10.2.21 - Kid snippets: Jane spends the night at Jama's

Tonight is Jane's (my 4 yo's) first time spending the night by herself at Jama's house. I asked her a couple times throughout the week if she wanted to do it and she always said yes. We packed a tiny little backpack with her overnight stuff and when we got to the house she wanted to wear it for the very brief walk from our car to the front door. Then she kept the backpack on in the house and made sure that everyone saw that she had her backpack for spending the night.

We all stayed for dinner. When it was time for me to take the other two kids home I thought maybe Jane would be nervous. She definitely was not. She was happy for us to leave haha. She gave everyone a big hug and enthusiastically told us goodbye. Then, even though it was only about 7:00, she told Jama she was going to go put on her pajamas and brush her teeth to be ready to spend the night.

I'm very happy we live here so that my kids can have this one-on-one time with their grandparents and my shy girl in particular can get some undivided attention.

3.3.21 - Alone time with Clara

Today was a lovely day overall, but I'm too tired to write out all the details. The main thing I want to make sure to remember is that Jack took Jane and Calvin on a few errands, and while Clara and I were the only ones home, I showed her pictures and videos of the day she was born and the days thereafter. We watched a video of her still at the hospital, yawning. We watched one of Jama giving her a sponge bath on the kitchen counter. While we watched them, she sat in my lap and cuddled and said things like "I was such a cute wittle baaaby!" And I felt overwhelmed with love and awe and joy at my sweet, precious child, getting so big so fast.

3.1.21 - Mom's lasagna

Ingrediets

• 1 lb. mild Italian Sausage
• 1 T. basil
• 1 T. olive oil
• ½ t. Salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1 T. chopped parsley
• 1 6-oz. Can tomato paste

• 10. oz. lasagna noodles

• 24 oz. cottage cheese
• ½ t. pepper
• 2 beaten eggs
• 2 T chopped parsley
• ½ t. salt
• ½ cup parmesan cheese

• 1 lb. mozzarella cheese (slices or shredded)

Instructions

• Brown sausage in hot oil then drain excess oil. Add the next 7 ingredients. Simmer uncovered until thick, about 1 hour. Stir occasionally. 

• Meanwhile, cook noodles in boiling water until tender; drain then rinse in cold water

• In a separate bowl, combine cottage cheese with the next 5 ingredients.

• Place half the noodles in a 13 x 9 baking dish; spread half of the cheese mixture over the noodles, then half of the mozzarella cheese. On top of the cheese spread half of the meat mixture. Repeat layers.

• Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Let stand 20 minutes before cutting. Makes 12 servings.

2.11.21 - Joy status: upcoming Valentine's party, potential childcare help

Not one of my children woke me up last night. I feel so rested. One of our managers gave me a sweater that was too big for her and it is incredibly soft and cozy and I'm wearing it to work today. I went ahead and posted a job through care.com and I've had a lot of applications in my price range, so I'm hopeful Jack and I will start being able to go on dates again soon. My manager put me in charge of updating our company's website, and I'm enjoying the project. Finally, we are having a tiny Valentine's party for the kids on Sunday. My only specific idea was to make heart-shaped cookies, but their grandparents also sent them Valentine's gifts so they will have some things to open too. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

2.10.21 - Mom is a great RN

My mom, an RN, began hospice work last year. She is really well suited to this kind of work. She's kind, attentive, and communicative, and she's taking good care of people in a difficult part of their lives (and their families' lives). The joy is that I'm so proud of her.

2020 Christmas at home

Clara was excited to carefully arrange the Christmas cookies, carrots, and glass of milk for Santa. She had even picked out a specific spot on the kitchen table where the plate should go. 

When I put the kids to bed, after I told them I loved them I said "Merry Christmas Eve!" thereafter for the half a dozen times or so I had to go back in there each time I left Clara would say it to me again.

Around 9:30 she got up to use the bathroom and I had to walk her through washing her hands and going back to bed. As she was leaving the bathroom she poked her head in the living room very quickly, and of course it looked exactly as it did an hour or so ago when we put them to bed. She complained that Santa hadn't come yet. I pointed out that she hasn't even gone to sleep yet. We have told her many times that Santa won't come if she's awake. She asked if he would come very very quickly as soon as she fell asleep. I think she thinks the moment she falls asleep, he will appear.

I set my alarm for 1am and Jack and I got up then to put out presents. It was fun playing Santa with him. I was actually pretty nervous that Clara would wake up and peek. We were careful to put out all the non-Santa presents first just in case. Then we tried to quickly stuff the stockings (I guess we've decided in this house that's a Santa thing), out out the Santa presents, and eat 80% of the milk and cookies (we just put the carrots back in the fridge). Not a creature stirred.

The next morning I waited impatiently for the girls to wake up. As usual Calvin woke up first, but I didn't want to just be hanging out with him in the living room when the girls got up. I wanted them to be the ones to "discover" that Santa had come. I brought Calvin into our room with Jack and me and he dozed some more. I lied awkwardly on the edge of the bed to give him room without letting him roll off of it and I tried to do things on my phone. Of course on this day the girls slept in more than usual.

Still, eventually I heard them get up, and they came into our room and Clara shouted "Mom and Dad, IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Then she looked down the hallway to the kitchen table and saw some milk and cookies still left, and I could tell for a moment she thought no one had eaten them. She had a little frown and said "Wait a second..." and walked toward them, but then she saw they were mostly gone and got really excited. Then she turned and saw the presents. It was magical.

I told the kids they could open one gift each and then we were going to get dressed in our Christmas outfits. I've really come around to how important ritual--including specific clothing--can be to making something feel special, plus I wanted to have a lot of cute photos. The girls were excited to put on their dresses and Clara asked that Jack not come in the nursery so she could surprise him with her beautiful dress. I told Clara she looked absolutely beautiful and she smiled and said "Yes. I do!"

They were also thrilled to take the last chain off the Christmas countdown chain and Clara jumped up and down when I said "It's finally Christmas!"

We went back out to open more gifts, and I enjoyed how they wanted to stop and play with each gift rather than tear through all of them at once. We paused present opening a few times to let them play, and it was nice to know we have nowhere else we have to be and can take all the time we want. They stopped for awhile to check out Clara's stencil set in particular.

At some point we called Grandma Wiseman to thank her for her gifts, and Clara was happy to take the phone and chat with Grandma about how we made cookies and left them for Santa and how he ate most of them, and about how when we woke up there were so many presents.

This year Jack and I separately took the girls to Dollar Tree to buy gifts for each parent, and it was so sweet to see how excited they were for us to open our gifts. They got me slippers, two coffe mugs that said mom, and some fake yellow flowers. Clara informed me I could use those the next time I marry Jack. They got Jack a calculator (which Jane thought was a phone), some pens, a magnetic notebook, and other items I was hoping he could actually use. 

When we had opened all the presents, Jack helped clean up and I made "Santa pancakes" which just involves using whipped cream and strawberries to make the pancakes look like Santa faces. Clara was very excited to watch. Calvin ate a lot of Jane's Santa pancake while she was in the bathroom, so I said I could help her make a new one. This time she wanted only the whipped cream, so her Santa had no hat or eyes or nose or mouth, just a beard. But she was happy with it.

One of the girls' stocking gifts was nail polish. I painted their nails and put a 5 minute time on to let them dry. But for Jane, even 20 minutes later she was still holding her hands carefully and hesitatingly touching things. She kept looking at her fingernails and admiring them, it was pretty cute.

I spent the rest of the day on and off helping the kids learn about their new gifts and cooking for a fancy dinner. I made cheesy "bread" (mostly chopped cauliflower), a cheesy sun dried tomato Brussels sprout bake, and cranberry bliss bars. At some point during all this, our neighbor Gana came by and offered us a bowl of potato salad to wish us Merry Christmas, which was so sweet especially since she doesn't really celebrate Christmas. Later I left her a tupperware container of cranberry bliss bars and a card in return.

While I was cooking I video chatted with Mom for awhile. She was at Julie and Denny's but took a break to talk to me about how our days were going. I propped the phone on the counter so I could cook while talking to her and it was a nice little visit.

Before dinner we Skyped with the Jacksons to do our virtual letter exchange. Don & Merlene outdid themselves this year by making every letter a rhyming poem. I also think it's sweet that they write individual letters to not only Jack and me but also each of our kids. Aaron and Katie's letter had a part about how much they appreciate my SPL work, which meant a lot to me.

