The wildly exciting adventures in the life of Jen

Christmas Chaos (part one): Altmiller Christmas 12/23/11

2012-01-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

As our family expands, it becomes a little more challenging to find a date where everyone can celebrate Christmas together. It's all right, though; it gives us an excuse to prolong the Christmas celebration. We actually kicked off our celebration with the annual Poxleitner-palooza, but I was too busy having a good time to take any pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

So, we'll begin our photo adventure with our Altmiller Christmas (I was too busy having a good time to take pictures; thanks for acting as the photographer, Kevin Eddy). We started our morning with SugarFest 2011 and then took a break to regroup, open presents, and get dinner ready.

Noah snuggling Peyton. He had to fight off ND who gave him the stink eye the whole time he held Peyton. ND doesn't believe us when we tell her she's too small to hold babies all by herself.

Building a fort in the kids' bedroom. Amy (and Baby Elizabeth) is somewhere under that mound of pillows.

I think we may have to expand the kid table next year.

After a long, lovely day, the dads catch up on some sleep.

Stay tuned...

story time

2012-01-25T21:17:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month, Lola Oyang stayed overnight at our house. She was leaving for her annual trip to the Philippines and needed a ride to the airport. She arrived at our house just in time for dinner and bedtime. Lola read them a book...

...and Daddy read them another one.

Then off to bed for all of us...because a 4 AM drive to the airport comes pretty early!

stuff my kid says

2012-01-24T18:10:00.001-07:00

ND is entering (?) the terrible twos and has difficulty coping with anyone telling her, "No." So, one day, when Sam was minding his own business and playing with a few cars Aunt Teenie and Uncle Steve gave him for Christmas, ND decided to snatch them from his grasp.

Sam started shrieking and grabbed them back, so ND started screaming and smacked him.

Hitting or kicking are the two offenses that will send ND to time out, so off she went. When she gets out of time-out, she has to ask her brother (her usual victim) if he is okay and hug him and say sorry. Usually, Sam says, "It's okay, ND, but try to use your words next time, ok?"

This time, though, Sam was elated and came running to find me. "Mom, ND hugged me and I just fell in love with her again!"

playing the "guitar"

2012-01-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's actually a baritone ukelele, but when Joe brought out his "big" guitar, Sam wanted to strum along on the "little guitar". I love how focused he is on Joe. They are singing "Jingle Bells" and "Woody the Bow-Legged Cowboy" (a variation on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that you can enjoy all year round).

stuff my kid says

2012-01-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

After Sam was throwing a tantrum:
Sam: Mom, I feel sad. There's something on my eyes.
Me: Do you have some tears?
Sam: No. It's water.
Me: Oh.
Sam: (matter-of-factly) Water comes from the sink or from your tears.

guitar girl

2012-01-19T21:24:00.001-07:00

bienvenidos a miami: la continuacion

2012-01-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time of year again. That time of year when my employer twists my arm and makes me go to a continuing education conference in a warm and sunny place. All seemed to be going as planned until we got a light dusting of snow on Sunday. Knowing that snow rarely stays in Lewiston, we hurriedly changed the kids from their PJs to snow clothes and raced outside to play before church.

Well, the snow stayed...and stayed.

And, yesterday, even MORE snow was dumped on Lewiston. Our first flight out was cancelled. We rebooked to an earlier flight. Then schools closed. Then the city offices closed. Then our second flight was cancelled. The very nice Alaska Air lady told me I could either hope to fly out of Lewiston a day late or try to drive to Spokane for a different flight.

We drove to Spokane. It took us 3 1/2 hours.

Our flight taxied down the runway, only to turn around and return to the gate. It was de-iced again. I started to feel like God might be trying to tell me something. "Get off the plane! Don't go on the trip!" but instead, I drank a large glass of wine and settled into a magazine.

We finally made it to Seattle, ate dinner, and boarded our red-eye to Miami only an hour later than planned. Whew.

We left our little snow angels with Lala, thinking they'd go to daycare during the day and she would be on night duty, tough enough by itself. But, with the snowstorm, Lala's office closed, so she picked up the kiddos and spent ALL DAY AT HOME WITH THE KIDS. (You readers with small children know why this is in all-caps).

Our travel day was peppered with her texts:

"r u still in Ltown i need milk."

"nd is going to send me to an early grave"

"where is eucerin cream?"

"u forgot to tell me i had to draw a car or motorcycle on sams nighttime pullup"

"call me when u can" (that was just so she could vent--no broken arms...yet. Quick, knock on wood, turn around and spit!)

And, this morning, we have this view out of our hotel room.

We have unpacked, gone for a run on the beach, and are living a life of leisure.

Lala, we love you. We owe you--well, I'd say our firstborn, but you'd probably rather have a Starbucks.

we put the "happy" in Happy Meal

2012-01-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

weekly wisdom: Vacuum Cleaner Tag

2012-01-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

With three dogs, our floors need vacuumed often. Like at least three times a week. Of course, with two small children, this is always a challenge. I've tried getting them excited about seeing how much dog hair we collect (which is a lot!) and letting them taking turns dumping the canister, but that gets old after the first pass.

So, we invented a game called Vacuum Cleaner Tag. Here are the rules:
1. You can't let the vacuum cleaner touch you. (I'm not sure what happens if I tag you with the vacuum cleaner, but the threat is enough to get the kiddos excited about the game).
2. You can be tagged anywhere on the carpet, but the chairs, beds, and couch are "base".
3. From any base, you can launch pillow bombs at the vacuum. If you make contact with the vacuum, the vacuum is disabled for 5 seconds and you can run freely to the next base.

After thirty minutes of Vacuum Cleaner Tag, my carpets were hairless and my kids had a great time.

Sweet William

2012-01-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we drove up to Pullman to meet Will and wish him a Happy Birthday. It was quite a party. The Waldon women and Grandma Kaufman were already there.

William Henry Kaufman--what a great name!

The Palouse Kaufmans--now a family of 4

ND was SOOO excited about the "Baby"

This was a difficult shot to get. Lights off. No flash. And a toddler clinging to my leg.

Ben has now joined the ranks of the Big Brothers and spent most of our visit playing with Sam and Sam's cars.

ND was mesmerized by Will. She kept patting him ever so gently, saying, "Baby"...and then tried to poke him in the eye. She gave Sam the stink-eye and threw a tantrum when it was his turn to hold Will.

Sam and Will. He learned about how newborns scratch their faces and need to wear mittens and how their heads have soft spots...and told Lala all about it the next day.

Cynthia, Beth and Clara...everyone was excited about Will...

...everyone except Ben. He'd rather play cars.

Welcome to the family, Will! We are so glad you are finally here.

and the shirts come off on Sugar Cookie Day

2012-01-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

After gingerbread houses were assembled, we started on sugar cookies. Amy had already experienced sugar cookie decorating with her children and wisely recommended we strip all the kids. Then, we formed a sugar cookie sweatshop, making those poor children frost and decorate cookie after cookie. No sooner would one tray of newly decorated cookies be filled than it would be whisked away and replaced with an empty tray waiting to be filled. Those poor kids worked their fingers to the bone.

This is Ben's "picture face".

This cookie, carefully decorated by Sam, had approximately 250 redhots on it. It was lifted very carefully onto the tray for fear the weight of the redhots might break the cookie. Later, all the Co-op Kids were most excited to eat this cookie, so they shared it, but I ended up finishing it because they all thought it too spicy. I guess that will happen with 250 redhots.

the Sandman Chronicles: It Ain't Over Yet

2012-01-14T21:02:00.002-07:00

After a month of blissfully sleeping through the night, ND has gone back to her bad sleepin' ways. Most of it has not been too bad--consistently waking up once or twice every night for the last two weeks. Last night, though, may have set the record for Most Horrendous Night Ever.

I woke up at 12:12am to ND fussing. I went in, tucked her in, and popped in a binky. After repeating this sequence twice in the next hour, I should have realized something was up. It was Friday the 13th.

All night, Joe and I took turns checking on our bad sleepin' baby. We rocked her. We checked her temperature. We checked her diaper. We checked her pajamas. We changed out blankets. Finally, we both gave up since we couldn't identify any problem and decided she'd have to work out her issues on her own.

I scooped up a sleeping Sam and put him in our bed, hoping he wouldn't be awakened by all of ND's screaming. Unfortunately, Sam woke up in transit and was adamant he didn't want to sleep in our bed, although I told him ND was being so loud, it was hard for any of us to sleep. Nevertheless, he insisted on going back to his own bed and ND settled down a little.

It was 4am and finally quiet for the first time in hours.

I was just dozing off when Sam tiptoed into our room. He whispered excitedly, "Mom! Her is finally quiet now! We can all sleep!"

Thanks for the update, Sam.

Unfortunately, ND did not remain quiet. After another hour of shushing, rocking, and shuffling beds, Sam, Joe and I lay awake in our bed, listening to ND scream uncontrollably--she was so angry about being the only one left behind in her room. Knowing she was entering soon-to-throw-up-because-she's-crying-so-hard territory, I went back to her room and picked her up.

Her chubby little arms circled my neck and she rested her head on my shoulder, still gulping down sobs. I patted her back and said, "ND-girl. Why are you not sleeping tonight?"

She gulped back another sob and said what I already should have known, "Just (gulp) 'cause."

sugar cookie chaos

2012-01-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

On December 23rd, we held our first annual Co-op Kid Sugar Cookie Day. I had fond memories of making Christmas cookies, fudge and other candy, and, later as we got older, doing Christmas crafts with my Grandma, mom and aunt. This year, I decided our brood was old enough to enjoy decorating "gingerbread" (really graham crackers) houses and sugar cookies, so I invited all the Co-op Kids, Ben, Jolie and Peyton over for a sugarfest.

I stocked up on a wide assortment of decorating goodies. Teenie brought a few batches of sugar cookies, which was fortunate as she is an excellent baker. My cookies turned out not-so-pretty (but tasted good...that's why we decorate them, right?).

Lots of little hands decorating gingerbread houses. They were quite patient when they needed help with the frosting to assemble their houses; they just waited patiently while eating all the candies on the table.

Kate watching Teenie and me discuss the finer points of constructing gingerbread houses.

Ben, eyeing the goodies.

ND didn't make a house; she just ate red-colored candies.

Amy, licking her fingers.

Jolie and her daddy. She kept that dress clean throughout all the chaos.

This is the house that Glory built.

Kate's house. Built by a nurse practitioner, not an engineer. Lots of room for improvement next year.

The delicious fruits of our labor!

stuff my kid says

2012-01-08T23:04:00.002-07:00

We were invited to a flurry of holiday parties between Christmas and New Years'. Most of the parties are scheduled during those tedious bedtime hours, so we declined the majority of invitations. One afternoon, though, Sam had napped well and I was feeling particularly ~~cocky~~ confident, so while Joe put ND to bed that night, I loaded up Sam and joined my mom at an open house.

There were few, if any, kids there, but Sam did fairly well. He played with the Nativity set and looked at books. I had to remind him about nice manners a few times, but over all, things went well.

Of course, just when you feel like you have things under control, that's when the wheels fall off the bus.

I was visiting with a woman I'd grown up with and see about once a year when Sam keeps trying to talk to me. I turn to him and remind him, "When you want to talk, you say, Excuse me, Mom. And then you wait your turn."

Sam: Excuse me, Mom. Excuse me, Mom. Excuse me, MOM!!

Me: (turning from my conversation, a little exasperated): What, Sam?

Sam: I'm itchy.

Me: Ok. We'll go home soon and put on some lotion. (turn back to my conversation).

Sam: I'M ITCHY!

Me: Wait a minute, Sam. I'm almost done.

Sam: I'M ITCHY! MY BUTT IS ITCHY! I THINK YOU DIDN'T DO A GOOD JOB WIPING ME AND THERE IS SOME FLAT POOP STILL IN THERE, MOM!

Everyone in close proximity stops talking and looks at us.

Me: (pause. Turning back to my conversation). Um, ok. So, uh, good talking to you. We're, um, going to go now.

I think my new policy is going to be to decline all holiday invitations, but I'm really not sure we're going to be invited back next year.

For the record, I did an excellent job wiping him and there was absolutely no "flat poop" remaining. It was, as usual, his eczema. It's the Filipino-mother in me that makes me have to tell you this.

not one to share the spotlight

2012-01-07T21:04:00.004-07:00

We were watching old videos and Sam wanted me to shoot a new one of him. I asked him to sing a song and he chose "I'm a Little Teapot", mainly because he likes showing off that he can balance on one leg when he sings, "pour me out
".ND wanted a turn, too, but when Sam wanted to help her out with the lyrics of "Twinkle Twinkle", she would have none of it. (The last song is "This Little Light of Mine." Her favorite part is "Hide it under a bushel, no! I'm going to let it shine.")

