Grammy is getting better

Kenzie did not enjoy her Grammy being in the hospital! Well, the rest of us didn’t really like it either, but I’m happy to report that she is back home and regaining strength quickly.

I spent a couple of overnights at Harborview with Grammy, and Kenzie really, really wanted to stay with us. She might have been more help, as she is a lighter sleeper and might have actually woke up when the phone rang, for example. She had a hard time leaving Grammy in her hospital room. Yesterday, though, when we all got to visit Grammy in her natural habitat (home) she was ecstatic.

I think this picture she drew of herself is priceless: the worry on the face, the shrugged shoulders, and the depressing blue outfit. So sad!

The other picture is Grampy. He’s nice and comfortable in the hospital chair.

A Christmas like no other…thankfully

Christmas is always a time to look back, be thankful for what we have, take stock of what has changed since last year, and look forward to the next. Somehow, that’s all a little harder at the moment. This week has been pretty rough. My mom went into the hospital on the 22nd for a 5-way vertebra fusion. The surgery was a success and she believes that most of the intolerable pain has gone away. Still, she has had a rough time coming out of the surgery and isn’t rebounding quite as quickly as we optimists had expected. Even though the doctor told her she wouldn’t be feeling like doing much for at least three months, somehow three days seems long enough for her to be in a compromised state. So, we’re praying for patience all around. This morning we realized that she need some help from the rest of us to rest, and that meant that we had to stay away. So, it’s the first Christmas I’ve spent without seeing both of my parents. Thankfully Dad came over and we carried the tradition of Eggs Benedict, but it wasn’t the same without Mom here.

Kenzie is particularly sensitive to her Grammy’s condition. She doesn’t like seeing her in the hospital and is worried about her. Mason is concerned too, but doesn’t understand the gravity of it. He needs to be reminded to be gentle and calm. (Over and over.)

I do have to update on the Santa conspiracy. Last year I reported in good conscience that the conspiracy was exposed: Kenzie was no longer a believer. However, I think the last 11 months have given her some time away to rethink the situation and she has, once again, bought the red velvet suit theory hook, line and sinker. Not just playing, but seriously…even in her hyper-logical, pragmatic little overachieving brain, she has carved out space to keep alive a dream of Santa, the reindeer, elves, the whole bit. She even told Grampy that Santa will bring her things that her moms will not (perhaps the collar for the cat…sorry Izzy). I don’t quite understand it, but she has asked no questions this year, other than a couple of innocent “do you believe in Santa” probes to a trusted few. She doesn’t seem open to dismissing the dream, more that she is looking for fellow believers to help her justify it. It’s actually very sweet.

We don’t even have our Christmas cards out yet. Nor have we made the calendars that Mom usually starts reminding me to make in October. Things just aren’t the same. Heck, we didn’t even get through opening all the presents. There’s always tomorrow…

Also, June and Bob have been so anxious to move into their house. I’m so happy to report that it’s completely ready for them. Tomorrow is move-in day. Tonight is the last night that they have to live in their 10x12 box that we refer to as our guest room.

Christmas Eve we went out to dinner with Carol, Clyde, Mike, Mary and my Dad in downtown Seattle. Then we went to visit  Mom at Harborview. Tonight we had some dear friends over for a prime rib dinner, Christmas carols, and presents. It was a lovely night, and gave us a chance to look ahead. For me, I look forward to my mom’s full recovery (as speedy as possible) and happiness for June and Bob in their new home.

I hope this finds all of you well, and I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Lego

Mason confessed to me tonight that he swallowed a Lego piece this afternoon. I asked him how big it was, so he got me a similar piece. It’s a cute little face of a Lego person. Kenzie said that he went into the bathroom gagging, but took some water. It’s small, but I called the nurse anyway, mostly as a lesson to him.

I asked him, “why in the world did you--at FIVE years old--decide to swallow a Lego?”

He said, “because I wanted him to have a wet head.”

We now have to sift through his poop for the next three days until it is discovered. Maybe he’ll have to do that part, just to reinforce the lesson.

Poetry with Dorothy

Kenzie and Cindy spent time with our friend Dorothy today. Here is Kenzie’s account:

Dorothy taught me how to write poems today. And she said that it was good for me to write poems because I am able to illustrate them. She made me a deal. She said that if I wrote a poem (because I drew her two pictures) then she would draw a cat because i was trying to teach her how to draw a cat. She said I had written a fabulous poem. And I was like, “Dorothy, now you have to draw a cat.” And she was like, “oh my! I forgot that I did promise you.”

