tough day

Today was a tough day for Miss Josie, as she had to say goodbye to her teacher of the past two months, the teacher who came in to replace her sick teacher, the teacher that everyone thought would stay for the rest of the year.  It's a very long, convoluted story that doesn't make a lot of sense and certainly doesn't take into account any of the kids in that class, or the substitute who poured her heart into it.  Everyone is heart-broken, many are mad, most are really disappointed.  There are still a lot of unanswered questions for the adults in the situation to figure out, but for the kids, it's just a sad day.

three years

 Josie and I spent some good quality time together at the park on a sunny day a couple weeks ago when she wasn't feeling well enough to go to school (yes, she was well enough to play at the park but not well enough to go to school; I was surprised by how many people questioned the logic of this). I remembered a photo that she patiently posed for me to take almost exactly three years ago, and we both agreed it would be fun to recreate.  So, here's Josie three years ago, at the adorable age of two:

And here's big girl Josie, at the ginormous age of five (same park, but with slightly reconfigured playground equipment):

random

An assortment of random thoughts keep flooding my mind:

• Josie is very acutely afraid of fire right now.  She saw a tiny segment of a news story about a school in Vancouver that burned to the ground a few weeks ago, and has been peppering me with questions ever since.  There was a fire drill at school yesterday when I just happened to be helping in the classroom and the look on her sweet face made me so sad.  Some of the other (slightly "behaviorally-challenged," shall we say) kids in the class kept yelling that they smelled smoke, just for attention, and I could tell J was petrified.  She had a million questions last night before bed--what if there's a fire at school and someone is in the bathroom?  What if some of the kids don't get out of the classroom in time?  What if there's a fire at home and someone is in the shower?  What if she's asleep and there's a fire and she doesn't hear the smoke alarm?  It breaks my heart to hear her worrying about these things so I answered all of her questions very matter-of-factly, assured her that the adults are taking every precaution, and told her to come up with a list of three fun things she wants to do this summer.
• After a trip to the dentist this week, it was determined that Avery needs a special panoramic x-ray taken at an orthodontist's office because her upper 12-year molars are "missing."  Her lower 12-year molars grew in at age 10, but the dentist just figured the uppers might be operating on their own schedule.  The fact that they haven't emerged yet apparently means one of two things: either she doesn't have those teeth, or they could be growing in sideways (which is unlikely because none of her other teeth are being pushed out of the way).  The joke with her dentist has always been that she has the straightest, most perfectly-aligned teeth he has ever seen, so giving her a referral to an orthodontist was painful for him.  He joked that I was absolutely, under no circumstances, NOT to let them talk me into an orthodontic consultation when I made the appointment.  I chuckled at that, but sure enough, when I called to schedule the x-ray, the receptionist asked twice if I would like a consultation with the orthodontist.
• During the same visit, the dentist pulled me aside very seriously, in the middle of Cayden's check-up.  I was concerned at first but then he told me that I only had to pay half-price for him because he doesn't have any teeth left!  As I talked about before, Cayden pulls out all of his teeth the moment they become loose.  The dentist confirmed that by checking his records: in the last six months, he lost eight teeth, something it takes most kids two years to do.  He is now done with baby teeth, and will hopefully never have to pull another tooth in his life.  Okay, enough about teeth.
• Andrew and I booked a trip to Hawaii this summer to celebrate our 15th anniversary.  Since our girls' Mexico trip isn't happening this year, this will give me a little something to look forward to. I'm so, so, so excited. 
• A friend that I knew way back in the stone age when I had one toddler and one baby was back in Portland this week, after nine years in China.  We got together with some other moms from that group and... wow, our kids are old.  And there's a lot more of them than there were in 2003/2004.  

lately

That year of daily blogging apparently sucked all the excitement out of it for me, because I sure haven't been fighting off any urges to update things around here.  There is so much big stuff happening all around us--mostly slightly horrible things, to people we really care about--and I feel like anything I'd have to say is so trivial that it'd be best just to be quiet and appreciate the normalcy of daily life.

But, if I'm trying to use this platform as a way to show my future kids (my current kids, in the future; not future kids that I don't have yet) what a slice of daily life was like, then I'm not doing them any favors by only documenting semi-monumental things.  So, with that said...

