A young Lincoln in training

On Friday night my friend Tracy and I went to a 40th birthday for our friend Tanya. It was a late night out and Tracy crashed in the Treehouse afterwards. The next morning Tracy, Hannah, and I were chilling up in the Treehouse while the boys fed us breakfast. Jake loves nothing better than to serve us in situations like this. At one point, when I had to go down to show him where something was, he got so mad and made me go right back upstairs once I had pointed it out because it was HIS duty to do this and I couldn't help him. Not only did he serve us breakfast upstairs but according to Lincoln he poured, flipped, and plated the pancakes all by himself.

Talk about a little Link in training.

This morning was Link's birthday and I was preparing Link's breakfast in bed. Since this is a rather unusual occurrence in our house Jake naturally asked why it was happening.

Jake: Why do you get breakfast in bed every weekend and Daddy only gets breakfast in bed on his birthday?

Me: Because Daddy spoils me rotten just like you're going to do to your wife someday, right?

It's never to early to start training them.

Best Friends Forever

BFFs

It's a term that is thrown around pretty casually these days....best friends forever....but it is one that has given me much thought over the years.

When I lived in Iowa I had many close friends. My "BFFs" were Rachel and Kelley. I also had incredibly close friends in Shannon, Renee, and Julie. I would consider Rachel and Kelley as my Iowa BFFs even though the three of us never hung out together. It was either me and Rachel or me and Kelley.

When I was two months shy of eleven years old we moved to the suburbs of Seattle. Out there, if I had to pick one (or more) BFFs, it would definitely have been Breanne and Bryan.

Then, after 9th grade, we moved to Arkansas. In Arkansas, hands down, my BFFs were Dawn and Stephanie. I had many other close friends as well...Stefani, Ricky, Scott, etc....but Dawn and Steph were my BFFs.

In college I was very close with Becky and Molly and their friends but I would say my BFF was Carrie. I was also very close with Cyndi but unfortunately we didn't have as much time to get to know each other as we could have.

After I moved to Massachusetts my closest friends were the Walkers. Deb and Michael are much older than me (Deb was my 10th grade teacher) and their daughters, who are my most beloved little sisters, were much younger than me.

I met Lincoln two months after I moved here and not only did I fall in love with him but he also became my best friend. I had other friends through work but I never really hung out with anyone on a regular basis. For the first half of our marriage that was certainly enough. And had nothing changed, that would certainly have continued to be enough.

But then I met Tracy.

I met Tracy the spring before Hannah started kindergarten. That fall our kids were in the same kindergarten class and since then we have been inseparable. She is definitely a BFF.

So where does that leave my other BFFs?

And that is a question that has plagued me for years.

What defines a BFF?

Someone that you're friends with forever? It is in the title after all? BFF stands for Best Friend Forever.

But what if you drop the second "F" and just had Best Friend.

What does Best Friend mean?

Is it your one and only best friend in the entire world? If you had to save one friend from drowning on the Titanic who would it be? Or can you have multiple best friends?

So let's review.....

Rachel: My mother babysat her while she was pregnant with me. I have literally known her since I was born. I am still in constant contact with her and think of her more as a sister than as a friend. My youngest childhood memories are all of her and she (and her husband) are the godparents to Jake.

Kelley: Ahhh....my later younger years. Kelley was older (and wiser). We had such good times together and I am so glad that she was a part of my life. After we moved to Seattle we kept contact through junior high and most of high school but drifted apart a little over the years. She and I were each other's personal assistants at our weddings but since then we haven't been in touch much. I think about her often but unfortunately don't get to talk to her other than on Facebook (although I'm hopeful to see her in a few weeks when I'm back in the Midwest).

Breanne: Another great friend. She and I were inseparable through much of junior high and early high school. Unfortunately we drifted apart after we moved to Arkansas. I greatly value her friendship and I'm glad we've reconnected over Facebook. She was a huge part of my teen years.

