Project 52 {32}

My favorite thing about you:

Is your temper.

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I can hear you now. 

"What?!  You love their tempers?!  What mother in her right mind would love their kid to have a temper?!"

Why do you have to keep emphasizing the word love?  What, I'm having a one way conversation with myself, asking rhetorical questions?  Judge me! I'm entertaining and we know it.  And you were thinking it. 

Okay, so this week was tricky, it was just the three of us for most of it, and if that weren't trying enough, Kale was sick.  Again.  Yes, again.  We kicked it last week, only to go get shots when we probably weren't entirely in the clear and it came back with a vengeance.  At 3am.  All over my room.  Motherhood, Yeah!

If you were to say I had a short fuse, you'd be correct.  Having a bedroom that has smelled like puke since Monday, no matter what products you put on the floor shy of a bleach and acid combination that I'm sure would add a skylight to the family room below, will do that to you.  Stain no, stench f-yeah!  But this week marks the end of the summer for us, officially.  Believe it Washington friends, and I'll be sure to let you know when our summer starts.  I'm ready for school to go back.  Because they drive me nuts!  Because we need a break from each other and a concrete routine.  We (all three of us) get grouchy without one, and grouchyness leads to tempers.  

Bringing me back to the beginning, I love their tempers.  Mostly because, it's self expression.  They never have been ones to sit back and let things happen around them, they're participants 90% of the time and observers the other 10%.  If something makes them angry, they screw up their faces and will tell you in the most passionate of voices that they're angry.  Actually it goes more like this "I'm ain-gree" (it's a precisely enunciated two syllable word.  Duh.).  They're passionate people - and that's a good thing.  But it leads to passionate reactions and thus the temper is born, cultivated, and released into the wild that is our house.  

I'd love to be one of those mothers that has a calm and even keel reaction to my kids all the time.  But it's just not me.  I want it to be, I work on it, but dang it.  I'm humanly imperfect (shhh... don't tell anyone).  I shout, I loose my shit and get ain-gree.  Incredible Hulk angry.  But we use our words, express our feelings (passionately) and solve things (never name-calling, or accusing).  We all clearly know the feelings of the others in the house (and the neighbors might as well) and that's a healthy thing.  I deal with a heap of mom guilt over this one.  If I could snap my fingers and be a zen mother, I would in a heartbeat. But I come from a loud family.  You should listen to a conversation between me and my dad.  On cell phones.  Actually, you probably have.  In Nebraska.  We're loud.  I was a lifeguard, who never had to strengthen her voice. You get the point.  

This house may be loud, passionate, and imperfect, but we communicate.  Well and clearly.  And someday they'll learn the art of sarcasm, and we'll be darn entertaining too.  Like a sideshow. 

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful . Truly Dedicated Mommy 

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.

Project 52 {31}

My favorite thing about you is:

Your tongue.  

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Both of you.  It's how I know you're concentrating and from what I understand, the bigger of the two of you have been doing it since you were the size of the smaller of the two of you.  Thinking, focusing, figuring things out, surfing, running, playing baseball, it's always right there.  Sometimes the girl gets in on it too.  None of them know they're doing it and (as far as I know) you didn't one day sit down and have some kind of lesson (though, that would be the one thing that would stick after a single talking to).  

This past weekend was Kale's last day of a four-class-long Bambino Baseball instruction held at our gym.  Kale missed the cut off for city t-ball this year by 20 days.  He was bummed, it's the one sport that he really loves (to be fair, he enjoys most sports, but he definitely shows preference for baseball).  For more than a couple of years now he's been throwing the ball straight into the air and hits it with his bat, no tee required.  He comes by it naturally - between Jeff, and the long history of baseball by a number of members on my side of the family, I don't know if he could escape it if he wanted to, so I guess it's a good thing he's embraced it.  He brought me many proud moments, smacking the ball, knowing how to run the bases, and pretty much just being full of awesome.  I loved sitting on the grass watching him play, and I really look forward to (what I'm sure will be) many evening spent at the baseball fields.  Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks and call me a proud happy mama!  

I'm not sure I can explain the pride in your kids when they can physically accomplish something that they practice at.  Haley and her swimming and Kale with his baseball, they just get it and it comes naturally to them.  I'm glad we've found something that fits them (for now at least).  And weeks like this with the (SUMMER!!) Olympics in full swing, I think every parent feels such happiness for and perhaps a bit of connection with the parents who are lucky enough to be sitting in the stands watching their kids compete at such a level.  My kids don't have to achieve that level of physical accomplishment for me to know how proud those parents feel.  Previous Olympics I would watch and wish to be one of those athletes (too bad I suffer from inability to practice...), this year it's different, I don't want to be the athlete, I want to be the parent screaming her brains out in the stands as my kids make good all of their hard work (and lets be realistic, my time and $$$).  And I don't even need to be screaming my brains out in the Olympic stands, I just want the pride of watching my kids do something that will make themselves proud.  

