BUBBLES!

I seriously cannot believe how warm it has been this week. Yesterday the high was 83! We've been really enjoying our Spring Break outdoors.

It's a great day!

Today I reconnected with the best pair of bermuda shorts I've ever worn. Last spring I bought a pair and wore them once. Yes, once and then proceeded to snag them on a picnic table at Columbian Park and tear a rip all the way down the front of one of the legs. I went back to get another pair, but they only had them in brown. I bought a pair of course, but still missed the khaki variety--it's just so verstile. Anyhoo...I went shopping today and found another pair! YAY!!!!

Pictures, as promised

Mary lost her second tooth this morning!!

We have clean carpets!! Clean floors for me are the thing that make the house feel great. We've never had the carpets professionally cleaned since we installed them 6 years ago, so I think it was time. The upright cleaner does a good job, but it's not the same as the deep clean. Today on the agenda is play and have fun. We'll have to put all the furniture back later tonight, but the weather looks great and I bought my seeds last night, so there will be planting in our near future.

I am taking Mary to the doctor this afternoon. I think we've waited it out long enough. She's been coughing for the better part of a month. Maybe that will help with disposition if she feels better.

In toileting news, Emily is doing great!! She is wearing a diaper at night (with duct tape--just a small strip, but it is doing the trick to keep it on!) and mostly pull ups during the day. She tells me most of the time when she needs to go. I really haven't been asking her much. I would guess that by the summer she'll be in underwear. It just seems early to me, but whatever. I won't complain about not buying diapers. She is such a big girl in so many ways. Like how she watched me dump the little toilet into the big one. Now I've caught her several times going to the bathroom on her own and then dumping it into the big potty. She's not making a mess either. I draw the line at her cleaning out the small potty (but she does try!)

Or how she takes care of the dog: she will make him sit and lay down for his food and it's her job to put him in his crate when we leave in the mornings. It's funny to me how he obeys her little commands. "Cawaw, sit. Way down. Okay, you can eat."

And also, one last thing. She has learned how to say banana. Which is sad to me. We liked calling them bee-nuhs. She now says in a grown up way, "buh-nah-nuh." In a very enunciated way. Like she knows that its the right way to say it and she's proud.


This is Em reading to her baby. It's one of her favorites: Kim and Carrots. Sorry about the sound quality. I was trying to stay back to not disturb the moment; shockingly you can her Elijah and Mary whooping it up in the attic, playing video games.

Check!

Bathtub re-caulked...check!
Composter emptied and garden ready to be planted...check
Bedrooms cleaned out and ready for carpet cleaners tomorrow...check

After this I should be able to relax for the rest of break. I always have a few big projects that I want done during a break and those were it for me. I went to the store today and got batteries so I might be able to take some pictures. Perhaps of my little toddler with a goose egg? She was throwing a tantrum and while I was putting her into her crib she threw her body and whacked her forehead on the crib rail. Oh, the joys!!!

Both girls cannot seem to shake this cough and runny nose. I know that they both don't feel well, just well enough to get by, but their behavior shows it! Mary is getting into that pattern of less and less sleep and Emily has the wild-eyed crazy girl thing going on. Between the two of them I think I am starting to look a little wild-eyed!

Ramblings from the attic

Wow, here I am in the attic using Brian's laptop. Now that the weather isn't so cold we can actually use this space without wearing coats or smelling like kerosene. It's kind of fun to think of our house as a 2 story.

Yesterday I spent most of the glorious afternoon digging in my garden and preparing the soil for this spring's planting. I shoveled way beyond what was good for my body (as evidenced by my aching muscles and dry hands today) but I just couldn't stop. I LOVE GARDENING!!!!!! I loved the smell of the damp earth, showing the girls some of the more giant worms and finding remnants of last year's leftovers. I am much better at the planning and tending stages in the spring and summer, but not as good with the fall clean up. There were a few stray carrots and onions that made it through the winter. It really made me ache for the warm days of outdoor living. We are thinking of moving the swing set to the back of the yard and expanding the garden again so that we can try to grow and preserve lots of what we have. Right now we're definitely planning on growing tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, spinach, basil, onions, carrots, swiss chard, and this year banana peppers (can't make homemade pizza without them!) and pumpkins.

I know that I seriously need to add some pictures to this blog. My camera has been without batteries for over a month. No excuse. My cousin is doing this cool project where you take a picture every day of the year as a photo journal of your life. I'd be good to at least get one per week at this rate. I think batteries will be on my agenda for tomorrow.

In looking for Orthodox Pascha bread recipes today I found a couple of neat blogs of Orthodox moms doing Lent projects and baking with their families. I tried to not be jealous and just enjoy them.

I can't believe it's true!

Emily stayed dry almost all day today!! It was her first day of going to the sitter and using the potty there. She seems to love it! She asks to go and then...goes! I hardly remember training Elijah, and Mary was a bear to potty train. She took 2 years before she wasn't having accidents. Well, we're definitely not ready for underwear yet, but it definitely seems to be her idea, so maybe??!!

Where have I been?

