It's All Over For Mr. Mom

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I just didn't expect it to happen now.

I have always considered myself a pretty smart guy, and I think most people that know me would concur that I am not a complete drooling idiot. However, the tide is slowly turning for Mr. Mom. I have hit the ripe old age of 37 and years of excessive brain usage, not to mention the not so occasional beer, appear to finally be taking their toll. I, Mr. Mom., ..... am starting to lose to my kids in various activities.

Gone are the days of December 2008 (shown in the attached photo) when I would "let them win" the occasional game to encourage participation and foster confidence. Now I have to bring my A-game or it's over. My cloak of invincibility will quickly erode away, and a shell of a dad is all that will remain.

Up until yesterday, I had never really lost to any of my kids (except for a speed reading contest with Ms. A, but that doesn't really count because I typically read at the speed of an average 3rd grader - I'm more of a contemplation/comprehension guy). Then, last night while A is at Sunday school, B, C, and I sit down to play a memory matching game. We play the game, and per usual, I am paying about 65% attention so as to keep it close and not get all the matches but still move the game along and not have it last 7 hours. Before I know it, game over. Final score: B - 14; C - 12; Mr. Mom - 10. We do our typical post-game good-sportsmanship handshake, but all the while I'm a little thrown. What the F just happened? Then it hits me. The scales are starting to turn. There is nowhere for me to go but down.

Now the question is, what do I do with this profound insight? Do I play the part of super-proud dad, be elated that my kids are smart, and talented, and gifted, and awesome, and ...., and remain hopeful that they will end up a few rungs higher on the evolutionary ladder from their old man? Yes. That is the fork in the road that I am choosing to take.

But, just to make sure I still got it, C and I had a rematch today and I smoked him 20 - 16. In your face C.

The Return of Captain Finance

Captain Finance, who was on extended holiday over the summer months, made a significant return to the superhero scene in October and November as he used his writing skills for greed and the financial gain of FroFamily, Inc.

Of course, that meant that his unassuming, yet dashingly handsome, alter ego, Mr. Mom, was suspiciously absent from the blogosphere.

However, fear not good readers. The corporate citizens of greater Minneapolis, who were in such dire need of assistance, have now obtained their necessary funding and our hero has a few days to remove the cape and tights, replace them with the all-to-familiar sweatpants, sit back, relax, and catch up with the rest of the world.

Stay tuned to Milk & O's (if you haven't already deleted us from your "Favorites" list), and you will soon be updated on the exploits, trials, and tribulations of A, B, C, Mrs. Dad, and Mr. Mom.

7 Going On 14

There have been a few firsts for Mr. Mom lately.

The other day, Ms. A gets home from school and while we are going through her homework, the phone rings. Mr. Mom answers and it is her bestest little friend ever asking for Ms. A. I give the phone to A and she walks off to an unoccupied area for some privacy. As she does so, I think, "Wow. Our little girl. Seems like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday. Now she is getting phone calls and going off to gossip on the phone." To this point, A's telephone exposure has been talking to grandpa or grandma, or maybe a quick hello to one of her friends after the adults have arranged a playdate. I was thinking to myself, "Is this the beginning? I've heard about this girls-on-the-phone phenomenon. Now what do I do? What kind of elaborate bulletproof telephone rules matrix do I need to establish before this gets out of control and A is on the phone every day after school for hours on end?" After about 15 minutes, I arbitrarily decide that this is enough. Time to get off the phone. So I pick up another phone handset that I had next to me on the kitchen counter (because I am always slaving away in the kitchen), break into the conversation, and instruct A to say goodbye, we have to eat dinner and get ready for ballet class. I leave it at that, with the assumption that A is a good responsible kid, and above all else a rules follower. Then about 2 minutes later, she walks into the kitchen, hands me the phone, and says "Torie's mom wants to talk to you." OK. How did this develop? So I get on the phone, say hello, and am greeted with a reciprocating hello, followed by a question/statement of "so, the girls were talking about Torie coming over after school soon.....?" I do my best of-course-I-know-what's-going-on routine, and long story short, Torie comes over after school yesterday. Well played A.

