I feel like my January is already all booked up, and it has barely started. I hate that! At least some of it is fun stuff. Not so fun for the kids is their dentist appointment tomorrow morning to have some cavities taken care of. I am hoping they do not freak out, but if they take after me...well, if they took after me, they wouldn't even have cavities at this age! I guess I was one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, it's gymnastics day at school for Declan tomorrow, so he will miss the first session.

We are hosting the cub scout meeting here tonight, but I'll be at my small group recorder rehearsal. We're playing at a school at the end of the month, so we have to practice our program. I hope we do o.k., but at least kids are not the most discriminating audience to have!

Scot got an end-of-the-year bonus from work, and bought himself a new mountain bike. He probably won't get a chance to use it for awhile, though, since the weather is still iffy. It has been really windy, which is annoying. Our playhouse blew over, but luckily no fences (yet!).

Posted by Jennifer @ 02:07 PM MST

Monday, January 5, 2009

I forgot to mention our big present of the year, the Wii, which we have all been having fun with. The favorite for the kids is Lego Star Wars and the Wii Sports, and I have been enjoying Cookin' Mama and the Mario/Sonic Olympic one. I did get one that we ended up not liking, so I am going to turn it back in to the store for something else. They sell new and used games, so they take them back for credit, which is nice. Some of the games are pretty pricey, so used is good!

Tomorrow the kids go back to school, so things will return to normal schedule-wise. It was nice to have a lot of free time, but I'm sure the kids will be happy to see their friends again. We mostly spent time with family over the break, so they have been playing with each other a lot.

This weekend a friend and I are doing another crafting weekend getaway. We are staying at a hotel near a local scrapbook store, in case we need to run out and get something. We scoped out the possible hotels last Friday, so we already know what the space is like and like it much better than the one we had last time. Of course, that time involved a sudden change of plans, and this one is more planned, so that helps!

Posted by Jennifer @ 09:47 AM MST

Friday, January 2, 2009

Wow, I haven't written here since 2008! We had visitors through Christmas and New Year's, so that kept us all busy. The kids are starting back at school on Tuesday, so then we'll be back to our normal routine.

There was bad weather in Portland, so my dad's plane was delayed, and my mom couldn't get in until the day after she was scheduled. We had some strong winds here, but no snow or anything, which was kind of disappointing to me. Scot and I got to go skiing one day, which was fun. I had a chance to break in my new equipment. Hopefully we can figure out a way to go again together. We saw some movies. Dad and I saw Happy Go Lucky, then all the adults saw Slumdog Millionaire, and mom and I took the kids to see Bolt while my dad saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We went out to dinner while my aunt was here to Sweet Tomatoes, since the kids really like the buffet thing. Then we had an adults-only meal out at the Yak and Yeti. The kids are really not into Indian food!

Mom and I got to go shopping at Kohl's, which we always do. They are finally putting one in where she lives, so I guess it won't be a big deal for her to go next year. I was happy to get some dishes at 80% off. They are square, so it's something different. All our dishes are mix and match or Christmas themed (which we use all year round!), so it's nice to at least have one set of four that match. I also got some new shirts and new tennis shoes. The kids got some new pajamas and bathrobes.

We played a lot of card games at night, so that was fun. I think we all got to win at least once. We also played Farkle. I will be making a photo slideshow soon, although some of the good pictures are on my mom's camera.

Posted by Jennifer @ 10:40 AM MST

Thursday, December 18, 2008

I went to the mall this morning and picked up 5 games for the Wii. Some were used, and they were all the cheaper games, but I can see I am going to have a real problem. They all looked really fun! I am thinking we should unveil it on Christmas Eve since the kids will be too distracted on Christmas morning to care much about it. I think I am more excited to set it up than anyone else, sad to say! I saw a demonstration for the Wii Fit at the mall and it actually looks pretty cool. Besides all the exercise stuff, there are other games on there like skiing. I will not try to get one right now with all the hype, but I'm sure they will be easier to find after Christmas. We have the other games to keep us occupied. The only game I wanted to get that they didn't have was the Ben 10 one, so I guess I will have to order it from Amazon.

