missouri girl

This post is about our spring break trip we took several weeks ago. As usual, life has gotten in the way of timely posting!



Who's the boss? That seemed to be the theme of the trip from Gracie's angle. She had so many "plans" that it was hard to stay on course. But somehow we managed (this was manly done when she was asleep or when we told her where her next meal was coming from). She loved visiting the Hallmark Center (where you can make bow after bow after bow on the bow-making-machine while your Mom is busy chasing down Jimmy and your Dad is busy reading plaques and being "educational") and Kaleidoscope (this crazy, fun place where they let kids get wild with their imaginations using Hallmark's leftover card stock, ribbons, and Crayola everythings). She was fascinated with our state capitol (Jefferson City or "Jeff" as the locals call it). And loved our nature hike. And ate an amazing amout of chicken tenders. And ketchup. And French fries. Gracie also was "helpful" when she would insist on navigating with the use of her map (often it was the map of downtown Kansas City, even though most days we were far from KC). Incidently, Grace has asked many times when we can return to Kansas City - you'd think its because she had a terrific time there - yes she did - but its really because she wants to get some more Silly Putty that came from the Crayola Store. Oh how I love thee, Missouri Girl!

schooled and shaken

Today I experience something I don't remember ever experiencing before - and earthquake! Yes, one right here in the Midwest. It was a 5.2, so all of you from California may think that isn't so note-worthy, but it certainly is here. It woke us up and lasted for about 30 seconds. Everything just shook. Very weird.

And in other news (not related to the above): a utility company put up a new utility pole behind our house in the alley. This was very exciting becuase it involved many trucks and workers wearing constructions hats. Jimmy was thrilled. At one point they got ready to use a giant drill. Thinking this might interest Grace, I called her over to the window. She nochalantly sauntered to the window, casually pushed me aside, looked out and said, "Yeah Mom, that's an auger drill." And then went back to whatever it was she was doing. An auger drill!? What?! Do most 6 year old girls know about heavy industrial equipment?

the stuff dreams are (not) made of

Today I did something I never in my life dreamt I would do - I spent the better part of an hour removing Silly Putty from some bed sheets. Thankfully they were not my bed sheets, but they were Gracie's. Who knew that Silly Putty - the stuff Nate and his brother used to throw at their moving ceiling fan just to see where it would land - the stuff that used to let you "copy" news print - the stuff you could do just about anything with and it would come right up and fit back into its tiny little egg-shape home - would adhere to sheets! It turns out it also likes carpet and various other fabric and fibers too. So Mothers (and Fathers) Beware!!!!

Tour of Missouri - Jimmy's take on the trip

Planes, Trains, Automobiles (or Trucks), and Elevators

These are the things Jimmy loved most about our trip. Well, and the cows too. He watched Missouri fly by his car seat window and was thrilled whenever he saw any of the above. He took great delight each and every time we entered an elevator. And of course we even saw some trains up close a few times (KC has a LOT of trains). Here's a few pics of our Motoring Man in MO (you may wonder why I include the one of J's back and Gracie's smiling face in this particular post - it is because he was too busy looking at the trains below to bother turning around to say "Cheese!"). Stay tuned for more MO!

mary, mary quite contrary

That sums up Grace these days. But really what I'm looking for is what would YOUR garden grow? This weekend we worked our back forty (well, really a plot that is 12x16 feet, its a lot bigger than we thought it was before we decided to use a manual tiller than a cool, power one). We've got a few things planted and planned for the garden, but I would love any suggestions from you! Leave them in the comments or if you'd rather, sent me an email. Happy Gardening!

shopping is a dangerous sport

Warning - this contains personal information that I am rather embarrassed about

Last week while on our Spring Break Trip (The Page Tour of Missouri - don't worry a post will come to detail our adventures) I inevitably ended up shopping; and while doing so I tripped on a step and completely sprained my ankle. It is a sad state of affairs that my children have such a clumsy mom. I would like to point out however, that it was because Grace was hanging out of the car window (thankfully the car was parked) and Jimmy was waving wildly to me, that I did this. There, now you know.

