Ten years with my Valentine

Feb. 2003 - after 11 months of dating

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Feb. 2004 - engaged (and eventually married)!

My mother set this to print in the papers on Valentine's Day 2004.  Clever, that one.

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Feb. 2005

This is quite literally the only picture we took from February 2005. 
Will made this sign to cheer me on for a race (The Va Beach marathon maybe?). 

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Feb. 2006

No pictures of us, just one from the snow on Valentine's weekend.

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Feb. 2007

Billy Blanks.  Need I say more?

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Feb. 2008 – the year our world turned upside down (for the better)

Guess who is the spitting image of her father?

Our first bout with the flu - all three of us.

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Feb. 2009

George's first picture moment, two days after Valentine's Day

Guess who still looks just like her father?

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Feb. 2010 – the year we realized how easy we had it 2007 through 2009

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Feb. 2011

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Feb. 2012 – the best one yet!

Making Daddy's Valentine's card

Wearing Nana's prom queen crown

Valentine's kisses

Thank you, Will, for letting me be crazy, compulsive, obsessive, regressive, unpredictable, irrational, passionate, and most of all, for letting me love you. 

And a Happy, Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!

Paper dolls, snow, and date night

Yep, we had a big weekend.  My mother came into town on Friday for an unheard of two-night stay at the Homiller Bed ‘n Breakfast.  She is a trooper to voluntarily enter into our nest of crazy, but Frances and George were beside themselves with joy that Nana came to visit.

My mother always brings the greatest things for the children—usually a simple toy or something that a mother who raised four children knows will be used, loved and played with endlessly.  Last time, she brought Frances this pink fabric that was left over from my baby shower when I was pregnant with the little princess (cue the sniffles). 

I kid you not that this girl does something different with this piece of cloth every day—she’ll create cities, forts, houses, tents, she takes it outside, pulls George around on it, and at the end of every day it warmly houses her babies and friends for the night.  I am embarrassed to say I would have never thought that something so simple could be so entertaining (although it is eerily reminiscent of this excellent book (Simplicity Parenting) I am reading now and can’t wait to write about once I’m done).

This time, Nana brought her old paper dolls that my sister had also loved so many years ago.  Not surprisingly, Frances became immediately engrossed in the idea of dressing, undressing, and dressing them again until they each had the proper dress/hat combo to begin the day.  Truthfully, I am not sure who had more fun with them—Frances or Nana.  They were quite a team:

Saturday afternoon brought snow flurries.  This wasn’t just your classic hour long flurry that we were expecting, but thunder snow (and if you’re like me and have never heard of thunder snow, it is exactly what it sounds like—a huge clap of thunder followed by a snow shower and an intense amount of wind).  Being that it was the first snowfall of the season, Frances immediately made a beeline for the patio to eat the snow (she’s been talking about doing that since Christmastime when she was 100% certain it would snow because, well, it always snows at Christmas right?).

George went along with the program:

And speaking of George, he and Nana had some serious one-on-one reading time.  This boy and his grandmother are voracious readers; if I ever need either one of them, I can usually find them with their respective noses in a book:

And I don’t have any pictures to prove it, but Nana’s visit meant Will and I had another date night just in time for Valentine’s Day.  We were home by 9:30pm after wandering the halls of Target for an hour saying to each other, “We can’t go home at 8:30.  It’s date night for crying out loud.”  We are just that wild.

Mother and I went to church this morning at my grandparents’ former church to celebrate the one-year passing of my granddaddy.  It was wonderful, sad, healing, stomach-churning and hopeful all in one – a lot of emotions to digest in an hours’ time.  But I am so thankful I went to celebrate two incredible people who I still think about every single day.

And now, Will and the children will be stepping through our mudroom door any minute after spending the evening with his parents so I will wrap up my scattered thoughts and thank you for reading them (if you’ve even made it this far).

Happy Sunday, everyone!

"Crafting"

As I mentioned some time ago, I am not a naturally crafty person.  But I did get the crafting bug recently just in time for Valentine’s Day.  It may have something to do with the holiday itself – Valentine’s Day seems to be the only celebration where it is perfectly acceptable to give, receive, and hang up for all to see construction papered, glue stuck, irregularly shaped hearts, doilies and stickers.  With that low threshold in mind, I set out to make our first homemade Valentines. 

The true inspiration for my crafty bug (have I used the word “crafty” enough?) was these pictures of Frances and George.  I took this series during Christmastime and had them printed in passport sizes so I could use them for some tiny 2x3 frames we had floating throughout the house.  For various uninteresting reasons, I had about 12 extra pictures and the kids just happen to be wearing red and white (isn’t it nice for Christmas and Valentine’s Day to have similar color schemes.  Lovely holidays, those two.), so onto irregularly shaped hearts they went.

And here is my end result.

It's not apparent, but I added magnetic tape to the back so they could be hung up

I wish I could tell you that F&G helped me with these beauties, but no, that is all me.

Feeling a little overly confident, I decided to use the small heart cutouts to make a banner for the kitchen.  Frances did help me this time by putting the stickers on the hearts:

I think it’s safe to say that the stickers are the most sophisticated part of this little project.

All kidding aside, it was surprisingly fun to use scissors and glue again after a two decade hiatus.  I can understand why some creative souls enjoy scrapbooking and similar activities – if nothing else, it was a relaxing way to spent a Saturday afternoon.

But I think for now, my "crafty-ness" should begin and end with Valentine's Day.

Happy Thursday everyone!

I had a moment yesterday

At Monkey Joe’s of all places. 

George (who had been a PILL all morning) and Frances were jumping on one of the smaller moon bounces with another little boy.  George was trying to show his new, younger friend how to bounce high and hard when the two boys bumped heads.  Thankfully the other boy remained unscathed but George’s head took a beating and I could tell immediately that it really hurt.  He stopped bouncing, took his forehead in his hands and his bottom lip started quivering (the ‘real cry’ sign that all parents recognize).

I fully expected him to walk towards me for a hug, a kiss and an “I love you, little man.”  Instead he made a beeline for Frances, who was watching her little brother as intently as I was during this time.  He fell into her arms and cried.  She wrapped her tiny limbs around him, kissed his throbbing head and said exactly what I would have: “I love you, George.  You’ll be okay.”  I kid you not that the two of them embraced for about 20 seconds, an eternity for these preschoolers.

And I unashamedly cried.  These poor kids have inherited a weepy mother of all things.  Sheesh.

But in those 20 seconds I realized something – these little ones are going to be without me one day (later rather than sooner, please dear universe) and they will be just fine.  They will make it in this world because they have each other and they love each other - Frances the nurturing leader; George the feisty, softhearted lion.  This winning combination of traits will forever be linked as brother and sister and with that, they will make it.

And then I thought (rather, I prayed), ‘Please always love each other.  Please always be friends.  Please listen to each other, enjoy each other, adore each other, and respect each other.  Frances - always remember how much George looks up to you, aspires to be you (except maybe the whole princess thing), follows your every move, sometimes to your delight and sometimes to your displeasure.  George – always remember that Frances was the one you ran to that day; she is the one whose hand you hold when you’re both being scolded; she is the one who kissed your sweet head the day you were born.  You two may not always agree, but you will always be loved by your father and me more than you may ever know.  That is your common link when nothing else may seem to mesh.  Our love for you—equally, uniquely, immeasurably.’

I am blessed with children who adore each other and when I witness this sibling love it affects me more than I predicted.  For now, their love is innocent and uncomplicated.  But I often think about the future, as they pass through grade school age into preteens, teenager, and eventually into adulthood.  Undoubtedly their love will also evolve, likely becoming as complex as their respective life stages.  And I can’t help myself in desperately hoping that as their relationship transforms, the core, and most importantly the love, will remain strong. 



2009



Because today, right now, it is as strong as I have ever seen it.  And their need for each other’s love, respect, strength and comfort will never change.  Believe me, I know:



1977




1978-ish





2007



Happy, happy Tuesday everyone!

Sunday funday

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone!

I almost typed that sentence with a straight face.  For those of you who don’t know our little family I assure you we are not a football watching crowd.  In fact, I am only writing this blog post now because I realized about 30 minutes ago when I was halfway out the door that today was the ‘big game’ day and Kroger would be a nightmare to navigate this afternoon.  So, come 6pm tonight you know where I’ll be – grocery shopping; and you know where I will not be – watching the Super Bowl.

Pre-Frances and George, grocery shopping was my dreaded errand.  I hated almost everything about it – that we were forced to shop on the weekends with what appeared to be everyone else in Chesterfield County, maneuvering the cumbersome grocery cart past exceptionally slow shoppers who always seemed to want to window shop for all-things cereal right in front of the Post Raisin Bran (“Hi, can I just … grab…that box…right there…maybe if I move your cart … k … thanks…never mind I’ll just bend directly over your head…”); and why did it always seem they were restocking the shelves in every single aisle on the busiest day of the week, not to mention the endless checkout lines.

Post-F&G?  Grocery shopping is a breeeeezzeeeee!  I love it and I’m not even remotely kidding.  Sunday afternoon naptime I jump in the car, turn on NPR, listen to the news all the way through, jump out of my car alone (can you picture the lilt in my step as I am performing said jump?), grab a cart all by myself (the one without the huge red car stuck to the front), and wander the aisles with glee.  Now that I think about it, I have probably become one of those aforementioned dreaded slow shoppers that others are trying desperately to move around while I remain completely oblivious to their need for speed.  Without my wonderful children, I can actually contemplate choices, compare prices, and (gasp!) even let my mind wander a bit.

Will showed me this cartoon he saw the other day posted on nickmom.com (ironically, he’s the only one in the family who has time to read ‘mom’ websites – but I give him major props for weeding through them just for me):

The face-down panel is 100% George. To this day, it is a small miracle if we can walk through an entire parking lot without his hands, face, or (more than likely) both purposely planted somewhere along the dirtiest/oiliest/wettest area of asphalt between the car and the store’s front door.

And so my love affair with Sunday afternoon grocery shopping grows stronger each week.  I’ll make an exception on Super Bowl Sunday, but just this one day, Kroger.  Same time, same place next week, my love.

Happy Sunday everyone!

A lot of ordinary

Squinkies have been the sleeper gift hit this year.

Frances got a set for her birthday, prompting Santa to get her another set for Christmas, and the rest is history.  I would say that I have no idea why both kiddos love them except that I think I do understand.  Tiny hands, huge imaginations, 20 figurines that can simultaneously fit in your pocket – what preschooler wouldn’t love that?

Does anyone else feel like they’re shopping for Noah’s ark at the grocery store?

I don’t buy singles of anything anymore.  Two by two (or more accurately multiples of 2) only, particularly Annie’s mac n’ cheese and cereal.  And I just recently found myself fibbing to the clearly uninterested Kroger employee stocking the shelves last weekend in explaining why I was buying eight (EIGHT!) packages of frozen sausage patties.  Sadly, it wasn’t because we were having family over for Sunday brunch (which I mumbled under my breath as I was sheepishly chucking them in my already stuffed grocery cart), but because George loves sausage, he devours at least two patties during a single sitting, and they were half price. 

And speaking of my little football-player-in-the-making, he also eats no fewer than four different cereals every single morning for breakfast.

That’s really all I have to say about that.  I just find it amazing how much this boy consumes but maybe this is a normal diet for a two-year-old?

