Patrick's first Trophy

Have you ever seen such a happy boy? Patrick got his first trophy this year for T-ball. He had an interesting season, our boy who never sits still decided it would be fun to walk quietly from base to base. Then there was the day he just refused to go on the field. Of course when he did decide to bat he swung in a complete circle...his "windmill hit" as he proudly called it. Halfway through the season he decided he was done and while he liked going out and hanging with his friends Sean & Aiden on Friday & Saturdays...he was done with the T-ball thing. We explained that if he did not complete the season with his team there would be no trophy at the end. So he kept going. For the trophy.

I must admit, it is a pretty cool trophy, and when he wasn't carrying it around showing how it was so much bigger than his dad's golf trophy, it was sitting next to him while he played or watched TV, he was sleeping with it.

Patrick had a lot of fun this year playing for Coach Fisher. It might not have been the same fun everyone else was having but Patrick is known for making fun all his own. We can always count on Patrick to make us smile. You never know what he is going to do next. I can't wait to see what he does in soccer!

Virginia...

We went to Virgina this weekend for my nephew Brian's fiance's bridal shower. We drove down late Friday night while the kids were groggy and not poking one another. Then we got up early the next morning and went to one of my favorite places - Great Falls Park. It was one of the first places Tom took me in Virginia when we started dating and I proceeded to fall in a puddle. I reminds me so much of the woods in Michigan where we used to walk along the lake at by grandmother's house and it is beautiful to boot!

The shower was beautiful too, I had never been to such an elegant..yet comfortable event. The home was beautiful and decorated so nicely...and the food was really great. I am dying to get the strawberry chicken salad recipe! And rumor has it what I was drinking was a Mojito. The bride was beautiful. Alyssa is both beautiful on the inside and out and I am so glad Brian took his time and waited to find her she is quite the catch. I know they will be very happy. We are very excited for the wedding, Patrick is Brian's godson and he will be a "helper". Somehow he got the idea when you were in a wedding you are the one getting married and he was upset. So we are sure to tell him he is helping not getting married. Cause "He doesn't want a weddin!"

We got another nice surprise when we got down there, our other nephew Robert got engaged as well. We got to meet his fiance Ali and she too is a wonderful girl. Smart boys our nephews they know when they have it made! Their wedding will be next year on the beach in the outer banks on June 28th, so it looks like we will be spending a week in NC next summer. Tough duty! It unfortunately means postponing another plan, but I would not miss Rob's wedding, he is such a special guy. All three boys are.

While we were at the shower, Uncle Chris had spent the day attempting to wear out the boys, and while William was exhausted and Tom felt older than ever...Patrick still couldn't lay still to fall asleep. They had gone hiking, and swimming, and fishing (that was more scaring the fish away by splashing in the mud), and just plain running around all day, and he still took an hour to fall asleep.

Sunday morning the boys had more fun, William got archery and crossbow lessons, as well as Lacrosse. He also inherited some very special lacrosse uniforms. Patrick got chased around a bit and got to play some games too. He also got a pair of lacrosse shorts that he proudly wore over the ones he was already wearing all the way home. I really wish we lived closer to these guys. They are so good with William and Patrick, from teaching them to run matchbox cars down the banister of the stairs when they were little right up to now. It has never mattered what they were in to these teenagers, now grown ups got down on the floor with them and tried to talk to these little kids about whatever it was that was going on in their lives. William and Patrick couldn't ask for better cousins! I hope they turn out just like them.

Special friends

It seems like William and Aiden have always been friends. I guess they have been since Aiden was born, William is a few years older but it has never mattered to either one of them. Aiden's family lived down the street from us, and William took to his new friend immediately and there was no looking back. Not even both families moving could separate them. We have remained friends even 30 minutes apart.

This year William and Aiden got their first pets. William got a hamster named Oreo and Aiden got a rabbit he named Flip Flop. They have been bugging us to get the pets together for a play date so one afternoon we decided to see what would happen.

As it turns out a rabbit and a hamster have a lot in common, they shared toys and food and sniffed each other and had a grand old time. Who would have thought? Well, Aiden & William did!

I have been so lucky in my life to have had a girlfriend I met when we were 3, our moms were friends and we remained friends through moves and different schools and college and boys and marriage and kids and many many states. How great to have friends like that where even your pets are great friends! I feel so lucky that we met the Fishers and William met Aiden, I hope they will always be friends. I think they will.

