the sound that strikes fear in my heart

When Jonah was a baby, he loved his pacifier. His favorite pacifier was had a hard plastic back and a hard plastic ring that would make a little clinking sound when they met. Though it was a soft sound, Josh and I learned to fear the little clink because it meant the pacifier had either fallen or been spit out and soon would be followed by crying. We'd close our eyes and try to sleep just a little bit longer, but it was inevitable.

The sound that I fear most these days is a dining chair scooting across the tile. That means Caroline sees something on the counter she wants and shouldn't have. It's usually my computer or a pack of gum. Just now, it was a bag of flour and a measuring cup. Because I'd moved my computer and the gum, I didn't rush to the kitchen when I heard the dreaded scoot. Bad call, really, since now most of my flour has gone to its final resting place in the vacuum canister.

cloudy days make the best pictures

What's that? You'd like to see recent pictures of my children? Okay!

It was just yesterday, but I've already forgotten what she was excited about.

Getting a decent picture of them together is difficult, so I'll settle for together and eyes open.

 

Jonah has decided to be camera shy all of the sudden.

So this about-to-hide-behind-the-tree shot will have to do.

sending mail

Our mail is delivered to one of those community mail boxes where we have a tiny slot and a key. It's just down the street and right next to a small park, so I've miraculously managed to check the mail every few days we've been here. (Which, frankly, is as often as I checked the mail at the end of our yard in Tuscaloosa). But here's the thing: there's no outgoing mail slot.

You might not think this is a big deal, but it is. Our mailbox in Alabama had no red flag to designate when we wanted mail picked up. I would just leave the outgoing mail there and eventually the mailman would notice and take it away. That was annoying with anything time-sensitive. So now here we are again without a consistent way to send mail quickly.

Tonight I left the house with a letter and it took me 25 minutes to find one of those blue mail boxes. (That includes driving past the post office, I think, and never finding it.) Clearly I need to find a better way to send this mail. Oh, and the mailbox I found? 5-7 minutes away, max. I actually found it when I was heading home dejected. The End.

wrong number

Someone named LeAnne (Lee-YEAH-n [don't hate, Vanessa. I don't know how to do the pronunciation things and then to try to do it in a Southern accent..well, shame on me for not doing a little research first.]) just called our house phone (which is an internet phone and still an Alabama number) looking for Shannon. When I told her it was a wrong number, she said, "Oh, I am SO sorry! Have a great day!"

I miss Alabama and its wonderful people.

oh yeah, we went camping

Jonah helping us look for squirrels. That orange vest used to belong to little Josh!

She did enjoy herself, even if this picture implies otherwise. That orange jacket used to belong to baby Jonah!

Any guesses what Josh and Byron are carrying in the boat?

Caroling! The fishing trip was just too much fun for her. All you can see here is the life vest and jeans, but she's asleep in the boat.

I draw the line at aerodynamics

On days when I've had a full night's sleep the night before (like today! Caroline slept all night last night! Good riddance, evil cold.) I am a pretty patient Mom. I like to answer Jonah's questions as completely as I can knowing the some day he'll be too cool to tell me everything that's on his mind. While we were running errands this morning, I fielded questions (and most impressively, I might add) about rainbows, the Egyptian pyramids, why leaves float on water, and explained why eye doesn't start with the letter "i". (It is kind of weird if you think about it.)

I had to stop and claim ignorance, though, when he asked how birds and airplanes fly. I even took a class in college where we practically built an airplane, but working that in to 5 year-old language was just too much for me. We'll let Josh field this one.

First I got sick. Then Caroline got sick. In between that were some nice cool days and fall break and for one reason or another, I couldn't get enough reading. Maybe I'm making up for the busy months of moving and packing when I read uncharacteristically little. All that to say I've read quite a bit this month and some was better than others.

The best:

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta: Set among the characters of Saving Francesca (which I haven't read in years..perhaps rereading it would have enhanced this book), this is a story about family and sadness and mourning, but also a love story (of course). I've tried to read it before but for one reason or another didn't. This time, though, I was sucked in almost immediately and cried a few times and was touched many times. What can I say? Melina Marchetta just writes books I love.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson: Brandon Sanderson, on the other hand, writes books I really, really like. For some reason I can never dive quite as deeply into his books, even though his worlds and characters and plot lines are some of the most thorough of any books I've ever read. That said, I was entertained and surprised and interested all the way through. This is a split from Sanderson's usual fantasy and is a YA science fiction/dystopian novel, which works for him as well. In the words of Patrick Rothfuss: "Unfortunately for my ego, Steelheart is another win for Sanderson, proving that he’s not a brilliant writer of epic fantasy, he’s simply a brilliant writer. Period."

The okay:

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund: This was billed as a Persuasion rewrite in a science fiction world. I love Persuasion. Perhaps I should have been scared away by that very fact. The book was good, but I couldn't quite shake the feeling that it could have done even more justice to Persuasion with just a few simple adjustments. I am eager to read the next one, thinking it might be even better, but since it's a Scarlet Pimpernel rewrite (also one of my very favorites), I'm cautious. Not so cautious that I don't have it on my hold requests at the library, though.

The Ruby Red trilogy (books 1 & 2) by Kerstin Gier: If there was any question about Janssen's correctness in all book suggestions, this sealed the deal. #1 was almost painful to read. I read it knowing that she thought it that way, but really. I should have just skipped to #2 and figured out the rest with the internet. That said, the second one was really good (not though-provoking or anything, but downright enjoyable)! I'm looking forward to the third.

The not-as-great:

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling: Her characters are so perfectly drawn, but in the first 50 pages I could not find one to root for. I know people aren't perfect, but I have to have at least one character I like to even care what happens. Perhaps that character would appear (or we would learn more about an existing character) later, but there was some questionable language as well. It wasn't enough to ruin the book, but it was enough to not want to keep reading just to see if it got better.

Shadows by Robin McKinley: Robin McKinley has written some of my all-time favorite books. This book (like everything she's written in the last 5 years) can be summarized thusly: cool premise, but it took me 3/4 of the book to really care and for the plot to really move. Once it did, the end was rushed and the book ends right where the real story should begin. I enjoyed it, but I'd much rather fewer pages in the beginning and at least another 50-100 pages at the end. This can be said for Chalice and Pegasus (her previous 2 books) as well. Though Pegasus has a sequel coming out, so we'll see. I should just stick with The Blue Sword.

Dick McQueen bike ride

One of the first and longest disagreements Josh and I had was about how to park on the street. Do you park up on the sidewalk (so as to avoid getting hit by cars driving by or backing out across the street..which my family has terrible luck with, apparently) or do you park in the street (so as to leave room for anyone walking by with a walker)? We both felt passionately about our parking places, and both stemmed from family experiences.  The story goes that when Josh's grandparents were alive, they used to walk around the neighborhood together. Grandma (Caroline's namesake) used a walker towards the end, and they couldn't walk side by side when cars were parked on the curb. Bless Josh for standing up for his grandma's preferences even if it meant angering his new wife.

When I graduated from BYU and we moved back to Arizona, we lived in Tempe behind Josh's grandfather. His house was on a nice big lot and there was a house in the back ("The Back House," in case there's anyone wondering what we might have called it.) that we rented. Grandpa was in his 90s at this point. He was the sweetest, especially to me while I got used to having in-laws and all that. He had a quick wit and loved to tell stories. I wish I could go over and listen to some of his stories today. Isn't that always how it is? He would bring us our mail every day and sit and chat for a minute. He was a chatter, that one. Well because he'd lost his daily walk partner a few years before, he took to riding a three-wheeled cruiser bike around the neighborhood. It had a big orange flag on the back. I have fond memories of Grandpa on his bike. In fact, he was on his daily ride when we left for the hospital to have Jonah. We pulled over to tell Grandpa where we were going and his face split into the biggest smile I'd ever seen. That will probably always be my favorite memory of the man. He loved baby Jonah. His favorite thing to say about Jonah was, "he's so well-developed!"

I digress. Since Grandpa's passing three years ago, the neighborhood where he lived has hosted a memorial bike ride along his route. This is the first year we've been in attendance since we were in Alabama for the previous rides. Jonah and Josh participated and Caroline and I cheered them on. Next year maybe we'll all ride. They even had shirts made up with Grandpa's likeness on the back.

Jonah was one of three great grandchildren in attendance. Dick would have been so proud.

Here are the riders all lined up. They said this was the biggest turnout yet.