Bryan: Ahhh....this is a tricky one. Bryan and I met in 6th grade but didn't become good friends until junior high. After that he was my rock. My everything. The one I could turn to with any sort of problem. I could confess any secret to him. One wiggle of his ears would solve any problem that I had and he was the sweetest, most wonderful person. When I moved away to Arkansas he gave me an old jacket of his. When I called him crying about how miserable I was after we first moved he told me to put on his jacket and pretend that it was him hugging me. I can't tell you how much that helped me through things. Despite the distance Bryan and I continued to be best friends throughout high school and most of college. We attempted dating in college and while it was wonderful it was probably for the best that it didn't work out. That still didn't stop us from being best friends. Whenever Bryan introduced a girlfriend to me she was instantly bitchy because of our close relationship. My boyfriends were also threatened by my relationship with Bryan.

When I first moved to Boston I briefly dated a guy named James. He was nice. I think we went on about three dates. And then one night he threw a hissy fit because I was talking to Bryan on the phone. Well that was the end of that. A few months later I started dating Lincoln and we went on a trip to Niagara Falls, Canada. I remember sitting with him at an outside table at a restaurant and telling him I knew we had a great relationship because he was the first guy ever that I would be willing to give up my relationship with Bryan. Luckily he never asked that of me and when we got engaged he actually planned on asking Bryan to be one of his groomsmen even though he had never met him just because Bryan was so important to me. I told him that wasn't necessary but I have never forgotten that gesture.

Unfortunately Bryan got married a year after us and about two years later he informed me that "since his marriage he was re-evaluating his friendships" and thought it best that we not talk anymore. I haven't spoken to Bryan since May 14, 2003.

I still count him as one of the most influential friends in my life.

Dawn and Stephanie: You can't separate one from the other. Dawn and Steph were my BFFs Junior and Senior year of high school in Arkansas. I can't say enough about them except that they made my life wonderful and made me love living there when nothing else could. I had other great friends there - Sheri, Andrea, Scott, Ricky, and so on and so on - but they were the best. I've unfortunately lost touch with Dawn over the years. Mostly because she's not on email and Facebook, but I'm still in touch with Steph. I haven't seen either of them in years but I still count them amongst my BFFs.

Carrie: I had many great friends in college but my BFF would definitely have been Carrie. I don't know what I would have done without her. I can't put into words how I feel about her but she was a wonderful, funny, perfect part of my college experience.....so much so that she was part of my wedding party ten years ago. Unfortunately, once again, we've drifted apart over the years.

Tracy: Tracy. What can I say about Tracy? We met when our kids were in kindergarten together and we've been inseparable ever since. I have her listed under "family" in my phone groupings and people often mistake us for sisters. She has a standing invitation to Friday Night Mexican night and a key to our house she can use anytime. The treehouse is pretty much hers whenever Mom and Dad aren't visiting. She is definitely my BFF.

And here is where I get confused. BFF is a term that is easily thrown around but "best" friend seems to me like it should be singular. Who is my one best, best, bestest friend in the entire world?

Well, that's a tough one.

In a day-t0-day "who would you want to call up and hang out with" way, I would totally say Tracy. We do everything together.

In a "who has been your one true constant friend for the past 33 years and the one person you would be devastated without" way, I would totally say Rachel.

In a "God-damn it, why is his wife such a horrific bitch?" sort of way, I would say Bryan. But even with that he wouldn't win out over the others.

So.....

In a tsunami, or the sinking of the Titanic, who would I choose to save after my 33 years of friends in 5 states? I would have to say, I would go down trying to save both Rachel and Tracy. But if we had only one floatation device I would give it to Rachel. Tracy and I would just have to hang on and hope a boat arrived soon.

Martha's Vineyard - a photo essay

Martha's Vineyard

I haven't posted anything about our trip to the Vineyard yet because I wanted to post pictures and as much as I love this blog software, it's a pain in the butt to post pictures. So I'm going to at least get this written and then I'll start working on the pictures. I also need to post about our trip to Maine this past weekend.

Our trip to MV was fantastic. Shani and I headed down on Thursday with Tracy, Cliff, Hunter, and Hunter's friend Alex. It was very foggy when we left Cape Cod but by the time we got to the Vineyard the skies had cleared and it was beautiful and sunny. This was especially great since last year we had a mostly cold, rainy, miserable weekend.

Once we got the car unpacked Tracy, Shani and I headed down to East Chop Beach which is closest to the house. The boys and Cliff decided they wanted to stay back at the house so us three girls decided to have some grown-up time at the beach. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun although it resulted in a fairly bad sunburn on my back. Oh well, it was definitely worth it.

