January marches on....

Nothing of note has been going on with the Messina family as of late. The boys went back to school on January 8th but Tim lasted only one day back. He came home that day (a Tuesday) and went to bed. He got up for short meals and bathroom breaks but didn't get up for longer than 20 minutes until late Thursday night. He had been out for 30 hours! Poor kid was so sick he really had no symptoms except a fever, sore throat and headache. Once he was finally vertical, he started coughing and his nose running...so it was just a horrible, horrible cold. He has been out of school for a week now. He goes back tomorrow for the first time. He's been out of school for over a month now, minus that one day he went back!
Joe is looking forward to going to Aberdeen, Scotland for a basketball tournament in February. Happy news...I am going too! A lot of the parents decided to go and support their boys and I jumped on the bandwagon! Rich is going to stay home from work for a day to spend the day with Lily and get Tim off to school and then a middle school dance that night. I hope to come back hoarse from cheering and with some good friends.
Lily is doing FABULOUS with her potty training. She is just so thrilled to be wearing "big girl panties" and is wiling to tell just about anyone about it. Considering the girl drinks like a fish, I am proud to say she has only had one accident and that was in the first few days. Since then, no problems! Yay!
On January 12th, Stavanger, Norway held the opening ceremonies for the 2008 City of European Culture. Stavanger and Liverpool, England were both awarded this prestigious title. The king and queen of Norway were on hand to see the festivities downtown. We (minus Tim) went on the city bus to Stavanger sentrum and watched the various shows and then the fireworks display on the harbor. It was the most expensive fireworks display ever let off in Norway. It was a brisk night but thankfully, no rain. Lily did, however, get to pee in the grass for the first time (I am sure she did it all the time in China) but it was sure fun to unravel her little body from a snowsuit, clothes, long johns, etc, to have her practically naked. I told her to pee on the grass and she just looked at me and said, "Potty here?" It all worked out nicely and thankfully she was quick about it as there were about 100 people at the bus stop waiting for the next bus back to our town of Sola. We managed to get her back together and all of us onto the next bus home. It was, however, somewhat of a right of passage (that I hope to not have to repeat very often if ever again). :o)