A Perfect Sunday

Good food, good friends, good music.

I called Sara the night this happened. She participated over the phone for a moment, but mostly she (and I) just wished she were here.

As luck would have it, when Sara was here last month, the Hancocks and the Slusinskis were ready for an encore.

It was nothing like the time when I was little and my friends and I played Battlecats for an entire day and it was awesome but then when we tried to play again the next day it wasn't so great.

This sing-a-long was even better the second time around.

We started out with Les Miserables which takes place in France, so Sara and I whipped up a boeuf bourguignon for dinner. If you haven't tasted boeuf bourguignon, then I feel sorry for you. We made it twice while she was here.

There is no video of the Les Mis portion of the evening, but we learned that Pete's favorite musical is Grease. Who would have known that Pete even had a favorite musical? I love it when people surprise me.

I hope you are smiling after you watch these home movies. They make me smile every time.

Watch Jackie on the far left, especially in the second clip. She keeps singing to Pete and it's melting my heart.

I love that the technical difficulties don't deter Sara from singing. The Show Must Go On, right sis?

It's so great that the girls move so that they are sure to get a better spot on camera. I would have done that at their age. I would probably do that at my age. Grant is hilarious here. Throughout the clip he desperately wants to dance with the girls and finally he just joins them.

We sang and sang. It was pure magic. It reminded me of Sundays at my Auntie Kim's house.

When we finally got around to singing Seasons of Love from Rent it was after 11:00. That was the song we sang to close up last time, too. I love everything about this clip. Even in the moment it was recorded, I felt completely sappy.

My life is full of Love.

If I'm headed for Heaven, I really hope they have show tunes.

No Thank You

Hoodie Footies? Um, No thank you. I can't think of much that would make me feel less cute.

Strange pillows/pillowcases. Is that a cute drawing of a boy and a girl sending love messages to each other with old fashioned tin can telephones? Sure. Do I think it would be weird to sleep on that message? You betcha. Do I need a fake hug when you aren't in bed next to me? No way, I want to spread out and hog the whole bed, thankyouverymuch.

Other no no's include:

• framed sexy photos of you scantily clad with a rose in your teeth~even as a joke it would be weird.
• all forms of stuffed animal~I'm not eleven.
• anything that resembles extravagant, over the top planning and execution. I can't handle the pressure of reacting to that kind of an effort.

I think we should buy a box of candy together and share it with the kids because let's be honest, being married to you makes every day feel like Valentine's Day.

File this under D, for Don't tell the Kids

I encourage my kids to tell me what they dream about at night because I feel like it hones their storytelling skills. It seems to nurture their creativity and gives them a safe environment to talk about intense experiences.

I confess, though, I don't enjoy the "guess what I dreamed last night" conversation. It is a rare dream that I actually want to hear about. I fake my enthusiasm and interest in their dreams for their sake. What kid doesn't love telling their mom about their dream? What kind of a mother would I be if I said "Ugh, another dream. Fine, let's hear it?" Instead, I suck it up and encourage that blasted creative streak they all have.

I'm a giver.

Last night I dreamed that CJane was at my house which is not fair. Christie dreams that she's making out with Ben Affleck and I dream about random bloggers visiting me. Lame.

What's worse is that CJane was not enjoying her stay. She kept taking photographs of the messes.

Also, I was desperate to introduce her to my mother, who was also at my house. I was chasing CJane around the kitchen and dining room with my mom in tow and when I finally managed the introduction CJane looked at me and said "That was weird."

Then she took a picture of my mudroom and left.

I spent a large portion of my day yesterday catching up on the blogs in my google reader and I didn't do much housework.

Too bad Courtney didn't send Javier Bardem over after she left. Ooo la la.

Of course, he might have shown up as Anton Chigurh and that would be all kinds of not fun.

Some day, when my great great great grand daughter is doing her genealogy and she finds granny's blog she is going to ask "Who is CJane? Who is Javier Bardem? Who is Anton Chigurh? Who is Ben Affleck?" Darling, you don't need to worry about any of those people. They are of no consequence. Christie, however, is our cousin on my mom's side and when you are sick of reading my journals go find hers. They are highly entertaining. Kisses from the olden days!

Poetry Love

I invited Stella to snuggle in my bed with me for a few moments before she was sent to her own room for the night. She came in carrying our copy of A Child's Book of Poems illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa.

"I thought we could read this together. I know it's one of your favorites."

She nestled in to the space between my arms and my waist. We rested the book on our knees as we thumbed through its pages picking out our favorite verses to read aloud. I read each poem first, then she read it.

Is there anything more magical than hearing a child read words penned by Tennyson, Wordsworth, Stevenson, Longfellow and Dickinson?

I think not.

I LOVE Spending time with my Sister

"Why would ANYONE live in Iowa?" she asked as we met up in the sub zero temperatures outside the Des Moines airport.

"G-g-g-good q-q-question," I replied as we loaded her things into the car.

"You should have told me to bring Little Nicky, Liz. It's freezing here."

She was right. Little Nicky is what we call her ankle length puffy down coat and she desperately needed that thing while she was here.

Oh, well. She was here, even if she was cold.

The first night she was here, we went to the movies. It was a Tuesday, so we had to take advantage of Stimulus Tuesday. Of course, the popcorn was to be our dinner, so we had to skip the dollar bag and go for the big one. I don't know what people do who don't go to the movies. We saw Country Strong and it was exactly what we expected.

Sara was a good luck charm during the month of January. Everywhere we went, we had great parking. It was magical. I took her to the mall on a Friday night and introduced her to the phenomenon of the Junior High School Students who Hang Out at The Mall.
Here is a terrible picture of Grant and me on my bed. Not a terrible picture of Grant. Just a bad photo.
This is what Sara looks like when she travels with Grant. The carseat is hooked to her backpack with a carabiner. You should know that Sara never stops smiling. She is the happiest, most optimistic person I know.

I didn't tell you about the guy that wanted to fight Robert at the gas station while she was here, the copious amount of calories and fat that was cooked and consumed, and the laundry that didn't even get a glance for two weeks.

Seriously, she saved January.