After the beach we went back to the house, got Cliff and the boys, and headed out to lunch. Later that day Cliff's daughter and her boyfriend joined us. We ordered pizza and sat around having a few beers and watching the Celtics lose to the Lakers in the NBA finals.

On Friday we all got up and headed over to the beach at Chappy. After we spent a few hours there Shani and I headed back to pick up Link and the kids from the ferry. That Friday was Hannah's last day of school and she had her talent show in the morning. She was doing a jump rope routine with two other girls and there was no way she could miss it. After she finished the talent show the three of them headed down to catch the ferry over to MV.

Friday night Shani stayed with the kids while the grown-ups went out for an "adult only" evening. We headed over to Edgartown and had cocktails at a nice place down on the water. After that we found a great little pub that served racks of beer. After a great dinner we headed back to the house.

On Saturday we had another great day and headed down to East Chop Beach again. Earlier in the morning we had walked down there with Leo and he loved to run around. That afternoon we took him with us to the beach (even though we weren't supposed to) but we couldn't let him run. He basically just curled up on my beach chair and took a nap. The kids had a great time playing in the waves and then we headed back to the house. Cliff's daughter and her boyfriend had left that day and that night Tracy, Cliff, and the boys went out to dinner and the rest of us hung back at the house and Lincoln cooked.

Sunday morning Lincoln and I took the kids and Leo down to the beach. This time we got down there a little earlier so we were able to stay down there for quite awhile before we were supposed to have the dog off the beach. Leo was having a blast and even loved jumping from rock to rock. Sunday ended up being cloudy and windy but it was still hot and humid - with no rain - so once again we headed out to the beach. This time we went to South Beach which is one I have never been to before. It has fantastic sand but the current out there is pretty intense. It was fun to watch the kids play in the waves but it was also a little nerve wracking. It's definitely not a place you can take your eyes off the kids for even a second.

Finally we headed back to the house, packed up and headed home again. This year's trip more than made up for last year's trip and as usual, I'm already looking forward to next year. MV is such a great place for a vacation and when you're there it's hard to believe that you're still in the state. It totally feels like a vacation that you had to travel a long ways to get there.

Hopefully I will get the pictures up soon but first I have to sift through the millions of pictures that I took and pick out my favorites.

Yoohoo! Anyone there?

I realize I've been missing in action for the past few days but I have to say, my mental state these days has not been conducive to witty writings about my life. Work has been quite insane and I'm struggling to find the joy in my job these days. There are certain aspects of my job that I love more than anything and others that make me want to jump off the nearest bridge. I don't even know what is going on in my own head much less have the ability to write about it here. Obviously there aren't many things I can change about my situation given the current economy but that doesn't make it any easier to struggle with some of these issues. In fact, it makes it a lot harder.

Luckily I have a great friend in Tracy, who took me out Saturday night to distract me from all my woes. We had a great girls' night in the city where we went to dinner, saw a concert, and then crashed at a hotel after staying up until the wee hours of the morning chatting. Even better, I have a great husband in Lincoln who then let me come home and take a nice long nap and a hot bath to recover from a long night that would have been merely a blip on the radar back when I was 22 instead of 32.

Maybe I should have sent Hannah over to help her

I may not have any ironing skills but at least I know the basics about sewing. Last night my friend Tracy posted on Facebook that she was wishing needles weren't so hard to thread and of course all her friends were making fun of her because the idea of her sewing is hilarious. This morning I decided to call her at work and check on how she did.

Me: Hello. How's my favorite little seamstress this morning?

Tracy (laughing): Good.

Me: So, why didn't you use one of those needle threaders last night?

Tracy: I just bought this little kit thing. I don't know what was in it. There was a little prong thing in there.

Me: Was there a little silver foil disk with wires sticking out of it?

Tracy: Yes.

Me: That's for threading the needle.

Tracy: Really?

Me: Yes.

Tracy: How?

Me: You stick the little wire through the eye of the needle, put the thread through the bigger hole made by the wires, and then pull it back through with the little silver disk. Voila! A threaded needle!

Tracy: Wow. Cool.

Me: And that "thing with prongs" is a stitch ripper.

Tracy: So that's what a stitch ripper is!

Good Lord. Did she never take Home Ec? I may not be any good at sewing but at least I know what starch is and how an iron works.

A sad state of affairs

Today Lincoln and I took the kids to get their pictures taken. The shirt that I had picked out for Hannah badly needed to be ironed on the collar and arms but I do not iron. Lincoln has - occasionally - ironed in the years that I've known him but neither one of us are really good at it. My friend Tracy irons everything. I mean everything. Even jeans. Every time we go away for a girls weekend or stay overnight in the city she always irons everything she's wearing. It cracks me up because it is completely habitual with her. As soon as we start getting ready to go out she breaks out the hotel iron and ironing board and starts ironing her clothes. When she's done she says "Do you need the iron?" before she puts it away and I always laugh because I never iron anything. On the rare occasion that I iron I either burn the item I'm ironing or I end up walking away with the garment looking as wrinkled as when I started.

When I chose the outfits for the kids to wear today I asked Tracy if she'd come over and help me out by ironing their clothes. I'm sure she laughed at first but quickly realized I was serious and headed over to help me out. When she arrived I dug out our rarely used ironing board and iron and set them up in our bedroom. I think it really hit home to her how rarely - if ever - we iron when Jake walked in the bedroom and asked "What's that thing?"

This is why I do it

Yesterday was Family Fun Night. For the second time since Hannah has been at her school I have chaired the committee for this event. Each year the PTO chooses a theme (literature, math, science, history, geography, etc.) and creates a fun night for the kids to come in with their parents and go around to every room and learn new things through arts and crafts, games, and different exhibits. Each room typically has a few different things plus some activity sheets that the kids can take with them (coloring sheets, connect the dots, etc.)

The first time I did FFN our theme was "Explore the Continents" and these are a few of the main things we did in each room. In Antarctica (which was the room I did) we had snow cones for the kids to eat, a penguin craft, and "snowball" fights with penguin themed beach balls and cotton balls. Africa had a drum circle and the mancala game. Asia had a karate demonstration and a lesson on how to pick up cotton balls with chopsticks. In South America one of the mom volunteers built "the rain forest at night" and actually built a huge tree in an empty classroom and glued plastic birds and frogs to it. She put up white Christmas lights to make it look like a starlit night and as every kid went into the room they were given a flashlight and a list of animals to find. In Australia we had a local animal habitat bring in a few animals including a kangaroo. North America had a wonderful quilting activity and in Europe they got to build the Leaning Tower of Pisa and knock it over plus design their own mosaics.

The theme for this year was History and we told the kids they'd be "traveling through time". Between being sick and not being terribly excited about the room that I assigned myself, I definitely put a lot of the stuff for last night off until the last minute. But the biggest problem that I had was that I could not get the volunteers that we needed because a lot of people weren't willing to step up. Out of about 400 families in the school I managed to get about 15-20 volunteers for this free event benefiting all of our students.

I must say, I was sort of dreading last night because I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I should have known better though. I was blown away by what my committee pulled together. I may not have had a lot of volunteers but the ones that I did were incredibly dedicated. We had six rooms last night. In Music/Toys/Dance we had old games that kids could play including an Atari, an exhibit showing everything from the record player and the 8-track up through the iPod. Tracy dressed up in a poodle skirt and got the kids doing dances from different decades. We had a Colonial room that had so much going on I couldn't possibly describe it all but the kids had 2-3 different crafts to choose from, a Thanksgiving table where they could get stuff to eat, and much more including a woman sitting up on the stage spinning yard. In the Wild West the kids got to pan for gold, got to play in a tepee, and sit around the fire pit. In Transportation there was a wonderful display of all sorts of ways we've developed planes, trains, and cars over the decades and the kids got to make paper airplanes and fly some model airplanes around the room. In Literature/Folklore the kids had story time, a person teaching sign language, and a canoe craft. All the stuff was based from one childhood story or another (Helen Keller, Pocahontas, etc.)

And then there was my room. My hallway actually since I had the 2nd floor hallway in the 1st grade wing of the school. My theme was Communication and I broke that down into five areas: Morse Code, Pony Express, Telephones, Post Office, and IM/Texting. For Morse Code I had a song playing on the CD player called "The Rhythm of the Code" which went through every letter of the alphabet and what it sounds like in Morse Code. For the Pony Express the kids got to make their own pony puppets out of paper, yarn, and wooden sticks. Hannah was a huge help and ran that craft for me during a good chunk of the night. For IM/Texting I had a slide show playing of different text abbreviations (LOL, BRB, TTYL, etc.) and what they translated to. In the Post Office area Lincoln built me a mini post office and the kids got to write their teachers a letter and mail them. For the telephone section I had pictures of everything including the original telephone, the novelty telephones (the hamburger phone for example) the huge, chunky first type of cell phone, the bag cell phone, and everything up through the iPhone. I also had a rotary dial phone that the kids could play with. I think the best part of planning this event was yesterday morning when Jake discovered the rotary dial phone in our office. It was completely beyond his comprehension at first and he could not figure out for the life of him how it worked. He wouldn't put his fingers in the hole but kept trying to push on the printed numbers outside the dial. I wish I had gotten it on video. It was truly priceless.

I had been completely desperate for volunteers so my little sis Kristen said she'd bring me some of her soccer team from Franklin High School. She showed up with SEVEN of her teammates and I could have kissed each and every one of them. They were a huge lifesaver and really helped me pull it all off.

Lincoln was a huge help with the prep work and then spent the entire evening chasing Jake around the rooms once it started. We barely saw Hannah all night. If she wasn't up in the Communications room teaching the kids how to do the crafts she was running around and checking out the other rooms with her friends. Overall it was a great night and even though I was hating every moment leading up to it when it came down to the actual event - and it was running like clockwork - I realized why I do this to myself (and to Lincoln). Because the kids LOVED it. To see them running around and trying new things and exploring new ideas and just plain having a blast, THAT is why I do it. For them.

But as delightful as those shiny, little, happy faces were last night, I'm done. No more. I'm going on record as saying I will never chair another Family Fun Night.

Here is a picture of Tracy getting ready to dance. Notice the boys glued to the Atari game in the background....boys never change. That was evidenced by the fact that whenever someone lost their father (or husband) during the evening they could usually be found playing the Atari.

Jake in the Wild West:

Hannah outside the Wild West jail where kids could toss their parents in jail before paying $1 to bail them out:

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?

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.

We need to get these kids to church more often

This afternoon we braved the clouds and spent the afternoon out at the pool. While it was cloudier than we would have liked we had bursts of sun that were very pleasant. Around 4 p.m. Lincoln fired up the grill and we had a nice little cook out on the pool deck.

Jake: Let's do that thing where we look at the plates.

Me: What?

Jake: The thing where we look at the plates.

(everyone looks at Jake like he's crazy)

Link: Do you mean say grace?

Jake: Yeah.

(Tracy, Cheryl, Lincoln and I all turn our heads away to hide our laughter)

Tracy: Obviously you need to get your child to church more often......just as much as I do.

Jake: Let's all hold hands.

To be fair, in my family when we say grace we don't hold hands.......

Just one of the carnies

Every year over the 4th of July Franklin holds their town carnival. Papa Michael is the co-chair of the carnival and usually also runs the booth sponsored by the Franklin Democratic Committee. This year his daughter Kristen is pretty much in charge of the booth. Every year Lincoln and I volunteer to help at the booth which sells bottled water, pizza, and calzones. While Lincoln and I work the booth Shani takes the kids around on all the rides. She works out a deal with the real carnies that in exchange for food they let her (and the kids) go on rides for free. It's a great deal. Today Hunter, Tracy, and Cheryl joined us and the kids had a blast. Here is a picture of Hannah and Hunter on "The Crazy Bus" ride.

While the kids had a blast, and Jake was even excited that he was tall enough to go on the swing ride right before we left, it didn't end on the best note. Jake ended up throwing up in the car on the way home. Luckily he made it into the trash bucket so there wasn't any real mess. Obviously we need to keep him off the wild wides for awhile. Hannah, on the other hand, LOVES them. She's quite the little daredevil at the carnival.

Here is a picture of Jake and Hannah on the ride that eventually did Jake in....

