For Elijah's Birthday-at-School-Treat, we bought Airheads; that's what he wanted. We bought a lot of them. 76 in the box, I think. That left us with about 50 to go through, and, happily, we're almost out.
Anyways, a few days ago right after school he asked if he could have an Airhead. I said yes. He then asked if he could eat it out in the front yard. Again I said yes. He walked out the front door and all was quiet for a few minutes.
Then he walked in the door and said, "Mom, my Airhead got stolen."
"What? How?"
He went into a story about how Jason, a kid down the street who is apparently something of a mini-bully, took it from him. Miciah confirmed Jason's mini-bully status.
"How did he steal it?" I asked.
"He just took it."
"Out of your hand?"
"Yeah."
I just stared at Elijah, wondering why he let this kid take an Airhead out of his hand. I mean, Elijah is often a softie, but he doesn't tolerate things like that. But, whatever. I guess anyone can momentarily be convinced to do things out of character.
Elijah asked if he could have another Airhead, and I said yes, but that next time he shouldn't let someone take his candy out of his hands. Elijah nodded. He walked across the living room to get his piece of candy, and then, as an afterthought, said, "Oh. I found this quarter on the driveway."
... I was telling this story to Rob and right here I paused. Because, if you have kids and/or you're a skeptic, you already know what really happened. So I waited for Rob to tell me the real end of the story, but he just looked at me wide-eyed as if to say, "Okay, he found a quarter. What next?" First off, would I be telling the story if he had really found the quarter? No. Cute, cute Rob. So trusting and pure. And now back to the story. ...
I looked at Elijah with that "Yeah, right" expression. Elijah dropped his head just a little. I said, "You didn't find that quarter. You sold your Airhead." No one said anything. Not even Miciah, our family commentator. I continued, "You did, didn't you?" Elijah nodded.
This wasn't a super huge deal, really. He had an Airhead and then he sold it, end of story. But what cracked me up is what he asked next:
"Can I still have another Airhead?"
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The Answer to the Riddle that is Tank
Tank got a sliver in his finger. This is not a story worth telling, so I'll spare you any "I have to tell you this awesome story about my kid" details, because that just gets into Gag Me Territory.
What WAS interesting is that I have figured out why Tank has to hold his ear with one hand while he's sucking his fingers on the other hand. How did I figure it out? He told me. Rob was taking the sliver out of his finger, and I was holding Tank's other hand, just in case he tried to grab at the sliver-finger. It became obvious that Tank wasn't going to grab at his finger, and he said, "I want to suck on my fingers." No problem. I let go of the hand I was holding and told him to go ahead. After a few seconds of sucking on his fingers, he said that he was having trouble because he needed to check if his ears were cold.
Did you catch that? That's why he has to hold his ear: To check if his ears are cold. That's the cutest, most ridiculous thing I've heard EVER (possibly).
The funny thing, to me, was that he wouldn't suck on his fingers at all if he couldn't grab his ear also. What a weird child.
Also, he's phenomenally cute and tells me, out of the blue, that he loves me and gives me hugs that make me want to melt into his tiny arms. (And here we are in Gag Me Territory, once again. Welcome back.)
Also, he's over-the-top whiny lately. So whiny that multiple times a day we just put him in his bed instead of listening to him scream while kicking and thrashing on the floor. Right in front of us. (There you go. Back from Gag Me Territory: Reality Land reached.) ... Someday this phase will pass.
What WAS interesting is that I have figured out why Tank has to hold his ear with one hand while he's sucking his fingers on the other hand. How did I figure it out? He told me. Rob was taking the sliver out of his finger, and I was holding Tank's other hand, just in case he tried to grab at the sliver-finger. It became obvious that Tank wasn't going to grab at his finger, and he said, "I want to suck on my fingers." No problem. I let go of the hand I was holding and told him to go ahead. After a few seconds of sucking on his fingers, he said that he was having trouble because he needed to check if his ears were cold.
Did you catch that? That's why he has to hold his ear: To check if his ears are cold. That's the cutest, most ridiculous thing I've heard EVER (possibly).
The funny thing, to me, was that he wouldn't suck on his fingers at all if he couldn't grab his ear also. What a weird child.
Also, he's phenomenally cute and tells me, out of the blue, that he loves me and gives me hugs that make me want to melt into his tiny arms. (And here we are in Gag Me Territory, once again. Welcome back.)
Also, he's over-the-top whiny lately. So whiny that multiple times a day we just put him in his bed instead of listening to him scream while kicking and thrashing on the floor. Right in front of us. (There you go. Back from Gag Me Territory: Reality Land reached.) ... Someday this phase will pass.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Pittsburgh, PA - Day 2
Bike Rodeo
Every year the local Pittsburgh area police department and EMT puts on a bike rodeo, and we just happened to come on the weekend it was happening, and so we brought the kids' bikes with us on the trip.
What a great idea, this rodeo. They safety checked the bikes, and gave all the kids free helmets, adjusted correctly by the EMTs. There was also a free raffle for a new bike (they gave away 4 bikes), and Elizabeth won! ... Elijah was VERY disappointed that he didn't win the cool green boys' bike. In an act more Miciah-ish than Elijah-ish, he cried and sulked for about 15 minutes. Then he was over it.
I thought the kids would get bored relatively quickly, but they rode around the parking lot obstacle course for over 2 hours!
By the end, Miciah was noticeably better at riding her bike (remember, she's only been riding without training wheels for a few weeks, which really only equals a few hours total riding time). She was also noticeably sunburned.
Of course, what did Tank do most of the time?
He's an observer. Though he enjoyed riding the course as well. He just didn't have the 2-hour stamina like the older kids did. (I took lots of pictures of him sucking his fingers, watching the other kids. When he's older I'd like him to realize just how often he sucked those fingers.)
As we were driving back to Aliess' house, Elijah asked if we could come back to the Bike Rodeo next year. It was that cool.
Downtown Pittsburgh and the Incline
My friend had told me that downtown Pittsburgh had been voted one of the prettiest skylines in the world. I was skeptical. I mean, I'm fond of Cincinnati's skyline. Was Pittsburgh really that much better? The answer is yes.
I wish I could have found a historic picture of Pittsburgh, when the steel factories were still downtown. There were shots of downtown, pitch black, and the captions said, "Pittsburgh, 3:00 p.m." or "Noon." Craziness.
Fun for me: Pittsburgh still has 2 working inclines. Cincinnati used to have a few inclines, but they've all been torn down. I've always been sad that I couldn't see them in action, so I was thrilled to ride the Duschene Incline in Pittsburgh, instead. This is a great fuzzy picture of the group of us riding the Incline:
I like to think of the shot as "modern" and "edgy."
Our family at the top:
It was, umm, bright. Further proof of the brightness:
Pittsburgh also, by the way, has more bridges than any other city in the world. FYI.
I took this picture of downtown Pittsburgh with the Incline in front:
There are about 50 different versions of this exact shot. Seriously, if you google image Pittsburgh, this shot will be one of the first you'll find.
It's hard to demonstrate how steep the Incline really is. That hill is STEEP. There used to be stairs that went from the bottom to the top. And don't be thinking stairs that went straight up the hill. There was a historic picture, and those stairs wound all over the place. Crazy. I might have walked up those stairs once, but I wouldn't have done it twice.
Oh! Another REALLY cool thing about downtown Pittsburgh is that where the tip is, 2 rivers come together to form the Ohio. Did you know that the Ohio River starts in Pittsburgh? Neither did I. Here's the 2 rivers coming together:
The two colors stay separate for quite a while. Not as dramatic as the Amazon's 2 rivers coming together:
But still, very cool.
So, thank you, downtown Pittsburgh, for being gorgeous. No thank you, Pittsburgh-area roads, for being puke-ish and awful. And thank you, Aliess, for letting us come visit.
Every year the local Pittsburgh area police department and EMT puts on a bike rodeo, and we just happened to come on the weekend it was happening, and so we brought the kids' bikes with us on the trip.
What a great idea, this rodeo. They safety checked the bikes, and gave all the kids free helmets, adjusted correctly by the EMTs. There was also a free raffle for a new bike (they gave away 4 bikes), and Elizabeth won! ... Elijah was VERY disappointed that he didn't win the cool green boys' bike. In an act more Miciah-ish than Elijah-ish, he cried and sulked for about 15 minutes. Then he was over it.
I thought the kids would get bored relatively quickly, but they rode around the parking lot obstacle course for over 2 hours!
By the end, Miciah was noticeably better at riding her bike (remember, she's only been riding without training wheels for a few weeks, which really only equals a few hours total riding time). She was also noticeably sunburned.
Of course, what did Tank do most of the time?
He's an observer. Though he enjoyed riding the course as well. He just didn't have the 2-hour stamina like the older kids did. (I took lots of pictures of him sucking his fingers, watching the other kids. When he's older I'd like him to realize just how often he sucked those fingers.)
As we were driving back to Aliess' house, Elijah asked if we could come back to the Bike Rodeo next year. It was that cool.
Downtown Pittsburgh and the Incline
My friend had told me that downtown Pittsburgh had been voted one of the prettiest skylines in the world. I was skeptical. I mean, I'm fond of Cincinnati's skyline. Was Pittsburgh really that much better? The answer is yes.
I wish I could have found a historic picture of Pittsburgh, when the steel factories were still downtown. There were shots of downtown, pitch black, and the captions said, "Pittsburgh, 3:00 p.m." or "Noon." Craziness.
Fun for me: Pittsburgh still has 2 working inclines. Cincinnati used to have a few inclines, but they've all been torn down. I've always been sad that I couldn't see them in action, so I was thrilled to ride the Duschene Incline in Pittsburgh, instead. This is a great fuzzy picture of the group of us riding the Incline:
I like to think of the shot as "modern" and "edgy."
Our family at the top:
It was, umm, bright. Further proof of the brightness:
Pittsburgh also, by the way, has more bridges than any other city in the world. FYI.
I took this picture of downtown Pittsburgh with the Incline in front:
There are about 50 different versions of this exact shot. Seriously, if you google image Pittsburgh, this shot will be one of the first you'll find.
It's hard to demonstrate how steep the Incline really is. That hill is STEEP. There used to be stairs that went from the bottom to the top. And don't be thinking stairs that went straight up the hill. There was a historic picture, and those stairs wound all over the place. Crazy. I might have walked up those stairs once, but I wouldn't have done it twice.
Oh! Another REALLY cool thing about downtown Pittsburgh is that where the tip is, 2 rivers come together to form the Ohio. Did you know that the Ohio River starts in Pittsburgh? Neither did I. Here's the 2 rivers coming together:
So, thank you, downtown Pittsburgh, for being gorgeous. No thank you, Pittsburgh-area roads, for being puke-ish and awful. And thank you, Aliess, for letting us come visit.
This Close
My brother asked how close Miciah got to the top. It's not a great picture, but this is how close she got:
So, what, a body length away? She was just really, really tired by that point. She'd made it the whole length of the way maybe 10 times, just not all at the same time.
So, what, a body length away? She was just really, really tired by that point. She'd made it the whole length of the way maybe 10 times, just not all at the same time.
Pittsburgh, PA - Day 1
Some good friends of ours moved to Pittsburgh 2 years ago (3 years ago? Sheesh), and we told them that we'd visit. We finally made good on that promise this last weekend. We're super prompt like that.
A few days before we left, I was reading Calvin and Hobbes and found this strip:
If I lived in Pittsburgh, I would frame that strip and keep it on my wall.
The Trip
The drive wasn't as long as I anticipated, and it was gorgeous. Trees, hills, and purple wildflowers the whole way. Our only snafu: forgetting the cell phone. Brilliant. By the time we noticed, we were about an hour out. We weren't turning back. Fortunately Aliess isn't a worrier, so she wasn't too freaked out by not hearing from us. ... Made me think of the days when we used to routinely travel without cell phones. Do you remember those days? ... You know, 10 years ago.
Day 1 - Children's Festival
On Friday we went to a Children's Festival on or near Carnegie Melon and that other Pittsburgh university's (Pitt?) grounds. (I didn't know that Andrew Carnegie was from Pittsburgh, though I should have put that together. His buildings, the library, etc., are GORGEOUS.) The kids had a great time. Re-cap in pictures:
They got to pet this dog:
They took pictures with this book character (can you guess who it is?):
It's Junie B. Jones. Not that you can tell.
They got to do a climbing wall:
Elijah got all the way to the top!:
Here's a perspective on how high up he was:
Elijah was so determined to get to the top. This shamed Miciah, who gave up about 5 times during her climb. She decided that she couldn't let her younger brother show her up, so she tried again. Here she is, looking like Spider-Man:
(That building is cool, right? It's the Cathedral of Learning.) But she didn't make it to the top. Have to post her final Giving Up face:
Classic.
Then the kids got their faces painted. Elijah, shockingly, wanted a koala bear. This is what he got:
It looks like a pale Mickey Mouse. (The picture is so green because they were under a green-roofed tent.)
Teancom loved his dragon. He spent 5 minutes checking himself out in the mirror:
And Miciah was NOT happy with her butterfly (even though she looks gorgeous in this picture):
Why? Because this is the butterfly her friend, Elizabeth got:
Disappointing for Miciah, right? As a consolation prize, I told Miciah that her Aunt Corene could paint her face when we got home. Corene is talented. When I was a kid she did a dragon on my cheek and then the fire went across the bridge of my nose to the other cheek.
Then we rode the Carousel, ate some lunch, and went back to Aliess' house. By the end of the day we all were sunned out. But it was fun.
Day 2 coming up.
A few days before we left, I was reading Calvin and Hobbes and found this strip:
If I lived in Pittsburgh, I would frame that strip and keep it on my wall.
The Trip
The drive wasn't as long as I anticipated, and it was gorgeous. Trees, hills, and purple wildflowers the whole way. Our only snafu: forgetting the cell phone. Brilliant. By the time we noticed, we were about an hour out. We weren't turning back. Fortunately Aliess isn't a worrier, so she wasn't too freaked out by not hearing from us. ... Made me think of the days when we used to routinely travel without cell phones. Do you remember those days? ... You know, 10 years ago.
Day 1 - Children's Festival
On Friday we went to a Children's Festival on or near Carnegie Melon and that other Pittsburgh university's (Pitt?) grounds. (I didn't know that Andrew Carnegie was from Pittsburgh, though I should have put that together. His buildings, the library, etc., are GORGEOUS.) The kids had a great time. Re-cap in pictures:
They got to pet this dog:
They took pictures with this book character (can you guess who it is?):
It's Junie B. Jones. Not that you can tell.
They got to do a climbing wall:
Elijah got all the way to the top!:
Here's a perspective on how high up he was:
Elijah was so determined to get to the top. This shamed Miciah, who gave up about 5 times during her climb. She decided that she couldn't let her younger brother show her up, so she tried again. Here she is, looking like Spider-Man:
(That building is cool, right? It's the Cathedral of Learning.) But she didn't make it to the top. Have to post her final Giving Up face:
Then the kids got their faces painted. Elijah, shockingly, wanted a koala bear. This is what he got:
It looks like a pale Mickey Mouse. (The picture is so green because they were under a green-roofed tent.)
Teancom loved his dragon. He spent 5 minutes checking himself out in the mirror:
And Miciah was NOT happy with her butterfly (even though she looks gorgeous in this picture):
Why? Because this is the butterfly her friend, Elizabeth got:
Disappointing for Miciah, right? As a consolation prize, I told Miciah that her Aunt Corene could paint her face when we got home. Corene is talented. When I was a kid she did a dragon on my cheek and then the fire went across the bridge of my nose to the other cheek.
Then we rode the Carousel, ate some lunch, and went back to Aliess' house. By the end of the day we all were sunned out. But it was fun.
Day 2 coming up.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
An Update - No Stress Involved
Believe it or not, we have been involved in things other than just taking strolls through Stressland. I'm going to take a moment and report on those things.
The House
Tomorrow we are closing on our refinance! When we bought this house, we acquired 2 lousy loans. We knew they were lousy at the time, but I'm not sure we realized just HOW lousy. ... Anyway, the interest rates are low right now, and one of our 2 lousy loans will go variable in November, so we thought that now would be a good time to try to refinance.
The trick, of course, was to get our house to appraise for something manageable. Because our 2 loans were lousy, we've essentially paid off nothing in 5 years. Which is ... depressing. And since we've paid off nothing, and the housing market has dropped since we bought the house, it was nowhere close to a sure bet that the house would appraise for what we needed it to appraise for. ... So we painted a little. Made things look a little nicer. And then prayed and hoped for the best.
And our house appraised $2,000 higher than we needed! Hurray! We passed the other tests, the credit scores and background checks and drug histories and Algebra tests. ... Tomorrow we sign our lives away AGAIN, but at least we'll be paying off the house. Which is something we haven't done before.
Rob's Calling
Last weekend Rob was released from the Bishopric. This has been coming for a while, and Rob and I knew it. Rob has been pretty unavailable to the Bishop, since he's been working Tuesday nights since August 2009 (Tuesday is Bishopric meeting night), and is going to be working them through December 2010.
A month or two back, Rob came home from a Sunday afternoon Bishopric meeting and said, "Today we discussed the fact that it's time to release Brother E. as Ward Mission Leader." Okay. "Tim kind of half-jokingly mentioned my name." And then it hit me. It was sure knowledge. I said, "Rob, that's your new calling." Rob said, "Yeah, I was thinking that, too." "So, did you tell the Bishop that? Did you tell him that's your new calling?" Rob said something to me about how it's not really his decision, but that he had hinted to the Bishop that he would be willing, if that call was issued.
A week or two later Bishop Tim called me for something unrelated. We're good friends, and so when he finished talking about the unrelated subject, I said, "Tim, the calling you discussed a few weeks ago, you know that's Rob's new calling." "What calling are you talking about?" he said. As if he didn't know. I told him that Rob and I both knew that Rob was supposed to be the new Ward Mission Leader, and that I thought Tim knew, too. Tim said, "Tamra, it's going to be a busy calling. Busier than the Bishopric." And I shrugged and said, "When the Lord says "go and do," you do it."
Rob's excited about the new calling, and I'm excited that he gets to sit with us at church again! The kids are also way excited about that. Miciah shouted, "FINALLY!" I guess 2 years is a long time.
Also, Rob will be able to grow his beard again. ... Actually, I haven't okayed that with Tim yet. But if he doesn't okay at least SOME beard time, he's going to have a fight on his hands.
Family Campout
The last of our Friday Family Nights in April was a family campout in the backyard. It was a perfect night for camping, but Rob said, "It's supposed to storm." I thought, "Whatever. It's gorgeous!"
Here's our backyard set up:
Notice the log on the fire. It's bigger than our fire pit!
Elijah brought it over to the fire pit all by himself, rolling it end-over-end. So we had to burn it. It burned for 6 hours.
Here's the kids, calmly getting ready for bed:
And, of course, it stormed in the middle of the night. Starting about midnight it got gusty, but not awful. Then, around 3 am it started getting REALLY gusty. And at 6 am it started pouring down rain! We ran with the kids, and all the bedding, into the house. The kids finished the morning in sleeping bags on the living room floor. And I took a nap later that day to make up for not sleeping much from 3 - 6:30 am.
Miciah
marathon
Miciah ran the Kids' Flying Pig Marathon last weekend, for the 2nd year in a row. They run 25 miles in the months coming up to the race, and then do the last mile at the marathon. It was a little weird this time, because the day of the Flying Pig was when Miciah broke her arm. Hard to believe it was a year ago. Miciah will still not jump off the swings (can you blame her?), but Elijah will! We'll tell Elijah to be careful (whatever. Like we were careful as kids), and that Miciah broke her arm that way, and he'll come back at us with, "Yeah, but I didn't break my arm." Good point.
bike
Miciah has officially learned to ride a 2-wheeler bike! She wouldn't try for a long time because she was scared. She is definitely like me: not a daredevil. It may surprise you to hear that, since I was a tomboy, but I am not, and have never been an adrenaline junkie. Danger is for idiots, i.e. boys.
Shortly after learning to ride without training wheels, she rode her bike into the dust. It was a beat-up, er, well-loved hand-me-down bike (thank you SO MUCH, Chiara!) that was really too small for her this year anyway. So we bought her a new bike.
bedroom
Also, we rearranged Miciah's room last night. I've been frustrated with her room because it's always a mess, and that's partly my fault. Her room has been 1/2 her room and 1/2 my room (it's a woodworking room turned craft room turned bedroom). I decided it was time to change that. So we moved her bed, gave her more wall space and another bookshelf. Gave her the shoe bin so she could organize her shoes (she has lots of hand-me-down shoes) (and now we have no shoe bin upstairs. But it's worth it). Put up permanent hooks so she can hang up her jackets and hats. And then cleaned.
And cleaned.
And cleaned.
About a million times she said, "Oh! THAT'S where that was!" Socks. Toys. Papers. Books. It was pathetic.
But it looks great now and I'm so happy with it!
(If you're thinking, "It doesn't actually look that great," then you obviously didn't see it before. I'm sorry I don't have a Before picture for you. Suffice it to say that I felt like throwing up every time I entered her room. And no, that's not an exaggeration.)
Elijah
reading
Elijah is reading. I'm still not sure when you can say a kid is officially Reading, but he's doing really good, so I'm going to call it official.
wii
He also is very proud of himself because he beat New Super Mario Brothers wii. He did the last level all by himself because Miciah and Tank wouldn't help him. They get scared and bubble (which means they're just along for the ride, and don't help). He's been telling everyone he can all about it.
He also frequently gets grounded from the wii because he throws fits when I ask him to turn it off, etc. Surprisingly, he doesn't complain about not playing while he's grounded.
Jesus stories
A funny story about Elijah. He was at Pen's house with Tank. The 3 of them were dancing in the dust specks that you can see in the sun, when suddenly Elijah said, "Wait, guys! The dust is good. It's faith. It's Jesus."
He's been really into Jesus lately, which is great, but can get a little weird. He'll say funny things about what Jesus is or where he is or whatever. ... But sometimes he's so in touch with the goodness that is Jesus Christ, and it's inspiring to me. He went to a Primary activity focused on Jesus Christ and prophets and when he came home I said, "Did you like the activity, Elijah?" He said, in an awe-filled voice, "I LOVED it. We learned about Jesus Christ."
His latest question about Jesus Christ is, "How can he be alive if he died? And how is he alive if he's in Heaven?" Good, good questions. Most people, after all, are dead when they die, and if they're in Heaven, that means they're dead, too. I'm glad he's asking the questions.
Tank
Tank is ... grumpy lately. And hasn't been eating much of anything. I don't know what that's about, but whatever.
bike
He graduated to a new bike at the same time Miciah did. He only had a little trike (also a hand-me-down. Thank you, generous people who love us!), and he was too big for it, but we were pretending not to notice. But when we went to the store to get Miciah her new bike, he saw a bike just his size and Rob let him ride it in the store. Which means you have to buy it. Is there a parent who lets their kid ride the bike at the store and then walks out of said store without said bike? Tank kept saying, "Look! I can ride it!" "It fits me!" and "Look at me ride my bike!"
It was late when we got home, so the next morning he got up and said, "Put on my shoes, Mom. I'm ready to ride my bike!" He loves it.
Oh. If you're wondering how it worked to take 3 kids to the store and give 2 kids a bike, ... At the store Elijah said, "What do I get?" I told him that he didn't need a bike, and that's true. He has a great little bike that fits him perfectly. He was okay with not getting a bike. He proposed getting a $25 Hot Wheels set instead. I said no. Then I saw a bubble wand for the perfect price of $1. I said, "What about this bubble wand?!" And Elijah was thrilled. Love the boy. He really doesn't keep tally. If it had been 6-year-old Miciah walking out without a bike, we would have had a MAJOR fit on our hands.
Rob is Home!
Rob came home last night to find 3 hyper-excited children. They jumped all over him and talked non-stop. You'd think he was gone for weeks. But it's cute how much they love their daddy.
He came home with gifts for all of them. None were Baltimore-centered because, ... it's Baltimore, blah. At first he pulled out his Immunology conference book and said, "This is for Teancom!" and Tank lowered his head and groaned. It was hilarious! Actually Tank got a bath toy. It's a battery-operated motor boat. It's pretty cool. AND it got Tank to take a bath. That's something he hasn't been keen on doing lately.
Elijah got a boomerang. After playing with it outside, and even though he didn't get it to come back to him, he ran inside and said, "Mom! It's awesome!"
Miciah and I got these itty-bitty shirts:
Seriously, don't those look like doll shirts? They're called Popcorn shirts. ...
When I first had the bag in my hands, and I couldn't tell what it was, and the outside said, "I love popcorn," I thought to myself, "Rob has seriously misjudged how much I like popcorn." ... But the shirts are actually pretty cool. Here's Miciah with the shirt on:
They're fun shirts.
And it's good to have Rob home.
The House
Tomorrow we are closing on our refinance! When we bought this house, we acquired 2 lousy loans. We knew they were lousy at the time, but I'm not sure we realized just HOW lousy. ... Anyway, the interest rates are low right now, and one of our 2 lousy loans will go variable in November, so we thought that now would be a good time to try to refinance.
The trick, of course, was to get our house to appraise for something manageable. Because our 2 loans were lousy, we've essentially paid off nothing in 5 years. Which is ... depressing. And since we've paid off nothing, and the housing market has dropped since we bought the house, it was nowhere close to a sure bet that the house would appraise for what we needed it to appraise for. ... So we painted a little. Made things look a little nicer. And then prayed and hoped for the best.
And our house appraised $2,000 higher than we needed! Hurray! We passed the other tests, the credit scores and background checks and drug histories and Algebra tests. ... Tomorrow we sign our lives away AGAIN, but at least we'll be paying off the house. Which is something we haven't done before.
Rob's Calling
Last weekend Rob was released from the Bishopric. This has been coming for a while, and Rob and I knew it. Rob has been pretty unavailable to the Bishop, since he's been working Tuesday nights since August 2009 (Tuesday is Bishopric meeting night), and is going to be working them through December 2010.
A month or two back, Rob came home from a Sunday afternoon Bishopric meeting and said, "Today we discussed the fact that it's time to release Brother E. as Ward Mission Leader." Okay. "Tim kind of half-jokingly mentioned my name." And then it hit me. It was sure knowledge. I said, "Rob, that's your new calling." Rob said, "Yeah, I was thinking that, too." "So, did you tell the Bishop that? Did you tell him that's your new calling?" Rob said something to me about how it's not really his decision, but that he had hinted to the Bishop that he would be willing, if that call was issued.
A week or two later Bishop Tim called me for something unrelated. We're good friends, and so when he finished talking about the unrelated subject, I said, "Tim, the calling you discussed a few weeks ago, you know that's Rob's new calling." "What calling are you talking about?" he said. As if he didn't know. I told him that Rob and I both knew that Rob was supposed to be the new Ward Mission Leader, and that I thought Tim knew, too. Tim said, "Tamra, it's going to be a busy calling. Busier than the Bishopric." And I shrugged and said, "When the Lord says "go and do," you do it."
Rob's excited about the new calling, and I'm excited that he gets to sit with us at church again! The kids are also way excited about that. Miciah shouted, "FINALLY!" I guess 2 years is a long time.
Also, Rob will be able to grow his beard again. ... Actually, I haven't okayed that with Tim yet. But if he doesn't okay at least SOME beard time, he's going to have a fight on his hands.
Family Campout
The last of our Friday Family Nights in April was a family campout in the backyard. It was a perfect night for camping, but Rob said, "It's supposed to storm." I thought, "Whatever. It's gorgeous!"
Here's our backyard set up:
Notice the log on the fire. It's bigger than our fire pit!
Elijah brought it over to the fire pit all by himself, rolling it end-over-end. So we had to burn it. It burned for 6 hours.
Here's the kids, calmly getting ready for bed:
And, of course, it stormed in the middle of the night. Starting about midnight it got gusty, but not awful. Then, around 3 am it started getting REALLY gusty. And at 6 am it started pouring down rain! We ran with the kids, and all the bedding, into the house. The kids finished the morning in sleeping bags on the living room floor. And I took a nap later that day to make up for not sleeping much from 3 - 6:30 am.
Miciah
marathon
Miciah ran the Kids' Flying Pig Marathon last weekend, for the 2nd year in a row. They run 25 miles in the months coming up to the race, and then do the last mile at the marathon. It was a little weird this time, because the day of the Flying Pig was when Miciah broke her arm. Hard to believe it was a year ago. Miciah will still not jump off the swings (can you blame her?), but Elijah will! We'll tell Elijah to be careful (whatever. Like we were careful as kids), and that Miciah broke her arm that way, and he'll come back at us with, "Yeah, but I didn't break my arm." Good point.
bike
Miciah has officially learned to ride a 2-wheeler bike! She wouldn't try for a long time because she was scared. She is definitely like me: not a daredevil. It may surprise you to hear that, since I was a tomboy, but I am not, and have never been an adrenaline junkie. Danger is for idiots, i.e. boys.
Shortly after learning to ride without training wheels, she rode her bike into the dust. It was a beat-up, er, well-loved hand-me-down bike (thank you SO MUCH, Chiara!) that was really too small for her this year anyway. So we bought her a new bike.
bedroom
Also, we rearranged Miciah's room last night. I've been frustrated with her room because it's always a mess, and that's partly my fault. Her room has been 1/2 her room and 1/2 my room (it's a woodworking room turned craft room turned bedroom). I decided it was time to change that. So we moved her bed, gave her more wall space and another bookshelf. Gave her the shoe bin so she could organize her shoes (she has lots of hand-me-down shoes) (and now we have no shoe bin upstairs. But it's worth it). Put up permanent hooks so she can hang up her jackets and hats. And then cleaned.
And cleaned.
And cleaned.
About a million times she said, "Oh! THAT'S where that was!" Socks. Toys. Papers. Books. It was pathetic.
But it looks great now and I'm so happy with it!
Elijah
reading
Elijah is reading. I'm still not sure when you can say a kid is officially Reading, but he's doing really good, so I'm going to call it official.
wii
He also is very proud of himself because he beat New Super Mario Brothers wii. He did the last level all by himself because Miciah and Tank wouldn't help him. They get scared and bubble (which means they're just along for the ride, and don't help). He's been telling everyone he can all about it.
He also frequently gets grounded from the wii because he throws fits when I ask him to turn it off, etc. Surprisingly, he doesn't complain about not playing while he's grounded.
Jesus stories
A funny story about Elijah. He was at Pen's house with Tank. The 3 of them were dancing in the dust specks that you can see in the sun, when suddenly Elijah said, "Wait, guys! The dust is good. It's faith. It's Jesus."
He's been really into Jesus lately, which is great, but can get a little weird. He'll say funny things about what Jesus is or where he is or whatever. ... But sometimes he's so in touch with the goodness that is Jesus Christ, and it's inspiring to me. He went to a Primary activity focused on Jesus Christ and prophets and when he came home I said, "Did you like the activity, Elijah?" He said, in an awe-filled voice, "I LOVED it. We learned about Jesus Christ."
His latest question about Jesus Christ is, "How can he be alive if he died? And how is he alive if he's in Heaven?" Good, good questions. Most people, after all, are dead when they die, and if they're in Heaven, that means they're dead, too. I'm glad he's asking the questions.
Tank
Tank is ... grumpy lately. And hasn't been eating much of anything. I don't know what that's about, but whatever.
bike
He graduated to a new bike at the same time Miciah did. He only had a little trike (also a hand-me-down. Thank you, generous people who love us!), and he was too big for it, but we were pretending not to notice. But when we went to the store to get Miciah her new bike, he saw a bike just his size and Rob let him ride it in the store. Which means you have to buy it. Is there a parent who lets their kid ride the bike at the store and then walks out of said store without said bike? Tank kept saying, "Look! I can ride it!" "It fits me!" and "Look at me ride my bike!"
It was late when we got home, so the next morning he got up and said, "Put on my shoes, Mom. I'm ready to ride my bike!" He loves it.
