while the boys ran wild stella and sierra decided they were zen friends:.jpg)
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back in sweden
with the project that will not end. This time had some excitement on the trip out. Thanks to the chaos in Bangkok airport, one of SAS's long distance planes was stuck, so my trip from SEA-CPH ended up getting canceled. So, instead I took British Airways to London Heathrow, experiencing the lovely new terminal 5 -- which actually wasn't too bad.
This time I spent the night in Stockholm and took the 2.5 hour train to work in the morning. Here's my view from the surprisingly nice Best Western Hotel Terminus (obviously across the street from Stockholm's central station.
visions of sugarplums
since my last post i found a "cider six ways" article in the december cooking light and am definitely going to simmer some in the crock pot christams eve--check out the poll to the right and vote for your version of choice! (of course this cocktail also looked fun!).
i've also been thinking about what biscotti i'm baking this year--last year jenn & i made giada's version of this holiday treat and i loved the lemon zest but i'm a bittersweet and not a white chocolate kind of girl. thinking doing some dried cherries and toasted almonds dipped in dark chocolate. any suggestions there?
but mostly i'm excited because owen's holiday zeal is infectious. tonight we read; no, analyzed! the night before christmas (i'd change the "what we're reading now" to the right except owen would sing the 12 bugs hourly if i'd cooperate!)--he was very interested in the "nice" and "naughty" list (especially since we've been having discussions about what's nice and not nice to do at preschool--like throwing sand and pushing in line and not shouting the abcs during rest time) and was going to work very hard to be "in the middle" of the "good list." he thought that if i worked hard at my school santa would put me on the nice list too. and if santa ate his cookies then santa could be a good boy too. we also danced to ella fitzgerald's rendition of rudolph the red nosed reindeer and i'm looking forward to a festive thursday in the middle of an otherwise hectic week.
holiday excitement
we're counting down the days over here--especially since sal & jennifer and baby lily are spending christmas eve at our place! we're deliriously excited and i'm looking forward to simmering some hot spiced cider, singing the twelve bugs of christmas and taking an evening stroll to see all the "gingerbread houses"!
here are sal and lily practicing their carols--i'm thinking lily and owen need their own christmas album!
nana to the rescue
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the thing about getting a salon haircut from a rocker boy with a mod tail is that it necessitates "product." so the angled "skater" cut (i believe this is how aunt jenni described it) works if i want to use styling paste on a three year old. and maybe i just have a freakish motherly thing for variations on the bowl cut but i couldn't take it anymore--and apparently neither could nana ; she was just waiting on the sidelines for the call to action with those scissors to straighten that cut (as well as trim that "soccer mullet" in the back).
from thankful conversation starters
so i had started a post of my thankful list, but rather than replay the usual i thought i'd share some of owen's answers to our "conversation starters" questions from the thankful feast.
- if you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? (looking at his plate) TURKEY!
- if you were a superhero what would your super power be? to FLY up up in the sky!
- if you had a milllion dollars? buy a new THOMAS train
- if you could change your first name what would you choose? JOE
- if you had to live in another country what would it be? RIVERSIDE (not norway? not france?) nope. RIVERSIDE!
- what is the worst thing you have ever eaten? SNOT
- if you had to live on the moon what would you take? a ROPE. so i could climb up to the moon.
quiet time
things have been quiet here on the fidfam front--mostly because all the fids are in vegas visiting with great grandma & grandpa and it's just me and the fid-dog. i had these luxurious plans brewing involving a secret spa day, a haircut, and lots of cafe-ing down by the beach. when i arrived home sunday morning after seeing the boys off, however, i thought i should lay down for a quick morning nap. six hours later i woke up feeling like i could sleep another twelve. the "porn" for new moms (and getting older moms) isn't boxer-brief clad dads vacuuming (although that is hot and i'm a bigger fan of dishwashing myself) but the ability to close a door while peeing and take a nap without being violently awoken by take-along percy on his branch line that runs under your pillow.
the other reality, of course, and why i'm here and not playing nickel slots is that it's week 8 in the quarter and i've got 42 papers to get back to my students before thanksgiving break and a satchel of various and sundry quizes and other assignments that need to be logged into the gradebook. however, i plan to tackle these things after a long, scalding hot bath with aromatherapy candles and not a creatacious creature in sight.