Well, I think we've been in survival mode for a while now. Brian's school let go several teachers last week due to lack of funding and thankfully he wasn't one of them. We'd been waiting for over a month to hear what the final verdict would be after many school board meetings. Unfortunately he is taking some heat from some people for not being one of the teachers to be let go as some of the ones let go were much his senior. We are thankful that his administration recognizes what a good job he does with the students and that he is worth holding on to.

Elijah finished his basketball season last Wednesday. This is the second time he played in this league and each time I think his skills grew and his ability to play on a team improved. He scored many baskets and assisted his teammates. It was a fun family gathering time to go watch his games on Saturday's for the past 6 weeks. Grandma Betty might get the prize for number one fan!

We have someone in our house who wants to potty train (hint--it's not me!) Emily has been taking off her diaper for a while now, but all of a sudden it's becoming a major issue! We're going through several bed sheets every day. During the home waking hours I've been letting her wear cloth training pants or just a dress with nothing under it and she often requests to use the potty. And is doing a good job! (Except when she missed the toilet a little today and told me after I'd dumped what I thought was all of it into the big toilet, "mommy, my poop in daddy's slipper." Yup, sure enough it was. ) But at least she knew she needed to go and got most of it. We're trying to plan our next plan of attack for night time. We think it's probably time for a toddler bed so she can get up and use her little potty if she needs to go. She really doesn't like the feeling of wetness on her so I think that's why she keeps taking it off. We're also trying to limit drinks at night time, except that she cannot seem to stop getting sick and needs lots of fluids. So, that's tricky. I just started reminding myself of some advice I gave to a friend that she reminded me of at one time: "This, too, shall pass." Whether it's something good or bad, nothing lasts forever. So, although I'm frustrated about being awakened so often at night and stripping the bed in my incoherent daze, I am sure it won't last forever. Our little baby is growing up!

Brian's on spring break this week and I am next week so I feel a little relief. Our house is to the point of crazy messy and I've kind of given up for the time being. I am so busy with school and our family that it's almost impossible to keep it managed. We don't have any spring break plans other than try to have some down time and (in my case) attend holy week services. That will be nice to be able to go to more of the services in the week prior to Easter.

Ok, so the Avett Brothers concert was a-mazing. Brian, Laura, and I drove down to Indianapolis and went to the IMA for a couple of hours then met up with the rest of our group for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. I don't know about you, but I do not like to be the person who makes decisions for big groups of people. But I wanted to have a fun dining experience, so I undertook finding a place that was a. close to where we would be and b. in our price range and c. open on Sunday evening. We ended up at this place sort of by default, after I'd spent several hours and came up with nothing that met all of our criteria, but the food was delicious--even though we were a little nervous about going inside. My brother and his wife also met us there since they live in Indianapolis. I had these delicious tofu soft spring rolls wrapped in some kind of translucent rice tortilla, dipped in peanut sauce. YUM!!!

The show itself was a lot of fun. It was packed and hard to see (at least for short little 5'2" me), but there was lots of jumping around and great music. Oh, and $10.00 domestics. Can't forget that. Nothing like paying 10x what it's worth for cheap beer. After the show we were the weirdo's waiting outside the tour bus. Elijah wrote the band a letter and drew a picture of them because he was so disappointed to not get to go. It was our ticket to not just being the lame people saying, "hey great show." We had a purpose. And we were successful! There actually weren't that many people out there--maybe 20 or so. Several of the guys came out after they changed clothes. I got my picture taken with the bass player whom I think it super cute. (I obviously don't have the picture on my camera or I'd post it, but if you want to see who he is click here). SO, you know, that was fun. We have a little sliver of hope that they might respond to Elijah's letter since he gave them all our contact info and they seemed genuinely touched that he took the time to draw such detailed pictures of each of them with their instruments --and included a photo of he and Mary. Who knows? We just might be pen pals.

Only 3 days until we go see my new favorite band!!! We saw them several months ago and bought tickets for this show the day after we returned home. I am SO looking forward to this trip. We are even leaving a little early to visit the IMA for a couple of hours. I think it has been far too long since I've had an adults only outing!

just another reason my hubby is the best around

It's Friday night and what are we making for dinner? Homemade sushi, of course. Nope, it really wasn't raw shrimp. But it really was tasty, wrapped in lettuce leaves. And the kids all tried it willingly and while I wouldn't say they would choose it over chicken nuggets, they ate several bites and didn't complain too much.

updates

So, first and foremost. I got my ding letter for my grant. We will not be going to Alaska. But don't feel bad for me. Even a little bit. I wasn't upset at all; I really just wanted to know one way or the other. We are also re-thinking our Yellowstone trip for this summer. Something about trying to be responsible with our money. Anyway, things have been a little stressful around here for the last week, so we will make summer decisions at a later date. We just know that it won't be Alaska. I've even been thinking of the upper peninsula of Michigan if we're trying to stay a little closer to home. For having grown up in Michigan, I think I've only been as far as St. Ignace in terms of the u.p..

