The best comb of all time

At the risk of sounding totally strange, this is the very best comb ever. I think I've had it since maybe 1990? That's a ridiculous amount of time to use a plastic comb, isn't it? But it's just the best. It's worn down, Shelby's chewed on it, the color that used to be on the tips is long gone...but it still works great. Amy uses it every time she showers, and is also a fan of the comb. I've looked and looked for similar combs but never managed to find one – I've bought her probably 6 different combs and she hasn't liked any. The tines were too close together, or too far apart....very Goldilocks. So she keeps using the comb. I keep using the comb. And we're both happy. Long live the purple comb!

Teleworking ain't always all it's cracked up to be

I am extremely fortunate to have bosses that trust me and are flexible with allowing me to work from home. Really the number of things I can't do from home are very limited - I can't make copies, send things in the courier, or talk to a co-worker face to face. Other than that, I can do everything remotely. During the school year, I telework on Wednesdays and Fridays - it really breaks the week up. It also allows Amy to walk home from school two days a week, and not go to CASA those days (her after-school program which she's grown to really dislike). This winter it's been particularly good to telework because the schools were closed so many days due to the weather - I didn't have to take vacation time or pay someone to watch the kids while I went to the office. Teleworking is really great for me, gives me time back in my day (the nearly 60 minutes I spend in the car getting to/from work) and I can take advantage of the solid block of time at home on Wednesdays and do the laundry (hey, I'm here anyway!).

Last summer, I cut down to just teleworking on Fridays, to allow the summer babysitter a 4-day work week/3-day weekend.

There is a down side to teleworking, though. Even though I'm physically present, I'm not really "here" for the kids. Reed doesn't care much, but it bothers Amy. I'm not able to really interact with her a whole lot (other than refereeing between the kids, which no one enjoys). I know she'd rather I just take the snow days off and relax with them...but being a teleworker kind of puts on the pressure to work regardless of the weather. I feel like if I take the good (being home with the kids when I need to be, being here for repair people to come, easily taking the kids to appointments, etc.), I also have to take the bad of working when I'd rather not.

I guess I just want to say that it's not lost on me that it's not all that great to have Mom home, if all she's doing is staying in the office all day working.

Look who's 10!

We celebrated Amy's 10th birthday last week – I can hardly believe it!

For her family birthday gathering (which she shared with Aunt Jennifer), we made our own Dairy Queen Blizzard-style ice cream cake...

For her actual big day, she baked her own birthday cake, including using fondant for the first time...it turned out so awesome!

And we celebrated by going out for breakfast for dinner.

Amy realized after Christmas that she'd amassed a pretty good chunk of money, from Christmas gifts and allowances she'd saved up. She proposed if she paid $150 for half, we buy her a new laptop so she'd have her own. Well the math didn't quite work out on the "half" part of the equation (laptops are expensive!), but she got her wish. And much to our relief, we don't have to listen to the kids bicker over whose turn it is on the computer anymore. Oh don't worry, there are plenty more things to bicker about!

Happy #10 to our amazing Amy!

P.S. Reed got the absolute best end of this deal. He did absolutely nothing, contributed nothing, yet now he's got his own exclusive laptop. Pretty sweet deal. 

The bike is gathering dust

This past summer, Reed rode the heck out of this bike. But once school started up again, he put the bike away and hasn't gotten it out since. It seemed he really enjoyed riding around exploring the neighborhood so it seems odd to me that he stopped riding entirely. Will he pick it up again once school's out? I guess we'll see.

Who is this kid?

A few weeks ago, the Grammy Awards were held. That day, Reed asked "Are we going to watch the Grammys tonight?"

What?

Who knew Reed cared about the Grammys, or even knew that they were happening at all?

Then this past Sunday, Reed asked "Are we going to watch the Oscars tonight?"

Again, what?

Who is this kid, interested in music and movie award shows?? Our kids aren't really in the car all that often, and up until recently, Reed's request for in-car entertainment was Laugh USA, one of the comedy channels on XM Radio. Lately he's started asking for the pop music channel instead...maybe that's it. As for movies, it turns out he's been listening to some podcast about movies. Who knew? I think I've mentioned before that Reed now spends the majority of his waking hours with headphones on. I guess he's expanded his listening from just Pokemon and fantasy sports podcasts. Guess at some point we should probably check out what he's listening to???

It's kind of exciting that he's getting to the age where our interests overlap a little more. I look forward to when we can watch more TV and movies together, maybe develop some family favorites we can look forward to week to week.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Baby, it's cold outside!

I think we're on snow day number 1,572 this school year. I may have lost count. Regardless of the number, here we are with another unexpected day off. Sigh.

It has been a particularly cold winter here. But even before that, for the last couple of years we've been hearing from Amy that she wished we'd drive her to school when it's super cold. I must point out...we can SEE the school from our front door. Sure, there are two rows of houses between us and the school, but still...we can SEE the school from here. But Amy tell us that when she's a grown up, if she has kids, she will never make them walk to school if it's really cold. Thought I'd get that in writing so I can be sure she follows through.

Early risers

Many school days, the kids have to be woken up. Amy around 6:45 a.m., Reed by 7. Fortunately they're not grumpy about it anymore, at least.

But weekends? These kids are both up, on their own, by 6:30 a.m. Sometimes even earlier. What the heck??? I do not understand this.

I have no doubt that once Amy gets to be a teenager, she'll be sleeping in until all hours. But Reed? I'm not sure - interested to see if he turns into a regular, sleepy teenager, or if he'll continue to be an early bird.

Meanwhile I nap every chance I get...wish I could still sleep in!