Merry Christmas To You...

And so Xmas 2009 hits the history books. We had some great times and made some great memories! A snowstorm with hype so big it challenged Y2K, Harry jamming with the Beatles on Christmas morning through the wonders of technology, and me making my very first turkey. It was a great holiday! We had my parents over this year and it was fun and relaxing. Becca got an ipod touch from Santa, and Bella got the much coveted Zhu Zhu pets. Harry as you might have guessed received Beatles Rockband for Wii. Over the past few weeks we have been busy preparing for the holiday. Visits to Santa, shopping, research on the best way to cook a turkey, more shopping, then wrapping, wrapping, wrapping. It always feels a little empty the day after. And yet, I always find it comforting to return to a more normal schedule. Last night we capped off Christmas with a visit to the movies. Harry, Becca, Erick and my parents saw Avatar 3D and Bella and I saw The Princess and the Frog.

Now that Bella is getting older I am able to see how the holiday season seems to affect her differently than the other kids. I think her hearing loss makes the season a little more draining and tires her system faster. I have noticed over the past month how she seems to wake slower in the mornings, and tell me on a regular basis that she is tired. There is so much more stimulation during the holiday season. Also, if you notice people seem to speak faster because they are constantly in a hurry, all the malls/stores are playing holiday music at loud levels, and with family gatherings and more people together, people speak louder. When you work harder to hear on a regular day, I think the extra trappings of the holiday can make it tougher on your system. I would love to hear if other parents with kids with cochlear implants/hearing loss have also experienced this.

Hope everyone out there had a great holiday too!

Another Opening, Another Show...

For all of you thinking you have made a parenting mistake (or two) today, never fear, I probably have it beat! Yesterday we had our family birthday party for Harry and when Erick went to pick up the birthday cake I received a very disturbing phone call. Apparently I had mistakenly put "Happy 10th Birthday Harry" on my my son's cake even though he just turned 11! Wow! My sister said it reminded her of something that might happen in the classic movie "16 Candles". I guess Harry can chalk it up to another reason being the middle child stinks. Anyway, the party was fun even with the mess up and we were all in good spirits with the Vikings win.

Becca and Harry's play, "Scrooge: A Musical" opened on Friday. Weeknights have been a little crazy taken up with rehearsals. Dinners have been quick, but not necessarily full of all of the major food groups. Oh well, we do our best! The play runs through this weekend and we will see it on Friday with my parents.

Through all the craziness and busy times of the season, I am proud to say that I have kept Bella's homeschooling on track. It continues to go well, but I am in a little bit of a panic as the book we have been using for Language Arts ends in 4 weeks. I spent a lot of time this weekend researching new curriculums to replace it with. Reading the reviews written by other homeschooling mom's is somewhat helpful, but it can also lead to frustration when there are equal amounts of pro and con comments. On the positive side, I am seeing alot less number reversals in Bella's work.

Now with the many days of Harry's birthday behind me, I can forge ahead into the abyss of wrapping Christmas gifts. Wish I could say I see the point of all the pretty wrapping, when it gets torn off in milliseconds...

What a Wonderful World

Okay so excuse me while I wax poetic (or try to) in this posting today. Perhaps it is the holiday spirit or the society imposed expectation that we reflect on our lives at this time of year, but I have to say that I am truly thankful for the life I have. Yesterday as I read the headlines about Tom Petter and Tiger Woods, I thought about how the glamorous lives of the rich and famous consistently turn up with huge holes and deep secrets in them. I will just stick with my mundane, middle class life, thank you very much!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving spent with Erick's family in Wisconsin Dells. Each year we meet at a cabin in the Dells, as it is halfway between Minnesota and Chicago, which is where his brother and sister travel from. His mom, who now lives in Costa Rica for retirement, always visits for Thanksgiving too. Mix in some cousins and an Aunt and Uncle and you have Thanksgiving. Erick's brother is quite the chef so the turkey is always done in a tantalizing and unique way. The rest of the family helps with sides and desserts, making the end result a fabulous feast!

Yesterday was Harry's 11 birthday. I can't believe he is 11 already. His birthday always reminds me that it has been almost 11 years since I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease (a cancer of the lymphatic system). He was just 4 weeks old when I received the diagnosis. I have been cancer free now for 10 years and am very thankful for my health. Anyway, we had a mini celebration for Harry because Erick had to travel this week. We will be going out to eat this weekend for his birthday, he will go to the Science Museum with one Grandma on Friday, and then we will cap it off on Dec. 13 with a family birthday. Kind of like the 12 days of Birthday. I have come to appreciate the difficulty for kids who have December birthdays. They have to wait the whole year for presents. I guess that makes the days more special, but there is also lots of pressure to ask for what you really want because it's going to be 11 really dry months.

So there you have it. Lots of reasons to be thankful.

State vs. Peter Pan

Last night Becca was part of a mock trial for her middle school class. They do this every year and it is a chance to introduce the kids to the world of law. The kids learn about real laws and how they apply to the facts of the case. It is very professional with a real defense attorney meeting with both sides to help with their arguments and a real Hennepin county judge (who is the mom of two students from the school) to preside over the trial. This year Becca was a defense attorney for Peter Pan. Peter was charged with trespassing, assault, and kidnapping. Becca and her co-counsel called witnesses (Wendy, John, Tinkerbell, and Peter himself) to the stand to speak on Peter's behalf. The trial started with a motion of the defense to move the trial to a juvenile court instead of trying Peter Pan as an adult. That motion was denied (good thing or it would have made for a very short trial). Becca was very poised and did a great job! I received a lot of comments after about how well she spoke and argued and I said it was her natural talent coming through. It was so nice to see her using her power for good rather than arguing with me about why she didn't want to clean her room and why she shouldn't have to. The great news about the trial is that Becca and her co-counsel were able to get Peter off on his 3 charges. So watch out everyone, Peter is once again free to fly around causing mischief.

