life with boys

2011-01-05T08:33:00.004-06:00

The first week of the year, and the first week I am "back".

I am trying to find "something to do". Yes, I can work on the piles and piles of items to be filed that line the book shelves of our office. But that is so last year. I could also spend some time on my school volunteer pile. Instead, I am playing with velvet. I am in love with this fabric right now!

This gives me the opportunity also, to do some cleaning up in the carriage house - where all my fabrics live. I still have boxes of sewing supplies in the basement out there!

I just downloaded these two random pics ...

Slade riding on the T in Boston - I think we were on our way to the Museum of Fine Arts. They had just completed a new wing and we had a great time having lunch and wandering everywhere.

Seby, Olive & Zane staying warm by the fire, while I'm sure I was laying on the red VELVET couch. Love that couch!

We are still under quite a bit of snow here in Minneapolis. We continue to get a little more and more snow. Luckily we all really love the snow. I can't imagine having a winter without it! The lake house had less snow that we have here - but it is still early in the season and hopefully we will get a big dump up there before long.

Making cookies!

2010-12-29T09:02:00.003-06:00

One day before Christmas Clip Clop, Seby & Zane made chocolate chip cookies. Here they are making them. We don't know why Zane is making that strange face. Being silly so Clip Clop and Papa will laugh - I think.

Proving that she is know "ordinary" 81 year-old - Mom said yes to Zane asking her to "Uppy me". I think he was joking, but the gleam on his face when he realized it would happen - pure joy! Sebastian joined in as well. Is there anything she can't do?

Clip Clop and Papa made the Christmas Pudding for Christmas Eve, along with Egg Nog pie - yummy!

Cody & Klaudia HAD to do some Christmas shopping at a local thrift store to get "Holiday" sweaters. They are pretty cute.

Long Time

2010-12-25T23:58:00.008-06:00

It has been a long time since I've posted on this old blog.

The last time I posted we had just had a wonderful weekend up at the lake house during Labor Day weekend.

We had our good friends Janette & Ken, Quentin, Forest and Spencer up from Illinois. My good friend Jonel, and our dear, sweet neighbors, Kim & Pete.

Just before we left for that trip I started to have some unusual bleeding. I was concerned about this, but bleeding stopped and the doc tested my blood to make sure I hadn't lost that much blood (which I didn't) and felt comfortable letting me go to the lake house and promised I would go to an ER if I started to bleed again over the weekend. At the time I really thought I had some kind of bleeding fibroid and it would have to be removed.

When I got back home, my doc had me to an ultrasound. This was the beginning of a fast and crazy ride, one which I finally feel like I know how to ride - and more importantly is not moving at warp speed!

The basics are that I was diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma (a soft muscle cancer). Mine started as large tumor in my bladder - but it can show up many places (where ever there is soft muscle. The treatment for this was to have my bladder replaced with a neobladder (made out of part of my small intestine) and a full hysterectomy.

The day after I received this diagnosis, we had a pre-planned photo shoot on the grounds of the Walker Art Center. We had already told the kids as they were so surprised to see Slade home from work on a Friday and wanted to know why. I think we all did really well, knowing how unknown the world seemed to us at the time. We didn't understand anything about this rare cancer, but couldn't think about it all the time. So, this photo shoot gave us a bit of a relief.

If this is new news for you, sorry you had to hear it this way. But if you go to the CaringBridge site that my sister set up - you can get more details. I want to use the CaringBridge to just talk about the status of my LMS (a shorter version of Leiomyosarcoma). It serves as a great tool for me to see the progress and where my LMS has taken me.

CaringBridge site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michymama

Now I feel like I must get back to posting on this blog instead of CaringBridge. I will update every three months when I have scans done, and if any health issues come up.

My parents have been here almost NINE WEEKS. It has been truly wonderful to have them here, to live this close and come over every morning, help make breakfast, do laundry, read the newspaper with, vacuum the floors, bring in the mail, have tea with, drive me and the kids where ever we need to go, have dinner with us, help put kids to bed, hem curtains, many, many curtains! This is and much more! It will be hard to say goodbye to them in TWO DAYS!

We had a photo shoot while my parents were here - we had such a good time on the one we did in September and I swore that I would hire her again when any relatives came into town. We had plans to have all of Slade's family come in for Christmas this year, and to celebrate Ann's (Slade's mom) 80th birthday (on 12/22). Well the plans changed, but family still came into town so I booked the shoot.

We were also able to get Olive (our sweet Goldendoodle) in the photo as well.

While we are sad to see my parents leave, we are all ready to take life back over. The kids will have to start getting back into the routine of helping out around the house, and I will have to start getting back into my routines as well. I look forward to driving the kids to school. I don't know why, I guess because we have some of the funniest conversations in the car.

My dad told me that getting cancer (for him) has many times been a positive experience. I know what he means. There is so much good that comes from it. I wouldn't tell anyone to try it, but there are some redeeming qualities.

We only have one more day to spend with Clip Clop and Papa - so I better go get some sleep so we can get in the last activities that any of us feel we must do!

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-10T11:39:00.007-05:00

*This is a down and dirty post mostly to put some pics up

We were up at the lake house for Labor Day weekend. We finally worked out schedules so that our dear neighbors, Kim & Pete, could come up for a weekend!

We did a caravan traveling to and from and stopped for a meal together for both drives as well. We had a wonderful lunch that they made, out on the grill in the cold! Luckily we all ate inside!

We had an amazing sunset and of course I had to get more cloud pics (my obsession!)

In addition to having Kim & Pete, we had Janette, Ken, Forrest, Quentin & Spencer -- everyone got along great! We had Liam up for a two week visit and Ken & Janette brought him back to Illinois for us.

busy, busy, busy

2010-08-18T02:35:00.002-05:00

this might be a really lame post - but what can i say?

we just got back from being up at the lake house for a week with slade's family - o'd, liz, alex, wes & liam, urris & maddie (soon to be mrs. urris!), maud, lucas, livia & rose, and ann.

look auntie chris - we (slade & od) fixed the door. you were right, it just needed more support.

this painting has had much conversation going on up north. i liked this piece and he gave it to me for our 19th anniversary last year.

slade and o'd doing one of the things they do best.

Zane played he first "official" game of poker. He usually is on a team and this year played alone. He won the first round and was very happy by his big pile of chips.

tubing!

Did I mention Cody was at MCAD for two weeks?

2010-08-04T08:23:00.007-05:00

First -- Aunt Kathy, who loves you baby!?

Cody did a two week course on Game Design at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art & Design). He loved it! Besides enjoying all the many hours of work to do game design, he really enjoyed meeting kids his own age (a gaming program he did last summer at Macalester College in St Paul had many younger kids).

I think his favorite thing was to experience what it might be like to live in a dorm, take classes during the day, and stay up as late as he could working on assignments. He stayed in the dorm on the left in the top right unit. I think he had two roommates.

In his first week he requested snacks that would help him stay up late. Sebastian & I brought him chocolate covered espresso beans, instant starbuck's coffee (it is pretty good), and PEANUTS. Yes, I purchased items with peanuts. Cody loves them and when he isn't around his brothers I encourage him to eat them. That is also why when Clip Clop & Papa took him out to dinner one night they took him to thai - food he loves but we never go as a family because of the peanuts. So, he had lots of peanut-related snacks!

Cody said that during the session they all noticed this large display in the lobby of the MCAD gallery (their classes were upstairs). The artist came daily and added to it.

Like I said I think Cody really enjoyed meeting some kids his own age. Here are many pics from his week there. I can't explain them all 'cause I kinda stole them off FB from some of his friends. They are pretty self explanatory.

The last pic is of a friend who lives outside of the Wisconsin Dells - the other day when he and Graham drove down to Chicago they were able to meet with her at a McD's and hang out for a while. Luckily they made it to the Gilbert's while it was still light.

Hitting the open road!

2010-08-02T12:12:00.003-05:00

Cody & Graham have left for their drive down to Chicago.

They are stopping off in Lindenhurst for a few days to visit with our good friends the Gilberts from Prairie Crossing (they moved out of PC a few years after us). Then on Thursday they will head down to ChiTown for Lollapalooza for the three day weekend of concerts in Grant Park.

They will drive up and meet us at our lake house next Monday.

I am very glad that they have each other in the car for this long drive - even though only Cody can do the driving.

They are stopping off in the Wisconsin Dells for Cody to hang out with a friend he met while at his MCAD SES course.

I can't believe they are old enough to be doing this. Luckily I feel very relaxed about them going and know that they will make wise decisions and drive safely. What more do I need? Oh, and having them update on FB would be nice too!

Sebastian turns 11!

2010-07-30T22:14:00.004-05:00

Oh sweet, sweet Seby.
Turning 11 and into a tween.
He is getting bulkier, taller, stinky-er.
Ugh.
He is growing up, but still he is my sweet boy and comes into the room saying "Oh, Mama, hugs, Mama hugs" and runs into my arms. For now.
He has 5 friends over right now for a sleepover and then paintball in the morning.
Slade said tonight "I don't know how many more of these birthdays I have left in me."

We love you Seby weby.

Happy Birthday Livia!

2010-07-03T08:27:00.002-05:00

Happy birthday to our dear sweet, Livia Rumi Reiner!

We love you and can't wait to see you next month. It feels strange to not celebrate your birthday with you - but it will be warmer in August and we will get to see you water ski!!!!

Graham's in France!

2010-06-29T13:10:00.006-05:00

Graham is in the south of France!

He was invited to go along with a friend and his family - where do I get a friend like that???

They are staying in Grasse, which is just outside of Nice.

The above two photos were from the rental site of the place they are in. All the following photos are ones that Graham took and uploaded to FaceBook - gotta love FB when your kid is overseas!

Looks like he is having a fabulous time and we can't wait to hear all about his trip when he arrives back here this Thursday - just in time to get in the car for our 6 hour drive to the lake house for the weekend - hopefully that will be enough time to hear all about his adventures.

I just got an email from him that they are going to Monoco tomorrow!

More China!

2010-06-17T21:45:00.003-05:00

We received another update from Nathan today:

Dear Parents,
We arrived safely in Hangzhou (neighborhood of Shanghai) this evening, but my mind is going back to southern China, where we had some great experiences the past two days. First, the Li River...I encouraged the students to use our boat ride as a worship opportunity; the scenery was then breathtaking, giving a distinct sense of the majesty of the Creator. In the evening, we had a great hour-long conversation about the purpose of cross-cultural study. The basic realization that (I think) the students reached is that simply seeing differences in other cultures isn't worth much if it is not accompanied by greater purpose. The students had some excellent things to say about how cross-cultural study could help us to make changes in our lives or help us to more effectively serve others. The point that I tried to make, and will try to make over the next few days, is that the fun of this experience will be gone quickly...and unless you go home with a purpose for what you have learned, the end of the trip can be more disappointing than it needs to be.
Finally, we had a delightful experience today at a host school in Yangshuo, a small tourist village along the Li River. The school was nothing fancy, and unlike the students we met in Beijing, it's unlikely that any of these students has a future in international finance. Perhaps that is why we were welcomed with a local friendliness that was very disarming. Our students had small-group discussions with their Chinese counterparts and then spent several hours in simple kid-to-kid interaction: dance lessons with Savannah, guitar playing with Bjorn and his friend Eric, Korean soap opera talk with Stefanie and friends, Chinese character writing, Chinese hackey-sack, and so forth. We ended up staying 2 hours longer than originally planned, and we had a difficult time getting everyone to head for the bus. The pictures attached are all of our time at the school, though I don't imagine that they quite capture the magic. Thanks for your support (in all sorts of ways) that made today's interaction possible.

Did you find Cody in the pictures? Hint: He is in four of them!

