this is a page for
Category: Personal
When I think of most graduation parties, I think of cake, mixed nuts, signing a guest book and bringing a card with some money. Pretty standard fare for an open house. But when I think of my sister’s open house, I think of something all together different. Let’s just say the memory contains baked potatoes, a broken scent warmer and Emotion Storm Molly.
Here is proof that Molly does come through and we all band together to throw her a great graduation open house. A happy ending for everyone, but it was quite a trip to get there.
As an early Mother’s Day present, I wanted to write a little bit about my wonderful mother and the things she has gone through from marrying into this crazy family. I already told the story about what happened when my mother first had dinner with my father’s family (read about that here) but for some reason, she had a lapse of judgement and ended up getting married and giving birth to three more crazies. She has handled the kookiness with grace, despite some of the more interesting things we have put her through.
Crazy Antics
My siblings and I used to fight. Like crazy fist fight kind of fight. I’m actually not sure how we all survived intact to adulthood. My mom endured years and years of us at each other’s throats. We used to chase each other around the dining room table and if someone was stupid enough to run outside, we would quickly lock the door and refuse to let them back in.
One time when my mom went back to work in August and we were still home, my sister called the school and had my mom pulled out of a meeting to tell her Mason ate her french fries.
We rode all of the laundry baskets down the stairs and broke them. I’m pretty sure Mason rode one down at the age of 22 and broke it also. It is pretty difficult because after the first four stairs you have to take a hard right or you smash into the wall.
This is my favorite picture of my family because it really captures our true essence. Believe it or not, there was quite a perturbed photographer who took this picture out of frustration at our lack of listening skills. Anyways, my family is quirky just like me and I figured I’d tell you a little bit about them.
Mac is a high-spirited child if I have ever seen one. She has very definite ideas and when she decides to do something, she does it. Which is why she started walking at 9 months and now at 14 months can already climb to the top of the playground climber. In fact, she just figured out how to climb on the couch. She was pretty pleased with herself.
As a high-spirited child, she is so insanely curious that she has to explore everything and anything. Every time we think we have “Mac-proofed” the house, she proves us wrong.
Life can be quite challenging with her because she lives life at 100 mph. She is on the go constantly, only sitting down to read a few books here and there, but never at a convenient time for me to get things done of course. She finds anything we have accidentally left within her reach, any flaw in our childproofing system.
I shouldn’t be surprised by her because she definitely takes after my side of the family, personality wise. I should’ve been prepared to have a baby who never sits still and is always looking for adventure.
Some days I want to tear my hair out because I get so frustrated with her. But then, come moments like this:
When she is so sweet and serene. Despite the fact that she is NOT a sleeper, I am sometimes tempted to wake her up because I miss her.
But I let her sleep because I’m not a total idiot.
Let me start off by saying that I’m sure everyone my age has pictures like these. I laugh as I look through my picture albums because before digital cameras, you just had to point and shoot. No one knew until you got the pictures developed if you were smiling or had your eyes closed. So the unphotogenic among us (like me) really struggled before picture technology progressed. Add in some questionable 90’s fashion choices and some of the pictures are a real doozy.
So let’s start with an easy one.
This was my first day of preschool and despite the prominent placement of my school branded bag, I was not paid to model for them. I think I would honestly dress Mac in this outfit. Floral overalls (Although why anyone thinks elastic at your ankles is a good look is beyond me), a cap-sleeved pink shirt, and some white mary janes. Cute.
Motherhood looks like a grumpy baby with a runny nose who is practicing putting on her own socks.
My baby sister Molly celebrated her 21st birthday on Saturday. When she decided to rent a party bus for the night, Andrew and I decided to try to be young and carefree again for one night. We dropped our babies off (Mac went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house while Ralph stayed with Aunt Jo) and then we hit the road.
After a barbecue, we walked in the cold to Hardee’s to catch the party bus. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve really ever been on a party bus before. I’m not a goodie goodie (anymore) but I’ve just never really been to an event where we rented one. But the one we got was a lot nicer than what I had been imagining. So the first thing we did was drive to the Catholic church to pick up my mom. Typical.
Today was a conference day at my school. I spent all morning in conferences and then a staff meeting. A wonderful parent brought us a tasty lunch to eat while we chatted. I came home, put Mac down for a nap, put in some laundry and drank a latte while I worked on blog stuff. We had homemade fried rice for dinner and after Mac had a bath and went to bed, I had a glass of wine while I typed up this post. Not all days go this well. But this is just a typical day in my life.
Also, I was really feeling my outfit this morning, so I took a picture. Today instead of changing poopy diapers and crawling around on the ground, I sat in meetings all day. Although I did clean the fish tank in this outfit. This was the best picture I got because Mac and Ralph really wanted to get themselves in there too.
So, today is Throwback Thursday and I thought I would tell the story of the time I cracked my head open while doing a waterski pyramid. As most people haven’t done any show skiing, I have a little explaining to do. And as an aside, the pictures I am posting will be a little blurry for two reasons: 1) They were small pictures that I blew up and 2) I try not to post pictures of people who don’t give me their express permission, so I blurred these so you could get the general idea without seeing the other people clearly.
I spent 6 years skiing with a show team in my home town. We were a family oriented team who competed, but were more into creating a fun show for all ages. I wasn’t great on skis myself, but I did a lot of other things like climbing pyramids and doing doubles routines along with land acts like acting and dancing.
Today is my sister Molly’s 21st birthday! So we celebrated yesterday with a simple, family party. It was incredibly windy and Mac was not feeling good, so it could have turned out terrible. But instead we were able to pull together a fun little get-together to celebrate her. We even managed to Facetime with Mason in Germany, but we were so excited to all talk and give him a tour of the new living room arrangement that we forgot to take pictures of it.
This was the not feeling good I was talking about. She wasn’t sick, but she certainly wasn’t herself. She was mad about the wind and mad because I dared set her down when she asked me to.
See, she did okay most of the time. Mac had to bring her Clifford to go meet the other dogs at the party. Jojo looks thrilled, obviously. BFFs fo sho.
My dad (or Chief, as Mac calls him) was helping Jojo and Maclaine compare bellies. Beware, if you are around Mac, she may demand you show her your belly.
The big girl insisted on her own chair. Of course, the queen gets her way at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.
I’ll narrate Molly’s thoughts in this collage: (1) What the hell is Bob doing? (2) I thought it was weird he had to leave so suddenly. (3) Oh god, did he go buy me a present?
The last-minute shopper that he is, Bob left the party to buy Molly’s birthday present. Thankfully, she had already opened the present from us, so he could just reuse the gift bag.
Here is Maclaine, showcasing Molly’s new shoes that she got from Bob. If anyone wants to book Mac for some catalog shoots, let me know. She is obviously great at showcasing products.
Mama and Maclaine bonded.
Maclaine loved being a free range baby. We live in a townhouse, so we don’t have a yard that she can wander around in. She loved following the dogs around the yard.
Mama had a great time indulging Mac’s every whim.
Halfway through the birthday celebration, Mac decided she needed a nice outdoor nap. Of course she had to have it cuddled up to her Mommy because she didn’t feel well.
Mama’s first selfie!
We busted out the bocce ball on this beautiful day. In true mommy form, I played with my baby strapped to my chest.
Sometimes I ask my sister to take pictures and I mostly get selfies of her making dumb faces. And sometimes I get cool pictures like this one.
We were all super concentrated on the game.
Like I said, it was windy.
But Mac still enjoyed her first s’more!
By this point, Mac was pretty clearly wanting us to wrap it up and go home. So we did. Stay tuned for Birthday Adventures Part 2: Party Bus Edition, coming next weekend. Keep me in your thoughts as us old people attempt to keep up with the youngins.