Happy Birthday, Anne Marie!

Six years ago, life as we know know it changed forever.

In the words of one of my favorite children's books:

On the night you were born, 

The moon smiled with such wonder

That the stars peeked in to see you

And the night wind whispered, 

"Life will never be the same." 

For there had never been anyone like you...

Ever in the world.

I'm sure every parent feels the same way about their kid, but you, my dear, are special. You were special from the beginning. In so many ways you are like me, and in even more ways, you are not. I love you for both.

People joke that we are both distracted — that we don't pay attention, and breakable things just tend to fall to the ground around us. :) I prefer to say that we are always thinking. I can understand the kinds of things you are thinking when I see you wander your room instead of finding your shoes like you've been told, because I've thought them too ... "What would life be like if I were a princess? A pioneer? An astronaut? What if I lived in the woods among the chipmunks and fairies? What if I am a fairy?"

Don't ever lose that thoughtfulness. You are a wonderful reader, and your brilliant imagination is going to grow even more as you discover great, faraway lands in books.

And don't ever lose your thoughtfulness towards others. Even if I teach you nothing else, I want to teach you that the most important thing we can do is care for each other and help those who need it.

We are very different in our love of accessories. I have trouble keeping one piece of jewelry on for a day. You are most comfortable in six or seven. You love to draw, and I never did. But it makes me incredibly happy to see your creativity come out in all sorts of ways.

A lot of people get sad when they see their babies grow because then they aren't babies anymore. Watching you grow doesn't make me sad — it makes me excited. I have loved being a part of your journey so far, and I can't wait to see the person you are going to continue to become. I love you!

Heaven blew every trumpet

And played every horn

On the wonderful, marvelous

Night you were born

Why I Prefer Cookies

This year, the neighbors and I made a big leap — some might call it a leap of faith. Every year, like many neighbors, we exchange Christmas goodies. This year, however, she left a framed picture of Jesus.

It's not that I don't like Jesus — of course I know that He is the reason for the season, and we keep Christ the center of our Advent and Christmas traditions. It's a nice picture, and I know the thoughts behind it came from a good place. But it's part of a trend in our relationship that makes me less than comfortable.

This neighbor constantly invites me to activities or events with her. She calls them "girls nights" or "cooking classes." What they actually are is relief society meetings at her church. When I said I was busy, she offered to give me a ride. I'd been feeling guilty that the only reason I always turn her down is that they are church activities. But a co-worker pinned down why I feel uncomfortable — it's not because I don't want to do something in a church that isn't my own. It's because that is the ONLY place that she asks me to go. We don't have lunch together. We don't chat on a regular basis. She doesn't know what kind of books I read or what movies I like, or that we attend our own church every week. She doesn't know that my daughter attends a school with a religion-based curriculum.  Our main connection is once every few weeks when she invites me to church. It changes the message from friendly and neighborly to "I fear for your soul."

I made a joke to a friend (who is of the same religious persuasion as my neighbor) that maybe she wants to start a theological discussion, and I should send her a crucifix, a symbol of my religion (although not a Christmas one) in return. She laughed and said, "Oh no! If there is one thing we don't like, it's to be converted."

I don't want this blog to sound like an anti-religion piece — I have no problems with the beliefs of any of my friends and neighbors, whether they be LDS, Lutheran, Jewish, Muslim or athiest. I really enjoy good religious discussions among friends when they come from the right place, one where people are free to share experiences and knowledge without someone viewing their beliefs as good or bad.

But my neighbor and I are just that — we're neighbors. We're not close friends who are sharing deep convictions. If she has a question about my religious beliefs, I would be glad to tell her. If I have a question for her, I would feel comfortable asking. In terms of sharing your religious beliefs to acquaintances, however, I have a better way. This year, I didn't drop off a crucifix. I dropped off cookies.

My advice to those who want to share their faith with others — share what your faith means by showing how people in your faith live. Don't just invite your neighbor to church every time you see her. Instead, make small talk. Be friendly. Do nice things for people. My faith is an important part of my life, but I believe the best way to share it is through my actions. I don't care if people know I am Catholic. I want them to know that I am a good person. I care that people know that I care about others, that I am respectful, and that I love my fellow humans as Christ loves us. That's what really matters.

A Healthy, Dirty Glow

A few weeks ago, Thomas didn't bathe for almost a week. Instead, he walked around covered in dirt just like all the other kids having fun in the mountains. Eating breakfast outside a log cabin restaurant in the mountain morning sunshine, I realized that the kids I'd been seeing all week didn't just look dirty. They looked HEALTHY.

