NaPhoPoMo Blitz: Late night antics, a belated birthday, grandparents, and Giant Space Squids

Day 16: Late night attempt at selfies

 

Went out late one night with my friend Beth, to blow off some steam and have a good laugh.  We laughed so hard I couldn’t keep the camera steady.  This is the ONLY shot that didn’t come out blurry. (And of course, the ONLY shot where my hair was up and wonky. Just, whatever.)  Look at Beth’s gorgeous smile!  She’s a riot!   

 

Day 17:  Belated Birthday Fun!

My middle daughter turned 9 in October and sadly, I was out of town on her special day.  Here we are making up for it in November (better late than never???)—I took her out on a lunch date and a trip to the mall.  I can’t believe she’s old enough to LIKE the mall. Hold me!

Day 18: Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

Our weekly date with our “adopted” grandparents is a huge treat for us.  Usually, I only have the two littlest kids with me, because I visit while the big kids are at piano lessons.  This week, piano lessons were cancelled, so all of us converged on the grands. We come in like a tornado and leave the same way.  I worry that we are too much for these good people, but they always hug and kiss us and exclaim “Leaving already?” when we have to go. They spoil us rotten, letting the kids raid their candy and cookie jars and run all over the house, and sharing with me whatever goodies they’ve found at the store or cooked up for themselves.  They have a big toy bin FULL of battery powered NOISY toys that the kids turn on all at once.  We adults try to talk over the noise, but sometimes we are drowned out by the kids’ antics and we just watch them and laugh. 

Day 19: Giant Space Squids at Play

 

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, children donning sleeping bags  became transformed into Evil Giant Space Squids, bent on conquering the universe. Their method of attack: bouncing across the unstable surfaces of earth.

NaPhoPoMo Blitz: I know, I know.

This month got away from me, but I’m determined to get it all in: So……

Day 13:  That’s the Biggest Pile of …

Horse manure. For to amend the soil for our garden next season.  A rancher friend gladly donated the piles and piles of stuff.  And another friend brought a spreader---SO glad I didn’t have to get involved!

Day 14: Duct Tape, Fashion Accessory for the Nudity Inclined Toddler.

 

This adorable little person learned how to dress and undress herself.  Un-diapering makes her feel so proud.  About time to potty train, I think…..

Day 15: In Which I give the six year old the camera to play with during the science fair.

Perhaps photo-journalism is in his future? He also seems drawn to portraiture….

  

    

 

 

 

NaPhoPoMo Blitz

I’ve taken pictures each day—just haven’t posted them.  Catching up:

Day 9: Dancing Queen

A friend of mine invited me out for a night on the town—after dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese place that is now my most favorite restaurant ever, we went to a dance performance.  It was phenomenal, and I wish I’d been allowed to take pictures.  Alas,  you’ll have to settle for a shot of me dancing at (not ON, thankyouverymuch) our table—at a local hot spot after the performance.  We went out for dessert at the Barbacoa Grill in Boise.  The food was incredible, and the music was awesome and pounding away—put a good beat on and I can’t help but move.  My friend posted this pic on Facebook and we got a little carried away in the commentary.  Oh dear.  Good times.

 

Day 10: What does the Fox Trot Say?

My kids love comics.  They are especially taken with Calvin and Hobbes and quote the print cartoons like other people quote movies. But--  they have just discovered Fox Trot, and the hilarity has increased manifold, because the Fox family has similar dynamics to our own.

 

Day 11: Pensive

I have a standing weekly appointment with a friend of mine—I drop my kids at piano lessons and head over to her place to shoot the breeze for an hour and a half.  On this day, my friend was babysitting her three great granddaughters. Two of the girls were running around, playing hide and seek, but eight year old Aleena was sitting by herself, absently plunking away at a toy keyboard, looking a little weary of the goings-on of her sisters.  When I tried to engage her in conversation, she just sighed as if she had a lot on her mind and went back to her keyboard.  A minute after I took this photo, one of her sisters ran in and tapped her on the shoulder, shouting “Tag, you’re it!” Aleena quickly set down the keyboard and dashed away in pursuit.

 

Day 12: Like Mother, Like Daughter

If you read my other blog, or have anything to do with me on Facebook, you know that I train in Krav Maga.  I’ve been telling my daughter for awhile now that I want her to train as well.  She has seen me come home with bruises and hasn’t been keen on joining me, but the other day she surprised me by telling me she wanted to try a class.  I was as pleased as I was shocked.  I grinned like a goof the entire drive to class, so pleased to finally get to share this with my baby girl. (This is us goofing off after class.)

She had a good time—even if she got a little green in the gills from pushing herself too hard during the warm up.  She sat out for a few minutes but joined back in for knee strikes and bar-arm chokes.  She’s feisty!

I am so proud.

NaPhoPoMo 2013, Day 5: Babies Don’t Keep, 11/5/13

“The cleaning and scrubbing will wait ‘til tomorrow

For children grow up, I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby, and babies don’t keep.”

Apparently, for me, sleep “will wait ‘til tomorrow” as well, because my baby girl (who is not really a baby anymore at two years old!) woke up at the crack of ugly this morning. She was calling “Mommy, I hold you!” which is her way of saying she wants me to cuddle her.  I stumbled, bleary-eyed to her room and scooped her up, bringing her back to my bed.

She promptly curled my hair around her fingers and fell  back to sleep.  As I snuggled her, breathing in the smell of her hair and stroking her pudgy toddler cheek, I couldn’t help feeling wistful.  She is most likely my last baby.  This is hard for me, because I don’t feel ready to be done with this stage of life, and it’s so quickly flying by.  

Sometimes I wish life had a pause button, but since it does not, and knowing that this is likely the last time I’ll get to snuggle and hold a little tiny person as the MOM, I’ve learned to savor this stage of my daughter’s life.

