A Thousand Little Wishes...

Biggle

It's what Ben used to say to describe his bigness.  A toddler version of big ol'. Everything about him was biggle, especially his feet.  Never mind the fact that he's always been one of the youngest and smallest.  Now he truly is biggle.  My baby turned ten on Sunday.  TEN.  And he still amazes me daily.

Double digits.  

Happy.  Honest.  Smart.  Creative.  Polite.  Good-hearted.  Confident.  Loyal.

He wanted a dance party.  Yes, you read that right.  A dance party.  With girls. Since so many of his friends travel or go away to camp, we did it in May right before school was out.  They danced...some.  Mostly they just ran around like a bunch of maniacs.  But a bunch of surprisingly well-behaved, really nice maniacs. Way too many sodas were consumed, and there was lots of squealing, chasing, screaming, and giggling.  And lots of zip-lining.  We played Name That Tune- girls against boys, of course.  And there were a few random and exceptionally loud jam-sessions. Once it got dark, there were light-up frisbees and balls flying back and forth through the back yard.  His three best friends spent the night afterwards.  And their best girl friends toilet papered our house sometime around midnight.  Even better, the boys caught them.  The next Monday, he was deemed The Party King at school and he couldn't have been more pleased.

   
This party was a lot of work, and it was really loud, and pretty expensive (the zip-line went in for the party and was his birthday present).  But it was also just perfect.  Exciting because it was boys and girls; fun because they all play so well together and most of them have been close friends since kindergarten; and yet still innocent, because even though they like, like each other and some are "boyfriend/ girlfriend," really, they're all just good friends.  And I love it.

  

Ahhhh......summer

 

I can finally relax.  A bit.

We're gearing up for a big ass Griswold style family road trip.  Three weeks in the minivan with two little boys and a dog.  Camping, sight-seeing, visiting family, and friends.  I'm super excited.  I just hope it all goes well.  We've stocked up on books, both with pages and on cd. Some new games and art supplies.  A bunch of food, both junkie and healthy.

We're heading to Boulder, but stopping and camping at Palo Duro State Park and Mueller State Park.  A few years ago we hit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs and I can't wait to go back.  It's a zoo built into the side of a mountain, which is pretty cool, but the best part is the giraffe exhibit.  It's built up on a deck-like structure so that the human visitors can be face-to-face with the giraffes.  It's very cool.  And you can feed them these cracker-ish things.  I loved it, we all loved it.

We're staying at a lodge in Boulder for a few days playing with cousins and such.  Then camping at Rocky Mountain National Park for three nights.  Then we're going to Kansas City for a couple of nights to visit one of my best friends from high school, who just happens to be one of the most awesome people ever!

After that, we're heading to Chicago!  I absolutely love Chicago, especially in the summer.  Usually we're there for some sort of big family event, but this time we're focusing on hitting the city-  The Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, The Art Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, and the beach!  I'm so excited!  

After Chicago, we stop in Tulsa to visit one of Lee's friends from high school and then we're coming home.  Just typing all of this has been a bit exhausting, not to mention trying to plan for it, shop for it, and pack for it.  But once it's all done, I'll have three weeks to relax!  Woot!

My first day of summer

Today is my first *official* day of summer.  Camp is over.  Woot!  I still have greenish fingernails from craft camp last week.  Tie dyeing with 26 kids is a very messy business.  I managed to scrub most of it off my hands and feet, but can't scrape it out from under my nails.  

Last night we had dinner at a friend's house- ribs, sausage, smoked chicken, salad, fresh bread, and several vodka green tea cocktails.  It was a very fun evening full of lots of frisbee and dog chasing, kickball, and laughing.  It was the perfect kick-off to my official summer.  I wish I had remembered my camera.

I've spent today doing a bit of cleaning, a bit of baking, a bit of shopping, and a bit of blog surfing while watching the heart-wrenching US-Ghana game.  We're pretty into the World Cup around here, considering my husband plays in two weekly soccer games.  Plus it's just exciting, like the Olympics.  Now that the US is out, we're rooting for Argentina.

I think, I'll finish off the day with a bit of sewing, a bit more shopping, and a bit more cleaning.  And then maybe a movie with my family.  Oh, how I love summer!

 

My sweet grandmother

On her 82nd birthday this past Christmas day. 

To me and my cousins, she was Ama.

She made it up when I was a baby.  

She just took the first "m" off of mama and her name was born.

To my mother and my uncle, she was Mom.

To my aunt, she was Mama.

She was also Gloria Jean and Queen Jean.

She was Houston's Little Miss Shirley Temple in 1934.

She was witty and a little sarcastic.

She was an amazing gardener, hostess, and tap dancer.

She loved contests, golf on tv, and SantaFe.

She loved bean tacos and Peeps.

And Frank Sinatra and Robert Redford.

She was the light of our lives and the heart of our family.

And I loved her dearly.

A little bit of bragging

My baby, my nine and a half year old baby, the one with the girlfriend, was in a musical.  His first musical.  His first real stage performance.  He was a Cheshire Cat in a production of Alice in Wonderland.  I say a Cheshire Cat because there were two.  Together, they were the narrators.  Very sassy narrators.  

Can I just say how amazed I am that he did this?  Just jumped right in and went for it.  It helped that he had several friends in the production with him, but still.  This very competitive, sporty little boy is now also an actor.  And he loved every minute of it.  Especially the singing.  

He loves to sing.  If he isn't talking, he's singing.  All the time.  Of course, it's some sort of crap from the pop radio station, but still I love that he loves to sing.  His singing comes from his heart and he's not the least bit afraid to show it off.  He sings loud and clear and, surprisingly, usually in key.

This is his father in him.  Not the singing and acting, so much as the guts.  I was a dancer all my life, but never a performer.  I may be a ham in the comfort of my own friends and family, but there is no way I could get up on a stage and perform for an audience.  I hated everyone looking at me at my own wedding, and all I was doing was walking down the aisle.  

Lucky for us, Lee is the kind of person who never really considers the possibility of failure.  He's pretty certain that he could do most anything he wanted and he's usually right.  I'm not so sure I've ever seen him fail.  But that would be a whole other post altogether.  I'm just grateful that he seems to have passed his self-confidence on to Ben.  Because being self-confident is a wonderful thing to be.

A Moment in Time

Lee and the boys went camping, so my Lulah B slept with me all night.  Her full name is Talulah Buttercup.  She's such a snuggly, lovey kind of dog.  She does have a bit of a licker problem, though. We're working on it.  I love it when her ears are up.  

Thanks to Amy for letting us know about such a neat and easy photography project!

Color Week: Blue

Blue tea pot and little cups made by Lee's dad.  He's very talented.  We're lucky enough to have lots of his beautiful bowls and things.

The tiny little bike that Ben used to learn how to ride a two-wheeler.  Max is working on it now.  After Max gets it down, Ben wants to add pegs to make it a BMX bike.

This box was the first Christmas present Lee ever gave me.  He actually came to my parents house and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my family.  We had only been dating a little more than a year.  He must have been terrified.  It was pretty cute.

Some candy eggs I got as a little surprise for my grandmother.  She has a thing for robin's eggs.  These are filled with caramel.

A candle holder on our back porch.  I think I've had this since college.  The candle has melted in this Texas heat so many times that we can't get at the wick.  Maybe I'll get it a new one.

Some more tea pots from my collection.  The top one is another Hall and is the first one I bought.  The bottom one just says "Japan" on the bottom.

 
Some blue cowboy cowgirl boots I saw the other day while shopping on South Congress.  I've been wanting a new pair.  Nothing this fancy, though.  These were only $570.

Ben's Pine-wood Derby car from the one year he was a Boy Scout.  He was in first grade.  He loved it and I hated it.  I don't know if all the dens work like this, but at our school, it was a HUGE time commitment on the parents part.  Plus, I really did not enjoy the other kids in his den.  We felt like we go camping often enough and do outdoorsy things, that we did not need to make this a part of our lives.  Maybe it was just that I didn't want to spend an evening every other week with a bunch kids from my school.

This pendant was a gift from my aunt from a trip she took to Italy.  I've always wanted to go to Italy.  Maybe someday...

I love this old shirt.  Ben wore it for a few years and now Max wears it.  It's almost too small for him, though, which makes me a bit sad.  Lee's childhood best friend is a vintage clothing dealer and he gifts us with lots of his little boy finds.  Some are too crazy that the boys wouldn't wear, but they both loved this tee.

 
My baby's blue eyes.  His eyes are beautiful, but this picture isn't very great.  We were hoping the kids might have baby blues, too.  Sadly, my genes won out in every way.  

Ten

Ten years ago I had no idea what I was getting into.  I thought he was the lucky one.  

He was "lucky" because I was smarter than his bullshit.  I'd stuck around and he was getting me.  Lucky him.

I was so wrong.  I'm actually the lucky one.  That boy that I married ten years ago in my grandmother's backyard has grown into this man.  

This wonderful, amazing man.  This smart, articulate, funny, good-natured, and good-hearted man.  

This man who loves me.  Still.  After all these years and all these babies (just two, really), all these pounds and all these zits, and all those fits and fights and stresses.  

Almost every day I'm in awe of the relationship that we've built.  It's been a long journey.  One that I began with the ridiculous and pointless fairy tale hopes and dreams of a child.  But this point that we've come to- this understanding of each other, this ability to work together- has far exceeded those silly notions.   

This is so much better.

While we've been growing up together, we've grown together.  We fit.  We've moved through all that hard stuff and now we're just here.  With each other.  

And it's lovely.