The boys

Need I say more? This happens all of the time - who would have thought the youngest child would love the biggest dog so much.

More birthday talk

As you can probably tell from the slideshow below, Reed's Spiderman birthday party was great. Only five kids made it manageable and the fact that the guests have great parents, it made it fun for the adults too. We got some great ideas from the internet and ended up doing an obstacle course where they captured a bad guy in the process. We then put all of the bad guys into a clearing on our bamboo forest and the kids trapped them with their webs (silly string). We then had our Batman-wearing-a-Spiderman-mask pinata (this is what happens when you plan a party at the last minute). They bounced in the bounce house and played on the swing set, the weather was wonderful - we could not have asked for more.

Except that we had one more birthday to celebrate.

Our friend Grace is 17 hours younger than Reed, so we headed north to celebrate her big day on Sunday. Her mom, Elaine, had been deployed for over a year, came back at the end of last year and then had to go to training in Texas for several months - she was just reunited with her kids (hopefully) for the final time the day before Grace's birthday - the greatest gift ever for our sweet little friend.

Reed's 4th Birthday Party!

Happy Fourth Birthday Reed

Four years ago today a perfect little boy with dark hair that stood up on his head no matter what you did to it entered the world. He was healthy, happy and came out looking for food. If he was fed, he was content just sitting back and watching whatever was going on in front of him. He was a long, thin 7 pound baby for about 3 weeks and then he started packing it on. At one point, he gained 17 ounces in one week. I started calling him the smiling blob. He got his first haircut at 5 months because he actually really needed one. One of his first foods other than typical baby cereal was refried beans. He did not get his first tooth until he was 10 months old but that did not stop this little man who decided pretty early in his solid food eating career that baby food was too runny - he needed to chew everything that entered his mouth, or better yet he wanted everything we were eating.

We thought we were the luckiest parents on earth for the first year or so of Reed's life due to the fact that he was a smiley, content baby (not likeEvyn who cried for the first 12 weeks of her life). I will not mention how drastically this all changed, just as his pediatrician warned me it would.

Reed has grown into a quirky, reserved, hard to predict child. He has this incredible sweet, snugly side. He has a few favorite pets that he loves to pet and snuggle with. On the other hand , he is everything the text books say that boys are. He is loud and physical and he cannot keep his hands out of his pants at times. His absolute favorite things are cars and signs. His love for food has dwindled, and he would live off of peanut butter and jelly if we let him. He loves to go places and gets a kick out of being able to ride in Mama's car, Gary's "blue race car" and sissy's car. Although he says that Troy is his best friend, when it comes down to it, he and Evy are serious buddies, and although they can be worst enemies too, they have a blast together.

I will say that I am glad that he is officially a four year old and hope that his "threenager" attitude and mood swings quickly become a thing of the past. A girl can dream......

I cannot find his 2nd birthday pictures!! :(

Can you say "emotional rollercoaster"?

Oh boy! I knew today would be hard. It was even harder than I imagined given the fact that Reed awoke with a fever this morning - the last day of pre-school - another thing to complicate an already complicated morning.

Today was the last day of pre-school for both kids. It was also the day that Evyn and I were to go to her future elementary school for a mini orientation, which means that I had to find a way to get Reed to school at the exact time that Evyn and I were to arrive at the elem. school (thank you Ashley!) all while Evy missed the first hour of her final day of pre-school. Since Reed had a fever, he did not go to school and stayed home with Ashley (big sisters rule!) while Evy and I did our thing. We also had to miss Reed's class park adventure and picnic, but that is another story.

Although she was nervous, Evyn was so brave and went with the other kids and teachers to see the kindy classrooms and check out the school bus. The principal talked to the parents during this time. He seems to be a super guy, energetic and outgoing - not like the jerky, stuffy principals that I remember when I was in school. His daughter is starting kindy in the fall too, and he almost started crying as he was talking about how it feels to send your "baby" to school for the first time. I was very pleased with what he had to say and am so impressed with the school's reputation and community support. It is truly outstanding, and I hope that Evyn's experience there is too. We both left the orientation feeling much better about the big changes that will come our way this fall. I might even let her ride the bus to school on the first day like she says she wants to do. Is she excited or what?

We rushed to pre-school after that so Evy could catch the last part of her very last day at Trinity. This was sad. Her teacher cried so hard when we presented her with a book the kids had made for her. Did I mention how emotional this day has been? It is the end of 4 years that Evy has spent either in their parent's morning out program or in pre-school. She has had super teachers and sweet friends each year. Holly and I want to know where the time has gone. Here we are with this beautiful, wonderful, 50 pound partially toothless five year old who is so obviously ready for kindy. Definitely bittersweet. Im glad we have some time to digest all of this.

Memorable Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year is by far the most memorable, and not just because it was only yesterday. Our fun started Saturday evening when Gary and Ashley took the kids for an overnighter. They also planned to cook dinner for us on Sunday and offered to keep the kids until then, which was fabulous.


Saturday evening, we dined on a patio in an interesting, colorful part of town. We got an eye full, whether it was a possible drug deal going down across the street, feuding lovers taking a stroll to air out their dirty laundry, crazy man on a bicycle, an extremely drunk chick stumbling out of a bar - these are just a few of the things we witnessed, and I must admit we thoroughly enjoyed all of it.


Fast forward to Sunday morning, Mother's Day. We woke up to a wonderfully quiet house, drank coffee and went for a run shortly after Holly discovered a big problem at work. She had to take her cell with her on the run but was determined to multitask versus missing her exercise opportunity. So we get back and she has to rush to work. In the meantime, Grandpa and Holly's brother, John, head out to breakfast.


I was all alone, or as alone as one can be in a house full of animals. It was great....until the doorbell rang. It was the police. I was immediately worried, being alone and all. I assumed something horrible had happened and the cop was coming to break the news. Not the case. He was looking for Grandpa, of all people. Turns out that Gramps hit a parked car in a parking lot and did not bother to get out, leave a note or at least check for damage. He told John to shut up when John suggested he stop, and he drove away but not until someone got his license plate number. Yep, the cops were looking for our 72 year old Crash Test Grandpa, as we so fondly call him. At the officer's request, he returned to the scene of the accident and exchanged his information (after having to call me to go search his apartment for his insurance information). Gramps has heard it from all of us and was quite humbled by the experience. According to the officer, old folks do this quite often. Before the officer left, I did ask if he was going to put Grandpa in jail. As it turns out, he did not even get a ticket.

Later on, Holly and I headed to Ashley and Gary's house for some dinner and to gather up Evyn and Reed who were completely wiped out but still loving every second of being at "Sissy's new house." After a wonderful dinner, the torrential rain started. We tried to wait it out but then decided to just run for it since Troy and a couple of the old ladies are scared of thunder. Once we all got into the car, completely soaked, we realized that the kids' seats were still in Gary's car. I proceeded to get them and as I was running back to my car, seats in hand, I did a mud slide down the edge of the driveway. Maybe that is how my thumb got all banged up. Anyway, we finally got home, drenched, full and happy.

Mother's Day Tea

Reed's class invited all of the moms to watch them sing a few songs about moms as well as a few others they have been singing lately. Reed actually sang most of the songs. After that, they served us juice and cookies that they decorated to look like big flowers. They also gave us a card, a pin and a flower that they have made recently during craft time.

Even with Reed trying to rip the pin off of my shirt and having to be tricked into any part of his face being photographed with me, I loved every second of it.

The Weekend - the highs and the lows

We were lucky enough to have no rain all weekend long, which is a miracle considering all of the rain we have had lately. We started the weekend with another visit from Doug, Richmond's own Dog Whisperer. He needed a re-do on my video testimonial and offered some more helpful advice for Troy in exchange. This guy is really interesting to watch and talk to - his dog training stories could easily keep me entertained for an afternoon. Troy once again showed Doug how calm and good he can be. He even listens to the kids most of the time:

After spending the morning shopping and getting hair cuts with mama while I worked, we (even Troy) all headed to Milly and Robert's Saturday afternoon for our annual Kentucky Derby viewing party. The kids, especially Evyn, were totally into it this year. Milly printed out a list of horses, their colors and odds so we could all make our picks. Evyn and I voted for the Filly, Eight Belles, to come in second, which she did. What happened after the race was heartbreaking though. Evyn said that Eight Belles was in animal heaven with our other pets who have passed. She is getting good with the death talk which freaks me out a bit. Even with the sad ending, we had a great time. Evyn had so much fun that she and Milly planned a "girls night" with pedicures, dinner at E's favorite restaurant and board games when Milly gets back from her country-hoping European vacation.

I ran like a girl Sunday morning. It was a women's only 8K trail run benefiting cervical cancer. I was not thrilled with my performance (I'm sure it was because I did not have Troy by my side), but I did it in under an hour (my usual 10K goal). It was mostly uphill. Seriously like .25 miles of relatively flat field which promptly led to hills, hills and more hills. It was a perfect, almost too hot morning, and it is always great to support an important cause. Unfortunately, Evyn and Reed were sick and Holly could not bring them out to watch and cheer. I rode with two other women and we decided on the way back home that we would meet at a local park once or twice a week for trail runs, which I am looking forward to.

We also spent a bit of time this weekend playing the Wii - bowling in particular. We are totally enjoying it, however, Reed had a hard time understanding the coordination and timing with button holding/releasing. Apparently the little devil was just kicking back and watching our technique because he is now officially kicking our butts. All of a sudden, he is bowling like a professional and no matter how hard Holly, Evyn and I try, we can very rarely beat him. He even breaks a sweat - rosy cheeks and all - because he jumps and hops all over the den the entire time he is playing. He has even earned a special star ball that we did not even know existed and apparently is saved for the elite players. Geez! I really need to take a picture of him playing while wearing one of his new "wife beater" tank tops that Holly (calls "bitch slappers") recently picked up for him to sleep in. All he needs is a pair of cut off jeans hanging off his behind, some hanging open high tops and a cig behind his ear. :)

The Park

It is amazing what warm, fresh air and play can do. Even though it is Friday, I am not thrilled due to the fact that I have been working too many late nights lately, like more than the part-time that I signed up for. It makes me grumpy and weighs my mind down knowing that I have more than enough work to completely screw my weekend up. I have been impatient with my kids and feeling guilty because of it...blah, blah, blah - you moms know the drill.

We ended up going to the park to have a picnic and meet Reed's Buddy A and his mom. As soon as we got there, Evyn was spotted by one of her classmates, one of *my* personal favorites. :)Those two had so much fun. They even let Reed join in while he waited for his buddy.

Seeing that completely changed my mood and brightened my day. They sang songs while they ate their lunch, they shared some snacks, climbed, looked for bugs, blew bubbles, monkey bars, swings, you name it. It was nothing but cute, and I am so glad I drug my grumpy behind out of the house. These are the things that make me so happy to be a mom - the fun, the developing friendships, the excitement and watching my kids be kids without a care in the world.

They are now tired and I have a fresh perspective. That was time well-spent. :)