What I've been doing during my Twilight

I'm pretty sure I turned into a vampire as I read the three Twilight books. I suddenly thought I didn't need to sleep anymore, because I stayed up until 3 a.m. a couple nights to read. Plus, I don't think I was hungry while reading them because I didn't cook any meals either. These books definitely cast a spell on me and made my husband 'concerned' that I was more into 'nerdy' things like vampires than giving him attention.

I didn't like the fact that I was so addicted to the books, and I couldn't do anything else. But I truly loved them. I loved the way the author Stephenie Meyer developed the characters so that I felt a strong connection. I enjoyed seeing how she developed as an author in each book, with more subplots, twists and turns by the third book. I read all three of them for the first time in less than 2 weeks.

For those of you who haven't read all three books stop reading this blog entry now because I don't want to spoil anything for you!

At times Bella would totally drive me insane, but I have to say I also kept feeling like I could relate to her. Not me now necessarily but me at a handful of different times in my life. I think she loves Edward the best that she knows how, but I don't think she is capable yet of loving him in the unconditional way that he loves her. I also think she needed to have her relationship with Jacob to be able to understand love better and to know that Edward was what she really wanted. And I can relate how awesome it feels to have someone love you in a way that's totally unconditional.

I loved that these novels could be clean and give the message that even though hormones might tell you one thing, it's important to control yourself and wait until after marriage. An awesome message -- even though it is coming from a vampire. Some of the dialog is heartwarming and fun.

And I'm feeling thirsty for more! I forgot how fun it is to read fiction.

The Scarecrow's gift

My brain had mushed. I think it had not been flexed in so long it matched the jello-like state of my post-preg belly. I didn't realize my brain would need to be put back into shape just as my body. But, I think it was longer than 9 months of pregnancy that my cranium had not been exercised, so there's a larger margin to catch up on here. I think for years of speaking to small children all day and being overwhelmed by the daily duties of diapers and dishes, my brain hasn't needed to work. I could feel it shutting down on me (Baby Brain).

Well, I'm feeling somewhat revived. Here are a couple reasons for this:

1. Blogging. It was less than a year ago that my husband proudly stated he reserved the blog name owenfamily and started messing around with it. I confess I didn't even know what a blog was and truly didn't care too much. Suddenly, I felt frustrated that he had set me up for one more thing to be added to my "to do" list. Another thing that was never done. But, in recent weeks I've started to truly enjoy making my brain work by writing this blog and remembering that I actually do know how to write. Oh yeah, this is basically what I studied in school!

2. Reading. I've put down the stale parenting books and have been reading fiction. According to my husband, this is "chewing gum for the brain", but I have to disagree. It makes my brain analyze the fiction as I were back in a college lit class. In fact, I keep envisioning myself in a lecture where the professor is discussing symbols, tragic flaws, etc. I have even been writing analyses papers in my head. (This is part of the reason why you will soon be getting my book report on the Twilight Series.) OK, so I'm turning a bit nerdy here, but it's helping the brain wake up.

3. Listening. I borrowed my friend's 'Wicked' soundtrack. My kids actually allow me to listen to it in the car (a rarity because usually it's ONLY 'Old McDonald,' etc.). By having uplifting music running through my head rather than children's rhymes, I feel a sense of fulfillment. I've actually never seen the play 'Wicked' so it's been fun trying to make up plotlines in my head.


Now that I'm writing this, I realize how embarrassing it is to confess that these simple brain exercises have brought me so much joy and satisfaction. How have you stay-at-home moms exercised your craniums and kept them in shape?

Quotable Ellie

All in a day, Ellie had some cute ones:

Ellie: "Mommy, mommy. I heard a loud noise in my room!"
Mom: "That's OK, honey. It's just the wind blowing the house."
Ellie: With the most frightened look ever, she said, "Down?"
Mom: "No, it's not blowing the house down!"

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Ellie came upstairs crying and shortly after Aubrie followed with great excitement.

Aubrie: "Mom! Guess what I prayed for Ellie because we were outside and the wind scared her. Does that mean I was good like Enos?"

Mom: "That's great Aubrie, but why were you guys outside without telling me?" ... Long discussion about stranger danger and the need to tell me when they go outside so I can check on them (we don't have a fence).

Aubrie: "But, does that mean I get a prize for praying for my sister?"

Ellie: "Do I get a prize because strangers didn't get me?"

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Ellie asked me if I would turn the pony website on for her. How is the word website part of my 2-year-old's vocabulary?

A Big Day!

All three of my kids had a growing big day today! Teyah rolled over! It actually happened while trying to take these pictures.

Can you believe how big and cute she is? She turns three months in a couple days!

Ellie had her first ever dance class. She has been extremely excited -- which is funny because she doesn't wear her emotions on her sleeve like Aubrie. But then, she got to class and was a little shell shocked through it all. I don't think she spoke a word or changed emotions from her big eyes and expressionless face. And she stayed almost frozen in one place the whole time. It was hilarious. This picture below pretty much sums it up. It's so interesting how your children come with such different personalities.

Aubrie had her first day of official preschool today (we've been doing Joy School). She had a great time, but basically her only comment was: "Mom, why am I going to that preschool?" I told her to prepare her for Kindergarten. Then, a bit later while saying the lunch prayer she said, "Please bless that I can be ready for Kindergarten." While considering the book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, that prayer plea has a lot of significance!

On another totally random note...The Barbie she's holding in the picture made me think of it. The other day she told me she wished she didn't have freckles because they aren't pretty. I told her they were very pretty, and she disagreed, saying her Barbies are beautiful, and they don't have freckles. Yikes! What do I do now? She's only 4! I don't know where this is coming from.

Chicago - unedited

OK, I usually leave the blogging to Jeni, and I just focus on making the money, but I have to step in to elaborate on the Chicago trip....as I was very proud of the fact that we totally gamed the Chicago Go Card system ($50 for a 1 day pass to basically every attraction in Chicago). For those of you who have traveled with me on vacations, I am usually a drill sergeant when it comes to packing in the fun into every second of the day. Chicago was no different, and my little "troops" were obeying marching orders pretty well. I apologize for giving a travel log, but here's a travel log. It went something like this.

9:58 - Battled through the sea of Iowa football fans to get to our 1st destination point - Shedd Aquarium (right next to the Iowa football game at Soldier Field)

10:21 - Dropped off the "troops at the aquarium, while I raced back through the sea of Iowa fans back to Navy Pier.

11:06 - After parking the car and sprinting around to get Circus, Children's Museum, Boat tour, and Carnival tickets I took a boat taxi back to the aquarium to meet the troops

1:08 - Concluded our tour of the Aquarium. The girls loved the glass floor aquarium with sting rays swimming below....and also the pizza we shoved down our throats at lunch

2:56 - Rapped things up at the Field Museum. The place was massive, and we saw almost every square inch of the place.....the kids were ready to call it a day at this point, but we proceeded onward!

3:38 - Chased down a Trolley tour bus who luckily gave us a ride to the Navy Pier

4:08 - Ran for the Carnival rides. Rode the Carousel which was "way too fast" which caused Aubrie to scream for her life.

5:05 - Squeezed in an hour long Children's Museum visit while mom got us some fast food to take on the boat

6:25 - All aboard the Skyscraper Boat tour!

7:58 - 2 minutes to spare until the SICKEST Circus of All time!

The Chinese Circus (Cirque Shanghao) was insane....it wasn't a circus where you clap and say, "oooo and "awe". Half the time all I could do was laugh out loud and say, "dude that was sick!" There was the Quadruple Jointed Contortionist ladies, the 10 people who road a single bike at once, the Unicycle tightrope dude, the crazy chair stacking lady, and a bunch of other crazy stuff.

For those of you scoring at home: In less than 10 hrs, we hit 7 major attractions, with 3 kids 4 and under, one of which who was potty training....Nice work troops!

Chicago!

My sister Lauren flew in for the long weekend, and we played hard in Chicago. Talk about seeing the city in a day! My favorite part was going to Cirque Shanghai. It was amazing. There are no pictures that could describe the amazing acrobatic tricks they do and how exciting and fun it is to watch. My jaw dropped through it all, and it must be the best $25 I've ever spent. The kids loved it too. Aubrie often talks about how she wants to be a tightrope walker when she's bigger, and she got to see it in real life for the first time.

We LOVED having Lauren with us and she was the biggest help. I will be surprised if she still wants to ever have children after this weekend. In fact, I'll be surprised if I ever want to have another child after this weekend! More on the drama later. This post is to talk about how fun we had, because we really did. My only disappointment was we didn't make it to the broadway musical 'Wicked' because they were sold out. I'm glad we went because I appreciate Chicago as a really cool city now. Last time we went (in December) I swore I never wanted to go back ever again, and I swore to Dave that I would NEVER move there. It was the coldest I had ever been in my whole life. But in the summer it was beautiful, and Saturday was one of the most perfect days I've had in a long time.