Author Archives: Chrissie

Graduation Day

Last night we went to Leina’s little end of the year school party.  It was so sweet.  They all got up on stage and sang their little songs and then received a packet of school work they had made throughout the year.  When Leina started paging through her drawings she started to cry.  She remembered making the snowman and the ghost.  She remembered the Easter egg and the kite.  More than anything, she didn’t want it to end.

Like most kids, Leina fell in love with her first teacher, Ms. Michelle.  I remember way back when I began looking around for a preschool for her.  Everyone pointed me to teacher Michelle.  They all swore she was the sweetest, most loving, most wonderful first teacher ever.  Getting her wasn’t easy – I remember sitting in my car at 5:30am waiting for the doors to open so I could reserve a spot in her class of 10 for Leina.  At the time, I wondered if it was really worth it.  Now, I’m so glad I did.  If Leina could, she would stay in Ms. Michelle’s class forever.  Just the thought of leaving makes her face crumple and the tears start flowing.

Today was the last day for Leina to stand at the door, ready and ancy to hurry up and Go! already.  I’ve tried to entice her with the idea of summer! parks! zoo! but it’s no good.  She just sobs and wails and asks me “why?  why can’t I have teacher Michellle forever?”

So I’m bringing a camera today to take some pictures with her most favorite and best teacher ever.  One year of school down, so many more to go!

Cans

We have a lot of craft supplies in the house. The girls are always cutting, pasteing, gluing, and sticking things together.   All this activity leads to crayons and glue sticks scattered around the house.  Often times, our crafting has to be stopped while we spread out to look for where the scissors were left or locate the missing blue crayon.  I’m a totally organize-a-holic so seeing their art supplies strew about the house gives me major fits.  But throwing things into a big container just meant pawing threw a deep pile of mixed up art suppliesf to find the right crayon or stamp.  There had to be a better way!  I stumbled upon a simple idea using old soup cans.  I added some snazzy fabric from my scrap pile and enlisted Kevin’s woodworking skills and the result is just perfect!  A carrying caddy that separates and organizes all their precious art supplies.

Even better, they can both use it easily at the same time so there’s no fighting.  Every item can be seen and reached without having to paw through a box all jumbled together.

For me, clean up is a snap.  Now when I find a colored pencil or a glue stick I know right where it goes.  Even better, the handy-dandy handle means the girls can lug it all round where ever their whim takes them.

I have another 8 empty cans lying around.  I may just need one of these for my own little craft table!

On the Road to Recovery

Finally!  The girls have turned the corner and are now heading back into normal healthy mode.  Leina kicked this bug quickly but poor little sister had a really rough time.  She lost more and more fluids until she started to fade away.  It was really rather frightening.  She kept falling asleep and couldn’t stay awake.  Her lips started peeling and she couldn’t even hold down water.  I actually ended up taking her in to the doctor who told me Gatorade was my friend.  And oh yes it was!  Once we got her drinking again she was back on her feet and up to her old rascally deeds.  This is one weekend I’m so very glad it behind me.

The only silver lining was a crazy amount of snuggling that went on with baby sister.  All she wanted was to curl up next to you and sleep and sleep and sleep.  I’ll miss the snuggling but I’d rather have my rascal back on her feet!

A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood

Sunshine. Blue sky. Cool breeze. Finally!

Except we are strew about the sofa surrounded by vomit bowls. Yup. The kids picked up something nasty. I don’t know if it was bad food or a virus but they are both sick as dogs. Kulia is running a fever and Leina is covered in some sort of stress rash. This morning Kevin found himself in the horrible position of holding a bowl for one kid and then hearing the other start to retch across the room. I know it’s just a matter of time before my stomach turns but I’m hoping it holds off until the weekend when I have reinforcements.

So for the rest of Portland, I hope you all get out and enjoy this beautiful day for us!

Lazy Reader

Ah, I love books.  Books, books, wonderful books!  You can never run out of them.  Every person has a recommendation for an old classic or a new author.  You can read them all at once or bit by bit. They can be tucked into a purse or stacked beside your bed.  They never spoil or expire.  They can be read over and over and over without harm.  Can there be anything more wonderful?

(OK, is it totally obvious I’m a librarian’s daughter?)

When it comes to reading, I have two very strange traits that coalesce.  First, I’m a fast reader.  Second, I’m extremely lazy.  What does this mean?  Simple.  My house is strewn with half read books.  Right now I have, with out any exaggeration, five books I am currently reading.  Crazy?  No.  Just lazy.  You see, it starts out simple enough.   I check out a stack of books from the library and bring them home.  Usually, I take one upstairs to read before bedtime.  Totally normal, right?  But here’s what happens.  The next day, I find myself with some time after breakfast.  I’m downstairs.  My book, upstairs.  To get it would mean walking all the way up to my room, passing my happily self-entertaining children and reminding them of my existence.  I’m well aware of the fact that when they spied me, they would begin to demand food or snacks or a diaper change.  This is unacceptable.  The much simpler (and lazier) approach is to pick up another book from my to-be-read shelf and start it downstairs.   And so book #2 begins.  Repeat this in different rooms of the house and before you know it, every room has a started booked tucked away somewhere.  Thankfully I’m a very fast reader so even though I may be reading several books at once, I can usually get them done and back to the library without incurring too many late fees.

And while I’m a very speedy reader, I sometime think I’m not quite fast enough.  I keep discovering new books!  Drat this Internet.  There are so many great blogs and lists and catalogues a girl can get positively lost.  I have anywhere from 10 to 20 books waiting for me each week from the library.  20 books!  And they are all so good and different and interesting!  It’s really rather decadent.  Being smothered in books.  I just finished adding another glut of fresh requests to my library list.  Ah, I can hear them rustling their pages at me now.  Hmmmm, I have another 15 minutes before the kids’ tv show ends.  I’m sure I have a book tucked away somewhere in this room just waiting for me to flip through it’s pages.   If not, there’s a stack of untapped stories waiting for me downstairs.  Yum.

My Day

Happy Mother’s Day!  As I write this, Kevin is curled up in bed with the girls watching TV.  Today, I’m off duty.  No kitchen cleaning, no kid watching, no diaper changing, no meal making.  Just a day to wander about and breath deep.  Ah Mother’s Day, how I love you!

So, you’re wondering about the loot, right?  Well, for starters, Kevin’s trip to Japan got postponed to Monday.  That was a big gift.  It may get pushed back even farther if things don’t untangle at work.   Last weekend, he took the girls to a ceramics place and had them paint me some hideous adorable plates that will clutter up my house for years to come.  He presented them to me cackling with glee.  At school, Leina made the adorable bee and flower craft.  I only managed to snap a few pictures before the kids devoured it.

It’s the most ingenious thing.  Just cookies with a hibachi stick through them and topped with a gum drop.  So totally doable and adorable.  Her teacher is simply amazing.

Kulia didn’t get to make a gift for me so she just gave me extra snuggles which, really, is all a mother ever wants.  Just look at these soft chubba cheeks.  Couldn’t you just nibble them?

And what, you ask, am I going to be doing today on my big free day?  Well, wandering spritely around the house gets old after a while.  So, I ran down to Sears yesterday and picked a little something up for myself.  It’s my sister’s fault really.  She recently got a new one and taunted me mercilessly about how cool it was and how I needed one too.  Drat you Suzy.  (And thank you too!)