Pretty in Pink

Around the time that we moved into White House, a package arrived for Clara Jane from Grandpa Tom and Lynn.  It was a small brown paper bag containing a froth of pink fabric.  We set it aside until the house was a bit more unpacked and a bit less of collection of land mines upon which frothy pink fabric confections might catch and tear.  That time arrived this weekend and thus it was that Birdie spent most of the weekend decked out in a pink tulle and be-ribboned skirt and headdress.

Walking

We Minnesota Ekkers enjoy a walk. A certain Joe and Clara Fan who went to college with Julie will remember Julie cajoling her to walk to the White Hen our senior year. (She might maintain it was with greater frequency than it actually was; she was less fond of a walk.) In fact, the first time Julie and Ted ever went out on a date, they took a walk--along Lake Michigan. Julie remembers thinking that here was a boy after her own heart and, well, we all know how fantastically that turned out!

So the fact that we can walk to the KinderCare, Starfoxes, and Trader Joe's from White Houe in under five minutes (and several parks and the DQ in under 10) makes White House that much more perfect for us. We've also taken to walking to and from school weather permitting. The trip requires one crosswalk button to be pressed so we all get to practice our diplomacy. Here we are this past Friday morning. It was show 'n' share day so Kitty and the Lego fire truck were along.

A Fun Day

Today, Ted got up at 5am to head up to Bemidji to collect Cousin Nick from the French immersion camp he's been at the past two week's at Concordia Language Villages.*  It's a four hour trip there, and another four back obviously, and there was a program in between.  So the bambini had a long day with Julie, and vice versa.  The morning was filled with swimming lessons, the usual trip to Target, a trip to the Container Store, and a stop by the library.  They were, respectively:

• Awesome!  The bambini both love swimming class and Julie likes to sit and watch them splash around with no other obligations.  (It's especially nice if she has stopped at the Caribou down the strip mall beforehand.)  Today was an assessment day.  Joe is moving to the next class (Littles 4!) and Clara is going to stay in Littles 1 unless she can keep her face in the water for a few more seconds at a time.  She's all about putting it in there, but she likes to pop it right back out with this big grin on her face--and adjust her goggles (Accessories!  Birdie never met one she didn't love.).  She's a pretty awesome floater.  You should see her, Brigade.
• Not awesome.  If one goes to Target solo with both bambini, one has to get the unwieldy two-seater cart.  Once the fruit snacks run out--which is in about two minutes since they are inhaled--the bambini are restless and looking to do what they can to call the attention of every Target guest to them.  Heaven forbid one need to spend a moment considering, say, towels for the downstairs bathroom one now has.
• Better.  It was dicey at the outset once Joe realized that "the store to get y'all hampers at!" was really The Container Store: "AGAIN?!?!"  Julie defined "attitude" and introduced the slang, "Check it at the door."  As it turned out, selecting hampers was fun and "didn't even take 10 minutes!" (which had been Julie's original estimate for the time that would be spent inside).  Joe got green ombre; Clara, yellow ombre.
• Awesome.  Now, it's true that the library may have been awesome because Julie told the bambini that if it wasn't, she's pick them right up and walk right out without picking up The Berenstain Bears No Girls Allowed if they did not act in a manner befitting being in a public place, but awesome they were in any case.  Thus, No Girls Allowed was borrowed.  It's another amazing B. Bears title.  Mama Bear is wise.  Papa is well-meant, but a bit of a doofus.  Lessons are learned.  Endings are happy.

In the afternoon, Ms. Anne came over with her boys Nathan and Andrew.  Nathan is a worldly rising second grader; Andrew is Joe's age.  (The best part about their visit is that the not-yet-filled water balloons that had been floating about the house ever since Joe's birthday party were filled and exploded and are now out of our lives and home.)

Ted and Nick were home for a bit after Ms. Anne and her boys left, but then they left for the Twins game and ballpark dinner.  So Julie and the bambini had ballpark dinner on the deck: hot dogs and chips.  Berenice helped herself to half a hot dog (which she promptly barfed up within five minutes of eating it--inside; oh of course, inside) which made Joe wail like his arm had been eaten instead and of course, he wanted another hot dog, so in frustration, Julie gave him her hot dog before stomping off to make herself another hot dog and be, generally, fatigue-induced grumpy in an entirely self-pitying way, beating herself up for not being able to summon more sympathy for Joe's response to the Great Hot Dog Steal.

And then Joe said, apropos of nothing, "Mommy, today was fun!"  And just like that, it was, and Julie remembered that you can be frustrated now and again, and still be loving, and loved.  (She feels this is one of the primary lessons of parenting--and it appears all the time--but it is, nevertheless, one she is still learning.)

*We know some Fans will be interested to know that Cousin Nick said it was "awesome."  He wants to go back, and for the four-week program, which is, apparently, for credit.  It would probably be even more fun next year because one could skip over all the "what is this going to be like?" apprehension, and awkward first day nonsense, right to the awesome.  His three most favorite things were: 1. Playing soccer, 2. The food, and 3. His cabin mates, three of whom were fluent French speakers hailing from Senegal, France, and Quebec.  Cousin Nick reports that they really did speak mostly French there except sometimes for the people who were there learning English (like the three who were native French speakers), and said that it was weird not to be hearing it all the time now.  He has a beret, Fans! We might need to start calling him Frenchie.

Watering

As we mentioned, it was hot here in the North Star State all week long.  So we had to do a bit of watering in the evenings and the mornings we could swing it in the getting-everyone-out-the-door-dressed-and-fed relay.  Julie finds watering, in the evening anyway, very relaxing.  It's useful, but not terribly taxing; it's best done alone; it's quiet.  One can just sort of lose one's self in it as the day winds down.  Watering was always one of the best parts of the summer days she spent at her grandparents' house in Texas as a child where one had to water pretty much every day.  So she was charmed by this video that Ted shot from the deck of Birdie in the backyard.  (Off to the right of Birdie you can see a part of the garden that Julie and Kate cleared when Kate was here.  Off to the left is representative of what the right looked like when we moved in, though by the time this was shot, Ted had started in on the thistles on that side so it, too, is getting there.)

Of Heaven (Again) and Chinese Food (and French Food)

On the other side of the Fourth, the day before he turned five, Joe and Julie had another exchange about heaven that she's been carting around in her phone until she had time to capture it here.  It was also about his Grandma Jane.

Those were the days when the White House seemed terribly big to Joe and he didn't like being upstairs by himself.  The days when we counted the number of rooms in the White House (10--with the kitchen "with the living room inside it!" counting as one--a twofer, if you will) compared to Raleigh House (seven--eight if you count the blue room upstairs).  These days aren't a thing of the past, but it would seem that the White House is already seeming smaller.  But then, it was still a big house--and the living room was in the kitchen, which was sort of radical.

This conversation was also memorable because Joe told Julie he loved her, and she thinks it might be the first time Joe said it to her first.  He added that he loved Daddy, and Clara, and Berenice, and Aunt Kate, and Uncle Scott, and Cousin Nick, and Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles, and Grandpa Tom and Lynn.  Julie said we couldn't forget Grandma Jane and Raleigh in heaven.  She added that she knew Joe didn't remember Grandma Jane, but that she was pretty great.  Joe asked what she was like, and they had this exchange:

Julie: Well, she liked to read.  Just like you, and me.

Joe: She didn't like China food! [He'd recently learned this bit of trivia.]

Julie: That's true!  But she did like French food.

Joe: What's French food?

Julie: You know the croissants you and Clara get at Rustica?  That's French food.

Joe: We like French food!

Scene.