My Little Life

THEY'RE BACK IN MY ARMS!!!!!! Driving home from picking up my loves from camp...one of them (Dubya) received the "Tall Tale" award for always trying to get his friends to believe crazy stories and the other (Belle) recorded the prestigious "Camper of the Week" award, for being the all around best camper and for acing her Firearms Safety test!!)! She also received a Nalgene-style water bottle for this award! The stories and new friendships abound...they made great connections, Belle made a friend from Costa Rica (I was right, she was with the group asking about how to say different food words in other languages!) and loved her bunk mates. Dubya also hit it off with his bunk mates! Both kids are happy they went to camp, Dubya didn't really have any tough times, Belle said Night 2 was her toughest night, then she was fine!  Man alive, did it ever feel good to wrap my arms around them! Now, we head home to unpack and get ready to watch t...

You guys... We are ALMOST THERE!!!!!! 13 hours until I can wrap my arms around your necks and kiss you and love you and call you George!!! Or, you know, like Jack said, "Yoy". (Inside family joke...) THIRTEEN HOURS!!!! Today, I caught a glimpse of this on the camp blog: Seeing those genuine smiles made my heart sing! Can not wait to see you two tomorrow...morning can't come soon enough!

On our way to morning activities today, I called dad and said, "ONLY TWO MORE WAKE-UPS AND WE CAN GET THE KIDS!!!"...dad asked me how old I was, poop head that he is. In other news, WE'RE ALMOST THERE, KIDS!!! So close to having you back home...so, so close!! Eeeeeeek!! It's like camp knows I needed to see pictures of you...so far, all the photos with campers in it have included the two of you! Sure makes my heart happy to see you in those pictures. I wonder who you've made friends with and what you're favorite thing has been so far.  I seriously can not wait to have you guys back. To wrap my arms around you and hear all about your camp adventures. Our home just isn't quite the same without you two here...so I've decided, you can never grow up and move out, okay? We've got a nice bedroom in the basement where you can play video games all day when you're 35...how does that sound? ;) Tomorrow should go quickly...and then, we wake bright a...

After tonight, we will be over 1/2 way through..."over the hump", as Uncle Josh says! Dad left me this sweet note this morning...I suspect he's feeling the same way I am! I hope today was easier for you...in fact, I hope that your worry and unease was short lived and my anxiety over your lonesome hearts was all for naught. Today I caught a glimpse of each of you on the camp blog...one of you in "class" and the other on a canoe. Gracious, sweet loves, do I pray that you are enjoying yourselves! Seeing those photos made me heart a little lighter... (Photo creds: camp) Gram and I did some shopping today...it was good to have my mind and body busy, I find that when I am idle for too long, I start to worry. Funny story, at suppertime we were doing "Roses and Thorns"...my "thorn" was that not all of my kids were home. I asked your two younger siblings on a scale of 0 (not at all) to 10 (I'm lost without them) how mu...

Here I sit, 1:25pm, and wondering why today, of all days, is dragging by so slowly. How is it that they other days of summer flew by in the blink of an eye? Will it be this way all week? Today has been a bit easier for me...I hope you two have found the same. The vice grip on my heart was lessened, ever so slightly, when I woke up this morning. I knew we had all made it through the night and were just that closer to seeing each other again. (Man alive, you'd think it was all summer that you guys were going to be gone, not 6 days!) I refreshed and refreshed the camp blog until THERE IT WAS. An update. Not the camper photos I was hoping, no scouring each photo trying to search out my kiddos, but still an update. They spoke of the fun at supper time the night before, while the campers asked others how to say "food words" in different languages. I could imagine you two being a part of that conversation...oh, I can not wait to hear your stories! People keep reassuring me...

Oh my aching heart. All week long, I tried to be so strong for you two...encouraging you and cheering you on and talking you through your doubts and fears regarding camp. (Even while dad tried to sabotage my efforts with his, "But I don't want you to go! I'm going to miss you!!" exclamations. Ugh.) Then today, sweet girl, you nearly broke me. When you clung to your dad and your soft whimpers escaped your mouth? You nearly did me in. I wanted to scoop you up and tell those camp people, "On second thought...forget it. We're outta here." and all the while your brother grinned with excitement. I'll be honest, it was he that I was most worried about, not you, sweet girl. You with your quiet confidence, your maturity, your determination. I thought you'd breeze right through this. I think, if you had had a friend along, that it would have made it a bit easier...what I hope you'll discover over the next few days is that you do, indeed, ha...

