Some recent quotes from the little pickles:
CL, with the characteristic white upper lip: "Yook, I have a milkstache!"
ME "reading" a book about vehicles: "A spacer flies in a space shovel."
CL, singing: "The monkey thought alllll fun, pop goes the Liesl!"
ME trying to get a grasp of tenses for irregular verbs: "Mommy brought... she brought... she bringed the ball to me!"
CL: "Mommy, are you making apemeal for bweakfast? Mmmmmmm, sminnanim!"
ME: "Mommy, I'm very brave of thunder." [as opposed to "scared of," of course]
This is such a fun stage for language. I only wish I'd written down half the funny things they say.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Mother's Helper: Books on Tape
It's like TV, just without the brains-to-mush thing.
They would sit like this for hours if I let them. (or at least Miriam would -- Katie's too busy to hold still for long. I actually had to wait a couple minutes before she held still long enough for me to get this shot) And of course, their brains being the sponges they are, they're soaking up everything. Occasionally I'll hear a little voice saying, "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smew bwood of a Engismun!"
Maybe we should get tape recordings of the Summa or Shakespeare or something.
They would sit like this for hours if I let them. (or at least Miriam would -- Katie's too busy to hold still for long. I actually had to wait a couple minutes before she held still long enough for me to get this shot) And of course, their brains being the sponges they are, they're soaking up everything. Occasionally I'll hear a little voice saying, "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smew bwood of a Engismun!"Maybe we should get tape recordings of the Summa or Shakespeare or something.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Our baby's growing up!
(caveat lector: non-parents may want to skip this one)
Yup, it's that time for Katie: that special time of a child's life when the parents are desperate to get them OUT OF DIAPERS ALREADY!!!! (ahem)
As you can see from her sticker collection, it's been quite a success. The collection should be even larger, but the Pickle Parents have been rather lax. The process has actually been kind of funny (in retrospect, of course). Katie was VERY attached to her diapers and was extremely reluctant to give them up. They were like a security blanket for her bottom. She was NOT interested in her brand new, pink, froofy, Big Girl Pants. The difference between our two girls has been amusing. Miriam, you may remember, was willing to walk across hot coals, or at least sit on the potty -- for her the same thing -- to wear her new big girl undies. Katie, on the other hand, was perfectly happy sitting on the pot but wanted nothing to do with the undies. I guess it just goes to show that you have to reinvent the wheel with each child!
I could tell that Katie was ready for toilet training -- she was just lazy. It was much easier to stand in the middle of the living room and play with her puzzle than to stop whatever fun thing she was doing and sit on a toilet and wait until something happened. I went through a lot of parental tricks before I finally found a system of bribery that worked.
We tried talking up the idea of what a big girl she would be if she could use the potty like her big sis, but that didn't seem to hold any attraction for her. She was perfectly happy sitting and reading a stack of books, but she never did anything. She always waited until 2 minutes after we put her diaper back on.
So, we tried Big Girl Pants. She pitched a fit when I suggested putting them on. She flung herself on the floor (her favorite protest position) and begged, with passionate tears, to have her diaper put back on. I told her that if she went to the bathroom, she could have her diaper put back on. (For Miriam, I would threaten to put a diaper back on her if she had an accident.) I think that worked maybe once.
Then I tried leaving off the undies, and just putting a pair of bloomers on her. I mopped up 2 puddles before I gave that up.
Next, I tried putting plastic pants on her to contain any potential mess (we DO have wall-to-wall carpeting, after all) but left the diaper off so she could feel if she had an accident. She happily walked around with a puddle in her plastic pants.
Finally I realized that any sensation of elastic around her middle felt too much like a diaper, so I just took her diaper off and refused to put it back on, and let her run around naked from the waist down (well, under her dresses). She was NOT happy with this, but Mommy was adamant. I decided it was going to be One of Those Things That We Do Regardless of How We Feel About It, like brushing teeth, or going back to bed at 5 am, or letting Mommy buckle her car seat. This worked for a while -- she didn't like making messes on the floor and so was more willing to try to use the potty since Mommy was being so mean about it. But then she decided it really wasn't worth the trouble and I started mopping up puddles again.
FINALLY I resorted to the big guns: what every girl would do ANYTHING for:
a big bowl of chocolate. sitting on top of the toilet. available to any little girl who successfully used the potty.
Wow, did that work.
I really don't understand people who say you shouldn't use bribery to get your child to do something they should be doing anyway. Obviously these people never actually had children.
