December 3
The girls had their pizza party yesterday for their fundraising prize for the fun run. They also found out that they raised enough to go in the limo ride as well with their principal and 10 other kids. Last night, Jada and I got to go on a date. Since today was a teacher work day, the girls didn't have school, so they stayed the night with friends who have kids the same age. It was very nice of the family to do that for us. We had a super fancy dinner at the New Seasons Market (less than $7 for both of our meals together. I'm a big spender. Can you believe someone actually married me?), and then we went over to the theater to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. The cinema wasn't busy at all which was nice. Of course, it was just a Thursday night two weeks after the opening so I suppose it was expected. We both enjoyed it. We liked the character pieces. We also were able to go to an early enough showing that we didn't get home too late.
Jada spent the morning at school, and she picked the girls up around lunch time. In the afternoon, the girls had a group piano lesson in preparation for this weekend's performances. Then they headed over to their favorite art studio to meet some friends. Ellen decorated refrigerator magnets, Phoebe glazed an ornament and Jada used collage paper to decoupage a cardboard bauble ornament. I had dinner waiting for them when they returned.
December 5
Saturday was a day full of things to do. I went over to the school early to help setup for the practice chess tournament. They had 4 schools there. The girls each played several games. Ellen won a couple games, but she also played a lot of stiff competition. She seemed to be having fun even in losing. Phoebe had fun, but didn't win any of the matches she played . She had 1 draw. That was different this year. They usually played a lot more draws. They don't get to go to chess club both days each week this year because one of the days conflicts with piano. In the afternoon we had to drive down to Linn-Benton College in Albany to take Ellen for her state recital for ensemble. It was also the day of the big Civil War game between OSU and U of O. Luckily, that game was already started by the time we had to drive south on I-5 so we had smooth sailing whereas earlier in the day it had been a parking lot. Ellen and her partner Sahana did a great job on their piece, "In the Hall of the Mountain King." They got to play on a 9 foot concert Steinway grand piano. There was more variety this year. There was a trio of piano, cello, and violin, and there was even one piece where 3 people squeezed onto the same piano to play. There were some nice performances, and everyone got their medals and certificates afterwards. We went and got dinner at Red Robin in Albany along with the depressed Beaver fans. The restaurant was awash in a sea of orange and black which are the Beaver's colors. It made sense because the game was played nearby in Corvallis. The traffic getting home wasn't horrible. The I-5 was full but moving until we got close to Portland where traffic started backing up again. We got home right around bed time, and we put the girls to bed as soon as possible.
Today we slept in more or less. When we visited Gramma this morning, the girls' piano playing sparked an impromptu concert with people coming in to listen. There was even a woman who decided to play a song too with one someone singing along. We went to Ellen and Phoebe's holiday recital in the afternoon. We had been worried about how well they would do because they still had some sections that weren't quite ready for an audience yet after only working with the material for 4 weeks. However, they did great. Better than some of the older kids who had the same amount of time with similar music. They both wore their new dresses that are all sparkly. Phoebe was about 6th in the proceedings playing "Santa Clause is coming to Town" and "Silent Night". Ellen has moved to the big kid row now. She played "Joy to the World" and "Away in the Manger". The recital was done by 3pm so it only ended up being 1.5 hours this year. Of course, six kids couldn't make it today, so that would have made it closer to the normal 2 hours. Since I had to miss my guitar lesson for the recital, I practiced until dinner. We tried to get Phoebe to practice a little bit, and she did between fit of complaining. If we could just get her to focus, she could do anything. For the few moments she wasn't telling me how she couldn't do it or didn't want to do, she did a great job.
Jada made chili for dinner. yummy.
December 11
It was a rainy week here in Oregon. On Wednesday, my back started to hurt after going to the gym, playing basketball, and riding my bike to work in the morning. By the time I got home, my back was quite stiff from sitting too much during the day. By Thursday morning, I could barely move, and my torso was quite visibly listing to the left. I went in to work anyway since my chiropractor is very close by. I was able to get an appointment for around lunch time, so after spending an excruciating morning in meetings trying to get my back to loosen up, I got straightened out. My muscles were still quite perturbed, though. We had an offsite team building playing laser tag in the afternoon. I stayed for lunch but went home to ice my back afterwards. I lay on the floor most of the afternoon stretching and icing. We had a holiday concert at the girls' school where their classes got up to sing their holiday songs. Phoebe's was first at 6pm. Each was 25 minutes long, so I was able to sit uncomfortably for each and take a break walking around between 2nd and 4th grades. The girls were both singing loudly. Phoebe was very concerned about making sure that anyone from her class who came in late made it up to the stage on time. She was dancing and getting into it from the front row. I heard from one of the mom's who'd seen them practice earlier that Phoebe was the only one who could remember all the words to Frosty the Snowman. During Phoebe's performance, Ellen and some of her friends sat together somewhere behind us like big kids. Ellen's grade did some of the same songs, but they had some differences and some alternate versions of songs. Ellen got to be one of the 2 kids to hold the jingle bell stick during Jingle Bells because of her natural rhythm from piano. The other girl is also a piano player. When they were singing looking at their booklets with words in them, Ellen looked like the only one who didn't actually need to look at them. All I could see from the audience was a stage full of red and green booklets with hair sticking over the top, and then there was Ellen with hers open but not over her face. We got home late.
On Friday, I stayed home from work to try to attend meetings while taking care of my back. I was able to perch my laptop on the ledge near our front door for a while and use my headset. However, that got difficult after a while. I was able to walk laps around the house while attending some of the meetings, and I lay on the floor with ice for others. By noon, I was exhausted from not sleeping much overnight. I actually fell asleep with ice on my back while lying on the floor at one point. Jada took the girls to her staff Christmas party after school.
Saturday Ellen had a birthday party at a friend's house while we went over to our friend's house for her son's first birthday party. Her nieces were there too so Phoebe had someone to play with. She also made a bunch of ornaments. I lay down in the room with the makings for the decorations for a bit. Then we went to pick up Ellen. She had made a gingerbread homestead and an apron. She had a whole story for the houses. I video'd her talk about them before we put it in the garbage. We couldn't keep it anywhere out or the cat would get it, and we didn't want it in their rooms to tempt them (or us). We went out to eat at the Fresh Grill, the diner that had gone out of business last year. They have a great new location in a shopping mall. They had lots of people there, and the same menu and great food as before. Jada made the batter for one of the sets of holiday cookies we'll be making to pass out this year.
December 12
Not a lot today. I spent a lot of time on the floor again, but I still got all the laundry done. We went over to Gramma's in the afternoon for the facility's holiday open house. They had a nice buffet of food, and they had hired someone to play the piano. Phoebe heard one of the songs that she had learned over the year, so she went over to talk to him. She somehow convinced him to let her play one of her memorized pieces. This from a kid we can hardly get to even start her practice. Just before I put the girls to bed, I made my peanut butter balls for our holiday cookie selection. We'll finish them off tomorrow night. We also got all the holiday cards sealed and ready for the mail. We completed the present wrapping and Jada will send the box tomorrow.
December 18
Before we were able to send off the big box of gifts, I created a couple DVD's that contained all the pictures and journals from the year (except this one, of course...I bet I do that every year, so no one has backups of December. I guess I should start just including the December of the previous year). Jada and I also finished making our cookies Monday night. I had done the balls and had them chilling in the fridge overnight. I made a small batch of balls completely covered with chocolate, but the majority were the buckeye balls. Jada made her chocolate crinkles too so she could give out the plates of cookies to her parent volunteers, the kids' teachers, the office staff, specialists(PE, music & library), and her kindergarten colleagues. Tuesday night I had a massage appointment. I felt great after I got off the table. Unfortunately, I had to drive home, so everything was back to the start by the time I got home which was very disappointing.
There were other last week of school activities before the break things going on, but I don't know all of them. I know one day the second grade teachers created a Polar Express event, including train tickets, the principal dressed up as the conductor and hot chocolate and cookies during a viewing of the movie. On Friday, there was a sing-along assembly, then each grade had a "snowball fight" in the gym as part of their music/PE class. The students are grouped into four teams, build forts out of the PE mats, and use large puffball "snowballs" to attack each other. If you get a hit, then that person joins your team. It goes on in this manner until the time runs out. The music teacher says kids seem to stay with a particular strategy year to year- collect snowballs, through snowballs or spend all the time hiding from the snowballs. His favorite is the kid who hides under the huge plastic tub that is used to store the snowballs. Reminiscent of the Toy Story construction cones. Another assembly took place before lunch for the fourth graders, called RAH (which stands for Respectful, Accountable and Helpful.) Each teacher awards 3 students a certificate for showing the RAH attributes throughout the previous month. Several of Ellen's friends had earned this honor in previous months, and Ellen had set her sights on being the best student she could be during November/December. She was very pleased to find out that she had accomplished her goal. Luckily, this is not a one-time only honor, so she doesn't plan to rest on her laurels for the remainder of the year. Now if we could only get her to be a RAH daughter;)! On Friday afternoon, Jada brought several of the kids over to My Masterpiece Art Studio for the ornament party. We just decided it'd be easier to do during the day and at a different location this year since we didn't even have our tree yet. They made glass ornaments there that we picked up on Saturday. That night, we went to a holiday party which was fun. There were lots of kids there from school, so the girls had a lot of fun. Ellen was "rough housing" with the boys while Phoebe was in a more quiet room where there was a movie on. We didn't get the kids to bed until after 9pm, and we were close behind.
Saturday morning, we decided to finally take the girls to do the blood draw that their doctor had requested back in March. It required a 12 hour fast, and since they had eaten late at the party, we thought this would be as good a morning as any. They were understandably grumpy not to get to eat breakfast, so Jada and I didn't eat either. We went over and did the draw. Ellen was brave, but shaky. Phoebe put on a full irrational tantrum requiring them to bring a nurse in to help. I guess Phoebe inherited my irrational fear in the face of needles. We stopped for breakfast on the way home followed by some errands. We drove by the local high school to see if maybe they were selling trees. I saw a sign for $20 trees there, and since I just happened to have $20 on my person, we were able to get a tree finally. It's a Nordman Fir which seems to be in the noble family. We got it erected in the living room with an interested spectator in Scarlett.
December 19
The girls decorated the tree while I was at another massage appointment. The masseuse (Adam Parrott Massage Therapy) thinks he's located the likely cause of the back problem to be the hamstrings in my right leg and the quads in my left leg having a bit of a tug-o-war with my hips. I felt better when I got home. Then we watched the Ramona and Beezus movie which was pretty good. There wasn't a lot of suspense for the girls, so they made it through without any problems at all. We dropped them off at Manghelli's to spend the night with her 2 nieces of the same age. They helped take care of the wee one as well. Jada and I went out to dinner and saw Harry Potter again.
December 20
It was an odd morning not having to worry about getting the girls moving. It was so odd that I overslept when I didn't hear the doors slamming for their morning potty trips. I went off to work, and Jada went to pick up the girls. Phoebe is enrolled in Lego Physics through the Saturday academy classes. She's the only girl in the class which is a bit disappointing, though she's probably fine with it. When I asked her how it was when she got home, she gave me a thumb's up and said she has the best teacher in the world. Ellen helped Jada get grocery shopping done. In the afternoon, they went with friends to the Nutcracker Tea. I actually beat them home, since they dropped off ornaments from the party at three different friends' houses on their way home
December 21
Phoebe had to head back to Lego Physics today. She remembered to bring her camera this time, though her pictures were all too close to really see the structures. Ellen and Jada spent the morning doing errands, and all the girls spent the afternoon on piano and/or cleaning the house. I was at work. In the afternoon, I arranged a movie trip with the guys who all got permission from our wives to spend some time together. We went to see Tron: Legacy for free thanks to Intel deals at a local cinema. We saw it in 3-D. I gotta say I'm not impressed with 3-D. You don't notice it after a while, and the movie really wasn't filmed for that. It had some nice touches recalling the first movie, but it was mostly action. It was just fun to have gotten everyone together again for a little while. We even went out for a quick bite to eat after the movie.
