Friday, November 25, 2011

Back In the Fight

We're back in the thick of it, wrestling alligators again...

After 7 blissful months of remission where Tanner got to grow, play, laugh, grow, feel like going to school, spend time with friends, grow, look great, play 8th grade football, move freely...and so much more...he has relapsed, we learned from his doctor last week.

So, after 7 months of enjoying and being grateful for every carefree moment I watched him enjoy, I'm now looking forward to learning what his doctor has in mind for getting him back into remission and onto enjoying the upcoming Christmas season.

I'm looking forward to getting him well so he can enjoy a healthy winter and be prepared for whatever he wants to do in the spring...baseball, track, weightlifting, whatever.

I'm looking forward to positive test results, dialing back awful meds that nonetheless get his kidneys back on track, and having those meds, with which we have a serious love-hate relationship, pull out a victory for us once again.

I'm looking forward to someone, somewhere finding a cure.  Please.

And, I'm looking forward to Tanner sporting a kick-butt pair of alligator-hide boots one day. Soon.

Love from the farm,
Teri

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Not One Bit Jealous

Ever since Macy was wee, I've admired her cheekbones. I always liked to look at her in profile, because she had the quintessential Disney princess profile: apple cheeks, narrow jaw with a slightly rounded chin, perfect brows and bowtie lips. It is the profile of Belle, of Ariel, and of most every other Disney princess.




I can't tell you the number of times over the years when I've chuckled because she turned just so and I could see it. As she's gotten older, I don't draw the comparison as much; probably because we're not watching as many Disney princess movies around here. But, I still love her apple-cheeked cheekbones.

See the apple cheeks?


See the perfect chin?



And, because I'm a good mother and not at all shallow enough to be jealous of my children, let me just say that I am not jealous of the fact that her beautifully shaded cheekbones in the first picture of her singing are not enhanced with blusher of any kind. That's just how they appear. Naturally. With no foundation or powdering or synthetic blusher or anything. None at all.

And I'm perfectly fine with that. Not one little bit jealous.

While we're at the things I'm not jealous about, let me just say this about Karlie Q Pelican.


I'm not the least bit jealous of those adorable freckles or the myriad natural highlights in her hair that scream "I belong in a wheatfield as the sun is sinking low on the horizon, bathing the waving grains in a warm, gauzy glow!"


I'm not jealous of her lush fringe of eyelashes either.



Or how she can rock a cowboy hat.

Nope, not jealous one bit.

I'm super happy for them.

Just super happy.

Yep, they're super.

Mmm-hmmm.

GOOD for them.

Me and my ruddy skin and ill-defined cheekbones are just So. Darn. Happy. For. Them. Both.

Love from the farm,
Teri

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Halloween Costume Rejects

Halloween took us a bit by surprise this year. Actually, that's not true. Karlie has been clamoring for costume ideas and reminding me we needed to get started on her costume for quite some time. For months, Macy knew she wanted to be Flo from the Progressive Commercials.

Tanner didn't have big plans for Halloween, and wasn't wasting time thinking about potential costumes. He was cool. He was up for anything. He was playing XBox Live.

It was just me, OK? It was just me who managed to be surprised that the time had gone by so quickly and I wasn't prepared to prepare the kids for their costumes.

Adam was easy, although I'd say he went a little overboard on his part. He's playing a missionary, and flew all the way to South Africa just to make it look authentic. Sheesh, some people's overachieving kids.

Anyway.

When the kids got ready for school, on Halloween, I figured we better decide what they were going to be. When I mentioned to Macy that we didn't really have time or materials to pull off Flo, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "That's OK, I'll just be something dead," and proceeded to pull on striped tights and top them with shredded denim shorts. She'd put the makeup on after school.

One down.

Then, I threw all of my creative genius at Karlie and came up with FABULOUS ideas for her to consider. With visions of Meg Ryan's "Freudian slip" from the movie "Innerspace" dancing in my mind, I offered forth these jewels:

"Hey, why don't we make a sign on poster board with a big thought bubble. You could hold it out in front of you, and...wait for it...be an 'afterthought'!!!" I exclaimed, clapping wildly, so excited.

Rejected.

"OK then...Oh, I know, let's wrap you in bubble wrap, and when someone asks you what you are, you can answer softly, 'I'm fragile.'"

Eyes rolling. I take that as rejection.

"Alrighty. How about we cover you in quilt batting and you can be a cloud?"

No response.

"Ummm, OK this is it. I gave Macy this idea, but she didn't use it, so you can. You have a little bucket full of Dubble Bubble and every time you walk up to a door, you toss a piece onto the ground and announce, 'I'm a gumdrop.'"

Rejected again.

Flustered, wondering why she can't see the genius behind these suggestions, I turn to Tanner: "Why don't we tie a piece of rope around your neck then tie a big nail to it. You can be a 'hangnail'."

Tanner: "Cool. Let's do it."

I've never loved him more.

Karlie went as a ghost.

Someday she'll understand me.

Love from the farm,
Teri