Easter

Easter 2015.  This year we decided to do a Lenten Fast, which was a first for us.  I fasted from sweets and Marcos committed to going to bed on time, and we made it about 14 days instead of 40, but maybe next year we'll make it all the way to the finish line.  Baby steps...

For the kids, the weeks leading up to Easter meant various egg hunts, spending time with friends and eating candy.  After an egg hunt the Easter baskets were always put up high in the kitchen at night, and inevitably, if Marcos and I decided to sleep in the next morning, we would come down to a kitchen strewn with opened (and empty) plastic eggs, and the tools used to accomplish their design laid out on the floor where the kids left them - stools, the hose of the vacuum cleaner, anything to lengthen those little arms and get down the candy baskets!  The Prieto kids are very, very motivated by sugar.  

(I have no idea where they got that from).

Here are the kids with our friends the Bruesekes, and our little neighbor friend Edon, after the church egg hunt.  

And below is our Easter morning.  We hosted Easter brunch and invited over some friends.  I didn't take any photos of the brunch spread, but it was divine. After brunch we went outside and did yet another egg hunt with the re-re-re-recycled plastic eggs, and the weather was as perfect as can be.  Gigi made out like a bandit this year at all of the egg hunts because she is fast and strategic, but in each hunt she also found a littler kid at the end who didn't have very many eggs, and she shared her loot.  After Easter she articulated that she felt good inside when she shared with others who didn't have as many easter eggs as she did.

Papas and the boys.

After the first egg hunt, Orion knew exactly what it was all about, and it was difficult to get him to keep searching.  After two or three eggs in the basket, he was more than content to stop and eat instead of finding more eggs.

Here are all of the brunch party kids: Pearl, Gigi, Declan, and in the front row Boy Boy, Evan and Orion.

And then I thought, hey everyone looks nice, let's take family photos so that we can all remember this beautiful Easter morning!  My mom with Rosemary and Frank Pierce (our adopted grandparents), Courtney, Scotty, Boy Boy and Evan Lieng, Declan and Spencer Dorsey (Ann is an urgent care doc at Duke and was working that day), Julie, Luke and Pearl Drake, and us of course.   

Happy Easter!

Snapshot: Giovanna

Name: Gigi

Current age: Just shy of 5

Current Interests: Fashion, "playing orphans" with Tutu, being read The Little House on the Prairie series, talking about possible themes for her 5th birthday party (so far she has come up with a blueberry theme, clown theme and a Marilyn Monroe theme), playing outside and getting dirty, jokes and silliness, sewing and drawing, peeling and cutting vegetables as a sous chef to whomever is making dinner, hearing us tell stories about our family, making other people laugh, and playing with Orion.

Current Fears: The draft.  She is concerned that the men in her life will be drafted into war.  I don't think this will last long, but it is definitely one of the times I wish I had held my tongue and not given her the "adult explanation".

Some recent gems...

Gigi sits down in the new little rocking chair...
Orion: Ooooo, can I sit?
Gigi: You got to do phone book this morning, and I didn't.  So I'm going to sit because you're not the center of the world.

Gigi, cleaning up the magnatiles in our bedroom...
Gigi: I'm cleaning up right now.  My heart doesn't want to but I am.

Talking about what people have said our family members look like...
Gigi: Well, if Papai is President Obama, then I am a nun.
Me: What?  I don't understand the connection.
Gigi: Remember, President Obama has two daughters and they are nuns?
Me: Are you thinking about Galileo?
Gigi: Oh, yes!  It's Galileo!

Me: And so and so is having a birthday party.  She is turning 5.
Gigi: Wait.  She's bigger than me?  I thought I was bigger than her.  Then why was she kicking and hitting my chair on Sunday?  She knows better.

Chatting in the kitchen...
Gigi: I'm too little to be in love with someone or have a girlfriend or boyfriend!

Gigi: Mom, I thought Bruno Mars got shot while he was doing his talk.
Me: I think you mean Martin Luther King Junior.
Gigi: Oh yeah!  Did some people not like that he said the color of your skin doesn't matter, but only your character?  Were they acting like teenagers?

At the dinner table...
Gigi: I better eat my food because I know Papai wants to go [to FHE at our friends' house] and it's illegal for an adult to leave a child all alone at home, right?

Gigi singing to herself, about the existential question that she grapples with the most...
Gigi: And they all joined hands and tried to go to Heaven because they thought Jesus could tell them how the dinosaurs died...  how the dinosaurs died....

Snapshot: Orion

I haven't captured the kids in a few months, so here goes!  

A friend set up a little Valentines backdrop a few weeks ago to take festive photos for Grandparents, and invited anyone to come and bring their littles, so we gave it a whirl.  I wish I were better at photography, but I like how they came out, because I love that little face.

Name: "Marcos OOOOOwion!"

Current Age: 2 and a few months

Current Strong Interests: the sock fuzz between his toes, friends and new toys, being defiant and ornery, balls, vehicles, puzzles, desserts, saying "I'm tired" and "I'm frustrated", building with legos/magnatiles/blocks, "tough time" with Papai, apologizing, helping out in the kitchen, potty talk with Gigi, talking all the time, the Temple Song, "Brazil songs", and being a big boy.

Things he says: 

Gigi, parenting Orion in the next room.
Gigi: Orion, go to timeout!  One...  Two... -
Orion: No!  You're not the office!

Pretty much every time he is busted and has to apologize.
Orion: I'm sorry for hitting you, Gigi.  Thank you for apologizing, I forgive you.
Gigi: No, I'm supposed to say that!

Asking to go outside last week.
Orion: Can I go outside and play with bubbles?  On the duck?  On the dick?  Out there?
Metta: Oh!  On the DECK.
Orion: Yeah, on the deck.

Orion washing his hands, to Gigi who was crowding him at the sink.
Orion: Give me space.  I'm washing my hands!

Orion, when some friends were over and their baby son was put to bed in Orion's crib.
Orion: I don't want baby Sam in my bed.  It make me upset!

Marcos: Orion, I just gave a talk at the Priesthood Meeting.
Orion: Wow!  That's awesome!

Metta: Orion, you did it!  You are becoming so independent!  Can you say "independent"?
Orion: No!  I don't want to!  I don't want to say independent!

Orion, asking me to put the Pentatonix Little Drummer Boy video on the computer.
Orion: I do the computer?
Metta: No...
Orion: My job is to sit on the sofa!

Orion: There's boogies in there!  I can't breathe very well!

Trying to teach Orion Portuguese.
Metta: "Ce-va-da".
Orion: I can't say that word.  It's kind of tricky for me.

Snow Days

We were having a really mild winter, until a few weeks ago.  In the past two weeks we've been snowed in multiple days, school has been cancelled and Marcos has even worked from home on a few occasions.  My favorite day was when we were all snowed in, and our internet was down all on the same day.  We were fortunate to have power (many in the Triangle were out), but it was new and refreshing to be completely disconnected from the internet.

The first big snow dump was a strange one.  The top had iced over, so although it looked soft and inviting, it was basically an ice skating rink right outside our door!  Here are some photos from that day.

First, the kids trying to get up the hill!  The neighbors across the street have a hill up to their home, and Gigi and Michael (our next door neighbor) had a difficult time crawling uphill on the icy snow.

My courageous girl, love her.

We brought out the sand toys for Orion to play with and it threw him off.  While we were outside he kept shoveling piles of snow and saying, "Look at my sand, Mommy!".  Almost, buddy, almost...

I love this one of Michael, Gigi and Orion.  Whenever we talk about someday possibly moving, Gigi is upset because she wants to live next door to Michael forever.

The next big snow dump the following week was your typical deep powdery snow - perfect for snowball fights and for making snowmen! 

Our collective snowman had such personality!  I think it was the eyebrows.

Michael, James and Jacqui, our beloved neighbors.  When you live in a duplex and share a wall with another family, it's very fortunate if you get along with each other!

Over the past week, we have had conversations with neighbors with whom we haven't exchanged a word in a year.  The snow really stopped life and allowed everyone to come out of their caves and connect with each other in this magical winter wonderland.  Warm weather also tends to do that around here, but I can't even remember what warm weather feels like.

Later that afternoon, Marcos took the kids out for a walk around the block.

They stumbled across a couple who had made an igloo, lit it with candles, and were eating a dinner of ice cream together!

But on that trip around the block, Gigi and Orion's socks had gotten soaked, and they returned home wet and freezing cold.  It was time to turn on the space heater and let the kids snuggle up!  Lots of hot cocoa, lots of snuggling and family time this week.  Thanks, winter weather!

Loneliness

Part of it was due to the long stretch of the cold season which turned my usual warm greetings and moments of connection at Gigi's School into hasty hellos en route to the nearest heated car or building, and part of it was due to a holiday season full of family time but slim on friend time, and part of it is just a product of being a parent with small children and giving most of my best energy to my littles.

But for a short while in January I felt extremely lonely.

The feeling started to build over a number of weeks, and then there was one day when I went out on the town and said hello to everyone, and felt connected to absolutely nobody, and that was the deepest day of the year.  I went home and could not shake off the funk, until the evening when I dug out a heavy box full of relics from my mission to Japan, and found an old journal full of letters of love from old mission companions and friends.  The power of that affirmation even ten years later was so sustaining, and had the immediate effect of buoying my spirits.

But being a person who tries to be in tune with myself, I have spent the weeks since then trying to make time for meaningful connection.  My biggest therapy was my Valentines Gal's Night at the beginning of the month.  Marcos took the kids out on the town to give us space to kick off our party, and when he came home (with the kids asleep in the car, dear man) he saw the joy on my face and said that I looked so happy I should do these parties every other month, at least.  I agree.  The combination of close friends (with whom I was due for connection time), the great conversations that we had that evening, the collaboration of Valentines snacks, and making festive crafts together was balm to my soul.  I think that we all parted that evening with a new bounce in our step that came from having a boat load of fun with people we really liked.  It was the best.

How do YOU get out of a funk when the season is growing too dark and cold and long?

Christmas Tradition - Emerson Waldorf School Holiday Faire

Every year before Christmas we make a point to go to the Emerson Waldorf School Holiday Faire.  Typically we go for the spirit and magic of the event, and maybe meet up with a friend or two, but now that Gigi is a Kindergartener, this year we went as part of the Emerson community!  The Faire was held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and the weather was absolutely perfect.  It was crisp in the morning, but by lunch time the sun warmed us up, outer layers were shed, and we enjoyed the company of so many friends under the food tent where we listened to live music and the kids played in the grass.

Being a part of the Emerson community now also means that we had a small part in the runnings of the show.  Since the summer, I have been gathering with a small group of Waldorf moms to craft a few Monday evenings a month, and make things to sell at the Holiday Faire.  For example, I painted a number of the wooden cars above, felted one of the hedgehogs and one of the gnome caves, and painted a lot of the knitting needle sets.  Our group raised about $1,000 for the school that day!  We all love the education that our kids are receiving, and this has been a very enjoyable way to give back.

It was also the express job of Kindergarten parents to bake items for the Sweet Shoppe, which was hosted and run by the 3rd grade parents.  After lunch we went in to buy some goodies, and the set up was so pretty.  Baskets and baskets of homemade sweets, wrapped so beautifully.  Marcos also signed up for a shift at the "dad gig" - the locale where they sold popcorn and peppy lemons, which Gigi is holding below.  We were all involved in some way this year.  

There are various craft and fun activities for children at the Faire, and each year we try to do a few new things.  This year Orion was old enough to fish for treasures in the fishing pond, and Gigi chose to do Gem Mining (sifting for crystals in bins of sand in a big dark cave).  

Our friends Angie and Edward have a little guy who is just one year old, but my friend Angie is already thinking about education options, and so they joined us in the afternoon.  We rode the horse-drawn carriage together, and did a mini-tour of the grade school, peeking into the beautiful rooms as the activities were shutting down.

Hi Scoot!  You are so handsome, small one...

And that was our day.  We were so tired on the way home, but it was so worth being out and about for such a festive holiday occasion.  And being part of the Emerson family this year was such a plus - it's a fine thing to be in a place with so many people you consider friends!

Christmas Traditions: Treats to the Firefighters!

One of our favorite Christmas Traditions is heading to our friends the Thaynes house to help the kids make treats to take to the firefighters at Carrboro Fire Station.  This year we arranged our party for the Tuesday before Christmas.  I'm pretty sure that I love it more than the kids, and they love it a lot, so that is saying something.

I love these treats because the kids can do nearly all of the work.  They can arrange the pretzels on the cookie sheets, and then can unwrap the candies and place them on top of the pretzels.  The whole endeavor comes out of the oven pretty hot, so Becca and I handled putting the m&ms on the top once the candies were melted soft.  Yum!

And here are Gigi, Livy and Orion at the Fire Station!  The best part of taking the treats to the firefighters is that we always get to say "yes, please!" when a firefighter on duty inevitably offers us a tour of the station.  This year we had the best tour yet, and Firefighter Miles was such a good sport answering all of our questions and offering so much information about being a firefighter.

Each year we do a few new things.  This year we had the chance to peek inside of an ambulance, learn about the magnetic exhaust vacuums in the bay, and check out Rescue Randy!  Rescue Randy is a 185-pound dummy that the firefighters use for training, and I told Firefighter Miles that my friend Becca works out, is extremely buff, and that she could easily throw Randy over her shoulders in a fireman carry.  He didn't believe me.  Then we nudged Rescue Randy a bit and he was really, really heavy.  Thank goodness for firefighters who find clever ways to drag people to safety!

Another awesome Christmas adventure at the Carrboro Fire Station.  Thank you for the tour, Firefighter Miles!