Dinner was also great. Both Jack and Calvin seems to really enjoy it. Clara mostly just ate the Costco rotisserie chicken but that's okay. Jane seems to like everything except the Brussels sprouts. I was just proud to have put a whole dinner together, and a little exhausted. We also had just enough wine left for one glass, which Jack gave to me.

At the end of the evening all three kids got to try their ultra soft robes from Mimi and Gpa, and the girls got to check out their reading lamps Jama had gotten them. 

5.17.20 - Best of the Missouri trip

The weather was excellent. Everett and Mom couldn't stop commenting on how nice it was that cooler spring weather was lasting so long. In fact we only had any humidity in the last 3-4 days I was there. Before that there wasn't any real humidity, and typically the weather was in the mid 60s to mid 70s. Maybe one or two days in the high 70s or 80, that's it. Best of all, there were thunderstorms maybe 5-6 times. I love thunderstorms so much. I love the smell and sound, and I love the nostalgia. They remind me a little of when I was a kid and a lot of Missouri summers in my young adulthood (late teens and early twenties).

One of my favorite moments of the trip was sitting on Don & Merlene's front porch with all three kids watching a huge thunderstorm roll in. It really was a little awe striking and beautiful watching the clouds swirl around each other. Clara observed the dark clouds coming in on her left and pushing out the white clouds on the white. The fishing-themed wind chimes were playing and the American flag was whipping around, as were the branches in the big tree in their front yard. Don & Merlene joined us after awhile too. I was glad to really get the most out of that thunderstorm.

It was cool to get to be in Missouri in the spring. I don't think I've done that since Easter of 2009. Mom's yard in particular had a lot of blooming flowers and the gorgeous Japanese maple trees out front, plus her Easter yard flag and other décor. Just super cute. And when we went on walks around Don & Merlene's neighborhood there were likewise a lot of flowers in bloom--even one tree that had white petals falling all around it which the girls stopped to observe. Also robins everywhere. Just kind of cute.

--
It was great to see Eddie and Elisabeth a few times. I saw them three times in 4 weeks, which is about the same average as when we typically visit Missouri. In particular, the first time I saw them I walked around Don & Merlene's neighborhood with Elisabeth, each of us pushing our babies (Eva and Calvin) in strollers. Then we sat in the front yard (at least 6 ft apart) and talked longer, and eventually Eddie joined us because he got off work early. Elisabeth took Eva home for lunch and a nap but Eddie stayed and we chatted longer. I'm always happy to see those guys but in this specific instance it had been only a day since my lowest point of the quarantine, and I was so relieved to see and visit with other people. Felt like a bit of normalcy, and socialization can make a big psychological difference.

--
Speaking of walks, I thought we'd be walking around the neighborhood all the time, but we ended up doing so only a few times. Still they were really enjoyable. The first time I took all three kids to try to give Jack some space, and I tried to make the walk last as long as possible. We walked slowly and stopped to look at everything I could think to point out: trees, flowers (especially dandelions), different types of mailboxes, robins and other birds, rabbits, squirrels, storm drains, cute porch décor, house numbers, the sun. The girls enjoyed making countless observations, and Clara picked a lot of dandelions. We walked around the block we usually do, but then kept going up into the coldasack just to keep it going. It was nice to spend peaceful time with them. I also thought a lot about owning a house someday as I considered what I liked or didn't on each porch. We saw one or two signs announcing that FZS 2020 graduates lived inside, and like so many other things in St. Peters, it was nostalgic. I thought about high school and how I have memories in this same neighborhood from that time.

Over the trip Clara and Jane also went on a few walks with Mimi and Gpa, which I think gave them some nice bonding time and change of scenery while also giving us (Jack and me) little breaks.

--
It was great getting to spend so much time with Everett. We spent a lot of afternoons sitting in the basement, him playing Kingdom Hearts and me trying to get work done, but all while chatting casually with each other. We made fun of Kingdom Hearts a lot (Sora is kind of an idiot) but we also enjoyed the animation and soundtrack. And more generally it's nice to visit without feeling pressure to hurry and make the most of it. During other Missouri trips I would have packed the schedule with social events, but we couldn’t' do that this time, and while it means we saw fewer people, it also means I was more relaxed with a more flexible schedule. And in the case of Everett, social distancing from everyone else made it easy for me to spend a lot more time with him than I normally get to.