Happy Birthday Rose!

2010-06-14T16:10:00.002-05:00

Happy 9th birthday dear, sweet Rose!

We are looking forward to hear about your travels out west this summer - and of course looking forward to see your sweet face! We hope our time at the lake house this year will be warmer and full of lots of swimming!

We love you!!!
Aunt Michelle, Uncle Slade, and your gaggle of cousins - Cody, Graham, Seby & Zane (and Olive too!)

Cody's in China!

2010-06-13T21:22:00.009-05:00

Cody went to China on Monday and we started to get emails from one of the chaperons and they sometimes include photos! Oh what a joy it was to receive some pics right away. This pic is from their first day in China, and we got it emailed to us that night. What a surprise! They went to The Forbidden City in the morning and enjoyed an afternoon visit to one of Beijing's hotong neighborhoods (we were encouraged to look up, but I haven't, yet). * Please note that not all of these pictures has Cody in them - these are pictures that his chaperon has provided in email updates!

Here are some comments from an email that Cody sent from his ipod touch (they had wi-fi!):

So on day one we got on the plane heading for Chicago, then went straight to Beijing, which was the most insanely long flight everrrr. They had a screen in front of you for movies and stuff but they also had a gps thing so you could watch you progress -it was pretty tight. So then we finally got to China, in the next day, which was pretty wierd and trippy. So then we went outside met our guide named Steven, he rocks, got in the bus and headed to the hotel. Then we went to Tiananmen Square which was crazy huge, tons of pics, from everywhere, walked around then went to the Forbidden City, which was incredibly amazing, just awesome. We only walked like half or a quarter of the way through in a couple of hours. Then we had dinner and went to bed. That was day one, it was extremely tiring but it was insanely awesome.

These next pics are from their last day in Beijing. They spent the morning visiting a private school on the outskirts of Beijing. One chaperone reports that "Our students genuinely enjoyed spending time with their Chinese counterparts." They spent the afternoon hiking the Great Wall.

More comments from Cody via email, lot of "teenage" typing here:

Herro, were about to leave the hotel for Luyang or something, then taking a bullet train to Xian were the Terracata Soldiers are. So on day two we went to the Temple of Heaven and walked around and took tons of pictures. We saw tons of people playing with a badmitten like birdie like a hacky sack and some people bought one and we played with it fo a while, and got a large crowd watching and joining us. Its really funny and cool how all the chinese people love americans, running up to us taking pictures wih us and video taping us, its funny. But then we went to the Birds Nest which is amazingly huge and awesome. We got to go onto the track and were able to run on it, and I cleared a height at high jump it was sweet. Then we went to dinner and went back to this awesome shopping place with shady streets full of stands to barter with, which was super fun we called the place gehtto alley which was my favorite place. The next day we went to a private school associated with MA, which was super sweet and the kids talked really good english and were really cool. After the school we went to the Great Wall of China which was one of the best parts of the trip. I think that I gained a fear for heights there cause I was just terrified going up the wall which was extremely steep and unimaginably long. We finnaly reached one of the ends of the wall then Khale and I followed Tony and Cripe up and down all these diferent branches of the wall and by the time we made it back down we were all disgustingly sweaty and more tired then I can remember ever being. Then we went to dinner. Then back to the hotel for a break before going out for the evening adventure. We were going to go to Ghetto Alley but we just walked around away from the hotel until I saw a lambo dealer which was CLOSED but we kepted going and found the insanely rich part of town wih huger hotels and Ferrari dealers. Oh g2g now to the airport, I'll email u later.

I think this is the group with some of the kids from the school they visited.

Here one of the students is encouraging a Malaysian woman on the way up the Great Wall.

The day after visit the Great Wall, the kids went to the Longmen Buddhist grottoes - we have no pictures of that experience!

They then flew to Luoyang (north central/east China) to visit an ancient Buddhist monastery - the Shaolin Monastery, the greatest of the Chinese Buddhist monasteries. It is still a functioning monastery. One of the chaperones commented that the commercialization of the place seemed sad.

They also visited some Buddhist cave statues. They have had the students spend some time on a train ride (the Bullet) writing and talking about these experiences. We have been told that Luoyang is much more of a provincial backwater than was Beijing. That means very few Westerners and more of a "developing country" atmosphere. Unfortunately, no pictures.

Here are the last comments we have received from Cody via email:

Yesterday we flew from Beijing to Louyang which took around two hours and arrived in Louyang and headed straight to the Longmen Grottoes, which are a bunch of caves in a cliff area with tons of carved out statues, which was really cool. Then we checked into the hotel and went to the market area by the hotel and got a snack for today.
Right now I'm in the hotel at Louyang, getting ready to check out and head to the Shaolin Monastery were we're going to watch a kung-fo preformance and also get a lesson from some shaolin monks. Then were taking a bullet train to Xian where were going to just check into the hotel and probably check out the area around there. Im not sure when ill be able to send another email, but hopefully the next hotel has computers for use or wi-fi.

The following is a shot from the Shaolin monastery.

Farmers drying wheat along the roadside (they also saw this on roofs, too).

Just as I was adding Cody's comments to this post I received another email from one of the chaperon's. He says:

We've enjoyed our day in X'ian, a city that the students seem to really like - it's big (8 million) with lots of street life, but it has a compact historic city center (inside Ming Dynasty walls) that makes it seem manageable while giving it a historic atmosphere. The terra cotta soldier museum was a highlight of the day, as was a dumpling dinner in the evening (I would say that as a group, dumplings are our favorite food). As I'm writing, most of the kids are getting massages at some out-of-the-way spot in the city. After one more day in Xi'an tomorrow, we'll have a major change of scenery when we fly out tomorrow evening. This is a hot, dusty part of the country, and we'll exchange it for the wetter, rice-growing south. It will be interesting to spend time in the rural areas there. The photo is from our bullet-train ride yesterday.

Happy 16th Birthday Juliana!

2010-06-10T22:07:00.002-05:00

Birthday cousins!

Happy 16th birthday sweet and lovable Juliana!
You are always so sweet when we see you and such a joy to be around. We hope to see some of you this summer!
We hope you had a wonderful 16th birthday!

Happy 16th Birthday Graham!

2010-06-08T14:35:00.002-05:00

Today Graham turns 16, which seems impossible!

He has finished the school year and is happy to "officially" be a Junior.

Seby, Zane & I had a lovely lunch today with Graham at Tin Fish on Lake Calhoun. We were supposed to ride our bikes there - but no, it was pouring rain. The pouring rain provided no line at Tin Fish and plenty of tables to choose from. Instead of the usually crowded place! We all couldn't finish our meals and have brought much home from snacks later in the day!

Graham is becoming an adult at too fast of a speed for his mother! He has his permit and is just a couple months away from getting the "real deal".

Graham is going on his first international trip this summer (aside from going to Mexico). He is going with a friends family to France for a couple weeks. Luckily he has been taking french - so hopefully that will pay off during his visit.

We love you Grahammy!!!!

Summer has begun!

2010-06-06T14:20:00.009-05:00

Summer has officially started!

Sebastian and Zane had their last day Friday, June 4th.

Cody & Graham are "supposed" to have a week of school this coming week. It is a required "Community Service" week - it seems like it should really be called "Community Service/Cultural Experience" - Graham did his week in the Bahamas during spring break - so he doesn't have to go to school next week & Cody is going with a group to China tomorrow for 16 days!

Here are the latest photos that I just downloaded - they span a while as I am just not keeping up-to-date with downloading my pics!

We start with pics from Zane's class play. It was Sadako Sasaki - if you don't know the story it is a powerful one. Sadako was 2 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She was also 2 kilometers away from where the bomb exploded. Most of Sadako's neighbors died, but Sadako wasn't injured at all, at least not in any way people could see. When Sadako was in the 7th grade she found out she had lukemia - at that time it was called the "A-bomb disease". While in the hospital she started to fold origami cranes - she planned to fold 1,000 in hopes of it making her feel better. When she died she had a total of 644 cranes. Children from all over the world still send folded paper cranes to be placed beneath a statue to honor Sadako and many others of died from the "A-bomb disease." One of Zane's classmates in traveling with her family to Japan this summer and they are taking all the cranes to kids folded. Like a said, it was a powerful play. Especially for a group of 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders.

Here is Zane and classmates ready to sing the opening song.

Zane & Chole.

Here are Slade and I as "Sid Vicious & Nancy Spungen" - our school's auction theme this year was "Great Great Britain"

And now, finally pics from Cody's junior prom.

Here are all the boys - the girls never made it to our house for the planned getting ready for the prom - they took so long getting their hair done, the boys had to meet them at the dance. They all did come back afterwards, but it was so late and I forgot to take some pics then. A couple of these are from the dance.

Very James Bond - don't you think?

Next in the camera were pics of the big Winchester vs. Rhodes water fight. Our neighbor, Pete, loves to play with the boys! It is snowball fights in the winter and water fights in the summer! This year our boys were asking early to have water fights with Pete. A date was set and the fight was on.

We should of had Seby & Zane in shirts too so you could see how much water they took on as well! It was a good fair fight!

Next in the que is our trip to the Lake House for Memorial Day weekend

We didn't end up taking many photos - none except for the beauty of the lake!

Today we set up the "pool" for summer swimming!

I know it doesn't look like much, but this was a great buy at Target one year at the end of the season - there is a filter and a cover - without the cover we would have so many leaves in the pool! It is quite refreshing to take a dip on a really hot day - or my favorite after doing some gardening!

See Aunty Kathy, I finally made a post!!!!

2010-05-14T15:52:00.005-05:00

Wow - I guess facebook has gotten the best of me!

Slade and I went up to the lake house last weekend and I thought it made a good opportunity to write a post! That, and the nudge from Aunt Kathy!!

It’s quiet in the UP - that is the Upper Penninsula of Michigan, where our lake house is.

Slade and I were able to sneak away for the weekend. We went up to the lake house – Slade says we always leave late – but this time we past all records – we left 21 hours late. We were going to drive up Thursday night, but the market went wonky and he decided he wanted to stay to work a bit on Friday morning. So we had a late start – but arrived Friday evening.

It is so quiet up here. So quiet because it is the UP, but also because we only brought Olive with us. Our good friend, Jonel, is staying with the boys. Last night she took them to Noodles for dinner and then to see Iron Man 2! Today she and Zane are watching Seby do his test for yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do.

It was snowing a good part of our drive up! When we first planned on coming up for the weekend we hoped for fair weather so that we could go biking – and I guess we really could – but we might also end up in a large mud hole, not my idea of biking. So, we are walking instead.

We first went to check on the garbage shed, only to find that something (bear?) was able to tear off the lock and get in for some fun. Luckily the trash was not all over the property – but we do need to clean it up and find a more secure system.

There has been some logging early spring, and things look a little different up here.

Here is the big opening (on the right, where Olive is), and the turn into what used to be a bit of a forest!

Here is where we turn right to go on the ATVs to the river, or to the left to go into town.

Here is that same intersection, but from approaching it when one is coming from town.

There are lots of trees planted – but my battery died before I could take any pictures.

We got back and fell into a favorite activite up here – reading!

We went on several walks and decided when we come back again (with the kids!) we will encourage them to ride their ATVs on some planned paths throughout the property - the ATVing really flattens the terrain and makes for easier walking.

It is a week later and I am finally getting this posted. Cody has several friends over and they are preparing to go to the Junior/Senior Prom for school. Much excitement! And takings pictures before hand seems to be a very serious affair. If I get my act together that will be another post!

College? Already?

2010-02-17T00:08:00.004-06:00

I'm kinda freaking out. Today I made plans to take Cody to look at some schools back East. Tonight was also the Nordic Ski Banquet. I realized tonight that next year Cody would do Nordic Skiing again - but it would be his last year, and when he plays soccer it will be his last year, and in 3 weeks he will start his third year of Track - but next year it will be his last year! See - I told you, I am freaking out!

How can he be old enough to leave us in a year and a half. The really freaky thing is that Graham is just one year behind him!

Look at these two cuties!

Just to prove that my mind goes wherever it wants to - now that I've posted this adorable pic it reminds me that this was the camping trip that I broke down and bought Cody & Graham their first toy gun. Well, what I really mean is that it was the first toy gun that I purchased for them, they actually had others that were gifts from evil people that came to birthday parties for them. They were this cute silver-ish pair of shiny retro guns. It just looked so fitting with their adorable jean overalls. Of course a few months later the guns mysteriously disappeared! I know, bad mommy.

College. I just can't believe we are there yet. Luckily Cody desires a small liberal arts college - I don't know why I say luckily. Well, maybe because it feels like the right kind of fit for him.

I do feel that by the time Cody is really packing up and heading out the door he really will be ready, and I can already see that Graham will be ready too when it is his time. Seby and Zane - just don't start me on that!

I'm also turning 45 in a couple weeks maybe that is what is really freaking me out!

Yellow Belt

2009-11-16T00:17:00.003-06:00

Let's not talk about how long it has been since I've posted. Long enough that Zane has now moved up to yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do. He had his test on Saturday and was so thrilled to pass the test.

time flies

2009-10-06T00:19:00.002-05:00

zane started to take tae kwon do and is LOVING it!

wisdom day 2009 - see seby in his striped vest? he got to carry the class flag in! this might be the first year we had our own flowers to cut to bring for wisdom day. i guess i should explain what wisdom day is? Here is how the school describes it: Children bring a single flower from fields, florists, and backyards to greet their teachers. The flowers are brought into individual classrooms to create a bouquet.
We began this celebration in 1988 as part of a cultural exchange with Moscow School #31. It is a Russian custom to welcome the youngest children into the school and to remind us all of the privileges and responsibilities of education. Parents and children gather to hear our principal, Paulette Zoë, speak to the LCS families and staff, sing songs that are part of the life of the school community, and welcome the new year of opportunity and learning.
The ceremony concludes with two Children's House students carried upon the shoulders of two Junior High students. They lead the procession entering the school and are the first to be welcomed by Paulette Zoë. Next in line are the Children's House students (beginning with CH1) followed by the Elementary 1, Elementary 2, and Junior High students.

i know my updating is WAY over due - but these pics will have to suffice for now. life has been busy - the kids have been in school for a month. soccer is ending this week for cody & graham. cody takes his drivers test next week! yikes!

First Day of School

2009-09-02T22:41:00.002-05:00

Here is Zane, ready to ride the city streets to get to school. He started his day at 1pm. He spent most of his morning looking at books while lying on Olive.

Zane also spent his last morning of summer arranging the animals for he and Seby "just so"!

Everybody started school on the same day this year - a first in a while! Cody & Graham were off on their bus at 7:50am, Seby then was picked up by a friend to start at 9am, with Zane attending his first day of Elementary 1 at 1pm.

I couldn't be more thrilled to have the teachers we do for both boys. Seby has a teacher that has been at the school since it opened many years ago, she will be working part time with the new teacher who will take over after 2 years. A very nice transition. I hope to learn as much as I can from her. Zane's teacher has been wonderful, letting Zane come and check out the classroom one day when we were at school (before the first day). I feel extremely fortunate to have such an amazing Montessori school available to us.

I promise to take some "retake" photos of Seby, Cody & Graham. Ops!

Walk For Justice

2009-08-31T16:02:00.003-05:00

My trainer (I've been seeing her for about 6 weeks) advised me to volunteer at a triathlon so that next year I might want to do it. I associate even thinking of doing a triathlon as a very negative experience. The last time I tried to do one and in all the training and making sure I was doing the right stuff for my body - my doctor advised me to have my gallbladder removed, which resulted in some minor complications (but made me unable to keep up with my swimming training) and then we also moved - and that about broke my heart. Seeing this triathlon I think I can finally put those memories behind me and hopefully move forward to completing one for my 45th b-day, instead of my 40th (as previously planned).

I had never been to a triathlon and it was truly an amazing experience. I was placed along the run portion (which is also the last) - at a point where folks were just starting that leg - or just ending it. It was amazing to see all the different folks who did the race. How determined they were. It became obvious to me that how in shape you are has nothing to do with being able to do a triathlon - it is your determination. It also made me realize that Slade and I could and should do a run this fall. I found this, Walk For Justice, I found it thru our church (First Universalist, a Unitarian church).

So in just two weeks he and I will run a 2 mile race. Then I hope we will find a 5k to do in the spring. Today I did walking/running training for 1 mile - it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Thank you Kitty & Christina for the reference of the couch25k site. I have downloaded their 9 week training and my trainer loves it and I think will be passing it along to other new runners.

more recent oldies ...

2009-08-28T20:34:00.002-05:00

Graham - our trash retrieving hero!

It was I don't remember how many years ago - 3? The Chicago cousins were there (O'd, Liz, Urris, Alex, Wes & Liam) and my sister and family (Christina, Chet, Catie & Becky), I think my parents were there as well.

A bunch of us were down at the dock (freezing!) and we saw a beer can floating in the lake. We all talked about how horrible it was and who was going to retrieve it? The moans all said it was too cold. Graham became our hero as he declared that he would go on the expedition to retrieve the trash.

Of course he received a proper hero's welcome!

California

2009-08-26T00:55:00.005-05:00

What a great trip to California we all just had.

Seby, Zane & I arrived last Monday and stayed at a local hotel as all the rooms were taken at the Melnarik's. It was actually quite fun to have a swimming pool at our disposal. I have to admit I only used the gym once at our first hotel (stayed there 3 nights), then we moved to a different hotel once Slade, Cody & Graham arrived (they are high maintenance and needed a nicer hotel). Again, the pool was awesome - and this one was indoors and warm enough for the Hocia's to join us!

How fun it was to visit with my siblings. How much we have all matured.

We were able to see Dominick and his family - Lisa, Declan & Elta - what a treat to invite ourselves over to their home for brunch. All we had to do was bring our big family and two bottles of champagne.

The the big event - my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party.

There was a wonderful pasta dinner at Paul & Miriam's the night before the big party. It was a great way to get some extra time with family we seem to hardly see!

I was even able to convince Cody, Graham & Slade to help sing a song to my parents at the party.

Look what I found while filing?

2009-08-15T13:31:00.001-05:00

From Slade's days long ago working on the CBOE.

kids, what kids?

2009-08-11T18:50:00.005-05:00

I'm kid-free and husband-free.

Cody & Graham are both in Chicago and Sebastian & Zane are at Camp Ihduhapi until Friday.

Really I'm missing my honey. So, of course I downloaded my pics from our recent trip to Chicago.

We had such a great time seeing old friends and also falling in love again with Chicago.

80? Seriously?

2009-08-09T23:22:00.003-05:00

Yep, that's my mom. Giving Zane a piggyback ride home from eating out at Christo's (our favorite Greek restaurant). She must of done it several blocks. Happy Birthday Mom! And soon she will celebrate her 50th Wedding Annsy! She and my daddy.

They have set us wonderful examples of how to be a loving couple. Thank you!

No picture taking?

2009-07-28T08:45:00.006-05:00

I just downloaded photos and can't believe what little I have to show for the life we have been leading this summer. I have NO pictures from our week up at the lake house for 4th of July - well except for some videos of Wes, Cody, Graham, Liam, Seby & Zane taking turns driving the toy tractor down the boat launch and whipping it around to a stop - all with inches to spare before they each either fall off the side of the launch, roll over, or just slide straight into the lake. It turns out these were just examples of what I was afraid they would end up doing, yet they never fell. I did make Zane go and put on a bike helmet, and EVERYONE teased me for it. I like his cute face and we had too recently already taken him to the ER for stitches from a pocket knife cut.

We had Liam come stay with us for the past two weeks and last week Seby, Zane & I drove Liam back to Chicago. I also had to go to a hearing for some building infractions we had on the Chicago apartments. Luckily we are all finished with that and hopefully they won't bug us for a while. If they do I have a few neighbors to point out.

I requested that we have dinner at Reza's our last night in Chicago - an old favorite of ours from when we lived in Andersonville in Chicago. Yum. It was still yummy and Reza is still greeting everyone at the door, with many of the same wait staff. Here are some pics of Seby & Zane devouring a new favorite dessert we had after our very large meal.

They each were able to fit 7 of these tasty treats into their already full tummy's. Zane was in a trance on the drive home. Sitting next to him I was a little worried he was going to throw up on me - and in Liz & O'd new car! But he didn't. Just food coma.

Zane HAD to get in a visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo - and who wouldn't love to do that? It is the best Zoo in the WORLD!

The next day Liz, Liam, Seby, Zane & I drove up to the lake house for a quick weekend. Slade, Cody & Graham drove up from Mlsp in our old Suburban - which we left at the lake house as our emergency car. We are so isolated at the lake house and Slade goes thru cars like crazy - there is always a car that can find a home at the lake house. Alex & Od drove up as well. It was lovely to spend the weekend together, even if it was quick. Driving there we saw the most amazing fog. We stopped and took some pics minutes away from the house. The kids also saw a porcupine climbing up a tree.

Yesterday morning we dropped off Seby at REI for his 3 hour drive to Camp Warren for TWO WEEKS! We had to stop at Target to pick him up a stuffed animal, as he realized he left he beloved Bear in his bed.

Enough updating, now I must go to a class at the Y.

last photo i imported to iphoto

2009-07-20T01:18:00.003-05:00

Really, this is the last photo i imported. i sent it to slade in an email with four other photos as possible photos for his facebook pic. Cody and Graham have been giving him a hard time about NOT having a photo.

In this pic, Slade is a senior in high school. We are not dating yet, but we have known each other for a couple years. I believe I have already set him up with and counseled several girlfriends of his at this point. I think I am working at Solutions in SF. I remember he and Dominick came over to the city one night and we went and saw Maud in a play. At this point Slade is on his 3rd car (I think) - a black Camaro. On the drive home some low-riders were trying to get Slade to race - I remember they were egging him on while we were still on the bridge, then once we got off Slade opened up the car. It was sweet. He also dropped back his speed and made it clear that he would not race, but speeding in a fun car is - well, fun. It is for that reason alone that I don't think he should buy another one (Camaro) now - one that our two sons would drive and do something similar in, I'm sure.

I made Cody drive my BMW the other day. He drove it just a few blocks, we picked up Graham then he asked me to drive home. On the drive home he said "This car seems like it would be easy and fun to go fast." Probably NOT the right car for the new driver to use. Probably a good call on his part to be clear that he doesn't want to drive it.

Liam is visiting us from Chicago. I'm sorry to say I have no photos. I have been a bad Aunt. It has been fun having a fifth child, and honestly feels just natural with our flow. We hope he comes back soon!

growing up

2009-07-12T01:30:00.002-05:00

this is a pic from auntie liz - don't these boys all look so grown up? i love it. ok, i know you can't see zane's face - but the look on cody's face tells me what zane's face must look like.

seby & zane in chicago

2009-07-07T23:22:00.002-05:00

seby & zane drove back with the chicago cousins (o'd, liz, alex & liam) - they are spending the week with them. we brought back wes with us. maud, lucas, livia, rose & ann went back to los angeles last night.

here is seby under the bean in chi-town

and zane under some other structure.

here is ann and all the grandkids. we had a great week up at lake lotto - even though we really only had one warm day, one warm enough to be summer at the lake day, and then the day we left was also a great summer day. even with our cold and rainy days we all had a great time. we fined tuned some card games and played an amazing game of pin-the-tail on the donkey - which i was the winner in! rose (8) walked away with the winnings from the first night of texas hold'em, livia (13 and rose's older sister) took home the second winnings. well, i guess that makes sense - they live closest to las vegas!