Another event requires much less story telling, but may be even more monumental. Last week Ms. A attended her first large group sleepover in celebration of a classmate (Savannah) birthday. It was by all accounts a glorious event, with pizza, cake, games, TV/movies, staying up way too late, and a breakfast of cinnamon rolls in the morning. What more could 8 2nd grade girls ask for? Mr. Mom is still not sure about this, as I am sure I did not do a similar thing until 4th grade, but it seemed to go well, and A does not appear to be permanently scarred after Mr. Mom and Mrs. Dad completed an intense deprogramming session.

The third, and more troubling event occurred this morning. Our morning routine is for A and I to drop B&C off at school and then head home to catch the bus. Well, today A decided to convert to full whining mode as soon as we got in the truck. After the fourth bout of severe whining about various wrongdoings that were being perpetrated on her, Mr. Mom was getting relatively tired of it. The hope was that when the boys got out for school, she would stop and we could have our normal nice trip home. Silly dad. It continued, only with greater fervor. When we tried to do a spelling bee to practice her list for a test later today, and she began to whine about not wanting to say when certain words had capital letters, I maturely took her spelling list paper, crumpled it up, tossed it back to her, and told her that I would like to listen to the radio now. I waived the white flag. Admittedly not my proudest moment, but necessary for paternal sanity.

It is clear why God made this special bond between father and daughter. So you can put up with the occasional sass.

On a more positive note, A is busy learning ballet/tap/jazz, excelling in school, making new friends, and being a soccer superstar (refer to attached action photo). Like B, we signed up A for soccer this fall and it has been fantastic. The girls that make up the Pandas team roster are great and we have met some really nice parents. It also turns out A is a very competitive individual. The look of determination on her face during a game is surprising and kind of fun to see. She has gravitated to playing forward as much as possible because "they score the goals". True to form, A scored a crunch-time goal with 2 minutes to play last week to earn a hard fought 1-1 tie against the hated Jaguars. I think that is goal #4 through 5 games this season. Soccer fever. Catch it.

Bend It Like Bennett or The "Next" Great One

Which title do you like? Both are quite possible at this point. After a very successful stint in t-ball this summer our young B has gotten heavily involved in more team sports this fall.

While attending a 2 week camp earlier this summer with his big sister, B was introduced to this funny game where people run around on a field of grass chasing a ball with odd designs all over it. The objective is apparently to try to kick said ball into a net, but this does not happen very often. After several days of observing this sporting spectacle, Mr. Mom was informed that this strange game is called soccer and that apparently millions of American youth play it. More surprisingly, many youth allegedly do so of there own free will. With a contorted look on his face, Mr. Mom thought to himself (insert your vision of a cartoon bubble here), "Interesting. A game where you can't use your hands, yet coaches use the term dribbling. Players run around constantly with minimal breaks in play or substitutions. And scoring happens as frequently as the arrival of Haley's Comet. Sounds fun."

But, he loves it. The aforementioned camp was such a success that both A&B were chomping at the bit to sign up for fall soccer and play some actual games against kids their own age. B was placed on the Lions, a team of 8 ferocious Kindergarten-age boys who have boundless amounts of energy. They practice for 45 minutes on Thursday evenings and play a 1-hour game each Saturday. If you have any exposure to Kindergarten-age boys, you realize that this is just enough time before they lose focus on the soccer ball and move onto "we're bored horse-play". It has been a great experience, despite B sometimes choosing to be a distant observer of the action. This is mostly the case when Coach designates him to play the position of Defense. In Kindergarten soccer, playing Defense is apparently code for standing around by your net paying minimal attention, because every boy that takes his turn playing Defense invariably starts dandelion-picking, people-watching, ballerina-spinning, etc. After three hotly contested games, the passion for soccer still exists. The boys are not supposed to keep score at this level (you know, everyone gets a trophy), but boys inevitably do and B will quickly tell anyone who asks that his team has won 1 game and lost 2. The highlight for us was B scoring his team's first goal in its first game. It was a solid left-footed boot on a breakaway. Look out Pele.