People in glass houses......LOL

Jake was very concerned about the seagulls while we were down at the beach last weekend and kept asking me where they were. When we were packing up Tracy noticed one on the sand right behind us.

Me: Hey Jake! Look. (pointing at the seagull)

Boy's voice: Look! An eagle!

Tracy: You must be so proud of him.

Me: That was actually your son.

Generation gap

Tracy: I love this song.

Me: Who is it by?

Tracy: JT.

Me: Huh?

Tracy: James Taylor.

Me: Ah. Here is where the generation gap comes in. When you say JT I think Justin Timberlake and you think James Taylor.

More of my favorite Martha's Vineyard pictures

At the beach: Jake and Lincoln had the foam swords at the beach again this year. Don't worry, they defended mankind against the great waves once again. We are all safe for another year.





Twins: Anything that Hunter did this weekend was something that Jake had to do too. If Hunter ordered a hamburger than Jake ordered a hamburger. If Hunter watched the grown-ups play Baggo then Jake did it too. If Hunter sat on the beach......you get the drift.



Ahhh....vacation:
Hannah's crush: Hannah developed a major crush on Mikey this weekend. She hung on his every word and followed him around everywhere.

A brief glimpse of sun: This picture was taken while walking back to the house from town. Usually I get a million of these gorgeous scenery shots while we're down at the Vineyard but this is the only from this summer.

Bike riding: I couldn't get a still shot of Hannah on her bike. She is loving the freedom that she's discovered on her bike this summer and is constantly on the go.

Jake playing catcher: I'll give you three guesses to guess who was batting. And the first two don't count.

Jake "butt boarding" with Mikey:

Climbing trees: My little tomboy in pink.

The Cookie Caper (and the Post Cookie Crash): Lincoln bought a container of cookies on Saturday and Jakey had three of them right in a row.

Laurie: Make sure you ask your Mommy if it's okay to have another cookie.

Jake: They're Daddy's.

As though that justifies everything.

Ahhhhhh......vacation: Tracy enjoys a nice cold Corona.

The end of our long weekend. Our final meal before heading for the ferry:

Busy weekend

The last few days have been incredibly busy. Friday night Hannah, Tracy, Hunter, and I went to the Brad Paisley concert down at the Comcast Center. It was a great show and I highly recommend going to see him if you're a country fan. Hunter is a huge fan of Brad Paisley and knew all the words to the songs. He just sat there with the most mesmerized look on his face the entire time. Hannah is less thrilled with concerts but I think she had a fun time anyway.

Saturday morning Hannah had Little League and it was a beautiful sunny day. The kids played a good game although now that it is kid pitch they don't actually do much hitting which is rather unfortunate. The other team had a pitcher yesterday who threw a great fast ball but didn't have much control. Unfortunately he took out a few kids in the process. Hannah got a nice hard ball on the hip but luckily she just shook it off and took her base. She is usually such a baby when it comes to injuries but when she's playing with the boys she does a great job of taking everything in stride.

Saturday afternoon Hannah, Tracy, and I hung out at the pool. Hannah and I are still the only two that are willing to brave the cold water but we all had a great time just hanging out and enjoying the sun. Jake is definitely going to grow up to be just like his father. He kept coming out and asking us if we wanted lemonade and then he'd bring us out a glass. Then he wanted to serve us something "on a tray" so he took our orders for snacks and brought them out to us. It was a very fancy bowl of Cheez-its and cheese and crackers. He will make a GREAT husband someday.

Saturday evening Kristen came up to babysit and Lincoln and I headed out for dinner and then to see Kathy Griffin at the Wang CitiCenter before going to a late showing of The Hangover at the movie theater. The "double feature" date was us taking advantage of having a babysitter that we didn't have to worry about wanting us to rush home. Kristen just ended up crashing here and heading home in the morning. Today was supposed to be Hannah's last day of Little League, and my day to work the snack shack at the baseball fields, but luckily it poured rain all night and has continued on and off all day. Instead of baseball we're all spending a quiet day at home. The kids are playing Clue in the next room, Lincoln is doing laundry, and I'm working on getting our stuff organized for our upcoming trip to Martha's Vineyard.

