The gold medal race

Every year Liam runs a race in our town. He trains for it, looks forward to it, and then hangs his 'gold medal' up on his wall. This year he upped the millage from 1 K to the 1 miler and he took it in stride.  Elsie also ran too and even though she is only 2.5 years old she amazed us at how far she could run. She melted everyones heart as she started bowing at the finish line for people that were cheering.  Brady did a good job being her pacer and I was the designated family cheerer.

These are our friends Dan and Amanda who also ran the race. They have graciously volnteered to be our middle of the night babysitters if I end up going into labor at 3 am. Dan is a Harvard trained lawyer who decided after a few years practicing law in NYC to be a Management and Organization Phd student in Brady's program. Amanda teaches writing at the University of Maryland and they are as genuine and cool as people come.

spring things

We've spent hours this week soaking up warm weather.
 Somehow this:

Always seems to turn into this:

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We got a hose spray gun and the kids have spent every spare minute squirting everything in sight (including each other, of course.) Everyday after school the kids like to look for fish in our neighbors koi pond. This week we got a net and Liam caught himself a shiny orange beauty.

The kids always fill jars of hand-plucked, pretty, little flowers which we have stationed throughout the house.

Liam lost his 6th tooth this week and is saving his tooth money up so he can buy Ninja Turtle nun-chucks. He of course likes getting the money but he's highly suspicious of the tooth fairy. He always tells Elsie that "it's actually not a fairy, it's just an adult"- although he hasn't quite pin pointed who the adult is.

DC Cherry Blossoms and Elsie

 

 

zoo

This week was Liam's spring break and I'm not ready to give him back. He always makes me smile, he is endlessly entertaining, and a good friend for his sister. In the picture below he is at the national zoo and laughing his head off with the kid next to him while counting the seals that swim by.  In honor of spring break I let them get some popcorn, which apparently only comes in size ridiculously large. We also spent the week relaxing, chasing the ice cream man, going to the park, and the visiting the wildlife refuge. 

At the zoo I had a really unlucky moment and accidentally dropped my cell phone down in the beaver cage.  There wasn't a zookeeper in sight and no one seemed to know what to do.  While Liam stood watch, ready scare the beavers if they decided to attack, everyone around me gawked and rolled their eyes as I went to retrieve it myself.
 Nothin' like seeing an 8+ month pregnant women ungracefully jump and climb a zoo fence (that luckily wasn't electric.)

Elsie loves to dance and spin and can melt your heart with her twirling

Easter Weekend

We had a fantastic Easter weekend graced by Brady's sister and her boyfriend Ben.  The kids made Easter eggs and found baskets Sunday morning with fairies, power rangers, and hollow chocolate bunnies in them.

                                   Liam drew this picture at church after a lesson on resurrection. I asked him if it was Jesus. He said "No, does Jesus have hair like that? No he doesn't. It's your Grandma Marilyn. She's in the graveyard, but still a little bit coming back from the dead." (That actually does look a little like grandma's wig)

The things I've never sufficiently thanked my parents for

I have more than I can count. They obviously include critical things like feeding, clothing, sheltering, and funding me for 18 years. But there are also lists upon lists of obnoxious things I imposed upon them over the years that I only become aware of after becoming an overworked parent myself.

Included is all the times we hounded my mom and dad until they took us to Chuckie Cheese. What goes around . . .

 It's sad that we aren't more grateful as kids, 'cause I would've done a lot less whining, thrown away less fruit from my lunch, and spent more time helping.  It's really too bad it takes being provoked to be really appreciative. There is something about sleepless nights taking care of your own ear-ached baby, enduring a few bouts of potty training, and combating the insanity of hyper kids at bedtime that makes you realize that parents are grossly under-thanked. So, if you read this mom or dad, thanks.

A Midwest Omen

I believe in omens. Not the creepy pagan kind, but the happy signs of good luck that unexpectedly peek at us here and there.  I'd define 'omens' as delightful moments that foreshadow prosperity.  I can never tell with these manifestations if it's heaven, 'fate,' or nature, but they seem like a gift all the same.  Omens can be something silly like seeing a rabbit on my way to run a marathon, a flower in my garden that goes rouge and blooms unseasonably early, or something substantial that provokes reflection.

Each St. Patrick's Day weekend I am reminded of an especially impactful omen. It took place exactly 6 years ago when a stranger on the airplane gave Brady and I a hundred dollar bill to buy a gift for our expectant baby. The value of this memory has little to do with the actual money and everything to do with the circumstances and the lessons learned.

We were living in Utah, on an airplane to visit East Lansing, Michigan. I wasn't sold on the idea of  the Midwest, it's windy, long winters, or moving to a place without a grad school option for me. We had an offer from a flashy Ivy League school in NYC, and Michigan State University, in the middle of no where, seemed a bit anti-climactic.  Still, we were excited about the changes to come with a new Phd program, a new place to live, and our first baby that was due in a month.

Scrunched with us on our plane row was a middle-aged Michigander with a thick brown mustache and a bit of a beer belly. As the plane began its descent he began telling us of his work as a volunteer fireman and his little kids that he missed dearly but rarely saw due to divorce. He told us about life in Michigan, happy things in store, and that he felt it would be a good home for us. He asked about the baby on the way. He told us how important kids were and how lucky we were- to have each other, to have this upcoming baby and the love he would bring into our lives. As we started grabbing our bags he handed a folded up bill to Brady and told us to take care of our little family.  Off the plane, when the man was out of sight, we unfolded the bill- it was $100.

It was humbling. We didn't know the man's name, only the town, Port Austin, he was from.  We meant to drive across the state to track him down, but we never did. One day I would like run into him again and tell him how much we appreciated his help. I would tell him our baby has grown into a kindergartner that is the absolute sunshine in our day. I would tell him with his money we bought a stroller that became our second car- taking me to the local bakery, to the park, to work.  I would tell him that although I haven't re-gifted his $100 yet, I will someday. 

I would love to tell this man and that his gesture came to represent what we loved most about Michigan- the warm people that took us under their wing, their old-fashioned, Midwestern, 'niceness.'  He was the first of many people to be kind to us in Michigan. We had a church congregation that was supportive. People from work and the community who made us feel valued. Babysitters and neighbors that treated us like grandkids.  If I see him again I will tell him his random kindness has not been forgotten, and yes, that he was a sign of our good luck.