the nature page

Tips and Treasures for Enjoying Nature:

Always use proper eye protection when swinging from trees (or while at the park somewhere in Southern California).

Tracking: These are real peacock footprints and they are right by a real-life Diva!

Nature can be fun - and hilarious (for an off-color moment, read the sign on this sad tree Nate is leaning on)

When you find yourselves in the midst of a bamboo forest, be sure to stand straight and a tall and let me take a picture of you.

Pictures and outings are all thanks to our little weekend adventure we took to the greater area of Pasadena, California.

GNO

Saturday Grace and I enjoyed a little Girls' Night Out (but to be technical it really was Girls' Late Afternoon Out (GLAO
)). We had a blast! Here are some of the highlights:

"Mom, I am having so much fun and I'm not even getting in trouble!"

"Yes, I do have a crush on him, but only when I'm a mile or more away from him. When I'm up close I find he's not a real Prince, he's just a regular boy."

"She has the skunkiest voice ever!"

She dined on a bowl of pasta and cheesy-ness, accentuated with squirts of ketchup, and accompanied by a small dish of pickles. This was all chased down with a bottle of root beer. (Thankfully I got to have something else!)

Our GLAO was so much fun, I'm very much looking forward to the next one!

toasty

(not sure what this was all about, but I like it anyway)

How to Make Toast, by Grace

Toast is great! Here is how to make it,
but first, here is what you will need.
1. You will need some bread,
a knife, toppings (optional.)
This is how to make it.
First, take the bread out of the sack.
Next, put the bread in the toaster.
Then, push the lever down.
Then, wait, and read a book.
Then, POP! out it comes.
Then put on your toppings (I use cheese).
Lastly, you clean up.

I need to go back

California is really an amazing place. Of course there are the beaches, the mountains, the wonderful weather, and all that. But most importantly they have a real Chicago institution. And I do mean it is the real deal.

The closest one is a mere 1 1/2 hours from our house. We descended on it to celebrate my birthday (which was a few months ago, but I finally uploaded my pictures, I'm sure you don't mind!)

Boy, was it a celebration! I try not to put unflattering pictures of myself on here (because I do have a say about that at least on my own blog!), but I thought this one best illustrated the amazing tastiness of turning thirty-ahem, what I mean to say is reaching closer towards your mid-thirties.

Perhaps I haven't fully embraced my inner-mid-ish-thirty-ness. I think I need to go back.

jimmy nick

Sometimes Jimmy cracks me up. This is a post dedicated to him.




(Just don't tell him, he might get cranky!)

hard work

Sometimes when one is faced with big challenges,
One can dive head first...


And work long and hard...


With repetitive determination...


Until one tastes sweet success..


*It is important to note one may require having one's hair washed afterwards.

the night before the night before

He leaves tomorrow morning. Tonight has been calm, but with a buzz about it.

This exam has been on the horizon for the last ten years. It is an obstacle to overcome and a hoop to jump though. I can't even begin to number all of the other obstacles and hoops over the last decade. This is just another one and it happens to be at the end of a very long road.

So BRING IT! He'll take it. And man, I just can't wait for Sunday night.

Y'know that light at the end of the tunnel? It'll be bright on Sunday night.

do you believe?

I cannot tell you how happy I am it is Friday. Not just Friday, but the Friday before Spring Break. We (the children and I, at least) do not need to be roused by an alarm clock for many days.

The last few weeks have been busy, hectic, and rough for Nate. Is it something in the air? are the ocean currents off? is the moon out of alignment? So many kids have been really sick and more of them have been swallowing things they shouldn't - coins, small batteries (super-bad, so bad that please, right now, make sure you have none w/in your kids' reach - the internal burns they cause are just awful), one baby even swallowed the mesh part of an ear-bud! Not an easy removal. With all of this, the dept's case load has increased and then weird emergencies have been added on top.


And what is looming ahead? B O A R D S . The BIG ones. The ones I'm trying to figure out how he can wear his testing pants under his suit (for a brief explanation, please click here and read the last paragraph. For an amazing photographic experience, please click here). The ones he has to fly all the way to Chicago to take. The ones that can make or break you. The ones I dread. (Please note I said "I." He of course isn't approaching them with near the trepidation I am, and I'm not the one taking them!).

Next week is G's spring break. The kids and I are headed across the desert once again. This time our mission is two-fold: 1. allow Nate a few nights without any Honey or Daddy distraction (I know those are his favorite kinds of distractions, but stapes, mandibles, frenulums, facial nerves, and ossicular reconstruction are current priorities), 2. maybe, just maybe find a place to live. There are so many homes for rent, they would love for us to move in yesterday.


