Our ice capades

Yesterday, Jack and I accompanied Brian, two teachers, and about a dozen students (the ones who didn't want to go skiing with the rest of the school) to the ice skating rink in Mammoth. Jack, along with those students unsure of their ice abilities, held onto small chairs that they'd brought from the school. Jack immediately took to the ice and was halfway across the rink before I'd even gotten my bearings on my skates. Of course, before long, I was zipping across the ice like an old pro. Brian gave Jack a mini hockey lesson, and we had fun battling it out with the students.

A night with Thomas

We spent last night in Reno, where the big event--what I've called a rock concert for two-year-olds--was seeing "Thomas & Friends" LIVE at Lawlor Events Center. We went with Brian's co-worker Debbie and her seven-year-old son Devan. Jack was entranced! He sat on my lap the whole show (almost two hours, including an intermission), grinning. He won't stop talking about this for days...

A break from the humdrums

Four months living here, and I am officially suffering a bout of cabin fever. The highlight of my week, and Jack's week, has been our Wednesday morning trip to Mammoth Lakes. I am able to grocery shop and run other errands. But the absolute BEST part of our trip is Storytime at the Mammoth Lakes library. We sing songs (in English AND Espanol), listen to stories, and make crafts. This week, we listened to a story about wiggling, and the craft was a wiggly-legged jellyfish. There are tunnels to crawl through, "computers" to play games, and big animal pillows to roll around on. I've learned to get there a half-hour early so Jack can run through all the toys in the room before Storytime begins; that way, he's more attentive to the group activities. Afterward, we treat ourselves to some taqueria fare at La Salsa's.

2009 so far

I haven't written much for long, so I thought I'd make a list of what's been going on in the Marshall household in general.

1. We were in Reno last weekend, in hopes of seeing Idaho play at Nevada. Unfortunately, ticket prices were atrocious (and we would've had to buy a full-price ticket for Jack--anyone over the age of two!), so we decided to spend our money elsewhere. Idaho ended up pulling off an upset, winning 78-73 over the five-time Western Athletic Conference champion Nevada. Go Vandals!
2. Our trip, in spite of the basketball disappointment, was successful. Brian got a nail gun (insert caveman grunt here). I finally found four more yards of my beautiful Blue Damask fabric so I can start on some curtains for our bedroom. (The damask is pictured at right; all my other recent coordinating fabric purchases are to the left.)

And we picked up our Christmas present to each other as well: the Dyson Absolute Animal. Behold this thing of beauty, which will fulfill all my dreams of a pet hair-free household. (I'm sick of doing crunches amongst mounds of animal hair.)

3. Jack is taking naps of about three-and-a-half hours every day. Hallelujah! My love of his naps makes me question myself: is it wrong of me to enjoy that time away from my son, time to do scrapbook, bead, cook, clean, or do whatever else I want? I don't care... I'm only going to have this extra time for a few more months, so I'll enjoy it while I can!
4. Baby's doing fine, although there may be some problems with my heart murmur and giving birth at an elevation of 7900 feet. A cardiogram is scheduled for next month so they can check things out.
5. I've been inspired by Peter Walsh's book It's All Too Much. I'm now totally into cleaning, organizing, and purging. It's a wonderful feeling, and I would recommend the book to anyone.
6. Brian's still loving his job. His basketball team has yet to win a game, but on Tuesday, they scored ten points... which made him proud. (He doesn't even know what the other team scored.)

99 Balloons

Since the New Year is all about re-assessing your life, I thought I'd post the website for this video, called "99 Balloons." I first saw it on Oprah, and it's made me bawl every time since. It reinforced to me how much I need to cherish each and every day that I spend with Jack... and how important that little life inside me is as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0