Melancholy

I don't often complain about getting older, it's gonna happen whether or not we complain about it or not. Birthdays don't bother me too much, yet. (Unless they are my kids' birthdays then I get a little weepy...)

However, this summer has had some affect on me. It's not that I feel old, I am just missing the summers of my youth. This probably will sound a little "Stand By Me-ish" (with out the dead body!)- and for that I apologize. (FYI- if I heard the song right now, I would probably burst into tears!)

The summer before 6th grade, my family moved from the big city of Shoreline to the sticks of Woodinville. Back then, it was what I called Hicktown. It felt like we had moved a million miles from civilization- I remember wondering if the kids would listen to the same radio stations or watch the same tv shows. It felt like we were moving out of the country when in reality we moved a whopping 30 minutes NE.

Although at the time I was completely traumatized by that 30 minute move, my parents knew what they were doing and were giving my brother and I a better life than we probably would have had, if we had stayed in Shoreline. We moved into the friendliest neighborhood and I made the bestest of best friends.

We had a swimming pool in our back yard, so during the summer our house was the place to hang out. Kids we barely knew would come and knock on our door and ask if we could hang out. Gee, wonder where they were the rest of the year? The pool opened the last day of school and closed a couple of weeks after school started in the fall. We'd have neighborhood BBQs and huge 4th of July parties.

Our days were spent in the pool and our nights were spent playing flashlight tag. Some nights we were literally out playing until the sun came up. We'd dress head to toe in black so as to not be seen, we took the game pretty seriously. We would play between 3 houses which gave us 3 acres to run around and try to find the perfect hiding spot. Sometimes we hid alone, other times we paired off. Once you found the perfect spot and weren't found, that was the spot to go back to over and over and over. There were some pretty creative spots- on top of the pool house, in an unlocked car, under the deck, laying in the middle of the yard that needed to be mowed! A time or two people would fall asleep hiding.

Those were the best summers ever. Which is why I find myself with a the Summertime Blues. I would give just about anything to go back to those days and play flashlight tag for a few nights with the old gang. This is when getting older sucks. I miss those carefree days of summer and hanging with my friends. I hope that my kids are able to have the same carefree summers and make the same kind of memories as I have.

What are some of your favorite summer memories? What would you go back and do?

Blogs

See it was a valid concern!

My Vice

My name is Emily and I am addicted to blogs. *Hi Emily!* Obviously not writing them, but reading other people's blogs. Especially those of people I don't know. (Don't worry friends I am reading yours also!) I usually lurk and hardly ever leave a comment but I read them every day. They range in topic from food, cake making, Do-it-yourselfers, crafters, parenting and occasionally, I will even hit that little button on the top of blogger that says "Next Blog" to see what blog pops up and read about strangers! It's a fascinating thing! If I had the time, I would read them for hours. It's like finding someone's diary.

It's funny, sometimes I think these people are my real friends, even though they have no idea I exist! I saw my new friend Pioneer Woman on a blurb on AOL and thought, WOW! PW is big time! (Never mind that I have seen her on several tv shows....) Jen from Cake Wrecks and I are like peas in a pod, she's all about Disney and cake and she lives in FL. I may stalk her the next time I am in FL, just so we can eat cake while walking around Walt Disney World. (I kid.) I wanna hang with Bakerella and make cute Cake Pops.

Here's what I notice about bloggers, they all lead these extremely happy, Technicolor, perfectly photographed world. Are people really that happy? Do they all have the perfect life? Are their children always so well behaved and sit so perfectly in front of the Cannon Rebel camera? Where are they finding time to do all of their home organization and crafty things? Or is it like a 10 year High School reunion where they are making themselves look better than they really are? What would they think of my life story, my Hamburger Helper dinners, my dirty dishes that have been left in the sink, the floor that needs to be swept or my hair that so desperately needs to be colored to hide the 1 inch grow out? What about Gimpy the husband and all of his ailments? Would they run? Would they shake their heads in disbelief? Would they send help? Maybe they could make me their project! Yeah that's it! All I know is that now I have GINORMOUS list of crafts, projects, recipes and things I need to find time to get to.

What ever it is that draws me into these blogs, I don't know, but I know that I need help. Maybe there's a blog for that.....

I cannot believe it is already July. Where has this year gone?!? Hard to believe that 2010 is more than half over.

Big things happened around our house in June.

* Darin had surgery on his wrist and is now the proud owner of 7 screws and some other hardware that will slow us down at airport security. As of right now, he still cannot bend his knee (and won't be able to for another 4 weeks at least) and he cannot lift anything with his arm.

* Maddie had her last days as a preschooler and is officially a kindergartner. I cried on her last day of school when I dropped her off on her last day and we both sobbed in the car when I picked her up. See how cute she was on her last day? (With her most FABULOUS teachers and their Luau attire)

* I turned another year older. With birthdays come cake and presents! I got some amazing presents: a few Cricut Cake supplies and an airbrush! All fun things to feed my cake decorating habit! See the pretty little cakes my friend, Melanie, made for me?


* Maddie had her dance recital and was a SUPERSTAR! She was the sassiest of sassy during her tap dance to "What I Like About You." I cried throughout her entire dance, again. Look at my sassy-girl!

* My sweet Babies turned 8 months old and are growing, growing, growing! They are happy babies and smile All.The.Time! They are rolling over and over. They melt my heart every time I look at them. *Sigh*

Another June is in the history books. Wonder what fun July will bring? (Hopefully a little bit of sunshine!)

Gotta Sec?

Take Me Away!

Holy Heck, I am TIRED! I feel like a single mom of 4 kids. Hats off to you single parents, cause this is not for me.

Our living room has been turned into a Nursing Home, complete with a hospital bed, heavy narcotics, various braces and walker. I am taking suggestions for names of our facility: if you come up with some whimsical, happy sounding, old people place, leave me a comment!

I can't get into too many specifics, but here is the short version of the story. Darin went for a Doctor's appointment (which he was none to happy about going to anyway, it was for some stupid doctor required visit) they made him take off his shoes to get measured and had him head to the exam room. He took one step into the room and down he went, breaking his right knee cap and shattering his left wrist. I got a call and had to meet him at the hospital. He ends up with surgery on his wrist and a brace from groin to ankle on his knee. He's got a walker with this elbowy contraption so he can gimp to the bathroom. Because of this, he can't get upstairs, thus, the hospital bed downstairs. Apparently, the cleaning crew had used a Pledge-like substance on the door, which got onto the floor. Doctor's office has admitted has admitted fault and well, I am sure you can see where that's heading. Plus he's out of work for a while.

Anyway, with him being unable to do much, I am left to pick up the slack. Luckily our family has been an amazing support and doing everything they possibly can to help us out. I can't leave D alone because of his fall-risk so I have to line up Gimpy-sitters to go grocery shopping or whatever. It's tough for all of us.

I've gotta tell you, Calgon just ain't cuttin it. (Yeah, like I have time for a bubble bath! )

It's Been A While...

So I realize it's been entirely WAY too long since I have posted anything on this poor, neglected blog. In fact my last entry was October 11- the day before we became a party of 5. October 12th at 4:47pm Benjamin Gary and at 4:48 Makena Pearl joined our crazy life to complete our beautiful family. I cannot tell you what joy (and sleepless nights ) they have brought to us in the last 7 1/2 months. Yeah, hard to believe it's been that long!

The last 7 months have brought us a roller coaster of emotions. We are adjusting to life with 3 kids and all of the challenges of life with twins! It takes us a good 2 hours to get out of the door these days, we have gone from being the first one to family gatherings to being eternally late. Gone are the days of flying by the seat of our pants. Going places requires a whole lot of thought, planning and patience! I am still learning the latter. However, we did make it to Disney World! Hooray for us! Thank God we had family with us!

Maddie is the most amazing big sister. I couldn't have asked for a better helper. She loves the babies and only gets irritated with them occasionally. She has helped us feed them and even changed a diaper or two (supervised, of course!)

I've come to appreciate the van, but I still don't love it. I may have a little crush on it, but I don't know that I will ever fall in love with it. Afterall, it's a mini van!

I am going to try to be better at blogging, I can't make any promises. I know you are all dying to know what happened to Darin and I will update on that- but that's a post for another day- gotta get back in blogging shape. Until then! ~E