Christmas Time

Now that Thanksgiving is over the Christmas season is in full swing. Andrea couldn't be more happy. The first thing she wanted to do when we woke up on Thanksgiving morning is set up the Christmas tree. So I went downstairs and brought the tree up and the stuff to decorate the tree. I put the tree up and let Andrea do her thing. Adam was cute cause he was helping. He would hang the ornaments up in groups because they couldn't be alone, they needed a friend. The tree looks beautiful and it really just brightens the room, in fact Adam gave the tree a hug and kiss when we got home that night. Adam is now starting to get the concept of Christmas and keeps asking if it is Christmas yet. Unfortunately he doesn't understand time. So we, and by we I mean Andrea, made a paper chain that will countdown to Christmas. I can't wait until Christmas morning when we get to watch Adam opens his gifts. I am not kidding when I say I would be perfectly happy not getting a thing and just watching Adam and Alex open their gifts. I hope everyone has a good holiday season and Merry Christmas.

No Child Left Behind

We've all heard it and categorized it as little more than a lofty goal for public education. Still, I think it has merit, so I've decided to implement it on a smaller scale. My goal is simple, but accomplishing it will greatly impact my child's future. "What is this goal?" you may ask. And here it is: to remember to take Adam home from school.

Every Tuesday and Thursday Adam gets to go to preschool while I am busy teaching my music classes. I finish at 11:15 and spend the next 15 minutes cleaning up my stuff and preparing to leave. He meets me in my classroom at 11:30, and we begin our joint journey home. This simple system has resulted in Adam successfully arriving at home on 16 consecutive occasions. While this track record is nothing short of impressive, apparently it is not about the number of times I take him home. He seems to be focusing on the time I didn't.

Today I made record time cleaning up my classroom, so I decided to grab my keys and duck out a few minutes early. I hopped in my car and began the drive to pick up Alex from Heather's house. I started to wonder how my boys had been for Heather today. "Did Alex take a good nap?" All at once, I realized it was Tuesday, which meant I had Adam at school with me. I called the school to let them know I'd forgotten him and that I'd be through loading to pick him up. I knew my ego would be bruised as the other teachers laughed it up at my expense, but I also knew I'd get over it.

What I didn't bargain for was Adam's reaction in the car.

"Mom," he said, "I went to class today."

"Yep, you did."

"You didn't go to class today, Mom."

"Yes, I did."

"No you didn't. You weren't in class. You were in the car."

"You're right, buddy. I'm really sorry."

"Don't do that again, Mom. It makes me really sad."

"Oh, I'm really sorry. I will not do that again."

"You're in trouble, Mom. I need to spank you."

"No, Adam, you don't get to spank Mommy."

"Okay. I'll call Daddy and tell him you are in trouble, and he can spank you."

Somehow, I don't think Adam's gonna let me live this one down.

Ode to Cooking

I've never been much of a cook; at least, it's never been something I've included in my list of talents. When Kirk & I first got married, I could make tuna helper (and most of the time, I'd even remember the tuna) and a few other things. We lived largely on pizza rolls and assorted fried foods until Adam was born and all the sudden the dynamic of my life changed. I started spending more time at home. I quit my job. I had this inexplicable desire to feed my family something worth eating. So I started to cook.

Now, don't misunderstand. I've really not learned anything new, and I am certainly no master of the culinary arts. All I've done is apply my excellent box-reading skills (... add 1/2 cup of milk and stir frequently) to slightly more complex recipes. I do not cook from scratch, and I try not to cook anything that has more than 8 ingredients or that includes items with names I cannot pronounce. After many hours of searching and occasional "new recipe" months, I've gathered about 60 recipes which meet my requirements, and I am proud of the meals I put on the table.

I didn't realize just how proud I was until my younger brother recently ate dinner at our house. It was a Wednesday, and I was cooking orange-barbeque chicken and making french fries from actual potatoes. As he was helping me prepare dinner, he asked, "Do you always eat like this?" I laughed as I responded in the affirmative. He continued, "I never thought anyone would actually take the time to make french fries from scratch."

At this point I realized that even though cooking is still not really something I love, I guess I've gotten pretty good at it.

Halloween.

He are some random thoughts about how my Halloween was with Adam.

So I took Adam around the neighborhood to go trick or treating this past Halloween. It was a lot fun. Adam would go up to the door and I would ring the door bell and when the person would answer the door he would say "Halloween." I would tell him to say trick or treat and he would but most of the time the people would laugh when they opened the door, which would earn him an extra piece of candy cause they thought he was soooo cute. One house we got to the guy was out setting up more scary lights, and sounds. Adam saw him when we were walking up the driveway and Adam turned to the guy and said "We are going to your house now." The guy laughed and said are you which Adam replied yeah, Halloween. If we ever got to a house with the porch light off or they didn't answer within a minute Adam would say lets go to the next one. One thing he would do that scored me some candy is he would take a piece and then say "My daddy needs one." So I got a little bit of candy. I can tell you one thing I do not look forward to when he is too big for me to go out with him. At least I have Alex and the kid(s) not born yet to make that time a little longer but kids grow up too fast.

A Word on Voting

Whether you plan to vote for or against Referendum 1, I am sure we all have one thing in common to be excited about... tomorrow it all ends. No more tv & radio ads, no more phone calls -- seriously, I've gotten over 10 -- no more ladies with pamphlets assaulting you at the grocery store. No more endless debates with friends and family rehashing the same three or four points. The question now becomes, "Was it all worth it?" Did anyone say anything that you agreed or disagreed with strongly enough to make you get out of your seat and vote? Whether you plan to vote for or against, please VOTE.

Adam's Cute Sayings

I swear, everyday Adam comes up with something new and hilarious to say. Here are a few of my favorites... hopefully Kirk will add his.

After listening to me sing the line, "I'm gonna make you pop-u-lar," from the broadway musical Wicked, Adam became very concerned and said, "No, Mommy! Don't make me pop!"

After telling us some story about his day, Adam asked, "Does that make sense?"

He is currently obsessed with days of the week, although he has no real understanding of the concept of the passing of time. He is constantly asking us, "Can we do it on Thursday?"

On the way to school one day, Adam suddenly said, "Mom, you're crazy." I said, "I'm not crazy... I'm just cute." He responded, "Well, Daddy thinks you're crazy... and you are!"