Some Photos for a Friday

This week has seemed to fly by, even though Pearson has been gone for most of it (a trip to Chicago for work and gone for skiing with buddies in Montana). The weather was bookend-ingly (not a word I know) glorious. It started off beautifully and ended fabulous. Those days we headed to the park for many, many hours. However mid-week [Wednesday] was rainy and allowed for a day of total seclusion and downtime. Since we had spent the other days running around, we stayed in and chilled all day except for a run in the morning. Here are a few photos of the kids goofing around. 

I don't think I have ever spoken of Mae's vignettes. She has quite a few things that she holds very special and she loves arranging them. She also needs a certain amount of these things in order to go to sleep at night. Here is a glimpse into some of her stuff and how she has organized it on her windowsill. As you can see from the photo she has a music box, a bed where various animals can rest their heads, Hello Kitty tchotchke (from McDonalds), and Minnie's boutique items. Also please take a look at the beehive at the back of her head. She takes a bath every night. The only problem is that she goes to bed with wet hair and sleeps on her back. This results in a less than ideal hair situation in the morning. Normally I try to tame it and comb the knots out but since we weren't going anywhere I decided to let it go aka not have to fight her to fix it.

Also please observe the pasta sauce caked on her chin.  

A closer look at her hair. It really is out of control. 

Whitaker loves playing hide and seek. Here he is hiding. 

Here is a photo that I should take more often. Here he is tugging on me and saying "up." 

Who can resist that face and not want to pick him up? 

Then Whitaker thought it would be hysterical to put his "owl" in my pocket.  

Future Picasso

As I mentioned in my last post, Mae brings home lots of art work from school. As much as I would LOVE to showcase (and save) all her masterpieces, I can't and won't (did I mention we live in a house with no storage and limited wall space). Too often, art work I deem not worthy ends up in the recycle bin or I stash it away in a folder to sort through at the end of the year. I thought it might be better to take photos of the interesting ones and post them here. Also you can now see all her "creative genius." 

Mae said this is Minnie (in black). She added Mickey (in red) when I asked her to describe her work to me. 

Painting with a brush. 

Decorated bear for her bear week in school. 

This is a picture of Lucy and Mae. Lucy is the bigger one and Mae is the smaller one. 

This picture is titled, "Grandma is gone." Teacher Debbie wrote it after Mae told her the title. That is Mae in the pink and a swimming pool next to her. 

Random Thoughts for a Saturday

I haven't posted a bunch this week so this might be a random brain dump.

First, Pearson took the kids to Portland, OR for the weekend to spend it with Grandma C. I must admit it is nice to be able to sleep in and do whatever I want, I am missing them like crazy. And I have decided that I can finally say that I don't love being alone. In fact when Pearson and I were talking last night I said to him, "I am lonely." He replied, "you would only say that." What can I say, I miss my kids. I miss the craziness. I miss the noise. What am I going to do when they go to college? Really? 

Second, Mae brings home a bunch of art work each week from school. My sister, Heather, and I were talking today and she was saying she had just photographed a bunch of her kids art work to have it on file. I realize this is something I must start doing so I think I am going to try to make it a regular post where I showcase some of her art work - stay tuned! 

Third, Pearson was traveling last week for work and looks like he will be traveling again next week and then is gone for the weekend. I don't say this to be sorry for myself just that we are going to be "alone" for a whole lot of next week/weekend and I might go a little cccrrraazzy. 

Fourth, Pearson told Mae that we are going to be moving. I realize I haven't reported this on the blog yet but we are planning on moving back to Virginia this summer. I am pretty excited but also am pretty sad about leaving the city and the people that we have called home for the last six and half years. I haven't "officially" reported it because it is in motion but hasn't been 100% finalized. I didn't want to get ahead of myself or talk it up too much and it not happen. So, Pearson told Mae we were moving when Whitaker and I were at his school. That day Mae said to me, "We are moving our house to Grandma and Grandpa's." I said, "Yes." She then said, "Our house is too big and won't fit on an airplane." Heart melted. She then also talked about how much she loved our house. It made me sad to think about leaving it considering all the memories we have in it. 

Fifth, tonight at church during the Prayers of the Faitful, there was something that really made me think. It said that we should donate during lent "our sustenance not just our excess." So true. Realize that we too often donate because we have extra to give not because we are doing without.

Ok that is all I got for tonight, must get to bed so that I can get in lots of zzzz's while the kids are gone. 

Kitty

They say that kids don't really understand the idea of permanence, which is why when we lost [left accidentally] Mae's beloved Kitty on the shuttle after parking our car on the way to the airport in December to LA, I figured she would soon forget about it and develop a fondness for another stuffed animal. I think I said to myself, "She is only 3 years old and stuffed animals are ONLY stuffed animals, she will get over this tomorrow and when we get to Disneyland this will all be forgotten." To even further seal the deal, we bought her a new stuffed animal [Minnie Mouse] at Disney to replace the one lost.

Which is why I am in shock when Mae keeps talking about Kitty and has repeatedly talked about her since December. She talks about how much she misses her and she wants to get her back. She also talks about how sad she is that she no longer has her. Last night after being in bed for about 10 minutes Mae came to the top of the steps. She looked out the window at the top of stairs and talked about the moon and how big and beautiful it was (I love how much she appreciates the beauty of it). Then she went into a five minute diatribe about Kitty. She said she couldn't believe that we left her on the bus. That the next time we go to the airport we will try to find her in "the seat that we left her in." That we must get her back. That she was very sad about leaving Kitty and that "we can't believe we forgot her."

It broke my heart.

I will say it was not intentional that Kitty got left. Traveling with two kids is stressful and my only desire when traveling is to make sure that I actually still have my two kids before getting on the plane - stuffed animals, games, books, food, and other things be damned. I am just trying to get my kids and myself from point A to point B.

I knew Mae had intense emotions but this just reflects how deeply she remembers and cares for the things and people she loves. I don't know what this means in the bigger picture of saying goodbyes, moving, death, missing people and such but I know that my girl is sweet, loving, and dedicated. All things that I am blessed to have in a daughter. 

Photos - Last Week

Finally getting around to adding photos from last week. The first few are just of Whitaker playing cars. The second set is from our adventure to NWTrek with our friends Kelly and Eloise. (The group pictures of us are really dark because Whitaker played with my camera features and I forgot to switch them back). The last set of photos were taken on an unexpectedly beautiful day last week, where the kids and I headed to the new soccer field in Madison Valley. It was a pretty glorious few hours that we had together. 

Parent-Teacher Conference

Today, I had my first ever parent teacher conference for Mae. If the following 12 plus years of school have the same outcome as this conference we will be very lucky and fortunate parents. Teacher Debbie and Teacher Traci said the most wonderful things about Mae. Although I guess they almost have to since we are paying them a grip. Just kidding. They did tell me that I was not like the other parents who wanted to hear that their child was amazing the entire time. Why you might ask? You see I already know she is amazing (and smart). I wanted an honest assessment of how she was doing. Even though I might want to think she is perfect, there are things we can all work on. Thankfully for me they think she is pretty perfect too.

I typed in the report (see below) so that we would be able to look back and remember all the things that she loved at her school this year. Even though this isn't written in the report I was shocked to hear that Mae is pretty diplomatic in class when it comes to sharing toys and things. Something I don't see when we are together. In fact, they said, Mae never goes and takes a toy out of someone's hands and if she ever wants something she uses her words. I almost had to clear my ears because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. So I guess she saves all her best behavior for school, I should be thankful for that I suppose. Better to be a model student then be a model kid at home.

Name: Mae
Teachers: Debbie and Traci
Class: Squirrels
School: The Secret Garden
Date: February 2013

My Favorite Thing About Morning Free Play Time Is: 
Mae loves art! She will often make several projects for different family members. Once art is done, Mae moves to the pretend play happening in the doll area, or tent area. She loves books too. We love that she likes to tell stories. Mae is a good cleaner at clean up time.

What I Like About Dance Class: 
Mae is really strong in our dance class. She follows directions and is a really good listener. She loves the scarf dance and the imaginative stories Teacher Emily often has them dance to. 

What I Like About Music Class: 
Mae loves music class and is an active participant. Mae loves to be the mouse when we sing the "Cat and Mouse" song. She always participates and shows great focus. 

My Favorite Thing About Outdoor Playtime: 
Mae loves to play on the geo-climber and play on our see-saw with Lucy. Mae also enjoys playing with Payton. Mae likes to ride on the bike and the cars with Lucy. They like to chase each other. She loves to go outside.

Interest in Art, Circle Time Activities, Themes: 
Mae loves our circle time and listening to the books. Mae has great communication skills and always helps out with the leading questions the teachers ask. She has a definite idea of how her projects should look. 

Things That I Am Working On At School: 
Mae is doing very well at school this year! Physically and verbally her skills are strong. We love that she has strong opinions and shares them.