The air is so fresh The fairy likes fresh air So she is fair She likes the fresh air To run through her hair The fairy is so pretty Though she looks so wealthy And wise What a nice surprise

 

Dorothy’s cat and Kenzie’s cat

Izzy is a silly kitten She always wants to play She always goes ‘meow, meow’ She always wants to play all day

Christmas pageant

Our church Christmas pageant was today. Kenzie was Shepard 2 (of 3) and Mason was, once again, the talking cow. Last year Kenzie was Shepard 3, so she feels that she got a promotion this year. (Cindy is the director, but I can assure you that no favors were granted.) Kenzie has everybody's lines memorized anyway.

Lauren, who was the angel Gabriel, has many, many lines, and feared a repeat of last year when Kenzie corrected her in the middle of the play when she took some verbal liberties. So, yesterday Lauren mentioned that I might want to let Kenzie know that she was "making some changes to the words," and Kenzie should expect it to not be verbatem. Kenzie replied, "that's okay, just let me know her changes so I can be prepared." Lauren was well on point, but Shepard Three needed just a bit of prompting. This time, though, Kenzie was quite subtle and helpful. In this video, Kenzie is the middle shepard.




Mason, AKA the Talking Cow, had just one line, but it was long. But, he knew it inside and out. So well, perhaps, that he was able to do some impromptu adapation. Like when his "we were quite moooooved" line got a laugh, he repeated it to see if he could get two. His buddy Luke was trying to share the microphone with him, but the cow was rather focused and, best of all, he did it!

In this scene Lauren (Gabriel) starts to sing, then is interrupted by the Talking Cow, who speaks on behalf of all the animals that are usually left out of the story.

Christmas festivities

It’s six days before Christmas and we are almost done with the family gatherings. We always do the Bolam family early, but this year we moved up the Averill gathering too. The Bolams were here last weekend for a Saturday morning brunch. Mason showed off his new truck to Carter.

Then, yesterday, the Averills gathered. Grammy is going in for a 5-way vertebra fusion on Tuesday, so she will be in the hospital over Christmas, and we all wanted to celebrate. The “cousins” had fun playing upstairs and otherwise tearing up the house.

The kids gave special performances. Kenzie sang Silent Night, then she and Devan sang Rudolf. David and Daniel showed off their Pledge of Allegiance. Finally, Kenzie and Mason both gave previews of their pageant performances...but you'll have to wait for tomorrow for that one. :)

Kings and Queens

Mason's school held the annual Winter Celebration today. Each age group--the 3's, 4's and 5's--danced. The teachers said they were just happy that the 3's left their parents to come to the middle. The 4's danced in a circle with the teachers. The 5's took it to a new level with independent partner dances.

Mason's dance partner was Maddie (who he frequently refers to as his "girlfriend"). She was wearing an off-white dress. He's in a blue argyle vest with a white shirt underneath. He was being such a stinker to the girl next to him, Emily, who was in the red shirt to his left. You can see that he did not want to hold her hand. It probably as a good draw that Maddie was his partner, as he was very cooperative with her. The first half of the dance went well (the first clip below). (I can look past the flaunting of his muscles at 1:41.)




In the second half of the dance, the devious side became stronger with each sashay, shimmy and spin. Looking at it positively, he only showed her his muscles one more time, but the tongue was displayed a few times.



Luckily, we ended on a positive note. For the final dance the teachers wisely paired him with two older girls (not in his class...I don't know where they came from). They whipped him around and he could think about nothing other than what his feet and arms needed to do.

Brrr

It is unreasonably cold around here. My car said 14 degrees yesterday morning. We’re bundling up.

June and Bob’s new house is completely frozen because it has everything except heat! That’s a necessity at the moment, otherwise they’re ready to move in.

Christmas tree

Last weekend we went with Liz and Casey to get our Christmas tree. Primo photo opportunity.

 

 

Batman

This is how Mason emerged this morning from his room. At least the undies match.

Carol and Clyde’s wedding

Carol and Clyde got married today. We all went to the reception in Newport Hills.

I hope to get some family shots to post here – we only had Cindy’s phone. I thought this was a cute one of Mason, Daniel and Sarah.

Still babying him…

Sarah and Mason, 2005 and today. Think he weighs about the same, just taller.

