ode to friends

Everybody needs a friend.

A friend to be extraordinarily silly with:

A friend to laugh with.

A friend to share you inner most snobbery with:

 A friend who shares your excitements, your indignations, your heartaches, and your triumphs:

A friend to lean on:

Lately I have been thinking about my friendships. 

I am so grateful to have so many amazing friends. 

Friends who get me, 

who laugh at me, 

laugh with me, 

who feel for me, 

friends who are there for me.

Thanks friends, new and old, for sticking around.

I am proud to call you my friends.

Well, most of you, anyway.

neglecting the blogesphere

A few weeks ago, after Jonas turned 11 we surprised the crap out of our kids and took them here:

The Happiest Place on Earth.
The place our kids had saved their cash for five years to get to.

That is unless you are Porter. Because it that case it would be your Biggest Nightmare on Earth.
Where lots of strange characters with extra large heads come to life and roam around every corner getting too close. Where extra loud music, and extra loud fireworks exist to torture your sensitive ears. A place that as you stroll around you can hear the screams of people being tortured on what they call "rides".

I have never seen a boy more in love with his home than the day Porter was able to wake up from his nightmare and return home.

The rest of us, however enjoyed the time of our lives. I took little to no pictures. I was just there, with family, having fun in the moment. I realized something by doing that. Vacations are awesome. I don't know if you have been made aware of that little tidbit, but don't take my word for it. Just try it sometime and you will see, just as I did.

A few days after we came home, Caleb saw a commercial on TV for disneyland. The tagline was, "Where dreams come true."

Caleb stood up, smacked his forehead and growled, "CRAP!"

"What?" I asked, confused.

He pointed to the TV and said, "Dreams come true at Disneyland.... I didn't know that when we went there. We HAVE TO GO BACK."

Someday, my son, someday.

The boy who made me a mom

Today, this kid is eleven.

ELEVEN.

That knocks me flat and also makes me reflect.
I can't help but feel the decade of his childhood has passed,
     and the decade of his youth is upon us.
The decade of him wanting his mom and dad has passed,
     and the decade of us trying to convince him he needs us is here.
The decade of total control has passed,
     and the decade of fighting for control is here.

The decade of pacifiers, diapers, sippie cups, sneaking into mom and dad's bed at night, public displays of affection, and trasparency has passed us by in a blur. A wonderful, happy, perfect blur.

We have embarked on a new decade in parenthood.
One where boundaries are tested, choices are made, trust is reluctantly given, and worry really begins.

It's time for us to watch the growth, the struggles, the learning, and the choices from a distance.

As much as it saddens me to see another year gone, I find happiness in seeing who this boy has become.

A wonderfully funny,
Keenly smart,
Thoughtful,
Wise,
and Mostly Respectful
Amazing kid.

And that makes us so happy.

Let's just hope we still feel that same way when he is 13.

Putting me in my place

We were out and about this weekend when we spotted a group of teenagers clearly on their way to a dance. The couples were dressed to match one another. Some were wearing spandex circa 1982. Some were fresh off the farm with fake sleeveless flannel shirts and fake beards. They looked ridiculous, seeing as it was so far away from Halloween and all.
But mostly what struck me was how loud and really obnoxious they were.
Brian and I looked at each other and smiled. We remember being loud and obnoxious. In fact, we were loud an obnoxious together on several occasions back in the day.

Hailey who was watching them carefully, said, "Why are those big kids being so loud and acting so crazy?"
I said, "Because they think they are super cool and super funny."
She asked, "How do you know?"
I said,  "Because I did the same thing when I was their age. I thought I was so cool and so funny...only really I was just annoying."
Hailey, not missing a beat, said,
"So,  not much has changed."

I laughed, shook my head, and realized how much I love my kid's sense of humor and their quick witted, little quips.

Even if it does bruise the ego a little.

Not Much

There is not much better than these:

(Dear Easter Candy, you are the best. That is all.)

