My Day Planner Says . . .

I can't believe I'm already saying this.

SLOW DOWN!

Why is it that summer has to go so fast? I'm in shock that the month of June is almost over. Our July month is usually so busy and come August and the start of football practice every day, that will fly by too.

So, what have I been up to?

Let me try and recap.{I even have to look at my day planner to actually see what I have done.} Oh, yeah, now I remember.

I feel like I have to pay homage first to Olivia's last gymnastic meet as a pre-team girl. It was on the same day as our New York trip. She really did a fabulous job and attacked her meet with such poise and grace, just like my princess is.

My day planner tells me that the next few weeks were spent running to the gym 3 times a week, baseball practices, baseball games several times a week, teeball practices, teeball games, working at Gymboree and finally to a fast 24 hour trip to Seattle. The Seattle trip was definitely the highlight of my June. It was great to spend 5 hours on an airplane just sitting. We had a wonderful time in Seattle and even better was that I got to see my lifelong friend/sister and spend some time with her and her little peanut.

The kids had to get up at 4:30 a.m. and I insisted that they take a nap on the plane. Of course, if you thought that we could take a 24 hour trip without any drama, you're sadly mistaken. Before we left the house at 5 a.m., Olivia started coughing and looked really beat. I didn't think anything of it considering it was so early, I just figured she was exhausted. That little cough turned into a full blown cold and let me tell you, it couldn't have come at a worse time. We had to buy her medicine at the airport and because it made her so sleepy, as soon as the meal was served on the plane, my little princess fell alseep. Believe it or not, Little Foo slept too, for almost 2 hours. That made the plane ride go much smoother for me! And Jake, well, let's just say, he refused a nap and boy did he pay for it later. As soon as our plane hit the ground in Seattle, we were off and running and didn't stop until 8 p.m. PST (do the math, that's 11 pm EST). Poor Olivia was exhausted and coughed out, Jake really regretted not taking a nap on the plane and believe it or not, Gabi was the best behaved that day because of her really long nap. This all leads up to why I am telling this little story because of the picture underneath. This is Jake, so exhausted from being dragged around Seattle, that he pulled some pillows that were for sale off of the rack at Nordstrom Rack and laid down!

The kids at Pike Place Market, riding a golden pig and wearing their new aprons

As soon as I got back, at 3 a.m. on a Wednesday, Jake had an appointment with his homeschool evaluator late that afternoon. Before we even left for Seattle, I had to have that major project finished. My day planner tells me that that took up a lot of my time in the weeks before our trip. That next weekend we went to spend Father's Day with my dad and then went to see a concert at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA. We had a lovely time and it was neat to see the kids soaking in the culture. From there we went to see my mom to spend some time with her for her birthday. Unfortunately, our visit was cut short because we had to get back home for Jake's championship baseball practice. Lucky for me, I didn't need to be home for the practice just for the all important game the next day for my son. So, I got to stay for an extra day and go galavanting with my mom. That was very enjoyable and we took every imagineable opportunity available to us and shopped, shopped, shopped as well as had a little duck at Duck Chang's to keep us nourished.

According to my day planner, ever since Jake lost his championship game last Wednesday, my schedule simply holds being at the gym 4 times a week now. Olivia has graduated to a competition level and according to her team handbook, missing practices is a big no-no. She has one girl in her class that will be taking the month of July off and has hired their coach to privately tutor her so she doesn't fall behind. Having her at practice 4 times a week is a big committment for us considering how much we like to travel. But, we'll do our best.

So, my day planner, what does the future hold?? Besides being at the gym 4 times a week, I think I'm going to schedule into my summer the opportunity to just sit, sit on the front porch and watch life go by, sit on the deck and watch the sun set, sit on the swingset with my kids and watch them be kids, try to stop sitting so much at my computer. Get out and enjoy this time because, according to my day planner, it is going to be over so soon.

Grow Up

The price of maturity.

My husband and I have talked about that issue so many times in our almost 13 years of marriage. Sometimes it's good to be an adult. And sometimes it just plain stinks. Sometimes we relish in the ability to be grown up and other times, we are forced to make decisions that hurt the ones we love. Sometimes setting boundaries and lowering expectations in a relationship can on one end of the spectrum push away the ones we love and on the other end enhance the quality of that relationship.

We often look back at our relationship and decisions that were made in our early years of marriage and we cringe. We cringe at how immature and stupid we were. And I'm sure that a decade from now we'll cringe at our decisions and how we handle relationships now. But for the mean time, we are learning from our mistakes and trying to steer our life and relationships to a place that is harmonious.

My sister and her husband, my family and I recently returned from a trip to visit family members in NY. It was for a very important 100th birthday party for my dad's aunt (which is my great aunt and my kid's great great aunt). This fantastic lady is basically my dad's mother figure since his mom passed when he was very young. I don't see this side of the family often and this celebration gave me the opportunity to make an attempt to reconnect. It still took me a little bit to try and remember all the names of the people present and how they were related to me. My oldest daughter was surprised that her Pop Pop (my dad) even had a sister and that she actually had "big" cousins. Her interest in getting to know these people and the reciprocated interest that her "big" cousins, aunts and uncles took in getting to know her (and her brother and sister) made me realize that I needed to pay more attention to cultivating a relationship with this side of the family.

And that, my friends, is where the theme of this post come in.

Any chance at being close with this side of the family was taken away when my parents divorced. I grew up differently then my cousins. Besides the fact that my parents were divorced, our parents held different norms and values. And because of that, we formed different opinions, mentalities, and ways of thinking. In order to cultivate this relationship, I have to maintain a mature attitude, to sort of grow up in a way. I have to move beyond the differences, not necessarily agreeing to disagree but realizing that not everyone has to be like me. And that's okay. I'm a big girl now.

Generations

Sisters

Uncles and Cousins