The Loading Dance

In honor of Oak and dialup modem users everywhere, I present "The Loading Dance":


Oak likes the games & activities found on such sites as lego.com, adventuresofriley.com, and knex.com. However, all these sites usually have these large Flash downloads in order to use them, which take quite awhile to load on our dialup connection. So Oak gets stuck with "Loading....1%.....2%...." etc messages galore. Sometimes while he waits he puts his hands on his hips and twirls in a dance circle singing, "Loading, loading, loading! Loading, loading, loading!"


A most creative way to pass the time.

Where I Would be if I Didn't Have Kids

Earlier this month I discovered the joy of a walking track here in Wildwood. Exercise has always been part of my sanity as a stay-at-home mom. so we load up the bikes and the jogging stroller and water bottles and anything else my kids can't live without during the hour we're gone. I walk and Oak who is practicing for the Tour de France (literally) rides his bike. Meadow gets about halfway around the track on her bike and then remembers the "track" she is making. She is lining up rocks about 2 to 3 inches apart. I love how the line winds in the sunshine, Andy Goldsworthy like. She wants it to reach all the way around the track. Occasionally Oak will help her for a minute or two and when asked what she was doing, Meadow answered, "Oak and me wanted to make something to reflect the moonlight."

Scott got me an ipod shuffle for Christmas, this great little device I can load 120 songs into and listen to at random. Music has a way of transporting my body and soul to other times and places except that whenever Oak catches up to me on his bike I push pause on the shuffle and come right back to reality. You see, when Oak catches up to me, he wants to chat. He's always been very talkative (naturally, he gets it from his father).

So the other day we had a conversation that went like this. . . "Mom, it's a good thing you have a son, right?" "Right." "What would you do if you didn't have a son?" "I don't know." "You probably wouldn't be here right now, would you?" I paused and thought about it. "No, probably not." "So it's a good thing you have a son, mom." "Yeah, and not just any son but the best son in the whole world." "No, mom not the best. God cares for all." "You're right Oak, maybe the best for me and dad but God does care for all."

Bedside Reading

Amy's reading bird by bird by Annie Lamott (and thinks her nonfiction is better than her fiction) while I'm rereading The Lord of the Rings. I'm reading LOTR chronologically (this is for serious LOTR chronological fans), which means I'm skipping from section to section with the help from Appendix B after the conclusion of Book 3 (Return of the King).

Winter Weekend Picts

This weekend I superglued leftover software installation CDs and made some nifty coasters out of them. You can't tell from the picture, but they're each 5-CD thick and work quite well for drink coasters. The other two pictures are Oak & Meadow next to their new IKEA bed reading lamp and Dove at 9 months. Dove is a most excellent crawler these days and can traverse the length of our house in about a minute.

Member Night

Oak & Meadow each decided to help buy a family membership at the TN Aquarium with some money they got for xmas. So tonight we went to "Members Night" at the aquarium after eating Chinese (twice in one day for me: I don't recommend it). The jellyfish, sea turtles and sting rays were most impressive (or should I say "teh impressive"?).

I'm not so sure about blogging. I mean, isn't what makes blogging so enjoyable also a double-edged sword as it also seems to be a bit self-indulgent? I guess that's where comments enter in to keep it real, keep it humble, la de da, que sera. So be it.

-Scott