An Evening at Home

Now that I'm so far removed from any sort of single life (did I even have one?) it's nice how an evening at home like tonight can be better than an evening out.

We have had dinner; the dishes are washed, wiped and put away. Max is downstairs with Kyle, and I just finished sitting alongside Cate as she did her homework.

Cate's homework this evening was a worksheet on fractions along with word work and 30 minutes of reading. Kyle and I are a tag team duo when it comes to reviewing her work; Kyle is on math detail, I am on writing detail. The word work exercise today was to take five of her spelling words and break them down into smaller words--think 'Boggle.' So in this case, one word was 'president.' One goes with: rip, dent, is, sip, rip, end, pen, rent, side, ripe, rest, tender, drip, ripe, etc. I can't contain myself. I watch her write down two-, three-, some four-letter words and then I go into charades or fill-in-the-blank questions to get her to figure other words out. I have to wonder how much 'help' a parent should give their child to complete their homework to the best of their ability. What value or lesson am I giving her when she's basically writing down the words I come up with that she figured out through my clues?

While I was sitting with Cate at the dining room table, Kyle came upstairs to tell us Max was reading a Calvin and Hobbes book out loud and came across the strip where Calvin wanted to pretend to be two-dimensional. Max paused for a quick moment, then said, 'but Calvin already is two-dimensional; he's in a book!' What a smart, yet literal goofball.

So while Max is reading and having profound thoughts, Kyle works on laundry. The washing machine's rhythmic 'whirr-whirr-whirr' sound is making its way upstairs and it's almost enough to put me to sleep. Every once in a while I can hear little Max chattering away.

Cate has settled down for her reading time. Yesterday, I bought a couple of books for her--a simple biography of Anne Frank for a book report that needed to be done, and "The Diary of a Young Girl." For whatever reason, Cate has already loaned out "The Diary of a Young Girl" to one of her classmates. While I'm fine with Cate loaning out one of her books, I'd certainly rather she wait until she's read it first. So instead of reading her new book, she is re-reading a fairy book that is two grades below her level. I guess I should just be glad she's reading quietly on her own.

Max will eventually be sent upstairs to go to bed. He'll hop up onto where I'm sitting, cuddle into my arms and practically purr. His hands are cold from being in the basement which surprises me a little. I could let him fall asleep in my lap, but then I wouldn't get anything else done. So I have taken to slowly counting to ten. Once I get to ten, he is ready to take my hand, go to his room and get tucked in. I will remember to grab Kyle's ipod and play the Rio soundtrack for him. After a kiss on his forehead, he turns over and burrows further under blankets and will soon be fast asleep. He has a night light that's never on and he likes the door closed.

After the second time Cate comes out of her room telling me she forgot to do something, she will finally stay in her room for the rest of the night. Her ipod will be hooked up to her speaker and I will be able to clearly hear the songs from 20 feet away in the living room. I have no idea how she can fall asleep when the music is that loud. She still prefers her door to be left open a little and a night light dimly illuminates one corner of her room.

The kids are now in bed. It's nice and quiet. The washer has done whirr-whirr-whirring one load and now it's the dryer's turn to tumble. Since I've been sitting here typing away, I've noticed I'm chilled. Time to get a blanket. I don't have anything in particular to do this evening and it's rare to find something interesting enough on TV for me to tune in for, so I'll grab the new biography of Queen Elizabeth II and flip a page or two. Kyle's got some TV program on downstairs and he'll continue to move the laundry. Hopefully, my work email will be quiet for a while and I'll learn how 'Lilibet' comes to meet and marry Philip.

Eventually, I won't be able to keep my eyelids open anymore and I'll fall asleep on the loveseat. Kyle will peek in and chuckle to himself as I'm snoring and drooling away. He'll lean over and ask me if I'd rather stay on the loveseat or go down to bed. Depending on how coherent I am, I will likely end up stumbling my way downstairs and slink right into bed. The next morning, I'll vaguely remember how I got there, but hopefully I'll have slept so soundly that I will wake up remembering my dreams, which is always a pleasant way to start out a new day.

Ahh, and then the cycle repeats again in some way, shape or form...

I write this because I'm often too preoccupied with other thoughts in my head that I truly don't slow down and remain in the moment.  The mental list of things to do, things I've put off doing, things I wish I could do, worries of the day / week / month / life can easily derail any momentum I might have and pull me down and away from the people who love me most.  But when I took a step back to just 'be' and account for how just an evening at home can be fulfilling for the soul, it made me thankful for what a lucky girl I truly am.  I hope everyone can take a moment to just 'be' and be thankful for the simple and good things that happen in our lives today.  In this moment.  Now.

A Pretty Darn Good Friday

Max lost his first tooth Friday. That tiny little tooth was dangling for several days before it finally came out on its own sometime during the school day. He didn't tell his teacher, so there was no pomp and circumstance, no visit to the nurse's office and no cool tooth box from the school secretary. He quietly put it in his backpack until he got to his grandparents' house where it rather was unceremoniously dropped into a plastic bag to take home and place in The Tooth Fairy Pillow.

When I got home, Max must have saved his excitement for me, because he knows I've been eager for his first tooth to come out. He greeted me with a huge grin and I replied with a squeal of delight which he didn't appreciate. I got the low-down from him and begged to get a photo of him showing off his new gap, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He was playing it too cool. "I don't know why you're so excited, Mom" was his sentiment.

At bedtime, Max put his tooth in the pillow and asked me to put it at the end of the bed so he didn't accidentally kick it off with his feet. Agreeing that was a good idea, I set the pillow at the foot of the bed. I fully expected to have a very happy kid jump on our bed Saturday morning showing off his two shiny golden dollars, but that did not happen. I went upstairs and after waiting several minutes for Max to tell me the Tooth Fairy came, I finally had to ask him. Nonchalantly, he said, "yeah."

Me:    Did the Tooth Fairy leave you anything?
Max:  Yeah.
Me:    Well, what?
Max:  Oh, just some coins.

And he went back to playing with his stuffed birds, clearly not interested in continuing on such a dull conversation.

Kyle finally got this shot of him later in the day.

In other news, I achieved another career milestone at ShopNBC. I was recognized with a promotion to a Director position. It's more or less same gig, but higher expectations and a few more opportunities to broaden my e-commerce experience. I'm looking forward to the new challenges this opportunity brings.

Things you can do with old coffee tins

My sister enjoys General Foods International coffee that come in those cute little red and white tins. She started saving them for me because I hoped to recycle them into cute little candy / token holders or some other crafty keepsake. For Cate's first communion, I did manage to bust out nine of them to use as vases, but since then, I have kept accumulating but not crafting.

Last night I found another purpose for six more of those cute little tins.

We have been working with the kids on managing chore charts. They receive allowance for all the smiley stickers they put on their worksheets. Some 'chores' are easy: brush teeth (duh- have to do that daily!) and others are a little more stinky such as collect garbage or take garbage out. When they hit their daily chores (make bed, brush teeth twice) and hit more than half of their other chores --we live a busy life and don't have consistency from night-to-night--they will get paid out their weekly allowance.

At a family meeting (yes, we have those!) the kids were open to go with the spend, save, share method. There are some pretty awesome kits out there to purchase, but that seemed a bit frivolous given the basis of this approach. We can give the kids an active experience by making our own banks. That's where coffee tins, some scrapbook paper, glue, ribbon and sharpie came in.

It took all of 15 minutes to complete including kids choosing their own paper and ribbon. Now they are proud to see their little quarters already adding up.

It will be fun to continue the conversations as the tins get fuller and see what ideas they can come up with to share their treasure. I'm sure they will come up with some great ideas. I'll keep you posted.

Legofest 2011

I have no idea how often the Legofest train pulls up into our neck of the woods, but sure enough, Kyle heard about it this year and informed me about it Thursday night. Friday, I was online ordering tickets for the whole family. I was totally bummed in the evening when Kyle was surprised I ordered four tickets, because, "I thought maybe it would be me and the kids and you might have some time to yourself." Shoot! If only I had known that was part of his grand plan as I would have personally been delighted to have some time to myself. Alas, I was committed.

