Living Color

Yesterday, April 26th, more than 5,000 people gathered at our local community college-cum-SUNY satellite campus for a fun run called "Color Run." The 5K "race" includes getting sprayed down at half-mile intervals with brightly colored corn starch. By the end of the 3.1 miles, participants have been doused in orange, pink, yellow, green, and blue dye. (The dye works its way out of skin in about a week, and out of blonde hair in a month or so--I'm told.) I call it a "race" because the throngs are so thick that runners can't manage more than a jog, and walkers are really just sauntering. A better way to describe it is a fast parade of people who have finally found an excuse to wear their loudest, most brightly colored ensembles and get messy. Here's a shot back at the first mile:

Sara, Gwendolyn, and Kerri did the Color Run together. Gwendolyn had trained for this over the last few weeks; finishing a three-mile walk on her own feet was an accomplishment. Here is the triumphant trio coming out of the last splash of color (but before the penultimate glitter station):

~ emrys

Deviation

For the past ten years, I have made an anniversary gift for my wife out of the material assigned for that year (probably by Hallmark in a grand marketing plan). Last year's gift was made out of tin; my list then begins skipping every five years--I did not have a material for the eleventh anniversary. (I have recently been told that the material is steel--oy!)

The day of our eleventh anniversary last month we were committed to the annual caroling event with the youth of our congregation, which does not make for an exciting anniversary date. So we postponed the celebration until January. Last week Sara I and went out for supper at one of our better local restaurants, then met up with friends at another local joint for the best desserts in Afton. While we were together, I gave Sara her anniversary gift this year, something I've been planning since last winter: a Silver Star.

For eleven years I have been proud to be married to such a wonderful woman, full of dedication, industry, smarts, and love. Her superb sacrifice for the community after the flood of 2011 gave me an excuse to honor her a bit extra. Because the image and symbol are handy, I used the military honor of the Silver Star to mark it. Here's the text from the award that hangs now on our wall:

"In September 2011 Sara coordinated flood relief efforts operating out of Nineveh Presbyterian Church, working long hours under stressful and exhausting conditions. Meanwhile she continued to provide for the needs of a household which included one busy husband and one energetic toddler, all while in the throes of early pregnancy. She showed a character of perseverance, compassion, and patience under all circumstances. For these inspiring acts which would make any other husband jealous, Sara Jane Tyler is awarded the Silver Star."

Thanks, Sara Jane, for eleven years!

~ emrys

Mazda: the Super Car

Twelve years ago a Gal was getting ready to graduate from college and head out into the big, wide world.  At the beginning of her last semester of college she bought a car.  She really wanted a truck, but ended up with a "practical" car instead.  Little did she know that it would be The SuperCar.  Five months later, she loaded that car up and moved to Colorado where she met a Guy with a motorcycle.

When they dated, the Guy thought it would be funny to pull a prank on the Gal while she was out of town and filled the Car with shredded paper.  If you look closely in the window wells of the Car, to this day you can see remnants of that little prank.

 Two years later when they got married, the Car brought them home from their wedding.  Less than a year after that the Guy and Gal moved to California. While the Gal said "no motorcycles on the LA freeways", the Car was loaded up again and moved the Guy and Gal off to Pasadena. And then moved them back to Colorado.  The Car took them to Camp for the summer, and chauffeured the Gal to and from chemo and radiation treatments.  The Car moved them up into the mountains for a season.  Between all the big moves, the Car was a reliable member of their little family that got them around for trips near and far.

The Car got a break when the Guy and Gal went to travel the world, but then it was time to get back to work as the Guy and Gal loaded up to move again.  This time to New York.  The car brought the first load of stuff to the first house the Guy and Girl bought and continued to trundle them around central New York.  A couple years later, the Car got to carry the most precious cargo when the Guy and Gal brought Little Girl home from the hospital.  When the Car kept going and going, we said that Little Girl may actually learn to drive on the Car.  Well, you have to start somewhere:

The Car has earned its SuperCar status and has been more than reliable- never had to be towed, never in an accident (even though big mean trucks dinged it a couple times while it was parked and minding it's own business).  But the time has come to move on, for cars don't last forever.  The family is growing again and the Car is getting tired. The Guy and the Gal searched among the Car's younger cousins and they found one that would fit their growing family nicely.  Today the SuperCar is getting traded in at 194,000 miles-yup, a lovely used car dealership gave us trade-in for it!

