Serenity NOW!

I am channeling Frank Constanza.  Come on though moms (and dads).  There are those moments when there is so much noise that those are the words you are screaming in your mind.  Right?

My youngest lovely children are in competition for the airspace around them at almost all times.  They MUST fill it with sound.  From the moment they wake up they talk constantly.  I don't know if anyone elses kids are like this.  I don't spend enough time with anyone else's kids.  We were on our way home from gymnastics today, and Alyssa and Sarah were talking.  This is how it went (60 seconds of the drive home):

Alyssa: Did you see my cartwheels?  She wants me to do one handed cartwheels. I don't know if I can.

Sarah (simultaneously): Where is my cup?  What happened to the ice in my cup?  Alyssa do you have my cup?

Alyssa: Do you think I can do a one handed cartwheel?  I don't like Dairy Queen water.  It tastes gross.

Sarah: I can do a one handed cartwheel.  It's so easy.  Alyssa give me my cup!!

Alyssa (shoving cup at Sarah): It isn't your turn to sit in the front anyway! Here's your stupid cup.  Mom!  There's a deer!  Mom!!  Did you see that tree?  I like those trees that are cut so that they have shapes, you know, like a circle and then the stem and then another circle at the top? 

Sarah: Mom!  I think Aunt Traci is at Grandma's house!  What do you think they are doing?  There were 5 people at  Grandma's table.  What were they doing? 

Alyssa: Sarah, can you do a bridge and then stand up?  I can go down into a bridge. But I can't stand up.  That's really hard.

Sarah: I bet they are having dinner.  I can go into a bridge but I have to have help standing up but only sometimes but I bet today I can do one.  We should practice when we get home.  Alyssa!  We should have a contest when we get home.  Or do you want to play Barbie's?  We could have a gynastics (yes, gynastics not gymnastics) competition and do cartwheels and whoever does the best cartwheel wins.  Mom can be the judge.  Mom! Can you be the judge of our contest? Please???

ETC...

This is a very typical conversation!  I have stopped several of this kind of conversation lately and said GIRLS!! STOP TALKING!! I don't think this is normal!!   Other children DO NOT talk this much!  This was one minute of my life with these girls!!!  And NO!  I cannot judge your gymnastics competition.  Or referee your silly arguments!  I am hoping this is a phase. Please tell me I am not alone here.  Is this an age thing (14 months apart)?  Or a girl thing?  Or a Thams kid thing (no frame of reference)? 

Alyssa and Sarah do have some seriously redeeming moments.  Alyssa loves everyone, everything, and intensely.  She loves animals (her cat/Aunt Ann's cat, our dog, random lawn critters).  She once spent an entire afternoon loving a tree frog and another loving and naming bunnies found in our yard.  She thinks everything is cute.  She also loves her family like that, including Sarah.  This is the first year that she is the big sister at school because Haley is at Middle School, and she is awesome at it. 

Sarah has an attitude about everything, but underneath that attitude is genuine love for everyone (mainly me, her Dad, and Jesus).  She gets in trouble a lot.  But when I talk to her about what she did wrong and ask her what she should do to fix it, she tells me that she should pray for forgiveness.  You can't be mad after your kid says that.

These two are going to be in a wedding in October.  I thought I would show you all one of their finer, quieter (because a picture can't speak) moments, so here they are trying on their dresses and hair for the wedding of my handsome cousin Joel and his lovely bride Katy:

See?? They can pretend to love each other!

Alyssa & Sarah in a curtsy for the camera

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other exciting news:  my sister Allison and her husband John had their baby yesterday!!  He is SOOOO cute!  His name is Ernest Phillips Schoonover, named after my father Ernest K. Phillips, a.k.a. Phil.  I don't know if this makes him a junior because he isn't the first generation after my dad, but he isn't going to be called junior, so I don't think it matters.  He is going to be called Phil.  I love it.  I think it's an honor to be named after a great man, and baby Phil definitely has that honor.  He is a beautiful baby, born into a beautiful family.  Here he is!

Baby Phil and Allison

Beautiful baby Phil

Responsibilities are hard.

It's hard being a sixth grader.  Just ask mine.  There are all kinds of things to remember; books, homework assignments, gym clothes, fundraising papers (these could be forgotten in my opinion), picture day forms, etc.  This is the first year that she has lots of responsibility for herself and she is struggling.  I am not a super organized person- I can be when it counts, but generally, I tend to be a little scattered myself.  This fault that I see in her is a reflection of my own, and it annoys me.  For example, over the weekend we went to Sonoma County, CA with some friends.  At the airport car rental kiosk, I gave the man at the counter my driver's license which he promptly handed back to me because it is expired.  What?  I was just at the DOT getting a new one!  How can this be?  And then Todd pointed out that I was getting a new one because I lost the old one, not because I was renewing the license.  Grr.  On the bright side, this meant that I wouldn't have to drive all weekend!  

Sonoma County is beautiful by the way.  The weather is spectacular, vineyards are perfectly straight lines of amazing looking grapevines, and there are wineries scattered everywhere that are surrounded by gardens of strange looking flowers and fruit trees.  Plus, you can drink wine in the morning and it is totally acceptable.

House in Sonoma where we spent the weekend

Update on graduate school:

Last week I had to respond to a horrendous discussion question about defining advanced practice nursing.  Not to be confused with advanced nursing practice.  What is the difference, you ask?  Advanced practice nurses provide direct patient care (nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists) while advanced nursing practice refers to nurses with advanced degrees like nurse educators and administrators.  Why is this such a big deal?  Because nurses like definition. 

I am also writing a paper about my professional goals and my 5 year plan.  I am totally making it up.  Education...Future nurses....Health care changes...It has to be 2-3 pages people!!  I am running out of material! 

Class #3 asked me to send in a picture of myself for an ID badge.  There are very few pictures of me (just head shot) and no kids/Todd.  So this morning I took a picture of myself with my phone.  First I had to put on makeup. Now, I know that people take pictures of themselves with their phones.  I have seen them.  They look cute.  There must be a secret that I am unaware of, because I look insane.  I took a bunch, trying different poses (I hope no neighbors were watching), and threw them in the little garbage can.  Then I decided that it was the orange shirt I was wearing and changed into white.  I took some more, walking from room to room (different lighting & paint color), and finally settled on the least insane looking one.  Here are the insane/less insane photos:

Insane looking Emily

Slightly less insane looking Emily (I think)

Yesterday I renewed my driver's license and I didn't even have to take the test.  I did get teased by the gentleman working at the courthouse, but that was it!  Minor consequence for my irresponsibility.

Farming

Well it was a nice long holiday weekend for most of us. My family was supposed to spend Monday at Yellowsmoke celebrating my dad's birthday. This is an annual outing during which we grill out and drink beer/wine and at least one of the kids falls into the lake (seriously). And then my dad got hit by a truck while riding his bike. Now, I have been worried about this exact situation for most of my life. I have been expecting to get a phone call that this had happened. (Expecting the call doesn't make it easier to receive, so I have decided it is not worth the effort to worry). Anyway, he wasn't seriously injured, although being hit by a moving vehicle is pretty serious as far as bruising/cuts/road rash are concerned. He is at home with ice and ibuprophen. It could have been much worse, and I have decided that I still need my dad around for a long time (are you reading this Dad?). I think he may have agreed to carry a cell phone and ride only on the trail and not on the highway anymore. At least that's what he told us.

Today was a day of firsts.  First time in a cornfield.  First ride in a combine.  Alyssa first gymnastics class.  Let's start with the farming:

Amber in a tractor!

Me and a tractor in a corn field.

Amber was already almost done making lunch for the men by the time I got there.  She had made 2 loaves of meatloaf, baked potatoes, baked beans, and brownies (keep in mind this was no special occasion, just lunch for hungry farmers).  We sat around and talked while lunch baked. And then, because this is just how awesome she is, before we left to take lunch out to the field, she took out individual bowls for each person and PUT THEM IN THE OVEN TO WARM THEM UP!  Yep.  So their food would be nice and toasty.  I know, you are thinking about how inadequate you are as a wife aren't you?  I know that's what I was thinking.    So we loaded up the food, drinks, forks, etc., and headed out to find a bunch of men in a field.  After lunch I rode with Kelly in the combine and Amber rode with a guy named John in a grain cart (which is pulled by a tractor for all of you non-farmers like me).  Combines are very technological.  I don't get most of it, but it's essentially like vacuuming.  Except not as clean.  There is also a delicate balance going on between where everyone is and how much corn is in the combine vs. the grain cart vs. the semi.  There is some waiting if the balance is off. 

I learned more than some basic things about farming today.  I think one thing that becomes either more obvious the longer you are married (or you are just worn down by the argument) is that there doesn't have to be equality in marriage.  What I mean is that Todd and I (maybe Amber & Kelly and maybe you too) spent a lot of time in our earlier married years arguing about making things equal.  I did this so now you have to do that.  I have a job and make this much so you have to have a job and make this much.  I gave the kids a bath last night so it's your turn tonight.  I think what is more important to us now, and what is very obviously important in Amber & Kelly's marriage, is that they are just trying to make each other happy.  (Meatloaf and brownies in warm bowls.) Which is what we all want anyway.

Alyssa  happy at her first gymnastics class!

Inspirations and cocoons

I have inspired a new blogger.  Yes, I have had that big of an impact on the internet in the last few days.  Wait until you find out who he is.....his name is Todd Thams.  You may have heard of him.  He is my husband.  He was (a little bit surprisingly, considering his lack of interest in reading and writing), impressed by my interest in blogging and ability to put thoughts into words.  His interest, however, is not parenting or education, but rather food.  He cooks, sautes, smokes, grills, roasts, broils, and bakes.  I like to make meals that are easy to assemble or clean up after.  He uses multiple spices and herbs.  I use the packet that came with the box.  He researches how to cook a piece of meat to perfection.  I sign up for meal planning services.  You see the difference.  I take care of the weekday meals, he cooks on the weekends and for company.  And he is good at it.  So he is going to tell us his secrets.  And take pictures of it.  And the best part is, I get to eat the food he is making.  His blog is called:  I said eat it!  (probably inspired by words yelled at the girls but I'm not sure).  isaideatit.blogspot.com

I finished my first official knitting project! It's not that exciting to anyone but me and my sister Allison because it's for her baby due in a couple of weeks. It's a baby hat and cocoon. Yes, cocoon. It's soft and if it hadn't taken so long I would make a giant one for myself that I could lay in.   

Sarah's baby "Esme" in the cocoon and hat.

Sarah with bed head holding her baby in the cocoon and hat.

I got to have lunch with my friend Amber this week.  We have so many things in common, it is hard to cover them all in one lunch, so there was a post-lunch phone call.  Anyway, she recently read a book called Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis, a young woman (girl really), who after high school went to Uganda as a missionary and ended up staying and adopting 14 children.  14 children!  She says (in this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfXgCx3f_1c) that it isn't that she knew what God wanted for her in her life, she just knew what was in the Bible.  And her following the Bible led her to feed the starving children in Uganda and take them in as her own as a 19 year old woman.  I can't decide whether I would be terrified if one of my children wanted to do this or incredibly proud of them.  I haven't read the book, but she has a blog kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com.  It's really an inspirational site, even if you haven't read the book.  Anyway, Amber and I had some Mexican food, she had Cherry Pepsi, and we decided that I am going to spend a day next week with her to see what it's like to help with farm work (because not all people who grow up in Iowa know how to do farm "stuff").  Yes, there will be pictures!