Does she keep ya' Anya toes?

This is from today! She was so proud of herself- giggling and awestruck all at the same time. You could just see it in her face that she was so thrilled with this new perspective and sensation of bi-ped mobility. Well- almost mobile. Right now, I'd call her a teeter-toddler. Zach was in the bathroom painting, and I had just come down the stairs to find her standing by her chair. She actually made it all the way over to me, and snuggled me like she knew what a momentous occasion it was. I actually got teary-eyed it was so cute. She performed again for Daddy while I got the camera out. Woo hoo! Go Anya!!

Uh- I have no idea what to call this one.

We had a very eventful day and night.

It was family night at the zoo- half price for Franklin County residents. So Zach came home a little early from work (yes, honey I know you have to make up the hours later, and I am grateful) and we headed up to Powell to see the pumas and jaguars. (Yes, Mimi, I know you watch too much Diego, and I am sorry.)

On our way out the door we got a good look at the helicopter that had been hovering just overhead for the last half hour. As we turned out of our neighborhood, we could see a cop up the street directing traffic and waving at the helicopter.

A minute later, everyone ahead of us pulled over when a cop blipped his siren behind us. Once we pulled over, he did too, and everyone in front of us left. "What did we do?" "We weren't speeding. I dunno..." The officer walked up to the car, took a look inside the van full-o-babies and apologized for the inconvenience. He explained (and we saw on the news the next morning) that someone escaped, was hiding in our neighborhood, and was supposed to be driving a van just like ours. On the news it said the guy was hiding with his mom, who got arrested for the obstruction of justice. The actual escapee is still on the loose. We were kind of wondering what would happen on our way back in... ;-)

We had a great time at the zoo. $13.50 for all of us! The babies maintained their easy-going demeanors, as hoped. Mia actually enjoyed running from place to place. (Next time we won't bring the triple stroller for such a short visit- the thing doesn't turn!)

Create a Free Slideshow

We put everyone down an hour later than usual, and went to bed. At 11:45 or so, I woke up to the tornado warning alarm. I woke Zach up ten minutes later, and after listening to the radio for a few minutes, "the end of the woooorld- take cover!!!" we woke the kids up and squished ourselves onto the 3x5-foot downstairs bathroom floorspace, and the toilet. The already exhausted babies were not happy. But all three kids kept their cool for the most part. I was proud of them. Our bathroom door is directly opposite the TV, so we watched the news and could see exactly when the storm hit our house. Which was exactly when the satellite signal was lost, and we were left watching crazy lightning. I got scared enough to cry a bit, but luckily it was dark, and Mia and Zach couldn't tell. (Isn't "Mom" supposed to keep it together during tornado warnings?) The signal came back before we got too bored (and scared,) so we had something to watch while we waited to go back to bed. Around 12:45 we went back upstairs. Around 1 the thunder died down a bit, and Mia let me get out of her bed to go back to mine.

The Feedjit

Does this bug anybody? I put it in because I thought it was fun to see all the different countries that visited, but now it feels like it's just spying on people who visit my blog.
I see "Columbus, Ohio is visiting" when I check out someone's blog, and I know its obvious I'm the one there. I wonder- does this person think I'm creepy for reading their blog two times today? And do they think I'm nosy for visiting the link to their mom's blog? Am I creepy and nosy?
Blogs weird me out. People post things on purpose. And to me, that is like an indirect communication, which either conveys "I want people to look at this," or "I don't mind if other people see this." So why do I sometimes feel like I walked into someone's house without knocking first?
And my real question today. Does the FeedJit make you feel like you walked into my house and I hid at the top of the stairs watching which rooms you went into? Does it make you feel creepy and nosy? Are you creepy and nosy?

Ignorance vs. Bopping

Zach and I were listening to one of our favorite songs and commenting that we had no idea what the lyrics were. We joked about how we didn't want to look them up, because we might be disappointed.

Then the next day our Sunday School teacher talked on Ignorance vs. Innocence vs. Intentional Misbehavior.

So, the next day- happens to be today- me and the babies were bopping out, and I decided I should finally get around to checking out the lyrics to this one. Aloooooooo-ha. Don't you hate it when you find out one of your favorite songs had the F-word in it the whole time?

***

Okay- Zach just got home, and told me the version I got off the music player is different than the Radiomix we've been listening to, which has no swearwords. But still.

Converted

Another great thing comes from Ohio. DSP!! I guess because of my employment designing digi-wedding albums back in the day, you could say I've been digi-scrapping before I knew I even liked scrapbooking. (Actually, I really hated it. It bothered me that people spent so much money and time embellishing and glorifying mediocre and sometimes even awful photos of mostly unimportant things. Yay, my kid can drink out of a sippy cup. Now I'm going to spend five hours making sure she knows, twenty years from now, how proud I was of her. Yes, string me up, all ye avid paper scrappers.) But now that I can *click, click, click* and get multiple copies of the same pages for pennies and in minutes- sign me up. I don't care that it is flat. I like my books to close when I close them. Now that I think of it, maybe paper scrapping vs. digi-scrapping is like the difference between sculpture and paint. Both art. One's just... bulkier. (Yes, I'm biased.)

Anyway. I'm having a lot more fun designing the babies' books with these pre-fabbed scrap kits than I did building everything from scratch with Mia's. The results are in, and I highly advocate double-clicking. ;-)

Two heads used to be better

Zach took his last test yesterday morning. Since he had to start work today, we thought we'd take advantage of the rest of his day off by getting our backed up laundry done and going to COSI with the kids.

I swear, we always forget something when we both get things ready to leave, which is when we spontaneously decide to do something with the kids. We don't do a thorough check off in our heads, because there's such a whirlwind of activity. One-parent prep is more methodical. So this time we remembered sippy cups, sandwiches, bananas, hair clippies, socks, shoes, COSI pass, stroller. We were going to put all the food in the diaper bag, but I got out a grocery bag and stuffed it in. So guess what we left hidden between the toybox and the elliptical.

Neither of us had changed Bree, who was getting kinda squishy, (does this mean we changed Anya twice?) so Zach bought two single diapers from the gift shop on our way in: $3 freakin' dollars. And guess who ended up using the other one? While I was changing Bree I asked Mia if she needed to go, thinking the fact she was running her hands under the water in the kiddie sink would elicit an honest answer. "No, mommy." Huh. Ten minutes later, we're playing in the H2O area, and Mia walks up to me cowgirl-style. Potty-trained shmotty-trained.

But you know what? We had fun. I can't really go into it, but I have recently come to experience joy like never before in my life. It caught me by surprise the other day when I realized I wasn't just laughing with the babies so they would feel happy. I felt happy. And I noticed it. I don't know if it's just because I'm finally over the much advised-about "first twin year," or the effects of some life-altering realizations and changes. But I'm thinking the latter, because I've never felt like this before. Despite (and maybe due to?) some of the most challenging obstacles I've ever faced, I really like myself and my life for the first time- ever.

3 Babies Ago

I love my chopper thingy. I should have bought one as a newlywed. It's absence is the only reason it took me five years to make my mother-in-law's awesome Chicken Pillow recipe.

Here it is making baby food out of left-over spaghetti.

Touring Italy

and France

The Blog of a Young Girl

After years of weekly entries, since I started this blog I have only written in my personal journal once.

I saw "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" on somebody's Facebook book favorite list, (I can't find it again- who was that?) and during my allotted two minutes in the grown-ups area at the end of Mia's library time, I saw it and snatched it up. My problem with books: I can't put them down- even when I'm the mom of three kids, apparently. So a few days after starting it, I've finished it (my house paid the price), and I've got a renewed desire to keep my journal.


I wonder if blogging has been detrimental to anyone else's journal-keeping. Who would Anne have been in the world of blogging? This book probably wouldn't exist if she knew she wasn't just writing to her dear patient friend made of paper and binding. (Well, I am in the world of blogging, and so far, I don't regret it. A season for everything, and everyone. I wonder what it is about me that qualified me as a candidate for birth in 1978...)

I really love this book. It seems as if she was destined to write it. Every element of those last years of her life contributing to a drama so perfect, a personality so engaging, uplifting and endearing.

What struck me as odd is that according to her, no one she met in her short life ever saw the side of her that we read. I doubt this book would be such a library staple if people didn't relate to that hidden-hidden person. I think that's just because we all have a hidden, vulnerable second self, too. And something about reading her unbridled thoughts, seeing someone else's vulnerable self, makes that better person in us a little stronger.

Signs

My cousin posted this article on Facebook. I wonder what the author would have thought about the Book of Mormon. Or if maybe he is LDS and couldn't share the true depth of his understanding in the liberal NYTimes.

4 Ne. 1: 24
24 And now, ... there began to be among them those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel, and all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the world.

Of the world. Sometimes I wonder how well I'm doing in the "in the world, not of the world" area. Sometimes I worry about how I'll do when we have an actual income and decisions to make regarding frivolous things. It's kind of a comfortable place when you know that you don't have it to spend, so if you do something "extra" you'd by golly better have a good reason.

The Times.

Sass

"Miiiiiilk!"

Zach absentmindedly hops up from his computer chess game to get some milk for the toddler.

I look up from the bowlful of canned spinach, peas, and chicken I'm spooning into the twins' faces (suckerrrrs!) and my brow furrows. "Mia- there's a nicer way to ask for milk."

Zach pauses at the fridge. Mia notices this and chastises me impatiently. "He's already getting it, so be quiet!"

And here's where our discipline always fails.

"Baaaah ha ha ha ha!"

Puttin' on the Ritz

I finally figured out how to fix up blogs! There are still a lot of unanswered little html questions, though. I wonder if there's an online class or something I could take.

Well, anyway. I was so excited to have figured it out, Zach felt obligated to let me mess with his blog, too. I stayed up til 11 goofing around with it- which is no small thing in a world where early-rising babies and seven-foot dogs are the alarm clock. So yeah- this is pretty fun for me. *yawn*

I neglected to mention

Okay, so maybe I left out the coolest thing about living in Ohio. But only because, mentioning it would have put a huge hole in my whining, and I had just had a really bad "Ohio" experience. Feelings before common sense, I always say...

The other reason I didn't mention it is because it's only temporary.

BUT! For at least a month or so, we have the coolest neighbor situated just across the street. Before we moved here in March, Mia spent her outside time chasing strangers on the way to their cars out in the parking lot shouting "Hi, fwend! Hi fwend!!" There was absolutely nowhere to play, and our back yard consisted of about a five by seven foot square of concrete leading to poop-covered grass and a ravine with tall weeds and a little creek.

Now, we have Miss Monica, her daycare kids and two poop-free front yards to play in! (The house next to hers is basically condemned because of flooding. So we kind of spread out onto that yard, too.)

She has an amazing way of getting a zillion kids to follow instructions.

We're so lucky she's here! Sadly, as evidenced by the realtor sign in her front yard, it's not gonna last. We'll miss Miss Monica. And even though her seven-foot dog wakes us up every morning that the kids don't, we're praying that her house won't sell until summer is over. Uh- don't tell her that.

At Wal-Mart of all places

Well, I said I'd write when something good happened in Ohio, so here goes!

A lady cut in front of me in the self-check-out line at Wal-Mart. I can see how it happened. There was one line of people waiting for two counters- we just went to the one that became available first. She saw a long line at one counter and no line at the other, figured everyone waiting in the "other line" was a blind idiot, and went for it. But a little while later she turned and looked at me (the one line had quickly become two lines when people realized not everyone was going for this "wait for your turn" business,) and looked at the three packages of stickers in my hands. I smiled and nodded a little and she said "Is that all you have? You can go before me if you want..."

It was past Mia's bedtime, and we were kind of in a hurry. So- yeah. That was a good thing. In Ohio.

Oh! And the sun came out for an hour, too! That was good.

Yup.

Good times.

Here in Ohio.

Until the next "Good Things Ohio." I'll keep you posted.

OH! And Bevan's don't worry. These posts have nothing to do with you. As far as I'm concerned, you are only as Ohioan as we are.

Tag! You're fault!

(Yes, the apostrophe is on purpose.) I love toddler-ese. Not just the grammar and pronunciation, but the rules of etiquette. "Can we get fwench fwies at Old McDonald's?" Mia blessed the food the other day, and said she was grateful for Costco. A couple of days later she blessed the food and asked to go to the 'seum. (The science museum with a kid play area.)

"Happy Smother's Day!"

I am a Child of God: "Has given me and earthly home with parents kind of dear.."

Enimems are her favorite treat.

"Mom? Are you putting makeup on to cover your zits? Wow- you're beauutiful! Do I have zits, too?" Later, looking at the dimples on her hands, "I have holes! Like the babies! Do you have holes?"

Daddy burps: "Bless you, Daddy!"

Time is completely arbitrary. Things can happen "yesterday morning tomorrow." If she's taken a nap, then this morning becomes last week.