Happy Birthday to Dave

So, this weekend was pretty fun.  Dave is in the last week of his big project- so we were trying to stay low key and close to home.  We snuck out to the Y for a workout and a swim on Saturday.  On the way back, we dropped by what is getting to be a favorite place for lunch (East of Edens).  They have a low-carb platter that is basically just a pile of gyro meat and a grilled sausage.  You can't really beat that.

When we got back to the house, I put Nico down for a nap and began a new knitting project (a hat for me).  

 After nap, Nico and I commenced with the sword fighting.  Now that he's a bit older, he's really getting to be fun.

  

Sunday, was Dave's birthday.  But he had to work, boooooo!! Dave is pushing hard on this project... Nico has even said a couple of times that he can't wait for Dave to be done with the book.  

Nico sent the first email from his own email account (I signed him up for a gmail account for a couple of years ago).  We also ordered a pair of bean boots from LL Bean, but they hadn't arrived yet.  Dave's hurricane boots finally bit the dust- so we got him a pair.  

After Nico and I ran errands, we headed back to the house for a quick nap.  

Birthday dinner was ribs, german mashed potatoes, and kale chips.  

Our grocery has these gourmet brownies, that were delicious.  In fact, so much so that when I finished Nico's last night, there was a bit of a fit this morning.  

Other than that, we're just trying to find a post-holiday routine.  The cars are driving me crazy.  With the first big cold snap, the 4Runner ended up needing a new radiator.  It turns out, the Kia's battery is a bit grouchy in the cold weather... we've had a couple of days where it wouldn't start.  For some reason, we didnt have any jumper cables, which was weird because John C. Bishop's oldest daughter should have jumper cables.  So, we bought some and I jumped the Kia.  It was the first time I have ever jumped the car.  So there is that.  Can't wait till the weather gets better so that I can get back to to riding to and fro to work.  

Maniac

So one of the fun things we have been dealing with around here has been the Christmas leftovers.  Leftovers?  you ask.  What do you mean?  I mean this:



Apparently, it never occurred for Nico to do this until Max showed him how... to be fair, Max showed him how to get up and down the stairs this way, because we had a baby gate up to keep Becks from trying to get up the stairs.  And when Max showed him, he didnt have the commentary.  That's all Nico.  And also Nico's idea to go headfirst.  Like a maniac.

Sledding...

So much fun lately...

Dave went on a run for lunch and found a cool hill for sledding.  After nap on Sunday afternoon, we ran up there for some sledding.  Obviously, Mom Bishop can weigh in, but I believe this was the first time I'd ever been sledding.  Fantastic!!

The sled was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Royse.  The hill was cool because it was at the edge of a park, with stairs running up both sides of the hill, so you could just climb up the stairs to get to the top. We went at the perfect time because it wasn't too crowded- but there were also lights.  Here is a video of the boys going...

A lot of fun...

Test Schmest

So, Nico had his school testing yesterday.  

He started out the morning dragging his feet about going.  Didn't want to go.  Wants to go to school with Justin and Collin (his little friends).  I hung around the house and helped get him dressed, then he and Dave dropped me at work and headed down to the Loop to do the test.  They got there a little early- so the tester people took Nico a little early.  Apparently he was on the verge of tears and was about to not go when he finally agreed to go "Just for a few minutes".  Well, he went in, and apparently was  a bit of a rock star about it.  

The teacher/tester had three pictures: one of a boat, one of a fire engine, and one of a backpack and just asked Nico to tell him about them.  And Nico did.  Even better, he said he had fun and that he wants to do it again!! Can you believe it?  

We won't know how he did till later in the Spring.  But I am just so glad that he went into the test. :) 

Coldy Woldy

Some images from winter around here: 

Icicles hanging off the roof over the back yard.  

The avalanche of snow leading down to the basement. 

Gordon hanging out in the snow.  

So, it has been interesting around here.  Winter Storm Ion came in and put the muscle on us.  So much so, that I experienced my first snow day (true story: DePaul was closed on Monday!!  Yippeee!)  We ended up with another 10" of snow over the weekend, combined with brutal cold on Monday and Today, and things are just not back to usual.  On Sunday, we walked to a Korean grocer at Brynn Mawr (which was like maybe 6 blocks away).  Nico walked the whole time and was a champ about it.  

I have decided that Nico's pink cheeks make me very happy. 

I finished Nico's hat.  The wheels came off a bit when I was decreasing to finish it.  But altogether, I am very happy with how it came out.  Although, I am not sure I will make him any more, since he whipped if off his head and threw it on the floor (to be funny).  Let's see how funny it is next year when his giant melon head doesnt have any hats to keep warm because his mom wont make any...

It's still pretty chilly here... below 0.  But its supposed to warm up substantially this week... like in the upper 30s.  Given that it was -48 with the windchill yesterday and we're going to have RAIN later this week, I am left with the conclusion that Chicago is drunk.  Go home Chicago.  Go home. I am actually working from home today, in the basement.  It's fricking freezing.  Like for serious, I have the hood on my hoodie sweatshirt pulled up and I am contemplating finding one of our space heaters to supplement.   

Dave and I took Nico to school on Monday (which was open for a few hours), and we got stuck coming back (and trying to park the car).  I hopped out and pushed the car out.  So yay, for my muscles- made by CrossFit.  Speaking of CrossFit, our gym started a paleo challenge this week.  I know, you all are rolling your eyes.  Paleo?  Really?  But, I am a social person who also is peer pressured very easily.  So, I am doing it.  In all, I think it is a bit of tie really... no processed carbs like bagels and bread, but you can put bacon on everything.  And for some reason, butter is okay, but not milk or yogurt.  

I have been, for six months, been trying to find a paleo blueberry muffin.  Mostly for Nico and me... since I don't like him eating a lot of processed foods.  I found a recipe for muffins using coconut flour, which isn't terrible.  You have to not mind coconut, which some people do.  I mostly just use this as a method of getting butter and the tiniest scotch of maple syrup to my mouth.  

In any case, someone ate the last three of these guys for breakfast.  So- they must be alright.  Speaking of food.  Last night I made a spaghetti squash carbonara.  Basically, I fried bacon and then tossed spaghetti squash in the fat (along with sun dried tomatoes and garlic).  Then topped with a fried egg.  Guess who ate that?  The boys!!  I put a little marinara on Nico's and didnt tell him it was spaghetti squash and he ate 1.5 servings of it.  I know, right?  Mom cooking ninja!!

Before Christmas, we had to make our selections for Nico's school for next year.  Chicago has this crazy lottery system... where you choose schools you want your kid to be considered for and you might get in, you might not.  But there are also selective enrollment schools, where your kid has to test to get into.  So, we signed Nico up for both.  And his test is tomorrow.  I'm not nervous for him... the biggest obstacle for him is whether he will go into the test (the kid has to be able to separate from the parent to go into the test room by himself).  If he can, I think he would be fine.  Because he is really bright: he's reading, telling time, doing math, etc.  

In one sense, I understand that Nico is essentially being shafted by the system... since CPS doesnt allow redshirting, we figured that it wouldnt do much good to keep him at his preschool another year (since he would be starting first grade when he starts).  But, maybe being able to separate is a good indicator.  And maybe it would to him some good to go somewhere where he could be the kid out in front.  I dont know.  I just kind of wish it would be over already.  Will keep you posted.  

Ringing in the New Year

After the holidays are always kind of a bummer... it's a bit of a let down, right?

Winter Storm Hercules made us a visit over New Years.  We got a bunch of snow.  Which was cool.  Like enough to render cars buried in snow.  Dave is still working on his deadline, so Nico and I hung out most of New Year's Day.  We played Royseball and I taught him Slap Jack and Old Maid. Coincidentally, when you are only playing with two players, most (and in our experience all) games of Old Maid end in a tie.  The good news is, that I love this age with Nico because we can start playing board games and card games.  Although, something tells me this kid is going to kick my ass at Boggle. Still, I am looking forward to him being a scotch older, mostly because he needs to be introduced to the Bishop method... which is running all your errands and doing all your chores on Saturday morning and spending Saturday afternoon, evening, and Sunday lazing around the house and reading the 9314129347 books you got from the library.  

We also did a fair bit of shoveling on Jan 1.   I wonder what I have to do in order to keep the novelty of shoveling snow for him. Because it would be great to have a 12 year old that shovels all the snow.  Don't tell Dave I said that... I'm not allowed to talk about difficulties of winter weather.  For ever.

I also did a fair bit of knitting.  My mom taught me to knit in the round, which is just like regular knitting, only easier. The socks I am wearing in the picture below were knit by her... in peacock colors... I am halfway though a hat for Le Boy... If Dave doesn't watch it, he's going to end up with a hat too!!  Although he probably wouldnt wear it, because he likes the Stoner hat that Aunt Judy got him last year (he wears it pretty much everyday).  

I'd been procrastinating on some errands that needed to happen.  So Wednesday afternoon, I sent Dave to Panera so he could work.  When Nico woke up from nap, we shoveled the car out and set about our errands.  Mind you, I had never driven in snow, but I figured a good way to start would be on a holiday with few people on the road.  I did a pretty good job shoveling the car out- it was surprisingly easy to navigate our road.  Most of the main roads were pretty well shoveled and salted.  

Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist with me using my phone while driving, know that we were at a stop light stopped when the light turned.  

Parking the Kia was a different story- because when I got home, I almost got stuck trying to park.  I finally ditched the parallel parking idea and chose to bury my car in 10" of unshoveled snow in the next block.  

Apparently a 10" snow is business as usual, because Thursday DePaul was open and Nico's school was open.  So I was back at work.  I got a lot going on and am trying to get my feet under me.  I know that my job isn't like being President of the US or even being an Assistant Professor, but damn it's hard to take almost three weeks off.  In any case, I am back on the grind.  

Am I fired?

Are you going to take my blog away?  Are you sick of me not posting?  I know- I am terrible.  I hop that Nico understands when he gets older than where there are huge gaps in the timeline of his blog that its because we were too busy having fun for me to be blogging. 

So, Christmas.  Yeah, it was a pretty great holiday.  Mom and Dad came up north.  On Christmas Day, they drove over from Michigan with JJ and Uncle Scott.  Nico and Dave chatted with Mike and Gay on skype so they could watch Nico open some of his presents.  When Mom and Dad, Uncle Scott and JJ got to Chicago,  we started up the oven to get the three pans of egg fondue that Mom brought going while we opened presents. Mom (Granny You) set Nico up well- with police walkie talkies, and other police gear (like handcuffs, a badge, and a police beanie hat).  Mike and Gay set Nico up with a little guitar and a Captain America sweatshirt (along with a U of L sweatsuit).  Santa brought Nico a train and some blocks, both of which he was pretty excited about.  

After we opened presents, I started in making Christmas dinner.  We ended up putting a ham in the crockpot and a turkey in the oven.  Along with dressing, mashed potatoes,gravy, cranberry sauce, and two types of pie (apple and pecan).  In all, it was way too much food- but that is just how I roll.  Uncle JJ was a bit sick on Christmas Day, so he relaxed and tried to take it easy.  

Nicole and Cody arrived with their kids on Boxing Day-which was pretty much the main event.  Nico had basically been counting down the days till they would get here, because he loves playing with Maddox, Emme, and Becks.  The kids had a really good time playing with each other.  We introduced the kids to Home Alone, which was funny. When asked what the movie was about, Nico explained that it was a movie about a lady that returned home to her son. I don't know what that means.  

We got some snow, so the conditions for a snow ball fight were pretty much perfect, which was fine by Max, because he'd been wanting a real snow ball fight for a while. 

As a Florida girl newly transplanted in the Great North, I didn't really understand the rules of snowball fights. Apparently, you're supposed to take great care to not peg anyone in the face.  I may have gotten Nico once or twice in the face.  On accident.  Maybe.  SorryImnotSorry. 

While they were here, we managed a trip to Legoland.  LEGOLAND.  It was really cool.  In fact, Dave and Nico have decided that they want to build a replica of Chicago at our house. Like so:

Which is fair- it was really cool. The kids were all champs.  And we even  had our first 3D movie experience. 

Other than that, it was a pretty chill holiday.  It was nice getting to see so much of our family.