February 3:
February came in with lots of rain which was fitting because it also marked my return to riding my bike to work. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a mechanical issue on the way with my chain which slowed me way down. About 4 miles in, my chain started slipping. This was frustrating because I had just paid lots of money for an overhaul. I pulled over to take a look. Another cyclist stopped to help, but neither of us could figure it out. I texted Jada to see if she had dropped the kids off at the Nature Park for their camp yet (Monday was a teacher work day. I think it's the only one of the year) since I wasn't that far from there, just on the other side of the Nike HQ. I also used my phone to record a quick video of what was going on so I could show it to the folks who did the overhaul to help them diagnose the problem. I eventually figured out that it was a stiff link. I worked it back and forth to try to loosen it up. It worked for about 2 miles before I had to stop and do it again. I ended up taking almost 2 hours to get to work. On the way home, I stopped by REI to have them take a look since it wasn't very far from work. They diagnosed it to be the link pin not being pushed in quite far enough, and sure enough, once he pushed it in a tiny bit, it moved freely. Jada took the girls to get their second booster for the H1N1, and neither cried this time. We also received more information on a tandem tour that we're considering for 2011.
Tuesday, it didn't rain until the evening, and I had no trouble with the bike. The girls had drama club after school, and it sounded like it was a good day all around. Wednesday was Big Rig day for Kindergarten. We were originally planning on all riding to school, but the weather didn't cooperate with that plan. I can handle the wet because I can shower when I get to work, but the girls don't have that kind of gear or opportunity. So, I rode it to the school solo. Wouldn't you know, almost the entire time was clear? Just a few sprinkles on the way to the school and during the wrap up the event. It rained a bit on the way home from school. I had my physical therapy appointment in the afternoon while Ellen and Phoebe were at gymnastics. My ankle is much better. I can jump up and down on it now.
February 7:
I haven't had much time to update this week. I left off on Thursday. I rode my bike to work again. My legs were really tired after the PT work the night before. It was raining hard by the time I left work for the chiropractor. With all these trips to specialists, it's like I'm falling apart, but I haven't really had to see my doctor much over the years at least. Friday morning, it was still sprinkling on the way to work, but the afternoon looked really nice. I was stuck at work, but I did get to walk outside on the way to the next building.
Saturday was a work day. I still am working on yearly reviews, so I spent most of my day doing that even during our visit to Gram's in the afternoon. Jada got to spend the morning with her friends. In the afternoon, I had to stop by the mall to get help with my cell phone. While we were waiting, we were in the Apple Store where the girls enjoyed playing with iPhone's, and I played around with a MacBook Pro that I've been thinking about getting Jada one of these days (shhh. Don't tell her). They both decided that they wanted iPhones so they could write notes, play games, and take pictures. I explained how expensive they are, but they thought some day they would be able to get the money. They asked me how old I was when I got my first cell phone, and I told them I was probably 22 or 23 by the time I could get one. Until then, I carried a quarter to make a phone call at a pay phone if needed. Sunday morning we got up late. I'm not sleeping well from the stress of everything that I have to get done for work. We all got right to work making breakfast, doing laundry, vacuuming, piano, valentine card creations, etc. I tried to replace the sockets on the stove, and they gave me the wrong ones for our burners. Perhaps they don't make the sockets for our burners any more, and it'd be easier to buy the coils that fit the sockets I've been able to find. Swimming in the afternoon and Gram's in the morning are the only things that got us out of the house on what turned out to be a beautiful day. I finally took the Christmas lights off the front of the house. I wish we hadn't had so much to do. It would have been an awesome day to get out on the quad for an early season ride. At swimming both of the girls did a great job swimming across the pool both front and back strokes. Phoebe might move up to Ellen's level again soon, so we reminded Ellen of that so she'll work a little harder to swim in the longer lanes next time when she has the opportunity.
February 14:
The week was busy. I had a lot of work to do, and I worked late on Tuesday night (rode my bike home at 9pm). I drove in on Wednesday though. The girls still had chess club on Monday night, drama club on Tuesday, Gymnastics on Wednesday, and piano on Thursday, as well as a group piano lesson on Friday. That same day the girls had their valentines parties at school, and Ellen got to have a sleep over Friday night at our house. She invited one of her friends over. They both slept in the play room, and Phoebe slept in her bed. Phoebe went to bed earlier, and Jada put Ellen and her friend to bed around 9pm. They were both asleep pretty quickly. Jada sent me to her massage therapist to have my foot worked on by them too. I had had visions of making it back for a basketball game next week, but that seems far fetched now. He did a good job on the foot, and I'll be going back again to try to get everything evened out. It was funny to meet him finally after 2 years of Jada going to him.
Ellen's friend is used to sleeping until 9 or 10am on the weekends. She didn't count on Ellen waking up at 6am or before which she most certainly did since that's when she wakes up regardless of how late she goes to bed. She apparently woke her friend up on purpose at 6am on Saturday morning. I made them all breakfast, and Phoebe and Jada went to the grocery store so Ellen and her friend could play. By 8am, they said they were bored. I put on some music, and they started playing with Scarlet and dancing. That got them through until it was time to be picked up. She had a basketball game that morning. Since we knew almost all the girls on the team, we went to watch too so the girls could see what it was like. Her brother is Phoebe's age, and he had a game at the school right down the street from our house after hers, so we went for part of that one as well. In the afternoon, Jada and Phoebe went to visit Gramma while Ellen stayed home to get her piano practice done while the vents were cleaned. The dryer vent was completely clogged again. I might have to have them come out every 6 months instead of yearly. The way that pipe runs to the outside of the house makes it very difficult for me to clean it out myself. I can only get in so far with the tools I have at my disposal. While Jada and Phoebe were at Grams, there was a person playing piano for the residents, and when she was done, Phoebe wowed her with her own playing. I put all the girls to bed early. Jada went for a massage Saturday night. Luckily, my friend Matt called, so I chatted a long while with him.
Which brings us up to today, Valentine's Day. We went out to breakfast at our favorite place, and then we went to OMSI for the Space exhibit. They have one of the duplicates of the Mars rovers that are currently working on Mars several years past their expiration date. We got to see an actual moon rock, but we didn't get to touch it because there are no surfaces that are not jagged and sharp due to the lack of natural erosion. We wandered through the Science Store afterwards so we could pick out some gifts for birthday parties that are coming up. I found some placemats that the girls got to choose something from as a little Valentine's gift. Ellen chose one with a bunch of different types of horses on it. Phoebe chose the Periodic Table of Elements. I had pointed it out to Jada, but I didn't think that's the one that she would choose. We had a very light lunch because we were all still stuffed from breakfast, and went over to visit Gramma. The girls both performed on the piano for anyone who was present in the living room of the place as usual. From there, we went straight to swimming lessons, after which we stayed for free swim for about 45 minutes. The girls are so much more comfortable in the water. They don't have to hang off me any more which is nice. Unfortunately, after we got home they were pretty out of control and rude. I put them to bed early. The heat hadn't been working since the vent cleaning, but I finally got it working before bed time.
February 16: (Ellen's Birthday)
By the morning, the heat hadn't been running again, and it was around 60 degrees in the house when we woke up. I made a few unsuccessful attempts to make the heat come on, but we were late for our annual President's Day tax appointment. We dropped the kids off with a friend, and we went for the appointment. We were missing some things, but we were able to get all the critical information through the miracle of the intertubes. Jada dropped me off at home, and she went to hang out with her friend followed by taking the girls over to see Gramma. I was feeling very worn out, so I ended up falling asleep on the couch. That wasn't such a good thing since I was supposed to be making pizza for dinner that night when we had company over. Our guests for the evening were parents at the school with 2 girls Ellen and Phoebe's age, so that was nice. We had fun chatting, and the girls had fun playing.
Tuesday, we were all back to work. It was Ellen's birthday, so Jada made the dinner that she requested which was chicken marsala with asparagus. We opened presents after dinner, and then it was off to bed for our new little 9 year old.
February 20:
Worked on making preparations for National Engineers and Technicians month presentations at the girls' school next week. I'm doing Ellen's class next week and Phoebe's class in March. Other than that, I had my final physical therapy appointment on Thursday night. I'm now cleared to play basketball again. I missed the last game of the season, but we should be in the playoffs, so I can come back from my injury, and pout on the bench when I don't get to start just like a real NBA star! Friday night I got a hair cut (no, I got them all cut. Ah, that one never gets old) and had our massage therapist working on my ankle some more since there's still a lot of stiffness in the joint. The girls had their usual compliment of after school activities. Drama club on Tuesday (along with Ellen's birthday), gymnastics on Wednesday where Jada got a couple of the other moms to help with some class projects from Phoebe's teacher, and piano on Thursday when I picked the kids up from school, dropped them off at piano, and headed back out to work. Jada and I were also able to meet for lunch since she was taking a class near my campus. Friday night, Ellen attended a birthday party for one of her friends.
Saturday morning, we dropped Ellen off at a game day at a school in the district. It was crazy there were so many cars and parents and 435 kids. I dropped off Ellen and made sure she got settled before leaving again. Jada and Phoebe went grocery shopping. I beat them home, and Jada encouraged me to go for a bike ride since we are in the middle of our annual 2 weeks of early spring here in the Pacific Northwest. Great for us, not so great for the Winter Olympics. The rain will likely be back in by next weekend. But for now, I went out and put in a leisurely 27 mile ride. It was pretty windy out, but the sun was nice and warm. After grocery shopping, Jada went to visit Gramma with Phoebe before going off to pick up Ellen. We all arrived home at almost the same time for lunch. Phoebe got her piano done before we had to take her to a birthday party in the afternoon. The people don't live very far from us anymore, so we decided to take the quad out for a light shake down ride. We were really early, so we rode around the neighborhood and stopped in to see some friends who live in the area. We dropped Phoebe off, and then headed back home. I went back to pick her up later by car. We had dinner, and we had time for a game of Blockus that Ellen had received from Auntie Mandy and Uncle Nathan. It's a 2 player game, so Ellen played Jada first, and then she played Phoebe.
February 21:
Sunday morning was Ellen's birthday party at Stoneworks Indoor rock climbing gym. She had eight friends for the party plus Phoebe and one other sibling Phoebe's age. The kids all seemed to have fun, and no one got hurt which is always good. We ended up getting 3 large pizzas from Papa Johns, and all of them were eaten. The oranges were also a big hit. We were done with that by 12:30pm, and it was such a beautiful day. The girls asked if they could ride their bikes, and we could not say no. We went to a different school in the area that has a paved path around the playing fields to give them more of a challenge and a different view while still being able to keep them in site. Jada wants to hold off on getting her own bike until Phoebe gets a bigger bike. Neither had any trouble getting going and staying going. Phoebe had some trouble keeping herself straight, but I diagnosed that to a slightly off handle bar and basket that was askew. I had to remove the basket, but the handlebars were easily straightened. We went from there to visit Gramma. The girls both played piano for her. The place was really busy today for such a nice afternoon. Even though it was sunny, it was still in the 50's, so we didn't take her outside. Then it was on to swimming. Both of the girls have improved tremendously. We figured it was a busy enough day, so we didn't do open swim (also, there was some behaviors that wasn't the best after last week, so it was a punishment). Jada had been stewing a soup all day in the crock pot which was super good. With dinner and showers behind us, we played some games before bed time.
February 22:
Phoebe was visited by the vomit fairy last night at 1:10am, and again at around 2:00am. The furnace has decided to only work occasionally again, so it was 55 degrees in the house last night. So we were all freezing while trying to clean everything up. Her blanket bore the brunt of it, so I had to pile on some old blankets while we put the other in the washing machine. It's on the 3rd full cycle of wash right now. I think we need to go to lighter blankets, and maybe just more layers so they're easier to clean since once it's clean, it'll still take most of the day to dry. Somehow, Ellen stayed asleep during the whole middle of the night experience, so at least that was good. Anyway, Phoebe woke up in ok spirits, but she was disappointed to learn that even though she said she felt fine this morning, she still had to stay home. Jada wasn't feeling well by morning either so she stayed home. I was also a little on the queasy side and spent most of the morning cleaning the carpet, sheets, blanket, and stuffed animals after dropping Ellen off at school. I stayed home as well to try to recover and not pass anything around at work if I had gotten whatever it was that Phoebe had gone through. It's very similar to what Ellen had gotten last year where she threw up, but didn't have a fever. Phoebe hadn't caught it at that time, so hopefully Ellen won't catch it this time. Jada and I both fell asleep after lunch. I didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 2:30pm. Ellen had chess club after school, but I wanted to make sure if Jada didn't wake up, I could go pick her up. However, Jada was up first, took some things over to her mom, and picked up Ellen. Phoebe set the timer to practice piano all on her own. Then we played a chess match since she was missing chess club. I actually won this time. After dinner, we had some games and watched a recording of pairs figure skating with the girls. Ellen is enamored by the "death spiral" which she read about in one of her books. Then we were off to bed.
February 23:
Ellen woke up very late this morning, and complained of not feeling well once she did. She didn't eat much breakfast. But she seemed ok as we headed off to our 7am appointment at the dentist. She did fine there. I think half of Phoebe's teeth are loose. They gave her the full head X-ray this morning. Ellen just got the quick shots which I'm glad she was able to endure. On the way to school, Ellen was complaining of feeling like she was having the vomit burps. I told Ellen if she felt like she didn't want to risk it, she could tell me when I dropped off Phoebe. Better to be safe than sorry. She made the decision to stay home when I let Phoebe out, and we headed home. She was feeling a little hot on the way to the house, and made a run for the bathroom as soon as we got inside. Within a few minutes, she had vomited in the toilet. She claimed to feel better afterwards. Hopefully that's it. I called the school to let them know, and I left Jada a message as well. Jada came home around lunch so I could go to work. I attended one meeting, and I didn't feel all that well. My manager saw me in the hall and sent me home because I must have looked like I felt. I feel asleep on the couch for almost 2 hours when I got home even amidst the piano practice and random crying that happens at the end of the day. I felt much better afterwards. Ellen felt fine all day after she had gotten out whatever it was that was causing the problems.
February 27:
Phoebe lost one of the teeth that has been loose for what seems like months on Wednesday night. I was flossing her teeth, and that one hurt when I nudged it. She went out to have mommy "clean" it, and it came right out. On Thursday morning, the Tooth Fairy had left her a Susan B. Anthony dollar. Friday was my National Engineers and Technicians Month presentation at the school. I did 3rd grade this year, but unlike previous years, I was not alone. I was able to recruit a couple more Intel dads this year. Though one of the 3rd grade classes had already gotten one of the dads to help, so I hooked the one I had gotten for that class up with that dad. I did Ellen's and one other, and I teamed up with another dad for his son's class. The project I came up with this year was making water filters out of rocks, sand, rice, and cheese cloth. We used dixie cups as the filter with holes punched in the bottom with a push pin. I created a sludge out of dirt, twigs, leaves, pencil shavings, hole punches, and water to pour into the filters, and we used another cup to catch the result. The idea is to try to get the resulting water as clear as possible. The classes seemed to have fun doing it. It's always hard to prepare a new presentation and present it cold, but I did my best. I stuck around the school all day picking up volunteer work where I could in Phoebe's class and helping for a while with the Passport re-checks. First grade wasn't able to do theirs on the day of the Passport, so I was able to test Phoebe and some of her friends for a change. She passed, of course. I also got to eat lunch with Ellen and her friends. Jada came back to school towards the end of the day after going to the gym and stopping in to visit her mom. We got the display boards for science fair. The girls changed their minds on their projects. Ellen now wants to continue the work on the water filters to see how clear we can make the water. Phoebe is going to do hers based on the presentation I'll be bringing into the first grade next month on the building of paper bridges, and how much weight they can support. We put both girls to bed an hour early due to behavior, but they didn't seem to notice much. In fact, they both slept in the next morning. Phoebe was awake at 6am, and Ellen slept in until 6:30am. In the evening, I went downtown to get my massage therapy. The therapist made the comment that I'd be a great case study due to all the muscle guarding I have going on from my head to my toes. So I've got that going for me....which is nice.
Saturday morning looked to be very pleasant weather wise. I started the day getting to the gym to test my ankle on the basketball court. It felt pretty good, and I was still able to make some baskets. I wasn't able to push off and run as fast as I used to, but that's to be expected. The sky was mostly sunny, and the temps were in the mid 40's. Jada gave me a choice of either going grocery shopping or going for a bike ride before the weather turned. I took some time debating, but as she was about to withdraw her offer, I got ready to go. Did I mention I have the best wife ever? I put in a leisurely 35 miles over 2 hours while they went to the store and then to see Gramma. The sun was warm, and shade was cool, and the road was mostly dry. The wind was whipping a bit, but not too bad... for at least half the ride. Once they all got home, we had lunch and went down to a nearby school so the girls could ride around the track and play on the playground for a while. The temperature started getting cool, and the clouds definitely looked like they could have rained at any time. However, they held off for us. Jada went off for her hair appointment. The girls and I went back home so they could finish their piano, and I could work on this journal since the end of the month is tomorrow already. We went out to eat tonight followed by a stop at the book store to spend the gift certificates the girls got for their birthdays from the Wiltz family. Then Jada went off for her massage appointment, and the girls read until it was time for bed.
February 28:
February is ending on a pleasant weather note. It's going to be in the low 60's today and sunny. We spent the morning on breakfast, piano, and visiting the Oregon Humane Society to drop off the donations that Ellen got from her birthday party. Then we looked at cats. The girls visited with a torty for a while. Jada would like to get another playmate for Scarlett, but I'm wary. We didn't really have time to get them acclimated to each other today since we have planned visits to Gramma, Laurie and her baby, as well as swimming lessons. I'm disappointed that we don't have time to pull the quad out for a ride today either since it's so nice out. We'll talk about the cat again next weekend if it's still there, but I'm not making any promises. Besides, I'm sure the girls will forget about it by then. We spent an hour and a half at Gramma's. After Ellen finished her piano, someone came over and asked us to stop because the bingo people couldn't hear the numbers. As a result, Phoebe didn't get to play. However, Gramma did give Phoebe a pretty necklace for her birthday. After a quick stop at home to pick up swim suits, we were off again to our friend Laurie's house to see her and the baby. Jada stayed there, and I took the girls off to swimming. We did free swim afterwards as well. The girls had a pretty good day on the whole other than some of Phoebe's usual crying fits. Then it was showers, dinner, and bed.
So that about wraps it up for February. I think next month will see the start of soccer season (yes, in March) and the science fair.
Journal Entry: February 28, 2010