I guess it worked

From the melodramatic weather forecasts, I was expecting a little more.  I should have remembered that the Northwest gets excited about anything other than more rain.  Or showers.  Or occasionally rain showers.  So three days of snow translated into just a few hours.  But luckily (?) it's staying cold enough that the "snow" is sticking around for the kids to play in today.

We have had a deliciously lazy weekend.  Today has consisted of hanging out by the fire, reading the newspaper, eating pancakes, playing in the snow, a little Scrabble, some exercise (in the form of Wii) and not a whole lot else.   Although we did come to a decision.  "I'll go.  I'll go.  I'll go."  We needed little more nudging than a lazy morning with snow outside to decide Sunriver is exactly what is called for after Christmas.    So it's settled.  I called Kristin to tell her and she answered the phone with "You're calling to say you're coming to Sunriver.  I knew all you needed was some snow!" Rumor has it, Portland is getting the real thing today.  A genuine (please pronounce it "jen-you-wine") snow storm.  I saw pictures of the lifts at Meadows and Timberline up and running and wanted to cry.

By the way, who let us take this dog from Utah?  She is one blissed out dog today.  Having a full on snowgasm at the park.

And the kids thought the snow was okay too.

Snow Dance

There's snow in the forecast in Seattle for the next three days.  We're doing the snow dance to encourage it.  Our ski resorts are still bone dry, and our whole happiness depends on skiing this winter.

This video was actually shot while Kolby was working from home one day right before we moved.  Madeline was dancing to the hold music while he waited for a conference call to begin.  It's been passed all around Microsoft, and apparently people copy her amazing moves when they hear the hold music begin. I'm so proud. 

We're all dancing like this today!  Snow, baby, snow!!!  

Separation anxiety

I think life is catching up with us.  This morning Madeline was dragging more than usual, and when we were heading out the door for school I noticed she looked awful.  I asked what was up, she said she didn't feel good, so we rushed Mia to school ("Oh no!  But I don't want to go to school if my sister's not there too!"), and came back home.

I'm pretty sure it's a mental health day.  As we chatted, it sounded far more emotional than physical.  "It's just that my stomach hurts and I'm feeling stressed from all the pressure."   All that pressure of being eight years old.

She'd been handling the move just fine, seemed to be adjusting like a champ.  Then a few weeks ago I was late picking her up from her after school drama class.  Seven minutes late, and she was in tears when I got there.  Now whenever she goes anywhere she wants to know what time I'm leaving the house, how long the drive is, and what time I plan to be there.  And it has to all work out so that my ETA is five minutes before she needs me.  Seriously?  Third grade and I've only been late picking her up once?  Girl knows how to lay on the guilt.

Now she doesn't want to go to drama anymore, but for more reasons than just her mother's complete unreliability.  The whole world is unreliable.  The original teacher left for a funeral 4 weeks ago and hasn't been back. They meet in a different room every week so she worries that I won't know how to find her.  And apparently the replacement teacher is always 15-20 minutes late,  and there's lots of boys in the drama class, so it's mayhem until the teacher gets there, and even then the teacher has no idea how to manage the classroom.  (We're dropping this activity.)

And then there was that day last week when she was sick and they couldn't reach me.  "Mom, can you imagine being sick in the nurse's office for 90 minutes and not being able to reach your mom?"  Like I said, this girl is good.

There was also a little trip to the principal's office last week that we won't mention.  At least that wasn't my fault. 

So all this pressure.  It's a lot.  I was hoping that Madeline would somehow dodge the anxiety genes threaded through her DNA.  But I think we've triggered them.

Maybe a day staying home to play Wii will help.   (You can just go away if you're going to judge me.) 

When Photoshop is useless

When I look at Michelle's blog and Facebook photos, I feel a little bitter.  Caid is still too young to be a turd when the camera comes out.  She just flashes that gummy grin, twinkles those eyes, and her momma has a dozen adorable pictures.

Let me just give you a glimpse of the photo session I attempted with my two little darlings when we went Christmas tree shopping this weekend.

There is a reason why I stopped paying for professional photos for them.  

And many moons ago I promised to post a picture of my all time favorite mug.  

And while I'm at it, how about a few pictures of the Northwest?  This is the view I've had out my kitchen window the last few mornings.  

And this is taken from the top of the hill as I drop down to our street (where that car is).  What you can't see is the mountain range in the distance.  This is very typical of Northwest suburbia--just loads and loads of fir trees.

This is taken from part of the neighborhood where I'd like to buy.  I would LOVE having water views.  Aaaah.  This is Lake Sammamish.

A picture of Turkey II, our gay pride turkey who managed to make it to school without being eaten by the dog.

And this.  This is just really really sad.  This is what's happening with my big plans for a season ski pass.  Pathetic.  

Our list

This year, living in a new place, we're losing a few traditions.  Kolby and I are feeling horribly guilty about it.  We haven't felt too guilty about the move--it was necessary.  Gotta feed the family. But we are feeling bad about the holidays this year.  We were talking about our traditions the other day with the girls and got a few sad "But we always..." comments from them.  We are especially feeling guilty about not taking the girls to Sunriver this year.  

We've spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in Sunriver with friends every year since Amelia was born, and it feels so cruel not to go this year.  And I guess I'm not fully convinced we won't end up caving in and decide to go....even as I write this I'm thinking we should.  Money shmoney.  Economy shmeconomy.  No we shouldn't.  We can't.  I just remembered all the stuff we have to pay for after Christmas (trip to Utah for the wedding, Disney World, ski school, etc.).  I feel a little like Cameron in Ferris Buehler right now.  

I never noticed Cameron's house before.  That's exactly the style of house I want.  I think I need to rent that movie again.

Anyway, we usually make a list in early December of things we want to do during the holidays. Traditions, I suppose.   This year, some will be tweaked for location.  But here it is--the list.

• Tree shopping, decorating, etc.  (doing this today!)
  
• Bake gingersnaps
• Make gingerbread houses with friends
• Go shopping downtown at night to see all the lights and crowds
• Make Swedish pancakes on Christmas morning
• Visit Santa (usually do this when we are in the city)
• Watch  "A Christmas Story" and "Elf"
• Listen to our Christmas tunes until we can't stand to hear them for another 11 months
• Fight over who gets to put the next ornament on the advent calendar

And new for this year:

• Go iceskating in downtown Bellevue park
• Visit the light show at the Botanical Gardens
• Watch the boat light parade on the beach
• Make Pam's pastry wreath

We usually go to the Nelson's for Christmas Eve.   Christmas Eve was always a big party night for me growing up (white elephants and Bingo at Grandma's house), and the Nelsons have been wonderful enough to include us in their family so our kids have had that same experience.   I feel bad for the kids that we're going to be up here on our own this year.  Christmas Eve sounds so lonely!  

So we're still in discussions about what the holidays are going to look like.  Kolby has to take some vacation time, so that will be nice to have him home and relax a bit.  We'll head to Portland for a couple days.  Catch a movie on Christmas Day.  Do some skiing if it ever decides to snow.  Or maybe we'll just go to Sunriver.  

Guilt

So with all this fabulous spare time, I was just so busy enjoying it that I missed six phone calls from the school about my sick crying child in the nurse's office.  My very hard working husband was sitting in a very important meeting, but answered the second call he received, and swooped in to retrieve our eldest child, only to find that our youngest had joined her, both girls with their heads in buckets.  (How's that for a run on sentence?)

I arrived home from a lovely trip to the gym to find my husband and two sick children cuddled on the couch at 1:00. 

He went back to work.

They're feeling much better. 

It's been a fun day.

(In my defense, my cell phone doesn't get any reception in the gym.  I know you think I use that excuse for everything, but seriously,  AT&T coverage sucks in Bellevue!)

Now my fabulous life of leisure can begin

I finished my class today! Actually, I finished all my work for my class today. I still have to show up, but I'm officially coasting through to next Tuesday, the last day of class.

Now what? The next six months with kids in school all day and no classes for me. I suppose I have those pesky nursing school applications to deal with. And the ski slopes. And doing something about the Little Garage of Horrors. Aaaah. Even that sounds nice.

So in honor of Spare Time, (and because I just ran into this on a very old friend's blog--how I love the Internet!!!) I just Typealyzed my blog, and apparently my blog personality is this:

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

And oh yeah, they swear like sailors and overuse punctuation.

Maybe I made up that last part. But there you go.   Enjoy my blog of soft fabrics and sweet smells and be happy I'll never confront you for thinking it's crap.