B's other activity is hockey. After two sessions of skating lessons in our pre-EP life and countless games of floor hockey in the basement here in spacious EP, B was openly excited to play hockey this year. As naive, clueless, rookie hockey parents, this was slightly intimidating for Mr. Mom and Mrs. Dad, but the Hopkins Hockey Association (http://www.hopkinshockey.com/) has made it virtually idiot-proof for us and we commend them for it. Great people, and to this point we have not come across stereotypical Hockey Dad yelling at his 7-year old from behind the boards during practice. Bravo.

They start them at 5 in Hopkins, although there are probably some over-achieving 4-year olds out there, and B is officially a Mini-Mite. It was Mr. Mom heaven gearing him up in full pads that first day. The highlight for B was his mouthguard, which he wore the entire time and thus could not speak clearly to any adult/coach/volunteer helping organize the crazy mass of 5-8 year-olds that comprises the pre-season hockey clinics that are currently underway. To date, it has been all skating. It is well organized and the coaches quickly segregate the kids based on skating ability after observing them for 15 minutes or so. Then an adult goes with each group and works on a particular skill. I don't know how they get it to work, but it does. Some kids are skating circles around the others and are ready for the NHL. Others can't even stand up or move. It is a great cross-section of talent. However, that has likely been little B's issue to date.

B wants to play hockey. That means have stick, hit puck, score goal. What I don't think he realized initially was that this is all done on skates while skating. After a few times of no sticks/just learning how to skate, poor B got frustrated and even had some crying sessions of "I don't want to go to hockey." Well, since Mr. Mom is a hard-ass and always forces his kids to do things they don't want to do, he had to drag B there on two different occasions. Then on the 4th day, a miracle occurred.

B could always stand up and scoot around on his own, but for some reason, taking a skating stride and pushing off to propel himself just was not there. As a result, he couldn't keep up with the older kids who were skating circles around him while they were warming up for their tryout for the MN Wild later that day. This frustrated B and compounded his sadness over hockey. He just wants to play. Then Coach Dan, the leader of the merry band of adults running the show, took an individual interest in B and physically grabbed his feet to show him how it works. Then the light bulb just turned on. It was that easy, and just took someone other than Mr. Mom showing him/telling him (already ignoring dad - great). For the rest of the day, Mr. Mom proudly watched his son, who was beaming from ear-to-ear under his helmet, skate, yes actually skate, around the rink. The best part was his smile. Just seeing him, you could tell he was thinking, "All right. I'm on my way. Now I can play with the big boys." It melted my old, crusty heart. There was a little comical element to this breakthrough though too. He is much stronger pushing off his right foot than his left. And any Physics major can tell you what happens then. He is skating around in circles. It is fantastic, and hopefully hockey can only go uphill from here.

We love you B. May you always have that enthusiasm to try/do/enjoy everything.

Empty Nester

School has officially begun. A, B, & C are off and Mrs. Dad is saving lives one colon at a time. That leaves Mr. Mom (as seen in this picture) free to do what he deems appropriate. Admittedly, it is a strange, eerie, somewhat melancholy feeling to be in this position, home alone for 2 hours a day Mon.-Fri., but I will do my best to take this challenge head on.

Happy 2011-2012 school year everyone. May your years of higher learning help to lead you down your chosen path, or, as in my case, to this very spot. Hello couch and ESPN, my old friends. I've missed you.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

What a load of B.S. The Commodores apparently did not have young children when they were crooning those fine lyrics. The last two Sunday mornings have been trying (putting it mildly) here at FroFamily, Inc.

Dateline 7/24/2011 - Preston, MN - Mr. Mom forces the family to this small MN burg for a weekend of fastpitch paradise. We are lodging in one of the two fine hotels in town because camping was ruled out for the weekend due to the potential of insufferable heat and the subsequent likelihood of severe Mr. Mom sweat/softball odor. Saturday goes very well, but come Sunday morning, hold on to you f' ing hats because all three "angels" are in full whining/arguing mode. They get the drift that their behavior might not be acceptable after Mrs. Dad retires to one of the 2 bedrooms in our palatial suite and closes the door swiftly behind herself. All was not lost though, as this sad display was followed up by a great anecdote later that morning. Scene: After Mr. Mom finished talking the kids off the ledge of insanity, we load them into the truck for a pre-game drive to check out a nearby campground so as to scout it out for future camping possibilities. On the way back into town for the next game, Mrs. Dad is having a heartfelt, wonderful, melt-your-heart conversation with the kids about how their behavior that morning was unacceptable, but we still love them unconditionally, blah, blah, blah, .... Seriously, it was great. These types of conversations are definitely one of Mrs. Dad's strong suits. But the nugget of comic relief came from the mouth of Mr. C. As Mrs. Dad was in the middle of "we love you, and ...", Mr. C pipes up, "I haf sumpin in my nose". Mr. Mom and Mrs. Dad burst out laughing, look back, and there he is, finger extraction of a solid mucous particle in progress, oblivious to the seriousness of the ongoing discussion. Classic stuff from the 2 1/2 year old mind.

Dateline - 7/31/2011 - Eden Prairie, MN - Having gone to mass the evening before, FroFamily, Inc. was home for a Sunday morning (quite the rarity). Mr. Mom and Mrs. Dad had a potentially fun day planned that was centered around going to the Stages Theater (http://www.stagestheatre.org/) production of Annie Jr. early that afternoon. Needless to say, Mr. Mom and Mrs. Dad were ready for the child portion of the day to be over by 10 a.m. We scrapped all plans to go out to eat and do various other things before the show, and were even considering not going to the show. However, our parental frugality was not willing to let already-paid-for tickets go to waste, so we forged ahead bracing ourselves for the worst. Luckily, a cast of very impressive child actors performing an abbreviated version of a Broadway classic turned out to be a big winner, and FroFamily, Inc. survived.

Can't wait to see if this Sunday brings similar fortune. Twice may be a coincidence, but three times would establish a pattern. In short, Mr. Mom has a message to Mr. Lionel Richie - next time you are a penning a sweet ballad, come over for a visit. It may just turn out to be a heavy metal song.

Our Ballerina

I had to get a quick post up so Mike's mugshot doesn't hit my eyeballs everytime I go the blog site. I have several blog posts in my head, but I suppose that doesn't help any of you in any way. I always plan to blog on Wednesday nights while Mike is at fastpitch, but the past few have found me completely wiped out, lolling on the couch, watching House Hunters or some such drivel. Here is a photo of Annalise in her ballet outfit for her first dance recital, held in early June at the Performing Arts Center at EP high school. She also had a tap routine, where she wore a hot pink terry cloth costume that looked like a towel for Splish Splash.

America's Most Wanted

Have you seen this man? If so, or if you have any other information regarding his whereabouts, contact our tipline at 1-800-GET-HELP.

Description: Adult caucasian male in mid-30's in various states of cleanliness
Height: 6 ft.
Weight: Gradually shifting from elsewhere to his midsection
Eyes: Blue and frequently glazed over
Hair: Lacking, except on face, chest, shoulders, and back
Last Seen: Various locations throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area with three adolescents (one female, two male), all of whom were likely whining about something
Vocal Characteristics: Monotone with a tendency to repeat himself to his companions over and over and over and over and over and over ....

The suspect is considered unarmed and relatively safe, but extreme caution should be taken. Suspect may be lured into custody by offering beer, Chipotle burritos without beans or corn salsa, or a chance to view sports on television.

It's T Ball Season!

B is playing on a T Ball team for the first time, and is having a blast! It is so fun to watch him in ready position, field grounders, step up to bat, and run the bases. He is really having a fun time, and his coach is great! He looks so cute in his ball pants and uniform shirt. B loves being on a team. I think Mike loves seeing Bennett learn the fundamentals, and is looking forward to him joining his fastball team in 2021!

Missing Post!

The post of Annalise holding her Pirates Gold poster is missing, and from reading the blogspot blog sounds like it may be restored at some point. If not I'll have to redo it, but I'm waiting a few more days until posting again. It took me so long to start blogging again, it would kill me for all of my work to be lost. Hang in there...

The Cake Boss strikes again!

Bennett's Fifth Birthday cake was adorned with Spiderman. The family party guests played his game as well, supplying him with a generous supply of superheros and requisite villians. He also got some marbles, which was quite thrilling, as they previously had been restricted to fun time at G&G J's house. Bennett loves being five, and we are so proud of him. Super B, Captain B America, we love you.

