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!!!!!!
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.)
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!
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.
I've been collecting a few Tateisms lately to document this quite entertaining stage of his life at 4 1/2. Some are funny. Some are smart. Some are random. Some are actually thought-provoking. They are definitely all Tate.
How do you get to heaven if you don't have wings?
How did I get in your tummy?
Why do you have a hole in your ear?
We were discussing the navy people that live in submarines. Tate replied, "So do The Beatles. They live in a yellow submarine."
Can we just talk about crazy robots?
I walked by the living room and heard him singing to himself the song from my Haiti friends, "I am not forgotten. God knows my name." I told him how happy that made me. He said, "I was singing loud so the boys & girls in Haiti could hear me."
Do fish like it when sharks eat them?
Oh yeah, Baby! (a la Austin Powers)
(prayer before bed tonight)
Dear God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for Hide & Seek. Thank you for Will, Mama, and Crazy Daddy. Thank you for Mallory at Kindergarten. Please be with the people in Haiti and help them get houses. Be with Fransos and Baby Moses so they can have lots of food, and a Mommy & Daddy, and toys. Thank you for Mimi, Grandpa, MoMere, & Poppy. Most of all thank you for Jesus. Amen. A short pause. Mommy, Can you play soccer in the sand?
Oh my, this boy. One minute I can be in tears wondering how in the world I'm supposed to parent him. And then he turns around with a prayer like tonight's. More tears with the reminder of his sweet heart.
One of my biggest challenges. One of my biggest blessings.
While I was in Haiti, Daddy & Tate got to go see the long-awaited movie, Cars 2. It was a hit.
Our Small Group at church created a Good Samaritan Fund several years ago. It has been a great tool to use to bless those in need around us. We contribute to the fund throughout the year and then as needs come up with those in our group or those in our community, we have the resources available right then and there to help. So once a year, our group has a Garage Sale to raise more money for the fund. It's very possible much of the money raised was from our superstar helpers and donut/lemonade salespeople. This year the sale was at our house, and we made $650! Not too bad at all, especially considering it was completely last minute and there really weren't many big ticket items. One person's junk is another's treasure.
While Shannon and her kids were in town, we met up with our longtime family friends, the Barberenas. We call where they live a farm. I don't know if it fully meets farm criteria, but it's on a big piece of land with several live animals. In our suburban world, that's a farm. The kids loved feeding the animals carrots and listening to the donkey make its hee-haw noise very loudly. Kind of crazy that this is the family we took trips with when we were small kids, and now those same kids have kids...7 total. Fun night!
Also while I was in Haiti, I signed up Tate for a local half-day Art Camp. I had no idea how it would go. Tate isn't really that into arts & crafts. He will do them if they're there, but he hurries through it as quick as he can usually. But it was a great deal on Groupon, and we're always looking for different indoor activities when it's so hot in the summer. And let's be honest, I don't have to clean up the mess. :)
I was pleased with how much he enjoyed it. He later explained to me how first they painted the sky, then the grass, then the trees, etc. My mother-in-law (who is quite the talented artist herself) picked him up that day. She surprised us all by taking the canvas painting to be professionally framed. The first masterpiece by our little impressionist.
We are big fans of all things Sesame Street around here. Tate still enjoys watching it, so I'm certainly not going to stop him. There will be years and years of sports, superheros, and bad guys on the TV ahead, so why not let Elmo stay a little longer? So if the big brother is watching, then that means the little brother has already heard his fair share of "Can you tell me how to get?" ( I just smile and nod when my pediatrician says it is recommended that children under 2 watch no TV.)
We have been quite surprised to learn that there actually is a bad guy living on Sesame Street. This one.
Will is officially petrified of this fuzzy, purple guy. Petrified! He plays the part of the Big Bad Wolf. And Will believes it. He is on one of our Elmo videos and seems to also keep appearing on several On Demand episodes we've watched. Poor Will can be a happy, dancing machine watching his beloved Elmo. The minute the Big Bad Wolf appears, watch out. Real tears, screaming, and running, i.e.,walking fast, falling, and crawling away as quick as he can.
Sad and kind of funny at the same time. But I do now know at exactly what point on the DVD to fast forward, so we can keep all things sunny and sweet on The Street.
Technically, he took his first steps months ago. But Will is a funny little guy. A few steps were plenty for him for the time being. Then he progressed to a couple of feet. That seemed to be enough. And just this week, he is walking several feet. Maybe 50% of the time. He is still utilizing his lightening-fast crawling skills a lot (and has the scabbed/calloused knees to show for it). People comment on how fast he can crawl all of the time. It's quite a sight to see, actually.
But I think it's finally clicking that walking can be a great way to get around. And not hurt those knees near as much. You'll see in the video, though, I had to use the paci for some extra motivation to show off his new skills. And poor guy, you will also see a big swollen mark near his eye. I'm afraid he has inherited my ability to be loved by mosquitoes.
Proud of our sweet Will. Can't believe he's getting so big.
Still doing some blog catch-up. Back in April, our "LIVE INSECTS" arrived in the mail. Surely one day Tate will appreciate the sacrifice I made on this one. The fact that I willingly did something with LIVE INSECTS says a lot for how much I love this kiddo. :)
It was quite a process and transformation to watch. I would've been totally fine if you just keep the box closed for 2 weeks and then open it to beautiful butterflies. Pretty sure, that would've missed the point. So I got over my own heebie-jeebies and helped Tate open our box to find...
Caterpillars. Yep nothing real pretty about these creatures. Scaly, spiny caterpillars.
After a week or so, they migrate up to the top of the cup and form something that makes them stick there. Then they just get really still. This is the part where I started to get a little stressed. It seems so bizarre that they have to be kept still, so they can form cocoons (not the real term, I know), so they can turn into butterflies. It's just weird. And stressful. We were all rooting for them!
And wouldn't you know it, over time, these thin paper-like shell things called chrysallids formed around each of them. Tate was not near as impressed as I was. I showed them off like a proud caterpillar-turned-chrysallid mom to anyone that walked thru our house.
So then there was the creepy moment. After they are good and coccooned up, you transfer them into the butterfly habitat. By this point, it had been at least a week or so of them being completely still. You almost forget there is something living and growing inside there. Here's a video to show the little scare they gave me.
After I Googled "chrysallid is shaking," I was reassured that this is normal. :) And after almost an hour, freaky chrysallid guy decided to calm down again and return to his stillness state. Guess my transfer skills were a little traumatizing. Sorry!
So over the next few days, we were always checking up on the little guys to see if there was any change. And then all of a sudden...there were butterflies! We were all bummed that we never saw the butterfly emerge from the chrysallid, though. But they all made it and their purpose in life was complete!
We enjoyed them for a couple of days, but it was finally time for the release.
This part was not near "the moment" I had envisioned. Those stinkers would NOT come out. It was time for the big send-off into the real world, but they seemed happy just staying inside the little mesh habitat...thank you very much. Even our cheers of "Be free! Fly!" did nothing. Tate lost patience waiting after about five minutes. So I did some delicate maneuvering and got three of the five on their way.
Goodbye friends, it's been fun...and gross/fascinating/stressful/beautiful!
But there were still two left in there. We were in the backyard for at least 45 minutes, and they would not fly out of there. I felt bad, but had to move on to dinner and bedtime, so I left the habitat outside. Maybe they wanted some privacy? At 10:00 pm, there was still one stubborn little guy in there. Finally by the morning, he had found his wings, so to speak, and was gone.
Overall, it was a good little project. At almost 4 1/2 years old, Tate thought it was cool and interesting. He wasn't necessarily mesmerized by it, but definitely enjoyed it. We had a helpful book on caterpillars turning into butterflies to go along with it.
Despite the freaky and gross moments, I thought it was all quite fascinating and wonderful to watch.
