December 7, 2007

7:10 Drop off. Back to yogurt and hot cereal for lunch. Jeremy at breakfast with Ariel and said she was freaking him out with her Darth Vadar breathing. When will that poor child stop being so congested?

8:00 Josh came over for a playdate. Alex was so excited to show Josh all his new Hanukkah toys and I didn't see them again for hours. That made Ariel bored so she followed me around all morning, including my shower in which she managed to get almost wet enough to change.

11:00 Lunch - mac & cheese.

11:20 Ran a quick errand of dropping of my community knitting projects and mailing some holiday cards. Ariel has a strong Pavlovian response to the grocery store parking lot - as soon as we pulled in she shouted, "Cookie!"

11:30 Picked up Adam, took Alex too school (Alex said he was still too sick to go to school but I thought that if he could do a 3 hour playdate, he could probably managed 2 1/2 hours of school).

12:00 Ariel went down for a nap. While Ariel slept I sorted my latest photography order that arrived at 11:15. I do love FedEx, they get to my house so early! UPS is around 7:00pm and my mail is never earlier than 4 and sometimes after 6. DHL is also mid day -- Ellen thinks I'm weird for knowing this, doesn't everyone? At least I'm not on a first name basis with the carriers, even our surely postman who has been delivering to us for the last 6 years (ok, his name is Tom, but I don't say hi).

2:00 Ariel woke up.

2:30 Walked to school to get Alex. It snowed lightly all day and I put a pair of old boots, hat and mittens on Ariel and she was in pure bliss. She loves walking in the snow and wasn't even freaking out about getting the snow on her boots like she was a few weeks ago. We even saw a snowman on the way which impressed Ariel A LOT (when Ariel sees snow out the window, she doesn't say snow, she says snowman).

2:45 Got home. I've been working on getting my holiday cards out this week and still had more to put in envelopes (the cards had come in the FedEx package, I'd addressed the envelopes earlier this week). I'm sending about 150 out this year and that's a lot of licking.

3:30 Went to the post office to mail the cards. I had about 20 that were international and/or Canadian that I had to get extra postage on. Ariel wore Alex's boots and somehow managed to walk.

4:00 Dropped off one of my orders, just slightly later than I planned so Becky had to wait for me.

4:10 Got back home. Becky gave a report that she's been enjoying Alex's First Mix tape (except for Coldplay which is "the most boring music in the universe") that I gave her this morning. Since I don't have an iPod I'm all new to this iTunes thing, but here is what Alex and I came up with to put an a CD:

Move Along / The All American Rejects
Better Days / The Goo Goo Dolls
Over My Head / The Fray
Beautiful Day / U2
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree / KT Tustall
Speed of Sound / Coldplay
Read My Mind / The Killers
Stay With You / Goo Goo Dolls
The Middle / Jimmy Eat World
The Sweet Escape / Gwen Stefani
How to Save a Life / The Fray
Let Love In / The Goo Goo Dolls
Let's Get It Started / Black Eyed Peas
Juicy / Better than Ezra
Clocks / Coldplay
Look After You / The Fray
Chasing Cars / Snow Patrol
Nothing Left to Lose / Mat Kearney

We went to Noodles for lunch and then a Menorah lighting and Hanukkah sing at Temple. Not only did we run into Alex's teacher, but apparently his reading group/speech teacher is also a member. Boy was Alex surprised. When we got home, the boys opened a gift from Daddy - light sabers. I'm going to have to video Adam and his sound effects, they are very realistic. And no, he hasn't bonked anyone yet either.

The light sabers were such a hit, Adam took his to bed. He's my sweet son cradling his light saber in his sleeping bag on the floor:



And one last thing - we reviewed for your pleasure Hersey Kisses Hot Cocoa flavor this week. All members of the household (including Ariel) enjoyed them and Jeremy says, "They don't taste like crap" (he doesn't like the regular milk chocolate kisses). So two thumbs up from us. Just trying to help you all navigate the holiday candy aisle this holiday season!