Sam and ND

2012-01-05T22:22:00.001-07:00

Confessions of a Slacker Mom: How to Get Dinner on the Table

2012-01-04T22:05:00.003-07:00

1. Make some rigatoni beads. (Ok, so this post is not 100% slacker mom. You have to do a little real mom prep work).
2. Lure cranky kids to the table with the bribe of applesauce and a fun project.
3. Now, this could go one of two ways. You could have the kids entertain themselves with the pasta necklaces while you hurriedly make dinner or...

4. You sit on your slacker mom bum while your husband makes dinner.

I choose the latter.

and that's the news from Casa Kaufman...

2012-01-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been an extra chaotic week here at Casa Kaufman. We have had 10 days of nonstop Yuletide fun, which has left us overstimulated, exhausted, cranky and surrounded in mess and dirty laundry. We had to take New Year's Day off, away from any friends or family, and just stay home, watch movies, and try to make some sense of our life again.

Today, I sent the kids to daycare, unpacked, took down the Christmas tree, packed up Christmas decorations, did eight loads of laundry, put away Christmas presents, cleaned the house, went grocery shopping, and vacuumed out the two cars. Then I made dinner and drank two glasses of wine. Whew! It feels good to start the New Year with a clean house.
Joe spent the morning doing yardwork and taking down Christmas lights and then spent the afternoon sighting in his new rifle. Why does he need a new rifle? The man is going hunting in Africa this spring. Sam and he will spend a good hour pretend-stalking gemsbocks and kudus. Joe's pretty excited about his upcoming adventure and will bend your ear for a long hour or two about the intricacies of African hunting, the pros and cons of his new rifle, and other such things (after awhile I just tune him out. My brain gets too full). I'm told his rifle shoots pretty nice groupings at 175 yards. Watch out, Top Shot.
Sam LOVED! CHRISTMAS! EVERY! SINGLE! MINUTE! OF! IT! Our Christmas vacation started with super sitter Mary Kate coming to our house while I had to work (our daycare was closed). MK is now Sam's "best friend" and he was always sad to see her go at the end of the day. Team Eddy spent several days at our house and Sam's time was spent running with his cousins, fighting with Noah, and eating tons of sugar. Naps and bedtime were nonexistent and I ended up drugging him with Benadryl to just get his little body some much-needed sleep. (Actually, his eczema was bothering him terribly and kept him awake scratching quite a few nights, so judge me if you must, but the Benadryl actually served its real purpose).
ND is hitting more milestones every day. Her vocabulary has expanded to include "Santa" and "presents". She was equally excited to pass out Christmas presents as to open them. She keeps trying to jump, but hasn't hit that milestone yet. But, she can now count to seven by herself; I think it might be due to all the times I've threatened time-out and counted to ten as a warning over this crazy holiday. This just proves that while my discipline methods may not yield well-behaved children, at least they help with some school-readiness. She is working on potty training and I got some panties for her for Christmas, but, as with all things ND, she is training on her own terms. Her favorite activity is building with legos and she actually does a fairly good job. I'll leave you with this picture:

And that's the news from Casa Kaufman, where the dad is going to Africa, the mom is going crazy, and the children are above average. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T23:59:00.001-07:00

"ND dancing"

2011-12-26T21:51:00.001-07:00

playing with blocks

2011-12-20T22:53:00.002-07:00

One of the joys of being home more often is seeing my children play together. Help each other. Laugh together. Just look at them building together. With the token family dog in the background. If that's not Norman Rockwell-esque, I don't know what is.

Of course, this only lasted a few minutes. One of the not so joyful parts of being at home more often is sending your toddler to time out after intentionally destroying her brother's carefully built "tractor tank with a BIG gun". Where is that scene in Norman Rockwell?

my boys

2011-12-19T22:50:00.002-07:00

confessions of a slacker mom: setting up the Christmas tree

2011-12-18T22:24:00.003-07:00

Here's my confession: we've never had a Christmas tree in our post-kid/dog life.

It's not that I'm a scrooge. In fact, I love Christmas. Growing up, I loved decorating our tree with my sister, unwrapping each ornament and reminiscing. I love my Christmas ornaments with a nostalgic fierceness and didn't want to have to murder a dog or child should they happen to break one. So, we decided to forgo a Christmas tree of our own for the last 5 years.

This year, though, Sam kept asking when our Christmas tree would get here. So, a few weeks ago, we picked out a tree and set it up. Then, a few nights later when Joe had to work late, the kids and I decorated the tree.

I made my peace with the fact that kids (duh) would want to touch every. single. ornament. About one hundred times. Take them off the tree. Put them back on. Hide them in the couch. Stick them down their pants. (I am not even joking and you know it).

So, we used plastic-dollar store ornaments and garlands to decorate our tree. Problem solved. My precious ornaments from my own childhood are safely packed away for a time far, far from now when my children will not eat, break, or bury them and our little Christmas tree was cheerfully decorated. I unpacked our new ornaments and Sam, ND, and I oohed-and-aahed over each plastic animals, making animal sounds and holding lengthy discussions over where exactly each ornament should go. (Mainly on the front lower branches, in case you were wondering).

Joe got home in time to see the finished project.

Actually, this might be my favorite Christmas tree yet.

Girls' Night Out

2011-12-17T21:55:00.003-07:00

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Mom invited me to be her date at the Festival of Trees. Moms of young children are always eager for a chance to throw off their jeans and throw on a dress, so, of course, I said yes. We left Joe at home with the kiddos and headed out for the dinner and silent auction...

...but not before getting some pictures with the entourage.

Dinner was great and I either met or reconnected with a lot of people. Plus, I ended up winning a New Year's Eve package, which my mom kindly paid for and gave to Joe for his birthday. So, I still won!

Plus, when I got home, the kids had been fed, bathed and put to bed. Any mom of young kids can tell you what a luxury it is to skip the bedtime routine once in a while with the overtired tantrums and the wrangling of squirmy bodies into jammies all while the bedtime routine only makes the mom sleepy and does nothing to the children. Deliciously sleepy (and a little tipsy from the free wine with dinner), I shucked my heels, snuggled into my jammies and slept ALL through the night.

What a wonderful evening. We'll do it again next year, Mom.

Thanksgiving (part two)

2011-12-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

We started Day 2 of Thanksgiving OverEatFest with some more roughhousing. Well, I decided to burn off some of my calories by starting the day with a run, but the rest of my family decided they would rather wrestle. To each his own.

The Altmiller family Thanksgiving feasting was equally abundant, although the pies dominated our feast. Grandma made 4 pies and Dori donated 1, leaving 1/2 a pie per person. Good thing I went for a run.

I had to share all my pie with Andie, so that meant I got to eat twice as much.

This is Baby Peyton's first appearance on the blog. She's Mandy and Jerry's newborn daughter and is so snuggly.

While the adults recovered from their pie-coma, the kiddos played together.

Dan, Mom, Theresa, Grandma, Christina and Brandon

Joe loves pie, too.

Grandma didn't get to eat much pie because she was too busy snuggling Peyton.

Jolie and Andie snuggled their own babies.

And Sam can't wait until next Thanksgiving. (Yes, that's a slinky he's wearing as a belt).

Thanksgiving (part one)

2011-12-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Since it's almost Christmas, I thought I'd better get on posting about Thanksgiving. We started our Thanksgiving feasting at the Kaufmans' on Thanksgiving Day. There is a reason the phrase "Eat like a Kaufman" was coined and we ate like, well, Kaufmans twice that day. Our day consisted of two activities: 1) eating (or preparing food) and 2) roughhousing with uncles.

Roughhousing with uncles.

A roughhoused-uncle.

Andie's still a little timid (and should be!) about roughhousing with Sam.

Sam and Uncle Jeff

This little turkey is ready for turkey!

Being the dad of two small kids requires a cheerful attitude and a bottle or two of wine.

JD, the Kaufmans' Belgian foreign exchange student, celebrated his first Thanksgiving.

Mom K made a delicious meal.

Dad K carving the turkey.

And, more roughhousing with uncles.

and that's the news from Casa Kaufman

2011-12-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a chaotic week at Casa Kaufman:

We're recovering from overeating at Thanksgiving. I will attempt to post pictures soon, but who knows when I will get the time. We started our OverEatFest with the Kaufmans on Thursday, continued eating on Friday with the Altmillers, and then leftovers Saturday and Sunday. I joined a "Maintain, Don't Gain" over the holidays contest at my gym and am already losing. Oh, well.
Thursday evening, I boarded a flight to Seattle to meet up with Deanna for a whirlwind trip of shopping. About a year ago, I bought a pair of new J Crew khakis at a Jackson Hole thrift shop for five bucks and have been anxious to hit some major thrift store shopping since then. We shopped for eight hours straight on Friday and then a few hours on Saturday before she dropped me off at the airport. We hit 4 Goodwills and 4 consignment stores and at the end of the experience, I swear my abs were sore from all the bending over to try on clothes. I think I'll be making this an annual trip, especially for the kiddos. There are some crazy kids' consigment stores in Marysville where we got a screamin' deal on shoes.
After seeing all the Christmas lights in our neighborhood (if you haven't heard ND say Christmas lights yet, you must. It's the cutest thing ever.), Sam's been wondering when Christmas was going to come to our house. So, this weekend, we got a Christmas tree from the All Saints' school sale and we decorated it last night. I never appreciated the fine motor coordination that goes into hanging ornaments on branches until ND tried to do it. Maybe next year, baby girl.
I've found a new running buddy, who runs a slow pace like me, but has better endurance, so she's been pushing me and I've been running farther than I did on my own. I'm typically running 2-3 miles twice a week and getting in a 5mile run once a week at a 10:45 pace. Not breaking any speed records, but I'm amazed that I'm actually running!
Joe got a mule deer. He had a great time hunting with his dad and brothers, but the early mornings were a killer for all of us. ND seems to sense when her dad is leaving, so she was waking up (and waking me up!) at 4am those mornings. I'm glad I have another year until deer season hits again.

And that's the news from Casa Kaufman, where the mom unwraps Christmas lights, the dad hangs Christmas lights and the above-average kids love Christmas lights.

Andie and Lola

2011-12-01T22:13:00.002-07:00

One Saturday, I came in from raking our endlessly falling leaves/playing soccer with Sam (what? you don't play soccer when you rake leaves???) to find Andie nestled in my Lola's lap, sweetly reading a story. I don't know what surprised me more:

a) that Andie wanted to snuggle with someone who was not her mama,

or b) that my 84 year old Lola could lift my giant baby into her lap.

But, we are seeing more of Andie's sweet side as she gets older. She is still strong-willed and hot tempered, but we get more glimpses of pure joy on her face than we ever have before. Here are a few things Andie loves:

She loves to dance. She runs to the middle of the living room floor, stomps her feet in a circle, waves her arms around and then tiptoes while belly laughing.
She loves shoes. Amy, Lola, and I took a brief trip to Macy's and visited the shoe department. As soon as Andie saw all those shoes, she started clapping her hands and giggling with delight. Within seconds, her shoes were off and she was trying on every pair of shoes she could reach.
She loves chocolate milk. I swore I wouldn't let Andie get addicted to chocolate milk the way Sam so shamefully is, but the ban has been lifted. You try telling that cute little grin 'No' when she holds up her cup and says "Ma-mo chock-it milk peas". (That's "some more chocolate milk, please").
She loves the toliet. I wish I could say she loved potty-training, but I think she only wants to go because she likes putting toliet paper in the toliet, flushing it and getting a potty candy afterwards.
She loves Sam. She asks about him before he wakes up. She wants to everything he does--even if it lands them both in time out.

I'm not saying she is an easy baby by any means, but her goods are as good as her bads are bad. Andie-girl, you are growing up so fast. You challenge us as parents every single day, but the rewards are super sweet.

sick pirate Sam

2011-11-30T22:06:00.002-07:00

Last week, Joe was supposed to be on a long-awaited hunting vacation. He had drawn a special mule deer tag and had been looking forward to a week of hunting. But, Sam ended up catching a cold from daycare, which left our usual uber-active boy fairly lethargic and running a fever, so Joe--good daddy that he is--took a day off of hunting to stay home with Sam.

You know Sam is sick when he falls asleep in front of the TV. He is not sick enough, however, to let go of his brand new pirate sword.

confessions of a slacker mom

2011-11-29T16:00:00.002-07:00

Here's a slacker mom tip:
When cold and flu season hits, dress your toddler in brown clothes as much as possible.
You'll save on the Spray-and-Wash when her diarrhea flows over the top of her Pull-Up.

game night

2011-11-27T21:50:00.003-07:00

Teenie loves games and, so, last year, she and Steve gave Sam two of his very own board games: Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. It took awhile, but now he is a board-gamin' fiend. When Lola came to visit us a few weeks ago, we had family game night: Sam took out the games. Lola brought some apritada and pancit. I brought my appetite.

Chutes and Ladders proved to be a little challenging for both Sam and Lola (I'm not sure if it's her senility that keeps her from following the rules or her desire to win even if it means cheating), so we moved on to Candyland and had so much fun, we played several games. Sam is learning the fine art of sportsmanship. He's pretty good at consoling other players when they lose a turn ("It's ok. Sometimes that happens.") but still is working on not being a poor loser. Pretty good for a three year old, though.

When Uncle Noy came to pick up Lola at the end of the weekend, we invited him to play a quick game of Candyland. Uncle Noy has a gift with little children: he devotes his full attention to the child's conversation and listens with an intention that leaves the child feeling understood and important. I remember feeling this way as a young child (less so as a teenager!) whenever I talked with Uncle Noy.

That gift was not lost on Sam. He sat by Uncle Noy, explained the rules, and prattled on about all things that interest three year old boys: superheroes, monster trucks, tractors, combines, and bad guys. He was especially sad to see Uncle Noy and Lola go after the game was finished, but they all promised to come again for another game night soon.

In the meantime, this mama is growing a little weary of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. If you have any other great suggestions for board games (we just need a little variety--nothing against Candyland), please share them in the comments section.

confessions of a slacker mom

2011-11-26T21:32:00.003-07:00

The objective: Put away the crazy chaotic mess of toys that occurs when six (yes, count them SIX...we added Ben to the Co-op Kids for an evening) children 5 and under are playing in the living room.

The solution: Clean-Up Race!

(You must say it as an exclamation! Or you are missing the point! This is an exciting thing!)

1. Kids line up on the couch.

2. Set the timer for five minutes.

3. Say "GO!" and start the timer.

4.. Kids frantically put away toys, dirty clothes, books as fast as they can for five minutes. Things may not end up in the right spot, but everything magically disappears off the floor.

5. When the timer sounds, you must stop picking up and run to the couch.

6. And, the secret to my success with Clean-Up Race!: Pay each kid two marshmallows for cleaning up. Works every time. Sometimes, Sam even asks to have a Clean-Up Race! and I'm like "Ok, twist my arm. I guess I will have to give you two marshmallows at the end."

Child labor is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

painting 101

2011-11-25T21:05:00.003-07:00

I'm the fun Ninang. So, I always get my delightful godchildren fun gifts: swords, guns, water tables, loud obnoxious toys. Kate, Glory, and Noah love them. Amy and Kevin hate them. They always threaten revenge, but really, they aren't as good at picking out obnoxious gifts as I am.

But, when I came across this gift for Kate and Glory's third birthday, being obnoxious was not my first priority. Sure, it was a painting project. Sure, it would be messy. But, really, I was drawn to it because it was a) a set of 4 paintable dogs that was b) a project to wile away the winter hours without c) breaking the budget.

Kevin did not view it the same way I did.

The second the girls opened the gift, they (of course) wanted to paint it. I patiently explained that they would have to wait until Ninang went home; it was something to do with Mom and Dad as a quality time/family togetherness sort of project. There was tears and sadness, but everyone seemed to understand.

Everyone except Kevin.

Kevin brought the paintable dogs down to Lewiston last weekend so I could supervise the painting. I don't think he saw it as a family togetherness project. He seemed to view it as punishment for me.

You know what? Stick it in your ear, Kevin. I'm not afraid of a little paint.

Or, a lot of paint, as it turned out. The kids had a fabulous time creating their dogs, but really, most of the paint (as you probably already guessed it) was everywhere but the dogs.

Painting time quickly changed to bathtime and scrub-down-the-entire-kitchen time. But, never one to admit defeat, I say cheerily to you, Kevin Eddy: Bring it on. I'll paint again any day.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

2011-11-24T21:42:00.010-07:00

Just in case you wanted to see Joe in his 'stache, too.

And, happy third birthday, Kate and Glory!

If I were a vampire...

2011-11-23T15:56:00.000-07:00

Maybe you remember my Twilight obsession? Sparked my cousin Tancie and mom-friend LeAnne, my obsession quickly consumed all aspects of my life, turning into the game "If I were a vampire". The obsession spread to my sister, Amy, and last week, she called me after watching the last Twilight movie.

Me: So, how was the movie?
Amy: Great, of course. You should go see it. Even Kevin liked it, even though I had to keep explaining everything to him. He was all, 'Why is that werewolf hanging out with that toddler?' But, I liked the whole thing. Well, mostly everything...
Me: What?
Amy: Well, you know how in the movies, no one ever does chest compressions right? When Edward is pumping the vampire venom into Bella's heart, his arms are all bent and he's hardly pushing at all.
Me: Right, right...
Amy: But, then after we got home, Kevin said, 'You know, if you were a vampire, you wouldn't have to push very hard to do chest compressions either. You'd be so strong--one little flick and you'd get that blood pumping.'

white coat hypertension

2011-11-20T22:36:00.001-07:00

Doc, our sweet, dumb rescue keeps rackin' up the medical bills. A few months before Andie was born, we found out he had a heart murmur and shelled out a pretty penny for a cardiology consult. Things looked ok, but the cardiologist recommended he have a check up in 6 months.

Well, the chaos of having a new baby (and not ANY new baby, but Miss Andie and her bad sleepin' ways), getting a new job, moving to Lewiston led us to fall behind on Doc's check up, so I scheduled an appointment for his and Schatzi's annual vaccinations with a local vet and asked them if they could check his blood pressure.

THROUGH THE ROOF!

Of course, if you know Doc, you know he's always a bit anxious and when he goes to the vet, he's a total basketcase. So, despite being on medication, his blood pressure has been running through the roof. In people, we call this white-coat hypertension (a blood pressure that is only high at the doctor's office but normal at home), but apparently, the vet isn't buying this explanation. So, I've been taking him in for a blood pressure reading every 2 weeks. I've been working this in between my usual routine of laying on the couch and eating bon bons, you know. I mean, I love Doc, but it's a little chaotic to drop the kids off at Grandma's, load up Doc, calm him down, take him to the vet's, calm him down, etc...not to mention remembering to give him his medicine every day. (Three years ago, I would have been appalled at myself for thinking this way, but two kids later, your priorities shift).

Finally, after a month of this back-and-forth, his BP is finally a little better and his vet and I have agreed to let it go for awhile. Away from the vet's office, he seems his usual sweet self, happy to let anyone who wants pet him and hug him (unless it's Andie...then he steers clear of her hair-pulling hands).

Darin's birthday cake

2011-11-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

You probably heard that the Gemmers came to visit us (I didn't do very well at taking many pictures, so visit Deanna's blog for a recap here and here). They survived the long drive and we welcomed them in time for dinner and a birthday party. It was Darin's birthday and I made a chocolate peanut butter cake from a recipe a co-worker gave me earlier that week. Delicious!

Happy birthday, Darin!

Little Mama

2011-11-16T09:26:00.002-07:00

Warning: This post contains pictures of an anatomically correct baby doll and his little mama.

double barreled binky

2011-11-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

when bad haircuts happen to good people

2011-11-09T22:14:00.001-07:00

In college, I used to cut my friend Tony's hair. It was super easy. A few passes with the clippers and he was done. I didn't have the same luck cutting Joe's hair, though, and a few months into our newlywed life, the charm of cutting his hair had worn off. Since then, he's left his hair in the capable hands of his barber, Sally.

So, a few days before our family pictures, I decided that Sam and I both needed haircuts. However, I was pretty sure I could trim up Sam's hair a little around the ears and save myself ten bucks at SuperCuts. One night (as I was single-mom-ing it since Joe was at a late night meeting), I scooped him out of the bathtub, wrapped him in a towel and proceeded to ~~hack~~ trim away.

It was a little more difficult than I imagined. A wiggly three year old who kept wanting to look at what I was doing, which led to some choppy hair.

Joe got home.

Joe: What happened to Sam's hair?

Me: Well, I thought I'd trim it up before our pictures.

Joe: Oh?

Me: It was going okay, but then Andie pooped in the bath water. She kept yelling, 'Andie poop! Andie poop!' and it just added a little tension to the whole scenario. I tried to cut as fast as I could so I could get Andie out of the tub before she touched her poop. But, Sam kept moving around trying to look at me cutting his hair and then trying to look at Andie's poop, too.

Joe: (thoughtful pause). Maybe it was time to just put the scissors down.

You know it's bad when your laidback husband whose motto is "the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is two weeks" criticizes (however mildly) your haircutting skills (skilz?). Looks like I'll be shelling out the ten bucks for Sam's haircuts in the future.

*I suppose I should mention I took these pictures about two weeks AFTER his disastrous haircut. I couldn't subject you guys to the graphic nature of the real thing. Blogger would probably censor me for offensive content.*

stuff my kid says

2011-11-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

Sam while explaining the rules of Chutes and Ladders to Joe--
(pointing to a ladder) This one is a ladder. You land on it, you go up.
(pointing to a chute) This one is a chute. You land on a chute, you have to go down. Sometimes, my mom calls it a 'dang-it'.

off in Lala-land

2011-11-08T22:41:00.008-07:00

Last Saturday, I went for a run, but on my way back, ended up slipping on some ice and bruising my hip. I hobbled home to find my kids snuggled in front of Backyardigans, Lala making salsa, and my husband making breakfast.

Me: Didn't you guys wonder why it took me an hour to run three miles?
Joe: Well, I started to wonder. But, Mom kept saying not to worry, you were tough. What happened? Did you fall in a ditch or something? (joking)
Me: Well, yeah...sort of.

I explained my misadventure, lamenting my bruised hip and my ripped pants.

Me: Now I'll have to add some running pants to my Christmas list.
Joe: Maybe you could mend them.
Me: Joe. They're stretchy. That's really tough to sew. (I say it like I'm an expert seamstress even though I barely survived basic 4-H sewing).
Lala, who has been uncharacteristically silent this whole time, looks up from chopping vegetables.
Lala: I can mend that for you.
Me: Really?
Lala: I can pretty much do anything, you know.

She's nothing if not modest.

the Sandman Chronicles: Throwing Down the Gauntlet

2011-11-06T21:16:00.003-07:00

After yet another ear infection that left us struggling through our days in a sleep-deprived stupor, Joe and I decided we finally had to wean Andie off her bottle. A week later, she was sleeping soundly with the aid of only her pacifier and we enjoyed a (mostly) restful night's sleep for the first time in ages.

Sure our major nighttime challenges were behind us, we looked forward to rejoining the world of the well-rested. We made plans to exercise more, clean more, shower more and doze less, cry less, and eat less. The world was our oyster...or so we thought.

After a week of sleeping through the night, Andie decided our nights were much too boring and threw down the gauntlet.

Challenge #1: Climbing out of her crib.
Yes. I can't believe it either. Sam NEVER climbed out of his crib and still asks permission to get out of his big boy bed in the morning. One night, Sam had to go potty, so while Sam and Joe shuffled off to the bathroom, I went to clean the kitchen. Andie was yelling after them in her crib, "Andie, too! Andie, too!" and we, as usual, ignored her complaints, shushing her and telling her she needed to go to sleep.

Two seconds later, we heard a THUD. I ran into the bedroom and Andie scurried into my arms, unhurt, but she was as startled as I was that she had successfully made it out of the crib. I put her back in. She climbed back out.

No problem. This ain't my first rodeo. Joe popped up a crib tent as I looked on with smug satisfaction, sure we'd be back to our boring, restful nights in no time.

Challenge #2: Stripping naked.
Two nights later, Andie started wailing in the middle of the night and I sent Joe to check on her. A few seconds in the wailing, she started saying, "Andie potty. Andie potty. Cold." Well, that's unusual, I thought, so I got up, too.