still, it's eerily quiet and and i'm looking forward to tuesday when my tired boys return and we can all nap together--three and a dog to a couch. here's uncle ryan and owen showing us how real naps are done:.jpg)
a playlist for owen
ok, is it so crazy that i saw this ad for the ipod nanos and thought it would be the perfect christmas gift for? i know, i know he's three and its an ipod for goodness sake. but bear with me--this afternoon we googled for the release of the new coldplay we heard on kcrw last night--it took me a minute to recognize the song bentley was playing but owen knew right away the riffs from "life in technicolor" and the drumbeats from "viva la vida." his favorite game is dance party--and we're not talking about the wiggles; just run the mp3 playlist in the living room and tagteam dance moves. seriously. not to mention his total dominance of the cd changer in the jeep--he not only knows elizabeth mitchell is in cd3 and "rollercoaster" is on juno in cd5 . and his newest discovery? abba gold: "the first song is dancing queen!". besides, you should have seen him in the applestore--kid in the candy store, definitely, but he could show those "geniuses" a thing or three. . . besides, he could get orange and the super-squishy kid-friendly earbuds with a low volume max. i'm just saying. santa gets the laptop and mommy gets to rock.
steep humps and long lists
so i totally underestimated the gradient of said hump (see post somewhere below). since then i've run out of gas on the freeway (that aaa membership just paid for itself), lost my laptop cord leaving me unplugged since friday, and spent three hours yesterday cancelling credit cards for a mysteriously missing (since found) wallet.
but next week is our "thankful feast" and owen has been keeping a running list of everything he's putting in his "thankful book"--so really, it's hard to stay too discouraged. here's the list so far according to owen:
- you! mommy i'm thankful for you! and daddy too! (and he'll be home after he fixes one
more computer in sweeden then he'll get on a sas plane and come home!) - popsicles!
- and trees
- grandma and grandpa AND nana and papa!
- and my cousins riley and macy and baby lily too!
- sierra dog is my best friend. no. sierra is my friend and west is my best friend! and i'm thankful for them!
- blue's clues
- the magic school bus
- the library
- and preschool mommy, i'm thankful for preschool and my teacher miss sherry
Christmas Spoiler (Owen don't read this)
Since mommy and daddy are always on laptops these days, Owen feels the need to explore and see what all the fuss is about. His curious behavior leads him to watch endless youtube videos, thomas the train game, or just typing words in MS Word. So, this year we decided to get him a laptop for christmas. We settled on the XO Laptop -- which is associated with the One Laptop per Child association. The computer itself is based on a Linux-based OS rather than Windows, comes with lots of learning applications and games. we'll see how it goes. I'm excited about this for him. And the best part is that amazon is having a Give a laptop, Get a laptop deal right now, which give you an opportunity to donate a laptop to the child in the world.
mini-michael
while owen and i were out having some retail-therapy at the mall we decided to pass on the forty minute wait and the $30 for a haircut in a rocketship. however, on our way out we asked the pink-haired receptionist at carlton if they had any spots for a tot cut. she grabbed the rocker boy who was lounging across the mall at the nordstrom cafe under the escalator and he gave owen a complete salon treatment. not only did he have his first shampoo/conditioner at the big-boy (or girl?) sink but he had a complete styling treatment with the razor scissors and mini buzzer (while the sassy girl in pink explained to superowen why batman is fabuluous) finished off with a blowdry and styling paste. and it hit me when we got home and molly said: wow! you look just like your daddy! that rocker boy gave owen a funkified (note the asymmetrical bang) michael cut. hehe..jpg)
over the hump
i woke up this morning and for the first time since m. left i felt ok. i didn't feel wheezy, anxious, phlegmy or just like i was swimming underwater. and i looked in my fridge and it was so sad i took a picture:.jpg)
so after a lazy morning on our thursday off owen and i went to trader joe's and stocked up (and got ourselves free coffee and scones for breakfast!). here's the after picture with lots of goodies from our friend joe:.jpg)
so the before and after pics remind of that game in that magazine in the pediatrican's office highlights where you find all the changes in the silly cartoons only there isn't a drawing of a fish in a tree. . .
"kota & sierra will be good friends""
today owen found this in the target toy catalouge. and when i told him we didn't have room for a pet dinosaur he said, oh mommy don't worry kota can sleep in the living room. perfect. i was hoping for some new pillows but a 3 foot dinosaur that plays "4 different adventure themed tunes" (here's the video) would be much much better.
me, on the other hand, i'm pretty excited about this.
saturday seven
i can't even begin to catch up with everything that's been going on since i last posted and i find i keep half starting posts (in my head) of elation and of frustration. but i have been enjoying the post-election TOP 10 & TOP 20 lists. in the true adventurefidfam spirit i thought i'd share a list of my owEn:
the saturday seven summing -up: 7 brillig owen quotes
7. i have bronchitus, a fractured toe (and cramps). not only am i incredibly gimpy but owen explained:
your voice sounds like seaweed
6. the day before when i told him we all just needed an early bedtime he asked:
are you feeling ill?
5. when asked what to have for dinner: hmmmm. how about something tasty?
4. i love you mommy, and i love myself!
3. pointing to the cover of how do dinosauurs play with their friends: that's a lambeosaurus. he has a penis on his head.
2. this is just pure mind reading. with no particular context but perfectly clear:
sierradog is our dog and he needs to live in our house.
1. the last one deserves a little pre-narrative: owen donned his "O" cape (coincidence?) and masked himself as a "superhero for democracy" for our election party with BW&S. by 7:30 the three year olds were over msnbc and cnn.com so we packed up the party. at 8:00 we were in the car and owen suddenly started crying and exclaimed:
but i need my superhero cape so i can save obama for democracy!
five minutes later after the polls on the west coast closed owen had learned to say: "barack obama is our 44th president!".
saturday night is pizza night!
ever since we had a pizza party with west last month we've been having our own saturday night family date night with some 99cent whole wheat trader joe's dough and everything from sweet mini peppers to peppered salami.
this guy knows how to use a rolling pin!.jpg)
and check out his unique heart shaped "family" pizza:.jpg)
sweet & tasty!
i also stole bridget's simple but amazing recipe for caprese salad--one container cilligne buffalo mozerella, handful of fresh chiffonade basil, one package trader joe's heirloom tomatoes (look for a mix with yellow and green--they're wonderfully sweet!). i use our dwindling stash of blood orange EVOO from Oliver's in San Clemente and their drinkable 15 year balasmic vinegar. it makes an amazing accompaniement and the tomatoes mixed with the oil&vineager leave behind an amazing dipping sauce for your pizza crust!.jpg)
hey you 80s kids! remember this?
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look what nana & papa uncovered in the garage--and it still works and still rocks! owen's favorite of course is the mystery? button and after an hour of avid letter-ing he was showing me how it works: "okay mommy, now you listen and try to spell the word YOLK." awesome!
the new grading
so i've been accumulating a list of things that change when you teach with a toddler... and as i finish the 2nd of 3 batches of essays to grade (in record late time) i quickly learn that grading is more about creative management. there is no more reading chair with the ambient music and a casual latte (with some microplaned dark chocolate on top) to prepare you for seventy three essays on why the new toyota corolla ad is appealing to "modern society" through "gender roles that nowadays have changed." or maybe that is just my fantasy, along with the typed comments for each student. but now i wonder: how many essays can i grade in thirty two minutes while sesame street is on, can i finish one while sitting on the stepstool on the bathroom while owen does "big poops," and will owen play with the empty office trash can (contents now strewn up and down the hallway)long enough for me to write "the most compelling part of your essay" blahblahblah "suffers from a lack of a clearly articulated thesis statement." ok, only twentytwo minutes left in sesame street and i still have two batches to go before tomorrow!
planet talk with owen
after watching the magic school bus rocket into space, owen's been dropping space facts all over the place and quizzing me about which planets are habitable and which are not. here he is working on our big space floor puzzle and chatting about why we couldn't live on mercury and why neptune is his favorite planet:
hockey night
Yesterday I went to a match between the local team -- Färjestad versus Brynäs, who are in first place at the time. The atmosphere was great, with the local team winning 5-1. Hockey is definitely the national sport here in Sweden, so they take it very seriously. Unlike the NHL, the game seems faster, the ref's don't tolerate fighting and step in immediately. The game was held at the Löfbergs Lila Arena, which people may recognize as the coffee supplier to IKEA. Pics:
the arena
from 97 to 73 in 61 miles
a very blustery day
today i found myself digging on my bookshelf for joan didion on the santa ana winds. i'm pretty sure i did this last year as well, and yes, she had the answers and the affirmations i needed.
