Owen & Kyle, just before heading out to the bus stop this morning
Spring is in the air and major change is amidst. Our kids are sprouting faster than the buds on the trees. Every day suddenly brings something new and unexpected. They work hard. They play hard. Early this evening all five of us were in the kitchen making dinner and eating chips&salsa while we cooked. Just a few minutes before dinner was about to be ready the boys suddenly disappeared together into the playroom. A couple of minutes later they were calling out at the tops of their voices, “Mommy! Mommy! Come look!!!” I found them at the easel. One on each side of it, each with pencil in hand, standing beside their big hanging paper pads. Having worked very hard on their masterpieces, they were beaming with pride:
(You might have to click to enlarge?) Let’s just say that for our very not-so-artistically-inclined Kyle, this drawing is a huge leap. Huge. Up until just this week he did nothing but scribble. He suddenly wants very much to draw. His goal as of yesterday: to be able to draw “houses, trees, and butterflies” (he announced this to us at dinner last night). This is a kid who — when he sets his mind to something — is bound and determined. Do not get in his way because he will bulldoze over anything on the path to reach his goal. This drawing, of houses, trees, and a butterfly is — for Kyle — extraordinary. I was shocked and amazed when I first saw it! He was jumping up and down with pride!
And here is Owen’s masterpiece:
This is major. It may not be for other kids his age (5.75), but this is seriously huge for Owen. Because… he is in a Waldorf school… and in a very much Walforf-esque home (particularly when it comes to educational philosophies and child development philosophies). Owen has not been taught to write letters. He has not been taught to write period. So, the fact that he did this is pretty extraordinary. Pure self-motivation, pure self-determination. Again… do not get in his way. Apparently he just decided, for whatever reason, that he was going to write the alphabet. I am sure this took extreme care and concentration for Owen to do this. I was completely blown away when I saw it. He was so proud of himself and quickly joined Kyle in the jumping up-and-down and squealing with delight.
And as for Meera…
This early spring finds us discovering that we’ve got yet another child on our hands who loves-to-grind-grungy-dirt-mud-grass-stains-into-pants. So, now, we’re 3 for 3. What are the odds? Turns out she’s now contributing almost as much as her brothers do to the heaps and piles of the ‘To Be Stain-Sticked, Spray-and-Washed, and Oxi-Cleaned’ laundry. It is a bottomless, never-ending, always-present heaping pile. I know other kids get dirty too (obviously). But seriously, it really does seem like our three get way dirtier than all the rest.
Work hard, play hard. And when work is play, and play is work… (and especially when spring is in the air and all around us and in us)… it is all good.
So, one unexpected occurrence resulting from our switcheroo-to-the-new-bloggeroo was this: in the process we acquired a lot of interesting and valuable information regarding our readership. We received hundreds (about 5 or 600) of emails from people all over the world. After scoping people out, we have invited 460 readers (we’ll continue to add people who want to read along on a case-by-case basis). Anyway, the thing that was so crazy, to me, was not the number of readers but the intensity of the readers— I was shocked to find out that almost all of our readers are reading daily (like, religiously! as part of their daily routine!) and have been for years. Most of them have either been reading since the beginning, or have gone back and read our entire archives. The vast, vast, vast majority of people told us that they had never left a comment. Like, never ever left a comment. Interesting! Anyway, totally by default we found out a ton about our blog readers’ demographics. There are a whole bunch of men reading, but the majority of readers are women– including a total mix of stay-at-home-moms, working-outside-the-home-moms, and women with no kids. The majority of readers are white, but we have a ton more black and Hispanic (and other non-white) readers than I ever imagined. There are lots of families and/or couples who are reading together (and having lots of interesting conversations sparked from here!– I heard about so many of those conversations!). There are large contingents of readers from the following groups (some of you overlap with ‘membership’ in multiple of these groups):
- Adoptive Families (or families considering adoption or in the process of adoption)
- Multiples Families (parents of twins)
- GLBTQ Folks (mostly gay and lesbian couples — some with kids, some thinking about starting families)
- Female Graduate Students (lots o’ PhD students, med students, and law students)
- Teen and Twenty-Something Adoptees (most of them black)
- Heart for Haiti (people who– for whatever reason… and usually there’s a good one… — love Haiti; this includes actual Haitians and Haitian-Americans, as well as non-Haitians who have been touched by Haiti)
