Belly and The Bug: Jonas

Showing posts with label Jonas. Show all posts

Thankful

I have 90 other things I'm supposed to be doing right now: clearing the dishes off the table, folding laundry, cleaning up the kid debris that is all over the floor, making caramelized onion dip, baking pecan pies. And I will do all those things in the next two hours, but first I'm having a teensy glass of wine and writing this here post. Erika, Billy and D will be here in about two hours. Sissy is bringing them from the airport and I think Bri is coming over as well. I want the house to look good, blah, blah. But this is my last 10 minutes of quiet before the holiday officially begins.

I used to be better about the holidays. I absolutely love getting together with everyone and eating and playing games. It's the best! But as I get older, I'm finding that I have less patience for avoidable chaos. I have a harder time just going with it. Maybe it's an age thing or maybe it's because I've got two kids who thrive on structure that has made me way more structured than I ever was before. Whatever it is, I fear I'm getting a little uptight. So I'm focusing on being as easy going as I can be this holiday week. Everyone will have their own plans and agendas and I'm going to do my best to go with the flow. I am going to endeavor to only lay down the law when it comes to my girls and nap times and bed times and stuff like that. Because, my peeps, I need to get over the little things and give thanks for all the things this holiday is bringing my way.

I am fortunate enough to have multitudes of things for which to be thankful, so I'm only going to highlight a few (as I said, there's pie to bake!). And with that, I'm thankful for pie. I am beyond thankful for my tremendous family. We're something of a motley crew (as opposed to Motley Crue - I shared a wink with Tommy Lee once, but he is decidedly not in my family) and I really wouldn't have it any other way. I am thankful that I don't have to work right now and get to spend so much time with my growing daughters. I am thankful that we always have enough food - and it's good, organic stuff. I am thankful we have the Charmer to provide us shelter and warmth. I am thankful for all of my friends (who really fall in that motley family category). And I am thankful to have health insurance, a reliable vehicle, and my Wusthof knives. And also? I'm thankful for you, Internet Friends. I can't tell you how nice it is to have something - this here blog - that is mine all mine. I like writing it. I like hearing from you. It's an entirely good thing. There. Okay. I gotta go. I just heard the dryer stop.

Taste the rainbow

(Note: I have no clue why the font is jacked up in this post... just roll with it and maybe it'll be back to normal next time?)

The past week has been a complete whirlwind. Belly's ear infection really colored everything else, mainly because all she wanted for the first 4 days or so of the ordeal was for me to hold her. Which I did because the poor dear was so miserable. And now my body is paying the price for carrying an at-least-26-pounder around for hours at a time. She's almost better; still more lethargic than usual, but otherwise seemingly fine.

During this time, my brother Jonas and his family came to visit. I don't think I've laid out that family dynamic since we went to Costa Rica, so here it is again. Jonas is my younger brother by 3.5 years. Judy is his fiancee and she has a 6-year-old little sweetie, Lily, from a previous relationship. Jonas has two kids - Zia, 8, and Mikah, 7 - from a previous marriage, as well. The Jonas Family lives in southern Oregon half the year and Costa Rica half the year. It's a pretty swell arrangement. Jonas' ex-wife lives primarily in Costa Rica (on the farm next door), so that works really well when they're all down there in terms of everyone getting to see each other. Anyway... Jonas had Zia and Mikah for about a month and a half and it was time to return them to their mom. The whole gang came up to Portland from southern Oregon. Mom came in and Bri, Sissy and Dan all came over, too. We had a joint birthday party for Lily, Zia and Mikah since we never get to see them on their actual birthdays - cake, ice cream, singing, presents, the works! It was a ton of fun and the kids felt really, really special.

As I alluded to in my last post, I made rainbow birthday cakes. Each kid got their own cake, which looked pretty boring with plain white cream cheese frosting and their first initial in chocolate in the center. Total dullsville...

Magical, relighting candles caused a brief stir and then we were back to just the cakes. But THEN, I cut the cakes and the eyes grew wiiiiiiiiiide with excitement! Lily's reaction was caught on camera...

