Hockey, Science Fairs and Basketball

The days have been getting longer, Praise God! Over the weekend I saw surfers in the bay! I wish I had my camara with me (For a photo of a surfer in Kachemak Bay, go to the Greear Family Blog). We have been so busy with 4 hockeys games every weekend the last two weekends. I always have great plans for what I am going to accomplish between games. But when I get home and the sun is pouring into my living room, heating the house up to 80 degrees, I just want to curl up in the big easy chair and take a nap. Fortunately, I have a good book to curl up with. It would have been funny had Matt caught me napping with my book: "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". I don't think napping is one of the habits Steven Covey was writing about, but I wouldn't know, I haven't been able to get past the second chapter. I get exhausted just thinking about what it would be like to be highly effective.

No, these are not all the things I'm giving up for Lent. They were the chemicals Riley subjected his father to for the sake of science. He wanted to see which chemicals would make Matt's blood pressure go up. His teacher was disappointed that we could not get Matt's blood pressure elevated after one of these beverages. I told her I thought it was dose dependent. Apparently, ONE cup of coffee or ONE glass of wine does not increase Matt's blood pressure. Besides, you cannot draw conclusions from a science experiment where there is only ONE subject. It would have been interesting to document the effects of STRESS on Matt's blood pressure. Here's Matt's blood pressure when he first gets home from work. Here's Matt's blood pressure when he opens the VISA bill. Here's Matt's blood pressure after Mom tells him she's going to play women's hockey next winter and go to a women's surf camp for her 45th birthday.

Riley learning how to check a blood pressure on Matt.

In addition to his science project, he had a book report due yesterday. I tried to encourage him to work on it a little everyday instead of putting it off until the last night. It didn't help. He still morphed from a sweet little boy into a whining, crying, tantrum throwing emotional wreck. "I don't know what to write!" I swore I would not let myself get sucked into the melodrama this time. I gave him lots of room to do what he needed to do. This is his third book report this year. He should know what to do by now. He doesn't seem to be able to get down to business without the meltdown first. Then I have to sit down and ask him leading questions. What happended first? Then what? How does it end? Tell me about the characters. What did you like about the book? It's like pulling teeth, everytime.

We've been trying to find a niche for Chris all year. Well, yes he does already have a niche with his love of cutting down trees, chopping wood and building fires. I mean an age-appropriate niche that would help him get along in society, not just survive in the Alaskan wilderness. He is actually quite popular with his peers. He has no trouble making friends at school. He is smart, funny, and charming. But he never seems to want a play date. He gets left out when his brother has a friend over. He gets dragged to hockey games and never wants to be involved in an activity of his own. We really don't care if he doesn't want to play organized sports. We just want him to be happy doing his own thing, hopefully something that doesn't involve sharp tools and pyromania.

He finally has his own best friend: Cole. He loves Cole. They get along so well. He also expressed an interest in playing basketball. So we signed him up with a basketball program called Upward. It's a Christian based program that teaches skills and gets kids involved in a team sport without all the pressure of competition. He went to his first practice last night and seemed to have fun. My mom took him while we were at work. He also wants to take an art class. So I'm on the lookout for kids art classes being offered in the community.

Maya has no problem finding a niche. She has niches all over town. People are always telling me, "I saw Maya at the post office with your mom" She goes to Boys and Girls' Club with my mom for playgroup on Mondays and Fridays when I work. She has her own friends there that I have never met. Friday she came home wearing hot pink boots that Mimi gave her. Mimi's mom made her a little hula hoop of her very own. This Friday, I'm sending my camara with my mom so they can document their day. Next blog topic: "The secret life of Maya and Grandma."

Valentine's Day, Celebrated

Chris made the valentine on the back left, Maya the front left, Riley made the clay pot full of Valentines on the right. My favorite hearts said "I am faithful", "Love is a great shield", "Mr. and Mrs. Awesome" and "Thank you for signing me up for hockey". Chris' valentine said "You are the sweetest mom in the world." He made on for Sarah that said "You are the best sister ever". And the one for Matt said "You are my favorite". Chris gave me a coupon for helping me make my bed. He also set the table for our feast.

Some of our favorite red and white foods.

Grandma and Nanna were invited to join us.

Everyone loves spaghetti. Maya even eats salad now. She likes lettuce with balsamic vinegrette!

Friday night after work I was picking the kids up from Grandma's house. As I was putting her jacket on she said "Darn it". I asked "Why?". She said "Uh, home!" meaning she didn't want to go home, she wanted to stay at Grandma's!

Maya is not as pensive as she looks.

Cheesecake with cherries on top for dessert.

Presidents's Day Weekend

We spent the weekend in Anchorage for the President's Day Weekend Hockey Tournament. I went up one day early to take a seminar on time management. I really enjoyed the class, now I have to start applying some of these principles to my daily life before I forget everything. The rest of the weekend was spent running around, doing lots of different things so it was hardly Valentine's Day for the Wises. I'm planning to make up for it with a special dinner tomorrow night. I'm going to serve everyone's favorite red and white foods: beets for Matt, radishes for Riley, strawberries for Chris, red pears for Maya, roasted red peppers for me, spaghetti for everyone, and for dessert: cheesecake with cherries on top.

Maya looks very Vietnamese with this balloon hat.

Riley, Boo and I attended an Aces game on Friday night.

Matt got to eat pho on Saturday. Chris chose pho over Chuck E. Cheese!

Chris was appalled that I ordered fried rice instead of pho.

Maya eating pho.

Chris chose to go bowling while Riley went to the movies with Bradley.

Michael celebrated his birthday with a few of his favorite girls.

Riley listens to directions for a skills competition. He competed in the "fastest skater through an obstacle course." He did not win but he had fun trying. We won one game and lost two. The two teams we lost to played each other in the championship game. Our kids made a valiant effort and have improved so much. The first time we played the Jr. Avalanche, they beat us 14-2. The second time it was 15-3. This time we only lost 6-1! We have one more month to go before the state championship.

Winter Carnival

Last Saturday we bundled up and headed to town at noon for the annual Winter Carnival Parade. It was sunny and warmer than most years, a balmy 26 degrees.
Why would we want to stand around on Pioneer Avenue on a cold winter day in February?

Three words: I want candy. Candy is thrown from the floats. This tot is ready!

Then there's the ice racers. This is how Homer's kids learn to drive on Beluga Lake.

No Brazilians here but you can sense the Carnival atmosphere.

Keep this awesome curling ribbon mermaid hair in mind for next Halloween.

Mark Morath, our cowboy poet who never misses a parade.

Chris helps Maya in the jump house at Paul Banks Elementary school.

Maya smears whipped cream on Principal Abraham's face.

Time to deflate the jump house and return it to Ulmer's Rentals. Maya is not really under there, just her boots. (I know it's awful, I couldn't resist).

Bradley and Riley worked the hockey shootout booth for three hours. Next year we have to have a little talk with them about letting 2 year olds get a goal once in a while.

The boys were wiped out Saturday night. Trevor joins the slumber party.

Of Lunches Boxes and Lizards

Look who's back in town! Yes, Alana's home. She came over for coffee on Tuesday, did a lousy job of trying to convince me to move to Saipan, and of course, Maya got her nails painted.

Today Maya started her Vietnamese lessons. She is going to Bill and Ly's house for a couple hours once a week so Ly can speak Vietnamese with her. I don't know how much she remembers. She repeats things after Ly but I don't don't if she understands everything Ly says like when she first came to Homer.

Yesterday was Maya's first day back at school after being sick last week. She was a little hesitant at first. She clung to me and did not want to join in the game in the gym. Her teacher asked if there was something she was attached to in her backpack that she could hold while I left. I thought about it. She is not attached to dolls or stuffed animals. Although she likes her blanket, she is not attached to it. Then I remembered her Curious George lunch box. She takes it everywhere. She even packs a snack to go to Grandma's. I told the teacher the only thing Maya is attached to is her lunch box. Ms. Baechler had her assistant, Nicole, go get Maya lunch box and bring it to her. She let go of my neck, grabbed onto the lunch box and I was able to walk out without a single tear.

Sadly, our anole lizard died this week of natural causes. He shared a habitat with a tree frog and a fire bellied toad. They coexisted peacefully for several years. He loved to bask under the heat lamp on a log, plotting his escape. His only regret in life: missing that job interview with Geico to go surfing on the Amazon.

Welcome home, Alana!

Why do I bother buying toys? This is Maya's latest obsession, the Vietnamese noodle dunker. You can use it to catch balls.

It also makes a very good hat.

You should always wear goggles when eating breakfast. You never know what's going to fly out of the cereal bowl and hit you in the eye. Just look at my mom!

The boys love making kitty condos out of cardboard boxes.

A magnificant coffin for our anole. He will be buried in the traditional Alaskan way:

His body will be frozen until the ground is soft enough for him to be buried late spring.

I'm ready to go to Ly's house!

Got my Curious George lunch box in my backpack!

This is a beautiful oil pastel portrait of Maya, a gift from Midge at South Peninsula Hospital.

Of course, the photo does not do it enough justice. Thank you again, Midge!

Oh Happy Day!

My first friend in America just found me on Facebook. This may not sound like a big deal to you. But to me, it's incredible! It was February, 1974. I had just been adopted from Vietnam (from the same Province Maya where Maya was born). I was 8 1/2 year old and I weighed 44 pounds. I was smaller than most 5 year olds. I started out in the first grade, since I couldn't speak a word of English. I was scared. Then, the most beautiful girl in first grade made me her friend. Inga Sorenson. She had curly blond hair and blue eyes, she looked just like an angel. She was my angel. The following year I skipped second grade and went to third grade, where I met Kelly. She became my best friend that year. She now lives in Belgium as I blogged about before. Kelly and I have been friends since third grade. But I lost touch with Inga over 30 years ago, until tonight. I can't wait to catch up!

It was also a happy day for Matt and Riley. Can you believe those lucky guys? First their baseball team wins the World Series, then their football team wins the Superbowl. How cool would it be if the Flyers won the Stanley cup? It would be a Pennsylvania sweep! The Triple Crown! Poor Chris is still upset that the Cards didn't win.

I went for long walk with my dog today. It was so beautiful out. Everyone was home watching the Superbowl so it was quiet. The only sound I heard was the crunching of snow beneath my boots. The sun was shining, no wind, not a cloud in the sky, except for the ominous dark blanket of clouds over the volcanoes to the west. We've been on Orange Alert for a week, waiting for Redoubt to blow.

When I got home from my walk, I shoveled the whole deck. We have a huge deck so it took me an hour. There was a foot of snow on the west and east sides of the house, only a few inches on the south side. Still, it took me an hour to shovel the whole deck. As I shoveled I watched this ominous dark cloud moving across the bay towards us at an alarming rate. When it covered the sun it became so dark you'd think we were having an eclipse. I thought maybe the volcano had erupted. But then snow started falling heavily. I came inside and checked the volcano website, no eruption yet. If you would like to see updates of Redoubt, Google the Alaska Volcano Observatory. It's really cool. Oh, and we had a 6.1 earthquake last week, just 40 miles from here. But it was from so deep in the ocean that it doesn't do any damage. Phew!

Waiting for the big game to start. Can you spot the black sheep? Hint: He's wearing a Cardinals World Series Champions shirt.

Maya playing the lap harp. Lilly the Kitty appreciates fine music.

Maya's little pizza (waiting for cheese).

My Mediterranean pizza could have been a Superbowl hit if I'd had black olives!

Fruit bowl still life, by Riley Wise

Fruit bowl in window by Riley Wise

The deck just after I finished shoveling. Right before it started snowing again!

Day 10 in the House of Plague

That's how Matt answers the phone; "Hello, House of Plague". He came home from the hospital when it got slow to give me a break from the kids. (My hero, spending his break from sick hospital patients to take care of his sick kids). Most normal moms would grab a razor, body scrub and head for the bathroom. Not Slacker Mom. I grab my camara, my card reader, and head for the laptop. It hasn't been that bad, really. It would have driven me crazy if I was one of those over-achiever type A moms. But I gave that up two kids ago. Now that I've made peace with my inner slacker mom, I'm actually really good at sick days.

Maya took the prize for the highest fever: 105.6! Now some people would worry that their kids might have a seizure with fevers that high. If Matt wasn't a doctor and I wasn't a nurse, our kids would have been in the ER. After getting a urinalysis, chest xray, blood draw and a lumbar puncture, we would have heard those dreaded words: "It's viral". I hate having to tell people that after they've dragged their kids into clinic. It makes them feel so much better when I say, "I could prescribe antibiotics, but it will not make it better. In fact, they may experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rash and possibly an allergic reaction."

Today Maya brought me a book she wanted me to read. It was the guide to Wii MarioKart. Now anyone that knows me knows I don't read instruction manuals. I take that back, I did read one instruction manual. It was the idiot guide to my camara. It has big pictures and not too many words. 1. Take your camara out of the box. 2. Attach the wrist strap. I'm not joking. Anyway, back to the Wii manual. So for kicks I flipped through the book and began reading the Spanish section. On the second paragraph I realized it was warning that playing video games may cause seizures. Did you know that 1 out of 4000 people can have a seizure while playing video games?

I just looked up febrile seizures on Up to Date. It said that 2-4% of children under the age of 5 experience seizures with fever. That's 2 to 4 out of 100. Okay, I'm no math whiz, but according to my calculations, children under the age of 5 are 40 times more likely to have a seizure during a high fever than while playing video games. Isn't that reassuring? My advice to you: don't let children under the age of five play video games while they have a fever! That's why they pay me the big bucks. (Grin).

Here's my Slacker Mom Guide to sick days:
1. Have Costco two packs of Tylenol and Motrin in the house. If they have vomiting AND fever, ask the pharmacist for Tylenol suppositories. Our Safeway pharmacy keeps them in the fridge in the pharmacist. God did not prep you with years of diaper changing and butt wiping for no reason. The look on their face when you slip that suppository in is priceless. Kind of like the look your dog gives you when the veterinarian pulls out the rectal thermometer. (You're going to put that WHERE?)

2. Learn how to make a good batch of chicken noodle soup. If you think cooking is for fat people with French accents, stock up on Progresso soup. Always have a stash of juice, popsickles, ginger ale and saltines. Oh, and a good digital thermometer, preferably the ear kind. The one we got at Costco is going on 8 years now.

3. If you don't have a large collection of kids movies, it helps to have Nickelodian or the Disney station. Sure you can read them books or rent books on tape. But this is the Slacker Mom guide, not the Super Mom guide. I saw a great movie on Nickelodian this morning called "Gym Teacher". It was hysterical. "Cinch up your jock straps and tighten up your training bras!". Even the commercials are funny. Now I can't decide if I want to take a Disney family cruise or a Nickelodian family cruise. Two words: Daycare Included. I can't wait for Madagascar 2 to come out on video. The Two-pack has the latest short film from everyone's favorite undercover secret agent, cargo ship hijacking, explosives experts and mission impossible style penguins. I saw a commercial for these colorful bendable sticks that these kids are using to make incredible art projects. I said to Riley, all you would make out of them is balls. Riley said "And Chris would make the wrong kind of balls." I love my boys. They may not be creative, but they keep me laughing.

4. Finally, think of it as your excuse to take a break from the daily grind. No PTA meetings, no hockey practice, no guilt trips. (Did you ever stop to think that maybe illness is God's gift to women who do too much?) Grandma, Nanna and Matt took turns staying with the kids so I could do errands and get fresh air.

We had a big snow storm the last two days. Today the sun came out and the kids got outside to play for a little while. It's like the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm already scheming how I'm going to get a third week of slacking off out of this. Do you think Matt would fall for this? "It's an adult version of this virus, Matt, I have the headache and fatigue, but no fever!"