Good books and Wishing for Snow

Last night we took a trip to the Green Hills mall to meet one of our favorite children's authors, Doreen Cronin, and her illustrator, Betsy Lewin. I have been a fan for years, buying her books for our nieces before our kids came along. Her first and our favorite is "Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type". Last night they read "Duck for President". It was fun to hear her talk about her inspirations, her work (she used to be a lawyer), and answer all of the kid's questions. Betsy drew some pictures for the kids which Daniel loved.

While we were in the mall, it was busy snowing outside. We came home to an inch of snow and Daniel was wild with excitement. Good thing we took a little time to play last night, because it's almost gone this morning. Maybe next time it will last a little longer so we can have a snowman.

Resolutions

While I have yet to write down my goals, I have had some ideas of them in my mind. I did just look at my 2006 goals (Jan 2007 I was sleep deprived) and 5 years goals (written in 2006) and I am happy to see I have made some progress, so it really does pay to write them down. So here goes:

1. To update my clothes- being pregnant or nursing most of 2004- 2007 put "hip" on the backburner. When my hip fashionable Washington DC dwelling sister was here a few weekends ago, I invited her into my closet for my own personal "What Not To Wear" and I have made some progress since then. Old Navy's 75% off clearance sale the last two days has helped a lot. Julie, I didn't buy any turtlenecks!!

2. Work on Nutrition around here. You know it's bad when your 3 year old's current favorite food is chocolate chip granola bars. We've got to work on table manners, eating a variety of foods and cut out the junk (mommy is the worst of examples here). We have a nutrition speaker lined up for our community group (I'm not the only mommy who wants some help), and I've ordered the "Sneaky Chef" and "Deceptively Delicious" so we can find some new dishes with hidden vegetables.

3. Other goals: Be a less critical person, plan more creative activities for the kids, exercise more, go to the beach, continued improvement in prayer time, and buy this Hoover Floormate to clean my hardwood floors.

4. Daniel's goal: To be "accident free" and do lots of art (when you ask him what his job is- he usually says "to do art").

5. Dave's goal: If I were to speak for Dave, I would say he's perfect and doesn't need to improve on a single thing. just kidding. I think he wants to play more Xbox, finally pick out the perfect flat screen tv, and get grass to grow in the backyard.

6. Wesley's goal: To eat more table food and give up the bottle. milk bottle, that is. He also wants to climb to the top of the refrigerator and beyond (not going to happen on my watch).

There we have it. It's a pretty ambitious year, I hope we can tackle all of this!

Social happenings at Costco

Did you ever have a shopping experience that was so predictable that you could set your clock by it? Well, recently we joined Costco and every single time we go in there I see people I know. It's always 1) someone I used to work with and/or 2) someone from church. Here's a recap of our last four visits:

1) A Friday night visit in early December with Dave to grab pizza: I see Christine (former co-worker) and later, Greg (former co-worker).

2) A Tuesday visit on December 11 without kids around lunchtime: I see Hanna (friend from church), Heather (friend from church), then Donna (friend from church), and as I am leaving, I see Lisa (a former co-worker).

3) A Saturday late afternoon visit with Dave in mid-December: I see Tom (former co-worker who lives in the neighborhood).

4) Today with kids at 4pm: I see Jeff (former co-worker) and Brea (friend from church).

I can only think of two other times we have been in there and not seen someone we know. Costco is the shopping venue of choice for anyone who's every worked at HCA or gone to Fellowship Bible Church. Free food, low prices, upscale product, obviously this stuff attracts my kind of people. Now I wonder how many degrees of separation are between me and everyone else in there.

Just when you thought hunting season was almost over...

At first I thought my neighbors had mistakenly pulled their Christmas tree from the curb back into their backyard. Upon closer examination, it is being used to conceal something else entirely....

And of course, they are out of town. Guess they left the dead deer to watch the house.

By the Numbers

Eight: Official deer count from the land of the wild behind us (and that is just what I've actually seen when I've been home)- is hunting season over yet??

Two weeks: Length of time we have been potty training.
Five: The most pairs of pants Daniel has worn in a day the last two weeks.
One: Number of pants he has worn the last few days. We're getting closer!!

$16.47/$31.01- Amounts I spent and saved at Harris Teeter during triple coupons today. Not one of my better trips, but I had a student along so I was focused on teaching her.

Almost 3- number of ear infections for Wesley. We think cow's milk is causing excess mucus problems and we are going to experiment with some soy milk (we've already cut out all other dairy products) and see if we can solve his problem.

52"- size of the LCD HDTV that Dave "accidently" left in my shopping cart on Amazon.com. I think it's a little hint, but I'm glad I noticed it before I bought my books with one click shopping last night....