Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week started out fairly normal,  but quickly changed.  People stsrted to disappear at work.  By the time Christmas eve rolled around work was more or less deserted so I decided to leave early too.  Christmas day was relaxing.  Alice played and played with all of her toys.  She really enjoyed it a lot.

Christmas Eve with Alice

Happy Christmas Eve! What a lively and yet very ordinary day! If you'll bear with me, I would like to document it in exquisite detail here. How have I come to accept life with Alice as so dull and ordinary? When I take the time to step back and marvel at it all it's easy to fall in love with my life again. Here's how today went:

7:30 AM
Alice wakes up this morning with a morbid fear of the toilet. She insists it will get "too full" if anyone uses it and we'll have to use the "pyunger-thingy" to make it go down again. She decides that she will "hode it inside" indefinitely. Bobby leaves for work and Alice starts doing some serious squirming up and down the hall. I can see the fight in her mind between her desire to pee somewhere clean and her fear that everything will go horribly wrong if she does. The situation grows urgent. I imagine scenarios where logic wins over fear, and then I imagine deep-cleaning the entire hall carpet. I decide to offer her another choice: the bucket.

Bobby and I are odd people. Very odd. For my "bridal shower" we decided we should stock up on 72-hour-kit supplies. Our families humored us and showered us with the likes of flashlights, emergency blankets, non-perishable food, and a port-a-loo. The port-a-loo is a large bucket with a lidded potty seat attached to the top. It was a hilarious gift at the time. I didn't realize I would actually use it in any situation short of Armageddon. Well, we've used it several times in a few different situations. When you need a toilet and the usual one is not available, it can feel like Armageddon.

Alice immediately loves the idea of the bucket. It doesn't have water in it, so there's no chance of "filling it too full." It's a bit tipsy, though, for a kid her size, so I help her balance on top. Success! When she's done, I just dump the contents into the potty and rinse with hot, soapy water. No big deal.

9:00 AM
Alice turns to my tummy and says, "I wanna feel my baby brudder kick! Is he awake?" Turns out, he is stirring a little. No one but me has felt Zurg move yet. He's a real mover, but completely shy whenever Alice or Bobby have tried to feel him. Can he feel the heat of their hands? Whatever it is, I am doubtful and hopeful at the same time.

Alice says, "Wake up!" and he kicks hard enough that I can see my belly move. I put her hand right on that spot and tell her to say it again. He kicks again right on cue. She is amazed and amused. He kicks 3-4 times for her this way. I tell her he's saying "hi" and that he's happy to meet her. She giggles and says, "I yike 'im too."

10:30 AM
I start our Christmas Eve dessert: chocolate pudding pie! I decide midway that I want a key lime pie as well (I keep hand-squeezed lime juice in the freezer for just such occasions), then I hear Alice in the office-that-will-be-Zurg's-room chirp, "Hey! You put clothes in here!" Yes, I had just filled a chest of drawers with 0-3 month baby boy clothes that morning. Sure, sure, it's WAY too early for most people to start prepping a kid's room. I'm weird that way. Anyway, she squeals to hear that they are clothes for her baby brother. I could have left it at that, but remembering our little sibling bonding moment earlier, I figure we can make this a fun activity too. I tell her they will also fit her baby right now if she wants to try it. Of course!

She literally grabs as many clothes as her arms can hold and runs off to find her babies. She picks outfits for each of her babies and we dress them together. Then she runs back to the dresser for more! She finds a baby hat that reads "Benevolent Dictator" (an amusing gift from her Aunt Erin) and puts it on the baby. Then herself. She runs off to check it out in her full-length mirror (a generous loan from the Bair's house) and gasps, "It matches!" The red hat clearly coordinates with her red pajamas and she can't be more delighted. She decides she could do with a new outfit, too, and strips off the PJs in favor of a teeny, green jungle onesie. It doesn't fit well so she decides to pick out some of her own play clothes. I head back to the kitchen to work on the pies.

A few minutes later, Alice prances into the kitchen completely decked out in a red long-sleeved turtleneck, red cotton pants, the red baby hat, and a pair of white socks on her hands. "Yook, Mommy! My fancy wain suit! Now da wain can't get me wet." She runs off again to play with her babies.

11:30 AM
Alice runs to me concerning an urgent potty break of the other sort. This time I put a little water in the bottom of the bucket to prevent sticking. I was not prepared for how much she had been holding, however. *sigh* Ten minutes later, she hops off and I'm left with a very, very big mess and a pot of burned chocolate pudding on the stove.

"Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Why did I ever MENTION this stupid bucket?!" I silently curse myself for being so lazy. "I didn't want to scrub a carpet, so now I get to scrub a bucket, a toilet, AND a bathtub. Just great." Alice dances around simply excited to see the bucket "get a bath." Ugh.

12:00 PM
I scrub everything and sanitize everything else (especially myself!) before starting over on the chocolate pudding pie. Then I notice I'm a few key ingredients short for the key lime pie and even dinner itself. I feel guilty shopping on holidays. I hate making people work all day just so I can pick up a can of sweetened condensed milk and a sack of potatoes last-minute. The parking lot is chock-full when we get there. The employees inside still look happy, though, and some of my guilt melts away. Alice gets a free cookie and happily follows me all around the store looking for the few items we "need" to complete our meal for tonight. She doesn't beg for anything. She doesn't even whine about wanting to touch things. I'm amazed! I pray many thanks as we slip out of the store in record time.

12:30 PM
Home again, home again, we see Bobby has gotten off of work early. Alice can hardly contain herself! She's been a real Daddy's girl of late. They play while I finish the pies, then we all get dinner into the crockpot. Alice needs to pee again. I tell her that the bucket is STILL taking a bath (i.e. soaking in Oxi-Clean) and it will be out-of-commission indefinitely. She squirms up and down the hall in indecision. Tired of the drama, I take her to the potty and hold her on it until she finally lets go. Then she gets lots of praise and a surprise treat for being so brave. Bobby also gives her a full demonstration of how a toilet works. He pours extra water into the bowl and shows her that it can't overflow. Then he explains that even if the hole were clogged, one whole flush would not spill out the top. She remains calm and curious throughout the demonstration. We cross our fingers and hope it works.

