17 Days, 11 States, 1 Giant Road Trip

Well! Two Four months later and I have finally finished adding pics to the (now backdated) road trip posts from our lovely trip this summer. It was WONDERFUL.

Links here!

Days 1-2: North Carolina: my Grandpa's house, Tweetsie Railroad

Days 3-4: St. Louis: Cardinals game, religious art, a riverboat ride, and did you know the arch is made of metal??? My mind was blown.

Days 4-5: Rural Illinois, including a prairie park (yes that's a thing), and then Iowa, all the corn, Field of Dreams, oh and also we slept in a caboose. And broke into a zoo.

Days 5-6: Wisconsin Dells, yes it's a real place, yes for real, I know it sounds fake but it's real. Very waterpark. Many kitch. Much delightful.

Days 6-11: MinneEFFINGsota, Take Four: the one where I post pics of tractors and grain bins on my blog. And also Northfield, Another Nathan, popcorn and beer, St. Olaf, waterfalls, adults on swings, and Charlotte Booler's fourth birthday! Oh and saying goodbye to Marky. Sad face.

Days 12-17: Southbound! Including me drinking a beer on Hillary's Cincinnati porch swing, and the kids riding boats at Lake Wateree, with surprise appearances by my dad and also Emily! AND THEN WE MADE IT HOME.

Gap-Toothed Grin

Nathan has been missing his two front teeth since the first weekend in September. He hasn't lost any teeth since one in May of 2014, and one in December 2013, so he was way overdue and very excited. (He is eight. I swear that child has never hit any milestone early in his life.)

So he lost the first one when we were at Brad's house a month ago, in an ice cream cone. (That gives you an idea of how crazy loose it had gotten but was still hanging on by a thread: it fell out when he licked a freaking ice cream cone.) That night, the tooth fairy brought him a stack of quarters in a red solo cup (stay classy, Bumgarners) but despite some hinting about doubling the prize if you lose two in one day, he wouldn't let us touch the other one.

A few days after we got home, after much coaxing, I full-on bribed him with a new lego set to let me pull the other one out. It was just dangling. He couldn't eat well, he was scared to bite anything or even say much of anything, it was barely hanging on by one bloody little veiny thread, and, well... y'all, loose teeth are gross. I couldn't take it anymore.

It was a bribe well spent. I came at him with a kleenex and that tooth basically lept at me! with joy! like John the Baptist in the womb. Easiest tooth pull ever. So now he has spendy legos and a new grin.

And I shall commence taking allllll the pictures.

Alleluia! And Eggs!

We had our nephew Liam for Easter weekend this year, in preparation for taking him with us to Bumgarner beach week - which means we had FOUR kids up and ready before the earliest service, which is a new record for us!

And when I say us, I mean Mark, because... I did nothing. That's not true. I spent a lot of time blow drying my hair and brushing it one hundred times or whatever. Anyway. Mark did it, he gets the credit, he is a rock star, and they all looked adorable.

My kids, being kids of a choir mom, are among the first children at church every week. On Easter, that means getting to put the first flowers on the cross. Basically every year.

We usually have to go back after the later services and Sunday school hour to see it fully flowered, but I sort of like it empty like this, mostly wire, only a few flowers. It seems the most appropriate for the chilly wee hours before everybody gets all He Is Risen excited, yknow?

I also took Nathan and Anneliese to the Easter Vigil last night (a first!) and that was really great.

Nathan got to ring a bell as we all processed from the courtyard into the sanctuary.

(Liam and Charlotte stayed home with Marky, since they - the babies, not Mark - were on the verge of Easter breakdowns. It's a late service for three-year-olds.)

And then we got to the beach and did the traditional egg hunt, except without my sister to make it happen (SAD FACE WE MISSED HER), which means I did, which means Nathan did most of the hiding work, because I'm either really lazy or really smart.

But it was a hit anyway, and now it's time for the beach! Happy Easter! Alleluia!

Ice Skating and a Chinese Buffet (A Patriotic Holiday)

So today is Presidents Day, except not really, because Nathan has school. Except not really, because I didn't make him go, because I told him it was a holiday (I thought it was! my calendar said so! my calendar doesn't lie! except this one time) and the girls are out of school, and it's supposed to snow/ice tomorrow which means we will be out of school all week anyway, and what's the point of going for just one day? There is no lasting education happening (that won't need to be repeated) in a one-day week. Anyway, I decided to let him stay home and make the most of my mistake.

