Saturday, July 30, 2011

Somewhere In Between

This post is a conglomeration of things.  I long for the time to stare at and edit pictures and write memories for us, but life gets in the way sometimes.  It can be very frustrating, but when I look back at those times, I am thankful for them instead.

The Launch:

Everyone close to me knows I wanted to go.  I dreamed about loading my family up at the last minute and just driving South till we landed on a beach somewhere...just to view it.  I wanted to so badly.  It seemed like such a romantic thing to do.

But, life happens you know and all these fantasies I have can't always come true.  So, we make the best of it.  We viewed it.  Just not in person.  It impacted us.

We made popcorn.  It was a party.  It was pretty exciting.

Atlantis.

It was the end.



We watched from the comfort of our basement on the biggest screen we have.



It was beautiful.



They got it.  They understood how important it was.



I think they were just as amazed as I was.



It is humanly possible to cry and laugh and take a picture of your big screen at the same time.  It's a wonderful, emotional experience.  I'm sort of amazed at my big screen picture quality.  It looks like a work of art to me.

We wouldn't have seen it like this on a beach somewhere.

We couldn't have watched it over and over on a beach somewhere.



We probably wouldn't have had popcorn and did silly tricks with it.



Nope, probably not.

So, we weren't there, but I don't think they will ever forget it.  Mission accomplished.  I'm not going to be sad anymore.  I'm just going to dream of the future bad ass way to get to the space station and beyond.  I wonder if my angels will dream of loading up like I did?  We'll see.

Football:

Jonah went to football camp.  He loved it.  We all did.  We spent an entire week there.



These firsts for our boy have been so awesome to watch.  He has always been open to trying things out.



At first he wanted to do Karate on this pad, but he got the hang of the football stuff pretty quickly.



My favorite exercise here.  I love how he smiles.

IMG_9448_blog.jpg

And goodness, watching her explore and pick the flowers and listen to cheer camp in the background and the whistles and how the grass smells and how many more and's can I add to this sentence?



It's good for her too you know.



One team took their shirts off to distinguish themselves from the others.  Again, not sure why he holds his tongue out like this in sports.  It helps him in some magical way.



Is this Jonah?  I think so.  Now that's a face I am not familiar with.



But now, this I see all the time.



I'm in love with this one.  I love their connection.  I could sit and watch them for hours.



Except, this little girl pulls me away.  And then I enjoy her too.



And her new best friend.



They were born the same month of the same year.



It's like they've known each other their entire short little lives.



It's so fun to watch them make new friends.

DSC_3498_blog.jpg

Camp was fun, but we had a realization this week.  He just doesn't want to play football right now.  We were sort of shocked because he loved camp so much.  So, looks like our football season was short lived.  Hello fall baseball I guess?  Oh well.  He's only 7.  He said he wants to play when he is 10.  So, there is hope my love.

And Harry:



I'll make this short.  If you haven't seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, please hurry on in. It rocks.



I thoroughly enjoyed watching it with Jonah and Kelly.  What a wonderful series.  It's brilliant.  We sort of tackled it backwards...watching all the movies first.  But we can't wait to learn all the extras in the books.

It's moments like this...the moments in between the big happenings of life that are so real and special.  I love them.  I got at least one more of these to share soon.

So, I'm off to enjoy more.  Somewhere in between.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

In my place...

there are summer flowers in bloom.  Jesse wanted to go see them and pick a few.



We go, go, go.  If we don't slow down, we'll miss all this beauty.



Thanks to Jesse, I slowed down and enjoyed it so much.



Here she is.  She's got this untamed, growing hair that usually is not up in a pretty bow because she likes it this way better.

IMG_9338_blog.jpg

So, she shoves it behind her ears and out of her eyes and smells the flowers.

IMG_9338_blog.jpg

I think she said this one was "stinky."  Possibly, but it was pretty.

IMG_9338_blog.jpg

Curiosity.

IMG_9338_blog.jpg

She really likes to pick these Lantana blooms.

IMG_9338_blog.jpg

And we trespassed into my neighbor's place, because the kids love to and thankfully, they never seem to mind.  These sunflowers pulled us in.  Beautiful.  See the bumble bee?



And then we returned to our place.



And continued our flower journey.

IMG_9358_blog.jpg

She's leading the way.



And I appreciate her and the color and richness of the nature in our front and back yard.

IMG_9338_blog.jpg

What's left of it anyway.



The greatest beauty in my eyes is watching him admire her and her accomplishments without even taking credit for any of this.

That puts me in a good place.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Thirtysomething

Kids, I'm 36...no...37.  How the hell old am I?  37...dear goodness.  Anyway, if anyone else reads this in 30 years it will be you, and you will both be thirtysomething.  I have one thing to say to my thirtysomething sweet angels.

You can give into an age and act like it, OR you can just throw it up as a stupid number and act 15 sometimes.  I'm not saying to be irresponsible, but please do not quit having fun and living life.  



There's a kid in all of us, no matter what age.  If you forget that, you will be sad.  You will be sad all the dang time.  But, if you feed that inner child, then...wow, how happy you can be.



I did some things with you today that made me feel like a kid, and it felt so good.  I just wanted you to know that.  Truth is that it doesn't even matter what it was.  It was just fun.



The two of you remind me every single day what it's like to be young and free and loving and happy.  You are my fountain of youth.  Thank you for making me young again.  I love you.