That Moment

I was at the dentist today with Brady. He was kicked back in his lounge chair, wearing his Spiderman shades and getting his teeth cleaned…I was zoning out, being lulled to sleep by the humming of dental tools.

I was jolted awake when I heard her say “I see a brown spot…I’m going to x-ray it and have the doctor take a look at it.”  Now ya’ll, I’m at the dentist, so a brown spot just probably means mama gets lazy sometimes and lets the boy snack on marshmallows. Or maybe on the mornings we’re really rushed, we can just skip the brushing and get back to it later. And don’t forget that I was zoning.

But in that moment when I heard her words, my heart sank and the faces of so many dear friends were right there in front of me….”there’s a spot on his spinal cord…this spot is cancer…disease…this baby won’t live outside the womb…the tests show leukemia…the tests show autism…mucus in the lungs….”  The weight of what you, my mama friends, are walking through was so heavy.

I wondered how you picked yourself off the floor of the doctor’s office that day. I wondered about your faith.  I wondered what it was like for your dreams to completely change…to go from “I hope my kid is talented” to “I hope he walks, talks, has friends, breathes, lives.” I see you on facebook, you handle yourselves so gracefully…I tend to be a pouter, I wondered if I could comment with such sweet words on the endless photos of kids doing things mine may never do.

And don’t take this wrong, but I slightly envied you too. I envied that God thought you worthy to walk such a challenging road….sorta like Mary, when God thought her worthy to give birth to Jesus.

I don’t know what kind of encouragement you need today.  But sometimes we just want others to notice…to know that a day in your life is tiring, hard, and scary. I love you and your kids so much, and God loves them even more. You’re the BEST at being a mom to them.

Denied

So I have a little group of friends who are in a "Book Club."  They totally look down on me because I won't read the assigned books and come to their club.  I've been trying to explain to them for months that I am NOT anti-books....I just can't knock out a book every three days...and so they won't let me come to their book club meetings...a bit discriminatory I think.  What are they really doing during book club meetings??  I surely think there's something more going on in there than discussing characters and settings, and maybe that's why they're not letting me come.  Hmm....oh I should also add that my book club friends are two of the four people who read this blog, so I'm not really talking about them, more like talking to them.

So anyway, I'm banned from book club, and then this happens....took the kids to the library today, like we do every summer, picked out our books and headed to the self-checkout desk...I proudly flash my card (yep, I'm a proud card-carrying member of the Frisco Public Library), only to see "BARRED USER" flash on the screen.  What??  Yep, I'm sure I've been "barred" before...but from the library?

Ah, well here's the background information....before we entered the library, we slid two books into the drop-box that were due last summer.  Oops. You see I don't really go to the library during the school year, because the kids check out books from school, and I buy all my books online so that I can keep them as long as want...like I said, I can't knock out a book every three days.  Totally irresponsible to keep those books for a year, who knows how long the wait list was long for Barbie princess.  I indeed should be barred.

So I hung my head and did the walk of shame to the desk to turn myself in.  "Hello.  I am April Solomon, and I am a BARRED USER."

So after I shelve books, sort the microfiche, and read books to the children all summer, my record will be clean. Yes!  

These Years Have Changed Us

I'm not going to lie, I was a bit emotional sending my kids off to school this morning, last day of 2nd and 4th grade. Sometimes it just hits me like a brick how fast the years are flying. Sometimes it hits me like a brick how much things have changed for our family over the last few years. When I was only parenting toddlers, I thought "this is probably the hardest thing I will ever do." And it was indeed hard....the first experience with sleep deprivation, power struggles, potty training, messy houses (that part was a lie...my house was messy BEFORE kids, can't make them take the fall for everything). Now that I'm in the middle of parenting both toddlers AND tweens, I'm realizing that it's hard in a different way.

*I just want to note here that I had to get up three times while typing that previous paragraph because my toddler was playing in his room while he was supposed to be napping, then he came out to poop, and now I think he's sneaking out the window. *

The picture of Taylor's first day of kindergarten is burned in my memory. She was so sweet and innocent when she walked in Mrs. Sherman's classroom that first day. She's not so sweet and innocent anymore.  Nor am I.  Nor are you.  Through the past few years of parenting elementary aged kids, we as a community of parents have changed.

We've grown.
We've had to extend grace and receive grace like never before.
Our kids have failed.
Our kids have succeeded.
They're wearing deodorant now.
They've tried soccer, gymnastics, cheer, and more.
Birthday parties have gone from mixed genders to one gender.
We've rallied around a mom in our school with breast cancer.
Our kids have been left out of parties or events, but they've also had to cut their own guest list. And that's OK.
Friends have divorced.
Our kids are learning how to be a friend and what they're looking for in a friend.  
Our kids have had to be separated from their siblings for the first time for 7 hours a day.
Women who try to steal other women's husbands are mean.
Facebook entered our world, and we realized that no matter how hard we try, our kids or husband will never be as great as the image our "friends" portray on their facebook pages, so we're over this one-up business.
Neighbors and school friends are family.  They'll give your kid a ride or keep some of your kids while one is in the hospital. And some neighbors even blow-dry your girls' hair straight for them.
Bye-bye Barney, hello Justin Bieber.
Parents are dying.
Faith issues...there's lots of different beliefs out there....let's stand firm in your beliefs but discuss these with love and grace.
Praying like never before.
They hate us. They love us.
We have cried, we have laughed, we drink more martinis than we used to.
Trying to raise kids who are GREAT...not successful in the sense of money and power..."true greatness is a passionate love for God that demonstrates itself in an unquenchable love and concern for others."  Tim Kimmel

Journeying on, convinced that the best memories haven't even been made yet!

Oh, and now that I'm looking at this picture from Taylor's first day of Kindergarten, I'll add one more thing....we finally ditched the Crocs!

All I Really Need to Know I Learned While Camping

So we went camping this weekend.....TWO nights, in a tent, no shower, no flushing toilets. Now I didn't grow up camping...we stayed in a Motel 6 once, and I went to church "camp" many times, but sleeping out in the open without a roof is new to me. But I'm willing to try almost anything if someone else tells me that it's fun, so I willingly went on this trip, because I loved the two other families going and their kids.  As it turns out, this was probably one of our best weekends as a family so far, and I'm going to officially announce that the Solomons are now a "camping family" and available to join you on your camping trips during the months of October through May.  Sign-up sheet attached.

So here's my top 10 lessons:

1.  If the company is good, you can do pretty much anything.
2.  Porta potties don't kill you (not yet...any diseases we picked up there haven't shown up yet)
3.  Kids are happier playing under a tree and in a lake than with electronic devices.
4.  In America, sometimes our "camping" conditions are better than many humans' permanent  living  conditions.  Because while we did have to walk a hundred (or two hundred, I'm a bad judge of distance) feet to get running water...it was CLEAN and SAFE...not everyone has that option.
5.  Don't judge or act rudely towards anyone at a camp site...that same stranger may be the one who risks their own life jumping into the lake to save you.
6.  Windy camping conditions are annoying, but keep the bugs away, praise.
7.  Keep one eye on the loud and drunk teenagers at the site...they belong to someone...there's a good chance that will be my kids out there one day, and I hope the adults around have the courage to say "watch your mouth, eat something, give me your keys."
8.   A good husband still tells you you're beautiful after not showering or seeing a mirror for 3 days.
9.   Food tastes better when cooked over a fire, and I dare to say even the coffee.
10. You haven't experienced sunsets or sunrises until you've seen them over a body of water.  Thankful that God still graces us with this beautiful display day after day.

Blanket Love

Four years ago when I dropped Taylor off for her first day of Kindergarten, I came home and found her beloved blanket all alone, and it made me sad, so I took a picture of it and blogged about it here Much Loved Blanket.

I smiled when I saw the blanket today, her first day of 4th grade, she has literally "loved it to pieces!"  Do your kids have lovey's??

Super Cool Sighting in Fort Worth

Something super cool happened to us today in Fort Worth, I have to share!

When the circus tickets first went on sale months ago, we decided we would buy in Fort Worth instead of Dallas, because we've never hung out in Fort Worth.  And plus, it's a much smaller venue, so even the cheap "balcony" seats are awesome because it's half the size of the Dallas venue.

So when Mark got home from work yesterday, we hopped in the car, and I asked him to swing around to the mailbox so I could get the mail. The new "Texas Highways" magazine was in there....my grandmother gives us this magazine...she lives in Louisiana but was born in Texas, so she LOVES Texas and wants to make sure we see as much as we can...even it's just in magazine pictures.

Well I flipped to page 72, because there was an article by Chet Garner, host of the The Daytripper travel show on PBS.  He had written an article about his day trip to Fort Worth, and since we were headed to Fort Worth that very second, I thought we would take him up on some of his suggestions of fun things to do.

For dinner last night, by Chet's suggestion, we headed to Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, and oh my heavens, I had to roll out of that place. Fajitas. To die for. Never had better.

We hung around the stockyards this morning, and then for lunch, by Chet's suggestion, we headed to the Love Shack for a burger. Ya'll, a burger is just a burger to me. Until now, they've all tasted basically the same. But oh this is not your daddy's burger!!  This burger was soooo good, I just can't stop thinking about it.

So we're sitting up on the roof patio of this restaurant, listening to the live music, reflecting on the burger, talking about how the blend of beef and sirloin (or something) is just so perfect....and we're talking about how awesome it was that the magazine had arrived at just the perfect time, and we couldn't wait to call my grandmother and tell her how handy her magazine had come in.

So THEN...I look down to the street...and a small camera crew is video-taping this guy walking into the store, they shoot that a couple of times, then move into the store, shoot a bit more here and there. And Mark and I are looking at each other and saying "OMG, is that the daytripper???"

So we go downstairs to find out what's happening, and sure enough, it's CHET GARNER, the daytripper!!!!!! He's there filming for the episode that will appear on TV. So we're falling all over this guy, telling him that we're there eating simply because of his review in the magazine, and that the food is so great, and on and on! And then of course I had to admit that I'd never seen his show, but now I'm his #1 fan!

So, that's the story! It was just one of those moments where you think "I can't believe that just happened!" Super cool way to end our mini trip to Fort Worth, Texas! And go get yourself some Love Shack burgers! Yee Haw!!

Potty Talk

The toilets in this house are a step up from squatty potties.  I'm totally grateful for my house and all, but this was a spec home many years ago, and everyone knows they stick bottom-of-the-line toilets in these houses!  Step up from squatty potties I'll say again.  One short tinkle, two squares of toilet paper, and then flush!  Don't blow your nose while you're sitting there and think you can deposit that tissue at the same time you tinkled.  And well, when you have to do your other business....do it in shifts!  Deposit flush.  Wipe flush.  Wipe flush.  I'm sure many unsuspecting visitors to our home were UNpleasantly surprised to go through their normal routine, only to flush and then realize it didn't all go down.  Which is why we bought four plungers for all four toilets when we first moved in, to save the visitors from the shame of having to peek their shameful eyes out of the door and call for the nearest person to bring them a plunger. Horrifying!  Oh, one more thing, when you flush the front toilet....flush and then jump out of the way!  Yep, sometimes it splashes...grody!

So anyway, at any given time, one of the four toilets is on the blink.  Currently it's the one in our master bathroom.  Mark's back has been out this week, so I'm refraining from mentioning any extra honey-do's.  But anyone within a 2-mile radius of our house already knows it's on the blink.  Flush.  And then FRRRROOONNNKKKKKKKKK!  (that's the only way I know to describe a very loud annoying something-like-a foghorn sound...try it right now to get the full picture).  First it was one FRROONNKKK.  Then it was two.  Now we're up to about 11, oh wait, here comes one more....wait, 1 more FFFRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOONNKKKK!!!!!!  In the dead silence of the night (well except for when Brady is calling out Mama and not Daddy, or when Taylor is sleepwalking and talking about character sketches), flushing a toilet causes the whole neighborhood to duck and take cover!  Are we under attack??  Are the neighborhood stray cats in heat??  Tornado sirens??

Ah well.  We'll get it fixed.  If nothing else, it makes a good story...unless you were eating breakfast while you read this.

Summer 2011

Well good morning! Don't expect too much from this blog this summer (as if you ever did!).  All the kids are home and crazy, and I don't expect too many complete sentences to come my way.  I think most of my blogging for this summer will be short stories and funny sayings from my kids that I want to remember for later (WAY later in most instances.)

So yesterday, which was the first day of summer vacation, in typical summer vacation fashion, the whole crew was awake at 6:30 am (despite staying up late the night before).  Ugh!  Mark hurt his back over the weekend and is in bad shape.  His body is visibly out of alignment, I've never seen anything like it, and I hope to never see it again.  So we dropped him off at the chiropractor and drove over to Kohls to pass the time.  When we pulled into the parking lot, my girls said  "Why aren't there any cars here?"  And so I answered "Well most people aren't shopping at Kohl's this early in the summer, most kids your age are still sleeping right now!"

And then both of them at about the same time said "Not us!!  We want to rock and roll all nite and party every day!"

HAAA!!  Great answer kids.  Bring it Summer 2011!

We So Old

Conversation with Taylor:

"Did you have remote controls for the TV when you were young?"

"No."

"How did you change the channel?"

"We got up from our orange and yellow floral couch and walked over to the TV and turned that dial through all 13 channels until we found one we liked.  And when we got tired of that channel, we unwrapped ourselves from our Snuggie (oh wait, that's a new creation too) and got up and walked over again and changed the channel."

"And sometimes the phone would ring, and since it's wasn't cordless, we had to get up again and answer it."

"Funny."

Love Is Not

I have something to say.  After 20 years of glancing at these things, I'm finally ready to come out of the closet and say what I really think.

Here it is.....those comics with the naked kids, the Love Is comics....well they're just plain WEIRD.  They're not cute and sweet and romantic.  Just weird.  Sick and Wrong.

Here's today's:

I'm sorry, but if Mark and I were ever standing around in public, naked, and he leaned towards me in the "licking" position, I'd slap that boy silly.  What do you think napkins are for???  Love Is NOT touching the cotton candy on my face.

Love Is, for me, never looking at those silly comics again!