Dream Machine

Oh, how I loathed the Beast. It had a 20-inch monitor that weighed at least 50 pounds and took up the entire surface of the desk. Underneath the desk squatted the CPU --- an antique that sounded rather like a lawn mower and ran about as fast as a couch.

And now, as I type upon its replacement, I look back with longing at my dear little Beastie. As loud and slow as it was, at least it was reliable. And friendly.

Unlike the Dream Machine.

For that is what I named it. The Beast's replacement. When Rob and I moved to Kansas to begin our life as "grown-ups" and not "students," one of my first major purchases was a new computer. With a flat-screen monitor. And super-fast features that I couldn't understand. I know it was a good computer because when my brother visited he looked at it and said so. (If you know my brother, you know what that means. Suffice it to say that it was a good computer.) And it was quiet, oh so quiet. This was the Lexus of computers. My Dream Machine.

Little did I know that beneath its sleek exterior lurked the soul of a malevolent, spiteful toad. It was sneaky. It was cunning. It was perfectly nasty. But, like so many villains, it knew to pretend to be my friend. So it flattered me by labeling me the "administrator." It numbed me with its bright screen and sweet sound system. And it popped up these cheerful reminders for me to "update" this or that, requesting my permission before executing various things to suit its fell purposes. I happily complied to its suggested updates, thinking that it knew best and I didn't want my computer to be lacking any vital updates.

Then the troubles started. I'd come into the room and the screen would suddenly go black, like children dashing for the bed when the mom comes to check if they're sleeping. Why wasn't it black already? It was supposed to be "sleeping." I guess the computer preferred to be awake. I shrugged it off, and the computer accepted its victory with greed. It liked to be left to its own devices, so became slow to open my programs. Often it would open up a program only to freeze right after I wrote something witty but before I was able to post it. The words "not responding" appeared after program names with startling frequency. Not a day went by without an infuriating freeze-up.

I used to turn the computer off when not in use, to save energy. The computer resented being turned off, so retaliated by taking a half hour to boot up. This became so frustrating to me that I left the computer on all the time, only turning it off when it was particularly naughty. Most alarmingly, sometimes even pushing the "off" button was insufficient and I had to unplug the whole machine from the wall. But for the most part, the computer was always on. And always running. Like a hamster on a wheel. I never figured out what the computer was doing. There would be no windows open, nothing going on, but the CPU will be whiz-clicking away, little lights blinking like mad. And, as if to rub arsenic in a raw gaping wound, the computer fan got loud, just like the Beast.

So I decided it had to stop. I think the computer could sense something coming when I started backing up my files onto an external hard drive. It told me the data transfer would take four hours. When it reached "5 seconds remaining," it remained at 5 seconds for 16 hours. Jerk.

And that brings us to the present. The data transfer has miraculously completed, and I am ready to wipe the Dream Machine clean and restore it to its original factory settings.

Blame Windows Vista if you want. Blame my own ignorance in dealing with computery stuff. But I know the truth. My computer is the devil. I'd better post this soon before the computer crashes aga

Hiatus

'Twould seem I've taken a sabbatical from blogging. Life has nonetheless gone on as one would expect:

Tanner went back to school. First grade. At the back-to-school night the principal told me she wishes the school had about 400 more kids like Tanner. He's a great kiddo.


Kevin began preschool. He says he doesn't want to go anymore, but he has fun there! He is a homebody like me, I guess.


Rob went to Sweden. Business trip. See him working so hard? : )Rob had sinus surgery. The spirit of charity prevents me from here posting the post-surgery picture I morbidly took of him. On a positive note, he's been healthy since the operation, and it has been so nice to have a healthy, energetic husband!

We celebrated Halloween. Just the trunk-or-treat at the church on Saturday. On Sunday we turned off the outside lights and pretended we weren't home, preferring to eat the candy instead of pass it out.


Kevin turned 5! Kevin is still, as he was as a baby, a joy to his mother. He is our little boppy boy, always happy and trying to be a peacemaker. He loves to make crafts and is so good at sticking to what he's doing. I don't mean he's sticky. Though sometimes he's that, too. : ) We got for him, among other things, a new scooter so he can keep up with Tanner instead of running behind him. I love Kevin!!
We celebrated Thanksgiving without the camera, so no picture will accompany this paragraph either. We went to the Rosengren's house and all I had to do was the turkey! Sherri did everything else! And we both felt like we were getting a good deal! Awesome. The Davises were there too, and they did the pies. Best Thanksgiving ever.

And, two days ago, Hannah turned 1! She has brought so much sunshine into our family. Definitely still a mama's girl, she will nonetheless sometimes reach out for Rob, much to his delight. She can stand up without holding on to anything, and she tried taking one step, but still prefers her limp-crawl with one knee never touching the ground. And she is so stinking cute. She has each one of us completely wrapped around her fingers and toes.

And for anybody wishing to see more pictures of these events, I've posted them at http://picasaweb.google.com/robandkathryn/OctNov2010.

And now we're all decorated for Christmas and looking forward to craft fairs and days off and general merriment. And here I end this post, because I can think of nothing else to say.

Summer Daze

Kansas summers are a delight!

Just kidding. Kansas summers go into my book of horrors right between wasps and drowning. Interestingly enough, it is wasps and drowning that make Kansas summers so horrible. You step outside and as you sprint for dear life to avoid the wasps, you drown in the summer humidity.

But that's beside the point. What I mean is my children are a delight!

We've been having some fun this summer. We went to the Sedgwick County Zoo (the finest zoological preserve east of Missouri and west of Colorado!), where the kids were more interested in statuary than in the tenants.

I'm not really that big into zoos. I get excited at the prospect of going: We're going to the zoo! We'll have a picnic and see the animals!! Oh, the fun of anticipation! Then we get to the zoo. It's hot. Everybody in the county seems to be here. (But it's Thursday! Why aren't these people at work/the pool/the movies/anywhere but here?) It's several miles between exhibits, so by the time we've seen the wild sparrows and the tortoises, it's time for our picnic lunch. That part is, admittedly, usually enjoyable. Then we go into the monkey house. Phooo! Stinky. Then the kids are tired. And thirsty. And hungry again, because during lunchtime they were watching the wild sparrows instead of eating. So, anyway, I like the idea of zoos, if not the actual experience of them.

The hippos were pretty cool, for reasons I cannot fathom (I just think they're neat!).

And the jungle cruise was nice, because we got to wait for 15 minutes in a quiet place and eat churros and feed Hannah while waiting for the departure time.

I think I've mentioned before that zoos are very poorly equipped to handle nursing mothers? Yeah, this was no exception. But the corner of the dock behind the double stroller worked nicely. Everybody who got a glimpse of what was going on steered well clear. They're all delighted to see babboons' bottoms, but a nursing human mother?! Gasp!! Anyway.

We also went to ..... the dentist! And, for my children, this was even more of a treat than going to the zoo. Why? Because they get goody bags! It's as fun as a birthday party! They get to push the buttons to move the chair up and down, they get "Mr. Thirsty" to suck all traces of moisture (tongue included) out of their little mouths, and they get individual attention! And goody bags!

Tanner and Kevin were soooo good and soooo cute. I'm so proud of my little guys. I had scheduled Amy's first appointment too, and she watched very interestedly while Kevin had his turn, but when it was her turn she refused even to sit on my lap in the dentist's chair. She did, however, insist on getting a goody bag.

Summertime!

My children can sense when I'm about to do something productive. In this case, I was about to write a blog post. So naturally it was time for Hannah to wake up. I'll satisfy myself then with the posting of these three pictures and the provision of a link for any who would like to see more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/robandkathryn/May2010

Things are going well here, as the smiles on the faces of my children will attest.

But Hannah clearly indicates that I am not at liberty to write more now. Have a happy!

St.LouisEasterBirthday

I have fallen so ludicrously behind in my blog posting that I cannot catch up, and will not really try. Here's the condensed version of the exciting things that have been happening lately:

We went to St. Louis!We celebrated Easter!!Tanner turned 6!!
Hannah is cute!!!!
For further details, I'll refer you to the rest of the pictures, many with captions, to be found at...

http://picasaweb.google.com/robandkathryn/StLouisAndApril2010
(you'll probably need to cut and paste the link)

Enjoy!
~Kathryn

Fatness and Fitness

In high school one of my least favorite classes was always P.E. (Granted, most of my high school classes are numbered among my least favorite classes, because high school is mostly terrible terrible terrible, but this is off the subject.) I hated changing clothes in a big open locker room. I hated playing sports. I hated getting sweaty. I hated changing back into my school clothes in the big open locker room and sitting through the rest of my classes all sweaty and gross.

But I was thin.

And so I am now looking back at those P.E. classes through post-baby eyes, and ... they're still horrible in my memory. So I've eliminated the changing-clothes-in-front-of-people and sitting-in-other-classes-all-sweaty-and-gross parts, and what is left is just a cool fitness class that might help me lose some post-baby fat!

It's called "Total Body Express." The name says it all. After the first class, my total body totally hurt! I was so wobbly I was afraid I'd fall down the stairs and embarrass myself as badly as I did when I fell off the treadmill in a full gym in college (pure, unadulterated embarrassment, that was). We did squats and crunches and lunges and push ups. We had to balance on huge "body balls" and do more crunches and other exercises I'd never imagined. I worked muscles I'm sure I've never used before.

Many of the other people in the class, I'm sure, did not have a baby four months ago. They look rather like they were babies themselves a scant nineteen years ago, and have spent a majority of those nineteen years taking fitness classes. So I am ever-so-glad that I asked my friend Megan to take the class with me. Together we can giggle over what might otherwise be extremely discouraging and demoralizing. She hasn't done any fitness stuff since school and childbirth either, so we're on about the same level.

Isn't it amazing? I'm actually doing something for me! I leave the children with Rob for almost an hour and go out and exercise! And I enjoy it! Actually, it's still quite tortuous, but I have hope that it will do me good.

Now if only my sore muscles would let me get off the couch...

Followers

My blog has only six followers, one of which, absurdly, is me.

I like the word absurdly.

A Blessed Baby!

Sunday, Feb. 7, was the day Hannah got her baby blessing in church. Hannah wore the most beautiful white dress and was wrapped so lovingly in the softest pink blanket. She was happily sitting in my arms and staring in wonder at the back of somebody's head when all of a sudden she was passed into Daddy's arms and led up to a group of men who all stood in a circle around her and looked very reverent. This, to everybody else, was completely normal, but to poor Hannah it was more than she could handle.

And so, unlike my previous three children who slept or cooed through their baby blessings, Hannah wailed for all to hear. The microphone projected her cries through the building and straight into my heart. Oh! My Hannah! Her blessing was rather short, but I have been assured that her life will be no worse off for it.
Rob's parents were in town for the blessing, but somehow they didn't make it into the camera. The kids had a blast with their grandparents, and Rob and I even got paid to go on a date! Woohoo! How often does that happen? : )

And yes, I realize that was over two weeks ago, but that is exactly how long it took me to be in the same room with the camera and the computer at the same time. Minus a crying baby. That's what it takes to get me to blog. See the equation below.

Me + camera + computer - crying baby = Blog post and pictures!

Have a happy day!

Parties and Post-Holiday Chubbiness

I think I must have just blinked or something. It's 2010. Amy is 2. Hannah is nearly 2 months old. Last I remember, I was struggling to remember to write 1996 instead of 95 on my papers at school. This year will mark ten years since I graduated from high school! I'll pursue that thought in a few months. Yikes.

So we're only a few weeks into the year, but already we've had a major holiday and two birthdays. I love January. It's a let-down for many people, but for me it's another month of the Holiday Season. Starting with New Year's Day, lasting through Amy's birthday, and culminating with MY birthday! And boy, what a birthday it was! Kevin threw up more times than I can count!

But we'll start with New Year's Day. We went to the Exploration Place for their New Year's at Noon celebration. The highlight of the celebration was a balloon drop at noon. It was actually quite frightening--they dropped those darn balloons on a writhing mass of screaming demon children who immediately began stomping on as many balloons as they could (lest some of the smaller children get any balloons) after they had scored one for each hand and one in their teeth for good measure. And over the sound of screaming young ones there arose the shrieks of the frantic mothers who were all convinced that their own young ones were going to be stomped along with the balloons. Add to that the actual sound of the balloons popping and the mash and shove of the crazed bodies, and you have a real sweet party! It was insane.

We also visited all of our favorite exhibits and had a jolly good time playing in tornadoesand exploring the caves.
About two weeks later our young friend Amy decided it was time to shed her potential to fly for free, so she turned 2. She plays the part well. She is a happy jolly thing who completely lives up to her middle name: TERROR!!! Just kidding, her middle name is Joy and she is a joy 100%. I don't know who came up with the phrase "Terrible Two," but I think it must apply more to the parent's reactions to the 2-year-old than to the actual 2-year-old. I have yet to have a terrible 2-year-old. They're adorable and so so fun. At least mine are. (Most of the time, anyway.) (I suppose if Amy were awake and stealing the mouse right now instead of napping I'd be singing an entirely different tune.)

She had a great birthday and got lots of girly stuff (4 dresses, 4 hairbows, a purse, and a My Little Pony, among other things). It is so fun to have a little girly-girl! I love Amy so much!!

Ten days later we got to celebrate my birthday. And for the first time in about 8 years or so I didn't have to make my own birthday cake! Rob suggested a Dairy Queen ice cream cake and I was only too happy to agree. But even better than that was dinner. I chose, strangely, to make dinner myself instead of going out to eat. And what a dinner: BACON-WRAPPED CHICKEN!!! And mashed potatoes! And salad! (Salad is not exciting, but it helps balance the bacon-wrapped chicken part.) It was PHENOMENAL. And I hate the word phenomenal, but I must use it in this case. (The only other time I've used the word phenomenal is in connection with the Broadway musical "Wicked.")

I was also spoiled with a breadmaker and a beginner's glass bead making kit (I am so excited about that one!!!). Woot!

And now that my birthday is over, the holiday season is officially over and I am left with a vast amount of post-holiday chub compounded further by post-baby fat, and with the new breadmaker in the mix I have no idea what to do about it. Exercise, I suppose, but it's too late to make New Year's resolutions now. Ah well. I guess I'll go upstairs and eat some bread while I contemplate this conundrum.

In the meantime, enjoy this priceless picture of Amy and Hannah. Thanks for reading and have a happy day!

Merry *Late* Christmas!

Here's a post of mostly random things; I lack the presence of mind right now to tie everything together, but I want to share these pictures and this video.

I hope everybody reading this had an even greater Christmas and New Year celebration than we did.

Hannah is growing quite nicely and is a beautiful one-month-old wonder now. What a joy.


And here are Amy's thoughts from her visit with Santa. I hope the video works for you! It certainly did not for me! Nor could I center it.