The Year-End Wrap-Up (in January!)

IMG_4615
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Here's a photo wrap-up of the second half of December. I'm not quite sure where the time goes, but somehow it slips by without me getting a chance to update this blog. So, here goes.

Megan had her school program on December 18th. They were super cute with their "Hot Chocolate" song. Here's the class photo:



She had a class Christmas party after the program where we made gingerbread houses, decorated cookies, and made a little foam gingerbread girl. Here's Megan with her teacher, Mrs. Bergl.



Jake had his program on the same day, so Darin went to that one and got it on video. Sorry - no photos here. He ended up singing (he had been threatening for weeks that he wasn't going to be in the show). He's still singing the Christmas songs like crazy....along with Lady Gaga & Miley Cyrus, etc....Maybe he'll be a theater guy -- happy in the spotlight like his dad.

The day after all of the programs, I chaperoned Megan's field trip to the Museum of Science & Industry. That really is such a cool place. We saw quite a bit in the two short hours that we spent ther. Here's the U-505 exhibit:



On the 19th, we met Will, Lili & Pierce in Wilmette to see a Mrs. Claus Christmas play. Here are the kids and Mrs. Claus (Mrs. Claus happens to be my friend, Sharon - from my old golf league).



On Dec. 20th, Megan got to go to the American Girl store with Mimi and Aunt Jenny. Here is a photo of Megan and Julie Albright:



I think Julie is her favorite gift of all time. That doll has been by her side since then. She took Julie to the O'Donnell's house on the 21st (Debbie watched them that day) and 22nd. On that Tuesday, the 22nd, Debbie took all of the kids sledding and Megan had a run-in with another girl at the snow hill. She came home with a red mark on her face and woke up the next morning with a nice Christmas shiner:



On the 23rd, I took the kids to the Children's Museum. They had a fabulous time running the Potbelly Sandwich shop. They were so funny - I should have just brought a magazine and hung out. I sat at a table, Megan worked the register and made sandwiches, while Jake took orders and delivered sandwiches to all of the adults that were sitting in there. It was so funny to watch him bring food to people that he didn't know and say things like, "Here's your order". Then he would come back and say, "Are you done with this yet?" and clear the table for them. They worked the grocery store too, but that one didn't last as long:That night, Uncle Jimmy babysat while we went to Naha for Darin's birthday. Woo hoo!

We spent Christmas Eve at the Cleaveland's. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins.





And I like this photo -- 3 generations of Collings boys:



And Megan and Lili hanging out with Kai Lan....and acting silly!



On Christmas Day, we hosted a casual gathering and got to visit with Scott & Grandma Helen, Grandpa Jim and Ruth, Brian, Christina, Damien & Ada. (of course Jimmy was here too since he lives here!) This is a fun photo of the kids acting silly:



After Christmas, Aunt Jenny and Uncle Flipper came over and we all went sledding. It was a pretty lame hill, but the kids still had fun. We're gonna have to find a better one before the season is over.



And we'll finish here with an action shot:



P.S. We also went to a crazy New Year's Eve party at Ben & Jen's house, but I don't have any photos of that. They hired babysitters for all of the kids (there were probably 35 kids there - yikes). They had a DJ and a balloon drop. Megan was bummed that we didn't stay for the balloon drop. We left at about 10:30. We were home by 11:00 and did a little 10-second countdown, said "Happy New Year" and put the kids to bed! She finished off her two-week school break with a Northwestern Women's Basketball game. It was Scout day, so she got a fun patch for her vest. When they got home, she had her first ice skating experience on our neighbor's backyard ice rink. She loved it. Today I got her a pair of skates and she was back out there for another round tonight!

Winter Fun!

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Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Yep - winter has arrived. When the first sight of snow hit us last Tuesday morning, the kids were so excited. Jake looked out the window and said, "wow" (that's his latest word). They got dressed and were out the door and making tracks by 7:15. Usually, we're dragging them out the door to make it to school on time. That day, we were dragging them out of the snow to make it to school on time!

