Happy Anniversary!

We do a lot of celebrating in December. Of course Kate came along 5 years ago, but 5 years before that, Don and I finally made it down the aisle. Ten years is kind of a long time. I guess. Considering we dated for 10 years and 10 months before tying the knot, maybe it isn't all that long. :)

So a lot has happened over the past 10 years… obviously. 

There was 1, wonderful trip to Montana. To teach a class. And, yes, I totally used it as an excuse to visit Lisa and Dalen.

We have 2 precious, precocious, wonderful children. And I am 100% biased when I say they don't come any cuter.

We've owned 3 houses. Each very lovely and special.

Shandon

Wilmont (Oh how I miss those front steps!)

And our latest digs. (A blog post is coming soon, I promise)

We've had 4 furry children (RIP Alison P Kat)

We've made 5 moves. Oh, dear Lord. Please don't bless us with moving again in the near future.

We've owned 6 speedy race bikes.  That's just my count. I'm certain I've left one out. Here is the grandest of them all. Self designed and we flew to Denver to see this baby being born.

We spent 7 years in Charleston. Seven wonderful years. Ok, so I am the only one who lived in Charleston for 7 years, but there were a lot of visits, so we'll count them all.

There have been 8 beach vacations to the Isle of Palms. 

We spent 9 years in Columbia. It was good timing for us, but Columbia isn't the most exciting place in the world to live (especially after you've lived in Charleston and Greenville). They have a fabulous zoo. We miss it. A lot.

And that gets us here - 10 years packed with all kinds of excitement. And it's nice to have someone so great to share it all with.

Fabulous Five!

I can't believe Kate is just now turning 5.  It seems like she was 4 for 2 years, and I'm quite certain she's actually 7. At any rate, it's been almost exactly 5 years since we brought this sweet little life into the world. It was a pretty spectacular moment, and she is a pretty spectacular little girl.

Happy Birthday Katie Bug!

You are finally 5!

You love ballet and making art masterpieces.

You are really good at drawing, and your artwork always has a ton of detail.

You still love princesses, but you're having a Hello Kitty birthday party.

Your favorite color is pink (shocking).

The day you got to pick the family's dinner menu, you chose corn dogs, broccoli, and Dunkin Donuts.

You can't get enough of your Pop Pop.

You love girly things: jewelry, dresses, shopping, things that sparkle, and the pink Christmas tree.

You're a great big sister.

You want to be a teacher when you grow up.

You don't ever want to be a Mommy. The kids that you teach will be your children.

You love to sing Bible School songs.

You make friends so easily and love going new places and meeting new people.

Brynn is your best friend. You hug her tight every time you see her.

Your vocabulary is amazing and always entertaining. You told Mason his Christmas tree was "ordinary." You like that you get to be the class "meteorologist" sometimes. You are very particular about getting things "situated" the way you like them.

More than once you have been referred to as an "old soul" in a young body. Funny that some said the same thing about your Daddy.

You love COLD weather. And Crocs. Those don't go together.

You are a tenderhearted, sensitive, giggly, happy, silly, smart girl.

You're one of a kind, and we all love you. To Mars and back. :)

For never before in story or rhyme

(not even once upon a time)

has the world ever known a you, my friend,

and it never will, not ever again....

- Nancy Tillman "On the Night You Were Born"

Caritas

"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained" - CS Lewis

Many of you know that I am an only child. I don't regret this - although I've spoken with some onlies that do. I rather like being by myself, and in some ways it makes life a bit easier. And actually, I had reservations about having a second child. Afterall, I had no negative impressions of only-hood.  Now, those folks that have 3 or more, God bless you. I'm certain that some people are made for that, but not me. 

Because I didn't experience it, the sibling relationship is very perplexing to me. Unlike those who grew up with someone else, I don't have preconceived notions about how siblings treat each other. Or maybe I do. Maybe I'm just too naive about how I want my children to treat each other. I remember the day that I put my three month old in the car, just next to the (nearly) three year old's car seat, and she said "He's looking at me!"  I was under the impression that I had at least a year before that started. You know, when my younger child was actually capable of looking at the older.  And even now, it is rare that Kate will include Mason in her artwork. Most of it says: "Love. Mommy Daddy Nan Pop Granma Grandpa." But very rarely "Mason." 

So I hear stories from everyone who had siblings, and I observe how friends and family treat their siblings, and I try to take that to heart when mine are hitting and screaming at each other. I realize it's normal. I don't like it. And for a while I was a bit concerned that Kate was SO uninterested in Mason, or didn't like him doing pretty much anything.  I know that some people "hate" their siblings growing up, but then emerge from college as friends. I know that some siblings fight and bicker constantly (ahem! I may be related to some). I know that some siblings are friends but are still very disrespectful of each other as adults. I've even seen many beautiful sibling relationships and wonder why they're different.  Someone once pointed out to me that we often treat strangers better than those we love. Which is true, and it's a shame, isn't it?

So don't get the false impression that their relationship is all butterflies and flowers:

I mean, they are awfully cute together when they're smiling, no? Here they are at a very safe distance.

I really don't take pictures of them when they're at their worst and treating each other poorly. I mean, who wants to remember that? But you know what? More and more lately, they're in cahoots.

And Kate recently included Mason in her family portrait. Yes, yes. Maybe I had to ask her to include him.

So I will continue to encourage them to love each other. With caritas (latin) - or charity. A love that "glorifies God and reflects the nature of God."

I don't expect them to be best friends - ha! Good thing!  But I do expect respect, and I would hope that they would have a charitable love for each other - even if they don't always feel loving towards one another. And sometimes I see it growing.

And it makes my heart happy. I hope they will always have each other to depend on.

New Old Car

Well, about a month ago I mentioned that I would tell you all more about a new (to our family) car that Don was off acquiring while the kids and I goofed off with Nan. Sorry that it has taken me so long to debut it here, but the wait is over.  My apologies in advance, I've had little time to get out the real camera, so iPhone photos it is!

You probably don't know that Don bought a motorcycle last year. You probably could guess that I wasn't a fan, and Don would probably tell you that is putting it nicely.  At any rate, boys like their toys and a motorcycle it was.  And don't get me wrong, if I liked motorcycles, I would have liked this one. It was stylish and cool. But unlike bicycles (which I favor strongly), it was quite a bit more dangerous (although, if you know Don, you know he's quite good at making bikes pretty dangerous too). And as much as I didn't like it, it made Don happy, and, well, there's a lot to be said for that.  Ok, so here was the Triumph (motorcycle).

So, Don, for multiple reasons I believe, decided to sell the Triumph and buy a.... Triumph!  Yes, we traded one  for the other, and I think you'll see quite a few similarities here.

But, the one difference that makes me happiest is that this new one has 4 wheels. And a top (sometimes).  It is a two-seater convertible, and before you wonder if Don is having a mid-life crisis, please remember that this is his third two-seater convertible in the past 15 years. Two seats and the fact that it is a British car, means that we kept the trusty Escape. It comes in handy for a) carrying the entire family in one car, b) transporting various outdoor gear to and from the wildnerness, c) cold weather, rainy weather, weather.

There are are two spots behind the driver and passenger seats where someone with a sense of humor put some upholstery, and one might think that they were seats.  They are almost too small for two small children, but we know that they're just big enough to drive them around the neighborhood (slowly) for fun.  Usually they go for a ride one at a time, but we did squeeze all of us in for a round trip once.

I'm not sure why (maybe the lack of seatbelts or car seats), but they treat it more like a rollercoaster. "Look out!! There's a car!" Um... we're in a car.

The other thing about this car is that it requires maintenance that Don claims he can do all on his own (fixing the heater is near the top of my list).  Here is what a ride looks like with the top down in early November.

Still unsure how it made it back from Chicago with the spark plugs looking like they did (further proof of divine intervention), but that has been fixed, and it runs pretty well. Keep in mind that I am NOT a car person, and after Don explaining it about 10 times, I think I might finally understand what spark plugs do. So it will be fun to tinker on, and not just for Don. Remember that little guy we have who loves to "fix" things and flips over his cars to "work" on them? Yes, he is all about working on this car with Daddy.  We drove in the driveway the other day while Don was wrenching away and I was concerned Mason might bust through the car seat straps. "Daddy! Car! Get me out Mommy! Get me out NOW!"  And he now has a proper toolbox (not a doctor's kit) to help daddy.  Another engineer in the making. I continue to be amazed by his natural affinity for cars and trucks.

And there you have it! Our new old car. And I think we're in the perfect city to enjoy it!

More Fall Adventures

When we left the house today, I told the kids we were going on an adventure. Kate loves surprises and adventures, so I told her that she'd have to guess.

Kate: Target?
Me: Nope, too close.
Kate: Brynn's house.
Me:  That would be fun, but no.
Kate: Chicago!!
Me: Um, no.
This was an odd guess, but not out of the blue because a) her teacher is from Chicago and is a huge Bears fan and b) Don is flying to Chicago to buy a car on Friday - more on that later.
Mason: Mickey Mouse!!
Me: No, but that was a good guess, sweetie.

So off we went!  Kate immediately complained of being car sick. She would be car sick on the way to school every day if she got sick that quickly. At any rate, I gave her some Dramamine, which put her to sleep before she could even enjoy her chicken (parts) nuggets. She proved me wrong once before, and I felt pretty bad for her.

First up? The carousel. And she's riding a horse (with a pink mane). It only took close to 5 years for her to prefer a horse over the bench.

Mason's assessment of the first ride? This is fun!

Of course there were the pukey dragons.  Don rode this one, because all that spinning is too much for me.

And in case you were worried that Mason was too cautious to be up for rides this year, have no fear that the boy had no fear. Here he is giggling on the dragons. He wanted to ride everything. Even a roller coaster. I thought it was kinda scary for a kiddie ride, but he loved it. "Let's do it again!"

It's not the fair without the bumble bees.

There were corn dogs. Mmmmm... 

Swings? Yes please. Kate rode this ride three times, Mason 2.

And there were prizes. Our game is the 50 cents color game. You know, the one where you put your 50 cents on a color and then someone throws a ball in the little pit and whatever color it lands on is a winner. It usually takes about $10 to win. Guess what color Kate picked? That's right, pink. And Mason? Like a good little Tiger, he chose orange.  That's one of the 4 colors he knows (orange, blue, pink, and white). All other colors are blue. Once in a while he gets yellow.  We played for quite a while and Kate kept asking me if I would throw the ball in and get her a prize. Of course the odds of this are slim, so I told her I would try. I got the ball, threw it in, and voila! Pink. I know it. I'm an awesome Mom.

She chose this dog. He is full of those styrofoam balls. We used to let Foster destroy styrofoam ball fair animals. I'm guessing that wouldn't go over well now.

Mason played pickup ducks/frogs/boats. He won (because everyone does) and got the spotted blue monkey you see below. He named him? Yellow. 

What a great day we had! We stopped by my parents' house on the way out. Mom washed all of the Fair cooties off of the kids in about 10 minutes, and then we put them in pajamas and were on our way. (Thanks Nan!) Even Pop was home from hunting. The kids loved that treat. And Kate filled him in on her favorite ride: "Pop, there were these swings that you get in and no one has to push you, they just go!"

Best Friends and Apple Picking

It's finally starting to feel like fall outside, and that means it's apple season in the upstate.  A couple of weeks ago we were invited to meet Kate's very best buddy, Brynn, at an apple orchard close to the house, and of course we jumped at the chance.

If you haven't been following us at all, Brynn is Kate's bestie from Lexington United Methodist Preschool.  These girls just LOVE each other. As evidenced by them holding hands throughout the day.  When they finally let go of each others hands a while into our visit, their hands were sweaty!

We went on a hay ride. There was no hay, so it was really just a trailer ride, but fun all the same.

At the end of the no-hay ride, they dropped us off in the orchard. I've never been apple picking before. I guess it was exactly what I expected. There were trees and apples.  We picked a bag full. We still have a LOT of apples. I promised Kate we'd make apple fritters. She's beyond excited.

The apples were all up high, so the kids needed help.

Mason was the bag holder.  This became more difficult for him as we picked more apples.

So, what do you do? Eat a few to lighten the load. What can I say? The boy likes to eat. A lot.

The most stylish little apple pickers.

The girls dressed some scarecrows.

And had their picture taken here.

Mason did some mining with Brynn's brother Will.

And enjoyed the tractor.

It was a great day! And now we have a LOT of apples. And a LOT of apple cider. The kids aren't tired of it yet!