There’s no hurry to grow up, baby, no hurry at all.

NaPhoPoMo 2013, Day 4: Stillness, 11/4/13

Tonight, I came home from my Krav Maga class to find the house dark and quiet—an unusual phenomenon at 10:00 PM.  (We are night owls.)  This is where I dropped my gear before I headed into the kitchen to find something to eat.  When I wandered back through, I noticed the flickering light of the candle (don’t worry—it’s not real—it’s battery operated. No fire danger here!) and the way my duffel was placed underneath it, almost like an offering placed at an altar. 

I don’t know who would want an offering of sweaty gym gear, but I liked the quiet stillness in the house after a busy day and an intense evening—and even more, I like the promise of getting to do it all over again tomorrow.

NaPhoPoMo: National Photo Posting Month

The brainchild of Karen Walrond, NaPhoPoMo is a month long event in which you post at least one photo a day on your blog and share with the folks you know.  It’s a reason to stop and look up, look around, and document it.  I got on board a day late, and am only now figuring out how to link up to everything (because I’m so technologically delayed. Please forgive.) At any rate, it’s been kind of fun—reminds me of a mini-version of the 365 self-portrait thing I did a couple or three years back.  Only shorter and with a LOT less pressure.

Here are my first three days of photos (which I posted on Facebook and am now posting here—just to get with the program.)

Day 1: Night at the Ballet, 11/1/13

My friend, Vanessa, and I went to the ballet.   I hadn’t been to a ballet performance in a few years (the last one being a Czech performance of The Phantom of the Opera, in Prague, in 2009.  Good times.) The ballet Vanessa and I attended was called The American Program---all the choreography was done by Americans or created IN America, for American dancers.  I don’t know much about ballet, but after reading watching the performance and reading the program, I’m very intrigued by ballet and the different styles (who knew there were different styles of ballet? That is so cool!)  Anyway, Vanessa and I enjoyed the evening very much—it was an excuse to get all gussied up and feel like we were getting some culture.

 

Day 2: Impromptu Tea Party with the Kids, 11/2/13

My nine year old has a tea set that we picked up for her at a restaurant supply store last year.  She LOVES having little tea parties.  We had just finished a discussion on why we don’t allow sleepovers and she was feeling a little bummed that I’m such a strict parent about that.  A tea party is not a sleepover, but she seemed mollified when I suggested we use Twizzlers for straws and eat Halloween candy as part of our “high tea.”  (So much for teatime etiquette and tradition!)  Her brothers were happy to oblige (because there was candy.)  We served wild berry herbal tea and the kids dunked Jolly Ranchers into the tea to sweeten it.  Can you say sugar coma?

 

 

Day 3: Singing Time in Primary, 11/3/13

I teach Sunday School, and sometimes it’s really boring.  The best part of the day is “Singing Time,” when the kids get to learn and practice worship and Sunday School songs.  Today, the kids got a little silly—we were singing songs about Thanksgiving and Christmas (in preparation for the Christmas program.)  I love this bunch of people—they are silly and serious and precious (but mostly silly.  They crack me up!)

Details….or “Cool Idea for a Blog Post, Swiped from my SIL, Hilary Hanson”

My highly creative sister in law’s most recent blog post was about some fun little décor things she has in her house.  They are just small things, but they are meaningful to her.  You can see her post here.  At the end of her post she asks her readers what favorite things they have in their house.  So—I’m stealing her post idea and you get to see some of my favorite little “details.”

First up—my fish and crab plates in my kitchen:

I stumbled upon the two fish plates at a Ross store a couple of years ago.  I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but I loved these little guys.  I knew exactly where I’d put them in my house (over the window at the kitchen sink.)  Since they aren’t that big, and aesthetically speaking , a group of three is more appealing to look at than a group of two, I needed one more fish plate.  Unfortunately, there weren’t any more.  I spent a couple weeks hitting other Ross stores (even driving 45 minutes away to check out a store in another town!)  I had no luck finding a triplet.  But—then I found the crab plate.  Loved it. Bought it.  And there you are.

 

Next—this sign; a souvenir from Boise’s 2009 Cupcake Collective (a fundraiser for the Treasure Valley Institute for Children’s Arts):

The Cupcake Collective was a one time event where people could enter their homemade, hand-decorated cupcakes in a contest for cash prizes.  Admission was charged, and all who came got to sample the cupcakes.  My three oldest kids submitted entries (didn’t win, but who cares?  Hello---cupcake feast!  We’re ALL winners!)

These signs were posted all around the room, to remind people not to go too crazy in sampling.  I had to take one home.  My family razzes me for replacing a painting of Jesus ministering to children (which was what hung in the frame originally) with a picture of a pukey cupcake guy.  I have yet to find a new place for the Jesus painting—but I’m working on the perfect spot for it, okay?

Moving on—my next favorite item is this sign:

Actually, it’s more than just the sign—it’s also the jar of paintbrushes, the color on the walls, the greenery on the shelf, and the Guatemalan blanket tied in raffia, too.  The sign and paintbrushes came from my Grandma, Ellen Genta.  She took up oil painting late in life and became quite passionate about it—entering her paintings in local and regional art shows. She hung this sign outside her front door.  The paintbrushes are ones she actually used.  When she died, my aunt gave them to me, as I was something of a painter myself at the time—and I have a daughter named Ellen.  They represent my Grandma’s creative spirit—that she passed down to me, and to my daughter.

The wall color is a favorite of mine because I love blue, and I don’t know anyone else with a blue living room. 

The greenery and the blanket were my attempts to re-create the jungle-y feeling I experienced on my trip to Guatemala in December of 2000.

There. Those are some of my favorite “home details.”  What are yours?