A Birthday and a Hula Hooping Grandma

Kiddos,

We celebrated Grandma's birthday this past weekend and it was so nice.

The drive down was a party in the car.  

 Poses from you Taylor:)

 Ummm, I think this is your gangster pose?

 We gave Grandma a hula hoop for her birthday and you guys were so fantastic in the backyard hooping it up!

 Hudson, my favorite part of the night was you reading books with papa. Love.

xoxo

mom

ANNA GIRL!!!

Dear Anna,

Last Friday, you decided to hula hoop in the talent show at school.  You had never done it before.

You were hesitant to try.

When the moment came.  You were amazing!

You far surpassed our expectations.

You rose to the occasion.

You hooped liked you had been doing it for weeks rather than days.

We were so so so proud of you.

xoxo

mom

High. Low.

Dear Kids,

High/low.  Good/bad.

Good, this lovely salad on a warm evening for dinner.

Spinach. Pomegranate seeds. Champagne Dressing. 

Perfection.

 Low. 

Hudson, this was your croc.  You LOVED your crocs. 

Or "cwoks" as you called them.  

I am really not sure what happened, 

but I found this in the dryer.  Wedged in the crux of the dryer. 

Thank god summer is over and tennis shoes are fine. 

This hasn't been our year for shoes.

Melted crocs, Taylor's feet finally grew as soon as she got all new shoes.

Anna shoes- enough said.

Here is to better days with more highs, fewer lows.

xoxo

mom

Apple Sauce for Homework?

Dear Anna,

To say I grit my teeth when you said we had to make apple sauce for homework is an understatement. This sort of project is just not my thing.  That said, we had such a nice time doing it!!

Our prep work.  You were ready to cook.

Our finished product.  Gosh Anna, I wish you would have eaten it.  

It was delicious. 

xoxo

mom

A Perfect Morning

Kiddos,

We had such a lovely morning.  We had POURING RAIN on Saturday, but before it started we headed to Burlingame for some La Boulange breakfast and books!

 We spent so much time looking through each of your sections and it was the perfect way to pass a morning. Taylor, you picked three Lemony Snicket books! 

 Meanwhile, Hudson, you are not book-store friendly quite yet. Daddy took you to the park nearby and you were both in heaven.

  Anna, we got some great books for you too!  It was such fun reading through books with you.  You have become such a beautiful reader and I love listening to you!  

 Look!  Twins!

Hudson, I can't believe how strong you are!  You loved roaming the park with Dad, and working on your "drop" from the bars.

 We had a sloooow walk back to the car.  They are renovating the downtown. Hudson, you happily tested all the benches, checked out tractors, looked at every store window, and then would take off in a sprint in whatever direction we were not going.

Very funny buddy.

A perfect way to enjoy a Saturday before so much rain fell, we should have built an arc.

xoxo

mom

Hubs

Dear Kiddos,

I spent most of last week taking care of Hubs.  

She had surgery.

I nursed her back to health.  

I really was living in the "middle place" or the sandwich generation (even thought I am NOT 40).

I dutifully sat in the waiting room with my reading material, of which I read almost nothing.  

I updated Hubbie's friends and my brother and sister, but mostly, I ached to be with you.

You see, I hate a love/hate relationship with our routines.
I wanted to be at our dining room table doing homework.

I wanted to be there at the end of the day to hear about who you sat with at lunch, 

or what happened at school.

Instead, we waited, and waited. 

Hubbie had her surgery, and I got her home.

Once there, it was like I was with you three.  I made charts and organized.
I stocked the fridge, made meals, made sure she had everything she needed.

All the while, I was on FaceTime with you.  And I worried.

Worried that my remaining parent was aging.  

Worried that I am the only caregiving for this parent.

Worried that no one was brushing their teeth at home.

Worried that I was not only dropping balls at work, but that I had no idea what the balls are.

Worried that i was too tired for all of this.

I saw this on Pinterest and thought of it often over the last week.

I know that life brings twists and turns.
I know this past week wouldn't even qualify as a speed bump on the road.

What was hardest was the possibility of what could be.

When my dad died a year ago, I became acutely aware of only having one parent. 

 Luckily, Hubbie is mostly healthy.

Let's hope she recovers quickly and gets back to her life. 

Mostly, I am so happy I could come home to the chaos of all of you.

xoxo

mom

Fate

Dear Kids,

Today was one of those days where fate stepped in.  I picked up Anna from PT and raced her to PT, in transit, she mentioned she wanted Thai food for dinner, and Hubbie, who is sleeping over before her big surgery tomorrow, obliged.  So,  I came home, changed, and then stopped at the Thai place to order before going back for Anna!

I went in, asked the lady if she could please deliver, (she couldn't).  I placed our order, and let the woman know I would be back by 5:45 exactly to collect our food.  A woman I noticed when I first walked in said, "Oh you must have small children if you now precisely when you will be back."  I said that I did and that this was the busiest day with so many pick ups and drop offs at the same time at different places and running running running late all the time.  She sat with a book, a lovely plate of food, and an ice cold beer.  I thought that she looked so happy. so relaxed. She said, "well, I hope you are taking time to take care of yourself. You will miss these days when your children have grown and you are here alone in a restaurant."  I immediately thought of Momastery's Don't Carpe Diem post  and smiled to myself.  We chatted a bit more before I raced back to get Anna.  As I drove away, I smiled thinking to myself that these days are HARD, but I will miss them.  I love the time sitting at the dining room table with each of you.  I love hearing about the innocence of your day, where the big news is that someone got a yellow card or a red card for talking too much.  I will miss it when no one needs a snack packed or help with their hair.   I like the structure. I recognize that the days where you will wrap your arms around me in a great snuggle are finite.  This woman brought a smile to my face in an unexpected way.  She wasn't saying that I should savor every moment with you, she was reminding me to take a few moments for me too.

So, Anna and I headed back to pick up the food and this woman was still there, chatting with April, who runs the Thai place.  She chatted with Anna, and instatntly recognized her AFO brace as exactly what it is. She asked where ours was made- we go to the same place and see the same person.  We see the same partners for our care at LPCH.  We lamented the challenges of buying shoes.  We shared a bond as mothers who have navigated PT schedules and brace fittings, and the comments and looks from others.

As we were about to leave, she stood up and looked at you Anna to say, "You are special.  You are going to change the world.  Your foot makes you exceptional. "  I welled up with tears.  Anna, you are special, and you are going to change the world.  This brace is hard for you, and makes things sticky sometimes, and you don't love many things about this.  But, this woman made your eyes light up with pride, and she saw into your soul.  She was just what we needed today.

I didn't catch her name, but this woman at the Thai place was just what we needed today.
I am so grateful for her, and so grateful for each of the three of you.  The days are long but the years are short, they say.  It is true.  I already ache for the days of snuggling a squishy baby.

xoxo
mom

Perfect Park Day

Dear Kids,

Sunday in San Francisco was one of those days where you could take a deep breath, soak up the sun and love that we live here.  The skies were blue, the bay was glistening with America's Cup action, and we were burning some energy at the park.  We passed a cute lemonade stand on the way that happened to sell pot holders too.  Who could resist?  (we haven't seen them since about 5 minutes after the picture).

 Taylor, you are growing before my very eyes.  

 Buddy, you were so determined to climb these stairs, it was adorable.

 Taking pictures of you with any sort of "face of happiness" is virtually impossible.  

I promise you were having a great time.

 Me: "kids, get together so I can take your picture."

You three: This below was your best effort.  Really, don't hurt yourselves.

 Me: "Please... I really want a picture of the three of you."

You three: less effort than above, which is saying not much at all.

 Love you so much Taylor!  

A great day in the city.  Loved it.

xoxo

mom

Flashback Friday

Dear All,

I am not sure why I would torture myself with pictures of you all as sweet babies, 

but gosh were you the cutest!!  I definitely thought so.

Taylor, here we are trying on your baptism gown.  Love:)  You look like a porcelain doll. 

With drool.

Anna.  Your lips are real.  In this picture, in real life.  People used to ask us.

As though we would actually use injectables on a baby. Please. 

Seriously though, you were such a sweet baby and the cutest flower.

 Hudson, I look back and am now so surprised you wore that costume.  I can't imagine you would now, but that is ok. I will now spend the rest of the day trying to remember if you had the same funny "issues" then that you do now, and will then analyze if it is my own anxiety that has made you so anxious.  I am sure it is.

 Daddy, if I don't say it enough.  You are so handsome.  This was a few years ago, but boy I would sit and have a bloody with you right now.  

I saw this on Pinterest here and thought, "yep, that's my guy."

Well kids, we are off to the start of a great weekend.

I love you all so much.

xoxo

mom

Go Cardinal!

Dear Girls,

Our Stanford Cardinal football team was back at it!  Last year, the home opener was a dead zone.  No one was there.  A team wins the Rose Bowl and the place is packed:)

We took our friends the Trollmans.

Our superfans:)

My one issue with college football is that they don't sell beer inside.  I am not much of a drinker, but I do love a beer when I watch football.  Who knows why?  

We had a great time tailgating before we went in.

  Girls!  It is such fun to do this with you each year.

Waiting for cotton candy time.

YEAH!  This might be the only reason you come to the game Anna.

We left in middle of the third quarter... just after 10pm.  Daddy was sleeping, and Anna wanted dinner.

xoxo

mom

AYSO

Girls,

I love a good AYSO game.  It says Fall, competition (expect Anna's age doesn't have a goalie or keep score), and community.  This time of year reminds me so much of my dad.  I wrote about it here.  Last year, writing that post was so difficult.  The memories were painful and hard.  This year, I thought of my dad so many times while cheering you on (or yelling at you to go after the ball), but fewer tears shed.  I guess I am in a better place than a year ago, but boy do I miss my dad.

Happy soccer players- check :)

Taylor, your league is official.  Goalies, scores, bigger fields, off sides.  You played goalie the first quarter and I was SO NERVOUS!  You were fantastic though.

Here you are below in goal!  

 Hudson was there for a bit and very busy putting his little people to bed with baby wipes in his little chair.  They had more shade than anyone at the game.  I was super jealous.

 Hubbie, the superfan, bounced from your game to Anna's at 1/2 time.  Go Hubbie!

 Bubba! You are looking so old here. I almost ran after you for a quick snuggle, I felt like Hudson the baby was walking away from me:( sob

 Your team's cute banner.  I love that you all helped make it.

 Hot and tired and it was only 1/2 time.

 End of the game cheer.

Next up was Anna's game!  Anna, your Zebras are the cutest.  Luckily there is a site where other moms uploaded photos since I was at T's game, and Daddy was the referee for your team.

Great games girls!

xoxo

mom