stop hunger now

neither liam or susanna are eager beavers when it comes to trying new things.  there are some kids -- believe me, i've seen them -- who will bound out of the car for their first day at a new school or new camp or new whatever with an excited smile on their face, ready to meet new friends and do something different.  they're not intimidated by the unknown, or afraid of not fitting in or sticking too far out or being lonely.

these are not our children. 

no, neither of them exactly welcome change.  they're like their parents, in that they like to sort of know what they're getting into and want to assess the situation before diving in headfirst. but once they've done just that, liam will walk forward and join in.  he'll often glance back a time or two for reassurance, but within a minute or so he's acclimated and enjoying himself.  susanna, on the other hand, still clutches my hand.  if she finds a friend, she'll let go of me and go grab that friend's hand, and all is well in the world.  but if she doesn't know anyone, well, it can take a long time for me to detach myself from her vise-like grip.

every once in a while, however, they'll surprise us.  take last sunday, for example.  our church supports the Stop Hunger Now program at least once a year, and for a few hours, converts our huge parish hall into a mini food packing factory.  hundreds of parishioners, most of whom are still dressed in their church clothes, place quite fetching hairnets atop their heads and gloves on their hands and get to work.  we packaged 20,000 meals for children all over the world that sunday, and had a grand time doing it.

just when we were getting into the groove of it all, i realized that the kids' sunday school classes were ending and i needed to retrieve them down in their classrooms.  as we ascended the stairs back to the main floor, i thought, you know, they could totally help out.  there was plenty they could do.  and so into the parish hall we went.

and this is where the surprise comes.  guess who took one look at the hubbub -- with music blaring and adults running about and a huge gong clanging each time we hit another 1,000 meals -- and immediately decided to join in?  why, that would be susanna.

susanna was our table's "runner", transporting our packaged meal bags to the weighers who would then use scales to make sure they were they contained the right amount before sealing and boxing them

and liam, after initially declaring that he was not interested in participating, came around after a minute or two.  he actually joined a table half a room away from the rest of us, serving as a team member with several adults generations older than he.  and had a marvelous time.

liam assumed the role of rice mann, scooping out a cup at a time and pouring it into the bags.  and never fear -- my rule-following boy would never have handled the food without having on gloves.  this photo was taken after all was finished

but.  i will say this.  as much as we all enjoyed the experience and cannot wait to do it again ... we did not have rice that evening for dinner.

sweet treats

last week was full of valentines fun.  below are the inside of the cards susanna made at school for chris and me, which were great because we've always wondered just why she loves us.  now we know.

 

(just in case you're having trouble reading my scanned copy ...

"Daddy you are my Valentine because you have twinkly blue eyes, you laugh when I ticle your foot.  You are special to me because you take care of me and you spend time with me.  Thats why I love you!  Love, Susanna)

 (Mommy you are my Valentine because you have sparkling blue eyes, and blonde hair.  You are special to me because you cook delicious food with me.  And you give me very special gifts.  Thats why I love you!  Love, Susanna)

so that's what they do in the first grade -- write love notes to their parents.  what do they do in second grade, you ask?  apparently dream of ways to honor their girlfriends.  yep, as liam and i walked down the aisle at target to pick up valentine's candy for their classroom parties, liam paused in front of the ghiradelli section and decided he'd like to buy his girlfriend some.  this is lauren, the same "girlfriend" he's had since they were three year-old classmates in preschool, so i know her well.  she's such a sweetheart and quite worthy of some chocolate treatment so we added it to the cart ... and the whole walk up to the checkout lines, liam fretted.  "how do i get it to her?" he asked me.  "i can't give it to her at school because other girls might be jealous -- and it might embarrass her."  (quite an astute observation, i thought.)  "maybe we can bring it to her house?"  and so that's just what we did on valentine's day afternoon.

waiting sort of nervously after ringing the doorbell.  luckily he's not old enough yet to resent me snapping pictures from the car

lauren rode up on her scooter and seemed quite happy ... which made liam beam.  "i think that went as well as i could have hoped," he exclaimed when he returned to the car.  (i'm not quite sure what he was expecting, come to think of it)

and on a completely unrelated note, susanna and i saw the touring show of mary poppins in durham last week with one of her best friends and her mom.  it was quite a grown-up affair ... dinner out at a restaurant, with a showtime starting at 7:30 -- which is normally when she's getting into bed.  we didn't get home until close to midnight.  i'm thinking that when we go see "beauty and the beast" in october, we might just opt for a weekend matinee.

too bad it's blurry, because you're missing my "sparkling blue eyes"

best-laid plans

liam's math class has been studying perimeter and area as of late, and one activity they were assigned was to design their dream house.  he worked hard on his floor plan, his little blond head bent over his paper for almost an hour as he drew his lines, changed his mind, erased and redrew.  he proudly shared his final product with me and it gave me great insight into what he deems important at this stage in his life.

he's got all the real essentials in there somewhere: a bedroom, kitchen, office, and a few halls thrown in for good measure.  he managed to squeeze in a bathroom over there on the right after i reminded him that one was necessary (thank goodness.)  but liam's essentials take up far more space.

so if you were to build this house, just look to see what's inside!  you've got a souvineir (sic) and trophy room -- necessary for all those hundreds of plastic trophies you surely have just for showing up to practices.  you've got a playroom, TV room, a pool table, and even a movie theater.  the spa will allow for massages and facials (i guess?) and the pool will be a nice way to exercise, if the gargantuan exercise room doesn't have enough to offer.

but my favorite room can be found in the primo location in the front of the house.  feast your eyes on that gem: the Tablet Charger room.  because you can just never have enough space for making sure that your ipad is always ready to go. 

somehow i think he might have a few classes to teach on home design if he decides to pursue this as a career path ... but if and when he does, i'll frame this one as the first design he ever made.  he was a man ahead of his time, i'm sure they'll say, as every house in the future will surely have a Tablet Charger room of its very own.

these boots were made for walkin'

it's funny how a post can start off one way and in the matter of an hour, take off in a completely different direction.

i had been planning on writing a summary of susanna's shoe choices as of late.  the girl has more shoes than liam and chris combined -- black patent flats for church, two pairs of sneakers, brown mary janes, shiny silver flats for dressy outfits, pink crocs and rainboots and flipflops and about five different pairs of sandals ... you get the idea.  and yet, despite the wide variety of footwear at her fingertips, every day except wednesdays (which is her required sneaker day for P.E.) she makes a beeline for the same exact pair:  her cowgirl boots.

i tell you what, for the $30 or so we paid at target for these fake brown leather gems, we've certainly gotten our money's worth.

cowgirl boots with jeggings -- what more could a first-grade fashionista want?

about an hour after i snapped this photo, super and i took a ride to the vet.  the poor girl has some sort of hind leg problem that has been getting noticeably worse, and after swallowing a roughly $1000 vet bill right before christmas to have all those teeth extracted, i figured it was time to drop some more money on her.  

and let me just tell you -- it's a problem that's affecting all of us.  well, chris and me, anyway.  she's gotten to the point that she cannot navigate our stairs.  the hardwoods make them too slippery for her, and so, every time she needs to go up or down from one floor to the other, we have no choice but to carry her.  luckily she's only 45 pounds ... but do that a few times a day and you start to feel it.  who needs to work out when you're lugging 45 pounds up and down, over and over again?!  (note: this afternoon we're having a runner installed on our stairs to help the sweet thing out.  we're crossing our fingers that our carrying days are soon a thing of the past.)

what the vet told me was that it's surprisingly not a skeletal or muscular issue -- it's actually neurological.  she's got this disease that's common in boxers (what isn't? i've started to wonder) where the neurological pathway from her brain to her right hind leg isn't functioning properly.  the good news is that she's not in any pain.  the bad news is that her leg splays out to the side because she can't tell it to stay in place.  and in a house that has a main floor that's totally hardwoods, that's a serious problem.  she'll just be standing there, drinking water, and we'll watch her right leg go completely horizontal.  to eat dinner, she'll actually take a mouthful of food and walk into the family room to stand on the rug to eat it just so she can stay stationary on a non-slippery surface.  and taking her on a walk outside?  forget it.  she balks and refuses to go one step farther because she can't control that leg.

and so, you might wonder, what's the solution?  nothing, really.  she's now on some medication that's supposed to improve the neurological thingy, but it's just a matter of time (maybe months, maybe years) before it progresses up her body.  in the meantime -- and this is where this post ties in with susanna -- she's gotten some new footwear of her own: these little balloon-type things that help her feet have traction on our slippery floors so she can stand upright without sliding.

in other words ... boots!

still not used to these bright blue suckers.  perhaps susanna can show her how to strut around in style