veralouie

moving

2012-02-03T18:25:00.001-06:00

hey you-- i'm putting new posts up at threeyearsindenmark.blogspot.com.

veralouie seems to be going into retirement. maybe she'll come out of it someday. until then!

will they let him in?

2011-12-22T22:53:00.005-06:00

it appears someone snuck into this blog on december 3rd to share the news. well, it is true. we are denmark-bound. and this will, presumably, be william's official residency photo. to me i see glimpses of teenaged william, or at least one possible version of him. maybe he won't be such a tough guy in 14 years. i hope not...

danskland

2011-12-03T07:35:00.001-06:00

we are moving to denmark! pickled herring? count me in.

henryville

2011-07-16T15:50:00.001-05:00

okay, twice now today henry has looked at oliver the dog and i swear, he said "ah-ver"... just saying.

worm bugs

2011-07-12T19:59:00.002-05:00

right now william and greg are worm bugs, which eat raspberries, worms, and snakes, but not rattly snakes ("why we can't eat the rattly snakes?") and they're searching the ground for their food.

growing up

2011-03-20T11:43:00.001-05:00

couple more

2011-02-16T15:05:00.003-06:00

henry likes to sleep, occasionally opens his eyes, rarely cries (yet?).

w update

2011-02-16T11:21:00.004-06:00

here are some photos of our mr. will. bigger than ever.

construction worker william, with oliverfriend (not to be confused with his puppy oliverpuppy)

first morning as a big brother

"do you know joe ferrari?" (yes, that is purple velvet)

little brother and regan

2011-02-16T11:18:00.003-06:00

more photos

2011-02-14T10:39:00.002-06:00

a new guy

2011-02-14T10:22:00.002-06:00

here is a quick photo of our new little fellow. we may get more photos up soon (hopefully).

39 weeks

2011-02-04T21:44:00.002-06:00

hang in there! someday i aspire to blog once again. it's true! at least... it's true at this moment. so, i am 39 weeks along... that means 1 more week until the crazy life is set to start. i'll try to get information up once it all happens.

law school

2010-10-22T20:08:00.002-05:00

i wondered what it was going to take to break the post-less cycle i've been in.

here it is: so you want to go to law school

ahh, law. thanks to my sister-in-law for passing this on.

long time...

2010-09-04T09:26:00.002-05:00

sometimes i wonder if and when i'll ever update the blog! this has to be one of the longest stretches to date. my apologies to the three of you still checking this website. but i'll try to update soon. i think i mentioned that greg graduated, so he's officially a post-doc, doing research in the med physics department. i don't think i mentioned that there's a new baby on the way in this household! i think most folks know about that already. due in february. we are excited about that! and w.t. started preschool at a Montessori school. so we're all getting used to the new routine. it's a cool day in the 60's here, blue skies, sunny, so i think we'll go pick some apples down the road and if we get enough, make some applesauce to eat up once all of the apples are gone from wisconsin. i'll try to post some pictures soon. until then, take care!

living the small life

2010-07-17T13:56:00.000-05:00

i thought this was neat.

the diss is done

2010-07-12T19:24:00.004-05:00

it's been holiday-city over here lately. greg successfully defended his dissertation last week and we threw a big party, tent and keg and cake and all! sunday everyone left and it was very quiet and we couldn't quite remember what our routine was, but we're slowly getting back into it, except that william's bedtime has been pushed back about two hours (not ideal) and the mind requires a reluctant (because it's self-discipline after all) sort of mental push to reluctantly (again) admit that the dishes are still going to be there tomorrow if we don't do them ourselves. bother.
but anyway, it's exciting times with eventfulness on a pretty constant drip these days. more to come later.

6/18

2010-06-18T21:21:00.005-05:00

some gifts today...

william slept in until exactly 6:18. wow... good timing little guy.

little brother found the song i'd heard on npr... fake empire by the national... and live versions of some bon iver songs... thanks nunen!

a double rainbow...

and a yellow sky...

happy thursday

2010-06-03T20:40:00.000-05:00

taken back in april...

have you any wool?

2010-05-23T14:07:00.003-05:00

happy saturday morning

2010-05-22T13:26:00.001-05:00

a quick hello

2010-05-13T13:51:00.000-05:00

catch

2010-05-10T21:12:00.003-05:00

tonight's conversation about putting up a dream catcher william's grandpa had got him.

william: 'i think it is a bug catcher. it catches bugs. and it's a bird catcher and a worm catcher.'

later... greg: 'i'll need an s-t-e-p-l-a-d-d-e-r.'

william: 'will you get a step ladder dada?'

greg: 'yes. how did you know that i would need a step ladder? is it because you heard me say s-t-e-p-l-a-d-d-e-r?'

william: 'no. you'll need one to put up my bird catcher so i can catch all my birds.'

right now...

2010-05-05T13:49:00.002-05:00

william is driving a tractor with his uncle...

non-organic foods to avoid

2010-05-01T09:28:00.002-05:00

or just eat organic-- but if you don't-- click here.

music time

2010-04-06T14:03:00.004-05:00

here are a couple of videos of william's latest musical interest: violin without bow.

oops

2010-03-20T22:21:00.002-05:00

well folks... it finally happened... using the alias "doggie", william got on his hands and knees and drank out of the puppy bowl.

first day of spring

2010-03-20T14:54:00.002-05:00

am i allowed to complain about coming home to 34 degree weather and new snow and missing all of the beautiful 60 degree weather when i was enjoying 70-80 degree weather and sunshine in a different state?

boy it was fun being in arizona! william and i took a trip out there and had a great time together and with family. he was really an easy guy to travel with, although carrying him (along with a heavy backpack) for what seemed like a mile, through the denver airport with only minutes to spare, was a bit wearying. i should have known that we wouldn't need 15 books for the flights-- he was totally happy reading sky mall and the emergency instructions. well, that's a lesson for next time.

pictures

2010-03-09T14:06:00.006-06:00

well, the snow is melting, the muddy grass is coming into view, and so spring is on its way! it's coming so soon this year (or so it seems) that winter feels like it's manageable, retrospectively speaking. but i shouldn't be so brash as to think i'm looking at the tail-end of winter as it retreats, for i'm sure we will have another big storm or freeze to put all of us spring-loving wisconsinites back into our rightful place... that is, stuck in a winter that lingers well past its welcome.

in other news... here are some pictures from the last couple of months...

in the cello case... as a cello.

with his best buddy, wearing their animals.

with his best stuffed buddy, driving a shoebox car.

...closeups...

with bobo again.

