Ha, ha

This morning I was reading the paper and Meredith came to look over my shoulder. Here is a picture of the front page of the paper I was holding:

Then Meredith said, “Mom, I know what that man is saying.”

“What is that man saying, Meredith?”

“He’s saying, ‘Nooooo, I don’t want to wear THAT shoe!!!’”

The very next moment, the orange juice I was drinking was in my lap, I was laughing so hard.

Flamingos Don't Fly

Meredith has an illustrated book of Robert Louis Stevenson poems. This morning she brought it to me and asked me to read it. I started reading her Travel.

TRAVEL

I should like to rise and go

Where the golden apples grow—

Where below another sky

Parrot islands anchored lie,

And, watched by cockatoos and goats,

Lonely Crusoes building boats—

Where in sunshine reaching out

Eastern cities, miles about,

Are with mosque and minaret

Among sandy gardens set,

And the rich goods from near and far

Hang for sale in the bazaar—

Where the Great Wall round China goes,

And on one side the desert blows,

And with bell and voice and drum,

Cities on the other hum—

Where are forests, hot as fire,

Wide as England, tall as a spire,

Full of apes and coconuts

And the negro hunters’ huts—

Where the knotty crocodile

Lies and blinks in the Nile,

And the red flamingo flies

Hunting fish before his eyes—

[Meredith: “Flamingos DON’T fly!”]

Where in jungles, near and far,

Man-devouring tigers are,

[Meredith, very bothered: “Flamingos DON’T fly! They walk.”]

Lying close and giving ear

[Meredith continues: “I saw it at the zoo! They stand on one leg and then they walk like this (she demonstrates).”]

Lest the hunt be drawing near

[Meredith: “Flamingos DON’T fly, mom!”]

At this point, I gave up reading the rest of the poem.

Robert Louis Stevenson was a great poet but, apparently my three-year-old can’t get past certain glaring inaccuracies.

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Today is our church pic-nic! Kevin and I are sort of “in charge.” Last night I pounded countless chicken breasts to marinate for the grill. (How much meat does our church body eat? Hopefully I got enough!) Now I need to go and fill 250 water balloons!! Should be fun! Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day …

Still More Fair

Meredith loved the salsa dancing so much she decided to join the professionals on the stage. Kevin and I both agreed it was our favorite thing all night--watching her dance her heart out.

The girls both loved feeding the goats.

What a fun day!

More Fair

One of my favorite exhibits is the art gallery.

We've found our favorite Elephant Ear stand!!

Meredith wanted to stay forever and pet this baby pig.

Fun Fair Day

Although we probably had the best time ever at the Indiana State Fair last night, it didn't really feel like a full fair experience because the weather was dry and cool. It really does need to be sticky and hot to be the Indiana State Fair, you know.

We had dinner at the Dairy Bar. May I just say that I could eat the Dairy Bar's chocolate milk shakes until I'm sick. They are the most amazing invention ever known to man kind. And that is saying a lot coming from me, the Food Queen.

The Parade featured lots of old guys on tractors, of course.

We were surprised that Meredith was afraid of the cows, unlike last year. But she did find a baby cow she tried to coax to come to her. She said, "It's okay baby cow. I won't hurt you. Come here, baby cow."

A new splash park ...

This splash park was just built across from the subdivision where our new house is being built. It's the best one we've been to yet! We are so excited to have it so close to where we will live. There are two sections--a natural "creek" part and then a fun spray part.

NICE!!

This is the first time I tried uploading pics to my blog from Picasa. I can't believe how fast it is!! Here are some random pictures from last week.

Zinnias I picked from Kev's parents backyard. It was fun to pick flowers and make the house pretty with various arrangements. I felt so domestic ... and stuff.

The progress on our house. This picture was taken last Saturday. Our basement is now completely poured. Kevin's aunt gave us the idea to stand in the same place each week and take a picture so we can build a slide show. Fun!

I tried making these "Frico Cups" and they turned out great. They are made of parmesan cheese and are crispy. I used a Giada recipe and put a yummy salad inside with citrus vinaigrette. It looks fancy but actually it was very easy. I love making fun family dinners.

And ... here is the cherry pie I mentioned in an earlier post!

Dramatic Rescue

“I'm watching a dramatic rescue,” said Kevin. He had phoned me from his office. Apparently the scaffolding of some window washers across the street from his office collapsed. He could see everything from his window, including the firefighters and the news helicopters.

I remarked that I hope they get some time off work after this traumatic experience. Kevin said, “Yeah, their bosses will tell them, ‘Here sign this waiver and then enjoy some time off.’”

Apparently one guy was hanging onto the collapsing scaffolding, despite his harness. Not that you would sign up for that type of job if you were afraid of heights. But still ... Can you imagine?

