A star is born

I received a very interesting call today from the guy that runs the poetry and writing workshop that Hannah attended last summer. He called to tell me that a producer from HBO had called him about a new HBO special they are doing on children and poetry and had asked him if he had anyone to recommend. I spoke with him about it for a few minutes and then gave him permission to give the producer my contact information.

At that point I figured that the chances we would ever hear from the producer were probably slim to none but it was pretty cool that he had thought of Hannah for this project. I was surprised when about an hour later I received a call from the producer. She asked me a bunch of questions about Hannah's interest in poetry and if she had any favorite poems, that sort of thing. She also said they'd like to interview Hannah, on tape, in NYC on September 22nd for possible inclusion in this project. I haven't discussed it fully with Lincoln yet...or with Hannah at all....but it sounds like it might be a fun experience. Hopefully we'll know more about it soon and if Hannah is interested the two of us will be heading down to the city for her interview.

UPDATE: Apparently a star isn't born. Surprisingly Hannah had ZERO interest in being a part of this tv special. I have to say, that really surprised Lincoln and me but I guess that's it. We're certainly not going to force the issue.

NEVER procrastinate on school shopping

Hannah did pretty much all of her school shopping when she was with Grandma Dena out in Seattle but the two of us have a deal that enables me to choose her first day of school outfit. Despite all of her adorable new clothes I still hadn't found that "perfect" outfit for this coming Wednesday. After lunch today the four of us set out to run errands and decided to tackle that project. Can I just say that Kohl's the Sunday before the first day of school is a CRAZY place to be and that I never want to be there again?

I'm pretty sure that there were mothers in there ready to kill their children. Everyone that I could overhear in the clothing racks and in the dressing room all had a tone to their voice that indicated they were one uncooperative comment from their child away from exploding. In our case it was more Lincoln wanting to kill me for dragging him there and making him keep track of Jake while Hannah and I spent way too much time in the fitting room.

Luckily we found the perfect outfit including new black & white high top Converse sneakers (just like Daddy used to wear) and she's all set for Wednesday. The outfit that we chose today will join these other fine outfits in Hannah's school career:

Kindergarten:

1st Grade:

2nd Grade:

Death

I fear death.

Over the last few days I have been trying to compose a blog posting in my head regarding the passing of Senator Kennedy but haven't known how to start. I have talked with Lincoln about the fact that, love him or hate him, one of the greatest senators of our time has died. And with it a political era that will never return. In today's coverage of politics 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year we expect our politicians to be perfect. In a time where you can email your senator or pick up a phone and call, or heck, send them a tweet via Twitter, you expect them to be everything you're looking for and have no flaws. And even when they're "perfect" via political standards the press, and the public at large, will pick apart their personal lives. Heck, when I watch political speeches these days I don't watch them for their content. I don't watch them and wait for the next "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." I watch them and try to anticipate what nit picky little thing the press, on both sides of the political spectrum, will pick up on and turn into the next great debate. Take for example the fact that Michelle Obama wore shorts on their family trip to the Grand Canyon. THE HORROR! Wearing shorts in Arizona in August? Who does that sort of thing? Our democracy will come crashing down!

During the funeral mass Vicki Kennedy was shaking the hands of all the dignitaries and leaning in to kiss them on the cheek. When she came to Michelle Obama they both went in the same direction creating an awkward moment. My first thought was "Oh no! Who broke protocol? Is this the story that FOX News will run for the next 6 months?"

But I digress.....

We expect our politicians to be perfect. And when they're not we move them out of office as quickly as possible. If there is a hint of something bad the politician quickly stands at a podium, usually with his stoic wife by his side, confesses his transgressions, announces his resignation, and moves off into oblivion. Ted Kennedy never did that.

He wasn't flawless by any stretch of the imagination. Nor were his brothers. Marital affairs, alcohol, criminal activity (whether you believe in their connections to the mob, Ted's actions at Chappaquiddick, or any other charge filed against them and their family), and God knows what else, but overall they did a lot of good for this country.

Historians always say that in this day and age Franklin Delano Roosevelt would never have been elected president because he was in a wheelchair. That didn't make him any less of a great politician. Ted Kennedy, by today's standards, should have been run out of Washington D.C. on a rail, but our country would have been worse off for it. His work on civil rights, women's rights, the rights of the poor, and the rights of the sick may never have happened. Every person receiving minimum wage or taking leave through the Family Medical Leave Act or protected in their work place through OSHA would be worse off if Ted Kennedy had been required to live up to 2009 political standards throughout his 47+ year career in the U.S. Senate. A politician of his stature and tenure will never again live in the U.S. Senate thanks to our current political, and more importantly, media based society.

I watched the funeral coverage. It was quite moving. Listening to Ted Kennedy Jr. eulogize his father just about broke my heart. Patrick's was less heart-wrenching but most likely only because I had already cried my eyes out. I broke down again when they exited the church and Caroline Kennedy was walking beside the casket of her uncle. If Ted Kennedy was the patriarch of the family then Caroline Kennedy was the symbol of loss for me. Despite my being born almost 14 years later I can perfectly picture her and JFK Jr. standing at their father's funeral. She lost her mother and then her brother and I remember thinking "How does she bear to be the last remaining survivor of her family?"

The funeral coverage yesterday was very moving. Obviously every movement of the family's day was documented in minute detail but I thought it incredibly poetic, and incredibly moving, that in the most private of moments yesterday, those rare and few moments before the casket of your loved one is put into the ground forever and the last tangible symbol of their existence, the casket, is forever placed out of view, the greatest technology and media advances could not take away that private moment. The Kennedy family had obviously allowed the media to be part of the ceremony but due to delays and the setting sun that no one can control, the Kennedy clan was given a moment of visual privacy that was unexpected but entirely deserved. We as a country may have been able to hear everything (and even that was questionable at times when the provided microphone didn't work) but every television channel that I turned to was thwarted by the oncoming darkness and able to show only symbolic footage of the bugler standing in front of a beautifully lit building in Arlington Cemetery or that of the Washington Monument. For once Vicki Kennedy and the rest of the Kennedy clan did not have the eyes of the world on them during their moment of grief. For a family that lived, and grieved, entirely in the public eye, it was fitting that they get that moment of privacy even when living in the least private era of our country's history.

But once again I digress.....

This post wasn't supposed to be about Ted Kennedy. It started out with the phrase "I fear death" and it was watching those people mourning Ted Kennedy that my writer's block finally broke free.

I fear death.

Not mine. Once I'm gone, I'm gone. I don't expect to be floating on the other side mourning my own loss. I fear the death of my children. The death of my husband. The death of my parents and sister. I fear that I am not strong enough to handle it. In the situation of my own death I fear only the grieving of my husband, children, and family. I don't want them to feel the way that I will when they pass. Watching the funeral coverage of Ted Kennedy I couldn't help but be amazed whenever they showed Vicki Kennedy. To grieve with the whole world watching would be my worst nightmare. And I'm sure, despite her incredible stoicism in front of the cameras, that every private moment she had was racked with horror and grief at the passing of her beloved husband.

