of Miracle on 34th Street.

Alex in the booth with the stage manager...

Alex running the music for warm-ups...
The last warm-ups....

I couldn't take photos during the show, but again this year, they allowed me to take photos during the final curtain call.

Here's Alex...
He usually bows with two of the girls... but they missed their cue, so he got a solo bow at the last show! :-) He wasn't quite sure what to do with himself since part of their bow is him shoving between the two of them to take his bow!

Santa's turn for his bow....
And now the final number... Man with the Bag....
I had HUGE issues with color casts so they are all over the board. The one above was especially bad so I just made it black and white.




Better watch out now...
That's Santa's last line in the song... I kind of guess you have to hear it to get it.

The final exit from the stage...
The kids from the cast and Santa....
Oh... Clara, her friend and her friend's family met us over at the theater so they could see the show. During the department store scene they generally bring kids up from the audience to be part of the show. Clara and her friend went up together during that part and, since they were dressed alike, pretended to be twins :-)

Here they are hanging out at the bar, waiting for Alex to be done...
One last shot of father and son....
Thomas Mara and Thomas Mara, Jr.

Alex and "Mr. Sawyer"...
The cast and crew....
Another shot of the kids...
Alex and his fan club...
And some last shots of the lobby....

It's nice to have our life back, but it was so sad to see it end. It is such an amazing cast and crew to be a part of... we'll miss them!

After the closing, we took Alex out to dinner and then headed home for an early bedtime since "life" started back up today.