Sister, Sister

Last fall my little sister Julie moved 1,886 miles away to Portland. I really really really miss her. Luckily for me, she was in Indy for a few days last weekend.

Why was I so excited for her visit? Because she’s my sister, of course. And because no one else has the exact same sense of humor that I do. Together, we’re…well, we’re not normal.

Like how I got a purple pedicure to match her cell phone.



And how she was standing next to a tree in her handkerchief-y shirt and in unison we were all, “OMG AWKWARD SENIOR PHOTOS!” and proceeded to have a photo shoot in my front yard.



And how remarking on the 80s-looking headbands I bought that afternoon turned into reenacting an Olivia Newton John video, complete with an exasperated-but-used-to-it husband forced to pause in his photo duties while I retrieved dumbbells from the basement.



I miss her lots. And it was so nice to have her here. But perhaps it’s best she lives over past the Rockies. I don’t know if the world could handle the two of us together full-time.

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Other Things We’ve Been Up To Lately

Things have been busy at the Flesworthy household as of late. The biggest event around here was my little sister moving west to Portland on basically three days’ notice. Well, I mean she knew she was moving, but a job interview got scheduled and she decided to move up her leave date by several weeks. For like two whole days all four of us cousins on my mom’s side lived in the same city, so we celebrated with a family dinner and mariachis the night before Julie left. Also, Mom drove up for an impromptu weekend visit to see her off. Lots of tears and we miss her terribly, but she’s loving Portland so far. She’s probably eating some organic food and contemplating buying an electric car as you’re reading this.






Andy & I took advantage of Grandma-provided babysitting to sneak out and test-drive some minivans, and long story short, I was all set to love a Toyota since we love our Camry but all of a sudden we might be buying a Honda Odyssey. We’re still waiting to give final approval on the one we want, but if everything goes well we might soon have a new (to us) car. 5-year debt! Yay!

Andy still has a few weeks left of his creative writing class, but my photography class finished up two Thursdays ago. I really enjoyed it and want to take another class this winter to hear all the vocabulary words again. I think photography could develop into a really fun hobby if I can ever figure out all the settings in my fancypants camera. Our final assignment was to photograph anything we wanted—here’s what I submitted:




Henry and Eleanor have kept busy with lots of playdates, and, if I’m being honest, lots of Sesame Street and Caillou during all the recent rainy weather. We’ve returned to weekly library story times, and checked out open gym at the Y, where Eleanor freaked out when she realized there were no bouncing opportunities. It’s always fun when it’s YOUR kid that’s the one screaming.

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A Night Out with the Nerds

I never told you about the fun night out I had with my sister a few weekends ago. “Ooh, two redheads out on the town,” you’re probably thinking, “must have been a wild night.” And you are absolutely correct, if by “wild night” you meant “sipped on decaf tea while crashing a gaming convention.”

Our evening started with a yummy dinner at a restaurant on the canal. The restaurant is in an old church building, and is named Creation Café. I wish we had been there with a group of people because I totally would have made them reenact the “fish climbing out of water and changing into man” iconic evolution image stretching from water to restaurant patio. Next time, I guess.

After dining Julie and I strolled down to the water. Julie stalked a duck, which jumped back into the water right as I snapped a picture. Two cops who were patrolling the canal stopped and offered to take a photo.


After photo-snapping we chatted with the cops for a few minutes. Conversation turned to the Gen Con convention in town, a gathering of 20,000+ game fans. I commented on all the gaming fans that were intermingled with the Colts fans leaving the stadium the night before, and asked the cops if Gen Con was still in town.

JENNIFER: So, is the convention still in town tonight?
COPS: Don’t you smell the virginity in the air?

The police officers told us the hotel where most of the conventioneers were staying, and I declared that we were going to go people-watch. Julie and I drove downtown in search of nerds in costume, the theme to Legend of Zelda stuck in my head. (Come on, ‘80s children, sing with me: dooo doo dooooo, doo doo doo doo doo dooooooo). We spotted lots of goateed boys with backpacks—everybody had a backpack, what were they carrying?—and several goth-wench-looking gamers out for a night on the town. We quickly decided that we needed to crash the convention and people-watch.

