by Judy Handley | Dec 10, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 49, Year 11: Projects, Projects
Date: Thursday, December 10, 2015
Weather: Mostly Cloudy but Warming Up, High in the Upper 50’s F
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA
Mark and I made it through another day with the Goldpebbles. Having to take Ollie to Woods Hole every morning and then heading back to pick him up by 4 pm only leaves us with five and half hours and that time flies by. Today I spent my time getting things out of our storage unit that we want to take with us when we leave here next Monday. Mark went to Hyannis to pick up my computer that crashed on Friday the 13th (November) and I am writing this log on that computer tonight. I am so happy to have it back. I gave Mark the new computer with loads of memory and a touch screen. I like it, but he likes it more, and having the old, familiar computer back is great. I am definitely a creature of habit. I picked Sam and Jonah up from school at 3:30 pm and we came home to mix play . . . with homework . . . with projects . . . with making Christmas cookies. We are making Christmas cookies and freezing them so that they can be retrieved from the freezer a little at a time between now and Christmas. Jonah’s book report is to pretend that his book is going to be made into a movie and create a poster to promote the movie. He loves funny things, so he chose a humorous book. That project is moving along. Sam’s science project is a space project with two parts. First he had to create a model of his topic and then write a one page report or create a Power Point presentation. He chose the latter. His topic is Voyager 1 that was launched in 1977 and is now traveling outside of our solar system. He built a Lego model of Voyager I, quite impressive, and has been working with Granddad on his Power Point presentation. Sam’s other project is making items to sell at a school craft fair next week. The craft fair is an annual event that third and fourth graders are encouraged to participate in. The hope is that they get some practical experience in economics. Sam is making winter sports team scarves out of fleece. He has fleece for the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Bruins, and the New England Patriots. If anyone would like to pre-order a scarf, just let us know! I think they sell for $3.00.
Tomorrow will just be more of the same. Even though it is Friday, Sam has agreed to come home from school tomorrow and work on his craft fair project. We’ll try to finish things up on Saturday and get ready for mommy and daddy to return from Paris. They get in late on Saturday night, so the kids won’t see them until Sunday morning when we will all give them a hearty welcome home.
by Judy Handley | Dec 9, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 48, Year 11: Over the Hump
Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Cool
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA
We have made it over the ‘hump’—four days down, three to go before mommy and daddy get home late on Saturday night. Right now I have nothing but praise for the parents of young children. As Mark said this evening, “Even when they are being very, very good, dealing with kids 24/7 is enough to drive a person to drink.” He was joking, or maybe half joking, half serious. We have been reminded this week of all of the demands placed on parents—getting kids up, dressed, and fed for school, packing their lunches, getting them to school on time, coming home to cook, clean, organize, and plan some special activities, going to get the kids from school, overseeing homework, overseeing special projects, playing with them, cooking dinner, getting everyone cycled through baths, reading bedtime stories, getting them to bed, and then collapsing while you wait for the cycle to start over again. Of all of these things, I find packing healthy lunches that the boys will eat to be the most challenging. Sam eats mostly meat, Jonah eats almost no meat, and Ollie used to eat everything but is starting to get a little pickier. Sam’s new love this week is my best attempt at duplicating Subway’s Italian BMT. I bought some sub rolls and put on ham, salami, and pepperoni with a little lettuce. He loves it. But Jonah and Ollie only take bites of their subs with only salami. Jonah and Ollie will eat fresh fruit, but Sam won’t touch it. The only common denominator seems to be yogurt. I started the week packing Sunny Butter sandwiches, but no one was eating them. Mark remembers being sent to school with a peanut butter sandwich five days a week. Thankfully I ate school lunches because I really don’t like peanut butter and that was about the only choice for packed lunches in the ‘olden days’. Anyway, I can see that packing lunches is a constant challenge and I congratulate Heather and Jed for persisting in trying to provide healthy choices. From my experience this week, it is really not easy. I now know why so many parents buy all of those pre-packaged choices at the grocery store. And I also praise Heather and Jed for their bedtime training. The boys just know that after dinner we either take a bath or have some quiet play time. Then we read, go to the bathroom, brush teeth, and tuck in. Sam and Jonah are both asleep by the time they hit the bed. Ollie needs a little more attention, but he has been sleeping through the night (something he doesn’t always do) and not getting up until 7:30ish. He is often up much earlier. He told me last night that he wakes up in the middle of the night but doesn’t call out for me. He said he just rolls over and goes back to sleep. I suggested that he do this all the time, not just when Oma and Granddad are here. I know Heather would appreciate that!
Mark has spent his days working on his public radio consulting job. He is searching for applicants for general manager of Hawaii Public Radio. But thankfully his schedule is flexible and he has been able to help out with all of the above. And even though the boys have had a few spits and spats, they have really been great. Heather called via Skype video on Sunday and Jed called on Monday. I had to laugh when Sam said, “Why are they calling? They haven’t been gone that long.” I know all three miss mommy and daddy, but not one of them has ever mentioned that. So far, they have been real troupers. So Heather and Jed, keep enjoying your time away. After eight years of constant parenting, you deserve a little time to yourselves.
by Judy Handley | Dec 8, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 47, Year 11: Happy Birthday to Jed
Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Weather: Rainy and Cooler, High and Low in the 40’s F
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA
Today is our son-in-law Jed’s birthday and we sure hope he was able to take time to enjoy his special day in England. Tomorrow afternoon he will be taking the train to Paris and it would be my guess that he and Heather will have a birthday dinner in Paris to celebrate the occasion. If it were me, I know that’s what I would do. But however he chooses to celebrate, we just want to send along our birthday wishes.
Today was definitely a bit crazier than the last couple of days, but we’ll blame that on the weather. It started raining early this morning and continued the drizzle until late evening. Sam and Jonah were home from school by 12:45 pm, so it was a long afternoon with no outside play. By the end of the afternoon, Jonah was bouncing off the walls, but Sam was actually doing okay. I guess there is something to say for maturity. When Ollie got home from preschool, he was really wired, so he and Jonah continued to be a little crazy all evening. But we survived and they are all sleeping like angels right now. Sam will be up by 6:30 or 7:00 am, but he reads quietly in bed while the rest of us sleep a little longer. Ollie has been getting up at about 7:30 and Jonah follows around 7:45. Normally Ollie is up much earlier, so we have been counting our blessings each morning that he is allowing us to sleep a little longer than expected. It is much more civilized to rise at 7:30 am rather than at 6:00!
We accomplished a few things today despite the craziness. We got a good start on Sam’s science project and Jonah’s book report and managed to make a couple of batches of Christmas cookies as well. Hopefully tomorrow will be a low-key, regular kind of day.
by Judy Handley | Dec 7, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 46, Year 11: Another Successful Day
Date: Monday, December 7, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Still Warm for December
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA
We are holding our breath waiting for the ‘crash’, but so far so good with the boys. We had another incredibly successful day. We got the lunches packed and the boys all off to school without so much as a complaint. Whew! Sure hope every morning goes as smoothly.
This morning Mark took my old computer that crashed on the trip here from Myrtle Beach to Hyannis to a different computer repair place just to get a second opinion. And this afternoon we got a call saying the only problem was one of the two memory slots (and cards), not a crashed hard-drive and blown mother board as we were told when we took it into the repair shop here in Falmouth. The good news is that we should have the computer back in a day or so. The computer had 6 rams of memory in two slots, one with 4 rams and one with 2. The blown slot is the one with 2, so the computer will never be able to have the same memory capacity, but it will be usable. And all the data will be recovered. That was very welcome news. I drove Ollie to Woods Hole to school and shopped my way home buying more groceries and a few items for those crafts projects we’ll probably not get done. By the time I got everything I bought put away, ate lunch, and prepped the taco dinner for tonight, it was time to go back to pick Ollie up. I had to leave a little early to try to find Chanukah candles. We had enough candles to light the Menorah last night, but that was it. Of course it was the last place I checked that had the candles, so we are now set. Tonight when we started to light the candles Sam announced that we had not said the prayers last night. We have no idea what those are, so he suggested that we look it up on the computer. Then he started saying the prayers from memory, so no computer necessary! He has been working very hard at being a model big brother in his parents’ absence and I know they will be very proud of him when they read this. Jonah’s ear infection got instantly better with the antibiotic and he is also working hard at being a good brother. King Ollie is being a little demanding, so I’m just hoping that he’s not spoiled to death by the time Heather and Jed return. I tend to give into his demands just to keep the peace, even though I know I shouldn’t. On the other hand, I can tell he misses mommy in a different way from the older boys, so I don’t want to come down too hard on him. Or maybe that’s just how a grandmother rationalizes less than perfect behavior from an incredibly adorable three year-old grandchild.
Tomorrow is a short school day for Sam and Jonah. It is an early release day when the students are sent home so teachers can have the afternoon for professional development. We have no grand plans for the afternoon other than balancing play with projects. Some of the projects are Christmas-related and others are school-related. Jonah has a book report due and Sam has a school craft fair project and a science project due next week. We have had incredibly warm, sunny weather for this time of year in New England, but the forecast is for cooler weather with the possibility of rain tomorrow. So having lots to do inside sounds like a good plan.
by Judy Handley | Dec 6, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 45, Year 11: Christmas Parade
Date: Sunday, December 6, 2015
Weather: Sunny, High in the 50’s F, Low in the 40’s
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA
Today was filled with the Christmas parade. Ollie and I dropped Mark, Sam, and Jonah off at 10:30 am to meet up with the Cub Scouts who would be marching in the parade. The parade wasn’t slated to start until noon, but participants had to be there early. Scouts Jonah’s age needed an adult to march with them, so Mark took that on. I thought Ollie and I would have time to go to the grocery store and go home to put things away before heading downtown, but I had forgotten that shopping with a three year-old takes three times as long as shopping alone. So we bought the food and just left it in the van while we watched the two-hour long parade. After the parade we had lunch before heading home. We hadn’t been home long before Heather called and we did a quick Skype video call so the boys could say hello to momma. It was 9:30 pm in Paris and she was exhausted. So got almost no sleep on the flight over and it was morning when she got there, so there was no time to sleep. So she was turning in early tonight. After talking to Heather, the boys continued playing outside and I started prepping dinner. I’m not sure where the time went, but before we knew it, the day was over. I had all sorts of grand plans for doing holiday baking and crafts projects with the boys this week, but I must have been hallucinating. It is all you can do to just get the basics done in a day with three boys!
by Judy Handley | Dec 5, 2015 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 44, Year 11: Big Weekend for Santa
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2015
Weather: Sunny, High 50 degrees F, Low in the 30’s
Location: At Home with the Goldpebbles in East Falmouth, MA
Our day started by greeting Santa Claus on the dock in Falmouth Harbor. Each year he comes to town by boat and spends the weekend here. We saw him again tonight when we went downtown for the lighting of the Green. And tomorrow we will see him again in the Christmas parade. It is a big weekend for Santa in Falmouth making it a big holiday weekend for little boys. Sam has outgrown the need to sit on Santa’s lap, but Ollie and Jonah are believers and they sat with Santa this morning and told him what they want for Christmas. I loved Jonah’s simple wish. He just wants surprises for Christmas.
Heather and Jed left today at 4:30 pm headed for Logan Airport. Heather flew out at 8:10 pm headed to the Climate Conference in Paris. Jed saw her off and then boarded his plane headed to England, and then later in the week to Paris, for meetings with various collaborators. It is the first time that both parents have been away from the boys and it will be the longest that Heather has ever been away from her boys. But our hope is the entire week goes as well as this first evening. The boys played outside with Molly and Joey from next door until dark while Granddad worked on getting the lights on the big evergreen in the front yard working. I then invited them all in to watch some of George Balanchine’s production of Tschaikovsky’s ballet ‘The Nutcracker.’ I wasn’t sure just how a ballet would go over with the boys, but they really seemed to enjoy it. Sam thought some of the scenes were just too long, but he stuck with it. Molly and Joey stayed for part of it and I had to promise Molly that she can watch the whole video sometime this week. She loved it. Our three boys all agreed that they loved the music more than watching the ballet, but Jonah and Ollie wanted to know when they could finish watching it. So I think it was a success. We stopped to eat dinner and everyone ate quickly and quietly. That might be a first. We had spaghetti and meatballs and things went so smoothly that Mark suggested that we eat that for dinner every night! Then we were off for the lighting of the Green at 7 pm. The boys were incredibly good about staying right with us. Even with the lighting of the ‘tree’ and other Christmas displays, the Green was very dark and crowded with wall to wall people. We made our way right up to where the brass band was playing Christmas carols and sang along for quite some time. Then we walked over to see the nativity scene (Jonah’s request) and on to the train that children can board. The boys waited patiently to get their turn to board and then Ollie insisted that we go see the Santa’s sleigh display. He is fascinated by Rudolph and just wanted to stand close to him. We left just as the brass band stopped playing carols and headed home for the night. The boys had a bedtime snack of Christmas-shaped sugar cookies that we made today along with some Jello. The Jello was something they normally do not have, but Jonah woke up with an ear infection this morning and had to go to the doctor in the middle of this busy day. He is now on an antibiotic had no complaints at bedtime. Anyway, the Jello was Heather’s concession to his want for something special for going to the doctor. Sam wanted to eat the bedtime snack on a picnic blanket in front of the fire in the living room. All three boys really enjoyed the roaring fire that Granddad had built before we left for the lighting of the Green. We then read and all three boys went to bed. I could tell that Ollie and Sam were missing mommy and daddy, but only Jonah mentioned to me that he really, really misses mommy. But as part of our reading, we sang Christmas carols from Raffi’s ‘Christmas Book’, and that, plus reading ‘The Polar Express’, seemed to distract him enough to make things just fine. Ollie requested that I lay down with him and sing ‘Baby Boy’ and the Shaker song that Mark and I always sang to Heather and Justin, ‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple.’ Jonah suggested that I sing ‘Baby Boy’ (a song Heather made-up when Jonah was a baby) and that he sing ‘Tis a Gift.’ He sang it beautifully and all three boys went right to sleep leaving me with a tear and smile. Like I said earlier, sure hope the rest of the week goes this smoothly here and that Heather and Jed get some time away from work to enjoy Paris together later in the week. As Melissa from next door said this evening, “It doesn’t get any more romantic than Paris at Christmas.”
