Weekend Wedding

We recently traveled for a wedding weekend and truly, it was a wonderful time, as it should be. My new camera arrived, so I spent the car ride figuring out how to use it; next I need to load the software so I can download photos. So, photos will be posted soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to get my thougts together about the weekend.

The bride's parents have been friends with my parents for over 22 years, our brothers friends the same amount of time (I remember when the boys were in 1st grade together). We've shared vacations together, funny stories growing up, laughter, and tears together. It reminded me that when we come together for something, such as a wedding, we are not just celebrating an event, but all of that shared background.

The bride was just beautiful, as was the ceremony and reception, followed by an after wedding party, then brunch the next day. Having this time to celebrate together also allowed our families to continue that bond, continue to support each other, and essentially, continue to be like a family to each other. When we moved to Virginia, we had no family here in the "official" sense, but we've been blessed with this family through the friendships created and bonds strengthened over the years. Coming together for this wedding was not only a celebration of the bride and groom, and their commitment, but a celebration of family and friends, our history and our future.

Sanctus Real

I've had this music in my head lately- check 'em out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2LCvCBaqVg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06AgY5Xoavw

Mommy Guilt

Ok moms, any of you got some?

I'm headed to a wedding this weekend, 5 hours away, sans Connor; he's going to stay with his "Aunt" Tracy, and he wants to be sure I'm coming back for him after the "webbing." I know he'll be fine, have fun with his friend Hannah, and receive excellent care and tons of love from Tracy...but there's still lingering guilt.

Back up to a few weeks ago, at the pool. Connor's now swimming year 'round and while at his lesson on a Saturday morning, I noticed one of the women, with three kids in tow, looked familiar. I approached her, introduced myself, and yes, she was familiar because we attend the same church. We were chatting throughout the lesson, which is when she went on to say that she just loves being home with her three kids and isn't it just great to be a stay-at-home mom with Connor? (Side note, is it just me, or do Baptists have a bunch of kids??? I love the church we started attending this year, but I've never seen so many pregnant mamas with all their little ducks in tow as I have at this church.)

When I said that actually, I work full-time. The reaction I received was similar to if I had said something along the lines of "I-feed-my-kid-sugar-24-7-and-let-him-watch-cable-after-hours." The rest of my conversation about Connor being with my parents, me working from home, flexible schedule, etc. didn't penetrate the glaze that had come across her face. I may have well said I sold my kid on the black market.

Let me say, if you are one of my dear friends that is a stay-at-home-mom, I applaud you and respect that choice, especially my SIL with four kiddos. I am not here to argue whether or not it's better to be one or the other; I see advantages and disadvantages to both arrangements- it's the reaction that threw me for a loop. Did I mention her husband's professsion? Well, he's an OB-GYN, so I suppose perhaps it would be a more conducive situation to staying at home. While I shouldn't have, I allowed that experience to layer on some mommy guilt...am I working too much? Is Connor getting enough quality time with me? And so on.

Dare I go on to state that I enjoy working, most days at least? That's not to say that I don't enjoy mothering- I love that. But frankly, if I need to work (which I do), why not enjoy what I do and bring a passion to it? Is it as rewarding as being a mother- absolutely not. My answer is to make the most of the time with Connor that I do have...early morning snuggles and breakfast together, singing at the top of our lungs on his ride to school, lunches together throughout the week, early evening at the park or in the yard, cooking dinner with my little chef, playtime, bath time, stories, snuggles, and bedtime.

Now, if I could just figure out a way to get the house cleaned!

But Mom!...

No Wordless Wedness this week; my Canon Powershot has finally seen its last days and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Nikon D40 SLR.

The humidity has dropped here yesterday and today as a nor'easter moves through, and since it was in the high 60s/low 70s, I tried to dress Connor in pants instead of shorts. He's got these cute sweat/lounge pants I picked up at Old Navy last year and he used to love them, even if they were a little big on him. They are now the perfect fit, but when I tried to get them on him yesterday he threw a fit and insisted on "other pants!" I wasn't battling over this, so out came a pair of khaki cargo pants.

Same weather today, but now with the steady rain as the storm moves through and the winds are picking up to 35 mph. Again, tried for the sweatpants and it went like this...

"Mom, I CANNOT wear these pants to school!"

"Why not Connor?"

"Because they are mushy! I cannot wear mushy pants to school and have all the kids see me in these pants; I can't! I need jeans, I need other pants. I AM NOT WEARING THESE PANTS!"

Connor ended up wearing jeans; who knew a boy could be such a diva with the wardrobe?

Wardrobe Requirements

Milan's fashion week kicked off and I was laughing at myself getting dressed this morning, because I only had two requirements when I stepped out of the shower, running behind in my morning routine:

1. It's clean

2. It fits over the ta-tas

Not much of a fashion statement today!

No Blog, Bad Girl!

So, it's been one of those weeks...I've wanted to blog, but there has been no time available to update. I finally downloaded some pics and updates are below.

So Long Summer!

The Green Goblin...and he rides again!

Ready to scare off Halloween goblins...

Surveying the crop...

Trying to beat the heat; 105 heat index in September!

Picnic lunch on the farm...

Evening in the hot tub...

Playing with Alex...

No Fear

"What would you do if you weren't afraid?"

A good friend from work recently asked me this in relation to my career and it did give me pause. I don't consider myself fearful at all, but when posed that question I could see how I may be adventurous and daring in my personal life, and more timid at work. It's really quite the dichotomy and very unlike me, and since I'm not sure how/why it started, I am becoming more focused on driving forward deliberately in my career, without fear, especially fear of the unknown.

Connor is a wonderful teacher when it comes to fear; he has none. At a recent Halloween event, Connor wanted to find the scariest creatures and ask for a photograph with them...



He took two hours one recent Saturday to run around, explore, and get lost in a 5 acre corn maze...


Connor said yes to his first sleepover...

And yes to riding the log flume...over and over and over again...

Yes to hand-feeding lorikeets...

Meeting Duke...

So I ask you, what would you do if you weren't afraid?

Weekend at the Park

Fall is trying to make its way into our area, with cooler nights and sunny days with less humidity; the perfect time to get out and have some fun...

9/11: Never Forget

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum,
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

- W. H. Auden

Wordless Wednesday: Silent Knight

Wordless Wednesday

From the Mouths of Babes

Connor continues to entertain me with his conversations and discoveries; he's a great little problem solver who exclaims "I've got an idea!" Here are two recent situations that had me giggling...

Every morning Connor runs into my room, gives me a big hug and kiss, which he calls the "magic wake-up hug and kiss" and I spring from the bed and proclaim "I'm awake!" Today was no different and after going through the routine I said, "Are you my sweet prince?" and Connor replied "No Mom, I'm not a prince. I don't have a horse." Well, there you go.

A few weeks ago we were out to eat and when it came time to place Connor's order I said, "and the little guy will have..." Connor corrected me and the waiter, stating "Mama, I am a BIG guy, the BIG guy will have..."

Back to School

It's that time of year, and Connor is now back to preschool. We picked his clothes out last night (notice the "Uncle Rudy" shirt), and the anticipcation mounted as we made preparations for this morning. Connor was excited to be back to school and in the Koalas class this year. Last year, at 2 1/2 he was a Cub...right of passage I suppose. We've been very pleased with his first year in preschool. For awhile now, Connor has consistenly been able to count to 30, identify upper and lower case letters, spell his name, and now we are working on letter sounds. We're thankful he's eager to learn more!

Arriving at school...

Making his entrance...