No, I'm not about to tell you that I won't be blogging again until September. (Wouldn't be much of a tragedy either way.) It's just, now that it's summer, it feels like we should all take some time off. The kids are off school. When's my time off? And what's with Rob going to work EVERY DAY?
I think that part of the "problem" (this isn't really a problem. I make up problems so that I have something to gripe about. Otherwise I get lonely) is that we haven't traveled anywhere lately. We took our last trips at the end of last year, and then 2011 has been ... geographically uneventful. Most summers we're trying to cram in cross-country road trips and/or family reunions. There's not much left of summer after that.
And while traveling can be hectic, one of the huge up-sides is that you don't have a normal schedule. Usually we go somewhere and our main responsibilities are to make sure that we periodically eat food (that someone else usually prepares) and that our kids don't die. Sign me up!
Also, now that I'm in school, I HAVE a schedule. And I'd like to mention that I don't like it much. I like school and all, but having a schedule has always annoyed me. Why should I have to be somewhere at the time someone else says? Why should I have to do it EVERY WEEK, whether I want to or not? (And now you know another reason why I married Rob. I was born with too few Reliability genes and Rob was born with too many. We balance each other that way.)
Fortunately, I will be taking a short trip to Seattle, which is somewhere I've never been. I'll miss one class period and then be back at it 12 hours after arriving home. I guess that'll be enough of a break.
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
An Update on Life
Today is the kids' last day of school, which means, among other things, that blogging is about to decrease. Summer isn't blogging season. It's Doing Season! So here's a brief update (ha ha), plus a summer preview.
Tamra
My latest accomplishment is that I am not crazy. It was close for a while, there. I feel like this is a year of lessons. Lessons about marriage and patience and endurance and money and stress and sanity. Lessons that I'm glad to be learning, but wish I didn't have to learn. Because I wish life really were that dream where there's a rainbow and a happy valley and a pot of gold guarded by a leprechaun. ... Though maybe that would be too easy.
Still, life is good, and I am happy. What more is there to ask for?
Rob
Rob is in the home stretch! His last day with current boss is July 2nd. This Saturday his lab is having a Farewell Party for him and another exiting co-worker. After July 2nd we'll be having a Happy New Boss Party. All our friends are invited (we'll let you know when we set a date). This is something worth celebrating! It's been a long 2 years.
Right now Rob isn't teaching a class, so we're taking a short breath before July when he's teaching 4 hours a night, 4 nights a week. It originally was 6 hours a night, so it won't be as horrid as originally planned, but he won't get paid as much, either. I'll take the trade-off.
Miciah
I don't write as much about Miciah as the other two kids, because she's growing up. Her life isn't as "I'm a little kid" centered any more, and the stories are often weightier. I remember, when she was born, Rob and I talked about keeping a journal for our kids when they were too young to do so. We talked about what age we'd hand over that responsibility. We picked the age of 12. But for Miciah, 12 seems too late. ... Meh, who knows.
But, I will say that Miciah is a great kid. She can be moody and difficult, but she's most often kind and thoughtful and creative and wonderful. For Memorial Day weekend, for instance, because Key West Friend was arriving late, Miciah made her an extensive card that included a map of the house so she would know her way around and not be confused. Miciah also put a maze on there, and an I Spy game, so Key West Friend wouldn't be bored.
While we were camping, Miciah found a daddy long leg friend. She had to let it go and then cried for about 15 minutes because she was so sad that "Lucy" was gone.
That's our lovely Miciah.
She still loves to read, which I love, and she's now recommending more books to me than I have time to read.
Oh! She came home asking about Justin Bieber. All her friends are into him. I didn't know who he was, but I looked him up and he can actually sing (like cute little Michael Jackson with the Jackson 5). So I bought a few of his songs on iTunes and Miciah was thrilled! She immediately sat down and wrote a note to her friend that said, "Livi, Guess who I listened to? Justin Bieber!" Though I did draw a line: I told Miciah I would NOT purchase "Baby." Seriously, how many times can you say "baby" in one song?!
Elijah
Elijah melts me. He's rambunctious and crazy, but he's also very sweet. He loves flowers and pretty things. I don't want him to get any older, because I know that some day someone's going to tell him that "boys don't like flowers," and then that sweetness will be gone.
He was super serious about school and did great. At the beginning of the year I wasn't sure how things were going to go. I figured he'd either latch on or he'd blow it off, so I was happy that he decided to latch on. He even loved homework by the end of the year!
He's now reading beginner books, and I LOVE when he reads Dr. Suess books to me. First off, Dr. Suess is genius. But, mostly, I just love listening to Elijah read TO ME. So cute. Kids learning to read is, I think, the first real validation that parenting isn't pointless. :)
He keeps trying to hurt himself doing stunts, like wheelies on his bike. His bike that still has training wheels. He makes me laugh.
And he loves the wii. We impose time limits, mainly for him. But he doesn't fight us when we make him turn it off, because he knows that will work against him in the long run.
Tank
Tank is a curious creature. He spends a lot of time watching movies and laying on the floor. If I tell him he can't watch movies, he often chooses to just lay on the floor, looking at nothing. He's a mellow kid.
I thought about how he doesn't really play unless I make him. I spent some time watching him, trying to figure out what he's all about. And then, one day he said, "Mom, come watch the birds with me." I went outside with my book and started reading and he yelled at me. "Mom, you said you'd watch the birds!" I stopped reading and he started talking to me about all the birds. He named them. He counted them. He noted their positions. ... The kid is a biologist! (This makes Rob happy.) And I decided right then that Tank is just fine. He's an observer. And I can't discourage that.
He also throws fits these days. Cute little "I need more sleep" fits. They often end with a nap.
Summer Preview
Our summer plans have changed quite a bit. After nearly going crazy after April, I knew that I couldn't leave for the whole summer. So I canceled on my parents. Not to be discouraged, they opted to bring Miciah and Elijah out to California. (My dad says this is "salvaging" his summer. My parents are the cutest.) So, my mom will come in town next week, as planned, and when she leaves on July 4th, she'll take the two oldest back with her.
