Ethan's Party and some observations by Alaina

We had Ethan's birthday party this weekend.....a bit delayed due to our call schedules, but so it goes.   He had really wanted to have it at a place called "Rebounderz" which is a trampoline place about 25 miles from our house.  We told him to pick 7 friends, and planned to drive 3 cars up (Jason, Pri and I each being drivers).   He was thrilled.

About 30 minutes prior to our scheduled departure time, Pri went to the gas station to fill up.   As she was leaving her car wouldn't start!   Jason raced over there, only to find that her starter broke.  Ugh.  Luckily, our neighbor saved the day and loaned us their car.   Crisis averted.


The kids had a blast at the party.  Ethan requested a "candy" cake--we had seem one at Safeway.  I made one at home for about half the price and it turned out pretty good:

So now we are done with birthdays, parties etc for a while.   whew.


In other news, Alaina has said some funny things recently that are worth a mention.
Today, we were doing her class valentines.   She said, "Mom, do you know why hearts are red?"  "Because the is the color of lips, and lips are used for kissing and stuff."

A few days ago, I am eating breakfast, and she sees the OJ bottle:

Her question for me "Mom, do oranges bleed? Does that straw make them bleed?".
Hmmmm.

Happy 9th Birthday Ethan!

Today Ethan celebrated his 9th birthday.   In a year he will be a decade.   He had a nice day at school, and apparently sold a piece of the candy bar I sent with him as a birthday treat for a quarter.
Jason and I both made it home early, and had a nice birthday dinner with him.
Our tradition of letting the birthday celebrant choose a birthday meal is getting more labor intensive.  Ethan chose homemade pasta and meatballs.  I basically spent all day on sunday preparing the meal, which got thawed tonight.   It was pretty delicious.  Again no cake this year--ice cream sundaes.   So that part was easy at least.

For his birthday, Jason and I gave him a desk.   He has needed one for a long time, especially now that he has more and more homework.   He also asked for a microscope, which one can conveniently get quite cheaply on amazon.   Not sure how it will work, but glad that he is excited about it.

Our au pair, Pri, gave him the game "Life".   I remember loving that game at his age.  Kinda cool.

Happy birthday to our kind, gregarious little boy who is really not so little anymore.

Parenting

On Friday night, when I came home from work, Ethan had one of those rare moments when he opened up to me.   Mostly, I never hear much about school, or his friends, or much of anything, no matter what I ask.

On Friday, he told me that his class had its second student council elections.   Ethan had run for the second time in the year, and was dismayed at losing again.

He told me, "I will never win.  I am just not popular.   Probably I am the only person who voted for me."

Poor guy.  It is hard to see your kid go through something like this.  I considered it, and answered him  by telling him that I was not so popular when I was his age.  In fact, I was never elected onto student council--and I only had the heart to run (and lose) once, so I was proud of him for trying again.   I also told him not to worry, because, some day he would be popular.  

What, you BECAME popular??   Well, yes, kind of, relatively speaking.   I told him I was never as popular as I was now.   Now I go to work and everyone wants to talk to me.   And I come home, and again everyone vies for my attention..."Mommy"  "Mommy".   I have to say, popularity is perhaps a bit overrated.  

But I also know that it wont last too long, and before I know it my kids will not want to talk to me.   SO, I will take what I can get.

As for Ethan, I think it is a good life lesson.   I have no doubt that someday he will be very popular and successful.  Just not yet.   Its better not to peak too soon anyway.

Ski Weekend

In keeping with recent tradition, we used the long weekend as an opportunity to ski.   This year, Alaina was finally ready (and really wanted) to go on skis.  Now, there has been VERY little snow thus far this season, so most of the ski runs at Tahoe ski resorts are not open.   But they make snow for the beginner runs, which are really all our kids need anyhow.

I have to say, the lack of snow was beneficial in one regard: it kept the crowds away.   Last year, the hill was jam packed.   This year was much more relaxing.   It also helped that I did not ski, and instead acted as the "ski sherpa" for everyone else.

