Sweet Summer....

Summer is in full bloom at our house.

I can't seem to find the time I need to write about our life because I'm just to busy living it!

So this is a random smattering of the last few days that I most want to hold tight too.

The everyday moments and milestones that somehow slip through my fingers like sand, faster everyday.

Daniel has now taken his first dip in the big pool.

He was too little last summer... 

and it was to chilly... 

and I was too tired.

mommy has a little more energy now that he is sleeping all night :)

With every child we have diligently documented the first moment that their toes touch that beautiful blue water

In my family swimming is likened to a sacred right of passage.

I honestly cannot remember a time when I didn't know how to swim, and I've never had any lessons.

We just spend that much time in the water.

 Tommy could not be bothered to hold his head up while he floated around the pool.

He stayed like this forever. Total chilled out.

That's right baby... get used to it, we are gonna live here for the next three months!

Thousands have lived without love, but not one has lived without water. 

~ W.H. Auden

Splashing is a hobby for him.

And another new development for Daniel is solid food. 

He still only has three teeth on the bottom but he just wasn't happy with the baby food anymore.

So far he loves anything involving cheese, 

and watermelon was a big hit too.

I'm throwing this next picture in now because I was talking about food... 

this is an impromptu lunch at Grammy and Grandpa's house.

Notice she has two large tables...

I didn't understand why she kept the old one when we got her the new one.

Now I see,

the grandchildren alone now take up nearly one whole table... 

oh wait.... 

three are missing.

So once they are all big enough to sit at the table they will actually be short one seat...

oh wait...

there is another grandbaby due in July....

My head hurts from all this math. Just enjoy the cute picture and forget all that you just read.

Swinging at Grams house.

 and playing with one of the many kittens.

Now back to our house... the place I always want to be.

I love love love these lights... they feel ethereal, and magical.

Like all the warm fuzziness of Christmas 

except its eighty degrees 

and there's a fire going 

and you can see lightning bugs everywhere.

I love summer, and I'm still high on the newness of it.

My words can't do it justice so here are some pictures of summer at our house.

And some other peoples words that rang true with me....

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought." 

-Wallace Stevens

Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year. 

It brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul. 

- Billy Graham

Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"

The greatest poem ever known

Is one all poets have outgrown:
The poetry, innate, untold,
Of being only four years old.
~Christopher Morley, To a Child

Warm summer sun, shine kindly here; 

Warm southern wind, blow softly here;

Green sod above, lie light, lie light - 

Good night, dear heart, good night, good night.

- Robert Richardson's "Annette" adapted by Mark Twain

The Last Resort

It's Hot,

It's Sunny,

 It's Summer!!!

It is official now that the kids have been in the sprinkler.

We don't go by the calender here.... we go by what we feel.

And what we felt yesterday was the need for a cool down.

This is the funnest sprinkler ever.... thanks Uncle Duck and Aunt Linda!

Please ignore my outfit, I have yet to get figure out if my old bathing suit fits or not... 

I cringe just thinking about bathing suit shopping

*shudder*

Anyway...

This was Daniel's first time in the baby pool, he loved it for about twenty minutes, and then he was just super mad about being wet, I could not change him fast enough in his opinion.

And yes my mom and dad do have an in-ground pool, but it is too cold for the kids just yet...

me too for that matter.

If you would like to make a donation for a heater we will give you a free summer pass!

Any takers?

 

Here is my incredibly talented, mind bendingly artistic, beautiful baby sister Julie.

She is really very very talented as an artist...

But this was not her most challenging project ever. She was painting the sign we put by the pool.

Sorry Juls, not you most inspired work.... very pretty though

I fact why stop here?

I've decided that mom should put Julie in charge of spicing up the outdoor area a bit this year.

Colored lanterns, Funky pillow, cool artwork...

What do you think?

When someone refered to it as "Julie's sign" my dad quickly reminded us all that he made it... 

So here you go daddy, I'm giving you credit.

You took a rundown little house, 

polished it till it shined,

made room for us all to have anything we could ever want,

Made us a play house, 

put us in a pool,

built beautiful furniture,

and to this day you keep it all looking pristine.

But you also made this little sign in a few hours one afternoon... 

and its cute...

Thank you.

Feel better?

I think we may have over stayed our welcome.

Pappy looks worn out :)

And so do these two.

Come on guys perk up! 

It's only the first day... three more months of exhausting water, sun and fun to survive!

Yay!!!

He is an early bird... in this family that is....

Daniel pulled himself up to standing today!

 

He just turned eleven months.

He is leading the pack now as far as gross motor skills for children in this family...

 

Sad I know.

He was so excited to find something that made noise.. he "played" for a good twenty minutes.

Bella walked around 17 months

Tommy around 14 months.

Daniel is well on his way to setting a record for the family!

 

 

 

Go Baby Go!!!

Our Weekend.

I didn't know what the plan was for our anniversary weekend.
All I knew was we were dropping the kids off at Grammy's on Friday after lunch and we were free until Sunday afternoon... that alone would have been enough!

But Tom insisted on surprises...

A card just after midnight on Friday morning  :)  our anniversary.

He cleaned the house, after I left to drop off the kids and rearranged some things he knew I wanted done.
 He even mopped the kitchen floor!
If it weren't for the artwork on the fridge and walls you wouldn't have known we had kids living here. 

He also put stuff from our wedding all around the house, photos, cake knife, my bouquet.

Then another card... cause he is indecisive and he like them both.
So he got them both... don't you love how men think?


Then I was ordered to dress up for dinner... and this was the view from our table....

And these were the roses that were waiting for me!

And then after dessert there was jewelry!!!
I never saw it coming... the restaurant... the flowers... that was more than enough!
But I do love diamonds so I won't complain.

And as a thank you I made him this for breakfast,
and of course I had to have some too :)

Here is the link to the recipe! Your welcome in advance!

It was the most relaxing beautiful weekend!!!
I am so blessed that he is mine...

but now back to reality and weight watchers!
I think I gained a pound just looking at the pictures....

To Love and Be Loved.

Baby, 

Its been five years today that we've been married.

Two days after our wedding we set out on the first of many adventures together. Ocean City, MD.

No hotel reservations, no real plan, 

just two thousand dollars, a leaky convertible, and two weeks off work.

We ate till we couldn't move, 

stayed up all night long,

walked on the beach in the cold... you in your boots, me in bare feet.

We wandered into every little weird store on the boardwalk,

bought a painting of Paris and said someday we would go there together.

I've often wished I could go back to the days before our wedding and tell myself to slow down,
that we would never get it back, and we should savor it.
especially our honeymoon, it was a once in a lifetime thing.
not the location obviously but the time,
no kids, no responsibility, truly carefree.

A few weeks later, July 3rd to be exact, in a house that still didn't really feel like home.

Your sitting on the couch, the right side of the old leather one we have since thrown out.

I come out and show you the plus sign with shaking hands and demand that you take me to walmart for another test.

I can't fathom that I'm going to be a mother, but when we get to the store I buy three tests...and a pregnancy magazine.

Three more plus signs and we spend the fourth of July spreading our good news.

October of the same year, we head to St. Kitt's for our "real" honeymoon.

I am five months pregnant now. 

The bumpy dark and stormy landing nearly makes me throw up, you are across the aisle holding my hand.

I remember thinking if the plane went down at least I could die holding your hand.

It was comforting... that is true love....

...by the way... we are taking a cruise when we go to Paris.

Its March of  the next year and we are waiting for our daughter to be born, she is late... of course.

You are my sanity, the only thing I have left to cling to.

We are going to have to be induced. You get my favorite take out the night before. 

You drive me to the hospital and play calming music, and listen to me cry about how scared I am.

You try to hold me while they give me the epidural... its Ok, every superman has his kryptonite.

You get me ice chips.

You get me cold wash cloths.

You count to ten for and hour and a half and cheer me on. I really wanted to make you proud.

And you are the only person in the room who is feeling what I'm feeling when that little girl takes her first breath.

We do the late nights and the early mornings,
you do them more than me while I fight off the "baby blues"

You amaze me with what a good and natural father you are.

I am just a tad jealous.

We celebrate all her firsts.

   and our first anniversary.

Soon she is one and at the end of a long celebration with friends and family she is running a fever.

You take her temperature while I take a pregnancy test.

I have another plus sign 

She has a temperature over a hundred and four.

We spend the night in the ER wondering what we will do on nights like this when we have two kids.

We have a son, and now your name is even more a part of me. 

Now the son we've had will carry on your name. I am as proud as I've ever been.

We suffer a miscarriage... I am sure you are suffering as much as I am which surprises me a little, 

and makes me love you more.

We pray, we cry, we make it though stronger. 

A few months later 

another plus sign and another son.

 He is healthy but I'm not.

Epidural headache and treatments lead to possible infections.

MRI's, spinal taps, endless antibiotics. 

You are so strong for me 

and I don't worry about the kids because I know you are taking my place as only you could. 

overseeing the house, who will watch them and when, 

cleaning it from top to bottom the night before I come home.

I never saw you scared,  
I wouldn't have known how scared you were if my sister hadn't told me.

Thank you for not letting me see that. I needed your strength that day since I had none.

 

Five years of babies growing, late night fevers,  feedings and diapers changes.

Five years of watching miracles happen and prayers get answered.

Five years of you leading us and me learning to follow.

Five years of you taking care of me and me taking care of you. 

I pray for fifty more.

On our fifty fifth wedding anniversary you will be seventy seven and I'll be seventy six.

I want to write about our trip to Paris, with pictures of us on the Eiffel tower.

I want to brag about our kids and grandkids. 

I want to have side by side rocking chairs on the porch.

I remember thinking on our wedding day that I couldn't love you more than I did at that moment.

I was wrong,

And in fifty years I want to be even more in love with you than I am today.

Il n'y a qu'un bonheur dans la vie, c'est d'aimer et d'être aimé. 

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.

Love, me.

Wedding Time Warp

I've been looking through wedding photos.

I thought I would be inspired to write about "us"

me and him, 

the beginning of our life together.

That is what your wedding day is supposed to be about right?

An old life ending and a new one beginning, a life together.

Except when I look back on that day I don't really see us.

It was a day all about us, celebrating the choice we were making... "forever"

But when I look at the photos now mostly I see all the people who came to celebrate with us

and my mind starts reeling at how much we have all changed in five short years.

In this picture are Tom's five groomsmen, at the time none of them had any kids, and none of them were married. Now they have all been married or engaged and between them they have ten kids, well.... thirteen if you include Tom.

My "little" cousin Alex and her friend... well into their high school years now.

... my husbands little brothers, these two will be sixteen soon...

My Gram... she passed away about two years after our wedding, just a few months after Bella turned one.

It was such a blessing that she lived long enough to meet Tom and my daughter.

I could go on and on, friendships lost, new ones made, ones that need some tlc.

I remember wondering how I'd ever fit in to Tom's big noisy family and now I feel like I've always been there.

I wondered how I would ever be able to live without my sister in the next room and my beck and call.

(we are still working on that one.... I think the best solution is for her to just move in here.)

Tom's little brother and his best friend.

Both married now,

both new dad's.

Brian!

(Andrea! put some clothes on!!!)

This was the first big family thing my cousin brought his future wife to.

They weren't engaged yet.

Now they are the proud parents of this cutie...

Of course some things haven't change, and in that I find comfort.

This picture could have been taken yesterday, 

minus the dressy clothes 

and one of them is blond, 

one is out of state, 

and one has lost a hundred pounds or so.... I'll let you speculate.

And of course my mom and dad, same as ever.... probably better with time.

Too much emotion in this picture to even begin to form a sentence about it, but how could I leave it out?

my girls, 

my best friends.

Ok I'm stopping before I have to get someone to come mop me up off the floor.

Maybe if I go look at our wedding scrapbook I'll be able to make it about us again.

But maybe a wedding just isn't about two people,

maybe its about two families,

two groups of friends, 

two histories 

coming together to make one big beautiful "Once Upon a Time" from which we can begin to write our story.