Our love is rock steady

Chris and I are on the road home after a very relaxing and enjoyable 10-year anniversary trip. We ate (too much), slept (made up for recent nights up with kids), and skied (oh how I love thee...). We were rather nervous as we donned the skies and mounted the lift. But we survived and realized it's just like riding a bike- a bike you haven't ridden in 10 years. You get really sore and can't do it for very long. But we had a blast.

I am inspired to ponder the way a relationship can develop over time. You hear about the couples who love each other more and more over the years, but you also see some of the opposite going on. I see my own marriage developing from what was once a naive but trusting love when we got married. Now our love is founded more on experience and really coming to know and love one another. Like once this trip we actually said the exact same thing at the same time. Woah! And we consider each other's feelings more carefully. And when we don't, we have gotten better (not perfect, but better) at fixing things.

And then there's the kids! They sure offer the fast track for character development. With endless opportunities for building patience and learning charity, I can pinpoint our parenthood as the core of our growth as individuals and a couple. I love them so much! Everywhere we went on this trip I thought of them and how they would have loved the adventures of skiing and hotel-staying. But then we saw a kid melting down on the slopes and I thought instead--shall I soak in the hot tub tonight or read a book? Or both?

I have to do a little "ode to my mother." She sure got to know the kids well while we've been gone (and that's based solely on the bits of info she's willingly shared-I'm sure I'll hear more soon). I never worried about the kids being well taken care of! Only about my mother getting run ragged! Thank you Mama, for the valentine making, chauffeuring, cooking, cleaning, and comforting.

One fun thing we did on the trip while driving was answer some of these questions: http://cherishinghopesanddreams.blogspot.com/2012/01/30-things.html
It opened up the conversation and led to some interesting revelations (like how else would I have found out that if Chris were an animal, he'd be a white tiger). We also did the love language quiz. That was fun. And I only had to twist his arm a little bit- he was a good sport and I think we both learned something about each other. Take it here: http://www.5lovelanguages.com/profile/.

And hey Courtney and Greg- thanks for hanging out with us the last night when we really had run out of topics to discuss...we feel like we got to know you both better. Courtney got a little too comfortable. But we love you guys and will keep our eyes peeled for homes for you in the Inland Empire. After all, Dex seems more like a warm weather animal.

BTW- the post title is a throwback to our first date- a No Doubt concert and dinner at Applebee's. And yes- our love is so rock steady. Thanks, Gwen, for putting it to music.

My future linguist and tight-rope walker

I thought I'd share a few vignettes about our family lately. I'll start with Ben. He understands just enough about certain concepts to make some wonderfully creative conclusions. Sometimes I tell them how to say things in Spanish or Russian.I'm sure they'll make fun of me for it when they grow up, but it's fun for me. Now Ben likes to explain things to me about how things are done in other languages. At the breakfast table he said, "Mom, this is how they dwink in Chinese." He carefully sipped his milk through a straw. Later, while going to the bathroom (he's a social bathroom kid) he says "Mom, this is how they pee in Spanish!" I'll spare you further detail but it was a bit different than how they pee here in America.

Ben really likes to explain the world to me beyond what happens in different languages. Today we took a little scooter ride and got to pet a neighbor's dog. After that, he said "Mom, in the spwing, chihuahuas get weally mad. And when they're weally weally mad, then they go in a egg." "Really Ben?" "Yah, and when you cwack the egg, there's a chihuahua inside." "So what makes them so mad, Ben?" "They're mad at gwass (grass)!" I have no explanation. He seemd to think it should be obvious.

Mark, our furniture scaling, head-banging, barking/hissing kid has now developed the talent of walking backwards. He thinks he's quite clever. He'll grin and point and hiss (that's his favorite sound to make) as he shuffles backward until he runs into something or gets his fill and heads forward again. But back to the hiss- at the doctors office this week he hissed at a woman. It's not like a snake hiss, it sounds more like an angry cat. I knew that he meant it as a greeting but she asked "does he have a cold?" "Yes he does," I didn't bother explaining. At church His babysitters across the aisle say hi to him when we get there by echoing his sound. They have really got it down. We sit down and he spots Chris on the stand and his hiss amps up to a downright cat-fight! Their mom (they are sisters) said they hiss at each other at home even. None of my kids have been early talkers. I'm expecting more animal sounds than human sounds from this one. Maybe I should have named him Frank after my father like we had planned! But the chicken we named Frank ended up being a rooster so just more proof that Franks will do as they please no matter what.

Blogger won't let me update pics right now. Maybe later. Happy New Year!!!