Just stumbled on this one from Meg...I jotted it down last year.
"If I could kick doors and get a punching bag, my life would be complete."
Oh Meg.
Sunday, February 24
Quotes I love about parenting....
"A truly appreciative child will break, lose, spoil, or fondle to death any really successful gift within a matter of minutes." ~ Russell Lynes
"The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable." ~ Lane Olinhouse
"When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out." ~ Erma Bombeck
"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." ~ Franklin P. Jones
"A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm." ~ Bill Vaughan.
"It is amazing how quickly the kids learn to drive a car, yet are unable to understand the lawnmower, snowblower or vacuum cleaner." ~ Ben Bergor
"The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is because they have a common enemy." ~ Author Unknown
"The truth is that parents are not really interested in justice. They just want quiet." ~ Bill Cosby
"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?" ~ Milton Berle
"Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare." ~ Ed Asner
"Think of stretch marks as pregnancy service stripes." ~ Joyce Armor
"The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable." ~ Lane Olinhouse
"When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out." ~ Erma Bombeck
"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." ~ Franklin P. Jones
"A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm." ~ Bill Vaughan.
"It is amazing how quickly the kids learn to drive a car, yet are unable to understand the lawnmower, snowblower or vacuum cleaner." ~ Ben Bergor
"The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is because they have a common enemy." ~ Author Unknown
"The truth is that parents are not really interested in justice. They just want quiet." ~ Bill Cosby
"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?" ~ Milton Berle
"Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare." ~ Ed Asner
"Think of stretch marks as pregnancy service stripes." ~ Joyce Armor
Our poor kids....
"Like all parents, my husband and I just do the best we can, and hold our breath, and hope we've set aside enough money to pay for our kids' therapy." ~ Michelle Pfeiffer
I think we have done enough to our kids in the past few months to send them to therapy for life.
First, there was the Wii incident. Back in November, Jesse and I were entertaining the thought of purchasing a Wii. We walked into Fred Meyer one day (without the kids), and there were some Wii's behind the electronics counter. We bought two, one for us and one for Ebay, since we figured there would be constraint problem again this year. We weren't sure we'd keep them, but we wanted to get them while we could and discuss it later. About a week later, we decided to get the rest of the paraphenalia to play as a family, and hid it in our room. We started adding up the costs, and realized that $249 for the Wii was just a start. Still, we debated. Since we are such good secret keepers, we started to quiz the kids about how they would feel about a Wii. Like any good children, they told us how much they would love one. I decided to spill the beans, but we qualified it by saying we weren't sure if we were keeping it. They wanted to see proof, so out the system came. Their eyes were as big as bowling balls! They didn't think their parents could possibly be that cool. Well, we aren't, since we told them we were taking it back. Their stunned little faces looked at us with pleading. They plead with us that evening, and after discussion, we decided to keep it. Until a few days later, when we thought about it more. We told them we were taking it back. Until we changed our minds again. Finally, the good, responsible parents finally won over and took it back, liking the look of the moola in the bank account and trying to ignore the puppy dog eyes/evil stares from them. We somehow convinced them that a Wii wouldn't be any more fun than their Nintendo GameCube. (Still not sure how we did that!) Of course, we returned the one we wanted to sell on Ebay, too, not sure about the risk. (We have high IQ's!)
Come January, the kids had played a Wii at a friend's house and loved it. They started saving. Then we saw games at Costco and bought a couple (not owning a Wii yet, I guess we just thought we'd stare at them until we did). A few days later, Ashley spent 90 minutes one afternoon calling every store in the metro area until she found 5 at a Best Buy in Tualatin. No, they hadn't saved half of the price, but we faxed over the payment anyway so Best Buy would hold it for us while we raced down south. We were the proud owners of our third Wii in two months, this time to stay. (And I am asking myself, why did we return the other two???????)
