a short break already

...After a week and a half of school, the boys already have 2 days off. Today, we are hanging out. We slept late, I made French toast for the boys, I rearranged Rhett's room (his room confounds me--when will look exactly right? I just don't know) and now I am listening to them screaming (in a good way?) at each other.

Tomorrow, we get up early so they can get the FluMist.

Because the flu's going around, you know.

(Ha! Ha! I laugh at that last line because Rhett said that to me when we were at a neighbor's house for dinner. I had a plate of chips and dip and he asked if he could have some and I offered my plate for him to use. I was done. He looked at me, then shook his head and said no thank you. "The flu is going around, you know." The rest of the night we said that after everything. It was funny.)

Too bad it's true.

{happy sigh}

...I would say that I have been fantastically busy, with all the things I now have time for when my sons are away all day at school. It is true, I have big ideas on what to do with my time.

However, none of that has happened this week.

This week, I have been consumed with love and vampires.

After reading each book exactly twice and then re-reading some of my favorite parts again (and losing countless hours of sleep because of the reading and re-reading) I can cautiously say that I think I am ready to return to my normal life again.

But before I begin to see everything I have neglected (laundry, dishes, house), I do want to say this:

If you want a really good love story, one that makes you remember all the butterflies you felt when you first fell in love, then read these books. They are totally sweet, romantic and squeal-worthy. There is also plenty of life-threatening action involved if you would rather have that. Purely fun.

That being said, I now have to go do some housework.

Oh, and thank you for all your well wishes about our anniversary. We had a great time that day and it was Seth who gave me the Twilight books, so thank you to him especially. I enjoyed the few days off. ;)

the greatest ride of my life

...11 years ago this past summer, I got on a roller coaster with my soon-to-be husband. We were at Six Flags in Houston with his family. To be honest, I hated roller coasters. But I loved Seth. So I rode this terrifying ride with him, wishing it would be over as fast as possible, but secretly having fun at the same time. I wondered how could that be?

When we got off, we passed this tv screen. I stopped and stared. It was showing a slide show of pictures of people that had just been on the roller coaster. "Oh no. This cannot be good," I thought. And I was right. A picture came up of us: Seth with his hands in the air and wide smile and me--with my eyes shut tight and my hands holding on to the handlebar as tight as possible. I could hear the laughter of people who saw this picture. I was horrified.

11 years later, I am no longer horrified. I actually have a very fond memory of that day (although, I still don't like me in the picture. Yes, Seth bought it. No, I will not show it to anyone, so don't ask). Because here's the thing:

Marriage is like a roller coaster. My favorite part of the movie, "Parenthood" is when Gil's grandmother starts talking to Gil after he is complaining about his life.

Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster...Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!...I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

You get more out of it. So true.

Seth, thank you for getting me on the roller coaster. And thank you for riding with me for 11 years. I love you so much.

Happy Anniversary.

let's imagine its the first

...There are my boys. Rhett is in 3rd grade. Noah is in 1st. The rain and my general feeling of malaise yesterday made first day pictures on the front porch impossible, so here they are today. Noah was less excited today (It's too long! I want to stay with you!) but Rhett was still ready to go.

They ride the bus to school which means from 8:30 am to 4 pm, I am without children. This is a strange feeling to me. The house is quiet and I don't hear "Hey, Mom?" forty times an hour. That I won't miss. I will miss their faces though. And the hugs.

Don't worry, I won't be bored. I have plenty to keep me busy. And when four o'clock rolls around, I probably will think, "Where did the time go?" :)

***
Happy Birthday Pop! We all love you!

school is here

...The boys are at school and hopefully the sun will be shining tomorrow so I can get the yearly picture by the bricks. And I don't feel all that great right now so I am going to keep this short. Talk to you tomorrow and I'll have some back to school shots to show you.

i am not superstitious, but

...Isn't it funny how people always start out that way? "I am not really superstitious, but I have to wear the same pair of socks to every game." Or "I don't believe in superstitions but every time a black cat crosses my path I think I am cursed."

Anyway, I want to be totally honest with you. I am superstitious--a little. I totally get scared when I break a mirror and I won't walk under a ladder or open an umbrella in my house. I throw salt over my shoulder when it is spilled (but only when I am cooking). I "knock on wood" to keep bad things from happening and I definitely believe things (good or bad) happen in threes.

Which leads me to this:

Ever since I have been married (11 years coming up this Saturday!), I have had a bit of bad luck concerning glass. If I break a piece of glass (whether it is a bowl or a cup), you better believe I will break 2 more things within the coming days or couple of weeks. It happens every time. I didn't notice it at first. No, I first thought I was just being unbelievable clumsy that month. But then it happened again. And again. Three things would always be broken. No matter how careful I was.

This is why I am down to one set of glasses (we have had 3). This is why I have had to replace a coffee maker and why I have no microwave plate in my microwave. Some things broken hurt more than others.

This one hurt a lot.

I have had this glass bottle with a sun on it for about as long as Rhett has been alive. In his first year, Seth and I took him to Ruidoso to visit my grandparents. He was about 6 months I believe. This was the last time we went to Ruidoso for a vacation. This is huge because growing up, my family and I would go every year. This is where my grandparents lived during the summer months and where Seth and I took our honeymoon. I know I would complain about going there but the truth is, it was really fun. We rode horses, played putt-putt, hiked and went to the horse races. We hung out with my cousins and ate at Casa Blanca.

When Seth and I came it was during July 4th holiday. Grandma would take care of Rhett while we went to a movie or to play miniature golf. We took Rhett to see the most amazing fire work show ever. (Rhett slept through it). We went shopping in a few shops and that is where I found the cutest glass bottle with a cork in the top. It didn't cost much but I loved the sun smiling at me. I had no idea what it was going to be used for but I knew I had to have it. Seth bought it for me and ever since, it had been in our kitchen, first for decoration, then later for holding dish washing soap. I would buy whatever color soap that would match our kitchen decor. Really.

I always knew it was dangerous to have that beside me while washing dishes. I am a klutz. I knock things over constantly. This bottle has been knocked over several times.

The last time must have been its final straw.

It was the 2nd thing broken in a week. The first was a bowl that came in a set of 8. They are lovely glass bowls that Seth's mother gave me when we went to visit. I dropped it trying to get all of them out of the car. I was a little frustrated. Now a set of 8 is a set of 7 and that just isn't right.

When I broke the sun bottle, I could do nothing but stare at it for a moment. I was actually really sad. Not for the glass bottle. But for what it represented.

When I threw it away, I placed it in a bag of recyclables. There were glass jars in there. When I threw the bag down on the floor out of disgust, I broke one of those glass salsa jars.

There was my 3rd.

three cheers for Rhett and Noah

...The All-City Swim Meet was an experience for us. The venue was amazing and huge and the boys (one boy in particular, we won't name names but he is the one in glasses) were overwhelmed. Noah passed his time waiting (and a lot of waiting there was) by swimming in the nearby pools and Rhett clutched the bag with his towels until he raced for the first time. Different kids indeed.

Noah's first race was the backstroke. He had never swam this stroke in a meet before, so I wasn't sure how it would go but he did amazingly well!

He stayed pretty straight the whole time and was the second swimmer to reach the wall. Which means he got a Silver Medal!

He also swam the free-style, breast-stroke and relay. He did great in all of those too. I think he really enjoyed himself.

***

Rhett's first race was the butterfly. He was so nervous, we could tell. He was also pretty nervous swimming the free-style. But his nerves were gone when he swam the breast-stroke. He dove in perfectly and ended up 4th overall (there were 4 heats). He was a little disappointed he didn't get a medal but he did receive a 4th place ribbon and we had to keep reminding him how many swimmers he edged out. We were really happy for him.

Yes, it looks like that man in the picture is cleaning his ear. The seats weren't great for getting pictures.

I have said it before: We are so proud of the boys.

running out of summer

...When I titled the last post, "Last one, I promise," I didn't mean the last blog post ever. I am sure some of you were thinking that by now. It has been awhile. This month is going to be crazy I fear. Here is a little update, sans pictures, but I will post them tomorrow.

Friday was the first PTA meeting of the year. I am the chair for the Green Team committee and I wanted to start out with a bang, so I proposed we start saving paper by emailing our newsletters and notes to families instead of sending it home with the kids in paper form. The president of the PTA is excited about this and is going to talk to the principal. I can't say I came up with the idea on my own, but if we do this, it will be so exciting. Last year, I received two copies of every single note that the school sent home. Wouldn't it be great if I can just open my email and read things online? Love it!

Saturday, Rhett and Noah had their all-city swim meet. They did great. It was an all day affair and it wasn't very comfortable sitting on benches in stifling humidity for 6 hours, but Seth and I were so proud of the boys for sticking with swim team all summer and doing a great job at the meets. I hope they do it next year. Tomorrow, I will have pictures.

Sunday, Seth and I braved the crowds and took advantage of the tax-free weekend in Oklahoma. The boys were on a playdate and we went to Old Navy for $10 jeans. Awesome.

This week is the official last week and a half of summer vacation. We have to go to Information Day at the school, go on another playdate to meet a new friend that will be going to the school, we have 4 parties to go to and then it will be over and the first day of school before we know it.

So have a great week. I know we are going to enjoy every minute.