Long story short, Katie is now officially a big girl, happily wearing big girl pants, and using the potty regularly without any coaxing, reminding, pleading, bribing, or any other form of parental intervention. She'll be playing in the living room, and then I'll hear a little voice singing in the bathroom, and then, "Mom! Mooooooom!" We've long exhausted the supply of chocolate (it would have lasted longer if someone who shall remain nameless didn't keep dipping her hand in the bowl from time to time), and even the application of Dora stickers has lost its appeal (I've still got 3 sheets left!); but very often after a success Katie will say, "My so pwoud of mysewf!" She'll be in diapers at night & naptime for a while yet, but still, this is a huge deal!
*sniff* She's not our baby anymore...
Yup, it's that time for Katie: that special time of a child's life when the parents are desperate to get them OUT OF DIAPERS ALREADY!!!! (ahem)
As you can see from her sticker collection, it's been quite a success. The collection should be even larger, but the Pickle Parents have been rather lax. The process has actually been kind of funny (in retrospect, of course). Katie was VERY attached to her diapers and was extremely reluctant to give them up. They were like a security blanket for her bottom. She was NOT interested in her brand new, pink, froofy, Big Girl Pants. The difference between our two girls has been amusing. Miriam, you may remember, was willing to walk across hot coals, or at least sit on the potty -- for her the same thing -- to wear her new big girl undies. Katie, on the other hand, was perfectly happy sitting on the pot but wanted nothing to do with the undies. I guess it just goes to show that you have to reinvent the wheel with each child!I could tell that Katie was ready for toilet training -- she was just lazy. It was much easier to stand in the middle of the living room and play with her puzzle than to stop whatever fun thing she was doing and sit on a toilet and wait until something happened. I went through a lot of parental tricks before I finally found a system of bribery that worked.
We tried talking up the idea of what a big girl she would be if she could use the potty like her big sis, but that didn't seem to hold any attraction for her. She was perfectly happy sitting and reading a stack of books, but she never did anything. She always waited until 2 minutes after we put her diaper back on.
So, we tried Big Girl Pants. She pitched a fit when I suggested putting them on. She flung herself on the floor (her favorite protest position) and begged, with passionate tears, to have her diaper put back on. I told her that if she went to the bathroom, she could have her diaper put back on. (For Miriam, I would threaten to put a diaper back on her if she had an accident.) I think that worked maybe once.
Then I tried leaving off the undies, and just putting a pair of bloomers on her. I mopped up 2 puddles before I gave that up.
Next, I tried putting plastic pants on her to contain any potential mess (we DO have wall-to-wall carpeting, after all) but left the diaper off so she could feel if she had an accident. She happily walked around with a puddle in her plastic pants.
Finally I realized that any sensation of elastic around her middle felt too much like a diaper, so I just took her diaper off and refused to put it back on, and let her run around naked from the waist down (well, under her dresses). She was NOT happy with this, but Mommy was adamant. I decided it was going to be One of Those Things That We Do Regardless of How We Feel About It, like brushing teeth, or going back to bed at 5 am, or letting Mommy buckle her car seat. This worked for a while -- she didn't like making messes on the floor and so was more willing to try to use the potty since Mommy was being so mean about it. But then she decided it really wasn't worth the trouble and I started mopping up puddles again.
FINALLY I resorted to the big guns: what every girl would do ANYTHING for:
a big bowl of chocolate. sitting on top of the toilet. available to any little girl who successfully used the potty.
Wow, did that work.
I really don't understand people who say you shouldn't use bribery to get your child to do something they should be doing anyway. Obviously these people never actually had children.
Long story short, Katie is now officially a big girl, happily wearing big girl pants, and using the potty regularly without any coaxing, reminding, pleading, bribing, or any other form of parental intervention. She'll be playing in the living room, and then I'll hear a little voice singing in the bathroom, and then, "Mom! Mooooooom!" We've long exhausted the supply of chocolate (it would have lasted longer if someone who shall remain nameless didn't keep dipping her hand in the bowl from time to time), and even the application of Dora stickers has lost its appeal (I've still got 3 sheets left!); but very often after a success Katie will say, "My so pwoud of mysewf!" She'll be in diapers at night & naptime for a while yet, but still, this is a huge deal!
*sniff* She's not our baby anymore...
I think my bread machine is trying to tell me something
...something along the lines of "Get off your lazy butt and make some bread by hand already!!!"So... anybody have any suggestions for what to do with a crumbly brick of otherwise delicious bread?
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Random Photo Dump
All the pictures from the last couple months I haven't gotten around to posting yet (because, you know, life intervened and stuff).