We managed to keep mum about the big event and were able to use our 'surprise' as a negotiating lever during the day Saturday to get the kids to do whatever we needed them to do. Cate begrudgingly did and re-did her spelling words and sentences, Max's listening ears magically worked and even picked up a few things around the house.

Legofest was downtown, so we made a field trip out of it, including having our lunch downtown which required walking through the skyways. That in and of itself was surprise-worthy. Once we were close to the convention center, I told the kids to look around as there clues were showing up. People were leaving the center with LEGO bags, directional signs were posted and one of the digital message boards highlighted the ongoing events. I pointed to one such message board and said, "here's the surprise Cate!" It read: Minnesota Music Teachers Association Concert. She said, "Awwww, really? That's not a fun surprise." Max ended up figuring out quicker than Cate and on we went to Legofest--125,000 square feet of, well, LEGOs.

For me, it was more or less a glorified LEGO store visit which multiplied from a 30 minute visit to a 3-1/2 hour visit. But for the kids and Kyle, it was the best day ever. And that, my friends, is way better than some time to myself.

Although, I'll take Kyle's suggestion as an I.O.U for a future date.

(Kyle helping Cate with the final touches of her house that became part of the giant United States floor map)

(Max and Cate in the huge Lego construction pile [really, I wasn't cringing thinking of all the germs!])

(Max placing his tile to the wall mural)

(Looking very cool after their hair fest)

Holy wookie, Uncle Carl!

This is what Max thinks of the shirt (the one he has on in this photo) Uncle Carl, Aunt Claire and cousins sent him for his recent birthday...

The BEST Time of the Year!

We trekked along the Mississippi River to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous fall colors, selecting the best leaves to bring home. It's a day like today when I wish I had a high quality camera (and the talent to go with it) to really capture the beauty we experienced today.

an original project from the FDR-era Works Progress Administration

After our walk, the kids were still wired while Kyle and I were a bit tired, so we decided to drive along the River Road which led us to Boom Island Park. Whenever I'm on Boom Island, many memories--some new, some old--flood my mind. My high school is a short distance from Boom Island, so much time was spent there when I was a teen. It's nice to be able to get back there with my kids and create more memories.

a great view of the Downtown Minneapolis Skyline from Boom Island

We Are All Together Again

This week has been interesting to say the least. I did a number on my ankle on Monday when I tried to avoid a little dog that cut in front of me mid-stride. While it's still swollen and the color runs from a ghastly green to eggplant purple, I am starting to hobble along fairly well and ditched the crutches and air cast yesterday.

Wednesday came and Kyle went to Urgent Care as his nose swelled up considerably with no explanation. He was given a swift shot (of antibiotics) in the ass, a prescription for more antibiotics and told to return the next day if it didn't improve. After fevering through the night and the red swelling invaded more of his face, I took him back to Urgent Care Thursday morning which was quickly followed by a direct admittance to the hospital. We were told he would be in the hospital for at least a couple of days. He was treated with IV antibiotics and his blood sugar levels were brought back into a normal range.

Word got out quickly (hmm, I wonder who would've sent out the alert?) and Kyle received a few visitors and many electronic well-wishes. Kyle's parents were the very first visitors on the day. Kyle had hardly been settled into his room by the time they showed up, which was a pleasant surprise for Kyle. I brought Cate for a short visit with Kyle Thursday afternoon and, as we were rounding the corner in the main entry, I heard a familiar voice inquire about a room number for "Jensen." My mom and dad brought Max to the hospital for a brief visit with Kyle as well. A friend, Patrick Coleman, stopped by for a couple of minutes in between seeing his Pa (Grandpa) and going out of town. Kyle's Aunt Jane and Uncle Don sent mums and a fun balloon to brighten up his space. Both kids drew him pictures.

With the kids going separate places during the day, it worked out that my parents could keep Max at their house overnight, Thursday into Friday. He was very distressed that he couldn't come home withe me and Cate, but Mom informed me he got over it fairly quickly. Cate was sad thinking about her dad being in the hospital, but she managed to get through the school day just fine once she was distracted with school.

I spent the day with Kyle in the hospital today and around 1:30 this afternoon, the Infectious Diseases MD came through and confirmed Kyle was being treated for erysipelas, a strep infection that settles in the top dermal layer generally on the face. The good thing was the MD was pleased enough with Kyle's recovery that she signed off on discharge papers so we were out of the hospital before 4pm.

When we finally picked up the kids, Max was quite a talker and commented on the way home, "I was distracted today at Papa's house. Distracted means I was sad because our family was apart. But now I am happy because all of our family is together again this night."

Amen to that!

Corn Meal

I think Max's favorite thing about summer has to be fresh corn on the cob. That little body has been known to take in three ears of corn. So whenever we go to the store, Max begs us to get corn and starts picking them out even before we can say yes or no. We've stopped saying no because he just sobs and who really can say no to a boy who wants a (starch) vegetable.


This evening we had marinated flank steak, roasted potatoes on the grill and corn on the cob. I will admit that I am still a novice cook, so I have to flip to page 380 in my Betty Crocker cookbook in order to remember whether I need to put the corn in before or after the water boils, how long I let the corn cook and whether it should be covered or not covered.


When Kyle said he was going to shuck the corn, I asked Max if he wanted to help. He jumped off the couch and said, "YES!" and ran out the back door. He concentrated very hard and peeled down three of the eight ears of corn, leaving Kyle to finish them off.

And to no one's surprise, all he wanted for dinner was corn.

Some mornings I feel like this...

Max is definitely my boy. He likes to sleep. I can only imagine what kind of bum he'll be when he's a teenager.

200th Rambling

I will spare you from 101 - 200 of my random thoughts, although some other night I may do that. However, here's what's been happening since the last post.

After being sick so many times with terrible colds and pneumonia over the past couple of years, I finally took Cate to see a pediatric pulminologist. We had an extensive appointment, but it proved to be very educational and we have a new treatment plan. Additionally, Cate was able to get tested for allergies, although I had to pay her back big time for the unexpected blood-draw with a treat from Dairy Queen. Boy, did she milk that cotton swab and band-aid for sympathy!

The kids are very much settled in their own rooms. We moved our room to the basement--our family room is now a master bedroom / rec room / clothes folding room. This move occurred in February (if I recall correctly) and Max's bedtime habits have significantly improved. When the kids were sharing a room, it was a big slumber party every night. Surprisingly, they haven't figured out to run from room to room after we go downstairs for the night.

The winter thaw came in the earliest I think I can ever recall. We had no new snowfall in March and the snow cover was gone by the time spring was officially ushered in. We've been so blessed; I think I will have to remind myself of the one spring we actually got when we have snow on the ground this time next year.

This was the first time that the Easter egg hunt was outside at my parents' house. It hit almost 70 degrees that day. Cate was able to wear her sleeveless dress without her sweater for a good part of the day. It was such a gorgeous day. And yes, we were color coordinated for Easter this year.

Work is interesting these days. It's review time and this year seems to be particularly difficult. I thought last year was tough because we knew in advance we were not receiving any merit increase and our 401K match had been suspended. I don't recall when dental was pulled from us. We still don't have dental and haven't gotten our 401K match back yet. We will get a merit increase if / when we make goal numbers by the end of the fiscal year. Our merit increase should we be eligible for one, will be retro to the beginning of the fiscal year. It's a difficult message to share with my direct reports. But I will do my best to remain positive. Because it can always be much, much worse.


As I type, I've got laundry in rotation while Kyle puts primer on the dining room walls. Mom is coming over tomorrow to help Kyle paint in time to have a beautiful dining room for Max's birthday dinner on Monday.

Max turns 4 on Monday--I can't believe it! He doesn't seem as grown-up as Cate was at four years old. I have the day off so we can have a Mommy and Max day. I'm looking forward to having one special day with my little guy.

I'm sure a lot of other mundane things have been going on in our lives, but I sure can't remember it at the moment. Oh well, if things get interesting or at the very least, I think they're interesting, perhaps you'll see another blog post again in the near future.

Icky-sicky

It's great that winter is moving into spring, but with the weather fluctuations we've had in recent weeks, we've got three sick family members under one roof.

Max and Kyle are dealing with colds. I can not believe how much can come out of Max's nose at one time. Ew!

Cate just can't seem to get rid of her pneumonia. We were in Urgent Care a couple of Thursdays ago; got a scrip for a five-day dose of antibiotics which didn't do the trick. We were back at Urgent Care this past Thursday where we spent three hours. Her condition had worsened and she added a double ear infection to her woes. I can not believe the amount of drugs they put in her little body in the time we were there.

Our at-home treatment is pretty crazy. She has one daily dose of steroids, one tablet, two daily doses of antibiotics, one double dose of a morning nebulizer treatment, followed by single dose nebulizer treatments three times throughout the day.

She also gets a chocolate kiss for taking her liquid steroid medicine because it tastes so gross.

Being so sick so many times is beginning to take a toll on her school attendance. I think her absence count is up to 20 days. I think I will jump for joy when the year comes that she is awarded with a perfect attendance certificate. Thankfully, she is a smart girl and thankfully her teacher is thoughtful to deliver Cate's homework to us. I just wish she was focused enough to bust through her work instead of breaking down and whining.

Per my friend's suggestion, I think it's time I start looking for a pulminologist to see if there are other treatment options or a more accurate diagnosis for Cate.

Knock on wood, I will remain healthy because I've been out of the office so much for the kids' illnesses, I really can't afford to be out of the office because of my own illness.

Here's hoping you are enjoying good health!

No more bedtime cuddles

Max is definitely a big boy.

As Kyle helped Cate read her book, all four of us cuddled on her bed. After a bit, Max went to get his book, so he and I moved over to his room and laid in his bed while I read to him. When I attempted to cuddle and fall asleep with him, he said, "Move! I want just me to sleep here!"

Yeah, guess he's not scared of sleeping by himself anymore...

Florida!

Our winter getaway has already come and gone. We had a very good time. I can't say it went as I had imagined, but that's not a negative thing. We spent one day at Sea World, which was "meh...okay"; drove to the Atlantic at New Smyrna Beach where Max got soaked racing the waves and Cate built a sandcastle; and toured three Disney World Parks in 4-1/2 days.

Kyle did have to remind me at one time that if the kids want to wait their day away in lines to meet the Disney characters then that is what we should do because they were so thrilled when they encountered each one.

I wasted my money buying the Unauthorized Guide to Disney World for Kids because once we got there, I didn't even open it up. The kids pretty much guided us to where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. The parks were crazy-packed, but for the most part, everyone was civil. The only truly frustrating time was trying to get across Main Street as people crowded along the sidewalk waiting for the 3pm parade. It was a freaking traffic jam!

In total, we experienced sensory overload; rode a few rides; met many, many characters (see all of them here); ate very badly and were sad to go home at the end of the week.

So enjoy a sampling of the photos we took of our trip. If you're really into it, view all of them here. You should be able to tell in the middle of them that we had themed days for most days. Gaggy? Yeah, a bit; but it certainly made it easier to find each other in the mobs of people.

Manatee at Sea World

Four Things

Shamu Show - "Believe!"

Is that house really upside down? Yes...it's Wonder Works

Max the Astronaut

Cate the astronaut

Tons of fun things in stockings delivered to our hotel room
Running into the waves

Cate making a sandcastle

Max getting really wet

Two people in the way of a fantastic ocean view
Cate was in heaven eating shrimp
The castle at night
Getting Princess Aurora's (Sleeping Beauty) autograph
Princess Aurora is ready with the ultimate Princess pose
Meeting Minnie and Mickey
We learned that Max really likes Donald Duck
Hugs for Donald
Family photo with Belle from Beauty and the Beast
Even Santa hangs out at WDW Running them ragged after many days helps them sleep well

Santa Goofy--notice all three heads tilted!
Another Donald encounter--can you tell who was so thrilled?

Donald autographed stuffed Donald's foot!

Dinoland USA in Animal Kingdom

Yeah, that's right...Mickey waffles!