Small World

Stole this pic.
I don't know if she minds, I didn't ask.

This is Errin.  I met her at an ACLU party five years ago, and liked her right off the bat.  I often passed her in the halls on campus, so a week later when we passed I waved hello.  She didn't remember me and failed to wave back.  The end.  (For a little while).

Fast forward to the fall of 2010.  I'm in Utah to be with family while Nate is deployed, and spending a lot of time with a friend from high school, Ashley Thalman.  This you already know.  Babies (the movie) is about to be released in theaters and promises to be an amazing documentary.  Who doesn't love babies?

"Let's go!" I say.  "Save the date."

"Oh definitely," says Ash.  "and I'm gonna bring my neighbor, she wants to see it too."

And who's her neighbor?  Errin!  Whattdya know.  We see the movie.  We talk, we laugh, she likes me back.

Now, we're bona-fide friends.  She's awesome.  She's also going to lose 100 pounds this year.  That's right O N E  H U N D R E D pounds.  She's keeping track of her progress on a new blog THINCREDIBLEJULK.  (Her maiden name starts with Julk, is long and Scandinavian, and I can't spell the rest of it).  So many clever plays on words in the title alone.  Her blog's incredibly motivating.  When I want to sleep late instead of go running, I remember Errin's gonna lose 100 lbs this year and get my lazy A-- out of bed.  You must check it out.

January's Awful

and it's almost over anyway.  Let's pretend it's February!

Do your kids like paper dolls? Mine sure do.  I didn't think Asher would go for it, but then he saw they came with cowboy and Army suits, and dove right in.  These cuties and a million other (free!) printable paper dolls HERE.

Mi Niñita

as seen through the lens of the illustrious Ashley Thalman

Godmothers?

Yeah, we've got them.

So much can go wrong with daughters.  It keeps me up at night, all the things I won't protect them from--careless words, foolish men, other peoples' daughters. Knowing I can't be there, or worse, knowing that I might be, but that they might not care.  I hate to think that they could hate me, or, for a time, not need me.  

So the good Lord, in his infinite wisdom, sent two women to guide my girls through those in-between times.  The times they're fifteen and everything I say is wrong.  The times a compliment is needed, but it doesn't count if it's from mom.

Heather is everything I admire in a woman: determined, passionate, thoughtful, and hard-working.  The perfect match for my head-strong first.

Ashley is kind and patient, well read, nurturing, and diligent.  A "secret fairy godmother" for my quiet Frances.

I was able to ask Heather in person if she was up for the challenge of Jensie Lissette, but Auntie Ashley lives on the other side of the country so we don't have many face-to-face heart-to-hearts.

I meant to make things "official" by sending a letter, but the topic came up on Gmail chat instead.  I love this conversation too much not to share it.

me: I have been putting this off because Nate and I decided that we wanted it to be real for real, real, and I was gonna snail mail to make it more official.

  But that didn't happen.

 Ashley: oh my goodness

 me: Remember our talk at California Pizza kitchens about godparents?

11:39 PM Ashley: what!?????????????????????????????????????????????????

  yes.

 me: I was not joking.

 Ashley: haha

  okay

 me: Will you be Frankie's godmother?

 Ashley: YES!

  Oh my yes!

  of course.

  Erin, my weepy eyes can't take this!

 me: I don't really know what all godmothers do.  We've never had godmothers before.

  

11:40

Ashley:

"Traditionally, godparents were informally responsible for ensuring the child's religious education was carried out, and for caring for the child should it be orphaned. Today, the word godparent might not have explicitly religious overtones. The modern view of a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child's upbringing and personal development.[1]"

  see.

  Wikipedia told me

 me: But we'd like you to remember her birthday, not send gifts, but maybe a card, and call her as she gets older so that she knows she has another grown up to talk to and trust when she's 13 and hates us.

11:41 PM And we want you to offer her good advice and remind her that we are making choices that she hates because we love her so so so very much.

 Ashley: DONE

 me: Cool.

  

11:42 PM Ashley: Does she know I am her godmother or, is it a secret?

 me: No it's not a secret.

 Ashley: Am I a secret Godmother?

  haha

 me: Well it won't be.

 Ashley: or fairy.

  I meant Fairy.

 me: a secret.

 Ashley: haha

 me: she doesnt' know yet because we hadn't asked.

  

we wanted our girls each to get their very own.

11:43 PM Frankie=Ashley, Jensie=Heather

  and that was SO easy.

It really was, "SO easy."  Thanks Miss Heather, Ash.  I don't know what we'd do without you.

Pippa

Poor Pippa was mauled by a fox last night.  Nate went out to put them in their house for the night and arrived just in time to scare off Pip's attacker. He also got a good look at how predators are getting into the yard. Poor things, they're so helpless out there unless we watch them 24/7.  I think we'll be getting a guard goose to help sound the alarm in case anything else comes sniffin' around.  Aggie's pretty good at scaring off anything that gets too close, but she was in the house with us last night when it all went down.

Pip made it through the night and it looks like she'll pull through, but her leg is hurt so we brought her inside this morning and got her all set up in a big tote so she wouldn't have to move to get to her food and water. Hopefully a few days rest will have her ready to get back outside to her sisters.