Oh. If you're wondering how it worked to take 3 kids to the store and give 2 kids a bike, ... At the store Elijah said, "What do I get?" I told him that he didn't need a bike, and that's true. He has a great little bike that fits him perfectly. He was okay with not getting a bike. He proposed getting a $25 Hot Wheels set instead. I said no. Then I saw a bubble wand for the perfect price of $1. I said, "What about this bubble wand?!" And Elijah was thrilled. Love the boy. He really doesn't keep tally. If it had been 6-year-old Miciah walking out without a bike, we would have had a MAJOR fit on our hands.
Rob is Home!
Rob came home last night to find 3 hyper-excited children. They jumped all over him and talked non-stop. You'd think he was gone for weeks. But it's cute how much they love their daddy.
He came home with gifts for all of them. None were Baltimore-centered because, ... it's Baltimore, blah. At first he pulled out his Immunology conference book and said, "This is for Teancom!" and Tank lowered his head and groaned. It was hilarious! Actually Tank got a bath toy. It's a battery-operated motor boat. It's pretty cool. AND it got Tank to take a bath. That's something he hasn't been keen on doing lately.
Elijah got a boomerang. After playing with it outside, and even though he didn't get it to come back to him, he ran inside and said, "Mom! It's awesome!"
Miciah and I got these itty-bitty shirts:
Seriously, don't those look like doll shirts? They're called Popcorn shirts. ...
They're fun shirts.
I Spoke Too Soon
I posted about Elijah's koala art, and showed 3 recent examples. Well, I apparently didn't wait long enough to post that, because last night, while sifting through his school work, I found the What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up page, and here it is:
Good luck with that profession, my Elijah friend.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Mother's Day For Reals
This was a great weekend. And I'm serious. Someone who loves me very much cleaned my house, including all those annoying-and-or-tough-to-do jobs like cleaning the toilet; did all my dishes, repeatedly; spent time with my kids; did all the laundry, including ironing, and then bought a new iron because the old one broke (and they didn't even skimp on quality! Our $9 iron is no more. Hurray!); invited over my friends and had the kids help clean the house before the friends came; bought pizza so I didn't have to make dinner for those friends; let me read a book for a while; bought me my favorite cookies; and in general made me feel really great about myself and my life.
Yeah. That person who loves me very much is me. I did all those things.
But let me tell you why it was actually and truly a great thing. I do all those things anyway, right? I clean my house, do my dishes, take care of my kids, all that. But usually it's for someone else. I do those things for Rob. I do those things for my kids. ... This weekend, I did all those things for me. And it was nice to remember that having my house clean is something that I like very much. I would do it for me even if Rob didn't care (and actually he doesn't really care), or even if I didn't need to set an example for my kids. Because I like those things. And because I like me.
Not that I don't need a break every now and then. I do need a break. And sooner than later. I realized that Saturday night, after I was ... not well-behaved when I put my kids to bed. I had also been angry earlier in the week about a well-intentioned e-mail from a good friend, and then I held onto that anger for most of the week. Saturday night, without Rob around, I introspected. And here's what I realized:
For months I've been saying "Rob is stressed." "Rob is really busy right now." "Rob is having a hard time with life." And on Saturday night it hit me! "Tamra is stressed." "Tamra is overextended." "Tamra is having a hard time with life." ... It was nice to admit and then to say it out loud.
On Sunday that good friend who wrote me the well-intentioned e-mail invited me and the kids over to enjoy Mother's Day with them. Dinner was amazing, and spending time with them was equally amazing. We also had a good laugh about me getting so mad about the e-mail. It was nice to laugh about something so stupid.
And my kids are cute. Miciah in particular lathered me with Mother's Day gifts. My favorite is a memory book that she drew the pictures for and then said, "You get to write the words, Mom!" The first picture is obviously of the cabins at Yellowstone. The next picture is R&C's swimming pool. And then the next page says, "Come up with the last picture for the book! But it has to be a memory!" Then she shows me where to draw the picture, and where to write the words. And then you turn the page again and it says, "Great job! I love you! Happy Mother's Day!" Super cute, right?
... Rob comes home tonight. He has promised me, many times, that he will come home and not be stressed. When I tell people that, I start sounding a little desperate and crazy. "He's going to come home AND NOT BE STRESSED! Did you HEAR THAT?! It's GOING TO HAPPEN! It will HAPPEN! Right?!" And then they agree with me so I don't start crying. ... I told Rob on the phone last night that he better actually come home less stressed. Because I'm done. He said, "Tamra, I owe you a date." I said, "What's a date?" (Good wife response would have been: "I would love that, Rob!" But this is the real world, and I'm not actually a great wife. So I started going on about how he had about 2 weeks to take me on a great date before I started disbelieving in dates, and then disbelieving in Rob altogether, and then started thinking about getting myself a new husband and a new life. That's the kind of wife I am. Go me.)
Did I tell you that he spent $1,500 in 4 days?! ... He's coming home tonight. Did I tell you that?! He's going to be less stressed. He promised!
Hope your Mother's Day weekend was as wonderful as mine.
Yeah. That person who loves me very much is me. I did all those things.
But let me tell you why it was actually and truly a great thing. I do all those things anyway, right? I clean my house, do my dishes, take care of my kids, all that. But usually it's for someone else. I do those things for Rob. I do those things for my kids. ... This weekend, I did all those things for me. And it was nice to remember that having my house clean is something that I like very much. I would do it for me even if Rob didn't care (and actually he doesn't really care), or even if I didn't need to set an example for my kids. Because I like those things. And because I like me.
Not that I don't need a break every now and then. I do need a break. And sooner than later. I realized that Saturday night, after I was ... not well-behaved when I put my kids to bed. I had also been angry earlier in the week about a well-intentioned e-mail from a good friend, and then I held onto that anger for most of the week. Saturday night, without Rob around, I introspected. And here's what I realized:
For months I've been saying "Rob is stressed." "Rob is really busy right now." "Rob is having a hard time with life." And on Saturday night it hit me! "Tamra is stressed." "Tamra is overextended." "Tamra is having a hard time with life." ... It was nice to admit and then to say it out loud.
On Sunday that good friend who wrote me the well-intentioned e-mail invited me and the kids over to enjoy Mother's Day with them. Dinner was amazing, and spending time with them was equally amazing. We also had a good laugh about me getting so mad about the e-mail. It was nice to laugh about something so stupid.
And my kids are cute. Miciah in particular lathered me with Mother's Day gifts. My favorite is a memory book that she drew the pictures for and then said, "You get to write the words, Mom!" The first picture is obviously of the cabins at Yellowstone. The next picture is R&C's swimming pool. And then the next page says, "Come up with the last picture for the book! But it has to be a memory!" Then she shows me where to draw the picture, and where to write the words. And then you turn the page again and it says, "Great job! I love you! Happy Mother's Day!" Super cute, right?
... Rob comes home tonight. He has promised me, many times, that he will come home and not be stressed. When I tell people that, I start sounding a little desperate and crazy. "He's going to come home AND NOT BE STRESSED! Did you HEAR THAT?! It's GOING TO HAPPEN! It will HAPPEN! Right?!" And then they agree with me so I don't start crying. ... I told Rob on the phone last night that he better actually come home less stressed. Because I'm done. He said, "Tamra, I owe you a date." I said, "What's a date?" (Good wife response would have been: "I would love that, Rob!" But this is the real world, and I'm not actually a great wife. So I started going on about how he had about 2 weeks to take me on a great date before I started disbelieving in dates, and then disbelieving in Rob altogether, and then started thinking about getting myself a new husband and a new life. That's the kind of wife I am. Go me.)
Did I tell you that he spent $1,500 in 4 days?! ...
Hope your Mother's Day weekend was as wonderful as mine.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Gifted Artist Preschool
Last night I woke up panicked about a dream I'd had. We were stressed out about the application process for the Gifted Artist Preschool that we were enrolling Tank into. They had extensive paperwork to fill out, and significant money to put down, and tests of Tank's abilities, and meetings we had to attend. It was really putting a strain on our entire family. I remember thinking to myself, both in the dream and right after waking, that I should look at this as one small piece in our family's puzzle. And that I should be grateful that the other areas of our lives were good: our children are healthy, Rob has a job, our house is standing. Things like that. I was giving myself mini-pep talks to just get through the stress of it all.
Serves me right for making up the preschool just to be funny on my blog.
Serves me right for making up the preschool just to be funny on my blog.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
My children are artistic geniuses!
Tank's Art
At church, my kids get a notebook and pens to draw with, and that's it. I'm mean: no crayons. (Except this last Sunday, which was a special event. They colored with crayons and went on and on about how great it was, and how nice I am. It's the little things.)
Gems from church drawing:
"a giant":
And "a dinosaur breaking his egg":
We are enrolling him into a Gifted Artist Preschool for Fall 2010. We met with the teachers, and they know that, although he has a lot to learn, he has a lot to teach them as well. His talent is a gift to the world.
Elijah's Art
I'm sure you'll notice a theme here.
Another church drawing:
He outlined his koala bear (which I allowed him to take into church. Another unusual allowance on my part) and then colored it in. I think it's actually pretty good. LOVE the face.
On the back of a "has" school paper:
And this one is from a few months ago. It's on our wall in the dining room:
He does occasionally draw things other than koala bear. In his 6-page scrapbook he has 2 drawings of koala, 1 drawing of himself, 2 drawings of random lines, and 1 drawing of me:
More fun than his art these days is his writing. Inventive spelling is one of my favorite stages!
Miciah's Art
Her artwork is obviously more advanced than the boys'. Miciah does art all day every day. She loves it, loves it, loves it. She's inventive with her art, and she'll come up with styles all her own. It's pretty cool.
One of her favorite mediums is chalk. We're talking sidewalk chalk. She'll cover our porch with chalk drawings and writing, and then, when all the smooth cement space is gone, she'll move on to the driveway.
This is her best sidewalk drawing to date:
It's the sunset. "I just saw it," she said, "and those are the colors that were in the sky."
And then she signed it:
At church, my kids get a notebook and pens to draw with, and that's it. I'm mean: no crayons. (Except this last Sunday, which was a special event. They colored with crayons and went on and on about how great it was, and how nice I am. It's the little things.)
Gems from church drawing:
"a giant":
Elijah's Art
I'm sure you'll notice a theme here.
Another church drawing:
On the back of a "has" school paper:
He does occasionally draw things other than koala bear. In his 6-page scrapbook he has 2 drawings of koala, 1 drawing of himself, 2 drawings of random lines, and 1 drawing of me:
Miciah's Art
Her artwork is obviously more advanced than the boys'. Miciah does art all day every day. She loves it, loves it, loves it. She's inventive with her art, and she'll come up with styles all her own. It's pretty cool.
One of her favorite mediums is chalk. We're talking sidewalk chalk. She'll cover our porch with chalk drawings and writing, and then, when all the smooth cement space is gone, she'll move on to the driveway.
This is her best sidewalk drawing to date:
It's the sunset. "I just saw it," she said, "and those are the colors that were in the sky."
And then she signed it:
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