Our Fearless Five Year Old!

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had Bennett's birthday party at Wood Lake nature center. It was a great experience! It was really cold outside, but the kids did get bundled up and go on a short critter hunt with the naturalist, Brandon. He was excellent with kids, and we all learned some interesting things. Since the outdoors portion was cut short due to the weather, Brandon added some live animal action, with our own private petting zoo! Bennett held a snake, we also got to touch a frog and a turtle. Bennett had a nice group including a cousin, two school friends, two siblings, and those crazy kids from the H House.

C is for Cookie!

Our first year of Daisies brought our first Girl Scout Cookie Sale! It was a fun experience overall, and we learned a lot of things for next year. I really liked the online sales tool. It helped us track orders, and had a nice visual of cookie boxes stacking up to illustrate how close each girl was to her goal. We had to quickly adjust A's goal, since we sold cookies much more quickly than we had anticipated. It was really fun working together to get the wagon or sled stocked, to monitor our cookie inventory, and to put together orders that we received via the website into bags or boxes to deliver to customers.

One of the first weekends of the cookie sale, our troop met at an assisted living high rise, to sell cookies to residents on their way out of church (we're not just cute, you know). When we pulled into the parking lot, I read a bumper sticker on a car next to us that read something along the lines of, 'don't tell the kids where we are' and then we got in to a discussion about people who lived in a senior apartment building, and that they were retired. Once Bennett heard about this great thing called Retirement, he wanted in. He said, "I want to retire right now!" Annalise, visibly riled, exclaimed, "but, BENNETT, you're not even in Kindergarten yet!"

How cute is this?

My sister and brother-in-law invited our family and my parents to their family's cabin the last weekend of January. Here's a shot of the crew watching Aristocats on VHS (f.y.i. NOT politically correct!) The men tried a little ice fishing, Mom and I read our Kindles (thanks for loaning me Hunger Games, Danielle), and we got the kids all bundled up once to head out on the ice, but the walking was tough for little legs in big drifts.

Our Lovely First Grader

Girl Scout Daisy meetings have been going very well all school year. We meet at school every two weeks on Monday night for 1.5 hours. We had an Investiture Ceremony where the girls got their pins and recited the Girl Scout Law and the Girl Scout Promise for their families.

We all went to school one day to see Annalise's class performance of Snow White (above, greeting her audience, and curtsy-ing). They learned their lines, practiced, and performed all in one day. Annalise was a fairy (a liberty the playwright took for sake of class size), and enjoyed dressing up.

Annalise is trying out many different sports, and is interested in several. She went to a hockey clinic, where she already seemed ahead of the game since she was skating so well, as well as a fastpitch softball clinic, put on by the Hopkins high school team. She loved learning how to slide, throw the ball, catch, and bat, but did not end up signing up for a team this summer, because she is not interested in participating in a game-type situation. Perpetual practice is her preference!

The Valley Girl, the Political Science Major, and the Curmudgeon

Hey Blogheads. If you are still out there, I commend you. Milk & O's has suffered immensely due to Mr. Mom's blogging laziness (i.e. eating bon-bons and watching Oprah) and Mrs. Dad's preference to spend the majority of her interweb time networking (i.e. MyFace postings, status updates, pokes, and other jargon I will never understand). Regardless, the FroderFive are alive and kickin'.


Ms. A is 6 going on 13. Life as a 1st grader seems good. She maintains her own unique sense of fashion, comedy, mannerisms, and stubbornness. Dance class continues to be her passion, but Mr. Mom got her out of her comfort zone by signing her up for two days of fastpitch softball clinic and one day of "Intro to Hockey" clinic. For each of the three days it took her about 15 minutes to observe, thoroughly assess the situation, and work up the appropriate level of fortitude to join in the action. Once doing so, she did very well in each of the activities, and Mr. Mom had a hard time keeping the smile off his face while watching (from a safe distance so as not to be seen by A, of course).

