On Being Eight...

I can barely believe that the years have come and gone and she is EIGHT.  When Michael was eight years old--I was seriously contemplating IVF to help us conceive a second child...and now, she is here, she is:

And she is Eight!  Eight years old.  I cannot believe how fast the time has gone...and you would think I was a pro at knowing how quickly the time goes...and yet...I am still surprised when I look at her.

She is all the above and more.  

She is Quick: she asks questions that sometimes make you wonder if she is paying attention, and then she spouts wisdom that you cannot believe came out of the mouth of a little girl.

She is Curious: she loves new experiences, even when she is anxious at first, she plunges in--and is delighted to learn more.

 

She is Playful: she has a great imagination, she has the sillies often and that giggle is infectious.

 

She is Strong.  More than she knows.

 

She is these things and so much more.  It is going to be a wonderful year--Eight!

 

 

Not My Story to Tell...

I barely knew him.  I knew him from stories, I knew him from the brief encounters I had with him.

I did not really know him at all.  I wish I had gotten to know him.  I have ideas of what type of Father-In-Law he would have been...there was so little time that he was my Father-In-Law...I have even vague ideas on what type of Grandfather he would have made...but...there are no stories to tell.

Because, he left too soon.  And part of my husband's heart went with him.  It is not my story to tell.  (I wish it was)

It would have been his 72nd Birthday today.  He died when he was 51.

My son is linked to him by name and so much more.

We miss what we have not had.  My husband lost more than we know.

The Pick Up

You miss one time with your Pick Up of the girl after-school (after you have just changed the routine of 15+ years of being the morning drop off person)...and your wife kinda wants assurances you have picked her up...

On his own, Chewy has been sending these little pictures to me once he picks her up...brightens up my day while making me not the crazy person!

Doing homework...

Yesterday...

With a friend at After School Care...

#Microblog: MFA Selfies

To See other #Microblogs, please click HERE.

We went with our friends to the MFA yesterday.  It was relaxing and fun to hang out with another family...even though we HAD to go to the cafeteria soon after we came to deal with the Hangries...and we did not see a huge amount of exhibits...but that is why we are members...so we can just Hang out with the art...and relax!

There was an interesting Picasso exhibit....

Pictures taken by Willow

And an interesting exhibit on Technology and Fashion...

Photos taken by me.  

At the end, Willow wanted to hang out near the "Glass Tree", and she took over the camera..for some selfies...

Dusting Off the 'Ole Blog...

Not sure if anyone reads my Blog anymore, but if there are any readers still, you may have noticed that I am writing more here...or at least I am trying to.  I miss my Blog.  I miss Scrapbooking, extensive book reading and exercise too...but I am working on all fronts...  

Life can be tiring and stressful and just plain, oh...life.  So, haven't been on here as often as I should be.  Going to try to do better, not for any readers that may still be out there...but for myself, so that I have a record.

Right now we are trying a change in routine, slightly.  We are doing something we have wanted to do for a while, but through various work circumstances, could not.  I am doing the morning drop-off and Chewy is doing the evening pick-up.  I know, sounds CRA-ZY!  But, it actually is a change in routine that hasn't changed in over 10 years...I have always had a job where I had to be there too early for drop-off and Chewy has always had to work late.  We are going to see how this helps Willow in the mornings.  So far, in just the two days we have been doing this, I am liking the change..I think we all are.

It is also going to be time to do some major cleaning up in our house this spring...just so much chaos and clutter...time for a weekend...sometime soon...when will do a de-cluttering!  Seems to be what I am doing with the rest of my life...trying to de-clutter, re-clarify and re-start.  I better hurry up and do these things before 2016 is almost over!

Whooosh...and March is almost outta Here...

So, now its the first day of Spring...Winter was pretty uneventful, especially since the last winter was so awful!  Mostly warm-ish weather, a few snow storms...including TODAY.  

Now, the sun is shining, the little bit of snow that came last night/this morning is melting away.  It seems like just a few days ago I was dealing with Christmas Trees, Menorahs, Fudge, Potato Latkes...and now Michael's birthday is long gone, Total Con is a memory and I have sent out the invites for this girl's birthday party:

One of my favorite pictures of her...from March 21, 2015. 

She is going to have her Birthday Party on her Birthday this year...at Dave & Busters!

Some random photos leading up to Spring:

Willow brought this in this weekend..its SPRING...and while the clod of grass should have probably stayed in the ground...it did spell good!

Dressing as what you want to be when you grow up for school...a Doctor!

Time for some Frozen Yogurt!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Already March? And the Post-Game on Total Con

Wow, March is already here and I am kinda surprised at how quickly this year is going.

Hardly any snow here, the temperatures have been mild and cold at turns.  Lately, the news has bothered me with this election season...and I cannot believe how close we are in going down a dangerous path in this country...Here is an article I posted on Faceboo.k, and my comment:

"I haven't had someone put into words exactly my feelings on Obama and the country...this article hits it for me. I like Obama, I actually think he was a good choice, perhaps at the wrong time...perhaps our country needed to keep moving towards this darkness that I was so hoping we could avoid. Perhaps we were all patting ourselves on the back saying we voted a Progressive African American, we are evolving and becoming better...and we did not realize it was but a lull. I am a progressive liberal at heart, but I am more of an American than that. I am logical, I compromise, I am willing to listen to others points of view and come to a solution. I actually think that is something that makes our country wonderful. The way we can work through having Church and State and Freedom of Speech and all the other things we take for granted. The way we can work. Unfortunately, our country hasn't "worked" for a while. And it depresses me that we cannot seem to get past the name-calling, bigotry, the hate. It Depresses me that this is way we are headed."

