Give Thanks

I hope your Thanksgiving was Blessed and full of Thanks.

Love, from the Wards
& the Epiphany Children's Choir

Autumn with the Wards

Since I've done a terrible job keeping up with things, I wanted to throw together a bunch of pictures, and why not just use my favorite web 2.0 tool - ANIMOTO to do it.  I finally broke down and bought a subscription so I might as well use it.

Here are some major orange - fall-like pics of the Ward kids.  Oh, and a not-so-fall Homecoming pic of Lanie as a crown bearer during the LSA halftime show.  I had to include it - I knew I never would get around to writing about how she really didn't want to get in front of an entire crowd and walk across a football field,  but how her sister changed her mind, oh and everyone else who knew she'd been asked - tried to convince her.  When she finally decided she could handle it and not hide behind my leg the entire time, she actually surprised me with her determination. I always like those kind of kid surprises.

Anyway, here's to just a lot of pics of kids and pumpkins and trick or treating (& crown bearers.)

Have a wonderful weekend.

10 on 11-12-13

40 and 10

Is it possible?  Did I really just celebrate a milestone 40 years only to follow it up two weeks later with my baby turning 10??  Was it really that long ago?  Have we really been parenting for a decade?
It's 11-12-13 (love when it works out like that) but almost midnight.  I just went into Elijah's room, just one more time to tell him happy birthday (even though he's asleep) and to tell him that I love him.  These past ten years have got to be THE decade of the most change in my life.  I went from a newly married gal working 10-12 hour days to a clueless parent of a fussy, reflux-plagued baby with a towhead.  And I didn't even know what tow-head meant until I had him. Then he moved into this rascal who craved constant motion and  loved parking cars, trains, and all things involving his dad and a ball.  How quickly and smoothly he's moved into a school kid who loves sports, loves reading and still loves constant activity - only now with his video games.

I think I'm going to love double digits.  I asked Elijah earlier to tell me what will make age ten different.  His response was so mature:  "I know I'll have more responsibility but I'll also get to do a lot more things for kids like ten years and up."  When I asked him what's one thing he wanted to do before he turned 11, he told me he wanted to stay at the house for a whole night by himself.  This coming from the kid who told me just yesterday he wasn't sure he wanted to go to a sleepover camp next summer because he likes being at home more.  When I questioned a "whole night" he quickly changed that to "Just an hour or so."  Maybe just a small dose of independence - but not too much.

My baby is trying to grow up and sometimes I want to let him.  I like to imagine him as an 17 or 18-year-old, trying to figure out his future.  Other times, okay, usually, I want to sit down with him on his bed and talk about old times.  I want to remind him of all the baby things he did, of all the crying it out, the temper tantrums, the crazy made-up games, of all the funny things he's said.  He's my first and (sadly to my girls) I have clearer memories of him.  I don't want to let them go.  And while I have umpteen pictures, there's nothing better than a "remember when" story.  My kids relish those moments. They love to be the star of the story.

And today Elijah was the star.

I will relish 10.  It's a good age.
Of course you'll need to remind me of that when I'm rolling my eyes at the armpit noises in the backseat, but yeah, I like double digits.  It's looking good so far.

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Picture side note:  Elijah spent his birthday with a few friends at Dave and Buster's.  His favorite game -- 4 person Pac Man.  Who would have guessed?

My kind of Hill

     

 
      I just finished watching the Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy movie "Before Midnight."  If you've been a fan favorite like me and journeyed the past 20 years with this dialogue-driven movie from the onset, with "Before Sunrise" while I was in college (1995), followed by "Before Sunset" (2004) a decade later, and now, "Before Midnight" you would be as contemplative as I am now.   In the first movie, the young couple who meet on a train while in Europe and spend the rest of the evening walking and talking are 23-years-old.  I remember how much the movie resonated with me.  It was one you had to sit quietly for to hear all the phrases, the nuances, the meanings.  These two characters Jesse and Celine were the epitome of me and my analytical ravings at that age.  I loved this movie, I ached with the characters in this movie.  It's strange now to watch these same characters, aged and consumed by a few decades of life, worry, work and kids.  And how apropos that Kenny and I choose this third installment of the characters, who are now forty, to watch tonight - just days after making the turn to my forties.

      To be honest, When I saw the big 4 - 0 on a card my mom gave me, it took me by surprise.  The number carried such weight with it. For so long, I've been proud to be older, wiser, full of clearer perception.  Not this time.  I have instead felt, what's that word we throw around - - old. 

But this isn't something I tend to dwell on, at least not in this blog post.  I'll save that for my dear husband, who despite my complaints of wrinkles and gray hair, put it upon himself to create for me the best "turning 40" birthday weekend a girl could ask for.  I keep telling him this, so I'll tell you, I don't deserve his kindness, I really don't.  He put together a 4-star weekend of activity at a super-duper, not our regular Super 8 kind of hotel, with a planned itinerary and all.  I feel like a high school girl bragging about her "best boyfriend ever!"  But brag I will.  The highlight of the birthday was being able to check off one more item from my TTBID (things to do before I die) list that I created when I was in the 8th grade -- "ride in a hot air balloon."  It was amazing for me to be up in the air but not in a stuffy airplane, to be an adventurer but not have to bungie jump from anything scary, to put my safety into the hands of some balloon hobbiest I didn't even know.  Now I want to ride a balloon in every single state. Kenny may not be so glad he opened this basket of worms.  

     Tuesday the 29th came and carried with it such fanfare - an egg and bacon breakfast brought to my room (while I rushed around getting ready for work), a small get-together over my favorite mexican food and margaritas, wonderful friends and their considerate gifts, and kind words that made me cry; I was overwhelmed.  I was so deflated when the clock struck midnight, and that day was over.  Now, I'm just 40 and the anticipation is gone.  T h i s   i s   i t.  This is what it looks like.  I've arrived.  (Though my 50 and 60-year-old friends would say I'm still a young chicken.)  Now I get to see how the other side of the hill looks.  I'm hoping for green pastures, long walks as opposed to tumbling and falling,  and sunsets that slowly fall off the horizon in a splash of pinks and oranges and reds.  Yes, that's it. Oh, and lots of hot air balloons.  That's my kind of hill. That's my 40. 

Post balloon ride - followed by a champagne toast, a Balloon certificate, and a kiss