Mr. Mom and Mrs. Dad wish her life of academia would be a little more challenging, but her genius is so great that the elementary school curriculum is obviously inadequate. Is 2nd grade too early for admission to Harvard? Frequent trips to Boston would benefit Mr. Mom and his Union Oyster House (http://www.unionoysterhouse.com/) oyster-on-the-half-shell habit.

Ms. A is also picking up a second language, Valley Girl. She can fit the word "like" into any sentence at any time, and does so with recurring fervor. For good measure, Mr. Mom often gets a "Seriously Dad?!?" comment. Like, who needs Spanish or Mandarin when you, like, never go to Spainia or Mandarinistan? Also, Mrs. Dad got told the other day that her fireplace mantle decor was "lame". It was classic.

Mr. B is his same effervescent self. He turns 5 on Monday, and Mr. Mom is frequently battling bouts of the surreal nature. How can this little boy be 5? Shouldn't he be toddling around the house grunting, picking on his older sibling, and being the Master of Disaster? Well, I guess he still does all those things, albeit to a lesser degree. And he still sucks his thumb for good measure, but we are working hard on stopping that.

He is our extroverted social butterfly, and we love him for that. So do the ladies apparently. On 1/28/11 I was waiting for B to wash his hands before he said good-bye and headed off into his classroom. The mom of one of the girls from his class approached me to tell me that her daughter said the day before that "I love B with all my heart." It must be a brother-sister kind of love though because according to B, this other little Italian number, a mature kindergartner no less, told B that they "were to marry." Mr. Mom can't relate. I'm still trying to figure out how I tricked Mrs. Dad.

This is Mr. B's birthday extravaganza weekend, but alas one of his preferred guests probably won't make it. The other day, B found a nickel while getting into the truck, so we were talking about Thomas Jefferson, which segued into discussions of other presidents. After correctly telling me that George Washington was the first president and that Barack Obama was the current president, he paused and said, "I want to write Barack Obama a letter thanking him for being president. And I want to invite him to my birthday. He could president my party." I said, "Good idea B. We'll get right on that." I guess Obama may have considered such an invitation. That is unless B decided to have a tea party. Badumpump.

More so than Ms. A, Mr. B is openly enthused about the idea of playing sports. We had him signed up for "Sports Camp" at the posh Edina Family Center for December and January, and he played PhyEd-type games, while also being formally introduced to soccer, t-ball, football, and lacrosse. He loved it, and to see him run and play with such unbridled joy melted Mr. Mom's crusty old heart. However, one day when I asked B what his favorite thing to do at Sports Camp was, he gave the answer, "Have snack. Then play Animal Tag." Classic B.


Mr. C is an old man in the body of a 2 year old. We see a lot of this curmudgeon face shown here on the left. We also hear a lot of "No!" or "Mine!" Must be all that bad stay-at-home-dad parenting. Luckily C flashes that smile and unleashes that laugh just enough to offset it. We love going to "school" on Thursday mornings, even though it is lowly Eden Prairie ECFE and not the amazing, super, terrific Edina ECFE that A and B experienced with the former primary caregiver of FroFamily Inc. C is a hit in class. The other moms and the three teachers dig him, especially during song time. They are even warming up to the enigma that is Mr. Mom. Predictably I'm the only dad in class, but I kind of like it that way.

That should sufficiently whet your appetite for more Milk & O's and I promise to blog more regularly.

Mr. Mom out.

Birthdays

I had a really nice birthday this year. After our traditional birthday family breakfast of cinnamon rolls (from a can) and opening presents, I had a fun day at work. I mentioned reading my Kindle in a previous post, and this was my gift from Mike and the kids. I also bought myself a "work birthday present" that I had coveted for a very long time- shiny, black patent Dansk surgical clogs, style: Petrol! They look like an oil spill. I looked down at my feet all day and smiled. I didn't want to put on shoe covers and cover their beauty, but common sense took over, as they wouldn't be as beautiful splattered with blood. After work, Mike had a neighborhood girl come over to babysit, and we met Mark and Danielle at Mozza Mia for dinner. It was supposed to be a crazy night, where Mark would drive us all around in the minivan so we could get whipped into an intoxicated frenzy, but we ended up meeting them at the restaurant, as it snowed quite a bit on my birthday. Danielle had a long, stressful, traffic-filled drive to her sisters to drop off the boys, and we had to get a Morgan/Coke for her straight away to ease the tension of the night. The craziness will have to be postponed, maybe for Danielle's birthday in April, since we all sputtered out pretty early (led by Danielle, but eagerly embraced by me), and called it a night after dinner.