We found our darling daughter had stripped off her pajamas and diaper...and then peed all over her bed. Again, not my first rodeo (thank you Eddy twins for instilling me with this wisdom), I put her diaper AND jammies on backwards. I'd like to see her get out of that! Joe changed the sheets and we popped that baby back into her bed.

Challenge #3: Doesn't like backward pajamas
So, at this point, we've covered our bases, but Andie still is waking up frequently throughout the night. Joe figures out she doesn't like her backward PJs...maybe the zipper is uncomfortable or she doesn't like the way the PJ legs have to twist around to make the footies fit the right way. We're feeling less smug and I return to my nightly ritual of saying several Hail Marys to beg for a good night's sleep. (Please don't think me blasphemous, but I'm pretty sure that Mary would empathize much more with a mother's prayer for sleep than God would.)

Finally, we come up with the solution of forward-facing jammies, backward diaper, and a sweatshirt over the whole caboodle so she can't easily access the zipper.

So far, so good.

Knock on wood--right now. Go outside, turn around three times and spit. Don't jinx it.

Halloween (part two)

2011-11-04T22:13:00.002-06:00

Halloween Day itself was a full day of celebration. I took the day off so I could help take Sam and Andie's daycare trick-or-treating at the high school. I didn't include any photos here because of privacy issues, but try to picture 15 kids, 4 and under, hyped up on candy and dressed in costumes, 2 babies in a stroller, 2 babies in a wagon, and 1 crying Andie. It was a crazy, fun, loud parade as we visited classrooms. The high school kids were awesome. We visited Ms. Dinges' class, who had the big kids sing Halloween carols to the little kids. She invited all the little kids to stand up in the front, introduce themselves, and describe their costumes. Sam was all over that. He jumped up and said, "I'm Sam Kaufman and I'm a pirate" clear as day...and then proceeded to tell Ms. Dinges whom everyone was and what they were wearing.

After trick-or-treating, we headed home for some much-needed naps and (Halloween miracle of miracles) Sam and Andie NAPPED AT THE SAME TIME. So, I NAPPED TOO! Ah. I love Halloween.

I finally woke up Sam from his nap with a bribe to take him on a bike ride to the park. We loaded up the bike and jogging stroller and drove down to the levy. I'd thought I'd jog slowly (which is the only speed I jog) while Sam rode his bike, but it turns out the kid pedals like a turtle. I did a fair bit of jogging in place and circling around him with Andie in the jogging stroller, coaxing him to just go a little faster, please. After an eternity, we finally made it to the park to play for a bit before beginning the eternal bike ride back to the car.

Joe met us at the cars with some tacoes (he is such a good husband), so we could eat before trick-or-treating.

First stop: Jacquie and Earl's house, my adopted grandparents. I've known them forever and over the years, we've become part of their family. (Mary Kate, super sitter, is their granddaughter. I taught her older sister, Kristin, piano lessons many moons ago). We changed into our costumes at their house, although I didn't have my pig nose for my swine flu costume, so I was merely a Runner.

Second stop: Hank and Mary's house. Hank was Joe's confirmation sponsor and they are always so good to our kiddos. They gave out full-size candy bars! FULL SIZED CANDY BARS! I love Halloween.

Third stop: Grandma A (that's my grandma)'s house. We had great timing because my cousin Mandy, her mom, Jolie and that sweet baby Peyton were visiting, too.

We wrapped up the night with some door-belling on Grandma's street. They have nice sidewalks (our street doesn't) and the candy was flowing free and easy. Several people commented on how clever we were to dress Joe as a safari hunter and Andie as his little giraffe. We nodded and smiled, never letting on that there was no intention behind that act, we just happened to have a giraffe costume as a hand-me-down.

We wrapped up the night by meeting Dori at our house. Andie, in an unusual display of affection, ran out of the car into her Grandma's arms and gave her huge hug. It was rather heart-warming (any of you readers who know Andie personally can attest to this). Dori put Sam and Andie to bed so Joe and I could go to the haunted Corn Maze.

I don't do well with being scared. I tend to scream at the slightest provocation. But, I took it as a personal challenge to go through the Haunted Corn Maze. I was pretty sure I was going to wet my pants and Joe kept asking me why I wanted to do this. It just called my name. "Jen...Jen...you're not afraid? Are you?"

Well, yes, I was. I clenched Joe's hand so tightly his thumb lost circulation. I screamed whenever we encountered another person--be it haunter, fellow maze-goer, whatever. I was thankful my husband had a good sense of direction and led us out of there in under half an hour because otherwise I would have been trapped in that maze with the crazy chainsaw guy for a few hours.

As we reached the exit, I breathed a sigh of relief. Joe turned to me and said, "So, do you want to go through again?"

No, thank you. I did not. I wanted to go to Phil's nice warm trailer and have a beer. Which is what we did.

Hope your Halloween was just as happy!

Halloween (part one)

2011-11-03T22:00:00.004-06:00

We kicked off our Halloween weekend with a drive to my cousin, Valley's, house in CDA. At my Papa's funeral, we all wondered why we only saw each other during sad times, so we decided to change that habit and made plans to get together for Halloween party. Valley and Scott graciously offered to host the party, although Valley was a little distracted during the planning...since her first grandson was born just a few weeks ago.

Nevertheless, we had a great time. Team Eddy drove over from Spokane. We drove up from Lewiston (we had a few hours to kill before the party, so we took a side trip to Cabela's, which is a favorite of Joe's). Jake, Josh, and Heather drove over from Montana. Kassi drove up from Moscow. When you think about it, Coeur d'Alene is a pretty central location.

Unicorn Kate, Knight Noah, Unicorn Glory, Pirate Sam, Giraffe Andie

Pirate Scott, Safari Hunter Joe, Dr. Acula (get it? DrAcula?)

I was the Swine Flu. I was pretty pleased with my clever costume until Kate lost my nose and everyone kept asking me why I came in my pajamas.

Group photo! A disproportionate amount of pirates in the crew. Hhmm...

Everyone had great costumes and there was a fair deal of swapping costume pieces (and later full costumes) to be done by the little kids. Heather kindly bestowed her pirate sword on my little pirate while Noah the Knight got to try out Josh's gladiator costume.

Nine o'clock rolled around and the party was still in full swing, but our kiddos were (wait for it) turning into pumpkins so we had to say good-bye and get them off to bed.

family photos

2011-11-02T22:00:00.000-06:00

You probably already noticed the new blog layout. We had our family pictures taken last weekend by a dear friend and talented photographer. You can see a better sampling on her website.

Thanks to Phil, for lending us the scenery!

Thanks to the Gemmers for driving all the way out here to shoot our pictures. You were miracle workers; we didn't think it was possible to get any pictures of Andie without her binky, but you didn't shoot a single one with her binky in her mouth! (I'd brought a color-coordinated one just in case, though).

It was a great time. We're going to have to make this an annual tradition. (If any of you readers out there want to tag along next year while the photographer is in town, let me know).

off in Lala-land

2011-11-02T21:52:00.003-06:00

While unloading the dishwasher...

Lala: Look at this dish, Jen. You can't put it right up against a plate or it doesn't get clean. Do you see what I'm saying?

Me: Mmm-hmm.

Lala: Juni, you know you have to really rinse the dishes before you put them in.

Me: Mom, maybe it's time to get a new dishwasher. This dishwasher is 15 years old. It's not working so well these days. Besides, the rack is starting to rust.

Joe: Yeah. I stabbed myself on a broken point of the rack the other day.

Lala: Oh, it just seems so wasteful to get a whole new dishwasher just because we need a new rack.

Me: Mom, how about we get a new dishwasher because the old dishwasher just doesn't wash dishes?

Lala mutters under her breath.

Me: What?

Lala: I just don't think a dishwasher can really wash dishes. It just can't do it.

What can you say to a nonbeliever like that?

combine demolition derby

2011-10-24T20:58:00.004-06:00

What? You are looking at the title of this post and shaking your head...does that mean you've never been to a combine demolition derby? Seriously? Doesn't everyone go to these things?

Well, I guess not everyone goes. Despite being an Idaho native, I attended my very first combine demolition derby last month. Steve & Phil had donated an old combine to the cause and we all showed up in force to cheer #13 on. (If these still photos bore you, trying checking out this video clip from a few years back).

Uncle Jeff and Sam. See how Sam can't look at the camera? He's too busy ogling the combines.

Loretta, Ellea, and Andie. They think Andie doesn't like them. Well, Andie doesn't really like anybody. But, she's sitting on Ellea's lap, pointing out a "com-bine" (sometimes a "bine-com"), so I'd say she DOES like them.

Another plus of the combine demo derby: FAIR FOOD. Greasy burgers, elephant ears, etc. Here's Sam chowing down on Grandma's burger.

Look, Ma, no kids! My ten minutes of Andie-free time were spent chugging a beer and sitting by my husband. It was like a date.

All the little combines in a pretty row.

Ellea and Andie again.

Lucky number 13

Lucky number 13 broke this brown combine's axle. Whoo hoo!

Kauf-MEN: Joe, Fred, Sam, and Phil

During a break, Sam, Morgan, Phil and Papa pretended to be T-rexes with "little arms". It's way funnier than it sounds.

The combines faced off in several small groups, with each heat producing a winner to compete in the finals. It made for a long afternoon, during which Sam was entertained by his multiple male relatives, and (Mommy-Klingon) Andie sat squarely in my lap, being a no-nap grump, for about 90% of the afternoon. We didn't make it to the final heat...by that time, Andie was in no-nap meltdown.

Sam, though, had a fabulous time. He continually talks about combines crashing into each other and we play combine-demolition-derby on our living room floor with whatever toy tractors and trucks tend to be around. He clearly remembers that #13 took the Brown Combine out of the running by breaking its rear axle, so that's his favorite move. "Uh-oh. Looks like I broke your axle, Mom."

Joe, of course, was thrilled. He was riveted by the action and tried to get closer to the action whenever he had a chance. We'll probably all try it again next year...provided we can get Andie a good long nap somewhere in there.

coffee-holic

2011-10-22T20:36:00.001-06:00

Amy and my mom LOVE coffee (well, Amy does when she is not pregnant). When Amy was a toddler, she used to drink out of my mom and Grandma's coffee cups...even plain black coffee. I guess Andie is jsut following in her Ninang's footsteps.

lazy blogger-itis

2011-10-20T21:09:00.002-06:00

Miss Independent, practicing her post-bath lotioning skills. Yep, it's as messy as it looks.

Joe and Sam putting together a cardboard Batman

Guess what Sam is going to be for Halloween? He's just bummed I wouldn't buy him the overpriced plastic sword. I'm pretty sure I could make one out of cardboard that won't give his sister a black eye and won't cost thirty bucks.

Little Mama. Andie and Sam met Mandi & Jerry's new baby, Peyton, when she was one day old. Both got to hold her and since then, Andie's been rocking her dollies and singing to them. Sam keeps reminding us that we need another baby.

Ah. Watching Backyardigans. TV--the great peacemaker.

A girl and her ever-present binky watching the combine demolition derby. This was the first time she ever said, "Combine!". Later, she got it confused and said, "Bine-com!" Close enough.

off in Lala-land

2011-10-18T21:52:00.002-06:00

We found a few unflattering pictures of my Mom when we were backing up our old pictures. Now, before you think I'm awful daughter for posting them on "Off in Lala-land", I just want to point out that it was Lala who taught me the fine art of sneaking up on a person while they're sleeping a snapping a quick picture...and also the fine art of making these pictures into a calendar to pass out to the rest of the family come New Year's. Yeah, Mom. What goes around comes around.

I was dropping Mom off at work one day after we'd worked out at lunch, when she mentioned she was having a computer problem.

Lala: So, I was checking my email and I got an email from my friend, Betsy, with this link about a penis. I thought 'Why would Betsy be sending me a link about penises?'. But, when I clicked on the link, it kicked me out of the email and the computer just shut down.

Me: You did WHAT? Mom, how many times have I told you not to click on links like that??

Lala: I know, but you know I'm just curious.

Me: Remember when your friend sent you a message on Facebook to "check this out"? And you checked it out and it was a virus? Remember that?

Lala: I know. But why would Betsy be sending me a message about penises? That's not like her.

Me: Betsy is NOT sending you a message about penises. Her email account got hacked. Don't click on links like that any more.

Lala: Well, I was just curious...

U of I homecoming

2011-10-16T22:13:00.000-06:00

Afew weeks ago, we suited up in our black and gold to cheer on the Vandals at their homecoming game. (We lost). Given that my alma mater (Seattle University--go Redhawks!) doesn't have a homecoming, I was unprepared for the massive tailgate party that accompanied the game. Joe's uncle Dave and his wife Jean set up a few awnings with a massive food spread and we chowed down, drank beer, and listened to the radiobroadcast of the game while our kids played on the grass.

Andie & Ben play on the grass. Check out Ben's Vandal gear! I'm ashamed to say we dropped by our local Goodwill and picked up some gold shirts on our way to the party for our kids. We'll try to do better next year...although my frugal side (did you know I had one??) says spending $2 on school spirit ain't bad.

The Palouse Kaufmans. Teenie's mom, Cynthia, and sister Beth (and baby Clara) also came up.

The Phil Kaufman fan club

Dads on Duty. What better way to watch kids than sitting with your brother and having a beer?

Andie in a rare affectionate moment with her daddy.

Uncle Jeff and Sam

Andie, Jeff, and Sam. Jeff is actually holding both kids at shoulder level for this shot. Strong muscles, Kaufman!

Ben and Ellea

Who is that kid? Oh, it's Andie. I almost didn't recognize her without her omnipresent binky.

My favorite Vandal, pushing his two kiddos back to the car.

We had a fabulous time, although I listened to ZERO PERCENT of the game and didn't even realize we lost until the next day. Yes, I am that dedicated of a fan. By that time, though, I'd already gone for a run that morning and spent four hours that afternoon playing on the lawn with my over-active children, so I was ready to go home and put my feet up/take a hot bath/drink yet another beer. Andie & Sam were equally worn out and slept the whole way home.

Good food, good company, not-so-good of a football team (not that I really care)...we'll be back next year.

confessions of a slacker mom: grocery shopping

2011-10-15T20:26:00.000-06:00

Rules for surviving grocery shopping:

Come prepared. Create a list the night before. Put grocery bags in the car the night before. Warn children the night before that the next day will require a trip to the grocery store.
If your schedule allows, shop during the early morning hours to avoid excessive waiting. If your schedule does not allow for this, I recommend bringing two parents.
Tire children out beforehand by going to the park first.
Only shop at stores that provide truck carts.
Review the rules for grocery shopping with the children while still safely buckled in the car

.1)We only buy what is on the list. 2)We stay in the truck cart at all times. 3) If we do a good job sticking to rules 1 & 2, we can get a special treat at the end of the trip.

pumpkin-palooza

2011-10-14T21:21:00.001-06:00

After a whirlwind morning of grocery-shopping, buying Sam's Halloween costume, and picking out pumpkins, we arrived home barely in time for naptime. Andie had been up the night before (Night #1 sans bottle) and was exhausted, so I put her down right after lunch and Sam and I got to work on our pumpkins.

Sam scooped out the pumpkin guts while I got to work carving off the lid on the next one. At first, he looked at me worriedly, saying, "Uh-oh, Mom. This is messy." I reassured him it was supposed to be messy and the rest of the afternoon, he chanted while he scooped, "It's s'posed to be messy. It's s'posed to be messy."

Sam requested a "happy pumpkin, like me". What do you think? Can you see the resemblance?

Andie had, unfortunately, picked a rotten pumpkin. The stem and a chunk of the top fell off when I was lifting it into the car, so after we got her down for a nap, we decided to just throw the pumpkin away. When she woke up, I told her her pumpkin had shrunk. (Things are always changing size at our house. Judge me if you must. I'm not above a few white lies if it avoids a meltdown). Thank goodness for the gullibility of 20 month olds. She was happy, touching her now-small pumpkin, cooing, "Pumpkin. Andie's pumpkin." Sam thought we should have a happy pumpkin and a sad pumpkin (we're all about opposites these days), so Andie's pumpkin has a sad face. (If only I could have made a pumpkin with a stink-eye....)

The next day, we bought candles, and when the sun went down, we lit our jack-o-lanterns.

and that's the news from Casa Kaufman

2011-10-13T17:26:00.002-06:00

ANDIE STARTED POTTY TRAINING HERSELF!

Independence

2011-10-12T22:12:00.000-06:00

Andie is in that ever-so-fun stage where her desire for independence exceeds her actual skill level, particularly with putting on her socks and shoes. She will give you the stink-eye and shout, "No-no-no!" if you attempt to place them on her feet.

But, two seconds later, she is giving you the stink-eye and shouting, "Help, please! Help, please!"

You just can't win.

And then her shoes end up on the wrong feet.

confessions of a slacker mom

2011-10-11T21:54:00.000-06:00

I recently read Growing Strong Daughters. In it, McMinn talks the way our children mimic us in play, likening the way they strive to be like us as the way we strive to be like Christ.

Stop. Let that sink in a minute.

Talk about pressure.

Unforunately, my children's mother has a lot of work to do when it comes to being Christ-like. So, instead of seeing my children reflect holy behaviors, I see them reflect all of my imperfections.

Last week, Joe had to work late every. single. night. I picked up kids, took them to soccer, got them home and fed them dinner by myself after working an especially challenging week. It was getting late. I was exhausted and starving and Andie would not come in the front door.

Me: Andie, it's time to come inside. I need you to come to me now.
Andie doesn't move. She smiles her sassy little grin and takes a step further away.
Me: (deep breath). Andie, I'm counting to three. One. Two--
Sam: Andie! Come inside now! NOW! You better come inside or I'm gonna leave ya! Andie! Come inside or you can't watch a movie! One-two-three-four-[always forgets five]-six-seven-eight-nine-ten! Hustle your muscle*!

If that weren't bad enough, before I can do anything else, Sam changes parenting tacts.
Sam: (cooing voice) Andie, do you want to come inside with me? I have a candy for ya. I have caaan-dy!

Really. I must do better.

*I actually say, "Hustle your bustle", which is what a skating coach used to say to me in my younger days, but I think I may adopt Sam's "Hustle your muscle"...it's catchier.

coffee with the Waldon women

2011-10-09T15:19:00.002-06:00

Friday morning found us in Moscow, picking up one of Joe's shotguns from a local gunsmith, so we decided to swing by Palouse and visit the Palouse Kaufmans. Christina's mom and sister, Beth, were visiting and, if you haven't had coffee with this group of Waldon women, you are missing out. They are self-professed "over-sharers", which leads to animatedly-told stories, hilarious laughter, and mildly raucous behavior.

I'm told it gets worse when they break out the wine and board games, but I haven't witnessed that myself yet.

Teenie, true to form, had baked pumpkin cookies and her Grandma Waldon's banana bread, so we plopped ourselves down, drank coffee, and stuffed goodies in our mouths while enjoying the back-and-forth between sisters, mom and daughter.

Then, the babies woke up.

Clara, Beth and Curtis' angel baby who slept through the night since she was 3 months old (not that I'm jealous, although I did send Andie to talk to Clara and get some tips) woke up first. She's a cute smiley chatterbox whose trim physique doesn't quite match her chunky cousin (although Ben, of course, matches HIS chunky cousin quite nicely. It's been awhile since we've seen Ben and found that he and Andie are exactly the same size).

Andie and Clara enjoyed crawling through the coffee table and working on their matching purple binkies. Well, Clara is still in that delightfully immobile stage, so she sat there and smiled through the glass top.

Ben was too busy dancing and hamming it up. I couldn't catch a picture of all three of them, so this is the only picture I got of Ben.

A "quick visit" turned into two hours and we decided we'd better hit the road. Andie had so much fun she was asleep as soon as her carseat was buckled, so Joe and I had a peaceful ride home, listening to NPR and chowing down on A&W fries and fry sauce. (Just so you know, we count that sort of thing as a date. That's what happens when you have small children).

A shiny new (looking) gun, a great visit with the Waldon women, and a date with fries and fry sauce...what a day!

Co-op Kid Chaos: a smattering of random pictures of the kiddos

2011-10-08T22:12:00.000-06:00

Kate & Glory, playing with a ~~Ken~~ Kevin doll. (They insist his name is Kevin, just like their daddy's).

With 4 non-nappers, we have to have some quiet structured activities in the afternoon. We made "Peyton babies" to celebrate Amanda's new daughter's impending arrival and then traced number-shaped cookie cutters.

ND and her "baby-baby"

ND loves to feed people. It's really cute...and gross. I subject Kevin to things like this all the time. He has it coming.

Sam and Noah, playing cooperatively for once.

the Sandman Chronicles: Things that go bump in the night

2011-10-07T15:05:00.000-06:00

Sleep has hit an all new low at our house.

Andie has been getting up 3 to 4 times a night, crying and yelling for a bottle. All this crying and yelling got so chaotically loud that it woke up Sam, which just added another dimension of wakefulness during a time when we should all be dead asleep. In my sleep-deprived state, it took me about a week of this to realize this meant she had yet another ear infection.

Of course, I realized Andie had another ear infection on a Friday afternoon, when her pediatrician was booked up until Monday. Not wanting to chance a weekend with absolutely NO sleep, I took a peek in her ears and saw pepperoni-red ear drums. Now, I'm no expert, but even this gastroenterology NP could tell they were infected. A round of Augmentin later, she's no longer pulling at her ears.

But, this being her 10th or so ear infection this year, we came to a difficult decision: it's officially time to wean her off the bottle. (Yes, I know she was supposed to be weaned a mere 8 months ago. You stop sleeping through the night for 20 months and see how well you follow the American Academy of Pediatric guidelines, ok?).

Of course, this means that she's still not sleeping at night. She's spending two to three hours screaming for a bottle. Joe and I take turns going in, rocking her and giving her the binky, all night long.

We are t.i.r.e.d.

Last night, I heard her crying and jumped out of bed to check on her. Somehow, in my sleep-deprived state, I walked straight into the closed bedroom door. The loud crash shook Joe from his sleep. My nose is still sore this morning.

Here's hoping to a better night's sleep sometime in the near future.

the Sandman Chronicles: Big Boy Bed

2011-10-06T20:52:00.001-06:00

A month or so ago, we sleep-deprived parents had hit our limit of nighttime awakenings with Andie, so we decided to move Sam into our room for a couple of nights and have Andie work out her nighttime issues on her own.

Miraculously, she slept through the whole night each of those three nights.

We, however, did not. Sam tosses and turns in his sleep like a bull in a china shop, crashing and banging against the wall all night. He sleeps great. His roommates do not.

We ultimately came up with the theory that Sam was too big for his little toddler bed, so when he rolled, the bed would crash against the wall. Testing this theory, we put him on the floor on a twin mattress...a big boy bed.

Since then, our nights have been relatively calm. He's fallen out of bed a few nights and hasn't quite figured out that he can get back into bed himself. Over all, though, he loves his big boy bed.

And, so does Andie. Every night, when we say "Time for bed!", she picks up her blankie and races to Sam's bed, flinging herself down on his pillow. She's a little girl all in a hurry to grow up.

it takes all kinds of people

2011-10-05T21:48:00.001-06:00

We've got all kinds of people in this crazy family.

Short people, tall people. White people. Filipinos. Catholics. Conservative Christians.

It makes life interesting. A little crazy.

And fun.

remembering Papa

2011-10-03T21:01:00.122-06:00

The week of Papa's death and funeral was a whirlwind. Being the only locally available, nonpregnant granddaughter, I wanted to help Grandma with the arrangements as much as possible. That, added to an extra busy work week for both Joe and me, and our usual level of chaos at our house, left me exhausted by the time Papa's vigil rolled around on Friday evening. Tired. Melancholy. Missing my Papa, which made me miss my Dad.

Andie and my cousin Laurel's daughter Tirzah.

Friday evening, family began to roll into town: our Montana cousins, relatives from Orofino, my Seattle-Mom Mercy, my best friend since high school Colette. There is something about funerals that drives family together. No one ever blows off a funeral the way one might blow off a family reunion ("We'll go next year when the kids are a little older") or a wedding ("I'll send a gift; it's just too far to drive"). Yes, these have been my excuses for the last 5 years when we lived in Idaho Falls. I'm not proud of it, but it's the truth. I've been far away from my Altmiller extended family for a long time and I was eager to see my great-aunts and uncles, cousins, and their children again.

Laurel's boys, Clayton & Ben, picnic with Sam

After the vigil, the family came over to our house for food. As with all funerals, friends brought food in huge quantities. Mom and Mercy manned the kitchen, washing dishes and managing the huge amount of food by making a rule that no one could leave until they had eaten. I'd thought that my children would make a brief appearance and then go to bed, as it was well past 9pm. All the Co-op Kids had other plans, though. They played with their newly met cousins, screaming and running in the backyard in the dark until their dads suckered them back inside with the promise of a movie.

Cassie, Heather, Jake, and Mercy

The funeral was held Saturday morning and even more friends and family came. The service was beautiful and peaceful and I was especially moved when a Marine presented the flag to my Grandma. The church prepared a funeral dinner for our whole crew and the next few hours were a flurry of eating, hugging family, catching up, and chasing kids.

Grandma with the Altender crew

A few more relatives came to visit after the dinner while our kids took turns napping, playing, etc.

We shared stories about Papa, ate, ate, and ate, and caught up on our lives. Several cousins mentioned that we should see more of each other and we shouldn't wait for funerals to bring us together. Man, I missed these guys.

Valley and Scott (Halloween Party at their house!)

So, we decided we're not going to wait for another funeral. One of my cousins in Coeur d'Alene decided to host a Halloween Party!

Grandma and Papa's cousin, Beth.

The dads: Kelley (Larenda's husband), Kevin, Joe

Mercy and Mom

Larenda holding Andie

Glory

Visiting with Grandma

Sam and Jasmine (Larenda's oldest)

Group picture!

Sam's Batman voice

2011-10-02T20:33:00.000-06:00

Have you seen this episode of Community? Not that we let Sam watch this show, but one day he started his own Abed-impression-of-Batman, which we thought was pretty spot on.

stuff my kid says

2011-09-29T10:22:00.001-06:00

The day of Papa's funeral, I hustled all the Middles outside to run out some energy before having to sit quietly through the funeral. Never one to miss an opportunity to multitask, I began scooping dog poop (with 3 dogs, this is a never-ending chore). Kate and Glory started following me around, eagerly pointing out poop piles. Miss Andie joined in, although she missed the important point that we DON'T TOUCH POOP, we only POINT at poop. (There is nothing like seeing your daughter's sweet, chubby fingers wrapped around dog poop to make you want to vomit).

After some emergency handwashing and reestablishment of poop-pointing protocol, we were back in business.
Kate: Here's poop, Ninang!
Glory: I see it, too!
Kate: Good job, Glory. Good eye!
Andie: Anuddah one! Anuddah one! (That's Andie for "another one").
As I start to scoop the pile, Glory chimes in: Aww. It's such a cute little poop. (cooing) Cute little poop. Cute little poop.

Now there's an adjective I've never used to describe poop.

Co-op Kid weekend

2011-09-20T22:40:00.000-06:00

All, right, so I uploaded a new version of blogger and can't figure out how to move pictures around, so bear with me.

Amy, Mom, and me at Tomato Brothers for a late night dinner to celebrate our birthday. Mom surprised us with a set of earrings each. The earrings were unique settings that suited each of us perfectly.

My friend, Darin Gemmer, taught me how to make "eggs in a frame", which is a fried egg in a piece of toast. I thought I'd improve on the idea by making bird-shaped toast for the kids (thanks to a cookie cutter) and making bird-shaped eggs in a frame for the adults. Delicious...and cute.

On Labor Day weekend, Team Eddy and Joe and I decided to share in some Co-op babysitting so each of us couples could get a much-needed date-night. Team Eddy came down Friday for a quick Jen-and-Amy birthday celebration. Saturday, they took off for the Gorge to see DAve Matthews while Joe, Mom and I watched the kids. They returned Sunday and Joe and I took off for an overnight trip to Moscow for some shopping and chicken wings at the Coeur d'Alene Brew Pub (every bit as good as I remember from Joe's grad school days). Monday morning, we returned to eat cupcakes--made by the Co-op Kids--to cap off our 30th birthday weekend.

Andie, Kate and Glory took turns fighting over this rocking horse. Andie and Glory took turns fighting over the binky.

Noah and Sam in a rare moment of cousinly-bonding over TV watching.

Kate hugging Doc. She loves all the dogs.

The four big kids watching TV. No, they didn't watch TV ALL weekend. Joe took the boys farming Saturday morning and Mom & I took the girls to the park. Sunday, we survived celebrating Mass by taking the kids to McDonald's for an hour of playtime, apple dippers, and chocolate milk.

my Papa

2011-09-18T22:16:00.001-06:00

My Papa, Leroy Altmiller, passed away unexpectedly on Friday morning. He'd been struggling with lung cancer for the last couple of years and had been getting weaker, but we were all taken by surprise when Grandma called me (I was out grocery shopping with Sam and Andie) and told me he was dying. Joe raced home, I dropped off Sam and Andie, and was able to make it to the hospital to say good-bye. It happened so quickly, though, that Amy and Mandi, in spite of jumping in their cars as soon as they found out, arrived after he'd passed. He went peacefully and that was a blessing.

We've spent the weekend crying, reminiscing and planning. I wanted to share a little bit about my Papa with you all, so I'm including some pictures and a draft of his obituary Amy and I are working on.

Kate, Jen, Papa, Amy, Glory at Amanda's wedding last July

Papa was born in Ahsahka, ID, October 9, 1934 to Albert and Ruth Altmiller. He was the oldest of 4 children. He spent his youth working in the woods and exploring the North Fork of Clearwater River. He graduated from Orofino High School, where he lettered in boxing, baseball, football and track.

5 generations of our family: my great-great grandma Phoebe Liedke, my great-grandma Ruth Altmiller, my Papa, my dad, Amy and me

Leroy met his future wife, Janice Maxwell, when he was 9 years old, on a trip to visit his cousin. When Leroy returned from his service in the Marine Corps during the Korean war, the two married in 1955 and moved to Bremerton, WA , where they welcomed their oldest son, Jon. They soon moved back to Kamiah, ID, where Leroy served in local law enforcement as an officer and then, later, as Chief of Police. There, they welcomed their second son, Jerry. The family moved to Headquarters, ID, and then later, Orofino, after Leroy was elected Clearwater County Sheriff and served for 10 years. The family then moved to Lewiston, where Leroy acted as Security Director of Potlatch Corporation for almost 20 years. He was a respected member of the law enforcement community nationwide and is remembered as a just, strong man.

Amy, Papa, Jen, Grandma, Mandi c. Christmas 1988

He loved the outdoors and spent as much time as he could fishing, hunting, and camping. He shared his enthusiasm and knowledge of archery and guns with many in the community, running an archery shop after retirement and offering hunting advice. Leroy was a master-class competitive shooter and taught many law enforcement officials and young shooters (including all three of his granddaughters) this skill. Leroy was a loving husband and devoted father and grandfather.

Papa meets Andie, April 2010

He was a member of St. James Catholic Church and active in the Knights of Columbus until his health began to decline.
He is survived by his siblings, Darla Alteneder, Sharon Walk, and Robert Altmiller as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his wife of 56 years, Janice Maxwell Altmiller, and, his daughters-in-law, Jean Cleto Altmiller and Carolyn Altmiller Copeland, his granddaughters Amy Altmiller Eddy (husband Kevin Eddy), Jennifer Altmiller Kaufman (husband Joe Kaufman), Amanda Altmiller Wilkins (husband Jerry Wilkins) and grandson Jacob Denny. He is survived by his great-grandchildren Noah, Kate, and Glory Eddy, Sam and Natalie Kaufman, and Jolie Altmiller. Another great-granddaughter, Peyton Wilkins, is due to arrive near what would have been Leroy’s 77th birthday.

Papa, Great-Grandma (Jen on lap) and Great-Grandpa (Amy on lap), Grandma, c. Christmas 1984

He is preceded in death by his two sons, Jon and Jerry Altmiller. We know the three of them are having a joyful reunion up in Heaven.

Grandma and Papa, October 2010

A vigil will be held 6:30pm, Friday, September 23, 2011 at St. James Catholic Church and a memorial service will be conducted at 11am, Saturday, September 24, 2011, also at St. James. Memorial gifts may be made to American Cancer Society or the charity of the giver’s choice.

Papa and Sam, October 2009

soccer

2011-09-17T22:14:00.001-06:00

The rules of soccer are very simple; basically, it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn't move, kick it until it does. " --Phil Woosman

So, Sam started playing soccer a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure that I really wanted to start organized sports at such a young age, but he seemed pretty excited about it. His best friend, Kenzie from daycare, was going, too, and the two of them love to ~~get into trouble together~~ play together, so we gave it a shot.

Sam's an exuberant, live-life-to-the-fullest, bounce-off-the-walls-with-excitement kind of kid. Most mornings, he sits on the couch with his chocolate milk in hand, bouncing excitedly when he hears I'll let him watch Scooby Doo while I get dressed. Even the seemingly mundane activities like going to the grocery store are met with excitement if he gets to ride in a TRUCK CART!!! So, to say that Sam was extraordinarily excited about soccer really should make an impression.

During his first practice, I texted Amy: "I've never seen Sam so excited about anything in his life. His smile is so big right now, it makes me want to cry a little."

Sam runs with an enthusiasm unmatched by most of the other three and four year olds. He loves to run with the big kids, too, and gets right in there to fight for the ball. He's scored two goals and pretty much smiles and sweats the entire hour and fifteen minutes of soccer practice.

Note his soccer garb. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Tita, who is a big time hoarder, for being a hoarder and saving me $40 by keeping my 26 year old sisin Lauren's soccer shoes all this time. Yep, Sam's wearing her original soccer cleats. Thanks to Team Eddy for donating the shin guards that Noah used last year. My total fee for this season of fun was $25 for registration and $2.48 for some clearance soccer shorts at Macy's.

why you should invest in a handheld mirror

2011-09-16T22:01:00.001-06:00

Whenever I'm in Spokane, I take advantage of having Tancie, hairstylist to the stars, as a sisin and get a trim. So, a few weeks ago, I sat in the Eddys' garage on a folding chair, gracefully draped in a cape, looking out over the Eddys' backyard while Tancie worked her magic scissors. Kevin and his dad, Loren, were slaving away in the crazy heat, burying an electric line and demolishing a decrepit gazebo.

At one point, Kevin bent over and I saw that the top of his head, where he's getting a bit of a bald spot, was lobster red.

"Hey, Kev-o. Your head's pretty pink. I think you need to put some sunscreen on it."

So, Kevin ambles inside and comes out a few minutes later with his face slathered white with sunscreen. Not so much as a drop of sunscreen, though, has been applied to his red, red bald spot. I point this out to Tancie and she whispers back, "Uh-oh."

I holler, "Hey, Kev-o! You forgot your bald spot! You need to put some sunscreen on your bald spot!"

Kevin freezes. He looks at me. He looks back at his dad. He looks at me. "What did you say?"

Me: "You are really, really sunburned on your BALD SPOT!"

Kevin (shocked and wide eyed): "I have a BALD SPOT?!?"

Oops. Sorry to break it to you like that.

He walks back into the house, muttering under his breath, perhaps even mumbling a few naughty words, and seeing Joe, mutters, "You know, I just love your wife. Just love her."

Is it my fault that I'm the first to point out the guy's hair is thinning? Amy pleaded innocence, saying she was too short to really look at the top of her husband's head.

And, that is why you should invest in a handheld mirror.

and that's the news from Casa Kaufman

2011-09-15T21:59:00.001-06:00

It's been a chaotic week at Casa Kaufman.

Despite many attempts to fix my blog layout (including uploading a different version of blogger, changing margins, etc.), I have not made any progress. One help article said that my center column must have a long link or too wide of a picture, causing my to shift to the bottom of my blog, but I couldn't find any post that exceeded the margins. No luck there, so I'm back to blogging and hoping that the problem will fix itself as suddenly as it appeared.
On the bright side, I'm blogging (with a delicious glass of Terra Blanca merlot) on my new Toshiba laptop. My bargain-hunting husband scored a screamin' deal, finding me (and my mom) a new laptop for the low, low price of $284 (including shipping). He's amazing...and so is my new laptop. I'm in love with its big screen, functioning keys, and ability to complete multiple tasks without freezing.
I'm back at work 4 days a week and found that I've become quite accustomed to a 3 day work week and adamantly want it back. Meanwhile, my house is a mess, we're eating take and bake pizza for dinner, and I've run out of clean clothes. I'm lacking the discipline and ambition to keep up on work, home, and parenting that I used to have, so I've settled for trying to be a good mom and a decent employee and a pretty huge slob.
Joe's been losing a freakish amount of weight. At first, I took pride in this fact, thinking it was due to my healthful meal planning and increasing proportion of plant-based meals in our diet. But, I'm not losing weight (in spite of working out twice as often as Joe) and this week, came to the realization that Joe is losing weight because he has to meet several deadlines at work and has opted to cope with this busy-ness by only eating lunch once a week. I don't know about you, but forgoing lunch is not an option for me. I'd rather forfeit going to the bathroom all day than skip a meal (but if you've known me for any significant amount of time, you know I'm pretty dedicated to my groceries). So, we bought Joe some skinnier pants and I'm sending him a daily text message: "Eat lunch. Every day. Don't forget."
Andie is back to her bad sleepin' ways. We caught a long-running cold from Team Eddy and have been doing all we can to survive it. She's back to two bottles a night. Man. Our nights with a 19-month old don't look all that much different than our nights with a 9-month old. In the daytime, though, she has been a happy, happy girl who is keeping us entertained with a variety of new phrases, exclamations, and dance moves.
Sam has started soccer. The kid needs a daily dose of running to function (otherwise, he's bouncing off the walls) and we figured that running with a pack of rowdy 3 and 4 year olds a couple of times a week would be a good way to accomplish that. HE. LOVES. IT.
On a more serious note, my Papa (grandpa) has been having some health issues, which has been a struggle for all of us. My grandma has born the brunt of caring for him, but he's been progressively weaker and more confused, so Joe has needed to help more often. This week, he's in the hospital and we're all waiting to see if any progress can be made. If you're the praying sort, please keep him in your prayers.

And that's the news from Casa Kaufman, where the dad skips lunch, the mom skips laundry, and the children are above average.

blogging death?

2011-09-12T10:00:00.000-06:00

So, I'm not sure what is up with my blog lately. One morning, I checked it and its layout was all messed up. I tried playing around with different layouts, messing with sidebar widths, etc, but nothing helped. Then, I got a message from my Mom-friend saying that she couldn't even view the blog...it was completely blank. I can still view the blog...can you??

Wish me luck. If you have any advice, please comment.

weekly wisdom: playing in the dirt

2011-09-04T22:28:00.000-06:00

After three years of rearing a dirt-loving kid and his dirt-loving sister, I've learned a few lessons about playing in the dirt. Last week, Sam and Andie were playing in my Grandma's garden and, while I thought I was already an expert in dirt-playing, I learned a few new lessons.

Here is a comprehensive list of tips:
1. Dirt loves snot. Dirt and dried snot combined is more structurally sound that concrete. (Joe says it's like "JB Weld", but I'm not sure what that is). So, if your kid has a runny nose, make sure to wipe often or you will never get the dirt boogers out of his nostrils. He will have a perpetual ring of dirt around his nostril until you stick a wet wash cloth up there...and that's no fun.
2. Don't play in dirt that you would feel bad about being eaten. Dirt with fertilizer. Dirt shared with animals. That sort of thing. Andie eats all dirt. Every. Single. Time.
3. While dirt is fun to play with and relatively easy to clean up, mud is EVEN more fun to play with. But, infinitely harder to clean up. You go from brushing off dirt to scraping, knocking, banging and brushing away mud.
4. Banging light-up shoes together to knock mud off mostly just makes the shoes light up...like they're taunting you. (Joe taught me a brush works better).
5. When your daughter dumps a bucket of dirt on her hair, remember to brush her hair before throwing her into the bathtub. Again, BRUSH HER HAIR BEFORE GETTING INTO THE BATHTUB. Otherwise, the dirt turns to caked mud and you'll be washing her hair with muddy streams running down into her eyes. She'll be crying. You'll be crying (and scrubbing frantically). And, in the end, she'll still end up with little specks of dried mud clinging to her scalp. Then, you will have to tell daycare what happen, carefully emphasizing these are not some sort of lice, just mud, because that is the kind of mother you are.

Feel free to share your tips in the comments section.

Seattle saga: Pike Place Market

2011-09-02T21:42:00.001-06:00

Sunday after checkout, a group of us headed out to Pike Place Market and the Waterfront before heading home.

Seattle saga: Jump-a-roo-ski

2011-09-01T22:01:00.000-06:00

Don't worry, dear readers. We are now in the denouement.

Sunday morning was filled with packing, loading cars, and checking out. In an effort to entertain 5 small children amidst this chaos, I invented a fun game called "Jump-a-roo-ski".

If you've ever been under ten and stayed at a hotel with another kid, you already know how to play this game.

You all hop on one bed and take turns jumping to the other. (To play Advanced Jump-a-roo-ski, you all jump at the same time, alternating beds. You lose points if you collide in mid air. You also can break arms that way, I suspect).

Every time you jump, you have to yell, "Jump-a-roo-ski!" (Ok, so maybe you didn't know that part of the game).

"Jump-a-roo-ski!"

"Jump-a-roo ski!"

Seattle saga: The Main Event

2011-08-31T20:53:00.001-06:00

Finally, the main event of the week: Auntie Choly's jubilee. First, a little background: Auntie Choly is actually my great aunt--my Lolo's (that's Filipino for grandpa) youngest sister. She's a nun and I'm sure she has a holy soul, but she has a fabulous sense of humor and loves to tease. My dad used to call her the "Old Bat" and she'd dish it right back at him. (A lot of our family, in fact, has nicknames for Auntie Choly. She's been called "Old Bat", "Holy Choly", and Auntie Tekla...which means Auntie Poop in Filipino. No, it's not a nice nickname. Yes, our family loves to give each other a hard time).

When I was in high school, I was pretty sure I wanted to be a nun as well. Auntie Choly wasn't so sure, so she invited me to spend a few weeks with her in Seattle living the glamorous life of a Sister of Providence. During this "internship", she taught me how to cook lumpia. Needless to say, I didn't end up being a nun (that's Joe's fault), but I still can roll a mean lumpia.

When Amy and I went to Seattle U, Auntie Choly took special care to watch out for us. She'd pick us up and take us out to dinner, afterwards dropping us off at our dorm room with loads of snacks to eat while we were studying.

A. Chols made Amy and I feel special and well-loved. Later, we realized it wasn't because we were her favorite grandnieces, but rather, that she treated all of her many nieces and nephews/grandnieces and grandnephews with the same care. So, we all decided to join together and celebrate her jubilee this year with a family reunion. (If you haven't family-reunioned or family-vacationed with 30 Filipinos, you haven't lived. Joe would pipe up with suggestions about our trip early on in the planning process and I'd start to tell him why that wouldn't work, but then figured it would just be easier to let him see for himself. Soon, my catch phrase was, "You'll see. You'll see what it's like to vacation with the Filipinos"...but that's a topic for another blog post.)

Since Amy, Joe, and I are slaves to early bedtime/naptime or early pregnancy (in Amy's case), we couldn't party it up late at night with the rest of the crazy Filipinos, so we ended up seeing most of the gang for the first time at the church the morning of the jubilee.

Even though I may have not seen some of my cousins/aunts/uncles for 15 years, even though I may not have even met them before, we walk into the church and are immediately swarmed with the chaotic, loud welcome of our family. Warm hugs and kisses are exchanged with introductions, family members shout hellos across the worship space, babies are squeezed (even Andie's infamous stink-eye was no deterrent). We are a large moving mass of teasing, hugging, chatting, and laughing.

I'm sure it was a wonderful Mass with a beautiful homily about these Sisters and their service. I'm not really sure because I spent most of the Mass with Andie being cranky and then suddenly falling asleep while I stood in the back, swaying (no easy feat in 3 inch heels!).

Joe spent most of the Mass keeping tabs on Sam.
But, after Mass, there was a lovely luncheon and we went across the street to the park to play outside.

After the park, Joe and I noticed it was naptime and shuttled our kids back to the hotel where we all took a family nap for the next three glorious hours. The rest of the Filipinos continued the revelry with amazing energy: a group went swimming, a group went sight-seeing, a group went shopping.

That evening, we all met back at Old Spaghetti Factory for a dinner in honor of Auntie Choly. We roasted Auntie Choly for three hours straight. And, at the end, she addressed us all.

"You people" (that's what she always calls us with a tone of mild exasperation) "you people never treat me with any respect." (Lots of hooting and whooping).

"But when I looked at all of you people there at the church today and thought of all the effort it took for you to come here to celebrate today....I just felt love. I felt your love. It means so much to me. And I thank you for that."

Not a dry eye in the house. We love you, Auntie Chols!

Seattle saga: The Ferry

2011-08-30T22:29:00.001-06:00

Friday afternoon, we departed Bremerton via ferry and headed toward Seattle to meet up with the Cletos.

Dictionary.com defines ferry as "a commerical service with terminals and boats for transporting persons, automobiles, etc. across a river or other small body of water."

Sam Kaufman defines ferry as "a BIG, HUGE boat! You drive your car on and then you get out and you run around and around and around! Then you have a picnic [we ate some candy I'd hoarded in the diaper bag for just such an occasion] outside on the benches!

Then, Mom says 'Time to get in the car' and you get in and watch a movie."

Seattle saga: Brown-eyed girl

2011-08-29T22:18:00.001-06:00

Seattle saga: The Princess and the Pirate

2011-08-28T22:03:00.008-06:00

Ever since we went camping with the Gemmers, Sam has been asking about his "cousin Daisy" intermittently. I think he thinks all young children outside of daycare are his cousins, which just proves he is part Filipino when it comes to defining family. Anyway, I digress...

Sam and Daisy played beautifully together, even though they had to compromise to find play that suited both genders. It meant Sam played with a tea set one afternoon and Daisy was constantly subjected to "arresting bad guys"--Sam's latest game.

At the park, Daisy wanted the play equipment to be a castle, where she--a royal princess--dwelt. Sam wanted it to be a pirate ship. After a minimal amount of whining and complaining, they settled on a game: Sam would be the pirate and rescue Daisy, the princess. Both were happy. The game lasted awhile and we eventually went down to explore the beach...

...where Daisy picked up a sword and became a pirate herself.

Check out that pirate "Aarrgh!"!

Seattle saga: Bremerton

2011-08-27T21:46:00.001-06:00

Deanna had to shoot a wedding one morning while we were there, so Darin and I took the kids to a local park.

It was a little cooler weather than the 90+ degree Lewiston heat, so I was glad we'd brought along some layers. Always one to appreciate vintage clothes, Sam is wearing a Mariners' pullover that once belonged to my now-15-year old cousin, Hailey. Ah, how time flies.

Anyway, I digress. The kids had a fun time.

After running ourselves ragged at the playground, we ventured down to the beach. Sam and Daisy played so well together and Dani and Andie each enjoyed their own pursuits. Here's Dani, digging with a shovel.

And, here's Andie, sampling the sand. (Honestly, that kid tastes everything!) After our beach adventure, it was off to McDonald's for lunch and home for naps.

Seattle saga (part one)

2011-08-26T21:33:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned before, we recently returned from a trip to Seattle to celebrate my great-aunt's (aka Sister Maria Lourdes, aka Auntie Choly, aka Holy Choly) jubilee. Since I now live the luxury life of a part-time working mama, I decided to brave a roadtrip with the two kiddos from Lewiston to Bremerton, to spend an extra day with the Gemmer family. Joe--poor working shmuck--would drive over with Mom and Friend Dan--other poor working shmucks--on Friday afternoon.

I didn't want to drive after work on Wednesday because, well, I'm typically sleep deprived and didn't want to ended up dozing off at a freeway rest stop with my two precious children. So, I googled "road trips with toddlers" and came across an article that recommended leaving very, very early in the morning. I warned Sam & Andie that we'd be getting up "in the middle of the night" and getting into the car, where they'd (presumably) sleep until their normal awakening time. I'd have several hours of nonstop peaceful driving, we'd breakfast in Ellensburg, run around and hop back in the car to be in Bremerton by noon.

The next morning, we were in the car by 5am. I sensed my plan wasn't working when Sam popped his eyes open and said, "We going in the car, Mom?". I shushed him, snuggled his blankie around him, buckled him in and said, "Yes, go to sleep."

We'd barely gone a block and the kid was so excited, he couldn't stop pointing out the neighborhood sights: "Look! A tree! Look! A house! We're going to Daisy's house! Look! A bird!"

Needless to say, no one slept on the way to Ellensburg. In fact, no one slept the entire drive.

All was well, though. They were perfect gems. We even managed to amuse ourselves with books and toys and songs for a good three hours before I finally succumbed to the DVD player, so I could read directions and drive in traffic without belting "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at the top of my lungs.

A short seven hours later, we were there.

And so begins our Seattle saga...stay tuned.

pigtails

2011-08-25T21:49:00.003-06:00

Between the stage of having a baby baldspot and the stage of having wild toddler hair, I felt a great sense of mastery in the art of doing my daughter's hair. After a ridiculous amount of practice, I perfected the art of slapping a bow on her sweet head with KY jelly. She was a beautiful (albeit bad-sleepin') baby.

Then, all of a sudden, her hair grew. It grew and it grew and it grew. It grew until it was wild toddler hair. She pulled out all clips, hair elastics, headbands of any sort. Her hair could not be tamed. I became a slacker mom when it came to Andie's hair. Joe would say, "Shouldn't we at least brush it?" I'd shrug my shoulders and say, "Why bother?"

Amy would shake her head at the sight of Andie's unruly mop and admonish me to try harder.

I got her bangs cut in the attempt to keep the hair out of her eyes. It helped...a little.

Last week, we traveled to Seattle to celebrate my great aunt's jubilee. Being a now part-time working woman, I headed over a few days early to see the Gemmers. When Darin heard about my Andie hair issues (I believe my exact words were, "No matter what I do, she pulls her hair out and it's a mess, so why bother?"), he took it as a personal challenge to tame her hair.

So, while I was showering one morning, he sat Andie in front of the TV and a fair bit of crying later, he'd produced the cutest pigtails I'd ever seen.

They stayed in all day, even through nap time.

I'm impressed.

Darin Gemmer, you have given me hope.

harvest

2011-08-24T09:24:00.000-06:00

It's been a late and bountiful harvest this year. Joe got to nourish his farm roots and work in the fields a few days during harvest. One day, he rod-weeded a field. Sam and I joined him for while and Sam got to help steer the tractor. After that, we hopped out and threw some dirt clods, which was equally fun.

The following day, Joe drove truck and we strapped Sam's carseat into the passenger seat so Sam could take a trip down to the terminal; turns out Sam can fall asleep in the semi just as easily as he can the car.Next year, Andie will be bigger and I might be able to handle two kids in the field...maybe.

confessions of a slacker mom

2011-08-22T16:18:00.002-06:00

Here's some food for thought:

"If you're not yelling at your kids, you're not spending enough time with them."--Reese Witherspoon

Hhmmm...I think it might be true. The more I stay at home, the better I am at enforcing boundaries and making the kids do things for themselves. On the flip side, I also have more opportunity to lose my temper in the chaos...

pretty in pink

2011-08-20T21:46:00.002-06:00

How quickly the photo deteriorates...

camping: heading home

2011-08-19T21:37:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning, Amy & I packed up while Joe & Brandon took the kids on yet another nature walk. When they retured, Amy lured the kids into the van with the promise of a movie and the rest of us loaded up our camp.

To celebrate our surviving the weekend, Amy treated us to lunch at the Hoodoo Cafe in Harvard. I have to give it rave reviews: good, cheap food; toys for kids to play with; Shark Week was on TV; AND they serve pie.

Next time, we're going to CAMP at Great White Pine campground, PLAY at Laird Park, and EAT at the Hoodoo Cafe--breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.

Camping with small children is enough to make you wanna drink

2011-08-18T21:35:00.000-06:00

Aw, c'mon. She's not really drinking it.

Camping: Godzilla

2011-08-17T21:33:00.000-06:00

After spending a few hours with Miss Andie, Uncle B gave her a well-deserved nickname:

Godzilla.

She sees what she wants. She takes it. If she doesn't get it, she roars.

camping (yes, it continues)

2011-08-16T21:04:00.011-06:00

Uncle B, who understands the hearts' desires of all small children, brought glow sticks for our evening nature walk. (We believe in walking the legs off small children while camping; it helps them sleep at night). On our boring old nature walk, we were... ...SUDDENLY AMBUSHED BY NINJAS! Glory was the only Co-op Kid who managed to destroy her glow stick. Apparently, she's a pro at this, since she previously destroyed one on an earlier summer vacation. She explained to me, quite sweetly, "Ninang, first you have to bend it like this." The next step, a bit of a mystery, involved sticking it in her pants...but who am I to question a master? Serious Kate. A few minutes after this shot was taken, she was ambushed by the ninjas who roped her into their sword fight.

And, messy, messy Andie. She was a ball of dirt, snot, and boogers the entire weekend...and she loved every minute of it!

Here's my favorite sister in the world, who is a kick-in-the pants, even when she's throwing up.

Fortunately, that night, everyone slept fairly well, which makes us all happy campers.

camping with Uncle B (part two)

2011-08-15T15:59:00.001-06:00

The following morning came too soon. Uncharacteristically, Sam had awakened in the middle of the night, but was soon comforted by his mom laying down beside him. Unforunately (and characteristically), Andie had also awakened in the middle of the night and would not be consoled by the remaining parent: her poor, poor father. So, rather than terrorize the entire campground with her ticked-off screaming the whole night, I swapped out my warm sleeping back for a cold night of pacing the floor in our teeny-tiny tent trailer. She finally calmed down and I tucked her into bed with me. (Later, a man several campsites away made a comment to us that he'd thought a baby'd gotten burned at a late night campfire because he'd heard a baby screaming pretty terrifically in the middle of the night. We feigned ignorance and shook our heads, murmuring, "Poor baby...we heard that, too.")

Anyhoo, I woke up in no mood to eat oatmeal for breakfast. Plus, we'd planned to meet Team Eddy (sans Kevin, who was otherwise occupied) in nearby Potlatch, so we loaded up in the car to drive to a local cafe for breakfast. Hot coffee, pancakes, an omelet, and toast later, I was feeling more benevolent toward my bad-sleepin' baby and her brother. And, if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

After breakfast, we headed back to the campground to unpack, change diapers, and get ready for an "adventure" (according to Sam...a hike according to the rest of us). Lala made the drive up to hang out with us for the morning. We were a bit surprised because she isn't really a nature-lovin' girl, but her Friend Dan enjoys hiking and I think it's starting to rub off on her.

That afternoon, Amy (who, if you haven't heard already, is expecting Crazy Eddy #4), Glory, and Andie napped in the shade while the rest of us went swimming in the icy, icy Palouse river.

To be continued...

camping with Uncle Brandon (part one of...many)

2011-08-13T15:26:00.009-06:00

Camping trip #3 found us near Laird Park. Near because Laird Park doesn't take reservations and, well, who knew it would be such a popular place on your average July weekend? Brandon joined us for the weekend. We kicked off the weekend by checking out the Laird Park playground and swimming area. Since we weren't really suited up to swim, we headed off for a hike in the nearby woods. Sam picked up stick after stick after stick, handing them to Brandon and me with a sense of purpose. (Joe watched Andie at the playground, which started as an idea of convenience, but turned out to be pure genius after the hikers returned covered in bug bites).

Uncle B used to be an entomology major and pointed out the local insect life. This is a spit bug, both disgusting and fascinating. It lays its eggs inside these spit bubbles. Gross...yet fascinating.

Sam and B took a walk on a log, after whacking it with some sticks.

About fifty bug bites later, I was ready to head back, so we hiked back down the trail. Brandon talked Sam into parting with his many, many beloved sticks, by showing him how cool it was to toss them below the dam. Then we reunited with Joe and Andie at the playground.

Sam and I played soccer with a ball we'd brought until he found an abandoned dump truck at the beach. After that, we headed back to our campground (Great White Pine) for dinner.

Stay tuned...

a camping story

2011-08-13T15:10:00.009-06:00

We've been having so much fun camping this summer that, one afternoon, Sam decided we should camp in our living room. Sam was the Daddy, Andie was the Mama, I was Papa, and Lola Oyang was the Grandma.

Lola played the part well, all bundled up. She's never really acclimated to the "cold" weather of the States since she moved from the Philippines. We had the AC at 75 degrees and it was still too cold for her tropically-born body.

"We're camping. These are my babies. This one [the big one] her name is Andie Kaufman Samuel. This one--her name is Other Andie. We're going camping. My babies are sleeping."
Andie put on her camping coat, even though it was 95 degrees F outside, and rocked her baby to sleep and gave it a bottle.

Then, while Sam was sleeping... ...she kidnapped Other Andie. Oh, man! The poop hit the fan!

After the custody dispute was resolved, Sam safely tucked Other Andie next to him. Unfortunately, Other Andie takes after her namesake and wouldn't stop crying, so Daddy Sam had to read her a book to get her to go to sleep.

After that, the story fell apart and we somehow ended up on a boat, fighting sharks and pirates (one of whom was real Andie) with pillow cannon balls.

The end.

confessions of a slacker mom: baby crack

2011-08-09T15:59:00.003-06:00

Have you tried these? My kids slurp these things down like baby crack. It's totally worth the drive over to the SuperWalmart in Clarkston (the only place in the valley I've found that carriest them).

I used to bribe them to get into the car after daycare with candy and junk food. (Don't ask me why my kids can't just get into the car when I ask them. I'm not that kind of mom, I guess. What kind of mom? The kind of mom whose kids obey? It's a pipe dream...but I digress).

Now, I say (in a tantalizing voice), "Who wants some applesauce?" and those two dive for their car seats. Andie even says, "Me! Apple-saw! Apple-saw!".

Now I can feel good about bribing my kids to obey. A serving of fruit and everyone buckled in the car in a timely manner.

camping trip

2011-08-08T10:58:00.003-06:00

It's been a whirlwind summer and I've done a poor job capturing any of it on my camera. I either a) forget my camera or b) bring it with dead batteries.

We've been on three great camping trips this summer: one with the Kaufmans, one last weekend with Uncle B, and one in between with the Gemmers. Deanna took some great pictures, so until I get up back into blogging mode, enjoy reading about it here.

(We just got back from a family reunion in Seattle. Fun. Exhausting. Lots of laundry. Mostly fun.)

off in Lala-land

2011-08-02T21:49:00.000-06:00

Phone call from my mother at 7:24am:

"Hi, Juni. I didn't get a chance to tell you last night that I'm having breakfast with Dan this morning. Are you doing okay with the kids? Oh, you didn't have to work today, right? Well, anyway, I was going to tell you last night about it, but when I went into your room, you were already asleep. It was pretty ugly, actually. You were sitting up, with your glasses still on and a magazine in your hand...and your mouth was just hanging open. Like you were dead or something. I was going to wake you up before Joe saw you like that, but then I thought you might kill me if I woke you up because you'd have to be pretty tired to just fall asleep and look so, well, unattractive like that."

the Sandman Chronicles

2011-08-02T09:56:00.001-06:00

This is what I texted Joe this morning (he's away on business):
"What's the difference btwn ND & a terrorist? U can negotiate with a terrorist...and a terrorist sleeps thru the nite."

Weekly Wisdom: Grilled Salmon with Balsalmic Fig sauce...

2011-08-01T21:51:00.000-06:00

...sounds delicious, doesn't it?

Actually, it looks like black goop on top of your fish.

Don't try making it.

Best Smile

2011-07-30T21:16:00.000-06:00

My kids have the best grins.

Happy Birthday, Mom K!

2011-07-28T18:11:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday, Mom Kaufman!

breaking my heart

2011-07-26T17:59:00.004-06:00

I can't stop reading about it.

Because whenever I look at this baby, Photo credit here

I can't stop thinking about this baby.

I am so blessed to live in a place where my chubby-cheeked daughter will never know hunger. But, it breaks my heart to know Africa's plight. I can't imagine their mothers' heartbreak.

Here are ways to help.

Kaufman cousins

2011-07-25T20:52:00.001-06:00

Teenie's been taking some evening classes and Steve's been farming, so we've had a third Kaufman kid at our house once a week for the last few weeks. It's this happy guy:

Sam & Andie LOVE Ben. (Andie even said Ben's name before she said Sam's name). And, we love hanging out with our happy nephew. After a few minutes of being shell-shocked with the chaos that is Casa Kaufman, he added his voice to the din and never looked back. It's heartwarming to have him get more familiar with his aunt and uncle and snuggle in for smooches and hugs at bedtime.

Ben and Andie are playing together more and Andie even shares her mama's lap with Ben...occasionally.

The best part is the Palouse Kaufmans think we are doing them a favor...so, not only do we get to spend the evening with Ben, they bring us Starbucks, too.

Sweet.

Why are they all shirtless? I had the brilliant idea of feeding them beets, which has the same stain-potential as grape juice. Being a relatively new beet-eater myself, I had no idea. Also, here are some words of wisdom for other new beet-eaters out there: don't freak out if you see red poop the day after eating beets. Ok...I'm done.