The Most Irritating Little Thank You Note

Just recently we decided to add another day to Evelyn's gymnastic routine. The main reason for doing so is simply that she wanted to, and since she loves it so and we had no real reason to say no, we did. The funny thing about her is, and this is one of the things that I love best about her, is that she got in a flash, that it would be more money and more time and effort on our parts to get her there. She realized it meant her little brother would have to do more waiting and killing time, she realized that it meant a bit more work for her Mama and all without us saying a single word about this to her, that's just how she is, how she has always been. I actually wish she were a bit more blissfully unaware, she would be able to be more care free.
Well, so... I take her up for her first three day week and we get home and she is so happy and full of gymnastic fervor that she creates a little thank you note for me, this is also something she has done from the youngest age. Oh, how she loves to give a good thank you note!
In the note, she drew a daisy and a rose for me. They were beautiful flowers and put in the card because she knows I love those two flowers particularly. Though on her second or third inspection of the note, she noticed that she had forgotten to include briars on the rose. Now this irritated the little perfectionist and we had to have a conversation about it, of course.
So she says to me, "But it's ok Mama because heh heh not EVERY rose has a thorn."
......
And then my brain split into two warring factions. One side remained the almost 40 year old Mama with great taste in music and a desire to look after her child's feelings and the other side? Wehehehellll.....the other side turned back the clock and became the Eighties Baby with big hair, acid wash and a penchant for listening to Poison.
And an epic battle ensued in my brain.
I heard a dull roar.
My vision darkened.
The Eighties Baby actually won! (must've been all that Aqua Net)
and my head, still kind of out of my control, jerkingly looked toward her...
And my mouth opened...
And I sang...
"Every rose has its thorn..."
She turned and looked at me and said "whaaa...?"
And I went on!
"Just like every night has its dawn.."
Now I was in the moment, shameless and uncaring of the damage I may have been doing!
"Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song.
 Every rose has its thorn. Yeah it does."
(insert big finish)(there may or may not have been some air guitar with a broom)
She just wandered away vaguely.

That damn song has now been stuck in my head for a day and a half.
I should have been worried about myself.
I don't know if I can survive it again.

Two Years

Liam has been with us for two years now. Sometimes I just can't believe it. And then I look at a picture of when we first got home and I can't quite match up that chubby legged little squawker to the brown legged little gun totin' fire cracker we have now and I realize that nothing but time and family could have made that transformation.
It has been an interesting two years. Just having a child in your life that is growing from the age of 21 months to the age of 3 and a half is momentous enough and full of firsts and wondrous events; but when that child is also entering family life for the first time, when he has moved from one country to another, had major surgeries, gained a sister, moved houses..well you can see it all just gets even more amazing and time seems to go all the faster if you are the poor Mama trying to keep track of it all and hold on a bit longer.

I do know that I have been lucky enough to travel to China to meet not one, but two very particular children. Children who have come into my life and given me the only thing I ever really wanted, the chance to be a Mom. I love my little boy. He is exactly the boy we all needed.

So here's to Liam. The boy that makes me smile, the boy that makes me crazy. My sleep walking, gun toting, swashbuckling, sand digging, bike riding, sister aggravating, morning cuddling charmer.

Chock Full O' Nuts

The Smokewood Gang has come and gone again and we had an excellent time despite the heat. They pull up in the drive and we go instantly from a quiet little Cape life to an ongoing party life of gaming, eating and beach going and it's good. And when they leave within 3 minutes we are left standing in the quiet, looking at each other like we aren't quite enough anymore, like, "Well, what do we do now?!?!" 

But while they are here? 

We live it up. 

It's nice to have your house chock full of nuts!

Whizz! Bang! + Higgs!

Happy Fourth!
We have had so much fun that, apparently, we have broken our children in some way. It is 7 pm and they have both been asleep for at least an hour and a half now! Liam fell asleep in the hallway even! The fact that Ev is asleep at all is astounding- a revelation- that girl hasn't willingly slept while it was light outside since she was 19 months old. Part of the issue is that her birthday celebrations kept us quite busy for awhile and then before we could recover, it was time to celebrate The Fourth.

One of the perks we have as a Coast Guard family is getting to watch fireworks from the beach. If you haven't ever gotten to do this, I highly recommend it!We try to get there with enough time for the kids to play and have a shore side picnic. I bring glow sticks and then we settle in for the show. We were on the beach late into the night, we only came home when the three year old looked at us and made the sign for bed and asked to go home....

Today we stayed at home lounging about, cooking out and reading Harry Potter #3. We had those impromptu naps, some good food and some much needed relaxation.

Les and I also had a few moments of complete geeked out joy when we were reading up on the recent news in Science. It seems that hard working, steely eyed scientists have come across the Higgs boson particle!!! This is amazing news and I knew they would do it, I just thought it would take many more years. This is what you may have been hearing called the "God Particle".  I can not stress what big news this is the in world of Science. Good on you CERN!!!!!!!