Living It Up on Leap Day

It was rainy and dreary most of the day today and I spent a whole lot of it playing taxi driver. Sometimes I wish I really was a taxi driver because then I could have one of those windows that divides the driver's seat from the back seats. Then I would not have to listen to three children fighting over why it matters who gets into the car first and the lawyer-like arguments for what CD should be playing instead of the one that is currently not being listened to because of all the fighting. The other advantage of being a real taxi driver would be the little meter running on the dash board. Imagine it- pulling up to the YMCA, "Okay The Oldest. Your stop for home school gym. That will be $18.50" Driving on. Stopping in front of preschool, "Have a great day, Little One. You owe me $11.75." Okay, back to the real world, the wet, dreary real world. Our last stop before I could put the Off Duty light on the top of the van was at the library. We had a video to return and upon entering the children's wing, realized today was the very last day of the February half-price movie rental deal. For some reason there is a section of DVDs that you have to pay $2/video to rent for a week. All the other kids' DVDs are free and you get the full two weeks, plus multiple renewals. Well, one week ago today, we happened to see a sign that was covered in hearts and read something like, "February Special: Pink Dot Movies Only $1 for One Week" We had never before paid money to rent a DVD at the library. Something about forking over cash to borrow an item in a place full of free things never sat right with me. But when I saw I could save 50%, there was no holding us back and we took home our first pink dot movie. And again today, thanks to Leap Day, we left the library with a one dollar deal. Hopefully it won't be raining next Wednesday when I have to return it!

The kids are currently downstairs watching their movie. My Husband is at a work meeting somewhere and before I sat down to post this I was eating ice cream and looking at the Where's Waldo book First Grader got at the library. I like sprinkles on my ice cream, but we are out of sprinkles, so I had to use Christmas Nonpareils. But I figured, it's Leap Day, why not live it up!?- Wednesday, February 29.

Speaking of living it up on Leap Day, my Grandma is busy celebrating the 21st birthday of one of her close friends today.

Here is the birthday girl almost four years ago (the delightful lady on the left), visiting us when Little One was just a baby. Her name is Miss Betty and, as you can see from the huge smile on Little One's face, she is a joy to be around. She's the kind of person you look at and think, it won't be so bad getting old if I can be half as fun and full of life as she is. Miss Betty gave herself a trip to Disney World for Christmas and, from what my Grandma says, has been busy planning a rockin' 21st birthday party. I guess when you've waited 84 years to turn 21, you deserve a pretty big celebration- Picture taken Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

Today's Post, Yesterday's Pictures

Home School Co-op today. I took lots of pictures there, but they are almost all of other people's children and not nearly as interesting as the pictures of birds and trees I took yesterday afternoon. So, I'll throw one photo in from today, just to prove I did in fact pick up my camera, but then it's on to yesterday's birds and trees.

Today's new memory work- Tuesday, February 28.

 Bird, tree, and sky- Monday, February 27.

Bird, tree, and sky again. Shift of focus to the bird- Monday, February 27.

 Tree and sky. I like the clouds and light in this one- Monday, February 27.

I think this might be a sparrow of some sort. Not sure. Whoever he is, he was greatly enjoying the last direct rays of the sun- Monday, February 27.

A cheeky little guy. Every time I'd walk around the tree to take a picture of him from the front, he would flit to the next branch and point his backside in my direction- Monday, February 27. 

More trees and sky- Monday, February 27.

 It seems strange to watch the sun begin to sink so early when it is warm enough to be outside in short sleeves. But you won't find me complaining. Well, except for the little bugs that were flying around my head. Little bugs are bad enough in the summer, but in February. Really?! Not cool. Not cool at all- Monday, February 28.

Hair by Little One

Little One went to bed last night with her hair smoothly twisted in three braids. When she climbed into my bed this morning, it looked as though she had first stopped to stick her finger in a light socket on the way. Sometime between bedtime songs and kisses last night and her arising with the first rays of this morning's sun, she had figured out how to completely undo two of her braids. When I asked her what happened to her hair, she looked at me indignantly, like I had offended the master of a great work of art, and told me she couldn't finish it because her arms didn't reach her 'nuther braid. Oh, yes, I thought, it would have looked much better if only you could have reached that 'nuther braid.

Little One with a style all her own, well two-thirds her own- Monday, February 27.

First Grader couldn't pass up the lovely sliver of light I had cornered Little One into for the hair photos- Monday, February 27.

She snuggled down on the hard kitchen floor with blanket and book. I can't blame her, I love warm sunshine streaming in the house. Too bad in our house this only ever occurs in the kitchen. Maybe instead of the island I have been considering, we'll just bring in a big, comfy chair with lots of pillows and blankets- Monday, February 27.

Little One after an emergency comb-out and style, all ready for preschool. I look forward to the day when she can do her own hair, but we'll wait on that for a while. Quite a while, I believe- Monday, February 27.

The Remains of the Day

Upon coming downstairs later than usual, due to three kids who managed to co-ordinate a much needed sleeping in (well, the early riser came snuggling into my bed, early as usual, but actually fell back asleep today), I found the counters to be full of reminders of the nice time we had with our friends over dinner last night. The dishwasher had filled up quickly and we left quite a pile of dishes, rinsed and soaking, awaiting their turn at a wash today.

Even dirty dishes look better in the morning- Sunday, February 26.

My spoon rest greatly enjoyed his overnight swim. He works so hard, he deserved it- Sunday, February 26.

With much homeschool planning to do this afternoon, I picked a sunny spot on the floor by the glass doors. I took advantage of the built-in sundial and packed it up when the warm rays moved on- Sunday, February 26.

The Christian Flag, A Collaborative Effort. Idea by First Grader. Construction by The Oldest. Photo by me- Sunday, February 26.



Getting Groceries

I usually purpose to go grocery shopping all by myself. The biggest reason is that I hate grocery shopping and I avoid it as long as possible, therefore, when I end up having to go to the store because we are all sick of eating bacon bits and pop tarts, my cart is usually so full, I have no room to keep any children with me. That, and I get too distracted trying not to lose anybody that I usually forget half of the things on my list. But today, the fates aligned in such a way that to put off going to the grocery store any longer was not an option. We finished the Sunny D yesterday at breakfast, the last of the Wed. night leftovers at dinner, and are nearly out of ice cream. We also have people coming over for dinner tonight- that's the biggie that put the nail in the coffin. If not for our guests, who believe they will be fed at least a tolerable meal this evening, I think we could have scraped by a few more days. We still had a nice supply of Ramen, about seven of those little carrots, and two whole boxes of Gertrude Hawk White Chocolate Peanut Butter Smidgens. (I got them on an after Christmas sale. Those things are good!) So, since I was down one kid, thanks to an invitation to a friend's house, I decided to throw caution to the wind and set out for groceries with Little One in tow. The whole thing actually went pretty well. I only had to circle back once upon making it to the check out line for the lunch meat and eggs I forgot to pick up the first time through.

Little One at the grocery store. By the time we made it to frozen foods, I just purposed to stop every minute or so to be sure she was still breathing underneath the pile of groceries- Saturday, February 25.

A Threat from Within

I've done most of my blogging today on a post from last week. As promised, I added some pictures from the past (and more commentary than I intended) to the post Now and Then.

The picture today is a scene on top of my relatively new, red dryer, which is still new enough for me to smile a giddy smile every time I do laundry.

This band of ruffians is the ragtag group of prisoners I have captured this week. They have been secretly trying to amass an army in my dryer for as long as I can remember. When I capture one, I quickly place him, and any weapons or supplies, in the small prison I have set up on the washing machine. When the jail (a plastic cup) starts to overflow, I work out a deal with the leader of the group, a young boy who has a bad habit of keeping things in his pockets, for the release of the members of his rebel army. Never a dull moment in the life of a stay-at-home mom- Friday, February 24. 

Trees and Sky

I've mentioned before my love of trees and my affinity for taking pictures of their bare branches in the winter. There are certain trees, in my opinion, that make the best branch against sky sort of pictures. There are also certain skies that help to contribute to such an image. Today I found a really great mix of sky and tree, and much to the chagrin of my children, pulled over to the side of the road just long enough to snap a few pictures.

This is a picture of the top of some billowy clouds right before we started our decent on the plane ride home from Hawaii. Okay, not really. It is a shot from my bedroom window this morning. When I saw the sky, I knew it would be a great day to find some bare trees. A bright blue sky with patchy, white clouds, to add lots of contrast, is my backdrop of choice for a tree-sky photo- Thursday, February 23.

This picture contains a nice sky background, but not my favorite type of bare tree. There are far too many little, tiny branches for my liking. I did, however, like the one little bird sitting in those little tiny branches. Also taken from my bedroom window this morning- Thursday, February 23.

This is the kind of tree, posed in front of just the right kind of sky, that entices me to throw on the four ways and hang out the driver's side window to get a picture (after pulling over, of course). I love the thick, distinct branches and how they twist and bend- Thursday, February 23.

This is the same picture, solarized. It is an option on the color curve menu in P.S.E. Most pictures just look really scary with this setting, but I thought this one looked pretty cool- Thursday, February 23.

In case any keen eyes noticed the tree with the annoying little branches in the lower left corner of the solarized picture and wondered where it came from, it was part of the original photo. I couldn't get a shot without it from the car window, so I painted it out in P.S.E. I am actually pretty surprised at how easy it is to get rid of things you don't like in a picture. Which has made me start to wonder about all those high quality reading materials filled with amazing photos of the stars in the check out lines. I mean, what if Brad and Angelina's new twins don't really have alien heads at all!? This changes everything- Thursday, February 23.

Free Chips

We ended up being out for most of the morning. Not planned, but things took longer than I had thought they would and before I knew it, our tummies were telling us it was lunch time. We stopped at a little soft pretzel place to eat. I got a yummy chicken salad pretzel sandwich and the kids each got a pretzel stick and a slushy. About half way through eating, The Oldest asked if he could order some chips. I gave him a quick no and we finished our meal. As we got in the car, he was complaining about how he should have gotten a pretzel sandwich or at least ordered some chips the first time through the line. I was not really moved, mostly because I was quite satisfied and very full from my own yummy lunch. But as we drove home by the Utz Factory, my heart softened and I suggested we go in for a quick tour. The real reason for my generous suggestion was the fact that after you walk down the one hallway and look through the windows at all the giant potato chip making machines, you get to climb this little set of steps and grab a free bag of chips. It always makes the kids so happy. I could have just bought the very same chips at the pretzel store for less than a dollar, but something about chips straight from the factory seems to make them taste so much better. Guess it could also have something to do with the fact that they are free.

Utz Factory- Wednesday, February 22.

A Rose By Any Other Name

I'm deep into the Jane Austen audio book I started yesterday in the car. The woman reading it has a wonderfully soothing manner of speaking. She very subtly voices all the characters in different ways and pauses at all the right places. It is great! I very much enjoy listening to, reading, and watching pieces that are set in England a couple hundred years back. When I do, I often find that my internal thoughts begin to sound like my favorite characters. I can hear myself thinking with an English accent. Every now and then, it will slip out when I am talking to myself about getting more shampoo or wondering aloud what to make for dinner. "Alas, what shall we partake of at this evening's supper?" 

So, when I started working on some pictures of roses that I had taken, my thoughts, already speaking with an English accent, began calling up a familiar speech from Romeo and Juliet. Except right when I was getting to the good part, the idyllic scene was shattered by the loud, south-of-the-border sounding voice of Featherstone, the pink flamingo lawn ornament in Gnomeo & Juliet. "A weed by any other name is still a weed!"  Now, that is a clever movie!   "Oh, Gnomeo, Gnomeo, are we really doomed to never see each other again? Why must you wear a blue hat? Why couldn't it be red like my father, or green like... like a leprechaun..." 

At any rate, whether you are now imagining in Old English, chuckling at the thought of lawn ornaments misquoting Shakespeare, or simply speed reading to get through this unsolicited look into the workings of my brain, please pause long enough to stop and enjoy the roses, they really are very sweet.

Rose. Decreasing Saturation- Tuesday, February 21.

Two Days Worth of Randomness

I didn't post yesterday. I did take some pictures, but spent most of my time working on my U.F.O. (If you are totally confused, see this post). I got a whole square done! Four down, eight more to go!

We pack up and head home today. It is always sad to have a nice relaxing time come to an end. I try to avoid re-entry to real life for as long as possible. This time around I have downloaded an audio book to my mp3 player, so I can stay in vacation mode the whole drive home. I know it won't change the fact that we have lunches to pack, a presentation to work on, baths and Little One's hair to do when we get home, but there's no use wasting a full three hours thinking about it when I can be living in Highbury with the Woodhouses instead.

Since we'll be digging out the room the three kids share here at my parents' house, packing up, and driving home for much of our time today, I figured I'd go ahead and do a joint post covering random things from the past 24 hours.

My parents have a window that is close to the size of a football field in the west wall of their living room. The afternoon sun shines through there quite beautifully, except when you are trying to watch something on HGTV, then the sun just makes it really hard to see all those clever design ideas. So, since the light was shining nicely on the piece of furniture I can't think of a name for and not so nicely on the TV that was providing background noise for my quilting, I paused my stitching and started arranging things in the sunlight- Sunday, February 19.

I added my wedding ring to this picture because I had just read a post from my camera twin friend about how she almost got kicked out of photo club. 'Oh yes, I see the logical connection,' you say. Well, it is a long story, but nutshell version, she ended up taking some cool pictures of her wedding ring at the prompting of her photo club friends in order to replace some prior pictures she had taken of her wedding ring that they declared to be less than cool. Since my camera twin is urging me to join photo club once My Husband's busy work season ends, I figured I ought to jump in on the fun from a distance, while I can still post pictures under the radar- Sunday, February 19.

This is a picture of my favorite manger scene in the whole wide world. At this time of year it is usually tucked away with the other Christmas decorations in a worn cardboard box labeled PUTZ . For those of you who are not Pennsylvania Dutch, you may wonder at such a label. But it apparently means manger scene in Pennsylvania Dutch, which isn't really Dutch at all, but a dialect of German spoken by immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania. I used to be so confused about my heritage. I thought I was Dutch because I grew up hearing I was Pennsylvania Dutch. Silly me! I am not actually sure what country I thought I was from, Dutchland I guess, but then I heard that I was from Germany and people who are actually Dutch are from Holland, and I decided then and there to give up on World Geography for the rest of my life. Anyway, back to the Putz. The light was so great coming in the giant window that I decided to pull this out to take some pictures. I have tender memories of years of fighting with my brother over who got to set up the manger scene. When it was decided, through arm wrestling, loudest shouting, or a mandate from mom and dad, that I could have the honors, I would take hours carefully placing the characters in the stable. My two favorites are the shepherd with the lamb over his shoulders and Mary. I was always sure to put the shepherd close to Baby Jesus. I didn't think it fair that the Kings got all the good spots. Well, by the time I got everybody tucked into the barn this time around, the sun had settled a little too low for my liking, and my usual favorite, Mary, kept casting an annoying shadow on the kneeling Wise Man. I wasn't thrilled with any of the pictures I got, but getting to set up the manger scene was a fun treat, though not nearly as rewarding as having won the right in some sort of 'loving' Christmas contest with my brother- Sunday, February 20.

 This hand belongs to my Grandma Lucy. She turned 97 this past September. My original plan had been to take a really great picture of her and write a touching post about her life and how much I love her, but she fell asleep while we were visiting and so the only really good pictures I got of her are while she was napping. While they are sweet, I didn't think they did her amazing life justice. So, I'll postpone the blog tribute for another time. In the mean time I'll simply say this hand is one of the strongest, most beautiful hands I have ever seen- Sunday, February 19.

The kids with their Great Grandma Lucy- Sunday, February 19.

 I randomly started taking pictures of the kids at breakfast today. The Oldest promised he would keep his hand over his face until I put my camera in its bag. Never one to back down from a challenge, I set the camera directly on him. It was like a staring contest, both of us determined not to blink, but I finally caved and took the picture as is- Monday, February 20.

Little One trying to get the last of her breakfast Fwuffer Nutter- Monday, February 20.

First Grader, who usually packs clothing that would last if we decided to take a spontaneous trip around the world, forgot to pack pajamas for our weekend trip. I found this nightshirt on the clearance rack at the local K-Mart. She has worn it since, except for the few hours we spent at church. And even then she had a list of 101 reasons why she should wear it there. Smart and Cute, that's for sure- Monday, February 20.

Great Day

I have lots of pictures today, so I'll let my words be few. We started out tromping around in the woods behind my parents' house, then I moved on to exploring the rest of the yard from behind my camera, and we all wrapped things up at the local bowling alley. We had a wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable day.

The Oldest. I love the sunlight on his hair- Saturday, February 18.

Little One and First Grader pausing in their explorations just long enough for me to take a picture. Little One said she needed to keep her eyes warm. Who cares about being able to see, as long as your eyeballs don't get cold- Saturday, February 18.

 A White Birch- Saturday, February 18.

These trees grow in a little line that always makes me want to break into song. Specifically the opening song from The Sound of Music, the one where Maria is up in the mountains when she's supposed to be at church. At one point she weaves through a clump of White Birch trees while singing, "My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds that fly from the lake to the trees. My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze." Feel free to sing along if you know it-Saturday, February 18.

First Grader spotted the moss heart at the base of this twin tree- Saturday, February 18.

A hint of Spring- Saturday, February 18.

 Seeing the forest and the tree- Saturday, February 18.

This is the same mighty giant from the previous picture. He really is just a cute little sprig of a tree. Messing around with perspective is so fun- Saturday, February 18.

Pretty gold, curly grasses- Saturday, February 18.

 Bowling shoes are so much cuter on little feet- Saturday, February 18.

 I loved the bright colors and the reflection at the end of the alley- Saturday, February 18.

Fortunately these shots were pretty easy to take. First, Little One lugged her bowling ball to the foul line. Then she swung back with two hands between her legs and let the ball rip at a whopping .98 mph. (Yes, there was a radar gun on the alley). All I had to do was stand there and wait. I never realized just how long a bowling lane is until today- Saturday, February 18.

Now and Then

The kids and I started a long-weekend trip to my home stomping grounds today. We're settled in at Gram's and PapPap's house now, but on our way we made a stop to visit my best friend from high school.

I met J in first grade. She has a memory of me getting her in trouble at some point that year. I don't remember that at all (funny how selective one's memory can be), but I do vividly remember a few years later when J wanted to beat me up on the bus ride home from a Hershey Park field trip because she thought I liked the boy she had a perpetual crush on. I also have tons of great memories of driving around back country roads listening to country music. I remember local summer fairs and carnivals, lunch in the school cafeteria that was down in the scary basement of the old Junior High, and sleepovers on school nights that always involved some studying and lots of great fun and deep conversations about boys, what we would do on the weekend, and the future. The future then seemed so far away, and now here I am typing to you from those years that seemed they would never come. Of course we've had several surprises along the way, but our lives have turned out a whole lot like we hoped and imagined they would those late nights we spent talking instead of sleeping- J is a wife, mother of two adorable kids, and an amazing math teacher to a bunch of seventh graders, while I'm happy at home with My Husband and kids.

Those same kids played together today while J & I talked about life, present and past. We shared memories of teachers and prom dates and horrible books we had to read (The Jungle and 1984 topped both of our lists). We looked at old pictures (I can't believe I just called my pictures from high school old!) and at pictures from our lives now. The images captured in those albums literally seemed to be lifetimes apart, or at least very different chapters in the same book. But I guess when I think of all the changes that have occurred over the past 15 years, I shouldn't be surprised. We started out all those years ago as responsible (but only for ourselves) high school seniors with sometimes frizzy or orange hair, driving around in a little purple Saturn from school to practice to the movies to the new Walmart to someone's house to hang out. And now we are wives and mothers, still responsible, but for a circle wider than just ourselves. Thankfully no frizzy or orange hair this time around and now we've traded in the sporty little car for minivans and suvs. But here we are still driving to schools and practices and the movies and to Walmart and to other people's houses to hang out. It's just that the movies now are enjoyable not because of what's on the screen but because of the little ones who are sitting next to us and our Walmart lists are made up of exciting things like toilet bowl cleaner and ground meat instead of Twizzlers and hair dye.

Life is good, both the things that change and the things that stay the same. I'm thankful for a great friend and shared memories that seem to get better every time we retell them.

J & me- Friday, February 17.

First Grader and J's daughter, who is also in first grade. Hard to believe this is how old J & I were when we started our friendship- Friday, February 17.

 Mrs. Altemose's first grade class. I am in the top row, second from the left. J is in the bottom row, fourth from the left. Mrs. Altemose was the best teacher I ever had. I got chicken pox and missed school for the two weeks before Christmas vacation. She came to our house to bring me a gift and all of the projects the kids worked on while I was absent. She is high on my list of the most perfect people I have ever met. It could have something to do with the fact that I was in first grade when I knew her, but I think most of it is just because she was amazing- Scanned Friday, February 24. Taken sometime in the fall of 1985.

 *Side note- This is a picture of me and the boy who is directly to the left of the teacher in the picture above at our Senior Dinner Dance. I found out from J that he is now a sort of famous TV star and is on a show called Wizards of Wemberly Place or something like that. J showed me a recorded episode, prefaced with the clue that I would recognize somebody on it. And recognize somebody I did. Frankie always stood out. I am pretty sure that if our class picture above had us standing together instead of in Brady Bunch squares, Frankie would have been taller than our teacher. Yes, in first grade.  Frankie lived down the street from me and picked me up for school before I could drive. Who knew all those years ago that I was being chauffeured by a future TV star. He's even got a fan page on Facebook and his face on a billboard- I googled him. Though, I found out he now he goes by Frank instead of Frankie. TV star or not, he'll always be Frankie to me- Scanned Friday, February 24. Taken Sunday, June 1, 1997.

 
Senior Prom. J and I both were recovering from food poisoning that we got from an honors banquet earlier in the week. Students, principals, and parents from the five local schools were all sick. We were just the lucky ones who happened to have our Senior Prom on a boat in New York City later the same week. J spent the entire Friday in the Nurse's Office- she had to be at school if she wanted to go to the prom that night. I didn't get it as bad as she did, but all I consumed the entire night was a cup of hot tea and a roll. Good times- Scanned Friday, February 24. Taken Friday, May 23, 1997.

High School Graduation. Scanned Friday, February 24. Taken Wednesday, June 11, 1997.

My little purple Saturn. The best car ever. I actually cried when My Husband and I took it to the dealer to trade it in for a bigger, not purple car. I had dreams of a cute little family buying it for their daughter who had just turned 16. I saw her rolling down the windows (yes, crank windows), singing loudly with her friends on the way to the mall. Instead, a scraggly looking guy with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth walked over to my little purple car and started peeking in all the windows. (I assure you the actual image is worse than you are imagining, we were living in Kentucky at the time.) It was then that the tears started flowing and I began begging My Husband to change his mind. "You can drive a purple car, I know you can. And the fact that your knees touch the steering wheel really isn't all that big of deal, is it? I mean it could come in handy. You could learn to steer with your legs, then you can drink a cup of coffee and hang your other arm out the window while you drive."  This tear-infused persuasion went on for a couple minutes more, but finally, we pulled away in our bigger, silver car, leaving my little, purple Saturn all alone in a Kentucky used car lot. It took me a few weeks to warm up to the new car. I had to admit that it was much nicer, but first loves die hard. I think it was the sunroof and the CD player that finally won me over. But I never will forget my little, purple Saturn- Scanned Friday, February 24. Taken sometime in 1996.