Next up, B's birthday. We already have his party booked at a nearby nature center. We are going to have a critter hunt. I think he will really enjoy it. We are doing the 'green party' where they provide all of the plates, cups, etc. instead of buying disposable party ware. I'm excited to hear who he would like to invite to his party. I can't believe our little boy is turning 5! Weaning him from thumb sucking has been quite the battle, and I can't say we're anywhere near cessation, but I do think he's cut down some. And he's been dry at night for a very long time. He still doesn't like to do fine motor things like snap his jeans, or pull on his socks, or take off his shirt, but part of that is his personality, I think, as he likes the attention and closeness when we are helping him with these things. I can't imagine what the next school year in Kindergarten will bring...

Hopeful

I think things are finally looking up, in terms of my social life. Throughout this winter, I've felt like everyone else is out doing fun things, and I am stuck at home, with the world passing me by. In actuality, I bet everyone else is at home much of the time too, but it made my sorry-for-myself mood more dramatic to think that the world was having a fantastic time without me.
On Friday night, one of the neighborhood women with kids of similar ages to mine invited a small group to her house for wine and appetizers. We had such a fun time, and it was so nice to walk down the street right after the kids were in bed, and be there! I really hope to start doing more with the neighbors, and stop feeling like the 'new neighbors.' It's been a year already after all. It will be a great group to socialize with, even with the kids included, once the weather warms up again.
Saturday, A had another birthday party. I headed down to Apple Valley with the boys to visit Becky at her new home, and meet her 5 month old daughter, baby J. This was something that needed to happen, since we hadn't seen each other since our last birthday, when we went out to eat together and she shared that she was pregnant. Mike and A came down after the birthday party, and we had a nice dinner. The kids were all playing so nicely that we stayed out a few hours past bedtime.
On Sunday, I volunteered in the nursery at church (as part of the arrangement for dropping Colin off at nursery each Sunday). I shouldn't have to do it more than 4 or 5 times a year, and it wasn't as bad as I was imagining. After lunch, we went to see Sesame Street Live, Elmo's Healthy Heroes downtown. One of my docs gave us tickets, and we had a great view of the stage. We all really enjoyed the show, and popcorn, and cotton candy. This was the first time that we'd ever done one of these big productions, and it was a positive experience. It was so fun to watch the kids more than the show, to see the rapt attention and delight in their faces. After we got home from the show, and everyone got set up for napping, I went to Dick's to look at yoga clothes, then wandered through Target, and headed to the club with my Kindle and rode the stationary bike. It was amazing how just a few hours recharged me and put me in a great mood.

Christmas 2010- Photos

Christmas Eve in PL, and a few from Christmas morning.

Macy's 8th Floor

This year we found the perfect time to see the holiday display at Macy's (Dayton's for life...). We went on the day before Thanksgiving, and walked straight in. It was a little weird meeting up with Santa when it was still November, but great to not stand in line with whiny kids. (The kids all had a wonderful time, and no one was whiny, even when the cheeseballs packed for snack ran out!) The display this year had a theme of 'Day in the Life of an Elf' and we all really enjoyed it. We also had fun taking the light rail downtown.

Happy Birthday, C!

Looking through my photos, I realized that along with lots of things, I failed to blog about Colin's birthday. We had a party with the theme of balls- footballs, basketballs, baseballs- Colin loves them all. And that boy has got an arm! He has a way of throwing a ball at you from point blank range that is cute and scary at the same time. I'm happy to report that our television screen is still intact. The thing I would like to remember about this birthday was how Colin savored his birthday gifts. He would inspect the wrapped box, then gingerly peel the tape from one of the side flaps, then repeat on the other side, before sliding the present out of the paper- it was hilarious to watch our two year old hold the whole room of guests in suspense, while he stopped just short of folding the wrapping paper as he unwrapped his presents.

