(Blurry, grainy, bad photo taken with my iPhone in dim light. Still, given the story, it is “Photo of the Day” worthy.)

Tonight we went to Carrabba’s for dinner. There was a 30-40 minute wait for a table, so, like we often do, we found 3 seats at the bar. The bambinos sat in them, and Braydon and I stood behind them. Before our drinks had even arrived, Owen had struck up a full-blown, very-interactive, very energetic-and-engaged conversation with an older couple who happened to be seated at the bar next to him. There was golf on the televisions of the bar, and before we had even had two sips of our drinks, Owen and the man were on a first-name basis, and were deep into a very spirited and animated discussion about golf. Over the next 20 minutes Owen and the man exchanged golf stories, belly-laughed at the telling of each other’s funny golf-related-tales, gave-and-received golf pointers and tips and tricks, and discussed the finer points of the Carrabba’s menu. The man and his wife were probably in their mid-60s, and seemed very much alone and reserved when we first had the kids sit down next to them. But quickly they were smiling and chatty and completely charmed by Owen. Soon we got a table, so we got up from the bar. About halfway through our meal the couple from the bar found us, and came up to our table to say goodbye to Owen before they left the restaurant. This is Classic Owen.

That’s all five of us together. We have very few photos of the five of us together. So, for no other reason, I put that up at the top of this blog post. A post which will be pathetically superficial and shallow and very-non-representative of our real life. Because. Well. Because that’s all I’ve got right now. Our life has been so over-the-top fast-paced that I just haven’t been able to fit in reflecting upon it via the blog (regular readers might have noticed: for the past several weeks there’s been just about nothin’ from me on this here old blog). The way I look at it, superficial and shallow and very-non-representative is at least something.

The truth is, sometimes I am just too dang busy to blog. I know, I know, “busy”…. ugh…. “busy”… busy is a relative word (what is “busy” to some is not “busy” to others)…. and “busy” is such a loaded buzz word these days. I refuse to get into that ridiculous, and oh-so-very-popular, “busy competition” of who is more busy that who — God, do I ever hate that game. But, fact: I am super (ridiculously) busy (“busy” defined: “having a great deal to do”). And, fact: I am proud of how much we cram into this short little life we’ve got to live. If we didn’t take time to smell the roses as we go, then it would be highly problematic. But, we do, indeed, take time to smell the roses, so I’ll defend our lifestyle and good and the right kind of life for us. I am known amongst three certain kids on this planet to be regularly reminding them that “you only live once!” and, thus, you should “go for it!” and “make the most of it!” And I’m not ashamed of that way of approaching the one life we’ve got to live.

Make the most of it we do. But lately, there’s been so much, moving so quickly, that I truly could not take the time out to blog it (forcing myself to spend the time to blog would have meant sacrificing those too-few moments of stillness). But I do want to blog it. Because I want to remember at least some of it — I want to try to chronicle some fragment of it — no matter how pathetically superficial and shallow and very-non-representative of our real life that “some of it” might be.

So, here goes. In absolutely no particular order (not chronological, or otherwise). A quick catch-up, barely scratching the surface, on a little bit of some of what we’ve been up to over the past few weeks.

Just as spring gets really beautiful the academic grind gets really ramped up to a grueling and impossible pace around here. I am so grateful to have Dash now, for many reasons. But one of the big reasons is this: using him for a good excuse, I take a walk in the woods every morning. Lehigh has more than 2,000 acres of protected woodlands, right outside our door, with incredible paths throughout. This is one of the reasons I really love living here on campus. Every morning, as soon as the kids are off to school, at 7:30am, when all is very quiet on a university campus, Dash and I head out into the woods.

So, despite the fact that I was more crazed than ever this spring (the ratcheting up of the end-of-academic-year insanity seems to be getting worse by the year), for the first time in many springs, I was able to fully immerse myself in the beauty of it, and appreciate it very fully, for at least 30 minutes every morning. After a very long winter of trudging through the snow and ice in these woods, it was just an astoundingly beautiful experience to watch spring bloom day-by-day.

