Tanner Park

So this is Murphy's Law at its finest...just saying there were no picture worthy activities and today presents just such an opportunity. We took advantage of a nice warm winter day and took Callie to our favorite dog park, Tanner Park. We have been there in all of the other seasons but today was the first visit in winter when it's snow covered. There were still a ton of other dogs there, as the sun was bright and glorious and it felt like 50 when it was more like 40. This is an off leash dog park, not fenced, because it sits in a canyon so there's really no where for the dogs to escape. She stays within sight of us for the most part and loves running around seeing other dogs and people. Quinn and Keely are thrilled to see other dogs and it's always a fun time. Here are the kids frolicking around.
After a little while, Callie got tired so she decided to take a quick rest and the kids were glad to join her.
We came upon a hut of sorts, sticks covered with snow. Keely got inside to pose for a picture.
Quinn, on the other hand, was more utilitarian about it. Here he is trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. You can tell we've been watching a little too much Survivorman :)
Lastly, on the way back up the hill. Keely did well walking the entire time, although she did say her legs were tired. For the most part, she didn't complain though.
After Callie got to play, the kids enjoyed the nearby playground for a little while. It was a success, everyone is tuckered out and hopefully will get a good nights' rest. The day would have been perfect except for the car getting stuck in the unplowed parking lot as we tried to leave. A few minutes of James shoveling and we were on our way though so it turned out to be just a glitch in an otherwise great winter outing!

Random Pictures

I have realized that it's been quite a while since I had a post with any pictures. It's just that time of year, nothing really picture worthy happening. But I dug into the archives a little and found a few fun, seasonal ones that I never had time to post. First though, Keely in her element. She had an amazon.com gift card leftover from Christmas still to use, and one of the things she chose to buy was a 1 GB Barbie Girl mp3 player. She loves music, singing and dancing. Often she will take my cell phone which doubles as an mp3 player and hold it to her ear, listening and dancing to the music. Her favorite is "Ready or Not" by The Fugees (Lauryn Hill) and now I can't hear that song without thinking of Keely :) Tonight I took a few pictures of her jamming to the music...James loaded it up with kids' songs and Keely sings at the top of her lungs, not realizing how loud because her ears are plugged. At five, such a diva...

Next stop, American Idol...
And now for the random, snowy pictures. This is pretty much our world now, with snow storms cycling through and we always seem to have a layer of snow for the kiddos to play in. I just had to pick this one of Callie to post, she absolutely loves the snow and will chase snowballs and stay out all day if we let her. Isn't she a cutie???
Quinn is usually hard at work, either building a snow fort or a hill to slide down with the tube.
And Keely's a ham as usual, she doesn't really like to stay out all that long but she has "warmed" up to the snow a bit since she's an Arizona girl at heart.

Book Reviews: 90 Minutes in Heaven and The Giver

I have read two books since the New Year, and have been meaning to catch up with reviews.

The first one was 90 Minutes in Heaven, by a minister named Don Piper. He was nearly killed, actually was clinically dead for 90 minutes and experienced the glories of Heaven in that time before he was brought back to life. No one was administering CPR on him, there was just another minister praying for him and his return without major brain or internal injuries. The prayers worked, and although he had numerous hurdles to overcome in his recovery, he had no major internal injuries and no brain damage. This is a true account of his time in Heaven, and then his recovery and how he has used this experience to help others. He's a minister, as I said, so that part makes me a little cynical. Especially since his version of Heaven is fairly stereotypical. Cynicism aside though it was an uplifting story about a recovery and how his story has helped others feel more comfortable about loved ones dying, and their own impending deaths. My fear of death, which most likely translates to a fear of the unknown leads me to be intrigued by this topic and what it has to bring. I recommend it, but it may go against certain religious beliefs.

The second one I just finished, and read really quickly, is The Giver by Lois Lowry. My friend Linda was telling me about reading this book with her 11 year old daughter and she just knew I would like it. She was right :) Plus when I found out it was by Lois Lowry who I read when I was a teen, I was even more excited. It was a great book, totally deep though and I left it wondering how an 11 year old would take it. It's a story of a community in the future, sort of like a "Big Brother" scenario where pretty much everything is controlled by "government". The more I think about it and the ideas it presents, the deeper it penetrates into everything we hold dear as humans and individuals. This sounds vague, I know but trust me and read it. And I was so pleased when Linda told me about the two sequels...so I will be moving on to them next!