It got really cold yesterday and Megan and Jake were discussing their coat options. This is what I overheard:

M: Jake - it's a puffy coat, not a puppy coat.
J: NOOOO. Mom said it's a puppy coat.
M: No she didn't. She said, "puffy coat".
J: I wanna get a puppy. Do you, Meg?

Here's Megan's first snow angel of the season:



Megan was going into the bathroom the other day and wanted to close the door to gain some privacy from her brother. Jake stood on the outside of the closed door and said, "I can still see you. With my laser eyes".

A while back, I had sent them upstairs to get ready for bed. Jake was complaining about being afraid of the dark. Megan said to him, "Jake, you sleep in the dark every night. Mom sneaks in and turns your light off after you fall asleep". Nice.

Here are their school pictures from this year:



Notice the skull tattoo on his arm. That tattoo had been through countless baths. I truly thought it was going to be a head shot, so I wasn't worried about his outfit. Had I thought about the fact that he's so small, I probably would have put him in a long-sleeved shirt. Oops.



When the photos were sent home, I showed it to Megan and she looked at it, frowned a little bit, and said, "I don't like my smile."

Jake had a play date with his best friend Sean the other day and they went to the basement to play. I heard him from upstairs saying, "That is where Jimmy sleeps. Do you have a Jimmy?" As if everyone has a "Jimmy". So funny.

We went to our December girl scout meeting on Wednesday. On the way there, Megan was talking about this being a meeting that kids can go to. Jake asked if it was only for girls. I said, "Yeah, it's for girls and boys who are Daisy brothers". He lit up and said, "I'm a Daisy Brother!" He has a good time when we're there. He does the crafts with the girls. When we first sat in our Daisy circle, Jake was standing behind me and whispered in my ear, "Mom, what about my vest?" (I had forgotten his makeshift Daisy vest- oops).

One last Jake story. His preschool class has been practicing for their Christmas program. She grabbed me when I dropped him off at school on Wednesday to tell me that Jake had not planned on being in the program. Here's how it went down:

Jake: I'm not gonna be in the program.
Miss Riley: Why not, Jake?
J: I don't want to.
MR: Okay, you don't have to.
(meanwhile all of the kids are sitting on the rug)
MR: Alright. If you're going to be in the Christmas program, stay right here on the rug. Is anyone planning on not being in the program?
(Jake raises hand)
MR: Okay, anyone who does not want to be in the Christmas program, please go sit over at the table.
(Jake goes happily)
MR: Okay, I've got a little something for my performers. Let's sing! (she handing out little suckers while saying this last line).

Jake jumps up from the table, singing loudly, "Baby.....Baby Jesus....Born on Christmas Day".

She said he's the only kid in the class who knows all of the words to all of the songs and she's planning on putting him right in the middle! Hopefully he actually sings.

Funny Guy

It's the Earth!
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Jake is always coming up with something funny. He was playing with Play-Doh one morning while Megan was at school and I let him play with blue and white together (usually he gets only one color at a time, otherwise they get mixed into brown). He was so excited and got them partially mixed, then he held his hands out like the photo and said, "Look, Mom, it's the earth!" I was kind of impressed with that one.

Now onto the funny stuff......he was sitting at the counter yesterday and rolled his eyes way up high and said, "Hey, I'm looking inside my body". I wish I had a photo of his face during that one. It was hilarious.

And, on the way home from school, we had passed a house that had a nativity scene set up in their front yard. He pointed to the 3 wise men and said, "Look - it's the God guys".

Googley Eyes

Googley Eyes
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Well - they may have their father's eyes......













BUT, they have their mother's lips:

Girl Scouts!

Pinning Ceremony
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Last week, Megan and the rest of "my troop" had their Investiture Ceremony -- which means they received their Official Daisy Pin. It was pretty cute. Megan and Sarah got to march their flag around the room and they each had to say their first and last name into a microphone in front of a gymnasium full of people. Megan said she wasn't scared at all.

We had our second monthly meeting today. The girls earned their rose colored petal patch (which represents Making the World a Better Place). We organized a food drive for the local food pantry. They made a little turkey pine cone craft and learned a Daisy song. Jake got to come along today. He wanted to wear a vest like Megan, so I added some pins to his fleece vest and he was happy.



Jake is still cracking us up on a daily basis. A few weeks ago, while we were at Damien's birthday party, Christina told Damien to come out of his room to say goodbye to Uncle Jimmy. Jake looked at them and serious as can be, said, "That Uncle Jimmy - he's ours". I guess he's not ready to share his uncle.

Speaking of Jimmy, Jake was telling us that Jimmy has a fat belly and proceeded to stick his belly out as hard as he could and turned quite red in the process. It was pretty funny.



Jake had picture day at school last week, so I combed his hair and used a little water since it was sticking up a bit. He came down the stairs and said to Jimmy, "My hair is awesome". We're not really sure where he came up with that one.

And, finally, Jake found his Halloween costume from last year and decided to put it on yesterday. It was WAY too small, but he ended up keeping it on for about 6 hours. Then, he got up this morning and put it on again for a little while. I think I have to hide it.



We made a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden on Sunday since it was so nice outside. Our neighbor, Francesca, came with us. Nothing funny here, just a nice photo:



And, Darin pointed out that Megan has found her "me time". She gets into the shower and sings like there's no tomorrow. She literally sings the entire time she's in there and couldn't care less as to who might be listening. I'm gonna have to record it.

Good Times

Funny Faces with Grandma
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

The last few weeks have been fun and busy. A couple of weeks ago, we paid a visit to Grandma Helen and Scott. The kids had a great time running around with Scott and enjoying the birthday cake that Grandma got to celebrate my birthday and Scott's birthday. They got them to make funny faces for this photo :-)

My kids seem to have a lot of photos of themselves flying through the air. So, I figured I'd add another for all to see:



And then, since it's always the kids flying around, we decided to add one of Darin:



There's not much of a story to go with this photo. I just happened to love this rare moment:



We made it to the Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago, as well. We ended up spending over 3 hours there. They had such a great time and since we got there closer to lunchtime, it wasn't crowded at all. They seem to like the facepainting station the best. They get to decorate their own faces:



and here's Jake:



And, finally, Halloween turned out to be quite fun. Jake was enough of a sport to put a mask on for a photo. He literally told me, "I'll put it on for only the picture, mom". I was able to snap two photos and then he was on his way....trick or treating in his jeans and coat again.



And, Megan embraced her role as Bat Girl. Here's some of that Girl Power in action:

Some stuff...

The troop
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Here's a picture of Megan's scout troop. Yes - there are lots of them. This is why my stress levels are high. That's a lot of kids to register, organize and keep busy. What was I thinking?

Megan came with me to watch the Chicago Marathon a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty chilly that morning, but she was a great cheerleader.


Some of my friends asked her if she was going to run a marathon someday and she was pretty positive that she would. On the way home from dropping Jake off at school today, Megan was asking me if I ever won a race. I explained that I had when I was younger, but not so much lately. I asked her if she was going to be a runner and she said, "Yes....and a doctor. I can be two things, right?"

There's one more funny Meganism that comes to mind. Often, she will ask if we can watch the Hurting Show. Go on, take a guess as to which show that is! Yep, America's Funniest Home Videos. I guess someone is always getting hurt on that one.

Jake has decided that Halloween is scary and he doesn't want to dress up. When someone asks him what he's going to be for Halloween, his reply is either, "nothing" or "just Jake". I guess it's not his thing. He's not really a fan of the dark either. We usually have to turn on lights before he'll get near a room. One morning last week, the light in the stairwell was on and it was too bright so he asked me to turn it off. I was holding his hand when he stumbled a little bit on the stair and he said, "The dark felled me".

Ok, now the latest thing that my kids were up to. This morning, I went to the grocery store while Jimmy was home with them. Megan wanted to paint his face and he agreed. The following is what I came home to. They named him the clown lion. All I can say is he wins the award for being the most fun today.