Blown Away

Can I just say I have best neighbors in the world?! I have been consistently blown away by their kindness, giving, help and friendship. Today was no different. Jenna, our 11 year old neighbor, has become a constant fixture in our house. She is always here. She's such a sweet, little friend to Chloe. She was here with us the other day eating lunch. I was feeling horrible at the time. I felt so sick I could barely eat or talk to anyone. I told all the kids I was going to go take a nap (which is a rarity for me) and for them to play quietly. Apparently, this concerned Jenna and Chloe to no end. When I woke up they had found a solution to help me feel better and this was it:

"Lor de SPA" This adorable little sign was taped to my bathroom door. I was led into the bathroom and told to have a seat (thankfully I have a chair in there). Then Chloe handed me this:

I needed help. This was definitely going to cure any ailment I had. How could it not? They even offered me a menu of snack items I actually like? I ordered a glass of water that Chloe served me while Jenna (both of whom had to dress up in fancy clothes to attend to me) started rubbing lotion on my feet.

Then they filled my tub with hot water and told me to soak my feet. They had the whole thing planned out to a tee. It was so sweet. I was so pampered. Not only did I get a foot rub and massage. I also got a pedicure and manicure, courtesy of these two, delightful attendants.

Chloe did my pedicure in a lovely shade of light blue

with a pink heart embellishment on my big toe.

Jenna gave me a french manicure.

I was overwhelmed with their act of love the rest of the day. I couldn't stop thanking them. I indeed felt better.

Sewing Lessons

I've not had nary a one. Yet I still attempt feats of greatness (read here: trying to sew a straight line on a piece of fabric) on my sewing machine.

Two years ago, I had it in my head that I would pass along all my 'sewing knowledge' to my dear 5 year old daughter and we would work on a project together. We got as far as picking out the fabric together. I didn't even have a pattern for this skirt. Since I had no clue what I was doing, I couldn't explain a thing to her or answer her questions, she quickly left the room and left me with a project I wanted to give up on. Yet I turned out a skirt somehow and miraculously it didn't fall apart. It is the most wonky, unconventionally sewn piece of clothing you will ever see. But she loves it, thinks her mom can sew and wears it all the time. So ultimately, it was worth the intense trial and hardship I lived through.

Enter project number two. Our next door neighbor built an American Girl doll bed for Chloe. She immediately dressed it up with some pillow cases. Then we sat down and put our heads together and came up with a really awesome idea of how it could look. Only problem, it would involve me and the sewing machine. Have you ever seen my sewing machine?

It is of the 1960's variety, a lovely shade of avacado green that would have matched all your modern household appliances of the day. It is also a very, heavy metal. Which means it is so heavy I can barely lift it to put it on the table. It sounds like a typewriter when it is working. My children don't even know what a typewriter is. My grandmother gave it to me.

It also comes equipped with this stylish little foot pedal. I feel like I'm in the driver's seat of a very old race car. The hinge needs oiling or it squeaks.

But thankfully, it also comes with this handy users manual that I have to read every single time I pull out the machine. Apparently, I can never remember how to thread the needle or wind the bobbin. You'd think after multiple readings it would just sink in. But no, I just can't seem to grasp the rocket science behind the complexity of this age old machine.

But thankfully, they have very explicitly hand drawn instructions, detailing the steps I'm to go through. If it wasn't for that detail, I doubt I would have been able to achieve this feat:

The American Girl bed. A project that probably would have taken anyone else 2 hours, took me two whole days - must have been all that reading I had to do.

A Little Reminder

I was given a gentle, hilarious reminder this week, that even though Gavin appears to be growing at the speed of light, and is the same height as me, he is still a child, not totally grown up yet.

Gavin, my 7th grader, was getting ready to go to school to get his new student i.d. made and find out his schedule for the year. To say he was excited would be an understatement. He even did his hair, brushed his teeth and wore an outfit that actually coordinated that I didn't have to pick out for him. All without me reminding him. Truly a sign of maturity (for him).

However, all on his own, he decided that he should also smell good. He was so proud of himself when he told me, "Mom, guess what, I rubbed deodorant (of the Gillette, gel variety) all over my face so that I would also smell good. I didn't want to waste Dad's face gel."

I just smiled, smelled his face, and indeed it did smell good (thankfully it wasn't powder fresh). I told him, "That's the way to think creatively!" To which he replied, "I know!"

There was no way I going to burst his bubble, he was oozing with pride. Thank you for reminding me that even though you're almost a teenager Gavin, you still love to share everything with me and you're still adorably cute and you're still very, very twelve.

Family Reunion

Here are the memorable moments from our recent family reunion in picture form:

If goats can be beautiful...this is what they would look like.

Sunrise down on the farm.

The quintessential farm picture. Old and beautiful.