Sunday morning rides

Sunday morning we got up and went to see Uncle Tim off on his Christmas in July ride for children. Uncum is a member of the Blue Knights and they collect toys then deliver them to the Salvation Army. It is fun to see all the bikes arriving and lining up. So many people! So many kinds of people...biker guys and people you wouldn't think of as biker guys. Uncum even had a pink backpack full of toys to donate strapped to his bike. It is really cool to watch - and REALLY loud! Patrick still doesn't like the loud noises and it was very hot even that early in the morning.

The boys pulled out their chairs and watched the police motorcycle teams go through their drills and run the obstacle course. They move those things really well! It is amazing they don't drop them. I am waiting to see who will be the first to ask for a bike of their own...maybe Tom????

Friday Night Lights

Tom and I got to go out to dinner by ourselves Friday night... we went to DaVinci's in Collegeville - pretty good! We talked like grownups. Didn't separate or threaten anyone with time outs, and really had a fun time.

Once a year my parents take the kids to the carnival at Wissahickon HS while we go to dinner then we meet them there for the fireworks. We have recently discovered that the 4th of July is one of my dad's favorites, because of the fireworks, and we have never been disappointed with the show.

The hardest part is the waiting. Both of the boys got glow wands this year and the camera took some really good shots of the light. All the funnel cake, ice cream, and water ice helps, but it takes forever for it to get dark. Then there are all the speeches and then we pull out Patrick's "hear" muffs so he isn't scared of the noise. Once they started Patrick and I looked for the yellow fireworks and commented on how silly they were to have so many Christmas fireworks. I like the ones that whistle and he like the ones that fizzled. William & Tom like them all.

I hope we have many more of these family outings full of fun and fancy lights!

New Beginings

I am calling this new beginnings for many reasons. First of all I am posting again for the first time in many months...yes Rollie I am doing it again!

Encouraged in many areas of life right now, I got an extra boost this past weekend with an amazing 48 hours in Rehoboth beach with very special friends and family, here I am starting again.

We went to Rehoboth with my friends Rollie & Kate and their son Josh who generously asked us to crash their family vacation for a few days then didn't take it back - go figure! After a week of 4 year old anticipation, we got up at 4 am to meet at Cracker Barrel, where we started off the weekend with pancakes...what could be better. A few hour in the car and Rollie's car started to leak bubbles...

A quick stop at Walmart for William's first boogie board and an array of buckets and shovels for Patrick. Off we go to the beach where Josh and two of his very kind friends showed William the finer points of the boogie board. Note to self, water shoes (he has his father's glass feet) and swim shirt. He didn't do so bad for his first time out...a few setbacks, but we were really proud at how he stuck to it for the most part!

Patrick told everyone there were "socks" in the water and his plans for the weekend were just to dig a big hole. No more Shark Week on the Discovery channel for Patrick! So Patrick dug a hole.

I had lots of time to think on the beach. And quality non-scrapping girlfriend time with Rollie. I tried to eat crabs...but there will just have to be more for Rollie. I love crab, but I can't get past their little faces. I will have to stick to crab cakes! I was also introduced to the Candy Kitchen and Thrashers. I love Vinegar, but I now crave it on everything! Although I have discovered it is not the same on tater tots! I loved giggling and being a pirate with Rollie, we shall have to celebrate national "Talk like a pirate day".

It was hard transitioning back to work. I spent Monday and Tuesday surfing the net looking for hotel rooms to go back..but with work and William's science camp it became painfully clean that I was dreaming. So I just kept waiting for my beach report, and finding new things to pour vinegar on.

It is hard to put all my thoughts and feelings from the whole weekend in to words, I know I am am blessed in so many areas of my life, and I got to experience quite a few of them over the weekend. It has given me the strength, and the strong desire to start over. It is a new day.

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940)

Patrick!

There are many thing I want to remember about Patrick's childhood, his love of potato chip cans, the blue Christmas, "hang-burgers"ordered with cheese and without meat. Rescue heroes clenched in his hand, and messes wherever he goes.

How can this face get in so much trouble? Our little Patrick is the master at pushing buttons. He has got the pesky little brother thing down to a science. I hope someday William understands that it is his duty to be the little brother and drive us all bezerk! Lucky for us he always follows it up with the clear blue eyes...the great big chocolate covered smile, and an I love you!

Today I am taking care of my violets.