We also did go have cigars on the DuPre bridge, twice. I love that tradition. We talk a lot more there, I assume because no one else is around, there are no other distractions, and it's usually relatively dark which means we aren't even distracted by what we're looking at. Both times we had more substantial conversations than we do when working/playing Kingdom Hearts, of course, and I think the bridge & cigars tradition gives me an unusual change to really hear how he's doing. Plus we always talk about the memories with that creek and the path to it and the DuPre neighborhood generally. It's nice to have someone that remembers that shared history.

I also got to spend Everett's birthday with him, which is very unusual. We went with Mom and picked up sushi (Wasabi, but at the wrong location of Town & Country, oh well) and then ate it at a picnic table near the Missouri River in old town St. Charles. Mom laughs so easily she encourages me to try to joke more often which makes her laugh more often. And of course she thinks Everett is hilarious, and he thinks her laughing is itself funny, so yeah, lots of laughing. After we visited for awhile at her house, and then way later Everett came to Don & Merlene's with his laptop so we could play Catan online with Jack and Neil (Neil and I had figured out how to set it up earlier that day). Don & Merlene even sang Everett Happy Birthday. Catan was a blast. We played two games. Calvin stayed awake through all of the first but just sat on the couch between Everett and me and hung out. He really wanted to hit Everett's laptop but eventually got it out of his system. Poor little guy was exhausted by the end of the first game and fell asleep almost as soon as Jack took him. Then we played one more game, probably a mistake because we were up too late, but we were all joking around the whole time. Neil (the only one not physically in the room) kept playing the devil on the shoulder trying to get everyone to go after each other. I also had some candy and chips around to snack on while we relaxed. It was a fun evening.

--
I'm glad the kids got to spend so much time with Mom.

We went to her house a bunch of times, and it was really helpful to me because it's an extra pair of hands, helpful to Jack because he gets a more relaxed break to study, helpful to the kids because it's a change of scenery and they love their Jama. We played in the backyard a lot, particularly with her hose. Clara liked to "paint" the entire back wall of the house with water. Jane liked to water the plants. And her back patio furniture makes it easy to just feed them outside, if we want.

I also love Mom's front porch. It's very cozy and well decorated. Once or twice I got to sit peacefully up there with Calvin in my lap as he watched cars drive by and cooed. And one time Jane and Calvin took naps at the same time, so Mom played with Clara in the house and backyard and Everett and I sat and chilled on the front porch for probably over an hour.

Mom and I also took the kids to All Saints twice. The first time we went to look inside the church. The girls were very impressed and at first kept calling it a castle, saying it was just like in Beauty and the Beast. We also took them to the playground, of course, and especially the 2nd time we went they had a blast. The weather was great and Mom and I took turns (mostly Mom) chasing them all over the playground while they giggled and shrieked "You can't catch me!!" I so enjoy how much my mom and my kids like spending time with each other.

--
Also glad the kids got to spend time with their cousins. This took longer because we waited until we had been in MO at least 2 weeks, but then we had a playdate with the Jacksons all over to use Mimi & Gpa's new playset. There was also a kite, sidewalk chalk, and bubbles, and they loved it. It's so good for kids to get to spend time with other kids, and I'm glad all of our kid are roughly the same age.

--
And of course Don & Merlene were fantastic hosts, as they always are. Paid for our groceries, made countless meals, clean every night (we tried to be better about cleaning up as part of night time routine, but it's still never the same as if there weren't a bunch of kids in the house), did laundry, babysat so Jack and I could go on dates, etc. They are ceaselessly generous and kind.

12.25.19 - Highlights of the Missouri Christmas Trip

Sadly as life gets increasingly busy I have less and less time to update my blog and remember all the good memories, but I suppose having too many good memories to track is a good problem to have. In any case I didn't take any notes of this Christmas trip in real time, so I'm now retrospectively (and hopefully quickly) going to mark the best memories.

In contrast with years prior, this time our trip all preceded and ended with Christmas. I really enjoyed that because (1) it gave us more time to enjoy the Christmas season while on vacation in Missouri and (2) it meant the trip ended on a high note, rather than the ho-hum feeling of the week after Christmas and before New Year's.

Also in contrast with previous trips, none of the kids got sick at all during the entire trip. That alone made it much more enjoyable. As a corollary all three of them slept pretty well almost every night, meaning Jack and I also got decent sleep, which of course makes everything better.

As another bonus, the girls are now at an age (especially Clara) where they can really get excited about holidays. This was true for 2019 with the 4th of July (fireworks, popcorn), Halloween (pumpkin patch, Trunk or Treat) and now the Christmas season. Here's a short list of all the Christmas-themed events they got to participate in:

• 12/13 - Arrive in STL, help decorate Mimi's Christmas tree.
• 12/14 - Santa Pancake breakfast at Connection Church (including gluten free pancakes, Charlie Brown's Christmas on the big screen, story time and pictures with Santa, and Christmas karaoke)
• 12/15 - Snowed in at Mimi and Gpa's, got to try on winter gear, explore the snow, ride around in a toboggan in the front yard, watch Jack make a Blues fan snow man, and then come inside for hot chocolate!
• 12/18 - Polar Express! Cookies, cocoa, dancing, silver bells, and all while decked out in Blues pajamas.
• 12/19 - Sledding in the morning in Mimi's backyard. Christmas light shows that night. I didn't get to do this one because I was having sushi dinner with Neil and Everett, however the kids went with Jack, Mimi, and Gpa to see two shows: one at the Church on Mexico and another at a private house all decked out.
• 12/20 - St. Charles Christmas Traditions - collecting the cards of Christmas characters such as Sugar Plum Fairy and Jack Frost, all while enjoying essentially Christmas town, with the jingle bell horse-drawn carriages, carolers along the streets, tons of decor, and at one point watching a violinist play beautiful carolers and giving her a dollar.
• 12/22 - Christmas Cookie Party at Aunt Linda's and Christmas at the Jackson's. Dinner, Christmas story, gifts and stockings, letters to Santa.
• 12/24 - Christmas at Jama's. Homemade gluten free cinnamon roll toast, more gifts, and cousins to play with.

There were many wonderful moments and I wish I could detail them all, but possibly my favorite was during the snow day on Sunday, 12/15. In general I dislike snow, and this snow was falling heavy and meant we weren't going to the much anticipated Christmas Cookie Party at Aunt Linda's, so I was pretty annoyed when I heard about it. I'd also expected to have an hour to two to myself while Jack took the kids to church, and at first he was considering skipping it because of the winter storm warnings. However all worked out. The snow wasn't going to hit until a little later so he took them after all and I still got time for a shower and a nap (the luxuries!) Then Linda let us know she was going to have a Cookie Day Part Deux the next week, so we weren't missing out on that after all. But easily the best part was watching the kids, especially Clara, experience the snow.

Merlene had run out and gotten both girls snow boots, mittens, and hats. Clara was excited to put on her winter wear. Jane wanted to follow Clara's lead, but was also really irritated about all the stuff we kept adding to her outfit, resulting in perhaps the best picture I took all year:

The snow was still falling heavily when they got outside, and I captured some very sweet videos of the quiet interest they had. 

Calvin was sleeping peacefully in the cozy house, and I stayed with him, but Jack got busy building a (Blues fan) snowman and Don and Merlene got busy finding something suitable for a sled. At first Jane tried the makeshift bucket sled and fell face first into the snow pretty quickly. She was so upset, and I thought for sure she'd retreat to the house with me, but to my surprise she chose to stick it out (as long as someone was holding her). So Don carried Jane in one arm and pulled Mimi and Clara in another in the toboggan. I really enjoyed watching their wonder and joy...from the warmth of the house with Piano Guy Christmas music on in the background. Then there was a moment--blissfully captured on video--when Clara looked to me in the window and waved and said "hi Mom!" I don't know how to explain why but that just elated me. It felt like I was watching across time, from years in the future, a treasured memory of my sweet little girl enjoying a new experience. I've said before that sometimes parenting feels like heartbreak but out of happiness instead of sorrow, and this was one of those moments. I felt elated, and that may have best moment of an already pretty great trip. I would not have expected that from snow.

Absent more time to record all the other great moments, here are some favorite pics (of the MANY great pics I got thanks to Henry giving me his Pixel 3, which has a great camera):

At SMF waiting for our plane.

On the way to Santa Pancake breakfast.

Clara spontaneously ran up to hug Santa, and the photographer captured it. <3

Calvin meets Myrna.

Snowfall over a couple hours.

Hiding out behind the Christmas tree.

On our way to the Polar Express.

About to meet Christmas characters in Old Town St. Charles.

Mike treated us to dinner at Bellweather, and it was lovely.

Gpa and Mimi made gluten free tortellini.

9.5.19 - Mom's Fried Chicken

I haven't actually tried to make this yet, but I wanted to keep the recipe somewhere I could find it again. And this food is definitely in my joy inventory - one of my all-time favorites from childhood. Oh to be able to cook like my mother.

Mom’s Fried Chicken

1 whole chicken, cut up

2 cups milk

2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp. onion powder

1 T. paprika

Soak chicken in milk. Mix dry ingredients together.  Heat 1 inch of oil in skillet on medium high until hot (drop of water “dances” on top). Dip each piece of chicken into flour mixture, back into milk, and again in flour mixture, set on plate. Carefully add enough pieces of chicken to hot oil to fill pan without pieces touching each other. Fry until first side is golden, about 5 min. Turn to other side, reduce heat to medium low and cover pan; cook 10 min. Uncover pan and return heat to medium high for about 5 more min. Drain on paper towels.

8.18.19 - Mom's visit

Jack just left to take Mom to the airport to go home, which is always a bit sad. It was really nice having her here.

She made us and the girls a lot of food: she convinced Clara to try cantaloupe by saying it was "orange candy watermelon." She made them GF french toast and oatmeal and other breakfasts. The other night she made us GF eggplant Parmesan, which was awesome. She made one meal of chicken and rice to freeze for us to have later. She bought pizza one night (ultra cheap large pizza from Costco for us and expensive small GF pizza from California Pizza Kitchen for the girls). She helped us get through a lot of the produce Don & Merlene had left by making salads and dicing fruit and leaving it around for us to eat.

GF cookies in cups at Jama's hotel room.

She was also really helpful with the girls. She got them out of the apartment a lot: she took Jane to the library while Jack was taking Clara to the dentist. She took both girls to her hotel room to explore for awhile. She took them on a couple errands and yesterday, before it was too hot out, she also took them to the playground. It's good for them to break up the routine. And of course when we were all at home she kept them pretty busy, reading and doing crafts and finding Sesame Street videos and playing hide and seek, etc. She gave them baths and helped get them to bed, but most importantly she took them in the morning. Calvin is already a pretty good sleeper from a newborn but it still means I'm getting perhaps 6-7 hours sleep a night interrupted 2-3 times by 45 min-1 hour feeding sessions, so it's still pretty bad sleep. Having Mom here early to take the girls when they woke up allowed me to sleep in a bit later and that makes a huge difference.

Hanging out in Jama's hotel room.

Hanging out at the McKinley library.

I also love how many pictures and videos she takes of the kids. I love to chronicle things and it's nice when I'm not the only one doing so, and she takes some pretty great pictures.

Sister Mary Jane

8.17.19 - Kid Snippets: orange candy watermelon

Mom has convinced Clara that cantaloupe is "orange candy watermelon" and now Clara loves to eat it.

On the other hand I can't get Jane to try new foods for the life of me. I told her she could have half a brownie if she ate *one bite* of her turkey burger. She put the bite in her mouths, let it fall out onto the floor, picked it up, took it into the kitchen, and threw it in the trash.

When Jack got home from work today he came over and gave Calvin a kiss on the head and Calvin broke into a huge open-mouthed grin. Absolutely delightful. To see if it was a fluke, Jack kissed him on the head again, and he did it again. Best moment of the day.

8.13.19 - Kid Snippets: Can I have a "yes"?

Mom is making Clara a grilled cheese sandwich.

Clara: Can I have just cheese?
Mom (to me): Can she have just cheese?
Me: No! [To Clara] No you can't have just cheese.
Clara: Can I have a "yes"?

5.24.19 - Ellen's graduation

I didn't have time to write a full blog post, but highlights:

It was very sweet watching Ellen walk across the stage and get "hooded." Can't believe she has an MD finally. So much work. I'm really proud of her. I thought she looked incredibly sophisticated in her graduation attire. I'm extra proud of her because she doesn't have a doctor or even PhD in the family (unlike nearly everyone who graduated) and I think that speaks to her particular resilience, confidence, and hard work compared to people who came from families with more pedigree and experience. She's a freaking BAMF.

Ellen on the top step because she now has the most advanced degree.

Lunch after the graduation was a lot of fun, actually. Dad, Jill, Rocket, Ellen, Igor, and I all went to a pretty nice sandwich place (Steubens) and had a pretty funny conversation about the use of the word "like" in conversation. Had a great time, also had a chocolate malt.

Other highlights of the visit before that included Ellen making spinach sausage loaf, ridiculous amounts of giggles on the drive home from a taqueria dinner (I was the only sober one, Mom and Julie were giggling at everything, it was pretty funny), and giving Ellen her med school scrapbook and enjoying her and other people enjoying it. I love making a good scrapbook.

11/4/18 - Nick & Terrisa's visit

11/4/18 - Terrisa and Nick drove up from the bay area (Nick as far as San Jose!) to visit us for the day. We went to lunch at Thai Basil. Nick drove all of us. Mom sat shotgun and she and Nick had one convo while Terrisa and I discussed political stuff in the back seat. Both those conversations kept going strong on the walk from the car to the restaurant and well into lunch. We sat at a cute table by the window. I like how all the tables had multi-colored roses on them, very pretty.

I got a dish with chicken and pineapple that was pretty great. Mom got a green curry eggplant dish plus Nick ordered some kind of peanut curry fried rice thing for everyone to share. The women all split a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Somehow it escaped my notice (or memory) that Nick just doesn't drink at all. He doesn't like the taste. But even so he treated all of us to the entire meal, which was so sweet. He's very generous. He said it feels easier to be generous with friends as opposed to dating because if he is more generous on dates it comes off as pressure rather than kindness. Anyway we talked animatedly for a long time about mostly politics. It was enjoyable. 

Afterward Nick wanted to go to a gelato place he loves called Devine, and it was indeed great. We sat outside on a nice day and talked about Nick helping SPL with tabling. What a helpful guy. I also had some kind of raspberry whiskey chocolate gelato that was excellent, and Nick told me to get some for Jack too--so I got him something with pistachio and something with caramel.

We headed back home but the day continued! Nick and Terrisa stayed for hours and especially Nick and I went back and forth on immigration, dating, and many other topics. I really enjoy talking to Nick because he's intelligent, his memory is unbelievable, he will concede points, he isn't put off by my own aggression, and he is very direct, fearless really. It's a specific kind of connection where we can both be relatively direct without the other having a hard time with it. So that's pretty great. Later--much later--Nick also went out and got us all In & Out for dinner, which is especially nice because Clara can have some of the fries because they are made in gluten free fryers.

Anyway it was a long and very pleasant visit.

11/3/18 - Nutcracker with Mom and Beth

Saturday. Jack went to work a 5 am shift and Mom, Clara, Jane, and I stayed in our pajamas for hours and had GF pancakes and hung out. Mom and I visited in between playing with the girls, who enjoyed the deflating air mattress.

Mom gave the girls a bath. Jane was over it quickly but Clara hung out for a long time. After Jane went down for a nap Mom got some good one-on-one time with Clara while Jack and I went up to Sac State to sign up for gym membership at the Well.

Right after we returned Mom and I went up to Cinemark 14 and met with Beth to see The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Mom was impressed with the relatively new theater and the way they let you get your own drinks. She thought it was all more efficient (it is). She also was surprised at how large the reclining seats are; she said she felt like a little kid, haha. The movie started with the animated Disney opening (a train moving through a small town and the view zooms out and you see the Disney castle with a moat) but then it moved seamlessly from that onward to a snowy Christmasy Charles Dickens-type town. Approximately three seconds into the Christmasy scene, Mom leaned over and whispered "This is great!!" Lol. She's definitely the target audience for the movie.

I enjoyed seeing it. The acting was mediocre but the visuals were great and it was indeed very Christmas-themed. Love the Nutcracker music. And it was just nice to sit still and eat popcorn and raisnets and not try to get a million things done at once. So that was a lot of fun.