So wish us luck and believe, dear readers, B E L I E V E in the power of the testing pants.
Btw: Good thoughts sent his way are currently being accepted, and highly sought after on the days of April 16 and April 18.

sweating with the oldies

I'm not a fast runner. I used to be kind of fast at short distances. I used to jump kind of far too, but that was in another lifetime. I have feet that don't enjoy running (they were actually responsible for ending my fast running many moons ago). In fact after running these days they remind me about it until I ice them down and promise not to do it any more (I've been lying to them). But lately my knees have been getting in on the action and it is difficult to ice both knees and feet at the same time.

I think I now am officially a walker. It makes me feel kind of elderly to read that statement. Is there a cooler way to say it?

This morning I went on a hike through the trails on the cliffs (very safe, Mom) just to the north of the cove. I followed that with a long walk along the cove. I LOVED it! It was beautiful of course. But what I loved most was feeling so very alive and right there as a part of the cove itself. The seals were there. The waves were there. The crazy birds were there. I was there too.

I enjoyed it so much that I went on another walk this evening. Nate came home spent quality time with the kids and I ventured forth on the nature trail. I am always leery of seeing those deer, but they shied away this time. They must sense a competent walker (either that or I was singing to loud with the ipod).

green justice

Grace is appalled at the notion that one can be pinched on St. Patrick's Day if one is not wearing green. It goes against her principles, her values, but most of all THE RULES.

She has decided to entice the would-be pinchers by daring to wear a long-sleeved green shirt over a non-green shirt. After arriving at school, she will then take off the long-sleeved shirt and see what happens.

She plans to single-handedly take the perpetrators directly to the principal (can we say narc or should we just accept this as a necessary step towards a future as an undercover FBI agent?) and then inform them that not only is pinching anyone against THE RULES, but she does in fact have on green unmentionables so they broke THE RULES for nothing. So there. Hmph.

As you can see in the above picture, this is not her first undercover operation.

the required essentials

4. pajamas
5. unmentionables
7. toothbrush and toothpaste
9. lemur
10. glittery lip gloss
11. pillow
12. one blanket (two agreed to stay home)
14. motorized hamster

Also a bag to carry it all, along with requisite gifts. She returned with these items plus a party 'soundtrack' which includes a new favorite of the children, "All the Single Ladies" by The Chipmunks.

Pure delight.

3 things that have occured in the last hour

1. Conversation:
G: Y'know, there are Littlest Pet Shop toys sitting on the shelves just waiting for someone to buy them.
Me: Then let's let them keep waiting.

2. Theft:
Jimmy dashed into the other bathroom to steal (or borrow I suppose) the bathtub Barbies. He was very sneaky and quick about it. He made it quite clear he intended to use them instead of Grace.

3. Important Musical Discovery:
All the Single Ladies done by the Chipmunks should be avoided if at all possible

By this and the last posting, can you tell Nate is out of town? Thought so.

appreciation of salad

Thought I'd write up my salad I'm having for lunch:

red leaf butter lettuce
thinly sliced Ambrosia apples (my current fav)
thinly sliced Dubliner cheese
dried tart cherries
s&p
red wine vinegar
olive oil, e.v.

I like it so much I might even have it for dinner.

the essentials

This is a complete list of the items which were set aside for Grace's non-sleepover sleepover (also known as a "late-over") birthday party:

1. tape measure
2. hand-held video game
3. multi-color ball point pen
4. pajamas
5. unmentionables
6. various materials for a made-up game
7. toothbrush and toothpaste
8. Calvin & Hobbes book
9. lemur, a stuffed animal
10. glittery lip gloss
11. pillow
12. 3 blankets
13. The Friend magazine (church content)
14. motorized hamster (answers to 'Nugget')
15. Mini American flag
16. library book

After some discussion and debate, only 9 of the above items actually went to the party (along with the requisite gifts). Care to guess which the nine were? Answers will be posted tomorrow evening.

Please also note she is only going to be away from home for 5 hours. She also confessed to Jimmy she will most certainly miss him during this time.

family home evening

Below is an outline of last night's Family Home Evening:

Opening Song (lead by Grace): "Do as I'm Doing"
This was done with a strange assortment of hand movements

Opening Prayer: Me
Second Opening Prayer: Jimmy, because he insisted
He blessed the food we had just eaten for dinner (well, he didn't eat any but I guess that is besides the point)

Lesson: Jimmy
This is his first lesson. It was "taught" based on a little booklet he received in Primary about Jesus. The point was supposed to be that Jesus loves us. These are the main points Jimmy highlighted (over and over and over again)-
1. There is a circle on the front of the book
2. Jesus is NOT praying in most of the pictures
3. The Cross looks like a "lower-case letter tee". He then instructed us about the letter "T". Evidently there are two letters t's - a BIG one and a lower-case one, this was emphasized by using his middle finger thrust skyward upon the pronouncement of the lower-case letter t and then his pinkie stuck out for the BIGGER letter T.
4. The letter T was discussed more and more. Especially the lower-case one, and the associate hand-gestures were utilized each time.
5. He then almost discussed the Snoopy characters that were on Nate's shirt, but this was quickly diverted by Nate putting a throw pillow in front of him. This pillow was also helpful to him as he would clutch it while trying hard not to laugh loudly.

Closing Song: (requested and lead by Grace): The National Anthem
This was done with much fanfare and dramatic movement

Closing Prayer: Nate
2nd Closing Prayer: Jimmy tried again, but we diverted him with the mention of dessert

Refreshments: Me

Activity Afterwards: Nate and I trying to control our laughter in front of the children

sometimes I forget

Life just keeps moving at warp speed. How is it that we have an eight-year old? Are we really that old? Sometimes I forget she's not 6 anymore. Sometimes I forget I'm more towards my mid-thirties than my mid-twenties.

We're only a few months away from the end of quite an era. Sometimes I have forgotten that this whole medical training experience (ahem, just a mere 10 years post-college of grueling training) is only "temporary." I have tried hard to stop and soak it in.

Jimmy is now four. That means we made it through his club foot treatment. What was so hard and seemed that it would last for so long (casting and bracing and years (yes, really years) of sleepless nights), is now over. Sometimes I catch myself and realize we made it through. He can walk and climb and jump and run and get in trouble with the best of them.

These are a few things for me to remember because there are just some things not worth forgetting.

tow-mater

These last few weeks have been jam-packed with fun and incidents. The last incident occured roughly at 1:15 p.m. on Monday in the thriving metropolis of Yuma, AZ. The incident was this - the car decided it wanted to stay in Yuma longer than we did. I just wouldn't start! I know Love's truck stops are awfully awesome, but really I've seen enough after 10 minutes (and that is stretching it). Also 1:15 happens to be a warm time of the day in Yuma, even in February.

After hemming and hawing about the situation I finally called AAA. A nice tow-mater truck came with an even nicer driver and hauled the car (and us) to the shop.

This made the entire trip for my backseaters. During our (long) 2 1/2 mile ride, Grace kept saying how "awesome" it was and how "happy" she was that our car wouldn't start and we got to ride in a tow truck - in the front of the tow truck no-less! Jimmy giggled the whole time and even asked the driver if his truck went fast or slow. The driver responded it went slow, but halfway through the ride Jimmy informed him it in fact was going FAST and BUMPY. I concur with "bumpy."

And then wouldn't you know, after 2 hours of fine (and I really mean more than fine, the people were so very nice) Yuma hospitality, we were on our way. As we left the gal who worked in the shop's office asked that I call them when I made it home because they would worry about us until I did.

So if (heaven forbid) you find yourself with car trouble in Yuma or you just fancy an oil change when you're driving through, find my friends at Accurate Auto on 2ND Street. Talk to George, he'll fix you up.

my girl

This little ditty seems rather fitting:


Grace turned 8 last Saturday. It already happened, and I still wonder how it is I have an 8 year old. The Tuesday before we were excited to hear we have a new nephew. Seeing his pictures remind me so much of that baby I had eight whole years ago, how life changing it was, and has made me stop and think about things. So I guess I've been rather contemplative lately. And now to top it off, Jimmy is going to turn 4 next week! This will be the first winter Olympics in a long time that I've not been up in the middle of the night with a newborn.

This Saturday Grace is going to be baptized. We are so excited to have so many members of our family coming to celebrate with us. We've decided to do a double birthday party for the kids. We (that would be Nate and the kids) are joyously anticipating the event, while some of us (that would be me) are trying to stop our eye from twitching at the thought of entertaining and feeding all of our wonderful guests. I should probably just stop and smell the roses, because as the last eight years have taught me time is just going to fly by.

here's your sign

8 minutes left on the clock, Grace says, "Mom! I need some paper and a pen. Quick!"

(It reads, "Lets go cougers! go Beat the Aztecs! Belive in yourselve!"

the backside sums it up in two letters - GO")