Vaca

Wm and I have been enjoying our winter break! Wm went to the dentist and got a clean bill of health (and went back alone for the first time!) Suzanne and I went to lunch and took a walk (and ate Christmas cookies!) Today, Mimi took us to see the movie Sing. Steve took a half day and he and I took a walk after lunch, then he took Wm to his violin lesson. It was great!! I think today may end the warm(ish) temps and sunshine, so I'm glad I got lots of walking in!! Wm has been playing with his Christmas haul and having a grand time.

This weekend, we plan our annual pizza and apps and movies for New Year's Eve. I'm looking forward to it!! Steve and I return to work on Tuesday and Wm goes back to school Wednesday. So the end is nigh. But we are going to enjoy every last minute of our winter vaca!

I can't wait to take the Christmas tree down (which we do every New Year's day). I am so sick of the devil cat and the tree. Here he is looking super guilty after he was busted:

Notice the water bottle aimed at him

Shortly thereafter, I tried to read and he decided it was Schroeder Snuggle Time. He's a pain in the ass. But he's also a soft, warm, purr-machine - which is very soothing!!

And now we are having what appears to be a crazy wind storm.  Here's hoping the power doesn't go out!!

Christmas '16

I wrote a long post about Christmas and then it got erased. So now I'm going to do a fast version. Here we go...

Xmas Eve cookie making

Frosting!

Sprinkle Master!

Cookies!

Christmas Eve: Great dinner (pork roast, whipped sweet potatoes, baked apples, and homemade bread), Xmas movie (Home Alone), and one present for Wm (warm, soft jammies).

Xmas Eve present!

Christmas morning: up at 6:30, favorite present is weird robot thing named Cozmo. Very pleased!

Cozmo!

Wm disappeared with Cozmo and we didn't see him again until the grandparents showed up with more presents! I spent my time hanging with people instead of taking pictures, so I've got nothing. Other than what the tree looked like once everyone was here! It was bananas! The presents weren't the best part - spending time with everyone and having a great visit was the best! It was a great Christmas!!

Present overload!

Even more!

Sickly

Wm is officially on winter break. And officially has a man-boy cold. I took him to work with me this morning and he was so pathetic that we left at lunch and came home. He scurried up to his room and after I didn't hear from him for a while, I called up.

Me: How are you feeling?
Wm: TERRIBLE.
Me: Do you want some medicine?
Wm: No.
Me: Do you want me to bring you a warm blanket to snuggle in?
Wm: No.
Me: Do you want to be evil and disagreeable?
Wm: Yes.

So then about 15 minutes later, I texted him this. His reply killed me.

Here's hoping he's better by Christmas and doesn't manage to infect us with his germs!

Siri

Best Siri conversation ever. (It is important to note that I changed Steve's name in his phone so that it thinks he is named Turd Ferguson. So every time he talks to Siri, that's what she calls him. Because I'm awesome.)

Steve: [To Wm] Are you SERIOUS?
Wm: Huh?
Siri: BING BING. [thinking Steve said "Hey, Siri"]
Steve: I said, are you SERIOUS?
Siri: I'm always serious, Turd Ferguson.

YESSSSS. That is the best possible outcome of changing Steve's name to Turd Ferguson in his phone.

Also, I made shepherd's pie for dinner last night. In with the meat, I mixed onions, garlic, carrots, peas, and green beans. Of course, on top were mashed potatoes. And guess what. GUESS. Wm ate it!! I have no idea why or how or what happened. All I know is that he ate it. HE. ATE. IT. (Perhaps it was because we had our office cookie exchange and party and I had a giant box filled with delicious cookies for dessert!)

40th Birthday Trip

For Steve's 40th birthday, I rented us a cabin in the Hocking Hills for the weekend. We've been there before and the best part is the fancy restaurant! We woke up to some CRAZY weather on Saturday morning that included sleet, ice, and freezing rain. We made a break for it, despite the death-defying conditions (we couldn't even see downtown as we drove right by it!) Interestingly, by the time we got 15 minutes outside of Columbus, the temperature started creeping up. The roads were fine and there was no weather happening. By the time we got to the cabin, it was in the 50's!

Sadly, they got a new chef at the restaurant and the food was MAJORLY disappointing (but still majorly expensive!) We went back to the cabin and snuggled up and watched a movie and played games. But then the weather must have reached us because it started POURING rain. Shortly thereafter, the power went out. And then Wm freaked out. So it was a long night in which no one got much sleep!

We were afraid it would be icy for the return trip since the temps had fallen below freezing, but the only slick street was our own! So we made it home uneventfully. Despite the sub-par food and sleepless night, Steve said he had a good time!! It wasn't the blissful getaway I had envisioned, but it was still a good time! And we made a decision to begin celebrating Steve's birthday on his half birthday from here on out. This cold weather pre-Christmas birthday business is for the birds. Here's to warm weather parties and presents!

Wm warming up by the fire

Very scary spiral staircase

Chillin'

Steve on the back deck...being old.

Lordy Lordy

Steve is Forty! I think (hope!) Steve had a great birthday! Wm and I (mostly I) decorated the house all up after school. I hung a happy birthday banner and strung black streamers everywhere, blew up 35 black balloons and had a giant black paper ball hanging from the ceiling. When Steve walked in, Wm and I screamed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and sprayed him with silly string. Then we had his favorite dinner and he got his favorite treats from Starbucks. He's been wanting to watch Creed forever, so then we (sans Wm), snuggled up under some blankets to watch. And Steve guessed his big surprise, so it's not much of a big surprise anymore. But, hopefully, he still likes it!!

Notice Wm "helping" by eating a snack.

Silly stringed!

After we silly stringed Steve, Wm goes, "I knew the silly string would be fun...but I had no idea it would be that fun!" I'm not sure Steve 100% agreed, but Wm and I cleaned it all up, so he was happier.

Sadly, Wm woke up this morning and said his throat hurts "like fire." So  he may be sick for Steve's birthday trip! Fingers crossed it feels better as the day goes on!

I found a snap of Wm on the spelling bee stage on the school Facebook page. I thought it was a good shot of the action!

Wm on far left in gray

Busy Day

Wm has had a very busy day! First, this morning, he was in the spelling bee. He made it to the 4th round, but was stumped by the word "reggae." Which is crazy hard and evil! When I was at the school later, I told his teacher that I was calling shenanigans on that one. I wasn't able to go to the spelling bee, but Mimi represented The William Fan Base. Here is a video she took of Wm's first word:


Later in the day, they had something of a very early rehearsal/here's what we've been up to performance of his dance thing called Momentum. I snuck out of work a bit early and went to catch that. Wm did great! Here he is beforehand, chillaxing:

Wm is in the bright orange shirt

I also took some video of the dance numbers. Keep an eye out for that orange shirt!

Snow fell all day today and we had at least 3 inches by the time school was over. Wm got to leave school with me a bit early, so we came home and shoveled and had a snowball fight and ran around like maniacs. It was great fun, but now I'm exhausted! Our backyard looks amazing!

Winter wonderland!

Steve's Mega Birthday celebrations continue. We celebrated with Mimi and Guy last weekend. On Thursday, his actual birthday, I have a surprise in store for him (Wm is very excited to participate!) and a nice dinner. Then, his BIG surprise is this weekend! I have been prepping for it all week. Steve has no idea! Mooohahaha!

Steve is at the movies, alone, and is eating dinner there as well. Why? Because he popped my tire in a  fit of road rage/road impatience. My tires are 5+ years old and apparently have dry rot anyway, so we decided to just replace them all. With the snow, everything was late, so while they did the tires, he went out to eat and to see a movie. So Wm and I had a mother-son dinner and have been hanging out solo. But Steve should be home soon! And I will have all new tires! And a giant bill at Christmas time. Hopefully Steve has learned a lesson about polite driving! (But he probably didn't...)

Farts

While driving to his violin lesson...
Wm: I just farted.
Me: Gross. Well, get them all out now so you don't fart all over Susan.
Wm: I farted again. It was like a [REDACTED] fart.
Me: No, it wasn't. I didn't even hear it. Her farts are loud bubble farts.
Wm: Aren't all farts butthole farts?
Me: Wait. What?
Wm: Aren't ALL farts butthole farts?
Me: BUBBLE farts! Not butthole farts! Ew, man.
Wm: [laughed so hard he gave himself the hiccups and had to start his violin lesson still hiccuping!]

Good Options

Wm has gone on his middle school tours! We toured 2 schools: the STEM alternative school that is lottery-based and the Gifted Academy that Wm qualifies to attend. Both were very non-traditional schools that we think would be a great fit for Wm and he (and we!) really liked both. So that was great! 2 good options.

The funny thing is that when we showed up for the tour of the Gifted Academy, 2 of Wm's closest friends were on the same tour! We had no idea, so that was crazy! Wm already has a few friends, including our neighbor, who go to the Gifted Academy. And he will, for sure, have a couple more who attend starting in middle school. It also has a very unique learning structure with kids doing "off campus experiences" at least once a week. Kids are encouraged to express their individuality and the principal was like, "we welcome the wiggles!" The kids are always up and moving and full of action all the time anyway, so Wm wouldn't be forced to sit still for long. We spoke with a student tour guide who said there is no bullying and that "we are all nerds here!" Wm loved that! But it is located in German Village and would be an hour bus ride from our house. They are moving locations, but have no idea where yet. A LOT rides on where they end up!! There is also no official high school tie-in, so we'd be in a similar situation in 3 years.

The STEM school shares a parking lot with my office (it partners with OSU), so it couldn't be more convenient. It was even more non-traditional than the Gifted Academy. Students take super fun sounding classes (such as a Chemistry-based class called Potions which blew Wm's mind!) He got to sit in a on a class where the day's project was building solar powered ovens with which they were going to make s'mores. The school is very project-based and technology focused. The building itself was very impressive and the student body was amazing (and amazingly diverse - which is great)! Our student tour guide there said, "being called a nerd here is a compliment!" Wm LOVED the STEM school and really wants to go there. Which is surprising, because he would know no one there. I am proud of him for picking the school that he thinks is the best fit for him instead of just following his friends! And his reasons are really well thought out, I think. They include: he loves the focus on technology and project learning, he really likes that it is mastery-based (no grades, kids work until they reach 90% mastery and then move on to the next class so all classes have a mix of 6-7-8 graders working toward mastery), and he was really impressed with the course offerings. They have a high school on site, where Wm would just continue. The only problem with the STEM school is that it is lottery-based and only 1/3 of kids get in. Wm came home and immediately filled out the lottery application (and wrote the accompanying essay in short order!)

So both schools have major pluses, and a drawback. If Wm gets into the STEM school, it's a no-brainer for him. But, even if he doesn't, we feel like he has a really good back up. We are REALLY glad we decided to stay put. Both of these schools seem tailor-made for Wm and we are excited about the opportunity for him to go to either! Yay!!! I think Wm is feeling a bit calmer about middle school now that he's seen them. He also LOVED that both middle schools have a very relaxed cell phone policy. I really liked that both were like, "if a parent calls or texts, OBVIOUSLY, you answer it and no one cares." YES. (His elementary school rule is that kids can have phones, but they must be off and in the backpack all day.)

Lastly, just for fun, my hobby is sending Steve click bait articles that ruin something he loves. It's a good time. He seemed to enjoy this one:

DEFINITELY true and not insane.

20 Years, Man!

Steve and I started dating 20 years ago today! 20 years! So old. And Steve turns 40 in 2 weeks! And here I thought we'd be 19 forever! Now when my students show up and are all, "my finance and I..." all I can think is, "YOU'RE A BABY! What!!??" But I was absolutely sure as soon as I met Steve that he was the one for me. And I've never looked back! (Steve may have peeked over his shoulder a few times!) We are celebrating tonight by cuddling up and watching French Kiss. A movie we watched a thousand times in the first few weeks we were dating ("watched" is code for made out like lunatics while it played in the background). Here's to 20 years!

Youngsters and Weird Drew Face

We had a great weekend, where we didn't do much, but seemed to be incredibly busy. We got a lot done around the place, Wm had a friend over, and Suzanne and Graham came over for dinner on Saturday. I made Italian bread and it was a hit!

This week, we go on Wm's middle school tours. He's super excited!! Afterwards, we need to fill out the lottery application for the STEM school. It's not due until February, but better safe than sorry! I think Wm is getting a bit nervous as it all starts to seem kind of real. I have a pretty strong suspicion he'll end up at the Gifted Academy - with all his friends. Which is A-OK!

Unplugged

Our internet has been out for 3 days. The cable company is FINALLY coming out today to fix it. So we've been forced to actually talk to each other. It's been a nightmare. The person who is taking it best is Wm. He has discovered some video editing thing on his iPad and has been diligently making movies with his usual screen time. So he has been busy. And I never realized how many times I just peak at the internet really fast for little things. Dinner recipes, argument settling (it totally WAS Brad Pitt in that movie!), weather checking, Instagram looking, pre-walk podcast downloading...so many things!

Wm showed up home from school with an amigo afoot yesterday. He asked if he could stay to play, but I really wanted to take my wog and I couldn't leave them both home alone...so I was all, "we're busy." After the friend left, I felt a little bad and was like, "are you upset that I said no?" And Wm goes, "NO. THANK YOU. I wasn't in the mood for company. I see friends all day at school. After school is my quiet time." That's m'boy! So we have now developed a code for if he reeeeeally wants the friend to stay or when he does not so I can be the bad guy (I am used to this role with Steve who is majorly conflict-avoidant). I realize better parenting would have been to have a talk with Wm about being honest with his friends and just telling them that he needs some downtime. But...whatevs, Wm is socially awkward and this saves everyone a bunch of blood, sweat, and tears.

And Steve has spent the last few days locked in battle with the cat, who really wants to take the low ornaments off the Christmas tree and hide and/or eat them. He has tried menacing the cat, lecturing the cat, squirting the cat with water, screaming at the cat, and pleading with the cat. To no avail. It's all pretty entertaining.