School Started, Bode Continues to Play Baseball, Mia Continues to do Theater, Great Trip to Montana, and Mia Turns 11, Among Other Things

The awkward, nervous smiles of the first day of school. Oh how I don't miss those.

 1st day lunchroom selfie:

 My heart stops every time a ball comes flying at that tiny little head.

 Apparently, little boys get pretty obnoxious when they are attempting to show-off in front of "big girls." Clearly, the big girls couldn't care less about these two little stud-muffins.

 Montana is for cousins!

 Picking fresh raspberries (and blackberries, and eggplant, and broccoli, and peppers) for an afternoon snack.

 Meeting the colts:

 If a dog won't look at the camera, just grab his face and squeeze:

 Beautiful Montana:

 Fishing with Uncle Breezy:

 Mia feeding chipmunks (aka glorified rodents) out of her hands:

 They caught our dinner:

 Sweet friends and family

 Mia has now graduated to whiteboard monitor when planning Disney trips (if you know my husband, this is a very big honor):

 Bode is in it for the cheeseburgers:

 Mia's 11th birthday at cheesecake factory:

 Having dinner with tweens always ends up taking a weird turn:

 I'm the mom that terrifies Mia's friends:

 (I'm also the mom that chaperones every minute of a slumber party, including sleeping with the girls - there will be no funny business at my house. At some point this will mortify Mia. I do not care.

 Mia's sweet besties:

 Only the best of friends are willing to get up for early service after a slumber party. There is so much morning breath, frizzy hair, and love represented in this picture:

I can't think of anything catchy/snarky/thought provoking to say to end this post. 

So, this is the end.

Bode Turns Eight, Celebrates in Most Typical, Average Way Possible

Bode had his third basketball party in a row. I'm telling' ya, you've got to get yourself one of these little boys, it's the easiest thing ever.

 Score keepers:

 There were so many kids that we had enough to have a little round robin tournament.

 And, this was serious basketball, not some silly pick-up game. We had 10-year-old refs with real whistles, for goodness sake. 

 An Air Jordan cake seemed like a natural choice.

 And finally, family dinner in the back room of Johnnies. 

 It doesn't get any simpler than this. 

I let my kid go in public dressed like an idiot and I don't even care. 

I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I am enjoying this stage. It's stinky and exhausting, but also so very entertaining. 

Little boys are the best.

Elisha and the Seven Sneezes

This girl is a maniac for projects. 

When it came time for her to complete her 5th grade portfolio in Journey Land (our amazing elementary program at church), she was all over it.

I would have taken a picture of her and her Dad working on her video but that would have made the slightest bit of noise, which was completely unacceptable. Bode and I weren't allowed to speak (or move) for a week.

Once, a friend called to see if Mia could come over to play and she and Andy both exclaimed, "This is prime lighting time, we don't go anywhere during prime lighting time. You know that!" After being reprimanded I shirked back to my bedroom where I had been relegated to during "prime lighting time."

Finally, after hours of building a lego set, recording and re-recording audio (Andy: Mia, the inflection in your voice is, frankly, pretty flat. Try again.), and over 1,400 pictures, I present Mia's first stop-motion video:

Elisha and the Seven Sneezes

The above pictures are all Mia cares about - her friends and random children loved it. This girl will probably never be rich (She is an artist after all. We are counting on Bode to take care of us financially.), but I am sure that whatever she decides to do with her life will be complicated, very detailed, difficult, and bring joy to everyone who experiences it.

The difference between a pre-teen girl and a little boy eating lunch:

We've entered a new phase of life. It's apparent in every detail of every day. 

Case in point, lunch this afternoon:

Stuff is gettin' real over here, ya'll. I predict that Bode will deserve every bit of retaliation he receives. I also predict that stomaching the sound of Mia's exasperated shrieks will never get easier.

One of these things is not like the others...

I had two goals this summer: Get Bode to read and get Mia to exercise. 

 There's always next year...

Theater weekend number 952

Mia's latest show, Seussical the Musical, was so, so fun. She performed three shows in a row on Saturday, and she and I had so much fun hanging out in between.

This show is great for little ones, like cousins:

Jewel Box is a really cool round theater. There isn't a bad seat in the house.

Jewel Box is also where Uncle Lucas performed his very first play. These two are like the same person.

If I have time to kill during a show I immediately seek out coffee and food. Mia seeks out books. We aren't the same person. 

She's way more talented and focused than I ever was at her age. I'm glad most of my genes seem to be recessive.

I get by with a little help from my friends.

So, a couple of weeks ago I had a real annoying surgery. And, no, it wasn't a b00b job or a tummy tuck. I said it was an annoying surgery not an awesome one. And then a week after my annoying surgery I got an even more annoying infection.

It turns out that there really isn't enough morphine available to me to make a hospital stay fun. Wrong again!

Anyway, my point is this: I haven't been able to do anything for weeks and it turns out it's not awesome. I'm getting snarkier by the minute, I have forgotten to shower multiple times, and my children's screen time limit has been evil laughed right out the window. Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha.

The most demoralizing part of this entire situation is this little screen that has popped up more times than I dare admit:

This is so right:

And, actually, that wasn't the point at all. This is the real point: I have been so blessed by my friends and family. It's so weird to accept help from people, but lemmetellya, sometimes it is just absolutely necessary. Poor Bode wouldn't have had his average of seven meals per day to eat the past two weeks if it weren't for my amazing friends. And that just wouldn't be ok.

People have fed us, and driven my kids places, and made sure the laundry was done. They have delivered my Starbucks drink, and sat in waiting rooms with Andy, and held my hospital gown together while I attempted to walk the halls at 0.0005 miles per hour.

If you do not have people that will do this for you, you need to get yourself some quick. Because someday you are going to need someone to shut you up when you are babbling maniacally to a young, cute anesthesiologist or to demand a nurse give you something to help you sleep, or to let themselves into your house with their hands full of your dinner so you don't have to get up.

This is real friendship. This is real love.

I've never been more thankful for my church family in my life. And as soon as I am up and able I am going to pay it forward so hard! I can't wait!

Find a church. I promise you the people there will not be perfect. In fact, they will be pretty messed up, and the church will not do things exactly the way you want them to. They may not sing the songs you like all the time. Someone may will accidentally hurt your feelings. But, they will love you. They will love your family. And you will love them back. It's worth getting past whatever it is you have to get past. Love and relationships are always worth it.

This is summer time:

Cousins,

 BBQ,

 swimming (and, yes, you are allowed to be mortified at the site of those teeth),

 musicals,

 my kids finally being old enough to make me a birthday breakfast and NAILING it,

 a new hamster playground,

 and more swimming.

Summer is paradise.