It's obvious from my recent blog entries - or lack there of - that I really love summer.
I love the beach.  I love 'no school'.  I love being tan, having fun-filled days for next-to-no money spent.  We swim, we build sand castles, we play on the swings, take walks, play with friends - whatever - it is the weather that allows for, inspires such activities.  And while it is only August 11th, I know our days are numbered.  School starts on the 30th of this month.

We'll have a week of school and then head to vacation where we will indulge in one more week of fun-filled summer vacation.
But when we get back I will be ready for Mums in pots, Autumn transplants and Pruning, Crock Pot cooking and preparing for the holiday and birthday season.  I love Iced Coffee but I look forward to brewing a hot pot around 3:00 as I see the sun beginning to drop, hear the school buses groan through the neighborhood and get ready to start dinner.

I have always said that God graced me with October & January babies to help me kick-off the holidays and then wrap them up.
After Wyatt's birthday we start prepping for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And after Christmas, instead of being depressed, I start prepping for Abby's birthday.  And now that she is old enough to help me with that, it's that much more fun.
We're already putting our heads together and shopping clearance sales for her big 5th birthday bash.  It will be a Beach Party Theme.  And why not?  Why can't a January baby celebrate her love of summer?

This Memory Monday is dedicated my friend, Debbie.

I can see Deb & I sitting at a local watering hole with cold drinks, lightly buzzed, bumming cigarettes from young rednecks when we're about 75.

This was still early in the evening!

If we sell 131 and leave The Heights, Debbie will the #1 thing I will miss.  

She lives in my backyard, our boys are days apart and our friendship lives beyond play dates and pedicures.  

It spills into our home life, our deep conversations, our deeper secrets and our undying affection and adoration for each other.

Our husbands like each other, and not just in the "our wives are friends so we tolerate each other" sort of way that husbands so often handle those forced social situations.

Deb took this pic of Jay, myself and her hubby, Dave as we were Trick or Treating last year.

 I have lots of "friends" in town, but they are "playdate friends".  We can talk for hours, have everything in common but no real loyalty or bond - when our kids move on, so will we.  With Debbie & I, it's like a bonus that our kids play so well.  Our friendship comes first.

Last summer, one of many nights that our husbands didn't bother to wait up!

Debbie's on my mind a lot lately because she's pregnant, due at the end of this month and it has not been an easy time.  She's sick, she's tired, she's stressed and worried and everything else that we've all felt as we experienced Baby #2.  But Debbie has felt it more.  And while I have done everything I can (I think, I hope, I'm pretty sure) to be her friend through what has been a very difficult time, I am anxious for her pregnancy to be over and for her to get back to being herself.

Pregnancy can wreck you as a woman before becoming a mother builds you back up to a million times more than you ever thought you could be.

So, here's to my friend.

Here's to one of the best mamas on the planet - whether she realizes it every day or not.

Here's to one woman without whom I would be lost in my every-day.

I cannot wait to see You see what a wonderful woman, mother and friend you are, Again.

I love you.

Here we are in August.  Summer will end as quickly as it started at the end of this month.
School starts August 30th here and while I miss the days of "Wednesday after Labor Day weekend", it doesn't bother me that school starts before summer officially ends.  It is what it is and I'm excited to get back into the routine of it all.
Normally at this time of the summer I am planning our Annual Jaybor Day BBQ.  Jay's birthday falls right around Labor Day weekend so we host a party, a "kegger", if you will - and it is always a lot of fun to plan and always a lot of fun to host.
Attendance varies from year to year as Labor Day is a busy weekend for most but the good time does not.
This year, however, I am not planning our annual bash, I am searching the web for SeaWorld coupons and cursing myself for putting our luggage - packed - into storage.

We're headed down to Florida for a birthday-business-trip and I am unbelievably excited!
It started out as a business trip for Jay and is winding up as a week's vacation for me and the kids!
More on that as it comes, but for now - rest assured - Jaybor Day will return in 2011.

Speaking of summer vacation.  I haven't blogged much these past few weeks...  partially due to my addiction to my Bakery & Hotel on Facebook, I'll admit it.  Partial blame goes to Blogger for not allowing me to blog for a while.  I have no idea why or how it fixed itself or I fixed it.  And partial blame goes to the glorious sunshine of summer.  The kids & I have not wasted a minute of this summer vacation and we plan to party like Pre-K rock stars for these last few weeks of it.

We've been to the shore, to several lakes & ponds, visited family & friends, a few day trips, a few playdates and a lot of yard & pool time right there at 131.  Even Daddy has emerged from his cave (err - I mean office) for a few beach days and some pool time!
We're very tan, very tired at the end of each day and a very happy family.  Life is, indeed, very good here.

We have more beach days planned, in addition to Abby's swimming lessons every day.  We're headed to Davis' Farmland at the end of the month and then, of course, Florida!

When we get back, we promise to get serious.  School, Soccer, Gymnastics and the holidays will take over.  We'll cover the pool, pull out jeans and sweaters, plant mums, carve pumpkins and turn the lights on around 4:00.
For now, though, we'll carry on.

I am not babysitting this school year.  That will be a weird change.  I only did it for 2 years, but when you consider that Wyatt is only 2 - that's a pretty good chunk of my life.  Both kids are comfortable in Jody's house and with Q&K like they're family and really - they are.
It will be nice to only have my own kids to worry about.  Our own schedules, our own needs.  But I'm sure I will miss my daily dose of Q&K and I'm sure they'll miss me kicking their butts around their busy schedules.

W, K, Q & A
Just another day in paradise...

Tomorrow, after swimming lessons I am taking the kids to see Toy Story 3.  They have never been to the movies and I think, at this point, we are making more of it than there is to be made - as far as milestones go.  So, we're just going.

Originally it was Debbie's idea but since she's in labor right now, we're going without her.

Here's Deb.  This is from last year, when we played softball.  

She's probably using Jack as an excuse not to play Right Field.

Come on, baby!  Come out!  I need my drinking buddy back!

 

There is a movie about Beezus & Ramona coming out.
Ramona Quimby, Age 8, was my best friend growing up.

Ok, maybe Beverly Cleary was.
Either way – I read like a maniac when I was a kid. If Dell or Apple published it, I read it.
This movie is a must-see for me. I would like to take my daughter to see it. She may be too young to understand it completely, but I want it to be a nice mother-daughter date for us.

That provides a good segue, actually – my daughter has many privileges thrust upon her and the other day, after a full day at Ocean Beach in New London, I realized I need to scale them back.

My father always used to say “there’s a difference between being spoiled and being a spoiled brat” and today my little angel was a spoiled brat. I actually had to pull the car over and take deep breaths before I turned around and very calmly told her to shut the fuck up calm down, breathe deeply and think about her day, what she loved what she looks forward to for next time and what she’s thankful for.

We have good times. We go places, shop for things, eat at restaurants, visit our friends… we basically do what we want, when we want – within reason. I know that I am so lucky to have a husband that works himself near death to provide for us while I hop around the state (and neighboring states) calling myself “done” as long as the sink is clear, the fridge is full and the laundry is folded. We’re tan, we’re happy and we have 750 pictures to prove it. Sometimes, we’re even luck y enough to have Daddy join us on our little adventures.

We have good times. We know it, we appreciate it.

But do my kids? Does my daughter, specifically? Wyatt’s still pretty small for this sort of worry but I am starting to become more aware of how Abby views her life. We talk about privileges and consequences. We talk about how hard Daddy works and how we appreciate and support him. We clean the house, cook the dinner and generally maintain order, cleanliness and other “wifely duties” around the place but maybe that’s not enough. Maybe I need to have her dig a ditch, move the dirt, then move it back again and fill the hole.

Maybe I need to appreciate what a smart, well-spoken, clever and imaginative girl I am raising. I need to step back, think more before I speak, listen more before I answer.
My mother tells me this is a battle I will be facing for years to come. I need to be better prepared.

Could it be?
Am I back online?

I don't want to get over-excited because I am not sure that this will publish- but I am missing my Blog. A lot.
I have taken to an actual journal, which is boring becuase no one is reading it. It helps a little - quiets my head a bit - but I enjoy the voyeuristic aspect of Blogging too much to keep it all locked up in a boring old journal.



So - let me see if this works... and if it does - I'm back, baby!