About twice a year (if I'm being generous) I'll remember, "Oh yeah, I wrote a blog once!" And I "once" I mean "kept a blog diligently for a couple years, then tapered off, and now who the crap even writes a blog?" Guys, remember when EVERYONE had a blog? It was like owning pants, of COURSE you had a blog.
So I don't have much to add, except to appreciate the reason I kept the blog in the first place (*hint: NOT because I like blogging) - I LOVE looking back at these old things! At the time, they weren't old. They were in my face, on my mind, in my heart, and finally spit out through fairly decent typing in my desktop computer (HA! remember THOSE?!)(If you're reading this on a desktop computer, I didn't mean to be so cruel). Seeing the old photos, old stories, old funny little things my kids had done because where else was I going to write that down... well, it's all here! I did a decent job! I smiled a lot, and even laughed out loud a time or two, which is better than I can say for a month's worth of comic strips.
Maybe I'll do it again! Maybe. Just the act of writing is creating, and I DID push my kids last year to really focus on creating things. I have somehow slumped into consuming things WAY more than I create, and that's bad for my soul. So maybe writing would be good for my soul. And if nothing else, I can go back and enjoy it, right?
So.... Patrick. Oldest, an easy place to start. He turned 15 in January and we pushed and pushed him to finish up his online Driver's Ed course, and then I fell flat on my face by not getting the REST of the items needed to get him his permit. A stamped fist class envelope? Sorry, friend, I know it said I could have anything within the last year, but all I have is junk mail. So I took an extra 3 days to send him a blank card. And then we waltzed in like we owned the place, which they sadly informed me we did NOT, ready to get his permit without an appointment. Fail! Were it not for our *impeccable* timing of getting there RIGHT-AT-EIGHT-A.M. we would have been shooed away, but someone else hit their snooze button and missed THEIR scheduled appointment, so we took it. Patrick looks like an actual juvenile delinquent in his photo, it's hilarious and disturbing. He has since logged an un-impressive 2.5 hours of drive time, which has probably been the source of 2.5 hours of discussion between Joe and I of our lives flashing before our eye, and times when our parents thought they were going to die while we were driving, and time we SHOULD have died, and how we hope we don't die in the near future because we REALLY need Patrick as that 3rd driver. We just have TOO MANY KIDS ACTIVITIES and not enough drivers. He is getting taller by the minute, 5'10" or 5'11" now, and recently restyled his hair which I am SUPER happy about. For the last 4 years it's been the World's Thickest Comb-over, and he was constantly sweeping his hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. I missed the days when it was brushed forward and stuck up once it got to his forehead, and he has re-adopted that style and I think it's super cute. He is significantly less nerdy than I thought he would be when he was very young (he was quite the nerd, with all that dinosaur knowledge!). But he still doesn't have a girlfriend, or even a single date, that he will admit to. So we need to work on how to suss that romantic life out.
Eli, eli eli. The kid I most regularly butt heads with. Good kid, no doubt, but a bit of a contrarian - he will not want to do something specifically because I ask him to do it. Or vice versa. And perhaps sometimes he drives me nuts because he is a LOT like me - will get excited about something and want to get all geared up, buy all the stuff, but then never actually do it. He joined a new competitive team, the Drillers, and they've had a couple in-town games and one tournament, and plays first base. He makes lots of excellent plays, but still has lots to learn so I am looking forward to the many coaches in his life that he will elearn from because *mom* is NOT cutting it. He ONLY wants to do baseball, but his elbow hurts, so we got him into physical therapy to help his elbow, but he won't do the physical therapy at home, so his elbow still hurts and his excuse is, "I don't want to do physical therapy, I just want to do baseball!" Yeah, DUH!!! That's why you're in therapy!! Things like that. He's 13, and sarcastic, and a bit of a loner, but also has 3 pretty major crushes he's nursing, but also doesn't want to talk about it. It's all very typical and wonderful and awful. He's very much still my "Can you go out?" boy towards me.
Caroline. Sweet Caroline has adopted a new nickname, GLARE-o-line, because she is the queen of evil looks. You woke her up? You let her sleep in? You took her seat? You pet her cat? Glare, glare, glare. Sometimes she mixes it up with a side-eye. She likes Patrick, struggles with Eli, and baaaaaarely puts up with Ethan. They nearly come to blows every sunday over who gets to change out church clothes FIRST, and of course the fight takes way longer than even both of them changing and then the other one taking a turn. And Bonus! Everyone is mad by the end! She's 12 going on 16. She's turned down a couple boys who have invited her to the school dance or given her Valentine's chocolate, and would rather spend her time with her best friend Ellie. She love love loves her equestrian vaulting class 2x/week, and love love loves playing cello, which she started in August and is KILLING it on! She just had her first concert, finishing Book 1 Suzuki, and she and her teacher - Nicholas Berry - did a fantastic job.
Ethan. Still my Beef Man. Still asks SO many questions, many of them deep and probing, plenty of them quite funny. We heard on the radio the stats for the most recent poll, and they said that 12,000 votes has been cast. He said "wow, that's a lot of boats!" Since we were driving, I thought maybe he saw some boats in the neighborhood, but no - just mis-heard "votes" haha! He'd be right, though - that's a lot of boats. Mostly his questions are mechanical or scientific in nature, so we ask a lot from Google and from Joe. Another recent question was "what's the liquid inside a level?" Had no idea. "It seems thinner than water. Is there anything thinner than water?" Again, no idea. "Could there be a jet airplane with is also a bi-plane?" I don't even know where you'd go to ask that! "What's the football shaped thing on the bottom of this airplane?" Had to ask my pilot friend about that, it's a radar. So the good news is, he's curious, and that can lead to wonderful discoveries and inventions and knowledge! The bad news is, it means he never stops talking, and his siblings all really hate that. He's playing majors baseball this spring, now that Eli has moved out, so he doesn't have a sibling in direct competition - perfection! (me kissing my fingers like an italian expressing their love of lasagna). He also takes guitar lesson, which he isn't crazy about like Caroline is crazy about the cello, but which I think will likely be more of a lifetime skill.
Joe. He's not a kid, but he lives here and plays video games with them, so he's definitely worth talking about. Distinctive Design Build has been SUCH a blessing to us, we see him at much more regular hours and that's been good for our friendship. I can be romantic if I only see him on a dinner date, but I can't be his friend if I only see him on a dinner date. And you definitely want a good mix of friendship AND romance if you want a happy marriage! Their projects are bigger and more varied than I think even HE ever thought they would be. He's 39 (me too, don't tell anyone) and starting to hurt, so he also joined the physical therapy club for his knee, and the 12 pills a day club for his gout, and the slep-wrong-now-he's-dead club that everyone over 30 experiences when they use a pillow that's not their preferred pillow from home. All way fun clubs! But the good news is he's taking care of himself, taking time off work if he needs to see the doctor, and paying attention to safety - THAT part of aging I can really get behind!
And me. Li'l old me. I'm doing well. Mostly. I've been overextending myself doing favors that I should have said no to or delegated; they're not big, but they are legion, and I'm drowning (thus, I needed to write a blog post to procrastinate!). So I should fortify myself with a procrasti-baked muffin (there are MANY ways to put off what I said I would do but now don't want to do) and get going on that so I can enjoy my life and reclaim "No" as my motto. It'll be great, friends!
