Three years has past

Good God where has the time gone!!  I have missed the blogging aspect of my life only as you bloggers can relate.  Let's have a quick and painless recap.  In the past three years, my strong, beautiful and spunky children have grown exponentially and  I hope my own memory will serve me well in this transition period.

It has been almost a year since my divorce from my high school sweetheart; 17 years in the making.  He is still one of the most important people in my life but I have to believe we are better off friends. The hardest decision of my life and I find myself thriving in new ways every day.

I decided to update the blog (pending I still have any readers) as I sit in a hotel room in my college town reminiscing about my younger days.  Do you remember a time when things were so simple? I came back here in hopes to be rejuvenated but came to find everything I once knew had changed.  What a metaphor for my life. Everything I had ever dreamed of or hoped for has changed in the past year.  What does it mean when life doesn't work out exactly as planned?

The good news is I truly indulge in the mundane everyday moments I get to have with my children.  There is not one minute wasted on our time together.  I got here tonight because I was looking back on times that I knew I would forget, hence the blog.  These days don;t wait, regardless of daily struggle or life alternating events.  My children are growing up whether I am ready or not.

I am currently in a grad school program to become an English teacher.  The question often arises of our greatest accomplishment, mine is my children.  They are hands down the single most thing I am proud of in my life.  Sure I will accomplish many things, including receiving my masters, but nothing will ever compare to being the mother of these two amazingly kind and beautiful children.  And when they are about to strangle each other and I am at my wits end, I will still try to smile and relish in the fact that no matter what...I get to be their mom each and every day....and that will always be my greatest achievement.

Glitterrific

Inspired by our recent completion of Jane O'Connor's book Nancy Clancy Super Sleuth, John and I set up a mystery for the kids to solve. Camryn's doll, Jovi went missing. With notepads in hand, our little sleuths searched the house for clues. Among other clues, they found a missing shoe, stumbled into a tea party with an empty seat and followed a trail of chocolate chips to find Jovi eating them behind our Christmas tree!! They enjoyed it so much they wanted to set up a mystery for us to solve. So we were banished to the basement while they arranged the clues. Big mistake!! The first clue that caught my eye was a trail of glitter that spanned two rooms!! I tried to stay on task until we solved the case. But rest assured the kids next case is going to be a lot tougher. The case of the missing glitter!!

Random act of kindness

It's amazing how when something bad happens (i.e a hurricane) it brings a community together and brings out the best in people. Tonight I was the recipient of a random act of kindness and I just had to share it. I took the kids to a local restaurant to escape another pasta dinner in our dark, cold and "power less" home. A balloon lady was going to the tables to entertain the kids. I quietly asked the table beside us if the balloons were free and they informed me that tips were appreciated. I turned back to the kids and let them know we would be passing on the balloons because I didn't have any cash and it was rude not to give her something in exchange for her ballooning talents. Well the guy must have heard me because he handed my kids each a dollar and told them to enjoy their balloons. The kids immediately thanked them and I followed, thankful and a little embarrassed. We exchanged hurricane stories and power statuses and returned to our dinners. The act of kindess could have stopped there and I would have been touched. But it didn't! The next time the waitress came to the table I asked that I pay for one of their drinks. They later got up to leave and I thanked them again and wished them well. They were a young couple with two kids just like me. And for some reason tonight, they chose to do something nice for my young family. When I got my bill they had put $20 toward it. Why, I don't know, other than they wanted to do something nice, that made them feel good. I was so taken aback and touched, I struggled not to tear up in front of the waitress. It is so refreshing to stumble upon these kind of people. Gives me faith that there still are selfless, kind-hearted people in the world. And I fully intend to pay it forward!

Flashback Friday

Seven years ago was probably the craziest day of my life! The day my world changed forever. The day I became a mom!

9/8/2005

My due date was 10 days away and I was feeling great. That is until my water broke in a transmission shop in front of 6 men, who were convinced I had just peed myself! Still feeling fine, I went home to call my husband and my doctor. Since I wasn't feeling any contractions, I stayed at home and John stayed at work. So I did what any girl would do, I called for reinforcements!

My girlfriends tried every trick in the book to get things going. We went for a bumpy car ride, took my dog for a long hike and ate chinese food. They packed my bag for the hospital, complete with baby's first outfit and focal point picture for me. When I started to look uncomfortable they called for my husband to come home. Upon his arrival, I headed to the shower to relieve some back pain. And in the shower is almost where I had the baby. When the chinese food came up, I knew I was in transition and John started to panic. He wanted to get to the hospital but I was slowly making my way down the stairs backward, having a contraction on every single one. We luckily made it to the hospital and within an hour our beauitful baby boy was born!

He stole my heart from the minute I laid eyes on him. He has been a ball of energy ever since. A happy-go-lucky kid, wise beyond his years. His infectious laughter is the best medicine. I have no doubt his spunk and sense of adventure will remain!

At 1:44 am Dylan will be seven! For seven years, I've had best role of my life and a pretty amazing kid to thank for it!

Back to reality

The relaxing, blissful days of summer are over. Reality hit hard yesterday with alarm clocks, school lunches and work clothes.
Gone are the days of hanging around in our pajamas all morning just to throw on our bathing suits and some sunscreen. Mindless grazing in the refrigerator and endless reasons to go out for ice cream are no longer. Bedtime is now a set time rather than determined by big yawns and droopy eyes.
Honestly, I think the kids were ready for routine to kick back in. Boredom was settling in which is usually accompanied by fighting. They were looking forward to seeing their friends and all the excitement that comes with a new school year.
After school they now appreciate their play time together and have resumed their summertime Quidditch tournament on the trampoline. Fingers crossed that attitudes remain positive and willingness to go to school stays strong...at least for few weeks.
I'm sure once the routine gets old we will be longing for our carefree summer days but for now the school year is in full swing!

Bigger is always better

Camryn helped herself to some yogurt this morning while I was in the shower!
Apparently the provided container was not to her likely so she transferred it into another yogurt container!

Keeping with her bigger theme she utilized an ice cream scoop rather than a spoon. Which she too, upgraded for the full effect!

Always an adventure

John woke up yesterday wanting to get away.  His suggestion: a day trip to Block Island. I was immediately on board. We checked the ferry schedule online and realized we only had an hour and half until the next one departed.  That is the same amount of time it takes us to get there so we hustled.  I threw bathing suits, towels, snacks and a few sand toys into a bag and we were off. Anticipation was high in the car as we didn't have a minute to even stop at a red light.  It came down to the wire but we were the second to last people to board the ferry and on our way!  With water surrounding me on all sides, I began to relax.

The weather was spectacular!  Brilliant blue skies, just the right amount of fluffy white clouds and a slow breeze coming off the ocean.  We staked out a spot on the beach and remained there for the majority of the day.  Camryn jumped the waves while Dylan body surfed.  We built sand castles and watched kids doing impressive tricks on their skim boards.  A highlight was definitely our frozen drinks that John and I managed to sip while watching the kids in lounge chairs!!!

We stayed until the tide washed away our sandcastles and soaked our towels.  We paid, yes paid, for a cold two minute shower that didn't even remove a fraction of the sand, changed into our dry clothes and headed to town for dinner.  We dined outside on delicious seafood and ended the day with homemade ice cream.  We headed to the ferry with full bellies and droopy eyes, as the days excitement started to take its toll.  We started to get an uneasy feeling when we realized we were the only people in line for the ferry that was supposed depart in ten minutes.  That's when John noticed the posted schedule.  Apparently, I had looked at the weekend schedule rather than the weekday one and we had missed the last ferry!

I was shocked at my careless mistake and panic started to sink in when I realized we had no where to stay.  Finding vacancy in a hotel on Block Island in August was not going to be an easy feat.  John hit the main strip walking into hotels while I called some I found on my phone.  Honestly, what did we do before I-phones? Anyway, we both came up with nothing.  It was getting darker and the kids were getting sleepier and we were running out of options.

We walked a block or so away from downtown and found a little inn.  I guilted the woman at the front desk with my sob story and half asleep son in my arms!  She squeezed us into a room and charged us a fraction of the cost.  Thankful for somewhere to sleep, I didn't hesitate.  It's funny how fast I went from frantic mom who needed to find a bed for her tired children to snobby spoiled witch who prefers 5 star resorts!  The room was the size of a closet, with one double bed and one twin bed and that's it!!  There was no AC, no TV and a shared bathroom down the hall!!!  Well with no shampoo, toothbrushes or dry towels to use, we didn't really have a reason to use the shared bathroom other than the toilet anyway.  We opened the window, turned off the lights and fell asleep.

We woke up and caught the first ferry off the island so John could make it to work on time.  We recounted our days adventures on the trip home and agreed it was fun being stranded together on an island.  And it makes for a good story too!