Dressing Up

It was the start of October and Hanson's Halloween Costume Catalog arrived in the mail. A 32-page brochure crammed full of dress-up outfits to choose from...

This was greeted with a different reaction from each of the Crazy-For-Halloween Nelson children.

Louis was the proverbial kid in the proverbial sweet shop. He studied that catalog front to back and then back to front. His decision process went something like this: Monday he decided on the Buzz Lightyear costume; Tuesday he changed his mind and opted for Mario; Wednesday it was Scooby Doo; Thursday Scary Bones; and Friday Popeye. I don't remember a single conversation I had with Louis during October that didn't focus on the merits of at least three Halloween costumes. In the end he went with Scary Bones.

No such procrastination for Eva. She looked at the catalog with disdain in her eyes and said coolly: "show me the superheroes section". The only decision she had to make was between Superman and Spiderman. Anth tried to encourage her to think farther afield than male superheroes: "there are girl superheroes too...." she said. Eva looked plain disgusted at the idea of dressing up as a girl... Spiderman it was.

Gaby went for ease of enunciation; she turned to the 6 pages of "Costumes for the Under Twos" (I kid you not), found the duck costume on page 3 and proclaimed: "Gaby Duck!" She said that a lot in subsequent days.

You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave

It's not that Anth and I are getting old or anything.....but last week we went to see The Eagles...

The gig had been the talk of the town in the weeks and months beforehand and tickets cost about three months' wages. Needless to say we had seats right at the back.

We wondered on down to the venue at about 7.30 and made a point of talking very loudly to each other about the merits of Kings of Leon's new album - just to show that we are still young.

Furnishing ourselves with a pair of Bud Lights and a large Jack Daniels each we sat in the bar and tried to name 5 Eagles' hits. It must have been about 7.45 and we had named four when Anth stopped and wondered why she could hear Hotel California. We did a double take before we realised that The Eagles were on already! At 7.45! Well, it was a Sunday night. We hot footed it up the steps and kneed our way past the old dudes to take our seats.....

....and we rocked out for three and a half hours. It turns out they've got loads more than 5 hits....and they sounded great. (Anth nearly lost it when they played Desperado and had to send live footage to her Carpenters-loving mates)

Walking out we were talking loudly about how we've always loved The Eagles

Calling All Limeys

Never mind the Commonwealth Games!

Check out this gold medal performance...

Celebrating

People often ask me: "what do you find to be the main cultural and sociological differences between America and England?"

Well, alright they don't but that's what I choose to hear when what they actually say is: "what in heck you talkin bout, man?"

But, let's just suppose they are asking me the former; I would say one of the main differences is a greater celebration of life exists here - in the Midwest at any rate. Life is embraced here in a big way. Maybe it's because teeth are very white...but there is a lot more smiling than I'm accustomed to. Very little cynicism, very little sarcasm, very little moaning, lots os fun!

It's not just that calendar events are celebrated feverishly (we recently had May Day, for which our neighbours made us May Day Baskets) it also permeates school life. I can't keep up with the amount of fun Eva and Louis have at school. It is, of course awesome! There is an emphasis on learning and - despite thinking it would be otherwise - it is competitive. But the learning and competing is done in a very fun environment.

Louis has just been on his third field trip of the Spring....and then there is a Dad's Day coming up at his school which I'm eagerly anticipating... although the whiteness of my teeth won't make the grade, I know.

Eva has recently been Helper of the Day, whcich came on the back of her being Star of the Week. And then there was her Mother's Day concert; forty kindergarteners belting out some uplifting tunes whilst a rolling montage of each mom was projected onto the wall 20 ft high.

Also worth celebrating would you believe are school lunches! Parents are welcome to join their kids for lunch - which starts at 10.50!! I went along last Monday and for the fair price of $2.75 I enjoyed chicken fingers & fries with Eva and her classmates. I wasn't sure what to expect, eating lunch with a load of 5 and 6 year olds. It was of course lots of fun and there I was, enjoying my carton of chocolate milk when Sawyer - aged 6 1/2 - asked me if I was Eva's grandpa....

Naturally, the fun stopped right there....

Do Dogs Have Middle Names?

I didn't think that Friday would arrive this week.

The days this week have been very long, starting as they have been at 4am. We are just back from a couple of weeks in England and body clocks are still on Greenwich Mean Time when they need to be on Central Standard Time.

So, in the dead of night the kids have been coming in to our room demanding breakfast and help getting dressed for School. Beautiful!

I'll say this though: being awake in the middle of the night for hours on end with your kids does make for some illuminating conversations. Louis especially likes to deal with the Big Issues of the day. Last night, he came in looking pretty worried. After some not inconsiderable coaxing he told us what was on his mind: he was worried that dogs might not have middle names!

On The Move

We have moved!

Four numbers wasn't enough for us. We were at Number 7142; we're now at Number 15015.

The house is great. We won't know what the garden is like until the snow melts....

Pump It Up

All the cookie dough is taking its toll on Anthea and me.

We are going soft in the head.

How else do you explain arranging a 1st birthday party for Gabriella at the soft play mecca that is Pump It Up?

Ho Ho Hoey

It's a Winter Wonderland here at the moment; I can't remember the last day it didn't snow.

Finally the snow was wet enough to build a snowman.

Louis crafted a masterpiece and named it Hoey The Snowie!

Timberrrrrr (2)

....then you pretend to your kids that you're not a City Boy at all........

.....they're only temporarily fooled though when it takes me and friends the rest of the day to stand the thing up!

Timberrrrrr (1)

You want a Christmas tree in midwest America?

You get yourself down to the (sustainable) Christmas Tree Farm, of course!

Once there, you get in amongst them and make your choice of pine.....whereupon a big man gives you a big saw....