Fall has fully arrived

Until two years ago, I had never bought Cindy a present that she truly liked. I tried jewelry, gadgets, kitchen appliances, clothes, car accessories, music…you name it. They’re all “just fine” but not great. That was until the Gas Leaf Blower of 2007. Immediately her face lit up, as if she had just received the winning lottery ticket. She studied it as if it was a fine watch handed down from four generations past.

She looks for opportunities to blow in the off-season. I’ve seen her blow water off our deck, grass clippings off the lawn, and debris out of the garage…but in reality, it is a tool for Fall. So she waits. First the leaves turn color, then the ritual begins. The winds begin to blow, the leaves reach critical mass. She dons the silencing headphones and rubber boots and becomes completely immune to the world around her as she blows. No kid can find her (too dangerous to be near that machine that is both powerful and noisy). She can’t carry the phone because she might lose it in the grass. She is on her own remote island of silence. Starting in one corner of the three-acre yard, she pushes the fallen leaves in consecutive invisible lines, restoring order to the grass below. Hours and hours of leaf blowing. Alas, it’s clean. But she can only enjoy the pristine green for a short while, until the inevitable disturbing winds start the process all over again. About every two weeks she feels the call.

That is until this year. The full-time job  is seriously disturbing the holy blowing ritual. I come home every day, noticing the piling leaves, but dare not say anything. I know she sees it too and the abstinence will only last so long.

Today was the day: Day 3 of a 4-day weekend. At first opportunity, she bolted. Hours and hours. Eventually she had to run out of leaves. Finally, I heard the front door open. Wait, wait…where is she?

Seriously…on the roof blowing pine needles? Oh well, like skiers and snow, you gotta enjoy the season.

Flu

I have to admit, I think they’re extra cute when sick.

Mason has been battling the flu for a couple of days now. Think it hit on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner, and he was out flat all day yesterday. He’s on the mend today. His appetite is back and he’s more vertical than horizontal.

Kenzie also likes him sick. In a sappy-sweet tone she said, “I hope you don’t mind if I baby him just a little bit,” as she returned from the 20th trip upstairs to check on him. She tends to his every need, and he acts just as she wishes he did all the time: sweet and obedient. He takes the water she brings to him. He tried to eat the roll she brought him. And he snuggles.

Today as he is getting his spunk back. Everything else is also returning to normal as they struggled to each gain control of the shared blanket.

Turkey day iPhones

We went over to Mike and Mary’s new house, which is the house that I grew up in. It was the first time that I’ve been there in a while (other than to walk through it was a rental). The house is beautiful, they’ve completely remodeled it. We had a delicious dinner.

It was nice to have my kids in that house. I didn’t think we’d ever get to have Thanksgiving there as a family again. Kenzie immediately wanted to see “my room.” Since I lived there when I was her age, it was fun walking around with her. Mason asked me if the vacuum cleaner used to be mine.

Funny how sentimental we can become over a house. I only lived there about six years, which is less time than Cindy and I lived in West Seattle. We walked away from West Seattle easily, but I still have a fond place in my heart for the Gig Harbor house, so I’m happy it’s still in the family.

The “kids” (including Donald, Michelle and Jackie) showed that some of the Thanksgiving rituals may be changing. Here they are will all accessible iPhones, with the two youngest in the drivers’ seats.

Thanksgiving demand

Kenzie drew this in the car on the way home. She slipped it over my shoulder as if it was a ransom note. It only said, “I want Cheyenne & Lane and A.J. back! RIGHT NOW!” then she asked for it back and added the “Right this minut!” (And later said, “I gotta learn how to spell minute.)

Report card

It’s report card time for MacKenzie. She did fabulous, with 3s and 4s across the board. (A 3 is “meets grade level” and a 4 is “above grade level.”) In the reading and writing, she pulled all 4s with nice comments like, “has sophisticated reading skills and is able to comprehend complex reading texts.”

All 3s and 4s. Except one. She got a 2 in “Respects the rights and feelings of others; cooperates.” After we praised for the great results, I asked her if she had any idea why DW would signify her as a 2 in that one area. She said, “well, probably because of the fights on the playground.”

Fights?

“Okay, just one,” she said. And she proceeded to tell me a story I had heard before about Emma wanting to play on the parallel bar, but Kenzie was there first. Emma got upset, called DW, and Kenzie felt like she got the short end of the stick. Having talked to her before about trying to see the other side, we talked about what Emma might have seen. I thought she got it. She said, “Emma always played on that bar and I could see why she didn’t want me on it.”

