This was the first week of spring semester at the college. What that meant for us was that while we had been doing school now for a couple weeks, this week we threw driving Erin and Bayley to classes into the mix. Wednesday was their first day of classes. So, our day went like this:
Erin, Bayley, Kegan and Rhys got home from Seminary a little after 7. The goal this morning was to be heading to the YMCA by 8:15. This is a huge deal for us, everyone up and fed and in the car by 8:15, but we did it. It was a little chaotic as we ran up and down stairs locating towels, swimming suits and duffel bags for everyone, not to mention car keys and cell phones. And the mess we left behind in the kitchen when we kissed our Daddy goodbye at the door (that was a switch) wasn't pretty, but we did it. Bayley had to work that morning (hence the early swim time) so she was our lifeguard instead of getting to swim with us. We arrived back home about 10:30 sans Bayley, to clean up our mess before we could begin school. The pretty little schedule I have put together for this semester says that we have an hour for math after swimming on Wednesdays, but I had Erin's class time down as starting at two. It starts at twelve.
I had just enough time to sit everyone down with instructions to do their math before I had to leave to get Erin to the college. I took Ronan and his multiplication worksheet with us. The drive to and from the college is about a forty minute trip. Erin's four hour baking class met for one hour on Wednesday, as the kitchens were under construction over the break and were not yet ready to be used. I was home long enough to sort out who had and who hadn't finished their math, and give some directions regarding lunch, before I headed back to pick Erin up from class. Erin and I were nearly home when we decided that a back tire was definitely making an odd clunking noise every time it turned around. In the driveway back at home I examined said tire and discovered a large bolt embedded in it. Driving left to do that day? Pick up Bayley from the Y, bring her home, take her downtown for her evening writing class, pick her up after class. Booger.
Aside from filling them with gas and occasionally scraping ice from the windshields, I have very little to do with the maintenance of our cars. I was vaguely aware of two things, one; a bolt in your tire is bad, and two; Kris had told me sometime in the past that he had a deal with some tire place somewhere in town to fix or replace flats for free. After interrupting Kris in a board meeting with several texts and phone calls, he was able to lead me to the proper paper work so I could contact the right tire place. I called them, they said they could fix it in an hour and a half, I had precisely an hour and a half before I needed to pick up Bayley. So, I put science class on hold, let Erin take over dinner preparations and headed out to the tire place with Ronan and his math again.
It took me less than 10 minutes to get there, then I stood in line for 20 minutes and by the time I got to the front, they were estimating a two hour wait now. I didn't have two hours. The tire guy looked at my tire, said he thought I could drive on it for a bit yet and scheduled me for a 5:30 appointment, the latest they had in the day, and only 15 minutes from the scheduled beginning of Bayley's downtown class (at least 20 minutes from the tire place).
At home again I hurriedly got chili cooking (Erin had the cinnamon rolls under control), before I had to pick up Bayley. Brought Bayley home for a twenty minute layover before I had to take her to class. Got her to class with only one wrong turn downtown (I know, big deal, right? But it is a big deal when you are driving a bus!) By now Kris had called and was on his way home from Pueblo, so he met me at the tire place and oversaw what turned out to be the replacement of both inner rear tires, because a bolt was not my only problem. See, a wise friend told us when we purchased a bus with dual wheels on the back, that we could have a flat back there and not know it, because the car will ride on the other tires. Guess what? He was right. Both inner tires were flat and we didn't even know.
A crazy first day of the semester. Kegan, Kris and I arrived home with our new tires and ate some delicious chili and cinnamon rolls. I picked up Bayley from class that night in the Honda, which is infinitely more maneuverable on the downtown streets. Fionn fell asleep in the backseat on the way there. And on Thursday, Ronan finally got that math done.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Kegan got His Braces Off!!!!
Yay! Three years and ten months in braces. Four Christmases with no caramel apples. Fionnula doesn't remember his teeth any other way.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
December
Today we finally put away the Christmas tree. And removed the few forlorn looking stockings that were still hanging from the mantle (and fished the others out from under beds, we even emptied them of chocolate wrappers). The pyramid of wrapping paper rolls is gone from my bedroom. The popcorn and cranberry garlands are hanging in my backyard trees for any birds that may actually be willing to brave the freezing temperatures, and the gingerbread village is off of the schoolroom table and now rearranged out under the trees for the squirrels to enjoy. I am not really sure how good gingerbread houses really are for squirrels, with their concrete hard frosting and stale gumdrops, M&M's and peppermints, but it sure is entertaining to watch the squirrels towering over them, ripping off entire walls and greedily consuming every nasty morsel. And the squirrel fights that ensue over the rights to the gingerbread are impressive.
The Gingerbread Village waiting to be demolished
Yes, I let the Christmas decorations linger a little long this year, not so much because I wanted to enjoy them a little longer, (in fact I was really growing a little tired of the extra table crammed into my dining room and the futon blocking the bookshelves even if I did like sitting by the lit Christmas tree in the evenings), but because I just lacked the energy to actually take them down. In fact the real downside to an artificial tree has nothing to do with it's lack of authentic piney smell, but is all about the need to take it apart, cram it in an undersized box, and store it for a year rather than tossing it out the door.
