Super Slacker

Joffrey Ballet
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Yes, it's been 2 months since my last post. I'm swamped with all of my projects -- selling advertising for the magazine, coordinating the Wisconsin Marathon (it's this Saturday), girl scout leader stuff, Megan's school schedule, Jake's school schedule and regular household stuff. Ugh.

I finally loaded pictures from the end of February when we took the Daisy Scouts to see the Joffrey Ballet performance of Cinderella. Here's Megan all fancied up with her friends, Julia and Maeve.

Here are the kids doing yoga in the family room:



They were pleased that I had found a second yoga mat, and were inspired to practice their poses.

I've got to go add some more photos. More posts to come soon. I promise ;-)

Lunch with Aunt Jenny and more.....

2 Toots
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

We visited the 2 Toots Cafe with Jenny (last month :-) . This place was pretty fun - the train brings your food right to your spot. Woo hoo! Fortunately, we were able to escape without train whistles for the kids.

We've gotten to spend lots of time on the ice at the neighbor's house. Joe has the rink working pretty well these days.



Megan's has has show and tell with various themes throughout the year. The last round had each child bringing in a favorite book that they could "read" to the class. The teacher suggested bringing a book that might be memorized from repetitive readings. We tend to switch it up a lot (or read chapter books), so Megan didn't really have a "go to" book. She chose 'Olivia and the Missing Toy'. I read it to her a few times and she practiced her presentation - this included holding the book for everyone to see the pictures after each page. When it came to her day to bring the book in, she was really nervous and didn't want to put her book into her backpack. While I was getting everyone geared up for the day, I look over and she's cramming for her big presentation. I had to snap a photo:



She came home from school and said it went really well. I found out later that most everyone in the class brought in babyish books that were really easy and hers was one of the longest.

Every now and then, Jake's friend Sean comes over to play. They always have a fabulous time together.



We had a few people over on Superbowl Sunday and the kids really enjoyed Jenny's "Shut the Box" game.



Jake has been crazy about Super Heroes lately. As a matter of fact, when I told him I was going to take him for a haircut, he said he wanted his hair cut like Wolverine. We settled for a bathtub hairdo:



Fun Uncle Jimmy made the kids a snow pile when we got all of that snow a couple of weeks ago. He's also been taking them to the park and they say the slide tends to be faster when it's frozen and they're in snow pants. They built up the snow at the bottom of the slide so that they could land on their butts. Here's a photo of the snow pile in our yard:



More to follow.......

Disney and more....

IMG_5011
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Getting caught up seems to be a common theme with me lately. In early January we went to Walt Disney World. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very good, but we managed. We had one good day in the 60's with sunshine and spent ALL day at the Magic Kingdom. We got there at 8am and didn't get back to the resort until 8pm. The kids had a really good time. We saw all of the princesses. Jake even got a kiss from Cinderella.



And we got our Mickey and Minnie photo before calling it a day:



The next day was nice in the morning. Darin got in a round of golf and I took the kids to a character breakfast. Goofy kept coming by our table and messing with their Mickey ears. They thought that was so funny.



Donald was pretty entertaining too. We got to see a lot of him.



The rest of the trip was rainy and cold. Not much more to report there. Oh well.

Megan has been ice skating at our neighbor's house. They have a good time. We have skate hour on weeknights from 6:00 - 7:00. Jake only likes to "boot" skate. He doesn't trust the skates yet.

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!

IMG_4528
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: