Icepocalypse 2013

Very cold, but happy family!

Snow paint. Lea made "ice rink closed and open signs"

Our nature walk revealed many beautiful patterns left by the ice. We even had a small ice bowl made by a finial on a fence.

Cold, but in love!

Everything is encased in ice.

Including the cars! We didn't leave time to defrost on Sunday so Lea and I walked to church and had a great nature walk on the way home.

Lea and her icy domain.

Cold Daddy!

Homemade donuts with powdered sugar and cinnamon to warm up the family. Lea's advent calendar was filled with "get to do's" instead of candy or chocolates. Think like donuts in the morning, pretend time, no bed time, treats like that.

A conversation with a friend on our annual shopping trip (which by the way was originally canceled due to the ice storm on the first week of December and rescheduled with 4 other events that Saturday & Sunday) — this friend reminded me that our life should always be filled with poetry. The conversation was about her child's teacher inspiring a love of poetry while her other child was not exposed to poetry, but still wrote it on his own. Awesome! I related a story about my college English class, something like 102 which was a required class and therefore had a student base from all walks of life and diciplines. This class was an evening class so there were many older people (probably the age I am now, but in my 20s I thought them mature and dowdy) who were returning to school. One particular woman who I believe was trying to become a teacher (truly tragic in afterthought) said to our teacher something to the effect of "Once I leave this classroom I will have no use and no place in my life for poetry. It is a waste of time and energy." As my memory goes I, in a boldness fueled by youthful certaintly actually said to her "I feel sorry for you. I find it a tragedy that you have no place in your life for poetry. I hope that I never come to a time in my life when I don't have time or energy for poetry." The woman gave me the usual song and dance about how I was young and didn't have a job and children and one day I would understand. So after hearing this my friend asked "So, have you changed your position on poetry?" No. No I haven't. I don't while away the hours reading Maya Angelo or Keats, but we read Shel Silverstein so much that Lea has the memorized. I used to write little silly poems for Sherry when we lived together, poems so pointless that they just said we were out of milk. I'm no grand poetry and I find it hard to write poems that don't rhyme a little and I'm terrible at beats (I have no rhythm — even Lea can attest to that!). But that doesn't stop me. So I came home from that conversation and at dinner, without explaining my motivation I threw a line or two at Dan and Lea and we started rhyming about the ice storm. Lea's contribution was "On Cocoa, on Chocolate, on marshmallow..." I added the toddy and tea. She also insisted we add the line "All children in bed except our Lea" — at one time we had TV-ya rhymed with it, but we worked out our prose problems. And in case you think this poetry business is one sided, be clear that Dan wrote more of this than I did. He's great at changing the words to songs and breaking into rhyme or pun at a moment's notice. And so you probably saw this already as we used it for our Christmas card, but here is our family's poem project. 

An ode to Icepocalypse

Icepocalypse had come on a weekend in December, as I recall t’was the first
Everything was canceled. Everyone was expecting the worst.
Our schedule was full to the brim — morning to night — so full it would burst
And now we had nothing to do, a skill in which our family was well versed.

The snow it was a’ snowing.
The wind it was a’ blowing,
But the only thing a’ showing
was a layer of ice that kept us from a’going.

The Neals were nestled all safe at home
Awaiting the visit of a yuletide gnome
In his bright red sleigh with runners of chrome
While outside resembled not Dallas, but Nome. 

All Children were asleep except for our Lea K.
Who was nestled on the couch watching TV all day
Daddy at computer and Mommy snug under her duvet
But some special family time too, and game after game we did play

The trees were a’ creaking
and we were a’ seeking
a kid who was a’sneaking
at presents a’ peeking.

On Toddy. On Cocoa. On Marshmallow and Tea.
We stayed warm until Tuesday when the weather set us free
Back to our Texas norm and temps around seventy-three
But whatever the weather we happily together will be.

Whatever the weather, whatever the storm, no need to fear
Being together for a long weekend or going at full gear
We’re thinking of you, our friends and family from far and near
We all wrote this to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Maybe she'll be a playwrite — or not

There is no surprise ending. If you watch the first bit of this you get the gist. It was a fun evening of playing Barbies. We made clothes with decorative tape from Dollar Tree. Lea got a bit amped up when the Barbie's bottom didn't get covered. Then she bent one with a tape dress to sit her down and figured out she could show the dolls bottom on purpose.

Ice skating at the Galleria

 Lea got to go ice skating at the Galleria for a friend's birthday. Nothing brings us into that "holiday feeling" like ice skating. Unless its Christmas music two weeks into November! The "oldies" station here started playing all Christmas music on Nov 15. A bit early in my book, but I was told (as our city honors the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination) that if you look at pictures of the 1963 Kennedy motorcade you will see Christmas decorations adorning downtown — so its not unique to our generation. However, this premature Christmas music has caused the Neal family to invent a fun game — change all Christmas songs to Thanksgiving songs. Dan and Lea are really good at it.
"Its beginning to look a lot like THANKSGIVING, turkeys in every home..."
Lea's favorite this morning was Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas time" with "Simply having a wonderful THANKSGIVING time. The choir of turkeys sing their song. 'Don't eat me, don't eat me, Pleeeeeeease don't eat me." Very funny!

So skating around a gigantic tree at the Galleria helped get us into the holiday mood a bit early. As we walked into the Galleria Lea says in an indignant tone (I know that creating an indignant eight year old is my own doing — she reflects the tone I seem to take most often). "Who ever heard of putting an ice skating rink in a mall for crying out loud!"

Well, lots of people. Especially the Galleria people because there is one in Houston too.

So she skated with friends. Ate pizza and cake with friends. Wore silly glasses and pink mustaches with friends. A good time was had by all (especially because mommy went and had a margarita with another mommy!)

Skating with no fear! Lea said she didn't fall once and didn't spend the whole time on the rail.

Part favors were pink mustaches and wacky glasses, but Molly wanted Dan's glasses. As you'll see in a following photo, Molly was right — it doesn't get any wackier than Dan!

Wacky glasses and a pink mustache!

Happy Birthday!

Wilford Brimley? Oh no just Dan in his daughter's pink mustache and hoodie. He walked all the way through the Galleria in this get-up. He got some funny looks. It was fun walking behind him, catching reactions.

And now for the video portion of this ice skating post: 

After skating we headed out to the country to see our Sorensen cousins' new house/farm. 2 horses, 8 chickens, a goat and a sheep! Plus lots of kids. Their house warming party was wonderful and we look forward to seeing them more often. Lea had a great time playing with BX3+L! Middle brother was very jealous and said "Lea is in there playing with her BOYFRIEND!" But then they all managed to play together. Very cute! We also saw Kirby! Dan hadn't seen her since she was a teenager and we couldn't figure out if she and I had ever met. She seems to be doing well and was delightful to talk with. Good to connect with all of them and spend the day watching a beautiful sunset at their new home. 

A very good day. 

Quote of the week

"I don't like to use contractions." — Lea

Quote of all of last year:
"Amn't I a genius!"

Pig Tales

We were playing pretend, specifically school. Lea was alternating between the characters of Sally (the bad student) and Merida (the good student). She was being Merida and said "Sally, stop. Sally is kicking me. Now Sally is hitting me." These pretend students were being very difficult so I swiped the air and said I had Sally by the pig tails and pretended to bop her.
Me: "I bopped her on the head."
 Lea: "No, you hit her on the bottom."
Me: "How could I bop her on the bottom, I had her by the pig tails. She's a pretty crazy girl if I grab her pig tail and I get her bottom. Didn't I have her pig tails."
Lea: "Yes, but its a real pig tail [giggle] because she's a real pig."

Night at the [Perot] museum

So what did we do Friday night? Oh, just stayed over night at the nature and science museum. The Perot Museum is only about a year old and very cool. They offer about 4 overnights a year and we signed up for a members only. There were about 200 people I'd say. The had us stow our gear until midnight and I wondered how on earth we'd keep our girl up til midnight when I don't think she's ever been up that late before. Well the answer, as with so many things is SCIENCE! Way cool science... oh and candy!

They played with bubbles filled with dry ice smoke, watched a pumpkin explode and then spew yeasty foam, they searched in the dark for clues about owls, they sat on a chair made of nails and that was just the special stuff they offered. They enjoyed many of the regular exhibits also. I was hesitant to sign up for a second year membership thinking we'd seen every floor, but Lea does not tire of the place. Especially the life lab where there is a video game, but with projected images where you choose good life choices to add years to your "age" or bad life choices to subtract years. But there are hundreds of other exhibits Lea loves too so we'll continue to go back as often as we can. I'd even stay over night again even though I am still sleepy after two good nights of sleep, two naps and an extra hour thanks to the time change!

We were lucky enough to meet up with friends (both adults and kids) who had a wonderful night together (misery loves company, right!). Plus we all had soccer the next day, though our friends had a game at 8am, yikes! The separated the groups by last name and some slept on floor #3 (rocks & minerals — which probably would have been Dan's choice) and floor #4 (dinos & hall of birds — us!). I felt privileged to get to sleep under the bones of a mammoth and an alamosauras, with a view of a pterodactyl and Dan's favorite the gigantic sea turtle (by gigantic I mean bigger than the mammoth!).

There was a science costume contest and I had several elaborate ideas, but Lea came up with her own. She said to me "I'll just wear a sign that says "gravity" and jump up and down." Well how perfectly Lea is that, she is a bouncer after all. However, when it came time to say her costume she got overwhelmed by the boy in front of her who knew every part of a pumpkin plant and its scientific components from seed germination to tendrils that supply nutrients. So Lea humbly said "I'm gravity and it, um... keeps us on the ground." NO BOUNCING. She would have gotten applause just for brevity considering how long the pumpkin was up there. But I understood. There were several who thought they had to give a report with their costume and I'll give credit to the museum, those were the costumes that won. Hooray science! We knew she wouldn't win, I just wanted her to be herself so that's all that mattered.

So 5 musueum floors, 4 hours of science fun, 2 hours of fiddling around in sleeping bags, 5 hours of "sleep," 3 friendly families, 5 kids adds up to fun to the power of infinity!

The Neal family & The Perge Family ready for a night at the museum

Crazy kids holding up a dino skeleton. We were waiting for the science show where they "exploded pumpkins" — using a reaction &  flammable gas pieces of a carved pumpkin shot out and then with yeast and dawn dish-washing liquid the pumpkin oozed like it was throwing up. They also got to try cheese puffs frozen in liquid nitrogen that made them puff out steam from their mouth. And this wizard's lovely assistant was Sanger's art teacher, Ms. Fletcher!

"We're paleontologist princesses" Never have I heard more precious make-believe words in my life! Science and princesses! Awesome! Their pretend names were "Lila" and "Magda." This was on the flash light scavenger hunt in the dino room and Rose Hall of birds. It was very owl-cetric.

Ready for sleep, all 4 hours of it. While Dan and I were happy to sleep under the Wooly Mammoth skeleton, and Lea and her friend were between that and the gigantic, 2-story tall Alamosauras skeleton, all Lea would say was "My friend parked me under the exit sign," when she explained where she slept. I guess the light was a bit bright as we went to sleep. She did crawl over with me for the beginning of sleep and then rejoined her mate somewhere around 3am.

Returning from brushing her teeth in the hall of dinosaurs.

Just one more thing we've done together, slept under a Wolly Mammoth skeleton. You can't see it in the photo, but in Dan's eyeline as he lay falling asleep was a beaver skeleton so in the morning he made the girls laugh with "I slept next to Justin Beaver!"

Not comforable in the least, but amazing none the less. What a fun family adventure!

Our cozy spot. Did I mention we slept under a Wooly Mammoth. I know you're tired of hearing it but it was just so amazing! I did misspeak at one point and say we were under a mastodon when Dan informed me that the differences between mammoths and mastodons are size and millions of years.

Lea waiting for her pancakes the next morning. We couldn't get her to put her Dork Diary book down. That's a good think I think.

November already !?! A wrap up of family going ons

I can't believe it is November already! I thought September went fast but, oh my October just evaporated! We were busy. Dan got stuck in charge of the school carnival and took it extra seriously. I'd been on committees before and know it would all work out, but he was very stressed out about it. It of course was wonderful. He managed to pick the only Saturday in October that didn't rain at least a little! He organized a dunk tank which was new this year and it made more money than anything except food so he was very proud. It helped the principal and our school board member showed up to be dunked as well as some teachers. One teacher went all out and had a wet suit and snorkel, it was very funny.

Lea started playing soccer with girls from school. She enjoys it a lot but I have to admit she's not very good. Kind of standing picking flowers or dancing instead of watching the ball, but she's out there and she tries. She is definitely getting better and most of the other girls played last year so they have an advantage over Lea (another advantage would be that Dan and I would much rather WATCH hockey than PLAY soccer — so we're not the best role models).

Tonight we are headed to the Perot museum to spend the night for a members only event. It sounds very exciting to me, but a bit annoying to Dan. Sleeping on the floor, or rather "sleeping" at all will be uncomfortable, but as I understand it we get to pick where we sleep — under the dino, under the stars, in the life lab next to the life game which is Lea's favorite spot. We know 3 other families who are going to so I think it will be a lot of fun for Lea and Dan will manage to enjoy himself some too. Perhaps I should pack a camp chair for him instead of a sleeping bag. I think he'd rather sit than sleep in the floor. I haven't planned anything for the rest of the weekend as I assume many naps will be in the Neal family future. Lea does have a soccer game on Saturday (with the three other familes who are going) so we'll see how they do when sleep deprived. Children have the benefit of sleeping whereever they land though so they'll probably fare better than us old folks!

Halloween was a blast. Lea was a book character at school for their book parade from "Dork Diaries" about a girl with a diary. I think maybe she wanted to carry around her diary more than anything else. For Tricks or Treats we went with the same family we've been going with since Lea was 3 months old. It is great to see the photos of them together and see how they've grown. It is really a sight. I've found a cute craft to make an accordion photo holder and I hope to have that done by next year to showcase all their costumes and their toddlerness to their kiddo looks. Lea was a vampire cheerleader for trick or treat. Tonight she can dress in a science costume so she — on her own, despite my other bright ideas — chose to be gravity. She said "I'll just wear a sign that says gravity and jump up and down a lot." So Gravity it is because, oh my goodness I think that's cute!

Dork Diaries at Book Parade

Vampire Cheerleader with home made pom poms

The first stop on Tricks or Treats with Cleopatra, Flutterby My Little Pony, Vampire Cheerleader, Princess Leia and Bumble bee.

Oh so much walking and so little candy — oh wait that's because the candy was so heavy it was dumped into another bag for mom to carry!

The Candy Haul.

I dressed as the fox from "What the fox says," a viral video that is a song that gets stuck in my head. I made my mask, but didn't wear it too long. Randomly my trick or treating mom pal chose the same costume.

Fox back up dancer costume.

We went to church this morning for All Saints day. I had Lea miss the first hour of school since we have to hit the museum tonight before mass would be over in the evening. It was nice to go at that time because at 8am the Catholic school kids were there. About 15 students were dressed as saints and Lea got to see them in their uniforms. Lea has to wear a uniform, but it is not very strict, in fact this year they added a third shirt color so its really not very formal. Lea whispered "I don't think the girls can wear pants with their uniform. They are all wearing skirts!" The funny thing is she said it like it was horrible, and yet she seldom wears the pants I bought her! Crazy girl. I guess she just likes to keep her options open.

Speaking of school there's been a bit of an upheaval among the parents. The kiddos are going on about their business. Some parents who fought very hard for the school for years up until this year left to home school and they got a story published in the Dallas Morning News. From a journalistic background and knowing them pretty well I can read between the lines to what they tried to say and what got printed by a reported who did not work to interview extra sources, visit the school or do much digging. I know of a lot of their complaints and don't think they were voiced well by the article. Unfortunately a lot of parents found it to be malicious (which knowing the people in the article is hard for me to even entertain such an idea) and felt betrayed since they had worked along side so many parents to get the neighborhood to view the school in a positive light. It really felt like a step backwards. But there is always a silver lining. It has motivated the school and thanks to D Magazine's attack of the poor journalistic style and posting a link to the PTA's store donations poured in. I guess what they say is true that any publicity is good publicity.
The DMN original article
The D response
The Advocate wrap up