yesterday (LOTS of photos!!)

Okay... before I get to yesterday.... thank you Laura for the kind words about my Christmas card I posted... it's not my official card. Those are now off in the care of the U.S. Postal Service so I'll be posting them here soon. Thank you for the printing info Deb (and thanks for de-lurking to do so! :-)... can you believe that I've never set foot inside a Costco? There is one here not too far from us... maybe I should check it out.

As I mentioned the in my post last night... yesterday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry.

Here is the Burlington Zephyr...
Once in the museum we looked at the Christmas Trees from Around the World. More details and my photos are posted on my new homeschooling blog.

Next we went in to see the Star Wars exhibit. Here's Clara and Alex driving the hover cars...

C3PO....
Oops... forgot the border on this pic... here's Alex and Clara building and programming their robot....

After lunch we headed to State Street to see the window displays at Macy's. As luck would have it, this year's theme was the Nutcracker. Clara was thrilled!









After seeing the windows we went in to do some shopping and see Santa.

*** WARNING SMALL RANT ***
I HATE what Macy's has done to the State Street Marshall Fields! I used to LOVE to shop in that store... such a grand historic building. Now it just seems so cheap and generic. I had decided several months ago that I wasn't going to go there any longer... but it was convenient yesterday so I broke my own rule... sigh.
*** RANT OVER **** (sort of)

Okay... here we are at Macy's... the great big store on State Street, with a FAO Schwartz in it for the holidays. We thought it would be a good place to take the kids to see Santa. We waited in line down this magically decorated path till we got to Santa. The "elves" took down the kids' names and then led us to Santa. Who turned out to be a cheesy fake bearded Santa stuffed into a chair in a tiny broom closet!!! It was just sad. The kids seemed okay with it though...Okay... I've rambled on enough!

'nite!

i actually printed stuff! lol!

Last week I tried out Shutterfly for printing some of my digital scrapbooking stuff. I have printed through them before... regular 4x6's and note cards... but this was my first time to venture into their digital scrapbooking area.

First I tried out some 5x7 photo cards. These are for the kids to mail out.


I was really impressed with how they turned out! The colors were great, and they had a nice matte finish.

Next, I tried an 8x8. I've never printed 8x8 before, but I think I really like that size after having it in my hands.
The colors again were perfect! The photos and digital elements looked great.

Finally, I printed a 12x12....
LOVED how vibrant the colors turned out! I was totally in love until I noticed this...
Yep... my journaling along the right side was cut off at both the top and the side.... sigh. I thought I did everything right so this would not happen. At this point, I'm not sure if it was my issue or Shutterfly's since I did get interrupted while I was working with it on their site. This is one of my biggest issues with printing digi layouts.... you spent the money on these large prints and you hope that you don't lose anything important around the edges. I have several 12x12's lying around my house with missing journaling.... it depresses me.

So... I have no "cons" in regards to printing with Shutterfly, except for the cut off text (which may be my fault).

The "pros" - great colors and good matte finish. Good fast shipping at an extremely busy time of year. I print most of my stuff through a pro lab, but at the holidays they get swamped and waaaaaay behind. For example, I placed my Shutterfly order on the same day I placed an order with the pro lab (Tuesday). My Shutterfly orders started arriving on Thursday, with the last package arriving Friday (regular mail). My pro lab order didn't even print until last Thursday, shipping on Friday and arriving on Monday (2day UPS). So, the holidays don't see to slow Shutterfly down at all. Finally, I was extremely impressed with the packaging of the 12x12. It came in a tri-fold cardboard box with a foam cushion and the print itself was in a nice clear plastic envelope.

Okay.... I'm off to "do school"... be back later with the pictures from yesterday!!

so many photos....

... and no energy to edit them... sigh.

I'm exhausted! Today we went here and saw these...(the Star Wars exhibit and the Christmas Trees from Around the World)

I'll be back tomorrow to post pics both here and on the homeschool blog!

'nite!

I did it!

I just added a new blog about homeschooling... more pics and details about our day on there!

Now I'm really done for the day!

'nite!

monday

How's that for a witty, original title? :-)

Today was a crazy, but overall good day. We started out by going to a homeschool science workshop at the nature museum.Then we left there and went straight to Alex's cooking class. Today he made busche de noel with homemade pastry cream (oh, and cookies). YUM!

Clara and I picked him up from class and went straight to his piano "jury". This is our first time doing one so we're a little new to the whole thing. We were making good time until, while going up the steps at the school.... Alex wiped out and smacked Clara (who was directly behind him) in the mouth with his boot. We were bordering on being late and now here we are on the stairs with Clara howling with blood running out of her mouth!!! At the time, I didn't know Alex had kicked her (not on purpose, just because he fell and his feet went out from under him)... I thought she had hit her teeth on the hard stairs!!! Thankfully, she had just split her bottom lip open. Alex's jury went well... I have no clue how his evaluation will come back, but he went in calm and came out happy.... so in my book... it went really well!

After that we just came home and had dinner... and now I'm heading for the couch!

'nite!

we couldn't help ourselves...

... we "elfed" ourselves! I had been fighting it for some time, but today we did it...

The Radtke Family as Elves

Clara deems it... "alarious".

I have no pictures from our weekend because I didn't take a single one! Clara had her regular Saturday dance class... the studio was sooo empty and quiet now that the Nutcracker rehearsals are over. After that we went to a street near us with lots of cute little shops and boutiques. There were so many decorations that I wish I would have brought my camera but I was supposed to shopping and it was snowing pretty good.... I'm actually glad I wasn't lugging around my camera. After we got home, Alex got the bright idea to shovel snow! He was on a roll!! After he finished our walk, he did the sidewalk out front and THEN asked if he could shovel the WHOLE BLOCK! We said sure, thinking it would last a house or two on either side... but no... he cleared the WHOLE BLOCK!!

Yesterday we just went to church. After church we came home and the kids played out front in the snow.

Nothing exciting, but it was a nice relaxing weekend!

Oh... thank you so much for the notes in support of starting a separate homeschool blog... I should have it up later today since we're doing some cool stuff this week!

Okay.... I need to get our day started!

art and science...

We're still doing our modified school schedule for the month of December... so today was art and science day.

We started with a project from our art curriculum (Atelier). We were to draw the Cat in the Hat. Here's how we did...(I over-edited this picture.... not happy with it, but too tired of it to start over)
Guess which one is mine! I'll give you a hint... it is NOT the one with the unfortunate tail placement and it IS the one that looks like a cross breeding experiment between a cat and a sock monkey. :-)

After that we got out the Yuck Specimen Jar and started doing experiments. We made snot, slime and "yuck crystals". I was impressed that they included scientific explanations for what was happening. We have "recipes" for some of this stuff in a book... but it was just to have fun making it... not to really learn anything from. I felt like we came away with some knowledge about what was really going on... although if I was going to do it again, I would prepare a bit more so we made more background knowledge before beginning.

Here's Alex making snot...
I'm really thinking about starting a separate blog about homeschooling. I feel the need to ramble on more about what we did, what worked, what didn't... but I'm not sure here is the place to do it. I may start a new one... with just homeschool stuff. Hmmm.... now to figure out a name for it.

Okay... my kitchen is a disaster of dinner dishes and science experiments... gotta run!

'nite!!

the haircut

Going several months without a haircut was a painful ordeal for Clara. She loves her short hair, but with the need for a ballet bun for the nutcracker, we had to let it grow. She did make me promise that as soon as the nutcracker was over, she could go and get her hair cut.

So... today was the big day!! Her hair looks adorable! There's something about a short sassy cut that just fits her to a T. These pictures really don't do it justice... we just had a few minutes at home between getting back from her haircut and leaving for dance.
Notice the extra wide gap? She lost another tooth yesterday!

Here she is sporting her brand new Moscow Ballet t-shirt Jeff got her on Sunday. It's pretty big on her... they had ones that were more her size... but they were white. Clara and white clothes are not a good combo.... we opted for too big but dark colored. :-)
I have so much more to ramble on about but I'm sleepy. I'm heading to bed... maybe I'll ramble tomorrow... LOL!

'nite!

nothing much

Nothing much going on here. Just still trying to recuperate from our weekend. Clara had one semi-major meltdown yesterday... but she was allowed given what her weekend was like.

Oh... I started a project... you can see it on the Memory Makers Masters Blog.

Clara and I had an interesting conversation on the way to pick up Alex from cooking class. She's hooked on the performing thing. She informed me that she wants to be in "big shows" from here on out. She's over recitals ("the shows where you get to keep the costume"), she only wants to do "big shows".... sigh. I told her she needed to take that up with her dance instructor.... LOL!

Okay... today we must be productive! I'm out of here!

Hopefully I'll have pictures to post later... I'm behind on my 2peas digi board photo a day challenge.

the nutcracker report

Wow! I can't believe it is all over!

The day went amazingly well. We were all really worried about keeping the girls happy and entertained over such a long day. But it really didn't turn out to be all that hard. Thankfully each dance group had their own dressing room and all of the dressing rooms opened into a large common area. So we had a room full of 8 snowflakes to keep entertained. One of the parents brought a tv and dvd player so that really helped. This is how Clara spent a lot of her time...On her nap mat, in her under the counter cave watching shows on my iPod. (oh... and get a good look at the hair! can you believe I got her short hair into a bun?? her hair was completely shellacked... to the point that it didn't move even after I removed every barrette, bobby pin and rubber band after the show... lol!)