There you have it. I’d say that pretty much sums up our readership. The other thing we found out is what people are interested in on our blog. From what y’all told us, I’d say these are the main subjects that most of our readers are reading for (in no particular order):
- Happy-Healthy-Whole-Hearted-Great&Grateful-Living (turns out that people are seriously inspired by this blog… honestly, this was the biggest revelation to me. I had no idea people were so enraptured with this aspect of our blog)
- Adoption (especially inter-racial adoption, especially white-black adoption, especially Haitian adoption)
- Mixed-Race Family Life
- Dual-Career Family Life
- Twinny Twinny Twinship
- Travel
- Foodie Stuff (raising foodie kids, recipes, and ideas for dealing with the whole food/eating challenge in daily living)
I’d say that after the Happy-Healthy-Whole-Hearted-Great&Grateful-Living revelation (which, truly, was a huge revelation to me), the second most surprising thing that I learned in this whole process was that a ton (I mean, a ton) of people are interested in any/all food-related stuff on this blog. I find that amazing, since, from my perspective, we rarely post about food and I’m constantly feeling tortured by the challenge of getting dinner on the table. I feel like we posted a lot on the subject of food during Food Week last year, but other than that I feel like it is pretty much a silent subject on this blog. That is not, however, how a lot of readers see it. The food stuff is a major draw for a lot of readers. And honestly, as much as it does drive me absolutely to the brink of insanity on many (most?) days… I do love thinking about — and trying to mastermind — the whole food thing for my family. So… that made me think, “geesh, I better get going on The 2nd Annual Food Week!!!!!” But then I got to thinking… “maybe I should do more than just one (or two) weeks on this, maybe I should start doing ‘Food Friday’ and posting something related to food once a week?” Anyway, I’d love to hear what y’all think! I know a lot of you are averse to commenting (LOL!!!), but you could vote… right??… so we created a little poll for you to partake in. Check it out on the top right hand corner of our sidebar. And vote! Your vote counts! (since I’ll go with whatever you all tell me) Poll closes at midnight on Thursday.
P.S. Late edit to this post… I forgot to mention the most fun tidbit of all about our demographics!— we even have someone really, really, really (like super really) famous reading this blog!!!! I will never say who it is– but I bet y’all will have some fun imagining who it might be! 😉
Well, Heather is sitting at the Philly airport…delayed. I feel so bad for her – after traveling to Boston for ESS this weekend, to be stuck an hour from home, with a three hour delay – yuck. Hang in there – I know you’re reading this – there will be a drink waiting for you – email me what you want!
Maybe all the anticipation and nervousness that I had going into this weekend made me bring my “A” game, or maybe I was just able to relax and enjoy things. Whatever the situation, despite everyone missing Heather/mommy a lot, we had a great weekend with me and my three children.
This morning started off better than yesterday with Meera waking up bright and chipper. When I went in to get her, she said “mommy home” right away, but when I said “mommy’s on a work trip”, she nodded, smiled and clicked her tongue “yes”. All good. And, yes the highlight of the day – Jarran Walker will show up later in the post.
We played with the train, had some breakfast (cereal this morning) and got busy playing. Had a very fun morning playing inside and out – Meera in particular insisted that we go “iiide”. A little basketball, a little swinging, a little bike riding, a little sandbox action. Before I knew it we really needed to get Missy down for her nap. She had no interest in a bottle or nap, but when I finally saw her stare off into space – scooped up – up to her room, bottle and rocked to sleep for her nap. Lovely, it really really was.
K & O and I played a little more, then we watched Curious George 2 (again). We also had left over pizza for lunch. Kinda like a true “men’s day”. Kinda. 😉
Then… it was time… for….
Jarran Walker!
Heather set it up for Jarran to come by from 2-4 to give me some relief. At the time, I was very very feeling like I would really really need this. But honestly, when he arrived, I was fine and would have been happy to not have had him come. I feel pretty good about that.
But man ‘o man did the boys feel glad he was there. Jarran made it into both boy’s prayers tonight: “Dear God, thank you for Jarran Walker. It was so fun playing basketball and baseball and football with him.”
If Jarran is not worn out, I will be shocked – he certainly wore K & O out. the Yawns going on before bed were amazing – Owen in particular. Wow. They posed for this shot in between innings:
After Jarran left, I went inside for a minute (to get something, put something away, I don’t remember), and when I came out – the three bambinos were walking along, hand in hand, not a care in the world. Lovely.
