Christmas 2010

and then it was Christmas!
Even though, everyone knows "when" Christmas is going to arrive, we all still manage to not be ready for it..

As kids are getting older, their demands and wishes get more and more expensive too.

I took a week off between pre-Christmas and a New Year, as I try every year.  This is my chance to spend more time with the kids while they are home on a Winter break.

Thursday morning Jon and I managed to sneak out of the house for an early breakfast.  His choice - IHOP...  at first I wasn't too thrilled, but went anyway, and I was pleasantly surprised with their menu's improvement. 
Jon chose mixed fruit bowl and a side order of turkey bacon (kids totally love it).  I got some eggs and ham with a side of banana bread french toast.  It was actually good.

While at breakfast, Jon and I decided to stop by the Dollar Tree store next door and get  some prizes for the Christmas eve or New Year's eve games.  I don't think Jon realized then that "he" might end up with some of his choices...  later about that.

On Friday we cooked up a bunch of finger foods and deserts.  Kids helped me decorate Oreo Balls, which we dipped into melted chocolate and covered with whatever we felt like.  Kids kept adding sour worms to it.

 We finished the night playing Kinect games.

Larissa left Santa some milk and freshly baked mint cookies...

It payed off, Santa left some presents for the kids

Even the big ones...

By the way, getting all dressed up for Christmas Morning was NOT my idea.  Kids surprised me with the shirts and ties on.

Later in the weekend I made two sets of hand warmers, one for Larissa and one for me.  They sure feel nice, I am wearing mine right now, as I type.

December 18th weekend.

On Thursday night we all went to see Miranda sing in the Liberty High School choir for a Winter Holiday performance.  As expected, another smooth performance, thanks to Ms Eucker (their teacher).

Friday afternoon I helped out at Gabe's school, decorating gingerbread houses, that school later plans on donating to the local shelters.  None of the houses looked the same or like the picture on the kit's box, but all the kids had fun making them:

Same night the whole family went to a Mandolin Orchestra concert.  It was another sold out performance.  We all had a great time listening to the Christmas music.  Jon was determined to fall asleep (being that it didn't even start till 8pm) and Tim was determined to keep him awake.  That was pretty fun to watch.

On Saturday we had a quiet lunch at Panera Bread then later went to a Christmas party at the neighbor's house.  We finally got to meet and talk to some of the neighbors.  Looks like most of them are retired, stay home couples, which makes me happy, because I know that there is always someone at home if my kids need assistance.


On Sunday we decorated our gingerbread houses and displayed them at the kitchen table:

Only to find them looking like this on Monday:

I made kids re-add the new layer of candies to the houses.  Let's just say, I was not happy that night!!

December 11th weekend

No doubt, the Oregon rainy season has started.  I think it rained the whole week, on and off.

Saturday started with some heavy showers.  We all got up early for the Elementary School's Chess Tournament.  Both Larissa and Jon are in the club, and they were both scheduled to play non-competitive games.  Just as I was afraid, Jon refused to play any games with strangers, despite his teacher's high praises.  How frustrating (for me)! I decided not to push the issue, even though on the inside I was pretty pissed off.

Larissa played a total of six games.  Some against kids on her level, and some against a higher level.  In total she lost three and tied three.

After a while Jon worked up the nerve to play one game.  I think he just wanted to make peace with me...  The game was pretty quick, Jon lost, but I didn't really care.  I am just glad he tried.

On Sunday I took Larissa out for lunch.  We ate at what is now becoming our traditional lunch place, Hot Pot 'n Sushi. Followed by a quiet evening at home with a great slow cooked chicken dinner.

December 4th weekend

I took off a couple of days around this weekend, to make it a four day weekend for me and because kids didn't have school on Monday.

Friday was a "Civil War" game and kids wore "Oregon Ducks" color and t-shirts to school.  I bought Gabe a shirt to wear on top of a t-shirt for the "Ducks" day, but when he put it on in the morning, I found out that store forgot to remove a plastic security tag!  So much for wearing that...  of to the store I go.

Since Jon didn't have school on Friday, we went out for breakfast and did some light shopping.  When we stopped by the Old Navy he noticed a mannequin and immediately asked me to take a picture of "me and Dad.  Just make sure his head is not in the picture"...

Can't say that I did much though over the weekend.  We did get and then decorate a Christmas tree.  Larissa also put together a small Christmas Village on a coffee table.  At some point I had to stop her, because just like with anything else, she tends to go overboard.  When she started adding a foot tall angels to a village with 6" houses, I had to intervene.

On Monday we went to see the Megamind movie.  It was pretty cute.  Thanks to Intel it didn't cost us a penny!

