birthday cake

When it's your birthday, you get to have waffles and chocolate muffins for breakfast.

Which you will certainly follow up with presents.

After you get the wrapping paper off (finally), they must be played with.

And then, of course, there must be cake!

Thanks again to our friends, the Bakers, for letting us crash the New Year's Eve party with birthday cake!

And for a view of the proper way to eat cake:



Happy birthday, Caroline. We are so lucky to have you in our family!

oh right, the family picture

So I sent out most of our Christmas cards. Some are still waiting for addresses. Some are waiting for me to write in the addresses I've collected over the last week. If you haven't gotten one yet, hang tight. You may be getting a Valentine's card (that happens to say "Merry Christmas"). Because I've been dying to post these though, here were the best (or funniest) pictures that Kaitlyn so generously took for us one Sunday:

Some ideas sound better than they are. This was one of them.

This may be the only picture where all four of us look crazy at the same time.

This is my favorite. If only Caroline was facing the camera..

So we're a little fuzzy and Josh looks bald. It's not half bad, really!

This is the picture that made it on the card.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas, in pictures

Caroline was up almost two hours before anyone else.

Susan helping Caroline open a book.

Jonah's gift to me: a big red bow. Apparently he walked right into the store and told Josh. "I want to get Mommy a big red bow." Okay then! (He did the same thing with his gift to Josh--a Snickers bar.)

Caroline helps Daddy hold the knife.

..and then finally gets the hang of taking off wrapping paper.

"Woah!"

Trying out his cap gun with holster.

Later we did actually get dressed. Then, Caroline figured out her new toy.

We had tamales for lunch. They were amazing.

Then we finished the evening with a game of Ticket to Ride. Jonah even played. He waits his turn and then plays on every one and two-train slot he can get the cards for. Not bad for his first time!

when Santa comes

Jonah is pretty confused about Santa Claus. You see, we don't really "do" Santa here, but we don't not do Santa either. We just haven't made a big deal out of it. Some people think we're sucking the fun out of Christmas (yeah, I can see that). Other people think the whole Santa charade is a lot of work for a potentially huge let down in a few years. Neither Josh or I had that experience as kids, so we don't really worry about that. Mostly, I'm just really good at the everyday stuff and not so great at the big deal things. We're a very low-key family. Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

Jonah knows about Santa sort of, but we've never really talked about him. He does know, though, that Santa comes on Christmas. First, Jonah was concerned that we'd moved the recliner in front of the fire place. "We'll need to move that so Santa can come down the chimney," he said this morning.

Then this evening, the following conversation took place:

Jonah: When do you think Santa is coming?
me: Some people say Santa comes while we're sleeping.
Jonah: I guess he'll just have to sleep on the couch then.
me: Yeah, I guess so.

See how I avoided making a decision about whether we're a Santa family or not? Right now I'm still holding on to hope for some snow in the morning (there's a teeeeny chance) since Jonah has been waiting expectantly all day. I don't know where he got the idea that it snows on Christmas morning, but he was quite put out when it rained all day instead.

dear me in 15 years

Someday, Jonah might make me cry. We might have a fight and I'll wonder if I've totally messed him up or if he loves me at all. When that happens, someone please remind me of this memory:

Tonight, we made sugar cookies. Jonah chose four shapes: a Christmas tree, a heart, a gingerbread boy, and a gingerbread woman. The tree he had just because it's Christmas after all (nevermind that Josh made a ghost and a chicken..why limit ourselves?). About the rest, he said, "This is me and you, mommy. The heart means I love you and you love me."

And then, when the future me tells the story and the future him gets embarrassed, I'll show him this picture to seal the deal.

The proper way to watch a movie is pantless, perched on the pass through, shoveling popcorn in two hands at a time.

add this to the list

No light sabers at the dinner table.

first (or third) word!

We officially have a word!* Caroline says, "dog!"

Jonah really wanted her first word to be his name, but Dixie won out in the end. When Josh and I were talking about this new development, Caroline repeated "dog" and crawled on turbo speed (the "there's something I want" crawl speed) to find Dixie.

*Other than "mama" and "dada" which may or may not mean us.

dream big!

We had a chaotic morning around here. The kids have been sick and no one was napping and everyone was crying and I was trying frantically to finish Christmas presents so I could mail them before I had to start paying for expedited shipping* and Josh and I were snipping at each other and it was all manner of grumpiness this morning.

Well just now I started forumalting my ideal evening plan. It went something like this:

-sit down to a relaxing, healthful dinner in a clean, quiet house
-children play quietly and happily while we clean up dinner
-children go to bed without a fight and stay asleep
-we cuddle on the couch and watch a movie by the Christmas tree
-fall asleep by 9pm

Can I just say that the best part of that plan is the sleeping at 9 part? So not going to happen, but a girl can dream!

*If you get a package that looks like it was pieced together with random cardboard scraps, it was. If you don't get a package or a card until after Christmas, just pretend it was on time, ok?

Jonah is so wise

This morning: "Mom, I love blueberry muffins more than you love hot showers." I do really love a super hot shower.

Then this evening, as I was trying to explain the concept of adoption to him: "Oh, yeah, I know what that is. It's like what Timon and Pumba do in Lion King."

fall leaves, a five-part story

Part 1: Dad prepares leaves

Part 2: Boy is not convinced

 

Part 3: Dad and boy go in together. Boy is still not convinced. Dog is terrified.

  Part 4: Dad makes the leap alone.

Part 5: Boy goes in!

Remember the terrified dog? Well, she remained wary of the leaf pile until later in the evening when I caught her napping on it.

house rules

I recently read an article about parenting rules the author did not expect to make. I've heard myself repeating a few odd ones myself recently:

1. Only one stick in the house at a time.
2. No climbing on the fridge door.
3. No kicking the fridge door.
4. No stabbing the fridge door.

kung fu laundry

Tonight: "Mom, I'm going to need you to wash these clothes while I sleep so I can wear them again tomorrow. Well, you don't have to wash this shirt because I can wear another kung fu shirt. But if I'm going to do kung fu, it's going to have to be a fighting shirt which is my shark shirt or my dragon shirt. But not the other shirts. Those are not fighting shirts."

sometimes I overcomplicate things

So Jonah is very interested in age and numbers. He wants to know what day on the calendar is such-and-such, how many pages on the calendar until his birthday, how many minutes I'll be on the phone, etc. He also wants to know how old he will be when ________ (lots of things). Generally, these are fun to try and answer.
Jonah: How old will we be when we die?
me: 117 or so.
Jonah: How old will he be when we get a cat?
me: Probably 35.

Today, though, he asked me a tricky one.
Jonah: How old are we when we get married?
me: Well..um...I was 20 and Daddy was 21. (Thinking, "wow, that was really young.") But you might be like 25 or 30. (Thinking, "wow, let's not freak out on the kid.") Or you might be a little younger. (Thinking, "wow, you really are having a hard time with this one.") So really, I don't know. Sometime around 20-something?

Did I mention he'd walked away before I made it through my first answer?

time spent well

Yesterday, I discovered that we have no stockings. Either they poofed in the tornado and we didn't use them last year, which I can't remember (blame the almost-born baby!), or I've managed to lose them. Either way, I was off to the fabric store to get some fabric to make them. Not ready to make the end-all stockings (who knows how many more times I'd have to struggle to find the fabric again?), I invited the boys to come with me. Big mistake. Jonah wants his stocking made out of fabric with ducks sitting in a lake and dogs in Santa hats. Josh's will be made out of olive green and brown fleece and lined with Alabama fleece covered in elephants. I don't care that the mantle will look crazy. I kind of liked my mom's pink lace stocking next to my brother's two-foot-long red knit stocking, next to my embroidered Nutcracker stocking as a kid. What I don't think Josh realizes when he tells me it doesn't matter if I like it because it's Jonah's stocking is this: I have no motivation to sew them now. The whole fun of sewing is making something beautiful and I'm just not feeling it. I think I'll start with mine and Caroline's.

