Yeah, scratch that last post

News Flash #4: So, about two seconds after I finished my last post saying that things were looking up, out of the blue it started snowing again. Hard. And it hasn't really stopped. PPS schools on the west side (that's us!) reversed their earlier decision and schools are now closed again.

Per an email from Ian's school director, the holiday program has been officially postponed. And I'm a bit nervous about venturing out and about now in my car as temperatures are dropping once again.

Even Zach is wondering when this madness will end.

Until I write again.

A few news flashes

There have been some developments overnight that I feel are important to report on this morning.

News Flash #1: After the additional snow they predicted overnight did not materialize and temperatures have remained just above freezing (also contrary to what was predicted) - PPS decided to open schools today. Woo hoo! While this does not affect us today because Ian doesn't attend preschool on Thursdays - it does mean that he will definitely be going tomorrow. And it means that ice shouldn't a be problem so we can feel free to go about our day as we normally would. So, things are definitely looking up! We're still not sure whether or not the holiday program is on for tonight but if it is, I'm sure you'll hear about it.

News Flash #2: This one is actually more of a correction versus a news flash. Yesterday I stated that Jeff brought home some peppermint schnapps to go with the hot cocoa. It was actually peppermint extract. Still a yummy addition, just no alcohol involved. I don't know why I felt the need to correct that. I just did. The hot buttered rum thing still stands, though.

News Flash #3: Okay, this one is a BIGGIE. I made a monumental declaration last night to myself and my family - or at least to the one family member who was here and still awake at the time. And here it is: I have decided that Haagan Dazs' Chocolate Peanut Butter and Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Toffee Crunch are my two most favorite ice cream flavors in the world. (At least I'm pretty sure they are. Unless there's one I'm forgetting about, but I don't think so.)

Okay, that's all I have to say right now. Until I write again.

Okay, this isn't fun(ny) anymore

Well, this week has turned out to be a little frustrating. No, scratch that. Actually, it's been a LOT frustrating. What started out on Sunday as a fun and pretty little snow day is now shaping up to be a week-long nightmare full of what I like to call Bummer Moments. Let's review them here.

As you might guess, Bummer Moment #1 came as I was wrapping up my last post and it was announced that Portland Public Schools (PPS) would be closed on Monday. Now, you're probably wondering - well how much snow did you actually get? And the answer is - not a ton. I mean, in reality we only ended up with a few inches on the ground Sunday (though it was a bit hard to tell because there was a strong wind blowing most of the day). But thanks to the frigid temperatures that also arrived on Sunday and decided to stick around for a while, the ice factor kicked in. Now, this is particularly a problem for those of us who live on the very hilly west side of the city (versus the relatively flat neighborhoods that are east of the Willamette River). Thus, the PPS cancellation on Monday which, by default, meant that Ian's preschool was also closed. Okay, fine, I thought. I had a few things on the schedule for my valuable kid-free hours but no biggie - I'd just switch them to Wednesday.

On Monday, I took Jeff to work so I could use his car. It was definitely slippery but overall Ian and I did a couple things out and about with no problem (though not for long since it was colder than a Popsicle outside). Despite the generally fair conditions, by sometime on Monday, PPS, as well as most other districts in the region, had already announced that schools would again be closed on Tuesday. Ugh - really? Now, Ian doesn't go to school on Tuesdays, but he does go to Sports Class. And yesterday was scheduled to be our last one so it was kind of a special day. So, first thing yesterday morning I called the Rec Center and experienced Bummer Moment #2: our last Sports Class was indeed, cancelled. So long Sports Class. We didn't even have an opportunity to say a proper goodbye. Sniff, sniff.

With Sports Class off the roster, I needed to find something else to do with Ian. So I put together a shopping list and figured we'd head out to the store early to pick up some things and spend the morning baking Christmas cookies. I knew that would be a hit since he's really into the cooking thing these days. Jeff was still home getting ready to leave when Ian and I got all bundled up and piled into my car. I had no sooner backed out of the driveway and into the street when Bummer Moment #3 hit. I turned to go forward and try as I might, couldn't get any traction to get going forward up the slight incline outside our house. (We have been needing to change out the bald tires on my car but it hasn't been a priority due to $$.) I tried a few times without luck before pulling back into the garage. We piled out of the car and went back inside to see about sharing the MDX with Jeff again, but no such luck as he needed to use his car at work that day. So off he went while I sat on the couch unbundling an unhappy toddler who was whining, "I need to go in the car, mommy. I need to go in the car right nowwww..." I felt like saying, "Yeah, well me too so just zip it!!!!" But I didn't.