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful . Truly Dedicated Mommy 

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.

Project 52 {30}

My favorite thing about you is:

You're waterbabies!

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Yup, you kiddos love the water.  So you two know, we're blessed to belong to a really great gym that has a fantastic outdoor pool.  We spend about three days a week there and despite my efforts at a 50SPF liquid sweater (that you complain makes you look like a snowflake), your hair is turning blonde and your skin is getting a few shades darker.  I've taken to only allowing a couple of toys, but you guys are happy with something to pick up off the bottom of the pool and your goggles to find it.  We pack a lunch and spend the greater part of the afternoon there before we head home from nap.  I think it's this routine that makes the summer months my favorite.  Both of you get compliments on your swimming abilities, and I think by next summer you'll both have run of the whole pool (including the tall water slides), not just the shallower kiddie area.  I've never pulled out a stopwatch, but I'm pretty sure you spend more time under the water than above.  I love it.  I was the same way growing up with your Aunties Molly and Amanda, and Uncle Aaron.  

This week we've come home from the pool to take naps (sometimes all three of us), and when you wake up, you head out to your "hot tubs" (three 17 gallon tubs we bought for Kale's birthday party last year).  We fill them in the morning, and let them heat up while we're at the pool, and they're so toasty by the afternoon.  Perfect for you to climb in and out of 100 times, and even better for filling up your squirt guns a million times.  

I love this.  L.O.V.E.  I remember water being such a huge part of growing up and swimming was (is) one of my most favorite things in the world.  Between your dad and I we can count swimming, diving, water polo, water skiing, surfing, wake boarding, and SCUBA diving as hobbies.  We were both lifeguards at the local pool.  It's the only sport you can play that can save your life.  When you were both tiny babies we took you for swimming classes and you just loved them - easily the happiest and most comfortable babies in the water.  In fact, even before that, we used to laugh that if you didn't like the water, well, in this family, we'd just have to send you back from whence you came.  

Mostly?  It's because of the boat.  Neither of you have spent much time on it, but this weekend, that's about to change.  Drastically.  And I'm so excited for you!  Your dad and I both grew up on a boat - I still think my boat driving skills are quite possibly what hooked your dad (many) years ago.  It's just part of our family.  Bumpa told me a long time ago, that the great part of having a boat is that your kids want to hang out with you - you're the great place to be and you get to meet all of your kids friends (for better or worse).  I hope when you're 15 and moody and hormonal, we can take you and a few friends out on the boat and hang out as a family (I might even let you pick the music).  Lastly:  if you find your self a boy or girl someday who can handle themselves on the water, keep 'em!  Boat people are just good people.  

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful .  

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.

Project 52 {29}

My favorite thing about you is:

That you're a good friend.

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This week the whole family says goodbye to our BFF family.  I guess, it's really a "See ya later" type deal (or at least it better be), but over the last 4 years we've grown so close to these guys that it's a tough goodbye.  Lets start at the beginning:  5 and a half years ago, we lived in Montana and Jeff worked for a (pretty tight knit squadron) called Deuce.  Haley was born.  This family showed up at our door step with the best spaghetti ever.  Seriously guys, E.V.E.R.  Turns out she was pregnant too and due about 5 months later.  If I hadn't been in my newborn baby haze (and could have seen to the future), I'd have invited them in to share the dinner and started our friendship right then and there.  But I was dumb, and if you've ever been in that newborn haze, then you know where my head was at.  Fast forward a year and a half (4 years ago, if you're doing the math) and we all end up just two houses apart on the same side of the street here in Colorado (again, if you're doing the math, that's stumbling distance, folks).  

4 years of amazing friendship, and many dinners/desserts/drinks later, these are definitely some of the closest friends we've ever had.  We've been through some serious life events together, including recently gaining another member of the club, 2 years of preschool pick-ups/drop offs, a deployment, TDY's, just so much.  It's going to be tough not having them down the street.  They're our go to fire-pit and drinks friends.  Thank God for Facebook (and texting).

Beyond the adults, the kids are hardly going to know what to do with out their BFF down the street.  Whenever we pull into the driveway, they're looking to see if he's out in his.  They're worried whether he'll like his new home, and new school and make new friends (he'll be fine).  This is the first time that they're really going to realize how it feels to miss someone in their life.  I'm proud that they care so much about their friends.  They're loyal, and empathetic, and as a parent, I can't ask for much more than that in their friendships.  Additionally, they really pick some great kids to be friends with.  I can't complain because many times, as a result of their friendships, I gain a new mom friend too.  How great is that?!

Anyway, guys, we'll miss you.  So much.  We'll come visit, and hopefully we'll see you down the street again in another 4 years or so.  And because I'm in tears now, and you're due to my house for one last dessert in about 30 minutes, I'm going to go get my *stuff* together.

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful .  

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.

Project 52 {28}

My favorite thing about you is:

Your Curiosity.

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Why?  WHY?  WHY?! Yes, it's the age.  I get it.  If you ask your father, he'll tell you that you get it from me. "Why can't you just agree to something, you always have to question it." he tells me.  A lot.  Because I want to understand.  And you guys do too.  I doubt he'll ever get a break from the questioning.  But it makes us smarter, and we don't have to walk around pretending we understand when we really don't.  There's a lesson there.  Make sure you learn it.  

On this specific day we took the kids on their first (memorable) geo-caching adventure.  We stayed very local and were pretty poor at it -  found one of the five(?) we tried.  One thing that's not my favorite?  Your lack of patience.  Again, I know where it comes from.  I was cold and tired too, and I wasn't even 4 or 5 years old.  With each of the caches there was a little background story.  You had so many questions about the story (did you listen?  I don't have any more information that what you have), where was it going to be (I don't know, that's the whole point of this exercise...), what would be there (we're going to just have to find it and figure that out), why do people do this (good question)?  But it was a great family adventure.  Till our (also curious?) new neighbors pulled up beside us on the side of the road and wanted to make sure we were okay as we're wandering around obviously searching for something.  "Yup, we're fine, just geo-caching!"  "What?" Then confused looks as they drove away.  But, and this is a big BUT, it was a great family adventure.  We spent time together as a family and did something new.  We'll try it again, but will likely have to update our equipment first.  And also bring sweatshirts.  

This is a picture of Haley holding one of the permanent fixtures of the one cache we found.  Seal (the snow leopard).  Haley traded a pencil with a cupcake eraser for a bottle of bubbles, and Batman traded a sports pencil for a McDonald's toy.  What?  Don't you wear a mask when you're geo-caching?  Well why the heck not?  I'm just curious.

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful .  

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.

Style | Haley

Best as I can tell here's what ties this outfit together:
A) Everything has stripes on it.
B) Everything has some shade of pink on it.

Project 52 {27}

My favorite thing about you is:

Your thankful heart.

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I'm thankful for lots of things.  Top of my list is my family.  One of the smaller things?  That Kale can write his name.  I believe that when kids have birthdays they write thank you notes... it's not some new parenting theory, in fact, I'd wager that most of my friends have their kids do the same thing.  I believe that if they're loved enough to receive a present, then they should have some part in the thank you.  We have a thank you note progression around these parts:  Birthdays one through three, I'll write the note, they must provide some kind of artwork.  On their fourth birthday they need to sign their name.  Five, it's time to write the note yourself - I'll write it first, they copy the letters (very simple: Dear Blah Blah, Thank you for the Blah, I love it.  Love, Haley), this stage was pulling teeth; we did only about three at a time - makes me wish we'd only had 6 people to the party.  We're still working the system out, but the first five years I've got down.  Year six I'm hoping that I can give her a list of adjectives and she can just figure it out.  Another thing I'm thankful for?  They don't whine about this process (dude, knock on some wood for me).  They seem to enjoy writing the notes.  With Kale, I started with just five of them.  Usually getting this kid to sit down with a writing utensil for any period of time can get a little painful on my part - can't he just knock them off the table onto a pile of markers and hope something rubs off? Then for the next few I asked if he wanted to do this one for a specific friend - he was so excited that we got through all 15 of them in one sitting.  Thank goodness.  Now it's up to me to address them and (ugh!) hunt down some stamps.  Remember the days when your mom had a whole book of them in her purse all the time because that's how you paid bills?  Barely.  I do remember that one of my bridesmaid's parents gave us a roll of stamps as a wedding present - awesome!  I didn't have to hunt any down for thank you cards.

Want to check out some other super great Project 52 eye candy?

 . Styleberry . Wicked Kate . Adventures in Mommyhood .  Lucas & Mahina . Heather Marie Portraits . Something Insightful .  

Can I link you too?  Leave me a comment.