I haven't had much loss in my family,thank God. My Grandpa Benson passed away a few years ago and that was incredibly sad but not entirely unexpected. My Grandma Lentz passed away last September and, once again, that was incredibly sad but not entirely unexpected. But last November my Uncle Linus passed away and that was horrible. It was unexpected, heart-wrenching, unexplainable, and everything else that I can't put into words right now. There was much debate whether or not I would go back for his funeral and I did a long blog post on the reasons why I needed to be there. I fear death. I fear handling death. I fear dealing with death. I fear the emotions that will overwhelm me with death. I fear the impact my death will have on Lincoln and my children.

And that's what it all comes down to. Days of wrestling with what to write about how the death of a senator from Massachusetts will impact the political world as we know it and it all comes down to watching his family grieve and realizing that more than anything else in this world I fear death. But, with the exception of how it will affect Lincoln and the kids, just not my own.

I fear death.

The price of beauty

Someone asked me today if Hannah's hair is her natural color. Huh? I can't imagine anyone colors their 8 year old daughter's hair but I suppose I could be wrong.

Hannah's hair

Last May Hannah got a really cute new haircut for summer. She was due for another haircut during the 3 weeks that she was with Grandma and Grandpa. It has taken me years - seven of them to be exact - to find a person who can cut Hannah's hair well. Luckily we found Maryann last year right before school pictures. Hannah's hair is very weird. The top layer is very straight. The middle layer is very wavy. The bottom layer can go either way depending on the day. It makes cutting her hair very, very tricky. Unfortunately the person that Hannah went to see out in Seattle didn't do very well with Hannah's hair. To put it nicely it was a mess. I knew I couldn't let her start school with that haircut because it would have driven me up the wall but since it's so short these days there wasn't much to play with in regards to cleaning it up. Maryann did a fantastic job though and even though it's a little too "Kate Gosselin" for my tastes I think she looks adorable and it was cut in such a way that we can slowly grow it back out a little bit.

Here are some pictures from every angle. Lincoln said it sounded like I was taking her mug shot when I was taking these pictures. I suppose I could have put her in front of a height chart.

How much more adorable could they be?

Thursday night my cousin Greg and his wife Misty stayed over with their friends Mimi and Steve. It was a fantastic evening. They arrived here right around 8 p.m. and Lincoln made a HUGE spaghetti dinner. I was worried about feeding them but I think Lincoln worried about it even more. There was enough spaghetti left over to feed a small 3rd world country.

After dinner we decided to go out to the pool deck and start a fire. It was a beautiful summer evening. Not too much humidity and no real breeze to worry about with the fire. A perfect night to be sitting out by a fire pit. Since the grown-ups were going to be outside I asked Hannah to put Jake to bed. They were already in their pajamas with their teeth brushed so basically this consisted of reading him a book. I told them they could fall asleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed (a treat they love to receive) so Hannah was willing to do this without much fuss. About 30 minutes later I came into the house to check on them and this is what I found. Could they be any more adorable?

A fun new game

My new favorite game to play this time of year is "How many out of state license plates can you spot?" Given that Boston has a ridiculous number of colleges in and around the city you can only imagine how many states you can rack up during the "back to school" time period. This fun and exciting game can also be played in the spring - particularly around graduation time.

Likewise, another fun game is "How many students attending Harvard and MIT will find out the hard way to calculate the height of their moving truck BEFORE trying to pass under the incredibly low bridges near their schools?" Similar games include "How long will traffic be backed up while those same moving trucks have to drive in reverse all the way down the incredibly busy streets lining the Charles River by Harvard and MIT?"

Angry mix - Part 2

As written about earlier this week Jen made me a second "angry mix" for when I need to vent my frustrations. She always creates a perfect combination of country, pop, and totally random stuff I would never listen to but thoroughly enjoy. She has the formula for my listening tastes down perfectly. Here is the track list for this latest mix.

F--- You / Lily Allen
The Bitch is Back / Elton John
You're No Rock 'N Roll Fun / Sleater-Kinney
S.O.B. / The Horrorpops
Kerosene / Miranda Lambert
Blame It On Me / Unwritten Law
Wish Me Well (You Can Go to Hell) / The Bouncing Souls
Becky / Be Your Own Pet
Pardon My Freedom / !!!
You Think You're a Man / Full Frontal
F--- Me Pumps / Amy Winehouse
Rumours / Lindsay Lohan
Paranoid / Jonas Brothers
Hate You / Reel Big Fish
I Can Do Better / Avril Lavigne
My Give a Damns Busted / JoDee Messina
It's a Fact / The Vandals
Hit Me With Your Best Shot / Pat Benatar
Goodbye Earl / The Dixie Chicks
You Don't Own Me / The Runaways
Take This Job and Shove It / Hank Williams Jr.

And you know it's a good mix when my husband, who I always accuse of listening to "angry rock" says "Hey! There are some really good songs on here!"

Thanks again Jen! I love it. Keep the anger coming!

Bargain of the century

Last weekend Hannah's sewing teacher emailed me to tell me that Simplicity patterns were on sale at JoAnn's and that they were 5 for $5 and then recommended four patterns that Hannah might like to work on this fall. For those of you that don't regularly buy sewing patterns, they're not cheap. One of the patterns was regularly $11.95, two were $12.95, and one was $13.95. We got all four of them for $4.25 including tax. That's a savings of $47.80!

Feeding an army.....An army of one that is

Tomorrow night my cousin Greg, his wife Misty, and their two friends are coming to our house to spend the night during their trip to New England. I'm very excited for them to come and visit but I'm a little nervous about what we're going to feed them.

My Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Bob raised three boys. Three BIG boys. And I don't mean big as in fat. I mean big as in big, brawny, strapping, muscular good 'ol Iowa boys. The kind that think a standard box of cereal is a single serving size. And usually is when consumed in a mixing bowl instead of a regular cereal bowl. I always used to be in awe that Aunt Lorraine can throw together a huge dinner when guests drop by unexpectedly but now I'm starting to realize that what is a huge dinner spread to her guests is probably only equivalent to what she set out as a light afternoon snack when the boys were all in high school.

When I was in high school I stayed with Greg and his first wife Marilyn for a few weeks one summer. I volunteered to cook dinner one night and proudly made a recipe for enchiladas that I had learned in Home Ec during the previous school year. The recipe made eight enchiladas and I remember telling Marilyn that it was probably more than we needed since there was only three of us and their toddler son but she gave me a look and said "not with Greg around." We sat down for dinner with the pan of enchiladas in the middle of the table and I remember Greg picked up the spatula and scooped out four of them for his plate.

So the question becomes, what the heck do we feed them tomorrow night? Lincoln and I are not used to cooking meals like that. Tonight we had ham steaks and mashed potatoes. Lincoln cooked two steaks and between the four of us we only ate one. I think tomorrow night we'll have to pull an "Aunt Charlotte" and make a huge vat of spaghetti with a big salad and a few loafs of garlic bread. I call it the Aunt Charlotte because she had 9 kids and one of the only things I remember from her house was the incredibly large pot of spaghetti that she made when we came to visit.

Despite needing to truck in groceries - not to mention the beer - needed for tomorrow night I am VERY excited for their visit and can't wait to see them. It should be a great time.

