Ivy and her future husband

because I am relentless in my devotion to the cause:

yesterday

it's four o'clock in the afternoon and William has not had a nap today. I can hear him banging up the stairs to the sliding door, which he flings open fiercely, before stopping completely. He's framed in the doorway, letting his eyes adjust, but as soon as he sees me he runs over and stands practically on my toes. And as he runs he starts shouting:

"MOM MOM MOOOOM MOMMA, MICHAEL HIT ME, AND THE TRAMP HURT, HURT MY HEAD, IT GOT HURT AND I, I, I HUNGWY, I REALLY HUNGWY, I WANT SOME CHEESE, AND YOU TURNED OFF THE MOVIE, IT WASN'T OVER YET, MICHAEL SAID THAT, MICHAEL TOOK MY TOY AWAY, AND I GOING TO THROW THIS TOY AT YOU, YOU, I, I, I NEED A TUB, I DON'T WANT A TUB, AND YOU SAID NO PONIES, NO MORE PONIES, AND THAT MAKED ME SAD.

(pause)

DON'T MAKE ME SAD!

(pause)

OKAY?"

He stares at me for a few seconds. Then he turns around, snags my phone, hides it behind his back, and leaves the room.

...

I maybe should have insisted on naps today.



(and by the way, that pony thing? happened a week ago.)

suspicious

(silence)

"hey. What are you guys doing in there?"

"Noffing!" yelled William.

I rolled my eyes. "hey, Michael. What are you guys doing in there?"

"He just told you, mom, we're not doing anything," Michael called back.

I took a deep breath. "Guys, please tell me what you're doing!"

(silence)

I jumped up. "DUDES. WHAT IS GOING ON IN .... oh."

"sorry."

in case you missed it

legs

bedtime stories

they miss Grampy a lot.

blog I never finished back in April

ever since Easter Michael has been really into Jesus, and I phrase it like that not to be disrespectful, but because I'm not really sure how else to say it. He's been talking about Jesus all the time lately, and things are getting a little weird.

him: where are we going, Mama?

me: to the airport to pick up dad.

him: why?

me: because he needs a ride, and also because we love dad and can't wait to see him.

him: oh. (to william.) we're pickinng up dad at the airport. Jesus wants us to.

me: wait. what?

him: Jesus wants us to pick dad up.

me: that's, um...not what I said.

him: when we pick Dad up at the airport, it makes Jesus so happy.

me: ...

and that's pretty much how most these conversations end, with me at a loss. I don't know how to respond to that. I mean, on the one hand, I'm pretty sure Chris getting picked up from the airport was not really the focus of His message and ministry. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure "Jesus doesn't care if we pick dad up from the airport" isn't striking the right tone either.

I've tried elaborating. "Well, Jesus wants us to love one another. So when we love each other, and do kind things for each other, that's good."

And he's all, "right. Jesus is happy when we pick up dad at the airport. He told us to."

and this is where I usually just give up and let it go. I mean, there are worse things to believe. Right?

one day chums

yesterday I went to lunch with my friend Caro, who is in town briefly:


we have been friends for 12 years.

12 YEARS.

that might be my longest relationship ever.

(excepting family, of course.)

Caro is an art-historian nursing student, who sometimes moonlights writing video game copy. She once wrote me an email where she was like, "There's a romance writers convention in town, so I decided to go. (You wouldn't believe how many saucy grandma's there are out there.)" And by the end of her email, I had basically concluded that my life would never be complete if I didn't attend at least one romance writers convention.

such is her power. and now I bet you wish you knew her, too.

belated

I've been putting off writing about Michael's fourth birthday because I don't know what to say.

should I be funny? should I be serious? should I go ahead and make everyone gag with the force of my maternal love?

what should I say?

I still don't know.

but Michael, I love you.

and someday you won't love me nearly as much as you do now. (probably someday soon.)

You will find me irritating and embarrassing.

deeply disappointing.

and that's okay. (although it might break my heart a little bit. for awhile.)



but I will always love you, just the same, just as much as I did four years ago when they put you on my chest, this crying, bloody, tiny little bundle.

happy (very late) birthday.

a few more

behold my entire family:



you would not believe how difficult it was to take that picture.

the girl cousins (and please take special note of the little blond girl on the left. she posed in every single picture. in the one above also. I love it so much, I've decided to start posing like that for pictures, too):



the boy cousins:
































my mom and Ivy:
































Mags and Michael:

































our family:

(photos by Rob Higginson Photography)

sisters

(photos by Rob Higginson Photography)

play ball!

zip

last night as a family farewell to summer (and also to Maggie and Nate who are going back to Michigan, losers) we went up the canyon for some fun.




























because the family that zips together, stays together. that's my mom, by the way.

Chris is such a show-off.

why am I doing the robot in this picture? I don't know.

My dad and Ivy stayed firmly in the audience.

maggie went, of course. I just don't think she'd appreciate any of the pictures I took.

When I asked Michael if he wanted to do it, Chris was all, "Are you crazy?" But I ignored him.

I do that, somtimes.

it was exhilarating.

Here's a picture of abby (posted just to exhibit my one perfect pan of the night):

after everyone went, we found a campsite and made s'mores.

And now I want to go do this every weekend. who's in?

(pictures of me taken by Chris.)