Lisa Heuer

Snowed in

Yesterday it snowed and snowed.  We have been warned that the schools shut down and much of city life slows to a near halt when it snows but yesterday nothing out of the ordinary happened UNTIL I received the call.  The schools were going to be closed.  That meant that Zane’s preschool was closed too.  That meant that all activities in our district area were cancelled.  That meant that we were going to be home all day.  By the end of the night, there was a layer of snow covering our yard, our driveway, etc.  You can see our walkway in the first few photos…  By morning, we were all snowed in (sort of) BUT the sun was shining.  What a beautiful sight I saw when I peeked my eyes open and looked out my bedroom window.  “The sun is shining,” I sang (in  my head).  The kids were up early (why do they do this on a NO SCHOOL day?) and ready to play in the one inch of snow.  They wanted to take out the sled but I was a bit skeptical of sledding on an inch of snow.  What if by some crazy chance we actually fell off the sled and hit our heads on the barely covered concrete?  I was not the kids’ favorite when I declined the unveiling of the sled.  There were in and out all day.  They bundled, played for 10 minutes, came in cold and warmed up in time to go out and do it again.  Ya know what?  I am thankful that my kids are at the age where they can put on their own boots and jackets-I only need to help with gloves.  It could have been a long day at the door if I was in charge of dressing and undressing over and over…

It was a fun day (I caught up on editing and ordering) with Zoe’s friend here, popcorn and movies and lots of snacks.  AND, I just got a new message that tomorrow will be the same.  It is pretty amazing how quickly a calendar can be cleared.  I need to get to the grocery store to buy some food for Thanksgiving…

Sanity

For the record, I was sane.  Then, WA did this thing called…. cancel school.   Apparently we are not sure how to handle weather like this (snowing all day) so we just cancel anything that might get in the way of staying home and off the roads.  Zoe’s school and Zane’s preschool is cancelled.  So, guess what?  That means me and 2 lovely children at home all day without a care in the world.  Too bad I have no chocolate in this house.  Too bad I didn’t stock up on new movies.  Too bad we already put up the Christmas tree.  Too bad for me…  Remember, I was sane.

Updates

just some recent pictures of my 2 cuties and proof that he does eat protein (or a version of it).  They have been keeping me on my toes (but what else is new) and I may want to invest in some special pointe shoes soon. 

Memories from Indiana

Well, since I have pictures coming out my ears nowadays, I will leave a little snippet of our trip to Indiana.  Every year, Kristie has a big ‘ol Halloween party at the farm.  It involves things like BBQ, hayrides, pumpkin carving, and playtime.  It’s kind of been like the unofficial time that the Kirby family goes to visit Indiana.  We made it this year and it was beautiful.  Indiana has some awesome trees and fall colors!  Tvedt entered the pumpkin carving contest for Gage and Zane.  The one he carved for Gage won best overall and the one he carved for Zane won funniest but I’m sure the votes were influenced at all…  ; )  Now, my other bro in law is trying to get me to run a half marathon-who does he think I am?  I should have never shown up and allowed him to notice how ummm, let’s just say extra curvy I am.  I think he is just trying to get me motivated to start something.  But truth be told, the running may keep me sane this winter!  I may consider it…  For now, I am embracing the curves and possible extra warmth?  : )

Missing home

I’m not one to admire the beauty of the cactus but I’m just sayin’…  I don’t see these on a regular (like I’m going to ignore you ‘cause I see you every day) basis any longer.  There are many things (not including people in this list because that is a given) I miss about AZ and I would love to talk about some of them!  : )

1. In-N-Out Burger.  Need I say more about this?

2. while we are talking about food…. Chik-Fil-A (the only fast food chain that resembles something close to chicken)

3. flip flops year round

4. swimming pools everywhere and admission for $0.75 or less (or free)

5. walking to neighbors (or just the idea that it was possible)

6. keeping all my shoes in my very own closet instead of in the garage due to mud and rain

7. knowing that 99% of the time, the sun comes through the window in the morning

8. a light over the entry way

9. a third FULL bathroom

10. a third car garage

11. housecleaners

12. my studio

13. shopping close by

14. fall break and spring break

15. all the cabinets and cupboards in the office

That’s a pretty good list on the fly.  We are really acclimating to WA and I really do like it here.  I often remind myself that this is home when I am ooohing and ahhhhing over the beauty.  We are blessed to call this home!  I do see the sun just not as often and I can wear flip flops but my toes freeze.  Instead, I am buying all sorts of socks and shoes-its weird!  4 months have flown by and we are looking forward to finding out what the winter weather is all about.  We will have to check out different vacation spots around here.  We are used to taking a 5-6 hour drive over to CA or a 2 hour drive up to the mountains.  We have discovered and learned but there is so much more…

Motherhood failure (again)

This is all I have from Halloween (and the costume party at Zoe’s school).  Whoops…  This is Woody and his great friend Mario.ad

Motherhood failure

That book… that body book…  it’s not going so well.  There have been tears shed.  What am I doing wrong?  I thought the book reading together was the best bet to get straight answers instead of me trying to come up with my own but here is how it went tonight… (Zoe, should I put some bonus money in your account to cover the cost of therapy for the damage I have done?)  BTW, this is sorta detailed about the female anatomy and menstrual cycle-consider yourself warned.

When you start your period..                              When will I start?

It says sometime between 9-15 years old                     It will start when I am 9

How do you know?                                         I just know that I will be 9 because I am in charge of my body… my body is not in charge of me.

Oh, interesting.                                     What are these (pointing to the cartoonish pictures of pads and tampons)?

Those are pads and tampons.  Let’s read about them… (proceed to read the book describing what you do with each)

                                                                         So, if I start at school, I won’t tell anyone.

Well, Zoe, if you are prepared then that will probably work.  If you are unprepared then you may need help from the nurse and she can call me.  That is why we are learning these things so you know what to expect and when to expect them.  You can talk to me anytime about the questions you have and the changes your body will be making.

                                                                      But what if the nurse doesn’t know about periods.

All the women at your school know about periods                                      Even my teacher?

yep, your teacher knows.                                                                        I don’t want to use tampons.  I only want to use pads.

That is fine, pads work great.                                                               (tears start to flow) I don’t want to wear tampons

That is fine, you don’t have to.        (sobbing) I don’t ever want to wear tampons and I want to quit swimming lessons after I start my period

ummm, sweet darling of mine, you are going to be just fine.  You have time to think about this-do not fret right now.

(sobbing louder) I don’t want to go to school tomorrow, Mom, I want you to stay right here with me

What are you afraid of?                                                    I am afraid of tampons.  I don’t want to use those things

Oh my…  please don’t worry.  You need to stop crying.  What questions do you have?  Why are you so scared?

(sobbing progressed to hiding under the covers, fluids dripping from her nose and the word tampon along with other sounds mumbled out of her mouth several times)

ZANE WALKS IN THE ROOM even though I had put him to bed about 45 minutes prior

                                                                                     Zane asks What is the matter with Zoe?

I think she is feeling afraid (then in a quick effort to correct what I was saying so he didn’t add to the nightly excuse if “I’m scared,” I wanted to clarify that she was scared of some things we were talking about) of ummm some girls stuff

                                                                                   Like what do you mean?

Oh, we have just been reading about girls’ bodies and she doesn’t want her body to grow up

                                                                                 (giving me the strangest look) like she doesn’t want to get bigger

We are talking about the changes that her body will go through and some of it is making her a little nervous (then starting to think to myself, should I just add Zane to the conversations and get a two-for-one here., a check mark on the “Talk to your kids about their bodies” to do list?  Then I just blurted out…. “Zane we are talking about periods.  She doesn’t want to have anything to do with a tampon.”

Then silence

Not from the sobbing one, just from Zane who had no idea what to say next.

= motherhood failure

an hour went by, I had come downstairs trying to get stuff done and I still heard some tears and sniffles.  Can I have a do-over… please?

Halloween at the Farm

In October we went to Indiana to visit Kristie.  I have so many pictures to sort through BUT I did put all the ones at the Halloween party together for a fun slideshow. 

Lost and found

So, I tend to take lots of pictures and then let them sit.  It is a challenge to stay on top of all the pictures!  Anyhow, these are from the weekend that our “visitors” were here for Zoe’s baptism.  We had a tight agenda…  to Snoqualmie Falls, Issaquah Hatchery, Volunteer Park, The conservatory, The Observatory, the Asian Art Museum, The Museum of History and Industry, Zane’s preschool open house, Theos Chocolate Tour, Ballard Locks, Pike’s Market for salmon throwing (and buying), Museum of Flight, Geocaching, playing with squirrels, making Zoe’s spider for school (thanks dad),  walks through Marymoor park….  phew.  I think I got it all? So, you can imagine the plethora of pictures!  It was wonderful and fun, we loved having them here and discovered more of Seattle!

Mother of the year

I have always loved this term since my friend Jill introduced it to me.  It is much funnier when she talks about it but it was appropriate for my thoughts about this day.  Zane often sleeps late, Zoe is long gone to school by the time he gets out of bed.  We cuddle up for a little while before he is ready to approach breakfast.  I always ask, “What do you want for breakfast?”  His usual reply is, “Oatmeal,” or sometimes, “A waffle with nothing but syrup.”  But recently, he started asking for macaroni and cheese.  The first few times, I declined- I mean how could I really feed him mac n cheese for BREAKFAST?  Then, I stopped and thought about it…  just because I would not eat mac n cheese for breakfast doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be delicious to him.  I would love for him to someday say, “I would love some fresh fruit, some scrambled eggs, and some whole wheat toast, mom.”  But, I’m not sure I will see that day before he turns 20.  ; (  I will never give up hope and I will continue to offer him smoothies and alternate ideas outside of mac n cheese but he is so easily pleased with his cheesy noodle dish for breakfast.  Call me Mother of the Year!  Nothing like feeding my child a healthy meal to kick start his day!