Monday, June 29, 2015

Dad's Day

Little girls love their daddies.  My girls think their daddy hung the moon.  They say their dad makes the best breakfast.  They say he is funny and he tickles them.  They think their daddy can do anything... and if daddy can't do it then their papa can!

I love to watch the girls play with their dad.  He plays cards,  board games, and hide and seek.  He kicks soccer balls, swims, shoots pucks, and swings clubs with them.  He takes care of them.  He makes their breakfast, he carries their backpacks to the truck and kisses him goodbye everyday.  

A photo tribute to the dads...

















Still lovin' the selfie stick!
Happy Father's Day.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Three Birthday Wishes

I celebrated my birthday last week.  It was a big one so we had a party!  Actually, truth be told, I've been celebrating this birthday for almost a year.  It started last summer with a girl's trip to Vegas to kick off the start of a long string of 40th birthdays that were going to happen.  After that I said, "what I really want for my 40th birthday is a beach vacation.  So after our spring break trip to Mexico you would think I would be done.  But as my actual birth date got nearer and Jon asked me what I wanted to do I considered doing nothing since I already had two big birthday wishes come true.  But the thought of doing nothing just didn't sit very well with me.  After tossing around a few ideas I said, "what I really, really, really want for my 40th birthday is just to hang out with our family and friends".  

And that's what I got.

Family, friends, kids, pizza, drinks, cake, fire pit, s'mores, and lots and lots of laughs to add to the ever deepening lines around my eyes.  Forty years of laughing and smiling can be seen all over my face.  I will not complain about getting older.  Life is good. 




One of my birthday gifts was a selfie stick!  I think we all gained a few more laugh lines using this little gadget.  And once I got started, I just couldn't stop...





I could have cropped the selfie stick out of the photos but I think it is so much more "40 year old lady funny" that you can see the it in all the pictures!  And of course the kids love it too...



The question is always, "do you feel older?"
Older than yesterday...no.
Older in general...yes.
"If you could, what age would you go back to?"
I wouldn't go back but I do think that I will stay 40 for a long time!

Saturday, June 13, 2015

All Things Are Difficult Before They Are Easy

 A few months ago, my music teacher friend posted one of those feel good, inspirational, quote cards things to her timeline...hang on, I'll go get it from her Facebook page and show you...


I said to my music teacher friend, "are you sure she's going to thank me some day?"  I say this because somewhere in the lull of the middle of the year when the "making me practice the piano" part of the thank you isn't going so well this mama can sometime wonder if its really worth it.  Then I remind myself that everything worthwhile is hard work and things are always difficult before they are easy.  And yes, there is a chance that she won't thank me someday...



But the lessons she's learning aren't just about music.  I've watched her get mad and cry when the lesson was difficult.  I've watched her walk away and then come back and try again.  I've watched what she initially found difficult become easy.  I've heard her proudly announce that she can play piano.  And I watched her confidence grow as she realized that she can do hard things.  All of that is thanks enough for this mama. 







Little sister has been watching these life lessons from the sidelines for the past two years, quietly playing with her dolls bedside the piano while Callie practices.  Her turn will come.  Until then, we get to enjoy a break from the formal piano lessons and enjoy listening to Callie play all the songs that were once difficult with great ease and confidence.
 
Thank you to my big girl, for all the lessons that you have taught you mama.  I love listening to you play piano.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Friends and Snakes

The girls and I made a little road trip last weekend.  By little I mean 7.5 hours.  I was a bit nervous at first.  That's a long drive for this mama and her girls without the dad.  But what was on the other end of that long trip was definitely worth the drive.

Our good friends moved away five years ago.  I can't believe it's been five years.  And in those five years, our friends have been busy settling in, making their way, navigating new waters, and establishing a new home base for their family.  After their countless trips to come back to see us it was finally time that I acknowledged that the highway goes both ways.  

I like to visit people in their towns and be a part of their day to day life even if it's only for a weekend. I like that when I get home I can picture where they sit at their computer, where they stop to get slushies and fresh baking, and which beach they like to go to on hot summer days.  And yes I've seen pictures of all of this on Facebook and yes it looks the same in person but no Facebook photo could show the girls how snuggly their 6 week old kitty is.  And no liking of the local bakery's Facebook page can come close to explaining how fresh and delicious the cinnamon twists are.  And no picture of a newly renovated kitchen can even compete with the experience of sitting in it and having coffee and muffins and sharing stories with great friends.  Technology is good.  But it has its limits.




Kitty cats, coffee and muffins, sprinkler jumping, bubble blowing...all these ordinary things become extraordinary when in the company of good friends.  And since I'm talking about extraordinary things I will mention that we also saw thousands of snakes!






We have a reptile loving girl in our family so this place could not have been more perfect.  We were extremely fortunate that Mother Nature decided to dump a load of snow the weekend before we came causing thousands of snakes at the Narcisse Snake Dens to stick around for another week just for our visit.  




My girls had so many stories to tell when they got home.  And if I hadn't posted some pictures to Facebook there was no way their teachers could have believed that their snake stories had any credibility.  And yes, a photo is worth a thousand words, but the pheromone scent, the sound of thousands of slithering snakes, and the feel of a snake in your hand...those things must be experienced.  And as you may have guessed by this next picture...the feel of the snakes was only experienced by those under 12.



To make our little road trip weekend even more perfect, the sun was hot, we ate ice cream cones, and we had our first beach day.  We are beach people.  Our kids are beach kids.  If the sun hadn't set, we may have stayed all night.







It was a beautiful weekend shared with beautiful friends.  Our next visit is planned and booked.  Until then, Facebook photos will have to do.  Technology does have its limitations but it's still better than nothing:)