I tried taking a picture of all the kids, but Jon realized I was doing it and tried to run out of site.

Happy 2010 Thanksgivings Day and a Black Friday to all!

 The week of Thanksgivings Day started off cold, with the temperatures dropping well below a freezing level.  Larissa kept chanting that she REALLY-REALLY wanted some snow.  The rest of the kids didn't care, as long as the school was canceled.  Their wish came true on Tuesday. 
Everyone got to sleep in just a little longer than they would if there was school, but by 8am we already had Gabe's friends knocking on the door, asking if anyone wanted to come play outside.  Gabe didn't want to, but Larissa and Jon did.  Even with the hand and feet warmers, they didn't last long.  Too cold to play outside we ended up hosting a video game party with a few of the neighbor kids in attendance.

On Wednesday Jon, Larissa and I took some home-baked goods and some juice to school for a Teachers Appreciation breakfast (that was initially scheduled for Tuesday).  I took half a day off from work to finish up my feast shopping.  I just beat all the big crowds too.

Thursday started off early for me.  I woke up at 5am (without any alarm set) and started getting things ready.  Turns out that my 20 lb turkey was a little to big to fit into a slow cooker (as I initially planned) and had to go into oven.  Larissa helped me with the cranberry sauce and boys just helped by staying out of my way.  By noon even Miranda was up, so we sat down for a really nice meal.  I have to say, everything was just perfect!

After eating our meal we attempted to do our typical photo session, where we all sit on the couch all dressed up and ready, then one of the kids starts throwing a fit, then another one does, I take a million of photos with a hope of getting ONE decent picture, then I get frustrated, give up and we all watch TV...

Here is the shot I find most humorous:

and here is what it felt like:

 Why, oh why do I even try?..

As we were finishing up our long day, Jon was already fast asleep, Miranda in bed, Gabe and Larissa started asking me questions about Black Friday.  After some thinking I told them get in the car, I will show you what it's all about!  So, at midnight we headed out to a new adventure.

Old Navy was already open and all the good stuff long claimed.  The line went all the way around the store and back out.  Totally crazy!  For what?...  I got all the same deals online later on!

there was no way I was going to stay in line for a $5 break!

I hope my kids learned a lesson and won't try this any time soon.  :-)


We stopped by the Krispy Kreme doughnut, hoping to bring a treat home, but they were closed.  I guess there is no Black Friday there:

Better luck another time!

Almost Thanksgivings weekend

Typically, it starts getting busy at school right before the Winter break.  Between the tests, the school papers due, and all the various school performances, it is sometimes challenging to keep up with everyone schedules...

On Thursday our Elementary school had a fundraiser at McDonald's.  Not my first choice for the dinner solution, but once in a while, for a good cause, why not?..

On Friday Jon had his classroom Fall performance.

All the kids in his class lined up and sang for us.  The, we sat at the table and did a craft together.  Nice to take a break from work and spend it with your child.

 

On Friday night we had a crazy idea of going to Krispy Kreme doughnuts and getting a treat.  Why not?..

(not sure where my pictures went...  hmmm...  Gabe?! sigh...)

We got two dozen doughnuts (because it is hard to choose), a few drinks and had a blast.

Saturday and Sunday was quiet, getting ready for a predicted cold weather with snow, and shopping for the Thanksgivings Day food (oh, and finishing up all the doughnuts)...

Fall Performance - middle school band 2010

This Tuesday Gabe's Middle School Band had a Fall performance.

It opened with three pieces played by an Intermediate Band, followed by the Middle school Choir's set of songs, then to the Advanced Band (where Gabe is playing a euphonium) for three more pieces, and finished by the High School Marching band number.

Everyone had a great time and I have to say that Advanced band was much better than I expected!  So very proud of Gabe!

One thing was very noticeable...  How much smaller Gabe is than the rest of his band.  He was probably the smallest kid with the biggest instrument in the group.  Although, we have to remember that most of the kids in the Advanced band are eight graders and Gabe is a young seventh grader.

Once Gabe was onstage, sitting in a back row, all we could see was a little bit of his horn. Back row, fourth player from the end.

November 12 weekend

On Wednesday Larissa got a call from the Grocery Outlet store and found out that she won a coloring contest.  She got the first place that came with a $25 gift card for the store.  We didn't waste any time and got a bunch of food for the house.  Thanks Riss!

 

On the weekend we watched some movies, and I did some jewelry projects.  Nothing too exciting.  Lunch with Jon and Larissa at Hot Pot n' Sushi was pretty much the highlight of the weekend. 

Kids ordered their usual, fried calamari for Jon and a Spider sushi for Larissa.  I did most of the eating though.

On Sunday we asked Gabe to clean our older neighbor's driveway (he has a giant tree in the front yard that is dropping leaves at a high rate) and next thing we know two of his friends grabbed some tools too and got to work.  As a reward I took all the boys to McDonald's for a treat.  It doesn't take much to do a good deed and it sure doesn't take much to show someone a gratitude for the job well done!

Happy 10th Birthday Larissa weekend

Our weekend started long before Saturday. 

Monday was Larissa's theater performance.  It was not at all like the ones put on by a previous teacher.  Perhaps it's the stile that didn't agree with us, but we were quite disappointed...  Larissa also decided not to attend next session, so I had her un-enrolled.

On Thursday, the 4th, it was Tim's birthday.  Since it was a weeknight with work and school, we didn't make any big plans.  Tim got a Kinect system for Xbox360 and spent the night playing it with the kids, while I attended my last Sketching class.  Nice dinner and a relaxing night watching TV was just a perfect way to end the day.

On Friday night I had tickets to see Filmmusic performance.  Initially I had two tickets for Tim and Larissa to go, but then we scored two more free tickets.  Tim didn't seem interested, so I took Miranda, Larissa and Jon along.  We really didn't know what to expect.  We knew that we will be seeing an old movie and there will be live music.  What we didn't know is that there will also be actors on stage reading all the lines from the Gulliver's Travel animated movie, orchestra, soloists, and a group doing the sound effects.  We had a blast watching the performance and would probably do this again!

Saturday was Larissa's 10th birthday.  We didn't feel like making a cake, so I baked some cupcakes.  For some reason my batch only made eight cupcakes (I was hoping for 10), so I lined them up like a Roman numeral "X" for 10.  I think Russians have an expression for that "Necessity is a Mother of invention".  I AM Russian after all.

All Larissa wanted was to go shopping at Justice store, and a Build a Bear store.  We accomplished the first.  I simply didn't have enough energy to do the latter.  Another day!

Quick lunch with Mom to follow at Quidoba's, then home to play Kinect!

Halloween 2010 weekend

As usual, we waited till last minute to decide what characters we want to be this year.  In past, I think, the issue is that we have collected quite a few costumes over the years and with that much selection (even is most of them are now too small), we just don't know what to do.

On Friday we went to Tim's work Halloween party.  We got there a little late, so finding a parking spot was not easy.  After checking in at the front table, kids went around, trying to get their card stamped with the needed three stamps, so that they could enter into a prize drawing.  We were there about an hour and that was just enough time to stay in three long lines... and get the three stamps...  We didn't even get a chance to go through a scary town set outside.

Saturday was just another day, spent mostly at the Toyota dealership.  Jon, Larissa and I went in for a 7am appointment, dropped the truck off, and went out for breakfast at the Black Bear.

Kids discovered a jukebox

After hanging out there for a while, we walked back to the car shop and spent another few hours there watching kids' movies, browsing the web...

Sunday - Halloween.  At the last minute we decided to change Larissa's costume a bit, and headed out to the Goodwill store.  We found a perfect dress for her zombie-princess look.  We almost felt bad cutting up the dress, but it was so worth it.  Make up touches added to it and she was one cool goth girl!

Here is a closer look at Larissa's makeup:

Jon dressed as a skelleton  and Gabe as a Scream character (how original...)

October 23rd weekend

This weekend I spent coordinating a variety of sleepovers.  At least it seems like that's all I did...

Oregon Fall is finally here.  It rained at various speeds through the weekend, so there was little desire to be outdoors.  That's a perfect weather to catch up of long ago started projects.  I finally completed two of the three collages and hung them up in the hallway.  Not perfect, but I really like them!  I also had to compromise on one of the sets.  There wasn't a long enough frame to fit all the images, and I certainly wasn't going to special-order a frame for what is meant to be a low budget project. Taking out one photo did the trick!

On Saturday we had insulation guys come in and redo insulation in the crawl space.  I can already feel like the house is warmer.  Or, maybe, someone cranked the heat up...  Not sure yet...

Afterwards, Jon and I stopped by the Home Depot to pick up a new air filter.  Turns out Home Depot sells pumpkins!  Score!  One less stop to make.

For some odd reason, Jon really likes pushing a shopping cart...

Tim found out that Fred Meyers store now sells Jelly Belly's in bulk.  Must be new, there was no price posted anywhere.  He couldn't decide which flavor to get, so he was about to just randomly try them all...  nah!  Just kidding!

 

On Sunday I volunteered at the Pass It On kids' consignment event on behalf of our kids' school.  I spend four hours keeping kids' clothing in order, then sorting it out at the end.  I think it will be some time before I have a desire to clean out MY kids' closets...