Nothing like relaxing and reading a good book.
Monday, December 29, 2008
The End
2008 came to an end and with all the excitement of the holidays, we were just all wiped out.
Nothing like relaxing and reading a good book.
Nothing like relaxing and reading a good book.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Happenings 12/22 - 12/28
We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and are having a nice week before the new year. We are enjoying our time at home though of course missing our families.
After our trip to Chicago, we found that there was still much to do before Christmas because of some things going on in our ward -- people who needed some things -- and so J.J. was entrusted with taking care of them. She worked on Monday, and so we had Tuesday and Wednesday to put some Christmas baskets together and deliver them to the people. (They didn't all get delivered on time, so I guess Santa won't be entrusting any of his delivering activities to me for quite some time.) (I did have all presents to family and to our family done, wrapped, delivered or mailed on time - even early which is quite an accomplishment for me. even the calendars were done early with only a few late nights. I was proud) On Monday I also made some spiced nuts with bits of sugared bacon to give out to neighbors and people I home teach. (Paul always comes up new recipes to try to give to the neighbors. These were actually pretty good - better than the mint truffles which had so much mint they burnt your mouth and the truffles with chili powder in them that tasted like they had cumin in them) But it turned out to be late for some of the people that I intended to give them to, as people had already left by Wednesday when I was ready to deliver them. But we enjoyed the extra, and ended up sharing them with others throughout the week.
I did some work Tuesday at the office -- I didn't go in the whole day because we were working on some things at home. Plus, it was an icy and rainy day that didn't seem to invite us out of the house. But I wanted to get started on an article that I would like to finish over the break so I went in. As I mentioned before, the temperature was turned down in the building, but it was fine for a few hours work. I didn't even have to wear gloves. I also did some more work on Wednesday for a few hours, and then went in for the whole day on Friday. After about 3 hours, it felt a little chilly, but I would just get up and walk around a little to get the blood flowing again. The weather warmed up a lot after Christmas day -- Friday was near 60 degrees and Saturday reached an amazing 73 degrees -- so the building temp of 50 degrees wasn't a big deal.
On Christmas eve, we proxied one of J.J.'s family tradition of having chinese food for Christmas eve dinner, inviting our neighbors across the street to eat and visit. That was a lot of fun. (I was very excited about the food - but it make me very lonesome for home - and we didn't have any egg foo young because no one else would have eaten any.) Claire, Katey, and Rachel played while we visited with Doug and Bridget for a long time. It was a fun evening, but we enjoyed the company so much that it was way late to do much else. We opened the pajamas from the "christmas elves" and then took the girls to bed. (Rachel was so tired, she didn't even want to open the jammies. The mean parents we are, we forced her to open them, put them on and even take a picture.) We ended up reading the Christmas story on Friday evening -- sort of backwards but it worked out.
Claire woke me up at 7:00 on Christmas morning, after telling J.J. that she wasn't sure if Santa came because there were no more presents under the tree, since the living room is in between the stairs and our bedroom. (7 am - did you hear that Coffman Clan? I let everyone sleep. I figured it would be better than two very grumpy girls later and one sleepy, tired dad) But she didn't see the stockings and presents that were laid on the couch. J.J. had been awake since 5:30 (waiting patiently) so I am glad she let me sleep. Rachel was still sleeping, so we started to make breakfast, to Claire's disconcertation, and ate before we opened presents. (I did let Claire get into her Santa gifts. I am not that cruel to make a 4 year old have to eat breakfast and just look at her presents from a distance - plus, I wanted to get into everything too!) Rachel woke up around 8:00 and then we opened our presents. Claire passed all of them out to everyone, and then opened hers and loved each one. (She also opened almost all of Rachel's and many of mommy and daddy's) Rachel wasn't very interested in the opening process, but liked seeing the new toys. After they were all finished, we got around to opening our presents. We were all finished around 10:00, and then we got dressed -- Claire and Rachel stayed in their pajamas all day -- and started cooking dinner. Rachel went down for a long mid-day nap, and our friends Trevor and Shara Harper and their baby Jackson came over around 1:00 for dinner. We had ham, rolls, and Walker Christmas jello that we made, and green beans and corn that they made. It was a nice dinner and for dessert we had peppermint ice cream pie and some leftover coconut cake that Trevor and Shara brought. They left late in the afternoon after we played a game (we played "Would you Rather?" a favorite game of mine), and then we went next door to visit Bob and Esther, and discovered that Santa had mistakenly left some gifts there for Claire and Rachel so they opened them there. It was fun to visit them and the girls, of course, love having an extra set of grandparents next door.