22 and three quarters months

2010-02-22T21:37:00.003-06:00

william is becoming a teenager before our very eyes.

just wants to hang out with his friends
moody
regularly shuns our kisses
tells us to stop when we try to sing along with a song he's listening to

we're trying to walk on the egg shells he's laid out for us, with good humor...but sheesh, when is a parent going to get a little respect around here?

what's happening right now...

2010-02-15T19:05:00.005-06:00

life is but a dream...

2010-02-02T21:23:00.002-06:00

william has taken (apparently of his own notion) to playing two instruments at once, which you will see here...

abc's abc's

2010-01-27T21:26:00.005-06:00

a cute video. as always, i added my own personal touch to the video by having my hand showing in the upper right hand corner for the first half. one of these days i will get it right.

yesterday's quote

2010-01-20T20:51:00.002-06:00

yesterday, william and i were reading a book about animals. there was a "pet" page, which turned our discussion toward his pets. we agreed that he had one dog and two cats. he pointed to the chinchilla on the page and i asked him if he had a pet chinchilla.

in a very serious tone, he responded: "not yet."

haiti

2010-01-14T21:15:00.002-06:00

haiti is a bummer. 45-50,000 people dead? it's hard to even comprehend that with a number that large they are talking about people who all lost their lives in a number of minutes. 45-50,000. a quote from a woman screaming as she ran down a street in Haiti: "God, we know you can kill us! We know you're strongest! You don't need to show us!"

today's tip

2010-01-10T17:21:00.001-06:00

walk in the deep snow. it is very good exercise.

reflections on ice

2010-01-04T21:48:00.003-06:00

i'm still here! all of you fairweather blog readers who only check in when you think there's going to be something to read... well, here you go. and for the loyal readers who don't mind seeing the same post everyday for weeks on end... thank you especially.

actually, i'm not going to have much time to write. our office, which doubles as a guest bedroom is occupied this week by greg's dad--currently though they are talking chemistry or some sort of core-of-the-earth stuff, however, it's getting later, so i'll probably have to turn the office over soon.

our westwardly vacation was very nice. it's always so nice to see my family and my family's family and significant others and family's friends, etc. and especially nice when that happens at christmas time. because let's face it, christmas is such a nice time of year. and sad when the tree has to come down, as it did this weekend upon our return, and la la life gets undecorated and turned back into routines which are much less fanciful.

now, more so than before christmas, even though it snowed buckets and the immediately surrounding world was frozen, we must really, finally put our heads down and get to work getting through winter, until everything unfreezes and the sun comes back in the evenings and we can go to our gardens and we can play outside without sweaters and snow pants and mittens and scarves and hats and coats and boots, in that order, and it feels festive, like christmas, at least for awhile.

but i'm not dreading this winter so far. i feel well equipped and i think that william understands that in order to get outside we have to go through this very long exercise of dressing up and also we have decluttered somewhat so that life feels a little bit less disorganized than it might otherwise feel and that it likely will feel when we fall behind on things as we inevitably do-- but for now at least, i'm ahead of winter-- i think it doesn't hurt that we spent some time apart from it... but if that's what it takes, so be it. then i am happy that this year we were able to take that time apart from our northerly existence.

well, the chemistry talk is still going on but now i am getting tired, so i'll end here and hope to update again soon. until then...

hairstyle past...

2009-12-20T13:58:00.004-06:00

we are going to have a warm christmas this year. i am happy about that. it's hard to be sad about it really when we are going to experience so much of winter-- and already have-- around 17 inches of snow so far this season.

i don't have much access to recent photos, so i'll post one from christmas past...

Early Christmas

2009-12-15T21:00:00.002-06:00

A cute Christmas gift moment...

we're here!

2009-12-02T21:01:00.007-06:00

you are probably tired of looking at the bat picture huh? well, i wish i could say i was doing something really productive with my time, even just finishing that book over to the right that i've been reading for so long, but no, i haven't even been keeping up with scarlett all that well. just keeping things going and going to sleep.

we aim for this kind of evening whenever we can get it... although we are probably both getting a bit tired of 'mouse soup'...

this november has been really abnormally wonderful! this was a few weekends back now, but we were out at governor nelson state park on a beautiful day. i think william's sweater was overkill as i definitely recall actually feeling uncomfortably hot at one point.

confidence kid...

no, we did not put him up to this. he hugged the tree all on his own...

playing with a stick...

back at home, driving around...

serious kid...

and, of course we did go up north for thanksgiving which is probably the most fun we've had since i last updated. william got to meet his cousin for the first time (and us our nephew). that was a great event. here is william dancing at grandma and grandpa's house.

and here's a video of william and his cousin dancing. it's a bit inconvenient for the last 2/3 of it because being the brainiac that i am, i turned the camera, not realizing that it wouldn't "right" itself or that i couldn't just rotate it. sheesh! sorry. but it's still cute enough that i decided to put it up.

that's all for now!

bat redux

2009-11-10T21:29:00.004-06:00

you may recall that last year, william was a bat for halloween. well folks... looks like we may be seeing the beginnings of a new tradition-- see william the bat, the second...
really what happened is that we did not have our acts together regarding a halloween costume for william... not much of a surprise given that we are often scrambling to keep the bare minimum of daily life from succumbing to entropy, but it doesn't help that he is only a year and a half and therefore has no clue what halloween is and that he should be donning a costume for it. which is all to say, i'm sure that as he gets older, we will plan things out further in advance. but as it goes, we were fortunate to have a bat costume in the closet which fit him quite well. we got it from a neighbor who got it from a neighbor, and we completely forgot about it until halloween eve. he enjoyed wearing it. he learned how to flap his wings. and we pretty much kept him in the dark about the other, rather significant aspect of halloween-- the sugar. we'll see what the years bring in that area as well.

anywho, the next day his uncle geoffy came to town to run in a race. here they are... one of whom is acting silly...
more later!

why isn't the last half of lost season 5 online?

2009-11-01T16:11:00.002-06:00

i'm putting that question out there because it appears no one else is. why doesn't abc.com or hulu have episodes 10-18 of season 5 available for viewing? it's not fair! how am i going to know what happens!?

quick picture update

2009-10-28T22:32:00.009-05:00

i have been reminded by some siblings that it has been 3 weeks since updating the blog. everything is going well and w.t.'s seen lots of his relatives. awhile back his aunt beeeeki came to visit. that's not what he called her. he was pretty good at pronouncing her name correctly. here they are after a cold outdoor adventure...

and here, a few silly pictures of him...

climbing the walls... something he requests to do on a weekly basis...

then to michigan where greg ran a marathon. w.t. in his cowboy pj's...

and with his grandma kathy...

and with grandma and grandpa q... i took a few pictures here but i couldn't seem to get william and his grandpa smiling at the same time, so i've captured the moment here in two shots...

thank you to gma q for cooperating throughout! =)

some great shots, from his uncle geoffrey, at the lake...

on the way home from the michigan trip... in good spirits...

and later on... tuckered out...

then, with his cousin (2nd cousin?) stewart this past weekend. there are lots of great pictures from this trip, which i don't have yet, but hopefully will have sometime soon!

and i think that's it for now! time for sleep!

newest hobby

2009-10-07T21:19:00.003-05:00

encore

2009-09-29T21:06:00.003-05:00

filmed the same day, a little earlier than the previous...

what has he been up to?

