And summer fades

I have a five-year old. Yes, it's an obvious statement, but I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that my little Gus is five years old. I remember when he was a baby and having a 5-year old seemed so far away, so foreign.

August at 3 months-just look at that fuzzy strawberry-blonde hair...sigh

And now that's us. And our 5-year old was just a baby yesterday, as much of a cliche as that is. It's so true. I sorta want that time back, but of course no. I want to see him grow into an amazing adult (wait...he's already amazing...so he'll be SUPER AMAZING as a grown up, I just know it).

He started going to preschool five days a week. I almost cried dropping him off today. Can you imagine the state I will be in next year when he starts Kindergarten? He was fine, though. He told me "Mom, now that I'm five I get to go to school every day, because I'm five." Yep. I guess I'm just used to having him with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But he's a big boy now and will be taking the Kindergarten curriculum at his Montessori school. I told him this morning he might even grow to be taller than his Dad someday and the excitement and sparkle in his eyes was evident. He was stoked. My five-year old LOVES being a big boy.

They BOTH love being big kids

We recently returned from our Michigan vacation. Oh, how I love that place.

Ludington is a little town on Lake Michigan (with Hamlin Lake in there, too) and so relaxing. We spent time boating and tubing on the lake, Andy fished a little, we picked blueberries, visited an elk farm, took walks out to lighthouses, and much more. And the kids played. And played. And played. Cousin Eli was there. He's just 3 months younger than Gus and it was truly magical to see the three of them run and play and hug (and argue a few times). But mostly love and play. They were so amazing together. I'm so happy Eli and Jenny and Aaron live in Indiana now instead of Alabama. It's been way too long since we've been able to spend quality time with them. Good, no GREAT, times.

Andy met a new friend at the elk farm...a sweet horse

Eli and Gus-besties

Our cabin...a shot from the loft

Elk!

Elk wagon ride

The whole family minus Uncle Tony...look at that adorable baby bump on Jenny! We can't wait to meet cousin Luke in October

Cleo showing me her muscles at the blueberry farm

Beach time

Cousins

And so summer in Kansas winds down. And the cicadas perform every night and the hot sun burns yards and vegetation...and yet somehow I still love it. I don't know what I'd do without it. I realized recently that I actually don't despise this time of year...this sticky, stagnant time of a late Midwestern summer...I love it because it's part of Kansas. It's part of what makes this place sweet. It makes me want to listen to Lucinda Williams and drink beers on a front porch (or stoop). And it makes me excited for what's to come. Ahhh, bring on autumn. My favorite season of them all.

Time in a bottle

Cleo turned THREE on July 22.

Blue icing, pink/strawberry cake, per request!

The day came and went and I cannot believe my little girl is already 3. It's so true what they all say...time just completely evaporates when you're having fun. I mean WOW. Time is just flying by at warp speed.

My sugar dumpling at 1.

Sugarbear swings, at 1.

As Cleo would tell me, "Mom, I'm a big girl now! I am NOT a baby." It's true. And it's true that I miss her as a baby, but I also treasure every new day with her as a little lady. She is a beautiful, kind, sassy and hilarious human and she's amazing to watch grow up. And I love the relationship she has with her older bro. Today at breakfast I overheard Gus say, "Cleo, I love you." And she reciprocated. And I melted.

With life coming at you from all directions it's hard to savor every moment, but I'm trying.

"If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you."
-Time in a Bottle, Jim Croce

You are my sunshine

Crazy-awesome kids...amaze me every single day with the new things that pour out of their beautiful mouths. They keep me absolutely 200%+ entertained and enlightened.

Miss C. with her new haircut. She is sassy and fabulous. Andy said the other day, "Cleo, I don't know how you could get much cuter." But she will...she's just that awesome.

My little guy playing soccer...twice a week...and he loves it. He's a darn good dribbler and he adores his coach. And he's growing up so fast. Sigh.

Another of G. and the soccer ball. Beautiful boy.

License to drive...this scares me a little.

Funny things Cleo has said as of late:
After falling down an hitting her face on her bike handle, "Mom, my face died!"
After putting on her new dress, "Mom, we are so pretty."
After watching me put on my work clothes one morning, "Mom, that is so pretty!" (she's a giver of the compliments...gotta love that)

Funny things from Mr. Gus:
"Mom, kids are hard." He says to me after we have a heart-to-heart one day (I was telling him that sometimes moms and dads get mad but we still love our kids).
"Mom, it was SO sad. He BROKE his arm, he didn't just bruise it." About his friend Henry who recently broke his arm...
"Hey, Mom! I Love You!" (I'm keeping this one in writing so I have it to look back on it 10 years...)

Until next time.

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty pleasure:

Something pleasurable that induces a usually minor feeling of guilt.

*Merriam-Webster dictionary

So, this blog entry is dedicated to those things in life we find pleasurable but that make us feel guilty and/or embarrassed for doing so.

EMBARRASSMENT-I don't embarrass easily. I never have. Sure, my cheeks flush if I do something super ridiculous in public, but overall I am able to laugh most things off. I think of it as a gift. I'm sure when I ACCIDENTALLY burp in front of Andy (in public) he doesn't think of it that way.

Now GUILT...that's a whole other story. I grew up Catholic, so really that's all you need to know. Guilt has defined my essence for many years and only recently have I been able to laugh off self-imposed (unnecessary) guilt.

I'm so ashamed...

So what I'm trying to say is what most people consider to be "guilty pleasures" I don't. I freely admit them to people. I might feel a wee guilty at times for enjoying them, but it takes something pretty embarrassing for me to consider it a "guilty pleasure." Loving The Monkees (the band)? Own it. The movie "Bring It On?" Owned. The Twilight series? That's right. Team Edward all the way.

So...what are my guilty pleasures then? Well, rather than just list mine, I thought I'd ask some friends and family what they consider to be guilty pleasures. I put the word out on Facebook and here are some of the fun answers I received:

Repeat viewings of the movie 'Overboard' starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.-My friend Jamie.

Us Weekly-my friend Laura. (Laura, I had a subscription to US Weekly until I found out you can pretty much get everything online now. Best journalistic efforts EVAH).

1980s music (Pet Shop Boys, Thompson Twins, and dozens more); Family Feud on Facebook and the 1980's movie "Can't Buy Me Love."-- my friend Ernie.

Grocery store garlic bread- the white fluffy kind in the tinfoil package-Maggie Curry-Chiu (Maggie-I LOVE this bread, and I would concur on the guilty pleasure thing. I always feel guilty after eating half a loaf).

Reading a good book while the vacuuming and dusting are staring at me-my darling mother, Sheila. (Mom, you are adorable)

Wal-Mart-my friend Nick (good one, Nick)

Rubio's Chicken Burrito Especiale and the 1980's Val Kilmer film, "Real Genius."-my friend Leslie.

Kid Rock's "Devil W/O a Cause" album, only while driving on dirt roads and indulging in a Budweiser. Max speed: 20.-my friend Sol

Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer" and Bryan Adams' "Summer of 69."-friend Shanon

CLEAN 800 thread count designer sheets-friend Vicki

Dennis Fries dipped in ice cream. Personal fav concoction = Wendy's fries/Frosty combo, salt-sugar-hot-cold-fantastic.-friend Gigi (this one is fantastic and I'm hungry now)

So as you can see, everyone's guilty pleasures differ. After deep self reflection, I would have to say most of my guilty pleasures revolve around food. Big shocker. Some guilty pleasures of mine include: Starbuck's Iced Frappuchino's (perhaps a huge indicator of why I gained over 40 lbs. when pregnant with Gus); buying WAY too many ridiculously overpriced shoes for my kids; pasta; a nightly beer in the summer; the website awfulplasticsurgery.com (even I'm a little wary to admit I check this out often); "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys (yes, I'm actually a little embarrassed to admit this one, but I do jam to it every time it's on the radio. And sing. Loudly).

Anyway, my hope in shining a bright light on guilty pleasures is that one day we can all shed the embarrassment and guilt. Eat that whole loaf of garlic bread and listen to Bon Jovi or the Backstreet Boys, and drink 4 Frapps a day. Because life is short.

Lions and tigers and bears pooping at the Wichita Zoo and other shenanigans

What a crazy busy long weekend. But what fun. But my brain almost exploded from activity. Here's the rundown on our fun times Memorial Day weekend extravaganza:

Friday: Went in to work for an hour bc I had an interview (hiring a new student worker in my department) at 8am. Interview ended around 8:45 and then rushed home to meet bug guy at house at 9am (spraying for ants and spiders Friday so I took the rest of the day off). Met bug guy...proceeded to gather up cats bc I had to get all living things out of the house for 4 hours or we would be choking in a fog of chemicals. Ruby walked right into his cat carrier...a sign of age...he's all like "what's the point, bitches?" Charlie also walked right into his cage. Sometimes he makes it easier to like him a little. Funny Face: holy hell shit balls, GET IN YOUR CAGE GOD DAMMIT. That cat is by far the friendliest cat and most lovable creature with 4 legs on planet Earth. But good Lord is she a Nervous Nelly. She totally wigged out and it took me no less than 45 minutes to finally catch her and gently shove her kicking and scratching into her cat carrier. All for her own GD good, by the way. But you can't rationalize with cats, which is frustrating. They don't get it. Anyway, here's the battle wound from my darling Funny Face.

And this was right after she pissed on our living room carpet. And right before I broke down into tears of rage and frustration. And then I went to my friends' house to hang out for 4 hours and watch really bad cable tv while waiting out the chemical fog. And (so far) the ants and spiders have disappeared. So it was worth it.

Friday evening: Took the family over to our friends' house (Marisa and Tom) for some deserved drinks and BBQ and general good times. Stayed late and had a great time, as usual. Beautiful night.

Saturday: Drove to Wichita to meet up with my beautiful girlfriends Kelly and Cherie at the Sedgwick County Zoo. Saw some lizards and frogs humping (not each other, but that would have been hilarious), and the kiddos had a blast. Got to see Kelly and her almost 6-month bump (she looks FAB) and her darling family and Cherie's awesome fam, too. It was really nice.

This goose was so tame it wigged me out a little.

Cleo and Keenan

We then visited Kelly and Alex's new house (amazing!) and headed home. Was exhausted when we finally reached our house Saturday evening. Photos of zoo here...giraffes were my favorite part (always are). Gus thought the bear pooping in the moat was the most hilarious thing ever and Cleo liked meeting all her new best friends (Solomon, Eli and Keenan). And she loved the hippo.

Sunday: MY BIRTHDAY! Woke up feeling a ball of excitement in my belly, enjoyed my mellow morning and consumed lots of coffee. Went to Burlingame for a lovely BBQ, had an awesome time, saw many family members and enjoyed the hot sun and fantastic smoked meat (courtesy of my amazing Dad). Ate way too much baked potato casserole with potato chips crumbled on top (there were TWO of these...my family doesn't skimp on food) and enjoyed Aunt Wendy's made-from-scratch vanilla ice cream. Then we went camping at Clinton Lake with friends. Ticks aside, we enjoyed the nice weather and food and solitude. We had an entire campsite to ourselves and it was lovely. Photos here...we were crusty and filthy and we loved it. Sleeping sucked b/c the wind was so insane that night, but I never sleep well when camping.

I look pretty crusty, don't I? Says Cleo...

Monday: Was so freakin' tired that I barely remember this day. I'm pretty sure we went outside for some of it but all I remember is being exhausted and cranky. Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Tony came over in the afternoon for some fun times...you know Erin Kate is tired when she doesn't take Aunt Lindsey up on an opportunity to drain a bottle of wine together...went to bed before 9pm. Slept for 11 hours of heaven.

Tuesday: Play date with Gus' friend, Maxx (not a typo...he has 2 "x's" in his name and it's awesome. His brother's name is Oz...also awesome). We went to Maxx's house for a picnic and fun times. Oh, Maxx lives in North Lawrence so he hears trains all the time. Gus is moderately jealous of this and asked if he could move into Maxx's house. I said "no." But we can visit.