*UPDATE*  Good as new!  Outside and tucked safely into her little house.

Dress #2 (Knock Knock)

Hi ho, just dorky me in a dress at the door.  Bought this one at Goodwill for $5.  It's not especially pretty , nor does it fit especially well, but I thought maybe with a blazer or the right accessories I could make it work.  Hope I was right.  If not, let's just pretend it's one of those things that looks better in real life.  We'll all just give me the benefit of the doubt.

And that's just a Christmas wreath on the door in the middle of January. Ho hum.

Sunbeam

Those little munchkins can be a handful, but Frankie's teacher says she's no trouble at all.

We Are Beastses! --Frankie

My sister Natalie came to live with us.  She moved in a week before Christmas.  I have no idea why this is the first time I'm mentioning it--I've been very busy enjoying my live-in friend/nanny.  The kids keep trying to come up with excuses for me to leave the house so she'll babysit--if I were them, I would too.  She wrestles, braids hair, and never says no to Rice Crispy treats.

Snow Day

 

 Asher lends a helping head.

And While Collecting Eggs...

I wore this.  Hahaha, how on earth do you segue from farm food to fashion?  Em asked me to post pictures of all the dresses I'm wearing these days. I want you all to know I feel like a total dork posting pictures of myself on the web.  Okay?  Here it is, dress #1:

The shoes were not part of the egg gathering process, nor do I make a habit of wearing them around as house shoes.  I hope you already knew that.

And Then There Were Eggs

This morning I went to let the ducks out of their house for the day and found two perfect eggs laying in their straw.  I couldn't believe it!  I was so excited I seriously considered spending the rest of the day making an egg shaped pinata to fill with gluten-free candy and throwing a big juevo fiesta.  But then I just washed the poop off of them and stuck them in the fridge instead.

Can you spot the duck eggs?  Hint: They're front and center.

They look just like the chicken eggs, only much smoother.  They're light brown and a teensy bit speckled.  I don't know what they taste like though--we're saving them 'til Nate gets home to crack 'em open.

PS.  I seriously don't know how people take pretty pictures of food.  I took this on my front porch, because my kitchen's really dark.   But you know what?  Taking your eggs out of the fridge to photograph them on the porch is just plain weird.

Wanna Learn About Bones?

Discover Asher's latest obsession here.

I Couldn't Think of any Alliterative J Words,

but I didn't forget Jensie!

She's a big sister.  She's bossy and loud, and likes to make up rules.  Most of all though, she's helpful and kind.  You can always find her with her arm around someone's shoulder, asking "would you like me to ___________ for you?"  (pour you some cereal, hold you up to see Louis, squeeze some toothpaste out, etc).  If you're tired, Jensie will let you sleep in--more often than not, she'll even make you breakfast in bed.  She presents her dishes proudly, keeps in mind how much you like healthy food, and likes to invent new foods as an added surprise.  I was afraid to try her yogurt with cheddar cheese grated into it, but it wasn't bad.  Not bad at all.

This year Jensie learned to swim, ride a bike, and, recently, sew.  Grandi (Nate's mom) showed her how to make a pair of green fleece pajama pants while we were in Oregon.  She learned to cook and follow recipes and even to (mostly) control her temper.  She takes great care of her parakeet and is memorizing all of her math addition flash-cards to earn a bowling party.

She is a primary star.  She loves going to church and reminds us to pray over every meal.  She always clears her plate.  She has read and re-read all of Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House books.  Last month she read A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, which impressed and delighted us.  She loves shrimp and crab legs, her favorite color is red.  When she grows up she wants to be a scientist and an inventor.  Her favorite movies are Howl's Moving Castle and The Secret of Kells.

Jensie likes being featured on the blog, but thinks it's rude when I post pictures of her frowning or teary eyed. She is tall for her age, and wants to grow her hair long.  She always gets compliments on her bangs.  She hates bangs.

She feeds the animals twice a day, keeps her room clean, and keeps a journal.  The other night, long after I'd sent her to bed, I went into her room and found her doing push-ups while listening to her iPod.

"Whoa, why are you still up?" I asked.

"I'm exercising.  I do this every night."  she said.

So there's that too.

Classic Nate

While I typed that last post, Nate was sound asleep in bed.  When I finished, I crawled in next to him and gave him a big sloppy kiss.

Half-awake he whispered "In my dream I..."

(This is where I smiled thinking he was going to say something nice about me).

"...had a mouthful of tiny birds."

Rolling over and nestling deep into the covers, he added, "and a chipmunk."

This Year

Sometimes I think stupid things.  Occasionally, I even say them out loud.

Like the other day as I was looking through these amazing photos from the Great Depression Era and I said, "Man, I wish I lived back then.  I would have loved to wear a dress every day."

For the sake of time, let's ignore how ridiculous it is to covet the lives of Dust Bowl subsistence farmers from the comfort of a well-lit air-conditioned four-bedroom home, and skip ahead to Nate's considerate response.

"What's stopping you?"

Got me there!  This year I am wearing dresses, except when I feel like wearing pants.  (When it comes to resolutions I like to go all out).

And Nate?

This morning I found him in the bathroom enthusiastically spiking his hair up with a tub of pomade.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"It's a new look for the new year"  he said.

2011 will go down in history as the year we looked awesome.