Hi.

Oh, blog.  Dear old blog...

I am NOT going to say that I've been too busy - because I do believe that you can find time to do anything that you really want to do - but my days are just so full.
Full of the mundane.
Full of the extraordinary.

I got a job, did I tell you?  Just twenty hours a week, and perfectly timed in the middle of the day when all kids are properly settled in their separate schools.
Also, Max broke his arm recently but is fine, if a little bored.  Kirby is a sophmore, Max in seventh and Lilah a savvy first grader.  And Jer is still king of the throne.  Hmm, I'm sure there's more you've missed...
Oh, but back to this.  A POST.

My days contain a lot of ordinary: packing lunches and making snacks (home), tying shoes (work), dropping this kid off here and then that kid off there (home), playing math games (work), going over spelling words (home and work), counseling bruised egos and smoothing insecurities (home and work).
Today was an especially sentimental day, for no particular reason -other than a possible hormonal imbalance- but there were four, maybe five, moments of which I wish to pause and savor from every angle.

At school, a student who consistently struggles nailing her reading work after a one-on-one session...
a bear hug from literally THE sweetest boy I ever just met a month ago...
my own sweet middle, escorting me on a walk to pick up his sister, talking nonstop about everything under the sun, always with a splash of humor and ample charm...
my baby girl hiding in her dark room at bedtime in an effort to scare me; her forced-deep voice pointing out how very dark and scary it is, then a fit of giggles followed by "I'm still working on my evil laugh, Mom"...
and my night ending at the kitchen table at 10pm, quizzing an utterly amazing almost fifteen year old on monomer vs. polymer, acid vs. base, DNA vs. RNA; toasting the upcoming weekend with our late night shots of OJ...

So that's what I've been up to:  part-time aide and full-time everything else.
And while I must admit that I technically have time to blog, these extraordinarily mundane moments have a way of taking priority.

Oh, and Instagram's not helping ;)
@bubbletoes3
#dontexpectcleverhashtags
#didimentionifellasleepinmygaragetodayat5pm

LOVE
AL

Inaugural Cousin Swap

I'm sorry, dear blog, that you're getting the short end of the stick yet again.
I've got a 7 am NC/beach departure scheduled for tomorrow morning and these boys do not like to be kept waiting. So I'll upload some pics as a place holder here and try to remember to revisit for better journaling soon.
Please also remind me to (ask permission to) blog my dear friend's Sara's bday pics.

Last Friday, Jen and I met halfway between our homes, in the West Virginian wilderness, for the first annual Cousin Swap.
Kanawha State Forest seemed like a great place to stretch our legs after dual long car rides and it was very beautiful; the only problem being no cell service in the 9300-acre park, in which no specific meeting place was chosen beforehand.
Alas, we found each other. We hiked, we swam and then we switched: Lilah for Chase.

As you may well know, Chase Brennan McElroy has a quite a bit of energy bottled up in his tiny muscular body so my entire plan involved keeping him busy.
And that we did.
Here he is at Kirby's robotic competition, at a Frog Jump Festival (in which his mighty frog made it to the championship), at the pool, and canoeing Mad River.

I somehow managed to snag him for a quick (and I mean quick) snuggle here:

I missed Lilah terribly and originally annoyed Jen with many texts. Luckily, we were able to FaceTime each night before bed and our girl looked wonderful: swimming at Linda's and attending dance camp, but mostly just in heaven with her cousin Ryan.

Headed there tomorrow and then the beach on Saturday.
Did I ever tell you how lucky I am?
xoxo
AL

Sneaky Art

The girls and I are having loads of sneaky fun lately.
The snack sized crafts in this book are just right for our various but mostly tiny attention spans.  And the fact that our work is left to surprise others adds a distinct thrill.
So far we've hidden messages at the library (they are meant to look like speech bubbles):

And we've given personalities to a few of the rocks surrounding the city pool:

Each time we've hung around acting sly -well, as sly as two six-year-olds can act, which is not very- to watch our treasures discovered by others.

