Running in Circles

Today Teresa asked me to watch her run around the backyard. Why do kids do that? They NEED you to watch them run. And my kids will continuously check as they're running to make sure I'm still watching too, no fooling them. Anyways she needed me to watch her run, so off she went and I dutifully monitored her swiftness (not so much) as she began her little marathon. Now to me running around the yard would be start at point A (mom) and run a straight line to one corner turn and go across to the next corner turn and head back up to the next corner turn again and head back across to the last corner and finally end back where you started. Simple, yes? So you can understand why I was a little perplexed when Teresa sped away from me, reached the screenhouse and circled around it. She continued till she reached the little playhouse and looped around that as well. She did the same to the big playhouse, the trees, the two climbers, the swingset, lawn chairs, various bikes, trikes and push toys strewn about and even the dog. And then it hit me. She was running AROUND the yard and every single solitary item in it. Oh, I laughed till I cried. Funny, funny little girl!

In the good old summertime

Jess, our in house creative writing teacher, has issued an assignment

20 things I love about summer

1. flip flops
2. running through the sprinkler
3. going out for ice cream
4. cooking and eating outside
5. jumping into the pool on a hot summer day
6. water fights
7. popsicles
8. sitting on the porch in my parent's RI home
9. falling asleep to the sound of the waves in my parent's RI home
10. summer salads
11. sipping cold lemonade in the sun
12. daylight till 9:00 pm
13. fresh local fruit and vegies
14. dips in the pond after dinner
15. going from pj's to bathing suit and back to pj's
16. catching fireflies on the beach
17. blond highlights in my 2 year olds hair
18. freckles on my 7 year olds nose (and don't worry, I do apply sunscreen)
19. picnics on the beach
20. spending lazy afternoons at the beach searching for sea glass

20 things I hate about summer

1. it ends way too soon
2. mosquitoes
3. ticks
4. all the towels, bathing suits and picnic blankets make for a lot more laundry
5. those days when it's so hot you can feel your skin melting
6. sand in my food when on a beach picnic
7. sunburns
8. having to bathe the kids every single day because they've gotten so dirty I can't let it slide a day or so
9. trying to come up with yet another meal that does not require cooking
10. the smell of bug spray
11. trying to get a wet bathing off and back on for a pool potty break (the kids especially, but me too I guess)
12. sweating
13. hot cars that have been closed up in the sun
14. playground slides that get as hot as an oven and you don't realize that until after you've pushed your kid down
15. humidity
16. me having to wear a bathing suit...oh, the horror!
17. sweaty feet
18. pavement or sand that gets so hot it burns my feet to walk on it
19. water in my ears
20. the huge bugs that gather on my door when I come home at night who are just waiting for me to attempt to get into my house so they can swarm around me and get in my hair and I freak out waving and flapping my hands and arms, screeching at the top of my lungs

Puppy love

Despite all the craziness that was her dance recital, she makes one gosh darn cute little dalmation puppy.

Happy Anniversary!

The gods were hard at work in the heavens the night we met. Me, spending a rare night with a girlfriend at her place. We banished her husband so we could have the place to ourselves, to chat and eat and sip fruity drinks. Her husband goes to a local bar and runs into a friend from the neighborhood who is on his way to a Celtics game with a guy from work. As the menfolk get to talking they realize the friend from work...is my brother!!!!! And my brother and his coworker pass up a party after the game to crash our girl's night. As thrilled as I was to see my brother, the tall, dark and handsome fellow he worked with was far more interesting. I think I knew when I met you that you were my someone. You took some convincing though. That chance meeting in December of 1993 didn't evolve to marriage until June 6, 1998. The fact that it was D Day always makes you laugh. Ten years have unbelievably gone by since our D Day.
Ten years. Ten years filled with happiness, anger, humor, frustration, contentment and love. Ten years of repeating myself over and over and over, and louder and louder and louder. Ten years of getting the last word. Ten years of begrudgingly smiling, than laughing, at your goofy attempts to stop an argument with silliness. Ten years of warming my ice cold feet between yours every night. Ten years of late night talks, when we know we should be sleeping, but we just can't stop talking. Ten years of knowing I can count on you, not just to be there, but to be there with a smile. Happy Anniversary! I look forward to many many more and I hope you like the miracle ear I got you as a gift!!! I know I will.

two peas in a pod

Katie and R cannot remember a time when they did not have each other to pal around with. Cousins, born less than a month apart, they have slept in the same crib, bathed together and shared everything from diapers to playthings.

They had their own little names for each other, Baaboo and KeeKee, that I miss now that they can talk properly.

R will do anything to make Katie laugh, including sticking his head in the toliet (yup, he really did) and Katie is R's best audience. They comfort each other with such tenderness and defend each other when necessary. R has even scolded me a few times for making his KeeKee cry.

I adore the relationship that has grown up between these two. When we left my sister's house last night, Katie was sobbing, telling me to go home and pick her up later. I came in from putting bags in the car to see R kneeling at her feet, stroking her back. Love and laughter are the hallmark of their relationship and I hope that never changes.