book 11

I’ve been looking on different book list recommendations for new finds I can get at our library.  Don’t by any means think that I’ve actually PURCHASED all these books I’m reading.  Only one of the eleven do I own, and that was on the $4 table at Borders.  Our library system is phenomenal and they have just about anything a voracious reader could want or need.  ANYHOO… One book recommended by Amazon.com was The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens.  This was an excellent book!  It’s the story of a woman waiting at home for her husband to arrive after work on the eve of their 25th wedding anniversary.  Needless to say, he doesn’t get there, and the novel explores the wife’s actions afterwards.  It was a fast and interesting read.  I’ve got two more of her novels to tackle soon.

I won’t have much reading time for the next several days.  Timon and I (and two other adults) are taking the youth group on a retreat about 2 hours away this weekend.  We leave tomorrow at 5:30pm.  The kids are staying the weekend with their surrogate grandparents and couldn’t care less where we are or when we’ll be back.  We are so blessed to have these lovely people in our lives.

Henry did something last night that just threw me.  We were reading an assigned book for school about Electricity, and in a photograph there was a boy who obviously (to me, anyway) had Down Syndrome using a light switch.  Henry paused in his reading, looked at the boy closer and then said, “Uh, Mom?”  pause pause pause (meanwhile I’m thinking he is going to ask why that boy looks different or strange to him, and preparing to explain Down Syndrome to him) “That boy has reddish hair, just like mine!”  *sigh*  Of course he only sees what’s the same about that boy.  Once again, the kid teaches the parent something.

last visit to sea world…

…for the foreseeable future, at any rate.  Our passes expire on Friday, and we ended up going three times this year.  For FL residents, the year pass costs the same as a one day ticket, so we definitely got a bargain.  Maria didn’t feel well, so Timon stayed home with her and Henry and I enjoyed my favorite theme park day of all time.  The weather was gorgeous, the crowds were very manageable, and we had a great day.  

Henry got to meet Shamu…

…and be surrounded by an aquarium full of fish!

We got to see the baby killer whale again, now a few months old.   They named him Brian.  Doesn’t that seem weird?  Brian.  Brian the KILLER WHALE.  Huh.

We saw this gorgeous ocean weed leafy sea dragon…



…and these beautiful (and very terrifying) jellyfish.

 
Henry got to ride the Polar Express…             
          
…and tell Santa all his Christmas dreams.


  
We saw some hungry and persistent seals…

…and Henry got to meet the stars of the dophin-whale-acrobat-high dive-birds-extravaganza.  I LOVE seeing this show.  It’s like Cirque du Soleil or something.  

We saw some really lovely Christmas trees, as well as an outdoor light and music show with the trees on the lake.

Before we left, Henry got to enjoy some snoap (snow made from soap bubbles)!


  Oh, and I was there, too.  The whole time.  Don’t believe me?  Fine, I’ll show you.

Here are some things I observed during our time there:

• They make maternity wetsuits.  Either that, or those things are really stretchy.  Poor trainer at the dolphin-whale extravaganza was squeezed into one so that she could toss fish at the obedient dolphins.  It was adorable.
• Even if the salesman holds it so the writing is backwards, more than one idiot person will still drop $25 on a “Sea World Christmas Celebration – Where The Season Meets The Sea” fleece blanket. 
• season passes are really awesome – you don’t feel rushed to see it all in one go, because you can get back to the park another time.  Henry and I saw things we hadn’t seen the other times we were there, but we still had time to see our favorite shows, go on a ride, meet Santa, and much more in the 7 hours we had that day. 
• We did Sea World instead of the zoo this year (the zoo is much closer).  I am glad we took a year off from the zoo, but I’m REALLY looking forward to going back.  We hope to go on Sunday afternoon – I’ve missed my siamang gibbons!

Summer 2010 Trip #3

Yes, we’ve been on three trips this summer.  My sister-in-law got married in June in Alabama, my cousin got married in July in Connecticut, and last week we went to south Georgia for a meet-up with Timon’s parents. 

We went to a state park that’s just barely over the state line that was on a lake.  The cottages there are great – AC, full kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.  Also: satellite tv, which we barely used but was handy in checking baseball scores each evening and on one rainy afternoon Henry got to watch All Dogs Go To Heaven. 