When we came home from there we all went to bed, all of us being quite tired from the day. Friday morning I went running for the first time since the marathon, and my muscles are still sore, but I went about 3 miles. I went into the office and worked all day, and then we relaxed at home in the evening. Saturday morning J.J. went to Paducah for her shopping trip on her own, which she has earned, and I stayed home with the girls. (I ended up spending quite a bit more than I had planned, but there were some great sales and I found many things that I didn't know I "needed". It was a fun day by myself. It's fun to go with friends sometimes, but sometimes I just like to go all alone - no pressure at all) Since it was a warm day, we played outside a lot. It was windy with a storm coming in, but we just wore t-shirts it was so warm. I watched a little football in the afternoon and evening, and also went to the church to do some financial paperwork, trying to get everything ready for the end of the year. J.J. was gone for most of the day, but in the evening we just hung out and watched football and read as the storm came in and dropped a couple of inches of rain on us. I think we may have received 5 inches or so during the week. (This is not what I expect to have for Christmas weather, I really do miss some snow)
Sunday was a thin attendance for our ward being the holidays, and the main speaker, who is the second counselor in the bishopric, almost passed out while he was speaking. He is diabetic, so he must have been low on blood sugar or something, so he didn't quite finish what was until then a very good talk. He was fine after sitting down and eating something. We were all relieved he didn't fall down. (he is a big guy and it would have been quite a crash. I haven't seen anyone really quite that green) We relaxed at home in the afternoon and then two of the single adults came over for home evening and that was fun. (We played yahtzee and Claire liked that because she got to play too) Between the chinese food and our Christmas dinner, we have had lots of leftovers, which has been nice for ease of cooking for all of our meals -- no cooking.
That's it for this week -- we love you all and hope you all have a great new year and that the best of everything comes to you often.
After our trip to Chicago, we found that there was still much to do before Christmas because of some things going on in our ward -- people who needed some things -- and so J.J. was entrusted with taking care of them. She worked on Monday, and so we had Tuesday and Wednesday to put some Christmas baskets together and deliver them to the people. (They didn't all get delivered on time, so I guess Santa won't be entrusting any of his delivering activities to me for quite some time.) (I did have all presents to family and to our family done, wrapped, delivered or mailed on time - even early which is quite an accomplishment for me. even the calendars were done early with only a few late nights. I was proud) On Monday I also made some spiced nuts with bits of sugared bacon to give out to neighbors and people I home teach. (Paul always comes up new recipes to try to give to the neighbors. These were actually pretty good - better than the mint truffles which had so much mint they burnt your mouth and the truffles with chili powder in them that tasted like they had cumin in them) But it turned out to be late for some of the people that I intended to give them to, as people had already left by Wednesday when I was ready to deliver them. But we enjoyed the extra, and ended up sharing them with others throughout the week.
I did some work Tuesday at the office -- I didn't go in the whole day because we were working on some things at home. Plus, it was an icy and rainy day that didn't seem to invite us out of the house. But I wanted to get started on an article that I would like to finish over the break so I went in. As I mentioned before, the temperature was turned down in the building, but it was fine for a few hours work. I didn't even have to wear gloves. I also did some more work on Wednesday for a few hours, and then went in for the whole day on Friday. After about 3 hours, it felt a little chilly, but I would just get up and walk around a little to get the blood flowing again. The weather warmed up a lot after Christmas day -- Friday was near 60 degrees and Saturday reached an amazing 73 degrees -- so the building temp of 50 degrees wasn't a big deal.
On Christmas eve, we proxied one of J.J.'s family tradition of having chinese food for Christmas eve dinner, inviting our neighbors across the street to eat and visit. That was a lot of fun. (I was very excited about the food - but it make me very lonesome for home - and we didn't have any egg foo young because no one else would have eaten any.) Claire, Katey, and Rachel played while we visited with Doug and Bridget for a long time. It was a fun evening, but we enjoyed the company so much that it was way late to do much else. We opened the pajamas from the "christmas elves" and then took the girls to bed. (Rachel was so tired, she didn't even want to open the jammies. The mean parents we are, we forced her to open them, put them on and even take a picture.) We ended up reading the Christmas story on Friday evening -- sort of backwards but it worked out.
Claire woke me up at 7:00 on Christmas morning, after telling J.J. that she wasn't sure if Santa came because there were no more presents under the tree, since the living room is in between the stairs and our bedroom. (7 am - did you hear that Coffman Clan? I let everyone sleep. I figured it would be better than two very grumpy girls later and one sleepy, tired dad) But she didn't see the stockings and presents that were laid on the couch. J.J. had been awake since 5:30 (waiting patiently) so I am glad she let me sleep. Rachel was still sleeping, so we started to make breakfast, to Claire's disconcertation, and ate before we opened presents. (I did let Claire get into her Santa gifts. I am not that cruel to make a 4 year old have to eat breakfast and just look at her presents from a distance - plus, I wanted to get into everything too!) Rachel woke up around 8:00 and then we opened our presents. Claire passed all of them out to everyone, and then opened hers and loved each one. (She also opened almost all of Rachel's and many of mommy and daddy's) Rachel wasn't very interested in the opening process, but liked seeing the new toys. After they were all finished, we got around to opening our presents. We were all finished around 10:00, and then we got dressed -- Claire and Rachel stayed in their pajamas all day -- and started cooking dinner. Rachel went down for a long mid-day nap, and our friends Trevor and Shara Harper and their baby Jackson came over around 1:00 for dinner. We had ham, rolls, and Walker Christmas jello that we made, and green beans and corn that they made. It was a nice dinner and for dessert we had peppermint ice cream pie and some leftover coconut cake that Trevor and Shara brought. They left late in the afternoon after we played a game (we played "Would you Rather?" a favorite game of mine), and then we went next door to visit Bob and Esther, and discovered that Santa had mistakenly left some gifts there for Claire and Rachel so they opened them there. It was fun to visit them and the girls, of course, love having an extra set of grandparents next door.
When we came home from there we all went to bed, all of us being quite tired from the day. Friday morning I went running for the first time since the marathon, and my muscles are still sore, but I went about 3 miles. I went into the office and worked all day, and then we relaxed at home in the evening. Saturday morning J.J. went to Paducah for her shopping trip on her own, which she has earned, and I stayed home with the girls. (I ended up spending quite a bit more than I had planned, but there were some great sales and I found many things that I didn't know I "needed". It was a fun day by myself. It's fun to go with friends sometimes, but sometimes I just like to go all alone - no pressure at all) Since it was a warm day, we played outside a lot. It was windy with a storm coming in, but we just wore t-shirts it was so warm. I watched a little football in the afternoon and evening, and also went to the church to do some financial paperwork, trying to get everything ready for the end of the year. J.J. was gone for most of the day, but in the evening we just hung out and watched football and read as the storm came in and dropped a couple of inches of rain on us. I think we may have received 5 inches or so during the week. (This is not what I expect to have for Christmas weather, I really do miss some snow)
Sunday was a thin attendance for our ward being the holidays, and the main speaker, who is the second counselor in the bishopric, almost passed out while he was speaking. He is diabetic, so he must have been low on blood sugar or something, so he didn't quite finish what was until then a very good talk. He was fine after sitting down and eating something. We were all relieved he didn't fall down. (he is a big guy and it would have been quite a crash. I haven't seen anyone really quite that green) We relaxed at home in the afternoon and then two of the single adults came over for home evening and that was fun. (We played yahtzee and Claire liked that because she got to play too) Between the chinese food and our Christmas dinner, we have had lots of leftovers, which has been nice for ease of cooking for all of our meals -- no cooking.
That's it for this week -- we love you all and hope you all have a great new year and that the best of everything comes to you often.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
We left cookies and milk out for Santa and on Christmas morning, we woke up to a note from Santa in Claire's homemade book. ( I tried and tried to rotate this picture, but couldn't figure it out, so you just have to turn your head.) It said, "Thank you Claire and Rachel for the cookies! I hope you have a Merry Christmas! Be Good! Love, Santa"
We also found full stockings.
Clarie woke up first and was so excited to see her Santa gifts that we let her play with hers and look at Rachel's before Rachel even woke up.
Boy, if only we all had stockings this big.
Once Rachel woke up, we started the unwrapping of the gifts. Claire was the Christmas Elf handing out gifts to everyone....
...while Rachel waited patiently with Daddy.
The girls got all kinds of cool, girly, pink, noisy and wonderful gifts.
What a haul!
Claire got a bling box full of "real" make-up, which she tried out right away.
Claire with her and Rachel's haul. (Rachel was already wiped out by this time and was taking a nap when we set this all up.)
Claire and "Ned's Head".
Paul and his loot.
Can you believe how good these girls must have been?
Mommy and her loot.
Even Thomas Lincoln was worn out.
And after all the excitement, breakfast in our jammies - Claire and Rachel actually stayed in their jammies all day long.
The rest of the day was spent playing with presents, napping and having a dinner later with our friends, Trevor, Shara and Jackson Harper.
What a wonderful day - getting to spend a very special holiday with our little family and good friends.
We also found full stockings.
Clarie woke up first and was so excited to see her Santa gifts that we let her play with hers and look at Rachel's before Rachel even woke up.
Boy, if only we all had stockings this big.
Once Rachel woke up, we started the unwrapping of the gifts. Claire was the Christmas Elf handing out gifts to everyone....
...while Rachel waited patiently with Daddy.
The girls got all kinds of cool, girly, pink, noisy and wonderful gifts.
What a haul!
Claire got a bling box full of "real" make-up, which she tried out right away.
Claire with her and Rachel's haul. (Rachel was already wiped out by this time and was taking a nap when we set this all up.)
Claire and "Ned's Head".
Paul and his loot.
Can you believe how good these girls must have been?
Mommy and her loot.
Even Thomas Lincoln was worn out.
And after all the excitement, breakfast in our jammies - Claire and Rachel actually stayed in their jammies all day long.
The rest of the day was spent playing with presents, napping and having a dinner later with our friends, Trevor, Shara and Jackson Harper. What a wonderful day - getting to spend a very special holiday with our little family and good friends.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Eve
For Christmas Eve, we decided to continue a Coffman family tradition and have Chinese food. Yummy!!! We ordered a bunch of dishes and invited our neighbors - Bridget, Doug and Katey over for dinner. We had a great time eating and talking and playing. The girls were all wound up, it being Christmas Eve and all.
Paul had the girls in the potato sack hold, but we couldn't go to bed yet.....
After Bridget, Doug and Katey left, we did another Coffman tradition and opened gifts from the Christmas Eve Elf (compliments of Grammy Judy). And guess what it was!!! Pajamas!! Who would have guessed?
The Walkers modeling their Christmas pajamas. (Thanks Grammy!!)
Claire....ever posing. Of course I couldn't get Rachel to show hers off.
Then the girls were off to bed and waiting for Santa to come that night.
The house was all decorated for the occasion. I love Christmas decorations! Paul complains about all my plastic tubs and boxes of decorations, but they are "needed"! He just doesn't understand.
The tree only had nonbreakable ornaments on it this year due to a Christmas Tree Hazard named Rachel.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!!
Paul had the girls in the potato sack hold, but we couldn't go to bed yet.....
After Bridget, Doug and Katey left, we did another Coffman tradition and opened gifts from the Christmas Eve Elf (compliments of Grammy Judy). And guess what it was!!! Pajamas!! Who would have guessed?
The Walkers modeling their Christmas pajamas. (Thanks Grammy!!)
Claire....ever posing. Of course I couldn't get Rachel to show hers off.
Then the girls were off to bed and waiting for Santa to come that night.The house was all decorated for the occasion. I love Christmas decorations! Paul complains about all my plastic tubs and boxes of decorations, but they are "needed"! He just doesn't understand.
The tree only had nonbreakable ornaments on it this year due to a Christmas Tree Hazard named Rachel.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Happenings 12/15 - 12/21
We had a very fun and busy week last week as we tried to get everything ready for Christmas and making an excursion to Chicago for the weekend.
We got all of the packages mailed for our family presents by Wednesday with a sigh of relief. Having to do all of that early can be stressful but once it is all sent, things calm down a little. (I even got my calendars ready in time with only a few late nights. A first for me!) I worked on Tuesday, doing several things that needed to be done before the university sort of closes down for two weeks and also finished an article that I have been working on and submitted it. The days that the university staff have off were increased this year to save some electricity costs, and they also lowered the heat to 50 degrees in the building. Since I plan on working during the two weeks of Christmas and New Year's, I'm hoping I can stand the lower temperature.
Monday morning I took Claire and Rachel down to Paris, TN to the Nissan dealer to get an oil change and new tires on our van. They finished in about 90 minutes, and the girls did pretty well. One reason I went there is that they have a nice area to wait in, with nice seats, a TV and kids toys, and that worked pretty well as we waited. When we drove off, the tire pressure monitor that is on our computer showed that one of the tires was losing air, and when I stopped to look a little down the road, one was leaking. So I drove back and they fixed it by replacing an o-ring in the valve. They said they had replaced another one like that, but it is rare that two tires have the same issue. So then we were on our way again, and made it back home in time for Rachel to take a nap and for Claire and I to work on making some cards for her storytime leader and our neighbors.
We had an ice storm on Monday night that was kind of strange. It only turned to ice on the roads. When we woke up in the morning, the roads were totally white with ice, not snow, but the grass and trees and everything were still their normal color and weren't covered in ice. I went to work and the roads weren't really slippery, and I heard later that it was classified as sleet. The other schools were all closed for the day. (Katey came over to get Claire to go "sledding". It was pretty funny to watch. Bridget - Katey's mom- would run a few steps and then sling the sled down the ice and the girls would fly! Who needs hills for sledding. They had a great time and were outside almost all day with a couple breaks for lunch and to warm up.) Tuesday evening I picked up the missionaries for dinner, who were out walking from an appointment because they are not allowed to drive in snowy or icy weather. They are both new to Murray, so it was nice to get to know them.
On Wednesday, for some reason, they didn't have school again even thought the roads were clear. So storytime for Claire was cancelled. I took the girls to my office first to pick up a box that I was using to mail a package, then we went to the post office to drop it off, and then I discovered that one of our other tires was going flat, so I went to a local tire store and they tightened a nut around the valve and fixed it right up for nothing. I was a little worried about these tires at this point, but they were fine after that.
We got all packed up for Chicago on Wednesday night and then left as early as we could on Thursday -- about 7:45 -- because the weather report showed a storm hitting Illinois in the later afternoon. We figured if we could make it to Chicago before the storm hit, it would be fine, and it turned out that way. The drive for us is about 7 hours, but it is 6 hours of straight freeway, making it an easy drive. We stopped a couple of times to eat and get gas, and pulled into Chicago around 3:30. We checked into the Hampton Inn downtown, and it was a great hotel for us. We had reserved a suite for $99, not sure if it would be an actual suite or one of those bigger rooms that they call a suite. But it was great -- it had one bedroom off the living room and kitchen, and the couch pulled out into a bed and they provided a crib. So it worked well for the girls sleeping and us sleeping. (This was one of the many "too good to be true and when is our luck about to run out" happenings on our trip.)
