Family photos

 I know I've fallen off the blogging universe...but here are some recent family photos.  I've always envisioned having a wall of family photos...one taken every 5 years we've been married.  So it was time for year #15.

They are just getting so big (and Jeff so grey).

Letters

I used to love to get letters.  I still have some of the little notes that my mom would occasionally leave for me.  Sometimes she would even write me a long letter, just telling me why I was special and how much she loved me.  For a sensitive kids like myself, it meant a lot.

Now it is all technology.  While I have a box full of letters that Jeff and I wrote to each other, my kids will have lost their silly professions of love to the texting abyss.  Sure, those letters are ridiculous.  But it reminds me of when our feelings were fresh and new and raw and so sparkling with electricity.  I'm sad that my kids will not have that reminder when their relationships move into the comfortable and lovely later stages.

I am leaving my children for 11 days.  I am not nervous about it.  I know that I will not miss them much for the first 4 days.  I think it will get much harder after that...except that I will be distracted by all the amazing things that I will be doing in France.

But they won't have such distractions.  So I am leaving them each a letter.  They may be too little to need them...and they may never care anyway.  But I am trying to be as good a mommy as my mom always has been.  And I need to take the opportunity to tell them as often as I can, and as concretely as a letter is, that I love them.  So although I am typing them here for my own memories, I will put them in an envelope and leave each one on their pillows when we leave on Thursday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi, Michael!
I love you!  I miss you!
Have a lot of fun with Grandma, Grandpa, Memere, and Pepere.  Do not play too many computer games!  Grandma can help read the rest.
   Do you know how much I love you, Michael?  You are so clever.  That means you are a really good problem solver.  I think that you could figure out how to do anything you put your mind to.  I also love how you can make me laugh.  You are so friendly and fun and I am so glad you are mine.
   Be a good listener while I am gone, and help Grandma and Memere find stuff.  Try not to fight too much with Andrew and Lily.  Remember that a big hug can solve almost anything.  So if you are feeling sad...ask for a hug.
I love you very much!

Mom

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi, Lily!
I love you! I miss you!
   I know you are going to have lots of fun with Grandma, Grandpa, Memere, and Pepere.  Remember, if you are feeling sad, they will gladly give you a big hug and cuddle.  We have learned that a big hug solves lots of problems, right?
   Just in case you need to hear your Mom's words, here are a few:
   I feel so very lucky that you are my daughter.  Every day I look at you and can't believe you are mine!  You are thoughtful and kind, which makes me so proud.  I love that you are always up for an adventure and can make any outing fun.  You are super smart and most importantly a hard worker.
    I will still bug you to brush your hair and pick up your socks and tell you not to drop things.  I'm your mother...it's my job!  But I don't expect you to be perfect...you aren't supposed to be.  I will always love you, no matter what.
Love,love,love you,

Mom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi, Andrew!
I love you!  I miss you!
   Do you know how proud I am of you?  Even if you weren't my kid, I would be amazed by you.  You have always been smart.  But that doesn't make it any less amazing.  You have been blessed with a big old brain...in a noggin hard like a diamond to protect it.  This year you have made me even prouder.  You aren't relying on your natural smarts...you are working really hard and challenging yourself.
    I love you, and you are amazing, but you aren't perfect.  You aren't supposed to be!  But I will still bother you to put your laundry away and get high grades and to bathe regularly and to HANG UP YOUR TOWEL!!!.  Because I am your mother, and that's what I am supposed to do.  Just know I don't expect you to be perfect.  I will always love you...no matter what you do.
    Enjoy your week with Grandma + Grandpa and Memere+Pepere.  I know you are going to be helpful and loving, because that is just who you are.
    Even if you can't talk to me, know I am thinking of you all the time.  Jot down notes so you won't forget to tell me stuff!
Love you so much,

Mom.

Spring time fun

May is BUSY!  But fun.  Gotta love spring..

