Where Does the Time Go?

I was sorting through my box of photo cds in search of one specific picture disc when I happened across one labelled "July 05-Dec 05 incl. Lucy's birth" This picture was taken in the hospital as we prepared to bring her home. Emma looks so small. I remember she seemed to grow up quickly once Lucy arrived - I could no longer see her as a baby with a real baby in the house.

I miss those two little people!

Mrs. Briglin VS Mrs. Bellinger

Kindergarten was a rough year for me. I don't really have that many memories of it and the ones I do are pretty humiliating. Case in point, the picture to the right. Yep, that's me in my little pilgrim hat with my tongue out ready to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast housed in my Flintstone lunchbox. Hey, your tongue would hang out too if your mom packed a ho-ho every day! The only thing better than this picture being taken was the fact that it showed up in the school yearbook. Like I said, Kindergarten was a rough year for me. The only bright spot in an otherwise bleak beginning to my school career was my teacher, Mrs. Briglin. She comforted me when I cried (which was often, I'm told) and didn't make me eat the green beans the one and only time I ever bought school lunch in my entire k-12 experience. One day we were cutting the letters of the alphabet out of magazines to paste in a little booklet. I got all the way to "k" and then I got stuck. I went to Mrs. Briglin for help, magazine in hand, and asked her what an "lmno" looked like. Being the kind and loving person she was, she didn't laugh in my face but instead calmly explained that it was really "l," "m," "n," and "o" I needed to look for. Mrs. Briglin loved me and I knew it.
Mrs. Bellinger is Emma's kindergarten teacher. She's been teaching kindergarten for a long time and has probably showed a lot of kids what "lmno"s look like. She's not the warm-fuzzy type but Emma seems to really like her. Mrs. Bellinger has taught Emma a lot including what crying is for. One day when we were driving to school Lucy was crying and throwing a fit about something. Emma looked at her and said, "Mrs. Bellinger says crying is only for when you are bleeding. Are you bleeding, Lucy?" I thought it was rather humorous and when we arrived at school I walked Emma in so that I could share the story with Mrs. Bellinger. After I told her she elaborated telling me that she and Emma had had a conversation the day before when Emma was crying about not getting her way. "I told Emma that we don't cry over hurt feelings. Crying is only for when you are bleeding and since she wasn't bleeding she needed to stop crying." Hmmmm....I'm a bit undecided on the, "we don't cry over hurt feelings" philosophy. I hope Emma wont require counselling in years to come over that one. Anyway... the other day Emma wore a really cute dress her Aunt Stacy gave her for Christmas with a pair of rainbow striped tights I got her to complete the look. She was crazy excited to show Mrs. Bellinger her new tights. When she got home I asked Emma if Mrs. Bellinger liked her tights. Emma said, "Yeah. I asked her if she wanted to touch them to feel the silver sparklies in them. She said, 'no.'"
Told you - not the warm-fuzzy type. Would it have killed her to bend over, touch them and say, "Ohhh."? The whole thing bothered me more than it did Emma, which I guess is a good thing. I guess it's also a good thing that I had Mrs. Briglin for Kindergarten and not Mrs. Bellinger.

SNOW Much FUN!

Emma's friend and schoolmate, Devin, had his birthday party yesterday at a snow tubing park!! It was a COLD day with the temperature reaching a balmy high of 13 degrees, so we got seriously bundled up and hit the slopes.

(don't forget you can click on the pictures to enlarge them!)

Downhill sledding - pulling your sled to the top of the hill = nothing but serious fun!!

Yes, Lucy started out like this, but by the end of the day she was riding the flats with her hands raised high!

The green stuff you see is hay that the attendants spread out at the end of the flats to help slow you down. Just past the hay there is a steep up slope that ends abruptly at a crash wall for bigger folks who work up some serious speed! If you enlarge the picture of Emma coming down, notice the adults at the top of the hill - aside from one attendant who unhooks you from the tow rope and another that shouts out "Go" once all is clear below, the rest are parents of the party goers, including me. While Loren lounged at the bottom I was getting a workout up top! =) It was a serious challenge to hold back the tubes and keep the kids from prematurely jumping the gate! Often I had 2 or 3 tube ropes in my heavily gloved hands trying to pull them away from the tow rope and maneuver them into their different lanes. I imagine the experience to be a lot like arctic dog-walking. Needless to say, after about an hour I was sweating and glad it was time to go in and do the birthday cake thing. While the kids were happy eating, Devin's mom told us to feel free to stay as long as we wanted because the tickets the kids had were good until 5pm. Loren and I took one look at each other and decided there was no way we were going freeze our buns off watching the girls tube down that hill for another 2+ hours. So... we bought tickets to join them! All I have to say is it was a BLAST!!! Loren thinks we were going at least 30 mph by the time we got to the bottom. Both Loren and I got up close and personal with the crash wall. Lucy lamented that she never got to "go up that hill" - just one perk of being heavy on a tubing hill! We always beat the girls to the bottom even if we gave them head starts! I would whiz by Lucy laughing and wave but careful to close my mouth before I hit the hay otherwise I got a mouthful of chaf!! By the time we were ready to leave it was nearly 5pm. We tipped the nice attendent that smiled everytime Lucy asked him to spin her as he sent her off down the hill and waved good-bye on our final run.

All in all it was a FANTASTIC day.

As I lounged in my tube being pulled up hill I couldn't help but think how much fun it would be to do this with friends and family. Wish you were here!


A quick disclaimer for my mom's sake - don't think I was out there in 13 degree weather without adequate head covering, I had my cool 360 earmuffs on that wrap around the back of my neck - gotta look cool when your on the slopes!

A Million Dazzling Diamonds

When I backed the car out of the garage this morning I was met with blue skies and sunshine! It snowed a bit more overnight and there must have been enough wind to swirl things around leaving the ground smooth and fresh. The snow is the very dry kind that squeaks when you walk on it. The temperature was -3 F and the reflection of the sun off the snow was simply dazzling. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can see what I'm talking about although it still doesn't truly capture the beauty. The drive to Emma's school passes over a small river and the steam was rising off the water and it's mist had made the nearby trees appear powdered. It was really beautiful. I know they say that when Jesus comes again the earth will be made new and it will be perpetual Spring. Although I'm a fan of Spring I can't help but think I'll miss the beauty of days like this.

Snow Day

Snow day! When I was a kid I lived to hear those words! It seems though, that I didn't hear them that often. Now that I'm an adult, the words "snow day" don't evoke quite the same feel. Why is that? I think it's because my kids are little. "Snow day" means I have to entertain them and it absolutely will involve the labor of piling on of snow gear and then all too soon it's wet removal. Perhaps I'll like snow days better when they are older - when they will use the opportunity to go back to bed - when my heart will jump because I don't have to drive them to early-morning seminary - yeah. For now, I'll take comfort in the thoughts that the return of excitement when hearing the words "snow day" will arrive sooner than I think.

Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam!

Yesterday was "moving up day" at church. Emma progressed to CTR 6 and Lucy joined the Primary as one of it's newest Sunbeams! She was soooo excited! When she saw the nursery leader she pointed and told me, "That's my old nursery teacher. I don't go there anymore, but I'll give her a hug anyway." I couldn't help but smile when I saw her sitting in the front row with her arms folded so reverently. Emma was equally excited because mommy is the CTR 6 teacher and she is now in my class! I'm sure the day will come when she doesn't think it's "cool" to have her mom as a teacher but right now she thinks it's the neatest thing and I makes me feel good, too!

A sweet Christmas story...

Emma's school has a "Christmas Shop" where the kids can purchase small, inexpensive gifts for their family. She got to go one Monday early in December to "preview" what they had and actually got to shop 2 days later. She came home after the preview with a list - names of family members on one side and the item she wished to buy along with it's cost on the other. She showed it to me so that I would know how much money to send in on her shopping day. I was a bit dismayed when I saw "earrings $3.00" written next to my name because every time I wear earrings my ears get infected unless they are the really good kind and I doubted $3 earrings ranked in that category.

As fortune would have it, Lucy and I had been playing dress up earlier that day while Emma was away at school and she graciously offered to share a play set of earrings with me. I told Lucy that she should wear them because I didn't like earrings. She asked me why and I told her that earrings made my ears hurt.

Sometime between Emma's arrival home from school and bedtime, she must have discussed her choice of gifts for me with Lucy because as I was putting Emma to bed she said, "Lucy said you don't like earrings but the ones I want to get you are so beautiful I know you will want to wear them forever and ever."

My heart melted. Emma's autism makes it hard for her to think of others and she rarely shows any genuine emotion. Between her autistic tendencies and always being in a hurry, "Bye, bye. Love you," is about as good as it gets and I'm not even sure she knows what she's saying as I've heard her say that when she flushes the toilet. That being said, I was really touched.

When Emma came home the day she shopped she carefully placed the gifts she purchased under the tree. As she held the box with my name on it she told me, "The blue flower earrings I wanted for you were already sold. I had to get you something else. I'll give you a hint, it's something you wear."

Everytime I saw the box under the tree I admit I hoped it wasn't earrings. If it was, how could I not wear them? I made sure we had Neosporin just in case.

When Christmas morning arrived Emma handed me the box. When I took off the wrapping paper I saw a shiny silver box and inside was a bracelet and a matching pair of earrings. I thanked her and tried to hug her but she was on to the next thing and that was that. I put the bracelet on and have worn it almost continuously since. The earrings...well...a few days ago she asked me why I hadn't worn them. I told her I was saving them for a time that I dressed up. I did wear them last Sunday when we celebrated Christmas with my mom. I had to take them out right after dinner as my ears started to hurt. Emma didn't seem to notice, or at least she didn't comment.

Since then they have been sitting on my dresser in the little silver box they came in. I caught Emma looking at them yesterday. As I passed by she spoke to me but kept her eyes on the box with the earrings in it. "The blue flower earrings I wanted for you were already sold. I had to get you something else. I chose these because of the box. It is so sparkley - I knew you would love it." She stood there for a few more minutes just admiring the box and I stood there just admiring her.