Ready for summer

Every year when it comes to this time of year it feels like we're approaching the end of a long race, and even though the end is within sight and I know it is so close - it still feels so far away and I just don't know if I'll be able to keep up the pace. Okay, maybe that's a little overly dramatic, I mean it is only the end of the school year, but seriously, will summer ever be here?!

I'm not sure it helps that we have tons and tons that we're looking foward to this summer. Because Jon is doing his oral exams next week and will have a slight break before hitting the dissertation hard, we decided to take advantage of the time and go to Utah for the whole summer. We're going to sublet our California apartment, and the rent an apartment in Ephraim. Since there is a huge price differential there, we decided to apply those funds toward a summer adventure in Mexico. We'll be spending a week there of quality mommy and daddy time, while James will enjoy some quality grandma, grandpa, aunts, and uncles time.

Amidst all of that, we will also be throwing two bridal showers for my baby sister, running a half-marathon, going to the Ogden condo, marrying off my baby sister, going to Bear Lake, running a 10k at 10K (feet), going to a family reunion, and trying to fit in hikes, camping trips, and lots of quality family time! And we're going to try to relax, because it is summer after all!

Needless to say, we're very excited ... now if we could just get the school year to end so that summer can arrive!!

My child is a vegetarian

(James enjoying a "Shrek shake" - blended spinach, orange, and banana - he devours them!)

I've heard of stories where parents are surprised by their coming-of-age children deciding on a whim, or even after much thought, that they want to be a vegetarian. Sometimes, I'm sure, the resolution sticks, but more often I'm guessing the children are just trying out their independence - seeing what kind of a reaction they get. I'm not sure which one my child is playing at, but I am sure that I never expected him to decide quite so young!

Okay, so maybe James hasn't decided to be a vegetarian. But he has most certainly decided that he does not like meat. I guarantee as many of my family members are reading this they are now saying to themselves that this is my doing. I assure you it is not. Though I do enjoy cooking vegetarian food, and admittedly do so quite frequently, we are not vegetarians nor have I eliminated meat from our diet. I think meat is a perfectly good thing to eat, especially for kids who need the protein, iron, and anything else that might be useful to their little growing bodies. I think my child should eat meat, but no matter how hard I try I simply cannot convince James to eat the stuff. I've even stooped to doing those things that you usually hear about parents doing to convince their children to eat vegetables... blending it into unrecognizable bits that essentially disappear in a meal, combining it with favorite foods, serving it warm, serving it cold, in a sandwich, in a soup, in a house, on a boat, with a cracker, with a mouse (well, maybe not on a boat or with a mouse, but I do feel like Sam I Am at times). No matter what, if I've put meat in a meal, James seems to be able to sniff it out, and rejects it just about every time.

The other day Jon thought we'd broken through: we had some frozen chicken nuggets given to us from a friend who was moving and getting rid of perishable foods. He served them to James for lunch, and James loved them. Triumphantly, Jon reported to me that afternoon that he'd finally convinced James to like meat ... until I reminded him that our friend was a vegetarian, and that those "chicken" nuggets were actually "chick'n" nuggets. Pretend meat. Jon was fooled, but James was not.

I'm convinced this will pass, and that we will not actually be raising a vegetarian. After all, we were finally able to get him to switch to drinking cow's milk instead of just soymilk. But in the meantime, it looks like we'll be serving up plenty of fruits, veggies, beans, and tofu to our little meat-hater. (Jon's not complaining, by the way, because he ends up getting to eat all the rejected meat concoctions that I've made.)

Happy Birthday, Love!

Walt Whitman, on the death of Abraham Lincoln, gave high praise to our 16th President. Today, one of Abraham Lincoln's most handsome devotees celebrates his birthday. And so, I'd like to dedicate (a slightly altered version of) Whitman's words to my most wonderful Jon...

"Why, if the old Greeks had had this man, what trilogies of plays - what epics - would have been made out of him! How the rhapsodes would have recited him! How quickly that quaint tall form would have enter'd into the region where men vitalize gods, and gods divinify men! But [Jon] ... belongs altogether to [me]."

Happy Birthday, My Love!

(he might shoot me for posting the picture above, but who can't help but love a man that is so secure with himself ... and who couldn't help but capture it on film!)

Creativity

"The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself."

- Alan Alda

I read this great article yesterday about a "school" here at Stanford that essentially teaches creativity, and it got me thinking that I would love to develop my creative side. My problem is that whole "leaving my comfort zone" thing, though ... I'm one to play it on the safe side and not take risks. I love the quote above that I found, though, and I'm thinking it might have to become my new creative mantra.

How do you foster your creative side?

Happy Post-Valentine's Day

We're usually not ones to make a big fuss out of Valentine's Day, but I'm realizing that one of the joys of having children is that holidays that have become boring are suddenly infused with new fun. We started out our V-Day with red oatmeal for breakfast (note: After consistently being subjected to the questionable look of green pancakes for St. Patty's Day as a kid I always swore that I wouldn't subject my kids to the food coloring dyed holiday foods, but yet again I realize that I'm becoming my mother...)

That followed with an art project involving colored pudding (yes, food coloring again) and a giant V-Day card for Jon.
And our day finished off with a mommy-daddy dinner (traditional Abraham Lincoln style), with a new and improved white almond cake for dessert ... yum! (not to mention the gourmet dark chocolates that were my V-Day gift :)All in all, I'd say it was one of my best Valentine's Days yet!

Catching up with ourselves

Ay, ay, ay! I just can't seem to get around to blogging these days. Life is good ... busy, but in a good way. Here's some of what we've been up to:

First haircut (this is the before pic).

Playing with Grandma in the snow (she had more fun than he did).

Celebrating Christmas

Celebrating double cousin birthdays

Add to that 6 new teeth, new first words, an ear infection, school crisis (Cami), voracious reading (Jon), and lots of outside play in the beautiful (yes, that deserves a bold) weather, and that about covers our last 6 weeks.

See you soon (I'll try harder, I promise).

In Loving Memory

I think that I shall never see,
a poem lovely as a tree!

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed,
against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
and lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear,
a nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain,
who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
but only God can make a tree!
(Joyce Kilmer)

In loving memory of William James Telford
December 14, 1913 - December 14, 2010