Kids, particularly your own, are the most amazing creatures on earth, no? The love and adoration a mama feels is absolutely spectacular, no? You hurt when they hurt and you share their excitement when they're excited, no? So...lemme tell you a little story. Remember when this sweet pumpkin was born?  And I took her newborn pictures?  And she didn't cooperate one little iota but GOOD GOLLY is she ever cute and I can't say that I minded getting to hold her and feed her and cuddle her to get her to TRY to cooperate? Yeah, her. Anyway, when I was finished snapping photos of the little munchkin, my brother and sister-in-law were talking to me as I was (confession: half) listening as I looked through the photos on my camera. This is sort of what I was (half) hearing, "You know...and you...but we're thinking...for baby...that we were going to ask Belle to be her Godmother." SAY WHA????? My head snapped up and I got a little teary because I kn...

12 years ago, how does 12 years fly by so quickly? Seemed like just yesterday that she would tug at my shirt and say "dis" ("nurse") in church and she got her words mixed up and said things like "kash kash" (washcloth) and "mlet" (melt) and had cheeks so chubby it made you want to nibble on them. Now, she knows how to say washcloth and melt and her chubby cheeks are long gone, replaced by her long, lean frame. My girl is a radiant little ball of extraordinary wonder. She has a heart of gold, enjoys helping her mama out, loves little kids, is smart as a whip, neat as can be and absolutely, positively a joy to be around. She promises me that she won't be a "crabby teenager" and while I am sad to see how fast time is flying by, I am excited to watch her as she travels along her path in life.  This girl? She will do things. She will go places. "And though she be but little,  She is fierce." ...

So yeah. Drummers. What is it about them? I mean, Lars Ulrich TOTALLY made Metallica. Then, the drummer from Bon Jovi, Guns 'N Roses, and then, HELLO, Nick Jonas. Yeah, the drummers totally make the band. And there's something so...so... intriguing about drummers and the way they can make their arms and legs all do different things all at once. It's so freaky. Especially to my blonde mind that can't pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time. Anyway. Drummers. Saturday night, our church had a praise and worship mass, replete with a band. With a drummer. A 16 year old, adorable drummer. At one point, I glanced over at my sweet 11 year old daughter and noticed her captivated by the band and for a second, for just one fleeting, warp speed second, I saw my life flash before my eyes. That drummer? (I honestly don't know if she was looking at him, or just taking in all of the talent up on that makeshift stage...) That drummer is about the same age difference f...

My daughter has been a member of a class of girls that are...um...well, they'd make great cast members of the movie "Mean Girls" and it's been going on since Kindergarten. I recall her teacher saying, "You know, I've NEVER had a class like this. The girls will only play with the girls when usually at this age they don't care who they play with." and they were already exchanging phone numbers. My sweet girl has been at the receiving end of the meanness more than a few times and let me ask you something, if a child hurts your child, do you feel the urge to threaten life and limb on them? Oh...you don't? Yeah, um...me neither. *ahem* Anyway, we've recently been in the midst of more girl drama. Ugh. Girl drama. It's the pits. But this time, my girl was the one who had said somethings that were unkind. A classmate came up to Belle and a friend on the playground and asked if they "liked *Jennifer" (*name changed) to which they res...

Holy moly you guys...we did it. We're home. We're tired. We're right back in the swing of things, school for Belle and jammies 'til noon for me. :) And you know what? I've missed blogging. My computer battery died on Day 2 and being the uber organized person that I am, I discovered that I left my charger at home (along with one flip flop). Anyway... I received the warmest, squishiest, lovliest welcome home yesterday...signs and hugs and kisses and more hugs and "what didja get us, mom?"s. My souvenirs were deemed a success and I canNOT wait to show you what I got for baby girl. It's my favorite present ever. So, not sure if I actually put our trip to "numbers" but, we did 7 major theme parks in 4 days. Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld, and Epcot/Magic Kingdom. We ran out of time at most parks and I could've spent an entire day at Islands of Adventure. No, scratch that, I could've...

