2 Years Ago Today

Remember? We will never forget. What a day it was.


In more mundane detail, I spent the day in bed with crazy severe nausea and accompanying headache. Or vice versa. It's sort of a chicken and the egg story with me. If I take headache medicine, it makes me nauseous and if I'm nauseous I throw up the medicine. So, which is the true culprit? Sam and Mae played REALLY well all morning while I dozed, puked and sucked on Pedialyte Popsicles (YUCK!). I started feeling better around 2pm and by 3, human! We spent the afternoon at TKD and I even ate dinner - my first real meal all day. I still feel oogey but I know I'm on the mend. Blah!!

Mini Reunion

Whenever Kate's family travels to Colorado to visit, the rest of us get together for a mini 5-family reunion. As usual, this was such a wonderful, special evening. Seeing the girls play together so happily, catching up on all that's happened since our last reunion, planning for our next one, and just hanging out...so much fun. The girls, of course, have changed so much. Except for one thing. Every single time we take a couch photo of girls sans mommies, we get the SAME reaction. From left to right: Angelina wonders what the fuss is all about, Kate gets the giggles, Caitlan cries for Momma, Mae sulks and looks miserable, and Zoe mimics the faces we crazy adults are making to try to get them to smile! How funny. Maybe when they're older they'll all smile!
Then again, look at the moms! What, I wonder, am I doing? And what is Colleen (Caitlan's mom) thinking? Bwa ha ha. What a great night.

Dark Days Recap

I'm the Guest Writer this week for the West region of the Dark Days Challenge, and when I went to my own blog I hadn't tagged my posts! Geesh! I guess having kids with strep and a friend with a new baby make me forget the details. Tonight's dinner of VwaV's Chickpea and Spinach Curry was made with CSA Indian Woman beans, local spinach, CSA garlic and onion, and a local mercant's paratha. I LOVE this meal and hope my new mom friend enjoyed it too. Non local spices, but everything else was local. I'll have the post up Sunday night and will link to it here. It's a lot of work to review everyone, but a lot of fun too.
*Update* Here's the post.

Seeds are planted!

My seeds are planted! We moved into this house in the Fall of 1999 and in the early Spring of 2000 I started some cherry tomatoes inside in early March. By June, we had BUSHELS of them. I did it again the next year and we had a wonderful harvest again. Then Ted was born. And then Sam. And then Mae arrived. And every year since these energetic children have been with us, we've guiltily perused the young plants at Home Depot in early May and returned home with a few. Meager harvests follow in July, although August is usually a good month no matter what. This year, Mae is 2.5 and, in my opinion, old enough to understand to leave the plants alone. I'm excited for this year's harvest, although I may have overplanted. Our garden is quite small, but we'll see. The back row is home to (from left to right) Heirloom Mini Red and Yellow Pear Tomatoes, Red Cherry Tomatoes, and a hybrid variety known as Early Girl, a type of plum tomato, from the looks of it. In front in the yogurt containers (from left to right) are strawberries, golden chard, baby carrots and sugar snap peas. The two lonesome ones on the right are full size carrots and spinach. I plan to transplant the strawberries and golden chard to the big standing pots we have on the deck. I learned a nice trick from a website today: water the seeds with warm water and then cover them. This creates a nice greenhouse effect. I'm going to water them at night with warm water and help them through the chilly nights this way. Back in 2000, our little tomatoes did just fine without extra help from me, but boy would I love some homegrown spinach and strawberries!! Nothing quite heralds spring like the scent of baby tomato shoots! Can't wait.

A is a house!

Sam is very into writing his name lately (Sam M., by the way! There is a Samantha in his class.) He discovered that he could draw a house in his "A." Paul pointed out that this was probably one of the first things he's created, rather than scribbling and then telling us the story. He's done faces before, but never much else, so this is cool! He spends a LOT of time with this wonderful writing pad, that Ted received as a Holiday present from Elizabeth when he was a year and some. It's held up beautifully and we even have the 4 shapes that go in the side. Now that Sam can write his name, Ted and Mae's name, Mom and Dad and Ole, he is a writing fool! So cute. And I'm happy that I think this emergence is just as exciting the 2nd time around. :-)

on the mend

We are alive! Sam still has a lingering cough but feels fine. Mae was coughing yesterday but seemed fine today, if incredibly grumpy. I'm going to send them to preschool tomorrow. I need a break! Ted is the only one still truly sick, and he doesn't have school anyway. We'll take a mellow walk with Ole and play more games at home. We played a lot of CandyLand and read a lot of books today. It was a fairly sweet day at home with him, because we spent a lot of time together. The late afternoon was pretty unpleasant, so we put the kids to bed at 6. Ha ha. Mae's bento is disappointingly un-cute, but it is at least stuffed to the gills with food. There's no way she'll eat this all. I'm beginning to understand why the smaller size boxes are more popular with children. She's got a mini red pepper, blueberries, a Morningstar corndog cut in half on bunny skewers, Fruity Booty in the green square, one Girl Scout Thin Mint in the pink heart, some broccoli, sugar snap peas and a still-to-be-determined animal yaki onigiri. (I couldn't figure out what it was so I just made it up. I think it might have been an elephant that got squooshed.) None of us went to TKD today so I am off to practice on my own! Songahm 3 is cool. And really quite easy, I can tell. Woo hoo!

phew! It's *only* strep!

We had quite a scare today. I got the kids in to the doctor at 3pm and I knew I wanted to request a strep test for Ted. He still had his 103.8 (on the ear thermometer which says to add a degree to the total!) and would almost cry every time he coughed, saying his throat hurt so much. Mae went off to school and the boys, Paul and I went to Ted's conference. Considering how sick he was, I am amazed at how focused he was. It was so cool, as usual. His writing is so much clearer, his reading is coming along beautifully (I loved when she'd ask him to find a word in a sentence, so we could be sure he wasn't just memorizing...cool!), his math skills are amazing (like last time, she emphasized that he has such a math brain). She did the cube thing again where she'd show him X amount of cubes and then have him close his eyes while she took some away. When he'd open them he'd tell her how many she had behind her back. No problem. Cool. His art is way cool too. They did Self Portraits again and it's so neat to see the change in his drawing (the eyes are beautiful! eyelashes and everything!). I especially loved his body tracing. Their 3rd grade buddies traced them on paper and then they cut out the parts of the body, colored them, glued them on and labeled them. I loved that at Ted's feet (complete with toes!) were all the Pokemon he likes. Hee! Anyway, a great conference and it's just so nice to hear that he's a good worker and that he's doing just fine. He's in a really bright class so sometimes I worry that he's behind, but then I come to one of these and realize that he and the other 3 kindergarten boys are all at the same level, which is where they should be! Ahh...

So, next we went to the hospital to visit Erin and 9 hour old Baby Kit! How COOL! He is so tiny and perfect and CUTE! I had the boys wear masks in the room because I didn't know what they had yet. They weren't very interested anyway and spent most of the time in the window nook thing. Erin looks great and apparently Henry is already calling Kit "my baby." SO cute!!

And onto the drama. After a lunch at the hospital cafeteria and picking up Mae from school, we headed home for naps. All 3 kids napped for 2 hours (I had to wake Sam to go to the doc). After seeing Ted and taking his 104.3 fever (!!), the doc was SURE he had influenza. Yikes! This is bad for asthmatics because it can destroy the lung tissue. They swabbed him for flu and for strep, because I insisted. The doc was astonished that the strep came back positive but we were all relieved that the flu was negative. Phew. This would have meant a 24 hour stay in the hospital so they could monitor his lungs, plus a round of Tamiflu. They prescribed antibiotics for Ted and Mae (who appears to be starting what Ted has) and I decided to leave Sam as he is, since he seems to be fighting his malady just fine on his own. He's bouncing off the walls, and besides a cough, seems just fine to me. If Ted (or Mae) aren't better by Friday, we're to return for a re-test for influenza. Motrin/Ibuprofin round the clock til they feel better and the fevers go down (Mae's has lingered at around 99-100). So, PHEW!

Everyone is asleep, Paul is off playing soccer and I'm exhausted. No skiing for Ted tomorrow, poor guy, but hopefully they'll all be on the mend by the weekend and in time for school next week. He chose a good week to be sick, since there is no school all week! Phew again!

sick, sick, sick

Yes, that's 3 sickies. Sam has been sick for a while, a deep cough and a funny croaky voice. He's on the mend and is feeling much better now. Mae picked it up on Sunday with a runny nose and cold sores in her mouth, poor thing. Today Ted went in to the dentist to have his cavities filled. They numbed him up and then their drill broke! So we left without any work done. Ted NAPPED today (unheard of - I can't remember the last time he napped) and woke up with a 103 fever. Yikes! Needless to say, it's been a quiet afternoon. Ted and Paul are playing Pokemon now and Mae and Sam are occupying themselves by bringing every single book from upstairs down to the living room. Hmm. I'm off to TaeKwonDo for my first class as a Yellow Belt!! Send us get well vibes, please.

much ado

We nixed the mountain plan and just met our friends at "Rocket Park." It was chilly but sunny and everyone enjoyed the morning. We stopped for bagels on the way home and everyone napped, even me! I love naps.

After nap, I baked 2 loaves each of zucchini bread (frozen shredded CSA zucchini dated 9/15) and Ted's bread while the kiddos played random loud games involving running and screaming. I used the Wendy Plan of Evening Entertainment (TM) and got them fed and bathed before Paul got home at 6. Much excitement heralded his return home, for tonight Paul and Ted were going to battle with their Pokemon! The game was fraught with confusion on everyone's part, but they both enjoyed it.

Yums and nums

As planned, today was another mellow day. We actually DID the Sunday crossword (we are getting better at this!), video-ed the boys playing (Ted's volume was up a few notches all day and we couldn't figure out how to adjust it), had donuts, napped, and cooked. Lots of cooking. I wanted to try something different from our standard waffles and eggy bread, and Orange Poppy Seed Muffins from Vive! looked perfect. They are awesome. They use barley and oat flour and lots of other yummies like orange zest, flaxseeds and maple syrup. So good. I sprinkled some powdered sugar on top for the boys (Mae and I love them the way they are). For dinner I thought Pinto Bean and Plantain Stew with Parsnip Fries from Veganomicon sounded delicious. I used our CSA Indian Woman beans instead of pintos, sweet potatoes instead of parsnips, and CSA onion and garlic, but felt some twinges of guilt when buying plantains from Mexico and tomatoes from California. Oh well. Can't win them all. This is the first time I've bought non-local produce since we started the Eat Local Challenge. We've had some non-local produce in our Fruit Box this winter (kiwi, oranges and bananas, mostly) but it felt weird to actually pick up the fruit, see where it came from, and still buy it. Luckily, while this was a good meal, it wasn't out of this world, so I probably won't make it again soon. I think it would be terrific for a pot luck, when vegan food like this would be a huge hit with a spice-loving crowd.

Tomorrow is no school for President's Day, so we are going to head up to the mountains to our friends' for a day of hiking, trampolining and hot-tubbing. Sam still isn't 100% but neither is their younger daughter (Evie is in Mae's class so those two will have a blast together), so we figure one of us can stay back during the hike portion if they are too tired. Tomorrow the only cooking that needs to happen is Ted's bread. We have leftovers from all week that should last us a while. It feels good to be back into cooking again. It's grounding, some how. And delicious.

Pumpkin Saag

Don't skip the pumpkin! This was not very good and I can't blame Isa, so I think it was my lack of pumpkin. Heh. Pumpkin Saag from Veganomicon required 2 pumpkins. I only had one (freezer) so I subbed in a buttercup squash for the other. The result was not sweet enough and too squash-y. Still good, but not great. I'll try again with canned pumpkin (I'm officially out of pumpkin! I made it to mid-February! still lots of other squash left though..mmm) because it smelled like pumpkin pie while cooking. This was an all-local meal (CSA pumpkin, buttercup, onion and garlic). Locally brewed Fat Tire beer rounded out the meal! Our other local meal this week was my favorite Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup. This time I was even lazier (if that's possible for such an easy recipe) and just used water rather than veggie broth. Big mistake...the flavor was too onion-y and just not flavorful enough. Plus without the freshly toasted squash seeds, it was even duller than usual. Some (local) goat cheese helped perk it up. Next time, veggie broth all the way! This local meal used CSA kabocha, garlic, onion and local goat cheese.

We had a deliciously lazy Saturday. Sam is sick so we indulged him with plenty of Pokemon movies, Vitamin Water and Popsicles. He seems about 90% tonight. He has a truly amazing immune system. He is hardly ever sick and when he does finally fall victim to something, he is usually over it in 48 hours. We all got good naps (Ted played by himself, a talent he has always had for which I am constantly grateful!) and plenty of book reading and computer gaming. Lazy day. Tomorrow should be more of the same. Ahhh...

Cheetah Belt

We did it! Ted is a Cheetah Belt now (Yellow Belt Decided) and I'm a Yellow Belt. Ted did GREAT. What was most apparent this testing was how sure of himself he was. He knew his form, one steps and self defense. He didn't get ahead of his floor judge, but it was clear that he knew his stuff. Last time he was more just copying. It was cool to see.
I did great on my form but messed up my 3rd one step. It was a long night with 2 girls getting their black belts but we made it through. I've really enjoyed the last few intense weeks of getting ready for testing. I earned a 4th stripe for my White Belt material, so this is a new goal for me (keep up the low rank material - this will make black belt testing easier ... someday...)

Yes We Can

This is pretty popular right now, but just in case you've missed it...here it is.

Last Ski Day

Well, I'm glad that's over. I was NOT pleased with today's little adventure. First off, they had 10 kids with one (pissy) instructor. In his defense, I'm sure he was annoyed that he had so many kids in his group. He was short with the kids and not too friendly. After the first run, he informed me that Ted wasn't listening and wasn't allowed to ski with the group. Um, so, what would have happened if I hadn't been there? Would he have left him at the bottom of the lift line? I'm not defending Ted, because from what I got out of Ted, he wanted to do the Fun Zone and not ski down the hill, but STILL! What is one instructor doing with 10 little kids anyway? Grr. So I took Ted and put him on the Little Hawk lift. He skiied down beautifully and we found another group for him to join. Only 5 kids in the group and a very nice, mellow instructor. So, it ended well. But I'm still mad. On the left is a pic of his class coming down. Ted is on the far left, the pissy instructor on the right. I love the blowing snow look. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. After the kids got up from naps Ted biked to Wahoo's while I pushed Mae in the stroller. C'mon spring!!

Here's a short little video of Ted with his 2nd class. He's 3rd in line and I love how he gets himself RIGHT up to the teacher, as if to make sure to say, "See, I'm being good!" Sweetie.

2008

Don't worry, I'm not going to get all political on the blog. Truth is, I haven't voted since I cast my ballot for (Bill) Clinton back in 1996. While I support Obama, I still think it's pretty good stuff that our Democrats this round are not aging white men. A woman and a black man. Bring it on. If nothing else, this election gives me HOPE. When was the last time we REALLY had hope that things could change? I'm actually hopeful. I think a lot of people are. (And personally, there has been a Clinton or a Bush in office since I was old enough to vote. I'm ready for a new name, a new face, a new family!)

Weekend Recap

Busy weekend, but fun. Saturday morning Ted and I had TKD. Testing is on Friday! Ted will advance to Cheetah (Yellow Belt Decided) and I'll be a Yellow Belt, up from Orange! I am all ready too. Woo hoo!

After TKD, we met up with Wendy and took Alex up to share a lesson with Ted. Ted knows how to turn, but prefers to bomb down the hills instead. This is scary and dangerous. His instructor was a little worried about him, but said he might make a good addition to a ski team in a few years. Next Wednesday should be fun since he had that extra instruction. Alex is more timid than Ted, but ended the lesson "turning beautifully" according to the instructor. After skiing we all went to Red Robin for dinner. Mae ate a ginormous bowl of Mac 'N Cheese, half a grilled cheese sandwich, a cantaloupe and would have had more if there was any left. The boys didn't touch their food, but both enjoyed the little worksheets that came with the kids menu.

Sunday I took Ted to Sunday School and had coffee with the moms. Then we had a restful afternoon. Mae must have napped for almost 4 hours today. Crazy! I took a good nap too. I also baked Ted's bread and got all the laundry done. Oh, and tonight I cooked up my weekly batch of yaki onigiri for Mae's lunches. While reading bento blogs, I came across the grilled rice ball concept and knew it would be a hit with Mae. After forming the rice balls (I use cute molds), they are grilled in shoyu. Then they can be frozen and simply microwaved in the morning. Mae loves them and I love having them all ready for a busy week ahead. Her bento for tomorrow isn't particularly cute but you can see the grilled onigiri idea (Hello Kitty). Hee.

Long time no post!

I guess life is busy when I'm so tired I go right to bed with the boys. Mondays and Tuesdays I have TKD, so I got home late and crashed. Last night was a Chinese New Year party at our friends', so we got home REALLY late. It was such a relief to get home tonight and stay home. Here is some video of Ted's Wednesday ski day with his class. He was with his friends Kai and Omri, so he was happy as a clam. It was VERY cold and windy up there and I only lasted 3 runs before retreating to the lodge and a cup of hot chocolate. Brrr! Ted was bundled up though and didn't complain of being cold. The EZ Lift is a Green Level lift and went up a full mile. At the top, they skiied some at the top and went through the Fun Zone, which apparently had jumps and tunnels! Then they came down. You can tell by the 3rd run that he was starting to get the "snake" formation his teacher was going for (i.e. practicing turning). The first run is barreling full speed ahead, the second was a pretty good spill, and the third looked great! I went in after that and apparently they had a blast the rest of the 2 hour time slot. Fun stuff.

Ski School

Ted and I spent the day at Eldora. We both went to ski school. WOW this is HARD! I was exhausted and sore by lunch. Then after lunch, I got the thrill of falling down the hill. Oy. I did manage to wedge down the last 2 runs, but it wasn't pretty. Ted fared much better. He went into it determined to advance to the Green Group, like his other friends at school. And he did it. He started the day on the Magic Carpet, had a little "getting lost" issue which scared everyone, including him, then had lunch. After lunch he was promoted to Green Group and they headed out to the Little Hawk lift. They did the handle tow (or tow rope...not easy...we did this and it was tough) and then at the end they rode the lift and came down, playing Red Light Green Light. Yellow Light meant turn, which I couldn't believe he could do! I can't turn! He was doing great. At the end of the video he says "That was really fun!" Aw! The quality is pretty poor and very far away, but he's on the left. More pics on moeltini.

ATA Battle Of the Belts

Today's Tournament was fun. The way our small school is run, White and Orange Belts are in a class together and rotate through Songham 1, 2 and 3. Then at Yellow Belt, they are all in the "high ranks" class and rotate through the rest of the forms. Ted is doing In Wha II, a pretty advanced form. When his judge said "Joombe" (get ready) and he got into his In Wha position, I could see the judges quickly scan his paperwork, surprised he wasn't doing Songham 3. Hee. He did very well, especially since his helper helped without a word. He's used to the instructor shouting out the commands too. But he did great! Their trophies are so funny; they are bobbleheads! The picture is blurry but you get the idea. Every time there is a Tournament or a testing, I am always so happy that Ted is doing this. It's so encouraging and empowering for the kids. There is absolutely NO undue stress on the little kids, and that makes it so much fun for them. And the trophies rock too! More pics on moeltini.

Steep Hike

Ah memories! On Friday Ole and I went to our trail and started up the hill. At the 2nd trail on Mesa, we decided to take a right turn and go up to the Quarry. The views are gorgeous. I think the last time I'd gone up to the Quarry was when Ted was 10 months old. Wow. It's a nice fast climb. I had Ole pose in the chair for old times sake. So, I now have 3 choices with this trail: a long meandering hike on Mesa from Chautauqua to NCAR, a steep quick climb to the Quarry or a serious climb up to Royal Arch. Nice to have choices!