It's Working!

travel+travel+travel+travel+travel

travel+travel+travel+travel+travel

People comment to Joey and I all the time how good this life is that we're living right now, mostly for the kids.  We've experienced this first hand as we watch them soak up history lessons at the Vatican with cousins or ski in the alps with close friends.  It's really exciting sometimes to think about all they're experiencing at such a young age. But I often wonder if THEY know how cool it is or if are REALLY absorbing what we're serving them.

It wasn't all that big of a deal but I felt a little payback a few times over the last couple of weeks, a little restitution, and maybe even a little gratitude from the kids themselves.

For starters, when Juliet and I stopped by the kids school during recess the other day (we do this almost every day because I pick up Juliet from her school across the street at 1pm, just as Georgie and Isaac are coming out for recess )I spied Georgie and a small group of girls in a tiny huddle, engrossed in a very serious conversation, one that Georgie seemed to be in charge of.  When they saw me coming a few of them very somberly announced us to Georgie.  They were very dramatic about their seriousness;)  When Georgie arrived to meet me at the gate she was quite sullen.  "Today is the anniversary of World War II."  I was confused?  What anniversary?  But there was no time for the questions, she cut to the chase.  "You know, the one with the concentration camps.  We're learning about that today and Jenifer ( a girl in her class) started laughing.  I got really mad at her and told her that she shouldn't laugh because it is VERY sad.  I am telling all the girls about Dachau..you know, how we went in the real room where they...you know, the burning."  She went on to telling me more about all that she told them.  As we talked all the other girls stood at the gate with drawn looks on their faces.  It was kind of funny, actually, all the drama they were getting off of it. But as I drove home and thought about what had just happened I realized that this traveling was paying off.  She remembers places like Dachau and they mean something to her. It's working!

This week we've been working on Thank you notes.  IN Isaacs note to Gaga and Papa he wrote goodbye in 5 different languages, completely of his own accord.  On a smaller scale, that was pretty cool.  ANd when I took him out to lunch for his half birthday the chef, a sort of friend of ours, came out with a "mystery" puree as an appetizer.  He wanted us to guess what it was.  I was completely perplexed...I had no idea but I was thoroughly enjoying it.  It had a mysterious savoriness but a familiar bite that I couldn't quite put my fingers on.  After several seconds of mulling it around on his tongue, Isaac announced, "It's fennel."  Darned if it wasn't!  I was so proud!  

Anyway, with all this money we're throwing down, all the things we're NOT doing so that we CAN live here and travel, sometimes I wonder if we're just telling ourselves its good for them because Joey and I like it so much.  In the end, I feel pretty confident, this is the peak of our lives (mine and Joeys:)  But hopefully not theres!  Not to end cheesily or anything, but in all seriousness, I hope this is just the beginning of their international lives!  

xoxo

Ash

Isaac Bo-Bisaac

Isaac Bo Bisaac

As you recently read on the blog, Isaac eats fish eye balls.  But he also speaks some pretty awesome Italian.  For the past couple of months I have enjoyed the pleasure of driving Isaac and his Italian friend, Pierre-Antonio, to and from soccer practice every Tuesday night.  I drive down the road like a big dork with this huge, proud grin on my face because I can't stop smiling at hearing my son ramble off in a different language with his cute, chubby little buddy, Pierre.  It's freaking awesome!  He has full use of his sense of humor in the language, his accent sounds perfect (to me) and I love witnessing his total confidence with his friends. 

They frequently play a word game that really gets them tickled.  It goes something like this:  "Che facendo ora?", which translates into something like, "what am I doing now?"  and then the other one has to guess what the asker envisions himself doing.  "Ballaro"(dancing) or "Cantaro"(singing)...even if the word isn't supposed to end with "aro" they put that ending on it anyway and somehow that makes it all so funny to them.  And of course they always choose words like dancing, farting...funny stuff.  Half the time I don't understand what they're saying but even to me it sounds so funny! Another plus: Tonight they rocked out to "Get Down On It"by Kool and The Gang, which has a lot of repetition in it.  I overheard Pierre singing "Gedown a it" in total botched English.  And Isaac was totally giggling at/with him.  It was pretty funny!  

Isaac is completely fitting in at school now (phew!!).  He has his little posse and is happy almost every day when he comes home from school.  MOst of the time he can't wait to get back out the door to play soccer with his friend Alessandro who lives across the street.  At school he plays mostly with a cute kid named Phillipo but it sounds like he plays paper airplanes, makes club houses, has running races etc. with everyone from the three girls in his class to some of the 5th grade kids.  It's a nice change from last year...when we were all jumping all kinds of hurdles.  It's a steep learning curve, but I think he's over the hump.  POor guy climbed a lot last year!  Bravo Isaac!

Anyway, that's our Isaac update!

xoxo

Ash

Juliet: First Day of School

This year, Juliet didn't want to get left out of all this school business!  She started Italian Preschool (Asilo!)at the tender young age of 3!! 

When the school day began she was all smiles!  She had been talking about and waiting for this moment all summer long!  But when I picked her up after 2 hours, she was in tears.  Ahh!!  Be still my heart!!  On our drive home she said to me, "Mom, I like Asilo, but I don't want to go anymore.  Nobody listens to me!"  (Ha!)  I dropped her off in tears ever since until, finally, after 6 days, she was dry eyed!! Yay! I feel quite a bit of mommy guilt sending her to school at the young age of 3, something I never would have considered doing with Isaac, and did only one day a week for Georgie.  But our situation is different here.  Juliet doesn't get much peer interaction otherwise and she has two years to pick up some of the language that her big brother and sister will know fluently.  So, even though the chances of her retaining any of it are somewhat slim, we'd like to at least give it a good old college try and hope that the studies are right, that learning another language at a young age develops that part of the brain in a way that is beneficial for future second language attainment.  It's a prayer and we feel right about it.  

More on our Ju-B:

Juliet still manages to maintain the total and complete adoration of everyone in the family.  I could use the "well, she's the baby of the family" excuse but, sorry folks, I really think it's because she's special;)  One of my favorite things in life is to see Isaac, Mr. Moody pants, get all annoyed with her (or someone else) and turn his back on her with the most extreme of grumpy faces and then, by contrast, watch her, completely unaware or unphased, attack him with the biggest, smiling fat kiss right on the lips or cheek (this happens often, folks).  For a millisecond he looks at her with the grumpy face unmoved but, immediately upon laying eyes on her big chubby smile and shining eyes, he so charmingly and entirely starts to giggle!  I feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.  I love this scene...this total, sudden transformation made by a confident, loving smile.  I could watch it a million times!  Its a good life lesson for us, actually.  Something I hadn't contemplated until now...food for thought;)

xoxo

Ash 

Scuola Italiana

In all of our preparations to come here there was only one thing we were really concerned about, and that was Italian school.  Should we send them, should we not, should we hold them back, how will they deal with the stress, will they get a good education, is the stress worth knowing the Italian language (a somewhat useless one) and on and on and on.  But we came and we asked around and we considered and came to the conclusion that, yes, with all the information we have and a long term vision in mind, we do want to send them to Italian school.

There have been a lot of nay sayers.  We've had Americans here telling us that Italian kids are mean, aggressive bullies that hit a lot and the teachers do nothing about it.  We've had them tell us that the teachers here are cold and that they don't care about our kids because they know that they are not going to be here for very long.  We've had Americans tell us that the teachers will refuse to speak any English to us, as parents, or our children in school and that they are very unhelpful.  But we also, thankfully, spoke with other parents who opted to put their children in Italian school and heard their votes of confidence.  One friend eased my mind by telling me how quickly her children picked up the language and dispelling the idea that Italian teachers don't care about bullying and physical abuse.  She did have one experience with a kid teasing her son and the teacher nipped it in the bud within one day.  That kid and her son are now best friends. Another woman who has been here for 8 years, told me all about the kind of education system here, how they teach (she has been quite impressed), their emphasis on science, things out of doors and unique field trips, the art of school lunches and some of the downfalls to Italian education, like their lack of technology/computer experience.  She is a teacher herself and says that when she goes back to work, if at all possible in the American School system she is going to teach students to read the way Italians do.  In the end we chose to really focus on the information from those that actually attended the schools mostly because, I think, it's what we wanted to hear.  In our minds and hearts we had made our decision and felt like even if all of what the naysayers had to say were true, the pros out weighed the cons.  Here are a few of our pros:

Our children will be exposed in a day to day way to a new culture, a different (albeit slight) way of thinking that Joey and I could never give to them otherwise and an experience in Italy that without attending school here, they could never have.  They will learn another language, which, embarrassingly is so rare in the United States (uhh hmm, a big plus for serving mission isn't it?!) which, even though this is huge, it really isn't my #1 reason for sending them.  With our kids in the Italian school system we will meet families in our immediate community, hopefully make long term friends across the globe and make the difference between a good experience here and an exceptional one.  They will make friends that live across the street rather than 45 minutes away (Americans here are really spread out).  They will know what it feels like to be a fish out of water and develop compassion for foreigners in the states.  The bottom line is, really that we're living in Italy.  Why keep ourselves and our children in the comfortable protection of the US bubble when we're here...in freaking Italy!  We have an opportunity and I can't imagine, especially now that we've made it through the first couple of day, why on earth we wouldn't want to take it.

The kids came home today, their second day of Italian school, with bright eyes and big smiles spread across their faces.  The kids in school are asking for their autographs!  Ha!!  On the play ground, Isaac and Georgie play together and italian kid after Italian kid approaches them wanting to know where they are from and what their names are.  They feel like superstars.  The teachers are every bit of warm and fuzzy and speak all kinds of English to us, as much as they can, frequently apologizing that they can't speak more (what they do speak is plenty sufficient).  They joke with kids, hug the kids and make rules that "they must wear a smile";).  Isaacs new friend, our neighbor, I thought just might be a bit of an exclusionist (big title for a 7 year old, no;) and I actually worried about it much of the morning while they were away today, after I'd met the boy for the first time.  He wore a subtle mohawk, is really handsome and seemed to have a little posse of giggling boys that surrounded him. But the second thing Isaac said when he got off the bus, with wide eyes of surprise, was "Alessandra is soooo nice.  He helped me a lot, asked me to sit by him and gave me his notebook to use because I didn't have one."   The experience, thus far, has been encouraging in every way.

I realize that bumps are before us.  That there will be crying fits over homework and mornings of resisting school over cold cereal.  It will be hard for them to face day after day of expectation dashed with confusion and, sometimes, failure.  But this too shall pass.  And when it does I think the kids will have a really, really great gift that will last a lifetime in the way most gifts do not.  I am grateful for this experience.

The Boy

That's some hair, isn't it.  Bed Head.  And Isaac has it every morning.  His pillow is one of the luckiest in the world.  It has so much to play with at night;)  

For the past couple of weeks I have become keenly aware of how grown up this boy is.  He goes for bike rides by himself in the neighborhood, likes to spend time alone in his room from time to time and hangs out with his friends for hours at a time in the front and back yard and could care less to hear from any of us during that time. Our house has kind of become the neighborhood hang out and all the boys and girls on the street are constantly running in and out of it.  Isaac, sometimes politely and sometimes agitatedly, asks them to help clean up before they go or to please play outside because he has things he needs to get done in his room!  But most of the time (95%) he plays with them.  They shoot guns, dress up in Ninja gear, fight with light sabers or swords and play with his somewhat large collection of Hero Factory guys.  ("Isit's guys" as Ju-B calls them).  He looks after his sister and if ever I need something done or some help with her I can ask him.  If it's something that doesn't involve helping with Juliet he often complains but despite his reluctance he always gets the job done.  

If he's not playing outside he has his nose in a book or has commandeered my Ipod touch and is sitting on the couch seat in his bedroom often with Georgie looking over his shoulder.  Sometimes he reads 6 chapter books in a week.  And sometimes he reads two.  We try not to make reading something of pressure.  He genuinely loves it.  

He and Juliet have a special bond.  There's a real selflessness to Isaacs love for his youngest sister.  She's far enough away to not be of any competition to him.  In every interaction it is obvious that he absolutely adores her.  He sees the humor in her baby-ness right along side me and we have a lot of fun laughing at her together.  He reads her stories at bedtime and she just sits there, contentedly nestled into his side.  Every time I have to cut those two off.  I think they would go on reading for hours.  It's cool to watch.    

