done

She did it, and did it well! As I'm sure you aren't surprised, she was brave and witty, and most of all quite stylish.

She is now on her surgical sabbatical, making lavish costume plans for the trunk-or-treat (which happens to be tomorrow night) and has been basking in the glow of grandma-love and relishing in the comfort of ice cream, root beer, and hot chocolate.

This is all being washed down with a little Harry Potter.

Happy Friday!!!

the time is now

How she does it, I don't know. The night before, she's so happy, so calm, so content.

I've decided not to think about what the procedure actually involves. Sometimes ignorance is bliss (even if you pretend you don't know). (They are her eyes, for goodness sake!)

Okay,
peace out peeps

words of wisdom

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others;

For beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness;

And for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
-Audrey Hepburn

the time has come

Marshall Grace will soon be taking a short hiatus.

During this "restful" time, those beautiful eyes of hers will be undergoing a short "procedure."

She is totally cool with this. (See, the above picture just screams, "Bring it, Anesthesia!")

I am doing my best. (Pretend the above is a picture of me making this face and gesture).

Thursday is the big day. Prayers and positive thoughts on her behalf are always welcome.

famous author

My mom's book was featured on a fun blog. Thought you'd like to know.

high noon

The onlookers watched with great anticipation,

The sheriff and his cronies geared up the noose and the culprit was brought forward,

An epitaph was being etched, "Here hangs Dr. Youknowwho, who seems to forget to pick up his socks."

Suddenly, like a bolt of lightening clad in sandals, Marshall Grace rides into town.

"Unhand that man, he is innocent." A terrific fight ensues (wherein the bad bandits (the sheriff and his cronies) are hogtied and tickled).

Marshall Grace rides off into the sunset with her Doctor in Distress. As they reach the horizon one could hear, "Dad, can I play some games on your phone NOW???"

nana's on the ball

During Fall Break we did something we don't do quite enough of...

We went bowling! It has been decided that Cousin Bowling and Bumper Bowling should always be done together.

Grace tallied up our scores after EVERY SINGLE bowler's turn.

Jimmy and Zac were extremely "helpful" as they would insist on bringing everybody their appropriate ball at the appropriate (and sometimes not appropriate) time.

Tyler would compare Grace's math with the computer.

Nana had a blast.

I learned that it will take a group of 6 (with at least two members of the group not quite yet 5) almost two hours to complete one game.

First Side Note: (By "Attack" (in the above picture) we mean it took a good two minutes each time the ball was "thrown" to make its way to the pins).

Second Side Note: (I think we need someone who throws lefty to help us teach our favorite lefty some easier tips on bowling and the like).

poolside

Can you tell we've been diligent sunscreen users?

its often good to be precise

This is an actual tombstone in Tombstone, AZ. We visited this illustrious place this past weekend. Little did we know we chose to go during Helldorado Days.

I must say though, I do like me some cowboys.

my, what big eyes you have

The prettier to see with, my dear!

Check out G's sweet new specs. They are awesome and were personally selected by none other than G herself.

They are quite versatile (as you can see by the above photo).

They even double as sun glasses when necessary. We're pretty jazzed about them.

friends

A hard thing that happens as one grows older is that one often finds oneself moving away from their friends. And by friends, I mean the kind that really would be your sisters if your family happened to have grown that way. Sometimes (many times) these friends have moved from me, however in the last few years I resumed the position of moving away from them.

Either way, it is never fun. You always hope things will stay the same, but they can't. You can't see them every Saturday morning for a hot chocolate party, you can't go next door for an impromptu Def Leppard dance party, you can't bake with them every Wednesday, go to pilates with them every Tuesday, nor can you daydream together every night about each other's happily ever after while making lesson plans for your student teaching the next morning, etc.

But what does stay the same is your deep-rooted friendship that somehow stands the test of time.

How lucky for me to see one of these gems in Boston. Meredith and her husband were on an weekend-away and took time to meet up with Nate and I. Really Nate and Dave were just nice about it and mostly went about their business, but Mere and I had a little time to connect again. It felt really good. One of these days we will have another hot chocolate party. It might not be for another decade or so, but the chocolate will be good, and the company even better.

what the hail?

We live in the desert. This is important to remember when I tell you the following: ice fell from the sky last Tuesday.

The town was all a'twitter about it.

Our citrus trees (and all trees for that matter) were "naturally" pruned (including our olive tree, any ideas what we should do with all the crazy olives we have?)

And the high temps dropped at least 20 degrees.

Life is much easier to handle when its in the 80s!

(Thankfully we didn't plant outside yet.)

Oh, and what does one wear when its a chilly 84 degrees?

A long-sleeved shirt offset by a popsicle. That combination makes all the difference.

quack quack

Our last day in Boston we were as touristy as you can get. We rode the Ducks. Nate was so excited (can you see the sarcasm in his face?)

Question: What's that? How does one ride a duck?
Answer: One does it quite easily when the duck looks like this:

Question: Who drives those things?
Answer: Sometimes superheros (however, ours wasn't, this guy was the driver of the next tour, ours is kind of hidden behind the white beams wearing a Hawaiian shirt)

Question: What does one see on a Duck Tour?
Answer: All the sights one did not see while one was in a conference center. However, the pictures one takes on such a tour are so crooked and blurry, one will not post them here.

