On the ice

 Jack has started ice skating lessons.  Inspired by our raffle entry at Saturday's chili cook-off (for an annual pass to the rinks, which we sadly did not win), the boy has found a sudden and intense enthusiasm for learning to skate.  Monday we met at the rink at 4:30 and spent a chilly half hour watching our boy fall.  A lot.

But we also spent a half hour watching our boy get back up.  Over and over.  With a smile.

Can you understand what a big deal this is?  For a boy who says NO to every new experience, who balks at risk, who falls apart at failure? 

I was so. very. proud.

He was bubbling over at the end of the lesson, pink cheeked and smiling, begging to stay longer, can't wait to go back...

This is so totally worth $35.

Can you see him out there in this picture?  That's him, on the ice-- just about to GET BACK UP and KEEP SKATING.   This is huge, I tell you.

In other news, Barack Obama was just (mere moments ago) elected to a second term in office.  Sherrod Brown was re-elected to the Senate.  We are drinking beer in celebration.
 It is a good night.

Here are, in no particular order, some other moments from the past week...

Pretty baby in the bath.

Hanging out at Greg and Jeffrey's house.  These two staked out the little table, helping to set it up together, and eating there side by side.  They are exceedingly cute little friends, aren't they?

The day after Sandy hit, we went to view the rushing waters of a tiny creek...

...and walked in the drizzle (little did we know we'd hav ea full week of drizzle still to come)...

... and checked out all the downed trees in the Heights....

We got a new play cash register this weekend (thank you resales!) and Jack set up this little store around the perimeter of the table, all on his own.  He also spent a lot of time carefully copying the numbers and pictures from dollar bills to make his own money...

Ivy's had a tough cold this week but that hasn't stopped her from carefully organizing objects, one of her new pastimes.  She also likes to prognosticate: "Maybe I go outside now?  Maybe I haf a nakkie? (snack)" and to paint monochromatic, spatially limited artwork.   And, she's really really cute.

The sun came out today.  The kids went to the park.  Oh how we have missed the sun....It was good to be back outside..

Rick or Reat!

That's how Ivy-girl says it-- and that's how she got so much candy in her pumpkin tonight, irresistable little fairy...

It was a magical Halloween night in our neighborhood, as usual, albeit 4 days late.  Thank goodness Cleveland heights rescheduled trick-or-treating!  What a miserable experience it would've been on Wednesday. Instead, tonight we crunched through leaves and wandered in the cold-but-dry air for over an hour, enjoying all the magic of candle flames and pumpkins, fog machines and troupes of costumed little ones..

The Perry's joined us again this year and it was so fun to watch our 5-year-olds run ahead, a fearless pair, waiting for each other, cutting across the grass, glow-stick necklaces trailing behind them.  They had so much fun.  Ive took a bit of time to warm up to the process but it all came back to her by about the 5th house and she was climbing up steps and rick-or-reating her way into the hearts of all our neighbors...  She's still recuperating from the tough cold that's working its way through our family, but sunshine girl put it aside while she enjoyed Halloween..

Other highlights of this weekend:

Taking the kids to Playhouse Square for the first of our Family Series shows-- watching their eyes light up as the show started, as they settled into those wonderful theater seats, as they took in the gilt and murals and glory of the wonderful space.    I have so many memories of going to plays as a child;  I hope it is as integral to Jack and Ivy's future as it has been to life..

The first annual Cleveland Heights chili cook-off-- a delightful, home grown little event, a community wide fundraiser and a chance to come together with neighbors after this strange, stormy week...

Here's Jack helping to pull raffle tickets.  He was SO into this.  SO into it.  He was sure we were going to win, every. single. time.  His little self just shook with the excitement of it.  We didn't win anything, incidentally.  He handled this remarkably well.  I just couldn't get over him, marching up tot he front of the room with all the other kids, ready to help...

Oh yeah, and this weird bright thing was spotted in the sky this weekend.   By other people, that is.  I have yet to see it personally.  But-- there is hope!

Rain

It feels rather like the sun will never shine again, here in Cleveland Heights.  It's really only been about 3 days of 45-degree drizzle, but combined with a sick boy, thwarted plans, and an simply overwhelming amount of schoolwork hanging over my head-- it's been a dreary weekend indeed.

I've been struggling, this weekend, with that fine art of appreciating all the moments of my life.  It's been hard to filter out the good in a whining 5 year old, a two year old experimenting with scowling, fleeting weekend days whiling away in a blur of cleaning up tissues and the detritus of a family trapped inside.

It was there, though.  In a half hour snuggling my boy as we read poem after poem from my Childcraft books.  In a little girl's giggles and the cadence of her voice.  In snuggly lazy mornings nursing my girl in bed.  In costumed little ones dancing to a bluegrass band.  In a house cozy with steam and good smells from a pot of fejouada on the stove all day.

It was there. 

And looking back on the weekend, maybe I should choose to remember those moments over the others, the discontent of expectations versus disappointments, the chaos of an overcrowded mall, venting my frustration onto my family, the guilt at feeling frustrated with little ones who weren't trying to frustrate me at all.

But, those moments are life too.  If life is good, by definition they must be good, too, right?

Yes.  Good for helping me to appreciate the sun, when it does peek out, all the more.

Here's to some sunshine, soon.

 In the meantime, here are our (sick, overtired) children at the Bootanical Bash last night.  We're not about to let a feverish child stand in the way of a family tradition!  At least not one we've paid for in advance!

Some Halloween portraits:

The sick ninja

The fairy.  She LOVED getting makeup on...

In the dark of the garden.  The decorations are so wonderful.  Ghosts and scarecrows and spider webs everywhere and so well done.  Jack loved everything.  Ivy was rather scared of the ghosts and ghouls but did much better once we explained that they were pretend.  "oh!" she'd say pleasantly. We had to repeat this ritual by every. single. scary thing. She is so cute.

The disintegration of a costume by the end of the evening..

Little finger puppet bats that were one of the highlights of the evening for the kids.  Kids are weird.

There and back again

Nat and I had a wonderful trip down memory lane this weekend, revisiting our past lives in Winnipeg. Four days away, international travel, and we returned home with a robe and hood and mortarboard and a piece of parchment declaring my husband to be a Doctor of Philosophy. The weather was rotten and our flight out left much to be desired-- but all told it was a perfect trip.  I am so glad we went, that we took the time and the money to attend a ceremony that placed a stamp of closure on this past decade of our lives.  It's good to make things official.

The ceremony itself was smooth, lovely, long and a bit boring.  It was thrilling to watch Nat come forward for his quick walk across that stage  I was on the edge of my seat and so proud and excited.  This moment that he thought might never come!  Then, there were 550 more graduates to watch.  And the chairs in the gym?  Not so soft.   But I can handle a hard chair for a few hours, after all this guy has done to be where he is today.  Finishing a dissertation, long distance from his University while raising our children and teaching part-time  too.  He's amazing.

Or as Nat is apt to say these days,  "That's Dr. Amazing to you..."

It is strange to think that it has been 8 years since I've been to Winnipeg.  For most of those eight years I would have told you that Winnipeg was rarely in my conscious thoughts-- yet it was always there as an underlay, those two years of my life shaping what came next.  And being back there this weekend?  It almost felt, by Saturday morning, that we had never left.

The really crazy part?  Being there just the two of us, sans kids-- and trying to remember how it had felt for life to be that simple, all the time.  Just us to take care of, imagine!  Somehow that had kept us busy enough...  This weekend, we didn't even really have to take care of ourselves.  Hotel stays can be magical that way; no cooking, no cleaning, asking someone to call you a car...  We ate well, starting with the really quite impressive breakfast buffet at the hotel and going on to include meals at Nikos and Fude, two of our favorite restaurants of all time.  Friday we were undeterred by the cold and drizzly weather, and wandered the city for hours, visiting our old haunts in the Exchange, at the Forks, in Osborne Village, and taking lots of self-portraits in touristy locations.  We walked through our old neighborhood, scoping out our little house (it looks good, has new siding... the deck Nat made is still out back...) and speculating about dog park.  Walking those familiar sidewalks it really did feel like mere moments had passed since we lived there.

It was a lovely weekend.  I can't believe its come and gone already, with all the planning that went into making it happen.  The kids did great with Bec and Gram and we briefly considered proposing a monthly weekend away-- until the full extent of real life hit us, just how behind we are on everything thanks to stepping out of all of our roles for this bit of time.  Wonderful to be away, good and slightly overwhelming to be back..

It promises to be a  bust week of catching up so I am going to include here a pictorial review of today's lovely trip to Lake FarmPark, in the full realization that I might not get on here again to do a separate post.   The weather was a fine today as it was dismal in Winnipeg, so in the midst of the mess and the laundry, we spent the afternoon walking through a corn maze and petting sheep.  What else would you expect from us, really?