Category Archives: Motherhood

Today’s Photo Taken by Thomas

I’m back at home after a few days in Seattle and playing catch up. I think the tooth fairy must be feeling a little overwhelmed as well because she forgot to stop by our house last night for the second time this week. I blamed an overabundance of toothless seven year olds requiring her attention.

The weekend will be spent catching up on a few things around the house and, hopefully, some good old fashioned laying around. I need a recharge.

I leave you with a photo that Thomas took a couple of weeks ago. Happy Friday!

This is Four and a Half (don’t forget the half)

Inspired by a post I read on Ali Edward’s blog, I decided to interview each of my children. You can my interview with Thomas here. Today it’s Samuel’s turn.

Samuel at Four and a Half

My favorite food: Watermelon, pizza, kiwi, candy
My favorite movie: Peter Pan and Star Wars
The coolest person on earth: Wizards
My favorite thing to do at school: Making stuff and writing letters
The thing I do most awesomely: Being good
If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: The ice cream place and Disney World
My favorite color: Blue, Gold, Yellow and Silver
When I grow up, I’m going to become: A Ninja
The thing my parents are too strict about: Me being too mean to Mummy and Daddy
My favorite band: The Beatles
The book I’m reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Two words that describe me: Smart, Good at Soccer
When I was little, I used to: Suck on everything
My favorite season of the year: Winter
The snack I could live on: Candy, raisins
The food that makes me want to puke: Tomatoes
My best friend: Xander
If I had one wish it would be: Defeating every bad guy in the world
My best memory is: When I first became Xander’s friend

Excuse the crop on the photo but Samuel was a moving target and I was determined to get a photo of him in this outfit. He’s all dressed up for an emergency soccer game should the need arise, but also for the chilly weather. Smart kid.

This Is Seven

Inspired by a post I read on Ali Edward’s blog, I decided to interview each of my children. I was going to wait until their birthday’s but things change so quickly around here that I decided to just do it now. I’m sure the answers will be different in just a few short months.

I interviewed both boys at the same time but next time I’ll try and do them separately. You’ll see someone similarities in their responses. Samuel, for instance,was thrilled to discover that Candy could be considered a favorite food after Thomas added it to his list.

The most surprising part of this process for me, was realizing how excited they each were to answer my questions. They asked for more after I was done.

Today’s responses come from my favorite seven year old. 4 (and a half) year old answer will be posted tomorrow.

Thomas at Seven 

My favorite food: Candy and Pizza
My favorite movie: Harry Potter
The coolest person on earth: My family
My favorite thing to do at school: Choosing time and drawing
The thing I do most awesomley: Everything
If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: Legoland and Disneyland
My favorite color: Yellow, gold and silver
When I grow up, I’m going to become: A ninja
The thing my parents are too strict about: Too much video game and TV time
My favorite band: The Beatles
The book I’m reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Three words that describe me: Funny, clever and strong
When I was little, I used to: Pee on my Mum and Dad
My favorite season of the year: Autumn
The snack I could live on: Candy and Pizza
The food that makes me want to puke: Tomatoes
My best friend: Kentaro, Aiden, Peter, Nick, Raiu, Max, Grant, Charlie, Carter
If I had one wish it would be: That candy would be good for you
My best memory is: When I was playing with Grant

Screw You St. Valentine, but Thanks for the Love Notes

For me, Valentine’s Day isn’t about love and flowers and chocolates (although I unexpectedly received some chocolates this year). o, for a mother of two school-age children who happens to live in America, Valentine’s Day is about making a last-minute stop at the store to buy packs of Valentines that are really just cleverly disguised advertisements for superhero merchandise. It’s about making your children write their name and, for Thomas someone else’s name, on 25-27 valentines over three evenings because that is just too many to do in one night after school. It’s about the crazy mess that is distributing said valentines to individual envelopes at 8am when you’ve already missed the first school bell. I also carpool so add one more child to the mix and that’s at least 75 valentine cards to be distributed before 8:30am.

Somewhere, St. Valentine is sitting up in the clouds and laughing at the chaos he created. It’s enough for me to come up with a Bah Humbug! alternative for this very special, most romantic, day of the year.

Still, this year did bring a couple of unexpectedly sweet Valentine moments thanks to a couple of boys who now have the ability to write and who have way more sentimentality than their mother.

Like this little surprise message from Samuel. Who says you can’t say it on a post-it note?

And he was kind enough to give me really long legs.

Thomas wrote a very special Valentine for his crush. Translation: To Sabrina. From Thomas. 2013.

It came complete with a photograph of himself, of course. I love that he calls out the day and date of their last playtime.

And then finished off with a heart.

Both boys have been working on letter writing at school so I also want to share a couple of special notes that we’ve received over the last few days.

From “your friend” Samuel. I’m particularly impressed by the hiragana.

And this one from “your son” Thomas.

Receiving letters from my boys may be my new favorite thing, but I don’t need them with a side of candy hearts.

 

A Homemade Christmas: Star Wars and Superhero Cross Stitch

First, let me begin with a little story. Last year, while we visited Australia, my dear Sister-in-Law Emma decided to sew up a couple of quick kangaroo stuffies for my boys. I was impressed, as were the boys. In fact, it sparked this little comment from Thomas…

“Mum. Will you please make something for me so I have something to remember you by?”

Of course this initially made me consider my own mortality and then defensively declare that I take lots of photographs and make him photo books dammit! (OK, I didn’t really say dammit, but I felt like it).

But it did start me thinking about a few things I could potentially make with these craft-challenged hands of mine… you know, so I won’t be forgotten.

A couple of months later I came across a site that sells fun digital cross stitch patterns and, drawing on memories from the cross stitch phase of my late teens and early twenties, I made these…

Cute, huh?  After much deliberation, I gave the superheroes to Thomas and Star Wars to Samuel (his new obsession).

They were pretty quick and easy to make and the most expensive part was getting them framed. (Seriously, why is framing so expensive?!) The best part is that the boys loved them and were incredibly impressed that I made them all by myself. I’m pretty sure they were more impressed by Auntie Emma’s stuffies but at least it’s something to remember me by… if only I’d remembered to sign them. Oh well, next time.

Best Face of 2012

When you have two children, how do you choose a best face for the year? This was the dilemma I faced when searching for a photo for the latest I Heart Faces challenge. It seems unfair to make me choose, but if I must…

I chose this photo of Samuel because it reminds me about how much fun it is to have a four year old in the house, even if it can be really tough at times. It reminds me about the value of imagination and how 2012 was the year of superheroes and ninjas and magic and trolls. It reminds me that, while I often wonder about how different my life would be with a little girl in the house, I am so very very lucky to be the mother of two fun, smart, creative boys.

Photo Challenge Submission

Neighborhood Discoveries and Sub Arctic Portland

Over the break, Kei and I tried our best to get the boys out of the house each day for some sort of physical activity. Sometimes it happened and we wore them out enough for them to sleep well but other days saw us barely getting out of our pajamas. When it’s dark and cold in Portland, the thought of getting dressed can sometimes seem like just too much effort.

On this day, we braved freezing temperatures to ride our bikes to the grocery store and then onto a relatively new playground near our house. Nothing too thrilling, but family time nonetheless and a reminder than we don’t need to hike a mountain to get out and have fun with the kids. The playground was built to be accessible by kids with disabilities and the boys just loved it. I can’t believe it took us so long to try it out. My favorite part? The fake grass that looked and felt almost real but came without a side of mud. I’m tempted to lay some in our backyard.

Oh, and I know for a fact that we were braving freezing temperatures because it started snowing while we were at the playground. Not a blizzard, but a few tiny little flakes. Still, I live in Portland so calls of “it’s snowing!” soon rang across the playground – most of them coming from the adults. Those calls faded when the flakes stopped falling about 3 minutes later.

Samuel struck a pose for this next photo. Watch out America’s Next Top Model.

I asked him to let me take a photo of his pink cheeks and nose.

Getting to know the locals.

This adventure marked the first time that Thomas rode his own bike on the road. Kei rode up front with Samuel in the bike trailer and then I brought up the rear. We took the back streets but it was still a little terrifying to know that my baby could drift into the street at any moment. I may have sounded a little frantic at times as I reminded him to watch the road (not me) and look out for parked cars and keep to the right. Still, he did a great job and only complained that his legs were tired for the last 15 minutes or so.

So proud of him, although I needed to find a little zen of my own after the stressful bike ride.

Pretending This Never Happened

I’m still aching after the events of last Friday. Although the tragedy occurred on the opposite side of the country, I could too easily put myself in the position of those parents. The fear, and then horror, that they must have experienced. That they’re still experiencing.

But I have to stop looking at the news stories for my own sanity and because I have to keep it from my children. Thankfully, they’re too young to know that anything is going on. I also hid them from the news of a shooting in the mall just a few miles from our home – and just a few days before when we thought it couldn’t get much worse.

Four year olds and seven year olds shouldn’t be afraid to go to the mall, and they most certainly should not be afraid to go to school. As parents, we are forced to carry that fear on their behalf but somehow hide it from them at the same time.

I’m not sure if my children noticed that my hugs were a little tighter and a little longer over the weekend or that I told them I loved them about about 30 times each day instead of the usual 10 or that I was perhaps a little more patient than usual. I suspect it was a regular weekend for them, which is just how it should be.

I was not born in America – I chose to live here. And, when I moved here, I knew that the gun issue was going to be a hurdle for me to overcome because, when you choose to live in another country you accept that the rules and customs of that country are part of the deal.

But things have changed.

My children and husband were born here and it’s my responsibility to fight for what I think is the best thing for my family and for the country that we have chosen as our home. I don’t have to accept the current gun laws as part of the deal anymore. As I posted on Facebook on Friday, a person’s right to own a gun does not override any child’s right to feel safe. It’s that simple. I’m going to see what part I can play, however small, to change things.

In the meantime I’m going to move forward, celebrate christmas, spend time with my family and pretend that nothing happened because, as far as my children are concerned, the only thing they need to fear right now is the naughty list.