Mazda - you were a SuperCar, may Cinco serve us just as well.

The Little Laundress

Today, I'm working on laundry.  G has gotten very helpful on the laundry front and loves to help load the washer and the dryer.  Helps to put the soap in the washer and haul laundry baskets that are as big as she around the house.

This afternoon, I was cleaning up the kitchen from a baking project.  I realized she had been in the bath/laundry room for a while and I wasn't sure what was up.  So I went to check it out and this is what I found and the explanation I got:

A little while later, the dryer was silent. I heard a noise in the bathroom that was the distinct "thump" of little crocs hitting the side of the washer and managed to catch this:

It was soon followed by "Mommy, I need you to come help me!".  Ok, kiddo, I'll come help you.  So I save this for family history - that there was a day, in May of 2012 when my daughter enjoyed doing laundry. And I have to say, I sure don't mind doing laundry with a little helper like this!

~sjt

Kickin' Off Summer

Hot and humid hit our area today and since the kiddie pool went MIA in recent storms, it was time to hook up the sprinkler! Last year she didn't quite get the hang of the whole playing in the sprinkler game. This year, Dad gave her a refresher and I think she's good to go.

Evolution of a Puddle Jumper

G's new galoshes came today. Fortunately rain fell and snow melted, creating the perfect conditions to try out the new "boos".

A-Go-Go-Go

"A-Go-Go-Go" has become G's chant that comes out when she gets excited that we're going somewhere. It is usually accompanied with a little shuffle of her feet and a very excited look on her face.

Emrys has a meeting tonight and we had just done our good-bye kisses and he headed out to the car. Just as he closed the car door I realized that he didn't the snacks he had prepared for the meeting. I picked up the phone to grab him before he got too far. His phone was off. I threw on shoes and headed down the driveway, breaking into a run as he started to drive out of the carport. He finally looked in the rear view, or heard me yelling, and stopped. I told him he had left the food on the counter and he gratefully backed the car up and headed back for the house.

As I came back into the house I was met with a grinning, prancing Gwendolyn chanting A-GO-GO-GO MAMA!

A Daddy Duet

We have a board book that is the lyrics from The Little Drummer Boy and we got it while I was still pregnant with G. Emrys has been singing this song to her since before she was born. It is a designated Daddy bedtime book, as when I picked it up one night I was told "Gaga pum pum!" and handed a different book. Which I think translated to, "Daddy reads Drummer Boy!"

Tonight, The Little Drummer Boy has advanced to a duet. Emrys' voice carries out the lines of the song and the pause left at the end of each line is followed by a little two year old "PUM! PUM! PUM!"

Lights of the Season!

I love Christmas decorations, and especially Christmas lights. At a time of the year when it gets dark so early, the added colors and twinkles just make me grin! Last year, this was one of my favorite photos of Gwendolyn discovering Christmas lights:

Here are the 2010 Christmas Light shots - she's turning into quite the big girl!

~sjt

Climbing

I was in the kitchen working on a project when Emrys calls downstairs "Come see what your daughter has learned how to do". I grabbed the camera and went upstairs, noting that in this moment she was my daughter. This was the scene as I topped the stairs:

Leading experts agree that ladder climbing is great for developing gross motor skills for children. Usually they master this skill around three years old, not 22 months. So while she has yet to climb out of her crib, ladders now must be stored flat if there's any chance she's going to find it!

Shoveling

This morning we woke up to about three inches of snow at our house - just enough to have to shovel the driveway. As we finished up breakfast, Emrys asked if Gwendolyn had snow pants - she did. I mentioned that he could get the purple sand shovel and she could help him shovel. We were cleaning up breakfast and Gwendolyn had disappeared. A few minutes later she came toodlin' down the stairs with a purple shovel in hand. I have no idea where it came from and later realized that the shovel I had in mind that Emrys found was actually green. Since she doesn't miss a trick, she heard "purple shovel" and "go outside" so she was ready to go. So we bundled up the little one until she resembled the Stay-Puff Marshmallow and off she went.

After Stay-Puff had sufficiently frozen herself, she came back in and did not want to take her snow pants off. When a diaper change was necessary before nap time, we finally convinced her the the snow pants needed to take a nap too and she could put them to bed on the guest bed and get them when she gets up. She's not up yet, but if history with this tactic says anything (we often put toys down for a nap in the guest bed that need not be in her bed to sleep), it's that she will be off to wake up her snow pants as soon as she's up!

Good Things Come on Rubber Scrapers

G knows that when the mixer turns on, usually good stuff's coming. I've caught her going after the paddle when I've left it in her reach. Now she's come to recognize that good things also come on rubber spatulas. She has been caught licking off a spatula that was in the silverware tray of the dishwasher. This one she swiped off the counter while I was making cookies: snagged it from behind my back. At least she kept it in the kitchen.

She's been working on her Karate Kid moves. Just wait until that cast comes off (3 more days!) and she'll be faster than the speed of - well faster than the focus on my camera. (And yes, she managed to wiggle her leg out with the tray in place and her other leg firmly stuck.)

She's also enjoyed playing in a backpack that we're borrowing from a friend. Again, that pesky cast keeps getting in the way!

~sjt

Re-each...

The other morning I was making frosting. I had finished mixing it and was getting ready to transfer it to a bowl for storage. I took the paddle out to the KitchenAid, scraped it off and placed it in the spot where I'll lay it down to wait so I can get one last finger-full of gooey yumminess before I wash it. Apparently the Little Person in the household has been observing this practice. As I turned away from the mixer back towards the sink, this is what I saw:

Followed by little finger covered in frosting going into the mouth, and reaching up again. By then, I had the camera and was really glad the camera was on top of the fridge at that moment! She still wasn't sure if she was in trouble or not, but she sure liked the frosting.

15 Months going on 15 Years?

I've said this last week that my daughter has the appetite of a teenage boy with the crazy amounts of food she can pack away (thank you Emrys, for giving her your metabolism!). Now, it seems, she's working on the facial expressions that teenage girls perfect:

Oy vey!

Mowing Mayhem

There are a lot of things I can do with GBaby in tow. Some are easier than others. I decided that today I would give mowing the lawn a shot. I have a play pen for the back yard- I nice gate system that provides about a 6 x6 play area for an active toddler. If G could adequately articulate her feelings I think she'd say its a baby penitentiary- instead she just voices her lack of appreciation for confining boundaries. Loudly. And sometimes angrily.

Into the pen she went - it was equipped with shallow containers filled with water, balls and other sundry toys for her amusement and I set out to mow. As the mower fired up, so did G. I figured I'd give her a few minutes to settle and as I moved away from her I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, she was off exploring the toys and water. I got to the end of the yard and moved back towards her. G was still content. Went to empty the bag, mower stops. G wails. Ugh. I empty the bag at the far end of the yard, fire up the mower and head back to the side of the yard where G is confined. I can see the continued distress on her face so I killed the mower and moved up the hill towards her.

As I reached her I heard a noise and turned just in time to see the lawn mower rolling down the hill heading straight for the one area of the bank of the creek that is not overgrown with stuff to block it's decent into the creek. OH [insertbadwordhere]!

I take off running. G screams louder. The mower topples into the creek landing upside down.

I right the mower, empty the bag right there in the creek (thank you yesterday's thunderstorms) and haul the mower up the creek bank (yeah, I'm going to be paying for that tomorrow!) G is still wailing because now she's confined and mommy ran away.

I spent some time consoling the poor kid over juice on the back porch. We repeated the cycle (minus the mower taking a swim) a few more times and finally the back yard was mowed and my free spirit of a child was free to roam again-until she grabbed a handful of dirt where I have spinach planted!
~sjt

P.S. My gardening and kitchen adventures are all over at ThrivingMama. Check it out if it's your cup of tea.

A Social Networking Christmas

So this afternoon I went to the mailbox and saw this:
Hmmmm... I know I've done a lot of online shopping this month but definately didn't remember ordering this. Usually I save my "get fit" purchase for January. I turned it over and saw the return address. Instantly my mind went to a random FaceBook conversation a week or so ago when my friend in Miwas making carmel corn. We briefly discussed our love of this yummy treat and how I don't make it often because E's not a fan. Jokingly I told her to send me some.

I opened up the box and a little post it sat on top of tissue paper that said "Ask and you will receive". And under the tissue paper:
and it is so good - it even has peanuts in it! I don't even have to worry about saving any for Emrys The Food Vacuum - it's all mine :). JennyMark - you made my day!

Sara's Writing

So I've taken on a new challenge to excercise my brain and have begun to write for Helium.com on random things I know a little bit about: gardening, laundry, budgets and cooking. I'll keep the list on the right up to date with recent articles I've written or you can click here for my profile which includes a list of my articles. If it interests you, please click on over and check it out!

Signs of Spring & Weekend Happiness

Spring is slowly winding up and getting ready to pop.  The temperatures are reaching for the 60 degree mark.  The first sights, sounds and smells of spring have arrived in our corner of the world: daffodils & day lilies peeking up through the dark soil (a welcome sight), fertilizer trucks rumbling past our house (and dripping their load - unwelcome smells) and the most fun one is the sign that Frog Pond opens on April 3rd.   

Frog Pond is our local produce market/nursery that is loved by folks for miles around for their inexpensive produce and plants.  I cringe in the winter at the grocery store when I have to buy produce - since it's all shipped to our area, it's expensive.  Frog Pond gets some sort of deal because they usually undercut the grocery stores by at least 25%.  They also have plants started for the garden.  My tomato, broccoli, cauliflower and pepper plants for the garden are all 25 cents each.  When Gwendolyn gets a little bigger, our visits to Frog Pond will also include visiting the barn and pens where they have chicks, ducklings, rabbits, goats and pigs.  It's great little treasure in our corner of the world.    

Today I'm also excited that my folks are on the way her for Birthday Weekend 4.0 - Granny Nanny & Granddad to the rescue :).  For me this weekend is going to include a haircut that just hasn't fit on the schedule and making homemade ravioli.  I'm weird, I relax to a good cooking project and now that life is more full and relaxation comes in the form of the extra 3 minutes in the shower, I haven't had much play-time in the kitchen.  I've been wanting to play with the pasta-rollers and ravioli molds for quite a while and that kind of mess is much more enjoyable with extra hands around to help amuse the baby.

Springs springing and the grandparents are on the way - it's going to be a good weekend...

Marching On...

This month is almost over already - what happened!  Gwendolyn celebrated her first St. Patty's day and is growing by leaps and bounds.  She had her 2 month check-up today: a week early - she's not really 2 months old yet!  She's grown to 11 pounds 1 oz and 23 1/4 inches long.  As most parents know, the 2 month check-up also involves the first round of immunizations.  She gave her lungs a good exercise with each of the needle pricks but settled down fairly quickly afterwards.  Now we're home snuggling - mostly because mom feels worse about the whole thing at this point than Gwen does.

~sjt

A Tidal Wave

Yesterday Emrys, Gwendolyn and I were on the receiving end of a tidal wave of love shown to us by our church community.  The ladies of the church organized a family dinner and baby shower to welcome Gwendolyn.  Delicious food was enjoyed and then we were showered with gifts. 

As I sat in the front of a room full of friends, gifts were handed to me to open, opened and then quickly followed by another: truly a tidal wave of gift receiving activity.  To be honest, it was quite overwhelming as I tried to show appreciation for one gift, to at least make eye-contact with the giver and mouth a “thank-you” across the function hall, another gift was poured into my lap.  Then the wave shifted as I took Gwendolyn and Emrys got to open some of the gifts.  I sat back for a minute and watched my daughter, sound asleep and oblivious to the activity, unaware of the outpouring we were receiving on her behalf.  I watched Emrys as he opened gifts and hammed it up for the middle-school girls who were taking pictures for us.  My life is so amazingly different than it was a year ago.

Today as I “dry off” a bit process the experience, I cannot begin to put into words my appreciation for the thoughtfulness of the gifts and generosity of our community.  I folded clothes that my daughter will wear in the coming year(s) and think of those whose generosity has helped fill her dresser.  I look at the hand-made gifts and think of the time invested in their art, simply to bless us.  I look at the bath stuff and think of the generous spirits who contributed to help care for Gwendolyn.  I look at the feeding items and think of the generosity that will help feed my baby girl.  I look at many blankets we’ve received from friends around the country, and I am blessed by the thoughtfulness that will keep my daughter warm and give her a soft place to play. 

I’ll write thank-you notes and try, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to truly express the fullness of the blessing I’m feeling today. 

Thank you all.  Your generosity, time, thoughtfulness and talents are truly appreciated.

~sj