 
The kids were fantastic in the car on the way up.  We’ve been blessed with good car travelers.  And now that I’ve typed those words, we will PAY DEARLY on our next road-trip.  We cooked a lot of good food while we were there, which, when you have absolutely nothing else to do other than read a book or go swimming with your kids, isn’t the chore it seems to be at home.  And THE BEST PART OF IT ALL was that there was a (cue angels singing) DISHWASHER!!!  Perhaps you’ve always had a dishwasher and this means very little to you.  But I’ve lived without a dishwasher in my home since I moved out of my first apartment in 2001.  And seeing as how the cottage was on a lake, with a screened-in porch, and was bigger than my own home, the dishwasher pretty much put it over the top to where I very nearly refused to leave. 

Maria enjoyed cutting wooden fruit and helping Mimi in the kitchen, first supervising the shrimp deveining, and then snapping beans in half.

 
 

Henry loved fishing with his daddy, taking solemn self portraits, and snuggling with Maggie the dog.  [He really, really wants us to get a dog.] 

 

   
I’m ready to go back.  Who wants to join me?

meh, I’m not really into this movie.

Timon just put on Green Zone, with Matt Damon.  Now, I LOVE Matt Damon, but it’s all a little shooty and yelly for me.  So, I figure I’ll do a little post.  Look at me, acting like I actually still blog anymore.  (Well, to be fair, I have faithfully updated the photo blog every day this year, and that takes a lot out of me.)

Timon: He has just gotten a new show in the theatre.  He is (thankfully) still bearded and just today did an awesome job mopping all the floors in the house.  When the kids and I were in Connecticut last weekend, he mailed us a card that said he missed us.  Now, come on.  That’s pretty fantastic!  We just celebrated 9 years of marriage on the 7th.

Me:  I survived traveling with both children once more on the airplane to Connecticut.  They were far better behaved than the couple who got on last and were forced to sit apart (open seating).  I wanted to shove a bag of peanuts down his throat, and then tape the airsick bag over her mouth, but I couldn’t use my left arm since she dropped what felt like a sack of 25 rolls of quarters on me as she was stowing her junk in the overhead bin.  This was after we departed an hour late.  Anyhoo, my life is essentially the same as usual.

Henry:  This kid can read all day long, particularly if you stick a Garfield comic book in his hand.  Quotation of the week: “Talking cats are funny!”  He had the best time of his life on vacation with his cousins.  It was so awesome to see him enjoying their rowdy company.  He loves summer vacation.  He kept me company in the lazy river at our local waterpark last week.  He likes waterslides and pancakes.  Another quotation for you: “In this circumstance, I would like some milk.”

Maria:  She has 3 new obsessions: Her cousin Julia, her cousin Emmett, and nail files.  She talks a LOT, and is very silly.  She helped me tell Henry to go to his room yesterday.  She answers her own question of where Julia is by saying “House.  Mama.”, meaning Julia is at her house with her Mama.  Any baby is Emmett now.  She likes to put her hands in shallow water and let her legs float up behind her.  Pirate’s Booty is her favorite food, with grapes as a close second.

(at my Gram’s house, in her yard on the sledding/rolling hill)

{tap tap tap} {feedback squeal} Is this thing on?

Um, yeah!  I certainly didn’t intend to be away from the ole blog for this long.  Whoops!  I tell you, it’s so hard to come up with the daily photo, and I admit to spending more time catching up with people via facebook than remembering that I started my whole internet presence here in this place, and therefore it deserves some attention.

Any-hoo, there’ve been a few things I’ve felt like writing about lately, and so I’ll cram them into one post because I’m not sure each should have a post of it’s own, and seriously, I clearly cannot be depended upon to post here regularly, so!  Before I forget everything, here goes!

1. Did anyone else see the most recent episode of The Deadliest Catch?  I have always loved that show (not least because Wanted Dead or Alive is the song over the opening credits).  Well, knowing that Capt. Phil passed away before this season started airing has made every episode a bit strange; I mean, we’re watching this guy’s last moments on earth.    And in the first half of Tuesday’s show they showed his son acting strangely, sleeping when he should be on deck, then once he got out there, I said to Timon, “He’s high.”  Timon didn’t think so, but the kid fell into the hole on deck where they put the crab in the tanks.  Then at the end of the episode, it showed Phil in pain, going below to get some of his pain medication, and he caught his son stealing his pills.  Oh, it was so horrible to watch the kid try to dig out of that hole, and you could see how awful it was for Phil.  The whole thing just made me really, really sad.  When you think that not long after this happened, Phil dies – oof.  I just hope they made things right with each other.
   