Eleven years ago, at approximately this very minute, I gave one last mighty heave and we welcomed our first born baby girl into the world.     Little did we know that the beautiful baby we were head over heels in love with, would become more and more beautiful with each passing year. This girl's heart? It is so wonderful. She radiates with joy and love and her beauty that comes from within outshines her breathtaking physical beauty. She is the perfect mix of girly-girl and tomboy. She loves clothes, has since she was a toddler (that's my girl!), loves getting her nails done, her hair done, and going shopping but just as much as all of that? She adores horses, her dogs, getting rough and tumble with her brothers, and getting dirty. Within the last year or so, I have watched her become a caretaker...she helps our daycare family with supper, she loves caring for babies and little ones and they quickly become comfortable in her care...she is definitely ...

"Beautiful Belle"...redundant, no? I absolutely love this photo of my eldest girl. Caught in a moment...unaware that I was there until I quietly said her name. Working on a project with her little brother down by the lake. This is what I love about photography...capturing "those" moments. Moments that would otherwise be lost forever in the blink of an eye, in the passing of a second. I played around with this photo in Lightroom a bit and I really like what I came up with...just the focus on that gorgeous face of hers...and those eyes. Those eyes that are caught some where between blue and green. And to think...her heart is even more beautiful than that breathtaking face of hers.

One year ago, around midnight last night, my babe was wheeled out of surgery and her surgeon confirmed that she was, indeed, a sick little girl with a nasty old appendix inside of her. Well, actually, he had just taken out that nasty old appendix. Wow...that was a long week. Now that we're a year removed from it, it sort of feels "surreal" too. I read back through all of those posts and find it, simultaneously, hard to believe it ever really happened and feeling like it was just yesterday that it happened. I realized that I neglected to tell you a funny story about the night of her surgery . We had been settled on the Pediatric floor, I had fallen into that sort of "sleeping with one eye open" kind of sleep when I realized the nurse was in our room I woke up, kissed my Belle and discovered she was burning up. The nurse confirmed that she had just checked her temp and was getting some Tylenol to treat her fever. Belle was starting to stir, so I quietly got close ...

When I was in my senior year in college, our school hosted a Father/Daughter Dance...it is one of the best memories I have! A few weeks ago, I saw a blurb somewhere (school newsletter? paper? flyer ? I can't remember) that there was going to be a Father/Daughter Ball in our community...because I had such fond memories of my own night dancing with my dad, I immediately (and very excitedly) mentioned it to Belle, who, in all of her tweenagerness was all, "sure". Then I promptly called my husband to inform him of the event and he was all, "YOU DIDN'T MENTION ANYTHING TO BELLE, DID YOU?!" And I was all, "Um...yeah? Why?" And he was all, "I wanted it to be a surprise !" And I was all, trying to bluff Belle, "Um...okay, oh, bummer, you can't go?" And he was all, "What?" And I was all, "Oh, that's too bad, she really wanted to go." And he was all, "Huh?" And I was all, "Gosh, well, ...

I'm sure you'll be glad to know that I survived our American Girl Birthday Party! (My checkbook may have spontaneously combusted, but me? I'm still alive!) The girls had a blast. I am so glad I did this now, because I'm pretty sure that at 10, this is the last year my girl will be interested in having lunch with her "dolly" (PS...American Girl peeps...how 'bout we not call them "dollies"? 'Specially with the older girls...). Anyway...I was really quite unsure of what to expect. In the end, I'll totally admit that I was expecting a " Disney'd " up version of a birthday party for girls. While it wasn't quite that, it was still pretty dang good! When we arrived, the girls all picked out a chair for their (here's that dumb word again) "dolly". We got seated, and something (intuition?) tipped me off that they weren't aware we had booked a birthday celebration. (Could have something to do with the fact that I...