Kobe's "Christmas Eve" Birthday

Kobe always loves telling people about his birthday since he was born on Christmas Eve. This year at Halloween he even dressed up as a Christmas present and came up with saying that he was like "an early Christmas present" to us when he was born since it was on Dec 24. Which means our family spent the day celebrating Kobe's birthday with a trip to the bowling alley (one of the few places that is always open on Christmas Eve) and lunch at Portillo's (one of Kobe's favorite places to eat in Chicago.) People always ask if he gets "jipped" on the presents since his birthday is so close to Christmas and the answer is definitely NO. If anything he makes out like a bandit since everyone--especially Grandma--makes sure that Kobe get plenty of birthday presents. He even got a cool Guitar Hero game from the Cynthia & Ken and Raymond & Kelly...which the whole family played the rest of the night while we were waiting for Santa to come (I'm pretty sure Santa played a few sets before he headed on to the next house.) Anyway, Happy Birthday Kobe and thanks for being the best present ever!!

To Do List for Chicago...

Most of our trip to Chicago has revolved around doing things that we can't do in Utah. This means that today we spent the first part of the day at Woodfield Mall shopping. Probably not Kobe & Tehani's idea of fun but the kids did at least get to check out the Rainforest Cafe and the Lego Store so we didn't get too much complaining from them. After the mall, it was off to Portillos for lunch--another MUST for our trips to the Windy City. Even the kids have gotten to saying how much better "Chicago hot dogs" are than what we have in Utah. What can I say...we're raising our kids with a taste for the finer things in life! Once we were home, we tried to send the kids out to play in the snow (part of my plot to tire them out). Tehani didn't fall for it and opted to stay in the warmth of the house. We bundled Kobe up and he spent the next hour (we had to chase him in when it got dark) playing in the snow...10 degrees and all. And to top the day off, Cynthia and Baby Charlotte finally arrived from Champaign. The baby is so big Kobe & Tehani almost didn't recognize her. Hopefully they're ready for some fun 'cause we've got tons more things to cross off our "list" before we go!

The first day of winter...Chicago-style!!

So our long awaited holiday trip is finally here! With all of the snow and storms this week I've been worried about the airport and if we would actually even get out. But I am happy to report that our flight was only delayed once and we are now in THE COLDEST PLACE ON EARTH! When we landed it was only -6 degrees. And while that is definitely cold enough don't forget to take the windchill factor into account which means it felt closer to -30 degrees!! Needless to say, we will be spending a lot of time indoors over the next week. On our way home from O'Hare we did stop to pick up a pizza from our favorite place--Rosati's Pizza. I'm sure you've heard all the talk about how Chicago has the best pizza...it's true. And we finished the meal off by roasting marshmallows in the fireplace. Nothing like giving your kids sharp metal spears to stick in an open flame for a night of fun! And as if we hadn't had enough to eat already, we also snacked on the dozen different varieties of cookies that Crazy J made for Christmas. As my mother has already told me, I'm going to have to "watch it" or I'm going to gain 20 lbs while I'm here...thanks Mom!

Christmas Greetings from Syria

So Kobe's class had their special Christmas program today. He was pretty excited to do this since he actually had to miss Meridian's Christmas concert on Monday night because he was sick. Well, a few days ago we got a note home asking us to bring treats for the program today. No biggie--until I realize it's a big "Christmas Around the World" type of thing and it needs to be ethnic food from the country your child is performing about. And Kobe's country was Syria. Lovely--the one country in the world that I know nothing about. After searching the web, we opted for pita chips and hummus (in case you were wondering.) At least now I know I like hummus. Overall, it was a very nice program--and I have a the pictures to prove it.

So, if you want to know anything about Syria or are interested in hearing his poem and "chant'" that he had to do, just let us know. Milad Majid!! (or Merry Christmas for all you English speakers!)

The sharpest pencil in the box

Well, Tehani came home from school today with her "Letter to Santa." I'm sure if I had majored in psychology in school (instead of being a broadcast major) there would be a lot that I could tell about my little girl from her letter. Here it goes:

Santa,
for Christmas I want a cell phone. Then I want some sharp pencils.
From Tehani

The cell phone we already knew about (It's not happening but we know she wants one--'cause every 7 year old needs one?!?) But sharp pencils? Our house is apparently "sharp pencil" deficient. And I've come to find out from the sharp pencil expert (Tehani) that the only good pencil sharpeners are the electric ones. I had her call my mom to read her the letter. Of course, my mom found this funny but was also aghast...Can't you buy your daughter some pencils? And a sharpener? What kind of mom am I? :)

If my daughter ever drops out of high school, I'll just know that it was because of the "sharp pencil" shortage at our house...

The Birthday Boys

Well, December is a pretty busy month for us because we have TWO birthdays to celebrate and the first one is already here...
The kids were very excited to wake up their dad early on Thursday morning so he could open his presents--some new "threads" (and he even sported some to work that day.) Speaking of work, I did manage to surprise him by dropping off some yummy cupcakes at his office. It's funny because I had been worried about maybe embarrassing him (but like the good wife I decided to do it anyway.) Well, after I made my special delivery to his work I come to find out that they actually have cake (and ice cream) every time there is a birthday. I'll know not to be worried next year!!

And now all I have to do is plan what we are going to do for Kobe's 9th birthday at the end of the month. (Yes, this is an old, old photo with this post) So if anyone has any party suggestions for a rowdy group of nine year old boys, I'm all ears :)

Grease Lightning

Well, there's nothing like a little grease fire to get your evening started...I must point out that my cooking was not the cause of this little kitchen mishap. As most of you know, my husband is a wonderful cook and he does a fair amount of the cooking in our home. (I'm not too proud to admit that he is a better cook than me. I am not bad cook--he is just better.) Anyway, the fam had called me on my way home from work and asked me to pick up some vegetable oil because Norm was going to make his famous pupu chicken. If you haven't had it before it is the best. The kids ask for it all the time (along with everyone else) so I was actually looking forward to this deep fried concoction. The cooking started off fine and I was in the kitchen too doing the usual (trying to look "busy" even though I wasn't actually doing anything) when the next thing I know there are flames lapping up the side of the microwave that is over the stove. Other than making a big mess no one was hurt. Kobe missed out on seeing our indoor bonfire and I'm sure Tehani won't soon forget this set (well see if she still like cooking after this) and we even finished the evening with our meal of pupu chicken (a little grease fire isn't enough to distract this family from their deepfried meal!) Just be warned that if you happen to get a whiff of anyone in our family for the next day or two, we haven't taken up smoking (even though we smell like it)--we just like pupu chicken!!