Elijah is excited to be old enough to go. In years past, we'd talked about sending Miciah out, but Elijah was always too young. So this year, when he said, "Can I go?" I didn't have a reason to tell him no. (And Elijah is okay with going even though he won't be able to play the wii for a month. We had that discussion.) My parents are THRILLED to have the kids with them. In fact, they've invited MORE grandkids to hang out with them for July. ... I think my parents are weird, but more power to 'em! I hope I have that much energy when I'm 60.
That will leave Tank and me home by ourselves most days. As I've been telling people, I'm not sure my parents are doing me any favors by leaving me with 1 kid. :) Now I have to entertain him by myself! But I'm looking forward to it. It'll definitely be different, but different good, I think. Especially for a change of pace.
During July Rob and I will go back down to Mammoth Cave and do the Wild Cave Tour. I'm SO EXCITED, but I may have already mentioned that.
And then, at the end of July, I'll fly out to California with Tank, and we'll spend 2 weeks there. We'll see as much family as we can, have a good time on the beach, all that CA stuff. And then, a few days after Rob's insane class is over, we'll fly home and finally be together as a family again in mid-August.
Whew. It's going to be an awesome summer!
Tamra
My latest accomplishment is that I am not crazy. It was close for a while, there. I feel like this is a year of lessons. Lessons about marriage and patience and endurance and money and stress and sanity. Lessons that I'm glad to be learning, but wish I didn't have to learn. Because I wish life really were that dream where there's a rainbow and a happy valley and a pot of gold guarded by a leprechaun. ... Though maybe that would be too easy.
Still, life is good, and I am happy. What more is there to ask for?
Rob
Rob is in the home stretch! His last day with current boss is July 2nd. This Saturday his lab is having a Farewell Party for him and another exiting co-worker. After July 2nd we'll be having a Happy New Boss Party. All our friends are invited (we'll let you know when we set a date). This is something worth celebrating! It's been a long 2 years.
Right now Rob isn't teaching a class, so we're taking a short breath before July when he's teaching 4 hours a night, 4 nights a week. It originally was 6 hours a night, so it won't be as horrid as originally planned, but he won't get paid as much, either. I'll take the trade-off.
Miciah
I don't write as much about Miciah as the other two kids, because she's growing up. Her life isn't as "I'm a little kid" centered any more, and the stories are often weightier. I remember, when she was born, Rob and I talked about keeping a journal for our kids when they were too young to do so. We talked about what age we'd hand over that responsibility. We picked the age of 12. But for Miciah, 12 seems too late. ... Meh, who knows.
But, I will say that Miciah is a great kid. She can be moody and difficult, but she's most often kind and thoughtful and creative and wonderful. For Memorial Day weekend, for instance, because Key West Friend was arriving late, Miciah made her an extensive card that included a map of the house so she would know her way around and not be confused. Miciah also put a maze on there, and an I Spy game, so Key West Friend wouldn't be bored.
While we were camping, Miciah found a daddy long leg friend. She had to let it go and then cried for about 15 minutes because she was so sad that "Lucy" was gone.
That's our lovely Miciah.
She still loves to read, which I love, and she's now recommending more books to me than I have time to read.
Oh! She came home asking about Justin Bieber. All her friends are into him. I didn't know who he was, but I looked him up and he can actually sing (like cute little Michael Jackson with the Jackson 5). So I bought a few of his songs on iTunes and Miciah was thrilled! She immediately sat down and wrote a note to her friend that said, "Livi, Guess who I listened to? Justin Bieber!" Though I did draw a line: I told Miciah I would NOT purchase "Baby." Seriously, how many times can you say "baby" in one song?!
Elijah
Elijah melts me. He's rambunctious and crazy, but he's also very sweet. He loves flowers and pretty things. I don't want him to get any older, because I know that some day someone's going to tell him that "boys don't like flowers," and then that sweetness will be gone.
He was super serious about school and did great. At the beginning of the year I wasn't sure how things were going to go. I figured he'd either latch on or he'd blow it off, so I was happy that he decided to latch on. He even loved homework by the end of the year!
He's now reading beginner books, and I LOVE when he reads Dr. Suess books to me. First off, Dr. Suess is genius. But, mostly, I just love listening to Elijah read TO ME. So cute. Kids learning to read is, I think, the first real validation that parenting isn't pointless. :)
He keeps trying to hurt himself doing stunts, like wheelies on his bike. His bike that still has training wheels. He makes me laugh.
And he loves the wii. We impose time limits, mainly for him. But he doesn't fight us when we make him turn it off, because he knows that will work against him in the long run.
Tank
Tank is a curious creature. He spends a lot of time watching movies and laying on the floor. If I tell him he can't watch movies, he often chooses to just lay on the floor, looking at nothing. He's a mellow kid.
I thought about how he doesn't really play unless I make him. I spent some time watching him, trying to figure out what he's all about. And then, one day he said, "Mom, come watch the birds with me." I went outside with my book and started reading and he yelled at me. "Mom, you said you'd watch the birds!" I stopped reading and he started talking to me about all the birds. He named them. He counted them. He noted their positions. ... The kid is a biologist! (This makes Rob happy.) And I decided right then that Tank is just fine. He's an observer. And I can't discourage that.
He also throws fits these days. Cute little "I need more sleep" fits. They often end with a nap.
Summer Preview
Our summer plans have changed quite a bit. After nearly going crazy after April, I knew that I couldn't leave for the whole summer. So I canceled on my parents. Not to be discouraged, they opted to bring Miciah and Elijah out to California. (My dad says this is "salvaging" his summer. My parents are the cutest.) So, my mom will come in town next week, as planned, and when she leaves on July 4th, she'll take the two oldest back with her.
Elijah is excited to be old enough to go. In years past, we'd talked about sending Miciah out, but Elijah was always too young. So this year, when he said, "Can I go?" I didn't have a reason to tell him no. (And Elijah is okay with going even though he won't be able to play the wii for a month. We had that discussion.) My parents are THRILLED to have the kids with them. In fact, they've invited MORE grandkids to hang out with them for July. ... I think my parents are weird, but more power to 'em! I hope I have that much energy when I'm 60.
That will leave Tank and me home by ourselves most days. As I've been telling people, I'm not sure my parents are doing me any favors by leaving me with 1 kid. :) Now I have to entertain him by myself! But I'm looking forward to it. It'll definitely be different, but different good, I think. Especially for a change of pace.
During July Rob and I will go back down to Mammoth Cave and do the Wild Cave Tour. I'm SO EXCITED, but I may have already mentioned that.
And then, at the end of July, I'll fly out to California with Tank, and we'll spend 2 weeks there. We'll see as much family as we can, have a good time on the beach, all that CA stuff. And then, a few days after Rob's insane class is over, we'll fly home and finally be together as a family again in mid-August.
Whew. It's going to be an awesome summer!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Update-ish
I feel like I haven't written a normal update for a while. Probably because I've posted a lot about Miciah's broken arm, and that's overshadowed everything else. Well, here's a normal update.
Teancom
Teancom has cut out nap times a lot of days, but it makes him intolerably grumpy and spastic for a few hours midday. It's, umm, fun. ... It's the first time in his short life that he's caused us any trouble at all. Still, he's his normal cute, squishy, addicting self except for those 2 hours of whininess and attitude.
Elijah
Elijah is addicted to video games. I let him play for a few days, as long as I can stand it, and then I take away privileges for a week or so, because he doesn't do the transition from video games to normal life very well. ... And I'm not sure it's an accomplishment, but Elijah's getting pretty good. He mostly plays on our old school Nintendo system. So he's playing the classic Legend of Zelda and Mega Man III and Mario 3.
Elijah has decided that he's a big boy and can do things like crossing the street by himself. Of course this isn't okay with us. He'll also run off when we're in public. Not that he's running off, he'll just run ahead and then I can't see him any more and he doesn't understand why that's not okay. He'll say, "I know where the car is," and stuff like that. Same with crossing the street: "I looked both ways." Ugh.
He's starting to write things on his own, which is fantastic. It'll look like gibberish until you look close and see that he's written his name or copied "Cheez It" from the box.
Which reminds me about a fun story from a few months ago. We were in the library parking lot, getting ready to leave. I was organizing the books and movies on the passenger seat when I heard Elijah say, "Mom, what does a-d-n-o-h spell?" I thought about it for a second. It doesn't spell anything, of course. But I started looking around, wondering where he saw that. Then I looked over and saw it on the tire cover of the car beside us. It's honda backwards! I don't know why, but Elijah will read and write many things backwards. It's not that he doesn't know which way to read it. He knows. He'll also write some of his letters upside down. And write from the bottom of the page up. ... It all seems very backwards to me, but I'm assuming that it's normal. Or at least normal enough.
Life
The Weekend
Rob's little brother got sealed to his beautiful wife in the Columbus, OH temple this weekend. It was low key and wonderful. I'm all about low key. The kids stayed with the W's, our good friends and the kids' surrogate grandparents.
Rob and I drove straight from Columbus to M's place in Middle of Nowhere, OH. Stayed overnight. Were there Sunday morning to participate in our nephew, P's teacher ordination. It was neat, cause all the siblings were there. It was also nice to see Rob during church hours.
We drove home right after the ordination because my Dad flew into Cincinnati at 1:30. We beat him home by an hour or so, which just gave us time to clean up our travelling stuff.
We chilled with Dad for the evening and part of the next day, and he left in the afternoon for the next leg of his business trip. While he was here we ran the HS track, looked through a spectacular "picture book" of Yellowstone and talked about our trip, had a lovely dinner with R&C. And also, he bought us:
A New Lawn mower
Our old lawn mower died. I wrote about that a while back. We've been using it, half-dead, resistent to spending the money on a new one. We debated what to buy and where and for what price. We finally had decided on buying a refurbished lawnmower for about $100 at a local lawn mower fix it place. We were going to go buy it on Monday. The day before my father took me to Home Depot and helped me pick out a much nicer mower that what we would have purchased.
It's a Honda. I didn't even know Honda MADE lawn mowers.
And on Monday I mowed the grass with our new mower. My favorite parts:
- I can start it myself, which means I can mow the grass during the day and Rob doesn't have to do it all the time. Rob has so little time anyways.
- It's a power mower. Our old one was a manual. I like a lot of the aspects of a manual mower, but it's nice to not have to push with everything I have to get up our steep short hills.
-It's a bagger/mulcher. Our old one was a side shoot. So no more raking for us!! That'll save us a good hour.
Thank you, Dad.
Bad Balance
This has nothing to do with anything, but I thought I'd report on it. I have experienced vertigo off and on for years now. The worst of it was right after Teancom was born, so 2 years ago. Anyways, we finally have good insurance, so I asked my doctor about it. He sent me to an ENT to check it out, cause it sounded like it could be Meniere's Disease. I don't know much about Meniere's, but I dislike the idea of having something with Disease in the title.
There's nothing wrong with my hearing or function, that the ENT could tell (though I found out that my left ear has slightly better hearing than my right). So he sent me for a balance test (turned out to be a $1,000 balance test--don't worry, I didn't pay a penny for it). It was a random test involving following lights with your eyes and strange goggles and blowing warm and cold air into your ear and making you count backwards by 2's from 100.
At one point in the test the test giver (a nurse? doctor?) seemed like the results I reported were slightly abnormal. They blew the warm air into my right ear for a minute and then I felt a little dizzy. Not bad, but a little. Then they did the same thing with my left ear and I wanted to puke or pass out or just go to sleep. It was really bad. They did the same minute-long exposure, one ear at a time, with the cold air, and I hardly reacted to that at all. The test giver made it seem like I should have roughly the same reaction for each ear.
So the ENT called me back a little over a week later and said that my test results were not normal. He didn't say they were horrible, though. He said that they'll see "these kinds of results" from a viral ear infection and those effects can last from 6 months to a year. I think this is unlikely, since the vertigo was the worst over 2 years ago, it started being noticably bad 3 years ago, and I still experience it every few months. He said, alternately, I could just have bad balance. "Some people are born with bad vision, some bad hearing. You could just have bad balance." I think that's the more likely explanation. He didn't diagnose me with Miniere's or anything, and he said he'd like me to repeat the balance test next year.
But, bad balance? I have GREAT balance! I play sports. I rarely get off balance. I can trip but not fall (and that's pretty impressive, I think). ... So I think there must be some other aspect to balance that he's talking about. ... Anyways, that's my balance assessment. Because you obviously cared.
Other than that, we're getting excited for summer. I wish it was already here (Miciah's in school until June 12th). I'm ready for some lazy long days. Not that we'll get many before we head out to Yellowstone, Utah, California, and then all the way back. But we'll take as many lazy summer days as come our way. I'm excited to spend at least one lazy summer day on the beach, and another in a Yellowstone meadow!!
Teancom
Teancom has cut out nap times a lot of days, but it makes him intolerably grumpy and spastic for a few hours midday. It's, umm, fun. ... It's the first time in his short life that he's caused us any trouble at all. Still, he's his normal cute, squishy, addicting self except for those 2 hours of whininess and attitude.
Elijah
Elijah is addicted to video games. I let him play for a few days, as long as I can stand it, and then I take away privileges for a week or so, because he doesn't do the transition from video games to normal life very well. ... And I'm not sure it's an accomplishment, but Elijah's getting pretty good. He mostly plays on our old school Nintendo system. So he's playing the classic Legend of Zelda and Mega Man III and Mario 3.
Elijah has decided that he's a big boy and can do things like crossing the street by himself. Of course this isn't okay with us. He'll also run off when we're in public. Not that he's running off, he'll just run ahead and then I can't see him any more and he doesn't understand why that's not okay. He'll say, "I know where the car is," and stuff like that. Same with crossing the street: "I looked both ways." Ugh.
He's starting to write things on his own, which is fantastic. It'll look like gibberish until you look close and see that he's written his name or copied "Cheez It" from the box.
Which reminds me about a fun story from a few months ago. We were in the library parking lot, getting ready to leave. I was organizing the books and movies on the passenger seat when I heard Elijah say, "Mom, what does a-d-n-o-h spell?" I thought about it for a second. It doesn't spell anything, of course. But I started looking around, wondering where he saw that. Then I looked over and saw it on the tire cover of the car beside us. It's honda backwards! I don't know why, but Elijah will read and write many things backwards. It's not that he doesn't know which way to read it. He knows. He'll also write some of his letters upside down. And write from the bottom of the page up. ... It all seems very backwards to me, but I'm assuming that it's normal. Or at least normal enough.
Life
The Weekend
Rob's little brother got sealed to his beautiful wife in the Columbus, OH temple this weekend. It was low key and wonderful. I'm all about low key. The kids stayed with the W's, our good friends and the kids' surrogate grandparents.Rob and I drove straight from Columbus to M's place in Middle of Nowhere, OH. Stayed overnight. Were there Sunday morning to participate in our nephew, P's teacher ordination. It was neat, cause all the siblings were there. It was also nice to see Rob during church hours.
We drove home right after the ordination because my Dad flew into Cincinnati at 1:30. We beat him home by an hour or so, which just gave us time to clean up our travelling stuff.
We chilled with Dad for the evening and part of the next day, and he left in the afternoon for the next leg of his business trip. While he was here we ran the HS track, looked through a spectacular "picture book" of Yellowstone and talked about our trip, had a lovely dinner with R&C. And also, he bought us:
A New Lawn mower
Our old lawn mower died. I wrote about that a while back. We've been using it, half-dead, resistent to spending the money on a new one. We debated what to buy and where and for what price. We finally had decided on buying a refurbished lawnmower for about $100 at a local lawn mower fix it place. We were going to go buy it on Monday. The day before my father took me to Home Depot and helped me pick out a much nicer mower that what we would have purchased.
It's a Honda. I didn't even know Honda MADE lawn mowers.And on Monday I mowed the grass with our new mower. My favorite parts:
- I can start it myself, which means I can mow the grass during the day and Rob doesn't have to do it all the time. Rob has so little time anyways.
- It's a power mower. Our old one was a manual. I like a lot of the aspects of a manual mower, but it's nice to not have to push with everything I have to get up our steep short hills.
-It's a bagger/mulcher. Our old one was a side shoot. So no more raking for us!! That'll save us a good hour.
Thank you, Dad.
Rob's Big News
Rob has been praying and hoping for someone to give him a teaching opportunity. Well, it's happened! Rob was contacted by NKU (Northern Kentucky University) about teaching a 5-week summer class. Of course Rob said yes. The time is kinda crummy (12 - 2pm, 3 days a week), which means his schedule will be horrible for the month of June. And they don't pay him much, but Rob would have done it for free. He just needs the teaching experience.
He went down to NKU yesterday and got an official badge. I'll have to scan it in, cause he looks just like a middle-aged professor. Balding. A little extra weight. Cute glasses. Aw, the adorable Dr. Thacker.
So, hurray for Rob! And pray for us to survive June!
Bad Balance
This has nothing to do with anything, but I thought I'd report on it. I have experienced vertigo off and on for years now. The worst of it was right after Teancom was born, so 2 years ago. Anyways, we finally have good insurance, so I asked my doctor about it. He sent me to an ENT to check it out, cause it sounded like it could be Meniere's Disease. I don't know much about Meniere's, but I dislike the idea of having something with Disease in the title.
There's nothing wrong with my hearing or function, that the ENT could tell (though I found out that my left ear has slightly better hearing than my right). So he sent me for a balance test (turned out to be a $1,000 balance test--don't worry, I didn't pay a penny for it). It was a random test involving following lights with your eyes and strange goggles and blowing warm and cold air into your ear and making you count backwards by 2's from 100.
At one point in the test the test giver (a nurse? doctor?) seemed like the results I reported were slightly abnormal. They blew the warm air into my right ear for a minute and then I felt a little dizzy. Not bad, but a little. Then they did the same thing with my left ear and I wanted to puke or pass out or just go to sleep. It was really bad. They did the same minute-long exposure, one ear at a time, with the cold air, and I hardly reacted to that at all. The test giver made it seem like I should have roughly the same reaction for each ear.
So the ENT called me back a little over a week later and said that my test results were not normal. He didn't say they were horrible, though. He said that they'll see "these kinds of results" from a viral ear infection and those effects can last from 6 months to a year. I think this is unlikely, since the vertigo was the worst over 2 years ago, it started being noticably bad 3 years ago, and I still experience it every few months. He said, alternately, I could just have bad balance. "Some people are born with bad vision, some bad hearing. You could just have bad balance." I think that's the more likely explanation. He didn't diagnose me with Miniere's or anything, and he said he'd like me to repeat the balance test next year.
But, bad balance? I have GREAT balance! I play sports. I rarely get off balance. I can trip but not fall (and that's pretty impressive, I think). ... So I think there must be some other aspect to balance that he's talking about. ... Anyways, that's my balance assessment. Because you obviously cared.
Other than that, we're getting excited for summer. I wish it was already here (Miciah's in school until June 12th). I'm ready for some lazy long days. Not that we'll get many before we head out to Yellowstone, Utah, California, and then all the way back. But we'll take as many lazy summer days as come our way. I'm excited to spend at least one lazy summer day on the beach, and another in a Yellowstone meadow!!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
It's That Time Again!
Another update. Not that there's much to update, like usual. Just normal life happenings here, nothing momentous.
It's BEAUTIFUL here. It seems like it's almost skipped Spring and moved straight into Summer. And everything exploded into bloom all at once. It's been a spectacular Spring and I don't think I've ever been more moved by the Earth waking up. Probably partly because I feel like, in a lot of ways, I'm waking up myself. This has been a good year for us with a lot of good (little) things happening, and it's been a nice feeling. We won the Health and Fitness Challenge, so I feel like I have a new me--body and spirit. Rob is in the Bishopric and I'm a Primary teacher, so we have new church responsibilities. I'm writing articles for M and C, so I have a new job. I'm on an indoor soccer team now--a renewing of old loves. And we did a No Whining Chart for Miciah (more details to come), so I feel like a new Mom! Lots of newness going around.
And then Spring came. We had a late winter storm in mid-March, and it stayed colder off-and-on until early April. And then WHAM it was 70 and 80 degrees out and all the flowers, trees, and grass that hadn't been growing or blooming yet said, "Oh. That's right," and they all decided to bloom and grow, all at once. Like I said, it's been amazing. Spring isn't my favorite season, but if I could have kept that feeling all year, I wouldn't mind that at all. Euphoria.
The Immunology Conference and Rob's Knee
Rob enjoyed the Immunology Conference all right. He said it was warmer here than it was in San Diego, and that's just not right. He didn't get out of it as much as he would have liked, but I didn't feel that bad for him since he got to eat out every night on someone else's tab.
While he was in San Diego, he injured his knee. The bad knee. The one that's already had surgery. Nice. He's been wanting to go back into the doctor for some time about other little things like his hip being really tight, and his ankle that he sprained a few months ago, but that's still hurting him. With the knee injury I finally insisted he go in to the doctor that did his knee surgery. It's normal to have some knee pain kneeling, but for it to surface 3 years after surgery, and while just walking? Odd.
By the time he got into the doctor, his knee wasn't hurting as bad, but the doc still sent him to a physical therapist. The doc took some X-rays and said his knee still looks good, and his ACL is still tight. So no worries there. And the physical therapist has been very helpful. He gave Rob lots of stretches to do and it's already helped (he's only been doing them for 3 days). What they think this whole thing all boils down to (the knee, ankle, and hip problems) is the fact that Rob's been walking differently since he hurt his knee (that was 6 years ago!). He's changed his gait to compensate for the injury, and it's finally caught up with him (Rob took off his Sunday shoes that he's had for the same amount of time he's had his injury (we're buying him new ones with the new suit he needs and we'll buy come Friday--the shoes are trashed and the suit is now too big) and showed me the bottoms of them. The right shoe--the treads were almost gone in places. But you could still see all the treads on the left shoe). They're hoping with physical therapy and the stretches, they can bring everything back to normal and set it all right. ... It's kind of a bummer to pay all this money for X-rays and doctors and physical therapists, but we've been through a period where Rob didn't have a working knee, and it wasn't good. We're willing to pay the money to make it right again. It wouldn't be very fun for Rob to have to be in pain the rest of his life.
That's Rob's news.
Indoor Soccer
My news. I am on a co-ed indoor soccer team. We're not very good, but we have fun and that's what matters (which is the slogan for losers, I know). I've only played one game so far, but it surprised me what comes to me still and what I've lost. It was nice to pull out my cleats and put them on again. I made Rob address my shoes like they were my old friends. I feel like that's what they are. I was trying to figure out how long I've had them, and I know it was since mid-high school. That's over 10 years. They're my friends. I got an assist at our game. The other team was MUCH better than we were (they've obviously played before and together): most of the people on our team have never played before at all. But it was most fun to watch the game from the bench and see who got called fouls on for what. One of the girls on our team--sweet, soft Sarah--got called on a foul. The guy stole the ball from her and was a few feet past her when he tripped, and the ref called a foul. Not only did she not actually foul the guy, she is not capable of fouling anyone. I called out (softly but loud enough), "Make sure he ties his shoes next time!"
The most exciting thing of the night was about our goalie. One of the guys on the other team who kicked the ball HARD (I'd forgotten how much more powerful guys are than girls. Every time he shot the ball, I turned away. I have a bruise on my upper arm from where I stopped one of his shots (on accident)) shot a ball right into our keeper's eyeball. His glasses flew from his face and landed a few feet away. The ref stopped play and gave the shooter a dirty look. The guy apologized profously, said he did it on accident, and got off the field fast to appease the ref. Our goalie went off, too, cause he couldn't see through one eye. His glasses weren't broken, thankfully, but he had a HUGE shiner. Didn't bruise up too colorful, but it was swollen, and his eyeball was a cool color red. :) He said he was thankful he didn't get seriously injured. Yeah. Cause it's all fun and games till someone ...
More Soccer, Different Person
Miicah is playing soccer this season. We signed her up months ago. When we got the first call from her coach, he informed us that all the games are on Sundays.So that put us in a cruch. What do we do? Does she quit the league or do we just let her play the 7 games? Rob and I weren't willing to make her suffer for our mistake (we should have just found out more details at the beginning), so we let her stay on the team, though we told her she wouldn't be playing in this league in the fall. Rob and I feel like idiots. The games are all "after church". They are for people who go to church for an hour from 10 - 11. But our church is from 10 - 1 and the games are usually AT 1. So we even have to pick up and leave before church is over. Oh well.
After Miciah's first practice she came home and announced, "I am a genius at soccer!" That isn't true, but she has a lot of fun playing, and she's been playing for 3 weeks and I'm super impressed with how much she's improved in that time. Plus it's warm outside now, so she's been kicking the ball around outside for fun. I showed her a move and it was hard for her to do. She said, "Practice makes perfect" and then tried over and over until she could do it. Kids are amazing.
So far Miciah is one of the weaker players, but none of them are fantastic: they're all 6- and 7-year-olds. They're just out having a good time.
I have learned several things through Miciah's involvement in soccer:
1. I'm the same kind of soccer parent that my parents were. I never really wanted to be, but now that I'm there, it sounds a whole lot nicer than being any other way. I didn't sit where the parents are "supposed" to sit. The sun was in the wrong place to sit there. I stood behind the other team's parents. You could see the field better. ... And practices and games aren't social time for me.
2. I have a hard time stomaching parents and coaches who yell at the kids. Period. Did you know these kids are 6 and 7? What's your problem? Don't yell at them!!
3. It's harder than I thought to let my two little boys wander off to play on the cool dirt pile. :) Memories flooded back to me of big soccer fields with corn fields surrounding them, or a swamp, or woods, or random dirt piles. I let Elijah and Teancom walk over to the big dirt pile, one eye on the game, one on the pile. The whole time I knew they were fine, but it was harder than I thought to just let them play 100 yards away.
Miciah's team got slaughtered for one of the games, not because the other team was better, but because there was 1 girl on the other team that was a super star. I was half glad it wasn't my team, because the parents of the other girls felt the need to make their kids be as good as that one prodigy, and they yelled at their kids mercilessly. But it struck me while watching this little girl who was exceptional, "Am I looking at myself when I was little?" That sounds cocky, so I quickly abandoned the idea that I might be. But it was an interesting thought still. Here was this 7-year-old who already knew field positioning, who was running circles around the other girls. She scored maybe 7 goals all by herself. She could dribble. She could actually shoot. She was coordinated. ... I was amazed.
We have to find another league for Miciah in the Fall.
Thank You, Barbie Mariposa
And Barbie Mariposa. Miciah has been asking for Barbie Mariposa, the newest Barbie movie, since she saw the previews on Barbie as the Island Princess (her Christmas gift). I told her I'd think about it, but the problem is, there's no upcoming event to give it to her for. Her birthday isn't till October, and by then it'll be old news. I found it for a good price and so I bought it and then held on to it and waited for inspiration to strike. I decided we should have her earn it, but I wasn't sure what for. I thought maybe for reading a certain number of books, but she needs no encouragement along those lines. I thought for something to do with school, but again, what? So finally I just showed it to her. She was so excited. I told her that she needed to earn it and it came to me right then: A No Whining Chart. For 15 days she had to not whine. Every night she'd get a sticker and when the chart was full, she could have the movie.
It was a BLISSFUL 17 days. She missed 2 days and was in tears as she told me it was just too hard! But she made it and filled up the chart. By the end, I didn't even need to remind her to not whine. At first, it was "Miciah, that sounds like it might be whining," and she would quickly change her tone.
What amazed me most about this adventure wasn't that she could do it. What amazed me was how much I had been reacting to her whining. The whining drives me INSANE and I didn't realize until there wasn't any whining how much I was simply reacting to her yucky tone. I would reply not so nicely and she would feed off that and so on back and forth. By the end of those 17 days I was calmer, I wasn't yelling at my kids, and I was SO much happier with Miciah. It was easier for me to be patient with her, and for me to be able to see and love all her good points. Thank you, Barbie Mariposa. A few days after she had earned the movie she was back to whining and I sat down and talked with her about how much easier it is for me if she chooses not to whine. She said, "I did that chart so that I wouldn't whine for the REST OF MY LIFE?!!" It cracked me up. She's done really pretty well since, and it's been blissful for me.
Cotton Can Sport
Elijah is now a crack-up. The latest awesome thing he's come up with is Cotton Can Sport. No, you're not supposed to understand that. One night he just came up with this person: Cotton Can Sport. So far as I can tell, it's a combination of Cotton Candy and Sport. The person apparently brings lots of candy. I think he's also kind of super-hero-ish. He sits down and tells us lengthy meaningless stories about Cotton Can Sport. Usually Cotton Can Sport has a house. ...dramatic pause... And his own tools. ...dramatic pause with dramatic facial expressions... Rob and I have a hard time not laughing. It's pretty cute.
During that soccer game he loved playing on the huge dirt pile. He would go around to the backside of it where we could barely see him and sometimes he'd be out of sight for a few seconds. There came a point in time when I hadn't seen him for maybe a minute or two. I decided to send Rob over to check out where he was. Rob was turning to walk over there when the game behind us was stopped by the blow of the ref's whistle. And Rob says, "Elijah's in the middle of the field!" The ref stopped the game because our son was just strolling through their game. :) They ushered him to the sidelines and Rob went to claim him. It made me giggle that probably people were thinking, "What awful parents." Unless they were older parents, in which case they probably thought, "That's happened to us about 20 times."
Teancom
Teancom is now tan. It's Spring.It's just not right to have a kid that, like Rob, is instantly tan when Spring hits. People already have called him an Indian baby. :) That olive skin. Teancom adores being outside. He wakes up in the morning and wants to go outside as soon as possible. Then he takes a nap midday and wants to go out as soon as he wakes up. Sometimes I'll look outside to see what he's doing, and usually he's just standing there, enjoying the weather, the wind on his face, whatever. It's cute.
I'll send some pictures of Teancom at M's baptism. He loves dip. He walked up to M, who had a full plate of food, and started eating all the dip she had to go with her chips. Teancom loves to dip the chip (or carrot, whatever's available), suck off the dip, and then dip again. Gross. We finally got him his own plate of dip and had to take pictures of it.
I still gush Teancom about 80 times a day and he still lets me. Loving it.
High-Speed Internet
Oh! We did get high-speed internet, and that's big news for us. Sure, we're a few years behind the times, but better late than never. I've caught up on all the videos I was saving up to watch on youtube, and I've updated my facebook and myspace sites. I can actually check my gmail account now and logon to my bank page without it stalling and giving me errors.
And in light of the high-speed internet, it must be time for me to start a blog, since I've had several requests in the last month or two. My problem is that I'm lovin' the e-mail format. So I need feedback. To blog or not to blog? That is the question.
Love you all and hope you're enjoying your Spring as much as we are!!
Tamra and family
Dude, I was serious about anyone wanting baby guppies. Apparently guppies have babies like rabbits, and we have a fresh batch of 6. That's 4 that survived the first birthing, 4 that survived the second birthing, and 6 new ones. Too many guppies!
Here's a picture of Rob being goofy. So out of character for him.
And two of Teancom covered in dip. He was so cute with the dip. He had it all over him and was so excited to eat it (it was all he had for lunch, I think). Their Uncle Aaron who was there was teasing Teancom to make him give him some dip. Teancom finally looked at him like, "Well, if you REALLY want it, ..." and then started trying to put a chip in Aaron's mouth. Cute.
It's BEAUTIFUL here. It seems like it's almost skipped Spring and moved straight into Summer. And everything exploded into bloom all at once. It's been a spectacular Spring and I don't think I've ever been more moved by the Earth waking up. Probably partly because I feel like, in a lot of ways, I'm waking up myself. This has been a good year for us with a lot of good (little) things happening, and it's been a nice feeling. We won the Health and Fitness Challenge, so I feel like I have a new me--body and spirit. Rob is in the Bishopric and I'm a Primary teacher, so we have new church responsibilities. I'm writing articles for M and C, so I have a new job. I'm on an indoor soccer team now--a renewing of old loves. And we did a No Whining Chart for Miciah (more details to come), so I feel like a new Mom! Lots of newness going around.
And then Spring came. We had a late winter storm in mid-March, and it stayed colder off-and-on until early April. And then WHAM it was 70 and 80 degrees out and all the flowers, trees, and grass that hadn't been growing or blooming yet said, "Oh. That's right," and they all decided to bloom and grow, all at once. Like I said, it's been amazing. Spring isn't my favorite season, but if I could have kept that feeling all year, I wouldn't mind that at all. Euphoria.
The Immunology Conference and Rob's Knee
Rob enjoyed the Immunology Conference all right. He said it was warmer here than it was in San Diego, and that's just not right. He didn't get out of it as much as he would have liked, but I didn't feel that bad for him since he got to eat out every night on someone else's tab.
While he was in San Diego, he injured his knee. The bad knee. The one that's already had surgery. Nice. He's been wanting to go back into the doctor for some time about other little things like his hip being really tight, and his ankle that he sprained a few months ago, but that's still hurting him. With the knee injury I finally insisted he go in to the doctor that did his knee surgery. It's normal to have some knee pain kneeling, but for it to surface 3 years after surgery, and while just walking? Odd.
By the time he got into the doctor, his knee wasn't hurting as bad, but the doc still sent him to a physical therapist. The doc took some X-rays and said his knee still looks good, and his ACL is still tight. So no worries there. And the physical therapist has been very helpful. He gave Rob lots of stretches to do and it's already helped (he's only been doing them for 3 days). What they think this whole thing all boils down to (the knee, ankle, and hip problems) is the fact that Rob's been walking differently since he hurt his knee (that was 6 years ago!). He's changed his gait to compensate for the injury, and it's finally caught up with him (Rob took off his Sunday shoes that he's had for the same amount of time he's had his injury (we're buying him new ones with the new suit he needs and we'll buy come Friday--the shoes are trashed and the suit is now too big) and showed me the bottoms of them. The right shoe--the treads were almost gone in places. But you could still see all the treads on the left shoe). They're hoping with physical therapy and the stretches, they can bring everything back to normal and set it all right. ... It's kind of a bummer to pay all this money for X-rays and doctors and physical therapists, but we've been through a period where Rob didn't have a working knee, and it wasn't good. We're willing to pay the money to make it right again. It wouldn't be very fun for Rob to have to be in pain the rest of his life.
That's Rob's news.
Indoor Soccer
My news. I am on a co-ed indoor soccer team. We're not very good, but we have fun and that's what matters (which is the slogan for losers, I know). I've only played one game so far, but it surprised me what comes to me still and what I've lost. It was nice to pull out my cleats and put them on again. I made Rob address my shoes like they were my old friends. I feel like that's what they are. I was trying to figure out how long I've had them, and I know it was since mid-high school. That's over 10 years. They're my friends. I got an assist at our game. The other team was MUCH better than we were (they've obviously played before and together): most of the people on our team have never played before at all. But it was most fun to watch the game from the bench and see who got called fouls on for what. One of the girls on our team--sweet, soft Sarah--got called on a foul. The guy stole the ball from her and was a few feet past her when he tripped, and the ref called a foul. Not only did she not actually foul the guy, she is not capable of fouling anyone. I called out (softly but loud enough), "Make sure he ties his shoes next time!"
The most exciting thing of the night was about our goalie. One of the guys on the other team who kicked the ball HARD (I'd forgotten how much more powerful guys are than girls. Every time he shot the ball, I turned away. I have a bruise on my upper arm from where I stopped one of his shots (on accident)) shot a ball right into our keeper's eyeball. His glasses flew from his face and landed a few feet away. The ref stopped play and gave the shooter a dirty look. The guy apologized profously, said he did it on accident, and got off the field fast to appease the ref. Our goalie went off, too, cause he couldn't see through one eye. His glasses weren't broken, thankfully, but he had a HUGE shiner. Didn't bruise up too colorful, but it was swollen, and his eyeball was a cool color red. :) He said he was thankful he didn't get seriously injured. Yeah. Cause it's all fun and games till someone ...
More Soccer, Different Person
Miicah is playing soccer this season. We signed her up months ago. When we got the first call from her coach, he informed us that all the games are on Sundays.
After Miciah's first practice she came home and announced, "I am a genius at soccer!" That isn't true, but she has a lot of fun playing, and she's been playing for 3 weeks and I'm super impressed with how much she's improved in that time. Plus it's warm outside now, so she's been kicking the ball around outside for fun. I showed her a move and it was hard for her to do. She said, "Practice makes perfect" and then tried over and over until she could do it. Kids are amazing.
So far Miciah is one of the weaker players, but none of them are fantastic: they're all 6- and 7-year-olds. They're just out having a good time.
I have learned several things through Miciah's involvement in soccer:
1. I'm the same kind of soccer parent that my parents were. I never really wanted to be, but now that I'm there, it sounds a whole lot nicer than being any other way. I didn't sit where the parents are "supposed" to sit. The sun was in the wrong place to sit there. I stood behind the other team's parents. You could see the field better. ... And practices and games aren't social time for me.
2. I have a hard time stomaching parents and coaches who yell at the kids. Period. Did you know these kids are 6 and 7? What's your problem? Don't yell at them!!
3. It's harder than I thought to let my two little boys wander off to play on the cool dirt pile. :) Memories flooded back to me of big soccer fields with corn fields surrounding them, or a swamp, or woods, or random dirt piles. I let Elijah and Teancom walk over to the big dirt pile, one eye on the game, one on the pile. The whole time I knew they were fine, but it was harder than I thought to just let them play 100 yards away.
Miciah's team got slaughtered for one of the games, not because the other team was better, but because there was 1 girl on the other team that was a super star. I was half glad it wasn't my team, because the parents of the other girls felt the need to make their kids be as good as that one prodigy, and they yelled at their kids mercilessly. But it struck me while watching this little girl who was exceptional, "Am I looking at myself when I was little?" That sounds cocky, so I quickly abandoned the idea that I might be. But it was an interesting thought still. Here was this 7-year-old who already knew field positioning, who was running circles around the other girls. She scored maybe 7 goals all by herself. She could dribble. She could actually shoot. She was coordinated. ... I was amazed.
We have to find another league for Miciah in the Fall.
Thank You, Barbie Mariposa
And Barbie Mariposa. Miciah has been asking for Barbie Mariposa, the newest Barbie movie, since she saw the previews on Barbie as the Island Princess (her Christmas gift). I told her I'd think about it, but the problem is, there's no upcoming event to give it to her for. Her birthday isn't till October, and by then it'll be old news. I found it for a good price and so I bought it and then held on to it and waited for inspiration to strike. I decided we should have her earn it, but I wasn't sure what for. I thought maybe for reading a certain number of books, but she needs no encouragement along those lines. I thought for something to do with school, but again, what? So finally I just showed it to her. She was so excited. I told her that she needed to earn it and it came to me right then: A No Whining Chart. For 15 days she had to not whine. Every night she'd get a sticker and when the chart was full, she could have the movie.
What amazed me most about this adventure wasn't that she could do it. What amazed me was how much I had been reacting to her whining. The whining drives me INSANE and I didn't realize until there wasn't any whining how much I was simply reacting to her yucky tone. I would reply not so nicely and she would feed off that and so on back and forth. By the end of those 17 days I was calmer, I wasn't yelling at my kids, and I was SO much happier with Miciah. It was easier for me to be patient with her, and for me to be able to see and love all her good points. Thank you, Barbie Mariposa. A few days after she had earned the movie she was back to whining and I sat down and talked with her about how much easier it is for me if she chooses not to whine. She said, "I did that chart so that I wouldn't whine for the REST OF MY LIFE?!!" It cracked me up. She's done really pretty well since, and it's been blissful for me.
Cotton Can Sport
Elijah is now a crack-up. The latest awesome thing he's come up with is Cotton Can Sport. No, you're not supposed to understand that. One night he just came up with this person: Cotton Can Sport. So far as I can tell, it's a combination of Cotton Candy and Sport. The person apparently brings lots of candy. I think he's also kind of super-hero-ish. He sits down and tells us lengthy meaningless stories about Cotton Can Sport. Usually Cotton Can Sport has a house. ...dramatic pause... And his own tools. ...dramatic pause with dramatic facial expressions... Rob and I have a hard time not laughing. It's pretty cute.
During that soccer game he loved playing on the huge dirt pile. He would go around to the backside of it where we could barely see him and sometimes he'd be out of sight for a few seconds. There came a point in time when I hadn't seen him for maybe a minute or two. I decided to send Rob over to check out where he was. Rob was turning to walk over there when the game behind us was stopped by the blow of the ref's whistle. And Rob says, "Elijah's in the middle of the field!" The ref stopped the game because our son was just strolling through their game. :) They ushered him to the sidelines and Rob went to claim him. It made me giggle that probably people were thinking, "What awful parents." Unless they were older parents, in which case they probably thought, "That's happened to us about 20 times."
Teancom
Teancom is now tan. It's Spring.
I'll send some pictures of Teancom at M's baptism. He loves dip. He walked up to M, who had a full plate of food, and started eating all the dip she had to go with her chips. Teancom loves to dip the chip (or carrot, whatever's available), suck off the dip, and then dip again. Gross. We finally got him his own plate of dip and had to take pictures of it.
I still gush Teancom about 80 times a day and he still lets me. Loving it.
High-Speed Internet
Oh! We did get high-speed internet, and that's big news for us. Sure, we're a few years behind the times, but better late than never. I've caught up on all the videos I was saving up to watch on youtube, and I've updated my facebook and myspace sites. I can actually check my gmail account now and logon to my bank page without it stalling and giving me errors.
And in light of the high-speed internet, it must be time for me to start a blog, since I've had several requests in the last month or two. My problem is that I'm lovin' the e-mail format. So I need feedback. To blog or not to blog? That is the question.
Love you all and hope you're enjoying your Spring as much as we are!!
Tamra and family
Dude, I was serious about anyone wanting baby guppies. Apparently guppies have babies like rabbits, and we have a fresh batch of 6. That's 4 that survived the first birthing, 4 that survived the second birthing, and 6 new ones. Too many guppies!
Here's a picture of Rob being goofy. So out of character for him.
And two of Teancom covered in dip. He was so cute with the dip. He had it all over him and was so excited to eat it (it was all he had for lunch, I think). Their Uncle Aaron who was there was teasing Teancom to make him give him some dip. Teancom finally looked at him like, "Well, if you REALLY want it, ..." and then started trying to put a chip in Aaron's mouth. Cute.
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