Here is a shot of Clara out in front of the stage door. I saw one of the other moms doing this and had to do it too! Peer pressure I guess! LOL!
Yes, that's snow and ice and yes my daughter is in tights and crocs... I promise we were only out there a second or two.

The kids had a brief stage run through right after noon. It was a little rough since things are so much different on stage. They had been practicing alone as a group in the studio for several weeks but this time they were on the big stage navigating around the professional dancers who they had never seen before. The girls did great though! I was really amazed at the poise they showed.

For the first show, I was backstage, but they had a tv in the main area back there that showed the stage. They did sooooo good! They hung out backstage a bit and then at the end got to go out for the curtain call. The snowflakes were right up there in front! The dancer who played Drosselmeyer broke into the line of snowflakes, grabbing Clara's hand and the hand of the girl who was next to her for the final bows. Clara was sooooo in awe!

They came back the dressing room to change out of their costumes and into their warm-ups so they could go out and see their families. Clara was excited to see her grandparents and Alex! We went back stage again to have dinner and get ready for the second show.

During the down time, the Russian dancers came out to sign autographs and take pictures with the children.

Here is Clara with Clara (actually they call her Masha in this production, but all of the girls called her Clara)...
And here is Clara with the prince....
The kids were soooooo thrilled to meet the Russian dancers.

I got to watch the second show with Jeff. I was a teary wreck through the whole first act. I was just so proud of the kids! Honestly, the snowflakes danced the best for the second show... they may have been more relaxed about the professional dancers after having the first show under their belts plus having met some of them between shows.

After the show we packed up and stopped by Jeff's parent's hotel room to wash the goop out of Clara's hair and to pick up Alex. We had them both in their pj's in case they fell asleep on the way home. I really figured that they would crash... but they didn't, which was actually good. We got home a little after 11:00 pm and they went straight to bed (did I mention that Clara and I had left the house at around 8:00 am and had been in the theater from 9:00am until around 9:30 pm??).

So, today we're taking it easy and trying to recuperate!

Oh... if you're wondering why there are no pictures of Clara in her costume, well... that's because no photography was allowed while they were in their costumes.... plus they were only allowed to be in their costumes right before they left to go on stage and had to take them off the minute they got back stage. And there was no photography allowed in the theater... the studio owner tried to get permission for me as the studio's "photographer" but it was a no go... oh well!

Okay... I'm going to try and do something productive today!

one crazy saturday...

I honestly can't believe that tomorrow is the Nutcracker performance! It seems like only yesterday that Clara was first asked to be in it.... but that was back in August. It's amazing how fast time flies.

Today was our final rehearsal at the studio. We were there from 10:00 am until 2:30pm. Then Alex had to be at the studio at 3:00 for his 3:30 recital. So, Clara and I just hung out there at the studio waiting for the the recital. Here's one pic from their rehearsal today....And here is a pic from Alex's piano recital. He did soooo well, especially considering that he just started lessons at the end of October.
The recital got out around 5:00. We were going to go out to eat, but instead came home and ordered out. Clara was exhausted, so we fed her, let her take a steam shower and put her to bed. After that Jeff and I spent the rest of the evening packing for the big day tomorrow. I'm so nervous for her!!! But she doesn't seem phased at all.

Okay... I need some sleep!

'nite!

when did i become a stage mom???

Okay... I'm not THAT kind of stage mom! LOL! I just never would have dreamed that this would be what my kids are into... today we had to go to our church so Alex could audition for a solo in our church's Christmas pagent, tomorrow Clara has rehearsals all day tomorrow, followed by Alex's piano recital and then we have the Nutcracker ALL day on Sunday. Whew!!

So... while we were down by Michigan Avenue we decided to go and see some Christmas decorations. First stop was 900 North Michigan (Bloomingdales). I took some pictures but they didn't turn out very well. Next stop was across the street to see the trains at the Hancock building...It was like a gigantic game of I Spy... the kids LOVED it...
This sign lies... :-) Santa and Mrs. Claus aren't there on Fridays...
Our third and final stop before heading home was the Drake Hotel to see the gingerbread houses...
The whole thing smelled like sugar... it was wonderful!
Not sure what this is... but it was in the lobby and it looked cool...
Well... my parents are here for the weekend so I'm going to run!

'nite!

(I won't forget to take another pic of the snowman!)

forgot something...

I forgot to post my photo for the December photo-a-day challenge on the 2peas digi board.

So... here's our little snowman guy. He's one of those that grows crystals... I'll have to take another pic tomorow so you can see how he's changed.

'nite!

who says school can't be fun?