We rode like this to the local park/lake, on folding chairs in the back of the pick-up down dusty old dirt roads. Several of the kids kept asking, "Isn't this illegal?" We told them not to worry, we're in the country, this is how they do it.

Chuck having fun with the kids on the merry-go-round.

Walleye fish fry. Delicious. The best fish around! No food frustration here.

The boys and their obsession with weapons.

A homemade board game called Wahoo made by Chuck's late Grandma,

still played and enjoyed by all.

A hayride on a beautiful night.

Bike rides down the dirt drive.

Uncle Joel on his tractor.

Gavin making sure to get in plenty of reading time.

The lush corn fields surrounding us.

Wagon rides.

Quality time with the horses...

....and the goats.

The campers that most everyone slept in.

This is how they do it in the country.

Fresh Air

It was a gorgeous, crisp, end of summer morning here in Minnesota. I was enjoying it to it's fullest sitting outside, soaking up the peace and beauty around me in the early hours of the morning before the children woke up. So as not to startle them, I left the sliding door open with the screen so they could see that I was outside when they woke up and to let in the beautiful breeze. Sure enough, Chloe was the first to wake and came outside to greet me. She inhaled deeply and said, "Mom, as soon as I woke up I smelled a hint of fresh air and knew the screen door must be open. So I came out here to find you." I'm so glad that 'hint of fresh air' was the lure that brought her to me. We both were able to bask in the beauty of the morning together with our cups of hot tea. It just doesn't get much better than that in my book.

I'm surprised that out of all three kiddos, she's my most 'outdoorsy' one. She loves being outside. She appreciates the smells, animals and sounds associated with nature. Often, when we're out back together she comments, "Mom, it's like we're camping but we're not. It's always so pretty out here." I have to agree, that's what I love about our backyard as well.

We were out at Aunt Lou's farm again recently and Chloe got some hay stuck in her hair. When she came over to me, I reached out to try to take the hay out. She quickly stopped me and exclaimed, "Mom, don't. I like that hay there. It makes me look like a real farm girl."

Can We Talk?

It's a beautiful Friday evening. The whole family is outside on the back patio. Bennett and Chloe are playing catch. Chuck and I are reading. Gavin is walking aimlessly around the backyard talking to himself. When out of the blue he shows up in front of me and says, "Mom? Can we discuss antimatter right now?"

"Honey, I would love to, but can you do me a favor? Can you please tell me what antimatter is? And why would you think I could possibly have an intelligent conversation about something I know nothing about?"

"Well, Mom, it's the opposite of matter. I just want to know what happens when matter and antimatter touch."

"Um. Well...How can antimatter touch matter when it's ANTI-matter?? That's what I want to know Mr. King of the Obvious." I always find that I appear slightly more intelligent when I answer his questions with one of my own. "Better yet, let's go inside and google this right now and get to the bottom of this."

However, before heading in, Chuck asks Gavin, "Why would you want to know what happens?"

"Well, cuz if they make gamma-rays, then we could figure out a way to harness that and make weapons out of it."

Oh. Carry on....

Next, we find ourselves huddled over the computer reading Wikipedia and understanding every third word. But he must have understood more than I cuz when I asked him if it made sense he said, "Ya. See Mom, when real matter and antimatter touch or collide it causes the annihilation of both. And photons, otherwise known as gamma-rays, are released."

"Oh. And why do we care?"

"Well, it just got me thinking when we were reading our book today, A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle. In it the author was talking about an explosion in space caused by matter and antimatter colliding and I was wondering if it was real and what that would look like."

"Oh. That's a good book, isn't it?!"

"Yes."

"Can we be done discussing this now?"

See what happens when you read to your children? I think I'll just stick with Dr. Seuss from now on. That, I can understand and explain.

In The Future We Are

I felt like I was a Jedi Apprentice in training to use The Force while playing this "game" at a museum the kids and I just went to last week. Is this not one of the coolest things ever?! The goal was to mentally "push" this ball to your opponent's side. But the way to accomplish this was by mentally relaxing. Is it any surprise to anyone that I didn't win? Gavin won against each of us (we think the machine was rigged).

Next lesson in store for me: How to use a light saber. Proud, Yoda would be.

Unbelieveable

This is our first summer in Minnesota. Being from Texas the majority of my life, I'm very used to 100 degree days for 3 months out of the year. I'm a summer kinda girl. I love it! I love the sun! So, you can imagine my joy when the mercury started reaching the 90's this past week - bonus!

Unfortunately for us, this little mid-west heatwave decided to fall upon us at the onset of our little co-ed soccer season Chuck and I are playing. Sunday morning it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 104. The dewpoint was at 81%. That's some serious humidity. Although I'm used to heat, it's the humidity I don't have much experience with. It felt like a wet, heavy blanket draping over us the entire game. You can't breathe in enough oxygen to satisfy your need for air. As you can imagine, our game didn't go so well. But at least I didn't pass out or throw-up on the field. I accomplished my goals of not completely humiliating myself.