There is not much better than seeing all these little cousins together:

There isn't much better than taking terrible pictures of yourself and your friends. One that makes one person look like a creepy background stalker, and another look like a creepy snuggler and yourself look like a creepy beached whale:

(I love my growing collection of photos that make me laugh at a glance.)

There is not much better than reading a good book (how many different posts have I said that same sentence in?) Currently enjoying:

There is not much better than having a lap big enough for story time with two:

Not much better than planning a huge surprise for the kids. One that involves pulling out the travel bags:

There is not much better than Friday.

Happy Friday everyone!

Traditonal

This weekend was conference weekend.

For my family, that means loads of traditions and even more loads of laying around in badly matching clothes in front of the TV.

Saturday morning always brings a dozen bagels honey almond cream cheese. mmmm.


Then we pull out the specially prepared packets of fun.:

(prepared by someone else, but printed by yours truly)


Then we sit.

and watch:

Every two hour break, I send the kids on a wiggle release.
I make them run around the house 30 times.
Ride their scooters down the street and back.
Kick the soccer ball against the fence 20 times.
Then there are the push ups.
The sit ups.
The jumping jacks.
The free throws.
Until I have sufficiently tired them out for the next session to begin.
Then we eat pasta salad and rolls as the next session begins.
We continue to stuff ourselves with beef jerkey and Swedish fish.

Saturday night while the men are out, I party with the kids.
This time we filled the hours with
trampoline fun:

play performances:

and serious ds game play:

Sunday we eat sticky buns, sausage, and over easy eggs.
We eat too much.
Every single year.

We pull out the conference bingo cards and play with Swedish fish.

Inevitably Swedish fish will begin to fly around the room until I lay the law down.

My view of the TV is almost always obstructed:

 

Everyone starts fighting over crayons and spots on where to sit and who got more swedish fish than whom. The family room is littered with cups and crayons and papers and blankets and assorted toys. And then someone starts wrestling someone, which turns bad quickly and ends in tears.

And somehow, every year, I am sad to see it end.

How was your weekend?

a place all my own

Having a purse/bag these past few months has been nice. I have no idea why it took me so long to acquire one. It is so much nicer than throwing my wallet into a diaper bag.

What is always in my purse/bag:

1. My awesome jeweled calculator circa 1990. A gift from my grandma. And no, it is not one bit embarrassing to whip this beauty out.
2. Notebook. Not always this one, I am always rotating notebooks, based on one I can actually find at the moment. The notebook is filled with weekly dinner menus and shopping lists.
3. A miniature blue ninja. Because you never know when you are going to need a miniature ninja.
5. Super adorable dollar store floral zipper pouch. Holds my girlie stuff. It's super cute, I know, but you can't have it. It is ALL mine.
6. Hair clips. Honestly, i have no idea why these are in there because my hair almost always lives in a ponytail.
7. Chapstick. Not one but two. Because I am a chapstick a holic. And I never wear lipstick.
8. Syringe. Because you never know when you will need to shoot up.
9.  Pens. Obvious reasons. And if it's not obvious to you, I am surprised you can read this right now.
10. Wallet. Because running errands without it is almost always completely pointless.
11. Cafe Rio card. For the Free meals.
12. Nerds. Because it's smaller than carrying around a juice box for Hailey if she has a reaction to low blood sugar.
13. Gum. Not just any gum. Cinnamint Orbit gum. My favorite.
14. Coin purse. My wallet doesn't have a spot for change, hence the need for a coin purse. In my life, coins are used primarily for gum ball machines and the occasional electric horse ride.

Not pictured in this photo, but almost always in my purse:
- Grocery store receipts, almost always from my neighborhood walmart and always crumpled up.
- Costco receipts with a smiley face drawn on it with a sharpie via the Costco door lady.
- Smarties from the bank, saved for child bribery.
- Crumbs, stray nerds, and empty fruit snacks wrappers. (Again with the bribery.)

What's always in yours?