Aaron On Housekeeping and Hormones

Aaron, upon walking into the kitchen and finding it clean:

"Sweeeeeet...you did the dishes!"

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Aaron, after listening to me vent to Troy (over the phone) about Cameron's general poor attitude and pre-pubescent sulking:

"I used to be the bad* one...and now it's Cam. Cool, huh?"


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Aaron dropped an open bottle of pills and they scattered across the kitchen floor. He and I were down on hands and knees looking near the baseboards and using a flashlight to look under the stove. It shone on crumbs and dustbunnies, a juicebox straw and general nastiness.

"Eeeewwwww," I said, "Aaron, this is gross...I'm sorry it's such a pigsty."


"That's okay...we're used to it."

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After an emotional outburst from Cam, complete with stomping feet and a dramatic exit (the hormones, people, the hormones!!!!), Aaron asked,

"What's up with Cam?"

"He's going through a hard time."

"He's being a jerk*."

"No, he's just having some grumpy pre-teen feelings."

"I'm gonna go with jerk* on this."

And I quietly thought in a whispery voice, "Okay, me too."

(Just kiddin'. Cam! Even for a grumpy tween, I think you're great! Super, even. Mama just needs to give you a little space to spread your wings, huh? But in case I forget, cut me a little slack, okay?)

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Disclaimer: I have never ever ever called anyone in the family "bad", "jerk", or any other name. Ever.

Happy Birthday, Aaron

Nine years old! How did that happen?

Here we are on Aaron's Gotcha Day - he was two days old. Nope, can't even describe how it feels to be chosen, to be given a baby. For once I really don't have any words that seem adequate, but I think the picture tells it pretty well.

Aaron's hair was slicked down tight - and I mean really, really tight.

The next morning, we found out why...

Oh, my!!!
We got the hair thing (somewhat) under control...and then his head...um... his head started...growing.


And growing...


And growing...

(this is just about my most favorite picture ever!)

Oh Aaron,

We've had some moments like this:

hopefully, more of this:
a lot of this: (we're camping...I don't wear makeup or wash kids' faces)
and this:
and this:

and definitely a lot of this...


Aaron, you are so loved. You make me laugh, you make me want to be a better Mom, you make me proud, you make me a little crazy sometimes, and you make me feel loved.


Every single day, you make me happy.

Love, Mom

Birthmom Sabrina, Aaron, and me - how lucky are we?

Happy Birthday Aaron!!!

Fallen Woman

Don't you think that 39 years old is just too old to be falling off your bike and getting all scraped and scabby?

Yeah, me too.

For Mother's Day, I got my bike shoes and clips that allow me to fasten my feet right on to the pedals. I click them into place and it gives me a more powerful and efficient push/pull action. It makes for a fabulous ride. However, if I don't get them clicked out of the pedals before I come to a stop...I will fall. Hard.

It hurts.

On the bright side, I imagine that it looks hilarious.

It also got me tons of sympathy from the little kids I read with at the school. They felt so bad for me and in a show of empathy, pushed up their pant legs and sleeves to reveal their own scabby scrapes. They wondered why an adult would fall off her bike.

I tried to explain about the shoes and the clips and how I was stuck to my bike and couldn't put my feet down (!), but they didn't get it. They just think I'm a klutz.

I'm trying not to pick at it.

Good grief...this happened clear last week. I'm much better at unclicking my feet now. I even went on a big ol' 36 mile bike ride last weekend! More on that (and with pictures!) later.

Movie Actor Movie

Good morning!

Starting the game off with:

Terms of Endearment
(can you watch this and not cry?)

Go.

A Bad Morning. A Very Bad Morning.

I called Troy the other day (he was in San Francisco) and asked how he was doing.

"I had a really bad morning."

Now generally speaking, even when Troy thinks that he's had a bad morning, it doesn't even compare to what I have to go through in my mornings. I'm the one waking up sleepy, grumpy boys, checking backpacks and finding unfinished homework, digging to find socks and favorite pairs of shorts in the piles of laundry, dealing with Aaron's moods, breakfast for all and trying to be out the door (with everyone happy) on time. Even on the best of mornings, it gets a little stressful. On the worst mornings, at least two out of the three of us are in tears.

So sorry, Troy. Your "bad" mornings are usually about a load not being ready on time and you having to wait. Or finishing your book on tape and not having another one to listen to. Or getting all worked up over the subject on your talk radio. Or when it's only 70 degrees instead of the balmy 75 that you are used to in San Francisco. Yessiree, your mornings can be tough.

But since I love him, I asked why his morning was so bad.

"I was coming out of a parking lot that had a steep driveway, and my trailer got stuck at the top."

"What?"

"My trailer got high-centered."

"Your 53 foot trailer...got high-centered?"

"Yes."

"BWAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHA! HEHEHEHEHEHE! HEEHEEHEEHEE!"

"Yeah, that's pretty much the reaction that everyone has."

In defense of my extreme enjoyment of this story, no one was hurt, and it didn't cost us any money. Troy called a towing company and after being quoted nearly $600 to fix the situation, he decided to just wait for another driver from his company to show up and pull him off the hill. The only cost there was having to hear the driver laugh (and laugh and laugh) and then pass on this awesome story to everyone at Troy's company.

Turns out, Troy was right.

He did have a bad morning.