Rites of Passage

Who knows The Kick?
Some things you do in life are signs of getting older...rites of passage if you will. You know...like riding a bike...ordering off the adult menu for the first time...staying at home by yourself... In my family, there was a certain aunt (who shall remain nameless but I believe she is a reader of this blog) who is very petite in stature. Some might say she's little, some might even call her short, but most definitely you could call her petite. When I was little, it was always a big thing to see if you were taller than Aunt Lisa (remember, we always change names here at ellaandluke.blogspot.com) cause Aunt Lisa is like 4'10", maybe 4'11" on a good day. A really good day.



Recently, I taught Ella a skill that will carry her thru her tween, teen, and adult years. Something that all ladies should know. That's right. That's right. I call it "The Kick."



"The Kick?"



Yes, The Kick. When you go to the bathroom in a public place like a restaurant or whatever, who wants to touch the handle to flush? Certainly, not I. Who knows when the last time was the restroom itself was cleaned let alone who knows how long it's been since the bathroom cleaner thought to take a can of Lysol and spray down those nasty, germy little handles. That's when you take your foot and kick at the handle to get it to flush so you don't have to take your hand and touch whatever it is that we don't want to think about being on the handle.




We were in the restroom the other day and I was getting ready to do The Kick after Ella went potty. She asked me to stand back. I then saw her stand on one foot and fling the other at the flusher. She watched her peeps go down the drain while saying "See ya, Peeps!" Then gave me a high five and yelled "Score!"



That's my baby!

Jeff the Ref! Jeff the Ref!

A couple weeks ago, we all decided to go to a basketball game. Uncle Jeffy is a basketball referree mostly in Columbus but occasionally, he comes to local schools and does his thing. I tried to get an action shot of Uncle Jeffy running but he was so fast all the photos were blurry (for those of you who know him, you know this is a huge fabrication).

The kids had a great time chanting "Jeff the Ref!" or "Jeff-er-eeee." Luke had a good time eating all the great food available to him.

Christmas Play At Our Church

Here's Joseph...just chillin' til those three dudes get here with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh

One of these thespians decided not to perform...he's the resistent looking one on the left.

The happy couple.

See no evil, eat no evil, drink no evil.....or something like that.....

Last weekend, Myles and Ella played Joseph and Mary in our church play. Luke was supposed to be a shepherd but refused. I think he was holding out to get a better contract/more money. There were two performances because our church is linked with another small church in the area. The other church had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party complete with cake and punch after their service which, of course, we stayed for.

The video above shows basically what the kids did the entire time the play was going on because they had no lines. Their job was basically just to sit there. If you can't tell, Myles is trying to hold Ella's hand and she is resisting. She decided to get him back by tickling him.

Good times.

How very Lady and the Tramp of us

You may remember that KiKi made an appearance (or shall I say, "decided to adopt us") last spring. We'll be officially making her a member of our family tonight. Her Christmas present from the kids is a collar. Ella and Luke both picked it out and are crazy excited to give it to her.

Here she is in one of her favorite spots...our bathroom sink.

Christmas Program

The kids did their Christmas program at the pre-school last night. Luke is the one in the middle waving during the song. What a ham.

A year in review

Here are the blogposts I found most interesting all year long. Enjoy! Click on the month to see the featured post. A couple months required more than one.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July part 1

July part 2

August part 1

August part 2

September

October

November

December

Santa and Sculptures and Vomit (Oh, my!)

This part was good. The ice sculptures looked great in our town square.

I didn't know that a Festival experience could be so bad yet somehow it was. For the past three years, our town has held a Christmas festival. You may remember the great fun from this , this, or even this post. This year's billing promised great fun: Free pictures with Santa, a parade, live reindeer, free horse drawn carriage rides, turkey bowling, choirs singing. All of the exciting events from last year and more. The family was stoked.

This year...not so much fun was had. They changed up the parade route (not a big deal but we had staked out the perfect spot for the previous year's route). There was much candy tossed from the parade participants (always a plus--who doesn't like candy tossed at a parade??). The parade started at about 12 or 12:05 and last maybe 15 minutes culminating with the big guy himself making an appearance on a fire truck. Good times, right? Here's where it went horribly wrong.

The program said that they would be doing pictures with Santa starting at 1. Seeing as they finished the parade at about 20 after 12, surely they wouldn't make the kids wait outside in 25 degree cold, right?

Oh, surely they would and surely they did.

There he is!! There he is!!

We can see you in there Santa. Why won't you let us in??

Now I wouldn't have minded a 10-15 minute wait. I can understand that Santa may need to get off the truck, go inside, freshen up, go to the bathroom, get set up, etc. Do you know how not cool it is to let a huge group of kids watch Santa get off the firetruck, go into the bank, and then make them wait 40 minutes in 25 degree weather to see him? NOT COOL AT ALL. You're probably saying to yourself "Why not just leave and go home?" Do you know how hard it is to tell a child that although you have written a letter to Santa and can see him in the window of the bank, you're not staying to see him? We tried to convince the kids a few times to go home because it was too cold and it was too long of a wait. There were many tears shed that day and not just from my kids.

At about 5 after 1, the bank opened their doors. We got in there and as Robin lifted Chase out of his stroller, he projectile vomited all over her and the carpet at the bank. I try not to diss on a free service like having Santa there and getting your picture taken with him because it is a nice thing for the bank to do. Would it have killed them to open up the bank early to get people out of the cold? Call me an idealist but I'm going to go with no.

What about the reindeer and the horse drawn carriage rides, you say? They didn't come until 2 and 4, respectively. The worst part about the entire thing was that our town missed a golden opportunity to drum up some Christmas business for local merchants by making the events in more of a rapid succession to encourage people to stay, shop around, and just have a good time. Last year when I drove through town during the Festival, there were lots of people just walking around, hanging out, and just having a good time. This year I came through in what was supposed to be the middle of the festival and saw maybe 50 people. What were those 50 people doing you ask? They were standing and watching what I'm assuming were their children in their little church choir.

It was a memory. Can't say it was a good one but it was a memory, for sure. What a disapointment.

Paybacks are a mother

Where were my donut holes? I'd like a donut hole. Guys, what happened to "sharing is caring"?

So Robin thought it would be funny after Halloween to load up my kids with big sacks of candy corn. Funny, Rob. Real.Funny.

It was my turn to bring the snack for Monday school. Ella had decided she wanted to take donut holes as the treat. I bought 6 boxes of donut holes because I didn't know how much to buy (who can predict how much a kid will eat?? Not I). I ended up with 2 full boxes of donuts left. I certainly don't want to take all those home. What could I do with all of those?? Hmmm...

I always pick Myles and Ella up from Monday school and take him back to his house. I decided this would be a good opportunity to get back at Robin and use my donuts for evil rather than for good (is there really any other use for them?). We drove to Myles' house. Once we got there I told Myles to get out of the car. I then placed an unopened box of donuts into his Monday school bag. I pulled him aside and told him that he had 2 options. 1.) He could walk into the house, tell his Mom he had donuts to share, then share them with all who would like one. 2.) He could walk into the house, not tell his Mom he had donuts to share, put the box into his play fridge, and partake of the donuts whenever he wanted. I told him it was his choice.

Let's just say he chose the latter.

Glitter-tastic

I just mailed out my Christmas cards today. I learned a very important lesson this year with regards to choosing cards. While glittery cards look pretty, they are a pain in the you-know-what when trying to sign them, insert pictures, etc. They are very glittery and got all over me, the couch, the pen, EVERYTHING! I'm pretty sure the pictures I put in the cards will come out glittery, too.

Note to self: nix the glitter for next year.

Mean Girl

I try to ask Ella about her day at Pre-K on Tuesdays and Fridays so I can feel like I'm keeping up and if she gets in a habit of talking to me now maybe that will carry on into her scary teen years--a girl can dream, right?

A month ago or so, Ella said that there was a girl in her class that pushed her. We'll call her Casey. I asked Ella what happened. She said they were standing in line and the kid behind Casey pushed her and then Casey pushed Ella.

I'm not entirely certain that Casey wasn't just playing around but Ella did not like it at all.

Sometimes I'll try to see how Casey is just to see if she's a bully or if it was just the kids all playing around. Ella just usually shrugs her shoulders and says that she didn't hang around Casey that day so she doesn't know how she is. I asked Ella the other day how Casey was and she said "Mommy, I don't like to be around Casey. She's a mean girl and I don't want to be around her."

Who knew my kid would be so intuitive? Clearly Casey will be getting coal in her stocking this year.

There's no business like show business

If my readers have nothing else to do next Tuesday (12/16), feel free to drop by E and L's very first pre-school Christmas program. Starts at 7 and seating may be limited. It's sure to be a yule log full o' fun.

If my readers have nothing else to do next Sunday (12/21), feel free to drop by our church to watch E and L and Myles in our Christmas play. E will be playing the role of Mary and Myles will be Joseph. Luke will be lucky if he can stand still long enough to be called participant. Ella's baby doll aka Baby Annabelle will be playing the role of Baby Jesus.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, part 2

So I decided (I would say "we" as in Aron and I but he was only minimally on board with this idea) Santa would get E and L a Wii for Christmas. They seem to enjoy it when they play it at MyMy's house (well, they enjoy it when they can wrestle it away from Uncle Jeffy, that is) so why not?

I decided the Tuesday before Thanksgiving that we would buy the Wii. I called 10 bazillion different stores and no one had one. I looked online at 10 bazillion different stores and no one had any in stock. I found one place that had them but I had to buy it as part of a bundle of accessories and games to the point that it was $500.

Um, thanksbutnothanks.

I decided to call my local handy dandy Radio Shack. (This is where you think I'm going to say that they had them but, alas, you would be horribly mistaken, my friend.). However, the Radio Shack guy was kind enough to use whatever powers he has to check online at his competitors to see if they have them. He found a store at a mall that has very little business about 15 minutes away from my house. This was great but I was at work. From work, it's about 60 minutes away. So I called the store and they said they did, indeed, have 3 Wiis in stock but no, they could not hold one for me. My work friends kept trying to convince me that I needed to immediately leave work to go and get one. I resisted. I did end up leaving an hour early to go because I would have to take an alternate route home that takes longer and is known to have bad traffic congestion at the time I leave work.

I got to the store (a Game Stop for those of you who might need it), walked in and said "Hey, I'd like a Wii, please." The sales guy looked at me and said in a very hushed tone "It's in the back I'll get it for you." I said Ok and went on my merry way looking at the games available on the wall. The guy came back out and said in an excited whisper "I have the Wii behind the counter when you are ready." Again I said Ok and kept looking at the games. A different sales person came up beside me and said "Hi, can I help you find any games?" I said No thanks, I'm just trying to think about it. She then said in an equally hushed tone "We have the Wii behind the counter when you are ready." At this point, I felt a little weird. I kept waiting for them to tell me the eagle has landed or something equally as cryptic. Again I said Ok. I finally decided on a game so I went to the counter and said "I'd like this and you also have a Wii for me." The guy closed his eyes and nodded slowly. I tried to make conversation with the sales person and said "Hey these things are hard to find. How many do you have left?" The guy then told me (no I'm not making this up) "I cannot disclose that." I didn't know what to say so I just paid for it. The guy then tells me that he will be double wrapping the bag. I said ok. He then suggested to me that if I'm going to take my Wii out to the car that I put it in the trunk and not my back seat so that the window doesn't get busted out.

Dude, I just wanted a stupid Wii for my kids and ended up feeling like I was a part of a drug deal or something.

Yikers.

Sorry Charlie

Super sorry about the complete lack of blogging lately. We haven't done anything really notable in the last couple weeks, thus, I had a lack of material.

How is this fair?

So my foot has been ouchy lately. Turns out that I got plantar fasciitis and a heel spur from the marathon.

Darn you, Marathon!!