The Tooth Fairy is on her way!

Chance has finally lost his first tooth!!! Yup, after days and days of waiting and wiggling one of his top front teeth it gave it up and fell out this evening. After frantically sifting through several soggy tissues, we found the missing tooth and now have it bagged and tagged for the Tooth Fairy. He asked me to help write her a note, though, asking if she would please leave the tooth since it is the first one he's lost. So we put a sticky note on it asking if she'd kindly leave this one behind.

I hear she's the understanding type so hopefully she'll leave it along with some money. (Did you hear that this one, that one, and the other one got $20 for their first tooth, Mom?!? Yikes!!)

We remember

Today is Memorial Day. There are parties, sales galore, TV show marathons, and plenty of other "celebrations". But let's not forget the real reason for the day off -- it's a day to remember all those who have served our country.

Our friend, Jim, is currently serving in Afghanistan and we've talked for awhile now about sending him a care package so today seemed like the perfect time to put it together. We printed out his wish list and went shopping; the kids had a great time choosing items from the list to send to him. Tomorrow we'll box it up and send it on its way.

The reason I'm sharing this with you is not to make our family sound good, it's to show that anyone can send a box to someone currently serving in the military and make a difference to them. Hey, even sending an email means a lot - when I replied to one of Jim's emails a few weeks ago he thanked me profusely as though I'd done so much more.

If you're interested in making a soldier's day please consider adopting a soldier. If you already know someone who is on active duty then send them an email...I guarantee you'll be so glad you did.

Mother's Day

It's the end of a long day and I'm full and philosophical. : )

I've been thinking about my mom a lot today...I know, that seems like an obvious thing to do on Mother's Day...but I've been thinking about how my own children have made me look at my mom in new ways. I've written here more than once about my mom/parents and how I'm starting to see things through her/their eyes. But today I read something in the paper that made me stop and think, again, about my mother.

I think I've written and rewritten this entry at least three times now so I'm going to keep it short and sweet (ok, I don't know about the sweet part).

Mom, I love you. I have always loved you very much. When I was a little girl I remember sitting on your lap and telling you I wanted to be like Peter Pan and never grow up. I wanted to stay your little girl forever. When I was a teen you and I couldn't agree on anything and I was the worst daughter imaginable, but you gritted your teeth and let me live. ; ) When I went to college I rediscovered the comforts of talking to and sharing with you...and I discovered that we really did have some things in common. Now, as a mom myself you share your advice (when asked...don't think I haven't noticed) and enjoy laughing as I grumble about Maia's latest antics (I know, payback time).

So what I'm trying to say (in my not-so-eloquent way) is thank you for everything. Thank you for giving me a wonderful home full of love and all the lessons and tools I need to raise my own children. Thanks, Mom.


One more thing...I have to say something about my mother-in-law, Sue. I'm very lucky to have a truly great mother-in-law. I'm grateful to her for bringing up Sean to be the man he is...I could go on and on about him but it's not his turn today. One of the things that makes Sue so special is that she's a friend as well as family...her humor and love make her a treat to be around. I hope that when my children are grown and married I can follow her example (and my mom's for that matter) as to what a mother-in-law should be.


I'm sorry if this seems sickly sweet or overdone...write it off to Mother's Day hormones or something...besides, it's my blog I can be schmaltzy if I want to.

This and that

It's that time of year again when Sean and I are scrambling madly to come up with our birthday party invitation. Each year it seems to get a little harder to come up with something original. Oh, the pressure!

In other news, I've been keeping busy trying to stay current with my other blog. In case I haven't bored you with it yet I'm writing a blog for the local newspaper about things going on in and around Henrietta. It's taking much more time and effort that I originally imagined (and I knew going in it was going to take a good amount of time and effort!) It's fun and I'm enjoying it but it's giving me a whole new appreciation for anyone who writes a daily column (for anything!) and also for journalists who do this for a living. Obviously, I wasn't meant to be a journalist...technical writer suits me just fine.

The kids are doing well and are eating us out of house and home...again. I think part of it must be this time of year because I seem to remember writing an entry about locusts about a year ago; I'll have to go look. Chance is doing very well in school and I'm constantly amazed with how well he's reading now and his math skills. Now if only he'd stop teasing Maia with how much he knows. *rolling eyes* Maia, on the other hand, is starting to read a little and scares me with how much she knows. I recently had a conversation with a good friend who asked if I'd ever thought of keeping her home another year because of her late August birthday. I told her that academically I think Maia will do just fine but she may need some work on following directions and staying on task. I think if I kept her home she'd start sneaking on the bus with Chance in the mornings just so she could go to school!

Sean is doing well and recently was in New Orleans on business. While he was there he had a chance to do an amazing cache that took him to the top of one of downtown's taller buildings where he got a guided tour of the city. The pictures he took are amazing but I can't begin to tell you how jealous I am!
In other Sean news golf starts up soon and he's chomping at the bit to get out on the course. I hoping that now that the kids are older and, in some ways, easier that he'll be able to get out golfing more. I earn lots of wife-points when I "order" him to go golfing on the weekend. ;) Hopefully, this year he'll be able to take Chance with him, too. Maybe one of these days I'll dust off my ancient clubs, take a few lessons and we can all go. Maybe.

That's about it for now. All's right with the world and life is good.

I did it!!!!

This morning I ran my very first 5K!!! As I mentioned in my previous post, my friend Shawna coaxed me into running this race with her...even though I didn't think I was ready to start racing yet.

We met up in Webster for Meaghan's Run, a charity run to benefit lung cancer research. I was so nervous I barely slept last night, and this morning found me antsy and quietly nervous. I was grateful that Shawna was there with me to guide me through the process and provide much-needed moral support. Thanks so much, Shawna!

The race course was mercifully flat and I was able to run much longer/farther than I thought I could. Sure I walked a bit, I knew I would have to, but I finished with a fairly respectable time for someone who has never run a 5K before. I'm so excited and proud of myself...I know it must sound very goofy, but I don't care. It's my blog, I can brag if I want to.

So, when's the next race?!

Whose idea was this anyway?!

A few years ago I had a crazy idea that I would run a 5K before I turned 40. Well, 40 has come and gone and I didn't get that 5K in.

Fast forward a few years and I've allowed myself to be talked into running a 5K...brace yourselves...this weekend! I am sooo not ready for this!

To be honest, I'm glad that Shawna is urging me to do this run with her. I know there's no way I'll be able to run from start to finish but I'll at least have entered a race and done it. Hopefully there will be other races this spring/summer and I'll be much better prepared for them.

Wish me luck!

The good, the bad and the ugly

Any parent knows the highs and lows of parenting are vast and varied. There are those wonderful moments when you want to buy a billboard proclaiming your kid's most recent achievement and then there those other times.

Today's one of those "other" times.

I came home from an afternoon get-together with friends to find Chance in a funk. It seems that Dad had the temerity to tell him he needed to take a break from playing a Wii game. *big sigh* I offered to read a favorite book to him to help get him out of his funk but he was having none of it.

As I sat in his room trying to explain to him why Dad was being so "mean" I got another one of those glimpses into my own upbringing. I was talking to Chance about having to say no sometimes and I could sense what it was like for my parents (who it felt like said no all the time). I finally understood how difficult it must have been for them to tell me no...whether it was something big or little, it's never easy to say no when it's something that your child really wants.

I know this time it was something minor and that there are much bigger things on the horizon. I know it's only going to get more difficult and complicated with every passing year. I know we'll need to stand firm if we want our kids to be the kind of people we want them to become. I know some of it is going to suck. I know someday they will understand when they have kids of their own. But I also know that it's going to be a long haul between Point A and Point B.

Weekends are too short

RT Tickets to Dayton ~$200
Airport parking: $36
Mediocre airport food: $10
The look on a friend's face when you surprise her? Priceless

Last weekend I got to surprise my dear friend Helen...in Kentucky!

Mark (her husband) and I conspired to surprise her and it worked perfectly. The look on her face when she opened her front door and saw me was great. Ok, except that she cried. I'm telling myself she was happy and not looking like "Oh crap, she found me!"

The funny thing was, I went down there to cheer her up (she's missing her family and friends up north) but really it seemed more like I was the biggest beneficiary of the trip. They treated me like royalty, took me to all the best spots, fed me like I hadn't eaten in years (and now I shouldn't eat for years!) and made me feel so incredibly welcome. In the end, I felt like it was a sublime Mommy-getaway for me...that wasn't s'posed to be the way it works!

The only downside was having to say goodbye. Sadly, the old cliche is true: You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. Sean and I never realized how incredibly lucky we were to have such wonderful friends as our neighbors until they moved away. Hopefully some day they'll move back up here and we'll be able to pick right up where we left off. Until then, I think there may have to be some more surprise visits. ;-)

Careful what you wish for

Our local paper has community blogs for each of the suburbs surrounding Rochester. For 6 months or more they've had a terrible time with their bloggers for our town. There have been goofy posts, sporadic posting schedules and other issues. So, when they put out a call for a new town blogger I found myself compelled to toss my hat in the ring.

I got it. *gulp*

You see, here I can rant, brag, and rattle on aimlessly and it's only a rare few who will stay long enough to read a post or two. Now I have a potentially bigger audience and I'm nervous as all get out. My biggest worry is that I'm not thick-skinned enough to deal with the inevitable boo-ing and hissing. (Ever the optimist, aren't I?)

On the upside, Sean is terribly proud of me (at least that's what he tells me) and I'm actually looking forward to having an outlet for my writing again. As I told Sean, it'll be nice to be published again...even if it is only a blog.

Now, if only I could find that novel that ought to be lurking inside of me...then we'd be talking some real author status! ;-)

Catching up...again

Yet another post where I'm playing a month's worth of catch-up. As if the masses are awaiting my every post with twitching excitement.

Yeah, probably not.

But in case you've been wondering what has been going on here then, by all means, read on.

• Chance celebrated his 7th birthday! Sean and I are still trying to figure out where the time went. Honestly, I look at him and cannot believe that it's been 7 years already. But then all I have to do is look at him and how tall he is and how he's looking like an honest-to-goodness big boy and I see those years clearly.
  
• Speaking of Monster, one of the less welcome presents he got for his birthday was a nasty virus! It hit just days before his birthday, gave him the day off on his actual b-day and then returned immediately following. At least it was a considerate virus.
• I have my appointment to register Maia for Kindergarten. Oy! Now, if you know me you know I'm not one of those weepy moms who gets misty-eyed every fall when Junior boards the bus; nor am I going to get choked up about registering my youngest, nay, my baby for Kindergarten. However, I am a little shell-shocked that she's going to be entering school this fall. Man, where does the time go?
• Our dear friends and former neighbors were up for a couple of days this month. Maia and I got to see them but it wasn't for nearly long enough. We all miss them terribly and may have to break out the GPS and drive down to see them before too long. Honestly, I wish someone would get around to inventing transporter (like in Star Trek) so we could pop in to see our family and friends - life would be so much easier that way.
  
• Sean and I don't have any bullet-worthy updates. Sorry.

I think that's it. Exciting stuff, isn't it? Yeah, I know, not really. Just hit that "Next Blog" button now.

Journeys

Please don't be disappointed but this isn't going to be about the 80s band.

I've noticed a recurring theme popping up in various conversations over the last week or two and feel that it's some kind of 'sign' that I should write about it. It's the idea that we each have our own journey through life that we're meant to travel. Now, I realize this isn't exactly original or anything...after all, hardly a night goes by that you don't see a diamond commercial for Journey necklaces...but several conversations later I feel compelled to put something down in print. (Feel free to skip all this if you're feeling it's a tad too trite.)

It seems as though we all have trials and circumstances that we face in life that form who we become next. We're all evolving and changing (some just more glacially than others) and our truer self emerges after each test. What really makes it interesting is thinking about how the really unpleasant stuff in life can change us for the better. For example, Sean and I had a discussion about Chance recently that centered on friends. We were both relating our unpleasant school-age stories of unpopularity and how we were bullied (in one way or another) and talking about how those awful experiences shaped who we are today. At some point in the conversation I told Sean that I would happy if Chance became a man just like his dad, to which Sean replied that part of who he is stems from the unhappiness years ago. Do we want to shelter Chance from the bad experiences and "risk" (for lack of a better word) him not being shaped into a better man?

No one can predict what children will become, they have their own journey to travel and experience. We can try to smooth the path before them but would we really be doing the right thing by them?

In another example, I was telling a friend about the history behind Sean and me. I told her how we met in college, dated a little, I got married, divorced, and Sean and I reconnected and eventually married. (That's the Cliff Notes version...you don't have time for the unabridged version.) She said what most people say: "It's too bad you two didn't just get married way back then." Again, the conversation became one about personal journeys. I know that if we'd gotten married back then, fresh out of college, that our marriage wouldn't have been what it is today. I needed to go through the experiences I had in order to fully appreciate who Sean is and what a good marriage is supposed to be about.

Anyway, I feel like I've done a poor job blogging about life journeys and their lessons...but I had to get it out in print. Just do me a favor: if you've made it this far without surfing off to more exciting places, please share your journey. I'm interested in reading other thoughts on this topic and not just my own musings.