We had the pleasure of attending an ugly sweater party at a neighbor’s this year.  Thankfully my dad remembered he had one from back in the day–think Bill Cosby’s wardrobe on The Cosby Show.  He mailed it for Dave and it fit perfectly since they’re both XL.  Mine was not had so easily.  A friend of a friend happens to be a stylish 87-year-old woman who was kind enough to let me borrow one.  We visited her beautifully-furnished assisted living apartment and she had laid some out on her bed for me to choose.  It had to be returned promptly as she probably wore it this week.  It’s true.  Interestingly, a couple news stories detailed the shortage of them due to the popularity of these parties.  We mentioned some were selling online for as much as $50.  Wouldn’t you know a guy called and left a message for me to call him back after the newscast.  He had an ugly sweater that he could drop off at the station.  I called him back excited for the possibility of storing one away for Dave’s future party use.  Turns out his would have been perfect; described as an expensive one from a local men’s clothing store with leather patches and a library motif.  But he didn’t want to give it to me.  Oh no.  He wanted me to sell it for him and try to get him the 50 bucks we talked about on the air.  Sorry, Sir, I explained.  You’ll have to sell it on your own.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

It’s fun to be out and about on a weekday when I’m usually chained to a news set.  Well, not literally, of course.  I looked at my phone around 5:20pm to discover that a lot of people weren’t home watching KWWL, they were with me at Walmart.  Very nice to hear from a few that they knew I must be on vacation if I’m shopping with jeans on at this time.  An hour earlier I was enjoying a warm roll at Texas Roadhouse.  Never knew so many seniors showed up for the Mon.-Thurs. early dine specials.  Of course we went early because with a 3 and 5-year-old you want to get their tummies full with just enough time to come home, play hard and hit the bed exhausted.  (Yeah, right.  Currently I am sitting at a desk in Miss Charlotte’s kindergarten class in our basement with an apple-tipped pointer–one of many awesome accessories in her new teacher’s kit from Nana.)  You’d be proud of me.  I looked it up on my smartphone in the restaurant booth and one roll is only 5 Weight Watchers points on the old plan.  So I ate one-and-a-half rolls with no butter.  I know.  Not as good.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

Just as we were one of the first in the neighborhood to have indoor and outdoor decorations up for Christmas, today we were likely leading the pack getting everything down and storing it for another year.  I am in the opposite school of thought when it comes to a removal timeline.  Why would I want to keep stuff hanging around, literally, when all the presents are opened and the calendar has passed December 25?  It makes more sense to me to put things up pre-December when I’m actually shopping for Christmas and seeing every store decked out accordingly.  The bears with hearts are already out so I’m glad my ornaments are buried in the basement.  On a positive note, so happy to be home with the family all week and had a wonderful time with Nana/Papa and my sister’s family in Peoria!  See you in 2012.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

The first day of Christmas “vacation” does not always play out through the rose-colored glasses it was envisioned with.  In the past 48 hours we’ve been through five doctors’ appointments (Charlotte’s teeth, Thomas’ ears and skin rash, Daddy’s bicep and sinus infection).  Amazingly nothing is currently wrong with me.  Except emotionally.  I thought the guy at the car dealership (where we took our SUV with an oil leak to discover a two-day repair is needed to fix the engine cover) was our old neighbor with lightened hair and twenty fewer pounds.  “Hey, what’s up?” I excitedly greeted him as he walked over to give me the keys.  Seconds later, as is always the case for me, I realized I have never met this guy.  Dave and I later laughed, of course, about how he now thinks the news lady is crazy.  Thankfully I have next week off to recover my brain for next year.  Happy Birthday, Jesus, and Christmas blessings to you and yours!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

Life through the eyes of my 5 and 3-year-old is hilarious.  They laugh at stuff I don’t find funny at all.  But I crack up at them getting so tickled over something mundane to the rest of us.  Then there’s the whole I know what you mean even though how you’re saying it makes no sense thing.  Like this morning when Thomas discovered our shelf elf, Ernie, was perched on top of Charlotte’s bedroom mirror.  “You gotta believe this!”  Thomas shouted to me down the hall.  Of course his version of what he’s heard Mommy tell Daddy a thousand times, ”You’re not going to believe this!”  I didn’t believe that early this week I had to pull out a phone book to look up a number because my smart phone was once again hijacked by a little person in the house.  It’s the first time I haven’t used the internet for directory assistance in a while.  This afternoon while I was showering for work and Thomas was napping, Charlotte snapped the above self-portrait.  At least she’s past the age where making huge messes is the most entertaining option when she has the freedom to choose.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

Dave’s last day of school before break is tomorrow.  Charlotte’s was today.  And this morning when I was finally getting Thomas out the door for his final day of preschool in 2011, it hit me.  His holiday party was yesterday.  Two of the school employees posted on Facebook about their vacations starting.  “Did anybody say have a nice break?” I asked Thomas.  He thought possibly.  “You don’t have to go to school,” I told him, thankfully avoiding a trip all the way there to discover an empty parking lot and locked doors.  His breakfast of champions was macaroni and cheese; so fittingly around lunchtime he had a donut.  I squeezed into a once-too-tight skirt (well okay now not-as-tight skirt) to face another barrage of baked goods at work and more at home courtesy of Daddy’s co-workers and very kind neighbors.  The week before Christmas always magnifies my love/hate relationship with food.  To top off a day of winging it, I accidentally waltzed into the men’s bathroom at work and had that moment some of you’ve experienced where you freeze in fear knowing you’re not supposed to be where you’re standing.  So thankful a male co-worker was not in there.  Don’t they have stand-up urinals with no doors?  I didn’t stick around to confirm!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

Volunteering in a kindergarten class means picking up on what’s hot for Christmas according to 5 & 6-year-olds.  Turns out I am clueless about the toys boys that age are putting on their wish lists.  Have you heard of Beyblades?  I had to look it up.  Think 3-D spinning tops that snap into Tornado Battlers (parents of boys old enough to play with this stuff will be quite schooled in the countless accessories!)  At first I thought the kids were talking about some spinning blade that would cut you.  Thankfully, they look plastic in the pictures.  I just checked out another boy’s request for L Drago.  Again, part of a Japanese metal fusion starter set.  All I can think… please Thomas, don’t end up rolling multi-sided dice on the back of the bus like the Dungeons & Dragons geeks I grew up with.  Ha!  As for the girls, thankfully predictable, they want dolls, doll houses and princess stuff.  I admit.  I did enjoy play time with the four boys who lived down the street.  They had a Hot Wheels racetrack and Castle Grayskull from He-Man.  Even the skull eyes lit up!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

The plan to wrap no Christmas presents from Mommy and Daddy for our kids has been altered.  Charlotte said yesterday that she really wants one of those (inexpensive) Build-a-Bear kits now in stores.  Her concern was she had not been able to communicate that to Santa, so maybe Dave and I could buy it for her?  She brought it up again today; she and Thomas would like to get a present from us.  I agreed and said that would be possible.  It reminded me of a good point someone posted on my previous entry about this–how giving kids all their gifts from Santa makes them think their parents didn’t get them anything.  When in fact we sacrificed a lot more than the guy in the red suit!  So instead of buying anything, today I sorted through the Santa gifts and set some aside to wrap from Mommy & Daddy.  This will spread out the celebration, I reasoned, since each child will have to take the time to individually open items… versus the one-shot glance and eye glaze over everything thrown at them at once.  Apparently my children can talk me into anything.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

Being a one-man band for over five years more than prepared me for shooting a kindergarten concert.  That means I used to be a reporter who captured all my own stories with 60+ pounds of camera gear.  I’ve probably mentioned before doing it in high heels compressed my feet from a size 9 to 8.  Actually all the photog experience has made me incapable of standing back with a wide, static shot of a group.  I can’t do it.  I won’t do it.  So I think like a news person at these events and try to get as up close as possible–even if it means sitting side-saddle on the floor with a skirt and boots as I did this afternoon.  Fortunately one guy had to leave early so I got his font-row seat on the end for part of it.  Let’s be honest.  No extended family member wants to sit through some boring video of your kid’s music program with he or she so far back you can’t see or hear the prized subject.  Think like a TV news viewer when you shoot this stuff, I would argue.  Get close-ups, slow zooms and a wide establishing shot plus cut-aways of those attending.  I got multiple shots of Thomas on the floor, on my lap and on Daddy’s lap.  And after they get to the first chorus, think about shutting the camcorder off until the next song.  Also, be sure to get footage of the other kids your child talks about.  This way Charlotte can point them out to Nana/Papa when we air it during Christmas.  Once you’ve been on the professional side of videography, it is impossible to go back.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42

Carrying groceries from my SUV into the house today it occurred to me that only six years ago I was hauling bags from my car parked outside up three floors to my one-bedroom apartment.  Just as happy with  my situation then as I am today, yet now with the luxury of a 2-stall-attached garage.  No more cold and steep walks to put away cans of low-cal soup.  I just pull in, close the door and walk a few feet.  But when I see the other houses nearby with three stalls it reminds me that was something we originally wanted in a new house; it was a reason to move.  How silly I thought to myself that we have ever been disappointed “settling” for an oversized 2-stall with a shed.  Is that what defines my contentment in life, I sarcastically considered today?  Whether my garage is as big as the one down the street.  Absolutely not.  I was once thrilled as an apartment dweller to rent a single stall that would keep my car snow-free for an overnight shift that meant driving to work before the plows came through.  So to “move on up” to a deluxe ranch with a garage I don’t have to pay extra for works fine.  I asked God in a devotional journal I started to help me be grateful for the blessings I have, not longing for all things frivolous.  Funny how a trip to the grocery store so cleary illustrated this point.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 42