There is nothing as clean and healthy-looking as a kid who has been in the mountains for awhile. Their skin gains color, and smiles just sneak right past the streams of dirt and sweat running down their faces. 





In today's world, we don't offer this to our kids enough. We don't give them the chance to be in the mountain air (I'd call it fresh air, but the massive amounts of wildfire smoke make that not really the case).

Summer Awesomeness

I am really bad about updating, aren't I?

Last night, Anne Marie, Thomas and I came up with a list of fun things for the summer. In honor of Phinneas and Ferb, we shot for 104. Can we do them all? We can sure try! Some of them we've already done this summer, so I crossed them off, but we might totally do them again.

1. Go on hikes- hit all of the Pocatello-area trails.- could be tough with the fires, but we've done some.
2. Eat S'Mores. 
3. Play
4 Go to the zoo
5. Hike the lava trail.
6. Swim at Lava Hot Springs.
7. Swim at Ross Park
8. Swim at Downata Hot Springs.
9. Swim at Indian Springs.
10. Play in sprinklers.
11. Go camping.
12. Visit Craters of the Moon. 
13. Go to Redfish Lake.
14. Learn Spanish
15. Fly kites
16. Visit Uncle Tom
17. Overnight with Grandma
18. Summer reading program
19. Go to library
20. Chalk art
21. Sleep in our backyard.
22. Visit Grandma and Grandpa in Missoula
23. Play in every park in Pocatello and Chubbuck
24. Massacre Rocks
25. City of Rocks
26. Go to Museum of Natural History
27. Go to King Tut exhibit at the Museum of Idaho.
28. New Reed's Dairy place
29. Make our own ice cream.
30. Make our own art.
31. Make our own playdough.
32. Slip and slide.
33. Plant our garden.
34. Fireworks at Fourth of July.
35. Parade at Fourth of July.
36. Go to Minnetonka Cave.
37. Ride scooters.
38. Ride bikes
39. Concerts on the Quad.
40. Make cookies.
41. Swim lessons
42. Chubbuck Days parade
43. Swim in backyard.
44. Go to the Tetons
45. Picnics.
46. Geocache
47. Tie-dye something.
48. Scavenger hunt.
49. Kiwi Loco
50. Play Candyland. 
51. Play Memory Game.
52. Play Cooties
53. Make popsicles.
54. Go to a movie. 
55. Bowling.
56. Go to the Drive-in movie in Idaho Falls
57. Mini golf
58. Have a bbq with friends.
59. Penny walk
60. Farmer's market
61. Buffalo Wild Wings.
62. Pint-sized science academy.
63. Bubbles.
64. Go to the fair.
65. Walk to Sonic.
66. Go rollerskating.
67. McKee's Petting Zoo.
68. Disc Golf
69. Water balloon fight.
70. Roast hot dogs.
71. Go to a Chukars game.
72. Go stargazing.
73. Eat watermelon.
74. Date night with each kid.
75. Make green slime.
76. Make sunprints
77. Ice cream zoofari
78. Band at Ross Park.
79. Make a solar oven.
80. Make rootbeer floats.
81. Make banana splits
82. Watch birds and butterflies
83. Learn how to climb trees.
84. Fire Department open house
85. Make cupcakes.
86. Have fancy drinks.
87. Blow up some diet coke with mentos.
88. Make fire kites.- out due to fire danger
89. Home Depot craft day.
90. Make sand castles.
91. Build and break a piñata.
92. Play Go Fish
93. Shaving cream bath paint.
94. Go to art fair
95. Make ever-flowing goo
96. Cloud Watching
97. Visit a ghost town.
98. Hike on the Lewis and Clark trail.
99. Visit the potato museum.
100. Make pizza.
101. hopscotch.
102. Feed the ducks
103. Wash the car.
104. Bag a peak.

Pioneer

There wasn't a lot people knew about Joy Morrison's personal life. Her work was her life, just like many journalists.

The woman worked 60-80 hours a week without blinking. When I knew her, she was the old lady who knew everything about the community and had an old-fashioned idea of community journalism. I rarely gave her family a second thought.

But I do remember one time when I had just dropped Anne Marie off at daycare, and I was sort of feeling down. I didn't say anything about it to Joy, but she seemed to know. She said, "It was always kind of hard — I remember leaving my daughter at Mrs. M's(can't remember the name) daycare. It was hard when she cried, and it was hard when she was happy and didn't mind."

I went to Joy's funeral last week. She was 87 when she passed away, and 84 when she quit working. She dedicated her life to newspapering, and it showed at her funeral, where the newspaper photographers were her pallbearers, and a former editor gave the eulogy.

But she also loved her family, and her daughter's beautiful poem read at the funeral showed that she felt the undying, absolute love of her mother.

I always knew that Joy was a great role model for working women. She started at the newspaper in the 1940s when women didn't typically work, and continued looking for stories and working as an essential part of the community when she got married and raised her daughter. She seamlessly moved through technologies, from typewriters and cutting and pasting to computers and e-mail.

But she was also a great role model for working mothers. When I look at what life was like for working women in those days, I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for her, especially when she became a mother. There were separate want ads for men and women. Often, women were expected to leave their jobs when they began to "show." Women with husbands and children typically didn't work. It's not that I believe women should all be in the workplace, but I treasure that we have a choice, and the right to choose what is best for our family and situation, whether it be a stay-at-home mom or dad, a loving childcare situation or a combination of the three. It has changed so much that I don't think we as women often give enough credit to those women who paved the way for us to have choices.

Siblings

I love to watch these two play together! They make up the best games.

Happy (late) birthday Thomas!

Ahh, this kid.

Thomas,

When you were born, you cried so hard that I asked the doctor if there was something wrong with you. He just laughed and said, "Some kids just come out angry."

What I didn't realize then is that it isn't just anger that you do with intensity. It's everything. You love and laugh the same way. You run with intensity. You play with intensity. It can be tough sometimes, but also incredibly rewarding.

You are the sweetest, most cuddly kid, and your smile can light up a room. You care about animals, and you are gentle with them.  I see you as a leader when you grow up. I love you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Highlights of my day:

 • Thomas waking up and peeking through his headboard to his sister's bed just to say, "Happy Valentine's Day, sister."

• Anne Marie running to the car so she could get me the Valentine's present she has been hiding behind her carseat. It was an old bracelet I gave her last week- she immediately hid it and told me she knew what she was giving me for Valentine's Day. SO cute!

 • Matt sneaking a card into the laptop so I would find it when I got to work, even though we said we weren't going to do anything today. One of the best Valentine's Days ever.

Working Mommy Wednesday

This week, for Working Mommy Wednesday, Rachel asked:  Does your job take advantage of your natural talents and abilities?

The wonderful thing about the job I have now is that it can use just about any talent I want to. I have been blessed with a boss who lets you pick your opportunities. My main job is as an editor. I edit press releases and I am an editor, but I can also write in my publications. I decided I wanted to increase my skills in social media — he sent me to a one-day conference and gave me the opportunity to run our social media plans.  I had an interest in presentations — now I put together presentations. My job, and I think most jobs, are what you make of them. It helps to have a supportive environment, but my goal is always to take my job description and find a way I can make it fit for me. I have to work, but isn't it more fun to work if you are doing something you enjoy?

Happy 5th!

In honor of Anne Marie's fifth birthday ( a little late), I'm not going to talk about all the many things I love about her. Instead, I'm going to focus on the funniest one. This girl knows how to pose. So I'm going to take you through a tour of some of this girl's best poses. Some might fool you- you might think I simply got her in a great moment. But in every one, she is definitely aware of the camera and making the best use of it she can.

From the start...

CAMERA!

I got a camera for Christmas! So, after missing Halloween pictures, Thanksgiving pictures, hiking pictures, etc, I finally have some proof that my kids are still here. :)

So, here's a tour of the kids' Christmas. :) We had a great week, hiking, skiing (skiing photos still to come), ice skating, present-opening, bowling and more.

From christmas

Anne Marie got a new camera too. :)

From christmas

From christmas

From christmas

Anne Marie reenacting the nativity- cracks me up. :)

From christmas

From christmas

From christmas

From christmas

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving, mostly because for me, it's a low-key, low-work holiday. Christmas lasts for at least a month. Even Halloween lasts for weeks with all of the carnivals, costume parties, etc. Thanksgiving is just one day. There is no pre-Thanksgiving party. You get up in the morning. You cook. You eat. It doesn't seem that special.

But yet it is. For me, it reminds me of my grandfather. I'm not sure why. It is the only holiday that we typically spent at my grandparents, so that might have been part of it, but there is more.

I think part of it is that he really appreciated a good meal. He enjoyed Thanksgiving, and was always incredibly grateful.

It's too bad Thomas never got to meet him, but since he passed away in January 2009, and Thomas was born in February, I'd like to think their souls passed somehow. Here he is, enjoying his first great-grandchild, Anne Marie.

From great grandparents

HALLOWEEN! and no camera

It is so sad to be cameraless on Halloween. I am going to re-create Halloween tonight with my brother's camera, but for now I will just tell you I had the cutest little Rapunzel and dinosaur ever. You don't have to take my word for it- Anne Marie won second place at the Boo at the Zoo costume contest, and Thomas won fourth. Anne Marie was adamant that we not miss that contest. She said, "I REALLY want to walk on stage!" Ah, that girl.

Working Mommy Wednesday

 


Share a blog or website that you’ve found meaningful and rewarding to visit (if it's Pinterest please share why this has become such a raging fad).

I don't know if it's meaningful, but there is one blog that makes me laugh every single time I visit.


http://themeanestmom.blogspot.com/

This thing is really funny, and probably the most normal-sounding mom stories on the Internet.

As for Pinterest, I really like looking at the pins of my friends. Then I pin things, but never go back to look at them. Maybe someday I will use it more/better.

Crying

What was the last thing your child cried about? Write a blog post about the problem in the voice of your child.






I don't know if it's the age in her life, or if she is just a teenager in a 4-year old's body, but my dear Anne Marie cries ALL THE TIME. Sometimes, it's totally legitimate:

From Emily Juggles

Other times, like this morning, it's not so much.Thomas was feeling particularly grumpy, and so he shouted, "SISTER, YOU ARE NOT IN THE CAR!"
I would like to write it from her perspective, as the prompt requests, but I have absolutely no insight into the 4-year old psyche. She knows her brother is sometimes a 2-year old ball of stark raving mad. Why does she care if he says she's not in the car? I will never know.

Working Mommy Wednesday

How do you carve out personal time for yourself?

The short answer is, I don't sleep. My kids usually aren't asleep until 10- by then, I want to do more, but what I end up doing is watching TV and checking e-mail, then sitting in a coma until about midnight or so, then collapsing until work. It's pretty lame, really.

Any ideas?

Working Mommy Wednesday- Holidays

The last quarter of the year is full of amazing holidays.  What is your favorite?  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Talk Like a Pirate Day or Christmas?

We love them all!  Anne Marie and I are so alike in that respect. Every time she hears an event advertised on the radio, the first thing out of her mouth is "Can we go?" She (and I) doesn't want to miss a thing. I'm a little crazy about it. It kind of freaks me out that I might not be able to take the kids to both our downtown trick-or-treat and the zoo trick or treat. And, although I complain about the fact that Anne Marie's t-ball and soccer land on the same night, I also get a small, min-rush from having to rush to make both.


For photos, however, Halloween beats out Christmas and Thanksgiving, hands-down. Thanksgiving always means pictures of people eating, and Christmas is often in pajamas with wild hair sitting near a tree. Here's some funny ones from last year:

From Halloween 2010

A duck and a butterfly. Here's Anne Marie, showing off her wings.

From Halloween 2010

Game Face

From T-Ball

This girl has her game face on. Also, when did she get to be six feet taller than other kids her age?

Fun at the Fair

It is killing me not having a camera! Luckily, my brother takes a million photos. Here is fun at the fair.

From Fair photos from Alex

From Fair photos from Alex

From Fair photos from Alex

This ride was crazy! Thomas was too short to ride by himself, so he was supposed to go with a "responsible rider." I didn't want to spend another $4 for one ride so I could go too, so I asked the guy if Anne Marie was responsible enough. He took one look at the 4-year old, and said, "Sure." He must have known her ability to boss her brother.

My mom can't handle the ferris wheel. Anne Marie had to help her too.

From Fair photos from Alex

Advice to New Mothers

Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop this week asked for Advice to New Mothers. The timing couldn't be more perfect.

I just got back from a family wedding where I spent an inordinate amount of time wondering if my kids were well-behaved enough. You see, there are some family members who really like quiet, and kids, even good ones, aren't quiet all the time.

I worried so much that I was on my kids ALL THE TIME. Then, later, I felt guilty. Why couldn't I let my kids just be kids? They weren't running around like wild children, misbehaving in restaurants, or disturbing others. They were just playing in ways kids play.

Mothers are constantly bombarded by know-it-all-advice from others. I've heard that kids don't behave like they used to because their parents don't teach them well. I've heard how kids are fat because all parents feed them is junk. I've heard that kids should be banned from restaurants because other people don't want to see them when they are out to eat. It's as if all children will run around destroying public places if they even set foot in them.

Then there are the other mothers — you have to wear your baby, your baby needs time out of the sling, your baby is too hot, your baby is too cold, it's horrible to circumsize your kid, it's horrible not to. Formula kills, allowing them to breastfeed until 2 makes them weird.

My advice is this — don't listen to the "advice." There are enough things to worry about, and what other people think about the decisions you make for your kids shouldn't even be on the radar. Make informed decisions, but in the end, what actually matters is that you love your children, teach them to stand up for themselves and help them learn to care for and respect other people. As for the rest of it, put on your blinders and ignore the "advice."