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Wayne used this descriptive phrase to title our day. The lights were turned off when I arrived at Laura’s nursery at church. Three volunteers, employees, etc had not shown up. Wayne and I volunteered to stay with the combined infant room/two’s room. After helping in VBS with 16 two year olds, it seemed doable. It was fun to meet all Laura’s playmates. She would go off and play and then plop back in my lap. Towards the end, more workers showed up and I slipped out to hear the last of the sermon. It was a profound message about divorce and marriage from Mark. The main point was that the world’s view of marriage is not God’s view of marriage. That’s true with most things. I’m striving to see things from God’s perspective these days, not just my own eyes.

Wayne took the girls to play at the park while I shopped. I got to go to Trader Joe’s for the first time in months. I stocked up on Kool Bolgi (yum!) and grilling goodies. I also got this yummy gouda goat cheese for our salads this week.

We managed to get the girls to nap some. Wayne took the first nap and wasn’t feeling well. He still had the energy to work on the yard. I think the “heat” sapped our energy today. Granted, I lived in the South all my life, but I always lived in an AC’d house. When it gets to be midday and it’s hot, siesta’s and lying low sound good. I got a nice hour nap in between exuberant girls. Wayne sprayed Sara.

Cooking group time. With my knee being swollen, I couldn’t stand and make the recipes I’d planned. I had to press Wayne into service. We ended up running the dishwasher twice today. It took about 3 hrs, but we made a red pepper creamy curry chicken and pork and green bean stirfry with cashews. Wayne did all the standing over the stove. I fielded girl needs and chopped things. Sara ground the almonds for the chicken. She liked using the grinder. I told her how that was my job when Mom and I used to make oatmeal raisin cookies.

Laura has been quiet on the speech front. Today, she took her stuffed cat and said, “Mrow, mrow.” Don’t know when I’ll next hear it, but it was nice to hear a new word. Sara convinced me to make lemonade popsicles. Summer is finally here!

The day has cooled off. I think we sabbathed in phases this weekend. We got a lot done.

“Children are like wine in that they are amusing when they’re young, but more interesting as they grow up.”
This is the quote that began my week. I was listening the Splendid Table and this quote caught my imagination. I’m seeing both my girls grow up and it’s the realization they won’t always be with me.

This weekend was devoted to Walle. In our annual tradition we attended the Friday night showing of Walle at the Majestic Bay. We had 12 friends join us. We ate dinner at La Isla, a local Puerto Rican Restaurant. We had empanadas and fried plantains. We were early enough to experience happy hour so the prices were great.

Walle is magical. It’s fun to see it in a real theater with a real audience. At the premiere 6 weeks ago, I was entranced but not sure everyone would enjoy it. Now with a 96% fresh tomatoes and gushing reviews, it’s fun to see the movie again. My favorite part is Hal, the twinkie eating cockroach. His sound effects are great. I think the boing would make a good ringtone.

Today, Sara got to see her first movie that see saw all the way through. We tried at Happy Feet this Xmas for free tickets. She fell asleep during that movie. Pixar hired out a movie theater at Pacific Place for all the families. We were able to take 12 people with us, 3 other families for a total of 4 little girls. Sara sat at the edge of her seat or stood the entire time. She liked sitting in her Dad’s lap. She didn’t seem scared by the movie. A couple of kids cried and had to leave at different times (keep in mind that some families brought very young children since it was a family event that was free).

My knees been a bit swollen lately. The weather has turned beautiful and summery. I was actually able to walk up to the park and watch the Sunset. The entire length of the park was dotted with cars of sunset watchers. There were teenagers in muscle shirts sitting on their cars, picnickers, kids playing, an idyllic scene.

Small plump hands handed me a bundle of orange and pink clothing that I had so diligently wrestled onto Laura’s body a few minutes before. She quickly scaled her 3 step stool to grab her own toothbrush. It’s all about doing things herself these days. Laura started her independence with the button down orange and pink striped sweater I had buttoned up (5 buttons for a toddler is an eternity). She did quick work of the tank top I had put on with a fleeting thought toward summer. The pants took a while longer. She then occupied herself for 30 min trying to put the clothes back on.

Sara tried to take the mouse from the computer to “pretend it’s a real mouse on the floor of the kitchen.” I decided to nix that idea. She did experiment with the cinnamon spice container balancing on the flat side of a butter knife. Last night, we finished coloring a 3 foot high mural of tinkerbell. It’s done now with the help of Wayne, Karen, and Sara.

Sara prayed for us today. She prayed that she would grow big so she could get a horse named Sparky. Laura was all wrapped in her blankets, thumb in mouth and fast asleep. Normally the blankets are kicked off.

Laura pulled off her pants I had so diligently dressed her. She turned them inside out and started to use them as a dancing accoutrement! She then tried to put her feet into the pants standing up. Not much of success. I suggested sitting. She took me up on that. Vague success. More dancing with pants. Pants had more success as a sleeve for her arm. She’s still playing!

The dark/lightness reference if for the fact it’s been raining a lot this week.

We dedicated a whole day to the Norwegian constitution day. Things I didn’t expect when I moved to Seattle. We have 20 photos on flickr with more detail in the captions. There’re in a set.

I called Heidi and mentioned the event. She immediately started making lefse. She’s funny. I’ll have to start calling her on an annual basis to remind her.

Sara whined, “When there’s going to be a girl’s day?!!”

It was a wonderful day that wore my husband out as he became me for a day. When you have young kids, the work never really ends. We just finished an intense week and there were lots of chores crying out. Wayne decided to wrangle the kids and do all the chores. In the course of this day, he loaded and unloaded the dish washer twice, cooked chocolate chip pancakes, put away 3 loads of laundry, washed another 2 loads, dealt with a diaper that had been put into the washer by mistake, went grocery shopping, put away all the groceries, took the girls outside to cut flowers for me, and presented me with lovely cards. I got to make a castle with Sara using our stepping stool as an entrance. I made a bridle for her horse. I went for a mother’s day walk and took a long mother’s day nap. I helped out on the edges, but was not responsible for the thrust of the day.

I’m surprised Wayne didn’t whine, “When’s father’s day?!!” because that’s a super Dad.

My mother’s day walk was very pleasant. Overcast and snowing…cherry blossom pedals. Here’s some examples.

I talked to Claire for 30 min while she pulled weeds. It was fun to watch her garden. It’s like me cleaning my kitchen except it’s outside. Everyone was out gardening. It supposed to get into the 80’s in the next week.

I knew it was going be a socially intense day when Burke called me during our Maui vacation to discuss how to make everything happen. We did do a lot of things. At the end, I was ready to be alone (being the introvert I am). All things considered, it was a very pleasant day.

Wayne left for the last day of D&D gaming before Angela’s delivery puts that on hiatus for a few months. Sara was ecstatic about going over to Kate’s house. I was rushing around trying to put make a card and assemble a baby shower gift. We ate lunch and I dropped the girl’s off at the gaming house. The Mom’s left for the baby shower and prayed that 5 distracted men playing a game could maintain the survival of 6 kids under 6 (the kids were fine).

I traveled with Cindy and Kim down to Burien to attend Angela’s baby shower.

There are about 20 flickr photos that I will add text to if you’re interested. The funnest part was making custom onsies for the baby.

One gift was a baby blanket with a Star Wars theme. One side is the “dark side”.

We then drove back to grab the kids, load then in cars, and drop them off at the last Parent’s Night Out of the year (sniff). We went out for dinner with our home group (one couple from the gaming group). We went to the Hi-Life. Wayne and I agreed the meal was sadly a little mediocre compared to some of the meals we’ve had there, but the company was great. The fun part was getting to share the family style meals.

Another conference. Yes, I attended 10 days of a conference before Maui. I’m making up for not going to conference for about 1 year around Laura’s birth. Today was Justus Lehmann day, named after the founding head of department. Thought provoking topic included the right-to-die or the right-to-live for end of life issues and pediatric palliative care. The conference was at the Center for Urban Horticulture, a garden paradise on a beautiful day that just sang to may soul. I was there to network and learn, but I kept going out for walks. Luckily, a few colleagues accompanied me at lunch. I saw 10 turtles on a log.

Unfortunately, the girls were in daycare all day. Sara asked me if she could “be with you today”. That melted my heart. She’s at the age when she now understands when I do something not according to schedule.

We ended the day on a bang with the daycare auction night. Claire came. I just tried to keep Laura from falling off the stage that all the kids played on. We got a gift certificate for Ray’s boat house and a shark kite. Claire got Pete’s coffee for a year.

Claire and I extended the evening at Miro’s to celebrate her birthday. I had a fun tea strawberry citrus smoothie. It was fun to see the Ballard nightlife raging.

This morning Sara came into the kitchen with a purple shirt and stripped pants she had chosen to wear. In a distracted manner, I looked sideways at her shirt while preparing breakfast and said, “That’s too small for you”. It took me minute to realize she was wearing Laura’s shirt. Sara was able to get it on without problems. 3 years apart, 3 T sizes, and 10 pounds isn’t much of a difference, I guess.