This week is Hannah's last week of 2nd grade. It's hard to believe she's going to be a 3rd grader next year. She has class on Monday, a field day on Tuesday, and a half day on Wednesday and that's it for 2nd grade. I remember her starting kindergarten like it was just the other day. Times flies by way too fast.

I swim down a river with Al Gore and Lincoln still gets the last word in

Me: I just had the strangest dream.

Lincoln: Oh yeah?

Me: Tracy drew the state of Texas on my cheek while I was sleeping.

Lincoln: What?

Me: Yeah. And for some reason I have a dresser full of clothes at work. Kayla and Hannah were there and I asked Hannah "Did Tracy draw the state of Texas on my cheek?" and she said "Yes" so I decided to leave it on there and change into an old "Don't mess with Texas" t-shirt that I used to have. I was wet from swimming down a river with Al Gore.

Lincoln: So Tracy, Kayla, and Hannah were all there with you? What, no hubby?

Me: Well apparently you were off doing something which is why I had Kayla and Hannah with me at work. You and Jake were off somewhere.

Lincoln: Therapy probably.

She's no Curt Schilling

Hannah's Little League team started out this season as "coach pitch". A few games ago they switched over to "kid pitch". I didn't figure that Hannah would ever actually do any pitching. She loves playing but her heart definitely isn't in it like some of these little boys who are fantastic at the game. The really cool thing though is that she is game for anything. She is the only girl on the team and nothing seems to intimidate her. I was really surprised when they asked her to play catcher one day but she loved it. She has done it a couple of times since then.

Last Sunday was a beautiful day for a Little League game. Tracy and I were sitting on the hill in the sun watching the game. Her son Hunter is also on the team and in the videos below he's the one catching. Lincoln had Jake off playing in the shade but was standing and watching the game.
As a new inning was starting we watched Hunter get suited up to play catcher. All of a sudden I could have sworn I heard the coach say "Hannah" and "pitch" in the same sentence. I looked at Tracy and said "What did he just say?" and then up at Lincoln who was looking at me with an equally astonished look on his face. Yep, Hannah was headed out to the pitchers mound.

Hannah is okay at baseball. I would say she's average at batting, catching, and throwing but she doesn't love the sport enough to practice when she's not at a game so she's not great at it. I was a little worried she wouldn't be able to pitch and people would get frustrated with her. She was a little wild and she did load the bases with a lot of walks (and give up a few points along the way) but no one said a single thing about it. Even the boys that are really intense about their baseball were very encouraging about her pitching. Tracy said she was impressed that Hannah even agreed to do it and said she didn't know if Hunter would have. Hannah managed to get a few good ones across the plate and a few boys managed to get hits off of her but she did awesome.

Despite my nervous laughter in the videos I was incredibly proud of her. Like I said, she shows no fear out there and absolutely no self doubt. It is amazing to watch such a self-confident little girl handle herself in a "boys world".

I think my favorite part is at the end of the 2nd video when Hunter throws her the ball and she misses it. Another kid scoops it up and tosses it to her and she misses again as it heads back towards home plate. Instead of getting flustered or embarrassed she makes a joke of it and just yells "It's not keep away!" That's my girl.

Update on the Snow's

I'm sorry that I really haven't posted much this week except for a few quick updates on our doctor appointments. This week has been a doozy. On top of the usual things life throws our way I've also been dealing with the scheduling of doctors appointments, tracking down yearbook waivers, and of course, working on the yearbook itself. Wednesday night I also went with Tracy to see Katy Perry at the House of Blues, Thursday night was my PTO board meeting, and tonight is the Math Family Fun Night (isn't that an oxymoron?) and basket raffle. The few minutes that I actually have to sit down and not do anything the last thing I want is to be sitting at a desk and typing on my computer. I just want to veg.

So.....quick recap on everything I didn't write about this week:

KATY PERRY: Great show! Tracy and I had a great time and Katy puts on a fantastic show. Tracy even bought me a Katy Perry cherry chapstick from the merch stand. I told her I would treasure it as much as the NKOTB key chain she got me at their concert last year. It's the little things that make me happy.

PTO BOARD MEETING: I made it through the board meeting without volunteering to be on next year's board. I really need a break. I did, however, volunteer to chair the Fall Family Fun Night but that is something that I had really wanted to do this year but it didn't happen because of my other commitments. I chaired a FFN back in November 2006 and I loved doing it. The theme that year was "Around the World" and we set up seven rooms as the seven continents. We had sno-cones in Antarctica, karate demonstrations and lessons on using chopsticks in Asia, we had a drum group in Africa, a kangaroo (yes, a live one!) in Australia.....you get the drift. Next Fall I'm doing a Time Travel one to tie into History and Social Studies lessons. I'm actually really excited about it.

MATH FAMILY FUN NIGHT/BASKET RAFFLE: Tonight is the Math FFN which I honestly just don't see as potentially fun but I'm sure it will be for the kids. The co-chairs have put a lot of work into it and my understanding is there is a train theme and kids get to go around to different "train stops" and play games that fool them into thinking that math doesn't suck. (Gee, can you tell how I felt about math class through my educational years?) This is also the night of the PTO spring fundraiser which is a basket raffle. Each classroom chooses a theme and the kids all bring in one item that goes with their classroom theme. The baskets are then raffled off. Hannah's class chose the New England Patriots/Football as their theme so Hannah contributed a Patriots' Monopoly game. I co-chaired this event last year with my friend Denise and I have to say, I'm glad I'm not doing it again. It's a lot of work and I would have loved to have been involved again but there is no way I could do it at the same time as the yearbook without me ending up curled in the fetal position and Lincoln wanting to divorce me and the kids turning me in to Child Services for having abandoned them. See Lincoln....I am learning how to say "no" to things.

This weekend brings more yearbook (what else?), a hair appointment, and about a million other things that I don't have time for but the good news is that I talked Hannah out of having her slumber party this weekend. I just couldn't do it. I told her we'd choose another weekend sometime soon but neglected to tell her that it probably won't be until the end of May. This weekend is out, next weekend is Easter, the weekend after that is our trip to Niagara Falls, the weekend after that is April Break (which a lot of people go out of town for), the next weekend is Derby weekend, and then Grandma and Grandpa are out here the following weekend so that puts us into middle or late May for her slumber party. I'll just sell it to her as an "end of the school year party" if she complains about it. I'm certain I can get her to buy into that.

And that's all folks..... Thank you for reading the latest installment on the crazy life of the Snow Family.

The bubble has popped

Despite my euphoria from being on vacation for 17 days Real Life came back rather quickly. By Tuesday morning I was awake at 4:17 a.m. with thoughts of everything that I have to get done at work, at home, and for the PTO. Ah....stress......gotta love it.

The morning started off a little hectic anyway since Jake had his 4-year old physical. About 20 minutes before we had to leave for the doctor's office he managed to run full speed into the kitchen counter (he claimed he didn't know it was there!) and ended up with a huge purple bruise and a cut on his cheek. A lovely way to take your child to the doctor for a check-up. Luckily his black eye was long gone.

Jake's appointment went well. He gained 4 pounds and 4 inches in a year which puts him in the 88th and 89th percentile respectively. In other words, he's a tall boy. The good news is he's proportionate so he doesn't look like he's a "big" boy. His BMI is actually a very healthy 16%. Jake was not terribly happy about the appointment because he had to get one finger prick (for his blood test) and three vaccinations including the flu vaccine. With his current obsession about skeletons he started crying and asked "Do I have holes in me now?"

After Jake's appointment I managed to get to work just in time to slip into staff meeting without being late (to staff meeting, not work....for that I was an hour and fifteen minutes late). Since it was the first one of the year it was a long one. Then in the afternoon I had five interviews back-to-back-to-back. Needless to say I didn't get much work done.

After work I headed over to the hospital to visit my friend Tracy. She had surgery on Monday afternoon to replace a bulging disc in her neck. It was a pretty intensive surgery and her recovery is going to be a long one but at least she'll hopefully be able to function without pain from now on once she's healed.

This morning I actually have a little time to catch up on things around the house and for the PTO. We have a nice little ice storm right now so the office is opening late which helps out a lot. Tonight I'll go visit Tracy again and then tomorrow night is my PTO board meeting and Friday morning is pre-school Open House where we hope to get Jake enrolled in the program for next year.

Is it time for my 2009 holiday break yet?