By midday Wednesday the weather guys and gals were all abuzz again about Bummer Moment #4: the fact that Phase 2 of "ARCTIC BLAST 2008" was forecast to arrive on early Wednesday morning. This was to be another dose of snow mixed with some freezing rain, then rain then back to snow overnight Wed and into Thursday - all matched with continuing freezing temperatures, of course. By early Tuesday evening PPS had once again cancelled school for Wednesday morning. Another ugh. Suddenly I found myself relating to how the prisoners at San Quentin must feel. On a bright note though, about 2 p.m. yesterday Ian and I made another attempt to exit the house and were successful this time. So, we ventured to two different grocery stores just because we could. (Though by 4ish it was clear my car was turning back into a pumpkin as we did some slipping and sliding on the road back home. )

So, here we sit. We made cookies this morning, which Ian loved, and did a couple of other activities before I resorted to parking him in front of Sesame Street after lunch. We've had snow showers off and on all day, but again, nothing monumental. Just enough to continue to make travel on hilly side roads difficult. (Jeff made it to work this morning but they closed the Nike campus at 1pm so he's been working at home this afternoon.) We are expected to get a couple more inches overnight tonight. I figure this should be just enough to cancel school again tomorrow, which brings me to Bummer Moment #5. Ian was supposed to debut in his first-ever holiday program at school tomorrow night. As you might guess, we had already tuned up the video camera in anticipation. But at this point, I don't have high hopes of it actually happening - and with not much time left before Christmas, I don't know that it will be rescheduled unless they are able to do it for maybe Monday of next week.

And speaking of Monday, this brings me to Anticipated Bummer Moment #6 and #7, which I predict will occur this coming weekend. First of all, Ian is also scheduled to attend a "Parents Day Out" this Saturday where his school will provide a few hours of childcare during the day on Saturday so parents can go out and wrap up last minute shopping or just take a few hours to themselves. I believe we were first on the sign-up list for that event. Anyway, if school ends up closed all week, I won't hold my breath on that event still happening either. Oh well.

And then there's Sunday. I happen to be about two weeks overdue for a haircut right now. I mean, it's not pretty (literally). But I do finally have an eagerly-anticipated appointment with my new lady scheduled for this Sunday afternoon. You know, the very same day that they are now forecasting that Phase 3 of "ARCTIC BLAST 2008" will arrive (calling for more snow and freezing temps Sunday into Monday). Awesome.

It's not all bad, though. We do have our cookies and on the way home today Jeff made a stop for provisions: the makings for hot buttered rum and hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps. I'm also very thankful that we aren't both struggling to work and deal with closed schools all week as many families are right now. I feel for them.

For now, I'll leave you below with a shot that Jeff took the other night of our happy little snowmen outside our front window as well as a humorous little video that I saw on CNN today which pretty much says it all around here right now. Until I write again.

The white stuff and Santa make an appearance

There are two things that I thought we were saying goodbye to when we left the DC area: The first was good restaurants and the second was seeing snow fall at our house. (Actually, I think there are more than two but these are the two that come to mind right now.)

Well, I was most certainly wrong about the restaurant thing given that there are many great eateries here that more than rival the best restaurants in DC. And as we go through our third winter now, it also appears that I was mistaken about that whole no snow thing as well. In general, it does tend to get colder here in the wintertime than I thought it would. I mean, it's definitely not typically that biting cold like you get back east but we still have our share of quite chilly days. More often than not, the most extreme weather issue we deal with is ice. But at least once over the past three winters we've also seen a bit of snow. Last winter we barely had any, but what did come was on Christmas day which was kind of cool.

So around last Thursday the weather people started making a fuss that we had a big storm approaching shore that would bring a lot of wind and rain (shocking, I know!) on Friday and Saturday. Then by Sunday (as in, today) temperatures would plummet to highs in the 20s in Portland and the rain would turn to possibly significant snowfall. Of course for the ski resorts who have been tapping their watches since before Thanksgiving waiting on Mother Nature to do her thing, this storm was music to their ears. But for those of us down on the "valley floor" as it's called - well, we were skeptical about the wet stuff actually turning into white stuff.

In general, the whole Friday and Saturday thing was kind of a bust. I mean, yeah sure, there was definitely some wind and rain - but nothing earth shattering, especially for December in Portland. Saturday evening we went to Jeff's holiday party at an art gallery in the Pearl District downtown and had a very nice evening. By the time we exited around 11 p.m. to make our way home, there was definitely a good bite in the air. And by around 8 a.m. this morning some white stuff started coming out of the sky somewhat fiercely and as of this writing has yet to stop. Our high was about 32 degrees this morning and it's been going in the wrong direction ever since. It's been very windy too, which makes for nice blowing snow dramatics as well as fun wind chill factors. And the awesome (and unusual) thing is that these 20ish degree temps are expected to stick around most of the week giving us the coldest weather here in about 10 years (at least according to the weather people and everyone knows that weather people are always right). Brrr! And to think that when we moved here I thought the coldest it would get was maybe in the 40s. Apparently I needed to beef up on my Portland weather history a bit more.

So, of course we had to take this opportunity to head outside this morning and do a little snowball action with Ian and let him enjoy his first real snow experience (that he recognizes and will remember, at least). There were also a couple of snow angels involved at one point which we caught on video. So all in all, it's been a wintery but fun Sunday here.

And in other weekend news - I think I've mentioned that this is the first year that Ian is really starting to get the whole Christmas concept. Of course for him this means a tree, presents and Santa Claus. He's been especially intrigued by Santa Claus so we decided to break Vow #683 on the "things I will never do when I become a parent" list and took him to see a mall Santa yesterday. The line sucked but at least there was some entertainment involved in watching all the parents shove their screaming babies in Santa's lap in hopes of getting the perfect shot. We offered Ian the option of backing out several times while we were in line but no such luck. He was very excited to get on Santa's lap. I said, "You know, Santa will probably ask you what you want for Christmas - so what will you tell him?" And he threw up his hands and said, "A tostada!" Awesome. I think we can handle that one. While we weren't really interested in taking out a second loan on our house to pay for one of the "professional" photo packages they offered us, we did manage to snap our own shot:

Oh, and then just to cap off the weekend extravaganza - I'm extra excited to report that less than a week after finally recovering from the effects of my last cold, I came down with a new one yesterday. Frustration and disbelief are the two words I'll throw out and leave it at that. (Ian came down with his latest around Wednesday and already appears to be on the mend, by the way.)

Last, I'll leave you with some food for thought: If you were awakened in the middle of the night fearing your house was on fire - do you have an evacuation plan? Because we don't. And I realized this at about 4:30 a.m. this morning when for some unknown reason multiple smoke alarms - including the one in our bedroom - starting going off in our house. Let me just say I didn't know I could move that fast. All I remember is jumping out of bed and racing toward Ian's room when the alarms just stopped after about 10 seconds and everything seemed to check out fine. I don't think my heart stopped racing until about midday today, though.

Until I write again.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: We just heard on the news that basically every school district in the region is closed tomorrow which means no preschool for Ian. Our first school closing experience. Bummer.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Today Jeff and I became an aunt and uncle! Ellie Aiken Shoup was born to Jeff's sister Jill and her husband Steve at 7:23 a.m. this morning in Austin. Though things didn't go quite as planned (do they ever?) and Jill ended up delivering via c-section, all turned out well and Mom and daughter are both doing great. We've seen a couple of early photos and she looks beautiful! (Yeah, I know everyone says that but this little one really is a looker and she's not even 24 hours old yet. Crazy.)

This certainly counts as one of those times when it's difficult to live so far away from family as we'd love to be able to pop down the street to spend time with our new niece and support Jill and Steve as they take on a newborn. But given that is not in the cards since driving from Portland might take a while, we'll have to settle for frequent pictures (hint, hint) for now. And, we'll be counting the days until we go to Texas for a visit early next year.

In the meantime, we wish Ellie a very Happy Birthday!

Until I write again.

Appreciating today

I started off writing today's post on something we'll just say is related to holidays and retail. But that post has been preempted by other, larger events. Actually, it appears we have two other, larger events happening in our family right now - but for now I'm only going to talk about one of them.

So Ian's been physically ready for potty training for at least six months now. By last July, he was showing most of the major signs. I was so encouraged/scared to death of his readiness that one day I decided it was time to take the "all or nothing" approach to potty training. This is where you just wake up one morning and announce that Target has stopped carrying diapers altogether therefore you must go in the potty now and wear underwear. Now, let me just say here that this is actually a recognized and accepted approach to potty training that is recommended for parents who have the time to devote 24/7 to training their child and who also have no need to leave the house for a period of three or four days straight. And since I basically fell into that category, I decided to go for it.

Well, by the end Day One I came to the conclusion that this tactic may have been one the dumbest ideas I've ever had. This kid clearly seemed to have no concept of the whole "tell me when you have to go and I'll get you there" thing. The only person that was being trained that day was me in learning the best techniques for cleaning rugs and floors. No thank you, I actually like my things just the way they are. So of course I did what I always do and posted an SOS message on DCUM for advice on how to proceed. Everyone immediately agreed that I needed to abort Operation Potty Training and try again later which frankly, I was more than happy to do.

If we were at Square One in July, by September we were back to Square Zero. Meaning, he showed very little interest in training. Our hope was that starting preschool in September and seeing other kids sit on the potty would help things progress, but by October we still had nothing. Around that time we did force some progress by announcing one day that we had a new rule in the house that Ian would sit on the potty every morning when he woke up and every night before bath time. And being the general rule follower that he is, he was pretty much okay with this. But it hasn't been without its challenges. Like, at first he figured out that the longer he sat on the potty the more books I would read to him. Well, I'm no dummy and it only took me about two weeks to catch on to that little trick. So, we had to make another new rule that Ian could look through books but was not going to be read to while on the potty. Also, sometimes his version of sitting on the potty was to be down and up within about a millisecond. So Jeff told him he needed to at least count to ten before he could get up.

One of the things I've heard about potty training is that "incentives" work well for many kids. Of course we all know that this is parent speak for bribery. The key is discovering what makes your kid tick and then using that against them (I mean, to "incentivize" them to use the potty). For many kids, candy does the trick (I've heard M&M's or jelly beans are popular) but for Ian it's all about the stickers. He really loves stickers. Well, one day I was at Freddie's and came upon this pack of Sesame Street stickers that I knew he'd love. Originally I was going to buy them for him just because I'm a nice mom like that. But then I remembered that word - incentivize! Once at home with stickers in hand I announced another new rule: that Ian would get a sticker every time he went in the potty (and that he would get to flush because he loves to flush).

While there was much excitement over this new rule - there wasn't lot of action. His teachers told us that he's still on the earlier end of training for boys and not to worry yet. So, we've continued to be patient and generally encouraging. (Except for that one time that I told him he needed to learn how to use the potty because I was sick of changing his diapers. Hey, I was having a bad parent day - it happens to the best of us.) We periodically remind him that if he ever feels like he needs to go, he can just tell one of us and we'll help get him to the potty. This is generally met with a look that says, "Yeah, whatever Mommy, I'm all over it."

But then enter today (!!). We had been home from preschool for a bit and he said, "Mommy, I need to go the potty." Now again, being the nice mother that I am, my first thought was, "he's lying". (He has done this before just to try and get a sticker by sitting on the potty.) But of course I had to give him the benefit of the doubt so in we went to start the process of taking off the slippers, taking off the pants, taking off the diaper... Once he got up there he had a very focused look on his face. Immediately I knew this was not our typical potty-sitting exercise. And a minute later, he was going!!!! I was so excited you would have thought I had just been given that million dollars I've been "needing". And then Ian was all excited and there were many hugs and kisses. Then he flushed, we washed hands, called Daddy at work to report the good news and of course picked out a sticker. A head shot of Elmo was today's choice. Now, I know enough to recognize that it may be another year before this happens again, but sometimes you have to just appreciate today and not worry about tomorrow.

