On top of it.

Wow.



It's entirely possible that I don't update this often enough.


So Welcome to December!


I took down the Halloween decorations last night, which is a step forward. It snowed this morning, and we realized suddenly that I have NO IDEA where Glen's snow pants are. So he wore my 'snowsuit' to school. It's crazy big, but at least he won't have to be the kid who can't go play in the snow.... which is good.


Since I haven't updated since... hmm.... August ... well, there are lots of pictures to share! I'll do a few now, and more later. There's been too much between then and now to even try covering it all, so I'll take a page from Kerouac and ramble like a madman. :)


I got to take a trip to Denver all by mahself, and I proceeded to read four novels straight while there.


I started really increasing running mileage, and joined a running group training for a 10 mile race, but then added too much too soon and now have an ouchy knee. I'm working with it to slowly get back up to 24/25 miles per week.


I quit the paper route Nov. 1, which hasn't helped the weekly mileage -- I resolve strongly to get back to it this week, and add one or two miles each week until I'm back up to where I was in October.


I started taking voice lessons and have been enjoying the heck out of it. What fun!


The cleaning lady came today, and I can't wait to go home and revel in it. ( I spent the whole weekend putting crap away so she could do her job...)


Larry was in several shows this year. My favorite was one about the women in Lincoln's life, out at the Theatre in the Park. He played several different characters and was really great in each of them. He's doing a student-directed play at UIS now, and has some exciting opportunities coming up that are going to be really fun to watch.


Fealty (our recorder consort) accompanied "Shakespeare Shorts", and it was a really cool experience.


We took the kids to Rockbridge, MO this year for Thanksgiving instead of doing the Feast of Plenty (Us, the kids, and my parents all went), and it was a genuinely wonderful experience. Outdoors, hills, stars, streams, rainbow trout, family.... ahhh.


Enough with the words. I'm sure I left out.. well, nearly everything. :)

From the August McDaniel Family visit:

from the Heroes Run for Hope (5-miler, fundraiser for the Marrow Donor Registry)(yes, I'm wearing a cape):

Gideon was too tired to climb the stairs at Gramma's. He just went to sleep right where he was:

I got new Specs, too!

I'll add more when I'm at the other computer, for it seems that's where I've stored them all!!

Finally, an update!

We've been so busy these last few months! And the spring allows so little time for website updates... the legislature has been so busy.

But, very briefly...

The kids and I got to go to Greenlake WI for the annual church musicians' conference in July. I went to the conference as a teenager/pre-teen, and it's always been very special to me. I'm happy to say that it is now very special to them, too! We had a really wonderful time, surrounded by wonderful people and fantastic music. We spent the majority of our time playing together, and exploring all the opportunities on the grounds. And we discovered how much FUN it is for them to paint ceramics !


I got to go for lots of solo runs (an exquisite luxury!) and also got to take Glen on a nice long hike in a meadow.

More ceramics time (family, don't look too close... wouldn't want to ruin Christmas...)

And we got to go fishing in Wisconsin's deepest lake.

There's also a beach, where we got to play with sand and water.

More beach time. We were REALLY EXCITED about the beach.

Totally unrelated... My parents have a Nightblooming cereus in their yard. It's never bloomed before... but this summer, we may have a bloom happening!!!

These bloom only once a year, and only at night... It's a pretty special occasion.

The garden is going gangbusters. The kids have been helping off and on, but it's really proving to be such a great experience for me. So grounding, and peaceful.

March and April photos.

New Photos from the Smiths!

Gideon got a hold of the camera and did a series I like to call "perspective".


Then Dad finally had to take the camera away. This, I believe, is him saying, "No, seriously Gid. Give me the Camera. 5..... 4..... 3....."



Madi guards the shed in my parents' backyard every minute she's there. There's somebody living under there... it'll be interesting if they ever come out!

BED JUMPING TIME!!!

Ooli is so happy that it's spring at last.

The boys, getting in some bball with the baby bball hoop.

SNOW! At the very END of MARCH! I know for the Denver people, that's no big deal... but here, it's a good reason to get up before the sun is up and make snowmen!

And, oh yes, to EAT SNOW!



We got to visit John and Sarah over in Mt Zion recently, and we got to play "Farm". It was a blast. Gideon got to drive Scoop -- they'd scoop up big shovels of dirt just to watch it fall to the ground.

Please go see the whole album, if you're interested! (just click the link)

I'm back to photobucket this month.

There's an "Easter" album on there as well that's pretty great! Perhaps I'll post a few of them here in a little bit... but for now, you can just follow the link.

Sal

The Sky is Falling!

I'm finally getting around to posting new photos!

I'm trying out snapfish for our photo album -- we'll give it a shot. http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=257555841/a=161602221_161602221/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Glen was Chicken Little in his school's production of "Lemonade" (a cute musical for "young singers"). We were pretty proud of the costume we came up with.

We had Willow's Birthday (4!!), and family came to celebrate. Willow was still a little sleepy, but she's Grandma's girl.

One morning this month, I got home from the paper route to discover what "snuggle" really means:

And Madi and Ooli are really forging a great relationship. We love it when Ooli comes to visit.

Gideon still loves to look at the camera when you're taking a picture. REALLY CLOSE UP.



And he's really getting huge.

And just because I hadn't posted one of me yet... this was a trip to Monical's last week. I get cold in restaurants. It's ridiculous.

Have a wonderful week!

At last.

All the fixtures in the bathroom work.

And nothing leaks anymore.

It's wonderful!

A little shame faced...

It has been far too long since I made time to post.

In the interim, I've :

-played a role in the impeachment of the governor, and of his removal from office
- joined weight watchers, in actual person rather than all by myself
-begun training for the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon
-painted the living room
-gutted and replaced the bathroom, although we sadly still await a sink
-thrown a 4-year old's birthday party
-remembered to mail xmas gifts before February for the first time perhaps ever
-given up on mailing xmas cards or "family letters"
-hired, trained, and equipped a new staff for the coming session
-finally started making 1 hour every night before bed for reading
-decided that we're going to need a bigger house sooner rather than later

So.

Enough about all that.

Oh, and the funniest thing that happened, and actually made me fall to the kitchen floor laughing:

So we've gutted the bathroom, had it replaced (walls, floors, tub, shower, everything). We decide to "finish it up" one Sunday afternoon, and I break the light fixture while installing it. And discover that we can't install the sink we bought without knocking holes in the new (and freshly painted) drywall. So... we return the sink. A frustrating day, but we really took all of it in stride.

And then, I notice that the bucket under the kitchen sink is filling up faster than usual. (I've been ignoring this tiny little drip for MONTHS.) So I figure we'll just clean out the trap and put new pipe tape on it. A nice feel-good job after a rough day -- and maybe we can feel like we finished something.

Larry goes to unscrew the pipes.... annnnnnnnnnnnnnd....

After Larry stopped laughing and picked me up off the floor, we called the plumber.

I'm so done with DIY.

Christmas Bug, and other things

What a month!!

I did get most of this week off (which was by no means certain, what with all the impeachyness going around at work), and have loved every moment of it!

I was ready for the Big Day wayyyyyy beforehand, which was wonderful, and yet still managed to be up until 1:30 the night before doing things I just forgot about, or didn't plan well enough for. Bread, it turns out, takes 2 hours to rise whether you're in a hurry or not. Huh.

We had pulled back on the reins HARD this year -- everyone got the one item they wanted more than anything, and then some little stuff, but we spent less total than we ever have. I'm particularly proud of the bargaining and haggling. I feel like I made out like a bandit this year.

Christmas was a blast. We had ours at home, then went to the Pike County family for lunch and such -- we did soup and sandwiches this year, with desserts, and it was really great. Much lower maintenance. I'm a big fan.

We wrapped it all up, and came home. Glen got a bit carsick-y on the way, but we made it home and everyone went to bed. About midnight, he came in and told us he had a belly ache, and couldn't sleep, and could he please lay down with us for a bit? We said sure, and dozed off a bit, and within 5 minutes...... the Merry Christmas Flu arrived!! Wheeeee!

He threw up in my hair, on my pillow, on my pajamas, sheets, blankets, ....

ohhhhh, uck. (At least he was facing me, and not dad).

Those who say that humans can't levitate have never had a 7-year old throw up in their bed. Seven-year-olds don't throw up "cute".

We tossed him in the shower, and stripped the bed like a well-trained navy seal team. Tossed the ick sheets in the very hot, very bleachy washing machine. Bleached the (plastic, we're not fools) mattress cover, put on new sheets, found new blankets, and yanked the now clean and much happier child out of the shower.

He feels so great that he asks if he can watch TV. I'm still waiting for my turn in the shower. :(

So the kid gets a new bed of his own on the floor -- starting with a vinyl tablecloth and several old sheets, and finishing with the plastic pillows we've adopted after replacing quite enough of the fiber kind.

I hop in the shower.

It is...

ICE.

COLD.


I do not exaggerate. I would serve water this cold with dinner. You could have used it as an ice bath after blanching.

I got to sit in the bathroom for 25 minutes, waiting for hot water, before I could shower. On the plus side, I got to read two uninterrupted chapters of my book...

It was awesome.

Happily, it does not seem to have been the actual flu. I think it was a combination of an unholy quantity of cookies and fudge and a killer case of motion sickness. Nobody else has gotten it, and he never had any other problems. Thank goodness!!!


There are Xmas pictures on photobucket -- here -- but I'll post a few favorites below.

Willow, in her new sleeping bag.

Glen at Grandma's House.

Larry... with his fancy new phone.

The Whole Clan at Grandma Shaw's (the late-rising bread in the background...)

Oh, and one video.... Glen got the amp he wished for for Christmas.

It'll be a noisy year. But he's already got a band going.