Old MacDonald

Macy loves to sing! She's pretty good at the "A,B,Cs" - at least she starts out strong, mumbles a bit through the middle, pipes up again and always hits "P" and then mumbles the rest. When she's finished, there's always the huge smile, clapping and shouting "Hooray!" for herself.

Last night we were in the car driving home from Sunday dinner at my grandpa's house, and she started singing "E,I,E,I,O" So, we all joined in on Old MacDonald with her. When it came time to sing, "and on this farm he had a..." we'd pause and let her say the animal. Well, it was COW every single time. She had us all cracking up, especially Kennedy, with verse after verse of "TOW (like in towel), MOO, MOO!"

Other random Macy things.

She loves to find small, cozy spots. And she loves to be naked.

She loves yogurt, especially when she can eat it by herself. But it has to be completely smooth; she will spit out any bits of fruit.

Staycation

We had planned to go to Island Park, Idaho for a few days while Kennedy was out of school. My aunt and uncle had a free two-week condo rental, but when they gave us a report on the place and the weather forecast, it just didn't sound like such a great idea. Instead we had a staycation at home! I took two days off from work so that we could have some fun with grammie and pamp. We went to the children's museum for some fun playtime. I'm not sure who had more fun - Kennedy loved shopping in the store, and Macy loved playing at the water table.

After naps and a trip to the fabric store to find the material for my "new" chairs, we went to Garden After Dark at the arboretum. Kennedy and I made a lantern to float on the goldfish pond - she drew a smiley face that looked a lot like Cookie Monster and added her name and Macy's. The lanterns looked so beautiful all lit up on the pond. Then she drew on an Australian Mimi doll made out of a clothespin. The garden is so different at night, and they had some great decorations for Halloween. Luckily nothing too scary because lots of things are scaring Macy right now. She says something that sounds just like, "No, that's not scary" about ghosts, witches, skeletons (but I think she means that it IS scary). We finished the night with some pumpkin painting, which Kennedy has been begging to do since we painted the pumpkin for Michelle. (these will just have to do for our pumpkin patch pictures this year.)

When we got back to my parents' house, we hear an owl in their backyard. And then there was a second owl hooting back. It was so amazing to hear them talking to each other! It sounded like who-who-who, who, whoooo (kinda hard to translate into words!)

The next day's adventure was a trip to the downtown library. We went to see an art exhibit about the pigeon from Mo Willems' books. The show was small, but cute. It was drawings by kids and librarians of "the pigeon wants..." and "don't let the pigeon..." Macy was very interested in looking at the drawings, and her face brightened when she found one with Gerald the Elephant and Piggie. The highlight, for the girls at least, was playing in the children's area. They were not interested in the books, just in running and climbing in the attic and the crystal cave rooms. Before we left we enjoyed a warm drink and some people watching in the cafe. In the car on the way home, I read the girls the two Halloween books that I picked out. Macy, of course, told us, "that's not scary" when she saw the illustrations of the skeleton.

We ended the weekend with a fancy brunch at La Caille (we had a gift certificate that we needed to use). Kennedy and Macy were absolutely perfect. We were seated at a table next to one of my co-workers, Jessie, and she later told me how she and her fiancee were both so amazed at how good our kids are. (Really they are almost always good when we go out, but just a week before they'd been running around at Pat's barbecue and dancing with the waiters - maybe they sensed that that behavior wouldn't fly at La Caille.) It helped that they loved the food, especially Macy. She was in heaven with sticky croissants, french toast with berries and cream, and pumpkin creme brulee for dessert. After we ate we walked around to see the beautiful grounds, even though it was raining. Then we drove up the canyon to see our first snow storm of the year.

Out with the old, in with the used

Most of our furniture is inherited. I love having the family treasures, and free is almost always good. But it can be hard to decorate around hand-me-downs, and decorating blogs are my new obsession.

A few weeks ago we bought a new couch (well almost new, it was the floor model) for the family/TV room in the basement. It's a big leather sectional with three reclining pieces - it looks really nice in the room and is so comfortable, especially compared to what was there before (a terrible green plaid sofa and love seat left by the previous owner of our house.)

So, the new purchase sparked some other project ideas. I'm not going to do any dramatic before and after shots, because let's face it, it will take a while to get to the after (we're still not completely done with the living room project.) I found a new dining set and a corner cabinet on Craig's list, and bargained with the two owners to pay a total of $125 less than asking price. Both pieces need work, but they are perfect for our dining area, and I'm looking forward to the process. I'm sad to part with the table and chairs from my great uncle Alan and great aunt Ethelene, but they are just too big and not quite sturdy enough for the abuse we all inflict - spills, art projects, game nights, blanket forts, more spills and a general collection area for all kinds of stuff on its way to somewhere else in the house.

Jake was out shooting guns in the desert with his dad and brother while the girls and I did all this online classified bargain shopping. We also had some help from my friend/boss/neighbor-with-a-truck, Paul. He was awesome to come along on our crazy adventure and help me transport my new furniture.

Next up, sanding, painting, recovering. We'll see how this all goes, but I'm envisioning a fantastic outcome! Maybe there will even be some pictures along the way.

Cancer posse

My friend from book group, Michelle, has been going through treatment for breast cancer. We've all formed her cancer posse, and each week we do something to keep her spirits lifted and show our love and support. On my first week we brought her a zebra plant that Kennedy picked out from a specialty garden shop (where the girls also had a great time throwing rocks into all the fountains.) When my turn to be the posse rep came around again this month, we left two pumpkins on her porch, one with pink ribbons that we'd painted and one with a pink bow around the stem.

Tonight we went out to dinner to celebrate an important milestone in her treatment. She had her last round of chemo yesterday. Thankfully she didn't mind the girls crashing her party. Jake is still on his noon to midnight shift at work, and couldn't commit to watching them. They were pretty good, but Macy refused to sit still. She was much more interested in climbing/crawling/belly scooting along a ledge behind our table. Kennedy, thankfully, stayed occupied with her princess sticker book.

Michelle is so inspiring, and she has handled this incredibly difficult situation with grace, poise and tenacity. I greatly admire her, and am so lucky to be part of her posse. I love this picture - bald is beautiful, but so is pink.

First field trip

Kennedy went on her very first field trip today, and Jake was one of the parent volunteers. He drove Kennedy and her classmate, James, to the pumpkin patch at a local farm. Jake called to give me a report when they got back, and apparently he felt a little cheated. Why? James is a pretty wild kid. He was loud and crazy. He ran ahead and wouldn't stay with the group. Jake was just responsible for the two kids, but he needed some help from one of the teachers to keep an eye on James. It wasn't quite the experience he was envisioning. Kennedy had a great time though. I heard that she and James were having counting contests in the car, and she even invited him over to play in her kitchen. Luckily he didn't jump at the offer. She was also especially pleased with her pumpkin.

Escuela

Escuela, that's Spanish for school, is going well this year. Kennedy looked adorable for her school pictures, and we were able to buy a package for Macy too. From what I can tell, Kennedy likes her teachers, classroom, new friends and jobs/work to do. She doesn't even seem to mind nap time. Sometimes when I drop her off in the morning, I can sit with her while she shows me a job she likes. I've seen her do some cutting jobs (she's getting much more precise with the scissors), some gluing jobs (because a glue stick makes any project more fun), and sorting jobs (which I didn't understand, but involved a basket full of different colored and sized shapes.) Macy was eager to try everything out herself, but we left before she could make a mess.

Here are a few stories that Kennedy has dictated to her teachers to go along with her own illustrations.

From September 29th - There was a guy. He was off in the woods and he met a friendly wolf. The wolf was walking off trying to find some berries. The guy and the wolf met some squirrels. They all hunted for berries that the squirrels liked. They all ate the berries together. They all met some other animals in the woods. Then they all hunted for berries together. They found some bunnies. The animals gave the bunnies some seeds. Together they found seeds.

From October 6th - This is a doodle-poodle. He wanted to go find something. He wanted to find some pumpkins. He wanted to eat the pumpkins. Then he found some delicious fruit. He was going to eat them. He saw some leaves. He was going to eat the leaves. He was full. He decided to go back down to his little hole.

From October 25th - This is a horse with a mane. He is finding some leaves up in the forest. The horse found some berries. Then a cow came. Another cow wanted to join too. The cow was finding some leaves and berries too. They found hay. They found some seeds. They all went for a walk. They had a picnic. They asked another horse if he would like to go on the picnic. He went on a walk with the other ones.

It's also amazing to see that some of her drawings are starting to look like the objects she says that they are. And, she's coloring inside the lines. She even told Jake the other day, "Dad, I'm getting to be a really good artist, aren't I?" And she signs her artwork like this:

KENNE

d

Y

M

It often wraps around the page just like that, with a lower case d. And lately she's been adding the M for Macy, which she can also spell now.

In September the class studied: grace and courtesy, community helpers, outdoor classroom, Johnny Appleseed, land, air and water, families and plants and animals.

This month the focus has been on:

Continent: North America

Artist: Cezanne

Composer: Strauss

Zoology: Mammals

But ask Kennedy if she learned anything new at school, and she'll likely say, "I don't remember."

I'm doing my best to learn Spanish. We're checking out children's books and language learning cds in Spanish from the library. My favorite has been "Nancy La Elegante" (Fancy Nancy). I try to speak it around the house when I can (which is obviously limited), but I'm doing better. This morning I said I need a clean towel and where are my keys. I didn't get a chance to work in I want a margarita without salt, but I can say that, too. Give me a few years and I might be fluent - that's my dream anyway.

Grandma Lu

Jake's grandma, Lucille Malstrom Nelson, passed away on September 17th. She was a wonderful lady, and we all have great memories of family gatherings at her home, camping at the Spruces, Christmas parties and ornament exchanges. She will especially be remembered for her delicious cooking, including "roast-a-beef" and homemade rolls. In all the years I've eaten at Grandma Lu's, I can only think of one thing I didn't enjoy, aspic! But really, does anyone like meat and tomato jello? Kennedy and Macy loved to visit Grandma Lu with Grandpa Brent and Grandma Sue while I was at work. She had such fun toys for them to play with, and it was clear that the great-grandchildren brought so much joy to her life. Even after her stroke, her face would just light up when she was around little children.

Kennedy and Macy had a great time playing with their cousins at the viewing. They got to go with the bigger kids to practice a primary song for the funeral, but in the end, Kennedy decided that she didn't want to stand up on the stage to sing a song she doesn't know. Her favorite part of the evening was playing "Judge" with the older cousins. She was trying to explain it to us on the way home, but it was clear that she really had no idea what was going on. I did my best to explain what I know about court room procedure (mostly from TV and John Grisham novels), but she told me, "No mom, (exasperated sigh) that's NOT how you play it!"

The service on Saturday was very nice, and the girls were on their very best behavior. It was a beautiful tribute to a mom, grandma, and great-grandma that was loved by all.

After the burial, we returned to the church for lunch. While we were eating, someone broke into two of the cars in the parking lot, and several things were stolen. It was such a terrible thing to have happen! We spent the afternoon waiting for the police and then going through some things at Grandma's home, so we could all have something to remember her by. The girls were very excited to take home their favorite toys - a Little People school bus and a toy that talks in both English and Spanish (Kennedy is sure this will help her practice learning the language.)

The next night, we all went to dinner at Rodizio Grill. Jake and I have never been there before, but it was really good - especially if you like meat, meat, and more meat. The waiters bring around big skewers of various kinds of meat, fresh off the grill, to slice right on to your plate. It was a fun night, and the kids loved running around on the upper levels of the near deserted mall.

After dinner it was extremely difficult to convince Kennedy and Macy to leave the Pottery Barn Kids store. They were having a great time playing with all the cute (but out of our price range) stuff there. Kennedy even asked if we can go back there someday so that she can finish baking her muffins in the pink kitchen.