Sara's blog

Our whole family had a nice vacation this past week. The kids spent their vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Lanz and Michael. They had so much fun that they're ready for us to go on another trip already (well, one of them says he's ready)! I spent my vacation in New York City. Darren was in New York as well, although he spent a good part of his days in class for work. We can't complain, though, since work funded the bulk of the trip.

I enjoyed my mornings being lazy in the hotel room until I met Darren for lunch somewhere near his class in the Financial district. My afternoons consisted of visiting the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Battery Park, the World Trade Center site, and the New York City Public Library. Oh, and I mustn't forget Starbucks (literally on every corner, hopefully Caribou can gain some momentum there). I also did a fair amount of reading.

After Darren got out of class, we hurried off to the train for whatever adventure awaited us. It was entirely a matter of seeing what our fortunes would hold and thankfully we seemed to have luck on our side this week.

The first evening we hurried uptown thinking we had scored last minute tickets online to attend a taping of the Daily Show with John Stewart if only we could get there on time. Unfortunately we arrived too late, but our timing was perfect to get two of the last three spots at the Colbert Report down the block! It was a hilarious show (May 6) and I even got to sit in the front row where I got to shake Stephen's hand! The funny thing was that before the show began they announced that they were doing "the Toss" in front of the audience which apparently hadn't been done in a long time. If you watch the Daily Show you understand what this means... that we actually got to be on the Daily Show after all! Haha! (Those were our lines if you're listening for us.) After the show we enjoyed a meal at a fantastic little Russian restaurant! More good luck!

New York City

Fast forward to the next night... We decided to try our luck on Broadway to win last minute tickets for the musical Wicked. Would our streak continue? Darren stopped at Times Square to watch some Fast Money while I went to check out the lottery process. Between 5:30 - 6:00 people can sign up to win one or two of the 24 reserved tickets for that night's sold-out show for only $26 each. We estimated there were a couple hundred people who signed up. We didn't get drawn. Instead we went back downtown to the Seaport where we enjoyed the beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset and a seafood dinner. I had a broiled seafood platter and Darren had a unique experience with the sauted softshell crab. We followed dinner with Godiva chocolate for dessert.

"I won the Wicked Lottery" as the button says

The next night we tried the ticket lottery again - same process, same number of people. This time my name was called! I purchased my tickets and then, since we had time before the show, we went to look for some dinner. I was in the mood for a good burger and we certainly found one at the Heartland Brewery! It's kind of amusing that we went all the way to NYC to eat in the Heartland but it hit the spot and their beers were excellent! We returned to the theater having no idea where we were going to be seated, so imagine our surprise when our $26 tickets landed us in the front row! (Hint for other novices: the word "orchestra" on your ticket means you're sitting in front... right behind the orchestra pit.) We could see the sweat on Glinda's upper lip! The show was great fun!

The next morning Darren didn't have class, but that also meant it was Saturday, our last day in the city. We went over to Chinatown for a little shopping/haggling, Little Italy for lunch, and through SoHo on our way to hop a train to Central Park for a bit of nature. All of those places are crazy busy on a Saturday afternoon! There are so many different kinds of people all doing their own thing. It's truly like you can see the whole world on that one little island! I love it! Unfortunately we had to come home and our lucky streak had worn out which we could tell by the number of times we were asked to be patient as we waited to board our plane and then to take off. But we finally arrived home to sweet children sleeping peacefully in their beds who, despite everything they say, seemed happy to see us in the morning.

William's been on a bit of a defiant streak the past couple weeks. One strategy that works well in gaining his cooperation is to start counting backward from five to let him know that we're serious. He knows he doesn't want us to get to zero. After these last two weeks, Eliana now tells us what comes after five... four!

We're transitioning to our summer schedule at our house already! Too bad the weather isn't being very cooperative. We've got mountains of snow in the front yard at the moment. Tuesday and Wednesday the woods behind our house were beautiful! The trees were covered with wet, sticky snow. You didn't want to have to drive on the roads, though. Luckily we never got stuck. It only took us three tries to make it up our driveway on Tuesday after picking up William from preschool.

Now there are only two preschool classes left for William! We finally registered him for kindergarten. He will be attending Prince of Peace Lutheran school in the fall. He will start out going half-days with the option of switching to all day every day when we feel he is ready. He has already told me that he wants to stay for lunch, recess, and more activities in the afternoon. But we'll see how it goes.

This was my first week not teaching! ECFE is finished for the year. While I was excited to have one less thing on my plate, I missed the change of pace on Monday and Tuesday nights. I'm not sure what I'll do until September!

Thursday mornings will be a change of pace for the next few months. We will have some little friends joining us while their mom has class. Three-year-old twins and their 19-month-old sister will be coming to play. They were over today for a couple hours with their mom just to get comfortable and they are sweet kids. Everyone played very nicely together and while I'm sure it will be busy, it should be fun! They were even GREAT clean-up helpers (though they barely made a mess and I said not to worry about it), putting all the toys away before they left. What perfect little house guests! Actually, I may not want to send them home!

It will be fun for Eliana to have more kids to play with. She hasn't had much chance to socialize with other young children. Older kids always treat her like a baby and want to pick her up. These friends will be the perfect age to play alongside her, which she loves! She's becoming very imaginative. She likes to play with the baby doll we got for William when we found out he was having a baby sister. Eliana has played with it more now than William ever has. She holds it, gives the baby its bottle, and stomps on it to make it cry/laugh/say "mama" (still working on that maternal instinct). I'm sure she'll learn a lot by playing with our new friends.

Too cute

Dawn and Nathan welcomed a baby girl into their family yesterday evening. She weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 19 inches long - a peanut, just like her cousin Ellie. Although, Eliana suddenly seemed big when we saw her next to Ariella (pronounced air-ee-ella). We went to visit the Legatt family of six, and Darren's parents this evening. Dawn and the boys have been staying with them for almost two weeks now waiting for the baby to arrive. Ariella was born at Grandma and Grandpa's house in a pool with the same midwife who attended her brothers' births. It was good that Dawn was here already instead of 3 1/2 hours away since everything went quickly once it started. We were all excited to have another baby girl in the family. It will be especially fun for Eliana to have a girl cousin so close in age, although she keeps right up with those rough and tumble boys. But when she saw the baby, she was so excited! If I was holding the baby, she wanted to be in my lap, too, checking that baby out and saying "baby." It was very sweet. William was telling her all about the baby in the car on the way there. But when we got there he was more excited about the rockin' guitar that Tiernan got for his birthday than the baby. He did want to hold her when we asked and he gave her a kiss on the head, but that was enough. Then he and Tiernan were off having fun. All too soon, Ariella will be joining them! We'll have to snuggle her while we can.

Off topic: Darren found some fun ice skating pictures on the camera, so check out the January photo album if you're interested.

It's been fun to see the sibling relationship evolve between William and Eliana. They really love each other, as you can see in the pictures. They usually play very nicely together. But of course, there are times when William wants to play something without Eliana getting into it. This doesn't go over too well with Ellie. Today I had to laugh when I heard William tell Eliana to "Go away and stay there!" and "Do something else!" in response to her knocking over his bowling pins. She handled it well. Often she'll cry when William scolds her. She really just wants to play with him. Luckily she is getting more careful with things. Yesterday she wouldn't even knock over William's castle when he told her to! And she is more gentle with paper books that would've been shredded just a couple weeks ago. This is very nice because it's getting harder to keep things out of the reach of our tall, nimble girl who wants to play with anything as long as is not her toy. William has definitely been learning patience and problem solving skills!

I uploaded a bunch of random pictures from the past month if you're interested in taking a look. The past few weeks were crazy with prep for trivia and then recuperating from trivia. In the midst of that we've had a couple rounds of colds to deal with on top of all the usual day to day. But the kids continue to grow and do cute things all the time. Here's my favorite photo from the recent batch. There's more in the February album.

Snuggling on the couch

It's trivia time! Eliana is getting over a bad cold, so we're going into the weekend sleep deprived. Although we'd probably be that way anyway with all the work happening last minute on our new database. It will make it really fun to play from home! So email me or check out www.pullstartdiesel.com to find out more about how to play along. William is really excited now that he's old enough to remember trivia. It will be fun to see how Ellie reacts to everything. She'll probably love it, since she loves parties. It'll take her mind off of her cold if it's still hanging on. Wish us luck, or better yet, log in and help us out! Off to get some more work done in preparation! And then to get a little sleep!

The traditional "box" pictures

What a whirlwind! As the holidays continue to be celebrated, I thought I'd come on here and give a recap of the festivities thus far beginning with Christmas Eve. (The December photo album has also been updated.)

24th - What a fun evening we had! Grandpa Ron and Grandma Barb came and met us at our house and we drove out to "Church in the Barn" to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. What an awesome experience! Dawn, Nathan, Tiernan, Caedmon and Brayan all joined us as we piled out of our van. We were welcomed to the service by a camel dressed in traditional camel garb. He talked to us with his guttural groans and allowed the children to pet him, much to Eliana's delight! As we entered the barn, we passed horses, cows, llamas, sheep, donkeys and goats. Many of them entertained us with brays and moos throughout the service. Babies cries didn't seem a bit out of place. There were many carols sung, mittened hands shaken, and muffled claps. By the end of the 45 minute service, our feet were all a bit chilly (except for the babies, who made great lap warmers!) but our hearts were warmed by the Christmas spirit. We drove home in the zero degree temps to enjoy hot chocolate (with Baileys for the grown-ups) and sloppy joes with Grandma and Grandpa. I sense a new tradition...???

25th - We woke up at 10:00 to a four-year-old who needed reminding that it was Christmas Day. His first thought was to tear off the last of his links on his countdown chain and put baby Jesus in the manger. We all got dressed and came downstairs to see the loot. At the sight of it, baby Jesus and the chain were promptly forgotten, stockings were dumped on the floor and William began chaining candy canes together. Belle was the first one to have her gift opened, since she can smell the bone inside it and it drives her crazy!!! William needed more prompting than Eliana to open presents because he was happy just playing with every new item. I'm beginning to wonder if this is going to be his personality; by age four I expected a little more enthusiasm to tear into the presents. Eliana enjoyed ripping the paper and trying to take bites of it. She got to try her first chocolate, which was a huge hit!

After naps we headed over to Great-grandma Weber's for appetizers, socializing, and the gift exchange game. The game always gets very heated and this year it was no less so. We ended up with a cordless drill (we were playing for the Baileys and family heirloom glasses, which was the hot gift this year) but thankfully were traded for some mini loaf pans from Pampered Chef which I wanted! Darren made a beautiful handcrafted box out of maple and mahogany that was often stolen during the game and was won by a happy Laura. Ivy was in the den playing with kids and was happy to see that she also got the game Bananagrams, which I'd gotten to put inside the box.

When the game was over, we moved the Lanz family over to my parents' house for dinner, more presents, and hours of Guitar Hero World Tour. A fun time was had by all! We had intended to spend the night, but that didn't work out so well. Eliana went to bed just fine, but woke up at 11:15 and didn't want to go back to sleep. William needed to go to bed (our family was all in one room) and Jennie was tired as well (she and Adam were planning to sleep on the couches which were currently filled with musicians), so we decided to forfeit our bedroom and head home to sleep. It was a good decision since Ellie was up until 1:30!

26th - We set our alarms to get up at 9:00 so we could drag the kids out of bed and head to Bounce Depot to meet Grandma Barb, Dawn and her boys. My kids' gift to her boys was an hour to bounce on the inflatables. All the kids had a blast and were plenty hot and worn out at the end of our time there. We had some lunch and naps when we got home, then it was back to the Lanz house for Christmas with the extended family. We had our traditional hoers doeuvre dinner. Then it was time to sing the required Christmas carols before opening presents. Eliana loved the singing and all eyes were on her as she bopped to the beat, clapped and cheered for the singers! We played another gift exchange game where Joe and Kathy brought home Darren's box and we went home with a beautiful framed photo of Clemens Garden that we are excited to hang in our living room.

27th - Now on to the McKeever family Christmas for our traditional fondue. Steak and fish go into the fondue pots. The grown-ups were cooking for five little ones this year. This will be the last Christmas that we will outnumber the children with this group (if the Sobiechs were present it would be 1:1), as baby number four is expected to the Legatts in March. After cleanup is done, gifts are opened one at a time going from youngest to oldest, so this year Eliana got to open first. We brought along the Wii and picked up a second controller on the way over so the adults could try it out against each other playing bowling, tennis, baseball and golf.

28th - The plan was to attend the annual Christmas Poker Party put on by Tommy and Michelle in Minneapolis, but we decided to stay closer to home for the day. We used some soon-to-expire movie passes to bring William to see Bolt (very fun!) and let Eliana play with Grandpa and Grandma Lanz. She learned how to go backward down the stairs, although she's still not too good at turning around at the top. Darren and I got much-needed haircuts from Grandma Lanz after the movie. It was a very productive evening!

29th - That brings us to today. A nice, lazy day of playing with new toys, updating the website, and practicing new skills. Eliana was standing on her own all morning while she watched William race his remote control car around the living room. She even took a step toward me before chickening out. Today is a nice break before the festivities start up again with book club, a New Years' Eve party, house guests, and the RESOLVE holiday party yet to come this week. Next week will be a shock to our systems when school starts up again and we have to get back to reality! But Eliana's birthday will help break up the week. If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me! We hope your Christmas was filled with as much merriment as ours!

Here's a funny for your Thanksgiving enjoyment...

Ever since the parade at school, William has been obsessed with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He has a favorite video on YouTube (which he calls the "Enfeature") that he has watched over and over again. Now he has started singing the song around the house. Here are the official lyrics to go along with the lines he loves to sing:

"Go, go, go Joseph you know what they say
Hang on now Joseph you'll make it some day
Sha la la Joseph you're doing fine
You and your dreamcoat ahead of your time"

Only William's version is less about a dreamcoat and more about literacy (so appropriate for our kid.) According to William, the last line goes "Pick up the books and you'll know how to rhyme." Hey, he's got that much right. It does rhyme!

Sometimes it hits me at the strangest times. Like today, as I'm sorting laundry, I suddenly get all choked up. I'm just so grateful to have all this laundry to sort. I remember the hundreds of dark days when I doubted that I'd ever have any little clothes to wash. Now I'm separating the pinks from the blues and I feel so amazingly blessed! I'll admit that I don't have this feeling every time I do the laundry. That's why I was especially struck by the sudden appreciation of all those dirty clothes. I wish I could have a slow release capsule of thankfulness to take me through all the everyday frustrations. Instead it tends to hit me like a brick once in a while. Maybe it struck me today because I was up late ordering pictures from the last few months and relishing all those special times that we share on this website. Or maybe it was the sweetness of the moment with Eliana napping peacefully, Darren working on putting together our new grill, and William watching Kai Lan on my computer, the whole family enjoying a leisurely Sunday. But whatever it was, I'm happy to have experienced it.