RAINBOW CAKES! Yes, they are loaded with food coloring which means chemicals which means b-a-d for you, but once in a great while isn't gonna kill anybody. And the delight in those kids' faces was so totally worth it. Plus I told them that I thought they'd be pooping rainbows the next day. Talk about giggles! Here are a few more pictures of those cakes...

I also need to back up a little to the dinner before the cakes. My plan was to make three pizzas and salad - easy peasy. Weeeellll... it turned out to be a major deal trying to get to the store with Belly being sick and all. I gave Sissy my credit card and asked if she would mind going for me. Not only did she not mind, she took Zia and Lily with her! I thought for sure that I would be able to put Belly down to make dinner. Um, yeah, no. The kid was glued to me. Again Sissy stepped up to the plate and she really, really knocked it out of the park. She made all three pizzas (using Mom and Dan as sous chefs as needed) and the salad. So if you need a pinch hitter when making dinner for 14 people, I highly recommend Sissy! (What's with my baseball analogies? Weird.)

Jonas, Judy and Lily had to leave mid-afternoon on Tuesday to get home at a reasonable time but Zia and Mikah's mom wasn't due to get here to pick them up until 9pm or so. I loved having those kids all to myself! We even read the entire first half of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (with me nearly losing my voice). Jonas called when they got home around 8:30pm and said bye to the kids one last time. It tore my heart out. Zia and Mikah both cried on my shoulders when they hung up. I could so clearly remember saying bye to my dad after visiting him when I was a kid and wishing that things were different. And like my parents, Jonas and his ex don't get along so it's always a power struggle with the kids at the center of things. It's such a monumental bummer. Those two are some of the most amazing children I've ever known - fun and cute and smart, yes; but also sensitive and worldly and a-little-too-knowing-for-their-ages. I'm just crazy about them.

This morning we went to a birthday party for the girls' friend, Oliver. He's two. Between that and the birthday party for their cousins earlier in the week, I'd say that I'm in fine shape to host our own 2nd birthday party next weekend. We're going to have a late afternoon costume party. The pizzas we/Sissy made will most likely be duplicated because they were dang tasty (one was fig, prosciutto, balsamic reduction, goat cheese; a white pizza with mozzarella, feta, kalamatas, red onion, artichoke, mushroom; and a green pizza with pesto, spinach, scallions and artichokes). And I got some good ideas for kid entertainment from Ollie's party (sticker and art area, musical instrument area). I won't be repeating the rainbow cakes, though. I'm going to save that for next year or the year after when they might actually remember it.

We have been warmed

Last night, we finally had our housewarming party. I've been prepping for this gathering for the last week - tidying the house, getting the food stuffs in order. I had thought that it was going to be about 25 people, but the final number - including kids - was 46. Forty six people! I didn't even know 46 people in DC (outside of work)! We had a ton of fun and a ton of food and drink. I made the full spread of food and basically have zero leftovers. There were two bits left on each plate when the last guests left. I guess it was all good stuff! I was too harried to take pictures when the table was all ready (bummer), but here's what I put out:

Finger sandwiches: roast beef, arugula and horseradish on focaccia; and grilled eggplant, squash, portobellos, red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes with goat cheese and pesto on focaccia
Spinach dip
Caramelized onion dip
Chips
Endive "boats" with clementines, blue cheese crumbles, candied walnuts and a balsamic reduction
Mixed olives
Rice cracker snack mix
Figs, blueberries and strawberries
Brownies
Oatmeal-raisin cookies

And for the kids:

Whole wheat cheese pizzas
Cheddar bunny party mix

Beverages were assorted beer and wine, some N/A offerings and juice boxes for the kids. Halfway through the party it looked like there was still a lot of food on the table and I was worried, but then everyone kicked in to eating mode and it was really the perfect amount. I was so happy...and relieved!!

My friend Shanna brought a five-gallon bucket full of amazingly gorgeous dark red and pink dahlias from her garden and we made three large bouquets - two for the mantle and one for the table. I'm pretty sure they are my new favorite flower. These were in addition to the ginormous bouquet that arrived on my doorstep Friday afternoon from my old boss at TNTETDWTLAWBISITKWIRL who had heard about the party way back on the East Coast. (For the record: I love her. She is the girls' godmother. She was not the problem at that job by a long shot.) I do have some pictures of the flowers.

You should've seen the number of ridiculously cute kids here. They ran and played and colored and danced. And there were only a couple time-outs that I was aware of - NONE for my girls (can you believe it?!). Speaking of Belly and the Bug, they were very, very good and very, very excited to be having a party. One of my favorite parts of the whole event was watching the Bug repeatedly (as in multiple five-minute sessions) standing by the table, standing on her tippy tippy tiptoes to reach in the bowl for a chip, getting the chip just so in her hand, then reaching way way way up into the bowl of onion dip, scooping out a bunch, licking it off the chip, and double, triple, quadruple, quintuple dipping. When that chip was too soggy, she'd eat it and repeat the process. ONION dip, people. She didn't go for the brownies or cookies or cheddar bunny mix. The ONION dip. I love it. Later in the party, she got herself a big spoon and made short work of the blueberries on the fruit plate. I managed to get a picture of that, too.

I was afraid that I would spend the whole party worrying about there being enough seating, enough food, enough drink, enough FUN but I didn't at all. I just had a great time! And as is the case when an event that I've been planning for awhile comes and goes, I'm left thinking about what I should plan next. A good friend here in Portland is about to go away for a couple months, so I think I'll be having a "ladies night" sometime in the next two weeks as a send-off for her. I'm thinking lots of wine, lots of plates of "small bites" and stuff like that. I can't wait!

About 45 minutes after the last guests left (minus Dan and his girlfriend who stuck around), Jonas arrived. He was taking a red-eye last night to Costa Rica to pick up my niece and nephew from his ex-wife. We had planned for him to leave his car here and I took him to the airport. He brought with him the most adorable play kitchen I have ever seen that he made for my girls. It is THE BEST! Check it out:

And you can turn it so that the two sides are back to back!

Those little knobs for the stove? Those came from an old van that my dad had given to Jonas a few years ago. I love that Jonas thought to incorporate those. The girls saw this when they came downstairs this morning and I expect that their reaction is pretty much what Christmas morning will be like this year. They were so excited! They played with it aaaallllllllll morning.

So, here we are - successful party, happy toddler play kitchen, lazy Sunday afternoon. I'm ready for a nap.

Rocky Raccoon

A large raccoon lives in our neighborhood. I found this out before we even moved in. Jonas and Judy spent a night here in our sun room during Bri's graduation weekend and they told me they saw it in the yard. Then Dude saw it in the tree shortly after we moved in. It's a big sucker. THEN we heard it one night in the kiddie pool having a grand time with the tupperware the girls had left in there. But today a line has been crossed. The little bastard was playing in the kiddie pool first thing this morning in broad daylight. Dude had to chase it away with a stick. Aren't they supposed to be nocturnal? WTF? Rocky wasn't too cool about being removed from his fun new play space either. He was a little aggressive toward Dude. All of this = NOT COOL.

I called Multnomah County Animal Services and they told me to call the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Which I did. And I was told that not only do they not deal with stuff like this, but there isn't an agency that does. She suggested that I trap the raccoon myself and find someone to euthanize it. And what they will do to help is issue me a permit to do the trapping. Um, okaaaaaay. That's not happening. Does one post an ad on Craigslist to find someone to euthanize a raccoon?

For the love of all things holy. Belly is standing on one side of my chair and the Bug just came up to the other. They are pooping AT THE SAME TIME. Ugh. Twins. I've gotta go...

Adrift in a sea of boxes

Please pardon the lack of posts lately - my usual nighttime blog time has been filled with unpacking boxes. The girls have not been too keen on giving me the latitude needed to unpack during the day, so I have only a few hours every night to make headway. A lot of headway that simply does not make. BUT - Bri and Dan came over on Sunday and helped me make some progress. PLUS - Bri is coming over tomorrow evening; a friend and her daughter are coming on Thursday during the day to run interference with the girls; and Bri said she'd come hang on Friday during the day since she has a vacation day from work. The unpacking shall get done (whether I like it or not, I suppose).

This house is SO big. I'm used to being able to hear what's happening upstairs while I'm downstairs and vice-versa. That just doesn't happen here. In fact, I keep having to call out to the girls and locate them when we're all on the main level. I'll call, "BUUUUUGGGGGYYYYYYYYY!!!!! BEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY!!!!!" and I'll hear the patter of little feet in the distance getting closer and closer. Or not - and then I have to run in the kitchen and make sure they haven't somehow figured out how to put each other in the oven (everything else has been baby-proofed). They really are having a big ol' time scampering about. I love seeing them so happy. I can't wait until all of the box-chaos is done and they know where all of their stuff is. For the moment, their toys and books are out in the sun room. I'm also going to give them the bottom level or two of shelves in the library. And Jonas informed me last weekend that he's about to start building a play kitchen for them. I'm going to put it in the eat-in part of the kitchen so they can cook while I cook. How cute will that be??

In other news, Belly had an eye exam today. It was the first she's had since November and obviously the first time she's been to the pediatric ophthalmologist out here. I liked the doctor. He was very gentle and thorough. Belly HATED him...for most of the visit. She seemed to deeply resent the fact that he was all up in her grill and positively screamed with everything she had every single time he tried to examine her eyes. She's such a strong little kid that I couldn't hold her. Dude and I switched spots so he could try to snuggle her/hold her still. It only half worked. Finally, finally, finally she calmed down. Dude sat in the exam chair and held her on his lap facing out. I knelt in front of the chair and hugged her. Dude and The Bug rubbed her back. This was the only way that worked - but it WORKED. She let the doctor do a full exam and by the end of it, she was reaching out to touch his hands and his glasses and was pleasant. Then he gave her a sticker and I think she forgave him completely.

After all of that, there's good news and bad news that will ultimately be good news. The good: Belly doesn't need to wear her glasses anymore. This means the fighting to keep them on her is a thing of the past! How about an amen? Can I get an amen?! AMEN!! And how about a woot?! WOOT!!

Now, the bad that will ultimately be good: She doesn't need the glasses because they're not correcting her crossing. What she needs is surgery - probably within the next six months. I hate to think about my little baby-kid going in to surgery but I like the idea of having the problem FIXED. And putting the whole ordeal behind us. We're going back for a follow-up to today's exam in about a month and we'll get the full story on the surgery then. We understand WHY the surgery, but not the HOW yet. Today was totally traumatic and there was a lot to process, so we just left all the detail questions for next time.

It's a non-stop party here, isn't it?

Anyway - boxes are calling me. More soon.

I might puke

Way back in spring of 1998, Erika, Jonas and I went on vacation together to Hawaii. It was the first time we'd ever done something together as adults and we had a really, really awesome time. Erika lived in Arkansas, Jonas was here in Oregon and I lived in LA. Erika flew in to LA to spend the night with me before we both left together the next day for our trip. I was so excited for this vacation and Erika arriving that, well, I puked right before I left for the airport to get her. That quickly became the measuring stick for excitement in our family. One can claim to be excited, but unless there's some up-chucking involved, how much anticipation is there really?

I'm feeling awfully close to pukey over getting the Charmer. PLUS Erika gets here Wednesday for a long weekend (Bri's college graduation is this weekend!). Come Wednesday night, I might seriously need someone to hold my hair.

PURA VIDA!

In case you don't know already, pura vida is Costa Rica's official slogan. It literally means "pure life" but down there it also means "hi," "bye," "stay cool," and "hells yeah!" It's sort of at the heart of their laid-back way. I wish it was the slogan for our country. People would be a lot more chill. I like chill. Heck - I love chill.

Our trip was pretty damn great. It was jam-packed with action, adventure, good food, family, hammocks. I wish there was a highlight reel and I could just cue the video. Since there's not, here's a list of highlights and lowlights (points of interest, I suppose) from our 9-day trip to Costa Rica. These are in no particular order...

Let's start with the snake! Um, I pretty much have a snake phobia. I am, quite literally, terrified of them. Even seeing them behind glass at the zoo makes me feel like I might have a panic attack. Now I know that there are all kinds of snakes, including very poisonous ones, in Costa Rica. This was my third trip there, though, and I'd never seen one. I really wasn't worried about it. Billy - Erika's husband - shares my horror of all things snake and WAS worried about it. I kept reassuring him that he was going on over nothing. WEEELLLLLL....we were on a little jungle hike on our land - not hacking our way through the jungle but on a path that my brother, Jonas, keeps maintained. Jonas was leading the way, followed by his six-year-old step-daughter, Billy, me with Belly in a sling, Erika and Dude with the Bug in a sling. There are so many amazing things to see in the jungle - everything grows on everything else and the flowers are S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G and exotic and it feels like happy paradise. Erika wanted Billy to take a picture of her in front of a cool tree so she leaned against it while he backed up to get the shot. All of a sudden, Erika started barking commands in a crisp, tight, incredibly authoritative tone of voice. "Everybody stop. Billy - go by Rachael right now. And Rachael - move further down the path. Lily - stay far away. Dude - don't come any closer. In fact, back up a ways. There is a snake RIGHT THERE." We all looked. There was an effing terciopelo (also called a fer-de-lance) about two feet behind where Billy was standing to take the picture of Erika. Here's the link to Wikipedia, but lemme tell you, it's a pit-viper. It is known to be aggressive. It can shoot its venom up to six feet. One has three hours to get to the anti-venom before all hell breaks loose and your limbs start crumbling off (not really - but close - look at that picture on Wikipedia). This snake is basically the one that I had hoped to avoid. And there it was, all coiled up and looking at us. I would've fainted, but that would've meant that me and my baby were on the ground with the snake. Ultimately, the snake did nothing and we all moved on down the path. Jonas would've killed it with his machete, but we were all focused on just getting AWAY from it - plus it was in the jungle, not near the house. Ugh. Oh, and Erika kept getting closer and closer to it trying to get a good picture. She's nuts. She never did get a clear picture, but this one's close enough.

We flew from Portland to Dallas (where we met up with Erika and Billy) to San Jose, Costa Rica, then spent the night at a cool little B&B before driving the 4 hours or so to the farm the next day. Here's a picture of Dude and Belly at that B&B. It's one of my new favorite pics.

When we turned onto the dirt road (from the gravel road) that leads to the path that leads to our farm (you have to walk in about 15 minutes), there was a sloth hanging from an elevated water line. The animal was abuzz with flies and even had a spider hanging off of it. Check it out, yo.

Here's just a funny photo that Erika took near San Jose. Apparently, Jesus personally helps guide this surgeon's hand. Hmmm. I wonder if he does tummy tucks.

Anyway, back to our adventures. Jonas is almost done building our "communal house." Eventually, we'll have our own "cabina" that has a couple bedrooms, a hang-out area and maybe a deck or something. We'll use the communal house for the kitchen and more hang-out-ability. Here's the outside of the house.

And some views from the house at sunset...

We spent a day down at the ocean. The Pacific has never felt so warm. Jonas and his family schooled me on all the different kinds of waves that come in and how to handle them. There are Swimmers, Floaters, Surprisers, Butt Breakers and Brain Suckers. There might be more, but that's what I remember. Jonas cut open cocos for us and we drank the sweet, watery milk. We frolicked. We gathered shells. We got a little sunburned. It was pretty perfect. Here are a few pics of Playa Ventanas.

Then the day took a turn for the worse when some cops came to the beach and said that Erika and Billy's rental truck had been broken into. The "stealers" (as my nephew called them) dropped a huge rock through the back passenger window and took the bag with my sister's knitting (a blanket for Belly!) and her almost-finished-really-good book. So lame.

Things looked up again, though, when we left the beach and drove up the road to a hidden waterfall to rinse off the salt water. It was COLD but lovely after a hot day at the beach with its bathwater waves.

I cut down a rack of bananas on the farm! With a machete! I felt kind of like a warrior. Seeing the pictures, though, I look like a gringa taking a few whacks for a photo op. Maybe someday I'll fit in a little better down there.

There's so much more to tell, but this post is getting ridiculously ginormous. It was super great to hang out with Jonas and the family - his kids, Zia and Mikah; his fiance, Judy; and her daughter, Lily. I miss them so much when they're down there and I'm grateful that my kids got to spend a lot of time with their cousins. Here are some pictures of that gorgeous family...

My nephew, Mikah: