Tyra's Trip to the Baltimore Aquarium

When I (Tyra) went to the Baltimore Aquarium, I saw: birds, marmosets, and golden lion tamarins (jungle ecosystem) frogs, dolphins (separate), all different types of fish, sharks, stingrays, coral and sea anemones. Whenever I saw anything I wanted to take a picture and near the end of the field trip I was afraid the camera would run out of batteries! Here are some pictures I took while having fun at the aquarium!

Whom I would cast as Edward Cullen :)

I've been reading up on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight in preparation for our bookgroup tonight. On her website she has all of her own top picks in casting should the book actually be made into a movie. So after looking through those, I then uploaded the current pictures from my camera into Picasa just as regular maintenance and saw the photo I shot of Tom as he walked in the door after work on Tues. I'll revise this with more info if he tells me I can (though it's not classified or he wouldn't have told me, it may not be prudent to post who he was briefing down on Capitol Hill...)
Anyway, reading Twilight is a good reminder of the gut feelings we had and still sometimes get to have. Like when Tom walked in on Tues. after I was done admiring I made him stop and wait for the camera...) We don't get as many times, because the surprise element is often hard to come by. But I still remember teaching 1st grade and when Tom showed up at the door, unexpectedly 30 minutes before class was over I was pretty much just like Bella, and my hands started to shake and I was smiling and trying to breathe while I finished my story to the class with him watching me, ordinary me. I love getting a chance to see Tom in surprise or new settings. The animal instinct of attraction is there, then the more you learn about this fascinating person the more you can't imagine being without him, no matter how hard it might sometimes be, because "he's even more unbelievable behind the face." (pg. 204)
So MY favorite pick for casting Edward Cullen would have to be Thomas Gordon Draper :)

Elizabeth Jane is 2 and 2 cute!

Tues was EJ's 2nd birthday. She woke up to the kids saying happy birthday and giving her the cards they made for her. Tyra drew a great killer whale on hers and Eeej just loved it. She also said "oooh, pretty!" When she looked at the great lines that Lily and drawn on her card. It was playgroup day, so we took some cookies to share with the friends at the Fairlands Park. The moms helped round up the kids for a picture and a round of Happy Birthday to You. (Note: it really helps get the kids to come if you mention the cookie part of it, not that it's to take a picture!)

Then while Beth was napping Lily and I desperately tried to make a whale cake, make some casseroles and clean the house and yard before some friends came for dinner. It was just Johnny and Auden, both born very near EJ's birthday, and their families, along with family friends KC and Emily and Jimmy (his wife Mia and baby Amberly had to stay home.) Well, I didn't finish any one of the things we tried to do: the house was still a mess, the patio not cleaned up, the dinner not complete, and the cake not completely frosted. Good thing Elizabeth is young enough to just enjoy the fun, and really, with perfect weather the picnic party was enjoyable!

Huntington Garden Tea Party

Before Ben and Jackie's wedding Saturday, Tyra and I went with Wendy and little cousin Samantha to the Huntington (library/garden). There we met up with my mom and Aunts Trisha and Catherine. And just in time, Anne met us for lunch. We had a grown-up tea party with mini fancy sandwiches and small scones and fruit, cheese, caviar, etc. Then for Tyra's favorite part: walking through all the amazing gardens. She has a great eye for color and texture and minute details in individual plants. As she skipped ahead of us older girls I could feel the happiness inside of her and took the chance to tell her how I too feel that happiness from the Spirit when I'm enjoying the beautiful things that God created for us. She agreed and seem to know exactly what I meant. I didn't get a lot of great pictures since we had so little time, I wanted Tyra to just enjoy herself rather than keep posing for me. I'm so glad Mom set this up for us all to do!

The Getty

The day after we arrived (a day late because we were luckily enough to get bumped the night before), we went to the J Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles. It was beautiful weather, and we spent most of the time just wandering the grounds admiring the amazing architecture. It's a group of buildings housing different exhibits. Tyra really enjoyed the minute detail in the gold metal work on the furniture pieces. In the main hall there was a huge sculpture by Tim Hawkinson called Uberorgan. It played every hour on the hour, you can hear it in the clip in the picasa album. After Grandpa Lee and Pam left with my Uncle Terry and Aunt Kathy Tyra really wanted to see the garden, and it seems that gardens are her favorite thing...

