Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Summertime, summertime, sum sum summertime...
The title of this post is from some old commercial that's stuck in my heard. What was it for, Applebee's? Sincere question because I really can't remember. Maybe it was even a real song before Applebee's co-opted it. I may never know.
We just (5 days ago) got back from a lovely vacation that took us to Western Massachusetts, then to Pensacola, then back to Decatur. We went to a reunion weekend of sorts for my longtime favorite band, the Nields. It had been about ten years since I had seen them. Jason has always wanted to see them, too, and in recent years they have been recording music for children, so there's something for everybody. Even Anneliese is a fan of their song, "Red Red Robin," which is an old song written by...I'm not sure because Google is attributing it to 3-4 different people. The chorus of "Red Red Robin" is basically, "When the red red robin goes bop, bop, bopping along..." Anneliese's contribution is "bahh bahh bahhing ah-laaag!" We attended an open mike (where Nora and I sang "Red Red Robin" in a microphone, with Nerissa and her daughter!) and cookout, a children's show, and a show at the Iron Horse in Northampton. It was pure magic.
This video is from the children's concert. Dar Williams, another family favorite, was singing the lead vocal. She also sang it at the open mind. I have to say, my mind was a little blown when I heard my favorite singer and my favorite band sing my daughter's favorite song. The funny thing is, Nora was totally starstruck by Dar but not by the Nields. She thought the Nields were our friends who were also in a band. That was really cool, but at the Iron Horse concert she kept saying, "Look, there's Dar Williams! Mommy, do you see Dar Williams? Do you think we can meet her?"
Jam for the Fans was on Friday and Saturday, but from Tuesday until Friday morning, we got to spend time with friends and explore the area a little bit. I got to hang out with a really cool friend I hadn't seen in about 4 years. She has three children and Nora and Anneliese had a blast! We went to Forest Park in Springfield and explored the zoo and ate sticky frozen treats under a tree overlooking a grassy field. (Ahh!) We drove by my friend Jessie's old house in Waterbury, CT because Jason had never had a chance to see it before they moved away. We visited the Yankee Candle flagship store because hey, why not? They had fake snow that fell every 4 minutes in the Christmas area. Nora loved it so much she wanted to watch the "snow" fall all day. They had more candles than you can shake a stick at. We spent a good portion of one day at Look Park in Northampton. I wished that I lived there because the weather was so wonderful and I so want to go run/walking on the shaded paths at Look Park. We also ate a lot of ice cream because we've been told that's what you do in New England, and we sure didn't want to break any traditions.
Sunday was a looooong day, starting with waking up at 3am so that we could get to the airport for our flight out of White Plains. Then we flew to Atlanta, and there was whining by two people who wanted to ditch the next flight and just go home to our house in Decatur. (I won't tell you which two people, but only three of the four of us are fully verbal so that may narrow it down a bit.) We were on perhaps the only terminal in Hartsfield-Jackson airport that does NOT have a Starbucks--and me with a gift card burning a hole in my coffee, and wishing for coffee at 10 am (AKA my seventh hour of wakefulness). Then we hopped another plane and headed to Pensacola, where we were so happy to see our parents and our pretty pretty Prius, which was looking gross on the inside after 5 days in a pristine rental car.
After that was Jason's brother's wedding, which was really nice. We enjoyed visiting with family, including people we very rarely get to see. Nora got to know a cousin who is a year younger than she is and we all wished we had more time to visit. The next day we got up, visited with my grandmother at the assisted living, had some delicious lasagna a la my mom, and hit the road! We were so glad to see our home late Monday night.
Vacations rock, but there's something to be said for needing a vacation after the vacation!
Tomorrow is Father's Day, so happy day to my own wonderful dad and to Jason, the guy who is a wonderful dad to our awesome kids.
We just (5 days ago) got back from a lovely vacation that took us to Western Massachusetts, then to Pensacola, then back to Decatur. We went to a reunion weekend of sorts for my longtime favorite band, the Nields. It had been about ten years since I had seen them. Jason has always wanted to see them, too, and in recent years they have been recording music for children, so there's something for everybody. Even Anneliese is a fan of their song, "Red Red Robin," which is an old song written by...I'm not sure because Google is attributing it to 3-4 different people. The chorus of "Red Red Robin" is basically, "When the red red robin goes bop, bop, bopping along..." Anneliese's contribution is "bahh bahh bahhing ah-laaag!" We attended an open mike (where Nora and I sang "Red Red Robin" in a microphone, with Nerissa and her daughter!) and cookout, a children's show, and a show at the Iron Horse in Northampton. It was pure magic.
This video is from the children's concert. Dar Williams, another family favorite, was singing the lead vocal. She also sang it at the open mind. I have to say, my mind was a little blown when I heard my favorite singer and my favorite band sing my daughter's favorite song. The funny thing is, Nora was totally starstruck by Dar but not by the Nields. She thought the Nields were our friends who were also in a band. That was really cool, but at the Iron Horse concert she kept saying, "Look, there's Dar Williams! Mommy, do you see Dar Williams? Do you think we can meet her?"
Jam for the Fans was on Friday and Saturday, but from Tuesday until Friday morning, we got to spend time with friends and explore the area a little bit. I got to hang out with a really cool friend I hadn't seen in about 4 years. She has three children and Nora and Anneliese had a blast! We went to Forest Park in Springfield and explored the zoo and ate sticky frozen treats under a tree overlooking a grassy field. (Ahh!) We drove by my friend Jessie's old house in Waterbury, CT because Jason had never had a chance to see it before they moved away. We visited the Yankee Candle flagship store because hey, why not? They had fake snow that fell every 4 minutes in the Christmas area. Nora loved it so much she wanted to watch the "snow" fall all day. They had more candles than you can shake a stick at. We spent a good portion of one day at Look Park in Northampton. I wished that I lived there because the weather was so wonderful and I so want to go run/walking on the shaded paths at Look Park. We also ate a lot of ice cream because we've been told that's what you do in New England, and we sure didn't want to break any traditions.
Sunday was a looooong day, starting with waking up at 3am so that we could get to the airport for our flight out of White Plains. Then we flew to Atlanta, and there was whining by two people who wanted to ditch the next flight and just go home to our house in Decatur. (I won't tell you which two people, but only three of the four of us are fully verbal so that may narrow it down a bit.) We were on perhaps the only terminal in Hartsfield-Jackson airport that does NOT have a Starbucks--and me with a gift card burning a hole in my coffee, and wishing for coffee at 10 am (AKA my seventh hour of wakefulness). Then we hopped another plane and headed to Pensacola, where we were so happy to see our parents and our pretty pretty Prius, which was looking gross on the inside after 5 days in a pristine rental car.
After that was Jason's brother's wedding, which was really nice. We enjoyed visiting with family, including people we very rarely get to see. Nora got to know a cousin who is a year younger than she is and we all wished we had more time to visit. The next day we got up, visited with my grandmother at the assisted living, had some delicious lasagna a la my mom, and hit the road! We were so glad to see our home late Monday night.
Vacations rock, but there's something to be said for needing a vacation after the vacation!
Tomorrow is Father's Day, so happy day to my own wonderful dad and to Jason, the guy who is a wonderful dad to our awesome kids.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Recalled.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
On the cusp.
What are we on the cusp of? Summer, of course. One more week of school. We're hoping to be in the pool this summer, a lot. We're hoping to visit friends and family. We're hoping to avoid boredom. You know, the usual.
Nora's last week of school sounds pretty awesome. They have a bike day, a sensory day (with the caution that the kids will be getting dirty--as if they don't already get super dirty at this school!), and two water days. Actually, they're "water and popsicle" days. Nora doesn't want me to forget the popsicles.
The school she attends is Reggio Emilia inspired, which means they've had tons of play-based and project-based learning. Her class's main project this year was "buildings." They built skyscrapers, castles, fairy houses, tons of stuff. Here's just a few of the things they built.
So, it's been a great year and we're pleased.
What else is up? Strawberry picking on Mother's Day.
And I started a new exercise program in April. I'm part of a Galloway run-walk-run group. I've done some running before (Couch to 5K in 2008) and I found it extremely gratifying, but mentally very tough. I'm enjoying this more because of the group aspect, which is surprising but awesome. I guess I'm less antisocial than I thought.
The older I get, the more I'm willing to try new things. Is that normal? In the past few years I've successfully, on some level, conquered several fears and misgivings. Like last year with gardening--I never thought of myself as a gardener, but no one had ever taught me anything and I had never tried before. We may not have had the most beautiful or even the most productive garden in the world (although perhaps the most beautiful and productive on our block!), but it was awesome to do something I never thought I could do. Since moving to our new house we just haven't been able to tackle our yard like we'd like to, and I think gardening has escaped us for this season. But it's not over yet. Uh uh. Fall planting, it is on. The one downfall of joining groups and trying new things is that it's a constant struggle for me to balance all of the different areas of my life. I think that's true for a lot of people, and it's definitely one of my biggest personal challenges. We've become even more active in church lately, which is great, but when focus shifts to one area I have to be careful that I don't let another area suffer. Work in progress? That's me.
Nora's last week of school sounds pretty awesome. They have a bike day, a sensory day (with the caution that the kids will be getting dirty--as if they don't already get super dirty at this school!), and two water days. Actually, they're "water and popsicle" days. Nora doesn't want me to forget the popsicles.
The school she attends is Reggio Emilia inspired, which means they've had tons of play-based and project-based learning. Her class's main project this year was "buildings." They built skyscrapers, castles, fairy houses, tons of stuff. Here's just a few of the things they built.
Nora was excited to show me her classroom in action.
Anneliese was along for the ride.
So, it's been a great year and we're pleased.
What else is up? Strawberry picking on Mother's Day.
And I started a new exercise program in April. I'm part of a Galloway run-walk-run group. I've done some running before (Couch to 5K in 2008) and I found it extremely gratifying, but mentally very tough. I'm enjoying this more because of the group aspect, which is surprising but awesome. I guess I'm less antisocial than I thought.
The older I get, the more I'm willing to try new things. Is that normal? In the past few years I've successfully, on some level, conquered several fears and misgivings. Like last year with gardening--I never thought of myself as a gardener, but no one had ever taught me anything and I had never tried before. We may not have had the most beautiful or even the most productive garden in the world (although perhaps the most beautiful and productive on our block!), but it was awesome to do something I never thought I could do. Since moving to our new house we just haven't been able to tackle our yard like we'd like to, and I think gardening has escaped us for this season. But it's not over yet. Uh uh. Fall planting, it is on. The one downfall of joining groups and trying new things is that it's a constant struggle for me to balance all of the different areas of my life. I think that's true for a lot of people, and it's definitely one of my biggest personal challenges. We've become even more active in church lately, which is great, but when focus shifts to one area I have to be careful that I don't let another area suffer. Work in progress? That's me.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Nora, on earworms
"Sometimes something gets stuck in my head. It's something I don't want in my head, and it's there with something I do want, but I can't remember what I want to remember. And it makes me mad."
Monday, April 25, 2011
Transitions
My grandmother, my one living grandparent, moved to an assisted living facility about a week ago. She left her house of the last 25 years, her city of the last 57(?) years, and moved to Pensacola to be closer to my dad. I haven't seen her new place yet, but she was able to bring a few things from home. She's not very mobile and hasn't been for a long time now, which is one reason that it finally came time for her to move. However, she is very sharp mentally. She told me that a very nice nurse at the facility was bringing her the crossword from the newspaper, but they were bringing her the "easy" one and she had to ask if they could bring her the New York Times.
She's also very much a people person. Family members have suggested that maybe that's where Nora gets it, and they may be right! It must have skipped a couple of generations, though, because most of the rest of us range from "more reserved" to "sort of antisocial."
One thing I've observed about all of my grandparents is that they know themselves so well. They know how they like their toast, what time they like to get up in the morning, which cabinet they keep their trashbags in. All minor things, but things that they settled on long before I was born. I have always found their routines comforting. I do well with routines myself, but they don't come very naturally to me. It has always seemed like it has taken me some effort to figure out what I want from life, even minor things. Anyway, it's hard to imagine Grandmother without her existing routines, having to come up with new routines for the first time in so many years. This will be the first place she'll have moved to without my grandfather, or any family member for that matter since I'm pretty sure she always lived with family before she got married. She has always taken comfort in her home, in family heirlooms she's collected and things that she has purchased or been given over the years. Her house had a lot of clocks, so I associate clocks chiming with her and my grandfather. She's told me and my sister that we can take pretty much anything we want from her house, and there are certain things she wants each of us to have. My dad is an only child and so we're the only two grandchildren. I'm incredibly flattered and I know I will value having some family heirloom, but it seems sort of wrong to be taking them now. Then again, she doesn't have a place for them in her new home, and the reality of the situation is that she won't be returning to her house in Mobile. That's pretty hard to wrap my mind around...
She's also very much a people person. Family members have suggested that maybe that's where Nora gets it, and they may be right! It must have skipped a couple of generations, though, because most of the rest of us range from "more reserved" to "sort of antisocial."
One thing I've observed about all of my grandparents is that they know themselves so well. They know how they like their toast, what time they like to get up in the morning, which cabinet they keep their trashbags in. All minor things, but things that they settled on long before I was born. I have always found their routines comforting. I do well with routines myself, but they don't come very naturally to me. It has always seemed like it has taken me some effort to figure out what I want from life, even minor things. Anyway, it's hard to imagine Grandmother without her existing routines, having to come up with new routines for the first time in so many years. This will be the first place she'll have moved to without my grandfather, or any family member for that matter since I'm pretty sure she always lived with family before she got married. She has always taken comfort in her home, in family heirlooms she's collected and things that she has purchased or been given over the years. Her house had a lot of clocks, so I associate clocks chiming with her and my grandfather. She's told me and my sister that we can take pretty much anything we want from her house, and there are certain things she wants each of us to have. My dad is an only child and so we're the only two grandchildren. I'm incredibly flattered and I know I will value having some family heirloom, but it seems sort of wrong to be taking them now. Then again, she doesn't have a place for them in her new home, and the reality of the situation is that she won't be returning to her house in Mobile. That's pretty hard to wrap my mind around...