Avery seems to be having a great year at school.  We're definitely getting less info than we did last year; she is clearly entering that stage of pulling away from her parents.  In her ideal world, she could get everywhere she needs to go by herself.  She is constantly looking for opportunities to go places on her own--walking home with a friend after dance, walking to get a snack after school, etc.  Too bad the two places she goes on a daily basis (school and dance) are not walkable... and that she hasn't embraced the idea of a bus pass yet.  She has also completely taken over control of all her schoolwork, which is apparently right on track for seventh grade.  You might recall how much I struggled with this last year, but I'm pleased to say it has been a non-issue this year and her grades are somehow better than last year (hmn).  She has two big dance shows coming up, about 3 weeks apart, so we're gearing up for the crazy rehearsal schedule that is quickly approaching.

Cayden is enjoying fifth grade more than he did at the beginning of the year, and seems to be in a good place right now.  His beloved basketball season is coming to an end though, so I might have to change that last part in a couple weeks.  He craves basketball like some people crave chocolate; it's weird to me.  He made a buzzer beater half-court shot at one of his games this season and I think he'll be riding that high until about eighth grade.  He's starting to get more excited about middle school, which is good of course.  Following Avery to her arts-based school wouldn't necessarily be his first choice, but I think he can recognize (and I definitely recognize) that it's too good of an opportunity to pass up (he gets first dibs at one of the 150 coveted spots as a sibling).  He's starting to talk about which art electives he wants to try, and seems excited to meet some new friends.  It's still six months off, but I'm looking forward to it all for him.

Josie is still just Josie, happily living life to the fullest.  She has a list a mile long of classes that she wants me to sign her up for--clearly with no concept of when she might have time to take any of them.  Yoga, horse-back riding, knitting, painting, tap, basketball, soccer, baseball, braiding (?), just to name a few, and of course her standards: ballet and swimming.  She had to take a break from swimming this session because she was the youngest kid by 8 years and it just wasn't a good fit.  She can't exactly swim in a straight line so she was constantly getting kicked and hit (accidentally, of course) by the kids who were trying to share a lane with her. I found a class next session that's almost immediately after school gets out and I'm hoping that it might be less-crowded or attract a slightly younger group of kids.  School continues to go well, although I did hear that she had to go sit at her desk for talking in line today (for shame!).  Her teacher is officially not coming back this school year, which is disheartening, but we're lucky to have a phenomenal sub so I have no complaints. 

Now that I've started I'm realizing there is so much more to share!  But, alas, I've lost interest and would rather curl up under a blanket and watch something awful on TV.  I'm going to try to motivate myself to pop in here every once in a while though.  Probably.  Maybe.

ringing the bells of freedom once again

I could've sworn it was just yesterday I was editing photos from Avery's fifth grade play, and here I sit editing photos from Cayden's.  Time just keeps on truckin'.

This year, with a slightly older youngest child, I was able to help with the production as a stage manager.  While it meant that I was backstage and didn't actually get to watch the play, it also meant that I was at every rehearsal (except one) and could have filled in for anyone and everyone if the need arose.

Honestly, this was one of the most fulfilling volunteer opportunities I have had at this school.  Watching those kids (from backstage) on the big night made my heart swell with pride.  They're a super special group, and this was such a great way for them to begin their transition out of elementary school {sniff, sniff}.

Oh... and I got to arrange the flowers for the teachers & director and I think I've found what I want to do with the rest of my life.  Arrange flowers bouquets.  All day, every day.

captioned winterhawk photos

After last night's blog post, I was debating if I would even go back to my Sports Photography class for the review session tomorrow.  It's not like I don't have a million other things I could do with that time, and I wasn't exactly thrilled with the photos that I got.  But, I managed to find 10 that I could work with, wrote captions for them like the instructor asked, and I have some feedback that I'd like to give anyway, so I think I'll go.  Below are a handful of my final pics:

sports photography = HARD

I signed up for a Sports Photography class last night that had us ice-level shooting the Portland Winterhawks in action.

I left the game (match?) very disappointed with 700 mediocre (at best) photos. I didn't even look at them until this morning because I knew I hadn't captured anything remarkable. I spent much of the afternoon (Super Bowl, what Super Bowl?) whittling that number down to 602, then 359, and now 98.