Declan is done with school, so I dropped him off at work while I did the video game shopping, and then picked him up so we could eat lunch at the mall. I did not want to have to go this weekend, so I'm glad to get it done with today. It wasn't that busy until lunchtime, but I can imagine it will be pretty packed this weekend.

Today is Owen's last day of school, so tonight we are going swimming. Scot has bowling, so the kids and I can have an early dinner and then head to the pool. It's always really empty at dinner time, so it should be a good time to go.

Posted by Jennifer @ 02:51 PM MST

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I got tagged to do a meme called 7 Random Things About Me. In honor of our recent weather, here goes:

1. I love walking around in the snow.
2. Cold weather always makes me crave ice cream.
3. I have to shovel snow off a section of the lawn, or Tobey will not do his business outside.
4. I love seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations, and the lights are especially pretty when covered with a layer of snow.
5. I am not great at ice skating, but I do enjoy sledding and skiing.
6. I hope we get some snow while my mom is visiting, since it's a treat for her. Where I grew and she still lives, we don't get snow since we're right on the coast.
7. I am happy that my ski pants from last year are way too big for me now and I have to cinch up the belt to keep them up!

Posted by Jennifer @ 12:57 PM MST

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I wasn't expecting to wake up to snow this morning, but there it was! We drove home about 9:30 last night and there was no sign of it. It made me happy, but it was VERY cold. It didn't really warm up the whole day, which is actually a little unusual, even for Colorado. Anyway, last night we were in Boulder at Scot's annual Christmas work party dinner. We had a really good meal, and it was fun. We talked a lot about t.v., movies and music, topics that interest me. There was another woman there that it turns out was also an anthropology graduate and has a foster dog. Hers had just gone to a new home, but the new owner kept calling because the dog does not like to walk on slippery flooring, and apparently there was no carpet at the new house.

This morning, Scot took the kids sledding, but it didn't last long. The sleds were not sliding very well and it was bitterly cold. The kids were happy to come home and have some hot chocolate. My boss had offered to watch employee children for three hours in the afternoon, which luckily was not cancelled due to weather, so Scot and I had a chance to do some shopping. Since we have pretty much everything for the kids, we decided to look for the credenza and stereo we wanted for the new and improved living room. We found both items at the same store, so then we went to look at ski stuff, since I am looking to update my old ski boots and skis. Scot bought me some new boots as a birthday gift. We came home and put together the new credenza and set up the stereo. It's an all-in-one unit that has a radio and CD player. It is HD radio compatible, which turned out to be nice because it tells you the name of the artist and song that is currently playing on the radio station.

Posted by Jennifer @ 10:41 PM MST

Monday, December 8, 2008

I think Owen had a good birthday weekend. We left on Friday to go up to the YMCA and made it in time for dinner. Saturday morning after breakfast, we went to do some Christmas crafts. After lunch, we went for a short snowshoe hike, which the kids wanted to do but didn't want to go very far! Some guy was at the lodge giving a little sled dog demonstration. There wasn't enough snow for him to take people on a sled ride, though. After dinner I took the kids roller skating. Scot had to stay behind and work, since he was on-call for the weekend, unfortunately. After we checked out on Sunday morning, I took the kids to the sledding hill. We checked out some inner tubes and had fun sliding down. It was actually really warm that day. Even though Sunday was his actual birthday, we celebrated on Saturday since we knew we had to check out early on Sunday. Owen got some cool gifts and had fun playing with them the rest of the weekend. I got him a game that we all had fun playing, and a soda can robug, which was a kit that you put together. He also got a make your own kaleidoscope kit, a book about dinosaurs, a toy rocket launcher thing, and an acoustic guitar (kid size).

This morning I made the mistake of going to the Scholastic book warehouse sale, and got a little carried away. Most everything was 50% off, so I got some little kits and things, and also some cool books. Declan was with me, so I was trying to hide a lot from him so he wouldn't tell Owen anything. I'm sure by Christmas, he will have forgotten anything he did see and will be surprised to get it as a gift. If he brings up something specific, my plan is to say that I changed my mind and put it back!

Posted by Jennifer @ 01:16 PM MST