Sunday, December 28, 2008
Bobby's Sunday Summary
Well, Susan already posted about most of our Christmas so there really isn't a lot to cover there. It was fun, and actually fairly relaxing. What wasn't all that relaxing was Saturday. We had been planning to go to the temple Saturday for quite some time. About two weeks ago Susan gets a call from a friend of hers saying that if Susan will help her wrangle her kids in the airport on their trip to Utah, flying standby, that she would be able to get Susan a cheap standby ticket too. This meant that our normal trip to temple now required Susan to pack for a week+ long trip with Alice. Add on top of that the lovely weather we had yesterday and well it was an exciting adventure. We left at 6 a.m. so we could catch the 9:45 session. Well about 15 min in we realized we had forgotten something important for Susan's trip. We turned around, got it, and started off again. The rain did not start out that bad, but after about an hour it was horrible. The rain was not the worst part, it was the wind. As I would go around a corner if a gust hit us for a split second it felt like we were going to slide off the road. It never was dangerous, because we never really slid, it just felt that way. We made it to the temple just fine, but to late to go on the 9:45 session. We decided that we would do initiatory instead. Susan had some family names that she needed to get done, so we each went our separate way to get them done. Susan got hers done fairly quickly. I on the other hand had to wait and wait and wait, with getting one or two names done in between each waiting period. They were short on staff, and there were about three sealings that day, so I had to wait for some of them to go through too. After the first group of names I walk out and see a familiar face. It was my brother in law. They were in town visiting family and had a little while free so decided to go do some initiatory at the temple. We had a nice conversation, and Susan was able to meet up with her sister too. It ended up being very nice, and I think it must have been a little bit more then a coincidence. On the drive home I dropped Susan off at her friends house in Effingham, and drove the rest of the way home. It was raining the whole way. Luckily the wind had died down quite a bit and it was actually easier to drive after dark. The reflecting strips in the road were much more visible through the rain then the road was in daylight.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas with Alice (Take 2)
Alice's second Christmas *sigh*
Christmas Eve was a treat. We ate a ham dinner with Bill, Kristin, and Will at their house. Everything was delicious, and I was especially happy to share some of my own fruit and vegetable bounty from last summer: canned pears in the Jell-O, pickled beets on my salad, broccoli and corn from the freezer. After dinner, we talked about Jesus' birth and sang a few Christmas carols with the kids. Our plans for a live nativity fizzled when I realized I left all the dress up stuff at home. Oh well.
We did get to play "Black Box Audio", though, which was really fun. I just collected a bunch of free sound effects from the internet and put them on an audio CD. I played the sounds one at a time and the others had to guess what each sound was. A few things I learned from the experience: Bill has no idea what a baby sneeze REALLY sounds like, the sound of a burp is especially gross when disembodied, and the sound of an umbrella opening is the most impossible sound to decipher (even when you put the CD together yourself!).
For dessert, I had made some super nutmeggy pumpkin custard (not so delicious) and the Evanses prepared a pumpkin cheesecake (VERY tasty). The Evanses can cook for me any day.
We played more games and ended the evening with the traditional "first gift" opening. Alice was sad to leave, but giggling with joy when she finally saw her bed.
********
The next morning, Christmas Day, I ask Bobby to change Alice's diaper while I finish setting up a few things. Alice finally darts into the living room and notices all the new things lying around. She shows them to us one by one, then we hand her a stocking filled with goodies. She pulls out a banana and insists on eating it right then. Bobby and I try to explain that there are OTHER things to explore and open but she wants to eat. Now.
"Beh-fiss. Ni-nuhn. Na-nuh." (translation: I would like to eat breakfast. Please come to the kitchen and open this banana for me.) Breakfast is often the first thing on this girl's agenda.
So, off to the kitchen we go. Yum, yum. Then we head back into the living room where she pulls a couple juice boxes from her stocking. Not entirely sure what they are, she names them "yah-yah" which is Alice's version of "smurf." Digging deeper, she finds a miniature box of Trix. Bobby tells her it's cereal.
"Aa! See-yoh. Eat! Ni-nuhn!" (translation: Wow! Cereal! Let's eat it in the kitchen!) and she runs into the kitchen. She helps Bobby pour the whole box of cereal into her bowl, then she picks up each colored ball and tries to guess the color before popping it into her mouth. The only color Alice REALLY knows is blue. The rest are a little fuzzy. So, we play the colored ball game until Bobby and I can't stand it anymore. We want to open presents!
