In the Red

How did you get to be 5?!

2011-05-01T07:59:00.022-05:00

For Nora's birthday last year, we were in Florida and I didn't do a birthday post. I remember thinking, though, that 4 was the year she became a little girl. A year later, I have a correction: 5 is the year she grew into a little girl.

For starters, when did you stop being small? You've always been on the bottom half of the height curve, but somewhere in there you grew. You're now 42.5 inches tall, which is only a few inches shorter than Owen was at this age -- and he's both big and a boy. I only recently realized this, when I bought some size 5 clothes thinking you'd grow into them and the shirts were already too short.

The biggest change of the past year is that you started all-day 4-year-old kindergarten. That first morning went well...until it was time to actually go inside the school. You cried and clung to my side, and the teacher had to pull you through the door, as you sobbed and reached out to me. If I hadn't been through this once before, I'm pretty sure I would have grabbed you back and hugged you tight -- and perhaps run away from there with you, never to return -- but I knew your teacher was kind and loving, and that you'd be OK. And guess what? You were. After that initial rough morning, you never cried again, and by the end of the first week, you told us that you loved school.

And you've taken to school really well. (Be forewarned: here's the part where I brag.) You are so damn smart. You quickly learned to count to 30, and then became one of the first kids in your class who could count to 100. You draw so well that when I pick up drawings from around the house, I sometimes mistake your work for Owen's. You're learning all of the "sight words" from class and really want to know more. You've started bringing home early reader books, and you whiz through them. I love that sometimes when we read books together, you are curious about the words you don't know and want me to tell you what they are so you can then read them yourself.

So far, you show all the indications that you'll be my reading girl. You've always been the one who will settle in on the couch with a stack of books and quietly look at them yourself. After our bedtime reading, I often overhear you "re-reading" the book, coming up with the words by mixing memory with what you see in the pictures.

You are so observant and always thinking. And you love playing pretend. You come up with scenarios to act out, and assign roles to your big brother or any other willing bystander. The other night, we were a family of lions whose house was under the dining room table. We took a chair bus to Grandma and Grandpa's house, but then had to quickly leave, since a tornado was on the way. I can tell that your mind still often works faster than your mouth can succinctly express, but we know better than to interrupt or try to help, lest we be treated to your trademark "the glare" or perhaps off-shoot, "the stomp."

One of your favorite pretend games is playing The Chipmunks. Jon usually is Simon (because he has glasses, of course), Owen is Alvin and I'm either Eleanor or Britney, depending on who you've chosen to be -- because you like for me and you to be sisters. Britney also is your go-to name for new toys. There's a stuffed cat named Britney, a mermaid doll named Britney and the new pillow pet you got for your birthday also became Britney.

Your smile lights up everything around you. Your eyes crinkle up and your mouth widens into a huge grin. And your laugh is contagious. You scowl with equal enthusiasm, and you continue to be able to swing between those two emotions in the blink of an eye. You're a shy girl, in many ways, and really don't like anyone talking about you (you'd hate this blog). If it's just the family, you'll let us know your displeasure, but if it's, say, the woman at the hair salon going on and on about your red hair, you just get really quiet. But I know you're stewing in there.

I'm definitely noticing some stereotypical girl traits coming out. You're very in tune with the emotions around you. And you notice things, whether it's a scraped elbow or that mommy has a new bag or pair of shoes (which makes it difficult for me to shrug off such purchases, by the way). You're often able to locate the exact toy you're looking for -- digging deep into a toy bin and emerging with your target, and you're a reliable source of information when it comes to remembering where you took off your shoes the night before, or whether you have homework.

I also recently got a taste for the "drama" that no doubt lies ahead. Assigned to chaperone a group that included you and your two best friends, I expected a carefree day. Instead, it was a stew of ever-changing emotions, mostly surrounding hurt feelings or jealousy over who was whose hand-holding partner. I was seriously exhausted by the end of that day.

I love that you're a mix of girly girl and tomboy. So while you love skirts and princesses and once declared that you needed to change your shirt because it didn't have enough pink on it, you also love Spiderman and Buzz Lightyear and toy cars. You have an adventurous spirit, and you're open to new experiences in a way your more cautious older brother often wasn't.

This next year, one of our big challenges will be The Thumb. I have a feeling we will now be paying penance for all of those sleep-filled nights that accompanied a baby whose No. 1 soother was attached to her arm. It pains me a bit to have to force you to give up this part of your babyhood -- partly because it also means admitting you're no longer my baby -- but it is time. And it will not be easy. Somewhere, my parents are laughing at all of this.

The fact is that you've grown up a lot in the past year. So much of what we used to have to do for you -- from brushing your teeth to washing your hair to buckling you into your car seat -- you now do for yourself. (And we'd better not forget it. See "the glare" and "the stomp" above.)

While that independence is exciting in many ways, it is hard, too, because it is clear that you're growing up so fast. The upside is that it's thrilling to watch you become the person you're going to be. I love the times we are able to hang out, just the two of us. We chat and laugh and get to be goofballs together. But of course I'm also nostalgic for the pudgy, spiky-haired baby you once were. It makes me happy that you still insist on cuddling into my arm when we read a bedtime story, even as you drop my hand as soon as we've crossed a street.

Nora, you have an amazing spirit, and I fall more and more in love with you every day.

Happy birthday, little girl.

Here's to a great 8

2011-03-14T17:38:00.016-05:00

I suppose I've kinda given up on this here blogging thing (I blame Facebook...and work). But I do regret not doing birthday posts for the kids last year. If nothing else, these posts help put some slowed-down perspective on events that otherwise seem to careen forward with abandon.

And so, I hereby wish my goofy, smart, creative, handsome and kind 8-year-old a happy birthday.

First things first. You are huge. Tall, I mean, and solid, too. You are just over 4-1/2 feet tall and weigh 75 pounds -- you've shot up 3 inches in the past year. It seems that as soon as I buy you new pants, they're already high-waters. I've come to fear the teenage years, since we already can't keep up with the voracious appetite that feeds this growth.

I am so pleased that you continue to do well in school. You are pretty good at doing your homework by yourself, and get very worried if for some reason you aren't able to finish (like those nights we get home at 8:00). Inexplicably, math remains one of your strengths, but you can now also pick up pretty much anything written and figure out most of the words. You are fascinated by longer books, and keep raiding our bookshelf for copies of kid-looking fare--Harry Potter, Tom Sawyer, Stuart Little and the like. Your current favorite for actual reading is the Magic Treehouse series, but you tend you have about five books going at once and seem disinterested in actually finishing them (which frustrates your mother to no end).

You're in second grade now, and have a new companion at school -- your little sister. If we didn't already know you were a good big brother, having Nora at school certainly cemented it. You are her guardian and often serve as the "been there, done that" voice of comfort for new situations. At home, you and Nora play together wonderfully, and if a certain someone accidentally hurts a certain someone else, you're there with a goofy face to bring a laugh to the situation. That's not to say there aren't fights and disagreements, because hoo-boy, are there ever fights and disagreements, but I love that when it comes down to it, you two are so, so close.

You're now in your second year of basketball, and like most of the other boys your age, you prefer shooting baskets to working on plays or passing drills. But you're slowly catching on, and it's good to see you find your way outside your comfort zone of school or the sport you love. Because baseball is what you love. Last summer, you outgrew the Rec Dept league -- just not enough coaching or playtime for you -- so this summer we'll be stepping up to Little League, with a longer season, real uniforms, and kid pitching. We know you're really ready for this step because you were undeterred by the fact that your best friend Matthew didn't want to join Little League, too. You're also in the midst of your first swimming lessons in over four years, and we're so proud of how you listen and are really trying to learn, even though we know you're a little bit scared.

You remain the inquisitive explorer. There are icicles in our freezer and piles of rocks and sticks on our porch, since you rarely come back from a walk without a souvenir. You're really in your element when we visit Grandma and Grandpa Isherwood, though. What with their limitless supply of dirt, bugs and outdoor running water.

Weekends often find you making some project or another. That might mean creating a chart of numbers 1-100 or a giant thermometer or a book about Pillow Pets. (Tornado Boy, above, is one of my favorites, though -- a combination of your creativity and fascination with tornados.) Your mind is always working, working, and it's so cool to watch you interpret the world. Like yesterday, we told you that Grandpa uses his middle name instead of his first name when he writes books. Later that day, I spied your latest book, My Pillow Pet, by Aksel Lamb.

This past year, you lost your first (and second, third and fourth) teeth. You no longer need the step stool to see in the bathroom mirror. You can make exactly one hot meal by yourself: a microwaved hot dog. You've become a reliable source of information for what's due at school. You spent 11 months of 2010 asking for the same Christmas gift--a Nintendo DSi -- and wrote multiple letters to Santa, and for that you were rewarded with the gift you steadfastly sought. You still need some prodding in the morning when it comes to getting ready (since you tend to take at least 5 minutes to comb your hair just right), and you need reminders about picking up the playroom, or clearing your plate, but you are getting to be more helpful around the house.

You are learning more and more every day and trying to make sense of what it all means to you. You talk and wonder about the future -- about working, about money, about going to college, about having children, about dying. You make me promise that you will never have to leave home. And I smile and promise that you won't. Even though I know you will. I know there will come a day when you will want to leave so badly. But I am happy that although you are growing up in so many ways, for now, you still are the little boy who hugs me tight, reaches for my hand, and likes hearing about when you were a baby. Because you may be 8 years old, but you're still my baby. Always.

Owen turns 7

2010-03-14T19:59:00.006-05:00

For the past couple of years, I've written a birthday post on my kids' birthdays. This year, well, let's just say I'm not going to make this deadline.

If there's one thing I've learned over the past year, it's that some deadlines you have to make, and others -- usually the self-imposed ones -- you don't. So, this weekend, I spent my time preparing for and hosting Owen's birthday party, baking cookies for him to share with his classmates (all 37 of them, sheesh!), preparing photos for his "star of the week" board at school and even sneaking in a little bit of downtime on my own birthday.

In other words, I didn't have time to gather my thoughts this week to sum up all the ways he has grown up this year. And there were many. My goodness there were many. So I'm going to take my time, and probably cry as I write about my little baby who's getting all grown up, because that's what mothers do.

Until then, I'll leave you with this list, which is his All About Me quiz, completed today, the day he turned 7 years old. How did that happen? Wasn't his first birthday just yesterday?

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite book: The Cat in the Hat

Favorite TV show: SpongeBob Squarepants

Favorite sport: Baseball

When I grow up, I want to be: A dad who makes movies

I'm special because: I'm nice and I'm funny

Place I'd most like to visit: Florida

Favorite food: Hot dogs and mac n cheese

One thing I really want to learn: Math

Best thing about me: I'm really weird

The people in my family are: my mom, my dad, my sister. They are nice people.

Pets: Loki and Freya

Best friends: Matthew and Aidan

Person I admire most: My dad

Favorite subject in school: Gym

Global Economy: A First-Grader's Take

2009-09-12T08:33:00.003-05:00

So over the past week, Owen has been noticing the "made in" tags and stamps that exist on just about everything. And, in the process, has become keenly aware of a certain locale that pops up over and over again. Here's a sampling of a conversation over breakfast this morning:

Owen: (Slamming his Nemo cup down on the table): Made in China! Everything is made in China!

Me: Yes, a lot of things are made in China.

Owen: I want something made in a different state...Hey, do you know how many states I've been to?

And just like that, we start discussing the places he has traveled. Because he is, after all, a first-grader and isn't yet concerned with the ramifications of Americans' appetite for cheap crap. Though from time to time, he does talk about wanting to go to a factory to see stuff being made (he's fascinated by this concept of factories that make stuff), and short of breweries and Harley, I have to rack my brain to think of other factories we could visit.

23, 40, 66, 72, 77, 84

2009-09-03T20:23:00.004-05:00

Earlier this year, I came to own a duplicate set of my grandmother's recipe cards. My cousin had them, and I asked to make copies. Spending an hour at the self-serve copier was a good chance to scan over this treasure trove as I waited to feed in the next cards.

Each card is written in my grandma's neat script, and many have notations in the corners, things like "from Grandma Manchester" or "very good." In fact, I noticed there are a lot of "very good" recipes, which befits my grandmother's tactful style. (Though it does make me think she was saying volumes about the quality of the recipes not labeled with this assessment.) There also are recipes clipped from magazines -- including a few obviously cut out of ads for Crisco or Borden condensed milk.

As I stood there, I thought, wouldn't it be cool to cook a recipe from Grandma once a week and blog about it? (before Amy Adams went and made this idea so yesterday). Well, that was January, so you see how far that idea got. But I was reminded of them again this week and thought I really should try some of her recipes.

That brings me to the numbers, because, of course, she numbered her cards. With the numbers you've given me (between this spot and my duplicate blog over at livejournal), you've helped select the first recipes to try.

And they are:

23 Cherry Dessert

40 Peanut Brittle

66 Lemon Pie

72 Loaf Cookies

77 Bar-b-que Sauce

84 Frozen Fruit Salad

Shit, people, I'm sorta trying to diet here and the first four are all desserts!? Well, please know that I won't be doing them in order, and to any co-workers reading this, get ready for leftovers.

So, if you haven't suggested a number and want to, or want to try another, go ahead. Though I hearby reserve the right to not make anything that just sounds too, well, yucky. (I'm lookin' at you, Poor Man's Chop Suey!)

Though I hear the Cherry Dessert is very good...

What's Your Number

2009-09-02T22:43:00.003-05:00

Could you help me out with something? Pick a number between 1 and 190 and leave it in the comment section.

Reasons will be revealed soon.

It'll be fun, I promise.

Goodbye Summer, Hello First Grade

2009-09-01T20:35:00.007-05:00

Owen started first grade today. It's funny how different the first day of school is now compared to two years ago, or even last year. This year, he knows the routine, knows his classmates. He's a big first-grader, after all. Kindergarten is so last year. We took the obligatory front porch photo, then headed out. But not before he directed what he wanted in his lunch and talked to Nora about how he wouldn't be joining her at daycare today. "I'll be OK, Owen," she responded.

When we got to school, it was a bit chaotic. The first day is always a crush of parents, many of us armed with cameras. So, we did what all good parents do, lined 'em up and coaxed out a few choruses of "cheese."

Owen is in class with a couple of his best buds, Aidan and Matthew, this year. That will be fun -- and hopefully not result in too many rowdy behavior reports. Oh, and there are seven, yes, seven teachers for his class. Three teachers and four teaching assistants to juggle 37 kids between two rooms. Math every day, reading every day. Homework. This is where I insert a comment that first grade isn't how it used to be. It really isn't.

By Request

2009-07-20T20:51:00.004-05:00

Grandpa camping.

I feel the need to explain that Saturday is kilt night at camping and that's also the night we typically go on a hay ride through the woods at sunset and... aw, nevermind. Here's Owen enjoying the absolute uniqueness that is my family's annual Great Camp.

Summer - First Half

2009-07-19T15:24:00.021-05:00

So, what have I been doing so far this summer, you ask? Here's an answer, told mostly in pictures...

We started off with a Memorial weekend visit to see relatives in western Wisconsin, which meant (Owen's version of events) swimming at the hotel, playing with cousins, swimming at the hotel, being fed by grandmas, swimming at the hotel... Owen also took a ride on an adult-sized Gator, driven by his 7-year-old cousin.

Meanwhile, Nora petted a calf.

The next weekend, we thought we'd hit the Scottish Highland Games, since they were being held in a park close to our neighborhood. Course, it was cold and rainy and we had to don fleeces and gloves. In early June. Yah. But, Jon got to throw some axes at a target, Owen participated in the kiddie log throw and both kids came away with new swords, so all in all, it was an afternoon well spent.

We've been raising monarchs again this year. Here's Owen finding the eggs. Sorry, no day-by-day diary of the process this year, but we did successfully release three monarch butterflies in the last two weeks.

Just a random picture, pre-summer haircuts. And also a visual demonstration of the reason why t-shirt summer dresses look great on little girls, but wouldn't exactly flatter a woman's figure. (You're adorable sweetie, the bulbous belly look just isn't so cute on grown-ups.)

With their swords, post-summer haircuts. And post-ice cream, too, by the look of the smears on Nora's face.

On a free weekend, we decided to finally paint the kitchen. And guess who's on the ladder doing finish work while someone else takes an artful photo of a bottle of Point. Hint: Do you think Jon owns purple painting sweatpants?

We went camping with my family, an annual event. Owen got his fill of playing in the fire, and I got my fill of s'mores. This year we bought new sleeping bags for the kids since we are done dragging the Pack n Play into the tent and it was time to Owen to have a real sleeping bag instead of piles of blankets. They had a blast with them. They even went to sleep well. Bonus! (And aren't they so cute playing in the tent the next morning?!)

Isn't this just the cutest picture of my brother hanging with two of his daughters?

We also moved Nora into a "big girl bed." The first weeks were no fun, since she would not go to sleep at night, but then we moved this little pull-out couch into her room. Most nights she sleeps on that, and someone else sometimes sleeps in her new bed...

Well, that's a quick look of what we've been up to so far this summer. Next post will have to include t-ball, since that's been two nights a week, and some pictures from our Fourth of July weekend in Illinois, plus our upcoming family vacation week. Until then (hopefully it won't be September)!

Why I Love My Farmer's Market

2009-06-20T15:49:00.000-05:00

Today I got 24 impatiens, 8 marigolds, 8 lobelia, 8 gazanias, 8 verbena, one hanging impatiens basket, 4 tomato plants, 1 basil plant, 1 qt of organic strawberries and 1 bunch of asparagus. Total: $38.25.

Addendum - Why I love our new CSA: this week's share included strawberries and a tomato plant AND they include recipes for everything, which is good, considering I've never used swiss chard or broccoli rabe before.

Three Times the Charm

2009-05-04T20:55:00.016-05:00

Today, my baby turns 3. I realize at some point I’ll need to stop calling her “my baby,” but I swear it won’t call her that in front of her teenage friends.