1:30 PM
Quiet time. I love this part of the day :)

3:30 PM
Alice falls asleep at the very end of quiet time. We decide to wake her up so she'll go to bed on time later. That task proves more difficult than we anticipate. Talking, singing, bouncing on the bed, rubbing her back, clapping, loud kissy noises, and real rib-tickling barely cause her to stir. Bobby and I figure she's in a deep sleep that she probably needs right now, so we settle down on Alice's floor for a raucous game of Hen Berta. Success is entirely based on luck, but it gives you the semblance of strategy, so it's easy to get noisy about it. And we are LOUD this time. Eventually, she stirs and wakes up interested in playing the game with us. We show her how to play and she decides "I too busy to pyay wight now." Hm.

3:45 PM
Alice uses the toilet successfully without complaint as long as Mommy is in the room with her. Woo hoo!

4:00 PM
We eat dinner: Burgandy beef and veggies, oranges, cucumbers, and grape juice. Alice then invites us to a birthday party in Zurg's room where we dress up her babies in Zurg's clothes. She's getting pretty good at this stuff.

5:00 PM
Special Family Home Evening event. We watch "Joy to the World" and pause to explain things along the way. She seems to get it, then get bored after the shepherds find Christ in the stable. We press on with the movie anyway. Oh well. She has decades ahead of her to appreciate the finer points of the Christmas story. We enjoy chocolate pudding pie and key lime pie for dessert.

6:00 PM
Alice in the tub for an hour. We literally play together that long. These are some of my favorite times as a family when we're just hanging out and talking and playing and not hurrying/waiting to do something else. We are all in a good mood.

7:00 PM
Play in Alice's room together as a family. Alice plays Hen Berta by her own rules while Bobby and I play Lego robots. I haven't had this much fun in a looooooong time. All the imaginary stories come together and feed off of each other. I laugh a lot and I laugh hard.

7:30 PM
Get Alice ready for bed. Brush teeth, Daddy makes up a story (she rarely asks for a book story anymore), song, snuggle with Mommy, then she requests all of her newly-dressed babies to join her in bed.

8:00 PM
Quiet time again. Ahhhhh.

See? An ordinary and yet very unordinary day. None of this will happen again just like this, though many themes will certainly pop up again. I love my life. I love my family. It's the strangest little life I've ever lived.

Twang

Alice is getting better at speaking American English, but it's sounding a little too American these days. Several one-syllable words now have two syllables...kinda twangy:

yeah (yeh-ah)
Dad (Da-yad)
now (neh-ow)
yes (yeh-us)

Robin Williams

Robin Williams has a crush on me. He told me so himself at a Cambodian pool party put on by a few frat boys. I did have the presence of mind to remember I was already married (besides, Robin Williams isn't that hot) and turned him down with a delightfully clever and slightly sassy response that only made him want my attention all the more.

Bizarre dreams: one of the more amusing side effects of pregnancy hormones.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week felt like it went by very quickly. Our anniversary was this week. I took the day off and we spent the day together. We had a picnic at an indoor playground. Alice hasn't been to a playground in a while, and she really liked running around and having that physical activity. We dropped her off at a friends house just before dinner, and went out for dinner and a movie. Dinner was from a mediterranean restaurant. It was very yummy. Then we went to go see a movie. I know it sounds a bit boring but we enjoyed it a lot.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This was a long week. As Susan mentioned we had a guest with us all week, and no matter how nice a guest they are it can be rather stressful for an entire week. She left saturday morning at 5:30 am. Susan and I decided to spend the day together. We ran some errands. Went to the library and had some quiet time at home. After that it was movie and popcorn time. Alice picked out a tomas the train video at the library and she seemed to really like it. That evening was our ward Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. I even got a candid shot of Susan performing. All in all it was a wonderful day.

Meeting Santa 2009

So, there's no picture of Alice's encounter with Santa at the ward Christmas party this year. She asked, "Is he real?" I replied that he was dressed like Santa, yes. She seemed satisfied with that answer. We hung around the outskirts of the crowd as she watched the kids get on his lap and chat with him. I told her that you get a candy cane for talking to him, but she pointed out that he wasn't actually giving them out...they were just in a bucket next to his seat and the kids were grabbing one as they got off his lap. I looked at the length of the line, the less-than-enthusiastic Alice in my arms, and the bucket of candy canes. She had a good point. We snuck over to the bucket where she got one by herself, then we headed to the car.

It was in the parking lot that I realized what Alice was actually wearing. She had chosen to wear blue jeans, a lime green polo shirt (that somehow ended up backwards in the process of using the church potty completely by herself for the first time!), open-toed sandals (one size too large), and a pair of unmatched socks (one turquoise and one white). As I unlocked the car, she was trying to catch some rain on her tongue. I was sad, then, that I didn't get a picture of her tonight. This girl makes me happy.

Recent Photos

Here are a few recent pictures I'm happy to share. Yes, Alice is wearing a dress in almost every single one. She prefers them over any other clothing and REALLY enjoys the "dancing dresses" that have extra layers of froo-froo skirts and velvety or shimmery fabric. She has two Christmas dresses that she wears as often as sanitarily possible, so she's almost always overdressed for the occasion. It turns out these two dresses in particular are quite resistant to wear, dirt, stains, and wrinkling. I picked them up at garage sales for less than $5 each. What a dream! Less laundry, less hassle, and she absolutely loves to wear them! I may stock up on these resilient little Christmas dresses to last us through May!

Anyway, on to the pictures:

 

Alice chopping bananas for a new pie that is sure to become a Thanksgiving tradition in our home: Banoffi. It's a graham cracker crust with bananas and a generous layer of dulce de leche on top. Cook it until the bananas dissolve away and all that remains is sweet, banana-caramel goodness. Serve with ample whipped cream.




Admiring the lights on the tree. We didn't have time to do lights AND decorations in one night, so we spread the joy across two days.

Here, Alice and Bobby are admiring their handiwork after putting all the ornaments on the tree. We have since added some paper snowflakes from Sandy and two absolutely charming handmade ornaments from my sister Heidi. Alice pulled them out of the mailing package and gasped, "Oooo! Dey so boo-ful!"




Alice posing by the nativity scene we put out together. She put the lambs next to baby Jesus "to keep him cum-nee." This is one of the two indestructible Christmas dresses.

She also added an orange, monkey-shaped, pencil-topper to the scene.

Alice with her friend Sandy. Sandy stayed with us this week as she transitioned from her home in Illinois to a new home in Nevada. Alice got pretty attached and actually collapsed into a pile of sobbing tears when Sandy left. Poor girl.

