Black Friday part 3

...but not quite everything. I returned to the southcenter area at 8AM to get in on the "before noon" deals. I did amazingly well and the fatigue didn't even hit me thanks to my healthy breakfast:

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the kids helped Anton decorate the house with outdoor decorations.

But playing "snowball fight" in the tissue paper was the most fun:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Black Friday Part 2

At 11pm Thursday night, Keri and Marilyn and I headed down to Walmart. I know, I know... people get murdered at Walmart on Black Fridays, but since Tim is now the head of security at this particular store we felt incredibly safe. We also got the inside scoop: the sale items that were supposed to be available at 5AM were actually starting at midnight. Not many people knew this, so we were among the few shoppers out cashing in on the deals. The only problem was that there were about 100 employees breaking open merchandise at that hour so trying to push a cart through was almost impossible. But it was really fun (that crazy-I'm-exhausted-fun) and I got almost everything on my list...

T-Day '09

Gobble-Gobble Kramer/Copstead style:

Black Friday Part 1

Part one of the black friday extravaganza: Keri, Marilyn, and I met over Starbucks and the newspaper ads to plan our attack. More to come later...

Family Movie Nights

We still do family movie nights, though I have not posted each one on the blog. They are still a great photo op, though!

Principal's Award

Yesterday at the school assembly, Monica received a perfect attendance award for first trimester, and a principal's award for citizenship and character. She was very proud. :)

Bedtime Helper

The night we had friends from Seattle U over for a "down home country" meal, Monica asked if she could get Jack into his pajamas (instead of us) at bedtime. Since we were in the middle of entertaining, I said sure and the two disappeared down the hall. About 15 minutes later I went to use the restroom and found Jack's door closed and Monica sitting on the floor of her room reading. "Where's Jack?" I asked.

Monica: "I put him to bed!"

Keep in mind that it was 6:15 in the evening. I opened Jack's door and there he was lying quietly but awake in the darkness. "Jack do you want to stay in bed or get up and play for a little bit?"

"Get up and play."

Monica had not only gotten him dressed, she brushed his teeth, read him a story, sang "Taps" (the camp song we sing to them every night), and put him to bed. Too funny!

We thanked Monica for being such a good big sister and since then she has offered to tuck him several other times.

Swim Session

Monica just finished a 4-week session of swim lessons. We thought it would be good to keep her skills up since it's been several months since camp. She definitely picked up some backstroke, breaststroke, and is better about putting her face in the water for crawlstroke. Nothing was as exciting though as her cousin Anja teaching her how to do a kneeling-dive. Monica sunk like a torpedo before re-emerging, but loved every minute of it!

Oregon weekend

We had a packed weekend in Oregon including hiking, swimming, dining, and an all-around good time. Monica cried off and on all the way home that she missed her cousin Anja. Luckily they will see each other soon at Christmas.

Chili Day

It was chili for a chilly day last Sunday when we visited my aunt and uncle in Marysville. Monica and Jack enjoyed the toys, decorations, seeing family, and of course Becky the dog.

Hmmm...

Monica and Kyle love to play pretend, school, camp, whatever. Yesterday they were playing sleepover.

Cute... or scandalous?

Hand Truck

Before returning the hand truck to Uncle Buck, Monica and Jack wanted a ride, of course.

Down Home Country

We hosted the quarterly reunion for my Seattle U internship group at our place last Saturday (before escaping to Jenny's birthday party). I'm all about themes, so this one was "down home country." We skipped the line dancing, but the food was good. For the complete menu, click on http://lookwhaticooked.blogspot.com/2009/11/down-home-country-meal.html

"Friday" Night

Thanks to our Vetrans, we enjoyed a mini-party at our place Tuesday night with the Fitelson and Martin families. Eva stayed the whole night and Kyle & Tyler were parallel sleeping just down the hall.

The next day was a restful day off. Monica and Jack played outside for quite a while (mostly jumping in leaves). She found this enormous leaf!

Play Time

The moment I've been waiting for.... Monica and Jack are now both (finally) at the age where they can truly play together. This weekend we spent quite a bit of time at home, during which they played school, house, meal time, and several other imaginative games. When they're both in the right mood (which certainly isn't all of the time) they love to play together and act out different things. It is quite entertaining to watch too!

Leaf Champ

Last week Monica REALLY wanted to jump off the rock into a pile of leaves, but we didn't have any raked yet. I was busy with something at the time but told her she could rake the pile herself if she wanted (thinking she'd never go for it). But sure enough she got the rake and worked hard for at least 15 minutes. Then she and Jack spent another hour jumping and rolling down the hill.

A Fairy and a Menace

We spent Halloween with the Pare family. Their daughter Alice is in Monica's class. The evening started with face painting for Alice (Glenda the good witch) and Monica (a fairy).

Jack was Dennis the Menace. He has the blond hair and cowlick so we figured half the costume was already done. He would only wear the nametag on his back though.

The four kids (2 Pares and 2 Kramers) were very cute and polite at each house. Like last year, Jack was quick to learn to say "Twick oh Tweet!"

This was the coolest pumpkin we saw, obviously:
Okay, now off to raid Jack's candy stash for my dessert tonight. :)

1B Halloween Party

Friday afternoon I helped out with Monica's class Halloween party. They played candy corn bingo and ate snacks. Sugar rush fun!