Skip ahead to this morning when I read this article and it made me think of this interview* and this story.

I don't relish the thought of driving the kids everywhere. I know the time when we can just hang out at home will quickly end. (Jonah is already 4 1/2. How?) Looking at it this way, though, I will just have to look forward to the forced interaction with my sweethearts.

Now I'm off to eat popcorn for breakfast and watch Kung Fu Panda. Most days I'd feel guilty about it, but today I'm going to snuggle with my boy and dare anyone to tell me there's something better I could be doing with our time.

*The whole interview is great. The part I'm thinking of it where Sister Beck talks about driving her kids to piano and the work it was. She also outlawed ipods and cd players or whatever kids were listening to back then so that the drive to piano could be time to talk.

if Google had lips

I could kiss you gmail, for the following:

"You wrote 'I've attached' in your message, but there are no files attached. Send anyway?"

(looking at a picture of Jesus on the cross)

Jonah: What color do you think his regular clothes were?
me: Brown, probably.
Jonah: Or maybe he had blue pants and this part of his shirt (pointing to the hem of his sleeve) was brown and the rest of his shirt was green.

Well then.

sometimes, you don't know what to post on your blog

Like me right now.

I also don't know what to write in our Christmas letter. Should I even do a Christmas letter? Part of me loves to see what people are up to. I know that there are friends and family we don't talk to often that might be interested in our lives. The other part of me just likes to look at pictures and I definitely don't want whatever I write to sound like bragging or bore people to death. Thoughts?

black hair

Jonah is sitting next to me coloring a picture of Grover and his mom. He just said the following:

"I like to color pictures of her with black hair like you because I want her to be pretty like you. I want you to know that I think you're pretty. And it's because I love you."

What's that? He wants chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast? Ok! (So what if my hair's brown not black..right, Steph?)

i love thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the best holiday. It has always been my favorite, and I finally know why. The holiday is a whole weekend devoted to three things I love best: family, food, and naps.

I hope you Thanksgiving is finding our loved ones happy and warm. Of the four pies I made (that's only one per person if you count Caroline!) the chocolate cheesecake was the best. The haupia pie was the worst (made all the more disappointing because it was so good last year). The pecan was the first to get eaten (we may have sampled it Tuesday night). Kaitlyn's peanut butter pie was the most addicting. Jonah had two slices.

We've spent the last few Thanksgivings with the Grant family. We're missing them today. So in honor of happy Thanksgivings past, I've been thinking about one of my favorite Thanksgivings:

It was the first Thanksgiving we were married. Between a September wedding and a trip home for Christmas, we just didn't have the money to go home. Quintin decided to stay in Utah with us. The three of us did our best to make a Thanksgiving feast. The turkey was divine and everything else was a flop.  (The funny thing is that the turkey this year was undercooked--I lost my thermometer and took it out too early--and everything else was fabulous.)  We spent the rest of the weekend napping and playing games.

Looking at the picture, I have a few thoughts. Why did I make a salad? I'm always disappointed by salads at Thanksgiving. I love a good salad, but they either get overshadowed by the mashed potatoes and other sides or they just don't get eaten at all. This year I made these green beans. They were good, but no one went back for seconds. I'd also forgotten that we used to drink a ton of Kool-Aid. I finally stopped buying it because we were going through bags of sugar at an alarming rate. That does look tasty, though. I wonder who was drinking the milk?

our Alabama boy

This week marks an important time for Jonah. He has now lived in Alabama longer than he lived in Arizona. Sometimes, I still think of us as being new to the state. Other times, I look at pictures from right before we moved (like the ones below) and think time must have passed faster than I thought.

Helping wash the mirror

He's picked up darlin' and a few other drawly words from church. Other than that, though, he's still our same sweet boy.

Helping wash the car

christmas cards

Our Christmas cards came in the mail yesterday. I was more excited to open them than is probably healthy. As I skipped (no, really) out to the mail box to get them, I said to myself, "They came! They finally came!" ...in the voice of Sid the crazy kid in Toy Story who says the same thing about his rocket.