This brings us to today. I typically work in the office on Wednesdays but we have administrative leave due to electrical renovations at work this week, so I'm home today. Kids at school. So I'm going to plant more tomatoes, weed my garden, update my blog (duh), get a little work out of the way, and take a nap. Hopefully.

Oh, and I'm a year older now. 36. I don't feel any older but I think I have a few new wrinkles around the peepers. Hey, I can call them laugh lines since I tend to "laugh with my eyes," right? Right.

Over and out! xoxo

p.s. weird dreams coinciding with birthday...happens to me every year. i won't go into details but let's just say many long lost characters from ages ago appeared. so vivid and ridiculous.

36 is the new...

Our friend Chela recently started up her own photography business, Golden Age Photography, and she asked if we wanted to be one of her first photo shoots. We of course jumped at the chance. She takes really nice photos, mostly black/white. I've posted most of them on Facebook, but here are some from the shoot. We had fun. The kids wouldn't sit still when they were together, so we didn't get too many of just the two kiddos. But it was a fun time and the weather was beautiful.

Birthday weekend coming up! Maybe this comes with age, but this year I haven't been as excited about my birthday. Most who know me know I love my birthday to bits and pieces. I think everyone should. It's hard in a family where the husband has a Christmas birthday so he's used to getting the shaft. I'm not. From the moment I can remember having memories, I've coveted my birthday and I've expected everyone around me to feel the same. I realize that might sound a wee childish, but I like to think it just sounds spirited. Every year as a kid I would get so excited about my birthday I would almost burst from anticipation. I have a distinct memory of one particular year...receiving a birthday card a few days ahead of my birthday (I was turning maybe 10 or 11)...dancing around the front yard singing "It's my birthday!" for all to hear. It was easy to have a fun birthday in May...beautiful weather, out of school, all that. But now that I'm turning the big 25 (read: 36), dare I say the excitement is waning a bit. But I can work through this...snap out of it. Birthdays are magical and dammit, I'm going to celebrate my birthday even when I'm old and gray. Whether everyone around me likes it or not. So here's to 36 candles on my cake on May 29... (yes, still almost a week out and I'm already shouting it from the rooftops).

My sis Shana always knows how to sum up what we all want to say in one slight word or gesture. So I use this photo to illustrate how I feel towards birthday haters...that's right. Stuff you. (Shana, thanks for letting me use this photo of you. Oh, wait...you don't know I'm using it. Surprise!)

Resurrected

Keeping it classy

So it's been awhile. But I'm back. Back to blogging. I went through a phase of loathing it. Sick of writing about myself, about my life and my family and my everything (shocking, I know). I think I overdosed on myself a bit. I guess everyone gets sick of themselves sometimes, even when that everyone is me--a lover of all things talking and (over)sharing and whatnot.

My previous blog was a free-for-all about my kids, my family, my everyday life. This particular blog is going to be similar, but instead of just focusing on my children and my life as a momma, I'm going to venture outside that world (a world I covet, don't get me wrong) and talk about other things. Poetry. Food. Alcoholic beverages. Books. Magazines. Ideas. And my kids and husband. I won't stop posting about them because they are rad. I will try to keep the chitlins a little more anonymous than in the past, so we'll see how that works. But this delivery will perhaps be a little more selfish. It's going to be a smorgasbord and I hope you enjoy. So original, no?

I've posted some newer photos of life as I know it. It's spring and it's beautiful and my spirits are thawing and elevating with each 75 degree day (as much as I try to avoid the winter blues, they pin me every year). But the peonies are in bloom, the hydrangeas are ready to pop (I hover over them daily as if to will them to bloom IN FRONT OF MY EYES), and the overall gardening madness has taken over my free time. And I love it. Love it so, so much. I honestly think I could cook and garden all day long if I had nothing else to do and would never get sick of any of it. My husband and kids might miss me and I might get fired...reality bites sometimes.

Until next time, lovers. Peace out.

p.s. credit for my blog title goes to a line from one of my all-time favorite passages from one of my all-time favorite books, My Antonia, by Willa Cather.