We started our Christmas break this year at Thanksgiving. Made and mailed our caramel apples immediately after Thanksgiving day and then spent the next two weeks trying, unsuccessfully, to get all our Christmas shopping done before Kris and I left for Hawaii. We spent a Sunday afternoon putting up the tree and then making increasingly mal-formed gingerbread men. By the end of the evening Kris and the kids had made gingerbread men with multiple heads, extra limbs and several variations of aliens.
On the eighth, Kris and I headed to the airport at 4 in the morning, having said goodbye the night before, we just left everyone, including my mom, in bed and snuck out. Temperatures at home were in the single digits, but we didn't want to haul winter coats to Hawaii so we left them in the car at the airport parking lot and hurried to the terminal. About eight hours later we stepped out of another airplane into 84 degree weather. We didn't care to spend a lot of time around the resort area at Waikiki, but instead drove our little rental car around to the other side of Oahu each day. Interesting note here: the rental cars all had defrosters on their rear windows. So, we spent three days mostly hanging out on beaches that were primarily empty except for the sand crabs while my kids huddled in the house in Colorado and watched it snow.
Here is the view from my favorite beach.
Back home we rushed to finish Christmas shopping. We put up our new to us trampoline (after Kris and the kids drove up to Black Forest and took it apart--in the wind--at it's previous home)just before Christmas. Bayley worked constantly, and in her spare time at home managed to sew new jammie pants for the whole family, which we opened on Christmas Eve and all wore that night. Erin and I (mostly Erin)baked goodies on a daily basis. And we built the afore-mentioned gingerbread village (one house per kid, plus a castle by Erin). Rhys designed his gingerbread house to look like it was on fire. Ronan's and Kegan's each had Mario-Kart themes. On Fionn's birthday (the 22nd) we went to the Denver zoo and stayed late to see the zoo lights. Spent Christmas day cooking, playing lego and playstation, drawing, eating and visiting with one set of grandparents. Went to Greeley on the 27th and played with little cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. Were treated to a trip to the bookstore, doughnuts for breakfast and the joys of television! On the thirtieth we celebrated Noah's birthday with still more lego and still more food. Older kids had a dance on New Year's Eve, so we waited to play our traditional New Year's Game on New Year's Day, which meant more presents and lots more wrapping paper mess. So, when the January 2nd arrived, i just didn't feel very inspired to undecorate, but felt more like lying on the couch reading a good book, which is why the Christmas Tree lingered so long in my living room.
The Gingerbread Village waiting to be demolished
Yes, I let the Christmas decorations linger a little long this year, not so much because I wanted to enjoy them a little longer, (in fact I was really growing a little tired of the extra table crammed into my dining room and the futon blocking the bookshelves even if I did like sitting by the lit Christmas tree in the evenings), but because I just lacked the energy to actually take them down. In fact the real downside to an artificial tree has nothing to do with it's lack of authentic piney smell, but is all about the need to take it apart, cram it in an undersized box, and store it for a year rather than tossing it out the door.
We started our Christmas break this year at Thanksgiving. Made and mailed our caramel apples immediately after Thanksgiving day and then spent the next two weeks trying, unsuccessfully, to get all our Christmas shopping done before Kris and I left for Hawaii. We spent a Sunday afternoon putting up the tree and then making increasingly mal-formed gingerbread men. By the end of the evening Kris and the kids had made gingerbread men with multiple heads, extra limbs and several variations of aliens.
On the eighth, Kris and I headed to the airport at 4 in the morning, having said goodbye the night before, we just left everyone, including my mom, in bed and snuck out. Temperatures at home were in the single digits, but we didn't want to haul winter coats to Hawaii so we left them in the car at the airport parking lot and hurried to the terminal. About eight hours later we stepped out of another airplane into 84 degree weather. We didn't care to spend a lot of time around the resort area at Waikiki, but instead drove our little rental car around to the other side of Oahu each day. Interesting note here: the rental cars all had defrosters on their rear windows. So, we spent three days mostly hanging out on beaches that were primarily empty except for the sand crabs while my kids huddled in the house in Colorado and watched it snow.
Here is the view from my favorite beach.
Back home we rushed to finish Christmas shopping. We put up our new to us trampoline (after Kris and the kids drove up to Black Forest and took it apart--in the wind--at it's previous home)just before Christmas. Bayley worked constantly, and in her spare time at home managed to sew new jammie pants for the whole family, which we opened on Christmas Eve and all wore that night. Erin and I (mostly Erin)baked goodies on a daily basis. And we built the afore-mentioned gingerbread village (one house per kid, plus a castle by Erin). Rhys designed his gingerbread house to look like it was on fire. Ronan's and Kegan's each had Mario-Kart themes. On Fionn's birthday (the 22nd) we went to the Denver zoo and stayed late to see the zoo lights. Spent Christmas day cooking, playing lego and playstation, drawing, eating and visiting with one set of grandparents. Went to Greeley on the 27th and played with little cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. Were treated to a trip to the bookstore, doughnuts for breakfast and the joys of television! On the thirtieth we celebrated Noah's birthday with still more lego and still more food. Older kids had a dance on New Year's Eve, so we waited to play our traditional New Year's Game on New Year's Day, which meant more presents and lots more wrapping paper mess. So, when the January 2nd arrived, i just didn't feel very inspired to undecorate, but felt more like lying on the couch reading a good book, which is why the Christmas Tree lingered so long in my living room.
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