Spring Break Spent Skiing.

First of all there was skiing; four days in total. The first two days the boys had lessons, so Darin and I each got a day of skiing solo. By the end of the second day of lessons the boys were quite proficient at skiing. The other two days they enjoyed skiing the green runs with mom or dad. Henry would even ride the lifts by himself.

Henry

George

(Of course, there are no pictures of me skiing. On my days, Darin took the girls to Grand Jucntion to gather more supplies, and I was too wimpy to carry a camera while I was skiing.)

The evenings were usually spent with dinner back at the condo and then more fun in the snow.

And of course, the hours of potential fun with the whirlpool bathtub, were honestly limitless. And I could relate. I clearly remember some of the earliest Zackrison family beach week vacations involving hotels with whirlpool bathtubs, and I can still remember the time that we filled it full of bubble bath and turned the jets on. Talk about good times!! So I was happy to let the hours of bath fun be.

On our day off from skiing we took the kids to the hot springs pools in Glenwood Springs. Here the girls fully participated in the family fun. And given that we had found Strawberry Shortcake swimming suits the day before we left, you can just imagine how pleased they were with their swimwear. It was just fun to watch the kids having so much fun.

P.S. I love the image of the snowy mountain in the background of us in the swimming pool. The water was truly toasty.

Thanks Spring Break!! We had a great time.

A vacation from our vacation.

So we got back last night around 11pm. Miraculously we were all intact. I'm serious, that was a miracle. Given that we all got up on skis (minus the two ladies), and skied for four of the five days, I really was expecting some injuries. Only the last day did Darin take a spill and has some swollen thumbs as a result (he landed on them?). Other than that it was a blast. A huge success!! But this morning at 10:30am with four tired kids and a house that looked like bums lived there, I was already overwhlemed and exhausted by our vacation. So I started calling babysitters. When Darin got home from returning the skis, I said, "Guess who's going out tonight? You and me, without the kids!" He was all surprised, and resonpded, "Really?! It's like a vacation from our vacation." I couldn't have said it better. Vacation is great, but sometimes you need a little time to decompress. So instead of launching into vacation re-cap, I'll give a movie review.

Darin picked the flick. It's called "Run Fat Boy Run". And I have to say, it's funny. I would give it four out of five stars. One and a half out of two thumbs up. Whatever, ranking system you enjoy, I'd nearly give it a 100%. First of all, it was just lovely being out and about. Secondly I had no expectations, Darin picked it. I didn't even know what it was about. And finally, I actually laughed out loud, more than once. And let me just say, that rarely happens for me. Of course, sometimes I laughed out loud because Darin was laughing. You know how that goes?!

Anyway, we're back. Keep checking back as the week unfolds. New photos and re-cap to follow soon.

P.S. Also by 1:30pm we were in dialogue with a realtor friend who was going to put us in contact with a nice family that wants to rent a nice house on our side of town for maybe two years. Then we started talking to the said, nice family. Then by 4pm they called and wondered if a friend of theirs could come by in half an hour to take the tour (they currently live in New Jersey). They are trying to make a decision by the end of the weekend?! Remember how I said our house looked like it had exploded on itself while we were away? So that was the craziest half an hour of our lives. Good thing Darin was here too, and that the girls had fallen asleep in the car. That's where they stayed while we ran around like chickens without heads, cleaning up. I think the showing went well. Maybe we'll get a lucky break.

Welcome Spring

It is now spring. So we have been doing a few thigns to welcome it in. First of all, we accepted the delivery of a very large box from See's candy, full of a bunny family made out of chocolate. Thank you Grandma Z. We have eaten much chocolate, and some of us have cried wishing we could eat even more. I will not show a picture of the remaining bunnies, for I do have a bit of pride. But these bunnies are delicious, and they are here to say "Welcome Spring".

"Oh chocolate bunnies, how we love you."

Secondly, we enjoyed a little Easter egg hunt with our playgroup friends. Just a little taste of Easter fun to give us spring fever.

Thirdly, with glorious weather on Friday, and the spring fever induced by the Easter egg hunt, we ventured out on a hike with our dear friends the Pearnes.

And as our final welcome token to spring, we have decide to celebrate Spring break with a ski trip to Powderhorn. It's high time Henry and George get themselves up on skies. And it's been too many years since I've had the luxury of skiing, so we're giving it a go this year. We will leave tomorrow and if we last, we'll spend Monday through Friday on the slopes! Wish us luck. Happy spring break to all, and a hearty welcome to spring. We hope you stick around for a while.

Blogger's Block.

You know, it's not that things aren't happening. They are always happening around here. In fact, I think it would defy all law's of physics for a house full of six people to have NOTHING happening. I mean, take item number one, lip gloss rings arriving in the mail, from our amazing aunt Ana. Just imagine what that meant for one entire afternoon of my life. It required an immediate outfit change, into princess PJs which would better match the princess image on the ring. It required a whole lot of talking. And I mean, A WHOLE LOT of talking, because I guess that's just what princesses do when they are so very excited. But still, somehow, I felt like that day, I didn't have anything to say.

Or imagine my shock and delight, when on Saturday morning I awoke to find Darin in the mood to take all the animals out of the zoo on an excursion to Denver. It's not usual that Darin has on his top five ways to spend a Saturday, "Take all the animals out of the zoo and go somewhere with them." But something happened, and this Saturday he did. So we went to the Natural Science museum for a bit of culture. We went Downtown Denver for gelato and a ride on public transportation. We did a bit of shopping, and ended up having a lovely day. The kids were so excited it was as though we had never taken them abroad before. Success all around. But still, I had nothing to say.

And then when I saw this booty shot that Darin capture of his whole family and their back sides while visiting the museum, I giggled and smiled with such delight, that I thought surely now I have something to say, this is funny. But still nothing. So more days passed by.

So then Sunday came and went. We were on-time to church (that alone is worth recording in the family record). Darin let the children cut his tie off in Primary. Someone threw up in primary. Gourmet meals were prepared with love and care. But still, I came up empty in the brain.

Monday rolled around. A snow day was decided upon. That was okay at first because I didn't want to get out of bed (we've been over this before). I excelled as a mother in many ways this day. Except for the moment when I yelled so loud at my sweet off-spring, that my voice was hoarse for the rest of the afternoon. That was not how I excelled that day. But I repented to them later and redeemed the day as a whole. But still, at the end of it, I had nothing to say.

Which brings me to today and the Pinewood Derby. And truthfully, perhaps this has been part of my problem. It's been out of focus and overwhelming from the very beginning. I didn't really want any part of it. Except that in my efforts to excel as a mother, I neither want to disappoint my children, so I've been hoping that Darin would come through big for us in this department. Since he wouldn't classify himself as an expert craftsman, it's been somewhat nerve wracking for him too. In our attempt to not fail, he in particular probably over-compensated by reading every possible piece of information on the internet about how to build a pinewood derby car. And as a result:

Henry won it! (Or did Darin?)

But still somehow, I felt like I didn't have anything to say. "We won the Pinewood Derby." Life's just not that simple. It was so much more complicated than that. So as I was walking around my house tonight with blogger's block, doing the dishes, making cookies for George to take to school tomorrow, and cleaning up, I spotted this:

A misplaced shell behind the shoe basket. And I remember a huge chunk of my afternoon. It flashed back to me as though I had slept through it the first time.

I have these jars full of decorative items on the top of a hutch. I spent WAY too much time this afternoon talking/fighting with Ruby about why she couldn't play with one. She looses them. She's lost many already, and I just didn't feel like letting her loose one today. But it wasn't really about the shell. It's just that I feel like I have these kinds of battles with my kids EVERYDAY, where I say something, and they don't listen. And after a while, don't you just get tired of people not listening to you? So since I was feeling so fiesty, I kept standing my ground. She cried and cried and cried. She followed me around crying. She shifted to crying about chocolate chips for a little while. And finally she wore me down. I broke open the jar and handed out one shell to each girl. And sure enough tonight, as I was cleaning up/re-ordering the house, one sea shell was forgotten behind the shoe basket, and the other one is no where to be found. Long forgotten by Ruby as a careless by product of her afternoon. So I think that's why for a few days I had blogger's block. It's not that I don't have things to say, but maybe for a few days I was feeling sorry for myself that nobody listens to me anyway. But the pity party is over. I will keep trying to tell my children things. And then one day, one of them will come back to me and say, "Mom, remember how you said...", and it will all be worth it in the end.

P.S. I should have listened to my mother more often. Mom, I'm sorry.

The Week Is Over.

Please note all that was required to finally get these girls exhausted enough to settle down on the couch for a few brief moments. Just so you know, my day started around 7am with a request to get their princesses dresses on. By the time they came to me for help, they had already been working on it for a while by themselves. I could hear them.

Oh well, it's all quiet now, all the messes are cleaned up. I finally got my turn to sit on the couch and do nothing. But I don't think I'll ever quit wondering how these two can be so very busy every. single. day. day. after. day. after. day. after. day. after. day.

You know?!

One little monkey.

Many have been asking how I am faring with a lame foot and four little children. Are they behaving extra well? Are they taking on extra responsibility? Are they being my nurse?

Not really. Here is where I found Ruby yesterday afternoon, only after Jane came inside the house to tell me that she was stuck in the tree. Of course, I didn't believe her at first. Ruby has never climbed a tree in her life. I guess with a lame mom, you get all kinds of courage to do crazy things. So that's how I've been taking care of four kids while not operating at 100%. I lost one up in the tree. Lucky for me George was home. He was able to climb up and guide her back down. I did have to take one little step up on a lower branch, and George did tell me to be careful because of my foot. So they are watching out for me, in their own special way.

First things first.

First of all, I'm very happy to have occasion to take a picture of my Crocs, who definitely deserve a mention. I am not a Corcs person. My kids are, but I've never really thought they were great for the mom too. But Darin got me these ones for my birthday, and I love them. So, please take a moment to admire them and contemplate purchasing some for yourself.

Secondly, this is why I was actually taking a picture of my feet. And it's not pretty. Those two feet don't even look like they belong to the same person, but they do both indeed belong to me. It's a sad story.

On Friday night, I was walking down the stairs off our deck to try to climb into the boys room through the window. They were locked out. The girls had locked all the doors leading into their room during the afternoon, and we had never succeeded to get in. Darin came home sick from work on Friday, so he wasn't able to be helpful either. But I knew their window was unlocked and I knew that I'd be able to fix the problem that way. Unfortunatley, before I actually got to the bottom of the stairs, I thought I was at the bottom of the stairs, so I fell down the last two steps. It was instant pain. George found me on the ground in the back yard, crying like a baby. It made a huge impression, so he ran upstairs to wake up his sick father. Luckily Darin was able to spring into action. He found some neighbors to come over so that he and I could have our Friday night date at the ER. It was romantic. We started remembering all our favorite hospital stays, and by the end we were laughing. And happily, nothing is broken, just sprained. But I sure cried a river over this one. I'm telling you, serious pain! Not to mention a touch of panic as my mind started imagining a life without running and a broken foot that never healed properly. Or something like that. Oh well, good thing I own a cute pair of Crocs.

I guess I won't be running this week. Here's to a speedy recovery!

Sisterly Love

Dear aunt Ana,

For Christmas, you sent Janie a package of lip gloss rings. That's not fair. I need some. I had to wrestle Jane all afternoon long to try to get the pink one from her. It's the last one. Maybe you could tell my mom where you got them. I think we need some more. We sure love lip gloss rings.

Love,
Ruby

P.S. While wrestling, we broke the last pink one. I really need to get some new ones quick. Jane sure wasn't happy about that!

Darin won.

All empowered by the mob, Darin brought home a package of plain brown paper bags on his way home from work. Henry will have no reason to hold his head high today. He will blend in with the crowd.

The End.

Domestic Debate.

We are having a problem here at our house. Darin suggested (perhaps I will regret this) referring this question to the masses. Here's the deal: Jane and Ruby's sweet friend Rachel gave them a whole package full of Strawberry Shortcake brown paper lunch sacks. We've had lots of fun with these sacks, in all different ways, but we have yet to use them as they were properly intended, as a lunch sack. As you know, I have issues with unnecessary items around the house, but since these are so cute, I have feelings for them.

So Henry has a field trip this week. We have careful instructions from the second grade teacher to pack a "nut free" (don't get me started) lunch in a disposable sack. So at dinner tonight, the pantry door was open, and I saw my huge stack of bags, and I told Henry that he should take his lunch in a disposable Strawberry Shortcake bag. Perfect solution in my eyes. We have all the required elements on hand. We accomplish all that the teacher requested. Henry will be able to throw the sack out after lunch, thereby lightening his backpack load. All is well.

Darin heard me explaining all of this to Henry after dinner and he actually interrupted me mid-sentence, and in front of the children said, "Are you crazy? Henry is NOT going to take a lunch in a Strawberry Shortcake bag!" (I will admit that Henry wasn't crazy about the idea to begin with, and I think he was glad to hear his father stand up for him) By the way, here is what the sack looks like:

The conversation continued. Darin suggested I just buy new PLAIN brown paper bags tomorrow and spare Henry the humiliation of the Strawberry Shortcake bag. I suggested that maybe he could take one of our used Wal-Mart bags. Darin again suggested that I may not be thinking clearly.

But here's my point: what's on the lunch sack is not that big of a deal. It will be in Henry's backpack most of the day. If anyone notices it when he pulls it out at lunch, he can simply blame it on his little sisters (his entire class is aware that he has little twin sisters) and his mom.

But as the debate has gone on throughout the evening, it has become a philosophical debate in parenting techniques. I don't want to raise wimpy kids. If something is truly embarrassing, fine I will not force it upon them. But if it's just something silly, well then, let them be strong enough to hold their heads up high and be fearless of what others may say. My mom made us do crazy things as kids. And sure, some of it was painfully embarrassing, (chasing after the school bus at red lights, so that she wouldn't have to drive us all the way to school). I have to admit that these many years later, it has all contributed to who I am.

Darin says they can learn to be strong in a crowd in other ways, and at other times in life, not as an 8-year old boy carrying around a Strawberry Shortcake lunch sack. So I don't know, maybe he's right? But maybe I am. What do you say?

Grammar Fans of the World Unite!

I don't often make posts on this blog, but tomorrow is a day of national importance. Tomorrow, March 4, is National Grammar Day. While I am definitely not an expert on the subject (and there is a strong possibility that I will make grammar errors myself in this post), I am a fan of the very important role grammar plays in each of our lives (teaching Russian at the Air Force Academy for the last few years may have something to do with this).

Far too many grammar errors are made in our society. SPOGG (The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) recently highlighted grammar errors made by several prominent Americans. Check these out:

President George W. Bush
While running for president, he asked, "Is our children learning?" Then, on Sept. 26, 2007, he proved that this wasn't a one-time fluke when he said, "Childrens do learn." (Not all of them, though. Not all of them.)

Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton produced a T-shirt that said, "THATS HOT," cheating the poor apostrophe from its rightful place on her bosom. What's more, she sent Lindsay Lohan a text message that said, "i chill with perez, but not enough for your name to get broughten up." Broughten? Is she the only text-messager who likes to lengthen words?

There are many types of grammar errors, but here are a few of my favorites. Can you spot the error?

An apostrophe catastrophe (brought to you by GrammarBlog). There are no apostrophes in Russian, but many of my students still throw them in for fun.

It's not really an emergency, just an "emergency." Check out the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks for more of these.

And finally (yes, you can start sentences with conjunctions), do you know what phrase this diagram refers to (although technically not a grammar error)?

Test your own grammar knowledge with a quiz here. Have a great National Grammar Day. Remember, March 4th is not only a holiday, it's an imperative (March forth!).

P.S. Annee thinks I am the biggest geek she knows.

A conversation.

I don't remember what I said first to bring it on, but it went a little something like this.

George: "Oh, so is that why you wake up grumpy in the mornings." (Perhaps I had made a comment about Darin's snoring? But, again, I can't remember for sure.)

Darin's in the room, so I see him get a sly smile on his face when George asks me that question. So he says:

Darin: "George, does mom wake up grumpy EVERY morning?"

George: "Yep."

Darin: "I knew it!"

Me: "Oh, give me a break, I do not."

George: "Yeah, like when it's a holiday, then you don't wake up grumpy."

Darin (already on very thin ice) "Oh yes she does, even on holidays. There is not a single morning when you wake up happy."

And that is as much of the conversation that I will reveal to the public. Lest you think ours is not a home full of love!

But I just want to say, it's not fair. Not fair to be attacked by the two boys in my life who wake up chirping at the first rays of sunshine. You know, some people have brown hair. Some people have blue eyes. Some people are 5'6" tall. And some people wake up a little bit on the grumpy side. I would like to think that maybe if I didn't get woken up and have to immediately jump into work, I might wake up a touch more jolly. Or that if I got to roll over and wake up when ever my heart decided, then I'd be smiling. But, just like I'm 5'6", I think I just wake up grumpy. And you know, there is nothing I can do about my height, and likewise there is nothing I can to about how I feel when my feet hit the ground first thing in the morning. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. But in my defense, I make up for my less-than-happy state later on in the day, by being pleasant as pie. Honest to goodnes.

Have a happy day.