Slightly Controlled

Posted on August 16, 2007 by carrievoris

We are one step above “barely controlled chaos” this week. Holding steady at “slightly controlled.”

I know, I know! It has been a a week of photo-blogging, so in order to squelch the complaining, I am attempting to actually write a little something. You, people! I offer up pictures of adorable, little girls and yet you are never happy. 🙂

Anyhow, let’s see. It is Thursday (Thursday! We made it to Thursday!), and thankfully we have had some great lunch/playdates with old friends that we hadn’t seen in a long time. Both yesterday and today, and they more than made up for the not-so-fun things that happened this week. Like, say…locking ourselves out of the house and getting a speeding ticket.

Other great stuff that has happened. J’s project is live! Yahoo!! You can go see it in all of it’s glory, it really does look great. It has made for one incredibly long week for J. since they are basically sitting around waiting for something to happen, so they can fix it.

It also meant that he got to shave the beard yesterday! Hallelujah! Although now, he looks kind of funny. (Not ha-ha funny, I guess we had just become accustomed to his manly facial hair.) So he’s thinking he needs to work on something in between “babyface” and “grizzly Adams.” I agree. I think he looked great here. My m-i-l and I think he looked a little like Tim McGraw in that pic, sans the cowboy hat (and a little cuter, too!).

So J. is still around, we are still waiting to get to spend more than a quick hour or two with him at a time, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. His hard work has paid off and we are very proud of him.

Em’s last day of summer school is tomorrow. It is incredible to write that. It seems like we just dropped her off on her first day. And it is also remarkable the change in her. Some good, some bad – mostly good, though. The stuff that comes out of that girl’s mouth – it is so funny. A few conversations just from the past couple of weeks…

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(We are in Pei Wei, this Asian restaurant, one of our favorite places to eat. I am trying to herd the girls to the bathroom to go potty before we leave.)

E: Mama, you have to creep like this. (And she is walking kind of on her tiptoes, like she is sneaking into a room.)
M: Uh, ok. Why are we “creeping.”
E: Because! We are secret Asians, Mama.
M: Um, (Gulp. Peek around to see how many “Asian” people are listening to this exchange? And a little cautiously ask…) what is a “secret Asian,” Em?
E: You know those kind of people, Mom? The kind that try to find things? We are secret Asians trying to find the bathroom!
(Ah, then it comes to me…)
M: You mean secret agents?
E: Yeah, Mom! Like the Backyardigans. Secret Asians!

The Backyardigans are indeed very multicultural, who knew they were all Secret Asians, though?

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(In the car, after the great “lock-out” of the week. We do have spare keys…long story. Anyhow they were not available when we needed them and I walked out the door, after having to go back in after BEAR, and my keys were left lying on the coffee table.)

E: Hey, Mom! Remember when you had to puuu-sh out the screen and then push me through the kitchen window, I had to jump off the counters and run around to unlock the door?
M: Um, like 5 minutes ago, before we were late for school?
E: Yeah. Ha. That was fun! If you ever leave your keys inside, I can do it again. It was fun!
M: Yes. Very. Fun.

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(Finally, after the cop pulled me over. Hard to believe, I know, but I was indeed speeding. Late to drop Em off for preschool. I did deserve a ticket and didn’t even try to talk my way out of this one. But it was only the second speeding ticket of my life, the last one was a good 10-11 years ago. I know, I said it was hard to believe and I also know that I am pretty lucky.)

E: Mom! That police officer is on a motorcycle!
M: Yes, he is.
E: Why did he turn his lights and his woo-woop sound on?
M: Because he wanted Mommy to pull over. I was speeding. Going too fast.
E: Why did he take your credit card?
M: It was my license, Em. He is going to give Mommy a ticket.
E: Hey! We have tickets! Remember when we went to see that…mmm…what was it called, Mama? The movie with the polar bear?
M: Yes. It was Arctic Tale. We did have a ticket for that. But this is a different kind of ticket. This is a ticket where Mommy has to pay money (probably a lot!) because she wasn’t following the rules.
E: Maybe he can just give you a timeout, Mommy. Just tell him you are sorry and you won’t be speeding no more. It’ll be ok.
M: Yeah. Speeding tickets are kind of like timeouts for grown-ups, Em. It will be ok.

Such beautiful, sweet innocence. If only a timeout could work on all of our life problems.

Cuteness times 4?!

Posted on July 14, 2007 by carrievoris

It might be cuteness overload. J and I are getting to see what having 4 children would be like. As much as I love Little Em and Connor, I am very thankful that we get to send them back at the end of the weekend. Four is hard work! And they are being great – very well behaved, I just can’t imagine what it would be like if all four were having an “off” day at the same time. Yikes.