The fun part of the tour for Nate (besides sitting so very close to me) was seeing so much of Boston - the different neighborhoods, various Freedom Trail sights, and cruising out on the Charles River. The fun part of the tour for me was to realize I had seen just about everything we saw on the tour during my few days of Boston-gazing. I really got around!


Warning to all Bostonians: We will be back, and next time we will bring the kids.

an irony of our parenthood

It is always ironic to me when our children get sick(ish) and Nate and I are completely surprised by it. This is an especially true feeling when the sickishness occurs somewhere in the upper respiratory system or their ears or their noses for that matter.

The last two nights Jimmy has reminded us of the glory (the terror) of life with a newborn. He was up EVERY hour Friday night, and several hours (in no particular pattern) last night. Why? Did Nate and I figure it out the first night - NO. Of course not. Nate was busy fielding calls about sick people and I was busy trying not to pull my hair out. We weren't even thinking that Jimmy could possibly not be feeling well.

Last night however we thought - hey, maybe he gets extra stuffy while laying down and that's why he's been having such a hard time. Maybe he's too snuffy to breathe and he doesn't like it. Maybe we should follow medical advice (that one of us gives to patients and their families on a regular basis) and prop him up a bit to help him breathe better. Yeah, that's the ticket. Way to go me and Nate. It was nice to finally get it. And it was especially nice for Jimmy.

And as far as J goes, he's really quite fine. Just snuffy. So no worries from the grandparent crowd out there. I just felt I would share one of our little parenting ironies.

news from the cafeteria

Dictionary Entry: "Double Dating"
Used in sentence: "Mom! I was Double Dating at recess today!"
Any guess on the meaning? (answer at bottom of post)

The following is my favorite conversation of yesterday:
It came as a result of the news that the swings and playground equipment were off-limits yesterday at recess due to crazy digging bees. Apparently it is now BORING to be forced to run around and play games on the field. Who knew?

Nate: Don't you chase boys any more?
Grace: DAD!!!!
Me: Nate, she's just much too mature for that now.
Grace: Well, I did chase a boy yesterday.
(DRAMATIC PAUSE) With my EYES!!!!!

Double Dating in Third Grade form is when two swings are swinging in tandem, same level and same rhythm. I think that is the perfect form of Double Dating, especially as it has nothing to do with boys (unless of course they are the ones on the other swing, but usually they are too busy running on the field).

this just in...

I made a real dinner last night (it had dropped 20 degrees, so turning on the oven seemed more of a possibility than it has in YEARS (okay, a couple of months). This dinner was so good, I was stunned with my first bite. The kids even liked it (J ate the chicken, nothing more). And Nate (once he arrived home to eat it) love it. Here it is (originally from Cooking Light, adapted and tweaked by me):

4 chicken quarters (thighs and legs with bones and skin)
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground pepper
4 slices bacon
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cups torn kale*
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary
2 (16 oz) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14/5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

Preheat oven to 350.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook bacon in an oven-safe pan until crisp. Remove from pan (reserving drippings - yes, even Cooking Light said to do that). Add chicken and brown on each side. Add onion and garlic cloves. Saute until onion is soft. Stir in bacon, kale, rosemary, beans, and tomatoes. Lift chicken to rest on top of beans and vegetables.

Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes or so (until the chicken is nice and juicy, and done!)
So surprisingly delicious!

*(Grace kept calling it kelp - I'm not sure if that would work here)
Credit: Cooking Light, October 2010, "Tuscan Baked Chicken and Beans"

hot news from home and more touring

I know, you've been just waiting and practicing patience wondering when I'll get around to posting more on my trip. I have to tell you, Boston is a great place.

What's not so great is getting a call at 8:30 a.m. in Boston from your father-in-law in Arizona (that would be 5:30 in AZ) to let you know that not everything is okay and that in fact there may have been a small electrical fire in the attic from the ever aggravating a/c. No body was hurt, the kids slept through it all (no fire alarms and no flames and certainly no firemen - although firemen are always hot, but that's a discussion for another time isn't it?) Needless to say, the rest of my morning was not one of leisure, it was one more leisurely looking on the outside, and panic-stricken on the inside. Within a few hours the a/c dudes (the big guns this time - the owner, himself, and the head of maintenance (my good friend, Bob) had everything under control. They apologized profusely many times to my in-laws. And so far (its been 8 days now) so good. I felt much better after 12:30 when the call came to say those magic words, All is Well. And it was.

So then I remembered I was on vacation. Nate came back around 4 p.m. and we hit the town. We found and took the T and began our small trek on the Freedom Trail. It was amazing to see these historic places - the Old South Meetinghouse, Faneuil Hall (the cradle of Freedom), the steeple where the lanterns were hung which began Paul Revere's famous ride (y'know - one if by land, two if by sea), the church across from the famed steeple whose dome was hammered out by Paul himself, The Green Dragon Tavern... Well I'll just say it was so cool.

We ended our trek in Boston's North End at this tasty Italian restaurant that seemed right out of a movie. I swear Joe Pesci was sitting near us and said goodnight to us as he left (and after looking him up to make sure I spelled his name right, it really was Joe or at least his identical twin). Well we really finished our evening stopping in an Italian bakery (while Nate did a med consult on the phone, but I digress), and found that they do in fact know what cannoli is all about!

Here's some pics of our ye ole' selves and of some ye ole' places...






The next day I got all smart on myself and went to Harvard. Here's my synopsis: snooty, hoity, ivy, old, tasty (cocoa), historical. Stay tuned.