well, yeah.

jimmy plays basketball

2012-01-31T18:49:00.000-08:00

Here's the baby whisperer today, whispering that unruly niece of hers.

Ahh, the child is in bed, back to knitting.

After while, it was lunch time.

Then we wen to James' basketball game.

Julia took over the camera and well, that's about all that can be said about it.

James is number twelve. He's getting better over the season, a little aggressive. Little Jay says he's way more aggressive in the driveway than he is on the court. Probably true, nobody there with a whistle to call fouls.

Yeah, that annoying dude, calling fouls on my boy.

Okay and these are the last pictures she took: seventeen pictures of her feet. It was a pretty touching collection.

These two were at the basketball game too, but Julia never took any pictures. It was this sweet little brother guy, let me hold him a long time. He's growing, getting heavy! I had to sit down.

This guy was there also. He arrived in his wretched just-woke-up-from-my-nap-and-hate-the-world-especially-you-people mood. But with a bit of Powerade, he overcame it and went on to have a fine time.

This is a picture Maria took. The date is obviously wrong. He wasn't even born until 2009.

And that is the end of that, and a very fine Tuesday it was. Onward to Wednesday, and more importantly, onward to FEBRUARY, which brings us one more month closer to June. love, Val

the end of sunday

2012-01-29T18:43:00.000-08:00

What a nice weekend it was.

Yesterday we went to Tim's basketball game.   That was fun.

The kid has no killer instinct. He ducks when they pass him the ball.

He stands by politely while the other team shoots baskets.

On the way home, I told him his job is to get in the way and interfere. Make it difficult for them to aim properly.

"You know what I mean?"

"Yah."

He's the tallest, biggest kid on the court, but you'd never know it.

Anyway, after that I called my old friend to meet me for supper in a suburb halfway between us, and she said yes.

Then I ran to Fantastic Sam's for a haircut and color.

Oh, Lord Have Mercy.

This lady was so slow with the foils I thought I might DIE. I seriously considered ripping the foils off my head and running out of there, unable to take it any LONGER.

It was so bad, the ones in the back, underneath, were done curing and she still hadn't finished the top of my head. A co-worker intervened to help, thank goodness.

Then finally, after over two hours the coloring was done, and time for the haircut. The cute slow girl wandered off eating candy from the machine and the other lady cut my hair.

WHATEVER. Just GET ME OUT OF HERE.

Two and a half damned hours.

I raced to meet my friend, made it in time, lovely evening.

Then I stopped at Target and have been keeping an eye out for cheap dining room chairs to replace the old dried up, broken down ones we have. (I paid $40 for the whole dining room set about ten years ago. The chairs are toast in every way.)   I found four good chairs that will reasonably match!

So I brought the chairs in and asked Tim if he wanted to put them together.

He ran for his tool box, excited.   It took a while to put that first chair together with that tiny allen wrench they send along. (Let's work with toothpicks! That'll be GREAT!)

Then after it was all together, he came out to the kitchen and said, "Look what I forgot," and dumped a whole hand full of washers into my palm.

Okay, rewind. Big Jay cut that allen wrench off short so it would fasten into the chuck on the drill and the whole thing went much faster.

After that, we had Chair Chunkin' which is somewhat like Pumpkin Chunkin' only for this event we tossed those old dining room chairs out the back door onto the patio. Then others tossed them over the fence to the driveway. (None got stuck in the trees overhead, so that was good.)

Today we went to church, and that's always a good way to start the week. Our lively pastor has moved on to her new church, and as I listened to our friend leading the service, singing alone, all the parts, speaking, serving communion, I wondered if he felt as lonely for her as I did.

Maybe not. He's a guy, and he thinks from a very guy-like point of view, and is a very logical, sensible person. He probably is in a completely different place from this than where I am.

However, while we ate donuts later, I didn't put him on the spot and ask him either.

What if he started crying?? (Awkward!) Or I did? (Awkward!) Or Jay did? (Okay, enough! No crying! She's not dead, so calm down. We're going to be okay. Everything is fine. FINE.)

Then we went to John and Dannell's for pizza. We invited ourselves over and said we'd buy pizza and please DO NOT CLEAN.

Okay, he cleaned. There were vacuum tracks in the rugs. The bathroom was spotless.

Please Darling, don't clean for me. I don't care about it. I know how life is and dog hair and all that.

I had no camera along, so even though those kids were cuter than EVER, I have not one single picture of them.

They fought and argued and played video games and trains.

t.c. found Big Jay and coaxed him into some kind of snowboarding game.

I felt Dannell's baby kick. He rolled and stuck his back out at us, big old pointy lump. Who IS that in there?

m.c. showed us pictures from the concert she went to a couple weeks ago. It was a very laid back good time. Santa was not there. Her favorite, Brad Paisley was.

Which brings us to now, the end of Sunday.

Sigh.

February is upon us and for this I am glad.

Happy Sunday. love, Val

the big loud 52

2012-01-27T21:49:00.000-08:00

That was tonight. It was good.

This guy was as amused by the cart as the others.

Awww, here we go, John and Julia.

Dannell, growin' that baby, and Lydia

m.c. and Maria, cute as ever.

Here we are down in the second basement, living it up with the Legos.

While others amuse themselves with the cart.

Okay, see that weird box hanging from the trusses by Christmas curly ribbon?

This is the game: fling it back and forth and the box is loaded with Matchbox car tracks to give it some weight. These are the boxes from the party sub sandwiches John and Dannell brought for supper tonight.

Yeah, it was real fun until t.c. got hit in the face. John said, "Yah, his only permanent teeth, smacked in the face."

Here's our new guy, growing round and juicy, bright eyes, and with the tiniest skinny hands I've seen in a while.

Oh, gifts. My parents gave him money, which is always a treat.

Little Jay gave him M&Ms and a Cheech and Chong t-shirt (we were kids in the 70s.) John and Dan went together on a Wii.

Tim was delighted beyond belief. He has to beg and bargain to get time on the Wii up in Jay and James' room. Now he figures Dad is an easier target maybe? He's probably right.

It's Auntie Dannell and the new brother.

b.g. was way into the whole present thing. Alicia says Christmas and then the new brother has created a monster. Well, that's understandable. That old Grandpa guy has opened enough presents to not mind if a young whippersnapper helps out.

Oh, now we're down to business, got that Wii going.

Charming me for a Moo Jr.

Of course. He can have the whole box. I want his babysitter to get sick again so he can come stay with me some more. (Not fatally ill, just a rash or a headache.)

Here he's revving up his lungs to blow out those candles.

And that is the last picture we have. We have no pictures of little kids trying to scoop ice cream and arguing about how yes they can so do it. (No, they cannot. Their arms are too short. Grow taller, then get back to us.)

We also have no photos of the dramatic departure where people demand specific beverages in specific cups and ask to be carried.

That's okay. It was a great party, a lot of fun. The man is officially launched forward into life as a 52 year old, and life is nothing but good.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. love you forever, Val

he's 52, fifty two years old

2012-01-26T21:38:00.000-08:00

And he can kick, and kick, and no, no, no. He'd better take it easy on his back.

We planned a party for tomorrow night, but Heidi and Joe are going to visit his mom tomorrow and stay over night, so we had a little party tonight too.

There she is scouring the mixed vegetables, looking pretty happy about it. Like that bib? It even covers her FEET.

These two are playing hang man, somewhat successfully. It went better when Lydia started recording all the letters Julia guessed so she didn't keep guessing O over and over.

He made supper last night while I was working, bbq pork chops and potato salad. Pretty delicious, it was.

She just wants Sidney SO MUCH. Sidney is so not into it.

This was one of Jay's gifts and Tim was very excited about this contraption. It's a cart that flips in three different forms for moving heavy things.

We hid it in Lydia's room, so Dad wouldn't find it, and I guess they were up in the room playing with this thing all last night and today. Goodness.

Tonight they brought it bumping loudly down the stairway, and when he heard the racket, he closed his eyes so he'd be ready for the surprise.

There it is.

Here are his other gifts, peanut M &Ms, pistachios, and these very thoughtful gifts: a gift certificate to a restaurant he's seen on Diners, Dives, and Drive-Ins which looks very cool, Cuban food. Kirsten says he's talked about this restaurant so many times she had to find it and buy him a meal there.

Aww, that's pretty impressive.

And from Joe and Heidi a filet knife Joe chose after significant research on the internet.

He did? He didn't just run into Fleet Farm and grab a knife? Oh, no. The blade on this one is from Sweden.

Wow, seems pretty high class for the little sunnies and crappies we catch at the lake.

James noticed it cut open the bag of M&Ms pretty nicely. (PUT that thing away!)

Here they are playing with the cart some more.

Now they're giving Dad a ride out in the kitchen.

Tim was so into this cart, I couldn't help but laugh.

Now for the candles--instead of fifty two candles, we went with a group of five and a group of two. That worked.

I love you, Mister.

Thirty-five years ago we met, and a month later went on a date, and now we're here, still us. Somehow a community of family grew all over the place, and I've never wished for a life different from the one we have. And I never want anybody else except you.

Happy Birthday, Bud. love, Me

a tuesday of babies

2012-01-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

Awww, see that face? We held him a long time today, and he's into listening now. When it gets quiet, he listens intently, searches to see us.

These guys were game to get out into the SNOW! All two inches of it!

Yes! They're outside! Out of our hair! I brought my Dove chocolates to the family room and Alicia, Kari and I had a couple, then I rolled the bag up and shoved it in the couch for safekeeping.

This was going on inside: Auntie Lydia snuggling a little brother who is growing fast and thinking a lot.

And outside where they had the brilliant idea to slide down the only hill we have. Okay, this hill ends in two big plate glass windows that go into Tim's Lego Man-Cave and the room where the Barbies live now.

No. No, no, no. When you go through those windows, THAT will be a disaster of epic proportions.

They removed themselves from there, but I had to yell back out the door to help b.g get out of the bushes. Alicia was watching and mentioned he was stuck.

Here we are hanging out in the kitchen while Alicia put b.g. down for a nap.

This one includes his tiny pea pod toes.

Okay, here's how the woman currently spends her days. These two boys are literally hanging from her person like parasites. One attaches himself to her boob, the other to her hair.

It's intense.

And yet thirty years from now, when she's sort of me,

(I will never be her--she's accomplished, plus stylish, and incredibly gentle. She'd never snap at her children things like, "Cut the crap!")

those two guys dangling from her body will be the John and Dan of my life, a couple of the best friends I've ever had.

It's so darn much WORK and at times SLEEP DEPRIVATION, which is, by the way, a way they torture prisoners, that it's hard to even comprehend while we're doing it--these are our future relatives.

These are the people whose college graduations and weddings we'll attend, who we'll celebrate Christmas with, whose own children we will indulge. It's a shit-ton of work now, but it's a major investment in the future.

Oh, but this little giggly girl was just cracking me up this morning. Leopard print becomes her, and she's just so herself.

Which brings us to our little auntie who can become a bit overwhelmed by her cute nieces and nephews, who wound around on my lap like a snake in the afternoon, whining about this and that.

Later on, in the evening, we went to my parents where she was the littlest again and my parents indulged her.

