Signs of Spring

Today, the Tigers play the Yankees, happy opening day, friends. Our bird feeder is the social hub for the neighborhood finches. We've got at least 2 pairs of Goldfinches and one pair of red House Finches. At one point there were 5 birds perched on the 9 inch long bag feeder we have hanging from the kitchen window awning. One of them has started perching on the screen of the window, right in front of where I'm typing right now. My crocus flowers are past their prime, and I noticed 2 dwarf hyacinths blooming at the side of the house. Hey, last year version of me: thanks for planting those butter yellow crocus bulbs. This year's version of me forgot, and was pleasantly surprised to see them. There is no snow visible, save the odd parking lot mountains that are now lesser mountains. I hear people outside more. The kids have spent brief outings chalking the sidewalks. I don't think we've hit 50 degrees yet, so they come it with cold, chalky fingers. I am very, very excited to pack away winter coats, hats, mittens... hopefully we won't see them until we move. And speaking of moving, a for sale sign will sprout from our yard next month as well.

She thought she could, she thought she could...

The kids and I were cooking. In a show of good faith, I asked Willa to pour two cups of milk from the glass measuring cup into the bowl. She grinned, took hold of the handle, and... sat there. She took a deep breath, looked up and said, "I know I have to just believe in myself, and I will be able to do it."
She did.

Harsh punishment

I've been meaning to record this for a few weeks...

A while ago, all four of us hopped in the HHR to get supplies for HQ. We were grocery shopping at Meijer, and Jim and Henry drifted. Willa was concerned.

"That probably wasn't a good idea, was it mom?"
"It's okay, we'll find them in a minute."
"But dad should probably have a consequence* to making that bad choice, shouldn't he?"
"What kind of consequence do you think is appropriate, Willa?"
"Um...." she said, while thoughtfully scratching the bridge of her nose, "well, um... maybe something like not letting dad sleep with you for a few nights?"

I congratulated myself for not laughing myself into a puddle. Meanwhile, she made plans for Jim and the couch.

*We've been talking a lot (A LOT) about choices and consequences in these parts. She's catching on.

leprechaun hunting

Happy St. Patrick's Day, pals! Today the wee ones and I got dressed in our green (in light weight green - thanks nature for a nice, warm day!), and went out to Blanford Nature Center.

These two worked as a team. He would spot something, and she'd snap a picture. The maple sap is running, so we learned about the process from a kind volunteer. It was so nice to be outside in jackets. All streams were running faster with the melting snow. We saw a frog (early!) in the pond. The kids were giddy with outside-ness. Me too. Check out the snowdrops. Wheeee! Flowers.

At the end of our hike, we found that a tree had toppled onto the bench we usually take a photo on. The kids were instructed to look worried. Hee hee. Look at them selling it!

We came home and made twice-baked (green) potatoes, asparagus, and turkey and veggie burgers on the grill. Pistachio pudding for dessert. Jim was able to enjoy dinner with us before heading off to his Dale Carnegie class.

Last year, MaKenna and Lisa made us this nifty get-up. Fun again today!

Chickens legal downtown - if they're rubber

Grand Rapids is hosting a big, funny party this month. Laughfest is a 10 day festival that will raise funds for Gilda's club. There are big comedy names coming. And small ones. Music and events. It all got started tonight.
Were you wondering about the world record for the highest number of people to gather and toss rubber chickens in the air? As of tonight, it's 925. The kids and I got downtown and joined the crowd just in time. There was a countdown and then we launched them.
Because we stayed on the outer edge, our chickens did not travel far, and we brought them home. Walking back to the car, we told chicken jokes. "Why did the 3 chickens cross the road? Because we're carrying them."
Kids, someday you might be parents. now you can impress them by saying you are part of a world record breaking event. Cluck, cluck!

Grad school update

I began my fourth class this weekend. Because of the weird format of this program, I'm also 1/3 of the way done with my fourth class. Strange, eh? I'm finding that having one class every 8 weeks, and meeting on 3 Friday evenings and Saturdays makes it go quickly. It's a speedy process, and kind of awkward to learn (and probably teach) so much all at once. I come back home in the early evening on Saturdays feeling fried. But so, so energized.

It's my "me" time. No spills to clean up or crayons snapping under foot. No anxiety about it being too quiet, no squabbles to referee. Not yet, anyhow, I imagine as our cohort of 17 progresses through the terms, there will be squabbles... I am so thankful for the opportunity to miss my children while I'm away.

So, I've finished classes on theory, school counseling, standardized tests, and I'm now knee deep in ethics. I've got a 4.0 gpa, and I'm having so much fun learning. The people in my cohort - we'll go through the whole program together - are compassionate, smart, and fun to be with.

I'm somewhat daunted by the awesome responsibility that I'll have as a professional counselor. On the other hand, I'm confident that I'll be pretty darned good.

at the core

"Mom," she said, looking very serious, "I think my brain smells like rainbows."


She's probably right.



In other news, I'm in the middle of an intense/rapid job application process with the State of MI. Fingers crossed pals, okay?

She got my teeth, and his humor

Willa has started telling jokes. Her own. They are long, and involve whatever is in the room that her darting eyes rest upon. They end with her cracking herself up, and me cursing the fact that genetics failed. Clearly, she's inherited her dad's sense of humor. Want an example?

"What did the... uh... uh.... oh! What did the monkey... say to the um... ball?"

And I have to play along. Even though I know that we're not going to land anywhere near making sense. So, I say, "I don't know what did the monkey say to the ball?"

This part she doesn't have to think about. Because of course the monkey would say the following to the ball: "You bounce up and down, and I'll go up in this tree, and pick a banana. And then I'll eat it."

This is very funny to her. She laughs so hard, her cheeks get red, her eyes get teary. And her look of accomplishment is so endearing and sweetly ridiculous, I crack up too.

I am pretty sure that all kids tell these kinds of jokes on their own. It's fascinating to watch someone learn humor and how to work a tough room.

The inevitable fall of Winter

When going down side streets, I've purposefully been hugging the curb. I've been stomping on the edges of snowbanks. I've had a tiny glint of evil glee in my eye for the past week.
I know that there's snow in the 5 day forecast, and I know it's only February. But LOOK.

Crocus reminds us that - even when the once "pretty snow"* gets grey and crusty - nature is still doing its job in the hard, cold ground. This picture was taken today. The kids and I are sick, and ventured out for a walk around the house, and then down the street 3 houses. That wore us out, but there was sun, and the sound of water trickling into storm sewers, and flower buds. Ah, the healing power of hope...

* I don't know... I hear some people saying it's pretty. I just can't see it.

supercalifragilistic...

First, sorry for the little bit of sibling yelling there. It's just kind of part of their script. And don't be fooled by Willa's very pathetic look. She got her solo earlier.
Second, I am not driving here.
Finally. Kid's got some pipes, eh?

Doop a dee doo

I have become a chronic liar to my children.
Willa and I just finished reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." While at Target, she saw the movie (the new version*) on sale. $5. Okay. So... we watched it, Henry joined us.
Tonight at dinner I proceeded to tell my kids how I used to be an Oompa Loompa. I told them that I was in charge of the coconut room where we had monkeys wearing backpacks scaling the trees to harvest the fruit. And then elephants would crack the coconuts on large rocks. Then hermit crabs would scrape the fruit from the shell.
Gracious their eyes were huge.
I can't help it. It's fun to unlock their imagination. Also, it cracks me up that they might believe it. I'll set them straight... someday.


*This version didn't have creepy Oompa Loompas, and the boat in the tunnel scene didn't give me the creeps, but I like Gene Wilder better as Willy Wonka better.

Church Christmas Eve Service

Our Church has finally posted the Christmas Eve Service on their YouTube Channel. If that sentence alone doesn't tell you that our church is a little... different, check out the pageant. It's a modern day, Grand Rapids-based retelling of the Christmas Story. If you watch the angels, you'll find a familiar face among the angels. The service is in 3 parts. Willa is at ~ minute 1 in the first part. If you just want a quick glimpse of adorable little girls dancing, watch part two, from one minute on.


Part 1:


Part 2: (this is our video. This part was edited out. Watch from about a minute on. Willa is front and to the right.)


Part 3:


Part 4:

Support from his sister.

Henry's Big Boy Underpants Dance

Henry is ready - I think - for potty training. He knows when he needs to go, he doesn't like a dirty or wet diaper on him. He has the capability to use the toilet. Dude is just a little... distracted with everything else to be reliable.
I'm taking it easy on him, and trying the big boy pants only when we're home for a long stretch. Mixed results.
Today we were at the Meijer Gardens, and he yelled out, "I NEED to use the potty!" We ran. He went. Willa was impressed (even though he's been doing this for -on and off- about 5 months now).
We got home, and she asked if she could go get a penny from her piggy bank. She wanted to give it to Henry as a reward for using the toilet.

A few Christmas notes and photos

Christmas was here last month, of course. I am a bit behind what with illness and the new little job and preparing the house to put it back on the market and all of the extras that came with Jim locking himself in the basement until his Masters Thesis was finished.

Pals, we all know that baby Jesus (above in the manger with the traditional puzzle piece animals and the often mentioned Christmas Skink) being born was a miracle. So was the completion of the Thesis. Jim finished it last week after months of toil: research reading, interviewing peers, surveying program participants, writing, writing, writing. All in a new APA format. I'm so proud of him. That was a mighty big mountain he climbed. I should call it a miracle, it was a lot of work and grit and Twizzlers that got us all through.

And there was so much JOY!

Actually, this is a new Christmas tree ornament for 2010. We got it to mark an important and fun moment for Willa. This year, she got to participate in our Church Christmas pageant. I'm still looking for some uploads on YouTube, so I can share some film clips, but here's a photo of our little angel.

And here are the two ornaments we picked for the kids this year.

Henry's bear is enjoying the wagon just as much as Henry enjoyed ours this summer.

Willa's bird is a Goldfinch. Just like the birds that frequented the birdfeeder outside our kitchen window. She loves them so much, she thanked God for the beautiful birds every night during prayers.

Listening in

Willa is "reading" a series of feelings-based books to Henry right now. This is what I'm overhearing.

When I'm mad...
... I jump up and down and try to break the earth
... I dress up like a carrot
... my mama says I can't paint on the walls
... I just go up in my tree house

When I feel glad...
... I give a big heart of love
... I pretend that I'm in the clouds
... I blow heart bubbles that are pink
... I feel baby kittens and it's so good

I love...
... look Henry, his heart flew out of his body, and now he's looking for it... looks like a monster

Facebook moments

A lot of moments that I may have recorded briefly here, instead when to a quick note on Facebook. Here are a few of the quick thoughts compiled by a pretty cool application.

Correction

Henry has a shirt that has dinosaur skeletons all over it. As he put his hands through the arm holes, I said, "I like this dinosaur shirt, buddy." His head popped out of the neck hole and he correct me: "they're fossils, mama."
I know that later in life that trait might get him pushed into middle school lockers, but at two, I find it charming.

Willa Awesomeness

A week ago a friend who has a daughter about the same age as ours shared that watching his daughter start to put letters together to read words was cooler than watching her learn to walk.

Tonight, I was taking Willa upstairs to tuck her in. On the wall up the stairs we keep the signs we hang on our front door for every holiday. Our Valentine's Day sign is a word with a bunch of wooden hearts around it. She stopped walking and pointed, "mom! That says love! l-o-v-e spells love."

In print, she recognizes her name and Henry's. She knows mom and dad. And maybe a few others. But this was her first non-prompted work, in my book. Look at her read! And what a sweet first step.

Dear 2010,

It is New Year's Eve. We just finished a dinner of Beach Bar Tomato Soup and garlic bread. Our family, over the last year, has started to pray before dinner. We hold hands, and thank God for specific things, and sometimes ask for a little bit of help. Tonight I got choked up when it was my turn. I was following Henry, who thanked God "for beautiful friends, and beautiful family, and uh.... beautiful windows, and... what are those?" Blinds. Beautiful Blinds. And after he finally said amen, it was my turn.
What a year. What a beautiful/challenging/growing/pull my hair out/weep with gratitude year.
Willa has grown 5 shoe sizes, and is growing into such a compassionate kid. Henry has gone from a few words to speaking in paragraphs and (no boasting here) actually pausing to consider verb tenses.
Jim is nearly done with his Masters degree. We have grown together this year, forming a tighter partnership, a better love. We're working together to sell this house.* We're working together to increase patience and have more fun.
I have have moments in my day that make me want to send a thank you letter to my former employer for letting me go. This is a pretty good gig, and I wish I didn't have to continue to search out what's next. Being at home with the kids for more than a year now has let me fill up my memory tanks with intense love, and I can't even write about it.

Dear 2010, thank you.

Friends and family who peek in here occasionally, thanks for your selfness. Camp Sinki wishes you much love and peace in the next year.

For the first time tonight, both Jim and I were completely content being home with no plans on New Year's Eve. So nice to be there.



*Oh, our beautiful inadequate house. I can't bear to take the Christmas tree, knowing that we'd like this to be our last Christmas in the house. I mourn the anticipation, and yet can't wait to see what's next.

Willa finds out

Uncle Bill and Aunt Jackie called us a while ago with big news. I let Bill tell his niece if Ben was going to have a brother or sister. Watch her face after she says, "what?" That's when Bill shares...

it's a girl. She's pretty excited.

Again, sorry about the sideways video. I have started to record only in landscape. I've been holding on to this to be sure that Bill and Jackie have shared the news with their peeps first.