Can Sand+Water Make Up for No Beach?

Lily has been whining for me to take her to the beach for a couple of months now. Well, maybe for about 9 months, about how long we've been home from La Jolla, California. Usually when we had snow she'd ask. But also whenever she was hot. Or pretty much whenever she remembered. So she's already had out the old wading pool, long before I would say it's hot enough. And the kids were having fun in the sandbox a few days ago digging a hole to the bottom and then burying each other. The picture is when Lil had just jumped out of it and they were starting in on Ellie Lambert. I sure hope Sandy Point Beach on the Chesapeake Bay is not full of jellyfish like the last few times I've gone, because at 30-40 minutes away, it's the closest thing we have to a beach. But who knows, maybe with our new (to us) minivan and staying home most of the summer we'll venture out to the atlantic 2-4 hours away more!? It's a definite possibility with Thomas' on board with the idea. He was spotlighted in primary this week and for the question "Where is your favorite place to go?" Tom and I first wrote down "home" because he usually balks at ANY type of outing and screeches that he doesn't want to go. But when I asked him how he would answer he quickly said "The beach! So I can dig big holes and fill them up with water" We all know how therapeutic the beach can be and I could go on and on about it, but instead I'll make a list for myself without beating out the complete thoughts.
WHY WE LOVE THE BEACH;
earth, wind, fire, and water
deep pressure touch (getting buried in sand, pushing and pulling it around)
to create something from nothing (a swimming pool for your sisters, a castle, etc)
to work and sweat (against the sand, against the waves)
to relax and meditate (a little harder when your watching 4 kids all over the place, but still possible from a sitting position for short bits of time!)
to "commune with nature"
to be with family and friends with nothing else to do, no way to get much else done. Close to camping in this regard
--as with most my posts I will not edit or really finish because someone's pulling me off and I just give up, but I know there was more...

Sad Father's Night

What a great Mother's Day! Thomas never did say that phrase though, he just kept saying Sad Father's Night:) Tyra has been full of secrets for over a week. On Friday night Tom and Thomas went camping on the Stake Father's and Son's Outing. When I suggested that all we girls could do a craft Tyra remembered something she'd been working on and shooed me out of the kitchen with instructions not to look. All day Saturday she kept mentioning exactly how MANY presents she had made for me, with little hints about them. I didn't think she'd make it through without giving them to me, but she just had me look at the cover of one and then listed what the others were in general terms (one is a card, one is a magnet, one is a poster, etc.) It was killing her! So after church on Sunday (and a VERY nice talk about how mother's aren't perfect but motherhood is awfully close to the mission of our Savior) I was able to sit down and enjoy so many amazing gifts from my talented kids. Tom gave me a book for recognizing bird songs (from Costco, very cool.) Tyra found a wonderfully smelly rose on the side of our house (I'd forgotten we even had that rose bush!) Anyway, I just love these kids and this man. I am probably the luckiest Mother around!!

Yoga Kids (or Anything Dad Can Do We Can Do Better)

Tyra in bound full lotus
the kids think it's fun to "levitate" in lotus
Tom can stay like this for quite a while!
the "if you can only do one pose it should be..." downward dog
and cobra, it's a nice stretch
Tom has had an interest in yoga since before we were married. We checked out a book of basic poses to do while still in Utah. Then he encouraged me to take a class here in Berwyn Heights. We've followed an instructional video and learned things from his mom and sister Janine. But for the last few years Tom has really become more serious about it thanks to his co-worker, friend, and instructor, Suneel. Suneel is a devoted yogi, he even goes back to India to be instructed by the most famous Iyengar yearly. And he's vegetarian. (Tom keeps hoping we'll go vegetarian, but not all recipes translate well into tofu, and sometimes I need to make my fall-back recipes. I am, however getting more and more vegetarian meals into my fall-back repertoire. Please send me any you have that deserve "fall-back" recipe status!) Well, as any of you with kids already know, whatever dad does is cool be it math or be it yoga (maybe for your kids it's baseball and physics, you know what I mean though...) So here they are enjoying quality Dad time. It's a nice bonus that they can do tricks (like Tyra in her bound full lotus pose) that even Dad can't do! I'll have to add it later, but Elizabeth is absolutely darling doing her downward dog pose!

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.