six buck phone

So just as I pull up to Gracie's school, Kris (aka "Nana") calls my cell phone and says, "Sarah, you are not going to believe this. We just called Nate (side note- Nate was in transit to SLC for Grandpa Beck's funeral) and someone else answered." To make a long story short, the Someone Else who answered the phone actually bought the phone from some dude at a Jack in the Box in a very crummy part of the city this morning. This Someone Else ended up being a very nice, elderly gentleman who felt terrible that he had bought stolen goods. Nana convinced him to return to the said Jack in the Box and leave the phone with a manager or something so I could pick it up. In the meantime I was convinced Nate was either a.) dead or b.) riding back and forth on the Metrolink unconscious because in my mind he was obviously mugged on his way to the airport at 6 this morning (why oh why must we jump to conclusions?!).

I somehow managed to keep composure as I dropped Grace at school and chatted with another mom (really my Guardian Angel for Kindergarten) who readily agreed to traverse to the sketchy part of town to pick up the phone. I called Someone Else (it took him a few times to successfully answer the phone) who happened to be going to drop it off and he agreed to meet me there. In the meantime, we stopped at Guardian Angel's house to change a probable poopy diaper (thanks James), loaded car seats into her mini van (oh, sometimes I really covet a mini van!) and headed East. In between the diaper and loading into the mini van, I actually talked to Nate (he and Coby met up in the SLC airport and thankfully Coby's phone hadn't been stolen!) and after a burst of tears and crazy rants (if you really want to know it went something like this "Nathan, are you okay? Are you alive? Where is your wallet? Do you have all of your credit cards? Are you sure? Are you okay? Are you sure you are okay?" and so on like that). Also, I should mention my Guardian Angel gave me a lovely silver can with red and black lettering to drink, which always seems to sooth my nerves. Oh and she had seat warmers in her van too. Sweet!

Okay, back on topic. We arrive at the sketchy location. She remains in the van with the children (our youngest ones as the oldest are slaving away in Kindergarten) and I head in. I find Someone Else and here is the miracle - he was like a cross between Grandpa Beck and my Grandpa Jim. He was kind, jovial, refused any money I offered him (which was more than six bucks), and wished me a nice day. Thanks to him (and my Guardian Angel and I suppose my diet Coke) my day is pretty good. Whew.

passed off

Grandpa Beck passed away this past Saturday morning. It was expected, though it was still so sudden (if that makes any sense). This is Nate's mom's dad. He was one of the "Shirleys" (as both he and Grandma Beck shared the same first name). I've known Grandpa for 14 years and I'll never be able to hear a pitch pipe (he was a world (or at least nationwide) renowned member of a barbershop quartet and was always singing something), eat a homegrown ripe tomato (his were some of the best), or face a plumbing problem (yep, he was a terrific plumber by trade) without thinking of him again.

Grace has been telling people "Well, my Grandpa Beck passed off on Saturday." Its an interesting way to say it. I guess he's passed off this step and is on to the next.

We sure do miss you, Grandpa Beck.

Happy Easter!

 
Hope everyone had a great Easter. Our's was so springy-like with all the snow! Yep, snow. But snow is pretty exciting to some of those that live here (namely the two that are pictured here and note that they are indoors because did I mention that it snowed?).

pink isn't always the best

Yesterday, the last day before Spring Break, the day of the Easter party and parade at school, Grace woke up with something pink - Pink Eye. AHHH Nooooooooooooo! She never had it before, so to be honest I wasn't sure if that's what she had. But with several consulations with Drs. Mom and others (the surgeon nonetheless was actually in surgery, so he wasn't helpful to the situation at the time) we decided to go to the pediatrition and have her checked out. Grace and Jimmy did the Yeti Stomp in the sick kids waiting room (generally the kids in that room are pretty lethargic) and bounded off to the exam room. Grace expained her blight to the Nurse Practitioner and pretty much indicated that particular day would not be a good day to have pink eye because she had other things to do. The NP took a deep breath and said that she was sorry, but Grace did have "A Pink Eye" (which is what Grace has been saying since then - I have a pink eye! Oh dear). Gracie welled up with tears and just cried and cried. It was so sad. The NP almost cried. There came a glimmer of hope when we learned if we started the eye drops asap, there would be a chance we could join our friends today for a picnic and the promise of acquiring a new movie - The AristoCats. But it was just a glimmer. Life got a little better when all her friends were in school and she was outside riding her bike and blowing bubbles. And then when Daddy came home from work at 4:00 (yeah, can you believe it?!), things were great. She also took great delight in checking on "The Madness" with me and updating our brackets.

But this is my favorite line of the day: She said, "I don't want a pink eye!" and I said "But pink is a such a great color" and she said, "Not in your eye!!" Yeah, she's right.

beware the ides of march

Poor Jimmy. We, his bad, naughty parents, decided it was high time he not have a bottle anymore. He had been in the habit of drinking himself to sleep (water) and then wetting himself awake. It was beginning to be a very out of control cycle; and tired of middle-of-the-night sheet and pj changing, we decided to go cold turkey and withhold his beloved "B.B.Bah". Sadly this happened when he had "hot spots" or little red blisters on his feet from his brace (however, to our credit we thought we had that situation fixed) and a double ear infection (which of course we did not know until later on). Now, several days (and nights later) I am happy to report we are now sleeping - all four of us - through the night and are certainly hopeful this will continue (although I guess seeing our history of the last two years, I shouldn't bet on it).

But what I will bet on is my NCAA brackets. Nate and I have been doing the bracket thing for the last ten years ago, and according to my calcuations I have won all but once (which happened to be last year). The bet - winner gets to pick the restaurant for dinner. Not a big bet to most, I realize, but then you must know I am not that kind of woman. Grace keeps asking Nate, "Daddy, when will all of this Madness start?" and Nate (who says he saves all his TV time for March, happily replies "very, very soon." My strategy for picking the winners - base it all on colors and geography of the teams and if it comes down to it, their mascot. I stay as far away from basketball during the regular season so I won't be too influenced by what the ESPNers have to say. Last year I learned a bit too much, and now you know my downfall.

Grace wanted to know what St. Patrick's Day was all about, and instead of bogging her down with details I told her it was a day we celebrated our Irish heritage. She then said, "You mean, were some Irishes?" On Sunday we celebrated my Irish-American-Chicagoan heritage and invited our neighbors over for corned beef and cabbage. They were an important part to our feast, as they contributed to Guinness (yes, you got it a fine Irish Stout). This is what I cooked our brisket in this year and I have to say it was incredibly good. It also allowed me to say the following to my mom as she was about to hang up her cell phone and head into church, "Enjoy church, Mom, I'm just going to pop open a Guinness over here."

menu items

So for those of you who have been devoted readers, you may have been wondering what awful thing has happened to us in the last 10 days that has prevented me from blogging. I am happy to report, that absolutely nothing which is noteworthy has occurred! The children have been relatively well-mannered, Nate has been home more than he was in the last quarter of last year, and I've been able to go out and have some fun!

In other (non) news, we've been getting some menu input from Grace. Saturday she requested we eat "hot dogs and rutabagas." Can anyone say, MMMMMMMMMMM? So of course we somehow managed to eat salmon, spinach and rice (don't worry, we shared some cheesecake for dessert to outdo our diet-plate-like dinner, and as a side I would like to point out that one should not be tempted to order one of those giant slabs of carrot cake from the Cheesecake Factory - it is tasteless and bland and eating shredded carrots on top of cardboard smothered in straight-up Crisco would taste just about the same and be much more economical). However, the kids enjoyed the salmon and Jimmy kept asking for "Moe Haught Dowg". Apparently he was convinced the salmon was a hot dog. Well eat up my friend, eat up.

Behold the Power of the Pants

 

turnips and naptime

For some reason Grace decided it was high time she try eating a turnip. This decision came to her in the produce department at the grocery store. She happily picked one out, proudly gave it to the checker, and then asked for her very own bag so she could carry it to the car. So the pressure is on - how do you cook a turnip so a 6 year old kid likes it (for the record, this grown-up doesn't like turnips and I don't think the other grow-up in the house cares for them either!). Any and all suggestions are welcome. I did find one from Paula Deen and if you are interested yourself in turnips, click here to give her recipe a try.

Jimmy and Gracie are both supposed to be taking a nap right now. Jimmy generally does this daily, but today decided to interrupt his nap with a lot of poop. Now, I don't like poop, and I certainly don't care for it during naptime! Grace earned her right to a nap by acting like a two-year old when it was time for us to leave the Kid Area at the community center (this is a fabulous place that has a great gym, pool, and library and they let you leave your kids in a fun, well-supervised area for up to two hours at a time). She has graciously accepted her fate and has only gotten up twice (so far).

Nate is taking a Super Big Exam today. It is a yearly exam and is a pretty big deal. The great thing is that after this one, there is only one more - next March. Ever since college (and rumor has it in high school, but I don't know if the practice was set then) he wears Testing Pants. These pants (I hope to get a picture posted of these soon but in the mean time please enjoy a picture of Grace sleeping in the car taken two years ago in honor of Nap Time) were fashioned after Zubaz pants. These pants have been worn during every final, board exam, shelf exam, inservice exam, etc. in the last 13 years. And seeing that Nate has finished college, medical school, and most of his surgical residency during that time - that is a lot of tests. There is some sort of mystical power in the pants. Yes, the pants are tattered, have some paint splatters (before the power of the pants was known, they were worn while painting Benjy Grover's parents' house Navajo White), and are terribly faded. But the power remains. I guess we'll have to figure out how he can have them on when his Oral Boards come around in a few years. So today he is wearing comfy sneakers, cushy socks, testing pants, a bright blue Superman shirt, with an ancient BYU sweatshirt. Certainly by now his hair is askew and he is totally unshaven. (Paints a nice picture of a Medical Genius, don't you think?)

3 mm

Three millimeters or .12 inches or three-tenths of a centimeter. You may think that is not much, but I will tell you it is. This is how far my teeth have to move until I can get my ultra-comfy-boy-I-am-so-glad-I-still-have-them-on braces off! Send good thoughts my way (and maybe some condolences to Nate for the amount of soup he'll be consuming until I am done!)

many things

It has been many days since I have last written. Much has happened, though most of you will not find these things significant.

Our weather has been NUTS! We go from sunshine to ice storms in a matter of minutes. The windchill is so cold, it is at times reminiscent of growing up in the "Greater Chicagoland Area" (as it is apt to be called). School was even cancelled for two days in a row and there was not much snow to play in, just a lot of ice to slip on.

Nate's mom came to visit. What a contrast STL provided for her compared to her Phoenix weather. For a day and a half we were confined to the house and somehow no one felt the need to pull their hair out. We managed a grown-up dinner out (yep, Nate went out with his monther AND his wife, what a man) to Big Sky Cafe. We have been here before, but this time I must admit, my socks weren't blown off. The next day we partied on at the Magic House. A very cool place, but an easy one to loose a child in. Fortuanatley we all stayed found and managed to have happy thoughts towards it after we left. The evening brought us to City Diner and I have to say my mushroom burger did blow my socks off. Mmmmmmmm. And then we had dessert from the Chocolate Bar (much too conviently located just a few blocks down our street).

And now to tell you about my fabulous weekend (which was more than a week ago). For Christmas and my birthday, Nate gave me a certificate to a day spa. The 16th of this month was my day to go and I will tell you that it was worth the wait. I had a facial and it felt so good! That night we had a real babysitter and went out on a real date to one of my favorite restaurants, Lorenzo's Trattoria. Nate won the entree contest (you know, the winner is the one with the best tasting dinner) with his lamb chops. Mine was a lovely seafood risotto. So it was a Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, and Happy Valentines Day wrapped up in one!

