Monday, January 22, 2018

December 2017

Christmas!
The biggest event of the entire kid year, and it’s basically all month long! We started with the advent calendar(s) and the advent treasure hunt on December 1. That first weekend, we went to get a tree; slim pickings out there, but we found one we all liked at the second lot we tried, and brought it home, spending what’s maybe my own favorite afternoon of the year decorating it. Even Lukas is old enough now to hang the ornaments, so it was all the more fun. School was basically camp for the last week or so (including Pajama Day, on which I’m assuming very little work gets done by anyone), and the kids were super excited to be the first to put presents under the tree (both homemade and things they bought from the “Penguin Patch” gift shop at school, with their own money). We all loaded up in the Highlander and went to Fantasy of Lights, a perennial favorite. A couple of days before Christmas, we had family movie night and watched A Christmas Story — which finally, FINALLY the kids are as into as we are; the entire rest of the break, they would recite lines from it, re-enact bits of it, fall to pieces laughing at scenes they remembered … Christmas Eve, we baked cookies, snuck off to wrap last-minute presents, hung stockings, and put out treats for Santa & the reindeer, then off to bed (after a bedtime reading of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, of course). Christmas morning, the kids woke early but not awfully so … and Santa had been here!!!! The pile of presents extended well into the living room, and it was all we could do to hold the kids to a couple of presents and the contents of their stockings until R. and I could get the turkey into the oven. But when we did dive into the pile … hoo boy: a giant pile of Harry-Potter-themed pillows, some gorgeous stuffed animals, 1500 wooden dominoes (to set up and knock down), a baseball glove and a guitar for Lukas, these crazy little Cozmo robots for both kids, cameras for both kids, a cool metal jewelry-making kit for Annika, a two-wheeled scooter for Lukas, books, games, puzzles, a fox hoodie for Annika — these kids made out like bandits! The cousins came over for a little while, late in the afternoon; meanwhile, Lukas had come down with a fever that ended up spiking pretty high (103) and lasting for six days, poor thing. But all in all, it was a really really nice Christmas for the whole family. 
Kid Stuff
—Quitting karate (for now?):
Just as quickly as it arrived, the karate train has apparently left the station. Annika stopped first — just flat refused to go anymore, for reasons we don’t understand because she won’t tell us, and then Lukas. We are annoyed and baffled and suspect that at least on her part, it’s about screen time and the fear of being unable to break a board, but she stonewalled us and he doesn’t really care all that much. So for now, at least, we’re allowing our pre-paid term to expire mid-month and that’ll be that for awhile.
—Grandma & Grandpa arrive: The grandparents showed up mid-month, for what might be their last long visit on account of with any luck, their condo will be finished and ready to move into before the next trip!
—Girl Scout stuff: The Scouts were active this month, with a trip to a food bank to deliver their troop’s donations and get a behind-the-scenes tour, and of course the Christmas party at the troop leader’s house, where I helped the girls make ornaments and decorate cookies.
New Year’s Eve
We had a pretty quiet NYE at home — just us and the TV — and Annika had Raina over for a sleepover (long-planned and basically the reason we didn’t do a NYE Sauce, lol). Grandma & Grandpa stayed up through East Coast NYE, then went to bed; we made Lukas go to bed around then, but promised to get him up for the ball drop (which we did). There were noisemakers, those little exploding poppers, homemade crowns for the kids (Annika’s doing, of course), and sparkling beverages (cider for kids, Schramsberg for the grown-ups). Here’s to a great 2018!

Quotable
—“Hey, kid!”
and “I can’t put my arms down!” — both kids all the time, post ACS

