We've been......

BUSY! Oh, man, we've been so busy. Too busy. Busier than I'm comfortable with. Last week in particular was insane. Special services 3 nights at church, baseball, soccer, dance pictures, birthdays, recitals....YIKES! Somehow we managed through. Sometimes I'm amazed that our schedule does somehow always work out....mostly. Usually we are able to juggle things and make it happen, however, I am so looking forward to the lazy dog days of summer. Nothing's ever really 'lazy' around here, but we do slow down for a few months. No school, no sports, no dance, no lessons.

Here's a synopsis of the last couple weeks:

We've worked on my Dad's CD. Me, my 2 sisters, and even the kids have helped out a few of the songs.

C4 got to play drums for one of the traks.

Levi wanted to.



We've been hanging out with Jonathan, Andrea, and Gabby now that they are back for the summer from Texas.

Andrea celebrated her 30th! Jonathan very sweetly arranged an intimate dinner party, decorated the room and prayed a sweet blessing over her life.

Andrea is annoyingly cute, always looking like she stepped off the cover a magazine. She's fun to hang out with...no drama, just easy to be with. She has a great attitude. It's been so great to have her for a sister-in-law, even if I usually look like Raggedy Ann next to her!

And Little Levi (my nephew) turned 1!

Bethany made the cake!

As the weather gets nicer we've tried to be outside more and more.

Rocco loves being outside, particularly in this car. In and out, in and out. Open shut, open shut.

Yes, we've been busy. Running here, running there. So busy that we've resorted to emergency pit stops along the way!

3 sweet Rocco videos

Madison took this video. She taught him to sing, "If you're happy and you know it say 'Da-da'", which is all he really says at this point, but it's very cute!

Here I am doing it with him on another day.

He also does the cutest thing when I lay him down for naps or bed. He sits up for an obligatory protest. I cover his shoulders with a blanket. He grasps it around his neck like a cape and then lays down to head to dream land. (This one's not quite as good as usual because he was distracted by the camera, but you get the idea.)

I pray that God will forever burn these moments into my memory.

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day was a little different this year. In year's past we've had traditions like breakfast in bed or, more recently, going to the cabin in Maine, but this year Madison had her 6th and final competition over 2 hours away, which meant an overnight at a hotel. Since it was Mother's Day, we decided to make it a family trip.

On Saturday, Madison danced her two tap numbers. This was a tap only competition which was very unique. Then we went to the hotel's indoor pool. That was fun for Madison to swim with all her dance friends. After, we headed to a mall so that we could celebrate Mother's Day. Colombo had found a Cheesecake Factory. While we waited, we found a Lego store. C4 and Nathanael were in heaven.

Dinner was delicious and the cards from Colombo and the kids were very, very special. Colombo made me a Top Ten Reasons We Love Mom--the 2010 version. It was cute. The kids also took turns having some fun with my camera.

During dinner I received a text that said Music, Music, Music (Madison's duet) had been chosen to perform in Sunday's showcase. WOW! Out of 41 dances, they selected 4 for the special showcase and hers was one of them.

Back at the hotel, the kids went swimming again and then we all found a cozy spot in the room and went to sleep. Madison and I quietly got ready and slipped out of the room at 7:30. She had a tap class to be at. The professional tappers who were the judges also held a one hour intensive for each skill level.

We returned to find the boys just getting up. Next on the list? The pool, of course!

After we got ready, checked out, and headed back to the school for Madison's showcase rehearsal. For this showcase, the dancers danced with a live band, so they had to rehearse with them. During rehearsal, they played Happy Feet and served popcorn to all the kids. That was a treat for Trevor.

Finally, it was time for the showcase and awards. The pros impressed us with their tapping. The live band was a fun twist. The duet scored very well, even earning a special judge's award.

Northstar Competition Team with the pros...

We hit the road, picked up pizza, and got home by 7:00. A fun-filled weekend!

LOVE

Lisa took some pictures of Rocco and myself the other day while we were swapping kids. We didn't pose. She just happened to have her camera. I LOVE them! And I still can't decide which edit I like, so here's all of them. Those big blue eyes melt me!

Times Have Changed

We were outside tonight around 8:30 pm. The sky was completely clear. It was a beautiful navy blue color, turning from the bright blue of the day to the dark of the night. There was one, very bright star in the sky. The north star maybe, or maybe a planet??? I don't know. I never did like science. Regardless, Nathanael said, "Mom, look at that star. It looks like a mouse." I said, "What do you mean?", thinking of a small, gray rodent. He said, "On the computer. It looks like the mouse on the screen." He meant the white arrow cursor on the computer screen. --I'm getting old! (But he was totally right!)

"Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." -Dr. Seuss, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Saying Goodbye

We said our final farewell to Gunner. We decided to have him cremated and we wanted to bury his ashes in the yard. Since the kids never got to say goodbye, we thought this would be helpful to them.
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Last Wednesday the vet called and said, "Gunner's ready to be picked up and come home." It made me sad. That's not the way I wanted to bring him home.

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Sunday afternoon was a beautiful day. We were doing some work around the house outside, Rocco was playing in his stroller, the kids were in the pool. We all agreed it was a day that Gunner would have LOVED...hangin' with the fam.

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I found a quiet, shady spot for him underneath the pine trees. I dug a hole deep enough for the box of ashes and a plant I bought as a memorial. I didn't make it a big deal. I called the kids over and explained what we were going to do. I didn't want to go over the top with a big, formal thing. In fact, I didn't even have my camera, but in the end I got a couple shots on my cell phone. It seemed like a very natural sequence of events.

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I opened the box to show them the ashes. C4 asked if he could put the box in the hole.

I explained that this was our chance to say goodbye. I asked the kids if anyone wanted to say anything. They didn't, but after a few quiet minutes, Madison ran into the house and grabbed the cards that her and Nathanael had written to Gunner. She placed them in the hole on top of the box. Later Colombo folded them and placed them in the box.

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Then we all just sat in the shade of the trees, in the gentle breeze, the quiet of a sunny Sunday afternoon and cried together. Not the loud, dramatic kind of cry, just each in our own way, weeping for our loss. Reflective. Subtle. And somehow special.

After a little while, I offered to the kids that they could throw some of the dirt into the hole. They covered the box and then I placed the plant, a Bleeding Heart. C4 actually took notice of the tag and thought it was very fitting.
I told the kids that now if they missed him they were welcome to come 'visit'. Nathanael said later he was quietly praying for Gunner. Trevor still brings it up here and there and every time says, "That's sad 'cause Gunner got sick. He's not coming back."

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Just today I was moving Rocco onto the grass with a toy. Trevor, very emphatically, said "No, Mom. Don't put Rocco on the grass. Remember Gunner got sick." Somehow in the chaos he picked up that Gunner was poisoned by the fertilizer. He wasn't, but I was so touched that Trev made the link in his brain and was so, so concerned about Rocco's welfare.

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I think the kids have processed it. I'm happy with how we handled it. It may not have been necessary, but it seemed very cleansing for us all.