Embrace it.

I have a thing for sepia tones.........and skewed faces,

and sunny summer days,

and leaning-in-in-love pictures,

and loving families taking a break after hard work,

and Aidan's nose and cute little clusters of mushrooms,

and children's expressions... on their faces

and in their art,

and good friends, hilarious conversation and golden birthdays!

Happy Golden Birthday STACEY!!!

From left to right here are 4/5ths of the lunch crew enjoying Stacey's birthday dinner- Brad, Sara, The Beautiful Birthday Girl Stacey and me.

Thank you for inviting us to share in your celebration!!!

With you...

life is


laughter-filled!
Thank you Andria for tee-hee'ing with me tonight during our chat! I needed that and I needed some sister time.


heart-swelling!
Thank you Nadia for being patient and so well behaved at the MESA ceremony. You make me proud.


to be appreciated!
Thank you Tony for turning on "Make Me a Supermodel" without me asking you to, even though it makes you cringe. Love you.


eye-opening!
Thank you student who shared your story with me yesterday. I haven't stopped thinking about all you have overcome and I think you are amazing. I admire your strength, your positive attitude and your coping skills. I have high hopes for you.


promising!
Thank you Aidan for making better choices and being so polite yesterday. You are showing me that you are learning to ask yourself how your choices affect other people. I love your perseverance.


comforting!
Thank you Sara for responding to my email this morning. Seems simple but I really needed a distraction so I wouldn't go insane from spring fever. You are always there.


thought provoking!
Thank you blog world (people like her and her) and the farming game on facebook. If it were not for you I think I would have lost my ever-loving mind these past few weeks as I try to wrap up the end of the school year and move on. You help keep things interesting!

warm!
Thank you Dad for saying I love you on the phone.

rejuvenating!
Thank you calender for promising me family time. I won't let you down!

Making my own excitement!

While Tony was cutting up our little orange bug and sending it off for scrap I was amusing myself with found art. Here are some of the results...

I love peonies (pronounced pee-o-nees if you grew up in Huntsville). These were a gift from Tony, Aidan and Nadia last Mother's day.

"Stop and smell the peonies".

The older I get, the more I want to live my life with this in mind.

Shadows are beautiful to me. When Aidan was a baby, and we had just moved to Tri-cities, we would occupy our time by playing shadow. My childhood memories include walking down our road enjoying stretching and squishing my shadow into different forms. Here as one child gifts a clover to another you seem to be drawn into their two dimensional world much like you are a story. It evokes emotions blah blah blah...

the truth is my kids were running around topless this morning and I didn't want to showcase any ta-ta's.

I think this unicorn is thinking of greener pastures.

You have a good life little unicorn. It doesn't get any better than this. Besides, if you cross into that pasture the goat will eat your cotton-y goodness.

Mom, part deux

When I said she is there for me when I need her most, well, that was an understatement. Today in one of my least favorite parenting moments I realized that one of my Mom's biggest strengths as a parent is being a wonderful listener. She let me vent about all things wrong in my parenting life. I just wanted someone to say "I understand". She did. Thank you Mom. I love you and no, I won't put your picture on here even though I think you are beautiful.

Hi Mom!

Today a dear friend of mine had a scare with her mom's health and it made me remember how important it is to be thankful of every moment we have with our loved ones. My friend's mom is OK, but a scare, none the less, leaves you shaken. The look of worry on her face pained my heart. My concern was for her and for her mom whom I have grown to love dearly. Among the reasons that I love her mom is one of a deep understanding for the growing pains of a mom/daughter relationship.

My mom is so many wonderful things and so many frustrating things all wrapped up into a strong, out-spoken and beautiful woman. She can hear in my voice when I am sad or worn out. She is there for me when I need her most...like tomorrow when Aidan will spend another day on the couch with an unrelenting fever. I want my children to be well. I feel like this year has been particularly hard on their health. Secretly (or not so secretly since I am blogging about it) I am happy that he gets some undivided Grammie time.



side note.... blogger is being a putz because it won't let me post a picture, but maybe that is for the best since the only one I have of my mom and myself is after a day of working in the yard.

Tomorrow is a big day!

For those that know the stress I have been under this past year probably have heard me say that tomorrow is my National Board Assessment (but maybe they don't remember because I only told them 27 times and not the required 28 times in three weeks as research has shown to be the most effective amount of times necessary for long term memory). But that is not why tomorrow is a big day.

He is!

Tomorrow marks the 9th year of wedded bliss for the Tonester and I. Ahh Mawaige, sweet mawaige.
Tony and Mel.
The Bacharts.
Uncle Fester and Morticia Adams.
High school sweethearts.
Next door neighbors.
but I digress...
And marriage has been bliss. And by bliss I might mean that sometimes "he does not listen and she leaves a trail of shoes and clothing behind her" but it is bliss none the less.

Here are my top nine blissful reasons to love this man!
9. Tony does all of the vacuuming (don't fall off your chair, but I don't even know how to work our vacuum). Actually I come home to a clean house most Friday's. How lucky am I?
8. Tony respects my need for practicality and therefore buys me gifts with longevity. Thank you for the flat screen monitor honey!
7. Tony feeds the stray cats because he loves animals. Now just because he loves them does not mean he wouldn't prefer all of our cats outside, but he knows how much they mean to me so he tolerates them.
6. Tony is notoriously impatient, but has immense patience for me when I am under stress.
5. Tony is a visionary. You should see his plan for the backyard! It may take a while, but it will be everything we need.
4. Tony calls me every morning to make sure I am awake and doesn't mind that I call him back 45 minutes later after I have dropped the kids off at school to talk for the next 11 minutes on the way to work.
3. Tony is determined. I have many examples of this but the one that I don't think even he has recognized is that he is amazing at grilling. Seems simple, but he was really terrible at it in the beginning (sorry babe) but he never gave up. He even has a couple of signature dishes now.
2. Tony is the reason I have the exact family I wanted. He gave all of these wonderful qualities to Aidan and Nadia (and a few infuriating ones, but they too are the reasons I love him).
1. Tony is my best friend. Tony-I love you. I always have, I always will.

Why me?

I sit here, face a-wash with the Eastern rising sun, catching up on blogs and facebook when I hear the clank-clank pause for a moment. In walks the most wonderful man on the planet. He has paused emptying the dishwasher to bring me a cup of coffee. Yesterday Aidan told me that he loved me more than any boy could love his mom. Being Aidan, he said this matter of factual like he was reading from an encyclopedia. Nadia read me her Mother's day card and looked at me intently to say I love you mom. I have always felt lucky but it is good for the soul to reflect on why once in a while. Sure, there are plenty of bumps and tears along the way, but I can't help but feel very, very blessed. I have a loving family and friends and I thank them all for making me feel this way.

Easy like Sunday morning

Late, late morning. And WOW!

Enough said.

The story of Noir

Meet Noir. Named by Aidan. She is a stray who we have befriended because of the despicable behavior of our neighbor, but I digress...Every few days Noir shows up on our back step for a bite to eat.
Today she was noticed by more than just the humans.

Alice: Wow, man you gotta check this out. Something is not right out there.

Alice: I'm SER-I-OUS. Get over here MAN!

Alice: This makes me very uncomfortable man. Quick, come see!

Alice: See, I told ya! Weird huh? What do you think they are doing?

Spark: Uhhhhhhhh I dunno, uhhhhhh whose there?

Alice: Look man, I think we should be worried. I don't like this one bit. This doesn't look good man.

Spark: Is that a cat?

Alice: Please don't do this... don't you see what I already have to put up with? Whoa, is this dejavu???

Noir: HeeHee Hee

Narrated by Tony.