Saturday, January 20, 2018

November 2017

Lukas is Six!
Our boy Lukas turned six this month! The big day was on a Saturday, so we had his party at Pump It Up in the morning — tons of little maniacs running around, caroming off the inflatables, screaming — and then in the afternoon, made him the chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate glaze that has now become the family go-to for birthdays and special occasions generally (although the dinner we had, hilariously, was pasta for three, and a PB for one — his birthday, his choice! LOL). He made out like a bandit, present-wise — stuffed animals, marbles, Star Wars shirts, transformers, Legos, Captain Underpants books [sigh], etc. Hard to believe he wasn’t even born when we moved into this house, and now he’s a half-grown tasmanian devil in the form of the sweetest boy in the wide world. 
All-Around Annika
—Girl Scouts: This month, the big event with GS was her troop’s hike to the top of Mt. Umunhum, which is a place you can see from everywhere around here but not that many people have ever been to (including me). She really enjoyed it, even though she has started to say she wants to quit GS …
—iPad time: Annika’s been saving for over a year to buy herself her own iPad mini, and this was the month she finally had enough $$ to do it. R. ordered it to get his discount, and threw in a cover and the AppleCare insurance. We made it clear that the family rules about when and how it is used still apply, and that we would always know its password, and so far, she’s been conscientious about that. She’s very proud of herself for reaching her goal, and so are we.
—Fun outing: Her BFF Raina won the teacher raffle for Mr. Dinh’s class at Dandy Day, which was a trip to a restaurant in the mall with Mr. Dinh and a friend for an item called a “Pizzookie” — a cookie the size of a pizza, with ice cream and stuff on top. Raina invited Annika as her plus-one, and they went on a Friday afternoon to get their treat. 
Lukas Life
—Lukas loses his first tooth! The Tooth Fairy made her first visit for Lukas this month. He lost one of his bottom front teeth, which had been wiggly for weeks — so exciting! He was thrilled, of course, and very surprised that though there was a tiny little bit of blood, it didn’t hurt. In the morning, the tooth was gone, and three shiny gold dollar coins had taken its place — pure magic! He looked extra adorable in all his birthday pics, with the little gap where the tooth used to be …
—Birthday party month: Since Lukas was in TK and all those kids have their birthdays in October and November, we had a flurry of parties to attend, including: Brayden’s, at Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl (a bowling alley and bar, with an undersea theme, inside Bass Pro Shops); Samantha’s, at a gymnastics school (Lukas had an absolute blast at this one!); and Dylan M.’s (at Cucina Bambini, a cooking school for kids, where they made their own pizzas and ice cream treats).
—The TK/Kinder musical performance: On the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, the TK/Kinder classes performed a half-dozen songs in the cafeteria (the same ones from last year). Coincidentally, Lukas’s class were Pilgrims again; he was so flippin’ cute in his little Pilgrim hat and collar!!! And he knew all the songs already, so this was all showmanship … heh. 
Family Time
—Parent-Teacher Conference week: We managed to get both conferences on the same day, one right after the other, so we put the kids on their iPads and got ‘er done. Mr. Dinh, of course, had high praise for Annika academically (she scored in the 99th percentile on a statewide verbal/English assessment and 97th percentile on the math portion, yay!), and mostly socially, with the minor exception of her extreme anxiety around being wrong or being challenged by him or (especially) by peers, which manifests in tears and lashing-out (with which we are already familiar; we just have to keep working on her developing the skills to handle those situations). Mrs. Goldman said Lukas was one of the best readers in his class, knows all the sight words and more, and is doing great with the math skills (again, one of the top kids); it was not news to us that he occasionally is an ungovernable little turkey in class (my phrasing, not hers, lol).
—More painting: We went back to Color Me Mine on Veteran’s Day, since the kids were out of school. Lukas painted an Iron Man head in a variety of fun colors, and Annika painted a set of four coasters, each with a completely unique design. I made a mug for R.’s xmas present that said “I don’t have to outlast Dunder Mifflin. I just have to outlast you.”
—We got a house for Grandma & Grandpa! This month, we actually closed on the condo in the Villages — a 2/1, 913 sq. ft., in need of a total remodel but definitely priced to allow it. The first step to moving them out here! Wooooo!!!!
Thanksgiving
This was the most chill, pleasant Thanksgiving in recent memory — everyone was for the most part calm, happy and mellow; we were able to watch the entirety of the Macy Day Parade without incident, the turkey was FABULOUS, all the sides came out great, Annika made a rich & wonderful dessert almost entirely by herself (chocolate pots, from a Jamie Oliver recipe), everyone ate (even Mister PB had a full plate that he ate … some of), and we had time for a family movie night (Despicable Me 3) before bedtime. Exactly what we all needed! 

Quotable
Annika's response to a crossword clue: "Noah's ___” … ”Bagels?”