Catching Up – Again

Well, once again I have been terribly delinquent in updating the blog.  I will try to make this post contain fewer words than War and Peace but no promises.
K’s Cub Scout troop had their Pack meeting on Tuesday with a not-so-surprise visit from Santa.  It is so cute that all the boys, even the 5th graders, still get excited about Santa coming.  Whether or not they believe, they all participate good naturedly and no one tried to spoil anything for anyone.
Last week was K’s last day of school for 2009.  He is excited to have a break but also eager to get back to school. (I know, go figure)  On December 17th K got his report card and I had a conference at D’s school.  K’s report card was excellent.  3’s and 4’s (meeting or exceeding) in everything except for one 2 (needs occasional work) in PE.  The one in PE relates to him getting frustrated and upset when things don’t go his way.  He is working on it and I was so proud of him for all the hard work he has put in this year.  He also got a new reading assessment and moved up a bit so that he is now firmly into the fourth grade level for reading.  He was also a “Top Dog” for two months in a row which essentially means that he took and passed more reading tests than required of him.  One of his friends was a “Quad Dog” (passed 4 times as many tests as required) and he briefly thought about trying to catch her but changed his mind. :)
D’s conference went very well with the teacher showing me how much his printing has improved and praising him on how hard he works.  His fine motor skills just amaze me.  He cuts around shapes on the lines and can take a pen and trace over a line almost better than I can.  His teacher also said he is so fun to teach because he understands what she is trying to do.  Their lesson plan last week was “Healthy Bodies” and one of the activities was to place the appropriate healthy items in a refrigerator they had made.  Some of the kids were putting cookies, tennis shoes, etc into the refrigerator and D would be “no, broccoli goes in the refrigerator”.  He is almost as bossy as his big brother and even more precise so I can just see him doing this.  Overall I was very pleased with the reports for both of the boys.
Wednesday was K’s exhibition/belt ceremony for Karate. As we were leaving he had told me that he didn’t want to do Karate anymore.  As this was the end of the session I told him it was his decision and that was fine.  After being awarded his blue belt (he skipped a whole level, from yellow belt two stripes to blue belt) he has changed his mind.  I think he was nervous that he wasn’t going to get his blue belt and thought I would be disappointed so he was preemptively giving himself a way out.  He was so proud of himself when he was awarded that blue belt.  It was so gratifying to see such a smile and such pride in himself.

The next session starts in January and since I promised D that when he turned 4 he could also take Karate we will have two classes to go to per week.  There is too large of an age difference for them to be in the same class, although for the sake of them focusing at all that might be a good thing.  I see much snack and homework planning in my future.
On Friday K’s Cub Scout troop helped distribute presents from the Tree of Giving at the mall.  I was a little apprehensive as I wasn’t sure what the system there was and with D going with us I knew that it was either going to go well and we were all going to have fun or I was going to be a frazzled, cranky mess.  I am happy to say the former happened.  When we arrived at the mall I could not believe the HUGE pile of presents that were waiting to be sorted.  It was actually very heart-warming to know that so many people were going to be helped this holiday season. 

