[day 43 ... february 12]

Facebook: it's where we live online these days! I love being able to share and see photos, check out what people are up to, send quick notes or comments, and just have a little window into people's lives. Great fun!

Sometimes a kind of "chain letter" goes around where you can create and share a list of things about yourself, like your favorite music or all about your first pregnancy. I don't participate in most of them, but here's one I really enjoyed: 25 Random Things. It's such a kick to read tidbits about other people's lives and likes/dislikes, and to see how different the info is that people decide to share. Being the verbose writer I am, I came up with more than 35 items and had to winnow my list. :-)

[day 42 ... february 11]

Every evening after Cory's in bed, Niall and I spend 10-15 minutes having "special playtime." We started this routine several years ago, and now it's an immutable part of our pre-bedtime routine.

Usually we play card games like Cribbage, Crazy Eights or Double War, or board games like Sorry or Guess Who?, but sometimes we play Legos or draw pictures. Once in awhile, we'll watch part of a movie but that doesn't help us wind down to sleepytime so is an infrequent exception.

Niall enjoys this time so much, and I'm always glad to eek out some 1:1 time with each of my kids. Cory already has a nice, long bedtime routine but is now clamoring for his own "special playtime" in addition! He's right - it's probably time to see how to squeeze that in. Hopefully without extending the total time, because this mommy already spends upwards of 2.5 hours getting two little people ready and tucked into every night!

[day 41 ... february 10]

What do you know - more snow! I thought maybe December met our quota for the season but Mother Nature had another idea. Not a big deal this time, thankfully. It was a light round and the roads stayed pretty clear. As long as we aren't stuck at home and driving isn't too hazardous, I'm all for more snow!

We woke up to a few inches yesterday, though the prediction was for Tuesday (figures), and then more fell today, most of the day. Nice wet snow - great for making snowballs and snowmen! Niall still has his rash but is otherwise feeling fine so he went out to make a quick snowman and run around in the snow. The temperature was so borderline, the snowman quickly caved over, but the fun was in the making. :-)

Cory, Niall and I spend some time outside before dinner making BIG snowballs - so quick and easy with this kind of snow - and then tromping out tracks and paths to follow, just for fun.

[day 40 ... february 9]

Poor Niall woke up with an awful runny nose and, worse, an itchy rash over much of body. Yikes! All over his hands, arms, legs, feet, lower back, shoulders. Seems to have skipped his face, chest and most of his back, but that's the only saving grace. He is handling it remarkably well, but it's no fun.

I dosed him up with Benedryl and put hydrocortisone cream on the worst of the itchies, and we'll see how it goes. I expect it's a virus. He hasn't had anything new to eat, no new clothes or laundry detergent, hasn't been roaming around in any strange bushes, and definitely no visits to foreign countries. Definitely not chicken pox (although I know it sounds like it). Think he'll just have to wait it out.

[day 39 ... february 8]

Our refrigerator is so covered with photos, alphabet letters, magnets, lists, and whatnot, it's a challenge to find room for anything new - ever! The side is just as buried. I suppose someday we should clean it all off and start afresh, but here it is, immortalized in all its glory in its current state.

My sister and her family contributed to the clutter (in a good way :-) by sending the boys little funky magnets to decorate photos: hats, horns, mustaches, etc. plus bubble magnets and some short phrases. Cory and Niall think the magnets are just hysterical and love piling them onto people's photos or strategically placing just one or two incongruously somewhere (like the cowboy hat on Grandma Frances' head). Quite amusing, I have to say. And keeps them entertained on occasion, which is always a good thing.

[day 38 ... february 7]

Whirlwind of a Saturday around here. I took Niall to the last round of school district testing at 9, then back home only to turn around and drive Kellen down to the bus. Swung by Barnes & Noble to pick up some Beast Quest books for Niall to take to the birthday party later in the day. Home for lunch and feeding kids, then off again to take Niall to Vertical World for the party - an indoor climbing wall place. It's the first time Niall has done any climbing and he thought it was pretty fun. He's eager to go back.

My friend (and mother of classmates in both Cory's and Niall's classes) Jennifer offered to bring Niall home after the party. Sweet! So I headed home after getting Niall settled in. After another round of nebulizing for Cory, I decided he really needed to be seen by a doctor today. Got a 4:30 appointment, and headed down to Bellevue with Mr. C shortly after Niall got home from the party. (Tynor was home all day, thankfully, so I didn't have to haul both kids everywhere but could leave one at home with him.)

The doctor said Cory's cough was wheezy: she described him as a "Happy Wheezer" - not presenting as terribly sick but definitely not well in his lungs/breathing. So she prescribed a steroid for that, but said we could wait and see on his red (but not infected, she thought) ear and his infected (but not horribly) rashy bumps. Headed back north and hit Rite Aid to drop off the prescriptions. Dashed into Albertson's to pick up a few things while the prescriptions were being filled, then back to get them and home again in time to confront the daily "What's for dinner?" puzzle. Decided on tuna melts/sandwiches, rustled up the food and got everyone fed. Got Cory nebulized again, and then embarked on all the bedtime routines.

Whew. Just a day in the life, right? But a lot more time on the road in this one than is typical. For a weekend, anyway.

[day 37 ... february 6]

See the lady in the fabulous red hat? She's our fabulous librarian at The Little School, Nancy Palmer. She's usually found in the library, of course, but here she's joining in a Friday Meadows singalong, helping keep kids settled in Kathi's class since Kathi is up front playing the guitar.

Nancy and the library at TLS are among the school's best treasures and all of the kids (including mine, of course!) love her dearly. Parents too! A favorite line at school (and at home, for that matter is): "I don't know, I'll go ask Nancy." Because Nancy will *always* find a resource or a book to answer even the most esoteric questions. And delights in doing so - that's the best part.

Niall is especially enamored of the library right now, and often spends much of his Extended Day time next door at the library browsing and reading books, or discussing important topics with Nancy. He enjoys looking up his name in the library catalog and seeing how many books he has "published" and added to the library - 18 at last count, I think.

Nancy catalogs and adds to the library any book that a student authors, from the youngest class to the oldest. Some years, and in some classrooms, creating and delivering books to Nancy for addition to the school's book collection is an absorbing and very productive activity. Usually the books are handmade, but one year, Niall and I created a Shutterfly book about our family camping trip to Ft. Flagler and he couldn't wait to add it to the library. Cory just checked it out a few weeks ago. :-)