I'm having trouble finding my "best" 10 to bring back to class on Tuesday because I don't see 10 that I'd be comfortable sharing. I got some decent portrait shots of various players who were standing still, but once the game was underway it was just too fast for me to follow, much less photograph.

Considering that I was the only student in the class with zero sports photography experience, I'm feeling like I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this one. Discouraging.

good riddance

February 1, 2013

Dear January 2013,

You sucked.  For just about everyone I know, you were the worst month on record.  Illness, injury, heartache, sorrow, money problems, etc.  The list goes on and on.

Thankfully, we've turned the calendar page to a new month and left you in the dust.  The sun is attempting to shine (in other words for anyone outside of the Pacific Northwest, it's not raining) and I'm feeling good about the month ahead. 

No offense of course, but I won't miss you for a second.
Sincerely, Amber

tap!

Avery's got a dance show at school tomorrow night--a combination of polished choreographed pieces and more casual tap, ballet & jazz demonstrations from each of the three advanced classes.  The video above is just a tiny piece of the rehearsal for her tap class demonstration (the whole thing is 20 whopping minutes!).  I also taped her choreographed piece but it's about a billion meg so I have to decide if it's worth waiting all day for it to upload or not.  Stay tuned.

Oh, Avery is the one who looks all washed out, front row, to the immediate right (from your perspective) of the teacher.

aging

It's been fascinating the past six or so months to watch Josie trying to find her way in this household full of people who are, for all intents and purposes, grown-ups.  She acts most of the time as if she's about to be 17.  Not in a bad way, but in a confident, fearless sort of way.  She sees everything that everyone else is busy doing, and she has no doubt that she should have all those same fabulous opportunities, regardless of the fact that she's all of five.

The other night it was just her and me at home; everyone else was off at some function or another.  She asked if she could watch something on TV and since I was still halfway dead with the flu, I happily obliged.  Without thinking about it, she informed me that she was going to get on Hulu and watch Modern Family, season 4, episode 7... the one where Haley gets arrested.  Because that's her favorite episode ever.

Sometimes it's not easy seeing her grow up so fast.

And on the other hand, there are times when her attempts to make herself appear older than she is backfire and she just serves to remind us all what a youngin' she really is.  Josie's been obsessed with this game on her iPod called Draw Something.  I haven't ever tried it myself (so I really shouldn't be the one to tell the story, but it's too good not to share), but my understanding is that it's an interactive game wherein you're given a choice of three or four things to draw for your partner, much like Pictionary, on your mobile device.  The goal is to make the drawing as legible as possible so you and your partner can rack up the points.

Which is all well and good if you're playing with someone who can reliably draw, read and spell.

(That was a spoiler.)

Fast forward to this weekend.  Andrew is stumped, trying to figure out Josie's drawing (as everyone else in the city has been all week--the rest of the family will get random texts from people, asking us to ask Josie what her drawing is).  It's two half-moon shapes facing each other, with a line (or a crack, as it were) down the middle. 

Somehow, he determines after countless incorrect guesses, based on the jumbled up letter choices available as a hint, that the drawing is of BOTOX.  Perplexed, he goes back to Josie and asks her what she drew.  Very non-nonchalantly, she replies, "buttocks."

Most people might take this as a sign and stop playing this game with her, but no.  Everyone keeps going.  On a subsequent turn yesterday, she draws this random blue grocery-bag-looking thing with a jagged top, and makes a note that it's not the right color (this is where I get confused, but I think you have to pay to upgrade to a full color palette).  No one has any clue what it is, so I asked her directly.  "Broccoli," she tells me. "With a U." But the letters needed to spell broccoli, even with a U, are not available. 

Turns out it was BRUCE LEE.

Then there was the picture of two birds in a tree, one slightly higher than the other. 

HYBRID.

Of course.

down for the count

I've spent the better part (90%, give or take) of the past seven days in bed, with what is far and away the worst illness I've ever had.  It started as a typical cold about two weeks ago and then rapidly morphed into the full-blown flu as of Thursday.  Fever, chills, body aches, horrendous cough, sinus pain, earache, you name it.

