You’d think that we’d never seen snow before the way that we’re celebrating it here…or at least the way that Maggie is celebrating it. Yesterday morning she woke up early and started poking Barry in the nose insisting that he get up. When he’d finally wiped the sleep from his eyes and wandered down the hall after her, she ran up to the window looking into the back yard and yelled at the top of her lungs “NOOOOOOOOOO!!” (which translates into snow)

So we piled on the layers and went outside and Maggie was in heaven and so was Sparky. Sydney, on the other hand, had to take a moment to herself before she got off the back stoop and when she did she too ran around like a mini snow plow. We frolicked in the back yard and I demonstrated my best pitching stance while hucking snowballs at one of the big trees in our yard. Barry informed me that I may or may not have some serious skills when it comes to my pitching of snowballs.

That afternoon when the Little Miss wanted to go out again, I was smart and brought my cup of tea to enjoy because I learned earlier in the day that Maggie just doesn’t get cold. Period. When I was pregnant with her I was constantly warm and often light-headed because I was so hot, and now I feel like I know why. The child does not get cold ever and poor little me does. So, I brought my tea and kept it close by for occasional sips while we rolled out a couple snowmen.

Today when we woke up to more snow, I found that good snow really does make a difference when it comes to rolling snowmen.  The snowfall from last night just wasn’t as good as that snowball material the other day, but we made do and put together a mini snowman.  The squirrels didn’t seem to mind, and immediately stole his entire facial structure. Poor guy.

The prediction is for more snow to dump tonight and all day tomorrow. That’s fine, I guess. We’ve been busy inside also.  Mostly in the kitchen baking breads, muffins, chili and other snow-related things. I can do this for a while longer and can battle the cabin fever by going outside and making forts, but I’m slightly excited for it to melt. Then we can crack open the windows and welcome nicer weather.

But until then, we’re going to be watching the “NOOOOOO” fall from the sky and work on perfecting the best drying techniques when it comes to our jackets and hats. It isn’t so bad. We had our yearly snowy visit from Chach, she is fearless driving her little car in this weather. I’m a wimp; however, we did go across town yesterday just to get out of the house. I decided I didn’t need to do that again, at least with the predicted snow coming.

And aside from cooking and watching the snow fall, we’ve got other indoor activities to do. For example, reading the paper and making sure that we haven’t missed an important story. Maggie, like her dad, likes to read the advertisements. [B-mills edit 1/17/2012: "That's how you know where the best deals are." ]

Most importantly, we’ve got a new game that we can play all hours of the day: “Night-Night”. Maggie invented it and I’m almost certain that this game is just part of the developmental process. She loves bossing us around while piling blankets on our heads insisting that we go night-night. She also loves to pop up and yell “Morning!” to whomever is playing with her. Every once in a while I only wish night-night time was as simple as a pile of blankets and a simple “night-night.”

I’ll give it a try here and see how it goes.

Night-Night.

Gracious. What a whirl-wind of a weekend. It all started last week when my dad mentioned that he had a bit of time open up in his schedule to come down and build us a small rock wall where part of our pond once was.  It just so happened that I was scheduled to work on Thursday, the day that he and Izak were set to arrive. I didn’t exactly get minute by minute updates as to what was going on, but the time I got home I had a pretty good idea.

When I walked through our backdoor into our yard, I discovered that there was a HUGE bonfire where our pond once was and concrete had been poured where we once had an odd collection of rocks. The work party had all but commenced without me and Maggie was having the time of her life making sure that all was right in her Construction Sal hat.

Friday morning brought the smell of coffee wafting from our kitchen, and my mom’s early arrival at our front door with work gloves spilling out of her pockets.  Eventually we were all out in the yard, digging, mixing and making a ruckus. I was informed that my rain gear wasn’t up to snuff and when the rain really started to fall, I retreated inside with the rest of the girls.

I called my grandparents to make sure that they stopped by because there is something that my grandpa loves about construction and he couldn’t miss this chance to see his own son creating something beautiful. Plus, my grandparents never, ever turn down a chance to see Maggie. Look at my grandpa’s face in the photo below. That is one proud chicken.

Work, work, work. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again: working outside digging, lifting, hauling, bending, chopping and everything else is hard and extremely rewarding.  My dad and Izak didn’t complain once about the horrible weather or my endless chatter when I was ‘helping.’ My dad especially was a machine….a miracle worker, if you will.

Towards the end of Saturday night and daylight was all but gone, Barry and I started to haul gravel to cover the nearly finished pit.  I had been fussing earlier over his inability  to use power tools and ability to haul a large load of rocks.  I think he was ready for me to stop hover-mothering him because he threatened to do a blog post titled ‘My Wife Thinks I’m a [Wimp].’  Personally, I think it’d be a funny blog post to read, but I don’t think he’s going to write it. Don’t hold your breath.

Cora and Chaya stopped by too, but we were too busy eating lunch to take any photos.  I also convinced Barry and my dad to help me hack down some branches that have been bothering me and I was informed that I am for sure ‘my mother’s daughter,’ a badge that I’m proud to wear. My mom and Maggie spent time both inside and out and those of us still outside could often see her curly top perched next to the window babbling orders to my mom or through the open window to us.

Technically we’re not supposed to sit on the wall until Tuesday, but some of us got a chance to test it out earlier….you know, just want to make sure it can hold us and all. Last time my dad came and built us a wall, Kurt and Debbie literally walked in as we were putting the tools away. Today Joe beat them to the punch line and strolled into our backyard just as we were lighting the fire to test out our new digs. He invited Barry to the Seahawks game and Barry changed out of his dirty clothes and they hit the road.  [Side note: Kurt and Debbie ended up coming over for dinner (Thanks, Deb!) so they weren’t too far off with their timing!)

A short time later my mom and dad pulled out of our driveway, with Maggie ‘beep beeping’ to the dump truck and blowing kisses to my mom.  With just Maggie and I now at the house, we went back up to the fire pit and got the digger-thing and practiced moving rocks from here to there. We also dug out some dry wood and built a heavy-duty fire…..I don’t think that either of us were ready for the work party to be over.

Last week while I was at work Maggie and Sydney went up and spent the night at my parent’s house. I got to go up the next day after working a half day and tag along with their adventures.  My mom planted some bulbs and it took about half a second before Maggie was right next to her assisting.

My mom is such a garden whiz, I’m envious. She makes planting 75 bulbs seem like a walk in the park, where if I were to be faced with the task, I’d feel overwhelmed. Someday I’ll be a better gardener, right? I love that Maggie doesn’t hesitate to get her hands dirty and try and figure out what she can do for help. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I think my child’s thumb is greener than my own.

Green thumbs aside, I listened to my parents and Maggie head out the door the next morning to go get the morning paper. I shuffled about the house before finding my shoes to catch up with them, because walking the length of my parent’s driveway is soothing to me. It is the perfect length of a walk to carry a warm cup of tea and still get to the mailbox with a sip left. It is also the perfect length to remind me of where I came from. It is the perfect length to have conversations that sometimes get interrupted, ignored or forgotten.

It makes me happy to think about Maggie already helping to work in the garden with my mom and pick blackberries along the driveway with my dad. Isn’t that just what life is about? Those moments that flash by and can be gone if you don’t take notice. We’re working hard to slow down and notice those moments, those life-filled moments.

Even before we had Maggie, I always longingly talked about corn mazes and farms and we didn’t always pull the trigger on hunting one down. We’ve had Halloween parties in the past and even pumpkin carving contests, but there is something special about picking your own pumpkin or getting lost with friends in a maze of corn.

As we were given our maps to the maze, it became crystal clear that the advice of the sales lady wasn’t too far fetched when she mentioned that the map didn’t ‘exactly’ match with the real twists and turns in the maze. Luckily Brian was with us and he is a MASTER map reader. Not really, but he sure does laugh a lot, which makes Barry laugh a lot too.  Any time you’ve got two Miller brothers laughing, is a good time. At one point Bri mentioned the time he saw my pregnant butt and I had to put a halt on that story, which only made him laugh more.

As much as I’ve been singing praises for this blustery weather, which I love, I’ve been mourning the loss of nice natural light for my photos. All summer long I fought the glare of the sun and now the cloud cover is here to stay and I’m having to pull out a few tricks to make sure I still get the pictures I desire. I suppose you could say I enjoy a challenge because I still refuse to use my flash. Perhaps I’m stubborn? Nah.

So, the corn maze. It was really fun and Maggie loved it. She also loved all the attention from Darcy and her friends. Lauren, Darcy’s best friend, had black boots that Maggie absolutely fell in love with and they were boot buds, with Maggie pointing endlessly at both their boots, as if wanting to confirm that they both had boots on. Mags also enjoyed being leader of the pack, sometimes deciding for everyone if we were going to take a right or a left. The power of her index finger is still in full throttle.

As we roamed from one end of the maze to another trying to solve the mystery of the secret code, I kept whispering to myself “If you build it, he will come” and waiting for Shoeless Joe to pop out of the corn. Of course, he never did. As it was getting darker and we’d solved the puzzle, it was time to exit the maze. Barry and Maggie somehow got detached from the rest of the group and we were headed to the exit. I was a bit worried (but not REALLY worried) and Brian went back in to find Barry and Maggie. Of course not a minute after Brian turned around did Barry and Maggie appear pleased as little kittens that they’d found the exit. So, there we all were at the exit of the corn maze without Brian, the one who is really good at reading maps, remember?  I don’t think anybody really wanted to go back in to find him, for fear of getting lost, but thankfully he ambled out laughing. So we all laughed too.

Today brought a reunion of sorts because storytime at the library started up again and we saw friends that we’ve missed out on seeing with frequency this summer. My, oh, my how quickly kids grow and change. We’ve become pretty good friends with a few of the other kids/parents at storytime and so we’re glad that the group has started up again after the hiatus. Maggie still likes to stand in the center of the circle and participate from that vantage point and is really interested in saying hello to familiar faces. To say she enjoys it would be an understatement.

My parents have been on a trip for a week or so and the phone has been used way more for direct conversation between them and Maggie. This means that Barry and I have had a glimpse into our future with Maggie rolling around on the bed babbling into the phone as my mom and Dad try to decipher her words. She also likes to ‘text’ while talking on speakerphone to them, it makes me laugh at myself because we wanted to try and keep electronics at a minimum for her. HA. We’ll keep trying. We’ve also Skyped a few times with Barry’s parents n& grandparents….which has been a hoot because Maggie isn’t quite sure what’s happening. We’ll keep doing it and eventually she’ll share all details of her days with them.

Also, Maggie’s hair has has now become very Brillo Padish in the back. I’m on a quest to find something to help make it less so bed head. Just a comb of water used to help, but now that it is a bit longer that just doesn’t seem to cut it. (Pun intended, ha!) We bought soe detalngler, but I’m not sure I love the smell. Any suggestions? We’ll take ‘em!

We took Maggie and Sydney on a little bit of a hike today and it was fun to be nearly the only people on the trail because it was a bit rainy and apparently everyone else was busy watching football. On the way  down Maggie was a trooper and was happy to yell orders from the backpack, but eventually she wanted down. On the way back up, she was happy to trudge along and wear Barry’s hat.

Barry was trying to take a few pictures of us and Maggie suddenly became really interested in the camera….so she allowed her to take a few shots. I’d like to think that she was going more for the artistic angle on the one of me above. That’s my girl, right? We eventually made it to the beach and took an awkward family picture with the self-timer.

We went through a tunnel and Sydney did some sprints on the beach….and then the most awful thing in the whole universe happened. (okay, maybe not the universe, but MY universe today)

My camera fell into the sand while the self-timer was on.

This is the final shot: (ignore the double chin, thanks)

I’m pretty sure my camera will survive, but as I told Barry a piece of my heart broke off when it happened. He said he was shocked that I didn’t dive to catch the camera as it fell off the log it was perched on.

He’s right, I should have dove head first as if I were catching a football for a touchdown.

Dang.

Then I could have done a touchdown dance instead of deciding never, ever to take my camera to the beach again.

Double Dang.

Halleluja! It finally feels like summer!!! I had to bite my tounge this morning on our walk with Sydney because it felt muggy and hot and a complaint was about to slip out. I refuse to complain about sunny days and our little crew getting out and doing things. Barry has finally been able to peel away from work and training to enjoy the great PNW a bit with us. I have looooved having him back with us on our outings and I’m pretty sure Mags is in the same boat.

