Domestic Adventures

Only 1445 days until the Winter Olympics in Vancouver!
Trent and I missed a lot of this year’s winter olympics, but we did watch quite a bit during the last few days, catching the figure skating, speed skating, and a bit of skiiing. We are the epitome of non-sports people, but the olympics are a totally different thing. Now we’re ready to go to the 2010 games in Vancouver! Mark your calendar; tickets go on sale in August 2008.

A few years ago, a couple from church passed this little boat on to us. It needed some minor repair, but sat in our garage waiting for attention for way too long before we sent it over to Trent’s parents’ house where Tyler had more time to invest. It has now received proper doctoring and yesterday Trent took it out for a test drive before letting Emmie join him on the lake. A lovely February day indeed.

Tyler called today to tell us that one of our favorite shows, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, was shooting a show near his house. Turns out they finished up yesterday but we decided to drop by anyway and see what there was to see. The house is gorgeous, of course. I don’t think they’ve ever built a house I didn’t love. The roads in the area were still blocked off, so we parked at a little shop and walked, but there was just clean up going on and apparently some interviews still being taped inside. I’m not sure I would have wanted to battle the crowds during the shoot, but it sounds fun anyway. Mercedes Homes has more at their website.

We’ve been watching grass grow this week. It’s more interesting than you might expect - at least when you do it with a three year old. Trent bought this kit from Kid Concoctions for Emmaline. It reminds me of a Chia pet. There’s a little guy who grows “hair” and his pet dog who grows a nice mohawk too. We planted the extra seeds in baby food jars which is nice because we can see the tiny white roots stretching all the way to the bottom. Each morning Emmie checks on them right away and declares that we should plant them in our garden.

Micah and Mommy

Emmaline has this feathery Barbie chair she got as a birthday present from her Aunt Sage. When we play movies on the big screen she drags out her little chair, front and center to watch. It’s not a very stable chair, but glamorous in any case. The chair has always been a major temptation for Micah, though - all those feathers just calling to him. Today he managed to sneak off and rip out several fistfuls of feathers. That poor chair is going to be bald soon.

We have not yet completely conquered sickness in our household. Trent and I are finally about 90% better, but now the kids are sick.
They both woke up with red, goopy eyes and were obviously not feeling well. A trip to the doctor confirmed double ear infections for both kids, with eye infections to go with.
They’ve started on antibiotics and hopefully the Tuggle family will soon be able to rejoin the land of the living. I’m just glad our time of illness didn’t overlap with that of the kids!

Not long ago, David sent me an email with the subject line, ‘can’t remember if I ever gave this to you.’ In it was a poem he had written on his way to work the day after Emmaline was born. He recently stumbled across it in a notebook.

Emmaline Grace! Emmaline Grace!
You new depraved kid of the human race,
All you can do is cry and snuggle,
But one day you’ll be a Christian Tuggle.

It makes me smile, both the poem itself and the thought of David being a tiny bit sentimental.

Trent’s get-well therapy has been his new flight simulator. He’s been flying everything from 1930’s biplanes to rocket-powered planes that zip along the edge of space. Trent is content to spend a mere 18 to 20 hours a day playing, but there are some people out there who are really into this. They have a whole faux air traffic control thing going on and you can pretend to fly to Minneapolis for three hours while someone else pretends to guide you there - Weird - I mean… cool!

So thrilled to half my normal energy level back, and tired of looking at the inside of my own house, Trent and I ventured out today. Our main purpose was to buy new tires for my car since we suffered an irreparable flat on Sunday. While the guys at Costco were fitting my car with shiny new tires, Trent and I made our way to Barnes and Noble where we enjoyed looking at magazines and then on to Target where I bought this pretty dianthus. It was good to be out even if we weren’t moving at full speed.
This evening, my parents brought the kids back, and while I was so grateful for them to be able to spend a few nights with Grammy and PopPop, it was so good to have them in my arms.