President Presentation

In second grade, there is a unit on United States presidents.   Each of the kids picks one for a short presentation.  William selected Ronald Reagan, one of the presidents born in Illinois.  (We have "visit the Ronald Reagan boyhood home" on our Summer Fun list now!)

He prepared notecards with 8 facts about Ronald Reagan.   Part of the presentation was to have a "prop" whether that be costume (I'm told an FDR presenter last year delivered her speech from a wheelchair) or poster.  We went with simple and he had a cowboy hat and Curious George to represent Reagan's years as an actor in Westerns and the infamous Bedtime for Bonzo.   

Girl Scout Achievement Dinner

One of the fun and rewarding things I get to do as a partner and as the Chicago Tax women's initiative leader is represent Deloitte at charity events that honor strong girls and women and the organizations that support them.   This week I was honored to be a Deloitte representative as we were awarded the Corporate Appreciation Award from the Girl Scouts of Illinois and Indiana. One of our partners is also the incoming board chair for the council.   It's amazing to hear the stories about how Girl Scouts impacts these girls' lives!  Especially girls from the city.  I know many of my friends whose daughter, like my son, are members of suburban troops, and what great things Scouting does for all kids!

 

Loaves & Fishes

The Cub Scouts volunteered at a local food bank.  So great to see them in action finding ways to help our community. 

Pinewood Derby

Big year at the Pinewood Derby! The Wolf Scouts ran the event for the Pack, so John was very involved.  And William's car was the second fastest car of the entire night!  His den mate, Henry, had the fastest, so Henry was pack grand champion and William was Wolf champion! 

 

Since John was traveling, I was in charge of weigh in.  It was perfect, but I have to admit my naivete with regard to the graphite powder that gets put on the wheels.  Note for next year, don't wear a white jacket when handling a Derby car. . .

  

 

 

Kansas City

We made a quick trip to Kansas City for the weekend to celebrate some very important people!  

 

We arrived on Friday evening just in time for my brother-in-law's 50th birthday party at the Tanner's by our old house.  It was fun to check out the old neighborhood - and eat cheeseballs dipped in ranch! - and see a lot of John's family! 

Meanwhile back at the Koudeles there were many epic Nerf battles going on!  It's fun that all three kids play together.  Aiden was at a Cub Scouts campout our first evening/morning, but William said Addie was a lot of fun!  Yes, she has her own purple dart gun......And, of course, the animal whisperer was in heaven to have Willie and Indy to play with!

On Sunday we met up with my entire family for brunch to celebrate my mom's birthday.  It was a great coincidence that Ryan was going to be in Kansas City the same weekend an we could all get together!

And no trip to Desiree's house is complete without her famous chocolate chip cookies.  They may an amazing anytime treat, but I'll admit to enjoying several with my morning latte!  Two nights, three days, priceless memories with all of our favorite people!

Valentine's Day

I was traveling on February 14, so didn't get a chance to exchange Valentines with my Valentines until the 15th.   William (and Daddy) very creative with their Valentine's "box" and instead of crafting something took in an old pencil box!  I was proud of them for realizing that crafting something wasn't worth the effort if they didn't want to do it.   Grandma and Grandpa VanMeter sent a Star Wars card in the mail.  Yay!

When I got back to the office on February 15, I had a new, bigger office waiting for me!   Our group moved floors into newly renovated space and I finally got upgraded from my senior manager to partner office.  It feels so spacious after 5 years in an office the size of a powder room! :-)   Around lunchtime, flowers from John arrived to make it even nicer!

Seattle

I traveled to Seattle on a Sunday for a Monday meeting and scheduled my flight to spend some Sunday afternoon fun time with my Theta sisters.  I was also thrilled that since I was flying at off peak business travel hours (Sunday morning and Tuesday morning) that I was upgraded to first class both legs.  Whoo hoo!

 

I stayed at a cute hotel downtown called Arctic Club that had a polar bear statue in the lounge and explorer themed rooms.

But the best part was meeting up with three of my sorority sisters that I have only seen a few times since we left K-State.  We had a great lunch and lots of laughs catching up on life! 

I know that Seattle can be gloomy and dreary, but I've usually lucked out weather wise when I've been there.  I was impressed with a few of the views I captured.

Friendship Party & Disney on Ice

I took the afternoon off work in order to lead the Valentine's party for William's classroom (actually known as the Friendship Party).   I may have been a little naïve in thinking the kids would use the candy just for building a craft project and not for eating. . . .

That evening, we took a friend and his mom to the United Center where we had the Deloitte suite for Disney on Ice, which had a loose storyline around the Inside Out characters with "greatest hits" from all Disney/Pixar movies from the last 10 years.  Even the catering menu was specific to the event with hot dogs, chicken fingers, mac 'n cheese, Jell-o and cookies instead of the more traditional game food.  Well, I guess except for the Jell-o, I've eaten most of those items as a game, too!  This was the first time we had done Disney on Ice.  I really enjoyed it!