Tommy T Birthday Boy

On Saturday, April 25th - Tommy T celebrated his birthday...

The kids went to the flower shop. Karah picked these out for her Daddy:

Tom loves flowers...I love that about him.
Bradley was in charge of picking the balloons...his specialty...(THAT and sweating.)

The kids and I also went the cake shop and picked up our order:

A favorite of his...Boston cream pie cake.

The kids and I each picked out a petit four and enjoyed them on the park bench outside the store.
I sat there for a good ten minutes....soaking the kids up as they danced crazy on the sidewalks....watching themselves in the reflection of the store windows. The sugar rush didn't take long to hit....at all. It was beautiful...two of my favorites....petits fours and dancing babehs.

When we got home we presented Tommy T with this:A Callaway Big Birtha Diablo 3 wood. He has been "visiting" 3 woods at the golf store for quite some time now...stopping by on lunch breaks just to take a swing. No more visits necessary....it is his. We sent him to the driving range for the afternoon....where he fell in love with it.

This gift was technically from Bryce :)

I had set a goal to try and reproduce our favorite meal at one of our favorite restaurants....the finest in town. I spent three hours in the kitchen...but it was well worth it...I did it! No seriously, I did! I have posted all of the recipes on my recipe blog. It was incredible. Pardon the lack of pictures...but it was a huge ordeal - just cooking it, let alone taking the time for a photo shoot. It was beautiful....and was seriously just as good....if not better.

After dinner we enjoyed a little Boston Cream Cake (one of his favorites).He's not 17...but you get to the point that you use candle's as "an effect" and not an actual indicator of age...due to fire safety issues.
He opened the rest of his gifts...a golf theme...Titleist hat from Karah....golf shirt from Boo....and then the balls from moi.

Every year I personalize his favorite Titleist Pro V1 golf balls with something funny that has happened to us, something crazy our kids have said, or an inside joke between the two of us. He keeps his collection at work in a display case. It's been such a great way to preserve all of these funny happenings that we otherwise would have forgotten about.

This year it said: "Wipe it. It's leaking everywhere."

The story: I talk in my sleep....uhlot. I also sleepwalk...but not the creepy kind, if that's possible. Recently I was asleep and took the baby wipes off my night stand and was shaking them. I pulled out one wipe at a time and handed it to Tom - who was still a bit awake.

He said, "What's this?"
I replied, "A wipe."
"For what?" he asked.
"Your butt."
"Why??"
"Wipe it. It's leaking everywhere."

See? How precious :)

There was another gift....the best of all. I gave him a riddle...that he had to "decode". Once he did - he realized that I had hired someone ("Santos")...to mow, weed eat, and edge for the lawn season!!

The gift of time....golf time...weekend trip time....kick around time....project time....just time.

He was ecstatic.

Tommy T....I love that you were born....you are everything to me.

Hope your birthday was beautiful and memorable!!

XOXOXO

IHOP - International House of Prisoners

So we went to pick up my car from the spa this evening. It had the works....shampoo, wax, Armor-all massage....everything. We thought we would grab some "breakfast for dinner" while we were out. The sweetest little waitress....quiet, timid, self-conscious.....a real sweety.

Bryce grew restless and weary of his pancakes and started squawking and standing up in his high chair. When the waitress came and asked if we needed anything, I said, "I think he would like a tour of your kitchen."

She didn't hesitate a minute. "No. I don't think he wants to go back there. It's scary."

"Oh yeah? Crazy back there?"

"No. Really. It's scary..... I mean.... Prison scary."

(Keep in mind we were 3/4 done with our meal.)

"Should we be afraid to be eating this?", I asked in all seriousness.

"Nah....our boss is WAY worse than them. They wouldn't dare do anything to your food."

She left us staring at each other....in fear.

Just then...an extremely large black man with orange contacts came out from the back - wearing his dingy white chefs jacket...giving us a good "lookin' over". He looked like one of the scary Shawshank redemption inmates (the TBS version, of course).

I quickly had to decide:
1. Do I purge?
2. Do I pray?
3. Do I persevere through the fear?

The culmination of THIS and a few other recent events got me thinking as I drove home. The verdict was passed.

Eating out is not good.

Ever.

The other day I got Bryce hotcakes at McDonalds.
Got them home and took them out - only to find the one on the bottom was flattened with a shoe print pattern on it.

And then there are the signs in restaurant bathrooms with "reminders" for employees to wash their hands. I recently saw one where management had written the word "PLEASE" above the reminder. It was almost as if someone was pleading with them. Who needs to be reminded with a stinkin' SIGN after they have just finished wiping themselves?? WHO??? Oh. Just the people preparing our food.

I have had sandwiches made at Subway by a chain smoker. I go to take a bite only to find that the nicotine stench permeated the plastic gloves and soaked into my bread.

I took Karah INSIDE Arby's recently. Had an epiphany. If ANY of the workers invited me back to "their place" for dinner...I would politely decline and then run like hell. Why do I feel "safe" letting them touch my food at a restaurant? One guy had tatts up to his elbows...that resumed on his neck. The guy on fry duty had major facial hair growth and looked like he hadn't washed his uniform in 4 double shifts. The lady shaving the "roast beef" suffered from a bad case of meth mouth and yelled a profanity when the cashier messed up the order. Come to find out - she was the manager.

Drive Thru's should be renamed, "Denial Thru's"....reserved for those who don't care to see "what" is preparing their food...those who would rather stay in their "happy place" of imagining they are all sweet, clean cut 16 year olds....fresh out of the bath tub....freshly brushed teeth, rubber gloves...preparing each item with a smile.

Forget nutritional information - on the menu they should have pics of the kitchen employees....their latest infections, bathroom habits, criminal records, etc. Full disclosure.

I think I am cured.
No more.
Bleck!!!!!!!!!

Draw Nearer - Flashbacks

Dear Little Bear Cubs,
This morning Bradley and I cuddled in my bed as he watched cartoons. Karah stayed home sick and was sleeping in and Bryce also gave me the rare opportunity of an extra hour of sleep. I kept drifting off and would occasionally be awakened by the sensation of miniature "man hands" stroking my cheek. I opened my eyes and smiled at him. He pressed his forehead to mine and said, "You are my best friend". I melted into my pillow - wondering if I had been dreaming - only to be reawakened by his same strokes of affection. I had a flashback of holding him in the hospital on Super Bowl Sunday - the day we first met. I remembered vividly telling him he was "my best, sweetest, little boy friend". It seemed like yesterday. My baby was now a "big boy".

My heaven faded as the day progressed. Tiny hellish tantrums emerged... occasional "home sick from school" sibling bickering ... exhausted fits of sassafras back talking.... stubbed toes....scraped knees.... "she hit me's"....and "My Webkinz is going to throw up if I don't get online and feed him"... bath time standoff's.... and the cherry on top.... a bedtime meltdown.


In an effort to calm Karah down - I was laying with her, tracing her eyebrows with my ring finger...her eyes relaxing as she drifted off to dreams. I was instantly taken back to six years earlier when I sat in the same room....rocking her to sleep and going through the same soothing eye ritual. Where had the time gone?


I went upstairs to check on Bryce one last time. He looked like a juicy, little snail...pudgy diaper butt up in the air....chubby cheeks, pressed against his mattress. He looked enormous to me. Just yesterday he was swaddled tightly - rocking the day away in his swing. A feeling of loss swept over me...making my heart ache to the core. How was this happening?


You are each morphing before my very eyes. Tonight I realized that I get so caught up in the little hellish moments - that I forget to soak it all in and enjoy it...and then, BAM!....gone. In those difficult times I find myself wishing the day away...dreaming of the moment I can finally relax and take a minute to myself.

I suppose tonight was the light bulb moment that I don't want to rush into those moments of solitude...because soon enough, my day will be filled with them. I don't have to wonder what I will feel on the day that you are all in school and I am home alone. I already know that I will wish that I had savored this phase a little more...soaked in every moment...good and bad.


I will miss having a little one climbing on the dishwasher door - "helping me" unload the steak knives. I will miss scraping PBJ off the floor and fishing valuables out of the trash. I will miss my dryer being stopped mid cycle. I will miss urinating in front of a "crowd"...and begging you to at LEAST let me WIPE in private. I will miss little people begging for treats in the check out aisle. I will miss suckers at the bank and tantrums at the utility bill drive thru - where they DON'T have suckers. I will miss toilet paper strung through my halls....and band-aids for imaginary injuries. I will even miss my computer being turned off RIGHT BEFORE I press "save". Poopie Diapers and being bit on the shoulder. Emptied cupboards and fingerprints on the windows. I'll miss you begging for cartoons when I'm trying to get a Fox News fix....and mopping up my shattered eye shadow off the bathroom floor. Unflushed toilets and clothes NEXT to the hamper. Stinky fingers and morning breath kisses. I'll miss lost remotes and mismatched shoes. I will even miss negotiations to wear underwear an extra day because "I cant see poo in there". I'll miss baby babble "pretty birdie" and eardrum rupturing tantrums, too: "NnnnnnnnnnnnnO!" I will miss your innocence - as day by day you discover more about the world.

I will look back on all of this and wish I had cherished every minute and held on to it tightly...refusing to let time rip it away from me...even when at my wits end.

And so, little bear cubs, that is my plan for tomorrow. A fresh day. A new start. A do-over. A tight grip on the little moments. A "delighting" in your every move...good, bad, or ugly. I will soak you up and laugh, laugh, laugh. It is coming. Prepare to be relished.

I love you....(in the words of Karah this evening).... To the ocean....then to California...then to the moon....times one million.

The Mama Bear

Baby Bath

Some call them "baby showers"... a social "sprinkling" of well wishes for the mother to be....showered with gifts and attention. Not only did I want Shannon to be "showered"... I wanted her to experience a full on "baby bath"... a complete immersion in the love and care of those SHE always cares for. Soaked with the attention of those she loves.... drenched in the celebration of the life she carries...lotioned up in delicious food and company...and then snuggly wrapped up in the warm hugs of those who care - walking away with a fresh, undeniable knowledge that she is adored - and special - and worth every bit of the effort.

Being the recipient of so much attention can prove uncomfortable for someone who is a seasoned "giver".... the one who is always trying to lift someone else. All the more reason she deserved this "Baby Bath".

She is my brother's wife...in giving this to her...I also give to him....and their little Addison to-be.

When I talked to her about the cake I wanted to order...she protested and told me that she is "low maintenance" and doesn't need anything that nice. I quickly told her that just because she is low maintenance doesn't mean I have to treat her like she is.

From that conversation on - I was more determined than ever to give her a "baby bath"in which she couldn't possibly walk away "dry". Love would be poured upon her until she dripped with the gooey goodness that fills each of our hearts for her. I wanted to give her what she deserved. And so I did. Nope. No Walmart Cake-Wreck for her
Only the best...for the best.


An Addi-Bell Tree....


complete with pacifiers...teethers...and hair accesories.


There was food for the bellah.


There were friends for the soul.
Future RS General Presidency?

There were babies to remind her of what is to come.





And there were little girls to show her what Addison will grow into - in the blink of an eye.

(no - she was not married in an Indian wedding ceremony...her brother hit her in the head with a train track, I believe)

My favorite part was having her family there and feeling how deeply they esteem her.
Beautiful women.




You can see the love in their eyes.

Of course she was spoiled with gifts.





It was a perfect "baby bath"...I hope she felt "drenched".


I know they did. :)

I love you Shanaynay.

We The People

The last time Kasey and I went out together it was Karaoke.
We thought we would keep it fresh and broaden our "political activist" horizons and attended our local Tax Day Tea Party.

I gave my first ever "speech".... anyone who wanted to speak, could......so it wasn't like I was a "special" or anything....but it was great to have a chance to literally voice my feelings.

It was so energizing to be able to express my views in a public forum,
as opposed to screaming at my television with nobody listening.
Every person needs to understand the power of their voice...
and the incredible collective power of our voices united.
If we care about our country and it's future, we cannot afford to sit idly by - saying "What difference can I make, anyway?"

We ran into my sister in law, Shannon... and my "like a sister in law", Dana.

They were cute little activists.

Shannon was busy busting the glass out of store windows and looting dry erase markers from the school supply store....
while Dana threw rocks at the courthouse and screamed profanities at the media. :)

Though this was great....
My favorite part: The signs.

I am so grateful to live in this free country where we have the right to protest peacefully and make our voices heard.
This movement is only the beginning of the "real change" we can count on.

I am so excited!