What's been up

Hi. I know you all thought I may have disappeared from the blogging world indefinitely, but my little sister gave me a tongue lashing and insisted I must blog, so here I am again. And this is what we've been up too.

1. On Friday we went to Millennium Park to a concert featuring the "Stars of Lyric Opera" from the Chicago Opera House. Basically a random sampling of opera songs, Figaro, etc. I have never been or seen any opera before except for one on PBS and I was really excited to go. However, what was supposed to be a date with Leo originally, turned into taking our kids. WHY!?!?!? I don't really understand my thinking, obviously I didn't think very much at all. Anyway, the kids did NOT appreciate opera. We spent the whole time chasing them and trying to keep them quiet. (We were sitting on a blanket in the back of the park.) Isabel is just at the age where she hates to be not moving. Ana never said a word that wasn't whining and tried to start a wrestling match with Leo (this was with people jam-packed all around us with bottles of wine and other such stuff), and Elena was Elena. We left at the intermission. I did hear one song that I loved though. It was beautiful. I managed to listen to most of it, because I had just finished chastising Ana and Leo had Isabel, and Elena was looking with me at the few stars you can see in Chicago. Here it is, enjoy!



2. In not so go good news, well, really terrible news actually, my friend passed away this past week. She's my age and has four kids, the oldest is in first grade and the youngest is seven months old. She had leukemia but was doing well and almost finished her chemo treatments when she caught the flu and ended up in ICU and then had a severe stroke causing a coma, brain damage, and kidney failure. Her doctors said she would never live through chemo even if she ever did wake up. Her husband made the choice to take her off life support. I made Leo come to the viewing with me (her husband and him are good friends too), and he literally was hyperventilating when we went in. Leo hates things like that, but he finally calmed down when he saw how calm her husband was.

3. Needless to say, I needed a bit of escapism this week and read over the Attolia series again. Really, if you've never read Megan Whalen Turner's books, you should.

4. I just received a phone call from the school district notifying me that all the schools are in a soft lockdown (so no one is allowed to enter or leave the buildings) because an armed robbery suspect has been seen in the area, (1 mile or so from our house). I love Chicago.

5. Here's some of the music my kids have been enjoying in our home. This is Elena's new favorite song.



6. This has been Ana's favorite song since she was a toddler. It's about a snake that drinks alcohol.



7. And I like this one, especially the part where the guy says he's going to the Amazon to find a girl who can dance the samba. Gotta love that.



8. I almost finished the ironing that's been sitting out for four days.
9. I also made French Canadian Pea soup, it's cooking in the crockpot, but the smell is making me nauseous. I don't know if I'll be able to eat it once it's dinner time. It sounded good yesterday though. I love pea soup, but I've never found a canned kind as good as the case my mom bought in Canada once. Anyway.
10. I need to post some pictures, I think Isabel and Elena are so cute right now. Isabel has such a funny sense of humor. And Elena goes around singing, "AhhhhAhhh Ahhhhh...." from the Little Mermaid. She also sings her own made up princess song about a princess locked in a tower. Once I asked her to sing a cowboy song, so she sang, "Cowboy....Princess locked in a tower...." It was so funny.
11. Leo and Ana have to go to the Colombian consul on Monday to try to get a new passport for Ana and a new Colombian ID card for Leo.
12. Two more months till we get to go to Colombia!!!!
13. That's all I can think of, except I'm really tired of Elena whining today. I probably should take her oustside.