January 2011

~Happy New Year!~

Yes, yes it is true!  Can you believe it?? I'm finally blogging about the current year: WOO-HOO!! Let's see if I can pick up the pace and get caught up before another new year rolls around.

So, just how did we kick off 2011?  Well, not quite how we usually do.  Not with friends.  Not with friends near or far as we have in the past.  Not with family either.  J-rod didn't even have to work but we still didn't do much.  Why?  I had the flu.  The full-on, "hit me like a Mac-truck, completely wipe me out, fever and chills with an achy body, no-way should I be around anybody" kind of flu.  No fun.  No fun for me. No fun for J-rod. Especially no fun for the kids. Yup, I was a party-pooper and went to bed super early (C-sta did too) while J-rod and the boys roasted marshmallows and had fun with sparklers.  

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~Taken with my phone in the dimly lit theater.~

The second weekend of January Li'l J and I went on a date to see Shrek the Musical.  J-rod and I were supposed to go see it together but since M woke up that morning throwing up, Li'l J got to go with me instead.  While the play wasn't among my favorite musicals, it had its good spots (the dragon was pretty amazing!) and Li'l J and I enjoyed our time together.

~Also taken with my phone, after the show.~

As we left the theater that evening, J-rod called to ask if I had yet heard the horrific news about the shooting rampage in Tucson, AZ earlier that day.  I hadn't heard about it until he called to tell me.  I listened to the local radio reports for a bit on the ride home.  What a very sad and terrible day for all those directly affected.

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~Our suspicions confirmed!~

We've had an ongoing family joke now for a while that there must be a "black hole" the sits directly over our house and causes our belongings to vanish from time to time.  There is no rhyme nor reason as to what vanishes, the black hole simply taketh away and re-turneth at will.  When lost items do reappear, they are found in the MOST random of places!  The only consistent thing is that the length of time before a lost or misplaced item reappears is directly proportional to its importance or value.  For instance, J-rod's wedding band: gone now for almost 3 years.  We are almost certain we know where it is, we just cannot access it.  We believe it has fallen away into a nook or cranny in J-rod's comfy recliner.  One year M's new glasses were misplaced for months; this year mine have been gone for over three months.  Sets of keys or the TV remote seem to reappear within the day though.  In most homes a sock will go missing from a pair, no, not at our house.  This black hole must wear flip-flops year round like we do because all of our socks are present and accounted for!

Anyway, one morning prior to a family outing we noticed the above pictured card (which was sitting on the street behind our car) pointing directly at our house.  We'd suspected as much, but apparently the universe wanted to make sure that we knew.  Oh we laughed so hard when we saw this, we just had to document it.  Maybe now that we've publicly acknowledged its existence, a few more things will reappear?  Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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The day before M's first double-digit birthday--he's 10 now!!--was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a holiday from school.  Since J-rod also happened to have the day off, we took the kids to do some birthday shopping for M who was in dire need of new shoes and a suit for church.  After shopping we met up with our friends the H family for dinner.  Whenever anyone in either their family or ours has a birthday, we meet at Red Robin for dinner. I think it's RR's amazing fries and ranch that keeps us coming back  Well that and...we always have such a fun time with the H family!

~The first of M's 10th B-day celebrations~

~All together now: "Red Robin...YUM!"

M got a two extra special treats for his 10th birthday.  M became a Webelo on his birthday and was especially happy about going to his den meeting that night.

~Happy, Happy 10th Birthday to our M!~

The day after his birthday: SURPRISE! J-rod took M on his very first ski trip up north for the day…just he and J-rod.

~What a great birthday surprise!~

M spent the first half of the day up in a ski lesson with a few other kids while J-rod discovered that he wasn’t as rusty at skiing as he had anticipated (it had been ages since J-rod last skied!).  M spent the rest of the day testing out his newly learned skills skiing with J-rod. It was a fun day for both father and son and they were left looking forward to another ski day, hopefully sooner than later!

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~M and his science partner K testing our their hypothesis~

Later in January when given an assignment to apply the scientific method with an experiment,  M was teamed up with classmate K.  Together they tested out the hypothesis they came up with together: "If you drop a Fruity MENTOS into a bottle of 1L Sprite, it will cause a big chemical reaction."  K and M discovered that though a chemical reaction did occur, their hypothesis was flawed.  When researching what could be done to create a bigger chemical reaction, M and K learned that a BIG chemical reaction comes from dropping a Mint MENTOS into 2L of DIET COKE.  So even though what they thought would happen did not, it was still a successful science project since they learned what they would need to do to cause a bigger reaction.  I love the learning that is happening with our kids!!

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~PWD 2011~

We finished out the month of January by attending M's last Pinewood Derby race.  M built his PWD car to look like a green LEGO brick. He named it “The Brickyard Racer”. On race day, even though it looked a bit bulky compared to the other sleek cars that raced in our pack PWD, "The Brickyard Racer" held its own rather well and M took second place (just as he did his first year in the PWD). What a great way for M to finish out his racing days!