We strolled into the hotel and found a corridor containing an overflow of the convention. Not really wanting to sneak in to any anime lectures, we tried to find a bar but settled for some tea at Starbucks instead, and settled into a table with a good view. I can’t name a single Dungeons & Dragons/World of Warcraft/steampunk character, but it was fun to see all the people dressed up. Corsets, flight goggles, and triangle Revolutionary-war-looking hats were common. I had to get my photo taken with a girl whose costume had peacock feathers all down the back. Which of course you can’t see in this photo. We did plenty of under-our-breath mocking that night, but this costume was truly beautiful.

Julie and I of course had to discuss what we’d dress up as if we decided to join the convention.

JENNIFER: So, what would you dress up as? I’d think I’d be that hooker chick from Firefly. She always had pretty dresses.
JULIE: Posh Spice.

We left Gen Con and headed back to Julie’s apartment, where the inaugural Jen-and-Julie Con took place. We went old school with our gaming.

And of course there were costumes.

I look like a gypsy, or a cold maid. Will have to work on my costume for next year.

Poor Andy is so used to my shenanigans with my sister. When I got home the next morning, he didn’t even bat an eyelash when I told him, “So, we went out to eat, and then the cops told us there might be a costume parade, so we crashed the nerd convention, and then went back to Julie’s apartment and made up our own convention and played Legend of Zelda while draped in scarves.”

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Flesworthy Family Fun: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

We had wanted to try out an Indians game with the kids this summer; they seem to finally be at an age where more family outings are possible. Andy scored us some free tickets, so last Friday we headed out to the ball park, keeping our fingers crossed for fun despite keeping Henry and Eleanor up several hours past bedtime.

Andy and I were excited to have a new experience with Henry and Eleanor. Henry and Eleanor were excited to clap for the starting lineup, salute the flag during the national anthem, insist on constantly rotating between us and Julie and Jonathan in the next row, eat pretzels and French fries, make friends with the slightly intoxicated but very friendly rednecks down the row, insist on constantly rotating between us and Julie and Jonathan in the next row, and watch the foul balls hit the “house” (what they called the press boxes behind us). Oh, and did I mention how much fun they had constantly being handed from row to row?






The main highlight for Henry and Eleanor was seeing Rowdie, the Indians mascot, who is neither a Native American nor any animal we could recognize. Bear? Rat? They were constantly on the lookout for “red bear,” and braved a long line during the eighth inning to collect an autograph and snap a photo.


After the game we stayed for the fireworks, which Henry and Eleanor had never seen before. They seemed interested in the show, which ended with fireworks spelling “Coors Light” (you stay classy, Victory Field). We filed out with the crowds to head back to the parking garage, and Henry and Eleanor got a big smile and a “HEEEEEEEEEEEY!” when spotted in the crowd by their new slightly-intoxicated-but-friendly redneck pals.

And now let me launch into another one of my “they’re growing up so fast; we’re so lucky” rambles. I’m amazed how quickly Henry and Eleanor have turned from babies into KIDS. Kids that can navigate a crowd at the ball park, tell us about how fast the players are throwing the ball, stay up until 11:00 p.m. without too much disruption to their schedule. Andy and I are so fortunate to be along for the ride.

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Jennifer & Julie & Dolly Do Golden (Jennifer & Julie’s version)

This past weekend, I let Andy fend for himself with the kiddos and headed to Illinois with my sister for an overnight trip. We were headed to my dad’s hometown, Golden, to visit with family and watch my dad perform in a fundraiser for the town’s Historical Society.

I had forgotten how enjoyable child-free car trips can be. Five hours that I got to face forward. I didn’t have to pick up sippy cups or distribute toys or calm a grouchy kid. I got to chat with my sister and listen guilt-free to Britney without then having to play some REO Speedwagon off of Andy’s playlist.

We arrived in Golden and made a stop at the windmill, a grain mill from the 1800s that has been lovingly restored by the Historical Society, a group that counts a number of my aunts and uncles as members. We wandered through the attached museum that contains lots of local artifacts—my favorites are the lovely dresses from the late 1800s and early 1900s.



We also spent some time in and around the windmill itself. As someone who takes for granted that when she needs bread, she just drives to Kroger, I find it interesting to see all the handcrafted wooden gears and round stones that were used to turn grain into flour. Julie and I climbed up the narrow, steep, if-this-museum-were-in-Indy-there’s-no-way-you-would-be-allowed-to-climb-this-could-you-imagine-what-the-liability-insurance-premiums-would-cost stairs and spent some time checking out the place where our ancestors brought their grain. I also rambled around the outside of the mill, enjoying all the beautiful spring flowers that were still in bloom.





After getting settled in at our aunt and uncle’s house and eating some pizza, we were back at the mill for my dad’s songwriter’s showcase. Not only does my dad build planes, he also writes songs, enough for almost two hours of music. Later in the program my sister and two aunts joined him on stage, earning a standing ovation for their impromptu (and not rehearsed) version of “You Are My Sunshine.” After getting to spend the day not as Mommy but as “Larry’s kid,” it was neat to see Dad's brothers and sisters and other people from his childhood who thought of Dad as "Herman and Emilie’s kid." It's nice to revert back every once in a while, isn't it?


For one of the songs, Dad brought out a life-size cardboard cutout of Dolly Parton, given to me back in college by a friend. Dolly had never been to Golden before, so Julie and I showed her around town before we left on Sunday. She wants to tell you about her trip herself, though, so I’ll give Dolly her own post.

Julie and I slept in on Sunday and then headed over to see my Grandpa Gene and his wife, Teresa. We walked uptown in the sunshine for lunch at the town’s diner. Side note: if you wonder why I have a weird sense of humor that makes me find things like life-size Dolly Partons funny, consider that I’m a descendant of this guy:

Jennifer, Julie, Grandpa, Teresa enter town diner
Teresa (looking around at tables): Gene, where would like to sit?
Grandpa: On my butt.

After visiting with them for a while, and a quick trip out to Grandpa’s farm, we hit the road back to Indiana. Suppertime found us in Champaign, where we met our cousin out for pizza at Papa Del’s, the absolute best pizza in the world. Julie and I arrived home close to midnight, full of pizza and good memories.

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Jennifer & Julie & Dolly Do Golden (Dolly's Version)

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My Awesome Week, Thanks to A Stomach Bug

My stomach bug awesomeness (and no, I’m actually not being sarcastic!) occurs later in the week, but let’s start at the beginning, because the whole week had some very awesome components.

Okay, so Andy left Monday morning for an overnight work trip. I was not looking forward to parenting solo for all of Monday and most of the day Tuesday. But Henry and Eleanor were lovely and behaved on Monday. They slept in late, played well, took a long nap, and were charming. Julie came over that evening after supper, so that last hour or so of the day I had some help, and the kiddos had someone to dote on them. After Henry and Eleanor went to bed, I finished up Julie’s taxes. Between you and me, I secretly enjoy doing taxes, so even that part of the day was awesome.

On Tuesday, Henry and Eleanor were a bit cranky and demanding, so let’s just gloss over that and skip forward to Tuesday night. I handed the kids off to Andy as soon as he walked in the door, and headed out to my twins’ club spring banquet. It was very fancy and awesome, and a lovely evening spent with some fun gals. We had great food (including yummy homemade cupcakes), recognition of our outgoing officers, member of the year, and perfect attendance folks (of which I was one; I could have sworn I missed a meeting somewhere—I must have less of a life than I thought), and a candlelight swearing in of the new officers. I am officially now an vice president for the next year. (Said in best Cartman voice) RESPECT MY AUTHORI-TAAAAAY!

I came home and snuck in the nursery to gaze upon my sleeping children, giggling as I heard Eleanor fart in her sleep. “Just like Daddy!” I thought, laughing. However, those cute sleepy-time toots were actually Farts of Impending Doom; a short time later Eleanor started fussing, and I ran to her room to discover her puking everywhere. We had several more rounds of this—puke, change clothes, change sheets, comfort child, put her back to bed, wait twenty minutes, repeat. As a side note, my not-very-religious-anymore self tends to not believe the old adage “everything happens for a reason,” but after being without a working washing machine for four days we had a plumber come out THAT VERY AFTERNOON to unclog our drain. Can you imagine the plumber being scheduled even one day later, causing a mountain of puke-stained laundry to pile up? *shudder*

Wednesday was spent changing Eleanor’s diapers a lot and watching Lost with Andy. Not much awesomeness there (except maybe Lost, but how would I know, since I can’t figure out what the hell is going on), so let’s fast-forward to…

Thursday morning I woke up and was greeted by a wave of nausea as I rolled out of bed. I tried to suck it up and carry on with my day, but after being jostled by toddlers for a few hours, I made a very whiny phone call to Andy. My saintly husband took Thursday afternoon and Friday off of work so I could recover from the bug that Eleanor had so generously passed along to me.

And OMG, PEOPLE, THE STOMACH FLU IS SO AWESOME. I mean, yeah, I felt like I was going to toss my cookies for 24 hours straight, and had to go without food, but I was able to lie in bed all afternoon. And run an artwork CD to a sign company for the upcoming twins club sale signs and banners, a 15-minute errand that would have taken at least 45 had I drug a couple of two-year-olds with me. And go to bed early and sleep for 13 (yes, THIRTEEN) hours, rolling out of bed close to noon on Friday. And have the house to myself for an hour or two Friday afternoon while Henry and Eleanor enjoyed Daddy-time and perfect spring weather at the park. And take a nice long shower while Daddy handled bathtime for the kiddos.

Being a stay-at-home mom is an awesome job, but it also means your “job” is with you 24/7. So hey, I will take a break any way I can get it. Note to self: weaken immune system, become ill more often.

I hope your week was just as awesome! How ‘bout this lovely weather, huh?

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Easter Weekend: Tots, Thor, Two-Square, Tenderloin, Terminator, Too Much Candy

Easter weekend was spent here at home, celebrating in some traditional and some not-so-traditional ways.

On Saturday, Julie joined us for a pre-Easter cook-out. We dined on my beloved Whole Foods hamburgers and tater tots, and then settled in for Thor: Hammer of the Gods on the SciFi network. We watched the movie because one of Julie’s good friends was starring in it (he was good, too!), but it was worth watching anyway because it featured a) Vikings, b) werewolves, and c) the oldest kid from Home Improvement, who couldn’t decide if he had an English accent or not.

On Sunday, we awoke to a gorgeous sunny day. During Henry and Eleanor’s naptime, the Easter Bunny snuck out into the yard to hide some eggs and a new bubble toy. After checking the weather forecast, the Easter Bunny saved the new crayons and sketchbooks for a rainy Monday. When Henry and Eleanor awoke, we handed them their Halloween candy baskets (because Mommy was all, “Eh, I’ll buy ‘em Easter baskets next year, they don’t know what’s going on.”) and led them outside for an egg hunt. The kiddos really got into the spirit of things and had fun racing around the yard in search of eggs. After finding all the hidden eggs, we brought the baskets to the driveway and showed Henry and Eleanor that there was a piece of candy in each one. Henry was, like, “WHOA! DUDE!” and immediately started shoving candy in his mouth. Eleanor for some reason freaked out and ran away from the candy action. She eventually came back and started partaking, getting in her fair share before Henry consumed it all.

We then spent a fun afternoon in the sun, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk, and trying to explain to Henry and Eleanor that no, there aren’t more eggs, we’ve found them all, see them in your baskets? I blocked out a two-square court on the driveway and battled Andy for dominance. Yes, I know I should have outgrown two-square 25 years ago, but people, I was the 1983 Carterville Grade School 4th Grade Four-Square Tournament Champion. That kind of love for the game will never die.

I love Easter, but do not understand the Easter ham phenomenon, because ham is disgusting. So for supper we feasted upon pork tenderloin (like ham, only delicious), baked potatoes, and candy, candy, and more candy. Easter evening was spent watching the second Terminator movie. Wouldn’t it be cool if, in the Bible, Jesus had whipped off his sunglasses at some point in the Pontius Pilate/Last Supper/Garden of Gesthemane story and said in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, “I’ll be back”?

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Flesworthy Family Furlough Fun: Surprise, Surprise, We Went to the Zoo and the Children’s Museum

No, our house has not foreclosed, forcing us to seek shelter at the Children’s Museum. I can understand if you assume that, though, considering we seem to be at the Children’s Museum like every other day lately.

But first, let’s back up to earlier in the week, to what the babies and I did while Andy was away in Champaign. (His mom is doing great, by the way, home from the hospital now and recovering even faster than her doctors predicted. Woo hoo!) Henry and Eleanor and I kept busy by going to story time at the library; we bought cat litter at Sam’s Club; we took Julie out for supper. Andy came home late Thursday afternoon, and we planned some fun for his remaining furlough days.

On Friday morning we headed downtown to the zoo. We’re fans of wintertime zoo visits—this time we hit the desert exhibit first, and had the whole place to ourselves. That meant we got to monopolize the time of the kind volunteer, who gave us the lowdown on the animals around us—the meerkats, various turtles and birds, and the rarest lizard in the world, with only about twenty left in the wild. Henry and Eleanor were entranced by the turtles and shrieked with joy at the meerkats. They thought Andy and I were saying “more cats” so they would sign “more cats” as they laughed at the not-really-a-cat furry creatures. We peeked at some frolicking baby bears and saluted an eagle, then headed in out of the cold to the aquarium. Eleanor once again made a beeline for the fish, and they both seemed to enjoy the sharks this time. I think they would have petted them if they weren’t too short/had parents that would let an almost-two year old grab a shark.

Bentley and Simon had a vet appointment on Friday afternoon, so while Andy was on pet duty, the babies and I headed to Play-a-lot for some fun. This was the first time we’ve been back since we contracted the virus that led to PukeFest ’08; my stomach was churning a little at the memory of the stomach flu. Thankfully, we seem to have emerged unscathed from our latest visit.

On Saturday afternoon we went to the Children’s Museum, where we met Julie and family friend Nick, in town visiting from Chicago. Nick is in Julie’s class and is pretty much the third child in our family; he even lived with my folks for a while during college. We mixed things up a bit and started our visit in the Dinosphere, a part of the museum I hadn’t seen yet. Henry in particular seemed to enjoy the dinosaur skeletons, I enjoyed dressing up in the dinosaur costumes, and Eleanor enjoyed plopping down in the middle of the exhibit, yelling “more butt!” and scooting across the floor on her rear end. We worked our way up the various floors, viewing the Chihuly glass exhibit, sneaking a quick peek at the Batmobile, playing with Legos, deciding not to ride the carousel after seeing the line, and finally ending at the toddler play area. Eleanor entertained herself at the sand table for a good twenty minutes or so while Henry “drove” the tractor and played at the water table with Andy.

For Andy’s final furlough day, I pretty much left him to tend to the babies while I slept in and then ran errands for three or so hours this afternoon. Tonight we dined on nachos and watched the Oscars. Have I told you about our dorky thing where we like to pig out on nachos while watching things like the Oscars, Super Bowl, etc., and we always name the nachos? Neither of us can remember how it started, but now it’s part of our nerdy ways that make us think “good thing we found each other because seriously, who else would want to spend their life with someone who names nachos/makes up their own words to showtunes/quotes Battlestar Galactica/insert random nerd fact here.” Tonight we feasted upon “Frost/Nachos.”

And tomorrow we go back to our non-furlough routine, and hopefully I get back to posting more often. Wanna see some photos? Sure you do…




the rarest lizard meets my equally unique little guy


“more cats!”








Henry and Andy contact the mothership


Rawr! It's the mommasaurus rex!






Another dorky rule we have: if you take a photo next to a statue, you must act like that statue.


I had the bright idea to dress the babies in stripes so we could easily spot them in the crowd. See the three other kids at the table in stripes? I AM A GENIUS.

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