Summer Solstice!

This is the first year since the Hoos graduated law school that "summer" has really had any meaning. I mean, I love summer, and we always tried to take a summer vacation, but once you have a kid in school, "Summer" has a whole new meaning.

Previously the girls were in day care, so there was no difference between the "last day of school" and the "next day of school." This year, there really is a "last day of school" and it is tomorrow. And then on Monday LP starts at camp.

Even AK starts at "camp" for the summer. It is at the same day care facility, but they also have a camp program, so they include the day care kids in the more camp-like activities. She gets to swim everyday, and have water play and have a whole lot more outdoor time.

Unfortunately, other than the change in my pick up routine (yay! I get to leave work consistently at 4pm to pick LP up from the camp bus), there is no difference for me. Although I will - shockingly! - be the mom of a first grader instead of a kindergartner! And September will be the start of my LAST YEAR OF DAY CARE expenses. That is pretty exciting.

Hopefully tomorrow I will remember to take a "last day of kindergarten" picture. Those seem to be all the rage. 

A Two Way Street

As I type, LP is calling, "I want momma! I want momma!"

What she doesn't seem to understand is just because she wants something? Doesn't mean I want the same thing.

And, actually, whining has an exponentially negative impact on how much I want it.

I love my kids more than anything, I really do. And if you ask the right people, I have an enormous amount of patience for them. However, there are definitely times where I come so very close to yelling out the words in my head.

Can you guess what they might be?

That's a Long Time!

Next week my parents will be married 40 years! Forty years is a long time.

 

Think of all you can accomplish:

• Raise two relatively normal, financially independent children
• Put two kids through college
• Celebrate hundreds of bat mitzvahs, weddings, and birthday parties
• Spoil four gorgeous granddaughters
• Complete an undergraduate degree
• Receive a master's degree
• Have two long and highly successful (and positively influential) careers as teachers
• Retire after more than two (and in one case three) decades in a classroom
• Zipline through the jungles of Costa Rica
• Relax on the beaches of Mexico
• Ride camels in the desert of the Middle East
• Sail the oceans (in style)
• Remodel a kitchen (several times)
• Eat a small aquarium worth of sushi (on second thought, maybe medium-sized aquarium worth)
• Set a wonderful example (of a marriage, a life, a home, and so much more)

And this is just a small fraction of all of the great things my parents have done after more than four decades together. As the Hoos and I inch closer to our 10th wedding anniversary, I wonder what our future holds and hope that in thirty years LP or AK will share their positive reflections on my parents' 70th wedding anniversary (it is possible - my grandparents are celebrating 65 years of marriage later this year!) and OUR 40th.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Love you.

How I Met Your Mother

Lately, AK has been asking a lot of questions about how the Hoos and I became "mommy and daddy." Not in the biblical sense, but in the "fairytale romance" sense.

This morning she said, "I know how grandma and grandpa metted" Although, to both the Hoos and I it sounded like "mated"). And she went on to explain that grandpa was a teacher and grandma was in his class. As a student teacher. Although she left the part in bold and italics out.

Since she has a tendency to leave out important details - see above - I decided to document the whole "how we met" thing in case she shares any misinformation. This is long and tedious and likely not interesting for most of you - so feel free to skip to the bottom and watch a YouTube Video of LP instead.

The first time I remember seeing the Hoos was in Buck McMullen's English Lit class at GW my freshman year. He was the boy with the fish hook on his hat that sometimes got held up at the professor's desk after class. To him I was the girl with the blue hair who called out things like, "Buck, this book sucked!" Not surprisingly, we did not get together at that point.

At the beginning of sophomore year - maybe a day after we had all arrived back on campus - they showed a movie on the Quad (maybe The Hunt for Red October?) and a mutual friend came by with the Hoos to catch up.

It was at this point I started seeing a lot of the Hoos around campus. Turns out, we had the same major - environmental studies - and were in a bunch of the same classes. I lived in Crawford Hall (what a yucky dorm), which was next to J Street - the Student Union - and the Hoos passed by with some friends while I was sitting outside and asked if I wanted a Rainbow Chips Deluxe AND if I wanted to study for a statistics exam that was coming up in Professor Lilifors class.

We went on our first date shortly thereafter.

And almost 17 years later, our most recent date was to watch LP's class show off. 

On Four

Four years ago today, our family met its match. Its perfect match - AK.

She fit into our home like a hand in a glove, a pea in our pod, the cheese in our macaroni.

Even if she is a second child, she comes in second to no one. She is her own person. An individual truly like no other. 

A dizzying bundle of energy, she is also world class snuggler.

She often thinks she is six, but still fits into her 3Ts (and insists on wearing her favorite 2T items as well).

A complete contrast to her big sister, they are still the best of friends (until they aren't).

She loves pink and insists on blingy accessories, but has black and blue knees from her rough and tumble activities. 

She is so, so smart. Her mind is a steel trap for songs, memories, numbers and words.

She constantly challenges us - and herself. Why walk on the sidewalk when you can balance precariously on the curb? Why have mommy hold me when I hang from the monkey bars if I can just hang here until I want to fall?

The universe's response to my mother's request that I 'have a daughter just like me,' she has her daddy's green eyes with an impish twinkle.

If these first four years are any indication, the world had better watch out for this one. She brings her own brand of sunshine. And we wouldn't have it any other way.