Sandy gave Alice this pink, fuzzy comforter on her last day. The gift certainly softened the blow of her leaving :) It fits very well on Alice's new big girl bed.

Zurg Update (and more thoughts on gender)

Chugging along at 24 weeks, Zurg and I are doing well. He would hardly sit still for a Doppler check of his heart rate:

The midwife asks with a raised eyebrow, "Is the baby always this active?"

"Oh yeah. It's either crazy man or absolute stillness."

"Was your first baby this active?"

"Uh, I don't remember."

I honestly don't remember how active Alice was at this stage. I have no good memory to draw from, so any assumption about Zurg's personality from this behavior would be based on stereotype, not reality. That said, my deeply-ingrained gender stereotypes pop through brightest when I'm trying to avoid them.

Case in point: Imagining this baby to be a girl instead of a boy, extra activity would get me excited that she's active and vigorous, confident and curious, a real go-getter who will find her way in the world. That's a good thing, right? Yes, because the assumption (i.e. stereotype) is that these traits would be tempered by her feminine gifts...compassion, team work, and a tendency to nurture.

Extra activity in a boy strikes fear in my heart because I automatically jump to the assumption (i.e. stereotype) that he's a crazy man lying in wait to turn my world upside down. There are no stereotypically masculine traits to temper such an active, vigorous, go-getter personality. The knee-jerk fear is that I will have to chase him down, constantly redirecting and training his energy into socially acceptable behaviors (i.e. compassion, team work, and a tendency to nurture).

In other words, my stereotypical mindset up to this point (unrealized until this very moment) is that a girl can be anything because she's "protected" by her feminine nature, but an especially active little boy must be trained to adapt stereotypical "girl" traits in order to be socially well-balanced. Writing it out helps me realize how absurd that assumption is. None of the boys in my life fit 100% in that box, and I've met little girls with very few "naturally protective" feminine traits.

The question now, though, is how do I change that assumption in my brain so it doesn't keep making me afraid of this little boy?

1000 days old

1 DAY

10 DAYS

100 DAYS


1000 DAYS

We're blessed to have had her this long. May we get to celebrate 10,000 days with her when the time comes. Woo hoo!

Grrrrr......Chicago

I just don't how to function in Chicago. I'm a bumbling frump every time I try to do anything there on my own. Downtown Chicago is a culture and way of life that doesn't even enter my radar of consciousness, much less appeal to my country bumpkin leanings. This weekend, I dashed up there to meet Julia for an opera. The opera was housed in the historic Civic Opera House in the heart of downtown. Absolutely stunning building! Absolutely stunning people! I felt course and unsophisticated every minute I was in Chicago, even when "safe" in my crazy hotel room with Julia. Those fancy pillows and $3 bottles of water seemed to sneer at me all night. I've never felt so self-conscious and insecure as I did last night in a 4-star hotel. Ugh. Not a happy feeling.

The opera itself was a pleasant surprise. Not exactly what we were looking for, but delightful in its own way. The lead soprano had such a sweet voice at just the right times! We didn't have time to eat dinner before the performance, so we ordered pizza afterwards...not much was open at 11:00 at night. With all the surprise parking fees and such that we encountered, I don't think I'm allowed to have another birthday present for the next five years *sigh*

I wonder if Indianapolis has an opera company...hmmmm.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

Apparently if you hit enter in blogger after just typing in the title of a blog, it will publish the empty entry. I just found that out, so any of you who are fast at reading this may be a bit disappointed, because I do not plan on finishing it right now. I have stake conference in about an hour, so check back later for an update.

This week has been a very interesting one. We have had a guest staying with us some of this week, and she will stay until next Saturday. She is a very nice surrogate grandmother to Alice. Alice loves her lots and lots, but sadly she is with us because she is moving to Nevada and needed a place to stay for a week after leaving her old apartment. It was especially odd last night as Susan is off on her final birthday celebration, another opera in Chicago this time, so it was out guest, Alice and me last night.

It was almost even odder, because I recently dodged another trip to California. Two trips in fact. This week two people I work with will be in California giving some training on what we have built. The next week two more are going out to give a presentation to our new management, yes we got moved around again, about exactly what it is that we do. For some reason I always seem to get picked for these types of trips so I have ended up going to CA three to four times a year. Well if I were going on the first trip then I would probably be flying out this afternoon, so it would be one more thing in an already crazy schedule for today, with a guest in our house, Susan coming home and me leaving for a week. I just don't think that would work.

well look at that, because Alice is eating oatmeal with her friend I actually managed to get enough time to finish this, reducing that chances that anyone will have to check back later to read the actual entry.

Quality Time

Though only 5 months in utero, I think this little fellow already has a sense of humor. He manages to move and kick at the most interesting times, especially when I try to say anything prophetic about our future life together. For example, seed catalogs for next year's garden have just begun to arrive. He makes an exasperated flail every time I'm tempted to add a new vegetable to my wish list. It will take MUCH self-control to limit my expectations for Summer 2010.

"C'mon, Zurg, it's belgian endive! You'll love it!"

The more he moves, though, the better acquainted I feel with him. I get the sense that he's hanging out with me as I live my life and make choices. That's some serious quality time. I love him more for it, too. Quality time is my love language above and beyond all others.

I'm excited to meet him. I've gathered some boy clothes that I like, a couple names that might work, and a general sense that we'll be okay. I guess I'm trying to say that he now has a place in my family. I've made room for him in my thoughts and preparations. He's actually there...now and in the future...a faceless, voiceless, but absolutely real little kid that's going to be a part of my life indefinitely. We're a family of four. Kinda cool to feel that.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a hectic one. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with several of our friends. There was turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato soufflé, stuffing, gravy, and several different types of pie. It was a lot of fun. Sadly tough Susan got the stomach flu that night. At first we thought it was some sort of food poisoning, but apparently several of our friends had the same thing this week. She is fine now, and neither I not Alice caught it, but we decided to cancel our trip to Columbus OH to visit some friends there. Alice was very disappointed, because we usually get "special drink" a.k.a slushy when we go on a long trip, and she really likes to play with her friends. So instead we rented a movie, popped some corn, and I got a special drink at the store for us to share.

On Saturday we went to a wedding, which was also a lot of fun. But this wedding has a bit of a story associated with it. My calling at church is to help the missionaries in the area. The couple getting married were doing it so that they could get baptized, but it was planned in about 1 weeks worth of time. It was so hectic because they wanted to have one of the missionaries that taught them there, and it was his last week on a mission. In fact he had been transfered to another area about a month ago, and was ale to come back with the mission president for the wedding. It was very nice.

A weekend with Julia

As Bobby mentioned in his "Sunday Summary", I took a trip to Milwaukee this weekend to help celebrate my friend's birthday. I arrived solo Friday night feeling fancy-free and strangely homesick...already?! I think this pregnancy is stunting my desire for adventure ;) Anyway, it was 10:30 at night but we decided to go grocery shopping. Julia had invited 10 friends to her house the next afternoon for a fancy English tea party. We must be ready!

We picked up a heap of ingredients and went home to bed. I got to sleep in for the first time in many, many years. What a treat! Then Julia and I got to work in the kitchen preparing a sumptuous feast of teeny finger sandwiches, scones, and other delicacies. Here's what I remember from the menu:

Mint cucumber sandwiches
Dill cucumber sandwiches
Smoked turkey and homemade cranberry sauce sandwiches
Roast beef and homemade apricot chutney sandwiches
Crumpets (a lucky find at the grocery store)
Pumpkin scones
Chocolate chip scones
Orange cranberry scones
(served with clotted cream...kinda like a mildly sweet, slightly sour whipped cream)
Pumpkin cake (cream cheese frosting built in!)
Vanilla cream puffs
Herbal teas and a variety of cocoa were also served

Julia donned her fancy Jane Austen-style dress and poured out for all. She had worked hard on the spread, too, which was beautiful. I loved meeting her witty and welcoming friends. Julia received a few presents that we all swooned over: a picture frame with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (A&E Pride and Prejudice mini series), a picture frame with the "new" Dr. Who (I have yet to experience this series), and a huge volume of "Miss Manners" letters. There was plenty of laughter and conversation to fill the afternoon!

Julia and I were both exhausted after the party. So much work! So much fun! We just crashed on the couch and munched on Belly Flops (another thoughtful birthday gift!), chatting, until it was time to dress for the opera that night. Julia had made a perfectly creamy and heartwarming butternut squash soup earlier that day so we could eat and run as necessary. We packed some pumpkin cake in her purse just in case we got the munchies between acts.

On our way to the opera, we stopped at a Trader Joe's grocery. I had never been to TJ's, but it had been recommended again and again to me by several friends. Julia was curious to check it out, too. I was amazed at the funky variety of products and the excellent prices. We wandered every aisle, tasted free samples, and picked up a few souvenirs. I purchased a large wedge of St. Andre (a super-mild stinky cheese from France that brought back fond memories of trips to Liberty Heights in SLC with my sister, Heidi), a wedge of domestic gruyere cheese, a small peppered salami, and 2 pounds of dry wild rice. Wild rice is hard to find by itself in C-U. Now that I can make delicious artisan bread in 5 minutes a day ;) (thanks, Ashley, for the recommendation), stinky cheese may become a regular inhabitant of my home.

The opera itself was lackluster. I had SUCH high hopes, since Tosca has been my favorite tragedy ever since I first saw it in Salt Lake City. I just couldn't get into the story this time. The characters were less lovable and more absurd. The sets on stage were minimal, at best, and the tower she was supposed to leap from was nothing but a staircase. Disappointing!

Julia and I got home late and went straight to bed. I got to sleep in AGAIN! *sigh* what a great treat. We ate scones for breakfast and then settled down to watch the new "Emma" mini series (4 episodes). It finished just in time for me to shower and pack and rush to Julia's church. We were only a few minutes late :) Church was deathly silent, and I didn't have a 2-year-old climbing all over me, so I got to listen pretty well. Messages on gratitude. After the first hour of church, Julia and I said our goodbyes and she led me to the freeway home.

It's a 4.5 hour drive home. I had a lot of time to surf the radio and think. I was in the mood for more church, though, so I settled on the preaching stations whenever there was one available. Messages on mercy, hypocrisy, gratitude, and resisting temptation rattled around in my brain all the way home. I wondered why I was so willing to listen to 4 hours of sermons on the radio when I always have a hard time mustering any interest in Ensign articles or 'extracurricular' broadcasts. I think it's related to the amount of personal responsibility I feel in response to the message...messages coming from my own faith, I feel a greater responsibility. Messages from other faiths just don't use the vocabulary words that actually prick my conscience (i.e. Visiting Teaching, regular personal scripture study, meaningful personal prayer, every member a missionary, etc.). Even without the pricking vocabulary, I managed to come home with a renewed determination to get more out of my scripture study.

Overall, a lovely weekend. Julia and I will be getting together again in a couple weeks to see the Lyric Opera of Chicago's rendition of "The Merry Widow." It's a comedy. That's the last of my operatic adventures for a while and the finishing touch to my 30th Year Celebrations. Now to plan my 40th Year Celebrations!

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been just a bit stressful. This is mostly because Susan has been out of town visiting a friend, and I have been a single parent since Friday evening. Alice has been an angle, but it is still a lot of work to take care of her, and what not. I am very happy that Susan will be home this evening. The reset of the week has been somewhat routine. Lots of work, a small reorganization. No one got laid off, but a few things switched around, and now my team is larger then it was before, which is a good oman.

Pictures!

I finally recharged the batteries for my camera :) so I've been taking pictures the last few days. Here are my favorites:



Alice composed this face out of fridge magnets and stickers. She tells me he's a smiling guy with eyebrows (celery and armadillos) and his arms up in the air (yellow wheat stickers).

Alice showing off her new "big girl" bed. She loooooves it. Moments after setting it up, she was rolling around on top gushing about how fun and "boo-ful" her new bed was when she rolled right off the bottom edge. Stunned, but still smiling, she got back on top and rolled around a little more conservatively. She slept really well in it the first night. It looks like she's a mobile sleeper, though, when given the space to roll. We may need to install a couple guard rails. As for the ski cap, sometimes she wears it to bed when she's feeling particularly cold.

I was cleaning out under my bed yesterday when Alice and I rediscovered Bobby's balloon-animal-making supplies. Didn't know he could make balloon animals, did'ya? The balloons were old and sticky (12 years old, I think?), but Bobby managed to make Alice a little doggie and a hat. Alice and I were dinking around with the balloons again this afternoon. I created a strange little circle and she immediately proclaimed it her "gyasses for yooking in duh oh-shin" and she crawled around the living room floor "yooking" at things.