The past two weeks we’ve taken every single opportunity to go to the beach and this has left us only wanting more time to dabble in the sand and water. Maggie and I  met up with Caroline and Nicole and took the 3 minute ferry ride to Jetty Island. Once we were all finally settled, Cole and I looked at each other and both wondered why we hadn’t spent majority of our summer on the island. Next year, my friends, I will be living on Jetty Island and if you want to find me, take the free 3 minute ferry. Mmm-kay?  And for the remainder of this summer I plan to hop the ferry whenever the opportunity shows up. Like this Thursday.

Ferry boat rides, beaches, splash parks, and popslicles. Finally. There was a time there that I was worried that we’d skip past all the summer time fun and go straight into Fall.

Like I said: Hallelujah!

BEFORE THE SWIM

Sometimes I feel like a bad wife. For example, last week when I responded to Barry’s comment about a rough day at work by telling him that Mondays are often difficult and was met with silence, I wondered what I’d said wrong.  He paused and gently said that he thought it was Wednesday, which indeed it was.  Good wives probably keep track of the days of the week and don’t blame a long day at the office on Monday of all days.

This past weekend I strapped myself into my newly acquired triathlon wet suit and accompanied Barry on his training swim around Cain Lake. Let me be clear about a few things:

1. I have almost no intention of doing a full triathlon.

2. Although I was in the water for just as long as Barry, he literally swam circles around me.

3. There was a time not too long ago that I could swim almost as fast as Barry. Not so much anymore.

I went with Barry at first because I knew he was more excited for me to try out my wetsuit than I was, but by the time we finished up our swim I was delighted that I’d decided to go. We made it out to the middle part of the lake and it was at that point that I realized that perhaps I’d pushed myself a bit too hard. I opted to do a bit of back stroke and Barry proceeded to swim like a seal. Go figure.

As I found myself floating there, with  my tummy pointed to the sky, I pushed thoughts of fish nibbling my toes out my head and took in the scene around me: trees lining the skyline, cozy homes nesteled into the woods and my amazing husband swimming effortlessly through the water just ahead of me. We left Maggie with Greg and Linda and it was nice to have some time doing something active with Barry without the extra strain of pushing a stroller or hauling a child in a pack.

By the time we got out of the water and headed back to Greg and Linda’s, I thought to myself that perhaps I’d earned some points in the Good Wife Department because I knew the day of the week and I had finally tried out my wet suit. As turns out, I definitely earned some points, but it didn’t have anything to do with days of the week or wetsuits…it was more about the shared experience of floating in the middle of the lake together and truly enjoying it.

Truthfully, there isn’t really such thing as points when it comes to being married, but it is certainly fun to joke about.  I’m just grateful that I’m married to somebody that I appreciate so much and I know it goes both ways.

Good Wife, Bad Wife, Happy Wife.

AFTER THE SWIM

Without a doubt Maggie and I were the luckiest of girls this week to get to spend time with all our friends and family scattered around Skagit Valley. It is so easy and enjoyable to be in Anacortes during the summer months and my parent’s house never fails to feel like a little pocket of perfectness tucked into Fidalgo Island. I only wish that everybody was so lucky to have a place to return to and feel such a strong connection to.

When I spend time looking at all the work that my parents have done to turn their home into the gorgeousness that it is, I can’t help but wonder if their talents skipped a generation (me) and will hopefully crop up in Maggie. Maggie’s love of plants and flowers is already so blatantly obvious, with her insisting on smelling every single flower she sees and digging in the dirt without hesitation. The girl also has no qualms getting in the mix of things, helping out in every way.

My childhood is partially sprinkled with memories of eatting vegetables from my mom’s garden, but now that I’m on the other side of the fence as an adult, I have a deeper appreciation for all the work that must have gone into making sure those seeds got planted and nurtured. Seeing Maggie and my mom wander the garden, filling colanders with freshness, washing the dirt off and taking bites off and on, was incredible to see. Maggie was fascinated by the process and I have no doubt that she’ll be a great ‘helper’ for future harvests.

I’ve got Ella Fitzgerald’s Summertime stuck in my head.

Summertime and the livin’ is easy….

Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high….