29 in 29

Inspired by Mandy, on my last day of 29:

1. Became friends with my second child.
2. Got bangs.
3. Became a walker.
4. Traded in Dora for Diego.
5. Caught the biggest fish.
6. Discovered the miracle of ceramic flatirons.
7. Potty trained my child...with mixed results.
8. Joined the 21st century and bought something off of eBay.
9. Wore my Christmas clothes at Easter time.
10. Went head-to-head with the Big D...and lost.
11. Gained 7 pounds.
12. Lost them all, plus 8 more.
13. Spent too much money on the dog.
14. Became a fan of beatboxing.
15. Reinforced my suspicions that I don't like Keifer Sutherland, but I will watch him if there's a chance that Ricky Schroder will show up.
16. Updated the flip-flop collection.
17. Honed my green thumb.
18. Learned to cut my kids' hair.
19. Unleashed a newfound love for Mediterranean food.
20. Learned to accept charity without guilt.
21. Woke up one morning next to the man of my dreams.
22. Tried out Kashi, pilates and yoga. Only the Kashi stuck.
23. Read a grown-up book instead of chick-lit. Don't expect that to stick.
24. Enrolled my son in elementary school.
25. Put up my first fake tree.
26. Realized the concept of "Waste not, want not".
27. Embraced sunscreen...and (gasp!) still got a tan.
28. Finally got results from eating black-eyed peas and turnip greens on New Year's Day.
29. Learned to happily accept me for me, and just in the nick of time.

Luke's Day in the Sun

Today Luke graduated from fire fighter rookie school. We started celebrating last night with a surprise party for him at the ball game. A very generous acquaintance of mine gave us her tickets for the night--she has a suite at the ballpark. You know, one of those really nice spots at the top of the stadium where the tickets cost more than my car. Seriously, they do. Anyway, it was great because the kids could run around and we didn't have to worry about watching them too closely or keeping them in their seats, and everybody had a good time.

Patrick hung with his girlfriend/next-door neighbor, Riley. I was glad to have Riley's mom Michelle there with me, since baseball starts to bore me after about five innings. Luke loves it, though...he's very attentive to his beloved team...which lost AGAIN, by the way.

When you're in the suites, you get special attention by the staff because they think you're rich, and that includes Patrick's BFF the mascot. He came to hang out for a while and after the two swapped war stories for a little bit, I was able to get them to pose for a picture. Ben wasn't too sure about the blue fuzzy dude, but we shoved him in anyway because he's cute.

He was much happier hanging out with Rebeckah all night, because she would give him food and was therefore invaluable to his master agenda to eat nonstop. Frozen lemonade? Check. Sprite? Check. Dippin Dots? Check. Luke's celebratory cake? Check. Tummy ache? Check check check!!!

And today we got to the really important stuff--Luke's graduation! As I was driving up this morning, I was thinking that I honestly have not been this excited and thrilled since our wedding day. I feel like we've both been waiting for this day for a long time...much longer than since last year when he decided to pursue this career. I used to wonder when we would get to a point where Luke would be really happy to go to work, and be happy about what he was doing with his talents, and now I know that he's there. This is what he's been working towards all this time, even if we didn't always know it.

The new recruits, all looking very handsome!

Luke and his adoring boys after the ceremony. Patrick was so proud.

I must admit, I was proud too--incredibly proud! It takes a lot of guts to overhaul your life when you're closing in on 30 with a wife and two kids depending on your success. I am so glad Luke didn't balk at the challenge. He faced it with a positive attitude and his hard work and perseverance has paid off. I'm lucky to have a husband like him.

And as long as everyone's reading, I should let you all know that we could not have done it alone. We've had a lot of support since Luke undertook this endeavor. First and foremost are his parents, who really picked up the pieces of our finances since Luke had to quit his weekend job in order to go to school. We'd be living in a box if it wasn't for them! Also to Tom for sharing his office with Luke and giving him a place to unwind during lunches and breaks over the past ten weeks--also to my parents for all their emotional support and encouraging words, and to my boss Stephanie for her encouragement and patience with my seemingly endless unavailablity at work. It was all for a higher purpose, and it became a reality today!!!

Congratulations Luke! You're my hero!

Fathers Day is All Wet

For Fathers Day, we had gotten Luke tickets to the South Atlantic League All-Star game, which was hosted by our team last night. And even though the skies had opened up earlier yesterday afternoon, they were bound and determined to have that game. But I must admit, they pulled out some pretty cool stops. They had F-16 fighter jets for the national anthem, which is pretty standard, but after that, while the players were warming up, the pilots did tricks just above the stadium rooftop, which was amazing. There was such a low layer of clouds that they had to fly really close to the ground, and even then, we would only catch them flying out of a cloud and entering another one. One of the pilots circled the lights around the outfield and I thought my kids were going to die from excitement. It was awesome.

So we sat in the rain--sometimes just drizzling and sometimes a steady shower--for about four innings, and then it pretty much cleared up and we were able to enjoy the game. It was pretty non-eventful, except our pitcher from our team gave up three runs in the third, which ended up costing our division the game. Oh well. For the seventh inning stretch, they brought the F-16 pilots and their families out onto the dugouts and sang "God Bless America". It was neat, but Patrick was royally ticked that we didn't sing "Take me out to the ball game". He was also ticked that this time he got no special attention from the cameras, the girls that pass out free ice cream, or even those inconsiderate players that wouldn't hit a foul ball straight to him. I guess he got spoiled at the last two games we went to.

The post-game "fireworks spectacular" more than made up for it, though. They put on a very good show, as you can see by the look on Patrick's face. All in all, it was a very fun night, even with a little rain. As I sat there getting wet, I thought "This still beats freezing my butt off."

Tribute to Dad

I could wax poetic all day about Luke's daddy skills and it wouldn't even be the tip of the iceberg on how wonderful he is to our family. Since the day Patrick was born, he's done nothing but work hard and play hard to ensure that our kids have gotten all that they need and a good time too. But a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll just shut up already and let you see for yourself.

"Our Father the Hero"

We love you Daddy--
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY 2007!

Progress

First of all, I gave my kids a bath last night--I know, very progressive of me--and second, Patrick has literally been making leaps and bounds in his pool activities this year. He's never been one to cave easily to pressure, or to do anything just because someone else is doing it...which is fine by me. But sometimes it's hard to talk him into trying something new. But I guess he's getting brave, because this is the first year he's jumped off the side of the pool into nothing but the great blue abyss. In the past he has required someone's ready-and-waiting arms to take the plunge...notsomuch anymore! Progress is good.

Splish Splash...

...this is our bath. Yes, I'm one of those moms. I can't remember the last time my kids had a bath. Or should I say, it hasn't been in the past four days, so the statute of limitations on my memory has expired for this particular event. It may have been four days and one hour ago, but that is too far back. Can't remember it. But we have been swimming, and chlorine is very clean, so don't judge me.

Today we went to Joan's house to swim with Rebeckah and Jenny and Mary Kate. Good times were had by all. Rebeckah is an awesome swimmer and Patrick does great in the water as long as he's got his wings on. The water was chilly at first, so MK preferred to hang in the baby pool, but notice how coordinated she is? Even her toys match! Ben did well--he liked the boat and he actually likes to float around by himself with water wings on--until he started pitching a manic fit. I thought he was cold, so I got out with him and sat him on my lap and started to wrap him up in a towel...and then discovered why he was so upset. I'll give you three hints: it was yellow, it was stinky and it was in my lap. As I said, good times were had by all. ;)

**I should add that Jenny moved VERY quickly to help me get cleaned up. Thanks Jenny! Those swim diapers can't be trusted!!!

This and That

A couple weeks ago, I took the boys to have their picture taken together. I got to see the proofs today and I was pretty pleased. Of course, as I pointed out, who is ever disappointed with pictures of their own adorable tots? Photographing kiddies is a surefire way to make money, I think. Anyway, I ordered some larger pictures from the proofs, but I thought these two were cute--but not cute enough for a big copy, so I just bought the proofs.

And to everyone who told me I just had to let Patrick see Cars (yes, I'm talking to you, you and you), thank you so much for my pleasant evening tonight. Lest we forget, this is the child who got scared when I took him to see Curious George, can't make it past the first scene in Finding Nemo and is terrified of Spongebob, for crying out loud!

So Patrick crashed in his bedroom this afternoon, and since that meant he'd be up late anyway, we went down to the old Kroger kiosk and rented it for a buck...and boy am I glad I only spent a buck, because Patrick didn't even make it to Radiator Springs before he was burying his head in my lap and howling in fear. And I'm not exaggerating. He cried for Daddy, he kicked, he screamed, he chewed on his blanket...and when Lightning McQueen had his over-the-top 20-minute wreck, that was the last straw for my sensitive little viewer. He eagerly volunteered to go to bed, rather than stay downstairs with me and watch this horrifying tale. So I finished watching it myself, and it wasn't that great. I only laughed out loud once, and now I don't even remember what the joke was. Of course, what did I expect? It's a movie about Nascar. How entertaining could it possibly be?

So the trip to the beach was really great! There's not much to say...we played, we got tans, we rode bikes and swam...yadda yadda yadda...it was really fun. Here are a few of my favorite pics:

When the tide went out, it left massive tide pools that got really warm and were great for the kids to play in. So they spent most of their time in there, greatly reducing my worry time about sharks and stingrays...which we did see both of, so you can never be too careful, right?

Speaking of being careful, the latest threat on the beach is middle-aged men riding bikes, apparently. Patrick got mowed down by one on Tuesday. I didn't see it actually happen, just looked up from the big hole I was digging when I heard all the screaming...and saw Patrick lying on the ground with a bike on top of him. It was really scary--I was imagining broken ribs and punctured lungs--but he turned out just a little scraped up on his back. You can barely see the scar. And he got a bruise on his knee. And a phobia about bikes. But who's counting?

No really, he was fine, and he learned to look both ways before crossing the beach, which is always a good thing to know. But the rest of the time was really fun and now I'm glad to be home. I just gotta figure out what I'm doing for the rest of the summer...