Slaughtering Chickens...lessons on the reality

I just finished a "Raising Chickens for Meat" course offered by my local co-op. I signed up for the series so that I could 1) face the reality of my chicken-eating lifestyle and 2) assess the as-yet-unplanned potential for raising my own chickens someday.

The first session was "meet the chicks" where we literally stood around in the instructor's garage talking about the 35 cheeping puffballs running around in his make-shift incubator (i.e. cardboard boxes, tape, straw, a couple of light bulbs, and a water bowl). Five weeks later, we learned about how to take care of the adolescent birds as we examined another make-shift pen in our instructor's backyard (i.e. net for fence, cold frame on its side for shelter, lots of straw, and a woodpile to climb on).

Yesterday was the third and final session: day of harvest. The birds were only 12 weeks old, not even sexually mature, but ready to process into a freezer full of tender chicken that will feed our instructor's family of four for a whole year. I came to this final session with visions of blood spatters and headless chickens running around. The instructor told us to wear rubber boots, if we had them, so I was gearing up for ankle-deep piles of guts and feathers. Turns out, I was COMPLETELY wrong about the whole process.

I did not perform any of the steps myself this time (i.e. blood-letting, scalding, removing head and feet, plucking, eviscerating). I was concerned about my pregnancy and the possibility of contracting some chicken gut or blood disease. I don't actually KNOW of any specific disease that I could have contracted from slaughtering chickens (organic, brilliantly healthy, bloodless chickens at that!), but I chose to be cautious. Here's what I thought:

• It was surprisingly clean, quiet, and efficient. Because of the instructor's particular way of bleeding the birds, they did not appear to suffer. They made no noise. No struggle. It was eerily quiet and simple to kill a chicken. There weren't as many guts as I thought there would be, either, and there was certainly NO blood after the first step. The process was logical and simple. Everyone in the class was capable of each step after only a couple of pointers.
  
• The instructor and the class members were very mature about each step. Not somber, per se, but there was a certain respect for the animals. It was an environment for learning, too, as we discussed why things were done a certain way.
  
• It was a striking example of moderation. The instructor raises 30-35 broiler chickens for the WHOLE year. That is one chicken every week and a half or so for his growing family and that's essentially the only meat they eat. The slaughter was not excessive by any means.
  
• It was a lot of work. I was reminded of all the work that goes into planting, growing, harvesting, and processing the produce from my garden. The hardest work is at the end when you are already tired of looking at the stuff. It's a fulfilling kind of work, though. Pain with a purpose.
  
• There's a lot of "waste" in processing a chicken, though not as much as I had imagined: feathers, heads, feet, internal organs, and blood for 35 chickens adds up to about three 5-gallon buckets of waste. You also throw out bones and skin after cooking the meat. Our instructor composts all the waste on his own urban property with little to no smell...he's a pro.
  

So, can I raise chickens for meat? Yes. I am convinced that it is something I am capable of. Even the yucky disposal of undesirable pieces. Even on this teeny bit of land we've got now in this exact neighborhood we live in. It can be done!

Do I WANT to raise chickens for meat? That's less certain. It's a relatively short time commitment (12 weeks total compared to 6 months before a laying hen will lay, then maintaining the hen for a couple years until she stops laying) but I get the feeling that I would be doing it all by myself. Bobby is awfully supportive, but he's not a saint :) Anyone else interested in learning this new skill with me?

I sure love the IDEA of 35 ready-to-eat, free-range, organically-raised, humanely-treated, antibiotic- and hormone-free, locally-raised chickens hanging out in my freezer. Especially since they can be produced for only $2 a pound (dressed) instead of $4-5 a pound from another producer. I will need at least 2 more reasons to pursue this seriously, though, since cost savings will only motivate me so far.

All in all, it was a very helpful class. I haven't dismissed the possibility of raising chickens for meat just yet, but it will need much more consideration.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This has felt like a busy week, although Susan tends to be the one with the most busy schedule. On monday we had a friend over for a small birthday dinner and Family Home Evening. It was nothing too spectacular, but it was fun. Tuesday, Wednesday, ad Thursday were all fairly normal. Then on Friday we had the ultrasound and got our first look at "Zurg Rex", it was a Friday the 13th so it may have just been the date that made the pictures so difficult to get. With Alice she was on her side so we got a wonderful profile of her sucking on her hand. Friday evening was a baptism, so I had to run over to the church after work to fill up the font. It was a very nice baptism. The brother getting baptized does not speak much English so we had almost the entire meeting in Spanish. It was a bit interesting to hear almost everyone in the ward that speaks Spanish either pray or give a talk or something. I understood a fair amount of it, I guess my Portuguese is not that rusty after all.

Yesterday was a very busy day, but it was nice that I was able to spend most of it with Susan and Alice. Nothing too spectacular happened yesterday. We raked the leaves, went grocery shopping, went to the library and cleaned the church. But, it was still a very full day. While we were bagging leaves Alice wanted to help us smash the leaves in the bags so more would fit, and then she decided to just stay in one of them and color on the side of the bag with her sidewalk chalk.

It's a...

Human? This was the "best" shot of the baby's face the technician could get. Of course, our sweet little man was not exactly forthcoming...all balled up and wiggly at the same time. A boy! Alice was not surprised at the news, but she quickly informed me that the baby in HER tummy was a girl. I asked her what we should name him and she suggested "Susan." Bobby and I were thinking "Zurg Rex" was more appropriate considering the above photo (thanks to Joshua G. for the name suggestion, by the way).

Honestly, I'm struggling NOT to cram this boy into the "boy stereotype" box in my brain: noisy, destructive, physically aggressive, and disobedient with gusto. The funny thing is, most boys I know (and have ever known) do NOT fit that stereotype, and yet it remains.

After the ultrasound, we met with one of the midwives. He confirmed that everything important was in place and the baby was doing well. I asked about the possibility of an early labor again. Turns out, it only counts as early labor if it starts with contractions, not your water breaking. Shucks. Maybe this kid really will be born in April. Hm.

