i heart summer photos

one of my favorite photos of the summer.isn't she beautiful?

ya, i grew her in my belly.

say what?

on saturday afternoon after i realized i didn't remember ethan ever going potty in the morning-

me: ethan, are you still wearing your diaper? (he wears one at night still)

ethan: no.

me: oh, did you put on your underpants?

ethan: no, i'm going commando.

huh? where do you think he learned what "going commando" means? i blame the teenagers.

while smelling candles at target the other day-

ethan: oooo, mom smell this one.

me: oh that's nice, it's cinnamon.

(ethan smells the candle again looking confused)

ethan: no it's not, it's hot tamales.

the other day in the car-

ethan: is it my birthday yet?

me: not yet, not until after halloween.

ethan: how about now?

me: no.

ethan: how about now?

me: no.

ethan: how about now?

me: no.

two days later...

ethan: is it my birthday yet?

me: no, not yet, it's not until after halloween.

ethan: (throwing his arms up exhasperated) but it's been dark TWO TIMES!

repeat this conversation at least three times every day since then, you get the picture. i'm remembering a time about 18 months or so ago, when the doctor requested some testing for autism because he wasn't even using one syllable. not so much a concern these days.

keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times

today was a big day, i can't really believe it's already here -

the first day of school!

(and these might be my worst first day of school photos ever - bleh!)

at the beginning of the summer, i knew it was going to fly by, because it ALWAYS does. and i end up feeling a little robbed on the first day of school. robbed of the carefree TIME i love to spend with my kids that only comes during the summer. this year is no different, worse even, because it rained all of june and i feel like summer didn't really start until july when the sun came out and it was hot enough to play at the pool.

but i guess it doesn't matter how i feel about it, school is officially back in session. this is a big and exciting year for my kids - taylor is starting high school, allie is no longer a newbie to jr. high, spencer is a newbie to jr. high, and ethan is getting ready for pre-school in a few weeks. the kids' excitement to start a new school year, see their friends and have some fun adventures makes it hard for me to be too sad about them leaving again, i am excited for all the fun that school can be for them.

but oh man, the roller coaster ride that is homework, busy schedules, volunteering, carpooling, and trying to stay on top of their crazy lives in between all that needs to be done around here....i'm bracing myself, because here we go.

fifteen

once upon a time, there was a baby growing in my belly, who was so late, i started to wonder if he would ever be born. two weeks and five days after he was scheduled to arrive, he finally decided to make his debut - phew! and although, those were the longest 19 days of my life, since then, time has flown by, and it's been an awesome fifteen years, even though i'm stunned to think that it's really been that long. and i'm grateful every day for my handsome, gentle, thoughtful, and always goofy, taylor bing, who's still not too embarrassed to kiss his mother in front of his friends. or flex his muscles for the camera.man i love this kid.

happy birthday mr. goodbar!

the little things

it's late in the evening.

the kids are in bed.

rich and i are in the office, where we can normally be found this time of the night, winding down in our own computer-related sort of ways.

we have "his and hers" computers but we share office space.

his desk is always clean.

my desk is always a mess, even right after i clean it.

rich is always listening to itunes when he's at his computer, which means, i'm always listening to it too.

it's fine, we like a lot of the same artists.

my favorite thing about rich listening to itunes at the computer is that he sort of hums/sings along to the songs. i'm not sure he even knows he does it.

but it sure is cute.

just one of the many little things that i love about this man.

i'm such a lucky girl.

reunion

i'm not sure WHY it is that janae and i haven't gotten ethan and nicolette together all summer to play. they are the best of little friends and always looked forward to theraputic thursday for some play time. summer's been busy i guess, that's my lame excuse. so when they saw each other at the pioneer parade, i was reminded slightly of the kermit and miss piggy scene from the movie (which i could find no where on youtube), where they run to each other through the grass in slow motion with cheesy music and then embrace. and then fall down. but recover quickly, and then do a happy dance. i can tell you the blogger moms are not the only ones looking forward to starting up theraputic thursday again.

pep talk

at 7am this morning i dropped off a very happy, excited, optimistic and maybe a little nervous, twelve year old at the scout master's house. i left him there with his thirty pound back pack, a kiss, a promise that he would use his hand sanitizer before eating (not likely), and a pep talk. i told him to pray when he's scared, his feet start to hurt or when his pack is too heavy and he thinks he wants to quit. besides double checking everything in his pack to make sure he has what he needs to survive in the uintas for five days, what else could i give him?on the drive home i kept thinking that this was a little taste of what my soon-to-be future life in motherhood will be like. doing everything i can to make sure they have what they need to survive and then dropping them off to let them fend for themselves. i don't know if i've done enough, but when i start to miss him too much, or worry that his feet hurt or that his pack is too heavy, or that he's not using hand sanitizer before he eats, i'm going to try to remember my pep talk and say a little prayer.