Somewhere tucked into that jam-packed spring was our favorite event of the year at LU: the Community Service Office’s outreach festival for the South Bethlehem community — Spring Fling. Because Kyle and Owen play baseball for their actual local team (based on their actual residential address; i.e. not fudging it like many families do) — South Side Little League is our team. And as a result, Kyle and Owen have real friends, who are their teammates, in South Bethlehem. One of the highlights of the year for me was watching my boys (professor’s kids) run around the lawn of the University Center with a pack of their good friends (South Side kids). To say that this (genuine relationships between Lehigh faculty folks and South Side folks — let alone their kids) is rare is the understatement of the year. In fact, for real, I think it is unique. We love it in its entirety. Here are K & O with a few of their friends at Spring Fling — somehow Lehigh photographer Christa Neu was able to get these guys to stand still for half a second in order to capture this amazing photo ~

And here’s Meera, doing her thing at Spring Fling (she also rode a mechanical shark like a champ, but that’s a whole other story) ~

We also went to another of our favorite campus spring events: the International Bazaar ~

And there was the 3rd Grade Wax Museum at the bambinos’ school. This was the culmination of weeks and weeks of hard work studying “famous Pennsylvanians” (OMG how am I ever going to survive so many more years of school projects?!?!). Owen chose (and ultimately, became) Kobe Bryant ~

Kyle was Ben Franklin ~

Classic choices for these two very similar, and very dissimilar too, twins. (Note: in a similar vein, earlier this year, for a different project, Owen chose Walt Disney, and Kyle chose Abraham Lincoln.) Anyway, the thing that struck me the most about the entire “Famous Pennsylvanians” project was when I saw Kyle’s drawing of Ben Franklin. One of the (many) parts of the project was to “create a postage stamp portraying their chosen person.” I was awe-struck by the fact that Kyle portrayed Ben Franklin very purposefully with clearly dark brown skin. Fascinating!! Right?!! Fascinating I tell you! Everyday absolutely fascinating stuff is going on left and right all around me with these three incredibly interesting kids of mine.

Meera’s big spring school project was the Kindergarten Science Expo. I was awe-struck at that too — but this time by whoever had the stroke of genius to plan for the kindergarteners’ ‘5th Grade Buddies’ to partner up with them during the expo. Meera’s big buddy was there with her every minute of the expo, helping her to field questions, make her science experiment run, manage the messes, and sooth the nerves of a little girl doing her first big expo event. Genius I tell you! I love this school. They are pure genius at work there!

Oh. And the boys got new bikes this spring. So, yes, there was that. And of course, with new bikes they can now take their biking to a whole new level.

This photo is deceiving. It looks pretty tame, but if you look closely you see that both wheels are actually off the ground ~

Meera falls more and more in love with this dog every day. They have a special relationship ~

There was a trip to the dentist. This seems mundane, I know. The dentist. But it was so not mundane. Because, of course it was not. After Owen’s cleaning was done it was Meera’s turn. And Owen politely requested to be able to observe. The dentist’s office was excited about his interest/passion for the subject of dentistry, and thus were extremely accommodating to what they saw as a potential-future-medical-professional. They placed a chair next to Meera and talked Owen through the entire check-up and cleaning, explaining every tool, and answering all of his (many, many) questions. The dental hygienist and the dentist were both in on this, and caused quite a stir throughout the entire office. (Meanwhile Kyle sat in the waiting room playing with an iPad; he has zero interest in watching people scrape plaque off of his little sister’s teeth.) It was seriously the craziest trip to the dentist I’ve ever experienced.