Bobby and I took our "Skelator" photos back to the car with us and started home when we noticed the car didn't sound right. We pulled off and discovered a very flat tire. Just 20 minutes later, we were driving home on our teeny donut spare and realized it was flat, too. A gas station was right there, so we filled up with air and prayed we would get to a tire shop in time. The spare held up just fine and we decided to go pick up Alice and share the good news with her. She was staying with her friends, and my friend, so I stuck around to enjoy a long chat with my friend about these crazy mixed feelings. I kept wondering WHY the gender thing seemed to matter so much. Why did I feel like curling up somewhere quiet and thinking about the news for hours? Why was this news something that I had to process and ponder when the news about Alice's gender was surprisingly easy to accept? I think it stems from that crazy "boy stereotype" of mine...like I will have to be a different mommy to each child.

But that's not all. My feelings are also complicated by the fact that I already have a vibrant and active little girl that I love dearly. The larger, and more pressing, issue is how another child will change what I already know and love about being Alice's mom. Alice and I headed to the tire place to get the flat fixed. They said it would take half an hour so we walked over to Culver's for a quick lunch. I held Alice's hand as we crossed the parking lot. She was chattering away about what she was smelling and how many cars there were and the mess of ketchup someone had left in the parking lot when the strangest thought crossed my mind, "This is one of the last times that it'll be just me and Alice." That thought makes no sense, and it's totally untrue, and yet I could hardly keep myself from crying. I'm mourning as if she's going to be taken away from me as soon as the next baby materializes. That's not true, of course, but the feeling is in there deep and I can't shake it off as easily now that the baby has a gender...and a face, of sorts :)

It turns out there was nothing wrong with the tire. No puncture, no valve leak. The tire pros couldn't find any reason why it went flat when it did. Funny, huh? I was completely relieved at the news. When we got back into the car, I happened to glance over at our ultrasound pictures again. I was struck with a fresh relief, a new thought, "Hey, maybe this mom-of-two thing isn't actually a problem that needs to be fixed. Maybe it'll be okay after all."

Now to think about boy names...

Communication difficulties

Our internet access and phone have been out of service the last couple days. Comcast manages both of those for us. Service has been spotty recently, thanks to a curious squirrel chewing through one of the lines, but I was told that issue was resolved. Hmmm. Perhaps a pack of the squirrel's buddies are out for revenge? There's no telling how our phone and internet service will be working this week, so please call Bobby's cell if there's an emergency. Thanks!

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been a fun one, mostly.  The week itself was fairly normal, but Saturday was a very busy day.  Susan had to work in the family history center in the morning, so Alice and I spent the morning playing and going to the store.  We bought some food for a special dinner.  We had to watch some kids that evening, and when that was all done we went out for a date.  Unfortunetly there wasn't much time left and we were exausted so we just went home to watch a movie.  Sadly our internet was down so it had to be a video we already owned. It was actually a lot of fun.

North Carolina

I almost ended up in North Carolina. Back in 2002, I was looking for grad schools to apply to that had strong nutrition programs. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was in my "top five" list. Little did I know at the time that North Carolina would become such an interesting and important place to me at this point in my life...or, uh, my hobby.

Yeah, yeah, I'm talking about family history again. Several of my requests for information from the North Carolina State Archives have borne exciting (dare I say titillating?) tidbits of information that advance my understanding of these people. One of my people was being sued for slander and false arrest. Others were squabbling over land. One little girl inherited huge amounts of property from both of her wealthy and well-respected grandfathers. All of these incidents turn boring old names and dates into REAL people. My people.

Before I was asked to be the director of our local family history center, I didn't much care for the family history scene. Now I wonder if I'll ever be able to give it up :)

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a Halloween extravaganza. Unfortunately I was not there for all of it, but Alice was and that is what is important. On Friday Alice went to a Halloween parade and an assisted living facility. Sadly the management there was a little bit too concerned about swine flew to let the people living there actually hand out candy to the kids, so instead Alice and many other kids marched through the common areas showing off their costumes, and afterwards got a bag of candy for her troubles. That night we had our church's Halloween party. It involved a chili cook off, games for the kids including pumpkin bowling, and a trunk or treating.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, our camera is dead, and my phone is really bad a movement, like I said before.

On Saturday we went to a Halloween party instead of going trick or treating. We figured that Alice had enough candy already. It was a lot of fun. We had home made pizza, candy, and games. Alice had a difficult time, because she was up past her bedtime, but she also had lots and lots of fun. I would like to post the pictures of me as cousin it, and our family in a bunch of silly wigs, but those will have to wait until they arrive by e-mail. Overall it was a very fun halloween.

Raking Leaves Again

It was another one of those days at home where the only time-sensitive item on my to-do list was "Soak beans overnight" for our church's Trunk or Treat Chili Cookoff tomorrow. Days like this don't often happen, so I delved into a few more "home projects" and spent a lot of time playing with Alice:

• "Raked" the leaves in the front yard. I used the lawnmower to chew up the leaves and dump them into the lawn and leaf bags. Alice generally hates the noisy lawnmower, so she ran inside and watched from the screen door. Every time the lawnmower bag would get full, which was quite often, I'd have to turn off the engine and dump the chewed up leaves into a paper bag. Every time I stopped the lawnmower, Alice would shout through the screen door, "All done?" When I finally said "Yes!" she gleefully skipped outside asking for a pile of leaves she could jump into. Fortunately for her, it was a windy day and leaves were quickly gathering on our lawn once more. We piled and played until she came across a patch of sticky brown stuff and asked, "Is that mud or poop?" Game over.
• Took Alice's red Fisher-Price car for a drive on the street for the first time.
• Played with sidewalk chalk on the driveway.
• Packed a picnic lunch to eat at the church building while I did administrative stuff for the Family History Center. We were pretending the church was our "school" and she got to carry the lunches in her spiffy new-to-her backpack. With the right angle, almost any errand/chore can become exciting fun for this kid. I like this age.
• Posted several large items on craigslist. All part of the cleansing ritual that started with the bathroom remodeling. A nice bathroom and freshly painted kitchen makes the rest of our house look like crap. Most of my time at home this week has been spent de-crapping our house. I now have a literal truck load of perfectly-usable-but-not-worth-storing-anymore stuff that's headed to Goodwill tomorrow.
• Made a spectacular dinner, laid out a splendid table, then crouched with Alice under the table for 10 minutes waiting for Bobby to get home. This girl loooooves to surprise Daddy.

 

Yes, she's wearing a huge rubber band around her head. She found it at the Family History Center one day and decided it was a helmet. It cracks me up, but she's totally serious about it.

Also, while I was preparing our amazing dinner, Alice was preparing a feast of her own for all of her friends and family. I made her pose next to the table she set, which is why she looks so awkward standing there. The clothespins are pretzels, there's one pear, and everything else is either a bagel or a brownie. "Baby Taydoh" and "Baby Tiger" have already been seated.

Starting to Sink In

I was driving along the other day, chatting it up with Alice as we always do, when suddenly I felt this new baby really move for the first time. I was startled and confused..."Wait. If I'm talking to Alice, then who's in THERE?!"

*sigh*

Just one step closer to wrapping my brain around what's in store.

Painting by Name

I'm not much of a home decorator, as you must know. I had lots of help this time. My friend JulieAnn took me to a few places to look at paints and shower curtains. We had to start from scratch..."So, what do you like?" "Uh, I don't know. I literally never notice anything unless it's hideous." "Okay, what's not ugly here." "Uh..."

From Bobby's update, you can tell I finally picked something, but not before collecting a hundred different "white" paint chips for the bathroom and a dozen "earthier browns" for the kitchen. I found the color names hilarious, as any of them would make a great name for our future movie star baby:

La Fonda Boulder
Tagsale Linen
Churchill Hotel Wheat
Bleached Sand
Homestead Resort Buff
Tattered Sail
Silent Delight
Bubble Tea
Apricot Fluff
Whirling Wind
Clam Island
Peach Froth
Sentimental
Cracker Bitz
Lilac Intuition
Kiss Me Kate
Willow Springs
Coral Gable Biltmore Mediterranean Caramel

I'm pleased with the results of our efforts in both the bathroom and the kitchen, especially all the remodeling stuff everyone else did in the bathroom. It's an awesome transformation! I love it. The kitchen needs a little more work on my end...couple more highlights, clean counters, organized chef station, etc.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

Well, this week can probably be summed up as painting. Both the bathroom and the kitchen were to the point this week that we were able to paint, and install some of the basics. It is not completely done yet, but here we go.

and the kitchen

They both are actually usable now. The kitchen still needs some touchup work on the ceiling, but the picture is so horrible you cannot tell. My phone just does not take good pictures in low light. The bathroom still has some touchup work, some caulking, and we need to replace the floor eventually.

We primed the bathroom twice, and the kitchen once, I spent almost all day Saturday painting, and with the help of our home teachers we painted the entire kitchen Friday night.

We also attended Will, our nephew's birthday party. It was a fairly typical birthday party, and I would include pictures, but that whole camera not working in low light, or moving objects, well the 3/4 year olds really don't stop moving, so the vast majority of the pictures are just colored fuzzy streaks.

Punkin' Huntin' Exchange Program

Since discovering it with the Jarvies last year, I've decided to make Negangard Pumpkin Patch an annual tradition in our household. You don't hunt for your perfect pumpkin in the patch, per se, but there's a lot of hunting involved as you wind your way through rows and rows of beautiful, unique, and spectacular pumpkin varieties.

 

Bobby selected a huge one for carving, I instantly fell in love with a multicolored warty one that's shaped like a pyramid, and Alice insisted on five baby pumpkins (at $0.25 a piece, it's easy to say "yes". She also came home with 2 teensy gourds which promptly became mother and baby). Grandma Poulson came home with a pale pink pumpkin that made 3 excellent pies with minimal effort. Grandpa Poulson opted to stay home to work on the bathroom remodeling.

We brought along our friends as part of an exchange program. They are die-hard "hunt in the patch" folks, and we prefer bargain basement prices and more variety, so the two of us agreed to experience each others' version of the great punkin' hunt this year. Here are photos from Negangard's:

Wagons are the best part.

Ready to go!

Where to begin?



Start with the babies, of course.



"One, two, fwee..."



Buddies in the wagon



Helping Daddy find a big one.



The final lineup. We drew faces on the pumpkins this year, though we may carve them when it gets closer to Halloween. Alice drew the face on the middle one. She can't draw a recognizable face on paper, but it's crystal clear on a sphere. She also helped us color the other ones, and she wanted Bobby's pumpkin to have stitches ("tishes"). My warty pumpkin is in the back.

And here are the photos from Curtis Orchards' Pumpkin Patch. We were too late to get good pumpkins in the field this year, but there was still PLENTY to do. Alice and I both had a great time. The best part for her, though, was the doughnut and fresh cider afterwards.

Alice going through the Ruby Slipper Maze

"Mommy! See how big my is. Aaaaaaaaaaaa! Ladybug!"
Alice running through the pumpkin graveyard. She was eager to go ahead and find cool ones to show me. She only biffed it twice.
She's having a great time with baby pumpkin. The wind didn't bother her much this time. We did learn, however, that it's hard to remain modest in a dress while sitting cross-legged in a wagon.
Alice deciding which she wanted more: the baby pumpkin or a fresh apple cider doughnut. Mommy made her choose between them since she had 5 other baby pumpkins waiting at home. Doughnut wins.

The final verdict: I think we'll do both pumpkin patches every year. They both have their exciting bits, and I can't pick just one. Besides, it's all about hanging out with friends and doing something a little out of the ordinary. Both outings were a screaming success by those counts, so I'm excited to continue the tradition indefinitely.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been interesting. As you all know we have been remodeling our bathroom. We have made a lot of progress, the first one is midweek, the second is yesterday.

The sink is in, the shower is caulked, we have primed a lot of the walls and door, and I put in the medicine cabinet. But there is still a lot to do. We have to prime the celling, paint everything, caulk the sink, and redo the floor. We also plan on painting the kitchen. Susan has gotten into a bit of a home improvement kick. So expect to see several more small transformations to our house.

Yesterday was a busy day. In the morning Susan had to work at the family history center, and I took Alice to a tour of the University Dairy. A friend of ours is getting his PHD doing some experiments there. Alice didn't really enjoy it all that much. The wind was blowing a lot which made Alice want me to hold her the entire time. According to her she squirt milk and baby cows squirt milk too. She did not actually squirt milk, I squirted some milk, and held Alice while I did it, so I guess that sort of counts. My arms are very sore today, but from all the things I did yesterday, hang the medicine cabinet, prime the bathroom, and cary ALice at the Dairy, I think it is the last one that is really getting to me. Some interesting facts about cows. It takes 10 lbs of milk to make 1 lbs of cheese. Each holstein cow can produce about 100 gallons of milk each day, and holsteins make up about 92% of the Dairy cows in the US. This happened after World War Two, when they needed to produce lots of cheap milk for the baby boomers.

Mom and Dad

I don't know where to start talking about the last 10 days or so. Bobby posted a photo of our gutted bathroom. Our ONLY bathroom. It looks much better now, but it's still only barely functional. The sink and countertop were not finished today as hoped. Maybe by Friday, they say. Until then, we'll continue to wash our hands, shave, and brush our teeth in the kitchen sink. The contractor won't come out to caulk the tub and shower until the countertop is ready, either, so blue tape is our temporary solution there. Our showers must be kept short and cool to minimize steam/water on the exposed drywall and green board. *sigh*

We haven't been harping on the contractor or caulking things ourselves because we already have enough work to do. My dad has worked nonstop on every project: demolition, demolition, demolition, moving and installing new light fixtures and a fan, installing a wider door, ripping out drywall in the kitchen to inspect termite damage, replacing drywall when the termite damage turned out to be not-so-bad, spraying texture on the new walls, hand-texturing our new bathroom ceiling with a bucket of joint compound and a cement trowel, installing shelves in the garage, and finishing up all the drywall that the contractors left behind. He's saving us thousands of dollars and months of time. I can't imagine how to BEGIN to repay him.

My mom has also been working nonstop on another series of projects: sewing window treatments for the kitchen, doing dishes after every meal (my kitchen has never been so clean so often before!), sewing a maternity skirt for me, helping with meal preparation, entertaining the babe, helping me with other events and responsibilities that I scheduled this same week (oops), chatting spirituality and parenting and friendship and self-discovery with me whenever the mood strikes to chat, and (most importantly) uplifting and empowering me as a mom. She's got a knack for helping without belittling or judging. She seems to know just the right tasks to do (i.e. taking out the trash, clearing off the table, telling me to rest for a minute, volunteering to read Alice a story, putting the folded laundry away, emptying the dishwasher, making 3 pumpkin pies, etc.) at just the right time so they never clutter my "ugh, gotta remember to do THAT" list. That is the best gift in all the world.

I don't believe there's any way to express my gratitude properly. Alice and I will be taking my parents back to the airport tomorrow. It's a long drive to St. Louis, but I'm looking forward to those last few hours with my parents.

Bobby's Sunday Summary (a bit early)

This week has been a very stressful one.  We are remodeling our bathroom.  Luckely Susan's parents are in town helping us.  They have saved us a lot of time and money already.  We stripped it down to the studs as you can see in the picture.  Then today a contractor showed up and took out the tub, did the plubing and started on the drywall.

Sadly today, the day I needed to stay home to answer any questions etc. is the day our internet decided to die.  So right now I am writing this on my phone rather then the computer.  Sadly we get phone service through our internet too, so my cell phone is the only form of outside communication we have right now.  I will try and post more later once the bathroom is finished so you can see how it turned out. 

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a long one. I flew to California Monday morning. I arrived there at about 2 and my meetings started at 3. They lasted until 6 that night. The next day started at 8 am and ended at 8 pm. Lots and lots of meetings. I flew to CA for a conference. The conference was Wednesday through mid-day on Friday, but my boss wanted us to get a lot of other stuff done while we were out there. The trip, and especially the conference was a lot of fun, but again it was full of very long days.

The first night Yahoo! had a fancy get together at the San Jose Museum of Art. I was rather tired so I did not stick around that long, but the food was very good.

Friday night I got together with my brother, my sister, and her husband. Susan insisted that I get pictures, but it was late and they did not turn out that well.

I got home Saturday at about 4 and I have been exhausted ever since.

"My mell"

"My mell Taty an Abigae-o"

"You smell Katy and Abigail?"

"Yah"

"What do they smell like?"

"Nanas"

"Bananas?"

"An my mell Abigae-o's mommy."

"Really? What does Abigail's mommy smell like?"

"Co-co"

"An my mell Abigae-o's daddy."

"What does he smell like?"

"Budder toath."

Overheard

Justin (3 yrs old) pulls a few coins out of his pocket and picks up a quarter. He pinches it between his thumb and pointer and carefully holds it close to Alice's face.

"Aliss, wahss diss?"

Alice looks up briefly from the flashlight that Justin has just loaned her.

"Dat uh torder."

Unimpressed, she immediately returns her attention to the flashlight. Justin shakes his head and replies.

"No. Issa borter!"

This isn't the first time Justin and Alice haven't understood each others' English dialects. I remember an especially "Abbott and Costello" moment when Justin was talking about fire ("by-uh") and Alice didn't understand. I translated for her and then SHE started talking about fire ("wy-er"). Justin was trying to understand where Alice was seeing all the wires and Alice was frustrated that Justin was saying "wire" when she was trying to communicate "fire" ("wy-er"). She kept trying to "correct" his misunderstanding by shouting, "No, wy-er!" He would reply "Where the wire?" I was caught in the middle, trying to help them understand each other for several minutes, until I finally thought to change the subject..."Ready for snack?"

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week felt very busy but it probably was all because of yesterday. Yesterday was the annual Apple and Pork Festival. We went in the morning and got there about 11:00. It was also a bit overcast, but not bad. Both of these made it so it wasn't nearly as crowded when we showed up for lunch. We ate BBQ Pork sandwiches, apple cider, apple cake, and kettle corn.

We also did some activities. They had both a petting zoo and a pony ride. We had Alice pick between the two of them. The pony ride was very tempting...

But the petting zoo won.

In addition to the pig and goats, there were lots of sheep, a lama, a pony, and some rabbits.

While there we got to see rope making

Alice was not that interested. We also saw a bunch of antique farm equipment, some of it even being used to grind corn meal. We saw a black smith making nails, some wood turners making bowls and tops, and a man making benches using hand tools and some logs. There were also lots of arts and craft booths, and a flea market. We avoided the flea market. It was a lot of fun. I also have to say that Alice was fabulous during the whole thing. She did not really want to go home at the end but she did not throw a fit when we did go.

That would have made for a full day, but we did a lot more yesterday too. After we got home we were exhausted, but Susan had a church conference to go to, that lasted from 3 to 8. It was quite the event, as Alice and I hung out. We went to the library, played, had a bath. She started to get very grumpy, but it was because she was tired. She went to bed at 7 and she was asleep before her head hit the pillow.