Dyeries

Mixing it up on vacation

2009-07-12T20:57:00.008-04:00

We usually do the same things every year at Cannon Beach. That doesn't mean that there is nothing to do or that things get old. It just means we enjoy doing them so much that we like to do them again and again.
This year, we did something different. Instead of being mere spectators at the Fourth of July Parade, we were participants.

It all started last year as a joke, I think. We were watching the parade in all it's small-town glory, and we were amazed by the lack of effort put into some of those enrolled in the promenade- little to no pomp or circumstance. We thought with such little prerequisites and purpose necessary for entry, we could easily join in the march.
So a year later, with very little planning, the members of The Beard Family Cook-Off (that's my family) took to the streets of downtown Cannon Beach.

Our patriotism and culinary flare showed in our attire and accessories, but the main attraction was not the chef hats, candy or the rhythmic beat of various pots, bowls, and oven racks. It was the spectacle three of my brothers made of themselves as they frisbee-ed a pizza pan in a weaving motion at the rear of our procession. The bit of insecurities that may have existed among them before they started had melted away by the warm reception of the crowd. They cheered as the pan was tossed from hand to hand and "ahh"-ed when it was dropped. The tricks became more daring and crowd-pleasing, a sign of their growing confidence. There were a few close calls in danger to the crowd, but nothing worse than when I hit a little girl smack in the middle of the forehead with a piece of hard candy. I felt pretty bad, but in my defense, I had Claire on my front, Jane holding my right hand and I threw with my left. I am not left-handed.

We had a great time and we're pretty sure we had as good a show as any other group.
If we do it again, we might take Dan's suggestion and throw pancakes instead of candy. Everyone kept asking us what was cooking.

Coast to coast

2009-06-28T08:50:00.001-04:00

We will be at Cannon Beach for the next week.

Hopefully, we'll do a little of this:

Happy Fourth of July!

When Hannah babysits

2009-06-27T15:18:00.001-04:00

Because Claire needs all these things.
Poor Claire.

A nightly occurrence lately

2009-06-26T16:42:00.000-04:00

More...

2009-06-26T08:28:00.000-04:00

In case you (mom and dad) are likely to only check this blog for pictures of and updates on our kids, there are more of our girls on my photo blog.

Just something to do

2009-06-25T16:45:00.003-04:00

This is what I had the girls do today to keep them busy while I was busy.

Shall I say, it was a splash (many), a hit (a few) and a gas (I won't go there).

"Our" "yard"

2009-06-25T03:06:00.000-04:00

This is the nearest plot of dirt to play and explore in.

Hannah is constantly asking us if we can have a yard. She also asks if she can have various things when we finally do get a yard.

The first is a dog, of course.
Next, a dog house, obviously.
Then, flowers that she can pick, indubitably.
And I mustn't forget a pool for me and daddy, not to mention a smaller pool for her and Jane, naturally.
Then, a big swing and slide, unquestionably.
Finally, there must be lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of grass, definitely.

That girl knows what she wants! I'm not sure we'll deliver. We can probably promise her flowers.

2009-06-24T14:15:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else live in a place where people ask to take pictures of your children?
I find it odd, especially if they want their picture taken with your children.

In the photo above, a couple of guys - tourists we presumed - were walking by Dan, Hannah and myself at the 42nd Street station. They stopped us to ask, or motion, if they could take a picture with Hannah. We just laughed at the strangeness of the request, but we complied and took our own photo. I'm glad we did. We always laugh at it. I wonder if they ever look at this same photo and what they are thinking- "Oh, yeah. That was a cute baby" ???

That was not the only time that happened to us. There have been several occasions. The most recent was at the Pink Martini concert. We had Claire with us. She was hidden and sleeping most of the time but after the opening band played, we pulled Claire out from the sling and held her up. She was all smiles, and a man behind us said, "That is the cutest baby I've ever seen. Can I take her picture?" We said yes. Maybe we won't always.
Even though I think it's weird, I don't really have a problem with it. The requests are usually just for our babies. Maybe if strangers started asking for my children's names and address, then I might get nervous.

Joy School Graduate

2009-06-23T07:16:00.000-04:00

We're so proud of such an achievement ;)
On to Pre-K baby!

How she rolls

2009-06-22T07:22:00.002-04:00

This is Claire's ride, most of the time. On-lookers are all smiles when they see her little head popping out.

People are ever so friendly when I wear her like this. I feel like a star with her on me. This look is guaranteed to give you a Good-Morning-New-York commute.

~•~

Speaking of rolling, Claire is rolling over. She also is slightly mobile when she kicks her body backward.