The Vestment

On October 22, 1998 we lost our beloved Poppy. He was 70 years old and died quite suddenly. I will never forget the moment I found out, or the immediate hours and days that followed. It was the first huge loss of my life, and I miss him and think about him almost every day still. From his funeral, we had a vestment in his memory that was then worn almost a year later by Father Jack at our wedding. The vestment was in our possession until we settled down to give it to our family church for their use at Sunday masses and such. Ten years later, we have moved 3 times and for the first time, finally settled (well, as settled as anyone can be these days). The kids attend the church's school, and we attend mass fairly regularly. With the honor of being Danielle's confirmation sponsor comes a need for me to obtain a letter of "authenticity" so to speak of my own Catholic observance and thus a need for me to contact the Monsignor to get this letter. And with this need comes an opportunity for me to mention the vestment, long since held in our closet(s) in various houses. We went over on Saturday, got the letter and donated the vestment. It is cream colored with a Celtic cross on the front and an inscription in the collar for Poppy. And it got its first use this weekend at all four masses. We went to the noon mass on Sunday, and I was proud to see the priest wearing it. I was happy to see that it's finally getting the use it deserves, and glad that my Poppy will be remembered every time it is worn.

History in the Making

Today was obviously a very historic day for our nation. The kids are old enough to understand and follow the election process, and are happy that the country chose Obama to be our president. Keely was able to watch the swearing in on a TV in her Pre-K class. We know this to be true, not just because she said so (she has a history of telling fibs) but because we peppered her with questions about the event and she was able to answer all correctly. She knew what color tie Barack was wearing, what color dress Michele was wearing, that Michele held the Bible, and that Barack held his other hand in the air while he recited the words. Unfortunately, Quinn did not watch in his classroom but I guess each teacher had a choice and since they had their weekly mass this morning, it's probably a busy day to crunch in their work with that hour out of their day. I gathered with co-workers in our conference room to watch. Several times during the speech, I got chills from the inspiration with which he speaks. I am hopeful for our nation, under this new president. I realize that one man cannot make a difference and it will take some time to make change happen, but hopefully just a positive vibe will emanate from this newness and maybe that spark will begin to improve the nation and our economy. To quote one of my favorite movies, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things." And I have great hope for the future of our nation for our sake and our children's sake. And if you can tell me what movie that line is from, I will give you a prize :)

Life in an Inversion, and Other Things

Around this time of year, we have the pleasure (not!) of experiencing a weather phenomenon called an inversion. This is a valley surrounded by mountains almost on all sides, and when we are without storms for a while, the air in the valley becomes stagnant. And not just air, but bad things that are in the air as well. So what we end up with is smog, sort of like a soup bowl with everything settled in the bottom. What we need to fix it, at least temporarily, is a storm with rain or snow to mix up the air and return us to our beautiful blue skies. I can't even see the mountains across to the west end of the valley. We haven't had any major storms in what seems like weeks, I'm wanting to say even since the holidays. And there aren't any projected until mid to late this week. This is a particularly bad one, I can't remember one this bad in a couple of years. I think this is my least favorite part of living here, and I can't believe I am saying that I want snow but I do.

So what do we do when we really can't be outside? Well, there's not much to do! Today the kiddos had off for school, and James was off too. I unfortunately had to work but they had a fun day without me :( They went to the movies (Paul Blart: Mall Cop...they all liked it, but the kids thought it was really funny and James just said it was okay funny) and then out to lunch at McDonald's. The rest of the weekend was pretty typical for this time of year, and we mostly stayed indoors. We actually went to the mall, something we rarely do unless we have a specific purpose, just to get some walking in. So that's it, just the winter doldrums so to speak.

