So Long 2015 - Welcome a Brighter 2016!

As 2015 is coming to an end, I like to reflect on the past year and write about the hope of 2016.
We've faced some big stress this year...career changes, a financial squeeze, and health challenges in our aging parents to name a few.  It's been tough.  But life is like that, up and down.  Which is why I like the photo's above of the boys jumping.  Leaping up towards the light, over and over again.  A real metaphor for my experience of 2015.   

Both of the boy's grandfather's had health issues this year - my dad had a stroke and Anna's dad had a stent put in his heart.  They were both remarkably strong and are faring well as the year closes.  I like to believe that they are even better prepared to face 2016.

To say we soared through this year would be a lie.   Anna and I hobbled and at times we crawled.  Anna's business came to a close and this was heartbreaking and difficult.  She invested so much passion, heart and soul, but in the end realized that the best thing she could possibly to do was to let go.  And she did.  She was remarkable in her ability to handle such a difficult situation and to live by her values all the way to the end.  Sometimes life is like that too, deceptive.  And you have to find your way to the light again.  This experience sharpened our priorities... living and working with integrity and surrounding ourselves with love, friends and family.  It has been a great life lesson for sure and I know that often the greatest challenges can bring unforeseen gifts.  

Which brings us to the gifts of the past year (and their were plenty):

First of all we have a new nephew, Kaj, and a new great niece, Adalyn.  They have been such delightful additions to 2015.   

Next, our niece Jamie got engaged to her boyfriend whom we love.   We are so looking forward to their wedding in 2016. 

Also, the boys had a very good year.  Eight and ten are beautiful ages and the boys have grown into these so nicely.  They both love school - remarkable!- and each invest fully in their learning.  They are bright, curious, and engaged kids.   They have been healthy, strong.  They have many friends and  possess a real loyalty to them.  They remain best of friends with one another and look out for each other in a way that makes my heart swell.  They are both amazing readers, fabulous mathematicians and imaginative artists.  Their school provides ample opportunities to create and for this I am grateful.  They are quite tall, still fabulously blonde, truly handsome and loving. Kindness is important to them.  As a family we have this at the top of our list and they echo this in their daily lives.  This is a real gift. 

This year brought some great vacations...Watch Island in the Adirondacks and Truro in Cape Cod. Both fantastic, both gorgeous, both fun, both full of connection.   We have spent a lot of time with our families this year - in New Hampshire, New York and here in Vermont. We also were lucky to spend some of our vacation time with our friends.   Families together with kids of similar ages is a great way to spend time. 

Anna opened a new business, Struktur, with her good friend Sandra and this has been a welcome change. Sandra is a phenomenal business partner and they are off to a fantastic start.   Work for me remains highly engaging and fulfilling - I continue to feel super duper lucky to play a role in transforming the way children learn in schools.

We bought tickets to Sweden in 2015 and are headed there in the summer of 2016.  This is thrilling us already.  We'll be gone for almost 5 weeks, visiting Swedish family and traveling throughout the country.   We are so looking forward to this trip. 

I started taking yoga classes in 2015, and the funniest thing of all, is that I never anticipated how much I would love it.   It's perhaps the best thing that has happened to me this year.  Gifting me with a body wisdom and peaceful knowing that soothes even the tiniest part of me. 

Without a doubt we are ready to let 2015 go and we welcome all the shininess of 2016.

To Good Health in the New Year

Kuba has had a fever for over a week now....it began last week Sunday and still hangs on.  It's been an unusual illness in that he starts the day pretty peppy with no fever, but soon enough his energy starts to wane and the fever comes back, reaching as high as 103 many nights in a row. He's been to the doctor twice now - and today got some antibiotics for an ear infection.  Let's see how this changes things.

Skipping forward two generations, we come to my dad who went to the hospital on Saturday night...ambulance style.  He got sick last week as well....stomach flu, and then continued to decline all week long.  By Saturday - the day after Christmas, he just bottomed out.  His blood sugar levels were so low I thought he would go into a coma.  He was delirious and still hasn't recovered all of his mental abilities.   He remains in the hospital and will be until they can get to the root of his blood sugar problems and his memory loss.  We are now wondering if he's had a minor stroke.  It's been very stressful and worrisome and I have to be honest, I am not looking forward to old age...everything seems extremely fragile as the body begins to decline.

This past week has shown me the value of good health.   I prefer my children and my parents vibrant and healthy, so 3 days before the New Year, I am sending a wish out into the universe for a full recovery for both of them and wishes for good health for all of my family and friends.