Life is awesome. January is quickly approaching February, and no complaints of any kind here, only love, babies, and squirrels. love always, Val

this weekend

2012-01-22T21:55:00.000-08:00

Was pretty quiet. It snowed, finally and the kids were really happy, and so was Sam.

This is from this morning, the send off reception for our pastor who is moving to another church. She's amazing, is loved very much, and it'll be hard to get used to being without her again.

That's the bad part.

The good part is that we were incredibly lucky to have ever had her at all, and we're smart enough to know it.

Love you so, Val, Jay, and the whole family

while we're on the subject of her

2012-01-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

This is something I wrote back when she was three:

Looking With Our Eyes

Today I went shopping with Kari and Tim. Kari is three and she loves to shop. Now that Tim sits in the cart, she has to walk along, and the freedom is a bit more than she can handle. She crawls inside racks of clothes and hides. She pushes the cart into my ankles when I’m distracted.

She loves it most of all when she spots a long aisle—that expanse of glossy linoleum stretching out forever just makes her want to run as fast as she can. At TJ Maxx today she was shoppin’ up a storm, touching everything she could, to the extent she reminded me of the dog on a walk, stopping to lift his leg on every bush.

“C’mon, c’mon,” I kept urging her. “Don’t touch stuff. Kari, look with your eyes, not your hands. Use only your eyes.”

Finally we got to the check out line and she jumped up and down, madly yanking on Tim’s arm until he decided it wasn’t funny anymore and started to cry.

While I smoothed his ruffled feathers, she spotted a long shiny aisle extending all the way to the back of the store and away she went like the wind, her little pink tulle skirt puffing up and down, her long arms flying.

When she came back, I scolded her using her whole name, “Lydia Karina. At the store, kids are supposed to stay by their parents. There is no running. You have to hold onto the cart now in case you get any more crazy ideas.”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the irritated, pressed together lips of the woman behind me in line, the sour, disapproving frown she had fixed on Kari. Shopping moments like this used to devastate me when my oldest kids were little. I’d come home feeling like a terrible, incompetent mother with an awfully bratty child.

Now I have perspective. Renegade Shoppers grow up. We do manage to civilize them. They develop self-control, and I also know that along the way they cause virtually no harm, however distracting they may be.

Kirsten is sixteen, but back in 1987 when she was a year old I had her strapped firmly in a stroller at the mall one afternoon, and I was relieved that there was a socially acceptable way to contain her, because she was a monkey and I was feeling pretty burned out dealing with it day after day.

I remember looking around the mall at all the people and thinking, “Every one of these people got from age one to age two due to the good care of someone else.” It sounds silly now, but that day it didn’t feel a bit silly.

I felt a little awed to think of all the people of the world raising other people, teaching and protecting and feeding and washing and helping…the image of that much love bringing humanity forward, generation after generation… all that hard work, most of it done unpaid, contributed completely out of commitment and love, made me feel less alone on that very tired day.

she told us her tutu made her head hurt

When we talk about being parents, so often it’s either the good or the bad. The sublime or the feet-on-the-ground side, and we could benefit by acknowledging both. It is wonderful, and it is hard work. It’s rewarding but it’s also often isolating, and can be relentless, and numbingly tedious.

There is no money to be made at it, and this is how we usually measure value in this culture. So then where on the Grand Plan do we place something that never makes it onto a spreadsheet, but is so essential to our existence here—our being raised and then turning around and raising the next generation?

I don’t know.

There has never been a time that I answered the phone or heard one of my grown up kids at the door that my heart didn’t swell with affection and pleasure. I adore my babies, and little kids are easy to love, but I didn’t expect teenagers to be wonderful.

I’d heard a lot of serious warnings about teenagers, and honestly, we did have times we disagreed and were angry at each other… but it was not bad. The arguments were a force creating growth, both theirs and mine, and their dad’s too.

And I didn’t know I would love adult kids in the same consuming and wholehearted way I do the babies. As Dan left after being home one day last week, like always he yelled, “I love you,” as he got into his car.

I called back, “I love you too…” and the unspoken second half of that sentence ran through my mind, “…more than you can imagine.”

By caring about birth and striving to create loving, respectful, safe births that are celebrations for our babies and families, we are laying the foundation for loving, respectful, safe families to live in.

We want families where all the people can grow together, where we can all seek our potential and be ourselves, where generations overlap, so that we know for certain because we see it with our own eyes, that love is continuous, and extends backward and forward in time.

It was a foundation underneath our lives long before we were ever born and will continue flowing after we are gone.

my dad and his parents

The photo I have included here is of Kari and my husband’s Aunt Esther, Grandma Lydia’s sister. She’s 93 years old, and she was kind to me when I was a young mother, and she tended my husband and her own stepchildren (in the 1960s) and my husband’s mom too (in the 1930s), when they were children. That’s a whole lot of loving.

Esther is irreverent and fun, and I think Kari has a bit of that in her too. When we got home from shopping I was still impressing on Kari this whole not touching things at the store concept.

I told her to tell her big sister Heidi how we look at things at the store. I was waiting for her to say, “With our eyes,” but instead she tilted her chin and grinned at me, then turned to Heidi, “We look with our boooobs.”

love you all so, MOM

back when kari was crazy

2012-01-19T20:17:00.000-08:00

p.j. has turned into a complete ape since Christmas.

Before Christmas, a lot of her concentration went toward the job of walking itself.

Now however, she's fluent in walking and ready to conquer the world.

Starting with my purse. No, no, no, you get out of there. Babies cannot write checks.

If sit down, shortly I'm leaping up over and over to rescue her.

If I get up and actually attempt to DO something, she's right there, hanging on my legs, hollering to be held.

She is not in need of comforting though. She wants to be, Uppy! as Kirsten called it when she was little, so she can conquer whatever I'm working on. She flails around grabbing at the spoon, the calculator, the keyboard, the pens, my phone, whatever she can get her paws on.

She'd also loooove to handle Sidney, but this is not allowed. Sidney is delicate and cranky about that kind of contact.

When I suggested she go manhandle her own dog or roll around on Sam, Heidi laughed, "Nah. She's already defeated them."

Whee. It's all about the challenge.

So Lydia, aka Kari, and I were discussing her shenanigans while we drove home from the dentist and Kari said, "Why is she so CRAZY?"

I asked her if she remembered her own crazy days?

No, she did not.

here's heidi wrangling my wild baby back in the day

Okay, she was a handful. SHE did not listen, and did not care.

When she was about a year and a half old, all she did was take off all her clothes all day long. It was February, and there she'd be naked, complaining that she was cold. She'd cover up with my bathrobe, shivering, while I found her more clothes.

One day we were at the dentist, and I was reading a magazine and realized another guy in the waiting room was chuckling. Yeah. She was down to a diaper and one sock.

Another day Jay came home from work and when the front door opened, she was by the coffee table, naked, and hollered, "AAAHH! I COLD! Shut da door!"

Jay yelled back, "I can't take this constant nudity! I can't believe I'm actually saying that. But honestly, what are we going to do with her?"

Heidi and Kirsten were also annoyed that she kept turning up naked when they had friends over and she wasn't potty trained, and that created some OTHER issues that irked them.

(Like the time they called me upstairs because their room smelled like shit. Sympathetic me: "Well, duh. Look at this mess."

"No, Mother, for real. There is poop in here."

Actually, they were right. It was just outside their door, but the bulb in the hallway was burned out so we didn't see it right away. Fun times.)

Well. I went to the great store of Walmart and bought about ten fleece footie zipper pajamas. And I dressed my crazy Kari in a diaper and t-shirt and socks, and then put on a zipper suit and pinned the zipper so she couldn't take it off.

Awww, look at how cute my pretty baby was.

That's what she wore, every day for about three months: un-removeable zipper suits until spring. She had lots of adorable outfits that she only wore if we were going somewhere special.

But now she's real civilized and all--leaves her clothes on, makes sense. She can even cook and figure out ratios and fractions and stuff, do research and also laundry.

Someday p.j. will be like that.

But not today. I love you, wild Monkey Girl, and you other girls too. love, Grandma, aka MOM

cut the crap, or why are you upside down in a crack?

2012-01-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

They were as loud and hilarious as ever tonight, going to play Game boy in Tim's bed.

We said prayers, kissed goodnight, and then the racket began.

The shrieking and laughing and loud thumping were outrageous.

I was painting the bathroom in the family room, and that's a hard room to paint. It's tiny, the angles are sharp, and the door is in the way.   Ei-yi-yi.

But as I dangled on a high stool, trying with the brush to draw some kind of edge along the ceiling, the giddy carrying on really started to tweak my nerves.

Finally, I went to the door of the room, and yelled, "Cut the crap! I don't want to hear another SOUND!"

(Oh, there's a real nice mom for ya. I probably should feel bad, but I DON'T.)

Tee-hee-hee.    They tried to quiet down. Whatever. Back to painting.

Fifteen minutes later, as I was edging around the lights beside the medicine cabinet, the screaming got really loud.

I was ready to march back there with my Cut the Crap Pronouncement again, but Tim was at the door, "Hurry! Quick! Julia's stuck in the crack!"

I ran, and yeah she was, with only her long legs, and long skinny feet sticking up in the air by the windows.

I tried to pull her legs but she was too heavy and I didn't want to dislocate her arms by tugging. Down in the crack, I could see a lot of blonde hair and that's about it.

Jay came in a minute and ordered us off the bed, and then pulled it away from the wall so she could fall completely down and stand up again.

Good LOR-ed. You kids.

I asked her if she saw any dust bunnies down there?   She said, "No! I couldn't see anything! It was very DARK!"   It reminded me of Jessica McClure in the well. For some reason, that news story always stuck with John. It was stunningly terrible, and he must have been at just the right age to comprehend it all.

Okay. The second coat of paint is on the bathroom walls.

The kids had their teeth cleaned today--first time.   We had a dentist who didn't accept our insurance before, so these things cost a fortune.   So we finally found a new dentist who accepts our plan and the teeth are all clean.

Since we're paying close to $1800 a month for health insurance and dental, it began to infuriate me that the kids' teeth were so badly neglected. It's not like we're not paying. But I'm not paying insurance AND the dentist out of pocket because he doesn't take that (very ordinary and fine) insurance.

Why does it take me so long to cut the crap?

Tim had many question about the equipment.   Their teeth are full of cavities, so we'll be seeing a lot of these people in the weeks to come.

Anyway, that's the end of a fine Tuesday.   love always, Val

this guy

2012-01-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hers, her kid, is this guy.

Whoops, that's a picture of Tim scowling at the zoo during one of their past visits.

Here's the guy, in a picture from 2003, the first time we spent a week together.

This is her oldest son. Maria was about ten, and doted on him, carefully picked all the peas out of his toddler stew meals. Our guinea pig, Patrick, died that week too, and she talked us into getting Maria a dog, which was the Sidney.

Whoops, again. This is the second son, cherub, same visit.

Okay, back to my original point. This guy is growing up fast, and is a very cool, very astute person, and when you look back on your life, R, this guy is going to be known as one of your very best friends.

Oh, gosh. love you all so, Val

our friends' photography

2012-01-15T20:24:00.000-08:00

He was good with the action shots, must have a nice lens and a good eye.

That kid holding the tubes together is a friend of the kids' from school.

This is the game where they throw a football from one dock to the other and try to catch it in mid-air.

This is her kid before he cut his poor foot.

Wow, it's cold here tonight. Hard to believe it was incredibly HOT then. love, Val

more from july

2012-01-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

This is our friends' middle child. He's an undemanding person, for the most part. He chills nicely, goes with the flow.

Yeah, well the poor kid jumped off the dock and landed his foot on something sharp. He cut it nicely, a filet through all the layers of skin.

E.R. Here we come. (This is why we bought travel insurance when we went to Mexico. You just never know.)

He was fine, but that was the end of his swimming. He didn't complain, sweet guy he is, he made do.

Buddy, you were one good sport. love, Val

friends from far away

2012-01-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

Tonight, feeling deep in winter, I was looking at pictures from last summer.

Friends came for a week in July, and it was hot, and their kids are so beautiful, so dear to my heart.

Their mama and I have been friends for a good ten years now, but this is what I noticed in the summer pictures--how these two took to each other.

When this little girl was born, another friend told me she cried when she heard her name.

Cried?! That's a strange reaction.

Well, I did too. My friend named the child after her sister, and the middle name is Valerie.

Having a child named after you? It's an honor that's impossible to even describe.

Julia talks about her even now all these months later, casually, conversational, about things they did, when we'll be together again.

We did go to visit them a few years ago, and this might be wrong, but we're such a mob. I think it's hard to host a family of our proportions, but they did it, never complained, fed us well. They even took us to Niagara Falls, and that doesn't happen every day.

Sometimes a thousand miles seems like an unimaginable distance. And other times it feels miraculous that two families could find each other at all in a world this big.

R, love you for always, Val

getting to know him

2012-01-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

He's growing, but he's still pretty tiny.

Thursday Alicia brought the kids over for the afternoon, get b.g. out of the house, change of scenery.

She's easy company, and we hung out, watched kids, ate lunch. She nursed the baby, and we all got to hold him a lot.

Train tracks were built. Tim delighted b.g. by flying his tiny helicopter around. "Harold!" b.g. kept yelling, laughing that deep belly laugh of his.

The thing is delicate and crashes easily, which also makes him laugh, especially if it lands on the dog, or people duck and scream.

At one point, Alicia said to me, "I'm keeping you from whatever you'd normally be doing."

Nope, not really.

Normally I might be doing a few workbook pages with the kids, or folding some clothes. I might wipe out the refrigerator or something thrilling like that. But with a 10 month old girl underfoot, I don't set my accomplishment sights very high.

Here he's watching Tim play a video game and enjoyed Tim's running play by play, "Seriously? Where did that guy come from? Oh no! They're catching us. Look out!"

These are pictures from today. Last night we had pizza for supper before Alicia and Dan took off with their babies, and Heidi and Joe took off with this girl. She was so tired that she fell asleep in the car and never woke up again until this morning.

Then by 9:30, she was ready for another nap and got into the crook of my arm on the couch. I was pleased to indulge her. She slept all through the end of Anderson Cooper and almost the whole Price is Right, and I dozed along with her.

Oh, and that Showcase Showdown?? The first guy--he put out a number, and I was pretty sure he overbid.

Yes, he did, by like $10,000. Aww, that's a shame. Aww.

The next Showcase I guessed was maybe $35,000. (So she should probably say like 32,000.) She guessed 30,000, and it was 33. Dang, I was close. She won a car, a trip to Aruba, surf boards, a boat, underwater cameras.

Good grief. I'm losing my mind.

Okay, since she was too tired for any bath last night, her aunties and I gave her a bath this morning. She chewed on Barbie hair and splashed around.

Lydia wanted to get her out of the tub, and she knows the technique for extracting a big slippery baby from the water safely:

Pull the plug.

Kneel next to the tub and put a towel across your lap.

Then pull the baby backward over the side of the tub and onto your lap.

Wrap the child, and struggle to your feet.

She's good.

Here she is trying to dry off little miss p.j.

But this next picture, oh my.

I snapped it quick and darted over to fetch a diaper, didn't see it until later.

She's even told me, "Sometimes she drives me NUTS, but I love her."

Here's Grandpa, amusing p.j. with the Barbie pretend laptop. She loves this toy.

He was playing some spelling game on it, and then he turned to me laughing, "Barbie says I Rock!"

Oh, gosh. Apparently Barbie knows you.

And finally here's a picture Dan took of his second son, two weeks old.

Yesterday, I looked into those big dark blue eyes and thought, "Who ARE you? I am so glad you're here."

Happy, happy Friday. love, Val

totally tuesday

2012-01-10T19:47:00.000-08:00

It was a fine Tuesday.

Here she's walking on that pretend laptop she loves. She works on that laptop, does a lot of typing and talking.

I see that doll corner in this picture though. We should deal with that. Too much stuff, and nobody plays dolls anyway.

It was 54 degrees here today--no kidding, in January. There's really no snow.

It's like a March yard, mud and defrosting dog crap.

Disgusting. When I realized, I made them stop playing, and the little guy had to come inside entirely.

It's cleaned up now. I pay $5 for half a bag of poop. Don't try to fill the bags. They will rip. Get another bag.

The clean up cost me $47.

That's okay though, it was worth it.

The dogs were muddy too, the little crappers. Sam found the only bit of snow she could to get her belly on to cool off. She was actually panting from running around.

And yeah, Tim's wearing shorts. Outside, in January.

Okay, this guy had to have his coat and pants washed, so Julia found him a pair of sweatpants to wear. They were too big, so I found a stretchy headband that could go around the waist like a belt to hold them up.

I told John this when he called and he laughed, "Oh yeah, that's how it goes."

So true. Same old story: March = kids, dogs, mud.

January returns on Thursday though, expected high of 13 degrees. That's going to feel like 40 below. But we're tough. We can do it.

Tonight Jay and I went to the overpriced mall we normally avoid, looking for a gift for our new grandson. Gymboree and Baby Gap are pretty ridiculous, but it's not every day someone gets born.

And that is the end of a very fine Tuesday.

2012, you're starting out pretty fine.

Maybe me and you are gonna be friends.

love, Val

a month ago

2012-01-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

We were on our way to Mexico.

One day while we were there, cruise ships came in. I was amazed by how enormous they are.

This is outside a restaurant where the food was delicious.

Wow, how fast a month has gone by, and what a packed month it was. Now we've sailed into January, and it's very quiet, feels like gliding on air. love, Val

the first week of january

2012-01-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

Was gorgeous. Today it was almost 50 degrees. How is that possible?

We babysat this guy, which doesn't happen all that often and it was a blast.

We babysat this girl too, and that brand new baby came over to play. Well, b.g. played. The little brother mostly slept.

And now he's gone home, and it was incredibly fun to have him here all these days by himself.

When he's here with his family, he only wants Dannell, but when it's just us, I get all those extra hugs, get to hear the little jokes.

Here is b.g. absorbed in Super Why. We usually have him here a couple days every week, but not this week.

No wonder it seems quiet around the house.

See how Sam parks her fluffy duff right in the middle of everything?

Somebody took the camera--I found these pictures of Bernie the turtle tonight.

Here's Heidi's dog getting babysat and crowding him right off the darn bed.

When they lived here after their fire last winter, she'd sometimes sneak upstairs and get in bed with us in the night. Then I'd have exactly one quarter of a bed to sleep on, and it was absurd. I'd tell her to go find her parents and she'd trot away down the hall.

Here he is peeking at us through the stair way while they worked on reading.

He played with my necklace for a while. It's a fairly unexciting necklace, but I wear it every day. All the kids used to pop the little pearl and diamond pendant in their mouths. Mine did. The grandbabies do. I do it too, absentmindedly at times, rub it on my lips.

He's the first kid to ask for the necklace though. He ran the chain through his fingers, wadded it up in his palm, then asked me to put it over his head.

Okay, here are a couple dumb stories--my parents gave Jay a gift card for Fleet Farm and he went there last night and one of the things he bought was a new belt.

Well, a bit later, he went to the sofa where he'd left the Fleet Farm bag to get the belt, and it was GONE.

Whaaaat? Who took my belt? For what reason?

You darn kids, has anyone seen my belt?

Huh? What? Us?

Belt, you say?

Clueless.

But then, they did confess. Tim didn't realize it was a belt, had run off with it thinking it was a dog leash, going to try it out on the dogs. (Good luck with that. Sidney would never allow it, possibly would chew his hands off at the wrists, and Sam wouldn't care. He could pull on that all day and she'd keep sleeping.)

Okay, but it gets worse.

Someone took a load of clothes from the dryer and tossed it on the dining room table, same as usual.

Only can someone please explain why MY underwear was in the advent wreath?

That is just simply wrong.

They all tried to compose earnest little serious faces when I confronted them, but whatever. I saw the way Kari tucked in her lips and Tim's eyes slid to the side. Julia played stupid, "Underwear? YOUR underwear? That's gross."

Okay, I doubt it's gross, but it does not belong in the ADVENT WREATH.

Well, it's the end of a most perfect Friday. We watched James play basketball tonight, skinny, fluid arms and legs, pretty smile. Kirsten bought them all Skittles and Joe bit p.j.'s in half, patiently one by one so she wouldn't choke.

The first week of January has been beyond wonderful. 2012 is looking very fine. love, Val

dumb grin happy

2012-01-05T16:37:00.000-08:00

This has been one of the biggest surprises in my life, the way these grandchildren make me feel.

Before t.c. was born, I knew I'd love him, but with an eighteen month old of my own, I wasn't really in a grandma place--though John and Dannell were definitely ready to be parents.

Well, he was born, and sure we did love him, but the biggest surprise of it all was how HAPPY he made me.

It's just plain old dumb grin kind of happy, and who knew??

When I see those little faces at the door, or hear their voices on the phone, or when Heidi tosses p.j. into my grumpy, half-awake arms every morning, it's just a surge of pure pleasure.

I offer this cute picture Alicia took as evidence of the dumb grin I'm talking about.

This is b.g.'s little brother, just three days old. Look how spectacular he is!

love you kids, Grandma, and Grandpa too.

a surprise guy

2012-01-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

John called early yesterday morning to ask if he could drop off this guy to get watched for the day.

Their regular sitter has some sort of hideous, frightening illness they'd like to avoid.

Obviously, the answer was YES!

We watched The Aristocats, and baked cookies.

Oh gosh, a pretty perfect January Tuesday, it was. love, Val

the new baby

2012-01-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

Here he is, in a picture taken by his parents. We love you, Buddy. love, Grandma and everyone

a 12th birthday

2012-01-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

She turns twelve on Tuesday, so today we had dinner and cake to celebrate her and the New Year.

Here's Joe, cuddling Kirsten's dog and teasing Maria.

Okay, somehow we have to clear a spot on this table for the birthday cake.

Aww, there's our girl.

Oh, and this man wants to scoop ice cream! Why not? I can do it!

Then when we were ready to cut the cake, m.c. said, "I'm going to pass out." I thought she meant she was about to faint.

"No, Val! Pass out the CAKE!"

