Once upon a time a modern fairy tale began when a handsome and more-than-slightly smart-alecky College Boy married a beautiful and very smart Irish Girl. They were very happy together, but something was missing.

“We need an apartment.” Irish Girl told College Boy. Wisely, College Boy agreed, so the happy couple searched high and low until they found a cozy little apartment that was perfect for them. But something was still missing.

“We need things for our apartment – lots of things.” College Boy told Irish Girl. Looking at the empty rooms, Irish Girl agreed. Little by little they filled the cozy apartment with many wonderful things. But something was still missing.

“We need a kitten,” College Boy told Irish Girl, “And I know the perfect one!” College Boy took Irish Girl to meet the tiny kitten, and when he was old enough Loki moved into the cozy apartment. But still, something was missing.

Irish Girl because she was very smart knew what was missing. “We need a baby!” she told College Boy. College Boy was surprised, but he couldn’t disagree. Before long a sweet little Love Bug joined the happy family in their cozy apartment.

Little by little Love Bug grew and grew, and before long she learned how to sleep at night and play during the day although she doesn’t always choose to do so. She used her baby smiles, coos and giggles to wind her parents around her little finger. When she’s a little bit older she’ll lead her parents on a Quest to visit the King and Queen aka Teacher and me, and will most certainly rule the castle during her visit.

We can’t wait!

Once upon a time there was a tall, dark, handsome, slightly smart-alecky College Boy who worked in the campus library. Actually he’s more than slightly smart-alecky but this is a fairy tale so we’ll go along with the illusion.

In the same library worked a tall, beautiful, soft-spoken, and just-plain-smart Irish Girl. Did I mention she is beautiful? And tall? Very tall – almost as tall as College Boy – which is saying something ‘cuz he’s no shrimp.

One night at work College Boy met Irish Girl and discovered that she was his One True Love. After completing many difficult quests which I would recount here except this is a modern fairy tale not a traditional Grimm tale – and yes, I know that disappoints you College Boy, but as your grandma would say; get over it. he finally won her heart and asked her to become his wife. She agreed, and there was much rejoicing.

Over a long holiday weekend the families of the smart-alecky boy and soft-spoken girl took a long and arduous journey How long and arduous? Imagine two adults, one teen, and three children aged 4 months, 2 years and 4 years together in a minivan without a DVD player for nine hours. Need I say more? to witness the joining of College Boy and Irish Girl in the bonds of holy matrimony.

And so their Happily Ever After begins. Congratulations both of you, and welcome to the family Irish Girl!

Little Guy is a stubborn cuss – he comes by it naturally since both of his parents are stubborn too. For the longest time he wouldn’t speak much. It’s not that he couldn’t talk, he just wouldn’t. Teacher and I worried on and off about it for months. At the age where our other kids were putting words together into sentences Little Guy rarely spoke single words, much less sentences. He would learn new words and repeat them several times in one day, then file them away somewhere deep in his brain never to be spoken again. We knew he was OK because he could understand us beautifully, and he was able to get his point across through grunts and gestures. But Teacher and I were still frustrated because we had to work so hard to figure out what Little Guy wanted, and because we knew he could talk if he wanted to.

But all this time Little Gut was soaking language in like a sponge and storing it in his brain. Right before Christmas the dam broke and he began to talk like he’d been doing it all his life. It started one night when I was changing his diaper and talking to him like I always do. I was saying something about a cow when he said “Moo!” I was so surprised and excited to hear him speak that I didn’t know what to do.

“What’s a cow say?” I asked again. “Moo!” He replied.
“How about a pig?” “Wink!”
“Kitty cat?” “Mow!”
“Doggie?” “Voof!”
Whoa, I didn’t know he knew these! How many does he know, and where did he learn them?
“What does a duck say?” “Kahk!”
“Rooster?” He looked at me like I was crazy. “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” I said. He looked at me like I was crazy again so I decided to skip that one.
“How about a mouse?” I asked. “Skeek!”
I was astounded! Here was a child who wouldn’t say more than Mama, Dada, and No for the longest time, and he was telling me what all the animals said. Wow! I later found out that Angel Face had been reading him a book with animal sounds and went through all of them whenever she changed him.

Since then it’s been a joy to hear Little Guy speak – made all the more precious because we had to wait so long for it. I love the insight into what’s going on in his mind, what he thinks, feels and understands. Sometimes I wish he’d stop talking, or at least learn to whisper – like the other Sunday when he spent the whole church service pretending I was a castle and climbing his “Wonder Pets Save the Unicorn” figures all over me while saying “Castle! Mine castle! No, castle! Up castle!” etc.

The other night he found two potato cubes that had escaped Teacher’s cooking pot and was making a tower with them. He was so proud of his “little tower” and having so much fun knocking it down that I had to take a quick video of it with my digital camera. His personality shines through, and you’ll get to hear him speak – finally. Enjoy!

Guess what – Teacher and I are grandparents! Are you surprised? So were we last spring when Princess gave us the news that a baby was on the way.

Over the past months we’ve grown more and more excited about welcoming a new baby into our family. After much anticipation she finally arrived around Christmas time! She’s just a little peanut – 5 lbs, 7 oz and 19″ long at birth. Obviously she’s absolutely beautiful (How could she be otherwise with such a gorgeous mommy and grandma?) with lots of soft, dark hair and big dark eyes. She’s got her father’s round face and Princess’s dimpled chin – an irresistible combination!

Princess had lots of support throughout her pregnancy. Once family and friends got over their initial surprise they were quick to offer lots of hugs, unconditional love, and excitement about the upcoming baby. Things were the same when it came to labor and delivery. In addition to the attentive nurses, Princess had Cowboy, Cowboy’s mom and me there to support and help her.

Although I’ve gone through labor and delivery as the mommy before, I’ve never seen it from the other side. Attending Peanut’s birth was awesome… incredible… miraculous… every adjective you’ve ever heard describing the miracle of birth, and then some. Princess was so strong and did an amazing job, but it was very hard for me to see her in pain. As her mommy I wanted to make it all better! If there had been a way for me to take her place I would have in a heartbeat.

Things have obviously been different around here since Princess and Peanut came home from the hospital. Princess is a wonderful mommy but she sometimes still needs her own mommy – especially around 4am when she’s been awake for hours with a fussy Peanut. I don’t mind taking a shift with Peanut in the middle of the night so Princess can sleep for a couple of hours in a row. I remember how desperate for sleep a new mama can be: One night shortly after Jo-Bear was born I was awakened yet AGAIN by his cries. Wearily I got him started nursing yet AGAIN on nipples that were sore from his constant attachment. I sat crying in the dark, “I’ll never sleeeeeep aaaagaaaaaiiiinnnn…” Now that I’m past that mind-numbing stage of mommy-hood I’m glad I’m able to help Princess. This is what Peanut looks like at 4am. Such a wide-awake baby! I don’t look nearly that good at that hour of the morning.

Cowboy is a very enthusiastic dad. In the hospital he did most, if not all, of the care-taking for Peanut. He changed all her diapers, brought her to Princess to nurse, held her so Princess could nap, and shooed away guests when mama and baby were sleeping. He wants to spend as much time with Peanut and Princess as he can so whenever he can he comes over to our house after school to spend time with them before he has to go to work. Almost every weekend he takes Princess and Peanut to his house to spend a day with his extended family. Cowboy is such a proud daddy!

Stepping into the role of Grandma has been more difficult for me than I anticipated. My mom makes it look easy, but I’m not used to being “second string.” I’m used to being The Mommy; the main caregiver, the main decision-maker, the one baby is most attached to. At first it was hard to step aside and let Cowboy and Princess make decisions about Peanut – especially since they’re so young – but I’m getting better little by little. As Peanut gets older and we all adjust to having her in our lives I’m sure it will be even easier. Teacher and Dr. Phil have helped too. From Teacher I’ve adopted the mantra “She’s not my baby” which I repeat in my head whenever I’m tempted to butt in. Dr. Phil’s line “You don’t get a vote” was shared with me by my friend Cindy – whose a big Dr. Phil fan. I”m not fond of that line because I think I should always get a vote, no matter what, but I know he is right.

But being the grandma has its advantages too. I thought I was a pretty relaxed mommy, but I’m even more relaxed as a grandma. The people who say that grandchildren are better than children because you can spoil them then send them home were right; even though Peanut lives with us the relationship is different. I may play back-up for Princess and be Peanut’s caregiver when Princess is in school, but when push comes to shove Peanut is Princess’s responsibility.

Another advantage is that there’s another cloth-diapered bottom in the house! Little Guy has asked to sit on the potty a couple of times and even though he didn’t do anything besides grunt a couple of times I can see the end of cloth diapers approaching in the distance. I was so sad thinking about the end of my cloth diapering days. But now I can look forward to Little Guy potty-learning because I have Peanut to make cute diapers for! Speaking of which, here are some extra small Zany Zebra diapers and covers I made for Peanut. Angel Face helped choose the colors, aren’t they great?!

So join us in welcoming Peanut into our family – I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot of her as she grows up!

Teacher and I didn’t have anything special planned for Valentine’s Day, but it turned out to be a special day anyway.

The day started out wonderfully – for me at least. There was no Saturday Band so Teacher and I planned to sleep in… unfortunately the little boys had a different plan and got up early. But Teacher was a real sweetheart and got up with them so I could sleep more – what a guy! Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and soon Teacher, Little Guy and I were ready to run some errands.

First we stopped at the Pasty Koop for breakfast pasties. That’s pah-stee like nasty, not pay-stee like hasty. If you say pay-stee you’ll be talking about those tassle things strippers wear on their boobies; I doubt they’d make a good breakfast. The Pasty Koop makes egg/bacon/potato and egg/sausage/potato/green pepper breakfast pasties. Although I don’t usually like green peppers I like the sausage ones best cuz they’re spicy!

We started nibbling on the hot pasties as we drove to the Bargain Garden a couple of blocks away. The Bargain Garden is the resale shop where we take our “stuff.” All the profits from the B.G. go to benefit our kids’ high school, FVL. Can’t beat that! While Teacher took the bags in I sat next to Little Guy and fed him bacon pasty. “Yum!” he said, opening his mouth wide for bites.

After a quick stop at my favorite coffee place, Jo to Go, we flew through Babies R Us and Joann’s, and ended up in Penzey’s Spices. Little Guy was an absolute jewel, holding Teacher’s or my hand in the first two stores and walking next us nicely as can be. But by the time we got to Penzey’s he’d used up all his patience and started running around the displays calling “Roun’ an’ roun’! Roun’ an’ roun’! Roun’ an’ roun’!” He’s really big into circles right now – he points to anything circular and moves his finger in a circle crying “Circle! Roun’ an’ roun’! Roun’ an’ roun’!” We distracted him from running roun’ and roun’ with paper and crayons available on a little spice-crate table. While Teacher shopped Little Guy colored “roun’ and roun’” all over his paper, naming each color as he picked it from the basket.

On the way home from Penzey’s we grabbed McDonalds for the kids’ lunch. Little Guy knows those Golden Arches and was very excited when he saw them. He pointed and said “Yummy! Fresh Fry! Choc’ate M-milk!” We dropped off lunch and Little Guy, leaving Princess and Angel Face in charge so we could grab a Valentine’s Day lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant: Solea. Caution, turn down your sound before you follow the link to Solea!

On the way to Solea Teacher took a detour to another of our favorite places: The Wreath Factory. I’m addicted to wreaths and have one in almost every room of the house, including the downstairs bathroom. You should try a Eucalyptus wreath in your bathroom – it smells much better than the usual bathroom smells. Our Wreath Factory is located in two old-fashioned downtown storefronts that are in separate buildings so you have to walk through a little courtyard between the buildings to get from one to the other. There’s a decorative brick path through the courtyard and twinkle lights in all the trees which gives it a magical feel. We took our time browsing – you have to because there are so many treasures that you can look at the same wall three times and see something new every time. Teacher offered to get me a Valentine’s gift if I saw something I wanted… and I did! There it was, peeking out from between two silk plants on the bottom shelf of a dry sink: a shiny silver watering can. I’ve wanted an indoor watering can for years but never found one I liked until now. I grinned from ear to ear and did a little happy dance as Teacher purchased that watering can. Yeah, I know I’m a dork, but I don’t care – I finally have a watering can!

As we were checking out the Wreath Factory guy told us about a fused glass studio just a few doors down: Wild Apple Studio and Gallery. He said that the glass artist makes amazing things with recycled glass, and that the current exhibitor, Melvin McGee, does paintings in a Dr. Seuss-like style. We were intrigued by both so we had to stop in for a peek. The paintings were gorgeous; brightly colored, whimsical, and very fun, but it was the glass cases filled with colorful jewelry that caught my eye. “What do you see?” Teacher asked. I pointed out a couple of necklaces and he said “Go ahead and pick one.” Yippee!! It was difficult to choose between the green with purple and the iridescent blue, but my love of all things shiny and sparkly asserted itself and I chose the blue. Two Valentine’s Day presents – I am so spoiled! Actually I’m very lucky to be married to such a wonderful man.

By this time we were both hungry so we took off for Solea. One of the things I love most about Solea is that it’s tiny – I’ve seen gas stations that are bigger than this restaurant – and the people are so friendly. As soon as we stepped inside the bartender said “Welcome, my friends!” and one of the servers asked “Two, my friends?” I love that they call us “my friends” as in “Are you ready to order, my friends? How is everything, my friends? Ready for dessert, my friends?” Even though I know they say that to everyone I still get warm fuzzies inside. As we were seated another server brought warm chips, salsa, bean dip, and menus. “Something to drink, my friends?” We had to order margaritas (on the rocks) – they have the BEST margaritas I’ve ever had. Except for Teacher’s; he makes killer margaritas! Once I watched the bartender to try and get a peek at what “mix” they use, but they have their margaritas premixed in a huge blue crock on the bar so I was out of luck. We didn’t have to study the menus long to make up our minds: enchilada trio for me (chicken with mole sauce, beef with tomatillo sauce, and ground beef with red sauce) and chicken enchiladas with chipotle sauce for Teacher. Yummmmm!!! After all the chips and salsa we’d munched we could only eat about half of our enchiladas, refried beans and Spanish rice. Sadly, we had no room at all for dessert.

By the time were were finished eating it was around 3:00 and I was feeling pangs of guilt for leaving the girls in charge all day so we headed home. The little boys were quickly tucked into bed for late naps, laundry was started, and we got back into our regular Saturday afternoon routine.

The Valentine’s day that started out with “nothing special” planned ended up to be very special after all, and the best thing was that Teacher and I were able to spend some time alone together – something we don’t get to do very often. What a fantastic Valentine’s Day!

The two little boys slept all the way back to Grandma and Grandpa’s after our big day at the beach and woke up famished. Everyone was too tired to cook so we ordered pizza and Grandpa started a fire in the fire pit. We’re not campers so the kids were pretty excited – not only did they get to have a picnic on the grass they got a campfire too!

About the time we were finishing up Uncle Brian and the cousins showed up – Aunt Kris had to work so she missed the fun. It’s amazing how much fun a bunch of kids can have with nothing more than a big expanse of grass.

Disclaimer – I was too tired to get my butt off the swing so I sat across the yard from the kids and used the telephoto lens. Funny thing about telephoto lenses; if you’re not absolutely s.t.i.l.l. you’ll get some blurriness in the photos. Guess who wasn’t absolutely still. And since the fire was between the kids and the swing where I’d collapsed some of the photos have smoke in them. If you’re looking for great photos you’re in the wrong place.

Of course it wasn’t long before the kids started clamoring for S’mores. To be honest, I started it and was the loudest clamorer. After all, isn’t that what a campfire is for? Teacher is the best marshmallow roaster I’ve ever met. His marshmallows are always crisp golden brown yumminess on the outside and melty sweetness on the inside. Just one more reason why I love that man!

More vacation posts coming soon…