And that's the story of why Presidents Day isn't Presidents Day this year. Which is... not a story.

But what we did do with our Presidents Day non-holiday is go... ice skating. I KNOW. MY KIDS. I KNOW. But we tried for a trampoline jump place and they were closed, and ice skating was next door, so we tried something new.

Well, the girls did. Nathan wanted none of it. Although he did take some pictures for us. So, thanks for that, grumpy gus?

Charlotte mostly wanted to hold my hands (ask me what makes ME unsteady on skates? a three-year old hanging on me, that's what) but Anneliese got braver and braver and was off in the middle of the rink, pushing around the stacks of buckets they had on hand for young kids. Really cute, and she was so proud. She is asking for ice skating lessons now. Cute.

And then Nathan and Anneliese had been asking for Chinese food (I don't even know) and since I am the kind of lady who loves a Chinese buffet, we had planned a buffet date for the "school holiday" (remember that thing about how I didn't remember it was a holiday, so).

Y'all, they loved it. My picky eaters tried all kinds of new things, they made lists of what they loved and didn't love, they went back for seconds, we had dessert, we left full and happy and it was the most random thing but also delightful.

So we celebrated President's Day by trying ice skating for the first time, and then pigging out with picky eaters at a Chinese buffet. Anything else would have been unamerican, amiright?

Hippie Bullsh!t Coffee and Other Quick Takes

1.) I bought some hippie bullsh!t coffee at Fresh Market a few weeks ago. I got sucked in because I had a taste for cold caramel coffee in a bottle, and the packaging is so pretty! Good font choice! Matte labels! And on the side there is a funny blurb written by someone admitting to be a blurber! It was all very enchanting, except it said things about how it doesn't have any of those "nasty chemicals" in it like other coffee (YES IT ACTUALLY SAID THAT), and I could not have rolled my eyes harder. Y'all! Once again, brief lesson: everything has chemicals. Everything is made of chemicals. Nothing but chemicals actually. Yes. EVERYTHING. Full stop.

But despite my eye rolling, and knowing it would not actually make me "focus" in any "natural" way, I bought it and drank it and it was delicious. Excellent use of one dollar next time you're at Fresh Market. Hippie bullsh!t coffee: RECOMMEND.

(Children who photobomb coffee pics for blog post: not included.)

2.) Mark took Charlotte to a park a few weeks ago, and in case you were wondering if she only likes to take selfies with me? Nope. Girl loves a good pic with Daddy too. I mean, who wouldn't? He's a pretty awesome human.

3.) We started a thing last month with a friend and preschool classmate of Anneliese's, whose big sister gets dropped off at school before his mom takes him to church on a route that goes right past our bus stop, at the exact time we are outside waiting on the bus. Which means Nathan and I did a lot of waving at them as they drove by, until we realized hey! Anneliese could just... get in their car, and save me a trip of loading up the babies and taking her to school.

So that's the story of why there are now two kids at the bus stop with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays (those are the days only Anneliese goes). They both love it. It's fun.

4.) When I was in Minnesota I got the worst chapped lips of my life, I think. I was using lip balm, just not enough I guess, or not often enough. One night when I was home I needed some and didn't have any in bed, so I asked Mark for his out of his night stand, and the next morning, I kid you not -- MY LIPS WERE HEALED. Like, almost completely better. Overnight. A second night and they were as good as new.

I can't believe the small fortune I have spent in the last decade on fancy lip balms, when REGULAR OLD CHAP STICK is basically a miracle balm. Y'all! Buy this! I am now officially a chap stick evangelist. Recommend.

5.) My new identity as a Kindle user is coming along. I like it. It is handy. It was especially handy for traveling. And for reading in the evenings in bed when my doctor-designed Sleep Plan (capital S, capital P, it is a PLAN) dictates that I should not have lights on. And e-ink is safe reading in the evening hours of dimness. Anyway! Guess who else likes the Kindle?

Our library website has a great page where you can sort the children's e-reader books they have, by topic and grade level. So that means Nathan can see a berjillion book choices, and two clicks sends them to our house in minutes. For free! LIVING IN THE FUTURE IS SO GREAT Y'ALL. In related news, I think someone might be getting his own (very basic) Kindle for Christmas, since someone's mommy is tired of sharing.

6.) Speaking of Nathan and reading, he picked out this book from the dollar spot at Target a few weeks ago:

Yep, that's Moby Dick. Most boring book in the history of books and English. (I love Melville, but I freaking hate that book.) Anyway all he saw was chapter book! one dollar! sperm whale on the cover! and he had to have it. It's a thing I would never say no to, of course, so he bought it and read it and then sent Another Nathan this adorable email about it and oh my lands.

This is why we let kids read adaptations of boring books we hate: because it's surprising that a whale would eat someone's leg, and he's guessing the whale must have been a girl. WELL.

7.) Still speaking of reading, I read this last week and found it just delightful. A lady who loved the Little House books visits all the sites in real life, and finds some disillusioning and some lovely.

This isn't the best LHOTP travel guide you can find, nor the best biographical info, but it doesn't intend to be either of those things - just a funny thoughtful lady traveling to Little House sites and writing about it, from her perspective. Really fun book.

8.) One last book thing! Another Nathan and I, unbeknownst to one other, both checked this book out of our respective libraries last week. A book about friends and influence and I mean... haaaaa okay universe. Good one.

9.) We let the kids try for a three-way sleepover last week. Usually this is just a Nathan/Anneliese thing, every Friday night, but Charlotte always wants to join, and so we let her try. We had done it once before and it was fine, but this one was doomed.

This photo was taken pre-doom. It was super cute until it wasn't.

10.) It got very cold this week, and the girls look very cute in their cold weather clothes. That is all.

The Great Puppy Catastrophe Challenge

As this post goes up, I am (hopefully!) sleeping laaaaaaate on a Friday morning in a warm bed in the cold great white north of Minnesota (it better not be white, but when I checked the forecast I saw a snowflake and pretended* not to see it) (*tweeted about it, pretending not to see it, while actually freaking out a little bit). A weekend away! Y'all, it has been rough here for the last few weeks. I need it. And in the meantime, here have a blog post about Nathan being in a play!

Yes, a play. Nathan. OUR Nathan. IN A PLAY.

(I wish Mark and I had posed for a selfie a few months ago when Nathan told us he wanted to pick drama as an elective. Because... what? Conversing with other people is not the most natural thing for him anyway, but... on a stage? In front of other people? We were something close to shocked.)

But it has been great! He not only had lines, he had a lot of them! And he did them well! Apparently there is something to be said for budding thespianism to turn a kid into a more confident public speaker? We'll take it.

(And we remain grateful for a school with cool choices like this. A safe place for a kid to try something new that he/we otherwise never would have pursued or even suggested.)

Anyway, his class play. It was written and acted and decorated and designed by second graders, which is pretty clear once you know the basic plot synopsis, which is something like this:

There is a king of Candy World.
The king's jesters give him some puppies for his birthday.
Some robbers steal the puppies, luring them away with bacon.
    (Nathan was the head robber.)
Some secret police spies already knew who took them.
The find the robbers and arrest them.
They decide who keeps the puppies by hosting a trivia game show.
    (Go back and read that last part again. A GAME SHOW.)
The king and his jesters win the puppies back!
They outlaw the robbers to Planet Bully.
They shoot them there on a rocket.
But rocket trouble lands them back in Candy World.
The robbers go to prison instead. FOR LIFE.
The end.

Cast photo. (Yes, Nathan seems somewhat tiny these days.)

So, yeah. It was something. (Anneliese was riveted. She and Nathan discussed the finer plot points and character details afterward. She clearly understood it better than Mark and I did.)

And then we went out for frozen yogurt and Nathan re-lived the most important and taxing parts of his role. Yes really. *ahem* drama queen *cough cough*

Can we all just agree that when he wins his first oscar, we'll be glad I wrote this blog post?

Random Spring Break Updates

I was having a conversation recently with some teenagers I know, and they were telling me about some kid they knew who got a bad grade and as punishment, since she didn't have a phone to take away, her parents took away her clothes instead. I mean, not all her clothes. Just her cute clothes. So she had to wear jeans and tennis shoes. GASP. Y'all, they were horrified. Jeans! And tennis shoes! Okay this is when I know I have moved into a mom generation because yeah, that still looks totally normal to me. But they were horrified. Appalled. Rallying the troops to bring her different shoes to borrow. They all claimed they would rather have their phones taken away than have to wear jeans! and tennis shoes! to school.

Really? Really??

Okay then. I am clearly a fuddy duddy mom, because I rock some tennis shoes with jeans frequently and without shame.

Also we canceled our cable which has nothing to do with anything except it feels like a giant weight off our shoulders. Also it means we watched the HIMYM finale live like it is still 1998 which was really fun and nostalgic with take-out and excitement and whatever, and then it sucked, and I hated the ending, and it crapped up my mood for a whole evening. Yes, a television show. You can judge me, I don't even care.

So. It is spring break this week. We have been using our staycation time for things like taking Nathan to the dentist, followed promptly by Dunkin Donuts, where Nathan ate a donut with a peep on it (SO GROSS) and drank an iced coffee, much to the judgement of the man working there (who is a little scary anyway) (but it was decaf! and FREE. shut it, dude) and the most lovely part is that we ate outside.

We also spent a morning at a bounce house place, which was very calm and chill and not overrun with children, which I loved. And Mark took the kids to the zoo which they all loved. And we had the carpets steam cleaned this morning because nothing says SPRING BREAK! when you're in your thirties like getting the carpets steam cleaned, right?

The kids were somewhat tired waiting to be allowed back inside after the floors were done. I found this picture on Mark's phone and it made me laugh:

And I found this one which made me grin, because HI BOOLER I LOVE YOUR SMILE:

Oh and also I got a haircut yesterday, which I am feeling sort of meh about, which is why there is no picture. Basically I went into it wanting some highlights, and a trim but not losing a lot of length. Instead, my hair was so super damaged, with burn spots (my hair dryer keeps igniting, which everyone is horrified when I tell them about, but simmer down, I will get a new one soon) and fried ends so high up that we ended up needing to cut off eight inches to get the damaged part (almost) gone. So yeah it is a lot shorter than I was ready for, and it is fine, I know objectively it looks normal and fine or whatever, I have had hair shorter than this many times in my adult life, but I just... wasn't prepared for it this week. I miss my long hair! I am sad! (I will be fine.)

Snowme Day!

It snowed in Raleigh!

Like, for real snowed.

It is our first real snow in about four years, which means Nathan and Anneliese (last time, two and an infant) didn't really remember it, and this was Charlotte's very first. She spent the whole day saying snowme day! wook! I found it! in a very classic-Charlotte way. I found it! might be her trademark phrase. (Snowme day is her pronunciation of "snowflake day," which is an episode of Daniel Tiger, and is apparently not only her word for snowflake, but also snowman and snow day and well, just snow in general.) (Is adorable.)

Normally snow isn't my favorite, but with school canceled and Mark just happening to be off work, we didn't need to go anywhere. So it ended up being really fun and sweet.

I will stop teasing my mom for buying us snowpants now.

They didn't know what to make of it. so they ran in circles. all four of them.

Three snowy babies in a sled!

And then they took turns doing this while Mark and I melted.

This is also basically all he does... at the beach. 

Also, we built our kids' first snowman! (Alltogethernow: "do you want to build a snowmaaaaan?") (If you're not singing, you're doing it wrong.) Like everyone else in America, we named our snowman Olaf. He is tiny. 

Presenting... Olaf Goettsch. He is a tiny snowman. 

For perspective, here is Olaf with the kids. See? Tiny.

Snow makes things too bright to smile pretty.

Unless you're Anneliese. In which case there are no objects to pretty smiles.

Look! We are southerners with pictures of our kids in the snow! Is it too soon to order next year's Christmas cards?

Happy snowme day!

Six and a Half

Nathan is very suddenly six and a half, which is weird because I had barely wrapped my brain around him being six, and it is becoming clear that he is really and truly, for real life (as he likes to say) reneging on his agreement to stay five forever. WHAT THE WHAT, NATHAN.

However, at six and a half, he is still (mostly*) delightful. (*Six is moody. He has bad days. Of course.) He is quite shy until suddenly he feels comfortable and gets chattery (although he glares if I call him either shy or chattery, so).

He is helpful, sweet and playful/bickery/playful with his sisters, and incredibly generous with a kind thought or compliment. He loves showing people love, and he is good at it, in the best ways a child can be. (And I adore this about him, clearly.)

He likes dinosaurs and puzzlies and patterns, and facts/trivia about animals and nature-y things, and he will talk about them to anyone who will listen. Also sometimes when we aren't listening. He likes yogurt and pbj sandwiches and hot chocolate and gummy fruit snacks. He loves to draw and write. He has capital-o Opinions about many of his shirts. He gets excited when he can wear ties, like Daddy. He still likes building with legos, he has an up-past-bedtime reading habit, and he has become a pretty fast little runner for a kid who took a healthy season of forever to decide he could walk.

He likes to send emails and write people notes and cards. They are full (full!) of exclamation marks. He is learning a little more on the computer but is still contentedly clueless (read: Mark and I are content) about phones and other techy stuff. He does know how to turn the TV on and find pbs kids, which our saturday mornings thank him for. He can make his own breakfast and pack his own lunches, mostly. He does his homework happily and quickly, which I know is no small thing and believe me, we do not take it for granted.

He frequently brings us new taped and stapled papers he has turned into books -- about music and math and people he knows, and occasionally* (*HA HA HA HA) a dinosaur or two makes an appearance. He loves to quiz everyone around him (including his sisters) on what plus what equals what. (We all need to perfect Charlotte's raised-eyebrow blank stare in response to these questions.)

He tells terrible jokes which are really just nonsensical questions with no punchlines. Why does YouTube have a face? ...And that's it. No follow up. Just the question, followed by lots of giggles. Ummm that is not a joke, buddy.

Oh and speaking of YouTube, we taught him that he can enter almost anything into the search box there and find a video about it, so he has therefore logged hours and hours of fossil documentaries, slideshows of toy cars with japanese subtitles, dinosaur sketches shown over rock music soundtracks, and every Jurassic Park trailer, twice* (*gross under-exaggeration).

Y'all, it blows my mind how bright he is. He is blowing through chapter books and asking insightful questions about them, and working through math ideas with a creative approach he definitely didn't get from me. (He still has not solved the Rubik's cube. I know someone will ask. At some point he will realize he can ask YouTube how to do it, but he hasn't yet.)

He is ever more clearly an introvert, and ever more clearly a sensitive creature, a being of feeeeeelings. He hates hurting people, but he also hates apologizing. He shuts down in the face of emotional conflict. Like, completely shuts down. He loves snuggling and back scratching, and when words and conversation evade him, he needs to be physically close to feel emotionally close. He has a very clear sense of what is fair (and not fair), and while it doesn't always line up with what we think is fair (or not fair), I like that he cares enough and is observant enough about the world and other people to have his own ideas about it.

He still does his track/walking club before school on Fridays, and taekwondo once a week, and he sings in the children's choir at church (where Another Nathan is finally finally his director, a moment I thiiiiink they have both been waiting for since oh I don't know, 2009-ish). He has started in orchestra at school, where he now knows the proper names for the strings on his cello and is learning to legitimately read music. (He freaking loves that cello. Loves. It. WE HAVE TRIUMPHED AS BAND GEEK PARENTS.)

So yeah, that is Nathan, at six and a half. And we love him so.

"And the other one right here is Q."

Nathan has officially started in orchestra at school! I should probably wait until he knows how to play a song (or at least hold the bow) before I post a video, but when he got his cello out the other night to tell us about his class and pluck it for us for the first time, I did whip the camera right out, and I am not sorry, because LOOK AT THIS:


If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch it on YouTube.

Okay so he might need to work on the names of the strings. Whatever. IS CLEARLY A MUSICAL GENIUS. This right here is why band geeks fall in love and make babies -- so that said babies grow up and pluck tiny cellos* and make their parents melt.

*Is it cellos, or celli, by the way? Who knows. Brb still melting.

Adventures With Nathan and Anneliese

Three adventures this week:

1.) On Saturday, I took the kids to a roller-skating party hosted by our church, technically for elementary school kids, but it seemed like the kind of things siblings would tag along to, and Nathan was nervous to try skating without Anneliese (who was chomping at the bit, talking about how much she loooooves roller skating) (?) (she has never been on skates in her life), so I brought her along too.

SPOILER ALERT: They are terrible skaters. Well wait, no. That's not right. Calling them skaters, even terrible ones, is a gross exaggeration and also a generous euphemism. They are terrible at... being humans who wear skates. Let's say that instead.

Basically they both alternated between laughing and sobbing. They loved the skates themselves, and after an hour or so they loved kiiiiiiinda moving around a liiiiiitle bit... on the carpet. But as far as rolling around as a mode of transportation, on a slippery wooden floor? Nope. (Shocking, right?) (When I told them some people like the floor slippery because it helps them skate fast which they find fun, Nathan and Anneliese looked at me like I had lost my fool mind.)

But they kept trying and they didn't want to quit, and they were so encouraging of each other (always easier to cheer someone else on to do something you're scared to do yourself, of course), so we went to Target afterwards for Good-Effort Icees. Yes it was totally a millenial parent move and I am rolling my eyes at myself except not really because I wanted a treat too. (Did you know kid icees are only like a dollar at Target? True story.) (Icees also have caffeine, except the flavors that specifically say they don't have caffeine. Also a true story.)

2.) On Tuesday, I took Anneliese to have a lunch date with Nathan at his school, which she has been asking to do forever and ever, and he was so proud to have her there. His teacher encouraged us to come to the classroom first, and walk down to the cafeteria with them, and we did, Anneliese clutching Nathan's hand the whole way. He helped her know what to do: "Anneliese, we have to walk in the halls with integrity. Integrity means you act right in line without anyone telling you to." (!!!)

We sat at the end of his class's table in the cafeteria, and several of his friends clamored to sit with us, and several of the girls in his class fawned over Anneliese, and the whole thing was very heartening, to see Nathan in his normal environment, doing great and still so welcoming to his little sister. Oh man. It was chaotic but oh so sweet.

3.) This morning, I took Nathan to school early so he could shop at the book fair and of course Anneliese, when she heard what it was, wanted to come too. So we went, and they picked out books, and we sat in his media center and read until he needed to go to class.

And can I just say Y'ALL, the book fair is JUST AS MUCH FUN NOW as it was when we were kids. I got a little swoony. The folding metal shelves! The boxes of bookmarks! The posters! It is all still the same and all still as book fair magical as it always has been. Booooooook faaaaaaaaair!!!!!

Nathan, Dinosaur Author

So, here is a cute thing Nathan has been doing recently: writing books.

(I promise not to do this kind of thing all the time HAHAHAHA I can't even finish that thought, I make no such promises, I am a mom and I have a blog so I will be telling alllll the cute things.)

His elective this quarter (yes, he has electives), after some disappointment at not getting into a group piano class (story for another day) is a writing class, and we think this has somehow made him feel empowered to write All the Books.

One night he crept down out of his room at like 10:30, after (apparently) being very busy for hours at his desk with printed coloring pages, scissors and crayons, talking something about hey mommy daddy I wrote a book, and like any excellent parents, we were all, mmmmkay buddy sounds great GO TO BED.

Well, come morning, we found this gem (gem I say!) stacked and gluesticked and stapled together:

And then another:

And then there was an informative booklet on dino predators, with this as the final page culminating his thoughts:

And another book after that, and another. He wrote one for Mark about about a stegosaurus fighting a spinosaurus. He wrote one for Another Nathan about an allosaurus fighting an ankylosaurus (I think?) and one about an apatosaurus being bigger than a house -- so yeah, there is a theme to this series, you could say.

And then there were several books on airplanes:

(I like Plans better. I would read a book about Plans. I love Plans. Let's make Plans!)

Apparently he is also a librarian, and here are his "Dinosaurs Books Choices" if you would like to check one out from him:

My favorite part of it all is that colorful spinosaurus towering over the fallen t-rex. I cannot not laugh. CANNOT. Every time.

When he wins his first Pulitzer I am going to be really glad I scanned this crap in.