Emma Mouse (or Leila Gets Hoppy)

Here's Emma dressed up as a mouse for her Destination Imagination performance on Saturday.

For the past few months, Emma-- along with a group of first and second-graders from her school-- has met weekly to plan and practice a skit for the DI competition. The competition was held this Saturday in Chippewa Falls, and included kids from around the state.

The skit itself was less than five minutes long, but a big ordeal for Emma. She was the narrator and (she confided to me) had one of the starring roles. Despite a few pre-performance jitters, the group took the stage in front of a roomful of competitors, judges, and parents... including Jon, who was able to make it home for the weekend to see Emma shine in her big moment.

And they did well. I don't know whether the judges actually pick a "winner", but if they do that part was down-played. All the kids were given blue ribbons after their performances, and there were lots of happy faces and a general feeling of accomplishment.

Jon should be home most weekends, now. We thought he was going to have to work this weekend, but things are winding down and they're ahead of schedule.

So we started raking flower beds this weekend. It was fun to scratch away piles of oak leaves and assorted garden debris and find green shoots poking up out of the earth. The strawberry plants are coming back to life along the front of our house and tulip stems are unfolding from the row of bulbs in the backyard. The robins are out and there are buds on the trees. The lawn is tinged with green.

It's muddy but getting drier. We were able to walk and 3-wheel on our trails this weekend.

Leila's first birthday is approaching fast. She'll be one on Saturday, and has already begun morphing into a very busy toddler. She does something new and precious almost daily.

A few days ago, while changing her, I heard her SING. Now, I've suspected that she was singing before, but this time was significant in that I recognized the word "happy" (or as she says it, "hoppy") and could identify the song. She was repeating a word from You Are My Sunshine (a song Emma sings quite frequently). The complete words, of course, are "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray". Now, I'm not claiming that Leila sang all that... all she was saying was "hoppy, hoppy". But I knew what she meant! And when I sang the full song to her, her face lit up as if to say "You understand me, Mom!"

She also gives hugs. But you have to work at it and she has to be in the mood. So far I'm the only one who's been on the receiving end of a Leila Hug (for some reason, she seems partial to me :).

Other accomplishments? Well, she pulls herself up to standing and will hover on two legs, unsupported, for a few happy seconds before sinking back down onto her bottom.

I've done a bit more baby-proofing around the house, so electrical cords and outlets are no longer the problem-- but her naughty focus has shifted to seeking out pet food and other "ackies"... like the little white caps on the bottom of the toilet. Apparently these things look delicious to her. Other "yummy" treats include tufts of cat fur, loose strings, and unpopped popcorn kernels.

I've taken to vacuuming daily.

Today (Monday), after the kids went to school, I got a phonecall from Mom wondering if her and Dad could come over for a visit. Leila and I were happy to have the company, so welcomed them here about lunch time. We had a nice visit and Mom and I (along with Leila) managed to sneak away into town while Dad napped-- for a little shopping. Mom forgot her purse so was forced to allow me to buy some little knick-knacks for her (an early Mother's Day gift). She was reluctant to let me spend any money, but SOMEBODY had to buy the teapot and the porcelain spoons. I mean, people NEED teapots and porcelain spoons, right??

Hee hee.

Anyway, happy spring!!

Trip to Minnesota

The kids and I are back from a weekend-long trip to Virginia, Minnesota. We visited Jon, who has been working seven days a week while his crew finishes a nearby power line. He hasn't been able to come home for a few weeks, and is still at least two more weeks away from time off, so we thought we'd pay him a visit.

At left: even the motel's highchair had a rustic look!

I picked the kids up from school on Friday, and we had good weather until we got as far as Rice Lake. Then we ran into snow and increasingly sloppy roads. It was slow-going, but we made it to our motel safely-- at about 8:00 that night. Jon met us in the parking lot, and we checked into our room together.

At right: Emma in front of the stone fireplace in the lobby. Notice the interesting drift wood clock and rustic coffee table.

The motel we stayed at was nice-- we wanted it to feel somewhat like a vacation for the kids. The lobby had a lodge ambience, with tall ceilings and exposed rafters draped with an interesting variety of large stuffed teddy bears. There were quilts hung on the second story walls. We thought the kids' two Grandmas would have appreciated these aspects of the decor.

We splurged and got a corner suite, just above the swimming pool. There was a sleeping area and then an adjacent sitting room, separated by French doors (this worked out well for giving Leila a quiet nap area while the older kids did their thing in the next room).

Jon enjoyed seeing Leila crawl on the floor-- she had just started crawling last time he was home, but only just... and she's quite a bit faster and way better at it now.

