Thứ Hai, 10 tháng 1, 2011
quote of the day - a song in my belly button
Bedtime with Sam...
Sam: "I have a song in my belly button."
Me: "Oh. What song is it?"
Sam: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."
Sam: "I have a song in my belly button."
Me: "Oh. What song is it?"
Sam: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."
Thứ Bảy, 1 tháng 1, 2011
MauldenNews December 2010
Wow, another year gone already. Feeling grateful for a happy and blessed year. I've been rather lazy about blogging, but we've had a good month.
Sam drew a complete blank when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, but luckily there was a box of candy canes at Santa's feet so Sam pointed and said, "That." Alex was too nervous to tell Santa what she wanted; all she could do on his lap was giggle. No matter, she told me she really really wanted yarn for Christmas, and she did get a full-size multicolored skein (if that is the right word - I've not really touched yarn since about second grade). She has spent hours making yarn creations, mini-balls of yarn, yarn Christmas ornaments, yarn animals, and more. We have spent some time picking up yarn around the house, too. At least it's easy to clean up.
Sam's stocking is not in this picture because Sam absconded with it on Christmas Eve and it took me a while to find it. It was upstairs dangling from the cord to the window blinds. I guess he thought it might be easier access for Santa. Alex made sure we didn't forget to leave cookies and CHOCOLATE milk for Santa, because "Santa's probably never had chocolate milk before!"
Bryan is showing off his gift from Alex: a candle and two AA batteries to power it.
Sam liked his Lightning McQueen Pez dispenser.
Alex loved her can of Mr. Bubble so much that she used the entire thing in the course of one bath.
And finally, we are so proud of our little swimmer - isn't she awesome?
For some reason I don't feel I have much to say tonight - I should be summarizing our year or remembering the highlights, or making a top ten list, or sharing my New Year's resolutions...but you'll just have to call me or e-mail me for those details...I'm feeling lazy tonight.
Mostly I am grateful, for the life I've been given and the people God has given me to love.
Happy and blessed New Year to all.
Sam drew a complete blank when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, but luckily there was a box of candy canes at Santa's feet so Sam pointed and said, "That." Alex was too nervous to tell Santa what she wanted; all she could do on his lap was giggle. No matter, she told me she really really wanted yarn for Christmas, and she did get a full-size multicolored skein (if that is the right word - I've not really touched yarn since about second grade). She has spent hours making yarn creations, mini-balls of yarn, yarn Christmas ornaments, yarn animals, and more. We have spent some time picking up yarn around the house, too. At least it's easy to clean up.
And finally, we are so proud of our little swimmer - isn't she awesome?
For some reason I don't feel I have much to say tonight - I should be summarizing our year or remembering the highlights, or making a top ten list, or sharing my New Year's resolutions...but you'll just have to call me or e-mail me for those details...I'm feeling lazy tonight.
Mostly I am grateful, for the life I've been given and the people God has given me to love.
Happy and blessed New Year to all.
Thứ Tư, 8 tháng 12, 2010
Morning of Dec. 8
I have finished my morning workout and am taking advantage of the still-quiet house to do a little reading before the kids wake up. I'm reading a book called "Everyday Blessings" on "mindful parenting." The chapter I'm on is called "Live-in Zen Masters" and is causing me to reflect on all the things my children have taught me, and are still teaching me. Like how impatient, rigid, and attached to having my own way I can be. How reluctant I am to cede any of my planned free time to unexpected interruptions. How little I pay attention to my own internal state when under stress and how often I lack empathy for what it's like to be small and powerless. Yes, my little Zen masters are powerful and effective teachers.
Ten glorious minutes of reading go by. I hear small footsteps and look up to see Sam's head, covered in a blanket, peeking around the corner. I offer my standard morning greeting: "Samwise! Good morning sunshine!" His mouth opens and a little squeak comes out. The blanket goes over his head and he disappears back into the hall. A few seconds later he is back, curled up face-down on the floor at my feet. "Woof, woof," he says. I rub his back. "'Woof, woof' means 'I am hungry,'" he informs me. "OK, little puppy dog, let's get you something to eat."
The morning routine begins. Coffee, oranges, cereal, frozen berries. Sam gets himself dressed but in the process opens up a wound on his thumb that begins to bleed. At the same time, he urgently needs to go to the bathroom. He runs to the toilet clutching the front of his pajamas and sucking his injured thumb. Alex makes him a "band-aid" out of yellow sticky-note paper and offers to bandage him with it. I am happy she's trying to help, but must veto the paper "band-aid" in favor of a Snoopy one with an absorbent pad. We finish breakfast. I start a load of laundry and load the dishwasher. The kids find the number 8 on their Advent calendars and happily munch their chocolate squares.
10:00 AM. Swimming lessons for Alex. She is making beautiful sine-waves with her body, moving like a dolphin across the pool, a plastic ring around her feet to keep her legs together. Sam is borrowing the instructor's clipboard, writing "SAMUEL" and "MOM" in awkward capital letters with a pencil. "How do you spell 'humongous?'" he asks. We write more words and draw mazes. Alex does a delicate dive, followed by a belly-flop and a cannonball off the diving board.
11:30 AM. Half an hour for lunch and then we head to school. Alex asks if we can go to the library, "pretty please, with a cherry on top" to get a book called Barn Owls that she read in school. She also asks, "Mom, why is it important to know how to fight?" I tell her that sometimes we need to fight to protect ourselves from being hurt, or to protect others who we love. We talk about self-defense. She wants to study Tae Kwon Do. I think I may sign her up, and Sam if they will take him.
That's it for today. Just wanted to record the ordinary stuff. Life is beautiful, no?
Ten glorious minutes of reading go by. I hear small footsteps and look up to see Sam's head, covered in a blanket, peeking around the corner. I offer my standard morning greeting: "Samwise! Good morning sunshine!" His mouth opens and a little squeak comes out. The blanket goes over his head and he disappears back into the hall. A few seconds later he is back, curled up face-down on the floor at my feet. "Woof, woof," he says. I rub his back. "'Woof, woof' means 'I am hungry,'" he informs me. "OK, little puppy dog, let's get you something to eat."
The morning routine begins. Coffee, oranges, cereal, frozen berries. Sam gets himself dressed but in the process opens up a wound on his thumb that begins to bleed. At the same time, he urgently needs to go to the bathroom. He runs to the toilet clutching the front of his pajamas and sucking his injured thumb. Alex makes him a "band-aid" out of yellow sticky-note paper and offers to bandage him with it. I am happy she's trying to help, but must veto the paper "band-aid" in favor of a Snoopy one with an absorbent pad. We finish breakfast. I start a load of laundry and load the dishwasher. The kids find the number 8 on their Advent calendars and happily munch their chocolate squares.
10:00 AM. Swimming lessons for Alex. She is making beautiful sine-waves with her body, moving like a dolphin across the pool, a plastic ring around her feet to keep her legs together. Sam is borrowing the instructor's clipboard, writing "SAMUEL" and "MOM" in awkward capital letters with a pencil. "How do you spell 'humongous?'" he asks. We write more words and draw mazes. Alex does a delicate dive, followed by a belly-flop and a cannonball off the diving board.
11:30 AM. Half an hour for lunch and then we head to school. Alex asks if we can go to the library, "pretty please, with a cherry on top" to get a book called Barn Owls that she read in school. She also asks, "Mom, why is it important to know how to fight?" I tell her that sometimes we need to fight to protect ourselves from being hurt, or to protect others who we love. We talk about self-defense. She wants to study Tae Kwon Do. I think I may sign her up, and Sam if they will take him.
That's it for today. Just wanted to record the ordinary stuff. Life is beautiful, no?
Thứ Ba, 30 tháng 11, 2010
November MauldenNews
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| Alex's homemade glasses |
I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. We had a great time in Reno with my mom and various Billharzes/Billharz associates. Sam kept singing "Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go!" In this case it was "over the mountains and through the snow." We had cold temps (the lowest recorded on our car thermometer: 2 degrees) and icy roads on I-80, but we made it in about 9 hours. Kids' dramamine and a portable DVD player with "How to Train your Dragon" kept the back seat crew pretty happy. Alex drew some awesome dragons too.
Thanksgiving day - Alex had a blast sledding with her cousins in grandma's yard. I ran my own 5K around the neighborhood and broke a new personal record - for the coldest I've ever gone running outside (at least voluntarily). 26 degrees. Crazy! We had the usual holiday mob - 25 or so for the big turkey dinner, 15 of which were kids ages 1-18. Thomas ate mostly broccoli, Sam ate mostly cheese cubes and grapes, and Alex ate mostly cranberry sauce. Mom cooked all the side dishes and Jenny brought 3 turkeys: one real and two made out of fruit and veggies. I need to get the pictures from mom - they were amazing! It was actually a little strange NOT to cook for Thanksgiving this year, but I didn't mind too much. :-) The rest of the weekend was soooo nice and relaxing. We watched UNR beat Boise, spent time with family, helped put up the Christmas tree, and took the kids swimming and then out for pancakes. Sunday I went to church and sang hymns with my mom, which made me happy. I ran into some familiar faces there, including the pastor who married me & Bryan 19+ years ago.
After playing with their cousins, Sam and Alex decided to start their own clubs. Sam's is "the flying club," in which the boys shoot people with marshmallow guns from their airplanes, and no girls are allowed. Alex's is "the loving club" and grandma and I were the first to join.
In other news, I visited Washington, DC for a work conference and enjoyed the change of scenery, the chance to eat at a good Ethiopian restaurant, and warmer weather than in Utah. But it was good to get back home.
Four books I liked this month:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (listened to Jeremy Irons read this on CD - great stuff!)
The Hunger Games - good suspenseful thriller with an interesting premise
Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan - an American woman goes on an impromptu 4-month "walkabout" across the Australian continent with a tribe of Aborigines
Fool's Gold by Gillian Tett - the story behind the 2008 financial meltdown - the housing bubble, the big banks crashing and burning, the Wall street craziness behind it all. Not my usual reading material but it's been surprisingly interesting, and eye-opening.
Well, that is about all our news for November. We are full of thankfulness and mindful of our many blessings.
Peace,
Sarah
