See Jane Read

I'm not a fan of a lot of things that happen in early childhood. Colic? You can keep it. Potty training? A necessary evil. Tantrums? Don't even get me started.

But I am a huge fan of that day when we first start getting those signs of readiness from our kids that tell us it's time to pull out the Dick and Jane.

Some parents use fancy methods that involve spending money and changing batteries, but in our house we are Dick and Jane purists. There's a reason it's been around for generations.

The first month isn't fun. I won't lie. That's why Chris and I trade off every other night. (Yay for me having the best husband in the world!) This is no one man job. There's a lot of "I cant" and "That isn't even a word!". But then the magic starts to happen. They slowly begin to be pulled in by the story. They laugh at the pictures. They start to become confident in themselves. That's how it was with Emily and that's how it was with Jane. 

Tonight Jane finished the Dick and Jane treasury. I was sad and a bit misty eyed that I will never pull it off the shelf again. Because I love the magic that happens when a kid learns to read. 

We will continue to read with Jane. We will listen to her struggle through Danny the Dinosaur and Frog & Toad. Then she will move on to the (somewhat inane) stories of Magic Treehouse. But our Dick and Jane days are done. Someday our kids will be parents and we will try to pass the treasury onto them. They will roll their eyes and tell us we are out of touch with kids and learning styles. That doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned Dick and Jane is inextricably intertwined with the magic of my babies learning to love reading.

Interview with a Vampire (and a Scottish Princeess)

We're all in candy detox right now so the memories of Halloween don't seem so golden yet, but I'll share them while they're fresh anyway.

This year we skipped the fancy internet patterns and the dremmel. Emily drew a face on her pumpkin, which was carved by a semi-responsible adult and Jane gave some general marching orders to daddy, who made her wishes into pumpkin reality.

(Emily's is on the left, Jane's on the right)

Someday, when Emily's a mom, she will appreciate the all the school holiday parties we attended. I look forward to the day when I can just send her to school with some juice boxes and tell her to have a fun time. Of course, this will mean that I'm no longer cool, but I will do my best to accept the downgrade gracefully.

Here she is, as Mavis the Vampire at her school party:

Just a few hours later, it was time to go trick or treating with Jane, who made an adorable Merida.

Grandma and Grandpa rolled into town just before the festivities began and came to wish the kids a happy Halloween.

And then we were off.

It was exceptionally windy this year so that red wig didn't last long. Jane lasted longer than the wig, toughing it out for about two hours and Emily lasted about two and a half before she fell and skinned her knee. They both outlasted me. I came home to switch with Chris halfway through, in accordance with our traditional Halloween agreement. 

The kids were rewarded with plenty of loot:

A couple days later we discovered how much joy $20 could buy in the Halloween clearance aisle. The answer is a lot of joy. The dress up box o'erfloweth. 

And now... less than two months left of the kids watching the Nightmare before Christmas. Because it's both a Halloween and a Christmas movie. Thanks, Tim Burton, you weirdo freak.

Hey! You! Back to Work!

In case you have been under a rock for the last few weeks (in which case the free world envies you), the government opened up yesterday. And with the government opening, Chris went back to work. While he won't get back pay (since he isn't a federal employee), he had enough vacation leave to get him through, for which we are grateful. 

While I don't like to talk about politics, I think the behavior in Congress this month has been disgraceful on both sides of the aisle... not to mention the behavior of the man who is supposed to be the leader of the free world. And I also believe that the ends do not justify the means, especially when the ends turn out to be nonexistent. 

That having been said, the shutdown wasn't all bad. During his furlough, Chris was able to spend more time with the kids. I think he and the kids will always look back on this time as well spent time together. He did a great job keeping them busy and happy. His most recent search in our Google history is "hairstyles dads can do". Sorry, Chris, but I think that is really sweet. 

It's also sweet that every day, he and Jane drove across town to spend lunchtime with me. And when I came home, it was always to a clean house and folded laundry. 

So... because I'm such a "cup half full" kind of gal (heavy sarcasm intended here), I will take away from this that sometimes it's nice to have your plate completely cleared of everything that doesn't matter and just be left with the things that really do matter. While the last couple weeks have been full of concern over paychecks, bills and insurance, they have also been full of family time. Chris' furlough was a great opportunity... yet one that I hope never comes around again. 

Children of the Corn

Yesterday we spent they day on a farm. The whole day I was wondering what the "real" farm workers were thinking... that people were willing to spend money to pretend to be them for a day. Nonetheless, we had fun and did very little actual labor.

We started out with a corn maze.

About 10 minutes in, Chris climbed this thing (I think it's called a combine. I've never done actual manual labor so I wouldn't know.) and spotted a way out. That was convenient because small children have very little patience for a lengthy maze experience.

Then we took a hayride during which we were allowed to harvest all the produce we wished as part of the price of admission. 

The harvesting part was a lot of fun.

Unquestionably, the favorite of the day was the pumpkins. We harvested 11 smallish pumpkins and 3 of the miniature variety. 

As we harvested, it slowly dawned on me that someone was going to have to do something with all this produce when we got home. 

I spent the evening cooking with my faithful sous chef Chris. In our near future are some stuffed acorn squash and enough chicken pot pies to last the winter. 

 Oh... and just so you know, sweet corn isn't all that sweet in October. But who would deny the kids the delights of sprinting through a corn field, searching for an ear that hadn't seen frost?

In other news, the furlough continues. We are becoming increasingly frustrated and a little nervous. Chris wasn't able to take his sick leave, as he had originally been told and the vacation stores are running pretty lean. He has enough hours to keep our insurance this month, though. Next month is still in question. I find it ironic that this fight started over insurance and yet many workers are losing their insurance as a result of the fight itself. Still, Congress won't be rushed. Why would they? They are getting paid.

We are trying to keep our spirits up and stay hopeful and really, yesterday was wonderful. It served a dual purpose: It took our mind off our troubles and, as a bonus, it prepared the kids for the life of manual labor they will be consigned to after Congress brings our country back to its primitive state.

Snow Off

 We had our first snowfall this past weekend. It wasn't anything epic, but it was enough to have a bit of a snowball fight with Daddy. Because Daddy's fun like that. Mommy, on the other hand is not a huge fan of being pummeled with frozen water when it's already cold and windy outside. If that makes me not fun, then so be it. I will always be the one who bakes cookies and knows where the band-aids are. That's enough to get a mention in the valedictory speech.

It always sucks when it snows when the leaves are still green. Instead of a cascade of multicolored leaves, we just get shriveled up, faded leaves that are eventually blown off the tree sometime around Thanksgiving by one of our signature 50 mph breezes. I'm not a fan of winter.

Chris also got furloughed on Friday. While he won't be eligible for back pay, he is allowed to take his annual leave so he still gets a paycheck. Right now, we are hoping it will only last a couple days, but we will be just fine as long as it doesn't last longer than a few weeks. And even then, I guess we will still be fine. I mean, we have our health... and a good portion of our looks...

In the meantime, Chris gets to spend some extra time with the kids, which will give him plenty of time to learn all the latest fart jokes. His friends will be thrilled.

A Close Second

Today was the first day of second grade for Emily.

We're finally at the point where nobody cries on the first day of school. Well, until junior high at least. Then the tears will flow once more. 

But for now, she's got awhile left in the shelter of Elementary school.

So attentive looking. I hope that lasted all day. 

Jane's got one more year. And we're glad for that because she decided she couldn't bend her knees today after scraping them up yesterday. I can only imagine what a treat it would have been to drop her off at Kindergarten.

After school Emily "made" cookies. 

And then passed out from exhaustion before they were cool enough to eat. 

Yay for back to school! Yay for regular schedules! Yay for great teachers and a year packed with learning!

It's the End of the Summer as We Know it

It's been a crazy couple of weeks around here. That will happen when you try to fit a zillion things into the last weeks of summer.

The first things we had to fit in were the annual hand foot and mouth disease ritual. I find this odd since most (but not all) kids only get this once and most kids don't get it over the age of 5. Nonetheless, both kids had it last year and both kids got it this year.

Jane's hand foot and mouth disease coincided with Chris' twisted intestine. Here's how it went down: we went to swim lessons one day and everything was fine. I pulled Jane out of the pool at the end and she was suddenly covered with spots. Chris' stomach was hurting during swim lessons so he went to the doctor afterwards and was later admitted to the hospital for two days. Chris' tummy eventually untwisted and Jane's spots went away. We went to work for most of one day only to have Emily come down with a fever for about two hours that day. She never had any more symptoms, but she got a freebie sick day out of the deal.

Luckily, Chris was able to get better in time for his birthday. His appetite had returned so he needed some birthday cinnamon rolls:

And cake:

                                     

This is why Chris runs. Don't let him tell you otherwise. 

We got him a bike so we can finally go on bike rides as a family (or at least that's how it works in my head. Reality may turn out slightly differently)

I proudly put it together all by myself. When Chris took it into the bicycle shop to have the brakes and gears adjusted, the guy at the shop very politely let him know he'd throw in a handlebar adjustment while he was at it. It turns out I'm not great at putting together bikes.

The next day was Jane's annual checkup at the Children's hospital. We always try to have a little fun while we're in Denver for her appointments and this time we took it up a notch and had a lot of fun. We visited the zoo, where my children were unable to walk in the heat.

We were able to see almost every animal including this super adorable snow leopard baby that is probably already big enough to kill me. 

Jane sought relief from the heat at the bottom of a yard o'Icee. 

The next day we went to Elitch Gardens, where it was even hotter than it had been the day before. Emily was thrilled. She loves rides of every sort. Jane was consistently reluctant to enjoy and frequently angry. 

Probably due in no small part to the heat, which we tried to alleviate by going on this ride.
       

Which worked out well until the end when there is a shameless display of gratuitous soaking in the form of what feels like a fire hose. 

While it may have saved us from heatstroke, it resulted in a very soggy day.

During which we rode on a lot of rides that were uncomfortably small for the adult types.

And a few very tame ones. 

All the while, Emily, who boasts 48'' of height now, was chomping at the bit to go on rides like this:

Which Jane was prohibited from due to her height and immaturity. Probably for the best.

Now we are all exhausted both in a physical sense and a work-leave sense. Needless to say, we are sticking around for awhile which, at this point, is just fine by me.

Coming attraction: First Day of School.