Annnnnd we're back!

It has been over two years since my last post.  Ho-Ly Cow.

As one might expect, a whole bunch has happened since October 2012.


Here's an update on [them]...

[Jack] 

Jack is now in third grade and will be turning 9 next week.  While I am proud that the things that come out of his mouth are more intelligent these days, it has caused a serious lack of JACKtionary material.

[Reese]

Reese just turned 5 and will be starting kindergarten in the fall.  She definitely marches to her own beat, which I think is fabulous.  We will see how that plays out once school starts...

Also, while things that come out of her mouth are hilarious...they are also hilariously-innocently-obliviously-inappropriate...which make them questionable to post on the interwebs.  But since I don't really care what strangers think, you may see some REESEtionary pop up from time-to-time.  

[Cooper]

Wait.  What?  Who's Cooper, you ask?

Oh yeah, we had a baby.

Cooper was born in June.  He wears a helmet (hopefully for not too much longer), and is the sweetest, most laid back baby on earth.  He's my ham sandwich and my Cooper-Pig and I sometimes want to eat his face (in the most loving, un-cannibalistic way imaginable) - which is totally normal, you know.     

.... And here's an update on [us]...

We started to outgrow our townhouse, so we put it up for sale in January 2013.  The listing expired with no legit offers, so we had to re-list in June (or was it July?) of the same year. 

Finally in September 2013, we sold our house!  But, hold on...the government temporarily shutdown our buyer's special mortgage program...

Then late October 2013, we were back in business. And oh, the buyer wants to close in three days.  THREE DAYS. ::insert panic here:: So we packed like maniacs, put everything we owned in a U-Haul and made it to closing (albeit 5 minutes late...).  Did I mention I was in my first trimester with Cooper during all this?  Hell, I tell you.  Pure hell.

But we moved into a single-family home with a yard and more bedrooms and a basement that needs finishing.  Calvin has even slimmed down tremendously from the almost-daily chasing of the neighbor's dogs along our fence line for the last year, and his spanx are fitting him nicely these days.

The Husband, with the help of an amazing group of family members who lent expertise, labor and tools and who worked for beer, put a deck on our house over the summer.  It took a couple months to finish, but I look forward to being able to enjoy it more once the snow melts this year.

The latter half of 2014 was spent adjusting to life with the newest member of our family, celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary in October, and enjoying the holidays. 

Happy New Year!

Silent reverie.

Sometimes a visit from an old friend can really help put your life into perspective. Over the weekend I served as host for a comrade I hadn’t seen in the upwards of about 14 years (mas o menos).

The whole visit was incredibly surreal.

Her free spirit has taken her places I could only dream of going, and I am in awe of all she has accomplished. I felt a bit - for lack of a better word, boring - describing where my life has taken me over the years. Now, I don’t necessarily have any regrets, but I do wish I had more to say (and more time in which to say it). I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her stories and reminiscing over the past while looking at our 6th grade yearbook (while drinking a semi-awful bottle of cheap wine). The following morning we said goodbye…and I am slightly embarrassed to admit the wave of emotion that overcame me as she drove away in Clark (a van that looks to have just as many stories as she…).

At the beginning of 2012 I had two goals for the year:

1. Graduate in September, and;
2. Apply for grad school

After she left, I had time to reflect on the last few years of my life. I am proud of who I am and where I am in life, but I decided that because almost everything I do is to give my family the life they deserve - I need to do something for me. On that note, I made the executive decision to add two out-of-character goals that I hope to accomplish before the end of the year…

1. Get a tattoo. Somewhere inconspicuous because I am a coward.
2. Fly (yes, I said fly. Let’s all gasp collectively ::gasp!:: Are we done? Moving on…) to NY as a graduation gift to myself…or an anniversary trip for JP so he can soak up the land of his beloved Yankees. (yarf).


Thank you for coming to visit, HF. I can’t wait to get together again soon; hopefully before another 14 years goes by.

…I hear my voice
And it’s been here
Silent all these years
I’ve been here
Silent all these years…

Toothless.

Jack would like to share with the interwebs that at 5 years, three months, and 26 days old - he has lost his first tooth.



At 10:30 pm the tooth fairy attempted to do her tooth fairily duties. It was, however, unsuccessful. Jack shot up in bed, looked JP in the eyes, and exclaimed "I'm waiting for the tooth fairy!!" We called it a dry run.

About 30 minutes later he was finally asleep...with his hand under his pillow protecting the tooth. Crap.

Thankfully I the tooth fairy was able to grab the goods, make a deposit, and get the heck out of there without waking the child. Never in my life had I ever imagined that I would be sneaking into my child's room, cash in hand, trying to steal his teeth.

The next morning as Jack emerged from his slumber, squeals of excitement rang through the hallway. The tooth fairy left $5, which Jack promptly shoved into his piggy bank.

::Side Note:: I think we got 50 cents for the loss of our first tooth when we were little...must be inflation.

One of the (big) Boys.

Jack's snowmobile surprise on Saturday was a hit! My Dad and brothers made him a track in the backyard. Although it was a little rocky at first, by the end of the day he was doing really well! There was only one casualty of Grandpa's bushes and one minor incident in which my brother literally had to superman off of his snowmobile to catch jack before he took off into the slough.

Suiting up...



One of the boys...


It was a good day.

25.

I turned 25 on Sunday. The moment I woke I was certain that I had miraculously sprouted 10 grey hairs overnight…well, I probably would have had I not been coloring my hair since I was in 9th grade. Believe you me, this blondie will never wholly admit that she’s really more of a brunette...even if she just did. Of course JP in his 31 years, rolls his eyes and has no sympathy.

ANYWAY.

It was a good day, aside from my Saturday pre-birthday date plans with the hubby being put on hold until after the holidays due to the righteous blizzard of 2010 that piled up a 4 foot snowdrift smack in the middle of our driveway…eventually leading to an amazing 8ish foot snow bank blocking ½ of our driveway due to a craptastic snowplow job…but that’s another story. So instead of dinner and a movie, we stayed in and I baked cookies with the other 3(ish) foot man in my life.

Sunday morning as I crawled out of bed I found myself ready to chase Calvin around the living room as to take away the stuffed animal he retrieved from Jack’s room. Usually the chase ends only when I can distract him with something else; but this day he came right to me and dropped the bear at my feet…and of all the stuffed toys he could have chosen, this was the one he brought me:


He even knew it was my birthday.

The rest of the day involved a lot of running around to make up for errands that could not be run due to the storm. JP even gave me the most spectacular red Kitchen Aid stand mixer (which actually would have been convenient to have on Saturday while I was curled over a mixing bowl stirring cookie dough by hand). I guess he enjoyed watching me struggle. Jerk. Later I found out that part of the reason he ran out of the house on black Friday and shelled out the money (albeit significantly discounted) for the mixer was that it has an optional meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachment that you can purchase separately. If he thinks that he is getting a dead deer carcass anywhere near my mixer to make venison sausage, he has another thing coming.

Embarrassing my child, one outfit at a time.

I remember when I was little my Mom would buy me these horrible outfits for me to wear to school. The most awful of which were saved for school pictures, only to have them permanently encased in time as a reminder of what a dork I was. I’m sure she didn’t realize it at the time (or maybe she did, but just didn’t care), but even at 5-years-old, I did give a hoot about what I wore. After a conversation that began with a simple request to my Mom to stop by Target on the way home from work to pickup a dress for Reese, it got me thinking:

I wonder if somewhere down the road Reese will feel the same way about the clothes I pick out for her as I did about the clothes my Mom picked out for me?

The conversation was all via email and went something like this:

Me: I found the cutest dress at Target on my lunch break, but they didn’t have it in Reese’s size. Could you stop by the one by your work and pick it up for me on your way home?

::this request was followed by a picture of the sweater dress I picked out::

Mom: I could pick it up tomorrow, but that dress is butt ugly.

Me: I think it's cute! You really think it's ugly? It looks just like those sweaters you wear...except it's a dress.

Mom: I haven’t worn a sweater like that in years – and yes – it’s just about the ugliest baby dress I’ve ever seen.

Me: It would look cute with sassy baby leggings.

Mom: And a coat over the top…

Me: ::inserts photo of pink argyle baby legs::

Mom: Now you’re going to make the kid wear argyle socks – Do you have a fever?


My, how tastes have changed. Part of me hopes my daughter doesn’t grow up to slightly resent me for the clothing I put her in. And if she does…oh well. I think it’s a motherly right of passage to be able to embarrass your child within reason.

pomp and circumstance.

A little over a week ago I suited up in the-ugliest-shade-of-blue-I-have-ever-seen cap and gown and walked across a stage in front of what seemed like a million eyes. After 6 years and three(ish) changes in my major, I finally earned my Criminal Justice degree. Actually, not only did I earn my degree, but I graduated with highest honors earning a 4.0 GPA while taking on a nearly-full course load, working full-time, and managing two kids…and a dog…and a husband. I make myself exhausted just thinking about it. My family and I went out after the graduation ceremony where we enjoyed dinner and a few laughs…mostly from my Grandpa who asked the waiter if his fajitas were held up at the border when he was the only one at the table without a meal.

While it makes me happy that I can move on, explore my options, and do something different and interesting, I think the best part of not having anymore homework is the fact that I can spend more time with my family…and maybe catch an entire episode of Glee.

How to Survive Your Ex's Wedding (and other weekend oddities)

HA. Ok, so it wasn't that bad; but I prepared for the worst.

Jack's Dad got married over the weekend and for the sake of civility I slapped on a smile and went to the wedding. Though I was partially dreading the actual ceremony, I really looked forward to the reception to reconnect with old friends. At that I did. We drank, we laughed, we danced, and we promised to get together more often because three years with no contact went by way too fast. I even met some new people who hopefully remember me by my real name rather than "Jack's Mom".

::side note:: Ex's new bride and I are planning on getting together after they return from their honeymoon. It didn't really hit me until last week that Jack was gaining a mother, and as much as I would like to trust Ex's judgement I still feel as though I have to know her, I need to know her. It's not like we're going to be OMG BFF, but if she is going to be a part of Jack's life I want to make an effort.

All in all we had a great time and I even got to dance with the most handsome little man in the room.





And speaking of that little man...

I received a text message from Ex's new Bride on Friday evening stating that Jack picked a fabulous time to CUT HIS OWN HAIR. As funny (and not funny)as it was, it wasn't anything some gel and strategically placed spiked hair couldn't fix. Winner, winner chicken dinner.

Graduation Day

Jack graduated from his first year of preschool yesterday.

He won't turn 5 until January, so he will get one more year of preschool under his belt before he enters kindergarten in 2011. Thankfully he loves school and his teachers. At the beginning of the year I thought for sure he would have major separation anxiety, but he took to school like a fish to water. It was a bittersweet feeling knowing that he was comfortable being there and didn't need me to hold his hand all the way.

His last day was fun. Each child had to bring a parent and they had lots of "up north" themed activities to do. Jack's girlfriend even introduced herself to me.

::side note:: She is ADORABLE and Jack just thinks she is the greatest. So much in fact, that he is even trying to get his aunt to name her unborn baby "Maddy O".

All in all it we had a lot of fun, and it was a major plus that I got to sneak out of work early to enjoy the day with just Jack.