Thursday, January 31, 2008

'Lost' is found again!



Well, it's the big night.

"Lost" is finally back!

I will probably need to watch the recap show because it's been almost a year since the last episode aired and because of the writers' strike, I've kind of fallen out of the habit of watching TV.

I'll post my opinions of the episode tomorrow.

TV stars


Today, KAKE-TV called to ask about interviewing the staff of our employee daycare center about having more kids due to the snow.

Since our center doesn't take drop-in school-age children, I volunteered Donna, the great lady who watches Brett and Casey after school (and on snow and vacation days).

She was a good sport and the story aired tonight on the 5 o'clock news.

Needless to say, the boys were very excited about being on TV.

Snow!



It snowed about four or five inches this morning, so the boys are out of school. I love how still everything is when it snows—it's as if everything stops for a little while.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Happy Birthday Dan!


My beloved husband, Dan, is celebrating a birthday today.

The boys and I bought him the new NBA basketball game for the Wii. Brett can't wait to get his hands on it!

Happy Birthday Dan!

New mattress

Our new mattress and box spring was delivered today.

We bought it (and a new over-the-range microwave) at Nebraska Furniture Mart the last time we were in Kansas City. We buy most of our furniture there. They have a huge selection, good prices and only charge $60 to deliver to Wichita.

The mattress we bought is a pillow top. Our old mattress was about 7 inches deep; this one is 17 inches, so that gives you an idea of the difference. It almost looks too tall for our bed frame.

Sitting on it, I feel like I'm in the "Princess and the Pea." It's even a little tough for our terrier, Wanda, to jump up on it (which might not be a bad thing!).

Hopefully with our new 650 count sheets, we'll have a great night's sleep.


You can see the top of the mattress is only about
four inches from the top of the foot of our bed frame.


Our new bed


The boys couldn't wait to try it out



Sunday, January 27, 2008

Politics

Since this is my personal blog, I thought I'd share my thoughts on the upcoming presidential election.

I am a democrat, although I have to admit that I voted for George Bush the first time he ran. At the time I thought it was the best choice when faced with the decision between Bush and Gore. We all know how that turned out—Bush ruined the country and Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize.

I will most likely vote for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, but haven't decided on which one yet. I have some misgivings about both right now.

Hillary concerns me because she seems to be running on the "my husband was president which gave me experience in the White House" line, while I'm not sure Barack is really ready to take on the presidency given his lack of experience.

I guess the best of both worlds would be a combo Clinton-Obama ticket.

Obama is supposedly coming to El Dorado for a rally on Tuesday. I would love to go, but I have something going on at work that I can't get out of. Sometimes I wish we lived in a democratic state where the candidates campaigned more vigorously.

I've seen stories about people from smaller states taking their vacation in New Hampshire during the primaries to be able to get access to the candidates before casting their votes. I think it would be great to see either Obama or Clinton give a speech, but I do have a job and family and can't quite pick up that easily to chase the candidates.

Playdate

Today the boys had a play date with their friends Logan and Caleb.

They ran around the house playing something called "Ambush" with their Nerf guns, and mostly played with their Nintendo DS games.

We also invited our neighbor over to play as well.

Yes. We had a play date with five boys.


Caleb and Logan ambushing each other


Casey and Tanner


Brett

Monday, January 21, 2008

Honoring Great-Grandma

The funeral for Great-Grandma Sylvia was held on Sunday afternoon. The day before, the family met with the rabbi and we reminisced about Great-Grandma so he could write a eulogy for her service.

We recalled how stylish she was and that she loved clothes and shopping for them. She had many pairs of matching shoes and purses. Dan's mother told about finding several pairs of turquoise pants in her closet when they moved her into her apartment at an assisted living facility.

So in honor of Great-Grandma, several of us wore turquoise to the funeral.

My niece, Sophie, and her turquoise turtleneck


Me and my sister-in-law Serena.
I was wearing turquoise earrings.


Dan, wearing his turquoise tie, and Brett


Grandma Harla and her turquoise earrings


For those of you who may not be aware, Dan's mother's side is Jewish and his dad's is Baptist. Although we celebrate a few of the Jewish holidays such as Passover and Hanukkah with Harla's relatives, I had never been to a Jewish funeral.

It was similar in many ways to a Christian funeral, with a few differences such as the family visitation, called Shiva, occurring after the funeral instead of before.

In this case, friends and relatives will gather at Harla's brother's home on the night of the funeral and for the next two nights as well.

On Sunday night, the cousins got a chance to play together, which was nice since they don't get to see each other a lot.


Casey read a book to one of his youngest cousins, Maia.


Casey, Brett and our youngest niece Maggie


Cousin McKenzie


Uncle David and his granddaughter Maia


Friday, January 18, 2008

Sleepover

Tonight Brett is going to his first sleepover. It's a birthday party for his friend Jack.

Before he left, he gave Casey a hug as he was worried about Casey sleeping in their room alone tonight.

Brett and Casey hugging it out


Brett and all his gear



Great-grandma Sylvia


Dan's grandmother, Sylvia, passed away this morning at the ripe old age of 94.

This is one of my favorite photos of her. It was taken on her 90th birthday when Brett was three or four.

She loved her great-grandchildren. We always had to caution her about not picking them up because they were too heavy for her, but she never listened. She really was the quintessential Jewish grandmother—always fussing over all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She had a great sense of humor and a great heart. She will be sorely missed.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Martin Luther King


Apparently Brett's class has been talking a lot about Dr. King this week (or as Brett calls him "Martha Luten King").

For the past few days, he's been coming home and randomly dropping information on Dr. King and his vision.

Last night, he told me about how Dr. King "risked his life so he could die," and that Dr. King didn't think it was fair that only people with green eyes could join a club. He thought everyone should be able to join.

Tonight, just before bed, he let loose with a torrent of information about Dr. King and what he did for black people in America. He even had a story about Rosa Parks and her famous bus incident.

According to Brett, all the black people had to ride in the back of the bus, but this lady told them that she wasn't going to ride in the back and sat in the front one day. Because of this, people couldn't use bikes, buses or cars for 105 weeks.

Isn't it great that Brett and his classmates are learning about the important men in history?

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Chores

Over the Christmas break, the boys began really showing an interest in doing chores to get an allowance.

After negotiating the allowance of $5 per week, (Casey thought $4 per day was fair), I assigned them a few chores and we made a chart for the refrigerator where we could keep track. I was especially impressed when they even made their beds, without being asked, on school days when it's really hard to get them out of bed.

Last Friday was the end of the first week, and the boys kept their end of the bargain.

Tonight, they received their first payment, and boy were they happy!

Pay day!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Year's Eve

Tonight we all went over to the Avery's to celebrate New Year's Eve. I invited our friends, the Dillons, to join us, and we all had a blast.

Chris manning the margarita machine


Ford and Suzanne


Aunt Charlotte ventured out into the cold, cold night and shot off fireworks for the kids. Since it was too cold for them to go outside, they watched through the window.

Missy and the kids enjoying the fireworks


A pre-midnight Hot Damn salute


The kids whooping it up


The Tiki Party girls
Janette, me, Missy and Beckie


The Tiki Party guys
Dan, Mike and Captain Don


Beckie and Captain Don make the mimosas for midnight


Happy New Year!