Si, excepto ella no es facil

Okay so this is a shot of our room in Cancun. Pretty great, right? You sir, would be wrong about that. Because of the above statement. Love her as I do, my wife is not easy, especially about bargains and getting what she paid for.

The room in question, while having an ocean view, had two double beds as opposed to the king bed that she wanted. I was told this was NOT romantic and would tarnish the memories of the vacation…We were told to come back to the front desk the morning to see about possibly switching rooms to get a king bed. We were there bright and early, unfortunately, the front desk operates on resort time (which we kind of expected). So we went and had a great breakfast, wandered around the resort for awhile and went back at 10:00 am.

They showed us a room with a king bed in our same building, with no view. Again, not acceptable. This is when I explained to the bellhop that my wife, while lovely and kind, wants what she wants and not much will dissuade her (using the above Spanish). So, back to the front desk we went. We were told this was the last available room. We then said the magic word, “upgrade” all of the sudden, the red sea parted and there were more rooms available, just not right then.  We had to come back at two when the rooms were clean. So we walked down to the shops and wandered around the hotel zone a little bit.

Back at 2:00 on the dot, we met with our new best friend at the front desk. She had a bellhop take us to a REALLY nice room with a king bed, ocean view, Jacuzzi tub, shower spa, free wi-fi and unlimited access to the gym (hey, you vacation your way, I vacation mine). The free gym swung if for me and we upgraded. We are both much happier.

If you are thinking the whole thing sounds a little orchestrated and planned, yeah you’re probably right. I’m fine going thru the rest of the vacation with “sucker” tattooed across my forehead. My wife is happy. As I also told the bellhop (we were buds by now), there is a saying in the US, “Happy wife, happy life”. Mine is, on both counts.

PS. Hey Tanner - Look at this cool pelican!

Kid Update

Faith started gymnastics class a month ago and is really enjoying it. She was very timid at first and I could tell how nervous she was to be on the bars or beam (or as she calls it, "the bean").  The first few lessons she was happy to do the class in her shorts and tshirt but last week she decided she really, really wanted a leotard and matching hair scrunchie. She came home and tried them on immediately and modeled them for her brothers and daddy. Today  I knew there was going to be trouble at class as her regular teacher wasn't there and the sub was a "boy teacher". Yep... the waterworks began. She has always been afraid of male teachers, from the time she was a two year old in her first swimming class. The other teacher was a woman so she got put in that group and luckily avoided the dreaded man teacher! Not sure where that phobia came from as she is surrounded by boys at home!

Faith is doing amazingly well in Kindergarten. She reads, reads, reads. She loves it and she is good at it. It keeps her entertained for long stretches, along with her art work and craft stuff. She will head up to the bonus room and come down an hour later with some creation. Last week it was a barn built of popsicle sticks filled with puff balls to which she had glued eyes and a beak. It was her "chicken coop". She named all of the chickens and kept it beside her bed for several days. She brought it in for "V" day at school and when I asked her what about it started with "V" she replied, "It's my VERY special chickens".  Smart cookie, that one.  She loves school and has her group of best friends there that she plays with and constantly wants to invite over to play. She has started complaining that she is tired of playing with "the boys" at home and recently started angling for a sister. Ummm... hate to tell her but there is no way on god's green earth that is happening! Luckily she still plays really well with Tanner and Jake.

Tanner recently lost a bottom tooth and two days later had one of his top teeth knocked loose during rough play on the trampoline. He was so upset because he really thought it was his permanent tooth that got knocked loose and he was just sobbing. It wasn't ready to be loose so there was lots of blood and drama and it really hurt so he got lots of TLC from Nana and me, and also from Jake and Faith who brought him his Giants blanket, his teddy bear, and a little packet of candy they put together. Those three really do look out for each other and take care of each other. It's so sweet to watch. The tooth in question hung in there for about 24 hours at which point I couldn't stand to look at it any more, hanging in his mouth at an awkward angle, so I convinced him to let me pull it out. Brian is really squeamish about teeth and wouldn't even look Tanner in the eye so the duty fell to me. Ick. Really gross. But it came out pretty easily. He left it for the Tooth Fairy and decided two days later when the Tooth Fairy STILL hadn't shown up (BAD MOMMY!) that she must be really busy or maybe she didn't believe that he really lost another tooth so quickly after the other one fell out. I told him that usually the Tooth Fairy pays an extra dollar for each day she is delayed, so he ended up getting three bucks from her in the end.

Tanner also loves school and is a great reader. He goes to bed half an hour before Jake and often uses that time to read his books in bed. He is getting so independent. He has his best friends still and they all hang out together both at school and at each others houses. He was invited to his first sleepover birthday party next weekend and even though he is dying to go and says he won't be nervous to sleep there, it makes me a little sad to know that he is that independent already. I know, I know. He is seven years old. But still..

Talk about growing up... then there's Jake. He turns ten next month. Double digits. Over half of his years at home are already gone. Scary. He loves fourth grade and his teacher, Mr. Borjian. He has finally expanded his reading horizons past sports books and just finished the City of Ember series. He is responsible about school work and homework, but I wouldn't say he likes it. He's got a good group of buddies, too, and despite more "friendship drama" than I'd like, he is happy. I thought only girls had friendship drama... apparently I was wrong. He still really likes choir and now says that when he grows up he wants to be a musician instead of a pro athlete. Hmmmm. Maybe a backup plan would be good on either front.

He's had a lull in his sports schedule lately and it has been really nice and relaxing not having practices during the week. It's been two months, actually, with only a baseball camp here and there and Faith's gymnastics. That will all change in less than a month when Little League starts. Brian is coaching Tanner's machine pitch team and Jake will do AAA again, hoping to get more experience before doing Majors next year. Brian is coaching Summer League this year and since he is now on the board for the North Boise Little League, he is going to allow Tanner to play on the same team as Jake, even though he is a few months shy of the cutoff age. All the boys are excited about that one! I have to admit I am also looking forward to getting back into sports- especially baseball.

Brian and I head to Mexico tomorrow morning at 5AM- I'm not sure how we will manage it in the budget but a trip away each year definitely needs to be a priority. We've been counting the days and are now down to hours. We woke up to snow this morning and a low of 6 degrees is expected Tuesday so we are so excited to be heading to a warm climate.  Break out the bikinis and shorts. We are staying at an all inclusive resort in Cancun so I'm hoping the biggest decision I have to make each day is whether or not I should have that second drink and if I should read or sleep by the ocean. Mary is staying with the kids and Mom is helping with entertainment, transportation, food, etc... I can't thank them enough. I told Brian that the thing I am looking forward to most is not having to do any sort of food prep for an entire week. That, to me, is HEAVEN. Brian, on the other hand, is most excited about not having to tell anyone to stop touching anyone else.

Winter's Not Done With Us Yet

Woke up to this.

More Things I Don't Want to Forget

Sunday mid morning is typically when I go grocery shopping. Sometimes it's just me, sometimes one or more of the kids come along. It just depends on what's going on at home and what Brian is up to and whether or not football is on. I always stop at Starbucks on my way to the store to get myself a mocha to drink while perusing the aisles at Fred Meyer or Walmart or WinCo. Last Sunday Jake decided to come with me and Tanner and Faith decided to stay home. I love when only one of them comes because it is great one-on-one time (and that is somewhat of a luxury around here!). As we sat down in the car I noticed that Jake tucked something in his pocket. I asked him what it was and he said it was nothing, not to worry about it. I cranked up the music and we headed out.

First stop was, of course, Starbucks. I ordered my drink and took out my iPhone Starbucks app to pay. But before she could scan the barcode on my phone Jake whipped out a $20.00 bill from his pocket (the mysterious slip of paper from the car) and said, "This one's on me!". The barista and I were both kind of shocked, touched, and laughing. He said he'd been planning it for awhile and wanted to treat me to coffee with his own money.  I think I had a smile a mile wide the rest of the day.

Later that day I was coloring with Faith when out of the blue she asked me,"Mom, how do you learn how to do all the things that you do?". I wasn't sure what she was talking about so I said, "You mean like coloring?" and she said, "No. Like how do you learn to be a good mommy?".  I told her that it is a very hard job but I learned from my mom and I learn as I go along and I make lots of mistakes. She was quiet for a few minutes and then said, "How many mistakes do you think you've made, Mom?".  I hugged her and said, "More than I could count. Thousands!". She assured me I am still the best mom ever.

Speaking of one-on-one time... Jake was at a sleepover party last weekend so Brian and Tanner got to have some male bonding time during the NFL Playoffs. The two of them turned on the afternoon game upstairs on the big screen, folded out the futon so they could stretch out, and enjoyed the game together. They were so cute sitting up there together, come dinnertime I couldn't resist making them dinner and delivering it to them to eat in the Bonus Room. This is usually a "no eating zone" so Tanner was thrilled to get his grilled cheese, chips, and carrots delivered to him on the futon. It was kind of sexist, but Faith and I stayed downstairs and watched some of Top Chef while we let the boys do their own thing.  Good one on one time for everyone this week!

Ski Night

As a follow-up to Marisa's previous post about the snow, we went up skiing for the first time in a couple of years over the weekend. 

We have had more snow so far this winter than we have had for the last two winters combined, plus it's staying cold enough for the snow to stay on the ground (it's 10 degrees out while typing this). Snow on the ground = sledding, sledding (for boys anyway) = desire for bigger hills to go down. The school organizes family ski nights at Bogus Basin and the first one of this year was this past Saturday night. It really is a great activity. As the Resort winds down for the day, you can go up, get discounted lessons and lift tickets and ski under the lights.

I'm not a HUGE fan of the road up there, it's windy and steep (duh) with no guardrails and makes me a little tense during the day, so driving up and back down in the dark was not something I was looking forward to, but the road conditions and the weather were perfect on Saturday, so up we went. 

This is the 1st year that Tanner was eligible to take snow board lessons and he was all fired up. Once we got their rental boots, boards etc., we headed out to meet their instructors. For whatever reason, most kids here ski, not snowboard. That combined with the fact that it was at night, meant that Tanner and Jake each had an hour and a half private snowboard lesson, equipment rental and lift ticket for $25.00, which was awesome. 

I wasn't sure how Tanner was going to do being dropped off in the freezing cold, but he was good to go. Jake had taken snowboard lessons before and was familiar with the process. Marisa, Faith and I went into the lodge to get out of the cold (it was five degrees out) and so I could try to watch the end of the Broncos game. There were a ton of parents from school in there and we found some friends to sit and chat with while the boys got their X-Games on. They both did really well.

At one point Marisa saw Tanner out the window and it looked like he and his teacher were heading back in. Fearing the worst, I bundled up and headed out to meet them. Tanner saw me trudging across the snow and raised his arms like, "what?". When I got out to them, he said, "What are you doing here?". I asked if he was okay and if they were done and he said, "I'm fine, we're going back up.", which loosely translated, came across as, "Get out of here Dad. You're embarrasing me.". So I turned around and headed back in to finish my burger and wait them out. 

Once lessons were done, we collected the boys and brought them inside for snacks. After about a 20 minute rest, they were raring to go back out. They left us in the lodge and went back out and boarded together for another forty minutes or so. I got a sense of foreshadowing for what trips up the mountain will be like as the boys get older. 

Once we had decided that they had enough, we returned the rental gear, loaded up the car and headed down the mountain. Everyone had their ipods on (Mom and Dad included) and it was a quiet and uneventful drive back home. We just pulled the Suburban into the garage, left the unpacking for the morning and got everyone (Mom and Dad included) off to bed.

There is another Ski Night scheduled in the next couple of weeks and I'm sure we'll be headed back up for some more fun on the slopes.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

We got a pretty decent snowfall right after Christmas- before New Years- and it feels like it hasn't stopped since! I am pretty sure we have more snow right now than we did in the last 3 years combined. I LOVE it!! Today is an official Snow Day in the Boise School District, so the kids are home. They have built a snowman, built a snow fort, practiced pitching with snowballs, tried sledding and snowboarding across the street, and acted out The Lion King while drinking hot cocoa. Now they are playing Wii. And it is still coming down! Brian is on round 2 of shoveling the driveway- and even so, I think he is enjoying the weather as much as the kids and I are. We had several days that started at 4 degrees- and by "started" I mean it was still 4 degrees when we dropped the kids off at school. That is quite unusual here... but you know that global warming is just some liberal hippie thing that was made up to encourage car companies to create the Leaf, right?

The New Year started off great with our first of what I am sure will be MANY "date nights" at Sheila and Wayne's new house. They were in town from Dec 26- Jan 6 and we decided we could leave the kids at home with Jake in charge (and a cell phone) and walk the two doors down to spend an evening with our friends. We fed them first, stuck a movie in the DVD player, and headed out. How great was it to get a date night with best friends AND not have to pay for and arrange a babysitter???!!! We brought the "Red Neck Alcohol Tub", they provided the food, and we hung out for over two hours. It was such a success that we repeated the idea a week later- this time with them providing the wine while we provided the snacks. HEAVEN. 

A Lazy Mom's Christmas Blog

Top 10 Christmas Season Memories (in no particular order):

1. Mary was in town for the week leading up to Christmas. We did our fair share of Christmas shopping and Starbucks trips together and she did more than her fair share of baking with the kids, making Chex mix and "Grandma Mary Spaghetti Sauce", and playing card games.

2. We took the kids to Big Lots on Christmas Eve and they each used their own money to buy some toys for Toys for Tots. I was really proud of them all for their generosity. We tried to lead by example by buying things with our own money and then giving them the option to use their own money to buy additional toys. Each of them bought at least one item and stood in line on their own, using their ATM card to buy the gifts. We then drove to the fire station and they proudly put their goodies into the box.

3. The advent calendar continued to be a big hit each morning. I'm pretty sure that is the best $5.00 I ever spent at a garage sale! Faith's favorite treat was the Sixlets.

4. We watched way too many holiday movies. This year we introduced the kids to Elf and The Santa Clause. We also watched School of Rock (timed perfectly to get them in the right frame of mind for their presents from Santa Claus).  Next year it will be time for A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation. 

5. We've never been fans of a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve. Years past have seen everything from FFY to take out Chinese to fish and chips at the local pub (that was the year I was pregnant with Jake). This year Nana came over and we did a "make your own pizza night". I bought dough and sauce from a local pizza place and Nana demonstrated the fine art of pizza dough throwing.

6. We followed the pizza making with the annual opening of Christmas Eve jammies and Christmas Eve game. This year it was MouseTrap- a great game from my childhood. The kids loved it and it kept us all entertained. Then, right before bed, we all watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Shrek the Halls. The Kids all slept in the bonus room together on blow up mattresses. Amazingly they were all asleep by 930 PM.

7. Brian and I were up first on Christmas morning. We got breakfast started, made the coffee and energy drink (for Brian) then the kids got up around 645 when Nana arrived. They were very excited to see the gifts from Santa: the makings of a band including an electric guitar and amp, a keyboard, and an electric drum set. Yes, we are crazy. They have been making music ever since and are getting their first lesson on the guitar later this morning from a friend of ours in the neighborhood. Now our bonus room (already a truly multifunctional space) includes the title of "Music Room".

8. The only thing Faith truly wanted for Christmas was a stuffed reindeer from Build a Bear. She didn't waver from the time she saw it in the mall in November until Christmas morning. She was pretty excited to see Clarice waiting for her by the fireplace. The doll was actually from Nana but we left it out from Santa because it was the only thing she had actually asked for from him. She carries it everywhere.

9. The boys favorite gifts were from their Grandmas: Mary got them Madden 13 for the Wii and Nana got them each a pair of Reebok Reezig shoes in Boise State colors. They were ecstatic. Seriously. I thought Jake might cry he was so happy. He just kept hugging Nana and thanking her over and over again. I think the reaction alone made Nana's day.

10. We didn't get a white Christmas, but we did get snow the day after and several days following. We still have several inches on the ground with more falling as I type. The low was 15 degrees last night so it's chilly but it has been sunny during the day and really beautiful. 

Holiday Performances 2012

This year the older elementary students didn't put on a holiday concert, but a few weeks prior to the holiday break Jake got to perform with the school choir. He is loving being part of the 4/5/6 choir and got to perform not only for the parents this month but also at the Capitol building in downtown Boise and at the VA hospital. Very cool. He goes to choir every Tuesday and Thursday before school and is one of only a few boys (maybe THAT'S why he's so into choir... smart boy!).

Tanner and Faith had their holiday concert the day before break and it was a BIG DEAL to them. Tanner really wanted to dress up and, given that we have only sport shorts, tshirts, and under armour gear in his closet, we decided to let him pick out brand new stuff for the show. I was thinking maybe some khaki pants and a short sleeved button down. He, however, had a different idea. He picked out a tie, vest, slacks, and dress shirt. Funny kid. He was so excited to get to dressed up, and also to get BRAND NEW clothes (usually he's in hand-me-downs from Jake).  Faith decided to wear a dress she had gotten from Abby and since she only had tennis shoes, we let her pick out the fancy boots you see in the picture below. Pretty sure this was the single most impractical item I have ever purchased for one of my children!!

They both had a great time and we were lucky enough to have both grandmas here to see the performance. Nothing says, "Here comes the holiday!" like a group of K-3rd graders singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!" at the top of their lungs.

There is no Offseason

This past weekend was the last weekend of the YMCA Boys Basketball season for this year. This made for a VERY busy Saturday. It was one of the few times this season that the boys basketball schedules didn't directly conflict, so I was able to watch some of Jake's game before Tanner and I had to leave to get across town to his game.

He did great and has made a lot of progress this year. This is the last year he will likely play in the YMCA league as he is eligilbel to play AAU next year if he would like and he is ready to play at the next level. His team has three other really good players and the coach (also his football coach) does a good job rotating the boys in throughout the game. He does put all of the good kids together on the floor in the 4th quarter, which has led to some great come-from-behind finishes this season. This last game in fact they won by one point, with no time left on a free throw, so it was very exciting. Jake really likes basketball and I'm interested to see what he chooses to do with it going forward as he is sort of at a cross-roads with it now. For AAU, believe it or not, the teams are organized by which high school you are planning to attend, so now we have to figure that out.....

I had an absolute blast coaching Tanner's team this year. There was only one kid that I didn't coach last or coached in another sport, so all of the kids were really comfortable which makes those first few games and practioces much easier. Tanner was also really happy that most of his good buddies were on his team. We worked a lot on setting goals (my goal for the season was to be able to tell Shane and Ryan, the twins, apart without looking at their shoes - I did it, which was awesome. I went an entire baseball season getting them confused before now.), and all of the boys improved a lot over the season. This was one of the best 1st grade teams that I have ever coached. There is no score at this level, but if there were, we would have won EVERY game, by A LOT. Even the other coaches were amazed at how well these boys played together. I ran out of things to teach them that applied at this level, so for the last two practices, we worked on a give-and-go set play that is pretty advanced for this age (it's mainly bunch ball on the court), and the boys ran it twice for layups in our last game.

All of the parents seemed very appreciative of the team and coaching as well, making sure that I would email them next season for sign-ups so we could attempt to have the same team.  After the game, we had the end of the season pizza and trophy party and had a really good time. 

The very next day we were out at the  North Boise Little League equipment shed cleanout. Since I joined the board of the local little league, I have been spending a lot more time on baseball. As we get start to get ready for 2013 sign-ups, it was time to clean out, organize and order more equipment from our huge shed. I volunteered to help out and decided to bring the boys with me so they could pitch-in and help their league, plus learn a little something about volunteering and how much work goes in behind the scenes so that they can play the soprts the love.

It was cold. There was A TON of equipment to go through. We had a lot of help and it still took us almost five hours of work in the cold outside to get it cleaned out and organized. I still have to go back and help with the ordering. The boys did so great and I was so proud of them. Jake had some buddies show up that he had played with in the past, but Tanner just jumped right in working with different grown-ups, sorting equipment etc., while I re-stocked the shed with the re-organized gear bags. For five hours, they hauled heavy equipment bags, hand checked freezing cold aluminum bats and followed directions on whatever they were asked. I was so proud of how hard they worked wihtout complaining that I took them out for Applebees afterwards to celebrate (and get warm). We watched the Sunday night football game in the bar and got wings, dinner and dessert. We had a really great time out. 

We love our sports here in the Alan household, but sometimes it feels like it never ends.

Christmas Prep

We got a late start to the holidays this year.  Thansgiving was so early, and then last weekend I was in Portland for a "sisters weekend" so we just finally got around to decorating last night. As per usual, we stopped at several tree stands before going back to the one closest to our house where we picked out a short, fat tree that everyone was worried wouldn't be big enough or pretty enough.  But I was sold on it. Brian even went so far as to suggest that we may need to go buy a second tree since the one I picked out, upon further look once it was in the stand, appeared to be ugly. Howver, in a spoiler for the blog post ahead, IT IS BEAUTIFUL, if not a little quirky, and the Chrismtas Spirit is now in full swing at the Alan household. 

We had a snacky dinner- tradition- while decorating. The kids loved the spread of salami and cheese, pigs in a blanket, and pizza rolls (not a vegetable in sight). I was more partial to the dessert that my mom brought- another spread with choices between cheesecake, carrot cake, and chocolate cake. Yum. Tis the season.  Brian assumed his usual position on the couch where he handed out the ornaments to the kids one by one, I assumed my role as the "teller of the story" behind each ornament and the person that relocates the ornaments that the kids hung (all in a similar height level clump), and my mom watched from her chair, adding to the stories when she could- contributing those that were attributed to Papa, great grandmas, and the like.  


It is our first Christmas in our new home and really does look beautiful. We have garlands on the staircase, stockings hung on the mantel, the tree in the back window, a poinsettia on the table, and lights out front. We tried to put our blow up Santa and penguin up in the kids rooms but it turned out that they were too loud so we had to move them (to Goodwill).  

We followed the decorating with our annual viewing of Shrek the Halls and we all laughed out loud at all of our favorite parts- trying hard not to quote and requote the characters (Yes, Jake, I'm talking about you!).  Shrek  stated, "That wasn't Christmas, that was CHAOS!" and Donkey reminded him that  in his family "Christmas ain't Christmas 'til somebody cries.". There are so many lines in that show that are laugh out loud funny. It's a great reminder that Christmas doesn't have to be perfect- which came as a great reminder since my Christmas cards arrived the day before with a glaring typo on them and they're being sent anyway! Martha Stewart I am not. 

So, we are all in the spririt and trying to enjoy each and every day of this magicial season.   

It's On Like Donkey Kong

It has been like the 80's all over again around here lately. Marisa wrote about our Gilligan's Island Film Festival (which is still ongoing). We just watched BIG with the kids the other night, which they liked until it got too grow-up.

Out latest time warp occurred, as a lot of the reasons why we do the things we do....um...do, because of a Groupon. Marisa found out about a new place in Eagle called Grinkers that just opened. It is a restaurant/arcade with only 1980's-era video games. All the games have been restored and still only cost a quarter. We hit up some friends of ours in the neighborhood who were game to go (no pun intended) and hit it up for dinner last night.

It is exactly like the arcades of our youth. Dark, crowded and filled with kids. There were a lot of families as well with kids. It was funny to see other 40 somethings walking around reminiscing and checking out all the games. Even the change machines were from the 80's. We got the kids some quarters (and got some for ourselves), and spent an hour or so playing; Pole Position, Frogger, Tron, Centipede and Dig Dug. Tanner and Faith loved Alpine Ski and Jake was a big punch out fan.

They served sandwiches and, appropriately enough, Funyons. The food was pretty good, the service was totally confused, but they were trying. There were a TON of teenagers in there, so it's going to be a hangout for sure (you can't beat quarter games). It was fun to remember what it used to be like back in the day and to hear the kids walking around saying, "I only have two quarters left".

Tanner - Star of the Week

It was Tanner's turn to be "Star of the Week" in his 1st grade class. Technically  if was his second turn, we totally forgot the first time. After being sternly admonished by his teacher, we put this time on our calendar to make sure we didn't miss again (it would suck to be the only parents left back in 1st grade). 

He completed a poster all about himself with pictures of his family, BOTH Jackson and Milo, a headline from the SF Giant's World Series win, a cutout of a pizza box and some captions that were supposed to describe him. We were allowed to come into the classroom and  watch and participate in the presentation. We listened to Tanner explain his poster and everything on it. Then we were supposed to tell stories about Tanner. If you have read this blog for awhile, you know that there are several to choose from. Tanner was hesitant at first, not wanting us to tell any stories that might embarrass him, but he relented eventually. I told some stories about coaching Tanner and how good an athlete he is. Marisa told the cinnamon roll story. 

After stories, the kids got to ask questions. Since Tanner explained a lot about himself, the questions were a little forced. "What's your THIRD favorite food?" "Why is the background of that picture white?" and so on. Once the questions were mercifully over, Tanner got to climb up on the table while his class all sang Happy Birthday.

We didn't completely knock it out of the park as parents though.....several of the kids came up to us and asked up what treats we brought to eat (multiple times!). Of course we had no idea we were supposed to bring treats and ended up disappointing an entire class of 1st graders. There's just no way we're going to pass 1st grade.......

Post-Thanksgiving High Explosive Fun (or "How my Mind Works")

Related to Tanner's Birthday party.....

Tanner and all the boys at his party were having a difficult time on what to get with their arcade tickets at the "plastic piece of crap trading post" in the arcade at the bowling alley. As the patience required to deal with this process is not my strong suit, I left Marisa to deal with the kids who weren't ours (and who apparently I scare) and tried to help Tanner pick his POC out. He got 200 extra tickets for being the birthday boy, so he could get something a little bigger than his friends. Trying to be helpful and expedite the process, I steered him towards a set of those wind-up, rip-cord plastic helicopter toys, figuring it would make for some fun for that weekend. That was what he ended up choosing (completemented by some fun-dip).

Fast forward to Saturday. The POC in question broke the second it was out of the package. With Marisa gone to the gym, I braced myself for the torrent of tears and crying that I was sure were going to follow, but Tanner held it together. He was sad and dissapointed, but understood that it was a cheap plastic toy and there wasn't much we could do about it. I was so proud of him for not losing it, that I started to try to figure out a replacement activity that would be as fun as wind-up, rip-cord plastic helicopters. My brain (without the benefit of spousal mitigation) immediately went to.....of course, model rockets!

One trip to the specialty hobby store, $100.00, and some stern wifely looks later, our post Thanksgiving Day plans were set!

We shot them off this morning with some friends from the neighborhood and man, it was AWESOME! The rockets got up about 1200 ft. The parachutes deployed and the kids chased them around the field as they came back down.

Marisa had a good time and thought it was great fun also. At least until I explained that I bought the smallest engines possible for our first try and that we wouldn't be using those ones again. I wonder if I can get some of the ones from China that you need a permit for on the internet ......

Tanner Turns 7

Even though I have repeatedly told Tanner he is "not allowed to turn 7" he went ahead and did it anyway. We had his birthday party last Saturday. He invited 4 boys over and we drove two cars across town to the new bowling alley called Pinz.  We were greeted by our party organizer who stayed with us through the two hour event, keeping everyone organized, getting food and drinks, etc... It was great! The kids loved bowling and since the lanes had huge TV screens above them, they were also able to watch the BSU game during the party. After an hour of bowling we headed to the pizza room for dinner, present opening, and make your own sundae bar. Tanner tried a little bit of every topping on his masterpiece.  Each boy was given a bunch of tokens (now on a convenience little credit card thingy) to use in the arcade. After game playing we headed to the dreaded "Store" where we helped each boy use the "tickets" he earned (also now on an electronic card) to buy candy and trinkets. We headed home, dropped each boy off, and finished off the night with a few episodes of Gilligan's Island.

His favorite gift was the game Fibbers, which we played the next day. If you haven't seen this game I highly recommend it for Family Game Night. It's a lot of fun and even younger kids can easily play. You have to wear these silly glasses and each time you are caught lying you add a colored plastic nose to the frames. 

Tanner's real birthday was on Wednesday the 21st. I took the kids to see Wreck it Ralph at the REAL theatre. We usually only go to the dollar theater by our house so a trip to the big Regal Cinema downtown is a treat. Nana gave Tanner money for treats and instructed me to let them buy whatever they wanted so Tanner and Jake shared an industrial size Icee, a box of cookie dough bites, and popcorn. Faith opted for the Dreyers Dibs. And we all shared a vat of Diet Coke. 

That night Brian took Tanner out to his annual birthday dinner. This year he chose Applebees where he had chicken wings, sliders, and two Mountain Dews. They had a great time and headed home to do presents and cake with Nana, Sheila, Wayne, Shelby, and Sam.  He was very excited about the pop up soccer goals and soccer ball. He'll have some shopping to do with his Target gift card from Grandma Mary.  He was dying for a digital watch, but the only one we could find was Batman and he decided he'd rather have a plain one so we'll take him out to exchange it after this Black Friday madness is over.  

Tanner is such a light in our life. He makes us laugh, cuddles with the best of them, is a great reader, is a loving brother to Faith and Jake,  loves all sports, is easy going, and kind hearted.  One of the games we played at the bowling alley was a "Who Knows Tanner the Best?" game and when asked what three things he would take to a desert island he answered, "My family, my dog Jackson, and a tent". LOL. That's my boy. 

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving is more of a weekend than a day when you have little kids. Faith started off with her Thanksgiving Feast in her Kindergarten class. Faith has Mrs. Schubert just like both her brothers did, so this was our third "Mrs. Schuberts Thanksgiving Feast". She has pilgrim collars and bonnets for all of the girls and collars and pilgrim hats for all of the boys. They get dressed up and show off a little for the parents (how the classroom runs, reading, what they do on a day to day basis etc.) and then line up for their "feast". They have turkey, vegetables, pie etc.. Faith had Ritz crackers and cheese (which was totally predictable).  She loved the getting dressed up part, the pomp of the party, the lining up for food, the fact that mom and dad were both in her classroom with her, but not enough to heaven forbid try anything different to eat.

We have developed into a Non-Traditionalist household when it comes to Thanksgiving. We haven't gone so far as to have Chinese Duck or anything, but last year we did just have pie and appetizers for dinner. 

This year, Shelia and Wayne were in town with their kids and Cori was going to be here also, so we knew this year would have to be a little more down the traditional vein for us. There was a full blown Thanksgiving Dinner being prepared for the first time in several years. We got up in the morning and put the Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV so the kids could see it. Remember when you watched the parade because it was on ALL the channels and there was nothing else to see (unless God forbid your parents put PBS on)? This year the parade lasted about 10 minutes in our house before the TV was changed over to SpongeBob Squarepants.

Thanksgiving in our house means Football. Both televised and live action. The boys and I watched the first game (THERE ARE THREE GAMES NOW!!!!!!), before getting set up for our 2nd annual neighborhood "Alan Family Thanksgiving Orphans Flag Football Game". We had a good turnout again this year, with a bunch of kids playing. Faith again took up her position of scorekeeping, having no desire right now to do anything remotely athletic. A good part of the efforts on the parents is keeping the littler kids involved while keeping the older kids (and sometimes the grown-ups) for taking it too seriously. Everyone scores a touchdown and we try to keep the injuries to a minimum (I think Marisa got a concussion though) while talking, laughing and just sharing time with friends and family. Wayne and Sam joined in this year, along with some new neighbors and a good time was had by all. 

After the game, we came home and cleaned up and headed down to Sheila and Waynes new house to have Thanksgiving Dinner. It was a GREAT meal. Marisa made a great Sweet Potato gratin. Shelia/Wayne/Sam and Shelby made a TON of food, and Cori made THREE pies! We all ate WAY too much (a Thanksgiving tradition) and have leftovers for a small continent. I had pecan pie for breakfast this morning and am already eyeing my turkey sandwich for lunch. It was great to spend Thanksgiving with all of our friends and family. I realized again, like every year, how thankful I am for the kids, Marisa and the life we have together. I missed the rest of my family, but we were home here in Idaho and it was a great holiday. 

Just Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale...

We had a family trip to the library last night and while the kids were choosing books, Brian and I found some classic TV on DVD to rent. 

Yep... we introudced our kids to the campy fun of Giligan's Island last night. It was, for the most part, against their will. But within 10 seconds of the first episode starting they were all laughing hysterically and repeating silly lines. Now, after watching 2 episodes last night, they are clamoring for more tonight. THEY LOVED IT.  They were all a little perplexed at first that there was no color so I had to explain "the olden days" when TV was all in black and white. 

It was really fun for Brian and I, too, reliving the countless hours we spent as kids watching Gilligan, The Skipper, Professor, The Millionaire and His Wife, and of course "The Movie Star", and Maryanne.  Brian remembers drinking red Kool aid and eating rice crispy treats during the show and I vividly recall coming home after school, making a snack and settling in the Den with Kim to catch some reruns. 

We haven't been introduced to the head hunters on the island yet, and are hoping that aspect of the show won't scare them (cross your fingers...). 

It is so dated, so silly and way more over the top slapstick than I had remembered... but we loved it. I think we may all be singing the theme song for the next few weeks.  

Evidence

Family Vacation

We decided, due to weather concerns,  at the last minute to cancel the RV trip and simply fly to Portland, rent a car, and drive along the Oregon Coast for five days. In the next post you will see Brian's version of what our trip has been like so far (only parts of it are true, by the way, and he is having a great time -for the record). 

We spent the first night at Cannon Beach in a hotel room right on the beach.  We kind of splurged on this one and it was well worth it. The kids received sand buckets and shovels upon check in, along with sunglasses (a little optimistic, perhaps, since it is November). They headed right out to the beach to run in the waves and build sandcastles. The beach, for them, is so novel. For Faith and Tanner this is only the second time they have spent any time at the ocean (Hawaii two years ago being the first). At the risk of giving credence to Brian's assessment of my tendency to romanticize things... it really was kind of magical. We were right in front of Haystack Rock, the fog was rolling in but it was warm, the kids were laughing and playing, we were holding hands and enjoying the view of the ocean and our children. I, of course, had a hot cup of coffee in hand. Yeah... it was pretty cool. 

We had fish and chips for dinner, went to the local candy store- one of what would end up being countless places one could procure salt water taffy for dessert, and headed back to our room to watch The Shaggy Dog on DVD before bed. The next morning we all bundled up and walked down the beach to Cannon Beach downtown where we found (more credence to Brian's post...) a bakery and coffee shop.  After a little more time on the beach we packed up and headed to our next destination, a VRBO rental in Newport- about 3 hours further south. 

The drive was beautiful and enhanced greatly by our GPS app which we purchased to be read in Mr. Burns voice from The Simpsons. Seriously- we laughed so hard as Mr. Burns directed us from Cannon Beach to Newport, calling us "Driving Monkeys" and threatening to "come out of here and give us such a thrashing!" when we made  a wrong turn. Maybe you had to be there, but it is the funniest thing ever. We passed through lots of little towns, each seeming to have it's own candy shop, ice cream shop, and tacky souvenir shop. I didn't make Brian stop at each one, although he did kindly pull off at each view point that I wanted. My favorite was Cape Foulweather. I had to stop at that one due to the name. We listened to great music- Brian was in charge of creating playlists for our trip and he did a great job.  No, it wasn't perfect or idyllic- it was family vacation driving with 3 children with all of its chaos and whining and "Don't touch me! He touched me!" drama but it was a good day. 

We arrived at our house rental and were excited to see that despite the shabby outside the interior was beautiful and had big windows looking right out at the ocean. At 95.00 a night we hadn't expected such a beautiful, right on the beach location. The house is in Nye Beach (a neighborhood in Newport) within easy walking distance to restaurants, shops, and (of course) coffee and bakeries.  We walked the long stretch of beach and the kids played on the rocks and built more sand structures despite the weather which had turned a little foul. It wasn't cold, but it was rainy, drizzly, and very foggy. Faith was a little afraid of the waves and decided  to stay close to the rocks, away from the water while her brothers raced the waves for quite a while enjoying the game. This fear of the water would end up following her throughout the rest of our trip, unfortunately.

We visited the Newport Aquarium on Day 3. It was beautiful and the kids loved seeing the otters being fed. I loved the jellyfish and octopus. It was really cool because Jake is reading The Island of the Blue Dolphins right now and at the aquarium he got to see all of the sealife that is talked about in that book- the cormorants, the otters, the "devil fish" (octopus) that Karana hunts, etc... Being the teacher that I am at heart, I loved relating everything we were seeing to the book he was enjoying. 

Next we visited the historic waterfront district where they do all of the fishing, canning, etc... The boys especially loved watching the fishing boats and the crabbing gear in action. There were barking sea lions on the rocks nearby and we spent quite a bit of time looking at the boats and reading their names, etc... This inspired Brian to download a few episodes of The Deadliest Catch which the kids watched during rest time while I took a nap and read my book. At the risk of sounding like I am, once again, romanticizing the trip, it really was a beautiful day. 

Yesterday we intended to go whale watching but the weather didn't allow it. Turns out that whale watching really heats up mid-December and is kind of dormant at this time of year. Strike 1 for Mom's vacation planning skills... So instead we drove back north and visited Depoe Bay to watch the waves crash on the rocks and feel the salt water spray on our faces (from a safe distance- which Faith was very diligent about). We also stopped at the Whale Watching museum, and then shopped for souvenirs. The kids choice of trinkets was pretty predictable: Faith got an stuffed otter,  Tanner got a penguin, and Jake got a Nike tshirt. The boys really wanted pocket knives but I said no- envisioning the two of them sword fighting and the myriad of injuries sure to follow. They then accused me of being "over protective". Oh, well. 

Today we are headed down the coast further south to explore the sand dunes and maybe go to the sea lion caves. The sun is actually trying to peak out and I see some blue skies so maybe we'll get lucky and be able to do the sand dune buggy tour.

8 HOURS LATER....

OK, so even though the day did not turn out as planned we had a great time. Turns out the sand buggy tour place is closed on Mondays and the Sea Lion Caves had no sea lions currently in residence. For those keeping track those would be strikes 2 and 3 against my vacation planning skills. However,  several things made up for the strikes and we ended our vacation with another fun day. We stopped at Devils Churn (not planned) and the kids got to wander on the tide pools in the sunshine (our first real sun of the trip). Faith, once again, was too afraid to go that close to the actual ocean so she and I stayed up top and enjoyed the view. I fear I am raising an unadventurous soul- is that possible? I have traveled all over the world (before the cell phone, texting, and email was invented) so her lack of spirit for these things is clearly not my doing. I am hoping it is only a phase. In any case, the boys had a great time exploring the tide pools with Brian. We also had a great lunch (we finally got our crab melt sandwiches) at a nice place in Florence. Florence, by the way, also had its share of ice cream stores, coffee shops, bakeries, and tacky souvenirs- I did not go into all of them (as Brian will try to claim) and limited myself to only visiting one coffee place. For the record, the kids got ice cream before being dragged through the cute "old town". 


We head back to Portland tomorrow for an afternoon flight back to Boise and back to our land-locked life. I will miss the sound of the waves and the foggy walks down to my newest favorite cafe a few blocks from our house. I will miss watching the kids playing on the beach. I will miss the sound of Mr. Burns directing us through Oregon...but we are all ready to be home, I think. Back to real life. Back in time for the election. I'll be holding my breath until Wednesday morning. 

Gender Vacations

Family vacations are a very funny experience in our household. Travel is Marisa's thing...always has been. She books all our vacations from beginning to end with no help and very little input from me. Which is perfect. She loves the little details, I can't stand them. She loves searching out the bargains, I would just click on the first available option (I'm very much a "Buy It Now" kind of guy). It works this way for the trips we take together as a family, as well as the trips we take alone without the kids. 

There are some....um, what can we say? Maybe...."pitfalls" to this approach? That's probably accurate. By not getting involved, I'm pretty much guaranteed trips that involve; coffee shops, quaint little "downtowns", walks (which aren't walks as much as shopping), art galleries (which I really don't get. We have no "art"), high end clothing stores, discussions about sweaters and how"cute" they are, scones, pastries, loaves of bread, cheese, produce, arts and crafts etc. No so much a trip as a Meg Ryan movie. 

I accept it, it's the cost I pay for not being involved. To be perfectly honest, it makes me smile to see her just itching to go as soon as we see a row of shops and a sidewalk somewhere. I just love the grand romantic scenes that I imagine are flying thru her head as she is walking with the coffee from the hippy coffee shop and her pastry/crusty bread/fruit/cheese etc. She is just waiting for the birds to start singing to her in English and a big eyed doe to wander out onto the sidewalk and lick her hand, while violin music swells in the background. 

The other issue with vacation planning is that she does it months in advance (for the bargains), so she has months to play the, "you know what we should do when we get to X?" game. She reads books and does tons of internet research for months. This invariably leads to some overblown and thus unattainable expectations being built up. Her romantic notions sometimes can't hold up to the children being along. She has to reconcile her dreams of candlelight dinners at the local sustainable cuisine bistro, with Jake and Tanner wanting Dos Locos Tacos from Taco Bell for dinner. Her dreams of strolling along the cobblestone are often times dashed by Faith's whining that it's "TOO FAR" and "MY LEGS HURT". 

There is really no middle ground between us either. She thinks the kids will enhance and be enriched by her rom-com dream trip, and I know it's going to be crappy food, endless shopping for stuffed animals and a Buddhist monk-level exercise in patience that I can just never manage (no matter how hard I try - and I really do try). The trips (at least with the kids) always end up somewhere in the middle and I end up needing a vacation from our vacation.

This trip has kind of been an evolution of this dichotomy. Jake is old enough that we can leave him in charge of the little kids for short periods so we can go walk (again SHOP) and get some alone time. This trip we also have fed the kids separately (at Taco Bell) and then we went to the downtown fish market/restaurant and had fresh seafood while they sat there and played video games. 

I was joking with her this morning about it, as we walked to the cappuccino/mocha/latte store/bakery. That I always end up following along while she lives out her rom-com fantasy, holding her purse while she shops, and giving my opinions on art that we will never in a million years purchase. I wondered aloud what her response would be if I wanted to go to the "fly fishing/electronics convention" followed by a college football game? Just like the tootsie roll owl discovers; the world may never know.

Halloween 2012

It was our first time trick or treating in our "new" neighborhood and we debated driving over to our old house thinking that there may not be as many kids out in our area. But we ended up staying where we were and it was a lot of fun.

Jake went to a pre-trick or treating pizza party and then got to go out on the town on his own with his buddies. It was hard to let him go alone but it was definitely time. He had a blast as he got to run from house to house without waiting for his little brother and sister.

The rest of us headed out down the block to meet Tanner's best friend and his family. There were a bunch of little "parties" set up along the way with neighbors doing front yard fire pits with hot chocolate for the kids and wine/Bailey's for the adults. One house had chili to share; another had pizza. It definitely takes trick or treating to a new level!

Jake was dressed as a rock star. His hair was hilarious. He had been growing it out for the last few months so that Brian could shave it into a mowhawk for the big night. We shaved it, gelled it, hairsprayed it, then sprayed it purple. He wore a fake earring, I put eyeliner on him, and he had great rockstar clothes that I had found in a thrift store. It was a little frightening how old the get up made him look.

Tanner had wanted to be a glow in the dark skeleton, and he had the costume, but on Halloween morning he all of a sudden started crying and saying his costume was too uncomfortable to wear and he was absolutely devastated. So, he dug through our old costume box and picked out the costume he wore two years ago, The Thing. He was very happy to wear this instead. He, too, ran from house to house and we had to reign him in a bit to keep him with the friends we were with!

Faith was a unicorn. She tired of trick or treating after about half an hour and decided that half a pumpkin full of candy was just fine, so while Tanner went up to each house to trick or treat she stood on the sidewalk with me. Strange girl! I kept telling her she'd better go ask for candy because she knows her mama's penchant for chocolate and her daddy's addiction to Skittles. But she was done.

If we look at fourth grade being the probable cut off point for trick or treating with mom and dad, that leaves the sad fact that we may only have 3 of these family Halloween's left. Really, really weird how fast time flies.

October Magic

I love Fall.

I love the crispy leaves and the colder weather and taking my jeans off the high shelves of the closet and putting my shorts and sundresses away. I love that the kids are fully into school- no more crying at drop off for Faith, homework routine is set,  etc...  I love that the nights and mornings are chilly but the afternoons are clear and blue skies. I love that this year we are gearing up for a family RV trip to the Oregon Coast the day after Halloween  (another adventure).  I love the kids costume choices this year (no more football players!)-Jake is a rock star, Faith is a unicorn, and Tanner is a glow-in-the-dark skeleton.  I love the fall events in the neighborhood: Scary Movie Night was two weeks ago and last night was the neighborhood kids Halloween Party. There was a scarecrow contest, a jack-o-lantern contest, and a contest for scariest/most original house decorations. I love that we didn't enter any of these contests but got to enjoy everyone else's efforts. (Yeah... Fall brings out my laziness.). I love making apple crisps for desert and eating soup for dinner again. I love taking the crock pot out of its summer hiding place and putting it to good use.  I love going to Capital High football games and cheering on the local high school team. I love that the kids are old enough to stay home alone while Brian and I walk Jackson down to the Merc for breakfast each Sunday while enjoying good conversation, fall colors,  and the sound of crunching leaves.

And, last but not least, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the Giants are in the playoffs and we haven't missed a single inning.

Yes, I'm a dork. but...Life is good.

End of the Season

Jake's football season ended prematurely with a broken collar bone. We had a game this morning and he had to watch from the bench in his jersey with the other injured kids. 

His team is woeful this year and the season ending is kind of merciful at this point. We have a good group of kids but they don't want to block or tackle all that much, so we have struggled to be effective moving the ball. We lost to another 1 win team this morning with kids smaller than ours. We're kind of at a loss as a coaching staff what to do. 

This is our team, less new kids and attrition, for the the next four years, so we're hoping that they mature into football players before next season starts. Most of them don't like the contact, tackling and blocking from the side and trying anything not to have to hit or get hit. Needless to say, this makes it difficult to be successful at tackle football. We have one more week of practice and a final game next weekend with a team party.

YBall coaches meetings are this week and we start practice the week after that, so no break between football and basketball. It will be nice to get Tanner back into doing something and he loves playing basketball, so I am looking forward to getting him back out onto the court. Hopefully Jake will be healed up enough to not miss the start of basketball season.