Check Back Soon

I have lots of cute posts and pictures from December, but due to lack of internet service and computer troubles, they have not materialized yet.

SNOW (Ha Ha) Day

I guess the Little Rock School District really wanted an extra day of holiday vacation. I was awakened at 6:00am this morning by my phone ringing. An automated call was alerting me to the school closing. We knew there was a possibility of weather, but there had just been a small flurry before we went to bed. I figured we were in for a snowy day. I got out of bed to survey the situation. I looked out the window...this must be some kind of error, the roads were dry, there was no snow, there was no ice. It wasn't even picture worthy. So just an extra day off for the kids, mom on the other hand still had to work at the office. Which meant that all the kids got to go to the office with me.

Brian made a fort with the floor mats.

Home Sweet Home

It was a long drive home. Once again we had to contend with weather. We spent about 5 hours driving on snowy roads and it slowed us down. We stopped in Oklahoma City, and rested for the night. The room was dark and quiet, and there were blackout curtains on the windows. I guess we were tired, because when we woke up it was 9:00am! We hit the road after a quick breakfast. We arrived in Little Rock about 2pm.

It is nice to be home, to be in our own king size bed with our own pillows. If only I didn't have to unpack the suitcases, put everything away, find homes for all of our new things, and put away the meager Christmas decorations. Any volunteers?

Date Night-- Downtown Denver

After breakfast we made a loaf of wheat bread, which is one of my New Year’s Resolutions. I want to make our own bread this year. It turned our really good and the kids liked it too!

Then we had to make a run to the mall, Eddie and Grammie needed a few things at Sears. We also had lunch, rode the Santa Train and I won a bouncing ball from the “grabber machine”, which was pure luck.

I had a terrible time deciding on where we should go to dinner for our special night out. My mom was going to watch all of the kids, I think this is the first time we have left Danielle, so we could have dinner by ourselves. I really wanted to go downtown. I have been enchanted by downtown Denver for years. I wanted a good steak place, and really it didn’t matter how much we spent. We don’t go out that often, so a splurge once in awhile is OK. But I didn’t want to spend a ton of money and not get a great meal. I finally decided on Sullivan’s and made an early reservation, so we would be home before Danielle got fussy. We had an excellent dinner, there was no one out. We practically had the restaurant to ourselves, the waiter was very attentive, and we were able find a place to park, and the roads were not crowded. We decided on Baskin Robbins Ice Cream on the way home. It was the perfect evening.

Once In A Blue Moon

You have heard the phrase “once in a blue moon?” But do you know what that means? Honestly, I hadn’t until tonight! However, I learned from Wikipedia that a blue moon, (which really is not blue) is a full moon that is not timed to a regular monthly pattern. Approximately every two and a half years there is an extra full full moon during a month, and that extra moon is called a blue moon. This year the blue moon occurred on New Years Eve, and was also accompanied by a partial lunar eclipse. The next time that this will happen is in the year 2028.

We had planned to go to dinner tonight, but didn’t decide on a place early enough to get a reservation, so we figured that tomorrow night will be less crowded and more enjoyable.

We spent the morning over at Stephanie’s house. The kids played great and Stephanie and I were able chat, and catch up. Later on my mom and I strolled kid less around Costco, since there is not one in Little Rock.

P.S. This post was supposed to have been made on 12/31/09, but due to the lack of internet access, I was using my iphone and apparently it did not save this post.

ME!

Today I had planned to take the kids to Build A Bear Workshop. They really enjoy going, and it is a fun kid activity. Plus I had a coupon, so how could I pass that up. We were having a lazy morning and no one had even gotten dressed yet. I walked downstairs with clothes in hand, and asked, who wants to go to Build A Bear?” I got two very excited “ME” with hands held high, followed by a little raised hand, I am sure was saying “me too, me too.” It was so cute! I tried to capture it on video later but could not recreate the crime. So will just have to trust me on how cute it was.

We went to Build A Bear, and Brian immediately picked out a camouflage bear, Emily looked around briefly and then choose a pink, sparkly unicorn. I helped Danielle pick an animal, there were several cute ones, but I finally decided on a puppy, she wasn’t much help deciding.

We waited in line, and then stuffed, cleaned, picked out accessories, and made birth certificates for our new friends. Here are some pictures.

What trip to Build A Bear could end without a splurge to its neighbor See’s Candy? I had to get a few things that were missing from my Christmas box. The kids got a butterscotch and vanilla sucker, and we also picked up a candy list, so I could pick my favorites for future purchases.

Springs and Sledding

Yesterday afternoon we headed down to Colorado Springs for dinner with Steve, Erin and the kids. It was nice for the kids to get to play with their cousins, and to be able to visit with Steve and Erin. We had wonderful appetizers, and dinner. Erin made homemade French bread, with honey butter (Brian loved it) ham, campfire potatoes, and green beans. However, just as we were sitting down to dinner, Logan, didn’t seem to feel well, and was running a temperature. I also noticed Emily was practically laying in her plate. She was also warm, and not feeling well. She spent the rest of the evening sleeping on the couch. I thought Danielle, wanted to play upstairs with the big kids, but really she just wanted to play on the stairs.

Today we planned to go sledding. Emily is feeling fine, and Erin called to say that Logan was alright too, so I guess they both just had some fleeting fever thing. I am glad it didn’t last.

We took the kids sledding after lunch, when it warmed up a bit. We decided on the sledding hill on Ken Caryl Road. Everyone had fun. Brian and daddy went almost up to the top a few times, but Brian was more comfortable down close to the bottom. He would sled down, and then pull the sled back up. Emily joined him for a few rides. I even took Danielle down a couple of times. We got some cute pictures.

Look at that face...

Grammie is the intended target!

Sledding is hard work, you must come home and take a nap.