At the library the following week, we noticed that the librarians had actually borrowed our 'Best Book' tags for displaying new favorites.
And at the pool we watched from the water as a little boy discovered and took home one of our special rock faces. Which means we must paint more next week. :)

AL

Summer Crush : Links and Parentheses

We have a structured but relaxed schedule this summer and so far it's working out rather well, as in I haven't thrown a tantrum yet.

Mondays are library/park days, Tuesdays we spend at the city pool, and Wednesdays are our 'travel' days (think bowling, dollar movies and pottery painting). Thursdays we visit the company pool (it's heated), and Fridays we craft.
While the three girls are my constant companions, the boys' participation has been sporadic; Max has had several separate basketball and soccer commitments and Kirby has had various, lengthy television watching obligations.

I've also asked each family member to come up with an individual summer goal - something he/she is practicing every day or nearly every day so that the task is loosely mastered by the start of school. My personal goal is to learn the ukulele (my youtube tutor is Chili Monster, he's great) and Lilah is learning piano (first lesson scheduled for tomorrow). Max hopes to walk on his hands, perform a flip throw in soccer, run a 5k in under 20 minutes, and...
I stopped him right there, a little afraid that he'd start throwing out crocodile wrestling and the like.
The only problem now is that he feels that we must own a trampoline to safely practice goals one and two. We are in the early stages of negotiation.

Kirby's goals consist of sleeping as much as humanly possible and reading as many classics as his awake-time allows. I've distracted him from those time-honored literary favorites, however, with my recent John Green obsession.  I completed one of his books, dropped it off on Kirby's desk at 11pm that night and it was returned to my nightstand by 7 pm the following evening, along with a glowing review.
John Green is so very Kirby, with his wacky videos, his positive pranking (which we actually practiced last summer having just been electronically introduced to Green via AmyKR), and his general aura of quirky awesomeness (please note poofy hair).  He's only authored a handful of books thus far so we hope to have covered all of his work shortly and be able to focus again on the actual world around us.  We both get a bit consumed with our characters, you see.

So John Green is Summer Crush #1: For the Eyes (Mind).

Summer Crush #2: For the Ears is none other than Bill Withers. I thrifted two of his albums on a whim, and they are both sooo good; Side A and Side B equally wonderful, that they're on constant replay. If Bill knocked on my door right now, I'd put all differences aside and inquire if maybe we could run away together (of course I'd eventually come back... just a soulful hiatus).

Summer Crush #3: For Numbing the Mind is (no surprise here) my dancing show, So You Think You Can Dance. Best enjoyed with a glass of wine and dark chocolate, I continue to look forward to Tuesday nights' broadcasts.

Which leads me to Summer Crush #4: For the Body (and no teasing), my new Jazzercise habit.  I pretend that it's my dance class, with a little weight training thrown in and no paralysis-inducing recitals. I love being super sweaty again, like a kid who played her heart out in backyard kickball. And I feel stronger.
For instance, we lost another gigantic oak branch from Grandma tree (so sorry to report that her health is declining rapidly) and I cleared it entirely on my own. Okay, yes, Jer was there with a chainsaw but I did (most of) the heavy lifting.

So there's a lot of links for you (and a lot of parentheses).
The picture above is totally unrelated.
Be back soon,
AL;)

End-of-Year Gifts

We had some good teachers this year.

We are continually lucky in that regard. Unfortunately, I feel like I've 'been there, done that' with teacher gifting and as some of these professionals were family repeats, I needed to branch out from the coffee coozie and reusable handmade totes.
I ended up using items almost entirely on-hand, my only purchase was a large piece of tan felt and of course a gift certificate.

The older the kid, the less extravagant the gifting, so we simply went with Thank You plants for Max's Teaching Trio.
I over-ordered succulents at the school flower sale so I repotted and added mini pennant banners. The photo is not stellar but they were pretty cute.  Max signed the pots.

