Highway 40 swan song

If you're not from around here, you may not have heard...

Highway 40 is closing! For two years! Lock up your children! It's mass hysteria!

Or, it's no big deal. Who can say? Around here, it's been hyped to hell, and everybody's in a panic. It's our main drag, and it'll be tougher, for a while, to get to some places.

Like Yen Ching! My favorite Chinese restaurant, and a place we don't get to very often. So, our Highway 40 swan song included dinner there last night (wonton soup for two, pot stickers, Yen Ching beef... YUM!). Allen had fun playing with the soy sauce and vinegar bottles.

Then, we headed off to Tilles Park, another place right on Highway 40, for another gander at their Christmas lights display. We were there on Thanksgiving, but we thought it'd be good for Allen to get one more dose.

So, now we're ready for the darn thing to close. Close already! (Zero hour is 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.)

I'm published, again

It's the second time in three years! Or so.

I wrote a little piece for our Lifestyle Saturday magazine about... starting a family blog! (The last piece I wrote was about fantasy football. I try not to stray too far from my areas of expertise.)

Anyway, if you'd like to read it, click here.

Happy birthday, Dad

The ol' man would have been 79 today. WOW! He would have never believed the computing power packed into Emilyn's Nintendo DS. Or the sound coming out of Steve's iPod dock. And I bet he would have found a way to mute Allen's leaf blower.

Caurie's birthday is tomorrow (Happy-happy, Caur!), and that means it's officially the end of Christmas. So, enjoy the music and lights for one more day. (It's easy to pack away the holiday trappings on the blog. Not so easy at my house!)

Allen gets a load of Christmas

Our Christmas miracle

Laurie called me this afternoon and asked, again, if we'd gotten Allen's Hess truck. "Well, no," I answered. Then she tracked the package, and it said it had been delivered to the porch on Dec. 20. "Well, OK," I said. "Maybe I took the box downstairs and forgot about it."

Then she looked up the shipping order and noticed she had written 121 Asilomar Court. "Well, for starters," I said, "we live at 122 Asilomar Court. 121 is the old lady across the street, who I think is now in a nursing home."

So, off I go in my pajamas, four days later, to check Mrs. Fischer's front porch. Lo and behold, there's Allen's Hess truck, under the welcome mat. I banged on the door a few times, thinking that if I was going to steal a package off her porch, I ought to at least announce it. No one answered, and I made off with the box. It brightened Allen's sniffly day. The motorcycles light up when you turn the guys' heads, and the truck makes some awesome rumbly sounds. And we got it! It's our Christmas miracle.

Cookies for Santa

Tonight's the big night! But, Allen has a sniffle. Rats. He felt well enough to make cookies for Santa, though.

We made our big dinner, just like Thanksgiving, only minus the bread pudding and plus the huge turkey from Unca Pete. Thanks! For more pictures of cookie-making fun, click here.

Jennie's vacation journal: The wrap-up

Well, I did kind of get busy there... A lot of running around, house cleaning, making a list and checking it twice... that sort of stuff. I did manage to get everything on my list done -- except for going to the movies. I wanted to see "Sweeney Todd" on the day it opened. Or the next day. Or the day after that. Well, didn't happen. But, it'll keep!

On Friday, we had Emilyn's Winter Party at school. I was the official photographer, so I got a lot of shots of all three classes having fun. There was a craft project, a bingo game and ice cream sundaes. Yum! Click here to see photos.

Then, after school, we went to get our tree. After a day of rain, it was a muddy affair. But we got a nice one, and got it up and pretty in time for Allen to wake up from his nap. It was love at first sight. Check out the photos here.

On Saturday, Emilyn and I went to see the Nutcracker at Edison Theater at Washington University. It was a nice, cut-down version of the ballet, with narration for the kids. We enjoyed the Palace of the Sweets dances, especially the Sugar Plum Fairy and her consort, and the Russian candy cane dancers. Beautiful costumes. Lots of happy kids. Emilyn got dressed up fancy and had her hair in a bun. Click here to see some photos.

Sunday was Emilyn's swim lesson, then a trip to Aunt Amy's for gift-giving and merry-making. Plus, Brian took our picture, because we were so fancy. And he's so good at it.

I took some pictures, too. Not as good. You can see them here.

Jennie's vacation journal: Day 3

Got a little bit done today... Went to the post office to mail Stacy some of Emilyn and Allen's artwork. She's starting a kids' gallery on the wall of her house in Germany. Then, Allen and I went to the train store. Santa did a little shopping there while Allen played with trains. We also got some more Christmas cards and gifts... Thanks to Linda, Angela, Ellen, Lisa and Emily!

Later, after nap, we went to get Emilyn at school and headed out to eat and to Ted Drewes to "look at trees." What we actually went there for was to "eat ice cream." I had a butterscotch concrete with Dad's scotch oatmeal cookies. Steve had malt chip. Emilyn had hot fudge. Allen was lucky enough to share all three! Click here to see all of today's pictures.

We saw some nice trees. Surprisingly affordable. If we don't find one we like out here, we may just go back! And eat more concretes!

Jennie's vacation journal: Day 2

So much accomplished today! First, as you can hopefully see and hear, we've dolled up the blog for the holidays... Blinking lights and pretty music. Let me know how it's working for everyone!

Also, I cleaned all the baby clothes out of Allen's closet, and made room for all his toys. Now, the corner is clear for the Christmas tree!

We got a lot of holiday cheer from the mail lady today... Thanks for the cards and gifts from Jeanne, Ellen, Grandma and Grandpa, Linda, Derek and Caroline... The cards are all pinned on the mantel. And here's how you know it's Christmas: The hanging of the bells! My brass bells are now up on the mantel and chiming out their cheer. Allen loves them, as we expected.

After all that good work, we still had time to play outside in the snow. Allen had fun with a little shovel, and Emilyn spent time on her sled. Click here to see more.

Jennie's vacation journal: Day 1

Fueled by some tasty pumpkin waffles (thanks, Daddy), I started off by getting one essential thing done: I saved my photos on CD and cleared off my camera's memory cards. So, I'm ready to capture some holiday happenings!

This afternoon, Emilyn had her swimming lesson... she treaded water! Whoo-hoo! Then we joined her at the pool, and I got some time in the hot tub for my back. Apparently, I wrenched it shoveling yesterday morning. It feels a lot better now.

Then, dinner at Ruby Tuesday, where the table next to us featured a screaming baby. Nice. We realized Allen is very well-behaved!

A snowy night

A wallop of winter hit us last night. This morning, 7 inches on the ground at Asilomar. That's a lot of snow! Last night, it was really pretty, and Emilyn and I took a (short) walk and got a few photos. Click here to see them all.

One chair, one glass. Now that's love.

Here's a sweet little shot of Emilyn and Allen sharing some after-school Oreo sticks.

Christmas card photo shoot

My friend Brian has switched to Blogger, and has been using these cool Picasa slideshows. I just had to try one too! Hope it gets you in the holiday spirit!

A sweet story

Sometimes in the morning, Allen and I like to share a snack. If we're coming in from outside, he often climbs into a "big boy chair" at the table, waiting for his Teddy Grahams or whatever. The other day, he sat across from me, in Daddy's chair, and we nibbled while I worked on a sudoku. I looked up, and he was down to two Teddies. He pushed one across the table with his little arm and said, "Wanna save one for Mommy."
Awww! That's my sweet little man.

Quick update

I've not dropped off the face of the earth... Actually, I've been pretty busy getting ready for Christmas. The Christmas cards are printed and ready to go. Drop us a line if you've changed addresses since last year (I've already heard from some of you, thanks!). I also made my first photo calendar and a photo book on Shutterfly. Waiting to see how those turned out. Emilyn is mastering her multiplication facts up to 12 (earning pieces of a banana split along the way). Allen is currently fascinated by Mommy and Daddy's big bed. He climbs up there and spends hours happily. Steve is ramping up for the big December rush at work. Hope all is well with all of you... After I mail out the Christmas cards, I'll upload the rejected photos. Too cute!