Currently

Making some new eats and treats these past two weeks.  We've had Pancake Sausage Bites, Brownie Cookies, Copycat Olive Garden Chicken & Gnocchi soup, Garbage Stir fry (but with Soy sauce instead of Curry), and Honey Garlic Porkchops!

Celebrating our son's fifth birthday!  We threw a basketball birthday party last Friday night and had a great time.  Even some of the high school Blue Jay basketball team showed up and it made Grey's night that they came to his party (thanks guys!  you're the best!) My first baby is five.  waaaaaah.

Laughing at Gemma Ro.  The girl is endless in her hilarity.  She has decided that saying she wants to marry someone/thing is how she now expresses love for them.  "I'm going to marry Daddy."  "I want to marry that fish on my cup."  "I think I'll marry these fancy shoes."

Saying Goodbye to my Pap.  It's been a long, sad two weeks while he was sick and then after he passed and all the events that comes with that.  We are so blessed though to be surrounded by so many loving thoughts, prayers, and people.  (thank you, all).  We finally said goodbye on Wednesday afternoon with a twenty-one gun salute and Taps played at the burial service.  Rest in peace, Pap Pap.

Thankful for spring officially arriving!  It has been warming up and even the cloudy April showers type days are warm enough for the kids to go out and stomp around in puddles.  It really feels like spring now that the boys are headed out to fishing camp tonight for the whole weekend!  Grey is so excited he can barely stand himself.  I've answered 'When is Daddy getting home from work?' approximately 4583920 times already today.  We have a special running at The Hunting Daddies store in honor of fishing season!  Use Code WETLINES for $2 off any of our Youth items!

Relieved that Violet's bout with diarrhea and subsequent diaper rash appears to be over!  It lasted almost two weeks and I was close to being drowned alive in baby laundry and cloth diapers.  Hallelujah!

Ordering the kids' stuff for our upcoming vacation and got the notice that it's already shipped! I love the sun shirts and the sun skull caps at One Step Ahead and even ordered them some Froggles! They are pretty excited about it.

Reading The Ten Thousand Things still (!) but I am on the very last chapter and have only four pages left (seriously - I should just be reading them right now and getting if over with!!) Wasn't too crazy about the book, but it was very different than my usual books (mostly in writing style) so that's good.  Next up is The Girl with Dragon Tattoo (I know, I'm a little slow on the uptake).

Frustrated about how I've felt sort of in a haze for the past two weeks.  Granted, I know we've had some rough stuff going on (my Pap, Violet sick, Grey's fifth birthday) but not being at regular/top efficiency always makes me feel lethargic.  So, I'm hopeful that I'll get back into regular operating mode soon.  I'm hoping to get better at getting some walking/jogging time in every day, packing for vacation, and finishing up some spring cleaning in the next week!

Regretting teaching Grey how to whistle this morning.  Yeesh, it's been  non-stop all day and he just came up to me and said, "Mum, I can whistle as good as a bird.  Also, I feel like whistling all day because it's so fun to whistle."  Help.me.

Inspired after spending some time yesterday afternoon walking around Lift Johnstown's Project Party that brought together tons of volunteer organizations in the community and surrounding counties.  I was for real like a kid in a candy store.  Gah, so much good happening and opportunities to support or be a part of it.  Obsessed.


This week in interesting internet:

Brandon and I both really resonated with the article from Scary Mommy on why a Mother doesn't want to be touched.  We had a chat about it and both agreed that we understood where each side was coming from.  I was just thinking about it again today when I was feeding Violet in the rocker before her nap and Lola (our cat) was laying on my legs and Greyson was standing/leaning next to me.  So.much.touching.all.the.time.

I loved reading the Moral Bucket List; a NY Times article and loved the thought that there are two different kinds of virtues; resume and eulogy and what it appears that we value in society as a whole.  very interesting and thought-provoking stuff.

The two year old article about the marathon spectators popped up in my TimeHop this week and I re-read it and re-loved it again.  This article was actually some of the inspiration that went into our maid of honor speech in our sister's wedding last year.  If you are a runner or a watcher of runners in races - this article is heartwarming.

Great read from the NY Times about how white parents are becoming less white as families are becoming more diverse.

I was cracking up over this article about some new vocabulary words.  Every night when getting into bed I'm not kidding, I audibly moan in ecstasy (bedgasm) and I'm fairly certain that I nerd-jack most conversations - sorry friends & family!.

Greyson and I laughed and watched this video three times from Dude Perfect about fishing stereotypes.  We are Kiss Fishers in case you were wondering.  Although, Greyson and Brandon would like to ensure that we don't lick them.  HAHAHAHA.

