My random number-generator was The Boy. At almost 7 years of age, he can count to 100 and beyond, so he was a good candidate for randomness. And so, the winner is:
RyanSarahN
Thanks to everyone who participated in my first Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway blog and commented on my post. Happy holidays and happy crafting!
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Monday, December 07, 2009
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Independence Day 2009
Sometimes -- and always on Independence Day -- I love living here. Last year, we sweated and baked in the hot sun at the park's parade-and-field day festivities. This year, it was raining and cold -- seems to be a theme for this summer. As drizzly and gray as the weather has been, I think I prefer it to the beating-down sun and the inevitable headache I get from squinting.
Either The Dad and I have gotten better at preparing him for these events, or he's matured significantly in the last year, but The Boy had a much better attitude this year about the park festivities. He was excited to decorate and ride his bike in the parade, and he enjoyed seeing his friends. He happily participated in the games and races for his age group, and took not winning cheerfully. He even sat in Engine #69's cab and posed for a photograph:
After the parade, The Girl went up to the podium to help Susan Ryan sing "the dawnzer song" (to quote Ramona the Pest). Then the games began, and she was an enthusiastic participant:
The Dad and I hung out, chit-chatting with neighbors and friends. We all played on the playground, and went home around noon for lunch and regrouping. My neighbor said that she was going to take her brood out to lunch, and I decided to do the same. We had a hard time agreeing on a place (The Girl wanted McDonald's, The Boy wanted Golden Nugget), but we ended up at Chili's in Niles (sometimes you just want something easy and reliable, if not exactly stellar cuisine).
We spent the rest of the afternoon puttering around the house and napping. The Dad took The Boy to the fireworks in Skokie, and I let The Tot (who was despondent that The Dad left without him) and The Girl watch Cars on DVD before we read books and went to bed.
Either The Dad and I have gotten better at preparing him for these events, or he's matured significantly in the last year, but The Boy had a much better attitude this year about the park festivities. He was excited to decorate and ride his bike in the parade, and he enjoyed seeing his friends. He happily participated in the games and races for his age group, and took not winning cheerfully. He even sat in Engine #69's cab and posed for a photograph:
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The Dad and I hung out, chit-chatting with neighbors and friends. We all played on the playground, and went home around noon for lunch and regrouping. My neighbor said that she was going to take her brood out to lunch, and I decided to do the same. We had a hard time agreeing on a place (The Girl wanted McDonald's, The Boy wanted Golden Nugget), but we ended up at Chili's in Niles (sometimes you just want something easy and reliable, if not exactly stellar cuisine).
We spent the rest of the afternoon puttering around the house and napping. The Dad took The Boy to the fireworks in Skokie, and I let The Tot (who was despondent that The Dad left without him) and The Girl watch Cars on DVD before we read books and went to bed.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Karma at Northbrook Court
Today, I took The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot with me to Northbrook Court to (finally!) pick up the photographs from our post-Thanksgiving photo shoot. It was surprisingly empty at around 10:30 a.m. when we arrived and pretty much remained that way until we left around 2 p.m. The Tot spilled orange juice all over his pants and The Girl had a wee accident, so I stopped into Gymboree to buy replacements for both; the sales associate confirmed that it had been slow, but seemed to think that it was too early for crowds.
No problem with me. I was able to get The Boy and The Girl in for haircuts at Snippets with only a short wait (which we passed around the corner at Hanna Andersson, looking for requests [and coming up empty] for the CC girls). We finally made it to the LEGO store at The Boy's request (although he was sad that we did not buy anything -- I told him that he could put it on his birthday wish list). The line at Corner Bakery went quickly, and we had no problems finding a table adjacent to the center treehouse at which we ate our pesto cavatappi (The Tot and The Girl), Santa Fe Ranch salad (me), and kids' PB&J (The Boy).
After lunch, the kids played at the treehouse for close to an hour. I witnessed my first instant-friendship moment that moms of girls have always told me about: The Girl walking around with another little girl who I've never seen before in my life, holding her hand. It was quite cute, actually. At one point, they were deep in conversation about god-only-knows-what. The lady next to me's toddler found my planner and pen while I was distracted by The Tot, who was busy pulling on the mitten strings on someone else's stroller.
But then... then... I have to rant for a bit on holiday rudeness: this woman plopped herself down on the bench that I was sitting on, invading my personal space so that her friend -- who showed some degree of manners by saying that the empty bench she was on was fine (or at least I think this is what she said; they were speaking another language [I would guess Farsi] and I could only judge by body language what was actually said) -- could sit down. This was annoying, but was not worth saying something or ruining my day over, but I ran into her again as I was waiting in the long line at the tiny Banana Republic just off the center court.
She sidled in to look at a sweater on a table just to the left of the one line and then proceeded to stand there with her item as if she was in the check-out line. As there were about 8 people behind me at that point and I found her behavior unaccountably rude, once I realized that she meant to cut in line, I said something to her, loudly: "Excuse me, but I and all the people behind me have been waiting in line to pay. If you want to get in line, it ends back there." She immediately started yelling, saying that she was in the other line, that she had been waiting, that I was lying, etc. Unfortunately, I was irritated and my kids were tired, so I continued the escalation instead of just letting it go. As The Boy said, she was a "liar, liar, pants on fire!" Fortunately, the BR people believed me, told the rude lady that there was only one line, and a manager showed up to defuse the situation. The lady who was in front of us confirmed that I was, in fact, telling the truth, when the rude lady called into question my honesty. What really made me mad about it was when she told me that my behavior would come back to me. I try to let stuff like this go and not harp about it, but it just really rubbed me the wrong way.