Until I write again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We were very busy in the Burpo household this weekend decking the halls with boughs of holly. Though just to be clear - there wasn't actually any holly involved, but there was definitely a real Christmas tree and several fake items like berries and snowmen. But moving along, after a Friday evening of pizza and Rock Band with the Hyders (well, except Zach who just watched because apparently he's too good to play with the Stumptown Burpies) we sprang out of bed bright and early Saturday morning to begin our holiday extravaganza weekend.

Our first stop was at Village Inn so that we could all indulge in a highly caloric and generally extremely unhealthy breakfast (but boy was it tasteee!). It's good to know we can always count on the ole' VI to start our weekend off right. And this breakfast was particularly important because it was the fuel that would get us through our next stop and perhaps the main event of the weekend: securing the 2008 Burpo tree.

Now, there are a lot of Christmas trees in Oregon. In fact, not too surprisingly, Oregon is the #1 producer of Christmas trees in the United States. And where you get your tree determines how much of a True Oregonian you are. For instance, someone who goes to a grocery store lot is clearly not even eligible for their True Oregonian card. Actually, don't even bother applying. Now, if you've advanced to one of the plentiful "U-Pick" farms out in the country - then you are eligible for what they call a Semi-Oregonian card. And True Oregonian status? Well, that is awarded when you actually get your $5 permit from the U.S. Forest Service, pack up the car with safety gear and a sled, and hike into the Mount Hood National Forest to cut down your own tree. Some folks probably do some mountain climbing while they're at it because that's the type of thing that True Oregonians do for fun on the weekend. But seeing as how we clearly have not yet reached that status - we opted for one of the "U-Pick" farms. We chose the same one that we attempted to go to last year on perhaps the coldest, rainiest, windiest day of the winter. And let me just say that was a really good time until we decided that our lives were more valuable than U-picking our tree and aborted the mission in favor of heading to our local nursery on a lovely sunny day the following weekend.

This Saturday, we had much better weather. And now that I had the chance to get a good look at it this year without fearing for my life, this little farm called Lee Farms has everything a good tree farm should have: a store with ornaments, hand made wreaths and garland on site, and homemade apple cider donuts - which unfortunately we were not able to partake in due to the bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, french toast, etc. still sitting like a brick at the bottom of our stomachs. So our tree experience went like it usually does: We wandered around for a bit while Jeff and Ian patiently trailed along. And then once we hit about say, the 30 minute mark, Jeff started to get that look in his eyes. You know, the one that says, "Just choose a damn tree now because Ian is getting impatient and I'm ready to go home." Which of course only made me feel more indecisive because now there's major pressure on me which is really more than I can handle. But I worked through it and finally we all agreed on a beautiful nine-ish foot Noble.

The next stop was of course back home so that we could get the tree in the house, in the stand and begin the all-important decorating process. Jeff had already given us a head start by checking and organizing all the lights earlier in the week. The whole process went very smoothly until we started on the light application later in the afternoon. We had a few issues there, but nothing that a little spiked hot apple cider couldn't cure. By early evening our pretty tree was almost complete minus a little ornament project we were saving for later. We fed Ian dinner and then got him off to bed while Jeff finished up a very yummy "let's celebrate because we got the tree up" dinner for us of his special Cowboy steaks, crab legs, pasta and some tomatoes with a basil, pine nuts and melted cheese topping (or something like that). All quite delectable. Oh, and of course all washed down with an Oregon pinot. Later that evening we watched 12 Angry Men which I had never seen before but highly recommend.

On Sunday the festivities continued with outside lighting. At first things were a little touch and go because unlike the sunshine we had the previous few days, the weather had turned quite cold, rainy and foggy - and Jeff looked pretty comfy cozy on the couch watching football. But late in the afternoon we got up our energy and headed outside to complete the holiday preparations. This year we added a few little fake snowmen to the front yard that I think add the all-important cute factor. Plus, Ian appears to be a fan of the whole snowman concept. Then we went back inside and had a little impromptu ornament painting party. I had purchased a few unpainted ornaments from Michaels (which, by the way, might be deserving of its own post later on due to my new obsession with this store) and each of us decorated our own ornament and hung it on the tree. I like Jeff's snowman a lot, but I have to say that Ian's little teddy bear is my favorite.

So, I guess it's safe to say that our halls are officially decked. Now on to all that other stuff.
Until I write again.