Let's Hear it For the Boys

My favorite boy is seven. This year finds him all about sports. For his birthday, we got him an outdoor basketball goal, and he shoots for hours. Traveling and double dribbling go on a lot, but I think he will remedy that on his own soon enough. He loves kick ball and soccer and riding his bike, and he loves playing pee-wee baseball. He hits the ball almost every time he is up to bat, and then he runs like he means it. He plays like he doesn't know he is one of the smallest ones on the team. It's one of my favorite things.

We had a sports themed birthday party. The kids split up to do a hoop shoot, a bean bag toss, to bat with the ZipNHit, and then they played a soccer game together. "Big kid" cousins Lance and Lane were referees. Everyone got an MVP award, and goody bags sporting stickers, medals, whistles, ring pops, and wrist bands. My 5-year-old nephew is still wearing his medal everywhere he goes. I think it was a boy equivalent of a spa day.

Jaron continues to melt my heart with his sweet personality most of the time. While he picked out a birthday gift for Madison weeks before her birthday, and he often tries to entertain Megan, these days I also see him getting enjoyment from teasing his sisters. I guess it's kind of what boys do. He does many things that big boys do now. He likes to collect bugs and go hunting and fishing, and gross things don't really gross him out anymore. Over the past year he has really made great strides in coming out of his shell. Sometimes I think as he grows I am becoming less important on his radar. Like he only thinks of me when he is hungry or needs to find his belt for his baseball uniform. Like he needs me less. Dad seems to be the cool one. Dad is the one watching Mizzou or playing outside the most. Jaron does not run up to hug me with his arms open wide nearly as often as he use to...but sometimes he still does. And sometimes I catch him looking for me after he gets a big hit or crosses home plate, to make sure I saw it, and I love it that I did. So I hope he will need me a little longer. I mean, when I can't help giving him a big hug or kiss out in public, he still lets me. And he is still really good about saying, "G'night, Mom. Love ya." I don't know about him, but I think I will always need that. Happy Birthday, Jaron! I hope being seven will be a big adventure for you!

Just Letting It Be

I have loved Kevin for as long as I can remember. I know people talk about falling in love and falling out of love and everything, but I don't think I know what that means. I don't remember an instant when it smacked me over the head and I was helpless to his charms or anything...and so I don't believe in the possibility that I could wake up one day and find that my feelings from the last 20 years of my life have vanished, either. I realize it all started out as 13-year-old girl's crush, but eventually I stopped focusing on the cute boy on the basketball court and began to consider the man he would become. I started thinking about what kind of husband he might be someday, and what kind of father he could be. I knew he would teach them to fish when they were old enough. I imagined he would teach them to shoot, both guns and basketballs. I was right about all of that. He also teaches them about animals and gardening and building things. He manages to teach them about responsibility and fun all at once. You can choose a person to be with for the rest of your life, and you can think you know they will be a good dad, but really, you have to hope they pan out as a parent. I mean, how can you really know for sure until those babies come along?

In honor of Father's Day, I can honestly tell you now...he is pretty great at it. Maybe he could have changed more diapers. Maybe he could have elected not to teach Jaron to ride his bike with no hands. Nobody is perfect. When our kids bring their broken bikes to him, he fixes them. When he is leaving, and they want to go with him, he takes them. When they cry, he comforts them. When they want to snuggle with him to fall asleep, he lets them. He praises and encourages, and when it works out he is always proud of their accomplishments. I think he has all the important stuff down. I'm just saying, I think love worked out for me. Not falling in it or out of it. Just letting it be.