The main reason for this trip has always been to spend Easter with Grandpa Les. This year it was an especially poignant and memorable visit. Grandpa Les was in decline, and I think we knew it would be the last time we’d see him. He was about to turn 99 years old. And we knew his time with us on earth was coming to a close. Here we are with my beloved grandfather on Easter Sunday 2014 ~

We all returned to Worcester 5 weeks later for Grandpa Les’s funeral. It was a beautiful service honoring and celebrating his long life. We didn’t take photos on that trip (for obvious reasons). But Braydon did snap this one of Meera with two of her “cousins” (my cousins’ kids; I guess that makes them Second Cousins?) ~

There was a trip to Washington, DC to get together with Braydon’s side of the family to celebrate Auntie Sabrina’s 40th birthday. We spent a beautiful spring day at the National Arboretum, which was in full bloom at that time.

This year was Kyle and Owen’s 2nd Annual Weekend Away with MorMor and MorFar (this was their birthday present, and cousin Sadie’s birthday present, from their grandparents). This year they went to Boston for a Red Sox game at Fenway Park (huge deal for K & O!), and then on to Cape Cod for a whale watch! From all accounts it was a great time (photos thanks to MorMor and MorFar) ~

While the brothers were away, Mommy and Papi took Meera for her own special weekend away in Baltimore. This was just as much for Braydon and me as it was for Meera — a little lux get-away for just the three of us. Our rule for the weekend was to do absolutely NOTHING we would do if Kyle and Owen had been with us. According to Meera, “No Sports!” was the golden rule. We vowed to not even eat in a restaurant that had sports on tv. We had an amazing weekend full of art, fashion, shopping, and eating (wow, we had some good food!). Meera’s favorite thing to do in a hotel is to order take-out Chinese food and eat in the hotel room while watching tv; we have done this a few times in the past, and seriously, she loves this… so, we obliged her wishes and did that one of our nights in Baltimore). The whole weekend was sort of heavenly for us three. It is so special to get time alone with one of our kids, and doing it is always a reminder of how important it is to do.

Dash had to stay with friends for most of these trips. He had some fun himself, getting spoiled rotten by various people who doted on him while we were away (he stayed with three different people/families over the course of these various trips). His favorite memory, though, I’m sure, (or maybe it was just my favorite memory?!?), was when Liana and Mike took it upon themselves to take Dash on a day trip to the beach!

(post 2 of 2 here)

Sometime later this spring, Kyle and Owen did their first triathlon. They had been wanting to do a triathlon for a couple of years now, but I hadn’t been able to find one that would work for us (schedule-wise). Finally I found one that worked out for them to do. They placed 3rd and 4th (10-year-old twin girls beat them!!!). They had a blast and they are now chomping at the bit to do another one. Swim. Bike. Run.

In a totally separate experience, a few weeks before that triathlon, Meera had her first swim race. The bambinos have been taking swimming lessons this spring, and Meera — especially — loves swimming (not just playing in the water, but actual swimming). When she found out about the swim meet, she was eager to do it. We entered her in the freestyle event and she did great! You go Meera! (This was a big moment for her — the discovery that she, too, not just her brothers, can participate in competitive sports and do well). I was super proud of her ~

Speaking of athletes, I was so incredibly proud and gratified and just beaming-with-joy as one of my favorite students of all time, Mackey McKnight, graduated from Lehigh this spring. It was a special honor to be invited to celebrate his graduation with his family the night of commencement. Last year we went to Sarah’s graduation party (that was so special), and it was so special again this year to be invited to another student’s party (it is uncommon at Lehigh — to say the least — for professors to join students’ families at their private graduation parties). Mackey’s family are from New Orleans and Texas, so the party was a dinner out at a very nice restaurant. The bambinos and I went, and it was truly one of the greatest experiences with a student I’ve ever had. I cannot articulate how proud I am of this kid. (“Kid” = misnomer, for sure. But to me, he’s one of my “kids”) ~

Somewhere in there was Grandparents Day at the Swain School. MorMor and MorFar were the bambinos’ special guests ~

And then there is baseball, of course. Spring = Baseball. Our experience with the South Side Bandits Little League is an experience large enough for a full-length book. I cannot even scrape the surface here and do any justice to it. So, I won’t even try. Suffice it to say: our full immersion into South Side Little League is a big part of our family life.

Here’s Kyle at bat ~

Here’s Owen pitching ~

We are still going strong with Little League. We are now in post-season play-offs and the Bandits are holding their own. And once that ends, the “All Star” season begins (heaven help us, K & O have been invited to play on the All Star Team this year, so baseball season is even more never-ending than usual now). Poor Meera. She is dragged to baseball constantly (the schedule is grueling). Luckily there are lots of other little brothers and sisters being dragged to baseball too. They either do this (iPad) ~

Or they do this (run around like little crazy people; if you look closely you can see Meera in a dark dress, playing with all the kids, running down the hill) ~

As I look through all the photos I’ve taken over the course of this whirlwind-of-a-spring (note: the vast majority of our photos these days are snapshots taken with our iPhones), I see lots of food photos. Yes, we are those people who take photos of our food. Often. I’m sure that this means something about us, I’m just not sure what (other than that we have a great appreciation for food?). I have tons and tons of food photos on my iPhone. On this particular night (photo below) we had take-out from Wegmans. Deep into eating sushi and dumplings and green beans (3 of Owen’s most favorite foods), Owen exclaimed: “It is like heaven is in my mouth!”

Sometimes Braydon and I steal away for a lunch date, just the two of us, mid-week. Here’s our Thai lunch and tea one of those days. That is my version of heaven ~

Here are the boys, out of Mexican food, the two of them thoroughly enjoying a bowl of queso dip ~

Lots of food at home too. Spring is the quintessential fresh artichoke season. These two are artichoke lovers (or are they just anything-dipped-in-butter lovers?) ~

The end of May/early June is the height of strawberry season here. The seasons and months and time-passing are marked by certain foods for us. Strawberries are a big right of passage from late spring to early summer for us. The bambinos especially love our annual ritual of eating these beautiful berries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar.

But don’t get the wrong idea. There are plenty of nights that Braydon and I feed the bambinos macaroni and cheese from a box, get them to bed, and then eat something like this for our dinner ~

Moving on from food… there has been lots of flying the remote control airplane that K & O got for their birthday ~

And lots of playing in the sprinkler ~

One day I kept the boys home from school and we played hooky together. Here they are at the start of our day, at Waffle House. That was a special, memorable day. I hope this blog helps me to remember some of these amazing times long after they happen. These are moments I don’t want to forget.

Meera’s end-of-year kindergarten picnic ~

K & O’s end-of-year final 3rd grade field trip ~

Oh, and in there somewhere were the birthdays. Kyle and Owen’s, and Meera’s, and the big birthday party (which would be enough in and of itself to keep me from blogging). May is all good, but it is a crazy-kind-of-busy-good. We couldn’t do a whole year of May’s, but we can do one month of May. And I wouldn’t trade that crazy-whirlwind-of-a-spring for anything.

So much, so fast, so that it all goes by in a blurry haze of ups and downs and highs and lows and joyful painful all-around-good-living life. By the end of the spring, as we are entering summer, the woods now look like this ~

And we are ready for summer to really kick in. Tomorrow’s the last day of school! And we’ve got an amazing summer planned!

• Number of Guests: 137
• Cakes: 3
• Total Birthday Candles: 26
• Bounce Houses: 2
• Pinatas: 3
• Bouncy Balls: 300
• Balloons: 90
• Gallons of Rum Punch Consumed: 6
• Faces Painted: many
• Requests for Balloon Figures Granted: loads
• Fun Had: much
• Memories Made: unquantifiable

Every year I go crazy with birthday party planning for the bambinos. As with most things I do, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it all the way. The birthday parties are big, even for me, and I absolutely adore the entire process of throwing these shindigs (Kyle and Owen’s birthday parties have a huge history (backstory here); and of course Meera’s do too (remember the Fancy Pink Tea Party when she turned 3?!?!). This year, breaking with tradition, we decided to do something different and throw one huge party for all three of our May-birthday-bambinos. Kyle and Owen and Meera were thrilled with this idea (they all agreed, “the bigger the better!”), and I was too (planning one is easier than planning two!). So we went for it. As usual, I went all out.