Ben and Jackie's Wedding

Well, Tyra and I had a great time in California. First I'll post about the main event. We had fun the night before meeting Jackie's family for the first time at the rehearsal dinner. Then Sat. we went to the Burbank Methodist Church where we witnessed their union, as performed by the Methodist minister. Jackie's dress was so pretty and flattering. Ben didn't look too bad himself :) Noah was a perfect ringbearer and helper for little Julia the flower girl. Micah was the best man and everyone else in the line was either Jackie's siblings or Ben's co-worker. We then went up to the Castaway (fancy restaurant on the hill) for the reception. We enjoyed watching Ben and Jackie dance a dance they'd practiced. The food was the best wedding dinner I've eaten. Tyra and Noah got a chance to run around together outside during the belly dancer's entertainment, then there was the traditional bouquet toss with Tyra and Grandma dancing together with the other single ladies, the garter flip, and many more activities. By the time the dance floor was open for everyone to dance Tyra was super tired. So after a dance or two with Grandpa Lee I took Tyra back to my friend Marbell's house to sleep around 10:30.

http://picasaweb.google.com/susan.draper/Californiatrip?authkey=A6kWUXfGBd4

8 year olds

I remember as a student teacher thinking that 3rd grade was the perfect grade to teach. For one thing you have first grade as learning to really read and write and begin math concepts beyond shapes. Then 2nd grade is sort of improving on the same. 3rd grade gets into reading real books and the whole writing process, cursive and multiplying and division which makes math so much more interesting. But the curriculum was only a small part of my reasoning. The main thing is that there is something very special about 8 year old children. They are past babyhood and beginning to show maturity and responsibility and their senses of humor skyrocket, their empathy is hightened, and they are just plain sweet. But they are not yet into being cool and all the preteen rebelling troubles.

I'd sort of forgotten about this while raising my own sweet children. But for quite some time now Tyra has been taking this wonderful way of coming up to give me hug when I need it or just because. She actually made her teacher cry on t.v. when they were filming the class because Mrs. Appleman is the county's Teacher of the Year. At the end Tyra went and gave her an impromptu hug that touched her so much the film ends with her tearing up.

Anyway, earlier this week I waited until everyone was starving (as usual) before trying to figure out dinner. I grabbed the latest Gourmet magazine and turned to the 10-minute-mains and immediately started on the chicken chili (highly recommended). I could see it was going to be a minimum of 45 minutes, yet I really wanted some cornbread to round it out. Tyra had made our Jiffy corn muffins before but the gourmet chili deserved better. I got out the Cooks Illustrated The Best Recipe, opened to the corn muffins, called in Tyra and asked if she'd make them. She said sure. Other than getting down flour from on top of the fridge and putting them in and out of the oven Tyra did every single step. And they were the best muffins I've ever had!

It still seems crazy to have a daughter old enough to just call in to help with dinner and have it be truly that much help!! I am getting very excited to go out to California with just Tyra this week for Ben and Jackie's wedding. We've already had a lot of fun just shopping for her accessories and getting things ready. Sitting in the mall on a break at the food court it seemed unreal that we could just be having a perfectly interesting conversation on the merits of fiction vs. non-fiction and what makes for good writing, a good story, etc.

Haupt Garden and the Magnolia's in bloom

We had so much fun a week ago going down to the garden behind the Smithsonian Castle to see the trees in all their splendor! They are called Saucer Magnolias, Japanese Magnolias, or Tulip Trees. They are incredible when there are so many in bloom all together! We had a wonderful time posing, smelling the flowers, playing tag in the empty fountain, drawing the different flowers, and finally, using flower petals as confetti on an huge air vent. It was a wonderful evening for everyone.

SmithsonianHauptGarden

More video clips:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5783451455112559373
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7944934153817739250

Lily Counts and Sings

Lillian has been counting for a long time, but I figured I'd put her on here with it. Sorry it's so dark, but hopefully you can see what a fun girl she is!

Tyra learns to ride a 2-wheeler!

Last week when I said I was going for a walk around the lake everyone decided to come along. I pushed the girls in the stroller (with Lily on her scooter much of the time) trying to keep up with Thomas who was on Tyra's old bike with training wheels. Tom stayed back on the flat straight road leading to the lake (no cars) with Tyra on a bide that doesn't have training wheels. As we came around the lake loop we saw Tyra riding the bike with Tom running behind touching her shoulder "He's my magic feather like in Dumbo" Tyra told us. She still wanted her magic feather. But then a few days ago they went down again and came back with Tyra doing it all on her own! Only thing she did wrong was not fall down and scrape her knees, which I had told her she had to expect as part of learning!! She's now doing loops easily up and down our driveway non-stop!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!!

Tyra has been enjoying flying kites whenever it's the perfect March weather. Tom got the great idea of tying it to the fishing pole, and well, you can see how it works, as well as looks! He also just convinced Thomas to give it a try today for the first time.

Crazy Cousins

LeeReunionFeb2007

Having lot's of fun with the cousins: Thomas and David have been building K'Nex, Magnetix, and Legos. Tyra and Ewelina have been reading together, doing crafts, and generally chatting and whispering 24/7. Lillian and Isaac have been running around together, hiding out in a bedroom playing "baby alert" and having lots of discussions that make the grown-ups stay up all night quoting them. Elizabeth and Seth look so cute looking at each other eye to eye, and take turns grabbing each other's toys.

The Pawliks are here!!

Hurray! They're here, safe and sound! KC and Emily came by to babysit (at the drop of a hat, no hesitation, these people are awesome!) So Tyra and I could go wait for Lisa, Ewelina, and David at the Dulles Airport. We hardly waited 5-10 minutes and they were there!! What beautiful people, all three! I can't stop typing in exclamation points, but it is so very nice to see them again. Lisa didn't look a speck pregnant (she was wearing a puffy coat) and David had a cute hair cut, and Evie had new glasses. And none of them looked or acted like they'd just been travelling for 19-20 hours . Evie and Tyra were giggling together in the back seat right off the bat. David was sweetly going between the moms in front and girls in back. I was so excited to be talking to Lisa that I went 74 miles per hour and got us pulled over. The road out there is so long and perfectly straight I guess I didn't notice that I was going just as fast as everyone around me :) Anyway, we were stopped so close to the 495 off ramp that I missed it in getting up to--but not over--speed and we ended up in downtown DC. Right at the monuments and tidal basin. Good thing for cell phones and someone at home with google maps. We finally made it home in time for the cousins to all say "hi." Hopefully everyone will stay well and we'll be ready to welcome Grampa Lee and Pam, Anne, Isaac, and Seth tomorrow evening. Woo hoo! I'll be posting plenty of pics in the next 3 weeks, I'm sure.

Cheesey Beth

She didn't get hurt, of course! Landed right on her soft diaper and didn't even cry a bit. So just enjoy that every-muscle-in-her-face "cheeeeeeeeeese"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2778584547491736720

First Snowfall of the Winter

Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, I thought I'd try to take a little snooze when I put Elizabeth down. So I made sure the other kids were settled in an activity and that Tyra knew she needed to help Lily if she asked for help. About 15 minutes later I kept hearing squealing coming from downstairs. It wasn't just one kid, and it didn't sound like a fight, but I couldn't figure out what all the squealing could be. As I walked down the stairs I realized it was what the kids have been waiting for for months "Snow! It's SNOWING!" they were squeaking and running from window to window. Tyra had a chart up all December ready with the days of the month and how many inches of snow fell each day. Not a one. But now she's happy! The pictures are from this morning since the kids had a 2 hour delay for school. They didn't mind that it had rained a little and made the top layer all crunchy, they were all just happy to be in boots and gloves playing in the frozen stuff.

Visiting the Rembrandt Etching Collection

LindaMom found an interesting exhibit for our DC outing at the Museum of Art. With 6 adults and 4 kids we all got a chance to see a little something ourselves and try to make it interesting for kids in turns. I'm just amazed to see anything last 300 years (since things get destroyed so easily in our toddler-driven home!) Tom and I both particularly liked the etching of Jesus Healing the Sick aka The Hundred Guilder Print. Elizabeth did great between saying "Oh! and Wow! while pointing to pictures while I asked her to find the dog, or the baby Jesus, and eating Grandma's little magic mints when it got tough to be quiet (the "magic" part comes in when the otherwise screeching child becomes quickly quiet:) )

We also saw the Native American Smithsonian where Tyra and Thomas plaited and twined, and Elizabeth stood as the demonstrator for anyone who wanted the buttons pushed that pronounced the names of the indian nations in the northwest. Lily took a little snooze in the stroller. It was a pretty day, and an enjoyable outing. Of course the metro is a major highlight anytime we take it into DC!

Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here!

We are lucky to have DadTom and LindaMom here (Tom's parents) and his bro Uncle Mikey, and his sis Aunt Janine and her husband Brian. We are missing Robgelena, but they are with us in spirit and internet gaming and chatting :)
The warm up time for the kids was absolute ZERO, possibly because Grandma, Grandpa, and Janine were all here just a few months ago for Tyra's baptism. Or it could be because of all the times Grandma Linda called and did songs and fingerplays for the girls to do with her. Whatever the reason, it has been a sweet and smooth transition having everyone arrive this week. They are all happy and doing great.

Tyra and Thomas have learned how to play Nintendo Mario Cart but mostly love cheering on the uncles while they play.

Lily loves doing anything with Grandma Linda and really loves the special attention and love. Elizabeth bounces around giving loves to everyone. Thomas bugs Mikey endlessly to play Nethack so he can watch.


Tyra (and Lily and Thomas) all made a great gingerbread house out of some tricky crunchy gingerbread with Aunt Janine's engineering skills mixed with her great ability to work with the kids. I've been enjoying good company: happy to have Tom take off so much work and be around for kisses all day, happy to have a great sister-in-law to chat about everything with and get good ideas and advice from, and a great nothing-to-me (brother-in-law-in-law) to generally cheer me up and cheer me on, especially when I say my negative self-talk outloud.
Grandpa Tom led us in the tradition of reading through the Christmas Book which is the christmas story with various pictures and songs throughout. Then the kids did the nativity (Tyra as Mary, Thomas as a Wiseman with Brian--sort-of, Lily as a sweet Angel, Elizabeth as a roving sheep trying to climb on Tom as the donkey, there was also Mikey as Joseph, and Grandpa as the Innkeeper.) Fun night together, with a good spirit of love.

Smile that Frown Away!!

Lily sings "If You Chance to Meet a Frown"

EJ sings

Elizabeth's tricks

Playing in the leaves