Sickness gone...conferences...cooking...hockey...scheduling...no school

That sums up my week this past week. Whew...I'm glad it's almost over. Today the kids have a day off, except Allison. The younger ones have conferences, so they get a free day! Yahoo to sleeping in!! We are planning on going sledding later after Ashley's conference. We are finally out of our tundra cold spell, with temps. rising to the 20's today! We haven't been outside for some fresh air for weeks. -30 degree temps. are NO FUN!!! So, hopefully I'll get some great sledding pics. today!

I think we are finally done with illness in our house. This past week I had Allison home one day and Tanner home for 2 days. Mitch and I are in the clear, I hope! Chuck caved in and got some antibiotics for his 0bvious sinus infection. So, hopefully we are done hearing him blow his schnozz every two minutes! That could, literally, wake the dead!

Chuck and I attended the boys' conferences with their teachers yesterday. Don't mean to toot my own horn, but we have some great kids! Mitch is reading almost at a 3rd grade level and is such a responsible, kind hearted little guy. His teacher's love him. (How could they not, right?)

Tanner is scoring above average in all his major subjects. He is, however, having a hard time completing his artwork in art class. We really think he believes if he misses a day or two of school, he doesn't have to do the work. He's learning some hard lessons about responsibility and not blaming others for his wrongdoings. Fifth grade is such a transition year, and Tanner is having a little difficulty transitioning--he still wants to be the little boy that is taken care of--don't we all? He has had quite a bit of stomach ailments in school, and his teacher is a little concerned. She said that he would go to the nurses office every day if she let him. She's worried that he may be nervous about not doing perfect work, and comparing himself to others too much. My poor guy. Any ideas on how to help him at home would be greatly appreciated!

I've been cooking like a maniac this week. We've had something yummy to eat for supper every night. I highly recommend the lasagna from Deceptively Delicious. It is just plain yummy. I didn't change a thing--which a lot of the time I do--and we all thought it was fabulous! Also, I made the Burgers 1 in that cookbook, and they were also a big hit with the family. For me, getting used to a turkey burger vs. a beef hamburger will take a little time, I think. Nobody else seemed to mind, except Mitchell--who is not a big meat/burger eater anyway. Tanner actually had 2! And for Chuck I made a mushroom sauce to pour over top of his burger, and he loved it. I really think all the garlic that it called for in the recipe was worth it (if you like garlic). It made the burgers taste great.

We've had just as much hockey as ever this last week. A group of us women and men from Tanner's team are getting set up for our home tournament in a few weeks and have been busy making felt banners. We have so much fun together. This group is a blast, and we end up laughing our butts off most of the time.

O.k. I don't know about any of you, but I feel like I've been a hopeless mother these last few weeks. I've been completely forgetful (I think our piano teacher is ready to give up on the Johnson family due to my forgetfullness of their lesson changes). I don't know if it's the new year or the extreme cold that makes me want to curl up by the fire and forget about life. Man, that sounds so depressing...which I'm NOT, but I just want to stay home, knit, maybe watch a good movie or t.v. show. Chuck is the same. He says that we're turning into complete homebodies. I hope it's not because we're getting old! :) But, I do feel that my mind is somewhere else. On one particular night this week, I completely forgot a piano lesson of Ashley's, then panicked when I realized I almost forgot Allison's as well. We flew like the wind to her practice where she heard a few choice words from her teacher. Yes, it was all my fault. I told Chuck that I think it was because I haven't nailed my big calendar in a place that is easily viewed. He just gave me this look. You all know the look...a bit of disappointment, a bit of irritation. Soooo, when I returned home there was my calendar...hanging in a VERY noticeable location; as if to say, "There's no excuses now!" So, that night I spent about an hour typing out our next months schedule, printing it, and posting it by this months calendar. I'm hoping that I'll be more on top of it next month. I usually forget a lot of things that first week of a new month, due to the fact that I haven't posted our schedules. So, here's a peek at what our Feb. looks like so far:

Soooo...today I had Ashley's conference in the morning (she's doing great! Straight A's, baby!!), then went to get her fitted for her musical costume, and I took her out to lunch at her favorite resteraunt. I enjoy our together time so much. We never have a dull conversation. :)

Allison is at a game 2 hours north of here tonight, and I'm feeling very guilty that I'm not there to watch her play. We have a very busy weekend with a lot of driving--meaning a lot of money in gas--and decided we should stay home tonight and save quite a bit of money. I hate making those kind of decisions. Even though she says she understands and isn't mad, I know she would love us there. :(

The boys couldn't wait to get on the sledding hill today. As soon as I got home with Ashley, they had their snow stuff on in like 30 seconds! We spent the next 2 hrs. sledding, and had a blast. We were the only ones on the hill, and hearing the boys giggle was so great. We just finished our hot chocolate and cookies, and we're contemplating which movie we are watching tonight. Did I mention how much I love Fridays???