Catching Up

So, I feel that I need to record the craziness that has characterized our family life since mid-August. I'm sure that it is normal for some families, but it certainly was not normal for us. It went something like this:

Matt commutes to Dallas M-F for three weeks. A week later, we drop the kids off at Nana and Grandpa's house so that Matt and I can fly to Virginia for a Duke friend's wedding. Three days after that, I fly to Boston for work. I finish the project two days later. The following day, Matt leaves for Argentina for three weeks and my mom arrives to help with the kids. Five days later, Matt's family (minus Matt) and I drive to PA for a family wedding. Three days later we are back in Chicago. Mom and I, along with the munchkins have a blast together for another week. Mom leaves. I have a melt down. Two days later, I pile the kids in the van and drive to Chattanooga (Noah throws up after 45 minutes in the car and I contemplate turning around. We press on, smelly car and all.) Two days later, Matt flies into Chattanooga and we meet him at the airport. Hooray! We are all together in Chattanooga. A few days later we drive to Nashville. A few days later, we head home. Nine days pass and then it is time for Matt to head south again for another three weeks away from home. Four days later my mom flies back to Chicago so that I can go to Chile and visit Matt. I'm with Matt for 5 amazing days and then fly home. Four days later, Mom flies back home. It is me and the kids again. Six days later, I drop the kids at Nana's house and head to Wisconsin for a retreat. The following day, the kids and Matt's parents pick him up at the airport. And finally, later that day, I come home. That was a week ago.

Honestly, I don't think that we've ever had such a nutty schedule. I'm hoping that we don't have the opportunity repeat it...but much of that is out of my hands. We've learned a lot about being a family that is not always in the same place. It has been a challenging season, but also one that has been pierced with moments of sweetness that could not have happened without the chaos.

Okay, I know that you probably just want to see pictures, so here goes...hold on to your socks. This is going to be long.

Chattanooga was a blast as usual. This is E in the Bluff View Sculpture Garden.

And on the walking bridge. Ella was being crazy and Noah's face was so telling...

There was a band playing on the bridge for one of our visits. Ella covered her ears the entire time and Noah danced. Any time they stopped he demanded 'let's do it again!'.

Per our tradition while in college, Monique and I took the kids to Rembrant's for lunch. Little Caris, her daughter is a complete sweetheart --there is something entirely wonderful about spending time with the kids of the people that that you've spent hours with.

Coolidge Park --the perfect picnic spot. This is me, Sam and Ginny.

Ginny with Evan on the bridge.

This one just cracks me up. It looks like Professor Ella is explaining things to her dutiful student.

I believe that this is the one where they informed me that 'we're pooping, momma'.

Rather than staying in town, we opted for the mountain and rented a cabin on Lookout. There was a lot of this....

...and this, which is dancing to 'America the Beautiful'...

...and this.

Once the kids were in bed, we had ample time together.

And finally, we dragged the kids to the night soccer game. I miss this view.

The kids thought that being on the field was uber cool.

And moving on...

One of the benefits of Matt's frequent travel is that every once in a while, I get to accompany him. While I could have chosen NJ or Texas, Chile seemed like the best choice. It was amazing for a few reasons. 1) we have not been away just the two of us in a long while and 2) the benefit of having someone else pay for your trip makes it that much more fun.

We stayed in a gorgeous hotel.

And, no lie, this was the view from our bedroom window - the Andes mountains.

Part of what made the trip especially remarkable is that I did whatever I wanted. One day I putzed around Santiago for hours. Another day, I spent days by the pool (which by the way, had no less than 4 attendants standing around to spread out towels for pool-goers). I lounged and read and lounged some more. We ate long and delectable meals and forced ourselves to sleep in (okay, that was more me than Matt as he had to get up and work).

Over the weekend Matt and I walked all over Santiago visiting everything from the gritty market on the other side of the river to historic sites. One of our favorites was Cerro St Lucia, a steep hill in the middle of Santiago with amazing views. I think that the shot below was in Plaza de Armas.

If you are still reading, you should get a prize. There is much more that could be said, but I'm going to stop for now. Hopefully, I'll get some more photos up soon.

Remembering

I'm looking through pictures from summer and wanted to post a few from our visit out east. The kids and I headed up to NH to visit my sis and her family. Rather than having a low key time in NH, Les and I decided that it would be good to drive up to Maine to take the kids to the beach for the day.

Here is Les as she belts the 5th and final car seat / booster into the car.

Micah is in the forefront and Ben is in the back. You can see little Graham if you look hard.

Micah has got to be one of the most helpful and kind kids that I've ever come across. Love that little guy.

We arrived and the kids were off.

Graham was completely fearless, truly a man on a mission.

As usual, Noah chased the sea gulls.

Ella worked really hard on building a rock pile. She spent lots of time adding little rocks and then patting on a little more sand. Sang songs the whole time she worked.

Noah helped his sister collect rocks from the huge pile.

The highlight of the day was in the last 45 minutes of the trip. We were driving in a bad rainstorm and Les looked back to see Graham puking. Due to the massive amount of rain coming down, we could not open windows without the other kids getting drenched. It was awesome and completely expected given the situation of 5 kids in a minivan. Someone has to throw up...Les and I decided that we'll be taking a sisters only trip next time.

And finally, a picture of all the cousins together watching a movie.

I keep looking through the file thinking that surely Leslie and I are together in one picture. Nope. Will have to do that next time.

I do dots?

Mom arrived last night. I left this morning. Tomorrow morning I'll be in Santiago with Matt. Hooray! I'm currently enjoying a long layover, realizing that I am great at sitting in a comfy leather chair and doing nothing.

As usual, Mom arrived with a suitcase full of interesting crafts for the kids. Remember the magnetic fish from the last post? One of the first things that Ella told my mom was that she needed to fix the broken fishing pole. After that pronouncement they proceeded to show her each of the crafts that they did with her. Once the display of treasures ended, Mom pulled out the dot paints. They painted for a LONG time last night and then first thing this morning (as in 7 am) Noah asks me if he can 'do dots.' Sweet boy.

I can't resist a little compare and contrast here. Ella really likes filling in the shapes in her coloring book.

And Noah likes completely saturating the page with one color and then doing the same thing on the other side of the page.

*humpf*

So, I finally decided that I'd load some photos to the neglected blog and I seem to be having some technical issues. Photos of our time in Chattanooga and Nashville will have to wait.

I can share a little story from today though. A friend at church is pregnant and her baby shower was this afternoon. I was telling Noah that his favorite babysitter was going to come over because I was going to a shower and he responded with 'you dry your hair, momma?'

Forgetting (again) that my kids don't know what a baby shower is, I later told Ella that I was going to a baby shower this afternoon. She responded in her you-are-so-silly voice saying 'my baby does not have a shower!' over and over again. You are right Ella, your baby does not have a shower.

King Fisher, Queen Mother and Boots

Current pictures for dad...

Queen Ella

The King and Queen showing Daddy their hats and fish. Notice Boots with his crown as well.

Going fishing for a 'd' for Daddy.

She insisted on Baby having a hat and then asked that we take a picture of it.

Water and Bunnies

Matt is in Argentina right now and requested a few pictures of the kids. I'm sorry to say that I have not taken any pictures in the last month. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. In lieu of new ones, here are a few from the August archives.

I love this picture of Noah for a few reasons. 1) his long hair 2) his care in watering the garden and 3) right after he finished watering the garden he told me 'Mama, I go pee-pee.' I told him that he could just go by a bush and so he proceeded to take off his diaper and go on the ornamental grasses.

I don't think I need to explain this one. I just love it. I adore her.

E feeding the baby bunnies a stubby carrot from our garden.

The little bunnies. This was our third litter of the year as Mama bunny seems to keep very busy. I kept thinking that she'd figure out that it was not a good idea to nest in our yard as Moses has full access to it and insists on uncovering them. Amazingly though, on the third nest we all seemed to get along. Moses did not bother the bunnies as much and mama bunny did not seem to mind the fact that E & N regularly petted the bunnies. I don't have an image of it, but I have a very clear picture in my head of Noah squatting down by the nest to check on his little friends.

Union Pier, MI

I don't think that the beach could have been any better. It was empty and absolutely gorgeous --it is amazing that this is less than two hours from home.

Noah getting his bearings.

Ruthie and Baby Owen

Digging in

Making pools

Burying himself

Probably about to make a sand angel...she was crazy. I'm still finding sand in this one's hair.

Rinsing hands

Ruthie and Aunt Barb

Barb's sister and Baby Owen

Attempting to make drip castles. They did not really get it.

Nicole and Barb

First Day of School

Okay, so it is not really school. The schoolish part is the lunch boxes and the fact that I drop them off and pick them up. Really, they are just spending a morning a week in a whimsical play land with a couple of other kids and an amazing woman. They do free play, songs, stories, crafts...everything that they love.

Noah with his 'suitcase.'

Neither of them batted an eye when I left the first morning. When I went to pick them up, Noah pointed to the outdoor play equipment and exclaimed 'Momma, playground!' Ella just darted around between all the little houses outside yelling 'no go home, no go home!'