Savannah Bean is my sweet darling.

Five things about Savannah.

1.  Savannah is my social butterfly. She always wants to play with friends. I have had several parents, and her preschool teacher say that they love having Savannah around because she is a good influence on other children. She plays well with older and younger kids, and both groups see her as a friend.

2. Savannah is my fashion queen. She has such a specific style and feels strongly about it. If she has determined what she wants to wear or what she believes looks good together, heaven help the person who wants to teach her about too many patterns or wearing the same outfit five days in a row.

3. Savannah started music classes this year and has loved singing and playing her bells as a part of her class. She had to perform at her recital and while she started out nervous she quickly found her stride and was confident and did an excellent job.

4. Savannah loves to have the world organized, and she does a good job of it. She loves to arrange all of her precious things on top of her dresser or her stuffed animals on her bed and comments on how beautiful it has turned out.

5. She is a fantastic sister and is a peacemaker. Her favorite times are when she and her sister are playing together. Her sister really is her best friend. She doesn't like contention or hurtful behavior from anyone and is

so good at working through problems and helping find compromises. She is also so wonderful with Nathan, she loves to make him laugh and genuinely enjoys playing with him.


Love you Savannah Banana!!

Today Abbie turned seven. I can't believe how old it seems to me.

Seven things about Abbie.

1. Creativity is still pouring out of her in every possible way, from working on new ways to rearrange the couch cushions in order to build the biggest fort possible, writing a story, or drawing spiders, bugs, and other creepy-crawlers she is always creating something.

2. She loves to read. Her current obsession is with things that are real, mostly about animals. She has been reading the fact-books that accompany the Magic Treehouse Series.

3. She has been in the school choir this year. She sang her little heart out for six different concerts and actually has a pretty decent voice. (She did not get this from her mother.)

4. She still has things that worry and concern her (fire drills and tornadoes top the list) but she is learning how to work through her concerns and enjoy her life.

5. She deeply cares about the people around her and will jump to fight against inequity (or perceived inequity) whenever she sees it. She hates to see people hurting or sad.

6. She has become more daring this year. She became quite a good skier when Russ took her up this winter and is thrilled to be signed up for ice-skating lessons this summer.

7. She lives life enthusiastically and is excited about every adventure as it comes along. She loves learning new things, going new places, and having fun!

I love you Miss Abs!

Last day of school! I think I'm as excited as Abbie. I feel like I haven't had a summer in two years. Last summer I had a new baby and had just moved so we didn't get out as much as I would have liked. I'm ready to play!

Tuesday after school we went up the canyon for just an hour. I think that is where I want to spend the majority of the summer.





We've been reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret to the girls. It is so wonderful that they are finally to where they enjoy books that I enjoy reading (other than Junie B. Jones). We are on to Roald Dahl next and I'm excited.

Abbie is having a pinewood derby for her 7th birthday. She is awesome. (PS - We are just painting the cars. Not carving them. I'm not that ambitious.)

Today we had a last day of school water party which consisted of inviting over friends and turning on the sprinkler. But call it a party and it increases the fun quotient.

I did my bike race! The doctor limited me to 36 miles, which I was none too happy about. But the ride was through rural farmland and I kept an average speed of just under 17 mph so I'm pretty happy with how it went.

This year of sickness has continued in our home. This week...stomach flu. Abbie is the only one to escape scott free.

School lets out for the summer next week. I'm getting excited for all the fun I have planned for the kids. Visiting a cave, hiking, kayaking, backyard camping, baking. Gotta love summer.

This weekend I'm participating in the Little Red Riding Hood bike ride up in Logan, UT. I had signed  -up to do 50 miles but my knee and the doctor have nipped that in the bud to 36. It will still be fun though.

It makes me feel like I'm doing something right as a parent that my girls like The Beatles We were listening to, "All You Need is Love" as we were drive home from Costco today.

Savannah: That's not true! You need more than love.
Mom: What else do you need?
S: A heart!

Abbie's school choir had their end of year concert this week. She could not have been more proud of herself singing all these great songs from the movies. Me, I'm turning into the sappy mom who gets teary when she starts singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Russ is doing something right as a parent because Savannah knows the name of almost all the Star Wars characters from all three movies.

This morning I got up early and went for a bike ride, gardened for an hour and a half, and made pie dough.

This afternoon, I slept, and slept and slept.

I'm in the process of signing my girls up for extra-curricular activities for the summer. In typical me fashion, I put a lot of weight on these classes. They might help them develop their talents, become part of their identity, or help in their career path. Or if I choose the wrong one, they might be fodder for discussions to their therapist. No pressure. (Can anyone else see the Ebert in this, or is it just me?)


Tomorrow I'm going to make strawberry rhubarb pie. I'm kind of excited. I've never had it before, but we have a big rhubarb plant in our backyard and it seems a shame to waste it.

As I was gardening this morning my neighbor stopped by. He handed me an envelope. He said the mail man must have dropped it on his lawn. This man is one of the handful of neighbors we know, but not our next door neighbor. The mail man dropped it on his lawn. If this were junk mail that would be one thing but it was a check that we've been waiting for! I've heard several neighbors complain about this particular mailman and I'm afraid I'm queuing up right behind them.

Mr. Bean + Seinfeld - Elaine - Kramer - George + Cornwall = Doc Martin.  Mine and Russ's new favorite show. (Behind Call the Midwife, but that is just my favorite.)

Nathan had a follow up for his ear tubes yesterday. He might need another surgery to take his adnoids out. (Considering he has had two, yes two, ear infections in the last six weeks since the surgery.) Let's go for four surgery's in one year now shall we?

And his hearing test in his left ear came back inconclusive.


This has, however been the first year in..well..ever that I've been very, very grateful for health insurance.

I haven't posted about this in awhile but the truth is my kids are still sick. Not all of them and not all the time but since last October I can think of only a few times when we've gone a seven day period with no one being sick. The current culprit, Nathan. He has an ear infection. (Last week he had a fever.) Ear infections with tubes are less painful but more gross.

After tomorrow I will have taken Abbie to seek medical care a total of four times...this week. Two doctor visits, one instacare and one emergency room. Asthma sucks. But I think after the E.R. triple cocktail of meds we are finally over the hump.

Last week when all I could do was lie around staying off my knee I became addicted to the YouTube Phenom that is Lizzie Bennett Diaries. Each  video is only 3-6 minutes long so I totally had time to watch one (or two, or three, or four). Most of you actually have lives to live so I would recommend skipping through to the ones with the most views but it is pretty fun...if slightly amateur.

For the second half of last week Russ and I got away for a few days. The two highlights (and the order here is really debateable) 1 - Remembering how much fun we have together when we aren't problem solving and dead tired. 2 - Sleeping in as late as we wanted.

Nathan is walking! He is up to six steps! Props little man!

There is nothing like great writing to make me loose patience with poor writing.

Favorite moment of the day: Pushing Savannah on the swing.
Least favorite moment of the day: ER for four hours without a book.

At church a man donated some land for those who want to plant a garden but don't have room. I think eventually we will have something at our house but it will take an overhaul of landscaping that I'm not looking forward to. So tonight about 15 families got together and started making plans. I think I'm as excited about the prospect of gardening with my neighbors as I am about having a garden.

On one hand it is sad how I can get sucked into hours of watching episode after episode of West Wing and Call the Midwife. On the other, I am so sick of sitting around doing nothing, that the thought of needing surgery on my other knee is like asking a woman to have another baby right after she has just delivered one.

I can't carry my baby. I can hold him but when I take more than two or three steps I remember why I'm not supposed to carry him. It is heartbreaking to me.

Abbie started piano lessons this week. She is taking it so seriously because these are things she, "just has to know."

Nathan pulled up one of the keys on my keyboard that goes with my iPad. Now I have to press it extremely hard to get it to work. Which key? 'S.' Why couldn't it have been 'X' or 'Q'?