from "some dreamers of the golden dream"
The San Bernardino Valley lies only an hour east of Los Angles by the San Bernardino Freeway but is in certain ways an alien place: not the coastal California of hte subtropical twilights, and the soft westerlies off the Pacific but a harsher California, haunted by the Mojave just beyond the mountains, devestated by the hot dry Santa Ana wind that ocmes down through the passesa t 100 miles an hour and whines thorugh the eucalyputs windbreaks and works on the nerves. october is the bad month for th ewind, the month when breathing is difficult and the hills blaze up sontaneously. There has been no rain since April. Every voice seems a scream. It is the season of suicide and divorce and prickly dread, wherever the wind blows.
and i feel wind whipped, chapped, beaten and dry. this morning as i drove through the 241 that carves up the mountains between corona and irvine i blasted my way through dust storms, gripped the steering wheel as my little jeep swayed side to side as those santa anas slapped me silly. and when i got to class i felt for no explainable reason lonely and sad. one snarky comment from a student had me devestated. everyone i loved seemed desperately far away. the seventy papers i just collected seemed like the onslaught of a nasty desert storm. then i grabbed the didion and i remembered, chap lipped: right, october.
so i made an intense french press pot of some blue bottle coffee and cried for most of my office hours and sorted through all that guilt, fear, and anxiety. mostly though, i just needed some rain (and it didn't hurt to hear m.'s voice on the other side of the phone). and now i need to pack up and get back home--perhaps i'll watch some winnie the pooh with mr. owen.
antidote to wind:
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here's owen's first school picture. really, could he look any more joyful? the preschool director told me it looked like he was riding a roller coaster, and his teacher laughed and said this is how he looked from the minute he ran out on the playground until he crashed out on his thomas blanket at nap time.
the economy is bad...
except here at Rolls-Royce. The orders just keep rolling in. It seem surreal that the day the US/Europe/Asia stock markets took their worst beating, there was a party (meaning cake) for employees celebrating a giant order from the British Navy. I took a picture from the local paper:
ummmm. ouch?
so while i was posting pictures of dinosaur poses owen was in the bathroom doing his "peeps." we've had a few conversations about gently closing the toilet lid, especially with his peepers so close by.
and then i hear a slam.
"owen! be gentle!" t
hen another exaggerated slam.
then a scream. "i smashed my peepee!"
and then hysteria.
so i rush into the bathroom to see owen naked and red and sniffling "my peepee i smaashed my penis."
there wasn't much to do but scoop up a naked and sobbing owen and pat him on the head and explain that some parts of our bodies are more sensitive than others.
"let me look at my penis. nope, it's not broken."
and then he rushes back in the bathroom (still naked) and very very gently open and closes the toilet seat.
whew.
dinosaur yoga
while sitting out on the patio, owen came up with these new hatha? poses:
ankylosaurus yoga:.jpg)
apatasaurus yoga:.jpg)
tyrannasaurus rex yoga:.jpg)
there was also centrosaurus, teranodon, and troodon (can you tell we've been reading our dinosaur books?)
the word in the house: SPOOKY
mom, owen tells me yesterday after preschool, it's october now and october means it's halloweentime! spooky means, according to owen: 1) "halloween in spanish" (yes, we've been watching mucho sesamestreet) and 2) "it's what ghosts are when they are trying to be scary and we just say BOO!".jpg)
so today on our tuesday at home we hit michaels and got our crafting supplies. we're all set for a month of spooky activities and today we not only hung our spooky pumpkin lights and our spooky wreath (ok, this is more mommy's craft--idea stolen from b.--but owen did pick out the butterflies for me), but we also made this awesome spooky house:.jpg)
say UNCLE!
the last few weeks have been a bit crazy--the new quarter starting, michael's quick week home and the third crash of my increasingly tempermental laptop (naughty naughty vista). but we've had some great family adventures as well--my favorite of which has been lots of uncle time!
dancing with uncle sal around the roses:.jpg)
playing monkey with uncle ryan:
stockholm
I spent last friday morning tooling around the city of Stockholm until my flight. I spent most of the time in Gamla stan or Old town. Really beautiful and fairly empty in the morning... Just the early morning commuters on their way to work. Here are some pics:
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