Alaina took an all day ski lesson, and made some quick progress for her first real time skiing.  By the  end she could snowplow and stop pretty well, and was learning her turns.

Ethan continued to work on his speed and control.  

At the end of the weekend, it was really great to see the kids so happy.   They really loved skiing, and I am very glad that we could give them this opportunity.

FIVE!

Today we celebrated Miss Alaina's 5th birthday.   Yes, she is no longer a toddler.  Sniff sniff.   The years sure have flown by.

I brought blueberry muffins to her school this morning for snack time, a nice treat.  


This evening for her birthday dinner, she chose french toast and chocolate cupcakes that she decorated with rainbows.  (Rainbows have been very popular around here recently).

  
She had fun blowing out her candles and opening presents.

This past weekend, we had a joint birthday party for her with one of her school friends at "Playland"-a jumpy place nearby.   (It is also where we hosted Ethan's 5th birthday, how is that for sibling equality?).

She had a blast jumping with her friends, and although she was initially a bit miffed at the idea of sharing her party (she asked me when her "real" party was going to be), I think she warmed up to the idea by the end.

 Happy Birthday to our sweet, thoughtful and independent little girl!

Family Christmas

We had a great week off for Christmas.  This year, instead of going to Chicago, my dad flew out for the week.   It was a bit strange not going home, and of course I missed my mom.   But we had a nice time out here, and certainly warmer weather.

On Christmas Eve, I cooked a big family dinner.   It was fun to host.  Of course, I resurrected the gumdrop tree, and it was a huge hit with the kids.

Christmas morning brought a load a presents.  Nerf guns and Calico critters seem to be the big hits in our household this year.

The day following Christmas, we headed to Yosemite.   When we booked the place back in October, we were hoping for snow, but we have not had any rain in over a month, so there was no snow for skiing.   Instead, we spent two days hiking in the valley.   We rented a house in Yosemite West, which allowed just to cook meals and hang out in the evenings together, which was nice.   Yosemite was beautiful as always, but I have to say, it was super crowded.   On both evenings, we got caught in huge traffic jams in the valley that rivals San Francisco traffic.   So much for getting away from it all. It was still stunningly beautiful though!

Due to the lack of snow, Ethan and Jason were able to take a long hike up to Glacier Point.   Usually, this trail is closed due to snow in winter--it rises 3200 feet from the valley floor in a little under 5 miles.   The boys made the 10 mile round trip in good time, and had great view and relative tranquility at the top.   Dad, Alaina and I took some shorter hikes, and still enjoyed the day.

Our last day there, the kids and I went ice skating.   It is a goal of mine to get the kids comfortable on skates while they are young, and I am slowly making progress.   Alaina used a bucket to propel herself along, which actually worked quite nicely.   Ethan mostly grabbed the wall, but was doing ok by the end.

From yosemite, we headed right to Jason's parents home, where we had another big family dinner.  Jason's brother Brandon and his wife Jennifer were in town for a few days, so Gary and Eileen were happy to have the whole family together.

If you can imagine by new year's we were exhausted and not up for anything much, so we had take out and watched a movie with our neighbors. The kids still got to stay up late, which tickled them pink (and made our day quite miserable today!).  Today we spent the day cleaning and reorganizing--Christmas tree is down, toy closet cleaned, etc. etc.   Whew.

Holiday Happenings

December is always a buys month for our family, but his year has seemed to have kept us unusually busy.

Here are a few things that we have been up to:

Decorating the Christmas tree--we put it up late this year, but it finally happened.   Still haven't gotten the outdoor lights up.....

Celebrating Eileen's 71st birthday--we had a nice dinner downtown:

Attending Alaina's last preschool holiday sing-a-long.  Here she is with her best friend Emma:

Celebrating Chanukkah-we had traditional latkes and of course hanukkah cookies for a family gathering tonight.  Of course Ethan had a basketball tournament and missed a good chunk of it (yes, basketball season is in full swing now!)

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That plus a couple of neighborhood parties and a couple of work parties and filled up our time quite well.

Next up: Christmas!