For Mother's Day, I got to go to a performance in Lily's class in the morning and Michael's class in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, I only got pictures at Lily's...I took some of Michael on my phone. 

Singing some kind of "I Love You, Mom" song.  Not a dry eye in the room.

 Me and my girl

Lily is working on a book about herself (just for fun), and she wanted to take a picture to put in it.  

Oh, how I love this picture.  Isn't she a pretty little thing?  And getting so grown up!

Andrew was star of the week in his classroom, and wanted to take in a picture of himself with his pets.  Munchkin the hamster is still alive and kicking.  As is Shadow.

Mother's Day we enjoyed take-out in our backyard and then a fire pit.  The kids found a toad...and it was entertainment for at least 30 minutes.  Poor toad.

One week day, we had nothing going on in the afternoon.  Because it was raining and all the practices/games were cancelled.  But it was a lovely warmish rain with no thunder, so the kids went outside to play in the rain.  I don't know why we are always rushing out of the rain.  It is so refreshing and fun to just let it get you wet!

Our last Sunday at our church.  We are leaving because there are just aren't enough kids/young families.  As you can see from the children's choir.  Only 3 children opted out of singing.  So...not many kids.  I bribed the boys with breakfast out to get them to sing.  Lily would sing every day if it was possible.

Andrew had his beginning band performance last Monday.  He spent most of the year saying he didn't want to do it again next year...until the month of May.  He seemed to do really well, so I'm glad that he is going to stick with it.  I think it was just too hard at the beginning ;)

We had a half day of school (election day), so we went to the Doylestown Kid's Castle.  It was a gorgeous day, and they had so much fun.

Here there are at the top of the tower...using extreme zoom lens.

Here is without the zoom.  They are in the upper left window of the castle.  Cool, eh?

Finally, some pictures of our softball star!  She just got her jersey this week...with only 2 games left.  I won't get into the details (it makes me too angry), but basically they switched her to another team several weeks into the season, and never told us.  So when the uniforms came in, she didn't have one because she wasn't on the roster.  Grrr.  But she is Lily, so she has been having a great time.  I just wish there was another, more organized, softball league in town.  She loves it a lot.

A once in a lifetime trip

In two weeks, I will be on the other side of the Atlantic.

Holy crap.

Backstory:  My beloved Memere left me some money when she died.  When Jeff and I received this, we both decided that we wanted to do something with it that would be meaningful and that Memere would have approved of.  (aka., not paying off the new siding).  We contemplated finally taking the kids to Disney World, but after 30 seconds we decided to go on a trip for our 15th wedding anniversary.

And since she was my Memere, afterall, we decided that Paris would be a fitting place.

I didn't want to leave the kids more than 7 days, so we are doing a 7 day tour of the City of Lights.  Of course, in order to fly for free, we needed to fly there a few days early and come back a few days later...so it is now an 11 day trip.

The night after we booked our trip, I had a dream that I was standing under the Eiffel Tower with my Memere and she was telling me to look up!

I think she approves.

But it is all well and good to dream about going on a trip like this, and another thing to just do it when you have 3 children to think about.  And, no, we didn't not ever consider taking them with us.  Memere didn't leave us THAT much money ;)

Have I ever mentioned just how wonderful our parents are?  How incredibly lucky we have always been to have them?  If our marriage ends up being a success, we will have to give a lot of credit to our parents.  They encourage us to nurture and cultivate our relationship in the most practical of ways...watching our children.  My in-laws will be here for the first half, and my parents for the second half.  We purposefully planned the trip for when sports will be over and school will still be in session.  The easiest time of the year ;)

I am creating a binder for them.  I am not nervous about leaving the children with either of them...I just want to make it as easy as possible.  As enjoyable as possible.

There are things that I cannot do.  Living in our house will be like camping for them.  We don't exactly live up to the standards of our parents.  But I remember the orange vinyl couch we had when my parents were in their 30s!  I know they haven't lived at that standard forever!  But it is hard enough to live in someone else's house.  And when you have to know that half the windows don't open, and the toilet downstairs clogs really easily, and be careful with that one drawer in the dresser, etc etc.  It's a lot to ask.  And we're not even mentioning the children.  This one likes butter and syrup on his waffle, but this one absolutely cannot tolerate even the sight of butter, and this one needs 2 instead of 1 waffle.  Oh.  My binder is going to be thick.

Most of all...I am so excited.  I have never been to Europe, and now I get to go with my favorite person in the whole world!  It is definitely a once in a lifetime trip.  

A season of sports

Oh, boy, are we in the season of sports.  This is our first season will all 3 kids doing 3 different sports.  And it is working out okay.  Amazingly the practice schedule has not been conflicting.  The trade off is we have something every night.

Monday- Michael t-ball game 5:45-7

             -Andrew lacrosse practice (IM) 6-7:30

              ***these two are amazingly at adjoining fields.  How's that for magical coincidences!

Tuesday- Lily softball practice 6-7

Wednesday- Andrew lacrosse practice(IM) 6-7:30

Thursday-  NOTHING.  Except Michael occasionally has his Monday game moved to Thursdays.  booo

Friday- Andrew lacrosse practice (travel) 6-7:30

          - Lily softball game (every other week) 6-?

           ***not at the same field.  But it has worked out somehow

Saturday- Michael game 8:45

                Lily game 10:30

                Andrew game 4pm

Sunday- Andrew game (sometime in afternoon)

Do you see how much Andrew has lacrosse?  DO YOU SEE???  He is on the travel team this year, but he is still required to be on the intramural team as well.  Some weekends he has tournaments instead of games...which are far away and take ALL DAY.  

We have so many things we want to do this spring...mulch, recaulk shower, sit down and eat dinner occasionally.  But instead we are just running here and there, preparing bags of entertainment for the non-sport kids, washing uniforms, getting all the gear together, etc etc.  Once we are at the games it is actually really fun.  But all the practices and prep for those games.  Ugh.

But when I get a little overwhelmed, I have to remember that Andrew is getting great physical exercise 5 days a week.  He is having a blast learning rules and new plays and all the rest.  He never complains (!) because he is so enthusiastic about this sport.  

And it is just a season.  Until the next season.

Lily and Michael entertaining themselves at one of Andrew's lacrosse games.

Remember how I stressed about ruining Lily's life by having Michael?  Let's all have a collective laugh at that now.  I've simply provided her with the ultimate playmate.  Good thing they get along so great.

I adore this shot of Andrew.  You can actually tell it is him!

 Starting off the game

 On the run!

Photo dump...March and April

I definitely got worse about taking pictures as the year has gone on.  Must remember to just snap random shots.

UD got all the way to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament!

I actually watched sports!

Jeff missed most of it because he was on a business trip in Europe!

10 year olds take blurry pictures!

Aunt Kate came to celebrate her 40th birthday with us.  We were rained out of NYC, but still had a good time.  My kids definitely loved listening to her storytelling.

Michael turned 6!

This is how I found Michael playing on the computer one day.  Helmet, foam sword, paper roll.  He is a strange child.

 Lily and her weird poses.

The spring sports have started.  Dear Lord...I need to do a post about each of them.

I only have pictures so far of Michael...hey!  The youngest child is getting top billing for once.

Sweet Jesus, a miracle.  Michael touching the baseball.  I'm glad we got photographic evidence of this.

 Could he be any cuter?

 Waiting to RUN...his very favorite part of baseball.  I think track is in his future.

 Ready to run home!

Obligatory egg dying photos

Obligatory Easter morning pictures...complete with rumpled pajamas, puffy sleepy faces, and hyperactive  sugar induced glossy eyes.

Oh!  I love her face in this one.

Andrew's fish picture in the art show.