First a little background. I collect violets, or should I say I save them. You know the ones, the half dead violets you see at the grocery store or Home Depot, the ones you know they will throw in the trash rather than give water and light and make healthy again. And even though you know you are going to still pay full price for it you take it home anyway because it still has a chance. I started doing this when I got my first apartment, I have all the special pots and tools, the violet food and rack to sit them in the sun together. I continued my little hobby when we bought our first house but went on hiatus when William was born (once he was mobile he started knocking them over on an accidental, but regular basis). Then came Patrick and I left the pots in a box a little while longer. But last year I saw a sad violet in the store and and brought out the box. Now I have three, in varying states of health. Once upon a time I would tend to the violets every couple of weeks, now with kids and work, and everything else going on I only do it when they really need it. Today they didn't, but I did.

To take care of violets you need to cut out all dead leaves, but not just the dead ones, the dying leaves, when they get to big and start to die, they still pull nutrients from the new ones. The trick is to know when to cut them off. Sometimes you cut a few, and sometimes you cut a lot. You don't always want to cut them off, but you do because you know that in order for the rest of the plant to have enough energy to grow, they need to go. You also need to turn the soil. add a little new soil, a little food, a little water, a little sun, a little faith, and a little love.

So today I am deciding which leaves to cut, how deep I need to go to find the healthy plant again.

Hopefully if I do it right...every once and a while....I might get a flower.

We signed the papers last night. I didn't think I would be so emotional, but I was. We moved out in September last year, the house has been on the market for 7 months, and I have only been back a handful of times. Not a day went buy that I didn't make a comment about getting rid of it or say a prayer that it would be bought, but when they called for me to come sign the papers I cried. 115 Marielle Lane. This was my first real home of my own, of my family. The home I moved in to as a single woman, the home I married Tom in, the home I brought two beautiful little boys to. We planted the flowers, we put in the steps, down the side of the house is the perenial flower garden that Tom dug for me my first Mother's day and where I planted the new ones they got me for Mother's day every year since then. I made some very special friend in this neighborhood, and so did the boys. Will they remember living here?

Don't get me wrong I love my new house, it is perfect for where our family is now in life. But it was my home...and I cried.

I love my birthday. I think everyone should! Your birthday is be nice to you day. We grownups seem to take less and less time to be nice to ourselves as the years go by. Several weeks ago I realized that my 35th birthday fell on a friday night. And as much as I love my husband and kids the first thing that came to my mind was "girl's night out!". And what fun it was! There were balloons and cake (with edible glitter!) and chocolate covered strawberries and enchaladas and crocs and some very generous prezzies and croppin' and most of all my girlfriends! I felt like a little girl again! I could not have asked for a better way to spend my birthday! You all made me feel special and loved, and I cherish each one of you! For axe-murders you sure have big hearts!

I am having one of those days, those days where you have all sorts of deep, meaningful and important things to say and you can't seem to get any of them out.

The type where you want to tell those friends how truly special they are and how much they mean to you and bring to your life.

The days where you want to tell your children how proud you are of them and that there is no one or anything that could replace them in your life.

The days where you want to tell your husband how much you love him and that no matter how many times you have to remind him that you need him to change the light bulbs in the other house, you love him the same.

The days where you want to call your parents and tell them that you now get it, you understand the lessons they were trying to teach you when you were small and in return you told them that you hated them.

And none of these things that make the tightness in your chest come out, today the feeling are there but the words never come. I think I will go to the grocery store now. We need milk.

WAIT YOUR TURN! How many times have we heard that? It is hard to be 3. You go with the flow (mostly) and get dragged around, overlooked, and wait for your turn to do all those things that you see others doing.

This morning in the car my 3 year old told me that today he is going to play with his big brother's toys. He does not want to play with his own, he wants to play with William's. On Tuesday & Thrusdays Patrick spends the day with my parents, so instead of playing with his toys there, he is playing with William's.

How hard it must be to be him, with 4 years between them there are so many things that William does that Patrick is not allowed to do. This weekend was packed full of activities and Patrick got left out of quite a few of them. No play dates, no birthday party, even when we went bowling someone helped him. Don't get me wrong, it is not always like that, but it happens more and more often. Patrick's "turn" is years away...

Taking a trip in the car to the scrapbook store with mommy apparently did not fill the void, so today he is taking his stand! He is playing with those treasured big boy toys that when present, William does not like him to touch unless he has special permission and is in general favor with his big brother.

I guess even a 3 year old had his limits. And today he took his turn.