Independence Weekend Fun

There are 5 boys in Andrew's family. The youngest, Peter, has Downs Syndrome. While there are many things Peter enjoys, he absolutely LOVES when all of his brothers are together. This happens at least twice a year, and when it does, Peter walks around with the most gleeful smile you could possibly imagine. To put it mildly, Peter is in "brother heaven".

One of these get-togethers typically falls on the 4th of July. I'm not sure when this tradition started, but it has evolved into something I really look forward to each year. There is a neighborhood block party, parade, pool party, slip-in-slide (for the kids) and LOTS of great food. Best of all, my children are in "cousin heaven". With 15 of them, how could they not be?

The block party and parade take place in Andrew's brother (Grant) and parent's neighborhood (they live in the same neighborhood, just a few blocks apart). And now, in about 2 weeks it should be our neighborhood as well. That's right, we finally have found a house. If we get to settlement without any glitches, we'll be moving to the street behind my in-laws...more to come on that later.

A few of the cousins (below) with their "slip and slide" game faces. Obviously they take this very seriously.

Cape May, Father's Day and our Anniversary

I'm very fortunate to have low maintenance men in my life. There's never any pressure to find the "perfect gift" for birthdays or holidays because no one expects anything more than a phone call (ok, maybe Andrew expects a little more, like a card or something, but you get the point). It really makes my job as a daughter and wife quite nice. Both Andrew and I have wonderful fathers who are extremely easy to love.

This Father's Day we ended up in Cape May. Andrew's work took him to NYC for the week, so I decided to hightail it home for some beach time...or so I thought. It actually rained the majority of the time we were there. The weather, however, was compensated by the fact that my sister Ashley was in from Utah. I was also able to spend some girl time with my best friends from high school, Kim and Jill. Andrew joined us for Father's Day weekend (which involved taking a train to Philly and then a bus to Cape May), and the rain finally let up on Friday- giving us at least one good beach day.

The Monday following Father's Day was also our 8th wedding anniversary. Yes, that's right, its been 8 years (I had to do the math several time to make sure I was correct). Its unbelievable that so much time has already passed. I'm not one to be overly mushy, especially on a public forum, so I will leave it at this- I feel extremely blessed to have such a great catch.

Luke with crazy Aunt Ashley

Luke with his make shift sling (he hurt his arm)...we are a classy bunch I tell you.

6 Months: The Magical Age

Afton is now 6 months old and hands down, THIS is my favorite age. Why you ask? Babies at this age are just plain sweet. They smile, discover new things each day (like their toes), sleep during the night and most importantly....they are immobile. There is nothing not to like about this age- especially when you are comparing a six month old to a 3 and 5 year old.

At this point in the parenting game, I feel that Andrew and I have been exposed to the majority of what a toddler and preschooler can offer. We’ve been mortified by public meltdowns, Poison Control is programmed into our phone, we've made ER visits, cleaned up insane messes and made enough apologies to last a lifetime. The bright side is that these incidences seem to be dissipating the older my kids get. I’ve been excited at the thought of having children who only become more reasonable and mature with age. What I was not expecting, and what has caught me totally off guard, is the back talking. Suddenly we have a 5 year old who loves to use the word “hate” and says things like “I don’t like your rules. I want to live in MY OWN house”. He now also feels the need to articulate his little observations.

No, I still maintain that 6 months is my favorite age. What a shame it is so short lived.

Attack of the Butterflies

Every year from May until September I see a large sign advertising the annual butterfly show at our local conservatory. Every year I say I'm going to go, and every year I decide that $6 for adults and $4 for children is just WAY too much money to spend looking at butterflies.

Well, every year except for this year.

This was the year that I finally broke down and decided that it was high time we saw those darned butterflies. Can I just say that it was the best $14 I've spent in a while? I wouldn't even be able to guess how many butterflies they had packed into that greenhouse. (hundreds? thousands?) We literally had to duck when we first walked in to avoid all of the swarming butterflies. Pictures could never do this place justice. Maybe a video would adequately capture the butterfly insanity. Hands down, our favorite was a large black and blue beauty which refused to stay put for more than 2 seconds. Others weren't so flighty, which allowed for closer observation, and we even had a few land on us.

Who knows, attending the annual butterfly show may have to become a family tradition.