Meanwhile...our lives are going on pretty smoothly.

Total Con 30 was one of our best...Chewy and I played a LARP game with Andre being the GM...weirdly enough, both Chewy and I played the same character in different sessions.  In my session...our group let the world get taken over...and we lost...my character was chopped up in a freezer.  Chewy's group fared better...well, if the "win" scenario is that you blow up your group so the bad guys don't take over the world.  Definitely one of the best games played in a while.  Michael enjoyed a very fun session of a miniatures game where he played an explorer to the Lost World and dinosaurs and King Kong (!) were discovered, to his delight!  He played that game for over six hours--and for a kid who has attention issues...that is big!  He also celebrated his birthday during the Con.  Willow had fun playing clay wars and she and I had some fun playing in the pool.  Looks like she will be getting some swim lessons this spring...  So, TotalCon was fun, we had great take out Chinese, found the restaurant at the hotel lacking (as usual) and were surprised at how quickly the whole wonderful weekend was over!

Now, we have gotten our taxes done, I have now put a deposit down for Willow's Birthday party at Dave & Busters...and things are humming along.

It is Time...Game On!

Already February is close to ending...which means a tradition that I had no idea I would be a part of for so long...going Gaming all weekend!

Some of our best times, great times and worst times have been at this convention.

Michael and Willow have grown up around the convention...we have had lasting friendships forged and acquaintances who come year after year like us...we nod at each other as we go to our games...

Started packing our bags this morning, hoping for a good Con this year!

Birthday Hang-Out

Michael's Seventeen next Sunday.  Gone are those times when I plan and plan a birthday party for him.  I asked him what he wanted to do...he said "have a couple friends over for pizza and just hang out"

So, today, that is what they did.  We invited two friends over...and we had pizza and snacks...and Chewy, Willow and I stayed out of their hair.

Oh, I did indulge in getting an awesome cake....

Which was a huge hit...

It felt weird to be out of the way, not hosting something, not preparing games or setting things up or putting party decorations everywhere.  For almost 16 of his 17 years, I have hustled and barely had a breath, while producing a CELEBRATION.  Meanwhile, time moves on...and there is this mature 17 year old and his pals, joking and doing whatever teenagers do...when they expressly ask the last other adult hanger on (Chewy was kinda hovering at my request)...to leave, please.

I spent the time with Willow, watching a double feature of James and the Giant Peach (one of Michael's favorites...sigh) and Wizard of Oz (on VCR no less!!)

There are so many things I can write about how Michael has changed and grown, how he often shows a maturity and grace and sense of humor that out shines his frustration and behavior issues.  How he is working towards goals and progressing, how he is leaning towards science or film history...how he is a contradiction and a validation of our personalities.  As usual, he is often a mystery to me...and sometimes he is such a reflection of me. What a wonder to watch your first born grow up.  It seems so long ago that he was a toddler...I cannot really remember him as one any more.  I look back at my blog posts and remember.  

Happy Birthday, son.

Chugging Along with that "Normalcy Thing"...

Not too much time to write, but things are stuttering along to normalcy for a bit.  We finally got our first snow storm of the winter..and it wasn't too bad.  Considering last year we had over 3 feet of snow by now...this is a cake walk.  We have a new plow guy--my only fear is he seems to not necessarily worry about the lawn (which I don't normally either...but he did dig up a bit of neighbor's lawn last time he came...)
 
Chewy got a new job and is doing very well...as he usually does.  (Usually, outside/internal forces cause issues with his jobs lately, but his work ethic and quality of work is never in question).  The weird part this time is he is a contractor...although he gets benefits, there is a slight feel of difference.

Michael is doing well at school, with just a few outbursts/issues a week...he is learning to control his frustrations.  He is turning SEVEN.TEEN.OMG soon...this Saturday we are having a low key party--a couple of his friends (FRIENDS!) over for pizza, snacks, cake and movies.  I went to BJs last night and ordered a cake with the Phantom of the Opera on it.  A lot different than last years party...but that is fine...and strange...

Willow came down with the first Sick of the year--managing to catch a stomach bug that did not cause any real symptoms--until you had it.  No temp or any warning signs--just sudden, sharp pains in the stomach.  She shared it with Michael--and I spend a good portion of the last couple weeks picking up sick kids from school and dealing with their doctor.

I am doing fine...working on getting the Girl Scout cookie orders out...hoping to eventually get to reading more than just snatches of two books I am working on.  Chewy and I did a Binge Watch of all of Downton Abbey (after having watched the sixth season, we couldn't let go...we started from season one...and just finished the series (again)) last night.  (Its the little things that make you happy--snuggling on the couch with your Hubby, watching English Historic Soap...)

Yeah, so...working on normal every day stuff...and looking forward to the things that February brings...Michael's Birthday, our anniversary of our first date, Total Confusion...

Ah...February.

The New Year So Far (Pictures)...