Then there was last week when we went to pick up the Acura from its service appointment and we took a long time getting back. Megan called us, and knowing her parents, asked, "Are you guys buying a car???" Uh, yes and no. We were negotiating about a possible used TSX. Ashley reminded us we were using Jesse's Mitsubishi, which we have told her she will learn to drive on, as a trade. Not cool. Oh. Better judgement prevailed, and we decided to keep the status quo. Of course, when we made the announcement I describe next, they decided they wanted the new (used) car. Nope, we'll just save that money for therapy.
Finally, this year we decided we weren't sure about keeping our boat. We enjoy it when we go out, but between the funeral and the lousy summer weather we had last year, we hardly used it. We decided we'd like the money back in our pockets instead of sitting in our garage. I also thought it would be nice to access that half of the garage without having to climb over a boat. (I had such fond memories of having to lift a couch onto the back of the boat for storage when it wouldn't fit in the room with the Christmas tree, too.) We told the kids our decision, and put it on Craigslist. We didn't get a lot of bites, and those we got wanted us to mark it WAY down (out of the question). Our listing expired, and upon further reflection, we told the girls we were keeping the boat. One evening, Jesse and I were in Costco and saw a great 3-man tube. We decided that since we were keeping the boat, it would be more fun to have a tube that the girls could ride together. We brought it home and showed the girls, who immediately began dreaming of summers out on the lake. Ashley even told her best friend about it and told her we would take her out, too.
.....That was before one of bites we had a month ago became serious. With a reasonable offer on the table, Jesse and I couldn't justify keeping the boat. Again, we had to say, "Hey kids, remember how we said we were keeping the [boat, in this case]? Well....." Ashley wrote an unsolicited essay on why we should keep the boat the next week, and Megan wrote a protest note in her grammar book next to a sentence that talked about a boat. Did we cave? Of course not! We want our children to be in therapy for the rest of their lives!
The buyer drove down from BC on Saturday and after a water test, gave us the cash and we gave him the boat. The tube? Back to Costco.
I am not sure if my parents were ever this crazy, but I hope so.
"Mothers are all slightly insane." ~ J.D. Salinger
Some more than others....... :)
I think we have done enough to our kids in the past few months to send them to therapy for life.
First, there was the Wii incident. Back in November, Jesse and I were entertaining the thought of purchasing a Wii. We walked into Fred Meyer one day (without the kids), and there were some Wii's behind the electronics counter. We bought two, one for us and one for Ebay, since we figured there would be constraint problem again this year. We weren't sure we'd keep them, but we wanted to get them while we could and discuss it later. About a week later, we decided to get the rest of the paraphenalia to play as a family, and hid it in our room. We started adding up the costs, and realized that $249 for the Wii was just a start. Still, we debated. Since we are such good secret keepers, we started to quiz the kids about how they would feel about a Wii. Like any good children, they told us how much they would love one. I decided to spill the beans, but we qualified it by saying we weren't sure if we were keeping it. They wanted to see proof, so out the system came. Their eyes were as big as bowling balls! They didn't think their parents could possibly be that cool. Well, we aren't, since we told them we were taking it back. Their stunned little faces looked at us with pleading. They plead with us that evening, and after discussion, we decided to keep it. Until a few days later, when we thought about it more. We told them we were taking it back. Until we changed our minds again. Finally, the good, responsible parents finally won over and took it back, liking the look of the moola in the bank account and trying to ignore the puppy dog eyes/evil stares from them. We somehow convinced them that a Wii wouldn't be any more fun than their Nintendo GameCube. (Still not sure how we did that!) Of course, we returned the one we wanted to sell on Ebay, too, not sure about the risk. (We have high IQ's!)
Come January, the kids had played a Wii at a friend's house and loved it. They started saving. Then we saw games at Costco and bought a couple (not owning a Wii yet, I guess we just thought we'd stare at them until we did). A few days later, Ashley spent 90 minutes one afternoon calling every store in the metro area until she found 5 at a Best Buy in Tualatin. No, they hadn't saved half of the price, but we faxed over the payment anyway so Best Buy would hold it for us while we raced down south. We were the proud owners of our third Wii in two months, this time to stay. (And I am asking myself, why did we return the other two???????)