   
2. Summer vacation is upon us, and this is the first summer that Henry hasn’t had some kind of full-time care.  He’s going to come to work with me on Mondays and Thursdays; Tuesdays he and Maria will go to their surrogate grandparents’ house, Wednesdays they’ll go to Maria’s other caregiver’s home.  Fridays the three of us will go to the library and one of the city pools.  I’m hoping that we can get in a good routine.  We have a couple of trips scheduled and I CANNOT WAIT to get up to Connecticut in July for a cousin’s wedding!  Mainly to see this kid and these kids and that other kid (my niece Julia, who is internetally anonymous, basically).
   
   
3. Maria’s saying a lot of words now.  It’s time for another guessing game, dear reader mother readers!  I’ll put down the things she actually says, you guess in the comments what you think she means to say.  Ready?  OK!
1. Cup!
2. Bee-bee
3. Shores
4. pah-ee
5. mo
6. ee
7. pee-pee (no, it’s not what you think)
8. Ah-ooo
9. saw-saw
10. bess-ooo

All right!  And this post only took me 3.5 hours from start to finish!  (ok, so I took a considerable break in the middle to do Vacation Bible School.)  Be good to each other.

catching up

• 
  
  This morning, Timon brought me towels warm from the dryer for me to use after my shower.  I think I would like this to happen every day of my life.  It was truly luxurious.  I imagine that it’s how people who buy things from the Sky Mall catalog must live.
  
  
• 
  
  Speaking of Sky Mall, my sister and cousin and their sweet babies are coming to visit us next Monday!  I’m so, so happy about this.  The thought of their arrival is almost all that is sustaining me through this week.  That, and warm towels. 
  
  
• 
  
  I realize I didn’t make a clear connection between Sky Mall and my sister and cousin coming to visit just now.  Allow me to explain - You see, usually whenever one of us travels to see the others, we peruse the Sky Mall catalog on the plane, and fold down the corners of pages featuring items we think the others will particularly enjoy.  And by “enjoy”, I mean “find totally ridiculous.”  That little publication never lets us down.  What, you don’t do this when you’re traveling?  Boy, are you missing out.
  
  
• 
  
  The Olympics are KILLING.ME.SOFTLY.WITH.THE.TIRED.  All you people with DVR don’t know how lucky you have it.  I either must stay up thanks to Bob Costas and his teasing me with the major events kept to the very END OF THE BROADCAST, that’s midnight, people; or miss the action entirely and catch up on results the next day via the internets.  Internets aren’t as fun when it comes to the Olympics.  Bob Costas, you are a mean, mean man, with your inexplicably dark hair that used to be blond.  Am I right, dear readers reader?  Am I RIGHT?!
  
  
• 
  
  Speaking of raven-haired Bob, we turned on the tv at 8pm, like faithful little lemmings following Bob to the edge of the CLIFF OF MIDNIGHT (v. v. tired) and saw this:
  
  
  
  I have no words.  Except to say I could use fewer features about polar bears and instead, could you please move the pairs figure skating finals up about an hour, Bob Costas?

travels

We returned Saturday evening from our annual trip to the North Woods... I wasn't able to go last year... you know, because of this and everything. So needless to say, I was so happy to be escaping the heat, resting from my labors, eating food I didn't have to cook, having someone else make my bed, reading a few books, observing my children and husband enjoy themselves, seeing in-law family members I haven't seen in 2 years, etc. The week goes by so fast I can hardly believe it. Timon turned 31 years old, Maria turned 11 months old, Henry jumped off the dock, I got within 20 feet of 5 loons and an otter.

(I recommend clicking on each collage and viewing them that way. Also, if anyone wants any of the individual shots within the collages, let me know and I'll send you a high resolution file.)

501

I realized Tuesday after I posted that it was my 500th post. That’s just FYI.

The kiddos and I had a great weekend in CT visiting with friends and family. It was very busy, but wonderful. Friday we kicked things off by hosting 8 or so mamas (friends from high school and church youth group) and their babies. It was HYSTERICAL to see all these kids together. As you might imagine, the photo opportunity was filled with laughs from the grownups and tears from some of the kids. Here’s my best one:

One of my and my sister’s closest friends growing up has a baby 4 months younger than Maria and 2 months older than my niece Julia. Our mothers find it hilarious that the 3 girls have the 3 girls. Here they are, plotting how to talk us into letting them have their first sleepover:

The 4th of July started off with the small-town parade. Henry marched beside me and my flute with his shaker, and did SO well. We followed that up with the annual picnic at my parents’ house, which this year morphed into a surprise 40th wedding anniversary celebration for them. It was a lot of fun – Henry got to play with some cousins he rarely, if ever, gets to see and he DID NOT STOP until I forced him to go to bed (an hour earlier than normal). I can’t believe he was upright at the end of that day. Anyhow, here’s the little flag girl, and also a rare shot of all 6 grandchildren. It’s blurry, but it’s the best one I got since, as I said, THEY DID NOT STOP ALL DAY.

Maria got to get snuggled by her godparents and we all got to admire Amy’s half-done bump. Henry has named her growing person “Cute Star Turkey.” Check out Maria’s Kate Gosselin hair!

Henry and Papa got some story time in while I got the packing done to get home:

It was an amazing weekend – Maria and I leave Sunday on the mission trip to Alabama with the youth group. We’ll be back a week from today. And then I can breathe.

atlantafest

Taking the youth group to Atlantafest, a Christian music festival held at Stone Mountain Park was a lot of fun… even when our fuel pump died in the hotel parking lot, just as we were loading in to head to lunch.  God gave us a hand by hiding the Chik-fil-A we were going to stop at on our way to the hotel (so we didn’t get stuck there); putting a Goodyear repair shop 2 doors down; keeping our other vehicle, an 8 passenger van in good working order; helping everyone remain patient; etc etc etc.

The bands were awesome, and the youth were almost always perfectly behaved.  What more can you expect from a bunch of teenagers, am I right?  We headed straight to the park after getting the van limped over to the repair shop, and enjoyed worship led by Fee, a new-to-us band who was awesome.  Then we were properly introduced to Leeland, who have taken the title of “MY NEW SECOND-FAVORITE BAND.”  Any guess of who’s my FIRST FAVORITE BAND?   I believe I’ve mentioned this before.  The night was capped off by Skillet, who aren’t always my thing – but at least the guy was sparkly. 

Day 2 we refined our routine and ate lunch before heading to the park.  We pulled up and were loading our chairs, cooler, and other flotsam in our arms when I heard the unmistakable dulcet tones of Mr. Marc Martel of my favorite band Downhere (duh) as they took care of their sound check.  They, too, had been cursed with van and trailer troubles and were probably exhausted, but you’d never know it.  We met up with them at their merch table before their praise and worship set, for as soon as they were done playing, they had to head to the airport and fly out west for a week or so.  I acted maturely and was able to make conversation instead of feeling like a total moron.  I’m sure you’re proud.

That night we were treated to a 90 minute kick drum solo set from Kutless.  I was rather confused by the lead singer’s choice of tight pants, long sleeve white button-down, and leather jacket, given the fact that it was SO SO SO HOT.  [as an aside, I waited each day to see which performer or speaker would use the names “Hot-lanta” and/or “ATL” – oh, I was not disappointed.]  At least some of us had fun dancing!

Day three we perfected our process, and found the place to where the shade would arrive first but would still give us a good view of the stage and screen.  It was great – we enjoyed each other’s company and the music.  The highlight of this evening was Family Force 5 – they are always so much fun.  And their attire was the SUPREME WIN of the whole weekend:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In case you’re having trouble catching that – they’re wearing denim knee-length shorts, white wife-beaters, mesh wife-beaters, gold belts, and golden football pads (also gold sparkly high-tops).  It was awesome.  The night ended with an incredible show by Casting Crowns, complete with candle-light.

I had a blast with the kids – who knew J could fit her entire fist into her mouth?  And guess what?  In 3 weeks we get to do it all over again!

the madness begins

I’ve been light in posting, I know. If I have any readers left, here’s why:

I’m BUSY. And I’ll keep on being busy for the next month. From tomorrow until July 16, I’ll only be home 14 days. Two youth trips and one trip to CT for the 4th of July are gonna run me ragged – but it’s good. I’m actually looking forward to all of this traveling, with the exception of the many hours drive to AL in July for the mission trip. It makes tomorrow’s 8 hour drive to Atlanta seem like NOTHING.

Well, one of the awesome things that kept me busy recently was my bloggie lunch with Jen & Elizabeth The Great. Maria and I had a great time walking around a big fancy mall looking at things with them and eating yummy lunch. The girls were hilarious together – click here to see just how!

Henry attended Vacation Bible School at church and had a blast. I led the music and worship section, and Timon led the video section. Henry has a memory like a steel trap, so we’re sure to continue talking about VBS for months to come. Here are Maria and Timon during a break in the action:

Timon and Henry set off on a last minute adventure after Bible School ended the last night – they hopped in the Griswold Family Station Wagon to the other side of our state in an attempt to bear witness to a space shuttle launch. After finding the perfect parking/camping spot, spending the night in a car fending off the mosquitoes, and rising with the east coast sun, they got the word that the launch was canceled. Not ones to waste a trip, they connected with some friends who were also out there to see the launch and explored the area together. They did, in fact, get to see at shuttle:

So, not a failed trip, all in all.

I’ll be out of computer range for the next few days, I’m assuming. I may tweet from my phone, so follow me there – search for maresib. Have a great weekend, kids. Call your Dads on Sunday, tell him you love him.

no slowing down

Oof.  I’ve been and will continue to be v. v. busy – basically until the middle of July.  I haven’t posted often, but I won’t apologize for that, since it always drives me nuts when other people apologize for not posting on their very own blog.  Anyhoo -  Maria and I went on our first trip alone together up to Indiana to see my new adorable little niece, Julia (and also my sister and brother-in-law, I guess) last weekend.  We had a lovely time… the girls had their first cousins weekend!  Of course, Henry has had several cousins weekends with their other pals Zachary, Melody, and Kylie up in CT, but the girl babies were so cute together.  They wore their matching pjs:

They got to take a sink bath together – this was so cute.  Julia’s little bottom plugged up the sink perfectly. 

And they both posed for lots of photos.  They have great light in their house.  Julia prefers to remain mostly anonymous, however, so here’s a cutie of Maria in her church dress:

   
Henry was a little jealous that he didn’t get to go on this trip.  I had to remind him that he went on LOTS of trips with us all by himself (seriously, he’s been on about 20 round-trip flights and already has earned a free ticket), so now it’s Maria’s turn.  He and Timon surprised me at the airport and picked us up – Timon thought he’d have to work late and we had arranged a friend to get us.  It was a lovely way to come home.  And now it’s back to the busy routine…

dragging.

Well, Nanny passed away on Friday afternoon. She was 90 years old, and pretty ill, not to mention her Alzheimers. We all got on a plane v. early Saturday morning, expecting to land in Birmingham at 8:05 am (central). Instead we landed in Jackson, MS, at 8:35 and sat there for a few hours while we waited for the fog to lift in B'ham. They let us off the plane and most of the people hopped on a flight to Houston which is where our flight was headed after it stopped in B'ham. Henry got to walk around and we picked up a cheeseburger, and then the pilot got word that the weather had cleared. We finally arrived in Alabama at 12:00, then took the 2 hour drive to Timon's grandmother's town. The kids were better than anyone could reasonably expect, and we did enjoy some good time with Timon's cousins and aunt. Our flight was delayed over an hour last night coming home, and we made it to our house around midnight. Henry insisted he was NOT TIRED on the way home from the airport. Maria insisted on sleeping, just like a good little girl.

Tonight will be another long night - Timon gave me tickets to this for Christmas, and so the kids will spend the night with their surrogate grandparents. Go Huskies!

we're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship

Well, we've made it to the northlands, and I'm so thrilled with this cold air I can hardly speak about it. Tomorrow will be my sister's baby shower - she arrives tonight and I will be speaking to my newest neice or nephew through the belly straight away. Maria's godmother also comes tonight and we've been SQUEEING!!! about it over email all morning. Something else to SQUEE! about is Elizabeth Rose has arrived! Jen is a fantastic person (seriously, I've met her in person!) and blogger and her post about the first hours after her long-awaited daughter's birth is wonderful.

Anyway, since we've been here there's been lots of this going on:

And this:

Oh, and this, too: