QOTD: Anti-Santa Part II

It's almost mid-November, so I can start talking about the holidays, right?

So...remember how last year's Santa trip was a disaster?  And then back in September, I blogged about this Santa QOTD?

The topic came up again in the car this morning. 

While driving past the airport.
Callie: Are you going on an airplane on Wednesday?
Me: No, not on Wednesday.  But we are all going on an airplane in December.
Callie: Like my birthday in December!
Me: Yep!  We are going on an airplane after your birthday and after Christmas.
Callie: (immediately) I don't want to see Santa!!
Me: Why not?  He's really nice.  I want to take a picture of you sitting on Santa's lap!
Callie: Well...maybe Daddy can be Santa.
Me: You want Daddy to be Santa?
Callie: Then I can sit on his lap and you can take a picture.

So...I am thinking it is going to be year #3 of a not-so-good-if-any Santa picture.  Unless Chris agrees to don the fuzzy red suit and white beard, but that seems highly unlikely. 

Rock the Vote

I've stayed pretty quiet about politics this election season. And I'll be honest...I haven't paid much attention to all the hubbub. I avoid the commercials on T.V. and the radio. I don't read the latest polls or listen to pundits saying this or that. I watched parts of the debates but the very nature of them made my Minnesota Nice personality uncomfortable.

There are many issues as part of this election season that I care about, but I have a hard time talking about them publicly.

I don't like conflict and I don't like to rock the boat.

But today I'm going to rock the vote.

I'm rocking the vote for my daughter, so she can live her life in a world that allows her to be her adorable self, no matter what.

And today, whether you vote red or blue, or yes or no, I hope you can do so with gratitude in your heart that you have this opportunity. 

Worry and anger and fear of the unknown can get in the way of living our lives the way we want to live them. Today our nation will be divided in a way that makes it difficult to bridge the gap.  But one thing Pastor Beth said at church on Sunday keeps going through my head: "Remember that no matter what happens on Tuesday, we are all still brothers and sisters in Christ on Wednesday."

Finally, in the midst of the chaos and stress that you may be feeling today, sometimes you might just want to make like a toddler and relax for a bit- Hakuna Matata-style.

Weekend Wrap-Up

This was an all around lovely weekend.

Remember during October when I was struggling with toddler girl drama? And said that Callie was a total Daddy's girl?

Well, the past few days allowed my toddler and I a lot time to have fun together and get back on the same page.  She still may be a Daddy's girl, but I think I can safely say she's a Mommy's girl too.  And I'm so thankful.

Friday
We had a great family night at home watching the T-Wolves game.

Giggles

Someone is SPOILED

Go Timberwolves!!!

Saturday
Cal and I spent the morning at the Children's Museum with Jenna, Charlie and Mabel.  It was the first time I had been there since the summer, and it was AMAZING because I didn't feel like I had to be a helicopter parent the whole time.  In each room, Jenna and I could chat while the toddlers ran off and explored and played. Crazy and awesome!!!

That afternoon we spent some time at the condo and Callie asked Bops to do one of her favorite things- the iPad.

At one point, Bops put on Billy Joel (the same album that my sisters and I used to go crazy and dance to) and Callie had fun showing us her moves.



Sunday
The time change went fairly well.  Cal slept til about 6:20am, so it wasn't too early.  At least is wasn't 5am early.  So today there was Sunday school, hanging at home, going to the park, and going to Red Balloon Bookshop and out to dinner with G-ma and G-pa. 

Look at those long legs!

Sweet smile

Beautiful eyes

Fun at the bookshop

Tomorrow is a special day for a couple of reasons...

First, tomorrow is Nana's birthday!  Have a wonderful day, Nana!

Second, our friends Josh and Alison are going in to have their baby tomorrow!  We'll be thinking about you guys and can't wait to hear the exciting news.

That's about all from here...our thoughts and prayers are with all those effected by Hurricane Sandy on the east coast.  Between the news of that devastation, and the election craziness, I've been feeling very thankful for what we have and how lucky we are. 

Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Happy Friday all!  I'm leisurely sitting here on a Friday afternoon during nap time because it was conferences this week so I had today off.  Hooray!

Let's get to the FTPDF.  Since it was Halloween, most of my pictures from the week were from Wednesday, but I did take a few others.

Favorite Thing #1- Halloween starts early...two monkeys and a cowgirl on Monday

Favorite Thing #2- When students who struggle finish a writing project and are proud to display their work

Favorite Thing #3- Reconnecting with my old friend Emily and meeting her new baby

 Vera!

 

Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween!: Updated with T-o-T Pics

From the Cowgirl and the Mad Bull.

I'm about to totally embarrass myself, but my mom and Callie were looking at her Halloween scrapbook on Monday and happened to find another girl who dressed like a cowgirl circa 1992.  Callie is a much cuter cowgirl than I ever was...

Too small cowboy hat, high waisted jeans, and lots of fringe...oh my...

Laura and Mari, you guys look pretty awesome too.

Have a wonderful and safe Halloween!

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Update: Our little cowgirl and bull had fun tonight...

Watching for Trick-or-Treaters

Ready to head out!  Mommy was not invited.

But we got some snuggle time after trick-or-treating.

Rhyming

I have a love-hate relationship with rhyming.

I enjoy the rhythm and rhyme of fun poems here and there...both reading and writing them.

But, as a teacher of students who have reading disabilities, rhyming kicks my butt.

For some reason, the skill of rhyming is SO HARD for some students with reading disabilities.  I go over and over word families and rhyming words in different ways and different forms and they often still don't get it.  (i.e. Me: Which words have the same ending sound: cat, sing, bat?  Student: Cat and sing? Me: (in my mind) AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!)  

It has been my teaching nemesis for years. 

Until now. As a teacher's kid, Callie has to deal with me teaching her stuff.  All. The. Time.

Our latest thing has been rhyming...and SHE GETS IT.  SHE TOTALLY GETS IT.

Remember the Call Me Maybe song we did back in September?  That got the ball rolling and it has been rolling ever since.

I took a video of her because she was being cute playing with her barn at Boom and Bops' house.  But she morphed it into a rhyming game and I was happy to oblige. 



Now she asks to play the rhyming game and I'm in teacher heaven. As much as I really do love teaching kids who have difficulties learning to read, it is amazing to be able to teach my own kid and have her pick up things so quickly.  She is a little sponge and I'm having a blast.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a GREAT weekend.  It definitely turned my mood around after last week.

Friday
Um...no pictures and I can't even remember what we did.  Oh yeah.  We did some cleaning and just general hanging out at home getting ready for the baby party we threw on Saturday...

Saturday
More cleaning!  There's nothing like having 13 people over at your house to inspire you to actually do a fairly decent job of hiding the clutter cleaning.  To make it easier (since we have a toddler and all), we split the tasks up. While Chris started the jobs, I took Callie to see Boom and Bops where she played and we went to the last Mill City Farmer's Market.

Farmer Joe on the roof!

 Then Chris took Callie to G-ma and G-pa's for the night so we could do our final preparations for the party!  We were excited to host a co-ed baby shower for Josh and Alison.  They are scheduled to have their baby a week from tomorrow!  We can't wait to meet their little girl!!!

Their little girl will join the other future Luther girls playgroup- Callie, Sydney and Kylie!

Sunday
Despite waking up with my neck out, today was still fun. 

Callie had a super fun time at G-ma and G-pa's house.

We picked her up in the morning and headed to Sunday school.  After a great almost three hour nap, we headed back to G-ma and G-pa's for a Camp du Nord reunion.  There were 8 or 9 kids, mostly late elementary, middle and high school ages there, and Callie had A BLAST running around with all of them.  They did a great job taking care of her too.

With Annelise

Playing kickball

Camp fire

Staying warm

Playing with Christine

I just got back from a girls night out with two lovely ladies and, after the friends and family fun we had this weekend, I am feeling blessed and happy.