Happy Birthday Graham!

2009-06-08T21:41:00.003-05:00

Graham celebrates his 15th birthday today AND started his driver's ed class. Too much for a mommy. He is growing into quite the young man and has many wonderful qualities that are unique to him - but many that are also right from his daddy. It seems like Cody just got behind the wheel and later this summer we will see Graham do the same.

Graham requested going to Fogo de Chao for his birthday dinner (something we did for Slade's b-day last year). It is an amazing Brazilian restaurant where each person has a token with a green side and a red side. You turn the green side up to have more meat (chicken, beef, pork & lamb). You can have as much as you like and just keep giving the go and stop sign for getting more. They also have a pretty fabulous salad bar. The kids were all pretty excited about going again and we invited Graham's girlfriend, Amara along for the b-day dinner.

Here is Graham getting served,

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-06-05T06:38:00.001-05:00

I just had to "steal" this pic of Daddy from their website. Mom must of taken it on their way out to dinner for his b-day. Isn't he just so handsome?

Bad Mommy

2009-06-03T09:03:00.002-05:00

Ops, I never posted about Seby's performance in Twelfh Night! Here is a video of one of pieces.

All the kids did an amazing job of memorizing their lines - in only two weeks. They were all so cute, but this guy stole my heart.

Zane's Fly Up

2009-06-02T16:58:00.004-05:00

At our Montessori school there is quite a production when the kids "fly up" from the Children's House level (pre-K and K) to the Elementary I level (1st-3rd grade). Today was the big day for Zane and here are some pics of him watching his friends "fly up" then him getting ready for the big transition.

They start this ceremony with the kids singing songs, here is the "school song" called "This is my school." It is very sweet.

I didn't really like how the parents were so separated from the kids - it felt like the zoo a bit with them all behind the fence - but I guess with some of the kids being 2-3 years old it is an easier way to "control" the crowd.

Here he is, gearing up for this next big adventure in EI...

finished fountain

2009-06-01T20:30:00.001-05:00

Hey something was supposed to get fnished today AND IT DID. The electrician arrived, on time, and finished the job! This evening Cody & put dirt in the base and planted some annuals. Thank you Cody!

fountain time

2009-05-31T18:47:00.002-05:00

Slade, Graham, Seby, Olive, & I helped install the fountain today. Well, really Slade did it - but at certain points he needed us to help. Seby filled it with water, Olive thought it was a huge bowl of water for her and came to drink up when Seby was filling. I guess I can't really say that she helped in that manner - but she had fun watching. This isn't exactly the kind of a fountain I wanted for the front - but we put off buying one for so long and we found this one on such a great clearance price that we just had to do it. I think it looks great, even if the style isn't "classic" like the rest of the house. Right now we just have an cord giving it power - tomorrow the electrician arrives to finish installing the outlet, then we can cover the base with dirt and plant!

Here is Olive with her summer buzz cut. Well, really I forgot to give her a frontline treatment before we went up to the lake house last weekend. When so many of us were finding ticks and I couldn't find one on her I knew they were hiding. So off I took her to the groomer who shaved her down. Then I found 10 ticks! I just gave her the first monthly applications she will get until November 1st. Too bad they don't make frontline for humans! Actually that sounds gross, never mind.

Bath tub time!

2009-05-30T17:41:00.002-05:00

The master bathroom is almost done. The tub was the first to be installed - as it was the biggest piece to get in. Now we have all the fixtures in! The painting will be finished on Monday, and the access panel (behind the tub) will be finished - then we are done. Well actually we still need to find mirrors and a storage device for between our sinks - but we don't care about that yet. We just want workmen out of our house! After the painters do the master bath they will move on to the master bedroom - oh my gosh - I can't believe it.

Cody had a couple friends sleep over last night and they broke in the almost finished basement - we just can't wait for it all to get done and we are sooooooo close!

Zane rides a bike!

2009-05-19T08:13:00.002-05:00

Cody is helping Zane to ride a bike. This isn't the best video, I admit. But, there we were really taking Olive to the dog park and Zane was just going to goof around with his first attempts to ride a bike. Next thing we know the kid is really riding. Ok, so most of the video is really Cody trying to show him how to start off on his own (which is his big struggle) - but the kid can really ride. The video was also taken with my phone (had a I realized we were going to witness such a big event I really would of brought the camera). But here it is just a taste (from far away) of the last of our tribe learning how to ride.

the garden

2009-05-17T11:21:00.003-05:00

The garden is coming back. Last year we only had one peony! This year we not only have more peony plants in the ground - but the plant that only gave us one flower has many ready to open this year. The crabapple trees are full of blooms and the tulips are started to pop up.

The various garden beds in the front are all starting to show their plants too.

We bought a bunch of plants at our school's plant sale and got most of our annuals planted - then we saw the weather report of 35 for last night. I decided to hold off on the rest and we put them and some of the smaller pots into the carriage house to wait for some warmer weather!

fencing & basement

2009-05-16T17:43:00.002-05:00

We had to do two trips to Farm & Fleet (and now Slade is on his third trip) to purchase some garden fencing to keep Miss Olive out of the bedding plants and from digging up the irrigation system! While there there was too good of a sale on a canoe that Slade couldn't pass it up. Last summer he took the kids and the cousins on a very exciting river ride in the canoe that resulted in much damage to the canoe. It is in need of much repair before it can be used again.

Here is the current status of the basement - so close to being done. There is just a punch list of items to make it complete - but we hope by the end of the week we can start moving into the space - of course at that time we will head up the lake house for Memorial Day weekend - but it should be finished.

You can see from the lovely "stain glass" in the bathroom - the "brick" wall with indian head and horse head - we kept some of the older "features" to the basement. We just couldn't demolish everything and start anew - so we kept the bathroom as simple as possible - we ended up just painting all the ugly wood siding and we promise we will replace the bright orange toilet seat.

The fireplace is just an electric deal to add some heat to the space - and it looks pretty cool. There is also an old "relief" that was in the basement when we bought the house and we will mount this above the fireplace.

We are ready to have a family movie night down there! And I see some sleepovers coming our way as well.

Master Bath/Bedroom

2009-05-14T19:45:00.004-05:00

The master bath/bedroom are so close to being done - yet, it isn't. Today the big dilemma was that the last box of glass tile (that we are using as a three tile high stripe around the shower) was a slightly larger tile than the 5 previous boxes. ugh. Nasty person on the phone when I called to try and figure it out - I was so pissed that I just hung up on her. I was quickly swept up in other issues that needed my attention - from the basement - which also is so close to being done. Luckily a more prepared customer service person called me to figure out the tile issue. They think they have the correct ones and are shipping them to us. We only need 11 tiles to finish the job.

I am so excited about using these green glass tiles. I have always wanted to use glass tiles and am glad that we have finally found the right project for them. We are also very happy about how the wainscoting is turning out. We probably have another full day of trim work to be finished in the bathroom and bedroom. All the baseboard trim had to be removed in the master bedroom when we re-wired the room.

Can you see where we replaced a huge area of tiles in the 2nd floor bathroom? We salvaged all the old tile from the master bath and just didn't have enough to finish off the job - and we made many changes to use less tiles. So, at the last minute (when we were told there weren't enough) I made the executive decision to "steal" the same kind of old tile from our existing bathroom on the 2nd floor - the only bathroom we use. They took quite a bit and I made them PROMISE to replace them immediately with any tile they could find as a match. I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out and am glad that Slade has been out of town for it and didn't have to shower with a huge patch of tile missing from the bath. He really didn't want to do it this way - but like I said I had to make the executive decision.

When we are done with the project how soon do you think we will start another one? Slade keeps saying "when" we finish the third floor - and I have started to say "never."

this morning

2009-05-13T21:25:00.002-05:00

So, this morning we are getting ready for school. I'm cooking breakfast, it is almost ready. "Seby, Zane, where are you guys?" I yell - well if I just turned my head slightly to the right I would see them - hanging out waiting for the sausage to be cooked up. Well, actually Seby was waiting for eggs, toast & sausage and Zane was waiting for ravioli. We try and get whatever we can into them before they head off for school! They love Miss Olive and she is so good with them.

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T22:51:00.002-05:00

Here is my Mommy - quite a bit to live up to! All my spunk comes from her. Well, some from Daddy too - but that crazy, wacky side - that comes from Mom. Here's to you, Mom, on Mother's Day! Wishing we could be with you to celebrate the day! We all love you soooo, soooo much!

Love, Michelle (and the rest of the gang - Slade, Cody, Graham, Sebastian, Zane, & Olive!)

More flooring

2009-05-01T22:49:00.002-05:00

More flooring from today. This is what got started in the basement. It is fake hardwood - laminate. I think it looks pretty good! This flooring should get finished tomorrow - then Monday the doors will start to get installed and they actually all (7) arrived today!

Tile Floor!

2009-05-01T13:06:00.003-05:00

We have a new tile flooring for our new master bathroom! It is the project that will never end!

My contractor had the gaul this morning to suggest we use Home Depot tiles for our new shower - instead of the old salvaged subway tiles that we paid his guys to lovingly remove from the old bathroom! He is thinking (at this late hour) that there will not be enough tiles for the master shower. Fine time for him to think about that I replied. Better start going thru the pile and FIGURE out how many are usable and how many are not. Really I wanted to wring his neck - but I thought it better for him to keep working on the bathroom instead. The gaul of him! Oh, let's just see how it goes he says - but maybe we won't have enough. No, I say FIGURE it out and don't make me repeat myself! Ugh. We loved him when we fixed our falling down carriage house - but now the love is seeping out.

They are off!

2009-04-30T17:14:00.001-05:00

Here are Clip Clop & Papa and their new baby - their 2nd Lazy Daze.

It was quite the adventure finding the folks they bought it from - but we did get them there, and they did check it out and decide to go thru with purchase. They are now driving their way back to El Centro where they will start to set up their new living arrangement in a park model with this new baby for any road travel. Good new for us is that with this smaller RV they can come and visit us at the lake house - yea for us!

It was a quick surprise visit from them - but lovely to have them here with us for a few days.

Zane turns 7

2009-04-16T05:50:00.003-05:00

Here is Zane on his birthday. My sister (Christina) took this great pic and I stole it from her blog.

Seby, Zane & I are on a vaca here visiting my big sis Kitty and family, and overlapping a visit from big sis Christina and family.

Zane had a fantastic birthday down here in Mexico! He planned the whole day - it started with a breakfast of BACON. Followed by a swim in the local pool and then lunch with the family at the local restaurant (also at the pool). Of course prior to lunch he just HAD to have a couple orders of calamari - his new favorite food down here. Uncle Jamie helped bake a wonderful cake for Zane and brought it to the restaurant where we iced and decorated it - then consumed it!

Superheros!

2009-03-27T15:25:00.003-05:00

How adorable are they? And quite the pile of laundry behind them!

Construction & New York

2009-03-26T00:25:00.003-05:00

We started to work on the master bathroom last week. We have been working on our plans for it - but we thought we would finish the basement first. Did I mention we are fixing up the basement? It started out just one room, then it was obvious with the mess they were making we might as well finish the 2nd room - which led to - it sure would be easier to fix the master bath with all the ceilings and walls exposed in the basement. So, now there are workmen here all the time, again! It is the same crew that did the Carriage House - so they are great guys. They all love Olive and I have to keep her away from them or they might take her home with them.

