ice, anyone!?

Here is my little ice skater.  He had never gone before.  GR has a ice rink so we thought we would give it a go.  My size 9's were horribly uncomfortable so we made it around the rink about 4 times and were ready for hot coco (he calls it warm coco because hot means it burns- smart boy!).  We never fell once- pretty darn impressive.  And sunny, today was very sunny. 

my goonies

Goonies...all three of my boyz are watching the great 80's film Goonies.  Isaac did not watch long because the Cherrios ran out all too soon!  But Will and Z watched the whole thing and really enjoyed it.  It was fun to watch again after so many years.  The things we forget.  Also, recently I was cleaning up the baby and he being sick, his was rather 'snotty' so I started singing "I gotta boogie"  "I can't shake it off, oh no...I can't flick it off, oh no...I sure ain't gunna lick it off.... OH NO!"

life in the Forton lane....

So, I am taking the wimpy way out and posting a whole bunch of pictures at once.  Anyone with kids (especially 3 or more) can truly understand time is of the essence and if you have time to post one picture, you ought to do all 5!  so, where to begin since it has been a while... the first picture is a fantastic picture of Isaac and his Bousha.  The spelling of her Polish nickname is under discussion.  Once her and Eli agree, she will let me know if it is sha or cha.  Believe it or not, all 5 of this pictures were taken with my iphone (which I STILL love) the only thing I don't like is the fact I can only stand in two rooms in the house and get phone reception.  Move to the kitchen or baby's room and I risk dropping the call! I digress...

Second picture is of Isaac and his best daycare buddy Tristan.  When I show him this picture, he just grins from ear to ear.  They truly do have the best time together.

3and4 are of da'boyz and their latest Lego creations.  I was very proud of both of them because other than a piece or two, they put the ships together themselves! That is the best thing about Legos...there are so many possibilities!

The last picture is daddy and baby.  This picture was just taken this past weekend.  If you haven't heard, Isaac is battling RSV right now.  It is an upper respiratory virus that can be dangerous especially to those children under 2 years old.  He has a good wheeze going but the doc said he should be just fine in about a week.  I had planned to go visit my good buddy Elizabeth in the hospital and to meet her new baby Charlotte Lynn but with RSV visiting us, we could not go visit them.  Big bummer too because I am off the week while Steelcase has a shut down of it's GR plants.  All the things you want to do if you had time to do it.  Now I have to see how baby is feeling before I am able to check off anything on my to-do list.  He spiked a temp of 102 yesterday.  He has been such a trooper.  Every smile I get makes me feel a bit better. At the very beginning, I had considered flying to Denver to visit Matt and Mandy.  It just was not good timing and boy, am I glad I did not reserve tickets.  With him being sick like this, I am very glad I did not plan to leave. 

look at him go!

So let me tell you what you are looking at!  

Picture #1 is one of Mark's Christmas presents.  I had all of his 10 pieces printed and framed for our living room.  It was really neat to see all of them printed and in the same place.  It is a large frame and takes up most of one wall in our living room.  It commands the attention when you walk in the room

Picture #2

This is a snapshot of the publications his pieces have been in thus far.  What I did not (and could not) take pictures of was the art exhibit he was chosen to be in DC for the inauguration.  He is also featured in several fellow blogs and other websites.

All of this is very exciting.  It is inspiring.

It also brings some reflection.  With any dream, one must ask themselves...what is success? When has "one arrived"?  Who's gauge do you use?  The media? the all mighty dollar?  The neighborhood gossip?  I asked Mark this one time....and he said recognition.  Doesn't have to be money- just the fact that people that don't know him like his work, appreciate what he does and the work inspires. That is why this breakthrough holds so much weight.  Not only is it folks really liking what they see but the content itself is very important.  Like this success, President Elect Obama indicates change and hope.  The tall challenges facing our next president will cause his administration to pick and choose what gets done first.  This is not unlike anything in life.  There is an adage at Steelcase- when starting a project- 70% right is good enough to get started- improve as the process develops.  And like creating art, if one never starts, one will most definitely will never finish.  Keeping the engine warm and choosing what to do next is half of the fun.  

Mark, I am very proud of you, now keep it up!

hear that?

So, there is a story my parents used to tell me.  I always thought A) it was a neat story because of how they could tell I was awake as a baby and B) that they could hear me at all.  Now as a parent of three kids, I can relate to how life continues but takes on such profound and simple changes.

So here is the story....

When I was a toddler and when my parents would have friends over, I would be in my crib sleeping.  With the noise of the guests and music playing, they would stop mid-sentance and say "Angie is awake"  This would always surprise the guests.  With all the commotion, how in the world would they be able to tell I was awake?  They could hear my nails scratching on the crib sheet.  That is is some pretty powerful hearing.

As I was putting Isaac down for a nap and walking out of his room, I heard the distinct sound of his nails scratching on the crib sheet.  I stood in the doorway for a minute and just listened remembering the story.  It always amazes me how well Mark can hear the baby crying - kids running around, fan on, tv on and he will look at me midsentance and say "Isaac is awake!"  

Here is to keen hearing!

peek-a-boo tires

This is a favorite activity in our house right now.  Unless football is on, you get his complete and undivided attention.  Today we tried peeled grapes (huge success) and again tried carrots (not so much).  Cheerios are always a hit and rounded it out with mashed up noodles.  Yum-o.

Christmas rounded out with a visit from Grandpop.  Grandma Jan was down for the count with the flu so we are hoping she is feeling better.  We watched some quality Lions action and rounded it out with some freshly baked banana bread!  As one devoted Lions fan's sign said

 "0-16 living the dream"

Now that the snow is returning, we are going to try to do a little more sledding before the school machine starts up again.  I am not sure who is dreading school more: me or the kids.  There is so much that goes into getting 3 kids out the door each day.  Homework and activities surrounding school is a whole other 900 word essay that Wackie Burnacki used to require us to write.  I was just also so glad that I had Kamp instead!

Tomorrow we are aiming for Bounce Party.  It did not happen the other night like I had originally planned.  Daddy was hangin with baby....I loaded up Will and Z to go get Jon.  All was well til we got to Jon's when I realized my back tire was nearly flat.  Now, keep in mind, I have a brand new minivan so this should not be happening.  When I limped to the first gas station (4 miles away-EEEK) the air was not working.  So, another mile down the road, the air pump seemed to not be working (unbeknowst to me, that was NOT the problem) and at the third gas station, while applying the air pump to the valve steam, it crumbled in my hand.  Uh, this REALLY should not be happening.  So now there is NO air in my back tire, the van is full of impatient kids ready to run off the stink, it is dark and 20 degrees.  Are we having fun yet?  So, Jon's mom comes over to get us, I have to call a wrecker and watch him change the tire.  You might be asking yourself: Why didn't Mark come get them?  The answer would be....mommy had the carseat in the (you guessed it) MINIVAN!

For those of you who know me, I would not normally call anyone to change a tire.  But being this is a much larger vehicle than I have ever driven and because of the fanciness of this minivan, I could not FIND the spare, I thought it best to watch someone first.  In five minutes and $68 later, I was on the road again.  Now I know how to change a minivan tire.  I can cross that off my 2009 resolution list!

Happy New Year to all.  May the up coming year not be as horrible as they are predicting!

sleeping baby and a bear....

So if you look closely, the baby's head is just above the red bear's head. He fell asleep this way today. We also celebrated Christmas 2008 by greeting Isaac's first tooth. It is isn't out enough to take a picture yet...but you can be sure to see one soon enough!