Friends Forever

For the past five years Morgan and her friend Camden have switched off visiting one another during the summer. These visits require an unaccompanied minor flight across the US. These brave little girls made their first solo flights at 8 years old. They each look forward to their week together with much anticipation and there are always tears when their time together comes to an end. They have been friends since the day Morgan was born, and it's sweet to see how connected they've stayed even though they've lived far apart for 8 of their 11 years of friendship.

The girls kept super busy during Camden's visit with Six Flags, the pool, our village's carnival, a horse show, a visit to the former workplace of this year's American Idol, shopping, playing at home, and of course a day in the city. Downtown at the Bean

Shopping success!

Former workplace of this year's American Idol, Lee Dewyze

The Temple Lipizzian's horse show

Parting is such sweet sorrow :-(

Ode to a Well-Worn Couch

Farewell beloved green couch
Olive, cotton, worn, soft, stained.
Cozy and smooth like a favorite blanket,
Now rejected in your tattered and weary state.
Once a place of refuge for an exhausted child, mother, father, friend.
You comforted us when we were too sick or sad to sleep in our own beds.
You welcomed our guests.
You enveloped a new mother nursing her newborn infant.
You were patient, brave and strong when armies of toddlers trampled over you like a playground.
For seven years you were the hub of our home.
In our small apartments you were always close by, always available.
But we thought we needed more space, more rooms with more couches.
And so we moved, and bought more couches to fill the rooms.
You were showing your age and we were ashamed of you.
We had stained you, torn you, tattered you, and so we banished you to the basement.
Abandoned in the sea of toys and tots.
A vibrant red couch took your place as the most popular seat in the house--but it never felt quite the same.
Months would pass between our infrequent visits with you.
We’d lay on your familiar cool cotton twill softness and reminisce of our joyful young family in cozy one-couch homes.
You felt like California and Chicago.
You felt like Thursday night “Must See TV”.
You felt like a late night rendezvous.
You felt like mornings that started much, much too early because a toddler was done sleeping.
You felt like lazy Sunday afternoons.
But, whenever we were to host a guest we were ashamed of you—-so soft and comfortable, but so unattractive.
We wanted more seating for our growing family, we wanted something prettier.
And so, one day a truck arrived with a pristine new sectional.
You were sent to the garage. No longer fit for even the basement.
A $50 Craigslist ad went unanswered. You were of no value.
Weeks passed, we reposted you, worthless, for free, and finally a taker.
Too impatient to wait around to greet your new family, we left you on the snow covered porch, covered only by a haphazardly placed plastic tarp.
Our parting thoughts were, “my doesn’t that couch make our house look trashy,” sitting there absurdly, humiliatingly on the front porch.
Maybe you are covered with a slip cover now.
Maybe you are in another basement now.
Maybe you are again the hub of a home.
We watched Chair, your loyal lifelong companion, topple into the garbage truck. The tear on her arm too unsightly for anything but landfill. I felt remorse for not trying more diligently to find her a new home. She was a good seat too.

Onward and Upward...Farewell Elementary School

It doesn't seem like that long ago when I snapped this photo of Morgan on her first day of Kindergarten. Back when she'd wear darling little dresses with matching socks and let me braid her hair and finish it off with matching hair bows and clips.

While it may not seem that long ago, somehow six years has come and gone in the blink of an eye. My darling girl has graduated from elementary school and is anxious to embrace the world of middle school. No longer interested in matching socks and hair bows, she dreams of the day when her parents will get with the times and grant her access to a cell phone and Facebook account. My baby girl is growing up. Time is rushing by, but I have no regrets. I'm grateful for the darling girl she was in Kindergarten and the sweetheart she continues to be. She works hard at everything she does and is beautiful inside and out. I'm so proud to be her mom.

Ah, what a cute little Tinkerbell she was in Kindergarten!

Morgan's Kindergarten class

Morgan's 5th grade graduating class

The Sweet Signs of Summer

The ice cream truck made its first visit to the neighborhood today. The kids all lined up, fists full of cash, anxious to make their first selection of the season. All was sweet and magical until Isaac's cotton candy ice cream bar froze to his tongue. At first I thought he was being a typical silly 8-year-old boy, pretending his ice cream was stuck. Then as tears began to stream down his face I realized the bar really was stuck and he was in serious pain. We tried pouring regular water on it to no avail. Two cups of warm water later his tongue was finally free. Ouch! Thanks to my friend, Jenny, who in the moment of crisis noticed my camera dangling around my neck and urged me to snap a quick picture. Priceless.

Deep Thoughts

Two funny conversations from last week. They aren't as funny on paper, but they made me giggle enough to stop and write them down.

This one came out of no where as we were driving down the road:
E: Womens they like have really long hair. They should get it cut like every day. Rockstars, they like theirs growing down.

This conversation ensued as Ethan was trying to negotiate a brownie appetizer to lunch:
E: Mom, we should eat sweets first.
Me: Really, why's that?
E: Because if you eat healthy stuff first and sweets last then it won't be healthy for your teeth.

He was making the argument that leaving sweets to sit on your teeth was bad. So, if you ate your veggies last they'd wash away the sweets leaving a healthy veggie residue behind virtually eliminating the effects of the sweets eaten first. Nice try buddy. Nevertheless, he had to eat lunch before the brownie (no fun, I know!).

The Money Shot

Yup, that's my darling little boy. No, not the one in the grey sweats, the one striking a pose in the pink polka dot bikini. We thought Ethan had outgrown his passion for dressing-up in his friend Alena's clothes. But, nope, yesterday he showed us that phase was not yet history. And clearly he had no shame in showing off his digs for the camera. All I can say is that we are lucky parents to have this kind of "money shot". When he's older I imgaine he'll do anything we ask to keep this photo from leaking out. Muwwwahhhh ha ha haaah. What power! (BTW, the other kids in the photo are all neighbors - Alex & Alena D, Molly G - Molly looks a lot like Morgan).

Morgan's Gymnastics Photos

I loved how these turned out and just had to share. Thanks to Pizzazz Photography in Arlington, TX who came to the gym for the photos. They were fantastic! www.pizzazzphotography.com