Category: E.

5 Years

This little guy turned five years old today–craziness!  

We’re still getting back into our routine after being out of town (i.e. our suitcases still need to be put away and the house is a disaster) so we’re having our little family party on Saturday which conveniently gives me enough time to order a birthday cake from our favorite vegan bakery in Salt Lake City.  Yum! 

I’m working on a gratuitously sentimental photo slideshow that will be finished sometime this week if I can buckle down and focus instead of just wistfully staring at photos and sighing.

The kids, they grow so fast.  *sigh*

Halloween Pics

I was bummed that we missed Halloween with the kids because of the trouble we had getting out of New York so the day after we got home I put the kids back into their costumes so I could take a few photos.

We even walked across the street to an understanding friend’s house so I could hear Mimi chirp “thick or treat!” and drove to my mother-in-law’s so she could see the kids in their costumes.

Vacations are awesome (even those interrupted by hurricanes) but it’s great to be home.

Bowling Together

Bowling was sort of my family’s “thing” when we were growing up. Ever since we were young my brother Steven has participated in a Special Olympics bowling league which my dad helped coach.  Bowling is probably Steven’s favorite thing to do and the rest of the family enjoys it too.

My parents and brother Steven were in town this week visiting my sister Jan and her family so when we were trying to think of something fun to do together bowling was the easy answer. 

N and I have taken the kids bowling a few times lately so E was pumped to go.  E uses the ramp and bumpers and has gotten pretty good at aiming the ball.  At one point E was beating me but I buckled down and managed to squeak by with a one-point lead..

I still got smoked by Steven, but that’s nothing new.  🙂

E’s new favorite song

So lately this Erasure song is E’s favorite thing ever.

The whole thing started with E playing a game on my iPhone that uses the song as background music. Then N showed E the music video. Warrior monks and magic gardens and evil demons to be vanquished?  That’s right up E’s alley.

So for the past week E has been asking to watch the “Always” video at least a few times a day. And being as how E is a quick study when it comes to learning songs, N and I get treated to performances like this one.

The little hand thing he does at 0:13 cracks me up every time.  I love this guy so much.

Train Ride

Last week E attended a friend’s birthday party held at the home of “The Train Man,” this retired gentleman who has built an over-a-mile-long miniature train track on his property.  Riding the full circuit took about twenty minutes and we even went through a tunnel.  E was over the moon with excitement and Mimi and I thought it was pretty cool too.

The Train Man and his wife allow families in the neighborhood to enjoy their property (swimming pool, sports courts, huge covered patio, etc…) free of charge; people just have to call ahead and schedule their visit.  He said that he gets 4-6 families a day who come by to ride the train.  While we were there they were super nice and didn’t bat an eyelash at a herd of preschool boys running in-and-out of their house to use the bathroom.

It was lovely to meet people who have done such magical things with their home and who are so interested in giving back to their community.

Blarg

I’ve been feeling a little run down lately.  It’s nothing major, I just have the feeling that, try as I might, I can’t quite fit my arms around everything.

One of the things that’s been bothering me is that E is going through a rough patch and I’m not sure how to best help him and so I feel rather helpless as a result.  For the past few weeks he’s been quite anxious about things in general.  Last night he and I were going to walk down the street to drop something off at a neighbor’s house and halfway there he started sobbing and clinging to my leg concerned that our house “was far away.”  I tried to explain that he could still see our house and that it wasn’t going anywhere but he was in a panic so I took him home.

From what I could tell from talking with him afterward part of it is a residual effect of our trip to Disneyland.  When he asks to go back to Disneyland (everyday) we talk about how Disneyland is far away and so we can’t go there right now and so I guess he thought our house was going to disappear or something?  I don’t know.

He’s also been afraid of going to the bathroom, to preschool, and to bed lately and I don’t know what do do other than reassure him that everything’s going to be alright.

And Mimi, while still very sweet, has been getting her molars for the last month or so she’s been a lot needier than usual.  And I think she’s also getting ready to go from two naps to one so her sleep schedule is sort of out of whack.

Yesterday I put her down for her usual morning nap and got out the paint to work on touching up the cabinet doors but I had to cut it short because she wouldn’t go to sleep and instead wailed and kept calling out “Mom! Mom! Mom!” which I’ll admit was cute (but frustrating). 

Work is still keeping me busy but it’s likely that my contract position is going to go away after June.  My department’s budget has been cut so they’re going to have to let me go, but they might get to keep me if something comes through at the last minute.  I’ve mostly already made my peace with it since there’s nothing I can do about the situation but the uncertainty of not knowing for sure gets to me sometime.  I hate not knowing.

And last night our master bathroom toilet overflowed, enough so that water was leaking from our family room ceiling below.  And so today I’ve got to call our home insurance and a plumber and try to get it sorted out.

So….yeah.