What a difference 8 years makes

Birth stats: 6 lbs, 13 oz. / 19 inches

8-year physical stats: 67 lbs / 52 inches

We now return to our usual programming

Mom and Dad headed home on Saturday night and Hannah has been handling the separation pretty well. For all intents and purposes she was with them for over a month because we were all in Iowa together for a few days before she went off with them for three weeks and then they spent another week with us out here in Massachusetts. I think Mom and Dad are also having a little trouble adjusting.

This is our final full week before school starts next Wednesday but it is also the beginning of our crazy schedule that usually comes back full force in the autumn. Yesterday was a busy day at work, today Hannah has her annual physical in the morning and I have a work event in the evening, tomorrow morning Lincoln and I have a business appointment in Waltham. Somewhere in all of this we have to get all of our new curtains hung since they only have a 7 day return policy if something is wrong with any of them. This weekend is Hannah's 24-hour birthday party (a girls day plus sleepover) and Lincoln and Jake's campout over at a neighbor's house. Before we know it school will start with the usual homework to be done and forms to fill out and field trips to attend. Add in the PTO commitments I have made and life is back to being crazy. Oh wait, I don't think it ever stopped.

As some of you may have noticed I didn't post anything yesterday. I try to post at least a little something every day but yesterday I was absolutely exhausted. I didn't sleep well on Sunday night and then yesterday was one of those days at work where you ask yourself "why am I here? What purpose does my job have and do I really need to continue doing it five days a week for the rest of my foreseeable future?" I think it was just a result of being overly tired but I was so apathetic about everything yesterday I didn't even have it in me to post about my apathy. But today is another story. I got over 10 hours of sleep last night plus a great snuggle session in bed this morning with the kids. My job still isn't going to cure cancer or end wars but it's a job I enjoy (most days). I also get to end my work day today down on the waterfront helping my boss with a reception he is hosting this evening. It sounds like the weather should be nice so what's not to like about a fancy waterfront reception?

Here's to a great summer day!

I am so strange

Tracy: Hold on a second.

Me: What? Is there a bug in my hair?

Tracy: No. You have a gray hair swooping down across your forehead.

Me: I know! Isn't it great?

My own personal DJ

My former receptionist Jennifer made me a fantastic "angry mix" CD awhile back when I was really frustrated at work. In March I challenged her to come up with another one. It has taken a little while but it is now August and she has come up with another ideal mix for me. Only she can take my anger and mix it with a little country, a little pop, and a little "who the hell is this?" and turn it into my new anthem. She's going to send me the complete list of song titles and artists soon and I will publish it as soon as she does.

Thanks Jen! It was well worth the wait!!!!!!

My baby

When Hannah was an infant the two of us spent many hours napping on the couch together. There is nothing better than having a sleeping baby curled up on your chest. Hannah has always been a snuggler and even now, at the age of 8, she is still a snuggler. Jake, of course, has never been one and he and I certainly never spent the same amount of time of napping on the couch together as I did with Hannah.

Of course as both kids get older they don't nap and they certainly don't do it curled up on Mommy's chest. Today Jake was sitting next to Lincoln on the couch and fell asleep curled up against him. I must admit I quickly took advantage of the situation and scooped Jake up to snuggle with me while he was sleeping. At the age of 4 1/2 it was probably one of my last chances to do it and it meant the world to me.

There is nothing greater than an innocent, peaceful angel curled up against your heart and it is truly the only thing that saddens me about not having more kids. It was a beautiful moment.

Dinner time games

Hannah (drawing a card from "Dinner Games for Beginners"): For this one we'll need an oven mitt.

Me (turning to Lincoln): Do we have an oven mitt?

Mom: Ha! That's great! The woman of the house asking if they have an oven mitt!

Empty House

It's not unusual for Lincoln and I to take a weekend (or longer) and get away from the kids for awhile. We enjoy taking trips together and luckily my parents enjoy staying with the kids while we travel. I miss the kids while we're gone but since it's not our usual routine I'm usually distracted by whatever wonderful activities we have planned on our travels. It's a totally different story when we're in our house all alone without the kids. I'm constantly listening for them in the other room and waiting for that "Daddy! Mommy!" cry that means you have to take care of something. Last night we giddily ran around the house turning off night lights and talking about how we were guaranteed to sleep past 7 p.m. because Jake wouldn't be waking us up but this morning we were both in bed saying "wow, this feels so weird without the kids." The kids definitely make this house come alive and as enjoyable as it is to get some peace and quiet sometimes it will be nice to have them back this evening.

Dinner party

The first time Lincoln and I threw a dinner party was around Christmas 1999. We invited the Walker's over for dinner and it was the first "fancy" dinner that we had prepared for someone. When we lived in Franklin we had a small condo with a tiny kitchen but I remember it being a great meal even though I don't remember what we ate. I do remember starting a napkin on fire though. I went to light the candles on the table and the head of the match flew off. Apparently the head of the match lit on fire and when it broke off it flew across the table and landed on a paper napkin. It was actually quite hilarious but also a sign that we were not terribly adept at dinner parties.

Over the years we've had people over for dinner many times but usually it's family or very close friends that are no longer treated like guests but more like family. Or it's large groups of people for birthday parties or reunions where it's not really a sit-down dinner type of event. Last night, however, we had a "real" dinner party with grown-ups, no kids, great food, and wine. Mom and Hannah had cleaned up the house during the day so it looked great for company and Mom and Dad took the kids up to Leominster where Dad is teaching this week and stayed in Dad's hotel so the kids could go swimming. That of course meant that we could have an actual dinner without having to deal with the chaos that children naturally bring to mealtime.

One of my employees at work, Ryan, and his girlfriend Tasha are moving to Austin, TX next week. Tomorrow is his last day at work so Lincoln and I invited the two of them over for dinner. Ryan has worked for me for the past year and he has been a delight. He is definitely one of the best employees I have ever had and I will miss him dearly.

Of course no official dinner party of ours could go off without a hitch and yesterday was no exception. Over the years Lincoln has become the official chef in our family. I used to cook...and I'm not bad at it...but over the years I've really gotten away from doing any cooking because Lincoln is so good at it. He enjoys it too. On the rare occasions when he's not home for dinner the kids and I usually end up going out to dinner or picking up Dairy Queen. That is how little I cook these days. Well yesterday Lincoln called me and told me that he was going to be very late and probably wouldn't make it home until 8 p.m. Oh crap. That meant I was going to have to cook. And go to the grocery store. Two things I don't usually do.

Luckily I made it through the grocery store without any problems. Usually when I leave the grocery store I'm ready to tear my hair out from having to deal with teenage employees that take forever to ring you up and idiot shoppers who constantly block the aisles with their cart and look at you with surprise when you say "excuse me" and want them to move their cart. I hate the grocery store.

But I digress....

I had to cook. Even though I'm a little rusty I think I pulled off a pretty darn good dinner. I made Crispy Baked Drumsticks, breadsticks, mashed potatoes, salad, and mixed vegetables. Ryan, Tasha, and I enjoyed a cheese and cracker plate with drinks before Lincoln came home and then we had dinner and very enjoyable conversation before having dessert and them heading back into the city. I felt very grown up last night.

Maybe we'll have to try this again sometime. And I don't mean in another 10 years.

Hannah's birthday on Martha's Vineyard

Yesterday was Hannah's 8th birthday so I decided to take the day off of work. Hannah loves the Vineyard and I've been wanting to show Mom the Vineyard since the first time we went there a few years ago so we decided that we would drive down and take the ferry over for the day. What we didn't anticipate was that it would be 95 degrees and hot, hot, hot. I'm not really complaining about the weather since summer is FINALLY here but it did require us to change our plans a little once we got there. Of course we had to change our plans a little even before we got there because Lincoln and I apparently did not participate in the same conversation last week where we decided (or so I thought) that Jake would be staying home while we went to the Vineyard since Lincoln wasn't going with us either.

Jake is still young enough that he can't walk for miles and miles on end without wanting to be carried but he's old enough that I certainly can't carry him around anymore. As such he usually rides on Daddy's shoulders when we walk for extended periods of time or for great distances. Over the weekend we discussed me taking Jake with us on our trip to the Vineyard but I told Jake that he would have to ride in the stroller and he didn't want to do that because "he's not a baby." I figured that was the end of it but I was wrong.

Monday night I had a work thing that I was hosting at the Pavilion and didn't get home until a little after 10 p.m. When I got home the kids were already in bed and Mom asked me if I had been planning on taking Jake with us the next day. I told her I hadn't been planning on it but apparently she and Lincoln discussed it and he told her he thought I was taking Jake and therefore he told his parents they didn't need to babysit Jake on Tuesday. I'm not sure what conversation he had participated in last week but that is not what I thought we had decided. My mother had a good point though about the fact that Hannah had just been off with Grandma and Grandpa for three weeks and Jake also had to stay home last May when Grandma, Hannah, and I took a day trip down to NYC so she thought he should be able to go with us to the Vineyard. I could definitely see her reasoning behind telling Jake he could go with us but I have to say I was a little apprehensive about the fact that it was 10:30 p.m. and I had no one to watch Jake the next day and no choice but to take him with us on a trip where I was going to have to wrestle him into a stroller when he whined about walking and why couldn't I carry him on my shoulders like Daddy does.

At this point I figured there was nothing I could do about it so Lincoln dug out the stroller and the next morning we sat Jake down and explained how it was going to work. He seemed game so at 7:15 a.m. Mom, Hannah, Jake and I headed down to catch the ferry from Woods Hole, MA. Luckily we allowed plenty of time because I had never taken the ferry over as a walk-on passenger and didn't realize how far away the parking lot was from the ferry dock. The only open parking lot was a 20-minute drive away and you had to catch a shuttle. It was an extremely close call but we managed to make it on the ferry that we had been aiming for and headed over to Oak Bluffs on MV. The kids did awesome and really hustled when we had to quickly park, hop on the shuttle, buy the tickets, and race onto the ferry.

Every time we've gone over to the Vineyard in the past we've always driven on so I've never noticed how they get the walk-on passengers off the boat. It was absolutely insane getting off the boat. The walk-on passengers were herded into this super long line, which of course was mostly out in the open air and under the intense 95 degree sun, and inched along bit by bit. I made a joke that it almost seemed like they were making us go through customs or reenact Ellis Island because it was such a slow line.

Once we finally got through the line we headed into Oak Bluffs and thought we'd find some nice air-conditioned shops but most of them were not very cool and it was pretty miserable walking around. We decided to head over to lunch and re-group for the day. Originally we had planned on taking a taxi over to Edgartown after lunch to walk around there for awhile but it didn't seem like anyone was going to be up to doing a lot of shopping in the heat. Jake was whining like crazy that he wanted to go to the beach even though that had never been in our plans for the day. Despite how great he was during the chaos of getting on and off the ferry he definitely went down hill once we were on the Vineyard. Nothing was what he wanted to do and he "missed Daddy and wanted to go home."

At lunch we all cooled off a bit and had a great meal. We then decided that it was too miserable to go shopping over in Edgartown and that we should head to the East Chop beach in Oak Bluffs. Unfortunately we didn't have any swimsuits for the kids so we headed over to some of the cheap souvenir shops and picked up some Martha's Vineyard shorts and tank tops for the kids. Both kids were quite the walking advertisement for the Vineyard with "Vineyard" written across their butts and on Hannah's tank top. We headed over to the beach and let them play in the water in their new clothes before putting them back in their dry clothes afterwards.

Jake's attitude improved considerably after we fed him lunch and let everyone cool off a bit and especially after we decided we'd head over to the beach for awhile. The only problem at the beach was the fact that he wanted to go climbing on the rocks and over the sand dune, which he usually does with Daddy, and neither Mommy nor Grandma were willing or able to do it with him on this trip. At one point Grandma took the kids for a walk down the beach towards the rocks while I sat with our stuff at the other end of the beach. Jake came running back ahead of Grandma and Hannah and came up to me with a very expectant look on his face.

Jake: Are you going to ask me if I had a good time?

Me: Um. Okay. Did you have a good time?

Jake: No, I did not. Grandma wouldn't let me go climbing!

After playing at the beach for about an hour we headed back towards the ferry docks and stopped for ice cream along the way. The ride back was fairly uneventful and we were all pretty worn out from the long day in the sun. By the time we got off the ferry, caught the shuttle, and were in line to exit the parking lot it was 5:05 p.m. Jake was asleep by 5:09.

Once we got back home it was time for Hannah's birthday dinner. Dad and Lincoln had made a great taco dinner and Lincoln's parents came over about 30 minutes after we got home. We all had a nice dinner and then did cake and presents.

With the exception of Jake's mini meltdown between the time we arrived on the Vineyard and when we finished eating lunch he did a really great job throughout the day. He was a trouper in the heat. He walked almost all day except for when we came back from the beach and then he climbed into the stroller without any fuss or complaining. All in all he did really great on the "grown-up day" that he had been invited to go on with us.

Me (as I'm kissing him goodnight): Jake, I just want tell you what a great job you did today and that I'm very, very proud of you. You did an awesome job and I think that the next time we have a "grown-up day" you can come with us again.

Jake: I think maybe I don't want to go next time. I'll miss Daddy too much.

What the heck was Lincoln up to in 1992?

While I still in high school Lincoln was obviously laying the groundwork for helping companies recover from the economic woes of 2009. Back in June Lincoln received an outstanding parking ticket that he had apparently received in 1992 and never paid. It was for $44 or thereabouts and our philosophy was if the town needed the money badly enough to track him down 17 years later we'd just go ahead and pay it.

Well now Bally's Fitness is saying he had a membership with them in 1992 and he currently owes them $756.93. Okay, I'm all for economic recovery but this one is going to require quite a bit of research, and I suspect, a lot of arguing. Luckily I'm feeling up to the task.

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!

Holy cow! I can't believe Hannah is EIGHT. It seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital giving birth to her. The time really does fly by. In another 8 years it will be time to get her drivers license.

