the force wasn't with me

i was so proud of myself.  this morning i woke up and just knew: it was Star Wars day.  (and, just as importantly, i also knew that the title includes the word "wars" and not "trek".)

so, eager to impress my brood who have all actually seen the movies and count themselves as fans, i bounded into the kitchen this morning with an extra pep in my step.

"ba DUM, ba DUM, ba DUM da da DUM DUM ..." i belted out, my arms stretched out in victory, confident that i knew every note of the famous tune.  "DUM DUM DUM da da DUMMMMMMM!"

silence.

"don't you know what day it is?" i gloated.  "it's Star Wars day!  i remembered!  may the fourth be with you!"

chris put a few more chunks of banana into the protein smoothie he was making and sighed.  right before twisting the blender into start mode, he looked up at me, shaking his head.

"then why in the world are you singing the theme song to Dallas?"

wordless wednesday

for the third year in a row, i present to you ... Bald Liam.

before & after (from left to right, just in case you're not sure)

of course, this is all for a good cause.  in his quest to raise money, liam sent out a very heartfelt email to his past donors.  i felt like it just had to be shared.

i am helplessly in love with my newly-shorn eleven year old.  with or without cheap sunglasses.

mr. handsy

have you ever seen a more dapper fifth grader?

a few weeks ago, all of liam's whining and complaining hard work during his year of cotillion came to its very satisfying conclusion: the grand ball.  the whole thing was comical, to be honest, so while i'm not convinced our check was well-spent in terms of him learning table manners and how to correctly respond to a written invitation, it was definitely worth it in terms of giggling alone.

one of the biggest sources of humor was the juxtaposition of all these fifth grade girls with their fifth grade boy counterparts.  they entered the ballroom as couples, randomly assigned so that each young man would escort a young lady to her seat.  after that took place, the dances commenced, with the fox trot, box step, waltz, and others being performed for their parents' viewing pleasure with surprisingly skilled steps.  so it was comical enough to witness that in 98% of the pairings, the girl was noticeably taller than the boy.  but what really got us laughing was when the dance involved a twirl.  these poor statuesque, willowy eleven year old girls would have to duck under their partner's arms, as the boy would often jump up mid-twirl to clear his partner's head.

liam danced with six different girls, and only one of them was shorter than he.  a growth spurt is coming, i keep assuring him

but by far, what got everyone laughing the most was the mother-son dance about halfway through the evening.  liam and i had mastered the steps, and luckily, they had been altered so that there were no twirls involved.  (the difference in our heights might have literally been the greatest of any duo on the floor at the time.)  about halfway through our song, i was comfortable enough with the steps that i could finally pay attention to other things -- and once i did, i realized that liam's hand was not quite where it was supposed to be.  i discreetly asked him to adjust its placement and assumed we were past it ... until the song ended.  i returned to our table of friends, and was met three or four images of our dancing on cell phone screens.  it seems that liam's hand had prompted the parent paparazzi to make sure they all captured the moment.

notice the other couples in the background, whose hands were all where they should be: the waist.  it seems liam had other ideas

all in all, it was a wonderful evening and one we won't soon forget.  seeing liam in a tuxedo instead of a soccer uniform suddenly aged him five years, and watching him navigate the world of pre-teendom holding a pencil to sign dance cards was an experience likely to not be repeated anytime soon.  luckily, we have lots and lots of photos for posteriority.

i mean, posterity.

wordless wednesday

chris came home from work on monday and asked me to take a look at his back.  "doesn't this look strange?" he asked.

no, honey, it doesn't look strange.  you just must have had a fight with a panther

we immediately assumed it was some sort of strange allergic reaction -- even though it didn't at all look like a normal rash.  we considered all the usual suspects: lotions, detergents, soaps, fights with panthers.  nothing had changed in our normal routine, so we were a bit dumbfounded.

when it hadn't faded the next day, chris decided to consult Dr. Google, typing into the search bar something along the lines of "allergic reaction scratch-like marks".  and immediately, scores of pictures looking exactly like his popped up.  the culprit? shiitake mushrooms.  undercooked shiitake mushrooms, to be precise (which made sense, as i've cooked quite a bit shiitake mushrooms in my time and he's never responded like this.)  we thought back and sure enough, i had taken him out to dinner to celebrate his birthday -- almost a month late, because it took that long to get reservations at what was named the best new restaurant in raleigh.  and we had ordered "foraged and 'fought-for' mushrooms, sherry, brown butter" (wording straight from their menu.)  i guess they were so tired from fighting for these mushrooms that they ran out of energy to cook them properly.

the welts are supposed to fade within three weeks ... hopefully before we hit the beaches of costa rica.  until then, i suppose i'll grin and bear my way through countless mushroom puns, courtesy of my welted, scratched-up husband.  (he thought i should title this post "when the shiitake hits the fan".  maybe i should have.)

wordless wednesday

in the middle of the week last week we learned that liam's two soccer games on saturday were in wilmington ... a 2+ hour drive (not exactly around the corner.)  but all it took was a quick glance at the forecast -- low 70s and sunny! -- for us to decide to make a weekend of it and spend it at topsail.

it's always a bit odd to visit the island during the winter.  there's virtually no traffic, most houses are dark with empty driveways, and many restaurants are closed for the off-season.  i coudn't help but fast-forward six months in my mind, when we'll be back for our annual family reunion amidst the thousands of cars crawling down the one main road.  that thought made me appreciate the quiet even more ... especially when we all four walked down to the beach and were able to let wonder roam without her leash, since there was literally no one in sight for far as the eye could see.

 

liam and his soccer teammate braeden, who never could get quite their rowing in sync but managed to navigate the sound nevertheless

our paddleboarding princess

all wonder needs is a tennis ball and room to run, and she's in heaven

a much-deserved rest

we got a new fancy camera for christmas and used it for the first time.  this is one of liam's artistic shots ... 

... and one of my action shots.  i still have much to learn

you just can't beat shorts in mid-february

 

susanna is her momma's daughter.  even with the sun beating down she wanted a jacket

panting hard with a sandy face.  needless to say, she slept well on the drive home

emulating the pooch, perhaps

taylor. swift.

i love, love, love having a daughter.  there are so many reasons why, but for the purposes of this post, i'll just say two words and i think the majority of readers would understand:

taylor.  swift.

as soon as taylor's tour dates were announced back in the fall of 2014 and raleigh was on the list for june, a flurry of groups texts began among many of susanna's friends' moms -- who wanted to go?  who would be in town? how much did we want to spend?  who was an amex cardholder to take advantage of the pre-sale date?  how could we turn it into an even bigger event?  truth be told, i think we were all more excited than our girls to see her.  (susanna didn't really even know many of her songs before i gave her the 1989 album and t-shirt as a way to reveal to her the plan as a christmas present -- but i sure did.)

much of this planning went out the window when the day came to actually purchase the tickets; after four hours total of trying to get through, it wound up being one of the mom's brothers who was able to buy them.  and apparently he was not advised of the upper limit we had agreed to spend, since what it wound up costing was more than double what we had planned.  but hey -- no worries.  can you really put a price tag on such an experience?  again, two words:  taylor.  swift.

so there wound up six girls and their moms and we did turn it into an even bigger event.  we gathered at a house to pre-party a few hours beforehand, and then surprised the girls by renting a party bus with a driver.  (i mean, this thing was decked out with a sound system, flashing neon lights, an aisle that the girls turned into a catwalk, and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling.)  susanna had her official taylor t-shirt, but the rest of the group had matching ones made, and we got to the arena in plenty of time to tailgate with the rest of raleigh in the parking lot before making our way inside.

L to R: addison, lindsey, susanna, lily, kinsley, anna

 

i have to say ... the pre-partying with red solo cups made me feel like i was back in college.  (the nine-year old girl by my side, notsomuch)

notice all the limos and other party buses in the background ... swifties know how to do it up right.  (also notice that several of the girls are almost as tall as their moms.  meanwhile, i had to lean down just to be in the same vicinity as susanna)

susanna and i found our seats and did what every other pre-teen girl and momma did: took a few selfies, chattered excitedly as the stands filled up and the opening act sang the one song of his we knew ... and then went sort of bananas when the lights went dark and taylor finally took the stage.  we waved the glowing lightsticks that actually pulsed to the beat of each song, and belted out the words along with the other million people in the audience.  i felt like i was at my very first concert right along with susanna, wide-eyed and in awe.  (wait -- i just remembered -- my very first concert was john denver with my whole family sitting on blankets in a park.  if memory serves, he did not have glowing lightsticks that pulsed to the beat of "leaving on a jet plane".)

the lights were still blazing for a selfie ... and then ...

... magic.

eight months later, and still, each time a new taylor swift song hits the radio in the car, i glance at susanna in the rearview mirror.  we trade smiles, both remembering what it was like to hear it live.  what a memory we'll both share.

yes, i love, love, love having a daughter. 

wordless wednesday

raleigh ground to a halt last week when we got a few inches of snow; thank goodness there was a weekend in the middle of it so we only missed friday and monday.  (funny note: i emailed with my college roommate from new jersey, whose kids only missed one day of school, even with more than two feet.  gotta love the south.)

we've gone through umpteen sleds/mats/discs over the years ... but the kids' favorite by far is this one, the Flexible Flyer straight out of my 1970s childhood

susanna met up with two friends from the neighborhood for a few downhill races (she's on the right.)  you often hear statistics of serious injuries sustained from sledding ... after this incident, i have to wonder what percentage of the victims are actually the parents, who are standing still, just trying to get a video

wordless wednesday

the north carolina museum of art is five minutes away from us, and yet it took us three months to make it there for the renowned m.c. escher exhibit.  i figured we were smart to wait til the end and let the crowds die down, but i should have known better.  the exhibit was so popular that they extended its stay by a week AND opened for special hours on the martin luther king holiday.  so it turned out that we weren't the only ones with this idea on a blustery cold winter day when all of raleigh was off work and school.  we had to sort of move en masse from one piece of art to the next.

as i observed both wailing toddlers straining to get out of their strollers and sullen teenagers glued to their iphones, i was reminded how fortunate we are that our kids are still in that middle "sweet spot" where they actually enjoy doing things like this.  and with liam's mathematical mind and susanna's love of art, they were totally enthralled by all that we saw.   they would study each piece, talk about what they noticed, and pontificate on the meaning of many of them.  they discussed the similarities among his works, kept changing their minds as to which one was their favorite, and discussed some artistic components that i never would have noticed otherwise.  (at one point i found myself googling "vanishing point" after liam mentioned the term to me.)  and twice, different women standing near us caught my eye, pointed to liam and susanna, and gave me a thumbs up. 

alas, no photography was permitted until we exited the exhibit (two hours after we arrived) and found ourselves near several spherical mirrors much like the ones escher used in some of his drawings. 
 

i'm only thinking about this now as i type ... but escher was perhaps the first king of the selfie.  a man truly ahead of his time.  who knew?

wordless wednesday

 crossing fingers and even a tongue ... let's just say that if we do win it all, one our first purchases will be new sets of pajamas

one would have to be living under a rock to not immediately recognize what liam is holding in his hand -- a powerball lottery ticket.*  well, five powerball lottery tickets, to be exact.  these tickets might have been bought by a mother with a severe case of fomo who just couldn't bear to be the only family in raleigh without the possibility of turning into billionaires overnight, who left her children at home alone when she realized she had only two hours left to purchase said tickets and raced out to the nearest gas station to find herself tenth in line, surrounded by nine other fools hopeful dreamers, and who raced back home and let her children pick the number combination that will be theirs even though her son said that legally he nor his sister are old enough to participate.

as i tucked him into bed tonight, liam gave me a kiss and then said, "i don't mean to sound negative, but i'll bet you a ton of money that we don't win."

"sorry, but i can't take that bet," i replied, shaking my head.  "i just spent all of my extra cash on powerball tickets."

* i just looked back at the photo and realized that one might actually not immediately recognize that what liam is holding in his hand is a powerball lottery ticket.  that's because i'm a very savvy player, and don't want all my thousands of blog followers to be able to read my numbers and see that i'm the grand winner before i've contacted my lawyer and financial advisor.  you can never be too careful, you know.

wordless wednesday

every december 31st, the UNC men's basketball program hosts a clinic for kids as a fundraiser for a local charity.  the team members lead them in drills and scrimmages, and at the end, are available to autograph posters, jerseys, programs, and most anything else* (see below.)  even though liam opted to concentrate on soccer this winter and not play basketball , he attended the clinic and had an awesome time.

need proof of just how awesome of a time was had?  check out the tweet that appeared on chris's twitter feed, posted by one of the assistant coaches.

here's the tweet ...

... and here's the larger version

* yep -- they'll sign just about anything.  (from the 2013 archives)

two days in a row! i'm on a roll!

resolutions

i'm big on new year's resolutions.  well, big on making  new year's resolutions.  keeping them?  not so much.  in fact, i keep a list on my iphone, and every january 1 i simply rename it with the current year and just add a few more.

the consistent ones?  go to bed earlier.  read the entire bible in one year.  plan out our weekly dinners every sunday evening.  to be fair, i was successful in keeping a few in 2015, which i guess makes the practice worthwhile.  i read more books, took the pooch on a walk whenever the weather allowed, and changed up my workout routine to include much more weights.  so i'm not a total lost cause when it comes to setting goals.

but one new resolution that i've had to add for 2016 is to update this poor blog on a much more regular basis.  i'm disappointed mostly for the kids, that their entire last quarter of last year went by undocumented.  they still pore over our old blog books, and i'm sad that i haven't spent the time on here to capture the funny moments, important milestones, and just day-in and day-out activities of our family.  so starting now, i hope to get on here more often.  maybe resucitate the Wordless Wednesdays, which only require a picture and a caption -- how hard can that be?  perhaps revisit events from months ago, adopting the better-late-than-never approach (which, incidentally, reminds me of another consistent resolution: stop running late.)  but mostly, i just want to do right by the kids.  this is something they love, and it takes little effort on my part to provide it.

and maybe, just maybe, if i have it in writing (other than on my iphone), i might just stick to it.  here's hoping.