December 19th

It was really hard to drag myself out of bed this morning to drive Miranda to Jazz Band at 6:10am. I had taken some ibuprofen and Nyquil before going to bed last night. I slept pretty soundly.

The temps were cold as we left and a light snow was falling but the roads were bare. She had bought some doughnuts at the store last night because Jazz Band was having a breakfast this morning together. After I dropped her off, I went to North Bend to get gas in van. It was running on empty. I had a $1/gallon off at Safeway. That dropped my gas price to $2.54/gallon. There is a Starbucks right there at the gas station. I had sent in a card and gas gift card for her band teacher (he drives 100 miles to school and back every day!). But I felt badly she didn't have other things for her teachers. I picked up some chocolate peppermint grahams and stackable cups, plus a pack of $5 gift cards.

When I got home, I put gift tags on all the gifts plus one of the $5 gift cards on each. We were going down to the school later that morning for the Recognition Assembly. I also got the other kids' teacher gift cards and Christmas cards together. The kids each picked out which handmade card they wanted to give to their teacher and we put everything together after they wrote messages in them.

The snow had been falling all morning and by 8am we had 2 inches on the ground. I kept checking the school website and buses were only running snow routes in North Bend. So I got the other kids all ready and we headed up to the bus stop. We waited 10 minutes before deciding the bus wasn't coming. The snow was coming down heavily and the wind was blowing. It was pretty miserable. Krish was worried he would miss his bus to the field trip. We all piled into the car (thankfully I had already gotten myself and Merek ready) and headed down to school. The roads were a mess. Cars were crawling along. Our normal 6-minute drive to the school took 25 minutes. I was SO worried we would be late for Miranda's assembly! But I tried to stay calm and not get upset. We dropped the kids off and headed to the Middle School. The snow was still coming down. Merek was mad because his pants had gotten wet while we were at the bus stop and he wanted to change them before we left. But we didn't have time so I told him we'd have to wait until we got back home.

We made it to the middle school in time. And go the perfect seat in the bleachers right by where the kids stand when they are called up for their certificates. I was happy to sit there because it allowed me to snap photos of Miranda when she got her awards. Can I brag a bit? She was one of five 8th graders to receive a perfect 4.0gpa first trimester, AND she had perfect attendance. I'm so proud of her and how hard she works to get good grades. School is not easy for her. She studies and works on homework about two hours everyday.

Several parents left during the assembly as the snow kept falling. We stayed until the end and I'm glad we did! The principal announced that the Parkway and I-90 were closed. We had no way to get home! We lingered a bit and I gave Miranda the gifts to give her teachers. By the time we got to our car and drove down to the Parkway it was opened up again. We barely made it up the hill into our neighborhood. The roads were pretty slick. Brad headed into work. He emailed me and said it was just our town and East that were bad.

I talked on the phone for about an hour with Heather. She was nervous about the kids on the field trip. We both agreed that the weather was going to get better by noon. And it did--the snow turned to rain and the roads turned slushy. By the time I left to take Merek to preschool, everything was fine. I dropped him off and then headed to the kids' school to help with Bird and Krish's class holiday parties. I ran the BINGO table in Bird's class. Then I went to pick up Miranda from school. She came back with me to Krish's class and we did the poinsettia pinata project with the kids.

By the time we got home, I was exhausted! I had to lie down and rest for a little while. We had left over soup for dinner. After the kids were in bed, I ordered several gifts from Amazon for the kids. Thankfully they offered me a free Prime membership for the next month. Whoo hoo! Free two-day shipping. Everything should be here by Saturday, except one gift should arrive on Christmas Eve.

I've started coughing and decided to take some Nyquil again before bed. Anyone who knows me well knows that I cannot stand Nyquil, and I must be really sick to take it. I shiver everytime I drink the stuff.