Us, While You Were At Work

Alas, back at work. But who's complaining? Not me.

Conferences tonight and tomorrow, which means for the students, this is a one day week. Boo-yah, as they say, whoever they are.

I received an email from a parent of a student. She was at the sledding hill yesterday and snapped this photo. Fun was being had.

On Super Bowl, Snow, and Sleds

The bad news is the Super Bowl. And that ain’t nothin’ compared to the good news.

Eldest is a fan of the football game, particular the Steelers, which is a team, but also the Bears. His love of that team is genetic, passed from Mother, who hails from Bear-ville, but most especially from Grandpa, with whom Eldest watched many hours of football whilst Mother and Father cavorted in sin city.

Aside: Eldest is tossing the old pigskin to himself as I type this, in flagrant violation of various paternal injunctions, and I am as distracted by the tossing as I am by his enormous hair.



Aside 2: Youngest insists that I take his picture as well, and I choose to set his hair on fire to do it.



Aside 3: Eldest informs me, after reading this, that he is a bigger Bears fan than Steelers fan. This is, I think, revisionist history, perhaps in the hopes of a greater inheritance from Grandpa.

End of Asides.

When there is a football contest we wish to watch as a family – and there aren’t that many, that just isn’t how we roll, as they say - we do a pretty pleasant little shindig, with hot wings and barbecue wings and nine-layer dip (well, four or five layers of a nine-layer dip, but I’m not complaining) and lots of chips and ice cream and blankets on the floor. Also, later in the game, lots of laughter, and groaning from mother, as we enjoy the fruits and toots of the bean dip, a happy family healthy as manatees.

The game was fun to watch, the commercials okay, with the following family favorites:

Daughter: Doritos
Eldest: Bud Light “Rock Paper Scissors”
Youngest: “Ask me my favorite! Ask me my favorite!”
“Okay. What was your favorite?”
“Rock Paper Scissors too!”

Mother: Snickers
Father: Robert Goulet

So, guess what? The Bears stunk, losing after an amazing start in much the same was as the Buckeyes did, if with less humiliation.

Eldest was despondent, and spirits were low.

And then we got news that school was closed the next day. Wind chill, it seems.

And yea, the spirits were lifted, and there was much rejoicing. And up-late staying.

But do we dare hope for two days in a row? No, that would be greedy.

And we got two days in a row.

The first day, we hung around the house, eventually driving each other crazy, until Alex’s evening Soccer game got us out and about. But the second day, we got it right, without Mother, sadly, as her meetings were not cancelled. Breakfast at the kids' favorite place – Youngest pronounces it “Bob’s Evan,” and then, on the coldest day of the year, we went swimming. As did everyone who didn’t have school – at one point you couldn’t see water. We had much fun, and then, a late lunch at BD Barbecue, a favorite of Daughter’s. By now, the snow was really coming down. Do we dare hope for. . . no, we don’t dare. But we did camp out in front of a fire and watch Lord of the Rings, or at least the first three hours of it. This could be called irresponsible parenting, but Daughter loved it, as did Youngest, though he hid his eyes occasionally. No nightmares.

I realize that non-teachers might find it hard to understand, but going back to school after a snow day is kind of hard. You get greedy. And we were greedy. As I lay in bed before the alarm went off, I was dreading going back to work in a way that is completely unfair to the rest of the working world. The alarm went off, I sighed, and Mother turned on the TV.

You know.

Just in case.

HA!

You know, as nice as it is to find out about a snow day (or “really frickin’ cold” day) the night before, to stay up late and not set the alarm at all, it is really great, even better, to be surprised in the morning.

Today? First, omelets and pancakes. Then, another hour of the Rings trilogy (Extended Edition!) Then: Sledding!

Mother is not a fan, but she came along so that she could see first hand the limb loss that concerned her. But then guess what? No injuries! Sort of. And who was the biggest sledding beast? Guess.

After going down the hill with me – a pretty good hill, at a local State Park – Youngest wanted to go by all by his own self. Father was gleeful, Mother less so. After his second run, Youngest got crushed by another sled. (We sort of skipped the whole “be sure to get out of the way of other sleds” part of his training.) As responsible parents, we didn’t see him get hit. Mother and I were laughing-all-the-way on a sled run of our own, Parents-of-the-Year Award Number 421. By the time we got to him, the park ranger was already checking his vitals – she was a dramatic type: “Can you move your head?” she asked. “Can you take deep breaths?” To which Youngest responded, through his tears, “Can I go again?”

And now, the evening. Another fire, a Papa Murphy’s pizza (recommended!), another hour or so of Lord of the Rings, and, realistically, no hope of another day off. That would just be greedy. Greedier.

I would love to share with you pictures and tales of Daughter as an indoor soccer star, and Eldest as a star of stage, but Middle Earth is on, loudly, and I need a break. Writing this is the most work I’ve done in days.

Our New Name

Well, not our new name. The new name of the blog - "The Family" - and the new address, as well as revisions of some previous posts.

As teachers, we instruct our students on all kinds of safe and smart things to do. Then, we violate that common sense ourselves. Like about posting on the internet.

Good sense dictates that we remove identifying details from the blog. The generic names will continue. Also, we've decided to start referring to each other as "Mother," "Father," "Eldest," "Daughter," and "Youngest" around the house.

Otherwise, a calm and quiet night at home. Mother is asleep on the floor, Daughter is watching disc 3 of season 3 of "Little House on the Prairie," (with Willis, from "Diff'rent Strokes," playing "a genuine negro"). Eldest is at a dance - with real girls! - and Youngest is changing the oil in my car.

Another family you should know

Do you know a perfect family, the kind you wish your family could be if only it didn't take any effort?

Other than us, I mean.

Kidding.

We have friends like that. The kids - four of them - are smart and cute and sweet and perfectly behaved. The parents never raise their voices. They never make any decisions on a whim, and, it seems, they don't make bad decisions. They are humble and gracious and funny and never gloat or have any airs of superiority.

Don't you just hate those people?

We would, too, if we could. But these friends of ours are pretty tough to hate.

Once, at lunch, a bunch of us were talking about what we had done over spring break. We had gone to Disney, played on beaches, bummed around. This guy, the dad? He went to Honduras to help build a hospital.

These are the kind of people that, despite having four kids - a sizable family this day and age, more than I think I could handle - open their doors to foster kids. And then, when the kids move on, they stay in touch.

And then, as perfect as they are - and they would object to that label, so let's just say wonderful (they would object to that, too - they keep getting better. Or, at least, they keep living their values in ways that are more and more inspiring.

How?

They have adopted two orphans from Ethiopia.

We had a shower for them here at work yesterday. Soon the parents will travel to Africa to pick up their two new children. The mom is learning how to cook Ethiopian food.

Imagine: They have two new children (it was made official this week.) They have not met these children. They aren't sure what language the children speak. They do know that while facing the many challenges of entering a very foreign culture and a brand new family, these kids will also be coping with the worst kinds of losses to the worst kind of disease. And to these kids, this family says: Come on in. Whatever you need.

I find this family to be inspiring. You will too. Meet them here.

At the Not-Babies Shower

Their new son and daughter

Holiday Hoo-hah

We return to post once again. Where has the time gone. Is anyone still out there?

Accusations have been made that Father has hijacked this blog, using photos of Telly Savalis and lies about Thanksgiving to send Mother fleeing. And yes, perhaps I was a bit over-excited about the narcissistic possibilities of blogging. But I didn't mean to take over! Really! Look, Mother, you've got me using exclamation marks.

My rather lame post ridiculing elementary teachers was an attempt to goad Mother back, and certainly a photo of a shaven Rick Springfield should have been proper bait.

Mother, where are you? The public awaits your return.

I thought she might return to post some holiday photos, but, alas, MLKJr. Day has come and gone, and still no sign of Mother or Christmas. It is well past time to share with you the news that Christmas happened, and we performed all due Christmas duties.

We decorated the house,


displayed our new artificial tree,


and created edible architecture.

Mother's fine folks, Bumma and Grandpa, joined us for food-house making. Grandpa did all of the work and Bumma stared into space the whole time.


We decorated the tree; it was Daughter's year to put the star on top. (That the kids remember whose turn it is every year is quite impressive to me.)

Other highlights included wonderful meals and family gatherings all over the place, gifts, a nice night out with Oma, gifts, family cookie baking, brother-in-law beer and shopping expeditions, gifts, savior births, gifts, and things I'm forgetting. A nice, family-type New Year's was spent playing Apples to Apples (gift!) at Mr. and Mrs. Neighbor's house, until Mr. and Mr. Other Neighbors showed up drunk and rowdy and showed us how much fun New Years is for the kid-less. Still, I ruled at Trivial Pursuit.

Yea, Holidays. We all had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas season.

But that was a while ago, and other things have happened since. Mother, why don't you share news of our wonderful trip?

Celebrity Resemblance

So, how much money and talent do you think Universal Studios spent trying to come up with as cute a face as they possibly could?

We could have saved them a lot of time and trouble.

So, How Do I Look?

At last, the unveiling.



Needless to say, Mother is pleased.