Last Saturday we were up early (thank you so much, kids, for getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday and then screaming at each other) and I was feeling desperate to get outdoors. So, we packed up and headed to the state park for a little hiking. It's amazing how relative temperature and weather is. In November we never would have gone hiking at 8:30 a.m. in 30 degrees with a fresh blanket of snow. But in February we totally would. We were thinking 30 seemed like a pretty warm temperature, relatively speaking. It was nice to be the only ones there--we were actually were the only tire tracks on the road.

I've been wanting to post some pictures for a long time, but I was confused about who had them on their camera--I just knew it wasn't me. These are some pictures from our crowning ceremony on New Year's Eve. If you want more information on what a crowning is, click here. The short answer is that it's part of the Orthodox wedding ceremony. Because we weren't married in the Orthodox Church, we wanted to have our marriage blessed for our 10 year anniversary which was on December 18th.

My house is a disaster. AGAIN.

I guess it's because of this that started it. Emily was home with a stomach bug last week. On Friday Mary was home in the morning with me too. I thought it might be fun to get out the box of paper my aunt and uncle sent from their printing business. It's lots of colored scraps that are just the kind of thing that Mary could play with for days. She was cutting, gluing, glittering to her little heart's contentment. Unfortunately it all still sits there today as well as a lot of kitchen mess AND Brian's grading projects. I really just want to pretend will disappear.

Brian brought home this incredible book the other day called The Edible Schoolyard. It was a quick read with lots of great photographs. I was immediately hooked. I certainly don't know where (if anywhere) this will go for us, but I know that it is a concept that he and I both feel strongly about and just seems right. If you check out the website, read through some of the most recent journal entries or watch this video. It is amazing to hear about these kids getting such hands-on experiences with food and where it comes from. It would be a pretty fantastic experience for many adults for that matter. It's also really cool that it's connected to the school's lunch program. I get so frustrated with the institutionalized disgustingness that we feed our children. Yes, it's free to many of them. Yes, it is the only two meals a day they will get. But really, a healthy breakfast is poptarts? Chocolate milk? Sugar cereal? Frosted donuts? Because those are the options that they have at my school. Way to go government. Brian has talked with the cafeteria staff about the food choices they have at his school and from what I understand, they don't get money from the government per se; it's actually more like the food has to come from these certain vendors. So, they don't have the option of purchasing fresh produce or locally grown eggs. It's a racket. And who are we really helping?

Is anyone else a little worried about the predicted 8 inches of snow for this weekend? Mostly, I just don't want a snow day. Every day we postpone this school year, it just means one more day I have to teach this class. Ok, that sounds a little harsh. I don't mean for it to... they are just making me nuts.

Actually, my school is supposed to be done several days before Memorial Day this year and I'm looking forward to not tacking on a bunch of snow days at the end for a change. My school corporation just adopted a new calendar for next year and we start a little later in August than we have the last few years, so potentially I could get an extra week of summer this year. Which would be awesome--especially if we end up in Alaska for the month of June. Then when we return, we'd still have a nice long summer in a place that isn't cold. I am getting really anxious to know about the Alaska grant. I should know by Feb. 23rd. Brian and I were dreaming last night and then getting practical, like, "if we get it, we are going to start family walks immediately. And we will have to start going to Turkey Run and hiking in rain and snow and everything so we're prepared." and "We're going to need hiking boots. And rain gear. And a new stroller." "We should definitely plan to fish while we're there. Cooking our own fish at our campsite sounds amazing." (Who is cleaning these fish, I wonder?) We really need to stop this, I think. It's probably not going to happen. It's probably not going to happen. It's probably not going to happen. but what if it does?

Somebody out there please remind me that having a clean house is not the most important thing in life. I am making myself CRAZY! I spent almost the whole day cleaning yesterday and today you would never even know. The dishes are piled up, the floors are cluttered with stuff and laundry...let's not even go there. Brian says he is ready to go to paper plates and plastic utensils because he is so sick of the dishes needing to be washed. I think I may be close. I am pushing for budgeting for a cleaning service.

The newest "Emily-ism"

Probly...As in, "Emily, where is your diaper?" "Umm, probly in my crib." Hmmm...

i love my juicer

It's been a while since I plugged in the Jack Lalanne, (think apple orchard) but since I only worked 3 out of 5 days this week and the chores are (mostly) caught up, I needed to get some dishes dirty. I just made up a carrot, orange, celery, pineapple juice that tastes pretty good. I bought a 5 lb bag of carrots for this purpose last week, but am just now getting around to it. I am seriously starting to miss our garden. I used the last of my canned tomatoes this week.

I think I've got houses on the brain. Maybe it's because our future here is always a little up in the air, maybe it's early spring fever, maybe its because I have a few friends who are in the process of buying or selling a home, or maybe I need to just quit watching House Hunters. Whatever the reason, I've been thinking lately about our house and what it would take to sell it. I think living in an old home--a fixer upper, if you will, perhaps has more emotional strings attached when considering selling it. Like, how I would feel the need to write the listing--almost like to prove all the sweat equity that has gone into making this our home.

