Enjoying the Snow

Sledding at Sijan

Girl, You Ain't the Boss LOL

Went sledding w/ the kids. Junie after going down 2x dictated when we came home as she began repeating "home....home....HOME!" while she walked farther and farther away from the rest of us, and closer to the way toward home, lol. The other three were not thrilled. Home-made hot chocolate cheered them up when we got home. Secretly I'm appreciative of the little whiner.

Sledding - I LOVE this first pic

The weekend before last was action packed, and included a sledding trip to a park near my parent's old home. Lisa took our oldest three while her friend Chris brought her own trio. I stayed home with Lump, who was suffering from a runny nose and was deemed unfit for duty.









It has become a tradition, albeit a reluctant one, for me to take the slopes myself. ("You have to do it, at least until the kids are old enough to remember you doing it," says Lisa) I felt a bit wimpish for staying home with Lump. Happy, but wimpy.

This year tho' Lisa returned full of regret for giving the go-ahead to the expedition. It was C-O-L-D and the adults involved were miserable.



The kids, naturally, had a blast.

The Inaugural 2008 SleepOver

One of YaYa's friends was in need of a babysitter for Friday and somehow it morphed into a large sleepover. Representing YaYa: Anna, AnnaBelle, Sophia. For LuLu: Amelia.

Friday afternoon Lisa took them sledding at South Shore while I watched Smiley and the baby.

Her's Sophia's Mom:

I believe YaYa is in the pink.

Later that night we watched Meet the Robinson's (an impressive Disney flick - Keep Moving Forward!) then bunked down for the night. There were some issues with kids afraid of the dark, but all in all it went smooth.

2

In the morning, waffles

Once some of the kids left we packed up the rest and went to Home Depot for the monthly kids craft project. This month was a hit - a princess castle bank - and so the line was super long (in fact, a verbal argument with open threats of physical violence erupted when someone tried to skip in line)

At any rate it was too long of a wait so I asked someone at the store to sneak some of the projects out to me. Later, when the rest of the kids went home and Lisa was at work (and after I made a great dinner of steak and potatoes that the kids ignored) I helped them put the projects together.

[note both Smiley's physique and the 40 Christmas cards we received, after sending out 55 (and having several returned for wrong addresses). Not a bad return on our investment.]

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_12

Sledding in Pulaski Park

Every year we take the kids sledding, and I'm sure I've posted pics of it here before. Even so a quick scan of the site found only this.

A week ago last Friday Milwaukee was buried under a foot of snow. School was cancelled for the first time in 9 years, and it was pretty nasty. Lis got stuck and had to dig her way out for nearly a half hour, and my Dad got stuck in the parking lot entrance at work - with half his car hanging out in a major city street.

That night YaYa had a sleepover with her friend Sophia. They watched Polar Express (not half as bad as I remembered - pretty good, minus the gratuitous hot chocolate song) and in the morning we took them and the family to Pulaski Park to go sledding.

We started off on the 'small' hills to the east of the monster hill.

Now, I was definitely NOT in favor of sending our 21 month old down the hill by his lonesome, but  . .

After a few trial runs with Lis on board, he went solo:

By the end of that trip (and several others) he was cold, wet, had a face covered in dripping snot - and wouldn't stop gesturing and grunting to go again and again.

Here's some individual shots. I love YaYa's hat, which she's had for years. I'm going to retire it to my future museum someday:

The worst part about sledding (aside from the risk of personal injury, the loss of personal property such as keys/phones, and the mind numbing fear of both of these things) is climbing back up the dang hill.

It's no secret this isn't my favorite activity, but it isn't like I haven't done it every dang year for the last, oh, three decades or so. So obviously I'm both capable and unafraid of it; I just don't dig it that much. I try to NOT get cold and wet most days; why volunteer for it ?

My goal now is to do it just long enough for all the kids to have memories of me sledding with them. After that, I'm just a spectator, least til the Grandkids come around.

Here's my post-sledding view (and Lis didn't even have to force me!)

Here's Park again

At the tail end of the excursion YaYa wanted to go down the big hill, which in my youth we called Suicide Hill.

It's been largely tamed now; the trees surrounding it have been cut back or removed, the grade has been flattened somewhat, and most of the  'bumps'  have been removed, but it's still pretty imposing.

She's up on the hilltop; this is the top half of the hill

and the bottom

She's the lavender speck in these pictures:

She and Sophia went down together at one point

and Lis took Lu down with her; brave little girls. Here's some pics of an exhausted YaYa, with snow pants coming undone lol:

A pretty good time and a beautiful use for the snow!

Pictures! Get your pictures here!

Figured it's about time to post some pictures of my progeny here . . is

that even the right word?

I think I failed to size the pics correctly, which will probably throw your frame

 all out of whack. My humblest apoligies, but I'm not about to waste more

 time redoing them.

On Feb 12th we took advantage of a fresh snowfall and took the kids

sledding near my childhood home. There's a huge hill in the park across

the street (Suicide Hill, growing up) and an equal sized one right next to it.

This second hill is neatly cut in half by a plateau, and that's where we took

the kids.

And yup, we took Parker too. He rode down the hill with both the Mrs. and I,

giggling each time.

The worst part of the whole thing, aside from the legitimate fear that

my 300# frame will be shattered on the way down, is the long, lonely climb up.

On the 18th, for no real reason at all, my wife made a butterfly cake

with YaYa. Just wanted to show off what a good Mom she is by including this pic.

Yesterday, to celebrate my sister's birthday, the family met at the Ale House,

a bar/restaurant downtown. I wasn't too keen on taking three kids to a bar

so late in the evening (my fear being they'd bug out and make it

miserable) but honetly, it was a really nice time.

No family tension, everyone was cheerful, and both the kids and myself

were 'on'. No pics, though, as I anticipated disaster, not fun times.

Quote of the night:

ME: YaYa, who's the girl that I love the most?

Stunned silence from the room, all of whom thought I was setting

Middle Child up for a fall.

YaYa: Mommy!

Right answer. Sometimes the Mrs. says I don't give my family the

impression I'm happy with our marriage (I am) and for once, I think I

won the day.

Today, we took the girls to go see a performance of Cats by an excellent

children's theater. It (as always) was a high quality, entertaining show, all

choreagraphed by a 16 year old performer who seems destined for

Broadway.

The show started at 7:30, which is just pleading for trouble

(as it's half an hour past their bedtime when it started).

We wound up having to leave two songs before the finale when

Middle Child wigged out, but it was fun and they enjoyed it.

The kids will see just about every musical out there by the time

they're adults.

They had their faces painted by a local anchorwoman during

intermission. Excuse the pics, as they were EXHAUSTED by the time we

got home. Still cute tho'.