First of all, I think this is the main reason for any illness we may have suffered in the last several weeks:
early March:
(I was charmed by the cute little bird tracks in the snow -- they're hard to see until you zoom in.)
four days later:
----------
Any day we have nice weather I make sure to let the girls play outside.
"painting" the railing
playing "walking the dog"
----------
dutifully writing thank-you notes
One of the party favors I got for Miriam's party was a sticky note pad for each girl with her initial, along with a girly, froofy pen (seen above). Soon after her party Miriam set to and had fun with her pad. Each of the M's has her name written on it. Of course, when Paul came over, a couple swipes of his arm did away with about 2/3 of them, and I did away with the rest soon after, when I had reached the end of my tolerance for picking them up one by one as I found them on the floor every time I passed that wall.
----------
Miriam's winter garden
----------
Okay, now I feel all virtuously caught up. :)
First of all, I think this is the main reason for any illness we may have suffered in the last several weeks:
early March:
(I was charmed by the cute little bird tracks in the snow -- they're hard to see until you zoom in.)four days later:
----------Any day we have nice weather I make sure to let the girls play outside.
"painting" the railing
playing "walking the dog"----------
dutifully writing thank-you notes
One of the party favors I got for Miriam's party was a sticky note pad for each girl with her initial, along with a girly, froofy pen (seen above). Soon after her party Miriam set to and had fun with her pad. Each of the M's has her name written on it. Of course, when Paul came over, a couple swipes of his arm did away with about 2/3 of them, and I did away with the rest soon after, when I had reached the end of my tolerance for picking them up one by one as I found them on the floor every time I passed that wall.----------
Miriam's winter garden----------
Okay, now I feel all virtuously caught up. :)
Green Besprings the Ohio Valley
Another reason my spirits have been raised is that we also just got back from a FABULOUS family weekend. Nothing like family to make you feel better. Miriam had been literally counting down the days until she got to see her cousin Edy again. Everywhere we went she would tell perfect strangers (from whom she would normally hide behind me, with her finger in her mouth) how long until she would see Edy. A couple days before the trip, I asked her if I would see her at all during the weekend, or if she was going to spend the WHOLE time with Edy. She looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then said, "Well, in the morning when I wake up we can have suggle time, and then the rest of the day I'll play with Edy, okay?" When it came to the weekend, I don't think we even got the suggle time.
The trip out was gloriously uneventful. It was interesting seeing how blessed we are in that spring had already sort of started to think about coming by us, while in the mountain passes and further west it was still late winter.
We saw lots of patches of snow like this.
We stopped at our traditional half-way stopping point in Middle-of-Nowhere, MD (route 68, exit 34), because that's where the Burger King with the Play Tower is.
Whee!
The Bear sporting her cute new 'do.
Hey! Help me up here!
I've been meaning to take a picture of this sticker on the door for years. For some reason it really cracks me up.
The girls' socks are always black when we leave, so I try not to think about the years' worth of grime and germs that are encrusted inside. I made sure to change their socks and give them a generous helping of hand sanitizer before they got in the car again. But it was worth it! They get to climb and run around and stretch their legs and generally get all tired out for 30 minutes, and are then more willing to be strapped back into their prison- I mean, carseats. They were very good in the car. I was extremely prepared and packed all kinds of things to entertain them. They read all the books while waiting for Daddy to lock up the house, before we even turned the car on, and then proceeded to sing songs and/or sleep and/or stare out the window for the next 6 hours. As I said, they were very good. The trip back was another story... I had my traditional returning-home headache, Katie was cranky but wouldn't take more than a 30 minute nap, and she kept throwing things on the floor and then tantruming b/c she couldn't reach them (and I sure as heck wasn't going to keep picking them up). At least Miriam slept for a good long chunk of time, but when she woke up her neck hurt and SHE was cranky -- as we crossed the bridge over the Potomac into Virigina, both girls were sobbing. Looking back now, it's funny. Mr. Pickles was very silent the whole way back. Poor man, I can't blame him, being in the car with three cranky and emotional females! But we made it back alive, and in good time. (unlike the year when I was pregnant with Katie and a 5.5 hr trip turned into an 8-hr trip b/c some part of Katie's anatomy was pressed directly on my bladder whenever I sat in a car, so I had to pee about 1/2 tsp. every 30 minutes... ah, the memories!) :)
"My NOT tired."
Anyway, while we were there the weather couldn't have been more gorgeous. It was the first truly warm, sunny weekend we'd seen this year, so we made the most of it and spent almost every waking moment outside. There was a little park right across the street from Edy's house. Miriam's cheeks got very pink. Katie just got browner.
The day we arrived was Aunt Katie's senior prom. We got to go over and see her all dolled up.
Aunt Rachel (looking beautiful and blooming in her pregnancy!) helped touch up her hair. I wish I had got a better picture of it. It was an elegant french twist with diamond (or pearl or something white and sparkly) combs tucked into it.
Ah, to look 18 again! I thought she looked like an empress.
(don't you love her teal walls?)
Aside from hardly seeing Miriam, I hardly saw her in her regular clothes when we were at Aunt Terri's house. She and Edy raided the dress-up box (which contains many of Aunt Katie's old dance costumes) almost as soon as we walked in the door.
After Aunt Katie left with her date, Edy and Miriam played "going to the prom". (As you can see, Edy kept with the red theme, while Miriam stuck to the empress theme.) Since I didn't have a prom -- just a family dance -- I was never exposed to the weeks and months of agonizing and planning and fussing and all that go into it. I went to a couple formals in college, but they didn't mean as much as a senior high school prom does (well, aside from the formal Mr. Pickles and I went to that made him finally fall in love with me). :) My only real exposure to prom was the hype perpetrated by Seventeen magazine and other such intellectual periodicals, so naturally I felt disdain and superiority towards such adolescent ostentations of frippery (not in so many words, of course). It was very eye-opening for me to see my cousin whom I love dearly and admire so much to prepare for what was expected to be a fun evening with her friends, all dressed to the nines. I saw the senior prom as what it's meant to be: a kind of modern equivalent of the coming-out ball. (Of course, it's unfortunate that many senior proms end with the participants doing very immature and irresponsible things. But Aunt Katie has classy friends.) And they did have a good time. I was very proud of her. I saw pictures of some of the other girls, and they all looked gorgeous, but Katie looked STUNNING, in an Audrey Hepburn way. And that's an objective opinion, of course. :)
The main reason we drove out in the first place was to see Nana, my maternal grandmother. We hadn't seen her since last summer, and just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see her again, since she was so close! She was so jazzed that she got to see all 6 of her great-grandchildren in one week!
Katie enjoying some quality time with Nana. They played "hide the car in the Easter egg" about 1,003 times. Only a grandparent could be that patient! :)
The Bobbsey twins. Both their grandmothers keep them well-supplied with matching outfits.
Four generations! Uncle Phil, Edy, Great-Aunt Terri, and Nana.
Attempting to get Maximus the Heir to hold still for a picture.
That's better!
Don't you just want to love him up?
Uncle Jim has the PERFECT climbing tree in the front yard. The kids (and Birthday Bear) spent a lot of time in it.
Sunday afternoon we went to a great park that Aunt Rachel knew about. You could spend about a week there and the kids would never be bored.
I cannot convey how excited Katie was to find a big girl swing that she could swing on ALL BY HERSELF!!!
Miriam and the Poke Machine. There was much debate all weekend over who was the silliest in the family: Uncle Jim (above), or Uncle Paul.
Aunt Terri on double swing duty with her two grandkids.
Big Sister pushing Little Sister. This was a cool swing -- it was supposed to be the digging bucket of a giant wooden backhoe. The Big Girl Swing above was attached to the shovel, and there was a slide coming out the driver's cabin.
All together now: "Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height, let's go fly a kite and send it soaring until the wind unexpectedly dies down and you feel slightly foolish repeatedly throwing a kite up in the air only to have it crash down on your head..." (okay, maybe I made that last part up)
six monkeys on a pirate ship :)
Okay, I admit this one is just pure gratuitous cuteness.
What, me? Terrible Two? How can someone with this face EVER be naughty? (Warning: when Irish eyes are smiling...)
While there we acquired a new addiction (after Final Fantasy and Alias): The Office. Since we live in an anti-TV bubble we hadn't seen any episodes, so Phil & Rachel introduced us to the first season. I think Mr. Pickles spent the whole time watching it through his fingers, like it was a horror movie. I'm still laughing thinking about it. It was truly painful. Anyone who works in an office environment needs to see the show, if for no other reason than to make him feel grateful to be at his current job. I added season 2 to our Blockbuster Online queue.
Sigh, we had such a fabulous weekend. It's always hard leaving family and coming back home. I wish we could have stayed longer -- I felt like I hardly had enough time to talk with everyone. But I'm so glad we were able to make the trip. I'm also glad Edy and Miriam are such good friends. As soon as we got back home, Miriam asked when she was going to see Edy again. Thanks to Nana for laying the foundation for such a close family!
