Hair

Philip's hair...is out of control. We have had so many laughs about it. It is really long and shiny from the chlorine. I asked him finally if he was moisturizing after swimming and he laughed and said he didn't have any shampoo. He said he didn't have a hairbrush either. We are cracking up by this point. We were kinda waiting for him to ask for a hair cut but he hasn't. We will set something up here shortly. We tame it up until then.

Thanksgiving

So I think we have done well showing Philip an American Thanksgiving...the 2008 version. We moved our Turkey dinner to the previous Sunday b/c our friends were traveling. We had onlyTurkey breast, b/c who eats a whole turkey anyway?? We also had wonderful potatoes, spinach madeline, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. On Thanksgiving day we slept late, watched 2 minutes of the Macy's Day Parade(not really interested!), we don't watch pro football so we made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. D's P's came up and we visited with them and Korey and Jacob and Cara. They are Philip's age but kept to themselves.

We had a mean game of twister going on for a while. We let Philip call his family and girlfriend because 'technically' this is a holiday. I'm now blogging on his computer b/c ours is on the fritz. One may be wondering when the meal preparations are taking place...well, we are eating out!!!

Star of India here we come. It was an easy decision for Erin and I. We didn't feel like cooking again and we are thankful for the Indian food we are about to eat. American...I don't know but it is what it is.

The explosion

I'm not sure when it happened but there was a clothes explosion in Philip's room. I asked him for his laundry and got a few undies and socks. Mmm, I know I saw him wear more than that the last week!

Putting away the undies and socks while he was at school I discovered a pile of clothes so big it was hard to walk in the room!! I started laughing and then proceeded to run a new load(or loads in this case!!:)

Grades

So Philip was struggling to keep his grades above a B average and we were all alittle nervous. Thru no fault of his own he has a very strict language arts teacher and his Am Gov teacher was AWOL. He pulled out A's and B's and we are pretty stoked for him. We expect A's and B's from our own kids and he's complying withthat. I hope his Mom is happy!! Hopefully she'll read the blog!

Birthday continues

It's friday and Philip had asked that we have some friends over to hang out and watch movies for his birthday. We were kinda excited to host and meet some of his friends. Plans changed as they seem to on a minute by minute basis and there were lots of birthdays to celebrate. So off they go to Mountain Dell to go sledding! A few swimmers came to eat meatballs and noodles. They had a few laughs and were off.

It's good that he feels comfortable having his friends here. I wish we had more big kid stuff around here. He doesn't seem to mind

Mary Ann was a little taken back by all the big kids. She wanted to get close to her 'best friend' Bilip and couldn't. She was pretty sad about that. He did refer to her as his little sister. I loved it. It will be Mary Ann that has a hard time when he goes home. A day I don't look forward to!

Happy Birthday Philip

Gosh, has it been this long since I wrote something! It's Philip's birthday. We always make one's favorite dinner and so he chose a salmon dish has mom makes...out of her head?! She did send the recipe, in swedish, and volunteered to shop with me yesterday to get all the stuff. Now he' gone till 5:30 and I havn't a clue how to put it all together!!

This morning the girls decorated his room with balloons hanging from the ceiling. He of course was out the door at 5:15 am to swim so I haven't seen him. We are having my brother's family over and having dinner and dessert. Friday he will ahve his friends over. More on that later.

He thinks all we got him were some ski mittens that look like Chewbaka hands but alas...more to come!

Two things.

Having 2 girls, I never thought I would have to beg the question to my son"why do you where your pants so low" And even if I did, my 'son' wouldn't old enough to do that for years and hopefully the trend would have changed by then. That said with Philip here I hae had to resist the urge to say "pull up you pants!" While on the trip, he and Arden were skipping rocks and her pants slipped down and I said pull up your pants. Philip turned around and looked and I said "oh not you." We then told him about what we American's refer to as bagging. Who thought this was fashionable? What desiner came up with this one? Philip says it comes from an old Swedish guy who's pants are falling down. That seems like a stretch and we laughed about that. He says he sometimes tells tall tales about Sweden to his friends here. That sounded a bit 'tall.'

Also, sadly we had to ask that he not call home so much. This seems like a pretty crucial time to emerse himself. With his B-day and the holidays coming , we want him to be here, fully. Dennis and I hated to tell him , and his P's and Girlfriend, but all seemed ok. Hosting is tough when you have to lay down the law with a child who is not your own. Thankfully, he has been so easy. I think it will begin to feel more like home without constant reminders of home. I will however continue to make Gravlox. We enjoy that together!