At least it ended up a teachable moment for The Boy and The Girl: this is why you use good manners and tell the truth. Even The Boy knew that she was lying as he later told me that Rude Lady had asked him to move over so that she could get to the table with the sweaters.
After that, we left the mall and headed to Glenview in the snow and slush to buy more groceries at Trader Joe's. TJ's was crowded and The Tot was crabby, but the TJ's employees were festive and engaging. One man even brought The Tot a balloon to cheer him up. It took me 45 minutes to get home via Waukegan Road, Dempster, and I-94. And I'm not leaving the house until noonish on Christmas Day, for the long-haul drive to the 'burbs*.
* OK, I might take The Boy and The Girl sledding tomorrow morning. But only if The Dad has the day off to watch The Tot.
No problem with me. I was able to get The Boy and The Girl in for haircuts at Snippets with only a short wait (which we passed around the corner at Hanna Andersson, looking for requests [and coming up empty] for the CC girls). We finally made it to the LEGO store at The Boy's request (although he was sad that we did not buy anything -- I told him that he could put it on his birthday wish list). The line at Corner Bakery went quickly, and we had no problems finding a table adjacent to the center treehouse at which we ate our pesto cavatappi (The Tot and The Girl), Santa Fe Ranch salad (me), and kids' PB&J (The Boy).
After lunch, the kids played at the treehouse for close to an hour. I witnessed my first instant-friendship moment that moms of girls have always told me about: The Girl walking around with another little girl who I've never seen before in my life, holding her hand. It was quite cute, actually. At one point, they were deep in conversation about god-only-knows-what. The lady next to me's toddler found my planner and pen while I was distracted by The Tot, who was busy pulling on the mitten strings on someone else's stroller.
But then... then... I have to rant for a bit on holiday rudeness: this woman plopped herself down on the bench that I was sitting on, invading my personal space so that her friend -- who showed some degree of manners by saying that the empty bench she was on was fine (or at least I think this is what she said; they were speaking another language [I would guess Farsi] and I could only judge by body language what was actually said) -- could sit down. This was annoying, but was not worth saying something or ruining my day over, but I ran into her again as I was waiting in the long line at the tiny Banana Republic just off the center court.
She sidled in to look at a sweater on a table just to the left of the one line and then proceeded to stand there with her item as if she was in the check-out line. As there were about 8 people behind me at that point and I found her behavior unaccountably rude, once I realized that she meant to cut in line, I said something to her, loudly: "Excuse me, but I and all the people behind me have been waiting in line to pay. If you want to get in line, it ends back there." She immediately started yelling, saying that she was in the other line, that she had been waiting, that I was lying, etc. Unfortunately, I was irritated and my kids were tired, so I continued the escalation instead of just letting it go. As The Boy said, she was a "liar, liar, pants on fire!" Fortunately, the BR people believed me, told the rude lady that there was only one line, and a manager showed up to defuse the situation. The lady who was in front of us confirmed that I was, in fact, telling the truth, when the rude lady called into question my honesty. What really made me mad about it was when she told me that my behavior would come back to me. I try to let stuff like this go and not harp about it, but it just really rubbed me the wrong way.
At least it ended up a teachable moment for The Boy and The Girl: this is why you use good manners and tell the truth. Even The Boy knew that she was lying as he later told me that Rude Lady had asked him to move over so that she could get to the table with the sweaters.
After that, we left the mall and headed to Glenview in the snow and slush to buy more groceries at Trader Joe's. TJ's was crowded and The Tot was crabby, but the TJ's employees were festive and engaging. One man even brought The Tot a balloon to cheer him up. It took me 45 minutes to get home via Waukegan Road, Dempster, and I-94. And I'm not leaving the house until noonish on Christmas Day, for the long-haul drive to the 'burbs*.
* OK, I might take The Boy and The Girl sledding tomorrow morning. But only if The Dad has the day off to watch The Tot.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Cookies!
This afternoon, The Boy, The Girl, The Tot, The Dad and I hosted a crowd of little kids and their mothers (and a few fathers) for our first (annual?) cookie-decorating party. It was great fun!
The Kids and I spent the morning rolling, cutting, and baking Alton Brown's sugar cookies in holiday shapes (The Tot was disappointed that I would not let him eat the cookies as they came out of the oven). And when our guests arrived, I set out bowls of royal icing (colored with India Tree natural food tints), Wilton sugars and nonpareils, chocolate hips, waxed paper, knives and all the blank-slate cookies. The kids made cookies, ate cookies, and ran around the house together while the moms chatted. We were going to watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but everyone was having such fun in free play without it that we skipped it. I think a good time was had by all (except maybe The Tot, who needed a nap, and Cara, who didn't know my crowd of city-mom friends).
The Girl and The Tot fell asleep on me after most of our guests left, and The Boy was in bed, again, before 7 p.m. tonight!
The Kids and I spent the morning rolling, cutting, and baking Alton Brown's sugar cookies in holiday shapes (The Tot was disappointed that I would not let him eat the cookies as they came out of the oven). And when our guests arrived, I set out bowls of royal icing (colored with India Tree natural food tints), Wilton sugars and nonpareils, chocolate hips, waxed paper, knives and all the blank-slate cookies. The kids made cookies, ate cookies, and ran around the house together while the moms chatted. We were going to watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but everyone was having such fun in free play without it that we skipped it. I think a good time was had by all (except maybe The Tot, who needed a nap, and Cara, who didn't know my crowd of city-mom friends).
The Girl and The Tot fell asleep on me after most of our guests left, and The Boy was in bed, again, before 7 p.m. tonight!
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