The educational packs from K'nex are incredible!!! I mentioned yesterday that we were doing a project from the Simple Machines: Gears pack. Well... they built the mechanism that rolls a car window up and down. The kits are amazing and then pair them with the teacher guide and you've got an incredible educational experience. The kids beg to do these and after just building two models (we spread out the projects for those school days were we seem to be lacking focus but need to keep doing school... if you know what I mean).... they have several concepts down. They can tell you which is the driver gear and which is the driven gear, they can tell you that in this project our rotational input gave us a linear output and that the first gear train is connected to the second gear train by an axle.

We thought Alex would love these just because he loves to build, but I'm loving them too. They're super easy to use in the homeschool environment. I'm definitely going to add a new one to our homeschool order each year... hopefully working up to this one eventually! :-) I think in addition to the science kits... we might add this math one as well.

So, here are a couple of pics of Alex with his K'nex car window....
(he's looking through the window... LOL!)

Today we worked on a Snow lapbook kit from Hands of a Child (their site is down for maintenance at the moment). This was our first foray into lapbooking and we had a lot of fun with it! The kids really enjoyed it too! Ours won't end up being an actual lapbook... we're gluing everything to letter sized cardstock instead. Then we'll three hole punch the pages and connect them with metal rings.

I find it's really hard for all three of us to stick to our "regular" school schedule during the month of December. So, we're filling our days with projects (the K'nex) and fun unit studies! I found another Hands of a Child lapbook on the symbols of Christmas... that might be fun for next week!

Alicia and Ia thank you so much for the information on the sleds! The price is right so we may give them a try (well.. maybe not me personally LOL!).

Okay... I've rambled on enough!

snow day!

This was our street last night at around 11 pm....

I love when the city is covered with a fresh blanket of snow! Everything is so peaceful... all of the city sounds are muffled.

Today the kids couldn't wait to get out in it... so we got some math out of the way and then I turned them loose out in our tiny front yard...
They were trying to build a snowman, but the snow just wouldn't stick...
Clara started doing this... making it snow... so Alex decided he should do it too. His was very short lived after this snow when down the neck of his coat!
I started snowing again right after we went back inside. I think we got at least another inch.

Attempted a blog make-over today. Not entirely happy with it, but it will do for now.

I just saw these Slope Slider Sleds in the LLBean catalog...
Does anyone out there know anything about them? I would love to get the kids sleds for the snow... BUT we live in the city and rely on public transportation. We could get a normal sized sled but it could be interesting getting on the bus with one. These look like they would be easily transported BUT do they work?? Hmmm..... maybe we should just go with one "real" sled.

Okay... the kids are just about done building their car window mechanism out of K'nex (K'nex Education - Introduction to Simple Machines: Gears - they LOVE this set!).

Later!

okay... one more :-)

just a quick photo...

I am not worthy of this camera.

Santa stopped by a little early this year!

(not the kit... just the body only)

Can you believe it? I was shocked to say the least!!!! I had no clue whatsoever that Jeff was planning this surprise! He gave it to me early so I could play with it a couple of days before Clara's performance this weekend.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to me!!! :-)

(I charged the battery tonight so I'll be ready to play tomorrow!!!)

the advent wreath

Today at church they had a family activity to make your own advent wreath. Alex was in choir so Jeff, Clara and I went to make a wreath. We've never done one as a family before (I've never done one... ever) so it was fun!

Here is Alex lighting the first candle after we had read our lesson for tonight. As you can tell... he takes his job VERY seriously. Clara's turn to light the candle is tomorrow night... there's a good chance something other than the candle (or in addition to the candle) might end up on fire.
I took both of these using my external flash (which I'm afraid of), with it bounced off of the ceiling. The second shot is not a quality shot by any means, but I needed to post it in order for you to fully appreciate Clara's creation. This is what happens when you turn Clara loose with a floral foam ring and a nearly limitless supply of greenery. Oh... and this is even after leaving a trail of evergreen parts all the way from our church to our house... sigh...Oh... see our tree in the background? Notice that it's just a mini-tree on a table? Well, there's a story there.... not a happy one either... but I'm over it and moving on. But my question is, how does one lose the top third of a Christmas tree? Perhaps our movers could answer that one... but sadly it's taken us a year to notice that we don't have it anymore.

Okay.... I still have things to do and I desperately need to relax as well... so I'm signing off!

'nite!

Oh... if you're interested a posted about one of our favorite holiday traditions on the Memory Makers Masters Blog.

winter wonderland!

Can you imagine a more perfect day to drag out the tree and start decorating for Christmas?

Sigh... do I have stories to tell about our day with our tree(s)... but we're getting ready to watch Miracle on 34th Street and I still have 5 dozen cookies to bake for our homeschool group's cookie exchange tomorrow!

More to come tomorrow!

'nite!