Creature Bug

7 Quick Takes (vol. 19)

{Since most of you probably don't regularly read Conversion Diary--the blog that hosts this weekly round-up--you might not know that Jen was admitted to the hospital with bilateral pulmonary embolisms. Please send her (and her baby--she's 24 weeks pregnant) your thoughts and prayers.}

Since I hardly wrote at all in 2012, how about a run down of some highlights from the year?

: 1 :

The absolute best part of 2012 was going to Scotland to visit my sister. I can't even tell you how much we enjoyed that trip (and, as it so unfortunately turned out, I didn't even tell you how much we enjoyed that trip). As Andrea said to me yesterday, Every year should include a trip to Scotland. I agree.

Andrea and I at Inverary Castle.

Andrea and I on the wall at St. Andrews. It was sooooo cold there. And windy. Crazy windy. The North Sea was crashing over the seawalls, and we joked that one strong gust would likely send us falling over the wall during this picture.

Jason and I at the viaduct not too far from Fort William. This particular site is notable for some Scottish warriors who fought against the Jacobites. It's more notable, however, as the film site for the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter movies.

Jason and I at Stirling Castle. If you're going to do a castle in Scotland, then I highly recommend Stirling Castle. It's better than Edinburgh Castle. I might be partial to it because (1) we didn't actually get to visit Edinburgh Castle and (2) this photograph is awesome, ergo Stirling Castle is awesome. As is my sister who took this picture.

As far as our Scotland trip goes, I do have this Flickr setup, and will be adding more pictures to it this week because I need to organize myself into getting a photobook done of it...a mere 10 months after the fact.

: 2 :

I ran the Portland Marathon.

And I would do it again.

: 3 :

For the first time in I don't know how long, Jason and I had a year with a lot of movie nights. It was the culmination of many things: living near grandparents, not having a nursing baby, having a teeny bit of extra spending money for dates, and living near a pretty decent theatre (that Jason can get reduced ticket prices to through his school district).

Some of our favorite movies? Silver Linings Playbook (YOU MUST SEE IT), Lincoln (LOVED), Argo (Ha! Really enjoyed), and Loopers (entertaining). We still are planning on seeing Zero Dark Thirty and Les Mis. Jason saw The Hobbit, but with a run time of 3 hours I think I'll wait until...maybe never.

: 4 :

Jules started kindergarten.

Love the school, love her teacher, love the stuff she's learning there. She's still a bundle of emotional extremes, but her teacher would never have guessed it. Jules got the Student of the Month award for Kindness.

I might have wept.

: 5 :

The Second Annual Family Farm Family Camp!

Jason has managed to keep in close touch with lots of the guys he played college soccer with. It used to be that he would see a lot of them at the annual alumni game, but then a few years back most of the guys from Jason's team stopped going to the games. We needed a solution to make sure we all saw each other at least once a year.

Family Camp.

And so four other families came to the Family Farm and camped out. There were 19 kids.

Laser tag is a big hit.

But I'm partial to the s'mores.

It's crazy fun, and I can't wait for next year.

: 6 :

The entire summer.

It has to get its own bullet point, because there are just too many things to list about it that I loved. Definitely at the top of the list?

My sister was in town for the month of August. It was super duper fantastic.

We even managed to squeeze in a weekend at the beach where Andrea, brother Jake, sis-in-law Sarah and I did the Tillamook Bay Run.

: 7 :

Making our house a place I'm pretty happy to live in. Some people love home improvement projects. I really like thinking about home improvement projects. And I love them when they are done. But I'm not super keen on them in the middle of the project. Nevertheless, all the stuff we got done was a big highlight of the year.

So that's it. Some of the best parts of 2012. And per tradition, I made a video that attempts to capture some of that goodness in three and a half minutes.

 

Here's to another great year.

{More Quick Takes here.}

 

Stuck Together in 2011

Even though I didn't manage to chronicle 2011 very well in written form, it still happened all the same. (Proving that if a tree falls in the forest and no one writes about it, it still happens.)

We got to travel. I went with bff Megan to Hawaii. We took a family vacation to San Francisco and Reno.

We got to work. Jason continued with his job of teaching eighth graders history and English, and we were amazed and thankful every single day for his job. I kept teaching public speaking classes to college students who made me laugh and forgave my serious lack of punctuality in grading papers.

We got to permanently unpack. We decided not to build a house, staying instead in my grandparents' old house for the long term. New paint inside and out. New landscape showing our personality.

We got to learn. Sydney in second grade, Jules in pre-school. Addie learned to scoot, and then walk, and happily eats whatever we put in front of her with all 16 of her shiny new teeth. We learned about gluten-free diets and dairy-free diets, and homeopathic remedies. We learned about childhood emotional issues and how our family needed to adjust to our kids' unique personalities.

We had our hearts broken. Uncle Don passed away in March.

We had our hearts filled. I got to witness the birth of Megan's son Cedar. 

We had our family. We met together every month (and sometimes more) for Soup Night, even lucky enough to have honorary Soup Night members visit from Scotland and Idaho. Jason's mom was a constant fixture at our house as she helped take care of the girls on the afternoons Jason and I worked. Jason's brother and sis-in-law visited from Rhode Island, and we met their daughter for the very first time.

