a little siiliness

More dress up.

After a lot of rustling and a little banging, Miah came down stairs with a grim look on her face. She declared that "Baby's got a boo-boo. I'm taking her to the doctor. See ya' later."

"I'm a princess.... like Tugger." Do you see the resemblance? Or do you see her imagination at work?

Being a guard dog.

It seems that very few of the family is avoiding health problems these days. Not even the dog escaped. Tugger's stitches  look OK now, but he came home looking like a train wreck on the day of his surgery.

Washington D.C.

A couple of months ago one of my students won an essay contest put on by one of my favorite organizations, The Bill of Rights Institute dedicated to educating young people about the Constitution. This corresponds well enough with 11th grade curriculum that my school assigns the essay to the entire Junior class. Then the English teachers and US History teacher fight for the top fifteen essays to submit. I must have chosen well because one of the five students I submitted placed third in our region.

To me, that in itself is impressive and worth the difficulty of assigning a scholarship essay as an assignment, but the organization goes above and beyond to honor all the folks who help mold the 27 winning students. They payed for my student, her mom, and myself to travel to D.C. for three days. During the program I stayed in the Marriott (below) which was convenient to everything, including my dear friend whom I met for coffee one afternoon.

I watched my friendly, but typically shy, student grow in amazing ways in a short amount of time. She became close friends with intelligent, articulate, and motivated students across the country; dropped her phobia of cameras; and developed public speaking skills. By the end of the week she was thinking about moving to the energetic city. It renewed my passion to see more of my students partake in events like this.

In the mornings the teachers went one way, the students went another, and the parents headed out on their own. On the first day the teachers were ushered in to the vault with the founding documents. It was relatively quiet and I found myself liesurely absorbed in all the documents on display. This is when I realized that this trip would be different from all the others I've taken in D.C. The last time I walked into the vault, way back in the 6th grade, it was so busy that we were asked to walk through the chamber in a line without stopping.

The wreath of boxwood, which hedges all of G. Washington's gardens, that we laid in honor of that great man.

So I was able to enjoy every activity without regret. Besides, I think the organization has great taste, it allowed me to revisit my favorite place, Mount Vernon. I don't think I could ever tire of these beautiful, peaceful grounds. Our guide was great and helped recreate George Washington vividly. We also laid a wreath in Washington's tomb, a ceremony I had never before heard of.

The original tomb of the Washington family.

I also learned more about Washington's transformation and dilemma with slavery. This scene from one of the slave quarters made me grateful again for our modern conveniences. I like things to be clean, but I'm a rotten cleaner (which is pretty disheartening at times). I couldn't imagine having only cast iron pots, logs, and soft, dirty broom to work with. 

Another treat came late one night when we all went for a guided night tour of the monuments. I had been to them already, but never before at night. Sadly my camera doesn't work well at night, but trust me it's a beautiful sight.  

When we walked down by the Wall, I was taken aback. As the Wall loomed over my head in the dark, I had the sense of being buried. Even if you've visited this memorial in the day, it's worth another visit in the dark.

There a few days before the Cherry Festival, I saw some of the first white blooms appear. Very pretty.

A group shot before entering the Library of Congress, another favorite building of mine. Afterwards we took a tour of the Capitol Building, but I wouldn't recommend it.

 

Having heard that the Smithsonian of American History had been remodelled in the last three years, I turned my feet in its direction on my free day. Of course I was inspired by Julia Child's kitchen.

And had to take a picture of Kermit for Miah.

I was also surprised by the Greensboro lunch counter. They had clearly changed a number of displays around including the Star Spangled Banner. I think they did a beautiful job displaying the flag--incredible. While I enjoyed the museum until my feet hurt, I was a bit sad I couldn't fit the Museum of Natural History into my day. It's one place I've never made it too.



One of the big highlights of my trip was the ability to see my friends. Most everyone escaped my camera or the pictures didn't turn out well enough for public consumption.This is Theresa's gang, minus her son who is going through an anti-camera phase. What a beautiful family. I learned a lot about large families and was able to catch up with one of my favorite people. (Thank you kids for letting me hog your mom's time that day.) I also spent a lot of time with Madalyn and her mom. We shared a memorable night adventure of spilling out of the apartment building on account of the fire alarm. It brought back the old days of fire alarms going off at night in the dorms.

All in all, I was grateful for God's answer to my prayer to be able to visit my friends in D.C. Talk about answering in an ususual way; I didn't even know that sponsoring teachers of the essay contest won a trip.I can't wait for you, Miah, to be old enough to appreciate a trip to this beautiful city.

Poky Little Animal Crackers

A current favorite story in our home lately is the story of The Poky Little Puppy.

Miah has taken the story to a new level by reenacting the story on the counter with her snack, the animal crackers.

Pictures and updates are coming soon.

all dressed up with somewhere to go

I had to chaperone a dance last weekend, and I brought my little dancer with me. When the first group of teenage girls huddled on the edges of the dance floor, the DJ beckoned them on to the floor with, "the dance floor doesn't bite." He didn't need to say that to Miah. As soon as the lights dimmed and the music began she was showing off her best moves. I had to assure a few students she did not learn these moves from me!

As we left she crawled into the lap of the history teacher who knitted her baby blanket years ago. This made his day as she demanded that he read to her from his dusty book about the Middle Ages. They had the funniest conversation about books and history before I had to drag her off to bed. Precious.

'coon hat and Valentine thing

A couple weekends ago I sorted old clothes and tried to take them to the consignment shop. The rules had changed at the shop, so my work became a waste of time for now. Miah, however, took to wearing the beaver skin hat while I worked.

One day Miah brought this home (what is it?) and told me that we needed to show the entire family. She surprised me by naming everyone from Anna to Tandon which is the first time she named everyone without any prompts! I told her that we couldn't go to Oklahoma that afternoon, but promised to share a picture on the blog for the family to see.

fox

It was electrifying!

I opened the shades in Miah's room to a surprise. A fox was basking under a wintery sun in the soft grass. I sent Miah to go tell Grandpa. A month ago I don't know what she would have done, but today she hustled down stairs and I heard her clearly order Grandpa upstairs, "Come see the fox!" It's amazing how she's grown.

We had to impress upon Miah that this dog, a fox, is not our friend. She put on her slippers anyway in a vain attempt to go outside. Grandpa shooed him away for us. Fortunately, Mr. Fox seems much more wary and alert than the fox that used to sleep outside my apartment door.

I don't know that I've seen a fox around here in the winter. I admired his muted coat and the way he blended in perfectly with the grass.

new interests

Miah is finally interested in dressing her dolls. I'm trying to use that to my advantage in getting Miah to bed at night (thank you Grandma for buying PJ's as well as day outfit for her doll last year), but it's only helped once. In dumping out the bag of Cabbage Patch Dolls's clothes, we found her tutu!

"Smile BIG, Baby," said Miah, and asked that I take another picture.

Mark told me later that when he dressed her in her overalls Saturday morning she stood up, hooked her thumbs in the sides and declared, "I farmer." Then I came along and found her tutu. Does this outfit (of her choosing) make her a casual Princess farmer? She's loving dress up items these days. As I plan ahead for her summer outfits, it's becoming loud and clear I need to stock up on dresses. 

one adventure in trinidad

I opened my inbox this morning and saw a message from Mark that read,"And you like snow." Let me clarify: I like snow because it usually means a quiet-stay-at-home-make-hot-chocolate-and-bake-cookies kind of day, and if I go out in the snow it's because I want to. For Mark, the two foot pile carpet spelled a long evening of shoveling himself up the driveway and praying he could get to class the next morning. It probably also meant a cozy log fire to make up for this.

PART TWO
I answered the phone while pulling Miah out of her bath to hear about what happened after this picture was taken. Apparently, Mark tried to shovel himself up the driveway, an undertaking I would never have considered--it's a long driveway. He missed. As he inched his way up the driveway, the car fell off the road. I understand there was a tow truck involved and he missed class.

I'm sure that this view out his window can't come soon enough.

pictures from the funeral

On our way to Oklahoma a few weeks ago, Miah got it into her head that I should take a picture of the stinky cows for her. Here you go Sweetheart, your picture of the cows. 

Bailey stepped in again and became Miah's favorite during the funeral reception. Miah wouldn't let her go--just like this. 

And this. 

I love this picture. It was wonderful having all the grandkids together with Grandma and Grandpa. 

We hear that Ana might have her angry moments, but like Miah, she's pretty content and sweet when all the family is around. 

the new year rather than the old

In retrospect my ringing in the new year was more of a thunk than a tinkle, a thud than a chime. But now that the new year has begun and I'm looking forward... to changes, I can also see the good memories we made over the summer (Holly, Alamosa, Raton) and the wonderful weekend game nights chewing on gummy bears. It was the year of waiting for Miah's hair to grow out. We're still waiting. This was the year that Miah fell in love with swimming, started running, and had us laughing along with her sense of humor. This was the first year were extras in Miah's Musical--I'm pretty sure this only the start to her show. Even though her dad abhors all musicals he's oddly OK that she plays a lead role in one every day.

I don't want to forget that.

In fact, it makes me look forward to dragging the sleds to the Sand Dunes in May when the river is flowing, or to detangling my fishing poles to drop a line in the mountain lakes not far from Trinidad, or to inflating the raft for Miah's first "boat ride", or to dusting off my hiking boots to explore La Veta.The more I learn about Southern Colorado, the more I want to explore. Did you know about the thermally heated lake near Walsenburg? They say it's warm enough to swim during the summer months. I used to love lake swimming in Michigan. If it warm enough, I'll introduce Miah to that wonderful experience.

Here's to an exciting year of changes.

new year

This has been the year of baby birds and moving boxes. I don't remember much of the months before these two things. After the for sale sign went up on our house last year, I began to brace myself--never imagining that I'd be moving in three different directions and assigning finals. Since then (May) we've been largley unsettled for an assortment of reasons.

Symbolically we ended the year of 2010--you guessed it--moving. We were blessed with a sunny, but brisk, day in which to clear out our storage units. What we weren't able to unpack into the kitchen and bedrooms we were able to store in an unusually large closet in the master bathroom. Loading up the truck, I had to laugh at our porportions of things. When we left the house, we sold just about everything, and apparently all that remains are tools, cooking utensils, a good supply of linens, a few keepsakes, and books. A stranger would think all we did was read, eat, and sleep (and once in awhile play games). I can only wish that were true. 

There is a strange comfort that comes from having unpacked my kitchen, even if that kitchen is over 100 miles away. We hope to keep this rental until Mark finishes school. It's a nice feeling. It makes me want a contract with a local school even more. I don't like wanting something so much.

Take a look at this view. Mark took this picture with his phone from the front deck. You get the same view from the front windows which didn't yet get in the way of my cleaning spree--the kitchen and bathroom took too long.

I've told Mark that I want a futon for one of the sitting rooms. If we can find a good deal on one, we'll then have plenty of mattresses to host the family, or friends with kids, down for a weekend getaway.

At first Miah didn't know what to think: she didn't like the new place because of the mess, but she's also ready for a home. I am surprised that she's maintained the distinction of grandma and grandpa's home after all this time. After we cleaned up the boxes and Miah uncovered dolls and toys she hadn't seen for a long time, she accepted the new place.

third birthday

When the Lindens stopped by to drop off papers, they tried asking Miah how old she was. "Three birthdays," was the reply which was correct in a way.

While setting the table for her party, she snuck into my picture of her brightly colored table. There's no theme here other than bright colors, and that's pretty accurate. As I plan how I'm going to decorate her room this summer (because I finally feel comfortable doing that for her) I've planned the design-on-a-dime way to add some sparkle for her. It wouldn't be her room without it.

I intended to make a holiday punch, but after coming home from the store I realized I had forgotten to add the ingredients to my shopping list. Instead, I brewed up some gingerbread latte while the cake baked. This means that Miah had a gingerbread steamer with whipped cream and heart sprinkles on top. I don't know if she ever made it to the milk before she was distracted by cake and presents, but it made her smile.  

Ever since camp this summer, Miah has loved the idea of birthday cake. Every cake, to her mind, is birthday cake. I can't blame her for thinking that. It seemed like every other night the kitchen rolled out a new cake--five weeks in a row. Finally it was her turn for her own cake. Since plans changed the night before, I wasn't able to make this cake fancy--no time to find the dyes for the frosting. She didn't care. It was hers. It was covered in sprinkles and Mom found her pretty daisy candles. Before we could finish saying, "blow out the candles," the flames were gone with one blow, like she had been doing this all year.

She loved every single one of her presents. After we pried her computer out of her hands, she went to work on the puzzle. Grandpa tried to help our dressed up princess, but she was distracted by my cutting cake. With cake in her mouth and balanced on her fork, however, she assembled the puzzle without a second thought. I think we're making progress. I thought it was adorable that she recieved a puzzle from her cousin, the puzzle king. (Kellen, I can't wait to assemble complicated puzzles with you. That's a tradition I shared with my aunts!)

The don't-you-dare-take-a-picture-of-me-on-the-pretty-purple-computer look.

I just finished registering Miah's Leapfrog computer, and she loves it. Thank you grandma and grandpa. We've already "sent" her an e-mail from you.

Sweetheart, I thought about writing sentimental birthday prose to you, but I couldn't find the words. You fill my heart with all your quirks and busyness and I wonder every day what wonderful plans God must have for a spirit like yours.

belated christmas post

Diving in to find her first present.

Miah is pretty serious and focused when unwrapping presents.

She's been waiting almost a year for a My Little Pony. She also received her first game, Candy Land, but she's still a few weeks away from being able to play. Mark didn't realize that she's still struggling with colors when he sat down to play with her.