Today Hannah, Jake, Grandma Dena, and I are off to Martha's Vineyard for the day. We're going to walk on the ferry and head over to walk around Oak Bluffs for awhile. Summer is finally here and it's going to be a hot one! I am so excited. When we get back tonight Daddy, Grandpa Dan and Grandma and Grandpa Snow will be here to celebrate Hannah's birthday. Should be a fun day all around.

Kids say the darndest things

As any parent will tell you kids often repeat things that you say to other people. These things are often taken out of context - or worse yet, repeated with no context at all - and it can be absolutely hilarious when it happens. It can also be rather horrifying if you hear about it later and/or aren't around to give the correct context when it is said. When it's said to strangers or passing acquaintances when you're not around you can sometimes want to take an ad out in the local newspaper to explain the statement your child just made. I'm sure daycare providers are constantly cracking up at what children tell them.

This story is actually an absolutely hilarious one and it was Hannah - not Jake - that threw me under the proverbial bus. My friend Tracy has a great iPod speaker that she carries around with her in her purse. We used to joke about "the party in her purse" but since she often carries it around with her in her pocket - and because it's way funnier to call it by this name - we often refer to it as "her party in her pants." I told Lincoln that I wanted an iPod speaker for my birthday last week so that we could have music out by the pool when we're hanging out so he bought me the same kind of speaker that Tracy carries around with her. That gift prompted the following out-of-context conversation to take place between Grandma Dena and Hannah last week.

Grandma: What did your mom get for her birthday?

Hannah: A party in her pants.

Not complaining

I am absolutely not complaining about the hot weather we're having because FINALLY summer is here and it's delightful. I do wish, however, that it didn't coincide with the week that our air conditioner gave out.

It doesn't happen often but it does happen

Me (to Lincoln): I'm going to run up and start a load of laundry.

Jake: I've never seen her do that before.

A great Sunday

Today we got up and did Hannah's school shopping and went to lunch before heading out to lounge by the pool. We were in there from about 2:30 until 7:30 and had a great time despite one small injury. I was showing Hannah how I could do a double back somersault in the water but didn't take into consideration how shallow the pool was and whacked my nose on the bottom of the pool. I was wearing Hannah's goggles at the time so most of the injury was from actually pushing the goggles into my nose and not from actually hitting the bottom of the pool.

In the evening we ordered pizza and ate pool side before roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores by the fire bowl on the pool deck. All in all it was a GREAT day.

Hannah is home!

Yesterday morning dragged on and on and on while I waited for Hannah to come home. Mom and Dad were flying into Boston with her and their plane was scheduled to land at 10:55 a.m. Figuring in baggage claim, picking up the rental car, and driving out to our house they should have been here by about 12:30 at the very latest. But then baggage claim took forever. Then they had trouble picking out a car. Then they got stuck in traffic. FINALLY they got here shortly after 1 p.m.

We spent a fantastic day out in the pool with the kids and Mom and Dad. It was a great day and very relaxing. It is just so good to have Hannah home again. Today we're hoping to head out to buy Hannah's school supplies before spending the afternoon in the pool again. Luckily we're also being blessed with "summer" weather finally.

Mom and Dad are bringing more than just Hannah with them

According to the weatherman we're headed into "our first big warm-up of the summer*" this week. This weekend is going to be 89 and 90 degrees with lots of sun. I'm going to do nothing but lounge in the pool and snuggle with Hannah.

*Sadly, this statement was made in the MIDDLE OF AUGUST!!!

Today is the day

Jake: Mommy, we get Hannah back today!

No wonder Grandpa is broke

Hannah has accumulated so much stuff in the last three weeks with Grandma and Grandpa that they really ARE shipping some of her stuff home. No joke.

Only one more sleep!

Hannah will be home in a little over 24 hours! I badly need one of my children to snuggle with me and Jake's record for snuggling is about 2 seconds. I picked him up this morning and he yelled "Mommy! I'm trying to build a ship!" before squirming out of my arms. Hannah will snuggle with me. Hannah's going to snuggle with me so much I'll have to have her surgically removed from my side in about a week. I can't wait!

My inheritance is dwindling bit by bit

Dad: Hello.

Me: Hi!

Dad: What do you want?

Me: I want to talk to my daughter. Is she there?

Dad: No. She's out spending more of my money.

Me: Oh yes. They went to get their nails done today, didn't they?

Dad: And shopping. I haven't seen them all day.

Me (laughing): I trained her well, didn't I?

Dad: No shit.

Guest Post

Here is an excerpt from an email that Mom sent me on my birthday. Since I have no Hannah stories lately she'll have to do the telling.

I have to tell you that earlier in the afternoon she was helping me get ready and she took a dust rag and some spray and dusted EVERYTHING in the house! She kept asking what else she could dust and eventually she got all the rooms done. The funniest thing was when I was getting out of the shower I heard a little knock on my bedroom door and then this little voice said "housekeeping". I about cracked up! I told her we had been spending entirely too much time in hotels!

32 years and counting

I had a very lovely birthday yesterday. I took the day off and just relaxed. In the morning Lincoln and Jake gave me my birthday presents which were a new novel (a real one, not a trash novel) and a speaker so that I can play my iPod out by the pool. When I first came downstairs and sat on the couch in front of Jake I didn't exactly get the "happy birthday Mommy" I was hoping for. Instead I got "Hey! I was playing Star Wars there!". This morning, however, a day after my birthday, he said to me "Hey Mommy....I mean birthday girl." when I came downstairs. Very strange.

Anyway, after I opened my gifts Lincoln took Jake off to Grandma and Grandpa Snow's and I hopped in the shower. Even though it was going to be a lazy day for me I had to do my hair and make-up nicely because the first thing on my agenda for the day was getting my license renewed. You have to get a new picture every 9 years and mine was last taken in October 2000 right after we got married. So yes, I spent the morning of my birthday hanging out in the RMV. Very exciting.

After getting my new license I headed out to lunch and a movie. I am not one of those people that mind eating or going to the movies alone. I actually enjoy it. I took my new book with me and read it while I ate my lunch and then headed over to the movie theater to see Julie & Julia. It was a great movie.

After my incredibly strenuous day I headed home to take a nap before Lincoln and I went out to dinner. Talk about a relaxing afternoon. Lincoln took me to The Melting Pot for dinner which is one of my all time favorite restaurants. It's a fondue restaurant and it's definitely a time (and money) commitment because each course takes quite awhile but Lincoln and I love going there. It's not somewhere we would ever take the kids so it's a nice little get away for us. We have some drinks, eat some great food, and have about an hour and a half to two hours where we can just sit and have grown-up time together. I love it.

When we finished eating we headed over to Bob and Gail's to pick up Jake a little after 8:00 p.m. Lincoln had baked me a wonderful homemade cake - he even made homemade frosting! - but we were way too full to eat it last night. Instead we got up and had it for breakfast this morning. Chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream make a wonderful breakfast. Just ask my Mom.

And that was my wonderful birthday yesterday. The only thing missing was Hannah. Luckily she comes home this Saturday and as Jake keeps reminding me, that's "only two more sleeps!" from now.

31 years, 364 days

My birthday is tomorrow. YIPPEE!!!!