We had the mercies of God who strengthened our faith, gave us wisdom and patience, and never ceased to take care of us in a million different ways.

There are no perfect years because life is not perfect. But it was the year God gave us, and I know we did not waste it. We stuck it out, stuck together, dug our heels in and made the most of it.

We will continue to travel, to work, to learn, to have our hearts broken and filled again. We will have our family, and as 2011 trades places with 2012 we have the promises of mercy and grace and a new morning that starts fresh with no mistakes.

As is my tradition, here's my end-of-the-year wrap up video, giving you our 2011 in 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

{This year's anthem--which you may have seen the girls and I singing in the car? "Stuck on You" by Sugarland.}

{And here's 2010, 2009 and 2008.}

Happy New Year, friends!

Orange You Thankful for 2010?

My goal for this year was to love more. I made it my main resolution and tagline of my blog for Pete's sake: The Year of Falling in Love. I wanted desperately to be content with our situation, but it was hard.

So hard.

I went into 2010 like an orange with most of the juice squeezed out of me. And then pregnancy squeezed out the last few drops. I will be the first to admit that for the first nine months of 2010, there was very little falling in love happening. I was all juiced out.

But then.

September 12th came along. God gave me a baby. A beautiful baby who completed our family. And thanks to medication and prayer, I got to trade in the old orange for a new one. I still look a lot like the old orange, but I smile more, and laugh more, and feel altogether more thankful for the life I have. I got my juice back, baby. It took me nine months and 12 days, but I finally fell in love with 2010.

I don't know what 2011 will bring, but I'd bet anything it'll be good. I got a feeling.

Keeping with tradition, I made a video of the year 2010 in pictures. It's 3 minutes and 30 seconds of some of the best moments from the year. The song is sung by the Glee cast because if I'm drinking orange juice, it might as well be fun orange juice.

Happy New Year!

When She Jumps

Even from across the parking lot, Sydney knew she wanted to go on the giant freefall-swing ride.

"I want to do that!" she said.

"You do? Are you sure?" It wasn't that I was afraid of letting her go; I just wasn't sure she really knew what the ride was.

"YES!" She knew what she wanted to do.

I admit, sometimes this child amazes me. I would not characterize her as an adventurous child by any stretch of the imagination. All her life, she has been the one to stick with us, never wandering off, never talking to strangers, never trying food that looked even the least bit suspicious.

And yet.

She loves rollercoasters.

Loves motorcycle rides.

Learned to ride her bike and then proceeded to ride down steep hills that same day.

When she jumps, she jumps high.

After watching Jason go on the Ultimate Rush with our friend Robbie, Sydney said she wanted to do it too. Since there's no age limit--only a height restriction which she passed--then I had no real reason to not let her go. We waited until Jason got off the ride, and then he made sure she knew what she was getting into.

"You can't change your mind when you're up there," he said. "It goes very high in the air," he reminded her. (I reminded him that without her glasses she probably wouldn't have any idea how high up the ride went.)

"I know," she said. "I want to go."

So we paid the $25 (the operators very graciously allowed Jason to go again at a very reduced rate), and I watched her get strapped up into the harness.

She seemed very small and very brave all at the same time. This little girl who refuses to eat hamburgers and pizza, who still clutches my hand in the parking lot and if she walks into a dark place, was getting ready to fall 180 feet from the sky.

Up she went, a smile on her face. She didn't hold Jason's hand at first, but then just before they dropped, she grabbed his arm and held on tight.

Down she came, soundlessly, whizzing through the sky on the giant swing. After a few passes over my head, eventually she smiled, waved, and yelled, "Hi Mom!"

Hi, Sydney!

Guess what, kiddo? You're amazing.

(And was she scared? I'll let her tell you.)

Video: 2 minutes.

The Decade & The Year: in Review

::1999--10 years ago today::

• We were celebrating with friends, except for a few who were worried about Y2K. We weren't worried, but we weren't worried about much those days.
• We both had secured teaching jobs with relative ease, I was teaching some rather charming students, some of whom I was taking to London and Paris in the spring.
• We had just written our final check to pay for our nearly $40,000 in student loans...
• ...thanks mostly in part to a generous man who allowed us to live rent free in his basement

::2000--9 years ago today::

• We had just bought a house! We were anxiously waiting to move in to our new place, a place we would end up living for 7 1/2 years.

::2001--8 years ago today::

• Living a relatively ordinary life, although not quite sure what the future held since I had decided not to return to my current teaching job after the end of the school year.

::2002--7 years ago today::

• I had just resigned from a temporary teaching position, and was looking forward to never teaching again (which became partly true: I never did go back to teaching high school).

::2003--6 years ago today::

• We found out on December 31st, 2003, at 10 am in the morning that we were having a baby girl. Within minutes we had given her the name Sydney Kay.
• I wrote myself a letter thinking I would be pregnant with Baby #2 the following year.

::2004--5 years ago today::

• I wasn't pregnant, much to my relief.
• We were thankful beyond relief that Jason had gotten an amazing teaching job in the local public school system.
• Living a charmed, albeit sleep-deprived, life.

::2005--4 years ago today::

• Had just learned that Sydney would need to wear glasses.
• I had just accepted an adjunct position to teach speech, starting in January.
• I was pregnant...but not for long.

::2006--3 years ago today::

• Was holding a newborn Jules in my arms and thankful for God's mercy throughout that year.
• Looking forward to Jason using his paid family-leave days to stay home the month of January, so that I could go back to teaching a mere four weeks post-partum (don't worry...Jules came to school with me when Jason went back to work)
• Relieved to be taking my final graduate course.

::2007--2 years ago today::

• Returned on this day from the most amazing, most romantic surprise vacation to Camden, Maine. (We were going to go back this year, but it's hard to justify vacations when you're unemployed.)
• Jason loves his job teaching; I love mine.
• Jason is studying for his graduate exams (which he passes, of course).
• We get to go to work knowing that the world's best nanny is taking care of our girls.

::2008--1 year ago today::

• We were ringing in the New Year at Magic Kingdom!
• We were also living in an apartment because we had sold our house (yay!)...
• because we were moving closer to our family in Washington (yay!)...
• ...where Jason would get a new teaching job (he didn't)...
• ...and we'd be able to build our dream house (we didn't)...
• ...that we had spent more than two years planning for...
• ...as well as a whole lot of money.

::2009--Today::

Today is the last day of a year that broke our hearts more times than I thought possible. Tomorrow begins another year that is full of possibilities, and also some serious unknowns (oh how we want Jason to get hired somewhere!). We have been humbled by our circumstances, saddened at losing so much family, and bewildered at some of life's events.

Nevertheless, we also had a wonderful year: lots of time with family, two fun trips to Disney World, very cool design changes to our new home, the girls loving every minute of school. I know God will be faithful. No matter what happens this year, it will be full of love. Lots and lots of love. And with four silly people under our roof, I suspect there will be plenty of laughter too.

In the spirit of the tradition I started for myself last year, I bring you 2009 in pictures. (Music by Ingrid Michaelson and Snow Patrol.)

Happy New Year, friends. May love abound in your life.

Because you haven't had enough cuteness this Saturday

I know some of you have already seen this video clip when it got linked on my Facebook profile, but if you're like me, then you miss a lot of whatever goes on on FB.

To that end, I feel obliged to post the video here of Miss Jubilee reciting her latest memory verse, Psalm 139:14.

(video: 29 seconds)

Have you seen such adorableness in all your life? That girl cracks me up.

It's a real mystery as to where she got her dramatic tendencies...*ahem*

Uff Da!

Although I wouldn't necessarily characterize Grandma as being silly, she could certainly make us laugh. She got a kick out of singing old jingles and teaching us phrases from her childhood. I remember sitting on the kitchen countertop, eating cookie dough batter from the bowl, watching her make chocolate chip cookies. As I sat there--soonly on my way to getting a sugar induced tummy ache--she'd sing, Buy me a package of Beeman's Pepsin chewing gum, please!

(Until I Googled it just now, I actually thought the words were Beam and Pepsin.)

She'd sing the Coca-Cola jingle. Sing hymns. Sing songs that sounded like nonsense until we were old enough to learn the real words.

Mares eat oats and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy. A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?

If something was outrageous, she'd say, Oh, brother on ice! or Oh, my achin' back! She was rarely sincerely irritated when she said these things unless she was referring to weeds, dogs, or deciduous trees. She had plenty of complaints about those things. But toward us? No. She'd say these funny little phrases to make us laugh.

My grandma taught my sister a nursery rhyme she had learned in grade school. I'm pretty sure I never heard it, but my sister heard it often enough to remember it. While Andrea was home this past week, she taught the rhyme to my girls.

And now they know it.

Here's Sydney: (35 seconds)

And not to be outdone, here's Jules with a mostly accurate (and perhaps slightly more adorable) version: (40 seconds)

Even though my sister recites these poems and phrases pretty regularly, for some reason I don't. Some of the songs I don't even remember until I hear my sister sing them. However, there is one word (or rather, two words) that will be part of my vocabulary for as long as I live:

Uff da.

Uff da!

It's what Norwegian's say as a kind of exclamatory oopsy daisy except it's much more versatile. According to Wikipedia, it's used predominantly by people from Minnesota and North Dakota. Wouldn't you know it. My grandma was born in Minnesota and lived her childhood in North Dakota. Of course she'd say uff da.

I'll always say uff da, and I'm guessing my girls--who are only a quarter Norwegian--will also always say uff da. It's a fabulous little linguistic gift passed down from my Norwegian grandma born in Minnesota and raised in North Dakota.

 

(She's the sweet girl holding the kitty.)

I love you and miss you, Grams. Always.

Week 257: My daughter has a dancing heart

This was a big weekend for Sydney. I prepared myself by getting a new memory card and batteries for my camera, and an 1T external hard drive to handle all the pictures (as well as a few others that I'll be taking over the course of my life). There were pictures to be snapped and video to be taken. Earlier in the week I sewed part of a costume. I bought brand new tights. I practiced doing Sydney's make-up and hair.

It was dance recital weekend.

We were prepared.

There was a near disaster Friday night when Sydney's ears started hurting again, and she was absolutely miserable. "I know I can't cry for my recital," she sobbed, "but my ears hurrrrrt. I'll be *sob* brave though. Because no one *sob* likes to see a dancer cry." I promise I did not give her a "The Show Must Go On" speech. She is just very much her mother's daughter.

Fortunately, Grandma Sharon came to the rescue and took Sydney to urgent care to get some antibiotics. One dose and the pain subsided. (As for why I didn't take Sydney myself...it all happened while we were hearing Jerry Seinfeld's act.) Whew.

Saturday morning, I woke up with laryngitis which was the perfect blend of chaos that we needed to go with Sydney's reduced hearing. I couldn't talk loudly; she couldn't hear. We were like the pre-school version of Abbott and Costello. What did you say? Talk louder! What?

It was okay though because really all I had to do was clap and whistle at the performance. I wasn't in charge, and I had very few directions to give. It was Sydney's moment in the spotlight, and I didn't need to be messing it up with extra speeches or unnecessary advice. I didn't even have to take pictures because I had taken pictures at the dress rehearsal so I wouldn't have to fuss with anything during the performance.

She did marvelously.

She was a tap dancing penguin. Probably one of the prettiest little tap dancing penguins you've ever seen. It was a growing year for her, learning this new style of dance. Sydney is more drawn to ballet and the graceful movements, but she learned to love the sounds of tap and the ability to make her feet noisy. Even though her class did both ballet and tap, the primary focus was on tap.

She's learned all sorts of amazing things. Shuffle hop stamp. Four-count riffs. Five-count riffs. It's a different kind of movement than the usual twirling and leaping, but it was so good for her to be stretched.

It helps that her teachers are amazing. So professional. So talented. The choreography for the advanced ballet class was incredible. One of the saddest things about moving from Salem is that we won't be back at Discovery School of Dance next year. Sydney has been in Ms. Erin's class for two years now, and although we've been making the hour-plus drive for her class for a couple months now, it's not really practical. So we're in search of a new school.

As I watched Sydney perform, I couldn't have been prouder. I was excited for her, knowing how much she wanted to do a good job; I was relieved that everything went well; I was amazed that this little person has grown into a little girl who teaches me what she's learned at school.

"Oh!" she gushed afterwards. "We did it! I loved it!" She couldn't stop smiling. Neither could I.

My little dancer who learned the thrill of clicking and tapping and stomping her feet...Bravo.

*

Here's video (2:48) from the dress rehearsal (which explains the noisy background). Sydney is 3rd in from the left.

Sydney's Dance Recital (rehearsal) from creature bug on Vimeo.

Week 236: Gifts, Part Two

Rarely am I relieved to see rain. After all, there's plenty of rain around here, so it becomes rather monotonous. Raining. Sprinkling. Showers. Misting. It's what we get.

Except for nearly two weeks we didn't have rain. We had snow. We had freezing rain. We had more snow. We loved it. At first. Oh magical snow! Hooray for snow! But then, like the umpteenth gallon of eggnog in the fridge, it just didn't seem like such a treat anymore. The snow drifts piled up, the stores shut down, the mail didn't come. There is joy to be found in a slower pace, certainly. We couldn't rush around. We couldn't be frantic. We had to just be together. That's good stuff.

What wasn't so good is what it did to the local economy. Jason's dad couldn't keep his coffee shop open because the parking lot didn't get plowed and people couldn't get in. The snow came and the Christmas spending didn't.

But now the rain has come. There still remains some residual snow, streaking the yards, crouching in shadows, piled in the corners of parking lots. Mostly, though, it's is gone. And it feels like such a gift to have our rain back. It's so nice to see the road. Imagine! Actual pavement!

It's also nice to see the grass. Oh sweet green grass, you're so pretty to look at.

Especially the green grass on the 2.5 acres we now own.

Oh my goodness gracious, it's true. On Friday, Jason and I drove down to the county offices and filled out all the official paperwork that allowed my parents to deed over to us the land where we're building. Land that has an orchard of apple and cherry trees. Land that partially runs through a wooded area. Land that slopes down to Salmon Creek. It's all ours. The grass. The blackberry bushes. The nettles. The trees. The mole hills.

My parents have long told us that they were giving us the property, but yada yada yada, we never quite got all the forms filled out. Now, after two trips to the county office, seventy-five cents in parking fees, and a frantic search to get my dad's signature--he was helping out the mailman who was stuck in a snow bank--it's official. Once again, we are property owners who are going to be paying very real property taxes. Yes, I'm even thankful for those property taxes. Just like I'm thankful for the rain.

It was a good Christmas. Filled with lots of family, very little driving, plenty of toys and new socks, plenty of good food. In a dozen years, we may not be able to find those toys, and our family will look quite a bit different. But in a dozen years, it will be the present we got the day after Christmas--the property where we are building our house, where our girls will grow up, where we plan on living for the rest of our lives--that we'll still be talking about.

Thanks, Mom and Dad. I know you didn't draw our names for the Christmas gift exchange, but you still managed to give us one heck of a present anyway.

For those who are interested in highlights and all that, here's a little video I put together of our Christmas holidays. You'll even catch a glimpse of our new property, albeit covered in snow. And you'll catch a glimpse of what our life will be like, surrounded by family.

Christmas 2008 from creature bug on Vimeo.

Week 234: Snow Angels

Here in the Cherry City we have found ourselves uncharacteristically blanketed with a couple inches of snow. The weatherpeople said it would snow, but I have placed my faith in their predictions too often to fully trust them. Last week our local newspaper said it would be 30s and 40s all week. Tonight's forecast is for weather below freezing. All week long. They know what's going on just like I do: I look out the window and say, "Hey! It's snowing."

Ironically, we headed up to Mt. Hood this weekend to get in some snowy weather because we felt for sure we wouldn't get any here. Jason's parents met us here, and we had a fabulous time playing in the snow, eating too many cookies, and being victorious at dominoes (that would be me...Domino Champion). Today we drove down from the mountain where the roads were clear and the snow wasn't falling, onto I-205 where the snow was falling fast and furious, and finally home--where not a snowflake was in sight until a few hours later when it started snowing. And snowing. And snowing.

  Even though I have never outgrown my love of the first snowfall, and school cancellations are still just as exciting to me as they have always been, the joy is bittersweet because the school district didn't build in any snow days, so all canceled days have to be made up at the end of the school year. It's hard to fully enjoy the gift of a day off when I know that in 6 months Jason will have to return the gift in the form of working another day. Right-o.

We're still happy that Jason gets to be home tomorrow, and goodness are the girls ever happy to be out in the snow. We gave them early Christmas presents of winter coats and mittens, and they have put them to good use, even if Jules looks like a giant pink marshmallow in her coat because the coat is two sizes too big. (Ah, that's what happens when nice coats are on sale and the only ones available are a size 4T and a 5/6.) 

Sydney had one mission to fulfill in the snow: make a snow angel. She saw someone making one on a movie, and it became her most heartfelt wish. As soon as we were unpacked at the resort, she was asking about snow angels. "Can I make a snow angel?" she begged. As if I would say no.

But boy did she ever make snow angels.

Snow angels on the road. Snow angels on the side of the road. Snow angels outside our apartment, one right after another, a whole family of angels fluttering below our bedroom window. It's all she wants to do, and we are more than happy to let her plop herself down in the snow as many times as her little frozen legs will allow.

Jules likes the idea of snow more than actually picking it up. She's like me in that regard. I like to look at snow. I don't mind even walking around in snow. But once I start to get cold and wet, I'm done. I don't really want to play in snow; I just want to look at it.

Sydney, however, is just like you would imagine a kid would be around snow. She screams; she laughs; she throws her head back and catches snowflakes on her tongue; she watches, with her nose pressed to the window, the snow fall outside.

Snow in December. It's quite the novel treat around these parts.

I don't have any pictures of our winter wonderland yet (the pictures above are still shots taken from video, hence the blurry quality), but I did put together a little Let it Snow video. A little Ella Fitzgerald singing "Let it Snow" is just what you need. As well as two little marshmallows sledding down the hill. (BTW, I'm just trying out Vimeo for this video; I'll post it on YouTube later.)

Let It Snow from creature bug on Vimeo.

Week 226: Jules

Would you like to see a video of Jules or a video of my messy apartment?

How about both?

It's classic Jules: the smiles, the exuberance, the hugs, the waving. If only she had ripped up a book and pulled Sydney's hair, you would have had the perfect picture of my sweet-talking baby.

Extra cuteness goes to Sydney who watched the video and said, "Delightful!" Precisely.

Sydney's Saturday Story

If there's anything that compares to the joy of reading, it's the joy of watching your child read. Even though Sydney doesn't exactly read yet, she has an excellent memory for books. I love watching her climb up into the reading chair in the living room, open a book, and start telling the story. One of these days she'll surprise me and actually start reading the words rather than reciting them from memory, but I'm in no hurry. She'll figure out how to read eventually, in her own timing. And when she does...oh boy. I have a whole shelf of books just waiting for her.

Until then, I wanted to record some of these fun moments of Sydney and her favorite books. I know these videos are longer than anyone will want to watch, but that's okay. They're still fun for me to listen to. And I bet Sydney's cousin Clover will probably like it too. They're crazy about each other.

Today's story is The Baby Beebee Bird, by Diane Redfield Massie, illustrated by Steven Kellogg. It's the story of a little baby bird who keeps the zoo awake with all his singing. The animals are none too happy to have their sleep disturbed, but they devise a plan to get back at the little bird for keeping them awake. All day long they "beebee bobbibobbi!" to keep the baby bird awake, so that in the end they all get to sleep through the night.

I've had a couple of baby beebee birds keep me awake a time or two. Life is certainly much better when everyone sleeps at night, yes?

*****

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Love in my heart

This morning I watched my neighbor go outside in the early morning and start up her husband's truck. While it warmed she went around and scraped off the ice on the windshield and other windows. Although I've never her seen her do this before--I always see him doing it--I was curious to watch how it played out. She went back inside the house, and when her husband walked out the door and smiled at his warm, ice-free truck, I smiled too.

That's love, I thought. I know my neighbor well enough to know she was doing something sweet, something romantic. Tomorrow is one of the most lovely days of the year. Sure, Christmas and Thanksgiving are great. But the one that's just sweet and thoughtful and reminds us to celebrate love? Valentine's Day wins. It's why I send out Valentine's Day cards instead of Christmas cards. I'm really not all that romantic, but Valentine's Day isn't just about romance, it's about telling people you love them.

As I watch Jules learn how to give us kisses, and see Sydney's attempts at teaching Jules how to hug, I am reminded that children aren't born knowing how to love.

They are born needy. They are born hungry. They are born crying. They aren't born loving you.

That's my job. To teach my girls how to love. We taught Sydney to say, "I love you," by saying it her to every day over and over. I taught Sydney to give me kisses, to snuggle next to me, to kiss my cheeks with her eyelashes. Now, on her own, she gives me unprompted hugs. She kisses me in the morning when she climbs into bed with me, throws her leg across my stomach, wraps her arms around my neck, tucks her head into my shoulder and whispers, "I love you, Mommy," before going back to sleep. It's one of the best parts of my day.

I love my children, and love teaching them how to love me back.

And I love my husband, who knows how to love me better and more than anyone. I don't have to prompt him to say "I love you." Don't have to ask for kisses. Occasionally have to hint for foot rubs. Still. He's nearly perfect.

Even a month and a half after our trip to Maine, my heart still warms at those memories. The Monday morning we drove from Camden to Logan Int'l Airport in Boston, it snowed and snowed and snowed. The roads were quiet, and Alicia Keyes' new album played in the CD player. I took out my camera, and captured a video of it just so that I could always watch it and remember that moment: my favorite song, with my favorite guy, giving me a smile as we drove away from one of the best weekends of my life.

(video 1:32)

I doubt anyone else will find the video as perfect as I do, shaky footage and all. On the surface it just looks like a trip down a snowy road, with music in the background. But to me, I watch it and smile because it looks and sounds like love might look. Yes. Just exactly like that.

Have a lovely Valentine's Day.

*****

(c) 2008 Creature Bug. All rights reserved.

One flu over the cuckoo's nest

It was bad enough that Jason had the flu.

But then Sydney got it.

And then Jules got it last night. Boy did she ever get. She got it all over me, many times. Even though I had my mind determined not to get the flu, even though I mentally said, "No flu! I'm stronger than this bug! My tummy is no place for a little bug. Go away! GO AWAY!" and then I drank some hot water and ate some carrots just to prove that I was healthy...I still got the flu. Maybe it was cleaning up all those germs (I washed my hands a million times, but I think it must have been airborne). Maybe I shouldn't have eaten those chocolate chips for lunch. That was probably the invitation that the flu bug was waiting for (because who can pass up chocolate?). Plus, I neglected to get a flu shot this year, even though I have been getting it for the past several years and it has kept me healthy. No reason for me not getting the flu shot, just didn't go in and have it done. I am a hearty believer in them despite the perilous warnings by some who say something along the lines that it's just a governmental scheme to insert tracking devices into our bloodstream and then when the time is right they'll allow the alien forces to invade.

Err...I guess maybe nobody says that. Except old reruns of X-Files.

So, yes, Jules and I are in recovery. Jason is mostly better. And Sydney's bout with the flu was only for a few hours. Today she was healthy enough to take care of her poor mama. She got me Sprite. She turned the lights off, pulled the curtains, and put a soft blanket on my pillow. She said, "I'll just watch a movie, Mama. And I'll be quiet while Jules is sleeping." She was. Sure, she did end up having a BOZ marathon, watching almost five hours worth (the teacher in me cringes), but we were in survival mode. Plus, she totally deserved a veg-out day considering that she wasn't feeling 100% anyway. We do what we have to do to make it through.

We have to because there's just TOO MUCH to do this week. Tomorrow we're meeting with our general contractor and designer for the new house we're building (far far into the future). Friday is Jules' birthday. Saturday a party. Sunday...surely something...oh yes, I'll have to go Christmas shopping because of course I haven't even started that. Too busy to be kept down with the flu. I'll even eat carrots for breakfast tomorrow if I have to.

On the upside, I suppose I am officially a 'mom' now that I've had to clean up after flu-infested children. I had a streak of three-and-a-half very good years, but all good things must come to an end. And all bad things must come to an end too.

As sweet Julianne would say to the flu bug: Bye bye!

(video: 27 seconds)

Merriment

It has been a holly, jolly week, even though the weekend hasn't actually been so jolly on account of illness. But I'm not sick, and I think my family is recovering, so let's celebrate.

::last Saturday::

(photo Timothy J. Gonzalez, Statesman Journal)

We went to the Festival of Lights parade here in town, and it was quite the thrill. Even though it was freezing (fa-reezing!!), it wasn't raining, so there were swarms of people along the parade route. In fact, I read in the newspaper that 100,000 people were there, which is a lot of people considering the city's population isn't even 150,000.

We were prepared with hot chocolate and bags of popcorn, as well as blankets (though not enough), and enjoyed the school bands the most. The pimped-out cars that had the fire exploding out the tailpipe was definitely too scary for our girl, although I think she'll remember it for the rest of her life.

