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Living the Dream

14 Mar

I’ve wanted to be a write my entire life.  I have notebooks full of short stories and poems that I wrote when I was in middle school and high school.

I briefly thought about majoring in English, but my family encouraged me to choose a career path with better outlook for a solid career.  Which was great advice.  But as I climb this ladder in a business career, it seems to take me more and more away from the creative writing that just comes naturally to me and makes me happy.

This time last year, a good friend of mine self published a children’s book.  Just around that time, my daughter built a leprechaun trap that was really a  “cozy home”.  When I asked her what she’d do if she caught a leprechaun, she said “I’d wish for fairies” without hesitation.

That is when it hit me — I am living with these kids with awesome imaginations, and instead of struggling to write the next great American novel, I could start writing children’s books.  That is where Louie the Leprechaun was born.

I found that I would write, get stuck, and then read it to my daughter and her friends, asking them what should happen next.  They’d give me a few nuggets, and I would use their inspiration to complete the story.

The entire time I have been writing this past year, I have felt energized and just plain excited.  I get visions of what future books could be, and love talking it over with kids to get their ideas.

This week has been exciting and a bit terrifying for me.  I’ve been doing a book tour of local elementary schools, and also sent out press releases to the local newspaper, and there was an announcement about my books made at work.  It has felt a bit like walking around in my day to day life naked.

I don’t know why I’ve always felt so private about this dream.  When my closest friend in Reno got my email announcing the books were published, she wrote back and said, “I never knew you wanted to be an author.”

But what I’m learning is the more people I tell about this little venture, the more I feel accountable to make it happen.  I’m also learning that there is a heck of a lot more to the whole process than just publishing a book…  Anyone can get a book up on Amazon, but it takes a lot of effort and creativity to actually sell the books.

At this point, I’m just trying to break even on my little venture, but I see so much potential.  Reading at the schools has been so rewarding…  The kids treat you like a rock star, and have been so excited by the story of Louie the Leprechaun.

Even if this little effort of mine doesn’t amount to much, I think it is setting such a valuable example for my daughter (my son is just a bit too young right now to fully understand what is going on).  She has been a part of the process from the beginning — hearing my drafts, giving me ideas, and now she gets to see me promote the books, and tomorrow I’m doing readings at her school to up to eighty (yes 80!!!!) kids at a time.

I like to think I’m teaching her to follow her passions and her dreams, and to do everything she can to make those dreams a reality.  I’m teaching her how to make a little business — a bit about marketing, and how there are costs at starting this up.  When she saw that an order form had been sent home to every student at her school, she said, “Mom, you’re going to be rich!”

I took that opportunity to explain to her that these books surely won’t make me rich, but we’re trying to sell as many as possible to cover my costs, and then donate some of our proceeds to charity.  The rest of the proceeds will be put towards the making of future books.

I was invited to an open house at an elementary school on Tuesday, and since it was in the evening, I packed up my kiddos.  We set up a table (using her leprechaun house, the books and bookmarks to decorate), and the kids helped me hand out bookmarks and talk to people about the books.

Who needs Girl Scouts to teach business skills?!  Instead of having my daughter sell highly processed cookies that practically everyone feels obliged to buy anyway, I’m teaching her how to pitch someone on something they’ve never heard about, and giving her the confidence to go up and approach people about our books — something we are very proud of.

At least that is my plan.  Anyway, it has been a great, yet an exhausting week.  For the first part of the week, I was deathly afraid that I’d be stuck with the $500 of hard copy books I ordered.  But you know what?  Things are picking up speed…  I think I may just sell all of those books.  And that is a good thing.  A really GOOD thing!

Visit www.adelinesmagicalmoments.com to read more about my books.

Here is a picture of Little Miss helping me sell books and handing out bookmarks.

selling books

A Valentine For My Past Self

14 Feb

I read a great article on the Huffington Post yesterday about a woman writing a letter to her past self regarding Valentine’s Day. I thought it was such a great idea that I’m writing one to myself.

This is the recipient intended for this note:

old school

Dear 16 Year Old Lynnette,

Happy Valentine’s Day! I can’t remember this specific Valentine’s Day for you, but I remember this holiday used to be a BIG DEAL for you. There was always excitement that you’d receive a surprise Valentine, or that the current boy of interest would get romantically inspired for the big day.

It often didn’t work out that way. I remember many Valentine’s Days where you pined away, just dreaming of the time in your life where you will have a Valentine, and imagining those days as romantic, with candlelight dinners, chocolate, flowers, and yes, perhaps some jewelry or poetry.

You will have Valentine’s Days where you get sweet sentiments from guys that are just NOT very exciting for you, and there will be a few Valentine’s Days with unrequited efforts, where you will be utterly depressed.

Do you know who your best Valentine of all times will be? Your Mom. There is a woman that remembered you every year, and gave you quite the care packages even when you lived far from home. There was also your Dad, who brought you one flower every Valentine’s Day, but the fact that you knew you could rely on that one flower each year you lived at home with him is a special memory for you now.

So what are your Valentine’s Days like now that you have that permanent Valentine? Not at all like you imagined. Your Valentine is proud that he isn’t a “sucker for that marketing scam”, and he doesn’t see much of a need for romantic gestures after making that one huge gesture of marrying you. But hey, he’s there, he’s opening a special bottle of wine, and you aren’t going to be lonely.

What is really special about the Valentine’s Days of your future, though, is your kids. Like your daughter, who made you multiple Valentines, and professes her love for you daily. The same girl that dressed in a tutu, heart tights, a heart shirt, and 80s style pink gloves for the occasion. And then there is your son, who isn’t sure he wants to give away his Transformer Valentines, and is covered in the Transformer tattoos and heart stickers that came with the Valentines he picked out at the store.

The Valentine’s Day of your future is busy, but fun, and not nearly as romantic and dreamy as you imagined, but much more sustainable and real.

So keep smiling, and rest assured that you’ll have to spend a lot less time on your hair in the future, and know that the dress you’re wearing in that picture will be the last hand-sewn dress your Mom will make for you because you will complain about it too loudly. You should just bite your tongue and realize what a treasure those handmade dresses really are.

Love,

Future Self

valentines day

And I’m Back…

22 Jan

ImageTap, tap, tap…  Is this thing on?  Well, I went and did it again…  Neglected my poor blog for 2 months.  I don’t feel that bad, though.  Next month, my blog will be celebrating its 11th anniversary, so honestly, in the grand scheme of things, if I drop off for a few months, it’s not that big of a deal.  Sure, I probably lost 2 of my 5 readers, but I’ll get you back!

So, December pretty much reached out, swallowed me up and spit me out the first week of January.  I started off the month recovering from a surgical procedure, which meant I was blessed to have my Mom come out and be my nursemaid for almost a week.  It was great getting to spend so much time with her and to eat the amazing meals she cooked for our family! 

So after Mom left, I went back to work, had to catch up from being gone, and once I was caught up, it was holiday prep time full steam.  Over the holidays, I had 9 days of visitors, including my entire side of the family and half of my husband’s side of the family. 

Add on top of that great snow conditions in the mountains, and our little family has been sneaking up to the mountains to ski every opportunity we can get.  My daughter started ski team earlier this month, which she absolutely LOVES and has done wonders for her skiing skills and confidence.  Our three year old son, Little Man, has been hot and cold with skiing — one day ripping it up, and the next day collapsing in tears.

I’ve made my way back to the expert hills and moguls, after recovering from my knee injury, which happened two years ago tomorrow.  My knee feels awesome, and my next goal is to return to the steeps…  I have to admit I’m still afraid to fall, so doing moguls without a really steep slope has been my groove lately.  The hubby and I are skiing in Utah next month, so hopefully by then I’ll be back to the steeps.  It’s either that or get left in the dust by the hubby on our “romantic ski vacation”. 

Who am I kidding?  Ski vacations with my husband are full-on athletic and endurance events, followed by hot tubbing and collapsing into bed at night. 

But besides all that, I have been making great progress on my biggest goal lately, which is my children’s book series.  I finished two books, complete with an editor’s edits.  I’m working on my third book, so I now need to start thinking about my marketing and distribution strategy.  It is awesome to be making one of my bucket list items happen for me, even if it means self-publishing. 

So there you have it, back now for regular updates…  I think! 

 

Rest in Peace, Buddy

5 Dec

Shadow Dog

1997 – 2012

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We lost our dog today.  He was 15 years old, which is 105 years in human years.  He had been declining for a while, so we knew this was coming.  He took a turn for the worse overnight, and we knew that he needed to be put out of his misery today.  Shadow was a loving dog that loved our kids and never growled at them as they clamored on top of him.

I met Shadow when JB and I first started dating, and he immediately treated me as one of his family, or pack.  For several years, he was my perfect running match, as neither of us ran very fast.  Over the years, he walked with me through both my pregnancies and recoveries from C-sections, and would talk with such character when he was hungry (which was a lot).  In his younger days, he would find pieces of trash on our walks, and carry them around like they were treasures.  We always knew when he had trash in his mouth, as he got this very proud, yet sheepish look about him.

My husband had two dogs when we met, and I had one dog.  They were all large and black (one Rottweiler and two lab mixes), and we dubbed them the Black Dog Club.  It was a bit overwhelming owning 250+ pounds of dogs, but it was also a lot of fun.  It is sad to have now laid to rest the last member od the Black Dog Club.  For the first time in over 10 years, I am without a dog, and it feels very lonely.

We’ll miss you, Shadow Dog.

 

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He is Thankful

21 Nov

He is Thankful

Glad to know my boy is learning the meaning of Thanksgiving… He is thankful for monster trucks!

Long Term Career Objectives

8 Nov

About a month ago, I was fishing out something from under my bed, and came across the Sound of Music box set my mother had given me a few years ago, with a note saying, “save this until your daughter is ready.”

Oh, she’s ready!  I thought.  Over the course of the next weekend, whenever we got a chance when the boys in our house weren’t around, we watched it.  I sang along.  It was such a special memory.  I remembered watching that movie each year with my own mother, and I was thrilled that my daughter seemed to like it and understand the story.

Next thing I know, the child is waking up early and popping in the DVD in the morning.  I have woken up numerous mornings to the sound of her singing along to the movie.  “I am sixteen, going on seventeen…”

It is adorable.  But it is getting to the point of her being obsessed.

She quickly decided she wanted to be a nun for Halloween, despite the fact that I told her most of her classmates wouldn’t even know what a nun was.  She then started talking about wanting to be a nun when she grew up.  She has watched the movie so much that she can recite all of the dialogue and songs by heart.

So last week, when I saw a mention in the newspaper about the nuns at a local monastery having an open house , I just knew we had to go.

We showed up on Saturday, and a nun greeted us at the door.  “There was a misprint in the paper,” she said.  “The open house isn’t really until tomorrow.”

Once I told her that I had a six year old entranced with nuns that just wanted to meet some real live nuns, the doors were thrown wide open and we were offered a personal tour of the entire facility.

You know what?!  Those nuns have a pretty sweet set up.  They live in a modern building on a huge plot of land with large, colorful trees and sweeping views of the valley.  They wear street clothes, by the way.  (They said they just decided the habits weren’t conductive to their work, and it didn’t make much sense to change in and out of it for worship.)

You should see the kitchen these nuns have.  Holy cow, it is huge, with modern appliances, granite countertops, and I can just imagine the amazing meals that get created in their kitchen.  They have a dining room with a big, beautiful table, where all 19 nuns eat together with a huge picture window backdrop.  I really wanted to join them for a meal.

As for the nuns, we met a lot of them, and they were so nice, open and receptive.  It literally felt like 19 girlfriends living together, which as I contemplate that, actually sounds like a pretty sweet life.  I wonder if they drink wine, though.  I described to my husband as a sorority house for older women (without the men and alcohol).

Anyway, we spent a lot of time touring the grounds, and Little Miss even asked to see their bedrooms, so we were ushered up to the living quarters to see their bedrooms and meet their dog that they keep onsite.  I then learned that the nun giving the tour was an avid skier.

A skiing nun!  How cool is that?!

We definitely bonded over skiing, and she told me that she skis almost every day in the winter.  (Once again, wow, not a bad life, eh?!)  It makes sense, though.  Living in this community, skiing would be a great way to do outreach, as you can talk to people on each chairlift ride.

They have a few nuns on site that are resident artists.  We stopped in to view the nun’s art and buy some greeting cards that the nuns had made, and as we were leaving, I asked my daughter if she still wanted to be a nun, and she enthusiastically said yes.

“But then you couldn’t have children,” I reminded her.

“That’s OK, I’ll be a nun at an orphanage.”

Looks like she has her long term career objectives all planned out.  She’ll be a nun that works at an orphanage, and does art, gymnastics, skiing and ballet in her spare time.

Looks like a perfect future nun, right?!

Color Me Rad

26 Sep

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Last weekend, I took the kids to do the Color Me Rad 5K.  When I originally signed up for this run, I thought I’d start having my daughter train with me so that she’d be ready to run it.

Ah, the best laid plans…  Turns out any time I had the opportunity to run, I usually had 30-40 minutes, which meant I could either run around the block by myself and get a workout, or try to bring her and go at her pace.  So instead of training, I did the 5K at her pace.  She started off great, saying she wanted to run the whole thing and asking what she’d get if she won (haha).

The running lasted about 200 yards.  Then, we walked fast, slowed down, and she started saying she wanted to sit.  The only thing that kept her going were the color stations on the course, where people would either throw colored powder on you or shoot you with a colored liquid.

At one point, she “couldn’t go any farther”, and I ended up kicking my son out of the stroller to have him ride piggy back and put her in the stroller.  At the next street, I started to cut the course and go straight to the car.  I’m in decent shape, but doing a 5K hoisting 90 pounds of kid weight and listening to whining and crying wasn’t what I wanted to do.

As soon as my daughter saw me about to cut the course, she rallied, and said she could finish the 5K.  Of course, at this point, my son decided he liked being carried, so I carried him while my daughter pushed the empty stroller.

Despite the rough patch in the middle, it was a really fun event.  We really loved the color party afterwards where you use the “color bombs” of bags of color to throw at friends and family.  After the race, I took them to the pool at Squaw Valley, which turned out to be a brilliant way to get all of us clean without messing up my bathroom!

And She’s BACK!

17 Aug

Woo0ps.  There went a month in blog-land.  Sorry about that.  I’ve had numerous posts composed in my head, and never managed to write them…  So, here is a random smattering of thoughts for you…

Olympics.  Oh, wow.  That is one way to turn my family of rather active people into a bunch of couch potatoes, ironically.  My daughter was learning about the Olympics in school, and was very excited to watch them.  I was very excited to watch swimming, and hoping that seeing the Olympic swimmers would inspire her.  I made sure to show her the interviews with Missy Franklin, who is tall, strong, and with such a lovely personality.  I think my daughter will be somewhere near the height of Missy Franklin, so I wanted her to see how good height could be for a girl.

But what did my daughter latch onto?  Women’s gymnastics.  Now, I don’t have anything against this sport, but those girls are TINY.  The women in our family are not tiny.  I even searched online for the “tallest Olympic gymnast woman”, and the answer was 5’5″.  We estimate that she’ll be about 6’1″.

So we had conversations about how she will be tall, and she should try sports where height will be an asset.  “Want to watch volleyball?”  “Hey, look, Missy Franklin won another gold medal!”

But she is still set on gymnastics.  So, next week, she is doing a trial class of gymnastics.  My mother giggled at this whole story, as I had a similar fascination when I was little, and as my mom said, I need to let her figure out if it is the right sport for her.  I’m betting it’s not, but I’ll just keep my mouth shut and let her figure it out for herself.

But, I made a deal with her – that if I was going to pay for gymnastics this school year that she’d agree to do swim team next summer.  She agreed, so I guess we have a compromise.  (How I’m going to get her to 2x/week swim practices at 5pm when I’m supposed to work until 5pm is something I have to figure out before then.)

Plus, the gymnastics school has a class for my son’s age group at the same time, so instead of trying to keep him occupied in a tiny waiting room, I’ll scoot him right into class, too.  That should be good for some entertainment!

And on a side note of the Olympics, I just love watching swimming.  I love watching the new techniques, the new suits, the new technology in caps/goggles, etc, and reminiscing on my days as a swimmer.  I’m so happy to see the sport get elevated status, and I totally idolize many of the swimmers on the men’s and women’s team.

Oh, and will someone please make a US men’s swim team calendar so that I can put that on my Christmas list?

Here is a picture of the next generation’s Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps.

On Biking…

Our son has had a strider bike since Christmas, and he is a real pro at it.  He does stunts, hops curbs, and can totally keep up with his sister on that thing.  We bought him a bike with pedals a few months ago, and promptly took off the training wheels, as he knows how to balance.  Well, he had some mental block about pedals, and avoided that bike for what seemed like the longest time.

Then, one day a few weeks ago, I look out in the backyard, and he had just hopped on his pedal bike (known in our house as the Rocket bike, as it says Rocket on the frame), and he is biking around using pedals like it was no big deal.  This happened the week after his third birthday.

We upgraded our daughter’s bike in the early summer as well.  We got her a mountain bike with gears and hand brakes, that is a bit big for her, but at the rate she’s growing, we decided that was the best choice.  Anyway, many nights you’ll find our family biking at the church parking lot in our neighborhood, racing eachother and coming up with different obstacle courses.  It is so fun.  I looked at my son the other day as we were biking next to eachother, and couldn’t believe that just three years ago he was a helpless newborn, and now he is a little boy that can ride bikes with me and share the funniest thoughts.

On Growing Up…

I put my daughter on a plane this week by herself.  She flew to the Bay Area to spend the week with her grandparents and aunt.  My six year old was excited and not at all afraid to march onto that plane without me.  It was the strangest feeling to watch the plane pull back from the gate.  I couldn’t help thinking about how recent it seemed that traveling with her was a big ordeal, and now I can just plop her on a plane.  They say that time moves fast when you’re a parent, and I would have to agree.

Those are my thoughts for the day…  Please don’t give up on me and my little blog! A few more random pics from our summer below.

Little Man being tossed in the air by his dad:

 

My daughter doing the bungee trampoline at Mammoth ski resort last month:

Portrait of a Kindergarten Graduate

6 Jun

Today is the last day of school for my daughter. As of this afternoon, she will have completed Kindergarten. Everyone says that time flies when you’re raising children, and that is so true. This feels like a landmark moment, so I thought I’d spend a few minutes writing about my daughter, the Kindergarten graduate, at age six.

Her world is one of beauty and magic. Her fertile imagination has her believing in fairies, mermaids, leprechauns and angels. She is a budding artist, and all of her drawings consist of rainbows, flowers and happy, smiling mermaids or fairies (or a combination of the two into a mermaid fairy) that are smiling and look just like her.

Her teacher sent home a binder with her school work and art work from throughout the year, and it was so fun to look at.  The first page said, “What is special about me is my Mom and My Dad”.  Every single person she drew is happy, and she doesn’t like her own artwork until it leaves the satisfactory level of beauty in her eyes.

Last week, she did a project at home she titled  ”Map of My Heart”.  On it, she glued a picture of her parents, one of her as a toddler, and then she wrote all the things she loves, including, “dogs, dolls, bike, swim, girl scouts”.  She also wrote that she wants to dance and be a nurse when she grows up.

My daughter is the essence of the innocence of childhood right now.  I want to put her in a bubble to maintain this beautiful, happy impression of the world that she currently has.  One day something will happen to put a damper on her world of magic and smiles, but I will do my best to make sure that day isn’t for a long time.

For now, I will relish the moments where she thinks the light reflections on the wall are fairies watching down on her, and when we sing loudly and off key together as we drive around Reno.

Each night as I put her to bed, I tell her that she is my dream come true.  I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without her.

Public Service Announcement: How To Teach Your Kids To Swim

29 May

Anyone that knows me knows that I love swimming. I started on swim team at six years old, started teaching swim lessons at 14, and was a swim coach for three years. I was also a lifeguard for five years. So, yes, I’ve spent a lot of time at pools.

I believe that swimming was a tremendous gift that my parents gave me. It is my form of meditation, and a form of exercise I can carry with me into adulthood, and through two pregnancies and recovering from knee surgery. I definitely want to pass on the same gift to my children.

Swimming is our main activity together in the summer. Like yesterday, when we went to the pool and were immersed for three hours. Nothing makes me happier than sharing my love of the water with my kids.

What frustrates me, though, is watching how some other parents approach swimming with their children. Namely, when people put their small children in suits that have built in life jackets, built in floatation and water wings, or water wings.

At all of the pools I worked at, having flotation devices on your children was strictly prohibited. There was a good reason for that rule — putting children in flotation devices gives them a false sense of security in the water. They believe they can swim, and they do not learn the proper respect for the water. It also messes up their body positioning in the water.

Yesterday, I watched a woman who had her two year old in a life vest and water wings. The woman was in the water, but standing 3 feet from her daughter, saying, “look, you can swim!”

What I see is a two year old getting false confidence that could be deadly if she comes across a body of water while an adult isn’t looking.

What also drives me crazy is the parents that put their kids in flotation devices and then sit on the deck watching from afar. First rule of teaching your kids to swim: GET IN THE WATER. There is no replacement for adult supervision. Ever. Keep the flotation devices OFF of your children, and get in and hold them, teaching them how to kick, blow bubbles, hold their breath, and move their arms. It is really that simple. Those simple skills may take a while, but that is really what it’s all about.

Also have them practice grabbing onto the wall (doing the monkey walk to get to more shallow water), and getting out on their own (that’s right, without any pushes from the parent). It is my goal to ensure if my kids fall into a pool by accident that they won’t panic, will be able to turn around, grab the wall, and get out. I also drill into their heads that they do not get in the water without me. Period. My almost 3 year old will wait patiently on the step until I get to the pool.

I think it’s also important to get in and swim with your kids. Get your hair wet. Wear goggles and have underwater tea parties. Swim like a mermaid. I was at the pool yesterday, and for the majority of the time, I was the only parent in the water. So many women don’t want to get their hair wet or mess up their makeup. My advice to you: get over it! It is much more fun to just jump in completely than worry about every splash messing something up. I think my kids learn how to respect and enjoy the water because they see me doing it as well.

So what should you do with your kids? If they’re young, it’s all about imagination and play. Try ring around the rosy (you all fall down underwater and blow bubbles), host tea parties, go on lion hunts (or insert your favorite animal, going through obstacles like sinking sand, holes water falls, etc. on your quest), play tag. I buy my kids super cool pool toys each year (because they all seem to disappear by the end of the summer anyway). We have a shark, dive rings, kick board, etc. The kick board is strictly for kicking with my supervision. It is not a flotation device! I will not buy them anything inflatable besides a ball. The ball is only acceptable because they cannot rely on it to keep them afloat. They must rely on me or themselves.

I think getting kids goggles also makes a huge difference. I’ve found the brand Finis to be the most reliable against leaks. Goggles take away the strange sensation of water in your eyes, and also helps you to open your eyes underwater and feel comfortable.

There you have my words of advice. And for the record, I do own life vests for my kids, but those are saved strictly for our lake or ocean outings, where a wave or a sudden dip in the sand could pull them under. They never wear them in the pool.

After three hours in the pool yesterday, I taught my kids another lifeguard trick… When you’re chilled from being in the water so long, there is NOTHING that feels as good as laying on the hot cement. NOTHING. I had a moment yesterday where we all three were laying on the pool deck together, and I couldn’t help beaming, knowing that the tradition of swimming will live on in these two.

Phoenix Vacation Pics

23 May

Following up on my post about the trip to Phoenix last week, here are some pics.

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A Mother’s Day To Remember

22 May

For Mother’s Day, I decided I wanted the whole family to go to the beach at Lake Tahoe and take my kayak, which I haven’t been able to use for years (between pregnancy, a new baby, and then a knee injury, it has been over 3 years).

The hubby suggested we stop by Mt. Rose on the way to the beach so that Little Man could ski. Doesn’t everyone stop for a quick ski on the way to the beach?!

Anyway, we got to Mt. Rose, where there was now a creek down the main run, and JB walked with Little Man in the mud and slush to get him to ski. Little Miss and I stayed back, as we were dressed more for the beach than tromping through slushy snow.

There was much crying from Little Man, and he did two extremely short “runs”.

Then, we were finally off to the beach. It was a glorious day, and I immediately put the kayak on the lake and took off with Little Miss in my lap. Let me tell you, we’re mighty close to the weight limit on that kayak, as Little Miss is almost 60 pounds now. That meant we sat low, lots of COLD Tahoe water was leaking in, and the smallest movement from her made me fear we were going to tip. Let me tell you, the water in Tahoe this time of year is frigid, and I absolutely did NOT want to tip.

JB took Little Man out twice. On the second time, I was sitting in my beach chair with my head tipped back and eyes closed when I heard crying in the distance. JB was far enough out with the kayak that I couldn’t tell what was going on, but it sure looked to me like Little Man was the only person on the boat.

Turns out that JB had flipped the kayak trying to do some sporty turn around a buoy. They both went in (thankfully Little Man had a life vest on), and JB had put Little Man on top of the overturned kayak. From shore, I couldn’t see JB. The first thing that came to mind was the recent accident where a man and his 2 year old son drowned in a Washington lake while canoeing.

But I rationalized in my head that JB is a strong swimmer, and has done numerous open water swims in triathlons. Still, the former lifeguard in me really wanted to go try to save them or offer help. I valiantly took several steps into the water, and my reaction was BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I then saw that two women had beached their kayaks right next to where I was standing, so I asked them if I could borrow them to go help my hubby. They obliged, and I tore out there as fast as I could (realizing their kayak was much sleeker and faster than mine). I arrived at our kayak to find JB in the water, pushing the kayak towards shore, and with a smile on his face. Little Man was still crying, but he was safe. We decided it was probably better to let JB continue pushing the boat, and my help wasn’t needed.

After this ordeal, we asked Little Man if he preferred kayaking (and tipping over into the lake) or skiing. His answer? Tipping over into Lake Tahoe. Ha!

Anyway, it was a glorious day, but I do think our kayak will soon make it to a Craigslist posting, and we’ll soon be buying a paddleboard instead (after the water warms a bit more)!

Goodbye To An Old Friend

29 Feb

Yesterday, I learned via Facebook of a friend from college dieing of brain cancer.

This whole Facebook phenomenon has an interesting twist when someone dies. This is the second time that one of my Facebook friends has died, and their Wall turns into a virtual memorial, with people posting memories, sympathies to the family, and pictures.

I haven’t talked to David since college, but we reconnected on Facebook a few years ago. He came to the Reno area regularly for Burning Man, and it would have been fun to see him on one of those trips. He had two young daughters, and it just breaks my heart thinking of his little family carrying on without him, and also thinking about all he will miss as a father to those girls. Thanks to Facebook, though, we had at least reconnected virtually, I was aware of his illness, and I was also informed of his passing in a very timely manner. If this would have happened 10 years ago, I likely wouldn’t have found out about his passing at all.

The other Facebook friend who died was someone I knew all through elementary school to high school. From what I could gather on the Wall posts, she committed suicide. Periodically, like on her birthday or the anniversary of her death, I’ll see notes that her Mom writes to her, or notes that friends write.

I wonder what Facebook’s policy is for people who have died. So far, it appears they leave the account intact, and it seems to be a high tech way for people to mourn the lost.

It definitely makes me think about my own mortality when people my age die. Especially David, who I remember as a vibrant, funny and fun loving guy. Let this serve as a reminder to live each life in the fullest.

Rest in peace, Dave.

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Cook Family Reunion

28 Feb

Cook Family Reunion

My parents met at a ski club.  They introduced my brothers and I to skiing at a young age, and we’re now continuing that tradition with our kids.  Two weeks ago, my whole family gathered at Kirkwood, CA for a family ski day.  What a lovely time it was, indeed.  I can’t wait for my kiddos to be old enough to ski all day!

P.S.  Isn’t my brother’s puppy ADORABLE?!

Butt Cake

13 Feb

The past few weeks have definitely been a whirlwind.  My parents came into town to celebrate my daughter’s sixth birthday with us.  It has been such a treat to have my parents visiting!

The night before Little Miss’ birthday, my mom baked her a special mini-cake in a cake pan that looks like a present.  They also baked a bunch of cupcakes for the kids that would be attending her party.  My mom put the cake on the rack to cool, and then started making frosting.

My daughter got up on the counter to help make the frosting.  A while later, I came into the kitchen to find them happily frosting cupcakes on the table, and this was on the counter.

 

 

That’s right, people, my daughter had sat on her own birthday cake without even knowing it!  We all got a good laugh out of it, and the newly named butt cake then went into the garbage as whe baked another cake.

Here is what the second birthday cake looked like:

Much better!

This past weekend, we skied with my parents and all of my nieces and nephews.  What a treat it was to ski with our entire extended family.  I especially enjoyed skiing with my parents.

 

This week, I am getting Lasik Enhancement surgery, and I won’t be allowed to ski for a week.  You all know what that means, right?  It’s FINALLY snowing here.  Figures.

 

 

Dragon Slaying on the Slopes

10 Jan

The past two weekends, we have been going skiing as a family of four.  That is really special to me, considering my knee injury last year, and the fact that it is Little Man’s first ski season.

But ski outings with a two year old aren’t easy.  This is how it has gone the past four outings:

1.  We suggest skiing, and he gets all excited, saying, “I want to ski!”  He is happy the entire ride to the ski area.

2.  We get there, and once we get the jacket, helmet, goggles and gloves on him, he melts down.  This is about the time I send JB to the slopes with Little Miss, and I get to deal with the screaming toddler.

3.  I’ve learned we head to the lodge at this point, where he writhes around on the ground and cries for at least a half an hour.  This last week, he collapsed just feet outside the entrance to the lodge.  A man walking by with his two kids starts saying, “Man down, Man down!”

People in ski lodges think a kid throwing a tantrum in ski gear is REALLY funny.  I am pretty much over it.  I tend to grab a camera, take a few pics for future blackmail purposes, and then I sit down about 10 feet away from him until he snaps out of it.

Right after this picture was taken, I ran into my former boss.  It is a bit embarrassing to have your kid losing his s*#t on the floor.

This past weekend, after 30 minutes of flailing, Little Man came up to me and said, “I want to go see the dragons.”

Dragons?  I’ll roll with it.  “Let’s go, then,” I said.  “You need a helmet to protect you from the dragons, and the goggles will keep the fire off of your eyes.”

So then, we head to the chairlift looking for the dragons.  Whatever works, I’ll do it.

Of course the snow conditions here have been hideous — all man made at this point.  They’ve been making snow during the day, and I’m pretty sure he thinks the snow guns are the dragons.

4.  After he snaps out of his tantrum, things are fine.  He likes to ride the chairlift, and makes hilarious noises we’ve dubbed his ski noises, which usually include squeaks and squawks.  He’s a little trooper after he gets over his initial issues.

Last night, he told us that he wanted to take his basketball skiing, but that he’d hold on to it really tight so that the dragons wouldn’t get it.

JB said he’s going to take Little Man skiing on Sunday while I’m in Disneyland with our daughter.  I’m curious to see if he’ll pull this stuff with Daddy, and if he does, what Daddy’s reaction will be to a half hour tantrum.

Getting Back Up On That Horse

3 Jan

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We went up to Mt. Rose three times over the holiday break to get the kids skiing.  The first two times, I simply helped shuttle kids and equipment to JB, who was working patiently with both of them.

Mt. Rose where where I injured myself, and from where I stood, I could see the scene of the accident, where I fell within sight of the lodge and the lower mountain, and had to ride a snowmobile down to the ski patrol.

Yesterday, I finally got up the courage to try skiing again.  The doctor told me I could ski 9 months after surgery, and to start slow.

Eleven months, three weeks after my initial injury, and nine months, two days after my surgery, I made my return to skis.  I did three beginner runs, and got to ski with the hubby and both of my kids.

I still have a lot of work to do to get back to “normal”, if that will be possible, but the first major hurdle in conquering my fears has been cleared.

Fun With An Elf

14 Dec

My mom purchased The Elf on the Shelf for us four years ago. For the first several years, I dutifully moved the elf every night, and it was pretty fun.

But this year, I started seeing fun ideas online, and I have really stepped up the mischief that our elf pulls. Here are a few shots of the hilarity, including painting the bathroom mirror, and the kids noses, and then being found with a paintbrush, hanging underwear and diapers on the tree, fishing for Goldfish crackers in the toilet, and drawing funny faces on a family portrait. Our elf even brought them Christmas pjs to wear on our Polar Express train ride.

One Sunday, I overheard Little Miss begging Bethaniel to play hide and go seek with her.  I told her that perhaps if she went to count in her room while he hid, he would play, as he didn’t want her to see him move.  I kept that girl busy for well over an hour playing hide and seek with her elf.  It was hard to keep a straight face, but she was really good at finding all of the funny places I hid that doll.

Wondering what I can do that will top all of this…  I’ll be using sites like this for ideas.  Bwahahahahaha…..

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Two Wheelin’

25 Oct

Two months ago, my husband took off my daughter’s training wheels and they made a few attempts at her trying to learn to ride on two wheels. It didn’t go well, and neither of them was interested in trying again for quite a while. I also assumed that with my bad knee, I wasn’t the best person to help her, as I couldn’t run along beside her very well.

Two weeks ago, I was hanging out with a friend who has a daughter the same age, and she let me in on a magical training technique.

“Put her on a steep driveway, have her put her feet out to the side, and tell her to wiggle her bottom to balance the bike.” Then, you just have her ride towards you and you catch her.

Well, this was something even a Gimpy Momma could do! I could catch her! We started on a Saturday, and by Sunday, she was riding on her own.

I also used some positive visualization techniques I learned at a seminar a few years ago. The speaker had said that your brain will do what you concentrate on, so concentrate on what you want to do, NOT what you don’t want to do.

I used this with my daughter, looking her in the eyes, and saying, “you can do this. You’re a biker.”

I’d then have her repeat to me what she was going to concentrate on, “pedal, pedal, pedal, then push back to brake and put my feet down.”

It worked! It worked so well! It was exhilerating being the one to teacher her. It was as exciting as her first steps! Being a parent is truly a wonderful experience. I came back to work that Monday thinking that teaching her to ride her bike felt just as much of an accomplishment as my graduate degree or getting a promotion at work.

Two Wheelin'

Riding without training wheels!

New Beginnings

6 Sep

Today, both of my kids started new things. Little Miss started kindergarten today, which was a momentous occasion in our house. I saw her off to the bus stop this morning, and it wasn’t until that bus drove away with my little girl that the tears filled my eyes.

I have always heard of mothers getting misty eyed when their child starts kindergarten, and I didn’t think much of it. It definitely hit me, and for a good hour, every time I thought about it, I would get tears in my eyes. It was so strange to put her on the bus and not escort her directly into her classroom. I can’t wait to go home and hear all about it later today.

Little Man also started with his new caretaker today. He threw a fit this morning, and demanded to go to his new caretaker’s house. Evidently I wasn’t getting ready fast enough for his liking. He practically ran to the new sitter’s house, and when I opened the door, he bolted for the living room with all the toys, not looking back at me once. I talked to the sitter for a few minutes, and when I went to leave, I called his name… He called back “bye” from the other room. So much for a sentimental goodbye!

People always say that kids grow up too fast, but you don’t fully understand it until you witness it for yourself.

Fathers Day

13 Jun

I totally thought yesterday was Fathers Day. Perhaps it was because preschool celebrated it last week, I got thrown off for a week. I let JB sleep in. When he woke up, he requested omlettes for breakfast, which I dutifully made.

Later in the morning, he went back to bed, and I kept sheparding the kids away from him, saying, “Daddy needs to rest, it’s his special day.”

I then took the kids to the farmer’s market, buying all of JB’s favorite things for dinner — beets, steak from local beef, gourmet mushrooms…

I posted this picture on Facebook to commemorate the day, one of a drawing Little Miss did of her father for Father’s Day. (I wondered why so many people talked about Mother’s Day on Facebook, but no one mentioned Father’s Day for some reason…)

When I came home from the farmer’s market, I started fixing him quesadillas for lunch. I called up my Dad while I was cooking to wish him a happy Fathers Day.

“A what?” He asked, sounding perplexed.

“Fathers Day.”

“Today isn’t Fathers Day,” he responded. I checked the calendar in our pantry, and low and behold, I was a whole week early!

Darnit. I don’t think JB knew I was wrong. If he did, he was soaking it up anyways… His parents are in town for the real Fathers Day, so looks like he gets two this year.

Gimpy Momma Goes to Tahoe

23 May

This weekend, I bit off a bit more than this Gimpy Momma can or should chew. I signed up to take the kidlets to an overnight camp with the preschool Little Miss attended last year. I know, a bit strange, but the venue is AMAZING. We went last year, and staying in a facility on the beach in South Lake Tahoe is divine, plus it is enclosed, has multiple play areas for the kids, and it is attended by a bunch of parents that watch out for eachother’s kids.

What I didn’t factor into the equation was me being pretty gimpy still, and trying to manage a toddler in this space. Trying to make sure he didn’t kill himself while stumbling around and trying not to tear my ACL graft was a bit nerve wracking.

What kept replaying in my mind was that my physical therapist had warned me my graft is weakest right now. He also said he had a patient tear his ACL graft in sand. So what was I doing? I lot of walking on sand with a lot of rocks, trying to carry 30 pounds of wriggling toddler, lecturing myself in my head that this was NOT a good idea.

And then there were the sleeping arrangements. The kids and I ended up getting placed in the same room as a family of 4. I had arranged to bunk up with this family, but we all thought we were getting separate rooms. Not so. The other family was a husband and wife with two kids, a girl of 5 and a boy of 2.

Have you ever tried to sleep 4 kids ages 5 and 2 in one room? No fun. Add to that the other two year old woke up almost every hour on the hour, in turn waking up the other 3 kids. None of us got much sleep.

Our wake-up call came at 5:30am, when we woke to the cries of “Daddy, monster under bed! Daddy, monster under bed!” I didn’t move, assuming it was the other 2 year old. But no, the other mom in the room said that child was sleeping in bed with his Dad, who confirmed it wasn’t him crying.

It was Little Man. My child of few words… That speaks mainly in grunts and pointing, and never says more than one word at a time. That child is the one who woke us all at an unGodly hour speaking a complete sentence!

And of course, the sun was coming up, so all four of the kids were up for good. I quickly got up and dressed my kids, shuttling them out the door and to the dining hall, where I knew I could keep them contained and fed until breakfast (a long 2 hours away). Plus, I knew there was coffee there.

Sounds miserable, right? Why on earth would I do this to myself?

Because even when you’re waking up at 5:30am, seeing this first thing in the morning is simply breath-taking.

Plus, the food there is amazing as well. All locally grown, organic, freshly prepared, I ate like a queen. And all of it was worth the misery (mostly) after I got to spend three peaceful hours on the beach with my kidlets on Sunday morning. The water was smooth as glass, Little Man generously stayed close to me making it his mission to throw all of the rocks on the beach into the water, and I got to sit back and enjoy this amazing lake. My kids are so lucky to be growing up close to Tahoe. I didn’t see this magnificent lake until I was 21.

We left camp after lunch (oh, what a lunch it was!). The kids promptly fell asleep in the car, and when I got home, I transferred them to their beds, where they slept another 3 hours. I caught up on sleep, and once everyone got the sand and dirt washed off of them, we were pretty well recovered from our miserable night of sleep.

Easter Pictures

28 Apr

Here are a few of my favorite Easter pictures. It sure is hard to get a good picture of both kids, considering the constant motion!

And now for a few random pictures… First, Little Man the rock star, with his mohawk, AC/DC inspired shirt, and pink princess sunglasses:

Next, Little Man put on his sister’s rain boots when he went to play in the backyard. Too cute!

Seriously?!

26 Feb

And there is more snow in the forecast…

This is my neighbor’s car. Glad I have a garage!

Our backyard. I love how buried the porch swing and tricycle are.

Today was a total cluster. I awoke to find that preschool was indeed open, so I got us all up and ready and headed out in the blizzard to get to work. I dropped off Little Miss, and right as I pulled up to work, I discovered I left my computer at home. So, I drove home. On the way home, three warning lights appeared on my dashboard. I look them up in the owner’s manual, and the message for each light is “see dealer immediately.”

So, I drove to my physical therapy appointment, and while on the exercise bike there, I booked an appointment at the dealer. Drove straight to the dealer after PT, and waited for THREE HOURS while they tried to figure out what was wrong with my car. Luckily, they had WiFi, so I managed to be really productive with work. The more I waited, the more expensive I imagined the problem to be. After those three hours, they said they couldn’t find why those lights went on, and they just reset my computer. AWESOME.

While wrapping things up at the dealer, I get a call from preschool, reporting Little Miss is having another one of her coughing fits and needs to go home. So, back to get her I went… Goodness, what a day. I should have been holed up at home in front of the fire, but I ended up driving all around Reno in a blizzard. I think it’s time for some wine tonight.

Who is that big guy?

20 Dec

Well, we had a lazy weekend, mostly thanks to the weather.  It was stormy all weekend, making even skiing out of reach, and resulting in a lot of time spent in our pjs in front of the fire.  The weather is still blustery today, and it made me rather grumpy to have to go out in it to go to work insteat of continuing our pj time.

I took the kids to a birthday party this weekend where Santa made an appearance.  Santa sat with all of the preschoolers attending the party first, and said we could get some family pics afterwards.  While we were waiting, Little Man started snacking on grapes.  The hostess approached me as Santa was about to leave, and Little Man had a mouthful of grapes, saying now was our time to get the photo.

So, now I have a series of photos where Little Man looks like he is a chipmunk, but I think the one turned out pretty well.  It’s so hard not to go get them and continue our snuggle time today!

And for fun, here is a picture that shows the chipmunk cheeks.

And then, I thought — wait!  I could use the Windows Live Essentials free tool called Photo Fuze to combine the above pictures with the best expressions of each kid.  Voila!

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