Savannah has a recital for her music class in a few weeks. I'm honestly surprised how fast she has picked up so many songs. She is one smart cookie.

My knee is the size of a grapefruit.

I do really like Call the Midwife, though.

Friday afternoon I had knee surgery, an arthroscopic lateral release, which means, at least in my case that they cleaned out a bunch of cartilage and bone spurs, and cut a tendon so my patella will...hopefully..move to the correct spot.

The surgery was scheduled for 4:30...p.m.Yes, I was the last surgery of the day which meant I got to fast for the entire day. I honestly don't mind fasting for spiritual reasons. I find that it helps me focus my mediations, thoughts, and prayers on what really matters to me. But to fast for fastings sake just ticks me off. Which is probably why when I was dropping off my bike to my brother-in-law and visiting I happened to pop a few dried blueberries in my mouth.

Thankfully they didn't cancel the surgery. Although all their dumb paperwork would lead you to believe they would do otherwise.

Finally at the hospital I checked in and started all the, what I thought would be, routine, physical exams. However the nurse listening to my heart seemed to be taking an extra long time. And then the words,

"Hmmm... that sounds interesting."

Never a good thing in relation to your heart. Enter EKG machine.

Unfortunately the EKG wasn't entirely conclusive. I either had a PAC (premature artirial contraction) which is not a big deal or an artirial fibrilation, which is a huge deal, and only a minor side effect would be to cancel the surgery to figure out what was going on.

Two anaesthesiologists later they decided they were 95% sure it was a PAC and to go ahead, but be sure to follow up with a doctor about it later.

Now I am home, and keeping my leg properly elevated and iced.(Thanks Lisa and Ben for the ice machine.) I am much less mobile than I'd expected and much more bored than I expected, and still have to be off my feet until at least Wednesday. Once again, any books or Netflix suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thankfully my husband, kids, and neighbors have been such fantastic supports that hopefully, this will go by relatively quickly and I can get back moving again.

I made it on a Thursday!

Nathan got tubes Monday..turns out he had strep at the same time. I'm still waiting for the miracle that is supposed to be the post-tubes joyful baby.

I'm slowly learning that knee surgery is not the minor inconvenience that I had once pictured. It looks like short-term life pause.

Conversation:

Savannah: "Mom, I love you more than anyone in the whole city."
Abbie: "Mom, I love you more than this gallon of milk."

Yes, yes I'm a successful parent.

Any suggestions on post-surgery books?

In some ways I feel like I'm preping to have a baby except instead of bringing a cute baby home from the hospital, I get a lame leg.

It is starting to get warm here. I am so very, very excited.

I put Nathan down for an early nap. He only slept for an hour. He has kept me up most nights this week, and now he thinks he gets to pull a short nap? No siree. He has been crying for 20 minutes.

Good News: My degree of separation from Tiger Woods has been reduced to one.
Bad News: I'm having knee surgery.

Conversation:

Mom:"Girls, mom and dad need to talk for a few minutes how about you go downstairs and play." (Note: I did not ask them to work, do a job, do homework or watch their brother. I asked them to play.)

Savannah: "Why?"

Abbie: "How many minutes will it be?"

Mom: "It doesn't matter just go play."

Abbie: "How many minutes.

Mom: "Three hundred."

Abbie: "No really how many?"

Mom: "Fifteen, now go."

Abbie: "How long do we have to? Why?"

Savannah: "Fine." angrily

Mom closes the office door. Girls stand outside and wait for about two minutes. Within five minutes someone is screaming in the basement. Is it really so difficult to play?

Nathan is getting tubes on Monday. May he be a happier child for it.

Nathan is my most mobile/get into mischief child. His favorite play items include toilet water, aluminum foil, tupperware, toilet brush, computer on/off switch, and toilet paper. It is awesome....or not.

I had strep throat yesterday. This is the second time this winter. I got strep all the time as a child, I was one illness away from having my tonsils removed, and then it stopped. I don't remember it feeling quite this lousy.

At church we have a lip sync where the children, youth, and adults each get to do a variety of songs of their choosing. Thankfully I'm over the primary so I'm home free. Abbie chose to be a back up dancer to Life is a Highway from Cars.

This started as a Saturday edition, now it is a Sunday edition, hopefully it doesn't turn into a Monday edition.

Nathan burned his fingers on the flat iron this morning. Poor kid couldn't sleep for his nap because he was in so much pain. Made for a rough day all around.

Saturday (before the family chat) I went for my second bike ride of the year. So beautiful. Now if only my knee would work properly.

Abbie lost her second tooth today! The Grandma Toothfairy had to spot the Toothfairy some cash because the Toothfairy was fresh out and it happened at dinner time.

I am going to be thrilled when this semester is over.

Yesterday was Nathan's birthday. (Although technically because he was born on March 1 of a leap-year he is really one-year-old today.) And he has grown from this,


to this.
Nathan is such a happy, easy going baby (except for when he isn't). He loves to laugh, and it is so fun to see that he already has a sense of humor. He currently loves to shake his head back and forth over and over again and just starts laughing whenever he does it. He is also a little explorer and gets into everything he has access to, including cupboards, shelves, toys, pots, pans, tupperware, garbage and the toilet bowl cleaner (which he now no longer has access to). This morning he got into Abbie's water colors and ate the turquoise paint. It got all over his mouth, hands shirt and hair. I really wanted to take a picture, but not as badly as I wanted to not get paint on the carpet and walls while I got the camera, so you'll have to just imagine. (Yes, I'm overloading on Nathan pictures, but I feel like I haven't taken enough of him so I wanted to make up for it....and he's just so darn cute!) We love Nate the Great!

Since the week before Christmas (eight weeks ago) we have had the following illnesses by one or more members of our household: 1- Bronchitis (all three children), 2 - stomach flu (parents and Savannah), 3 - two eardrum ruptures (both Nathan), 4 - random-two-day-fever (both girls), 5-  pink eye (everyone but Russ), 6 - strep throat (me), 7 - croop (Savannah), 8- sinus infection (Russ), cabin fever (all), whining (all), general irritability (all).

Last weekend we drove four hours south and spent the weekend hiking, running and generally feeling warm. (In between the instacare visit.)I started making all sorts of fun plans for summer. Then we returned to snowy weather. Blast it all.

A few weeks ago I was talking to my friend about her daughter and mentioned how great it was that her daughter was willing to wear different clothes every day. (At the moment Savannah has one dress she wears almost all the time, and two other outfits that she will deign to wear when the dress is being washed.) I didn't realize it at the time, but Savannah heard me and caught my frustration. This week she cried to me about it because it hurt her feelings. Sometimes I just stink at parenthood.


Russ however, makes up for where I lack. For example, I got the girls $3 snow globes for Valentine's Day. Russ drew the following for each of them.

Things are not very random around here. My kids got sick again this week. The weather here is very polluted  and cold. So rather than bore you with the same thoughts I've been having for the last few weeks I will give you a little insight into my teaching this semester.

The following is a transcript from an email I got from a student regarding a paper they wrote and their grade. (Name deleted to protect the guilty. Subject deleted to protect me from spam and internet wrath)

Dear Sister Gray,

Are you telling me that I am being penalized, through the grade you gave me on my paper, because I exercised my civil liberty of “freedom of speech,” which is protected by the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States, because I do not agree with the ... agenda of a church?

[Name]

(My response...)

We have introduced Star Wars to the girls. Abbie likes it. Savannah tolerates it. But what has really turned the girls into fans is Russ's old Star Wars figurines. He has quite the collection. And they are only allowed to play with them when he plays with them. (To make a comparison, I have the same rule with my old American Girl doll. Star Wars figurines..American Girl doll...hmmmm) So now Russ comes home from work to cries of , "Can we play Star Wars My Little Pony?" It is pure awesomeness. 

Today I went to the Sundance Film Festival and drove Jared Hess's (the direcor of Napoleon Dynomite) car while there. This is the closest to fame I will ever get.

The movie I saw was Austenland, which was a riot.

Nathan finally!! no longer needs to be nursed at night. He still wakes up but at least he goes back to sleep with just a binki. It is progress and I am thrilled. Thrilled!

We just had the first ice storm I've ever experienced in my hometown. I thought such monstrosities  were limited to the mid-West. Everything is covered in ice. It is awful.

I just borrowed the third season of Downton Abbey from my in-laws and watched the next episode (the one that will air Sunday)........AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

There.... I kind of feel better.

My nieces are selling Girl Scout Cookies....MMmmmm.

Siri might be helpful to some people. But around my house the pressing questions are, "What is the longest icicle?" and "Where do seahorses sleep?" Siri don't know nothing about the important things.

Spent the morning making homemade egg rolls with a friend. Can't wait for dinner tonight!

Nathan has been puttering around in his bed before he falls asleep lately. So yesterday during nap time I felt completely justified in ignoring his chatter and letting him crash. It took longer than normal but he finally was silent. A short half hour later he awoke and I discovered why it had taken him longer to fall asleep..... He had pooped. The diaper had leaked. His pants were off and the poop was everywhere. Everywhere.  Hands, feet, clothes, blankets, sheets. And yes, his hand were in his mouth. Ew. Ew. Ew.

I'm still recovering.

Savannah has mixed up the words "honest" and "modest". The other day she came up to me and asked, "Is this shirt honest?" I'm not really sure she understands either concept yet.

Abbie has been picking up books and reading them of her own accord! I couldn't be more excited. Thank heavens for Junie B. Jones!

Poor Edith!!

Nathan's eardrum ruptured this week. It explained his extreme fussiness, inability to sleep, and 103 temperatures. This is the third ear infection in as many months. I am so, SO, done with them.

You should never ask college freshman to write a commentary on a newspaper article for a political science class. Ever. Unless you want to be very depressed at the state of the nation and  the educational system in one fell swoop.

I love winter when the storm hits right at rush hour. NOT! (Remember that phrase?...Was it the 90s?...Sounds about right.) Russ has been driving for 40 minutes and is only a 1/3 of the way home on a drive that takes him 30 minutes normally.

On the up side the pollution has cleared out.

Today I made the most amazing Cream Scones with Craisens and Orange. The problem, I mistakenly put in one tablespoon of baking soda when I was supposed to put in a tablespoon of baking powder. They turned out awful!

Downton Abbey. Season Three. I am loving it.

I just started a new book club today (the club for which the scones had been made.) I'm so excited! The discussion was engaging and thought provoking.

Nathan stops moving when he sleeps. That is it. He is everywhere. Everywhere.

This week I got knocked off of center for a few days. Sometimes life just makes me sad. I am grateful though that I have a center to return to.

I introduced my daughters to Sound of Music today. (Only the Do a Deer song.) It makes something right with the world.

Missed me?

Last week we sat down with the girls to help them make some goals. Not New Year's resolutions but just things they wanted to do. Savannah's list?

1 - Grow a flower.
2 - Sew a blanket for Nathan
3 - Make gold. "Because I don't know how, and I really need to."


This has been a bad month for sickness at our house. Between bronchiolitis and the stomach flu I think we've paid our dues.

We took Abbie skiing last week. Physically she did amazing. Russ and I were both so excited with how well she did the first run down the bunny hill. So (yes, yes, we are idiots) we took her up the lift. About 1/4th the way down Abbie was DONE. The weeping, wailing and nashing of teeth will not be forgotten soon by any of us.

Both girls started sleeping through the night at around 9-10 months. That is what I'd been counting on with Nathan. So over Christmas break we decided to torture ourselves and our baby train him to sleep through the night. It was an epic fail. Epic. I am not happy. No...not happy at all.

When I sent Abbie out to the bus stop this morning it was six degrees. Six. One, two, three, four, five, six. Yup.....yup.