Music, Dancing and Fashion

This week has been filled with music and dancing at our house. Last Friday, Harry had a dance at his school. The theme was formal which explains Harry's velvet blazer. It was your typical elementary dance. There was a DJ who played music and the kids danced around (not with each other of course). One of the things that surprised me was how involved the DJ was with the kids. Usually at those dances they just play songs and let the kids go, but this guy played a ton of games with the kids, like relay dancing, hula hoops, and he even had the kids go in a big circle so kids could take turns doing "freestyle" in the middle. Well, for those of you who know Harry well, it will come as no surprise that once he had a turn to "freestyle" in the middle of the group he kept raising his hand to get picked again. Never shy, that one! They also had a limbo contest which you can see in the picture above along with Harry's mad skills! Bella went to the dance too since it was for the entire family and she had lots of fun too. She even made a few friends while there.

Overall, Harry's new school experience continues to go well. It seems like Harry has made quite a few friends at his new school. I met with two of his teachers this week and they said they are amazed at how well he has adjusted. One of the teachers said she wished she had more Harrys in her class. Always a good thing to hear as a parent! About a week ago, Harry ran for student council in his room. He had to write and give a speech on why he wanted to represent the class. He didn't wind up winning, but I was so proud of him for trying!

On Tuesday, Becca and Harry tried out for Scrooge: A Musical. They were in it last year as part of the children's choir. Last year they picked about 50 kids and let them rotate nights of performances. This year they only picked 20 kids and luckily they made the cut! They might get to be in it more this year as towns children in various scenes. They had been rehearsing a song to sing for the auditions, but they picked a song for everyone to sing. It was "Maybe" from Annie. It was a little high for Harry to sing, but he muddled through.

On Wednesday the kids and I had a very special encounter. We started watching "Project Runway" this season for the 1st time and we got hooked! We rooted all season long for Christopher Straub who was a designer from Shakopee which is only minutes away from our town of Chaska. Last week, we were very sad that he was kicked off the show, but on Wednesday he was having a trunk show and we got to meet him. I bought myself a keychain he designed and we told him that we loved watching him on the show this season. It was a fun experience!

Boo!

Halloween 2009 is in the books! The costumes are put away, the decorations are taken down (for the most part), and the clearance is bought for next year (Harry had his eye on an electronic skeleton dog that he HAD to get). We spent the holiday with friends that we often visit for Halloween and don't get to see very often. As I had previously reported, Harry was a scary ventriloquist dummy (who resembled a scary Pee Wee Herman more than anything else) and Bella was Laura Ingalls before the Wilder. Becca was a helpful 8th grader who helped to pass out candy. Our friends' high school son was dressed as a suicide bomber for a party he was going to, so Harry thought it would be funny to pose in a picture with his "bombs". Enjoy the picture above, I'm sure it is going to result in my blog being bookmarked by some friendly FBI individual and it could pose some problems for Harry if he ever wants to fly anywhere in an airplane in the future. I was off trick or treating duty as Erick headed out with the kids in tow accompanied by his high school friend that we were visiting. Despite the chilly temperature of 38 degrees, the kids went out in search of free candy for 1 1/2 hours. They should be set for candy until Christmas.

The day before Halloween, the kids had the day off from school for conferences. I brought Harry to see the "This is It" Michael Jackson movie. Despite the outcry of needing to buy advance tickets, we saw the 2:40pm matinee showing of the movie with only 5 other individuals. It was a fun movie and it sure looked to me like Michael could still sing and dance, but who knows? It also looked like the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz melted after having a bucket of water thrown on her. The power of Hollywood movie magic can never be underestimated!

Face Your Fears...

A tradition in the 5th and 6th youth group at church is to have a version of "Fear Factor" for the kids to participate in the week of Halloween. I'm not really sure how it ties in to church, but the kids love it. For those of you who don't remember the "Fear Factor" show on tv, it had contestants who had to do crazy things (eat bugs, hang from flying helicopters, swim in under underwater mazes) in order to win money. Well for both of Becca's 5th and 6th grade years, she was the champion of church Fear Factor so as Harry had his turn this past week, he had a lot to live up to. First there was an 8 stage food challenge where the kids had to consume (and finish) fig cookies, jalapeno chips, turkey dinner baby food, tofu, spicy cactus, spam, algae juice, and jelly beans. Jelly beans you say? Yes, but these weren't your average Easter Bunny jelly beans. There were various colors blue, peach, yellow, etc and the colors had two flavors. So if you ate a blue one you might be getting blue raspberry or you might be getting toothpaste. For peach you might be getting peach or you might be getting vomit. You get the idea. Harry passed the food challenges with flying colors, but ran into some trouble with the skill portion of the evening. He had to throw hula hoops around pumpkins and he missed. For the final piece of the evening the kids had to hold two dixie cups of water in the palms of their hands with the palms facing up and their arms straight out by their shoulders. Harry lasted into the top 4 but then got out. Overall he was bummed that he hadn't won the whole challenge, but he vowed to come back strong for next year!