The picture is a little blurry (all I want for Christmas is a new camera, a new camera, a new camera) but it gives you an idea of the amount of gifts being distributed. 
I am pleased to report that there was an actual, efficient system which allowed the Scouts to sort the gifts yet blocked them off from the shoppers in the mall and that there were plenty of uniformed leaders around to help with questions and keep an eye on the boys.  The mall is okay, but it isn’t the most upscale mall in the area so I had a few mommy nerves knowing that unless I dragged D around with him K was going to have to do this on his own.  He did a fantastic job.  Luckily the tree was located next to the play area so I guarded the far side of the gift yard (the side that didn’t get opened for the boys to sort) to make sure that people just didn’t snag gifts and walk off (it apparently has happened almost every year).  This position allowed me to see K every time he came to grab a gift (Okay, not every time. There were a lot of Scouts there), yet I was only about 2 feet away from D in the play area.  It could not have been more perfect.  The kid with the hat on peaking out from behind the present is in K’s den and the two of them had a great time doing this together. 
After everything had been sorted, K’s Den Leader (said kid’s dad), his younger brother (D’s age), K, D and I delivered a load of gifts out to a care home.  Understandably the boys weren’t able to see the residents, but it was still a great experience for them to follow through from sorting to actually seeing the place that is benefiting from these gifts.  Plus, they got cookies from the staff which the boys thought was great.  K’s Den Leader and I were touched by how sincerely thankful the staff was that people took the time to purchase these items and then that more people took the time to deliver them.
Saturday K’s Cub Scout pack (it was a busy Cub Scout week) sang carols at a retirement home near here.  I was expecting just a small group of the residents to attend but there were probably close to 50 people in the seating area to hear the boys sing.  I was coordinating the event and was a little unsure how many of the boys were going to show.  It was a pack sponsored event, but it wasn’t a required event and I didn’t get many RSVPs.  With that in mind I decided that it would be nice to do something extra special to show the residents that the pack was pleased to be there.  Of course, as with all my ideas like this it came to me at the last minute so simple and fast were the key words for the project.  They weren’t perfect, but I thought they turned out pretty cute.

It also had the dual purpose of giving D something to do.  He was my official helper and distributed these to all the people in the audience.  D also put all the tags on the candy canes.  He was a very big helper.  It would have taken me twice the time to assemble them all myself.

Believe it or not he was happy when I took this photo.  I probably said something like “a pretty smile” and this is what I got.
Happily, we had a nice turnout of Scouts for the caroling and the mother of one of the boys played the piano.  The residents were a very appreciative audience.  The boys had fun, if the smiles were anything to go by, and one of the ladies from the center had little activity booklets for each of the boys at the end of the program and then the boys were invited to partake in cookies and apple juice.  Again, it was another experience showing how taking the time to do something that may seem small brought a lot of joy to people.  I’m even being to feel festive.
If I don’t talk to you before Friday,
Merry Christmas!
PS:  I’m working on Christmas Cards, I promise. I think they need to make New Year’s cards.  That seems to be more my timeframe. :)

Holiday Fun

I would officially like to panic.  I don’t think I have been this behind on the things I wanted to get done for the Holidays in a long time. 

That being said, while it may not all be complete I do have it planned out so while I am panicking I’m not completely insane yet. 

My new wreath is almost done.  The old one ‘has issues’ (which is code for two years ago J just tossed it in the garage and it never got hung up thus it was destroyed) and I decided this year that I missed having a wreath on the door.  I found some pretty good sales at Michaels and I have more or less placed the items I just need to secure them then find a ribbon or focal piece.  It may go up with a temporary ribbon this year and then I will probably add a few more touches next year.  I know it is a little plain but it suits me.  (It also seems more vibrant in person than in this photo.  It think my flash may have washed it out a bit)

I have all my shopping for K done.  The problem now is that I keep finding more stuff for him.  Must.not.buy.more.stuff.for.K.

I am still working on presents for D.  I did get excited this weekend when I found that a number of the items I had been thinking about getting for D were on sale this week.  I was only looking for one or two more things so I should be all done with him.  Then of course I’ll have to have the same reminder that I’m struggling with for K. :)

Somehow the weeks have gotten away from me and it suddenly hit me that this was K’s last week in school before break.  I didn’t have any goodies or anything for K’s teachers.  Being short on time I went with fast, easy classics in the treat department.  The boys and I made everything but the truffles on Sunday so that they would be fresh.  K helped with the first batch or two and then he was all about taste testing.  D was a huge help with everything but the truffles (they were asleep when I did those) and he also was quite happy to test taste every batch.  The cookies may not be fancy (nor is the packaging) but the boys have assured me they are good.

Shown above (pre wrapping):  Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, Sugar Cookies, Shortbread, English Butter Balls and Irresistible Truffles. (I was going to make Double-Layer Fudge but my condensed sweetened milk had gone off so no fudge.  I was also going to make another batch of cookies, Snickerdoodles or Peppermint Pinwheels, but I couldn’t fit five batches of cookies and a trip to Bellevue into my Sunday.  Oh well, maybe for the next batch)

J’s Dad came up to visit last week and stayed the weekend over at the cousin’s house.  The boys had a great time visiting with him. 

The boys and I had planned to go to Garden d’Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden and David was gracious enough to go with us and to drive.  It had been about 4 years since I had gone, however it was as cool to look at as I remembered.  The boys had a lot of fun with the critter map looking for all the animals made out of lights. 

        

I have a number of slightly blurry pictures of our experience at the garden.  It is hard to use the night shutter while making sure that the kids didn’t get swallowed into the crowds.  It didn’t feel terribly crowded however it was easy for the kids to get just one person in front of me and I couldn’t see them.

Somehow David escaped without having any pictures taken.  I’m not sure how I managed to let that happen.  I guess that just means it will be double photos when he and Gayla come back up in March.

Tonight I have to finish up the tags for the Cub Scout awards tomorrow, then get K ready for exhibition/belt night at Karate on Wednesday.  On Friday we will be helping with the Tree of Giving at the mall and then K’s Scout Pack is scheduled to sing carols at one of the retirement homes in the area on Saturday. 

I don’t have any of the gifts for the Great Grandparents or Grandparents completed yet, however I’m hoping they are all used to me being late and will understand that their gifts will arrive in early January. 

As busy as things seem I have a great time doing all this and I love that the kids are so enthusiastic about everything.

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful holiday season.

Fake it ‘til you make it (or, she’s whine ranting again)

That is normally my motto, but I’m not doing a very good job of it right now.  Maybe I need to switch to ‘breathe and keep perspective’.

Between Christmas shopping giving me an ulcer (hold that thought), the stress with my job and not knowing if I’m going to have one after the end of January or if I’m going to have to leave or be left with the abusive partner (verbally and emotionally, I’m not kidding), add to that the fact that I completely forgot to get all the Great/Grandparents gifts made and missed the order deadlines for most of them, I’m not faking it very well. There is more stuff but those are some highlights.  I told my Mom the other day that for the last 6 months I’ve felt like the Universe was testing me to see how much I could take and I’ve about reached the point where I’m going to crack. 

Christmas shopping (I told you to hold that thought).  I’m having a more hate than love relationship with Amazon right now.  Eight days ago I purchased something from Amazon, it arrived yesterday.  Today it was $20.00 less.  I emailed them asking for a price adjustment and received a canned reply (not a very good one at that) telling me “Our prices regularly change, and the price you paid when your order shipped on December 02 was the lowest price we were able to offer at the time”.  I call bull!  In all the economics, marketing and business classes that I’ve taken prices do not fluctuate that greatly ‘naturally’ in 8 days (not even commodities).  Apparently, and this is my fault as I didn’t check, they changed their policy last year and no longer give price adjustments.  My biggest frustration isn’t even them, as I said I had a responsibility to check their policy prior to purchase, but my frustration is the gift in question is the ONE thing that D has requested for Christmas.  Half of me wants to slap the return label on it and say that their inadequate customer service has gotten the item returned and they can go jump in a lake, but the other half of me acknowledges that while it was relatively expensive it was a price I was obviously willing to pay and would have been accepting of had I not seen it for less there today.  I guess it just irks me that their customer service model is now so poor that they could not even make a token gesture of offering something like a $10.00 account credit to be used on a future purchase. 

I think what really set me off is that about 20 minutes prior to finding the Amazon issue the underwire in my bra broke!  It was the not so proverbial last straw. :)

As you can tell, I’m cranky.  I’m trying to get over it and to remember that I’ve always been able to make things work in the past and that I’m sure I’ll be able to figure something out now.  So crankiness is officially over (I hope).