More rolls...
Claire has several on her arms, legs, neck. She's a big girl and changing so fast!

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T08:17:00.002-04:00

I asked Hannah,
"Do you love daddy?"
"Yes!"
"Why do you love him?"
"Because he's my friend."

I didn't expect that answer, but I thought it was sweet.

Happy Father's Day, Dan!
I love how you love your girls and I love that you love being a dad.
You are the best of the best at it!

I'll stop now before I get all mushy.

Space Deficient, and (trying to be) proud of it

2009-06-20T08:56:00.001-04:00

This is what happens when I ask the girls to play in their room only.
I don't ask them to stay in their room very often. It's almost a form of punishment, as their room is smaller than some closets.

Lately, I been feeling more than a little confined by our space and lack thereof. Since we don't see a move in our not-too-distant future (although we'd love one), I have decided to see our space as a blessing rather than a curse.

Here are some reasons our small space is great:

Our home is easier/faster to clean up
We don't collect much junk
We can hear our kids if (when) they wake up at night
We have what we need and not much more
I can stand in one place in my kitchen and access almost every drawer and cupboard
We always know where the girls are
When the day comes that we move, it won't take too much effort

If you can think of any other reasons for us to love our small space, please let us know so we can feel even better about living in less than 1,000 square feet with a family of five.

Goosebumps

2009-06-19T06:45:00.003-04:00

What does a typewriter, Luis from Sesame Street and a conga line have in common?

Here's a hint:

Have you guessed?

I bet you didn't guess that they were all part of the PINK MARTINI concert we went to last night at Carnegie Hall.
Yeah, you are probably as surprised to know we went as I was when Dan called me during his work day to tell me we had tickets.
What? Seriously? OK then!!!

When my friend Monica was almost rendered speechless in words to describe their live performance, I knew we were in for a treat. Monica did manage to find the word "phenomenal". Spectacular, amazing, inspiring- all those work too. I had goosebumps for about half the show.

We sat in the fifth row, the view from the photo above. We were practically in the band. Too bad we're not that talented.

So, the typewriter...
The opening band Sneakin' Out, had an amazing percussionist. He managed to strike at least a dozen "instruments" in any given song and often played several at a time. One of them was a typewriter that he managed to work into a couple of Beatles songs. Hard to describe. It was a "had to be there" moment, but it had everyone gaping and on their feet.

Luis from Sesame Steet, or Emilio in real life, was invited to come on stage to sing with China and play with the band. He fit into the ensemble very well. He's the one in the left of the photo in the snazzy white suit, looks like China is pointing at him.

And the conga lines? During the last encore song, "Brazil" with a fuller sound than I could imagine, a conga line started around the hall. Suddenly it was a party.
We had a blast. I don't think I stopped smiling until I fell asleep. I may have even smiled after that.

I love Pink Martini.
If you don't have any of their music, put it on your Christmas list. I'll see what I can do.

The Everyday

2009-06-17T12:29:00.003-04:00

I wasn't so surprised to see Jane in her "married dress", as she calls it, but padded-envelope head made me laugh.

Jane asks if she can get married every day. There's probably no harm in it, but I wish we never would have gotten that wedding dress. Jane takes it way too seriously. She put this on when the wedding scene in Sound of Music came on. Even without a prompt or reminder, Jane will ask to get married at some point in the day.

As for the Handle With Care...
Well, I don't know what to say about that.

Such a thing as too much PEEP

2009-06-16T06:27:00.001-04:00

Quack played a significant role in my dreams last night.
Weird.

Definitely too much PEEP goin' on around here.

A wet story

2009-06-15T21:50:00.010-04:00

All signs pointed to heavy rain, heavy rain and thunder storms, but we were packed and ready to go.
Still, I asked Dan, not hiding the dread in my voice,
"Are you sure we want to go camping?"
His reply,
"Do you want to be the one to tell Hannah?"

Case closed.

We arrived at Fahnestock Campground and the rain was coming down. Dan did a great job of setting up our tent quickly. Once everything was loaded into the tent, Dan tried to start a fire. He tried and tried. We all wanted a campfire really bad, but it was just too wet. Boo.
The rain continued- no relenting. We were ready to eat our clammy hands off, but it was ridiculous to even think about going outside- we had already gone through one set of clothes each- so we cooked in our tent.
There was enough room in our tent to set up a little kitchen (the tent is actually bigger than our kitchen). Finally, we were fed and suddenly, it was time for bed.

The rain came so hard at bedtime, I couldn't hear Dan talking right next to me. The girls were a little concerned, but their weary eyes and bodies overcame them, and soon, they had drifted. I hadn't. The intensity of the rain was such that I could barely even relax, let alone slip into a restful night of slumber.
At some point in the night, the rain let up a little, and we could hear little rivers of water flowing around us. I finally got some rest.

(foggy lens)

The morning was lovely, but still wet. We tried to heat up our tent with the help of our camp stove to dry things out, but it did no good. Everything suffered varying levels of dampness.

Had we not been so exhausted by the previous night's travails, we would have stayed another night. I guess we weren't feeling quite that adventurous. We packed up our muddy tent and wet clothes and took our time getting home. We had a good time in spite of it all, but the next time we're planning a camping trip and I see one of these in the forecast,
I will not be so disinclined to break the news to Hannah.

Oh, and to fill the void, we did get to roast marshmallows that night in our dry warm kitchen.

Out of our mouths

2009-06-09T15:59:00.006-04:00

I dared myself to take all three of my kids shopping, and clothes shopping, at that.
Crazy, right?
Well, Hannah thought so too. Out of nowhere, while I was trying on some shorts, she said,
"Mom, one parent just isn't enough."

Tell me about it!

Claire, two months

2009-06-09T07:33:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since we talked about Claire.
She really is the easiest baby, so easy to figure out and make her happy.
Claire has been smiling so much lately and she's on the verge of laughter. I love to just sit with her and make her face light up.

She had her 2 month (more like 10 week) appointment yesterday. I was surprised to learn how big she is.
She is in the 75th percentile for weight! (Hannah was always in the 5th, and Jane in the 10th-20th)
She is in the 90th percentile for height, nothing new there for us.
She is definitely our biggest baby yet, but we are crazy about each roll of scrumptious baby fat on her chin and legs.

Claire has made my transition as easy as it can be (not that it's been easy :)
Claire, thanks for being so fabulous!

Fire and Ice

2009-06-07T22:01:00.003-04:00

Another weekend, another outing.

We took an impromptu trip out to Fire Island Saturday, but as we were driving through a small town on the way to the ferry, we saw this.

{screeeeech}
We enjoyed a quick little break complete with free ice cream, balloons, and butterfly tattoos.

~•~

The girls were all too excited to get on the boat, but less than five minutes into the ride Hannah said,
"I miss our van."

A couple of weekends ago when we went out to the Statue of Liberty on a ferry, she said,
"I miss the land."
Funny girl. She always seems to enjoy the ride though.

We visited Ocean Beach, a very beachy beach town: bikes only, beach chairs on backs, bare feet, charming bungalows...
The feel of the place left us relaxed. It was a lot of work getting there (heaps of stuff) but we would have done it again the next day.

We hear there are much better places to go on Fire Island. I can't wait to check them out.

Air Hannah

2009-06-04T17:54:00.007-04:00

I came across these photos lately. They make me smile, mostly because I'm pretty amazed at how high she can get.
I remember when this first one freaked me out. I had to turn away and scream inside my head.

(photo by Dan, throwing of baby by Jeromy)

This one looks very fake to me, like we photoshopped her onto a blue screen, but I guarantee it's real.

This one just shows her perfect form.

And then there was this.

She's always been so comfortable airborne. Is it because she's a JetBaby?

The Mall, D.C.

2009-06-02T16:35:00.003-04:00

Jane is hiding her enthusiasm. We really did have a great time in D.C. this past weekend.

Our time Saturday was spent in the Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. Both were fun experiences for the girls, after Jane got over her fear of all the giant replicas of whales, elephants and dinosaurs.

There was so much to do, not enough time- the mantra of life. We felt accomplished in our day of sight seeing though because everything went so well with our three children. Oh, except for the fact that Jane was lost for about 5 minutes in one of the museums which sent me into hysterics, but we don't need to talk about that.

2009-05-28T11:06:00.002-04:00

39 Years!

Happy Anniversary, mom and dad!
We love you!

Newlyweds become oldyweds, and oldyweds are the reasons that families work.
~Author Unknown

Life

2009-05-26T17:01:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it, life, gets in the way of blogging. It happens. I'm cool with it.
We've been busy with these two mostly.

Crazy girls.
They certainly keep us on our toes.

(Battery Park, on the way to Statue of Liberty ferry)

Your husband is awesome when...

2009-05-24T20:42:00.003-04:00

he literally feeds you dinner while you are nursing and on a conference call for a presidency meeting...

so awesome.
Sorry to disappoint but we don't have a photo of this ;)

Who's who? revealed

2009-05-19T18:19:00.002-04:00

In order,

Hannah
Jane
Claire

It looks like Claire is just going to have normal-size eyes. Hannah's and Jane's seem exceptionally large compared to hers.