Thursday, May 31, 2007
“Look, Mom! I Dressed Myself This Morning!”
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Weekend trip
This last weekend Kari did a Small Group Retreat and in the interest of saving money we decided that she and her friends would use our house. So dear old Dad toodled off with the kids to Grandma and Grandpa E’s house. It was a good weekend since the kids like hanging out there and the cousins live close although dear old Dad watched the cousins and kids on Friday night and Maddie threw up all over. 
On Saturday, we went up into the mountains to an area called Oak Glen. We ate lunch there and pretty much wandered all over the place. I’‘ll put a summary here and you can vist our picture page hosted by .Mac to get the full story in pictures.
They have a little mock gunfight they stage where we were and here is a picture of the kids and Grandma with the gunfighters—clearly Jack doesn’t trust that they’re not going to shoot things any more.
They also had a petting zoo there—here are 2 stubborn creatures having a staredown:
Abby walked the whole time. She really has a lot of energy and enjoys running around.
We went fishing in their little trout pond. Jack liked it but didn’t like the fish flipping around. Abby on the other hand was thoroughly fascinated by the fish:
The First of Many
Abby had her first real haircut today. A friend from church, Gina, operates her own hair salon out of her house. Jack and I have both had our hair cut by her, with great results. I finally decided we needed to “shape up” our little girl’s hair. We didn’t really want to cut bangs, so we’re letting the top grow for now. So the before/after pictures don’t look too different, but in person I can tell things have been evened out. Even though Abby wasn’t sure about this whole experience, she did a wonderful job sitting still. It helped that Gina had a tv for her to watch - we put in Cars, her favorite movie right now, and she was set! It was so cute seeing my little girl in that salon chair, her little sandals poking out of the bottom of the cape.
Before the haircut, getting settled into the chair…a bit uneasy!
Getting started…not thrilled…
Very seriously watching the movie; so far, so good…
Okay, pretty girl! All done!
After the haircut, she was treated with some moose poop. Yes folks, that’s right. Moose poop. Gina and her husband, Greg, collect interesting wooden candy dispensers and keep them scattered around the house. They showed the kids how to use them and gave them little baggies to collect their loot. Our favorite is a wooden moose. When you lift its head, the peanut butter M&M’s come out its, er, rear end. So yes, if anyone ever asks, my kids love “moose poop!”
And here are a couple more pictures from yesterday…
Jack enjoyed painting yesterday. (Please don’t notice he’s not wearing his shorts. It is often hard to convince him of the need for pants when we’re home all by ourselves. “But Mom, no one’s here and I’m not cold!”)
After an extended stay outside, Gordon’s paint was stripped off. Jack decided to give him a fresh, new coat - how Very Useful!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Today We Ate Peanut Butter and Jelly
As I was reading a friend of a friend’s blog today, I found this gem. Enjoy.
All My Babies Are Gone Now
By Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist and Author
All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow, but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.
Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach, T. Berry Brazelton, Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education—all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories. What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations—what they taught me, was that they couldn’t really teach me very much at all.
Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.
When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton’s wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.
Every part of raising children is humbling. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the “Remember-When-Mom-Did” Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language—mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, “What did you get wrong?” (She insisted I include that here.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald’s drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?
But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.
I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.
Even today I’m not sure what worked and what didn’t, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I’d done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That’s what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Beautiful Baby Booties (and hats too!)
You must check out this website. I went to school with the girl who makes these beautiful pieces of work. They’re amazing!
http://www.weetoesandnoggins.com.
Ahh…
It’s the really small things my kids do that make my day. Like this afternoon, after Abby’s diaper was changed and she was still laying on the floor, I leaned over and brushed my hair across her face. She giggled and said, “Again! Again!” I love making my daughter smile and her laugh just melts my heart. That sweet, crinkled-up, giggly face can just flood my heart with so much love sometimes I think I may cry. (And sometimes, I do.)
Friday, May 11, 2007
First Swim of the Season
Today was the first swim of the summer! Annette invited us to check out the kid’s pool at Diamond Valley Aquatic Center and we had a lot of fun. This place was great - a huge child’s swim area, three lifeguards, lots of chairs and shade, a snack shop, and only $5 for all three of us!
The great kid’s area
My movie star. I just love her swimsuit this year. I found it at Old Navy in January and snatched it up. I love the polka dots and halter style. She looks old-school sweet to me.
Abby checks out the locker area. She kept trying to get the keys out.
Jack braves the water! He had a really good time, bouncing in and out of the water. I was surprised he liked it as much as he did because the water was chilly.
I’m lucky that my boy still wants to swim with his mom!
“No pictures, please.” Jack waves away the paparazzi.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Thank You, Tim!
Aren’t guys grand? Let me toot Tim’s horn a little bit..
1. He updated all our information in our “current” box at right.
2. This week, Tim helped out with the sound and lighting for a children’s musical Jack and I were involved in. When he found out they needed help, he jumped right in and it made a huge difference.
3. He also volunteered to edit the video from the performances.
4. He took on all the “kid responsibilities” while I practiced and sang with the praise team this weekend.
5. Tonight he tucked in all the kids on his own - our nephew and niece, Zach and Maddie, too, since they are spending the night. (I was rocking Baby Cami since she required a little extra attention.)
6. Although a self-admitted clean freak, he let the kids get nice and muddy in the backyard this afternoon.
So, there. Toot, toot!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Slow Readers
That must be what you think of us when you notice the box at the right hasn’t changed in, oh, over a year.
We just haven’t gotten around to updating it yet. Really.
Currently, I’m reading Robert Jordan’s 4th book in the Wheel of Time series, The Shadow Rising. I’m hooked on this series. They’re the kind of books that keep me up until midnight, and I finally go to bed because I can’t hold my eyes open any longer. I guess the author has a terminal illness, so I’ve been warned that the series may not end before his death. Shoot.
How selfish is that? “Please don’t die, because I need to know how this story ends.”
I also flit between Brenan Manning’s book, The Ragamuffin Gospel and another book called Heart of Anger that my sister in law gave me for Christmas (thanks, Laura!). The former is about God’s grace and the latter deals with anger in children, and how we as parents can both provoke and ease it.
So Tim, care to share what book your nose has been in lately?
Anyone else? What’s your current read?
Bob’s Mama
Abby just adores Bob the Tomato. This morning she pushed him around in the stroller for awhile and then fed him a snack of kidney beans. She also did his hair, which entailed squirting him with the water bottle and then brushing his soggy stem. What a good mama! 
HONK!