Cheery Cherries

Believe it or not, today was the first time I tried my hand at cherry pitting. Being a proper modern woman, of course I checked online to see how it should be done. Apparently there are numerous ways to do it—there’s the old fashioned way using a knife and your fingers, then there’s using a pitting tool, and then there’s the paperclip method. The latter sounded like fun so I tried it. Brilliant!!

1) Get a clean, metal paper clip.
2) Unfold the paper clip so that it looks like an "S."
3) Wash the cherries.
4) Insert the curve of the paper clip through the top of the cherry.
5) Twist or wiggle the paper clip to loosen the pit.
6) Pull the pit out. The stem comes out too.

I’m not really into gadgety things in the kitchen that work for only one use—e.g., a cherry pitting tool—so I truly loved this paperclip trick.

And now seven cups of cherries are ready and waiting to be made into pie!

House-Sitting

We are house-sitting for Kevin’s parents while they are on a two-week vacation. We have joked that, after we are done, it will take two full weeks to move out of their house because, every other day or so when we run home, we come back with a car load of stuff. We have an ongoing list of “essential” things we can’t live without. The last car load was full of things like a slip, Kevin’s lunch box, hair clippers, Thousand Island dressing (for a recipe), and three more dress-up dresses specifically requested by Meredith.

My biggest concern right now is trying to not kill all of Kevin’s mom’s beautiful potted flowers. She has (wait, let me go count them …) 33 pots of flowers of all various sizes and colors!! One of my most favorite places to be is on my in-laws’ deck because their backyard is so beautiful. One of the most beautiful features of their backyard is all the colorful flowers. I realize they are also attached to their flowers. So, it is with great responsibility on my shoulders and a trembling hand that I go water every day. (Well, actually, I probably shouldn’t write this on my blog since it’s public and all, but I forgot two days!!)

While we are here we are also grandma-sitting. Kevin’s grandmother (“granny”) lives in a little apartment attached to the main house.

I was in a major bind last night because I was running about 20-minutes behind in getting dinner on the table. Granny came over early for supper. Usually I bring it to her, but last night I invited her to eat with us. As she hobbled in the room, I put some zucchini on a cutting board and said, “Here, chop this.” Her eyes lit up and she went to work. Pretty soon dinner was on the table—sooner than it would have been otherwise, thanks to granny.

I thanked her for her help but she thanked ME at least five times for letting her help. Granny is someone who has been serving her family all her life and now it is difficult to be forced to slow down. Being able to help last night seemed to give her new vitality.

This little incident gives me more perspective. Some days I think how difficult my current phase of life is because, in taking care of young children all day, I often don’t have any time for myself. There are so many times a week when I pull in to the driveway and dread having to unload everything, including kids, diaper bags, and all the other paraphernalia while, in the meantime, realizing that as soon as I enter the house I will have to immediately meet the kids’ needs FIRST, despite the fact that my contacts are dry (all I want to do is take them out) or I have to go to the bathroom in a major way, etc., etc. etc. I know those things won’t happen for at least 20 minutes.

As difficult as this phase is, I realize that other stages of life have their ups and downs too. I guess the lesson in this is to enjoy today while you have it.

Milestones

The bar exam is over. It was kind of anti-climatic really, because Kevin nearly immediately started working on editing his law review note which is going to be published. But we are so glad that this going-back-to-school chapter is finally done. Almost done, I should say.

Whenever you finish something big like that, it’s always a relief. But there is also a time of readjustment. In the midst of that, it is easy to feel a little bit lost. We have been so focused on reaching a goal. Now it’s over. And we are glad. Now we just need to figure out what is next. Not that we are bored or anything (ha!). But it does feel slightly like we are in limbo.
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Last week we celebrated six years of marriage. For some reason five years did not seem like a long time but six years seems like we are old married people or something. Maybe I am just tired. In fact, I tried to wax eloquent and romantic while writing out Kevin’s anniversary card. But in the end I just kept it simple. (See, I AM an old married woman!) But I do still think he’s perfect and perfect for me—marrying him was the best thing I ever did.

Our Home Site

This is where our new home will be, ready to move into sometime in December. At the edge of the tree line is a community biking/exercise trail. Behind the grouping of three trees on the right-hand side is a medium-sized fish pond. They are going to start digging our basement on July 30. Maybe then it will start to feel more real—like, “Yes, here is the hole in the ground where I will spend future evenings with my family.” Hmmm … we shall see.

Celebrating One Year

Carrying on the Koons family tradition, Clara got to open one present at breakfast time.

“I like it. It has a slimming effect.”

Party food!

Clara liked the CARDS best of all!!

Clara loves babies!

Almond-Scented White Cake with Raspberries.

"I think I'll try a raspberry first."

Yes, cake is good. All one-year-olds agree on this.

She is Three

Meredith loved her Cinderella Cake. And I love the internet—you can find out how to do just about anything, including making a little girl’s dreams come true.

Piñata Time! Notice grandma watching.

Uncle KC goofing off with water balloons. I love this picture! Good times.

Independence Day

Homemade Strawberry Pie:

Our two kiddos—I love Clara’s facial expressions in these. You can really start to see her personality emerging. She’s such a little pistol.

Girl Cousins at Aunt Beth’s annual Pool Party:


Watching fireworks downtown—we drove to the top of Kevin’s parking garage and it was SO fun to see the big fireworks up close and then watch them happen all over the city, some nearby and many far off on the horizon. What a fantastic 4^th of July!

Permission to Be Excited

Kevin finally gave me permission to be excited! (After a series of "Can-I-be-excited-yet?-No-not-yet" conversations.) I’ve been trying to contain it but it’s been spilling out for three weeks.

Approximately three weeks ago I told Kevin that, considering all the home-buying options, I would really like to build a new home in X neighborhood. He told me, “Well, Amy, I think those homes are about Y-amount more money than we should spend.”

The very next day a friend who is building in that neighborhood called and said, “You won’t believe it but the home builder dropped their prices by Y-amount for a weekend sale!”

So, we drove to the sales office and got really excited. Then we went home and crunched some more numbers and realized that our monthly payment would still be too much. It was a total death of a vision. I had to give up all my expectations and it was really hard.

Then, at the very end of the sale weekend we got a call from the home builder, stating that the lot we liked was still available and that they would buy down our interest rates so that our monthly payment would be where we want it. (Can we say that they didn’t meet their quota for the week, or what?)

So, at 10:30 p.m., at the very end of the sale weekend, we signed a contract for sale contingent on us (okay, Kevin) being fully comfortable with the financing.

It took about 12 days of intense negotiation. Kevin wanted the builder to pay for an additional rate-lock and he drew his line in the sand about the exact interest rate he was willing to pay.

Last Thursday the builder officially gave us everything we asked for. And Kevin finally gave me permission to be excited. In other words, I could figure out what color I want the cabinets and where the Christmas tree is going to go.

Not that I hadn’t already ordered 27 kitchen decorating books from the library!

This has been a long, hard journey. But I’m already starting to feel all of that fall away and dramatically fade into the distance.

Girlfriends

Lately I have been feeling grateful regarding life in general. But I’ve been feeling especially grateful for the relationships God has given me. Since moving to Indiana I have made friends with several women who are super nice, transparent, down-to-earth, and fun. One friend in particular has been really good to me. I do not take that for granted.

I am also really grateful for my sisters, Betsy and Christy. In the last two days, I’ve had quality conversations with both of them. I appreciate how, even though they live 2,000 miles away, they make an effort to call me every month or so. And it’s not just the distance that separates us—it’s also a life-stage thing. Even though I’m doing the “mom thing” and they are living crazy fun single lives, they still act like they think I’m cool. I’m sure this is a great charity on their part, in order to make me feel good. But I still really appreciate that.

Here are my sisters, on Christmas morning 2007. I love those girls!

Italian and Terror

You know how some moments you look back and think how magical they were? Well, Saturday night, as I was lying on my back listening to the Indianapolis Symphony, looking up through the trees and watching fireflies sparkle above me, I felt magic in the air.

Kevin and I escaped with some friends from church to go to Symphony on the Prairie. The music was “That’s Amore!”—basically a bunch of eclectic Italian stuff, everything from Opera to Italian-American movie themes. There was this incredible tenor there whose voice and personality were magnetic. At the end of the evening, he sang an encore of O Sole Mio. It was electrifying.

The only thing that would have made the evening more perfect is if I had brought a big plate of spaghetti with a huge meatball on top.

The joy of the evening was contrasted with terror, experienced in the car as we drove to Symphony on the Prairie. As we drove on a curvy road, a motorcyclist going in the opposite direction hit the center divider. We watched, as if in slow motion, as his motorcycle flew into the air and the body of the man riding it spun through the air and landed in front of oncoming traffic. We were the third car back. The car in front slammed on its brakes and stopped within inches of where the motorcyclist’s body lay.

I have never witnessed anything so frightening in all my life. The motorcycle was in pieces and I was sure that the man had been killed on impact. Other drivers got to the scene first. Kevin got out of the car to pick up the motorcycle debris. We waited for paramedics and police and then Kevin filled out an eyewitness report. We cannot even believe that the man riding the motorcycle survived. It was an incredible reminder of the frailty of life. And, some of us might argue, the reason we will never let our husbands get a motorcycle.