Graduation Day

Recap of the last 9 years:

July 2000- Andrew and I meet and start attending BYU that fall
June 2001- we get married
May 2004- we graduate from BYU
Sept. 2004- Andrew begins his masters’ program at American University
May 2006- Andrew graduates from AU
Sept. 2006- Andrew begins his second masters' degree at Johns Hopkins
May 2009- Andrew graduates from JHU

Of course some other major events occurred, but the point is, Andrew has been in school for (count em) 9 straight years.

Last Friday was Andrew’s graduation from Johns Hopkins University. I don’t think I realized how proud I have been until I watched him walk across the stage to receive this last diploma. When we graduated from BYU I was too busy being proud of myself to even give Andrew much thought. He chose not attend his AU graduation, so there really wasn’t much closure or reflection there. But this graduation seemed different- mostly because it will be his last and there seemed to be some finality to it all, like a huge chapter in our lives has been closed.

Based off of my observations, I would say that this is the degree Andrew has enjoyed the most. The late nights have been hard, but the course work interesting (at least to him) and relevant to his work. There were many occasions where he would come home and excitedly try to explain things like “credit derivatives” to me (if there ever was a lost cause, this would have been it).

Although I was simply a bystander during this whole schooling process, it feels good to have Andrew done. Both of our parents were able to attend the graduation, along with his brother Peter and our children. The biggest sacrifice of the day came from Sammy who had to miss his own preschool graduation on account of his father's graduation (I'm joking about the sacrifice part). It really was a lovely graduation, and again, Congratulations Andrew!

Alms for the Poor?

Late last night it finally hit me- we are homeless! Before people start sending us money, let me clarify, we are now living with Andrew' parents so technically we have a home- just not a home of our own.

Let's back track...

When we accepted an offer on our condo in March we scheduled our settlement date for mid-May. Six weeks would be plenty of time for us to buy a home, right? WRONG! Finding the home we may potentially spend the rest of our lives in is taking a little bit longer than we anticipated. And to think we thought this would be easy!

Luckily, Andrew's parents only live 5 minutes away and have plenty of space to comfortably accommodate our family. They made it clear from the beginning that if we did not find a home by the time our condo sold we could move in with them. This knowledge saved us from multiple stomach ulcers and premature aging. We are extremely grateful to have such generous parents who have welcomed us with open arms.

During this past week I have experienced a broad range of emotions. As I was packing up our condo I was feeling extremely nostalgic. Sam was just a year and a half when we moved in and since then we have welcomed two more babies. Its where we have raised our children for the past four years, so of course there are countess memories associated with it. It has been such a simple and happy time of our lives.

I've also felt extremely panicked. Are we ready for the responsibilities and baggage that come with a house? Then of course there is the looming question... where on earth (well at least in Montgomery County) are we going to live?!?!?

But mostly, I've been feeling excitement. As much as we have loved our condo it is time to move on. I was excited yesterday thinking that it would be the last time that I would have to lug my children up 3 flights of stairs. Basically, I think I'm excited to start the next phase of our lives.

So, farewell condo, and thanks for the memories!

Brotherly Love

Lately we've been noticing Luke (who is 3) acting extremely overprotective of Sam (who is 5). For example, a few nights back Sam kept throwing his quilt around during bedtime, so I came in and took it away from him. As I walked out of the room Luke started crying, "But you can't take it! Sam NEEDS it to go to sleep!" His little plea made me almost want to give it back to Sam.

Another example- early this morning Sam did something (I'm not sure what) that made Luke run out of his room in tears. I gave Sam a time out and then I went to comfort Luke. He was pretty worked up, but as soon as I told him he could watch a cartoon (so I could shower, of course) he immediately stopped crying and said "Oh! I need to tell Sam!" My response, "No, he needs to have a timeout." Luke ignored me anyway and ran away yelling "Sammy! It's cartoon time!" I just stood there shaking my head saying, "I don't understand!" Wasn't Sam the cause of Luke's anguish not one minute earlier?

While I still maintain that kids can be extremely selfish (Who cares if you are putting the baby to bed... "I want a snack NOW!"), I am amazed at their ability to forgive and forget. Grudges simply don't exists in the world of those under the age of ___ (you fill in the blank- I don't know the answer to this statement yet). Although difficult at times, it has been a pleasure watching my boys grow up together. They continually conspire together ("You can do it! Mom's not coming!"), play strange games ("First you knock me down, then attack me and then you steal the ball. That's how the game goes."), and are best buds. Hopefully no matter what life throws at these two they are always able to work it out and remain close friends.