I've decided...

that I just might be the world's worst blogger. I have such grand visions of keeping this blog up-to-date and full of lovely photos. In reality, I have a lonely, ignored blog. Not that I don't have good intentions--it's just that my laundry, ironing, toothpaste-crusted bathroom sink, and piled-full-of-mail dining room table are usually just as ignored. And let's face it: When push comes to shove, I'm going to take care of those things over my blog, because unexpected guests aren't going to see this internet space from my front door. (You can, however, see straight into the bathroom.)

In the eons since I've been here, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's have come and gone, and along the way many more fond memories have been made in our nutshell. Sofia, being the ripe-old age of 18 months, was much more aware of Christmas this year, and enjoyed not one, not two, but three Christmas celebrations. By Round 3, she really had the opening gifts thing down, and decided it would be best if she opened everyone's presents for them.

In with all the happy, we've also had the sad; as is the way with life. In early December, David's grandmother passed away. She was 94 and suffered from Alzheimer's. While it was a blessing for her to pass and finally be at peace, she is dearly missed by all of us who loved her and her squiggly-line rulers :)

There is much more to say, but not enough time right now to get it all out. Here's a sign-off in hopes that I'm able to return soon!

Breaking a 4-Month Hiatus

In some respects I can't believe it was June when last I sat down to write, and in others, I'm not entirely surprised. I'm a wife, a teacher, and a mother of a sixteen-month old--I feel lucky when I have time to wash the make-up off my face before I collapse into bed each night.

When I wrote my last post, it was warm and green outside. I had that relaxed, "ahh, vacation" aura around me that only a teacher knows. Now, the air is crisp and rather than shades of green and blue, there is yellow, orange, gold, and deep burgundy. Fall. Mmmmm...... I love it. There's something for me to love about every season, and for me Fall means Halloween, Thanksgiving, and celebrating all things leafy and harvesty.

The remainder of our summer flew by fast, but was filled with so much fun. Our annual trip to the lake, Sofia's first birthday, the Fourth of July, family pictures, birthday celebrations for both David's and my mothers, more trips to the zoo, ice cream, playing in baby-sized wading pools on the back deck, wearing fabulous sunglasses, the engagement of my sister, and one last trip to visit family before school started again.

Now that we're deep into fall, we've had the fun and excitement of the first day of the school year, the Autumnfest Parade, Halloween, the annual visit from our Arizona relatives, and now we look forward to my grandma's birthday party and Thanksgiving.

Yes, I should be including photos at this point, but I'm just too weary. I'm happy to be back to my blog, but sleep is about to take priority. Priority over the two loads of laundry still left to be washed, priority over the ironing, priority over the dusting, and priority over the dishes waiting in the sink to be washed.

Good night :)

My Summer Vacation (So Far...)

With summer here, I am officially a full-time (albeit seasonal) stay-at-home-mama. I spent the first-third of last summer pregnant and the last two-thirds in a daze of sleep deprivation, delivery recovery, and new-mama hormonal highs and lows. Fun, I know. Anyway, as I enter this first summer of being a clear-thinking, rational (most of the time) human again, I realize a few things. I now know I am a mama because:

*I have been trying to drink the same cup of coffee since 10:00 this morning.

*my hair is still not done and I still don't have my make-up on and it's after 1:00pm. (At least my teeth have been brushed.....small victories, small victories...)

*my kitchen floor is a sticky mess of cereal puffs, water/pear juice combo that leaked out of the not-supposed-to-leak sippy cup, and scrambled eggs. And I just scrubbed it yesterday.

*I do laundry. All day. Every day.

*I've sung "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" no less than 6 times today to calm a baby who was sad that her daddy left for work and then got sad again after her aunt had to return to work after her lunch break.

*I love nap time. It means I can either try and get something done around the house, or go to to the bathroom, or, like yesterday, I can take a nap myself:)

*I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love my little wombat and I'm so lucky that I get to be with her all summer long. We've already had quite a few adventures this summer, which I'll have to write about later. Nap time is almost over.................

Pictures (or lack thereof)

Almost forgot.....the noticeable absence of pictures.

I can only apologize and promise to try and get better. I have only my own laziness to blame--it's just so much faster to type a post and be done. But, as a blog reader, I look forward to pictures and should extend the same courtesy to those who read this blog.

Someone hold me to this pledge...........Aunt Sue.....? I know you're out there--just start hounding me if photos don't start becoming regular characters around here. Ha! :)

Memorial Day

This past year has been full of firsts for our sweet baby girl, and today was no exception.

After a morning of sleeping in, toast and fruit for breakfast, a splishy-splashy bath, and a nice nap, we took Sofia on her first trip to the zoo. We brought the aunts along and spent the next couple of hours just strolling along and pointing out all the animals to our little one. David had the time of his life--he loves the zoo, and taking Sofia was one of the things he was looking forward to most about this summer. (He's already talking about their next visit.) Sofia enjoyed looking at the other babies in strollers and the zoo map more than she did the animals. It was hilarious--if you didn't know better, you'd swear she was actually reading the darn thing and planning out our next stop. Until we got to the pigs.

Sofia had a great time with her little swine friends. She smiled and laughed and they made their little piggy noises at her. She took this as her invitation to show them how she can make her piggy noises, too. The aunts were so moved by this exchange that they bought Sofia her own stuffed pig from the gift shop. (She's actually cuddled up asleep with it as I type this. Oh, that girl has a way of melting my heart like none other...)

After our zoo trip, we went back to my parents' where my dad had grilled a hot dog supper for us all. Our official kick-off to summer ended with a drive out to the Veteran's Memorial Cemetary to say our thank-you's and pay our respects to friends and family.

Happy Memorial Day, and let us never forget the true meaning behind this day...

Fresh

Isn't that a fun word? It just makes you feel good. It makes me think of laundry right off the line, a clean house, a Spring breeze, a swim in the lake, new beginnings. I need fresh in this house. I want to rid it of cooped-up Winter, of sadness, of stale.

Windows have been thrown open. A boquet of bright yellow, green, & white flowers now sit on the dining room table (Courtesy of my hubby. He also brought home a canoli yesterday.....does he know me or what?) The basement is being demolished in preparation for a facelift of its own. We have been exploring outside with Sofia. It's a whole new world to her that completely entralls her. I love her little "Wooooo!" that she yells everytime she steps over the threshold of the door. Our Winter clothes are being laundered and packed away as the Spring and Summer wardrobes are brought out. I bought the best pair of sandals last week--they're a beautiful brushed silver and the design is actually called "Sea Salt". How cool is that? I have a haircut and pedicure scheduled for tomorrow. While I'm gone, it will give David and Sofia time to be together and when I return we're going to spend the rest of the day together as a family.

Yes, it's time for a fresh, new "normal" around here. So now I'm going to go do my hair, put on my Sea Salt sandals, and go get coffee with my husband and daughter.

Last night I cooked a meal just because

I missed my grandmother. I did my best to season like she would have. I cooked the chicken like she would have. (Which, by the way, would be way too dry for most people's standards. Ha!) I made her cucumber salad complete with half-and half poured over the top. And, of course, I couldn't forget the bread with cheese. How could you even think of having a meal without those two items?

You see, I've been gone from this little blog-world for quite sometime. In the months that have passed since the last time I wrote, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent major surgery. Roughly a week later, my grandmother (her mother) was also diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, she was a Stage 4 with widespread cancer that most likely originated in her pancreas, as opposed to my mom's Stage 1. A short 3 weeks later, my grandmother was gone. It all happened so fast and my head had barely wrapped around my mom's situation and then all of a sudden our lives were turned even further upside down.

I was close to my grandma. I have lived in the same city as she did since I was seven. I spent many days with her and my grandpa and when we were young, we would even have slumber parties at their house. They were always so much fun and shared so much with us. I could list page after page of wonderful memories and stories. My grandpa passed away after a lengthy illness nearly thirteen years ago, and the memory of that is still very raw. It's rare for me to go a day without thinking about him or wishing that he was still here. But with Grandma, it was just so fast. I know I haven't fully absorbed the reality of it yet, but I can feel it slowly sinking in. Last night was one of those nights that I could really feel that sense of loss and hurt and anger beginning to slink its way in.

And so, I did the only thing I could think of to do. I needed to smell the smells of her kitchen. I needed to make a big kitchen mess like she would have and set my table like she would have. I needed to eat food that tasted as much like hers as it could. And for a little while, I felt better. It wasn't quite like hers, but it was close enough for that moment. I explained to sweet little Sofia what I was doing. I'm not sure how much of it she understood, but hopefully over time, stories, and many more dinners like last night's, she will come to know her great-grandma as more than just a lady in some of her baby pictures.

These words really spoke to me yesterday:

It's taken me awhile to grasp it all, but I have finally arrived at the grown-up place of life-is-what-you-make-it and there are lots of things in life we go through that aren't comfortable or ideal, but they could be so incredibly worse, and a simple life of comfort does nothing to change us, mold us, make us into better, stronger more beautiful versions of ourselves...

They come from the blogger Kelle Hampton. If you've never checked out her writing, you absolutely must. (www.kellehampton.com) I can't even begin to describe the beauty, strength, courage, and humor this woman possesses. I check her blog daily for peace, inspiration, and fantastic photography.

So, off I go now...........to continue working on this better, stronger, more beautiful version of myself. And part of that just might lie in more of grandma's recipes.