100 Small Things - Quarter Year check in

At the start of the new year, I set out to complete 100 small things in hopes to bring more intentional living to my daily life.  The months are impossibly slipping by and I've been trying to keep my list in the forefront of my mind to keep me moving towards completing items and also making the most of everyday even when it feels like they can be monotonous.

So far, as of mid-April, I have completed eight small things entirely.

#15:  Take down & wash kitchen and living room curtains - started up my spring cleaning for 2015!  This is really a very small thing but so annoying to me.  Hah!  I was glad to just get it done and having it on my list was good motivation to cross it off!

#17:  Buy new plates - I've been meaning to do this for months!  Finally on a Sunday that I had no kids with me in the car (rare!) I stopped at Walmart and perused their pyrex options.  I picked up some no-frill white with blue trim plates and bowls.  It is bizarre how gratifying it was to both purchase new everyday dinnerware and have a shopping trip with no children.  Welcome to my life, friends - hahahhahha!

#27: Kid play date with Katie and Karpy - my two best friends and I with our kids in tow (6 kids all together) spent a wintery weekend in a hotel in Fredricksburg, VA swimming in the indoor pool and giggling over mini bottles of champagne and take-out food....basically my ideal weekend of all time.  Read more about it on this blog post.

#31:  Serve a meal at the Windber Area Community Kitchen - we completed this task as part of our March 12 Months of Kindness project.  You can read about it more on this blog post.

#45:  Make pysanky eggs - this one is being listed as completed although, my original item was to make pysanky eggs with my Pap who always made them when I was growing up during the Easter season.  I had even set up a date that I was going to go down to his house with all the supplies and eggs so we could do them together.  I was hopeful that somewhere in the recesses of his mind he'd remember right away how to do them even though dementia has taken a lot out of his recent memories.  But the day before we were supposed to get together, he ended up being admitted to the hospital for pneumonia where he stayed for a week before passing away.  It was with a broken heart that I made my first adult attempt at pysanky eggs without my Pap before taking them to be laid next to his headstone after his military burial service yesterday.  They weren't perfect by any means, but it was a good first try again (remembering back to the times I watched him as a teenager) and I'll continue to work at getting better at them each year.  Love you, Pap Pap.

#61:  Take a picture of Gemma in my wedding dress - Gemmi and I got to playing dress up one evening while Brandon and Greyson were at basketball practice.  She was so excited to try on her Mumma's "marrying dress."  It was a tad emotional (hahaha, sappy momma) but also so fun to do this together and to know that someday when she gets to wear her own 'marrying dress' that I'll have these sweet photos of when she was only three years old wanting to marry her daddy just like mumma did.  (okay, bye. crying).

#88:  Camp out under the Christmas tree on Orthodox Christmas eve - a sweet tradition that I hope to continue throughout the years.  The kids loved getting the sleeping bags out and we watched one final Christmas movie before the season ended!

#96:  Remove TV from our mornings - this is one that I was afraid of to be totally honest..but I am happily surprised with how easy it was to remove TV from our mornings and also so proud of what it has done to transform our whole day actually!  We've been TV free in the AM since the beginning of March and the kids have been markedly more inventive, imaginative, and pleasant throughout the day.  I know, I sound like a weirdo hippie, but if this is a weirdo hippie, I don't want to not be one!  If you need some inspiration to remove some screens from your kids' (and your) day - check out these hashtags on instagram:  #childhoodunplugged #wildandfreechildren #screenfreekids

Not fully completed yet, but I've been continuously working on the completion of these six small things from the list:

#6:  Finished 2 of 12 books (one chapter away from finishing book #3!) - I've upped my reading a little bit in the past few weeks because I've been reading aloud to Greyson from my own book to help him drift off to sleep at night.  I'm hoping upcoming vacation and screen free week will knock at least three books off that list!

#18:  I've started a Memory Box for each kid, but I've got a long way to go on their boxes, let alone even starting mine and Brandon's!  This is an ambitious one, yeesh.

#19:  I'm still working on finishing our 2014 family yearbook - I'm about half of the way done which is actually the worst part; just getting to a point where it even feels possible to finish it.  I'm there now, I can see the end, so the second half of completing it is a little bit easier!  hah

#21:  3 of 7 personalized stockings done.  I already had a knitted stocking for myself from growing up, but I ordered a photo stocking for the dogs to share from Shutterfly, and I ordered a perfectly awesome camo and orange sewn stocking for Greyson from one of my amazingly talented blog readers/friends Tara (thank you!!)

#46:  Watched 1 of 5 Documentaries: The Dark Matter of Love was about a family who adopted three kids at the same time to add to their family of one child already.  It was an interesting look into the changes and emotions within the family and their relationships when everyone tries to figure out their place in it.  I really enjoyed the film.

#54:  Watched 3 of 15 TED Talks and I loved them all.  Here they are linked up if you're interested in viewing:
How not to be ignorant about the world:  Hans & Ola Rosling
Connected but alone:  Sherry Turkle
How to overcome your biases:  Verna Myers


So, the recap boils down to the fact that I need to up my game over here!  Already almost a quarter of the year has passed and I'm feeling like I need to do a little better at gradually completing items so I'm not stuck with a mad dash situation come November, eek!

How are you doing on your completion of your 2015 goals?

Greyson Rudy, our five year old

My Greyson Rudy Booboo, 

five.

five!!!!!

five?

We expect so much from you baby, and I know that makes it hard on you.  But you're our oldest and that tends to happen to the first born (me too, buddy).  But the thing is - you deliver, little man.  We ask you to be a helper and a leader around here and you are right there for us nearly every time, being so thoughtful and patient and kind to not only your sisters but to all of us.  

Our little man.

We are so lucky to have you - especially me, my darling, who asks of your own free will sometimes, "How are you doing Mum?  Can I help you so you don't have to do all the hard work and then we can play together?"

You are such an amazing big brother.  It sometimes silences me to see how gentle and patient you are with both of your sisters.  Granted, you tease and fight and argue with them too - but mostly you are more loving to them than I would ever expect or hope.  You jump at the chance to play the hero to Gemma when she feels like being a princess that needs saved, or happy to play as sidekick superheroes with her instead.  More times than I can count, I've walked in on you trying to teach them new words, how to use sports equipment, and offering to share your clothes/shoes/toys so that they can play like you.  They are so lucky to have you, Booboo.  

You are also so foreign to me sometimes; all boy.  You fall into uncontrollable laughter about farts and weenies and poop, but your laugh and huge grins are so joyful that I find my 'sisters-only' mind suppressing laughter most of the time too. A hug from you is to accept a full blown tackle that is delivered at a high speed sprint from across the room with a catapult from the couch arm rest.  It is painful to love you, both metaphorically and literally. You bring exhaustion and new bruises to all of me; my legs from chasing you, my arms from playing catch, my face from taking wrestling blows, and definitely my heart - my first baby, my ever-growing son.

Whatever sports season is currently in session becomes your favorite.  Right now you are baseball obsessed and even better; you're playing on your first real life team for teeball.  So it begins I guess, the years of practices and games and painting your number on our cheeks and the trying to not be the loudest, most embarrassing mom in the stands (don't worry we already designated a secret hand gesture that's meant to let you know that I'd actually really rather be screaming "That's my son!!  I'm so proud of him!!")

You have a body that almost appears to already have somewhere in muscle memory the knowledge of exactly how it's supposed to work.  You, my child, are an athlete at the core of you.  When you are moving your body, you are at your most comfortable.  We are doing our best to try to let you know how proud we are of you without making it seem like that is the best thing about you.  I hope you'll grow to recognize that being a great athlete is awesome and takes hard work, but it's not the most important thing about a person - just like your Daddy - he's a great man because of lots of things even if it seems people associate him with just that one thing.

I am so proud of your eagerness to learn (just like me!) and your ability to make friends (just like Daddy!)  You are constantly trying to make sense of the world; listening closely to everything that is said around you.  You are not only regularly asking us to clarify words and phrases for you ('What does deliberately mean?') but you are also then adding them to your own vocabulary ("Gemma deliberately used my teddy bear without asking me!")  Your huge vocabulary and your manners always have strangers guessing you are actually seven or eight instead of five.  That makes us both proud and weary; don't try to grow too fast, our Booboo!

Last night, you and I took the dogs for an evening walk together - you were happy to come without any hesitation when I asked.  It's unclear if it's because you wanted to spend time alone with me (rare in a house of three kids, one Daddy, and three pets), or if the idea of being in charge of walking Trixie made you feel like a big boy, or if maybe it was just because you were asked and Gemma had to stay home - but whatever your reasoning, we had a comfortable walk together.  We talked about teeball practice and deer trails and how much fun you had playing with your Aunts and Uncles that day.  

When we were about to head home, we stopped and tried to find frogs in a big puddle that was singing so loudly with their chirps it was like we were surrounded by the noise.  The sun was already setting behind a mountain but the clouds were outlined in pink and you were running around trying to use the chirps as frog GPS, and I wasn't worried about your next snack or if you'd be too tired to walk back or if you needed to stop for a potty break or coming up with answers for 35 nonsensical questions.

'Hmm, so this is what it will be like to raise a big kid then', I thought happily.

I will forever be grateful that you were our first, Booboo.

thank you for being our patient, gracious usher into each new phase of parenthood.

we love you.

forever and ever.

even when you keep getting so big.

your mumma.