An Update

Here's my update:  there's nothing to update you about.  You can stop reading now.

February was ... snowy and slow.  We did a whole lot of nothing, with occasional somethings thrown in, and tried to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.  I found that I enjoyed myself very little, which is probably about as much as was my possible.  Being sick for 7 weeks isn't the coolest thing I've ever done.  Fortunately, no one else got sick, and they enjoyed themselves a bunch more than I did.

Of our occasional somethings, here's a short report:

Avatar

We finally went and saw Avatar.  We were probably the last people on the planet to do so.  Rob and I went with 2 other couples, and none of us were true movie-watchers, except Rob, who has had to stifle his movie-watching-desires because he's married to me and I get all snippy when he watches too many movies.  (Seriously, I start cussing and everything.  It's not pretty.)  So it makes sense that the only person who really liked it was Rob.  The rest of us were pretty lukewarm about it.  Great visuals, beautiful scenery, but not a great movie.  And did they have to steal some of the fantastic visuals from Fern Gully?  That part really annoyed me.

No, we didn't watch it in 3D.  No, I don't intend to.  Rob feels like he's missed out, but his schedule is so booked these days that he doesn't have time to go watch it again anyways.

Maple Syrup

Two weeks ago Saturday we went to a local park and learned all about tapping sugar maples and turning the sap into maple syrup.  It was fascinating!  Things I didn't know:

1 - It's so primitive.  The process essentially hasn't changed since the Native Americans were doing it.  Drill a hole in a tree, put a tap in, put a bucket underneath it, and wait.  In fact, it's so easy that our friends who went with us tapped the maple trees in their back yard.  Check it out!

2 - Maple sap comes out of the tree clear.  It tastes like funky water.

3 - The boiling process is what turns it dark.  They have to boil the sap for 24 hours.  And it's a 40 to 1 ratio!  40 gallons of sap gives you 1 gallon of syrup.  Hardly seems worth it.

4 - You can tap any tree.  Sugar maples have the highest sugar concentration, that's why those are the ones that get tapped.

5 - Only North America has maple trees.

Oh, there were more fun things about it.  I didn't expect to have that much fun, honestly, but it was great.

And that's about all of our somethings.  On to people.

Teancom

Still adorable.  We've instituted new rules about movies and eating in the living room, in an effort to get him to both eat less snacks and watch less movies.  I mean, I know I'm the boss, but I thought the rule would make it so he'd WANT to do both less.  And I'm a genius, because it's been working great.

Also helping:  it's warming up!  Today I have the windows partially open to let some air in, and the kids have been LOVING playing outside.

Oh!  A story about playing outside.  It's muddy, right?  Cause that's what pre-Spring is all about.  Yesterday the kids were playing outside, and I knew they would be covered in mud.  I'd prepared myself for that.  But when I looked out, I saw the swing set painted in mud, too.  Plus, Elijah had taken the shovel and dug out about 4 inches of mud from right under the swing!

I was ticked.  Some time later I was trying to remember how my mom stayed so calm at moments like that, but then again, I don't remember ever shoveling in the middle of the lawn.  So I wasn't calm at the moment.  I wasn't flying off the handle, but I wasn't cool and collected, either.  I made all the kids clean off the swing set, then strip down and take showers.  Then they were grounded to their rooms until Rob came home, about an hour later.  My cute kids, they obeyed beautifully and didn't complain at all. They must have heard my "don't mess" tone.

Elijah

Elijah's a nice kid.  It's almost his birthday and he's so excited!  He planned a whole list of people to invite and then was very disappointed when I told him that this isn't a year for a party.  We're going to celebrate, but it'll be a small celebration.

He's starting to sound out words on his own when he writes, which is super cute.  He's rarely right, but it's awesome that he's doing it.

I was thinking about how grateful Elijah is for things.  Certainly not a trait that I remember having as a kid.  I'll put away his clothes and later, when he notices, he'll say, "Oh, thank you for putting my clothes away, Mom."  ...  I remember thinking that my Mom was my slave and it was about TIME that she put my clothes away.

And Elijah is still saying funny things.  Often he's got great insights, too, and as his mom, it's really neat to see how his mind works.  Today Elijah said, "Mom?  Do fish have eye brows?"  Not insightful, of course, but funny.  Having kids is great.

Miciah

Miciah is doing really good at piano.  She loves it, even though practicing isn't her most favorite thing.  When she does practice, though, she's very thorough and she'll practice a song until she's got it DOWN.  I don't remember being that dedicated.  In fact, I'm sure I wasn't.  It goes against my motto:  Good enough is good enough.

She's also doing great at school.  She loves school, and that makes everyone's life easier.  The other day I teased her that she wasn't going to pass 2nd grade and that she'd have to go live with her teacher all summer so her teacher could test her and make sure she was ready for 3rd grade.  I thought it'd be so obviously a lie that we'd all laugh about it, but it made Miciah cry.  That's what a great Mom I am.  It made me feel like Rob when he says, "I was trying to be funny.  Obviously it didn't work."

Tamra

Being sick has kind of been my life calling for a while.  Gladly, I had nothing else planned, so being sick didn't really slow down my life.  In fact, it gave me a good excuse to sit on the couch and watch the Olympics for 2 weeks straight.

I hurt my knee playing soccer, which is also fun.  I'm going to go see a doctor about it next week, which should tell you how much pain I was in, since I despise going to the doctor.  I'm also going to voluntarily sit out of soccer for about a month and a half to let my knee rest, and I only do that when I'm about ready to die.  I love soccer.

It's good timing to take off, though.  Rob will be so busy with his class in April.  Which brings us to ...

Rob

Semi-depressed Rob has turned into mostly happy Rob, and that's been a blessing for our family.  Him securing a job with a nice boss has been a huge boost.  This new boss, her name is Edith, she's really great.  After working with someone who treats Rob (and everyone else) not so nicely, it's a relief to hear about some of the conversations that Rob has with her.  She works hard and is a top-notch scientist, but she's also fun, approachable, family-oriented, and down-to-earth.

For instance, Rob went and asked her about a particular procedure he was doing, to make sure he was doing it right, and just to be silly she consulted her Magic 8 Ball.  That's awesome!

She also is going to buy Rob a computer that he can use at the lab, so we can let his laptop die without worrying too much about it.  She'll be purchasing Rob a Mac, which I'm sure will make you Mac-lovers happy.

Rob will start with Edith "officially" on June 15th, even though he won't fully be going into her lab until July 5th.  It's to get around some technicalities so Rob can get the raise he is supposed to get.

The Future

And here's the segment where I tell the future.  Brace yourselves.

For Spring Break I'm going to take the kids and visit a friend in Pittsburg.  I told her 2 years ago that we'd come, so it's about time we actually did.  Then we'll go see Rob's family for a few more days, so we can be out of Rob's hair because ...

April is going to be nasty and crazy-busy.  We're already preparing for it.  Rob swears he will never double up on classes again.  May should be lay-in-the-sun slow comparatively.  At the very end of May a friend is coming to visit and we're going to go show her Mammoth Cave.  We're going to do the Lantern Tour, which I've never done but always wanted to.  You do the whole tour by lantern light!  I'm super excited!

June will also be fun because Rob will be teaching no extra classes, and because my Mom and Grandpa are coming in town.  There's a wedding and a family reunion.

And at the very end of June my mother and I are leaving for California, and visiting various National Parks along the way, including Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon.  I will stay in California all July because Rob will be so insanely busy.  He'll be teaching 6 hours a night, 4 nights a week, and working at the lab during the day.  This means that, if I were to stay here, I'd see him on Friday nights and the weekends.  Not worth it.  California here I come!

We will also make a stop in Utah to see everyone, probably in early - mid August, on our way back home (we have no set return date).  I'm trying to convince Rob to fly in to SLC and be with us for the end of the trip.  This would save my sanity, since that's the part of the trip where I fell apart last time.  I am thinking this trip will be MUCH easier though, and with or without Rob, I plan on not falling apart at all.  We'll see.

I'm game for all sorts of things while we're in CA.  If you want to get together, let me know! 

Then it will be Fall and I can't see that far into the future.

...  I have a few pictures to post.  I'll do that in a few minutes.