FOLLOW THE PROGRESSION OF DANE READING Hop On Pop!

November 8 - Before Karen flew out of town, we stopped
at an Oakland Starbucks for an hour. There, she encouraged
and guided Dane in reading Dr. Seuss's Hop On Pop to her.

(She'd had the forethought to stash a book in the van in
case we had extra time to kill before her check-in time.)

For the next 45 minutes then, the rest of us were quiet as
Dane read the entire 64 pages out loud--sounding out
everything (sometimes many times) in those
increasingly complex sentences and full paragraphs.

It was really exciting for all of us--and it was fun to watch
Dane work hard, rewarding himself alternately with a
bite of cookie and a sip of hot chocolate.

*I'm still learning how to download video footage,
so still shots will have to do for now.

Karen: Feel free to add your comments about this event! xo

TAKE IT OFF!

Take the day off from studying, that is...

I'm going to hide Mick's Dental Dex (the thousand-card index file he recently married to study for Boards). I'm also going to lock him out of his office (a.k.a. the laundry room) tonight and tomorrow.

He's reaching burnout mode, and what better day to neglect your studies and indulge yourself in food and family and friendship than on Thanksgiving?

We're headed to the Javadis again this year, along with our friends the Michauds (Shari, Richard, Brighten and Kanyon) and I'm bringing the Brussels Sprouts Sauteed in Bacon, Mom's Candied Yams, Aunt Laurie's Berry Cobbler, and some hog nog (a.k.a. egg nog).

Mick and Dane will be doing the turkey this year:

They didn't like what I did last year:

Scheduled!

Candidate's Name: Michael Reynolds
Program Name: American Dental Association
Exam Name: National Board Dental Examination Part I
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Date: 21 Dec 2006
Time: 9:00 AM
Duration: 8:30

Send cards, mints, massage certificates for Mick c/o Anjie Reynolds (ha ha).

More seriously: Go for it, Mick! You've been working SO hard.

Stress Test

Mick came home last night and told me he's about as stressed as he's ever been: procedures and demands in the clinic, exams in classes, and studying for Boards are all taking their toll on him.

He's been staying up late, studying entire weekends, and getting up early all quarter long (and then some). He sees us for one- or two- hour stretches here and there, but generally he's been very focused on school and trying to escape the feeling of being overwhelmed.

He's also been trying to eat healthily, but hasn't exercised at all really -- not good for any human being, let alone a diabetic. Will keep working on that.

He had originally hoped to take his Boards the week before Finals (around December 9th), but that's looking impossible to him, so now he's scheduling them for a week into his (our) Christmas break (around December 20th).

Fortunately, it's not very hard to imagine how challenging it is for him to manage all of this, so I'm just grateful he was smart enough to lay it all out for me. Now I know what to expect of him (and myself) for the next month and can work accordingly.

It's also nice to remember that this is indeed what we thought we were signing up for. Mick himself said last night that he knows he's definitely not the only dental student feeling like this. It's normal to feel overwhelmed by this stuff--it just doesn't feel very good when you're in it.

Sans Pix

Still having computer downloading problems if I want to use pictures. I have to wait to use Mick's laptop when he's home (which is rare these days as his first set of boards descends upon him in December) or when he's home and not using it himself. As you might imagine, this can get complicated.

So, while I wait to get my hands on that thing, I shouldn't neglect to keep you posted on the stuff we don't take pictures of around here:

*I volunteer in Dane's classroom on Tuesdays. Aubrey gets to come, so she's feeling like a kindergartener herself at times. Dane loves it when we come and all his little kindergarten friends have hugs and questions and stuff to show us. Of course, I love it when I get to read out loud to them. Yesterday I read a rhyming book about The Mayflower and the First Thanksgiving; a couple weeks ago it was a ghost/witch book (the same one you sent us, Karen!), and then for the Halloween party I read them Maurice Sendak's pop-up book Mommy (which Jan sent us). That was a huge hit. When the werewolf's pants fall off and he's left standing in his boxers, let's just say there's some real kindergarten humor there--no matter how many times you read it.

*"Copying" what someone else says is big around here these days. That's right (that's right) -- copying (copying).

*Aubrey and I met my friend Kelly for lunch at the playground on my birthday (November 1). Kelly brought Chinese chicken salad and fancy plates, so we ate while our girls played on the slides and the swings and in the pebbles. (Kelly is wonderful, if you can't tell.) Another highlight of the day, though, was when I asked Aubrey to tell me a story. Here's how it started: "Once there was a little girl named Angelina and she was a ballerina. But she wasn't a mouse or a rat. She was just a girl..." I have to admit I tuned out for a couple of minutes here, but I tuned back in time to hear: "...and you can find this story on DVD or VHS. The end."

KAREN COMES TO TOWN!

We just spent three full days with our pal, Karen. (She might be my friend of twenty years, but I have to refer to her as our friend now because Dane and Aubrey absolutely adore her.)

She flew down from Seattle on Sunday and stayed until Wednesday night before heading to L.A. for her grandma's 99th birthday. While she was here, we dug sand at the beach, played mancala, stretched at a Yoga class, and drank good coffee.

On one of those days, we even took Dane out of school and expanded his education to include a city bus ride and an adventure at the Exploratorium.

Our favorite exhibits:

*Toilet/drinking fountain. (Karen would have none of this! Aubs was a little sicked out too, you may notice in the photo.) The exhibit was commentary on how our senses can conflict: the toilet has never ever been used as a toilet, and is safe as a drinking fountain, but drinking and toilet just don't go together for most of us.

*Color/meaning exhibit. At this exhibit a huge paragraph of colors was typed out. It looked kind of like this, but longer and more varied:
blue red orange green purple red yellow purple blue red orange green purple red yellow purple blue red orange green purple red yellow purple, etc.
You were supposed to read it out loud as fast as you could and say the color (not the typed word). Pretty tricky...

*The wind machine. Made a beach ball suspend in air. (Also fun as a wild hair machine.)

Needless to say, come Wednesday we were very very sad to see Karen go, but at least she'd found out she had a new gig to prepare for with Northwest Baroque. That concert's December 9th if you're going to be in Seattle and have any interest in attending. I'm sure you can find it on Karen's website: www.karenurlie.com. (Yes, we can give our friend some shameless friend promo here...)

[Last pic: Um, putting on a show for Karen.]

HAPPY 65TH ANNIVERSARY!
Boy, that's a REALLY long time!

Congratulations, Vi & Gran (Rasmussen)
Love: Anjie, Mick, Dane & Aubrey

Star Wars Halloween*
(*Thanks to Mema and her sewing skills!)

Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker
at Kindergarten Halloween Party
(Leia got to crash it as Luke's sister)


Luke Skwalker with "Gus Skywalker."
We trick-or-treated with Gus and his parents in Mill Valley.
(Gus's mom is my good friend Sandra.)

Help me, Obi Wan, you're my only hope.

Loss

I've spent the morning crying for a high school friend. She was a junior when I was a sophomore and we were in a couple clubs together. Really down-to-earth, gorgeous, sweet girl. I haven't seen her since she graduated.

Today on reunion.com I read a message she posted last May about her brother. Her brother was a year ahead of her. He was an adorable jock kind of guy and they were good friends throughout school.

Her post said that her brother had lost a 3-1/2 year battle with brain cancer. He left behind his loving wife of 14 years and their two daughters. And, I noticed in the message, as if it couldn't get any worse, one of his surviving daughters has leukemia.

I wrote my friend an email in remembrance of her brother, sending her and her family my wishes for love and healing.

She wrote back quickly to thank me, and then told me her grief was made even more unbearable this August when her 8-year-old boy drowned on vacation just 4 days after the one-year mark of her brother's death. Her email told me some days she can't even bear to breathe but she's got two other daughters to care for so she just keeps going for them. (I remember Dana saying something similar after Jesse died.) I couldn't stop sobbing.

After my first child was born, I was shocked by the fierceness of my love and my desire to protect him. One day as he slept in my arms, I found myself crying over him, begging God that my son's presence in my life would not be temporary.

Since then, my prayer has broadened to include others closest to me—my husband, my second child—but, always, my desperate plea is the same. And I know that as I sit at the computer crying for my friend, it was her plea too.

Dane's 6th Birthday
Belvedere Park, Tiburon





About the party:
Classmates and siblings and family friends (about 20 kids and lots of parents) showed up for pizza and cupcakes on Saturday the 21st. The main activities were remote control car racing, Trac-Ball, stomp rockets, the playground (with rope climbing, sand pit, huge playhouse), and cupcake decorating.






Pictured:

(1) Vincent

(2)Little Sam Javadi

(3) Andrew (from Kindergarten)

(4) two of the Javadi girls, Carolyn and Hannah

(5) Amelie with frosting

(6)Abby (Kindergarten friend Joshua's little sister)

(7) Makayla (from Kindergarten; her dad's a Sausalito dentist)

(8) Dane and pals, Mia, Joshua, and Amelie

(9) Aubrey

Vibrato

Aubrey has started singing with vibrato. She’s four. So, it’s not quick and snappy “Mary had a little lamb,” it’s slow and pensive: “Ma-a-ary ha-a-a-ad uh-uh-uh li-i-i-it-uh-uh-uhl la-a-a-amb”

It’s pre-schooler sings the blues.

I’m not sure where she picked this up, but I will say it seemed to start after a 2-week visit from her Grammy, who, if I may be so bold, utilizes a wee bit of the vibrato herself.

But, then again, maybe she picked it up from me. While I try to stay away from excesses of vocal warble, perhaps my voice occasionally makes those dips and dives too.

I’ll admit that sometimes in the dark when I sit on the floor of my kids’ bedroom and sing up to them in their lofts, I let my voice take off. I belt out the lyrics to their (my) favorite song, Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue.”

In some parts, I sing fast and raspy, going somewhere edgy and rebellious. In other parts, I let my voice go slow and bluesy, somewhere unchecked and from the heart. And, so far, since they don’t ask what it means to work in a “topless bar” or why you’d light “a burner on the stove to offer me a pipe,” sometimes I let myself feel the poetry and music so deeply I could cry.

So when I hear “You are my sunshine” coming from Aubrey’s mouth like she’s channeling Ethel Merman, I admire the risks she’s taking with her sounds—and maybe even her feelings. I try to catch her eye with a nod and a smile as if to say to my girl, "That’s right--sing it, sister.”

Mike's Latest Project

Not only has Mick's Dad, Mike (a.k.a. "Grandad"), designed and executed the remodel for my beloved alma mater of adolescent glee, Ballou Junior High, but he's currently the architect working on Garfield High in Seattle.

Here's an interesting link showing the process of the project: Garfield High. BLRB is his architectural firm; the contractor posted the website.







And this is a picture of Grandad on Valentine's Day 2005.

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY, ROCCO!

The before-school party

The Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Miss Lisa (teacher's assistant) w/Charles & Geornae


Camille (Joshua's mom) w/Geornae


Maxwell


Aubrey & Mia (1 of 4 girls in Dane's class of 18)


Dane w/(L to R) Michael, Terrance & Jaylen

The Class Party


Mia, Michael, Jacob, Nick (Mia's twin) & Dane


Dane w/Nick

The After-School Party at Home & Pomodoro

Wore new jammies to pizza across the street,
played new board game w/Mom & Dad while waiting there.

A fun park morning party is also planned for Saturday.
(Lucky kid!)

Espanol-o-rama

Dane's been telling me for a year that he wants to learn Spanish. I think it really started when we met the neighbors who used to live below us, and Oscar, our favorite grounds-crewman. After every meeting on the stairway or in the parking lot, we'd always get back to our apartment and say we wish we could say more than just hello or have a nice day.

Lucky for us, Dane's school offers a Berlitz Spanish class on Tuesday's from 3-4pm throughout the school year. With the help of a school grant, students pay a mere $20!

On our way home yesterday Dane told me the class is hard, so I hugged him and told him that was great. At dinner, he told Mick that they learned to name face parts that day.

So it looks like my little bambino will be getting some quality escuela.

(Really) Great America

We happily wore ourselves out yesterday at Paramount's Great America, which is about an hour south of here. It was the annual UoP picnic. (Last year's was held at the SFZoo--see blog archives for October '05.)

Lucky for us, the new dean was looking to make a good impression, scoring us tix for $5 each (with a value of $45+ each, including meal and parking).

We all had a blast on the rides--a great balance of kid stuff in Kidzville and adult stuff like "Top Gun," "Invertigo," "Drop Zone," and "Vortex," thanks to the tag-teaming we did with our friends the Javadis.

The biggest family fun, though, was probably the "Rip Roaring Rapids," a 6-person water ride with plenty of dipping splash. Not only did the little river soak us, but sadistic voyeurs could shoot water from dry land at our rafts for a quarter. Needless to say, we were drenched (hair, pants, shirts, shoes, socks) at the end of the ride, but it was such an adrenaline rush we went back twice.

(Click on it twice for best resolution.)

Netty's Brag Page
Second Edition

Look out, Texas!
My cousin Karen's son, Connor, pitched
his very first game last weekend.
Three up, three down, baby.
Way to go, Connor, you little Amarillo stud, you!



Barritt is SEVEN.
Boo-hoo, we missed her fairy tea party
in Seattle last Saturday.
Happy Birthday, Little B.
xoxoxoxo


Big Share and Donny Daring
celebrated anniversary #23 (if I've done my math correctly),
proving that there is life after marrying someone with a teenager.
Congratulations!
(Obviously, I need a photo update.)


Andrew Schneidler passed the Washington State Bar exam!
His dad woke up at 6am just to get online and find the results,
and called Andrew right after to tell him the good news.
Perfect, since Andrew's dad is also his law partner and boss.


Mick and Anjie Reynolds kicked some serious booty
on Saturday for the Rose Petals,
their team in the UoP Softball Tournament.
Let's just say one of them stroked one out of the park
and the other had a perfect batting average.

Happy 9th Anniversary, Mick

So much good comes from giving my heart to you.

Mick started quarter #6 today. Break's over. That's a good thing. I'm ready for the kids to start emulating dental-student-dad again, rather than home-every-day-dad. When they pulled off their shirts and pants last Friday to run around the house in their underwear yelling "I'm daddy! I'm daddy!" I was definitely looking foward to Monday's shirt and tie.