February Hangover

February was a crazy crazy crazy month. 2 birthday parties, several YW activities (which I stressed over more than necessary, but come on! how else do I work?), a spur-of-the-moment baby shower, plus, you know, regular life. I'm surprised I made it.

And March brings us - Kitchen Madness! We had planned to renovate the kitchen this summer, but - in true Melanie fashion - decided to do it now. So I've been planning, shopping, comparing, and planning some more. This should all culminate in a new kitchen in about 6 weeks. Yay! Yay! Yay! I've never had a new kitchen, or even a "newish" one. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. Here's the design:

and:
(Ignore that extra wall - don't know where that came from)

Anyway, that's where my head will be for the next few weeks. Thank heavens for a break in the birthdays!

Tristen is 7!

To commemorate my little Valentine turning 7, here are a few of the things that make Tristen, well, Tristen:

• The PJ Clone: I don't know how PJ managed to clone himself so completely, but T is so much like his father, it's scary. From the beginning, he's looked just like him, has the same interests, the same food preferences, the same FEET for goodness' sake. Aside from his eyes and dimple, you'd think I had nothing to do with the kid.


• Video Games: ever since he was old enough to watch Dad play and hold a controller of his own, he's been hooked, and he's amazingly good at them.
• Basketball: again, following Dad's lead, has had a natural love and ability for the sport, and loves playing on a team for the first time.
• Always the lover: even though he's getting older and less "demonstrative", he's always been very lovey with Mom and Dad. He'll just come running out and give us a big hug, then run off again.
• His notes: he loves to make notes for us and bring them out, complete with Batman stickers. My faves: "Mom and Dad. You have bin meen." This after being grounded from video games for some offense. And another: "I am rilee soree for beeing rilee bad." After a particularly difficult night.
• His laugh: he's less joyful than Mace, but when something tickles Tristen, he just laughs and laughs, and it's a delight to see.
• Puzzle Man: that kid can solve a puzzle like you wouldn't believe. Whether it's a jigsaw, a video game, or just a problem he's interested in, he's quite the puzzle solver.
• Big Brother: now with Mace it's different, because they're closer in age and share a room and all - but with MaraJade, he's always been super loving and willing to help, even when she's being a brat.

Tristen was my first baby, and he made parenting seem so easy I thought "I can do this 6 more times, no problem!" He's still my most even-keeled kid overall, and it's exciting to watch him mature.

I know he will grow into a thoughtful, caring young man - and if there's a way to play video games for a living, he'll find it!

The best presents EVER!

Saturday was the boys' family party. We had all 3 sets of grandparents and several aunties here to celebrate. Of course the presents were the highlight of the party, in particular this one:

PJ's mom works with a man who does these sketches - we have a family one with all of us as "Super" people. It's pretty cool. Anyway, we knew Mace was going to love his "Mace Racer" (that's what we call him), and he soooo did. You should have seen his smile when he opened it.

Present rundown for Mace:

• Mace Racer sketch
• Shake n Go dragsters
• Ben 10 Omnitrix watch
• Diego flashlight & compass watch
• Razor scooter
• Transformers helmet and pads
• Gymboree jammies

Tristen:

• Electric Razor scooter
• Ben 10 Omnitrix watch
• Didj game
• Guess Who? game
• Connect Four game
• Gymboree jammies
• Ramp for scooter/skateboard

They were - according to Mace - "the best presents ever!!"

And as Tristen went whizzing down the street on his electric scooter, all we heard was, "Thank youuuuu!"

Oh, and PJ said the cake was the best I ever made. That's an amazing thing for him to say. All in all, a good day.

Choices, Choices, Choices

So Tristen has been invited to a birthday party for one of his good school friends. It's at Chuck E. Cheese......on Sunday......during church. And after discussing it a lot, we're going to let him go. This is one of those times where it's not so fun to be Mormon. Because we know what's right, what we're supposed to do, and we know the consequences of not doing so. So why would we make such a choice? Well, I know all the reasons we discussed, and they're valid, but I'm still not comfortable with our decision to let him go. And I'm going to talk it to death with Tristen, telling him how this is something Heavenly Father has asked us not to do, but we know it's important to his friend to have kids there (hardly anyone showed up to his birthday last year), and so on...

So yes, one tiny step further away from the Celestial Kingdom here. Off to read my scriptures!

Ah, ennui

en⋅nui: /ɑnˈwi /[ahn-wee] –noun
a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom. "The endless lecture produced an unbearable ennui."

I love words. Always have. I love how the English language has been compiled from so many different languages, taking the parts we want and tossing back the rest. I could go on and on about some of my favorite words, but I'll spare you. But how much more descriptive it is, what a fuller picture is created when you say, "I'm filled with ennui" instead of "I'm so bored" or "I'm so dissatisfied with my life today." And yesterday, I was filled with ennui.

I often have those days where I know what I have to do - after all, it's staring me in the face - but I just can't make myself be interested in doing any of it. I'm not depressed, I'm not "upset", I just don't wanna do nothin'. Which can be kind of hard to explain to the husband when he comes home from a day of working hard and finds nothing done at home. How do you explain that you just needed a day off? That you'll get it all done tomorrow, so don't have a cow, OK?

Just look at him and say, "Ennui, baby, ennui."

Citizenship

At Tristen's school, they had an Awards Assembly, where each teacher nominated 1-4 kids from their class for each of about 15 categories, and Tristen got one! I remember the Awards Assemblies from grade school, where you'd keep waiting to see if your parents showed up, because if they did, you knew you were getting an award. Well, these days they let the kids know ahead of time, probably to remind the parents in case they didn't get the announcement in the mail, or forgot or whatever. So no surprising the recipient, but that's OK.

Anyway, it was also "Fancy Dress Day" for School Spirit Day, and Tristen was totally excited to wear his suit to school. He was a big hit in his class, with everyone saying he looked just like the principal. The new principal, Mr. Long, is great. He's really turned morale around this year, and does great at the assemblies. There was a "red carpet", he was decked out in a tux, and had found specific music for each of the awards presented.

Tristen got the Citizenship award, which means: "These students are consistently good sports, take turns, and willfully share. These studednt show responsibility by following school and room rules, and help others when needed. These students help make Campbell a better place." His teacher is always saying what a help he is in class, how responsible he is. And while this shocks me to a certain extent, I'm super proud of him and think maybe I haven't completely messed him up. Way to go, Tristen!

Why do I love Family History?

Well, aside from the obvious reasons, like finding ancestors and being able to perform their temple work for them, it's because occasionally, you come across some gems like this:
This is Gertrude Miller Meldrim.

She is my grandmother's grandmother. She was born in Wisconsin in 1880. Her family moved to California for her dad's health when she was 13. Apparently, she got pregnant, or married and then pregnant, by H. Raymond Blake, about whom I can find next to no information. But I guess he "slept around a lot", and her doctor was worried he would give her "diseases", and advised her to divorce him, which she did before the baby was born. This was 1901. People didn't divorce easily or well back then. But she soon married the man she worked for, Harry Meldrim, and he adopted the baby, Helen Clarisse Blake Meldrim Zimmerman Zvara, my Granny Z.

She was born in 1902 in Pasadena, CA. Thanks to Harry's good business sense (He started City Transfer and Storage in Long Beach) the family was quite wealthy (which is why I have 1 nice antique dresser). I also gather that Helen and Harry were very close. Now here's where it gets a little sketchy. Harry's father died sometime when he was young, so his mother remarried and had 5 more children. One of those children was John Robert Zimmerman, Harry's 16 years younger half-brother.


Quite a handsome bugger, don't you think? He played football for USC and was in the Navy for an unknown amount of time. Well, the family decided he and Helen needed to marry. Um, why? As best as I can get out of my grandmother, it was "pressure by Gertrude to marry after grandpa died". Reason enough to marry your daughter off to her half-uncle (well, by adoption). So, they betrothed Helen to Robert, and all was a go for their wedding in summer 1924.

Tragically, on the way to Helen's graduation from Berkeley on May 24, Harry was killed in a car accident. According to newspaper clippings, they decided to scale back the lavish wedding they'd planned and instead, Helen and Robert were married quietly in the family's beautiful garden in July.

So, her beloved father is gone, she's married to his brother, but there's still plenty to celebrate, right? Well, as it turns out, maybe forcing people to marry isn't the best plan. According to my grandma, Robert was a drinker who also "messed around", and after he took over the family's business, kind of ran it into the ground. They had 2 children, my grandma Janene, and her brother Harry. She remembers lots of fighting, and the 2 finally divorced in 1943. Robert died in 1962 and Helen (after remarrying) in 1985.

See? Our ancestors lived lives just as real as our very own. They aren't simply names and faded pictures. They are worth finding as much about them as possible and passing their stories on to our children. Fascinating! (Well, at least to me.)