The Madcap Adventures of Mama Grouch and The Creep and The Twerp

So proud

The boy was willing to try ski jumping on Saturday and then on Sunday he hooked a brown trout (for three seconds) in Wisconsin. I can't express how proud I am of the guy.

California Bound

(Third Annual Art Sled Rally, Powderhorn Park, MN)
(This is one way that Minnesotans combat the winter blues)

The winter hath overtaken us, to the point where anything over 10� seems reasonable. The days are short, the nights are long, and I try not to think about everyone in Canada because it would mean that I have to stop feeling sorry for myself and I am not interested in seeing this particular cup of self-pity as half-full.

I have a history of depression and have, in the past, taken anti-depressants on and off to help get through the rough spots. I stopped taking them altogether when I was pregnant with the Creep because it turns out that I am one of those super-glowy pregnant women who is extremely content and happy for the entire 9 months of gestation. We were on super-watch for postpartum depression, but it seems that I am one of the lucky percentage of women that can joke about eating my children without actually following through with it. I never went back on medication, deciding that as long as I could keep my depressive tendencies in check though diet and lifestyle choices I would try to avoid the hassle of the side effects and what-have-you.

This means that several times a year I really struggle with awful soul-crushing (eh, maybe just instep-crushing...I am too sleep deprived and busy for the really dramatic stuff anymore) sadness and feelings of inadequacies - usually manifesting around my relationships with people. Luckily, over the years, I have learned that that feelings of "nobody likes me, everybody hates me" are mainly in my head, which keeps the public displays of crazy in check, but no matter how many times I tell myself "this feeling isn't real, it is all in your head"...the end result is that I still feel sad and lonely and friendless and exhausted from trying to keep it in check until April. At this time of I am particularly sympathetic to the schizophrenics who see tentacles growing out of people's noses because, man, even if you know it isn't real that has to be just disturbing as hell.

So when I turned to the EP the other day and asked if I could go visit my friend Frank* in California, he lovingly replied "For the love of God, go!"

I am off to California, with a mere 5 days notice. It is not the sunny "toes in the sand" part of California - San Francisco/Sacramento - but it is the part of the world that is 50� warmer than where I am at the moment. Frank has found us a room at the (I kid you not) Hotel Frank, then we will bum around San Fransisco for a day before going to Sacramento hang out with her two adorable children and sweetie-pie husband for a day. I will then promptly turn around and come home. But it is enough. Enough that suddenly the (very cold) birds are singing and the (extremely bright due to the incredibly low temperature) sun is shining and everything seems just that much better.

And I am the hell out of here.

-MG

*no worries of infidelity here my dear readers, this is simply a nickname for my girlfriend...it is a long story which culminates in her calling me "Mary"
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In Other News: In light of the recent Tiger Woods fiasco, we are considering grooming the kids for a career in Rock and Roll instead. The Twerp tries her hand at a minute and a half into the video (for those of you who may not appreciate the finer points of the electric guitar and find you need to fast-forward).

New member of the family - E.P. post

Check it:

Baby Maggie- E.P. Post

She takes after her momma.

Un, Tu, Tee, Ma....Whoaaaaa

The Twerp loves some Sesame Street Feist. She will ask for it by rocking back and forth and saying "Un, tu, tee, ma," and then giving a good "whoaaaaa" sustained note, just in case we weren't entirely clear on the concept.

Apple Orchard (or, Our Disgustingly Happy Family)

To prove that we are still alive, and that I am paying way more attention to my camera than my blog, I give you: The Apple Orchard (or, My Husband is Crazy Awesome)

Macaroni Pizza and Rocket Ships

Before they get lost in his increasingly accurate and expanding vocabulary, I want to write down my two favorite Creep-isms of the moment.

First, there is Macaroni Pizza. While it may be glaringly obvious to the majority of the populous, it took our sleep deprived and vitamin deficient brains most of the summer to figure out why on earth the Creep would request "Macaroni Pizza" on a regular basis. I assumed that he had heard about it from a friend, or that it was the natural marriage of his two favorite foods. The EP valiantly made him both macaroni and pizza only to be met with absolute bemusement on the part of the Creep when the EP asked if he really wanted the macaroni on the pizza. The Creep said "no, thank you, I will eat it like this." and the mystery deepened. His Noni called me up while he was spending the day at her house just to ask if she should really put macaroni on his pizza.

It was only when I took him to get a slice at a local pizza joint did all of the pieces finally come together. The Creep pointed to the slice that he wanted and said "I want the one with macaroni on it," and I got him his slice of Pepperoni Pizza. We still call it Macaroni Pizza though, and hopefully always will.

My other absolute favorite thing to listen to him say is his rocket ship countdown, which goes a little something like this (always skipping #8 on the way up but not on the way back down):

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...admission!"

De-Stashing 101

The Twerp has entered her Helpful Phase. At dinner time each of us will have a collection of mismatched shoes on our laps as she makes the trek back and forth to the front porch bringing us ever more and more shoes. She brings us shoes that I swear I have never seen before. Between bites of food we nod like idiots and thank her for bringing us flip flops and tennis shoes, wingtips and fuzzy bunny slippers and she grins like a maniac with a job well done.

She is also obsessed with telephones of all kinds. Thanks to her, our cordless phones are always 100% charged since she cannot tolerate them anywhere except on the charger. She will screech like a banshee and go running across the room at the mere sight of a family member accidentally setting the phone down on the arm of the couch. She has actually crawled up onto and across the dining room table to pick up a phone sitting in front of me to then hand it to me with all the admonishment of an overzealous hall monitor.

But there is a dark side to the Helpful Phase which we shall call the Unhelpful Phase (give me a break, I can't be witty all the time).

There is a bin in the kitchen where we keep clean rags that has become the go-to place for keys, tupperware, small toys, diaper ointment and...shoes (of course). It is frickin' adorable. Therefore the following video is slightly understandable in that the EP did not know that she had switched up her modus operandi. What you need to keep in mind as you are watching it is that a) the clean rag bin is to the left of the dishwasher and b) what she is transporting into the kitchen is a stack of my quilting fabrics.

Walking and the Art of Starting them Young

Within two weeks of this:

Came this:

...because we don't mess around with our meal ticket.

Eventful Day

First Day of School:

First Encounter with Bubble Wrap: