Just a bunch of pictures of my kids and not so smart dog

Here's Jake pitching his first game. It was so cute to watch him, he really tried to mimic the pros. He would look at all the bases before he pitched....even though there weren't any other players on the other bases to steal any bases....I'm not sure he knew that's what the pitchers were looking for, he just knew that pitchers surveyed the bases first....

What concentration.....
So the other day I was calling for Hannah and she wouldn't come, so I went to look for here and I found her in the living room like this.
She sat there, confused turning her head from side to side when I talked to her. But rather then save her, I went and got the camera first (I know, I know, I'm a bad mom)

It's hard to get a picture of Hannah sitting still, but here she is, happy and giving her favorite some kisses....I even remind her that I'm the one that feeds her.

WW--How You Know You're Your Mom's Favorite

Thanks Aimee for the forward.

bits and pieces

My Kid makes me laugh:

The other day I was getting frustrated with the older one because he was futzing around and not getting ready for school soooo, in my perfect patient mommy voice I yelled, "Damn it Jake, get your back pack and get in the car!"

Isaac, quietly, patiently and much more grown up then I was acting, says to me, "Mom, you know Jake doesn't like you to use language like that and has asked you more then once not to say that word."

My husband makes me laugh too:

The other night Jason, feeling amorous nods his head toward the bed, he does it twice, maybe thinking I didn't get his drift.
Well I was not feeling so inclined so I said...'What's with the tic, do you have Tourette's?" He argues and says people with Tourette's don't have tics, I say they do then for some reason we both start twitching and whispering the most foul words we could think of and we broke into the giggles of the rolling on the ground, tears streaming down our cheeks, kind. The kiddos who were in bed but not yet asleep kept asking from their rooms what was so funny. Jason and I yell in unison "NOTHING".

(side note here...I don't mean to sound so un-PC...I understand Tourette's is a very painful disease and I don't mean to make fun of the disease, we were more laughing at the language we were using...and I don't mean to condone that either...okay so really I'm a nice person with a bit of a naughty side)

My other kid might not be ours:

Jake, loves baseball. Hubby's an engineer who did run track in high school but really hasn't done anything sports like since then. I, hmmm, well....I don't like to sweat...and let's just leave it at that. Neither one of us watch sports on TV. We may watch the Superbowl...Jason, so he has something to talk about at work and me because I like the commercials. So, we have no idea how Jake ended up not just loving baseball but also being pretty good at it. This is his first season in kid-pitch little league and it was his first time pitching and he struck out three batters in the first inning....GO JAKE...I hope the sports inclined family who received our kid is enjoying reading books with him.

I didn't plan this weekend so well:

For some reason I loaded up on the entertaining this weekend. I have no idea what I was thinking. We had two couples from church over on Friday night. Lovely people and not of the 'churchy' kind but more of the real people with flaws and can laugh at themselves kind (what a relief!) Last night we had another couple and their boys over. We've known these guys since their youngest (turning 13 in November OMG) since he was a new born. It's amazing that their older one's voice is deeper and he's now taller then his mother.....thank goodness my boys aren't going to get any older because that's just disturbing to see her little boys become men. And tonight we're having my parents, my sister and her two kids, Jason's mom and his sister, brother in law and niece over. I'm going to be one exhausted puppy by my first clinical tomorrow. I think I was trying to get one last weekend of summer before school got into full swing. Oh who knows, I think I was just nuts!

But I did have fun with the menu planning:
Friday: Black beans and rice, Grilled steak, pineapple spears and cucumber, tomato salad, a nice red wine and for dessert, cheesecake squares loaded down with blueberries and coffee (all made by me...it was fun...but again what was I thinking?)
Saturday: Jambalaya (sausage and shrimp..yum), rice salad and ice-cream (dessert and salad proved by our guests)
Tonight...pot luck and we're just grilling hamburgers and hot dogs...my mom will bring her Flan which will most likely be the only homemade thing here...oh and paper plates all the way!

Oh wait...I was going to do my thankful thing on Sundays....
I'm thankful for having a full life, talented healthy, thoughtful kids who make me laugh. I'm thankful for the means to entertain our family and friends. I'm thankful that I was able to make time in our busy lives to do what's important...hang out with friends and family, put our son in a sport he loves.

Have a great week!

Not the most stellar start to a new semester...

Yesterday was my first day back to school. My day started about 1 am when I got up, looked at my watch which read 4:30, so I stumbled into the bathroom and took my shower, got dressed and when I went to kiss my sleeping husband goodbye, I glanced at the clock at the bedside to see it was only 1:30 am.....UGGGG

I crawled back in bed, wet hair and all, slept for a couple more hours. I got up at the real 4:30, looked in the mirror, gasped at my now dry and all over the place hair, wet it down (no luck), shrugged my shoulders in resignation and drove to the Starbucks near my school. This is a 40 minute drive. Got there, only to realized I PULLED MY MATH BOOK OUT OF MY BOOK BAG and could not study my math calculations for the upcoming test...the reason I got up so early...the reason I drove my rear to Starbucks by the school....the math book was STILL AT HOME, FORTY FREAKIN' MINUTES AWAY....

damn it damn it damn it

So, I read a chapter out of my pharm book....and hoped and prayed that I remembered some of my math from the previous semester. By the way, math is NOT MY STRONG SUIT....I was an English major with a History minor...I worked as a paralegal...lots of writing, NO MATH.

Got to class, got the math test...

damn it damn it damn it

I'm the kind of person who runs her hands through her hair while taking a test...keep in mind I had serious bed head of the wet to dry kind already...then keep in mind I had an hour and a half to do 30 some calculations....with lots of steps...like changing grams to mg and lbs to kg before even figuring out dosages...or calculating the drips p/ minute in an IV with a certain amount of meds in a percentage of solution blah blah blah...so my hair, looked, well a lot like:

Any how, when the teacher announced we only had 9 more minutes for the test, I wrote on the front of the paper....'guess I'll be taking THIS test again' ...then I went down the list of problems and thought...'hmm, probably killed that patient, this patient's a gonner' and seriously questioned my ability to care for the sick and injured.

Thankfully, we have 2 more times to take the test. We have to pass the test with a 90% in order to get through the class.....I think they think it's very important that as nurses we're really good at dosage calculations and IV drip rates....I'm pretty sure all you out there are thankful about that.

Besides studying for pharm, psych and a killer third semester med/surg class, I'll be reviewing my math.....

Other then that, my day was peachy!

Giving Thanks

Terri (link below in people I stalk section) has a day where she lists some things for which she is thankful. I love that idea. Really, when I concentrate on all the things that aren't going right (and I tend to do this A LOT) it's hard to see all the things that I have and how great my life is going. I figure Sunday would be a good day. I usually get reflective, if we had a particularly good sermon at church (which would not have been today since I dozed off a couple times). It's the end of the week so nice to reflect on what just happened and to get into a good mood for what's about to happen. So here it goes...

I am thankful for my friends. The ones I've been meeting online and the ones in my neighborhood and life. The friend I've had since JR. High, who is okay if I don't email daily and I'm okay if she doesn't either. I know if I needed something, she would be fine if I called her any day or night. I would do the same. The friend I've had since college, who was in my wedding, who lives across town and I meet every so often for coffee and we talk and talk and get things off our chests and can be completely ourselves with out the fear of being judged or disliked. My friends in the neighborhood who look after my children, who have coffee with me and we chat and, yeah, gossip and with whom I celebrate birthdays, receive and give casseroles when there's a crisis. These women are a blessing. Then there are those of you out there whose writing makes me cry and laugh and wish I really knew some of you in real life.

I am thankful for my husband. We've been together since we were 16. He has stayed with me even when he didn't want to at times. He has stayed when I didn't want him to stay. Right now he's painting a constellation chart on my son's ceiling because I wanted to do something special, beyond just a nice paint job. This is nothing he would have done on his own, it's not something the kids would have asked for, it's purely to make me happy. He'd rather be playing Guitar Hero. But he loves me. I love him.

I am thankful for my home. This one is hard to be thankful for...it's in such a state of disrepair. We've been working on it for four years. But I am thankful that it's now painted, re-roofed, has new windows and gutters, that the upstairs is almost, two months from, painfully close to being --completed. In the meantime, the payment is low and we are kept cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

I am thankful to be in school. I love learning new things. I love that I'm going into a noble profession where I can help people. I am thankful I will be using intelligence, kindness, willingness and hopefulness, all of which are my favorite positive qualities about myself to help those in need. I am okay that I will not always be treated with respect, or kindness or thankfulness, it's not why I'm going into the profession, I'll know in my heart that I helped someone. That's going to feel great!

So these are some pretty general things...but it's my first post on being thankful...I'll need a little practice...although I am thankful for the opportunity to give thanks....

What, in your life, makes you thankful?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE

Our neighborhood's favorite Australian Blogger is......

Having a birthday!

So have a piece of cake and a cup of tea (and maybe some vegemite and toast -- if you're brave) and help celebrate her birthday. Even if you don't normally post comments on people's blogs...have a go at it and wish her happy thoughts on her very enjoyable blog. Have a great day Danielle....

WW I can't wait until Fall

Isaac's Birth Story...

I'm gonna sing the praises of Any Mommy Out There again. She just posted the birth story of her adopted daughter. Grab your tissues and have a read. In the mean time, should you choose to read a much inferiorly written birth story (though a fantastic child who is right at the moment running in the upstairs hall naked trying to torture his brother in ways I do not understand) then read on....

We wanted our babies closer together but as luck would have it I had a case of 'secondary infertility' no one could explain why, it just happens sometimes (I hate answers like that). For a year I had to go into the doctor's office and take medicine to get my period to even start. And I was one of those 28 day text book people, had no problem conceiving Jake so it was quite aggravating, frustrating and a bit scary. The OB put me on Clomid and I got pregnant right away. We were thrilled. Our due date was July 4th, just two days after my son's birthday and 1 day after my brother's.

Sadly it wasn't meant to be. I miscarried. It was painful, physically and mentally. Why is it when you go in for the final blood work during a miscarriage that the waiting room is full of beautifully rounded pregnant women. Women who don't want to look at you as you scurry out of the office, barely able to suppress the sobs, tears running down your face, because they KNOW.

Christmas was coming and we didn't want to deal with anything until the holiday was over. God had other plans and we got pregnant. What I thought was 6 weeks into the pregnancy I started to bleed again. I cried and cried but this time the hormone tests kept coming back fine. So I went in for an ultra sound and not only was that little baby still living and strong but I was a month further along. How could this be, my two periods after the miscarriage were horrible (I won't go into details here but really not sure how you can expel so much and have something still alive there) The doctor speculated that it may have been a lost twin? Again, no answers and we'll never know but we were blessed to have this one. Except! the ultrasound showed certain signs of Down's syndrome. We opted for the amnio. Not because we would have terminated but because I wanted the facts. I wanted to be prepared as much as I could. I prayed and prayed for a week. I figured if this would be the case then God knew we would be parents who could love and nurture such a child and it would really be a gift. I was filled with such peace about it. And then we found out all was fine.

My first trimester was one heck of an emotional roller coaster. Besides the 9 month-all day fatigue, migraines and nausea...the rest of the pregnancy was fine. I opted to not find out if he was a boy or a girl. But Jason desperately wanted to know. For Father's day that year I had the radiologist print out a picture of the ultrasound, write what the baby was and put it in an envelope. And then I put it in a Father's day card for Jason. I told him that he could tell NO ONE.

Jake was three weeks early but this one, this one ended up being a week late. I wanted a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) so they didn't want to 'induce' me as my chances of uterine rupture would increase. Even so, I was done, I was ready, I wanted to see my tiny baby and hold him in my arms. Every visit I would bring the doctor and staff some type of dessert, trying to bribe them into inducing me. The OB would tell me we could have this baby tomorrow if I would agree to a repeat C-section. Finally, I was going too far beyond my due date so the OB agreed to an induction.

I went into the hospital at 10 pm. I was given a cervical softener and told by the nurse that I was closed so tight I would need a couple more of those before I even got the pitocin. She hooked me up to the monitors and left the room. I told Jason that I thought I might be in labor already. The room had a display of the monitors from all the other rooms. Jason looked at my flat line and the lines of the other women and told me that, no I was not in labor. Who can argue with technology? So he sat back and watched a re-run of Friends (it happened to be the episode where Rachel had her baby). At 11 I had a gut-wrenching-sit-straight-up-and scream-pain and then felt a gush of water spread down my legs. I yell at Jason that my water just broke and he needed to get the nurse. He had the good sense to NOT look at the monitors to tell me that I was NOT in pain (my monitor, apparently was not on correctly) and he ran to find the nurse. She came in and checked me and I was dilated to a 4. She called the resident who came in minutes later and I was dilated to a 6. I was going fast. I had seconds to recover from each contraction. I was screaming profanities like you would not believe and groaning and grunting like an animal....it was horrible and NOT PRETTY. The nurse told me to 'be quiet, you're scaring the other patients' at one time, then told me to stop gripping the bed rails because I could blow my IV --- "ARE YOU F*&#king KIDDING ME"

They couldn't get a heart beat, I was going fast, so they gave some meds to slow down the labor and wheeled me into the OR. I was screaming for the "F*&^king anesthesiologist" at that point. Jason stayed behind to get his scrubs on. They get me into the OR, I needed a hand to squeeze so I point to this guy and I yell "YOU, GET OVER HERE" He obliged and I squeezed his hand through another contraction. After that gut wrenching pain was over I asked who he was, apparently he was the staff OB and if I would let go of him he'd do the C-section. Jason came in at that point as another contraction hit. I was checked again and I was an 8. The anesthesiologist showed up and I begged her for the epidural. She said she couldn't until they decided whether or not I was going to have a c-section as she might have to put me completely out, I answered "ARE YOU F*&#king KIDDING ME". (do you see a theme here) They got in an internal monitor, I was at a 10, his heart beat was fine and I got the epidural. It was 12am at that point. Just two hours after I showed up at the hospital.

Two hours after that Isaac was born. Holding him was magical. Everything in the room went away and I looked into that precious face and loved him. Then I asked, is it a boy or girl. Everyone laughed because they all assumed I knew already.

I want to be an artist....

This past weekend we went to the Sculpture Show in Loveland. It's one of the largest sculpture art shows in the nation. It's set in Benson Park which has a sculpture garden and beautiful in its own right. If I were to ever live in Loveland, I'd want a house overlooking that park. Anyhow, we went because Jason's aunt, Laura Jane, is one of the artists who was in the show.

Laura Jane...she didn't want us to take her picture....
One of her pieces...you can't see the detail that well, but it's amazing how detailed she can get. She first does in in sculpty clay, then casts a mould and then uses bronze for the finished product.
One of the sculptures in the park.

There were so many different types of artists. Realists, fanciful, whimsical. There were people who chose to work in clay, glass, mosaics (totally dug those because that's what I happen to work with when I have time) -- there was one sculpture that was a person's form in post-its (clay formed post-its) painted all in yellow and it was called 'honey do' one of the other ones all of us liked was 'rock paper scissors' I think because the boys play that all the time. Any how, if you're in the area next August...this is a must see. (May I suggest leaving the kiddos with a babysitter...I wish we had...--(complaining factor) X (fear they may break something factor) = an exhausting day)

Facebook---I'm a little addicted

My friend Kendra (who doesn't have a blog and should) got on Facebook recently and raved and raved about it. She's been able to get in contact with a bunch of old high school friends and renew old friendships. For her that's a good thing...I'm not sure I want to renew any old high school friendships (other then the ones that I already have...and yes, Kim I so need to email you!).


But I was curious.....

So I got on....

It's so much fun. I can't even tell you what's fun about it, there's some sort of voyeuristic pleasure to type in names from the past and see those people pop up. You can only see their profiles if you become 'friends' with them and I don't particularly want to do that. So it is a bummer that my voyeuristic wants can't be met with more information. You can, however, see their friend lists. What's interesting is that the popular people are still friends with the other popular people. (I wasn't popular or unpopular -- I had a solid group of friends and got along with everyone else, just didn't go to the parties, or date or such....looking back, I think that's an enviable way to survive high school).

Last night, after a very satisfying date night (get your mind out of the gutter...it was great, because after the typical movie and dinner time, we parked the car watched the lightening storm and TALKED), Jason and I created a facebook page for him and spent a good couple hours looking for his old high school friends. Yeah, yeah, we need a life...but that's going to have to wait until our kiddos are out on their own.

I think that it's one of those things that will be a lot of fun at first, but will fade, then when people contact you, you'll have a couple days of more obsessive interest. But it will never replace blogging.

Freaky Friday Forwards

I just thought this one was funny....score one for mom.

Brian invited his mother over for dinner. During the course of the meal Brian’s mother couldn't help but notice how beautiful Brian’s roommate, Jennifer, was. Brian’s mom had long been suspicious of a relationship between Brian and Jennifer, and this had only made her more curious.

Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Brian and Jennifer then met the eye.

Reading his mom’s thoughts, Brian volunteered. “I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you Jennifer and I are just roommates.”

About a week later, Jennifer came to Brian saying, “Ever since you mother came to dinner, I’ve been unable to find the silver gravy ladle. You don’t suppose she took it, do you?”

Brian said, “Well, I doubt it, but I’ll send her an e-mail just to be sure.”

He wrote:
Dear Mom,
I’m not saying that you did take the gravy ladle from the house. I’m not saying that you didn’t. But the fact remains that one has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.

Love, Brian

Some days later, Brian received an email back from his mother that read:

Dear Son,
I’m not saying that you do sleep with Jennifer, I’m not saying that you don’t. But the fact remains that if Jennifer is sleeping in her own bed, she would have found the gravy ladle by now.

Love, Mom

LESSON OF THE DAY – NEVER LIE TO YOUR MOTHER

Wordless Wednesday

What I am reading...... What I'd rather be reading

Birth Stories

Guys...you may want to skip this one.

Any Mommy Out There posted a birthing story and challenged her readers to post their own in her comments. I just posted a comment about how great her story was and how much I enjoyed reading her blog, blah, blah, the usual (she's a great writer by the way).

and.she.emailed.me.wanting.me.to.tell.my.story.

I love telling my birth story, I love hearing other birth stories. Funny L&D Nurse (who has not posted in a long long time) collected birth stories from her readers and posted them. It's how I e-met (is that a word) Sitting in Silence. She had posted a birth story there and I responded and well the rest is history -- now I, and the rest of my real world neighborhood are trying to get her to move here. Birth stories were the reason I wanted to be a L&D nurse. I think it would be so awesome to be in the presence of a miracle like that on a daily basis. To encourage, help, love on a woman in her most vulnerable, yet most courageous strong moments. Alas, my clinical experience in the L&D department made me realize that L&D nurses are (for the most part) not like that. What they seemed to do was sit on the labor deck, complain and gossip, watch the monitors and go jump in the room when the laboring woman was about to 'blow'. Not how I envisioned my new mid-life career going. This turned out to be quite the long preamble to my birth stories...here you go.

Jake:

Three weeks before my due date I went in for another ultra-sound. Jake, and we knew he was Jake at that point, was measuring big. Thankfully we went because that ultrasound showed that my amniotic fluid was dangerously low and he was breech. The radiologist left the room and I looked at Jason and said, looks like a C-section today or tomorrow. He, in his - Oh my goodness my wife is getting hysterical and she's coming to conclusions with out the facts - voice tells me to calm down (by the way, I just made the statement, I wasn't crying, upset or anything that would indicate I was somehow freaking out). We head over to the OB and in the car he calls his office to put in his breakfast order for the next day's breakfast meeting -- after all we have THREE MORE WEEKS. I, calmly, tell him it made me nervous that he was planning on going to work the next day, as I didn't think he was going to make it. He rolled his eyes at me. We get to the OB office and he jokingly says to the nurse, "Oh my gosh, Tracey is freaking out, she thinks we're going to have this baby now" The nurse replies, "yeah, as soon as we heard about the breech and low amniotic fluid we booked an OR, you'll be having this baby tomorrow at 8am).

Jason turned ashen white and had to sit down, muttering something about three more weeks and he wasn't ready...who's freaking out now buddy.

I had horrible morningdaynight sickness the entire 8.25 months AND I couldn't eat for 12 hours prior to the surgery so I was not feeling very well. They gave me the spinal, laid me down flat on my back and I told anyone who would listen I was going to get sick. They hand Jason that ridiculous little kidney shaped bowl and the doctors and nurses all stepped back, I turned to the side and threw up. Good thing Jason was in scrubs, because nothing got in that bowl. I laid back down, told all who would listen I was feeling better and they proceeded. Jason, bless his heart, didn't complain, just took my hand and was there for me. They opened me up, pulled out Jake, bottom first but then his head got stuck. I could feel them tugging and pulling and discussing whether they should cut some more, then I heard a POP, kind of like when you put your finger on the inside of your mouth and flick it...that kind of popping noise, and he was out.

But he wasn't crying. He wasn't moving. And he was a very strange shade of blue.

No one said anything.

The pediatric crew scooped him up, took him and revived him. It seemed like an eternity but I think it was only a couple of minutes later we heard a cry. There was a collective sigh of relief. My doctors proceeded to sew me back up. The Peds guys let me take a quick peek at Jake and they whisked him away for some O2 therapy. Five hours later I was holding him in my arms, close to my heart and was in complete awe.

I think if you could bottle that feeling of when you first meet your baby you could make millions.

I'll post Isaac's story later -- I have to take the kiddos to school......How quickly they grow.

In case you were wondering how suburban housewives have fun....

Holy cow, if you haven't seen it, grab a couple of girl friends (or your favorite gay man) and go already. It's been a long time since I have laughed that hard -- I mean tears rolling down my face and can't breath--laughing so hard. Even the- beautiful- didn't- take- his- shirt- off- enough-with-a- great -accent- wouldn't- kick -him -out- of -bed- Pierce Brosnan made us laugh with his very heart felt but very badly executed singing...that's okay Pierce we all drowned you out with our very own singing (and I can honestly say, my vocal ability is even worse then Pierce's). No one got up and danced in the aisles though, Martha tried and I almost did it but...the WASP side of my waspina nature won out on that one (sorry Martha).

And the fun did not stop there....

The thirteen (yes, Dodi made the connection that we were enough for a coven) of us went on to McCabe's to have drinks and dinner (they have a really yummy spinach, strawberry and feta salad -- by the way). Somehow our side of the table where, Aimee, N (a non blogger buddy who may or may not want to be mentioned), Colleeno and I were sitting, started talking about cleavage. Aimee went on to say that the blouse she was wearing showed a little too much, N was reassuring her that it was not....and well, I laughingly told her that, oh yeah there was plenty....so

She pulls her shirt down

and says "like this much tracey" JUST AS THE WAITER CAME BY TO TAKE HER DRINK ORDER. (Now mind you she didn't really show anything....just a bit more cleavage...seriously you see girls walking around showing more without trying to be funny) BUT she turned 20 shades of red, could barely get out her drink order (soda by the way---seriously this woman does not need to drink to loosen up). She tells the waiter that she needs a warning the next time he comes our way.....so the next time he stops by to take our food order, he doesn't say, "I'm here", Or "I'm coming, get ready"...he comes and says, "I'm ready for you." Again, Aimee turns 20 other shades of red. N and I politely remind Aimee that she is old.enough.to.be.his. mother. and then the waiter turns a couple shades of red himself.

It doesn't end there.....

We enjoy our dinner, our conversation is all over the place...is it that we're women, that we have such diverse interests, we all of ADD? I'm not sure but we really talked a lot about a lot. Ms. Martha came by from her side of the table (making the rounds, Ms. Martha is a very gracious hostess and checks on all to make sure they're having a good time). We told her the cleavage story and then N and Aimee got into a whose chest is bigger (N by the way) Aimee goes on to say (or was it N now I can't remember) that N may have the biggest chest there (seriously how do we get on to these subjects) Ms. Martha says "oh, no D would win that category" (again, not sure how D would feel about my recounting this story). Martha calls D from the other side of the table....D says that hands down she would win....no we did not measure...they just gave their bra sizes and the matter was put to rest.

I'm thinking that the other patrons and staff were happy to see us leave.

So there you have it people, this is how we have fun....it's really nothing like you see on Desperate Housewives...just good plain somewhat clean fun.

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend too.

And the Winner Is.....

Freaky Friday Forwards

Chief Rock Chef has the honors of coming up with that one. He's on my list of "People I don't know but stalk anyway" list below. I'd just link him here but for some reason I can't seem to get my link capabilities back. The prize is for me to pick out a book for the winner based on his/her blog. So here's the question Chief Rock Chef....shall I post a picture of your prize here and ruin your surprise or would you like to do the honors when you receive it (which will be weeks away because you're across the pond). Anyhow CRC---email me with your address (should you choose to accept the prize).

Now...I'm going to brag about my great neighborhood (Danielle...when are you going to move here!) We're a pocket of older homes (and by that I mean houses built in the 80's and 90's) we're surrounded by a lot of luxury homes built much more recently. The people who live in this pocket are salt of the earth, down to earth, middle to upper-middle income households. For a suburb we also have quite a bit of ethnic diversity and I think because of the very similar economic back grounds there really isn't a lot of strife. Here's a typical day...I was driving home after dropping off the kids and Colleen waved to me from her front porch, she was watering her plants. I waved back, and then before I was even home (9 houses away) I called her and asked, "was that a 'hi' wave or a 'come over and have coffee wave'" she laughed and said come on over. I parked and walked back and we had an impromptu coffee chat. Then yesterday afternoon we gathered at the pool (Martha emailed all saying she would be there and would we all like to join her). Ms. Martha brought snacks galore. Almost half of Jake's new 3rd grade class was there, Isaac had a few friends there too and the adults were milling around chatting with each other. I don't think anyone could have planned a party better then that. We have a neighborhood girls night out to see Mama Mia planned in the near future. These are all women who I so enjoy, they're smart, loving and I'm so blessed to have landed here. Now don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, there are a few odd balls around the place (I actually may be one of them..hahaha) but for the most part everyone gets along, the kiddos get along, we have a great pool, beautiful parks, good school and nice solid people. You can't ask for much more then that.