Naughty or Nice?

These are our 3 E's at Christmas. I just love this picture of them.

Conceited Foodie in Da House

"If it's good enough for Elliot, it's good enough for me!"

"Watch Daddy, Elliot. Down the hatch!"

"Ugh! You like this? Man, your pallette is really unrefined."

Parents Day at Gymnastics

Ethan loves gymnastics. And he's really good at it. Here's my little man doing his Tada.
Here he is walking across the big beam all by himself.

He's the Reason for the Season!

Today Ethan and Chris went sledding and had outdoor snow fun for hours and hours. They came in with this funny story.

Ethan says, "Dad, this snowball looks like Jesus. No, actually it looks like Mary. Dad, I'm going to throw this Mary snowball at you."

Merry Christmas everyone! -RL

Give Thanks for Horses!

Thanksgiving was spent at my Aunt Krista's wonderful house. It is especially wonderful for our children because they have over 75 horses! My cousins Ashley and Melissa are so incredibly nice and patient while the kids ride. It's so fun to see Emma and Ethan's faces when they pet, brush and ride the horses.

Ethan and Ashley on Levi.

Emma on Levi. She learned to make him go forward, backward and stop. She was a quick learner, but sorry Em, no horses will be under the Christmas tree!

Elliot's Baptism

Elliot was baptized on November 18th at Trinity Lutheran. It was a fun day with lots of guests and a buffet of soup! Thanks to all who made the trip and shared in his special day!

Our friend, Ryan.

Friends Dave and Tara with their lil Baby Grace.

Grandma Bobbie and Grammy

Boppa Dale and Boppa

Uncle Derek, Aunt Melissa and cousin Julia.

Elliot, notice how Julia looks at the camera. Take some pointers.

Godparents: Auntie Sara, Uncle Brian & Aunt Kendra.

Pastor John has married Chris and I and baptized both boys. He is wonderful.

All 4th graders at church can be Guardian Angels at baptisms--how nice that Emma was able to be her own brother's Guardian Angel!

Hang in There, Baby

Do you ever feel like you do everything and nothing at the same time?! I feel like I've been cleaning, doing laundry and going to work the last 3 days and yet when I look around my house, it's a huge mess, there's still a mountain of laundry and I still have tons of work to do from home.

So, that picture is my self-portrait today. I'm going to try and clean more, do more laundry and do my work with the help of Chris and Ethan...Chris has assured me that by the end of the day, I will see the difference. I sure hope so; I would hate to see the self-portrait tomorrow if I don't. -RL

Happy All Hallows Eve!

This is my favorite costume that Ethan has ever worn. I could not stop smiling and laughing at how cute he looked. The best part was when he was running from house to house, he would wave his wand and say, "Expelliarmus!"

Here is our scary family picture! A pumpkin, Elphaba (not just any witch, mind you, she's Elphaba), Harry Potter and 2 exhausted parents trying to be enthusiastic! We had our standard Halloween dinner of Mac N Sneeze (green mac and cheese), Jack-O-Pizza (jack o lantern shaped pizza), Ogre's toes (egg rolls) and a delicious green punch that Emma named Elphaba's bath water. For dessert: goblin ears with ear wax (sliced apples with caramel dip). It was a spooky good time! -RL

Oh, He's a Lumberjack and He's Okay....

Just had to post this picture of Elliot. It's too cute not to show the world.

He's part Bunyan, part Fudd--all adorable.

Guitar Heroines

Today, in honor of Halloween or maybe because these two lovely ladies are so uniquely bizarre in their senses of humor, I was greeted with a hilarious surprise. I came downstairs to discover Rikki and Emma dressed up like headbangers from the 80's. They were complete with long crazy hair, mustaches/fu manchus, and jeans two sizes too small. I found them rocking out to a favorite video game/obsession/addiction called "Guitar Hero 2". Now, I can't properly explain how funny it was to see my two favorite females engaged in such a dedication demonstration of rocking , but try to imagine two bums from a Motley Crue cover band crashing your living room on an early Sunday afternoon. In other words, it was amazing. I am constantly grateful to Rikki for her sense of humor and today was another reminder of just how wonderful she is. By the way, the guitar heroines will be playing at the Whiskey-a-go go over Thanksgiving.--C.L.

Unique New York, Unique New York or Tagged Part Deux

Ten unique things about Christopher Dennis Lien

1. I live in the city I grew up in and have never moved away. I teach in the high school I graduated from and will probably teach at the local private liberal arts college I attended. Unique is a synonym for depressing, right?

2. I have run a half-marathon despite the fact I participated in no competitive or non-competitive athletic activities at the high school or collegiate level.

3. I can sing, play guitar, banjo (sort of), piano (somewhat) and trumpet (not really).

4. Even though I grew up in Minnesota, I have little to no waterskiing skills. In fact, the one time I went waterskiing I was surprisingly adept, but I retired from the sport shortly thereafter. I have officially gotten up on skis once and have never tried again.

5. One day, when I am done having children and all that, I will travel the countryside with my culinary wife and we will blog after each restaurant visit. She will be the food expert and I will be the goofy sidekick. After much hoopla, we will publish a book called "The Traveling Gourmet and her Husband". She will provide food information, and I will provide comic relief and "insight" to the culture and customs of the local scene. We will at least make $37 dollars from this venture.

6. I was a father, married, and divorced all by 21!

7. I pride myself on knowing quite a bit about baseball (thanks Gramps!) and football despite being generally terrible at both sports.

8. I could eat Rice Krispies three meals a day for the rest of my life. I probably will. That will be chapter three of the aforementioned travel/food book.

9. I do not text message. I refuse to on the basis that it feeds into a society of machine like automatons. Plus, I don't know how.

10. Last but not least, I will always want to grow the thickest man beard. Alas, my rotten genes prevent this from happening. I guess I'll have to make do with my baby smooth skin. Oh, well. --C.L.

Tagged

Ahna tagged Chris and I. It's a game where you write 10 unique things/habits about yourself and then tag 10 other people. Honestly, I don't have that many blogs bookmarked, so it will be tough to pass this on! Most of our friends don't have blogs....they have lives. Just kidding all you bloggers!

Okay, these are my 10:

1. I am addicted to Coke. Not the bad kind....Coca-Cola. I need it to live. My husband will sometimes tell me to talk to him after I've had a Coke because I am Jekyll and Hyde.

2. I have completed a triathalon. I came in second to last. However, I learned how to swim just 2 months before doing it.

3. I have no concept of how to fix my hair or put on make-up. I don't have the time or patience to figure it out and do it everyday.

4. I love, love, love to cook. My dream is to open a small restaurant which I would name The Oral Fixation.

5. I was named after the Steely Dan song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." We had the 8-track and I guess my hippie parents thought it was perfect.

6. When I was a little kid, I wished the Muppets were real. Fraggles too.

7. I like the smell of my baby's spit up.

8. I get stage fright if I try to sing karaoke. It makes me hyperventilate and cry. Which is embarassing.....so has only happened once. I learned my lesson!

9. I have never been stung by a bee.

10. I LOVE horrible reality television. It's a guilty pleasure for some, but I don't feel guilty. I love it. It's so trashy and mind-numbing, but I can't stop. I love The Hills, any show where some D-list celebrity finds love, Hell's Kitchen......then there are the Bravo reality shows that are a little more dignified: Top Chef, Project Runway, Kathy Griffin. My Tivo is going non-stop to keep me updated on lives that I can't relate to and people that, for the most part, I don't even like! What the hell is wrong with me?! -RL

My Name is Rikki and I'm a Flodni-aholic...

This is Flodni. It is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten in my life. I had it at Nichole's which is a bakery/coffee shop in Fargo where Chris and I frequent. I have been searching the internet for a recipe for this and cannot find it anywhere. It is a Hungarian dessert and the layers are apple, poppyseed and walnuts. PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS SEARCH! Nichole's is not handing out the recipe.....why would they? They got me hooked. I'm a Flodni addict and Nichole's is my dealer. -RL

Book It!

Sara Lien lent me East of Eden and I finished it last weekend. This is a wonderful book. It is haunting and tragic, uplifting and beautiful. It made me cringe at times, but I could not put it down. If you need a good book and haven't picked this one up yet, it is definately worth reading. If anyone in the blogosphere as a book recommendation, let me know! -RL

Buddies

Ethan "loves Dad better" this week. His reasoning: "Cuz we're buddies, Mom. You can't be a buddy cuz you're a girl." Some might be offended or hurt to hear their 4 year old say such things. For me, I just think it's really wonderful for a boy to love his dad so much. He still yells out "Mom!" in the middle of the night when he's scared or sick. Maybe I'm not a buddy, but I've still got that. -RL

Ready, Ready, Ready, Ready to Run...

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of running the Bridge to Bridge Bash with my husband, Christopher "Marathon Man" Lien, his sister who shall from here on be known as the Bionic Woman and Laura Dandaramo. Laura and I ran the 5 mile race. Chris and Bionic ran the 10 mile. It was very hot and hilly, but really fun. I did not think that I would finish this race and I made that known throughout by complaining about how tired I was. Chris stuck by my side and would not let me give up, which I am very grateful for. He ran much slower than he's used to, so I wouldn't be alone...and they say chivalry is dead! Bionic Woman was a super stud and I'm surprised she didn't just run back to Minneapolis. This rag tag team will meet up again for the Fargo Marathon.....Marathon Man, Dandaramo and Bionic...oh yeah and me, the Complaining Tortoise. -RL

What to do....

Lately Rikki and I have been deluged with adaptations to our schedule. It is nothing new that in September we drastically change our lifestyles from relaxed to crazily hectic. Well, a new kink was thrown in recently that I would like to share with anyone who reads and especially those who comment. Emma is being homeschooled by her mother, Natalie. It is impossibly difficult to describe the level of frustration, anger, and outright shame that we feel right now. For those of you have met Emma, she has many amazing qualities. She is outgoing, bright, creative, mature (probably moreso than a nine year old should be...), and overall pretty wonderful to be around. She also has qualities that are not so amazing, but like any parent I will gloss over them for the moment. Because Emma's parents are d-i-v-o-r-c-e-d all of us have had to share her. This apparently has become a problem for Natalie because rather than find ways to limit her own schedule so that Emma can fit in it (i.e. take fewer grad classes, teach fewer classes, manage her schedule at home...), she has decided that Emma needs to not go to public school anymore so that the mother/daughter pair can perfect their relationship. I have a thousand opinions on this and all of them have been shared openly with Natalie, but she doesn't care. Today, Emma said that she watched part of "Three Amigos" with Natalie before she was picked up by my Mom for a little quality time. Now, nowhere in the broad scope of education does this qualify as educational. Not in anyway. This post is an angry reaction to the systematic softening of my daughter's precious mind. I am angry. I am sad. I want change. I have no power to do anything. I offer my two cents and it is summarily rejected. For those of you in the blogosphere who read this and don't respond, I could really use some words of encouragement, advice, and even prayer for the little girl who lives here three days a week. Thanks. C.L.

Summer Breeze...Makes Me Feel Fine....

This picture does not do our new deck justice! Dennis & Chris built this over the summer. Dennis providing the deck expertise and Chris being his gofer. Dennis did an amazing job and it looks beautiful. It's great for grilling, eating, reading and drinking Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy.

Summer is over. It's official. Chris and I both went back to work on September 4 and haven't seen each other since. I know that our jobs are pretty sweet gigs. I work 8 months and Chris works 9. We have 3 months together in the summer to relax and be together. But that much time with my family makes me miss them even more. It's nice to have a family that you miss and can't wait to be around. These pictures remind me of summer. Ethan playing in our backyard and me kissing Elliot a lot.

Are You Ready for Some Football?!

Grammy brought the boys some official Packer gear. Very official....I'm pretty sure Bret Favre has this onesie on underneath his pads at each game. I think it's regulation. Chris, being the Vikings fan, is proud that Elliot has this look of sheer horror on his face.

This son is very pleased to be in his Packer shirt and has asked to wear it everyday since receiving it. Boppa Dale is the hard core Packer fan in the family. I am a fan of football--not so much the watching, or cheering or paying attention, but basically eating pizza, chips, wings and then reading a book.

Taking a bite out of education...

Tuesday I returned to the wonderful world of secondary educating with a bevy of "helpful" workshops designed to kickstart hundreds of teachers into didactic action! Most workshops are fairly boring as they leave very little time for teachers to work in their classrooms or do collaborative work with each other. Yesterday's workshop was different. Via webcam we were treated to a speech/demonstration of how and why to use Apple technology in our classrooms and schools. The presentation was equal parts "Let's show old teachers that being old is dangerous" and "If you don't adopt this technology, China will rule the world with a giant robot fist". Anyway, it was interesting in that it inspired me to take action with technology in my classroom, even if none of us have been properly trained. Blogging, iPods, facebook, and dozens of other things I had never heard of (folksomony? googlejockeying?) are not tools for education anymore. They are supposedly parts of the ubiquitous environment anyone born after 1982 is easily comfortable within. Regardless, I came away with some killer diller ideas I will try this year using blogs and podcasting. Maybe they'll bomb. Maybe they'll succeed. I have to try something new and lord knows these kids might be left behind otherwise. I wonder what Auntie Mary Lou would say about that.... -C.L.

Kids Say the Darndest Things...

Well, for the most part Ethan has been a mama's boy. The tide may be turning after last night. He was snuggling with me on the big chair and then said, "I want to go snuggle with Dad." I said, "How come?" Ethan's priceless reply was, "Because he's the greatest man I've ever seen." I think Chris may get that printed on a t-shirt, coffee mug and ID bracelet and may tatoo it across his back. He is a great dad. -RL

J-Lu From the Block

Emma, Ethan and Julia Lu

I think the blogosphere needs to see how adorable my niece Julia is.
Look at her sweet face, she is the cutest little girl!

Differences of Opinion

While Chris likes to blog about Harry Potter and post terrifying pictures of Voldemort on our blog, I choose to post precious pictures of my non-horrifying children. Elliot was having a very smiley day and I captured some of his cuteness. He got this onesie from Auntie Sara and pooped all over it later in the day. I guess it was comfortable.

Ethan is a little ham. Here he is in his robe and cowboy hat. What a smile this kid has. Summer is almost over and he will soon start pre-school, swimming lessons, gymnastics and church choir. I will miss seeing this smile as often as I get to now. But I will not miss how stir crazy he is without activities to keep him busy!

Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!

Sorry for the horrifying image, but sometimes you wake up in the morning and you feel like Voldemort looks. Today marks the last two weeks of freedom I have before school begins and I am thrown into another stressful year of events. While I am aware of the relative luck I possess in having three months of freetime (not including grad school classes, continuing ed credits, and general curriculum upkeep...) like many students at this time of year, it is with a certain bittersweet taste in my mouth that I return to "work". My summer was wonderful, though, getting to know my baby boy, playing countless games of hide and seek with Ethan, visiting the Brainerd Lakes area for fun in the sun, and working on various house projects. The summer of 2007 may be coming to a close, but the feeling of accomplishment will continue into the autumn.

Looking again at the above picture, it occurred to me that as scary as it is, I never actually feel as ugly as Voldemort looks. Life is pretty wonderful, really. To all of you who toil with the increasingly difficult job of balancing family, marriage, and career good luck and if you need a reminder that life could be worse, simply remember the image above.---C.L

The 2 Faces of Elliot

I don't want to be one of those moms who talks non-stop about how perfect her child is. But, I really must say that Elliot is close to perfect. These are his two modes: smiling or asleep. He has had his moments of crabbiness, bouts of crying, but overall, he is a dream baby. I'm pretty sure he was switched in the hospital and our baby is actually in the home of some nice couple, driving them crazy. It's okay though, I love this guy and am so glad he came into the world. -RL

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Here is Ethan with his friend Boston. Boston is my friend Tiffany's 4 year old. They are very alike and would be best friends like their moms if only Boston didn't live in Illinois. Hopefully, they can move closer one of these days and the playdates will never end!

Ethan blowing out the candles. In 30 seconds, this cupcake is devoured.

Ethan turned 4 on August 1. We had a party at our house and then went to Brainerd for more birthday celebrating. We went on a boat ride with the Schmeck's + Sara and Nate and stopped at Gooseberry Island for some rock skipping and swimming. This is Ethan with his cousin Julia having some fun in the sun.

Schlienfest

Chris and I had our 5 year wedding anniversary on July 26. Our wedding is known to most as Schlienfest, as it was a festival to join the Schmeck and the Lien. It was a hot, humid, mosquito- infested wedding and I would use the same words to describe our marriage. -RL

Two Days!!!!

I know I'm 29 years old. I know I shouldn't care about the release of a children's book. I know as an English teacher I should be dutifully studying my classics in preparation for the upcoming school year. But, every time I think about the feeling that will wash over me when I open the book to page one of the last Harry Potter book ever, I get a little shuddery. If anyone in the blogosphere even attempts to spoil this moment for me, so help me God....I can't foresee the wrath that will be unleashed. Anyway, Gryffindors rule and Slytherins drool. -C.L.

Thoughts on a New Brother

This is the first picture of Ethan holding Elliot. This is soon after coming home from the hospital. They both look a little unsure. Now he holds him confidently, talks to him, smooches him and is a protective, loyal and loving older brother. I couldn't be prouder of him.

Today Ethan gave Elliot his morning hug and said to me, "Mama......I'm happy we got this baby. If we get another one, can it be a girl?" Yesterday he told me, "Mama, I wished for a long time for this baby. He took a while." It's a wonderful thing to watch him be so nurturing. -RL

Cartoon Elliot

Ethan didn't think that Elliot should be left out of the Simpson's fun, so here he is.

In all his bald, pale glory.

D'oh!

Ethan

Emma

Rikki

Chris

I completely copied Chris' cousin Rick and made Simpson's characters of my family-sans Elliot because the bodies don't come that small. I feel like I'm looking in the mirror when I see mine. I actually have that same t-shirt. Except it's a different color.....and it doesn't say anything on it. And it's a sweatshirt. A hooded sweatshirt. -RL