If I didn't send you a card last year and you want one, send me your address! If I did send you one last year and you've moved since then, send me your address! If I sent you one last year and you haven't moved, I probably still have your address.

At the risk of spoiling the card, here's a sneak peak of a picture that did not get chosen:

This is why I love this picture:
-It captures Caroline's suspicious face (the look we often get when we try to feed her new things)
-The smile on my face is pretty similar to Jonah's half smile (the smile he gives when he's upset and trying not to laugh)
-I think my boys are really handsome.

And moments later (and because ridiculously bad pictures of my children make me giggle):

what he really really wants*

What Jonah wants most is a "magic wand that does real magic." We want so badly to be able to give that to him, but we definitely don't want the fall out when he discovers his real magic is actually lights or batteries. So we pretend and have fun imagining what we'd do with real magic.

The first time Josh played the twist-the-Oreo-and-make-a-wish game with Jonah, Jonah wished for (you guessed it) a magic wand that does real magic!

Today I heard Jonah singing, "Tell me what you want what you really really want. I'll tell you what I want what I really really want" followed by, "I really really want a wand that does real magic."

*We've been working out in the mornings to a Spice Girls Pandora station (don't judge). I can only imagine that's where he picked up the song.

for those of you who have read WoT...

Really, this will be long and excessively nerdy for anyone who hasn't read it, but I'll do my best to make it clear for all (because who doesn't enjoy a long rant about a fantasy series every now and then?).

I just finished reading Cinda Williams Chima's Seven Realms series. It was not my favorite series. (Her first series--starting with The Wizard Heir--was much better.) So as I was reading the first book, I started to know some similarities with The Wheel of Time series. I'm sure most of the things I noticed were not original to WoT, either, so I shrugged it off as general themes that fascinate fantasy authors and moved on. The idea of a dream world where is nothing new, for example. When I got to the character of Amon Byrne, however, I started noticing the sheer quantity of similarities. By this last book, it was just too much to handle. Following are some of the ones that I noticed (also, spoilers below if you're planning on reading either series):

The Captains of the Queens' Guard (Byrne and Bryne)

In the Seven Realms, the main female protagonist is heir to the Grey Wolf throne. Her mother, the current queen, has fallen under the wiles of an evil wizard and is making terrible political decisions as a result. The Captain of the Queen's Guard, Edon Byrne, falls out of her good graces by trying to keep the country together. We find out later that he loved the queen, but was unable to pursue her because of a mystical connection between the Captain of the Guard and the Grey Wolf queen. This magical binding allows him to feel her emotions and sense where she is.

In the Wheel of Time, one of the main female protagonists is heir to the throne of Andor. Her mother, the current queen, eventually falls under the wiles of one of the Forsaken and he convinces her to make horrible political decisions, thus tearing the country apart. The Captain-General of the Queen's Guard, Gareth Bryne, is forced into retirement when he tries to convince the queen that her lover is up to good. We find out that he was once the queen's lover. While this does not pertain to Gareth Bryne, Aes Sedai (the magicians) and their bodyguards are magically bound. That binding allows them to feel each other's emotions and sense where the other is located.

The Demon King/Dragon Reborn (Han and Rand)

In the Seven Realms, the main male protagonist is Han Alister. It turns out that Han is the distant relation of the Demon King (more on him below). Han goes to the world of dreams (again, more on that below) to speak with his long-lost ancestor. The Demon King possesses Han's body without his will on a few occasions. Later, with Han's permission, the Demon King hops into Han's brain and gives him a running commentary on the politics of thousands of years ago and teaches Han magic long lost to time. Han's enemies wonder where he ever learned these details and such amazing magic.

In the Wheel of Time, the main male protagonist is Rand al'Thor who turns out to be the modern version of the Dragon (more below). Rand later starts to lose his mind and hears the voice of Lews Therin (the Dragon). While it's not clear if this is just madness or the actual man, the voice teaches Rand about ancient politics and magic long lost to time. Rand's enemies wonder where he ever learned these details and such amazing magic.