Seventies Stylin'!

These are just a few pictures we took at home before Mark's party. I need to get some copies of the photos taken at the party, to help memorialize such a fun night.

Hello? Is Anybody Still There?

Poor, poor blog. We've been going through a rough patch, blogging-wise, not life-wise. Life has been pretty wonderful, actually, which is probably inversely proportional to the speed of my blog updating. So, here is a super speedy rehash of the last few months of 2010. As well as a renewed effort to blog more frequently in 2011...

1. NOVEMBER

Seventies Redeux- Danielle hosted an awesome 1970's themed party for Mark's 40th birthday. Mike had a full beard leading up to the party, and accessorized his polyester with a 1970's era mustache. It was pretty freaky, and while it was fun for the night, I was glad to see the razor come out the next day.

Thanksgiving was a wonderfully low-key event. Bridget and Steve were on their rotation with the in-laws, so it was just the five of us at Mom and Dad's. We had a great meal, and a really relaxing day in P.L.

2. DECEMBER

I was fortunate to have some PTO to burn, so it was nice taking off some days in early December for Christmas shopping (as well as the week of Thanksgiving). Thanks to G and G for watching the kids, so Mike and I could have a really productive day. We were able to swing through the old neighborhood and have a nice lunch at Blackbird, in its new location- 38th and Nicollet! I definitely would like to plan a shopping day sans kids next December.

Bridget and Steve joined us in celebrating Mike's birthday this year. We went to the new Psycho Suzy's for a drink, before heading to Jax for too decadent of a meal. I hope next time, Bridget will be able to enjoy her meal.

We had a really terrific Christmas this year. Colin really got into opening presents, and it was so fun to watch him rip off a corner of wrapping paper, and squeal in delight, as if he knew what he was opening. The tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the elves came to our house quite early this year, to check in and report back to Santa that we were ready for his visit. However, such an early visit from the elves made for a long wait until the Big Day.

I had fun making batches of cookies, so I was ready with a cookie plate whenever we went for a visit somewhere. I made cardamom cookies, almond triangles, molasses cookies, pumpkin cookies, double chocolate cherry cookies, and orange/dark chocolate dipped cookies. I really enjoyed the cardamoms and plan on making them again for sure, and the molasses cookies were also a hit.

I gave Mike a package of Gopher Basketball tickets for his birthday this year, and the first game was against South Dakota on 12/23. Mom and Dad graciously agreed to let the kids sleep over, so we dropped them off, went to the game, and went back to our house childless, to wrap presents, and then sleep in a bit on Christmas Eve morning. I think that was hands-down Mike's favorite Christmas present.

We tried Christmas mass at Pax this year, since St. Mike's has always been so packed, and while we were relegated to the downstairs gymnasium, it didn't feel as chaotic and useless as past years in P.L. Steve stayed home with Laurel, and had dinner all ready to go when we arrived back home.

Favorite toys opened this year included Annalise's soccer cleats, ball, and shin guards. She looked so grown up when she tried it all on. Now we have to find a soccer league... Bennett handled the disappointment well of his Cars Piston Cup racetrack not working. Mike got it all set up, only to find it wasn't working. After depleting our supply of D batteries, I schlepped to the Super America in my pajama pants to buy their overpriced D batteries, and was disappointed to find that it was not a problem with batteries, but with the toy itself. Once we got it exchanged at Toys R Us the next week and set up all over again, all the kids had a lot of fun with it. Colin doesn't really have a standout favorite toy, although he probably enjoyed the goofball that Santa brought him, because it was immediately available, fun to touch, and ready to throw at unsuspecting family members not ready to catch it at close range/high velocity.

We had fun playing in our pajamas Christmas morning, and didn't head to Okabena until late afternoon. We had Christmas on Sunday morning, and headed back home on Sunday night. We had to get home, as A and B both had swim camp Monday through Thursday the last week of the year. It was fun to be at home that week, able to watch swimming lessons, and see so much of the kids and Mike, but of course I wasn't as productive as I would have liked.

I don't want to chance getting this post erased, as I've hit the "add photos" button several times without anything happening, so I will just get this posted, and add photos later. I really will, I promise!