"Hey Alice, this game is fun, but Daddy and I are ready to open presents in the living room. Come join us when you're ready to open presents, too!"
We get up to leave, she shoves one more handful of Trix into her mouth and mumbles, "Ah done!"
And so the opening begins! Alice makes out with a pretty good haul:
Baby doll accessories (she put these to use right away): bottles with disappearing fluid action, utensils, lidded bowl, little blanket, stroller)
Matching dresses for Alice and her doll (sorry, Grandma Evans, we couldn't get the dress over her baby doll's huge plastic noggin. It's a perfect fit for Raggedy, though!). I love how Alice gets into a silly mood every once in a while. She knows she's being goofy and she laughs at her own silliness. It cracks me up.
Here she is with the whole haul. The wooden rocking chair was a surprise from me to Bobby and Alice (thanks to craigslist and a friend who refinished it for me at HER house so Bobby wouldn't figure it out). It assembles like a puzzle, too, which makes it fun for all ages :) Alice has a pen light in her hand (she digs flashlights), some kiddy flossers, juice (as soon as she realized what it was, she chugged both boxes in sequence with only a few breaths in between), dry cereal, fruit snacks (also gobbled up in record time), a DVD and music CD from Grandma Poulson, some Christmas books (pictured below), and a season pass to the children's museum in town. Yippee!
Alice munched on Trix all morning. We made masks and crowns out of paper plates, watched a movie, ate a snack (she asked for black beans), gave her a bath, quiet time, lunch (spaghetti, olives, green beans, orange, more banana), more baby play, hide-and-seek, reading books, dinner (tortilla, cheese, carrots, a couple tastes of beef, lots of lime Jell-O with pears), and play time with the grandparents via video chat. What a day!
I'm tired. Good night.
Christmas Eve was a treat. We ate a ham dinner with Bill, Kristin, and Will at their house. Everything was delicious, and I was especially happy to share some of my own fruit and vegetable bounty from last summer: canned pears in the Jell-O, pickled beets on my salad, broccoli and corn from the freezer. After dinner, we talked about Jesus' birth and sang a few Christmas carols with the kids. Our plans for a live nativity fizzled when I realized I left all the dress up stuff at home. Oh well.
We did get to play "Black Box Audio", though, which was really fun. I just collected a bunch of free sound effects from the internet and put them on an audio CD. I played the sounds one at a time and the others had to guess what each sound was. A few things I learned from the experience: Bill has no idea what a baby sneeze REALLY sounds like, the sound of a burp is especially gross when disembodied, and the sound of an umbrella opening is the most impossible sound to decipher (even when you put the CD together yourself!).
For dessert, I had made some super nutmeggy pumpkin custard (not so delicious) and the Evanses prepared a pumpkin cheesecake (VERY tasty). The Evanses can cook for me any day.
We played more games and ended the evening with the traditional "first gift" opening. Alice was sad to leave, but giggling with joy when she finally saw her bed.
********
The next morning, Christmas Day, I ask Bobby to change Alice's diaper while I finish setting up a few things. Alice finally darts into the living room and notices all the new things lying around. She shows them to us one by one, then we hand her a stocking filled with goodies. She pulls out a banana and insists on eating it right then. Bobby and I try to explain that there are OTHER things to explore and open but she wants to eat. Now.
"Beh-fiss. Ni-nuhn. Na-nuh." (translation: I would like to eat breakfast. Please come to the kitchen and open this banana for me.) Breakfast is often the first thing on this girl's agenda.
So, off to the kitchen we go. Yum, yum. Then we head back into the living room where she pulls a couple juice boxes from her stocking. Not entirely sure what they are, she names them "yah-yah" which is Alice's version of "smurf." Digging deeper, she finds a miniature box of Trix. Bobby tells her it's cereal.
"Aa! See-yoh. Eat! Ni-nuhn!" (translation: Wow! Cereal! Let's eat it in the kitchen!) and she runs into the kitchen. She helps Bobby pour the whole box of cereal into her bowl, then she picks up each colored ball and tries to guess the color before popping it into her mouth. The only color Alice REALLY knows is blue. The rest are a little fuzzy. So, we play the colored ball game until Bobby and I can't stand it anymore. We want to open presents!
"Hey Alice, this game is fun, but Daddy and I are ready to open presents in the living room. Come join us when you're ready to open presents, too!"
We get up to leave, she shoves one more handful of Trix into her mouth and mumbles, "Ah done!"
And so the opening begins! Alice makes out with a pretty good haul:
Baby doll accessories (she put these to use right away): bottles with disappearing fluid action, utensils, lidded bowl, little blanket, stroller)
Matching dresses for Alice and her doll (sorry, Grandma Evans, we couldn't get the dress over her baby doll's huge plastic noggin. It's a perfect fit for Raggedy, though!). I love how Alice gets into a silly mood every once in a while. She knows she's being goofy and she laughs at her own silliness. It cracks me up.
Here she is with the whole haul. The wooden rocking chair was a surprise from me to Bobby and Alice (thanks to craigslist and a friend who refinished it for me at HER house so Bobby wouldn't figure it out). It assembles like a puzzle, too, which makes it fun for all ages :) Alice has a pen light in her hand (she digs flashlights), some kiddy flossers, juice (as soon as she realized what it was, she chugged both boxes in sequence with only a few breaths in between), dry cereal, fruit snacks (also gobbled up in record time), a DVD and music CD from Grandma Poulson, some Christmas books (pictured below), and a season pass to the children's museum in town. Yippee!
Alice munched on Trix all morning. We made masks and crowns out of paper plates, watched a movie, ate a snack (she asked for black beans), gave her a bath, quiet time, lunch (spaghetti, olives, green beans, orange, more banana), more baby play, hide-and-seek, reading books, dinner (tortilla, cheese, carrots, a couple tastes of beef, lots of lime Jell-O with pears), and play time with the grandparents via video chat. What a day!
I'm tired. Good night.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Secrets
Alice and Will are sitting at the little table in the kitchen. I'm bustling around nearby doing dishes. Will turns to me and asks quietly, politely:
Will: Susan, can you go away?
Me: Uh, sure (curious, I leave the room for a second and listen)
Will: Alice, I love you very much. I want to hug you.
Alice doesn't respond. Will doesn't do anything more. Relationships can be complicated.
Will: Susan, can you go away?
Me: Uh, sure (curious, I leave the room for a second and listen)
Will: Alice, I love you very much. I want to hug you.
Alice doesn't respond. Will doesn't do anything more. Relationships can be complicated.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The Dress! The Ball! The Art of Being Girly!
I am NOT a girly girl.
And yet, when I open a special package from my mom and see the PERFECT ball gown, I can't help but squeal and dance on the spot. My poor friend who is visiting me at the time sits helplessly on the couch while I model the dress and chirp about the perfect ribbon to accessorize this charming dress.
(Who needs a Fairy Godmother when you have a REAL mother who sees your pitiful plea on your blog and calls you minutes later from the fabric store with a pattern in hand and three fabric choices? Not only does my mom create the dress within hours, but she sends it overnight so I will have time to add the finishing touches. Wow! I guess love can be pretty magical, too :))
The finishing touches consist of a hem and a ribbon, and suddenly I realize that neither of those items are on my "done this before" list. Yikes! Then I receive a sad phone call from my friend confirming that the weather and road conditions are FAR too treacherous for her to travel here.
*gasp* *sob*
I will be going to the ball alone?! In an unfinished dress?!
No way.
I call my friend Marianne and beg her to come. She says she is delighted to attend with her husband Albert and I can even use her sewing machine to hem my dress!
I pop over to Marianne's house where she teaches me how to do a hidden stitch...or a hidden hem? Something like that. Pretty cool. Then she pulls out some ribbon for my dress and voila! The dress is complete! I still feel like something is missing, though, and I'm a little embarrassed to say it out loud. It's lucky for me that Marianne could pick up on my subtle hints and offer to braid my hair.
(Y'know, I've never been attracted to the girly arts. And they ARE arts. Fashion, make-up, braiding, friendship bracelets...all those things you learn at slumber parties and Girls Camp and late nights with college roommates...they've never appealed to me. I've never even missed them until that exact moment when I wanted to be girly and didn't even know how to ask.)
When Marianne finishes braiding my hair into a neat little crown and ties it with a loopy ribbon, I squeal like a girly girl and leap about her living room. I have never been so happy to be so girly. I may have startled her a little.
Dress: gorgeous
Hair: perfectly girly
I'm ready for the ball.
A friend comes to stay with our sleeping Alice while Bobby goes to watch Marianne and Albert's two kids. We arrive at the ball just as the one-hour "warm up session" for beginners ends. Erk. I notice people dressed in all sorts of period costumes. Anything from Jane Austenesque to Shakesperean to Captain Jack Sparrow is fair game. I think the common theme was...uh...any time period when women wore corsets.
We notice there is a printed program for the evening and have a look. Each dance is listed in order with descriptions like "triple proper longways" and "duple improper longways"...Marianne, Albert, and I look at each other with wide eyes. My stomach sinks. I groan to myself, "I am in WAY over my head. What was I THINKING?! This is the 14th Annual Christmas Ball held by the Central Illinois English Country Dancers. How could I possibly delude myself into believing I would have fun as a total novice?! A partnerless beginner?!" I feel myself emotionally inching towards the door and plotting ways to hide in the bathroom until it's over. "That's absurd!" I scold myself. "Just have fun. Let go of the anxiety and decide to have fun. Forget what anyone else thinks. Make this a night that you will want to remember."
Marianne suggests we sit out the first part to try and learn by watching. Albert and I heartily agree. Then we see the first dance is called "Grand March" and decide that a march can't be THAT impossibly complicated. The musicians warm up and the couples form a line. I team up with the first woman I see for 3 reasons: 1) I'm a gutless wall flower pretending to be okay with the idea that I'm at a dance without a partner, 2) I'm too shy to ask one of the available men to dance something I've never danced before, and 3) there are a few more women than men and the woman asked me first. Whew! Just before the dance begins, however, a couple men walk in and ask us ladies to dance.
A grand March can't be that complicated, right? Right! It's wonderful! A perfect warm up! It's a big game of follow-the-leader. You glide about the room in two circles and the couples shuffle like cards in a deck. At certain points, the couples join arms so that you are 4 across, then 8 across, and then you break up into a long chain that swirls and spirals around the room in time with the music. I find myself laughing the whole time!
At the end of the march, people start lining up for the next dance and we three sit down with the intent to learn by watching. One of the regular dancers, however, tips us off that the easy dances come first and we should get into the action now if we want to learn. Up we go to find our places. I ask another partnerless woman to join our group and the dancing begins. It's easier than you think. They teach each dance before you dance it. They don't expect you to know ANYTHING beforehand. My anxiety dissolves instantly.
This form of dancing is particularly social. You are dancing with other people much more than you are dancing with your partner. It's a team effort. Each dance, I find myself bonding with the other people in my line. The pirate couple is particularly fun to dance with because they are the most chatty and lightfooted. Someone takes pictures the whole time we're dancing. Maybe they will post the pictures to their website so you can see it "in action" with so many people.
We dance and dance and dance until it's time to go home. Here we are at the end of the night:
I had a great time, though I missed Julia. There were a couple tall, dark, and handsome guys I would have loved to set her up with...one even had smoldering eyes! Now we have a whole year to work on our outfits for the next Christmas Ball. Gloves, my dear! And the gossamer shawl! And the finery! Uh-oh, I feel another girly squeal coming on.
FYI, I am NOT a girly girl. Usually.
And yet, when I open a special package from my mom and see the PERFECT ball gown, I can't help but squeal and dance on the spot. My poor friend who is visiting me at the time sits helplessly on the couch while I model the dress and chirp about the perfect ribbon to accessorize this charming dress.
(Who needs a Fairy Godmother when you have a REAL mother who sees your pitiful plea on your blog and calls you minutes later from the fabric store with a pattern in hand and three fabric choices? Not only does my mom create the dress within hours, but she sends it overnight so I will have time to add the finishing touches. Wow! I guess love can be pretty magical, too :))
The finishing touches consist of a hem and a ribbon, and suddenly I realize that neither of those items are on my "done this before" list. Yikes! Then I receive a sad phone call from my friend confirming that the weather and road conditions are FAR too treacherous for her to travel here.
*gasp* *sob*
I will be going to the ball alone?! In an unfinished dress?!
No way.
I call my friend Marianne and beg her to come. She says she is delighted to attend with her husband Albert and I can even use her sewing machine to hem my dress!
I pop over to Marianne's house where she teaches me how to do a hidden stitch...or a hidden hem? Something like that. Pretty cool. Then she pulls out some ribbon for my dress and voila! The dress is complete! I still feel like something is missing, though, and I'm a little embarrassed to say it out loud. It's lucky for me that Marianne could pick up on my subtle hints and offer to braid my hair.
(Y'know, I've never been attracted to the girly arts. And they ARE arts. Fashion, make-up, braiding, friendship bracelets...all those things you learn at slumber parties and Girls Camp and late nights with college roommates...they've never appealed to me. I've never even missed them until that exact moment when I wanted to be girly and didn't even know how to ask.)
When Marianne finishes braiding my hair into a neat little crown and ties it with a loopy ribbon, I squeal like a girly girl and leap about her living room. I have never been so happy to be so girly. I may have startled her a little.
Dress: gorgeous
Hair: perfectly girly
I'm ready for the ball.
A friend comes to stay with our sleeping Alice while Bobby goes to watch Marianne and Albert's two kids. We arrive at the ball just as the one-hour "warm up session" for beginners ends. Erk. I notice people dressed in all sorts of period costumes. Anything from Jane Austenesque to Shakesperean to Captain Jack Sparrow is fair game. I think the common theme was...uh...any time period when women wore corsets.
We notice there is a printed program for the evening and have a look. Each dance is listed in order with descriptions like "triple proper longways" and "duple improper longways"...Marianne, Albert, and I look at each other with wide eyes. My stomach sinks. I groan to myself, "I am in WAY over my head. What was I THINKING?! This is the 14th Annual Christmas Ball held by the Central Illinois English Country Dancers. How could I possibly delude myself into believing I would have fun as a total novice?! A partnerless beginner?!" I feel myself emotionally inching towards the door and plotting ways to hide in the bathroom until it's over. "That's absurd!" I scold myself. "Just have fun. Let go of the anxiety and decide to have fun. Forget what anyone else thinks. Make this a night that you will want to remember."
Marianne suggests we sit out the first part to try and learn by watching. Albert and I heartily agree. Then we see the first dance is called "Grand March" and decide that a march can't be THAT impossibly complicated. The musicians warm up and the couples form a line. I team up with the first woman I see for 3 reasons: 1) I'm a gutless wall flower pretending to be okay with the idea that I'm at a dance without a partner, 2) I'm too shy to ask one of the available men to dance something I've never danced before, and 3) there are a few more women than men and the woman asked me first. Whew! Just before the dance begins, however, a couple men walk in and ask us ladies to dance.
A grand March can't be that complicated, right? Right! It's wonderful! A perfect warm up! It's a big game of follow-the-leader. You glide about the room in two circles and the couples shuffle like cards in a deck. At certain points, the couples join arms so that you are 4 across, then 8 across, and then you break up into a long chain that swirls and spirals around the room in time with the music. I find myself laughing the whole time!
At the end of the march, people start lining up for the next dance and we three sit down with the intent to learn by watching. One of the regular dancers, however, tips us off that the easy dances come first and we should get into the action now if we want to learn. Up we go to find our places. I ask another partnerless woman to join our group and the dancing begins. It's easier than you think. They teach each dance before you dance it. They don't expect you to know ANYTHING beforehand. My anxiety dissolves instantly.
This form of dancing is particularly social. You are dancing with other people much more than you are dancing with your partner. It's a team effort. Each dance, I find myself bonding with the other people in my line. The pirate couple is particularly fun to dance with because they are the most chatty and lightfooted. Someone takes pictures the whole time we're dancing. Maybe they will post the pictures to their website so you can see it "in action" with so many people.
We dance and dance and dance until it's time to go home. Here we are at the end of the night:
I had a great time, though I missed Julia. There were a couple tall, dark, and handsome guys I would have loved to set her up with...one even had smoldering eyes! Now we have a whole year to work on our outfits for the next Christmas Ball. Gloves, my dear! And the gossamer shawl! And the finery! Uh-oh, I feel another girly squeal coming on.
FYI, I am NOT a girly girl. Usually.
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