I won't and I will

I won't miss hot summers, and the heat rash that comes with it.

I won't miss having to apply deodorant underneath them Every Single Day, and twice a day in summer.

I won't miss suffocating when I do downward facing dog in Yoga class.

I won't miss the pain associated with running, or any bouncing type exercise.

I won't miss being able to look down and not see my toes.   (I just slammed my toe into the kid's trampoline last night and thought I broke it, but turns out, I 'only' cut it and split the toenail.)  I miss seeing my feet when I walk.

I won't miss requiring a hot bath to soak my aching back and shoulders because there's so much top weight.  Well, maybe I might miss this one.

I won't miss being so embarrassed by my body that I hide behind things and people in photographs.

I'll miss nursing.  (I do already.  I miss having a little baby and an easy fix to stop their crying.)

I'll miss being able to pick up Jacob for weeks.

I'll miss being able to sleep on my tummy.

I'll miss having babies curl up on my bosom to nurse.  (These things provided comfort and nourishment for 3 kids for over 5 years total. That's a lot.)

I'll miss being able to just ignore tank tops as a possibility for wardrobe choices.  They've Never fit me before.  That'll be weird.  I might have to adjust my thinking about them.  Nahh.

I confess I am getting a little nervous.

The Blankee

Hello, my name is Cathy, I'm 41 years old and I have a blankee.

This blanket was given to me Valentine's Day 2012.  Chris picked out this picture of them that I took right outside our church from the fall prior.  But I put this blanket on my bed, and it stayed there.  When I was on bedrest for 5 months, I had this blanket with me all the time. When my big boys were at school, and I was unable to take care of them, they told me I had them with me on the blankee.   And I did.  And it gave me comfort.  Then Jacob joined our family, and he hated sleeping alone, and we coslept.  I didn't want to cover him with a heavy comforter, so we slept with this blanket.  Now I've become accustomed to sleeping with it every night, even with Jacob not in my bed anymore.  With my big boys gone, I've been snuggling with my sweetboys every night.

When I went to Utah, I took the blanket with me.  In fact, it was the first thing I unpacked when I arrived Wednesday afternoon.  I desperately needed to lay down before we went on the hunt for dinner, and I pulled it out to snuggle it and rest before taking on the evening's festivities.

I didn't get to talk to my boys yesterday either.  It was the first time since they were born that I haven't talked to them.  I cried when the clock struck midnight last night.  And I curled up with my sweetboy blanket, until I  fell asleep.

Today they called me, the phones finally worked.  I got to talk to them for about 10 minutes.  We were all on speaker phone together.  And my heart was full.

Now I'm going to go curl up with my blankee.  My boys come home tomorrow.

Proof of Life

Half my family is at Scout Camp.  

It's weird for Jacob and I to have the house to ourselves.
It's also especially strange for me not to talk to them everyday.

This was my Sweetboys yesterday when we left.  

I left before they did, as I wanted to go to a swim class at the Y.  

Jacob was jealous I wasn't taking pictures of him. 

We were cool.  Jake and I weren't freaking out about anything.  

But it took over 24 hours for this photo to come through.  

The boys made it, and they were at the camp, and most importantly, Happy!

But I miss them. It's weirdly quiet around here. I am so Thankful that I received some sort of proof they were ok.  

Tonight, we had a date with Aunt Lisa, checking out the new Books and Brews in Zionsville.

We sampled some of the brews.  They had great names like Whinnie the Brew and Dubbledore's Magic.  We checked out some of the books. There were so many things just like my bookshelf, down to the textbooks that I had in college.

Meanwhile, it was Kids night, where the kids meals were Free, and they had Games out for a game night!

 and Jacob checked out the Kids Grilled Cheese.  I loved this place. 

Quite good, one and all.  But I miss my boys.  

  

Happy 4th of July!

I love a Long Weekend with Family! 

We started the weekend off with a bang!   

I had someone from Canvas Paintings with Katie come over and teach us how to paint this pretty patriotic landscape.  We made an evening of it.  There was wine, drinkies, and good times. 

It was really neat to see how many of my friends interpreted the same instructions differently.

What was really amazing, was that every painting turned out Gorgeous! 

Pretty Patriotic! 

And the next day, my blue delphinium bloom. 

It's not quite red, white, and blue, but pale pink and blue is pretty close. 

Poor Princess Dog.  

She doesn't handle Fireworks very well, but a little Lavender and Peace & Calming 2 in the diffuser helps.

On the 4th, we went up to my brother in law Karl's house for a nice cookout lunch.  

He and Erica live in a sweet neighborhood that we learned was having its own noontime Parade.

When the kids realized there was a Parade happening they made a mad dash for it.  

They found themselves a perfect spot to hang out.  

Cole wanted to join the Big Boys, but just couldn't quite handle it.  

So he and Uncle Karl watched, as the kids made two laps around the neighborhood.

Here they go! 

The whole neighborhood parade returned a few minutes later. 

With my children bringing up the rear.  

Then it was time for Smores! 

Honestly, though, my kids are happier just eating raw marshmallows and crackers.  

If we put them together, they give them to me. 

We're never up on this side of town, so we popped by the Lego Store for a what the heck present. 

They each made a character to bring home as a special treat.  

This child was exhausted.  He didn't nap.  He crashed on the way home.  

That was ok, we didn't do anything fancy for fireworks.  The kids had played hard all weekend, so we didn't anything fancy after dark on the 4th.  We came home and watched 1776 and Independence Day covering all manner of our Patriotic movie bases.  <3  And it was a great weekend. 

Doings In Between

I only had a few days between our trip to Michigan, and my trip to Utah.   In the midst of all that Fun fell Father's Day.   So you can Imagine the Fun we had this weekend.

We returned Friday night, so that we could make it to Swim Classes at the Y on time.  That ended up working out Perfectly!

Both boys were showing improvements.  After just a day at the beach, they were happy to get back in the warm waters of our Y.   

Jacob even willingly jumped in and got wet.  

Chris and Sam got swim noodles and swam around.
They did a great job! 

I needed to solve the age-old question?
Which seafoam/fluff/honeycomb is better, the milk chocolate or the dark chocolate.
Eric and I both took surveys with goodies I brought back from Kilwin's.
Both are Fantabulous, but the dark chocolate won by a slim margin.

This candy won't last long.  

As a bit of a Father's Day surprise, and a chance to do something Familial while we're all home together for the weekend, I wanted to go see Finding Dory.  Going to the Drive In was on our Summer Wish List.  So seeing Finding Dory at the Tibb's Drive In theater seemed like the perfect choice.   This drive in is great, huge, and the only one left in town.  That's sad.

The kids had a great time.  We were one of the earliest cars in, so we got a great parking spot, and they hit the playground.  If you look closely, they are on what came to be known as the "swirling vortex of terror".  It wasn't so bad a toy when it was just them, but then a lot of bigger kids came around, and they didn't take into consideration how strongly some kids (like Sam or Chris) could hold on while spinning at supersonic speeds.  Chris got thrown.  Sam really got thrown, lost his shoes, and trampled.  Luckily, I had oils and wipes.  It was therafter I wouldn't let them play on it if there were any other kids... and there were.  That's about when it earned the name "swirling vortex of terror".

On a date with my honey bunny booboo sweetie.  

Isn't he dreamy?

So many kids took over the playground, it became dangerous, so I put the boys in the car, and turned on Finding Nemo.  Honestly, that was a Brilliant idea.  They got to watch it all the way to the end, with about 10 minutes to spare before the movie started.  

The second movie in our Drive In experience was Through the Looking Glass, the second movie in the Alice series, remade by Disney starting Johnny Depp.  But the people around us made so much noise, and our kids were toast.  We tried watching it for about 10 minutes.  But it strayed from the story, and was all about Jonny Depp.  Whatever.  I like him fine, but don't dress him up, and use another story just to star him.  It was bad.  We left.  This was like the second movie I've ever left the theater after paying full time prices before it was over.  (The other one was Robin Hood: Men In Tights) It was That Bad.  

We still didn't get home until 1 am.  I hate time change, it makes drive in movies not start until 10, Ugh.  

Happy Father's Day! 

This day was a good one for Starbucks coffee.  We let Daddy sleep in.  The boys didn't wake until 9. 

It was a bit of a treat for Mommy too. ;) 

Jacob was puttering around the house going, "Just Keep Swimming". <3

When we asked Daddy what he wanted to do.  

He wanted to go to the Y for a Family Swim. 

The boys are really improving, willing going into the water, and getting faces wet. 

It was actually a really good trip.  

After our swim at the Y, we went down to visit my Daddy for Father's Day.  Christopher had a great time helping his Opa and Oma train their 7 month old Yellow Lab pups.  The girls sit and the boys try to distract them.   Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't.  Chris did so well, they let him take the leash and practice 'heal'.  It worked pretty well too.  He's actually got quite a knack for handling dogs.  Another one of his gifts.

This was as close as I got at all three boys playing sweetly together.  

My favorite Daddies!  

Aww, aren't we sweet.  

I think I take most after my Dad, and I mean that in the best possible way.  

I've always been Daddy's Girl.  

I remember trying to mow the lawn with my shirt off back when I was Christopher's age.  

Yeah, that didn't go over so well...

Sunday evening Lisa got back from Michigan.  And she had custody of all the goodies that we had left behind.   Chris had very little patience of Lisa having his DS, so I asked if we could get together.  The girls had started a summer camp in Zionsville, so she met us at Strawberry Fields for a drop.  

It was good to see her.  What had it been, only two days?   

But we'd slept in our own beds since then, and that makes everything better.  

This wasn't Jacob's first trip to Mulberry Fields splash pad, but it was the first where he could really play and I could sit in the shade and watch.  

He liked the sprinklers. I love this pic of him paddling through the worm, though the water wasn't on full blast there.  

Sam was having some fun with it too.  He didn't stop moving.  

Nothing says Indiana like Corn.  

Sure, there's more than Corn in Indiana, there's corn shaped sprinklers! 

All three playing like maniacs.  

The boys were hysterical playing in the water as it splashed up.  

Karate chopping the water.  

Seriously, they were Karate Chopping the Water!  

Silly geese! 

My photo of the day was called Water.  So this was the one I submitted.  I like how my phone captured the droplets.  Not too bad for a phone camera.  

Hard to capture a moving target.  

All of them getting water in the face.  

Before we left, I made them stop moving for a picture.  

They barely stopped moving.  And it was a rare few seconds when no other kids were playing in the sprinkler play area either.  A rare moment.  They were being pretty sweet too.  

Cuteness Therapy

Tuesday was my Last Day before I left them to go to the YL Convention in Utah, I wanted to get a selfie with the four of them.  They didn't want to play on Tuesday, so we just hung out at home.  My photo theme that day was Looking Up.  I left Tuesday evening so I could crash at  their Grandma's, because my Father In Law was taking us to the airport at dark thirty, but that is a story for another time, and another blog.  

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Vacation, Day 5 Michigan, On Our Way Home

Friday was our Last Day.  :( 

I got up and started loading the car, packing to come home was easier than unpacking.  

I had Lisa help manage all the kitchen stuff, and that was a big burden lifted.  

Meanwhile, all the kids played together outside, there was chalk and bubbles, and moving targets.  

And fun had by all. 

At least they got to play with their cousins a bit before we headed out.  

I wanted to get on the road by 9, it was closer to 9:30.  

I wish Objects in the Mirror were closer than they appear.  

That was my Mom and Seestor as they headed back indoors after waving us off. 

Sigh. 

As we pulled out, I noticed there were no cars at the beach, so I pulled in for one last photo.  

The water was still, and the beach was quiet.  

The only noise came from us.  

But I got one last kind of decent picture of the boys before we headed out. 

And, most importantly, no one got sandy.  

I experimented with my phone.  This was my first phone panoramic shot. 

It didn't turn out too bad, there's a skip in the middle that I'd like to fix, I just have no idea how. 

I'd fix it on my own computer, but as that died too during the Great Power Surge of 2016,  but I can't.  So I'll just suffer through an iffy shot.  

Even an iffy shot of a beautiful day at the beach is still kind of pretty. 

Dwarf lilacs at the entrance to the beach were still blooming.  

And they smelled so good. 

I love the smell of fresh lilacs.  I'm gonna miss it.  

And off we went, about a half hour later than I wanted.  Once we got south of Petoskey, Christopher realized he left his Nintendo DS on the charger in the living room in the corner on a charger.  Doh!  I wasn't going to turn around to get it.  I told the story of me losing my blanket that I'd had since birth while on Vacation with my parents, and not realizing until we were half a state away.  This was back before hotels were nice and sometimes would mail stuff like that.   Well, I called Lisa, she found the DS, and a couple other things, like our beach towels that hadn't dried overnight so I'd thrown them in the dryer.  Double Doh.  We'd see her next week.  He melted down.  He melted the hell down!  Not going back meant we had 1 DS (Sam's) and the DVD player, which Chris killed his screen on the way up.  Good Lord, what did we do before traveling with screens?!  Oh yeah, that's right, we unbuckled, laid down on the seat, played cards and games, and tickled each other until we passed out from the inability to breathe.  In exchange for keeping them alive in a seat belt and carseat, they can't Do Anything.  So I pulled over, put Sam in the way back with his DS, and Chris by Jacob to be distributor, and watch movies.  That made for a MUCH easier ride home, and I still didn't turn around.  

I tell you what I did do, I plotted a visit with a friend who lives about halfway between Grand Rapids and Lansing.  She staked out a McD's with a Playplace, and we met for lunch. We've known our friends Dawn and Tim since 1994 when they were just two young whippersnappers in the Marching Band at Butler.  And I'm ashamed to say we hadn't seen them since about 2004 when they moved north.  I hadn't met 2 of their 4 kids, and they hadn't met any of mine.  Still, through the Blessings of the internet, and facebook, I feel like I know them, and know what's going on in their lives.   I got to meet their 3rd sweetgirl, who is 11 and petitely built just like our boys, and she kept a great eye on all my yahoos in the Playplace, so that I got to catch up with Dawn for like an hour and a half.  Tim works at a school nearby, and it has his last day (teacher day) of school, so he snuck away for lunch with us!   Can you imagine, still being in school?!  We've done like half our summer fun.  So Michigan is strange, but they aren't going back in July either, ugh.  Still, it was Awesome to see them.  It's funny how you can go years without seeing someone, and all the old reasons that you were friends were there.   I wish I'd gotten to see them more often.  I'm so glad I buzzed to see if we could swing something.  These drive by huggings really fill me up!  It makes a long road trip not so boring. 

We made it home safe and sound about 7 pm, a 9ish hour drive, but with our long lunch, that was good timing.  Daddy even had a dinner all made for us when we pulled up, he had grilled up some fish.  I think he missed us.  We had missed him too.   Even though we brought him some Father's Day Fudge.  He decided Next Time he's coming with us.   

This is Jacob's shitty kitty face.  He did not appreciate something.  It was either a. that we were home, or b. that vacation was over, or c. he couldn't have all the fudge he wanted in the world.  

Meanwhile, while we were gone, Daddy did Productive Things. 

He finally got the shower door up in the downstairs bathroom.  Technically, the water works, but the door needs to be caulked into place, which is another project.  Almost there.  

We got shelves!  

Eric put shelving up in the Linen Closet upstairs.  I didn't know we had so many sheet sets, because they've been living in a huge pile in the bottom of that closet for so long.  

My favorite:  The IKEA canvas wave.  

Eric hung this picture up.  It never occurred to us that it would be too big for the space above my bed.   But it still looks really good there.   

I fell asleep that night just staring at it, laying upside down in my bed.  

It's good to be home.