Off to Kindergarten

Parents can be soooo embarrassing. For example, some parents who are sending their first child off to Kindergarten insist on walking their child to the bus stop with the ENTIRE family. This includes the sobbing younger sibling.

They try to BLEND IN with the 20 or so school kids while constantly snapping PICTURES of the child's every move. "Oh, look at her standing in line and learning good bus stop etiquette." Definitely picture worthy...Then these parents FOLLOW the bus to school, making sure to stay close so they arrive simultaneously in the school parking lot. They run (if needed) to the Kindergarten playground to greet their child. Don't forget that these same parents (okay, mostly moms) have already arranged for at least TWO older and wiser 5th or 6th grade students to make sure the Kindergarten child makes it safely to the playground. After WAVING furiously and holding back a couple wayward TEARS these parents head to the BALLOON store. When school is over they throw a PARTY for all the kids in the neighborhood that just completed their first day of Kindergarten. The party includes CAKE, ICE CREAM, A LARGE BANNER, and enough hi-float BALLOONS for all the kids.

There is no shame in being one of these parents. I AM ONE OF THESE PARENTS. And odds are that YOU are, or have been, or will be too since I was definitely not alone in the camera toting, bus following world this morning. I may have been alone in the party throwing world, but probably not....

Versatile Accessories

My accessory philosopy is why mess with something that isn't broken. If you've got a hat that goes with anything, wear it. If you've got a tie that matches all kinds of attire, by all means take advantage of your luck. Such classy accessories are once in a life time finds.

Blurred Boundaries

Somewhere along the line, although I'm not sure when or how or why, I agreed to THIS. In a moment of weakness...or was it fatigue...I leant Him MY pillow on MY bed and now he thinks I am joking when I say he has to sleep in his own bed. When I looked at him tonight I realized that I have failed, failed miserably, at something that should be quite easy. On Friday I went to education week and took a class about setting boundaries. Our boundaries have been blurred here. The speakers made boundaries sound so easy - Gentle, kind, respectful and firm they say. They forgot to mention that this smile can WIN ME OVER. Oh, and did I mention that THE HANDS BEHIND THE HEAD POSE is so ENDEARING.

Really, I loved this class about boundaries and validation. It was fantastic and I fully intend to take their advice and clarify the blurred boundary lines, but it will probably have to wait until tomorrow since he is already fast asleep on MY pillow.

Zoo-la-la

Went on an outing to the zoo last week.

Wanted to celebrate Emma's last week as a full time stay-at-home kid.

Saw a few blurs that were probably animals as I chased my monkey from one spot to the other.

Missed half the bird show because my monkey was being naughty.

Enjoyed our friends.

Felt a little sad that the summer went by so quickly.

"A Camping We Will Go!"

Camping = LOTS OF DIRT, sticky marshmallows all over our sleeping bags, and loads of giggles.

This year we added a new tradition. We told scary stories around the campfire. Each person got to add a word on to build the story until Emma finally gave up on the rest of us and created a real doozy about skeletons and witches.

We left the scary stories around the campfire, but still hauled more down the mountain than we hauled up...

The two year old in our family brought home some ultrafine soil that clung to him until it formed a half inch layer of mud on the bottom of our bathtub the next day. At least he left the most interesting horse droppings behind.

The five year old in our family did what she does best. When she was two she rolled in the dirt like every good 2-year old(see proof in the picture of 2-year old Emma), but these days she goes right to social networking. We returned home from our camping trip with the address of a new pen pal.

Messages

Nonchalantly browsing through a catalog this afternoon, I overheard a conversation upstairs between Emma and one of her friends. They were playing Barbie dolls.

Friend: "This girl does not want her baby, so she decided to give it to this family."
Emma: "Yeah."

What was that? It is not uncommon for Emma to incorporate adoption situations into her play and I am often intrigued by her interpretation of adoption. It is usually very positive. A thousand times I have held my baby girl tight and whispered in her ear, "I love you. Many, many people love you. Your birth family loves, loves, loves you. They chose adoption because they love you. They wanted you so much." I will whisper it a thousand times a thousand more times and even shout it.

What message will Emma ultimately internalize and make her own? Sadly, the world sometimes sends the message that adopted children were not wanted. I want to send that message into oblivion, never to be spoken or believed again, for all the beautiful children out there who are wanted and loved and adopted because of it.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Following a full-day family reunion, I was surprised when we pulled out of the Downata parking lot in Downey, Idaho and Dave asked me a question. "Left or Right?" Left takes us to the freeway and a meer 2 1/2 hour car ride before we pull into our driveway. Right takes us down Memory Lane through small country towns and eventually to "our town" - the one where we met, dated, fell in love, got engaged and ate lots of Aggie Ice Cream. "You choose," I said." A smile crossed my face when the car turned right.

So we took our kids out for some ice cream, some hill rolling, some tree climbing, and some new memory making in an old favorite town.

Nathan snapped a picture of us by the tree - not just any tree - the tree that we climbed the morning Dave proposed to me. Dave actually practiced kneeling in the tree the day before, so he could propose to me while we were sitting in the tree enjoying the sun rise over the Logan temple. After pointing out all the important sights to our young ones (ie. the Sizzler where we had our first dinner together, the roller skating rink where we went on our first date, the apartment complexes that we lived in) we tucked two sleeping children snuggly into their beds several hours later than if we had chosen "left." But it was well worth it.

To our friends who will soon be making the lovely town of Logan your new home: You have a quest...find my tree and climb it:).

Purple is his Color

8 - The number of days it took for his belly to return to it's natural hue.

A lot of Candles

My sweetheart turned 37 years old today. While Emma was helping me put the candles on the Rocky Road cake she remarked, "wow, that is a lot of candles." Yep, it is. I am so glad I got to celebrate yet another year with this man who teaches me each and every day a little more about the kind of person I want to be. He is kind, good-hearted, patient, giving, caring, generous, forgiving, hard working, spirtual. I love him. We celebrated simply - with cake and ice cream and a game night with a few friends. No pictures of the actual party, but I think Dave felt loved and that is what matters on birthdays.