In sharp relief

I have to remind myself often to really look at my children's faces. Too often I'm just hollering at them to get out the door or something, and a day will go by and I'll think, "Did I really look at them today?" That kind of look where you're really absorbing the details of their being, y'know? Because in a few years, I won't even have the opportunity to look every day.

Last night, M4 wanted to have a dance party after dinner...since the rest of us were finishing dessert, I went and sat, eating ice cream and watching him dance. It was just this lovely few moments of him dancing with his audience of one. He was so free and unself-conscious (not his usual state!) and creative. I wanted to burn the images into my brain...really look so that I wouldn't lose the details. So of course I tried to get it on camera, and that just didn't do the moment justice. He got self-conscious and silly, and then M3 came in and hogged the camera as she does. But I have to remind myself to really look in those moments, too.

Seven kids

We had a really great time with our friends this past weekend! Between our three families, we have seven kids! How weird is that?? The kids got along great; the big girls were so helpful and patient with the smaller kids, allowing the adults to actually have some reasonable conversations! It always just makes me a bit sad about how our lives require us to live so far away from each other (dang these academics!). K and C are awesome hosts...thanks so much, guys!

RAGBRAI 2008

Yesterday, I rode with Mom and Dad on RAGBRAI. It was so fun! And so cool to see thousands of bicyclers of all ages and abilities rolling across the Iowa landscape. We made the most important stops: for Mr. Pork Chop, cherry pie, sweet corn, and beer (Mom and Dad's team provided some delicious Iowa-brewed stout at the end of day, but they weren't so hot in the directions-to-the-campsite category!). Most of the day looked like this, only not as sunny:

Who wants to sign up for next year?

New house

As promised, here are several pics of the new house. I am still having a bit of "what did we get ourselves into?!" remorse, so these photos are to convince myself how awesome the house is.

Front porch

Front of house

Fireplace in living room

Library

Hall off kitchen

Kitchen

Upstairs bath

M4's bedroom

M3's bedroom (the door is to a little porch off her room)

Backyard

Garage (yay!)

Mother Nature...

...has been pretty brutal in Iowa this year. Last night was no exception. About 4:15 am I woke up to lightening like a strobe light and some extremely violent wind. M3 woke up, too, and the wind and the noise were scary enough that I woke up M1 and M4 to go to the basement. That is the first time we've done that all year. The power was out of course, so the lightening was really vivid! Thanks to M1's ongoing effort, the basement is reasonably clean (for a basement from 1888!). We set up a few folding chairs and hung out. I was grateful to be there and grateful the storm passed without anything major occurring. The kids went right back to sleep, no problem! It took me a little longer.

I checked on Grandma and Grandpa who are riding RAGBRAI and camping at night. Fortunately, they were staying at Aunt Marnie's, so they were sheltered. Apparently, the several thousand camping RAGBRAI riders were awakened at 2 am last night by fire trucks rolling through and telling them to get to shelter. What a night!

Life is hard...

M4 stuns me sometimes with his thoughtfulness and sensitivity. The other night I came upstairs to find him already out of the bath, sitting naked on the floor, crying. Disclaimer: he was very tired from having a buddy spend the whole weekend with us, but still! When I pressed him as to why he was crying, he finally let it out: "I'm just thinking that when I get big, I don't want to have to leave you." Good grief! Think fast, think fast! So I told him that he would probably want to leave when he got big (he disagreed vehemently), but that he could always come home, that Daddy and I would always be here for him.

He didn't seem entirely convinced of that, so I said, "OK, you don't have to leave if you don't want to...". (Is this lying? It's not exactly the truth! My whole future life flashed in front of me with visions of M4 as a twenty-something slacker laying on the couch in his pajamas at noon, watching TV.) Then he said (still distraught), "But animals leave." So I explained that people are different than animals...our kids don't just leave for good when they're two or three years old. This seemed to cheer him up. So did this:


Behold the power of Dari Barn! I do struggle with how much to push him, though. This is the kid who wouldn't go on the potty until we laid down the law and said, "That's it; no more diapers!" This is the kid who wouldn't ride the pony at the zoo until I told him it was his last chance. This is the kid who doesn't like the summer day camp that every other child raves about. I want to respect his sensitivity, but I also want him to be able to cope with the world! Especially when it means leaving home...

The open road (or bike path)

Finally! I went for a ride on the sweet road bike my mom lent me! Thanks, Mama! It was an absolutely glorious weekend, and Sunday morning I decided to ditch the responsibilities of an extra child at our house and all the things that "need to be done" and just go for a ride. I took our local bike path out to the Rock Creek Lake beach and back. It was so much fun, I felt great, I didn't fall over and the time flew by. Yay! I hope I can join my parents for at least part of one day during RAGBRAI (they are riding the whole week!). Maybe it will be the day Lance rides.