wed, 2/10...day 41

A nice display of watercolors that Cory's class created a while back. Cory is standing next to/under his painting which has this caption:

"This is the snow falling. This is the kid's mom and that is the 'snow' in Chinese. I wrote snow in Chinese."

(Those are a couple of paper creations from Extended Day that he's hamming it up with in the photo.)

tue, 2/9...day 40

After having toaster waffles at Extended Day snack one day, Cory has become a huge fan. He has 2-3 for breakfast every morning that we have them on hand.

I love this brand, which is only $2 at Trader Joe's. Multigrain, no dairy, no extra preservatives or other "stuff," tasty. Even with a bit of maple syrup, they're still pretty healthy and they get Cory off to a great start in the morning.

Niall isn't nearly as much of a morning eater and just nibbles on a half a piece of bread, butter & honey usually. Along with his customary cup of hot cocoa, of course. At least that has some protein in it.

mon, 2/8...day 39

I picked up the boys after school today because Cory was a bit under the weather in the morning. Didn't want him to do a full day + Extended Day when he was 100%.

We walked over to the turnaround to meet Niall, and he pointed out this cool "face" that had appeared on the concrete from the light shining through the tree branches together with the painting on the wall. Two bright "eyes" and a sea creature "mouth." Fun!

sun, 2/7...day 38

The comics are an integral part of our typical mornings, as I go get the paper from the front porch and divide it up between Niall (comics), me (Local News, Ask Amy, front section) and Cory (weather, and "Please read Garfield to me!").

On Sundays, Niall still gets the comics first as I sort through the paper, recycling the mountains of ads (except the Fred Meyer flyer - must have that :-) and saving the sections that we want to read.

Today we had a semi-regular treat of iced cinnamon rolls to go with our paper. From a can but still piping hot, reasonably tasty, and gobbled down quickly.

sat, 2/6...day 37

This scene of tranquility off the deck at my mom's house in Bothell belies a day of running around all over the place taking kids to gymnastics and swimming and birthday parties.

But I took a moment to enjoy the peaceful view, before dashing back to the car to head off to the next stop.

fri, 2/5...day 36

Today was the big day! For going to see "Avatar," that is.

Tynor and I have been working on a mom-and-son date to see "Avatar" in IMAX 3D (that was my dream, at least - he just wanted to see the movie :-) since he got back from LA after New Year's. It meant figuring out childcare for both younger kids and picking an evening when it would work out reasonably well to go all the way into Seattle to the Pacific Science Center where the movie is showing. I get a great discount with a Prime card (from work), but you have to buy the tickets in person to get the discount. Oh, and most shows are selling out way in advance.

With all of these special challenges, I'm amazed it finally did work out. It was definitely worth it! It was great having the time with Tynor, all to myself (a rare treat), and the movie was *fabulous*. Can't wait to see it again.

As we left the movie, the Pacific Science Center arches were lit up beautifully. I don't think I've seen them at night, or not for a long time. Loved it!

thu, 2/4...day 35

This is me! Well...not really. :D It was doppleganger week on Facebook recently, and at first I didn't join in since I don't think I look like anyone famous.

Not now, anyway - but then I remembered that when I was a child, strangers used to stop my mom on the street and exclaim at how I looked "just like Shirley Temple." Since I had no idea who Shirley Temple was, I remember feeling quite annoyed when this happened. "I'm just me, I'm not any Shirley Temple," I would think to myself.

Of course, eventually I learned that people were paying me a compliment, but not until many years later when my blonde curls had darkened to dirty-dishwasher blonde (so my sister called it :D), then light brown, and finally dark brown. The curls go on though!