Grandma & the Boys

Merry Christmas 2015

It's been an unusual holiday this year in one main way - the temperature.  It's been unseasonably warm with temperatures in the fifties and sixties even on Christmas.  Weird on the outside, but inside the holiday has been reliably the same.  We started out the season by finding our christmas tree on Aunt Sandy's property.   We saw an adorable evergreen tree sitting beyond a bramble of raspberry bushes and we decided to hike through them to get it.  After some hollering and a lot of snags, we got it.  Anders cut it down and we dragged it back up a small hill to our car.  The tree is beautiful and open, leaving lots of room for nests and birds - which are my favorite part of the tree.  With the Swedish straw ornaments and a lot of white lights our tree is the centerpiece.   

    

We celebrated with our Swedish clan a little early this year, and had a traditional smorgasbord on the 23rd with Anna's family.  The highlight of this year's celebration was Kaj!!  The newest member of our family - born January 14, 2015, he celebrated his first Christmas surrounded by family.   Anders and Kuba hovered around him the whole holiday - playing and guiding him around on his toddling legs.  He started walking at 9 months - just like Kuba!  He is adorable, happy and reminds me so much of Anders when he was a baby.   We had 13 for dinner that first night, and everyone pitched in to help.  Our table was beautiful with handwoven holiday linens and china from Sweden and adorable baby potted princess evergreen trees we dug up at Sandy's.  

                

                            

The evening ended with a few gift exchanges which included matching pajamas for the cousins. Hannah picked them out for everyone and it was such a great surprise!  Even Kaj got a pair!

The gang of cousins were so darn cute!Everyone was so darn cute!!  

The next night was Christmas Eve and we celebrated again with a big dinner for both of our families, including grandma and grandpa.  Grandpa will be 92 this year so it was a big deal that he made it out. He had a bit of the flu all week so we were afraid he wouldn't feel up to it.    This night was our Polish meal ~ full of history and tradition.  Sandy, Mom and I made pierogi and ushki on Sunday...enough for fifteen folks with plenty of leftovers.  We made cheese, sauerkraut, and mushroom.  We started out the night making wishes for the new year - person to person, and the Thelemark's got a glimpse into Polish customs. 

The evening ended after a flury of gift opening, with soooo many gifts to go around.  The boys were excited with everything and eager for Christmas morning.   They awoke early to packed stockings and gifts from Santa which included new scooters and scooting around equipment for the boys.   I think Anders favorite gift was an ant farm and some Pokeman cards, and Kuba hasn't decided yet.   He's been running  a temperature all week long and is not quite his usual zippy self.  

 

Enough is a Feast

"Gratitude turns what we have into enough."  

Melody Beattie

'Enough' is a feast.  

Buddhist proverb

This Thanksgiving we hosted a feast.  Fifteen family members swept into our home midday, which included all of the grandparents living in town as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins.    The boys were very excited to be home this year and to share this holiday with everyone they love.  I was super thrilled to create the menu with Anna and then set about making the meal as good as it could possibly be.  This also included using vintage Swedish china and linens, decorating with fresh flowers from my brother, and creating an assortment of conversation starters to lay at the table.   It was beautiful, the meal was delicious, and I am four or five slices of chocolate pecan pie happier as I write this. 

Gratitude for:

My parents,  both hovering around the ninety year old mark and still able to partake in all of the festivities.   

My mother-in-law, for bringing the best damn cranberry relish ever to the meal, and sitting and chatting with my mom for a long time, listening intently to her and making sure to speak up so my nearly deaf mother could hear her. 

My sister, for her zany, positive, always generous nature.  She bubbles in and sparkles and shines no matter what the occasion.   I love her energy so very much

My sister's fiancé, who remains healthy and provides for all of us the privilege of seeing serenity in action in the face of adversity.  He has been my hero for a long time now.  

My brother and his two children, for driving all the way from their home in Buffalo, to be here with us this holiday.  I know that my parents were thrilled that they came.

My niece and her fiancé, because they are pretty much the coolest and kindest couple I know and they sure do know how to spice mashed potatoes!

My children, two energetic, family loving, eager boys who could take down the house with their sincerity and joy. 

My wife, for her ability to stay steady on and go with the flow with all things family.  And for her love and for her patience and for her beauty.    

A feast for sure. 

 

Still Hazel!!

Hazel is in middle school now so we don't see her as much as we used to - but still, and I think forever, both boys will always be her Number 1 fans.  

S K U N K !!!

    Kuba and his friends made clay skunks at the party.

    Pizza

    Building skunk habitats

    Opening and reading birthday presents

    Watching Pepe Le Pew Cartoons

    Skunky goodie bag swag

Skunk hat and skunk shirt are just perfect!

Nailed it!

Each week at the boys school, students are recognized by their teachers for the character traits or actions the students have taken that are worthy of celebration.  This week Kuba was chosen as the student of the week.   His teacher, Mr. Leal, wrote this:

"Sometimes you meet a person so kind-hearted, funny, creative, adventurous, and grounded, that just getting to know them changes who YOU are.  I believe that Kuba is just that sort of person.  His positive energy and his thirst for knowledge inspires everyone in his classroom, including his teachers!  Whether he is making art, eagerly jumping into a new learning activity, befriending people on the playground, or making everyone around him laugh, Kuba follows the ROAR rules every day.  He truly respects every person and every animal on this Earth.  Thank you Kuba, for inspiring us and for making our days full of joy."

I am so deeply grateful for Kuba.   And thanks Mr. Leal for being the kind of teacher who really gets his students! 

This Beautiful Boy

My youngest son turns eight tomorrow.
My youngest boy.
Eight.
How amazing is that?
How amazing he is.

This is what I know about him...
He's beautiful.
Healthy.
Tall.
Generous.
Eager.
Funny.
Super duper bright.
He's happy.
Full of life and energy and joy and willingness
and BRILLIANT WHITE SHINY LOVE!
His hair, equally shiny and white.   And you just have to love that.
His joie de vivre is so big he makes lots of people smile.
I have never seen him be mean and for a little kid he has wicked ethics.
His internal compass for doing the right thing is fixed on kindness. 
He had excellent manners. 
He has random freckles, a big imagination and lots of creativity.
He loves babies.  And toddlers.  And 4 year olds.  Ah heck, he just loves kids.
He loves animals.
He loves to read non-fiction more than fiction.  Especially if it's about animals.
His favorite animal is a skunk and we are having a skunk birthday party on Friday for him.
He likes to sleep though he doesn't like going to bed.
He often likes to sleep in the "big bed" right between his moms.  He loves feeling cozy and warm and loved.
He has perfect pitch and has a musical ear.   He's always been this way.
He's learning how to play the piano.   He sings a lot.  Mostly made up songs - though he loves singing along to Laurie Berkner tunes.
He loves school.
He loves his friends.
He loves dumplings.  Chicken ones.
He is scared of the dark.
He likes to hold hands...still.
He LOVES his brother and the rest of us.
He has big emotions....big love, big anger, big joy, big fear, big enthusiasm.
I love him.   More than I could ever say.
Happy birthday to Kuba.  The best little 8 year old I know.

Halloween 2015

It was the year of the siberian tiger and the roasted chicken...costume ideas generated by the boys and successfully created by the Klima-Thelemarck team of halloween costume makers.   This year was so interesting....the boys are so much older, so much more independent about the trick or treating.   They went farther and faster than ever before and came home with oh, so much candy.   We had a bit of a split in the middle of our rounds, and I went along with Anders and his older friends, while  Kuba and Anna slipped behind with his younger friends, but we all met up  at the end.  We had plenty of time to dump out mountains of candy  at our house afterwards,  sorting and making lines of sweets and then negotiating and trading.   One of Kuba's friends - a real kitkat lover ended up with 41 kitkat bars, and Anders who hates chocolate ended up with just as many twizzlers and nerds.   Any way you look at this the amount of candy they had was insane.  We're working on negotiating a deal with the boys now so we can get it away from them.  No kid needs that much candy!!!  

Pokeman

It's been nearly eleven years now with the kids and in all honesty, my boys have never been the kind of kids to hound us for "things."    They never have badgered us to buy them anything, even when we are wandering around some groovy toy store.  They either never ask, or drop it if it's a no.   This has been true until September of 2015 ~ the first month they have ever experienced Pokeman.   And now - I've had finally had the great pleasure of knowing just what it's like to have a child (or two children,) who want something SOOOOO much they keep reminding and begging and pleading until they get it.  And here they are - sans shopping trip, happily trading and comparing Pokeman cards with their friends...health, damage and card name the most exciting thing of all.   

I'm Sailing Away

This is the way to do school, and a brilliant way to do science...on a sailboat, on a lake, under the bright blue sky.   What a great 5th grade field trip today at the community sailing school.  

RAIN

 

No better way to get a drink.

Plasma Cars

The thing is - the plasma car has been a huge part of our summer play.   Five year olds to twelve year olds - same happy engagement with this wicked weird moveable wheeled vehicle.   And honestly- I hope we can eek another few years out of it.  

Water Sports

We went to a friends camp this weekend, nestled by a small lake in central Vermont.  The lake is just lovely and the boys spent nearly every second on it.  They went tubing, canoeing, and even attempted water skiing for the first time!  Anders even made it up after only two tries.  Anna made it look easy as she sashayed her way around the lake.