Alger Waterlow/Lews Therin Telamon

In the Seven Realms, the novel takes place thousands of years after the Breaking. The Breaking refers to a time when a super powerful and evil wizard tricked the Queen and waged war on all other wizards. In the process, earthquakes and fires completely changed the shape of the landscape and wiped out much of the world as they knew it. Alger Waterlow, aka the Demon King, is demonized for his role in breaking the world.

In the Wheel of Time, the novel takes place thousands of years after "The Breaking of the World" in which Lews Therin Telamon (the Dragon) and several other male magicians devastated the world with the One Power, unleashing earthquakes and tidal waves that reshaped the landscape and wiped out whole cities.

Aediion/Tel'aran'rhiod

A major plot device in the Seven Realms is the dream world of Aediion. Only magicians can access this world and leave their physical bodies behind in a trance as they wander around in Aediion. In Aediion, they can change their clothes and landscape with their minds. Dying in Aediion wipes them out of existence both in the dream realm and in real life. The ability to travel to Aediion has been lost in time and modern wizards do not believe in its usefulness. Han and his friends usually meet in the dream world in a recreation of the library of their magical training school. Han Alister, of course, can travel to Aediion.

In the Wheel of Time, the dream world is Tel'aran'rhiod. Very few can travel there at will, but with the aid of a magical device, any magic caster can. Access occurs while the magic caster is asleep and therefore vulnerable physically. Clothes and landscape are changed by thoughts, so controlling your clothes is matter of will and focus. Dying in the dream world rips them out of the Pattern (thus killing them in this life and any subsequent incarnations). The ability to travel to Tel'aran'rhiod has been lost to time (to the main characters, at least) until the main characters rediscover it. Rand, of course, can travel there (as well as many of his friends). The main characters usually meet somewhere in the Ivory Tower (the magic school).

Binding of the Gifted/Damane

In the Seven Realms, a neighboring kingdom (Arden) does it's best to take over the land ruled by the Grey Wolf Queen. Among other things, Ardenites mistrust the magicians and consider the magic heresy. There is lots of burning at the stake and other religious rhetoric tossed around. Somehow, the Arden military has figured out how to make manacles that bind wizards and allow the holder of the chain to control the wizard's power. While it is never explained how they work, it is mentioned more than once that the leader of the Arden military is gifted himself (but does not admit it or use his power, as that is heresy).

In the Wheel of Time, a distant civilization comes to take over the land. One of their main military resources are the damane, or chained ones. The damane are magic casters wearing magical manacles that allow the holder to control the caster's power. It is discovered that the holder must also be a magic caster to control the damane, but this detail is unknown even to the holders themselves (as all magic casters are all chained and used as weapons).

brrrr!

Last winter at this time, I was a few months from having a baby. I was never cold. I vaguely remember turning the heater off repeatedly (much to Josh's dismay), but almost every memory from the end of either pregnancy is vague.

This winter (supposedly a colder winter, no less) I am freezing all the time. To make matters worse, our space heater broke! Now I can't even drag it around from room to room with me. Just turn on the heater, you say? Oh, we do, but it's approaching ridiculous levels (I'm too embarrassed to tell you how warm I keep it) when I could just put on socks and save the money.

This was the heater. We loved everything about it. I give it full marks for longevity. It is also actually cool to the touch like it claims, which has been great with the kids. Kaz said they'll fix it (since it's still under warranty) if I pay to ship it to them (and wait 3-5 weeks). Do they understand how much I loathe taking the kids to the post office? Never mind that I talked myself into it on Monday. Yes, this Monday the national holiday (that UA doesn't observe).

Oh? And the dog that eats plastic? She ate my pastry brush yesterday. THEN, she got hot bread off the counter last night. She couldn't just eat one loaf? No, she had to sample both. Josh found one in her kennel and one in the living room. She has never in her whole life taken food off the counter or table. She is in deep trouble today (and possibly forever). I'm too disheartened to make bread again today so we're eating cereal for lunch.

update from comps land

I thought Josh had 5 days of 5-question tests lasting 8 hours each. (In a merciful scheduling, he has a day off in between tests to put his brain back together again and go to his other classes--because yes, he's still taking classes and finals and things.) But when he called me at noon during his lunch break to tell me he'd only finished one of the five questions...well, it was a late night last night. (That was also his only test without a time limit, we think, so the rest of comps should look more like the original idea.) For everyone that's been sending your best wishes, thanks.

For everyone we know who's been through comps (or med school for that matter), hats off to you. We know this won't last forever, but it will be a rather intense 10 days (so please forgive the touch of melodrama).

Also, we've entered the realm of knock-knock jokes. Jonah doesn't quite get some of them, but he's definitely trying.

p.s.

Oh, and Josh starts comps* tomorrow. The suspense is giving me an ulcer.

(But then, we watched Moneyball on Friday and it also gave me an ulcer, even though it was a story--with a happy ending--based on true events that I could look up anytime online.)


*Wikipedia says one version of comps can be, "a series of proctored exams taking anywhere from a few to as many as thirty-six hours." Josh will be taking 40 hours of proctored exams from now to Thanksgiving.

project unbreakable

Warning: this post and especially the link may be disturbing to some. I won't be offended if you skip the post altogether or choose not to go to the site. I have gone back and forth on this post all night, but I feel this is an issue important enough to interrupt the blog's regular lighthearted prattle.

A friend recently brought this site to my attention. Project Unbreakable is a site full of pictures of survivors of sexual abuse, rape, and assault holding cards with the words of their attackers. I imagine breaking the silence and shame can be healing. It is also very disturbing to be confronted with the harsh reality of abuse. I have nothing but the deepest respect and admiration for the effort. I hope that all involved (and those still not ready to voice their own experiences) find a measure of peace and healing from their bravery.

my dog, the plastic chomper

I have seen food craving charts like this one floating around the internet. Basically, the idea is that if you are craving something sweet, your body really lacks B12 or something. (Go look at the chart if you're curious, because I haven't bothered.) There's probably some truth to this, but what I want to know is, what does a craving for plastic mean?*

As a puppy, Dixie would chew everything. Now, she's an almost-two-year-old respectable house dog. She won't chew shoes or table legs (not yet, right A-L?) but she loves small plastic toys. The army man army has been reduced to a squadron one by one. Well last night, I came home to find her happily chomping on a crayon. Ugh! Jonah was most distraught.

(He forgave her quickly.)

*I remember only two things from my high school health class. One is pica. Pregnant woman savagely eating clay and paint chips? For some reason I've always remembered that. The second was a paper Carrie and I wrote about why French people are skinnier and have lower rates of heart disease than us. Our 16-year-old conclusion? They don't stress about their food so much.

voting in Alabama

We just voted. (Go us?)

It was unlike any voting experience I've ever had. Most of my voting has been done by absentee ballot, but the last time I voted in person (in AZ, for curious minds), I remember it being very quiet.

This time, most of the voters sat at round tables and chatted about what the various amendments and candidates had going for them. After I got over wondering if it was illegal, I thoroughly enjoyed the chatter.

not enough pictures of Caroline?

Let me illustrate why with a little run down of the Halloween costumes. In case it's not obvious, the kids were Merlin and Madam Mim (in her post-germ dragon state) from The Sword in the Stone:

In an attempt to get a good picture of her costume, I took countless pictures of her crawling away. This girl has far too much to do to sit still for pictures!

 That purple blob? That's the wig that never quite stayed on her head.

 Merlin was pretty pleased to show off his costume, though:

maybe they let me win...

...but I'll take it anyway. Today I played croquet for the second time. The first time was in 2007 when Josh and I played with his grandpa (who skunked us, in case you were wondering).

Today, we played with Jo Anne and I won! Happy birthday me.

This is what Caroline did while we played:

(Warning: the last two pictures are blurry. Proceed at your own risk.)

Josh and Jonah being who knows what:

Caroline, looking very pleased at being rescued from her stroller: