A Big Day for All of Us

Today was the much-anticipated first day of school. I set my alarm for 7:02am (I'm not on the gym schedule yet, baby steps people baby steps) and ended up incorporating the alarm into my dream, thus causing me to hit snooze repeatedly until I finally got up at 7:50...good grief. We did have family prayer though, so that was a morning first.


The kids were dressed and ready by the time I got up, so I only ended up pouring them bowls of cereal and helping with their lunches. I had originally planned on making a festive breakfast, but was so disoriented from my dreams and from oversleeping that I didn't end up doing anything special. It reminded me of last year on the first day of school so I ran to the computer to check last year's post and sure enough, I needed a do-over then too.


I felt like a complete spazz when it came to packing the kids' lunches. I have never done this before! Sure, I make them lunches all the time, but this was so official and seemed more important because it had to last them for 3.5 hours until school got out. I was trying to make it well-balanced, yet realistic. I had frozen their juice boxes last night so they'd be nice and cold for them (victory) but my idea to freeze the applesauce so it would be cold didn't work out so well, it was still frozen hard at lunch time. I'm wondering if I should still freeze them but then set them out the night before. Any ideas about this?


This morning, we drove to the school and had to park around the block and then walk a little way. I stopped to talk to Landon and make sure he knew where to go and then looked up to see Whitney half way down the sidewalk to where her class lines up! Not so much as a "See ya Mom" or anything. What is up with that? Apparently she was very excited and not at all nervous to go, so she just left. Landon gave me a glazed look and nodded as I tried to talk to him (apparently he had things under control and was tuning me out), so I finally hugged him and sent him on his way. I stood there for a second thinking how this was not the first day of school farewell I had envisioned!

There was no trauma, no tears, no moment of longing or anything. It was what it was.


I ended up having a marvelous day all by myself (I had to keep reminding myself that I didn't have to do everything I wanted/could do all in one day). I ran a few errands, did 3 loads of laundry, blogged off and on throughout the day, talked to Michelle and Claudia on the phone, and mailed some books I sold on Amazon (I'm loving that). I ended up being 10 minutes early to pick up the kids (I was coming from Target) so I had some quality eye-brow plucking time in the car while I waited. I was seriously overdue for some plucking, and can't believe how many gray hairs I'm getting in my eyebrows; they're so much harder to see when they grow in underneath that I end up not realizing they're there and then suddenly see them and let out a little yelp!


This is Landon after school today giving me the double thumbs up! Hooray! He knew 5 kids in his class (all from church), likes his teacher, liked recess, and said the math test they took was easy.


Whitney came out smiling as well, but then acted shy in front of the camera. The first thing she reported was the Oreos and Skittles she got to eat in class! Oh my.


I took the kids to Sonic and we ended up waiting like 20 minutes for our treats so I got the whole update on both of their days with no interruptions. They had great days and are very excited about everything.

For those of you wondering why Landon is going to public school this year instead of doing home school this is the answer: he wanted to go.

I never set out to do home school, it just kind of worked out that way after the religious, private school Landon went to for kindergarten disintegrated. Amie and I had both planned to trade secretarial work for tuition for our kids but then the school got a new principal and he wasn't keen on that idea. So suddenly we were scrambling for a new option. We ended up going to a seminar about k12.com and were completely sold on it. We both left the meeting shaking our heads and saying "home school??"


But after our kids had had such a great year at the private school and had enjoyed such tiny classes (Landon's class had 11 for most of the year and then 13 by the end of the year) we couldn't stomach public school class sizes or the thought of sending them into a big school. So we signed up for k12 and had a great year. The program is free in Utah and is fabulous, so we decided to give it a try. Landon ended up testing out of 1st grade when he took the k12 placement test so I was already excited (only because how great is it that he didn't waste a year being bored at school?). So he and I did the 2nd grade curriculum together that year and I was amazed by how much could do, how thorough and cool the program was, and loved spending that time with him each day.


So we signed up again for the next year. I was still happy with everything having to do with the program, but ended up not being nearly as involved with Landon's work because he could do everything himself. It was pretty cool that he was so self-motivated to get his work done each day, but that meant that he was often done by the time Whitney was going to kindergarten at 9:00am (I knew she'd love kindergarten so I didn't want to try home school with her). So Landon's days turned out to be very long. He read a lot, played video games, and played with the neighbor kid (who was also doing k12) but he still had a lot of time on his hands. One day in the spring he said, "Mom, I think I'd like to go to school next year." That was fine with me so I signed him up the next day.

That's our story. I don't have strong opinions about home school, private school or public school. I plan on approaching each year for each child differently and will do whatever we think is best for them that year.

**Do you make a big deal of the first day of school?
What did your mom do for you on the first day of school?
Do you pluck your eyebrows in the car?
Have you ever home schooled?**

The Return of Crazy Claudia

I ended up sleeping in embarrassingly late yesterday (10:00) because I was up half the night reading because I couldn't sleep. (I also had a major spider incident in the night and had a hard time recovering from it.) I woke to find the neighbor kid here playing with Landon (how humiliating).


So after my routine trip to the bathroom I headed for the computer and commenced reading blogs. An hour quickly flew by when the door bell rang, and who should it be?? Claudia of course. She came to pick up her box of stuff that she had left here over a week ago when they left for Jackson Hole. I couldn't tell if she was just stopping by or not because Alfredo and the boys didn't come in right away. But then Alfredo came in and the two boys played outside with Landon and his friend. Alfredo had to sew a button on his shirt, so we sat and talked together (the 3 of us).


Pretty soon we were having nachos and chatting at the table. Their visit ended up being 3.5 hours! Classic. I caught up with them about the adventures from their past week which ended up involving trips to both Jackson Hole and Yellowstone! They've been to 8 states over the past 3 weeks, and this trip was originally just going to be a 4 day trip to Utah to attend the blog party! Their adventures have included visits to many friends and cousins (she has an endless supply), and most amusingly accidentally bidding at a hog auction!! She was adjusting her hair and ended up being seen by the auctioneer so she almost bought a hog for $450. Only Claudia!!


I finally took a shower at 2:00 (while they were here using the computer) so that I'd be presentable at the open house to meet the kids' teachers and find their desks between 3:00-4:30pm. Crazy Claudia always stuffs things into her bra. This makes me laugh every time and I finally documented it, this time it was a water bottle and a Nutella sandwich for Alexei. Too funny.


I also had to document the front seat of her car as she was leaving. Even though they only have 2 kids they still drive a huge SUV, but after seeing her in action it makes perfect sense because they use every inch of that car!



The kids and I then went to the school and found their classrooms, met their teachers (both are younger than me!), found their desks, and bought a school t-shirt for Friday Spirit Days.


We also went to the Scout Store to buy Landon's new bandanna, slide and book since he moved up to Wolves now that he's 9. It was $16.40 for those 3 items! Good grief. At least we don't have to buy the shirt every year.

Later we met Randy at Pizza Factory for dinner, then went to the grocery store while Landon got his haircut nearby. Phew. Our evening was spent cutting tags off the kids' new school clothes and helping them decide what to wear. Whitney was mainly concerned with wearing her new blue, flowered belt, so we had to create an outfit around it. Landon, on the other hand, said "What am I wearing?" He didn't even end up wearing something new. I guess for boys it's not as big of a deal, especially since his shirts are all the same style.

I have more to report, but feel this post is too long. I may have to post twice today. Hmmm. I should have plenty of time because both kids are at school and I'm reveling in the freedom, though I can't quite wrap my mind around the thought of this being a daily occurrence!

**I don't even know what to ask today?**

Refreshing Respite

Rather than do a detailed recap of our mini-break, I will do a lovely bullet-point of highlights instead.

• We finally left at 2:00pm on Thursday after a long morning of soccer practice (I'm assistant coach and played in flip-flops!), blogging, house cleaning and packing. Sheesh.

• It was only an hour drive to get there. (We're not sure how we survived the 6 hour drive to Las Vegas and then another 6 hour drive to California last fall. We're driving wusses.)
• It was raining when we got to Park City, thus crushing the kids' hopes of swimming.

• We did some major back-to-school shopping at the outlet mall and finished the job by visiting 3 stores! (Old Navy, Children's Place, and Bass) Landon acted as the "clothes statue" as we shopped and he held the stuff we were getting for Whitney, too funny.
• We ate subpar pizza for dinner, but tasty chocolate dessert, then went back to the hotel to swim (the weather had cleared up).

• We got treats from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert and loved them. Whitney pressed her face to the window of the store and said, "This is my dream!"
• We watched Animal Planet in bed and I read my magazine from Stefanie and then Sarah's Quilt.

• Both kids would flop down on the bed and say, "Ahh, this is the life."
• Randy snored so badly that night that I tossed and turned (@#$%!), I couldn't keep my earplugs in my ears for some reason. (I got a lot of reading done though.)
• We got McDonald's for breakfast ($23!!) and then drove an hour and a half to Logan where I dropped Randy and the kids off at a friend's house and then went to Tasha's house.

• Tasha, Stella, Evie (and later Dave) had Cafe Rio lunch together at their house, then I got the tour (beautiful), chatted with Tasha, took pictures of Stella then went back to get Randy and the kids.

• It poured rain on the highway and caused massive slowing (plus it was Friday afternoon rush hour) so it took 2.5 hours to get back to Park City (ugh!!).
• We went swimming at the hotel again even though it was overcast and breezy. We ended up having the pool to ourselves and sat in the hot tub while it rained (pretty cool). Our kids officially know how to swim and were able to negotiate the deep end without assistance, phew!
  

• Our fun day of outdoor activities got rained out (what in the world, they're having a severe drought so what's up with this timing?) so we drove back to American Fork and went to the movies to see Stardust (fabulous, but not for little kids).
• We returned home and it was unpacking and laundry for me, computer work for Randy, and neighbor-kids to play with for the kids. Can you say burst bubble?

So there you have it. It was enjoyable, memorable and not too hot. I suppose I'm happier about the overcast weather and rain than I would have been if it had been beasty hot. We're going to drive up on a Saturday to do the things we missed this time (aerial show at the Olympic park and chairlift ride.) Click here for the rest of the photos.

Sunday Thoughts

"You are here on Earth for a diving purpose.
It is not to be endlessly entertained or
to be constantly in full pursuit of pleasure.
You are here to be tried, to prove yourself so that you
can receive the additional blessings God has for you.
The Lord is intent on your personal growth and development."
--Richard G. Scott

I had our Activity Day activity at my house last Tuesday afternoon and had originally planned on doing some Back-To-School goals with the girls, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to talk to them about being the kind of girl the Lord would have them be. It seemed like a great thing to recommit to at the start of a new school year.


We talked about how destructive gossip is, recognizing the importance of being different, celebrating all the things we're good at, and realizing how boring the world would be if we were all the same. I really hope they got something from this activity because my heart hurts when I think of them going to school and struggling to fit in or becoming someone who leaves others out.

{Their lists of things they're good at.}

It is a constant struggle for me to keep myself in check so that I don't feel jealous or critical of others. I know that's not who I want to be, but often the first thought that pops into my head isn't a good one (damn that Satan!). I feel like I'm constantly talking myself back to a loving state of mind, and sometimes I don't do a very good job. But I have a strong desire to be a good person, to be Christ-like, and to fight those feelings, so I try over and over again.

**What do you think??**

Home Sweet Home

We're back home now after our quick getaway to Park City. The time went so fast and yet it's good to be home again, so I'm not sure what that's about.

I haven't watched So You Think You Can Dance yet. I saw 30 seconds of it on tv at the hotel, but then we went swimming, and I managed not to hear anything about it until I got home and read my comments from my last post! Curse you Denise! (I jest, kind of.) I will be watching it tonight and trying not to cry that it's over until next summer. I LOVE THAT SHOW!

I have my "real" post all ready to go except that I can't load any pictures right now for some reason, so it will have to wait. Aargh.

Park City or Bust

I've been wanting to go on a trip ever since my return from Paris (ahh Paris...) and have been mentally planning various family trips for months now. But here it is, only 5 days until school starts and we haven't gone anywhere. I was finally able to find a break in our crazy summer schedule (now that soccer has started) so we're leaving today for 3 days of school shopping, swimming, and general family frolicking. We originally planned on going to Logan but couldn't find a hotel room! What's up with that? So we tweaked our plans and are heading to Park City instead, with a day trip to Logan (to visit Tasha of course).

Here is some evidence of how severe my homebody nature is for me. Even though I want to go on a trip these thoughts have crossed my mind.


The mail, how can I be without the mail for 3 days? I put it on hold and won't get it until Monday even though we're coming home Saturday some time. I'm sad about this, but trying not to be ridiculous, there's no guarantee there would be any good mail, plus getting a big pile of mail on Monday will be fun right? (Exhale...)


The So You Think You Can Dance finale is tonight! Will I be able to watch it from our hotel room, and if so that means I have to endure commercials. What is the world coming to? By the way, I'm fine with whoever wins, I love all of them in the top 4 and think they're all fantastic. I will admit that Neil makes me a little giddy, but I'm not blinded by that.


Blogging...I won't be able to blog on my trip unless I steal away to the computer at Tasha's house for a bit and that just doesn't seem right. I wish I had a laptop to take with us so that I could post from the hotel room, but alas I don't, so it's not to be. Really I should be fine with this, but I'm not. I don't like to do long recaps, I'd much rather have a daily installment.

I feel blessed that we can afford to go on this little trip and am happy to be spending time with our little family. We always have a good time when we hang out together, it's just crazy how busy we let ourselves get and how we all spread out to do our own things. This will be a nice chance to regroup before school starts next week.


Edited to add: I got three good mail items today and I'm giddy. (This should hold me over until I get my mail delivered again on Monday, woohoo.)


Amy H. sent me this cute thank you note for the birthday stationery I made her. Thanks Amy!


Amanda (from England) sent me these funny chocolates shaped like bugs (fortunately not like spiders), some of her homemade petal envelopes and a really nice note. Thanks Amanda!


Stefanie blew me away with this birthday gifts. She has a fabulous business and makes all these great things, and I love, love, love receiving them. I'm taking this magazine with me on our mini-vacation today. Perfect timing. Thanks Stefanie!!

**Do you have the homebody sickness too?
Which dancer are you hoping will win?
Have you ever gone on a semi-local vacation?**

No Girls Allowed!

We had Landon's birthday party this morning from 10-12 (which basically meant 1:30 by the time everyone left and I cleaned things up), and it was a great success. Regrettably Amie's son James was sick and couldn't make it, and another friend of Landon's from church was at his grandma's house today, but we still had 8 friends here and all kind of crazy going on.


I love how easygoing boys are. I had to keep reminding myself yesterday that I didn't have to stress about getting things ready for the party because they would be happy just to play in the water. Landon picked out a huge bag of candy at Costco for the party bags (Amanda I thought of you and your outrage over the baggie gift bags), and we even got fabulous chocolate donuts at Costco so that I didn't even have to make cupcakes. I love this plan! So all I really had to do was be here to supervise and suggest a couple games (water Twister and sprinkler red light-green light) and take pictures. I even got to sit in a lawn chair and hang out with Michelle for awhile. Now that's my kind of kid party.


Jenn took Whitney with her when she was here dropping off her son Soren so that was a treat as well. I guess technically Eva crashed the all-boy party, but the boys didn't even seem to notice. She was all kinds of cute with her little pig tails and red, white and blue ribbons, and somehow managed not to get soaked by the boys even when she was dangerously close by.


Landon seemed very happy with this party and with all the gifts. Almost everyone got him a squirt gun or Nerf dart gun, so that was very fun. He loves stuff like that and plays with those things all the time, so to have a fresh stock of guns that work is quite a treat. It was fun to see him in the mix of all these friends, he was loving it.


I love birthday parties, especially for kids, and never mind having them. It can be a hassle and is tiring, but so worth it. I love recognizing their birthday, giving them the chance to celebrate with their friends, having pictures to remember it by, and the influx of new toys. I remember all my birthday parties from when I was growing up, so I like giving my kids the same opportunities. It doesn't have to be fancy, just fun.


Amusing moments from the party:

• One boy kept almost losing his trunks.
• The boys wailing on each other with the Styrofoam noodles, but then being mad when others wailed on them.
• The boys loved making up the rules for their water war almost as much as they liked having their war.

• Landon kept making crazy faces when I tried to pictures of him with each guest, and when I asked him why he was doing that he said, "It's my true nature."
• Some of the boys couldn't finish their donut...what in the world?

**Do you do birthday parties for your kids?
Did you have parties when you were a kid?
How do you feel about being the center of attention?**

7 More Days

The kids start school one week from today! I'm irritated that it's so early (hello, September means back to school?!) but I'm also pretty excited about it. This will be the first year they'll both be in school all day. It's almost too much to wrap my mind around...time alone daily?! Oh the joy. Once the newness of it wears off I may even miss them, but right now I'm excited about it.

{This photo is from Easter because I couldn't
find a more recent photo of them together.}

During our Family Home Evening on Sunday it was my turn for the lesson so I went over my Sunday post about Holy Habits/Righteous Routines. We committed ourselves to reforming our ways beginning with the new school year. This plan will hinge on me and Randy being dedicated to getting up early (one of my weaknesses!). The plan is the we will get up at 6:00am and alternate days going to the gym (I have foolishly gotten out of the habit this summer) or walking then come home and get showered so we can have Scripture study and breakfast at 7:30 and family prayer before Randy leaves at 8:00am for work. It sounds totally doable to me right now, though it will be a rough adjustment getting up at 6:00am again.

Yesterday I ended up feeling dizzy in the afternoon. What's up with that? I blame the heat. I had to retire to my bed to read Sarah's Quilt (delightful) and nap for a bit. It was nice (except for the being dizzy part). Randy and Lori ended up going to see The Bourne Ultimatum, but I wasn't up for going out or watching a movie shot in shaky cam (I that), though I do want to see that movie, dang.

{My drawer of mailing supplies, so pleasing.}

I'm home alone this morning since the kids spent the night at my parents' house, and as always I'm frantically trying to use my alone time to the fullest. Does that mean reading in the cozy?, Blogging?, Cleaning?, Running errands? Working on good mail? What?? So far I've blogged, worked on some good mail, and vacuumed, so that's a good balance right? I don't want to run errands because it's hot out there and because it breaks my momentum at home. I think I'll spend more time on the computer and putting together some good mail since that makes me the happiest and is hard to do when I get interrupted all the time when the kids are home. Good plan right?


Speaking of good mail, Barb sent me this thank you note for some good mail I'd sent her and she also included this picture of the Orange Cream Cheese Pie she made from the recipe I'd submitted to Elizabeth's Blogger Summer Cook Book. Barb is the pie making queen so I was relieved that she liked this pie, and I thought it was highly amusing that she sent me this picture of it. Thanks Barb!

**Are you excited for school to start?
Do you love alone time at home?
Do you make pies from scratch?
What would you do with free time today?**

Melting

It's hot, seriously hot, not Arizona hot, not New Orleans hot, but still way too hot for me. It's pointless to complain but I'm going to do it anyway since that's what I'm thinking about most right now.


I'm hot. The kind of hot that makes me want to hit somebody, except that I'm too hot to make the effort.
Hot enough that I want to lie on my bed with the fan on me until I feel human again.
Our lawn has lost its grip on green and is now a brownish color.
My flowers are all dead.
My underclothing is sticking to me in a most unpleasant way.
The air conditioning in my car does a good job of blowing on my face, but how about helping the back of me?
The kids are gone for the day, so there's all sorts of things I want to do, yet I'm stifled by my irritation at the heat. Aargh!
It makes my head hurt and makes my mood iffy. I'm a victim to the heat.
How many more days until fall?

**How are you coping??**

Sunday Thoughts

These are from my church notebook from a great talk we had last month.

Holy Habits/Righteous Routines

• Prayer--Personal and Family Prayer morning and night.
• Scriptures--Study them personally and as a family, let your children see you reading them. Start reading them with children even when they're very young. Help them memorize scriptures.
• Family Home Evening--It transforms our homes into a house of learning. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. The youth will gain the power to choose the right.
• Serving Others--Doing home and visiting teaching, participating in humanitarian efforts, and performing acts of service for neighbors.

These things aren't surprising since we've been taught to do them our whole lives, but there's a reason for the constant repetition...we're not all doing it! We all have strengths and weaknesses, but we need the whole package.

• For example: I ALWAYS say my personal prayers at night, but am not good about doing them in the morning. We ALWAYS have family prayer at night, but NEVER do in the morning. This seems ridiculous to me as I write this because prayer is such an important way to start the day.
• This year is the first year we've been consistent about having Family Home Evening. We do it on Sunday evenings after we eat dinner and it has become some such a fun part of Sunday. We love that time together, always laugh (especially because Whitney always welcomes us all and reminds us to keep our hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times), and come away feeling more unified and in love with our family. (Who doesn't want that??)
• This year I have read the scriptures every single day so far, but I have done that by myself. We've never been good about studying the scriptures as a family. Oh dear.
• Serving others could also increase and become something we actively do as a family. So far I'd say we are pretty good about serving each other at home, but I definitely want our kids to grow up feeling like service is a part of them, not just something they do a few times a year.

Writing this post is eye-opening for me because 2 of the 4 items need serious improvement. Ouch! Since this is the first year both of the kids will be at school all day (Landon isn't home schooling this year) I want to make sure we have some good routines that include morning scriptures and morning prayers. It's interesting that though my time during the day will be much more my own (do a little jig), I feel like my responsibilities are increasing. Yikes!

**What do you think???**

Boob Shield Issues

On Monday I mentioned my bathing suit's - hield issue (that the support portion has torn free of the lining) and tonight I've had another episode with it. Randy and I took the kids to the community pool tonight (in lieu of bowling, which Landon had originally requested for his family birthday outing) and I must say I did NOT feel properly supported by my bathing suit at all.


You must understand, I already wear quite a get-up. You see, it's quite miraculous that I'm even willing to go out in public in some sort of bathing attire at all, so as a public service I try to keep as many clothes on as possible. This means I wear a suit of much coverage, with board shorts and a t-shirt over it. So basically my legs from my knees down show (still frightening) and my arms from mid-bicep down show (horrifying as well). But really this is how I feel most comfortable and how I'm able to make myself go to Seven Peaks on a weekly basis.


So now, here it is the end of summer and I'm faced with a wardrobe malfunction with multiple swimming outings still to be done. What's a to do? This thought has led me to imagine my ideal swimsuit...picture if you will a wetsuit with a skirt, no that won't work, but is it so wrong to want sleeves? The ozone is gone you know and skin cancer is a risk (plus I'm Irish) so really sleeves aren't a bad idea. I need one of those outfits like the Sea World people wear, only something with a nice control-top built in. Is that so wrong? Maybe with a nice 3/4 length sleeve? I can only hope.

Happy Birthday Lucy!!

**Any advice, comfort or wisdom for me?**

Happy Birthday Landon!

Today was Landon's 9th birthday, and all I can say to that is "when did this happen?" Seriously. I can flash back to being hugely pregnant and sitting at Los Hermanos in Provo eating dinner with Randy's parents and saying how I didn't think this baby was ever going to be born. Now here I am wondering where these 9 years have gone, and freaking out that that means we only have 9 more years until he's a legal adult! What in the world?

{Photo by Amy M.}

It's a surreal thing for me when I stop and think about being a mother. Usually I just go about my responsibilities on autopilot, but now I'm finding myself pausing for a moment and thinking "I have a 9 year old son, I am his mother!" Oh my goodness. (This isn't the first time I've had this epiphany, except for the 9 year old part, but I always forget about it and move on.)

I was on bed rest for the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy with Landon because my blood pressure was really high and the doctors feared I had preeclampsia. Fortunately I wasn't working at the time and had no other kids to take care of, so my bed rest wasn't hard for me at all (other than my girth) so I basically laid in bed and read for 6 weeks (which sounds pretty luxurious to me now). But during that period I spent a lot of time day dreaming about this baby and trying to picture our life with a baby in it. I remember wishing we could fast forward to the part where we were already established at home with our new routine and life. I didn't want any of it to be big deal, I just wanted to get on with it.


Of course now I see how immature and foolish that was because all the steps leading up to being established were so fun, important, challenging and unique. Being in the hospital after the delivery (which was very long) was so wonderful. I was in tremendous pain, but loved everything else about this new experience. I loved my sweet, sweet baby, and really loved seeing Randy hold him (he held him all night long the first night), loved the visitors who came to see us and wish us well, loved taking pictures (of course), and loved that my life had entered this new phase, even though I was totally clueless about what lay ahead.


So now fast forward nine years when my life is chock full of routines and many obligations. My boy is still oh so sweet, but he has his own opinions, thinks he's going to be taller than me soon (not yet!), and I'm trying to put some drag on things to slow them down a bit. He's starting 4th grade in 11 days! Again, how did this happen? I really can't dwell on the passage of time too much or I start to feel a colossal melancholy descend upon my heart. I try to go with the flow as far as my kids go and try not to be overly dramatic about things, but since it's his birthday and since I'm a blogger I am actually reflecting and feeling the emotions that come with such a day. Fortunately it's another "life is good" kind of day.

**Do you have motherhood epiphanies?
Do birthdays wig you out?
Do you dwell on the passage of time?**