An Anderson Christmas Vacation 2012

Actual excerpt from an email sent over this vacation:

Well, I'm sitting here in bed next to sleeping Brandon, looking out the window at a gorgeous, snow covered mountainside.  Brandon is terribly sick - a bad cold, I think.  ... 3 year update: it was STREP THROAT!!!!!

Last Thursday (a week ago) at noon, I got a call from Peyton's school that he had a fever and had to go home.  So I went & got him but just took him home.  He had no other symptoms, just a fever, so I figured he was just exhausted.  But since he had a high fever, he couldn't go back on Friday.  so Kristine agreed to keep him while I went in to work for our Christmas party.  Brandon catered it & I left as soon as everyone was served.   I was supposed to go to Peyton's school for his Christmas party & I was going to go even though he wasn't there bc I needed to help.  But the other home room mom called & told me not to come so I just dropped off my stuff at her house & went & got Peyton.  This was the bliss of Kindergarten.

Thursday afternoon, we had gotten a voicemail from the owners of the cabin in Antonito, CO who said a blizzard had knocked out the power, water & heat & that we couldn't come.  We were supposed to leave Saturday.  So Kathy spent all day Friday trying to find somewhere else to go.  By late Friday night she still hadn't found anything.  We did Christmas at her house after Brandon got off work at around 9.  

Sometime while we were there, Kathy got a call from the original cabin owner, but she had dialed Kathy by mistake.  They talked for a minute & Kathy told her that we hadn't found another place yet & the owner said we could go ahead & come because they had been able to get everything back on.  So late Friday night we were back on for the cabin in Antonito!   So we packed all night & left at 8ish Saturday morning.   Peyton still had a fever - he had it off & on since Thursday - & woke up with drainage out of one ear on Saturday.  So we decided to stop at an urgent care clinic when we got to Amarillo & get him some antibiotics.   We got there & stopped & it took about an hr to be seen but he was seen. The dr said it was a good thing we stopped bc both ears had infection & the draining one would have probably burst if we had driven into the mountains without him on antibiotics.  Great.  So we got the antibiotics & headed out again.  But by the time that day was over we were all exhausted & didn't want to try to drive into the mountains in the dark so we stopped in Santa Fe, NM for the night.

this is the hill we couldn't make it up

By morning Peyton was feeling much better- we all were.  We ate a good breakfast, went to Walmart for the refrigerated items we needed & got chains for the cars.  Then we headed for the mountains.



We made it to the very last hill on the directions - where the cabin owner said we might have trouble getting the cars up the mountain.   We did the best we could but the Jeep Grand Cherokee (read: city Jeep) wasn't going to make it.  We tried for probably an hour with the chains before deciding to carry the stuff up the hill to the cabin.  It was like the scene from The Holiday (ffw to 1.05).  (Seriously.  Its been 3 years and it's still mentioned).  But once we got everything we really needed for the night it was ok.   The cabin was COLD & the water hadn't been turned back on at the house - which she told us how to do.  So once we figured out how to work the house & got a fire going, it wasn't too bad.

Sometime in the evening, I discovered that I didn't bring Peyton's medicine up.  So Kristine & i suited up (WISH I HAD PICS OF THIS!)  and hiked down & up the hill for it.  We brought up as much as we could carry with us & decided it wasn't TOO bad, so we took orders for a second trip & brought up as much as we could again.   Remember, this hill is so steep the jeep wouldn't make it up.  It's snow packed, not icy, so it really wasn't slick.  Just steep.   

this is the road we hiked

Monday Brandon & I let Peyton play in the snow & Brandon decided to give Kathy's car a try up the hill.  We suspected that hers would do better than Joe's bc she has all wheel drive, but we didn't want to risk it in the dark.  So Brandon and I gave it a try & sure enough, it went right up!   We are all trying not to dwell on all the miserable trips up the hill carrying gear.  Truth be told, we aren't sure hers would have made it any earlier than it did.  All the conditions had to be just right.

So Tuesday was Christmas & I woke up with a horrid cold.  I watched Peyton open his stocking & see what Santa brought & went back to bed until 1.   

Joe & Kristine played with Peyton in the snow that afternoon but I wasn't up to anything.   They packed their car by carting the stuff back down the hill bc they had to go home on Wednesday.  

We were afraid that if we moved Kathy's car back down the hill, we wouldn't get it back up.

They left before we got up Wednesday.  We decided to go into town on Wednesday to get out of the cabin & I was feeling better so I went.  We had a good day.  We looked around Taos & went to Walmart & came back to the cabin in the evening.   By then Brandon had the horrible cold but he thought it was going to be annoying but ok.  

He planned to ski Thursday.  

 Woke up Thursday (today) and he has a 102 fever & feels terrible.  He has this thing about wanting me to sit in the bed beside him when he is sick.  So I'm sitting here while Peyton watches a movie on the computer (no tv here).  It's been about 3 degrees all day so far but P REALLY wants to play in the snow so I told him I would go out with him at 2.  Brandon is due for some more med then & I don't think I can hold off P any longer.   Kathy is spending the day scrubbing the downstairs today.   We figure Brandon will feel better tomorrow & will want to go out so we need to do our cleaning today.  Plus she REALLY doesn't want to get sick!!!!

Despite all the sickness and very weird cabin debacle, it's been a great trip!  It is an absolutely beautiful cabin WAAYYY up in the mountains and the view is spectacular.   It's stinking cold so I think everyone but me has some cabin fever but I'm perfectly content to sit here & look out the window.  I brought my magazines I haven't had a chance to read.

Goodbye Edmond! I did love you!

I actually think we had more flooding in Norman than Edmond, but the snake article DOES say "Edmond, North of Oklahoma City."

This is out of our balcony in Norman in EARLY May.  Way before any "actual flooding":

This is actually the first and most minor but I think the point is valid.  Boo.  Snakes.  I live way more out of town now than I did in the days of the Snake Hunter.  :(  Good news: I live on the second floor.  Bad news: THIS  (In other news: this is in Thailand.)

Shopping with boys

Yesterday we shopped for clothes for Brandon and Peyton and ended up at Kohls.  I was flipping through t-shirts on a rack when I went back to find the boys.

Brandon was dressing Peyton up like a doll.

He put a suit vest, suit coat and tie on him.

And then Peyton noticed that I was watching.

So Brandon taught Peyton how to pose.

And then Brandon said "you're not taking pictures of me are you?" 

I said no.

The Day My Kid's Teacher TRIED to Disinvite Me to the Class Party. Tried.

I swear I was snapping pictures of our life along the way.  I just didn't put them out there to the world.  Well, lets pick up on the very next day after one of my last posts.  I had lovingly made a cute little first day of school teacher gift and lined up all of our bags.  It was adorable.

The next day I dropped Peyton off on his first day of 1st grade.  And, y'all, the struggle was real.

I think I mostly captured the good moments from the year, but first grade was not a friend to either Peyton or me.   Somehow we made it to the last day without much blood, lots of sweat, and some tears.  I know, you're thinking "First grade couldn't have been THAT bad."  It was.

Exhibit A:

The Day My Kid's Teacher Tried to Disinvite Me to the Class Party

It was the end of the year class party for first grade.  One thing I have to give Peyton's school was that they were consistent.  Every class in the school had the same class parties at the same time on the same day every year.  Not so great if you have twins in separate classes, but pretty great for scheduling purposes.  So I'm the kind of parent that has next year's school calendar downloaded into Outlook and written into the day planner (you know, as back up) a few months before school begins. (It is May 27th and I may or may not have the calendar for third grade nailed down.)  So I was aware that we had an end of the year party coming up.  Also.  They schedule the End of School Parties on ... wait for it ... the last day of the school year.

Lets just say the teacher had trouble with communication.  Or trouble with me.  I am not 100% sure, but I CAN tell you that a very good friend of mine had a kid in the same class and we had very different experiences.

By that point I was very familiar with our first grade teacher's email address as we had exchanged... words ... via email ... all year.  And she was familiar with mine.  That year I was a pretty involved parent.  By the end of first grade I was coordinating the volunteer art program and in the building once a week either for classroom volunteering or art stuff.  So the idea that she could forget to include me in the email to ALL of the class parents on the end of the year party preparations is, well, pretty unbelievable.  But "it happened".  Two days before the party (and the last day of school), I texted my friend with a kid in the class and asked if she had seen a sign up sheet or some kind of assignment for what we were supposed to bring.  She said she got an email THREE WEEKS before.  OOHH I was mad.  And I was gonna... send her a heated email....  or something.  Over the course of some texting, my friend convinced me to split Capri Sun duty with her and just show up at the party.

So I did.

The teacher seemed so overwhelmed by the kids and the parents and the sugar that she didn't notice the uninvited guest at her party.  No problem.  I stationed myself directly next to her scooping ice cream for the sundaes she was providing to the kids.  (seriously, who gives first graders ice cream sundaes??)  (also, you should know that this is a huge passive aggressive slap in the face from me.  Once upon a time I had it written into contracts that I did not cut cake or scoop ice cream.  True story.)  (yeah, I get that she wouldn't know that.  Keep reading.)  She was still unfazed and we were engaged in some kind of passive-aggressive-over-the-top-faking-it collegiality.  It was awesome.  It could be argued, up to this point, that it was the end of the year and she seriously did not realize that she didn't include me in the party planning and had no clue that I had just showed up.  Doubtful, but could be argued.  (you have no idea how many of my emails that woman ignored.)

It could be argued... Until the very last kid came through the line and she TOOK.  THE.  SCOOP.  OUT.  OF.  MY.  HAND and said "oh, I can do the rest".  Not an exaggeration, y'all.  There was ONE KID left.  My hand was grafted to the scoop with ice cream goop at that point.  So I smiled my best Edmond Mom smile and let the ice cream scoop slide off my hand into hers.  Stringy lactated sugar and all.

I washed my hands and never looked back.  I collected my sticky second grader and we blew that popsicle stand.  To this day, I remember my last words in that school to Peyton:  "Be sure you got everything, because we are not coming back."

Remember in June 2013 when I said "I'm back!" and then I totally wasn't? 

I wrote six posts in 2013 and then

FELL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!!!!!!

Not really.  I moved to Norman.

But some really fun and amazing things have happened since then that I really should have documented and you missed out on the very wild ride that has been the Anderson life over the past (almost) two years!!  So.  You ready?  ... buckle up!

... did you really think I was going to update you on the events of what I called "a wild ride" in one blog post?

Nope.

I'm probably making some kind of huge omen-like mistake by saying this... but I'm hoping to update over the summer.  You'll see why.  Stay tuned!

Just as an appetizer, though, here's an off-the-top-of-my-head table of contents:

- The time Peyton was a pirate

- The year the Andersons ruined Christmas gave the world an epic Christmas Vacation story for anyone to try to beat

- Turns out Peyton LIKES soccer!  See Here for why that's kind of amazing.

- My kid is a wrestler.  Really.

- I live Here and this is HILARIOUS to me.

- My kid rides the bus.  And that's okay.

- I have a third grader. 

- We are a two-household family.

- The day my face exploded.

But  just so you know we're alive and well in Norman, Oklahoma... I'll leave you with this.

See you soon!

UN BELIEVEABLE

I have confiscated Brandonś netbook lately for my own uses so, lucky you, that means it is now convenient for me to vent at home... and I´ve got some venting to do...

Disclaimer: this is the type of thing Im generally ¨Over" by the time I get to work to type it up so its not the most exciting thing ever... so... I know.

OK back story: Peyton has made friends with the neighborhood boys and I let him play with them outside.  I used to let them play videogames in the house until the fourth or fifth time they trashed my house.  Also, they seem to multiply.  So no more kids in the house.  Thats been the rule for months but since it has been SOOO hot the past couple of days, I told Peyton he could have ONE friend in the house to play video games if he wanted.  Until today he hadn´t taken me up on it.  This evening he asked if Matthew and Joann could come in to play.  Matthew is 6 and Joann is 4.  I figured Joann couldn´t do too much damage on her own and the boys would play video games so I said yes.  Well, the playstation controllers werent working for whatever reason so they went to play in Peytonś room.  Still fine.  I knew theyd make a mess but Id have Peyton clean it up this evening and at least it was contained.  

I walked by Peytonś room after they had gone back outside and saw cars all over the floor through the cracked door.  No big deal.  That is until Peyton came in for the evening and I told him hed need to clean up his room before bed.  he said ¨what mess?¨ - still typical.  So I pushed open his door to show him the mess I was talking about and I swear I had the same reaction as the day I opened the same door when he was a toddler and had smeared poo all over his crib and wall.  Simultaneously: horror, panic, frustration, defeat, and probably some other things thrown in there.

There were not only toys strewn about, someone had taken ALL of the hanging clothes off of the rack (that stands in as his closet) and thrown them on the floor, every toy in every bin was on the floor and board games were open and dumped out.  It was like his room exploded.  All I could say was, ẗhis is unbelieveable.  UN BELIEVEABLE.  There will be no more friends in the house.¨ Peyton: ¨Ever?¨  ¨Yep.¨

Now hereś where the poo situation was worse - when he was a toddler he didnt know any better and wasnt able to clean up the horrid mess on his own.  I had to deal with it while he laughed and splashed in the bath.  Now he is.  And he knows.  Instead of just cleaning up before bedtime he spent the next hour putting everything away.  He apparently got the point because on my last inspection, when it was finally cleaned up and I told him he had 30 minutes left before he had to go to bed so he could watch a show, he hugged me and told me I was the bestest.  Shameless sucking up but Iĺl take it.  

Also, theres this:  The kids in question (the whole group this time- not just the three of them) all asked for water while they were playing in our driveway.  Im not totally horrible so I gave them water in disposable cups.  Peyton and I went to let the neighbors dog out while they are out of town and ALL those cups are thrown at the base of our driveway.  It looked like we had a frat party at our house.  UN BELIEVEABLE.

The Night Before School

Twas the night before school ...

The backpacks were stacked by the front door with care

in hopes that the supplies were all surely there

The pencils are sharpened

For the shameless (and necessary) bid for teacherś pet 

And finally, as I tucked him into bed while the sun was still out:

Me:  Are you SO excited about 1st Grade tomorrow??

Peyton:  Not really.  I hate to take baths.  

P.S.  Brandons first day of school was today and it went very well.  Results:  MacroEconomics is going to be easy but horribly boring; Physics will be hard.  He found his classes and parking spaces all by himself.  :)