Stewart Snippets

Photos of the Day(s)...and such

2012-02-16T20:13:00.001-06:00

Day 42 (2/11/12):

K, so this is a little bit of a cheat because I did not actually take this photo. But Stu and I were going on a Valentine's date and Ryann wanted to take our picture. She did a nice job, huh?!

Day 43 (2/12/12):

I just can't help it; the sight of Adam "reading" makes my heart go pitter-pat!

Day 44 (2/13/12):

Awwwww, I captured a precious Daddy-daughter moment. Stu was brushing Ryann's hair after her shower that night.

Day 45 (2/14/12):

Sweet Valentine of mine :)

Day 46 (2/15/12):

This was a near miss folks. This is seriously the only photo I snapped today. The dog, drinking, and being reflected back at herself in the front of the dishwasher.

Day 47 (2/16/12):

Ryann at her piano lesson this afternoon.

I am a busy, busy lady these days and haven't been keeping good track of the funny goings-on around here but stay tuned for some Fridge Funnies or Car Conversations coming up.

Here's a preview:

Tonight at the dinner table, we were asking the kids how their days went. Max reported that H (at daycare) called Adam a name and so Max "told on H" since he was "being a bully". Adam harrumphed, "Yeah! He was bein' a balloon". I guess he was mispronouncing "bully". Later, the conversation had somehow evolved to whether or not the kids liked being in my belly when I was pregnant. I told them that Max liked being in there the best and tried to stay in the longest. I said that Adam was the most eager to get out and was trying to get out early. He asked, "Was I trying to budge my way out?" I laughed and told him yes, he most certainly tried to budge out early.

Photos of the Days catchup!

2012-02-10T20:21:00.000-06:00

This has been a crazy, wild, crazy, busy, crazy, unexpected, crazy, exhausting, crazy, rewarding, crazy, draining, crazy, insane, whirlwind of a week. Again, there's stuff that goes on that just is what it is and not everyone needs to know about it at this moment. Maybe one day, I will feel compelled to share. Don't know if anyone cares now or will care in the future but, there it is.....

Anywho, despite the craziness of it all, I managed to take at least one photo each day! Sometimes there was just the one, so you get what you get, but here they are:

Day 36 (2/5/12):

Someone gave us Uno Roboto for Christmas (I think it was Stu's mom). Dude! (As the kids are all saying every other sentence these days) This game rocks.

Day 37 (2/6/12):

My three Snippets sharing togetherness time with the iPad. This is how I stretch out the time between them being ready to go to daycare/school and the moment we actually need to get out the door in the morning. Each kid gets approximately 5 minutes on the iPad each. There's usually no bickering or fighting. Glory be.

Day 38 (2/7/12):

I do have some close friends who know about what's going on in my/our world right now. I have a very special neighbor-friend who has made it her mission to reach out and be there for me, even though she's currently a snow-bird with her hubby, living in a condo in Phoenix for two months. She's one of those people you know God placed in your life path for a very definite purpose. She's left inspirational notes and sweet little gifts for me with my daycare provider. I get a little present almost every day when I drop the kids off.

Day 39 (2/8/12):

Takin' care of both me and Adam today. It was time for his quarterly check up with Dr. B. His eyes look absolutely, beautifully perfect! Now we don't go back for about four and a half months. At that time, Adam will have a full exam with dilation. If it's time, his prescription will be changed....to a LOWER prescription. The plan is that his glasses will get less and less thick as time goes on and Adam may need nothing but his IOLs to see with when he and his eyes are done growing. Amazing, miraculous, blessed times we live in!!

Day 40 (2/9/12):

We've been in a Valentine card frenzy around here lately. All three kids having been signing their names to approximately 65 cards for their classmates and teachers.

Day 41 (2/10/12):

Max has a stack about 5 inches thick of Pokemon cards. He'd been fascinated with them since the beginning of the school year. Suddenly, he's decided that Pokemon cards are ok but Yu-gi-oh cards are the new rage. His stack of Yu-gi-oh cards is only about a quarter inch thick, thus he didn't notice that the small bunch remained in the pocket of his pants he shoved down the laundry shoot. Uh-oh!! Dad to the rescue!!

Photos of the Days and Basketball

2012-02-04T19:52:00.001-06:00

Day 32: Remember Riley William Bruneau? He's my cousin's baby boy who was born a year and a half ago with a serious heart defect. He is miraculously healthy and handsome to behold.

Day 33: Some nights, you have to chuck your dinner plans and just have Mickey D's. This was one of those nights. Didn't bother my kiddos any.

Day 34: The van is not the only thing around our household that's flashing warning signs about "Change Required"... I'm working on it....

Day 35: We woke up to the most beautiful frost on the bare branches of the trees in our neighborhood this morning.

Max had his second-to-last morning of basketball today. The Roseville Varsity boys held a clinic for the little guys. It was fun to watch the Little Hoopers learn skills and do drills with the big boys and the Varsity coaches:

Some Photos of the Days and Sledding Sans Snow

2012-01-31T16:02:00.000-06:00

Day 28: My little girl got her own library card recently. This weekend she asked if we could go to the library so she could check out her own books with her very own card!

Day 29: Ryann's also the Day 29 photo. This girl LOVES to color! She loves to draw and create, but she REALLY loves to color. The outside of her bedroom door was covered with her masterpieces so during "rest time" on Sunday, here is how she spent her time:

Day 30: I telecommuted today. This is what that looks like:

I so love working from the comfort of my own couch!

Day 31: I managed a self-portrait while in the drive-thru at the bank this afternoon :)

It has been unseasonably warm and un-snowy in Minnesota this winter (I'm NOT complaining)! But when you have school age kids who got sleds from Santa for Christmas - you find a secret sliding hill with a decent amount of snow and you make it work. And when your husband insists you must go down at least once because it's "exhilerating", you go down. And find it is exhilerating. Especially the part where the heels of my boots bounced on the snow at the end of the hill and I got a face and mouth-full of icy, wet stuff.

Ryann thought it was hilarious that the hill was slippery enough, she could slide down on only her snowpants and didn't even need a sled.

Dad Exhileration

Adam, and later Ryann, gave Mom a helpful push

Mom Exhileration

Catch up and other stuff

2012-01-27T16:15:00.000-06:00

Dear Lovely Readers,

I've had a rough week this week. I don't think I'll go into details now. Those of you who are close to me in real life know what I've been going through and I'm not ready to divulge such intimate information to the entire world. But, the best part of this week is that I made it through it and did it quite gracefully if I do say so myself. Because the week was a little rough, I was unable to post a photo each day but I did take a photo each day.

At first, I wanted to make sure I posted my photo of the day each day because I thought otherwise I might forget to even take a photo but now that I'm into the habit, I think I'll not forget and so I'll post when I feel like it and have the time.

So here goes on the Photo-a-day Challenge catch up:

Day 25 "My throne for the evening" (I was prepping for a medical procedure the following day):

Day 26 "The view from here" (I was lying in bed recovering from the above-mentioned procedure and here's what I could see reflected back to me from the full length mirror on the back of our bedroom door):

Day 27 "Plant in motion" (I am blessed to live in a suburb of the Twin Cities where we have all kinds of places and opportunities to enjoy. One of them is the Como Zoo and Conservatory. I've wanted, for years, to go to the Conservatory on a blustery winter day and sit in the warm, steamy atmosphere and read a book. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard to do but sometimes you just don't make things a priority. Now I'm glad I waited because when I first got the idea in my head, I didn't have a fancy-pants camera to capture the beautiful things to look at there. I'm going to post my favorite photo from today as my "Day 27" photo but I'm also going to share a few more because I really got quite a few shots I really like):

Doesn't it look like it's moving? Almost makes me a little dizzy :)

Here are a few more of my favorite shots:

And now for some "fridge funnies" I've been saving up. Sorry to disappoint but these are all Adam! Max and Ryann have been so sweet lately and I need to be better about writing things down the moment I think of it or it's gone. Too many things going on in this scatterbrain of mine right now.

Now, remember, when you read Adam's lines you must say them in your head with a cute baby-talk accent (e.g., place sounds like pwace).

A few mornings ago, Adam coughed. He then informed me, "When I coughed, wetness came outta my nose. So I pumped it back in again so it wouldn't get all over the place." I thought his pumping his boogies back in was quite considerate of him.

We have a rule in the Stewart house regarding eating meals. Maybe I've shared it before. We never force our kids to eat everything on their plate but they must try at least one bite of everything and, sometimes, if they've eaten barely anything, we insist they take a few bites of the thing on their plate that is most palatable for them. I don't remember what we insisted Adam take a bite of but he was not a fan and exclaimed, "This tastes horrible!" Let me tell you - hearing that phrase from a 3 and a half year old with a baby-talk accent is gut-busting.

Again, I don't remember the exact details of what was going on but I jotted down on my fridge note that I asked Adam, "What happened? Did it overflow?" Adam responded, "No. It almost splatted out." Splitting hairs or something lost in the interpretation; I'm not sure? A distinct possibility is that Adam wasn't sure what I meant by "overflow" since he pronounces it "underflow". The kid's a real optimist/glass half full kinda guy.

Adam is still plaguing Stu and I with nighttime shenanigans. He either gets out of bed a million times to tell us he can't sleep, ask questions, make requests, or he lies in his room and kicks his feet against the wall and talks and sings so loudly, it drives us nuts! Adam and Max share a room so my heart just hurts for Max having to lie there and listen to that but he has never once complained about it at the time and has only once or twice mentioned, in the morning, that he had difficulty falling asleep because of Adam. Anywho, last night, Adam was whooping it up in his bedroom and Stu stomped down the hall and flung the door open to chastise him. Things immediately became silent and then Stu heard, "Snnnnorrrt-choooo, ssssnnooorrrt-choooo, sssnnnooorrtt-choooo". Adam was fake snoring!!!!

Day 24

2012-01-24T19:20:00.002-06:00

Most of the time, Adam was crawling around on his hands and knees or wriggling on his back like a happy puppy on the ice tonight. But I got one good shot of him actually on his feet!

Day 23

2012-01-23T18:33:00.001-06:00

Sometimes it's the little things in life that you choose to think about to make you happy. In this case, one very big window in our house makes me very happy. I get a little warm feeling every time I look at or out our bay window. This window we had installed about seven years ago, while I was pregnant with Max, makes our living room seem so much more spacious. The "ledge" of the window holds photos of my most precious people. And I love being able to lean out and peer from side to side to check out what's going on in the 'hood. I'm a little old lady like that.

Day 22

2012-01-23T18:28:00.001-06:00

A 3-way BeyBlade battle!

Day 21

2012-01-23T18:26:00.001-06:00

A few of my favorite subjects, one of whom is engaging in one of my favorite pastimes:

Day 20 - barely made it

2012-01-23T18:24:00.002-06:00

I only took two photos on Day 20 and I'd forgotten to readjust the white balance on my camera so neither are very good. Both were taken from inside the minivan:

Photo 19, Ryann's FIRST lost tooth!

2012-01-19T20:15:00.004-06:00

Dear Toothfairy - I hope you make it to our house tonight and aren't too swamped like you have been in the past. Ryann's very excited about her first visit from you since you've already been to see Max several times!

Day 18, Photo 18

2012-01-18T18:37:00.002-06:00

Last Wednesday my Grandma was featured with Adam. This week, I got a snapshot of Adam with Grandpa. It's not the "technically" best shot, but I didn't want to leave Grandpa out!! :) Plust I love seeing Adam in photos with other people who have glasses on, no matter their age. I think it's sweet.

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, I have several other photos from this Wednesdays' visit that I'll create a Facebook album with. This Wednesday my sister, Marie, and her daughter, Evelyn, joined Adam and me for the weekly visit!

Day 17, Photo 17

2012-01-17T18:13:00.002-06:00

Remember when you were little and you came up with the silliest things to play but they were oh-so-amusing? I remember my Grandma and Grandpa Frantz kept an ice cream bucket of marbles at their house. My sister, cousin, and I used to take turns dropping the marbles down through Grandma's vacuum hose (detached from the machine) and watching the marbles roll across the carpeted family room.

Tonight, for Adam and Ryann, it was plopping marbles from the Hungry, Hungry Hippos game down a snorkel and then blowing as hard as they could so the marbles flew out the end of the snorkel. I tried and tried to catch a good, giggling look on one of their faces because, believe me, they were busting a gut. This is the best I could do:

iheartfaces Family Fun Photo Challenge

2012-01-17T17:17:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite photo sites "iheartfaces" is having their weekly contest this week with the theme "Family Fun". I immediately thought of this fun day from this summer. We were just hanging out in the front yard and driveway, biking and chillin' and bein' silly. Click over to the iheartfaces website for more Family Fun!

This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

Day 16, multi-photo day!

2012-01-16T15:41:00.003-06:00

It's my blog and I will if I want to (I've said it before and I'll say it again). Since I want to challenge myself to take at least one photo each day in 2012 but I also want to keep my blog updated, and I don't want to spend extra time on the computer, I'm merging my photo(s) of the day and a blog post into one today.

I hereby award myself procrastinator of the year! It was approximately a year ago that my mom and I painted the boys' room and at that same time, I purchased some cute wall adhesives to finish the "decorated" look in there. The box of "Motifs" have been lying either on our dresser or in the corner of our bedroom collecting dust for the past year. Max found the box right when I bought it and excitedly asked when we could apply the "Moffits". I laughingly explained the correct pronunciation to him and after asking me several more times over the next few weeks, he finally gave up.

Yesterday, inspiration and motivation struck in just the right combination and I actually put the "Moffits" up!! So today, I took a few photos. Because I don't think the "Moffits" were meant to stay in their box for a year. They don't adhere so very well. So they may not stay up there forever...but now the look is at least on film (SD card?) forever!

Day 15, Photo 15

2012-01-16T15:35:00.001-06:00

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that we've lived in our house for 10 years this month. This ceiling fan in our laundry room has been turning since the day we moved in. Yes, for 10 years. At first, we just never thought to turn it off - we thought maybe the former owners left it on for a reason. Now we're intrigued to see just how long the thing will keep running :) This is also the first photo I've ever taken lying flat on my back.

Day 14, Photo 14

2012-01-14T18:08:00.004-06:00

Ryann was so excited to go to Tiana's cheer competition today, she asked me to braid her hair and use a special hair binder with a pretty ribbon.

Cheering and daughters

2012-01-14T16:19:00.000-06:00

My goddaughter, Tiana, was in a cheerleading competition today. Ryann and I attended. I'm not super happy with how my photos turned out but both Ryann and I did our best. It melted my heart a little bit to watch my little girl, who really wasn't all that interested in the cheering (at least she wasn't begging me to sign up for it or anything), rather, she was snapping away with her cheapy little kiddy camera she got as a Christmas gift. Like mother, like daughter...

If, after checking out the photos below you're wondering - why didn't Sheri capture this sweet moment of Ryann snapping photos?? It's because I only had my 75-300 mm lens with me and I was sitting too close to her to take the photo. If anyone wants to contribute to the "buy Sheri an 18-200 or 250 lens" fund, feel free. It's only around $500 ;)

And speaking of like mother, like daughter:

Cousins are the best:

Day 13, Photo 13

2012-01-13T19:55:00.000-06:00

This is my bathroom mirror. No matter how often I clean it, it's constantly covered in flecks, smears, and globs. Never before has actual art appeared on it. This is something new.

I feel like I'm constantly either learning new things or being humorously reminded of things about parenting and children these days, just one of which is that children (at least mine) cannot seem to brush their teeth without flinging particulate all over the mirror, leaving globs of toothpaste all over the sink and counter, and cannot seem to figure out how to properly rinse their toothbrushes and put them back in the proper place when they are finished. Seriously, their toothbrushes are disgusting and very likely a serious health hazard.

Another fact about young children is that as much as you try to instill empathy and compassion in them, they don't care one fig about anyone but themselves. Just this evening, Adam somehow tripped (after only walking two steps) and his body fell into mine. His head and hands rammed into my very low torso. I made an unlady-like "oomph" sound and some particulate flew from my mouth. Stu burst out laughing. And Adam? Adam reassured us he was ok and hadn't stubbed his toe. No thought for whether or not Mom's gut was damaged.

Interestingly enough, Max is coming home from school with schoolyard rhymes that I remember my sister and I learning 25-odd years ago. For example - he told me he could count to 100 in just a couple seconds and then, like an auctioneer, called, "1, 2, skip a few, 99, 100!!!!" I'm learning some new ones though. He chose to share some rhyme about "So-and-so farted and a fire started" at the dinner table last night.

We really do try hard to keep the language extra clean around the Stewart house. But the three year old let out a three year old swear tonight. He must have gotten something in his eye because he was suddenly clutching at his glasses and screaming, "My eye hurts!!!" I asked Stu to grab some natural tears eyedrops (which Adam HATES) and Adam leaned his head back and howled, "Daaaaaanggggg iiiitttt!" I was so shocked, I admit I laughed.

Finally, children cannot get enough of bathroom talk. EVERYTHING is about butts, farts, toots, poop, pee, and every combination thereof. Again, I have to admit that sometimes it is hard not to laugh at the things they come up with.

Day 12, Photo 12

2012-01-12T18:29:00.001-06:00

It was nearing the end of my workday and I hadn't taken a photo yet. I thought about how I needed to rush a little to get Ryann to piano and then home for dinner and homework and showers and prepping for bed and I worried I'd forget to take a picture. So I took some photos of things in my cubicle. Here's the one I liked the best :)

Day 11, Photo 11

2012-01-11T16:11:00.000-06:00

Wednesdays are my day off. My husband and I decided to have, and were accidentally blessed (in one case), with three children, pretty much right in a row. I became pregnant with our second child when Max was only 6 months old. We decided to have a third child when Ryann was about 18 months old. Thus, when our youngest was born, we had a 3 and a half year old, a 2 year old, and a newborn. At that time, Wednesdays off sometimes felt like a blessing and sometimes like a curse. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I have NO clue how stay-at-home moms, especially stay-at-home moms with many small children do it.

The years have passed quickly and my babies are now 7, nearly 6, and nearly 4. My Wednesdays used to look something like this (from what I vaguely remember):

Wake up at about 6:00 a.m. to three ravenously hungry children, one of which needed to be fed directly from my body and most of whom had likely soiled themselves and needed diaper changes. Change diapers. Attempt to feed the infant, sometimes holding said infant with one hand while pouring bowls of cereal for the other two starvlings with the other hand.

Figure out how to entertain a preschooler, a toddler, and a newborn until it was time to schlepp all three beings to preschool to drop the preschooler off. There was usually some TV involved. There was usually some angst involved during drop off and pick up times because invariably, the infant decided that preschool pick up and drop off times were perfect napping opportunities.

I think there was a period of a few months where we'd get home from preschool, eat lunch, and all three kids would rest/sleep for a little while at the same time. This was pure Heaven. I remember watching a lot of DVR'ed American Idol episodes.

After naps, there were another few hours of figuring out how to keep all children occupied without them damaging themselves, each other, or the house.

Then, I'd start dinner and scream "Hallelujah!" when Stu walked in the door.

Now my Wednesdays are completely different....and oh so lovely....for now. The seasons are always changing, right? But as of right now, our Wednesdays look like this:

Get out of bed at about 6:15 when Stu leaves for work - the kids are already at the table eating their breakfast that Stu got started for them. I brush my teeth. Sometimes I check my e-mail and/or Facebook. The kids finish eating, clear their plates, and Max and Ryann get dressed and brush their teeth and hair. I assist Adam in dressing and he brushes his own teeth. We all get in the car at about 7:10 to drive Max down the street to where the bus picks him up. Ryann, Adam, and I return home. They are instructed to entertain themselves in the basement while I walk on the treadmill and read for 20 minutes. Then, Ryann and Adam have a snack and watch TV while I shower, dress, put on my make-up, and dry my hair. Then we play, read books, clean up, do some laundry, etc. until about 10:15. I make our early lunch since Ryann's bus picks her up for Kindergarten at 11:16. Adam and I drop her off at the same bus stop where we'd dropped Max off earlier in the morning. Adam and I used to go to the library while Ryann was at preschool last year but this year, I decided (and it's been a great decision), to use our time visiting my grandparents at their home. My dad's parents are in their 80's and are starting to slow way down but are still able to live in their own house. A few years ago, my aunt sold her house and moved in with them which helps, but she works full time and then some so much of the time, Grandma and Grandpa are housebound (neither can drive anymore) and alone. All of us look forward to the special time we have together on Wednesdays. Adam is spoiled and gets to eat Lorna Doone cookies and play on the iPad while I chat with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa get some company and sometimes we go out and about so they can get out of the house. I nearly always leave their house with a deep sense of peace. Grandma is so full of wisdom and love and understanding, it's calming just to be in her presence and to receive her emphatic hug upon our departure.

My photo today was taken when I asked Adam to sit on Grandma's lap so I could get a shot of them together. Grandma kept trying to get Adam to look at me and smile but what I really wanted was a candid photo of the two of them and I think I ended up with a great shot. I would have included Grandpa in the picture but he was in his jammies and I didn't want to embarrass him.

Day 10, Photo 10

2012-01-10T17:34:00.002-06:00

I am loving my 365+1 2012 photo challenge! I was driving to work today and noticed how beautiful the moon looked as it set on one side of the road and how amazing the sunrise looked on the other. I now bring my camera with me almost everywhere and considered driving on to work but instead, swung into the parking lot of the beach I was driving past. I parked and got out and felt exhilerated to stand in the crisp morning air and capture the glowing wonder of the moon reflecting off the frozen lake. I took a picture of the sunrise, too, but the moon photo is the neater of the two, I think. Or maybe I just have a thing for moons....since it's only been 10 days and I've already taken 2 shots of the moon.

Day 9, Photo 9 (plus an extra!)

2012-01-09T17:23:00.000-06:00

I must admit that I have no idea of the exact date that we moved into our house, but I know it was mid to late-January, 2002. That means we've lived in our house for approximately 10 years! Time has flown by so quickly. Both my husband and I moved directly out of our parents' houses and into our new house together, six months before we got married. My mom was our realtor and scrounged up this old "before" photo for me. Because today, I took an "after" photo. We've made some significant changes to our home in the past 10 years.

Before, circa 2002

After, 1/9/2012

Practically looks like a different house, doesn't it?! And, to our credit - our bushes look much nicer in the summer than in the dead of Minnesota winter.

Day 8, Photo 8

2012-01-08T15:12:00.000-06:00

Max has received tons of Lego sets as gifts for birthdays and Christmases over the past couple years. This year was the first where he'd reached the maturity to follow every single direction and put the Legos together and create what they were meant to be. It was a miracle to behold - our energetic child with the attention span of a gnat working for sometimes an hour at a time on his creations. I think this particular creation is one of his own design. It's a wondrous thing to watch your children grow and develop new abilities and interests each day.

And to continue on with that thread of thought...the other day I was thinking about how awful it is to be a mom:

Awfully rewarding
Awfully frustrating
Awfully time consuming
Awfully fulfilling
Awfully heart rending
Awfully scary
Awfully blessed

Day 7, Photo 7

2012-01-07T15:33:00.000-06:00

We joined Costco today! Through the company I work for, we get something called a MERSC discount. The annual fee is $55 but we signed up for $50 PLUS we get $50+ worth of coupons:

On New Memberships MERSC members will receive:

Coupons for FREE products and other savings valued at more than $50.00:

FREE Rotisserie Chicken
FREE Kirkland Signature 2lb. bag of coffee
FREE Kirkland Signature spring or drinking water, 35/16oz
... and more!
*coupons will be mailed to you within approximately 2 weeks of processing your membership application.

I'm excited about the Rotisserie Chicken!!

Ryann was excited about body wash. This girl loves her loofah and body wash. I asked Adam to hold the slab of lunch meat just for the sake of the picture. And we got a heck of a deal on eggs :)

Day 6, Photo 6

2012-01-06T16:06:00.001-06:00

I am blessed to be able to work from home one day a week. Normally, I work from home on Mondays but this week, I worked from home today (Friday). Our fairly newly adopted dog (we've had her since September of this year), Zoe, needs to be kenneled when we are not home because at her old house, she was allowed on the couch. Plus, she likes to eat the bathroom garbage, crayons, play-doh, little green army men, and apparently pine cones (well, the pine cone she just sort of shredded). So, to keep our leather couch scratch and hole free and to try to keep the kids' toys intact and Zoe's innards healthy, in her kennel she goes when we leave the house, even though she's four and a half years old and at this age, our former dog Rosko was able to have run of the house.

It's interesting though - when I work from home and Zoe does not need to be in her kennel, she still prefers to be there. Sometimes she'll come out and walk around and lie down somewhere other than her kennel but for most of the day, she goes to her kennel, curls up, relaxes, snoozes, peeks out at me. It's a safe, cozy little den for her.

Day 5, Photo 5

2012-01-05T18:20:00.003-06:00

When Ryann and I left her piano lesson this evening at about 5:30 p.m., the moon was shining through the trees in the neighborhood and had this hazy halo around it. It's unseasonably warm in Minnesota today so there must be some fog/humidity in the air that created the neat-looking effect.

Day 4, Photo 4

2012-01-04T15:45:00.000-06:00

A year ago, Adam had not had cataract surgery. We had no clue he'd need emergency surgery very soon. He did not wear adorable glasses that magnify his beautiful blue eyes. And if he hadn't had cataract surgery, during which his natural lenses were removed and replaced with IOLs (intra-ocular lenses), he would be blind today. We'd be learning braille instead of learning letter sounds. He'd be practicing with a white cane instead of learning to ice skate. We might have a seeing eye dog instead of our new (old) dog Zoe. I finally captured a photo where you can see the glint of sunlight reflecting off one of his IOLs (the one in his right eye). At first glance, the photo gave me a little jolt because the light reflecting off that IOL reminded me of how his pupils looked, clouded by cataracts. But the cataracts are long gone and it's highly likely they will never return.

Day 3, Photo 3

2012-01-03T18:13:00.000-06:00

Have you ever played that game at a shower (baby, or bridal, or somesuch) where the host brings out a tray full of items and you have a few seconds to look at the tray; then, you have a few minutes to try to recall as many of the items from the tray as possible? This is NOT that game; this is my coffee table.

And don't lie - if you have a child or children, your coffee table has or will look like this at some point. You'll see.

Day 2, Photo 2

2012-01-02T09:59:00.001-06:00

Let me tell you, people, the Stewart household has been assigned with either the busiest or the worst toothfairy around.Max lost his fifth tooth last night while taking a bite of his uncooked cauliflower during supper. He noticed his bits of cauliflower were crunching more than usual while he chewed so he spat the whole mess out on his plate and located the missing incisor.He dutifully placed his baggie-ful of tooth under his pillow at bedtime and there it remained in the morning.This is the FOURTH time out of five teeth our toothfairy has showed up late. And it wasn't until the third lost tooth that the transaction occurred as scheduled.Thankfully, Max is not all that upset since our toothfairy is chronically a day late, but never a dollar short.Still though, I wonder if when they handed out fairy assignments, our toothfairy was really meant for some other calling, like a tinkerfairy (anyone seen Disney's Tinkerbell?)...

Day 1, Photo 1, January 1, 2012

2012-01-01T18:33:00.000-06:00

We hoped for a white Christmas this year but did not get it. Instead, we got a white New Year's Eve. Here lies our Christmas tree, stripped bare and waiting on the curb to be hauled away.

The Countdown Begins

2011-12-31T11:04:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow will be a new year, a fresh start. We have some fun things planned already for 2012 - our first ever family vacation with just Stu and me and the kids (a road trip to Thermopolis, Wyoming) and Stu's participation in something called the Warrior Dash (you can bet your bottom dollar, I'll be there capturing it all on not-film/SD card?).

I also have something fun planned just for me. I know that the next year may contain days of struggles as I slowly work towards good health for myself so to offset day after day of striving that won't always be fun, I have planned a New Year's resolution that will mean day after day of striving to achieve something that should be fun. Each day this year, I will take at least one photo. I didn't realize until after I'd decided on this course of action, that this year is a Leap Year, so that means I will post 366 photos (if I achieve my goal) for your viewing pleasure. I can't promise that all the photos will be good, though knowing myself I will be striving for something cool each day, but I do pledge to try my best not to forget to take a photo any of the days in 2012. I'll even try to take photos that represent something, some thing, some occurrence, some feeling, of the day.

I don't want to wish time away since I'm watching my kids grow like vines before my eyes and I feel myself growing just a little slower each day, but I am glad that 2011 is almost over. It was one of the most challenging and trying years of my life.

And I'm thankful for it.

Lots of things have happened to me that have been tough and I've made lots of choices in my life that I'm not happy about, but I wouldn't change a thing or take any experience back, because they've all shaped me and made me who I am today.

Wishing you all a blessed and fruitful (no matter what form it comes in) 2012.

Some announcements

2011-12-21T15:59:00.000-06:00

If I write it down, it shall be so.

Right?

Well, I'm at least going to make an attempt.

Announcement #1: I have a couple New Year's resolutions for 2012 that I'm excited about. I haven't made a New Year's resolution in several years because I couldn't think of something that I really wanted to commit to. This past year has been pretty rough on me and my family. We've had medical issues, financial issues, worries about family and friends. It's nothing compared to what some people have gone through, are going through, or may face in the future. But we all have our own burdens to bear.

I still have lots of personal work to do which may take at least another year. While I work hard to get to the good, healthy place I want to be, I want to take on some fun, positive challenges.

So, without further ado:

Resolution #1: This Spring, I plan to work through the entire house from bottom to top (most of our "junk" is stored in our basement), purging everything we deem as unnecessary (e.g., dishes we've never used in years and are likely never to use, candles we've never burned and are likely never to burn, clothes and toys that have not been worn or used in months, half-empty paint cans, decorations/knick-knacks/art we're likely never to put out/up again, etc.) In June, I will have a garage sale. Half the proceeds will be donated to a charity of our choice. Whatever is left after the garage sale will hopefully be donated. If I can't give the remainder away, it will be thrown.

Resolution # 2: Inspired by fellow bloggers, I will be taking on a 365 Photos in a Year challenge. I take way more photos than that in a year but I am going to attempt to take at least one picture every single day in 2012. Hopefully the photo I use for that day will be representative of the day in some way. Maybe it will just be something that caught my eye. Maybe something that moved me. I am stoked to get to carry my camera with me everywhere I go and work on bettering my photography skills.

Announcement # 2: In case you didn't notice, the Stewart Snippets are growing up. Couple that with the fact that my husband has a very strong opinion about what kinds of things are shared publicly, especially on the Internet since it's basically a record for all time, and you may notice some subtle changes on my blog in the coming months and years. A discussion was instigated this summer when I took what I thought were adorable pictures of Adam playing with a Tonka truck in the driveway while wearing Ryann's too-small pink ballet shoes. I wanted to post them on my blog and Stu protested, claiming that Adam might be embarrassed by them when he gets older. Since I respect my husband because he's wise, smart, makes good choices, and because I pledged to when we made a covenant of marriage with one another, I did not post the photos.

A couple nights ago, I sat down with the kids to show them what I thought were adorable photos of them participating in the church Christmas program and visiting with their cousin. When I got to the one of Max saying his "Hoo, hoo, hoo..." line and shrugging, I whooped, "There you are! Saying your line. Aren't you cute?!" He cringed and his face crumpled and said, "Stop Mom! You're embarrassing me!" Stu jumped right on it and asked whether Max was embarrassed because I was talking about the photo or because I'd posted it on Facebook. Max admitted that both were bothering him. Stu prodded him, "What do you think you should do if you are embarrassed by Mom posting pictures of you on the Internet?" Max turned to me and asked, "Mom, will you ask my permission before you post pictures of me on the Internet?" I have to be honest, I was more than a little crushed. First of all, I felt really bad that I'd made Max feel bad. Secondly, a mean little part of me felt a little mad that Stu pushed the issue since I have savored capturing stories and photos on my blog and felt sad that I will no longer get 100% control over what I post. HOWEVER, I maintain that I am also a wise, smart parent who makes good decisions. If I feel a photo/story about the kids is something that would plainly embarrass them or cause issues for them as adults, I would never post it. If I feel a story is something that might embarrass them a little now (or maybe even as an adult) but that they will cherish having been captured, I will still go ahead and post what I deem to be appropriate.

All that to say, you may notice that there are fewer goofy/silly/cutesy photos of Max on the blog in the future. Probably soon after that, those types of posts re: Ryann may drop off. Also, although I feel that I'm brave enough (or dumb enough?) to share with some forthrightness what really goes on in this family, my husband (and apparently eldest son) feels differently. As such, Stewart Snippets may seem like a rose-colored glasses representation of our life. But let it be known that it is not always sunshine and rainbows around here. But those kinds of Stewart skeletons will stay in our non-Internet closet.

Adam update

2011-12-19T19:47:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I've needed to post an Adam update, which is a huge blessing! And we are still blessed that Adam has excellent vision with his glasses, no "new" cataracts, and no signs of glaucoma. But we do have a very minor 'situation'. Adam has been sticking his index fingers betweens his glasses and closed eyelids and vigorously rubbing his eyes many times a day for the past two weeks. I was finally able to get him in to see the resident at the pediatric eye clinic at the U this morning. Both the triage gal and the resident asked me, "How long did he wear contacts before he got glasses?" so I knew they were seeing something amiss. I explained to them both that Adam never wore contacts; he had IOLs implanted immediately after his cataracts were removed. Apparently the inner parts of both his upper and lower lids are enflamed, appearing like "contact over-wear". Since he never wore contacts, they then suggested possible allergies but ruled that out since it's not allergy season and he has no other symptoms. When I let them know he'd had pinkeye about 4 weeks ago, they postulated his eyes have not completely healed from that?? We've been instructed to use artificial tears (more eye drops for the poor lil guy) four times a day for the next week or so. If he's still rubbing or if things get worse, we need to make another appointment - this time to see Dr. B himself. The resident assured me that things look good - Adam is seeing well, his pressures are great (i.e., no signs of glaucoma), no pus or other signs of infection. Please pray that this is just a tiny blip on the radar and doesn't blossom into something else.

Christmas Chaos, Christmas Joy!

2011-12-16T20:39:00.000-06:00

I don't know about the rest of you adults but something about Christmas just isn't quite the same for me anymore. I still love the season and love celebrating the birth of Jesus but the rest of it all that used to be so magical and amazing is not there for me so much anymore. What is there, instead, is heaps and heaps of busyness and responsibility. Except I don't feel like complaining about it because the payoff as a mom is so great that it's enough to outdo the majority of the stress. Take for instance our last week and the week upcoming in our family:

Saturday, December 10th:
Max's friend birthday party, Max's family birthday party (in which he blew out 7 candles, one week early, one at a time, apparently trying for seven granted wishes)

Sunday, December 11th:
Sunday School, in which it was my turn to plan and on which day it happened to be "plan the headpiece for the Christmas program", purchase a Christmas tree, continue with Christmas shopping, decorate the Christmas tree

Look! It's me! I helped decorate the tree!

Monday, December 12th:
We ate Panko-crusted fried chicken and asparagus for dinner but thankfully, didn't need to leave the house for anything extra that night. We all had aromatic urine.

Tuesday, December 13th:
Adam had skating lessons at 5:45 p.m.

Wednesday, December 14th:
Ryann, Adam, and I visited with my Grandma and Grandpa Frantz in the afternoon for a while. Then, I dropped Ryann off at school and Adam and I continued our visit for a while until we needed to go home for when Max and Ryann got off the bus from school. That evening Max had pictures for basketball at 6:30 and Ryann had dance at 6:55. Adam accompanied me to the first 2 seconds of dance but luckily my knight in shining armor (that would be my husband) and his trusty sidekick (that would be my eldest) arrived to rescue the day and take Adam home after pictures were over.

I'm glad that Adam got to go home and use his energy there but I'm also glad he left because I got some kickin' pictures of Ry working hard at dance.

This one I like to call "You just go with your bad self, girl!"

Thursday, December 15th:
Ryann had piano lessons at 5:00, Adam had his preschool Christmas program at 6:30. I did not bring my camera to the Christmas program; we brought the video camera instead. Adam was absolutely, nothing short of miraculously adorable. My eyes welled with tears. I can't believe my baby is 3 and a half and belts out preschool Christmas tunes so that I can hear him at the back of the church. And when we left the church and he saw a banana peel in the parking lot, he belted out, "Look! A banana wrap!"

Friday, December 16th:
Stu and I accompanied Ryann, her friend A and A's parents, her other friend A and A's mom, on a field trip to downtown Minneapolis. We did this same field trip with Max last year and I spent the first half of the morning high and nauseous after having to take both Dramamine and Xanax after simultaneously experiencing terrible motion sickness and a panic attack on the crowded school bus. This year, I wised up and drove by myself and met Stu and Ryann downtown. It was a MUCH better experience.

A, A, and Ryann

A, A, and Ryann doing a crayon rubbing of one of these neat, old sewer covers we have on the sidewalks near Macy's in downtown Minneapolis

The Parkview Kindergarten class has had the privilege three years in a row now of being invited to the 24th floor of one of the buildings in Minneapolis, which houses the well-known advertising firm Fallon. A Parkview dad works there. The kids get to look out the windows at the skyline, eat snacks, drink juice boxes, and watch funny TV ads while lounging in really cool chairs. I really want to work for Fallon....except I have no advertising skills.....I just want that place to be my work environment. It's amazing.

We did lots of exploration of the skyways in Minneapolis

After the children are thoroughly exhausted by traipsing through miles and miles of skyways and eating lunch in the IDS building's Crystal Court, they're forced to stand on risers in the Hennepin County Government building and sing. This picture CRACKS me up! No one has the right look on their face!

Tomorrow morning, Max is to be at church at 9:30 to rehearse the Christmas program which will be performed on Sunday morning at 10:00. At 11:30, Max is to be to his basketball game. After Sunday's program, the kids, Stu, my dad, and I are all trekking to my half-sister's house in Jordan, MN to spend a little family time with her, her husband, and my gorgeous one-year-old niece Evelyn.

Next weekend, Stu and I will host Christmas Eve for his family at our house and then Christmas morning brunch for my family. We will also host my sister and her husband and their dog, Skye, who will be driving (Skye will not be driving, she will be riding) from Quincy, IL to stay with us for the Christmas weekend.

It's all different from being a kid when all you had to worry about was not falling down with exhaustion while singing on the risers, anticipating the last day of school before Christmas break, and trying not to burst with excitement about Santa coming and getting to play with all your cousins on Christmas day but I wouldn't trade it for a thing!

Brag Alert! Consider yourself warned.

2011-12-08T20:27:00.000-06:00

I just might have the sweetest, most tender-hearted kids ever. Especially Ryann. After a long, grueling evening of being picked up from daycare, rushed to piano lessons, dragged to Blaine to pick up her brothers from the wrestling match Stu unexpectedly had to work tonight, schlepped through the McDonald's drive thru, made to take a shower at the time she'd normally be tucked into bed, the most important thing on her mind was checking on a sick classmate.

I was trying to herd the kids into the living room to read a quick story before brushing teeth and getting into bed and Ryann was frantically digging through the cupboard where I keep their school stuff, muttering something about "Hafta call Ava. She fell off the glider swing yesterday and threw up. She wasn't in class today. Mom, where's my class phone book?!" I got on my knees and dug through the paperwork to find her class directory. Ryann seemed very serious and intent so I looked up Ava's number and dialed. A man answered. I asked if it was Karl (handy-dandy things, these class phone books). He said yes and I told him it might sound a little strange but that my daughter was in his daughter's class in school and wanted to check on her. He explained Ava had fallen off a piece of equipment on the playground and then got so upset, she threw up. The school nurse asked them to keep her home for a day just in case she had the stomach flu, but she was fine. I asked if Ava could be put on the phone. She got on and I handed the phone to Ryann. I had to remind her to say "hi" but then could hear Ava chattering on the other line. I couldn't make out what she was saying but when things got quiet, I suggested to Ryann she might want to say "I'm glad you're ok". She did and I heard a little voice say Bye on the other end. Ryann said Bye and handed me the phone. I hung up and Ryann let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew! I'll tell all the classmates tomorrow that she's ok and they can touch her and she's not sick or injured". I told Ryann I thought it was very sweet of her to call and check on her friend and she responded, "I just want to make sure everyone's ok". More of Mommy's genes expressing themselves.

I wonder if I should have seized that as a teaching moment to explain to her that it was sweet but she doesn't need to make sure EVERYONE is ok all the time?? Oh well....I'm sure there will be more opportunities.

On another note, Max asked me to spell "I cup" for him tonight. I politely declined to fall for his joke. Then he asked me if I knew how to spell Mississippi. I said yes, of course. He said, "ok, spell it". I dutifully spelled M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i". "Nope!!!", Max crowed, "i-t". Then the ding-dong as he's been calling himself and others lately laughed like a loon.

Santa Baby

2011-12-07T18:13:00.000-06:00

How on earth did this happen?! I just gave birth to Max.....almost seven years ago. We've taken him and his subsequent siblings to Rosedale Mall (maybe one of the following might have been at Maplewood Mall??) every December since he was born. I cannot get over how much has changed in such a relatively short period of time. I also think it's neat that it's been the same "Santa Helper", as I described him to the kids today, four out of the seven times we've been. Feast your eyes:

Out of the mouths of babes

2011-12-07T14:17:00.000-06:00

When I was feeling really, really sick a few weeks ago and was lying on the couch crying, Ryann says all nonchalantly, "Cheer up, Mom. At least you're alive."

Later, when feeling better since I didn't want to scare her (I was really sick), I reassured her that I was feeling a bit better and reminded her that when we get sick, we feel better eventually. Being the deep thinker she is, she responded with, "Yeah...unless your death-sick".

Adam got up from his nap and was sitting on my lap, facing me. He hadn't put his glasses on yet. I asked him if he could see me without his glasses. He said yes. I asked how I looked (I meant whether I was blurry or anything) and he responded, "Nice". Awwww. Then he follows up with, "I can even see your boobs poking out of your shirt". Geez, this kid's a little man already.

Adam keeps asking if he can have a candy-can. I've tried telling him it's a candy cane. Still comes out candy-can.

I know Max has said some funny stuff lately. Be on the lookout for "Out of the mouths of babes Part Deux" coming soon....

Panthers - Section 6AAAA Champs!

2011-12-01T08:20:00.003-06:00

Click here to view this video

One of the player's moms created this video from pictures she took throughout the season.

Adam....oh my Adam!

2011-11-21T16:12:00.000-06:00

This young man keeps Stu and I in stitches, CONSTANTLY. Here is just a sampling of his Adam-ness from the past few days (now remember, you must read Adam's words in sweet baby talk in your head):

1. While Stu was cleaning out the boys' closet this weekend, Adam stood by and watched. He caught sight of the Baptism gown that my mom and I sewed all by ourselves, hanging at one end of the closet and exclaimed, "I can see my wedding dress!"

2. I try to keep all the myriad toys, art supplies, and stuff we have stored in different bins. Last night, we went into the "card bin" to find a game to play. Max and I pulled out War and were merrily playing away. When our game was finished, I went downstairs to check on Adam and found that he'd merrily strewn nearly every card from the "card bin" all over the basement floor. When asked why he would do such a thing, Adam responded, "Oh...I don't know. It's a long story."

3. Max and I played our first game of Words With Friends against each other last night. Adam was heartbroken that he couldn't have a turn. I explained to him that when he was a little older and could spell, he could play the game too. He retorted, "I know how to spell 'egg'!" Stu and I looked at each other in amazement and asked, "You do? How do you spell 'egg'?" To which Adam proudly responded, "A-D-A-M."

4. While helping Adam get his PJs on after showering last night, he randomly asked me, "Remember me when the plumber was here?" I told him I remembered when the plumber was here a few weeks ago but didn't specifically remember what Adam was doing at the moment. He reminded me, "I said to the guy, 'Hi Adam! I'm Adam!" And he's right. The plumber's name was Adam and I do now recall Adam saying that. I praised Adam for having such a good memory and he said, "Yeah (thoughtfully)....I have good times. Specially when babysitters are here. Except when they tell me to stand in the corner when I'm naughty."

And that's my baby boy. He's somethin' special. He's going to grow up to be very important, even if it's just being really important to his family.

Cousin Nadia Comes To Visit!

2011-11-17T19:09:00.000-06:00

...Oh, and her parents, Jenna and Omar, were there too :)

My cousin Jenna whom I used to babysit, along with her three brothers, when they were younger, moved to Florida with her parents about nine or so years ago. I've only seen them a few times since then. Sadly, I've never made it to Florida yet, though I really want to! Jenna, Omar, and their sweet-as-can-be baby girl, Nadia, were able to quickly flit to Minnesota for a long weekend and I hustled to get some time on their visit calendar. Originally, we were going to meet at our grandparent's house but unfortunately my grandma came down with a bad cold so we last minute switched the venue to my house! I invited my cousin Brittany, her kids, and her stepmom (Auntie Chris!) over, too. Which meant I had to leave work a little early, run to get the kids from daycare, and then scramble to get the house looking halfway decent. It all worked out and the cousins got to play together (or wrestle with Omar...which is what my kids mostly did...which was very loud and obscene but they don't get to do it very often and Omar said he didn't mind so I mostly let it go). Unfortunately, I didn't catch Tiana, the oldest cousin, in the group photo but here are - Max, Ryann, Adam, Riley, and Nadia:

Ryann left the group to try to get Nadia and the little boys to look at the camera and smile all at once...

It was a valiant effort.

Then, Adam got hot and like his Grandpa Tom, suddenly needed to strip off his shirt. Then, he stole Omar's hat and proudly wore it.

I snapped a quick picture of Jenna to prove she was here and then I had to put down the camera to snuggle the cutie-oootest, snuggly babies in the house (I still consider Riley a baby even though he's a ginormous 15 month old).

Reason # 389 I don't enjoy scrapbooking or anything remotely like it

2011-10-31T15:46:00.001-05:00

I love (really, seriously) Adam's preschool, his teachers, the director, the church, the program, and all the cool things he gets to do and learn. But it's high hilarity when Adam is sent home with "homework" because this really means I have homework to get done.

This weekend, Flip the classroom stuffed frog-puppet was sent home to play. Adam was to document Flip's adventures via one scrapbook page in the traveling "Flip's Adventure's" 3-ring binder with anecdotes and (preferably!) photos (Adam's not allowed to touch my camera). Since Adam's not allowed to touch the camera and since Mommy loves to touch the camera, we did a very fine job if I do say so myself, of documenting Flip's "adventures" with the Stewart Snippets.

Then came time to complete the scrapbook page. I hemmed and hawed over which of my fabulous photos would best represent Flip's time here and finally decided on my fave 5. Here's where the angst begins...would you have considered whether 5 4x6s fit appropriately on a green piece of construction paper before printing them out? Well, I didn't. So now I've got these 5 pictures and I'm bound and determined to use them because, well darnit, I decided they were the good ones I wanted to use - they were cute and funny and representative of Flip's flippin' time with us.

But I also have to somehow describe what went on. So I typed this up:

Hi Friends! As you can see from the photos my Mommy took throughout the past few days, Flip picked an exciting weekend to come visit me and my family!

He was here while we carved our Halloween jack o' lanterns and he came with me to watch my Daddy's team's football game! You can see me and Flip posing on the field while the team huddles up to celebrate their WIN!!

My brother and sister and I liked to play catch with Flip. We were gentle and he didn't seem to mind.

There are lots of toys hanging around the Stewart household all the time and Mommy caught Barbie hanging out with Flip one day (she thinks Barbie looks a little starstruck, don't you?)

We can't wait to hear about more of Flip's adventures as he takes turns visiting the rest of the classmates.

Clever little captions to match the photos I'd picked. Well, now I'm really in a quandry - the pictures barely fit; how am I to also include the text? I wanted the text to be near the photo it represented but that was the first "Oh, hell, who cares" moment. I decided to cut the captions into little slips and just glue them on whereever they would fit. I cut first and measured later (always a bad idea) and couldn't fit the last caption (i.e., We can't wait to hear about more of Flip's adventures....). Second "Oh hell, who cares" moment.

I finally get everything laid out, taped, and glue sticked down and I'm a happy enough camper. Some of the strips aren't cut with exactly square edges but I'd like to chalk that up to the happy disability my dad and his father before him passed down to me. It's called Essential Tremor. I really don't have it that bad (though I did look it up in preparation to write this post and I must say, I hope it doesn't worsen significantly as I age because it sounds like a real downer). Thank goodness cameras have Steady Shot features these days.

Anyway, I digress. "Oh hell, that's good enough" and I go to slip my scrapbook page into the plastic liner. WTH?! It doesn't fit. Apparently construction paper is larger than I thought. The parents who finished their projects before me seem to have figured that out beforehand and cut their papers to size. Third "Oh hell, who cares" moment and I briefly consider just laying my construction paper within the 3-ring binder and being done with it. Then a light bulb goes off and I remember I actually have a 3-hole punch in my cupboard. I whip it out and smartly snap three.....half moons into the side of my painstakingly completed scrapbook page. Fourth "Oh hell, who cares moment". I consider just laying it in there and leaving it, looking like something gnawed on the project.

Yes, that's currently the only clear tape we have in the house. Yes, it also looks like something gnawed on it, but it works.

Awash in Mommy Guilt, I can't do it. I move the pictures over as far as I can and punch again (hello? didn't I learn in second grade that once you screw up a hole punch, you're not going to be able to fix that particular situation?). Now I've punched a hole through the edge of one of the 5 photos I agonized over. Now I'm starting to get a little perturbed. I move all the pictures away from the damaged edge of the construction paper and attempt to cut a straight line through the paper and the edge of the captions that are just white-space. NOW my scrapbook page fits into the clear plastic sleeve. But it hangs out the top by almost two inches. Fifth "Oh hell, who cares moment". And I'm done. Good 'nuff, I say!

As it turns out, Adam probably could have done a better job on his Flippin' project than Mommy did anyway. Harumph. And, as I preview it, I can't even get my blog post to do as it's told...I've tried several times to fix the font and I now officially give up on this project AND it's retelling. Goodbye.

It's a Spoooooky Halloween!!

2011-10-28T19:28:00.000-05:00

Ryann's scary Halloween face - AAAARRRRGGGHHH!

Flesh eating zombies! After carving pumpkins, they're HUNGRY!

Ew-y cookies!

Timeout for a sweet father-son picture

Dad helped Max carve his OWN pumpkin this year!

Pachyderms were on parade at Adam's preschool this week!

Congratulations Panthers, Conference Champs!!

2011-10-24T20:42:00.001-05:00

The Panthers record this year was 7 and 1 (they only lost to Totino Grace, their non-conference opponent) and they won their conference! Now, on they head to Section playoffs. They play this Saturday at 1 p.m. and I explained to the kids at dinner tonight that if Daddy's team keeps winning, eventually they'll get to play at the....METRODOME! As I suspected, Max thought this was the coolest thing ever. We really want to see them play at the...METRODOME so GO Panthers!

Saved Up Stuff

2011-10-20T11:55:00.000-05:00

Headline! Sheri is maybe, sort of, kind of, dabbling in a new artistic outlet, part-time, paying gig called photography.

Update! Max made it all the way to first grade before learning the word F-U-C-K.

Last weekend while I was engaging in the above-described new hobby, Stu raked the backyard with the kids. Suddenly, Max yelled from across the yard, "Hey Dad! What do you get when you combine farm and muck?" Stu absentmindedly (probably...I wasn't there, so I'm imagining the scenario) responded, "What?" and Max bellows from across the yard, "FUCK!" Stu got a little more interested then and said, "What?! What did you just say?" Max gamely responded, "Get it?! You switch the 'M' with the 'F' in muck and get FUCK!" So Stu and Max had a little heart-to-heart about where Max might have heard this little "joke" and the inappropriateness of the word and we haven't heard it since. I'm guessing we'll hear it from him again some time in the future...

Can you imagine that word coming out of this sweet mouth?

No surprise here! Adam said something outrageously funny this week.

Deanna invited the kids and me to her church for a Men's Group spaghetti supper on Monday evening. Since Stu had conferences that night, I thought it was a great way to get the kids fed without having to cook all by myself (for about the 450th time during a football season). I talked to the kids during the car ride over, reminding them about polite table manners and asking them to please walk nicely, talk quietly, and just have general nice behavior. But as soon as we got into the church and they saw Robb and Brayden (Deanna's husband and oldest son), their well-meant promises flew right out the stained-glass windows. They were running around, giggling, shoving, and showing off. I managed to get Max and Ryann settled down fairly quickly but Adam continued to do weird three year old boy stuff like flop onto the ground, run into walls, and touch and pull at everything within his reach. As I walked down the hall with Deanna on my left and Adam on my right, tugging gently on his left hand to pull his body away from the wall and the whatever-he-was-touching-at-the-moment, I muttered, "I should have brought your straightjacket", hoping to make Deanna chuckle. Radar-ears boy heard me though, leaned forward to look past me and appraise Deanna and then proclaimed, "Yeah, your boobs are poking out of your shirt a little" in sincere, sweet baby talk. Deanna and I laughed so hard, I was bent over struggling to breathe and Deanna actually fell to her knees with mirth. Then Adam started to laugh, figuring he'd come up with something really clever. I have NO idea what on earth the boy thinks a straightjacket is but apparently it's NOT a "curvy" jacket.

Yep, he's hilar and he knows it.

Developing story! Ryann says she didn't get a tummy ache this week while working on important projects at school, and continues to be our little rhinocerous dreamer.

I've been just a teensy bit worried about Ryann since the beginning of the school year. She absolutely adored her first week of Kindergarten but after that, didn't have much to say about it when asked. And when she did share stories, they were sometimes about how she felt nervous and got tummy aches when working on projects that she really wanted to do well at. When asked why she thought her tummy hurt, she explained that it was because she so wanted to do her work right and worried that she wouldn't. My goodness, I guess my perfectionist genes are already being expressed in the poor gal. So I was very happy when I asked her how her day was at dinner last night and she leaned towards me and pressed her nose and forehead to mine and breathed, "Guess what? My tummy did NOT hurt while I was doing my art project today!"

Happy Ryann, wanting to be photographed

Unhappy Ryann, not wanting to be photographed

And Ryann's personality pendulum continues to swing from a sweet, caring, doting, loving, funny, charming girl to a rampaging, sassy, hissing, mini-teenager. The other day, I asked her to please finish getting dressed for school and she called out, dripping with sarcasm, "What do you think I'm doing?!" Once again, I'm guessing we'll hear that from her again some time in the future....

I ♥ ♥ ♥ this!!

2011-10-11T18:37:00.000-05:00

Ryann drew a family portrait today before school. Do you see Adam is holding Zoe's leash? And that Ryann and I are both wearing necklaces? And she's got Stu's goatee? And we're all holding hands cuz we're a happy family like that? Although if Ryann thinks she's going to dress like I did in high school (scantily...in fact, I think I had a shirt like that - with sleeves and bare midriff), she's got another thing coming.

Some Snippets of Stewart Life

2011-10-10T14:08:00.000-05:00

We've been busy little beavers around the Stewart household for the past several weeks. Football season is always crazy and I've already talked a bit about the craziness that having all three kids in school is! We've done some low-key, fun, family things too. This is going to be a bit of a random (and now that I've completed it....very long...) post but there are a few things I just want to get down so I don't forget them completely.

First of all, we had yet another hilarious car conversation today while running errands. Adam asked Ryann when he would finally grow up to be like her. She responded, in all seriousness, "Oh Adam, you'll never grow up to be like me because I'm a girl. You won't be a girl. You'll grow up and be a boy." Adam was sad and said, "But I want to grow up to be a gi-irl! I want to be like you, Mom!" I said, "Oooh, that's sweet Adam. You don't want to grow up to be like Daddy?" "No", Adam responded. Ryann asked (again in all seriousness), "Do you really want to have to push babies out your little hole?" Then, Max, never one to be left out of a good conversation added, "It's really hard to be a boy." And Ryann, never to be "wrong" in front of Max, said, "It's only hard to be a boy when you're in activities." The kids have definitely noticed this year how rough and tumble football-playing is. Ryann used to say she wanted to play football but after watching a couple pretty tough hits during Panther games this season, she's changed her mind.

I forgot to ever note Ryann's reaction when she learned I'd brought a new dog home. I'd installed Zoe in a kennel in Ryann's room and then drove to Deanna's to pick the kids up. I told them we needed to hurry home because I needed to talk to them about something. The kids were all excited, assuming a good surprise. We walked in the front door and I realized I'd kind of wrecked the surprise when I forgot to put the big 'ol bag of dog food away. Ryann picked up on it immediately and asked why we had dog food. I answered that if we had a dog, we'd need food for it to eat. She began shrieking, "Where is it?! Where it is?!" I told the kids to go look in Ryann's room. Ryann careened into the room and dropped to her knees to peer in the kennel. I was standing in the doorway when she looked up at me with tears glistening in her eyes and cried, "Thank you, Mommy! Thank you!" The look on her face was so precious and the fact that she was actually crying with joy tugged my heartstrings right out and I started to weep, too.

We took the kids to the apple orchard last weekend and, unfortunately, it was so boring, I didn't even bother to take any photos. We went to the orchard that is very nostalgic for me since my sister and I went with my dad and grandparents many times as young children, but we've since learned about a different orchard that we plan to take the kids to next year. It's much more family friendly and has lots of activities for the kids to participate in.

During the middle of this past week, I had the van serviced at the dealership. That same day, we had a team-building, community service event for work. I made the mistake of riding with a coworker to the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis and was miserably motion-sick for the first 30 minutes of our time there. It was a really cool experience though. We were taught to "throw clay pots" on electric spinning wheels (I think that's what they are called) and we each got to make as many bowls as we liked. Several "Ghost" jokes were cracked. We painted the bowls and will get to keep one. The rest will be donated to charity. I was dreading the ride back to work, hoping against hope that I wouldn't get sick again...but I did. And then I had to consider that I'd set up a shuttle ride from the car dealership. I was green to the gills and was now going to have to ride with some potentially greasy-smelling dude I didn't know, from my office to the dealership. I decided I just couldn't do it. I have someone special in my daycare provider and friend. I called Deanna, in misery, from the bathroom at work and asked if she and the kids would come pick me up from work and drive me to pick up the van. She did and she gets motion sickness too, so totally gets how to drive to ease the discomfort. Upon arriving at the dealership, I wasn't sick at all! The story continues....some nice woman at the dealership gave each of the kids a huge helium balloon. I strongly advised the kids to let me tie the balloons to their wrists so they wouldn't accidentally float away. Ryann declined. We arrived home and not three seconds after leaping from the van, she tripped in the front yard, nose-diving and inadvertantly releasing her purple balloon into the air. She bawled as we watched it get stuck in the braches of the tree in our front yard. My heart ached for her and I made a split second decision - I would shimmy up that tree and rescue her balloon for her. Yes, I Sheri, the faint of heart and car sick wimp was going to scale an enormous tree so my little girl wouldn't have to be sad. I got as far as the first main crook of the tree and realized my mistake. I was totally stuck. I couldn't really get any higher and I was afraid to get back down. Just then, I heard the phone ringing and based on what time it was, I knew it was Stu calling to let us know he was on his way home from football practice. "MAX!" I bellowed. "Get the phone! Bring me the phone!!" Max was inside and emerged out the front door with the cordless in hand. He didn't even bat an eye at the fact that I was standing up in the tree. I begged him to hand the phone up to me. I wasn't sure if I was going to laugh or cry but when I heard Stu's voice, I began to laugh, "Um, honey? I need your help. I'm stuck in the tree in the front yard." Stu laughed and asked what I thought he could do about it since he was about 20 minutes from home. We discussed my options of jumping the approximate 5 and a half feet to the cement-hard front yard (it hasn't rained here in weeks) or waiting for Stu to get home to help me down. We ended the call and I handed the phone down to Ryann. She was hanging out with me. Max had lost interest and he and Adam were in the house, watching TV, figuring good 'ol Mom could fend for herself. I managed to turn around to face Ryann and admitted, "Honey, I'm stuck. I'm afraid to jump." And then I decided it was a teaching moment. Since Ryann has started Kindergarten, she's been telling Stu and I that she gets tummy aches sometimes at school when she has to try something new. She says her tummy hurts because she is afraid that she won't be able to do whatever the new thing is, or that she won't be able to do it well. I took a deep breath and told Ryann that I was afraid to jump, that I was worried I would hurt myself. She looked me in the eyes and said, "You can do it Mom. Just jump." I said, "Ok, will you help me? Will you count to three and then I'll jump?" Ryann counted, "1...2....3" and I leapt. The impact jarred me from my feet all the way to my neck and I smashed my elbow into my knee. I was worried I'd hurt my back because I had a pretty bad twinge for a couple seconds but it turns out I was just fine. Ryann was proud of me and I was proud of Max for offering his yellow balloon to Ryann since her purple one remained caught in the tree branches.

We have been having wonderful, fabulous, beautiful weather in central Minnesota the past few weeks and we took the opportunity to do minimal chores around the house this past weekend, attend a Saturday afternoon Panther game in shorts and t-shirts and play outside at home.

It was fun to get some shots of Stu coaching. He is very serious about this roll. He considers it a privilege to have an impact on so many young men's lives.

Head Coach Jeff Schlieff and Stu walking across the field after halftime

Calling an offensive play

I love this photo I captured during the game. Can you see the dude (#5) watching the ball he just threw? And can you see the ball way up there at the top, left of the photo?

This was a funny moment - Stu was loping up the stairs back to the pressbox and we were as far away from him as this picture makes it seem. The kids were ecstatic to see him and were SCREAMING, "Hi Dad! Dad! Dad! Daddy! Hi Daddy!!" Stu was so focused he swears he didn't even hear them!

There were clouds blowing past during the game on Saturday and at one point, Ryann pointed at the sky and yelled, "Mom! Look how pretty that looks!!" Boy, was she right. The clouds just covering the sun were making a beautiful spectacle above the spectacle on the field below.

I was proud of the kids for being so creative this weekend and coming up with their own entertainment. Max spent a lot of time throwing a Nerf-like football onto the roof of the house and then watching it roll back down and bounce on the driveway. Ryann rode her scooter in the driveway and then suddenly decided to begin to rake leaves. She didn't even take the time to removed her helmet. She raked up a small pile of leaves she plans to jump in once she gets the pile large enough. Adam played with the hose and dirt and made mud creations. Then Max decided he wanted to try to play tennis so he and I jumped in the van and cruised down the street to the park at the end of our block to play for a while. When we returned, Max threw a tennis ball for Zoe and Ryann and Adam decided to "paint" with mud.

I'll leave you with one final Sheri deep thought...."Sometimes when you play/work hard enough at life, you end up with some leaves stuck to your butt. Be proud of those leaves; they're a testament to just how hard you've played/worked."

Coming from behind the lens

2011-10-09T21:55:00.000-05:00

Calendars were 50% off at Shutterfly.com the other day so I made a 2012 family calendar. As I looked through the thousands of photos I've taken of the family in the last year or so, I came (once again) to the sad realization that if aliens were to come to earth and view my photographs to see what an earthly family looks like, they'd think that earthly families have no mom. As such, I cajoled Stu into picking up the "Big Girl" camera and getting some shots of me. Just to prove to you and me and the kids and the alien beings that I exist. Plus, I wanted to capture my new cool, Fall, hair-do. Here I am; I do exist!

Holy aging eyes Batman! I feel like I'm definitely starting to look like I'm in my 30's. I understand the allure of Botox now.

Must cheat in PSE and soften us up a bit so I look like a young, energetic mom. Wouldn't want the aliens to think moms are all full of crow's feet and other assorted tiredness.

School Aged Children

2011-10-02T15:02:00.001-05:00

Having school aged children is busy, tiring, nerve wracking, time consuming, [Exhibit A: so far between Stu and I, we've forgotten to send certain colored shapes for both Ryann and Adam, forgotten to send "things" for Max to put in his "Life Book" which we understand to be some sort of scrapbook, and one day, we forgot to send a snack with Ryann], expensive, and oh-so-fun as you get to re-live your childhood school years listening to the things they come home with.

Here are a few things I've learned since the beginning of the 2011/2012 school year:

1. School hot lunch is a whole new proposition compared to when I was in school. Exhibit A: The cost of a school lunch is $2.40. Exhibit B: Here is the informational note on the lunch menu, sent home from school each month: "Rice, soy, skim, or choc skim milk is served with every meal. () indicates that gluten and allergy substitutes can be made with documentation on file. Turkey (non-pork) [WTH is "pork turkey"?] and pork sausage patty are cooked separately. * indicates that the item contains pork. Soy peanut butter is available."

2. Ryann is quickly learning to read! I have a print hanging in her bedroom that has a sparkly wand and crown on it and says "Crown". Ryann asked me what it said last week and I suggested she sound the word out herself. She'd taken off her glasses for me to clean them and said she couldn't make out the word without them on (which makes me so happy that we learned early that she was nearsighted and got her glasses before Kindergarten began!) but when she put them back on, she slowly sounded out C-R-O-W-N. She was SO pleased with herself, it gave me the warm fuzzies :)

3. Adam is crazy-hilarious and I bet his teachers laugh at him every day. Exhibit A: The parents were told last week that part of the science corner in the classroom contained 10 cups with different scents in them. The cups were covered with plastic wrap, rubber banded over the tops and there were holes poked in the wrap so the kids could smell each one and guess what the scent was. During the van ride home, I asked Adam if he'd smelled the cups. He said he had. I asked him what he smelled. He responded, "One smelled like teddy bears" Aaah, the sweet smell of teddy bears? Okkkk.... Exhibit B: I made a new recipe for dinner the other night. It was a broiled sandwich with burger, onions, mustard, swiss cheese, and then roughly chopped (it was supposed to be minced but I don't have time to be mincing anything) chives. Adam took a big bite of his sandwich, then looked down at it and asked, "Why is dere gwass on my sammich?"

4. There appears to be some serious teenage-like melodrama playing out in Max's first grade classroom. Max (during a car conversation of course) shared with me that the smartest kid in his class "M" had a girlfriend "M" but that boy "M" broke up with girl "M" because boy "M"'s best friend "A" did not like girl "M". Plus, Max editorialized, girl "M" does 'weird' things and is considered one of 'the weirdos' in class. I suggested that he not refer to girl "M" as weird as that might hurt her feelings. I asked Max to consider how he would feel if someone called him weird. Then Ryann piped up, "Yeah, plus you'll hurt all the other weirdos feelings". Yeah, once again, not sure that parenting nugget quite got across as it was supposed to.

5. Max and Ryann have learned to fly recently:

As you can see, in the background, Max was much impressed with Ryann's flight skills

Max's flight was fantastic, too

*disclaimer: my children cannot really fly and no children were injured during this impromptu (fly by the seat of my pants, if you will) photoshoot.

Here are a couple other saved up Snippets for y'all:

I am loving Zoe more and more every day. I don't know if it's labradors or what the deal is but I swear she speaks English just like Rosko did. I talk to her all the time and most of the time she understands what I'm telling her and complies. She's fairly well-trained but it doesn't appear she went to any formal obedience schooling, yet the other day when she was pacing around, drooling like a faucet while the kids and I were eating dinner, Ryann barked at her, "Zoe! Go lie down!" Zoe dropped her head and ambled over to her kennel, climbed in, turned around and then lay down with her head and paws poking out the front of the kennel, looking wounded.

She often does this cute, little "pointing" manuever with her left, front leg

Ryann had recently decided she'd like to dress as a witch this Halloween but during yet another car conversation, she brought up her costume decision. I asked if she'd still like to be a witch. She responded, "No, I'm not sure I want to be a witch anymore. But I can't be a car because I don't have wheels and I can't steer myself." She's got great personal insight into her abilities and limitations.

Snippets of my life

2011-09-27T20:44:00.001-05:00

Found: A small, nearly insignificant day in my life

Maybe this is getting a little deep, but sometimes I think about all the experiences I have in life that are gone. Each of us who have the blessing of all five senses see, hear, feel, touch, and taste thousands of things a year but we remember only a small fraction of them. When I was an adolescent, I dreamed of inventing a camera that worked through your eyes, so that when you were looking at something really beautiful, you could press a shutter release button and the exact image you were gazing upon at that moment would be captured forever. There are times when I experience something that I think, "Wow. This is a moment but I wonder if it will be one of those moments that will stick with me or if it will be one of those that doesn't end up getting stored in my long-term memory and will be lost for good?" This is one of the reasons I maintain this blog. Once already, I've published my blog posts and photos in a hardbound book. I love the thought of our family snuggling up by a cozy fire someday when Stu and I are old, maybe we'll be grandparents, and reading through my old blog posts and reminiscing about when the kids were little.
Back to my found Post-it note....I reached into my jacket pocket this morning while standing in Deanna's entryway, dropping off the kids before work. I felt this piece of paper and pulled it out and as I read the notes I'd jotted, an entire day came flooding back to my mind. It was a day I'd pretty much forgotten. And it feels like it was forever ago but based on the clues hidden in my notes to myself, I know it was in early June. I needed to go to Target that day to get Gatorade because it was going to be 105 degrees but Max's baseball team was still planning on practicing. I also wanted to pick up one of those oscillating sprinklers because Deanna'd told me the day before that she had theirs out for the kids to run through (it was a hot week that week) and one of the kids (Max, I think) had accidentally jumped on the sprinkler and broken it. I recall now that the only color they had was this mauvy-pinkish so I bought it but told Deanna she could exchange or return it if she wanted. She didn't even want to take it from me because she felt bad I'd bought a new one but I made her take it, telling her it only cost like seven bucks, plus my offspring had broken theirs! Both Brayden's (Deanna's oldest son) birthday and Father's Day were coming up so I wanted to purchase cards. And June 15th must not have passed yet because my note was reminding me to get a card for Stu for our 9 year wedding anniversary and also that the traditional gift for 9 years was "leather". Too bad I didn't make a note about what I ended up getting Stu for our anniversary because even though it was only a few months ago, I can't for the life of me recall what I got him. I remember considering getting him a fancy cell phone but they were too expensive. One other strange thing about this note - it was in my leather jacket...why was I wearing a leather jacket during the week when the temperatures were in the 100's??? I can't document every second of my life and I'll never remember every second but hopefully between what little bit of decent memory I have, and this blog, I'll remember the really important stuff.

Cuteness Alert

2011-09-26T19:46:00.000-05:00

Cute item #1:

Something Adam came home with from preschool last week just melted my heart; it's so true!

Cute item #2:

Shades of Zoe...

Zo-Zo snoozing...

The Zoester posing by a lake, pretending to be a "real" labrador who might leap into the water at any moment to retrieve a duck or goose or somesuch feathered foul.

Zoe on a walk

The sweet girl chowing away on a bone. Lookit those claws grippit!

Zoer listening intently

When there's food around, the Zoester is there...

...watching and waiting...

...usually (copiously) salivating!

Car Conversations Continued

2011-09-22T19:28:00.002-05:00

We had more fascinating conversation in the car today!

It all started when we were on our way to Target. The song "Stereo Hearts" by Gym Class Heroes came on the radio and.....

Ryann: Is this the "radio" song?

Me: Yes

Ryann: Oh, I thought so. I thought that Hank and Willy were telling me their dad was on the radio but they were talking about this song.

Ryann: You know that kid who lives across the street from Deanna? He has a dog and he brought it over once and Hank got really scared.

Me: Is it a big dog or a little dog?

Ryann and Max: A little dog

Me: Oh, that's right. Hank's really scared of dogs, huh?

Ryann and Max and Adam: Yeah!

Shortly thereafter we arrived at Target and did some quick essentials shopping (I swear, I didn't buy anything we didn't need this trip!)

On the way home from Target, the Stewart Snippets' minds worked like this:

Max rekindled conversation by asking (re: his VERY loose, dangling tooth which he will not let anyone pull out): Why does the dentist have to pull my tooth out?

Me: Well, I don't know if they will pull it out.

Max: Well if they don't pull it out before they clean my teeth, it will just fall out.

Me: That would be ok. That sucker is so loose, it really needs to come out. I don't know what they'll do; we'll find out when we get there.

Ryann: The tooth fairy is sleeping right now.

Me: Because she's up all night, you mean? She's sleeping right now?

Ryann: No, Mom! (exasperated)....because she's nocturnal!

Me: Right, that's what I said.

Max: You know Santa could die, right?

Me: Oh really? Oh no!

Max: Did you know I used to think it was called "Poke-ee-mon" but now I know it's "Poke-eh-mon"? And did you know there's only one Pokemon who can do two evolves?

Me: (I have no idea what "evolves" are but I go with it...) Oh yeah? Which one?

Max: Pikachu! He turns into Rakachu.

Ryann: Ratachu!

Max: No!! That's just a rat! Rakachu is the evolvation of Pikachu. And, Mom, did you know there are over 150 Pokemons and I know 150 of them?

Me: Really? That's impressive.

Max: No it's not. There really are 150. (Not sure he understands the meaning of "impressive")

Adam: Mom? What's in bones?

Me: Bone cells and marrow.

Adam: What's in bone mawow?

Me: Oooh...red blood cells.

Adam: Oh. What's in red blood cells?

Me: Well, I think oxygen and carbon dioxide maybe, and nutrients?

The kids talked amongst themselves for a while and then...

Adam: I asked you about bones, Mom (very proudly)! I thought about what to talk to you about and I decided 'bones'.

Ryann: I talk in my dreams a lot. Once I dreamt I was peeing and it really felt like I was peeing but I really wasn't.

Adam: Mom...blue blankie would like to talk to you now (in baby talk but I won't type it that way to avoid confusion. Rest assured, it sounded adorable).

Me: What would blue blankie like to talk about?

Adam (immediately): Babysitters.

Me: Who's blue blankies favorite babysitter?

Adam: Victoria!

Me: Victoria's going to come babysit you guys soon because Daddy and I are going to a friends' baby shower in Wisconsin.

Ryann: Where's Wisconsin?! I wanna come!!

Max: How far away is it?

Me: About 3 hours?

Max: How many miles?

Me: About 180.

Max: Which portion of Wisconsin is it in?

Me: LaCrosse. In the southwestern portion.

Max: Oh, well, then you'll have to travel northwest to get there.

Clearly we need to have more car conversations about direction. And thankfully we arrived in the driveway so my brain and mouth could take a break from my very curious children.

Adam update!!

2011-09-21T10:02:00.002-05:00

It's been months since I've provided a specific update on how Adam and his eyes are faring. I've thought about mentioning something...but then I thought, what would I say?! Going through his diagnosis and surgeries last Spring were horrific, monumental, terrifying, craptacular experiences. But then, after it was all said and done, it was no big deal anymore. Adam took to his glasses like a fish in water (likely because he really can't see much without them; he needs to hold a book literally touching his nose to see the pictures very well when his glasses are off). He even wore his glasses like a fish in water. We used nothing more than his "Wedgies" during swim lessons and used my dad's glasses strap when he swam in the lake at the cabin, just in case. But his glasses never dislodged during any activities all summer. And Adam reliably kept them on. He broke them once, scratched one lens pretty badly once, the nose pad disintegrated once, the frames are constantly at least a little bent, so we've been to the glasses shop many, many times over the summer. But other than that - we'd all accepted our new, new, new way of life. And it's been fabulous. Adam's eyesight is miraculous and he is a completely normal, lively, smart, funny little 3 year old. He just happens to wear some pretty thick glasses right now.

This morning, Ryann, Adam, and I went to Adam's "3-month" (actually turned out to be more like 4 months when our appointment was bumped out a month) post-op appointment. It went PERFECTLY, just like this:

We dropped Max off at the bus stop and I easily entered the address of the brand new clinic to which we'd never been before into my GPS navigator (it actually took me several minutes to remember how to enter the address into the navigator). We left in plenty of time to arrive at our 7:45 a.m. appointment (actually, we got on the freeway and Ryann exclaimed, "Look at all the TRAFFIC! This is DUMB!" and Adam chastised her for using the word "dumb" and I said, "Actually, it is kind of dumb."). The GPS navigator lady got us right to where we were going and we easily found a parking spot (actually the GPS navigator lady did her best to get us where we were going but there was a ton of construction in the area and I could only get as close as about a block away from where I thought we were supposed to be; I chose to enter the first parking ramp close to the U of M Riverside campus I saw since we were late for our appointment already). We calmly walked into the correct building and blithely rode the elevator to Floor 3 (actually, we entered the Main Entrance to the hospital and had to ask a kind woman for directions to an information desk all the way across the hospital, at which time the information-desk-guy pointed us out of the hospital and across the street to a stand-alone building; we walk-jogged the entire way from the parking ramp and I was sweating profusely). We strolled across the street and rode the elevator up to Floor 3 and arrived cool as cucumbers, right on time (actually, we walk-jogged across the street as I fought back tears because I hate being late so much, we got on the elevator and when the doors opened, I was dizzy for a minute or so because the motion of elevators messes with my equilibrium and I feel like I'm moving up and down for a bit; I apologized for being late and tried to calm myself since the receptionist was not bothered in the least that we were 15 minutes late for our appointment). We proceeded to the exam room and waited calmly to be seen by Dr. B. (actually, we waited for a while and suddenly Ryann announced she had to go potty really badly at almost the exact same time my stomach gave a telltale lurch. All three of us trekked to the restroom and Adam proceeded to engage in some sort of three-year-old boy game where he threw his shoulder repeatedly against the tile wall of the bathroom. I swung back and forth between urging Ryann to poo faster and telling her it's ok, it's ok, take your time and asking Adam to please stop crashing around like that). Then, in all seriousness, we returned to the room and Adam was examined by Dr. B. I love Dr. B. because he's always as excited about your child's good progress as you are. He exclaimed that Adam's eyes are "perfect"!!! No signs of glaucoma, no cloudiness on the IOLs, his glasses prescription has not changed and he is seeing very well. Now, just as I thought, we'll never have to see another doctor again and life can go on like nothing ever happened (actually, though I really deluded myself into believing that since the summer was so easy, we were 100% in the clear, I verified with Dr. B. that Adam will need to be seen by him at the U of M clinic every six months for the next at least 3 years in order to monitor closely for signs of glaucoma, secondary cataracts on Adam's IOLs, and his changing prescription.) Adam's eyes will continue to develop as he ages and his prescription will become less and less strong until one day - he will a. not need glasses at all b. need cheaters to read up close c. need glasses or contacts to correct a very slight either far- or near-sightedness. This is all dependent on how accurately Dr. B. was able to estimate Adam's future prescription. And that's the God's truth! Isn't life amazing?

P.S. - On the way out of the clinic, we walked nicely right to our car (actually, Adam somehow managed to stick a My Little Pony sticker to the brand, spanking-new hospital floor so well that I was on my hands and knees trying to pick it all off until a nice hospital worker urged me to stop and said that the custodians would have no trouble getting the sticker off the floor using some sort of scraper; while I was picking the sticker - Adam ran in and out of the revolving hospital door before I could stop him; and we couldn't find the van in the parking ramp and had to repeatedly hit the red panic button and listen to the horn honking to find the van by sound).

P.P.S. - I've had a request for more pictures of Zoe on the blog so stay tuned.....

P.P.P.S. - Let me know if you have other requests for pictures or stories. I'm a people-pleaser like that ;)

September Photoshoot

2011-09-17T21:34:00.002-05:00

Today, while Stu coached the J.V. football game, the kids, my friend and her kids, my cousin and her kids, and I all had fun playing "photoshoot" at the nearby arboretum. I started editing some of the pics with PS Elements but I'm getting a crick in my neck and I'm exhausted so I'll post some of my faves (some edited and some straight outta the camera) now so I can go to bed!!

After we'd wrapped the photoshoot and were making our way out of the arboretum, we got a fun surprise:

Peek-a-boo!

Car Conversation

2011-09-16T17:33:00.006-05:00

Is it only my children who have the bizzarest (is that a word?) conversations while driving around in the car?

Our conversation just now, on the way home from McDonald's, went like this:

(first some background - Stu and I keep our loose change in an empty ice cream bucket in our bedroom; right now it's nearly full)

Ryann: Mom, you and Dad are so lucky that you got to drive a red Jeep when it was nice and feel the warmth.

Me: Well, when you grow up and get married, you could choose to buy a red Jeep with your husband like Daddy and I did.

Max: What will happen to the money bucket if you and Dad die?

Me: You mean like who will get the money? Hopefully you'll be too busy being sad that Mommy and Dadday are dead to worry about it.

Max: We could pour it over your dead body to show people how much money you had.

Me: Max, that is just weird.

Max: Ok, maybe we'd split it between the three of us. And we'd be sad because our kids wouldn't have a grandma and grandpa...but they'd have great grandparents!

Me: If they're still alive when Mommy and Daddy are dead.

Ryann: Grandma Stu will be. How old is she?

Me: In her 50's.

Max: Early 50's or late 50's?

Me: I'm not sure (wanting to avoid further discussion of Grandma's age)

Ryann: I bet Auntie Nikki will live the longest...she doesn't have any kids.

Me: You think kids shorten your life?

Max and Ryann: Yeah.

Me: Yeah, you're probably right

Ryann: She (referring to Nikki) should go to the doctor to see if there's a baby in her belly.

Max: No, she'd know.

Me: Cuz her belly would start growing?

Ryann: No, the egg would start...

Max cuts her off: The egg would start growing.

Me: Well, the egg needs to be fertilized and then a baby starts growing.

Max: No, the egg grows and then the baby hatches in the mommy's tummy.

Me: No, buddy, that's not how it works for mammals. They have a different kind of an egg than say a chicken.

Then we arrived home and it was time to get out of the car so the conversation was ended...thankfully.

Second week; settling in

2011-09-15T20:21:00.000-05:00

So, this week was just as frantic (if not more so, in its own way) as last week but Stu and I are in a little groove now. We've figured out the schedule and things are swinging along pretty nicely.

We have accepted the fact that for at least the next several months (or maybe more like several years), the house is going to be messy.

Stu usually takes care of packing bags up and prepping for the next day and I take care of unpacking and organizing what comes home from school.

Stu is in charge of breakfast and I am in charge of dinners.

We both share dishes, laundry, bath and bed time routines, and caring for the dog.

This week, Adam started school:

Adam told me he was "SO ESSITED!!!" to go to school, on his first day and he loved the second day just as much

This boy knows how to sport a backpack that dangles to the back of his knees!

On his first day of school, Adam shared that he'd learned when he is finished with his snack, he is to put his napkin into his cup.

Ryann started dance this week (...again; she danced two years ago but took last year off to learn to ice skate) and Max is finishing up his first year of flag football. Flag football is ever so cute to watch.

First, the team huddles up:

Max listens intently (sometimes...other times he runs around like a hooligan, but that's what football's all about, right?)

Then (Max was playing quarterback here), the ball is hiked!

Whoops, a little fumble but we're ok....

...and the pass! Look how ESSITED that kid is to catch the ball!

Then they run their little buns down the field as fast as they can before someone on the opposing team can snatch one of their flapping yellow flags.

And when Max gets caught up in the sheer exhileration of it all, he does something......not sure what this is:

Here's a picture of Ryann, lest you think I lost one of my children in the shuffle. She was dancing for Stu and me in the backyard a couple weeks ago. Apparently, she'd set her glasses down somewhere:

We'll see what next week brings....

First week frenzy

2011-09-09T20:21:00.004-05:00

Just a couple weeks ago....which seems oh so long ago, our daily schedule on a "Deanna Day" looked like this:

Stu gets kids up at about 6:30, gets them some breakfast while Sheri finishes readying herself for work, the kids get dressed, brush their teeth, and Stu and the kids try to be out the door no later than 7:10 or so. Stu drops them at Deanna's and Sheri drives off to work, fancy-free. Most days, Stu also picks the kids up but sometimes Sheri picks them up and they arrive home to Stu having started dinner. We'd eat, play outside for a while, maybe take showers, watch a little TV and have a snack, brush teeth, read a book, and tuck kids in for the night.

This week, our lives looked like this:

We'll take Tuesday, for example: Stu up at 4:45 a.m. to work out, Sheri up at 5:30 to shower, Stu getting kids out of bed at 6:15 to start eating breakfast, Stu out the door by 6:20 to get to work, Sheri finishing getting herself ready while encouraging the kids to get dressed, brush their teeth, brush their hair, get their backpacks/bags for school which have already been pre-loaded with snack/lunch that was prepared the night before, sometime after dinner and before collapsing in bed, out the door by 7:05 at the latest so Max can catch his bus to school by 7:16 a.m. in front of Deanna's house. Sheri leaves for work and Ryann is picked up from Deanna's at 11:16 a.m. for Kindergarten. Kids arrive back at Deanna's at 2:16 p.m. and do their thang. Sheri arrives at 4:50 to pick them up and run home to prepare and eat dinner. Sheri encourages children to eat as quickly as possible without choking, while she peruses materials brought home in backpacks/bags while eating standing up at the kitchen counter. As soon as mealtime is over and Max and Ryann have cleared their plates (Sheri must clear Adam's plate so as to avoid extra clean up due to spillage on the way from the table to the kitchen sink), Max is urged to find his football jersey and cleats and get them on. All three children, Sheri, and Zoe run out the door at 5:55 to be at football at 6:00. Stu meets everyone at football at 6:20 after he's finished his football practice and Sheri takes Ryann, Adam, and Zoe home. Ryann and Adam take showers while Sheri tries valiantly to load the dishwasher, run it, start a load of laundry, pick up around the house a little, pack Ryann a snack, and Max a lunch. Ryann and Adam are nearly in bed at 7:40 when Max arrives home from football. Max changes into jammies and all kids get in bed. Adam gets out of bed several times with several excuses regarding why he can't sleep. Stu proceeds to watch film, create play charts and various other football-ish tasks. Sheri and Stu collapse in bed at about 9:30 (if we're lucky...sometimes more like 10:30).

And that was an easy day because only one kid had something going on that night. Next week, Ryann starts Dance on Wednesday nights. Two nights this week, Sheri had to attend Adam's preschool parent orientation and then preschool open house with Adam (and Ryann tagging along).

Let me try to explain how absolutely exhaust......what? oh sorry, I fell asleep. I'm friggin' exhausted. And so are the kids. But they are oh so happy to have started/to be about to start school. Just look at their sweet faces:

Max sitting on our front steps before we left for the bus stop

Look at all the kids who get on the bus in the morning! (well, Adam doesn't get on the bus but he likes to pose for pictures with the kids who get on the bus)

First in line, waiting for the bus to arrive

Sooooo excited for his first day of first grade

Ryann soooo excited for her first day of Kindergarten but also doing a good job of masking some serious trepidation

Proudly showing off her new outfit which has been laid out in her room for at least a week

Adam, so proud of his big sis!

And the moment arrives. Just before the bus got there, Ryann told me her stomach hurt and she thought she was going to throw up. Poor thing was so nervous. I worried about her for the next few hours, praying that her day was going well.

Doesn't she look brave and sweet?! And look, it's the same cute bus driver Max and the other kids had - he looks really nice!

I so wish this and the next photo hadn't turned out blurry. Ryann ran from the bus with such exquisite joy to tell me her first day was AWESOME and how she could not wait to go back again the next day! She also told me I'd been right when I told her her stomach was upset because of nerves and she would not throw up and the yucky feeling would go away.

So happy!

In other news, Adam sustained a minor injury on his finger while dragging his hand along the wagon wheel as I pulled him and Ryann behind me with Zoe leading us. We were out for a "workout" walk and it turned out to be slightly tragic. Adam left quite the pool of blood on the street. All is ok now. The finger is healing fine. But the incident contributed to extra stomach upset for Mom on Ryann's first day of Kindergarten.

First day of first grade and other stuff

2011-09-06T21:03:00.001-05:00

Max was launched into the world of all-day school this morning at 7:13 a.m. He was so excited and when he returned home, he said the day was great. Stu had packed an apple in his lunch but Max planned to give it to his teacher, David. I hear that David graciously accepted, and even ate the apple, but apparently used it as a teaching moment to inform Max that not all teachers necessarily like apples. I'd called Max from work to hear how his day went and as I continued to press him for details, he grew increasingly restive and finally, apologetically said, "Mom? Can we talk about this later? Now's not really a good time?" Apparently Deanna was serving snack. Since Max had football tonight, I still haven't heard many details but that's ok. I remember from last year that eventually, I'll piece things together.

Now, the next hurdle is getting Ryann off to her first day of half-day Kindergarten tomorrow. Up until today, she was very excited. Suddenly, she announced that she's very nervous. A girl after my own heart. Hopefully Stu and I can teach her some skills now so she doesn't grow into a nervous-nelly like her old Ma.

Speaking of old, I turned 32 today. I got cards, cookies, well wishes, candy, a dog, amazon.com gift cards, an iPad, phone calls, a cement piece with colored glass decorations and my kids' handprints made by the kids and Deanna, singing...I'm a well-loved and blessed woman. Thank you to all my fabulous friends and family

Wow, what a wonderful weekend!

2011-09-04T19:59:00.004-05:00

I'm in love...and I'm not cheating on my husband. Who wouldn't fall for these beautiful brown eyes?

Her name is Zoe and she came into our lives just a few days ago. Unhappily for her family, they are going through a divorce and neither her "mom" or "dad" could keep her. Happily for the Stewart family, Zoe joined us already housetrained, non-chewing, loving of kids, non-barking, sweet-as-can-be!

The kids all adore her.

And she adores them...and their food (see the line of drool jiggling down from her maw?), though she doesn't snatch...she patiently waits for crumbs to drop...

Even Stu (who's admittedly not a huge dog-lover, more of a dog-tolerator) has embraced the new gal in the house and took her on his morning walk with him this morning.

Zo-Zo, as Adam calls her, is a taddly-bit overweight so she's getting lots of walks and fewer treats than I think she might have been getting at her old house. They couldn't help it there! They loved her so much, they couldn't resist those baby-browns!!

Not only did we adopt a fur-baby this weekend but we got to go to the State Fair - something the kids look forward to all year long! On the bus there (we park at Roseville High School and take the free bus to the Fair), Ryann sat next to me and kept looking over at me and squealing, "I'm so excited!!!!" We met up with Stu's mom and grandma and between we four adults, the kids got to do everything they could ever have wanted - rides, toys, Fair-Do's, Webkinz, cotton candy, hot dogs....until we were all pooped and headed home for some well-needed rest time!

Max, getting ready to go!

Ryann getting her Fair-Do

Max getting his Fair-Do

The Results!

A few people at the Fair on Saturday

Who knew the Gold n' Plump stand could be so fun?!

Calling all entymologists...

2011-08-31T13:39:00.001-05:00

What IS this huge eight-legged beasty who has taken up residence in the outside corner of our garage? The thing's amazing. It creates beautiful webs overnight. The main part of the web is probably 3 feet by 3 feet but some of the "supports" the spidey uses stretch from one side of the one-car garage to the other or from the house out to the van, parked in the driveway!

Every morning, I walk out the door expecting to see "SOME PIG" weaved within the web. Apparently Charlotte forgot to go with Wilbur to the State Fair this year.

Just some thoughts

2011-08-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

I like to feel good. Don't we all? And I had a couple weeks there where I was finally feeling "good". "Good" meaning normal, functional, and not out-of-my-head-weird. Seems that's the best we can ask for sometimes. So I did what any perfectionist, control-freak woman would do. I tried to change what I'd been doing and told myself I didn't need some of the help I'd been provided with. MISTAKE. So as I get myself back to where I was and suffer through a few days of re-readjustment, I've been doing some thinking. Some of my thoughts have been productive and make sense. Some of my thoughts have been downright odd. Like, for a split second today, I wondered if it would be nicer to be a dog than a human. As long as you were a well treated dog. For just a nano-second, I was jealous of all those pampered pets out there whose only worries in life are why your humans aren't getting your food bowl out at the exact same second they'd gotten it out in the past. Wouldn't it be nice to exist just to be loved and hugged and played with and doted on? And all you had to do was lay around and look cute?

I probably had that thought because I can't seem to stop obsessing about getting another dog. Being the perfectionist, control-freak that I am, the non-decision about a dog or no dog, a puppy or a young dog, when to get a dog, a male or female dog, a rescue dog or a purebred dog is driving me crazy. Which is already a problem for me lately so this situation is no good. Stu is helping me out. He put his foot down and declared, "No dogs until next Spring; so stop thinking about it." But I just can't seem to help myself. I'm constantly previewing dogs on petfinder.org and (unfortunately) found a petfinder app for my iPod Touch. I keep telling myself that even though I'm with Stu on the decision not to get a dog until Spring, that there's the possibility that the perfect dog is out there right now and I might miss it! Herein lies the other problem. Rosko certainly wasn't the most perfect dog in the world, though in my opinion he was darn near close. As some of you may know, we adopted a second dog nearly two years ago and it was a disaster. So, when it comes to adopting dogs in this house, I'm batting .500. And for a perfectionist, control-freak, that ain't good enough. And so my agonizing continues. And it doesn't help any when I see pictures like this:

3 month old female Basset Hound for adoption through Secondhand Hounds

Female yellow lab puppies for sale from Smith's Farms Labradors

I look at these pictures and first I want to scoop up those little babies and squeeze 'em, and kiss 'em, and hug 'em. Secondly, I get a pit in my stomach and want to throw up because they're either going to be wonderful blessings or the bane of my existence....and how do I know which they'll end up being?! Yeah, you're right. I'm a little overanalytical and dramatic. But I am who I am.

On to some other, less doggy, thoughts. I shared awhile back about our going to bed routine around here. I'll update you with our ongoing, cute routine. Once the kids have brushed their teeth, been read a story, and get into their respective beds (where most of them stay put all night, but one in particular really does not...I'm not naming names), it has become our nightly ritual that I must visit each child and say their bedtime prayer with them (if they didn't already say it with Dad) and then give them a back massage while singing my version of the old school "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" theme song. It goes like this:

"Mickey Mouse, DONALD DUCK, Mickey Mouse, DONALD DUCK. Forever I will hold my banner high, HIGH, HIGH, HIGH. Come along and sing the song and join the jamboree! M-I-C...K-E-Y...M-O-U-S-E....m..i..c...see ya real soon..k..e..y...why? because we like you..m....o...u...s...eeeeeeeee"

I'm pretty sure I don't have all the words right and I'm certain that I'm off-key but all three kids love it. Don't ask me where it came from or how it started. I haven't the first clue. Well, I do have the first clue - the first clue is that I love everything Disney and that song (incorrect as it is) has been stuck in my head since I was five years old. I should probably be in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest time having a song stuck in one's head.

Did I ever post some pictures from Ryann and Adam's swim lessons this summer? Cuz if not, I am remiss. I got some great shots. As you can tell, they really hated those swim lessons, did not look forward to them, and complained all the way there and back about how we made them go:

They told us in no uncertain terms, they never want to take swim lessons again....kidding.

A Smorgasbord of Snippets

2011-08-21T21:54:00.000-05:00

Although the past week has been sad as we've grieved for Rosko and I've agonized (as I'm wont to do) about what to do about a new dog (i.e., get an older, housetrained dog immediately or wait until next Spring and start fresh with a new puppy?), we've had tons of fun, funny, and memorable times as well.

Stu told me last night that he's going to write a parenting book someday and it's going to be titled, "WTF was I thinking? But how many great laughs would I have missed out on if I hadn't?". Our kids keep us on our toes constantly. The other night Stu and I were literally holding our bellies in pain because we laughed so hard and long after Adam had emerged from his bedroom after being tucked in for the night, for about the fifth time. This time, he tried to be sneaky. He put his "Blue Blankie" which is only about 1x1 square over the top of his head, presumably so that we couldn't see him. He tip-toed into the living room, being covert. Only problem was - he couldn't see where he was going so Stu and I quietly watched him slowly move across the living room, only to walk straight into the wall and fall over.

Max told two jokes today that first had Grammie and I in stitches and then had Stu and I giggling as well:

1. "Three holes in the ground...well, well, well!"

2. "Where does the king keep his armies?" "In his sleeves!"

We decided that Max should probably learn to ride a bike this summer since he'll be turning seven in December and still hadn't even attempted to ride a bike without training wheels. At first, he refused with all his might, crying and screaming about how scared he was. But after two weekends of dedicated practice in nearby church parking lots and the tennis courts at a park down the road, he's already nearly mastered the art of biking sans training wheels. He is now ever-so-proud of himself and was excited to pose for a photo.

Ryann's been practicing without training wheels, too, and is getting pretty close to not needing them anymore. She and Adam were excited to pose for pictures during our afternoon bike ride, too.

We've been making the most of our last few weeks of great weather and time together before school starts and Fall arrives and were having a grand, old time hanging out in the backyard the other day. I loved catching Max and Ryann running purposefully through the yard on some childhood mission. And I especially loved getting some shots of the batting practice Adam was adamant that Stu and I watch.

The one thing I am definitely missing in all of these memories and photos is a great dog to share our fun family times with. I so desperately miss Rosko and don't want (nor ever do I think I will be able to) replace him but I really relied on him for a feeling of security, love, and companionship. So I went on a mission this Saturday, visiting two adoption events and the St. Paul Humane Society looking for a young adult or even adult dog that needed a home (since we definitely don't have time during football season to train a brand new puppy) but none of the dogs was quite right. I was pleasantly surprised that when I talked to Stu about it, he was totally on board with getting a puppy next Spring. He loved Rosko but had always asserted that after Rosko, he had no desire to have a dog again. Admittedly, they can be a pain. They mess up and stink up your house, they can be expensive, and if you want to travel - you have to figure out what to do with them. But they're oh so worth it, to me. But last night, after my failed search for a new companion for our family, Stu was the one to bring it up at dinner time, letting the kids know that I'd looked for a new dog and didn't find one that would fit for our family, and asking them what kind of puppy they'd want in the spring. Ryann, of course, wanted a Papillon and Max and Adam want another big dog. I half-jokingly suggested we get one of each. A tiny lapdog for Ryann and a nice, big lab or lab-mix for the rest of us. Stu was not for that plan. However, we're pretty sure we'll end up with a lab or lab-mix puppy next Spring and we're thinking of continuing the tradition of naming our dogs with "R" names (so far we've had Rosko and Rags). We'll probably get a female this time. Any suggestions for a cute, girly, "R" dog name?

Tonight (Sunday) we'd been invited to a friend-from-church's house for a potluck gathering with other young families from church. I think there were probably 12-14 adults there and at least 20 kids under the age of about 11. We had lots of good conversation and the kids all played really well together. Plus, you couldn't really go wrong when the house had a great deck overlooking a small lake, a new trampoline in the backyard, and towards the end of the night, the kids discovered a nest of tiny, baby mice in the canoe. And who do you suppose went after those baby mice and wanted to hold and cuddle them? Either of my boys? NOPE! My pink-bespectacled, party-dressed, fancy-shoed little princess wanted to hold the ishy, practically hairless baby mouse and loved every second of it.

Yesterday, while I was out watering the vegetable and flower gardens, I was having fun capturing some backyard beauty after I noticed that little "yellow birds" as my mom and sister refer to them as, were stuffing themselves full of our sunflower seeds. And that these fat, buzzy, bumblebees are super attracted to a particular, tall, flower growing near the corner of our house.

Backing up again, I tried to capture a family shot with my new lens and the camera on a tripod. I think I should have used my telephoto lens for better quality but this one makes me laugh. At the last second of the timer, I was trying to pull Ryann closer to me (and Max refuses to smile in group shots lately).

Finally, another great shot of some of my favorite people on earth...but I was behind the camera this time so I'm not included (not that I am one of my favorite people on earth...except maybe I'd include myself in that group...I'm pretty proud of myself and how resilient I've learned I am lately)...

FYI - the other day, I started a blog post and went to upload a picture and I got an error message that I'd exceeded my storage space for photos in the Picasa web album where all the photos I post to my blog were stored!!!! I hyperventilated for a minute but then figured out I could buy a huge amount of additional storage space for $5. Well worth it, in my opinion! I was also flabbergasted to learn that in about two years of blogging, I'd posted nearly 700 photos to my blog!! Well, I shouldn't have been that flabbergasted; I mean I know myself pretty well and I shoudn't have been that surprised.

I Heart Faces weekly photo challenge - "Beautiful Eyes"

2011-08-15T09:16:00.000-05:00

With all that we have gone through with Adam's eyes the past several months, I was super excited about this week's theme at iheartfaces.com.

Here is my submission:

Head on over to the iheartfaces site to check out more gorgeous eyes and consider submitting a photo yourself!

http://iheartfaces.com

Woeful and weird weekend

2011-08-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

The last post I wrote, I was merrily counting my blessings. I thought about titling this post "Wallowing in my Woes", because Stu best summed it up when he said, "Yeah.....2011 is not going to go down in the books as a 5-star year." Our family has been through a lot of stress, upheaval, and change since the beginning of 2011. I write my blog to try to keep track of some of the snippets of our life. And sometimes life is not happy, funny, and/or easy. Sometimes life is sad, stressful, and just downright hard. I won't spend the whole post "wallowing", but in all honesty, the past several months and especially the past few days have really, to put it mildly, sucked.

It seemed like the weekend was going to start out ok. On Thursday, I took the day off (worked on Wednesday, my usual day off, instead) and Stu and I took the kids to Bunker Beach. It was super fun. We'd highly recommend it. But when we got home that afternoon, I noticed that one of Rosko's myriad lumps and bumps was oozing a clear, smelly, sticky substance. I knew deep down that this was not good. I talked to Stu and my mom about how worried I was and came up with a plan to have the kids say goodbye to Rosko on Friday morning, just in case, and make a vet appointment ASAP to have him looked at. Then things seemed to snowball from there. Rosko woke up Friday morning, seeming fine and drank some water. I took him on a leisurely walk and moments after starting out, he puked up all the water he'd just consumed, mid-stride. He seemed perky, trotting around and sniffing stuff on our walk. As I'd planned, I had the kids say goodbye to Rosko, tell him they loved him, and giving him hugs. I took some photos. Ok - the next part sounds a little woo-woo but stick with me here. Stu and the kids walked out the door to head to daycare and I began to dry my hair. Suddenly I thought, "I wonder what Rosko's doing?" and I peeked out from the bathroom to the living room. What I saw left goosebumps all over my body. Rosko was sitting, stock-still, staring at the family picture of us on the end table. I would have thought he was looking outside, watching Stu and the kids drive away, except the shades were down. I ran for my camera and by the time I returned, he was looking at the side-by-side framed photos I have of him as a puppy and as an adult. It was the strangest thing. I just "knew" that he "knew" that it was his time and he was looking at his family for the last time.

My poor lumpy, old dog looking for one last time at his family and his own baby picture.

I wanted a picture of Rosko with me so I set the timer on my camera and tried a couple times to leave Rosko sitting and get back to him. He kept laying down. This only supported my feeling that things were not good with him. But we did get a nice shot before I had to leave for work.

To me, Rosko looks tired and sad in this picture :(

I left for work and called the vet as soon as they opened. They got me right in. I drove home from work to pick Rosko up, secretly praying that he would have just passed away during his morning nap because I so didn't want to have to make the choice to have him put down. He greeted me at the door though and seemed his normal self on the way to the vet. I love our vet and when he drew some fluid from the oozing lump I was worried about, he didn't really mince words. He basically said it wasn't looking good but there were some rather drastic measures we could take. I broke down and explained that our family did not want our beloved, old-man dog to have to go through anything like what he was proposing, only to prolong his life for potentially only a short time longer; that we'd said our goodbyes that morning, just in case. The vet said that if I was ready, he wholeheartedly agreed that putting Rosko down was the right and most compassionate thing to do. I stayed with Rosko until he was gone and as I sobbed, the vet explained to me how now that Rosko had passed, he was even more certain that it was time, if not past time. In his many years of experience, he's found that healthy dogs that need to be put down, for whatever reason, pass very quickly since their internal organs, cells, etc. are healthy and the "medicine" passes through them quickly. It took Rosko about 15 to 20 seconds to pass, which told the vet that he was likely very sick on the inside and had simply been existing for some time. That put credence to how Stu and I have felt this summer. Rosko wasn't exactly his same, young, exuberant self. He slept probably 22 hours out of 24 each day and more recently, had refused food a couple times. I am happy that Rosko has crossed the Rainbow Bridge and is in doggy heaven but this has been a houseful of grief for the past two days. Max and Adam are doing ok but Stu, Ryann, and I are taking it pretty hard. Rosko was mine and Stu's first baby and for the past couple years, Rosko has started out his nights of sleep in Ryann's room (then I'd go get him and move him to our room when Stu and I went to bed). Just as we've gotten past all the other crappy stuff this year, we'll get past this too. In the meantime, here's a tribute to our wonderful friend who we'll never forget:

Stu and I adopted Rosko from the St. Francis Animal Rescue organization when he was almost 8 weeks old. It was about six months before we got married and about 2 weeks after we'd moved into our new house together.

Rosko grew quickly and came with us on our honeymoon at my dad's cabin. One funny memory Stu and I share is how we'd asked friends to let Rosko out during the day of our wedding and they waited too long. By the time they got to our house to let him out, Rosko had held it for so long that he ended up sick to his stomach and leaving a diarrhea mess throughout the house. They didn't clean it up, just let him out and stuck him in the bathroom. Stu and I returned home after our reception to clean up dog poop in our tux and gown.

Sometimes, Rosko made other messes in the house (all this stuffing used to be inside that Elmo doll) but we forgave him every time.

Before we had babies, Rosko was our child. I talked to him in baby-talk and when I referred to Stu, I called him Rosko's "Papa".

Then we started having babies (Max and Rosko)

...and more babies (Ryann with Rosko)

...and more babies (Adam and Rosko)...and he was the most patient, loving, careful dog with those babies we ever could have dreamed for. He put up with tons of pushing, pulling, climbing, poking, pinching, hugging, kissing, and downright mauling without batting a furry eye.

The poor thing even had to wear antlers one Christmas when I cooked up a hairball idea for a Christmas card photo

The boys posing with Rosko on Friday morning

One last portrait of my old friend

Now, onto the weirdness of the weekend...I decided to take a bike ride this morning as my daily exercise instead of my usual walk/jog. Three quarters of the way home, I encountered a middle-aged black lab running down the street on its own. At first glance, I thought it was my neighbors' dog and called out, "Emma?" and the dog ran right up to me, wagging his tail. I quickly realized he was not Emma. He had an invisible fence collar on but no identification. He was a good listener, sitting when I asked him to and seemed very friendly. I looked around for his owner and tried telling him to go home but he laid down on the sidewalk next to me so I shrugged and said (yes, I was talking, out loud, to a strange dog...I'm grieving, remember), "I'm going home; you can come with me if you want" and started off on my bike. Lo and behold, the black dog got up and jogged right along beside me. He was panting pretty hard so I was talking to him, encouraging him, and telling him we were almost home. When we'd cross streets, I'd warn him to "wait now" so that I could make sure no cars were coming because I didn't want him to get run over and I swear the darn dog was listening to me. He'd slow down and wait until I told him ok, let's go ahead and cross. I put him in our backyard and got him some water. I put up signs, at the end of our driveway and on the light post on the street near where I found him. The sign said I'd found a male black lab and gave my cell phone number. The family went to church and I waited with nervous anticipation for my phone to buzz. By the time we got home and had eaten lunch, Stu called me to the backyard to have an adult conference about what to do. Seems we both had a good feeling about this nice dog. We decided if we couldn't find the owner(s), he had a home with us. I introduced the kids to him and they called him, "Jumpy". But I did not want his owners to be pining for him, like I've been pining for my forever lost dog. So, in a last-ditch effort to find them, I took "Jumpy" to the vet to have him scanned to see if he was micro-chipped. And, hallelujah!, he was! The vet tech told me it was only the second time they've ever had someone bring in a lost dog and it was actually micro-chipped and they were able to reunite the lost dog with its owner. I didn't feel one ounce of sadness; I was just overjoyed that the nice dog was going to get to go home to its family.

The other weird thing that happened today was that when I went out to check on "Jumpy" after we'd arrived home from church - there was a little bird stuck in our garage. Here's another woo-woo moment for you - my mom believes that often, after a dear loved one dies, you are visited by a bird. And that bird is your loved one coming back to say hi, look after you, whatever. So my mom's convinced the little bird was Rosko, dropping by to say hi...or one last goodbye.

Counting my blessings

2011-08-11T16:01:00.001-05:00

I noted in a recent post that football season (and my impending football coach widowdom) is quickly approaching. The summer has gone way too quickly. And I was very sick for about half of it. But looking back, it has been one of the best summers in a long time. We had the opportunity to (among other bits and pieces of life):

1. Experience Max's first lost tooth
2. Grow a vegetable garden and, for the first time since being married and moving into our house 9 and a half hears ago, planting and maintaining some annual flowers around the yard
3. Get Ryann's ears pierced
4. Play tons and tons in our backyard on our swingset and in our little plastic kiddie pool
5. Play in and attend fun, pint-sized baseball games
6. Visit the MN Zoo, play with lots of friends, have a parents-only weekend (well, almost 24 hours) away
7. Spend an entire week at the family cabin

and just in the last two days, I've:

1. Had a mani/pedi
2. Eaten dinner at Panera with some girlfriends
3. Attended the movie "The Help" with the same girlfriends plus one more (loved it; highly recommended)
4. Taken the kids, along with Stu, to Bunker Beach water park (which was totally fun and also highly recommended)

Yep, I've taken full advantage of this summer and I think....dare I say it....I might be....ready for Fall and all that brings with it - back to school, high school football, and this year - flag football for Max, dance for Ryann, and maybe something for Adam as well. I love my crazy life!

Let the Madness Begin! (and continue)

2011-08-07T19:02:00.002-05:00

And so football season commences. Max participated in the Youth Football Camp the senior high Panther players put on for the school age kids:

On the final day of camp, Stu brought both Ryann and Max along and Adam and I met up with them later:

Adam arriving at Camp

Ryann checking out the neat drinking fountain for the players

Stu and I sometimes call Adam "Buzz" when we're trying to be lighthearted about his hijinks. It helps us stay sane. Today, Buzz tumbled down nearly the entire flight of stairs to the basement and landed squarely on his nose. Whichever toy he landed on when he reached the bottom left a distinct imprint on his proboscis:

Poor Buzz - the red mark nearest to his hairline is actually a mosquito bite. And can you see how bent the nosepads on his glasses are? We had to go to the backup glasses until we can take Adam in to have these puppies adjusted.

Tonight, at dinner, Stu suggested that we all share one thing we were thankful for. When asked, Max responded, "Food", Adam responded, "Going to church", Dad responded, "That we get so much time together to spend as a family" (typical as of late, Max had to dispute the claim and debate about what Stu had said, complaining - "Our family of five people is only together on weekends!" Stu and I disagreed and I think we won the debate). I explained that it was hard to pick just one thing to share but I finally decided on, "I'm glad that when Adam fell down the stairs he didn't break a bone, or his skin and need a cast or stitches." Ryann responded, "I'm thankful for me" (also typical for her as of late):

But I don't want to make too much fun of her. I would love to be this satisfied with myself and life:

Adam's admiring her carefree spin

We took the kids to Culver's today to get them some ice cream. Ryann had earned a free scoop through the Ramsey County Library for her exceptional efforts at reading this summer. I must say, they gave away some nice gifts for their reading program this year - water bottles, Culver's ice cream, tickets to the State Fair, and tickets to the Water Park of America.

I teased Max that he loved his treat so much, he was crying ice cream tears. When I showed him the photo on the back of the camera, he didn't get it. Does anyone else see it?

Only one more week until I become a full-time Football Widow and I'm trying to make the most of it!

Vacation at Big Trout Lake

2011-08-03T15:28:00.002-05:00

I find that things are harder and harder to remember as I need to remember more and more things for more people. I need to remember what projects and little to-do's are due at work; I need to remember when Stu is or is not going to be available due to his coaching schedule; I need to remember which child needs to go where, when, and what they'll need to bring; I need to remember what groceries we need; I need to remember where I last set down my watch....sigh....

But I will remember these things from our wonderful, exhilarating week-long vacation this year (because I'm about to write them down).

I will remember how Max ran out on to the dock to talk to Grandpa Tom while I pulled life jackets out of the big duffel bag of "outside" stuff we'd packed. I heard Max chattering away and then I heard, "Sploosh! Aaaaah! bubble...bubble" I was running before I even realized it and I made it across the yard, down the dock, and to Max at the same time as my Dad even though he had been sitting in a chair about 3 feet from Max when he walked backwards off the dock. My Dad grabbed Max's right arm and I grabbed his left and the two of us hauled him, shaking and chattering back onto the dock. Poor Max refused to swim, even with a life jacket on, until Stu gently coaxed him slowly into the water over the next few days.

I will also remember how wading in the shallow water at the lake results in Swimmer's Itch; much better to get in the water at the deep end of the dock.

I will remember how much my kids enjoy spending time with their Grandpa. From the minute he would arise, they would clamor to sit on his lap, hug him, and chat with him about the upcoming day. They fished and swam with him and helped him do small chores around the cabin. And each afternoon around 4:00 or 5:00, they all knew it was "Snackies" time on the deck. Grandpa would pull out peanuts in the shell, pistachios, Cheez-its, and fish crackers and the kids would gather around the little wooden table and two stools on the deck to eat and fool around.

I will remember the joy of not having a small baby to care for anymore and the feeling of increasing ease in loosening the apron strings just a little. The kids could all be trusted to go out on the deck (the deck, not the dock) by themselves for a few minutes at a time if Stu and/or I were gathering bug spray, sunscreen, towels and other lake paraphernalia.

I will remember the early birthday present Stu gave me when we arrived at the cabin. A fabulous new lens for my camera that was put to good use over the next few days (I took a total of about 250 photos in 7 days).

I will remember how much Max enjoyed fishing. That boy fished us out of house and home. I think we went through at least three containers of nightcrawlers and some corn niblets. It's all he wanted to do day and night and even Grandpa got tired of baiting his hook and removing caught fish after a while!

I will remember how excited Ryann was when her cousins arrived and how sad she was to see them go. She loved playing with Tiana, Riley, and Evelyn. I will also remember her delight and ease riding her first horse and how badly she wanted to bring the free kitten home. And we might have if it weren't for mine and Stu's terrible allergies.

I will remember what a little fish Adam was. He took to the lake with no fear. He once leaped off the end of the dock nearly onto the top of my head when my back was turned. And at least twice, he needed to be "rescued" by one of us swimming to him or taking the paddleboat because he would swim so far away and was not a good listener when told to come back.

I will remember what fun we had when we had a total of seven adults and six children in the two bedroom, one loft, one extra bedroom attached to the garage cabin. But also how if I had it to do over again, I would not have allowed myself to become so stressed and crabby because I worried that Grandpa Tom would get stressed with all the busyness of company. My Dad never said a word so I rushed around cleaning and organizing and placating until I grew weary, for no good reason. Even if Dad had gotten upset, I will remember that what I should have done was do what I thought was right for my little family and especially for me so that I could have a relaxing and not a vexing vacation.

I will remember taking Zoom Zoom, the boat, to Moonlite Bay and not being served for nearly two hours because the server admittedly forgot to put in our orders. I will never forget the ride back when Dad let Stu and then Bryan drive Zoom Zoom and Stu aimed for the next set of buoys before he made it through the first set and we bottomed out on a sandbar. Then, someone bumped the switch for one of the two engines and Stu worried about why the boat wouldn't get up and go and plane out.

I will remember my mistake in leaving my pill box within reach of children and the terrible gut-wrenching worry I felt for two hours, thinking that Adam had eaten a total of about 13 pills, some of which would have negatively impacted him, though Poison Control said he would have been fine and would just have needed to be monitored closely at home. The whereabouts of those two days worth of pills is still unknown.

I will remember the stress, angst, worry, and loneliness I felt during the two days that Stu had to leave the cabin to return to the Cities to work. I will remember not to plan a vacation again unless our family can be together the entire time. It's just not as fun without my best friend and helpmate.

I will remember trying to nudge a flip-flopping sunfish that had come off the hook and was on the dock, towards the water and hearing my Dad tell me, "Don't kick the fish, Sheri!" and watching as simultaneously, just as the fish had leapt in the air, Ryann punted the sucker about 10 feet out into the lake. And I'll remember the sound of my sister and I bursting into gales of laughter together.

I will remember several trips back and forth to the grocery store to restock food, ice, and drinks.

I will remember constantly refilling our air mattress as time and again, Adam took the plug out.

I will remember the terribly hard game of mini-golf Stu, the kids, Nikki, Bryan, and I played in the sweltering heat. And how by the end, both Stu and I were completely ticked and the kids were all miserable.

I will remember how the entire week, I kept to my vitamin-taking, walking, meditating, healthy eating schedule as much as I could but also how I relaxed and ate some junk food and drank some beer and how I felt physically and emotionally better than I have in nearly 5 months.

I will remember that I should take a full week off of work every year. This was the first time I'd done it since college and I hadn't realized what I'd been missing. It was clearly long overdue.

I will remember the feel of the lake water and up north air on my skin. I will remember the breathtaking beauty of nature in that area. Flora, fauna, and....sunsets.

Many memories

2011-07-19T20:35:00.002-05:00

A funny story involving none of my "Snippets" but worth writing down, for memory's sake:

My mom invited me to come to her new condo a couple weeks ago and soak in her hot tub, sit in the sauna, and paddle in the pool. Afterward, we returned to her condo where she was excited to show me the new Paula Dean cookware she'd purchased for her new pad. She chattered away to me as she unpacked the really well packed pots and pans from the cardboard box they came in. As she pulled the last pan from it's cardboard protection, she gasped, "What's this?!" and reached deep into the box. Then she started to laugh hilariously as she pulled out.....a worker's badge! I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo of the badge with my phone but it looked something like this:

complete with that metal clip and everything! The only part that was in English was the company name. The rest was all in an Asian language; I've no idea which one. When I got home, I called my mom and told her she should post a picture of the badge on Facebook and see if we could track down the owner and send it back to him and she said she'd thrown it away! Poor guy in some country far away lost his badge while industriously packing Paula Deen's cookware. Too funny.

After dinner tonight, I marveled at how my little Snippets have grown. I finished eating my dinner and served them up a little ice cream. As they ate their treat, I filled the sink with soapy water and started to wash the dishes that don't go in the dishwasher. One by one, the kids finished their desserts and one by one, they each politely asked if they might be excused from the table. One by one, they each brought their empty bowls and ice cream slobbered spoons to the counter and set them next to the sink. One by one, they trooped to the bathroom to rinse the ice cream stickiness from their hands and mouth in the bathroom sink. Even Adam is able to do all these things. Then, as I continued to finish the chore I'd started, without having to interrupt what I was doing, I instructed Ryann to please go take a shower....and she did. Yes, both Ryann and Max can now undress, turn on the shower, get in, check the temperature of the water, lather their body (a momma just crosses her fingers and says a little prayer that they're actually getting clean), wash (and in Ryann's case, condition) their hair, turn off the shower, get out, dry off with a towel, and put on their pajamas. Now this may not sound like that big of a deal to some but for me, it's a MIRACLE. This means that I have about 25 minutes back in my life that I can spend however I want. I guess tonight, I wanted to wash dishes but whatever.

Remember, I told you that Adam broke his glasses' frames almost immediately upon arriving in Quincy, IL to visit my sister and brother-in-law? Well, the day we returned from Quincy, Stu took Adam to LensCrafters to have the frames replaced. Unfortunately, they did not have the exact same frame in stock but they did have the same frame in a different color. Stu called home to ask if I was ok with a "brownish" color instead of the silver ones he used to have. Since it was a quick, cheap fix, I gave my blessing. When they arrived home, I was pleasantly surprised! We all agree that Adam's new frames look even better on him than his old ones. I guess he was meant to break those old ones. I mean, he'd worn them for nearly three months! It was time for a new style anyway. Who wears the same old frames for more than a couple months, right?! (sarcasm) But seriously, don't you think they're cute and doesn't he look handsome?

This is the best close up shot I currently have of Adam's new frames. His lenses are a little fogged up from the warm bathwater.

Get ready for loads more photos coming soon. We leave for my dad's cabin on Big Trout Lake on the Whitefish Chain very soon! The kids are so excited, they can hardly stand it. This morning, I listened to Max tell the babysitter, just before I left for work, "Last year, I fished off the dock but THIS year, I'm going to do some deep sea fishing.....or should I say deep lake fishing!?" And then he cracked up laughing.

Also before I left for work this morning, I was in the shower when I heard the pitter-patter of little feet. Stu had already left for football so I asked, "Who's up?" A little voice answered, "It's me!" Bad mom that I apparently am, I couldn't distinguish who "me" was so I asked, "Which 'me'?" and Ryann answered, "It's me, Ryann....uh-oh Mom, I think I have pinkeye." She must have been checking herself out in the mirror (as she's wont to do). She has had a little bloodshot area in her eye for a couple of days now so I called out to her that I'd check it out when I got out of the shower. Being the big girl that she is, she was already sitting at the table eating her cereal when I emerged from the bathroom. I checked out her eye and told her I didn't think it looked any worse and since there was no goop, was not likely pinkeye. I'm thinking she either got something in her eye and it got scratched or she has allergies. I was brushing my teeth as I checked her out. Being the multitasking Mom I am, I wandered to the garage to throw something away while brushing. As I reentered the house, Ryann turned from the table, looked at me, winked and said, "Hey Mom....let's just keep an eye on it...get it!? Keep an EYE on it?!" I tried to suppress my mirth so as not to drool toothpaste spit on the kitchen floor. And then she cracked up laughing.

So Adam's not quite to the point of manning his owner shower process yet so I was in the bathroom with him this evening as he disrobed in preparation to be cleaned. As he shed each layer, he announced, "I'm underwear boy!" which sounds more like "I'm undooweyoo boy!", and then "I'm naked boy!" As he hauled his little body onto the toilet, he crowed, "I'm tooting boy!" and then "I'm pee-pee boy! I'm going wots and wots of pee-pee!" And then he cracked up laughing.

Have I said before I'm constantly cracking up laughing around here?

More photo evidence of fun had, summer-style!

2011-07-16T20:38:00.002-05:00

The kids, Stu, and I joined my sister Marie, her husband, Tim, and our niece, Evelyn at the MN Zoo. Not sure why they have the Grinch/Christmas display up right now...

The fish tanks are some of the coolest displays at the Zoo

My sweet niece, E!

Joy and joy!!

The kids, Stu, and I went to my friend Bri's house to swim in their pool last weekend....was that just last weekend?! Why do the summers have to go so fast?

Avery and Ryann chose the same swimsuits from Target Boutique (my dad would pronounce that "Tar-jhay Boo-ti-que") this year :)

Bri's youngest, Emerson. Cutest hammy smile for the camera, or what?

Could my boys' eyes be more different in hue?!

Stu and I won a two-night stay in this one-bedroom suite at Superior Shores resort just north of Two Harbors, MN on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Here was the gorgeous view from our deck (we had a little electric grill on the deck, a full kitchen, a king size bed in the private bedroom containing an enormous whirlpool tub, a big, beautiful bathroom....sigh...)

Landscape view from our deck

Fillin' up the tub for a soak

The living room had a flat screen TV and a gas fireplace!

And then....wouldn't you know it....Grammie was house/babysitting and called us on Saturday morning (we'd just arrived Friday afternoon) to let us know that for the first time in 9.5 years of living in our house, the basement had gotten wet after torrential downpours all day and night. We quickly snapped this picture (I didn't even dry my hair after my quick shower) before we drove back home to clean up the basement. Again...sigh....

Photo Evidence of Fun Had

2011-07-05T20:40:00.001-05:00

4th of July in Quincy, Illinois

2011-07-03T16:11:00.002-05:00

The kids, Stu, and I are visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Quincy, Illinois for the long 4th of July weekend. I have Monday and Tuesday off for the holiday this year. I also needed to take some sick time from work last week so we were able to leave earlier than we thought on Friday morning to get here. However, Stu decided to take a small detour to Rochester, MN to eat at one of our favorite restaurants - John Hardy's BBQ. When he told me the plan, I was really excited.....nearly 10 hours later, when we pulled into my sister's driveway, I was questioning our judgement. But we haven't been there in years and probably won't get back there for years so even though it was a long, long, long haul, it was probably worth it.

Our vacation has been like a comedy film so far:

1. Not 20 minutes after we'd arrived, we took the kids over to the nearby playground to stretch their limbs after nearly 10 hours in the minivan and Max scraped his back on the dodgy old slide. He's ok though.

2. Not one hour after we'd arrived, settled the kids down, and gotten them into bed, for some inexplicable reason, Adam decided to pull his glasses case from his bag, take out his very expensive glasses and tear the left ear/stem piece thingy clean off. Stu was not a happy camper. I took it in stride. Whatever. That's what tape's for. And the insurance plan we paid for at Lenscrafters. When we get back home to good 'ol Roseville, MN, we'll be able to get a new pair of specs for $30.

3. Ryann has stepped on something in the yard and got a little cut on the bottom of her foot, gotten gum in her hair (for the second time in approximately 2 weeks), and zipped her hair into the sleeping bag-like portion of the cot that her auntie and uncle have for her to sleep in here. When the gum and hair-zipping happened, she moaned, like a movie star, classics such as "Not again!" and "Why me, why me?!"

4. We trekked 20 miles to Hannibal, Missouri to participate in the advertised "National Frog Jump Competition" during their "Tom Sawyer Days" festival. This meant we registered all three kids and then loitered for 2 hours in 95 degree, 100 % humid weather waiting for the kids to take their turns in attempting to get their frogs to jump farthest from a center starting point, in only three jumps (photos forthcoming). By the time it was our kids' turns, those poor bullfrogs were so overheated and jumped-out (we had to rent frogs from the boy scouts for $2 a piece since we didn't bring our own), they barely moved. Adam's strategy was to nudge, nudge, noodge his froggie in the bum to try to get him going. Ryann slapped the ground behind her non-jumper with all her might. Max leaped up and down, trying to provide demonstration and then resorted to snapping his fingers in the general vicinity of the croaker. The kids were all glad they participated, knew there was no way they'd won any prize, and didn't give a rip. As soon as the last of them participated, we immediately headed for the air conditioned van. Uncle Bryan called ahead for pizza delivery so we could eat as soon as we got home. The pizza place said they'd be there in 45 minutes - giving us plenty of time to get home before they arrived; however, we pulled into the driveway next to the idling pizza truck and Uncle Bryan jumped out of the van to hand the guy waiting at their front door the money for the pizzas.

5. Stu and Max golfed six and a half holes out of nine this afternoon before getting rained out.

Next on our agenda is to eat tacos tonight and hot dogs tomorrow (we'd originally had that menu switched around but Max and Uncle Bryan decided it was completely un-American to eat tacos for our 4th of July supper), try to go to a place near here called "Bonkers" (an indoor playground), and then go to the Veteran's Home tomorrow night to see fireworks (Auntie Nikki read in the paper this morning that the resident buffalo has been moved so that he would not be upset by the noise; thank heavens).

Happy Thoughts

2011-06-30T16:19:00.001-05:00

In the midst of a deep valley that is one in the series of peaks and valleys I've been through in the past six months, I have forged ahead and some lovely things have happened.

I took Adam's three year photos by myself this year, instead of taking him to Target or Penney's like I usually would have. A coworker let me borrow her photography space. I only had to pay $10 for lighting. Here's how some of my faves turned out:

I even did my best to use Photoshop to edit out oopses in the background and reflections of the big lights cast in Adam's glasses' lenses. I think they turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

Speaking of Adam, he's done some pretty hilarious things lately. The other day, he was holding a toy and a sudden sneeze came upon him. He sprayed the toy pretty good since he didn't have time to cover his mouth and then exclaimed, with some surprise, "I bwess you'd on dat!" Just yesterday, we got to spend a large amount of the day playing in the plastic kiddie pool and with the slip and slide in the backyard. We finally had a gorgeous, sunny, warm day. We'd been playing for a couple hours and Stu and I were resting a little, lounging in our Adirondack chairs - I now use Stu's old green, plastic one since I bought him a real wooden one for Father's Day (or was it his birthday?) this year. We noticed Adam standing over by the picnic table near the side of our yard. He called out, "I hafta go potty!" and we responded, "Go ahead.....oh....you're going right there?" and there was nothing we could do do stop him. He'd already whipped down his pants and tinkled right there in the yard. We admonished him, "Humans do not go pee-pee in the yard. Only dogs do. Next time, you need to go inside to go potty." Adam just agreed, "Ok." He's such a liar. I can see him doing it again. He's in a phase where if he wants to do something, he just does it. When you tell him he should not, he responds with, "But I wanted to!"

Grandma Stu took Ryann shopping the other day. Here she is modeling one of the dresses she just had to have. Isn't it sweet?

We got Max's baseball photos delivered last night. I think his turned out adorable!

Grammie found a bunch of classic books on sale at Target for a buck a piece so purchased a bunch for Max since he is such a voracious reader lately (partly because he loves it but partly because he's filling in his time sheet for the library so he can claim a prize for having read 10 and then 20 hours this summer). The books included "Black Beauty" and "Moby Dick" and several others. Max chose to start "Moby Dick" last night, in bed, and said he's really enjoying it. These are illustrated versions so I don't know if the prose is "dumbed down" a bit, too, or not. If not, I'm impressed. I've picked up "Moby Dick" a couple times and found it hard going. I'll have to check Max's version out.

Two steps forward, one step back

2011-06-25T19:15:00.001-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while. Sometimes I feel like I have the time and sometimes days and weeks fly by and I wonder how I've ever had time to blog. But I feel the need tonight. I'm once again struggling with some aspects of my health. Thank the Lord that our children are all healthy and Adam's vision is still great. But I was struggling something fierce the end of last week. Thank goodness for caring, compassionate family, friends and doctors who helped me quickly. I'm now on a new plan and I feel loads better than I was but I still don't feel "good". I had sort of fallen off the bandwagon of helping myself to feel good by doing things like:

Thinking positively
Counting my blessings
Praying throughout the day
Getting enough exercise
Focusing my energy away from constantly analyzing how I feel and toward the world around me and enjoying the myriad things my blessed life is surrounded with
Meditation
Yoga
Thinking of trying Qi-Gong (I think that's how you spell it)

But I am back on the bandwagon and trying to feel positive despite this two steps forward, one step back experience I've been having for the past several months. If you think the above sounds easy and that a person should just chin-up, pull up their boot straps, and get on with life - I'm learning firsthand just how wrong you are. This is definitely the most difficult time in my life so far. One of the worst/hardest parts is knowing just how lucky and blessed I am and feeling extreme guilt for not enjoying my life as I should. That's enough about that. Just know that life can be hard but I am proud of myself for continuing to work harder.

Remember the movie, Beethoven? With the big, slobbery St. Bernard? The kids and I are having movie night and watching that movie. The kids are eating popcorn. I'm full from our salmon, long grain-wild rice, and salad dinner. Stu is working the time clock at the TCF Bank Stadium tonight for the All-Star football game. I can't wait to hear how it goes.

It's been said around these parts that Adam is our crazy, wild-child. That he's maybe even a bit unruly. But Stu and I know (because we remember not so long ago, another crazy, wild-child who has simmered down as of late) that Adam is just a three year old boy. That's how they roll. Plus, when Adam asked me to pick him up after playing in the sandbox in the backyard, and sporting a runny nose, and then planted a big, snotty, dirty smooch on my cheek, any indiscretion was immediately forgiven.

Ryann has learned some serious sass and dirty looks lately and we're working on toning it down a bit. She's so dramatic sometimes, it's like living with our very own Dr. Jekyll/Ms. Hyde. One moment, she is super grown up - getting breakfast ready for the whole crew, consoling Adam if he's hurt, telling me how much she loves me and what a great dad Stu is, etc. and the next minute, she's freaking out, sobbing that she's the worst girl ever and should never be allowed to have fun/eat/play/whatever ever, ever again. We seriously don't know where she comes up with this stuff.

Max is still loving baseball and I'm sure is going to be bummed after next week since the season will be ending. However, Stu is taking him to the golf course tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. for his very first real round of golf. Max has hit balls around the yard and gone to the driving range with Stu several times but never played actual golf yet. I hope he has fun and is not too hard on himself as he is sometimes wont to be.

We plan to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Quincy, IL over the long 4th of July weekend. I am looking forward to it but with slight trepidation. One of my many "things" that I struggle with is feeling nervous and guilty bringing my whirlwind of a family into someone else's house. Especially if those others don't have kids. However, my sister and brother-in-law love kids and are super understanding so I need to let those feeling go, for this trip, completely!

We're also undertaking a minor bathroom renovation. And when I say "we", I mean "Stu". Here is his chronicling of the beginning of the process:

And that's all the excitement around the Stewart house for now.