Ammie and Ruby sharing some love at breakfast. Yum!
Monday, May 22, 2006
mo'faya!
The only person who might understand the true meaning of the title of this entry is Uncle Ram. REGARDLESS... how's about them doctors? They are so fucking cool and I'm proud of each and every one of them. I feel like some of Myles' classmates are my children too! (BTW, Myles' fist is the highest one, up in the left of the photo.)
Dr. Webster
Does Myles look happy or what? His mom was gloating - all smiles for everyone. (How's about my gi-normous forehead?)
Saturday, May 20, 2006
self-timer
I didn't really notice the table showing up in this image when I set it up - but this is the best I could do for our Park School 15th reunion shot. Last weekend at home was such a treat for me. I managed to get overly introspective about "coming home"... you know, HOME... where I spent 18 solid years growing into a decent human... and all of these old pals are such amazing people. What a huge treat it was to see everyone. I was seriously shocked though by the contrast between cosmopolitans and Vermonters. Just the pace and volume of conversation is wilder - unrestrained... perhaps more ego-centric... and people seem to have better preppy manners than I previously remember. The preppy manners in Vermont seem to have disappeared. Either that or folks up here have ditched all attempts to have "manners" (in the old school sense of the word) because they don't seem necessary, or because they are affiliated with an ancient conservative mindset. (To my dear Vermonters, I do love you for being rebels.)
Whatever. I'm annoying. I guess what I'm getting at is that I feel more comfortable with the people who live 3.5 hours south of here. (I sincerely hope that whoever is reading this is having a good laugh at me. This whole moving thing has stirred up something crazy. Yikes.)
Whatever. I'm annoying. I guess what I'm getting at is that I feel more comfortable with the people who live 3.5 hours south of here. (I sincerely hope that whoever is reading this is having a good laugh at me. This whole moving thing has stirred up something crazy. Yikes.)
sweet El
Chimpanzee lips can be easily replaced with a stunning smile.
Note the boxes in the background. The status of my "home" right now is enough to make most people very very anxious and sad.
Note the boxes in the background. The status of my "home" right now is enough to make most people very very anxious and sad.
ooooh and eeee
Eloise still makes chimpanzee lips like a pro. It's a wonder that I even got them to sit for 2 minutes for a photo session.
big t.v. box
Check out the hair in this photo... this is what happens now when we don't put in ponytails.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
and a friend too
fuck it. I've been trying to get these photos to display chronologically as they were drawn... but I'm too tired and have had too much wine to try to edit their order. This drawing should be the last in the set of 3. (Figure out the progression on your own SmartyPantses.)
face with ears
Ruby has really taken to drawing faces these days. On this one I said, "how about some ears?" and she tacked on the two little lines on the side of the head. My favorite thing though is that weenie little hair up at the top...
still sick
Eloise barfed all over me yesterday morning, so now we have two kids with runny poos... and I've been through 2 huge packs of diapers in 3 days. It's getting kind of ridiculous actually. Ruby has been ill since Sunday afternoon. What crazy timing though - with the packing and my reunion coming up, the house closing, the Montessori visit. I have barely had 2 seconds to train for my leg of the marathon (I abandoned all hope to run the whole thing... maybe some day...) and I fear that I will end up in the medical tent after running 6.5 miles. That would be amazing though - if I could run hard enough to pass out or something. HA! Then one of the UVM med students would have to give me i.v. fluids and stand near my head with one of those kidney shaped dishes in case I puked. Or wait, even better would be if I totally cramped up in my legs and collapsed on the Battery Street hill and had to be escorted (arms over random medics' shoulders) to the tent...
Aside from my lack of running, I think our self-imposed little quarantine has put a damper on our farewells to good friends. Next week should be completely crazy with all of Myles' final functions and his relatives arriving on Friday evening. We won't even be able to have guests here because the house is really just boxes and trash bags right now (not to mention CONTAMINATED with rotavirus) and smelling like a giant turd. I just want to squeeze everything in at the last second here and then be able to relax in our new home. I'll be so pissed off if I don't say some pleasant, good old fashioned goodbyes to the people I love in this town.
Aside from my lack of running, I think our self-imposed little quarantine has put a damper on our farewells to good friends. Next week should be completely crazy with all of Myles' final functions and his relatives arriving on Friday evening. We won't even be able to have guests here because the house is really just boxes and trash bags right now (not to mention CONTAMINATED with rotavirus) and smelling like a giant turd. I just want to squeeze everything in at the last second here and then be able to relax in our new home. I'll be so pissed off if I don't say some pleasant, good old fashioned goodbyes to the people I love in this town.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Karate Kid Part IV
"Ruby-san, the heart of your karate practice depends on a deep seated knowledge of the fundamentals of headband-wearing. A headband too high up will lead to poor vision and the strained facial muscles - but, a headband worn across the forehead will bring skill like Ralph Macchio."
run run run
Holy shit this was funny. Who knew a gazebo could be so exciting? They climbed inside and just ran in circles for no apparent reason...
parking lot butterfly
Sunday we took a trip to the Essex outlet mall with Myles' mom and played around in the green grass (I know, I know... it's weird when lake Champlain is out your back door but we couldn't help changing things up a bit). This wacky butterfly sculpture was sitting in the middle of nowhere and we had a nice Daddy moment in the sunshine. Notice the brand new Carhartt overalls on the girls - the pant leg is cuffed 2 times so we can get some extra wear out of them!
post-bath dress-up
I snapped this little moment the other night when the girls discovered my sun hats. I couldn't seem to get a good one of when they were walking around with the brims down... you couldn't tell they had faces and their tiny naked bodies were just carrying around giant hats. The hysterical little gnomes!
rotavirus
Ruby has been battling a nasty stomach bug since Sunday evening and I'm really really tired of soupy diapers. It's so sad to see her all droopy lidded, dehydrated and exhausted. Seeing her sick reminds me that she's a really energetic and chatty little kid. She's a total nutball though. Apparently she told Eloise, "Mommy is on a diaper run" while I was out today...
As for me, I'm just packing up all of our shit gradually and happily discarding all things that come into question. For example, I just gave away a perfectly good Patagonia jacket that I'm sick of... I've had it for 4 years and I'm kinda over it. In the past I might have held on to it though, thinking that some day I might really really love to reach into the closet and pull out that familiar fleece thing. You really can't "re-vamp" Patagonia. But my vintage chinese jacket... now that's a different story altogether.
Yesterday I was completely depressed about leaving this special town. The weather was pristine, the views of the lake were beyond perfect, I went running on the bikepath, we went to the playground, I got food at the market and we never had to get in our car to get anywhere. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to being a slave to the automobile once we get to Providence. Everybody says we will adjust really quickly... but what if I don't want to? Driving my stealth minivan sometimes makes me angry! What ever happend to the days of my zippy little Golf?
Which brings a funny topic up actually... I have been thinking a lot about how I can barely remember what my life before having children was really like. These days we (moms and dads) seem to spend a large chunk of time obsessing over our children to the extent that we are literally living only for a life outside of our bodies. I mean, Ruby and Eloise are such a part of me now that I cannot remember what or who I used to be. I know that sounds ridiculous... and I don't mean to seem insensitive towards children... but I am really annoyed about the expectations of parenthood (be they self-imposed or culturally imposed) these days. Perhaps all of this thought is stemmed from our application process to a Montessori school in Providence. Ru and El have to go in to be "observed" on Monday morning before we close on our house. It just makes me wonder what a "happy childhood" is supposed to look like these days. Is it fair to send them to "school" twice a week when they are 2 years old? I mean, what's the rush? Well, I've already looked into some pre-K programs and they all have portions of their applications that want to know about prior "playgroups, activities or schooling" that they might have previously received! Why should I care? And what happens if I make the choice not to care and send them to public school in Kindergarten? Seriously. It's enough to drive the wife of a surgical resident INSANE... and we haven't even moved yet.
Phew. That feels better now. Sometimes I wonder why I keep a blog... but those little stream-of-consciousness moments like the above paragraph seem to brighten up my days.
Now I'm off to upload some photos for you El and Ru junkies. Shalom.
As for me, I'm just packing up all of our shit gradually and happily discarding all things that come into question. For example, I just gave away a perfectly good Patagonia jacket that I'm sick of... I've had it for 4 years and I'm kinda over it. In the past I might have held on to it though, thinking that some day I might really really love to reach into the closet and pull out that familiar fleece thing. You really can't "re-vamp" Patagonia. But my vintage chinese jacket... now that's a different story altogether.
Yesterday I was completely depressed about leaving this special town. The weather was pristine, the views of the lake were beyond perfect, I went running on the bikepath, we went to the playground, I got food at the market and we never had to get in our car to get anywhere. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to being a slave to the automobile once we get to Providence. Everybody says we will adjust really quickly... but what if I don't want to? Driving my stealth minivan sometimes makes me angry! What ever happend to the days of my zippy little Golf?
Which brings a funny topic up actually... I have been thinking a lot about how I can barely remember what my life before having children was really like. These days we (moms and dads) seem to spend a large chunk of time obsessing over our children to the extent that we are literally living only for a life outside of our bodies. I mean, Ruby and Eloise are such a part of me now that I cannot remember what or who I used to be. I know that sounds ridiculous... and I don't mean to seem insensitive towards children... but I am really annoyed about the expectations of parenthood (be they self-imposed or culturally imposed) these days. Perhaps all of this thought is stemmed from our application process to a Montessori school in Providence. Ru and El have to go in to be "observed" on Monday morning before we close on our house. It just makes me wonder what a "happy childhood" is supposed to look like these days. Is it fair to send them to "school" twice a week when they are 2 years old? I mean, what's the rush? Well, I've already looked into some pre-K programs and they all have portions of their applications that want to know about prior "playgroups, activities or schooling" that they might have previously received! Why should I care? And what happens if I make the choice not to care and send them to public school in Kindergarten? Seriously. It's enough to drive the wife of a surgical resident INSANE... and we haven't even moved yet.
Phew. That feels better now. Sometimes I wonder why I keep a blog... but those little stream-of-consciousness moments like the above paragraph seem to brighten up my days.
Now I'm off to upload some photos for you El and Ru junkies. Shalom.
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