Trust and Respect

It's our parenting mantra. Trust the children to make the right choices and respect their decisions. I'm not always successful at it, but it is certainly the way I aspire to raise my kids. And I really love it when I get to see glimpses of my success.

I'm a huge fan of music of most kinds, as are Claire and Ben. I encourage them to listen to and appreciate music, whose lyrics I rarely censor because I don't believe in censorship. An artist puts lyrics to music in a way that describes what is meaningful to him or her, and I like to choose for myself whether or not they are appropriate. When a song comes on the radio that has a "bad" word in it, Claire just doesn't sing that part. Her choice.

With that in mind, HBO recently aired Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Concert, and neither the kids nor I had ever seen her perform. I prefaced the watching by telling them I did not know what the show would be like, but considering her provocative nature, we might have to turn it off. As the show progressed there were a lot of "wows" and "she's so weird, but I love her music" comments being passed around. I have to admit her whole sexual persona was a little embarrassing, in the way in which, at age 12, your DAD takes you to see Saturday Night Fever because you begged and begged and then you have to sit next to him during the sexy parts. Things were edgy but fairly appropriate until Lady Gaga came out wearing a see-through mini plastic dress, complete with bikini underwear and taped nipples, with a plastic nun's habit on her head. Ben looked at me and said "Okay, that's enough for me" and left the room. Claire and I almost made it through that song too, until we were overcome by gyrating pelvises and decided to shut her down.

Looks like I've been fighting the good fight. Good job Mama. For those of you who question my choice to let them watch Lady Gaga in the first place, just suck it :)

Of A Friday Afternoon

Gotta love the first bare feet of spring.

'Round Here

Despite our recent illnesses (knock on wood, I'm the only one who hasn't gotten sick), we've been having a little bit of fun.

Mark and buddy Jon have been spending some time oaring on our small, local rivers. Early spring runoff is about the only time there's enough water to actually float on them.

Here's me and my girl before she headed out to play the flute in her Spring concert. I wasn't able to attend, but I saw the video footage and they sounded fabulous.

After recovering from a lengthy illness, Ben rallied on Friday to take home a 2nd place ribbon in his school's first-ever chess tournament. It was also crazy hat/hair day, so he's sporting his favorite zombie cap.

One more week until Spring Break. We don't have plans, but I'm itching to get out and take a long walk somewhere warm. It may be time for a photo safari to spot buttercups and grass widows in the coulee country.

"Mom"oirs

This kid, he's a funny one.

Claire and Ben and I were shooting the breeze one day after school last week. Claire was telling me that some kids have recently been getting hurt in PE because they've been doing more rigorous activities. I told her that I wasn't surprised by that, that sometimes middle-schoolers challenge themselves too much while their bodies are still clumsy and awkward and they end up getting hurt. To which Ben responded "I have a feeling Claire will get drunk in college." Hmmm.

"Mom"oirs

I had an upset tummy after a lunch out with my co-workers yesterday, so I decided to sit upon the potty when I got home and read my Art Journaling magazine. I'd been in the bathroom mere moments when there was a knocking on the door.

Claire: Can we take the dog for a walk?
Me: Yes.

Another minute goes by and another knock.

Claire: Where is the leash?
Me: Hanging in the hall closet.

And then her voice through the door.
"Did you know that discombobulated is really a word?"
Are you KIDDING me?

Outside in January

A little tree house action going on around here yesterday.
BECAUSE IT WAS 50 DEGREES!
It's just a tease; we'll get snow again by the end of the week.
These kids weren't going to miss an opportunity to snatch some warmth.

Check out these models of cooperation.
I found them playing at my table.
Does anyone know who they belong to?

Enjoying the Season

Getting together with co-workers for holiday parties.

Firing up the router to complete the "honey-do" list.

Getting to know the world-wide web on her new laptop.

Building, building, building.

Celebrating 24 years of marriage.

Winter Concert

Despite the call I received to fetch Claire from school yesterday morning because she wasn't feeling well, she made it to her Winter Concert last night.

Who would have thought that sixth-graders could make such beautiful sounds?
Many of these kids had never played an instrument until this year.
I think their band instructor is a miracle worker.
I wonder if I sounded as lovely on my trumpet in sixth grade.

Here's our flutist sitting next to her BFF Emily.
I am so proud of her for working so hard.

Unfortunately, her illness was not the migraine we first suspected.
She returned home and crashed last night and is still in bed this morning.

The principal said they may be able to stream the concert live next year.
How cool would that be?

Hello Christmas Busyness

Here's my little elf helping me with the Christmas decorations.

And here's my little contortionist.
He's always twisting his body in weird ways and has done so since he was a little guy.
It would not be uncommon in our house to see him playing his DS this way.
This is a yoga pose called Plow.
No problem for him.
No problem for Claire.
Mark came close. Very close.
I didn't even try.

The 12 Tags of Christmas, Day 4.

Day 5.

Day 6.

With all the other crafting going on around here right now, I am unable to keep up on a daily basis (who knew this work thing would take so much TIME!), but I am OK with that. (I'm not REALLY OK with that, but this blog post is serving as a little pep talk to myself to GET OK with it)!

Right Now

Our beautiful curly-haired Claire.
Learning to play the flute.
She recently finished a season of middle-school volleyball.
Totally loving books right now.
Sassy-mouthed and sweet, this one.

Hello little cute man.
He's all Lego Star Wars, all the time.
Unless it's Xbox 360.
Thinking he might want to give Karate a try.
His mouth is a tangle of too big and baby teeth right now.

My mountain man.
This pic is pretty representative of what he's been doing.
Hunting.
And working hard at the sequencing core.
And getting freakin' amazing at Sudoku.
And turning forty-five. Yikes.

And me, the mama.
I'm just swinging along, working and taking care and making art.
Nesting into my new home.
Experiencing my first root canal.
Steering clear of cancer for another year.

Life is good.

Art Share

Here's a couple of layouts of my favorite gal.

Tenth birthday in Jena, Germany. Homemade "american" cake, meaning it actually used sugar as one of the main ingredients. German confections tended to be on the milder side of sweet, and one of the little girls at the party couldn't eat the cake because it was just too sweet for her. I wonder how she would have felt about one of those 3-inch frosting-laden creations from Safeway!!

Claire and her BFF last summer. Isn't it fun when you find people who share your passions in life?

'Tis the Season...

... of waiting, and waiting some more, and each time we think we're getting closer, more waiting. My irritation in waiting has been compounded by the fact that the farmhouse is really acting up: never-before-seen-problems with the water have arisen, forcing us to run into the snowy yard in our bathrobes to reset the pump to take a shower; lightbulbs are burning out left and right and the heating coil in the dog's water is kaput (I believe these are due to some kind of power surges in the electrical "system", if you can call what's been done to this house in the name of wiring any kind of "system"); the insulating pane on the back screen door, which has been holding on by one last spring for the past many years, has given up, and now each time I open the door I am greeted by an icy whoosh of air. And you know, we're not going to fix anything because we're kind of pissed off, and hey, we're leaving, but we're not exactly sure when, so guess who's suffering from their own spite? There's a lesson in here somewhere.

But we had an excellent Christmas, quiet and family-filled with some very happy children. Claire received American Girl Doll Kirsten, who was the source of many a pre-Christmas meltdown in our home because she was being retired this year and if we didn't have to save to buy a stupid house and if her parents weren't so anti-consumeristic would be hers to cherish forever. I love laughing on the inside at such emotional outbursts; I know I already bought the freakin' toy and it's their bad karma in being so shallow and materialistic that's causing them such torture. But I totally remember being a kid and spending hours drooling over all the toys I had to have in the Sears catalog, so I wasn't totally without compassion for her.

Then we miracled Ben with Lego Star Wars for the xbox, which he was convinced did not exist and would require the purchase of a wii so that he could be a happy boy. Thank you internet. Got out of that pickle for $7 plus shipping and felt a little less pinched at spending the money for his sister's doll! I took him on a hike with me to the mailbox yesterday for a little vitamin sunshine; he's been glued to the tv since Christmas day and I was starting to feel a little guilty. But again I have some compassion. He's on Christmas break and enjoying himself, and I certainly wouldn't want some uninformed grown-up telling me to take a break just when I've gained four light sabers to secure victory in the battle of Dexter's Diner!

We're going bowling today and ringing in the new year quietly at home, although there are a few booze bottles with tiny amounts of liquid in them that we don't want to move. I finished my 12 Tags of Christmas Project and uploaded a photo of them to Tim Holtz for the grand prize drawing tomorrow. If you've got any luck to spare, please send it my way.

Have an excellent New Year's Eve.

A Christmas Pantry

I ran across this photo while cruising my blog list this morning.

Seriously?
Who DOES this?

Here's a much more practical photo.
One of my decorating elves rediscovering Comet,
the moose or reindeer (we can't decide).

And my other little elf, looking so beautiful and festive.

Have a great weekend.

Wordless Wednesday

Hello Monday

I'm hoping this week will bring less anxiety and more calmness to our lives. The holiday season last year was spent in the throes of cancer and preparing for Germany. This year will be spent preparing to move. So be it.
I can groove to any beat.

We're touring some houses in Pullman this morning. I LOVE doing that.

Christmas crafting is in full swing around our house. I LOVE that.

Claire and her schoolmates will be performing their winter musical on Thursday. I LOVE that too.

Both of my kids are turning out to be excellent spellers. I REALLY LOVE that.

I spent the afternoon yesterday in the company of women, making art with my friend Shawna and our daughters. Lots of stories and laughing and painting and gluing going on. I was finally light-hearted after spending last week pumped on adrenaline. It felt so good.

Hello Monday

Unlike many people, I like Mondays.

It's my "gown down" and catch up on blogs day.
It's the day I make my grocery list.
It's the day I usually bake bread.
And on Mondays, there's a little bit of quiet at my house,
that is until I crank up the music,
which I inevitably always do.


Here's my girl with her pumpkin.
It turned out to be a cute kitty cat.
Not an ounce of horror in that one I tell you.


And here's the crew before heading to town.
We met up with some friends for trick or treating.
The boys ran full throttle to each and every house.
The girls walked nonchalantly far behind and talked.
We combed two neighborhoods and have plenty of chocolate.
And I've had my fill of Reese's Peanut Butter cups.

Wordless Wednesday