Monday, April 29, 2024
Random stories
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Home again! Home again! Jiggity-jig!
Vienna. Salzburg. Freilassing. Znojmo. Bratislava. And finally home again!
Here are a few pictures of Rachel and Miriam in Znojmo, Czechia:
Friday, April 26, 2024
Signs of growing up
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
3/4 April haiku
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Rachel and Miriam take Vienna (and other places)
It's been weird and wonderful having Rachel and Miriam being off on their little adventure. People have asked me whether I worry about them and—honestly?—I don't think I really have been. They're good, capable teenagers, and they are accompanied by a number of good and capable adults—Auntie Josie, who is very well-travelled, Uncle Patrick, who lives in Austria, and Hadis, Uncle Patrick's girlfriend, who I hear has made some delicious food for everyone and who offered up her apartment building's practice room for Miriam's use. They've been well taken care of.
I've been asked whether we're feeling the pinch of having our babysitters and extra driver snatched away and...I'll admit there have been times when it would have been useful to have a babysitter or extra driver around, but we've managed.
Mostly I've been consoling myself with the fact that by the time these two are actually ready to leave the house, Phoebe will be just that much older (that is, less of a baby and more of a kid, and that should be helpful).
Today Darla asked whether it was quiet without the girls and you might be surprised to hear that...yes...it is quieter without the girls around. They're not very noisy people, but the house is definitely quieter without them. The table feels emptier and no one has to sit next to anyone else in the van and so, yes, it's quieter.
From the few text messages I've gotten from the girls (and Uncle Patrick and Aunt Josie), they seem to be having a wonderful time, but we'll sure be glad to have them back home!
Their Instagram accounts are filled with pictures of...places...but here are a few pictures Auntie Josie has sent me of them...
Here they are carrying baguettes home from the bakery on their way back to Uncle Patrick's apartment on their very first day in Europe:
Friday, April 19, 2024
Poison Ivy and Marbles
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Phoebe tales
This morning I took the kids on a walk to go find the aftermath of a fire that was in our neighbourhood. We didn't know what had happened. All we knew was that Andrew went out to run a quick errand last night while I was reading to the kids before bed...and he couldn't come home the same way he'd left because there was a fire engine blocking the road, actively spraying water at a flaming something.
We still don't know what happened, but we found the location of the fire. It wasn't a house or anything, just someone's side yard that had been thoroughly torched for some reason or other.
*****
Phoebe walked the whole way and filled her stroller up with a pile of pinecones "to show Daddy."
*****
When we got home the kids ran in through the garage door and slammed it behind them, which is borderline responsible. I mean—they remembered to close the door! But Phoebe was right behind them and was a little upset about having the door slam in her face (but at least it was only that and not on her fingers, right?).
She can do a lot of things—more and more things every day! She can reach the lights at the top of the stairs to the basement and will stand there and flick them on and off and on and off. And she can reach the light switch by the couch. But she can't reach any other light switches in the house.
She can open the garage door from inside the house, but she can't open it from outside of the house.
It's frustrating for her to sometimes be able to do things and not be able to do them at other times. So she was pretty frustrated by her inability to open the door.
"Momma—open door for this little..." she pouted, and the paused.
"This little what?" I asked.
"For this little...bo-bot! Beep-boop-beep-boop-beep!"
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Auntie Josie's visit
Auntie Josie arrived on Friday night, just before midnight. We talked too late in the night and then slept in the next morning. I had originally wanted to go hiking or something, but the logistics proved too much for me to manage (which vehicles do we take, who drives, what do we do about Miriam's arm, etc). So instead we went grocery shopping, which is pretty lame, I guess.
But Josie is one of those people I just enjoy being around, so it was fun to get to walk around the store with her...even if shopping isn't the most thrilling activity.
Then Rachel left for the dance and we finally got around to passing out the presents Naanii had sent with Auntie Josie. Zoƫ and Benjamin got slap bracelets (and some colouring kits, that I told them was to share). Phoebe got a stuffed pig in a BYU shirt, and Alexander got a stuffed bunny in a BYU shirt. Miriam and Rachel and I got a set of pens. And there was also a little game for the family.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
For meeeeee?
Phoebe has started to say a few cute things recently.
For one, she has started calling me "Mama" or "Momma" (I am never sure how to spell that) and it's adorable, but also off-putting because it's just...something I thought I'd heard the last of. I haven't been called "momma" in years.
When Phoebe started talking she skipped right over that and went straight to "Mom."
She said it at the pediatrician's office once and the doctor was like, "Excuse me, did she just call you Mom?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Tell me you have five older siblings without telling me you have five older siblings," the doctor (more or less) said. "Typically babies don't say mom right away. Mama is much more common."
It's true. That duplicated syllable ma (ma+ma = mama) is easier to accomplish than tacking a final -m sound onto mo- to make mo+m (mom). But, that's the way Phoebe did it...
Until recently when she's suddenly started calling me "Momma."
2/4 April haiku
Blue cast, Spring Formal, and many visitors
Could more things have happened over the weekend? Possibly. But it felt pretty packed as things were.
I woke up bright and early Friday morning and began calling pediatric orthopedic offices to see if anyone could squeeze Miriam in that same day. The first office I called (which was the one recommended to us by the urgent care facility) was super grumpy about how "entitled" I was to think my child could be treated within such a small window. You have to plan for these things, apparently.
The soonest possible appointment would be at least ten days out. She didn't care what we had coming up...
And I'm like, "Who plans to break their arm mere days before taking an international flight?!"
So clearly that wasn't the place for us, the weirdos.
But I found a place that could see her that same day. Because her break was minor and her swelling wasn't too bad, they went ahead and put a cast on her to immobilize and protect her arm during her travels so that her minor injury didn't turn into a bigger problem by being jostled, etc.
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Hosting
My sister Josie arrived this evening!
I set up an air mattress for her in the basement. And also set up a couch cushion bed for her in case the whole air mattress thing didn't work out. And told her that a third option was a futon in the girls' room, which I didn't set up because Rachel had already gone to bed.
Miriam was going to take the futon and let Josie have her bed, but then she broke her arm and didn't want to give up her comfy bed because sleeping has been hard enough as it is.
But the futon is a third option. And if none of those options really sound good then we can kick Alexander out of his bed and steal his mattress to put on the floor downstairs.
So many comfy options!
"I'll be fine," she insisted. "My years in Young Ambassadors really taught me that I can sleep anywhere."
She loved her touring days, but they were grueling and the accommodations could sometimes be...less than accommodating.
Friday, April 12, 2024
Left arm...broken!
A few months ago I scored a push tricycle on the Buy Nothing Group. Phoebe had been putting up a fuss about riding in the stroller and I thought that perhaps a tricycle stroller would help make her fits less frequent. And I was correct! She is much happier about getting to bike around the block than she had been being pushed around the block. Eventually she'll walk around the block just fine—and she has walked around the block before—but sometimes we want to go faster than she travels on her two little legs.
So the push tricycle has been a fine solution.
I wouldn't say it's been a perfect solution, but it was free, right? And free is nice.
Monday, April 08, 2024
1/4 April Haiku
It's National Poetry Month!
I've trying to write a haiku for every day this month.
Haiku has become such an interesting form to me (since reading Jane Hirshfield's Ten Windows, which contains such wonderful discussion on Basho). What children are taught in elementary schools about stringent syllabic patterns—and, perhaps, that the poem should have something to do with nature—is woefully inadequate, not to mention slightly misleading. While the three-line rule seems to be sticking rather firmly, the 5-7-5 rule is too...convoluted...to work well in English. Syllables don't matter as much as ideas because in Japanese the poems don't contain 17 syllables but seventeen on. A good haiku makes an observation about the world by means of a surprising juxtaposition...in very few syllables.
(Read more about haiku here, here, or here, or wherever).
So, no—my haiku don't always have 17 syllables. That said, they don't always contain a surprising twist either.
I didn't promise every day's haiku would be a good haiku, did I?
My purpose, I suppose, is to tell little stories about each day, to remember the month by. So far it's been a gloriously good month for haiku—so much has been happening with nature!
April 1
earth warms—creatures wake,
slink and worm their way inside
the boy's pants—"A skink!"
Watching the April 8, 2024 Eclipse
We had a lovely time watching the eclipse this afternoon. While we weren't in the path of totality (we were about 85%), we did notice a significant gloaming effect (another vocabulary word from today) as well as an accompanied decrease in overall temperature.
Painted Book of Mormon Activity
Pre-eclipse
Thursday, April 04, 2024
All things bright and beautiful
I took the kids to the park the other day, on the first day of the year that was due to be rather warm (around 80°F/26°C). I don't know if I should be slathering my kids with sunscreen before spending hours outside in January (especially considering the fact that we rarely get snow here), but I do know that I should be slathering my kids with sunscreen when the warmth of the sun feels like a punishment rather than a caress.
Especially because my children all inherited a ridiculously fair complexion and tend to burn. I'm always forgetting that about them because, well, I simply don't burn as easily as any of them. But on this particular day, I remembered (gold star in mothering for me!) and broke out the sunscreen.
As I was rubbing this "lotion" on Phoebe she started sniffing excitedly.
"Mmmm...mmmmm...mmmm!" she moaned with Pavlovian desire. "This lotion! Mmmmmm! This lotion mates me wanna doe pool! Tan we doe pool today?"
It's jarring to think that in spite of not being able to really speak last summer, Phoebe has lasting memories of going to the pool (triggered by a strong olfactory association with sunscreen, apparently).
This post is actually about poetry—Happy Poetry Month!
I am notoriously bad at managing my notifications. It drives Andrew a little bit crazy.
Right now, according to my computer, I have a manageable 31 unread text messages...but on my phone that number is 187. My phone tells me I have 18,801 unread emails on my personal account...but my computer tells me it's only 7388. I'm not sure what is up with those discrepancies, so who even knows how many unread messages I truly have?
My school email address has 2529 unread messages.
Somehow Andrew's usually able to keep on top of his notifications, but for whatever reason...I just can't.
We had dentist appointments this week and—I kid you not—we escaped without a single cavity between all six kids and me (Andrew will be going next week). But I did not escape without racking up 43 text messages and 38 email messages all from the dentist's office.
"Just a reminder..."
"To confirm your appointment..."
"Your appointment has been confirmed..."
"Click to fill out the required paperwork prior to your appointment..."
"Your paperwork is complete..."
"Your appointment is coming up today at..."
"Thank you for scheduling your next appointment with..."
"Did you enjoy your visit? Take some time to leave feedback at..."
Times. Seven. People.
Tuesday, April 02, 2024
Easter Egg Smackdown 2024
Like many families in the world this week, we dyed Easter eggs. Below you'll see (from left to right, in columns) Phoebe's, Miriam's, Zoƫ's, Alexander's, and Benjamin's eggs, respectively:
Monday, April 01, 2024
Just to be clear
Yesterday when we were getting ready for church, the following exchange occurred (with me yelling up the stairs and the kids yelling down the stairs):
Me: Phoebe, come here! I want to do your hair!
Phoebe: Not yet!
Me: But we’re trying to get ready to go!
Phoebe: Not yet!
Me: What are you doing?
Alexander: She’s building a house!
Phoebe: Just out of LEGO! Not a real one!
It's a good thing she clarified because otherwise I would have thought she was building a real house!
*****
Spring is here, as I've noted. We've got violets and steaming compost heaps and—apparently—lizards in the basement. The sun is flouting its bedtime and so too are the children. Thus, it was relatively late when they came inside from playing outside with the neighbours (and boy did they smell like outside kid).
We had scriptures and prayer before sending them off to shower and the following exchange occurred:
Me: Oh, you've got a ring on!
Zoƫ: Yeah. Alexander married Evelyn.
Alexander: But not for real. Just for pretend.
Zoƫ: But they really have crushes on each other.
Alexander: That's true.
Zoƫ: So we had a ceremony!
Alexander: A pretend ceremony.
Zoƫ: And they got married!
Alexander: For pretend.
Zoƫ: And Evelyn really gave him that ring.
Alexander: That's true.
It's a good thing he clarified that for me because otherwise I would have thought I'd have to worry about in-laws next door!
Sneaky Skink
As promised, we are taking some time off from schoolwork this week. Well, the little kids are, at least. The bigger girls are bound by their semester schedules (and will get a lovely vacation in a couple of weeks) and I am hoping to use this time to get some good writing done (though...I'm excellent at postponing things).
So, this morning the kids—still all in their pyjamas—were downstairs playing in the basement, when suddenly Alexander let out a blood-curdling scream.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"What's going on?" I called down the stairs.
Alexander ran up the stairs and, melodramatically gasping for breath, explained, "There...was....a...lizard....in....my...pants!
"There was a...lizard...in your..." I began repeating, but Alexander cut me off, still panting.
"Pants! Yes! I felt something cold and wet on my legs and thought maybe I was peeing my pants or something…and then a lizard plopped out!"
"...of your pants?"
"Yes! Come and see!" he said, and then ran to the Tupperware drawer. "I need to find a container!"
"This isn't some sort of prank, is it?" I asked.
It is, after all, April Fool's Day.
"No!" he insisted. "A lizard was really in my pants. It's just a skink, we think. Why can't I find a lunch meat container? I can only find good Tupperware! Oh! Here's one!"
Easter Sunday
Miriam and Rachel stayed for all three sacrament meetings at our building today. First they attended the Spanish ward, where Miriam is the organist. Then they stayed for the next ward because their friends from seminary were singing. And then they attended our meetings where...