2009-09-27T21:53:00.006-05:00

in no particular order, an update in pictures. he's been hanging out with his friends a lot and singing and dancing.

to start off with... a video clip!

on the slide at the park...

two little scarecrows... which one is ours?

roughhousing... ?

a (bathroom) break from roughhousing...

smile... this is what he does when you tell him to smile..

bath time babies...

sleepover!

roughhousing, condoned by dad...

this isn't a picture of william. it's a picture of the extreme hail that came down tonight. i think this is the kind of weather an auto body shop owner dreams of...

goodnight!

a minute

2009-09-16T11:42:00.002-05:00

when i have a minute-- that is, when i'm watching william in the mornings and he takes his morning nap in the morning, rather than after lunch, i usually clean up a bit-- make a bed, put dishes away, start laundry... if i have a lot of time i start dinner or an elaborate lunch for the little man, and i usually check emails and think that now would be a good time to update the blog... but then i usually end up just reading other people's blogs instead. fortunately, some on my bookmarked list never get updated... just like mine... so that saves on time. anyhow, now i have just a few minutes before i have to get ready to go to work, so i think, this time i will do it.. i really will update the blog.

william was in a wedding this past weekend. if anyone who is reading this has pictures of him in his tux, i would love to see them! please send them on. otherwise, we've just been getting through work, like usual. it's cold and overcast today, which reminds me that fall is not always blue skies and fresh air. shucks.

do i have a picture to end things with? i don't know. i will check... it probably won't be very up-to-date though...

okay... here's one: william... just about 1 year ago:

lil bro live

2009-09-07T21:14:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvx3EdA-ggA

wade hampton hamilton

2009-09-02T22:17:00.002-05:00

you may have noticed, if you glanced right, that i am reading (and more often not reading) 'gone with the wind'... and have been for quite awhile now. (and i'm only on page 136 out of 1024, so it will be an even longer while before i finish). anywho, i just want to confirm-- scarlett did not have a son with her first husband (charles hamilton) in the movie, right?

17 month old baby on the loose

2009-09-01T21:03:00.006-05:00

as per usual, it has been a very long time since i posted. but, we were on vacation all last week and i had minimal computer time (by choice), which was swell!
the entire vacation was great. we saw lots of family which is always wonderful and got to relax outside in warm weather (something wisconsin is inconsistent about these few days we've been back) and swim in lakes and ride on boats. it was just so much fun.

first, a cute pre-vacation picture i just found...

here are some pictures from kinnntuckeee!

strumming chords with uncle nu nu...

giving cousin ryan a big hug... william loves babies.

on the boat for the first time... filled with excitement...

enjoying the ride. greg's allergies were horrible that day, which you might be able to tell from his squinty eyes...

contemplative...

captaining, with some help from grandma...

swimming... he loved the water, more than he loves cookies (a.k.a. rice cakes... don't say anything to him!)

and, back at home with his friend. i love that they both have hair sticking up in this photo...

i would write more but i am oh so tired. until next time!

weather, watermelon, white wing

2009-08-16T12:50:00.006-05:00

(thanks to grandma kathy for the terrific photo!)

it has been two weeks since i've updated! i think i need to update more like everyday, otherwise this space for a new post becomes too blank, too white, too big... a.k.a. daunting. well, that's a little dramatic, but if it's only going to be a bi-weekly event, then it does become more of an event to orchestrate.

i guess i will start with the weather-- an easy topic. the weather this summer has been great, in my opinion. last night greg and i sat out on our porch for about 20 minutes and the temperature was perfect in the warm, but not too warm, and cool, but not too cool, sense, and the best part was that we encountered not one mosquito, even after i mentioned it, which usually would have jinxed the situation. right now the computer tells me it's 79, though it feels cooler than that to me. it's breezy and overcast and very pleasant. in general it has been a cool and dry summer. i think my only suggestion would be a few more big storms, but maybe it would need to be consistently hotter to get those. until today, we have had a couple of hot weeks. aside from sleeping, and sweating it out last sunday in my office with a broken air conditioner, the heat hasn't been too bad either. perhaps it will yield us some tomatoes in our garden. we've had exactly one red tomato, although we are sure there have been one or two others nearing red that suddenly disappeared. today william and i went out to the garden and were saddened to see that our biggest little pumpkin had mysteriously disappeared too. the pumpkin plants are reaching to claim all four corners of our plot, so i'm sure there will be others, but still, i was looking forward to watching that particular one grow. we have also recently planted lettuce, carrots, and green beans. we're not sure if we'll get any green beans before fall, but we're trying late anyway. they're taking off despite the fact that we are not good at watering our plot. however, just this week, william learned all about watering the garden, so i think he will ensure that it gets plenty of water. before last week, we'd go out there and eat basil and look for tomatoes and pull an occasional onion, but last week, he found the watering cans in the shed, so we filled up a couple and watered the plants and he has been quite happy with the task.

yesterday i went to savers and got william "new" snowpants for winter, "new" tennis shoes for when his feet get bigger, and a whole "new" library of board books, which was maybe a silly thing to do, but they are so cheap and he likes them, so that's what i did. we also went to the big farmer's market yesterday. i had only been there once this season, greg and william not at all. we supplemented our csa produce with a yellow watermelon, a few more tomatoes, a few more carrots, some corn on the cob (one of w.t.'s favorites), and a sweet onion. we got some white sweet onions in our csa share a couple of weeks ago and they were out of this world delicious. i was putting them on everything, i kept talking about how good they were and when i wasn't eating or talking about them, i was thinking about them. the variety is called 'white wing.' it was a new variety for the farm. at the farmer's market, we saw a variety called 'candy' which sounded good, right? so we bought one and took it home and put it on our sandwhiches and it did not compare at all... just not even close. and it was not like eating candy either... it was just like eating an onion, but not an obsessively good onion. next year, we are growing white wing, and i recommend that you do too!

contents of a good summer

2009-08-02T22:26:00.006-05:00

one evening last week, the sky was very strange... like a dreamsicle...

but it slowly became less strange...

and the next day, william drank his oatmeal from a coffee mug...

and after that, some days later, he acted like a goofball with his friend, in the burley...

and then they sat around and talked about the summers when they were kids, when they ran around all day long, making trouble, before their mothers would call them in for supper...

and then william played a lament on his ukulele...

and then he played in the pool with his dada...

green beans

2009-07-23T22:22:00.006-05:00

so, it's been a long stretch here without an update. i can't say why i haven't updated recently. i think i have just been tired out by the end of the day. all in all we are having an enjoyable summer. we have had a couple of weekends at home without any commitments, which is nice, until you think, sheesh... we weren't doing anything last weekend... we could have gone to michigan or we could have gone camping. actually, we tried to go camping last weekend. when i say we tried, i mean that we looked at a website listing the available sites at all of the wisconsin state parks and could not find a single site that matched our criteria-- not more than a few hours from home and "real" bathrooms. apparently you have to plan out your middle-of-the-summer camping weekends and book the sites at the beginning of summer, or maybe even the end of spring, but not three days before you want to camp, if when you want to camp is the middle of summer.

long story short: we've stayed home eating green beans...

william's been steadily growing in his stature and his language skills. his hair has also been steadily growing. he desperately needs to visit his great grandma for a second haircut...

he is a fine fellow who keeps us entertained each day.

have a good friday tomorrow.

picturettes

2009-07-12T15:23:00.005-05:00

a couple of weekends ago we went to wyalusing state park on the wisconsin-iowa border. we had a nice hike. william was through with the backpack toward the end of it, so he got out and ideally would have hiked the rest of the way with us, but instead played with sticks and leaves while we tried to keep him from falling off the designated trail. you start out quite high up and walk down to the mississippi river. here are some photos of the day (unfortunately i uploaded tiny versions of them and didn't think it was worth it to reupload them in larger versions or remove them completely).

high up at the start of the trail. mississippi and wisconsin rivers lay below...

greens and blues...

more of the two rivers...

on the trail, william's rapt attention on a passing freight train...

the family... minus oliver who was too short to make it into this shot...

have a nice sunday... what remains of it.

tomorrow

2009-07-08T22:38:00.003-05:00

just writing to let you know that i'm still here and will hopefully post something of substance tomorrow. just too tired tonight! snooze...

ridiculous

2009-06-24T22:05:00.007-05:00

it's late. nevertheless, i should probably be working since the dishes are done, the toys are put away, the diapers have been descruffed, and the little man is asleep (and because i have some work to do), but i am ridiculously tired, so i think instead, i am just going to put up some ridiculously cute pictures of william taken recently... i suspect there will be no objection...

closeups...

at the lunch table...

in his soccer outfit that his grandparents got him from croatia last year... it is much closer to fitting now than it was last summer...

he looks like a little kid here... i guess that's what he is... not so much 'baby'...

after the game...

and, let's see... a quick update... we were back in teething land for awhile. all fevers are gone, and the appetite is slowly coming back. we'll see what sleeping is like tonight. he certainly hasn't been waiting for the sun to get him up the past few nights, which may account for my sleepiness. greg has been working like a mad scientist... something like a 17 hour day yesterday-- that is the extreme end, but i needed a good example. and me? well.... i guess i've just been steadily moving so as to not fall off this treadmill.

flip flop

2009-06-16T21:53:00.002-05:00

well, it was talked about, so i guess it was jinxed. after the last blog post, calls started coming in: "is it true?" "yes, it's true. it's hard to believe. he did it again last night too... asleep until 5:30."

so now the last two nights he's gone no later than 3:30. three weeks ago, two 3:30 nights in a row would have been an exciting and promising step forward. now of course, it seems like a step back. not to mention that for the last few nights, it's taken an extraordinarily long amount of time to get him to fall asleep in the first place and it took two attempts to get him down for his morning nap today. he seems to be going through a rather wakeful period in his life, which is much nicer than an extra fussy period or some other undesirable stage. so, i guess i can't complain, or, if that's what i'm doing here, i will stop. he is a great kid, that is for sure.

here are a few pictures of him yesterday. he successfully put a sandal onto his foot and walked around with it. i have to say, and maybe this is just because i am his mother-- i was impressed.

eat chocolate

2009-06-12T22:09:00.012-05:00

it has been 11 days since i've posted and i have very little to show for it... at least when it comes to pictures. what have we been doing in this blogless-abyss anyway? what accomplishments have we achieved? what setbacks are we rebounding from? what revelations have we come to? what sleep have we had?

well, i can answer the latter question easily: more than usual. yes, it's true... william has officially been sleeping longer stretches somewhat consistently. for example... the sun was coming up before he first awoke in days 1 and 2. then... in day 3, his mom was out of bed, sitting on the couch (completely confused as to how to spend my childless time after a full-night's sleep), waiting for him to wake up, which he did, finally, a little before 7. day four: one of those setbacks needing a rebound: he was up at 1 and etc. but day 5, if memory serves, was closer again to dawn. (these days do not correspond in number to days 1-11. when i say 'day 1' i really mean day 6 or so in the whole 'it's been 11 days' theme.)

there are a couple of conclusions which can be drawn from this turned corner. the first: that it actually is a turned corner... that william is finally learning or deciding that a full-night's sleep is nice. so nice, after a lifetime of wakefulness. it's possible. but i did leave out some information: one... he had (and still has) a cold which started on day 1. coincidence? or explanation? the only other time he ever slept an entire night without waking, he was sick. second... our schedules have been so non-routinized (now i don't know if that is a real phrase, but you can understand what i mean), that there have been a couple of days where he has only gotten one nap... a couple of nights where he wasn't in bed until 9... plus the teething... plus the cold... that he may just be extra tired. maybe when he catches up on all of his sleep, he'll be back to his old tricks.

i don't know... if that's what it seems to be, do we push him to be a one-nap kind of baby? what do you think? i tend to think no. i don't want to push him into being something he's not naturally inclined to be (at this point in his life anyway), just to give myself some extra sleep when a) i'm not making any major snafus because of it and b) i can't seem to fall asleep before 11 anyway, no matter how much sleep i seem to be lacking... so it's not like i'm doing myself any favors, meaning i shouldn't start demanding some from him.

anywho... that is sleep. i am optimistic, but waiting to see if all of the chickens have hatched.

speaking of animals... having a 1 year old really requires a parent to get good at making animal sounds. me? i am horrible at them. it took me weeks to perfect my "moo." that was months ago, but even to this day it occasionally comes out sounding like a male cow going through puberty. try it yourself. are you a natural mooer? greg is very good at making the elephant sound. try that one out! william is working hard on both of these noises. he'll also sometimes say the word "cheese."

what else? we went to illinois last weekend for a wedding. it was the first time anyone else has ever put william down to sleep. (that was one of the days he slept till dawn.) so, in that sense, it was a momentous "first." it was also great fun to spend time with my two best friends from high school... such a rare occurrence these days... and of course, to see my college friend get married. here are some photos from the weekend:

a catholic wedding--

the friends--

the parents--

and the way home. what turned out to be a minor accident involving one teenage boy and probably his parent's car, some loud music, fast food, and a cell phone, in the single express lane, had many of us blocked in and parked for about a half an hour.

well, it's nearly 11. i should end now as my bedtime is approaching. it probably doesn't help, as far as sleep goes, that greg made me a delicious chocolate fondueish sauce to assist me in finishing off today's batch of strawberries from the garden... and it was so good, and my willpower was so absent, that i drank it straight from the bowl after all of the strawberries were gone. you know... sometimes i do ridiculous things. i'm going to go brush my teeth.

feeling better

2009-06-01T21:36:00.005-05:00

william is starting to feel better after his visit to teething land. he slept much better last night than he had for the past few nights and was more active today than the past few days. his appetite is slower to come back, but that is probably only because it was so enormous before, that normal-baby-finicky appears minuscule to us now.

anywho, here are a few of the things he's been up to in the past couple of days...

watering the tree... he loves using the hose...

cruising the courtyard...

catering to the individual needs of his two feet

molar skating

2009-05-29T21:16:00.004-05:00

well, the molars i've been wishing and hoping for are finally pushing their way out into this side of the world, and it's making william miserable. we are just past 24 hours of a fever and grumbliness. he's making his first forays into the land of liquid tylenol and though it is purple and flavored like the grapes of popsicles and lolipops, he despises it. also, he has lost his appetite, and for those of you who have seen william eat, this is like royalty suddenly going bankrupt.

this picture was taken pre-molaritis, but i think it conveys to the reader what a more somber william is all about...

in reality, he was just tired in the above shot. this was taken last weekend when he and greg went to blue mounds state park while i went to work. this weekend it will be greg who works while william and i face the consequences of being able to grind up ones food.

hopefully by tomorrow, or at least sunday, he will look and be cheerful... like this...

life of a one year old...

2009-05-23T11:20:00.010-05:00

uploading pictures from the cameras, i realize just how long it's been since i've updated. william has been busy. we have been busy. and we've had grandparents passing through with more on the way tonight.

here is just a sampling of the trouble william has been getting himself into...

most of these (as you can see) will be self-explainable...

happy sunday!

2009-05-17T10:58:00.003-05:00

i will update this blog soon. but for now, a picture from christmastime when the little man was but 9 months old.

waiting for rain

2009-05-06T20:23:00.011-05:00

well, at least he was a few days ago...
the other day we were out getting a gift for one of william's friends and i couldn't help but buy him a pair of cute rain boots. it is a good buy because the last time it rained, his tennis shoes sat drying on the porch for three days. the yellow ball with orange polka dots that you see in the photo was a purchase against my better judgment. for one thing, william needs more toys like he needs a pair of wet tennis shoes. for another, it was sort of pricey for a bouncy ball... something on the order of 6 dollars. for another, at any given moment there is something like three baseballs, two basketballs, one nerf ball, one bouncy ball, and three wiffle balls outside our door in the courtyard, so it's not as though he was lacking in that area of recreational instruments. but... i gave in because i am not yet to the chapter in the William Book of Parenting where i've learned how to say, 'no, put that back. i told you, we're here for a loaf of bread and THAT'S IT.' but was that really the issue? when he insisted on playing with the ball in the store, pushing it along the dusty floor, what went through my head was, "sheesh, maybe it's getting a little dirty... is it impolite to put a toy back once your kid has gotten it dirty? crud, i don't know the answer to that... just put it on the counter with the rest of the stuff and don't think about the fact that you're buying it for all of the wrong reasons, that he's not really even asking to keep it, just avoid a potentially awkward conversation where you try to put a dusty toy back on the shelf and ignore the fact that he's putting each rubber duckie from that bin on the bottom shelf in his mouth. you're the only one who can see that*, and there is no way you're buying him 13 little rubber duckies*, even if together they do cost less than that ball." stage two of parenting is really sneaking up on me. stage two being the stage where they destroy things but are too young to take responsibility for it. stage three (i'm assuming) is the stage where they are old enough to take responsibilty for it, but don't whenever they can get away with it.

*oh my gosh... i am apparently stuck in stage three.

in other news, william got to have a great visit with his grumpa this past week. it didn't hurt that he brought him his very own ukulele. it has been a big hit. i think grumpa really earned william's respect after that.

see:

william putting some serious thought into the conversation...

"yes grandfather. i can see your point."

but of course the conversations aren't always serious:

"two atoms walking down the street... lost an electron... i'm positive... oh that's funny!"

in other news:
we have been eating lots of asparagus from our garden! hard to believe, but it's true. we have waited three long years for this year. or has it been two? or have we waited 28 and 27 and 1 year for this year (respectively)? i'm not sure the answer to that one, but in any case, the year is here. asparagus time is now.

in other news:
william has another new (2nd) cousin! this time a girl! yea! and a big 'good-luck-you-can-do-it' for the parents who are taking on the (daunting? yes.) task of caring for a young youngin and a 14 month old youngin.

well, that's about if for now. happy may.

update on naps

2009-04-26T20:22:00.004-05:00

we decided that william was not going to nap if we stayed home, so we put him in the car and drove about 20 miles south to lake kegonsa state park (we recently got an annual state parks pass). he slept for most of the ride there. we went on a 1.2 mile walk through the woods. he was fussy (for him) during much of it and at one point had his mouth open wide enough in a wail for me to see tooth #7 making its way into this world. i think that is the source of his angst. poor william. i don't remember what that feels like.

he did perk up later in the evening though. here he is being happy...

a man on a mission: trying to get to the camera to help put the lens cap back on... he reminded me of the process server in 'the jerk'... does anyone remember that part? and don't tell me you've never seen that movie!

extremely happy!

'wrastlin' around with dad...

our neighbor, jake, made this adorable little hefalump for william's very first birthday! how creatively thoughtful! he's stuffed with black beans.

have a good week!

to nap or not to nap

2009-04-26T15:08:00.003-05:00

that is the dilemma. he woke up at 6 something. went down for a nap at 8 something. and now it's 3:08 and we are trying for the 5th time to get him down for his second nap. and he's not happy about it! don't leave us yet second nap!

here's a photo focused on the books behind him.

farmer will

2009-04-24T20:33:00.005-05:00

here are some photos from a farm we visited last weekend with uncle g. and auntie t. william was dressed appropriately for the occasion.

some tractor shots:

from the look of it, i am probably thinking... don't jump off the tractor, don't jump off the tractor...

hanging out by the farm's soon-to-be community gardens...

looking at the cow on the other side of the pen...

just being darn cute...

a few small posts...

2009-04-16T12:51:00.003-05:00

this and the two below it are just a few quick posts i've managed to publish while william naps. i neglected veralouie for 10 long days... even had a short-sighted and short-lived stint on facebook during that time... but facebook and i will have to try some other day. veralouie is the right medium for me, as long as i've still got a few readers.

here's the little man... attempting trouble...

burley fun...

2009-04-16T12:46:00.004-05:00

greg had a great idea to take william jogging with him. he borrowed this burley from neighbors and we bought william a little helmet, as you can see....

all smiles!

which only lasted for approximately one mile.

dear aunt laurie and uncle steve...

2009-04-16T12:43:00.003-05:00

thanks for the fork and spoon! dinner is much more fun now!

the de-evolution of dinner

2009-04-06T12:26:00.005-05:00

spiced lentils with spinach and rice... lots to work with... lots of mischief-making ingredients... perhaps we should have thought of this when deciding on what birthday cake to make him...

de-lentilizing...

a trip of firsts

2009-04-04T11:59:00.007-05:00

back from arizona! it was a great trip-- vacation when i wasn't working or thinking (i.e. fretting) about work. is it murphy's law that says work will be at its busiest the week you are planning to be gone or is it just that when it rains it pours? i guess nothing particularly went wrong to make this overabundance of work, so murphy's law doesn't really apply. well... okay... if you go back far enough then of course, something did go wrong... people usually do not need me if everything is going swell in their lives... but i think i am digressing. the work thing is virtually under control by this point. the great trip to arizona is over (sigh), but we can all enjoy pictures of some of william's firsts that occurred while on this trip. though so many things occur for the first time when you've only been around as long as a william, this was not his first airplane trip or his first trip to arizona (and his first trip to arizona was also not his first airplane trip... yes, environmentally conscious readers, this kid has already contributed his fair share to global warming via jet fumes, but he will be a good member of society-- i will put money on that. he already is with all of the goodwill he generates on his trips around the country).

okay... before i digress anymore, here are his firsts:

his very first haircut!

it was looking so scruffy in the front and his great (aka wonderful) grandma did a professional job sprucing it up. she didn't know just how many first haircuts she's given. i'm afraid to go near william with nail clippers each time his claws get scraggly enough to force that situation, so i was mighty impressed with my grandmother. she also trimmed my hair, and i think i was more still than my son was.

his first time in a swimming pool!

swimming with dada.

after his swim, enjoying a laugh with mama.

and leaving the pool area. we got him this little hat while we were there. for some reason i entirely expected 60 degree weather. we weren't prepared in dress or otherwise for hot, sunny days. did i not know where we were flying to?

next:
his first time in a wedding!

he was a spectacular ring bearer for my little sister's wedding. he walked down the entire length of the aisle, holding his dada's hand. it was the one part of the wedding where i thought i might cry. i was just that proud. heaven help him when he graduates from college... or even middle school.

aside from william there were two others just about his age. they had fun sharing (or maybe trying not to share) cheerios during the bulk of the ceremony.

which leads us to the final first:

his first birthday!

he turned one the day before we left. we didn't entirely have our acts together, however greg did manage to bake a terrifically low-sugar cake (winning little in the way of praise from my elementary-aged cousin, eric) and his grandma did find him a birthday balloon on the way home from dinner. but otherwise, we had to make do with decorations from my sister's fiesta-themed rehearsal dinner. it looks quite festive though, does it not?

here he is in his birthday garb playing his uncle's guitar...

and trying out his first piece of birthday cake... much of it ended up on the floor...

the end for now.

have a great weekend!

monks and earthly temperatures

2009-03-22T20:48:00.006-05:00

yesterday, one of our generous neighbors (they are all generous, so describing her this way... i suppose protects her identity) offered to watch william tonight so we could go out. we have gone out, without william, approximately twice, other than a few lunches in between work. we took her up on the offer and ate cheap italian food, and i had exactly one-half of a glass of cheap wine and realized that my tolerance for alcohol is probably on par with that of a buddhist monk (and maybe they drink, i guess i don't know). this wouldn't worry me, except that i am throwing my sister a bachelorette party in a few short days, and i don't think there's anyway to get my tolerance up to speed with a bunch of 20-something non-parents who did not get on a plane in central time, only to land in a mountain time zone that refuses to recognize daylight savings-- the result, of course, being that, at 9 o'clock, while we are just heading toward the bars, i will be having drowsy and potentially tipsy thoughts of my empty 11 o'clock bed. but, i am young enough, and just because i have had only one night of uninterrupted sleep in nearly a year, such that i am in a permanent (?) sleep-deprived state of constantly thinking of sleep, i can make it, i know that this is possible, and i will enjoy it, on top of surviving it.

perhaps you are wondering where the one night of uninterrupted sleep came from... well... the other night we put william in his crib and at 3:25 a.m. i woke up... and momentarily panicked... we must check on him! why has he not gotten us up yet, given that he always wakes up no later than 12 or 1, and many times, earlier... so we checked. relieved that he was still breathing, we went back to sleep and he did not wake up until 7:00 a.m.! we had turned some sort of magic, wonderful leaf (but of course you know that is not the ending because it only happened once, and that was a few nights ago)... well, that morning we quickly learned that he had a fever... his first fever as a little earthling! so, it was something about the fever that made him decide it felt better to sleep than to pester his parents... and, he felt 100% himself the following day, and we have been back to our regular sleep habits ever since... the end! but, it is so, so nice to know that it is possible for him to sleep through the night... that it's not that he has some sort of defect that prevents it from even being possible. one day it will happen again!

probably not tonight though. sigh.

happy wednesday

2009-03-18T22:32:00.003-05:00

and happy birthday to snephanie in just a couple of hours!

spring is (basically) here!

2009-03-15T13:06:00.003-05:00

it is what i have been waiting for... the weather to turn pleasant. it is hard for a baby and his parents or grandparents to be cooped (is that how you spell cooped?) up in a house when he wants to explore and the house is only some small number of square feet and half of it is behind closed doors or baby jail (the baby gate that keeps him from tumbling into the kitty's lair (the basement)). yesterday we went to the zoo. it was... well... an eye-opener... do you know they keep animals in cages?! just kidding... that, for better or worse, was not the eye-opener. the thing which made us that much more wise about the world, was the realization that we are not the only parents out there. not the only ones who take their child or children to the zoo on the first decent saturday of the year... oh no... we are certainly not the only ones... far from it... do you know that there are thousands... probably millions of us, walking around, mostly with strollers (we had the little guy in a backpack, so somewhat distinguishable at least), pointing at animals behind cages and glass walls... oh the humanity. i'm still feeling at odds with the whole concept. but of course, that concept was so comforting when i first learned i was pregnant... that this sort of thing happens everday. well, my... oh my... does it. children are everywhere. if you don't realize that, then you are not hanging out in the right places... or... maybe you are hanging out in the right places.
cleansing exhalation. okay. this new knowledge does not diminish the fact (and really, just enhances it) that to us, william is the best little guy around... completely unique, wonderfully clever, and infinitely special to us. here are a couple of photos for those who feel similarly about him:

he loves the basketball.

and playing in the lazy susan, which he has claimed ownership of and we have removed all glass from!

enjoy the rest of your weekend! take a trip to the zoo... or maybe don't!

happy saturday!

2009-03-07T17:06:00.002-06:00

life father, like son

2009-03-04T21:20:00.004-06:00

william is having great fun with his grandpa in town, but today i found a couple of nice pictures of him and his dada, who has been working, working, working hard the past week. (which, consequently, means his grandpa and his mama have been working hard as well... just in different realms.)

we want you...

2009-02-27T20:57:00.003-06:00

to know that willy is turning 11 months old tomorrow!

firsts

2009-02-14T14:58:00.005-06:00

the other night (february 9 i believe), william was very inspired by obama's first press conference... so much so that he decided to attempt some sort of first himself. so he took his first steps. he walked right to obama, talking on the tv. we are very proud that he's made his political preferences so clear, so early on in life.

here he is last night...

now, walking is not his main mode of transportation yet. it's really mostly a novelty that he attempts when we're changing him into his pajamas. something about the freedom of being without pants. here he was willing to walk some while in his pj's... must of been the elephant. well, that is progress nonetheless.

happy valentine's day!

10 month update

2009-02-08T15:50:00.006-06:00

william is doing plenty of good these days... he still enjoys using more utensils than is necessary...

and he likes to smile... sometimes with his eyes closed and food on his face...

he has a sled! and on the warmer wisconsin days, he likes to ride in it...

so little!

checking for bears and mooses...

reading an aptly named 'winter story' with his papa and his favorite stuffed animal 'monkey.'

and yes, he was just posing for this picture... he doesn't actually sit still and listen as we read him stories, as much as we'd like him to. the monkey does though.

william and some household goods and some related individuals

2009-01-27T22:15:00.007-06:00

it is so cold. william's fun has to be had inside of our small condo. he's not even going to remember that outdoors is a place one can spend a great amount of time... that it is a place where one can hang out, not because that person is wilderness-bound due to some unfortunate accident, but voluntarily because of the fresh air and the abundance of vitamin d to be had.

so here is the indoor fun william has been having of late:

meeting (and navigating the how-to's of large toy sharing with) his older cousin...

making winter soups and stews with two spoons... living up to the nickname "willy two spoons"...

riding around in a laundry basket with a monkey...

and most importantly... spending quality time with grandpa...

happy sunday!

2009-01-25T21:11:00.003-06:00

a picture for his grandpa albie!

white house farmer. vote for claire!

2009-01-22T10:16:00.003-06:00

hey all, our troy gardens csa farmer, claire strader, has been nominated to be the white house family farmer! please take a second to go to the website and vote for her!

here's more information about the white house farmer and about claire:

from the website: The farmer will be charged with transforming “five prime south-facing acres of the White House lawn and plant[ing] in their place an organic fruit and vegetable garden” whose produce will be used by the White House Chef, and given to area food banks.

from an email:

Our Troy Community Farm farmer, Claire Strader, has been nominated for White House Farmer. Please go to http://whitehousefarmer.com/ and cast your vote today (look for the "Vote" tab in the red menu bar under the photo). The top three vote getters will be forwarded to President Obama for consideration. Voting ends Jan. 31.

This would be excellent publicity for our organization should Claire be in the Top 3 so please spread the word far and wide. Encourage everyone you know to vote for Claire!

from the website:

Claire Strader - Troy Community Farm

Claire is just the woman to turn 5 acres of the White House lawn into the nation’s premier urban farm. Claire has worked in small-scale organic agriculture for 15 years, including her 8 years at Troy Community Farm where she turned a 5-acre parcel of weedy urban landscape into a highly productive and wonderfully beautiful vegetable farm. Not only does Claire produce food for CSA, market, and wholesale on this small urban farm, she also educates college students, high-school youth, and adult volunteers through the farm’s internship programs. Claire is an excellent farmer and educator who could not only feed the first family and others in the DC community well, but also serve as a brilliant role model for future farmers all over this country.
What’s more, Claire’s farm is part of a larger non-profit that also runs a 5-acre community garden, a restored prairie, and several kids’ gardening programs on 26 open acres in the city of Madison, WI. Community GroundWorks at Troy Gardens not only feeds people, it also teaches people to feed themselves. Claire’s work with this organization connects her with other growers and educators who have the skills and ambition to help this country both eat local and grow local. First the White House lawn, then the lawns across the nation!

Tags: Claire Strader, Troy Gardens

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Wisconsin Farmers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Claire Strader - Troy Community Farm”

RickBrooks says on December 31st, 2008 at 2:56 pm :

Claire Strader is an excellent candidate for this position for many, many reasons. She has an intimate connection with the earth, farming, teaching, interpreting and engaging others in growing nutritious foods in contexts that demonstrate our rich natural assets as well as the role that people from all backgrounds can play in the food system. Troy Gardens is a shining example of what hard work and collaboration can do to serve the community and world…and thrive, and Claire Strader has played a key role in creating that example.

happy sunday!

2009-01-18T17:21:00.007-06:00

i took these photos on friday, when william and i had the whole day together. a 14 hour-long day together actually, as greg tried to do something that odds say only the sun was doing at the same time: making boron eight. it was also a very, very cold day in madison, so we had to think creatively about how to spend our long day together. one of the things we did was take pictures of william being cute as he explored his room.

mama and william.

i love this one. sheer happiness.

this one looks like a little greg to me.

and yesterday he got to spend lots of fun time with his dada...

10 americans

2009-01-16T22:12:00.003-06:00

This comes from part of a blog post of one of our neighbors whose 3 year old son has leukemia:

There is an organization called The Environmental Working Group (EWG). It's a team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers that pores over government data, legal documents, scientific studies and their own laboratory tests to expose threats to our health and the environment, and to find solutions. They did a study and then a subsequent presentation called "10 Americans". The following links are to an article about the study/presentation and to the fascinating yet disturbing video:

http://www.ewg.org/node/25920
http://www.ewg.org/kidsafe

you should watch the video. it is very lay person friendly, which may irk some of my sciencey readers, but the group seems legit, so i can't imagine the startling information wouldn't be. scary to think what we are exposing our children and ourselves to.

it's a dry cold really...

2009-01-14T22:08:00.004-06:00

so you know... -3 doesn't really feel like -3. it feels... drier than -3 would feel if we lived, in say... the rainforest... where it's really humid...

oh winter... i am already so over you. even the warmth of a cozy house doesn't make it all better, because i know it's out there. might as well be that winter is sitting in the middle of our living room. that is how pervasive this cold, dark season can be at times...

9 month old

2009-01-10T20:41:00.005-06:00

eyes open...

eyes closed...

eyes open...

baby with beret (you might recognize from this post), forlorn monkey (you might recognize from this post), and happy father (you might recognize from this post)...

home again

2009-01-07T21:53:00.002-06:00

veralouie apologizes for the short hiatus. we just got back into town after a funeral for my wonderful grandfather. it was a lot of traveling and it was also sad but it was a time to see so many relatives and also very hopeful for the future and for the idea of living up to the potential of a great legacy.

in other news, we are also so tired. oh so tired! and oh so busy! someday surely we will get into a routine... one that involves sleeping through an entire night without waking multiple times... and if not, then i am soon going to revert back to a former routine of napping when william naps. ah sleep... i think i will go do that right now! goodnight!

santa outfit the second

2008-12-31T21:59:00.004-06:00

santa outfit the first

2008-12-30T21:51:00.004-06:00

did you have a good christmas? we sure did! william got to dress up a number of times (that number being 3, two of which were santa outfits, the third being a respectable holiday number from his grandma).

here is the first...

i pity whatever it was he had his eye on in this picture and hope it survived unscathed.

snow's a comin

2008-12-17T22:13:00.004-06:00

if you want to leave your house... do so before tomorrow afternoon.

shoes

2008-12-14T20:23:00.002-06:00

has anyone seen this video? an iraqi journalist threw both of his shoes at president bush during a press conference with iraq's prime minister. did anyone else think that it took secret service a really long time to get moving? i mean the guy threw both of his shoes! he had to bend down to get the second one after he threw the first! a fellow journalist got up to stop him, pen and paper in hand, before any secret service members jumped in and did anything-- they were probably eating sandwiches in the adjoining room... you see how they all came hopping out of there. also, did you notice what cat-like reflexes bush has! i would've put my hands out to block them or more likely, gotten a boot to the face, but bush ducked like a pitcher on the mound. maybe he practices for such events. in any case, i'm impressed, and he must have felt kinda proud watching the replay.

sweeping saturday

2008-12-13T10:55:00.004-06:00

like most weekends, we have a goal to clean this place up over the next two days. it is an ongoing battle against a little tornado that constantly flies through here stirring things up. wish us luck.

leaps, bounds

2008-12-06T16:47:00.003-06:00

yes it makes sense, he's growing every second, but i swear, he's just looking and acting so much older these days. except that he still hasn't the desire or the ability to get all of his food into his mouth.

this just in!

2008-12-02T21:22:00.004-06:00

--producepedia.com

william's (and consequently oliver's) favorite food: brussels sprouts. that, along with broccoli. he had 4 brussels last night and 8 tonight.

at this exponential rate we're looking at 64 by this friday.

the warm weather does a baby good

2008-12-01T21:53:00.009-06:00

sheesh, we're in the arizona desert for one week and suddenly william is doing things like a professional baby-- crawling (though this, still like a novice), pulling himself up, sitting himself down, and even eating real meals. apparently we need a vacation more often.

he also posed for his first professional photos. though i wonder if he's been doing some modeling on the sly because the second he got in front of the camera he started holding poses, tilting his head just so, and generally playing it up for the camera:

he seriously decided on this position completely on his own.

and some rather contemplative shots...

and now, back to the reality of a monday night... ah well.
time for sleep.

adventures in flying

2008-11-23T16:48:00.002-06:00

ask me tomorrow how it was flying solo with a little wriggly 7 month old!

happy guy

2008-11-20T21:21:00.004-06:00

broccoli beard and the excitement of a new high chair

2008-11-16T18:03:00.004-06:00

"ready for my close-up"

2008-11-13T19:21:00.002-06:00

I got tagged

2008-11-11T20:25:00.006-06:00

a guy on the radio today said adults don't play, but in bloggerland, the game of tag is alive and well... and not just among elementary aged bloggers. well today i was "tagged"... it's pretty much like those emails you get saying answer these questions and send them to everyone and keep the dream alive. today's mandate is for me to tell you six random things about myself... and i get this nifty award:

So, quickly as William is nearly ready for bed (and i apologize that although random, these are not very exciting)--

1. tonight i baked pear spice bread. i hardly ever bake. i like cooking much better. i don't feel very confident baking things and it's a whole lot of mixing and resulting dirty bowls that are too big to fit in the dishwasher. all of which can be tiresome. but, the bread is good and even greg likes it and he is not a big put-pears-in-my-spice-bread kind of guy.

2. random... let's see... i spent 7 years growing out my hair and it got pretty long... then a few months ago my grandma cut a few inches off and hardly anyone noticed. from my perspective it was a noticeable difference, but... perhaps not.

3. do you remember your math lessons? in fifth grade i drew the entire factor family on my desk, in pencil. they lived in a big two story house with an attached garage. i worked hard on it and though i pleaded for clemency, mr. reckard made me wash the whole thing off. oh, also, for some reason i really love drawing things on microsoft paint and one time spent the better half of a few summer weeks drawing an entire golf course (though i don't think i actually got through all 18 holes) and had a series of pictures devoted to my roommate's guinea pig.

4. another childhood memory... one time we had oysters for dinner. afterwards, i kept one of the shells for a couple of years and hoped against hope that one day i'd open it and inside there'd be a pearl. of course it didn't happen, but this is an illustration of how my world was not always based in reality as a kid.

5. my favorite color is yellow. my favorite number is 7. and since we have been on the topic of childhood, as a child i found it very important to have favorites of things . i chose the indian python snake as my favorite animal, and at least two times brought fake snakes to school on april fool's day.

6. i will try to think of something more current for my last random fact... well, thanks to william i have had both spit up and poop on my hands today!

thank you thank you thank you. and now, to keep the game going, i will tag tinamalina and kate and brother nunen and jason (because he needs to update his blog).

O happy day!

2008-11-05T08:47:00.002-06:00

I know this feeling. Feels like spring is around the corner after a long, dark winter.