My Little Life

I've suddenly found myself at an interesting "phase" of life. I'm now that mom who looks at her friends with young babies and I feel everything. EVERYTHING. All. The.  Things. Like, when did I suddenly become the "old" mom of the group? And, where did my babies go? And, how on earth do I have a 21 year old?! TWENTY-ONE YEARS OLD, PEOPLE! How can that be when I feel like I'm only 26?! Surely someone is playing tricks on me. But then, something happens and I smacked upside the head with the reality that yes, indeed, I am that "old" mom. For example, my middle child broke his hand a couple of weeks ago. Broke a bone in his hand clear through...no teeny little fracture or anything, but a bonafide break.  Once upon a time I would've been sick with worry. Probably teary eyed and weepy over the whole thing. I would've made him a bed on the couch and he would've gotten gifts to wish him well and I probably would've wr...

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...

Why yes, I did, indeed, just use a hashtag in the title of my blog post, but only because: Dubya Did FL!! (And yes, that was the Insta hashtag that I used to document our trip!) Remember the fabulous 11th birthday tradition my parents have with their grandchildren? Well, guess who just turned 11? Yup...my sweet, big hearted, non-stop talking, thrill ride loving middle child turned the big ONE-ONE. So, without further ado, let me bring you up to speed on the whirlwind trip that is our 11th birthday FL tradition...(oh, and I "get" to go along, but I pay my own way!) First up...Dubya's first airplane ride. Gosh dang is it cute to watch a first time airplane rider. At least...I think it was cute. Maybe it was cute? I dunno...I was chillin' with a little Valium coursing through my veins, so who knows, really, how "cute" his first plane ride was. :) (Actually, I don't get that zonked from the drugs...it just leaves me a little chill...a little "...

Have I mentioned we're remodeling ? ;) Oh, I have? Silly me...I wasn't sure . Anyway, you know how they say "If a marriage can survive a home remodel, it can survive ANYTHING."? I'm starting to see glimpses of where that saying came from. The other night, we were DEEP in the throes of ripping stuff out. I was all "full speed ahead" and let's just get everything ripped out...while my hubby, bless his heart, would put in a 12-14 hour day at work then come home to me, bouncing off the walls, wanting to "TEAR OUT ALL THE THINGS!!!!"...and he'd oblige and rip something out. So, one night, we (and by "we" I mean "he") was working out getting a cabinet out of our laundry area. This cabinet was deep, with only one door, and he had to climb into it to unscrew the counter from the cabinet.  While in said cabinet, he asked Dubya to "Grab me a Phillips screw driver." Dubya quickly ran over to this pile of scre...

So, right after this post, we headed down to the "big city" to participate in a tournament with Dubya's travel baseball team...and guess what? They took first place!! Yay!!!! And guess what else? Now we get to commit to ANOTHER full weekend of baseball. Half of me is "yaying" about this while the other half of me is "boo hissing" about this. What I'm trying to keep in mind, is that this IS family time. It is what we make of it, right? I mean, sure, we're not at home all together, but we ARE together...and we usually try to do something fun as a family while we're at these tournaments. For example, this weekend we hit Minnehaha Falls...a cool little "urban" park with a waterfall that is absolutely ROARING currently.  It recently made the news because the water is actually "backing up" and causing flooding above the falls. The park has these cool little bikes that you can just hop on and tool around t...

It was the eve of Christmas Eve...the children were scattered about the house, playing nicely, the Mr. had just made a run to my parent's to deliver some crock-pots when Baby Girl cocked her ear to the side and said, "Who's crying, mama?". "No one is crying, hon, that's Belle singing." (She was in the shower, singing away.) And that's when I heard it...coming up the stairs...crying. From Dubya...and stammering, "Mom, I...I didn't mean to...I..."...and I said, panic rising in my chest, "You didn't WHAT?". Hambone, who had accompanied Dubya up the stairs said, "Mom, something hit the TV." Now...let's back up just a sec... For the first time ever, in our whole lives, the Mr. and I went shopping on Black Friday. There was a great deal on TVs at Sam's Club and we thought, "what the heck, let's see if we can get one". See, we've lived our entire adult lives with junk. A TV that I rec...

10 years ago, I had just spent my first night at home as a mother of three. I was exhausted, emotional, and totally and completely in love with the adorable bundle of blue in my arms. Sweet Dubya was the most amazing baby. Chubby, laid back, self soothing, happy, and cute as a gosh dang bug's ear.  We won't talk about the turn of events that happened when he turned 18 months...how it was like somebody flipped a switch and my laid back baby became a bulldozer of a toddler and his mantra (you know, IF 18 month olds had mantras) was "WRECK ALL THE THINGS!!".  Good thing he was so cute...and that sweet little "side dimple" near his temple would peek out every time he got that twinkle in his eye and grinned mischievously and gosh, how do you get mad at that?! Darn side dimple. Gets a guy out of trouble every time. 10 years. One decade. I have been blessed immensely by being this amazing boys mama. I am so very proud of his huge, tender hea...

Seriously, where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday that every time the house got eerily quiet, I could bet that something was being cut apart, no matter how high up I put the scissors. Comforters, doll hair, doll fingers...nothing was safe. Not even the sugar. I vividly remember the stage that whenever my sweet boy had something he wasn't supposed to have, he would throw it as soon as you went after him to take it...which means that the time he picked up my parents' large glass vase and I yelled "DON'T CHASE HIM!!!" everyone knew to stay calm and act like nothing was awry as someone snuck up behind the little stinker and grabbed the vase out of his pudgy little 18 month old hands. How is it that he is nine years old today? This boy that makes my heart swell with joy? Who has a heart bigger than anyone I know...a strong, sturdy, "built like a brick sh*t house" body with a heart so soft and sensitive it belies his hearty exterior...