So, Cindy asked her, “what would you do differently next time?”

Kenzie said, “I’d say, ‘Oh, Emma, you can have the bar on the NEXT recess.’ There are two recesses every day.”

I do believe DW may have graded this one appropriately.

Although I might challenge the grading criteria. If they had one that was titled, “stands up for herself consistently” or “resists being pushed around,” I’m sure Kenzie would have gotten a 4.

Happy Thanksgiving

Oh a turkey knocked on my back door so I invited him in.
It was a chill November night Thursday so I invited him.
Won’t you come into my kitchen, my friend?
We’ll boil some water for tea.
We’ll chat, have a cookie, maybe two or three.
He answered, “no, no, no, I won’t come into your kitchen.”
I said, “no, no, no, no!!"
Cha cha cha!

Flying deer

Mason's school had their Harvest Festival today. Each kid got to choose their name. Mason was "Flying Deer." They then made stone soup and scooped it with shells.

this week's monkey lessons

Kenzie learned a new gymnastics move.

Mason's church song

All the kids sang "Jesus Loves the Little Children" today. Mason gave me a special concert tonight so that his video could be on the blog too!

Nude drawing

While Mason was bathing Kenzie pulled up a chair and drew a picture of him.

She wrote “to Grandma” on it, but her brother got so upset that she erased it and made a revision.

Surprise! Kind-of…

Aunt Kris made an impromptu visit up for June and Bob’s 50th anniversary, which is in less than a month. So, what better thing to do than throw a party! Last Tuesday we decided that four days was plenty of time to plan a surprise party for fifty of their closest friends and relatives. All was going well, until we told the kids. Mason said, “what’s your favorite color Grandma?” She said, “why,” and he sternly put his hands on his hips and said, “It’s a surprise! You’ll know tomorrow.” He then mentioned something later about their anniversary. It was okay, though, I think we still got ‘em. And it was a very lovely party.

All the pictures are here: http://kenziemason.smugmug.com/Family/Bob-and-June-50th/10324392_3vaTy#713754678_4pTCn

So Small

Kenzie sang "So Small" by Carrie Underwood today at church. She did us proud. That girl has nerves of steel. Both sets of grandparents plus neighbor Sandy joined for the special event. Mason enjoyed it...even if he looks a little bored.

5's news...by Mason

Ama's sister is coming tomorrow night from Oklahoma! I have never been there, but her kids Cheyenne and Laney came last summer. The kids are not coming this time. Cheyenne is really mad that she can't come. They have to stay at school.

Self Portrait

5's News...by Mason

I went to the barber shop with my mom and Lauren, a friend. She's a big friend. They spray it with water.

Second grade conference

We met with DW, Kenzie's teacher, for her conference. You may remember that DW moved up to second grade after teaching kindergarten two years ago, with MacKenzie in her class.

It was a great report. From an academic perspective, Kenzie is in the top of the class. Her reading level and comprehension is in the 98th percentile. She is in a special advanced reading group. DW said the biggest challenge is finding books that are both interesting and age appropriate for her. She is learning how to develop stories with plot twists. Her math is on par and she is very engaged in class. Socially, Kenzie is also doing great. She has friends, is a leader, and is able to work through issues. It was a definite proud-parent moment for us, with no issues other than that of keeping her challenged.

Round-off

Kenzie mastered the cartwheel a while ago now, but the lights went on last night for the round-off. Teacher Jessica pulled her aside and talked her through it. When we got home she described it to Cindy, then demonstrated for us.

Why kids shouldn't play with weights

he's fine...really...and we put the weights away.

Gymnastics

I got to watch Kenzie's gymnastic class last night.

First she shows of the "L-Sit":



and then the uneven bars:



finally her handstand (she is on the left in all black):

Basketball training

After a 15 year sabbatical, Cindy is again playing basketball! I am thrilled. First, she loves it and second, the kids get to see her play. I've taken each kid individually to see a game. Here was Mason's turn.

Mason reads at church

Mason had his first turn to "read" at church. Basically he lights the candle and leads the interactive reading. We were a little nervous...fire and a stage...but he did great! You can see that he successfully lit the candle, even without burning Pastor Dave. Took a minute to figure out where to stand, but he took it seriously and was oh so proud of himself!

class picture

 

The Children’s Garden 2009. Back row (from left): Connor, Teacher Cathy, Hayden, Teacher Bonnie, Teacher Debbie, Toby, Teacher Marsha, Ella, Teacher Donna. Front row (from left): Emma, Ryan, Miya, Arden, Jason, Brin, Maddie, and Mason!

Halloween girls

 

Cindy, Lauren, Casey and yours-truly…hitting the town of Issaquah.

if we had two girls

 

Preschool Conference

We had Mason’s parent-teacher conference today. His teacher was so nice and came to our house because Cindy and I were having two-parent-working-schedule-woes. We were prepared for more mischievous examples, such as the “kissing bandit” escapades that we heard about last year. Much to our surprise, we received this report.

What a treat to have Mason in the class for another year! In our conference planning, the staff all commented on  how delightful Mason is, and what a leader he has become. In preparing this conference, I re-read last year’s report written by Debby, and it reminded me of how much of a mischievous side we saw of Mason last year. This year, he is one of the more responsible in the class, and we actually use him as a great example of how things should be done at circle and at play and work time.

Mason is a fabulous kid who plays wells with boys and girls. He is empathetic and sensitive with his friends. He is also sensitive about things that the children say to him, and takes all of their words to heart. When dealing with a conflict, Mason processes the situation first, using his words and talking directly to the other children involved. He will then share it with us. We usually commend him personally, then later at circle, we describe how that is the way to do things!

He takes direction well, and is typically a self starter. Sometimes he takes a little bit of direction, but he always works on his tasks through to completion. We often see that Mason takes a very long time to do his work, but it is not the difficulty of the project, but more that he is engaged with other things at the same time…this could be the other kids at the table, and a social conversation going on, or something as simple as changing the erasers on the different pencils to be something more of a better fit, in his eyes!

Mason is working on his letter writing and still needs a little help or dotted lines with some letters, but he is engaged and attentive at trying his best. Mason struggles with rhythm at times during music circle, but he is very earnest and sticks with it.

This boy is loved by the staff and the students, and plays often with Maddie and Emma. He engages with Toby and Conner, and upon Cayden’s re-entry to the class, we are happy to see that he has not reverted to the rough play of Cayden, Ryan and JJ. We are so happy to have Mason in our 5’s class, and are excited to watch his growth and development throughout the year.

halloween ready

 

 

pumpkin' carving

 

We went to a pumpkin carving party this afternoon. The donut on a string contest was a favorite!

 

witch buddies – emilie and kenzie

 

new house!

One day before we got home from Greece the new house arrived. I’m sorry to report that this means that I have very limited pictures to share, and had no opportunity to micro-manage my contractor. (As you see from Bob being on the roof, he did a good job of it.) I tried everything I could to speed the process up for the past ten months, then everything I could to delay it by one day. What could have been resulted in about 75 individual posts has to be summarized.
But, alas, this is the new house, right next to ours, that will soon be Bob and June’s new castle. It’ll be about another month until they can move in.
Later this week: sewer! So exciting!

Greece!

 

Cindy and I decided to take our first vacation away from the kids. We went for eleven days to Greece! At 4:00AM before we left Cindy and I got up and wrote each kid a note a day. So, on one day Mason had a note from me and Kenzie had a note from Cindy. The next day it was reversed. We tried to reference all the fun things that they were likely do, and counted down the days to our return. This did help appease our guilt just a bit.

It was a wonderful vacation and the kids did great in our absence. They had many play dates and kept very busy between friends and relatives. They did Salmon Days and only slept at home six of the nights. So nice for us that so many people stepped in to help make it easier for us to be on the other side of the globe!

This first picture was taken on the rooftop of our hotel overlooking the Parthenon. We spent that first night shopping in the Plaka district in Athens, waiting for our ferry the next morning.

These second and third pictures were taken from the ferry, leaving Athens, on our way to Mikonos. It was a five hour ferry ride that started with heavy rain and ended with the beautiful blue sky matching the Aegean sea.

We stayed at a friend’s house. Here is the view from his back porch looking over Panormos Bay. It was just gorgeous.

 

We spent the rest of the time sunbathing and discovering beaches, taste-testing all the local gyros and crepes stands, and learning how to drive like a madman. At least part of every day was spent in the main town, Mikonos.

 

These probably capture it best, ahh…

 

We made one friend that we briefly considered bringing home for the kids:

We called home a few times. Each time we felt like we were interrupting good fun! By the last day we were definitely ready to come home and see them, and I think the feeling was mutual.