Monday, January 31, 2011

Partaking

On Saturday night I did this crazy thing and got out of the house.  After finding a sitter and making a few arrangements, I found myself sitting in a church with the lights dimmed and listening to some seriously awesome bluegrass music.  The Matt Flinner Trio is a new discovery for me - Matt was a friend of my friend Heather's many years ago, and she encouraged me to come join her at his show.  He won the national banjo competition at a very young age and is now playing the mandolin (and a very rockin' one at that) with his Trio and touring the country. 

http://www.myspace.com/mattflinner




So I have to say that I probably would not have sought out a bluegrass band, no matter how talented, on my own.  I usually have enough trouble just keeping the kids fed and not strangling each other from day to day. But as I sat there, tapping my feet to the music and occasionally laughing out loud in amazement, I was struck by how worth it it is to make an effort in life to get out and partake of what is out there, of the talents that people share with the world.  I loved sitting in the dark lisenting to the funny stories the players shared and the tunes they were picking.  Get out there and partake.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Anyone Home?

Hello?  Am I here?  I think I remember that I used to really enjoy blogging and now I'm noticing that I seem to have fallen off of the blogosphere.  I wish I could say that it's because I've been so fabulously busy doing exciting things, but really, I think I've been moping. How is it possible that the months of October, November and December flew by at lightening speed cruised by at breakneck speed, and this one darn month is lasting FOR. EV. ER.

Is this ranting how I have begun the last four blog posts?  I think so.  I'll shut up now.

So, we actually did something last week.  Bundle has finally begun her ascent out of illness, thank heavens.  (I'm sure she'll be sick again by next week but let's not think about that right now...)  Stomper got invited to a birthday party at Fairmont Pool and I just couldn't resist bringing the girls along and jumping in too.  Last summer we had a pool pass and it didn't work out super well because the big kids would want to swim for hours but Bundle could only take it for 20 or 30 minutes.  I think those days are over - I had to drag her out of the pool after two hours.  Her lips were blue, she was clinging to me for warmth, and yet she was just furious when we got out.  She had a ball.  Stomper and Bitty have been water babies forever now, but this is a new discovery for Miss Bundle.  Good fun - I'm looking forward to many more swimming outings in the near future.




Speaking of Bundle, I do have to say that she is winning hearts right and left these days. She has decided to start talking all of a sudden.  She'll give most people's names a good try.  She's very devoted to several of my friends.  And she's starting to put words together into little sentences.  Today's sentence was "Emma's Poo," which was a little less charming than usual.  My favorite so far has been, "More Pink!"  I held up a shirt with some pink on it and she just went nuts.  "More pink, more pink!"  Oh boy. My other favorites of her words are "buttie" for belly button, "puck" for cup, and "ahh-nut" for all done.  Oh, and "ah-gooo" for hold you.

Okay, new goal.  Return to the land of the happy blogger.  Will do.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

PHOOEY

OR:

"Why January in the State of Utah, When Occuring in Combination With Being the Parent of a Very Sick Toddler,
Sucks My Will to Live, Not to Mention Any Desire to Blog Ever Again."

After that title, I don't think there's really much else to say, right?  It has been a very long couple of weeks, and it has been a rare occurance for dinner to be made or the dishes to be done, much less any creative journaling going on.  Poor Bundle has been a mess (the booger post from a couple of weeks ago was just the beggining,) and has slept well only when cradled in my arms.  I tried not to get tense about that, because she's quickly heading out of the baby phase, but it was a little hard when I could barely get dressed or shower without her having a complete meltdown. 

Yesterday and today have provided me with hope and a lightness of heart that I haven't had in quite some time.  First of all, last night the kids and I joined some friends for a night time walk through the rain up to the UofU campus.  Cold, yes.  Rainy, yes.  Wonderful to be out in clean air?  I can't even tell you how wonderful it was.  And then today the kids don't have shcool so we took advantage of the above-freezing temps (first time in more than two weeks!) and went to the zoo.  Oh happiness.  Air.  Sun.  Beautiful clouds.  Walking hard.  Playing with the kids.  I think I'm going to make it through January.  But just barely.

Well, I tried to post some pictures I took at the zoo, but my phone is refusing to cooperate.  Oh well.  And just so you know, January gets a lot better when your neighbor shows up on your doorstep carrying a lovely little square box labeled "Paradise Bakery" and the smell of chocolate and cinnamon comes wafting your way.  Thanks, Blair.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Oh MAN.

I know, I know, my last post was about Bundle and it was gross too, but I can't help myself. I guess I'm just working hard to collect plenty of dirt with which to blackmail her at a later date.

So, I hated potty training Bitty.  It's kind of still going on and I really don't want to talk about it.  I'll just say that I have been completely determined to not even mention the potty to Bundle until she's about 5.  I have actually said out loud that Bundle is going to have to be begging me to use the toilet before we start this whole thing.  Well, guess what.  She's begging.  She signs 'potty.'  She says the word 'potty.'  She knows where a potty seat is and drags it out once a day and begs....no, demands to sit on it without her diaper at least once a day.  I do not want to be doing this!  Oh well.  I just put her on it (cowboy boots and all....) and say good job when she gets bored and gets off.  And that's IT. 

The Exodus

The Becky is making me do this.  I claim no responsibility for this next post.

So poor little Bundle has had an awful cold - it's pretty much gone now but you know how it goes with these little kids - you always have one lingering element that just hangs on forever.  And for Bundle, it's the nasal issue.  Every morning she wakes up very stuffy and crusty...but around 10 a.m. there is a great exodus of bodily fluid.  It's really quite impressive, which is why I took the picture.  And now I'm posting the picture.  Forgive me.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Off to a Good Start?

Monday morning came!  It actually came!  The kids were totally stoked to be going back to school.  (What does that say about how things went at our house over the holidays?  Please mom, please!  Let us go back to school!)  As we were enjoying our morning pancakes we thought we'd celebrate proper:


We had a little left-over bottle o' bubbly (sparkling cider, people) and decided that there'd be no better time than the present to bust it out, along with the only two "fancy glasses" that we own.  It was a great morning.  And...it was a terrible afternoon.  I think the kids were a little more worn out than I had anticipated and we had many tears and raised voices and a very early bedtime.  Today was better. 

Saturday, January 01, 2011

...And To All, a Good Night



It is with some bitter-sweet relief that we come to the end of this memorable holiday season.  I can say that I have successfully survived two full weeks of hooplah, and  now I'm completely wiped out.  We have had so much to celebrate, so many people to gather with and parties to attend that we've been running like crazy.  The result is that my kitchen hasn't been totally clean for the entire duration of the holiday.  Finally today we had our last fling: our annual Saturday-after-Christmas Preslar Family Party.  (You can see the girls above sporting the jammies they received from wonderful Uncle Rick and Aunt Tonja.  Okay, they were offically from a couple of their cousins, but let's face it, we all know Tonja did the shopping! ) When we returned home around 2 pm I started cleaning the kitchen and didn't get all the way done until 9 pm this evening.  Of course there were many disturbances during that seven hour stretch: a brief sleddding trip in the back yard plus another meal to prepare set me back, but fianlly, finally, I have a clean kitchen.  Okay, it still needs a good mopping and scrub down.  But the dishes are all put away, which is more than I have been able to say for a fortnight.

Much has been going on - I'm going to attempt a holiday round up in a hopefully not momentously long post.

I don't think I even blogged about Christmas Morning.  Shame on me.  We had a lovely morning.  It started nice and early - the kids were up around 6:30, and it was so fun to bring them into the living room in the traditional way of the Romneys - lined up youngest to oldest, eyes closed, hands on the sibling in front of you, and marched in by your father.  Both of the big kids had something big to see when they opened their eyes.  Stomper got an easle to encourage his artistic efforts, and Bitty got a vanity table.  Now, Bitty has been mentioning a vanity for quite some time, and I've had my eye out for one.  Well, I'm sure I could have found one for $250 at Pottery Barn Kids or something, but I didn't even look.  And Toys R Us has a crappy plastic one with a Disney gal on it; no thanks.  So I asked Troy if it would be hard to throw together a table out of 2x4s and some plywood - he said it would be fine and probably not a big deal at all.  Uh, duh, I forgot that Troy doesn't ever go half way.  He built Bitty a really beautiful table, even if it is pine and plywood. It is awesome.  Poor Troy missed out on several festive outings because he was slaving away in the garage.  Good man.


Roller skates for Bitty, an Elmo for Bundle, and a variety of dragons for Stomper were also big hits:


Chirstmas day was wrapped up with a nice simple dinner with all the co-laws (that's how I refer to both sets of grandparents at the same time) over at our house, and after they left our little family hunkered down and watched Toy Story 3.  Bundle was kind enough to let me watch the whole thing, and of course I loved it.  Yes, I cried.

Let's get back to the subject of My Good Man. The other big event this week was that Troy and I celebrated our (get ready...) THIRTEENTH anniversary.   Of course, we share our anniversary with The Becky and her husband, and they got married a full five years before we did, so whever I start to feel a little weird about how time is careening along at breakneck speed, I can just remind myself that The Becky has been married for 18 years.  This makes 13 seem like not such a big deal.  Troy and I were lucky enough to have Bundle's favorite person on the planet vollunteer to babysit.  That would be my friend Adam Grundvig.  He brought along a friend and they kept my kids laughing and totally content for almost three hours while Troy and I visited a friend in from out of town and then waited a very long time for some very good food at The Bombay House. Usually we get in, get our food and get out all in about 20 mintues and then realize that we were so fixated on the deliciousness placed before us that we forgot to have a conversation.  Luckily the restaurant was totally packed and we had to wait for a table, wait for our waiter, and wait for our food.  Lots of waiting.  By the time the food came we had actually had a lot of very nice conversation.  I love my man, yes I do. 

Okay, enough.  I think the rest of the updates can wait another day!