This pic is the day they did demo of the existing bathroom. We took everything out of the bedroom (goodbye Cody's old room).

Ah, the lovely dust of construction!

Last week Cody & Graham had their spring break and Slade took them to New York on a business trip. They had a great time, and of course have a great "getting lost" story. I'm sure they will be eager to go again with him sometime.

I haven't even asked how long it will take to wrap up our projects - but progress is being made every day (at least this week!).

We are very excited about being able to reuse our old tile, and the old tub. I can't believe that someday we will have a working tub in this house. Very exciting. And one more bathroom for all six of us to use!

Olive with a Cone Head

2009-03-20T16:34:00.002-05:00

Here is sweet, little (well, not really little anymore) Olive. She has to where her "e collar" so she doesn't scratch her eye where she had surgery. Some strange little thing her "third eye lid" was doing that had to get fixed. She also got spayed. So is not very happy about having to wear this thing and would much rather be able to just scratch the eye up. 12 days. At this point she is 6 months old and weighs 37 lbs. I'm not sure that she will get to her full 55-60 lbs we were told. She has been a great watch dog and has a wonderful security bark. She sounds much bigger and meaner than she is - but that is fine with me. It has been great to get out in the neighborhood with walking her - one of the things I was looking forward to in getting a dog. Zane wishes she could sleep on his bed and is looking forward to having a "sleep out" with her up at the lake house. We think she will love the lake as last weekend on a walk she went quite happily into the lake to chase some ducks!

I found my camera cable!

2009-03-06T07:55:00.004-06:00

Finally! I have found my cable so I can download my camera to my laptop!

Here is Cody and his two buddies going to a Winter dance at the school.

This is our group up at Pine Mountain Resort during our annual President's Day weekend at the lake house. It was a lot of fun to hang out with Janette, Ken and all their boys. Olive was big hit and next time we hope they bring their labradoodle, Marley.

Ann, I've promised you a pic of Olive with something to compare her size to - here is Zane "holding" Olive.

Here is the first stages of the carriage house. All set up to quilt and sew. This weekend we will move in the old sleigh bed upstairs and we will officially have a guest room.

It was like Christmas opening up all the fabric boxes - and now having a home for them!

Here is my first quilt. This is for Kate Johnson-Fry - a friend's baby who will be born any day now. It is just pinned together in this pic.

2009-03-01T23:10:00.002-06:00

This is an old photo. From New Year's. Zane sleeping in Liz & O'd's bed w/ Duke, he just couldn't stay awake any longer.

I have been taking some pictures - but I can't find my cable to download them to the computer.

Erika has moved out of the carriage house and we have moved in!

Slade and Cody put in some shelving in the basement and we got all my quilting on the 1st floor. It isn't organized, but all the sewing/craft/quilting supplies are all in ONE PLACE. With a table to work at. I have volunteered to make a quilt for both Seby & Zane's classes so this space will get well used for those projects. We are also going to make the 2nd floor a guest room and game room.

I'm sure I'll have many posts of pics on this new project (the basement project is still in progress, we have been in a holding pattern because our furnace decided it needed some attention - so we have to replace that!). Now I must go get cleaning so I can unpack all the sewing/craft/quilting supplies!

President's Day Weekend

2009-02-17T09:35:00.001-06:00

We spent the 3-day weekend at the lake house with our good friends, Janette & Ken Siegel (and their 3 boys: Forrest, Quentin & Spencer). These are dear friends from living at Prairie Crossing. It was so fun to hang out with them - and have the boys all get along so well. We spent one day skiing - except for Janette & I, who kept the bar seats warm.

The season is changing - did I mention spring is my favorite? I can see the changes in the smallest things. Today the sun is shining in a different way. Maybe it is the lack of snow covering every inch of the ground.

Erika will be moving out of our carriage house on March 1st. I have already planned setting up all my quilting out there. This week I'm thinking of also starting all the seedlings out there too.

We will miss her living out there - but she is going to be coming back once a week so we will still have her around.

This photo was sent to me last night from Liz, it was from New Year's Eve from up at the lake.

Now I must go outside and get some of this gorgeous sunshine before it is gone.

Old Photos

2009-02-05T09:54:00.004-06:00

My mother has just sent an email to the mass of our family requesting information on how we are doing, and in fact, that we are all still alive.

I guess it is time to update the blog.

We are under construction. It is supposed to be all in the basement - but it isn't staying down there. There is dust EVERYWHERE. And I forget every time we do construction that it happens. I hate it. Last night I said I wasn't making dinner - even though I cleaned up the kitchen because it was so dusty and disgusting. I keep dusting - it keeps getting dusty ------- argggghhhh

But, spring is in it's early stages. I LOVE being in seasons. Spring is my favorite. Last year we planted a ton of bulbs (well Erika planted them). I am eager to find the first ones.

When I felt the guilt from dear ol' Mom to post I went to see the last photo I uploaded. It was this one. Mom at Cody's baby shower. A baby shower he wasn't supposed to be at - but he arrived 3 weeks early, so he tagged along with us.

Olive

2009-01-20T16:31:00.004-06:00

This is Olive next to her carry-on liner from her trip to Cali for T-Day! She is a bit bigger now. She carries it off to chew on in her kennel - then I took away so we can give the carrier to someone else.

it's a new day!

2009-01-20T13:06:00.005-06:00

http://lazydazers.com/

I highly recommend that you read my Mom's recent post for the inauguration (1/18/09).

-19 this morning!

2009-01-15T08:12:00.007-06:00

These pics are from the lake house.

yikes. i actually haven't left the house, so i really don't know what it feels like outside. erika is driving seby & zane to school and cody & graham take the bus.

cody really didn't want to bring his ski gear, thinking his race today will get cancelled. but it hasn't been, yet. it was cancelled on tuesday due to cold (with warmer temps) - but who knows how quickly it might warm up today. Ops, I just checked and now it is -21. not a good sign.

yesterday i drove the suburban and it was odd how freezer like it felt when i started it. there are really strange noises when you start a car in this kind of cold - especially if the vent fans are left on high. the leather seats felt really weird, and there was a slight frost to the dashboard. i'm glad i recently heard CAR TALK and was reminded that a car doesn't need to be warmed up more than a minute or two in this kind of cold. i need it warmed up a bit more.

but i do love being in the snow. i feel like i live somewhere else though with the amount of snow we have had on the ground. we have had snow ever since the first day - the sunday after Thanksgiving. We flew home from California to a new blanket of snow. I remember looking out the window and being amazed at how fresh it looked. 6am on a Sunday and it was so untouched.

isn't she the cutest?

2009-01-14T20:25:00.003-06:00

olive is a sweet dog. she is so trainable, it is wonderful.

i don't think the kids realized how much they would like her. they all thought i was crazy when i was researching this breed. now she has won all their hearts.

she and zane have been having fun playing in the yard when he gets home from school. you can see the low temps don't keep the kids inside. zane spends about 20 minutes and then has to bring in olive because "she is bugging him". then he stays out longer. one of his favorites is to bring outside hot chocolate in a coffee travel mug. olive just watches him from the door. we will see how quickly she learns if she stops biting at him she can stay outside longer.

Snow!

2009-01-13T20:03:00.002-06:00

We had a big snow yesterday and Zane & Olive LOVED it! Olive went out a bunch during the blizzard and was even more happy to have Zane come home from school wanting to play outside with her.

Yikes, it's cold!

2009-01-13T10:32:00.002-06:00

Yep, -16 air temp here. I had the kids all bundle up and warn them about not staying outside very long, covering any exposed skin, etc. Maybe I freaked them out, or maybe they just nodded and thru all their layers into their backpacks? Olive has never been quicker to run outside for a potty break. No walk today!

January Walk

2009-01-11T23:16:00.004-06:00

We went for a walk to the Lake of the Isles (our closest lake) this weekend. Cody was on a Cross Country Ski trip, and Graham was home preparing for his final exams this week. We made a mistake of only giving ourselves just 1 1/2 hours to do this walk. Olive was thrilled to walk with the boys - she just wants to follow them and bite at them. And Zane only laughs when she bites at him - so she is never going to stop. Oh well.

New Years

2009-01-10T10:58:00.006-06:00

We went up to the lake house for New Year's.

We brought Ann and met O'd and family from Chi-Town. Ann went back with them to spend a few days before flying home to D.C. Of course Olive came as well. She was not sure about this new environment - but felt better once we got her kennel set up. She also loved being out in the snow.

Cody was on a Cross Country Ski team trip for the first few days and Slade and I actually had to go and pick him up from Duluth, MN - it was a solid 11 hours of driving that day. But, he had a great trip and has really gotten into being on the team and doing the races. He is learning classic and skate skiing.

It was really fun to have the older college-bound cousins with us for a few days (Alex and Wes). It is amazing to watch them mature into such amazing adults.

We had many poker games, much board game playing, one day we went to Pine Mountain for skiing - except Ann, O'd, Olive and I hung out in the Lodge. We had a good taste off of the different Old Fashioned drinks - the Wisconsin version (sweet) and the Michigan version (sour). The sweet won out.

Here are some pics from Pine Mountain:

Cody, Wes, Graham

Zane

Seby & Liam

Seby and Liam had a great time skiing together. Liam usually tries to do snowboarding - and this year I think realized he didn't like it and ended up trying downhill. He was amazing. First time and he and Seby were going up the lift and down the hill on their own (well after many runs with adults or older siblings/cousins) - but by the end of the day it was just the two of them going up and down. It was awesome!

Back at the lake house Seby was really getting into Cross Country skiing. He was a trail blazer on a few trips out. Graham spent a lot of time trying to help Zane figure out the skiing - more work is required for both of them!

The day we left Minneapolis we also dropped in the mail our closing documents for purchasing the lot next to us. We are very excited about getting this property, as our driveway has an easement on it. Here is the lake view from this new parcel.

Zane and I observed several times a little bird coming into the front porch (the screen door was stuck in a slightly open fashion). We were able to get a photo of it sitting on one of the many stones brought up during the summer.

We also had a few amazing sunsets while up there. One night I also saw a touch of the Northern Lights (but I was going to bed and didn't go out to photo it!).

We are excited about going back up to the lake for Martin Luther King weekend - and doing more skiing!

Christmas

2009-01-09T00:48:00.003-06:00

Christmas was such a blast - and it zoomed by.

We had Ann, Slade's Mom, and Maud, Lucas, Livia & Rose (Slade's sister and family) here for Christmas. It was so fun to spend the holidays with them. Lucas taught us how to celebrate Hanukkah (which maybe Sebastian & Zane knew more about) - they loved lighting the Menorah every night.

Slade and I went to High School together, we knew a twins - Ken & Dave Greenhouse. Ken & Dave are musicians and in 1991 when they were on a Midwest tour they stayed with us in Chicago. That was the last time we saw them. The day after Christmas, Dave and his family came over for dinner. It was so fun to see him again, to meet his lovely wife Michelle, and their 3 year-old Zachary. I actually got connected to Ken thru facebook and he told me about Dave coming to the Twin Cities for the holidays. They are due with their 2nd baby this spring. I plan on going on one of Slade's New York business trips and catching up with both of them. It is amazing to not see someone for 17 years and slip right into that place of such familiarity.

Lost and Found

2008-12-18T00:34:00.002-06:00

Last night we were doing some cleaning up in Cody's room to get ready for Ann (Slade's Mom) arrival today. In looking at his closet (which was dreadfully messy) I found Zane's old blankie. We lost it about a year ago. I was shocked. I was also shocked at how torn up it was - I just didn't remember it that way.

Seby & Zane were getting ready for bed - but heard me finding something and really wanted to know what it was. Graham brought the blankie to Zane and at first he was thrilled to see it - hugged and smelled it. Then upon further inspection, he too, felt surprised at it's state of disrepair. At one point he asked me to take it out of the room. He seemed really down about it and after much talking he cried a little bit. He was feeling sad because it looked so bad and really wants me to fix it again. While it was a hard place for him to sit - I think he also was in shock over thinking about what a young child he was when he lost it - 5 years old and sucking his thumb. To now - 6 years old - no more thumb sucking, no more walking around with the beloved blankie. He said he was too old for it - but seemed so sad about it.

Today he awoke with a fever and a bad cough. He stayed home and slept a good part of the day. He did ask for the blankie and at bedtime tonight asked for it again. It is working it's way back into his cluches.

He is just such an adorable little creature - and he feels so much and is amazingly aware of how he feels. He amazes me. We had some great talks and walks down memory lane about his blankie and how he would hold it when he went to sleep, etc.

Finding this again and then recently seeing a lovely quilt I helped make - I want to drag out all my quilting fabrics and start something new.

Olive

2008-12-05T18:26:00.002-06:00

Olive got a new haircut today. Mostly because I gave her a head/face haircut yesterday and it didn't go so well - so she needed to get it fixed. She also had a couple shots today that made her sleepy and it seemed a good day to introduce her to getting groomed - seeing she will have much more of it in her future.

I had to buy her a sweater while she was getting cut - it was 19 degrees today! I think she looks adorable and Slade I think is laughing at me.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-02T22:56:00.008-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving week in California. Here is the family clan after our meal.

Seby, Zane & I went out Sunday night before T-day -- and we brought our new puppy Olive with us. She was a great traveler and I was even able to get her to poop in the airplane bathroom - no easy feat, but it did happen. Much better than in her carrier! We brought a small kennel that breaks down into two pieces - it just fit in our largest roller bags. Of course I was just over the weight for the bag - but we were not charged extra, I think due to the cute puppy. Olive was making friends all over the airport! She loved her little carrier and slept most of the flight over.

Slade, Cody & Graham arrived late Tuesday night and Seby & Zane had a sleepover with Catie & Becky while I picked them up at the airport. Olive was a good little puppy and slept in her kennel.

On Saturday we all headed up to Berkeley and checked out the campus. We thought it would be good for Cody & Graham to start looking at what a college looks like. It is such a beautiful campus.

We were able to get a snack at Slade's old place of work when he was a teenager - Blondie's Pizza.

After our campus hike we headed up to visit with some friends and took another hike to the famous Cement Slide! We both remember going here as kids and thought it would be fun for our kids to experience it. Kids were using the usual cardboard to go down the slide - but also wax paper! Yikes they really fly down with the wax paper!

Seby and Zane most of their time at the park going down this slide, while Cody and Graham played some catch with the Fairchild boys.

Here are Slade, Tom and all the boys.

I was also able to check out a quilt that Liz and I made for Tom & Judith for their wedding. It was fun to see it again.

It was great trip and so fun to hang out with the family. Thank you Christina, for letting us crash in your wonderful guest house!

We came back to fresh snow on the ground when we arrived at 6am in Minneapolis. Olive seems to love the snow - thankfully as that is what she will be getting a for a while now. We are supposed to get more snow tonight and I can see it has started. Lovely.

And thank you Aunt Kathy for making some of the best cookies we've had in a long time. They were quite the treat and we really appreciated you making them for us and bringing them before we took of! I promise to post weekly to show you how Olive is growing.

Olive goes to California!

2008-11-20T23:12:00.003-06:00

Look at these two cute boys. This is heading out to take Olive on her first walk. Well, it really turned into a run. And many of you may be surprised, but I ran too. And it was fun. And it didn't wind me. In truth this is one of the reasons I wanted a dog - to get my butt out the door and moving my body. About 3/4 of the way into our walk/run we saw Kim & Pete (our next door neighbors) they were heading out from the alley in their car. We stopped them and introduced Olive. They were thrilled that we will have a nice sized dog in our yard soon. The two of us are very into our neighborhood security - another reason I wanted a dog.

Another treat with having a puppy is catching the early sunrise! This was 5 something am. There was this amazing pink color coming in thru the curtains I couldn't believe it. When I brought Olive outside with me I thought she too was amazed by the color of the sky - but then I remembered that she had never been in the front yard and was really amazed at checking it out. So many smells to smell.

Tonight when we went in the back yard we spied a bunny running away as we approached the lawn. Too funny to me that now that we live in the city we have these beautiful fluffy bunnies that run around. When we lived in Prairie Crossing (out in the country outside of Chicago) we had the ugliest country bunnies that ran about. Here they are cute and fluffy and looking like pets that escaped.

Well I have decided that we have to take Olive with us on our trip to California next week for Thanksgiving. We were going to leave her here and have Erika stay with her and Mariana come and visit with her a couple times during the day. It all seemed not right to me and I decided this morning to call and book her a ticket. So, she will come with us. I went to a pet store today and bought her a little travel bag - something soon she will not be able to fit in. Luckily she is loving it. She slept in it most of the afternoon. The best part is when I told Zane we were taking her with us he said "you are the best mom ever for that." I had no idea it would earn me that many points. So, she will go meet the California and Mexico cousins. Hopefully we won't be trading any germs with each other.

2008-11-16T23:17:00.002-06:00

Cody has gotten into having Olive here too! He is excited about how much she likes to chew on her stuffed squirrel! He is on top of keeping those nasty squirrels out of our yard (I won't discuss HOW he does it) - and now he is convinced he will be able to train her to retrieve them!

Olive!

2008-11-13T17:26:00.002-06:00

She has arrived! The breeder drove her from Iowa and arrived here around 1pm. It was nice to have her arrive without all the noise and bustle of the kids. The breeder brought along her two boys, who were sad but also used to having the puppies leave. She is so much smaller than I was thinking. So far she is adjusting well. I have to be careful when I"m walking so I don't step on her! Day one of house training is going well. She is going outside in a designated spot that we decided on a while ago. So far so good. I left her in the kennel while I showered and I think she cried the whole time. Cody & Graham were eager to see her when they got home from school, and Seby & Zane were equally excited when they arrived about a 1/2 hour later. Luckily I was outside with her on her leash when their bus arrived - as we discussed I would this morning. Tomorrow I take her to the vet to get checked out - we found a great place nearby and the vet happens to be a parent of a friend of Cody's.

We have decided on the name Olive and it wasn't even on our list a week ago!

Obama !

2008-11-05T00:55:00.003-06:00

Ok, I have to move on from the pic of the Missile Dick Chicks - but they are a big reason he won. So many groups of people doing everything they could to elect this man.

I wanted to post that sexy picture of him from last Wednesday, on the cover of The New York Times - in the black leather jacket in the pouring rain. Too sexy - who wouldn't want to vote for a sexy President? But I obviously couldn't find it.

It is 1am here in Minneapolis and I would have to say that the noise from the city is finally died down. That was a couple hours of excitement about our President-Elect! Did this happen in all cities? I sat up on the roof top deck and just listened, it was a little surreal as our weather here is oddly warm, cheers, honking horns, fire works, such excitement.

Voting

2008-11-04T13:31:00.004-06:00

While I was waiting in line (for almost three hours) to vote - we were entertained (for a bit) from the Missile Dick Chicks, from Crawford, Texas. You can google them to see what they are about. It was hilarious, they were asked quickly to move farther away from the entrance. They were handing out cookies and quite lively!

Watching the images of folks gathering at Grant Park is amazing to me. Maybe because we lived in Chicago for so long. It reminds me of when the Bulls won so many championships. The crowds go wild. I remember being in Dallas on a job for their first win. I was talking to Slade on the phone as the game ended and we realized they won - Slade said there was this crazy sound over the city, like a snap.

Seby and Zane keep asking, who won? They can't believe it takes so long to count votes. I hope we know tonight.

Cody & Maggie

2008-11-02T23:57:00.002-06:00

Here are Cody & Maggie at the dance this past weekend. They went as Beauty & the Beast, Cody didn't want to wear a mask so he chose the transformed beast. Cody and Maggie love the dances and dance almost every song. Graham and Amara, on the other hand are not into dancing. It reminds me when they were little - they each liked different things. Luckily now they accept their differences and get along really well.

The One

2008-11-02T23:34:00.005-06:00

What is there to think about?

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T19:23:00.003-05:00

(can't you tell - it is a witch with a smoking cauldron)

We have had very few trick or treaters in our hood, 3 so far. (Update, now 4) (further update, we have had about a dozen so far).

Cody is off at a party with his girlfriend, Maggie. Graham at a party with his girlfriend, Amara.
Let's not talk about how old we must be to have teenagers.

Slade has taken Seby & Zane off to get their sugar. They have been so excited about Halloween. We have been counting down the days for a couple weeks now.

We are preparing for our new addition, a chocolate goldendoodle puppy! I got the crate today. It is set up off the kitchen. It feels very hectic because we will be leaving our sweet puppy just 10 days after we get her! We are off to California to be with family for the holiday, which was planned before the timing of this puppy. It seemed better to keep the puppy at our house instead of send her back to the breeder for the week. So, between Erika and Mariana, we will leave her at the house. It feels like a much better solution. We are able to get her a ticket to fly with us - but it seems too crazy to bring a puppy on a vacation.

We have been "trying out names" for the puppy. It really helps to have some current pictures of her. We have been thinking of going with Coco - but now that I have "tried it out" I'm thinking no, it isn't right. It sounds too much like Cody, and I realized I actually call him Co Co sometimes. So that seemed weird. Right now we are trying out Molly. It might take us some time with her to figure it out.

Seby & Zane are very excited about getting a puppy - they were just dying to get inside the crate - so I said ok, just this once.

Slade, Seby & Zane cut pumpkins the other night. They all did an awesome job, my favorite is the one Slade made.

New pics of our new girl!

2008-10-29T21:48:00.004-05:00

Here she is waiting to be old enough to come to us! November 13 is when we will get her. Everyone in the family seems to like the name Coco for her - so unless it seems wrong when we get her I think it is a good fit. I have been reading up on my puppy training books, I have a crate ordered, vet appointment made, signed up for training classes ... what else besides getting the puppy in the house?

Aren't they so cute?

2008-10-28T23:02:00.002-05:00

Graham and Amara - at the Harvest Festival at the farm - it must of been from someone's phone. I copied it from facebook.

Can anybody get married?

2008-10-25T19:04:00.006-05:00

My sister sent me an email asking me to donate to a worthy cause - after making my donation I told her that she and I should both post about this need. She posted on her blog first and I can't think of any better way to say than she has ...

..............................................................
Hey folks - it’s a political see-saw around here these days. Obama’s chances are looking up, but here in CA, Prop 8 is struggling. Here’s the deal: right now, gays are allowed to marry in California. If Prop 8 passes, that right will be taken away. Religious groups are pumping millions of dollars into the Yes on 8 campaign. Polls are showing growing support for Prop 8. If you can, please donate anything - even $10 - to the No on 8 campaign. I know times are tight and it’s hard to give money with the fear everyone has of their financial security - but if you could forgo a couple of expressos or lattes or a dinner out (you elitist, you) - that money could go to protecting equality in our society.

PLEASE DONATE NOW

www.noonprop8.com

Why do I care? Mostly, I believe that everyone is equal. I believe that everyone should be treated equally under the law. If a particular religious sect doesn’t want to grant gay marriages, it is their absolute right to refuse to marry gays. However, our constitution grants every person equal civic rights. And I believe that to protect our democracy we must uphold those rights.

