The Richardsons

Wednesday Wednesday

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Warning: long post ahead.

Wednesday was an insane day. I haven't had time to organize a post about it until now. It started out fine. I spent the day being somewhat productive. I made a baby blanket for our mystery girl. I ~~bought myself~~ received a new sewing machine last year that rocks. It's not too complicated, works perfectly and is called "The Audrey" which I interpreted to mean Audrey Hepburn and that makes it even cooler. I'm still learning all the sewing terminology: bobbins, pressure foot, thread tension, etc. (Whatevs. I just want the needle to poke the fabric and sew it together.) Over Thanksgiving, Danielle and I found some adorable flannels on super sale. I decided to make some receiving blankets because I thought to myself ... "It's a rectangle. How hard can that be?" And "that's such a good mommy-ish thing to do for my new baby." Of course, I didn't factor in the fact that I'm pregnant and completely brainless these days. It really is just a rectangle and isn't all that difficult for normal people; but I'm sewing impaired. I had to make two phone calls (to my grandma and MIL) and study the machine's instructions for 20 minutes before I figured it out. (Yes, the machine is easy to use, but I forgot how to thread it.) And then... Success! TaDa! Here is blanket #1:

Not bad, huh? I was so proud of myself. Unfortunately, Chance didn't praise and admire it as much as I deserved. He's so ... masculine about everything. How hard is it to say the blanket is adorable and I'm the sexiest wife and mother ever for making it? So I had to post it on Facebook to pump up my ego. Thank goodness for Facebook friends who made me feel like a domestic diva. I also made another one Thursday:

My baby is so lucky to have a mom like me, right? Um.....sure.

Back to the rest of the day....It was in the midst of sewing and other things that I noticed baby girl wasn't moving around much.  She wasn't responding to the usual stimuli - eating, ice water, lying on my side, Reese's pb cups, etc. Her movement counts were unusually low - not her usual self. I had to call the doctor's office about other matters and mentioned the decreased movement.  Remember my high risk pregnancy status? I go in for check ups twice a week to check for placenta problems and possible preeclampsia onset. After a brief consult with one of the doctor's I was ordered to come in for an emergency NST/ultrasound in Tacoma.  Saying "come in right now" to a pregnant mom is stupid.  I freaked out a little. I looked at my clock and noticed that the kids were getting out of school in 4 minutes.  So, I frantically called the school, my neighbor to watch the kids and Chance and got on the road while sobbing like a crazy emotional pregnant woman.   And then I worried the whole way there. I ate most of a bag of mini Reese's peanut butter cups as I tried not to think about the people I know who've lost a late term baby or the fact that Chance was probably dying in a car accident at that moment as he raced from work to meet me. And of course, there was an unexpected construction detour along the way. Plus, I have never felt so disgusting as I did that afternoon. I looked at myself in the mirror and realized my face was bright red, I hadn't combed my hair or done anything with myself all day. And I could smell that I needed a shower .... badly.  Thank goodness doctor's and nurses are so forgiving.

But...all is well! Baby girl was just sleepy. She performed wonderfully in her ultrasound and all my other vitals, etc were perfect.  It was an exhausting afternoon that ended with good news. (Oh, and a side note about the Reese's pb cups....its OK that I ate them. I have gestational diabetes, but my doctor told me I can have a little somethin' if my "mood" calls for it. Plus, I'm on a pill which ~~means I can cheat whenever I want~~ totally helps out if I accidentally eat too many carbs or something.)

We returned home, picked up the kids and immediately ran to the school for Tyler's very first 5th grade band performance.  He started playing the trumpet a couple of months ago just like his dad did when he was younger. It was an interestingly discordant musical experience that went on and on. Emma and Noah practically passed out from boredom. But baby girl woke up and kicked and wiggled all night to the "music." Tyler's group was the youngest band with only a couple months experience. They were adorable and very ... squeaky. I loved it. I even recorded their last song "Jingle Bells" so that I could share it. Tyler is right in the middle behind the girl with the horn (I can't think of the name of that horn right now. I was never in band. I played the piano, OK?)

Enjoy!

[Update: Well, it turns out that blogger hates me or hates my video or hates 5th grade bands. No video clip for now. Sorry guys! I'm sure you're really sad about this. But just imagine a bunch of 10 year olds playing instruments that they picked up for the first time 6-8 weeks ago.]
Aren't they adorable? I smile every time I watch it. And Tyler was pretty happy with himself, too. After a worrisome afternoon, it was nice to watch my boy proudly toot his horn! (Chance is groaning out loud right now.) Here he is with his with his cool new trumpet and clashing belt. (*Sigh* Will that boy ever learn?)

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother."
~Lin Yutang

And speaking of bad days....Here is my favorite iPhone auto-correct right now. It is actually from early this year and was voted one of the top most hilarious auto-corrects of the year. So, if you're into this stuff, you've probably seen this before. Chance just showed it to me the other day. It made me laugh so hard, I cried. And then I went into a full-blown low blood sugar attack - uncontrollable sobbing due to low sugar. It took Chance and the kids a few minutes to figure out what was happening with me. Ah...pregnancy is such fun. Enjoy!

Trimming the Tree

2011-12-08T22:58:00.001-08:00

Decorated the tree tonight. I only lost my temper twelve times. Noah and Emma each had an emotional meltdown, Tyler had two; and Chance hurt his back. But it's done! Merry Christmas!

The pictures aren't great; not unusual when we do anything indoors in the evening. The lighting is terrible. Chance purchased these elf hats and reindeer antlers last year on clearance. The antlers light up and are fun to see in the dark. He was so excited to give them to Emma. She sobbed for 30 minutes because she didn't want to be a reindeer and only wanted to be an elf. After that the boys started fighting about their hats so I took all of them away until they could appreciate them. About 30 minutes later Emma decided that she didn't want to be an elf afterall and that reindeer antlers are where it's at anyway.

Every year, one child has the honor of placing the the star on top of the tree. They rotate each year, but for some reason, we cannot remember who did it last year. I'm hoping there is a picture somewhere. Anyway, all the kids insisted that it is their turn this year so we decided to let each of them have a turn putting the star on top. That didn't help Chance's back pain, but no more fighting and no tears. So, even though we had a load of drama and fighting over ornaments the night ended happily with a few shots in front of their masterpiece. There wasn't any rhyme or reason to their decorating, but the tree turned out pretty good. The house feels a little more cozy now.

P.S. Don't ask me what Emma is wearing. She is growing out of all her clothes and that was the first ensemble she put together that didn't show her tummy or underwear. Tyler has on a weird outfit because he's 10 and doesn't care about outfits.

"You call this a happy family? Why do we have to have all these kids?"
~George Bailey, It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

Song in my head right now:

So tonight we pray for what we know can be

And on this day we hope for what we still can't see

Its up to us to be the change and even though we all can still do more

There's so much to be thankful for

~Josh Groban, Thankful

A Case of the Grumps

2011-12-07T08:22:00.001-08:00

Everyone is so grumpy lately. You'd think the Christmas spirit and all that would have taken over by now. Maybe its because we haven't decorated our tree yet. Maybe its my hormones. I am so tired of the grumpy around here.

The kids freak when I give them chores after school. Honestly, this isn't new. Why all the protesting? They have a snack and do their homework. Then they have to do whatever quick cleanups need to be done - put laundry away, clean up rooms, take out trash, whatever. Its not like I'm making them clean the oven or scrub the showers. But all three of them stomp, flop onto the floor, cry like two-year olds and make me want to sell them to the gypsies. Emma is particularly bad these days. She tells me everyday that I'm "ruining her life!" "this is the worst day EVER!" "you hurt my feelings!" and that I'm "the meanest mom!" I need a good tantrum cure. She's six. How are we going to handle puberty?

Noah is driving me to the edge with his laziness, too. I know that on some level this is funny; but not in the moment. Yesterday, I asked him to put away his book several times. Each time, he jumped up and ran to the task. First I found it on the coach, then the kitchen table, then under the Christmas tree and finally on the floor outside my bedroom before I really exploded. That is classic Noah. Sometimes he is just lazy and sometimes he gets distracted. He loses things all the time because he can't remember where he set them down. Usually because it's in a totally-random-makes-no-sense-to-put-it-there kind of place. Example: cereal bowl in the bathroom drawer? I discovered that a couple weeks ago. I don't even want to think about why someone would have their cereal in the bathroom. Gross.

Tyler has good days and bad days. My biggest frustration is that he's such a bully of an older brother . I know that is somewhat normal. He has such a short temper, but I have noticed he's trying harder to control it. He'll explode and then I'll make him sit it out for a bit. And I can visibly see him take deep breaths and calmly speak an apology to me. Its almost like I can see his thoughts while he's talking himself down from that angry place. I just hope he's not plotting dark adventures for the future. Overall, though, he is the most helpful around here when he's on his game.

And Chance? Well....he's rather grumpy these days, too. He's going through another rough patch at work. I won't go into details other than I pray he'll find a new position every day. I fantasize about his boss calling while I'm in labor so that I can yell and swear at her for all the horrible things she's done over the last year. Because I'd be in labor and you can't hold a woman accountable for things she says during labor, right? Just ask my sweet Aunt Toni.

I'm probably the grumpiest of all. Of course, I don't feel like I am. In fact, I feel like I've been remarkably patient with everyone for being nine months pregnant. I'm sure I've got a distorted view here, but since I'm the one writing this, there's no one to argue the point. Actually, I wouldn't call what I'm feeling "grumpy". I'm more worried than anything. Worried about the baby, worried that Chance will have a heart attack because of stress, worried about the kids and their individual problems, worried my water will break while I'm at Target. Worried, worried worried. Sometimes it is so hard to be an adult. It would be nice to just run to the playground and swing for a couple hours or go and color a picture or two. My Emma loves to do those things right now. It makes me want to freeze time so she doesn't have to grow up and worry about anything.

"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise."
~Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Monkey #2

2011-12-03T23:25:00.000-08:00

Emma makes me smile. Sometimes she seems so grown up and then a moment later seems so small to me. This week she was involved in the Missoula Children's Theater's production of The Jungle Book. She was Monkey #2 and she was adorable! I tried to capture some video, but it's not the greatest quality. I'll have to take a closer look at it - maybe I'll post it later. It was a long, tiring week for her full of rehearsals, brown bag dinners and late bedtimes, but she seemed to love every minute of it. Spending each afternoon without her was strangely sad for me. I missed her happy little face dancing into the house after the bus ride home.

Emma started walking around the house talking on an old cell phone today. Something that she hasn't done since preschool. She scolded us several times for being too loud while she was on the phone and then had to check her "texts". She refused to tell me who she was speaking with or texting, but it was entertaining to hear her pretending. After a week of feeling like she's growing too quickly, it was nice to see her do something so young again.

My favorite quotes this week:

Emma: "Where's the tree's dress?"
~Meaning tree skirt, after Chance set up the Christmas tree.

Emma (in tears): "What if Santa puts me on the naughty list?"
~After a 'time out' for being a mean sister.

Thankful Thoughts

2011-12-02T09:41:00.001-08:00

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving last week. My sister Danielle came up to visit for the week by herself. We usually have a house stuffed with people every year, so this was very different. I missed the craziness of having all our family here, but really enjoyed the quiet. Due to possible difficulties with the pregnancy and lack of energy(!) we didn't plan a big weekend. Plus, my mother was on her honeymoon and Nicole's family was sick with the flu. So, it all worked out for the best. Chance's parents and Gauge came over for dinner on Thursday and we spent a nice afternoon chatting and eating too much.

Danielle spent the weekend helping me get the house organized for the new baby. Thank goodness for her! She is amazing. It helped that I had a surge of energy (or "nesting" urges) over the weekend so I was very motivated. It has carried on this week, too. We just might be ready for this baby before it comes! That has never happened before! I'm usually too early to be prepared for anything.

I'm 35 weeks now. And its December! Almost there. If baby hasn't arrived by the 28th, then my doc will induce me. So, we'll definitely have a new baby before 2012. I continue to try to finish Christmas shopping, but it is hard. It's Chance's fault. He's ... frustratingly difficult to shop for. I hate it! I recently found a blog post full of DIY gifts for dudes. The post included all sorts of projects to make for the guys in your life like hand sewn ties and stuff like that. Chance would hate everything on that list. Especially since everything looked too feminine to be for "dudes". I seriously wish I could think of something manly to make but I'm not able to build computers or anything that plugs in.

I keep trying to feel the holiday spirit, but it is eluding me. I am loving the holiday music though. Maybe I'm feeling this way because I'm so consumed with getting ready for baby and having all the holiday shopping done in the next few days. I can't believe we are so close to having this little girl! I still have a hard time imagining another little person living here and loving her as much as I love all these other little ones. I always feel a little worried about this. But somehow even though I can't imagine having more room in my heart and soul to love another person so much; I always do. My mother in law says that babies are born with the love; they bring it with them when they arrive. Its true. And we're counting down the days....

Pain

2011-11-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

We're down to five weeks until this baby arrives. I'm 34 weeks tomorrow and my doctor promises to induce me the week after Christmas if this little one hasn't arrived yet. It feels like forever and not enough time all at once! I'm not ready to bring a baby home. My house is a disaster and I have nothing organized here. But there is hope on the horizon... My sister Danielle arrives tomorrow night for Thanksgiving and she is going to magically get this place in order over the weekend. I don't know how she'll do it; she has special organizing powers that I can't understand. She is the master. I have total confidence in her. Especially since I'm basically going to be sitting around being huge and watching her.

All three kids are including a new phrase in their prayers these days: "Please bless Mom will be able to to survive the pain when the baby comes." Isn't that lovely? They are so thoughtful. Every time I hear it, I want to scream. I swear my ears start to bleed. I'm ready to start banning prayers. Doesn't it feel like we're praying a little too much anyway? Somebody has to put a stop to this. I can't start thinking about pain all the time. I'll have an anxiety attack.

"The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body."
~Publilius Syrus, 1st Century Roman author

Blessings of a Blog

2011-11-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

My kids love to hear stories from when they were babies or very small. Emma pesters me every day for more of her and the boys. It's gotten so bad I'm running out of stories. And I've come to the realization that I have a horrible black hole in my memory for most of Emma's younger (baby) years. Every time I tell her I need more time to think of another story, she looks at me with such disappointment and sadness that I can't bear it! I know there are stories out there, I just need to locate them in my mind! Maybe its the pregnancy or maybe its the sleep deprivation from the last 10 years of motherhood. Whatever the reason, I've lost something precious. I hope I find them again.

Last night, Emma and Tyler were both begging for a story or two - or twelve. I got desperate so I looked up this blog and started reading old posts, both published and not. And we had a great time reminiscing together and laughing at their silliness. What a relief and a blessing!

And now...you can guess what I'm feeling. Guilt! Horrible, guilty worry because I haven't kept up posting all these months and life has carried on with no new stories recorded in a place I can reach them whenever they are demanded.

And so, I am going to try again. And again. And again. I'm going to edit some of my unpublished posts and post them. I'm going to share some of the "fun" of this pregnancy and what I can remember of our year so far. And maybe I'll get back in the habit one day soon. After all, baby number four will be arriving soon and in a few short years will begin demanding stories of her own.

"No one is commonplace, and I doubt if you can ever read a biography from which you cannot learn something from the difficulties overcome and the struggles made to succeed. These are the measuring rods for the progress of humanity. As we read the stories of great men, we discover that they did not become famous overnight nor were they born professionals or skilled craftsmen. The story of how they became what they are may be helpful to us all. Your own journal, like most others, will tell of problems as old as the world and how you dealt with them."
~Spencer W. Kimball, 1975

"Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us."
~Oscar Wilde, from The Importance of Being Earnest

Jibber Jabber

2011-11-21T20:57:00.000-08:00

A conversation with Emma about her school friends Kevin and Summer:

Emma: "Kevin's my friend. But Summer keeps pushing me away at the playground."
Mom: "Is she playing? What do you mean?"
Emma: "Well, I started all this and she keeps pushing me."
Mom: "Started what?"
Emma: "All this.....romance!"
Mom: "Romance? With Kevin?"
Emma: "Yes! I like Kevin."
Mom: "Why do you like Kevin?"
Emma: "I don't know...."
Mom: "Is he nice? Fun? Smart?"
Emma: "Yes, yes, yes....He gave me a candy bar."
Mom: "He gave you a candy bar? That's why you like him?"
Emma: "Yes!" (spoken in a "DUH!" tone)
Mom: "I see."

Ordering McDonald's Drive Thru:

Tyler & Noah: "I want a cheeseburger with only ketchup. No mustard!"
Emma: "Well, I want a cheeseburger with ketchup AND mustard. Why don't you want mustard? Can't you guys handle the mustard?"
Tyler & Noah: "Yuck! Mustard is gross!"
Emma: "Haha! You guys CAN'T HANDLE the mustard!"

During bedtime madness the boys got into trouble for talking instead of sleeping...

Noah: "I wasn't talking to Tyler. I was talking to .... my blanket."

Surprise - Part 2

2011-06-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

You may remember this post regarding "the talk" we had with Tyler about puberty and sex. Well, I forgot to mention Tyler's reaction in my announcement yesterday. After the initial excitement from the boys about having a baby, Tyler stopped and looked at me. Then he said ...

"so, you mean....the sperm made it to the egg then? And...."

Ahhhh! I cut him off right there as I didn't want him going down that thought process too far about what had happened in order for me to be standing here pregnant at this moment. I'm sure his mind already went there, but I didn't want to hear his thoughts out loud! Not to mention there were two younger siblings listening to everything he says.

Rudy (interrupts Cliff trying to kiss Clair): "Dad?"
Cliff: "Why is it every time I try to kiss my wife, a kid pops up?"
~Quote from The Cosby Show, 1989

Surprise!

2011-06-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, Emma and I had a conversation about being the youngest. She hates it. She begged me to have a baby so that she could be a big sister and help take care of it. She professed the greatest desire to hold her own baby and promised all kinds of sweet attentions to it. When I told her that I was not going to have any more babies, her tears broke my heart. Chance would have twelve more children if we could. Every time he reads or hears a story of a child suffering from bad parents, he longs to rescue them and bring them home. He's also like that with dogs, but I'll divorce him if he does that to me.

I was never supposed to be able to have children. In college, I was diagnosed with a disorder that causes infertility. When Chance proposed, he declared complete faith that we would one day have a houseful of little ones running circles around us. He was so confident. And right. Six years ago, I found myself caring for three beautiful children, ages 4 and under. It was a wild ride that Chance never doubted we would be on.

Although we adore our kids, I've had two terrible pregnancies in the past. My first was especially frightening and difficult. Without all the boring details, its dangerous for me to be pregnant because my body likes to try to kill me until the baby is out. Because of that, we have been "retired" from the baby making industry since Emma was born. Until now.

Drum roll please ......

We are pleased (and surprised, shocked, terrified) to announce that

Richardson Baby Number Four

will be arriving Christmas 2011!

*Please send all cards/flowers/gifts "c/o Completely Insane, Kinda Old Couple"

We finally shared the news with the kids last week. How do you think Emma reacted? Joy, hugs, clapping, dancing, bursting into song? Nope. Anger, tears, sadness and many statements like "I won't be able to sit in your lap anymore" and "You won't love me anymore." Nothing ever goes the way I expect with her. She's a mystery. The boys, however, are thrilled to have a baby. Because we're idiots, we explained that it is still a little early and that sometimes babies just don't make it. Now every prayer over dinner or at bedtime is full of "please bless that the baby will grow and not die in mommy's tummy" and stuff like that. I cringe every time I hear it.

I am twelve weeks, tomorrow. And everything I see or smell or think of makes me want to throw up. Here we go!

PS - I should also mention that I have an amazing doctor who specializes in killer pregnancies like mine. He is full of enthusiasm and has all kinds of plans for me should I start to go downhill. I'm in good hands.

"Love is all fun and games until someone loses an eye or gets pregnant."
~Jim Cole

"Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch."
~E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

Giggles

2011-03-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

Mom: "Noah, did you go to the bathroom?"
Tyler: "Yeah, he did. I listened."

Emma: "Mom, did you like my prayer?"
Mom: "I did. Thank you."
Emma: "There was a little love in it."

Tyler: "Noah, you should get a Mohawk!"
Noah: "Yeah! A Mohawk! Yeah! .... (excited fist pump) ...um...What's a mohawk?"
.....later.....
Noah: "Is a mohawk when you put a hawk on your head?"

Emma: "Mom, you smell good. I smell like macaroni and cheese....(shrugs)... I didn't take a shower today."

Going out for ice cream:
Tyler: "Hey, there's Firestone! Isn't Firestone an ice cream place?"
Dad: "No, Tyler. That's Coldstone."

Noah: "I want Baskin Robbins!"
Mom: "Finish your lunch first. You might not have any room left after you eat."
Noah: "I always save a spot for treats ... its right up at the top."

TMI

2011-03-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we had the "sex talk" with Tyler. I was completely worried about it and Chance was completely calm. Chance did most of the talking - in fact I left the room for the first part so they could talk ... man to man about .... uh ... man things. Tyler was visibly uncomfortable at times, but I think it went really well. I am relieved that he truly seemed in the dark about the whole thing and I don't think he believes he'll ever actually want to engage in sex. I'm so happy he was clueless! YAY! You never really know what is happening with kids when they're on the bus or playing when the adults aren't around.

I won't share much about the conversation except to say that I was really grateful that Tyler has a spiritual foundation that we could lean on to explain choices and consequences, morality and standards. It became a teaching moment on more than one level and I felt the calm assurance of the Spirit guiding us along. Although I worried, it was surprisingly easy to talk about.

But even though it was a serious conversation, Chance and I struggled not to laugh when he said the following things:

"...uh...I don't think I need to know about this...."

"My friends and I don't talk about this stuff! We talk about Pokemon!"

"So....you guys are doing this all the time?"

and then when it was over:
"Can I play my DS? I need to do something to get my mind off this stuff..."

Diamond Rings & Other Things

2011-03-03T08:09:00.000-08:00

Browsing at the jewelry store:

Mom: "You're going to have to buy a ring like one of these someday. You know, when you get married."
Tyler: "What?! One of these expensive ones? What about one of those kind over there?"
Mom: "No, she's going to want one of these ones - the kind with diamonds."
Tyler: *sigh* "OK, which one is the cheapest?"

Noah to Uncle Mark: "Look! I pulled out my tooth and you didn't even have to punch me in the face!"

Noah woke early last Saturday and found Uncle Mark downstairs. Noah walked up to him, got inches from his face and whispered: "What's for breakfast?"

Emma: "My foot is fizzy!"
Mom: "Fizzy?"
Emma: "Yes! I need to hop on my foot to make it stop! Its all fizzy and then it starts to freeze and get frozen!"
Mom: "Why is it fizzy?"
Emma: "Because I wore my socks for too long ... And because my foot is growing bigger! I have to make it stop before my foot grows too big!"

Emma: "Pterodactyls are very expensive. If you get close to one and get on it, it will give you a crazy ride!"
Mom: "What does expensive mean?"
Emma: "I don't know." (Hand on her head) "I'll talk about it tomorrow."

Wrestling is Stupid

2011-03-02T01:59:00.001-08:00

I know that last post was lame. I know, OK? I realized where all my missing blog posts have gone. Every night as I go off to sleep I think over everything that is going on around here and compose posts in my mind. But, I can't drag myself out of my awesome bed to actually blog. My bed really is THAT amazing. But tonight (lucky you!) I'm posting.

I can't sleep. Someone is snoring in my bed.

During the first six months of my marriage, I rarely slept. I don't know how I got through it. It's a blur, kind of like when a newborn baby arrives. Sleep comes in small bursts - you grab it whenever and wherever you can. Chance was a very loud sleeper. Crazy loud. It was impossible to sleep next to that kind of noise. And it's a truth universally accepted that people who snore, fall asleep first. We were living in a strange basement apartment in Northgate and the kitchen was the only place I could escape. For months, I slept night after night on a hard wooden chair with my head resting on our table. Seriously. Sometimes I would switch it up and drag our old velvety (non-reclining) chairs into the kitchen to sleep on. If you've ever been to my house, you've seen them. Here are some pictures:

This picture was taken on January 2, 2003. I have a really good memory for things like that. You see the red chair on the right? That was one of my beds. I slept there. That white couch was the first couch Chance and I bought together. And that table ... I miss it. We lost it in a flood in MN. And wasn't Tyler adorable? He's almost 10 now and I don't call him "adorable" much anymore because he rolls his eyes and stops talking to me.

And here is one of Emma sitting in it, just because it made me laugh. She was about one and didn't have any real hair yet. I love that face!

And just so no one can say I play favorites, here are a couple of Noah with one of the chairs. It turns out I don't have a good picture of the chairs, but they do appear in almost all our birthday party pictures, so that's cool. I'm always saying we need our own family traditions. What's better than birthday chairs? These pictures were taken on September 9, 2006. It was Noah's 3rd birthday. I bought him that chef outfit, a bunch of wooden food toys and a play kitchen. Chance didn't think a kitchen was a very manly gift for his son and gave him some super heroes or something. It turns out he was probably right because I think the boys spent most of their time jumping off it like Superman. In less than six months the kitchen was demolished and in the trash. So, it was one of those rare times when Chance was right and I was wrong.

ANYWAY......... back to me. After about six months of sleeping at the kitchen table and on the red chairs, my body finally found a way to tune out Chance and sleep. Kind of. Mostly. But he'll tell you I just hit him every night until he rolled over. And then in July of '09, after 11 years of torture, Chance had his tonsils removed and his deviated septum repaired. Translation: the doctor fixed his nose and removed everything in his throat that could make noise. It was a whole new world of sleep! I had forgotten that kind of sleep. It was glorious! And I've been enjoying it for almost 2 years. Then.... tonight Chance was wrestling the kids. In all the fun, Tyler's heel somehow made contact with Chance's nose. Wrestling is stupid. That deviated septum? Yeah, it might need to be repaired again. And it will be another 11 years before we can afford that surgery again.

So, I can't sleep. Someone is snoring in my bed.

"Fatigue is the best pillow." ~Benjamin Franklin

"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one." ~Leo J. Burke

"O bed! O bed! delicious bed! That heaven upon earth to the weary head."
~Thomas Hood, British Poet
From Miss Kilmansegg - Her Dream

How I Make My Children Miserable

2011-03-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

Noah this morning:
"Mom, I don't like it when I have to come in your room to find socks. I like it better when they are folded in my drawer."

I hate laundry. It's the bane of my existence. I don't mind washing, but the folding and putting it away drive me mad. There are so many other things I'd rather be doing. If you went to the same laundry school that I did, then most of the time there is a basket full of unmatched socks for everyone to dig through. I keep our sock basket in my bedroom because no guests are allowed in there. There are times when the socks are all sorted and put away in the right drawers - but it is rare. I'm not a perfect housekeeper/cook/laundryman/mom/wife. But I tell myself that being a good mother is about more than socks and vacuuming. It's about discipline! OK, not really. Its mostly driving to soccer practice, finding missing things, forcing vegetables and lots of hugging.

And so the only good thing about laundry is that it makes my children miserable. It's the easiest form of discipline in my house. Laundry is powerful! When the kids misbehave they get to be my *special* laundry helpers. It kills two birds with one stone. I am happy and they are miserable. I go read a book and they fold the towels. So I have good reasons for my lame housekeeping skills. I've got to have a bunch of laundry around for misbehaving kids. Its important to their development. I'm trying to raise happy, responsible adults who have a good work ethic and all that. And what better way to do that than to have them do my work for me?

"A clean house is the sign of a boring person."
~Author Unknown

"My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance."
~Author Unknown

"If your house is really a mess and a stranger comes to the door, greet him with: 'Who could have done this? We have no enemies.'"
~Phyllis Diller

Once upon a time .... there was a blog.

2011-01-20T22:26:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a blog. It was written by a mom late at night in the quiet hours after bedtime. It was fun. Then people started commenting and she realized people were actually READING the blog. And then it wasn't fun. Then it was work. And stressful. And worrisome. And then there was a blog coma for a year. But then a strange thing happened. The mom realized she missed her blog. And so she started writing again in the quiet hours after bedtime. The end.

Five Year Old Wisdom

2011-01-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

"I can't clean up or I'll get my germs all over the toy room."
~Emma, milking her strep throat diagnosis

Emma: "Can dragons be pink?"

Me: "Yeah, sure."
Emma: "No, they can't!"
Me: "Why not?"
Emma: (rolls eyes) "Because pink dragons don't exist!"

Emma: "Its not OK to kiss at school."
Dad: "No, no kissing allowed at school."
Emma: "But, it is OK to kiss at home ... and at the mall."
Dad: "No, no kissing at the mall either."
Emma: "Yes! I've seen people kissing at the mall!"

Moving & Memories

2010-08-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

Been busy moving and packing for the new house. Everything is insane around here. I continue to wish I had more time to blog. Hopefully that will come after we get settled into the new place.

Had to get out of this place for awhile so we spent a few hours over at the new house changing the locks, vacuuming and just plain wandering around planning how awesome everything is going to be once we're all moved in here and out of that disaster we're in right now. The kids are crazy excited! Emma had several pouting fits because she wants to move TODAY. Thursday can't get here soon enough. None of the windows in the new house have screens so it is crazy hot inside. Screens are the first thing on my list. Of course, we're moving in August. It wouldn't be any fun if we weren't miserably hot while we're doing it.

Spent some time cleaning out Emma's room this afternoon. I packed away some clothes she's grown out of to give to my niece, Annabelle. Emma sobbed several times because she loves everything and insists that it all still fits. I finally caved when I tried to pack away her Tinkerbelle costume and some ballet clothes. She informed me with many tears that I couldn't give those away because "those are my memories!" How could I argue with that?

"A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future."
~Author Unknown

Informed

2010-04-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

Emma and I spent the morning lounging around, snuggling and reading. Then she informed me that she likes "to have a nice mom, not a mean mom." Apparently, I was being uncharacteristically nice this morning. I guess you can tell what kind of week we've had around here.

"The mother-daughter relationship is the most complex."
~Wynonna Judd

Wrap-itis

2009-12-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

Spent last night wrapping Christmas presents for hours. Chance has some sort of wrapping disability so he's useless. It takes him 20 minutes to wrap one present. I can't stand to watch it - I have no patience for that. His wrapping education was seriously lacking as a child. At least there is something that I'm better at than he is. He beats me at everything - well except gift wrap and styling Emma's hair. I can totally smoke him there. I guess that's something to hold onto.
So, today I mentioned to him that he really owes me a massage as my back is sore from wrapping everything. His response:

"We've got Vicodin. Why don't you just take that? It's like a massage from the inside."

26 and Human

2009-12-03T00:57:00.000-08:00

Emma: "Ella (her doll) is still going potty in her underwear!"
Mom: "She's not potty trained yet? How old is she?"
Emma: "Hmmm...I think she's five ... No, she's actually 26."
Mom: "Wow! 26! She's getting old."
Emma: "Well, she's not too old. She's not like a grandmother. She's a human, not a grandmother."

Deep Space Noah

2009-12-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

Noah: "Do you know who the oldest planet is?"
Mom: "No. Do you?"
Noah: "It's Mars. Mars is the oldest planet."
Mom: "Wow! Very cool."
Noah: "Yeah. Planets don't have birthdays though. And neither do aliens."

Turkey & Penicilin

2009-11-25T14:27:00.000-08:00

I used to get a lot of sore throats. If someone had Strep Throat in a 100 mile radius, I got it. I came down with a bad case of Strep right before Thanksgiving one year. Since I hated shots, I opted for oral Penicillin. This is strange because I also couldn't really swallow pills. And these were serious meds - they were huge. And my throat was, um... swollen. (It took me years to achieve pill swallowing skillz, btw.) So, this one Thanksgiving I stayed home from school all week and helped my mom get ready for the holiday. And I had some serious difficulty getting those pills down three times a day. My mother would crush them up in a spoonful of jam sometimes when she was tired of hearing me choke. But on Thanksgiving Day I remember clearly shoveling in those pills with a mouthful of turkey. (I don't know why - but for some reason I can totally picture Tyler doing this right now.) Let me tell you there is nothing more disgusting to eat than turkey laced with Penicillin. It has probably been 20 years since that day, but I can still taste it. And unfortunately the memory returns at least once every year on Thanksgiving Day and a shudder of disgust runs through my body.

Looking forward to feasting (sans Penicillin) tomorrow!

Once upon a time ... something happened

2009-11-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

Tyler came to me last week and told me he misses his friends in Minnesota. Especially his friend, Rose. Rose was a darling girl who lived a few houses down the street and was in Tyler's class. They played together all the time and she was super cool because she had dogs and liked to play with swords and lightsabers. One blustery day back in 2007, Tyler came home from school and informed me that something "serious" had happened at school that day. He had the strangest, most severe look on his face at the time. I asked him to tell me all about it

"Well, Mom .... today at school... Rose kissed me. And I kissed her. And... well, I fell in love today. That's what happened."

It's one of the sweetest memories I carry of him. A "grown up" discussion about love in our old living room with my 6 year-old son.

One Man's Garbage is Another Man's Treasure

2009-11-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Chance's parents visited while the kids were out of school for Veteran's Day. Jayne gave Emma a cute trash can covered in flowers and butterflies for her bedroom.

Emma: "What's this?"
Grandma: "A trash can for your bedroom."
Emma: "For my very own? It's so cute! I have to show Mamma!"

Noah: "I want a trash can of my very own..."

Freedom

2009-11-11T15:32:00.001-08:00

Back in the days before the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended, I had the opportunity to travel to Europe on a tour with my history teacher, Mr. Preston, and a few classmates. An interesting experience since I am certain it was an extravagance my family could not afford. My mother found a way to make it happen and off I went to experience the wonders of the world as a young teen.  I traveled through England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. I met beautiful people and lost myself in the enchanting scenery (well, sometimes .... sometimes I lost myself in the eyes of a cute boy in my tour group, too. How could I help that?) I realize now I was too young to fully appreciate the opportunity I was given back then, but my short time abroad forever changed my feelings about the blessed land we live in.

My group traveled to beautiful and safe places.  The most "dangerous" part of the journey occurred in Italy where I wasn't allowed as a young, blond, American girl to walk down the street without an adult male escort. Seriously. Those Italian heartthrobs trailed me everywhere and attempted to seduce me on the street, male chaperones notwithstanding. My teenage brain didn't register danger, only excitement. Mr. Preston threatened to lock me in the hotel.  How could I help being excited? What with the "Ciao, baby!"s, the shoes, the cuisine and the gelato stands. I was ready to become an Italian citizen forever. The danger to a young girl was very real, but I failed to sense it.

The end of the trip was spent in Germany. Our tour guide, Trudy, shared stories of traveling into Eastern Germany and other Eastern Bloc countries. Tourists who ventured there were not permitted to carry cameras and were jailed if they violated any number of rules. She shared stories of depravity and suppression. It terrified me. I was safely on the West side of the Berlin Wall, but I felt the plight of those confined souls living beyond suffering in darkness that I did not want to get caught in. I was completely safe. There was no danger to me, but nothing (not even gelato) would have induced me to give away my US citizenship then. I was ready to go home.

When I stepped onto US soil again, I felt an immediate sense of security. I was home again, where I understood the rules and I was free to live a life as I chose to live it. I experienced a tangible warmth when I took that first step off the plane and have never forgotten it. And I take a moment here to appreciate those who have sacrificed for this country and for the freedom and safety I enjoy.  While I appreciate our veterans, my heart is full of gratitude today for those - like my sister Nicole - who live knowing their husbands (or sons, fathers, daughters, brothers, uncles, sisters, etc.) may not come home tomorrow. I honor her sacrifice just as much as I honor her husband's service in the Air Force. Jason will be deploying to Iraq again next month. My brother-in-law, Kris, is stationed there again, too. How does she do it? How does she give him up so often for so long? How does she survive the anxiety and the reality of the danger to him? How does she sleep? I don't know how, but I am grateful for it. She is stronger than I.

Happy Veteran's Day.

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” ~ Miriam Beard

I am a Good Mother

2009-11-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

Today was a day of affirmation. I am a good mother. I can prove it. Two impartial people told me so today.

1. Mrs. Rizzo, Noah's Kindergarten teacher:
I phoned Mrs. Rizzo this afternoon about an upcoming field trip and we talked about Noah for a few minutes. She expressed how much she enjoys him in class and praised me as a mother more than once. I felt awesome.

2. Lady at Fred Meyer's Playland:
I had to pick up groceries for dinner so Emma and Noah elected to hang out at Freddy's Playland this afternoon. I signed them in and the lady gave them a quick rundown of the rules in her playland. I went on my way and returned an hour later. Playland lady praised me for a good 5 minutes about how well behaved both of them are. And then she said ... "You're a good mother. I can tell. I've been doing this for a long time now, and I can always tell the good from the bad."

Hmmmm....maybe I'm not doing everything wrong.

A Month of Gratitude

2009-11-01T23:02:00.000-08:00

Happy November! Just wanted to share the project I've been slaving over for the last 10 days. It's a gratitude calendar and filled with daily activities to promote an attitude of thanksgiving. I sacrified a lot of sleep for this, but I hope we have some worthwhile experiences with it. Each pocket holds a card with an activity surrounding various types of blessings. Some activities focus on families, some on faith, health, the arts, the Earth; I tried to come up with a variety of ways to count up at least 30 different blessings in my family's life this month. I'm hoping that my children will have fun, but also be reminded of our abundantly blessed life.

Today's card: "Be Grateful for your siblings. Be extra kind to them. Do your best to avoid fighting and teasing each other." I considered using the "Be Grateful for your Mother" card, but I'm going to save that for the day after Thanksgiving, I think. I also decided it was time to use the sibling card after a brief discussion with Emma yesterday:

Mom: "Hey, your face is dirty."

Emma: "Yeah, Noah made me kiss his shoe. And Tyler, too."

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T23:39:00.000-07:00

Emma woke me early this morning with a "Wake up, Mom! It's trick-or-treating today!" We spent most of the day at the soggy, swampy soccer fields for our last round of games. YAY! Soccer is over and I have a year to buy myself a pair of rubber boots before next season. We stopped for an early dinner at a local teriyaki place and Chance got sick on the way home. He spent the night with a suspected case of food poisoning. I took the kids around the neighborhood and allowed Emma to introduce herself as Tinkerbell to everyone she met. In less than an hour their buckets were full and too heavy to carry. We tromped home where the kids promptly turned on a Halloween movie and entered candy bliss.

Death by Soccer

2009-10-31T23:34:00.000-07:00

Soccer season has ended! Hurray! Three soccer teams practicing and playing games every week is taxing. I'm so ready for a break. All that remains is to wade through the trophy parties this week.

Emma had a rocky start to the season, but has really grown to love playing. I can't tell yet if she has any real skill for the game. Her aggresive, competitive side comes and goes with her mood.

Noah doesn't play much. (We're going with a different coach next year.) He spends a lot of time standing on one foot, doing the crab walk, eating his shirt sleeve, doing jump-n-twirls. You know, stuff like that. But occasionally he'll get to play. And then something bad happens. Like getting kicked in the hand (stupid soccer!) But its OK because they he can do some more jump-n-twirls.

Tyler never stops moving. The boy was made to play sports (probably gets that from me). He can't get enough time on the field and I think he's pretty dang awesome out there. He's a rockstar!

Pumpkin Patch Pics

2009-10-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

Trip to the patch:

Took a walk through the corn maze with the kids. About 5 minutes into the maze, Chance jumped out and scared them into histerics. Then they attempted to scare us through the maze over and over and OVER again. How quickly funny things becomes annoying.

Facebook Song

2009-10-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

Loved this video! No idea who these guys are, but I needed a good laugh. Hopefully this link will work:

Facebook Song
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1110274279502&ref=mf

I played it a couple of times while Emma was standing nearby. Then she subconsciously broke into song and sang her own version of the Facebook Song.

Noah's Names

2009-10-21T02:15:00.001-07:00

I have mentioned before how when I was pregnant with Noah, Tyler told everyone the baby name was going to be "Harry Potter." Noah loves this story. He speaks of it often and loves to hear me tell it. The other day he started talking about what to name our next baby. (As if!) He decided he wants two babies - a boy and a girl. The boy will be named "Harry" of course, since we missed out before when we named Noah. And the girl? Leia - as in Princess Leia.

Unhealthy Vitamins

2009-10-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Like every parent, I continually worry over my children's eating habits. If only they would eat vegetables consistently. I used to give them multi-vitamins every day to help ease my mind. But that all changed about a year ago.

I fell asleep on the couch one late afternoon. I woke to find that somehow my children had opened up the "child-proof" gummy vitamins (COSTCO size) and consumed 1/2 the bottle. Its been a long while since I've called Poison Control. My mother-in-law, who is a former pediatric nurse, talked me out of it. Then I Googled "vitamin overdose" and found horrors of hospitalization and death.

I called Poison Control.

I spoke with a lovely woman who assured me that since our vitamins do not contain iron or fluoride that everyone would be fine. Apparently, my vitamins aren't vitamins at all. They are sugar! If only I had listened to my MIL I could have remained blissfully ignorant regarding the nutritional content (or lack thereof) in my children's vitamins. And I wouldn't spend so much time worrying about their vegetables (or lack thereof) either.

"An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh."
~Will Rogers

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Check this out: The Monster Mash

This was fun; the kids are wild about it. I hated my picture so I made myself the werewolf. Plus, the werewolf has all the best dance moves - check out my butt slapping! Enjoy!

What I do

2009-10-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

I recently read my friend Jamie's latest blog post. A few months ago she had her 3rd child and I've noticed how much better she has handled her latest addition than I handled my 3rd baby. She recently opened up her own etsy shop and sells adorable little baby bundles. (She kind of makes me sick.) When Emma was born, my life was chaos for months. We lived in a hovel while our house was under construction. Seriously - a hovel. A two bedroom, one bath 500 sf hovel! Emma's "nursery" was in the living room/office. Every picture I have from back then has a pile of laundry in it because there was no laundry room. I'm completely serious - EVERY picture.

With Noah in Kindergarten and Emma in preschool most mornings, I have a few hours to myself. My friend Jamie has spent the last week doing home improvement projects on top of potty training, nursing/caring for a newborn and creating new baby things to sell online. And she's also done loads of canning recently. What have I been doing lately? Not home improvement, not sewing, not canning, not caring for an infant or potty training ... No, mostly I go shopping. By myself. Because I can. I suddenly can go anywhere I want and look at things I want to look at for nearly 3 hours. Its been over 7 years since I've been able to browse. But I need to stop. I can't afford this lifestyle!

So, I decided that I would be more like Jamie and create. There is this little project I've had in the back of my mind since last October. (Basically, I saw it at Pottery Barn Kids for $80 and decided I could make it myself.) I looked up the pictures for it again and started my design. Jamie inspired me! I am a new woman! My days will be productive!

And then I went shopping for project materials.

Germs

2009-10-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've been ill this week. An unfriendly virus has infected my house and everyone in it. When I picked up Noah from the bus stop this afternoon, I told him I was freezing. He looked at me and said "Maybe you should go back to bed." I guess I look as bad as I feel.

Today, Noah's Kindergarten class learned all about germs. They looked at germs on their hands under a microscope and then had to count them. Afterward they washed their hands at the sink one minute for every germ they could see. (I'm not actually sure this is accurate because sometimes Noah confuses his minutes and seconds.) He proudly informed me that he had THE MOST germs of everyone in his class! And subsequently had to stand at the sink and wash his hands for nine minutes. No wonder I'm sick - my son is a petri dish.

Update: It turns out they didn't look at their hands under a microscope, but with some sort of CSI purple light. I thought it sounded strange. But Noah truly did have the most germs in his class.

“Kisses blown are kisses wasted. Kisses aren't kisses unless they are tasted. Kisses spread germs and germs are hated. So kiss me baby; I'm vaccinated.” ~ Anonymous

I know this is a strange quote. I have no idea who said it, but it made me laugh today.

Slime Flu

2009-10-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

**Note: This post originally drafted sometime in October 2009, I believe. Blogger lost the date again. Just a guess on this date.

Chance and I are sick. I seem to be on the downhill end of it, while he is still trying to survive the initial attack of this virus. So far, no one in our home is showing signs of Swine Flu - or as my mother calls it "Slime Flu." We had to miss church today because of our digustingness. The kids were bummed because they are practicing for their primary program next week. I am kind of bummed, too. I feel all out of sorts when I miss church. Too bad its not socially acceptable for me to show up in the pajamas I've been wearing all week.

Quote of the week:

Emma: "Mom, I'm out of toothpaste."
Mom: "OK, you can use mine."
Emma: "Mom, I can't use yours! Its too spicy!"

Feeling Strange

2009-10-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Emma's first day of preschool. I dropped her off in front of the school where her teacher was waiting. I hugged her, she grabbed her teacher's hand, turned, smiled, waved at me and was gone. Then I drove home by myself and sobbed. I phoned Chance who reminded me that I would see her in less than three hours. A mother's heart doesn't listen to logic like that.

I'm not exactly sure what Emma did while she was there. She came home with strange tales of chocolate, visiting the nurse, climbing the "jungle bars" and riding the bus (which I know she didn't do). And she sang "If you're happy and you know it ..." about 27 times. She can't wait to return on Monday.

Emma: "Mom, I didn't even rip anything in my school today!"
Mom: "Oh, good. Did you like your teachers?"
Emma: "Yeah, they weren't mean!"
Mom: "What did you think of Mrs. Chambers?"
Emma: "She was adorable and she was so nice to me and was so proud of my coloring!"

I had a strange morning by myself. The house was quiet. I made some phone calls and checked my email without anyone demanding snacks or help dressing a doll. No one interrupted my shower or tried to climb in with me. My hair was not in a ponytail and I wore clean clothes that no one wiped their hands or face on. What is this new world I'm entering? And why do I miss my old one?

Religion on the Bus

2009-10-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

"Are you a 'Born-Again' Christian?"

That's what the school bus driver asked me this afternoon when Noah got off the bus today. It was the most unexpected thing for her to say. I don't usually label myself that way, but I knew that she was asking whether we were a religious and Christian family so I answered "yes". She went on to describe what an interesting little missionary my Noah is. Apparently he told her all about the Resurrection yesterday on the way home:

Noah: "When you die -- 'cuz people CAN die -- you get resurrected. You get a new body and get to live forever! But people who don't go to church don't know about it."

Thankfully, he's just about the last stop and there were not any other kids on the bus at the time. I would hate to get complaints from other parents regarding my 6 year-old's school bus proselyting! But I have to admit that I feel a sparkle of pride when I think about it.

Goodreads

2009-09-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

I joined Goodreads awhile back to organize my book group lists and keep track of notes about books I like, want to read, etc. I am forever jotting down titles or authors I hear good reviews on, so that I can check them out at my library. I used to lose those notes all the time. Now, I just add them to my "to-read" list with all the info about who recommended them. Its wonderful for me. Plus, I have some friends on the Goodreads network who share their booklists with me. I have found a number of favorites based on friend's booklists.

Also, on this site you can write book reviews and share them with your friends and the rest of the Goodreads world. Sometimes when I start a book I'll read other people's reviews to get a feel for it. (I rarely write book reviews myself. The best compliment I can give an author is to sacrifice my sleep in pursuit of the story.) Many book reviews are very educated, supremely (condescendingly) analytical and no fun at all to read! Some are briefly stated personal opinions. Today I came across a hilarious (to me anyway) review of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility. It was so young hearted and humorous. I don't know why but every time I read it, I laugh. Here it is:

"This my first Jane Austen. Okay, I LOVED this book. I don't even know why. It's about . . . girls who like boys! Who are jerks! Um, the end! But it was funny. But clever funny, which is my favorite kind..." "... Also I love all the wacky British society stuff. Like sending notes! And walking places! And having breakfast at other peoples' houses! And I enjoyed figuring out the etiquette of the day. Like, it's improper to exchange letters with a member of the opposite sex with whom you are not engaged? Crazy! But it's cool to be engaged and not TELL anyone? Insane! I love it. " ~ Kerry of Clementon, New Jersey

Thank you, Kerry from New Jersey.

Strike Ends - Kindergarten Begins

2009-09-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Hallelujah! The teacher strike has ended and school began today! What a long couple of weeks this has been. Summer officially ends for me on Labor Day usually, so we really haven't done much in the way of extending our summer activities. Boredom and restlessness has made my children crazy! Thank goodness for school! Noah started Kindergarten! He is thrilled to be walking to the bus stop with Tyler and going to a "real" school for big kids. Tyler is now in 3rd grade and is super excited about it. He has a male teacher this year, which is apparently the coolest thing. And Emma is flamin' mad that she's stuck with me all day for the next few weeks until preschool begins October 1st.

While driving by picketing teachers outside the school....

Noah: "Mom, what are those signs? What are the teachers doing?"
Mom: "They are holding signs up to tell everyone that they're fighting with the schools and want things to be better for their students."

Noah: "Mom, schools don't fight. (laughs)"

Another day, driving by ....

Noah: "Mom, is my teacher fighting with the schools too?"

Mom: "Yes, Noah. All the teachers have decided not to go back to work until they can get the schools to agree to make things better. School can't start until they agree."

Noah: " .... (mumbling grumpily) .... I hate those signs. And I hate those schools...."

Life Without Aidan

2009-09-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

Emma began her new ballet class with Miss Mary and without Aidan. When I told her that Aidan wouldn't be in her class, she collapsed into my arms and sobbed for 10 minutes. Heartbreak at age four. I took her to class unsure if she would stay. But the hour that followed was probably her most productive and attentive class to date. Miss Mary commented at the end that maybe their separation was for the best since she listened so well without "getting distracted by that boy!"

"Gone - flitted away, taken the stars from the night and the sun from the day! Gone, and a cloud in my heart." ~Alfred Tennyson

“Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than remember me and cry.” ~ The Cure, lyrics from "Treasure"

Kapow!

2009-09-11T02:08:00.000-07:00

Noah is six. Six year olds boys everywhere enjoy the same things: dirt, kung fu and superheroes. So, naturally Noah celebrated his birthday this week with a superhero party at our place, complete with 14 other superkids. It was crazy loud at our house, but it was filled with laughter and excitement. Each guest received their own cape and eye mask to decorate during the party. Noah & Emma decorated the house with superhero toys and everyone had a ball playing with them - especially the girls. They played "Pass the Kryptonite" (hot potato), "Kapow! Practice" (drew villian faces on balloons and then punched them like crazy) and then rescued Tyler when "Chance the Supervillian" kidnapped him. Chance was brought to justice when the kids put him in jail (a chair) and tied him up with toilet paper. Then they tortured him by pinching his nose and poking his eyes! I laughed so hard, I cried!

It was exhausting, but worth it. After the last child left, our home was quiet and terribly messy. I sat down and thought about my boy. I thought how small he was 6 years ago. I thougth how when I brought him home from the hospital he was too small for a carseat and had to ride home in a "car-bed". I thought about how I pulled over three times on that ride home to make sure he was OK in that bed. I thought how very soon (hopefully) he'll begin Kindergarten. I thought how soon enough he won't want superhero parties or his mother's chocolate cake. Soon enough, he'll be too busy for us to stop and play hot potato or anything else and will think himself too old for such games. It brought tears to my eyes. I decided to enjoy his enthusiam and general boyish wildness more. I decided to live in the moment more and listen to his stories more and be more forgiving of his messy ways.

And then I fell asleep in the recliner.

"You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes." ~Author Unknown

09-09-09

2009-09-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

Happy 6th Birthday to Noah!

Exodus Ended

2009-09-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

I am writing to warn the universe that I intend to resume blogging. I apologize in advance for the many new blog entries that I will post over the next several days as I catch up on all things Richardson.

Thank Goodness for Photoshop

2009-09-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

Emma had an interesting August.

She came across Tyler's "safety" scissors and decided it was time for a hair cut. When she proudly presented me a handsome wad of her locks ... well, I screamed! I love that gorgeous hair of hers. Thankfully, her hair is so curly awesome that most people haven't noticed the giant chop on the left side. She just looks a little more like Shirly Temple these days.

Unfortunately, things got worse. A few weeks later during a wrestling match with Chance and the boys, she somehow bumped her mouth and hurt her front tooth. It became slightly loose and bled a bit, but we didn't worry too much about it. Google said it would firm up in a few days. (Of course, I believed Google!) Well, the other day it started to change color. I took her to the dentist who confirmed that her tooth DIED! Its dead and turning uglier every day! There's nothing to do but wait for it to fall out and the new one to grow back in. That will be YEARS! Tyler's front teeth are just now coming all the way in and he's 8! Four years?

My brain knows that her tooth will fall out and eventually a sparkly, new, perfect one will grow back in, but I feel like I'm in mourning. I'm suffering from Mommy Vanity! She's still beautiful of course, but her once dazzling smile now looks so crazy. She looks like a 4-year old homeless girl. Its perfect for Halloween, but not for everyday for four years! And yes, I know I sound insane. Its just a baby tooth, after all.

As fate would have it, the kids have pictures scheduled for tomorrow. I spoke with my fabulous photographer, Ashley, who confirmed that its a snap to whiten teeth in Photoshop. Thank goodness for Adobe.

"Now Bart, since you broke Grandpa's teeth, he gets to break yours."

~Homer Simpson, The Simpsons

Dash Point

2009-09-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

My nephew, David, visited for a week this summer. One afternoon the kids got a little stir crazy so I drove them down to Dash Point. Since it wasn't real warm, I didn't plan on them swimming. I thought we could walk around and explore the beach a bit. We're planning to have a photo shoot here in a few weeks so I thought I would check it out.

I instructed the kids to just get their feet wet and walk around on the beach or play in the sand. They quickly found out the water was very cold.

But before I knew it ... they changed their minds. In a matter of minutes they were drenched and shirtless. And they somehow convinced David to join them.

Noah: "What's that!?!?!"

Mom: "Seaweed."
Noah: "It is?!"
Emma: "Yeah, for the mermaids."

RIP

2009-09-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

**Note: This post is from a conversation saved in my drafts from a few years ago. Blogger somehow didn't save the date for me, but I believe it was sometime in the fall of 2009.

The Covington McDonald's is going to be demolished. We drove by this afternoon find a "closed" sign and a barrier fence around it. When I explained to Noah and Emma that someone was tearing it down, they burst into tears! Noah strangled out an anguished "WHY?!" I explained that they just didn't like that building and needed to tear it down in order to build something better.

Emma: "But I LOVE that building!"

I then explained that a new McDonald's will be built in the same place. Noah pondered this for a bit and decided that it must be that someone complained about the building not being "green". He wasn't talking about the environment, but the color of the roof. (In Minnesota, we had two McDonald's - one with a red roof and one green.) Yes, that must be it. He looked over the building and nodded his head. Then the two of them had a lively debate about what would be different and the same and whether the big M sign would be replaced. Emma insisted it would be while Noah held firm that he had seen the same signs in front of the "green" McDonalds, too.

How interesting to listen to them debate. Emma, wildly dramatic and hotly emotional about her opinions. Noah, presenting his case with obvious "facts" to support it. I love them.

In Her Element

2009-08-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

We finally went camping with friends at Ensign Ranch last weekend. It was a short trip, but we were grateful to squeeze it in before the summer ended. Our camping plans were seriously thwarted this year due to Chance's surgery last month. Suddenly the summer is over, school is about to start, and soccer season will be upon us again. We had a good time. We stayed in a teepee instead of setting up our tent and the kids loved it. There was a burn ban so camp fires were restricted. It just isn't the same without a camp fire. And there were massive hornet nests throughout the campground. Unbelievably no one was stung.

On Saturday, we signed the kids up for horseback rides. They aren't quite old enough yet for trail rides, but they were able to walk their horses around for awhile. Emma was in heaven. She's been begging to go riding for months. She's ready to move onto the ranch permanently.

I've never been horse crazy. I like horses and I think they're beautiful, but they make me nervous. My uncle Jim had horses on his property in Oregon when I was young. I still remember riding and feeding apples to their horse, Nugget. But then in Jr. High, my friend Misty took me on a horse ride and her horse rolled with me on it! It scarred me for life. I wasn't hurt, but I realized right then how much control I didn't have and never wanted to feel like that again.

Basically, I'm a big chicken. Its nice to see I didn't pass that along to my daughter (or the boys).

"There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man." ~Winston Churchill

Hot Weather Humor

2009-08-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

During the last several weeks of summer, our babes have thrilled us with their wit and imagination. Here are a few recent samples:

Tyler: "Mom, I'm really starting to like reading books."
Noah: "I'm really starting to like finding money."

Noah: "Mom, do you know how cavemen eat applesauce? They throw it on the ground and eat it with their toes! ... I've been dreaming about being a caveman."
Emma: "I've been dreaming about lollipops."

Noah: "We can't go camping where there are bad animals. If there are bad animals then we have to bring our guns. And if we see police then we have to say: ' we're not bad guys, we're campers and we're hunting lions and tigers!'"

Tyler: "Mom, is there electricity in heaven?"
Michaelynn: "I don't know. I'm sure they have something."
Tyler: "I think I know what it is."
Michaelynn: "You do? What?"
Tyler: "Love."

Michaelynn: "We're going to Aidan's grandma's house."
Tyler: "Mom, are we allowed to go to other people's grandma's houses?"

Noah: "Dad, can I have a cinnamon roll?"
Chance: "Did you eat all your chicken?"
Noah: "No, my tummy only has room for cinnamon rolls. In my tummy there's an empty place in the shape of a cinnamon roll."

Noah: "Dad, am I silly in my pajamas?"
Chance: "Yes, Noah."
Noah: "I'll stop being silly when I'm 8."

"Oh, no. It looks like there's a maniac! See those sirens? That means they've caught a maniac." ~ Noah, upon seeing police lights ahead.

The Moon & Stars

2009-08-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

Today was Emma's last dance class with Ms. Mary and Aidan for awhile. She begins preschool soon and it doesn't look as though she'll be able to fit Pre-Ballet & Tap class into her schedule. It makes me sad because she loves Ms. Mary and talks about her all the time. Many of our arguments start with "Ms. Mary told me ...." or "Ms. Mary doesn't want me to ..." Some examples:

"Ms. Mary told me to wear my tap shoes to the store."

"Ms. Mary doesn't want me to clean my room!"

I continue to hope that Kent Parks will offer a new class in the afternoons for her age group. I am sad that she won't be able to play with Aidan every week in class anymore. They are the Romeo and Juliet of the class and so fun to watch together. And I'm really sad that I won't be able to chat with my friends Heather and Bridgett (Aidan's Mom) for an hour while Emma stomps and twirls around.

At the end of class today, Ms. Mary asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up. Emma said she wanted to be "A Star! ... A Star in the Sky!" And Aidan said, he wanted to be "The Moon." How sweet is that?

Feminist Emma

2009-08-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

Emma had her first actual dentist appointment today. We've been trying to get her into the chair for awhile. Our dental office recently added some new doctors - including a couple of female dentists. Apparently, Emma refuses to see a male dentist - (what a feminist!)

Emma has some interesting dental quirks. She only uses strawberry toothpaste because it is pink and tastes good. She refers to my mint toothpaste as "the spicy kind". And one of my favorite conversations about her teeth recently:

Emma: "Look! I have mountain teeth in the back!!!"

Mom: "Mountain teeth?" (oh, molars!)

Emma: "Yeah, do you see them? There are mountains on them!"

Mom: "What kind of teeth do you have in front?"

Emma: (thinking ...) "Hmmmm.....just squares."

A Glimpse into the Future

2009-08-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor boy has a new cruising toy. Not long after he unveiled the ride, Emma swung onto the back and took off.

"Six o'clock on Saturday

Her folks don't know he's on his way

The stalls are clean, the horses fed

They say she's grounded 'til she's dead

Well here he comes around the bend

Slowing down, she's jumping in

Hey mom, you're daughter's gone

And there they go again"

~ Garth Brooks, 'Ain't Going Down till the Sun Comes Up' Lyrics

Spokane

2009-07-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

Shhhhh......

2009-07-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Chance will kill me if he finds out .... but here he is after his surgery. (Tonsillectomy and deviated septum repair) I've never seen him with a beard before. Too bad I don't have a picture of the rest of his outfit. He's been wearing circulation tights for his legs and a gauze strip for his nose that looks a little like Michael Jackson's old mask. Doesn't he look strange? He's absolutely miserable and in pain, but I couldn't help sharing this anyway. He really deserves a much better wife.

Mud Mountain Dam

2009-07-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

The 4th

2009-07-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

Chance was in his element last night. He spent more than 2 hours blowing things up. We invited a few friends over for a July 4th BBQ and firework show at our house. The food was amazing - steak, ribs, roasted corn, roasted vegetables, fruit, jello cake and more! Much better than the spread we found from the vendors last year at Kent's firework show. No corn dogs or cotton candy this year thankfully.

Although I was unconvinced that Chance had enough fireworks to create a show to match his extravagant boasting - it turned out I was very wrong. In fact, I informed all our friends not to expect more than 20 minutes of excitement. It seems I know nothing about fireworks.

Happy Independence Day!

Rhododendron Gardens

2009-07-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

Tyler recently became a cub scout. One of his wolf requirements included a visit to a botanical garden, so I called up The Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way and asked them to let us in for free. Not that I'm against paying for botanical gardens, but usually Ty's scouting field trips are free. Plus, I had no idea if it would be a dud.

It wasn't a dud. The park is run by Weyerhauser and is actually quite nice considering it is right next to I-5. Not many rhododendrons in bloom, but that wasn't why the kids were there anyway. They threw rocks in a pond, climbed some old growth logs (which they probably shouldn't have done), rolled down the hill in the meadow and posed for pictures.

What did they like the best? As we were leaving, a lady invited the kids to a private retirement party at the small pavilion for some cake. There was tons of it leftover and the kids were more than willing to help out a good cause like that.

Recap:

Distance to Federal Way: 15.4 miles
Hours spent exploring nature: 2
Entrance fee to Botanical Gardens: $0
Free cake: Awesome

History Doesn't Repeat Itself

2009-06-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

As of today, Chance and I have been married for eleven, blissful years. Well, mostly blissful anyway. How lucky we are to have the life we enjoy together.

About 9 or 10 years ago we took a weekend trip together to Vancouver, B.C. Chance found a great internet deal on a boutique hotel in downtown so we drove up on the spur of the moment. We stayed at the Hotel LeSoleil Vancouver. The hotel was tiny and adorable and very elegant - like nothing we had ever experienced in our very financially challenged few months together. We strolled the downtown shops for hours, shopped, ate some amazing food, discovered some one-of-a-kind chocolates (Tiger Bombs!) and had a really wonderful weekend together.

A major highlight of the trip included a fabulous dinner. Our internet deal included a gift certificate to a local restaurant of our choice. The concierge highly recommended a place called Hy's, located a mere 5 minute walk from our hotel. It took us much longer to find it. There were no signs or address numbers or any markings that we could find for the place. There was simply a door in the middle of a brick wall where we felt the restaurant should be. We passed the door 4 or 5 times until Chance pointed to it and said "I think its in here." I was unconvinced. Who ever heard of a restaurant without signs to mark or advertise it? I shook my head and Chance pushed open the door. He had found it. We entered a dark, dimly lit restaurant filled with people. It was lovely and very romantic. We ordered the chateaubriand and experienced the most amazing meal of our lives that night. And we have both savoured the memory of that meal for the last 10 years.

Take Two

This year we decided to return to Vancouver in an attempt to recreate that memorable weekend. This time we stayed at the Vancouver Hyatt instead of the LeSoleil. I think this was a mistake. Our room was fine, but nothing elegant or magical like before. We found that Vancouver in general has grown significantly more expensive over the last 10 years. At every turn we were alarmed at the prices we found. Our Tiger Bombs cost an astounding $5.00 each! We returned to Hy's and found that this time there were numbers above the door. For some reason, that small thing took away a lot of its charm. We were unable to order the chateaubriand as patrons now have to order that item 3 days in advance! The server did his best to recreate a meal similar to our desires, but it fell short of our expectations. History truly doesn't repeat itself. We still managed to have a nice anniversary. We stopped at a spa and found they had last minute appointments available for massages and pedicures. What a great way to relax and save the weekend.

As I think about our trips, I realize how much has changed these last several years. Leaving the kids behind was relaxing in some ways, and difficult in others. I continually complain about needing a break from them, but then my heart aches the moment we're apart. Our 1st trip to Vancouver was beautiful. There was just something about it that I can't explain. This year's trip was a just a nice break from our day to day work to celebrate an anniversary. And while I enjoyed it, I think next time we'll bring the kids along and show them some of our favorite places and have new experiences with them. Create new memories instead of trying to relive old ones. Chance and I will have to find magic in another part of the world. And I'm looking forward to that.

PAUL: "Is this what life's going to be like for the next 50 years?"
CORIE: "Is that all were going to be married? 50 years?"
~ Robert Redford & Jane Fonda, Barefoot in the Park

Dirty Work

2009-06-19T21:11:00.000-07:00

I am the oldest of my siblings. When I was young, I usually got my way when things went sour between us, I got to ride in the front seat (back when riding in the front seat was safe), I was the banker for Monopoly, did everything first and I made all the rules when we played together. I also had more chores and stuff, too, so it was fair. But quite often I played at my Grandma Gleaves' house without my siblings and with my cousins Mark and Sarah. I loved playing there for many reasons, most especially because I was the youngest. Mark and Sarah are 2 and 4 years older than I and always did the coolest things. Unfortunately, that meant I didn't get to be banker, or make up all the play rules when I visited. They were in charge. There was a particular cherry tree that we used to climb together and Sarah (the oldest) got the highest branch, Mark the next and I wasn't even allowed (according to their rules) to really climb it until I was older like them. Every summer, the required age limit increased and every summer I sat on the lowest limb while they climbed to the highest peak. Inevitably when happened, I would pout and run to my dear grandmother for comfort. Her usual response was to bring me inside with her and make me a slice of toast with homemade strawberry jam. Somehow, I always felt better after that.

I grew up making jam with my mother. Every June, we scrambled to get the freshest fruit and spent hour after hour washing, slicing and cooking berries. It was heavenly. I have carried on this tradition and every summer we do the same. And when I say "we", I mean ME. I'm the captain here. I'm living that story ... The Little Red Hen. I'm the Hen. (sort of)

Noah, Emma and I took on berry picking together this week. They were thrilled to go to the berry farm. I explained what kind of berries we were looking for - nice red ones, not green, not black, no bugs, etc. We each got a bucket and got to work. Sort of. Emma couldn't "find" any. Noah literally asked me about every single berry he came upon. "Is this a good one?" "Is this one OK?" "What about this one?" Then we had to take a potty break (thank goodness for the on-site restroom.) Next we explored the farm house and jumped on the buckets and looked at the spiders. At this point, Emma had 4 strawberries, Noah had 16 and I was insane! Pretty soon they gave up the pretense of berry picking altogether and found a small patch of dirt to play in. While I picked berries they rolled around like pigs and covered themselves head to toe. The farm hands were stunned at their skills. Noah was just like a truck rolling down an old dirt road kicking up dust. A dirt cloud followed him wherever he ran. And when the work was done, they proudly loaded up the berries and took most of the credit.

Even though I'm doing all the work, I realize they are enjoying this tradition, too. Just in a different way than I did.

My favorite shot of the day.

"The jelly - the jam and the marmalade,
And the cherry-and quince-"preserves" she made!
And the sweet-sour pickles of peach and pear,
With cinnamon in 'em, and all things rare! -
And the more we ate was the more to spare,
Out to old Aunt Mary's! Ah!" ~ James Whitcomb Riley, American Poet

Noah's Preschool Grad

2009-06-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Today was Noah's preschool graduation. I tried to get a video of him walking to "Pomp & Circumstance" but my A/V skills were lacking today. (In truth, I did get a video but a clueless parent whipped out their iphone right in my camera's line of sight.) Noah pretty much hated it. He doesn't like crowds of people looking at him - even if they aren't really looking at him. He spent most of the time looking like this:

He Can Be Taught!

2009-06-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tyler taught Noah how to ride his bike this week. He just decided it was time and took off Noah's training wheels with a pair of pliers he found in the garage. He's handy like that. Sometimes its kind of nice to have Tyler around. Congrats to Noah!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

2009-06-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Emma completed her pre-ballet class with a dance recital on Saturday. She was adorable! It took her a few minutes to get going, but then she did really well considering she's only four. You can see the video here. Emma is the 2nd from the left for most of the video. I love it! I've been trying to upload it to blogger, but blogger and I don't get along very well.

A Tea Party

2009-05-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th Birthday Emma!

This morning Emma hosted her very first "tea" party. She invited all her favorite friends to come dressed as princesses (and one prince) to celebrate. Brunch was served with orange and apple tea (juice); princess games were played (Kiss the Frog Prince & Princess Manners) and each guest took home their very own delicate China tea cup and saucer. Emma and I spent hours combing thrift stores for authentic China pieces for mere pennies! I think we almost had more fun preparing for the party than at the actual party.

When Emma decided on her birthday party theme, her brothers mocked the idea. With disgust and disdain, they both declared no desire to ever go to a "girly" party like that. So the tea party was held this morning while the boys were at school/preschool. I prepared the table last night and when they woke up for breakfast, the boys immediately protested the fairness of going to school and missing out on such a cool party.

Aidan was the lone boy today, but he came dressed as a prince and appeared to have a good time. While I was cleaning up the brunch and preparing for cake, the girls were upstairs playing. My house was so strangely quiet! We had nine little royals in our home, but girls play so differently than boys. They don't have to run and scream and wrestle each other. They don't make disgusting noises or act like dogs. The boys have never had a party like that - heck, the boys haven't had an afternoon like that - EVER. It was so pleasant. I like girls.

"Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage." ~Catherine Douzel

Wishing Flowers

2009-05-04T15:14:00.001-07:00

At the baseball field earlier today:

Emma: "I wish ... I wish ... that Mommy wasn't mad."

Noah: "I wish ... that lions weren't real."

Classic Preschool

2009-05-01T12:20:00.001-07:00

A conversation between Noah and his buddy Ryan this week:

Ryan: Noah, you want to come over to my house tomorrow?
Noah: Uh....what country do you live in?
Ryan: Um ... November 17th.

Puppy Heaven

2009-04-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

In a weak moment in the Spring of 2007 Chance convinced me we should get a dog. He researched for months about the best types of dogs for our area, for children, for protection, etc. etc. etc. I wanted nothing to do with it. I've never been a "pet" person. I believe animals should live outside ... in nature .. where God intended them to live. I am totally supportive of zoos. Animals and people really aren't meant to share the same dwellings in my opinion. I think my feelings are also related to my younger sister Nicole's need to bring home every available pet she could get her hands on while I was growing up. You can only step in a pile of droppings or cat vomit so many times before it psychology destroys you. Her pets tormented me. (I do admit there have been moments after a seriously disturbing episode of CSI when I've longed for a protective family dog to keep everyone safe, but those moments don't really count.)

But I never want a puppy. Chance bought an adorable little puppy a few years ago. I say adorable meaning that it was really tiny and cute to look at from a distance. We named her Molly. The kids loved her, but she was a puppy and we had problems. She wasn't house broken, she liked to nip at the kids and she often tackled them in the yard. I knew she was just playing like any puppy would, but all that psychological damage from my childhood would combine with the mother in me to freak out whenever Molly pulled my 2 year old to the ground. Because Tyler adored her, I forced down my feelings of revulsion and accepted Molly into the family. I was resigned to my fate. Then a few weeks later, Noah had an accident. He broke his femur - his thigh bone - and was in the hospital for 2 weeks in traction and then came home in a body cast. I lived at the hospital with him and Chance juggled work, the kids and the house every day. Taking care of Molly was too much for us at that time. So, we sold her to another family that could give her what she needed. I was never so relieved in my life. Even now, I think it was all a bad dream.

It has been 2 years since Molly went to another home. The kids still talk about her all the time. Tyler tells me that he knows he'll see Molly in heaven someday. They all want another one named Molly. Emma continually talks about having a puppy:

"I want a brown puppy. It will have five legs and a dog private. And I'll put a pink chain on it and take it upstairs so it can smell things."

I'm not sure why she was thinking about dog privates. I'm trying not to think about that.

Boulders and Profanity

2009-04-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I had a row yesterday afternoon over homework. After a week-long reprieve over Spring Break, homework is the last thing Ty wanted to do. I tried to be understanding.

"I don't like homework. Math is no fun. Maybe in a couple of years I'll like it more."

"I don't think so, Ty. Sit down, please."

"I can't do this right now! Maybe this summer I'll be able to spend more time working on math. I just don't like it."

"I know homework isn't fun and it isn't what you want to be doing right now, but you need to get it done. Please sit down."

"I'm not going to do it!" (Silence)

"You're just rude to me. You make me do my homework on the first day that I have it! I have a whole week to get it done. But you just turn into a boulder and run right over me. And it hurts my feelings! You're so rude!"

I calmly listened to him rage. My heart surged with pride at his ability to describe so uniquely how it feels to be young and full of limitations, rules, parents and homework. I have felt that crushing feeling as a young person. It feels as though you have no freedom. It may be strange, but I am grateful that he can freely (if not quietly) share his feelings and can do so with such imagery.

So, I listened. And then I smiled. And then he smiled. I told him I would try not to be a boulder anymore. And I thought that the worst was over. And then he said the following:

"Well, I'm not going to do this. I don't have to! I can just throw this homework right into the trash if I want. What do you think about that?"

***

Spring Break was also full of name-calling. When Emma was busy creating something on the floor, I accidentally stepped backward and ruined her masterpiece.

"Mom! You ... DISHWASHER!"

"Did you just call me a dishwasher? Ouch, Emma."

Noah also told Emma that she was a "Pocket-Head" during one of their squabbles, which caused a surprising amount of tears. Today, Emma called Tyler "Underpants" and I was unable to intervene without laughing. When I mentioned these moments to Chance's Mom, she commented: "I love their profanity." Me, too.

"Love is saying 'I feel differently' instead of 'You're wrong.'"
~ Anonymous

"If you can't answer a man's arguments, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names."
~ Elbert Hubbard

Easter 2009

2009-04-12T22:25:00.000-07:00

I love Emma's focus and Noah's excitement.

Mr. President

2009-04-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

http://investigatebarackobama.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/obama_magazine_covers_20081.jpg

Our children are so politically savvy. Here are the latest sound bytes about our president around here:

At the computer:

Noah: "Dad, that's Barack Obama!"
Chance: "Where did you learn that?"
Noah: "On the magazine at 7-11."

"Uh....Barack Obama did this." ~ Emma, after writing on her hands with ink pen.

Longing for The Quad

2009-04-07T20:06:00.001-07:00

After the gloomiest March in all my years, Spring is here! And the cherry blossoms are everywhere. Cherry blossoms transport me back to my college days - particularly my first year at UW. I was living in the dorms and walked through The Quad every afternoon. When Spring hit that first year, the trees blossomed overnight. After a long day of classes, I began my weary way back toward the dorm. I stepped into the Quad and stopped mid-step. It was breathtaking. That was probably the first week I skipped classes in my college life. A trend that unfortunately became a habit - especially in the Spring. (Um...my old roommates are not allowed to comment about my class-skipping habits as none of you would find that very interesting in the slightest). It was the perfect place for lunch, a nap or reading a novel instead of your statistics book. See (above) all those students lying about on the grass? I was one of those.

I ran across these pictures online. If you've never seen The Quad in the Spring, check these out and then go have a picnic. And I apologize for all the Quad-envy that will follow if you attended a less-worthy institution. Go Huskies!

Pictures:

http://depts.washington.edu/mediarel/galleries/cherryblossoms/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dseidman/2404376331/

http://photos.fairlyindustrious.com/misc/pages/UW%20quad.htm

http://bp3.blogger.com/_DaH_PmLJHM0/R7sLJb_x2LI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/gYFlvAaAcrQ/s1600-h/UW-Quad_2004-6056tfk.jpg

http://bp1.blogger.com/_DaH_PmLJHM0/R7tAD7_x2PI/AAAAAAAAAKc/jD6K9DeNfPA/s1600-h/UW-Quad-path_6006tfk.jpg

"Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems."
~Rainer Maria Rilke, 20th Century German Poet

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
~Robin Williams, Comedian/Actor

Tyler's Baptism

2009-04-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

Tyler was baptized last Saturday. We are so proud of him! He was extremely nervous about doing so in front of a crowd of people. Thankfully many family and friends attended, which gave him courage, I think. (Chance was nervous, too.) It was a big moment. Earlier in the month I asked him a series of questions designed to see if your child is, in fact, ready to take this step. He blew me away. I am amazed at how much he understands about the gospel at such a young age. Thank goodness for primary teachers. Here is an excerpt from his journal about it:

"I was bathtized. I was so happy. I got the Holy Ghost, too. A whole bunch of people surrounding me. I was so so so so happy. I got to play with my cousin David at the end. All my friends were there and I was a little nervous at the start ... I was happy when I was done." (Some spelling/grammar corrected)

I have to admit that looking at his journal entry was the first time I realized that Tyler referred to it as "bathtism". I found it thoroughly hilarious that after all these months of discussing his baptism and interviews with the Bishop and primary president, no one picked up on this. I love it.

It is surprisingly stressful to plan and prepare for a child's baptism. I'm glad that I have a few years before the next one.

To learn more about our beliefs, please go to the website for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at http://www.lds.org/ or visit http://www.mormon.org/ to find answers to frequently asked questions.

One Man's Sacrifice

2009-03-27T00:44:00.003-07:00

Over the last five weeks we have visited the auto repair shop several times. The people there definitely know Chance by name these days. Before our vacation, we spent around $2000 repairing the van and the Jeep. Not the best way to start out a vacation, but at least our two vehicles were back on track again in good condition.

Or so we thought.

A few days ago, when Chance was driving home from work, the Jeep started smoking/steaming like mad. Thankfully he was not too far from our friendly repairman and was able to coast over to the shop. The kids were quite distressed to see the steamy billows pouring from the Jeep when we arrived to rescue my stranded husband. It turns out the heat core failed/died/blew up and the repair job would be an additional $800. Our other option was to leave it, bypass the heat core and have no heater in the Jeep. Chance and I discussed it. He mentioned that Spring is slowly arriving and shortly it will be Summer. Surely, we can wait on this heat core repair another few months when things aren't so tight. Surely we can do that. Surely. So, that's what we did. We bypassed the heat core and the Jeep is heater-less.

I phoned him at work yesterday morning to find out if the car held up OK during his commute. He said everything was fine, but he had to stop at Tully's. He said "I needed a hot cocoa. It was snowing on my way to the office." This morning there was frost all over the car when I went out for the day - 2 hours after Chance left. I love this man. I don't know how he is surviving, but he hasn't complained once.

Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do

2009-03-26T12:31:00.001-07:00

My blog posting has seriously declined recently. There is so much to write about and not enough time to do it justice. Perhaps that is the downfall of blogging for me. Somehow I have it in my mind that everything I post has to be meaningful to me and possibly to others. I haven't yet resolved this for myself and so instead I've been posting a lot of quotes lately. They are meaningful to me and hopefully at least provide entertainment to my handful of blog readers.

Noah: "When I get big I'm going to play football."
Tyler: "You can't play football, Noah, because you'll get hurt."
Noah: (growling) "Tyler, do you see the look on my face?"

Emma: "Mom, on my birthday when I wake up we'll put up the Christmas tree and then it will snow!"

Rocky II

2009-03-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

Noah received his first set of stitches last Friday, on Tyler's birthday. I was in the middle of making Ty's requested birthday dinner menu, when Noah came running down the stairs screaming in agony. His hand was over his eye and very red blood was gushing down his arm. Imagine my panic and my wild imagination! Maybe he put his eye out while jedi training with lightsabers; maybe Tyler hit him with a baseball bat; maybe Emma stuck a fork in him ... thoughts like this rushed through my mind in the 3.2 seconds it took him to reach me.

I raced him into the bathroom. This was a huge mistake because there is a mirror in there. Noah took one look at his face and wailed in sheer terror. After a quick inspection I discovered he simply needed some stitches next to his eye. I was very relieved to find his eye still in its proper place. I cleaned the blood off his face and Noah calmed down. But Tyler was a bunch of nerves. I was certain Ty was somehow involved with this injury, but he was innocent. Noah had simply slipped in his room and smashed his face into the metal bar on his bed. (Noah has this idea that he is a superhero. Sometimes he runs around the house as fast as he can, like The Flash, and then he runs into things.) Tyler was an emotional mess and when I announced we were taking Noah to the doctor for stitches, he nearly fainted. "Stitches?!"

Noah had no idea what stitches were and I wasn't planning to tell him at that moment. But Tyler knew exactly what they were and his mind was freaking out. He was in tears thinking about Noah having to have all those needles stuck into his face. I seriously worried he was going to throw up. (Tyler has issues with needles. Every year he has to have a flu shot and every year it takes about 3 nurses and myself to hold him down. He is an accomplished screamer. I'm sure he'll be great in horror movies one day.) We reached urgent care and thankfully only had to wait a few minutes before Noah was called back. Noah was a brave guy - never cried, never moved, he just held my hand silently until it was over. Tyler had to wait in the hall. And Emma ... she couldn't have been more interested in those stitches. She sat up on the bed and watched the whole thing unfold, frustrated that she couldn't get a better view.

All children are so different.

"Here comes the invalid. I have to have two kinds of ice cream. I'm recuperating." ~ Tootie Smith, 1944 (Name that movie)

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

2009-03-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tyler is 8 today and begins a new chapter in his life. What an exciting month it is!

1. We just returned from a week long trip to Disneyland last week (more on that later)

2. This morning his classmates stood in a circle around him, sang a festive song and then showered him with compliments (which made Mom cry a little). This was followed by cupcakes for mid-morning snack (or "2nd breakfast" as its known around here).

3. Tonight he saw a cool movie with Dad.

4. Today he also visited urgent care while Noah received his first set of stitches.

5. Tomorrow is his Lego birthday party with all his favorite dudes!

6. Upcoming family date at Glo Golf...

7. Next Saturday he will be baptized!

8. Later that afternoon he'll be the guest of honor at a family party to celebrate his awesomeness.

Could this March be any cooler? No way, man!

Historic Words of Wisdom

“Mom, I need to brush my hair. It’s a little angry.” ~Age 3

“Oh no! It has poop on it!” ~Age 2, upon seeing a sausage pizza

“Mom, did you hear my guns?!” ~Age 3, after a large burst of gas

“Yes, a Harry Potter baby.” ~ Age 2, response to the comment that his mom had a baby in her tummy

“The doctor takes the baby out. You open up your mouth and say 'Ahhhh' and the doctor pulls it out your mouth.” ~Age 4

“Mom, I don’t like frogs.” ~Age 5, after eating split pea soup for the first time

“OK, Noah. It’s my turn to play soccer. Now you can watch how a man does it.” ~Age 6

"Mom, I think the Holy Ghost is with me right now. I haven't done anything bad yet." ~ Age 8

March Quotes

2009-03-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Noah to Emma: "You are the sweetest sister I ever had."

Noah (after falling off his bike and hurting his knee): "Mom, my knee is hot. I think it needs an ice cream sandwich."

Tyler, while drinking lemonade: "This is sour! Its makes my tongue nervous."

Emma: "I love you, Momma. You're my best friend."
Mom: "Thank you, Emma. I love you, too."
Emma: "Mom! You forgot to say 'You're my best friend, Emma' to me!"

Seven Years

2009-02-14T23:29:00.000-08:00

Tonight Chance and I went out together (ALONE) on a date for Valentine's Day. It has been seven years since our last Valentine's "date". Over the last several years there has always been a reason to simply do something with the family:

1. We didn't have a babysitter

2. We couldn't afford a babysitter

3. February 14th fell on a weird day of the week to get a babysitter

4. We had a tiny infant and weren't comfortable with a teenage babysitter

Yes, for six years we have laboured through our Feburary 14ths and now on the 7th - we rest. This year, our children are older, we have a babysitter and February 14th fell on a Saturday. We had dinner and saw a movie. (Somewhere in the middle Chance coerced me into Best Buy for a bit, but that's OK.) We still technically can't "afford" to do much, but we don't really need much.

I will always think of Tyler on Valentine's Day. Seven years ago yesterday, Chance brought Tyler home forever. Ty was very sick - double ear infections and a scorching fever - and he wouldn't let us put him down for three days. My mom and Stuart came to meet their new grandson and help calm us down from our freaked out "instant parents" state of mind. I don't remember much about how we spent that Valentine's Day except that we ordered Chinese take-out from Snappy Dragon and held Tyler. I wish I had a picture from that night. It's possible Stuart took some. I just remember we were poor, we were terrified and we were filled with joy.

[This is Tyler about 5 months later.]

PS - I miss Snappy Dragon. A LOT.

"At the end of every seven years, thou shalt make a release."
~ Deuteronomy 15:1

“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;-- it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”
~Jane Austen, Sense & Sensibility

Heard Around The House

2009-02-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

Tyler

Tyler: "Why do I always have to take out the garbage? I HATE taking out the garbage!"
Mom: "I'm sorry, but you chose to make bad choices and this is what happens."
Tyler: "I hate it! When I grow up I am NEVER taking out the trash. NEVER!"
Mom: "Well, your house is going to have a lot of garbage then. Who is going to take out your trash, do you think?"
Tyler: (looks at Mom like she's an idiot) "MY kids!"

"Mom, you must be really special because you know how to iron."

Chance had a discussion with Ty about the microwave and explained that placing metal inside can cause fires. To which Tyler replied: "Wow, Dad. That's a really good thing to learn."

Noah

Noah: "I like riding in Atali's car. It smells good."
Mom: "What does it smell like?"
Noah: "It smells like Poptarts."

After a morning frost covered the front lawn, Noah asked: "Mom, is the grass getting old?"

Emma

Singing (tune of ABCs): "A B C D E F G ... X O B S E ... we are a happy family."

Noah closed the bedroom door on Emma and would not let her in. Then she threatened him with: I'll huff and I'll puff!"

I asked Emma what an airplane says (meaning, what sound does it make). She responded "Airplanes speak Spanish," which I guess means 'I don't know, Mom.'

The Chosen

2009-02-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

A Novel by Chaim Potok

"Reuven, listen to me. The Talmud says that a person should do two things for himself. One is to acquire a teacher. Do you remember the other?"
"Choose a friend," I said.
"Yes. You know what a friend is, Reuven? A Greek philosopher said that two people who are true friends are like two bodies with one soul."

I finished this book last night and then dreamt about it over and over again. It is a beautiful story - a classic that I had never read and one I may not have read without the help of my book club. On the surface, this book explores the varied facets of the Jewish faith in America during WWII and the complex spiritual and intellectual discord between two Jewish boys and their fathers. But this story is really about perception, faith, relationships, dedication and love. Had I known the author focused so extensively on studying the Talmud and Hasidism vs. Zionism, I seriously doubt my interest would have been piqued. Thankfully, I didn't know and I couldn't put the book down. I enjoyed every morsel. After a book full of heartache and confusion, the final chapters left me with such a feeling of peace and understanding I can hardly tell.

Favorite Quotes:

"You are no longer a child, Reuven, . . .It is almost possible to see the way your mind is growing. And your heart, too. . . .So listen to what I am going to tell you. . . .Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye? . . .I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives the span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. It is hard work to fill one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here. Do you understand what I am saying?" ~ Reuven's Father, David Malter

"He was born trapped. I don't ever want to be trapped the way he's trapped. I want to be able to breathe, to think what I want to think, to say the things I want to say. I'm trapped now, too. Do you know what it feels like to be trapped? ... How could you possible know? Its the most hellish, choking, constricting feeling in the world. I scream with every bone in my body to get out of it. My mind cries to get out of it. But I can't. Not now. One day I will, though. I'll want you around on that day, friend. I'll need you around on that day." ~Danny Saunders

Abducted by Aliens or A Visit to the Dentist

2009-02-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

There is nothing worse than a toothache. Awesome pain and the inevitable visit to the dentist. (By the way, the second worse thing in life is an earache, but at least you don't have to see a dentist.) I am a dental phobic. Just thinking about going to the dentist gives me a panic attack. Last week I got a terrible toothache and a sinking feeling developed deep in my stomach. After a quick exam our family dentist announced I needed a root canal. The worst news! I would rather go through labor and have another baby than have a root canal. (A truth adopted from my friend, Wendy). My consultation with the endodontist occurred the following morning.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of meeting the endodontist, I'll outline my experience here. After checking in, I was taken for x-rays. Getting dental x-rays is about as fun as getting sand in your eye. If there is one area that is seriously in the dark ages, its the dental world. They still use the same system for x-rays that was used when I was a child. Thirty years later and medical science hasn't come up with something new? Giant machine; enormous plastic film thing in your mouth that somehow you're supposed to bite down on. This is about 212 times more fun to do when you have a terrible toothache by the way. Last week, I had to do this twice because the first time I didn't bite down all the way. (Um...of course I didn't. I have a toothache!) After the x-rays I met the endodontist, who was a lovely young woman in blue scrubs named Dr. R. Dr. R took my history, looked at the x-rays and then poked around in my mouth for a few minutes. She confirmed that I did need a RC and then proceeded to pleasantly do the "cold test." The cold test is a torture technique they save for special patients. The dentist takes a cotton Q-tip, sprays it heavily with liquid nitrogen and touches your tooth to see if you pass out in pain. (Note: if your tooth needs a root canal, this will hurt worse than kidney stones). So, Dr. R takes her nasty Q-tip and begins the torture. "Do you feel it here? How about here? Tell me when you feel it here?" I'm breaking out in a cold sweat just thinking about it.

At this point, Dr. R and I have a discussion about dental treatment history and options and she recommends dental anxiety sedation. This means that my dental phobia is confirmed. Actually Dr. R tells me that a lot of patients use this treatment option and that she herself would use it if she had to have a root canal. The medication is relaxing and helps you keep your mouth open for the 2.5 hour procedure. I agree to the treatment for a few reasons:

1. Holding my mouth open for long periods of time makes me feel panicky.
2. I feel like I'm suffocating if I have to wear a rubber dam over my mouth.
3. I'm a dental phobic.

The night before the procedure, I am a mess. I tell Chance that I can't do it 100 times. I keep thinking that having this procedure feels like voluntarily giving myself to aliens to perform tests. No sane person would do that and it just felt crazy to me to voluntarily lie down, open my mouth and allow someone to stick needles, drills and other tools of torment into my mouth. And then pay them for it. Its like being abducted by aliens - on purpose! And some of my favorite people in the world are dentists. Really. Sorry guys.

I arrived for my appointment Monday morning about 1 hour early for the anti-anxiety medication. Basically, I swallow some pills and play with my iPhone for 40 minutes. When the dental assistant led me back to the treatment room, I didn't feel very altered at all. I do think my anxiety level was fairly low. I didn't freak out and start hyperventilating when they placed the prop to keep my mouth open or put the rubber dam over my face. Dr. R gave me the injections (which was very unpleasant) and then I fell asleep. I woke up a few times because I'm fairly certain I was snoring and woke myself up. In no time, the root canal was finished and Chance picked me up. He tells me that I looked like a dementia patient when I walked out. Everyone helped me stagger to the car and I came home and slept for five hours. I woke up in time to eat dinner, have a phone-text conversation with my sister that I have no memory of, said goodnight to the kids and went back to bed a while later.

I think the drugs were totally worth it for me. I am happy to have little memory of the entire experience. We'll see how I feel if my snoring body winds up on YouTube.

"Some tortures are physical

And some are mental,

But the one that is both

Is dental."

~Ogden Nash, American Poet

Family Resolutions 2009

2009-01-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a nice family dinner for the New Year last week. After clearing the plates away, Chance and I sat at the table with our children and discussed the concept of resolutions and goals for 2009. We discussed some things we would like to improve on physically and spiritually as a family. More determined healthy eating, more regular exercise, more family nights, etc. We made it a goal to try to be to church on time this year. (Uh...we're starting that goal next week as we woke up late for our new 9:00 am church time last week.) After our discussions, we asked each of the kids to identify some areas in their own lives that they would like to improve. Here are their goals for 2009:

Tyler feels he needs to work on improving his video gaming skills - specifically Wii. He also mentioned offhand that he should probably start listening better to his parents.

Noah says his goal is to try to eat his dinner this year.

Emma is going to ride her bike.

My own goals are harder to put onto paper. I have spent several quiet moments over the last month in the late or early morning hours thinking to myself. I have pondered and pondered the last 10 years of my life with Chance and where we have been (and where we could have gone) as a married couple and a family. I am enormously blessed and satisfied to have him as the companion of my life. I look back at all that we have experienced together and I want more. I want our lives to be fuller, richer, more meaningful. We have so much already ... but I want more. I can't find better words to express myself right now. I do not know what changes or improvements are needed yet. I just want more.

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man." ~Benjamin Franklin

A&W Photography

2008-12-29T22:04:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned my friend Ashley and the amazing photos she took of my kids several weeks ago. I am finally posting some of the pictures here on the blog. I hadn’t done this because I’m lazy, but also because I gave photobooks with most of the pictures to the grandparents as Christmas gifts this year. They are awesome! If you come and visit me I will proudly bore you to death with the book.

I always mention how wonderfully talented Ashley is, but I feel like I should mention her equally awesome husband, Wendel. What a pair. They are like the dynamic duo of children’s photography. A perfect blend of talent and comedy. At our shoot, Ashley did most of the camera snapping while Wendel had the important jobs of carrying heavy things around, holding up reflectors and saying silly things to make my kids smile. He spent about 30 minutes inventing a secret crush that Tyler apparently has on his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Spalding, and then teasing him profusely about it. Very important work.

I love photos of my children, but having them professionally done is like torture. They are complete spazzes most of the time and never follow directions. But this experience was wonderful. No rush, no rules, no limits on poses or settings or number of shots. We just went where the kids took us, literally. Emma even peed her pants at the end because we couldn't make it to the port-a-potty fast enough. Ashley and Wendel just smiled and continued the shoot. The kids laughed and played at the park. And when they were done, we were done. I really hope A&W will continue their work and we'll be able to do this again down the road when my children have grown an inch or two.

Thanks A&W. To see a few more pictures from the shoot, click here.

Holiday Letter 2008

2008-12-28T16:01:00.000-08:00

Friends and Family,

How wonderful it is to be back in our home state of Washington! We believe our wanderlust has finally subsided, but can make no promises because who knows when an offer to relocate to an exotic locale in Middle America will materialize. On that note, the recent deluge of snow that rivals any Midwest winter has quelled any feelings of homesickness we may have had.

We have enjoyed a wonderful year as we have resettled back into familiar settings. Chance is busy at work at AT&T in Marketing Operations as a project manager. His office is located at Redmond Town Center, which incidentally is the same location he opened the Gap at 10 years ago when he was much more hip. Regrettably in his new position he does not receive a mall discount.

Michaelynn continues to grow into the ever expanding role of ‘Mom’. Our van’s odometer has grown at a rapid pace as she shuttles the brood to volleyball, t-ball, soccer, field trips, recitals, etc. She is also further exploring the plethora of options that exist as a homemaker having recently tackled some very extensive sewing projects and has become a proficient blogger. You can find her outstanding work at ‘chanceandmichaelynn.blogspot.com’.

Our oldest, Tyler, is in the middle of his 2nd year at Crestwood Elementary in Ms. Spalding’s class. A woman, who along with himself, is apparently smarter than both of his parents combined. Tyler continues to enjoy all things sport, music, and electronic. His career path is leading towards science, his goal being to build a light saber. Hopefully he will choose the path of light.

Noah has become the comedian of the family, overshadowing even his father at times with his antics and infectious giggles. He is not content unless is making noise of some sort, the louder the better. He began preschool this year, and for now still believes his parents to be quite intelligent.

Though Emma has lost her accomplice to preschool this year, she has grown ever closer to her Mother. Emma is definitely all girl, desiring ‘dolls, all of them’ and a pony for Christmas. She can usually be found wearing a dress, and aspires to become a princess some day.

We hope this letter finds each of you well. We celebrated our 10th anniversary this year, and it truly is amazing how fast the years pass. Life is truly a finite period that we are meant to enjoy together, and we very much appreciate this time of year in which we at least have a few moments to reconnect with each of you.

Wishing you a most Merry Christmas,

The Richardsons
Chance, Michaelynn, Tyler, Noah and Emma

Christmas Quotes

2008-12-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

EMMA

Emma: "Dad, its Christmas! We're going to the North Pole."
Dad: "Emma, we're NOT going to the North Pole."
Emma: "Yes, we ARE!" (insert very belligerent 3-year old voice)

Emma has been watching a little too much Polar Express lately.

Her favorite songs this week have been her own special versions of: "Frosting the Snowman," "The Chipmonk Song" and "Old MacDonald".

NOAH

Upon opening his Christmas Eve present (containing pajamas):

"What?! Clothes?" (voice dripping with disdain)

TYLER

Tyler: "Yay, Sonic Unleashed Video Game! Wait ... its for the Wii?"
Mom: "Oh, oops. Guess Santa forgot that we don't have a Wii. We'll just take it to the store and exchange it for a different one."

Sad, gloomy, depressed face appears on Tyler.

10 minutes later...

Tyler: "OH! Santa got us a Wii! Yes!"

10 minutes after that....

Tyler: "Yeah, Santa got me a Wii because he knew I couldn't afford one."

A Watched Pot

2008-12-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

You know the saying "A watched pot never boils?" I think you could also say "a watched sky never snows." We were supposed to have a snow storm Wednesday. The school district had late arrival again for some reason I cannot understand and the news continued to report severe snow warnings for our area. We watched the sky all day and waited. And then we gave up watching and made cookies - Noah, Emma and I. It was very interesting and fun. If you look closely at the pictures you'll see that Emma is wearing her ballerina costume from her recital last week and Noah is working side by side next to his Star Wars Stormtrooper action figure. The kids and I (and "trooper" as he is affectionately known here) took turns with the rolling pin and the cookie cutters. And then Tyler came home and ate his fill.

Here is Noah with "trooper". (And yes, Noah's t-shirt is on backwards. I think his shorts are on backwards, too, to be honest. But he's happy and who am I to take that away from him?)

And just when you stop watching that pot ... it boils. Or snows, in this case.

Who knew?

2008-12-16T23:44:00.001-08:00

The other day I ruined two batches of fudge and it sent me into a depression spiral. Who knew all my happiness and self-confidence rested on my ability to boil and stir and stir and stir for 11 minutes straight on into chocolate perfection? But, after the fiascoes I was in a funk. It just didn't feel like Christmas anymore. I am living in this mess of a house that I cannot escape with a defective stove to boot. Woe is me! But thankfully, everything is back on track. I have had fudge success and life is rosy again. I'm smiling. Suddenly I feel like all the things that were impossible are possible and the desolation of my life is not so dark as it seemed before. Suddenly I have Christmas carols in my head and everything is right in the world again. Yay! Who knew fudge had so much power?

Chance mentioned that although I don't remember it this way, this is a Christmas ritual for me. Apparently I always have a few disasters before I get in my groove and things get all magical in the kitchen. Hmmm ... I've decided this is probably his fault for moving me around the world forcing me to get acquainted with different atmospheric conditions, new kitchens and stoves all the time. Maybe if we finally "settle down" for awhile I could go a few years without wasting a few pounds of butter and sugar at Christmastime.

Some people don't really like fudge. But making fudge is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. My mother's fudge recipe is an edible masterpiece. The recipe is difficult, but worthy of the Nobel prize. It has been a holiday tradition my entire life (or at least since I was old enough to lick the spoon). Back in the days before Kitchenaid civilized the world with their fancified mixers, my mother slaved her way to arthritis making fudge during the holidays. She stirred that bubbling, boiling pot on the stove continuously for 20 minutes and then dumped that lovely potion into a bowl full of chocolate yumminess. She continued stirring like a madwoman for another half hour until the fudge became the right (really thick) consistency. By the end of the hour, mom's arm was useless and I was made to do all the cleaning. (Especially the toilets. I remember them well.) And then to add to the torture the fudge had to set in the fridge for 12 hours before we could eat it! But when that moment came, when we could taste the hallowed chocolate, it was glorious. All the cleaning, the toilets, the waiting...it was all worth it. Its a different feeling now when I make it in my own kitchen. In my youth, the anticipation is what made it such a treasure. Now, it is not the waiting, but the work; the labour of my hands that makes its all so valuable to me. We all have our treasured labors ... the hunter his game; the fisherman his fish. Me? I have fudge.

Hello beautiful.

New Camera & New Snow!

2008-12-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

This weekend we almost (not really) felt like we were back in Minnesota. Snow fell from the sky and covered all of Covington really nicely. So nicely, in fact, that church was cancelled! This turned out to be a good thing for me because I had to teach today and I wasn't prepared. (I tried, I really did, but I was too distracted with my new camera (see below) and with all the other things going on around here.) With nothing to do all day, we had a snowball fight and photo session outdoors until we got too cold. (HA! TOO cold? We've become a bunch of weenies since we left Minnesota. Have you noticed that I use a lot of parentheses? Its weird.)

So, I've been complaining for months about the sad state of our digital camera. It didn't use to bother me so much, but it seems to have aged over the last few months and the photo quality is ... well there is no quality. Of course, Ashley's gorgeous photos of our kids last month only increased my discontent. After seeing them, every picture I take is just disgusting to me. She's ruined me! Maybe someday I'll be rich enough to buy my own SLR and lenses and photoshop and photography classes and ...well, maybe not.

Anyway, yesterday Emma woke me up and said that Santa had brought presents. It turns out that Chance did have one for me. A new Nikon P80! I almost cried in joy. But I was too happy to cry - I just kept smiling! And then I just wanted everyone to leave me alone so I could read the manual. I spent the next hour and half doing that and managed to snap about 186+ pictures before the battery ran out. (This happened to occur at the exact moment Emma walked onto stage for her ballet recital yesterday! Sigh. Thankfully, a friend took video of it and I'll post it later after I get it. I know, parentheses again.)

And now to compare the old with the new. Below is a pretty scary picture taken with my old camera. This kind of quality was fairly common. I ask you?! How am I supposed to live with that? It looks like something taken with a mobile phone. (Of course, the picture is also pretty scary because Tyler is pretty freaky in that shot.) I don't know what happened to the camera. Maybe it was dropped too many times or something. All I know is I am so grateful to be able to grab a shot like the one of Noah in "time out" on the porch. Hallelujah!

"Buying a Nikon doesn't make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner."
~Author Unknown

Bell Square vs. Disneyland

2008-12-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to Snowflake Lane at Bell Square. After hearing great things about it, I guess I was slightly disappointed. I should have done more research before we drove all the way there. For some reason I had it in my head there would be a parade of toy soldiers in the streets. And unfortunately, that is what I told my kids. That is not exactly what happened.

This is what did happen. There were toy soldiers/nutcrackers drumming magnificently. They were loud and cool and exciting as they streamed out of the buildings and marched to their posts on the sides of the street. The drums beat to music projected over the crowd while several characters (snowmen, penguins, soldiers on stilts, snow princesses, etc) strolled the sidewalks and interacted with the kids giving away peppermint lollipops. Snowflakes were projected onto the surrounding buildings and snow (thick bubbles) did indeed fall from the sky. And the scene was beautiful. Holiday lights, nutcrackers, children everywhere. The music and drums continued for about 15 minutes. Sounds good, doesn't it? What's wrong with me?

But there was no parade. There was a street full of traffic. Those cars driving by detracted from all that musical talent. The street was never closed and the nutcrackers didn't march around with all those cool characters and dance in the streets. I waited and waited for the moment when that would happen so the fun could really start. It never did and I sat thinking how sad it was that an opportunity for holiday greatness was lost. What a difference it would make to close off those three blocks for 15 minutes and have a parade with all those soldiers and drummers and snowmen and princesses and music and snow and lights. If only, if only. Sigh. I have been totally spoiled by Disneyland. Snowflake Lane is a fun holiday experience; it just falls a little short of magical.

BUT ... We still had a nice evening. All that holiday festivity was contagious. We strolled through Bell Square and grabbed hot cocoa before the show. Emma was thrilled to see Rudolph and the other reindeer suspended from the ceiling. We heard some carolers. We spent 20 minutes at Pottery Barn Kids and the kids played with tons of expensive toys we will never buy. Plus, we ate dinner at Red Robin and received a free Mud Pie (and, let's be honest, that made the trip worth it right there). The kids had a good time. (Of course they did! Hot cocoa, mud pie, peppermint lollipops!) Noah's favorite thing was riding the escalators. Weird, but that's what my 5-year-old digs these days. He was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a parade like I said there would be (which is probably why I was disappointed because HE was disappointed. It's the mama in me.) Tyler loved it and wrote all about it for his writing assignment at school. Emma just quietly, happily took it all in and became one with her hot cocoa.

Chance and I looked at each other and agreed that Disney would have done it better. But then, Disneyland isn't free.

"Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. "
~ Author Unknown

"Blast this Christmas music. It's joyful and triumphant."
~ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

A Tale of Two Trees

2008-12-10T23:35:00.000-08:00

We usually try to get our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We like to go out into nature and spend time selecting that one perfect holiday treasure for our home. We go out and get to know our tree. Meet its family, breathe its air, discover where it is from. Then we cut it down and tie it to our van kicking and screaming. Its a tradition.

This year, our schedules have been completely overloaded and we found ourselves on a late Thursday afternoon with an hour or so to find a perfect tree. Chance came home early and the kids were bubbling over with giddiness. Then we discovered that all the tree farms in this area are closed during the week. (WHAT?!) We drove around searching for farms to take our family in. It wasn't long before darkness was descending and we found ourselves in front of The Home Depot. I was completely depressed. Our holiday tradition was ruined and we were forced into the position of purchasing a tree cut by a stranger. The kids however, were still filled with giddiness. (I think it was mostly excitement to finally get out of the car and use the potty.) They cried out in joy when they saw the piles of trees at the Garden Center. I was despondent. No amount of Chance rubbing my shoulders and apologizing for nothing did any good. Then we met Anton.

Anton is a jewel. He's The Covington Home Depot's Master of Christmas Trees. He happily walked around lifting up trees one after another; giving tree advice; chatting with the kids. After we found what was probably the best Noble Fir in the store, he trimmed it, netted it and helped Chance load it up. All this for the bargain price of $39.95.

"You can do it. We can help."
~ Slogan for The Home Depot since 2003

White Elephant Bingo

2008-12-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if there really are "winners" in white elephant bingo or not, but if there were to be losers ... well, we definitely lost last Saturday night at the Schultz' holiday gala. We brought ten scratch lottery tickets to the exchange. We took home this little gem ....

Perhaps "little" isn't the right word. Special thanks go out to Tami B. for her excellent sense of style and artistic genius. The bra just wouldn't be the same without her bedazzlement. And thanks to Phil for passing on this rare piece of joy to me.

Thanksgiving Remembered

2008-11-26T00:36:00.000-08:00

This post has arrived late due to the bermuda triangle of internet service at my mother's house in Spokane.

I think my favorite Thanksgiving ever occurred in 1997. Chance and I had been dating for a couple months and I brought him home to meet my family for the very first time that weekend. It was the first and only time I ever brought a boy home to meet the fam in all my college years. I cannot describe the anxiety I felt on the drive to Vancouver. Would they like him? Would HE like THEM? Would his family resent me for taking him away during the holidays? Would we discover we really didn't connect after all and then have to endure a long weekend together? Would he understand my Black Friday shopping? Would he love my mother's cooking and properly praise it? All of these worries and more (much much more) ran through my mind continuously. The torture of this was magnified by two things:

1. Chance was just as pensive as I was during the trip (it was quiet ... too quiet ... radios are good); and

2. There was monstrous traffic on I-5 for most of the drive.

The normal 2.5 hour trip ran more like 5+ hours that day. A long drive spent torturing myself. I wish I could find my journal because I'm sure I recorded something about the weekend. Right now, I can only remember two things. First, my mother's house was beautiful. She had spent hours killing herself cleaning it for me and my "boyfriend." I'm sure this was compounded by the fact that I had not decided to invite Chance for Thanksgiving until about 24 hours earlier. And second, I was filled with an immense sense of relief after we arrived and Chance settled into place in my family like he'd known them forever. That was the beginning of the end for us. We were engaged about two months later. Looking back to that tremendously joyful Thanksgiving 11 years ago ... how very grateful I am that I brought him along.

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
~Author Unknown

Sorrow

2008-11-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

I've been neglecting this blog all month. Life has been very busy, but the truth is I haven't felt much like writing. I'm exhausted and we have had some difficult times in our family.

My stepmom passed away suddenly last Thursday. It was completely unexpected and the reasons behind it are still unknown. Kim was a wonderful person and I am grateful that she was a part of my life. I am grateful for the love she gave to my dad and to his children. What a kind and generous spirit she had. I will miss her love and support and the way her comforting and encouraging words felt like hugs over the phone. That was Kim to me. She was one great big long beautiful hug. I will miss her.

We love you, Dad. Hang in there.

“...Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.
“And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.” ~Alma 40:11-12
http://www.lds.org/

The Sith Lord, the Bounty Hunter and .... the Princess

2008-10-31T22:06:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween 2008!

My lil' Pumpkins

2008-10-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

We ventured out to the pumpkin patch today. We always have a good time inspecting the pumpkins for "worms" and other flaws. We selected three of the finest pumpkins in the NW to grace our porch this year. I snapped a few shots of the kids ferrying their selections away as the rule is: "if you can't carry it, you can't keep it." (Well, except for Emma. She had a little help.) It was a nice trip. The patch wasn't too crowded and the kids were able to inspect several squished and decomposing pumpkins; pretend to drive a tractor; use the port-a-potty; and (almost) push the wheel barrow.

"I've learned there are three things you don't discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin."

~Linus, from It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

Halloween Traditions

2008-10-25T01:00:00.001-07:00

I love family traditions. A comforting feeling swells in my heart when the traditions of my childhood come to mind. Now that I have my own family, it is fun to discover our traditions as they develop. Several times I have attempted to force my own ideas and traditions onto my new family and have found myself unhappy and somewhat dejected when Chance or the kids did not revel in all my hard work and planning. I realized that no matter how much I try to "create" a family tradition, it never works out the way I plan. I think our family traditions are discovered by accident more often than planned on purpose. No amount of planning can create those unexpected moments of happiness and family togetherness that sometimes spring out of nowhere.

Last night we took out the box of Halloween decorations from the garage. I know it seems strange that we would have an enough spooky stuff to fill an entire tote, but a few years back Chance became competitive at our ward's trunk-or-treat. There was a contest for the best decorated trunk. One giant grim reaper, a fog-machine and several (ahem) dollars later ... he was triumphant! We're not one of those families with the giant plastic Santa's and crazy holiday yards at Christmas, but our "white trashiness" seems to come alive at the trunk-or-treat. Anyway, the kids love pulling out that box. Last night they went absolutely wild. I was reminded of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are when the "wild rumpass" begins. There was dancing and singing and chanting and screaming and general craziness all over the house. I cannot pen the joy I saw last night and I cannot express how it filled my heart. How grateful I am for the life in my house.

Sometimes we feel the need to go to the movies or the fair or somewhere exciting and spend money in the name of tradition. While those are fun things to do, nights like last night are more meaningful to me. We simply celebrated together. Celebrated a time of year for being silly, wearing costumes and becoming monsters. These little traditions that develop by accident are as precious to me as those from my youth. More so. The nights we pull out the boxes are special.

Project

2008-10-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

My grandmother used to sew adorable things for me when I was little. As I got older she attempted on numerous occasions to pass on her sewing secrets to me, but I was never similarly inclined. I had little interest in learning to sew. My passions were more geared to music. At that time I did not understand the draw of sewing. Perhaps it was because I remembered the horror of Theo's shirt (handmade by Denise) on The Cosby Show. Jayne (my mother-in-law) bought me a sewing machine three years ago when she visited us in Minnesota. She completed several projects with it during her visit, but it has since stayed packed away in its box. Until last week, that is.

I made this dress for Emma with Jayne's assistance. She instructed me throughout the project, but I sewed it on my own. A few weeks ago during a quick stop at JoAnn's I discovered this lovely bolt of light cordoroy and immediately felt impressed to make Emma a dress. I have no idea where this stroke of sewing passion came from; possibly my Grandmother's blood coursing through my body speaks louder when I'm at a fabric store. I took it home and realized that I don't speak seamstress. The pattern contained several terms I had never before heard and I quickly realized I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully, Jayne is nearby and gave me a crash course on sewing. The most important of which was how to thread my sewing machine.

I now understand why people like to sew. I look at this and I feel tremendously satisfied.

Clip from The Cosby Show - Season 1, Episode 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crnPfls0fHw

7 Year Olds

2008-10-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

I am writing this post to remind myself how much I love Tyler. He is currently "grounded" and has been most of the week. I fear he will continue in his current situation as his 7 year-old personality refuses to respect the rules in our family. I have endured a very trying week with this boy! The sad thing is that I only see him before school in the morning and then from 3:30 in the afternoon to bedtime. But by bedtime each night he has mentally and emotionally exhausted me. I remember reading once in a parenting book that anger is physically draining. That book has come to mind frequently this week.

I know Tyler is still a young child. He's only seven - a mere 91 months on this earth. At times like this I attempt to release my frustrations by remembering the things I love about him. And at this moment I am pondering four particular endearments.

1. I love his fondness for telling strange and not-so-funny jokes. (Over and over and OVER again.)

2. I love his imagination and his curiosity about the world. His driving need to take things apart and look inside to examine how they work, which he calls "experiments."

3. I love that he is capable of abundant remorse. He gives the best apologies - so sincere and overdone it is impossible not to smile or roll your eyes.

4. I love that Tyler writes me love notes continuously. I have a steady supply of sweet letters and sticky notes around the house from him. He has filled notebooks full of hearts for me. Chance has never done that.

Moments in Time:

"It's not me, its my imagination." ~Tyler (age 4) after being told 87 times to stop jumping from the couch to the table

"Mom, Dad! You can't eat junkfood! Just leave it for the kids. We'll eat it." ~Tyler (age 6), when Chance and I were dieting

"I love you, Momma. I love you more than my video games." ~ Tyler (Age 7), yesterday

A Little Off the Top

2008-10-09T16:22:00.001-07:00

Tyler is famous! Sort of. We attended the Kids Day America in Covington a few weeks back and the Covington Reporter published a picture of him receiving a haircut. It was a miserable day full of cold rain and wind, but the haircuts were FREE. Due to the weather, I think the turnout was a bit scarce. All three kids received free haircuts, free lunch, and free prizes in the raffle drawings. I saved at least $50 that day on haircuts and lunch. Plus, Tyler won a free sports registration at Covington Community Sports, which saved me another $50. Not bad for a few hours in the rain. Tyler is thrilled to see his picture in the paper. He is absolutely enchanted by it.

A little off the top

Casie Coltes gives Tyler Richardson one of the free haircuts that were offered during Kids Day America, a community event hosted Sept. 20 at Chiropractic Today in Covington.
CHARLES CORTES/Reporter

Covington/Maple Valley Reporter 10/1/2008
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/cmv/community/29924849.html