This is the year it feels like Nora really came into her personality. She has long been a smiley and energetic kid, but now those traits are easily on display for everyone she meets, not just those she’s closest to. I didn’t realize this until several months ago, when a friend commented that she could really see what Nora was like now.

And what is she like?

Dear Nora, dear, dear expressive and determined and enthusiastic Nora. Your emotions are right on the surface. Sometimes, when you’re upset, you shoot your dad or me a look of such disgust that I feel like I’m staring back at a teenager. But, luckily, you’re just as emotive about your joy. There is nothing I love more than making you laugh. Your whole face instantly lights up and you smile big with your eyes. And boy, do you love to laugh. Just tonight you egged me on in an all-out tickle-fest "now my feet, now my belly, now my neck," and the whole time you were a wiggly pile of giggles, with the occasional snort thrown in. So dainty you are.

You’re also very quick to change emotions, for better or for worse. Oh, you have a temper and when something doesn’t go your way, you cry huge tears and yell and scowl, often while throwing yourself on the ground and emphatically describing your disgust. "I don't like that, I don't want to." But as fast as it starts, it can end. Sometimes, mid-tantrum, you’ll catch sight of something that stops you cold, and the screaming is over. I’ve learned that, for the most part, we just need to patiently wait out these scream fests.

"For the most part" is accurate, because you do have quite a stubborn streak, and waiting doesn't always do the trick. Some nights it's a battle of wills to get your naked, running-around-the-house body into pajamas. And when you're in these moods, you laugh off directions and threats of punishment and actual punishment. Grrr. I should have known that you'd be a feisty one. You arrived into this world with a bang -- almost faster than your dad could get back into the delivery room -- and you were screaming mad.

I looked at your birthday entry from last year, and one thing that caught my eye is that I made note of some of your language, that you called bread “bay” and applesauce “ah-saws,” and that we could understand you, but others couldn't. Well, those days are gone. Bread is now "bread" and applesauce is "applesauce." Pretty much anything you want to express, you can. You’re still working on proper grammar, some of which I correct, and some I let go, because it makes you sound like the little girl that you are. One of my favorites of late is the exchange we often have about grown-up activities. It goes something like this:

What’s in your cup, momma?

Coffee.

Can I see it?

(I show her the liquid in the cup.)

Oh. When I was a grown up, I can have coffee, right?

Yes, Nora. When you’re a grown-up, you can have coffee. This same type of exchange can focus on many different subjects. The other night, you informed Jon that when you “was” a boy, you’d have whiskers.

This was a year of change in many other forms, too. For one, you managed to pretty much potty train yourself. Last fall, your daycare teacher said that she thought you were ready. I wasn’t so sure, but figured, what the heck, and so we started putting you in underwear during the day. To my surprise, you took to it immediately and now you're virtually accident-free.

You've recently taken to all things princess, especially Cinderella and Snow White, which are the only two princess movies we have. Yet you're still my little shark. For Halloween I’d imagined that you could be a butterfly (to go with Owen’s chosen costume of a caterpillar), but no way, you wanted to be a shark.

You still love books, and you always take at least one or two to bed with you. Sometimes you’ll cry for us to come back up to your room and when we get there to see what’s wrong, you inform us that “I need more books.”

You are an adventurous one. We joined the YMCA over winter and when we go swimming, you’ll fearlessly launch yourself between Jon and I. You and Owen both prefer the same bike – his old tricycle, even though your legs aren’t quite long enough to reach the pedals.

You can dress yourself. You chew gum (though you swallow it a bit too much for my liking). You’d brush your own hair and teeth and serve yourself breakfast if I’d let you. You like Bruce Springsteen and Jenny Lewis and Spoon and Alicia Keyes. You’ve started going to movies with us. You still refuse to use public toilets (and you cover your ears when I flush). You got your first freckles last summer. You continue your attachment to your yellow bear blanket. You grin at yourself in the mirror when we wrap you up in your lamb hooded towel after a bath. You love your brother, but are more likely now to want to do your own thing rather than join in on every plan he dreams up.

For now, you’re still sleeping in your crib. Someday soon, we’ll move you to a twin bed, but honestly, I fear where your independent streak will take you post-bedtime. When your brother was this age, we’d moved him out of the crib to make room for YOU. It’s weird to look at you and realize that you’re two months shy of the age Owen was when you came along. You seem younger than he did then, but I suppose some of that is the natural way that an infant makes anyone seem older. And why the youngest is always the "baby."

Nora, you are a joyful presence in our lives. I often wonder how I got so, so lucky. Happy birthday, little girl!

bob loblaw

2009-04-28T18:45:00.007-05:00

Mostly random happenings, musings and such. (In other words, blah, blah, blah...)

-The other day when we pulled in the driveway after school/work, Owen leaped out of the back seat and exclaimed, "Look, the dandelions are back!" Nothing like youthful enthusiasm to put a positive spin on weeds. Yesterday, he and Nora brought in a bouquet of lawn grass and some unidentified weed.

-After an almost 3-year hiatus, I am wearing my own wedding ring again. I had to have it cut off when Nora was about a month old because I decided to try to force it back onto my pregnancy-swollen finger, which promptly began turning purple. Not sure why it took this long to get it fixed (well, I have reasons, but none of them are good). For all this time I've been wearing a combo of my engagement ring and my grandmother's wedding band. I'm happy to be matching my hubby's ring again. Feels right.

- Nora has taken to wearing a pair of turquoise, plastic, 1/2-inch heeled Ariel slippers. She's in the midst of a princess phase and was understandably excited when I fished these "shoes" out of a bag of hand-me-downs. Oh, and the heels light up with every step. They're like her dream shoes right now.

-I got a promotion about 2 months ago, have I mentioned that? I'm now the executive editor for my magazine group and oversee about four different magazines. It was time for a change after almost nine years with the same magazine. It's still scary though.

- We had one of our dear cats, Tilly, put to sleep a few weeks ago. She'd been diagnosed with cancer, so it was only a matter of time. It's crazy to think about how many changes she went through with me. I'd lived with her for almost 16 years. She showed up at my college workplace -- a movie theater -- as a kitten and my roommate and I took her in and that was that. Sometime, she really deserves her own post...

- I'm once again contemplating bangs. Seems to be an annual ritual: Consider. Blog.b Decide against it.

- The spring planting season snuck up on me again. I know this because the peony sprouts have gotten too tall for me to use the grow-through supports I have for them. It just happens so fast. One day it's cold and everything is brown and before you know it it's still cold but everything is green. Ah, spring in Wisconsin :)

- I've been watching a weird mix of new TV shows lately. Somehow I've gotten sucked into Castle (which Jon calls "Cancelled") and Cupid.

2009-04-28T18:45:00.001-05:00

Well, it wasn't Ft. Lauderdale

2009-04-22T19:38:00.005-05:00

Oh, how very sad my blog has become. So neglected. So lonely.

I had vacation the week before last because it was Owen's spring break (which, by the way, was seven school days off -- seven!) But, unlike last year when I stayed home with both kids and blogged about our daily adventures of exploring Milwaukee, this year, spring break coincided with another annual activity -- Trivia.

I have to admit, at first I was disappointed about the overlapping schedules. Trivia takes us out of town for about 4-1/2 days, and last year I so enjoyed just having a week to loligag around the house with the kids. But I quickly got over that when I realized that instead of being stressed and tired going into a 54-hour trivia contest, I was able to remain (mostly) well rested and could prepare/pack/gather during the week instead of cramming all of that in after work. (And, as a bonus, it even allowed me to save some vacation for two other fun trips later this year -- to NYC and...Indiana!)

And, we did do a few fun spring breaky things. Owen had his first sleepover at his friend Matthew's house. Oh man, and once we planned that thing, it was ALL Owen could talk about. The day of the sleepover, we met Matthew and his mom at the zoo for lunch and to let the boys get a little energy out. But they were soooo not interested in the animals. They just wanted to go to Matthew's house and get the jumping around and general craziness part of the sleepover started. I barely got a kiss good-bye as he leaped into their vehicle.

The next day, after Nora and I picked Owen up, we went to the YMCA for the first time in a couple of weeks. The kids played in the play center while I tried out a new elliptical machine (and boy, did my thighs say "no thank you" the next day), and then we all got into our suits and went swimming.

By Wednesday, I was ready to just stay home and pack. Thursday, we left for Stevens Point and then Jon and I left the kids with the grandparents on Friday and went to start Trivia thatafternoon. It was a lovely, lovely day -- sunny and warm, which always feels like Trivia to me. So we enjoyed a great weekend of laughter and old friends (and a bit of tequila). On Sunday, Owen came up to visit the Trivia house for a bit, and he tried to impress everyone with his delivery of such retorts as "whatever" or "poopy party." All in all, by midnight Sunday, our Trivia team ended up in 13th place. Not too shabby -- especially for a team that has as much fun as ours does.

The kids had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. They were dirty, tired and left behind n energetic dog that may actually have tired of chasing balls hit off Owen's tee. But I think we were all ready to get home on Monday.

A week later, there still are a few things left in our suitcases and some still packed bags on the porch. I'll get to it, later. This week we're preparing for a trip to Illinois to visit the other grandparents. Owen has been itching to drive their four-wheeler again...

Oh, Summer Daze

2009-03-28T08:28:00.000-05:00

Owen has figured out how to change the desktop picture on our computer. Last night, when I sat down at the computer, this is the photo he chose.

It's actually the perfect picture to be looking at for Wisconsin in March. Because, while we had a few wonderful 70-degree days last week, it has been cold here this week, and tonight, they're even predicting 7 inches of snow.

And so, we dream of warmer, hazy days.

6!

2009-03-09T22:05:00.009-05:00

I'm going to have to sound a bit cliche for a moment here, and be yet another parent wondering how in the world their child got so big. Because today my baby turned 6. 6! And I have no idea how he got to be so old. I think I blinked.

Owen,

It has been so amazing over the last year to watch you figure out the world. Sometimes, you'll bring up an experience from months ago and relate it to something that is going on right now. Lately, you've been fascinated with cemetaries ("are the rocks on top of the people, momma? "they're underground because that keeps them warm, right?") and as we drove by one, you asked if my grandma was buried there. I didn't even think you remembered her, she died over 3 years ago and we don't talk about her that much, but yet here you were, pulling out a memory, perfectly in context to what was going on at the moment. It's just so grown up.

You're truly becoming your own person and it's so fun to share the exciting things of life with you. You got just as wrapped up as we did in the Brewers run for the playoffs last September. In fact, you and I were home alone watching the game that clinched a berth for the Brew Crew and we were both jumping around like maniacs after they won. You even created impromptu confetti out of colored paper, and later put up a sign in the front yard.

This year you became obsessed with making art projects. Scissors, staples, tape, colored paper, post-its...these all are part of your creative arsenal to make books, signs, flags, you name it. What you wanted for Christmas was post-its and paper. So I went all out and accumulated a box of Post-its for you to open on Christmas morning. I think you liked it.

You're still into just about anything about space, and lately you've been questioning the exclusion of Pluto from the list of planets. It upsets you greatly and can't understand what has happened to poor Pluto.

This year, you read a whole book to me for the first time. It was about monarch butterflies. By the end, I'm pretty sure I was grinning widely and tearing up a little. Reading was such a big part of my life growing up, to watch you figure out those words and hear the story, it's just amazing. Your teachers say you know all the words you need to know for kindergarten and that you're reading at an early 1st grade level. So I'm hoping that reading soon will become important to you, too. And speaking of school, where in the world do you get your math skills? On your recent report card you were graded as above expectations in math -- you can count to 100 and have even started to do some addition. They also say that you have a "cute sense of humor." I think that means you make funny faces and noises to make your friends laugh.

You helped me raise butterflies this year. You'd done it with your 4-year-old kindergarten class, so I decided to tackle it at home, too. We raised some black swallowtails and some monarchs, and this picture even ended up in the March issue of Birds & Blooms, one of the benefits of having a mom who's an editor.

You also discovered books on tape, er, CD. Every night lately you go to bed listening to either Froggy's Baby Sister or Froggy's Day with Dad. And when we read these books to you, you try to mimic the "ding" turning-page noise from the CD. That, and insisting we read the author and illustrator's name at the start of the book. The writer's guild would be proud.

We decided to do t-ball again last summer and you ended up on a team made up almost entirely of kids from your class. That made it a really fun experience for all of us. You also started trying to hit balls with dad, without the tee. And you'd do pretty well, too. It was fun to take some balls and a bat down to the park after school for a bit.

Your best friend still is Matthew, and though the two of you are in different classrooms this year, we hear that you seek each other out on the playground during recess and we know that you, he, Aidan and Jordann are like the Four Musketeers in the after-school program. Last year for your birthday party, we were just meeting many of your friends for the first time, and now we know who they are, we know their parents, we cluster together at school functions. It's all actually very comfortable. We get you and Matthew together from time to time to play, and it's funny to watch the two of you wrestle and giggle.

Six is an age of changes. One thing we're doing as of today is putting away your baby blankets. We got you a nice fuzzy red blanket that will stay on your bed and the green and blue blankets that you've had since you were born will be going into a box somewhere. Of course, I'm a bit emotional about it, partially because I know you're attached to your blankets, and also because I can remember you being this old when we had this blanket.

You'll also be moving into a real seat belt booster, since at your last checkup, you're officially 1 pound over the limit on your car seat. You've moved into the 90 percentile on height and weight and are clocking in at 56 pounds and 47.75 inches. I know there was a big growth spurt sometime in there because one week it seemed like your pants fit and the next week you were walking around in high waters.

This last year you learned how to whistle and snap your fingers. You started shooting baskets in the adult-sized baskets at school (and making them). You're a really good big brother and you do try to protect and guide your little sister, though she often feels she needs no such guidance. The two of you are either happily playing together or fighting. But at least it's about equal of the two extremes.

I love your spirit. I'm so proud to be your mom. Happy birthday, my Owen.

All in a Row

2009-02-16T23:30:00.001-06:00

Owen got a new pair of shoes today. We stopped at Kohl's on our way home from a few hours of jump-around with Owen's friend Matthew at a local inflatables place called Monkey Joe's. Owen was in serious need of new shoes. Not because his feet are completely growing out of them, but because that kid is hard on his shoes. His old ones were busting at the seams in at least three places. The last pair were retired when a hole appeared in one of the soles. Boys.

Tonight before bed, Owen came jogging downstairs after storytime and requested his shoes, so he could get dressed in the morning before breakfast, he reasoned. In our house, that's typically an post-breakfast activity. But, he obviously was excited about his new shoes.

When I came up to bed tonight, I saw that Owen had set out all his clothes for tomorrow. They are all laid out on his floor, in a line, in the order he will need them. Underwear, pants, long-sleeved shirt, t-shirt, socks, shoes. It was so cute, I had to go back downstairs to share with Jon. And then I had to blog about it, too, of course.

Insert Don King Joke Here

2009-01-18T14:39:00.005-06:00

My kids...oh my, how they have the bed head.

Owen has always had a case of it. We affectionately, jokingly, lovingly call him "chickenhead" when the cowlick is at its finest and sticking straight up in the back.

But Nora, she has taken it to a whole other level. She does something in her sleep that results in tangled, frizzy hair almost every morning.

The other day, they were like a matching gnarly-haired set and I just had to laugh. Both displaying a fine mess of tresses, both wearing yellow-hued pajamas, and both displeased that I was taking their pictures at breakfast.

They tried to hide, but the selected objects were far too puny to hide the hair.

I don't think this is what the people at Suave had in mind when they created their detangling spray (pear scent!), because it has little affect.

My Thumb Froze to the Doorknob this Morning

2009-01-16T21:48:00.005-06:00

It has been cold here. Highs of below-zero cold. On Thursday and Friday, Owen's school was closed. And my thumb actually did momentarily stick to the doorknob when I went to get the newspaper off the front stoop. So, what does one do on a "cold day,"as opposed to a snow day?

Well...

You use straws to blow bubbles in a tub of water. The water tub also is good for conducting experiments. For instance, we learned that pennies and nickels sink, but marker caps float AND they make cool color streaks in the water.

You eat lunch with your sunglasses on. After all, it is quite sunny in the kitchen.

You cuddle up to watch TV with some blankets, some stuffed animals and a sibling.

You try ice-freezing experiments. It takes about 6 hours for a small container of ice to freeze completely solid. (I was surprised it took that long, actually.) Then you put that ice in the freezer and take it out when Mom wants to take your picture with it. But it's slippery, and you drop it immediately after the picture is taken. And then you blame Momma, 'cuz it was her stupid idea to take a picture.

You try out your silly smile.

The One with a List

2009-01-04T22:09:00.001-06:00

A few of my favorite things from Christmas break:

1. Sleeping in. Oh, man, it was so great to sleep until I naturally woke up. Even the kids were sleeping in. I'm not looking forward to the sound of an alarm clock tomorrow morning.

2. My pot rack. This was one of my Christmas presents, something I'd specifically asked for. I'm already loving not having to take all the stacked pots or pans out of the cupboard just to get at one. And I've gained some new space, too. Thanks, honey!

3. Owen learning how to draw a star. He was making a simple asterisk-like star, so I showed him how to make a star using that five-line method we probably all learned as kids. He watched me do it a few times, then was able to do it himself. He's already a better artist than me. We were both drawing dogs earlier today and he made fun of mine, saying it looked like a cat. And it kinda did.

4. Swimming. Spending a couple nights in a hotel meant multiple visits to the pool. Someday, I hope to get back to a gym and in a pool on a regular basis. Being in the water just makes me feel good.

5. Nora learning that "poopy" is the magic funny word for Owen.

6. Owen playing with our cat, Philo. We made a string toy on a stick and he would laugh and laugh as Philo attacked it.

7. Seeing two movies (Valkyrie and Bolt). Even though they weren't the two I really want to see (that would be Milk and Slumdog Millionaire...and Happy Go Lucky, if we're lucky), we have to take babysitters when and where we can, or take the kids with us.

8. That both kids really liked their Christmas presents. I was a little worried that giving Owen a box of paper, Post-its and markers might underwhelm him, but he was pleased as punch.

9. Wine. I'm finishing off last night's bottle right now.

10. Just having the time off. I know I'm lucky to have had two weeks off, and though I don't feel ready to go back to work (do you ever feel ready?), I do feel like I've had a good vacation.

10 Days

2009-01-03T17:13:00.002-06:00

It's Saturday night, and I'm on the tail end of a much-needed break. It has been wonderful over the past two weeks to relax, spend time with my kids and husband, knock off a few easy, yet perennially postponed, "to dos" and drink wine in the evenings while not worrying about what needs to be done before morning...because it can ALL wait until morning.

Vacation started a day earlier than planned due to a good ol' Wisconsin snowstorm. It had been in the forecasts the day before, so everyone was prepared that school, work, everything might be called off. And, as it turned out, it was. When I woke up that morning, I could still see the tires on my car. A couple of hours later, not so much.

A day later, it was time to travel to Illinois for our first Christmas. It was co-old that day and the forecast was for blowing and drifting snow. Wonderful. But, we packed the blankets and headed out to see all the cousins. Owen looks a little less-than-happy in this photo because he was liking some of his cousins gifts more than his own.

He perked up later though, and had fun playing fireman with his cousin.

I had fun, too, especially now that Nora is old enough to happily entertain herself. She toodled about, offering drinks from her new tea set, dragging dolls around by their ankles, eating cookies, finding new laps to sit in, eating more cookies...

Oh, and here's a picture for the kitty lovers out there. It's my sister-in-law's cat, Woody, who likes to hang out in the Christmas tree.

Next on our agenda were a couple of days at home. Mother Nature threw some more snowstorms at us, and by the time Christmas Eve came around, we'd had another 10 or so inches and the piles along our driveway were a good 4-5 feet tall. Sigh.

We had our family Christmas on Christmas Eve day. Owen's big gift was an "art box." I'd picked up a ton of different papers, markers, fun pencils, etc. and put them all in this storage box with his name on it. Then, since he'd also been asking for Post-its, I picked up a bunch of those and filled a little box with them. I think he liked it.

Nora got a play kitchen. Later, she was serving us fish and drumsticks...in drinking glasses.

Next stop was my parents' house for Christmas Day. It was a brief visit, since the snow delayed our trip up there by a day, and we missed our traditional "sleigh ride" into the woods, but we did get some nice outdoor time, and Owen enjoyed playing catch with my parents' dog, Duncan. That dog could play catch for hours, I think. Jon and I also had time to sneak out to see a movie, and then have a beer (and feel a tad old) at a local bar.

Nora even let loose a real smile (OK, maybe it was a little goofy for the camera) instead of her typical semi-scowl.

Then it was off to the Eau Claire area to visit the great-grandparents.

We spent two nights at a hotel there, which meant lots of visits to the pool (fun), and also meant the kids stayed up until after 10 both nights (not as fun). Being in one room together, they just goofed around after the lights were out. Nora has discovered the secret to making Owen laugh -- say "poop" a lot. So after a couple rousing renditions of "Old MacDonald Had a Poopy" and "There Was a Farmer Had a Dog and Poopy Was His Name-O," I had to put the kabosh on their shenanigans with the threat of "no swimming tomorrow if you don't be quiet right now!" That worked.

We came home Sunday, in nice weather, and felt like we'd had good visits all around. Jon had to go back to work, but I was still off with the kids. This week has been pretty laid-back. Monday night, we went down to Kenosha for some bowling -- meeting up with an old, good friend from college who was in the area for the holidays.

New Year's Eve, we had a "party" in our computer room, complete with dancing, loud music, flashing lights (courtesy of Owen and his new flashlight) and streamers. It actually was a lot of fun. I had one of those parent moments when you look at your kids and think, this really is the greatest; this is all I need.

This weekend, I'll have to get some chores done to prepare for the inevitable return to work (declaring a war on laundry for starters). It has been fun. And I'm really going to miss sleeping in until 8 and waking up to the sounds of Owen and Nora giggling in her room. Too bad Christmas comes but once a year.

Willpower

2008-12-30T22:52:00.001-06:00

Hi, my name is Heather and it has been one week since I last checked my work e-mail.

I've been out of the office since a snowstorm shut down the city on the 19th, and, after a smattering of e-mails to take care of a few things last Monday and Tuesday, I checked out. There's no reason to be checking in, after all. The whole company is on vacation, so no one no where expects work to get done or questions to get answered. This really is a glorious two-week break from work responsibilities. And yet, I've been tempted to check my darn e-mail. As my mouse passed over the bookmark earlier tonight, I almost, almost let go. But I didn't. Though I am able to take time off and not worry about work, I do check in a lot whenever I'm out. I guess I like knowing what's going on. Maybe that means I'm not able to take time off and not worry. Or maybe there's just a time limit to how long I can go without thinking about my job.

This morning, I woke up making a mental list of what I need to do when I go back on the 5th, but I banished those thoughts. No work thinking until Sunday, I told myself. I'm still on vacation.

Time Warp

2008-12-29T15:45:00.000-06:00

I only have a couple minutes to post, partly because of this first thing. I'll post about all of our Christmas adventures soon.

I've noticed this phenomenon that affects the passage of time, yet seems to occur only on weekends and vacation days. The morning hours seem long and luxurious while the afternoon hours gobysofastthatohmygodhowisit4:00already?! Have you ever noticed that, too?

And, ugh, while I appreciate that modern grocery store chains are trying to help the hapless parent shopper, the creation of kid-size carts (i.e. weapons to crash into shelves, other shoppers, little sisters) and "car carts" (i.e. an enclosed space where children are virtually guaranteed to push and shove and disagree over who has the better steering wheel) seem to just be creating new and exciting ways for kids to run wild in the grocery store instead of solving the problem. If they were smart, they'd start stocking mini bottles of liquor next to the candy and gum, because some days, mommy needs a treat after shopping, too.

A Wish

2008-12-25T06:55:00.000-06:00

Have a Merry Christmas, my friends. Enjoy your loved ones and may the day bring you at least one moment of true joy.

Eavesdropping

2008-12-23T10:49:00.002-06:00

The kids have been playing together nicely for the past several hours. I'm wondering if that means a huge spat is imminent.

A little bit ago, they were serving me hot chocolate, milk and pancakes using the dishes and cups Nora received from this past weekend's family gift exchange. Then they were putting Nora's doll down for a nap (and telling me to "shush"). Right now they've moved on to singing Jingle Bells, and from what I can tell, Owen is directing Nora to spin around to the music. Before that, I overheard them counting the days on the advent calendar and celebrating that tomorrow they'll be opening presents. (I told Owen we'd asked Santa to come a day early since we'll be at Grandma and Grandpa's on Christmas, to which he responded "how did you call Santa?")

At times, they can be so loving and helpful toward one another, and I love listening to the two of them interact. Course, at other times, like yesterday on the drive home from Illinois, they were purposefully irritating each other. Siblings....

The Adventures of Christmas Shark and Holiday Caterpillar

2008-12-07T22:07:00.002-06:00

The Christmas stockings are hung. The tree is decorated. The garland and evergreen-scented candles and stuffed Santas have come out of hiding. But, it's never too late for a little fun with Halloween costumes, is it?

Owen's "Blog"

2008-12-03T21:21:00.001-06:00

I was staring off into space tonight as Owen did his homework -- he was writing four sentences using their newest "wall words." (Oh, and by the way, they're writing sentences in kindergarten! Remember when it was about learning the ABCs and how to tie our shoes?) But anyway, my eyes fell upon Owen's bulletin board. He's had it for a year or so and the displays on it are constantly changing. In fact, they're probably a pretty good reflection of whatever is important to him at the time.

For instance:
Wednesday - This paper is one of a set of seven. Owen changes it every morning.
December - This is one of a set of, you guessed it, 12. At the end of November, both months were on display, because we were "getting ready for December." These also represent Owen's recent cardboard phase when he was seeking out any and every piece of cardboard in the house as possible canvases for art.
2t - This is to represent that it's the 2nd. (Though Owen realized, in the middle of supper, that he hadn't updated it to be the 3rd.) I haven't yet figured out what the t or plus is supposed to mean. Tonight, when Jon suggested going back to using a real calendar, because "do you really want to have to write a new date every day?" Owen replied, "yeah, I do."
Season and weather - They're a bit hard to see in the photo, but the small squares on the right side represent winter and that it's snowing. The squares on the left are the other season and weather options.
The triangle - That's a Brewers pennant, tacked upside-down because "the Brewers aren't on until April."
Cutest costume - At a Halloween party we went to, they had a costume contest and Owen's caterpillar won him the "cutest" category. Don't you think Nora' shark should have won the scariest award? Tee hee.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2008-12-02T22:06:00.003-06:00

Sunday night it snowed. Last night it got COLD and tonight I'm already sick of winter.

I'm not usually like this. Usually, I embrace the change of seasons. Usually, the no-holds-barred beauty of white snow on tree limbs against a brilliant blue sky is enough to overcome the inconveniences of cold morning cars, wet boot tracks all over the house and frosty nighttime sheets. Brrr!

I think I've got Arizona on the brain. Or maybe I AM like this every year and it just takes awhile before I settle back into the routines of winter. Before I remember to start the car a few minutes early, keep towels by the door or find where I stored that oh-so-wonderful electric mattress pad. Or maybe, I just need to get the Christmas decorations up because that's what really eases the transition. Well, that and what I'm enjoying right now -- a cup of Ghirardelli hot cocoa. Double chocolate flavor. Hmmmm.

Picture Day, the Epilogue

2008-11-22T09:13:00.000-06:00

Wow, to think that last November I was posting every day. I'm such a slacker.

I was perusing my photobucket account to see if I'd uploaded any images and forgotten to blog about them, and lo and behold, I had!

You may remember a month or so back that I reported about Nora's defiant unwillingness to get her picture taken on picture day. Well, they tried again two days later, and last week, we got to see the results. (And, since our scanner isn't working, these are slightly blurry and dark photos of the actual photos.) This, by the way, is the nice not-happy-with-this face. There were a few outtakes where she looked downright ticked off.

Letting her wear her Brewers hat at least elicited a goofy smile. Though with her hair jutting out that way, she reminds me of Derrick Turnbow.

We also got Owen's new school pictures back. And, other than the fact that they're inexplicably not sharp (seriously, what's up with the soft focus?), he did a great job. He's at the age where the direction, "smile!" often results in a strained, overly enthusiastic smile that causes the tendons in his neck to pop out. Not cute. But, wow, when did he get so grown-up looking? Check out last year's picture (which I know I reacted to with the same sentiment; and I'll surely repeat this sentiment every year for the next 12 years of picture days.)

Halloween 2009

2008-11-08T15:44:00.001-06:00

A bit late, but here are some highlights from the costume and trick-or-treating travails of the redheads on 51st Street.

First, the costumes.
Owen decided months ago that he wanted to be a caterpillar, so after I scored his costume for $5 on eBay (woo-hoo), I tried to convince Nora to be a butterfly. 'Cuz wouldn't that be cute and all. But she wanted nothing to do with that idea. No, my adorable 2-year-old daughter wanted to be a shark. So, back to eBay and she got her wish.

Our trick-or-treating was almost a whole week early, but at least it was at night. I borrowed a double stroller, recruited the help of a couple friends as extra eyes and hands, filled a thermal mug with wine and headed out :)

Hey kids, this is supposed to be fun!

Owen knew just what to do--walk as fast as possible to hit as many houses as possible.

They block off a 6-block or so area for the trick or treating, and most of the houses that hand out candy go all out on the decorations. Had to take a picture of this one. I guess John McCain really IS scary in our Democratic-leaning neighborhood.

Nora wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing at first, but once she realized she was collecting a bag of candy, her mood perked up. She'd happily walk up to a couple of houses, then take a break in the stroller and feast on her bounty. After I took this picture, it reminded me of another picture taken after Owen's first trick-or-treat a couple of years ago. Hmmm, eating two suckers at once must be some sort of right of passage or something...

Got My Sticker

2008-11-04T08:16:00.000-06:00

Election Day. Woke up this morning EXCITED. Felt a little like that mix of nervous energy and anticipation of a kid on Christmas morning. I love voting. I love Election Day. I don't even mind waiting in line. There's just something about standing there with your fellow neighbors waiting your turn to help decide WHO.

Due to a mix of events that's affecting my schedule today, I was going to try to hit the polls early and be done soon after 7. Since our polling place is only a block away, I peeked at the building at 6:00 and 6:15 and saw little commotion, so I waited to head over there until 6:30. By then, there was a line, and by 6:55, it had really grown. But by 7:15, I had colored in my little arrows, submitted my ballot and collected my "I Voted" sticker.

And now we wait.

Say "Grumpy!"

2008-10-21T05:46:00.000-05:00

So, yesterday was picture day at Nora's daycare. They take every kid's picture and then a couple weeks later, we get to see the prints and can buy as much or as little as we want. Although it lacks the control of taking the kids to a photographer ourselves, it also lacks the stress of taking them to a photographer ourselves. Unfortunately, Nora wanted nothing to do with it.

In her last photos from daycare, she had this demure, serious-beyond-her-years look that was the result of her not wanting to smile for the photographer. Yesterday, though, she took her protest to a new level and apparently stood there with her arms crossed and refused to go in front of the camera. I can imagine that her face looked something like this.

She does have a lovely smile though, when she decides to share it.

It's too bad, but hey, I also admire her moxie (even if it's really only a 2-year-old declaring her independence). She's got spunk, that little one.

Happy Oct. 13th!

2008-10-13T21:26:00.002-05:00

It's October 13th, which isn't just Columbus Day, it's also the day we began potty training Nora AND the premiere of the new "WhoBob WhatPants" SpongeBob TV special. I'll give you one guess which event Owen has been anticipating by marking off calendar days since the beginning of the month.

This One's Got Fizz

2008-10-05T08:43:00.002-05:00

The Brewers won yesterday, staving off elimination for now, and avoiding a sweep. It was obvious from the mood in the stands that the fans who came out felt they played an important role. After losing two in Philadelphia, the Brewers were home, and maybe, just maybe, if we all cheered loud enough, we could propel our team to a victory. Well, it worked -- that and an aging pitcher who threw more than his fair share of balls.

I have never been to a baseball game like that. The crowd was crazy intense. Every pitch, every strike, every hit was a reason to leap to your feet and YELL. In the paper today, I read one fan's description of the crowd, that it was like popping a shaken up beer that sprays everywhere. It was electric. And it started hours before the game. The parking lots were packed with tailgaters. It was a sea of people as almost every vehicle pulled out a grill and some chairs as the occupants sat down to relish the taste of playoff baseball in Milwaukee. My clothes still smell like grill because the smoke was just everywhere.

And so baseball fever continues in the Brew City for one more day. Today I'll be taking the kids to pick pumpkins and apples (I promised Owen that Sunday was "pumpkin day") and then we'll hightail it home to watch the game at noon.

The Final Inning

2008-09-28T08:43:00.004-05:00

The tough part about not blogging for over a month is deciding what to write about when you return.

There have been numerous events that have been worthy of note -- a wonderful trip to North Carolina, seeing the Packers' new quarterback in his first win at Lambeau Field, Owen starting "real" kindergarten, Nora's new obsession with Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keyes. And lots of not-that-worthy-of-note stuff, too, like harvesting my first crop of heirloom tomatoes or successfully making a "diaper cake" for a coworker.

But I'm not going to write about any of that today. No, today is all about the Milwaukee Brewers.

It has been a crazy week to be a fan of the Brew Crew. They went from a disappointing "what could have been" to having a glimmer of a chance...a chance...to make the playoffs. And now it all comes down to the last game today...or maybe tomorrow. I'll turn to sports writer Gary D'Amato for an explanation:

Here are the scenarios:

• The Brewers win and the Mets lose. The Brewers clinch the wild-card berth and face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series beginning Wednesday in Philadelphia.

• The Brewers and Mets win, or both teams lose. They finish with identical records, and Milwaukee travels to New York for a winner-take-all game Monday.

• The Mets win and the Brewers lose. You don't want to think about that one.

Egads!

At least the possibilities are clear. For weeks, Brewers fans have been speaking about the playoffs in code -- lots of hand signals and "you know whats" in conversations about October and baseball. But now it's down to today (or tomorrow). And they just need to win.

In the middle of all of this, I keep thinking of my grandpa -- a lifelong Brewers fan -- and how excited he'd be to have baseball be exciting in late September. I remember when I used to visit Milwaukee in the summers, and on baseball nights, he'd walk around the house carrying a transistor radio so he could listen to the games. And I can recall going to at least a few games with him and my grandma at the old County Stadium. He'd listen to the play-by-play on his headphones and keep a scorecard.

I can't say Milwaukee deserves this any more than the Mets do, but I can say Milwaukee is ready. A sell-out weeknight game against the Pirates on Thursday tells me they're ready. The plethora of Brewers shirts anywhere you go tell me they're ready. The fact that many people will be flipping between the Packers and Brewers this afternoon tells me they're ready.

So try to win one for my grandpa, Brew Crew, and all the grandpas out there who passed down a love for the blue and gold to their grandchildren. We're ready.

A Bird in Hand...

2008-08-20T23:55:00.004-05:00

Today I held a hummingbird. This is a young black-chinned male hummingbird, or maybe it was a female, I forget. I do know that I'd just watched it and about 2 dozen others get banded.

Tomorrow is a morning of visiting bird feeders in various canyons, and then it's my travel home day. I expect to get back around 1 a.m. (knock on wood given my recent airport lack of luck).