Oh, oh, oh.

m.c., you beautiful girl, this whole family is better with you in it. We love you so, Val and Jay and all the kids.

waiting for a second son

2011-12-31T22:42:00.000-08:00

(Something written not all that long ago, saved in a draft file, laughs on us.)

That's what we're doing. He lives right under the skin, almost like a born baby, knees and elbows and little pointed butt right there.

He's next on the agenda after Christmas.

His mama is married to our second son.

This one is Dannell and John's second son.

Okay, btw, Jay's a second son too.

And so his his father as well--that's his dad on the far right.

What this guy--b.g.'s little brother--will bring to our family, we have no idea.

But we anticipate it's going to be GREAT.

See you soon, Buddy.

love, Grandma

a very happy new year

2011-12-31T22:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, this beautiful boy was born this morning. When Dan phoned in the moments after his birth, I really could hardly believe it. We weren't looking for him for at least another week, but HERE HE IS.

He likes his mom. He was so peaceful in her arms, would quiet right down.

He looked so tiny to us, but when I saw this, how long he is in her lap.

Oh, it's going to be so much fun getting to know this guy.

He's already surprising us! Oh, what a truly great day.

And here's the crowd I found late tonight after I made my way home. The sky is rosy pink, snow falling, roads slippery.

Waiting for the ball to drop.

"That's what she said," hahahahaha.

Our cute friend who always spends New Year's Eve with us.

The midnight toast with the pretend champagne, very fine.

So that is the end of that. 2011 is over, and what a grand finale it was--b.g.'s little brother born today.

We can't stop smiling. love, Grandma and Grandpa

build a bear friday

2011-12-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

Today was the day!

It was awesome. John and Dannell treated all the kids to this party at Build a Bear, where they all (drumroll) built bears!

Here's the rack of amazing outfits.

That's Dan in the distance, keeping track of his adventurous kid.

Here's the lady explaining how the bears are filled with stuffing.

p.j. liked it. She wasn't even supposed to get a bear. They thought she wouldn't get that much out of it, gave her another gift.

Well, we hadn't been there FIVE SINGLE MINUTES before John and Dannell had picked her out a cupcake bear and John himself chose this fancy magenta satin gown.

Here are John and Danell, Dan's child in his arms, messing with his hat.

Here they are fluffing the fur on their bears with brushes and blowers.

Awww, they're all so cute.

Then we went to the playland and went nuts for a while, until they were sweaty and begging for water.

Here we are in the food court. John treated us all to pizza. Honest to God, I have never eaten in a food court before in my life.

I'm 49 years old.

And I LIKED it.

Here we are tonight, smart alecks playing the Justin Bieber Trivia game.

Yeah, I think an off-color joke was involved. Nobody would tell me what he said, except, "That's what SHE said."

Okay, knuckleheads.

I'm leaving.

Oh.

This is the Barbie color-on castle Kirsten brought them. She spoils them; it's a true story. It got very quiet then, kids all coloring together, discussing the castle.

I think this whole bear adventure wore them right out. There wasn't one bit of squirrely giggling or racket tonight--everyone in their own beds, right asleep.

Tomorrow is the last day of 2011, and you know what? It's been a good year, a year we're glad for.

Thank you guys for this delightfully fun Christmas gift. The whole adventure far surpassed my expectations, from beginning to end.

love forever, Mom

will you please, please won't you be my aunties

2011-12-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, Tim's room had to be cleaned. The closet was tumbled and strange. There were many issues. This guy loved bouncing on the bed, thinking up nefarious ideas.

Oh my gosh, it was an ordeal. We did this room over last June.

Why am I whining now, six months later because it requires attention again?

Sigh, summoning patience and less cussing.

This child fell asleep after a fine lunch of cheesy potatoes and pickles.

They possibly could be related. I have no idea what he ate, but the result is the same.

Ooops, here she is with her aunties after she slept on the couch a while.

It's been an intense week, not relaxing. I will not lie about that.

It was a wonderful Christmas, and 2012 is looking fine.

Plus in the morning we get to BUILD BEARS!!!

You never saw kids hop into bed so quietly and without any of the usual squirreling out as when they heard we were waking them up to BUILD BEARS!!! (Insert hyper ventilation.)

Okay, and this is a sad story because I want people to feel sorry for me.

I gave the Sam a bath. I scrubbed her huge body with cherry blossom suds, and bit of coconut too. We rinsed and rinsed, and rinsed.

Then she went outside, and I was wet, and wearing shorts, so I was very, very cold, and I trusted her because I was weak.

Yeah, I'm a fool.

Out there in our frozen, and yet snow-less yard, she found some hideous grit to roll in.

(Insert screaming here, my heart was screaming, even though I said nothing.)

We had a lovely second bath, and I don't care if Sam gets to a toilet until noon tomorrow. She's exhausted any skimpy sympathy I might have had.

The dog is fluffy and sweet, smells like tulips, as John once pointed out on his own dog, scrubbed down by myself.

Yeah, well. Whatever.

Tomorrow is Friday, and is Thursday ever over.

I came back and took out the ever, then returned and left it.

Whee.

love, Val

heather's art

2011-12-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

This is something from Maria's friend, Heather.

She's a very tender, understated person, who creates videos that are both funny and beautiful.

Enjoy, enjoy.

2011 is almost over and it's been okay. 2012 may be pretty wonderful. We hope so.

love, Val

soap, memories, and love

2011-12-27T22:37:00.000-08:00

Maria told me a certain kind of soap, made by a company called Soap and Glory, smells like Lori.

She was ten when Lori died, so I trust her memory.

I ordered a bottle of bath gel, and it arrived today.

I washed my hands with it, and she was right. I stood there in the hallway and inhaled my hands--and then in the dining room, and in the kitchen.

Tonight a bath, in hot, soft water, bubbles and steam enveloping the room--funny 1940s tile and odd square bathtub. Mmmm, Lori.

Maria, Maria, Maria. Thank you. love, Mom

the science kit

2011-12-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

The science kit came out tonight. He went nuts with it.

It's vinegar and baking soda in the little tube. The reaction is what launches the rocket.

They assembled this funny mobile of the solar system too. I don't think it's to scale.

They launched it numerous times, trying to get the balance of vinegar to baking soda adjusted for best launch.

Okay, this is just terrible though--a spectacular launch that hit the ceiling and splashed vinegar in her eye! It hurt like the devil for a few minutes. Dang.

He came racing back with goggles from last summer.

And the videos:

In this one, notice Tim hiding behind the cupboard, way over on the left side.

Also notice the green head on the cupboard. That was last night's project, another Christmas gift.

It's a kit where you make snack mix and pretend it's the brain and the eyeballs and stuff, a zombie kit. Nothing says heavenly peace and holy angels like a zombie kit, right?

The second video is a proper launch, very fun.

These videos made me laugh, it's true.

And yet the best laughter of the whole day was when Tim read us Green Eggs and Ham. This book was a Christmas present, and apparently, ninth child that he is, he slipped through the cracks.

He'd never heard Green Eggs and Ham before and he thought it was hilarious.

"Green eggs and ham? Who would ever want to eat that?"

And on the page where Sam-I-Am says, "Say! In the dark! Would you, could you in the dark?"

He just roared, "What would the dark make any difference?"

And when he says, "Could you, would you with a goat?" and opens the hatch to reveal a full-grown goat, that had him cracking up too.

"Did he have a goat shoved in there the whole time? For what? He's driven up a tree and now he wonders why the guy isn't hungry?"

Anyway, I was kicked back on the couch laughing my head off too.

As if I haven't heard this story dozens of times--it was all new today, wonderfully, hilariously new, p.j. bouncing all over us while he read.

Thank you all you crazy squirrels for being mine. I could not love you more. love, Mom

christmas day, part 2

2011-12-26T11:05:00.000-08:00

Our niece has a beautiful new baby--

A fun day, lots of cousin time. love always, Val

christmas day, part 1

2011-12-26T10:46:00.000-08:00

This is our niece's child.

Oh my goodness. love, Val

sweet christmas eve

2011-12-24T23:27:00.000-08:00

It was.

Church was as beautiful as ever. Even though there was a bit of a squirrel-fest in our row at times, it was lovely.

The pastor talked about unintended consequences, and how a census requirement in the Roman Empire led to a chain of miraculous events.

And he talked about how we don't have to search for God or appease God, or wonder or worry about anything--God came to us.

We may be too dense to realize at times, but that's okay. It doesn't change anything about God.

Familiar celebration hymns were sung. The day faded from light to dark during the time we were there, communion was perfect, and it was all just right.

Here they are, the ones who still live at home, all cleaned up and dressed to go.

These are cousins goofing around in my parents living room.

Video games in the storage room in the basement--pretty amazing.

Dinner, served as a Christmas buffet. These girls chose their own spot to sit.

And this child was there too.

Okay, here we have my good-natured brother in law with a quite big punch spill that involved a camera. His daughter is laughing heartily in the background.

There were enough punch incidents tonight to have a whole separate party just FOR punch incidents.

Early in the evening, Julia was beside me with her tights all wet in the feet--punch. The long-winded story goes like this:

She was standing on the treadmill. (Why is that? Nevermind.)

Then t.c. got on and started running. (My dad has the key--they could not turn it actually on, but the track will spin in place with a good runner.)

She had to run to keep up with t.c. because he was going really, really fast, and then she flew off the track and her punch went everywhere.

Oh, good show, people

Dan was now cleaning it up, and what should she do about the tights?

I told her to take them off, and put them by my purse. She put them IN my purse. I found them later.

Here the kids are with the guitars they wanted for Christmas.

He was into it also.

Her? She's just cute.

Awww.

Okay, these are the JUSTIN BIEBER PAJAMAS!

Gor-JUS.

This guy was funny late in the evening, telling jokes while he watched a Dora and Diego program and let me snuggle him a tiny bit.

The show had llhamas and get this, of all things, chinchillas. Alicia rolled her eyes, "That's random."

Yah, and weird! Chinchillas haven't even crossed my mind in years, possibly EVER.

He's got his new pajamas on too.

And this is the last picture I took tonight, and the sweetness of this moment kind of took my breath away.

It's my father helping m.c. tune her guitar.

For a minute, I watched them plucking strings and listening, then slipped away.

Now it's late and based on the appearance of the living room, it's clear Santa has arrived. The cookies were all bit, and so were the carrots.

Time for bed. Merry Christmas. love, Val

glee

2011-12-24T20:42:00.000-08:00

Yeah, this party was pretty loud too, it's true. love you guys, Grandma

family christmas party

2011-12-23T21:41:00.000-08:00

Aww, it was the usual family party.

Here they are frosting cupcakes for Baby Jesus.

I don't see enough of this child, and tonight I hugged and kissed him a couple times, told him how much I love him.

I teased him about Mexico: "Me and you can go there, and swim in the pool, and I'll take you on the bus to Walmart. It'd be fun!" He snickered and frowned at me. He'd rather stick with his mother.

I've met her. I understand.

The meal was the usual cheesy potatoes, seven-layer salad, meatballs, and shrimp. Heidi brought fancy chicken legs. Dannell brought fruit and dip. A couple new recipes were tried, and they were excellent. The Greek dip was pretty fantastic, and the egg rolls were spicy and delicious.

Okay, but this is weird. Kirsten brought teddy grahams and frosting for them made of cool whip, cream cheese, and funfetti cake mix.

Sounds sweet and divine, right?

Some people thought it was dip for the shrimp.

They dipped shrimp in it and ATE it.

Okay, that's weird.

And yet, it seems all are unharmed.

These two guys were way excited about the whole occasion.

t.c. likes to talk about trucks on the road. They call them tractor-trailers, and the ones without trailers are naked, which is evidently hilarious. John mentions some have gas. Others have other issues, and apparently he finds this as funny as Little Jay used to find stories about aliens' butts.

Kid humor, kid jokes--incomprehensible, but the laughter is so much fun.

Later the two were trying to assemble a race track and discussing it VERY LOUDLY. Tim objected, "Please use an indoor voice! You're yelling directly in my ear and it HURTS!"

t.c. said Tim was the one who was yelling. We laughed. It's all hard to tell.

The living room is just too small for gifts, so we moved all this out to the family room. It was a good decision. Last year John suggested it, as we crammed into the living room, tripping over debris, and I didn't forget.

We gave her this big, fancy jewelry box, and I thought it was a gift she'd enjoy more when she was older.

No!

She was in love with the little spinning ballerina and even stood up and danced to the music. As I watched her, I thought how she wasn't even born last year, and here she is less than a year later so fully HERSELF.

Yesterday she went grocery shopping with Julia, Kari and me. Here she is tonight participating in the Christmas party.

Miraculous.

This race track--shake the cars to give them power, and then look out. Dan and Alicia gave this to l.c.

This Barbie tent was way more challenging than you'd think. I tried. Maria tried. John made some adjustments. Seriously, all this for a Barbie tent?

These remote control cars looked cool in the boxes, but wow were they fast. They took off and smashed into every stick of furniture in the house, into the baseboards and door frames, into scurrying dogs, people's feet. They were pretty impressive.

And here's these two at the end of the evening. It's coming on 11:30 and here they still are doing lego in the night.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, formal worship service at church. It's beautiful to be in that sanctuary in candlelight at dusk, as the stained glass windows turn from colorful to dark, listening to that old familiar story again about faith,trust, miracles, and love.

Then it's Swedish meatballs at Grandma and Grandpa's, cousins and mayhem, and Santa Claus.

(Where did we stash that bag of Christmas stockings?)

Onward. Merry Christmas. love, Val

where a friend spent her honeymoon

2011-12-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

This is Mismaloya Beach--site of the filming of the 1963 movie Night of the Iguana, which we were told began Puerto Vallarta's identity as a tourist destination.

I didn't know until today that she'd been there. Oh gosh, what a gorgeous place to be.

We were there on vacation last week and took these pictures.

Oh yeah, it was fun.

Tonight is our family Christmas party. The energy is awful high around here. I think I should harness some of it to get the place straightened up. Happy, happy Friday.

And a little hug for Lara and Joe.

Merry Christmas and love, Val

what exactly is fart putty anyway? it cost $1 at Target?

2011-12-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

I've been informed that the kids ate the last of the mints--the specially delicious chocolate mints the plumbing wholesaler gave Jay.

Then they took the empty wrappers and wrapped bits of fart putty in the foil and offered them to the older kids.

Aren't they sweet?

Those little angels.

Kids are crazy, and that's a known fact. Time to put some children to bed. love, Val

this week

2011-12-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

The Christmas program was on Sunday. The kids told the story. Angels were instructed to dress in white, if possible.

This little shepherd, oh my goodness.

Here we are, frosting a million cookies.

This little girl was too funny toddling around in the dress we brought her from Mexico.

She also attacks the Christmas tree at about twenty minute intervals. The whole front section is bare because we have relocated most of the ornaments out of her mad clutches.

What a great Tuesday this was.

And I've been informed, ONLY THREE MORE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS! There was even a little bit of hyperventilating.

I probably had better get Dan's present wrapped. That's the last one left. They took cooky plates to the neighbors tonight. That means it really is almost here. Oh dear. love always, Val

while we were gone

2011-12-19T06:26:00.000-08:00

Kirsten was in charge, and she kept these kids busy.

They went to the mall and saw Santa.

They made gingerbread houses out of crackers, and NOT from kits:

She took them around to places. Thursday she took them swimming at the indoor pool. They were crazy for the water slide.

And on her way to work one morning, she stopped at Starbucks and bought them hot chocolate before she dropped them off with my mother. Julia was so impressed she was trying to explain to me how to get to Starbuck's and how to order so I will know how to do this. Ei-yi-yi.

Okay this is the mouse they caught in a bowl. This mouse was running around in the house before we left town. He'd hang around in the kitchen like he was one of the family--dangling by his toes from the edge of the dogs' water dish, taking sips of water, watching us while we worked.

They didn't want to kill him, but they did want him to relocate, so once he was in the bowl, James walked him up to the park and let him go. Others howled, "He'll just come right back inside!" But so far he has not.

And this is the dog Kirsten said turned into somewhat of a raccoon last week. During the night, she was raiding the kitchen, stealing food.

One night she ate nine chocolate cupcakes, and Kirby was up at 1 am, trying to figure out how much chocolate a dog could safely eat, clicking on the internet, worrying. There are many different kinds of chocolate, varying in toxicity.

Finally she called the emergency vet, and they snickered, but assured her a dog like Sam would have to eat at least a couple entire cakes before there was any concern.

Good enough then.

Another night it sounded like someone was trying to get in a window, and when she investigated, it was just Sam, in front of the Christmas tree, licking out a foil lasagne pan. Nice. Dumpster diving dog.

We didn't leave the gingerbread on the cupboard Saturday night. We put it way up on a high shelf. Baking that was too much work to take any chances.

So here it is Monday morning again, back to work, and back to waiting for customers to pay. Ugh.

It's also 30 degrees out. I understand in Puerto Vallarta it's going to be 80 again today. Dang, that week went by fast.

Onward. Life is very good. love, Val

"mom?"

2011-12-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

"Did you give p.j. the frosting bowl?"

"Hunh? No, I gave her a little star cooky."

Yah.

She helped herself.

Oh gosh we laughed. Heidi was here helping frost cookies tonight, and that child had to go straight to the bathtub.

Merry Christmas, p.j.

You know how to live. love, Grandma

kind of awesome

2011-12-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

We are home.

It was a great week, and it's great to be back.

Kirsten picked us up from the airport at 12:30 am, and we were in bed by two. But first we looked at pictures and heard their adventures of the week, and they heard ours.

Tim and Julia were too tired to get up. (She successfully wore them out, ambitious big sister that she is.)

But I sneaked into Tim's room and put his bracelet on his wrist--a stretchy one with little wooden tiles with religious icons on them. We're not Catholic, but the bracelet was beautiful and inexpensive.

We brought him a fish mobile from Mexico, and I hung it on his light fixture.

In the morning, he was there all at once in my arms while I was still asleep, said he woke up and saw the fish and the bracelet on his wrist.

I asked him how that was, waking up to fish overhead.

"It was actually kind of awesome."

Oh sweet Lord, it's good to be home. love you all so, Mom

vacation

2011-12-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures in no particular order:

The weather is gorgeous, the resort plush, the company easy-going. We are having a great week, just kind of MISS YOU GUYS. I'm looking forward to baking cookies on Saturday. We love you all so, Mom and Dad

trying out the new camera, and an uplifting little christmas story

2011-12-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the kids' band concert, and it was a really nice concert too.

This was lunch. We did eventually get this disheveled house neatened up.

A niece and an auntie:

This was a gorgeous nap. I fell asleep before he did and he kept waking me up, "Gramma, milk all gone."

"Okay, fine. Just put it over there. I'm sleeping." I put my nose back in his hair and dozed again.

He had more to say, talking around the pacifier, "Gramma, trains."

"Go to sleep."

It was hard to drag myself from here and get back to work.

Okay, this is the part about the uplifting little Christmas story.

My dad sent this fruitcake for me. I asked my mom why??

She laughed, "When he saw it he thought of you!" (I hate fruitcake, but I didn't expect him to remember that, made me laugh.)

This goes back to many years ago when I worked at a place that gave Christmas bonuses, so everyone would get a hundred dollars or $200 depending on how many hours we'd worked.

Well one year they discontinued this without notice and we all got FRUITCAKE. Okay, that's just an insult when you're anticipating $100 and get handed a $5 fruitcake.

It wasn't a loaf like this though, it was a circle cake with a hole in the middle. I wanted the thing out of the kitchen so I tied it to the swing set for the birds and squirrels.

They didn't eat it, but I did see our dog--an elegant standard poodle named Tammy--leaping through the air snapping at the fruitcake.

The kids and the Tammy by the Christmas tree, 1983

See, wasn't that a lovely little story?

The kids did try to eat it tonight while we were at the band concert, but they were defeated. I saw the bites they spit out in the trash.

These guys stopped by tonight for a little while:

It's hat day at school tomorrow, so they picked out some hats.

And that is that.

Onward.

As you know, tomorrow is FRIDAY, the best day OF the week, and this was a pretty fine Thursday, so look out. love, Val

a pretty cold tuesday

2011-12-06T20:22:00.000-08:00

It's only about ten degrees out. We can feel it all through the house--the drafts when the doors aren't shut tight, the cold floors in some of the rooms.

Winter is nice for looking at--the way the snow and air turn that special periwinkle blue at dusk, the crystal sparkle of ice in the sunshine, the way snowdrifts look like frosting.

Being actually IN winter is another story. It's better to just look at it.

This I found on the wall in my room.

Apparently it is a calender someone made to count down the days until Christmas.

Here we are, doing a little work.

The floor in the family room is never cold.

This guy--he does this to the chair. That can't be comfortable.

After he almost tipped the big chair over, I told him to go sit on the Dora chair. It'd be less hazardous.

I'm not sure it really was. The bouncy-ness of it kind of carried him away.

After they did some math, we moved on to these lame reading comprehension worksheets, just for the heck of it.

I'd read the little story and then ask them the questions, they'd circle the answers.

The first couple went all right.

Then they realized the story was WAAAY funnier with the WRONG answers.

Anyway, giddy kids making a farce of their workbooks while they wait for Christmas on a cold day?

Good enough. Perfect.

And see this little wool rug under Lydia's feet? I bought that a few weeks ago because the floor is so cold in this room, and the area rug doesn't reach all the way under the chair.

Oh, tonight am I ever glad.

Onward to Wednesday. love, Val

waiting--a weekend of preparing

2011-12-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

Yeah, lots of shopping. I'm not a shopping person, so this is a challenge. The good part is, I'm used that and prepared for the whole scene, every little old inch of it.

Then the wrapping.

I sat on the floor in the office, a rug over cement, and I perch on my feet. It's a natural sitting position for a while.

This is all fine, except my poor little ankle bones can't really take it. Being smashed between the cement floor and my hearty BUTT, they protest against the crushing.

I swiped a pillow pet to tuck in there to save my ankles.

Oh, here's a new Facebook person, having the time of her life. She's on the phone with m.c. who is apparently a Facebook expert.

We had the sleepover Friday night, and then met up for church this morning, and afterward ate donuts and hung around while the kids were in Confirmation class, and John just makes me happy--the lack of pretense and the laughter.

Plus it was a nice service with great, happy music and a hopeful sermon. Advent: It finds us where it does--that was the point. I like that. It feels true.

Kirby came tonight with her hilarious little dog and played board games with the kids. I saw her on her phone madly typing with her thumbs and asked who she was talking to?

Talking to no one. She'd googled the directions for the game, since ours were lost. Aww, man. Technology!

I kind of love it.

I hate learning to maneuver through it, but after that it's amazing.

Oh, and this damned turtle--this is a lifetime pet, and we had no idea. Plus the kid we asked about turtles said they were no work at all. Turns out his MOTHER took care of their turtle.

We can't put him in a tank and then blame him for swimming in his own crap. This is our responsibility.

So that's the man there, cleaning the tank. Sucking up doo-doo from the bottom, disposing of the vile water, then BLEACHING the entire room.

Dang it.

He's (the turtle, well, and also the guy, I guess, honestly) been hanging out in the kitchen for like 15 years now. Bernie, little reptile--no doubt he'll outlive us all.

These are pictures taken by b.g.'s mother, not my own photos.

They took the child to a parade in the city.

I wonder what he's thinking. How strange and amazing the world must seem to a guy this little.

Here he is with his dad though, shoveling the back sidewalk at home.

And the kid is a scrappy little devil, opinionated and energetic, tiny and funny and dear.

He's got to be in on everything.

Happy Sunday. The week is looking fine. love always, Val

it's a true story

2011-12-02T22:24:00.000-08:00

We have an unexpected, spontaneous sleepover here tonight.

They took off with the camera, and that's fine. Have fun.

Okay, the picture below is very dark, but it's mine own t.c. finally asleep. He and Tim watched a movie and t.c. used Julia's DS and Tim his own, and they played video games for a long time before he fell asleep.

He also had a homesick crying jag, and phoned his parents. John called me while I was at Target to ask me about it. I don't know. I'm at Target. I hurried home, but by then all the drama was over. "I just miss my dad SO MUCH," he wept to Kirsten.

But he didn't want to go home, just had to get that out of his system, I guess. John hasn't even been traveling this week, so it was a bit baffling, but that's okay.

He slept, all cuddled up on his monkey pillow pet, and I kissed his ear.

Okay, this is Uncle Tim, not asleep yet, ready to very quietly continue playing games on his DS.

I kissed his head too, and told him to sleep tight.

He snickered and said, "Can we shave his monkey?"

What? What??

Absolutely not. What kind of uncle are you?

He said he was only kidding.

Goodness sakes.

This was a spectacular Friday--we met up at the high school and ate pizza at the boys' basketball fundraiser. b.g. tore all around with Dan on his tail, and at the meal we sat with his other grandparents and great-grandparents.

Julia and t.c. were really silly and loud, but we didn't care. It was a cafeteria with pizza. Go nuts.

Heidi and Joe and p.j. were there too, and it's fun to watch James play basketball. I commented to Dan that James has the same loose-jointed body that all the boys have had.

It's like their joints are strung with too loose of wire, long narrow people loping up and down the court, big skinny hands and feet.

But now it's actually Saturday, and nobody is shaving the grandson's monkey pillow pet. love, Val

you never know

2011-12-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

It's been a fine week, quiet. These flowers are left over from Thanksgiving.

Here we have b.g. assisting Tim with some project.

And some bored people braved the cold and hit the swings. It looks bright, but I think it was less than 30 degrees here.

They're trying to get the shoe back on him.

I ran out and boosted him into the swing. I hate cold.

Brrrr. Why won't the baby leave her hat on? It still was good to get outside, even for twenty minutes.

Amusing his niece:

Okay, do you see what I'm dealing with here??? WHY has she sprawled herself on the baby's blanket?

If I yell and chastise her, she slinks around the coffee table and throws herself down between the table and the couch, looks at me with that puzzled, beseeching expression.

What kind of person hollers at a dog as sweet as Sam?

Sigh.

Yes, I know.

It was mean. I also swatted her with the broom on Tuesday when she kept crowding me in the kitchen while I was trying to get the grandbabies set up with their meal. She wasn't hurt, but still the way she scurried to get away made me ashamed.

Apparently I'm also an old hag who would chase a gentle dog away with a broom.

Okay, today we sent Little Jay a care package at the university. This is the stuff that went in the box.

If you click on it, you'll see Little Debbie, and Christmas lights, hand warmers for the pockets while walking to class, window clings, gum, and chocolate.

Little Jay told me last spring after a package arrived that the whole reason he ever even wanted to go to college in the first place was because of the care packages we sent to his sisters. (The care packages were a great way to stay in touch with Lori's daughter too, and they are fun.)

Anyway, an entire guy was inspired to seek a college education because of Little Debbie and bath gel, Easy Mac and spray cheese.

Who could have imagined it?

Oh, and here's another great thing this week: I lost my best mittens, one of them. These mittens were a gift from my parents, something my mother bought at a craft sale. Some lady made them from recycled wool sweaters and sewed in a fleece lining.

They're a bit big for my hands, but I adore them. They're so warm! I can brush off the whole car and my poor hands never freeze.

As I carried in loads of Christmas gifts from the trunk tonight, trudging in the snow, the cold was actually kind of painful, cold-wimp that I am. I had on a heavy turtleneck sweater and a silk undershirt, wool socks, jeans, a coat, mittens--and still I whined to myself.

ANYWAY, the point is the evening I lost the mitten, Kari and I approached the driveway and looked there for the mitten, and then she rode along with me to look in other parking lots where I had been earlier. (It was obvious it had fallen out of the door pocket.)

There in the dark of the Sears parking lot, we saw it, lumped up and gray--my precious mitten!

You never know.

I never realized care packages for other people could inspire a kid to aspire to an education of his own.

I didn't expect to find my mitten that night.

I never expected this person to be in my LIFE either, but thank GOD she is. Every single squirrely day, I'm glad.

I do hope 2012 is full of excellent surprises. You know it has to be.

Tomorrow is Friday, and those rowdies down the hall are now quiet, a guy is snoozing on the pillows here, arm over his forehead, and my bath water is steaming in the next room.

Thursday nights don't come any better.

love, Val

something else that caught me by surprise

2011-11-29T19:26:00.000-08:00

Is how much fun it is to watch your kids be parents.

They tend to be better at it than we were--their expectations are definitely more realistic. Maybe that's a good thing about having little brothers and sisters? They came into parenthood already knowing kids are nuts?

I don't know.

But the year is nearly over, and it's actually been a very fine year so far.

He was so delighted with that one inch of snow we had a couple weeks ago.

And this little peanut for 2011, what a girl she is.

I hope 2012 will be just as fabulous as 2011 has been.

I know you already know this, but we love you. love, MOM and DAD

grandparents

2011-11-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of my dad and John out on the patio last summer.

My parents were good parents, very good--pleasant, safe, reliable, patient, completely decent people.

But they are absolutely spectacular grandparents. I think it's because as grandparents they cut loose in a way parents can not.

They're extravagant with these kids in every way I can think of, and they're funny.

My mom is the more gentle and supportive type. My dad is the teaser.

Recently I heard about this joke he played on some other grandkids--not mine.

He does oil painting. He took this up as a hobby, and he told me it was specifically because he needed to cultivate some hobbies for his old age: things he do can sitting down.

This made me scoff and laugh--hobbies for siting down--except it's very hard to learn oil painting, and not only has he persisted, he also gives tutorial lessons to the grandkids.

Well, this is the joke: At a thrift shop, he found an oil painting of a beady-eyed dog, and to tease these kids, he brought it home and added some details to the picture. He signed his name to it, and put birds flying in the corner and so forth.

Then he sent it home to the kids--a painting I did of your dog.

The kids were conflicted.

It didn't look much like their dog.

What's with the beady eyes?

They tried to be diplomatic, but the as the story goes they frowned, and squinted, and scratched their heads, and looked at each other because it was just so weird.

I heard this story and laughed until I was holding my chest in pain.

I called him on the phone just to LAUGH and asked him, "What would you do if you didn't have grandkids to harass??"

He hooted, "Well then I'd have to harass YOU!"

Oh, thank goodness for the grandkids then.

This is a picture from the past. That's my dad 30 years ago with John and Dan in his arms, Dan holding the little Vick's nose thing up to him.

Here's something really good to know--whatever laughs, hugs, meals, foolish crap you share with your grandchildren, just go for it. It's more important than it feels in a moment.

http://well--yeah.blogspot.com/2009/11/bobcat-story.html

http://well--yeah.blogspot.com/2009/11/speaking-of-my-dad-and-tim.html

http://well--yeah.blogspot.com/2009/11/someone-tiny-to-look-up-to.html

About this time, John asked my dad to go down to the basement with him so he could shoot the cap gun. My dad said, "No, I think you might shoot me."

John said, "Nah, I'll only shoot you in the feet because you're old." (My dad was 42.)

Oh, life is awful good, and yet you two have created some very big shoes to fill. love you both so incredibly much, Val

ahh, the end of the day

2011-11-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

This was taken as we sat on the couch before chasing the kids to bed.

The picture below was from earlier, at the tree farm. This was a new place and the drive there was a little hazardous with Heidi, Joe, p.j. and Kirsten following. U-turns, quick corners, yikes. No harm done though.

Heidi phoned and asked me, "Is Dad trying to kill us?"

I answered her truthfully. "No. That's the furthest thing from his intentions."

Okay, here we are cutting the tree. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Yes, that's Tim in shorts.

Sigh.

Here she is, picking out a tree for her own home, for the first time.

Lovely.

And below are Heidi and Joe. Last year they had that dastardly fire the week before Thanksgiving, so their first Christmas in their own house, there were no holiday decorations. They were living with us while their house was restored.

So this is their own first Christmas tree in their own house too, and that makes me incredibly happy.

Aww, happy girls.

About this time there were giddy kids raiding the cabinet where the Christmas stuff is stored.

This is our neighbor across the street. It's very Las Vegas, and yet I don't really mind. The enthusiasm is a good thing.

This is us. I like those little candlestick lights in the windows. The days are so short and the dark so long. They make me happy. We leave them up until end of January usually, just because we can.

After all that was done, there was still time and energy for the Christmas Village. My parents gave this to me as gifts over many Christmases.

It's not Dept. 56's best selling village, but I like that too. It's about the Alps and Heidi and Peter and Grandfather and the goats, and that old story.

Last year I was more tired and overwhelmed, and it never did get set up, so I'm proud we got it done this year.

Plus these two girls were so sweet, so excited about it, opening the packages, arranging all of it. They haven't seen it in two years, so it was very fun for them.

Oh, but then these boxes had to all be sorted out and put away. It was like a big puzzle.

She's playing with the nutcrackers. They each have a different voice and were talking to each other. I couldn't follow the plot, but that's okay.

Oh, onward to Christmas and all the fun that goes with it. love always, Val

thanksgiving, 2011

2011-11-24T21:18:00.000-08:00

It was a fine Thanksgiving Day. Here they are assembling a new shop vac. Apparently the plumber used ours to suck some noxious substances out of somebody else's drain.

Oh, we got a guy home from college dusting.

And the tables were finally set:

The usual characters were here:

The eating began:

Everybody brought food, and the meal was delicious.

And a family picture was taken outside.

Lydia, aka Kari, had a haircut last week, and when I saw the guy cutting, thought, "That's really SHORT! I hope she's not mad!" But no. She'd brought a picture of just this very short haircut, and she was pleased.

It was brave of her, but it definitely suits her.

This girl was also looking fine.

And this guy too.

They didn't fight as much as usual today. It was pretty nice.

Here's a den of football watchers.

Okay, and these guys were supposedly going to watch Curious George on my bed.

That's fine.

The main question is whether they're eating anything involving crumbs.

They were not.

But shortly My Sweetie, l.c., was the only one watching Curious George while the rest of the rowdies made foolish calls to Dannell's cell phone. (l.c. is the little one on Jay's pillow.)

Sigh. Just nobody call 911, okay?

Okay, here's Tim. Today Heidi cornered him for a serious question.

WHY do you store stuff in your CURTAINS??

She'd asked me about it, like it was some argument I have with him, but no. He started storing stuff in there, and I'm not very strict anymore in my old age.

I just look away. What's it to me? Do I look like Martha Stewart?

Heidi asked him why?

"For storage, that's all. So things are close by." (He used to have a book case headboard, but that's gone, so this is apparently the new version of the ever-cluttered headboard.)

Heidi asked how items were sorted. Tim told her by priority. In the closest curtain was a box of Kleenex, because if you need Kleenex, you need it right away.

And also his DS. (The importance of having that close by needs no explanation.)

"And the Bop-It."

That's when Heidi lost it in gales of laughter, "The BOP-IT! What do you need that for when you're going to sleep?"

"Well, nothing. But then I know where it is."

She gave me a long, quizzical look, then looked over at her own baby, p.j., and started laughing again, "I don't know if I can have kids."

Well, they are a little crazy, true, but mostly in a good way.

For life's bringing us around to this holiday one more year, I'm thankful.

And for my parents and my sister and her fine family who brought food and came and ate and laughed today in easy company, thankful.

For this whole life full of family and racket, goofy dogs and love, and involved discussions about the evolving and confusing nature of life, I'm grateful.

Thank goodness for all of you. I'm so incredibly glad we have each other. love always, Val, aka Mom, aka Gramma

p.s. As I'm about to hit the "publish post" button at 11:55 pm, Tim is here with a pillow pet, showing me some substance on it, and he's not happy.

It's grape jelly, and Julia's fault.

I told him to just put it on the desk and GO TO BED.

How does grape jelly get on a pillow pet at midnight? I don't even want to know. Good night and love, Val

i did ask

2011-11-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

I told they kids they should work on Christmas lists because after Thanksgiving, you know, the time will go fast until Christmas.

What Tim told me he wants?

A jet pack and a chainsaw.

Well. Sigh.

He added, "If I had those, I could do a LOT of stuff."

No doubt that's true.

I love you, Buddy, and your big dreams too. love, MOM

pics from the weekend

2011-11-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

We went up north to visit Jay's parents. It was a nice day. We missed most of the snow, and enjoyed the wonderful cooking of my mother in law and her son--that dude I married.

They played cards--500.

This guy was there.

This is what we came home to. Click to enlarge if you want-it's the first snow of the season.

They tried to play in it today, and this is the beautiful thing about them: They're old enough to go scour the old basement and find coats, mittens, hats, snowpants, and boots that fit.

It might take them an hour, but whatever. Then they go outside and stay out for ten minutes. That's what I hate about kids in snow.

I'm all sweaty and harassed getting them finally ready, and they stay outside less time than I spent preparing them.

But today, no.

Tim liked this picture of his red ears.

While they were outside living it up, Jay and I were inside the house, painting ceilings.

Oh my goodness, our day was so exciting.

This is the kitchen:

The stove from 1945 has standing pilot lights and we cook a lot and this gas stove creates some kind of greasy, old nasty dust on the dishes up high, and the shelves.

A few times a year the shelves and dishes must be washed, the curtains (goobery disgusting dust balls on those) and today was the day.

We had plenty of paint, so we moved on to the living room.

And the dining room.

Here's the kitchen, all torn apart. It's beautiful now, hours later.

Anyway, it's the end of Sunday night and the end of a very lovely weekend. In preparation for Thanksgiving, the turtle tank is clean, and the Sam has been bathed.

The kitchen has been dealt with and the ceilings painted.

Will it matter?

No.

We seem to need deadlines though, to get us moving.

Onward. In 45 minutes it'll be MONDAY. love always, Val

the helicopter thingy

2011-11-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

They're watching Tim get ready to fly it now. It was a gift from his birthday, and it's a very cool little trinket, reminds me of a hummingbird.

Can you see it? It's a little blue thing in front of the middle window curtain.

There it goes!

Now it's in the air in front of Tim's left arm.

"Gramma! Look it!"

Okay, no more kisses. Tim for lunch.

And time for a little math.

When I take a picture, he often ignores me entirely, but then he runs to see the picture. I held out my arm and took this--like those fun smiles? He immediately grabbed my hand to turn the camera around to see.

No idea what they're discussing here.

There it is in front of the clock, right in the center.

We're told it can't actually be landed properly because Heidi's dog bit off the landing gear, got all crazy chasing after it and CHOMP.

Here are a few pictures from the library today.

We've been feeling very cooped up this week, and I'm sure it's because it's so cold we can't really hang around outside like we used to spend the afternoons doing. The kids go out and ride bikes now and then for a little while, but it's too cold for babies.

So we went to Target and bought Lydia and Julia some new jeans because theirs all had worn out knees.

We got distracted in the shoe aisle and p.j. ended up with a couple pair of shoes--little leopard print mary janes, and a pair of glittery tennis shoes. Then we had to get out of there before got even more carried away.

The kids enjoyed the library so much last week they've asked every day if we can go, and this was a perfect low-key way to get out of the house for a while.

p.j. was very interested in a little boy baby, kept crawling after him, and he kept looking nervous and going the other way. He was a tall baby with a big bald head, reminded me of Little Jay when he was about a year and a half old.

This alligator in the swamp caught me by surprise.

But not as much as this on the kitchen table did.

Goodness Barbie.

I'm shocked. This is like that time I found G.I. Joe in your bed.

Is Ken aware? You two might want to seek some counseling with Bob the Nudist.

And that brings us to now, to the end of a fine Friday.

I can hear my plumber plunging the bathroom sink. I know it's just a futile attempt to avoid having to take the trap apart, but this sink quit draining pretty abruptly.

It's not like some slowing of the drain. This is different. There's something in there, like a straw or a plastic knife.

Onward to Saturday, with love always, Val

the things found in closets

2011-11-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness.

I cleaned the linen closet and our room, and the car trunk is full again for the Good Will.

This however, is in the trash instead, but not before taking a picture. This heating pad was our aunt's, still in the box.

But look at this guy. Some friends and I had the conversation a few weeks ago about how nobody in photos has body hair now, but back in the 70s, they DID.

Where this leaves real, normal guys who are not posing for ads?

I...I don't know.

See for yourself:

Sigh. No comments to make, just the observation. Those are curtain rods under the box. The curtains were washed too.

And I found this. I bought it for a few dollars at an antique shop years ago, and here it was in the bookcase.

I don't know who he is, but he's captivating, about the age of my parents now. He looks familiar, like family, and when I dusted this his lovely face held me again for long seconds. I can see why I bought it.

I slipped him back in the bookcase again.

We had kids here today, and it was a great day of baby stunts and babies running wild.

b.g. loves Moo Jr.s. He calls them, "Moo-June-June." They melt down his hand about halfway through, so we toss it in the trash and get another, so he eats two halves.

Alicia was here to pick him up a couple hours later than Dan does, and he was jumping around in the kitchen yelling for Yo-J while we cooked supper, felt almost like one of our own wild two-year-olds.

On Sunday I held a friend's baby for the first time. He's gorgeous, bright and friendly, warm, with shiny blue eyes, and long feet in striped socks.

Today when I cuddled b.g. to sleep for his nap, all his tiny bird bones tucked against my chest, cornsilk hair against my face, I thought of our friend's baby and smiled.

What a fine Tuesday this has been. Apparently some true cold air is upon us for the morning, but what do we care? That's the good part of homeschool. Those kids will be asleep in their big beds full of pillow pets, not catching any buses.

Life is beyond good. love, Val

get out of that bathtub

2011-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, baths = good.

We like kids clean.

But does it need to take two hours?

I finally yelled outside the door, "Get out! We have things to do today. It's OVER!"

Then the little voice, "Mom, I have a question."

Oh, gosh, seriously? I peeped my head in the door.

There's a little soaking wet, naked kid in the tub with a serious look on her face.

"Mom, look over there behind the plunger."

"I don't have on my glasses. I can see the plunger, but what are we talking about here?"

" A daddy long-legs!"

And me, mean old bag that I am kind of hollered, "He's not even looking at you! Get out of the tub!"

(Yes I know. If I can't even see the spider how do I know who he's looking at?) Diplomatic child, she didn't point this out.

She just went by now, through our room to the stairway, wrapped in a towel, survived obviously.

I've been called to look at, and be ordered to kill, many, many innocent spiders over the years. I'm not killing them! Spiders up in their webs, bothering no one? Actually, they're pretty cool.

Sometimes I'll take a bunched up Kleenex and swish them out the window, but that's all.

Okay, and see that pretty baby in the carseat?

She has confinement issues. Strap her on her back in that chair and she sets up a full revolt.

Tim and Julia park her in the middle in the backseat, and that's when the show starts. They try to placate her with the bottle.

Today she threw it, overhand. They laughed.

They give her toys, which she bites and growls and then throws back in their faces.

Good thing our trips in the car are short.

It's an excellent-looking Monday and now I must go work a while.

I miss you kids when I'm gone. love you so, Momma-Gramma.

saturday, oh yeah

2011-11-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

This is what we have going on this morning--drilling ice, trying to get the Power Ranger guy out.   We've got a lot of creative ways to use a drill around here.

Yesterday they practiced writing their last name over and over all morning so they'd be ready when we went to the library in the afternoon for library cards. (They did good--signed their names just fine.)

Then we checked out books and p.j. rolled around on the rug in the play area. This old library was remodeled a few years ago and it's beautiful now--huge windows, lots of children's computers.   We have to go back more often.

Last night this happened though--an impromptu pizza party for no reason.   Everyone was here. It was loud and the dogs were nuts. We kept kicking them outside and they kept coming back in. It was a good night. I squeezed my l.c. a lot of times,

and even got a few hugs on t.c. He's fairly busy, hugs take up time he doesn't have to spare.

I didn't take many pictures, just a few faces for fun.

Yeah, the bed never did get made yesterday.

I don't think t.c. even noticed. Bigger things were on his mind.

Sharing a few Fruit Loops:

Here are Julia, Lydia, and l.c. looking up photos of the Loch Ness monster.

No idea why.

And the Legos. At some point in the evening, Tim asked me whose birthday it was. Were we having cake soon?

Nope. No cake. Nobody's birthday. He peered at me, said nothing, and ran off.

Okay, and now for the creations--yesterday Jay brought us all McDonald's for lunch and they saved their cups and filled them with water and put toys in, then put in the straw for a handle, and froze them in the freezer.

"To make giant popsicles with guys in them!"

Why?

Because kids are nuts, that's why.

The blankys were sewn this morning:

And now it's time for lunch. Happy Saturday. love, Val

just a whole lot of quiet

2011-11-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

Nothing much going on around here this week. Jay and I have been working a lot. The kids are too.

Just a whole lotta quiet, and now it's dark so early and today was kind of a dark day to start with. Ahh, November, you gloomy devil.

But we've got this peanut in the high chair to keep us company.

And this guy on piano. Now that he can balance on the bench without creating a personal hazard, he really likes messing around with this thing.

They had the Lego track going.

Math:

And a long-winded story from Julia about a terrible child who told LIES. "Can you believe that, Mom?"

Well, not hardly, but I have heard of children who tell lies. Sometimes they don't mean to and sometimes they do.

The ambiguity of that kind of paused her for a minute, and she speculated on lies a person might tell without meaning to--and lies that it might be a good idea to tell, like if a bad guy wanted to know where your friend was.

Oh yes, it's a complicated world.

But not around here, not today.

Tim ran across the old brio train set in the drawers of the train table he now uses for Legos. My mother and father in law gave this, little by little, over many Christmases and birthdays, to James and Tim. Tim took a bin downstairs and brought up a load of it to amuse b.g. He was delighted.

After the babies went home, I sewed Maria's curtains. We started working on the room last spring, and plagued by indecision, we stopped. Well, this week we got decisive, ordered some rugs and sewed the curtains. After several disappointing shopping trips looking for things like polka dots and flowered prints, we gave up and went with white and bought orange to tie the sides back. It works.

We hung the pictures up and it's good. I had an email today that the rugs have been shipped.

So in a day or two they'll be here, and the room is ready.

Oh, and finally this:

Yesterday I bought fabric to sew b.g.'s little brother a couple blankets. The last thing they need in that house is more blankets, and yet this guy should have a couple that are special for him.

When John and Dannell were expecting their second child, I couldn't imagine loving another baby like I did t.c.

(Yes, I know.)

And then, magically I DID. Who could help but love l.c., I realize.

So, in January, we get to do this again, and again in April, and I understand multipliers and exponents and how they relate to love. And tomorrow I'm sewing blankys for a boy I'm going to love like heck. ( I kind of already do.)

b.g. and me a while back

love you all so, Grandma, aka Mom

what we found in the cabinet

2011-11-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Look at that face. He liked it!

It's an old Thomas the Train puzzle thing of alphabet cards that fit together with pictures of Thomas characters. He knew them all, even obscure ones like Bertie and Mavis. I was impressed. Plus it's so fun to listen to his tiny voice say, "Percy!"

It's always after I take a picture I notice grubby faces. However, grubby faces are quite harmless.

Here he's pointing them all out on the floor. Julia helped put it together. Nice work, Buddy.

Oh yes, and her. Lunch is soooo funny. Or maybe it's her auntie who is funny.

I put away the Halloween place mats and considered making Thanksgiving ones for some kind of art project. Maybe I'll ask them and see what they think. If they have ideas we can do it, but I have no ideas.

Anyway, for now I grabbed these educational place mats and some strange cartoons ones and slapped them on the table.

Well.

Who knew kids cared this much about the planets? I did not, never have. They've been writing and erasing all day. You go, kids.

I know it, p.j., they're weird! But so are youuuu! Kids are crazy, and am I ever glad.

Last week one night Julia was going on about something and kept pausing with that outrageous squealy laughter of hers, and Tim was there too, with his stupid wisecracks, and I asked Jay, "What are we going to do when they get civilized and we have no more wild little squirrels around?"

He laughed, "I know where we can borrow some."

Oh, yeah. love you all so, Mom, aka Grandma

it's officially tuesday

2011-11-07T22:37:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is, and here are pictures from Monday. The weekend flew past. Saturday night was an anniversary party for friends, Sunday I hosted a property open house after church, and after that we cleaned up the leaves and dog crap in the back yard.

This is a funny story: The house of the open house? Gorgeous, old, fun. The kitchen is described as a "European kitchen." It does have a very European tone, true. But a guy came to look at the house and sneered, "European kitchen? This can't be a good thing. I'm European and Americans think anything European is good. A kitchen is NOT."

I laughed. The kitchen is petite with a unique floor plan, and some challenges. I'd be willing to try cooking in it though.

In the evening, Jay and I worked together in the office to pull paperwork together and made good progress. There are no pictures. But that's probably for the best--except for the anniversary party.

That was a lot of fun. Plus it was daylight savings, so we didn't even stay up too late, just erased an entire hour.

This is the little girl this morning, doing what she does.

Those are Julia's old cupcake shoes on her feet, and they're just as excellent now as they were then.

Here are some kids trying to work. I was crabby this morning and yelled when they got to arguing. Kids BICK-ER and it drives me nuts, always has.

A long time ago, my mom commented that my kids don't fight like we did when we were kids. I told her the truth: Yes, they do. I have just driven it underground. They fight, just not around me.

Julia was cross, with the little attitude, even though she didn't have to do anything. No requests or demands were being made of her. So why are you here, acting ornery? Go do whatever the heck you want.

I told her to put the workbook in her drawer. I'm not doing this. (She's so far ahead she could skip school until next year--which is the good part--it's all optional) Forget it.

Sigh.

I hate it when my baby annoys me, and she hates it too. In a little while she decided she did want to work on words after all.

WHATEVER! Do it or don't!!! Just be happy.

Grrrrr, (showing teeth.) I can't stand it. This is why I can't watch Everybody Loves Raymond, even though it's a funny show, apparently. To me, it's just a family treating each other badly, and that's terrible.

Anyway, they have ceased treating each other badly here.

And not too long after this my MOTHER showed up to keep care of them, particularly p.j., when I had to go work. My mother, aka. Grandma is like a balm to any cranky day. She had a Tupperware thing of rice krispy bars in her arm, and hugs for everybody, and thank the goodness for her. (I love you, Mom.)

Onward, Kids.

Love you all so much, MOM

children's museum

2011-11-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

That's what we did today.

Here they are loading packages onto a conveyor belt, then they run upstairs and do other things. It's like a factory with a shipping department.

This was the room with a shadow puppet light show, though the picture is crap.

Gears, b.g. working them. His mom doesn't work Fridays and was willing to take this adventure. I didn't realize before that she has a membership and that even saved us money. Wow.

Oh yes, p.j. contemplating gears and how delightful they are to chew on.

In one part of the museum they have a town, and when we were here a couple years ago the kids played here for hours, delivering mail, running the restaurant and grocery store. They were pretty absorbed today too.

Oh, so sweet, planting fake flowers.

Here's the sound stage, b.g. on guitar. Trouble is the only song he likes is The Wheels On the Bus. And other kids would change the song. Whenever it was Wheels on the Bus, he'd go running back again. Y.M.C.A? No interest to him. The other songs, no. Just that one.

This is how cool the set is, apartments above, furnished.

This is the town's art museum with the shoe art. I don't know what I'd do with artistic shoes in real life, but it was a fun display.

She liked the museum, people-watched, crawled all over.

This is in the story book room. She's painting.

This was the Snowy Day exhibit, but Lydia is a little too tall for the snow angel thing.

She was mesmerized by this drum

Oh yeah, turtle girl. These pictures are in the world forest nature type room.

She was a fairly civilized turtle. A bit later there were two brothers and the one in the shell did a lot of screaming and the other brother socked him in the head. The grandma admonished him for hitting. No, he's acting on all our behalf in regard to that racket.

Julia waving from inside the ant hill

Weaving nylon straps, and arguing the whole while.

And then as we were about to head home, they announced the rat program! Upstairs! Touch a real, live rat!

Sigh.

They ran upstairs and Alicia took a very tired little boy home about then. Heidi and I stood in the nature room wondering what could possibly take so long about a rat. Finally I hauled my cookies all the way up the stairs and the guy was there with the rat, and he had a British accent and was telling the kids,

"Listen and see if you can hear your own breathing."

Oh, for crissakes. I noticed Tim sitting on the floor, sweaty hair, fingers against his temples, eyes closed, no doubt listening for that breathing.

I went downstairs again and told Heidi it'd be a while.

But eventually we made it home, and it was a great day. Heidi and Joe went out for dinner and left the little girl here.

We de-cluttered Lydia and Julia's room with a garbage bag, and it's a huge improvement.

Jay's here now, informing me that he has shut off the upstairs toilet. All the brass parts are kaput and he has to replace the entire guts tomorrow.

The excitement around here continues! On and on it does!

Happy Friday. love always, Val

11-1-11, okay that's a cool date

2011-11-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

That's today. Wow.

Here's Sesame Street as seen from inside a big water heater box I brought inside for the kids to play with. They did--put in blankets, decorated, hung pictures. We cut windows. It was good.

See that smile? Great box.

Then it was warm enough to eat lunch on the patio. In November, no less, 65 degrees, no wind, some sunshine.

Tonight we had the birthday party, finally, for Kirsten and Joe.

Recognize this guy? Oh yes, he's as scrumptious as he looks.

These two complained they were hot. It was stifling, all those people, and dogs, and the cooking. We opened windows. The back door storm window is jammed, thank you very much. We just propped it wide open for air. Whatever.

Okay, one more time, part of a trio who cannot get along. Sigh. It's a lot of conflicting agendas and it's annoying, honestly. We discussed it tonight again before bed. Quit acting like JERKS you little jerks.

You're the aunt and uncle. Shut up and get along--I don't want to hear any of your excuses, you hear me?

They say, yes, yes, yes. But we'll see if next time is any different. This crew is stuck together for life. I hope they get a clue sooner than later.

Maria and m.c. showing train videos to a very tired little boy.

And the birthday girl opens a few gifts.

Loose tooth, very wiggly--

She's just yawning here, but what a funny picture

What, food? Where? Can I have some?

And a lovely, lovely shot of the ceiling. Isn't that great?

Oh, now time for candles. We teased her because her dad bought the fancier box, which are only sold in sets of twenty-four. We had to crack open a second box. Not that funny, I know. She puts up with us.

See the eyes?

The teaser:

Okay, Happy Birthday, Dear Kirsten. Happy Birthday to YOU

When she saw the decorations on her cake, she asked, "Isn't that the moose that was on the mailbox all summer?"

Yeah.

Little Jay commented about a toy that had been in the sandbox earlier. Well you know what? I personally saw these items being washed with soap and water in the sink. I'm sure it's fine. I'm positive.

And now the Joe:

Oh, yeah, no problem.

Onward to 11-2-11, which is also a somewhat cool date. Happy Birthday you guys. We love you very much. love, Mom and Dad

the last of the pictures

2011-11-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

These are the last of the pictures, I think.

Oh, here, one-card poker and she has a king.

A patient man, playing cards with his inlaws.

Last thing, the neighbors' cat came over. The kids have been fascinated by this cat since it was a kitten.

And the packing and the leaving--wow, what a mess. Halloween is over, and the kids are awake with their Halloween candy in hand. Onward to November. love, Val