Word Picture

You think that after not blogging in almost a month I'd have lots of stuff to write about(which I do), but first the important stuff!

Have you heard of Wordle yet? Just paste in a blog address or something you've written, and look what appears:



How amazing is that! You can choose your fonts and colors, and can print it out when you're done. Cool!

Flickr Summer Fav's

1. Red White & Blue, 2. Red, White, Blue, 3. Red, white and blue, 4. Red White Blue..., 5. Red. White. Blue. Yellow., 6. Quilt - work in progress, 7. the long road, 8. .spurin it., 9. parasol, 10. the sun will come out tomorrow, 11. Untitled, 12. She may be little but she makes a big impact on many peoples lives, 13. wheat field, 14. .just us., 15. Fairings, 16. Soft poppy

Swim Meet

First swim meet of the season yesterday. All three boys did amazing. Kohler came in first in all five events that he swam: IM, freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and 175M freestyle medly. Kaden swam freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke and came third, first, and third, respectively. Kieran also swam freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke, and also the 175M freestyle medly. He came in third, second, third, and second.

Here's a video clip of Kohler swimming the IM:



Here's another clip of Kieran swimming the 25M freestyle:



And a final clip of Kaden swimming the 25M backstroke:

Kohler

{photo taken by Whitebox and used with permission}

Kohler. The first-born. I've put off this post for a while, not knowing where to start. There's so much to say! But I promised you, so here it is:

--you're almost a teenager. only 3+ months to go.

--you're officially now a seventh grader! this was your first year of middle school and you did great.

--you have changed and matured so much in the past year. last summer you joined the swim team at our neighborhood pool and made lots of new friends and gained a new confidence in yourself. one new friendship led to us discovering magnet public schools and the humanities/media program at a school near us. we discovered there were 50 kids already on the waiting list, but figured it wouldn't hurt for you to test and apply, and what do you know . . . you got in! a few months previously I wouldn't have believed it was possible, but you were open to leaving your old school and trying out this new adventure. you only knew one friend, and were going from a class of 20 to a class of 300 kids, in a totally new environment. you showed no fear and stepped right up to the challenge.

--you continued to amaze me throughout your 6th grade year. the first quarter was very hard for you, getting used to being more responsible and a bigger load of school and home work. but by the 2nd quarter I noticed a change. you kept track of things on your own and I didn't have to nag or remind you much. you learned what the teachers expected of you and you vastly improved your writing skills. the first quarter you got three B's (which you had never had before!), but the rest of the year you only got one B each quarter (in media) which was excellent!

--you made new friends at your school and were unofficially voted one of the "hot" guys in your class! a couple girls asked you to dances, and while you turned them down, you did go to your first dance and had fun.

--you continued to keep growing at an alarming rate! every time I measure you you've added two inches, and now are around 5'8" tall--taller than both your dad and I!

--you are super easy and laid back. you rarely grumble or complain and always respond positively when asked to do something. you are always happy and rarely down.

--your interests right now include the guitar, music, cooking/grilling, friends, reading, and sports, especially swimming, basketball, and baseball. you played on a baseball team with your friends again this year, and again your team won the championships.

--you are an amazingly fast and natural swimmer. I love to watch you swim as you make it look so effortless. you are still in the 11-12 year old age group this year, and in time trials, came in first in every stroke except butterfly (you can in second), including the IM! you're looking forward to a great swim season.

--you are suddenly obsessed with cooking/grilling! you TiVo any Bobby Flay show and having been waiting for school to end so you can start cooking. today, your first day of vacation, you made yourself pancakes. you've also compiled a folder of favorite recipes you want to try. cool!

--one of your favorite classes this last year was "Radio Hour". you studied the history of radio and music and found all kinds of music you now love. luckily I seem to also have influenced your taste as you like quite a few bands I've introduced you to. your favorites include: the Beatles, Def Leppard, Genesis, andBob Dylan.

--you are in the land of in-between: you love being independent and grown up. you love having responsibilities and doing teenage-type things like hanging out with friends, riding your bike places, staying up late, but you also still love to play with your (younger) brothers. you want to inhabit both the quickly approaching teenage world, but aren't yet ready to leave the world of childhood behind. I love watching you in both worlds.

