Sunday, July 28, 2013

To poke a wood fire is more solid enjoyment than almost anything else in the world. ~Charles Dudley Warner

Almost 4 years ago (technically 3 years and 11 months) Joe and I took Taelin on our first overnight trip.  We went to Seaside for the weekend when Taelin was 6 months old and I remember worrying about it for days. Would I remember everything I was supposed to?  What would I do if she woke up in the middle of night I couldn't get her calmed down?  Would I even get her to sleep to begin with?

So when the friends we went with suggested that we do a fire down at the beach later in the evening, I found myself with a whole bunch of things that I hadn't even time to worry about!  We walked the block to the beach and after a bit, had a pretty good fire going.  It was my first beach fire and while I loved it, there was a part of me that felt horrible about taking Taelin out that late, etc, etc.  I have been wanting to do a beach fire again since that trip and it just never seemed to work out.

Right now there are somewhere around 6-7 guys (including Joe) all sitting in our house with their computers in front of them.  They have been there the better part of the day and will probably be there for awhile playing a variety of games.  I could say more, but my point in sharing this is that Taelin and I needed to be out of the house tonight.  The original plan was to go and visit my sister up in Seattle but that fell through, so we decided to go the beach for the night like we did last year when Joe hosted.

My point?  I made the reservation for this place on Thursday.  We packed for it this morning. Not exactly giving me time to worry but it was ok because I wasn't worried at all!  Oh, what a difference 4 years makes.

Since I planned it so last minute, the room was more than I would have liked.  As I was thinking of ways I could offset the cost, a brilliant idea came to me!  We could roast hot dogs on the beach instead of going out for dinner.  I was finally going to get my beach fire again!  We spent hours down at the beach beforehand; running in the waves, looking for shells, digging holes and then filling them up again.  Finally, Taelin started making noise about getting hungry so I got the fire going (on the second try) and roasted hot dogs and then marshmallows.  After we ate, I sat by the fire (and of course, poked at it) and watched Taelin play for another hour before we packed our sandy-selves up back to the room.  We got ourselves clean and watched the sunset, talked to Joe via Skype and then snuggled into bed.

Consider #58, build a fire on the beach, complete!

Here are some pictures of before...

August 2009

YUM! 
so little....

clearly she was worried about being out so late....

....very worried.  Oh wait, no, that's me that's worried.

And a few from today...

treasure hunting


And we have fire! 

Dinner...
'
...with a side of sand.

She actually wanted me to take a picture!

Love that smile!
<3
we practically had the whole place to ourselves



our view from our room...perfect!


This might be the fastest turn around for an event to blog post I have had.  I am currently snuggled up next to Taelin with the window open to the ocean waves and cool air not really worried about anything at all. Quite a change from 4 years ago. Oh, what a difference 4 years makes.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

"I have read just a bit this summer." <---- Biggest Understatement of the Summer

I just checked to see which book I last blogged about and realized again what I already knew.  I have been reading a ton this summer! I have finished the Dresden series (well, at least all that is out right now) and loved the last four books.  Number 15 is supposed to come out some time in 2013. Yay!

 


Taelin and I have been going to the library fairly regularly this summer, and I have been grabbing books by Kristin Hannah.  I read one of her books earlier and they are such quick reads. I honestly feel bad how quickly I read through them just knowing how long it takes to write!  The main characters are all women and I am so completely her target audience.  It is genre writing for sure, but great for escape!

 

Two of the books that I read that were quick but not easy reads.  The first was Defending Jacob by William Landay.  It has been recommended to me by several people.  It reminded me a little of The Dinner and We Need to Talk About Kevin.  I knew that it wouldn't have a happy ending...there was just a doom about the book from the beginning...and I was right although the details of the ending surprised me.  I am really glad I finally read it and can see why so many people thought I would love it.


The last book is the one that impacted me the most. I picked up Girlchild a few months ago with a gift card and it has been sitting on my night stand since. I am sad that I left it sit there for so long.  It was a hard read like The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.  And while it has very little to do with school (other than the girl goes to school)  but I believe that anyone teaching in a public school, particularly one that has students of poverty, should read this book.  It is a fiction book but it tells the true stories of countless students, students that sit in our classrooms day after day dealing with stuff that should only be fiction but isn't.  There is some hard subject matter that some people will find too much for them but it is just an incredible book.



Photo A Day July 15-25

I can't believe that we are close to the end of July already!  NO! NO! NO!  

Ok, now that I am done with that little fit...onto the photos.  We have stuck fairly close to home the last few weeks.  It feels like Taelin is changing so much every week.  Just recently she has shown a particular interest in knowing what things say (and equal frustration that she doesn't already know). I don't want to go all teacher-mom on her but I am trying to be fairly deliberate in making sure there are opportunities for her to use what she does already know.  She loves writing letters and addressing envelopes and with every one there is a bit of letter identification/sound/formation that is happening.  She also really want to write books right now so there is a lot of blank stapled paper around.  Between stuff at home and swim lessons/soccer/dance/gymnastics our days are flying by and she is learning and changing a ton.

Nana came and stayed for a couple of nights for a visit and to watch Taelin so Joe and I could go see Bruno Mars in concert.  Taelin loves having Nana here!  And Nana is a trooper as Taelin drags her around the house from one thing to another.  (and I actually got the stove top, microwave oven-inside and out, and dishwasher wiped down and caught up on laundry in the same day!)  

I am feeling the pressure of July ending and feeling like there were some projects that I want to start or start/finish before starting up another school year.  I am not giving up on having those done, but it is going to be a stretch!  

Anyway....here are the last couple of our weeks in photos!


july 15, 2013
This letter is to Taelin's friend Lexon who used to go to the same preschool.
In case you don't read 4 year old it says, "Lexon I miss you." or "Lkn i Ms U"
 Either way it is freakin' adorable. 
july 16, 2013
A little life cycle study set up in the kitchen.
Soon we will have butterflies!

july 17, 2013
watching the older girls while waiting for their class to start

july 18, 2013
swimming lessons have been one of Taelin's favorite things this month

july 19, 2013
adorable

july 20, 2013
Project Life 2013!
 I am only about 7 months behind but my goal is to be "caught up" before going back to work!

july 21, 2013
Nana and Taelin walking on the beach.

july 22, 2013
Bruno Mars concert with Joe!  It was an amazing show!

july 23, 2013
a picnic in the park after soccer practice
(I told Nana that she better have enjoyed watching the soccer
 practice because it will probably be the last one she sees.
 Taelin is not into soccer...at all.)

july 24, 2013
This is what happens when you tell Taelin to be independent
for 20 minutes so you can get some work done around the house.

july 25, 2013
I have a plan for my big blue wall.  Finally!
 (But it won't be done for awhile!)



Monday, July 15, 2013

Photo A Day July 8-14


What a great, busy, full week of living!  We are certainly trying to cram all we can into our summer.  The weather has been great and I am so grateful that we live in Salem.  It is a big enough place that there is a lots to do and centrally located to other great stuff that isn't far away!  


july 8, 2013
I had other pictures from our zoo trip but her
wearing my shoes when we got home is my favorite from the day.

july 9, 2013
soccer practice #2

july 10, 2013
my friend Mary brought over this doll house since her girl
is passed dollhouse stage.  Taelin was in heaven.

july 11, 2013

july 12, 2013
camping dominoes

july 13, 2013
<3

july 14, 2013
Devil's Lake in Lincoln City
It would have been a perfect time to kayak...but it was 7:30 a.m.
Not Joe kayaking time.



Monday, July 8, 2013

Though she be but little, she is fierce. ~William Shakespeare

It should not be a surprise to anyone that knows me even a little bit that my daughter is my world.  She was wanted for a very long time and she is loved more every day, if that is even possible.  I learn more about the person I want to be when I am around her more than any other person.  She, simply put, is amazing.

Raising kids is a hard job.  There are all kinds of things that make it hard.  For me, one of the things that I try to be so mindful of and second guess myself on all the time, is about any gender expectations that I have for Taelin.  When I first filled her closet with such tiny clothes before she was even born, I hardly filled it with pink. We tell her she can be anything she wants to be.  Right now the current answer to the "Want do you want to be when you grow up?" is a ballerina spaceman mama.  She said earlier today when we were at the zoo that she would like to add zookeeper to the list but she says, "I just don't think I would have time for all of that."

She has babies and kitchen sets and tool benches and cars.

I am sure that there are many things that we have done that give her the preconceived ideas of "girl roles" and "boy roles" and it is something I worry about all the time.  Especially when I look at what she absolutely loves:  pink, princesses, dress up, toenail polish, ballerinas.....the list goes on and on.

But then things like what happen today, happen and I suddenly I don't worry quite as much.

We were driving home from her first swimming lesson this morning when we drove past Willamette University.  She noticed on the field a bunch of kids and asked me what they were doing.  I glanced over and said they were playing football and that it kind of looked like a camp, kind of like the soccer camp that she started last week.  She asked me if she could do that and without even thinking I said, "Well, it is pretty much a boy game."

The most indignant response came from the backseat.  "Wait, what?  They only let boys play that game?" (you really had to be there to hear the disgust in her voice)

I said, "Well, you don't have to be a boy but it is a game that is mostly played by boys."
Her response, "Are there any girls out there right now?"

By then, we had passed the field and so I answered the question as best I could and said, "I didn't see any but we drove by it really fast."

She was quiet for a minute and then said, "Do you remember that Sophia the First where those other prince boys and princess girls kept laughing and making fun of Sophia and said that Sophia couldn't do the flying horse races because it was a prince thing not a princess thing but Sophia kept trying and trying no matter what?"

"Yes," I said.

"Well, if there are girls out playing at that football camp, do you think there are boys that are making fun of them and laughing at them?"

"Maybe.  I hope not," I said.  There was silence for a minute.

"Well, when I get big enough I am going to do that camp even though not many girls do.  And if there are any boys that make fun of me or laugh at me or any of my other friends that are girls because they don't think we can play that game because we are girls and not boys I will tell them to stop because it is unacceptable to tell someone they can't do something just because they are a girl or a boy."

"I love you Taelin," was all I could muster through my tight throat.

"I love you too, Mama."

Have I said how amazing my little girl is?  Oh, I have?  Good.

Drive In...a really late night of fun!

We (Joe and I) used to go to the drive in theater all the time when we were in college.  It probably had to do with a couple of things.  First, we love movies and the drive in was a cheap way to see not one, but two first run movies.  Second, we loved cuddling up in the back of whoever's pickup truck we happened to fill the dorm mattresses up with even though we were usually with other people too.  For clarification, Joe and I were the only ones cuddling with each other.  There very well could have been others cuddling with each other but we had/have a strict "only cuddle with each other rule".  Third, we were resident assistant's in those dorms who had missing mattresses from them during the summer and so we tried to keep our behavior on the up and up.

Anyway, before I go down memory lane too much, I have to say that it is exciting that we have a drive in so close to us here in Salem.  It is only about 25 miles away in Dallas and we haven't taken advantage of it nearly enough...which is why it ended up on our list.

It is tough thing to get away for a drive in movie when you have a little kid. It is a super late night, so it is pretty much impossible to find a babysitter willing to hang out until 3 in the morning unless you can talk your sister or your mother in law into it.  But, we they are actually here, it is nice to hang out with them instead of letting them hang out in the house when the main reason they have come to visit is sleeping down the hallway.

So, I have been waiting for the drive in to have a kids movie for the first movie and this last weekend I got lucky!  Despicable Me 2 was playing as the first movie with Superman as the second movie.  Despicable Me (the first one) is an adorable movie that both Taelin and Joe love.  (Joe giggles so much as the little yellow minion guys that it just cracks me up.) Anyway, when I saw that the sequel was at the drive in, I knew our time had come!

Last Friday there was a mandatory nap in the later afternoon for both Taelin and I so that we could both make it through the movie/s we were going to try to make.  Taelin had a really hard time understanding how we were going to drive into the "movie center" and stay in our car and hear the movie.  It was all very foreign to her so she wasn't too excited until I told her that during the second movie (that was going to be very late and not at all appropriate for her) she was going to get to sleep in her sleeping bag in the back of the car.  Now that was cool and something to get excited about!

We got there around 8:30 (because I didn't know that "dusk" and "sunset" were two different things) and barely found a spot up in the front but off to the side.  Sunset was at 9:00...dusk was at 10:00.  The movie started at dusk.  (Let's just say that we were all grateful for the mandatory naps earlier!)

We wouldn't do it all the time but I have to say it was a lot of fun!  The movies were good, not great, but the whole experience was great.  We rolled in around 3 a.m. and because I am a planning kind of person, Taelin was in her p.j.'s and ready to plop in bed.  We were all a little sleepy the next day but luckily didn't have a huge day planned, just a trip down the river in the kayak.

And with that, another thing is checked off the list!  Here are some super grainy pictures from our evening of fun!

Man, I love this girl!

And he is pretty cool too.  :)

We were WAY off to the side!

Not much cuddling for me during the first movie!

Photo A Day July 1-7, 2013

What a fun filled week we had!  I would say that we are certainly living it up this summer, but also taking the time to relax and enjoy the downtime that a more free schedule provides.  

Enjoy!

july 1, 2013

july 2, 2013
We signed Taelin up for a mini soccer camp this month.
 Each Tuesday from 6-7, the coach gives them different games
to play with a parent to practice skills.
 It was super cute and Taelin had a great time.

july 3, 2013

This little guy was staring at while I was blogging and I actually yelped a little.
In case you don't know, it is a figurine of Dora the Explorer's dad.

july 4, 2013

july 5, 2013
a rare photo of the two of us
(notice my rockin' sunburn...make sure you hold the sunscreen spray as close as they say too)

july 6, 2013
kayaking on the river

july 7, 2013
a day at home and we did a little art project
(blog post about it to come soon)