Today's Happiness-Valentine's Day Edition

From my three guys.

I'm not a big ooey gooey Valentine's person, but isn't it incredible that love can make your heart just about burst?

Date!

Sorry to leave that sad post up for so long and leave it hanging there...


Tomorrow we're taking the boys to my parents for a sleepover at my parents' house and heading to Lawrence to see one of our all time favorite bands, the Old 97's. We've been going to Old 97's shows for years and years. I actually introduced Elliott to this band, which is a rarity in our relationship.

I think Rhett & Co. are bringing a little taste of Texas with them. It's a whole 43 degrees today, and it's going to stay that way through Sunday. It's sunny & I can see patches of grass. I know it's 70 or something in Texas, but 40 is not 0, so...whatever.

I've got the creepy-crawlies in my nose and head, so it better go away before tomorrow. If not, I will resort to DayQuil, and I take no responsibility for my actions.

The 2011 Bandwagon

What are your hopes for 2011? Here are mine:

1. Work less. Spend more time with my family. Working from home doesn't equate to being able to spend more time with the ones you love. It also means maximizing work time so that it's all done in the most timely fashion. So, less navel-gazing while working & more working = more time with the dudes. Simple enough, right?
2. More time reading & writing. I figure the more I read, the better writer I become. I want to write less "OMG"s and "LOL"s and more things that are meaningful. Once again, simple enough...
3. Cook more meals at home.
   
4. Buy from the farmer's market as much as possible.
5. Go on walks. We live 1 block from a sweet walking trail. It's so easy...
   
6. More time with real folks, less time engaged in cyber-space. I want "My Two Sons" to flourish this year, but I need to spend less time on Facebook. Don't we all? Time suck. Now that we're closer to family & friends, this shouldn't be hard to do. I may need some accountability. I deleted my Twitter last year, but I want to keep Facebook. Perhaps check it once a day? When I post my link to my new blog post?
7. Be a great wife & mom. My patience and kindness took a major hit in 2010. I don't like it. I want to be different. I also think this is related to #6.
   

Tell me what your wishing for this year...

Last Christmas...

A year ago (well, almost), it snowed on Christmas eve, at our old house
in Texas.
It never snows in Texas.
People will talk about it for eons.
It probably snowed an entire foot-which was the biggest snowfall on record.
It was incredible...and beautiful.
And it was the perfect last Christmas for us to have there.

Even if they don't remember it, I know we'll never forget it.
And I'm so thankful for the memories we will make this year...
and for years to come.

Alexander

Today, we're headed down to the Coterie Theatre to see a live version of Judith Viorst's classic, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". We're all very excited. In 7th or 8th grade, I memorized this book for a speech contest, where I completely bombed. And I mean bombed. However, I still LOVE this book. Noel & Lennon do too. There's also a cute HBO Storybook musical version that they dig, and Lennon likes to walk around singing, "I've had a TERRIBLE! I've had a HORRIBLE! I've had a TERRIBLE! HORRIBLE! NO GOOD! VERY BAD! DAYYYYYY," which I need to catch on video. I hope the live version lives up to the book and musical versions with which we're already familiar. I've heard good things. I'm hopeful everyone will enjoy themselves.

I've also got chicken pot pies in the oven, and my mom is bringing over apple crisp...somehow I don't think this is going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

The Milestones that Matter

I've been stewing over what I'm going to post for my 10,oooth tweet. As I was showering tonight (don't you always have the best "a-ha!" moments there?), I realized that I was overdramatizing this "milestone" just a bit.

I've spent the better part of 10 years with this man. In 10 years with him, I have come 10,000 miles. Before we met, I was lost. I did not know who I was, or who I wanted to be. He has been my best friend, my biggest cheerleader, my soulmate...the father of my two most precious accomplishments.

For almost two years, I have been his mom.

Four 1/2 years ago, the realization of him made us a family.

For almost 2 years, I have witnessed this brotherhood and friendship blossom and grow. It's buds are still small, but they will one day be a beautiful, even if imperfect, flower.

As much as I love Twitter & the online community, there's nothing that compares to the milestones I've accomplished in this tangible, beautiful life.

It's the Great Pumpkin (Patch), Charlie Brown

Because I'm still in love with you

I want to see you dance again

Because I'm still in love with you

On this harvest moon...

I 100% stole the Neil Young song lyrics idea from Stephanie. Because of her, I've had this song in my head for days...but it's beautiful, and is a favorite, especially during this time of year.