Lilah's teacher is a newbie, so sweet and amazingly devoted.
Naturally, she's working on adding to her classroom, so I created a pizza learning station using this link and lots of felt. I borrowed a friend's laminator (it's like having a friend that's a lawyer or a mechanic, so nice to have a crazy-office-supplies friend) and made easy picture flashcards using the toppings. I crafted three bell peppers, four mushrooms, five pepperonis and six olives; thrown into a real pizza box and with a gift certificate to our local pizza place for her personal use.

I couldn't convince Kirby to let me do anything at all for his teachers, small as it would be.
However, I did get away with a baby gift for his geometry teacher several weeks ago. Kirby relayed this teacher's stories of nervous excitement over he and his wife's first baby, taking off several weeks of leave himself just after the arrival. And when I came across some actual geometry fabric, well, I just couldn't resist these baby shoes.

An extra special thank you to Mr. S for allowing Kirby extra test taking time, in study hall and after school, as he is currently struggling with double-, triple- and quadruple-checking his work.  :(
Everything in moderation, my sweet boy.

AL

Braces and Brass

Each Brennan, big or small, dreaded the arrival of April 28th:
the day Kirby would begin his orthodontic treatment.
Dramatic and sensitive to pain, we knew that this would be a trying time for him, and for all of us by proxy.

In the months and weeks preceding, Kirby had expressed his concerns fervently.
He'd threatened to hitchhike out of state and he'd thrown several toddler-esque tantrums.... yet in the end, he walked into the waiting room at Dr. Scott's orthodontic practice of his own free will, head-down but responsive.
He emerged 45 minutes later with silver brackets and tiny alternating blue and orange rubber bands.

He actually looks wonderful; braces fall perfectly in line with his modus operandi of "adorably quirky".  But vanity was never his problem with braces; he was always just worried about his music.  He's found something he's good at -playing his trombone- and he wasn't willing to sacrifice any part of that for his future smile.

I daresay we drove home almost happy.  He let me take his picture and buy him a milkshake. 
But then immediately upon our arrival, he marched straight up the stairs to practice his instrument.  A few moments later and I began to wonder if there was a dying, screeching wild elephant up there.  The practicing was not going well and Kirby was heartbroken.  Loudly, and rather messily, heartbroken. 

Eventually I convinced him to take a break and give himself a couple of days before trying again.   Good advice -  except that he had an audition in just six days.

Six days and he'd perform for a spot in the Show Choir Combo band, a chosen few that travel with our talented show choir to accompany them in competitions.
He really wanted it.
He was really frustrated.

The following week, I watched him walk into that giant school, his trombone in one hand and sheet music for 'Eleanor Rigsby' in the other.  It made me feel achey; like literal heartburn.

Then we waited.  I actively waited, though:  I consulted my Magic 8 ball, I crossed my fingers, I prayed.

Eventually the whispers of the rumor mill reached us; the word on the street was that he made it. 
We were hopeful but it was much too early to celebrate.  Finally, the list was officially posted - with the name 'Kirby Brennan' appearing to me to be printed in neon.


So he's decided to stay, to continue living here with us.  Hitch-hiking is dangerous, after all.  And the tantrums, well, he'll only break those out for emphasis, for future catastrophes that await. 
In the meantime, we'll just keep feeding him milkshakes.

AL

On My List

See, Blog?  This is the most recent of several different To-Do's lists of which you've been featured.  Yes, I know; the carry over from one list to the next is counterproductive to lists in general.  And it's not fair that all other items are in turn receiving big fat check marks and you with the circle.  But at least my fridge is clean.  (Oh, and don't be alarmed re: police report... I did have a frustrating experience with stolen credit cards that we've since resolved.)

I will confess that I've been dabbling a bit in Instagram and that's helping to fill my social media quota (follow me at bubbletoes3!).  I thought that as a quick catch-up I might provide here some photos that I deem not quite Instagram worthy yet may provide fair representation of how we've spent these last few weeks without you, dear Blog.
 

We've played outside; we've played with friends and we've played with ourselves. 
Most importantly,  we've played in the sunshine. 
I also estimate that I have mowed the grass 42 times since my last post. 
Our lawn is on steroids.  It's time to stage an intervention.  I've asked Jer to clean up her act, maybe bring her down a weight class since she requires maintenance up to three times a week.  Unfortunately, Jer's quite proud of her bulk (and he's only had to mow approximately 3-4 times).

I've been earning my keep by brainstorming creative ways to entertain the girls and keep the quarreling to a minimum.  The condition of this Grocery Store Bingo Board that I printed for their use on an errand speaks volumes for how that's going. 
Yes, a certain six-year-old promptly forfeited her fruit snack prize by ripping up and throwing her game board at an innocent shopper in the cereal aisle.

There was an unfortunate accident involving our favorite roly poly, Emily (no relation to Clevenger), and a size 12 shoe.  Get this:  hymns were hummed at the service -- brilliant, I say!

Lucy is great.  She has won each of us over with her old-man-hairy-ears and her slightly manic personality.  She's either ferociously attacking our shoelaces or fast asleep; there is very little gray area for our black and white kitty.

I've added a few more (fabulous) records to my collection. 
The kids are already complaining about the frequency in which this one is played but, honestly, does it get any better than Huey? 
And, to bring this post full circle, Huey is what brought me back to you today. 
He told me that If This Is It (with the blog), then I needed to Let You Know.  And I immediately sat down to write, because I'm still here and I've still got lots to say. 
Just not always regularly. :)

Love
AL

It's Always a Good Time

So sorry regarding my unexpected hiatus... 
There was a girls' weekend in Miami, a huge school event to prep, in-laws visiting, and occasional illnesses. 
I only have good pictures of the first :)

Lilah's current favorite song is Owl City with Carly Rae singing 'Good Time'. 
It's not very new so we were rather surprised to hear it on the radio several different times during our trip, including the drive TO the airport.  We took the coincidence as a sure sign of -you got it- a Good Time.

The lyrics are perfect:

"We don't even have to try
It's always a good time"

and were made even more so with all three Tecks singing along, windows down, blue skies and warm skin, down Sunset Drive.

AL

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

I was very excited about this one; however, the photo shoot proved rather difficult.
Turns out our new kitten, Lucy, doesn't really like to be held up in the sky.  Or being outside at all, for that matter...
She's also not fond of her fancy diamond collar.

Otherwise, I've no complaints.  Any baby that sleeps through the night and is potty trained at eight weeks is just alright with me.
And that last phrase reminds me of another album I recently picked up...

Have a great weekend!

AL

Power to the People

More of a solo Lennon project, but I hope you'll allow it.
Released with Yoko on backup, 1971

AL

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

 

I'm late, my apologies. 
I've a very good excuse of which I probably shouldn't share. 
It involves what I believe to be some very bad grocery store sushi.

Once again, I plan to cheat and retro date this. 
You understand, I'm sure.

Here's to no lonely hearts and few bathroom visits today!

AL

A Hard Day's Night

Released 10 July 1964, title inspired by Ringo.
Lilah's hair is an inspiration in itself.

AL

I Want to Hold Your Hand

An easy one for Monday :)

Side 1, track 1 on Meet the Beatles, released Jan 1964
Photo courtesy of Jen

xoxo
AL

Let It Be

Someone groovy donated their amazing record collection to the Dublin Goodwill recently.

It was an epic find; the only problem being that someone else beat me to it and -just like the climax of Goldilocks and the 3 bears- he was still there. My fellow collector was squatting beside a stack of his choices, all incredible, and I was left to kneel alongside him and dig through his scraps.
Lucky for me, he already owned many, and therefore passed on great finds like Genesis, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper.   
However, he was holding in his arms eight different Bob Dylan albums.
EIGHT!
So without much forethought, I prepared myself: I pinched my cheeks for color, straightened my shoulders, batted my eyelashes, and coquettishly inquired if there wasn't possibly just one Dylan he could part with?
The closest I've ever come to using my feminine wiles on a complete stranger and he, somehow, was able to resist.

"Nope. Sorry."

That was all I got.
But then, after ten more minutes of communal rummaging, easy conversation and song comparisons, he did take pity on me and pass over this:



because he thought it looked "too scratched".
It's not scratched. It's perfect. Thank you, record man.

This brings me to my theme. That's right, next week I will have a blog theme.  A fresh post every morning but with few original words.
Remember my coloring book of illustrated song lyrics?  I'm going to illustrate some song lyrics for you. Not with pen and paper so much, probably iphone camera and maybe a little fabric crafting thrown in.
And I'll stick to the Beatles, in honor of my fellow record thrifter man.

See you then,
AL

Continuing Favorites

I love letters. Old fashioned letters, especially; letters that linger over words, taking time to comment on the details.   The kind that doesn't skip the niceties.
This book,  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, is written entirely in letter form and is so charming and perfect.
(As if I didn't throw enough links at you yesterday; also please forgive me if I've mentioned this before.)  I've read it twice and each time I turned the last page, I was inspired to immediately write a long letter to a friend -- in cursive no less!
So that's obviously a pretty special book.

Naturally, my love of letters symbolizes a deeper love of the words within.  I actually have a list somewhere, as does Kirby, of my favorite words - status based on definition, alliteration, or any combination of things.
This blog celebrates both letters and words: LettersOfNote.com

This particular post is among my favorite.
Personally, I like the way Words fit together. I like the gentle nuances that give each a more specific meaning. I especially like piecing them together in a way that pleases me. I can tell right away if what I've written is something I'd be excited to reread tomorrow. And, if it is, then my hope is that someone else would take pleasure in reading it. And then someone else, maybe years from now?
Because their most compelling attribute is that Words are timeless. They can be personalized, just for you, and can last forever.  No warranty needed.

You want a peek at my favorites?
Brouhaha, Hoopla, and  Hullabaloo ~ all meaning a commotion or uproar
Blotto ~ unconscious drunkenness!
Wabi-Sabi ~ Japanese, and with the best definition ever:  
perfectly imperfect

Oh, and then there's a word that we made up ourselves. It's a noun, referring to the small remnants of pancake drippings that result in their own miniature pancakes: squapelers. Li's holding an example here; can you see it? :)


AL

Playing Favorites

Exciting news, guys.
I've figured it out.

 I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
And I can't yet pinpoint my favorite book (though the one I read yesterday was very good).

However, if anyone asks me my favorite song -if that's ever a security question for an online account let's say- I have a definitive answer:
 Paul Simon's Kodachrome.  

Because it gives us those nice bright colors 
It gives us the greens of summers 
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, 
 oh yeah

Favorite movie is easy. As a matter of fact, we put together a Princess Bride themed PTO newsletter for Li's school last week with several fantastic quotes thrown in. For example, the annual Edgewood Extravaganza is "wot bwings us togeder too-day". 

We even got away with "There's a shortage of perfect raffle baskets in this world..."


(Above is a homemade that I actually kept for myself.  Pattern from weelittlestitches on etsy.)


But back to my buddy Paul. I had several of his albums but none containing Kodachrome - until Saturday, when I visited a record store in Yellow Springs.
Every time I travel to Yellow Springs I wonder why I don't go more often. Honestly, I should be there every weekend!  I should live there!
Only an hour away, it has great parks and trails, cute shops and restaurants, and that general 'free love' vibe. There is homemade fiber art adorning public tree trunks and a teenager playing his sax on the sidewalk.
We met Jer, Max and some friends there after the boys' soccer tryouts a town or two away, and after sending Lilah home with the guys, Kirby and I enjoyed some hiking.
Just me and the teen.
It was beautiful -- even without Kodachrome.

Then, last night, our plans for a babysitter fell through and so instead of going to a hockey game for which Jer received four free tickets from work, I was left home alone so that he could accompany all three kids.
That's right, I was left home alone.

I finished said book, which made me feel like writing, but instead I made a proper dinner for myself.  And with no one there to complain about my cooking, I even felt compelled to make homemade coconut muffins with glaze, based on this recipe.

All while listening to my new Paul Simon album, over and over again. I had lots of incredible words floating around in my head then, words I should have written down right away but was too content to bother.

So this is what you're getting instead.

“My brains, his steel, and your strength against 60 men, and you think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy?”
My ramblings, Paul's lyrics, and a few color pictures, and I think I can pull together a blog post? Hmm?

AL

Meet Jer's Mid-Life Crisis

(Max claims dual ownership.) 

I'm just glad that she's not prettier than me.

Have a great weekend,
AL

Bittersweet Buttersworth

We had brinner last night.
That, in itself, is a happy occurrence. 
However, yesterday we finally depleted and then said goodbye to our Bronze Buttersworth, Royalty of the Pantry.

She was spray painted to be used as a trophy for our Movie Star party two years ago, our own delicious version of the Oscar.
And to clarify:  while it's true that Jeremy does try to talk me into awarding him a trophy each party,  (as the hosts, I find this inappropriate even though his dancing -it's true- is nothing short of extraordinary), this particular bottle was my test case.  I later perfected the spray paint process; and we simply saved this first try for ourselves.

That she's lasted almost two years is a small miracle.  The kids were hesitant to use her at first, intimidated by the novelty of it all.  Then later, after she had been tapped, they would race to the pantry on pancake nights to be the first to claim her.

Now she rules the Recycle Bin, with beauty and grace. 
And a very sticky smile.

AL

April 1st Shenanigans, at a Glance

I'm writing in blue and Jer is white. 

Love!

AL

Number 12

Of course I didn't forget about my sweet middle and his lucky number birthday - I promise the mild mannered one has not been overlooked.
As a matter of fact, it serves him quite well to have the family's lone spring birthday. His big day falls just after tax return and bonus time, so the kid typically does pretty well for himself. ;)

We kept the festivities low-key, per request.
We followed tradition with a delicious hibachi dinner and, additionally, donned the ugly jump shoes at the trampoline park with a couple of friends. We spoiled him with soccer gear and kisses.

Oh, and we all wore homemade Happy Bday headbands as nonchallantly as possible.
Because True Love = Looking Ridiculous in Order to make Someone Smile.
And we nailed it.

Truthfully, Max has been a bit of a challenge this week. The lull in sports/school activities over spring break are simultaneously treasured by Kirbs and despised by Max... there's only so many hours of solo basketball a boy can play on a tiny over-the-door hoop in the kitchen.

Have I shared with you my new theory for infant Max's colic, by the way?
I've decided that all that crying was based on pure frustration. Yes, he was so angry that his round baby body wouldn't do the things he wanted it to do; his tiny limbs were useless!
Looking back, I can almost see the raw will in his little face, his deep desire to do something un-baby-blob-like.

Because if there's one thing we've discovered in these twelve (mostly) sweet years, it's that an Active Max = a Happy Max.
And a Happy Max = True Love.
(Which, again, is interchangeable with a willingness to Look Ridiculous in order to make Someone Smile.)

AL

Victorious

The crocus are blooming.

A vibrant speck of yellow in the dull brown landscape,
Winter's way of waving the white flag in surrender.

We've won.
We've survived another midwest winter with our sanity (mostly) in check.

It's not a fluke this time.
We are going to begin wearing less socks.
We are going to spend time outside and there will be actual sunshine.

Also there were tulips at the grocery store today, so I splurged, proclaiming the purchase of tulips as a new tradition for *my* first official day of spring.
This is how irrational the season makes me; lovesick almost.

So delirious I am for spring that I've been singing this song in my head all day.
Especially absurd, because as you know, I am an ardent member of Team Diamond in the Diamond/Manilow struggle.


Please peel your gaze away from the sparkly vest to note Barry's deep breath at the nine second mark. I did the exact same thing when I walked outside today, complete with weird eye roll.

AL

Another Spring Break Lament

Seriously, who needs warm sunny beaches when you can instead tour a whistle factory with a combined eleven kids and then drive through a car wash while your van load of five is still in possession of said whistles?!

AL