The other day I began to notice how often Isaac wants to be a part of Joey and I's adult conversation.  We came home from being out and Georgie and Juliet took off to play.  Joey and I began talking about the people who were interested in buying our home and other uninteresting business stuff.  Isaac stayed around and just listened.  I watched  him get excited when we did, talking about selling the house and the benefits that we would see from that.  Last night he lingered at the dinner table longer than usual listening to us talk about the news or something similar to that.  He's curious.

He still snuggles, hugs, kisses and wants our attention, all of which I am very grateful.  In so many ways he is still such a little boy.  And in others he's very much grown up.  I think there's a fight in him to be both and he's still not exactly sure how to manage the controversy.  I see that fight in him. 

He'll be 8 years old in about a month.  And while it seems like ages ago that he was a baby it feels as if I haven't soaked it in enough...like so much of his growing up has slipped between my fingers.  He's our oldest so in so many ways we anticipate his aging, always looking forward to "next".  Because of that, maybe I've missed some of the "now".  For what it's worth and your reading this when you're 45 someday, know that we love you.  That you're a very sweet, thoughtful, complicated, intelligent little man with a very big heart.  You desire to be good, successful, happy, kind and loved.  I hope you know that you are!

xoxo

Ash/Mom 

If he'd only lost his other one

If he'd only lost his other one he could have sang, "All I Want For Christmas"!

Isaac lost his first front tooth on Christmas Eve;)  He made the tooth fairy come out on Christmas!  

(Papa teased him about that)

And he made 5 whole dollars!

Merry Christmas Big Boy!

A Letter From Sparkle, Our Elf On The Shelf

Dear Merback Family

YOU’RE LEAVING ME TODAY!  HOW EXCITING TO BE ON THE ROAD AGAIN TO YOUR PARK CITY CABIN!  I WILL MISS YOU ALL, EXCEPT FOR YOUR DAD WHO I AM GOING TO STAY HERE TO HANG OUT WITH.  I’LL HIDE SOMEWHERE WHERE I CAN WATCH ALL OF HIS MOVIES!!  I LOVE MOVIES!

IT WAS ANOTHER GREAT YEAR, WATCHING YOU FROM AFAR AND A GREAT MONTH WATCHING YOU CLOSE.  BOY YOU HAVE BOTH GROWN UP SO MUCH.  I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW TALL GEORGIE HAS GOTTEN AND HOW MUCH ISAAC HAS LEARNED.  AND JULIET IS SO CUTE;)  SOME OF MY OTHER ELF FRIENDS WISH THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO YOUR HOUSE BECAUSE THEY THINK MY KIDS ARE SO COOL!!  AND THEY’RE RIGHT.  I SPEND MY MONTH WITH SOME PRETTY COOL KIDS.

ISAAC, YOU ARE SO SMART.  I LOVE WATCHING YOUR FACE WHILE YOU READ.  YOU’RE SO INVOLVED WITH WHAT YOU ARE READING.  KEEP IT UP.  BOOKS ARE THE KEY THAT OPENS UP THE ENTIRE WORLD.  KEEP WRITING YOUR OWN STORIES, TOO.  YOU HAVE STORIES TO TELL.  AND YOU LOVE YOUR SISTERS.  I CAN TELL THAT YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT THEM.  I HOPE THAT YOU WILL ALWAYS STAY CLOSE TO THEM BECAUSE THEY CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIENDS.  YOU ARE ALSO A VERY THOUGHTFUL BOY.  WHEN YOUR MOM WAS SICK, AFTER THE REST OF THE HOUSE HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN THAT SHE EVER FELT BADLY, YOU REMEMBERED AND ASKED HER HOW SHE WAS FEELING THE NEXT DAY.  I WAS VERY IMPRESSED.  7 YEAR OLD BOYS DON’T DO THAT!  BUT YOU DO, ISAAC! 

GEORGIE, YOU REALLY ARE 5 ½!  AND SOMETIMES YOU SEEM LIKE YOU ARE 6!  I’VE RARELY SEEN A CHILD SO HAPPY AND SO COMFORTABLE WITH WHO SHE IS.  YOU REALLY LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, YOUR MIND, YOUR FEELINGS AND AREN’T AFRAID TO SHARE WHAT THEY ARE TELLING YOU.  KEEP LISTENING AND BEING PROUD OF ALL THAT YOU ARE.  I LOVE WATCHING YOU FORGIVE OTHERS.  NOTHING CAN KEEP YOU DOWN FOR LONG.  YOU’RE ALWAYS READY TO LOVE EVERYBODY, NO MATTER WHAT AND YOU’RE ALWAYS READY TO LAUGH.  AND YOU WANT SO MUCH TO BE OF HELP TO YOUR FAMILY.  DON’T WORRY IF SOMETIMES YOU BREAK THINGS.  YOU’LL GET BETTER AS YOU GET OLDER.  JUST KEEP BEING HELPFUL…IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL!   

JULIET, YOU ARE CUTE.  THERE AREN’T MANY BABIES CUTER.  I CAN TELL THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE SMART AND MAYBE EVEN WISE.  TIME WILL TELL.  YOUR FAMILY LOVES YOU.  YOU ARE ONE LUCKY LITTLE GIRL. 

IT’S HARD FOR ME TO SAY GOODBYE TO YOU, KNOWING THAT I WON’T SEE YOU FOR ALMOST AN ENTIRE YEAR.  BUT YOU ARE ALWAYS WITH ME.  ALL YEAR LONG AS I PLAY WITH REINDEER AND PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS I THINK OF MY DECEMBER FAMILY, THE MERBACKS.  I HOPE THAT YOU KNOW THAT AND THINK OF ME FROM TIME TO TIME TOO.  I’LL BE HAPPY TO SEE YOU AGAIN IN ITALY.  I’VE NEVER BEEN THERE AND SANTA HAS TOLD ME HOW LUCKY I AM TO HAVE A FAMILY FROM AMERICA THAT GETS TO LIVE IN ITALY FOR A WHILE.  HE SAYS THOSE ARE TWO OF HIS MOST FAVORITE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.  I LOVE YOU ALL.  MAY CHRISTMAS BE WITH YOU ALL THROUGHOUT THE YEAR!!  BUON NATALE

    i

  Sparkle

Joey's Tri Weekend

Our 2/3 Iron-Man

Last year, Joey did his first half Iron Man at an event called the RedMan in Oklahoma City.  He was made aware while there that doing a full distance Aqua Bike is also an option at this event.  Baring a hatred for running as he does Joey knew that he had to sieze this oh so rare opportunity and sign himself up.  So here we are, late September one year later for another Tri weekend in Oklahoma City for Joey to do his Full-IronMan-minus-the-run Triathlon.  That's a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike.  Pretty impressive if you ask me!

The kids and I dropped him off at the start around 6:30 am and then headed back to the hotel for some more Z's.  We got back in time to catch him coming out of the water (above) and then we headed back to the hotel for yet another nap and then to do some shopping (TARGET!!).  

Here they are waiting for Daddy to finish up his bike.

Tiger Jump Castle to entertain all the athlete's children...cool!

and done...6 hours later.  

According to him he felt pretty miserable at the end but we couldn't tell it.  I think he was definitely glad to have it over with since it seemed to cause a lot of stress for him these last few weeks.  But we were all so proud.

The next day we headed over to the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum which was a beautiful and touching experience.  This museum is so well done.  If you ever have the chance to see it, please do.  What a tragic tragic event.

The glass chairs, memorializing all who were killed.  168 people, 19 of them children.

They had a kids area there were children are encouraged to write messages in sidewalk chalk.  I love Isaacs!!  So cute;)  If you can't tell, thats a heart with the state of Oklahoma inside and the heart is broken. 

This is Georgie's version of a tiger.  

This was her drawing that she did before she got wind of Isaacs less abstract pictures.  I wish I knew some handwriting analyst that could tell me something about the adult that she'll become by analyzing these bazaar nonsensical drawings that she does ALL the time.  I've never seen a kid draw like this.  Let's just hope its doesn't reveal her to be a mass murderer or something...but that's off topic.  Sorry.

I love this picture of him...shows off his great trademark smile;)

And this is Isaacs second drawing, also very sweet.  It's a hand and each of the fingers "represent something", he told me.

Be Nice

Follow Your Heart

Be Helpful

Care

and lastly,

Have Love

And that about sums up Isaacs heart! 

 Love that boy!

On the outside of the memorial was this chain link fence where people can hang momentos.  There were some tragic things hanging up there.  I was particularly touched by a series of poems that a father wrote to his 24 year old daughter who had died in the bombing.  Her picture was there in the middle of a Christmas wreath.  That had me in tears.  

Anyway, Congrats lover (Joey)!  Thanks for giving cause for a great weekend in "the City"!

xoxo

Soccer Begins!

Isaac ♥'s Soccer

Soccer season began on Saturday.  Isaac was REALLY excited!  Every season, at every game I tell myself, "I'll bring the camera next time."  And then I never do.  So this may be the only shots we get all year...and that's cool too.  But I had to document Isaac doing his "thing".   This sport is really growing on him.

 Joey is his assistant coach this year which Isaac was pretty excited about.  He did a marvelous job the first game, if I don't say so myself;)  He was so patient and enthusiastic with all the kids.  I think  this coaching thing is going to take;)

 After many failed attempts at getting some "in action" shots, Ju-B quickly became the center of my cameras eye;)  Look at that face:

 How could she not!!

 She loves her big brother (sometimes more than others).

In this particular moment Isaac had just scored 2 goals and stopped by to visit us during a water brake.  He was feeling pretty confident and she was really loving him.  She looked so content, perched there on his shoulder!  Happy Soccer season, Isaac!  
We'll be cheering for you!

xoxo

mom

The First Day of School

Today, August 16, 2011

Georgie started 

KINDERGARTEN:

and

Isaac began

SECOND GRADE:

The overall mood was one of anticipation. 

 Isaac woke up saying he was excited and added later, as we pulled up to school, 

that he was a little bit nervous.  

Georgie never really seemed sad or scared.  She took it all in stride.  She was just fine when I left her in line outside of the school.  See that cute smile?!

Juliet ran back to say goodbye to her.  It was pretty cute!

Our cute little Kindergartner! (Gaga wanted to see her full outfit, i.e., the belt;)

After seeing Georgie off we moved on to get Isaac to class.  

He was so cute walking down the hall, saying hi to all his classmates from last year.  We've really been working on being friendly and I was glad to see his effort!

After about 2 minutes in the classroom he totally forgot about me standing over at the door.  I couldn't even get his attention to say goodbye.
He was ready!

At the end of the day Isaac came home feeling like it had been a good day.  He said he worked hard at making new friends in his new class by joking around with the other kids and splashing two of them with water in the bathroom.  One of the two kids didn't think it was funny and he got tattled on.  "But I was just teasing him to make a new friend.  That's what you told me to do Mom."  He's right, I did.  My bad.  I told him that we should change the word from teasing to 'Joking around with'...that word is a better description of how to make a new friend.

Georgie didn't have too much to say.  I think she was tired.  I pestered her with questions but I could tell she didn't feel like talking.  A few hours later she opened up to me a little bit more.  She played with Samantha on the playground and she told me that at the end of recess she noticed that a little girl from her class, Avery, was playing alone so she went and asked her to play with them.  She told Gaga that the only disappointing thing about the day was that she didn't get any homework!  She also told me that some of the kids' moms work at Sunset and it made her sad that they got to see their moms at school and she did not.  I'm find with that sadness;)  She loves me;)

We are so excited about both of the teachers the kids got this year.  Both of them have been teacher of the year a few times and Georgie's teacher is the same one that Isaac had in Kindergarten, Mrs. Madl, and we loved her.  Mrs. Richeson, Isaacs teacher is a bundle of energy who steps out of the box with her approach to teaching.  We feel really lucky to have them both!  It's going to be a great year!

xoxo

An Epic Summer Day

While our neighbors were out of town this summer they invited us to use their trampoline in exchange for watering their back yard.  Since we've always wished we had a trampoline, this was not at all a problem for us!  In fact, it was an opportunity!  The kids absolutely loved running across the street, hopping over their fence and setting up the hose on top or underneath the tramp for hours of jumping fun in 100+ degree heat.  

As a Mom in the summer time with big kids, a baby and a home to take care of, nurture, entertain, teach, clean, feed, discipline, etc. I often find myself mourning the fact that I don't have more time for FUN with my kids.   I resent having to getting angry with them and I feel guilty about the fact that sometimes, when I do have a minute to spare I'd rather spend it alone than with little people that have been all up in my personal space all day long.  The role I play seems to be too much of, "stop this, do that, no!, clean up, go to time out, no TV for a week" and on and on and on!!  One Saturday morning after a run I suggested that the kids go jump on the trampoline and as always, they asked me to come with them.  Hmmm...well... Juliet was sleeping, Joey was doing the laundry, I was already hot and sweaty and we weren't having anyone over for dinner that night so...why not!  So I went.  I'm so glad I did.  I wish their had been a video camera in the sky somewhere that no one in the world could watch but the kids and I someday in the future.  We laughed so hard that we couldn't catch our breath.  I was being a complete loony person out there, all of us scantily clothed, drenched with water and squinting from the bright sun.    

 We came up with characters on wierd whims like "Wild Nellie" and "Crazy Bill" and we played those parts, shooting each other with water and slipping all over the place.  It's hard to explain and best for our image as sane people that I not explain it in much detail...but it was pretty epic.  The kids kept saying to me over and over again, "This is so fun, Mom!  We're having so much fun together;)"  I kept thinking to myself, "I hope I always remember what this feels like, right now and I hope that they remember me....like this."  I hope that when I'm frustrated or angry over the course of the next year that this fun time we're having together will carry over and soften their little hearts toward understanding and forgiveness.  I hope this epic summer day carries on.  

The dual role that I have to play as a Mom, both disciplinarian, teacher, and example of so many things while simultaneously being a joyous influence in the home and trying to make our house a peaceful place for my family to be has been tricky for me.  I've always hated putting people out, asking for help, or demanding a lot of sacrifice from my friends.  The same has applied to my children as well.  I do it...but I always feel torn up inside about it.  I feel this pressure to always keep my cool, never upset them and make sure that everyone is always happy!  I want so much for them to like me!  I think the view I had in the beginning of my adult life of what I would be like as a mother was unrealistic.  I didn't think I would ever have to be the bad guy.  I believe strongly in giving kids boundaries, a lot of responsibility and allowing (or instigating;) natural consequences to occur as a result of their behavior.  But I didn't take into account how regularly I would feel grumpy, how strong their individual personalities would be or how much kids don't understand about the world and why they have to learn certain lessons.  I remember my Mom saying, "You're can't be your kids best friend."  I'm still working on really accepting that part of my job and its fun experiences like this one, actually, that help me to see that both can be done and both are equally important. 

 It's about finding that balance and accepting that there has to be both sides.   For me, as I accept that, the more gracefully I handle those tricky, grumpy situations because I don't feel the pressure to be or keep everyone "happy".  It's just not realistic.

There has to be both the wise, sometimes stern, teaching Mom that you respect and the friend Mom that you can let your guard down with from time to time.  

It's a tough job but somebody has to do it...I'm glad its me.  Isaac, Georgie and Juliet are like little Zen masters, enlarging me every single day.  And that's what its all about! 

xoxo

Last Day of School 2010 and Georgies' Graduation

Schools Out For Summer!!

The kids came home to a door secured with Duct tape!

(Don't ask me why..?  Isaac did and I had no response...I hadn't really thought about it.  My friend did it, I thought it was cool, so I did it;)  

When they finally entered, summer began...

Two happy kiddos, ready to sleep in, swim at the pool, play all day, visit family, eat mountains of popsicles and bare the burden of no responsibilities!!  

 That very night Georgie had her official graduation from preschool.

and Daddy wrestled with Juliet!

She sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with 

a few of the girls in her class.  

She was a little bit shy but she did a great job;)

Receiving her "diploma" from Ms. Jamie, her teacher that we absolutely love!!

I can't believe she's DONE with Preschool!!

She looks so grown up here!

With her best buddy, Samantha!  

When the Bahrs moved away, Samantha was a God send for Georgie!!  

Oh how we wished and prayed for a new little buddy!  And here she is!

All the graduates!

With some of her best buddies:

Savannah

Hailey

Ms. Jamie and Ms. Cary, 

sweet, sweet hearts!!

xoxo