Snow Day

Well, we got one. Another snow day. I'm thinking that it's not because of the snow because we only got 2 inches or so (just north of us got 8+ inches). It rained/sleeted all day yesterday and I'm sure it froze under all that snow. I haven't talked to Mike to see how his ride into work was, but I'm sure it wasn't fun. It's all blowing around now, so there's very little in the driveway and I'm sure that if I tried to shovel it, more would just blow in. So I'm just going to leave it and see what happens. The road in front of our house is completely covered and it doesn't look like many have decided to go out. I know that I don't have any plans to go anywhere today.

Hannah's mad about the snow day because she was scheduled to have her Kindergarten Roundup this morning (can you believe that? Hannah in kindergarten!). She was so excited about "going to kindergarten" and now she thinks she's never going to get to go. I keep telling her that I know that they'll reschedule it and that she'll get to go on another day but she doesn't believe me.

Daniel lost another tooth yesterday and was more than excited to find out that the Tooth Fairy had visited him (despite the threats of sending an e-mail to her telling her not to come because he wouldn't go to sleep). The Tooth Fairy almost forgot about it (it's happened before) but remembered in the nick of time. So I was woken up this morning by Daniel, baggie with a dollar in it in hand, letting me know that he loves the Tooth Fairy. He's too cute.

So, that's about it from the Frozen Tundra. Man, it's cold outside. The bright side is that I have a pot of chicken soup on the stove and if I can find some yeast, I'll be making a challah later. It seems like we eat chicken soup a lot. Okay, so we do. LOL!

Here We Go Again...

Will it materialize this time? I'm not counting on it. At least it's in the 70's today. I've got all of the windows open wide!

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE: Johnson (Kansas)
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO222 PM CST MON FEB 4 2008...

SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM POSSIBLE OVER NORTHERN MISSOURI ANDEASTERN KANSAS TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING....A POWERFUL UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL LIFT FROM SOUTHERN KANSASTHOUGH MISSOURI AND ILLINOIS LATE TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY. A COLDFRONT WILL HAVE PASSED BY THE REGION TONIGHT...ENSURING THATTEMPERATURES WILL BE AT OR BELOW FREEZING AS THIS STORM APPROACHES.AT THE SAME TIME...AN UNSEASONABLY MOIST AIRMASS SOUTH OF THE COLDFRONT WILL SURGE OVER TOP OF THE COLD AIR TO THE NORTH. CONDITIONSARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY FAVORABLE FOR MODERATE TO SIGNIFICANT SNOWACCUMULATIONS ACROSS A LARGE PORTION OF KANSAS... NORTHERN MISSOURITUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING...WITH THE POTENTIAL FORMORE THAN SIX INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATION. IN ADDITION...BEFORE THEHEAVIER SNOWFALL MATERIALIZES...THE POTENTIAL FOR A PERIOD OFFREEZING RAIN OR DRIZZLE...AS WELL AS ACCUMULATING SLEET EXISTS OVERMOST OF THE WATCH AREA.

KSZ057-060-103>105-MOZ021-022-028>032-037>039-043-044-050615-/O.EXB.KEAX.WS.A.0002.080205T2100Z-080206T1200Z/

MIAMI-LINN KS-LEAVENWORTH-WYANDOTTE-JOHNSON KS-CLINTON-CALDWELL-PLATTE-CLAY-RAY-CARROLL-CHARITON-JACKSON-LAFAYETTE-SALINE-CASS-JOHNSON MO-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PAOLA...MOUND CITY...LEAVENWORTH...KANSAS CITY KS...OVERLAND PARK...OLATHE...PLATTSBURG...KINGSTON...HAMILTON...POLO...PARKVILLE...PLATTE CITY...WESTON...LIBERTY...EXCELSIOR SPRINGS...RICHMOND...CARROLLTON...SALISBURY...KEYTESVILLE...KANSAS CITY...INDEPENDENCE...LEXINGTON...CONCORDIA...MARSHALL...RAYMORE...
HARRISONVILLE...PLEASANT HILL...WARRENSBURG

222 PM CST MON FEB 4 2008...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGHLATE TUESDAY NIGHT...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED A WINTERSTORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGHLATE TUESDAY NIGHT.A MIXTURE OF LIGHT SNOW...FREEZING DRIZZLE...AND SLEET WILL BEPOSSIBLE ACROSS THE REGION TUESDAY AFTERNOON IN THE WAKE OF APASSING COLD FRONT. LATER IN THE DAY...A BAND OF SNOW IS EXPECTED TOOVERSPREAD NORTHWEST MISSOURI AND ADJACENT EASTERN KANSAS...WITH SNOWBECOMING MODERATE TO HEAVY AT TIMES DURING THE EVENING HOURS. ARUMBLE OR TWO OF THUNDER CANNOT BE RULED OUT EITHER.MODERATE TO SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...POSSIBLY EXCEEDINGSIX INCHES...ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE WATCH AREA BEFORE ENDING BYDAYBREAK WEDNESDAY.A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANTSNOW...SLEET OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TOMONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS.$$

Super Bowl Favorites

Okay, so we're not even close to halfway through the Super Bowl but I thought I'd list my favorite commercials so far.

#1 Talking Stain. This just kills me! (ignore the beginning bit...the commercial comes on at about the 20 second mark)

#2 Audi commercial...just because it had a Godfather theme. I seriously thought that Mike had turned the channel and he thought I was tricking him. He turns "back" to Fox and it's the same thing. Pretty funny.

Also funny was the Terminator breaking through the wall and beating up the Fox football guy. The best part was when he leans down and looks into the camera.

Lazy Weekend

This is the first one of these that we've had in a while. The kids didn't even get dressed yesterday, which they thought was really funny.

We took the kids to Sunday School this morning and Hannah had to dress up for the Pre-K Pre-Purim Ball at the JCC (say that three times fast! LOL!) They asked the kids to arrive in costume so Hannah was dressed like a princess...crown and all. We were sitting eating our bagels when Marcia (the Education Director for the synagogue) comes over to say hello. She looks at Hannah and says, "my goodness, Hannah! Don't you look beautiful this morning? Did you just feel like being a princess this morning?" I look at Marcia and say, "Ummm...wasn't she supposed to dress up today?" She slaps her hand to her head and says, "That's right! You're going to the Ball! Of course you are supposed to dress up! And you look great!" Then, she takes off. A little later, I run into Rabbi Vared (she has a daughter that's in Hannah's pre-k class) and she tells Hannah that she looks great and that Ellie (her daughter) has a very similar costume. I tell her about my conversation with Marcia and she laughs hysterically. She tells me that Marcia probably just had a long weekend.

After Family Service, I drop Jacob and Daniel off at their classrooms (Mike had taken Hannah to the JCC for her Ball) and I head to the store because we invited some friends over to watch the Super Bowl tonight and I needed to get some snacks. There had been some rumbles of thunder during the Family Service so I expected it to be raining when I walked out. I hadn't expected the sleet and hail that we were getting. I didn't mind so much, though, because I love thunderstorms and one this early in February is unusual.

After Sunday School, we come home and put away the groceries and finish cleaning the house. For the first time in a while, all three levels are nice and clean...vacuumed, mopped, and just clean. When I was all done, I pulled a message from Jim (from the family that was coming over) off the machine. Sorry, most of us are sick and won't be able to come over. Can we do something next weekend? Daniel starts screaming that we "cleaned for nothing." I told him that, no, the house is nice and clean for us.

Actually, I'm not all that upset that they aren't coming. The house has needed to be deep cleaned for some time now and now it is. I'm really not in the mood for entertaining this evening and now I don't have to. We're going to kick back, watch some Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet and stuff ourselves with snacks. Hopefully, another thunderstorm rolls through this evening. That would be awesome.

For Those That Seem To Think I Always Send Them My Crappy Weather!

I got this in my e-mail this morning. Just thought I'd give you a little notice! ;)

Weather Alert!

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
: Johnson (Kansas)
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO
447 AM CST WED JAN 30 2008

...WINTER STORM EXPECTED LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...
.A POTENT WINTER STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND INTO
THE MIDWEST TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. SNOW WILL DEVELOP OVER SOUTHERN
KANSAS TONIGHT...THEN SPREAD EAST-NORTHEAST INTO THE MISSOURI REGION
BY THURSDAY MORNING. THE SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES FROM EAST CENTRAL
KANSAS EASTWARD ACROSS CENTRAL MISSOURI DURING THE DAY THURSDAY.
LIGHTER SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED NORTH OF THE MISSOURI RIVER.
THE STORM SYSTEM WILL EXIT THE REGION ON FRIDAY.

KSZ057-060-105-MOZ037>040-043>046-053-054-301900-
/O.NEW.KEAX.WS.A.0001.080131T1200Z-080201T1200Z/

MIAMI-LINN KS-JOHNSON KS-JACKSON-LAFAYETTE-SALINE-HOWARD-CASS-
JOHNSON MO-PETTIS-COOPER-BATES-HENRY-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PAOLA...MOUND CITY...OVERLAND PARK...
OLATHE...KANSAS CITY...INDEPENDENCE...LEXINGTON...CONCORDIA...
MARSHALL...FAYETTE...NEW FRANKLIN...RAYMORE...HARRISONVILLE...
PLEASANT HILL...WARRENSBURG...SEDALIA...BOONVILLE...BUTLER...
RICH HILL...CLINTON

447 AM CST WED JAN 30 2008

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH
LATE THURSDAY NIGHT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH
LATE THURSDAY NIGHT.

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AND MOVE INTO EASTERN KANSAS AND WESTERN
MISSOURI BY TOMORROW MORNING...THEN CONTINUE TO SPREAD EAST ACROSS
MISSOURI DURING THE DAY THURSDAY. AT THIS TIME...4 TO 7 INCHES OF
SNOW IS POSSIBLE ACROSS THE WATCH AREA...WITH LIGHTER AMOUNTS
EXPECTED NORTH OF THE MISSOURI RIVER. HOWEVER THE TRACK OF THE STORM
SYSTEM REMAINS SOMEWHAT IN QUESTION...AND A SHIFT NORTH OR SOUTH WILL
ULTIMATELY CHANGE SNOWFALL AMOUNTS.

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.
CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS.

Something Funny And Something Interesting For A Cold Day

Someone posted this on the Weather Blog and I thought I'd post it here too. It's at least good for a chuckle. As of right now, we're in the 12 degree range (5 degrees with the wind chill). It could be worse, though. We could still be in Dubuque where it's currently -6 degrees (actual temp) with a wind chill of (no kidding) -31 degrees! I do not miss those temps at all, since that's typical of winter there. Two winters there was enough for me!

First, the funny...
Temperatures and What They Mean

40 degrees - Californians shiver uncontrollably, Minnesotans go swimming.
35 degrees - Italian cars don't start.
32 degrees - Water freezes.
30 degrees - You can see your breath. Politicians begin to worry about the Homeless.
25 degrees - Boston water freezes. Cat insists on sleeping on your bed with you.
20 degrees - Californians weep pitiably, Minnesotans eat ice cream. You can hear your breath.
15 degrees - N.Y. City water freezes. Politicians begin to talk about the homeless.
12 degrees - You plan a vacation to Mexico.
10 degrees - Too cold to snow
5 degrees - You need jumper cables to get the car going. Cat insists on sleeping in your bed with you.
3 degrees - You plan a vacation in Houston.
0 degrees - Too cold to skate. American cars don't start.
-5 degrees - You can cut your breath and use it to build an igloo.
-10 degrees - Too cold to think. Politicians actually do something about the homeless.
-15 degrees - Cat insists on sleeping in your pajamas with you. You need jumper cables to get the driver going.
-20 degrees - You plan a 2 week long hot bath.
-25 degrees - The mighty Monongahela freezes. Japanese cars don't start.
-30 degrees - Californians disappear, Minnesotans button top button...
Below -30 - The kids call home from college. End of the world...

Now the interesting...
The following article taken from a less than favorite weather blog (I go there when I don't particularly care about weather accuracy and need a good laugh...also known as the site where the meteorologist said that, "the worst of winter is behind us," 3 days before winter even began) that talks about how we're going to be heading into a deep cold period. Check it out. Changes in the Sun’s Surface to Bring Next Climate Change

This Weather Sucks

Okay, not the weather for the past couple of days, but the weather we're going to be getting. Yesterday and today was nice. We actually hit 60 degrees today. That was awesome. Of course, you had to take the 20 mph winds and 45 mph gusts, but I'll take 60 and wind any day over 15 and no wind. At 10:15pm, we're still sitting at 55 degrees.

Tomorrow, we have a massive cold front (according to Gary Lezak, our weatherman, it's the strongest front of the season) coming through that will take our temps from 50's down to the teens with wind chills below zero. The National Weather Service says that our temps will drop as much as 10 degrees an hour. That's exactly what I want to wake up to in the morning. Oh, and our wind will not change. 30-50 mph winds with the cold temps. AND they're calling for snow midday tomorrow.

I HATE WINTER!!!!

Race Day

Today was the day of the Big Race. We arrived early to enjoy the pancake and sausage breakfast before racing started. Poor Daniel...his car consistently came in last...of course, so did Jacob but his had more of a fighting chance. At least both cars crossed the finish line. Here are some pictures...

Daniel gets ready to enjoy pancakes.

Daniel and his "best buddy" Josh.

Hannah and Josh's sister, Abby.
Jacob and his friend, Alex.
Daniel's Cheesemobile crosses way after everyone else's car. You can see the rankings on the board.
Daniel's car comes in 5th because of a tie for 2nd.
Daniel and his participation trophy.
Jacob, Alex and Andrew wait for their cars to race.
Jacob's car (2nd from left) waits to race.
Jacob's car races...his is on the far left.
Jacob with some of his friends after the race.
Jacob and his trophy.

Derby Check-In

Tonight was car check-in for tomorrow's Pinewood Derby. We've been working on these cars for almost a month and there was a lot of pressure to make sure the cars met all of the requirements. If you don't meet the requirements, you have to go to the Outlaw Race and you don't get the chance to compete at the District race. Here are the big requirements (there are actually 11 requirements with requirements within each like the cars have to be at least 1 3/4" wide and cannot have offset wheelbases or all paint and glue must be dry but we didn't have to worry about those)...

1. Each car can be no more than 5 oz each (but they can weigh anything under that). Jacob's was 5oz exactly. On our scale, it was 4.95 so I knew we'd be cutting it close. Daniels was 5.1 oz. On our scale, it was 5 oz on the nose, so we were actually relieved that he wasn't too far over. We ended up taking off the mouse's nose (which is a shame because he's so darn cute) and came in at 5oz. It looks kind of dumb but it makes weight.

2. They have to be no more than 7 inches long, but not less than 6.75 inches. Both cars passed with flying colors.

3. They have to have minimum 3/8" ground clearance. This is because of the way the track is set up. Any less and the cars can't run properly on the track. There was some question as to whether or not either made that since we had weights on the bottom. Our pack leader put both on the track and they were fine.

Phew. We cleared check-in.

Looking at the track, I'm wondering if the cars will make it to the end since there's more straight-away than ramp, but considering our weight, we should be good.

It was fun to see everyone's cars...some were very simple and some were very elaborate. That made me wonder how much the kids actually did on the cars. Although, I'm sure some were thinking the same thing about ours.

I ended up talking with Lisa, mom of Jacob's friend Andrew. I've always liked her. She's from Wisconsin and moved here about the same time we did. She was telling me that the thing that bothers her the most about living here is the lack of friends. She knows a lot of people but has no one that she feels she can call just to vent or talk. I told her that I felt the same. So, we made tentative plans to get together. It'll be nice if we can become good friends.

So, our pinewood cars are in the "Pack Impound Lot," all checked in and ready to go for tomorrow's race. I'll let you know how we do tomorrow!


Mike holds our cars as we wait to check them in. Sorry the picture's a little blurry. We'll get better photos tomorrow (and plan to glue the mouse's nose back on after the race). Daniel's Cheesemobile is on the left and Jacob's car is on the right. And yes, the boys did do quite a bit of work on the cars (sanding, painting, etc). It's hard to believe these started out as simple blocks of wood.

Quite The Week

Between all of the birthdays (Happy belated birthday to Donna and Happy 16th Birthday today to my niece Megan!), federal holidays, trips, anniversaries and just general goings-on this week, I did not need a sick child. I got a call from the school nurse yesterday telling me that Jacob had an earache. I picked him up early (but not as early as I would have liked since he desperately wanted to shop the book fair at school) but didn't take him to the doctor like I probably should have. I figured that I'd wait and see how he was feeling today.

When I got up this morning, he was already up and camped out on the couch. Apparently, he'd been up for several hours (like around 5am) but didn't want to wake anyone. He looked terrible. I decided to keep him home and made an appointment for him after Hannah's gymnastics class.

We get to the doctor and all he wants to do is lay on the exam table. The doctor comes in and tells me that his ear looks really bad and that it's normal if we see any blood or puss leaking out of his ear ("just wipe it away," she tells me). What the heck? She goes on to tell me that it looks like Jacob's eardrum burst sometime last night...he tells her that he did feel stuff coming out of his ear and onto his shirt in the middle of the night, he thought it was normal. Seriously? You thought that crap pouring out of your ear is normal? Anyway, she said that it would help with the healing and the pressure and that he should be good in a couple of days. Aack!

He's currently napping on the couch...that's a good thing since I don't think he got much sleep last night. Poor kid.

Nine Years

Nine years ago today, I married my best friend. It's been quite a ride that's given us 3 children, several different jobs, and taken us to 3 states (besides Illinois). I love you honey! Happy anniversary!

Adventures in Traveling

Friday morning, I left the house at about 7:30am to allow plenty of time for my 10:50am flight. With rush hour and the fact that I wasn't exactly sure what to do, I wanted to make sure I did have a good amount of time. I got as far as the end of the subdivision before I had to turn around. I had forgotten my directions from the airport to Sue's house. That would have been bad. Anyway, I decided to stop at the QT for coffee and made my way.

Traffic was good. The only places it bottled up was around the I435 and I635 junctions. Other than that, I moved right along and made it to KCI exactly when I thought I would. I found a nice parking spot, pretty close to the terminal and under cover of a parking garage. I was pleased. I grab my suitcase and head into the airport, pretending that I know what I'm doing.

As soon as the doors to the airport open, I see the Southwest ticket counter. Mike had said to try to find the automated kiosks so that I wouldn't have to wait in line but it looked like these were the automated kiosks. I walk up and, sure enough, they have ticket agents hanging out around these things, only there if someone needs help. I pop in my info and it pops out a boarding pass. Not sure if that's all I need, I ask the lady if that's it. She tells me yes and points me in the direction of my gate. About this time, I pretty hungry but I figured that I'd just get something when I passed security.

I get in line and grab a plastic bin to put my stuff in. One of the guards comes over to check my ID and boarding pass. He asks me if I have any lip gloss or lotion in my purse (I do!) and then he pulls out a Ziploc bag. "Make sure you put them in this next time," he tells me as he zips up my gloss and lotion. "Oh, and take off your coat." So, I take off my coat and shoes and put them with my purse in the plastic bin. I put my suitcase on the belt and turn to walk through the thingy. For the first time ever, I did not set the thing off! As I wait for my bag to go through, one of the security guys looks at me, points to my suitcase and asks if it's mine. I say yes. He grabs it, tells me to put on my shoes and meet him at the counter. He waits until I get there to open it up. He pulls out my makeup bag and unzips it. He pulls out my lipstick, mascara and eye cream and tells me that they are technically liquids. Ummm...okay. He spots the ziploc bag I had been given earlier and puts them in. He zips everything back up and tells me to have a nice flight. Well, that was uneventful.

I walk into the gate area and realize that I've just made a mistake. There are no food places inside security. They're all outside. I look up and see a big Starbucks sign up on the second level...mocking me. Ugh. I sit down and call Mike. He tells me that I should just leave and go through security again after I've gotten something to eat. I decide that it's not worth it. I do end up finding a little cart that has coffee and muffins so I get something off of there.

While I'm waiting for the plane to arrive, I look around and am pleased with the lack of people. Because Southwest doesn't have assigned seating, the lack of people means that I'll probably get a window seat (I love a window seat). I wasn't counting on everyone coming at the last minute. I'm still not sure where everyone came from. SW has three boarding groups: A, B and C. I look at mine and I'm in group B. Should be okay as long as there aren't many in group A. Group A boards and they call group B to line up. I finally get onto the plane and it doesn't look like there are any open seats at all, much less a window seat. Then, I see it. A window seat! I throw my carry-on into the bin and go to sit down. I didn't realize that my desperation for a window seat would mean that I would be traveling with someone's thigh in my lap (I'm not kidding) the whole flight. Gross.

I get my seatbelt on and look out the window. How did I not know that it had started snowing? The pilot comes on and says that we'll be delayed about 5 minutes while they de-ice the plane. I'd always wondered how they did that and now I'd get to see. The poor guy in a cherry picker comes by with a hose and sprays stuff on the whole plane. He had to be cold.

So, the plane takes off and lands a little later. I decide to take a look around to see how the airport is set up so that I don't make the same mistake I'd made in Kansas and to see how backed up their security line is. Looks to be busy but moving and there's lots of food inside. Good. I look around to find the car rental. I'm the only one there so I'm in and out pretty quickly. I turn around and there are a lot of people from my flight standing in line. As I'm walking out to the car, I realize she didn't tell me what kind of car I was getting...just a spot number. I get to the spot and laugh out loud. It's the ugliest car I've ever seen in my life. A puke orange HHR. This car looks like a PT Cruiser and a Hummer had a kid. Ugly, ugly, ugly. It took me forever to figure out the controls and whatnot.

A little while later, I arrive in Kentucky and call Sue. She tells me to meet her at the Amish Parking at the WalMart, she'll be there in a minute. When she pulls up, she laughs at the car. Not my fault! LOL! She walks me through the visitor's center thing and we head to her house.

A little later, she takes me on a tour of the post. Completely different than what I had expected. Of course, I'm not sure of what I expected but I wasn't expecting a little town, complete with fast food and schools. They've got a little of everything there. I think Sue was laughing at me the whole time. Of course, I've got my Band of Brothers groove on since everything screams Airborne.

Saturday, Sue took me up to the museum, which was really cool. I got some bears for the kids that had the Airborne eagle on them, but I'm kind of wishing I got more stuff. For the most part, we hung out and watched America's Next Top Model while drinking really bad wine. LOL! It was nice to just do nothing.

I headed back to the airport around 2pm on Sunday. I was getting nervous because it seemed to take longer to get to the airport than it did to get to Sue's. And, I was driving about 5 mph faster. Strange.

I dropped off the car and headed inside the airport. I went through everything like a pro. I didn't get stopped at all in the security line, though I'm surprised they didn't stop the elderly lady behind me who was doing everything I was doing and was complaining very loudly (at one point she asked if she was going to have to get naked). I took off my shoes and she yells to the guy behind her, "take off your shoes!" I take off my coat and she mutters to herself, "take off your coat? Why can't I go through this with my coat? I guess we have to take off our coats. (turning to the guy behind her) Take off your coat!" I handed my ID and boarding pass to the security lady who was rolling her eyes at the lady behind me. She told me to have a nice flight and I wished her good luck with what was coming behind me. She laughed.

I hit Quizno's for lunch/dinner and headed over to the magazine place to get reading material. I saw these little airplanes that act like they're taking off and got them for the kids and headed over to my gate.

Once again, I was in group B, but it seemed like it was a bigger plane this time. By the time I got on, there were plenty of seats and I plopped myself into a window seat towards the back. It felt like the seat may be broken and just as I was going to get up to move, a lady sat down next to me. I figured that I'd be okay for a little while and sat back down. At least I didn't have to worry about someone's thigh being in my lap this time. I hadn't counted on her wanting to read the paper the whole flight...every time she turned the page she'd hit me in the arm or boob. Ugh! I think she knew that I was getting annoyed because when the flight landed, she took off.

When I walked in the door at home, I thought Hannah was going to start crying. She didn't let go of me for 15 minutes. The boys were less excited about me coming home, but they still were huggy.

All in all, it was a good trip and it was nice to see my nieces and to meet my new little niece, Sarah. I hope I get to do it again.

Thursday Already?

First...HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE!!!!!

Anyhoo...I'm leaving for my weekend at Sue's tomorrow morning. I almost feel like I skipped a week somewhere because the last time I checked, I was leaving in two weeks. LOL! The kids keep asking me if they can go too (no!). I finally did map out the way from the airport to your place, Sue. I told you I'd do it before Friday morning! Dad says that he thinks it's right. I guess we'll see! All I can say is that I'm really excited about it. I've never taken a trip, just me, without the kids. Even if it is just for a weekend. Should be a lot of fun.

It snowed about 3 inches last night and now it's freaking cold. Oh darn...I'm going to miss the coldest temps of the winter so far this weekend...you can keep your single digit temps. LOL! For some reason, the kids have a snow day...not sure if there was ice or something under all of that snow (haven't been out yet today) so maybe that's it. I can't imagine they cancelled school just for a couple of inches of snow.

I got a call from the school the other day saying that Daniel had bumped into something and his two front teeth went through his bottom lip. There was a big deal about his coat being covered in blood (it wasn't but whatever), so I went and picked him up. Poor Daniel. Two days later, he still has a bit of a fat lip. You can clearly see where his teeth went into his lip. Looks awfully painful. At least it happened at school this time!

Other than that and the usual TKD stuff going on, that's about it from here for now. I need to get on the ball and get some laundry switched over and get the kids fed some lunch.

What Did I Do?

All of my joining is finally starting to come around to bite me in the butt. Our school district has this voice message system where each family has a voice mail account. It's a great way to get little notices out to teachers (and for them to do the same) or to other parents...you just leave a message to someone's voice mail and they can get back to you. It saves so much on notes going back and forth, potentially getting lost or ignored. I probably check ours on a daily basis since you're only allowed 15 messages total and some days we get 5 or more. Today was no exception.

I dialed in this morning to find 5 new messages in the mailbox. One from the school's new voice mail rep and two from Jacob's teacher giving the weekly agenda (she can never keep her messages under the allotted 3 minutes so she usually gets cut off and has to send a second voice mail). Then, I get this one:

"Hi! This is Betsey and if you're getting this message, you've signed up to volunteer for the third grade Southwestern Day! We're having our first planning meeting..."

Ugh. I press 9 to save it and move on to the last one.

"Hi! This is JJ and if you're getting this message, you've signed up to volunteer for the Family Night Supper and Bookfair next week! 8 me back and let me know which shift you'd like to work..."

Crap. At least Mike gets to take my place at the first grade Native American Day on Friday since I'm going to be on a plane, heading to Sue's! LOL!

It's Good To Have Friends

Mike invited Stephen and Roxanne (and their boys Jett and Quinn) from Tae Kwon Do over for dinner last night. Roxanne has been telling Mike that she wanted to get the boys together for some time now and we thought that this would be a good way to do that. We asked them to bring a bottle of wine and maybe a little desert. I had to laugh when they showed up with 4 bottles of wine (they couldn't decide which one to bring so they brought them all) and a French Silk pie. (For a visual of Stephen, Jett and Quinn (I don't have one of Roxanne, though), look here http://mbjdh1999.blogspot.com/2007/10/jacobs-photo-post.html )

The kids immediately ran off to play...Jett and Jacob (they're both in third grade) desperately tried to keep the younger kids out of Jacob's room. Who would have thought that Quinn and Hannah would have become a pair. She told me this morning that Quinn told her that he was going to marry her when they're older. Ahhh...if arranged marriages were still around. LOL! It was nice that the kids all got along so well because we got to chatting and completely lost track of time.

Several hours, and two bottles of wine (hard to believe it was only two) later, it was time to call it a night. Hannah had fallen asleep on the couch and Jett and Quinn were hiding from their parents so they wouldn't have to go home. It seriously didn't feel like they were here until almost midnight.

It was so nice to have people over again. I really missed having friends over for dinner. This is really the first time we've done it since we've moved here. Friends used to come over all of the time in Virginia. Having friends definitely makes Barb a much happier person.

I'm All Messed Up

I've been working on knitting a blanket for Daniel for a couple of days now. I took it downstairs to work on while catching up on some TiVo after the kids went to bed last night (I freaked out when Project Runway cut off just as they were announcing who was out...thank goodness Bravo runs it 3 or 4 times a night!). I was so into the knitting that when I decided it was time to call it a night, it was 2AM. Oops. So, go figure that I would accidentally turn off my alarm at 7AM instead of hitting the snooze button. I knew there was a reason I set my clock 15 minutes, or so, fast...I totally freaked out when I saw that it was 8:00. I was trying to figure out how to get the kids to be able to eat in the car on the way to school...then I realized that it was 7:45. Those 15 minutes made all the difference. Of course, the kids weren't happy at all with the way that I woke them up...screaming like a banshee. They did make it to school on time, fully clothed, fed and hair brushed, but now I'm feeling like I'm behind on something.

Back In The Swing

It's been almost a week since my last post. Two weeks off has really messed things up for me. Getting back into the groove has been difficult, but we're managing. It doesn't help that Hannah's gymnastics times have changed. That really threw me off on Monday. The good news is that the boys have been so tired at the end of the day that they go down pretty easily.

We've been in full-on pinewood derby mode here. We spent the weekend sanding and painting the cars for the derby. We're getting close to being done...just have to figure out how to put those stupid weights on in such a way that it doesn't hinder the car's ability to go fast. The boys are having a great time making them. They usually come home from school and ask if they can do something with them. Jacob has even designated a display space in his room for after they're done. It should be interesting to see if we can pull this thing off! :)

I've got the beginnings of a cold coming on. Ugh. At TKD last night, I just started coughing uncontrollably. I hate that. Now, my nose is all runny and stuffy at the same time. I wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't making me cough. I guess it's time to up the fluids.

Hannah's latest thing is to take what the boys said they did at school (or at home for that matter) and apply it to herself. She's been telling me that her preschool's TV came and interviewed her and she told them how to cook a turkey. Jacob's favorite thing to do is the monkey bars at recess...she told me that she was doing the monkey bars at her school (they don't have monkey bars on her playground). She also told me that they are making toy cars at preschool (they're not). Jacob's getting pretty annoyed with it. I think it's funny. She's also not happy with me right now because I won't let her eat all day. She'd snack her way through the day if I let her. She decided to eat two bites of her breakfast and was "starving" by 9:15. I gave her a snack at 9:30 and told her that was it until lunch. She's been begging for lunch since 9:45. Sorry...you get lunch when it's lunchtime and not before.

Pick Your Horse

Last night I had turned on the news to see how the Iowa Caucus was going. I cheered when I saw that my candidate was winning (full disclosure...he's been my candidate for a full 36 hours now...LOL!). Here's the conversation with me and the boys:

Jacob: What are you cheering about?
Me: Looks like my guy won.
Jacob: Who's your guy?
Me: Mike Huckabee.
Jacob: I don't like him at all.
Me: That's right...I forgot you're a Democrat.
Jacob: I don't know what that means but I like Ron Paul.
Me: Dad would be proud.
Jacob: I know!
Daniel: I like your guy! Who's your guy?
Me: Mike Huckabee.
Daniel: Mike Maccabee?
Me: *laughing* Not Maccabee...Huckabee.
Daniel: Oh. Mike Huckabee. It'd be funnier if it was Maccabee. *begins singing a song about Judah Maccabee he learned in Sunday School*

Happy New Year 2008!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my big sister, Debbie!

I have to say that I'm thrilled to have 2007 behind me. Here's hoping that 2008 is a better year for everyone!

My Week In Photos

We got in earlier tonight from another whirlwind trip to Illinois. First was Christmas in Peoria and then a late Hanukkah in Buffalo Grove.

We decided to do Christmas Eve dinner this year. While the adults were upstairs, the cousins were all in Dad's basement playing roller coaster with Dad's computer chair. I handed Jacob the camera and got some good shots.

I love this one of Emma's foot and Hannah.

Emma pushed Daniel while Mary Rose runs along.
Mike and Jeff ran out to get some movies (and beer) and came back with The Incredibles. They couldn't help but watch it on Dad's huge TV.
One of Dad, Hannah and Daniel on Christmas morning.
Dad's new kitty is too cute...he looks just like Guillermo!
Unfortunately, we had to attend a funeral while we were in Chicago. Mike's Great-Uncle-Sammy passed at the age of 93. The blessing out of that was that we got to see a lot of family that we would not have otherwise. We were able to go to lunch with Ev, David and Rachel after services were over.
Jacob, Rachel, Daniel, Hannah and David
We were able to see Ken, Donna and Dave while we were in BG. Here, Ken and Donna's son, David, yells at Daniel for making an illegal chess move. Jacob and Eric play in the background.
Adam, Hannah, Eric, Katherine, Jacob and Daniel enjoy brownies and ice cream after Lou Malnatti's for lunch.
Lighting the candles.
Daniel plays a game of Pokemon with Ed and his very own set of cards.
There was so much snow and ice everywhere in Northern Illinois (on the way home). Mike took this one just outside of Dixon, IL.
We stopped in Sterling to visit Mom. It was the first time I'd seen the marker in place. Mike and I had to brush the snow off of the stones (not as easy a job as it might seem since most have raised lettering). I took this picture and thought that Sue might like to see it.
Our family plot. The Rock River is in the background.
Back on the road, I took this one outside of Des Moines. I ended up taking a lot of pictures of the landscape for some reason.
This cracks me up everytime I see it (they are everywhere in Iowa).

This, That and The Other

One nice thing about Kansas is the beautiful sunsets. They've looked just like this the past few nights...
Apparently, the fuzzy stuff in the sky (not the defined clouds) is snow that's aloft and not reaching the ground. Very interesting.

Hannah's finally starting to feel better. I took her back to the doctor yesterday morning because she was just off. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but I knew that it was something. After being told that I was overreacting by the nurse, the doctor told me that something was, indeed, going on. Her strep symptoms were clearing up nicely but her asthma was still a problem. Oh! And now she has croup. They gave her a nebulizer treatment there in the office and sent me home with a prescription for Orapred. I hate giving her that stuff but it made such an improvement to her demeanor. We still skipped gymnastics today and I think that the break's doing her good. I may let her do TKD this evening but we'll have to see.

The weather here's been very strange. We're supposed to be near 60 tomorrow and then a big snowstorm hits on Saturday. Weird. They're saying that travel on Sunday should be okay...I guess we'll have to wait and see.

This Made Me Cry

I found this in Jacob's backpack last night. He had to write about someone he admires. I'm copying it exactly (including typos) from what he wrote.

My Awesome Mom

By: Jacob

My mom's name is Barb. She works for Creative Memories. She has a fun job. You get to have a scrapbook! She is the best cook because she makes the best matzoball soup.

She wears earings. She has blue eyes. My mom has dark brown hair. She has medium ears, also.

She brings me to school. My mom reads a lot. She talks to friends too. She used to bring chala to my sinugogue.

My mom always says, "pikachu evolves in to riachu, right?" She also says, "Put on your shoes!" and "What did you do at school?"

My feelings about her is, she is a good person. She is nice. I am glad she is mom even thow she does things for my sister and not me!

Barb's Top 7 Reasons I Love Mike (I know there are more but these came off the top of my head)

7. He makes me laugh
6. He takes me out on dates
5. He's an amazing Dad
4. He puts up with my crap
3. He's supportive of whatever I want to do
2. He takes great care of us

But the number one reason I love Mike is because he says things like this:

(I was reading my Bradley Hilltopics Alumni magazine tonight and was feeling down because I read that a friend of mine from high school/college wrote and produced those Macy's commercials...you know the ones with Martha Stewart and Jessica Simpson and I was feeling like I hadn't accomplished much)

Me: Look what Matt's done and what have I done with my life?
Mike: Does he have three kids?
Me: No.
Mike: (Very serious look on his face)I certainly wouldn't have come this far without you.

Mike...I don't tell you often enough how much I appreciate you and everything you do, but just know that I do appreciate and love you very much.

And Then There Were Two...

Hannah started running a fever yesterday. As long as she had Motrin in her system, she was all good. This morning, she looked like the living dead. I decided that she should not go to gymnastics or preschool and that a visit to the doctor may be in order.

I set up an appointment for her at 9:45 and, wouldn't you know, my phone rings at 9:15 and it's Betsey...the other room mom. What should have been a 5 minute phone call about the party on Friday turned into a 20 minute conversation about how hectic her schedule's been. Betsey also reminds me that I signed up to bring 2 dozen cookies to school tomorrow. AAAAAAAccccccccckkkkkkkk!!!!!! She was impossible to get off the phone! I told her 3 times that I needed to go so that I could take Hannah to the doctor...I almost had to hang up on her. Thank goodness she didn't have my cell phone number or I'm sure she would have called that and talked to me all the way there.

Anyway, we arrived 5 minutes late to her appointment. After finding out that Jacob had strep last week, they immediately do the swab test. After a few minutes, the doctor comes in and says that her test came back positive. Ugh. However, she looks more like she has the flu than strep (her thought was Hannah had flu on top of strep). She orders a flu test. They swab her nose and the nurse takes off. Another few minutes go by and the doctor comes in again. Flu test is negative (which is awesome news...not just for Hannah, who probably would have ended up in the hospital, but for the rest of us as well) so it's the strep that's causing her problems...and aggravating her asthma. We walk out with a prescription for amoxicillin and one for albuterol.

She's definitely a lot sicker than Jacob was (I think I caught his earlier) and it makes me feel terrible for her. I hate it when the kids are sick.

Anyway, I call her preschool to let them know she won't be there and that she does have strep. She was supposed to bring sprinkles for the cookie decorating party they were having this afternoon and I told them that I would try to send them in with Gwen (two doors down). At 11:45, I walk down and knock on their door. Little Gwen opens the door and just smiles at me. I hear Katie (her mom) yell from another room, "are those the sprinkles I've been waiting for?" I said, "how did you know I had sprinkles for you?" Katie says, "I called the school to see if they needed anything else for the cookies and they told me to expect sprinkles from you." LOL! Then, at about 3pm, there's a little knock at the door. I look out and there's Gwen. I open it and she tells me that she's bringing back the leftover sprinkles (that was nice and unexpected) and that Mrs. M wanted Hannah to be able to decorate cookies too, so she sent home 3 cookies and a cup full of frosting. I just thought that was so sweet and it made Hannah's day.

I finally get in touch with Mike later in the afternoon and he tells me that he went to the clinic at work because he hadn't been feeling well either. He now is on an antibiotic as well. That just leaves me and Daniel. I tell you what...if that boy starts coughing or has even a minor sore throat, he'll be in the doctor's office in a heartbeat.

Another Crazy Week

I am so looking forward to Winter Break. No gymnastics, minimal TKD and no school. I am certainly looking forward to the break. Poor Jacob was home with strep on Monday and, at about 4pm, he looks at me and says, "we weren't home at all today!" He was, pretty much, right. Between dropping Daniel off at school, taking Hannah to gymnastics and then to preschool, taking Jacob to the doctor and then picking everyone up again, I think we were home for about 1 1/2 hours on Monday (during the day). The ice storm on Tuesday slowed things down a little since it cancelled school and MOPS...it would have been nice to have a couple of days like that.

The boys found out yesterday that they earned their high green belts. Mike already has the blue markings for his belt (that's how they designate high from low) and the boys should get theirs on Tuesday. They are pretty excited. They have one more round of testing to go before they have to start breaking boards (and two before they test for their low brown belts)...that should be interesting. I'm just thrilled that Hannah is now in the boys' TKD class on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Maybe now I won't feel like we live there.

We got about 3 inches of snow yesterday...a lot less than the 4-8 they were predicting. That's just fine with me although the kids weren't too happy about it. They wanted that 8 inches. It was still enough to play in, and they did for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday afternoon. They came in for a brief hot chocolate break and then headed back out. I don't know how they stood the cold. It was 20 degrees with a wind chill of 8. They told me that they weren't cold...and I believe them. I remember playing in the snow for hours and not feeling it until I came in. I just can't remember the last time they were able to get out and play. The weather's been so bad that we haven't been able to go out.

Daniel was getting upset with his teacher about the fact that they were only doing Christmas stuff and no Hanukkah stuff. Leave it to Daniel to not let that happen. Wednesday, he convinced his teacher to dedicate a whole day just to Hanukkah. She even asked him to bring in a menorah so that everyone could see it. I guess he ended up showing the whole first grade (not just his class) how to light it and what prayer to say (he actually remembered the prayer). I was pretty proud of him.

Last night was the TKD Christmas party, hosted by the black belts. Members of our school and of our parent school were there. Roxanne and Stephen hosted it at their auto shop. It's not your typical auto shop. Stephen runs a Porche place...they fix and rebuild Porches. The cars he had there were amazing, and the place was huge. At some point, Roxanne forced a big plastic cup of wine into my hand and, not long after, I found myself doing the Electric Slide with her as Master Johnson acted as DJ. After the Electric Slide, YMCA and a couple of other dances, I decided that was enough and walked off the dance floor. Roxanne came up to me and asked me why I wasn't dancing anymore..."I'm too hot," I told her. "Yeah, me too," She said. "I'm afraid I'm getting stin-kay!" She says as she throws her hands in the air and heads back onto the floor. She cracks me up. The kids had a great time and so did Mike and I. I love our TKD school. It's just such a family atmosphere and everyone really cares about you...and misses you when you're not there.

I should really stop blogging right now...Mike's invited a few work friends over to watch football and I need to finish getting the house ready. Then, I get to look forward to another busy week (2 gymnastics classes, 3 TKD classes, 1 Cub Scout pack meeting, 2 Christmas parties, a MOPS meeting and a birthday party). I may just collapse when we arrive in Peoria next week!

Even More Ice Storm Photos

It seems as if it's finally over. We had a little more rain last night and temps dropped like a rock so we got even more ice. Not much more, but it also didn't help that everything that had melted yesterday refroze. I don't know if anyone watched the Today Show this morning but they had someone reporting from St. Joeseph, which is just north of us. The difference between us and them is that we warmed up to 31 or so degrees and they stayed at 28. If it hadn't warmed up, we would have what they do. They said yesterday that as much as 95% of St. Joe was without power yesterday. We had one flicker, but that's it. I did see a transformer, somewhere close, blow last night...it's hard to miss that distinctive, bright blue light. Oh, and they're calling for snow on Friday and Saturday.

Anyway, I handed Jacob the camera on the way to school this morning and he took some (pretty good) pictures of some of the ice in our area. Any white you see on the trees is pure ice. There is a touch of snow on the ground but not much.

This is the little farm (soon to be subdivision but they're keeping the barn) across from the school. You can tell that it's still really ugly outside.

A tree in our subdivision. Trees leading out of our subdivision.
Windbreak trees.
This tree is right next to the school parking lot. I don't know if you can see where it's snapped up at the top right. It also never hangs this low.
More trees by the school.

More Photos

Still raining but with temps right at 32 degrees, it's really not freezing anymore. I did go out and take some more pictures, though.

Jacob thought it was funny that there were still a few green leaves left on the tree. They were acting like a funnel for the rain and ice...

More thick ice on the branches.

Another leaf completely covered in ice.

My poor rain gauge. I don't know if the little beaker's going to make it since it's completely filled with ice and it's glass.

Dodged a Bullet Big Time

Our temperatures rose a little bit last night, so for us, the ice storm wasn't as bad as they said it could be. Of course, they were always saying that one or two degrees would be the difference between a major ice storm and one that's manageable. We got those one or two warmer degrees. Of course, those just 40 miles or so to our north weren't as lucky...they got slammed. Lots of power outages and tree damage up there. People on the weather blog were talking about how they saw transformers close to my house blowing but we were fortunate enough to keep power...so far not even a flicker (desperately knocking on wood now).

It continues to rain and temps are dropping a little but they are saying that the worst of the storm is behind us. I'm a little nervous because it is supposed to rain through the evening and stuff will probably refreeze but I guess as long as the roads are good, we should be fine. The kids are thrilled because they don't have school today and are praying for another snow day tomorrow. I highly doubt that there will be one tomorrow, but I guess I don't blame the kids for wishing.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took this morning...

The tree in our backyard

A close-up of the branches

The ornamental grass in front of the house. Usually, the grass comes up to the middle of the front windows but the ice is weighing it down (I can't remember the last time I could see so clearly out the front windows! LOL!)

The pine tree in front of the house...I hate this tree but it keeps hanging in there.

Update

I have a feeling this is going to be bad...

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO 147 PM CST MON DEC 10 2007

...A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM IS EXPECTED FROM LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING ICE ACCUMULATIONS....

A COLD AIR MASS WILL REMAIN ANCHORED OVER MUCH OF KANSAS INTO CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MISSOURI THROUGH TUESDAY...WHILE A POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM OVER THE MEXICAN BAJA SHIFTS NORTHEAST TOWARD THE CENTRAL PLAINS. A LONG-DURATION EVENT...BEGINNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT...IS EXPECTED TO BRING DAMAGING ICE ACCUMULATIONS TO A LARGE PORTION OF THE REGION.

EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...A BAND OF FREEZING RAIN EXTENDING ALONG AND JUST NORTH OF THE INTERSTATE 44 CORRIDOR...WAS AFFECTING MUCH OF SOUTHERN MISSOURI AND NORTHERN OKLAHOMA. THIS BAND OF PRECIPITATION WILL LIKELY REACH A PAOLA TO BOONVILLE LINE AFTER 4 PM...WITH MINOR ICE ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY EVENING. FURTHER NORTH...A SECOND AREA OF PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS NORTHEAST KANSAS AND NORTHWEST MISSOURI LATER THIS EVENING...GRADUALLY BUILDING SOUTH AND EAST ACROSS THE REST OF THE AREA ON TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. ACROSS AREAS ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE MISSOURI RIVER... TEMPERATURES MAY BRIEFLY WARM TO AT OR JUST ABOVE FREEZING ON TUESDAY...POTENTIALLY REDUCING THE SEVERITY OF ICE ACCUMULATION. FREEZING RAIN IS EXPECTED TO BE MODERATE TO HEAVY AT TIMES TONIGHT AND TUESDAY...WITH ICE ACCUMULATIONS GENERALLY RANGING FROM ONE HALF TO ONE INCH. FREEZING RAIN MAY MIX WITH SLEET OVER FAR NORTHWEST MISSOURI WHERE TEMPERATURES ARE COLDER.

IN ADDITION...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT AND TUESDAY...WHICH WILL RESULT IN RAPID ICE ACCUMULATION AND LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS. DUE TO THE HEAVY ACCUMULATIONS OF ICE...THIS LONG DURATION STORM MAY CAUSE SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO POWER LINES AND TREES...WHILE MAKING TRAVEL DANGEROUS IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE

Yet Another Reason I Hate Winter...

ICE STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT CST TUESDAY NIGHT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED AN ICE STORM WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT CST TUESDAY NIGHT. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

FREEZING RAIN IS ONCE AGAIN EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AFTER 6 PM...AND CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF ICE FROM ONE HALF TO ONE INCH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR ACCUMULATIONS EXCEEDING ONE INCH. IN ADDITION...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE...WHICH WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT GLAZING IN A SHORT DURATION OF TIME. THIS STORM SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO TREES AND POWER LINES.

AN ICE STORM WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF ICE ACCUMULATIONS WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS OR IMPOSSIBLE. TRAVEL IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. COMMERCE WILL LIKELY BE SEVERELY IMPACTED. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT...FOOD...AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY. ICE ACCUMULATIONS AND WINDS WILL LIKELY LEAD TO SNAPPED POWER LINES AND FALLING TREE BRANCHES THAT ADD TO THE DANGER.

Luckily, we're all ready to hunker down for several days if we need to. Hopefully, we won't need to!

Consecration Sunday

This morning was Daniel's Consecration at Sunday School. Consecration is the official welcome into Torah study and education in the synagogue. When Jacob was consecrated in Virginia, they didn't make a big deal out of it. Here, they do.

We weren't sure if we were going to be able to make it there since we had some ice last night, but the roads were okay and we made it just fine. They had asked last week if we could make sure siblings didn't walk down with the consecrants because it takes away from them so Mike and I decided that he would walk down with Daniel and I would stay with Hannah and Jacob.

We (Hannah, Jacob and me) sat in the sanctuary for Family Service. Halfway through, the Rabbi says to welcome this year's consecrants. The back doors open and the kids start walking though with their parents. They were so cute all dressed in their gowns and new yarmulkes, carrying their Torahs. Mike walks Daniel up and comes to sit down next to us. After they sing some songs, the Rabbi asks the parents to come back up with their kids. There are more songs and the Rabbi asks the kids a few questions. They then walk out and we finish the Family Service and I take Jacob to his classroom for Sunday School. Hannah and I then go look for Mike and Daniel.

While we're eating cake and drinking coffee, I tell Mike a story about what happened toward the end of the service.

In the past several months that we've been members of this synagogue, I have never once felt uncomfortable about not being Jewish. Most people don't ask and those that know don't care. After Mike walked back up to be with Daniel after the kids sang, I heard a little girl behind me ask her mom why I wasn't up with the kids if I had one up there. The mom said, very loudly,

"I don't know. Maybe she's just a Christian."

Number 1: Me being a Christian had nothing to do with me not being up there. It had everything to do with the fact that I had two others that I could not leave alone.

Number 2: What business is it of hers anyway?

After I told Mike, he went into protective mode. "Who is she? I'm going to say something." No no. He did have me point her out to him and I could tell that he desperately wanted to say something to her. He then decided that he really wanted to give her husband a "free TKD lesson." LOL! The thing that made me so mad was that it put such a negative light, for me, on a day that was meant to be happy for Daniel. Luckily, it was a great day for Daniel.


On a separate, yet related, note...Daniel decided to make things out of foil yesterday. Jacob told me last night that, "Daniel had a very Jewish day." I asked Daniel how he had a Jewish day.
D: I made a dreidel and a Baby Jesus out of foil and taped them to my door!
Me: Umm...Daniel, Baby Jesus is a Christian thing.
D: Oh man! Really? I've got to take it down now! (after a conversation with Jacob, Daniel decided it was fine to have a Baby Jesus up on his door, so it still hangs up there with his dreidel)

Mike said that he went up to check on them in the shower and Daniel was singing and dancing in the shower: "Torah, Torah, Torah Torah...(sorry, I don't know the rest of the words, but he does!)" Mike thought it was really funny.

Hanukkah, Testing and the Ice Storm

We went to the synagogue last night for the 3rd-5th grade dinner and service. We met a guy who's just curious about Judaism and was there to enrich his own faith and a lovely couple who are from Russia. They explained to us that the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox designations are purely an American thing...everywhere else in the world there are simply Jews. During the service, Rabbi L gave a very nice sermon on why we celebrate Hanukkah. He told us that the real miracle was not the fact that the oil lasted for eight days when it was meant to only last one, but was that for the second time in history, Jews had their own country (it is currently only the third time in history) and that was the miracle. He went on to elaborate even more, but that was the main point. I thought that was very interesting.

The boys had testing this morning. Hannah didn't test this time since she's not quite ready. We slip-slided our way out there since we had freezing rain this morning. Actually, the main roads were fine but the roads in our subdivision were really icy. Like going 4 mph and still sliding around icy. At one point, the tires began spinning and I was actually going backwards. Ugh. We still have a freezing rain advisory and they're expecting close to .5 inches of ice to build up. I'm seriously tired of winter.

Anyway, the boys did great during testing. At one point, Grandmaster Lee made the comment that Daniel kicked very good and high during his one steps. We were a little concerned that he'd have a problem with testing and weren't sure if he was ready but he did just fine. I can't imagine that they won't get their high green belts.

Ugh!!!!!

I hate winter weather. It started snowing about 1/2 hour before we had to leave for gymnastics. Since the road outside the house was already covered, I figured that we had better leave early. Good thing we did. What would typically take us 10-15 minutes took almost 1/2 hour. The roads were (and still are) crap. It doesn't help that we have a sleet/snow combo right now.

Driving in this stuff really doesn't bother me too much...you allow extra time to get wherever you are going, put plenty of space between you and the car in front of you, go much slower than normal, double your normal stopping time, etc. My problem is that all of the lights here are messed up. The yellows are about 3 seconds (literally) long. After skidding into the middle of the intersection at my first yellow light (luckily, I never lost control although to continue going straight in my lane, I had to turn the steering wheel all of the way to the left which made going again interesting), I decided that if there were any others where I was the lead car, I'd have to run the red and take my chances if any police decided to pull me over. I got really lucky when the guy in front of me decided to make a left turn (no turn lane) and stopped like the roads weren't slippery. I would have run right into the back of him if the lane next to me hadn't been open.

The bad news is that it's still coming down and I get to go back out into it a little after 3!

Thursday...Just Thursday

Hanukkah, night 2 Hannah got a Baby Alive for her Hanukkah present last night. It's not nearly as creepy as I thought it would be, and Hannah's been so cute with it. She loves it when the baby sings and takes it very seriously when the baby says it's hungry or thirsty. I do have to say that it's kind of nasty when it poops. The boys each got a Squakers McCaw. That was brilliant of me. These things is so loud and annoying...I hope the batteries die soon. I don't know what in the world I was thinking.

It is so cold and gray outside. If it's going to snow, I just wish it would get on with it. Gary, our weatherman, said last night that if it didn't snow at least an inch today, he'd wear a bag on his head tonight. I'd pay to see that. LOL! With my luck, that inch or so will come while my van's sitting outside during Hannah's gymnastics class. Then I'll have to scrape off the van. I suppose I should make sure there's a brush and scraper in the van before I go. That would be a great idea!

Oh...it's just started to snow.

I HATE This Time of Year

*Update* We're now under a Snow Advisory for tomorrow. They're saying 2.5 inches for us by the time it's all said and done. Of course, just north of the metro, they're calling for a little more. I am so not looking forward to this!

*****
We are currently in a Winter Weather Advisory. There's a 90% chance of really crappy weather tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it. My awesome weathermen over at KSHB (who actually get the weather right) say that we could actually get every form of precipitation tomorrow: rain, sleet, snow, freezing rain. Okay, so we probably won't get hail, so I guess we won't get every form of precipitation, but we're going to come pretty close. We're also supposed to get freezing rain on Friday night and Saturday morning. If we do, I don't know if I'm comfortable driving out to Shawnee for TKD testing. I just want to say that I HATE winter weather!!!!!

How long until Spring?

Oh, and for my Virginia friends, I had to remind Jacob (who told me this morning that it was probably too cold for outside recess) that we don't live in Virginia anymore and it has to be really cold (10-15 degrees) for them to cancel outside recess. He didn't believe me. Sure enough, at 20 degrees this afternoon, they had outside recess. AND they have yet to cancel school for tomorrow for the nastiness that's heading our way. LOL!

Happy Hanukkah!

Last night was the first night of HanukkahThe kids love to light the menorahs and each year, we seem to get more. Daniel made this one out of salt dough at Sunday School last week...
...and was excited about lighting it. It turned out so cute that I'm having Jacob and Hannah make one as well. I'll post the directions for anyone that would like to make one.

*Note* Daniel's class did it a little differently as he doesn't have a designated space for the shamash. They also painted their menorahs before they were baked (we did the baking at home) instead of using food coloring, which I'm sure was a less messy way of doing it (my hands are blue).

Happy Hanukkah everyone!

Dough Menorah
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
blue and yellow food coloring

Mix flour, salt and water in a bowl. Knead until dough is smooth. Divide dough in half. Add blue coloring to one half and yellow to the other and knead until dough is colored. From each half, make 5 balls (there should be 10 total balls...5 blue and 5 yellow). On a cookie sheet, line nine balls of dough up next to each other. Press the sides together using a little bit of water as glue. Put the last dough ball on top of the middle ball to hold the shamash. Make indentions in each ball to hold a candle (I actually used a Hanukkah candle for this so that I knew it would fit).

Bake the menorah at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely and enjoy your menorah!

Daniel

I had my last Bible study class for the semester this morning and I was the only one there. Okay, so Patsy, the instructor/facilitator, was there too, but it was just the two of us. As was about "a billion" (that's what Patsy said) breakfast burritos that she brought. I was really hoping to hide in the back since I hadn't really done the homework but we ended up just talking the whole time anyway. She talked to me about some struggles that she's been having and I did the same.

I had mentioned to her that Mike and I have a meeting with the psychologists and Daniel's teacher on Thursday and that I was really nervous about what was going to go on. She asked about why we were having the meeting and I told her the long, drawn out story about what's been happening at the school. I explained to her that Daniel's a highly creative, highly energetic child that just doesn't seem to fit into the school's mold. After telling her about Daniel, she went on to tell me about her 13 year old and I thought that she was describing Daniel right back to me. She said that they also went rounds with the psychologists when her son was Daniel's age. She told me about how he had a really hard time with spelling. You could go over a word with him 10 times and then immediately say to him, "how do you spell it?" and he would look at you like you had two heads. THAT IS DANIEL!!!! (teaching that boy the word "the" was a nightmare) She went on to tell me that he has all of these notebooks full of drawings and stories (also Daniel!). I almost fell out of my chair when she told me that her son is a big ball of energy and that he really didn't talk until after he was 3 and even then he was difficult to understand.

When I told her that our boys sounded exactly alike, she told me that we need to have Daniel tested for gifted education because that was her son's "problem." Seriously? I hadn't thought of that. Patsy told me that sometimes, giftedness is mistaken for ADD. Who knew? I then asked her about the reading thing. She told me that, for her son, it was just a developmental thing. One day, it just clicked for him. It also had to do with the type of learner that he is. He's not a rote memorization type of kid (neither is Daniel) and just had to figure out how reading and spelling fit in the bigger picture of things for him.

So, if it's not brought up on Thursday, I'm going to make sure it's brought up to the psychologists. Patsy told me to insist on testing. It would be pretty cool if it just turned out that he was super smart. That would make my year.

Here are some things from one checklist I found at the National Association for Gifted Children site (the ones in bold are the ones that are really really Daniel, although most fit him as well):
makes unusual associations between remote ideas
is flexible in thinking patterns
senses when problems exist
acts spontaneously, intuitively
tolerates ambiguity and uncertainty
senses inconsistencies and discontinuities
readily guesses and makes hypotheses
is uninhibited in expression, sometimes radical
is intellectually playful, interested in fantasy, imagination
always trying to adapt or improve things
has a keen sense of humor, seeing humor in situations others don't
doesn't mind being different
doesn't accept authoritarian pronouncements without own judgement
asks provocative questions, challenges parents, teachers, written and other authorities
is bored with memorisation and recitation
displays energy, sometimes disruptively
produces unexpected, sometimes "silly" responses
is considered, and perhaps resented, by some peers as "crazy"
can show unusual degrees of originality, concentration and persistent hard work on projects that capture their interest and imagination