--you continue to be a voracious reader. you zip through books at the speed of light. you read 20+ books for school this year (independent, required reading) which you enjoyed, but are glad it's summer so you can choose what you want to read. your favorite genres are fantasy/sci-fi and historical fiction. you loved the Harry Potter series, and also like the Redwall series, Eragon and it's sequel, the Ranger's Apprentice and the Artemis Fowl series, and The City of Ember and it's sequels.

--you have an interesting relationship with money. you like to have it, but don't seem to care too much about it. we raised your allowance this year to $1 for every year you are per week, so $12 a week for now. my thought was you would use it for most things you wanted: clothing, music, movies, snacks, etc. however, you are more than content to simply let it pile up! I end up buying clothes for you because I like to, but I can't exactly force you to pay for them since it's my idea! you often leave money sitting around too, and have a hard time keeping track of it. you did finally use quite a bit of your money to buy yourself a nice iPod nano, which you love, love.

--you got your first cell phone this year! it wasn't something you were begging for, but now that you have it you certainly like it! we gave it to you for christmas, and honestly it was in part for our own convenience! there have been so many times I had wished you had one, so now you do.

--you are super smart and school work comes pretty easily for you, even at your new (more demanding) school. you seem to memorize quickly, read quickly, and understand new concepts quickly. you especially love history and reading, but are also very good at math and science.

--you have the most amazing thick, curly hair! everyone wishes they had your hair and you get quite a few comments on it.

--you wear a size 9 1/2 shoe.

--you love to talk to us and still like to get hugs and kisses. I sure hope this continues throughout your teen years!

Kohler you have been such a source of wonder and joy in your dad's and my life--we can't imagine life without you. You have been a great kid for us to learn parenting on! I have no worries about you for the future. You're a good kid with a good head on your shoulders, and you will go far in life. I can't wait to see what the next 13 years bring!

Love, Mom

Busy

How is it that summer is even busier than the school year? I've been looking forward to uninterrupted free time, lounging around all day with nowhere to go, but somehow that's not working out. I'm not complaining though, because it's still different than the previous nine months. Part of it is that Kohler's still been in school up 'till today, so I still had to get up at 6:45 a.m. to get him breakfast and off to school. Then the day has been relatively free until 2:30 when I drive carpool to pick him up. Then everything hits: swim team, Tae Kwon Do, the final few baseball games, and still guitar and piano lessons to drive to.

Tomorrow though is Kohler's first day of vacation and that will make a difference, and baseball is officially over! The first swim meet is Saturday morning and each boy is swimming three different strokes plus Kohler is swimming the IM for the first time! He's able to swim butterfly now which he couldn't do last summer--I'm anxious to see how it goes. I'm so proud of all three boys--the time trials were last weekend, each boy swam all four strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breast stroke, and butterfly), and they did better in each stroke (except butterfly which none of them swam last year) than their best time last year. And that's after a very limited winter swim program. I think that means they will do very well this summer, as they should only improve from here.

I've been meaning to write an entire post about Kohler, and now that he's an official 7th grader, I can't put it off any longer, so look for that tomorrow!

The Future

From Jennifer Daniel. Pretty scary!

Summer Begins

It's been such a cold, damp spring, it's hard to believe that summer has officially begun! Memorial Day weekend is over, school is ending tomorrow, and the weather is warming up finally. We headed over to Assateague Island for Memorial Day weekend, a two year in a row annual tradition for us.

We pulled the kids out of school a bit early, and headed out. Luckily, we really didn't hit any traffic, and we got to our camping spot around 5 p.m. Now that the boys are older, they can help a lot more, so Stoehr and Kohler set up the tent, while the other two helped me unload the car. They couldn't wait to hit the beach, so once everything was set up, we headed up the boardwalk to the ocean. The nice thing about camping at the National Park is that the beach is pretty much empty. In the distance to the left and right you can see crowds where the public parking lots are, but where we are it's usually just a few families. Stoehr and Kohler built a roaring fire right away and we had s'mores. Yum!




