Again, Mine

End of the School Year

While the last week of school is always a whirlwind, there are some really fun things that happen. L's end of the year party was rained out so we improvised and had it at the school rather than the pool party that was planned. It was still great fun and everyone had a good time, including H.

K's end of the year party was held at a local water park. The day started off cool and overcast but the clouds broke and the sun appeared for most of the morning. It started raining as we were on our way home. Did I mention that the entire elementary school went along? Since we go to such a small school, we were able to rent out the small water park and have just our kids there. It really was fun. L was able to go, too, since our school really is family-oriented. We were all exhausted when we got home.

K got two awards on the last day of school. One was for the Headmaster's Honor Roll with Distinction, which means that she never had anything less than an A on her report card. She also won the computer technology award for first grade. That one cracked me up because up until now we haven't let her play on the computer at home. I guess she's a computer whiz at school!

From the ballet recital last weekend

I know this isn't the best picture but I really like it for some strange reason...

Whirlwind

The last two weeks of school are exactly that: a whirlwind. We've been so busy that I've needed to go to bed earlier than normal just to keep up with the pace. With something special/out-of-the-ordinary-routine going on each day, we've had no time to just be. I'm truly looking forward to not driving to school every day!

We had the girls' ballet recital last weekend and they were beautiful. K did both ballet and tap and did such a good job. And L is definitely a performer. She knew the routine better than anyone (her ballet teacher even commented on how well she did). I'll post pictures when they get downloaded. That's not an easy feat these days as S's new home office is upstairs where the computer is. And when he's finally done for the day, I'm busy with dinner and bedtime routines and don't feel like going upstairs to download pictures. Go figure. (At this point we're just happy that he has a job and has work to do. Even though it's a lot, it's work he's getting paid for.)

So what else has been going on? Let's see. L told me that her little friend (of the male persuasion), H, thinks that she's "hot." (That was her word, not mine.) H, thanks to his father, now calls pigs "bacon." Any time he sees a picture of a pig he says, "bacon." Insert exaggerated roll of the eyes here. L got promoted to Kindergarten on Tuesday night and sang loud enough that I could hear her above everyone else in her class. This dream of hers to become a singing star might actually come true. H has decided that he wants to start going on the potty. He's only made it once to the potty but we're working on it. My prayer is that we'll be done with diapers this time next year. One can dream...

That's the story of the last two weeks. My goal for the weekend is to rest and to finally get my house in order. It's a mess!

Happy Mother's Day

Many years ago, when S and I first were dating, I just so happened to be graduating from Auburn. I was in DC and had to go to AU to graduate so I had a party just before I left to celebrate my achievements (really just the one). Several friends gave me Congrats cards but S's card was the most special for several reasons.

First, it was from him. Second, it was a very unexpected card: a Happy Bat Mitzvah card. See, it's really hard to find Graduation cards in December so he went with what he could find. Never mind that neither of us are Jewish. So he crossed out Bat Mitzvah and wrote "Graduation." The funny thing was that the words on the card were entirely appropriate for someone who was graduating. "You're growing up", "You're moving to the next stage" kinds of things.

Why am I telling you this in relation to Mother's Day? Well, yesterday when my sweet children and husband brought me breakfast in bed, I opened the card from the kids first. Guess what? It was a Happy Bat Mitzvah card! They picked it out with no help from S. I know why they picked it out, too. The picture on the front was a very cute cartoon girl with lots of girly colors surrounding it. It was not at all appropriate for Mother's Day but I still cherish it. I guess they're more like their father than I thought!

A Heartfelt Thanks

Sunday afternoon while I was on the phone with Nana, I happened to glance at my trusty fridge calendar (if it's not on there, I'll forget everything that's going on) and realized that L had snack on Monday. I looked through my cabinets and found absolutely nothing that would suffice for snack. A trip to the store on Sunday at 5:00 was not what I wanted to do but it had to be done. Plus we needed eggs so I took H and off we went.

I came up with a good, homemade trail mix that I knew the kids would like, grabbed eggs and milk and went home. Now one of the things I love about our new car (the one we got last February) is the auto rear door feature. It was worth every penny the upgrade cost us. However, I was none too pleased with it when I opened the back and my 18 eggs fell to the ground. Oh, I was just devastated. 3 of them were a total loss and 6 more were cracked open but salvageable. So I had to come up with something that could be made right then other than scrambled eggs since we'd had those for breakfast.

I came up with a sour cream pound cake. It's S's favorite but we still had H's birthday cake hanging around and I didn't want two cakes in my house. What to do?

I gave it away to some very special people. The night H was born, our local fire department/EMTs were the first on the scene and really did the work to save our lives. One of them even came to see me the next morning in the ICU because he was so surprised that we'd actually survived! So I took the fresh pound cake to our local fire department with a thank you note and told the chief about the night H was born. I thanked him, from the bottom of my heart, for their quick response and doing all they could to get me the help I needed. It was a long overdue thank you! He gave me the standard "It's our job, it's what we're here for" speech but they were so much more to me that May night.

Our fire/police/EMTs are so overlooked and under appreciated. We often take them for granted until we really need them. We're certainly thankful we have them around!

Easter and Beyond

I realize Easter was almost a month ago but I have just now downloaded the pics from my camera to my computer. We've had lots of fun over the last month and here is proof positive.

Nostalgia

Tomorrow is H's 2nd birthday. In some ways it seems like it's been forever and in some ways it's flown by. All you mamas out there will understand. There are days you think will never end and there are days you turn around and your baby is two. I'm not sure if it's more difficult because he's the baby or because of the circumstances surrounding his birth. It's difficult nonetheless.

S and I were talking about that fateful night a few days ago, about what we remember happening. While it seems to still be so fresh in my mind, there are many gaps that I just can't fill in. There are times when I can talk about it freely and openly, sharing the amazing story of the night H was born, the night God did so many miracles I lost count. And then there are times when the mere thought of it all brings me to tears and I must move on to something else lest I become a puddle of mush.

H is now a beautiful two-year-old boy, thriving, a miracle in my home. Sometimes I think about what my life would be like if we'd stopped after having just one baby. Life would be simpler, I'd be freer to do more, there wouldn't be nearly as much laundry, the house would be quieter. But I remember that the reverse is also true: life would be emptier, there wouldn't be as many cute dresses that make K and L look like princesses and precious button-down shirts that make H look like a little man, and the house would be almost hollow. Those sounds of laughter, of tears, of little voices wouldn't be there. And my life wouldn't be as full.

Last year, when I put H to bed the night before his first birthday, I cuddled him, rocked him in my arms and got teary as I said goodnight to my baby boy. I know I'll do the same tonight.

Here's to H, may you have a happy birthday and try not to grow up too fast.