Then I think about children. According to the American Psychological Association (and, more convincingly, conversations with gay friends), homosexuality is an inborn trait. You can’t “make” someone become gay or stop being gay. In large part, due to discrimination against gays, the suicide rates for gay teens are much greater than their straight counterparts. One study shows that while straight and gay teens attempt suicide at equal rates, gay teens are two to six TIMES more likely to try again. I don’t want that to be my kid. Or any kid I know. Or any child at all. I want all children, especially teens, to know that their future can include marriage if they choose it. How heartbreaking it must be to realize that your society is trying to limit your future just as you are starting to create it.
-Christina
..............................................................

For all these reasons and more please support this cause.

www.noonprop8.com

Shouldn't everyone be able to realize their childhood dream of getting married?

Mommy & Daddy

2008-10-23T23:08:00.002-05:00

Daddy

Mommy

I have to say I am so happy with these parents for our dog. The poodle allergy needs from the daddy - but the personality of the mom - the laid back goldendoodle.

I'm sooooo excited. It is a much better choice than what we did first. I'm glad we were able to change breeders/dogs.

Coco!

2008-10-23T21:51:00.002-05:00

This is her! Our new addition. Well we don't have her yet, she is still too young. BUT, we have done it! I actually changed which puppy I wanted. I have been thinking about what puppy we are getting none stop - which I should! I realized that I have really wanted a chocolate girl - Graham gave clear feedback early on NOT wanting a chocolate colored dog. Today I realized I really did. He doesn't seem to have an opinion any more.

I'm so excited. We just have to figure out what day we will get her. She will be ready to "come home" November 12 - but then we leave for California on November 22, returning on the 30th. I can't get a ticket to bring her with us to California - luckily the breeder said they would keep her while we were gone.

I'm soooooo excited. I feel much better about getting this dog than the previous one ordered. I was just trying to please Graham and didn't think about how much it meant to me. Coco seems fitting - unless when we see her it feels wrong.

I might have to go down for a visit next week - they are 3 hours away! We will see.

Happy Birthday Slade!

2008-10-21T23:40:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Baby!

Slade is in New York for work and is missing his birthday with the family. But, we will celebrate this Friday night with a night out on the town with the whole family! We miss you baby and can't wait to have you back home!

We love you and miss you

A long weekend at the lake house

2008-10-20T06:46:00.004-05:00

We just spent the last four days up at the lake house. We pretty much spent our time reading, playing board games, and poker (of course!).

When we first arrived we had many chores to do - there were a disgusting amount of flies that needed vacuuming up! There was also a soda that exploded in the fridge, so the whole fridge had to be cleaned out. Zane was funny about wanting/NEEDING to help clean up with all of this. First he did a lot of the vacuuming, then he moved on to help me clean out the fridge.

All four boys played a bit of Monopoly - with cards that Cody wrote for the game. And he also added $1,000 bills to the bank.

All the leaves were off the trees - well there looked to be a small handful of trees that had not lost their leaves yet - otherwise all the leaves were on the forest floor. And if you like walking thru piles and piles of crunchy leaves - then this was the place to be this weekend. Seby and Zane were in heaven. Of course we all enjoyed it and were amazed at how loud it was to just take a walk in it. On one of our walks we tried to NOT make any noise and it was very difficult.

The lake is lovely no matter what the season.

We got the house ready for the next time we will be up there - right after Christmas. We were all wondering what kind of weather will we have then? And how much snow???

Murder Mystery Party

2008-10-13T15:44:00.005-05:00

We hosted a Murder Mystery Party this past weekend. It was big job - but also a really fun party. As Slade says, it wasn't difficult to get most of the attendees (there were 40 characters) to come out of their shells. It was quite hilarious.

Puppies & Obama

2008-10-07T21:57:00.005-05:00

Wasn't Obama awesome tonight?

Well, actually I could give some pros and cons on both sides - but, he is it.

I really don't won't to hear any more polls. And I'm also really liking Al Franken. It just hasn't gone my way for the last two elections, so I'm not trying to get too excited.

Go Obama!

We are buying a puppy. I've been looking for the past year or so into a breed that I would like. I told the family this was MY dog - but they could also love it. So, I was picking the breed, but I did compromise with Slade about the size of the dog. I really wanted a bigger dog, Slade wants a smaller dog.

The last time we got a dog I thought we could only get one kind of dog - a poodle. The only poodle I knew was Duke - and Duke is not your average poodle. Duke has a great personality. The poodle we got (Paris, as some of you may remember) was a typical poodle. I didn't realize this until I was at a school event and listened to a parent describe a dog she found annoying. I was shocked because I felt that she was describing our dog, Paris. After telling her this she said, do you have a poodle? Well that is what poodles are like. I realized then it didn't matter what kind of training we did with this dog - I would never like it. So, we took him back to the kennel we bought him from. I inquired about him when I started this search and he is a favorite show dog for the kennel - groomed all day - clearly not my kind of dog.

So, we are looking at the goldendoodle. This is a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle (we have to get a poodle in there somewhere for the allergy issues). This breed has the personality of a retriever and the non-allergic traits of the poodle. It is also a nice cross between the two breeds in terms of it's physic.

So, we have a confirmed pregnancy with Angel - the mamma dog (Max is the daddy). They had an ultrasound last night and there appear to be many puppies. We are first on the list for a girl dog. I have too many males in this house - I won't have a male dog.

This is an example of the standard goldendoodle.

Paris was about a 20 lb dog and this dog should be between 40-45 lbs. This is the minature size - the standard is 50-65 lbs.

Luckily we have all met a lot of goldendoodles in this past year - mostly at soccer games for Sebastian during this past summer. I can't stop myself from going up to the owner's and confirming the dog is a goldendoodle. Then I get to pet it! They are the sweetest dogs. There are also a few families that have them from the school - so we get to see them at the outdoor school events!

So, the pregnancy is confirmed and the puppies will be born around Halloween. Such fast gestations for dogs. We will be able to bring her home around Christmas. So, now we get the new task of coming up with a girl name. Obama doesn't sound right, but I did consider it. First in the running is Franny (of Franny & Zooey by Salinger). When Slade heard this he said "Oh shit" - "What I said?" "If you like Franny, that means you really want two dogs." Well, he is right I do want two dogs. But we will see. One at a time.

Pirates & Girls!

2008-09-29T13:43:00.005-05:00

We took the kids to see a production of "How I Became a Pirate" - it is based on a book that Zane got for Christmas from GrandAnn - so we were all very excited about seeing it. We decided it would be a good outing to get to know Cody's friend, Maggie, who we have been hearing a lot about - but haven't met yet. We have known Graham's girlfriend, Amara, for several years now - but we thought it would be fun to have us all go out. So, the girls were dropped off at our house late in the afternoon and we all went out to our favorite local restaurant, Christos - a Greek place.

Then we went to see the play and hit a favorite ice cream shop on the way home. It was fun to spend the evening getting to know Amara & Maggie better - since they occupy so much of our kids's thoughts!

Cody & Maggie

Graham & Amara

Seby and Zane had fun getting dressed up for our evening out.

What a day!

2008-09-21T23:00:00.003-05:00

So today started out with us all waking up (on time) and going the First U (our Unitarian Church).

Well, I guess really the day started with me waking up from Cody's coughing - the background here is that he has been getting hit with his fall allergies, then Friday night he was at a friends who has a dog that he is highly allergic too. He came home from that straight to a shower and neb for his asthma. Then, me waking him up to do a neb and then a shower. While he was in the shower I decided to play doctor and gave him 20mg of prednisone after his breakfast. We then went to First U. During the service (which Cody & Graham attend with us, while Seby & Zane are in their classes). Slade decided to take him home for a neb. He came back and did his class from 10-11. In driving home we decided that I would take him to the Urgent Care. We came home and got lunch.

I should note that our plans were to come home from First U, have lunch, then take Graham, Cody & 7 friends to do paintball. So driving home we also decided to cancel that 16th Birthday celebration.

Instead as we were driving down Blaisdell, we were hit by an SUV (we were driving my cute, car) top down, glass flying, smasharoo.

Nobody was hurt. It could of been way worse - but oh my. I was swearing up a little storm at first.

I almost went into all the parked cars - but luckily it is a street with cars parked only on the left side, if there were any on the right I would of flown into them.

We must of gotten the tires off the pavement because it activated the roll bar - which apparently shoots out of the backseat headrests only when the tires are off the pavement.

I was so confused by all the flying glass - all our windows were down. Well the glass came flying out of huge hole in the side of my door, and I think it flew straight up the top of the door.

It was some scary maneuvering. I pulled such a Jackie O as the car came to an abrupt stop, I quickly realized my door wouldn't open and I started to climb out of the car. I stopped myself, and waited for Cody to get out his door.

I was sooooo mad. I went over to the other car and then quickly walked back to mine as I saw it was a mom (who was crying) and her baby in the back seat. They were fine - but the car was also quite smashed and had lots of oil on the ground. I was amazed at all the glass in the street - and it just stays there. Don't you think a city should clean up after something like that? And this wasn't a lot of glass for an accident.

We were both unable to drive our cars.

I had Cody call Slade right away and he came down and started to call our insurance company. The cops were super nice. And the firetruck and ambulance that showed up. They kind of arrived at the same time - I think. We were asked first if we were ok, Cody's response made me comment that we were on our way to the Urgent Care for him. They took him into the ambulance right away and started checking his stats. They would of taken him to the local ER - but I like the Urgent Care better, so we declined. It would of been better if we had a neb with us - but we did end up getting to the Urgent Care.

He did do three nebs there and he had an IV of a steroid. I talked with the Doc about putting him on the appropriate kinds due to his past experience of psychosis - yikes, we don't want to go back there. I also told her we just wanted to stay out of the hospital.

The doc was ...

ok Cody has just come in - he can't sleep because he has had so many drugs today. It is kind of cool, he is a teenager and these are approved drugs he can have. Ok, that doesn't really make any sense - but he and I were joking as the day went on about how many drugs he was getting and how hyped up they were making him.

It is 11:43pm on a school night but I'm letting him watch a some TV. He is drinking his Night Time tea with lemon, and hopefully that will help.

So, the doc was really good about asking us our thoughts on what meds to do - she told me the options she felt we had and I picked what I thought would be best. I decided that he needed to be hit with some meds. He can just go down so fast with his asthma. I'm glad we did because even after coming home he has needed to use the neb every two hours. It has now been 3 hours since his last neb and he sounds like he could do another, but Cody has decided to skip it so he can MAYBE get some sleep. Which is why he will have some tea and watch a little TV.

We recounted the accident - again in amazement of how much worse it could of been had I not tried to move out of her way - I guess it did keep us out of the line up of parked cars. I've never been that close to three parked cars while driving.

ugh.

Ok, I will now go post the pics of our eventful day.

Cody came home and posted the pics on facebook - the smashed car pick then the hospital pic.

His cousin, Wes, saw them and called his dad (Slade's bro, O'd) saying "Dad, Cody smashed Michelle's car and now he is in the hospital."

O'd called Slade pronto, which made me go upstairs to tell Cody to please add a caption to the hospital pic that he was there due to asthma NOT the car accident.

So, not the 16th birthday party we planned - but maybe here at the end of the day - a great lesson for our soon to be driver about the safety in driving and the risks we take with other drivers.

The real issue with the accident is that there should be no parking 30 feet from corners where traffic has to cross. Slade came down to the scene and took over waiting for the tow truck, while Cody and I went to the Urgent Care. He parked on the street where the driver who hit us came from - we were low to the ground in his Mini and it was a little weird to be in the other position of this accident. It was so hard to see if cars were coming.

Roses!

2008-09-10T12:38:00.004-05:00

See, roses!

This is the second blooming of these roses. The pair near the front door and patio re-bloomed first, now this pair (Meg - they were supposed to go to your Dad).

