Happy Birthday Wade!

At the end of August, Wade had a big birthday.  I happened to have another Groupon for the self-guided tour of Cowboys Stadium that was about to expire.  It made for a fun birthday for a 4-year-old.  Why not make it work for the birthday of a 36-year-old?  :)

It was a great afternoon for these football-loving guys.  I was the photographer, so no pictures of me.  But fun was had by all!

Finally it was time to leave and head home to celebrate the birthday boy.

Happy Birthday Wade!  We love you and couldn't ask for a better husband and father!!!!!!

Reunited

Back in 2008, Newsweek and I broke up. We had been very close for about nine years. It's fair to say I'm loyal. During our years together, I loved getting home to find my Newsweek in the mailbox. Yes, this is bringing to light much of my nerdiness. But toward the end of our years together, the design changed, the writing styles changed, and my favorite columnist ever (Anna Quindlen) left the magazine. I wasn't feeling the love and found myself barely reading each issue. So one day, I abruptly broke up.

While we have been on a break, I've received countless letters and emails pleading for my return. At first, I wanted nothing to do with my former news source. After all, I had Brian Williams, my local news, my news radio, and my occasional newspaper. I could go on without Newsweek just fine, thank you very much.

But life continued to happen over the last three years. My then baby turned into a busy toddler. I started working part-time on freelance projects. I had another baby. Life took on a new form of busy. And I found myself barely able to pry my eyes open late at night trying to read at least one morsel of news off my iPhone. I was clueless. In fact, if it wasn't for Facebook, I would have never had known about Osama bin Laden's death.

I am a graduate of an acclaimed Journalism & Mass Communication Department, so it goes against everything in me to be reading my news on Facebook. Wow, could that sound any snootier? No self-righteousness, I just have a weird addiction to good, quality news.

So the inevitable has happened. Newsweek and I have reunited...and it feels so good.

(That song should be stuck in your head now for approximately 8 hours.)

Tate's First Day of Preschool ~ 2011

Hard to believe this was Tate's LAST first day of preschool. Next year is Kindergarten! This is his 3rd year at our preschool, and he was beyond excited to go. The highlight of this year for Tate is being upstairs. He really thinks that is cool. :) He is in the Giraffes class with two wonderful teachers (one of which first met Tate when he was 5 days old!). This year they will learn all of the fun Pre-K things plus they will have Spanish, Chapel, Literacy Lesson, and an extra long Discovery class (which I know he will LOVE). He also gets to go to the TOTs basketball program again.

It was bright and sunny this morning as we attempted the First Day pictures on the front porch. Trying to explain to a 4-year-old how to not squint but still smile is pretty much impossible. But I still got some shots of my handsome, squinty Giraffe. :)

Once all family members had been photographed (per Tate's request), we were off to the first day.

Can you tell someone is just a little excited and ready to go?

It's become a little trickier getting details out of him after school as he has learned the "I don't remember" response. But I did get out of him that today he had fun playing pirates outside and learned that giraffes eat leaves and that when you push 2 and 3, you get 5." Not too bad for a first day, I think.

I know it's going to be a great year, and I can't wait to watch him learn and grow even more!

On This Day In...

I just recently discovered the little sidebar on Facebook that shows your status update a year ago or two years ago. Quite entertaining, actually. And quite a way to get some perspective.

So on September 1, 2009, I decided to make it "Facebook official" by announcing that I was pregnant. I vaguely remember being excited, nervous, oh-so-tired, and already looking forward to meeting this new baby.

And then on September 1, 2010, I decided to announce to Facebook that Will (4 months old) had slept 10 hours the night before. I vaguely remember still being absolutely exhausted and absolutely excited that he slept so long.

And here I am on September 1, 2011. I can't believe he is already 16 months old. What a difference one year makes. What a difference two years makes.

He is no baby anymore, and I find myself barely able to really remember him being little. It feels bizarre and almost wrong that I can hardly remember him as an infant. So strange considering it wasn't that long ago. Surely I'm not alone in this weird maternal memory lapse?

Knowing that there is a pretty good chance that we will be a 2-kid family, I tried so hard this past year to really savor every moment. So how in the world have I already forgotten it? I guess it can be blamed on sleep deprivation or the franticness of life.

But for today, I'm thankful to have that quick Facebook trip down memory lane. To remember the excitement of this unknown person that would be ours. And then to remember the relief in knowing it is possible for me to have uninterrupted sleep again.

Now to wonder what it will say in 2012?