t-minus 16 hours until takeoff

In less than 24 hours I will get on an airplane with my boys. Alone. I already feel like hyperventilating. We almost got a nonstop this time but at the last minute I caved. Instead we will be traveling 2 hours in the opposite direction before heading west. I feel nauseated at the thought. I have a game plan that involves some activity books, the ipad, the dvd player (with a short battery life), and lots of junk food. But lets face it, two VERY ENERGETIC boys sitting on a plane for 5+ hours is just something you must endure while pretending to ignore all the people staring at you. If only they knew...

On a similar thread, Luke had his primary program last Sunday. His very first primary program! (The primary program is when the kids 4-12 take over the church meeting and present short messages and sing songs. It is the cutest hour of church we have all year).

I was on the stand this year since I teach one of the Sunbeam classes (4 year old kids). The program was great, but sitting next to Luke for 40 minutes in front of the whole ward was not so great. During rehearsal he did SO well, but on the actual day they switched our seats at the last minute to those bouncy, nice seats. Right in the front row, no less. Big mistake. Plus Luke was tired. So it was basically me doing what I do normally at the back of the congregation, except now I was up in front of everyone with no supplies (crayons, paper, books) to keep this boy entertained. All he had was his bouncy seat which he took full advantage of. He also got down on the floor and rolled around a few times but hopefully no one saw that. And hopefully no one heard the threatening whispers I was breathing into his ear while trying to look calm and collected. I basically promised him all the fruit snacks his little heart desired if he would just sit in the chair and stop talking to me in his normal speaking volume.

I'm sure no one noticed, right? Everyone is just watching their own child, holding their breath, hoping that everything goes okay. That's what I keep telling myself. By the way, the ten or so other sunbeams are all girls except one. So you can probably picture them. Sitting nicely in their seats the whole time...barely fidgeting. Little girls are miraculous like that.

The up side was that Luke did say his part into the microphone. Memorized and everything. I think he was nervous because he jumbled it up a little and it was hard to understand. But I was so proud of him for getting up in front of everyone and remembering his line. He had a great smile too. Slightly impish but mostly genuine. It was the best 5 seconds of the program (in my humble opinion). He may not be able to sit still for long periods of time but at least he has a fun personality.

Note for next year: I am sitting no where near him during the primary program. If that is the case, he will likely be a little angel.

i.n.d.e.p.e.n.d.e.n.t.

I haven't taken much time to really blog other than post pictures. It might be because we've been so busy or it might be because as I find out about more and more people who read our blog, I get a little more nervous to write anything. We just moved to a new town and I'd like to give it some time before others find out how dorky we are over at our house. But I guess it is inevitable...

Enjoying some blue skies while lying on the driveway. Very therapeutic.

What I really want to talk about is little thing called residency.

Residency STINKS! People warned me but the preparation doesn't make it much easier. I try not to complain often (or maybe I do?) because I know that in the giant rank of world problems, having a husband who works a lot might not even make the list. But lest our family ever forget this time period in our lives, it should be noted that Andrew leaves for work not much after 6am and gets home on AVERAGE between 8 and 9pm (but last night, it was 10) which is when he sifts through masses of emails while trying not to fall asleep. We should enjoy this schedule because he has weekends free [cough] which is when he studies at the library. In January, he starts taking call shifts and some of those weekends will be taken as well.

Okay, it feels so much better to just lay that out there. Pity us for 5 seconds please. Now you can tell me about all the single parents who run the show solo all day, everyday. Or the army wives or husbands whose spouses are deployed. Or the people who would be ecstatic for their spouse to have any job and especially one they love. Now I feel so sheepish.

On the bright side, this is a tremendous opportunity for me to take on some more responsibility and independence, and to tell you the truth, that feels great. Like when I mowed the lawn yesterday or tried to fix the air conditioner by myself (unsuccessfully, but now I know a lot about air conditioners). There are so many times when I would like to consult Andrew for his advice/opinion or would love for him to deal with a problem that is not really in my realm of expertise. But I usually can't do that and I think he is so relieved when I take care of something without him ever having the stress of thinking about it. For someone like me who doesn't particularly like making decisions by myself or wearing the pants in the family, this has been like trying on a flattering pair of skinny jeans and deciding to switch over. Not that I'm running the show totally alone or anything. I'm just a little outside my comfort zone and that is probably a good thing.

The other bright side is that Andrew really does love what he is doing and where he is doing it. So all is good.

Next week I get to strip paint off the deck and refinish it all by my lonesome. Ain't no thang!

This little man and his brother make holding down the fort much more fun.

Videos as promised...

Notes: I don't know where Luke learned his special birthday song but he sings it all the time.

My house is always that messy by the end of the day. Sometimes worse :)

Luke got a few more presents that are not on the video.

I don't know if you can understand everything that Luke is saying. At one point he says, "What?!" That's weird". He's been calling things "weird" a lot lately. Probably gets it from me.

Luke is 4!

Luke is 4 years old today. I can hardly believe it. But actually the realization I had today was not disbelief at how old he is, but disbelief at how I have thought of him as a 4 year old for a while now. I guess I realized that because he is my oldest I might be a little too hard on him sometimes. He is only 4 years old! Lately I feel like I've been expecting quite a lot out of my little guy but maybe I should ease up and just let him be 4. But this topic is a post for another day.... on to the birthday festivities...

Remember this post about the tradition I wanted to start on birthdays? Well I was late last time but this time I was on my game and had the poster ready to go on his actual birthday. I am currently glowing with pride in case you're wondering. Are you ready for the many faces of Luke Stacey?

He is showing me how old he is in case you were wondering what the weird hand signal is all about.

I am crazy about this kid. He makes me so happy and sometimes drives me crazy, but mostly makes me SO SO HAPPY. I don't have time to write out a true dedication to this marvelous boy but the older he gets the more excited I am to see who he is becoming.

I think this year was my favorite birthday celebration for him yet. We've tried a party in our home with our friends, we've tried a party at the park with his friends, we've even tried going on vacation and leaving him behind with his grandpa on his birthday (still feel a little guilty about that one :) oops!). But this year we just had a simple little celebration with only our little family. We didn't invite anyone over even though it was SO tempting because there are so many cool people that we would love to share this day with. There were no themes or major party decorations and the birthday cake was just brownies with oreos baked into them (because all he really wanted was a chocolate brownie for his birthday). I did take him and his cousin to a indoor playhouse that he loves and that was pretty much it. Simple. Stress-free. Happy Mom. Happy Kid.

(I don't usually let him sit on the table like this...in case you think we're hooligans around here. But yes, it is quite common for him to not be wearing a shirt at some point during the day :)).

Happy Birthday Luke! I am going to try and load a video which will probably only be interesting for family who have to miss way too many of these birthdays :( . Hopefully it will be up by tomorrow.

Got It!

I often have a problem capturing the true essence of Cam on film (or rather, on digital image, but film sounds better). When I look over my pictures I rarely feel like the camera saw what I saw with my own two eyes. Most of the time I think, 'this just doesn't look like him'. Does that sound crazy?

But this picture is spot on. It is just how I remember him that afternoon. I know he is barely in the shot and if I remember correctly he was walking toward me, ready to swipe my camera at any moment. But after about 20 shots I finally got it! This is Cam. In all his drooly, blue-eyed, messy, smiling glory. He is an absolute joy to be around. If I could freeze time with Cam at any age, this would definitely be it. All those sleepless nights- and there were many- were totally worth it.


p.s. I was just thinking tonight about a couple things I need to write somewhere so I don't forget:

-Cam is SO verbal and loves repeating everything we say. You'll never meet a kid who talks with more vigor. He says every word like it is the most exciting thing in the world. Wonder who he gets that from.

-I was explaining to Luke the other night about how he used to be in my tummy but now he isn't and he never will be again. He responded, "Why did you eat me?". He keeps bringing it up so I think I must have really confused him, although he has a good sense of humor about it and thinks it's funny when we pretend to eat each other.

-Luke, for some unknown reason, has decided to combine our names together ("Mommy" and "Daddy"). He very often will refer to us (together or alone) as "MomDee" or "Dammy". The latter of which always catches me a little off guard and I have to remind Luke that he shouldn't use that word. :)

Free Card Printables

My very talented sister-in-law, Jessica, posted some free card printables on her website: affordableutahweddings.com. They are SO cool and stylish. You should go there are print some out for yourself!

http://affordableutahweddings.com/updated-thank-you-card-printables/

Update

We went to a Detroit Tigers game a few weeks ago as part of a "work outing". It was fun even though baseball games get a little boring for me after a while. 

Great view.

I forgot to take a picture with Andrew (the kids stayed at home). I say I forgot, but subconsciously I really didn't want to take a picture because my hair had been massacred the day before and was jet black. I wasn't too thrilled about it but admittedly it is my mistake. I must say the wrong thing when I tell the stylist I want to get back to my natural color. I always walk out with the same shade of black. 

Luke always wants a band aid for an ouch. This was after he fell and bit his lip (look closely and notice the fat lip). Even though I couldn't actually get the band aid on the wound, he still claimed it felt better. Magic!

We hung out with some new friends at the river last week. This little girl wasn't afraid to get dirty which is right up Luke's alley. Oddly enough, I found out that this little girl is my brother-in-law's second cousin. I had no idea! It's kind of amazing that we even figured it out to be honest. Small world.

Luke and his faces. He loves to make silly faces and then he begs me to let him see the pictures on the camera. This must be his evil look:

Sometimes my boys are lazy park-goers. I went with some friends last week and found the boys like this:

Maybe I wore them out finally?

Note: gorgeous blue eyes below. They really stand out when he is mad :)

I'm glad that most of the time Luke and Cam really like each other. Honestly being the mother of these two can be a challenge sometimes. But the sweetest reward for it all is watching them become best friends. It must make God so happy when we love each other.

I felt like I cheated a little and I drove down to C-bus for a couple days. I filled my canteen with long, deep, and not-so-deep conversations with a few of my closest friends. I wish I could have stayed longer and seen more people that I love but was only able to stay about 24 hours. I have loved Ann Arbor but going back made me remember all the things I love about Ohio and how lucky I am to have such great friends. Each is so different and brings out a different side of me. Each one has their own unique way of influencing me for good and making me want to be better. I felt so happy as I drove back home. Like a new woman. 

I only snapped this one pic unfortunately (with Amy and Rachel...I'm the one with the black hair)