yet another "update"

It's been busy around here. Zig mentioned his mom was wondering what was up with the blog.

Tina, this is for you!

First off, you know I'm desperate for rainy day activities when I allow stuff like this:

Yes, I'm lowering my standards of what it means to have a tidy home!


What? no one is getting along? Not to worry! Mom and Dad have a cure for that! The best cure to put the kibosh on arguing children is always work. Hard to believe these kids were all at each other just an hour before they prepped the greenhouse for Spring. Love you guys....

On Wednesday, I took a visit to the doctor with a very roughed up looking Evan.  I had been trying so hard to keep everyone well for our Kauai trip, but as luck would have it, we did not make it to the finish line. Evan had pink eye and double ear infections. We had to take an antibiotic this time because of the impending 6 hour plane flight. I hate antibiotics and only use them when we have to. I think this is the 4th prescription I've ever filled. Babies, earaches and long plane flights are not a good combination though and I didn't want to risk it. Getting Evan's antibiotic, pro-biotics, and eye drops in have been a real joy. Oh boy.

The girls had their well child check-ups. Dr. Candace informed me the last time they had seen Sela was when she was 8 1/2. We had a good laugh about that. Sela has a rock solid immune system. And a Mom who must have completely forgotten her 9 year old check-up! We had a nice visit and Nina gets to go see a speech therapist for her adorable lisp. I almost don't want to take her because I love her little voice so much. But it won't hurt to check it out, I guess.

The kids worked on their Valentines this week. They have to be done before we leave so the kitchen table has turned into a Valentine factory. Sela's teacher requires hand-made individualized cards which I LOVE, but we are having to squeeze them in in an already busy week. Sela took a quiz to school to find out everyone's favorite animal and is working hard making pop-out cards for each classmate. Rollin joined the fun and we made dinosaur valentines. Surprise, surprise. And Nina's have a guinea pig theme. Good stuff.









Wednesday we had an art docent session on Picasso. I actually stress about these quite a bit. Sela's teacher, Mrs. Knapp, is so wonderful about working around our schedules and giving us plenty of time to really do some quality projects so I always want to make it worth her time. I set up a huge still-life in the center of the room with all kinds of objects of varying sizes and colors. The kids divided their papers into three sections. They then spent ten minutes sketching in charcoal pencil from three different perspectives (they moved around the room). They could sketch as many or few of the objects as they wanted. Then they outlined in sharpie and added color with pastels. This project stretched the kids and it was fun to see 22 very different projects at the end of the class.One of the moms was taking photos at school that day for the class website. I couldn't figure out how to remove them and paste them from shutterfly, but here is a very brief slide-show. I hate slide-shows on blogs, so sorry!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Friday afternoon I had a tennis match. Unfortunately, all that kissing and snuggling with Evan meant I woke up with a huge sore throat. Our team captain is injured and we had no available subs this week so I went ahead and headed to Edgebrook with a water bottle full of Emergen-C. I was thinking about the match on the half-hour drive to the club and thought that maybe I could pull off a win if I lucked out and got an opponent who was impatient and went for big shots but wasn't super consistent. I've had a couple of those. What I did not want was a slug fest against someone who gets everything back.

I walked into the club and I knew who was playing singles the second I saw her. I'm almost always able to pick them out. I saw her and immediately thought, oh no. How's that for mental toughness? She was strong in the warm-up and I was down 3-0 in minutes. I was trying to end the points quickly and missing winners in an effort to prevent myself from tiring out. I even started to serve and volley. Basically, I was not playing my game. Then I gave myself a little talking to. I basically told  myself, you're going to feel bad whether you try and conserve your energy or give it your all. You're going to be sick either way so you might as well go for it. Plus, this match is costing me 60 bucks for a babysitter and court fees and half my day, so I better make it worth it! So I stuck with it and somehow was able to pull off a win for our team. 7-5, 3-0 at the buzzer. I was so happy to hear the timer go off! I was sucking wind by that point. But we had a good match! I love tennis.


Next up  was the 50's sock hop at the school. The kids had a major blast. This is one of my very favorite school events. I was in charge of decorating the gym so Sela and Nina entertained Rollin and Evan on the playground while we taped and stapled and taped and stapled Friday afternoon. We only had a few minutes to run home and get ready before heading back to the school, which was obvious in our outfits (Sela wore an inside-out tennis shirt)! There were so many adorable poodle skirts and 50's costumes though. Even some pink ladies.
















Some of us moms gave the hula hoops a go and were stunned when our hula hoops spun a couple times and crashed to the floor. I thought hula hooping was like riding a bike, but apparently not. I am proud to say I kept at it though and some of my skills did return. Plus, it's quite fun to embarrass the kids! And the really sad part, I woke up today and my abs were sore. For 10 minutes I laid in bed reviewing my activities trying to figure out the cause until it dawned on me, the hula hooping! I'm kind of embarrassed to even write that.

Saturday I woke up with no voice. And Sela had a basketball game. I felt like I was missing an arm not being able to cheer for the girls. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE watching basketball?! Oh it's so much fun! For a first year team, they have made great progress and are about even on wins and losses against mostly teams with at least an extra year under their belts. This week, they had another close one, but the best part about their win is that lots of different people scored and the win was a total team effort. And Sela made a free throw!





I needed to get Sela some summer clothes so we headed to Seattle in the afternoon. We were near the University of Washington so I took Sela and Nina to a men's tennis match against Nebraska. We didn't plan on staying for the entire match but 3 1/2 hours later we were still there. They play 3 doubles and 6 singles matches. The teams were tied 4-4 and the last match on went to a third set. There were some fireworks and "personalities" to put it mildly so that provided the drama the girls needed to stay into the match. We were glued and had so much fun. The Huskies beat the Huskers in the end. The players stayed after and signed autographs/t-shirts and talked to the kids. They were in good spirits since they pulled off a close win. We got the schedule for the rest of the season and will definitely be back for more!




This guy won the deciding match.


 More tennis players.

Let's see, what else?

My friend, Lilian, ordered 100 pounds of almonds and ran out of places to store them (imagine that!) She's nuts :) She was so kind to give us a few pounds so we revisited an old favorite cookie recipe, Jam Thumbprint Cookies. These are so healthy and delicious...whole grain flour, ground almonds, and a small amount of pure maple. We are on our last few jars of strawberry jam from the summer so we mixed strawberry and peach jam on the cookies. Yummy!

 

playdate

I'm making good on my promise to Rollin to set up more playdates for him this year. His first request was Nina, his friend from preschool. To say he was looking forward to this day is a huge understatement! They had a great time and Rollin enjoyed trying to impress her.


High Five!


Watch me do the zipline

Let me spin you in the swing

oh, and watch me shimmy up this rope


watch me carry heavy stump

Nina is very adventurous. When she jumped right on the zip line, I thought these two are a perfect match!

Then they constructed something out of logs. And Evan tried to knock it down.



Look at that! Mr. Bashful!



They finished off the day digging in the dirt.

boating in the rain

Rollin took his little boats outside today to see how far they could go down the stream on the side of our road. There has been a ton of rain lately so we had a great time playing in the water chasing the boats. Evan fell in while I was getting one of the boats caught in the weeds unstuck, and he was wet from head to toe. It was only 50 degrees outside, so we kept on playing and he hardly missed a beat. Evan loves to be outside, rain or shine. It's just that I need to be better about getting the kids outside in the rain more. The air was so fresh and we had a great afternoon.

Baked Oatmeal

We tried this today and it hit the spot. Evan had thirds, little piggy.

funny check-up

This week we are getting all caught up on doctor and dentist visits. Rollin and Evan had their yearly check-ups with Dr. Candace today. Visits with Dr. Candace are so much different than the visits I had with the regular pediatrician when Sela was young...before I knew better :) Actually, I know there are great pediatricians, and mine was a kind, wonderful older and highly respected gentleman, but the overall experience doesn't hold a candle to the care we have now with our naturopath. When I see doctor visits on the calendar, rather than dread, I honestly look very forward to the visits. Everything about the experience is less sterile, more warm, and extremely personal. She blocks out an hour for each check-up and you do not feel rushed at all. There are no nurses. There is never a waiting room full of sick kids, and there is great reading material all around. She practices preventative medicine and saves the antibiotics for when it is really needed. I think we've filled two prescriptions in 9 years. She is great in a crisis and has been a huge help on the rare occasion the kids get sick enough to warrant a visit.I want to recommend her to everyone I know, but she is not accepting new patients.

The kids love all the questions about foods, favorites, their bodies, etc and I get a kick out of listening to their answers. Dr. Candace always asks the kids what they had for breakfast, what they ate yesterday for lunch and dinner, etc. Then we talk about their diets and see if they are getting what they need. When she asked Rollin what his favorite dinners were he said "brownies." Then she continued to probe and he said "Jo-Jo's." Pushed some more he said "Ice cream." And finally, with a nod to mom he said "ok, cauliflower." What a little rascal!

During Evan's visit, Dr. Candace was asking him to point to some body parts like eyes, ears, mouth, etc. All he wanted to do was suck his thumb. She said "I'm going to keep trying, Evie" and then Rollin piped up with "He knows where one body part is,  his dingy. He always plays with it!"  Nice. The funniest part was that I think deep down Rollin didn't like that his little brother wasn't able to answer the questions so he wanted to make sure he got some "credit." Anyway, we had a good laugh! And getting laughs is what Rollin is all about.

Can't think of one...

I was looking into printing this blog over the holidays since this is the only journal/baby book/record I keep of my children and our life together. During this process I was going through entries from prior years and I was startled at how much I really do forget. In just one year, the children change so much. I loved spending some time with 5 year old Nina and 3 year old Rollin as well as cuddly newborn Evan as I glanced through old entries. I'm so glad my attempts at getting something down, although not always eloquent, provide me with little glimpses into our daily life and what our children were like at different ages.  Sometimes, especially lately, it is particularly difficult to find time to blog, and even harder to make it meaningful and formulate my thoughts into something worth even writing down. There has been so much swirling around in my head this past week that I sit down to write and it's just totally garbled. I hate catch-up posts, because I find those the least interesting entries to read , but I guess that's better than nothing sometimes. So hopefully this will be the last one like this for awhile.

Last week was a whirlwind of emotion. Strange in some ways, because the events of the week were fun, happy and lighthearted, however my thoughts and feelings were all over the map. I was able to visit with friends at book club, see a movie with a group of friends from the neighborhood, play an exhausting and very tough tennis match, see the incredible Picasso Exhibit with Zig and the girls, have friends over for dinner, have sleepovers and play dates for the girls, watch Rollin's cute preschool play, as well as all the regular stuff. Yet, it seemed like everywhere I turned I was reading of grief, loss, tragedy, cancer, death, you name it. In every quiet moment (yes, there actually were a few), I found myself thinking about some pretty depressing things. A family from church experienced a near tragedy for both pregnant mother and unborn child. Through a miracle, this family has come through far better than first expected, but I couldn't get them off of my mind all week. It's hard to think/accept that a tragedy could strike at any point in time and that yes, today could be my last day on earth with this family I love so much. I'm not a huge worrier, because it's not productive, but dang, I couldn't shake my thoughts this week. Gosh, motherhood sure makes you vulnerable at times. I don't like to feel vulnerable, so normally I don't allow myself to go there.  Then later in the week I stumbled upon this article, and could totally relate to the author as I've had many of the same feelings.

Zig was in China this week and usually when he travels we don't miss a beat. Life goes on as normal. We check in with each other over the phone and the kids and I go on with our routine. He didn't have cell reception, so for the first time in a long time, I was actually counting the days. And not because I needed help with the kids or relief or whatever, but because I really missed him. We all did. It didn't help that I read this entry from my SIL, Amber's, newly widowed cousin (drunk drivers suck!) and couldn't stop thinking about it. Every time I look at this blog, I find myself close to tears. Just as I was returning home from school drop-off on Thursday morning, I noticed a  familiar black car in the driveway and couldn't have been more happy to see Zig get out. I thought he was coming home late at night so what I wonderful surprise it was to have him arrive early in the morning and then work from home.

The weather has been a little dreary and we are all looking forward to spending February in Kauai. I want to be warm and I look forward to  hanging out with the kids & Zig with few distractions or commitments. Well, we have commitments, but will be missing them back at home. Oh well. Zig did a moutain bike ride this weekend called the Stinky Spoke. It took place on what is supposed to be the ugliest weather day of the year. It was actually a nice morning, but I'm glad to know the worst day is behind us :)

One of Nina's resolutions this year was to care more consistently for her bunnies. This was inspired entirely by some books she and Sela checked out from the library about rabbit care. Somehow the multiple (empty) threats from Zig and I to put the bunnies on Craigslist  several months back did nothing, but the library books changed them entirely. I think learning for themselves what bunnies need was enlightening and empowering. They came up with a spreadsheet, check-off charts and have been going strong all month. Nina rides her little bike out each day after school, puts Spotty in the backpack, and brings Spotty inside for snuggle time.  They bought grooming materials with their own money, they take them veggies in addition their regular food, and they clean their cages even more often than needed. It's a beautiful thing. And the result is they love their bunnies so much more. It's like people, when you serve each other, you love more. And this is certainly the case with animals. The bunnies are never far from their minds now. We lucked out with Spotty. He is so calm and will just sit in Nina's lap for as long as she wants. She no longer wants a little dog.





I need to wrap up but wanted to say a word or two about Sela, Evan, and Rollin.

Sela wrote a story in December at home (for fun) that was really quite remarkable. Her teacher was blown away and told Sela she should have it published. She had Sela read the story to the class before the break and I was lucky enough to listen while I was setting up for art docent in the classroom. Her classmates were all completely attentive and caught up in the story. They all clapped and several chanted "All I want for Christmas is Sela's book!" Most of the kids initially thought Sela simply illustrated another author's story. The teacher allowed time for comments and it was so heartening for me as a mom too see how kind and respectful these kids were. All the hands shot up and there were so many thoughtful comments shared. Sela had a copy bound for her teacher and this week was asked to go read for the other 4th grade class.


Sela reading "Alenka's Christmas" on Christmas Eve. 


Evan, a little man of lots and lots of gibberish, but very few discernible words, sweetly and clearly replied "I love you"  back to me this week. I have uttered those words thousands of times to this sweet boy and for whatever reason, today he decided to let me know the feeling is mutual. He melts my heart.


Unfortunately, he had a bit of a rough week, falling down stairs and other stunts. He's got his Angelina Jolie lip back, poor guy.


Rollin needs to be busy. He wakes up each morning, gets his art out, and gets after it for at least and hour or so. Sharks, dinosaurs, and dragons. I promised him that I would set up some more play dates this year. I am a horrible play date planner. They pretty much have to fall in my lap to happen. But I promised Rollin I'd do better. He loves his friends.





We finally made it down to the Picasso Exhibit, three days before its departure. Jodi and I waited in line for 3 hours, but we never have time to really visit, so it was FUN to have that time to catch up! Anyway, we got tickets for late in the evening and Zig and I and the girls came back after a busy day of basketball and birthday parties.

Sela and Nina spent a month learning about Picasso in their art classes, so this exhibit had special significance for them. Zig and I were both taken back by how large and comprehensive the exhibit was. The exhibit was drawn from the collection of the Musée National Picasso in Paris—the largest and most important repository of the Picasso's work in the world. The Musée Picasso recently closed for renovations so this may be the only time to see his works outside of Paris. "Musée Picasso’s holdings stand apart from any other collections of Picasso because they represent Picasso's personal collection—works that the highly self-aware artist kept for himself with the intent of shaping his own artistic legacy."

There were works from every major period of his life, which spanned 8 decades. Picasso was a very busy man. It is hard to believe one person could create so much in a single lifetime. Wow. I feel very unproductive after viewing this exhibit.

sunday best

Getting dressed for church has to be top on Rollin's list of things he strongly, passionately dislikes. He doesn't like the layers, buttons, collars, all that. And really, I dress him quite comfortably. I would never put him in a tie or suit...he really doesn't know how good he has it!  He can often be seen disrobing as he runs to the car after church. He does get hot, but that is because he tries to do gymnastics in the halls. In the summer, he does get to wear nice shorts, but unfortunately summer is just 2 weeks long :) I love this boy to pieces, and I love to see him all dressed up and looking handsome, even if it's just for 3 hours and 1 minute on Sundays.