Snow Day

I have been so busy finishing the semester, making plans for snowmaggedon, and eating eating eating round the clock that I have neglected to share the bajillion pictures of fun winter events I've taken lately.

But never fear!  The last batch of dough of the season (maybe) is in the fridge, as are 3 containers of freshly mixed butter cream frosting (green! red! white!) ready for tomorrow's snow day baking fiesta--our second snow day in a row, by the way.  My grades are all submitted.  The final exam for the course I direct was cancelled (that NEVER happens), and it is thundersnowing outside.  Ben and I are mindlessly flipping between MSNBC, the Game Show Network, and our DVR'd White House Christmas.  What I am saying is I have plenty of time to blog. 

 We went to the Snow Days celebration at Harry's school, and Jack was sure to bring a camera so he could take pictures.  ADORABLE.

This was about as good of a shot as I could get even though Harry was in the front because I had to stand in the back with my stroller of whiny baby. And I forgot my camera and only had my phone. MOTY.

But I did get the elf next to his elf.

Ben had a class, and the school thing was really chaotic.  I only had 2 of the kids (NOT THE SAME 2) with me at one time.  But we came home for Hanukkah night 6-- Animal PLanet dinosaur sets for all-- only a little fighting.

Hanukkah night 7-- Blackhawks jerseys for the big boys.  A shape-sorting turtle for Cooper-- he likes sorting shapes, by the way, and I like that he does not get frustrated by guessing incorrectly-- it's pretty cute.

Cooper is a big fan of pretending to be a real person.  He;s neater with a spoon than Harry or Jack.

Hanukkah night 8.  Jack was dying to see what was in the big box.

Harry was happy with his Power Rangers weapons.

Jack liked the crane.

Cooper really got the hang of unwrapping

And he always digs Elmo

We took a quick trip to the Chicago suburbs to celebrate Ben's grandma's 85th birthday.  Cooper showed off his fork skills.

Ben posed with his cousins.

The next morning, the boys were surprised with a package from Mrs. Claus postmarked from North Pole Alaska, thanks to our friend and a fellow Bradley speech alum who was there on business and thought of our kids-- how awesome is that?

Jack took this shot of me-- ha!

And this one of Ben and Cooper.

My parents surprised us with the Christmas dishes I have been coveting for Chrismukkah (I love how much our tree looks like this tree). And now I am totally collecting Christmas Tree Spode-- I have my eye on the cookie jar...

Made a million gingerbread boys and girls for Harry and Jack to take to school (and for us to eat)-- they looked pretty weird, but OMG they tasted amazing.  I say tasted because even though I made them on Tuesday, they are basically gone (maybe 2 left).

So far today, we've gotten 18 inches of snow and are supposed to get more.  Of course the kids were happy to play outside

And we went through the arduous process of getting everyone outside.

They helpfully shoveled out Ben's car.

Cooper didn't get dressed all day-- he seemed fine with it

Enjoyed a snack in a new location.

 

So much snow.

Aggressivley Mundane

I know it's almost break, and we will all be together in a big lazy pile of lazy, but this day!  zOMG.

Woke up at 5 to grade for the online class I teach on the side.

Went to campus at 7 and stayed until 11:10, which was 10 minutes later than I should have stayed, to grade final papers and take-home exams and write rec letters and save a bunch of files on a jump drive so I can work from home when we get snowed in later this week. (And now that I have prepared and rescheduled a meeting, we will get ZERO SNOW INCHES)

Spelled Ben so he could go for his annual physical and took Cooper and Jack to the bank, Fannie May, and Target for teacher gifts, including the class one I am organizing.

Put Cooper down for a nap and cleaned up lunch while Ben folded laundry

At 2:07, Ben realized I needed to bring a snack to share for Harry's after school Spanish club party and he put together a fantastic fruit tray in 10 minutes.

2:30, went to Spanish club for 35 minutes.  It was adorbs.  Found out from a friend that the teacher appreciation cookie exchange needs volunteers.  For tomorrow morning.  Volunteered.

Came home at 3 to frantically email TAs to reschedule exam meeting for before the blizzard.  Made a spreadsheet to record their answers to my frantic email.

Took H and J to the grocery store to get cookie supplies on the way to karate

Arrived at karate with 2 seconds to spare, which gave me PLENTY OF TIME to figure out how to spell their teacher's name so we could give her her holiday gift.

Spent the last 40 minutes filling in my spreadsheet and sending emails while cheering on the kids.  On my way to pick up pizza after karate.

Will clean up dinner, put away laundry, put children to bed, and bake 4 dozen cookies after I work out tonight.

Did I mention this all started at 5???

(OMG-- the moms behind me at LG are talking about how their toddlers have been puking, and one of them JUST COUGHED ALL OVER ME)

This could be me-- collapsed in tears with my Swiffer at the end of a long day.

Hanukkah nights 3, 4, and 5

I realize that the only photographic evidence i have of this holiday is a bunch of awkward badly lit pics of the kid heads as they open gifts. Oops.

Night 3-- a basement hockey set and hockey necklaces for the big boys, Little People Cars cars for Coop.  I was at work, so Ben did this one solo.

Night 4-- Ninja Turtles fo the big boys and Sesame Street guys for Cooper.  Ben was at work, so I did this one solo.

Night 5-- actually in the morning becase both of us were late last night and the kids had a sitter.

Coloring books and crayons were hits all around

See?

Jack was trying to take a picture of my belly.  Which is not s big as my butt and thighs.

Safe and sanitary.  There were 4 bags of chocolate chips in this huge batch of cookies.

Today has the potential to be a major FAIL.

All the first grades at Harry's school have a snow celebration concert where they are going to recite poems and sing songs and then gather in the cafeteria for a 5-class cast party with parents and special visitors.  The thing is, Ben has class, and I can't find a sitter, so me and Jack and Coop will have to be Harry's visitors.  This would be complicated enough by itself, but I am also a class room mom and am supposed to be there early to set up and then stay to help clean up.  And what are the odds that my kids will be good for like 2 hours during naptime?  NOT VERY GOOD.  Which is why I made a double batch of ridiculously chippy cookies-- bribery for the littles.

(The snacks at the cast party, though, have to be "healthy," per other room mom requests. Which, apparently, means no sugar? or butter?  BUT THEY AREN'T ORGANIC, which I get because that shit's expensive. And apparently the more processed the healthier as long as it doesn't have natural things like butter and sugar WTF? I just don't get people's nutritional rules sometimes.  God forbid the kids could have a cookie or a brownie as a treat, but they can be exposed to pesticides and chemicals and dyes and processed bullshit 24/7 AND THAT'S OKAY?  Actually the AAP is FINALLY saying it's not and encouraging people to not feed their kids bug killer DUH DUH DUH. 
Sorry this got so ranty, but I just don't get it-- what the kids eat on special occasions for a treat is not the problem-- the garbage they consume daily-- especially garbage that gets misleadingly labeled as healthy-- IS the problem.  So I am a little annoyed that brownies or cookies I might bring made with whole ingredients are no good, but processed cheese products and crackers with GMOs in the fine print are totes fine, as are dye-filled fruit snacks and flipping juice boxes???  I have no problem with my kids eating this stuff sometimes and sometimes they even get conventional produce, but holy hell let's figure out what's really bad for us, okay? I am under no illusion that my cookies are a healthy snack, but at least I can pronounce every single ingredient that's in them, and none of those ingredients has pesticides. If we are going to insist on "healthy" snacks, then they really should be healthy, not just low in sugar-- and I guarantee you some of the crackers, pretzels,juice boxes and fruit snacks at the healthy party have HFCS, which makes no sense to me at all.)

Right now, I am hanging out at my doctors office processing the disgusting glucose challenge orange drink.  It's actually kind of good-- makes me wish I had a fish filet and fries to go with it...

All that stands between me and a month of nothing to do ever with my husband also home with nothing to do ever and our kids only off for 2 weeks, is 23 15-page research papers and 23 10-page take-home final exams.  Yikes-- that actually sound like a lot!  I'm sure it'll go quickly though, right?  Right?  RIGHT?

Eight Crazy Nights: Night 2

Ben has so much Chrismukkah spirit he woke up in a panic at 4 am because HE FORGOT TO MOVE THE ELF.

We had a lovely weekend, filled with presents, reindeer, and the first snow of the season.  I took a bajillion pictures, of course.

Harry watches the candle in anticipation while Ben runs down to the storage room for night 1 presesnts

Where else to open your Hanukkah presents but in front of the Christmas tree?

Cooper loves unwrapping.  Ripping stuff up is his favorite!

Dreidel!  For Christmas candy, natch

We hung some pictures this morning, and Cooper was quick to grab his own stool and hammer-- such a helper, that one.

This is what Cooper did to my bathroom and closet while I took a shower.  Not the most relaxing shower I have ever had.

Harry was so excited to wake up to snow-- he couldn't wait to examine each flake under his microscope.  THIS JUST IN: NO 2 SNOWFLAKES ARE ALIKE.  Hypothesis confirmed.

Yard snowman with abandoned toy features.

Snowboarding.  I hope no one builds on this lot for awhile.

Snow/dirt angel

Ben totally biting it on Harry's snowboard.

By the time Cooper woke up, it had really started to snow

Cooper was not thrilled about the snow or about putting on his boots.  You have not lived until you have wrestled a one year-old into snow pants and boots and mittens.  Damn those mittens.

He kept falling down.

Aren't we dreamy

I will not miss the porta potties when our neighborhood is finally built.

Who spray paints a snowman?

Snowman building is clearly dangerous for the special helmeted snowflakes.

I felt very MOTY-ish with my deconstructed s'more snack

Local landscaping company had reindeer today.  They were cool, although we ditched the official reindeer picture line to just go check out Vixen and Dasher in their pen-- the snow was wet and heavy, and Cooper was not amused.

Part 1 of the bedroom shuffle entails getting all the crap put of our guest room, including all of our family pictures.  We re-framed 3 and added a brand new one from our holiday photo shoot and put them over our bed-- I love the final product.

I am not usually a fan of family pictures in public rooms (weird, I know), but I had to make an exception for a couple shots of the kids in the hall-- they're just too cute.

Hanukkah night 2:  Cooper got a bowhawk and a puzzle

Harry and Jack got Sorry and Pop the Pig, respectively.

We had so much fun playing Sorry with Harry after the little kids went to bed-- his first real board game, besides the game of Life, but we had to help him read that one a few months ago, and tonight, he was his own little player.

I am glad we could relax and savor the weekend, because this week is BRUTAL, but when it's over, we have 5 weeks of vacation.  (Well, I do, anyway :)-- those other suckers have to work/ go to school right after the new year)