After a huge spaghetti dinner, all three were happy to have a bath, and go right into bed. So, so, so tired.
***
What a great weekend in so many ways. It’s not just that I had tremendous bonding with my children. It’s not that I now know I can do it. It is those things, but it’s more. It’s that I can relax, enjoy my kids here at home, and discover how wonderful they really are.
This post is partly an update for HBJ, partly a expression of disbelief/relief and partly a post.
It’s been a question in my mind whether or not, when not on vacation, I am able to really engage and enjoy parenting in a non-stressful way. On a regular basis, I have real trouble disengaging from work, and more importantly, re-engaging with my family in a good way. Now, I don’t think that on a regular basis I am a bad parent, or a neglectful parent, but I also don’t think that I normally live up to what kind of parent I would like to be. And for me that is both saddening and difficult to change.
And, so, as this weekend approached, Heather and I had some pretty serious trepidation since she has to be at an annual ESS conference (that she has missed the past couple years) – and it represents my first time parenting my children all by myself for an entire day. And, in this case, for three (almost) entire days. Whoa.
Some women will roll their eyes, some will discount my nerves (although some will understand Heather’s nerves about it). Some men who have done this will do the same. And I too am rather embarrassed by it. But many men and women will recognize that there are lots of men for whom this scenario is a real concern. It is a reality.
Well, here we are on day two and things are going great. We had a great day today – and a ton of fun. All four of us were engaged, relaxed and played hard.
Yesterday, after Heather left in the morning and Meera got up from her nap, we went out to buy Curious George 2 and The Princess & the frog (we had said we would get it as soon as it came out). Then we went and got… new fast shoes! The boys are particularly happy about these since they go “16 miles and hour”, which is about 2 miles an hour faster than their previous fast shoes. 😉
These shoes go 16 miles an hour!
Meera said “mommy home” a lot over the course of the day, which was tough. When I put her to bed, I thought she was going to cry a bit (like sad cry, not cry out), but she didn’t. That was the hardest part of the day.
When we got up this morning Meera was a little sad – she cried upon waking. But then we played with the train for a while – we ate a quick breakfast (egg for Meera, cereal for K & O) and off to BOUNCEU! All three kids had a blast. Meera went down the slides by her self a couple times. Man, that girl is just like her brothers – loves the wild rides. “Nature” lovers (as in vs Nurture), you gotta fess up and admit that there is something in the nurturing department going on here.
That's a 6' slide that is really slippery and caused a lot of laughter from all three!
We had to stop at Panera afterward for some treats (at Kyle’s request who was “sooooooo hungry”). We came home with a 6 pack of Hot Cross Buns (Kyle’s favorite), a Cinnamon roll, a Cobble stone, hot coco, and a sprite/hi-c mix. Meera had some of my bottle of water (at her request). Little miss was clearly exhausted, and lay down on the floor of the Panera for a moment while we waited – couldn’t get the camera out fast enough to get that little delight.
Interestingly today, we seemed to get a lot of positive feedback from lots of people we ran into along the way. Lot’s of interaction with the boys, lots of how cute Meera is – lots and lots. I don’t know whether this is that I was alone, or that we were all in good places, or that the weather was gorgeous, or that I just noticed it more, but it was noticeable. I know that a whole post could go into that, but there’s a lot more to go through.
Missy took a 2:45 minute nap. During that time, the boys got to watch their new George video, and I got the house in order and did a few minutes of work. They also had lunch – which was two boxes of annies mac and cheese – I saved a little for Missy, but sheesh – that was just lunch!
When she got up – we all headed out side for the afternoon.
The big deal of the day – Meera got a “new” tricycle. We decided to wait until spring to break it out. It was Owen’s old one we got back in 2006. Meera loved it – loved it loved it. Despite the fact that her feet don’t quite reach the pedals.
After a dinner of pizza from Borderline, it was bath and bed. Meera did not want to go to bed, and Owen didn’t either. Those two are an interesting pair in so many ways. Owen kept it in check however, he did great today.
Missy was in bed at 6:30 and her lip quivered again when I put her down with kitty, bunny, coco and little kitty. But about 2 min after I walked out and was reading to Kyle and Owen, I hear her happily having a discussion about things with coco. So – go figure. Things have been quiet for a while now.
Boys – in bed at 7:05. The house is clean. I am going to go up and check in on them. If they are asleep – watching a movie!
***
We’ll see about tomorrow, but for now, yesterday and today has really made me think about things. Not only could I enjoy my kids at home, and keep them safe and fed, but they could enjoy me too. That’s big. It makes me wonder why I have not been able to do it more often. For me there is something different about today than other weekends. Something about it being all on me.
Now, I will admit, I have it pretty easy – Heather figured out all the meals (except that the boys kind of changed around what they wanted – but still) – and she helped with the plans. I will also say that having a plan is really really critical to making days like this work, But there is still something here, I am not sure what yet.
Anyway, the boys are super excited – Jarran Walker is coming tomorrow!
The three of them are loving potty training. Loving potty training. I really can’t tell who loves the whole thing more– Meera or the boys. All I know is that the three of them are doing all the potty training. There is very little adult involvement in any aspect of it whatsoever.
Meera wants to do everything that K & O do. Everything. One afternoon M was eating a late lunch after an even longer than usual nap. K & O had the Lion King blasting, as usual, and were acting out the entire play, as usual. At one point they were lying on the floor “dying just like Mufasa.” Meera managed to climb down from her seat at the table, while holding her plate of food, and continued to eat the rest of her lunch while lying on the floor right in line with her brothers.
It feels like with spring, our whole family is having some kind of growth spurt. Owen has shot up in height, is going to bed better than ever and teaching himself to read; Kyle is on to his next conceptual breakthrough: money, the impact of payments, and the influence of capital on family systems; Heather working through the balance of motherhood, work, love and life; Braydon letting go of work to re-engage in family; Meera on just about everything baby and toddler related.
For a while we’ve been hearing one word things from Meera: Yes (click of the tongue), No (“Nooooh” through the nose), More (“mooooh”, like no, but with M) and others. But recently, She has started using two word sentences with an subject and verb, or subject and preposition (sans verb). We’re hearing a lot of “Do’s” and “Homes”: Papi Do, Kitty Do, George Do (like when George [the stuffed animal] mysteriously jumped up from Meera’s crib and knocked down the mobile while being held by Missy the whole time), and Papi Home, Mommy Home, Brothers Home. She’s starting to speak.
This morning saw the application of this new found speaking.
As are soooo many families, we too are coping with Eastern Daylight Time. “Spring Ahead” is really quite a misnomer. It’s more like spring quickly into mayhem and further exhaustion, while everyone gets to bed too late, and up too late and rushes out to the door, etc. We got up very late this morning and had the same. After getting the boys to the bus, we showered and got ready. I played with Meera while Heather took her turn.
For much of that time, we heard Meera saying: “Mommy home”, “Papi Home”. “Kitty Home”, “Coco Home”, “Bunny Home”. “Mommy Home”. She played with her toys, some key rings, Heather’s shoes, and lots of jewelry.
When Margie arrived, Meera realized we were going to work.
She cried.
She was also hungry. When Heather suggested that Margie make her some eggs, Meera nodded and smiled, clicked and said:
“Mommy Do.”
She would not let go of Heather. Heather did her best to hold it together, but finally began crying herself. Meera looked up at her and they kissed. I wish I could hold this memory forever in my mind; I will try.
After a few minutes of transition, everyone was settled down and we left and drove together to work. I dropped Heather off at her office and headed to my office. I looked out the window and saw her ascend the steps the building. The building where she will go and teach, mentor, research and add to the world in a whole different way than she does at home.
Last week I went to Princeton to give a talk. I had agreed to this speaking engagement awhile ago. But as I was driving home from it — planning my route strategically so that I would be able to stop at a Target to buy Meera her first underpants — I realized that I had not allowed myself to really think about the Princeton gig at all during any of the days, weeks, or months prior to it. I mean, I knew it was coming up, and I prepared my talk for it (so I had to think about that part of it)… but I hadn’t let my mind think about it one bit. I mean, the actual Princeton part of it. And driving home, I was suddenly thinking lots about it.
Princeton University. To me, it is like the creme de le creme. The only other thing that might compare at all (in my own mind) is Stanford. But Princeton has its own little story in my life, so it is more more to me. The thing is this — when I was in high school I was one of those sort of ridiculously-well-rounded, scholar-athlete, president-of-everything, top-of-her-class, over-achiever ambitious super-kids. When it came time to consider college, my parents, (the best parents ever), who had spent their entire adult lives focused on work for the common good and running a not-for-profit organization (i.e., working very hard for relatively very little $$$), told me, in no uncertain terms, that I should plan to go to whatever college I wanted. Money should not be a factor. Period. There was no arguing with them over this. This is not just what they wanted of me, this is what they demanded of me. I would be disappointing them to do anything less than attempt to get into my very top choice “dream college.” It put me in a real quandary: do I go for it and do what they want (go to a premier college with –inevitably– a pricey price tag, which would –unavoidably– practically put them in the poor house indefinitely), or do I tone it down and go against them (but allow them to not have to RE-MORTGAGE their home to put me through college)? It was a real conundrum for me. In the end, despite my private self-induced mental torture over this debacle, my own EagerBeaverAimToPleaseDeepDesireToNeverDisappointMyParents won out. I made the decision to go for it and allow myself to choose to apply to whichever colleges on the planet I would most like to attend.
Thus began my college search. During the spring of my junior year of high school, like so many other middle- and upper-middle-class families, we set out — with great excitement and anticipation — for my “college tour.” We looked at a bunch of private New England liberal arts colleges and some larger New England schools too. I knew I didn’t want to go too far from my New Hampshire home (lots of reasons for that — I don’t want to get into here), but my parents encouraged me, strongly, to at least look beyond the New England state borders. On the college trip we toured some Lutheran schools in Pennsylvania (I didn’t really like them), and then we visited Princeton University. It would have been a little bit of a reach for me to get in there, but there was a definite chance I might get in if I applied.
I will never forget my visit to Princeton. Still, right now, it is a very vivid memory. The most pronounced feeling (and thought) that I had was, “This is way out of my league.” I just felt (and thought) that it was way, way, way beyond me. The hallowed halls, the history (the oil paintings of famous people — United States presidents and such — all alum from there), the ‘feel’ of the campus, the tone of the mindset, the –literally– ivy-drenched Ivy-League-school. It was just a different playing field than I was used to– or at all comfortable with. I had visited Harvard and Yale and Brown, but none of those schools shook me the way Princeton did– Princeton felt huge and scary and just totally beyond me. I knew immediately that I would not apply. It felt too far from home, but it also felt –completely– like I did not belong there. It was way above me, beyond me, a world in which I did not belong. I had a knee-jerk reaction, for sure, but I also –genuinely– felt and thought that I was not cut out for what it would require. It would require a huge reach on my part– a reach into a world that made me feel like a fish out of water.
So, I did not apply. Who knows if I ever would have gotten in? Knowing what I know now, all these years later, my guess is that I probably had a very good shot at getting in. My chances were probably just about as good as anyone else (who wasn’t a Legacy). They very well might have taken a chance on me. But I’ll never know. And I’m not someone who tends to look back with regret. I ended up getting in early decision– and then going– to my first-choice college (a small, elite, New England, liberal arts college). My life has turned out better than I ever could have imagined or expected. So I never pause too long to worry about the “What If’s.”
Fast forward twenty years…
And I’m driving onto the campus of Princeton University looking for the building in which I am supposed to give my talk. I see the main buildings on the center of the campus– I vividly remember them from when I was last here— as a junior in high school on a campus tour. Except this time it feels very different. I have been invited by the Sociology Department to give a lecture on my work. They are paying me a significant amount of money for my time. I am only as nervous as I’d be for any other such engagement anywhere else. I do my thing. And it seems to go off without a hitch. The undergraduates, the graduate students, the faculty… they all shower me with accolades and roll out the red carpet.
And then I’m driving home. And it all hits me.
And then I’m looking for the exit for the Target. Underpants for Meera. It will make me even later getting home (I’m already due to arrive well beyond all three bambinos’ bedtimes), but if I don’t stop to buy underpants for Meera now, she’ll have to go for quite a while longer without them (there is no other time in the foreseeable future that I’ll be able to run this errand). And she needs underpants. She is totally in the throws of serious potty training. As I’m pulling into the Target parking lot all I can think about is ‘What would the people at Princeton think if they knew I was in the midst of potty training my baby while I was writing that talk I just gave?’ With all the in-depth talk about sociology and scholarly research, I’ve somehow managed to have come across as just a regular academic (not the Professor-Mommy type). I guess I’ve kind of fooled them? I sort of feel like an impostor. They would never believe that just this morning I was wiping my baby’s bum-bum and doing the “Poopie Dance” and shelling out M&M’s for pee after pee after pee at the same time as I was proof-reading my Princeton lecture. They would never guess that I’m stopping at Target for underpants on my way home from their campus. I’m just a Professor, completely dedicated to my work.
Inside the Target I need to ask for help. The two ladies in the children’s clothing area are trying to help me locate underpants in a size smaller than a 3T. There are only a few packages available small enough to fit Meera. As we discuss potty training there in the middle of Target, I get teary telling them that I really wish she wasn’t potty training– that I’d be happy to change her diapers forever– that she’s my BABY (waaaaaaa!) and I just wish she’d never be ready for “panties” (they insist on calling the girls’ underpants “panties” so I just go along with it and start referring to them as “panties” too). We all tell our Mommy war stories about potty training and they say nice things to me about Meera (how “lucky” I am she’s potty training herself, etc.). They are trying to make me feel better because I’m totally breaking down in tears in the middle of Target. They start telling me that working at Target at night is great because it allows them to be home with their kids all day. And then one of them made some joke about how they particularly love working the children’s clothing section at night because their own kids are in bed and they get to chat with “all the other mom’s who can only get out of the house after dark too”… and then it strikes me that they clearly think I’m a Stay-at-Home-Mom escaping the house because my kids are finally asleep. I conscientiously think to myself — right there in the midst of this — ‘Wow, they have absolutely no idea that I was just giving a talk at Princeton.’ With all the in-depth talk about potty training and panties, I’ve somehow come across as just a regular mom (not the Mommy-Professor type). I’ve guess I’ve kind of fooled them? I sort of feel like an impostor. They would never believe that just this afternoon I was standing in front of 150 people and speaking about “scholarship” and signing copies of my book and drinking latte with very famous academics. They would never guess that I’m driving home from giving a talk at Princeton. I’m just a mother, completely dedicated to my kids.
Standing, alone now, in front of the rack of “panties” I am forced to make a tough choice. There are a bunch of different packs of panties but they all have big-hoop-dress-tiny-waisted-huge-eyelashed princesses all over them. Even the ‘Dora’ underpants have a version of Dora printed on them that I’ve never seen before (she’s suddenly a grown-up Dora with very long flowy hair and a corset-type long prom-gown-type dress on). Most of the underpant princesses are the [horrifyingly scary-skinny] Disney ones. Now really, I will do a lot of things, but I refuse to put my 21-month-old daughter in a pair of “panties” that put Disney princesses all over her crotch. I just cannot bring myself to do it. I buy the one –and only one– package of plain-Jane-no-princess-(no-print-at-all)-underpants. They are Hanes brand (and I kind of like Hanes anyway— for one thing, they have some of their textile production facilities in Haiti).
For the last leg of the drive home I have my millionth identity crisis of the past five years. Who the heck am I? Am I the girl who was scared to even apply to Princeton but grew up to be an invited guest lecturer there? Or am I the potty-training mom? Am I a top-50-university Professor? Or a Waldorf Mama? Am I an Academic Author? Or a Mommy Blogger? It seems impossible to be both. And yet, of course, obviously, I am. But I don’t feel like it. I feel like I jump from puddle to puddle; doing just enough to successfully “pass” as one thing, and then “pass” again as another; running maniacally around the neighborhood on Halloween night, switching back-and-forth between two different costumes from house-to-house. I feel like an impostor everywhere I go. I have no idea who I actually am. And nobody else seems to know either. I’m way more focused on career than most other mommies I know. And I’m way more focused on mothering than most other professors I know. All that I know is that I never imagined it this way.
I imagined that it would be so much more seamless. And so much less seamless. That my identities would be so much more fluid. And so much less fluid. Mostly, I just thought it would be so much easier.
At home, at the very end of that day, I made myself a bagel-egg-and-cheese sandwich while Braydon poured us wine. We sat together at the kitchen table while I ate, and we talked over our day. Just another in a seemingly endless string of overwhelmingly exhausting, overflowing, and mind-numbingly complex-(and-wondrous) days. As usual, we came to no conclusions and figured out nothing. And then we went to bed and started it all again the next day.
It’s no secret the boys love all things lawn mowers, chainsaws, and power tools. And now that it’s just about spring, we’re embarking on the outdoor maintenance sea. When we went to Lowes this past weekend for a new plug for the model train (more to come on that), they had the lawnmowers out for sale. Can’t miss a chance to ride those of course.
If mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, then Pat should be thrilled. Owen as Pat and Kyle as Owen riding the lawn mower.
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