Chain of Events

Last night was quite the series of events. Here's what happened:

10:00 pm Both very tired, Anton and I get to bed early.

10:30 Anton's mother calls, but agrees she'll call back later when we're not asleep.

11:00 Anton gets up again to put the annoying cat out.

12:00 Anton notices the power is out. Realizing the power is out, Anton assumes that his alarm hasn't gone off and that he has overslept for work. He bolts out of bed nearly scaring me to death and runs for the shower. Then he notices it's only midnight, remembers this was a scheduled outage by the power company that we were aware of, but of course had forgotten about. He sets the alarm on the cell phone and gets back in bed.

4:00ish am The power has come back on and the alarm on our regular clock is blaring because Anton forgot to turn the button to "off" and now the time is set totally wrong. We both wake, turn alarm off, and go back to sleep.

5:45 The alarm on the cell phone goes off, and Anton gets in the shower.

6:05 The phone rings. I wait for Anton to get it but then realize he's probably in the shower. I lurch out of bed to get it and bark a hello into the receiver. It is Judith, my department head, informing me that we are two hours late start today. I didn't even know it had snowed. I go into the bathroom to tell Anton that JFK has late start.

6:30 Anton comes back into our room to tell me that he checked the news and ALL three of our schools are two hours late.

7:30 I finally get up and get the kids up too (although I think Monica was awake and playing in her room this whole time). I make a batch of pancakes for a leisurely breakfast before we all head out for the day.

It was quite the night!

Here was the view from our back patio:

I am SO done with snow!

Abigail's UW Debut

After the Red Robin birthday extravanga, we headed to Hec Ed to watch Abigail's gymnastics team perform the opening show before the UW meet. Then we stayed for part of the meet. Having not been to a college gymnastics meet for about 20 years, I have to say it was really fun! It was only $15 per family to get in and there's lots to see. It's obviously a very technical sport that requires a lot of athleticism and was fun to watch close up.

Happy 6th Birthday Monica!

On the night of Monica's birthday, we headed north into Seattle. By downtown, the little girl was fast asleep, wearing her birthday hat and holding a large kleenex box. No doubt she was tired from her kids' party the night before and attending Eva's party earlier that day.

We headed to Red Robin, Monica's choice for her birthday dinner. Here are a few photos:

What did my little darling want for her birthday? I foam hand to wave at the UW games. (I SWEAR I did not put her up to this!) She has been BEGGING for one of these all season. Now maybe I can actually watch a ball game without constant whining of "I want a foam finger!"

A Berenstain-Barbie Party!

Monica was hoping for a Barbie-themed birthday party this year. I suggested Berenstain Bears so we could give out books instead of plastic toys and candy as favors. So we compromised and did a Berenstain-Barbie party. (The decorations and pinata were Barbie, the movie choice and favors were Berenstain Bears.) The party was also an "Almost Sleepover" where the girls wore their pajamas and did everything like it was a sleepover except actually spend the night! We started off with a pizza dinner, then opened gifts and had birthday cake. Then we played some games and finished off with popcorn and Berenstain Bears movies.

We played "Pin the Heart on Barbie" instead of pin the tail on the donkey. We also played Twister, had a "Candywalk" (instead of a cakewalk), and had a pinata.

Abigail got to actually spend the night. They were up pretty late (sorry Sara and Nick!) but it was a special treat for both girls.

PS. And just to make it a perfect night, the Husky women's basketball team WON a game tonight!

Birthday Preparations

This week we were in full preparation-mode for Monica's birthday party Friday night for her friends. We baked a cake, decorated the house, and set the table.

Shrinky Dinks

The 80s are back!

Just ask my students who are now wearing leggings, long shirts, and headbands!

Well, if we're going back to bad fashion, the least we can do is bring back some of the good things from the 80s as well, such as music, the price of gas, and Shrinky Dinks!

Monica got a Shrinky Dink kit for her birhday from my cousin Clare. If you're not familiar with these peculiar toys, you color a design on special "paper," then put them in the oven and they shrink and harden to be used as jewelry, little toys or whatever.

Monica had great fun with her new kit today!

"Are they done yet, Mom?"

February Bdays

We had a little birthday party with my mom's side of the family last night for Monica and Auntie Dorothy. Here are a few photos!

Class Valentine's Party

Friday afternoon, Monica's class celebrated Valentine's Day. Jack and I were in attendance with another dozen or so parents and siblings. They performed some songs for the parents, then exchanged and opened Valentines, and finally had a snack complete with pink cupcakes. Monica was in heaven!

Weekend Events

We had a very busy weekend. Monica started it off by coming home from school sick with a fever. Jack was very cute about giving her "loves" on the couch to make her feel better. He only annoyed her a little. Luckily Monica felt much better by Saturday morning.

We had fun showing Auntie Tina around the new addition of Southcenter mall Saturday morning, and Saturday night we had guests over for dinner. Monica and Jack were very excited about showing Baby Kate ALL their toys.

Today we went to a family birthday party for Oliver. As usual, our kids didn't want to leave the Carters (I momentarily considered just leaving them there for the week, but figured Sara and Nick know where we live, so it wouldn't work.)

The Husky women dropped another game today to Stanford. It wasn't surprising that we lost, however we did play a little better than we did Friday, which was refreshing. The Husky men beat Stanford on the road, which we were THRILLED about. Going 0-4 for a weekend just wouldn't be the way to start a week!

Valentines

Monica was so excited to make Valentines for her classmates and favorite teachers at school. We had been warned by her teacher not to start the project the night before Valentine's day because kids sometimes burn out on writing all those names. We purchased a kit a while ago and finally got it out to make a few Monday night. Monica, however, showed little signs of burn-out. We not only had to coax her to stop working on them to get to bed Monday, I also found her trying to work on them before breakfast Tuesday morning! Needless to say, they are done now and all ready for her class Valentine's party on Feb 13.

Businesswoman

With the downturn in the economy and Kennedy's recent salary freeze, we decided it was time for Monica to pull her own weight around here. So armed with her morning latte we got her set up telecommuting for a national company doing online sales.

Okay, well not exactly... but I thought these photos of her were so funny. She's actually drinking her evening hot chocolate (her current dessert of choice) and working on the "Raz Kids" website, which is an online reading program for kids to work on their reading comprehension. Monica's teacher has the whole class using it. The only problem is that her laptop use has cut into my blogging time!

Happy Birthday Jennifer

Every year I flowers to the St. Cecilia statue at Holy Names on Jennifer's birthday. My friends and I had the statue restored and dedicated to Jennifer, so it is a special place to all of us. Yesterday would have been her 30th birthday so I have been thinking about her a lot. I didn't manage to bring the flowers until today, however. Part of me felt torn that I should drive up there on her ACTUAL birthday, but it worked better today because I had class at Seattle U anyway. Besides, Jennifer was always so practical, she would have been completely annoyed at the thought of me making an extra trip just to make it on her birthday. :)
We love you, Jen!

Superbowl All-Stars

Helmets on and ready to play!!!

Mo and the Boys

We had fun with the Rutherford and Ketover families this weekend. Monica loves to see Hayden and Joshua "even though they're boys." Hayden was being especially shy, and Courtney ended up jumping on the trampoline with Monica instead of him.