6.17.18 - My birthday & Father's Day

A few days before Father's Day I was working at Picasso's and decided to walk down Main Street and see if I could find any good gift ideas for Jack. I went to this really charming bookstore called Main Street Books and they had all kinds of unique, thoughtful, and funny greeting cards. I picked out a sweet one for Jack and then also found a pair of Hungry Caterpillar socks, which I figure is kind of Father's Day-themed since our kids love that book. I imagined him wearing the socks and pretending his feet were caterpillars. Who knows if that will ever happen but it was the best idea I had so I got them.

Anyway so this morning I gave him those gifts before he took the girls to church, and he seemed to like them.

While everyone was at church I relaxed and enjoyed the quiet and time to myself. I made a plate of nachos (with the mango peach salsa I have been really loving this trip) and watched 2-3 episodes of The Office uninterrupted. Frankly it was awesome. I also tried to remember Pachelbel's Canon on the piano but I couldn't quite get the whole thing. Still enjoyed playing it without little hands pounding the keys on either end.

I went ahead and got dressed and prepped a couple things to take to Mom's house later. Jack came home with the kids and the sermon had been Father's Day related and church had given all the dads bags of M&M's with a little card, so that was sweet.

We all caravaned to Mom's house for my informal birthday potluck. Jack dropped us off and ran to Costco to get rotisserie chicken (from us) and canned chicken for Everett's buffalo chicken dip. (Side note: I like how proud Everett is of that dip. It's freaking delicious and all of it always gets eaten at get together's, which he likes to point out.) Ellen made Sunshine fruit salad and she was so thoughtful as to make one version completely gluten free, which means a lot to me.

Thanks to Ellen and Everett the basement was already totally clean and prepped for company. Good thing, too, because Zoey forbid me from going down there while she worked on my birthday gift, haha. But once she was done we all moved all the food and drink to the downstairs table. The Bairds came over with bacon wrapped smokey mini sausages in a crock pot (which also all got eaten), Don & Merlene brought gluten free chips and cheese, and I think Julie brought a bunch of veggies and hummus. Later Linda got there with apple fritters.

Blurry pic Mom took of everyone visiting. I'm having grapefruit juice with white wine, mmm.

We all hung out and chatted, and we played a few games of Quiplash. One of the questions was what to name a cheese shop and I won with "It's all Gouda." Lol. Everyone loves puns. Zoey and Malcolm stayed upstairs for this part because the game is not always kid-friendly. Clara is too young to understand, though, and she stayed with us and happily danced to the background music and watched the animated characters as we entered our answers. At some point Katie Jackson came over and joined us, which was really great because I hadn't been sure if she'd be able to make it (Aaron is home with poision oak, but the kids were napping so she snuck away for a bit). She played Quiplash too and laughed a lot.

Zoey's sweet card.

We were able to play only a few games because the Bairds had to go tend to other things (alas), but then it was time to open presents. I actually wasn't really expecting presents because I'd told everyone not to worry about it, but I had several anyway. Zoey made me a handmade card all taped shut, and inside it was her gift: a drawing! Very very sweet, and she was so excited for me to open it. Ellen got me a stainless steel baking dish (I am slowly converting all bakeware to stainless steel for ease of cleaning and gluten free cooking), Don & Merlene got me a sweet card with some cash, Jack got me a book on teaching our kids to read, and Mom painted me a fresca based on the lyric book "It's a Wonderful World" that my girls enjoy. That was especially creative and touching and she even copied the exact style of the birds and butterflies in the book's illustrations.

We didn't have any cake, but Mom stuck 7 candles in an apple fritter (3 and 3 for 33 and "one to grow on") and then everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and I blew out the candles with Clara's help. I was pleased to see that Clara has evolved from being shy and intimidated by everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to enjoying it and wanting to aslo blow out the candles.

I think it was after that Linda had to get going and so did the Jacksons and the Wolks. Everett, Jack, and I hung out and chatted in the basement for awhile and then quickly cleaned up. Jack and I took the girls back to Don & Merlene's so we could hang out with Dave while he was there after work. At some point Merlene put a candle in half a gluten free fig bar (lol) so that the Jacksons could sing me their much more professional, harmonized version of "Happy Birthday." Clara loved that too, and again helped me blow out the candle.

3/4 of the Jackson singers that night.

Oh and of course I got a lot of well wishes via text and on Facebook. My favorite this year was from Nick Reynosa: