In His Element

Hey y'all -

Today is your dad's birthday. He's 40.

40.

Damn.

I'm trying not to dwell on it, because in my mind I'm still 26 or so, so the idea that I'm keeping house with a dude who's 40 just seems wrong. Like my mama should sit me down and give me a talking-to because older men are trouble. 

Just in time for your dad's birthday, Missoula has experienced record-setting snowfall. As of Monday, we'd gotten more snow than any February since 1939. Then, just last night, it snowed two more feet. School was cancelled, which is almost unheard of around here, and then the Forest Service shut down for the day, so we all got to stay home and enjoy our time together. Okay, that's a lie: I still had to work, because my bosses are in Los Angeles and don't acknowledge that in other parts of the world there's this thing called weather. Meanwhile, this was our yard:

Your dad was absolutely in his element, though. Our front door has a big window that overlooks the street, and your dad kept surveying the road to see if anyone had gotten their car stuck. Then, he'd grab his snow shovel and head out to save the day. It was a perfect storm of Thor interests: snow! search and rescue! logistics in the face of disaster! He freed a woman with a stuck SUV, another old lady trying to drive an old jalopy over the bridge, and a third neighbor whose wheels were spinning a few doors down. At one point, he looked at me and said, "I can see there's a car stuck down on Phillips St." "Let them handle it," I suggested, "and you try to keep your rescue efforts to a two-block radius."

It was such an ill-advised idea to drive anywhere that I didn't know how in the world we were going to celebrate his birthday. Driving to dinner was out of the question. And then the neighborhood brewery posted this:

I figured it was mostly a joke. I love the idea of free beer as much as the next person, but it's not like they were expecting people to cross-country ski down the middle of a city street, right? Right?

They don't know Thor.

Your dad thought skiing to get a beer was an AWESOME idea. Now, to the snow and the search and rescue and logistics in the face of disaster we could add skiing and beer! You'd'a thought he was turning 4, not 40. We got on our skis and headed out through the neighborhood.

Right up 'til we got to the brewery, I thought, "They can't really expect anyone to SKI there. Certainly, we'll be the only ones crazy/stupid enough to do it." But then I saw the ski racks out front, and realized I was mistaken:

The place was packed. Keep in mind that the roads today were darn near impassable, so the folks in this picture had to walk, snowshoe or ski their way in.

We did get a free beer, by the way.

We skied home, and your dad was so jubilant that he played in the snow in the backyard while the real children watched from the other side of the sliding glass door.

And then there was cake. Laney said it was fun, and the cake was good, but it wasn't a real party because we didn't have a pinata. 

Happy birthday, dear Thor. Happy birthday to you.

I owe you a pinata.

Love,
Mom

February On My Phone

Hey y'all - 

I don't think I've taken a single picture on my nice camera in three weeks. I also have not cooked a dinner that made sense, had matching sheets on my bed, found the source of the smell in the Subaru, or made the time to cut my toenails. I have completely hit near-rock-bottom because of the overwhelming amount of baggage that comes along with this:

But I realized I HAVE been snapping pictures on my phone now and again, and this is what I found when I just downloaded all the photos:

1) Laney is still dressing herself. Sometimes, her fashion sense is amazing, and she puts together really smart ensembles that I wouldn't think to coordinate, like when she turned this summer dress into a winter outfit by throwing a turtleneck underneath:

...and then sometimes she looks like a wildlife biologist trying to make her 5pm floor show in Reno. 

...or that crazy lady at the bus stop who's singing "Copacabana" to herself as you try to avoid eye contact.

2) We briefly lost the TV remote, so I moved the couch to look for it. I was appalled at what had been hiding underneath, but your Dad was relieved that we only found toys and books and not entrees and side dishes. 

4) Your dad did another stint for the Navy in San Diego, so while he drank beer on the beach (which is 98% of being a Naval aviator. The other 2% is shirtless volleyball), we tried not to go stir crazy at home, by playing games like, "Here, Paint This Box and Hush."

Hagen prefers painting on himself to any other option, and typically needs to be hosed down after. This not being my first rodeo and all, that's why he's naked in that top picture.

We all get a little looney when your dad's not home, and sometimes it's the limit of my abilities to plop you down on a beach towel and hand you a peanut butter n' jelly.

Still, even in these most hectic of times, life is pretty grand.

5) When your dad came home, we finally made the time to cut Hagen's hair. 

He's not crying because it hurts. He's crying because I gave him that lollipop to take his mind off the process, and it instantly got covered in hair. No one likes a hairy sucker.

All better:

6) I took you guys to the museum. Hagen stopped into the baby area where there was a just-walking baby and said, "Hi, baby!" and then started handing him toys and showing him how to crawl through the tunnel. "Here, baby! Show you!"

Hagen, you're going through the cutest phase EVER right now, because you've decided you need to introduce yourself to anyone and everything. "Hi, baby!" you say as you point to yourself, "I Haguh!" A rooster crows on your iPad game and declares, "I'm a rooster!" You say, "Hi, Roosuh! I Haguh!"

7) We all went to the Carousel to use the pass Laney won in the contest, and Hagen got to ride a horse all by himself for the first time.

8) Don't know what this is about, but Hagen LOVES to wear his sister's headbands on the back of his head. I think it's an acupressure thing, maybe. If it relieves anxiety, I'm going to give it a try myself.

9) For Valentine's Day, all of the kids in Laney's class had to bring a box they'd decorated for collecting their valentines. A devoted follower of the "More is More" school of art, Laney pulled out every sticker Granny Jack had ever mailed her and put them all on the box at once, plus some paint and glitter. I told your dad, "You know how some kids SAY they did a craft project by themselves, but when you see it, you just KNOW it was really a grown-up who did all the work? This is not one of those projects."

10) It has been snowing here since forever. More on the way. 

11) Laney likes to borrow my phone to take pictures of things in her room, I think this close-up of her dollhouse is really interesting...

...and it's DEFINITELY more interesting than the 300+ photos she took of her skylight.

12) Speaking of my phone, I have a good friend, Heather B, who's a radio host with a morning show on Sirius. The other morning, as she was recording her show...

...Laney took my phone and just started texting her own name to Heather:

So if anyone out there gets a text from me that's just the name of my firstborn over and over, you'll know. And if you're Heather, tell Snoop: Laney says hi. 

12) Your dad took you guys to the dentist and survived. Everyone remains cavity-free, which is a miracle. 

That morning, Laney insisted on wearing the T-shirt the dentist gave her on her last visit - the one with the dentist's logo - to her appointment. I tried to explain that it was the equivalent of wearing the T-shirt of the band you're going to see, but she didn't care.

13) Presented without further commentary, this is Laney's portrait of Hagen riding a whale on top of the ocean. 

14) Because of the Olympics, Laney's been interested in figure skating lately. We rounded the corner at Target the other day to discover an open patch of linoleum, and she immediately channeled her inner Peggy Fleming:

15) We went skiing. Laney did two solid runs and decided she was done for the day. 

Because why go skiing when you could drive three hours round trip to play in the parking lot?

16) I know it's early, but every day around here is like St Patrick's Day: We're stumbling around, out of our wits, making the best of life's party, squinting at each other and asking, "What the hell just happened?"

Love,

Mom