Wednesday, April 27, 2011

deep in the phone archives

not that i was scanning my phone looking for little connections to my lovies or anything- because i am not codependent or sappy or anything like that- but i just so happened to come upon a few pictures that have been killing time in my phone. 

oh there widdle faces make my heart ache. just look at them...

 
















 







i am counting the minutes until i am home.
in the mean time keep enjoying your daddy time.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

:(

while i am here...

my lovies are all back home.

i miss them and not even the sweet delicious warmth will make up for that.
if you need me i will be here wrapped up in aidan's blanket
counting down the hours until i can skype their beautiful faces. 

Saturday, April 16, 2011

honey-do




i wonder if i could sneak this onto tony's honey-do list?

Friday, April 15, 2011

the mother, the teacher, the event planner

the first "annual" (maybe, possibly, if you had asked me a few days ago NO, but now that it is over probably) Angelou Science Fair was held last night.

it all happened because one day last april a super mom, fantastic friend and full on do-gooder named karen said "hey, we should organize a science fair at our kids' school, you know, since we don't have anything else to do but raise some kids and go to all 42 weekly activities they are in, be wives, work, and breathe once in a while".  and i am pretty sure that is exactly how she said it too.  and how could i say no to that kind of rational salesmanship?

so down the road of crazy science fair planning we went, skipping all the way.

the event planner in me is so very thankful that through all of the ups and downs, praises and accusations, helpful and not so helpful suggestions, i had karen there with me.  tracy was our go to rockstar of the school.  she gets things done.  i don't think anyone could navigate that school without her.  our husbands and our kids lent hands, listening ears and gave us time to get this done and to them i say thank you.  today i am also very thankful that writing templates, rubrics, emails and phone calls and shielding my inner people pleas-er from dissatisfied parents is a thing of the past for a little while at least.

the teacher in me is amazed at the scientific prowess of children! you should have seen some of the thought and creativity that went into these projects.  the enthusiasm was palatable.  the hum of excitement was gratifying. some said we had set the bar too high, but boy did those kids strive to reach it. i hope when these students are in high school they all get shuffled into my classes because we will have some serious science fun!

and the mother in me is so proud of my two children for working on the areas that need the most of their attention. they both designed their own experiment based on what interested them most, the way a good scientist does. 




aidan wanted to showcase his beloved gecko and who can blame him? she is gorgeous and soft and inquisitive and he has devoted so much time and care for her.  aidan didn't win, he didn't place and he didn't show, but he did shine.  when there was a glitch in the system (i can blame the event planner in me for that)   he shrugged, gave me a bear hug and went off to check on his gecko.  no wailing about the injustice of it all.   it has taken years for us to see a glimpse of this more mature version of him.  my mom and dad reminded me that it took me many more years to hold my tears when i lost, but let us not dwell on that.







nadia focused on her one true love...chocolate. i am sure her hope was to prove the nutritionists of the world wrong with her cricket experiment but alas, vitamins and minerals prevailed.  nadia sat patiently writing out her question and with her tongue sticking out all micheal jordan style she wrote and wrote and wrote and then diagrammed her project.  she checked the death rate and eventually conceded to the fact that doritos & chocolate are not good diet choices for crickets and surmised on her own that they probably are not good for us humans either.  while dedication has never been her weak spot, focusing on something like reading and writing has been.  she rocked the elementary science world, winning 1st place among the 2nd graders. 


and can you believe that the mother- this mother- didn't take one picture of the event?!?

Monday, April 11, 2011

to good friends & good food

sure our little spring break trip to portland included great friends. 
can you believe that we have never traveled with the smiths before? and can you believe that it has been a year and a half since i have seen my monique?














and sure it included spectacular views of waterfalls and lush green mountainsides that speak to my scottish roots.
i am moved deep in my being when i see the earth covered in green.  don't get me wrong, i love our little desert, but i part of me knows it is home when i see the hillsides darned in moss and lichens. 












and sure it included legos, what vaca is complete without legos and the lego store?
lego houses are favored only second to the buckets of legos that you get to fill from the wall o' legos.  i love that wall.  and legos are perfect for down time when you stay in a posh artsy hotel.  hotel lucia to be exact.  while it was laden with fancy and heavy on schmancy it was very light on space, which is why you see only a picture of the door and the rest are in the lobby.




 











and you know we had our fair share of walks and talks and stories and laughing until we had wet ourselves.
and of course i mean wet our faces with tears of laughter, don't get the wrong idea, although i am pretty sure nico wet his pants a time or two.




and you know my fingers itched with inspiration at the saturday market and at the salvage yards stuffed to the brim we visited.
the leaded glass made me weak in the knees and the reclaimed vintage pea coats with the nipped waist, bird detail, angora hoodie and little ruffled cuffs seriously made me swoon. 


and you can be sure that i soaked up every second of my little lovies that i could, including my nicolicious.
nadia was a roller coaster of emotion and i felt like she was growing right before my eyes.  aidan is having his own share of struggles with finding his place but in a rare moment of demonstrative behavior said that he loved having tony and i around this week and wished it could always be this way...whoa.  as for nico, he and i bonded over jumping on the bed, hide and seek behind tony and long walks down broadway through a group of varied protesters. 












but when you ask me how my spring break was, i won't recant any of this because i will answer instead with my belly...
food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food 


sara and i plotted to eat good food on this trip.  food that we can't get here in our neck of the woods.  food with culture and depth and words that can't be pronounced.  

  there was pastaria for dinner...  ehhh.  chicken alfredo is good just about anywhere but it wasn't the experience we were looking for.
 then mother's for breakfast...  the best service ever.  hands down. 
since we were stuffed from breakfast we skipped lunch.
 

then there was makareesh for dinner... it may have been eating with your hands off a communal plate or dining while sitting on pillows in a dark morracan themed room, but the food was fantastic.  i can't stop thinking about the hummus salad. mmmmmmm.  i am sure it helped that i had the lovely company of monique too. curse my lack of camera skills, not one good picture, but mo did promise to come see us soon.


then there was voodoo donuts... after a 30 minute wait in the chilly portland air these donuts were perfection.  donuts are my sin of choice.  the donut i had that morning-whose name is not appropriate for my blog but it's yeast risen fluffiness, topped with chocolate and crumbly oreoness and peanut buttery drizzly goodness- can melt in my mouth any day of the week and twice on sunday.
 




sushi was on the menu for lunch for the very patient aidan... there were fish eggs and tuna and rice rolls but for the finicky there was raman noodles.  and all were happy in the end.
 















ikea for dinner... not just dinner but cafeteria style dinner and not just cafeteria style dinner but free cafeteria style dinner.  and there was chocolate cake.  sweet. 
and now after journaling all of that deliciousness i am going to retire to my bed with a box of overpriced tagalongs. 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

seriously, it IS like i am domestic and stuff

and i think i like it...

yesterday i used a sewing machine. 


like an actual needle-moves-up-and-down-you-get-to-step-on-the-pedal-and-thread-a-bobbin sewing machine. 

no seriously! i'm not even joking. and yes, from this picture it looks like i played dress the baby in ric-rac while sara sewed but that is really me right there.
see? SEWING!

exhibit A: crazy messed up happy spring break hair.
exhibit B: cell phone for emergency calls to sara, my mom, andria or the gods of the internet.
exhibit C: my trusty water bottle that is never far from my reach. besides, sewing gets your thirst on.
exhibit D: sidekick numero dos. sidekick one was off playing with pet-pet the rice pet that he made.
exhibit E: holy moley...as in holy moley i can't believe that is me sewing.

i made pillows. cute ones too. even some made out of dishtowels! and little flowers with a button in the center and everything!



and yes that happened because sara totally got me started. for my birthday she set a date to teach me how to sew pillows (not only because she loves me so but also because she is good at finding loopholes, specifically ones left wide open when husbands -read tony- try to lay down the 'no more buying throw pillows' law)
she fiddled with the dishtowel until it fashioned a pillow,
and yes she made the first one
and sewed half of the second one
and fused the batting on the last two...


and yes, my mom totally supervised me after sara had to get the nicomiseter home for a proper nap even though she completly made me nervous i was grateful for her advice...


and yes, tony talked me through my freak out when i broke a needle...

but i learned a ton! and felt very domesticated. 
and even offered to quit teaching so i can stay home and make pillows and do laundry.

super cute right?

Monday, April 4, 2011

loves of my life

i love spanking new socks, particularly boy socks, the only kind that don't bunch up at the heel.

i love waking up with an aidan on one side and a nadia on the other and no place to rush off to.

i love that this furry face seriously believes that if he wasn't there patting my leg i wouldn't be able to get anything done.


i love that friends stop by in the middle of the morning and that we are here to greet them

i love crisp white sheets, not much is better in the way of creature comforts than cool, crisp, clean sheets except maybe white ones.

not only do i love that tony surprised me by coming home early but i love that he went straight to work baking french bread.

i love spring...
and spring break...
and being a teacher so i can be home to enjoy it!

Friday, April 1, 2011

what are you looking at?

 your looking at what age sixty nine looks like.  happy birthday papa.  thank you for spending your bday at a 3rd grade songfest. you are a wonderful papa and my kids are lucky.
 now let us look at a kid who told his mom minutes before it was time to leave for the performance that he needed to dress up like a kid from another country.  he totally looks like he is an irish boy right?
 and here's looking at mr. gq. the thumbs in the pocket like your just kickin it is a nice touch.
 i bet you think by this shot that he had his own special solo.  look at him, the only guy with his hands in the air like he just don't care. he comes by that rhythm naturally so i didn't even notice he was two moves behind until i looked at this photo.
and here you can see mother and daughter.  she is brave, that mom of mine.  here i am a walking, grinning petri dish full of bacteria.