Fun Family Fact #3: The Name of the Game

My children are named for rock n' roll royalty. Noel was named before children were even something we were thinking about. When Elliott & I started talking about having children "down the road", we knew if our first child was a boy, he'd be named after the god that is Noel Gallagher. If you're not familiar with Oasis, well, shame on you. :) Noel Gallagher is a brilliant songwriter and musician, and the founder of this incredible Brit rock band that we adore. This name was a given. Much like his namesake, Noel is already showing a lot of musical talent. He is GREAT on drums. He also loves to make up goofy rhymes, and the brother Gallagher is notorious for his ridiculous, but appropriate lyrics. He is aptly named, indeed.

Lennon, obviously, was named for probably the biggest rock legend of all time, John Lennon. We knew we needed another rock name, but we weren't 100% sold on Lennon at first. We wondered if it was too much, but our choices were limited: Mick, Marc, Paul, Bowie...none just fit as well as Lennon. If you didn't already know, John Lennon was notoriously silly, funny, and a "trickster"...well, so is our Lennon. His name, like his brother's, fits him perfectly.

As for Elliott & I, well, I don't think our names have as much of a story. Elliott is a III, which I think is totally cool. He's sort of a IV, but his great grandfather had a different middle name. My name, Laura, is just something my parents liked. My biggest pet peeve is when I get called "Lara" or "Laurie", but otherwise, I like my name. What I like about our family's names, is that they all include the letter L. Goofy, I know.

Fun Family Fact #2: We Love the San Antonio Spurs

When Elliott and I first met, I must admit, I had little interest in sports. There was a time when we first met that I pretended to be interested in the Spurs so I could hang out with him and watch basketball. Well, after 10 years of watching NBA basketball, I have become almost as big of a fan as Elliott, who has followed the spurs for almost 30 years (old man!). Elliott and his dad spent many evenings of his youth attending Spurs games. You know San Antonio is a true blue basketball city when they die-heartedly support a team that pretty much stunk for about 20 years. My husband and father-in-law are two of those lifetime fans that stuck with the team through the "lean years".

We've seen them lose to devils in LA Lakers clothing, and seen them clench 3 NBA titles. Two of these titles were achieved the years that our boys were conceived. :)

Tim, Manu, Tony, and David are common names in our household. I'm sure that Noel & Lennon will grow to be big fans of the Spurs and probably attend some games with their dad & grandad.

Fun Family Fact!

My friend Anna had this idea, and I thought I'd try it too, in the hopes of getting myself blogging every day. So, without further aideu...
Fun Family Fact #1!
We are collectors. My husband and I basically fell in love over our mutual affection for The Brady Bunch. He had a collection of Brady items: the lunch box, the TV Guide, and coloring books, among other things. Over the years, our Brady collection has expanded to include other things (like the board game), and we've also managed to amass more lunch boxes, collectible toys, old board games, and movie posters. We've sold a few things over the years that we just didn't need, and to make room for our expanding family, but we'll always love to collect 70s items.

Homeschooling: What's the Big Deal?

There are a lot of mixed responses when I tell someone that we plan to home-school our kids. Since both of my kids stay home with Elliott, they are already home-schooled, in an unstructured fashion. We have not decided with 100% certainty that we will take this path, but I’d say we’re 99.99% sure. That being said, I’m not opposed to looking into other avenues, and I, personally, don’t care where you send or plan to send your kids to school. As long as your children feel happy and safe, do what feels right for you.

Both of my kids, while I am quite sure they will be talented in many areas, already seem to show more interest in the arts. We all know that most public schools are sorely lacking in these areas. I also know there are many charter, private, and magnet schools that focus on the arts, and I’m not opposed at all to looking into them, especially as our kids get older and might need more specialized attention in certain areas. But, what I am really curious about is why there is such a guttural reaction when you mention casually, “We are planning to home-school.”

I’ll admit, there was a time when I was not 100% on board, but after lots of talks with my husband, and some input from some good friends, I realized quickly that there are many ways to receive a great education, even if it’s not “traditional”. I went to private school all of my life, and I had mixed experiences. I had great friends, and I received a top-notch education. I would not trade it today. However, life at Catholic, all-girls school came with it’s downside-cattiness & cliques aside, school just didn’t hold a lot of interest for me, especially in areas that I didn’t like or appreciate. Sitting through any math and science class was equal to water-boarding in my 14 year-old mind. ”What’s the point? I’ll never use this!” was a conversation I had many times with my parents, particularly if I brought home an average grade.

I’ve always prided myself on being “unique”, which doesn’t always gel well with other school aged kids. In retrospect, I’m sure I was always considered a weirdo. I did have a great group of friends, but I always felt out of place & awkward, which led me down some self-destructive paths, so that I could feel more confident and self-assured…and I probably came off looking like an even bigger bozo. I know that kids will be kids, in any setting, but I don’t want my kids to ever feel that they have to hide their uniqueness to try and fit in with a group because someone, somewhere decided that kids that turn this age on this date belong with kids that have similar birthdays. I also want them to be able to explore and grow in the areas that they will excel in for the rest of their lives. I want them to have a real chance to succeed in those areas. I believe that through homeschooling and co-ops through homeschooling, this will be better accomplished than if they were in traditional school. As I said, this may be a temporary solution to our situation, and it may not. We would love to, as a family, travel & see the United States and North America. Homeschooling would allow us to do this whenever we choose.

Noel turns 5 in 1 1/2 years, so we have lots of time to research and decide what exactly it is we’re going to do, as far as school is concerned. There are a lot of options, even in the homeschooling world. Thankfully, there are so many resources, groups, books, friends, and parents out there that can help us discover the answers. Our friends at The ZRecs Network just began homeschooling their daughter, and it’s really excited me for our future. Jenni is a walking encyclopedia of information in many arenas, but homeschooling is certainly one of her specialties. Zella will be a great role model as we start our home-school journey.

A couple of years ago, Elliott asked Jenni how she became interested in homeschooling Z, and her answers really struck a cord with me. I’m sharing them with you, just to give you food for thought.

My desire [to home-school] has only grown greater since Zella has been born. She’s a very bright kid but she resists being “taught” things. She likes to discover things on her own and the moment she suspects that you want her to “perform” (she can do x thing but refuses to do so on cue) she shuts down. She can be very engaged in a particular activity and be reluctant to leave it for another one just because - homeschooling is better for that because there isn’t a requirement to get in math, science, social studies, etc, each day - so she can be as involved and go into as much depth as she wants to in any particular subject and will cycle to other things eventually. It just seems that with homeschooling you can follow more natural rhythms of learning that you can’t in school.

Other reasons:

• none of us (including Zella) like to get up very early in the morning
• no wasted time doing “busy-work”
• no wasted time checking roll, finding seats, changing classes, with disruptive students
• learning at her pace instead of faster or slower than other kids (allows for advanced learning in certain areas and/or slower learning in other areas - not an “all gifted classes” or “all normal classes” approach)
• more time with her
• can travel (day trips or longer trips) without having to get “approval” from the school
• more time outdoors
• more time for physical activity or rest as needs change
• more time for art, music, crafts, gardening, and animals
• no selling crap for the school district
• no grades (we try to have learning and/or behavior be because of internal motivation rather than external rewards )see Alfie Kohn)
• less peer pressure

As I already said, I have no qualms with how anyone chooses to educate their children. All I ask, is that the idea of homeschooling quit being met with such disdain and negativity. There are many reasons why some families choose to home-school. More than likely, their children will turn out just fine, just as educated, and just as well rounded as the rest of them…and possibly even more-so…

Five Years, Stuck on My Eyes

First of all, name that tune. Naomi, I pretty much expect you to be the only one to get this...

Five years ago today, Elliott and I boarded a plane to Kauai, Hawaii. We were leaving to get married in paradise, just the two of us. It was the best trip and one of the happiest times of my life. If you get the chance to go to Kauai, take it and run. It is unreal.

Monday, we will have been married for 5 years. In this time, we bought a home and had two babies. WOW. These have been the biggest and best changes for us both. We both grappled with whether or not we wanted children. Today, even with a 3 1/2 yr. old with a mind of his own, and a 1 1/2 year old who "has a lot of energy", we'd both give this life we've built two big thumbs up. If I had more thumbs, they'd be up too.

I know that we will celebrate many more milestones together: birthdays, anniversaries, life, death, and whatever else the world decides to throw our way. We're definitely committed to spending this crazy life right beside one another.

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

33 (& 1/3...but not really)

Ten years ago, my husband gave me this card. It was the first card he ever gave me. It was for my 23rd birthday. I remember each word written in it, because I probably read it somewhere around 56,903,142 times.

I'm every bit as smitten with him now as I was then. He still makes me giggle like a school girl. I can't believe that we started this journey a decade ago. What an amazing, beautiful ride it's been.

Today Was Good, Today Was Fun. Tomorrow Is Another One. -Dr. Seuss

I really hope this video works.

We went to an instore at the best local record store (yes, there is still one). We saw Gustafer Yellowgold's creators, Morgan & Rachel, perform songs from Gustafer Yellowgold's three albums. You guys...this is good music. I love this stuff. Forget all you know about children's music. It does not apply to Gustafer Yellowgold. CHECK THEM OUT NOW!!!!!

Ok, now let me tell you a little about our day. We have had a tough couple of days, with good reason. So, I was a lot nervous about how this day would go. Well, it really couldn't have gone better. Dallas is about a 45 minute drive, which, some of you know is not an easy haul with a 3 & 1 year old, but we took our chances and went. We had the best afternoon. We got to go see the show, which only lasted about an hour (perfect time for our age group) & go out to dinner. We were in Dallas, pretty much sitting or being in a chair for approximately 5 hours, and our children were complete and total angels. It was unbelievable!!!!!!!!!! Our great friends and partners in Space Monkey surprised us by meeting us at Good Records. The whole afternoon was just really a lot better than I thought it would be, and I love it when that happens. Today was great, and I think tomorrow will be even better. Yay, us.

Noel & Lennon at Good Records watching Gustafer Yellowgold.

You saw it here first. Lennon sat for more than 3 seconds!

The benefits of having a crappy old cell phone: kids can play with them at long dinners!
We got to sit under a tin palm tree at Chuy's.
They are holding hands; they are laughing. This is a perfect day.

One more thing about Gustafer Yellowgold reaaaaaal quickly: they are hosting a camp this week in Irving, TX, which sounds abosolutely amazing. At the end of the week, the campers & Gustafer will present a show, which we are attending!!! I'm so psyched to see what this is like. I'll definitely get video and pictures, because this will be one of a kind. Oh, did I mention, we're going to interview them on Tuesday, at 5:15?? Isn't that COOL!?!

Reading, Writing, 'Rithmitic

I am beginning to realize that my 3 year old can read. Now, he’s not sitting down with a copy of War & Peace, mind you, but he can read simple words and spell them. This is very exciting for me. It’s such a wonder to watch a child learn and grow. I never imagined that he would read at this age, but I’m thrilled that it’s happening. I love sitting down with him and see him recognize words, read them, and trace the letters with his little toddler fingers, as if tracing them will help him recall the letter.

Over at MumsTheWurd, we’re participating in a summer ambassadorship with LeapFrog, which is quite generously creating summer reading packets for libraries and at home day cares. I’ll be telling you more about the LeapFrog program there, but the short version is that LeapFrog is giving these places sets of LeapFrog Tag & Tag Jr’s, and books. I can’t even begin to explain how great the Tag system is. Noel goes back and forth between using both the Tag & Jr, and Lennon is quite dexterous with the Jr. These systems are fun, entertaining, and above all, encourage reading, spelling, recall, math, and more. I can’t wait to see the results of this ambassadorship, and I’m very glad to be a part of it.

I would love to sit down some time this summer and map out a plan for home schooling. Both of my kids, thanks to my husband’s diligence, are already being home schooled, but I think it would be good to have some loose structure, and to keep track of their progress as the days and months go on. We’re most interested in a secular curriculum. What resources are available on the web? Which are the best? I’d love suggestions.

I’ve taken on a goal for myself too, other than the ones that I mapped out yesterday. I’m attempting to read the official list of the 100 best books in American literature. Two that I have read so far, Roots & Sophie’s Choice, have helped me to see how important education, and particularly literacy, is. I want to instill this passion for reading in my family. Not only “just because” it’s important, but education is a crucial step in bettering yourself and overcoming obstacles throughout your life. Would you agree?

Merry Christmas To All...

and to all a good night...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I'm So Tired

It's been way too long since I've posted here. It's not that I don't want to...I think of things to write about all the time. It's just that I'm tired. Oh, so tired. I have a baby that doesn't like to sleep at night, and this is something I have not experienced before. Almost 6 months of this, and I'm just...tired.

However, I can't complain much. Life here is good. Today, I celebrate 4 years of marriage with my awesome husband. I can't say enough good things about him. He is definitely the most caring and kind-hearted person that I have ever known. He loves his children mightily. He is a super dad, and just one of the nicest people you'd ever want to know. I am looking forward to many, many more anniversaries. I can't believe it's only been 4, and it's good to know that a lifetime more lie ahead.

Today Noel looked at a little foot massager that is basically a wooden ball with a ring around it. He picked it up and declared, "It's Saturn." Wow. He's turning into one sharp cookie. This summer, he has been enjoying going outside and playing in the water. His favorite thing to do is to "Spray Mommy!" Mommy's not so sure that it's her favorite, but whatever makes her little man happy...He will be 2 1/2 officially TOMORROW. I can't believe it.

Lennon is a sweetheart. Really, he loves people and to be cuddled and fawned over. He wants attention, a lot. This would be much easier if he were the only child, but since he's not, he gets the short shrift sometimes. He's almost 5 1/2 months old and becomes more and more like a little human being every day. His big eyes and two-tooth grin will light up your day. These brothers are going to be one handsome pair. Watch out for the $ brothers, little ladies.

Now that I've given you a pretty dull update, I'm off to nap while I still can. I'll be back soon...definitely sooner than three weeks. That's just unacceptable!

Two Years and Four Months Ago...

You became a dad for the first time.

You are an unbelievable father and husband, and you prove it every single day.

Your boys love you, and so do I.

Happy Father's Day.