It is great to watch the front yard come together. We are still missing a few pieces, and it won't be finished for me until the fence is painted (in 4-6 weeks). The plants are all doing really well and the grass had it's first mow. I'm very judgmental on the mowing, but Slade did a good job (thank you sweetie). I am really enjoying the irrigation system. It has saved me so much time not having to water everything. Now I am working on a list for bulbs to plant.

We get comments from most everybody who is walking down the street when we are outside. Some of the folks are quite colorful, and give us these great stories of how they have been watching this transformation. It always is a great opportunity for me to remember why I like living here. I love the diversity of the city.

The weather is changing and our time will be spent more indoors in the coming months, so I have had Erika's help to get some areas of the house organized again. Seby and Zane have turned the basement into quite the archeological dig while doing this. The laundry remains untouched so life can still go on upstairs. Erika has said she made a few paths the other day.

Seby's Belated Birthday

2008-09-09T01:12:00.002-05:00

Ops, I never posted about Seby's birthday. Seby had his 9th birthday at the end of July. His has been wanting to have a birthday party here in Minneapolis ever since we moved here (this is his fourth b-day here) - we have been having them at the lake house because we are usually on some family trip there during his birthday. This year was his year. We were actually supposed to go to California on his birthday but that fell thru for us. He was thrilled because we were able to have him attend his last soccer game for the summer.

Here is is with his new ipod which was the only request - I have to admit he hasn't used it more than the first 3-4 days after getting it. But then I don't want to bring it to his attention because he is also too young to be walking around constantly with ear phones in his head.

The stack of money from Clip Clop & Papa - and then a bacon wallet to hold it all in. I couldn't help myself in buying him this plastic bacon wallet - it is pretty funny and he loves it.

A few weeks later we did do a birthday party for the boy - his first here with these new friends in Minneapolis. We had 6 boys over for a pizza, movie & sleep over party.

The boys spent the next morning having an elaborate ninja game outside.

Zane's First Day of School

2008-09-06T08:52:00.003-05:00

Here is Zane on his first day of school. He is in Children's House (the pre-primary level of Montessori) for his fourth year. We could of moved him up to primary (first grade) for this fall - but he really didn't seem ready. We know lots of other kids who have taken this path (his brother Sebastian for one!) and are all glad that we made this choice. He really needs one more year in this environment before heading upstairs to the bigger kids! He is very excited about starting school and getting back to the teachers and peers he knows. It will be interesting to see how he feels next year going to a new level of the school.

Zane's Tooth

2008-09-03T20:48:00.002-05:00

Zane lost his first tooth today! He noticed a wiggly tooth about 10 days ago and has been trying to wiggle it out. We were driving to pick up Cody & Graham from soccer practice and he asked me in a panicked manner "Where is my tooth?" "I remembered to wiggle it, but it is gone!" I pulled over and found it on the floor where he was sitting. Of course he was worried he had swallowed it. As soon as we got home he put it under his pillow and checked about 100 times to see if the tooth fairy made a visit before he went to bed. Strange that we don't do Santa, but we do the Tooth Fairy. He was thrilled to lose his first tooth and feels like quite the big kid now!

Seby's first day of school

2008-09-03T08:21:00.002-05:00

It was Sebastian's first day of school yesterday. He is now in third grade. His last year for the Elementary 1 level of his school. He had a half day yesterday and today gets the whole day. We had to find the lunch boxes and sandwich wraps, etc for lunch packing. He is very excited about school starting.

Yard

2008-08-26T08:17:00.006-05:00

I've promised a few to post more photos of the yard.

This is the yard towards the patio

Here is the patio. Slade and I used it for this first time Sunday morning, we were able to enjoy about 15 minutes out there drinking coffee and reading the paper - then life pulled us back inside.

We kept it pretty simple down at the sidewalk - but just having the green, green, thick, grass is such an addition to the patchy lame grass that was there before.

Yard towards driveway (notice seby & zane).

The Obama sign made it. Brad (the landscaper) told me it fell apart when he removed it for laying the sod. He left it on our front steps and SOMEONE fixed it and put it in the grass. Brad thought I did it, I thought Brad did it. Maybe it was the electrician (who is still trying to figure out how to make our old doorbell work!) who fixed the sign. He has a van that is covered with spraypainting of anti-war stuff. This is the front of yard also towards driveway.

This is the other side towards the apartments and our row of trees.

And here is the driveway. Second time we've laid down new sod there.

Now we are supposed to start a little project of tearing off part of our flat roof to repair it and add railings to the make it a USABLE roof deck. That is also where we plan to grow our vegies next year. Slade has been on vegie duty this past summer and his crops both here and at the lake house yielded some yummy tomatoes, and many herbs. Zane discovered basil this year and loves to pick it and eat it. But he thinks it is best with some of daddies tomatoes and some yummy "marble" cheese.

Here is the back patio, notice the new gate going out to the alley (or as Erika calls it , the lane-way) - it had a deadbolt with key entry on both sides. We will get it painted when we do the front fencing this fall. Also notice two new arborvitae's - the previous ones were not happy. We are eager for the evergreen screen to grow in and block the apartment building.

The fountain is looking lovely with all the greenery growing behind it. We added some plants and a fish to the fountain this year. It stops Slade from putting chlorine in the water! I actually like the green algae growth in the fountain, it makes it look old to me. Slade does not feel the same way. The plants and fish are supposed to help keep it from growing like mad.

Here is the shed and parking pad. We had the basketball hoop sunk into the ground - as opposed to the space-taking-up-base we had before. The pool we bought last year at Target. It came out late this summer - two weeks ago. I have been parking on the side street so we have more play area around the pool.

Here is the yard and playhouse. Just last week the whole yard was torn up with trenches this way and that (for the irrigation).

Ok, are you happy now? Enough pictures?

Back to school

2008-08-26T08:11:00.002-05:00

Here are Graham & Cody off to their first day of classes at Minnehaha Academy.

Yesterday Graham attended an all-day freshman retreat (9am-7pm!).

They are both very excited about getting back to school.

Next week Seby and Zane both start. The air is feeling a little chilly in the morning - as if we are about to have another change in the weather! I'm not quite ready for the weather change - hopefully it will go slowly.

The sod is finished.

2008-08-19T14:38:00.001-05:00

the sod is in, the water is on

The sod!

2008-08-19T11:29:00.002-05:00

BEFORE

AFTER

The sod is going in! I can't stay away from the front windows to watch it go from brown to green!

I've been working on this fundraiser - which is supposed to be this Thursday night! But it might not happen. Too little ticket sales. I forgot how much work these events are.

More yard pics when they finish - I can't wait to see the irrigation system running with all the grass in!

Seby is at an away YMCA camp this week and it is amazing the different dynamics between the kids. Zane is not fighting.

Must get back to "work" and help Cody, Graham & Zane out the door. They are going to walk over to the Minneapolis Institute of Art for a little visit and lunch. Soon there will be no noise, except all the workmen laying down the sod!

The Yard ... can you believe it STILL isn't done?????

2008-08-18T10:57:00.003-05:00

They are putting down the mulch today and I had to get some pics so that I can remember where all the soaker hoses are in the beds. This path we made out of some of the old marble that was left in the basement - it looks like it was the hold marble from the kitchen. Luckily our contractor kept telling me not to throw it out.

We might get the sod today too. That would be too awesome. It is great having all the irrigation in. Next I am going to plan planting bulbs for the fall.

A friend from the past and lost

2008-08-16T22:32:00.002-05:00

A friend from long ago has past away. She had a heart attack and died. The sweetness of it is that she was a woman who lived every single day, truly, lovely, llved. At least when I knew her, oh so many years ago. My friend who told me about it said, "I'll always remember her cackle." And the flood of memories of hearing that cackle were quite amazing. So, Patti - tonight, I salute you and all that you were, and I honor all the many friends we had in common oh so many years ago.

I have to remember the first time I interviewed at Jack Morton - I took a typing test in the room that I think was the room that Dough & Patti wrote in. I took the typing test and Patti took the test when I was finished and brought it to whoever I was being interviewed by (Gil?), ripped it in a few pieces and said "She did great." Well, regardless I got the job and I always thought you were just so amazing. Down to earth, yet on the cutting edge. Quite the combo.

I know a lot of people are talking and thinking of you tonight in Chicago. I join their thoughts.

The days are whizzing by.....

2008-08-12T23:44:00.005-05:00

We cancelled our trip to California - I can't even begin to go into it. The thing I'm most annoyed about is realizing how difficult the hiking would of been for me. I tend to ignore my MS symptoms. There are really too many of them and it is quite a downer to focus on it - so my strategy has been to not even think about them.

Slade brought up this point with me recently and I really had to admit that there are more symptoms going on and I should maybe consult a doctor about it. I stopped going to my Neurologist after I took myself off the meds a year and a half ago. I really meant to find another doc - I just haven't even really tried.

So now I'm on the look for an alternative doc who works with MS, should be interesting to see what I turn up.

Because Slade was set to take some time off we took some of the time and went up the lake house. It was really wonderful to be just us there. Watching the boys interact was lovely. With friends and family up they tend not to connect as much. Seby thinks that Cody is a God and he had many days of being attached to his hip. Cody took him ATVing and shot the bow & arrow with him. Seby was loving it.

We played poker almost every night and this year Zane has started to play! He finally agreed to play a hand! Cody spent quite a long time going over the many, many rules of poker. It was amazing to watch Zane listen and figure it out. He got pretty bored with our Texas Hold-Em Tournament the last night - but he did finally pick it up!

Seby & Zane caught a big fish, but it got away -- really!

Here is the video so Seby can explain it.

And here is really the best pic I could get of the thing - see it in the top right corner, part of it, kind of?

visitor's from near and far...

2008-07-29T00:33:00.003-05:00

slade's sister's kids - livia (12) and rose (7) spent the week back in minneapolis following the holiday - along with ann (slade's mom). she and i held down the ship of our crew of 6, as slade had a trip to new york for most of that week. maud and lucas had spent the week at the lake house and arrive in Mlsp friday evening, the next day ann left and clip clop & papa arrived. luckily they were able to cross paths and spend together. we all went to the minneapolis institute of art - which is in walking distance to the house.

here livia, rose, seby & zane are playing battle ship.

rose at the waldorf summer camp she went to.

zane back from his day camp.

after the being at the lake house for 4th of july we have had many visitors.

here clip clop reads to zane & rose.

seby at is soccer game.

it was wonderful to spend some time with livia & rose and get to know them better. they are both such sweet girls. and it they did not bring a screaming girl vibe to the house - they just fit in. it was lovely. it was also great to have ann at my side to get these kids to and from camp, and squeeze in going out to lunch every day! and there many ice creams runs.

my parents also arrived for a quick visit. it was great to have them around for some time with ann, lucas, maud, livia & rose. it was also great to have some time just with them. we really appreciate the expense and time to drive out here in that huge rig. we wish you could stay longer next time.

Friends from out of town

2008-07-28T23:00:00.005-05:00

here are some pics from our weekend with the siegel's & the theer's.

friday late in the day the women folk and chilins got together at the begley's for dinner. jj was also on hand! slade arrived and soon after were ken & tim.

we had a blast hanging out with our old friends!

saturday night we hosted the gang at our place.

we showed off the famous spoon & cherry, the stone arch bridge (with views of the I35W bridge rebuild). we also had a blast attending some of the local farmer's markets that we have never been to! janette and i stole some time and did some girl shopping/looking. neither one of us felt the desire to buy anything - but fun looking at some different shops in the neighborhood.

this shot from the stone arch bridge shows the new guthrie in the distance.

we had a blast having our dear friends over for some time in our new home - priceless!