We're back! And...Princesses!?!?

So, so, so many things to blog about... but I will start from today and so as not to become overwhelmed and simply not do anything I will add in the old stuff if I have time...

I am opposed to Barbi and princess stuff for little girls for several reasons.  Primarily because they presuppose a man/knight-in-shining armor as the means to salvation, rescue, and ultimately happiness. I could go on...  Although I had intended to simply ban Barbi and princesses from our house and toy collection I have once again been reminded that parenting in the future-tense is far easier than parenting in real-time.

Miss. A loves princesses.  Actually she loves beautiful and girly things.  It happens that princesses are readily available and marketed directly to her.  She is drawn to them, in the store they are like fishing lures.  Pink boxes with cursive handwriting and blond dolls with unhealthy proportions call to her, and she is absolutely powerless to resist.  Consequently, she has received princess costumes, and toys of many kinds as gifts (not from me).

Miss. A was thrilled to unwrap a huge set of Disney princess legos from Nana (my mom) for Christmas. She hastily set about scattering the pink and white legos about the living room.  Having located the princess and prince figures she quickly enlisted me to build the castle.

Ta dah!!!

A was horrified to see that the prince's bed was right next to the princess'.  "Ewwwww!"  She announced. "The princess can not sleep near the boy!"  Oh I laughed, so many witty thoughts that would be lost on a three-year old, but I knew that this would headline my return to the blog world. Definitely funny, right?  And maddening (see next paragraph)!  So, the boy bed was moved, by A, to a location more suitable for well, a boy...  You see his bed in this picture, now perched precariously on some kind of castle turret, or outcropping.

But the mom in me can't help but be upset with toy makers.  We have had countless lego sets through our home in the last 12 years.  They were all of the "boy" variety until recently.  I know their are a lot of arguments to be made by making a gender distinction about toys, but we have had the knights, and the space ships, etc.  These sets don't come with a bedroom set.  This is one small part of the over-sexualization of our society.  As a mom of both boys and girls, it is tragic that girls fall prey to this and in seemingly innocuous ways. My opposition to princesses has been underscored and reaffirmed!

Running Buddies

I love to run.  Actually I love what running does for my body.  And now that I am no longer a spring chicken I am realizing how important running is for my mental health.  Running makes me happy.  Happier when I get to run with my two favorite running buddies.  C and K are fast, really fast.  On shorter runs (less than 4 miles) they can kick my booty.  I don't let them do much more than 4 miles right now, it can't be good for their growing bodies, right?

When we run together I have started taking selfies of us.  These aren't the prettiest pictures, but I love looking at them.  C and K are such troopers.  If I suggest a detour that might add another mile to our route or some significant elevation they are almost always up for it.

Here are the latest selfies from our runs.  All of these are recent, and so, so sad because in two of them I am wearing my headband to keep my ears warm--in June!

Here C and I went out for a nice little 5 miler in the neighborhood.  When I run with him, it is like running with an alpha-dog.  No matter how painful it is for the dog, or how tired, or how thirsty he is, he will still strain to be at the very, very end of the leash.  That is C, he has to be in the lead, by about 30 yards no matter how much it hurts.

We discovered an awesome trail in Moore Park.  It is a trail run, so it is a little more technical than we are used to and the single track is fun.  Big elevation gains on this one, but coming down is soooo fun.

 

 

A couple days later we returned in the evening for another round on our new favorite trail.  Cold enough for a headband and sweatshirts.  C was killing himself to maintain the lead, and K was killing himself to try to claim the lead.  As a result of all this competition I was killing myself just to keep them in my sight...  So we had to play follow the leader.  Every time a new song came on we had to switch leaders and run at the leader's comfortable pace.  It was so much more fun for all of us.  Even the boys admitted that they liked it better without the pressure.

 

 

 

Lucky me, my running buddies are also my biking buddies.  We are fortunate to live in a town small enough that we can bike just about anywhere.  When the weather is warm and we have enough time all of us prefer two wheels to four.  Here is a shot from this week.  I had to go in to work, but we had time to ride.  On our return trip we tried to find a couple geocaches...we were unsuccessful this time.  The girls had no patience for geocaching...

 



Happy Birthday A

I can't believe it has been 3 years since we were on the beach in Mississippi waiting and waiting for Miss. A to arrive.  A is 3!!!  And she is amazing--hilarious, fabulous, so much fun.  I could go on, and on.  I usually do, anybody who has to listen to me marvel about A would certainly agree.  To those people who have to endure my endless adoration of A, I am sorry.  I truly can not help myself.  She is the most incredible package of girliness, glitter, sweetness, confidence, bossiness, competitiveness, compassion, and hilarious fun that I have ever encountered.  Oh, did I mention that I am a bit biased...

So she turned 3 on Tuesday.  We kicked off the birthday with...ladybugs and praying manti (sses???).  Johan had to work so the presents had to wait for the evening.  A loves critters.  Now that the weather is warm and butterflies, beetles, and spiders are about, she can usually be found in the yard with a net catching something.  She can catch butterflies like nobodies business.  She usually has one in her hand and 7-8 in the butterfly house.  She will enthusiastically remark, "Aw, this one is so cute!  Look he likes me!"  I don't think they like her... just guessing... probably the giant with the net who is going to cup you in her sweaty palm isn't  so much a friend.  But I digress.  I gave A a container filled with 1500+ ladybugs to release in our garden and one with two praying mantiss eggs.  She and the boys were in their glory!

All three of them had the ladybugs crawling all over their arms and legs.  I was a little creep-ed out by the quantity.  A few ladybugs are cute, but hundreds of them all moving about on your children was a little bit yucky for me.

Here is A opening up the ladybugs.  She was pretty excited.  Unfortunately, she was just a little off all day.  Pretty enthusiastic, but just not herself.  I was suspecting that she was starting to get sick.  Cut to tonight...I just returned from a late night run to Freddies for cough medicine.  Yep, she was on the verge all week.  She has a cough and plenty of congestion now.

Here are the boys, with feng shui bed head.  C must have slept on his right, K on his left.  Judge away, I should have had them brush their hair.  But we were so excited to set the ladybugs free.

Some of the less fortunate ladybugs were transferred from their container into our butterfly house.  This is hands down the best toy purchase ever!  This may be our third one, but the kids all love this thing.  When the temperatures finally climb past 50 degrees they always have something captured in here.  On this day there was a dead butterfly in it when the ladybugs appeared.  We learned that ladybugs like dead butterfly.  Thus a good discussion about why ladybugs are good for your garden.

Oma and Opa sent balloons and a stuffed animal.

Later we had dinner and cake at my moms.  She made A a yummy strawberry cake, similar to the one we made for her in Mississippi when we were waiting for her to make her first appearance.  She missed that cake, but loved this one.

  Here we are the day after the birthday.  My sister got A some fun sparkly outfits for her birthday.  A LOVES sequins, and pink, and purple.  I did not make her that way.  Nature not nurture on the girliness here...  Here she is happily showing off one of her new birthday outfits.

Johan's sister sent A some glitter-glamorous tattoos.  C and K could not wait to put them on her.  Again...in her glory.

Happy Birthday A!!!  You are awesome!

May Flies By...

So we are five months into 2013!!!  It seems like we are always racing around, sometimes literally.  The garage never gets cleaned, the laundry continues to pile up, but there are trophies, and bib numbers, and fun memories...  This month has been a whirlwind.  C, big K, and A spent a week with Oma and Opa at the beginning of the month.  We participated in the Pole Pedal Paddle on the 18th in Bend.  And, we bought a boat!!!  The boys and I have wanted a boat for years.  We found a deal that was too good to pass up, and Johan was finally in!

Here is a quick wrap up of the month from my phone:

At the Pole Pedal Paddle, the boys were amazing.  The race started with big J downhill skiing to C.  C then skate skied for 8K.  Big J then biked for 22 miles.  He handed off to big K who then ran 5 miles.  C and little J then kayaked for a couple miles, it was a circuit so some upstream, some downstream.  Big K completed the final sprint to the end.  I am so proud of these guys, and they are already planning for next year.

C is in the green below, I quickly stopped to get a picture of him before racing down the hill to meet Jill for my second leg of the our PPP.  Jill and I participated as a pair team.  So much fun!!  And special thanks to Jim and Johan who handled all the logistics with the boys' team while Jill and I did our race.  And to Nana and Hector who watched the girls while we all did the race.

 

Here is the kayak launch.  Toward the middle of the pic you can see Johan and Jim helping the boys put their kayak (orange) into the river. 

 

 

 

Here are little J (big J's younger brother) and C on the kayak course.  This is arguably the toughest section of the race.  This event requires a lot of upper body strength.  These boys are fierce competitors.  I love how passionate they are and totally willing to commit themselves.

 

 

 

Memorial Day weekend should be hot and gorgeous...but we live in southern Oregon.  We have lived here for seven years and every year I am shocked that we are still dealing with freezing temperatures at the end of May.  Ugh!  We had some nice tomatoes growing in our garden.  But it snowed a little this week.  And now they are finished...

 

 

 

Along with dead tomatoes, basil, and bell peppers the weather ruined our Memorial Day weekend plans.  We had reserved a campsite at Lake of the Woods, but with lows in the high 20s we decided to stay home.  As a consolation prize for the boys we let them have a sleepover on Friday, and on Saturday afternoon we decided to take the boat up to Lake of the Woods for a trial run.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

 

Here is A on the dock just before we launch the new boat to see if it runs.  It does!  Look at Mt. McLoughlin in the background.  Gorgeous!  It is calling me, "Summit me, summit me, summit me!"  That is on the boys' and my summer bucket list.  Gotta wait for some snow to melt first...



 

C obliges me with a photo op.

 

My driver looking hot.  Sooooo this fun, quick trip was kind of miserable.  The boat works great, but the temperature was so, so cold.  The girls were freezing.  C was trying to be tough and prove that the weather was warm.  He was stubbornly insisting that he didn't need a coat because he really wanted to go tubing.  And the cherry on top...little K hated going over 10mph.  So we shivered as we putted around the lake with two disappointed boys, and a miserable baby.



 

Big K and A putting on a happy face.

 

 

 

The boys are still liking BMX.  Here is a shot from today of them practicing:

 



 

Uh Oh and Hollywood!

Whenever one of the kids puts on sunglasses I dramatically call out, "Hollywood!"  Here is K in full Hollywood mode.

And K's newest word, which I realize is actually a phrase, "Uh Oh!"  It is special because it comes with an Uh Oh face.

Singing

While we were driving the other day A announced to me that, "Some people ARE NOT NICE!" She was adamant.  I answered, "Most people are very nice."  She countered, "No K, says NO!  Some people ARE NOT NICE!"  Hmmmmmm.....I wasn't sure where this was coming from so, "Why did K say that?"  A answered, "At the store some people ARE NOT NICE!"  A will be three next month.

Ah ha!  She had fallen asleep on the way to the store the other day so I asked K to sit with her.  Well of course she woke up about two minutes after I left.  She loves the grocery store.  Actually she loves shopping for anything, but she has to settle for Fred Meyer because that is about the extent of what we have in our little town.  She wanted K to take her in, but he explained (wisely) that you have to be with your mama in the grocery store because some people are not nice.  A really took this to heart, but I didn't want her to be afraid of people. 

So as we drove I casually made up a little song.  "People and nice, people are good, I like people-people-people oooooohhhhhhh I like people-people-people..."  I went on, and the song was pretty zippy (probably have some music industry scouts on my tail already, uh media).  Anyway, A was feeling pretty contrary because she kind of hijacked my song and carried on with her own.  I quickly (and safely) whipped out my camera to catch some of her musical genius for posterity.

When I could get a word in I tried to steer back to my happy lesson on liking people.  But A could not be swayed.  She quickly jumped back in:

By now I was enjoying her version so much that when she stopped all she needed was a little nudge from me.  So I sang about two or three words from my people song and that was all A needed.  She bullied her way back in:

Soccer Break

This spring we decided to take a break from travelling soccer.  And by we I mean (Johan and I).  The boys kind of just went along with it...  The plan was to for go soccer and all the crazy driving around the state in order to try some individual sports with less strenuous travel schedules. 

Since December the boys have been doing Tae Kwon Do again.  But they have decided that there was a reason that they stopped doing it a couple years ago.  They just don't enjoy it...  C has been participating in track with the local middle school.  He is starting to enjoy it, and he has a great deal of talent.

For their birthdays we got the boys new BMX bikes.  The racing season began here two weeks ago.
 

The first day was a lot of fun.  C and K loved it!  That is C on the far left in the starting block.  K is the second racer from the left.  This is a warm up round.  They had an opportunity to practice for about an hour before the actual racing began.

C and K's biggest fan.

The races are held at a rough time for us.  They start at noon on Sunday.  Noon is little K's naptime.  So we left church and little K fell asleep.

I thought it was going to be perfect because we could get the boys registered and little K could sleep in the car.  Nope!  A is not so good at doing anything quietly and when we arrived at the track she was excited and bopping around the van.  Her excitement was contagious.  Little K could feel the energy... 

The first day of racing was a success.  The boys had a great time, and A enjoyed making friends at the track. 

This weekend, I was in SF so Johan was on his own.  He did great!  So did the boys.  C and K both brought home a first place one of these:

I think we will be going back to soccer in the fall.  But for now, BMX is pretty fun!

Getting Ready for PPP!

I am so excited for the Pole Pedal Paddle this year.  I participated in this event two years ago as part of a team with Nikki, Maureen, and Jill.  It is an awesome relay race in bend.  There are six legs:

1. Downhill ski
2. 8K cross-country ski
3. 22 mile bike
4. 5 mile run
5. Kayak
6. Half-mile sprint

Last year little K was just a few months old so we skipped it, but this year the boys have a team.  C and K are going to do the Pole Pedal Paddle with their friends J and J this year.  J and J's mom, Jill, and I are going to do the relay as a two-person team.

Two weekends ago we went up to Bend for a crash course in skate skiing.  None of the boys has ever done it, and one of them will have to do it for the cross-country leg.

I am so bummed that I didn't take any pictures during our practice.  But here are the happy skiers in the parking lot at the end of a very hard day.

We signed up for a group lesson.  Our instructor was kind of Debby Downer...  but we did get the gist of how to ski.  The boys had nothing to associate cross-country skiing with other than downhill skiing which they love.  About five minutes after we started skate-skiing they all began to wonder why it is called skiing.  Cross-country/skate skiing is A LOT of work.  It is super physical, a really great workout.  So I loved it!

K actually really got into and C, who really didn't like it, is way too competitive to let K do anything without him.  When I asked C if he wanted to head back to the lodge for a snack he took one look at K and said, "No, I can do it!"  And he could.  He was much faster than me.  C and K both insisted that we take the hardest, longest trail.  I had already left my phone and my jacket in the snow about a kilometer back.  The trail was a loop so I decided to press on.

I should have brought water, and food...  We were so thirsty and so hungry.  The boys are so totally amazing though.  They didn't whine or complain.  They just kept going!  I love that they are such good sports almost all the time.  They came to skate ski and that is just what they did. 

Bat Mitzvah in SF

This weekend I went down to San Francisco for my cousin's bat mitzvah.  Johan stayed home with the kids.  It was good to see the extended family that I rarely see, cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends, etc.  My half sister, Caitlin joined me and we shared a hotel room.  Caitlin and I didn't really grow up together and have only recently started to be in touch.  She is 7 years younger than I am, but it is crazy how much we have in common, and how much we look alike.  Several times at the bat mitzvah people asked us if we were twins or sisters.  The first time I said, no.  I have been around her so infrequently, it took me a minute to recover and realize, yep we are sisters.

Caitlin is on the left (my right), my cousin Michael is on my left, he is a freshman at the University of San Francisco, and next to him is my cousin Molly.  I should add that there was a "glamour station" at the bat mitzvah.  There was a lady applying false eye lashes and there was a photo booth with lots of costumes and props.  I think somebody put the fun pink bandana on Michael, he didn't come with that.  Pics from later in the night were much more fun.  Everybody had costumes. I had a rainbow Mohawk.  But it isn't on my phone...so I don't have to share.

 

Is that a sandwich?

K still loves to put whatever she can into her mouth.  I usually respond by saying in a silly voice, "Oh K, that _________ is not a sandwich."  Then I attempt to remove whatever is in her mouth.  The other day K and A were coloring, I think I was busy talking to somebody...  A looked over and announced, "Oh K, that marker is not a sandwich!"

I love the blue marker residue on her face.  I feel like she is looking at me in defense, "What...I am just sitting here coloring, I wouldn't put marker in my mouth!?!"

Happiness is...

A doggie bag full of dandelions (a.k.a. beautiful flowers).

I think it is fair to say that spring has finally sprung here in the Klamath Basin.  There are beautiful flowers sprouting up everywhere.  But A is not allowed to pick the beautiful flowers that people work hard to put in their yard.  She is however allowed to pick as many dandelions as she likes.  I love children's perceptions because for A the abundant dandelions are as wonderful as the tulips and petunias that are starting to appear.

At one of C's most recent track meets A filled a doggie bag with dandelions.  She explained that she was going to bring them home to their mommy and daddy.  We didn't think much of this, but allowed the bag of now dead weeds to be loaded into the car.  When A got home it was time for bath and bed, but she pleaded, "Just one second I will be really quick."  She saw that a negative response was on my lips and then with a hip sway and a tilted head and all the cuteness she could muster, "Really quick, my flowers need their mommy and daddy."  This time she didn't wait for a response.  She was off. 

A few minutes later I wandered down the driveway to find her.  She was hard at work planting her flowers.  But it was getting dark, and suddenly the train whistle blew.  She leaped up into the air, "I don't like that sound!"  And she dashed up the stairs and into the house.  Bath time!

The next morning she had not forgotten her flower duty.  Before breakfast she ran off to plant her flowers.

The big dandelion on the left is growing in our planter box.  All the tiny ones on the ground have been meticulously placed there by A.  She was totally thrilled with herself. 

A quickly noted that she was putting the "beautiful flowers" with their mommy (dandelion at the bottom on the left) and daddy (big yellow flower toward the top of the image).  So unfair that the daddy's are always bigger and more beautiful than the mommies.

I love that she planned this whole thing at a track meet in White City.  She knew these two mommy and daddy flowers were growing in our planter box and really wanted to bring their babies to them.

Happiness is...

A favorite outfit!!!

A insists on wearing this outfit whenever it is clean (and sometimes when it isn't).  The panda hat isn't always part of it, but it is quite fulfilling for her to pair her sparkles with a hat.  She has very low tolerance for clothing that does not sparkle or twirl.

Birthdays in Bend

C and K have birthdays that are one week apart, so it seems we end up having a birthday "season."  K's birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  He wanted to go motorcycle riding.  After church we headed to White City for some moto-cross.  I will upload pictures later, they are on the camera.  Happy Birthday to my incredible, lovable 10 and 12 year-old boys!  They are both so wonderful and I thank God for them everyday!

C's birthday was the following weekend.  So we rented a house in Bend, and let the boys go skiing have a sleepover with their friends J and J.

I do have birthday pictures...but they are on the camera (not my phone).  I will have to download them SOON!

While Johan took the boys skiing, the girls and I walked to the Old Mill district for lunch and shopping.  A loves to shop.  I mean seriously loves to shop.  I can't even fathom it, because I abhor shopping.  A on the other hand comes alive in the stores.  She enjoys chatting with other shoppers, and sales people, and generally just strutting around the store, admiring merchandise.  When she sees something she likes she runs to it, and pronounces in a tone of breathy, excitement, "Mama, this is beautiful!"  She also REALLY loves accessories.  I think she tried on all of the costume jewelry at Banana Republic.

Here she is at the Gap, in her glory...

That day she picked out a sequin top at the Gap.  It is the only thing that she ever wants to wear.  I got a few pictures of it at home, but I couldn't get her to stop for very long to pose.

I have never once had a fight with the boys over clothes.  To this day they wear what I hand them and could truly care less.  A on the other hand wants to wear something "pretty" everyday.  And by pretty she means, pink and/or sparkly.  The trashier the better.

This particular sequin top is hand wash only.  So it isn't always clean...but I am trying to be a good sport.  She loves this top.  I have to coax her out of it at bedtime, explaining, "Your sequins may get ruined if you sleep in it."  It doesn't help that she gets tons of compliments on her sequin top.  The other day at C's track practice it was chilly, but she did not want to wear a jacket which would cover up her sequins.  The sun made that top sparkle like crazy, it was kind of cool.  But two of the track girls totally stopped what they were doing, to have a dramatic conversation with A about her pretty top and how sparkly she was, and, "Oh my you look like a mermaid!"  A of course loved and skipped and twirled around like the red carpet was out and the paparazzi were waiting.

State Chess Tournament

Last weekend we traveled to Portland for the state chess tournament.  Both boys qualified as individuals and as part of a team.  K was the top K-4th grader in our region, so he went as an individual and part of the Roosevelt chess team.  C was the top 6th grader in our region, so he went as an individual and part of the Ponderosa chess team.

The first day of competition is the team day.  Both teams finished about in the middle of the pack.

The second day of competition is the individual day.  So both boys had two very long, challenging days of chess.  I have never seen so many kids shed tears over a board game as I have the last three years at the state chess tournament.  The kids and the parents take this event VERY seriously.  C couldn't sleep the night before.

K finished with one win, three ties, and one loss, right in the middle.  He was happy.

C finished third place!!!!  I was so proud!!!

I have more pictures, but they on the other camera.  For now, this is from my phone.  A picture of C in his final match.

Where is K?!?

K is getting so fun.  She is really animated.  Here she is playing peek-a-boo with me in the car on our long drive home from Portland.  Moments before I took these pictures she was bored and crying... But then I asked in my own animated voice, "Where is K?"  She quickly recognized that I wanted to play and covered her face...

A few seconds later...  "There she is!!!"

End of January!?!

We finally got the Christmas tree off the deck...lights are still on the house...but we are calling them "winter lights," so I have a couple more months before those have to come down, right?  I meant to be a blogging fool this year, but it looks like I will only manage two posts this month.  February will be better...

Here is a quick January wrap up:

Who doesn't love a man who does exactly what you tell him to, exactly when you tell him to?  K is so good to A.  A will announce, "K, I want you push me."  Usually he responds enthusiastically, retrieving the laundry basket and loading it up with stuffed animals for a softer ride.  Little K is totally in on it now too, she doesn't want to miss anything.

The girls were getting heavy in one basket, so K put them in separate baskets... not sure if it helped, but they loved the train.

A has always had one drawer in the kitchen that she was aloud to pull stuff out of and make a mess of.  Until about a month ago that meant that A would empty the contents of this drawer onto the kitchen floor on a daily basis.  A outgrew the drawer and for the last few weeks I haven't had to trip over sippy cups and plastic bowls.  It was a short lived luxury...

Little K discovered the drawer, and being considerably more petite than A at this age she crawls into the drawer.  A was overcome by jealousy when she spotted little K in the drawer.  But A weighs in at 40 lbs. I couldn't let her climb in.  It didn't take long for little K to learn that she could pull out the drawers above and use them to scaffold her way up.  Super cute and fun to watch, but the danger factor drove me to throw out my veto power. 

Here is a shot of little K sporting her carrot dinner on her chin.  It is funny to me because she eats just like A used to.  For foods that require lots of chewing (fresh carrots, apples, etc.) she merely bites into them, sucks on them for a bit, and then spits them out.  The result is a nice little pile of food that looks as though it has been through a food processor.

The boys are doing tae kwon do again, and Miss. A wants desperately to do everything they do.  They were running around getting ready for tae kwon do when Miss. A proudly presented herself before me in the kitchen and announced, "I ready for typing wan do!"