December 23: Happy Festivus
We didn't have any feats of strength or the unadorned aluminum pole, but believe me, there was plenty airing of grievances on this Festivus (for the rest of us). I was at work all day, and Jada worked all day. Phoebe had another day of Lego Physics. Jada continued to attack the bedroom to clean up and herd the dust rhino's out of the room. She's doing a good job of it. She is of the opinion that we should maybe have real bedroom furniture like grownups instead of our cobbled together used and unfinished chests that we have now. We'll see. So far, she's emptied out her old college bookcase and given it to the girls and replaced it with one that matches our bed frame. She put it together by herself in an hour! We spent the evening wrapping the last of our gifts and preparing for Christmas Eve.
December 24: Christmas Eve
I was up and at them (Simpson's reference) early this morning. I went to Honeybaked Ham since we thought it would open at 7am to pick up our ham. However, when I got there, I found that it didn't open until 8am. I went to the mall instead to pick up my traditional Cinnabons instead. They were open early. Then I came back to Honeybaked Ham at 7:30am when the line was longer, but not too bad. I made it back home before Phoebe's class. Jada took Phoebe to her class and did some errands. Ellen and I met up with Jada over at Dania to look at some bedroom furniture she had seen earlier in the week to see if it would work for me as well. After deciding that it did, we bought it and setup delivery for next Friday. Soon we'll have have an actually grown-up bedroom with nearly matching pieces. Ellen and I still had enough time to do some quick Christmas shopping for Jada before picking up Phoebe so I found something that each of the girls could give. Then we picked up Phoebe from her last day of Lego Physics. Jada spent that time running in the opposite direction to pick up some rolls and bread at the bakery. After lunch, we went to visit Gramma. The facility was having a pajama party for the residents. They were all in the front room listening to one of the residents who used to be a piano teacher (she's somewhere in her 90's!) play with her granddaughter on harp as accompaniment. They served hot chocolate and cookies for the residents too and sang carols. The rest of the afternoon, we spent getting ready for dinner with the girls working on some piano theory while I refreshed myself on some Christmas songs on guitar. Then just before dinner, Jada read a book called "Holly & Ivy".
Jada served a magical Christmas dinner of ham, mashed yams, green bean casserole, and rolls. It was all delicious. She also made some desert. She had made a sugar free rice pudding for the girls and a pumpkin pie for us. After dinner, the girls opened their Christmas Eve presents of pajamas. Ellen got a set with horses, and Phoebe one with guitars. Right before bed, Jada read the Polar Express and gave the girls their bells while I gave periodic updates on Santa's progress from the NORAD Santa tracking site. We put the girls to bed before 7pm, and they surprisingly fell asleep pretty quickly. Jada and I went to bed around 10pm after we saw that Santa was in Mexico.
December 25: Merry Christmas
We heard the girls run down the hall to the bathroom at 5:30am. Neither of us got out of bed though. I didn't get up to shower until 6:30am. When I went in to let them know they could get up, we'd found that Santa had moved the small Christmas tree that we keep in their playroom into their bedroom and put a book for Ellen and a lamp for Phoebe under it. How he got it in there without waking them up, I have no idea. He didn't even knock any ornaments off. At least he didn't turn the lights on. That surely would have woken them. We had a quick breakfast before letting the girls go into the front room to see what else Santa brought. The girls each found the one thing they had told us the night before they really wanted from Santa. Ellen got a Kindle (which I told her looked nothing like a Ken Doll before she corrected me) with a few books pre-loaded on it along with new socks and a pencil with a top shaped like a treble clef. Phoebe got a big bucket of Legos and new knee-high socks and the same pencil (different color.) They probably could have stopped there, but there were more presents to be opened from the family. They got a lot of great stuff that they enjoyed opening. Ellen gave Phoebe, Jada, and me books that she had written. They wrote and illustrated one for the both Jada and me. Scarlett got some new toys from Santa, too. Phoebe made us all bookmarks. Presents opened, we proceeded to breakfast. We had intended to make a quiche, but found we were missing the Swiss cheese. Rather than try to find an open store, we improvised our normal big breakfast adding all the vegetables and ham that were going to go into the quiche into the scrambled eggs, topped with cheddar cheese. Jada made some potatoes and huckleberry pancakes. We were all too full for anything else until afternoon snack time.
We went over to visit Gramma before her lunch time, and we found her in much better spirits today. The girls each gave her a small piece of art they had made, and she gave the girls necklaces that said Grandma, Love, and had each of their birthstones. They were very pretty, and the girls liked them very much. Jada made a donation in Jeannie's name for the care and training of Afghani and Pakistani women in women's health care in small villages leaving a legacy for her around the world (Central Asia Institute.) When we got home, I started taking the decorations off the tree since we're leaving tomorrow for Sunriver, OR for the rest of the week, and the girls took their tree down as well. I got the tree outside, and Jada vacuumed up the mess. Before dinner, we let the girls watch "Elf" which has become Jada's favorite (like smiling) holiday movie. They did well with just a little concern during the final portion of the movie where the suspense occurs. (Now you know why the Central Park Rangers are on the naughty list.) Then we finished off the night with some reading which brought to close another Christmas day. Thanks to all for gifts and thoughts and cards and love.
December 31: Happy New Year
The day after Christmas, we drove to Sunriver, OR for a few days of skiing. We didn't pack until the morning we left this time since after this summer, Jada doesn't feel like little 4 hour drives for a few days are any big deal any more. The paperwork said we couldn't check in until 4:30pm, but we were packed up and on our way by 11:15am anyway since we still had to tackle a snowy pass over Mt Hood.
It was snowing when we stopped in Government Camp for a pit stop. The roads weren't too bad, but they were a little icy on the east side of the mountain. Everyone behaved as we made it through the forest. The sun was out on the east side, and pavement was dry. The clouds didn't come in until we got just past Bend. That's when I saw the emergency vehicle lights ahead on the road. The temperature dropped 8 degrees from the north side of Bend to the southern edge. It got icy right around the High Desert Museum and everyone slowed way down. We soon saw why in the form of several cars which had spun out on both sides of the road including a tipped semi truck on the other side of Highway 97. It was 3:30pm when we arrived, and we found our rental agency, Village Properties. We were able to get our keys right away even though we were early which was really nice. The roads in Sunriver were quite slick as we took the turn into our neighborhood on Diamond Peak Lane. Luckily I wasn't going very fast, but the car still slid out on the corner. The house was really nice. It was a single level, 2 bedroom house. The rooms were comfy and big. The girls went into their room with 2 separate beds and sat quietly reading until we finished unpacking. We went to a place called Marcello's for dinner after our first choice ended up being out of business. They didn't open until 5 so we sat in the parking lot and called to see if we needed reservations. They said we wouldn't need them right at opening time, and they ended up letting us in early. Ellen had spaghetti and meatballs, and Phoebe chose a bowl of the soup. Soup! We still had time to read before bed when we got back to the house. The girls went to bed at 7, and they fell asleep really fast. We ended up staying up later than we intended watching old movies on cable.
The next morning, we were heading up to Mt. Bachelor so the girls could ski. We were on the road at 7:30am so we would have plenty of time to navigate the road since it had snowed over night. We arrived at Bachelor's Sunrise Lodge by 8:15am. The drive was good, and we had no traffic. We got a great front row parking spot, and we were the first in the rental shop. We got the girls signed up for the 2 hour beginners ski school, and rented their equipment - skis, boots, and helmet. No poles at this age. Then we waited an hour in the lodge for class to start. It was a little windy at the lodge with light snow. Powdery. Pretty good day for skiing with the sun trying to poke through the clouds. We dropped them off with their instructor after watching the sled dogs get setup near the parking lot. Ellen and Phoebe were the only ones with their instructor which was nice when we dropped them off and headed back to the lodge. We tried to find a table in the lodge where we might see them but couldn't find one. So we just found somewhere to sit and have some hot chocolate. When I went back out to check they had 5 in their group, and Phoebe kept falling and needing help to get back up. It's the hardest part of skiing to get back up. The slopes got really busy as the day wore on towards noon. A weekday during winter vacation is still busy. We ended up sharing our table with a dad and son in from Eugene around the lunch hour since it was so crowded in the lodge. We eventually went outside to watch the lesson for the last 20 minutes. The sun was still pushing through, and we got to see both girls have good runs off the Magic Carpet - maybe 100 yards long on a gentle slope. Ellen was having fun, and Phoebe was finding success. They were both looking forward to trying again the next day. We ate lunch in the car before driving off. Easy drive home as well since we left mid day. The roads around Sunriver were melting. The girls weren't tired yet, so they played in snow for an hour around the house before they even changed out of their snow gear when we got back to the house. When they came back inside, they read in their room while Jada and I napped. Jada made dinner, and we let the girls finish watching Elf before bed. At 9:30pm, Phoebe woke up for no reason and couldn't go back to sleep for a while. She woke up Ellen, too. Ellen seemed to fall back asleep quickly though. The house made a lot of loud noise during the night with the furnace and water heater setup in a room off the hallway instead of in the garage which likely contributed to the wakefulness. I know I woke up a lot.
On Tuesday, even though the girls were up late they were awake when I got out of the shower a little after 6 am. We were out the door by 7:26am and arrived by 8 at the mountain. It was really snowing as we started up the climb. The roads went suddenly from mostly clear to completely snowed. The plows had been out already, though, so it wasn't too bad, and it was really beautiful to look at. This time we had to go to the West Village since we were enrolling the kids in the Max5 all day ski school. We got the girls checked in and rentals, and I got my rental skis. Jada and I signed up for a 2 hour Next Step workshop since it'd been almost a decade since our last time up on skis. I got 165 mm shaped skis which are quite a bit shorter than my skis at home. Jada and I both had trouble getting our boots on after so long. The girls had a teacher named Kendall, and they were again the only 2 in the group at the start. Jada and I went off to wait for our class. All 15 of us in our class went up to the top of Homerun which is the easiest run so we could get sorted into groups for lessons. That first leg was really shaky for me, but I stayed up as did Jada. We both were assigned level 1, but since we were serviceable enough we ended up with the 2's. We did 4 runs total in the 2 hours working mostly on turns. I found out I don't push myself forward enough. After our lesson, we went to the lodge for lunch. It was packed at 12pm, of course. We finally found a table in the bar area where we ordered chocolate and chili. Jada's feet were hurting in her boots so we sat for 90 minutes while in the lodge before getting on the Pine Marten lift. The wind was vicious at mid mountain where the lift stopped. Our chair was getting blown sideways as I held onto the arm rest. Jada's goggles kept fogging up and wind was blowing so much snow it was hard to see. We made for the blue run called Olympian and got into the trees. We fell a lot. I more than Jada. (Not to mention the time that he skied right into me and took me down! JP) It took us almost an hour to complete the run from the time we boarded the lift to reaching the bottom again. The snow was Oregon powder which meant it was wet and heavy and eats your skis. I definitely wasn't skilled enough for that. And we were exhausted by the time we made it to the bottom. We didn't want to go back to the wind so we made a run on Homerun again. Jada's knee started hurting so that ended her day. I did one more run on Homerun before calling it a day myself. I dropped my skis off at the rental place and went to look for Jada. It turned out that she had gone to see if the girls were still doing ok and found they were on Homerun, too. So we waited for them at the bottom. It looked like they did fine, and they got right back in line for the lift. We waited again for them to make their last run. Then I went to take Jada's skis to the car and met them over at the rental building. We did a little shopping before leaving. The girls told us about their day. In the morning they could barely snowplow but after lunch they made a lot of progress. They had a lot of fun. Did I mention it snowed all day long? The car was buried when we got back. I had to dig it out and knock all the snow off the box so it would stay open. With the Outback loaded we just had to hope we could pull out of the space which we did without any trouble. The drive home was slow with traffic. It was snowing in Sunriver, too. It was expected to be snowy tomorrow too. We won't be skiing again though. We're hoping it'll be a relaxing day.
Wednesday was spent doing very little. We stayed home in the morning. Ellen and Jada read. Phoebe and I played Lego Creationary. It had snowed a lot over night, so before we went into the Village, I had to clear off the 4-6 inches of snow that had accumulated on the car. We spent a lot of time in Sunriver Books & Music where Jada bought us all some books. Phoebe spent the whole time reading a book on a stuffed horse in the children's section. There were a lot fewer shops in the Village than I remembered from last time. They had remodeled all the store fronts though, so everything looks really nice. The ice rink is completely renovated and might be a little bigger than before. I finally found a sticker for the box in the grocery store. It had snowed steadily while we were shopping. It was hard getting back into the driveway at first since I missed my original tracks out, but I got in them the second time. After lunch the girls played outside in the snow for almost 3 hours. Ellen made a fort, and Phoebe made a "jumping hole." It seemed to just be a hole that she jumped into from the deck. I shoveled the drive a bit more to make it easy to get out on Thursday. Then I napped on the couch the rest of the afternoon while Jada read. The snow was off and on all afternoon, but it was also sunny a lot of the time. Jada made mac and cheese for dinner using up the rest of our ham. Then we played Settlers of Cataan. We finally finished a game all the way through, and I won by a single point. Unfortunately, since we stayed up to finally get through the game to the end, the girls got to bed late at 8pm.
On our last day (Thursday), the girls were up at 5:30am. I made them wait until almost 7 am to get out of bed though. We ate the last of our cereal before I went out to get the snow cleared off the car. It was very light and fluffy. The driveway looked passable as well. It was a "Bluebird day" which means it was cold and sunny. Should be a nice day for driving since the storm system blew through a day earlier than expected. We were out the door at 10:01am to drop off the keys and get on our way. The road was snowy all the way through Redmond but traffic was moving without difficulty under sunny skies. By Terrabonne near Smith Rock the pavement was dry. We stopped for lunch at a Dairy Queen in Madras-nobody was interested in ice cream since it was so cold! We picked up snow on the road again after coming out of Warm Springs, and it got nasty as we entered the forest at the edge of the Cascades. 40 mph was what I was comfortable with in the conditions, but we kept running up on slower traffic. We even witnessed an idiot passing a snow plow on the right. We stopped at Government Camp for a rest stop. We didn't have any trouble heading west, but the east bound lane up the mountain was bumper to bumper and moving slowly all the way through Zigzag. We were home by 3:15pm. I got the car unpacked. Ellen started piano. Phoebe unpacked her bag. And Jada unpacked the kitchen stuff.
Finally, it was New Year's Eve day. We were expecting our new bedroom furniture from Dania, so we had to empty out our current furniture and move it out of the room. I stayed home to wait for the furniture while Jada took the girls to visit Gramma for a little bit before dropping Phoebe off for a playdate. The furniture still hadn't arrived by the time they got home, but it came shortly after that. The delivery guys don't setup the stuff other than carrying away the plastic wrap, so Jada and I had to quickly put the mirror on her dresser ourselves. Then she had to rush off to pick up Phoebe, and I had to start making the traditional New Year's Eve pizzas. We were having friends over for our yearly celebration of pizza and board games into the wee hours of 8pm. I made up a pizza with everything for the adults, and I separated the second dough into 4 parts to make mini pizzas for the kids. After dinner, we played Guesstures followed by Apples to Apples which we had gotten as a Christmas gift from my brother's family. Then it was time for bed as we watched the kids all getting punchy as the clock came up on 8pm. I called my parents at 10pm PST (Midnight where they are) to wish them a Happy New Year, and then we went to bed. I don't celebrate New Year's on the west coast clock any more. It's much better to celebrate it on central time.
And with that another year ends. We hope you all had a good year, and we look forward to another year full of love and laughter, and, let's be honest, a fair bit of yelling. I look forward to another year of boring you all with tales of the Pearson family adventures.
Journal Entry: January 1, 2011