First, see these characters?

These yayhoos had their last day of school today.

I now have a sophomore:

A newly minted sixth grader:

And a sweet, tender, pretty little fifth grader:

This summer I plan on making the most of our days together, with lots of outdoor playtime, swimming, play dates, field trips, etc.

Also, naps. I firmly believe in naptime for all ages, especially ages 38-45. Like my age. ME.

Summer is always a mixed bag for me. I wake up and the kids aren’t going anywhere and I’m all “WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING HERE IN MAH HOUSE” and things get a little weird. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy my little honey lambkins! I just enjoy them more when they’re spending six hours a day in government-mandated educational institutions, that’s all.

I am looking forward to long talks with James about anything from historical conflicts to the latest Mortal Kombat movie trailer…..to listening to Emma play “school” with her dolls……to watching Henry as he works on making sandwiches for the family for lunch. These moments are precious, and as they get older, they seem to be moving by me faster and faster. I can’t slow it down, so I have to experience them the way they were meant to be experienced.

Crap, I’m getting all sentimental. Alice Cooper to the rescue!

He likes to groom people. With his tongue. Specifically, he likes to groom Dean.

Actually, let me rephrase that. He MUST groom Dean. It’s usually at night; as soon as Dean sits down, George will run over there and get going on his head, licking and licking and licking. When we go to bed at night, George gets really agitated if Dean is not in bed ASAP, and will run back and forth on the bed until he gets in there. Once he’s lying down, George takes the opportunity to (you guessed it) groom the living daylights out of him.

We don’t know why George fixates on Dean for this, but we all know that it’s freaking hilarious. Observe, the cat in action!

All three of my kids have the same distinctive smell to their heads that they did when they were babies. I caught it on Emma and Henry’s heads today, and it sure sent me back: long nights nursing for hours watching old mysteries on PBS (both of these kiddos were avid nursers)….a squeaky clean baby all snuggled up in a warm towel after a bath in the sink….the sweet weight of a sleeping child on your shoulder.

I so enjoyed those times. One of the things I devoutly hope is waiting for me in heaven is a memory machine (for lack of a better term), so I can go back and relive all the tender moments that I would so love to experience just one more time. Like……

– walking hand in hand with my grandpa
– the first few weeks of all three of my children
– watching my toddlers do their toddler thing

And on, and on. I remember when these were actually happening thinking to myself “I’ve got to remember this! I’ve got to!” and for the most part, I have, but it’s the actual visceral, physical part of these memories that I would so love to experience again. Just one more time.

I need to engage with people more passionately. Take risks. Be real. And never, ever be afraid to reach out.

You never know what’s around the corner.

I need to give my faith more credit and a lot more breathing room.

Love the people that are put in my life, and never, ever, ever, ever give up.

I’ve been really hit sideways by this today. Evaluating a lot of things in my life because of it. Mostly, today, I don’t want to live in fear or have regrets. Life’s too short.

Because she wanted to keep it a surprise, she decided not to tell me (I was reading, BAD MOM, and didn’t notice) and bravely tried to stop the bleeding. After soaking through a couple towels, she came out sobbing (and I still hadn’t noticed…good Lord) and then my Super Mommy Nurse persona kicked into fantastic, butt-kicking action.

If you’re a mom, you know about Super Mommy Nurse mode, so I don’t need to explain it to you. If you’re not a mom, here’s a quick blurb: basically, you become some kind of cross between Marcus Welby and George Clooney on ER, with a little bit of Nurse Ratched kicked in for fun. (Just kidding about the Nurse Ratched part. Maybe.)

Anyway, after like an hour of holding bloody towels on a gushing finger, it finally stopped. I assigned her brother to tell her funny stories to keep her relaxed, and of course, he went for the easy laugh: fart jokes. Picture this if you can: two little kids, one with blood all over her, one with a giant parrot toy, sitting together on the floor in the bathroom, laughing hysterically at fart jokes while Mommy talks to the advice nurse on whether she should get stitches or not.

Long story short, she’s fine, all’s fine, and I’m cleaning up blood as we speak. I mean, after I type. I’m not THAT coordinated.

What are your Tuesday things that you love?

And as I write this, IT IS SNOWING.

We went for a nice long walk this morning and of course Henry completely went nuts. We’re so used to his…..stuff…..that we don’t even give it a second thought, it’s normal for us. But I noticed other people looking. Oh, well.

Last night was a baseball scrimmage, and one of James’ teammates has an older brother who is mentally handicapped. It has been very, very interesting to me to watch this boy, see how other people react to him, how his peers interact with him, parents, etc. because it gives me a new perspective on how Henry is viewed. It’s been a very educational experience, in that I’ve been able to get a non-Mom (well, kind of) look at a child with special needs and how they interact with the community. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, it’s snowing!

Then I had to go pick up my taxes and I found out I owe like a bajillion dollars. Bite me, IRS! What if I don’t pay? Huh? Whatcha gonna do? Send me to prison?…..oh.

Thennnn, I took Henry the Hacker to a doctor’s appt. because he’s been coughing for 2 weeks straight, and thankfully he does not have pneumonia, but we did find out the extent of his vascular ring, and it’s 50%. This is a lot worse than I had previously thought. Oh, and then? Kaiser canceled our health insurance because of a payment mixup. I also got $250 in overdraft fees because of SOMEBODY using PayPal way too much and not telling me (that SOMEBODY most likely will be getting some Ben-Gay in his underpants tonight).

So yeah. Oh, and the kicker? Aunt Flo is in town and I’m cramping like nobody’s business. My cat puked all over the rug, the bathroom is dirty, and I think I’m getting a cold sore. Meh.

And yet, I’m not curled up in a ball sucking my thumb (well, yet, anyway). Things could, and have been, a lot worse. In the words of Scarlett, tomorrow is another day! AND IT BETTER NOT SUCK AS MUCH AS THIS ONE, OR SO HELP ME.

Building a rock wall.

Going to a baseball game.

Typing on their laptop, which unfortunately is freaking impossible to see in the sunlight.

Also, there was much basking, a little bit of sunning, and a good dollop of your basic lazing about. Unfortunately, our Mr. Henry is still feverish with cough so he was not able to enjoy it as much as he could’ve, but STILL. Any day with sunshine is a good day.