What we live for

Today we celebrated my grandma's 93rd birthday.

We celebrated at a Japanese steakhouse where they cook the food on the grill in front of you, complete with fire tricks to transfix the kids!

She told me that my kids are some of the things that make her life worthwhile, and make her want to stick around for a while. She said she wanted to be at Audrey's college graduation, which drew some laughter from the kids. Lance said, "Nunu, you would be 109! That's practically the World's Oldest Person!

They know they are special to her, but they don't know how lucky they are--they have always had her nearby. Lance only remembers the visit to Florida from pictures. Pictures and the story about how my mom dropped him on his head on the tile floor. She is a part of their lives in a more regular way, not living across the country for a couple of visits a year like I had. And since her other grand and great-grandchildren live farther away, I want mine to fill in all the visits that the others can't easily make.

And of course as I'm composing this post in my mind, I'm thinking about how seeing her face light up at the sight of my kids makes it all worthwhile, and gives me perspective to try to overcome the frustration at the daily bickering and dirty shoes and mealtime battles.

I know they will be grown up before I blink. But did that stop me from getting irritated when they whined about being bored in the car? Or when they argued over the new magazine that came in the mail? Or from snapping the book closed at storytime because Audrey was wiggling down from the couch, wheelbarrow-style, because she wasn't listening?

Not exactly. But it does remind me to keep trying. And to hope that someday, I will be 93 and have as much to be thankful for as my Grandma does.

Happy Birthday NuNu!

Freeze Frame, continued

I hope no one died of shock seeing a new post from me.

One little love bug in this house just cannot give up Valentine's Day! We got these mystery notes this morning...

(That's "I will always love you" in kid writing! gulp!

She also ordered her breakfast (noodles).

More love notes and pictures everywhere!

This is what it's all about. And what I need to remember if someday the notes aren't quite this loving. And if she takes after her mother, they won't be. Sorry Mom and Em!

Ninety two

My grandma is 92 today.

When I was growing up, she lived in Connecticut or Florida, and while we did lots of visiting, it was still only a couple of times a year.

She has always been my biggest fan, and you can see it from my baby pictures. Her adoring smile is the same in every one, even visible through a very bad scan of an old photo.

Rachel, 2 weeks old

And the best part, one of the reasons she is such a wonderful Grandma, is that's how she treated my sister and all my cousins, and that's how she treats my kids too. She made us all feel like we were her favorite.

As I was going back through photos for her birthday post, I realized that since she moved up here to live near my mom in 2005, we have had 5 opportunities to celebrate her birthday with her. For that, I am extremely thankful.

2006: 87th (pre-Audrey) I have no clue where we are, blame the pregnant brain

2007: 88th birthday at La Fiama

pre-dinner with two squirming kids

2008: 89th birthday at On Rice.

Finally, we can sit at dinner and take a photo, thanks to Star Wars action figures!

2009: The big 90th birthday, complete with a private dining room, lamb chops with mint jelly, cheesecake for dessert, and a NuNu memory book!



In 2010, 91 was celebrated with poor photography but good company. She came to our house, which was clearly not good for the photos.

Kids trying to spell out "91" with their bodies. See, Audrey is the 9 and Lance is the 1?? Work with me here...

Birthday pie

We did connect with some extended family, 2nd or 3rd cousins, and had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, we still took terrible photos with one unwilling subject.

And now at 92, we are so lucky to be able to wish you another Happy Birthday!

Happy Holidays!

Thanks to Shutterfly, now my cards won't be completely late!

But I better get that holiday letter posted...

Picture Joy Christmas

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Wired for school

Guess which kid is headed for a life as Ms. Goody Two Shoes like her mama?

She brought this "homework" sheet from preschool today - it's not due until NEXT Wednesday, but she insisted that WE DO IT RIGHT NOW, MOM! And no, you can't write it for me. I'm doing it myself. With a marker. And you need to print out a picture of Sammy, my stuffed animal dog that "breathes" because we don't really have a pet.

Not so Bitty anymore--Four!

Four. It doesn’t seem possible. Our baby girl is four.

(don't ask about the elbow bandage. Major fall and scrape 15 minutes before we were to leave for birthday dinner at Red Robin. She's fine. But, oy, the tears.)

Bitty Girl,

You have grown up so much in the last year, but so many parts of you are just MORE this year. You laugh louder, play harder, ride your bike faster, argue longer, and stand up for yourself more. You are a sweet, kind-hearted girl who would share the last bite of her cupcake even if we didn’t ask. Clearly not a first-born.

You love to laugh, and your infectious giggle makes us all shine brighter. You’re working on joke telling, both knock knock jokes and riddles, and while the punch line is sometimes a mystery, you can laugh convincingly enough to make anyone think it’s really funny.

You are on your way to being a gourmet chef, mainly thanks to weekend breakfasts with Daddy. You can practically make pancake or crepe batter yourself. You love to help with everything—breakfast, toast, cakes and cookies, sprinkling cheese on nachos, and even doing dishes! Just this week you were literally filled with excitement to help make your own birthday cake, insisted on helping with everything, even racing upstairs midway through to don your chef hat and apron.

You can flour cake pans, use the mixer, measure flour and sugar, fold egg whites into batter, and crack eggs.

We switched you to a new preschool this year, the Shoreline Children’s Center where The Boy went, and you are thriving. You have your group of 2-3 best girl friends, and you greet each other with hugs and smiles. It literally said “Audrey is a joy to have in class” on your assessment/report card sheet. I think I cried tears of joy, or maybe relief. You love coming home with facts you learned at school—this month has been sea animals. You have demonstrated how a starfish moves on its suction cups, how long an octopus can stretch, and reenacted the entire egg-laying cycle of sea turtles. Guess you’re a good listener in school too!

I watch in wonder every day at your dramatic play—I cannot believe what you dream up. The details, the elaborate details of where people are going and which imaginary friend is calling you and why you have to pick up your babies from school and your grocery list and your plans for the weekend—astounding.

I do worry about the way you rush around, worry that you are mimicking me and my eternal state of being over-busy. You have to “go pick up brother” or “go teach my class” or “be a volunteer for the PTA and make lists” and so much of it sounds familiar. But you will entertain yourself for long stretches of time, reading to your babies or setting up your “classroom” or playing with your Pet Shops or Ponies.

You are the artist of the family, specializing in little notes and sculptures. You make us hundreds of presents, little letters or drawings on paper that is folded and taped (and taped and taped—you LOVE your scotch tape) into little packages that you hide for “Mother’s Day” or “Father’s Day” or “next year!”

At preschool, you are the Creation Station Queen, and the teachers know it. You insist on saving our toilet paper tubes and other recyclables to contribute, and we joke with the teachers about the “Circle of Life,” how we donate things and then you use them and just bring them home again.

Stubborn? Oh, the arguing and the negotiation! You might ask me what day it is, and I’ll answer “Tuesday.” Then you say, “No, it’s Wednesday.” And there is no changing your mind. It’s futile to argue, although I find myself getting sucked into the Typhoon of Argument Despair almost daily.

And heaven help us if we don’t know what you are talking about. You have a fairly short fuse, and often collapse into a puddle of whining and tears, complete with a foot stamp and stink eye if we don’t know what “thing” you’re talking about, no matter how few clues you’ve given us. Lucky for us, you are still easily consoled, rarely pout very long, and can often be cheered up quickly with a distraction. Or if you get what you want—this is an ongoing issue around here.

For your brother, though, you might just be the best little sister ever. You actually enjoy playing Pokemon with him. Once, when he was going on and on and on about his video game and I just got sick of listening, you said, “I’ll listen to you. Tell me.” He does leave you out sometimes, and has taken to locking his bedroom door, which breaks your heart.

Your worst little sister trick is one that I know and remember well—it was played on me. When he is getting in trouble, you pipe up to remind me how you are doing the right thing, or being polite, or having good manners, etc. I tell you that that doesn’t work—it didn’t work for Auntie Em and it doesn’t work for you.

I cringe thinking about the inappropriate words and tv shows and conversations that you hear and see, thanks to a 7 yr old brother. There is far too much Pokemon and potty talk for my liking, but luckily you seem to have a good handle on what’s appropriate at school vs. home.

I often tell the story about how we were ACTUALLY WORRIED that you weren’t talking that much at 18 months or even 2 years old. Compared to how your brother talked, you seemed fairly quiet. HA! Serves us right for worrying. The other day I had to ask if you could be quiet for 5 minutes, and I would set the timer, just to get some peace and quiet. Wonder where you get that talkative side?

Things you have learned/done this year include:

• Riding a bike with training wheels, and not just any bike: a pink and white princess bike
• Writing your name
• Starting a new preschool and making new friends
• Learning to play Crazy Eights
• Creating hundreds of paintings, drawings, and sculptures
• Planting a garden
• Learning to write your name
• Taking swimming lessons--and now you put your face in the water willingly!

We are so proud of you. You remind us to say grace at dinner, to get excited about beautiful flowers and airplanes and seeing the moon during the daytime. You share and find ways to include everyone, and really think about other people's feelings.

Happy Birthday - we love you to the moon, through outer space, and back!

Ninety One

Happy Birthday to our NuNu! She's 91 today!

Last year we threw her a big birthday bash, so this year we felt like we had to come up with something....

In honor of your big 91, we spelled it out...
OR (see the 9 and the 1??)

Rode it out....




Shot it out.....



and jumped it out...





We love you, NuNu!! We hope it's a wonderful birthday!

It's the angle

The Boy has always been a great photographer. He seems to capture angles we don't see from adult height, or maybe he pushes the button sooner because he's not waiting for the perfect pose.

Anyway, he captured some great ones of Papa and NuNu on our last visit.

Papa, relaxing after a long day in the workshop with the kids

NuNu

And her more playful side. Or maybe her "Are you talkin' to me?" face.

Maybe Santa should have brought him a camera for Christmas instead of the horrendous nerf gun.

I took this one, but it was too sweet not to put in here

And I needed the eyeball video camera again, because I didn't catch the best part of NuNu reading the Human Body book with him, and how she explained what your pulse is and how to take it..

My feeble catch before I was spotted.. I have tried, in vain (HA HA, pun only intended after I wrote it and laughed out loud at how funny I am), to explain to him how these videos are so important because NuNu won't be around forever, and he'll want to watch them and remember all the good times, with her and can you hear the Charlie Brown parent voice echoing in his ears? Wahhh-wah-waaah-wahh-waaah-wahhh. Sigh.

Oh, Happy New Year

We started the new year a few days early with a trip to Celebration Lane. Outside Bellevue Square Mall (or Lincoln Square or whatever they call it now), they do Snowflake Lane before Christmas and Celebration Lane before New Year's Day. Local high school drummers dress as toy soldiers and bubble "snow" falls nightly, with lots of music and, just because we're lucky, NOISEMAKERS!!

One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong.

Can you tell which thing is not like the others, (or which one belongs to the 3 yr old?)

By the time I finish my song?

Ok, I'll spare you the song..

But in spite of the party horn casualty, we really had fun.

Tonsils and all.

I asked them to say Happy New Year, not Aaaaaaaah!

Somehow Seaside Survived

Danger Girl, out for a spin on the Promenade at Seaside.
Many unsuspecting vacationers thought they were just out for a stroll on a cloudy August morning.

(cue foreboding music...)

Little did they know they barely escaped being mowed down by a pink Princess Huffy with rainbow streamers. At least the training wheels rattle so you can hear her coming!

Did you catch the absolute GLEE in her eyes as she sped up (doing her "magic trick") and whizzed past us? You might have missed it because of her extreme speed. Yes, we really had to run to catch up.

We are in trouble. Very soon. Capital T.

And on the Danger flip side... The Boy, perfecting his tricks. Guaranteed to make his mother's, grandmother's, and great-grandmother's heart skip a beat.

Not to be outdone on the bike riding

A few days ago, she couldn't even turn the pedals herself.


She's a true Boss, even when riding her bike







and after a few turns, she refused all offers of help!

Way to go, Bitty Girl!!!

Brrrrrrrr....

Bitty Girl has always called her cousin Grady instead of Brady. The Boy had a preschool friend named Grady, and she just can't get past it.

We've practiced, she's heard it a million times, and she CAN pronounce the "br" sound (see video), but now I think it's become a joke to her. She usually calls him BrrrrrGRADY!

He just celebrated his first birthday, so let's hope she gets it right before he cares.

Multi-Faceted Man and his secret sidekick

It's a new superhero...

He can be serious and scary... especially when he's graduated to doing tight figure-8s on the backyard court.

(notice the Steelers outfit, Auntie Em and Uncle Brian?)

post-Sounders soccer game

And then his lighter side..

posing for the photographers

entertaining his adoring public with jokes at the Willows

Not to be outdone...

Super Secret Diva Girl - no photos please...

Otherwise they all look like this.

A Very Bossy Birthday

I have a feeling that 3 will bring bossy to a whole new level.

This morning she woke us up saying, "I'm not a baby anymore. I'm a big girl. Wanna wrestle?"

We had a fun weekend, trying not to overdo the birthday business. Partly for the birthday girl, and partly for the older brother who really tried his best not to be jealous that someone else was getting all the presents.

There were treats, including Mommy's attempt at a "pastel petit fours" recipe. They were yummy, but somehow I have a feeling that Martha Stewart felt a cold chill run down her spine sometime around 2 pm Friday afternoon.

There were cousins, and she loved watching them argue about who got to sit next to her.

(notice the big brother face, and the look that she's giving him)

and grandparents (Nanny and Papa's turn is next weekend)

There were balloons

(again, note who volunteered to help her hold them but couldn't hide his true feelings)

And there was a Princess bike from Grandma and Papa.

Heaven help us all. Welcome to three. Nothing like a set of training wheels to inspire your big brother to master that two-wheeled business!

Today she had birthday lunch at Red Robin

was slightly overwhelmed with the birthday singing

had a dip in the pool at home this afternoon,

and wore herself out.

Happy Birthday, Madam Three!