And, a correction to yesterday's post. The hummingbird in the picture actually is a broad-billed (though that makes a boring title compared to a magnificent). It's one of only two hummingbirds in the U.S. with red bills; the other is the rare to the U.S. violet-crowned, which I also saw today...and got a very blurry photo. You can just barely see it's namesake purple head.

Magnificent!

2008-08-20T00:52:00.003-05:00

It's 10:45 here and we've only just gotten back to the hotel for the night (we were out watching BATS of all things), so I'll just quickly post my favorite photo from today.

This is a magnificent hummingbird, one of the larger species (as in, weighs more than 1 oz., and is only found in the Southwest). Beautiful birds; aptly named.

Though the quality isn't what I would have hoped -- the sunlight I needed to light up his feathers also burned out the top of his head -- I did "stalk" this feeder for a good 20 minutes trying to get a good shot of him as he whizzed from feeder to feeder. I'm just pleased his green and blue feathers showed up (he also has purple on top of his head that you can't see).

Saguaro Oasis

2008-08-19T08:34:00.005-05:00

First, a footnote to Monday night's post. As it turns out, those aren't ordinary TREES covering the hills I saw from the air. They were most likely shrubby palo verdes and lots of saguaro cactus. Apparently, the Tuscon Range (one of four mountain ranges that surround the city) is known for its saguaro forests. It's so cool to see those strikingly columnar cacti sticking up along the surface of the hills and along the top ridge.

My two best bird photos of the day were a perched female hummingbird (not sure what species), and then a white-winged dove on a nest. Saw a few hummingbird species for the first time, including a Costa's that eluded my camera...all my pictures turned out blurry. It was fun to see the western travelers ooh and ahh at the cardinals we saw.

It was hot, but not as bad as I imagined it could be. And now we're heading south into higher elevations so it'll only get cooler. Today, we're off to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita mountains. Then we drive to Nogales, a town on the Mexican-US border, for the night.

Village of the dark spring at the foot of the mountain

2008-08-18T00:01:00.002-05:00

Arrived in Tucson today. It is so much more beautiful than I expected. I'm not exactly sure what I thought it would be like, but certainly my expectations involved HOT, DRY and DESERT. Not MOUNTAINS, TREES and BREEZY.

Flying into Tucson, I could see clusters of houses cuddled near huge wooded hills that often cropped up one at a time, not in long ridges. From the air, the hills (mountains?) were tan and green, giving them a different look than the packed forests on mountains elsewhere. I felt like we were flying over a huge topographic map because the shape of the earth below was just so apparent.

So, I was already liking this place when I stepped out of the airport.

As I waited for my ride to the hotel, the warm sun and light breeze combined in that blissful summer sort of way, and I could see the low-slung mountains off in the distance, surrounding the city. And I thought, I can see why people live here.

Now, tomorrow will be my first true test of this "dry heat" thing, but today it was in the 90s, and I can say that, in the shade, it certainly felt more like the 70s. And the thing about Tucscon is that there is shade everywhere -- mostly manmade roofs, as the palm trees offer little protection (the ones in the hotel courtyard have these fruit that look like clusters of huge green grapes. Must take picture later to find out what they are). Tomorrow, we'll be out in the sun, visiting the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

I'm off to eat dinner, so I'll sign off with this other thought. Note to self: next time visiting Arizona, bring own chocolate. After my initial disappointment that the outdoor vending machine had only chips and fruity snacks, I realized that it's likely just too hot here to stock chocolate without air-conditioning. And so my chocolate craving continues.

Don't Forget the Jelly

2008-08-16T22:13:00.002-05:00

Ever wonder if life would be easier as a jellyfish? Just float and glow. Float and glow. Simple.

Off to Arizona tomorrow. Tucson area. Work-related trip that I hope to be able to post pictures of along the way, but we'll see how well I figure out the technology I'm toting (borrowed laptop from work).

The above photo is from our trip to the Discovery World aquarium last week. Very cool aquarium.

Monarchs - The Last Chapter

2008-08-11T21:49:00.004-05:00

I'm tardy in posting this final update. It has been almost a week since the last of our monarchs flew the coop.

Friday, Aug. 1
Came home from work to find that our two "lost" caterpillars were now a pair of monarch butterflies. They stuck to their place by the window, perhaps looking forlornly at the flowers on the other side of the glass. I coaxed them out by getting them to perch on my finger. The kids watched, but weren't interested in touching them.

Saturday, Aug. 2
I knew the reappearance of those two lost ones meant the other two from that first batch would soon be stage their own coming out ceremony. And sure enough, the next morning, both chrysalises had become clear -- the telltale sign that the butterflies are soon to emerge. When I snapped this first photo, it was 8:15. When I checked again at 9:35, the butterflies had already hatched and were mostly dry. Here I discovered something else I didn't know. I knew that the butterflies have to dry for a bit before they can fly, but I didn't realize how wet they actually are when they come out of the chrysalis. They literally drip-dried and left a pool of orange-tinged liquid beneath their perches.

Monday, Aug. 4
That evening, I noticed I could see the beginnings of the monarchs' wing markings through the chrysalises, and knew that the second batch was going to hatch soon. I made a final attempt to reattach the two chrysalises that had accidentally gotten knocked down from their spot on the lid, but the glue just wasn't drying fast enough to hold them in place, so I left them on the floor of the container, put in a couple sticks for the butterflies to crawl onto and hoped for the best.

Tuesday, Aug. 5
Admittedly, we slept in the next morning, so it was 8:30 before I got out to the porch to check the butterflies but I was surprised to find not chrysalises but butterflies in the container. I'd really hoped to be able to see one emerge, but they were too quick for me!
Since we were heading for the beach, I decided to wait until we got home to let them out -- that way I knew they'd be dry. I noticed that one of the butterflies that hatched on the ground was fine, but the other one was having trouble getting onto a perch to dry. This was due in no small part of one of the other monarchs that kept flying at it and knocking it down. Two males perhaps and a territory issue? I'll have to consult the butterfly expert at work about it sometime.

When we got back and were set to release them, I took the kids out onto the porch to help. The first two butterflies took off almost as soon as I opened the container. But the last two were sticking around. And Owen even agreed to hold one. He has been a little shy about it ever since one of the swallowtails from last month kinda flew at his face unexpectedly.

First was little Bent Wing, which seemed to be having some trouble flying, but I hoped some air and nectar would do it good.

And then there was this guy, which stuck around for quite awhile. I placed it on a globe thistle in our front yard and snapped a few photos. Then Owen wanted to move it to "his" zinnias in the back yard, and the butterfly surprisingly obliged. It definitely preferred the zinnia and its proboscis came out to feed as soon as I placed it on the flower. I had to snap a lot of photos to get a few with its wings open, because it would only pulse them open for a second at a time. And if my memory serves me, this one is a male monarch, recognizable by the two black dots on the lower wings, which the females don't have.

So that brings the summer of the butterflies to a close. All told, we released eight monarchs and four black swallowtails, which is not that many compared to the "Butterfly Lady" down the street who gave me those first swallowtail eggs, but it was plenty for this working mom. The whole life cycle took place in just under 4 weeks, from July 10 when we saw the monarch laying the eggs, to Aug. 5 when the adult butterflies emerged. Twelve of those days were spent as caterpillars and 8 in the chrysalis.

It definitely was a fun learning experience, for the kids AND me.

Sand, Sun and Goats

2008-08-06T17:53:00.002-05:00

The last two days have been fun...in the sun.

Yesterday was the beach. They've really cleaned it up this year. The sand was nice, the water warmish and no fish stink :) AND great tacos at the snack shop. A hit all around.

Today we went to State Fair. Nora was old enough for some of the rides (though we had to ignore the height requirements since she still was 2 inches too short...no one was checking), so they had fun doing that together. Owen just loves doing stuff with his little sister. He really didn't want to go on any rides without her.

A new feature this year: Petting Zoo! I was apprehensive at first, but they both liked attempting to feed the goats (and camels!). Some of those poor goats just wanted to rest, though. They'd had their fill of dry pellet food. A couple of them did try to sample the straps on our stroller. My favorite part were the three or four turtles that were lurking around.

And since this IS vacation, we've also done our fair share of just plain layin' around...(Or is it lying? Heck, I don't care. I'm not at work, don't need to be grammatical)

Marquee Day

2008-08-04T16:56:00.001-05:00

Two posts in one day?! I definitely must be on vacation.

We went to see Wall-E today. All four of us. It was Nora's first movie, and the first time in 5 years that Jon and I have been in a movie theater together without having someone back at the house to watch the kids. I feel like a whole new world has (re)opened up to us. They'll be kid movies, yes, but to have the freedom to spur-of-the-moment go see a movie again...it's something I think we've BOTH been looking forward to for awhile now. I'll even put up with an occasional Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Happy birthday, honey!

Take Me Home

2008-08-04T09:03:00.004-05:00

It was only a month or so ago that I first heard the term "staycation." It was in the editor's letter of some women's interest pub -- forget which one -- talking about how more people are spending their vacation time in or near their hometowns instead of spending the $$$ to travel.

So now we're part of a trend, complete with a made-up, conglomerative moniker.

Instead of spending the money to rent some condo near a lake for our vacation this week, we decided to just stay home. We'll do some water activities (including taking our kids to Milwaukee's Bradford Beach for the first time), go to State Fair, check out the local water park that only costs $8, take naps, go out for dinners, maybe catch a movie...and best of all, NO PACKING. Which, of course, is probably the best part for me.

Besides, though Owen loved our trip last year to the Waterpark Capital of Wisconsin, as evidenced by the photo above, he's clearly fine with smaller-scale pools.

And Nora won't know the difference.

Painted in Pastels

2008-07-29T21:44:00.001-05:00

I saw the most amazing sunset tonight.

The kids and I were driving home from T-ball when I glanced to the west and did a double take. The sky was mostly dark blue in that threatening to storm way, but then there was this grand skinny streak of pink running up from the sun, splitting the dark blue sky in half. I've never seen anything like it.

Course, even better than the sunset itself was that as we drove over a bridge that afforded a better view, I spotted a vehicle pulled over to the side, also admiring the sunset. THAT'S the kind of stuff that retains my faith in humanity. We can all appreciate a sunset.

Monarchs-Week 2

2008-07-28T22:06:00.002-05:00

Turns out, I don't blog near enough to keep up with those fast-changing caterpillars. What were eggs a little over 2 weeks ago are now chrysalises. I myself wouldn't believe the changes that could happen over only 2 weeks if I hadn't been keeping track of the dates.

Wed., July 23
A tragedy in the other caterpillar brood! Overnight, the quartet of caterpillars in my other box (they are about a week ahead of the ones in these posts) were reduced to two. I can only assume that they crawled out the small opening and are hanging in chrysalises somewhere on my enclosed porch. I'd expect in the next week or so to rediscover them when they reappear as adult monarchs.

In the smaller box, the caterpillars have grown amazingly quickly. The first photo is from my last post and was taken on 7/18, so the lower photo shows their growth in just 5 days. If I'd been diligent in taking photos each day, I'm sure I'd have been able to pinpoint the exact day they seemed to triple in size, but I think it was just yesterday, since I noticed some shedded skin on the bottom of the box this morning. Based on my last butterfly-raising experience, once that happens, they just start eating (and pooping) voraciously.

They ate A LOT this week. I'd put in 2-3 milkweed leaves every morning, and they'd be eaten down to only the stems by evening.

Sun., July 27
Came home from camping to discover the caterpillars all attached to the lid of their box. This is different from the method the swallowtail caterpillars used -- they hung by silk threads from sticks, looking like little rock climbers. The monarchs apparently create a sticky substance that attaches them to a horizontal surface.

Mon., July 28 Morning
This morning, one is going into its chrysalis. Notice the bit of shmutz near the top? That's the caterpillar's skin. They don't create the chrysalis as an outer shell; it's actually inside them and is revealed when they shed the caterpillar skin. This is a little factoid I only recently learned, and I continue to be both amazed and grossed out by it.

Mon., July 28 Evening
By the time we all got home from daycare and work today, all four had entered their chrysalises. They are so tiny, about the length of the fingernail on your index finger. I've always thought the gold-flecked monarch chrysalis is one of the most beautiful things in nature. And seeing them up close in my own home, I also realize how fragile they seem, and how simply perfect.

So, not much left to do now but wait for the monarchs to emerge. I found one more egg on a leaf I'd plucked for food a couple days ago, so I'll probably raise that one, too. But then I think that will bring the caterpillar experiment to a close for this summer. Too much travel next month to be raising these hungry little suckers.

Monarch 101

2008-07-18T10:08:00.001-05:00

This past Sunday, Owen and I were in the front yard when I spotted a monarch flitting around and laying its eggs on our milkweed. It was cool to watch its method. It would lay one on the underside of a leaf, then take off and fly around the yard a bit, then return to the same plant or one right next to it and lay another one. Almost like it was trying to throw off any predators that might be on its trail.

So, I thought I'd take this opportunity to really document some butterfly development, since I regretted that I didn't keep better track of the timeline on our swallowtails.

Day One - Sunday 7/13. Eggs
This is a monarch egg. You can find them if you look on the underside of milkweed leaves. They'll only lay their eggs on plants in the milkweed family because that's what the caterpillars eat. (And it also makes the resulting caterpillars and butterflies taste bad, which later serves as a form of protection from would-be predators). Other butterflies choose different plants (swallowtails on dill and parsley, for instance). The eggs look slightly elongated, not totally round.
This is the first time I wished for a macro lens. I could only get so close with our equipment. I included the second photo to give a sense of scale.

Day Four - Wednesday 7/16. They hatch
The eggs hatched today. The resulting caterpillars are so tiny, that it took awhile for me to locate all four. And now the eating begins.

Day Six - Friday 7/18.
Already, it's apparent that the caterpillars are growing. It's possible to recognize the colors of their stripes now, and see their antennae-like protrusions. I've also noticed that they prefer to eat on the underside of the leaves. If I rearrange them so they're exposed, they always end up on the underside by the next time I check.

More to come in the days ahead!

Back from the Shawangunk Mountains

2008-07-10T20:50:00.004-05:00

So, yesterday morning, this was my view...

I woke up early before the meeting I was attending in NY to take a quick hike up to the "Sky Top" trail where, apparently, on a clear day (which it wasn't), you can see six states from the tower that sits atop the ridge.

Oh, and that castle-like building down there...that's where I was staying. Amazing place. The setting and the few hours of free time I managed to squeeze over the course of my 24-hour stay even made the 10 hours of flying, 3 trips through security (including two bag searches because I misread the liquid carry-on rules), the 3 hours of delays that resulted in a missed connection and an unexpected overnight stay in Atlanta, and oh, the 2.5 hours of sleep I got last night as a result of that whole shenanigan...well, that view and the beauty of that place made it all worth it.

There were no TVs or radios in the rooms, but there were balconies and porches equipped with rocking chairs to enjoy the views absolutely everywhere. And really, who would expect to come back from a work meeting with 160+ pictures of the scenery?

The Metamorphosis

2008-07-06T22:19:00.002-05:00

I have a nursery on my porch right now. A butterfly nursery. About 3-4 weeks ago, a neighbor gave us five black swallowtail eggs from her dill plants. We put them in a plastic container with air holes in the lid and checked them every day to see if they'd hatched.

About a week later, these tiny black caterpillars emerged and started eating. And eating. Oh, yes, my friends, I think given the chance, Eric Carle would have called his book the Extraordinarily, Insatiably Very Hungry Caterpillar. I was replacing the dill and cleaning out their little plastic home once or twice a day. What goes in must come out, I guess, but who knew five little caterpillars could create so much poop? I also discovered something I didn't know about the process. About halfway through their growth cycle, they shed their skin and that's when they go from being black to the green, yellow and white I was familiar with. Cool!

One by one, they each went into a chrysalis. They'd suspend themselves from a thin strand on the sticks I'd placed in their cage, and the next time I'd check, a green or brown chrysalis would be hanging from the spot where a caterpillar once was.

All five were in this state before we left town for the Fourth of July holiday. And when we returned, we had our first butterfly! Although it was nighttime, I thought it best to release it right away since I didn't know how long it'd been waiting to get out to go find some flower nectar. The little thing crawled up onto Owen's finger for a few seconds before taking off and quickly disappearing into the darkness. Today, a second one emerged, and I suspect we'll be releasing the rest of them this week.

Sometime during this whole process -- probably one morning as I was scraping caterpillar poo onto a paper towel -- I told myself that this was it; these were the only butterflies I'd be raising this summer. Well, I found three monarch eggs today, and I'll give you one guess as to where they are now. Yup. Porch.

You've Got Some Kettle On Your Shoe

2008-06-30T21:26:00.000-05:00

Drove out to Delafield, about 40 minutes west of Milwaukee, yesterday morning to meet a friend for a little hike. The chosen spot was Lapham Peak in the Kettle Moraine Forest. We'd decided to do the 4-mile portion of the Ice Age Trail that cuts through the park -- seemed more interesting than one of the loop trails, which are designed mostly for cross-country skiing in winter.

It was a great day for a walk. A slight breeze, 70ish degrees. It's a beautiful area. There's a lot of prairie and wetlands on one end.

Then the trail rises up to the 1,233-foot "Lapham Peak" in the park's center. You even get to climb this huge, wooden observation tower get a good view of the whole area.

The second half of the journey was more wooded, and we encountered quite a bit of muddy trail. Perhaps this would have been expected if I'd read the definition of "kettle" before we left: "A depression left in a mass of glacial drift, formed by the melting of an isolated block of glacial ice. A pothole." My shoes certainly look like they've walked through a glacier's pothole. And, of course, I have no pictures of that part of the journey because I'd decided to put the camera back in my backpack and didn't feel like getting it back out. (And besides, I was with a master photo documenter.)

I saw my first ever eastern towhees -- a pair of them scratching in the leaves under a tree to look for food. Also saw either a northern flicker or a red-bellied woodpecker; it flew off before I could tell for sure.

It was a good morning. Muddy shoes and all.

Let's See What's in the Junk Drawer?

2008-06-20T10:28:00.000-05:00

Welcome to another edition of Random Things...

1. I found yet another reason to love Target. I've been looking for some replacement spoons, since all but three of ours had mysteriously gone missing. After checking home stores, department stores, etc., I found them, by accident, at Target. They sell forks, knives, spoons, all in nice little sets of six. Target rules.

2. We were at a wedding a couple weeks back, and at the reception, before dinner, the minister asked everyone to join him in prayer. People bowed their heads and folded their hands, including Owen and Nora. And then, mid-prayer, Nora burst into a rendition of "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee," and none too quietly I might add. To her, I 'spose what else would we all be doing with our hands clasped but waiting for SOMEONE to please start this song?

3. Speaking of Nora singing...she has turned into quite the little vocalist. ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald, the SpongeBob theme...she'll sing in the car, in her crib, at the dinner table. It's so frickin' cute.

4. One more quick Nora thing. Lately, we've started to give her timeouts when she is getting out of control -- hitting or crying and the like. I'll say, "Nora, do you need to go sit on the stairs?" to which she replies "ya" and then goes over to sit on the stairs. Soooo, it's not really having the desired effect of a punishment, but it does stop the cycle of whatever she's doing wrong, and I guess that's good enough for now.

5. My job has been crazy busy lately, yet some days, I leave work and think "Hey, I have this all under control." I wish I could bottle that feeling so I could take a swig of such hopefulness on the other kind of days...the ones where I think "There's no way I have this under control."

6. Did you know that a 50-pound 5-year-old could drink a whole bottle of children's ibuprofen and it wouldn't be a toxic amount? Neither did I until the friendly people at Poison Control informed me of this fact. Because yes, Owen discovered a bottle of said medicine and downed about half of it last Sunday morning. Sheesh.

7. I went on my first business trip this week, to our corporate office outside of New York. I was surprised how quickly New York City fades away when driving north of town. Hills and trees are all around and it's actually quite pretty. Our corporate office has this huge oak out front that's well over 200 years old. The trip went well, even the 4-hour delay getting out of Milwaukee due to storms on the East Coast was bearable. Once it gets to be that long, it's almost comical, and it helped that I was traveling with four others from my office, so at least we could chat. It did result in me getting less than 4 hours of sleep before having to make a presentation the next morning at 8 a.m. That part sucked.

8. We're raising butterflies on our porch right now. Tiger swallowtails from eggs the neighbor gave us since she found so many on her dill. It's really pretty cool. They grow amazingly fast. Two weeks ago they were eggs the size of a pen tip, and now a couple of the caterpillars are an inch long. I keep checking my milkweed for monarch eggs, but have yet to find any.

9. Owen finished his first year of kindergarten last Friday. I can't believe he has a whole year of school under his belt. He started "summer camp" at his daycare this week. Lots of field trips and such. Kids are so live-in-the-moment. A few people have asked him how he liked his first year of school, to which he has replied, "School is done, I'm at daycare now." Like school is so last week, why even ask about it?

10. Fiona Apple...surprisingly nice walking music.

Cue the Music

2008-06-11T06:06:00.000-05:00

Since we returned from our weekend trip, Nora has been have trouble sleeping. It's surprising because, on our travels, she managed to take two naps over 2 days at different grandma's houses AND she actually fell asleep at the hotel without all of us having to go to sleep with her. So, this crying thing until 9:30 or 10 was unexpected. Then last night I had an idea, and gave it a try. She was asleep within minutes.

And what was this magic trick you might ask? I replaced the batteries in her lullaby aquarium. Yah, the one she's had in her crib since she was 2 months old. The one with the dead batteries for the past 2 days.

Talk about a "duh" moment.

I also realized last night that we definitely should have bought stock in D batteries way back when Owen was born (or at least two sets of rechargables). Both kids have been attached to those musical aquariums in their cribs. I think Owen's was there until he moved to a bed around age 3.

Go Fly A Kite!

2008-06-05T19:17:00.005-05:00

So, I've been meaning to write about the kite festival we went to a couple weeks ago. "Festival" might be too strong of a word for this event, but "A bunch of people flying kites in the vicinity of a Caribou Coffee tent and a climbing wall" is both uninspiring and too long to fit on a poster.

Doesn't matter. It was a blast.

Being that it was on Milwaukee's lakefront, and was free, we arrived soon after it opened at 10 a.m. to assure parking, and also to leave ample time for the wee one's afternoon nap. I'll admit it, at first I was disappointed because there were no 80-foot-long kites like the one in the paper that enticed me to this event. A big rainbow wind sock, yes, but no humongous kites. We walked around for a bit, enjoying the Lake Michigan view and watching as people tried to get their kites airborne. I was thinking of just calling it a morning and then Jon suggested we head over to the kite shop and buy a kite. Sure, what the heck.

After a few unsuccessful attempts -- the kind where your kite spins around before taking a nosedive into the grass, Jon and I succeeded in getting our $7 purchase in the air...and higher and higher. There was the added challenge of keeping your kite away from the others in the air, but it was so much fun. It has been a LONG time since I've flown a kite. It required concentration, yet in a way that's relaxing. (Between that and the sandbox, it was a weekend of Zen.)

At one point, after I'd handed the string over to Jon and Owen, I looked around and it was just the coolest thing to be sitting along the lake with a couple hundred other people, many of them flying kites. And there was sort of this distant whir -- the sound of so many plastic kites flapping in the wind.

Tales from the Sandbox

2008-05-29T23:22:00.003-05:00

We took advantage of the recent 3-day weekend to build a sandbox, our first. After spending over an hour wandering around Menards, we loaded up the van with two very long boards and 500 pounds of sand. (And, on a side note, it seriously should not be so difficult to buy boards! We ended up going out into the lumber yard ourselves -- pushing the kids in a cart no less -- to find the size we needed. Shouldn’t there just be a master price list somewhere? Anyway.)

The construction went amazingly well. I can say this because Jon was in charge, including the part where he got out a pickax to level the spot of yard we’d chosen to host our new addition. Owen was hovering around the whole time, inquiring when it would be ready. As soon as it was done (and a few times before it was done), he jumped in. Our fearless Nora, surprisingly, took a little coaxing. But she too, quickly caught on, and before we knew it, was piling sand into a bucket while Owen served us sand “pizza.”

Watching the kids play in this little sanctuary of dirt made me think back to my own sandbox days. Growing up in the middle of sand country, we had huge piles of it on our property. That, in addition to a sand "box” that was made from a large tractor tire. My brother and I spent hours playing in the sand. It was our playground, our place to create and destroy whatever we wanted.

Seeing Owen and Nora immediately take to the sand confirms the tight association between childhood and sandboxes. Swings, crayons, sandboxes -- these are all metaphoric stand-ins for youth. A sandbox is limitless possibilities. It's the outdoor equivalent of Play-doh. It comes in a blob, but then you make it into whatever you want.

Now that I'm on the other side of that generational arc, I’m loving what this simple wooden perimeter provides ME. Namely, the ability to get in a little planting, weeding, watering and relaxing without having to chase after the kids every 5 minutes as they run down the driveway toward the street. I'm also realizing that one thing I never noticed as a kid was how much sand gets tracked into the house.

Ah, childhood.

A Wonderful Thing

2008-05-27T21:13:00.004-05:00

Oh, hello, spring! Where have you been?

How I've missed you.

Why Buy Toys?

2008-05-18T09:54:00.002-05:00

When an old carseat and some miscellaneous stuff on the porch will do?

Strike!

2008-05-11T20:18:00.003-05:00

Did you know they grease the lanes at bowling alleys? Well, I didn't. But I do now.

We went bowling today since it was a bit cold and rainy for our traditional Mother's Day trip to the zoo. Nora was giving it a whirl with a 5-pound ball, and, at one point, decided to toss her ball down the lane next to ours. It kinda just plopped in the gutter and started slowly rolling away. And so, naturally, I went after it. Ran after it, actually. And promptly fell right on my behind. Oh, the humanity.

So there I am, laying on the lane, Nora's crying because the whole thing (understandably) freaked her out, and I didn't even come close to rescuing her ball.

Banged up my elbow a bit. Though I think my pride suffered the worst bruise. I think if I tagged my blog entries, I'd need to start a new category for "I'm such a dork."

The One without the Birthday Party

2008-05-10T10:01:00.005-05:00

Some of you may have heard about Owen's best friend, Matthew. He and Owen met in their 4-year-old kindergarten class this year and have been best buds for most of the year. They're in the after-school program together besides, so that has only cemented their friendship. Owen named his birthday turtle after Matthew, he likes taking cold lunch because Matthew does, and Matthew's name was one of the first names other than his own that Owen learned how to spell.

Matthew's birthday is coming up, June 10, and we've been hearing about it for several weeks now. It's on our calendar at home, and the other night, Owen said he wanted to take the paper crown he got at school for his birthday and erase his name and write in Matthew's and then give it to him, because "Matthew likes the crown."

So, we got the invitation to Matthew's birthday party this week...and Owen can't go. I knew the moment I looked at the date that there was a problem, and I checked our calendar hoping that maybe I was wrong, but no. We have an out-of-town wedding that day. I swear, I almost cried.

One of the (many) difficult things about parenting is not transferring our adult emotions onto our children's situations. Although I KNOW Owen will be disappointed and sad about the party, he'll get over it. Much more quickly than, say, I would get over missing an important friend's gathering that I'd been looking forward to for weeks. I have to remember that I felt similar guilt and sadness when we decided to send Owen to his current school, which meant he wouldn't see his best friend from daycare, Valentine, in the center's after-school program. I have to remember that kid friendships, especially those of 4- and 5-year-olds, are much different than adult friendships.

We occasionally see Valentine now when Owen and I pick up Nora from daycare, and they barely give each other a second glance. This is much different than, say, how I react when I see a friend I haven't seen in awhile. This typically involves hugs and giggling, and sometimes Orange Dream and crafts. :)

Matthew and Owen at Owen's birthday party:

Two. Two!!

2008-05-02T22:31:00.012-05:00

Two. Two!!

I can hardly even believe that my baby turns 2 today. It doesn’t seem that long ago that the doctor put you into my arms with the declaration, “it’s a girl!”

I had to look back at my first-year calendar to remember what you were doing – or more accurately, not doing – one year ago. Because it seems like EVERYTHING has changed.

Among the things I noted last year for the month of May: You discovered the cat door that goes into the basement stairway...you had five teeth...you would dip the handle end of a spoon into food...you ate your first hot dog...you loved playing peekaboo, but would sometimes miss your eyes and cover up the sides of your head instead.

Now you're more interested in chasing the cats...you have 16 teeth...you've pretty much mastered the utensils...you prefer a good turkey kielbasa to hot dogs...but you still love playing peekaboo.

Back then, you were crawling around on all fours. I remember picking you up from day care and you'd crawl over to me so fast and then pull yourself up around my shins. Now, you run. In fact, you are little dynamo. The other night, on the way home from the park, Owen took off in a dash to the house and you wanted to follow, but not before taking a moment to stop, remove your mittens and hand them to me before taking off running again. Apparently, the mittens were slowing you down.

You attack life with so much energy. I just love watching you bolt around the house. You get an idea in your head that you want x from the other room and off you go, running to get it, often with a soundtrack of excited babbles. Sometimes you take a turn a bit too fast, which results in a spill. But most of the time, you hop right back up, your eyes on your goal. This energy and fearlessness has a downside, though, because you'll also disappear from our sight in a second in a store or in the backyard, and you think nothing of attempting to walk down the stairs solo if we're not at your side fast enough.

I still have such a vivid memory of your first “real” steps. It happened while we were on vacation in Wisconsin Dells last August, and one night, you joyfully walked the long span between Jon and I in the living room. And then you did it again and again. You were so proud of yourself, and clutching your blanket along the way.

You and Owen have really fallen into the role of siblings, complete with the all the rivalry. I suppose it only makes sense among siblings that love and admiration mix up with competition and control in a way that make the two of you go from best friends one minute to adversaries the next. But oh, how you do look up to your big brother and want to follow him around and do whatever he does. And he loves playing with you, too. Some of my favorite moments are watching the two of you interact. You respond to him in a much different way than to us. Sometimes, you have no interest in holding Mommy's hand in the store, but you'll quickly hold Owen's if he asks.

You've started being more in tune with your surroundings. You notice if someone gets hurt and ask if they're OK. And if someone says "ouch" you often follow with a "sah-we," even though you had nothing to do with it. You love giving away kisses, pursing up your lips so big there's no way anyone could resist.

Your language has progressed so much, I can't even believe it. It seems like you're saying more and more every day. You can repeat just about any word we (or, more likely, Owen ) throw at you. In fact, he gets a kick out of testing you by asking you to repeat words. Sometimes, you'll repeat our "I wuv you," which just melts my heart. You're mostly able to communicate what you want, even if only WE understand that "bay" is bread and "ah-saws" is applesauce. You're pretty good at saying "Nooooo," too.

You love your books, which you'll pile around yourself, and babies, which you'll strip naked. Your laugh is so wonderful. I loving smothering you with kisses and nuzzles and seeing your eyes get all crinkled and smiley and you laughing so big. You are such a happy girl. You can be almost completely asleep when we bring you down for breakfast and set you in your chair at the table and within 2 minutes you've perked up, are asking for milk and are babbling away. Some mornings (and nights) I hear you awake in your crib, singing to yourself or contentedly "reading" a book. Your temper definitely has started to show itself, but you usually recover very quickly. You'll stomp off in disgust at something, but come back 45 seconds later. I hope that lasts.

I love the girl you're becoming. I love the girl you are. My sweet little 2-year-old, Nora. I can't imagine my life without you. Happy Birthday.

Count von Count

2008-05-02T19:12:00.002-05:00

So, Nora has started counting. Or at least making attempts at counting. I doubt she has any concept what it means, but it is pretty cute. Tonight at supper, 1-10 went something like this: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 14, boop, baa!" Course, you have to imagine these in the toddler accent of "twee, foe, fie..." Not sure how the 14 got in there. Probably the result of having an older brother who is an incessant counter.

We're heading up to my parents' house for the weekend, celebrating a dual birthday party tomorrow -- Nora turns 2 on Sunday, and my mom will be 60 on Tuesday. It'll be fun (and even better that I'm not cooking or cleaning for a party). I asked Owen if he wanted to give his sister a present, and he suggested balloons, which, oddly, are HIS favorite, too. Hmmm.

Speed Racer

2008-04-28T21:37:00.001-05:00

Last week, I bought a jogging stroller. And it rocks.

Now why, you might ask, would a non-runner like myself need a jogging stroller? The very name implies that it's not for me. But let me tell you, most regular strollers suck for anything but strolling. When I'd go out for a walk and pick up the pace, my feet would hit the wheels, so I'd have to adjust my gait and kinda push the stroller far out in front of me. Not so fun. Plus, most strollers typically don't hold more than a 40-pound kid, which means my walking companion is limited to Nora, who often wants to get out and walk herself, which really puts a crimp in plans to get in a quick 2-3 miles in the half hour I've stolen away for a walk.

So, I started looking for a used jogging stroller. The new ones tended to retail for $200 and up, which was outrageous considering I'm not even a super-serious walker. I just want to have the option if I choose to take a kid with me the once or twice a week I walk at home. I found a few on Craigslist, but never took it beyond window-shopping

Then last week, I walked into my favorite emporium of used kid stuff and there was this jogging stroller for $40. It looked good, but since I'm the kind to research EVERY big purchase when it comes to the kids, I wanted to look it up on the ole' Internet first to see how it rated. Turns out, it was a $275, very well-rated stroller. I could hardly wait to get back there.

After plunking down my $40, and figuring out the nifty way it folded down, I realized it was a little too long for my trunk, so the end stuck out about 6 inches. No matter. I'm a resourceful former farm gal, so I tied down the trunk using the strap from a baby carrier that has been in my trunk for awhile (and I was kicking myself for not still having bungee cords in the trunk the way my dad taught me to). It worked fine enough, though anyone who is familiar with the potholes on the West Allis stretch of Hawley Road will have a fine picture of the discomforting amount my trunk lid was bouncing.

When we got home -- everything intact -- I wanted to take it out for a spin. Owen was excited to join me, since it had been awhile since he had actually been invited to sit in a stroller. And let me tell you, this thing is FAST! I was just going to go on a quick walk around our long block, but I ended up going five blocks before forcing myself to turn around. The stroller moved with almost no effort and the big, rubber wheels took the bumpy sidewalks like they were a roller rink. At one point, heading downhill, I even had the uncontrollable urge to run, and so I did...

Yah, it rocks.

Paging Dr. Ross

2008-04-25T22:23:00.003-05:00

So, tonight, we reached another milestone in our journey as parents -- our first ER trip with one of the kids. It was Owen, with an especially bleedy cut to his lip. And, since I'm writing about it now and trying to be a little flip, you know it all turned out OK.

We had friends over for supper and while the boys manned the grill, the rest of us were in the kitchen. Then I hear Steph exclaim to Owen, what happened!, and when I turn around there's blood dripping down his chin and all over his hand. We go into triage mode with paper towels while trying to ascertain what happened. But the sharpest object in the vicinity is a tortilla chip, and Owen claims to have no idea how it happened. No matter, right now we're concentrating on his cut.

Well, the blood keeps coming, and after several towel changes, adding an ice compress and having him lay down on the couch, it's about 20 minutes later and this thing is NOT STOPPING -- barely even slowing down. So decide to head to the ER to see if he needs stitches.

It's only takes us about 10 minutes to get there (our proximity to the hospital always made me feel secure during my pregnancies) and the bleeding still isn't slowing down. We check in and the nurse asks to see the cut. Still bleeding. We walk over to the registration desk, where a different nurse asks to see the cut. So I remove the towels..and it has stopped bleeding. Seriously. In the 1 minute and 5 feet between the two desks, it has stopped completely. So completely, in fact, that we can't even SEE the cut. If I didn't have a handful of bloody paper towels, we'd just be the crazy parents standing in the ER with their kid who's obviously right as rain.

We end up having the triage nurse take a peek at it, and she informs us that they don't usually do stitches on a lip anyway because the cuts bleed a lot but close up very quickly on their own. If only we'd known that 30 minutes ago! So, when we get our ER bill, we'll see how much we'll be paying for that little nugget of knowledge.

And, as a post script, we did determine what caused this cut and launched this whole adventure. It was a baby spoon...with a little jagged edge. Yup, the most innocuous utensil around landed us in the ER. Sheesh.

Furgit About It

2008-04-23T22:07:00.002-05:00

I swear, I am losing my mind. OK, not really, but I sure am losing track of A LOT of things lately. Is there too much going on? Am I not getting enough sleep? Is it a post-35 brain cell exodus and the calendar-keeping ones are the first ones to say "ciao"?

For instance:
Last week, Jon was working late and at 6:00, Owen, Nora and I were sitting down to supper when the phone rang. It was Owen's school -- I'd forgotten to pick up my items from the PTA fund-raiser and could I please get down there before 6:30? At first I was pissed that they didn't just offer to hold them until the next day...especially considering it meant I had to quickly finish supper and pack both kids into the car...but 20 minutes later when I picked up my box I remembered, oh yah, they're frozen pizzas! That's why they couldn't hold them.

When Nora was sick last week and I spent the afternoon at home with her, I knew it meant canceling my 1:00 dentist appointment, but I completely forgot to do so until about an hour AFTER my appointment.

On Monday, I was in a meeting with my boss when he mentioned the Brewers game that night, which is when I suddenly remembered that Jon and Owen were scheduled to go to that game. So I dialed up Jon, thinking he'd forgotten, too. Oh no, he remembered. It was just me. It was even written on our new family calendar that's supposed to help us keep track of such things.

And tonight I almost forgot about my salon appointment. It wasn't until I was walking by the salon -- which, luckily, is at the end of our block -- on the way to the park with the kids that I remembered. Then, when I arrived 5 minutes later (on time, I thought), they informed me that my appointment had been at 5:45 YESTERDAY.

We also had do a late in-person registration for Owen's t-ball league this summer because I didn't look at the deadline (who would have thunk, an April deadline for a June league!?). And I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed my every-4-months rheumatology appointment. Maybe it was last week, maybe yesterday. I think my appointments usually are on Tuesdays. Who knows?

Ah hell, I guess I'll find out one of these days...when I remember to call about it.

Long Time, No Blog

2008-04-19T22:17:00.002-05:00

Oh, dear blog, please forgive me for ignoring you these past few weeks. The last month has been a blur of either so-much-to-post-that-I-don't-know-where-to-start OR my-god-is-my-life-really-this-boring? And so, I'm going to dedicate this return post to a quick catch-up. Because there actually were a few cool things that happened in the last month, and that's not even counting my annual participation last weekend in the world's largest trivia contest.

First of all, last month I won this fun award from a local radio station. They do a Working Mother of the Week, and in mid-March, that was me! I even had an on-air interview. Course, I was so distracted by the guy's crazy radio voice when he called that it wasn't until halfway through that I realized he was using his I'M TOTALLY EXCITED radio voice because he was recording our conversation...for the radio. Oh well. Thank you to Stacy, my amazing co-worker and friend, for thinking of me and writing such a nice nomination letter...even though I did kinda sound like a dork on the radio.

Last month, we turned Nora's car seat around. Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but it has allowed me to do something that I haven't done in almost 5 years -- ride in the front passenger seat of the van on trips. The way it always worked on longer trips is that I sat in the back with Owen...and when Nora came along, she and I sat in the third-row. They spent their first year and a half or so riding rear-facing, and I rode in back so I could see them and keep them entertained. But with Nora facing forward, there's no reason for me to stay secluded in the back. I can simply turn around in my seat to offer both her and Owen crackers, books, crayons..you name it (but oy, the neck cramps). It's weird. Jon and I actually get to have conversations while driving again.

Owen no longer wears a pull-up at night. That started around his 5th birthday, when he asserted that he was old enough to just wear underwear. It's still not 100%, er, successful, but most of the time it's just fine. And it resulted in a funny new saying around here. We once told him he could "go commando" for bed, so when he woke up the next morning, he informed me that he had a "dry commando." He also sometimes "wears a commando," or has a "wet commando." I tried explaining the finer details of the term, but it seems lost on a 5-year-old.

Wow, is that really all that has been going on? Maybe I'll just end with a few cute pictures of the kids and leave it at that. Until next time!

Nora in her new Girls Rock t-shirt. (Check out the new documentary!)

Owen finding a quiet respite at Trivia

Vacation Gratitude

2008-03-31T10:49:00.004-05:00

My good friend, casinoqueen, has been posting some "I am grateful fors" lately, which got me to thinking, if every day we jotted down one thing we're grateful for, wouldn't it be pretty telling? It'd be a simple journal entry that effectively sums up the day in a few words without a lot of extraneous text. And boy, wouldn't that save time on the blogging! :)

I thought of this often over the past week, while I was off work and home with the kids. So, here's my Vacation Gratitude list, though probably incomplete since I didn't jot notes as the week was happening, so I'm sure there are things I've forgotten.

I'm grateful for:
Monday: sleeping past 6, Orange Dream, super ice-crushing blenders, Swedish-designed storage solutions
Tuesday: plastic bins, naptime, Sponge Bob, organized closets
Wednesday: libraries...just that they exist
Thursday: laughter, bike rides, trail mix
Friday: our Zoo Pass, sea lions, spring bulb sprouts, time for a cup of coffee at the hair salon
Saturday: my husband, Clarks shoes, the simple joy of kicking a ball, iPod playlists, Netflix
Sunday: warm pancakes, the Zoo's fish exhibit
All days: my kids

Yah, about that last one.

Before last week -- and maybe even a few times during it -- I was a little grumpy about using up a week of vacation just to stay home. This was a vacation determined by the school schedule, not by us, and I thought it was a bit disappointing that I wasn't doing anything "fun." But it wasn't until this morning, when Nora let out a huge giggle as I leaned in for a nuzzle, that I truly realized how great it was to spend a normal week with my kids. What a gift.

I have long since come to terms with the fact that I'm a working mom, and my kids are in daycare (and now school). After Owen was born and I returned to work, it was hard. I dreamed of ways that I could stay home with him rather than work, but it just wasn't in the cards. And, eventually, that was OK. By the time Nora came along, I was used to the routine and didn't go through the same daily emotional struggle. That's not to say that I don't have days where I long to spend more time with them or experience that "working mommy" guilt. Of course I do, but for the most part, I'm content enough. Then this morning, mid-giggle, I had a huge pang of "boy, am I going to miss this."

Turns out, I did do something fun on my vacation. I reconnected with my kids. And how great is that?!

Day Five

2008-03-28T23:02:00.003-05:00

The sky was blue and the sun was shining, so off to the zoo we went -- each bundled up in an extra sweatshirt under our coats, cuz it was still only in the 30s. That's what I love about having a Zoo Pass, though. We could have stayed one hour, we could have stayed 6 hours (yah, right), it's already paid for.

As we drove there, Owen asserted that the one animal he wanted to see was a jaguar, while Nora voted for a baa-baa, so we cut through the farm on our way to the rest of the zoo. Apparently, zoo livestock are winter wimps because there was no baa-baaing or neigh-neighs or even a moo-moo to be had. Which is funny, considering the African elephants and tigers are out in the cold.

Then, on our way to the big cat house, I noticed that both elephants were outside, so we went left instead of right, and ended up seeing way more animals than Owen had in mind. He'd said earlier we could see three animals and then it would be time for lunch.

We had a nice couple of hours, even with drill sergeant Owen and having to break out the threats to keep Nora in line (if you want to walk, you have to wear your hat, I'd tell her...or, if you want to hold your blanket, you have to ride in the stroller...all totally unrelated threats to their rewards, but hey, it works). There are no crowds this time of year, so I could let both kids walk most of the time (while Owen's stuffed turtle, Matthew, got to ride -- properly secured as he insisted -- in the stroller).

In this photo, we were looking at the polar bears, but Nora was yelling "lion" because she had overheard Owen and I talking about the sea lions, which are right next door. She also refused to get her picture properly taken today. A couple of times, I'd say "Owen and Nora, look at me" and Owen would turn and flash a smile, but Nora would yell "no!" and run away.

And I thought this was cute. It's like she's trying to get the thumb sucking action through her mitten, or maybe her face was just cold. (And doesn't Owen's old Dash hat look cute on her?)

We did end up seeing the jaguar, and the camels and the giraffes and the penguins, before all was said and done. Then we heading off for lunch at McDonald's, where I indulged in a Shamrock shake, something I haven't had in probably at least 5 years. Hey, I'm still on vacation. :)

Day Four

2008-03-27T22:36:00.001-05:00

Ho, hum, lazy day. Stayed in my pjs until 3:30...ate popcorn for two meals...had over an hour of blissful solo shopping while my kids happily concocted trail mix with my friend Stacy...went for a quick walk to the park for some swinging and sliding...and yah, that's about it. Oh, and today's MORE snow, while annoying, was quite beautiful, especially when it tapered off around 8:30 and was falling in that slow motion, wonderfully pre-Christmas sort of way. (And I can say this without my husband being mad at me for yet another "the snow isn't so bad" comment since it also melted upon contact with all paved surfaces, so no shoveling.)

Day Three

2008-03-27T00:47:00.001-05:00

Today, I infiltrated enemy lines -- storytime at the public library. This usually is the territory of stay-at-home moms, given the Wednesday at 10 a.m. timing. I saw a couple of women who seemed nice, but since next week Owen will be back at school and I'll be back at work, I didn't put too much effort into making small talk. So, beyond comparing that Mom A had a son Rowan to my Owen, that was about it. Though I did want to compliment Mom B on her t-shirt, emblazoned with the logo of the new independent radio station here in Milwaukee. Seriously, are all stay-at-home moms this cool? Or just the ones who hang out at the Milwaukee Public Library?

After spending a couple of hours in the children's section of the library (which, by the way, was wonderfully furnished with a climbing castle, puppet theater, train set and Lego table), we walked down the front steps to meet Jon for lunch, since he works only a few blocks from there. So, a nice morning, though I had to chase mischievous Nora around the book shelves a little more than I would have liked, and remind Owen that yelling at his sister to be quiet in the library kinda misses the point.

And, as an aside, it has been a long while since I last set foot in that library. The parking is atrocious, so I tend to frequent the suburban libraries, but the building is just spectacular. Stepping into the library's main foyer is like being somewhere in the state Capitol building, what with the columns and molding and lighted dome. They really knew how to build shrines to books 100 years ago.

Day Two

2008-03-25T20:12:00.000-05:00

Ahhhhhh, spring break! Slept until noon, woke up and painted my toenails, then grabbed a bagel before slathering myself with sunscreen and heading to the beach to pretend I can tan. No, wait, sorry. That was a flashback to Spring Break 1992 there. Let's just say today involved a much different set of activities, and that I now have another cleaned out and organized closet.

Day One of Vacation

2008-03-24T22:44:00.001-05:00

Grocery store trip. Cleaned playroom closet and purged toys. Nora sat down among purged toys and played. Set up lovely new storage system from IKEA. Wished we'd purchased two. Caught a 20-minute nap during Sponge Bob. Made lasagna and garlic bread for supper and consumed my share of a bottle of Spanish red wine that I'd labeled "pasta" after purchasing it at Trader Joe's.

I Can Only Be Hopeful

2008-03-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

I have the next week off and I choose to ignore any bad signs I'm seeing today, such as...

- It's the second day of spring and it's currently snowing. There's already a good 3-4 inches out there and cold weather is predicted for the next few days. But, I can only be hopeful that the 40s forecast for Tuesday will be the start of a warmer week so we can get outside and have some fun.

- The kids started fighting almost as soon as Nora woke up. They both wanted the coveted singing Nemo book. I took it away to restore order. I can only be hopeful that they won't be at each other's throats all week.

- They're both coughing this morning. I can only be hopeful that it won't get worse and I won't have two sick kids.

- I ate about a dozen pieces of Easter candy last night. I can only be hopeful that I develop a sudden allergy to chocolate so I don't have to rely on my weak willpower to stick to my diet. :)

I guess I really don't have much I can complain about. I'm on vacation with my kids for 10 days, we're seeing family tomorrow, coloring eggs today (and shoveling snow, apparently) and I have a whole week of no morning alarm to look forward to. Sounds pretty hopeful.

The Pictures Tell the Story

2008-03-17T21:41:00.000-05:00

Whew. It's done. The week of birthday cakes and birthday parties and birthday dinners and birthday presents is done. Although I've always liked that Owen's and my birthdays are a mere 1 day apart, it does make for one heck of a busy week. In fact, I'm still a little wiped out. And, for that reason, I'm going to let the pictures tell the story.

On Friday, Owen was off from school, so I took a vacation day and we did some of his favorite things. You know, like going to the grocery store and the mall. Of course, because it was his birthday, we did some extra special things at those places, like buy a 3-foot tall balloon at Pick n' Save.

And select a deflated turtle to bring to life with stuffing at the mall's Build a Bear. (Ours now sports a kickin' black solar system T-shirt, that, unfortunately, is minus Pluto. Poor Pluto!)

Then it was off to a classmate's birthday party at a big, indoor playground of inflatable play equipment. And, after a few turns through the obstacle course and down the big slide, I can attest that those thing are a lot harder to climb and maneuver on than they look. A few hours later, we were home again, and it was time for his big birthday present, a new bike.

Followed by an appropriate 5-year-old supper of mac-n-cheese and hot dogs, and using the same small piece of cake to sing two Happy Birthdays. (Notice Jon's clever redecoration of the top of the cake for me. Hey, I wasn't baking a cake for Friday and then another one for Sunday!)

On Saturday, Jon and Owen took the train to Chicago to visit Jon's mom, who was in the hospital for a few days of treatment. It was Owen's first trip on a train. When I asked him what he saw, he said "fields and cross-its."

They walked to Navy Pier, where there were St. Patrick's Parade activities going on, so the great big Ferris wheel was running. Both Jon and Owen took a pass on that one. (And see the turtle? His name is Matthew.)

Sunday was party day. We'd decided on a bowling party -- less crazy than Chuck E. Cheese's and less work than in our house -- and picked an alley near my former place of employment, because really, I just haven't been to a lot of bowling alleys. We'd invited a handful of kids from Owen's class, plus the grandparents. (By the way, the real Matthew is Owen's friend in the blue shirt).

It was a blast. Watching those kids propel their 8-pound bowling balls down the lane was priceless. They threw them between their legs, overhand (thud!), sideways, you name it. A couple of the balls didn't make it all the way, running out of momentum before they reached the pins. And the kids got a kick out of watching everyone's balls slowly, slowly roll down the lane. Fun.

Then we retreated to another room for pizza, cake and such. And yes, I made a bowling-themed cake, though the "bowling ball" part turned out a little lumpy. I was just happy it didn't slide off.

It was all over so quickly. But it was nice to meet a few of the kids I hear about but haven't met before, and nice to talk to the other parents, too. And, since 1-2 parents came with every child, my little bungalow would have been overflowing. This definitely was a lower-stress option.

Nora spent the afternoon looking cute and being really good at staying off the lanes, though when we were done, she quickly walked right up to Owen and sat down next to him, which resulted in my favorite picture of the day.

Sigh. Man, I love those kids.

Five!

2008-03-14T14:26:00.001-05:00

Today, Owen turns 5. Sometime around 2 a.m. 5 years ago, he entered our lives and Jon and I became, forevermore, parents. The past year has brought about some amazing changes. He is learning and growing by leaps and bounds -- so quickly I can hardly believe it. We had parent-teacher conferences this week and his teacher showed me Owen's book where he draws a picture of himself every month. Back in September, it was a circle head with a smiley face and five sticks of hair coming out one side. His most recent one was complete from the ears to the shoes and featured red hair and one blue eye and one green eye (his eyes are bluish-green, he says). Amazing. Then there's all the reading and writing (not much arithmetic yet). Turns out, school really does work.

It's also been fun over the past year to watch his relationship with his sister grow and change. A year ago, she was still quite young, crawling around and not that interesting to him. Now, they're great playmates (or bitter rivals, varying from second to second). One of my favorite things to overhear is "hey, Nora, want to ______ with me?" shortly followed by her little "yah." They've fallen into that natural ebb and flow of a sibling relationship.

He's still so young in so many ways -- spends the first 5-10 minutes of the day huddled on the kitchen floor whining about the bright light, gets upset over seemingly mundane things and isn't a fan of going into dark rooms solo -- but he's getting so much more mature, too. I remember, over the summer, watching him dangle his way from one end of the monkey bars to the other and thinking, wow, when did that happen? And this past weekend, seeing him so comfortably cruising around on a big bike at the Toys R Us store. But even more importantly, it has gotten so much easier to communicate with him. We have real back-and-forth conversations and he tells us stories, and we tell him things and he reacts.

We've had a fun birthday day together so far. Got a great big helium balloon at the grocery store, built a stuffed turtle at the mall and had lunch. In about an hour, we're heading to a classmate's birthday party, and then it's home for his cake and presents, so it's definitely a packed day.

Happy birthday, kiddo!

Miscellaneous Somethings on a Sunday Night

2008-03-09T23:10:00.000-05:00

Nora is learning new words at a fast and furious pace lately. Some of her latest include "sah-we" (sorry), "bay" (bread) and juice (er, juice). She calls my dad, "bakka," but looks at you like you're crazy if you repeat the word back to her. Must sound like grandpa in her head. Add these to her current repertoire that includes such old favorites as boots, milk, walk, okay, hot and no, and she's quickly becoming a petite master communicator. Owen often quizzes her by asking her to repeat words after him, and though I'm amazed by some of the ones she gets right, it's also funny to hear something like "lion" come out a "shiz ne ma."

Tonight, about an hour after bedtime, I went upstairs and noticed Owen's bedroom light on. As I got to the top stair, it quickly turned off and when I went into his room, I discovered him laying in bed with stickers all over his face, which he pleaded with me to leave on. Oh-kay...

It's a landmark weekend in our household. For the first time, we have a brand new couch in our living room. As in, it's our first new couch ever. It's weird to think that, a week before my 36th birthday, I'm just now getting a new couch, but first we were poor and then we had a baby who threw up on everything, and then another baby, and suddenly it's a decade later and we still have a hand-me-down in our living room. They were fine hand-me-downs, but it was time (especially considering our son's recent foray into couch arm art with a black marker, a transgression that resulted in his first real punishment ever -- no art supplies for a week. The fact that he's in school all day with access to a limitless supply of taxpayer-funded crayons and markers probably dampened the verdict's impact somewhat, but hey, we did our part.)

Today, we went bike shopping for Owen's first two-wheel bicycle (with training wheels). He was riding them around the store like he's been doing it for years. Then he wanted to try out the four-wheeler in the display nearby. Ah, no. Nora had four-wheelers on the brain, too, and hopped right up onto the Barbie four-wheeler on display. Seriously, a Barbie four-wheeler?! (and for the non-parents out there who may have never witnessed these things, they are $300-400 electric, pint-sized four-wheelers...you know, because kids need these kinds of things).

Watched the movie Once, which I would recommend to anyone. What an unassumingly beautiful and wonderful picture.

We have a busy week ahead. Parent-teacher conferences, two birthdays, two birthday parties (one for Owen and one for his classmate who was born the day before him, and at the same hospital. That they ended up in the same class at a southside school is just one of those weird coincidences that makes Milwaukee seem not really that big), cookies and cupcakes to make and a whole crapload of work-related shenanigans. I'll be happy for Friday, which I'm taking off to spend with my birthday boy, who has the day off of school.

Oh, the Reality!

2008-03-04T22:36:00.001-06:00

I don't know if there are any other Biggest Loser watchers out there, but I just want to go on record as saying that Danny is a cocky little shyt and I'm so ready for him to go home.

That, and I'm excited about the Project Runway finale tomorrow night. I've been really good at avoiding on-line pictures of the final collections, so I'm looking forward to seeing them. Even if Entertainment Weekly keeps ruining things every year by publishing photos before the finale.

And how sad is it that two of the three shows I'm Tivoing right now are reality series? I'll just blame it on the writer's strike and then mumble something about how I'd rather be watching Liz Lemon.

In Defense of March

2008-03-03T20:24:00.001-06:00

This morning, as rain turned to sleet turned to snow outside my window, I felt the need to come to the defense of March. This month that is the transition, for those of us in the Midwest, between winter and spring. In like a lion, out like a lamb, as they say. Though our driveway could have doubled as an ice rink today, I was glad for the sound of rain sprinting down the gutters, for the shrinking snow piles, and yes, even for the now faceless snowmen in the front yard.

March is one of my favorite months. That shouldn't be surprising, really, since it's also my birthday month. But there are other reasons.

It's the month of baseball's return to the radio.

It's spring break and Guinness on St. Patrick's Day.

It's the start of spring, officially, at least.

It's the month where the occasional 50-degree day feels like summer.

It's when Trivia preparation really swings into action.

It's the month I became a mother, to an almost 5-year-old boy who's absolutely wonderful and frustrating all at the same time.

March is a preview. March is hope and anticipation. March is unpredictable. And I love it.

Five for Five

2008-02-24T17:58:00.001-06:00

So, for the first time since 2002, I've seen all five of the Best Picture Oscar nominees, thanks to a wonderfully generous friend for baby-sitting last night AND pointing out that Michael Clayton was available on pay per view. So, while Owen amused himself for 2 hours this afternoon -- seeing how many pieces of gum he could chew at once (7), doing somersaults on the couch and discovering that Mommy doesn't like it when crayon gets on the rug -- we checked off number 5 on our list. The crayon is a small price to pay, I figure.

While looking back at previous year's nominees, I realized there were many years, even in my movie-going heyday, when I didn't see all five. For instance, 2003's Master and Commander, or 2000's Gladiator. Heck, in 1999, when I had no excuse not to see movies, I missed The Green Mile, The Insider and The Sixth Sense. Course, back then, I saw movies I wanted to see, not just because they were on some list.

Oh, and apparently I have something against Russell Crowe. The last movie I saw him in was L.A. Confidential...

10 Random Things

2008-02-21T21:22:00.001-06:00

I'm trying to get back to posting more often, but don't always have a good topic to fill out. So, in the spirit of frequency and brevity, I give you 10 Random Things.

1. Orbit's mint mojito gum is surprisingly delicious. Very much like a mojito, but with breath-freshening capabilities and no rum buzz.

2. Bruised my behind falling down a couple of our stairs yesterday (slippery wintertime stairs suck). Seems to be an annual occurrence, but this time I happened to be holding Nora, who is totally fine, by the way, and said of the incident "fa down?"

3. I felt like I was cramming for a test on Tuesday, except, sadly, I was cramming to vote. I usually know just who I'm going to vote for come primary time, but in what has become a two-way race, I felt I needed to pick one of the leading two candidates, rather than casting my vote for a guy who's closer to my real beliefs but has no shot of ever winning and who's also dropped out.

4. What was up with Heidi Klum's bangs on last night's Project Runway reunion?! You could barely see her eyes. It would drive me insane to have hair in my eyes like that. Guess she's used to suffering for fashion. (And also, when did Rami and Chris so frickin' chummy?)

5. There's a bunch of office shuffling going on at work and I realized that I'm the only one in my corner of the building (16 people) who has never moved their office. And this month, I turned down an opportunity to move next door to one that's slightly bigger and has a better paint job, but I said no because the thought of moving all my crap...well, no thanks. I'll take the cramped office and dingy walls, thank you.

6. I'm currently debating whether or not I should get bangs during my next hair cut. Discuss.

7. Nora makes the appropriate sounds when reading books that involve the following characters:
sheep
horse
cow
dog
cat
elephant
gorilla
fish
vampire
Guess who taught her that last one?

8. I've become very tied to my morning coffee rituals. I love the smell of making it. Love that first cup. Love sitting down at my desk and pouring my second cup. Love discovering that I still have more in my thermos (I often forget if I've used it all). And I get upset when I have to be away from a freshly poured cup long enough that it cools down. Microwaving it is never the same. I heart coffee.

9. I feel like I'm jinxing this for even posting it, but if we're able to get a certain movie at the rental place this week and also keep our plans to see another certain movie at the theater this weekend, it will be the first time since I've had children that I will have seen all five best picture nominees. This is a big deal for me.

10. Last night on the way home, Owen ate an apple that was leftover from my lunch. When we were almost home, he handed it to me and said I could finish the last couple of bites. Sounds like a nice sharing moment, but mostly I think it was his sneaky way of getting out of holding the core of a mostly eaten apple.

First Draft

2008-02-19T22:45:00.000-06:00

Indulge me for a moment, while I brag about my oh-so-literate children.

Tonight, Owen wrote a sentence. Nay, a story. First, he wrote "it was sanny" (sunny), then he wasn't happy with that direction so he deleted it (because of course, being a child of the aughts, all this is on a computer). Then, he wrote this:

the Cat Name Was Matthew O.
He live in Wisconsin Work
At a Menards

Brilliant, no?! I helped him spell a couple of the words, and the Wisconsin and Menards were copied from a map and a hat, respectively. Actually, at first, Matthew the cat was from Washington, like "Abraheem Lincoln" he said, who, by the way, is died because he got shot like Martin Luther King. But then it was decided that Washington was too far away. So, he became a Wisconsinite. (And, by the way, I did correct him that Lincoln wasn't actually from Washington -- I think he just had a lot of George Washington and Washington, D.C. spinning around in his brain. He also came home today with a paper ax and the story of the cherry tree. Does any of this stuff ever change?)

Then, there's little Nora, who takes a book to bed with her every night. Her favorite right now is Clifford's ABCs. And as I sing the ABC song at the end, she practically vaults toward the crib with the book and her blanket in hand. Sometimes, I look back as I close the door and she's "reading" the book out loud by the light of her aquarium toy. When left alone in the playroom, she'll often pull down book after book from the shelf and look through each one, talking out loud to herself and creating a growing pile around her.

These things make the writer and former book hound in me smile.

The One with the Screaming

2008-02-17T10:37:00.001-06:00

My daughter is a tough cookie. Or maybe "stubborn cookie" would be a better description.

Yesterday, we took a day trip up to my parents' house for their 40th wedding anniversary party. (We'd planned to make a weekend of it, but the forecast of yet another winter storm prompted us to make it a day trip instead. This winter thing is getting old. But I digress.) So, in the rush of leaving, it turns out we forgot one very important thing. Nora's blanket. I realized it when we were about 25 minutes north. And we made the decision to forge ahead. We'd make it through the day without it.

Now, if you've met my daughter, you've probably also met her yellow blanket. Though she doesn't carry it with her everywhere, it's her security and when she needs it, she'll scoop it up, pop her thumb in her mouth, and ahhh, everything's OK.

The day went very well. The kids had fun running around and playing with their cousins. We talked to people we hadn't seen in awhile and we were glad to have made the trip and be there for my parents. Nora missed her usual 2-hour midday nap, so we figured she'd hit the car seat and conk out. I think I even hazarded the thought, maybe we don't need that blanket after all.

But, she did not fall asleep. No sir. My little 21-month-old, who by all rights should have been exhausted, stayed awake the whole way home. And crying. I was able to distract her for 10-15 minutes at a time, but it would eventually end in cries of "mine" and disgusted rejection of any replacement blankets I'd try to offer. Then I'd distract her again -- reading books, showing her pictures from Jon's iPod, playing a game of "where's Nora's nose" -- until she'd eventually remember she still didn't have what she really wanted.

When we got home, I took her into the house and picked up her blanket from the living room floor. In went the thumb and all was right with the world again.

Like I said, one stubborn cookie.

Family Portrait

2008-02-09T22:16:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, when Jon picked up Owen from school, he was finishing up this masterpiece.

He was excited to explain the details to us -- like how he added snowflakes everywhere and that the 100s mean we've all read 100 books.

Meanwhile, I look at it and think, this is the first "family picture" he has ever drawn. I've always wondered how my kids would one day represent their lives on paper. In after school specials, the artwork usually expresses some dark, dirty secret about how Mommy's an alcoholic or Daddy can't read. But there we are, surrounded by snowflakes (and apparently quite literate) and we even have the right color hair.

I also can't believe he's drawing this well. A few short months ago, he had just started to draw smiley faces, and now there are bodies and clothes and ears, for crying out loud. He did point out two inaccuracies to me later -- smirking that "Nora isn't really as tall as daddy, is she?" and "we don't have heart-shaped faces, do we?"

Oh, and in case you're wondering about why I'm Mom and Jon is Jon...Owen is always insisting that my name is too long. He'll happily write the others, and even Philo (our cat), but he tends to peter out on mine somewhere around the second H. This is the same kid who can spell Halloween.

My Own Medical Drama

2008-02-08T14:40:00.000-06:00

Hi, just call me Ms. Infection.

Yesterday, for the fourth time in a little over a year, I ended up at the walk-in clinic for yet another mysterious and quickly progressing skin infection.

It started as a twinge by the nail of my ring finger the night before, but I figured it was just penance for my bad fingernail-biting habit. (Oh yah, you can stop reading now if these sorts of things give you the heebie jeebies. It's OK, I don't mind.) By the next morning, though, it was still aching, so I slapped on antibiotic and a band-aid and went off to work, hoping that'd be enough to stop it.

Of course not. I was in a meeting around 3 when it really started to get uncomfortable. And when I got back to my desk and removed the band-aid, I could see that it was definitely infected and getting swollen (seriously, I won't be offended if you stop reading. I'm typing now so you know it has a happy ending). Off to the clinic I went.

By the time I got there, all I could focus on was my aching finger. It seemed to throb more with every passing minute. I tried reading and then played Tetris on my iPod. I even resorted to the "imagine you're someplace else" exercises I learned in birthing class. They helped for awhile, but I was pretty happy when they called me back. Course, that meant more waiting, which left me enough time to mentally go over the contents of my purse, trying to figure out if I had the proper tools to poke open my swelling finger myself. (Are you still reading?) Turns out the sharpest thing I had was fingernail clippers, but if I'd had a sewing kit, I think I might have gone for it.

When the doctor came in and said he was going to slice it open, it was all I could do to keep from yelling, "yes, please do it now and use your pocket knife if you have to!" But, sadly, he didn't get my pocketknife telepathy, so he left the room for what seemed like an eternity to get a blade and the necessary supplies. I seriously felt like I was in labor all over again. I was just watching the door (while pacing and taking deep breaths) and waiting for relief to arrive wearing a white coat.

Once the doctor did his thing with the proper blade, it was instantly better and by the time I left about 20 minutes later, I was able to happily chat on the phone with my husband instead of being all grimacy and agitated.

I'm not quite sure what the point of blogging about this whole thing is, other that it was an experience that made me dig deep for strength. I'm really not a wimp (though my husband at times says I am). I think it's just a little breath-taking how quickly it went from a little twinge to pain my brain couldn't avoid. And, I swear fingers must have way more nerves than some other body parts. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Livin' in a Snow Globe

2008-02-05T05:44:00.000-06:00

Since we're expecting 10 or more inches of snow starting tonight, I thought I'd take a moment to remember a time when I actually enjoyed snow. A time when it was beautiful and magical, and not a pain in the rear when it comes to things like getting Owen to school on time or getting to work to make a magazine deadline...

I read in the paper last night that our area has already received over 50 inches of snow for the year, which is our typical amount for the whole winter. No wonder I'm starting to agree with my husband's sentiment, which is "winter is a dick."

Great Moments in Literature

2008-01-29T20:23:00.001-06:00

To steal an idea from a blogging friend, I present Great Moments in Literature, children's category.

From the book, If You Were Kermit:

"Hi! I'm Kermit the Frog, and I enjoy being me. Can you imagine what it's like to be me?

To begin with, if you were me, you would be green. This means sometimes you might be mistaken for a large pickle."

(At which point Kermit points to a diagram of him and a pickle, where he clearly is the same color. Luckily, the drawings are labeled Frog and Pickle, or I might have continued to be confused.)

Now, I just have to ask, where was this line in It's Not Easy Being Green? Did the pickle lobby stifle such slander?! One can't help but wonder...

All About Owen

2008-01-27T15:37:00.000-06:00

So, a couple weeks back, Owen was the "special person of the week" in his class. And here is the questionnaire that we filled out, to be displayed with his photos, artwork and such. I'll call it, Snapshot of Owen at Age Almost 5.

My favorite color is: red.
My favorite book is: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear. (And yes, that's the title of one book.)
My favorite TV program is: SpongeBob Squarepants.
My favorite sport is: baseball.
When I grow up, I want to be: work on a computer. (His original answer was to work at McDonald's, but I talked him out of it by explaining he could do that when he's a teenager before he grows up. He seemed disappointed.)
I'm special because: I can count to 100, I can jump really high and I have red hair.
The place I'd most like to visit is: home. (OK, that one tugged at my heartstrings.)
My favorite food is: macaroni and cheese.
One thing I really want to learn is: how to make rainbows.
The best thing about me is: I know my numbers.
The people in my family are: Mommy, Daddy and Nora.
I have a pet: two cats.
My best friend is: Matthew (another heartstring-tugger...his first answer was Mommy.)
The person I most admire is: Daddy.
My favorite subject in school is: learning letters.

So there you have it, a peek into the psyche of Owen, the almost 5-year-old. A couple of these questions were a little above him, I think. I mean, how many of us could quickly answer the question, "I'm special because..."? So, there was a little baiting involved for those.

A Thousand Words

2008-01-14T21:11:00.000-06:00

Yes, I was at that Packers game on Saturday. The playoff one, where the Packers trounced their opponents, and it snowed...a lot. But don't take my delay in writing about it as a lack of enthusiasm. I've just been racking my brain to come up with a way to describe the experience that would do it justice.

You've probably heard the "snow globe" comparison by now. And it was, I suppose, Iike being in a snow globe that had just been shaken up (minus the motion sickness, thank goodness). So I wanted to find a different way to describe it -- you know, since I'm in the writing profession and all. What I've come up with so far is this:

Remember how in Star Wars when the Millennium Falcon jumps to hyperspace, the stars would move toward you against the blackness of space? Well, the snow was kinda like that. Looking up into it, the flakes looked like thousands of little stars against the dark sky. But instead of becoming a faster-than-light blur, they slowly ambled down. And the sky was just full of 'em. A single streetlight does a fair job accentuating falling snowflakes; a stadium's worth of lights makes the mass affect absolutely incredible.

Now, you may ask, where are the photos of said amazing event? Well, back in Plover, in our memory card that we accidentally left in my parents' photo printer. Although really, I think it was one of those things where the visuals are only part of it. The other part was the feeling in the air. It was a magical game, and everyone there knew it. That all became clear sometime during the third quarter.

By then, the Packers were well ahead, so everyone in the crowd was feeling good. It had been snowing steady for awhile, but midway through the third quarter, the sky just opened up and the snow started coming in huge flakes and FAST. You could no longer see the other side of the stadium and the field was a blur of white. It was piling up on people's shoulders and hats. And the towel that was supposed to be keeping my seat dry while I stood up was covered in wet snow. But in the middle of it all, everyone in the stands was just looking around themselves and grinning. Those can't-help-yourself kind of grins. Those I-can't-believe-I'm-here sort of grins. And I was grinning, too. I didn't even mind that much when the cheering fan in front of me knocked some of my ice-cold Guinness down my neck (and on a side note, it's the only time I've ever had my beer get colder in the cup).

One of my favorite things about football is that they play in mud, snow, freezing rain, you name it, and I always thought those games looked so cool. Well, Saturday, I got to experience one of those games firsthand, and it was perfect, just perfect.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

2008-01-09T19:13:00.001-06:00

I thought I'd share a scene from our house tonight.

I walked past our playroom just now and here is what I saw:

Owen was playing Wii...while standing on a step stool. And he wasn't even playing a game, he's editing his sister's "person" and giggling ("look at how fat she is, mommy!")
Nora, wearing one of her brother's shirts around her waist (like she pulled the neck over her head and kept right on going), was trying on a Santa hat, pulling it over her eyes and then stumbling around.

Oh, and now she's also clomping around in her winter boots.

The joys.

Fight the Power

2008-01-08T18:42:00.001-06:00

My daughter's fight for independence has begun.

We hear a lot of "noooo" or "mine" or "I, I, I" these days. All of which, I believe, loosely translate to "stop what you are doing, parental figure, and hand over that shoe, diaper, knife or whatever else it is that you a trying in vain to help me with."

Although I'm not a fan of fighting her over trying to get dressed, because really, that struggle just results in a process that takes three. times. longer. AND is accompanied by delightful kicking and screaming. But, I sometimes wonder if I regard her assertions of independence differently than I did with Owen. Because while witnessing these outbursts, part of me secretly thinks, you go, girl.

Now, maybe this is also because she's my second...and this whole attitude thing is just starting...or maybe even because I had a boy first, but I feel much more calm about her trying to do things for herself, because, well, I want her to grow into an independent-minded woman. It also helps that she is -- so far -- easily redirected to forget, for instance, that she really, really wanted to eat that purple marker. (Oh ya, another fun part about the second child -- you can't keep things like markers under wraps until they're old enough. If big brother has them, so does little sister. Thank you to the nice people at Crayola for washable markers.)

And, with that, I'll sign off with a photo from earlier this evening. Nora found and inexpensive alternative to lipstick while Jon and I were talking in the other room. Pretty good at staying within the lines, don't you think?

Then One Foggy Winter Day

2008-01-06T20:26:00.001-06:00

Since it was 40-some degrees out today (and the Packers weren't playing), we decided to load the kids up for a trip to the zoo.

It was fun to be there on an off-season day. Some of the animals were out in the weather -- elephants, zebras, camels, and, not surprisingly, the polar bear -- while the rest we had to go indoors to see. And, on a side note, I gotta tell ya, I KNOW those lions and cheetahs can't get out, but when they're pacing on the other side of a 1-inch piece of glass from where your son has his face pressed, I still get a little nervous and just want to pack up and get out of there. I guess that's one more thing to add to my list of irrational fears, right next to getting trapped in a vehicle underwater.

Anyway, part of the reason we went, other than a little cabin fever, was to have something interesting to write about for Owen's class book. You see, this was his weekend with Fuzzy Bear, a black, stuffed bear that each child in his class takes home for a few days and then writes and shows pictures of what they did in the scrapbook that travels with the bear. Since I dreaded documenting our typical weekend activities -- you know, trips to the grocery store, watching SpongeBob, eating lunch, not that thrilling -- I thought a zoo trip would be fun. And hey, you don't waste a foggy January day in Wisconsin by spending it entirely indoors.

One of the highlights of our zoo trips usually is a train ride, but since the train doesn't run in the winter, Owen discovered a suitable alternative -- playing on the train tracks. He does love his "cross-its." Nora, on the other hand, amassed a handful of wet leaves.

Then we came home and commenced with the boring stuff.

Falling in Love Again

2007-12-31T11:17:00.000-06:00

...with music, that is.

iPods are magic. I used to think, why would anyone need to carry around 1,000 (or 10,000) of their favorite songs? Well, perhaps so they can sit at work on a holiday and listen to some Spoon or Sinead or whatever else comes up on shuffle. Makes the day much better.

I've had more fun in the last 2 weeks with music than I have had in awhile. And, since I share an iTunes account with my husband, I'm finding some artists that HE knows, but I don't. Or I'm finding out the names of songs/albums that I've heard, but never had that quick, pocket-sized reference to know WHO I'm listening to. I feel like I'm rediscovering part of the old me -- the one who knew all sorts of weird "C-stack" artists (and would play them on the radio ad nauseum). The one who went to concerts. The one who looked forward to Tuesdays, because it was the day new albums came out.

So, thank you, Apple, for this wonderful invention. What boon for music.

(Though I am the only one bothered by the conundrum of whether or not to capitalize the "i" when using iPod at the beginning of the sentence? Dang journalism school!)

Christmas Past

2007-12-28T14:30:00.000-06:00

Well, we're home. After three households and 10 hours of driving over the course of 2 days, we're home.

It's snowing here in Milwaukee, maybe 6 inches today, so we decided to make for home late last night. We arrived around 12:30 a.m. So it was a nice feeling to be where we wanted to be when it started snowing at 8:30 this morning.

We had a good trip. Some of the highlights:

One happy cat. On Christmas Day, we lost Philo. We woke up and opened presents, then were packing up the van to head up to my parents' for Christmas dinner. In the loading process, the back door was left ajar, and Philo was nowhere to be seen. We searched the house for him -- he tends to burrow into the backs of closets to sleep, but we couldn't find him. After a brief search of the neighborhood, we decided to leave the garage door ajar and set out a blanket and some food, just in case. We figured the chances were 50/50 -- he could be outside, but he just as well be hiding in the house. We knew there was no point in waiting. He's a cat, so we could sit around all day before he'd appear from his slumber. We worried a bit more when a call to our cat sitter the next day resulted in a report that she couldn't find him either. Well, since I pretty much ruined the suspense with my title, you can probably guess that Philo isn't lost or a cat-sicle. When we got home last night, he was on the couch waiting for us. Silly cat. He has no idea how worried he had us. But I sure was happy to see him.

Splish, splash. Even though we were only at the Menomonie hotel for 24 hours, we managed to go swimming three times. And by "go swimming" I mean that we followed Owen as he fluctuated between the big pool and the little pool (i.e. hot tub) and Nora clung to Jon for dear life. Owen realized he could stand up by himself in the shallow end, so he spent much of his time standing near the number "3" on the wall and splashing himself in the face.

A merry Christmas. Jon loves his Wii, which I was excited to find on a routine trip to Target. Owen played almost nonstop on his Leapster on Christmas Day and Nora was pushing around her shopping cart while it was still in the wrapping paper. We also got one extra Christmas present for ourselves. We decided to upgrade our camera and on Christmas Eve bought a Canon Rebel SLR. Man, that thing is fast. It's a big step up from our other digital and it will be fun experimenting with it. The photo of Owen sipping soda below is one of those gotta-love-natural-light shots that I think are going to make having a faster camera fun.

Into the woods. Late on Christmas afternoon at my parents' house, we loaded everyone up for a "sleigh" ride, which was really an old truck bed pulled by a tractor. We headed into the snow-covered woods as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. I had one of those moments where I look around and can't believe I'm lucky enough to be doing what I'm doing. Surrounded by family, with my daughter on my lap, cuddled in blankets and riding past these snow-decorated trees at twilight. I sure have done a lot to get away from my farm upbringing, but I do like going back for visits. There's something slightly magical in the connection with the land -- or maybe it's just the way my family celebrates it. I guess that's part of being raised by a man who's a poet at heart. I mean, we went into the woods, spread out birdseed and lit candles in jars to hang in a tree. Who else does that?!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T20:12:00.000-06:00

Twas the night before Christmas and I really should be packing. But here I sit, at the computer, slacking. The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that sleeping children will remain unaware. As we get out the presents and put them under the tree, for them to open tomorrow, brimming with glee.

OK, 'nuff of the rhyming.

We're trying something new this year. We'll actually be at home on Christmas morning before hitting the road. I honestly can't remember the last time we woke up in our own home on Christmas. It definitely made for a much more relaxing day today. I finished the wrapping while Nora napped and Owen and Jon got haircuts. We'll be spending the day with my parents, and then heading out for 2 more days of traveling to visit grandparents.

Owen is definitely excited this year. Invoking the name "Santa Claus" got him to play nicely with his sister -- unattended -- for a good 30-45 minutes tonight. He has been bouncing off the walls all evening though. I hope he sleeps.

Merry Christmas! (Or Happy Life Day!)

Time Marches On

2007-12-21T20:40:00.000-06:00

So, I went looking in our old digital photos for a picture of Nora from last year so I could compare and see how much she has grown. Instead, I clicked on "Christmas 2005" and was surprised at how young Owen looked.

Yes, I know it was a whole 2 years ago, but still, I sometimes forget about the stumpy legs and pudgy cheeks. For comparison, here he is this Christmas in the same chair at his grandma's. I think the thing that struck me most (other than my apparent penchant for red plaid shirts for the holidays) was how in the first picture his legs stick straight out on the seat, and this year, the chair fits him just fine.

And here's Nora from last year, back when she wasn't crawling or talking or copping an attitude and subsisted entirely on breastmilk and pureed fruits and vegetables.

This year, she was Annie Oakley...on a cow.

So now I'm just another parent bemoaning how quickly the years go by. I guess this is a common refrain because kids offer such an obvious gauge to measure the passage of time -- more noticeable than creakier knees or new wrinkles. And who wouldn't rather watch kids grow than fret about crow's feet?

Here We Come a-Caroling

2007-12-20T19:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning, I attended Owen's very first Christmas choral program. They pooled together both of the K4 classes with the three K5 classes, which made for a group of about 100 4- and 5-year-olds in the front of the darkened auditorium. There was so much pride in the room, it was physically manifesting itself on the faces of every adult in the audience. And then there was the parental paparazzi, scooting down the aisle to get good shots. I'm almost not ashamed to admit I was one of them (hey, at least I had an aisle seat). Even moving closer, it was impossible to take a decent photo. But, at least you can sorta pick out the red hair. You'll also have to imagine that there were three times as many kids as I got in this frame.

You could definitely tell the 4-year-olds from the 5-year-olds. The older kids were the ones actually singing, while many of the younger set had vacant, slightly worried expressions the whole time while they somewhat mindlessly mouthed the words to Twas the Night Before Christmas and other songs. Or maybe it was just my kid with the distracted gaze -- I wouldn't really know, since he's about the only one I watched.

During Jingle Bells, he dropped his bell. And, of course, it fell to the floor, so he spent a good part of the song trying to retrieve it. Not so easy considering he was on the second riser. He finally got it back, and went right back to jingling. I look forward to reliving that on the video.

Before the concert, they had a breakfast for the kids and parents. There was Santa and face-painting and French toast and cookies. Owen willingly approached Santa Claus (proving he has overcome his crying run-in with Santa from 3 years ago).

Then he hammed it up with some of his pals. I think it's funny that in this first photo, they're posing like mini high school graduates and in the second one, they're definitely 4-year-olds with untucked shirts, tennis shoes and crazy attitudes (so, I guess, they look like college graduates, LOL).

All in all, a good way to spend the morning.

Last Things First

2007-12-15T13:41:00.000-06:00

Got my Christmas present a bit early today...it's my very first iPod. Nano. Green. I loaded it up with a bunch of songs and decided to select shuffle to see what would play first. So, what was the first song ever to play on my iPod?

The Last. By The Replacements. I think I'm going to like this thing.

Snow Day

2007-12-11T13:26:00.000-06:00

Today was our first official snow day as the parents of a school-aged kid. Forecasts of freezing rain by mid-day led almost all the area schools to close, even the always-open MPS. I'm home with both kids, even though day care was open. I don't know how those women always get there, but they do. (Seriously, in 4 years, they've never closed due to weather. Must be because a lot of the staff from the hospital across the street take their kids there -- and you know nurses don't get to call in for a snow day.)

So, this is what a snow day looks like at our house.

We've spent the day so far watching videos, coloring and we even did a brief stint outside. Owen, though reluctant, was excited as soon as I mentioned "snowman." Nora was less thrilled. After a few minutes playing with a shovel and some trips down the driveway in the sled, she retired to the porch to watch the activity and enjoy a delicious snowball. She's still at the age when the cold of snow overrides the fun of snow. Next year.

Right now, it looks like the freezing rain will miss us (knock on wood), instead hitting the counties to the south. The air definitely is damp, though, and the snow is falling in these ginormous clumps. I tried to capture it, but you know that a camera in an amateur's hands can't possibly do justice to the beauty of falling snow. It's seriously gorgeous right now (said the woman who's snug at home).

It's Christmas After All

2007-12-09T19:06:00.000-06:00

Wow. I sure do get lazy about writing without a post-a-day challenge to meet.

Christmas has officially hit our household. We went and picked out a tree on Saturday. That part of the day went fine. What preceded it was one of those yelling, crying trips to the store...at a really crowded Fleet Farm, a store that is A) far away and B) really cramped and C) a place I don't know my way around at all. At one point, while Jon was trying on snow pants (the whole reason for our trip) I was looking for some spare boots for Nora with both kids in my cart...and they were BOTH crying. Sigh. Luckily, everyone there was super-nice. We got wished a happy holidays by two separate people (one, a fellow redhead who stopped to comment on the kids' hair). But, those kinds of days happen. Jon got his snow pants, which kept him nice and toasty today while sitting at a Packers game in 15-degree weather.

So yes, the whole point of that story was that we got our tree, which I -- once again -- thought was too small and too short as Jon loaded it onto the van, but -- once again -- was just perfect and not too small at all once it standing in our tiny little living room. Owen had remembered that last year we put the lights on the tree while he was napping and he woke up to a lit tree. So this year, he ASKED to take a nap. That lasted about 45 minutes, and then he was antsy and ready to come downstairs. Nora woke up, too, since she'd cat-napped in the van. She was enthralled with the tree when she first saw it, and stared at it like she couldn't figure out what to make of it, and Owen just giddily ran up to it, and then proceeded to ask me which ornaments he could remove.

Today, since Jon was at the game, I decorated the rest of the house while Nora napped, and added a bit to the outdoor decorations, too. I do like getting out all the decorations. Somehow it makes the place feel all warm and cozy. It also means I have to get rid of all the clutter, so everything that's out suddenly feels purposeful. Owen "decorated," too, by putting up new things on his bulletin board in the kitchen. We wore the funny Christmas headbands my mom got one year. After Nora woke up, we ate snack in the living room and cuddled up on the couch to watch Shrek the Halls. AND the Packers won. So all in all, it was a nice afternoon.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2007-12-04T05:54:00.000-06:00

Last night, Jon and I went to go see No Country for Old Men. Our friends Steph and Nate came over to watch the kids. Before they left, Steph told us about something funny Owen said. I guess at bedtime, he told them that they could sleep in our bed -- because they're married -- but when we come home, they'd have to move over. Seems logical, right?

It reminded me of something funny he said a couple weeks ago. We'd lit a candle on the dinner table and he was insistent that we not blow it out. The next morning, he was disappointed that it was out. I told him that we can't leave them on all night because that's dangerous. To which he responded, "but they leave them on at the eyebrow store."
The eyebrow store...ie the salon where I go to get, er, slightly uneyebrowed. He accompanied me once and was pretty enthralled by the place -- candles everywhere, mommy laying on a couch...

Good movie, by the way. Beautifully shot. I'd only heard some of the audio book while Jon was listening to it. So there were some surprises in it for me.

30 Days, 30 Posts

2007-11-30T21:12:00.000-06:00

When I was growing up, I remember my dad writing during breakfast. He'd have his 3-ring binder full of paper and a mechanical pencil and he'd scribble away while we all ate our toast and cereal. I know he still begins each day by writing. In the winter, he might be at it for hours, and my mom brings his oatmeal and tea upstairs to him. In the summer, when he's working in the fields, he just gets up early so he can have some journaling time each day.

It's a pretty amazing habit, don't you think?

One thing I've realized over the past month is that it's kinda fun to put some words on paper (er, screen) every day. Some stuff comes out that might not otherwise (exhibit A: the inadvisably titled 11/23 post), but I guess that's all part of it. Course, typing my thoughts into Blogger is about as far away from what my dad does as two writing mediums could be. This is, after all, a man who still cannot type.

Although I make my living in the publishing industry, I'm not a writer like my dad. I don't feel compelled to write. I enjoy it; and I'm enjoying having this little outlet for it, but the sharing part of the blog is just as satisfying. I'm not sure what that says about me. I'm a narcissistic writer?

Anyway, it has been a good 30 days. I somehow managed to post each day -- meeting the challenge I'd set out for myself. It helped that all of our out-of-town travels were either one-night affairs or were to places where friends willingly provided laptops at 11 at night. I'll now probably be taking the weekend "off" and deal with things like putting away the last 2 weeks worth of clean laundry and trying to find all those Christmas gifts I've stashed away. These are good activities for what looks to be a snowy, sleety day tomorrow. But never fear! I'll be back...most likely with pictures. Thanks for reading!

Word Play

2007-11-29T21:06:00.000-06:00

Tonight's post will be brief, since there's a Packers-Cowboys game on...the first Packers-Cowboys game to actually mean something to the season in quite some time. Brings back old memories. Old, bitter memories.

So, just a quick recap of some of Nora's new words:

Peez - please

Des - this

Miiiine - obvious. This is aimed at anything and everything she wants that we dare to keep from her pudgy little hands.

Ohie - Owen; not to be confused with "owie" which means, uh, either that she's hurt or she doesn't like something. It's a subtle distinction.

Boopbaw - football

YEE-AH! - yes. Mere words can't do justice to how cute this one is. "Want some milk, Nora?" "Yee-ah!" she says like you've just offered her the most exciting thing ever.

Appow - apple; though it also, apparently, means banana.

Outide - outside; this was used quite a bit over the Thanksgiving break. Then, after about 10 minutes outside, and refusing to keep mittens on despite the biting wind, she'd be walking toward the door, wanting to go in. This repeated every half hour or so.

Go gak - go Pack, uttered tonight before the game. That's my girl!