::last Sunday::

As if Saturday wasn't exciting enough, we topped off the weekend with our church's Children's Christmas program. Last year, Sydney was so not into singing the songs and being on stage. This year we practiced. We did the hand motions in the car. We built it up to be THE event of the year, at which Grandma and Grandpa would be in attendance. You'd never think that little Miss Drama Queen me would have a child who is so anti-showing off, but our practice paid off and she did make it through the program with stamina and flair. I think it helped that she got to wear her new Christmas dress, which as it turned out was the same dress her friend Gabry wore.

She was pretty happy to see me in the audience (in this video you can see her tell her teacher, "There's my mom!"), but that pales in comparison to how happy I was to watch her. If there is one thing that Sydney loves doing, it's singing. And to see her overcome her fear of crowds and sing her heart out was a proud moment for Jason and me. If you happen to like watching kids sing, here's Sydney singing Who Was There That First Christmas Day?, and here she is singing Away in the Manger.

I love my girl. Especially when she's wearing little lamby ears and laying her head down for "the little Lord Jesus, asleep in the hay."

::last Tuesday::

Peppermint hot chocolate. Obvious merriment.

::last Wednesday::

Remember when I got together with some area bloggers? And I said I met a mom who loves to read? Well! She came over! To my house! With her adorable daughter Sawyer who had the grandest time playing with Sydney! Though you may not think it from my writing, I can be a bit of an introvert. But after talking to Rachel, and then later chatting with her at the library's bedtime storytime, I decided to be bold and invite her over. Of course, I'm so glad I did because we had a lovely afternoon talking about (as she said) everything but books. But we did trade books. And Sydney and Sawyer read books together. And Jules probably ate a book or two while we were all having fun. How about that. Thank you Rachel and Sawyer for a wonderful afternoon. Can't wait to get together again.

I love new friends, don't you?

::last Thursday::

Gave my students their final exam, and now have four weeks off for Christmas vacation. It's bittersweet because I do love teaching that class.

Also, I got my hair highlighted. The week before I got it cut short again, and so happy am I to have found a new hair stylist that I love. At the aforementioned blog party, Ona gave me Nikki's phone number along with a hearty recommendation, and so I made an appointment for a haircut. I was so smitten with her I had her do my eyebrows. And then she highlighted my hair. I think I've run out of things I can have her do, so now it's your turn, all you local girls. Nikki. Studio 554 on Ferry Street. I have her number and so does Ona.

::last Friday, aka last night::

Well, not to say that there's no more merriment going on, but it ran a bit short in the middle of Friday night, whereby I make a 9-1-1 call and find myself with a firetruck and ambulance in the driveway and paramedics in our bedroom tending to my poor sick hubby. That story, however, will have to wait until Monday.

Until then...

All 50 States

You have no idea how many times I have captured Sydney's 50-State song on my camera. Singing in her jammies. Singing in the dark. Singing it on a Monday. On a Tuesday during breakfast. On a Wednesday during lunch.

Here she is singing it on a Thursday. As in, this morning. (video length: 1:17)

She was getting ready to leave soon for Grandma and Grandpa's house, that's why she has her backpack on. And somewhere around the "M"s, Jules grabbed the camera. The conditions we directors have to work under! Maybe I should go on strike.

Especially when my actors can't stay focused on the task at hand: (video: 20 seconds)

But I know, it's hard work memorizing all those states. So much so that Sydney needed to do a warm up lap for practice. (video: 1:07)

I think we're about ready to take this show on the road. Maybe Fox will pick us up since "24" has been postponed. We could write an episode for each letter of the alphabet. I don't know if we could compete with "Gray's Anatomy," but it might be better than reruns of "Two and a Half Men."

Not exactly compelling television, but we find it highly entertaining around here.

Week 180: It isn't saving me energy

You dear people. You dear dear people. I'm just tickled that you are leaving your comments and raising money for a good cause! If you haven't yet left a comment, don't be shy. I know I get shy sometimes at blogs. Feel like maybe I'll write something goofy. But I hope you aren't feeling that way because if you are, clearly you are forgetting who you're dealing with here. I tell corny jokes to college students and eat chocolate chips for lunch. There's no such thing as too goofy.

I'm feeling a bit extra loopy today because of the time change. I know there was some sort of talk about this time change saving energy and whatever, but I'm not feeling extra energetic. Truthfully, I'm feeling rather less energetic because my girls are waking up at 7 am instead of their other leisurely wake-up time of 8 am. I need that hour. If I were a good person, following all the rules of "me time" and "mommy time" and "solitude," I'd get up at 7 and revel in my hour of me-ness. Yeah, maybe someday. But for now I'd rather sleep. And you know I need it because I didn't put it together until this weekend that my girls have been sleeping in until 8 since last spring when the clocks did their spring forward business. Essentially they wake up at the same time, but the government is messing with me and this clock stuff. I really need to move to Hawaii where they don't adjust their clocks (and have nice weather and palm trees).

So, because I'm exhausted and can't manage to finish the post that I've been working on for a week, I'll just leave you with a video of Jules walking around in her new shoes. (video: 57 seconds)

Week 179: The Howl

Part One:

(video length: 1:41) (beware: it's loud)

Ever since Sydney was old enough to make sounds, she was old enough to antagonize Daisy. No one had to teach her that she had some strange power over the dog; she just felt it instinctively, in her little tiny baby bones. For the past few years, I have had to endure the insanity that ensues from the Howl. Sydney especially loves to get Daisy going when I am on the phone. Naturally.

It was, of course, par for the course that Jules learned that she too could influence our beloved pet. She starts howling, Daisy starts howling, and then Sydney starts howling. When one of the girls pauses a moment to catch her breath, the other one picks up stronger and louder to fill in the gap. It's like a little choir. Orchestrated by Edvard Munch.

Today's Howl-fest was no different than other days, except that I was able to distract Sydney from her task by getting her to sing Stage Two of her US state song (Stage One here). Even though there are days when the last thing I want to hear is two kids and dog making more noise than an angst-filled teen band, today I wasn't trying to hurry them to go somewhere, wasn't trying to talk to somebody on the phone, wasn't paying bills at the computer. In short, I wasn't trying to get anything accomplished. Which means that I can handle quite a bit more than the usual fare.

As part of the Halloween festivities, I'm doing a 3-part blog post. Today you get The Howl. Tomorrow, you'll get an even more terrifying sound. Stay tuned.

Proof

In case you didn't believe me when I wrote about Julianne walking at a mere nine months, today I offer you proof. (video: 23 seconds)

It's not particularly in focus, but that's because she kept moving towards me. Who is this child walking at nine months, with eight teeth, and saying "mama," "dada," and "Daisy"? Part of me wants to say Slow Down! except that I really am not so fond of the pre-two years old stage. Yeah, yeah, cute and amazing and discovering things. Babies are neat. I know. But truthfully, I really want to give her a bowl of cereal, a spoon, and drink my mug of tea while it's still hot. Big dreams.

And in complete fairness, I present a video of Sydney singing a song that Jason is working on teaching her. (video: 37 seconds)

We'll call this video "Stage One," because as of today she has already moved on to "Stage Two," which includes the M's. Jason somehow got it into his head that it would be amazing if Sydney knew all 50 states. In alphabetical order. That it would make a really good impression on her kindergarten teacher (in two years), a teacher who will no doubt not know her 50 states in order, and realize very quickly what kind of demented parents this kid has. Let me take a moment to say here that I personally do not know all 50 states in alphabetical order. Clearly, I missed this day in school, and it has caused me nothing but pain and misery ever since, especially that day in American History my junior year in high school where we had to list all 50 states and I couldn't. If only I had been sitting behind Jason (instead of in front of him), I could have cheated off his quiz. Not that I was a cheater in school, of course.

Now that Jason has taken Sydney under his wing, I have to learn the song too in order to keep up. Just today I was trying to sing through the song and paused before "Kansas," trying to remember if it was "Kansas" or "Kentucky" first. Sydney quickly provided the answer. "Kansas, Kentucky, Wheezy-anna, Maine."

Forget being smarter than a fifth grader, I'm just trying to keep up with my three year old.

PS: If you're in the video watching mood, you really ought to check out this video of my brother's dog who is a genius at breaking out of their fenced yard.

Avast, me hearties!

We land lubbers are full o'the pirate spirit today beings as it's Talk Like a Pirate Day. There's even a song we've been humming:

I'm a pirate! That I be!
I sail me ship upon the sea!
I stay up late - till half past three!
And that's a peg below me knee!

Aye!

If you're a local scallywag who can't get enough of the pirate life, there's always the Portland Pirate Festival going on this weekend. Arrr! We might just be there. Parrots and pirates and swashbuckling, oh my!

Out of the mouths of babes

No matter what, this I know: some things are true. My sweet Sydney, may you find truth in your life. When you find it, hold it, hide it, and remember it when the difficulties of life press upon you.

You are loved.

You are loved.

Precisely

Reading books,
fixing mac-n-cheese,
making chocolate milk,
finding the favorite blanket in the middle of the night.

Wearing the purple clip in my hair to the library,
singing Amazing Grace as a lullaby,
knowing how to fix curly hair,
smooshing the playdough between my fingers.

Administering medicine,
applying bandaids,
kissing owies,
sending to time-out.

Tieing shoelaces,
snapping seat belts,
playing hide-and-seek,
taking naps in the middle of the day.

Loving unconditionally,
practicing patience,
modeling compassion,
living a life dedicated to God.

It's part of being a mom.

I'm a mom because of Sydney and Jules. My girls.

Happy Mother's Day!

(This post inspired by the writing prompt at Parent Bloggers Network and Light Iris. If you can squeak in a post today (Friday), send them the link to be entered to win a spa gc. Mmmm...spa day...lovely.)

Singing along

Yes indeed my dear Sydney, it's hard to concentrate on the ABC's when you're distracted by all that cuteness. Also, I hate to break it to you but Jules' birthday is still eight months away. It's okay. I'm sure she doesn't mind.

(As a sidenote to Ceylan, Sydney LOVES these ostrich pajamas that you gave her. She wants to wear them EVERY day. I told her once that her jammies were from Turkey and she said, "No, Ostrich!" Oh well.)

Length - 1:13

Who Do You Love

Twenty seconds of dance love.

And yes, we pretty much all dance like that around here. Who needs to watch real tv when we can just use it as a mirror to watch ourselves?