The trip out was gloriously uneventful. It was interesting seeing how blessed we are in that spring had already sort of started to think about coming by us, while in the mountain passes and further west it was still late winter.
We saw lots of patches of snow like this.We stopped at our traditional half-way stopping point in Middle-of-Nowhere, MD (route 68, exit 34), because that's where the Burger King with the Play Tower is.
Whee!
The Bear sporting her cute new 'do.
Hey! Help me up here!
I've been meaning to take a picture of this sticker on the door for years. For some reason it really cracks me up.The girls' socks are always black when we leave, so I try not to think about the years' worth of grime and germs that are encrusted inside. I made sure to change their socks and give them a generous helping of hand sanitizer before they got in the car again. But it was worth it! They get to climb and run around and stretch their legs and generally get all tired out for 30 minutes, and are then more willing to be strapped back into their prison- I mean, carseats. They were very good in the car. I was extremely prepared and packed all kinds of things to entertain them. They read all the books while waiting for Daddy to lock up the house, before we even turned the car on, and then proceeded to sing songs and/or sleep and/or stare out the window for the next 6 hours. As I said, they were very good. The trip back was another story... I had my traditional returning-home headache, Katie was cranky but wouldn't take more than a 30 minute nap, and she kept throwing things on the floor and then tantruming b/c she couldn't reach them (and I sure as heck wasn't going to keep picking them up). At least Miriam slept for a good long chunk of time, but when she woke up her neck hurt and SHE was cranky -- as we crossed the bridge over the Potomac into Virigina, both girls were sobbing. Looking back now, it's funny. Mr. Pickles was very silent the whole way back. Poor man, I can't blame him, being in the car with three cranky and emotional females! But we made it back alive, and in good time. (unlike the year when I was pregnant with Katie and a 5.5 hr trip turned into an 8-hr trip b/c some part of Katie's anatomy was pressed directly on my bladder whenever I sat in a car, so I had to pee about 1/2 tsp. every 30 minutes... ah, the memories!) :)
"My NOT tired."Anyway, while we were there the weather couldn't have been more gorgeous. It was the first truly warm, sunny weekend we'd seen this year, so we made the most of it and spent almost every waking moment outside. There was a little park right across the street from Edy's house. Miriam's cheeks got very pink. Katie just got browner.
The day we arrived was Aunt Katie's senior prom. We got to go over and see her all dolled up.
Aunt Rachel (looking beautiful and blooming in her pregnancy!) helped touch up her hair. I wish I had got a better picture of it. It was an elegant french twist with diamond (or pearl or something white and sparkly) combs tucked into it.
Ah, to look 18 again! I thought she looked like an empress.(don't you love her teal walls?)
Aside from hardly seeing Miriam, I hardly saw her in her regular clothes when we were at Aunt Terri's house. She and Edy raided the dress-up box (which contains many of Aunt Katie's old dance costumes) almost as soon as we walked in the door.
After Aunt Katie left with her date, Edy and Miriam played "going to the prom". (As you can see, Edy kept with the red theme, while Miriam stuck to the empress theme.) Since I didn't have a prom -- just a family dance -- I was never exposed to the weeks and months of agonizing and planning and fussing and all that go into it. I went to a couple formals in college, but they didn't mean as much as a senior high school prom does (well, aside from the formal Mr. Pickles and I went to that made him finally fall in love with me). :) My only real exposure to prom was the hype perpetrated by Seventeen magazine and other such intellectual periodicals, so naturally I felt disdain and superiority towards such adolescent ostentations of frippery (not in so many words, of course). It was very eye-opening for me to see my cousin whom I love dearly and admire so much to prepare for what was expected to be a fun evening with her friends, all dressed to the nines. I saw the senior prom as what it's meant to be: a kind of modern equivalent of the coming-out ball. (Of course, it's unfortunate that many senior proms end with the participants doing very immature and irresponsible things. But Aunt Katie has classy friends.) And they did have a good time. I was very proud of her. I saw pictures of some of the other girls, and they all looked gorgeous, but Katie looked STUNNING, in an Audrey Hepburn way. And that's an objective opinion, of course. :)The main reason we drove out in the first place was to see Nana, my maternal grandmother. We hadn't seen her since last summer, and just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see her again, since she was so close! She was so jazzed that she got to see all 6 of her great-grandchildren in one week!
Katie enjoying some quality time with Nana. They played "hide the car in the Easter egg" about 1,003 times. Only a grandparent could be that patient! :)
The Bobbsey twins. Both their grandmothers keep them well-supplied with matching outfits.
Four generations! Uncle Phil, Edy, Great-Aunt Terri, and Nana.
Attempting to get Maximus the Heir to hold still for a picture.
That's better!
Don't you just want to love him up?
Uncle Jim has the PERFECT climbing tree in the front yard. The kids (and Birthday Bear) spent a lot of time in it.Sunday afternoon we went to a great park that Aunt Rachel knew about. You could spend about a week there and the kids would never be bored.
I cannot convey how excited Katie was to find a big girl swing that she could swing on ALL BY HERSELF!!!
Miriam and the Poke Machine. There was much debate all weekend over who was the silliest in the family: Uncle Jim (above), or Uncle Paul.
Aunt Terri on double swing duty with her two grandkids.
Big Sister pushing Little Sister. This was a cool swing -- it was supposed to be the digging bucket of a giant wooden backhoe. The Big Girl Swing above was attached to the shovel, and there was a slide coming out the driver's cabin.
All together now: "Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height, let's go fly a kite and send it soaring until the wind unexpectedly dies down and you feel slightly foolish repeatedly throwing a kite up in the air only to have it crash down on your head..." (okay, maybe I made that last part up)
six monkeys on a pirate ship :)
Okay, I admit this one is just pure gratuitous cuteness.
What, me? Terrible Two? How can someone with this face EVER be naughty? (Warning: when Irish eyes are smiling...)While there we acquired a new addiction (after Final Fantasy and Alias): The Office. Since we live in an anti-TV bubble we hadn't seen any episodes, so Phil & Rachel introduced us to the first season. I think Mr. Pickles spent the whole time watching it through his fingers, like it was a horror movie. I'm still laughing thinking about it. It was truly painful. Anyone who works in an office environment needs to see the show, if for no other reason than to make him feel grateful to be at his current job. I added season 2 to our Blockbuster Online queue.
Sigh, we had such a fabulous weekend. It's always hard leaving family and coming back home. I wish we could have stayed longer -- I felt like I hardly had enough time to talk with everyone. But I'm so glad we were able to make the trip. I'm also glad Edy and Miriam are such good friends. As soon as we got back home, Miriam asked when she was going to see Edy again. Thanks to Nana for laying the foundation for such a close family!
ALLELUIA!!!
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Ps. 30:5)
Yes! It's true! The trees are actually growing LEAVES! Hope at last! :)
Okay, now I feel like it's REALLY Easter. We just did a whole bunch of yardwork today, along with the rest of Northern Virginia, I imagine -- I must have heard about 20 other lawnmowers running this morning! We mowed, weeded, trimmed, raked, dug, planted, watered, and got muddy. It was gorgeous weather -- you couldn't ask for better yard work weather -- and now it's supposed to rain again and water all my newly planted seeds (daisies, poppies, sunflowers, four o'clocks, and some undetermined "spring mix"). I feel so virtuous and productive (even though I was up until 2am watching Alias last night, and Mr. Pickles let me sleep in until 9 this morning, bless him...). :)
Our back lawn is resplendent with dandelions and violets. Dey so pwetty!
Hunting for worms...
...and finding them!
showing her treasure to Daddy
Ook, Mommy, it's a snake!
(Can I just say how amazed I am that they're not totally grossed out by these cold, wiggly, slimy things? And that they fight over whose turn it is to hold one?)
"I'm going to hold this worm so it can be happy and have a friend!"
Our happy home in its spring glory. (with our two most precious blossoms by the door)
Yes! It's true! The trees are actually growing LEAVES! Hope at last! :)Okay, now I feel like it's REALLY Easter. We just did a whole bunch of yardwork today, along with the rest of Northern Virginia, I imagine -- I must have heard about 20 other lawnmowers running this morning! We mowed, weeded, trimmed, raked, dug, planted, watered, and got muddy. It was gorgeous weather -- you couldn't ask for better yard work weather -- and now it's supposed to rain again and water all my newly planted seeds (daisies, poppies, sunflowers, four o'clocks, and some undetermined "spring mix"). I feel so virtuous and productive (even though I was up until 2am watching Alias last night, and Mr. Pickles let me sleep in until 9 this morning, bless him...). :)
Our back lawn is resplendent with dandelions and violets. Dey so pwetty!
Hunting for worms...
...and finding them!
showing her treasure to Daddy
Ook, Mommy, it's a snake!(Can I just say how amazed I am that they're not totally grossed out by these cold, wiggly, slimy things? And that they fight over whose turn it is to hold one?)
"I'm going to hold this worm so it can be happy and have a friend!"
Our happy home in its spring glory. (with our two most precious blossoms by the door)
Friday, April 27, 2007
Easter Awakenings
We've finally returned from our trips. Mrs. P. has been very busy this week, and she was gone 3 of the 4 nights we've been home this week. She's gone again tonight. Tonight she's with a bunch of other mothers for a Mom's Night Out--talking shop. I think this event is something like this (watch the first 1:10, then skip to 4:20). Being the wild man that I am I decided spend some time blogging this evening. Since we haven't said a lot about Easter, I decided to share a few anecdotes from the Easter Triduum.
For the past 4 years Genevieve sang in the parish choir. The demands for choir are grueling: 10 mile jog in the morning, voice calisthenics 3 times a day, your first born child is delivered to the director, and--most difficult of all--you must go to all of the major liturgies during Easter Triduum. This meant that she attended Mass on Holy Thursday, 2 services on Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and high mass on Easter Sunday. While she was in choir I'd attend Holy Thursday if possible (typically did), Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. I hadn't been to an Easter Vigil since my days at FUS, and I have been wanting to attend one for awhile.
This year, Mrs. P and I independently decided that we'd love to go to all of the services as a family--including the Easter Vigil. Even though our girls sometimes turn into werewolves after 9:00 p.m.--even without a full moon--we decided we'd do it regardless of their behavior. Since she isn't singing in the choir this year, we could do it. (I wouldn't do it if I was alone with the girls.) It was worth it--for the celebration as well as the girls' reactions.
It all started on Palm Sunday. We've always had really good priests at our parish. They've all been liturgically sensitive, and this year (with a new pastor) was no exception. On Palm Sunday all of the statues in the parish were covered with purple cloth. Both of our girls immediately took notice and started asking questions. We told them that the Saints are a sign of the Resurrection, and the Saints are "hiding" right now and waiting for Jesus' resurrection. This awakening continued with the other liturgies. They noticed the empty holy water fonts on Good Friday. They noticed the garments the priests wore. They noticed the silence (no music until Easter Sunday). They noticed the wood blocks that were struck in place of bells during the consecration. They noticed that the candle near the tabernacle was not lit, and therefore Jesus was "not home." In short, everything was different, and for brief moments during the liturgies their usual little worlds stopped moving while they breathed in all the messages that liturgy is meant to speak.
On Easter Vigil everything had changed again. The purple cloth was pulled off the statues, and Katie's mouth hung open in awe and joy as she proclaimed, "They're not hiding anymore!" (I truly wish I could adequately describe her expression. It was priceless!) Katie was exhausted, but she sat up to witness a whole family being baptized. Miriam's eyes grew wide when she heard singing during the Gloria and bells during the consecration, and she looked at the tabernacle again after Mass to notice the candle--and to remark that Jesus was back. Miriam summed up the whole celebration with these final words after the Easter Vigil--"Mommy, Jesus is risen!"
With each passing year I get more out of the Easter liturgies, but this year was an awakening for all of us. It was truly a joy to see how much Miriam and Katie noticed. I realized again how alive their little minds are, and how they notice so much. I pray that the Easter liturgies won't become another routine for them. This year we took those moments as teaching moments--a time to explain what everything meant. I pray that Mrs. P and I can continue to keep that wonder alive each year, and that we will have greater wonder each year during this holy season.
For the past 4 years Genevieve sang in the parish choir. The demands for choir are grueling: 10 mile jog in the morning, voice calisthenics 3 times a day, your first born child is delivered to the director, and--most difficult of all--you must go to all of the major liturgies during Easter Triduum. This meant that she attended Mass on Holy Thursday, 2 services on Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and high mass on Easter Sunday. While she was in choir I'd attend Holy Thursday if possible (typically did), Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. I hadn't been to an Easter Vigil since my days at FUS, and I have been wanting to attend one for awhile.
This year, Mrs. P and I independently decided that we'd love to go to all of the services as a family--including the Easter Vigil. Even though our girls sometimes turn into werewolves after 9:00 p.m.--even without a full moon--we decided we'd do it regardless of their behavior. Since she isn't singing in the choir this year, we could do it. (I wouldn't do it if I was alone with the girls.) It was worth it--for the celebration as well as the girls' reactions.
It all started on Palm Sunday. We've always had really good priests at our parish. They've all been liturgically sensitive, and this year (with a new pastor) was no exception. On Palm Sunday all of the statues in the parish were covered with purple cloth. Both of our girls immediately took notice and started asking questions. We told them that the Saints are a sign of the Resurrection, and the Saints are "hiding" right now and waiting for Jesus' resurrection. This awakening continued with the other liturgies. They noticed the empty holy water fonts on Good Friday. They noticed the garments the priests wore. They noticed the silence (no music until Easter Sunday). They noticed the wood blocks that were struck in place of bells during the consecration. They noticed that the candle near the tabernacle was not lit, and therefore Jesus was "not home." In short, everything was different, and for brief moments during the liturgies their usual little worlds stopped moving while they breathed in all the messages that liturgy is meant to speak.
On Easter Vigil everything had changed again. The purple cloth was pulled off the statues, and Katie's mouth hung open in awe and joy as she proclaimed, "They're not hiding anymore!" (I truly wish I could adequately describe her expression. It was priceless!) Katie was exhausted, but she sat up to witness a whole family being baptized. Miriam's eyes grew wide when she heard singing during the Gloria and bells during the consecration, and she looked at the tabernacle again after Mass to notice the candle--and to remark that Jesus was back. Miriam summed up the whole celebration with these final words after the Easter Vigil--"Mommy, Jesus is risen!"
With each passing year I get more out of the Easter liturgies, but this year was an awakening for all of us. It was truly a joy to see how much Miriam and Katie noticed. I realized again how alive their little minds are, and how they notice so much. I pray that the Easter liturgies won't become another routine for them. This year we took those moments as teaching moments--a time to explain what everything meant. I pray that Mrs. P and I can continue to keep that wonder alive each year, and that we will have greater wonder each year during this holy season.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Bleg.
Sorry for the lack of interesting things on this blog. I do have a backlog of good pictures and cutisms and family doings (especially all things Easter-related), but I've been rather stressed out lately and haven't been able to take the time to post anything. So I'll spend this time ranting instead of doing something useful. Naturally.
We all had drippy noses for a while, but it was hard to tell whether it was allergies or a wussy virus. Well, Mr. Pickles actually had to stay in bed for two days -- but he got it the worst of us. The rest of us just used up every single tissue in the entire house. I just bought 9 new boxes to replenish our stock.
I've also been experiencing a difficult situation in a circle of friends, which has commanded most of my computer time. I feel partly responsible for the conflict, which makes it impossible for me to shelve the guilt feelings that have been keeping me from sleeping well lately. What do you do when someone tells you that something happened but she won't tell you what it was and says she doesn't want to talk about it anytime soon? I believe that things will be a little smoother in the immediate future, though. But it's been a difficult week.
As if I didn't already have sleeping problems, I was talking with a neighbor about some unpleasant things she's seen in our neighborhood. It explains the reason we hear police sirens nearby occasionally. And every once in a while I'll see a car along our street with a smashed window. I'm starting to see more graffiti around than when we moved in. I've also heard that the mall where I always take the girls shopping is becoming a hub for gang violence. And then we had that awful day of wind -- I couldn't sleep the night before w/o some white noise to drown it out, b/c I kept thinking of all the horrible things that could happen (I don't sleep when it rains either). That day I heard about the shootings at VA Tech. It made me want to take my family and run away and hide somewhere, in a vain attempt to keep my precious sweet girls safe.
There comes a point, after one has been repeatedly hit on the head with a hammer, wherein one mercifully goes numb. After all of this coming at me within a short time span, I finally accepted the reality (again) that this world is not heaven, and that you're really not safe until you're dead. I need to develop a greater devotion to our family's guardian angels, and trust that God will not let anything happen to us that He wouldn't give us the grace to bear.
I never thought I'd say this, but I'm happy that I'm not pregnant right now. I think that worrying about the possible loss of another baby would have sent me over the edge. It was really hard to wait this month, but I'm glad we did.
And Spring is NEVER going to come! Never! I had to REOPEN my box of packed-away winter clothes last week because it was so freakin' COLD. Winter, it is past time for you to LEAVE. Sweltering summer is going to be here soon, and I'd like to enjoy just a little bit of quality time with everyone's favorite season before I have to melt into my usual summer puddle. I could really use a big dose of sunshine-induced Vitamin D now!!!
So, this explains why we've been neglecting all you beloved family members! We promise to be more dutiful children/siblings/[insert relation here] when our schedule and our sanity return to something more closely resembling normal.
/vent
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