Then there was last week when we went to pick up the Acura from its service appointment and we took a long time getting back. Megan called us, and knowing her parents, asked, "Are you guys buying a car???" Uh, yes and no. We were negotiating about a possible used TSX. Ashley reminded us we were using Jesse's Mitsubishi, which we have told her she will learn to drive on, as a trade. Not cool. Oh. Better judgement prevailed, and we decided to keep the status quo. Of course, when we made the announcement I describe next, they decided they wanted the new (used) car. Nope, we'll just save that money for therapy.
Finally, this year we decided we weren't sure about keeping our boat. We enjoy it when we go out, but between the funeral and the lousy summer weather we had last year, we hardly used it. We decided we'd like the money back in our pockets instead of sitting in our garage. I also thought it would be nice to access that half of the garage without having to climb over a boat. (I had such fond memories of having to lift a couch onto the back of the boat for storage when it wouldn't fit in the room with the Christmas tree, too.) We told the kids our decision, and put it on Craigslist. We didn't get a lot of bites, and those we got wanted us to mark it WAY down (out of the question). Our listing expired, and upon further reflection, we told the girls we were keeping the boat. One evening, Jesse and I were in Costco and saw a great 3-man tube. We decided that since we were keeping the boat, it would be more fun to have a tube that the girls could ride together. We brought it home and showed the girls, who immediately began dreaming of summers out on the lake. Ashley even told her best friend about it and told her we would take her out, too.
.....That was before one of bites we had a month ago became serious. With a reasonable offer on the table, Jesse and I couldn't justify keeping the boat. Again, we had to say, "Hey kids, remember how we said we were keeping the [boat, in this case]? Well....." Ashley wrote an unsolicited essay on why we should keep the boat the next week, and Megan wrote a protest note in her grammar book next to a sentence that talked about a boat. Did we cave? Of course not! We want our children to be in therapy for the rest of their lives!
The buyer drove down from BC on Saturday and after a water test, gave us the cash and we gave him the boat. The tube? Back to Costco.
I am not sure if my parents were ever this crazy, but I hope so.
"Mothers are all slightly insane." ~ J.D. Salinger
Some more than others....... :)
Thursday, February 21
Comic Adventure
Monday evening, my long-time best friend and I were chatting online. She shared with me her new goal--to become a runner. I was very interested in her experience thus far, because that has become my goal for the year, too. I haven't gotten very far (pardon the pun), but I have worked up to walking briskly. We shared ideas and tips, and I made a goal to get up early the next morning for my workout.
Despite my best intentions, I did not go to the gym that morning. I went to bed after chatting, but I couldn't fall asleep. I got out of bed to work on some things and didn't make it back until 2 am. Needless to say, I didn't feel like getting up with my alarm at 6:15 am.
However, the girls gave me a great opportunity to get some exercise later that day. They asked me to rollerblade with them to their former school to see their friends at dismissal. I thought, "Great! Rollerblading isn't too hard and I will get a little exercise."
As I strapped my blades on, I saw Ashley was carrying flip flops. I tried to convince her to leave them home, even mocking her a little, but to no avail--the flip flops were coming. Off we went, Megan leading the way (doing the occasional jump with her blades), me in the middle, and Ashley bringing up the rear. By the time I was 10 houses away from ours, I was getting winded. My legs felt every motion acutely. Somehow, it wasn't as easy to rollerblade as it was when I was 18 and able to run a 5k.
Not wanting to wimp out, however, I continued on. As we left the entrance to our neighborhood, I fell. Luckily, it was on grass and no harm done. On with the journey.
I was having to pause every half block or so to catch my breath, but I was hanging in there. We reached the first street we had to cross and as I tried to stop on the sidewalk ramp, down I went. Good news! No damage, just a little embarassment for me and entertainment for anyone driving by.
I got back up, we crossed the street, and off we went. I was still getting a huge workout, but hanging in there. One time, I started to lose my balance and I flailed my arms in hopes of staying upright as the school custodian drove by. I was sure he was going to run off the road admiring my grace.
Finally, we reached the crosswalk to the school. Another sidewalk ramp, another crash. This time I hit my wrist harder and got my knee, too. A woman walking to the school stopped to check on me. I laughed it off, but I took a little longer getting up this time. As I was preparing to get up, a good friend from my ward drove up. She rolled down her window to check on me, and I told her I was OK but begged a ride home after she got her kids from school. I wasn't so sure about making this a round trip anymore.
After I got back up, we went the rest of the way to the school. I survived the half-mile journey! After the girls saw their friends, I popped off my rollerblades and walked stocking-footed to my friend's car. I applauded Einstein, I mean, Ashley, for bringing the flip flops as she casually strolled along. Megan was very disappointed that we weren't going to do a return trip, but I didn't feel like going to the ER that day.
I vowed to the girls that I would not do this again until I was able to do laps around our flat neighborhood. Ashley pointed out that our neighborhood was not flat, it had a hill. I laughed. We have no hill. A very, very, very, very minor incline to one side, that you hardly notice. Our neighborhood is flat, but Ashley was not convinced. (I'll let you know if that incline is as minor as I remember it when I am going around on blades )
Maybe I'll make it out this afternoon. Maybe not. My wrist is almost completely OK today, thank goodness. I learned, though, that I am not 18 anymore and not even close to running a 5k, either.
I'm staying closer to home from now on.
Despite my best intentions, I did not go to the gym that morning. I went to bed after chatting, but I couldn't fall asleep. I got out of bed to work on some things and didn't make it back until 2 am. Needless to say, I didn't feel like getting up with my alarm at 6:15 am.
However, the girls gave me a great opportunity to get some exercise later that day. They asked me to rollerblade with them to their former school to see their friends at dismissal. I thought, "Great! Rollerblading isn't too hard and I will get a little exercise."
As I strapped my blades on, I saw Ashley was carrying flip flops. I tried to convince her to leave them home, even mocking her a little, but to no avail--the flip flops were coming. Off we went, Megan leading the way (doing the occasional jump with her blades), me in the middle, and Ashley bringing up the rear. By the time I was 10 houses away from ours, I was getting winded. My legs felt every motion acutely. Somehow, it wasn't as easy to rollerblade as it was when I was 18 and able to run a 5k.
Not wanting to wimp out, however, I continued on. As we left the entrance to our neighborhood, I fell. Luckily, it was on grass and no harm done. On with the journey.
I was having to pause every half block or so to catch my breath, but I was hanging in there. We reached the first street we had to cross and as I tried to stop on the sidewalk ramp, down I went. Good news! No damage, just a little embarassment for me and entertainment for anyone driving by.
I got back up, we crossed the street, and off we went. I was still getting a huge workout, but hanging in there. One time, I started to lose my balance and I flailed my arms in hopes of staying upright as the school custodian drove by. I was sure he was going to run off the road admiring my grace.
Finally, we reached the crosswalk to the school. Another sidewalk ramp, another crash. This time I hit my wrist harder and got my knee, too. A woman walking to the school stopped to check on me. I laughed it off, but I took a little longer getting up this time. As I was preparing to get up, a good friend from my ward drove up. She rolled down her window to check on me, and I told her I was OK but begged a ride home after she got her kids from school. I wasn't so sure about making this a round trip anymore.
After I got back up, we went the rest of the way to the school. I survived the half-mile journey! After the girls saw their friends, I popped off my rollerblades and walked stocking-footed to my friend's car. I applauded Einstein, I mean, Ashley, for bringing the flip flops as she casually strolled along. Megan was very disappointed that we weren't going to do a return trip, but I didn't feel like going to the ER that day.