My parents came to help, as they always do (thank God for them! and thank them for putting in the hard work and for putting up with my crazy-birthday-party-nonesense!). Whatever happens down the road of life, one of the fondest memories I will always remember are those nights-before-the-birthday-parties, having drinks and blowing up balloons with my fabulous parents.

The morning of the big bash, the bambinos were ready to party! In anticipation of the big event we had shopped so that they could each pick out a brand new outfit just for the occasion (that has become an annual tradition for us). They felt like a million bucks, and I think that is a good thing. It is good, every once in a while, to feel like a rockstar; like the world is your oyster; like your mom adores you in a way that defies your imagination; like your whole community is coming together to celebrate nothing but you — just you — and you’re the grand star of the show, the center of attention, the coolest kid around; the reason for the celebration, the life of the party. You definitely wouldn’t want a kid to feel that way too often (we do have to stay grounded), but… once a year?… well, that’s fine (actually, good) by me!

Soon, our guests started to arrive, and total complete happy chaos ensued! The next three hours were some of the best three hours of the bambinos’ lives. Bouncy houses, face painting, custom-made-balloon-art, and unlimited popcorn and punch! I mean, really, what’s not to love about that?!?!!!

(for post 2 of 2, click here)

We sang “Happy Birthday To You” three times. Three wishes were made. Three sets of candles were blown out. It was “strawberry shortcake cake” all around (vanilla cake, with fresh strawberries in the center, and whipped cream “frosting” — thank you Lehigh Catering!)

By the end of the afternoon we had three overdone, overstimulated, overexposed bambinos and one completely tired puppy! This is the telltale sign of a good party: pure and utter exhaustion! There were no goody bags or party favors at this party (unless you count the bouncy balls that poured out of the pinatas)… but instead, we gave a gift to each and every parent: an early bedtime that night for every kid who was at that bash — kids who were way too tired to put up a bedtime battle (you wouldn’t believe how many thank-you emails I received from grateful parents! now that’s the party favor every parent wants!).

Most importantly, I had three bambinos who went to bed that night grateful, appreciative (I wouldn’t do this if they weren’t), thrilled-beyond-belief with their party, and happy. Deep in their souls I am 100% certain they felt special and adored. I am not the world’s greatest mother, I screw up plenty, and I do lots of stuff badly, but once a year I do something really, really right. And it is moments like this that let me know that is the truth:

There is no doubt that The Big Bounce Birthday Bash of 2014 will go down in our family history as one of our best birthday parties ever.

We had to stop by my office today to pick up and drop something off.  We hung out for a few minutes while Meera worked.

Kyle, Michael, Meera, Sarah, Owen, Jon

It is a pathetically quiet Friday night on campus. We’re the only ones here! The students have long gone, and we’re so over the peace and quiet, already so ready for them to come back! We miss all of the Sayre students so much. But a few we miss terribly.

Tonight I’m going through the birthday party photos from last week (big post on that soon to come!). This one almost made me cry when I saw it. It is pure love that we have for these three. Sarah was our Head Gryphon* our 1st year on campus (and we got to know and love her boyfriend Michael very well too). And Jon was our Head Gryphon this — our 2nd — year (his girlfriend Marissa we also adore, but she couldn’t make it to the bday party). We couldn’t invite a whole slew of students/alum, so we had to limit it to just these very special ones. And so they were invited, and they came, and they partied down with the bambinos like only they can. And they continue to amaze me with the awesomeness of just who they are.

To say that we absolutely love these three is an absolute understatement. Sarah and Jon are more like the bambinos’ aunt and uncle than like family friends. They go way beyond simply people who used to be our Head Gryphons. They will ALWAYS hold a very special place in our hearts. And we look forward to many more celebrations with them in the years to come.

*Note for non-LU folks: Gryphon = RA

“At the Brazilian restaurant it was my birthday. It was fun.”

Today Meera Grace turned six years old. It seems that in a blink of an eye she went from being born, to being six. How could six years possibly have passed by so quickly?

This girl is all sweet surprises. She was a surprise from the start, unexpectedly and perfectly completing our family. And in six short years she’s packed in surprise after surprise after surprise. She’s made us pause, reconsider everything, and she’s changed us. For the better. A Girlie Girl to the Nth degree (who would have ever thought it?! — that we — Braydon and me — would have a pink-loving, dress-and-skirt-only-wearing, sit-quietly-for-hours-playing, all frills-all-the-time, stereotypical-in-so-many-ways-GIRL!). The way that she’s made us re-think everything we thought we knew is the biggest surprise of all. She fundamentally challenges us, and she foundationally shifts us — all with flair and fashion and a feathery lightness about her that makes her hard to not adore. She has taught me more than any other person on this planet ever has. She changes us, and we wind up better for it.

Meera is all sweetness and grace, yet a powerful willful challenger of the status quo. She’s keenly aware of all around her, yet easily enveloped in her own highly imaginative mind; she refuses to wear pants 99% of the time, yet is the fastest runner in her kindergarten class; she’s all sugar, yet can dish out the spice. We could not be more proud of who she is.

As is our tradition, she got to choose dinner. She chose a Brazilian Steakhouse (churrascaria) restaurant that she loves. It was Classic Meera: dressed in pink, and wearing a skirt (of course), with perfectly matching shoes, carrying a handbag and a doll (a doll with matching outfit, no less), the girl chowed down on a ridiculously large amount of steak — the more rare (pink!!!!) the better — and she delighted in having her “6” candle placed atop a pile of mashed potatoes instead of on a cake. That’s our girl!

For her birthday she wanted two things: 1) an American Girl doll, and 2) anything-and-everything Calico Critters. MorMor made sure she got #1. We went with MorMor and MorFar for our first-ever trip to an American Girl store, where Meera got to pick out her first official American Girl doll. So the Johnson-McCormicks have now officially entered that world (Kyle and Owen remarked, “Wow, this store is for Meera what Dicks Sporting Goods is for us!” Yes, precisely.). Meera picked out her doll, and about 100 items that Makayla (the name Meera chose for her) most definitely needed, and in the end Meera could not have been more pleased with the whole entire thing. American Girl Doll sidenote: I was surprised — as in, jaw-dropping shocked — as I watched Meera confidently and self-assuredly pick out her doll… a doll that was not pale skinned and straight-blonde-haired, as I would have expected… but instead a doll that would be the exact mixture of her and her brothers — a doll with light creamy brown skin and black curly hair — a doll that would be the look-alike of many black-white-biracial kids). In retrospect, of course, I should not have been surprised by it. But I was. Of course. Because my girl always surprises me.

Her end-of-the-bed present this morning was an embarrassingly large amount of Calico Critters anything-and-everything. We know her, and we know she’ll spend endless hours playing with those toys. So — surprisingly enough — we don’t even feel guilty about spoiling her with an over-abundance of everything she wanted.

Of course — surprise! surprise! — the real hit of the day was her brothers’ gifts. After all that American Girl and Calico Critters frenzy, it was her brothers’ gifts that really hit the sweet spot. Carefully chosen, Owen gave her a Barbie with hair she can comb-and-brush-and-spray-and-color-and-curl-and-straighten, and Kyle gave her a Tinkerbell that can really fly. Those boys know her. Nothing about her is a surprise to them. Nothing whatsoever. Which, is, yet again, another surprise to the three of them’s mother.

She chose mango-orange ‘push-up’ ice cream novelties for me to bring for her kindergarten class birthday treat at school. She didn’t want cupcakes because “all the kids bring cupcakes on their birthday.” So, she chose ice cream — her favorite food on earth. And she wanted me to read a book to them — which I did — and she chose one of her favorites, The Berenstain Bears’ and Too Much Birthday. And she, and her friends, all loved it.

She was a beaming and thrilled new 6-Year-Old today, and throughout the day she kissed and hugged me many, many times and whispered things that mothers dream of their children saying to them. Things like, “This is the best birthday ever!”; “Thank you Mommy!”; “You are the best mommy ever!”; “I am so glad I got you as my mommy!”; “You are the best mommy in the whole entire world!” etc. It is ridiculous how sweet and adorable and generous she is.

She is an abundance of riches and gifts to us. She is nothing we expected and everything we needed. She’s the icing on the cake, the butter in the mashed potatoes, the pink in the steak. She’s our girl and even though she’s six now, she’ll always be our baby.

Happy Birthday Meera Grace!

Motherhood is one of those confusing areas of life that people work really hard to categorize in simple ways or at least describe in one sentence. Some people say motherhood is love.  Some say joy. Some say it’s scary. Some say it’s hard work. Some say it’s rich and full. Or exhausting. Or heartbreaking. Or exhilarating. Or infuriating. Or maybe it’s about not doing what your parents did, it’s about giving your kids the ability to fulfill their potential. And maybe it’s about just getting through day-today.

And of course, it actually defies any kind of real categorization, since I know I have heard Heather say all of these things at one time or another (and I am sure I’ve missed about a million different things she has said or thought or that I have observed).  Motherhood and mothering are all those things and so much more.

Mothers are the key to life. They are how we all come into the world. And what they do at that moment determines everything.

Meera sometimes is confused and asks if she was adopted.  But what she has articulated is that although Heather is her biological mother – in some kind of interesting distinction between becoming a mother and motherhood – Heather also adopted her. Meaning, although Heather is her mother biologically, Heather chose also to be Meera’s mother.

To me, as a man, who has no right to assume anything about being a mother and has no real insight into what it takes to be a mother, I can only really see one thing.  I see Heather choosing Motherhood every day.  Every moment of every day. She chooses to face every aspect of being a mother, at every moment.  That is huge.

Not every woman can choose to go down the path of motherhood – even if they give birth and become mothers. Not all women who choose Motherhood can give birth either. For those who can give birth and who can choose motherhood, I have such tremendous respect, admiration and appreciation.  For those mothers who give birth, but are unable embark on the road of motherhood, I have a different kind of respect, admiration and appreciation and profound humbleness. For those mothers who can’t give birth but choose motherhood, I have total admiration and respect.

In years past, as we would celebrate Mother’s day, I tried to guess what Heather would like for a gift and surprise her.  I often did the traditional American, upper-middle-class things: jewelry, brunch, flowers, fancy thing.  9 years later, I now know it’s just better to ask.

Heather is not a “fancy things” kind of woman when it comes to Mother’s day.  This year she asked for three, very simple things:  1. a new watch band for a watch I gave her years ago (of course it got delayed)  2. a hike with a picnic with her family (we’re doing that today) and 3. a donation for mothers in Haiti.

The Livesay’s have put together something wonderful. It’s far more than just a way to honor a mother. It’s a way to help give mothers the ability to have a healthy birth and help them determine the best thing for their new babies.

We donated to Heartline in Honor of Mother’s day, and if I may be so blunt, so should you.  Every mother deserves a healthy birth and the help they need to determine the best options for their babies.  There are lots of ways to give.  You can choose your own – the mechanism is not so important as just doing it.  We chose Heartline since we have a tie to Haiti.  You can see how the Livesay’s put it together here.

Now – with most things related to children and motherhood, stuff does not go smoothly.  I wanted to capture a beautiful picture of my kids holding a picture of our donation.  Last night I tried to take the photo and to call it a disaster would be a huge understatement.  Many tears were shed (by mother, father, and all children). There was yelling and frustration and anger and exasperation and resolutions on how to be better. We even decided to give up on taking the picture all together.  Meera’s response was this drawing of me taking a picture of the three kids.  It broke our hearts.

So I took photo at the top of this post this morning.  It is my three beautiful children giving their mother the one thing she wanted.  A way to express the appreciation for mothers everywhere, the work they do, and the very difficult choices they have to make every day.  From our family to all mothers, thank you for the hard work you do and the choices you make.

And this is just a funny photo of my favorite mother on earth giving love to her dog.

Happy mother’s day to all mothers. And a big happy mother’s day to my one-true love, Heather.

A few years ago I discovered that for one week each week in May — during precisely the week that is also Kyle and Owen’s birthday week — Starbucks has their annual “Frappuccino Happy Hour Week” (1/2-price-Frappuccinos between 3-5pm). The rest of the year we generally do not, ever, drink frappuccinos. So this week is an annual treat for us — and I always get a kick out of the fact that it happens to fall during K & O’s bday week. Kyle gets strawberries and cream; Owen and I get caramel crunch; Meera goes back and forth between vanilla and chocolate chip. We did it three times this week after school. $8 for 4 frappuccinos — you can’t go wrong! But by the end of the week we are so done with the sticky sweetness, and we are happy to wait another year for it to come again (today 2 out of the 4 of us didn’t even come close to finishing ours). Happy birthday; frappuccinos!

• The end-of-the-bed present was just what you wanted: a remote control airplane that could actually fly and that wouldn’t get wrecked within 2 minutes of you playing with it.
• Your sister gave you a whole slew of balsa wood airplanes.
• You were thrilled with your gifts!
• We went to Dunkin’ Donuts on the way to school, which we’d never done before, ever.
• Kids get to bring in a special birthday treat to celebrate with their class at school. We’ve always called this the “school birthday.” This year you chose your current favorite sweets — from Lehigh Catering (!) — blondie bars (Owen) and lemon bars (Kyle). I wasn’t there, but according to all reports these treats were a big hit!
• Mommy and Papi picked you up from school so we could go straight to a nearby park to try out the airplane. It flew awesome! and it didn’t get wrecked!

• For the past many days you’d both been deliberating and debating what to choose for your birthday dinner. I’d have made you anything you wanted, or we could go to the restaurant of your choice. You really struggled with this decision this year; you just could’t figure out what you wanted.
• But I knew, all along, what you’d really choose — if you had even thought it would be an option (but for obvious reasons — it is 90 miles away — you never thought of it as an option). So, in the car, after school pick-up, we announced, “You only live once! And you only turn ten once! We know what you’d choose for your birthday dinner if you could really have what you really want!” You both looked at us in total confusion. And then I said, “We’re going to Joe’s Shanghai!”
• The look on your faces with that announcement were priceless. “We’re driving to Chinatown?” you said. You could not believe that your crazy parents were going to do this. Drive to NYC, on a school night, just to eat dinner at Joe’s Shanghai?!?!
• But oh yes, we did that.
• You were even more surprised when your crazy mother pulled out candles and a lighter, and turned your soup dumplings into a pseudo birthday cake with ten candles on top. It caused quite a commotion as the tiny, packed restaurant caught on to what was happening. The servers all gathered around, chuckling and whispering, thrilled and amazed at this development (many of these guys recognize you, as you’ve been going to Joe’s Shanghai since you were babies, and they LOVE to see the passion and enthusiasm with which you eat their dumplings). We sang Happy Birthday to You, along with most of the restaurant guests and servers. And then you made wishes, and blew out your candles, and proceeded to eat soup dumplings with gusto and flair.
• We set a new family record: 6 baskets of soup dumplings! FYI: the two of you alone ate at least 4 of the six.
• After Joe’s we walked down the street to get Chinese mantou (sweet buns, with condensed milk). We got them to go — for the car ride home.

• At home, we got Meera straight to bed… while you rode your bikes like little maniacs, a million miles an hour, in the pitch dark, enjoying the first night of having campus all to yourselves (students are gone for the summer; their move-out-deadline was 9:00 that morning).
• We ended your 10-year-old-birthday on Sayre Lawn, with our annual birthday sky lanterns, and gratitude to your birthmother.
• It was a beautiful, dark night. We watched the sky lanterns float up and away for a long, long time. Until we couldn’t see them anymore. And you were 100% sure that those sky lanterns went all the way to heaven.
• You had an awesome birthday!
• xoxoxoxo