I went to Urgent Care on Monday morning because I felt like I was trying (and failing) to breathe through a coffee stirrer, something that I've only ever experienced once before.  The doctor was very sympathetic, but told me there wasn't all that much she could do for me.  The infection is most likely viral so antibiotics won't help; the most she could do is treat the symptoms. So now I've got this mixture of medications that I'm rotating through, trying to overlap some of them and trying to separate others (very hard to keep it all straight with such a foggy brain, by the way).

I think I can say that today is the first day that I don't feel worse.  I wouldn't say I feel any better necessarily, but not feeling worse is welcome and I'll take it.  I managed to drop the kids off at school and pick them back up (with five hours of sleep in between), which felt like a big accomplishment.  If I can stay out of bed from now (3pm) until bedtime (7pm), that will be the longest that I've been up since last Wednesday.  Wish me luck!

calcaneal apophysitis

After 6 months of doing our best to manage his sporadic, sometimes intense heel pain, I finally took Cayden to see a real honest-to-goodness podiatrist yesterday.  I was sure he would be the youngest patient there by about 40 years and sure enough, he was.

The doctor was great.  He must either have an active son, or remember being an active child himself, because he totally "got" that sitting out for the whole basketball season in a walking boot wasn't really an option and that coming out of a game the moment his heel starts to hurt wasn't going to happen.  He checked Cayden's feet and legs out, took some x-rays, and told us that he's got something called calcaneal apophysitis, or Sever's Disease.  He also told us that Cayden's growth plate in his heel is abnormally low (most plates end at the back of the heel, whereas Cayden's curves down and under his heel), which is probably causing it to get inflamed easily.  He assured us that the pain should cease once his Achilles tendon grows a bit more and once the growth plate closes up.  He also gave us some good suggestions to try and manage the pain (very similar to what his pediatrician told us last summer).  He assured me that the chances are very slim that he will do any long-term damage by continuing his high level of activity even when he is experiencing pain.

The doctor thinks Cayden will eventually need custom orthotics to counter some pronation in his feet, very likely brought on by this consistent pain he's been having (basically, he's started walking/standing differently to ease the pain).

I asked if we should look into that now, and he said we would cross that bridge when we come to it.  I liked that answer.

united kingdom pics

I've spent much of the morning uploading Avery's photos from her trip.  And deleting at least half of them.  I have no idea why, but she takes every single picture twice, or three or four times.  I actually asked her if there was something wrong with her camera, because there are duplicates (or triplicates) of every last shot.  Her response was that she just wanted to be sure to get one that's not blurry.  Thank goodness she wasn't using film!

Here are a few pics that stood out to me, first from
St. Andrews, Scotland:

The ruins of St. Andrews Castle

St. Andrews Golf Course, one of the most famous in the world

Next from London, England:

The River Thames, Big Ben and the London Eye

My cousin's daughter, Lily, at Trafalgar Square

Buckingham Palace (no William or Kate sighting)

Platform 9 3/4, King Cross Station

And finally, back up north to Edinburgh, Scotland:

Edinburgh Castle

Greyfriar's Bobby

fake christmas

Today, on this last day of 2012...

•  we celebrated "fake Christmas" at home with all five members of the family, (tiny, itty, bitty) snowflakes and all!!

• we welcomed Avery home, and enjoyed all of her gifts (seriously, give a 12yo some spending money and the girl will SHOP) and photos.  From all accounts, it sounds as if she had a spectacular time. 

• I was reminded how thankful I am to have kids who still get excited over the smallest things, like board games and Hex bugs and sticker books.  They get excited about the big stuff too, of course.

• I concluded a year of blogging EVERY SINGLE DAY.  I knew I would do it once I set my mind to it but it was harder than I thought it was going to be.  I do not expect to continue next year.

•  we deep-cleaned two of the kids' rooms to make room for all of their new stuff, which feels like an awesome way to start a new year.

• we went to Peacock Lane after dinner, since Avery hasn't been yet this year.  For the rest of us, it was our fourth time in two weeks.  And just as magical as ever.

•  Avery is going to try and stay up until 9:00 to see the east coast celebrations.  She is still severely jet-lagged so it's going to be a fight.

• I am excited to see what 2013 has in store for all of us.  I'm hopeful that it will include more time with all the amazing friends & family that surround us.

happy new year everyone!

avery's home!

Josie's excited!  Guy stuck behind them? Not so much.

...Please excuse me now while I go prepare for our second Christmas!