When we got home that afternoon, our fire alarms started going off in the house. That was odd because there was no fire. I even ran out to the street to get a good look at the roof and thankfully, no smoke was rising, so we were good. However, the sound wouldn't stop! This really made the kids super nervous - especially for Ninja. They kept saying, "What about Ninja's ears?" and all huddling around me while I was running around the house looking up at all the fire alarms, confirming that indeed all 20 of them were going off simultaneously.

During this little escapade, Chuck was safe in the shower...until we all descend upon him yelling at the top of our lungs, "FIRE ALARM!" Amazingly, he couldn't hear it in the shower. So, he runs out with a towel around his dripping wet self and stares at the same main alarm in our kitchen area. It is at least 15 feet high on the ceiling/roof. What he plans on doing is beyond me. He deems that the battery must be low and announces for all to hear, "Don't worry, it's just a low battery. It will stop soon." This is his overly optimistic self in full force. So what do we do? We all just continue on as if this incessant beeping is normal, while covering Ninja's sensitive ears. Thankfully, it only continued for about 5 minutes.

Fast forward to today. This is the 4th day of the heat wave. You take one step outside and your shirt, skin and hair are already dripping wet. Your glasses fog up instantly. All the windows in your house are foggy - it's like you live in an aquarium. You have to rub all the moisture off the windows in order to look outside. I was actually outside cleaning these same windows when all of the sudden, Chloe and Bennett come running outside, clearly worried, "Mom. Come quick. The fire alarms are going off again!"

Great!! What am I supposed to do?! The sound assaults me as soon as I step in. The chorus is loud and long. It's VERY hard for me to think under pressure. I'm suddenly whisked back in time to another fire alarm incident and start to panic. Quick. Think Cori. You're the only adult here! Hmmm. Okay, first things first...I ask Bennett to come out to the garage with me and help me haul in the 8 foot ladder. I send Chloe for the broom. The plan is to put it under the alarm and climb up as high as I dare and poke the alarm with the bottom of the broom. Maybe I can stop the noise that way. Why/How? I have no clue...but it seems like a productive thing to be doing.

Bennett is bravely holding the ladder in place as I make my ascent, broom in hand. I am 2 steps from the top and my feet have firmly planted themselves on this level and will go no farther. Next, I initiate the poking of the alarm. Much to my surprise it makes the noise stop for 1 second and then make a succession of beeps even louder than the original sound I was trying to eliminate. Great.

I've never been good at thinking on my feet, but while I'm up this high, I decide to try to read the fire alarm. The words are written in a circle all around it in the smallest font you've ever seen and in the same color as the alarm. It is impossible! Especially since I'm still a good 3 feet below it. There's no way I can reach high enough to touch it. Plus, we all remember my fear of height issues. I might spontaneously fall off this ladder at any moment...I need to hurry!

In a nutshell (at least from what I could decipher), the alarm says that it won't make any noise if the battery is low. Great. That means Chuck's earlier assessment is completely wrong and we do indeed have problem.

Plan B - call Chuck. He tells me he doesn't know what I should do. Great. I ask him if maybe this warrants a call to the fire department. If for no other reason, they would be able to actually reach the alarm in order to turn it off. He agrees.

I go look for the number to call in the city directory. Mind you, the fire alarm beeps are continual, loud, incessant, high-pitched and still going on. I call both of the numbers listed. One just rings and rings and no one answers. The second number sends me to voice mail. You have got to be kidding me. This is not an emergency in the truest sense of the word, but I have no other choice than to call the emergency number. Great.

So, here I go dialing 911 and feeling like a heel. I hope I'm not taking man power away from a true emergency. As soon as someone answers, I apologize and explain the situation. She's not surprised in the least. She told me, "We have gotten a ton of calls all weekend for the same thing. The heat and humidity are so high, it's setting off all the fire alarms." NO WAY! Never in my life have I heard of such a thing. This is beyond bizarre. She tells me, "I'll see if I can find someone to send over to help you and take a look at it. In the mean time, crank your a/c as low as you can to cool down the roof."

Thankfully, she found a fireman who wasn't in his fire truck, just an SUV to send over. He was accompanied with a policeman in a squad car - all for my stupid fire alarm that won't go off. But wouldn't you know, in the amount of time it took for me to lower my a/c and for the fireman to get here, the beeping stopped all on it's own (15-20 minutes). Now I look like a sick kid who goes to the doctor who doesn't look or act sick anymore. He comes in and repeats 911 lady's story about this happening all over town. He told me that the alarms that are attached to the ceilings that are directly under the roof tiles that don't have any insulation around them are picking up too much heat. Our particular one is on the west facing side of the house. He actually told me to unscrew it from the ceiling until the heat wave passes. That would be nice - if I could reach it.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would be calling 911 because it was too hot. Welcome to Minnesota.

The Road Trip

It appears that our new past time is to drive across the United States. Last year we drove to California (22 hours), this year we drove to Minnesota (15 hours) and our last conquest has been our most recent drive to the East coast, Virginia specifically (20 hours). We must love our car. And we do...but there's something so alluring and fun about being stuck in a car with your favorite people for long periods of time. We totally enjoyed just talking, playing car games, reading, listening to books on tape, listening to cds, watching the changing scenery and taking in the country-side around us. How can that not be fun? Well, I can think of a way...if any or all of your kids are under the age of 3, then I don't recommend it. That is one of the advantages of having your kids get older. That...and they can do more chores. But then they also eat more and need more stuff. But you also get into some awesome conversations and don't have to pick up paci's every 2 minutes. But you might still smell interesting odors in the car, especially if you have boys.

But I digress....So, The Road Trip started at 3:30 in the morning. Crazy, huh?! Actually, it was supposed to start at 3:30, that's when our alarms were all set to go off so we could leave at 4 am to get a head start on our 12 1/2 hour driving day. But Gavin, Mr. Sleep's The Day Away any other normal day, decides that he is going to set 4 of his alarms (he was afraid he wouldn't hear just one) for 3:15am. He comes running up stairs turning on lights and yelling, "Time to get up. Time go on our trip!" Excited is an understatement. Thanks to him we were out of here on time.

What would be a road trip without some beautiful sunrise pictures? I will not disappoint. We were in Wisconsin by time the sun came up the first day. The second day, we were in Ohio.

We were lucky enough to get to visit both sets of Grandparents on his trip. Our first stop was in Ohio to see Nana. We spent the day out and about their small town. We enjoyed walking around the old downtown square, admiring the late 1890's architecture.

We also had fun at one of our favorite parks, Tawawa Park. We love to play. Playgrounds are a must! We find them every where we go.

Chuck and his Mom

We leave bright and early the next day (early enough to get another sunrise picture) and make our way across the Appalachian Mountains to Virginia. Boy am I glad I wasn't a settler. I wouldn't have made it very far. One look at those mountains and I would have preferred to stay put. They're big. And the road is very curvy. And scary. But that's just me. Thankfully, Chuck was driving through most of the mountainous regions.

After greeting my parents and moving the entire contents of our car into their house we ate and then proceeded to light sparklers (outside, that is). I was shocked! Never in my life have my parents allowed us as kids to play with or even entertain the idea of playing with fireworks. Look what happens once you have grandkids! They threw caution to the wind and we had fun with sparklers. Actually, they did. Among many of my oddities, we can add fear of fire to the growing list. I heeded my parents warnings in my childhood years to stay away from fire. Thus, there was no need for me to hold a metal stick with fire blazing at the end of it. But if my offspring thought this was a fun idea, who was I to limit their fun?

The one thing I love about my parents (there are numerous things, but this sticks out) is that they LOVE to play. I love that. I love that age isn't a factor. Having fun together is the most important thing. And having fun involves playing. We weren't there 15 minutes before Dad drags out the bean bag toss game.

We hit at least two playgrounds.

We played Frisbee.

We played a board game called Spy Ally (very apropos).

We played in the pool and we played tennis. It's a little humiliating for two thirty-somethings to get beat in tennis by two sixty-somethings. But they have played tennis many more years and at a competitive level and are awesome. So, it was a fun match whenever Chuck wasn't trying to hit a homerun and I wasn't trying to duck out of the way of the ball (because that's something else I'm scared of, balls coming at me at a high rate of speed).

Virginia and neighboring D.C are full of beauty and history. It's always a fun place to go. We went to the Great Falls on the Potomac River. There we enjoyed the hot and humid day with a picnic and walking some trails.

We saw an old Civil War battlefield/national cemetery called Ball's Bluff.

The South won this battle.

We visited the amazing National Holocaust Museum, a favorite of mine.

We also enjoyed seeing a monument we hadn't ever seen before:

the F.D.R Memorial.

Can you get a more picturesque photo while in D.C? I think not?

We also went to an amazing place in the countryside called The Great Meadow (I know, it sounds like something out of Narnia) where we celebrated the 4th of July. We also got to watch a polo game. Pure beauty - it truly was a great meadow.

Surprisingly, nothing crazy happened to us. I know that's hard to believe given our track record, but we were pretty normal this time around. Unless you want to count the time we stopped in downtown Chicago to eat lunch where the mob lives. We were literally watched by a man at the door the entire time we were eating. I guess that's what happens when you want to go to an 'authentic Italian deli' in Chicago. And then there was the time we had to stop on the southside of Chicago to buy me some sinus pills. I have never been so scared while inside a Walgreens with bars on the window. But the mission was accomplished and my headache relieved. So, it was still a success.