Miss Jan's

One of the things I miss most about Raleigh is Miss Jan's preschool. She has such a special way with kids. Oliver just adored her! This was on Oliver's last day of school. I miss seeing MY friends at preschool pickup/drop-off, too. This photo was taken by the adorable Ryan B. He got most of us in the picture and didn't drop the camera, so we'll count that as a success.

Happy Birthday Dear Oliver

Our sweet little Oliver turned 4 this month. Since he really wanted to have a party with his friends from preschool we had a party before we left Raleigh and then another little family celebration here in Nashville on his actual birthday. He is thrilled to be 4 and is quite convinced that he's all grown up. He takes great pride in all the things he can do by himself: buckle himself into his booster seat, put on his shoes, get dressed (mostly it gets put on backwards), put his clothes in the hamper, and get water out of the fridge water filter, among other wonders. Some things, such as eating salad  and being a life guard at the Y, he has decided he will save until he is really grown up...which according to him is when you turn 9.

 

I am pretty lame when it comes to planning parties. I really, really appreciate well planned parties, I am just not so good on the execution myself. So when it came time to plan Oliver's 4th birthday party, I abdicated all responsibility and called up the local bounce place. Simple. End of story. All I had to do was show up (and make cupcakes, which, really I didn't even have to do, because you can order a cake through them, too). Anyway, to say that this party was a success would be a gross understatement. Oliver and his buddies had an absolute blast!!

 

Elliot looks terrified but he really liked the giant slide, I promise! How cute are these kids!? Everyone wanted a chance to sit in the giant inflatable throne so we let them take turns and I took pictures. 

 

We are happy to be here in Nashville (really!) but I wish we could take these friends with us. These kids are all so dear to me. It's with these kids that Oliver has learned the first lessons in being a good friend--looking out for each other, sharing, taking turns, talking about poop*, etc. Those are important early experiences and I couldn't have asked for better little guys and girls to share those first friendships. 

*The truth about playdates is slowly coming out. I thought he was wiling away the hours playing with cars or engaging in high order dramatic play (see post about "Mom and Dad Are Dead"), but it turns out he was just eating toothpaste and talking about poop! Good times.

Drivin' and Cryin'

If my life were a country song, that's what it would be called. On Saturday morning we drove out of Raleigh and headed west. Nine hours and 600 miles later we arrived tired and stinky in Nashville, TN.

The car trip itself was uneventful. We ducked two converging snowstorms and had mostly clear weather. The boys napped for a lot of the trip. Every now and then Oliver would ask, from the back seat, how many miles "from Ethan's house" we were. That really got me weepy. I don't think he understands that he's not going to see his friends again for a long time. He keeps asking if it is a preschool day and talks excitedly about what he is going to bring in to show and tell. I think he thinks we are just on vacation. Which is sort of how it feels to me, too.

It doesn't seem real in part because we are still sort of in limbo. We found a rental house that we LOVE but the owners want to keep in on the market for the next few months. So most of our stuff is in storage while we live here in this furnished place. My dream is that they will decide it's much better to have us as their charming and reliable renters than try to sell in this market and let us sign a 2 year lease. I can't describe how much I adore this place. It is perfect. I know I am setting myself up for major disappointment. If you want to check it out you can click here. Really, who WOULDN'T want to buy this house?

Just before we left Raleigh some friends hosted a little going away party for us. This is a highlight from the party. Thank you to all our Raleigh friends for making us feel so loved. We love you guys and miss you terribly!!!

Bizzarre-o Valentine's Sentiments

Tomorrow is Oliver's last day of preschool (sob) and they are having a Valentine's Day party. We made some really cute heart crayons like the ones below to give to his classmates. It is a very easy craft, the toughest part being peeling the crayons. You can read the how to here. 

Rather than write a cute but corny little message like "You melt my heart or "Have a colorful Valentine's Day" I decided to let Oliver dictate his own Valentine's Day messages. This is my favorite:

To: Ryan

Ryan likes playing Power Rangers and "Mom and Dad are Dead" and guns. Ollie loves Ryan. 

Love, 

Oliver

Now isn't that sweet?!? "Mom and Dad are Dead" apparently is a favorite game among Oliver's buddies (he runs with a tough crowd). Apparently it's sort of like "playing house" but to add to the verisimilitude the kids are not just pretending to be the parents, in this scenario they actually have to fill roles that were abruptly vacated when the adults got offed, sometimes in a tragic convenience store shooting (really??? they LOVE this game?!?!)

Anyway, that made me laugh. I tried to get Oliver to sign each of the cards (8 in total) but he was totally side tracked when he decided to draw a picture of a car for his buddy Jack in lieu of an actual message. Jack loves cars so it's appropriate I suppose.  So only about 3 of them have his name scrawled on them. Oh well. In the process I realized that Oliver needs big time help with writing, so I guess I have that to work on when we are in Nashville.

We are driving out on Saturday. The packers came and boxed up our house today and the loaders are coming tomorrow (or rather in 2 hours, it's already "tomorrow") to load up the truck. This feels like such a surreal experience. It feels like we are very prematurely bringing to an end a wonderful chapter of our life here in Raleigh. Neither Ryan nor I are "excited" about any aspect of this move but we feel resolute and that somehow this is all going to work out. I have a strong feeling that we'll be able to look back and see the purpose and wisdom of this move, but right now it feels pretty capricious. I guess we'll find out soon enough. 

Park City Preview

It's way early in the morning, I can't sleep, so what better way to fight insomnia than trying out the blogger app on my iPhone. Here are some photos of our recent trip.

Or just one...can't figure out, ok here we go. Now if I could figure out how to add the video of Oliver skiing we'd be in business.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A True Hero

My sister in law's dad, Mark Rampton, who is a family practice doctor in Corvallis, OR, flew down to Haiti last week to provide emergency medical care to the victims of the earthquake. You can read more about it here and on Lisa's blog.

I wanted to post about it here because I am so moved by his willingness to volunteer to be a "first responder"; to put his life/practice/comfortable existence on hold and to use his skills to help alleviate unimaginable suffering. He is part of a small team of LDS doctors and nurses who are literally camping out in Port-au-Prince, administering emergency medical care from the 50 or so dufflebags of supplies that they brought with them. Their own safety is far from assured as aftershocks continue to threaten and lawlessness is bound to increase as people get more desperate. The horror of the scale of the calamity is something that I'm sure we cannot grasp here watching it on TV from our living rooms. It is a really brave thing to go into a situation like that. He and the other emergency responders have my utmost respect.

Mele Kalikimaka

Ok, I have really been a bum about updating this blog. It is because I have fallen victim to my latest Internet obsession--combing through real estate options in Nashville. Craigslist, Trulia, HotPads, RealTracs--I've logged more time on those sites than I care to admit. It's honestly what I do with every minute of my spare time (when I'm not obsessively cleaning and tidying the house in the event that it needs to be shown at a moments notice.)

So, in an effort to curb my addiction, I am going to post an update (or two) about whatsahappenin' chez nous.

When Ryan was just a wee lad his mother painted a Matchbox car town for him and his brothers to play cars. This town was painted on canvas and was based on their Kansas City neighborhood. It had their house, the elementary school, the church, some of their neighborhood friends houses, etc. Ryan has great memories of countless hours playing with Matchbox cars on this play mat.

Given our boys' interest in all things automotive, he asked if we could have the play mat. No dice. You see, Ryan's sister, Kim, married a guy from Kansas City; a boy whose childhood home is ALSO on the Matchbox car play mat. How cool is that! Since they, too, have boys who are obsessed with cars, they get to keep the original Matchbox car play mat.

Not to be deterred, Ryan decided to paint his own Matchbox car town and give it to the boys for Christmas. But instead of basing it on our actual neighborhood, he chose his IDEAL neighborhood--specifically the sweet little surf town of Hanalei, Hawaii.  

How freaking cool is that?!?!?!

This is the town where we rented a house with a bunch of his best friends from college last August (a trip that is often referred to simply as The Best Vacation Ever (TM). 

Oh, yeah, that's the golf course in Princeville. That's Ryan teeing up.

 

He painted the Hanalei River where we went kayaking.

The Kilauea Lighthouse.

 

The one lane bridge that spans the divide between Hanalei and the rest of the world.

It wouldn't be Hawaii without shave ice.

Bubba Burgers are the BOMB! [Not to be confused with Bubba Burger (singular) which are pre-made frozen patties...quite a different thing altogether.]

The Hanalei Farmer's Market was two blocks from our house...did I mention that this was also MY ideal town?

 

Tunnels Dive Shop...ok, this place doesn't really exist, but the dive site was called Tunnels reef, so Ryan took some creative liberties.

Tahiti Nui...this place does exist and Ryan and his buddies apparently made quite a spectacle of themselves at karaoke night. I went to bed early. Seems I missed out.

Our beach house, complete with hot tub and grill.

 

The church in Hanalei. There actually was an LDS meeting house around the corner from our house but it was a pretty simple structure so Ryan chose to paint this beauty instead. Didn't he do an awesome job?!?! Check out those stained glass windows, folks!

   

And finally, the Waimea Canyon. Ryan is really proud of this one because he didn't have a picture of the canyon to use as a guide while he was painting and so he just drew and painted from his memory of the place. He did a pretty incredible job, in my completely unbiased opinion.

The boys loved it and were thrilled with all the new Matchbox cars that they got, too.