Bedtime Stories

While Seth was reading Elena her books before bed, I overheard Elena ask, "Daddy, why is his name Quarter and then Roy?"

Look Who's 2!

My sister happened to have the week of Sam's birthday off, so we brought our kids to the new Science Museum in Brookings to celebrate. The museum was fantastic! The kids got to change the tire on a little car, experiment with water, make lots of noise in the music room, climb up into the clouds, go grocery shopping, report the weather, and harvest vegetables on a farm. I wish I would have gotten better pictures, but the kids were always very eager to check out the next thing. I was, too, actually!

100 years!

That's how old my grandma Marso turned on Nov 27th - and she's still kickin'! We had a big party for her the day after Thanksgiving and she smiled the whole way through. Her 96 year old sister was there to enjoy the day, as well. It's too bad grandpa had to miss it: he passed away at the young age of 92. She had another sister who died at 99.

With genes like these, it can be hard to convince myself that I should eat healthy and exercise...


Happy Birthday, Grandma!!! We love you!

Happy Hallowe...err...Thanksgiving!

We decided during our most recent Thanksgiving celebration that the get-togethers on Seth's side of the family may be twice as big, but on my side they are twice as loud. And gatherings on both sides are equally fun! This Thanksgiving, as always, we were reminded of how fortunate we are to have such joy-filled and loving families.

One of the highlights of the day was when the kids discovered my Aunt Mary's attic, which was full of old costume clothes. Some of us big kids decided to join in the fun, and we came down to do a little fashion show for everyone else. Seth's costume in particular was a big hit!

This was also the first time in many years that all of the cousins on my mom's side were all together. It was also the first time ever that Elena and Sam have been together with all of their cousins on my side. They had a great time playing together. Here they are (Hoku, Alex, Mahina, Sam, Elena):

The kids were pretty tired by the time we took our family photo, but at least they sat still!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

Blood Bank

Seth gave blood today - Yay, Seth! - which is doubly great since he is a universal donor. (Actually we both are, but I'm small enough that if I gave a pint of blood I would probably pass out and require a blood transfusion which would sort of defeat the purpose.)

The volunteer who was checking Seth in looked at him and said, "I'm going to ask you a question that may sound a little weird."

"Ok..." replied Seth.

"Have you always been male?"

Of course Seth replied in the affirmative. Fortunately, she wasn't just asking that because Seth is such a pretty boy. Apparently, the last time Seth gave blood, he was mistakenly entered into the database as a female. Oops!

(By the way, Thanksgiving and Birthday photos are coming - Seth's computer monitor is not working so he has mine so I've lost access to my pictures for the time being.)

Creative Writing

Yesterday as I was folding laundry, Elena and I were making up stories. The start of this particular story was my favorite:

Me: Once upon a time, there was...

Elena: a little cow. And her name was Angela.

Me: This cow was very special. She could do something no other cow could do....

Elena: She could grow flowers out her udders.
(She actually said “gutters,” but I knew what she meant)

Birthdays

A few weeks ago (I'm worried most of my blog posts are going to start like this...), we had a party for both my dad's birthday and Seth's Aunt Amy's 50th birthday. As you can see, Papi had no shortage of help blowing out his candles!

Amy has down's syndrome, and at her party, I was once again reminded of how much we can learn from people with this disability (among most others). When we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her, she burst into tears of gratitude, and then, not wanting to leave anyone out, she requested that we sing "Happy Birthday" to everyone.

Seth's cousin, Pete, is a DJ so he provided entertainment. Unlike the rest of us who sat and watched, only coming out occassionally to timidly dance for the Macarena or the Chicken Dance before running back to the comfort of our seats, Amy and her friends (and the little kids, of course) danced the afternoon away completely uninhibited, with ear-to-ear grins on their faces. It was a joy to watch. Why is it so hard for most of us to give ourselves over completely to enjoying the moment, letting our emotions flow to the fullest, without fear or embarrassment that someone is watching?

I have a video of Amy busting out her moves to her favorite musician, Michael Jackson, but it's a little long. If I can cut it down, I'll try to put it up later. For now, here are Sam and Ian showing off their dance moves...of course, Ian stopped dance right when I started taping, but you can see a little. Ian's got some fancy footwork and Sam's all hips (he's been learning to dance from his sister).

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Minnesota Kids

I took the kids outside to play yesterday, making sure to get them bundled up since it was (at most) 40 degrees outside.

Within seconds, they had both ripped off their jackets. And their shoes. And their socks.

I'm just waiting to see how cold it has to get before our kids will notice it. It just started to snow as I was typing this message - maybe that'll do the trick!

Father-Daughter Talk

Elena: I want to go hunt deer with you, Daddy.

Seth: OK - when you're older, you can come hunting with me if you want.

Elena: Yay!.....I want to get a Barbie shooter!

Seth: I'm pretty sure they don't make Barbie guns....

It's a good thing we're not Buddhists...

Doesn't this look like fun?

Makes me wish I were small enough to join in!

Why do I even bother?

I don't know about you other moms, but I ask myself this at least once a day. Here's a little sampling of what trying to get things done looks like around here:

A few weeks ago, I folded a load of laundry after the kids went to bed (because if I do it while Sam is awake, he will join me saying those 2 endearing words that he loves so much: "I help." And then he unfolds more quickly than I can fold.) I wasn't able to put the laundry away because the kids were sleeping upstairs.

The next morning, after breakfast, Sam spotted a bag of doritos and asked for some. I gave him a small bowl and decided to take the opportunity to read the paper and drink my tea. Within a few minutes, I looked up to see that Sam had not only dumped out my folded laundry, but had also fingered them up with his Dorito-hands. (Did I mention they were whites?)

So I sorted out the Doritoed clothes and threw them back in the wash and refolded the rest. While I was doing this, Sam went upstairs to play. When I came up a few minutes later, he was sitting on our bed surrounded by shards of glass. He had managed to get a hold of a glass insert to a candle holder and was somehow able to break it while sitting in the middle of our king-sized bed.

I removed him from the room, vacuumed up all the glass and removed the bedding so I could wash it. I left the room for a minute to grab a new set of sheets. In the time it took me to return, Sam snuck back into our room, removed the dust bin (now full of glass) from the vacuum cleaner and proceeded to dump it out all over the floor and also inside the vacuum in the empty space where the dust bin had come out. Now I had to get another vacuum so I could vacuum out the vacuum, put the dust bin back in and revacuum our room.

After that, I just gave up and played with the kids.

Oh, well. That's what I get for trying to read the paper. I hope you'll understand if respond with a blank stare if you ever try to discuss current events with me.

As Seth likes to say to me occassionally, "Well, at least our kids aren't boring." How true :)

Hello, Godmother!

Sam was finally able to meet his godmother for the first time a few weeks ago. Rachana was my roommate in college freshman year, and we have remained good friends ever since. Since she now lives in Abu Dhabi, we decided to ask her to be Sam's godmother when he was born. That way, even though she lives half-way across the world, our familywill always have a close connection with her. As you can see - Sam just loved her!

Here we are in our Abu Dhabi shirts that Rachana brought over for us:

We were also able to spend a day at the Renaissance festival that weekend. Some of Seth's family happened to be going the same day too, which was great because when I woke up in Bloomington at 2:00 a.m. and realized that our tickets were still on our kitchen counter back home (which was 3 hours away), I was able to call my sister-in-law to pick them up and bring them along! This is at the end of our day there. We all had fun, and as you can probably tell from the picture, the kids completely wore themselves out.

You know you live in a small town when...

One of the benefits of living in a small town:
When you forget your keys at the library, the librarian not only knows they are yours but also calls you at home to get directions so she can drop them off at your house on her way home from work.

First Leaf Pile of the Season!

Storytime

It's fall festival season at all the churches around here. As I was making a cake for the cake walk this year, I was reminded of my mom's cousin, Patty, who passed away about 5 years ago. Since I was living in the cities when she died, I attended her funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral. I never really knew Patty, but after hearing about her life at the funeral, I wished I had. One of her sons told a story about her that stuck with me and I'd like to share it with you:

Every year at the fall festival, all the women of the church would bake a cake for the cake walk. Many of these women, unfortunately suffering from the sin of pride, made beautiful and elaborate cakes in hopes that theirs would be the first cake chosen. When the cake walk began, they would all stand around to see whose cake would claim the much envied "first pick." (We obviously don't suffer from that down here at St. Edward's parish where many women simply donate a cake pan with an unmade box of cake mix and frosting :)

One year, Patty came up with a creative idea for her cake. It was just a simple white cake with white frosting. For decoration, she placed on top a plastic rat (or rabbit, I can't remember which) with a trail of raisins behind it.

Come the big day, much to the disappointment of several onlooking women, guess whose cake was the first one chosen? Well, what kid wouldn't want the rat cake? I would have taken it first, too.

I didn't have the guts to replicate her cake for our fall festival this year, but I haven't ruled it out for future years. Maybe next year.

Boxelder Bug Days

Minneota's Boxelder Bug Days was a few weekends ago. It seems to get more fun each year as the kids grow older and are able to participate more. Here are a few highlights:

Sam sliding with his cousin, Kaden.

Getting ready for the kiddie parade with a few neighbors. Elena was a fairy with a pig (her idea). Sam was a super hero. I threw his costume together about 10 minutes before the parade started, pinning one of my red shirts to his back over a pair of superman pajamas. He wasn't thrilled about the whole costume thing.

Like last year, Elena was one of the few brave kids to go up and dance with the cloggers. She was actually the only one who did the dance (the other girl suffered a little stage fright) so for the clogger's sake, I'm glad we were there!

Push-ups at great-grandma and grandpa's house with the cousins

As usual, Elena finished hers first and started to eye up the next kid's push-up.

Milestones for Sammy

Last night, Sam put himself to sleep for the first time since he was in the womb. (Even then I was technically rocking him to sleep.) I just laid by him in bed for a little while, then I said, "I'll be back in a bit. I need to get a few things done downstairs." I went downstairs and 10 minutes later when I went to check on him, he was asleep! Hallelujah!
Then, this morning Elena was going to go to the bathroom and she decided to help Sam go, too. She took off his diaper, sat him on his potty seat, and he went! I was still laying in bed and I jumped up when Elena said he went to see if it was for real (also to make sure he wasn't peeing on the floor).
As Elena puts it: "Sammy's big now."

I know I can't expect either of his new accomplishments to be set in stone, but I'm still thrilled at this minor progress.

Misunderstandings

We were looking for a place to pick up a pizza last weekend while visiting friends. As we were driving, I pointed out the window and said, "Look! There's a Pizza Hut."

Then we heard Elena from the back say: "Mom, why did you say Pizza Butt?"

I can't help myself...

As much as I dread the passage of summer and wonder what the heck I'm going to do being cooped up with 2 extremely energetic children for months on end once it get cold, I just love it when the seasons change.



I love watching the leaves turn color and flutter to the ground.

I love feeling the crisp cool air made comfortable by the warmth of the late summer sun.

I love watching our sedum turn rose-colored and the fields turn to gold as harvest approaches.

I love curling up in the evening with a blanket and a warm cup of tea.

And I love going to bed in cuddling weather.



So remind myself: I will enjoy it. I will not think about the goodbye to summer; and I will soak in the beauty of the present.

Then I repeat this as often as necessary to maintain my sanity.

Our beautiful sedum!

After 6:00 I just don't bother.

Why stop them when they're having so much fun?

That's why we have a bathtub.

Jam-Packed

Our labor day weekend was full to the brim with friends and fun. We made a trip up to the cities to visit some of our friends, and we were able to spend time with 6 different families - all of whom had plenty of children for our kids to play with. Wherever we went, the kids made immediate friends. After hopping from place to place, Elena was quite disappointed to learn that we were going back to our house on Monday. She has already planned sleep-overs with two of the little girls she played with this weekend.

At the playground with Nate and Jude. I didn't realize Elena had her mouth on the bridge until I looked at these pictures. Just boosting the ol' immune system. (Their mom, Erica, took the above picture of our family). We had a great time staying with their family - especially since Erica's sister's family was also staying there with their 7 children, which made for 6 adults and 11 kids staying at the house. There was never a dull moment!

We went to visit the other friends who just bought a new house and happened to be having a house-warming party, so we were again able to visit with several families. The kids had a great time on the tire swing. Elena is swinging with Joshua . His mom and I were pregnant with them at the same time, so it was fun to see them old enough to play together.

Elena with her fast friends, Maria (in white) and Stephanie. Maria was one of the slumber-party planners :)

The next day was onto a park to visit with our friends who have moved to Texas. It was great to see them again and to meet their 4th and newest child. Here is Sam playing with Siena (just 2 weeks older than him). Elena, Jerome and Elliot were too fast to get a good picture!

That evening brought us to the home of one of Seth's co-workers. I will be sponsering their daughter for her upcoming confirmation so we stopped there for some confirmation preperation and a delicious supper. Our kids were once again in 7th heaven in a home with 8 children (ranging from 18 to 5 months) and 9 puppies! Our visit lead into a spur of the moment sleep-over with a big morning breakfast. Here is Sam, playing cars with Paul.

These puppies, by the way, are available for anyone who wants one. They are 3/4 labrador and 1/4 golden retriever. They would make good hunting dogs and are great with children - they're also very cute! Let me know if you're interested.

Beef Salad, for real this time...

It does exist!

Seth's mom recently found a recipe in one of her cooking magazines for a beef salad. Having heard of Seth's beef salad incident 2 years back, which our family still occasionally gets a laugh out of, she had to make it for him. So she had us over for supper (the dish was kept a secret from Seth until he got there) for a delicious Thai Beef Salad. It was scrumptious!

That's never going to happen

Some parents like to tell their kids that they can be anything they want to be. I have never fallen into this category, always keeping in mind the story of my good friends, Mandy and Alissa, who were once asked by their grandma what they wanted to be when they grew up. Grandma, of course, sweetly added that "you can be anything you want to be."
Mandy said she wanted to be a veterinarian. Alissa said she wanted to be a tree.

On that note, we ran into Father Jeremy last night, and as we were leaving he rattled something off to Elena in Italian. Elena asked me what he said, to which I replied, "I don't know...something about a princess."
So she hollered after him, "Hey, Father! What you said?"
"I said, 'See you later, princess!'" he yelled back.

So on the way home, we had this little conversation:
"Why did Father Jeremy call me a princess?"

"Because he thinks you're like a little princess."

"I don't want to be a princess."

"Well, good...because that's probably never going to happen."

"I want to be a king."

Oh boy.

Family: one of God's masterpieces

It's true that we do not have access to a wide variety of restaurants and stores out here in rural MN. And some would say there's "nothing to do" around here; although I'd say that's debatable. There is very little that Seth and I did living in the cities that we can't do here...plus, with 2 kids we wouldn't have time to do anything else anyway. Not to mention, the savings we make on the cost of living make it easily possible to take a weekend and go to the Cities whenever we do decide we want to do something different. Add up all the driving time we used to waste in traffic on a daily basis and we've stored up several 3-hour trips to and from the metro area.

When it comes down to it, there are pluses and minuses wherever one choses to live. But we've got one major advantage here that makes any minuses more than worth the minuscule sacrifice of living in a small town: we are surrounded by family who loves us. At the end of my life, I'm not going to care about where I ate or what I wore (I guess I hardly care about that now) but who I was with.

Boy, talking about family trees, I sound like I'm turning into the sap. Enough of that - here are some pictures.

Elena and cousin, Austin, at the lake home

Sam and Great-Grandma Corky listening to music at the Summer Sizzler.

Seth with his dad and brothers during the alumni baseball game - Seth hit a home run that night!

Sam swimming with cousin, Alex, at Grandma and Papi's house.

Sam and cousin, Ian. They had a blast throwing rocks on this bush.

Elena, acting goofy with her 2nd cousins at the DeCock annual camping trip.

Tunnel Vision