Uncle Brent and Aunt Carlissa

We had a wonderful weekend! Eric had Friday and Monday off from work and his brother Brent and his fiance, Carlissa, came to visit. Scotty LOVED the extra attention and it was nice to get out of the house and see fun things. Friday we were to the Science Center downtown (thank you, Culture Pass!) and had a good time gawking at the people attending the Phoenix Comicon convention. Hey, if you dress up like this and walk around downtown, you deserve a little extra attention:

Saturday we headed down to Tucson to the Titan Missile Museum, home of the last Titan II missile which was decommissioned in 1982 after the Cold War. They call the program "Peace Through Deterrence." I got the be the captain and launch the missile--my second time! I must be nuclear missile material.

Sunday was my birthday and it was a great day. My primary kids sang Happy Birthday, I got to take a nice long nap after church, Eric made a fabulous dinner, and Brent and Carlissa designed this awesome Death Star birthday cake, complete with destruction and fire.

Today Eric and the crew headed off to WalMart to buy fishing gear and head to our local park. I got to sleep in a bit and join them later. Scotty LOVES his Lightning Mcqueen fishing pole and we liked getting a little silly.

This adventure marks a big "check" off Eric's list of important fatherly duties. He's been looking at mini fishing poles since the day we found out we were having a little boy!

For more pictures of the fun and randomness, check out the slideshow.

Funny Boys

My boys say the funniest things. Scotty loved my singing when he was a baby, but for about the last 6 months anything more than 2 consecutive notes--even singing along to the radio--gets an immediate command of "Stop singing, mama!" Who knows how he'll survive adolescence when I'm sure to embarrass him just by existing...

Because music is important to me and I like singing, I've tried a variety of ways to get him to accept it. For about a week I got him to say "thank you for singing, mama" instead of commanding me to stop but he wised up.

A few days ago I tried a new tactic. "I like singing," I told him. "It makes mama happy."

He thought for a second and then looked me straight in the eye.

"Your singing makes me sad, mama."

Ouch! I couldn't help but laugh. And keep singing.

Eric is much more tactful when it comes to expressing his opinions. Unless he's asleep. I can always tell when he's exhausted because we get to have interesting conversations in the middle of the night. This past month he's been using every spare minute to study for the last of his four CPA exams. Last night I nudged him to turn over, as his snoring was keeping me awake. Instead of grunting and rolling a fraction of an inch like he normally does (or arguing that 'he wasn't snoring'), he reached over to pick something off the nightstand.

Meg: "What are you doing?"
Eric: "I just need to get this documentation."
Meg: "Documentation?"
Eric: "Yeah, for one of the entities at Freeport [the main client he audits]"
Meg: "Eric, it's midnight, and I just woke you up because you were snoring..."
Eric: "No, the documentation is right here...I just have to get it"
[random fumbling on the nightstand]

Meg: "Eric, that's the book you've been reading on the Constitution of the United States of America."

Eric: [confused silence] "Dang."

At least if I'm going to be awake in the middle of the night I have something to keep me entertained.

Children's Museum

Phoenix has an amazing program that connects local museums with the library system through the Culture Pass. If you have this in your area and you're not using it, you're missing out! **If you don't know what I'm talking about or you'd like to learn more, scroll to the bottom of this post for more info.**

Getting a pass can be competitive but with a little bit of planning it's totally worth it. Many libraries post in advance which passes will be available on what days. Our local Chandler library doesn't open until 10am and we live 2 miles away, so I can usually get lucky and head to story time 10 minutes early and still get a great pass.

This week we went to the Children's Museum downtown. Scotty loves this place and easily spent 4 hours playing happily. He loves the racecar tracks on the third floor, which we visited three separate times.
There is also a mini "car wash" for tricycles that he enjoys but I didn't get any pictures as I was busy pedaling us both around.

This time he decided he wanted to make me dinner, so he shopped...

checked out (he especially digs the cash register,
his dad would be so proud of his number punching skills)

and wok-ed it up, like he's seen his Papa do.

He made me pizzas, spaghetti, cereal, and chocolate milk. And he made me use a napkin while I ate it.

It's fun to see him grow into a little kid with a vivid imagination and sense of play, though he is certainly the most bossy chef I've ever worked with :o)

Of course, his other favorite exhibit got lots of attention:throwing rocks down the storm drain. It's hard to compete with that.

I'm tempted to just buy a membership but it's pretty expensive ($9 for everyone over 1 just for 1 day!). If they were open later I would totally get the membership and just hang out on days where Eric works later, but unfortunately they close at 4pm...

____________________________________________

**The Culture Pass Program: Through this program you can check out free passes to museums in the area, good for 2-4 people depending on the pass. They automatically expire in a week so you don't have to worry about returning anything and you can take the kids adventuring without the expense! Our program includes the Phoenix Zoo (which is awesome, we have a membership and go all the time), the Children's Museum, the Science Center (my personal favorite), the Desert Botanical Garden, the Museum for Youth (another goodie for little ones), the Heard Museum (focusing on /native American culture), the Natural History Museum, several art museums and a few other less known museums.

More Culture Pass Info

Chandler Public Library Culture Passes

Phoenix Public Library Culture Passes

Verbalisms

I remember thinking to myself a few years ago: "it will be so nice when Scotty can really talk and communicate his needs." Ha! If I had only known what I was in for....

• Discussions about anatomy at top volume in public restrooms. No, mama is not a boy, and thank you for noticing so regularly!

• Public service announcements at the OB office: "mama peed in a cup!"

• Polite requests for inappropriate behavior: "please whine? Mama please? I want to whine!"

• Backward phrases: "Scotty is too big for that ladder" generally means that he has yet to grow into the playground equipment.

• Constant correction. Eric tried to get Scotty to say that mama was beautiful only to be emphatically told, "No! Mama's a GIRL!"

• Scottish. Every kid has their own language or words that get twisted. I'm still sad that he no longer says "Hoppy Toppin!" in reference to the world's best nanny. Still, he has enough Scottish to keep me laughing. Right now his big insistence is that we have to protect ourselves from crocodiles in the house by wearing firefighter hats "backsides" -- this rule is strictly enforced.

• Complete lack of context. Scotty actually speaks fairly well, but his sentences make little sense to anyone who wasn't present for the event three days (or even a month!) prior that he is currently discussing in detail. He also thinks that people can see through the phone and conducts guided tours of his play space while on the phone.
  

• Phrases that make me stop and ponder. The other day we were headed out to the park and Scotty nonchalantly informed me that he had "pooped the tappin." Since we're potty training the phrase got my attention but that's not the word we use so I was a little hesitant.... "pooped the tappin?" I asked. "Yeah," he replied, assuming a very wide stance and pointing at me with a stick, "POOP, POOP" he said while making 'poofing' noises. "Take that tappin! Poop! Watch out for the crocodile!"

Anyone catch that?


It took me awhile to remember that his movie of the week is Peter Pan.

My Happy Family.

A million reasons to smile.

Happy Mother's Day

To all the amazing women I have in my life: Happy Mother's Day. Whether your kids are grown, you're in the trenches, or you have yet to begin that wild ride, you are all wonderful mothers! I have learned so much from all of you about how to love, how to enjoy life, and how to conquer tough things. We all know that being a mother is hard work and long hours, so I thank you for also reminding me that being a mother is about the little things and learning not to take everything seriously. Thanks for being part of my journey :o)

(Not every mother would be up for Rock Band at 3am!)

(I love the reality in this picture....ignore both of our screaming children,
we're just happy to have company!)

And of course, no Mother's Day for me would be complete without a picture of the little guy who first changed my body and is now changing my heart. I love being your mother!


My amazing sister in law, April, sent me this story a year ago and I saved it, pulling it out to read it on those "special occasions" when I needed a reminder of why I was doing this crazy thing called motherhood.

Invisible Mother.......

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone (or even on the toilet) and ask to be taken somewhere.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm busy?'

Obviously, not.

No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a taxi to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England.

Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in.

I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work.

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life.

It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4:00 in the morning and bakes homemade pies. Then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right.

And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Gratitude

I've noticed a prevailing theme in facebook statuses this week: lots of pregnant women whining about how miserable we are! I would be more than happy to join the ranks, but I know once I get started I'll continue to find more things to mention... so with a somewhat faked surge of optimism, allow me to present a list of Thursday Thankfulness.

I am grateful for...

all the appliances I have that work, especially my dishwasher and washing machine. I express gratitude for my dishwasher almost daily * an energetic little boy who gives me lots of reasons to get out of bed in the morning * Scotty's passion for movies (some days I just need a little more down time!) * having my mom live close by * distractions, like cleaning the floors * chores that stay done for more than a day * having my husband home for dinner most nights * peppermint ice cream * story time at the library * sunshine * all the parks within walking distance * feeling our little girl roll around * not feeling her roll around all the time! and substantially less fetal kung fu * fresh, juicy watermelon * free samples * warm showers * comfy socks * play dates * chocolate chip cookie making sessions * the many back/neck/head/leg/foot massages I get from Eric! * watching Scotty learn and grow * great deals on things I have to buy anyway * family coming to town * a good book * good conversations with friends.

There. I feel better already.
What are you grateful for today?

How do you measure a day in the life of a boy?

75 degrees of perfect, slightly breezy sunshine

60 minutes running/jumping/galloping in the backyard with his Papa

45 minutes of playing at the park

25 sheriff trucks flying by us on the shoulder of the highway with their lights on

6 readings of the "snort book" (Are You My Mother?)

5 low flying airplanes

4 different types of muffins for lunch

3 friendly dogs

2 trains crossing the road right by our car

1 new baseball hat ("with a snake!" adds Scotty)

= one practically perfect day.