I bought this little strawberry plant growing kit last month at Whole Foods and just got around to planting it this week:

It came with that adorable pot and Frances loves strawberries, so I couldn’t resist.  I only hope it actually sprouts and that what I planted in the soil were actual seeds and not grains of salt, which are of equivalent sizes.  I am not exaggerating on that point either – I almost lost several of the seeds during the planting stage so I would not be surprised if some of what ended up in the dirt were just leftover crumbs from lunch.  We’ll see in a few weeks.

Finally, while it has made several unofficial appearances in other posts, I haven’t formally introduced Frances’s new love:

Her fairy princess wing costume (yes, that is its certified name, at least according to its owner).  Frances is still head-over-heels for all things princess and her blue-jeans-wearing, make-up-less, hair-in-a-ponytail mother is still scratching her head as to how she spawned this beautiful creature.  She awes me on a daily basis and I feel so blessed to have the privilege of watching her during these fleeting years.  Wasn’t she just two and counting to ten in Spanish in that tiny Minnie Mouse voice?

Adios and happy Friday, everyone!  How do you say, "Thank goodness Will is coming home before 9pm tonight" in Spanish?

My voice is my passport

Any other Sneakers fans out there? (“Hi, my name is Werner Brandes. My voice is my passport. Verify Me.”)  Such a great movie.  Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Ben Kingsley – what’s not to love?

And speaking of passports, Will and I have been preparing for a much anticipated and MUCH appreciated trip to Spain this summer.  Alone.  Ten days, no children.  *GULP* 



Andalucia, Spain



Will’s cousin is getting married on the southern coast of Spain so we decided to take advantage of her incredible taste in wedding locations and stay a few days longer on either end of the big day.  Of course we couldn’t do this without the generosity of my parents, Gram-E and Mr. Pyles, and Will’s parents who are helping us with the Frances, George, and the dogs, respectively.  I need to start thanking them all now because I will never be able to show them enough appreciation for their energy and time in helping to facilitate our adventure (unless we send all 6 on their own 10-day European tour.  I’m sure Will’s heart just skipped a beat with that suggestion.).

Part of renewing your passport includes taking a new passport photo and similar to the DMV’s new rule (at least in Virginia), you are not allowed to smile in your photo.  Apparently the other lesser known and unwritten rule of passport photo-taking involves standing in the worst lighting ever so as to fully accentuate the sleep-deprived dark circles, thirty-something wrinkles, and desperate need for any form of make-up that doesn’t accompany a Disney Princess vanity set:

Could we look any worse?  (And please, don’t answer that.  I just realized that either a “yes” or a “no” response will be too painful and too true to hear.)

I have heard that this “no smiling” rule helps officials better determine whether the person holding the ID is the same person as is pictured in the ID.  Really?  Because I am more than likely going to look like this when handing over my passport:

I’m…

…in…

…SPAIN!!!

I imagine Will is going to be equally as happy during our travels, but I will spare him in showing you all one of my favorite “happy Will” pictures.

Or, maybe not.  But isn’t that the best happy picture of all time?!

And speaking of happy, I’ll end this post with a picture from today that makes me happy – Frances and George having a picnic lunch outside in February.



I am fairly certain that this does not need explaining to mothers of 4-year-old girls, but Frances dresses herself. 
In a princess costume.
Every single day.



Today is another one of those magical, spring-like days and we’ve already taken full advantage of it, including a park outing complete with bike riding and soccer.  I read somewhere recently that one of the best things you can do for children is give them unfettered time outdoors.  Let them soak up the sun, watch the birds, chase the bugs (plenty out there today), and use their strong, little bodies however they choose.  All three of us did that this morning and all three of us are happier for it.

And on that note, I will sign off on another rambling blog post.  After singing its praises I suppose it would be unfair of me to blame my lack of cohesion on the weather, but it’s kind of definitely true (sun + heat + 2 preschoolers = tired, happy, unfocused mother).

Happy Wednesday (and happy February!) everyone!