To Lars with Love

To my now four year old boy; the one and only Lars,                                                     18 Sept 2011

To the one that Papa called a Bulldog from the moment he laid eyes on you at 6 hours old.  To the little boy who never emptied cupboards, drawers, closets or the refrigerator.  The one who never took clothes that I just folded into their drawers and spread them all over the room, or took towels from underneath the sink and unfolded them all into a pile to lie on.  The one Who never took the stack of Dixie cups from the sink and crushed them each one individually and rendered them useless.  To the one Who never found the Tupperware shelf absolutely irresistible, or the bottle of soap a sheer necessity to squeeze all over onto the counter. To the one who didn't dump the bookshelf daily or empty the blanket box just for fun. 

To the one Who is never too curious about anything, really, or too mischievous to get into much trouble.  Who is no longer stuck to my hip, but is away at Head-start now, learning to conquer the world without me.  

To the boy who cries a lot, cuddles a lot & knows every part of a John Deere tractor.  To the boy who loves Cars Cars and can call each character by name & sight from 10 meters away.  

To the little boy who can hear a train, plane or automobile 45 seconds before anybody else can.  

To the boy who has a memory that would rival brilliance.

To the little boy who takes my bible every Sunday in church and flips the pages just to hear the 'swoosh' sound it makes, but will cover his ears to the 'hiss' of an oxygen tank in the distance.    

 

To the boy who has now become so self aware, it makes me wonder if he's not just a little bit smarter off and better grounded than all of us combined. 

To that little blue lifeless body that didn't have much hope about him four years ago, Happy Birth Anniversary.  

You're going to have to work a little bit harder in life than some, but you'll be Ok.  I love you very much.

Mommy

Sarah goes racing

Allen and I had a deal: If he went to my high school reunion in Michigan, I'd go racing with him for a day. He went to Michigan with me in August. Saturday, I went racing.

Don't pay attention to that clenched fist, Brent.  It's all good.

Driver? Check.

Fire suit? Check. 

Helmet? Check.

Hans neck brace? Check.

Five point seatbelt? Check.

Emergency shut off valve?  Nope, no idea where that went.

Slow down button?  Non-Existent.

God be with me? Check. Check.

The Rev, The Driver, The one who talked me into this...

Now, I've always said that I'll do anything once and I've kept my word on that in just about every equation. In this case, once was definitely enough!  Or maybe I just need to try my hand at driving instead?? 

It started out faster than I was comfortable with, but I soon got used to that.  I kept telling myself it was like an amusement ride that would soon be over and I'd feel that rush of, "WOW!  I want to get back in line and do that again!"  

And then I was reminded that, unlike an amusement ride that has been designed, engineered & built by professionals, a ride that goes through vigorous maintenance & safety checks throughout the day with empty cars, is operated by people with lots of training (or so I pretend) and people who get paid to be safe, this was an amateur driver (sorry honey) in a type of car he'd never been in in his life, let alone driving one, and that I was essentially a guinea pig. I closed my eyes at some point, praying for safety. It was at this point I really wanted to get out.  

All my yelling, "honey, can you slow down?!  Can we take a break?! Can you stay away from the wall?! Stop the car! You're tires are slipping, and We need to go home!" fell on deaf ears due to the ROAR of the engine..... and then, as quickly as it began, it was over. 

In the end, I walked away in one piece with a smile on my face.  

As my mother will say, "Cross that one off your Bucket List!" 

In good spirits and with a smile, no less!

Thanks to the Holliday's for a fun afternoon, Grandpa and Grandma Strawn for coming to watch, and my dear Allen, who would never put me in harm's way without a really good reason.  143.  Thanks for bringing me home to my children.

My Kindergartener!

Eden, my first Kindergartener!

Eden has gone off to Kindergarten now. Day three today. A full day. And I'm pretty sure she really doesn't need me anymore.

The first day was a half day last Thursday, and wasn't half bad. Kind of quiet here, but nice. Daddy got her off alright and brought her home all in one piece. She wasn't worse for wear when she got home. In fact, she had a smile on her face. And lots to talk about. She sits at table #1 with Gabe, her buddy from Head start last year. And she had stuff to show me. And papers for me to sign (LOTS!) and send back in her backpack. She told me how she ate her lunch with the other kids, but ran out of time before the Peanut Butter Sandwich. Was it OK that she ate the cookie first? I told her it was, but just this once.

We then spent the weekend doing our normal stuff; Race track on Friday night with our yellow shirted #66 friends, watching The Rev take the plaque for quick time, the trophy for the trophy dash, the checkered flag for the heat, and 2nd in the Main event. I usually fill up on peanuts during the race, but had enjoyed a couple tacos from my now favorite taco joint in Scottsbluff, Taco De Oro, aka TDO, before we arrived, so I spent the majority of the night digesting, only to go home and gorge on a mudslide with homemade vanilla ice cream. Man, there's no better.

Saturday was Bridgeport's Motor-cross race at the fairgrounds, as well as Safe Kids Day in Gering. Al took his race-car to Gering and I took the ambulance to the fairgrounds for the day. It was HOT, nearly 100 all day, with a slight breeze and lots of dust flying around. By the end of the day, I'd passed out 2 ice packs, 3 band-aids, a piece of tape and some Neosporin. The rest of the time, I napped on our new cot, took a walk and enjoyed a chocolate milkshake, all while 'working'. That was the extent of it, really. Hope to do it again next year, if only for the nap!

Sunday afternoon was a Girl Scout Rally to Register at the pool here in town, so Eden & I biked up in another 100 degree day to enjoy an afternoon of swimming and paddling in the pool with almost the entire community population of Bridgeport. I'm pretty sure Allen and the two little ones were the only people NOT at the pool. I'm glad to see that it's a well used place, however. Once she was signed up, she was telling everybody that she was a Daisy now and could eat GS cookies anytime she wanted to. We celebrated this newly acquired (her first, really) extra curricular activity with ice cream cones from the Karette. "Let the activities begin" said her Daddy. "Right-e-o" says I!

Today, the first Monday (all day) of a full week of school, I sit with my phone in my pocket, waiting for the teacher (our across-the-street neighbor, what a blessing!!) to call and tell me Eden is crying & homesick and that she needs me to come pick her up. Of course, school is over in 15 minutes and I'm not thinking the phone is going to ring anytime in those next few minutes. But I hold onto hope, at any rate.

I guess I can still hope that she needs me for something, albeit minimal, tonight.

Happy 6th Birthday Eden!

Happy Birthday Eden!

Yesterday my oldest baby turned six. And yes, I know exactly where the time has gone. Partly to joy and partly to work, but always with thanksgiving to God for her life and the tears and smiles that have come along with her.

We celebrated with a family gathering in Michigan (a pool party at Uncle Chad's house!) and again with our Nebraska family on Sunday evening here at home. It was nice to be back into the swing of things here, and have friends to gather with and play catch up on all the late summer activities.

Our end of vacation events revolved mostly around the cousins being together, which was so fun to watch. I enjoyed friends that stopped by (thanks, Mickey for helping with laundry!), and Allen & Lars went to fell some trees with Dad, Chad & Josh in Marlette for firewood. We took the kids to Grandpa and Grandma Strawn's house in Auburn for a family and friend gathering there one afternoon, stopping in Birch Run to shop along the way. Spent another couple evenings in Uncle Chad's swimming pool.

The weekend included my 15 year high school reunion, where I learned that the old barriers that come with teenagers and hormones had been replaced with laid back conversation, both with old buddies, band-mates & sports-mates, and with those I never thought I had much to talk about with back in the day. Some people, I found out, had not left the teenage lifestyle, and instead were 33 year old seniors who needed to find a job and throw away their beer bottles. Others had grown up, straightened out, stayed out of the pen, and were extremely pleasant to have conversation with. Yet a few others were simply the same sweet and caring people they were when I knew them 15 years ago.

Naturally, the obligatory 15 pounds had found most and I realized that I'm not the only one feeling a mid life crisis coming on...

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend of events, and I'm so glad we made the long trip. Allen, who was unsure about the doing this whole thing from the start, came along and stuck by me, making friends with mine and by the end of the night was dolling out invitations for people to stay in our guest room here in Western Nebraska. Maybe it was the alcohol? Or maybe he really had a good time with my old mates? I know I did.

Now I must keep up my end of the deal and strap on a fire suit and helmet for a ride in his race car. I need another martini, please!!

Eden woke up on Monday morning and said in a whisper, "Mommy, am I six now??"

My now 6-year old will start Kindergarten later this week and we will officially have school aged children to contend with. Scissors & glue sticks & crayons, Oh My! Does this mean lunch boxes or school menus? I'm not sure yet. Since we are only a few blocks from the school house, Daddy will drive her every morning on his way to work. All day Kindergarten here means that Mommy and little siblings will be walking to pick her up in the middle of nap time...which could be a good routine, at best, or a transitioning nightmare, at worst. Time will tell.

But, for the next two days, I'm going to enjoy my 3 little rugrats immensely here at home!