He had to leave for work early Saturday morning, so the kids and I entertained ourselves at the motel as best we could. We swam in the pool (I bought Leila swim diapers and her first suit), ate at a couple of local restaurants, and toured a nearby museum. Jon had thought maybe he'd be done with work in time to eat supper with us that night, but it didn't work out that way... he got back to the motel after dark and was up with us maybe an hour before exhaustion kicked in. We all went to bed.

We said our goodbyes to him early Sunday morning; he left at about 5:30 am.

It was kind of disappointing that we didn't get to see more of him on the trip. I had hoped to see his work area and maybe see the place where he's been staying, but there just wasn't time for any of that.

I do have a few pictures to post of the kind of work his crew does. These are pictures that came to us just this weekend. They were taken by the wife of the guy Jon used to work for. I wrote about Wade last year-- he was the young foreman who died suddenly in a car accident.

When you see the pictures you can understand why this type of work pays better than many other types of work. It takes physical fitness and is not without risk. Jon is relatively safe in that he generally operates heavy equipment, like this crane. But that's a big responsibility, too-- imagine operating a crane that carries people in a small bucket, while they work at tree-top level.

After spending the weekend in a motel, the kids and I were glad to get home to our familiar beds and all the little projects we busy ourselves with around here.

Time for a heroic-looking picture of Jon (prepare for sentiment):

I definitely have a renewed appreciation for the sacrifices Jon is making right now. It can't be easy for him to live out of a duffel bag and eat sandwiches everyday. It must drive him nuts to spend the end of his day in a little rented room when he has a house and family a few hundred miles away.

He has a garage full of tools and a Bobcat parked in the driveway. He would love to chop wood or even just rake out the flower beds, now that the snow's melting.

He would love to tuck his children into bed every night. But instead I hold the phone up to Leila's little face while he talks (then pull the phone away quickly, before she gnaws and slobbers all over it).

We love and miss him. But he thinks these extreme hours will be over soon. They should be done with their current job in two week's time. The next job will also be in Minnesota, but about an hour closer to Eau Claire. Also, it should only be a five day a week job, so he expects to have lots of weekends off this summer.

Fresh and Pretty

This posting will be short... not a lot happened here during the past week. But there are a couple nice pictures to share.

Leila has recovered from her cold (or flu... whatever it was!). She started crawling last weekend, and has been working at her new means of locomotion all week. She's picking up speed (and looking for mischief). Kitty has to sleep with one eye open, now.

Apparently, during the previous months when Leila was stuck sitting on a blanket in the middle of the floor, she spent a lot of time fantasizing about table lamps and electrical outlets. Now that she can maneuver to them, she crawls right over the top of her (now boring) toys to the lamp cords.

Our living room doesn't have a big, central ceiling light, so we rely on a series of small table lamps scattered about the room. I'm going to have to put some thought into how best to baby proof the house for this stage of her development (while still having light for the house!).

Jon worked this weekend. We plan to visit him next weekend, but this weekend we just stayed home.

To break up the monotony a little, I let the older kids have playdates on Saturday. Emma went over to our neighbor girl Cienna's house-- Cienna's family are the ones who hosted the neighborhood sledding parties this winter. They live on a hill without many trees, so most of their snow has melted away (we still have quite a bit around our house, probably due to shade).

But they do have puddles! Emma was hoping they did, and brought along her yellow rubber boots. She was able to make good use of them this weekend... it was warm, melting, and muddy outside.

While Emma splashed and giggled, Michael had his friend Rowdy over. They played board games mostly, but also went outside for awhile. Leila and I went for a nice stroller walk.

On Sunday we went to Cornell. We dropped off Girl Scout cookies to relatives who'd ordered them, and had a nice lunch with Bud and Jane.

We tried on the little white dress and hand-knitted sweater that Jane made for Leila's baptism. Jane gave Emma a pretty yellow dress that we think would be nice for Easter (and Leila's baptism).

Jane has a couple of new hats in the works for Leila and Emma. They were able to try them on (see the photo at left). What do you think?

A Scrabble Game Gone Awry

Well, we made it to March and Daylight Savings Time! Spring is right around the corner now...

(I'm going to keep on saying that 'til it's TRUE).

This weekend was actually rather fun and relaxing. To begin, Jon surprised us by coming home earlier than usual on Friday night. Most weekends, when he's able to come home, he arrives about 9 pm, but this time he pulled into our driveway around 6 pm. So we were able to hang out and have some "bonus" family time.

Saturday was Susan's 21st birthday. We didn't see her, of course, as she lives in West Virginia, but we talked to her on the phone a couple different times. We sang Happy Birthday to her (Emma added "cha cha cha" in all the right places).

She had plans to go out with friends later that evening, but also said her mom was making ham dinner for the family, and Susan's boyfriend (Jay) was invited.

Originally we had planned to go to Eric's 50th birthday party in Arnold, but didn't make it over because Leila still had her cold and we had a somewhat impromptu visit from Laurie and Mark on Saturday.

We had invited Laurie and Mark over earlier in the week, but they weren't sure if they could make it. We didn't find out for sure that they were coming until Friday night.

Their ability to come see us (or not) depended on the quality of the loaner car they received. Laurie's vehicle was banged up pretty badly last weekend, when a customer's trailer came off its hitch in their restaurant parking lot.

Leila's lingering "cold" may have something to do with teething. After 10+ months of no teeth, she now has five tiny little teeth poking their way through her gums.

Laurie and Mark arrived mid-afternoon Saturday. They brought with them some excellent steak from the restaurant's "vault", which Jon and Mark seared to perfection on our outdoor grill. We added bread and salad and baked potatoes to the mix, and had a simple but memorable meal.

We sat around and visited for awhile, but went to bed pretty early. The next morning we had a big breakfast and played board games.

The last game of Scrabble with Laurie was interesting. It began very earnestly and precisely, with a dictionary and the game rules close at hand; Laurie carefully recorded each player's score on a sheet of a paper and offered Michael and Emma mature lessons on thinking up their own words, positive game attitude, etc.

I joined the game late. Laurie was of the opinion that each player should come up with their own original words, but I subversively gave Emma a little bit of help every now and then.

Word by word the game progressed. It didn't take long for me to tie Laurie's score (not that score matters, of course-- just trying to record the facts, here) and Michael and Emma followed us closely. It was anybody's game...

At some point I accidentally bumped the game board. Yes, Don... it WAS an accident. Some of the pieces at the bottom of the board got jumbled up and slid out of place. At first we tried to recreate the lay-out of the words, but some tiles were simply too messed up to fix. We couldn't remember how they went.

So I came up with what I thought was a reasonable suggestion: put the tiles in question back into the bag and play from there. Of course, that would have added maybe ten more minutes onto our game, and Laurie and Mark were thinking about going...

So what does Aunt Laurie do? A classic Bragg kid-style "tilting of the board", in one naughty movement sweeping all the pieces off till the board was empty, then doing a defiant little Dance of Anarchy atop the empty game board while Mikey and Emma looked on in disbelief and amazement.

Hmmph.

Actually, I loved it. How quickly Laurie's school marm facade disappears under the competition and adversity of a Scrabble game with her sister. Hee hee.

Laurie and Mark left a little earlier than they might have otherwise because of snow and road conditions in their part of the state. They did make it home safely, but only after a long and treacherous ride. They passed about seventeen accidents along the way, including semi trailers that had jack-knifed.

So it's probably just as well that Laurie didn't let that Scrabble game drag on forever (but STILL-! Geez-! ).

Other big news this weekend: Leila is crawling! She's been getting up into the crawling position for awhile now, but this is the first time she's made several consecutive movements of crawling motion together. It was pretty cool that Jon was home to see that.

Well, Mom and Dad will probably read this posting in Arksansas. They left with Bill early Saturday morning, heading south to visit my brother Don and his family. They'll be there a week before heading back to Wisconsin. Safe travels (and have fun!), Mom and Dad!

Two Sniffling Sweet Peas

This posting will be short and sweet! I have two sick little girls home with me today. Here's a picture of them earlier this morning, taking it easy on the downstairs couch.

Jon worked this weekend, so once again the kids and I were on our own. Saturday Michael and Emma went to another sledding party at the neighbor's house. Leila and I didn't go this time, because she was already pretty sniffling and miserable on Saturday.

Here's a picture of her before she started feeling poorly, taken last week. I couldn't resist getting her this little "car" that also converts into a walker. She sits on it real nice and has fun shifting the "gear" and tweaking all its other little gizmos and doo-dads.

She's not quite ready for the "walker" feature yet. When it's converted she's supposed to be able to stand behind it and push it by the handle, but she pushes it ahead and doesn't bother moving her feet-- so would fall flat on her chin if I wasn't there to help.

Too early for walking, I guess.

There hasn't been any true crawling yet, either, but she's pretty mobile and getting closer. She gets in the crawling position and kind of pushes and stretches backward, like an inchworm. She backs herself into some crazy corners; I really have to keep an eye on her, at this stage!

I took this last one because of her static electricity hair. Shocking-!

We had quite the snowstorm Friday. We were hit with about eight inches of wet, heavy snow that fell during near white-out conditions. I was dreading the snow removal (no Jon this weekend!) but it wasn't as bad as I feared. One of our neighbors (Makayla and Janetta's father) came by on his 4-wheeler Friday night and plowed our driveway when the snowfall was about half-way done. Then another neighbor, Brian (a retired professor who's the "boyfriend" of our farming neighbor, Johnne) plowed our driveway with his tractor on Saturday morning. So all I had to do was shovel the sidewalk. Not bad!

I'll close with a picture of Emma holding a giant icicle. Have a great week!