I miss Grandma....

I was reflecting back on the past 6 years of my life the other day when Emily came out of her room with tears rolling down her face. I asked her what the matter was, to which she replied, "I miss Grandma" This brought back a flood of memories- and the sources of her words:

A long time ago, when Emily was little, and I lived in Moscow- we had some pretty teary moments- (and if any of you have seen how much I have cried in the past 4 years- just multiply that by like 10000 and you will have an idea of our teary moments) There was a lot going on in our lives then- I was in school full time, had a 2 year old and a newborn baby. This was also the time that my marriage was literally being torn to shreds. So it was during these moments of tears and frustration that my precocious little girl would come up and say, "I love you mommy, why are you crying?" Now at this moment I had two choices- I could say something I would later regret that would create a level of conflict for her on how she saw both of her parents- or I could give her a partial truth- something to fill the curiosity. With this understanding I simply chose to say, "I just miss Grandma" She took this explanation- and from that point on whenever someone would cry she would ask, "Do you miss Grandma too?"

Over the past 4 1/2 years, "I miss Grandma" has become a code for many things- for sad tears, happy tears, general sadness, and those moments when you can't really describe how you feel- but you just know you are lacking something. The general lacking of something- in all of our lives- I honestly believe to be Grandma. You see, Grandma has always been there with a shoulder and a word of advice, she has the magic touch to make any "ouchie" better. She would do the seemingly impossible to help- even driving the winding roads of the Salmon River in the dark with a screaming infant in the backseat and a daughter who is beyond shock in the passenger seat if that is what needs done. Grandma is the one I aspire to be like- and who I see modeled in my children's play.

Every now and again we all have those days where we just want our "Grandma's" also known as Mom. Today is one of those days for me. I miss my Mom, and really wish I could be at her house- enjoying the little conversations, and to be there to hold her hand when she needs it. I don't really know when the change happened from having a parent/child relationship to that of friends- but I am grateful everyday for the Friend I have in my Mom. I love you Mom!!

Weight Loss Competition

http://howtobecomeunfat.blogspot.com/

My dear sister-in-law has started a competition for weight loss, there will be prizes, and good healthy support/competition. Everyone is welcome to join- so tell your friends your coworkers, and check out the site yourself...

Wow!! We have finally hit our 100th post!!

New Year, New Semester

Well we have survived our first semester back at school-

Emily has been loving Kindergarten, she is becoming quite the little reader. She loves sounding out the words she sees as we drive down the road as well as reading books to Caleb. She also is very persistent when it comes to her homework- some how my procrastination gene skipped over her, hopefully that is lifelong! Her latest favorites are: Chinese casserole, Barbies, Ponies, and babies. She got two really pretty dolls this Christmas as well as a diaper bag- and she has been loving being a mom to all of her babies. She is still a little social butterfly- and is enjoying dancing around everywhere- hopefully next year we can get her into a dance class.

Caleb is full of funny anecdotes. The other day as we were driving through campus we ran into (not literally) five deer. Caleb explained in a matter-of-fact monotone that those were "Rudolfs with no antlers, and he growed bigger. But we cant run over the baby Rudolfs because his mom and dad would be sad. But we could run over Rudolfs mom and dad." I just had to shake my head and smile- sometimes the things that boy comes up with. He does have a very lively imagination- which he uses to create stories and play phenomenally. He is starting at a new daycare/preschool on Monday- he is very excited. In fact, we had to go and buy him a back pack, because according to him "Mine other back back got loosed by the car" Right now everything is being "loosed by the car" He is fascinated still with trains, and trucks and tractors- but has expanded into tools- what a boy! He loves his miniature tape measure and is measuring everything in the house. He is also identifying letters, he has 20 out of 26 so far and is starting to name every letter in every sign we see. He even surprised us over Christmas break by reading the words: "Stop, Cat, Go, and the rhyme -un" He always seems to amaze me.

My first semester went well- there were a lot of changes- and a lot of things I have learned. I am really enjoying the program I am in and the people I am getting to know throughout the program. I went from not dating to dating to being engaged to being un-engaged and back to not dating all in one semester...that was interesting... I start in the clinic this next semester- I am a little scared, but have been reassured by some friends in the court and my class buddies that we will all survive! So here goes!!

All I want for Christmas...

Unfortunately we were a week late with this song!!! Emily lost her second front tooth over Christmas break- once again we have Grandma to thank....I have a feeling there will be many more teeth pulled at Grandma's house since it is a sort of obsession ;)

We got a picture- but its on Grandma's Camera, I will try to take one tomorrow.

Emily is loving having no bottom teeth- she has problems biting apples, and has a very cute new lisp. She has also been experimenting with straws to see if she really can keep her mouth closed and fit the straw in her mouth...too bad the new teeth are already half way out...

Emily's First Loose Tooth

Emily had her first loose tooth over Thanksgiving break. Grandma helped her pull it out. I have never seen a child cry like she did when her tooth was gone. Then that night we had to hang her tooth on the fridge because she was afraid of the tooth fairy...what an ordeal! Here is a picture- you cant really see her missing tooth though.

Playing Dress-Up

Halloween Pics

A Cowboy and a Ballerina

"I'n a stinky cow-boy horse man."