You Give Me (Cabin) Fever!

With Hurricane Ike making its way through our area late Friday night and Saturday morning, a weekend of fun activity was looking quite bleak for the Chopin brood. And when the power went out at 9:00 am and there was nothing to keep us occupied, we feared we'd be ailing from cabin fever. And at 9:20am, as if angels from heaven appeared chanting "Alleluia", the power came back on and the cool winds of heaven blew upon us (the A/C came back on). With the breath of cool air came inspiration. The cure for cabin fever...bowling, anyone? And so, Gus, Beedle, Gracie and Dad made their way to Lafayette Lanes for a late morning of bowling. When you have a birthday party at the bowling alley or attend one, they give each partygoer a pass to have a free game of bowling every month for a year. This also comes with 4 free tokens for each of them to go hog-wild in the arcade. We've been trying to take advantage of this as often as we can. In our opinion, there was never a more perfect morning. It was a ghost town in there; it was as if they were open only for us. It was only midway through the game that other patrons starting filing in. Of course, more often than not, most of kids' excitement comes from putting on the wacky shoes and picking out their loud-colored bowling balls. Beedle chose an olive-green ball which he affectionately called the Hutlet (Jaba the Hut's son in "The Clone Wars"). Gus and Gracie agreed to share a hot pink ball. Pink for power! They did quite well. Gus really enjoys bowling. Although the bumpers were out, Gus rolled quite a few shots that never touched them. In fact, one of such shots resulted in a strike. Of course everytime they knock down any pins, they run back to see what animation is created on the screen. Sometimes the pin will cut in half (a split) or a pirate ship will sail real fast in a straight line (a spare) or, my personal favorite, a trapeze artist swings and knocks over all the clown pins (a strike). Beedle's attention span was better than average today and he really seemed to enjoy himself. Gracie, Miss Independent, wanted to do it all by herself, but then quickly realized that Dad's help isn't always the worst thing in the world. When the game was over they made a beeline for the arcade. They accumulated a good bit of tickets (165 to be exact) which resulted in a luxurious prize--a miniscule pack of Skittles and a Fun Dip. They were extatic! Not wanting Daddy time to end, I decided to take them to one of my favorite eateries--BJ's Pizza. They enjoy BJ's, as does Daddy, and they always get to hear about all the times Daddy and his family ate there while growing up. They will surely be tired of these stories soon. As we waited for our pepperoni pizza and hamburger for Beedle, I decided to take advantage of our together time by being a little creative and at the same time trying to have a little fun. I grabbed a small stack of paper plates and began to draw different faces on the plates--happy, sad, angry, scared, etc. I had them take a plate, put it in front of their face, and the others had to guess which feeling was being portrayed. By the way, I majored in Interpersonal and Organization Communication, so this is really about the only time I get to use anything I learned from it--pretty pathetic, I know! As they were guessing the feelings, they had to acknowledge what particular facial expressions indicated their decision (ex: angry face had slanted eyebrows and was not smiling). This seemed to go over very well and I felt like I was for once contributing constructively to their social development. And so the pizza and burger came and they scarfed everything down, I am sure because of the serious mental energy exhausted in their communication exercises. With bellies full, we made a quick stop at the store and the gas station (before gas prices skyrocket) and headed back to see Mommy and James. I must say I cherish the Daddy time I get to spend with my kiddos. They are really good kids with wonderful hearts. Today was no different--they still don't cease to amaze me!

Did you Hear That...

I think that is the sound of ADULT conversation. Okay, so you already heard about Saturday night. After reading my husband's well-written post, it dawned on me how different we see things. What he shared was all correct, but his perspective was soooo different from mine. First off I must say thank you so much to Carolyn for such an excellent evening. Getting to take a tour of the house was so much fun. The new drapes were so well done and the colors in the rooms were well chosen! I know that she put a lot of time and effort into all her choices and the house is beautiful! I must also say I was proud of James for sitting happily on my lap for our visit. After appetizers I was able to feed him and let him play on a blanket while we dined. I heard only a few happy coos during our salad before he went off to sleep. When I say salad, I mean a delightful arugula salad with goat cheese and pecans sprinkled on top of a pear and topped with a homemade dressing (made with a touch of Steen's syrup) and fresh raspberries. The table was set with beautiful initialed china set in a fun gold charger. The lilies set in the middle of the dinner candles were just aromatic enough to enjoy without overpowering the taste of the food. Our Italian soda's were very refreshing and continually cleansed our pallets so that we were able to enjoy another bite of the perfectly cooked tenderloin. All of this while we had an ADULT conversation. Mrs Melanie and Mr Tim were great dinner companions and it was nice to catch up with them. After pecan pralines were passed we enjoyed coffee and tiramisu for dessert. James did not stir until I was on my second cup of coffee. What a blessing! Thank you both Don and Carolyn for a wonderful evening. We were not worthy, but we were appreciative.

When we returned home after 10pm Nanny Wanna was sleeping on the couch with the Gracie and Beedle. Apparently everyone was happy to have Nanny there and did not want her to leave. They did their best to tangle up with her so as to keep her next to them. I enjoyed an uninterrupted conversation with Nanny as well. What a life we have! I felt totally spoiled.

Like (God) Father, Like (God) Son!

Saturday was a great family day and a time for cutting up! The Thomas family came over for lunch. We had them over to celebrate Kessie's birthday (Sunday). Shrimp and tasso fettucine was served and Mom blessed us with some of her homemade bread. The kiddos played while the adults attempted to visit. One of the highlights of the day was the kids playing with various hats and wigs. Eventually some of the adults paricipated. Even one of the babies did too! (See above pictures)



After the Thomas family left, our kids were pretty wiped out, but we saw an opportunity to make it to afternoon mass which made idea of a fairly lazy Sunday possible. It's not as easy as it seems to make it to afternoon mass with four little ones who all did not get any rest time. But fortunately Gus really set the tone for the younger ones. He was very well behaved in mass, and Beedle and Gracie had above average performances. Mom and I said that we felt very rewarded by God for our children being so well behaved. After mass we decided to reward our kids with movie night! We brought the brood to Blockbuster and let them pick out two movies--Mary Poppins and the Water Horse. The kids enjoyed a picnic and got to watch the movies in the living room in their sleeping bags.






Mom, Dad & James got play a few games, Farkle and Ziggity, while the others enjoyed Mary Poppins. Gus & Beedle stayed up for the encore presentation of the Water Horse. Mom and Dad went to bed just past 10pm and could still hear Gus & Beedle giggling. We're always encouraged when the boys get some good fun time together. What a perfect ending to our day!