January 2012
a QUADTYCH of TRIPTYCHS  Continuing our card's theme, each of us chose three subjects on which to write reflections for the year past or coming. EMMA
PERFORMANCES - This December, I was in the Nutcracker with the Ballet Leger. I am also active in the Theater of Western Springs. I am currently in a trouping class. Trouping is a group of seven or eight kids who put on a small play at libraries around the area. We are performing "The Trial of Goldilocks" and our shows will begin soon. In the fall, I also took a clowning class and we did skits for our parents. I had the most fun learning how to do spit takes.
FRIENDS - I made many new friends this year at school, and kept up with my old ones. I also have been enjoying interacting with kids who go to other schools. I meet people who go to dance with me, are in performances with me, and who are in my other extracurricular activities.
FOOD - I enjoyed eating new foods this year. At Lucca’s (our favorite local restaurant), I am choosing a wider variety of food. I use to just have penne pasta with butter and cheese. Now our usual waitress can't guess what I'll pick. My parents are also cooking more different meals at home. I help cook sometimes and want to do it more often.
SAM
PREPARATION - My cousins really wanted to have snow to play in when they visited us for Christmas. We were all overly prepared. My dad bought a new snow blower and a new shovel, my cousins brought extra gloves, and we all were expecting another big snow. When you try to be prepared it doesn't always work. We had almost no snow while people were at our house for Christmas. But, now that everyone has gone, its snowing.
COVERS - All of the music for Christmas has at least 1 other version of it. Some versions are good while others are just annoying. What I don't get is why if the song is redone by a popular artist, people are more likely to listen to it even if the song sounds bad. Really good versions done by less popular artists are often not heard.
GAMES - This past year, I played on 3 different soccer teams. I played on a normal AYSO
team, a second AYSO team that travels to play other regions, and on my Junior High's
school soccer team. All three teams were pretty successful. Both of my AYSO teams only lost one game and my school’s team won the conference tournament.
MARY
KIDS - Sam and Emma are maturing fast - soon to outgrow their parents and our little corner of La Grange Park. As a teenager, Sam has perfected the tone of annoyance (sigh), but thankfully absent is angst or indifference. Emma is closing the gap quickly - no one rolls their eyes with quite the flair that Emma can. When we were kids, it was easy to forget to phone home because there never seemed to be a phone around :) I had always wondered how that trick played out with the ubiquity of cell phones. Now I know. Cell batteries always seem to be dead and the electronic's industry seems incapable of making a ringer that can be heard when a phone is in a back pack or coat pocket. Despite it all, both are fabulous kids and we know our remaining time with them will pass far too quickly.
FOUR LEGGED KIDS - In contrast to our human kids, Maddie - our canine kid - is now 4 years old. While this might mean she's 20something in dog years, she seems to remain the equivalent of a human 4 year old in heart, energy, and emotional development. Every moment is preoccupied with "Where's mommy, I want to play!" I'm grateful (mostly) that she diligently looks after my health by ensuring I don't sit at my desk for longer than an hour at a stretch. Much to Pete's delight, Sam and Emma regularly take her for walks (not always sure who's walking who, though).
KIDS NOT OUR KIDS - As our own kids grow older and more independent, I've been blessed this year with visiting (and visited) tots, toddlers and young kids from across our extended family. Eilis (2yrs, Elizabeth and Killian's daughter) is a true whirling dervish and an ever cheerful presence giving hugs and kisses on Skype calls. Alex and Saioa (4yrs, Bob and Mercedes kids) are growing fast. They are clearly a mirror on their parents. On a recent visit, they both called out Ramones lyrics from the back seat of the car: "Hey Ho, Turn up the Radio!" The holidays brought a special treat when Nicky and Vicky (Killian's brother and sister-in-law) stopped by to visit with their tot Leo (1yr). To round out the brood of visiting kids this season, Our nieces Katie and Andie (who are nearly identical ages as Sam and Emma) stayed for a cacophonous and fun filled week.
PETE
BOOKS - With pathetically few deviations, my reads over the recent years have been the same as my kids (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Hunger Games). So of late, I am trying to read - or as likely, listen to - more grownup oriented books. Here are two recommendations I'll pass along: Blood, Bones and Butter, by Gabrielle Hamilton; and The Swerve, How the World Became Modern, by Stephen Greenblatt. As all teenage boys must do at some point, Sam is getting into Tolkien. So send me your recommendations and save me from regressing to rereading The Hobbit.
SOCIETY - The depressing sclerosis of our political system and economy have me reflecting on my studies at Carleton. At that time, Mancur Olson had me convinced that the US was in an irreversible decline. Professor Norm Vig once labeled me the class voice of "gloom and doom". I was reminded of this the other day when a radio "pundit" actually cited Olson; I heard what could have been my own voice of 25 years ago. With middle age firmly set upon me, I've observed a resiliency in American society that gives me hope, even as we enter into what will surely be one of the more depressing years in my life for policy discourse....and if not, then I will tell my grandkids that I saw this coming when I was 21 years old.
ON THE LOVE OF COOKING - I love to cook, but I don't cook well with others. One night over the holidays this year, my family compared me to Gordon Ramsay. With Sam entering High School next year, it's struck me that his and Emma's time at home is growing short. My resolution this year is to find enjoyment in time cooking with and passing more kitchen skills onto the two of them. Our suburban, middle-class, blended European backgrounds have left Mary and me without a distinct family cuisine and culinary traditions to pass from generation to generation. My hope is to give Sam and Emma the tools to develop their own traditions and find for themselves at least some of the satisfaction that Mary and I take in cooking and eating.
If you’d like to visit Chicago - or already have a need to travel here - please come stay with us. We promise to stuff you with good food and wine, and at least passable company.
Cheers to you and your family in this new year.
- Emma, Sam, Mary, Pete and Maddie
The Drew / Tiemeyer Family 741 W. Woodlawn Ave. La Grange Park, IL 60526 708.497.1252 mary@drew-tiemeyer.net 708.497.9253 google+ facebookpete@drew-tiemeyer.net 708.497.9252 google+ facebooksam@drew-tiemeyer.net 708.497.9282 facebookemma@drew-tiemeyer.net 708.497.9280
All artwork is derivative of something. Some more so than others. This year's holiday card photo is a shameless copy of a wonderful series of photos by Adde Adesokan. Please visit his page to view his work.
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