Lincoln's accident

Yesterday I did not post any of the details of Lincoln's accident because at the time I didn't have any. I wasn't exactly sure what had happened and I hadn't seen the damage to the truck yet.

Where we live you have to go around a clover leaf entrance ramp in order to get on the highway going northbound. Lincoln was the last of four cars headed up the entrance ramp and was checking to his left to judge the traffic in the right lane with which he would be merging. The lane was empty except for one truck a ways back that he would have to deal with as he merged. The cars in front of him should have been fine for merging into the right lane except for some completely unknown reason the first car in the line came to a stop instead of merging into traffic. Why the hell do people do that??? You never, never, NEVER stop when merging onto an interstate because you need speed in order to do that safely and not cause everyone in the right lane to have to slam on their brakes once you do decide to merge. And you sure as hell don't have any reason to do it WHEN THE LANE YOU'RE MERGING INTO IS EMPTY!!!!!

Anyway, the idiot in the first car stopped at the top of the entrance ramp. The other cars in the line, probably doing the same as Lincoln and looking at the right lane over their left shoulder so that they could merge with oncoming traffic, all stopped suddenly as well when they noticed that the idiot who never have been given a drivers license in the first place had stopped FOR NO APPARENT REASON. Unfortunately Lincoln, being the last car, was just coming around the final bend in the cloverleaf and the three cars lined up and STOPPED FOR NO REASON would have been right there. He tried to swerve to miss the car that was stopped in front of him and unfortunately clipped her pretty good with his right front bumper pushing her into the car in front of her.

Car #1 - the jackass - took off and kept driving after setting in motion this series of events. His car was never touched. May bad karma bite him in the ass and cause him horrible inconvenience of either a physical or financial sort in the near future. And may his license be stripped from him forever for being an idiot who should never have been on the road in the first place.

Car #2 - A Caddy. Made of good old Detroit steel and barely had a mark on it despite Lincoln's impact with car # 3 causing car # 3 to hit the Caddy.

Car # 3 - A Mazda. Not sure how much damage was done to the Mazda but Lincoln said it was fairly substantial. There was the back end damage caused by Lincoln's large pick-up and then he said that her car sustained far more front end damage from hitting the Caddy than rear end damage caused to the Caddy.

Car # 4 - Lincoln's Toyota Tundra. The front bumper was pushed in and twisted to such a degree that it popped his front right tire and had the bumper up under the wheel well. Lincoln had the truck towed to a local shop and they were able to pull out his bumper, put on his spare tire, and replace his broken light bulbs in order to make the car drivable. The good news is that Lincoln's truck is already fairly battered so it doesn't look that bad. It's not like he'll be driving around with half of his truck missing.

The real question is going to be how much damage was done to the Mazda and what this is going to do to our insurance. All of that remains to be seen.

Without Hannah around Jacob bears the brunt of my affection

Jake: Why are you always kissing me?!?

Hannah REALLY needs to come home soon

Jake: Mommy, I'm forgetting what Hannah looks like.

I really thought this post would be about me

Lincoln got into a car accident this morning. It wasn't anything terribly serious and luckily no one was hurt but it did some considerable damage to his truck and the other car. Given that I'm the "reckless" driver and he's the "safe" driver in this family I really thought that when this eventual post about a car accident involving one of our cars took place it would be my fault. It's good to know that sometimes I'm the perfect one.

Starting the celebration

Jake: Mommy, how many more sleeps until your birthday?

Me: Two!

Jake: Wow.

Link: But if you wanted to start celebrating her birthday now I'm sure she wouldn't object.

You belong to me

(I lean down to give Jake a kiss.)

Jake: Mommy! Don't!

Me: I can kiss you if I want. You belong to me.

Jake: No I don't. I belong to Daddy.

Link: And Daddy belongs to Mommy so yes, you belong to Mommy.

Me: I gave birth to you therefore I own you until you're 18.

Jake: No you don't.

Me: Yes I do. That means no piercings, no tattoos, and no girls that I don't like.

Link: And you know she won't like any of them so you might as well not bother.

Time flies

Me (to Lincoln): If the next ten years go by as fast as the last ten years than Hannah needs to start looking at colleges right away.

A great anniversary weekend

This weekend was the ten year anniversary of when Lincoln and I met. We had each planned surprise trips for the other but ultimately ended up going with Lincoln's plan. The weekend was a huge success.

Lincoln took me to a place called the Stonehedge Inn & Spa up in Tyngsboro, MA. The drive is only about an hour long so we weren't too far away from Jake who was staying home with Shani this weekend. We got a slightly late start because Lincoln didn't tell me we had to be somewhere at a specific time and so I chatted with Shani for a little while after she arrived. He had already determined that he forgot to figure lunch into our plans so we ended up having to eat on the road. We made a quick stop at McDonald's and had to eat in the car for which I teased him that we were off to a "romantic and luxurious start" to our weekend.

We arrived at the Inn exactly at 2 p.m. which was perfect since we had massages in the spa scheduled at 2:00 p.m. The spa was nice. It's fairly small with only 4 treatment rooms but when you walk in there was a hot tub and pool. The spa itself had a sauna and a steam room and of course the usual "quiet area" where you can sit before and after your treatments. The massages were very nice and after they were over we headed over to check in at the Inn.

The building is fairly old and very quaint. It has a lot of dark woods and rich carpeting. In fact it has a very "English manor" feel to it and even had a library with a wood fireplace, lots of old books, and a beautiful piano. The room keys were little blocks of wood with actual keys - not cards - and you turned your key in whenever you left unless you had a large purse to carry it in. It definitely wasn't something you could slip into your pocket. When Lincoln and I stayed at a hotel in London back in January 2000 they did the same thing except that time the key chain was a 14-inch metal rod....once again, not conducive to carrying around with you.

When we walked into the room I immediately walked into the bathroom to check it out. It was huge with a nice soaking tub (no jets but plenty big), a huge counter, and a separate room with the toilet. I was exclaiming over how nice the bathroom was when Lincoln said I hadn't even seen the best part yet.

I walked into the main room and there was a huge king-sized bed, two chairs, a dozen long-stemmed red roses, a bottle of champagne, and two champagne glasses. The best part was the fireplace! I've been telling Lincoln that I would love a fireplace in our house. When we stayed in Niagara Falls last April I had reserved us a fireplace suite but unfortunately due to a water leak on those floors we were moved into a different room without a fireplace.

When we got to the room we settled in, opened the champagne and just enjoyed sitting around in front of the fireplace for a little while. Lincoln went out to explore the grounds and when he came back we decided to take some magazines and head out to sit on a beautiful swinging bench in the garden in front of the Inn. We rocked on the swing, read our magazines, and chatted for awhile until it was time to go into dinner.

Dinner was in the hotel dining room and was very, very good. It was one of those restaurants where you don't know half the words on the menu, the highest priced bottle of wine sold for $5,400 and your food came in fancy little displays that you hated to cut into. I believe the wine menu was almost 50 pages long. The food was delicious and we only had the wine that was $11.50/glass instead of $5,400 for the bottle. I can live with that.

