Oh, the pros and cons of being married to a high school administrator. The cons would take too long to list, but the pros came in handy today. It was the big homecoming parade! The parade has been a tradition in the historic part of town for years and years and it is a wonderful celebration of the elementary, middle, and high school in the area. In the past we've ridden with David on a golf cart (thrilling, let me tell you!) but the kids are all old enough to ride solo. While David was in the administrator's cart, the kids and I decorated then rode on our bikes. It was a blast, except I conveniently forgot the fact that everyone would be looking at me. You know, that happens in a parade but you don't really plan ahead about what that will really feel like. It was a little odd, and I confess I worried too much about the size of my bum on my bicycle seat. Vanity, vanity.

It was a beautiful fall day, the kids had a blast, and we stroked our kids' egos about being the center of attention. All in a day's work!

If/Then

If you beg and beg and beg and beg and beg for a dog and finally get one, it follows that then you start to beg and beg and beg and beg and beg for a horse.

Lily is giving me grey hair.

The weather turned nasty this week, which I actually love. We get a lot of sunny days in Colorado and after weeks and weeks of it, you kinda long for clouds, chill, and drizzle. The leaves in the mountains are turning and the rest of the state is close behind. I've had a bee in my bonnet to cook (see previous post)... which is probably going to be a passing phase. Let's face it, this new Culinary Cathy will probably go down in smoke with Knitting Cathy and Get-Up-Early-And-Go-Swim-At-The-YMCA-Cathy. But in the meantime, Culinary Cathy has been productive. Ina Garten is my new superhero. Most of her recipes are ones that I already make and my family eats but she makes them much, much better. I can throw together a fast Chicken Pot Pie, but I tried Ina's Chicken Stew with Biscuits and we all moaned over our spoons. I made her Beef Stew (which is ready to be heated up for tonight and uses an entire bottle of red wine, be still my heart) and when I sampled some I thought I had reached nirvana. My problem lies in the fact that it's more time consuming than I'm used to, AND I'm using twice the amount of dishes/utensils for prep work. Once I'm finished cooking, the clean up is killing me. So here is my dilemma: do I make good but easy chicken pot pie, quickly clean up, and go read a book (my true love) or do I make blissful, out-of-this-world chicken stew with biscuits (that include gobs and gobs of butter) that we all love and devour but tack on an extra load of dishes?

The jury is out.

Around Here...
For someone who doesn't like to be busy (me) there certainly is a lot of action going on (here)! School is in full swing and we are being pulled in several directions. Our elementary school is wonderful because it offers lots of after-school activities: book clubs, Spanish club, science club, sports club, etc. Well, when you have three kids, guess what? Someone is attending something every day after school. Which is a good thing. My kids get an extra hour of enrichment with their friends. If I could freeze time right now I would. Having Carver, Lily, and Z at the same place at the same time all day is a huge blessing. Volunteering is a breeze because I can see all of them in one day and really get some quality time in their classrooms.

Zinabu started chess club this week. Is he a nerd, or what? There are about 20 kids who meet after school and play chess together with the 2nd grade teacher. Zinabu doesn't know all the rules yet but he loves the game. Zinabu is also a perfectonist, which is making kindergarten more of a struggle for him than it should be. Every once in a while--should his crayon stray outside the lines--he has a meltdown. This is a characteristic that I absolutely cannot relate to. Perfectionism is so not me. At all. I'm the lady that sets the bar low. So if you have a perfectionist kiddo I'd love to hear what you do to comfort them when they flip out over the little things.

Carver chose a new instrument to try this year. The French Horn! Other than the occasional giggles when it sounds like someone with bad indigestion, he's having a great time learning a brass instrument.

Lily is Lily. Steady and predictable and perfect at school and a wee bit more emotional at home. Ahem. On the bright side, she pushes me to be a better mom. Right? RIGHT? Someone tell me that's the bright side.

As for me, I discovered something amazing (thanks to the marvelous invention of cable TV that we now have). The Barefoot Contessa. I've caught her show a couple of times, and I have to say she inspires me to cook. Something about the fact that she's so laid back... and her recipes are incredibly yummy but don't look very hard to make. Case in point: beef stew. Gah! I was salivating all over my lap. Maybe it's the fact that her kitchen looks like mine, so I can imagine myself making all her delightful recipes. Kinda like putting on a new pair of running shoes makes you feel you can run faster??? Maybe it's the fact that she's so calm and simple, it doesn't look like she's cooking anything too difficult. But for someone that gets so tired of coming up with breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day, I think I love her.

David just returned from a fast weekend in Minnesota visiting his mom, brother, and aunt. He had a wonderful visit and dutifully found Minnesota Vikings shirts for all the kids. We are awash in purple.

And other than the fact that I am now on a quest for the perfect pair of red heels (see previous post), all is well.

Believe it or not, my next post was going to be about Buddy. About how he's growing on me and how I've kinda started to like him. About how he went from maniac spaz to well-trained and nice. Even how he has these cute little quirks like drooling when you get his dinner ready or sitting in Zinabu's car seat in the van. But I came home today to a dog that chewed up my favorite pair of shoes. Somewhere in his intestines there is a strap--with a buckle. How he got that down his gullet I'm not sure. He was also napping on my underwear--dragged it out of laundry. Was that meant to endear him to me?

A typical dinner at our house. Lily sings nonsense and Zinabu doesn't shut up.

Colorado State Fair
The Colorado State Fair, in a word, blows. Having come from Minnesota where the State Fair is second only to the Virgin Birth, Colorado's version is always a letdown. We knew this going in, though, so our expectations were pretty low. The kids had a great time, which was important.

Z somehow spoke the goose's language and could get it to honk at him.


Panning for gold. It was hot that day and sticking our arms in the water was actually a relief.


Forced smile.

The Lego station where you could build and exchange H1N1 germs. .

We were tired by mid-afternoon and took a break on the Beef Cart.

This picture cracks me up. All three kids sitting in rapt attention at the goat judging.

Carver and Zinabu waiting in line for a turn in the hamster balls.

Zinabu--so excited!!!

That's my oldest in there!

We are a family that always puts safety FIRST!!!!!!!

Zinabu and Lily, in the 5th row, having a ball.

My family--crazy socks and all, headed to the Disco Fever attraction. It was like a hypnotic force we couldn't avoid.

I am insanely behind on blogging. inSANEly. I have photos and posts coming out of my ever loving ears but it's a little hard to find the time right now. Elementary school is so fun and I love volunteering so much that I'm working at the school every day and not getting anything else done. You know it's bad when you have checks to deposit at the bank and you've put it off for 2 weeks.

So let me just say that I hope to be back to writing every day sometime this week. Whew. In the meantime, go to this darling website and spend all your money.

www.expressionary.com

Recently Overheard

Me: Look kids, the firemen are outside the store with their boots, collecting spare change for a good cause. Let's find some coins to give to them

Carver: Yay!

Lily: Yay!

Zinabu: Well, I don't think I want to give them any money because they haven't done anything for me. I mean, they've never saved my life or put out a fire I started or anything... I don't think I need to give them money because they don't work for me.

I think I know what we're working on this week.

I am sitting outside Lily's room while she tries to fall asleep. My kids canNOT sleep when they have stuffy noses. They think the only way you can sleep is by breathing through your nose and if you have to breathe through your mouth... well, fuggedaboutit. I realize that mouth-breathing isn't the most comfortable way to catch your Zs, but if that's all you can do, then suck it up and get crackin' sister! So anyway, I am sitting outside Lily's room listening to her NOT breathing through her mouth and slowly suffocating with a stuffy nose and I realize I have nothing to offer you in the way of blog posts. So let me just go through my photos stored on the computer and see what I can find...

This is not Halloween, but somehow my kids are sitting around piles of candy in our old living room. I cannot remember what this was. Edit: D's mom was kind enough to point out the plastic eggs in the picture. I'm a little slow.


This is often how she looks at him--part confusion, part annoyance.


I took this while driving. Passed out cold!


From Lily's roller skating party. Very groovy.


Those suckers hurt when they hit you.


Is it just me or do I look constipated?


Forced family fun while camping.

Whatever.

Zinabu in the background. Rabid stuffed beaver in the foreground.

Disneyland Tiki Room. Looks kinda scary the longer I stare at it.

The man I married.