What Sisters Do

When I was a kid, I thought all sisters kind of looked out for each other. I thought all sisters would be glad to spend some time together. I have been rudely awakened by people over the years who can barely stand to be around their sister. I know people who dread the holidays and only hope to get through them without some type of family feud. I hope they are the exception, and not the rule. Why don't they know what sisters do? I think about my sister a lot as I watch my daughters' relationship develop. I love how much Madison has always been devoted to her baby sister, and as Megan gets older, I love to see how much she loves her Sissy. She is Madison's biggest fan. I remember that, because I am the little sister. I was the biggest fan. I was the one who wanted to do everything like my cool big sister did. I have learned over time that I am not going to be just like her, because we are different in a lot of ways. My eyes are brown, hers are blue. I can't draw a stick figure, and she teaches art. Those differences make things more fun and interesting, I cannot see how differences in the people we are could divide us. Today, in honor of my only sister's birthday, I would like to tell you about what sisters do.

Big sisters:
Teach you how to do a cartwheel
Fix your hair for prom, and occasionally on school picture day
Play "I'm going on a trip.." as you fall asleep
Cry when your boyfriend is stupid
Haul their babies around in the evenings to watch your ball games
Follow your baby from the operating room to the nursery at the hospital, with a video camera, so nobody gets switched at birth, and you can enjoy those moments that happened while you were in recovery
Clean your house the day you bring that baby home from the hospital
Love your children
Help you in raising those children (with advice, planning, babysitting, etc.)
Share in your triumphs...and your sorrows
Give you nephews to love
Call you for all the big reasons, and the little ones, too

Little sisters:
Look up to their big sister

My Place

So my house is small, and it is somewhere around a hundred years old. Sometimes I feel dissatisfied with it, and I think I need a new one. I see beautiful, new homes everywhere I go. Maybe we will do that someday. My new house will have an open floor plan. A nice, big space for birthday parties. It will have more storage, more open space, and another bathroom. The laundry room will be right off of the bathroom, too. That just makes so much sense to me. It is fun to think about sometimes. Kevin and I are a pretty good construction team, actually. I know we could do that, build a house, but most of the time I don't really think we need to do that. I mean, when I sit on the swing in my front yard, I feel the grass under my feet, and I see this:We have a garden in the back yard. I hope to fill the pantry with potatoes, green beans, and tomatoes this summer, if we can keep it weeded, like this: We have three little people who love to ride bikes, play catch, or run around back there, like this:Cattle graze peacefully in our pasture, and fish swim in our ponds. We have dogs and cats...and flowers. We don't have a stressful mortgage hanging over our heads. In the big picture, I can't say that I am dissatisfied with any of that. Old, new, large, or small, what does it really matter? The people inside (or outside) make it my place. This is where I work, play, praise, scold, worry, laugh, love, hope, and dream. Live. What else could I possibly need?

Spa Day 2011

The idea to have a spa day birthday party was a fabulous one...and it was my sister's. Moms of boys have these amazing ideas, full of pink bows and ruffles and lace, or make up, curling irons, and nail polish. One by one, some of my favorite girls started offering to help out. Family and friends quickly volunteered to hostess, do nails, makeup, and hair. Spa Day kept growing and growing, and I have to say the end result was a day Madison and her friends will never forget, and a day I will always cherish.

Madison made her own cupcakes all by herself, because she is nine years old, after all. We went to Ma Judy's house, and decorated things with lots of hot pink. Her friends came over and all of the girls worked their way through our "stations." They got to get in the outdoor hot tub, they got their hair, nails, and makeup done, and Mom had fancy dresses for them to wear(including my senior prom dress). Some of the "big girls" got their hair and nails done as well. Lunch and cupcakes were served with pink lemonade, of course. Little girls felt like princesses. Madison told me on the way home that it was her best birthday ever. After the spa day was over, Kevin and I took the kids to Colton's to cap off the birthday celebration. She covered her pink cheeks as they banged on the pots and pans to get everyone's attention to announce her birthday in the middle of the restaurant.

The entire day was a scrapbook page just waiting to happen. Our family and friends pulled together to make Madison's ninth birthday special in a way that was absolutely inspiring. I am filled to my beautifully painted toes with gratitude to have so many people in my life who love and support my little family. To know Madison will continue growing up surrounded by this exquisite network of love and encouragement...I mean, it is all any mother can want for her child on her birthday, and all the days of her life.