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Cheese!

This boy challenges me in ways I never could have expected.  I am his favorite at the moment and any other adult is just not acceptable.  During one-on-one time he is the most fabulous child.  He laughs and plays, he is helpful and happy and cooperative.  And then life returns to normal with additional family members and my little guy gets so upset.  He is obstinate and uncooperative and just plain grumpy.  He is our high and low child.  When he is good he is oh so good but when he is mad, oh boy watch out.  Regardless of the highs and lows I am so totally in love with him – even when he hits me and calls me “bad mommy”.  Apparently I can just give him a chocolate cupcake and all is forgiven…

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This boy can’t possibly be the boy that I just gave birth to – it can’t possibly be almost 4 years ago now.

Our first day

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2002 – Graduated college, moved out of state, got two new jobs, got engaged

2003 – Married, another 2 new jobs, bought a house!

2006 – Baby! Also, another new job

2007 – Another new job (yeah, I’ve had a few…) and a new car

2008 – Another baby!

2009 – Sold the house, sold the car and bought a new (used) one and got a new job (again…)

2010 – Bought a new house!  We plan to be there for a loooong time.  Also, another new job.  But, I plan to stay here for a loooong time as well.

So the past 7 years have had lots of life changes.  But there are no new babies.  There will be no new house or car purchases or job changes in the foreseeable future.  So what do you think, will I get bored without change?

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When you tell me that I can’t lift anything heavier than 10 pounds for 6 hours after donating blood, I believe you.  I don’t want to rearrange my entire day around a blood donation but I do.  I do it because I believed that you needed it.  That there are people in dire need of donated blood. I don’t particularly enjoy the arm stick or the colossal amount of time it takes for a 15 minute donation, but I do it because I thought it was a good thing, something to help the greater good.

Advertising a blood drive at a local church and then changing the location at the last minute with just a sign on the door?  Not cool.  But, I had reserved my 1 hour lunch break for blood donation, so I hopped in my car and drove to your updated location.  Only to find out that if I didn’t make an appointment (who the hell makes an appointment to donate blood?) then you can’t see me until 3:45.  Well guess what?  I’ve already wasted my lunch break trying to find you.  I don’t have time to go back at 3:45.  And after work?  I’ll have 2 kids with me, and as the oh-so-unfriendly sign on the side of your mobile unit says, they aren’t allowed in the bus (not that I would be insane enough to try to take them with me in the first place).

That sucked, wasting my lunch break for that.  But you know what really, really pisses me off?  The fact that you called my cell phone and asked me to come to this blood drive.  You. Called. Me.  You asked for my blood.  You gave me the date, time and location and asked me to come.  What the hell is wrong with you???  You ask me to come, and even though I had to jump through hoop after hoop I went.  And when I finally got there, you told me thanks but no thanks.

Well screw you.  It’s going to be a few cycles before I’m willing to consider jumping through your hoops again.  And if you are brave enough to actually call me again, be prepared for a lengthy rant on your inconsiderate and rude business practices.

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Parker still refuses to pose for pictures - this was the only non blurry one I managed of the two of them...

If you read my last post you already know that we’ve been pretty busy lately.  This means that Zach and I sometimes are running in different directions (usually him out in the yard trying to pick up or mow or plant things while I’m busy cleaning or cooking inside) and when it works out, the boys are left playing on their own.  This doesn’t mean they are locked away in some room by themselves, but they are in the living room or the play room while I bee-bop around them.  On both Saturday and Sunday this weekend they amazed me with their ability to play so well together.  On Saturday they played together for over an hour without a single tear or screech and no interaction with me.  I watched from the kitchen while they played (mostly with a big cardboard box) for an entire hour.  It reinforced my belief that kids really do love their siblings, and although they fight like cats and dogs some days, there are other days when they are the best of friends and at least in our house, at least for now, they play more than they fight and I love it!

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Next weekend we’re having a 1.5 birthday party for Parker.  We decided that December 30th was difficult to celebrate.  We of course celebrated with family – had a small brunch and cake with a candle, but we didn’t do an all-out party like with did for Xander’s first birthday.  We instead decided that we’d celebrate half birthdays in the summer time (at least until Parker is old enough to make an informed decision on when he would prefer to celebrate).  So, we’re doing his party at 2pm, and then a housewarming party the same day at 5pm.  We’ll have people coming and going all day long.

A few weeks after that, Zach is hosting a bachelor party at our house (the kids and I are relocating for the evening)

September will see a bridal shower and then Xander’s birthday party.

October I am the maid of honor in a wedding.  I’m also the defacto wedding planner.  These are just the events that I’m personally planning.  This does not include the dozens of other parties and events we are attending this summer.

For example, this weekend Parker is spending his first night with Grammy and Grandpa just him (he and his brother have always slept over as a package deal).  Zach and I are taking Xander to see Toy Story 3 and he’ll run some additional errands with us in “the big city” then we’ll help some friends prepare wedding decorations for their celebration next month.  Sunday we’ll travel again to visit with Dads.

Other events this summer?  Well, this is what I can remember off the top of my head, but I’d have to check calendars for things that I’m surely missing:

- Bridal Shower

- July 4th (no plans yet, but we’ll have some – fireworks, barbecue, something…)

- Thomas the Train Experience

- Trip to the ocean

- Clark’s Trading Post

- Baby Shower

- Trip to the beach

And that is just through July.  August isn’t firmed up yet.  Sometimes I wonder if we over schedule ourselves or our kids.  On the other hand, they really do love the extended family, and many of these trips include people near and dear to our hearts.  It’ll be busy, and the week nights are filling up as well, but hopefully we’ll have some fun, make some good memories and maybe sometimes remember to bring along a camera

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Now there is never enough time.  Not enough time to sleep, not enough time to clean the house or put away laundry.  Not enough time to cook real food or play with my children.  Everything I do is done quickly and usually half-assed because there isn’t time for more.  This past weekend is a perfect example of what our lives are like:

Friday night – Zach played golf with some friends from work.  Sara took the boys home, fed them dinner, bathed and put them to bed.  No time for playing or enjoying children, just time to get the bare necessities done.  Then a little time for folding laundry.

Saturday – We are all up by 7am.  We shower and get the kids dressed and fed and leave the house by 10am.  We have to stop at a friend’s house because Zach forgot his laptop and keys in the car when he was dropped off after golf the previous evening.  Then we rush south to the nephew’s baseball game.  We are 15 minutes late (as usual).  We move from the baseball game to the niece’s softball game.  This one is slightly more stressful with Parker because there is a dirt road behind the dugout with  a slow but steady stream of traffic, and Parker thinks that running into the road is the best game ever.  After the softball game we grab some lunch with the family.  Then we pop into Lowe’s for a housewarming present, and head to a housewarming party (both kids crash in the car, which is a relief).  We stay at the party for several hours until Parker starts with the ear piercing screaming.  Zach and I have gotten used to it (the hearing loss helps I think) but we didn’t want to subject the rest of the crowd to his noise.  We got home in time for me to jump in the shower to rinse 8 hours of sweat (it was sooo very hot and humid that day) and dirt off before a friend arrived to bring me to a bachelorette party.  I arrived back home at 2:30 am.  My sweet husband let me sleep until 9:30 the next day, then we rushed to feed the kids brunch before heading out the door for a birthday party.  We arrived home Sunday night at 8:30 pm.

The piles of laundry and dishes and general house tidiness that I ignored last weekend are shameful.  The lawn is ridiculously shaggy.  The litter box has been ignored for far too long.  The list goes on and on.  Children are a choice.  Zach and I chose this lifestyle and 80% of the time I am completely satisfied with it.  However, when I hear about spontaneous vacations, naps on lazy afternoons, boredom, and a thousand other things that I no longer have now, that ugly green jealousy monster rears it head.  There is just never enough time…

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Man, that's some cold mud!

My kids love their day care.  I can tell by the way they act when I drop them off, the way they act when I pick them up and the stories they (and their teachers) tell me about their antics during the day.

Yesterday Xander’s class had a “boat race”.  With some leftover Styrofoam they spent the previous day crafting and painting sail boats.  On Thursday their teacher filled a radio flyer wagon with water on the play ground and the “raced” the boats from one end to another.  Two at a time, using only their breath to push the sails.  How cute is that?

Of course, 3 and 4 year olds can’t be satisfied with just water when there is the potential to make mud so it wasn’t long before handfuls of sand landed in the wagon and the boat race quickly deteriorated to mud pies.  The kids in the class all did a pretty good job of keeping the mud in the wagon and not on themselves.  Parker though?  Parker wasn’t satisfied with just rolling mud in his hands.  Oh no.  He managed to climb IN TO the wagon to SIT in the mud.  Yep, that’s my son…

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