And now on to the kids. Jimmy is funny and knows it. In fact he walks up to you and says "Jimmy funny" (only it sounds: "JmJay Fuh-eee". And his latest thing to say as we drive along, "Tall Tree Jump High" to which one would say, "Jimmy, do you want to jump high from a tall tree" and of course he responds in his best cave man way, "Uhhh" (which means "you betcha" - by the by that is what Grace generally says instead of "uhhh"). Grace is still something else. Today in response to doing her homework she proclaimed in the poutiest fashion she could muster "I am not doing my homework and if you make me, well I will just leave our family." I guess she is still working on that Academy Award. On Sunday, she and Nate went to a bird sanctuary with their binoculars (a fabulous bday present she recieved, her very own binoculars). They saw tons of birds, labled them, talked about various bird characteristics and had a lovely ornithologistic time. Well, until she said, "Next time, Dad, let's kill them." What?! Why?! "Well, for meat of course." But these birds really aren't for meat. "Well, how about quail then? They are for meat." Okay, umm, well, are you sure. "You betcha. Those people with Moses had manna, and then they got tired of it, so the Lord sent quail for meat. It made them happy."

And that, my friends is what you get when you let your kids read the scriptures.

blogging novice

As you can tell by the previous post, I have no idea what I'm doing! Any Blogger out there have a guess why my pictures are laid out in such a crazy fashion? Tips are very welcomed and encouraged!

party, anyone?

It isn't every day that someone you know turns 6 and then shortly after someone else you know turns 2. So it has been party central here.
For Gracie's birthday we partnered with another birthday family (Rowan's) and did a party at the St. Louis Science Center (according to Grace, it is her "Favorite Center of all!"). The marjority of the Kindergarten class (which thankfully is only 13 kids!) and parents attended the bash. They played in the Discovery Room for a while, then it was time for cake. The room we were in had a spectacular view of A.) Hwy 40 and B.) a giant ball machine. Very cool, especially to the 10 year old and younger set. Here are a few pictures from the day.

For Jimmy's big day, we took him to the Whittle Shoreline Railroad. His birthday evening consisted of presents and blue cupcakes and was shared not only with us, but with Salsie and Pops (my mom and dad). It is a toy store featuring wooden trains. The beauty of the store is that they have several wooden train tables with tracks and tracks of trains, trains, trains! And they let you play with them all you want. Pure heaven for a little boy. The highlight of the visit was a real frieght train zooming by on the track right across the street. When the whistle blew, all the little kids dropped the toy trains and ran to the door and the window. It was pretty exciting.

happy birthday, buv

 
Today Jimmy is 2 years old! More birthday festivities to follow...

happy pink-tastic birthday

Yesterday was a momentous day. It was full of pink and wonder. It was a day all about being 6. The day began before 7 a.m. (because after-all, six is before seven, right?) when Grace came to tell me (in a most excited manner) that indeed her legs were longer than they were the day before. Then after I finally brought myself to consciousness, she demonstrated that she now was a faster runner than she had been before. Dressed from head to toe in pink, we headed to school for Lunch Bunch. Grace bounded into the school office and said (to the school director, secretary and two teachers), "Hey Guys! Guess what?! I have great news!" Then following a dramatic pause she proclaimed, "I'M SIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And really how much better can it get from there? Later on, I joined the class for a special birthday Snack Time (and the delicacies chosen by the Birthday Girl - "Nacho Chips" (Doritos) and some Nasty Pink Lemonade (Mmm, it is amazing the difference between the taste buds of a six year old and her mother). A good friend of mine, Kara, came over in the afternoon to decorate the cake she made. As you can see from the pictures it was a work of art. After Nate came home we played some party games (well, one really), sang, ate cake, and of course opened presents.