Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas 2007

Another holiday sneaked up on me!


This year we did not put up a tree or hung the lights on the house. As it is, people who are coming to look at the house complain it is too clattered. Oh, well. another year, another Christmas, another clattered house awaits for me!


Tim flew in just in time, on December 24th. Kids were so excited, they talked me into parking at the Airport and surprising him at the passenger's exit. It worked! Tim was pleasantly surprised and we made there just in time too. When we got to the terminal, the display already listed his flight as "arrived".

At the house we only put up the stockings, and it looked so cozy by the fireplace...

On the Christmas night Gabe decided he will sleep by the presents and try catching Santa when he comes with our presents. He placed a blanket, a pillow and an alarm clock, set for 6:00am next to the presents. He was determined!
At around 11:30pm he started getting worried: "What it I am awake at midnight and Santa doesn't come?.." I told him to go to bed right away.
Santa did come at midnight, but he had a really hard time leaving presents next to a sleeping boy...
Oh, the joy of freshly opened presents on the Christmas morning! The joy of playing with them! Oh, yes, and the joy of getting injured by one of them!..
Gabe and Tim were running around the house, trying to shoot each other with an air gun. Gabe ended up getting Tim right in the open eye, at a close distance.
It took three days, many Tylenol , tissues and ice packs, but Tim is OK.
(On this picture Tim has his right eye taped and can't open his left eye. So, he basically blind...)

All in all, we had a wonderful time! Kids got lots of cool presents, and even though some of them got broken with in 10 minuted of use (grr!), it was great!

Now, if only Colorado weather wasn't so darn unpredictable (extremely freezing and snowy this year), I might have been able to get more bargain shopping done! I hate driving on ice, so I opted out to just stay home and watch TV. I guess i will have to get my "shopping fix" after I move.

Monday, December 24, 2007

December 22nd week(+end)

This was one of the more depressing weeks I had in a while.

We had out Fab23 Winter Party, but all in all it was more of a "Fab23 Shut down party". It was at a pretty nice hotel downtown Colorado Springs (Antlers Hilton) and it was scheduled for 6pm - midnight. I didn't want to miss the party and I didn't have anyone to watch the kids for that long, plus I wasn't sure if we were to get another snow storm and I might have trouble getting back home, so I went ahead and booked a room there.
I have to say that the hotel is a lot more impressive on the outside than it is on the inside... Carpets were not exactly clean, the ice machine wasn't working, and the elevator was acting crazy when I tried using it. It just sat there, opening and closing doors, over and over. I used the stairs...

We upgraded the room to face the mountains. I took advantage and took a night shot view.


The food at the party was pretty good, not spectacular, but decent. It was mostly finger food type. The lines were long, but I was lucky to be sitting right by the door, so when the announcement was made to go get food, I was right there ;-)

There were many really nice prizes given away, including a laptop, PS3, MP3 players... I got nothing though, not lucky at that.
I kept going back and forth between the hotel room and the party. Kids got a room service ($$!) and later I brought them some dessert from my party. They were so tired, they had no problem falling asleep in our king size bed!


The following Friday my co-workers took me out for a Farewell lunch at a Peruvian restaurant!


It was my first time trying food from Peru. Apparently they just opened up recently. One of my coworker is married to a guy from Peru, so I suppose they know if it is really a good food or not :-)

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning out the house and throwing more stuff away. Our grill only spent an hour by the curb before if disappeared!

We made our rounds and gave presents to the neighbors. We are blessed to be surrounded by such nice people! We will truly miss them...

December 15th weekend

Have been really busy with everything going on in CO, getting ready for the move to OR.

This weekend we had one showing at the house on Saturday and one on Sunday, so we basically had to get out for a while both days (not to mention cleaning the house too)... I am getting really tired of always making sure there is nothing left on the counters, tables, floors, vacuuming, etc.!
To do something on Saturday we went to the Bigg's City. It's an indoor play center. They have SO much to do there: laser tag, carousel, race car track, Little Bigg Town (with dress up, climbing, sand box, music and so much more), inflatables room, bowling alley, arcades, birthday rooms, food, and more!

Temperatures outdoors were pretty cold (I believe 14 degrees was the high for the day), so this was our best option.

We got there right before lunch time (and I brought our own food to save money) and stayed till 8pm! We had all day passes, so it only made sense to "get the money worth out of it"...

On Sunday we had to leave house a little earlier, so there wasn't that much we could do, other than going to the Mall.

We were going to see a movie, but the earliest show wasn't till noon and we got there at 10:30am. After walking around the stores we came to Claire's Boutique store. Larissa has been asking to get her ears pierced for a while, so we just went ahead and did an Early Christmas present for her.

She was such a trooper! She didn't even blink when they used the earrings "gun". When it was all done, all she said was: "oh, that was it? It didn't even hurt, Mom. You said it would!"
Larissa picked out little studs with her birth stone to use as a starter earrings. Now, every time she gets dressed or brushes her hair, she makes a comment like "be careful, watch the earrings!"

Sunday, December 9, 2007

December 8th weekend

(~5am, before the sun-rise, view from my window)

Ah, the joy of freezing weather and un-drivable roads. Got to love Winter!

I had to take my truck in on Saturday to an appointment, scheduled earlier in the week, at the Firestone for a tune-up before my long drive to OR. Had I known that the weather will play a trick on me, I would've probably stayed home that day. Luckily, since it was so early in the morning, I didn't have to deal with too many arrogant drivers. I only slid a couple of times, despite going really slow.
I was certainly glad to be home in one piece. We turned on the fireplace and watched Pirates of the Caribbean III. What a looooong movie...

On Sunday we made our gingerbread house, and this year we hope that Jonathan won't eat all the gum drops off of it when we are not looking :-)

Only a few minor melt downs later, over who just ate another candy instead of adding it to the roof, and who is decorating which side of the house, we had our finished product:

I guess gold fish crackers were going in the pond (?) outside the house. Yet, somehow, they also ended up on the door too.


Larissa and I shoveled the snow late morning and I decided to start up (and warm up) my truck, but with no luck! It just wouldn't start. I suppose 14 degree temperature (mind you, already higher than it was last night) might have something to do with it. Eventually, I was able to get it going and left it running for a bit. I sure hope this is only an isolated incident. Last thing I need is getting stuck with no car...

Monday, December 3, 2007

December 1st weekend

Yea! December is here and Christmas if just around the corner!!!
This Saturday we heard about a Breakfast with Santa event at the Mall, with all the proceeds going to an Empty Stocking fund, and of course, we had to do it! Even if it meant getting up at 7am!
With all the best efforts, we still managed to be 30 minutes late getting there, but no worries, there were plenty of food left, Santa was still there, the Magician Guy, the Balloon Lady, and the Children Chorale... although the last one was on their final song when we arrived.
(Jon surprised me witha big hug for Santa... I have to admit, this Santa was pretty believable looking.)

Later in a day, as I headed out to the Post Office, I noticed a drastic change on the skies. So very typical for Colorado, blue sky turns into a huge black cloud in a matter of an hour! I just had to pull over and snap this shot.

It rained lightly later that night, but that didn't turn into snow, as I anticipated...

Because of some feedbacks we have been getting from the potential buyers on our house being "clattered", I decided to clean up even more. I took pretty much all the photos/arts off the walls and stashed them away in kids' closets.
Since I was already in their closets, I went on with cleaning those out, and it just went from there. I now have a few garbage bags full of donations to take to Goodwill.

I think I am finally getting really worried about the move. Don't know how long before the house sells, but there is only two more weeks of school left for the kids this semester, then we will have to move and settle into a new school in OR, but where?.. That's the piece of a puzzle I don't have!

I need to give two-week notice to Jon's Daycare and find another one in OR.


Gabe will miss his friends a lot, I already know it...

Another challenge is getting, whatever school we go to, to work with us on Larissa's Medical Care Plan (or section 504 Care Plan). It worked for us very well in CO, but you always hear stores about those "other states / schools" that refuse any accomodations. I really hope that won't be the case!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Thanksgivings Day 2007!

What a wonderful, long, relaxing weekend!
Tim flew in on Wednesday afternoon, and kids were absolutely thrilled! I found it easier to park in a "cell phone" zone, right before you get to the pick up lane, and wait for Tim to page me. It saves me time (and money) on parking, and that's what it's for anyway. I only wish other people would follow my example and STOP parking in front of "no parking at any time" zone and blocking my way!!! :-)

Although, kids requested that next time we go inside the terminal and wait for Daddy there.

(Too long of waiting...)


Kids and I did all the food shopping days before Thanksgivings Day and avoided most of the crowds, so we were all ready for the feast.

***
On Thursday I woke up first and got right to business. I intentionally bought a small turkey this year. I got tired of trying to figure out yet another recipe that calls for a pre-cooked turkey meat. AND I actually defrosted the bird in time for baking it! Yea for me (pat on the back).

I also made all the traditional staple foods, like a pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread rolls, etc.


I think by noon all the food was ready or almost ready. I even surprised myself. So, we went to the next step, which has became a family tradition now.

Every year, right before we sit down to eat, we get cleaned up and dressed nice (unless you look at Gabe, then it's more about comfort or the outfit hanging closest to his reach...). Then, we sit down on our Living room couch, get the camera timer set up, and create a family portrait that we later use for a Christmas card.


Everything went right as planned, with a small "fall out" (pond intended). I was the last to descend from my bathroom and just as I was getting down the stairs, Jon (who was sitting on Tim's lap, facing him) turned around, lost his balance and fell backwards, hitting a coffee table with the back of his head... Of course, blood starts pouring out, as it does with any cuts to the head, and the first thing that I think of (bad Momma!) "is it bad enough that I HAVE to take him to ER, or can we go on with our pictures?"

It turned out to be a superficial cut, only ~1/4" wide, but what a bleeder!

***

Black Friday: wasn't worth getting up at 4am!! Especially, not after a some wine the night before ;-)

I did take Larissa shopping for "the brothers", and then Gabe to do the same for the other two later in the morning, but I think even that was a mistake, because I kept seeing good deals on something "the person with me" would like, and of course, I couldn't get it right then...

I think I got most of relatives (we get presents for) covered, and I plan on shipping everything out early this year. No more wait-till-last-second for me!

When is a good age to talk to kids about Santa?.. hmmm...


***

Saturday was another showing at the house, so we went to Garden of the Gods for lunch and a walk. What a gorgeous day, but a bit cold!

Later that night, we drove up to Palmer Lake Chili fundraiser. All benefits go to support a light up star on the side of the hill. Apparently, it's big enough to be seen off an airplane, and it is supported by a local volunteer fire department.

Every one have to pay per head to get in, and then they also had a whole lot of donated prizes that you had to buy raffle tickets for, then drop your ticket in the basket next to the prize you wish to win, wait and see if you get it. More tickets bought, greater chance of winning. I won nothing :-( but had a great time anyway.


***

(A trip to Garden of the Gods with Daddy)


Sunday was the day to take Tim back to airport. Off he went back to OR.

Since we had, yet another, showing at the house, I took the kids to have lunch and to hang out at a playground in the Mall

Day 32


I can already tell that getting to school on time on Monday will be a challenge!

Three more weeks before Winter Break!!!

Nov 17th-18th weekend

Another week just past me by...

This was mostly a cold weekend, which started out nice, but got cooler and cooler as we got closer to Monday.
Kids were really excited over not having to go back to school for a whole week, sleeping in, playing video games.
I was playing around on Paint Shop and they asked me to put their faces on Shrek's characters. I gave it a shot:
My Fiona

(You can find the other two characters on my Flickr.com)

Saturday turned out to be pretty disastrous... I got an email from an old friend regarding free flu shots that were to be offered at a few locations in town (as a part of Pandemic Training). Since I already got mine, all I needed was to get the kids'. I decided not to tell them and just take them there, so I wouldn't have to deal with tears too far out...
It was scheduled to start at 9am, and based on what I was told happened last year, I wasn't in much rush to get there. Well, big mistake! I went to a location closest to my house (and coincedentally, in a middle of largely populated area), and I could tell this was not going to happen when I saw a line going around the block! Parking attendant told me to "just go home and do something else". They already estimated that they were short on vaccine. :-( Darn!
In a final desperate attempt, I headed out to another location 10 miles North of us, thinking that since it was on the outskirts of town, with less population, etc. I might have better luck.
As I got closer, I found out that my proactive Google map search sent me to the NEW location of the high school, and I had no idea where the old location was. A little driving around, getting to know the town better, finally got me to it, all too late. They were not only all out of vaccine, but done with the crowd too! Grr!
On the way back home, we remembered seeing an article in a newspaper about an alpacas show by the local farmers, with some merchandise for sale:
Brown alpaca

Spinning wool
Honestly, I was rather disappointed with the fact that about half the product was not locally made, but imported from Peru! So much for a local flavor.

Sunday was another day of enjoying the last of Fall's warmth, playing on a playground, and taking it easy!
Ice cream
Plus, we had to get out of the house, so that potential buyers could look at it...

Thursday, November 15, 2007

November 13th, School show

Another season, another school performance.

This time is was Larissa's first on-stage Music Show "The First Thanksgivings". There were a lot of jitters and worries prior to it, but everything went really smooth.

Although when we got there and were walking through the parking lot, I noticed that Gabe wasn't wearing any shoes!!! To which he replied: "I told you , Mom! I forgot... You rushed us out of the house too fast and I didn't get to put them on..."
Never mind that he was sitting in the hallway for 10 minutes as I was gathering everything together. Boys!..

We got there, I though, plenty in time, but all the good seats were already taken! I have a pretty short video-camera tripod and I had to figure out a way to tape Larissa's performance over everyone heads. I ended up sitting on the floor in the middle of the isle, but that's no problem at all!

School musical

I actually left my camera running and went to the back of the auditorium to keep Jon busy from singing alone with Larissa's class and then making really loud comments. I really need to work on "whisper voice" with him!


Day 20

After the show, a quick glucose check, a snack and we headed back home to watch Larissa on DVD :-)

After the school musical

Monday, November 12, 2007

November 10th-11th weekend

This was one of those busy but not very productive weekends. Loved it!

On Saturday we went to a Doll Sale, benefiting Goodwill Industries. Basically, it was a warehouse size room full of donated dolls, toys and Christmas decor.
Larissa got a $20 present from her "Grandma in NY" (as she refers to her), and that sure took her far! They happened to have some Bratz dolls at $3 each set, so she loaded up on those. I don't particularly like them, but it's her money...

Boys got a couple of soft toys too.
Gabe had his eye on an old GI Joe's set (with a storage box and all), but the price was quite a shocker - $100.00!!! Never mind...

What was bugging me all through out the shopping is the fact that this was the second (of two) days for the sale and a sales person told us that they are open till 4pm, but at 3pm, EVERYTHING is going 1/2 off!!! Unfortunately, we had plans of having lunch with our friend's family way out in the boonies, and there was no physical way of getting back to the store by 3pm. So, I kept thinking: "Darn, we could have paid half as much or gotten twice as much for the money..." Oh, well...
Spent the rest of our day hanging out at the friends' house, eating pizza, playing till it was dark.

Then when we got home, I tested Larissa and her blood glucose was "high" for no apparent reason. (Normal person's numbers would be between 80 and 120 this long after eating).


Day 17

Wouldn't you know it?.. her insulin pump's tubing broke off! It was hanging slightly bent at first, then totally fell off:


Day 17 part 2
had to do a site change ahead of the schedule. I am just glad we figured out the cause!

On Sunday we went to see a Bee Movie at the mall. It's been a loooong while since we went to a "regular" movie theater. We have been going to a "dollar" theater lately. The quality is less than desirable, movies are a few weeks (or sometimes a few months) old, but the price is right. For the four of us, with three-four hot dogs and a couple of popcorn meals, we can still make it under $20.00! Can beat that. Not to mention "Tuesday - half price day"!
The movie was pretty good, but way too many previews before it. We got to the theater at 12:01pm and the movie was scheduled for 12:00, got in, sat down and still had to wait till 12:20pm for it to start! Jon just about lost all his patience by then.
Other than that, not much went on this weekend.

Larissa has a Music Program at school on Tuesday, so she is all worried about that already. Funny girl!

Wednesday, November 14th is a first UN observed World Diabetes Day (http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/), and we will try to attend the event downtown, but for whatever reason, it starts in the early afternoon, on a work day! What were they thinking?!!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Halloween week, 2007



Sometimes my Halloween week turns into a Hell-oween week...
One thing for sure, it went by really fast.


At the last minute everyone changed their minds about what they were getting dressed up as, so, Jon was a Dinosaur, Larissa was a witch, and Gabe was a doctor.

All in all, kids got a whole lot of candy. Usually, on the night of Halloween it gets really cold in Colorado Springs. Last year kids kept slipping on ice as they were walking up and down the street, which usually means a short trip, then back home for hot drinks and the warmth of a fireplace.

This year was probably the best weather we had since moving to CO. It wasn't warm, but it also wasn't freezing or foggy.

Jon got too cold though and wanted to go home earlier (his fault, he wore a costume too small, and his hands and belly were exposed to cold air), but Gabe and Riss continued a little longer with our neighbors.
As soon as they got home, I dumped out all the candy and separated it into "has nuts" and "does not have nuts" piles. The pile with nuts went to my work :-)

The next day we had to go to the airport to pick up Daddy. Kids were so excited! It was Tim's and Larissa's birthday weekend. Since Tim had to go back to OR on Sunday (his actual birthday), we did all the celebrating on Saturday.

We had all the bells and whistles (pinata and dessert)

Presents for the Princess and even a present for the King:

Then Larissa took me by surprise and said that this year she didn't want a cake, but rather have a (frozen) cherry pie that we bought earlier. No need to ask ME twice, that's one less thing to worry about!

The only problem we had with it was the filling temperature. It was actually hot enough to melt candles, and they started shifting out of place. So, we had Larissa blow them out really fast :-)

Later on, on a Saturday night, Larissa woke up with a sickness to her stomach and ended up throwing up around midnight. I don't know if the food the night before had anything to do with it, but she was much better by Sunday night

Weekend issues - When I woke up on Sunday morning, it was totally freezing in the house. Apparently our thermostat broke. I had to run to the nearest ACE Hardware store to get one. At least it was fixed while Tim was here and I didn't have to worry about it by myself.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

October 27-28th.

This weekend just flew by. No idea where the time goes.

On Saturday we went to the JDRF Halloween party. Not a big event, but it's always nice to see other kids with diabetes, exchange recent experiences, catch up on the latest news.

Soon after we get there, I pull out my camera, get Gabe all ready ("smile!") for the shot... and the camera wouldn't take the picture. I look inside and apparently, I left my memory card at home. Bummer!!!

Not much happened there anyways, and they run out of pizza soon after we got there, so we only had two slices to share between the four of us... Where as we saw some people inhaling two three slice portions.

Then the usual comes. My least favorite part (and sadly, kids' most favorite), the Pinata lynching. Of course, once it is broken open, all the big kids rush forward, leaving my kids in the dust. Then as the stampede comes to an end, I have Jon holding a spider ring, Gabe holding a little slinky, and Larissa crying empty handed. Again, all the big kids walking away with hands full of junk. :-(

The party was from 11am to 1pm, and we had a showing at our house from 1pm to 3pm, so we headed out to Burger King for a late lunch and to hang out till we can go back home. Just as we get back in the truck, I get a call. We have another showing from 4-5pm. I quickly calculate that if I get home between 3-4pm, I can grab my camera's memory card and head out to the park.
So that's what we do. Then we spend another hour shivering in a cold wind, waiting till it's OK to go back home.

Sunday started rather early for me. I am oncall this week, so I got a page at 2:30am. Spent till 4am on the phone with a support center, trying to figure out this unusual issue. Finally, I am given a permission to go get some sleep. That lasts till 7:30am when kids get me up for good.

Finally, after lunch we get to get out (the oncall issue is resolved, I am good to go). By then, most of the day already past us by. We make the best out of what remains.

What a beautiful day too! Sunny and really warm.

After a (really) long walk on a trail and some time at the playground Larissa ends up with low sugars. I knew she was "off" because she starts acting really crabby. Not too bad, she was 59 and a quick drink of apple juice bounced her right back to a cheerful self.
Gabe spent most of his time chasing grass hoppers and looking for sticks.
...and Jon just wanted to opposite of what he was told. He ended up walking away from the direction of our truck on a trail, until I pretended to leave him there. He run after me crying, and I am sure, making some people think he was a lost child.

We top it all off with a trip to McDonald's. Why not? The fun never ends at our house!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The contest results are now posted!


It is now official!

Colorado Springs Balloon Classic coloring contest results are in and finally posted on the web.

Jonathan won third place in his age group and he got a certificate, a toy, a t-shirt, a pin & 2007 Hot Air Balloon Catalog.
You can find his art work at:


PS: Now, I am not in any shape or form claiming that he has some God given talent in art, I just think it's cool!

Proud Momma.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Lost tooth


After much drama and deliberation, Larissa decided that her tooth was loose enough where she wanted my assistance with pulling it out tonight.

She kept going back and forth with whether she should show her teacher a loose tooth or a lost tooth. Finally, she made ten cards, five telling her to go ahead and pull it , and five telling her not to. Well, the first five cards she opened all told her to go ahead and do it!

Another tooth is out!

October 20th-21st, First Snow!

(Melting icicle)

Not a really productive weekend, but there is always something to do.

On Saturday we got a call from the realtor's office letting us know that we had two showings. So, basically, we had to be out of the house from 10am-1pm. Coincidentally, we had a birthday party to attend at 1pm too.

I heard on a local 99.9FM radio station that they were giving away a Family 4 Pack (tickets) at the mall to one lucky family to Jon's favorite show, "Go, Diego, Go!" I already priced the tickets a few weeks back, and decided that paying ~$125.00 was out of my budget, but getting them for free would suit me just fine ;-)

So, we headed to the mall. Put our name in the drawing bucket, and waited for an hour, to only find out that we didn't win... As much as I tried explaining to the kids beforehand that there was NO guarantee at all we would win, I ended up comforting two crying kids (the youngest two) at the end. Oh, well, better luck next time!


(Gabe on the left, Larissa next to him, behind a boy in red shirt, and you can barely see Jon's head in front of Gabe...)

Next four or so hours were spent at the party, sliding off an inflatable slide, over, and over, and over, and... again. As a result, kids were out for the night much earlier that usual.

Guess what we got on Sunday? Our first snow of the season!

So typical for Colorado, we got a record high temperature on Saturday (79 degrees), but didn't go above 34 high on Sunday!

Of course, first thing in the morning, we run out of milk and I really didn't feel like going anywhere, but finally decided to go on our "Adventure walk". Which basically means that we would bundle up really good and walk to a 711 Gas station, which is about three blocks away. Not a long distance, but during the bad snow storms, have been an impossible route to drive.



The weather outside was really nasty! Windy, overcast, with snow. I got a terrible headache too. What was even worse, since we pre-packed for the move, I had to dig through the boxes in the garage to get our winter clothes out. I found jackets and hats, but no gloves... Perhaps they are in another box.

By the time we came back, Gabe was crying that he had frozen feet and Jon had a big snot spread over his face (gross!). We made pizza from scratch and had hot chocolate.

Amazingly, 30 minutes later, kids wanted to go back outside to play in the snow again!