This is How Much She Likes the Dip

Snow and Toys

Christmas has come and gone, and you know, it barely feels like it happened at all.  Oh wait, I just took a peek at the playroom and saw the toys overflowing off the shelves and out of boxes and I remembered that it did.

I love the magic of Christmas morning.  There is nothing quite like that first image of the tree and all of the carefully wrapped presents underneath.  But, despite the magic, I swear I am going to do a little less the next year – seeing that we don’t need half of what we get and my children are overwhelmed.  But here comes the problem, I can’t do that.  I just keep going and going.  I see little things that I know they will like and I get it.  I just keep buying and buying. 

And then I am left with the aftermath of that problem: Toys that have no where to go!  We have all the old toys taking up space, and now on top of that, we have a basketball hoop, a tricycle that is used to cruise around the kitchen, toys still in boxes, a police station Playmobil set carefully laid out on the coffee table, a box full of unopened other boxes, a shopping cart, sleeping bags, remote control dogs, a really awesome tent that can’t come out cause there is no room, and the list goes on and on and on.  A lot of toys, all without a home. 

For today, who cares, we sure had a fun Christmas and all those new things fit fine around the edges of the room.


Then, we have Greg’s new toy: iPod Touch.  Owen just said, “poor us, we haven’t seen dad all day since he went to Arizona (go Hawks!) and now he just sits here on his iPod Touch.”  He has been home all night and just now Owen said, “he just got back and hasn’t even said hi!”

Enough said about that toy.

And me, I have a new Kindle and I am excited.  I have proclaimed as of late, that I am cutting back on my tv watching.  Well, I am still going to keep watching the shows I adore and of course BridalPlasty.  Typical reality show: challenges to be won, someone gets voted off each time, final prize = a dream wedding.  HOWEVER! the winner of each challenge wins a …Plastic Surgery of their choice! Totally awesome and addicting.  Sunday nights on E if anyone wants to join the fun.  I digress of course, back to the point.  I saw Kati’s Kindle and became intrigued.  I went back and forth and back again wondering if I would use the little thing and I couldn’t get it out of mind.  And then…Merry Christmas to me from my dad.  It arrived today and now I am just deciding, white or black.  I hope white since I am dying to take it out of the box.

And now the snow.  We woke up today to snow.  I had no idea it was coming.  That is strange considering I love to look up the weather.  Anyhow, the kids were happy and ventured out nice and early.  The little one didn’t last as long as the big one.  I was getting some work done and heard a faint sound that sounded like “mama”.  I kept talking on the phone and working.  “mama”.  Working, talking.  “mama”.  Working and now wondering.  “mama”.  I head to the door and open it up to find one freezing baby done with the snow and ready to come in.  She made it through her first day playing in the snow.  She didn’t go back out and Owen didn’t really come back in for hours. 

I wonder how it feels to be a kid and wake up and think – oh my heck, snow!! I am going to go out and frolic in the cold.  I may think the snow sounds fun, but it certainly wasn’t the first thought in my head this morning.
 
(yes that is snow on its way to Ivy’s head)

So, there we have it.  Christmas was a success, being a kid is awesome on so many levels, the iPod Touch has taken Owen’s dad away, I can’t wait to read books and trashy tv is sometimes so necessary. 

Oh, and Owen just walked up to me and said – mom are you pregnant? I am not and that was weird and slightly uncomfortable. 

And that is us at the moment.

While I am Away..

I knew I loved Greg even more when I came home from yoga last week to this:

 

Greg, I love you for taking care of the kids at night while I go to yoga.  I love you for letting me steal your boot-camp sessions and keep going.  I love that you make everyone something different for dinner.  I love that you take care of my cat.  I love that you made Owen into a robot.  I love that you read to Owen at night.  I love that you “close up shop” every night and make me feel safe.  I love that you play chase with Ivy.  I love that you put away the folded laundry. 

Basically, to sum things up:

I just love you. 

Wah-Wah and Honey

I hear a few things all day everyday…

“Come here Honey.” “Honey, do you want to eat breakfast?” “Brother has to go to school Honey.” “Yooooooo-Hooooooo Honey.” (is it bad that he calls for her that way or worse that she immediately comes?)

She is his Honey. 

“WAH-WAH!”

He is her Wah-Wah.

They love each other so much.  She waves goodbye to him everyday at school.  She kisses and hugs him every night before bed.  He worries about her.  He likes her around him.  They hold hands in the car.  She does what he does.  He loves that. 

They play hide-and-seek.  He hides while she seeks.  It goes something like this…Owen runs off to hide, once he is tucked away he yells, “yooooooo-hooooooo”.   She runs away and yells “Wah-Wah, Wah-Wah”.  He yells back, “yoooooo-hoooooo”.  She finds him, they laugh and he runs away to do it all again.  I heard yesterday that Ivy was a great seeker. 

I seriously love those two!

Progress

Well, it took an entire Saturday.  I neglected my motherly duties and my kids ran around eating chips all day.  We even met up with Angie for dinner and I was still in my pajamas.  Ask her how awesome I looked and she may even tell you the story about my children running wild around Old Navy.  For sure she will include the part where I instructed them in my firmest voice to stop running away from me and to stay close.  The next thing she saw was Ivy running away.  Through her laughter and tears we decided that I could not be taken seriously dressed the way I was and I clearly had no authority over my children.  I suspect she would let you know all of this without hesitation.

But! I looked ridiculous and didn’t care because this was completed at home….

And it looks good!! (of course there is nothing in the pockets, but who cares!!)

YEA ME!

(this has nothing to do with this post except the calendar would be above her head, it was just too cute not to post.)

Deep Breath

I am not crafty by nature.  By that don't mean I don't love it, nor do I mean I can't do it, I mean I don't read the words 'cut your piece of felt 22" x 37" ' and immediately think, if I fold this fabric in half and measure that and lay it on my flat mat and take my roller blade thing and cut it, that will give me another straight edge.  I think, ok, lay out my large green felt and measure across 22 and then up and down 37 and then I will have a perfectly straight rectangle.  I think if I cut it the way it happens in my head, I may have more of a parallelogram than a rectangle. 

I love to do stuff and eventually I get it done, but I admit, I struggle. I love to craft with Mary Angie Poppins.  "Now lay it on the ground and find the straight edge and fold it in half, now take this tool and measure it again, now do this and this and so on and so forth."  My projects look great on Saturday night craft night.  This time I am taking on the task ALONE. And by alone, I mean sewing with my brand new never been used hardly know how to work sewing machine.  I am afraid. 

Just to remind the public and my future self where I stand:
Emilee's and Angie's advent calendars = Done.

Jen's advent calender =
 

Yes, I struggle.

It doesn't help when I am trying to measure a straight line and cut 4 3"x 22" strips to have Ivy standing on my material with her boots on and start dancing. It certainly doesn't help to have Owen take away Ivy's candy and throw it on my work in progress. I struggle enough without them. Ivy ran away with my scissors and almost cut my scarf and Owen went running through the room to end up falling on my ready to pin felt. I struggle so much more with them.

So tonight I had had enough. 8 3"x 22" inch strips later with 2 to go (note above requirement) and I called it a night. Well, actually I called it a night forever. I think my exact words were, "I am done, I am not making anything for you ever again." Awesome, I know. And then I sulked on the couch and forbid Owen from talking while he was forced to go to sleep. And then I took a deep breath, kissed his sleeping head, held Ivy to sleep, watched Parenthood and realized the error of my ways.  Next time I will take a break after the first 4 strips.

Owen responded to this madness by saying, "if you are mean to me one more time, I will not snuggle with you".  Awesome again.

I will make an advent calendar for my kids and we will hang it up by Christmas. Oh, and it will be amazing!

Goodbye Little Elliott

Fifteen years ago I got a cat for Christmas.  T.J. 

Twelve years ago I got a cat for my cat.  Elliott. 

The funny thing about Elliott is that I committed to having her before having met her and she looked exactly like T.J.  We even had an apartment once where we said we had one cat. The landlord would never know the difference, assuming there were not two cats standing together. 

Last week, while we were gone, Elliott passed away. 

My poor neighbor.  Before we left, I gave her instructions that the cats would be in the garage and they would be fine.  If she could just stop by a time or two to make sure they still had food, that would be great.  She said she would come by everyday.

When we left I couldn’t find Elliott.  She was roaming free.  I let my neighbor know that she was hard to catch and if she found her, great, if not, that was ok too.  We hardly ever caught Elliott.  She was truly T.J.’s cat and never cared for us much (although, there was that time during law school when she liked to lick Greg’s head.  I always told Greg she was his cat).  I didn’t have my hopes up that Elliott would remain safe in the garage during our trip.

I received a text from my neighbor on Tuesday morning: We found Elliott, she is in the garage.  Have a great trip.  With both cats tucked safely in the garage, I enjoyed the trip.

Upon arriving home, we pulled into the driveway and my neighbor was already there.  Still in the car, I asked her how everything went and she responded by saying she needed to talk to me.  A little perplexed, I asked her if everything was ok.  She shook her head no and very softly replied that Elliott had died.  Elliott died??  I didn’t expect that at all. 

Apparently, she put her in the garage Tuesday morning and when she checked on them that afternoon Elliott was gone.  She picked up Elliott and took her little body to her work. (Luckily she works for a vet!)  They had a hold on her until I arrived home. 

We are headed to my dad’s today to lay her to rest.  She will be buried with the other animals that have passed before her..Zeke and Sam and a few pigeons. 

Dear little Elliott, 

Thank you for being our cat for 12 years.  We will miss you and your scared little ways.  I hope you are happy wherever you are.

Love,
Me

A class of her own…

In case you were wondering, Kristi did come to Puerto Rico with us, and were we ever glad she did. 

She took care of babies in the ocean when their moms were too scared to get in. 

She did her best to contain Ivy in the car while Greg drove. 

She was brave enough to order chicken, local style, at our favorite restaurant, La Hacienda (there is still some debate as to whether local style chicken = iguana). 

She pre-boarded the plane with me while Greg was finding dinner, leaving her own kids to board with dad. 

She taught us how to sleep on a plane. 

She found a frog on her shoulder at the restaurant and calmly picked it up to take the poor guy to safety.  (I would not have been calm).

She promptly declared Monday at 4:00 pm the end of her vacation.  (I am still trying to figure that one out, but nonetheless, it was hilarious!). 

She played in the waves.

She bought white bread for her kids as a treat. 

She got my dad down to the ocean. 

She brought children’s Motrin and picked out some ear drops to help Owen.

She knew when we needed a baby break.

No trip would be complete without our “Kiks”.

….poor Cinderella, if only she had my step-mom, she would have been one happy  princess. 

One Last Day

For our last day in the sun and warmth, our group was going in different directions.  Some were kayaking and then snorkeling, others were not.  The others thought it sounded positively torturous to wake with sleeping kids at 6:15 am, drive to a ferry, travel on the ferry for 1.5 hours, then wait on the beach for 4 hours while the kayaking and snorkeling took place.  The others (those with kids were going to lounge by the pool. 

On the eve of the excursion, Greg received a phone call that the day was canceled due to weather.  Greg let Eric and my dad know and went to bed.  Promptly at departure time of 7:15 (it changed when the rest of us chose to stay behind), the middle connecting door of our hotel room flung open and in the doorway stood Ben and Kelsey, backpacks on, sunglasses on, bags packed.  Ben looked around the room and saw Greg snoozing away.  “What is he doing! Why is he sleeping?” 

“Didn’t Greg tell you, it was canceled.”

“Nope, we are ready to go.”

“Greg wake up, you suck.”

Ben went downstairs to get a coffee and upon exiting the elevator, stumbled upon Steve in the lobby.  There he was, patiently waiting for the others, backpack on, ready for a day of snorkeling.  Greg sucks.

Since they were up, they all decided to go anyway and see what the beach was like.  We all still stayed to play.  The verdict was, it was a good day, they snorkeled in somewhat cloudy water, two of them were stung by a sea urchin and you can be sure one of the two was Ben, they had a horribly bumpy ride on the ferry which left them all glad that those back at the hotel with zero sea legs were just that, back at the hotel, and they hiked and played.  Ben, Kelsey, Greg, Steve and Felix.  What a crew.

In the meantime, Owen showed me over and over how he can jump in the pool with NO lifejacket.  With each jump he would ask, “Non, is this new to you?” before he jumped.  He was proud.  We ordered virgin pina coladas by the pool, we rested, relaxed, swam, walked and played. 

The trip was coming to a close.

Another good one

On Sunday, we forgot to live in Sunday and more than once drifted off to the departure date of Tuesday.  No one wanted to go home.  (well, that is not totally true, Owen wanted to go home for two reasons.  1. he missed school and 2. he missed our car).  You know it is a good trip when you make it from Monday to Sunday and still all like each other.  It had been everything that we had anticipated so far.  (Well, that is also not entirely true, after Ben twisted his foot earlier in the week, things got worse for him on Friday.  While we spent the day in our conference, the rest headed to Old San Juan.  We received a text or two that Ben was sick and couldn’t stop throwing up.  This made him stress out and then have a panic attack.  Back at the hotel they sent up a dr. who promptly gave him a shot in the butt, which made him sore for days and made him sleep.  My dad was worried he was going to sleep and drift off into a coma.  Well, lucky for Ben and us, he made it through the night and woke up refreshed after a 14 hour slumber.  So, with a twisted ankle and a painful shot in the butt, Ben’s trip took a twisty turn from good to bad to good). 

Angie, Ben and Eric went off to go caving on Sunday, while the rest of us hopped in our 14ish passenger van to visit Old San Juan again.  Ivy could live her life in a 14 passenger van with no car seat.  She was in heaven as she roamed from row to row.  I swear I tried to keep her still, but it was a choice between pinning her down and tormenting the rest for 45 minutes, or let her roam.  For better or worse, she roamed and roamed and wiggled and moved and climbed and wiggled and moved.

After arriving in Old San Juan, a few minutes in, it started to rain and pour.  We were drenched as we walked the cobblestone streets looking for shops and enjoying the day. 

We ate dinner at a so-so place, found and enjoyed some ice cream, did a little shopping and made our way back to the hotel.  For some strange reason by that time, Senor Greg was a natural and actually seemed quite comfortable in his new driver position.  Perhaps a 2nd job? 

Oh how enjoyable it was to free from my seminar and back to the fun.

View from the hotel.