We are also planning our vacations for the year. So far, it's shaping up this way. Next month, we will head to Denver for an SME conference that James is attending. Just a quick weekend trip. In April, we are tentatively planning to travel to Orlando and Melbourne, FL to visit Aunt Lois and Uncle Ryan for Easter weekend. Our big trip will be in June/July when we will take a two week trip back East. It starts in Asheville, NC where we will be with James for another conference (ah, the life of a professor lol). We'll spend 3-4 days there and we will revisit things we saw on our first anniversary almost 9 years ago! The next 3-4 days are unknown, we hope to visit Blacksburg and maybe DC, but are not set on these plans at all. Then, the piece de resistance will be a week at the beach. This part is not set either, but the wheels are in motion and hopefully we will know where we will be staying in 2-3 weeks. This has been Grandpa's idea for a number of years, since the family took a trip to the NC beaches something like 30 years ago and hopefully now it will be coming to fruition. We're excited for it and hoping it all works out! The last thing that is planned for the year will be a trip to NJ in November, when I will serve as Danielle's confirmation sponsor. I am honored that she chose me and wouldn't miss it for the world! Somewhere in there, James and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and I am afraid it is shaping up without much fanfare. Perhaps we will try to squeeze in a long weekend in Vegas or California. We'll see!

Wow, this was longer than I thought it would be so I guess I had more to say than I thought I would. That's life in an inversion :)

Halfway

I cannot believe it, but the kids are halfway through their school year already. It seems like not so long ago it was their first day and we were buying school supplies from their list. They came home on Friday with their report cards.

Quinn did very well, staying the same or improving in each category. His conduct went from an S to S+ and he got all the reverse statements from last time, which is a good thing in this case. He also improved in his spelling, and it was noted that he works neatly and diligently. We don't get another teacher conference until the end of 3rd quarter I think so all we have to go on is this report card as well as his conduct cards. The behavior issues that we were dealing with a couple of months ago seemed to have all but vanished thank goodness!

Keely got all good marks on her progress report, with the exception of "plays nicely with others". She went from S to N, indicating improvement needed. Her teacher wrote that academically she is doing well but socially she needs to get along with her peers better. To quote Mrs. Luna, "to have a friend, you have a be a friend". So we will try to instill this in her. It is tough though as she insists she is nice to her friends when we ask her. And Keely is nothing if not persistent, so there is no convincing her otherwise.

So overall it was a good report from school and we are now on the downhill to the end of the school year. We will be registering for next year in another month or so, and then for summer camp soon after that! Time really does go too quickly, that's for sure :(

Technologically Savvy Children

About a month ago, Quinn needed to type a computer assignment and e-mail it to his computer teacher. And so James set him up a gmail account (kids get what their parents like to use, haha). He's had some fun e-mailing back and forth with family and his friend, Edward. Now James set one up for Keely today, even though she can't type or read she wanted one anyways (ah, sibling rivalry). For her first e-mail, she dictated it to James and sent it to me. I had to post it because it was just the sweetest thing.

Dear Mama,

I love you. I will give you hugs and kisses then I will love you so much.

And then Mommy will be beautiful.

Love,
Keely

So cute, huh? And can't she be darling when she wants to? :) If you want to send either of them an e-mail, shoot me one and I will send your their addresses. Getting e-mail is as fun as getting regular mail to them, and it's still a novelty to them. Sometimes I wonder how we got along without all of these fancy things!

Haircuts!

On Sunday, James decided to play back a video of old pictures to see how they looked on the new TV. When Keely saw herself with short hair from about a year ago, she declared that she wanted a haircut. I said, okay we can do that soon. The next day, she came up to me and said, "Mama, I am sick of telling you this. I want my hair cut!". Ah, patience is a virtue sweet girl. I couldn't put her off any longer so tonight after dinner, I took both kids for a fresh hairdo. I've never seen two children more excited to go anywhere, and we were in and out in 30 minutes so I cannot complain. For the full effect of the changes, especially on Keely, first I have some pictures from last week.

And now, without further ado...


Keely instructed the girl how to do her hair, and was so pleased with it. She can't wait to go to school tomorrow so everyone will comment on it. Such a girly girl! Quinn was just happy to have spiky hair, something we rarely do at home. Such fun on a Wednesday night!

Book Review: Revolutionary Road

So I lied, I could not bring myself to read the copy of Twilight in my possession from the library. So it came up due and I returned it. Meanwhile, another one I was waiting on was ready for pickup. Not two days later, I was finished and very pleased with it. I heard about this book when I read of a new movie with the same name, in which Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio will reunite in their first movie together since Titanic. As it usually happens, when I hear of a movie based on a book, I always try to read the book first because it's always better. This book is set in the 1950s partly in Connecticut and New York City. It's about a couple who marries young and has two children, then settles down into suburbia in Connecticut. It begins with the main character, April starring in a play that the local townspeople have put on. The play bombs badly and it starts the downward spiral of the couple's "perfect" life. Turns out life isn't what either of them thought it would be. I can't get into the details, but let's just say that if they stick to the story, moviegoers expecting a happy Jack and Rose reunion will not get it. It was a gripping tale that I could not put down. It dragged a little at the end but I really liked it and recommend it. Now I have a few more lined up, thanks to a gift card to Borders (thanks Tyler!) but I am not sure which one I will read first. I usually get in the reading mode around this time of the year it seems, as the holidays are over and the dead of winter is setting in.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year All Wrapped Up In One!

Wow, I've taken quite a hiatus from this blog and as usual, it feels overwhelming trying to catch up. I thought of doing it in several shorter posts but I don't feel like it, so I will try to fit everything into one summary. Here goes, starting with a family photo after church on Christmas Eve. Don't we all look nice? :)
Christmas came and went as quickly as it usually does. It's like a wedding, all of the buildup and then it's over in a flash. The kids got lots of presents and had a great day. The rest of the family was spoiled as well I think, and it was a nice relaxing day. The tree was all decked out with presents for all. Quinn's favorite gift this year is hands down the Lego set he received on Christmas day, and followed up by add on sets bought with his Christmas money. He is so diligent with these sets, each having as many as 600 pieces, and he works so hard with almost no help from adults. On Christmas night, he worked until bedtime and then went right back to work the next morning until he was finished. He's even proud to not totally follow the instructions, changing things to make it his own creation. His compilation is made up of "Coast Guard" sets, complete with boats, docks, etc.
And I couldn't not mention this gift, sent from what I call the North Carolina Donovans (Tom, Judith, Cassidy and Aedan). This was a hit in both houses from what I hear, and we've had several battles since.
Keely's favorite is hard to say. She was happy to receive the Easy Bake oven and cupcake maker she asked for but I think her favorite gift was an outfit from Target that she had her eye on. It went on right away and didn't leave her body (except for night) for 3 days at least! Girls are so much different than boys for sure :)
The days that followed were filled with family activities with Nana, Papa, Annie and Great Grandma. There was a trip to the movies (Bedtime Stories, a great choice for the entire family from 5 to 79), swimming in the pool at Great Grandma's hotel, sledding, ice skating, shopping, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. I was sore from the skiing for at least 3 days, what a great workout! And I am proud that Keely tried it, even though I don't think she will want to do it again. Quinn however declared that he wants to buy his own skis, boots and poles.

On Tuesday, the family left and I can say we were all the better for it. It never fails, we always have some tense moments when visitors are here that long. But what also never fails is that we forget those moments and our memories are filled with the fun ones by the time the next Christmas rolls around!

We filled the following days with mostly normal Saturday type activities, often forgetting which day it was because there was no work or school. New Year's Eve was really a great family night for us. We started out with a trip to the U to see the mens' basketball team play Gonzaga and they won by a point! It was so fun to see Quinn getting into cheering for the Utes and with nostalgia I thought that if we still lived in Blacksburg, he would be cheering for the Hokies like that. But alas, he cheers for them when they are on TV and maybe we will get back to Cassell for a game sometime. As for Keely, I don't think that she even knew we were at a sporting event :) We arrived home about 9 PM and then settled in for a movie (Love Actually) which ended right before midnight. I can't believe it but they both made it to see the ball drop and usher in the New Year. So this marks the first one that we all rang in together (they are usually asleep) and it was a perfect end to 2008. Now we rush into another year, and I can't see what it has in store for us!