Tumble Tots Finale

This was our last week of Tumble Tots.

The kids started learning how to get into a hand stand and how to do the beginning steps for a cartwheel. They also practiced (with the instructor, Diane, carefully assisting) how to do a backwards roll. Nicholas has the basic idea but he forgets to stay curled up as
he rolls over.



Today was our final class -- a Tumble Party! Diane set up an obstacle course all around the classroom. Before the kids began, she sat them down and reviewed the "rules." We were missing a few students today, so she let the sister & brother of Katelyn (girl in gray) join the fun, since they've been there for every class.

^^ WATCH ^^ this forward roll.



All the kids got a certificate for completing the class. Nicholas was extremely
proud of his!

Game Time

Nicholas discovered one of his Christmas presents on the bookshelf today -- the game, CANDY LAND.

















It's been updated a bit since I played it as a child. The game board folds up into a case that stands up like a book (thus, why it was on the bookshelf). And, the characters and food images have been revised (e.g., the ice cream float is now an ice cream cone watched over by "Princess Frostine").

Nicholas picked up the "how-to's" of the game very quickly. He would jump up and down and cheer for each card he drew . . . "YAY, I got two REDS!"

And, in case you were wondering . . . no, I didn't rig the game
and he still beat the GUM DROPS out of me.

Ode to the Snow Gods

I closed my blog at almost eleven,
And hoped the gentle fall of white snowflakes
Would soon be drifting down from heaven
Creating a sea of powder white lakes;
Could the Snow Gods have heard my call for white?
Only a half hour later there they were
Floating effortlessly down to the ground;
I stood at the window watching the sight
As flakes touched the grass and the Douglas Fir
Creating music without any sound.







This is pretty much the same smile that was on my face when I awoke to the sight of snow in our yard. Granted, it wasn't as much as I was hoping for . . . but it made for a fun morning. Well, once I got Nicholas out the door.

He was just as excited as I was to see snow in our yard, and asked if he could go outside and "crunch" it. We told him he had to eat breakfast first. However, once he finished breakfast, it was a mini kick and scream fest to get him to put his boots on. Once we were outside . . . everything changed! SNOW BOOTS make very funny footprints -- that is . . . if you are 3 years old (LOL).

Snow Fix

My trusty weatherman AND internet weather site have been "teasing" me with the chance for snow since Thursday. Each day, the forecast gets altered and the promise moves forward to the next day. It's like the ever-elusive chase for the end of the rainbow--only I WANT SNOW!

In general, I try not to ask for much and feel very grateful for what I have. But, all I really want is a nice snow day in my own yard, and the chance to make snowballs and snowmen with my family.
(Maybe the Snow Gods will hear me if I post it in my blog.)

That being said, tonight as we drove 10 miles up the hill to Pat & Janet's house, a few snowflakes began to fall. Pat & Janet's house is up around the 1200ft elevation. So, as we climbed the hill, more snow began to appear on the ground. And, while I didn't get to make snowballs or snowmen at dinner tonight . . . I did get a small snow fix until the snow decides to visit our house.

The Hat

Yesterday, my friend Shelley brought Nicholas a present. She was trying out her new loom and thought Nicholas could use a nice warm hat to keep his ears warm during all this cold weather we've been having. Nicholas wasn't too sure about the hat at first, but he chose to wear it to soccer practice this morning . . . brrrrrrrr!

OK, I just have to ask . . . is it just me, or does Nicholas remind you of that kid from the Fat Albert cartoon???

Where's the snow?

Do you know what this is???

This is a photo from my front yard (click the photo to see a larger view). I have little ICE SPEARS growing up OUT of the ground! This proves to me that it has been extremely cold lately.

Every night this week, the temperature has dropped to 20-23 degrees (not counting the wind chill). The grass is frozen. It actually makes a "c-r-u-n-ch-ing" sound when you walk across it. (I wasn't trying to make it crunch. I had to cross the lawn to fix the fence.)

Don't get me wrong. I love winter. And, I don't mind the cold. All I want to know is . . . WHEN is it going to snow???

Tumble Tots

For the past 3 weeks, Nicholas has been taking his first gymnastics/tumbling class at the local community center. His friend Evan is taking the class with him. The class is set for 3 - 5 year olds. Nicholas is the youngest in the class. Though, his SPIRIT more than makes up for his lack of height.

WEEK 1
Running a little wild, but having a great time!!!







Nicholas

>>>

WEEK 2
The boy LOVES to jump!!!














WEEK 3
Nicholas had a great time running through the obstacle course.
And, he did a great job listening to the teacher.

** Many thanks to my friend, Melanie, for this photo. **

Johnny's Party

Nicholas got to go to his "first" birthday party. His cousin Johnny invited him to his 10th birthday party at Glow Golf. Glow Golf is an indoor miniature-golf course with black-light themed holes. Nicholas had fun for the first 10+ holes. Then, he got a little tired. It's a little hard to golf when the club is almost as tall as your shoulder! (LOL)


John helped Nicholas learn how to hold the golf club to hit the ball and explained that the goal was to hit the ball into the hole. After a while Nicholas kind of got the idea and even developed his own style.












(Though, honestly, I think he liked charging his ball to make it glow more than he did golfing.)

THINGS!

Need a good recipe for fun???


I found the perfect mixture at my Moms Night Out on Friday. My friend Sandy hosted this month's event -- game night. It started with 7 of us sitting around the living room fireplace just casually talking about how relieved we were to have a few hours to just hang out with our friends. Then, we gravitated towards the kitchen, the food, and the drinks!!!




Keep in mind, it was called "game night." With that in mind, my friend Nikki decided that we should all play the game she brought because it was SO easy to play. The game was called THINGS.

It is really easy to play. One player draws a card to pick the topic and everyone writes a response. Some of the topics might be:

• THINGS . . . that exhaust you.
• THINGS . . . you shouldn't do on an airplane.
• THINGS . . . you shouldn't say as an opening line.

The fun part is that you can write whatever comes to mind. Then, all the answers are read out loud and you guess who said what.

Since there aren't any wrong answers . . . let's just say that as the evening progressed the answers continued to get quite creative. Unfortunately, I can't share any examples because . . .

WHAT HAPPENS AT MOMS NIGHT OUT
STAYS AT MOMS NIGHT OUT!

More Christmas & 2007 Ends

This posting is a "wee-bit" late, but . . . you know how the saying goes (hee-hee)!

So, just to catch you up, we made it back from CA, but not as planned. We were scheduled to fly home at 6pm on Alaska. I decided to check on the flight around 1pm and discovered that it was already delayed almost 2 hours. I kept checking at the top of each hour . . . finally, they stopped changing the flight time. Our flight was delayed until 9:23pm!

So, we checked in at 7:20pm at the ticket counter, and the kiosk said, "You are too late to check in for this flight." HUH?????

The woman behind the counter asked me what flight we were checking in for. After I told her, she said, "You know that flight
has been delayed until 10:06pm now." (Was that a question or a statement?) Then, she said she could bump us onto a delayed Horizon flight that was leaving at 8:30pm. We jumped at the opportunity, but they only had 2 seats. The next thing I knew, she was overbooking the flight and said they could always find someone to take another flight.

I always wondered how flights got overbooked . . . now, I know. Since Horizon has only 2 seat per row, Nicholas and I sat together, and poor John got a seat in the very last row. But, the happy news was that we walked into our house at 11:15pm (NOTE: Our original 6pm flight finally took off at . . . 12:24am . . . and didn't arrive until 2:20am -- I should have sent the Alaska ticket agent a thank you for getting us on the earlier flight.)

In case we didn't have enough Christmas in CA, we hosted a small post-Christmas celebration with John's family the next day. And, we went all out! Yep, we orderred pizza and buffalo wings with the best of them. I even made a trip to Safeway and got
a fruit platter and some red & green wine coolers (Berry & Margarita), just to be festive!




The kids had fun opening all their gifts.




There were paper and boxes all over!






And, Nicholas and John even found presents that Santa had left them in their stockings.









The next day (Saturday), I was completely exhausted. So, John took Nicholas up the hill to his sister's house to play in the snow. (They had about 12 inches of snow the day we flew home.) When they got back, Nicholas came in the house, but John was no where to be found . . . at last, I found him!!!

He was leaving me my final present . . . giant snowballs in the front/back yards so I could enjoy the snow, too! :-)