Tomorrow morning we will strap our children into their car seats.
Turn the key and listen as the engine of our Sienna mini-van turns over.
Back out of our drive way
and spend a good 9 – 12 hours on the road.
(You KNOW that is going to inspire a blog post…)
BUT before we can go, go, go we must
PACK, PACK, PACK!
So today that is what I did.
And I did it with Hot Sand (and her little sister) right by my side.
It is hard to decide who was the better helper…
Just look at that face!
The best helper….hmmm? It is a toss up.
Added to packing we had to run errands – Hot Sand accompanied me to the grocery store.
Um, she was pretty much noticed (this outfit didn’t stop cars like her blue strictly ballroom outfit has but people did sit up and take note!)
The very hip, college age check out girl who was wearing skinny jeans and cheetah print wellies said she LOOOOOOVED Millie’s look. In fact, she told us that she wears a similar thing when she goes clubbing.
I was basically speechless and tried really, really hard to block the mental image of this girl in a tutu. (I am still trying to block the image).
Clara was in and out of everything I did all day long.
But I am one of those people who can’t just pack. I have to do OTHER THINGS too.
Like calk the stink’n tub.
Am I the only one with this problem, or are other people as nuts as I am?
I also find time to send 100 emails and play practical jokes.
(Don’t ask.)
As of tomorrow I will be posting from a different State.
(must have been that 20 min nap she took on our afternoon drive to Target, darn it!)
So what do you do?
Scold her after she calls out for you (and wakes her younger sister)?
OR
Say, “What the heck! We’ll make tonight a late night.”
and then you pass her off to her dear old DAD, or as the case may be — Prince Charming.
Next,
Do this –
While watching this –
while wearing this –
And then, this is a MUST, you absolutely must get your “snugs” on.
Make them snugs count, little princess, because when the clock strikes 9:00, you needn’t fear the coach turning back into the pumpkin, but rather Prince Charming will turn back into your dad. And you know what that means.
It means bed time!
Posted in Jan, Millie|Comments Off on Grandma Lil would have approved
From previous posts you will know that Tess was here with us, and now she is gone.
We miss her.
She left a bit of void, so to speak.
Tess was becoming part of the family, blending in with the furniture, it was starting to feel like she was meant to be here – ya know?
Anytime Millie mentioned something she was going to do – mail letters, write a song for, pinch bottoms of etc. she would mention that her plan included doing this for/to Mom, Dad, Clara and Tess.
The night she said good-bye to Tess – she did it like it was no big thing, as if like she was some cool, untouchable teenager. I was surprised that she wasn’t more emotional.
Ah, the emotions were there, just under the surface.
They began to bubble up as we were going through her evening routine.
While brushing her teeth she asked:
“Mom why does Tess have to leave?”
I did my best to explain that Tess has a life (a pretty cool one, in fact) that exists beyond the one she shared with us for the month that she was here.
Millie then said, “Mom, remember when Esme left?” I nodded yes. Then Millie just looked at me with sad eyes, “That is how I feel again.”
While she was praying:
“Please bless me not to be too sad that Tess is leaving. Please bless Tess that she will be safe flying home.”
My all time favorite was when I went in to her room to turn off her reading light. She woke up in a half awake/ half asleep state and said, “Mom, I gotta tell you something…Tess needs snacks for her trip.”
You are loved here in Madison, NJ.
We miss you.
BUT
we are also very excited for you to hit BYU in your NEW WARDROBE!!!.
While Tess was here we spent most of our free time shopping for new clothes, for HER.
We know you have a lot to think about and because you are so loved by your big sister,
B E H O L D!
I have made you a FASHION CHEAT SHEET. When you wake up in the morning (and it’s quarter to one) think about having fun and leave the wardrobe decisions to your big sis. Here are a bunch of different combos that work. These are subtle difference here – sometimes the addition of a necklace can make all the difference. From this point forward please refer to me as Anna Wintour, suckaz!
I call these “variations on a navy blazer”:
with the flower blazer, pink jeans, white shirt, anthro necklace
same deal but with purple gingham shirt (w/ flower and necklace) and same combo only with pink shirt and dark wash jeans.
Variations on the banana republic skirts:
Gap stripe sweater J. Crew staple sweater & button down white shirt
Staple items – black t-shirts and your back cardigan, that go with almost anything
(you get the idea)
Navy Cardigan extraordinaire:
With this outfit you could interchange with any of your button down shirts, or do a white t-shirt for example.
Old hoodie (with attitude), new scarf:
Millie suggests these combos:
I think she is on to something with the necklace as a crown – it is very Never Ending Story, don’t you think?
We already can’t wait for you to come back.
Until you do- have fun at school and don’t be afraid to look totally and utterly fabulous.
Before she left we had a little celebration. She wanted pizza so I asked the NJ King & Queen of Pizza where we should go and they suggested a recent discovery in the Village called,
All hail, the King and Queen – they know their pizza.
Oh, yea! and there was more than just food at this celebration.
I asked Jan to snap a photo of me and Tess.
He told me that he would like to take another because something funky was going on with my chin. I didn’t know what he was talking about. I mean I do now, looking at the photo. But at the time I was confused.
He tried to coach me, “Look straight in the camera”
“Nope, not there yet, and now you look like you have crazy eyes. Just look STRAIGHT into the camera.”
SCARY-NESS! Now you’re all going to have nightmares, so sorry.
Further attempts were also pretty bad, as you can see.
Cam even got in the mix to show me what I was doing wrong.
Finally when Nikki posed with us I figured out what Jan meant.
“Look straight into the camera, oh! you mean straight intothecamera.”
And that was that.
Tess, you thought this party was for you, but it was really for my chin.
(P.S. and a B I G thank you to Uncle Jeff for picking up the tab!)
Once upon a time there was an errand that needed running (WOW! there’s an opener for ya!)
A post office run.
So the mama took her two bear cubs, one by the hand and one in a stroller, into town.
Before they could leave the house the big sister said, “Do you think this outfit will do, for the post office?”
“You mean you want to wear your winter dress, with rhinestones on the sleeves, that you can’t even zip up all the way, your sparkly red shoes, your “somewhere over the rainbow” socks, and carry your Toto too?”
BUT OF COURSE YOU DO!
Off to the post office they went.
And after that job was done. A siren call was heard. It was the call of… the thrift store.
“Come to me! Park your stroller on the street, because rent is high, this space is tiny and we have so much stuff in here that you can barely see the floor. If you can get through the front door, there’s treasures to be had! You must dig through all the crap to find it. But it is here. Of this, I promise you.”
The call was strong. It could not be resisted.
But Homer did not write this tale — even though I know you’re thinking this tale is one of mythic Greek proportions — so unlike the sailors who met a deadly fate the Mama bear and her two cubs DID find
t r e a s u r e.
(If we’d taken the stroller inside we might have never made it out alive!)
It even sparkled!
The Mama Bear thought that the big sister’s first outfit of the day could not be beat.
Boy, was she WRONG!
(This new outfit was somewhere between Strictly Ballroom and Starlight Express.)
You can’t touch this!
Oh, but there is more! (who needs a fairy god mother when you’ve got a local thrift store!?)
The Big Sister Bear said,
“This is red. This is what hot sand looks like. Call me,
HOT SAND
whenever I wear this, okay?”
“If you insist.” replied the Mama Bear.
Not all the treasures were chintz.
Some even had a little class.
Cue, baby bear!
Cost of this item? $7.50, with the tags still on it which means – never been worn by anybody but our very own Baby Bear.
Not bad, eh?
And that is the true story of when the Bear family found treasure at the thrift store.
the dream, the ideal, perfection, greener pastures etc. etc. etc.
&
we made a choice.
I chose you
&
you chose me
(an excellent choice)
but still as excellent as that choice was deep in our hearts we knew
perfect
we were not.
In fact,
only moments after tying the knot
FORGIVENESS
was needed.
(we can laugh about the Tickled Trout now…)
We chose to sign up for
REAL LIFE,
and come what may
to stick with our choice.
What a gift that forgiveness is at the heart of that choice.
When you’re not perfect (i.e. every last one of us on the planet earth)
you need that pretty bad,
** forgiveness **
and I wanted to thank you for forgiving me every day
&
for loving me
even though I am
FAR
from perfect.
As the days have become years I am so grateful
for that sunny August day,
(MY wedding day – inside joke, giggle, giggle)
when I promised
to be committed to
YOU
&
YOU ALONE.
and you said,
“ditto”
in your charming, reserved English way.
happy anniversary.
love,
Mrs. Jan Dawson
PS Special thanks goes to Tess – “the technical wonder” – this would NOT have been possible without her much needed assistance and expertise. Thanks Tessy-boo!
P.P.S. For anyone watching this who isn’t Jan and who might be worried that there is no sign of a Temple anywhere, rest assured – we were sealed in the temple, the Preston Temple. But the official photographer was not there – and when our wedding day actually finished and we emerged from the Preston Temple it was 9:00 pm. We snapped three very grainy pictures that didn’t make it into this anniversary slide show for Jan.
By English law we had to be married civilly – hence marching down the aisle and so forth.
While you were having important meetings with clients in the balmy Bay Area…we went to the Cloisters. Home of the famous “Unicorn Tapestries”.
We spent the first hour or so enjoying the gift shop…
How do you like your unicorn? On a Tapestry, in a snow globe, or perhaps, like Clara, you prefer it up your nose?
If only you could have heard the bizarre and wonderful world that Millie conjured with the toys while we waited for our buddies to arrive. I snapped the photo of her below telling me ALLLLLLLL about it. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the particulars. But it was SOMETHING SPECIAL!
In case you’re wondering – Clara is NOT a fan of Medieval music.
When we’d had enough of the gift shop we went out side for a snack. And low and behold, there, coming up the hill were our buddies! Neylan and her bevy of fair maidens…
The poor things! Their car wouldn’t start so check it out: they took several subways and then walked – a fair way – it took them an hour and a half to reach the museum because they live in Brooklyn.
I know.
And Neylan was wearing these!!!!
Unstoppable. Unbeatable. Unbelievable.
That’s my Neylan!
These ladies were in serious need of JUICE BOXES!
Luckily we had some on hand.
Then it was museum time, baby!
We spent most of our time in the court yard area. Yes, the best museum for a group of little girls under the age of five is one that is actually more like a park.
The light was perfect.
And you know what that means, Jan.
PHOTO OP CITY!
Work it, Auden.
Show me love!
Auden, what happened? You were really working it only moments before.
Eventually we decided we’d better go INTO the museum.
(Ya, think?)
“Oh, my gracious! Aurther Miller.”
No, actually it is the Medeival version of Esme, Auden and Millie.
Those Medieval moms may not have had to deal with car seats, but I am thinking that doing those hairdos must have been a beast to rig up every morning. The one on the far left looks like she is saying, “WHATEVER! Mom you are so LAME.”
I know that look.
But Jan, it got even better….
Check it out! It is the WANDERING MINSTRALS!!!
(cue “Greensleeves”)
Tess had to get in on this, and you know why!
“We seek only a place to rest our weary heads.”
The light wasn’t great indoors, but the real reason why this is so blurry, is because I was laughing so hard.
So, babe. I am not going to lie to you – our trip to the musem took it’s toll on me.
But then, I look at this picture. And sense that something really good is happening.
That is your daughter. Right in the mix, with the grown-up peoples, checking out the art, like she owns the joint.
This is the reason I do this.
This and because Neylan says, “Come on! Let’s go for it!” When I say, “Don’t you want to just hang out at the pool?”
Cricket, cricket.
“All right!” I say, remembering that last time Neylan said, “Let’s do something new” we ran into People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man of the Year”.
Good times.
And crazy.
Crazy. Good. Times.
We hope you are having your fair share of crazy. good. times. too.
Cuz if you are not I am not sure your trip is worth it cuz we are missing you like crazy.
So come home soon!
Love,
Your Girls
I had to bring these girls back! They are just “too tremendous”. And besides, I didn’t get a photo of myself, so lets pretend like I am the one in the middle, Millie is the one on the right and Clara is the eye rolling wonder, on the left.
just when everyone is getting sick of it and giving up their blogs, guess who is getting on the blogging bandwagon...me! That is about the time I catch on to whatever is trendy and cool, long after it is trendy and cool. At the very least I hope to amuse my sisters and my mom. I know how to pick an audience, don't I? I am not entirely sure if there will even be a theme but if you stay tuned perhaps we'll figure it out together. oxox Lize