Letting my kids sit on the counter while playing with sharp objects??? What is this?

Carver in the face-painting stage. Every day, people. Every single day.

Me: bad cold
Carver: bad cold
Zinabu: bad cold
Lily: getting the bad cold
Buddy: giardia (imagine the worst and then multiply it by 1,000)

It's kind of disgusting at our house, so be glad you're not visiting.

My Boy, And His Other Half

As an adoptive parent, I carry a lot of baggage. Actually, the baggage belongs to my kids, but I carry it for them until they are old enough to learn about it, talk about it, process it, and deal with it. It is my job not to blab their personal information to the world until each child is comfortable with their birth stories, birth families, and situations that led to their relinquishment. You'd be surprised what perfect strangers ask me... in the grocery store... in front of my kids. As if my kids don't have ears. It's actually horrific. I am aware that by being so obviously an adoptive family we stand out. But I am always taken aback at the buttinskis that feel it is their right to cross 500 yards of a parking lot to ask if my kids are siblings.

Anyway, when kindergarten started for Zinabu, we met the cutest little twin girls. Piper and Mia. Piper is in Zinabu's class and Mia is in the other kindergarten class. Yesterday both kindergarten classes combined for an activity (I was there helping) and Piper and Mia sat across the room from each other and spoke in a secret hand language. It was adorable and amazing. I watched them for a bit and had to bite back a few sobs because Zinabu is a surviving twin. His twin brother passed away at 5 months old. I do not know if he was a fraternal twin or an identical twin, but he was a twin nonetheless. Last night as I was making dinner Zinabu and I were talking about Piper and I felt the little tug on my heart that told me "This is the time to tell him." Zinabu has known that he had a brother that died, but I never explained that it was a twin. Really, he had no context for it and I tell my kids information as I feel they can deal with it. Zinabu had a lot of questions. But he also passed over the conversation pretty quickly. This is what each of my kids have done when we've had such "adoption" talks. They take in what I tell them, ask a few questions, then move on. It is in the days and weeks to come that the kids process the details and begin to grieve. I don't know what it will be like for Zinabu. Yes, it's hard that there is a set of twins in his grade as it shows him what he lost. But how blessed he is to have been a twin in the first place. I share this with you because I'm sad, and this helps me process. And now that Zinabu knows, I feel comfortable telling others in small doses.

My heart is so longing to know Zinabu's brother. I wonder what his personality would have been like (aside from the obvious that he would have been the quiet one). I wonder what Zinabu feels as a surviving twin. How does it affect who he is? I don't have the answers. But I do know that I am blessed, blessed, blessed to be his second mom.

friday night

(vintage sunglasses, circa 1980--they were my dad's)
Friday nights here are unpredictable and boring. David has the lovely job of chaperoning a dance--oh the joys of being a high school administrator. So he's off watching teenagers trying to suppress their raging hormones and I am home with three children trying to suppress their need to drive each other bananas. The first week of school was fantastic. Really, I couldn't have asked for a better start. I love, love, LOVE public education and love our elementary school so much I could cry. Our kiddo with dyslexia is doing well. We are setting them up to succeed and then (hopefully) going to step back a little bit to see what they can really achieve on their own. Most importantly, they need to learn how to communicate to their teacher by themselves when they are feeling overwhelmed or unable to do an assignment. Zinabu survived his first week of kindergarten. He's a little tired and probably constipated from having to squeeze his mouth shut all day to keep from talking, but other than that he's wonderful.

And many thanks for all the compliments on my hair. Really. Those comments will get me through many a grouchy day. Yes, I chopped my hair off. I got so tired of staring at magazine covers of models with long locks, mocking my thin, stringy hair. Why (even now) am I still so concerned about my hair? I confess, I am. I know it's shallow and stupid and there are other things in this world to worry about, but my hair is a constant disappointment. So I cut it off--to make it easier and, hopefully, to not think about it as much. Perhaps when I'm 80 I won't care so much what I look like. Is it possible?

*

*This is what the "first day of school photo" looks like if you let your husband take the picture and he is all verklempt with emotion and not caring at all if his wife is in a good light or if all the kids are actually smiling or remembering to stand a little closer and not include the back porch and wait to press the shutter button until the youngest is finished flapping his yap and turning the flash on or taking more than one photo just for the heck of it.

So, this is our first day of school photo.

Things I Will Not Miss About This Summer

• Moving. I hope to never, ever do it again.
• Carver's insatiable desire to build things. He actually walked into the room and asked, "Mom, can I have some wire cutters?" My friend Annamarie was with me and she can validate this.
• Getting a dog. Yes, I like the dog. Yes, I'm glad we got the dog. But the first 48 hours about killed me.
• Hearing "Mom, I'm bored" exactly 11 seconds after we walk in the door after playing like crazy at the playground.
• Large spiders.
• Shaving my legs. I mean, if I'm wearing a bathing suit I can only expect so much grace from society at large.
• Going from the warm outside into a store with air conditioning cranked up so high I need wool socks to keep frostbite off my toes.
• Looking for appropriate sandals for an 8 year old girl that are neither a) high heeled b) Hannah Montana themed c) bedazzled or d) trampy. I'm still searching.

Things I Will Miss

• Sitting by the pool, drinking iced tea, watching my kids act like dolphins.
• Putting the kids to bed when it finally gets dark (10:00 pm) and smelling summer in their hair.
• Going barefoot.
• Watching Carver build things, sans wire cutters.
• The excitement of a new house and new beginnings.
• Hummingbirds.
• Cutting up watermelon, dumping pretzels in a bowl, and calling it dinner.
• Late night chats with David while he watches baseball games and pretends to hear me.
• Hearing about my kids' experiences at camp.
• Spontaneity.

What about you?

These Two

They are 5 years apart, but most days act like they're 5 months apart. They wrestle together, punch, grab, jump together, bound, hide, kick together, pull, flop, and blast things together. They love each other. They frustrate each other. They think the other is "annoying" but I know better. They can't live without each other.

Recently Overheard


Zinabu: Lily, you don't love me as much as you love Buddy.

Lily: Yes I do. We bought you way before we bought Buddy, so you've lived here longer.

(Me: Total horror and mentally going over adoption sensitivity training for my children again.)

Right. So besides needing to have a talk with Lily that we shouldn't use the phrase "bought you" when talking about her brother, we are winding down with the last 2 weeks of summer vacation. Where we live, kids get out of school in mid-May and go back to school in mid-August. I am always sad to think about school starting again, until these last 2 weeks of vacation when our unstructured time becomes just plain boring to Carver, Lily, and Zinabu. Getting a dog has not helped because I feel tethered to the house... we can only leave him for so long. Buddy whines and barks non-stop when we're not home. Yeah, he's a superstar that way. And other than the fact that he desires to be the alpha dog in our neighborhood and barks at every living thing that we walk past, he's doing well. Lily is loving her dog, but because we're working so hard on training him to heel and have good manners, she doesn't actually get to walk him. He could pull her off her feet if he wanted to.

Carver has had the best past few weeks building a fort on our property. The contractor has left all kinds of scrap wood for him to use, and he and his friend Nathan have spent hours working on it. They even decorated the outside to make it look as if it had been in a paintball war. It's very...um...colorful. I love watching Carver be a kid. He's still so sweet and playful and still into imaginary play, unlike a lot of other 10 year olds these days. Kids want to grow up way too fast and I think it's a tragedy when parents let them. David and I continue to strive to let our kids be young for as long as possible.

We have 2 quick camping trips planned for the end of August. We have not had one single summer trip as a family. The move to our new house sucked the entire summer up and left us with empty boxes and no quality time. At least we can squeeze in a small getaway before fall and try to make up for lost time. And in 11 days my baby starts kindergarten! It has taken almost 11 years, but on August 18 ALL MY CHILDREN will be in school. Wow.

I need a drink.

Freeloader

This is our backyard and our friendly neighbor stealing the birdseed.

David gone for 4 days.
Buddy has had 6 accidents in the house.
We had 2 hailstorms and 3 inches of rain this week.
Paid good money for something I shouldn't have because I'm a pushover... (why, Cathy, why?)
Forgot to take the wet wash out of the laundry machine so now it's moldy.
Still waiting for the contractor to finish.
Ran out of milk.
Ran out of COFFEE (good grief).
Need a vacation.