It was cold there, and the storm hadn't hit yet. We wanted to go to the children's museum and started to walk there, about a mile from our hotel. But it was slow going with me carrying Rachel and J.J. walking with Claire. About the time we were ready to catch a cab after 3 blocks, I spotted a trolley go by that said "Free trolley" and it stopped just ahead of us and we hopped on. It took us right to the children's museum at Navy Pier. We had debated about eating at an italian restaurant before going to the museum, but decided to see what they had at the pier. Turned out there was a place there so that Claire could eat what she wanted, spaghetti and meatballs. The museum has free admission every Thursday night, which worked out well for us, and since bad weather was on its way, a lot of people who might have normally gone stayed home it seemed, because there weren't a lot of kids and families there. It was a fun place, and both girls had a good time. (Two more bouts of good luck)
When we left, we caught the trolley back to our hotel and went to bed. The next morning, we all went to the complimentary breakfast downstairs even though we were scheduled for brunch at the American Girl cafe later. I wanted to make sure I had enough and 9:30 is late for the girls to eat, so we ate there. The snow had fallen overnight, and it was snowing a little bit when we left to head to the American Girl store. It was a mile away, and we walked. The temperature had warmed with the snow, but the worst part was crossing the crosswalks on all of the streets as we walked up Michigan Ave.; many of the curbs were filled with wet slush. Claire's feet were "frozen" but she trooped on. (By the time we got back to the hotel, I really thought I was up for the bad mother of the year award because Claire little toes and edges of her feet were bright red and totally frozen. I thought she had a touch of frostbite because I brought the wrong boots. Luckily after a couple of hours, the color returned to almost normal and they were somewhat warm.) We made it there and walked through the huge store they have with all of the dolls. We made it to the cafe after passing the doll hair salon and doll hospital, and we sat down after Claire and Rachel picked out their dolls to borrow for brunch. Again, very few families were there because of the weather, or maybe because the dolls and cafe are pricey. We had a nice brunch, and the food was good, but I was glad I ate a big breakfast earlier because what they served wouldn't have filled me up, especially after carrying Rachel there. It was a fun brunch and we sauntered through the store again, checking everything out and then we left and caught the bus for the majority of our trip back to the hotel. (Claire loved just looking at all the dolls and we made it out without making any purchases - against all odds. She was very good, not begging or putting up a fuss. I know these dolls are pretty and well made and everything, but I have a hard time paying $90 for a doll - I will probably eat those words one day) Even though her feet were cold, Claire loved to walk in the snow that was piled on the sidewalk. When we got back, we put Rachel down for a nap and I went for a walk around downtown, and that was fun because I love walking around big cities, and only New York and Chicago really have that big, big feel. Just a couple of blocks from our hotel was the river that goes through town (Claire was sure penguins lived down in the river since it was so cold and there were pieces of ice floating in the river) and near the river are two buildings that are circular. The bottom 10 floors are spiraling parking garages, and you can see the cars backed up along the edge which has no wall -- only a cable. It is wild looking, and then the apartments all have balconies that surround the rest of the floors.
While Rachel was sleeping I went with Claire to the indoor pool, but that didn't last long because Claire didn't have her floaties. But she stayed in a little while with me, but I got cold and she did shortly after that and we got out. When Rachel woke up, we walked to Macy's -- formerly Marshall Fields -- and made our way to the FAO Schwartz store on the 5th floor and then up the 7th floor where there is a large Christmas tree that goes up two floors. (We tried to go see Santa in Macy's, but after waiting for 45 minutes and moving about 20 feet in a line where we were not even maybe 1/3 of the way there, we gave up and decided we would see Santa somewhere else.) We went up the 8th floor where you could look at the whole tree, and then went back downstairs and rode the subway one stop back near our hotel, then walked to a pizza place and had deep dish pizza that was tasty. We walked back to the hotel and with everyone tired went to bed pretty early.
Saturday we didn't have big plans so after breakfast we went to the Lego store, and Claire spent some time building things, and I decided that if I could trade someone jobs for a month -- this was a "conversation question" provided in a little box at the American Girl brunch -- it would be with the people who get to build amazing, giant Lego things like they had in that store -- a dinosaur, the Sears Tower, Darth Vader, etc. For only $200, I could have bought a Lego Taj Mahal or Eiffel Tower, which have an age suggestion as 16+. J.J. said instead of the age, they should just put "Nerd" there. She's right, but the nerd in me thinks it would be cool to put those together.
We made our way back to the hotel and packed up our things and checked out around noon after eating leftover pizza from the night before warmed up in our kitchen. We hit the road and only stopped twice, once for dinner, and got home around 8:00 that evening. We really had a good time and enjoyed the trip. (I loved going and getting my "big city" fix for awhile. I miss New York and this was as close as any other place I have been. It just is energizing and exhausting at the same time.) It was fun to be there in the Christmas season, but we would probably do more if we went in the summer, which we will probably do sometime. I watched the Las Vegas Bowl that night and didn't have much hope the first time BYU tried to kick afield goal instead of going for it on 4th down. I believe conservative play gets inside the heads of the players so that they don't play as hard. Bronco needs to start playing to win.
Sunday we had a little Christmas program (The primary sang the first song and Claire belted it out! I was so proud!) before the high council speaker talked, and then I spent time with that high councilman because he is the stake financial clerk and I had some questions. In the afternoon, we had a simple dinner and then the young single adults came over in the evening for their home evening. I look forward to them coming over because they are fun to talk to and listen to.
That's it for the week! We love you all and hope you have a Merry Christmas!
We got all of the packages mailed for our family presents by Wednesday with a sigh of relief. Having to do all of that early can be stressful but once it is all sent, things calm down a little. (I even got my calendars ready in time with only a few late nights. A first for me!) I worked on Tuesday, doing several things that needed to be done before the university sort of closes down for two weeks and also finished an article that I have been working on and submitted it. The days that the university staff have off were increased this year to save some electricity costs, and they also lowered the heat to 50 degrees in the building. Since I plan on working during the two weeks of Christmas and New Year's, I'm hoping I can stand the lower temperature.
