Best of February

Here's what you get in a mall in Minot, ND!

The kids had a blast at this water-activity zone at our hotel

It was fun, but so noisy!!

Wore these two right out

Emerson has had a blast with indoor T-ball

Look at him go!

One of Theo's many cardboard creations: a full-on iMac!

One afternoon (like many others), we packed up lunch and headed to the Science Center with some friends--the K'Nex exhibit they've had for the past few months has been a big hit in our family

Addy building a house with her friend Caleb

Sera's K'Nex creation

Obviously she learns it from this guy . . .

. . . and this one too!

February Frenzy

February has been a little icky, but for all the right reasons. We ripped our house apart and put it back together again, hemhorraging a fair amount of money in the process. It all turned out for the best though, because our house is looking pretty awesome! Especially compared to what it looked like when we moved in.

Just before Valentine's day we piled all our furniture, books, and toys into the kitchen, basement, and garage, handed our keys over to the floor refinishing people, and headed out of town. We drove down to Minot, North Dakota, about four hours away, and spent a couple of days pretending that the in-hotel water recreation area was a real live beach, even as the snow continued to swirl around outside. Our family is big enough now for the "kids eat free" thing at Holiday Inn to be worth something, so we also enjoyed eating out at their fairly fancy restaurants (by our standards anyway) morning and night and didn't even bother with lunch. We took a couple of breaks from the pool for a bit of shopping and to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, but that was pretty much it. It was a lot of fun while it lasted, but gave us pause to realize that we really enjoy being outside, and wouldn't mind living someplace where that was a reasonable option for a few more months of the year.

When we got back, we slept on mattresses in the basement for a couple of nights while the floors finished curing, then moved the lonely mattresses back upstairs for a few more nights, to move around while new baseboards and window casings and doors went into all the rooms. Amid all the hammering and sawing, we watched lots and lots of Olympics--yay for those! I love being inspired by people with more drive than me! Fortunately, after their five-day weekend, the big kids headed back to school, giving Aaron and I a chance to get a coat of fresh paint in all the bedrooms as well. Less than two weeks after it all started, we were able to move back into our fancy digs, beds and all, to have new baseboards and doors installed in the basement as well. Of course the living room, hallway, and family room still need painting, the grand piano is on its side in the living room, and various paintings and picture frames are propped against the wall for now, but the hard part is done, and the other stuff will happen when it happens, I guess.

Really, that's it. The month was a seething heap of disarray that I'd rather not relive. I lack the patience to live a life that isn't orderly and scheduled, and February qualified on both counts. But sometimes, it seems, you just absolutely have to go through the muck and the mire to get to the gleaming valley on the other side. I hope it's a gleaming valley anyway, because I've had just about enough of frozen tundra!

Seraphina Estelle

This year I'm taking the easy way out. One super-special thing I love about each kid for each year of age.

1. Sera seriously cracks me up a million times a day. Whether it's her cute words for things (I think I mentioned our "roller coaster" toaster and "monkey bar" granola bars), her attitude ("I wanted a cracker mom, YOU KNOW!), or her super-tight "squeezes" that I can never get enough of, I'm always laughing when I spend one-on-one time with Sera.

2. Sera is either super-sensitive or a fantastic actress. One of her favorite things to do is to "scare" me with a "RAWWRRR!" which is intended (for some reason) to make me cry. I'll start pretending to cry (which she insists on), and within minutes, little tears will well up in her eyes too, and she'll say "no! no! don't cry mom!" (she always calls Aaron and I "mom and dad," not "mommy and daddy"). I'm not kidding when I say I think she has a future on the stage.

3. She loves me!! I love when she comes out of her room late at night, with no intention of going to sleep until she's good and ready, and gives me a huge "hung and piss," adding "Mom, I wiwwy wiwwy love you." Often she'll have a little gift for me, one of her blankets, or a stuffed animal that she thinks I might like to snuggle with. SUCH a sweetie.

Emerson Samuel

What a little man! Five things I love about Emerson:

1. He's the huggingest, smilingest little guy you'll ever meet. He'll squeeze the life out of you if you give him the chance.

2. He pops up like popcorn in the morning to get dressed and get all his chores done on time. Sometimes he's done before I even wake up! What a great example to his little sister . . . and his big brother and sister too!

3. Emerson is smart smart smart! He's always sidling up to me to let me in on something new he's figured out. Like how a roller coaster works, or how to spell some new word. He's also figured out the reading thing, with surprisingly little help from me. He can read all of Go, Dog, Go! by himself now.

4. You won't meet a more enthusiastic guy than Emerson. He started T-ball this season, and he pretty much glows through the entire game--running to grab balls somebody else hit, or hitting the life out of the ball when it's his turn.

5. Emerson is so creative! He makes really creative things with legos--like a car with an elevator inside and a drill on the side, and is always coming up with elaborate (and silly) "what if" scenarios. "What if I was the dad and Sera was the mom and everyone else was all dogs?" He and Sera dress up their stuffed animals in their own clothes almost every day, sometimes in Halloween costumes, and treat them like real kids (except that Sera puts them in time-out constantly). I love seeing what comes out of that little brain!