Building bonfires on the beach is definitely our favorite thing to do there, and we had another one on Saturday. We love it so much I even plan meals around it, trying to think of menus we can cook over the fire! Saturday we kayaked for a few hours, then spent the remainder of the day back at the beach. Sunday, back at the beach again. This may be our only time at the beach this summer, so we made the most of it! We decided to head home late Sunday night so we could sleep in our beds one night, so I went back to camp to pack up. When I got there, the herd of horses had invaded our camp. I was by the car arranging things in the trunk, and put a Target bag full of garbage down by my feet. Well it must have looked tempting to the horses because they came right up and grabbed it away! They shook out the potato chip crumbs all over the grass, then one particularly bold horse reached in the trunk and grabbed out a bag of bagels! He managed to eat one before I got it away from him.



The boys thought that was the funniest thing ever! One horse got his nose stuck in the Capri Sun box which served him right!

Once we were finally packed up, we headed over to Ocean City and met up with the Hutsons. We went to the beach with them then went back to their house for pizza and the hot tub. Great end to the weekend! We got home around midnight, but were very happy to be clean and in our own beds.

What a beautiful weekend! It's been a very rainy, cold spring, but today was amazing. Cool, sunny, and breezy--great day to go to the zoo! We got to the Baltimore zoo around 11 a.m. and stayed until closing at 4 p.m. Not as many animals as I've seen there before. It is an older zoo, so perhaps they are remodeling, but the boys still enjoyed it. There are two main sections: the children's zoo, and the African plains. Had to take a few photos:


I just got my new 10-22mm lens, so I brought it along to try out:


I like the wide view, but I have to get used to how it also makes things look farther away. Can't wait to use it in Yellowstone though!

After the zoo, we headed over to Camden yards for an Orioles game, where they were playing the Nationals. We met Stoehr's best friend and his son there as they were in town for the weekend. Kaden is a big O's fan, and Kieran likes the Nat's, so they both dressed in their team jerseys to cheer on their teams:

I used the wide angle lens again to take in a full view of the stadium, and us in our seats. Could never have done that with my 50mm!

Things I don't do that I should . . .

1. floss
2. wear sunscreen
3. iron
4. exercise
5. walk the dog
6. weed the garden
7. vacuum under the beds
8. scrapbook
9. read
10. write thank-you notes

Saying Goodbye

John Mark at his high school graduation, May, 1986.

An old friend of mine died this last week. John Mark Arechiga was one of my first crushes in elementary school. He and his family moved to Battle Ground, WA around 1982 and our families quickly become great friends. Along with a couple other families, we spent many weekends together, going for hikes, playing games on Sat. night, and just hanging out. John Mark was a great guy, very smart and friendly to everyone. After high school, my family moved away and we lost touch over the years (although our parents still kept in contact).

So it was quite a shock to hear that he passed away last Saturday, May 10. John Mark had always loved dirt bikes, even as a kid. I remember riding them in the woods around his house when we were young, but he apparently got even more into motorcycles as he grew up. It was his life, his business, and his hobby, and even his wife was a racer. John Mark died during a practice run when his bike wiped out. More information can be found here: www.littlebigracing.com

From all the comments and messages I have read about him, it sounds like he was just as well liked, smart, and respected as an adult as when he was in high school. He will be missed, and my thoughts are with his family.

Here is how I remember him:


Family vacation at Rosario Beach, Anacortes, WA, probably 1982.

Memory

Why is it so hard to keep up a blog? I certainly don't seem to have any trouble reading other blogs! So why is it so hard to update mine? I have a love/hate relationship with writing that seems to get in my way. I love the idea of writing and I love reading other people's beautiful or funny writing, but I have a mental block when it comes to my own writing. It's not that I can't do it, I just don't seem to enjoy it. But oh I wish I did!

I have a terrible memory. I have a hard time remembering what my boys' baby and toddler years were like (and they're only eight, ten, and 12), so forget about me remembering my own childhood! When I read blogs where mothers write letters to their children every month, or even once a year on their birthdays, I have such deep regrets that I didn't do the same. Every now and then I will see or hear or smell something that brings back a memory of those precious, fleeting years, but I don't remember the ordinary day-to-dayness of it all. What we did each day, what I fed them, our schedule, the little moments. And this is the stuff I want to remember! I did jot down the occasional funny saying, and thank god I take photos! At least we have a visual reminder. But not the stories, and those are so important.

Can I do better? I don't know. It's never too late to start. Years from now, I'll be glad I started at this point, because some day these memories will be gone too. My boys have amazing memories. They remember details: who was there, who did what, what they ate, who said what. But they will eventually forget too.

My middle boy keeps a journal. Every night he faithfully writes his entry. And it's amazing! He will be so happy to have it some day. I plan to add photos and publish it on Blurb for him as a surprise. Over the years I have kept a journal on and off (mostly off). I have one from elementary school, one from my college year in Europe, and one from the year I graduated college. I love to look back and see what I was doing 20 or 25 years ago today. And someday my son can do the same. Will he become a writer? I don't know. He says he doesn't love journaling, he justs wants to remember. How can he be so wise at such a young age?

Flickr Favorites

1. calling all polaroids, 2. Koyo with Kanji Bokeh, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. “If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn.”, 8. Nature Is A Beautiful Thing., 9. Lambent Lady !!, 10. Untitled, 11. ...Lost..., 12. Flying into the sunset, 13. Untitled, 14. Untitled, 15. Untitled, 16. day 161 : 365 may 2, 17. Untitled, 18. 24, dia dels trons... acaba la festa, 19. Untitled, 20. Vintage, 21. School Master's House, 22. Next Chapter, 23. Untitled, 24. Day 181, 25. meteor shower, 26. first taste of rain..............., 27. When the Chips are Down, 28. Reflections, 29. before, 30. day 153 : project 365 april 24, 31. Untitled, 32. beside the Tokiwa Lake, 33. All Your Flashbulb Are Belong To Us, 34. studio, 35. LEAP, 36. Oh, lonesome me

The Chaos of Boys

I read a post today, over at the Shutter Sisters blog about boys. More specifically, life with boys in the house. I certainly never expected to have a house full of boys. I always pictured myself with lots of girls . . . playing barbies and paper dolls, teaching them to sew and do other crafty things, dressing them in polka-dot dresses and striped tights. But here I am with three boys, and I couldn't be happier about it!

You see, I don't think I was meant to have girls. I don't think I could handle the drama and emotions that go with girls. Boys, well they're loud and boisterous, full of energy and dirt, but they are not moody and dramatic like girls tend to be. When boys make friends, they're friends forever, not just for the week or until someone talks behind your back. Obviously these are stereotypes, and not all boys or girls are like this. But I'm still in love with my boys, and wouldn't trade them for a flock of girls!

I especially loved this quote from the Shutter Sisters site: "And by everything, I mean that chaos which is a house of boys: flying Legos, the hiss of supersonic jets, beaming laser blasters and the rubble of broken alien spacecraft. Dirty bare feet on clean white sheets. Questions falling like rain, books everywhere." That is us to a tee. Especially the questions and books and Legos!

Birthday Celebration

Today our middle child turns 10. Those ten years seems to have gone by so fast yet when I stop and think of individual moments during those years, I see how they have stacked up bit by bit over time. How I used to have to hold him while he napped for fear he'd wake up . . . how he nursed for 16 months . . . how he was such a momma's boy, never wanting to leave my side at playgroups . . . his toddler love of dinosaur's . . . his brief hospitalization for asthma . . . his chubby, chubby cheeks . . . how he always liked broccoli . . . how he's always been an artist . . . his intense devotion to whatever he's currently into . . . his journal keeping . . . his never ending energy . . . how he gets embarrassed if he gets in trouble, so he never gets in trouble . . . his quick anger when we punish him . . . his ability to make and find money . . . his sweet, loving, loyal disposition. What would we do without him??!! Happy Birthday, Kaden!

New Inspiration from Flickr

1. My house in a bubble, 2. Genova - La Lanterna vista dai Magazzini del Cotone (Genoa - Italy), 3. 352: 1.18.08, 4. gnome, 5. Birds on Wires (February 2), 6. Untitled, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled, 9. Untitled, 10. keyhole, 11. Untitled, 12. STS - scavenger hunt - camera and a roll of film, 13. holiday rain, 14. Tree reflections, 15. Monday, January 28/ Day 314, 16. Wonderland, 17. .two trees., 18. Aussie Girl, 19. nothin but yeah, 20. grunge

I don't know why the two photos in the middle don't show up. Perhaps the photographer has them blocked??

Self Portrait Tuesday

It's not easy to hold the dog and focus the camera correctly into a mirror!

Taken for Self Portrait Tuesday at Flickr.

To go along with the self portrait, here's a fun self interview someone e-mailed me recently:

What time is it? 10:14 a.m.
What are you most afraid of? The dark (seriously).
What is the most recent movie that you have seen in a Theater? Veggie Tales Pirate movie (sigh).
Place of birth? Seattle, Washington
Favorite Food? Japanese
What's your natural hair color? Dark brown
Ever been to Alaska? no
Ever been toilet paper rolling? Yes, when I was in high school.
Love someone so much it made you cry? Definitely
Been in a car accident? Not since I was a teenager.
Croutons or bacon bits? Neither
Favorite day of the week? Friday--I love feeling that the whole weekend is ahead of me.
Favorite restaurant? Restaurant Nora, Pizzeria Paradiso,and 2 Amy's.
Favorite Flower? none--I love full, mixed, colorful bouquets.
Favorite sport to watch? Baseball and football.
Favorite drink? Diet Coke
Favorite ice cream? Rocky Road
Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney
Ever been on a ship? Yup. And oddly enough, they were all large ferries: from Wisconsin to Michigan, from England to France, from Greece to Crete, and from England to Ireland.
What color is your bedroom carpet? Wooden floors!
How many times did you fail your driver's test? None
What do you do when you are bored? Go on the internet!
Bedtime? Usually 11:30
Favorite TV show? Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Lost
Favorite time of year? Fall
What is your favorite color? Red
How many tattoos do you have? None...although I'd love to get one!
How many pets do you have? Molly, our Lhasa Apso.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Chicken
Have you ever been to Hawaii? No, but we're planning to be there for Christmas 2008!
Have you been to countries outside Canada? Quite a few, but not as many as I'd like!

Catching Up

Thursday, January 31, My new cameras! A Polaroid SX-70 in great condition bought off ebay, and Kodak Duaflex with a contraption for taking Through the Viewfinder photographs, also from ebay. They both need some work before I can use them though which is very frustrating. The Polaroid needs a filter, and I need a close up filter for my digital SLR to use the Duaflex.


Friday, February 1, Yum, grapefruit for breakfast.


Saturday, February 2, Self portrait taken late in the evening, holding my new Holga camera for the Shutter Sisters challenge.


Sunday, February 3, Kieran can officially ride without training wheels! And Kaden is much better too. Stoehr has been working with both of them, and today it all clicked. Kieran can even start off by himself. And he is thrilled! He's always loved to ride his bike, so now that he can do it without training wheels . . . watch out!


Monday, February 4, The boys had a half day of school today, so a friend came over for a couple hours. They played their own version of badminton in the front yard for a good while.

Valentine's Shoot

I took these shots last night (making my poor boys freeze!) in preparation for Valentine's Day cards. I love how they turned out! I have to give credit to Brendaleann for the idea though.

And I can't decide which of these two photos I like better:


I'm thinking I like the first one, without the shirt. What do you think?!

Love, Thursday

This photo was taken a couple years ago but I love it. It's not technically perfect, but I like the emotion in it. sigh.

New Photos

January 26, Saturday, taken at Sabatino's restaurant in Baltimore's Little Italy.

January 27, Sunday, laundry day. sigh.

January 28, Monday, self portrait of me taken in our entryway mirror.

January 29, Tuesday, Kaden and Kohler have just started running (with Stoehr when he can). It's great exercise and they love it!

January 30, Wednesday, my hungry boy after school. Loves honey nut cheerios.