Here are the perks: Don't miss this charming three bedroom, one bathroom home, right in the heart of Lafayette. Close to everything--minutes from the mall, downtown, medical offices, restaurants and shopping. Walking distance to Columbian Park, Tropicanoe Cove, and Lafayette favorite, The Original Frozen Custard. Nine foot ceilings, hardwood floors, five panel doors with original hardware, and window tramsems help maintain an historic feel. Brand new maintenance free vinyl siding, new windows, completely remodeled kitchen with newer appliances, 6 year old high efficiency furnace and air conditioner, beautiful back porch and fenced yard with garden space. One and a half car garage. Basement. Bonus: second story attic space partially finished.

Sometimes it makes me want to stay forever.

But then I remember the cons: neighborhood not so great, really tiny backyard, crazy neighbor dogs on both sides that bark ALL. THE. TIME., close to everything, including car dealerships that I can hear who has a call on line 1 from my backyard, one bathroom, no fireplace, only three bedrooms, garage is really more like a glorified shed, laundry area is in the dark, scary basement. And my newest pet peeve: no 'landing space' at either door. I am convinced that the kitchen has no chance of ever staying clean because we live in it. It is the room you enter from the door we use the most with no place to drop your things except on the kitchen counter or table.

I know that we won't stay here forever, and I also know that there is no perfect place. But, I certainly like to dream about what could be. I am simultaneously excited about putting a gas fireplace in the attic and staying here for the next five years and the thought of finding a 4 bedroom two bathroom home on 5 acres where we could have chickens.

It's hard living inside my brain sometimes.

Why can't every weekend be a three day?

I know, I know, then I would just want it to be a "four day," but three days seems like just the right amount of time for working and relaxing. Saturday I took the girls to the Children's Museum (probably for the last time for a while since our membership is about to expire). Elijah was having a grandma day and Brian was having rehearsal for his big show on Saturday night, so I thought the girls and I would pop over for a quick visit. We went to the playscape first (fun preschool area with every fun activity you can think of--sand, water, train tables, slides, dress up, kitchen, etc.), rode the carousel twice and then hit up the Barbie fashion exhibit. I definitely like having the museum membership because I don't feel bad about spending only 3 hours at the museum on a Saturday morning. It was just a fun morning activity and we were back for naps. Sunday we did NOTHING! And I mean nothing. We watched TV all day. We never do that!!! EVER. I felt a little rebellious. We hooked up the dvd player to the tv in the attic and let the kids watch movies. Brian and I watched almost a whole season of The Office on the computer (Thank you, Netflix, We love you). We took naps. We ate nachos and french fries. It was awesome.

Today I am home with the kids for MLK Jr. day and it has been our day to clean the house. I am catching up on laundry, taking the last of the Christmas lights down, and trying to re-organize my life. We took Emily to the dr. this morning and she got some antibiotic for this cold that I am convinced is now an infection. She's been sick for 2 weeks and it's not getting that much better. So, hopefully she'll be back to her sunny self soon.

Elijah is ice skating with my dad today so I think Mary and I will make some chocolate chip cookies for when they return. I'm going to flip laundry and mop the floors. BIG FUN!!

"Chairs are for sitting"

I can just hear my old Child Development professors telling us how to phrase discipline in the positive--for what you want the child to do, not what you don't want them to do. Well, at our house chairs have become anything but a place to set your backside. We have this very cute little wooden table and chairs that I think we picked up at a garage sale. Emily has recently discovered that the chairs make a mighty nice stool to reach a whole world of items that never existed before. Like the bathroom sink. Now she can tote her little chair into the bathroom, reach the light switch, turn on the faucet and fill up her play tea pot and carry it back to her room for cooking. She can reach up to the kitchen counter, like I just found her a few minutes ago--attempting to cut her own oranges with the knife I left on the counter. YIPES. A few minutes ago she was inquiring about the wherabouts of her chair and I asked her what she needed it for. She doesn't know to be sneaky yet. She said, "I eat cookies." It's lucky for her she is the third child.

SLEDDING!

I always like sledding, but never seem to get the gumption to get out of the house and do it. One day over break a friend called to see if we wanted to go and I knew the kids would love to do it, so I said yes and off we went.
Elijah was so good at snowboarding. We were all shocked at how quickly he got on and was able to keep his balance. He liked it much better than the sled. Of course, on the sled he crashed into some sort of metal pole and bruised his leg (we had the conversation after about how you bail out if you're about to hit something!).

Mary sports her new hand knitted cap. Thanks Aunt Pattie!

I have got the bug

The travel bug, that is. I just don't want to sit still. There is so much to see and do. Why can't we be independently wealthy?!

Catching up

Elijah and Papa kickin' it old school on the N64
Mary and her friend, Penelope
Brian and Bob in a cut-throat game of Connect Four
Emily and Jonathan in an "almost as cut-throat" game of Air Hockey


I definitely feel like I've been filling Ein bits and pieces of our winter break, but I finally have a bit of time to sit down and reflect on all the coming and going. I thought I would hate having the first almost full week off before Christmas, but it turned out to be ok. We spent the first several days home doing what we normally do at the beginning of a break--trying to get into our "home rhythm" (which usually entails some knock down drag out type behavior as we get used to being together all the time). We did some shopping, I got the attic prepped for construction (GOT RID OF LOTS OF STUFF!), Brian did some of the electrical work up there, we spent the best 8.95 all year and got Netflix streaming. AWESOME. Christmas Eve night we attended divine liturgy at 9:30 p.m.. I was so tired afterwards that I didn't even put the presents out for Christmas morning. (It's a good thing we don't do Santa around here!) On Christmas morning we put out the presents while the kids begged from their room to come out and see, opened in a bit of a hurry, then packed up for Michigan. You can read about those events in a previous post.

When we returned home it was time to start prepping for the next big event: our 10 year anniversary crowning ceremony/New Year's Eve party. A crowning is part of an Orthodox wedding ceremony. Brian also bought me a new ring. My original ring was having some trouble and I quit wearing it a while ago. We used the stone from my ring along with a donated stone from his mom and an earring stone from my first mother's day to create the new one. It is beautiful! And we had the best time. The attic is totally fun--a recreational space that we will definitely be using this winter when we can't run around outside. We were surrounded by friends and family, playing games and listening to music--and many of us even made it till midnight, including my children for the first time. I only have a few pictures of the party-- the crowning pictures are on someone else's camera so I will post those when I get them.

New Year's Day was spent with Brian's family doing our last Christmas celebration and birthdays for his aunt and uncle who were visiting from Cleveland. Today I should be at work, but Mary is down with a fever so we are home. I think we'll be back in action tomorrow. She isn't 100 percent, but her fever seems to be done.

more Christmas pictures

Mary and Cousin Lily at Gram and Papa's house in Michigan. Lily is older by 2 years.
Mary and Emily taking a break at Gram and Papa's. This was Christmas number 3.
Elijah has decided to grow out his hair and it is getting pretty unruly (especially when we um don't bathe as frequently when we're home on vacation for 2 weeks) so he's been wearing more hats. Which is fine with him because he, like his father, likes accessories.
Mary shows off her new Christmas slipper boots.
Christmas morning at our house. These pajamas have been around since Elijah.

A few Christmas pictures

Getting ready for Christmas Eve liturgy.
Elijah dressed himself. I thought it was so sweet that he wanted to wear a tie and his wooden cross.
I've been working to clean out the attic and found these two candle holders and thought they looked nice with this Laura Greene original. Also, they came in handy for light on Christmas Eve when our power went out.
I really like having our piano as a place to set our nativity set. It's Fontanini that we got it as a wedding gift. Nothing like at my grandma's house. She has the whole Fontanini town of Bethlehem. I still really like our little starter set. We don't add Jesus to the manger until Christmas morning.

the gifts are (almost) all opened

and what is Mary playing with? Scotch tape and post-it notes. AUGH! Why do we even shop?

Today we are home and working on the attic. We were super surprised to come home to much of the work done: the electricity finished and a wall built around the stairwell to keep small children or drunk people from plummeting to their death. Now comes the cleaning and rearranging and getting rid of 50 year old cobwebs. I honestly can't say I've ever seen a spider up there, but there sure are lots of cobwebs.

AND for my Christmas gift from Laura--a total shock as we got home last night, a redone bathroom. A new light fixture, towel rack, new hardware, fresh paint and outlet. I can actually do my hair in the bathroom for the first time since we've lived here (just one of the many joys of living in an old house). And maybe even better--the shower was scrubbed and shining. (Perhaps also since we first moved in!! : ))

Thanks everyone, for your hard work!!

It's 8 o clock and I am the only one up!

We've been in Michigan visiting my extended family for Christmas and it has been SO MUCH FUN! The crazy part is--if you know my kids--they almost never sleep past 7:00, even when they stay up late. We've been keeping them so active and up so late for the past three days they've been sleeping in until 9:00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so unheard of for us.

We got here on Christmas day with a very nice and uneventful drive to get here. Everyone was quiet and relatively peaceful. Once we arrived here the partying began and almost literally hasn't stopped. We're staying with my dad's parents (my mom, dad, and brother were here too, but left yesterday) and I have a relatively big family so there are people (and especially kids to play with) around pretty much all the time.

We ate Christmas dinner and then the crazy fun began. We always have a white elephant gift exchange among the adults with lots of stealing. The kid's "bedroom" is in the finished basement with the ping pong table and area for running around and building forts, etc. so they really couldn't go to sleep until everyone left so most night they've been going to bed around 11:00.

The next day was spent relaxing at my grandparents house with just the core of us who were staying here. We watched cable and played ping pong and took a nap. That evening we got dressed up to celebrate my grandparents 60th anniversary (their 50th was just the day before we got married) by surprising them with a stretch limo (for all 26 of us) to take us to dinner. The kids' favorite part was playing games on some of my family members iPhones and getting to walk around while the car was moving--NO seatbelts, mom! We drank champagne and wine and had a great time getting to the restaurant. When we got back to their house at 10:00 p.m. we ate cake that my aunts and cousins made before we crashed.

I'll post the rest of our weekend later. Kids are waking up.

Merry Christmas!

Our second tree of the year. After deciding to take down our usual small artificial tree last weekend and get a $10.00 large one, I am rededicating myself to keeping the family tradition of a real tree. I mean, why else do we have 10 foot ceilings? I had fooled myself into the idea that having an artificial tree with a nice pine scented candle was the same, but no.

Sniff, sniff

Thanks, Meg

Just. One. More. Day.

I hope we make it!!! Then we can all breathe a big sigh of relief. This is one of those weeks when being a two-teacher family is challenging.

my phone took a coffee bath

This isn't the first time this has happened to me, by the way. Can I just vent for a minute? I'm trying not to be a debbie downer. Today I was in a hurry and being impatient as I left for work. I had my hands full and put my coffee on top of the banana peel left from yesterday's breakfast in the drink holder. Then I threw the van in reverse and took off. A minute later I went to take a drink and my coffee cup was missing. I looked down and there it was upside down--IN MY PURSE! My purse was filled with coffee and inside my wallet, checkbook, phone, and a new book of Christmas stamps were floating, sopping wet. GRRR.

This is right on the heels of the previous day when Brian and I had stayed up late and then I was up with Emily from 3-4 a.m. and then our alarm didn't go off because a certain unnamed boy with a love for audio books was in our room using the cd player on our alarm clock took the cd out, but didn't change the setting back to radio. So technically the alarm did go off, but we heard only the silence of the empty cd player. We woke up at 7:00. (Perspective--Brian usually is on his way to work at 7:00. I am showered, dressed, lunches made, coffee made, getting the kids' breakfast ready at 7:00. This was an "OH, CRAP!!" moment.) Thankfully Brian was gracious and let me get showered and he got all three kids up and dressed and took the dog out. I never really did shake it off though. It kind of wrecked me for the day.

I'm really hoping that tomorrow looks a little brighter.

A New Tradition

Today we commemorate Saint Nicholas, the Wonderworker. We have wanted to do some celebrating for the past few years, but just never had our act together. So this year we had plans! Saturday evening was our children's church and we focused on the life of this holy saint. I read my group a book about his life and miracles and had them make a soup mix in a jar to secretly give away to someone in need in the spirit of St. Nicholas. If you want more information about his life click here. After our kids went to bed we baked a St. Nicholas cake with a chocolate coin hidden inside for one lucky cake eater to find, put the rest of the coins in their shoes outside their door and wrapped one gift each under the tree. They really weren't expecting anything since we've never celebrated this day before, so their reactions were priceless--even though they were at 6:15 a.m. Why were they up? Who knows? But I could hear them discovering things from my bed. Finally Mary came in and told me that there were gold coins in their shoes and asked if the presents were for them and if they could be opened. So Brian and I went out and watched them opening their gifts. His comment was that it was better than Christmas because it was just one thing to open and there wasn't any chaos. Elijah got this Star Wars lego set that he's been desperately wanting and we got Mary feetie pajamas which she has been wanting for the past few weeks since Emily got several pair for her birthday. Emily got a cute hat and mitten set that she hardly took off all day. They were all so happy with their one small treasure. Elijah, bless his heart, said to me later this evening, "Mom, it's okay if I don't get anything else for Christmas. I am satisfied with this." What a kid. Mary really was getting into the spirit--she kept hiding candy under their pillows and telling us to go look--St. Nicholas must have visited us. For dinner tonight we cut into the cake and found the hidden coin.

Toy review

Okay, so I must have toys on the brain. If you know me, you know I am not much for shopping. I have just found the best company that I had to share. We have been enjoying this ISpy Go Fish game for several months now (and when I say we...well, you know who you are!) Tonight when Brian and I were playing each other I started reading the directions and decided to look up the company online and they make the COOLEST THINGS for nerdy moms who like educational games and puzzles instead of video games! You have to check them out if you have kids aged 2-8. I promise I'm not getting any money from them, but I did just order a game and a couple of puzzles for my kids for Christmas. Target.com carries their products, but it looks like only some of them are in the stores.

So, speaking of Emily

She is hilarious! All of a sudden she LOVES books. As I type, she is loading up her little wagon with all the contents of her bookshelf and then settling on the couch so she can read them all. She remembers the intonations I use when I read certain stories to her and she will "read" them in the same voices I use. Some of her favorites: Big Red Barn (which is getting pretty ratty if anyone is looking a for a Christmas idea), Goodnight Moon (always a favorite), Kim and Carrots (which is actually a small magazine called Babybug, and her new favorite: OWL BABIES. I love this book. She asks me to read it to her all the time. "Mommy, Read Owls?" It's adorable and impossible to say no.

Yesterday was her 2 year check up with our next new doctor. Again, not Dr. Miller. Rats. I am starting to think about just sucking it up and enduring the long wait times to go back to her. The new doctor was perfectly nice, just not the doctor that knows me at the grocery store and knows exactly what our family history is like. Emily's stats were: Weight between 75th-90th percentile, Height 90th percentile. She is pretty much on the same trajectory she's been on since birth: BIG.

Also, I wanted to write about her memory. It is ridiculous! I can't believe how she knows things. Like today when an older sibling of one of her friends came to pick up at the sitter. She sees this boy maybe once every few weeks. He walked up and she said his name. How does she remember that? When I picked her up today she remembered that her cup was in the fridge (we don't usually bring one from home, so it's not a daily thing) and that her doggie was in the take-home drawer. I didn't actually remember either of those things, so I guess it's a good thing she did!

Happy Birthday a few days late

Dear Emily,

It is just your luck that you are not only the third child, but your birthday happens to be around two of the biggest holidays of the year. I am terribly sorry in advance for the lack of birthday preparations you will probably experience.

Love,

Mom

The fun just keeps on comin'

Today was such a fun day, starting out with breakfast with my parents and grandparents at Cracker Barrel. Brian and Emily stayed home because she is very sick! So it was just the seven of us. The kids were great and we had a nice meal despite the thousands of other people there. Then we came home to pick up Em and Brian and headed over to my parents' house for some more hang time. It was so relaxing and fun to drink coffee all day, knit, visit, and and play games. We left around 3:00 to head home, but decided to make it a pit stop at home to get the dog and the stroller and went over to Prophetstown State Park for a walk. It was beautiful. We went all the way to the back of the park where we never make it to and walked down to the creek and then took a more brisk walk on the paved trail. By the time we were leaving it was dusk and we drove very slowly out of the park to spot deer. They were everywhere! We even saw a decent sized buck with antlers. Tomorrow is Emily's birthday and gingerbread house making day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! It has been a very laid back day for us so far. Strangely Thanksgiving is one day that I miss having a tv. I really always liked watching the parades in the morning. Brian tried to make me feel better by pulling the Macy's parade up on someone's streaming webcam, but it actually isn't the same as hearing the banter of the annoying hosts talking about each float.

This is the first year we made food for the Lafayette Urban Ministry meal and took it down there this morning. Elijah was so proud to carry the food in to the church--it was raining and I didn't feel comfortable leaving the girls alone in the van--there were lots of homeless people wandering down there.

We'll head to Brian's grandma's this afternoon and then visit my family later tonight. We've been busy making pies (8 of them in all!) and green bean casserole. YUM! We're all a bit under the weather so we'll probably have a quiet weekend, but I have been looking at some natural toy websites and finding some REALLY cute things for Christmas ideas. I'm usually really bad about having good gift ideas for people when they ask me what to buy for my kids. I personally feel like they already have plenty of things and I hate to buy things just because that's what you do at Christmas. But, this year I am armed and ready with some quality options.

Overheard on Friday night

As we were taking a tour of the Long Center and meeting the conductor of the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra:

Elijah: "Mom, why do they have a microwave down here?" (in the downstairs dressing/warm up room)

Me:

Elijah: (before I can even respond) " I bet they just sit down here and eat popcorn and smoke cigarettes."

Clearly.

Last minute plans

Last night Elijah got to cash in on his birthday present from Aunt Meg and Uncle Everette: a Purdue basketball game. It's all he could talk about all week. (I haven't heard from him yet this morning to know how it went, but I'm sure he'll have lots to say.) But, since he was going out to do something special, we decided to take Mary Grace out too. We had planned to drive back out to Brian's school to see their fall play, but to be honest, I didn't really want to go--he is a big wig there and it's impossible to actually hang out with him except for the drive to and from. And, there's the drive. Mary was pretty tired yesterday and pretty, um, grouchy. I was envisioning us driving her home at 11:00 and our whole weekend being ruined because when she gets overtired she actually ends up sleeping less, not more. So. What we decided to do was just stay in town, grab a bite to eat, and then do something low key. But. As we were at Pizza Hut (Brian was thrilled about her choice, let me tell you) she remembered that her sitter was taking her granddaughter to see High School Musical on Stage at Jeff HS. We looked at each other and wondered. Could we do it? The time was 6:20. We didn't even know what time it started. But, that's the beauty of living in town, I guess. We finished our pizza buffet and headed for Jeff, all the while reminding ourselves that there probably won't be tickets, we probably won't be able to go, our after dinner plans will probably include walking at the mall. BUT.
When we got there there WERE tickets left and the show was just getting ready to start. MARY LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! And I was excited to see a student in the show who helps in my classroom this year and FORMER KINDERGARTNERS!!! Oh my, I am old. My first year of teaching was 10 years ago. I have kindergartners who are now FRESHMEN. In the show. WOW. It was definitely a good night and we couldn't have planned it better.

Spoiler Alert

Potential Christmas card pictures coming up...

My sister-in-law, Megan, took our first-- yes, our first. ever. family portraits on Sunday. She has them on her photography business website. MANY of them turned out really well (Does that sound vain or complementary to the photographer?) Anyway, we like lots of them. Except that our kids look, well, old. I know that seems to be a running them among my blog posts.

Well, it's done.

I guess all I can do is wait now to find out if we go to Alaska this summer or not. I've been diligently working on writing a Lilly Teacher Creativity grant for personal renewal. It will be a month long trip to Alaska, flying into Anchorage and then driving by RV to state parks. I totally am not planning on getting it......But. What if I do? It's an $8,000 grant. Just for personal renewal of teachers. They fund 120 every year. Will mine make the cut? We definitely could not self-fund an $8,000 trip. So, if it doesn't pan out we are tentatively making plans for Yellowstone this summer. Although, I can't help but think that in terms of buying a new van (which we will NEED to do if we are going to continue driving across the country every summer) it would be great to not need to use it this summer so that we can finish paying on it before we sell it. At this point with it needing a totally overhauled a/c I can't imagine us getting enough out of it to make a decent down payment on the next one...unless we don't owe very much on it.

Unfortunately I won't have any information about the grant until February. I am trying to not be anxious about it. Actually, I'm not. Yellowstone would be awesome. Heck, I'd go back and do the exact same trip we took last summer and not even be the slightest bit disappointed. But, even still it's the waiting. And the wondering.

I know it's totally lame that this video is sideways and I forget to keep it side to side every time I use my camera to take video, but this was a HUGE milestone in our family so I decided to post it anyway. Elijah has decided to not be nasty about taking piano lessons. He's going to be starting soon, but this weekend we were working with him on getting his musical ear in tune. You know like listening for which pitches are higher/lower, etc. and just having a general feel for the keyboard. He stuck with it until he could play 2 songs by ear: Twinkle, Twinkle and Mary Had a Little Lamb. He has trouble getting over that initial hurdle of getting started with a new thing. He always expects to try something new and know how to do it like an expert.

New Pictures!

I know I just posted about growth, but now everyone seems to think the monkey bars are easy. This is new.

Emily has discovered the word yucky. Lots of things are "Ewww, yucky." Like the inside of this pumpkin. I swear I didn't prompt her.

Football was an interesting experience. Brian was the coach and now that it's over he says he'll do it again, but it seemed a little trying at times. Elijah definitely is more willing to listen to someone other than a family member giving him instruction. I actually rarely went to games and never went to a practice which was also a new experience for us. It just never seemed to work out.

There are definitely some pros to being a 2 teacher family: we'll call those things June, July, and August. But. There are also some cons: we'll call those things first day of school (there isn't anyone to take our own children to their first day of school) and report card and parent teacher conference time. Ugh. Sigh. Zzzzzzz.

Sometimes I am baffled when my children make big leaps in development. I feel like I just turned around and--hey, weren't you just crawling and eating baby food last week? All of a sudden Emily is like a little person. She sings songs. Well enough that you can discriminate what it is. Her favorites are Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the ABC song (Conveniently they are all the same tune!) She remembers things. For a long time. Like tonight when she was going to bed. She said, "Cup. Cup outside momma." And sure enough I went and looked and she had left her water outside by the playset. She also has this thing about coloring right now. She says, "Look momma, I color E." I don't know why she is always coloring E. Maybe her sitter says that since it's the first letter of her name. When our friends the Fishes came into church on Sunday she exclaimed, "Caroline! Lucy! Annie!" and would not be content until they came over by us. Of course she also tried to gouge Lucy's eyes out when she tried to sit on my lap. She doesn't want anyone coming near her mom. She did the same thing to her cousin last week, so no hard feelings Lucy. Along with the good is certainly the bad. Emily has also decided that everything is "mine." Even if she hasn't played with it in the last hour but has played with it before. It's "mine." Man, I forgot about how fun toddlers can be. The best though is that she has learned to say, "I wuv you." and she says it to all of us at home. She loves her brother and sister so much. She will initiate, "I wuv you Jijah. Wuv you Mee (Mary)." It is neat to see her being able to play with them more. She certainly isn't a baby anymore.

I am quite sure that I can't articulate how I have been feeling lately as I finish reading (and listening--I love audio books) the Little House on the Prairie series. There is a part of me that thinks of the Dakota prairie every day and longs for it like something I've never had before. Maybe everyone connects with these stories--that's why they are so wildly popular. Anyhow, I have now plunged ahead to read more writings by Laura and her daughter, Rose. I just have to know more!! I found several books at the library today and started on A Little House Sampler, writings from mother and daughter. Here is an amazing quote from Rose as she writes about herself as a writer:

"I love life because it is always, always interesting. Pessimists say that life is bitter and cruel and hard to bear; optimists say that it is bright and joyful and full of hope. I think they are both right. Pain and joy, happiness and suffering, as they enter an individual life, are alike in the one quality of being always a new experience, and therefore interesting. The value of life, to me, is that it is so big, and we are so small, that we can never get hold of all of it: there is forever something more, still unknown."


By the way, my new header photo is one of the cottonwood trees that Pa Ingalls planted at their Dakota claim. Still standing. We've seen it and touched it.

If anyone still reads this blog : )

Here are the pictures of the girls at the Feast of the Hunter's Moon last weekend. My mom spent the better part of last week putting Mary's dress together and it turned out splendidly! Just beautiful. Emily got a bonnet as well, after seeing how much she enjoyed her sister's. Unfortunately the weekend didn't pan out quite like we'd hoped--the rain made the Feast a mud hole and to make a long story short I ended up taking the girls on the shuttle bus to get there and upon arrival didn't have a way to transport our 'wants to run away' toddler, so I ended up carrying her most of the day. I started feeling sick and didn't even get to play my fife with the corps like I was planning to, and it was a good thing I decided I just wasn't up for it. I ended up sick in bed Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with the worst strep throat I've ever had. Elijah was also down sick with a sinus infection for 2 days. His school closed today for the next two days because they have so many out with the flu.