After dinner Lincoln ran out to the liquor store and got some more champagne (for me) and some beer (for him). We had a nice evening in the room and when I woke up before Lincoln the next morning I sat in front of the fireplace and read my book for awhile. A little while later we headed back down to the spa to sit in the hot tub. I also had made a second spa appointment for myself...this time for a sugar scrub...and afterwards we got dressed and went down to brunch in the hotel dining room before heading home.

The package that Lincoln had purchased for the weekend included the room, the two massages, the roses and champagne, dinner, and brunch. It was a great package and made for a very nice, and very romantic, weekend.

Well done honey.

Off to a great start

Lincoln and I are at the Stonehedge Inn & Spa in Tyngsboro, MA.  When we arrived we went straight to the spa for our massages.  Talk about a heavenly way to unwind and get the weekend started.  We then checked into the inn and what did we (read: I) discover upon entering the room?  A dozen long-stemmed red roses, a bottle of champagne, and a roaring fireplace with Vivaldi playing over the speakers.  It's going to be a great weekend.  Lincoln is off exploring for a few minutes and then we're going to make some plans for the afternoon.  Dinner in the fancy restaurant in the Inn awaits us and tomorrow morning I have another spa treatment and we have brunch reservations.

What a wonderful weekend!

Ten Years

Ten years ago today I met the man that would become my husband and the father of my children.

In August 1999 I had just moved into my new condo. I believe I moved in on Thursday evening, August 4th, and since I was working crazy long hours back then I didn't get to do much unpacking until the weekend. On Saturday I got a number of boxes unpacked and on Sunday morning I was really on a roll which presented me with quite a dilemma. Did I go to the birthday party I had been invited to that day or not?

When I first moved out here I was working as a production supervisor at a local printing plant. I had gotten the job through the parent company that owned both the company out here in Massachusetts and the one that I worked for back in Minnesota while I was in college. Both companies printed social and commercial stationery (wedding invitations and business cards basically). During my junior and senior years of college I worked as a typist in the social stationery division typing wedding invitations, birthday invites, and baby announcements. When I moved out here they put me in charge of the shipping, cutting, and slitting departments. Slitting is the method in which business cards are cut down.

But I digress....

One of the girls that worked in the slitting department had been on me for awhile about setting me up on a blind date. I knew that I needed to do something to start meeting people but I was really hesitant. First it was going to be just a blind date. Then it was going to be me, the mystery man, and her and her boyfriend so that I would feel less awkward. She even showed me a picture of him but I kept putting her off and kept putting her off until finally she said "You know what? My son's birthday is this Sunday. You'll be there. Lincoln will be there. Thirty other people will be there. How does that sound?" I finally agreed to attend but not without looking for every possible excuse to get out of it.

As I said above I had spent all day Saturday unpacking my boxes. Sunday morning I was back over at the Walker's getting more of my stuff since I had been living in their basement for the past two months, when I saw an add in the paper for a comedy show in Boston that night. The comedian was Anthony Clark. I decided to call and see if I could get a ticket to the show that night and that if I was successful I either wouldn't go to the birthday party or I would at least have the excuse of leaving early. I called and found out that they did have tickets available but that Anthony Clark had cancelled due to illness or something and a different comedian would be performing that evening. I decided not to buy the ticket and headed out to Wal-mart for a gift suitable for a young child.

At that time I had no experience with gift giving for toddlers and I remember walking through Wal-mart talking to my Mom on the phone trying to get some advice. I also remember saying something along the lines of "Ugh...I can't find anything. I should just skip this and go home and finish unpacking" but then I found some little Sesame Street toy and decided to suck it up and go.

After leaving Wal-mart and heading home to wrap the gift it was time to head out for the birthday party. I wasn't very familiar with the area yet and managed to get horribly lost. I finally called the house and they were able to give me directions to the party. I'm surprised I didn't decide to call it quits right then and there but I'm sure I was thinking "I've already gotten out of the unpacking mode and I bought the gift. I might as well go."

I remember walking into a house full of people and greeting my co-worker, and host, Mary. Across the room she pointed to Lincoln and introduced us across a roomful of people. Talk about awkward. I don't remember much about the party. I'm sure there were a million things going through my head at the time. I do remember going outside and Mary, her boyfriend Russ, and Lincoln were all standing there talking so I stopped and chatted with them. This was the first conversation that I had with Lincoln and I'll be honest....I have NO idea what we talked about. I do know that Lincoln and I spent the rest of the afternoon together and I was reluctant to leave that night (Thank God I hadn't bought a ticket to the comedy show!)

Another memory from that day is going into the bathroom after I'd been talking to Lincoln for awhile and noticing that I had my shirt on inside out. Once again, talk about awkward! Luckily he hadn't noticed. It was a light green ribbed t-shirt, and it looked pretty much the same both inside out and right side out. My hair was long enough to cover the tag.

The other thing I remember is sitting outside as the party wrapped up and still chatting with Lincoln. It started to sprinkle so we headed for our cars and - this is the part I still give him shit for all these years later - he gave me HIS phone number instead of asking for mine. What the hell??? Don't put me in that position. I didn't want to be the one in charge!!!

The next night, Monday, I went to dinner with Deb Walker and I clearly remember telling her that I could see myself marrying him. I followed the "two day rule" that was common in dating at the time and waited until Tuesday night to call Lincoln. I didn't get home from work until about 7:30/8:00 p.m. in those days and I must have called him right when I got home. We talked for over 2 hours before he invited me over for dinner that night. The day before we had been talking about food and somehow Hamburger Helper stroganoff had come up in the conversation. I was probably listing the few items that I knew how to cook. On Tuesday night Hamburger Helper stroganoff came up in the conversation again so after two hours of conversation he invited me over saying that he had all the makings for stroganoff at his place. I headed over there and told him I would be there in about 30 minutes. What I didn't find out until much, much later was that the second he hung up with me he jumped in his car, raced to the store, and bought what he needed to make the meal. Isn't that sweet?

We ate dinner and talked until about 1:30 in the morning. He finally kissed me when he walked me to my car. I suppose I could have kissed him but he made me call him first so really, it was his turn.

And so began our first 10 years together.

Paul McCartney - Day 2

Thursday night I went to the 2nd Paul McCartney show at Fenway Park. Once again I was hosting employees in a suite for the evening and once again it was an absolutely unbelievable show. When I have more time I'll try to get some video up as well.

Tough Day

Jake didn't even finish climbing into the chair and getting situated before he crashed last night. Judging by the amount of dirt on his feet and legs you can tell he had a very busy day at school yesterday.

Mother of one

Apparently Hannah has decided to be raised as a Lentz instead of a Snow. According to Mom she asked Grandpa "Do I have to go home next week?" Our telephone conversations with her have been getting shorter and shorter and further apart as her social life is way too busy right now to have time to talk to Mommy and Daddy. I can count on one hand the number of emails she has sent me.

I just hung up the phone with Mom and apparently Hannah is down at the park right now teaching a game to her new friends. Earlier in the week she had a two night sleepover - and a day at the zoo in between - with her cousins Matt and Sam. Tonight she's headed over to spend the night with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark before returning to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the morning to run her bottled water and soda stand at the neighborhood garage sale this weekend.

It also sounds as though she has accumulated enough new stuff over the last two weeks that it may require shipping some of her stuff home. (Okay, it's not quite that bad.....yet. She does have another week to go though.) Dad's joking pleas for us to send money are starting to take on an air of urgency to them. So much so that he's taken to including their mailing address and signing his emails "The Budget Manager". I told him the check is in the mail. Luckily he has had almost 32 years of practice at me sucking his bank account dry so really this is nothing new. He even proudly wears a shirt I got him one Fathers' Day that reads "Dad: The local branch of the money tree."

I'm happy that Hannah is having such a fantastic time and it sounds like Mom and Dad are enjoying it just as much as she is. I'm really glad that we decided to do this trip this summer and hopefully it is something she (and later Jake) can do again. This trip, however, has had some unintentional consequences that I never thought would happen. My mother...the same woman who sent my birthday presents two months early the year I moved out here so that there was zero chance I would be present-less on my birthday....just asked me "Can we just wait and celebrate your birthday when we're out there? I don't have time to get anything in the mail."

What sort of alternate universe are we living in? My mother is going to be late sending me birthday gifts and my daughter - who never wants to leave my side - has no desire to come home. Good lovin'......

Paul McCartney

I have never claimed to be a music person....as evidenced by the fact that my favorite band is New Kids on the Block...but even I was blown away last night by the Paul McCartney show at Fenway Park. My music loving friends think it's blasphemy for me to say that I would rather listen to a perfectly recorded CD in the comfortable surroundings of my home or car to standing around in a crowd of sweaty people listening to music that may or may not come over the sound system sounding like anything I want to hear but I honestly believe it to be true. And when I am at a show, despite an artist usually saving their best songs for the encore, it's usually more important for me to get to my car and beat the traffic then it is to stay and hear those songs.

Last night was a different story though. I was never a Beatles fan. I also wasn't not a Beatles fan. I was completely indifferent to them as I am to all music that isn't "pop" music happening in this very moment. I'm rather fickle in my musical tastes and usually I only like what I like at the moment. I'll buy a CD and listen to it 150 times in my car before misplacing the CD and never listening to it again until I accidentally stumble upon it years later. So music that took place before my birth is not something that is typically going to catch my attention. And as evidenced by the answer to this question from last night you can see how my life's timeline falls in with the Beatles.

J: Where were you when Lennon was shot?

Let's see....I was born in 1977....he was shot in 1980.....So, um, yeah, I would have been THREE when Lennon was shot. Not really something that really impacted my little world back then. I would like to give myself props though for knowing that he died on December 8th. Of course the only reason I know that is because it's Jake's birthday.

But back to last night. Last night was AWESOME! What a great show. McCartney played for two and a half hours and even a musical idiot like myself knew a bunch of the songs that he played and truly appreciated his amazing talent. He really puts on a magical show. To make the night even more wonderful I got to view the concert in the luxury of a private box at Fenway Park where, as office manager, I was hosting a little "employee appreciation" event.

For those of you that would like to weep in jealousy check out the pictures below.

Wanting the good life

Jake: It must be nice having a bathroom in your bedroom.

Me: It is.

(long pause)

Jake: Can I have a bathroom in my bedroom?

Hannah's absence is turning me gray!

In one week I will be 32 years old. In the past week I have found two gray hairs on my head. That would probably send most women into a panic but I actually take great pride in it. I enjoy getting older. I think every new age is exciting. I've known some pretty cool 32-year olds in my life so I have no problem being one.

Big Boy.....Little Man

I don't know if it's because Hannah isn't around to compare him to or what but all of a sudden Jake seems like such a little man. Watching him tonight I couldn't take my eyes off of him as he sat and played with Daddy. He looked so grown up. He looked taller. He looked smarter. He looked more mature. He just didn't look like a baby.

Has Jake always seemed younger because of his age or because Hannah is older? When Hannah was Jake's age did she seem older because she was the big sister or because of her personality? When Hannah comes home will Jake be my baby again? Will neither of them be my baby ever again? Has the ultimate side effect of Hannah's trip with Grandma and Grandpa been to strip me off my babies?

I don't want more kids. I don't want to be pregnant again. I don't want an infant again. I don't want a toddler again. As my mother once said to me, every age they are in is the best age. That is true. But that doesn't mean I don't mourn the age they just were.

I think I've said it before...whenever Hannah has a birthday I say to myself "I can't believe I have an 8 year old". When Jake has a birthday I say to myself "I can't believe I'll never have a 3 year old again." I remember when Hannah was a newborn. I remember when the only noise she was capable of making was a squeak. I remember when she flopped in my arms like a wet dishrag and I could never imagine she would be bigger than a doll. Now she is so much more.

Earlier this year, before Mom and Dad suggested taking Hannah for three weeks, I suggested to Lincoln that we ask Mom and Dad if they would want to take her for a week this summer. He thought it wasn't a good idea because she hadn't been terribly responsible lately - and she hadn't. And then when Mom suggested the idea again we decided that it was an opportunity we couldn't deny her. This was a huge opportunity for her and she deserved it. And she has proven to be so incredibly worthy of this experience. I love hearing from her everyday but even more than that I love hearing from my parents. I love hearing how excited she is about everything and how well-behaved she is. I love hearing that she was "a trooper" during a delayed flight that kept them traveling until 4:00 a.m. I love hearing that she's charming, and social, and a flirt. In May she may have been acting irresponsibly but right now she is blowing me away with her responsibility and I couldn't be more proud.

And that brings me to Jacob. In some ways he has regressed. Poor Lincoln sometimes can't even take a shower without Jake attached to his side like a shadow but on the other hand he just seems that much older. He does things on his own. He figures out solutions he never would have in the past. He is his own little man.

Before Hannah left on her trip I wondered how this would affect us. Would she be homesick? Would I miss her terribly? Would Jake whine and cry without his playmate? While I do miss her terribly the rest of the stuff hasn't happened. Instead my children have matured 10 times more this summer than they have in previous years and I'm not sure I'm ready for that to happen.

But as I sit and ponder this I can trust Jake to put it all back into prospective for me.

Me: Come and hug me. I'm sad.

Jake: Why?

Me: Because I won't ever have a baby anymore.

Jake: Why?

Me: Because you're all grown up. And Hannah's all grown up.

Jake: I told you we should have another baby.

Yeah.....not going to happen.

Cloudy days are good for something

The sun never materalized yesterday so we didn't get to lounge in the pool but at least I got some PTO stuff done that I've been meaning to work on all summer. My plan was to completely revamp the PTO website to be a little more eye catching and user friendly. Click here to check it out. I'm pretty darn proud of it.

Someone to lean on

Reason #1,568,795 why I love my husband

Earlier today I wanted a small ice cube for my drink. Our ice maker only makes big ice cubes so Lincoln ran it under hot water for me until it was just the right size. God I love that man.

Who needs us?

Hannah is obviously having a blast without us.

Nordic Fest with Grandpa Dan:

Living History Museum:

Doing a puzzle with the nuns at the convent: Mom and Dad don't usually tour convents but my aunt is a nun (not pictured) so they went to visit her while they were there.

Relaxing with a good book:

At the Machine Shed:

Snazzy car: