True Happiness

Apparently, a red tootsie pop is all it takes.

Little Boys, Big Messes, Everywhere I Turn

A few nights ago we tucked our kids in bed, thanked my parents for being home so we could sneak out for dinner and a movie with some friends, and left. We had a great time and when we came home, this is what we found in the downstairs bathroom.

The next morning I started to get to work on cleaning it up. I went upstairs to get the necessary cleaning products from the closet and as I passed the main floor bathroom, this is what I found:

p.s. that wet towel in the sink is concealing the main body of dirt.

I’m not even sure what this concoction is supposed to be.

Fortunately, dirt and baby powder are both pretty benign when it comes to clean-up. (Although, I was kind of surprised at how much persistence it took to take the baby powder off the glass.)

Nevertheless, we made sure that the sanitation committee consisted of two culprits in addition to mom.

Ah, boys.

If they weren’t so stinkin' cute…

Beautiful Day

Well, Dale and Olesya's wedding has come and gone. It was really joyful and beautiful and they are so happy.

They all arrived from Russia on December 15^th. Dale and Olesya, and her mother Zoya.

We were so happy to meet Olesya for the first time, and to get to know her mom using any means we had available to overcome the communication barrier. Most of the time we had someone to translate, but other times we resorted to what few Russian words we knew, broken German, hand gestures, Weston’s polish, and occasionally Yahoo’s online translation tool. Zoya is an absolute gem. I am so glad to have a new friend in her. She loved playing with the kids, especially Annelise. We were very sad to part company with her yesterday.

Oh. And just for the record…

It was SO. COLD.

The final wedding day was a culmination of the exertion and manpower of many people. Many late nights were spent discussing, planning, and then re-planning. By the time we got to the wedding day we were ready to execute our master plan.

So, since this is my blog and we all know that blogging is inherently narcissistic; I will now unapologetically proceed to list the many and various personal skills that I had to call upon in preparation for this wedding. In doing so, I don’t mean to suggest that my efforts were solo or of supreme importance. I also must note that I wouldn’t have been able to help so much with the wedding if Weston hadn’t been so willing to take the kids and allow me to abandon my motherly responsibilities for hour upon hour. Thanks, sweetheart!

So here it is…

SKILLS I USED FOR THE WEDDING

Event Planning

Menu Planning and execution (hosting international guests for 10 days)

Catering (Bridal Shower)

Card Making (Bridal Shower Décor)

I designed this dessert table for the bridal shower. I made these pretty little cards to highlight pictures of the happy couple. Each card had a different function inside.

1. Gift List

2. Written advice from the guests

3. A poem for Olesya written by Dale

4. The list of questions that Angie asked both of them for the newlywed game.

Embroidery (pillowcases I made for my wedding gift)

Hair Dressing (For the bride)

Sewing (Helping with last-minute alterations to Zoya’s dress)

Personal shopping assistant (I don’t really know if I can count this since I was technically present on the last-minute all-day shopping trip, but on the other hand I am the one in desperate need of a personal shopping assistant, so I don’t know that I would really call it a skill, but I did it.)

Decoration and Design

This is my personal favorite. My dad and I set ourselves to the task of disguising the basketball standard in the church gym. I knew we could do something lovely if we just persisted a bit. We did a dry run a few days before, just to make sure it would really work since we only had 3 hours to set up for the reception. My dad hung the flood light from the basketball hoop and draped the backboard in a darker color. Then I hung the tulle in 3 pieces from the hoop ring, including Christmas lights to frame the entrance to the canopy. Then I covered it all with a valance up at the top. Isn’t it beautiful? All night I kept looking at it, so pleased with my efforts, and saddened by the fact that I would have to take it down in less than 2 hours.

And here it is in black and white. Just in case you wanted to see it again.

Set Striking (with very sore feet)

Speaking of beautiful, Angie designed these breathtaking centerpieces that were used at both the luncheon and reception.

You may not have noticed that music was not listed in the skill set I was required to use. Thankfully so. My sister, Ellen, took care of all the music by organizing the grandkids into various ensembles to cover the time.

This is my very big family. My parents have 8 children and 30 grandchildren now.

That’s my sister Melanie. Isn’t she gorgeous?

See? I told you. They are so happy.

Oh. And so is he. Whenever he is eating.

Ah, the joy she is.

All the little girls had this beautiful dress for the wedding. Unfortunately the attempt to get them all together for a photo was not successful.

And here’s our little family. We took this picture toward the end of the night. Yes, my feet were already hurting. And no, Adam is not technically picking his nose at this particular moment.

The Duck That Could Swim and Fly

The Duck That Could Swim and Fly

a story in 3 chapters

by The Blond Guy

as dictated to mom

Chapter 1

Once upon a time there was a little duck who could fly and also swim. Giggle…is that funny? He could even wear glasses when he flies or swims because they couldn’t even come off. Giggle…is that funny? He even had a trampoline. It gives him the powers then he jumps on the trampoline and he gets to a superduck. He turns into a superduck cause he has squirt fire eyes. He jumps on the trampoline every day because he wants powers every day. The powers are forever, so he takes them away. And one of the powers that he gets on the next day, which is on chapter 2, he gets a power that shoots big fire soccer balls that shoots big giant hard trampolines that bonk people’s heads and the balloons can be broken forever.

This is still chapter one. There is a special power where the duck makes poison inside the hoods of his jacket. But his fire, and he also had laser powers, and his fire could not break his lasers, mom. And his lasers could not break his fire. And his fire or lasers could not get killed by anything. Not by ice or water or anything. Not even the lasers.

The end of chapter 1

Chapter 2

The soccer balls had poison inside of them, and then he shot a giant one. And the giant had sharp teeth, and he shot one of the soccer balls in it. The teeth opened the soccer ball. Poison squirted out and the giant died. And the giant stayed dead forever. And then one day a bad guy came. So Superduck used his yellow lasers at the bad guy. And the bad guy died. And then he jumped on the trampoline and then tomorrow he got, oh actually squirt fire, and then tomorrow he got a power that shoots glass dolls with matches in them that wipe on the doll and the doll has fire on the matches and then it shoots at a giant. The giant dies. And then what happened tomorrow again, he got a power that shoots pillowcases with pillows inside them, made out of poison. And then one day he went inside the house and played with legos and built a house. And then tomorrow he met a nice guy whose name was Mr. House, who was a superguy. He was a kind of superman but we’ll just call him superguy for now.* And then the superman got a power from the superguy’s trampoline, he got a power for shooting stones. Big, big giant stones at bad guys and they get squished with the stones once he shoots them at someone. And the superduck got that, too. And then the superduck jumped on the trampoline again, and he got a power that shoots jars that are made out of what candles are made out of, the part that the fire goes on…

Mom: you mean wax?

TBG: yeah.

And then he opened up the jars amd then he got a match, wiped them on the box and put it back in the jar. When the bad guy came he shot the jar at the bad guy, and then the bad guy turned into fire, and then it died, but there wasn’t a hole in the ground, cause that was where his sidewalk was. So he filled up the hole so that people could still walk in the sidewalk.

And then he jumped on the trampoline again and then he flew up into the sky, and then what happened was, there was a powered bad guy that takes away powers from ducks with powers. But he tried to take away the powers from that duck, but the powers didn’t really get taken away from the duck, cause that duck was really hard to take the powers away. Because the trampoline gave powers that are really hard to get out of people’s bodies. And then his family came and said, “good job, you protected yourself, so keep on jumping on the trampoline.”

The end of chapter 2

Chapter 3

He jumped on the trampoline and then he got this power that throws stocking hangers, but they were stocking hangers that had sharp hooks and they were facing forward when he shot them, so it gets bad guys. And then he jumped on the trampoline again, and what happened was he got this power that gets boxes that traps bad guys once they shoot the bad guys. And then he jumped on the trampoline again and he got this power that throws printers that don’t really print stuff, but he shoots them at swords and the printers break the swords by just (sound effect) pointing the metal parts down. And then he jumped on the trampoline again and he got this power that shoots fireplaces that are already lighted up. And he has to shoot them at monsters or giants or dragons, and it breaks on the monsters or giants or dragons so then they die. And then he jumped on the trampoline again, tomorrow, and tomorrow he got this power that shoots chairs.

The end.

*this is my favorite line

It's all about communication.

Scene 1: I'm having a conversation with an adult. The Blond Guy approaches with something urgent to say. I try to explain that I am talking with someone and he needs to wait. He freaks out. Later we talk about what happened and he explains that he can't wait to tell me what is so urgent because that will cause him to forget his words. I offer a solution: Why not turn away and whisper to yourself what you are going to tell me so that you will remember what to say when it is your turn to talk to me? He agrees. In subsequent similar situations he puts it into practice with a little reminding. "I was gonna tell my mom that........ I was gonna tell my mom that....... I was gonna tell my mom, etc."


Scene 2: I'm teaching a violin lesson. The Blond Guy approaches with something urgent to say. I tell him I'm not available because I'm teaching. He turns away and starts whispering, "I was gonna tell my mom...." Feeling a bit sorry for the lad, and knowing he won't be able to whisper to himself for the duration of the lesson, I suggest he write down his thoughts so he won't have to remember them for that long. He leaves the room and later returns with this missive:

Ples can I hav a sgoodr, I wonid a sgatbord, acchlee. Its litning mcqueen.

Please can I have a scooter, I wanted a skateboard, actually. It's Lightning McQueen.


Scene 3: Post-Thanksgiving. I have been prodded into bringing my violin to give a little casual recital for the in-laws. The Blond Guy, who is 5 days into a vacation filled with very late nights and wii overstimulation, is not in any sort of mood to sit and listen to violin music. First thing during O Danny Boy, he storms into the bedroom and shuts the door, making clear his disapproval. Then, somewhere in the middle of Orange Blossom Special, he emerges and returns to his craft project. Soon, Stone and I begin our joint number, Devil Went Down to Georgia (yes, it's humiliating. don't ask.) TBG starts pulling on my leg and trying to talk to me. Stone tells him several times not to interrupt. He grumpily makes his way back to the crafting table. Last thing on the program is Greensleeves. Just as I approach the final 3 measures, I look down and see a little blond boy holding up a full sheet of paper for me to read. This time the message is short:

STOP.

Love

This is me.

I am in love.

With these beautiful golden curls

That just figured out how to walk.

Beautiful golden curls walking around.

What's not to love?

Family Photos

My very talented artist-of-a-brother, Kirk, agreed to take some photos of us with that jolly nice camera of his. Here are just a few highlights from the photo shoot. Perhaps there will be more to come.


Oh, and in case you're wondering, Yes. It is almost impossible to get everyone to hold still and smile at the same time. Fortunately we only needed one winner, and that one you will find displayed in all it's glory on my header.