Anyhow – that is what we are doing this weekend. Just chillin’ and enjoying the sun. Hope you are all having a great weekend. We’ll see you Michiganders in 3 days!

It’s Freaky Friday the 13th!

Posted on July 13, 2007 by carrievoris

Not that I’m superstitious or anything, but I always think it is cool when it is Friday the 13th. Remember that movie Freaky Friday? Not the remake from a few years ago, but the original, old 70’s one that they used to show during the Friday assemblies at school.

I always thought while watching the movie – “how cool would it be to switch places with a grown-up, right now!”

Oh, what a poor little naive kid I was! Although sitting here now, and trying to come up with someone I would like to switch places with, I am coming up empty.

I am not sure there is anyone I would like to trade places with. Nobody seems like they have a better deal going on than I do. I’m really quite content being “grown-up” Carrie, wife to J., Mommy to Em and Ad, sister and daughter.

That is good feeling, in a “freaky” kind-of way.

Do you have someone you’d like to trade places with for a day? Do tell!

What are you doing this Saturday?

Posted on July 10, 2007 by carrievoris

Ok, so I was all set to regale you with funny little stories of Em and Addie when I just got an email from my Dad and I decided that it deserved to be, and would be, the blog topic of the day instead. (Don’t worry, I’ll save the cute E.&A. stories for another day.)

So the email was one of those mass “story” little emails that I usually dismiss as having “seen it a thousand times” and delete it before I even get through the first sentence. But this one was different. I haven’t it and it really struck a chord with me.

Our little family kind of has a Saturday “tradition” – that we don’t do every Saturday, but I just realized why it seems so important to me. It started as E. and J. going out to get bagels and coffee for us and lately it has turned into all of us going out to have a little breakfast. I love it because after 5 days of barely seeing J. and dealing with the girls, it gives me a little break. (And I guess there is the fact that a Noah’s salt bagel and a nonfat Mocha is pretty much my most perfect breakfast, too. But that is beside the point.)

We always sit outside, enjoy our breakfast, E. and A. yell at the pigeons (“chigeons” is what A. calls them – kind of a cross between chicken and pigeon!), read the paper, make friends with the other kids around, or just people watch. It is really the simplest thing – but I really do look forward to it and after reading this story I now can point to the reason for my joy in our Saturday routine.

(It is kind of long…but so worth it. Keep reading!)

3900 Saturdays
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I c ame across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about “a thousand marbles.” I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

“Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It’s too bad you missed your daughter’s “dance recital” he continued. “Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.”

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

“Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I’m getting to the important part…It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail”, he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays.” “I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.”

“Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.”

“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.”

“It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!”

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.” “What brought this on?” she asked with a smile. “Oh, nothing special, it’s just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.

My favorite line is “There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.”

What could be more true? Now what are you doing still sitting here reading? Go find your spouse, kids, friends. Get your priorities in line. We are nearly halfway to losing another marble.

Heard around the house this weekend…

Posted on July 8, 2007 by carrievoris

(Addie running through the upstairs with Daddy’s keys…)

D: Hey, Swiper! Give me back my keys.
A: NO! Not Swiper, Daddy. I’m Dora!
E: No, Addie is Boots the monkey!

Then all of us fell out laughing.

I think that Addie’s little role-playing and just her knowledge of all things “kid,” has definitely been enhanced by her big sister. She walks around nearly all day dressed up in the “rella” (Cinderella) blue gown and one shoe. It is always one shoe…I think she is taking the “lost one glass slipper thing” a little bit far…but she never puts them both on! It is crazy how much she has picked up from Em. Emma didn’t know anyone if they didn’t live on Sesame Street or in Blue’s neighborhood until she was three or so. But little A. has been catapulted into Em’s world and she can, and will, tell you the difference between Little Einsteins and The Wonder Pets.

Now really, who needs to watch reality TV when we have our own little cast of fairy tale and cartoon characters right here?

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Don’t know any of the characters mentioned up there? Really?! Um, ok. Then you clearly have not yet been acquainted with the bonita chica, Dora the Explorer. She has a sidekick monkey, named Boots presumably from the large snowboot-like apparel on his monkey toes. And they are always on little missions when “Swiper” the fox manages to foil their plans by swiping something – hence his name. It is a favorite in our house right now, but Em is learning a whole lot of espanol from it, so I am not complaining too loudly.

Big Weekend Happenings…

Posted on July 1, 2007 by carrievoris

Actually that title is not very accurate. There was not a lot really happening around here this weekend, except cleaning both the house and our computers.

Actually that really isn’t accurate either. Friday counts as the weekend, and we had a terrific Friday. So I guess we did have some “big” happenings.