Monday morning I took Claire and Rachel down to Paris, TN to the Nissan dealer to get an oil change and new tires on our van. They finished in about 90 minutes, and the girls did pretty well. One reason I went there is that they have a nice area to wait in, with nice seats, a TV and kids toys, and that worked pretty well as we waited. When we drove off, the tire pressure monitor that is on our computer showed that one of the tires was losing air, and when I stopped to look a little down the road, one was leaking. So I drove back and they fixed it by replacing an o-ring in the valve. They said they had replaced another one like that, but it is rare that two tires have the same issue. So then we were on our way again, and made it back home in time for Rachel to take a nap and for Claire and I to work on making some cards for her storytime leader and our neighbors.
We had an ice storm on Monday night that was kind of strange. It only turned to ice on the roads. When we woke up in the morning, the roads were totally white with ice, not snow, but the grass and trees and everything were still their normal color and weren't covered in ice. I went to work and the roads weren't really slippery, and I heard later that it was classified as sleet. The other schools were all closed for the day. (Katey came over to get Claire to go "sledding". It was pretty funny to watch. Bridget - Katey's mom- would run a few steps and then sling the sled down the ice and the girls would fly! Who needs hills for sledding. They had a great time and were outside almost all day with a couple breaks for lunch and to warm up.) Tuesday evening I picked up the missionaries for dinner, who were out walking from an appointment because they are not allowed to drive in snowy or icy weather. They are both new to Murray, so it was nice to get to know them.
On Wednesday, for some reason, they didn't have school again even thought the roads were clear. So storytime for Claire was cancelled. I took the girls to my office first to pick up a box that I was using to mail a package, then we went to the post office to drop it off, and then I discovered that one of our other tires was going flat, so I went to a local tire store and they tightened a nut around the valve and fixed it right up for nothing. I was a little worried about these tires at this point, but they were fine after that.
We got all packed up for Chicago on Wednesday night and then left as early as we could on Thursday -- about 7:45 -- because the weather report showed a storm hitting Illinois in the later afternoon. We figured if we could make it to Chicago before the storm hit, it would be fine, and it turned out that way. The drive for us is about 7 hours, but it is 6 hours of straight freeway, making it an easy drive. We stopped a couple of times to eat and get gas, and pulled into Chicago around 3:30. We checked into the Hampton Inn downtown, and it was a great hotel for us. We had reserved a suite for $99, not sure if it would be an actual suite or one of those bigger rooms that they call a suite. But it was great -- it had one bedroom off the living room and kitchen, and the couch pulled out into a bed and they provided a crib. So it worked well for the girls sleeping and us sleeping. (This was one of the many "too good to be true and when is our luck about to run out" happenings on our trip.)
It was cold there, and the storm hadn't hit yet. We wanted to go to the children's museum and started to walk there, about a mile from our hotel. But it was slow going with me carrying Rachel and J.J. walking with Claire. About the time we were ready to catch a cab after 3 blocks, I spotted a trolley go by that said "Free trolley" and it stopped just ahead of us and we hopped on. It took us right to the children's museum at Navy Pier. We had debated about eating at an italian restaurant before going to the museum, but decided to see what they had at the pier. Turned out there was a place there so that Claire could eat what she wanted, spaghetti and meatballs. The museum has free admission every Thursday night, which worked out well for us, and since bad weather was on its way, a lot of people who might have normally gone stayed home it seemed, because there weren't a lot of kids and families there. It was a fun place, and both girls had a good time. (Two more bouts of good luck)
When we left, we caught the trolley back to our hotel and went to bed. The next morning, we all went to the complimentary breakfast downstairs even though we were scheduled for brunch at the American Girl cafe later. I wanted to make sure I had enough and 9:30 is late for the girls to eat, so we ate there. The snow had fallen overnight, and it was snowing a little bit when we left to head to the American Girl store. It was a mile away, and we walked. The temperature had warmed with the snow, but the worst part was crossing the crosswalks on all of the streets as we walked up Michigan Ave.; many of the curbs were filled with wet slush. Claire's feet were "frozen" but she trooped on. (By the time we got back to the hotel, I really thought I was up for the bad mother of the year award because Claire little toes and edges of her feet were bright red and totally frozen. I thought she had a touch of frostbite because I brought the wrong boots. Luckily after a couple of hours, the color returned to almost normal and they were somewhat warm.) We made it there and walked through the huge store they have with all of the dolls. We made it to the cafe after passing the doll hair salon and doll hospital, and we sat down after Claire and Rachel picked out their dolls to borrow for brunch. Again, very few families were there because of the weather, or maybe because the dolls and cafe are pricey. We had a nice brunch, and the food was good, but I was glad I ate a big breakfast earlier because what they served wouldn't have filled me up, especially after carrying Rachel there. It was a fun brunch and we sauntered through the store again, checking everything out and then we left and caught the bus for the majority of our trip back to the hotel. (Claire loved just looking at all the dolls and we made it out without making any purchases - against all odds. She was very good, not begging or putting up a fuss. I know these dolls are pretty and well made and everything, but I have a hard time paying $90 for a doll - I will probably eat those words one day) Even though her feet were cold, Claire loved to walk in the snow that was piled on the sidewalk. When we got back, we put Rachel down for a nap and I went for a walk around downtown, and that was fun because I love walking around big cities, and only New York and Chicago really have that big, big feel. Just a couple of blocks from our hotel was the river that goes through town (Claire was sure penguins lived down in the river since it was so cold and there were pieces of ice floating in the river) and near the river are two buildings that are circular. The bottom 10 floors are spiraling parking garages, and you can see the cars backed up along the edge which has no wall -- only a cable. It is wild looking, and then the apartments all have balconies that surround the rest of the floors.
While Rachel was sleeping I went with Claire to the indoor pool, but that didn't last long because Claire didn't have her floaties. But she stayed in a little while with me, but I got cold and she did shortly after that and we got out. When Rachel woke up, we walked to Macy's -- formerly Marshall Fields -- and made our way to the FAO Schwartz store on the 5th floor and then up the 7th floor where there is a large Christmas tree that goes up two floors. (We tried to go see Santa in Macy's, but after waiting for 45 minutes and moving about 20 feet in a line where we were not even maybe 1/3 of the way there, we gave up and decided we would see Santa somewhere else.) We went up the 8th floor where you could look at the whole tree, and then went back downstairs and rode the subway one stop back near our hotel, then walked to a pizza place and had deep dish pizza that was tasty. We walked back to the hotel and with everyone tired went to bed pretty early.
Saturday we didn't have big plans so after breakfast we went to the Lego store, and Claire spent some time building things, and I decided that if I could trade someone jobs for a month -- this was a "conversation question" provided in a little box at the American Girl brunch -- it would be with the people who get to build amazing, giant Lego things like they had in that store -- a dinosaur, the Sears Tower, Darth Vader, etc. For only $200, I could have bought a Lego Taj Mahal or Eiffel Tower, which have an age suggestion as 16+. J.J. said instead of the age, they should just put "Nerd" there. She's right, but the nerd in me thinks it would be cool to put those together.
We made our way back to the hotel and packed up our things and checked out around noon after eating leftover pizza from the night before warmed up in our kitchen. We hit the road and only stopped twice, once for dinner, and got home around 8:00 that evening. We really had a good time and enjoyed the trip. (I loved going and getting my "big city" fix for awhile. I miss New York and this was as close as any other place I have been. It just is energizing and exhausting at the same time.) It was fun to be there in the Christmas season, but we would probably do more if we went in the summer, which we will probably do sometime. I watched the Las Vegas Bowl that night and didn't have much hope the first time BYU tried to kick afield goal instead of going for it on 4th down. I believe conservative play gets inside the heads of the players so that they don't play as hard. Bronco needs to start playing to win.
Sunday we had a little Christmas program (The primary sang the first song and Claire belted it out! I was so proud!) before the high council speaker talked, and then I spent time with that high councilman because he is the stake financial clerk and I had some questions. In the afternoon, we had a simple dinner and then the young single adults came over in the evening for their home evening. I look forward to them coming over because they are fun to talk to and listen to.
That's it for the week! We love you all and hope you have a Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Chicago - Here We Come!
Since we wouldn't be going to either of our homes for Christmas vacation, we decided to take a weekend trip to Chicago. Neither of us had spent much time there, so we were pretty excited. A storm coming almost thwarted our plans, but we beat it to Chicago just in time. Once there, the snow came and Claire was excited. We spent the weekend doing lots of kids things - children's museum, American Girl Cafe, searching for Santa (Read the Happenings for this week for more details) We had a great time and can't wait to go back - especially for a mommy and daddy weekend so we can see some more sites and enjoy some other activities that don't cater to 4 year olds and 1 year olds. Here are some pics from the weekend in the Windy City.
In the Children's Museum, Mommy and Claire transformed into a fireman and fire dog.
Rachel transformed also.
Claire and Daddy built a bridge out of "Stones" and it was strong enough to hold everyone up - even pregnant mommy!!
We then moved on to Asia where Rachel and Claire tried on traditional garb.....
to go fishing in a traditional boat.
Onto our next adventure! - (Claire was the only one allowed to climb through the seaworthy rope obstacle course.)
Rachel loves anything she can color on and not get in trouble.
And, of course what would a trip to a Children's Museum be without grocery shopping.
Thank goodness there were other "cashiers" there to check Claire out.
Rachel had a bit of a time trying to get to the fresh veggies and fruit.
And once the grocery shopping was done, the meal could be prepared and cooked.
After a good home cooked meal, we were ready to set off on a new career as an archeologist.
After digging and digging for 30 seconds, a dinosaur skull was discovered!! I'm sure it was a Clairosaurus.
While waiting for the trolley, Claire and Rachel became Eskimos and played in the snow.
I loved the lights all set up at the Navy Pier. (where the Children's Museum is located)
The next morning, we had reservations at the American Girl Cafe to have brunch with some American Girl dolls. (Since we don't have any ourselves, we were able to borrow a few friends)
Rachel and her friend.
Claire and her new lifelong friend.
I told Paul as we were sitting in the pink restaurant surrounded by little girls and their dolls with hair bows and heart shaped pancakes that if this baby in my tummy is a girl - he better get used to this, because this is his life!
The friends were glad to meet each other too.
They had a game where you drew a conversation card out of a box and asked the question to the other people at the table. Rachel sure enjoyed that game - well, at least dumping the cards out of the box.
I was sad to say good-bye to our new friends - although not sad enough to pay $100 for one.
We then walked back to our hotel and even though it was cold, we enjoyed looking around. Claire wanted to know where the penguins that lived here are - upon further questioning, she figured that since there was ice in the river and it was so cold that penguins MUST live here. I guess they were all swimming at this time.
This crazy building was apartments up above and a garage on the lower floors. It is difficult to see, but the cars are backed right up to the edge with only a chain or cable blocking them from the edge. Wonder how many valets they've lost.
We made a special trip to Macy's to see the Christmas windows and then decided to go inside to search for Santa. While on our search, we seemed to have found the zoo and the girls seemed to have made new friends.
We also stopped to write some letters to Santa.
And after finally figuring out where Santa was only to wait in line for 45 minutes before we figured out we were only about 1/3 of the way through the line, we gave up and left to wander the store some more. We loved looking at this enormous Christmas tree which is in the middle of the Walnut Room Restaurant in Macy's. We stood on a landing deck a couple floors up so we could get a better view.
That night, we went to a little Deep Dish Pizza Place and the pizza was delicious - but who could resist licking butter out of the little butter tubs.
That night everyone was pretty worn out!!
But it's always fun to stay in hotels - doesn't Rachel look like she's having a blast?
The next day before leaving, we realized there was no Lego museum in Chicago, but there is a huge Lego store so we went to browse. The nerdy side of Paul was in heaven.
Claire makes friends wherever we go and this was no exception.
In the mall there was a huge wreath decorated with purple, blue and silver. Claire was wanting to know why we couldn't have a wreath like this in our house.
We had a great time - snow, American Dolls, Children's Museum, hotel suites, deep dish pizza, Christmas, toys - what could be better. Paul and I got our big city fix for a while - next time it's just us.
In the Children's Museum, Mommy and Claire transformed into a fireman and fire dog.
Rachel transformed also. 
Claire and Daddy built a bridge out of "Stones" and it was strong enough to hold everyone up - even pregnant mommy!!
We then moved on to Asia where Rachel and Claire tried on traditional garb.....
to go fishing in a traditional boat.
Onto our next adventure! - (Claire was the only one allowed to climb through the seaworthy rope obstacle course.)
Rachel loves anything she can color on and not get in trouble.
And, of course what would a trip to a Children's Museum be without grocery shopping.
Thank goodness there were other "cashiers" there to check Claire out.
Rachel had a bit of a time trying to get to the fresh veggies and fruit.
And once the grocery shopping was done, the meal could be prepared and cooked.
After a good home cooked meal, we were ready to set off on a new career as an archeologist.
After digging and digging for 30 seconds, a dinosaur skull was discovered!! I'm sure it was a Clairosaurus.
While waiting for the trolley, Claire and Rachel became Eskimos and played in the snow.
I loved the lights all set up at the Navy Pier. (where the Children's Museum is located)
The next morning, we had reservations at the American Girl Cafe to have brunch with some American Girl dolls. (Since we don't have any ourselves, we were able to borrow a few friends)Rachel and her friend.
Claire and her new lifelong friend.
I told Paul as we were sitting in the pink restaurant surrounded by little girls and their dolls with hair bows and heart shaped pancakes that if this baby in my tummy is a girl - he better get used to this, because this is his life!
The friends were glad to meet each other too.
They had a game where you drew a conversation card out of a box and asked the question to the other people at the table. Rachel sure enjoyed that game - well, at least dumping the cards out of the box.
I was sad to say good-bye to our new friends - although not sad enough to pay $100 for one.
We then walked back to our hotel and even though it was cold, we enjoyed looking around. Claire wanted to know where the penguins that lived here are - upon further questioning, she figured that since there was ice in the river and it was so cold that penguins MUST live here. I guess they were all swimming at this time.
This crazy building was apartments up above and a garage on the lower floors. It is difficult to see, but the cars are backed right up to the edge with only a chain or cable blocking them from the edge. Wonder how many valets they've lost.
We made a special trip to Macy's to see the Christmas windows and then decided to go inside to search for Santa. While on our search, we seemed to have found the zoo and the girls seemed to have made new friends.
We also stopped to write some letters to Santa.
And after finally figuring out where Santa was only to wait in line for 45 minutes before we figured out we were only about 1/3 of the way through the line, we gave up and left to wander the store some more. We loved looking at this enormous Christmas tree which is in the middle of the Walnut Room Restaurant in Macy's. We stood on a landing deck a couple floors up so we could get a better view.
That night, we went to a little Deep Dish Pizza Place and the pizza was delicious - but who could resist licking butter out of the little butter tubs.
That night everyone was pretty worn out!! 
But it's always fun to stay in hotels - doesn't Rachel look like she's having a blast?
The next day before leaving, we realized there was no Lego museum in Chicago, but there is a huge Lego store so we went to browse. The nerdy side of Paul was in heaven.Claire makes friends wherever we go and this was no exception.
In the mall there was a huge wreath decorated with purple, blue and silver. Claire was wanting to know why we couldn't have a wreath like this in our house.
We had a great time - snow, American Dolls, Children's Museum, hotel suites, deep dish pizza, Christmas, toys - what could be better. Paul and I got our big city fix for a while - next time it's just us.
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