I vowed to the girls that I would not do this again until I was able to do laps around our flat neighborhood. Ashley pointed out that our neighborhood was not flat, it had a hill. I laughed. We have no hill. A very, very, very, very minor incline to one side, that you hardly notice. Our neighborhood is flat, but Ashley was not convinced. (I'll let you know if that incline is as minor as I remember it when I am going around on blades )
Maybe I'll make it out this afternoon. Maybe not. My wrist is almost completely OK today, thank goodness. I learned, though, that I am not 18 anymore and not even close to running a 5k, either.
I'm staying closer to home from now on.
Friday, February 1
We'll miss you, President Hinckley.
We are joined with many of you in mourning the passing of our beloved prophet and church president, Gordon B. Hinckley. He led a tremendous life. We will miss his optimism, his wit and his wisdom.
Isn't wonderful to know, that even though we will miss him, he is again with his dear wife?
“Before I married her, she was the girl of my dreams,” he said. “She was my dear companion for more than two thirds of a century, my equal before the Lord – really my superior. Now in my old age, she has again become the girl of my dreams.”
Isn't wonderful to know, that even though we will miss him, he is again with his dear wife?
“Before I married her, she was the girl of my dreams,” he said. “She was my dear companion for more than two thirds of a century, my equal before the Lord – really my superior. Now in my old age, she has again become the girl of my dreams.”
Baptism Day
Megan was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Saturday, January 5th. It was an extra special day because not only were Grandpa and Grandma Hamilton were here, but Grandpa Pack was able to come to Oregon for the first time since we've lived here. My mom's health was never good enough for him to travel, but now that she has gone Home, we were able to have him come for a visit. It was a joyous day and week.
Ashley's coolest day EVER!
On New Year's Eve, we went to tour a historic mansion in west Portland. We were used to the "look, don't touch, no photos" style historic places tour, but not this time. One of the volunteers invited Ashley to play on the original, restored 1880's Steinway. She sat down and played Carol of the Bells from memory. It was an experience she'll never forget!
Have you ever seen Megan like this????
I know, I know, we're shocked, too.I don't think she's ever been photographed serenely before.
We had a white Christmas!
We even have proof! (OK, nothing stuck, but considering this NEVER happens, it was cool.)
As if a dog, a bird, and a guinea pig weren't enough....
Let's add ANTS! Megan got a really cool ant farm for her birthday. We sent away for ants, and she now has 23.
She also added a fish tank for Christmas.
I think we qualify as a suburban farm.
Braces
If you haven't heard or noticed, Ashley got braces right before Halloween. (Poor kid!)
She is enjoying the color selection of her bands, but not the braces or the headgear.
She's a lucky girl, though--when she finishes this round of treatment, she gets to have them again in a couple of years!
(Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching for the doctor!)
She is enjoying the color selection of her bands, but not the braces or the headgear.
She's a lucky girl, though--when she finishes this round of treatment, she gets to have them again in a couple of years!
(Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching for the doctor!)
Party and Spider Time!
For the second time in Hamilton history, we rented the school through the fundraising auction for a birthday party. The girls' birthdays are only 3 weeks apart, so we combined their celebrations in November.
As always, it was a big hit and no one wanted it to end. When else do you get to swing on the rope to your hearts content?
Remember Megan's spider saga? (Those two, HUGE orb weavers that I could hear scratching in their tupperware container?) They did come to the party (one alive, one dead), and her little soulmate, Nathan Poff (pictured), gave her a remote control tarantula for a gift. As a bonus, it came with a 3-D Tarantula poster. She insisted on hanging that up, and I insisted it be on the back of her door. I get a surprise every time I vacuum.
(Did I thank you yet, Jenny and Nathan???)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