Ok, so let’s just start over. We had a very fun-filled, productive weekend. How was yours?

Friday J. and I met up with our friends, Michelle and Eric, and had a fantastic picnic (sans kids!) outside of the Greek Theater while we were waiting for our concert to start. We had not very kid-friendly food like wine, brie, french bread, steak and salad. It was delicious.

And then we got to sit out under the stars, in a gorgeous California summer evening and listen to some mighty fine music. (It was quite a musical week for me last week!) We saw Alison Krauss and Union Station, she is a favorite of J’s. I know some of her music and like it alright. But after seeing her Friday, I think I can seriously call myself a fan. It was a great night – and did I mention, we were without kids?

Saturday we took the girls to see Ratatouille. Very cute movie – and amazingly enough, I got to see the entire movie. Addie sat through just about all of it, and since we were on an aisle, just stood for a little bit of it when she got bored. I’m going to call it her “first” real movie since we didn’t spend any of it roaming the hallway outside the theater.

Then we did a lot of the not so “big” stuff. Cleaned. Worked. Cleaned a little more. J. got me an external drive to consolidate all of my pictures, and my new back-up drive also has a back-up! Just. In. Case.

Huge thank you to him for that. Guess how many photos I have between the desktop we have and my laptop where I have been downloading most of my photos since January. Go on…guess!

Go on, guess. I’ll wait.

Ok, ready? I know we have a lot of photos, but even I was a bit surprised by the sheer volume of pictures we have. And remember we have only had a good digital camera since Em was about 6 months old (October 2003), up until that point I took mostly film. (Which also means I have boxes and boxes of photos, too.)

26,309 photos on the pc, just over 7,000 on my laptop.

Now tell me how sick I would have been if I lost them. We have occasionally backed them up to CDs and DVDs, but we have always been sort of half-hearted about it, thinking we would do a better job. I just feel so relieved now that I know every little step, milestone, and smile that has been recorded of my girls has been backed up. And backed up again.

AH! Speaking of photos. Here is one more “big” happening of the weekend.

Yup. Big discussion this morning as she was dry again for the third morning in the bathroom between E., A., and I. (She isn’t dry during naps or at night yet…but I can deal with diapers/pull-ups for that!) We agreed that A. is ready for some big girl underwear. So she and I went and picked some out this afternoon. She kept them dry all afternoon and evening.

*Sigh.* It is so fantastic and I know it just means the girls are growing up. But a little piece of me is so sad. It is her last little vestige of baby-ness, floating away.

From Your Sippy to my Dribble

Posted on June 29, 2007 by carrievoris

We have been working very hard on banning the sippy cup in our house. Especially when we are not in the car or out ‘n about. When we were on vacation Addie drank out of glass water goblets at every meal – with help, of course, but I know she is capable of doing it and we simply don’t need the sippy cups anymore. The day I get rid of those stupid cups will be a milestone all in itself. Just think, no more cleaning those gross valves,* or turning a corner in the car and having a cup roll out from beneath the seats! (Never, ever open the cup if you can not remember when they might have had it in the car. It isn’t pretty. And I don’t care how much you are into “reduce, reuse, recycle” it is really not worth trying to salvage the cup. Just trust me on this one.)

So anyhow, like I said, we are definitely working on just “kid cups” at the table. And we’ve had a few spills, which is to be expected, and not a big deal…well, most of the time. Occasionally I am in just the ~~right~~ wrong mood, and both of the girls have pushed just the ~~right~~ wrong buttons or messed around for just a little too long and ends up knocking the entire cup of milk on the floor. Or coincidentally enough, right into the plate of food that they are trying to NOT eat. Convenient, huh? That might send me into a bit of a spiral, but usually, clean up the milk and move on.
Anyhow, as I was getting at (What’s up with the tangents, today?) today was a good day. Girls were eating like champs, laughing, we were having a just fine morning. Addie takes a drink of milk, turns to the side of her chair and opens her lips just a little bit and lets the entire mouthful of milk dribble onto the rug. (Yes, we have a rug under our table, on top of the hardwood. Yes, I am rethinking that arrangement. Everyday. After every meal.) I’ll admit, I was kind of in shock, so I did watch the whole “dribble” – as if it was in slow motion or something. Finally I ask:

M: “Hey, hey, HEY! Ad what are you doing?!”
A: “My milk fall down, mama!”
M: “No, no, no! We don’t do that!”
(Emma chimes in…)
E: “What? What did Addie do, mama?”
A: (smiling) “Emma, watch me, what I do, Emma!”

And the mischievous little monkey takes another big gulp of milk and starts to “show” Emma what she had just gotten scolded for.

I did manage to stop her before she showed her dribbling technique to Emma. But I’m sure it won’t be the last time we see it in our household. I did have to go into the kitchen and laugh where she couldn’t see me. The look of pure glee at being able to show her big sister a neat new “trick” and knowing that she wasn’t supposed to be doing it – it was priceless. Such a little monkey.

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*If you are still in the sippy cup phase – you really do have to try the First Years Sippy Cups. They are insulated, completely spill-proof and they do not have icky valves to clean. So awesome. Oh yeah, they also come in very cool styles like Princesses, Nemo, and Elmo. I have actually found that they are cheapest at Kohl’s – they often have them buy 1 get 1 half-off or on their 15% off sale. I have a bunch if anyone wants them, I’ll send them your way!

It’s just me, “Super Mom.”

Posted on June 18, 2007 by carrievoris

Aaaaaahhhhh!

That is one big contented sigh. Did you hear it over there in the Midwest? The dreaded Monday was actually an amazingly fruitful and very happy day. Do you have days where you just feel like “Super Mom”? That was me, today. I was S-U-P-E-R, if I don’t mind saying so myself! Such a spectacular way to start out the week.

It is 9 o’clock and I am sipping a little glass of wine, the girls are sleeping snugly in their beds, and the roomba is greedily sucking up the remnants of the girls’ snacks from the day. I’m just reviewing my to-do list….

(One moment, please. Roomba is seriously stuck on my power cord…)

…and we’re back. So where was I? Yes…reviewing to-do lists, and I checked off so much stuff today alone, I am thinking I can take the rest of the week off.

Well, maybe not completely off. The girls probably need to be tended to, and I’m sure the laundry will multiply by Thursday, Wednesday at the earliest. But on a scale of 1-10, this Monday was rocking the 8.5, maybe even the 9!

I managed to pick-up the weekend messiness, do three loads of laundry, work out at the gym, have lunch with friends, grocery shop, put the groceries away (not just near the cupboard they belong in, either!), finish up a work project, help a friend with a design project, visit the holy land for some necessities (that would be Target for anyone who doesn’t know me), drop off dry cleaning, give both girls a warm, fun-filled bath, read extra books and give extra love to both girls before bed, unload the dishwasher, clean up the kitchen and reload the dishwasher, get some packages ready for the post office…oh, I’m sure there is more that I am forgetting, but really…isn’t that enough??

AND…the real kicker on the day, in the midst of all of this, I spent 2 1/2 hours at the dentist. The DENTIST!!

Of course it helped that I had my saving grace, Denise, here for part of the day and the girls were extra, especially good. Seriously, not even a little whine or necessity to raise my voice. All day. Surely we all deserve gold stars for today.

Ah, why can’t all days be like this?

Bribery will get me everywhere…

Posted on June 15, 2007 by carrievoris

If I keep plying you all with impossibly cute pictures of the girls, will you forgive me for not writing pretty much the entire week?

Wait…I’ve got more! How about this one?

That’s me sporting the new haircut. (Thanks, Michelle for getting a pic with Mommy, too!)

No? Still not forgiven? How about this one?

Really – you can’t blame me for not wanting to be inside writing about the girls when I can be out doing this!

I honestly do have all kinds of stuff to update you all on, and I promise this weekend we’ll get caught up. June is flying by and I just haven’t had a moment to stop and catch my breath.

Have a fantastic, sunny weekend!

And…we’re off! Almost.

Posted on June 1, 2007 by carrievoris

I had a couple of ideas for good posts, but have not had one minute to put any of them together for you. Today has been a mad dash for the finish line – and I can see it, it is in sight. Maybe an hour or two away, but soooo close!

Of course I have this neurotic need to have a clean house before I leave. I got this tendency from my mom, we never left a dirty house when we were going on a trip. Plus the neighbors are watching the kitties while we are gone. They stopped over to drop off a house-warming gift one day and it just happened to be a chaotic, disaster-of-a-house kind of day. So I’d like to make a better second impression. Therefore, I have some picking up to do before I crawl into bed. Plus, how great is it to come home to a nice clean house??

I did find out that there isn’t internet connectivity in the room, only an internet cafe. So I’m not so sure that I will get a chance to post anything next week. But the idea of no laptop, no phone, no internet – just truly unplugged is a pretty intriguing idea right now. I think I may do it…a true vacation.

So don’t fear if you don’t hear from us. We are just frolicking in the blue-green Caribbean waters and soaking in some serious family time. I’ll meet you all back here next Sunday!

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On Wednesday, June 4th be sure to pop on over and wish Lauren a Happy 4th Birthday! You gift will get to you, even if we don’t get to talk with you, La-La! Have a great one!

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Also you get an extra week to do your Small Change Month 4 challenge if you still want to…we’ll discuss next week.