Took the kids ice skating yesterday. Day off for all of us, Emily was sick, Jack had been saying he wanted to go for a while. So we piled into the car in our warm clothes and bike helmets (for the kids) and headed to the ice rink.
I am not a particularly adept skater. Emily and Jack are both better. But I manage, and while Jack made his way around and around, Kate and I went around the edge, gripping the rail as we went. Kate did okay, taking little steps, holding my hand, continuing on. Every so often Jack would circle by, offering tips, occasionally wiping out.
We probably did this for close to an hour before both were hungry, so we hit the snack bar. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, French fries. I got a soda, they got chocolate milk...and hot chocolate. I said to Jack, are you sure you don't want lemonade or water or something? He maintained he anted hot chocolate. Halfway into the meal, of course, he asked to try my soda. And enjoyed it. The hot chocolate was OK.
As we were finishing our meal, Kate put her bike helmet on and walked (awkwardly, on skates) over to the rink. I said, uh, ok, you are ready? Jack and I were still eating. She went out onto the ice on her own as I wolfed down my last bite. Figured, well, she will be clinging to the edge when I get there.
In fact, when I got to the ice, I spotted her out in the middle. Walking slowly along, on her own, upright, near the cones in the center. She turned to look back at me, saw me, grinned.
So yeah, she kind of picked it up.
At one point they had to clean the ice, so everyone was kicked off. I thought they might want to go, but no. We grabbed a seat in the stands and watched the zamboni go round and round and round again.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Christmas time is here
On December 1, the kids started their Advent calendars, thank you Nana. Kate had been talking about it for a couple of days beforehand, and on the 1st she came down saying, "Jack! We can open Door No. 1!" We hauled out all the Christmas decorations, and I set up everything on the front lawn, including the Christmas Pig, while they decorated their rooms. They played with the Nativity pieces, no doubt faithfully re-creating the first Nativity (or having the animals chat together about football, one of the two), and also with all the stuffed toys we have accumulated over the years - Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, Penguiny, etc.
On December 7, we went to the Holiday Breakfast at school, where we ate bagels, drank orange juice, and watched A jovial Santa, played I believe by one of Jack's baseball coaches. One of Jack's friend's Grandmas played piano and a bunch of kids, including Jack, sang along to Carols - Frosty, Rudolph, etc. Kate didn't stand up, but she sat at the table holding the song sheet, singing along.
Afterward, we went to get our tree. Jack picked one. Then Kate picked one, then Emily picked one, then I picked one. Then we actually agreed on one and got it. On the way home, Jack said, "that's what I want for a job. I want to pick up the tree, bang it on the ground, and wrap it up and put it on people's cars." I said, well, I don't think that's his full-time job...he probably does something else the other 11 months of the year.
On December 9, it was icy, and school was delayed. Then on December 10th, it snowed and school was cancelled entirely. We went outside and the kids made snow angels and went down the slide. We had a small snowball fight, and then we played "Abominable Snowman," where I ran at them roaring and they either ran away screaming (Kate) or hit me in the face with a snowball (Jack). That was fun. Then I said, let's go make a snowman, and I was going to just make a standard one, but Jack wanted to make an Olaf, from the movie Frozen, as we had talked about when we saw it. He talked me into it, we made Olaf.
All along, we've been watching Christmas specials in the evening. Rudolph last Wednesday. Charlie Brown last Saturday, Santa Claus is Coming to town on Wednesday. I heard some commercial about, You watched them as kids, and now you can watch them with your kids, the kind of thing I would have scoffed at not so long ago. But here we are.
The Christmas Pageant was Monday night, where all the 3rd 4th and 5th graders would sing songs they'd been practicing at school. Frosty, Feliz Navidad, Silver Bells. Jack got to introduce one of the songs for his grade, representing the class, that was cool. He had a cold and his nose was twitching beforehand, we were waiting for him to sneeze, but he didn't. What was cool about the show, which we watched with Kate between us, was that she was fidgeting and complaining before it started, but once it began, she was totally engrossed, smiling and clapping and singing along quietly. She loves music, she sings absently almost all the time, it's awesome.
And that night they dressed up in red and white and were beautiful.
On December 7, we went to the Holiday Breakfast at school, where we ate bagels, drank orange juice, and watched A jovial Santa, played I believe by one of Jack's baseball coaches. One of Jack's friend's Grandmas played piano and a bunch of kids, including Jack, sang along to Carols - Frosty, Rudolph, etc. Kate didn't stand up, but she sat at the table holding the song sheet, singing along.
Afterward, we went to get our tree. Jack picked one. Then Kate picked one, then Emily picked one, then I picked one. Then we actually agreed on one and got it. On the way home, Jack said, "that's what I want for a job. I want to pick up the tree, bang it on the ground, and wrap it up and put it on people's cars." I said, well, I don't think that's his full-time job...he probably does something else the other 11 months of the year.
On December 9, it was icy, and school was delayed. Then on December 10th, it snowed and school was cancelled entirely. We went outside and the kids made snow angels and went down the slide. We had a small snowball fight, and then we played "Abominable Snowman," where I ran at them roaring and they either ran away screaming (Kate) or hit me in the face with a snowball (Jack). That was fun. Then I said, let's go make a snowman, and I was going to just make a standard one, but Jack wanted to make an Olaf, from the movie Frozen, as we had talked about when we saw it. He talked me into it, we made Olaf.
All along, we've been watching Christmas specials in the evening. Rudolph last Wednesday. Charlie Brown last Saturday, Santa Claus is Coming to town on Wednesday. I heard some commercial about, You watched them as kids, and now you can watch them with your kids, the kind of thing I would have scoffed at not so long ago. But here we are.
The Christmas Pageant was Monday night, where all the 3rd 4th and 5th graders would sing songs they'd been practicing at school. Frosty, Feliz Navidad, Silver Bells. Jack got to introduce one of the songs for his grade, representing the class, that was cool. He had a cold and his nose was twitching beforehand, we were waiting for him to sneeze, but he didn't. What was cool about the show, which we watched with Kate between us, was that she was fidgeting and complaining before it started, but once it began, she was totally engrossed, smiling and clapping and singing along quietly. She loves music, she sings absently almost all the time, it's awesome.
And that night they dressed up in red and white and were beautiful.
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