Day 28 - Christmas shopping

I was presented with three Christmas wish lists over the past weeks.

Jacob's wish list is long and meticulously copied from the Lego website - it's all about Lego Cars.  Nothing but Lego Cars.  I'm not sure which one is the most longed for but I figured a set that includes most of the car figures should be best, no?

David's wish list is very, very long.  For a boy who detests the mechanics of writing as much as he does, it's an astonishing feat to write so much.  Talk about the proper motivation, eh?  After taking one look at the endless list of demands wishes, I asked him to prioritize.  He put stars on his most coveted items which are all big and expensive.  I'm a bit lost as to what I should actually buy off this list.  I will have to consult again and have him pare his list down to five items which I can then spread around between the relatives and us.

Alan's wish list is full of misspellings and only lists a very sensible few items he really wants.  He might just be the one to get everything he wrote on his list, if I outsource a few items.

Leah didn't write a list - yet.  But she pointed out that she does not, in fact, have any Legos which belong only to her, and she now wants something, anything of the Friends line.  Pink Legos?  That's a new thing in our house. 

So, if you add it up, we'll have another 10 or so kilograms of Legos incoming.  That's scary.  I don't really know where to put that stuff anymore.  I love how Legos work in our house - the kids build the sets according to the instructions, play with the sets for a while, dismantle them and rebuild the sets as something new.  There is lots of creative play.  Lots of training spatial intelligence. Lots of cooperation (and some fighting).  Nothing electronic, it all happens in their brains and with their hands.

Still.  We have maybe 100 kg of Legos spread around the house.  I may or may not have sucked up a few kilos of Legos with the vaccum cleaner over the years.  They are everywhere.  They hurt like hell when you step on them at night (which is why I always wear slippers when I go to the bathroom at night).  They are in the couch cracks, under the carpets, in the shelves, in shoes, in pants pockets, in the washing machine.

Anyway.

After everybody came home and had done their homework, we went to the school yard to practise for David's bike test on Wednesday.  It did not rain.  In fact, for about five minutes, we had blue skies!  Here's the proof:

David's got a little trouble with the left turn, so I drew a street on the, um, street, complete with a left turn.  See?

We practised.

Alan did not want to come but Jacob joined us.

Even David ended up having some fun.

Then I went to get Leah from Preschool and she was very, very upset.  She'd wanted a playdate with her friend but the friend's mom didn't have time.  Leah did not take this well and cried all the way up the hill to the schoolyard. 

Not even the chestnuts could distract her.  Much.

Then we went home, feed cookies to unhappy and happy kids, and watched the latest episode of Mythbusters.  Just a few more hours to bedtime.  Not that I'm counting, or something.

(Oh, last not least: Alan got a 2 -- which is a B -- for his poem recital.)

Comments

[neurondoc]

If you would forward the lists to me, I can send presents back with Doug. If he ends up elsewhere first, then I will send them direct.

Also, Leah might not have much 6 year-old girls clothes from Allison. A childhood friend of mine lost pretty much everything including her house in the hurricane. If she wants girls clothes, I'm sending them to her. :-(

[claudia]

Don't send anything with Doug - he only has one suitcase and he had maybe three kilos in weight left. Don't send anything direct, either. The customs has really been cracking down on imported wares and they are not very lenient. We'd have to drive to Schweinfurt to pick it up and pay 20% import tax - they check the prices on the Internet, so no futzing possible.

I told the boys about your friend. They ask you to send their presents (or the equivalent) to your friend's kid(s) instead. She will really need it - toys, and some pots and pans. David wants to know whether they might need a donation.

[neurondoc]

They are okay -- getting lots of donations from friends and family and staying with her mom in north Jersey while they figure out what they are going to do about their house. I'm not sure that she she wants Allison's clothes.

I do plan to send about $100 of kids books and other stuff. I remember how distraught my cousin's kids were when their house burned down.

What Lara most wants are copies of all of the photos she lost. :-( I can actually oblige with some. We went to sleepover camp together for 4 years and I'll be searching out and scanning what pictures I can find.