Unwritten

I've been neglecting my blog again, haven't I?

Summer is a busy time for is--as it is for anyone with kids. Why? Because any parent worth their title knows that one hour of outside play does more to exhaust your children into oblivion than 10 hours of inside play. Summer is prime time for exploiting that little tidbit!

It's been hot here lately, so we've been spending our time at the pool. Peyt is swimming like a fish--she can swim all the way across the pool and back! I'm not sure I can even do that. She dives for toys, does flips and handstands, and this year we're teaching her the "crawl" stroke and the basics of rotary breathing. She's becoming quite the little swimmer, which I totally love.

Chuck's been taking to the water well, too. At first, she wasn't really so sure about it, but I think that was mostly because at the beginning of the season, the water was COLD because the sun wasn't out enough to warm it up. Now that it's warmer, she really enjoys her pool time. She spends about half of it in her inflatable baby boat and the other half being held, but she likes to splash and play with pool toys.

We've been having lots of fun with Claudia and Isabel, too--Peyton ADORES Isabel. She even named one of her imaginary friends after her--that's real love, right there! ;) We've also been doing our lunches with Nano every week. That's somewhat bittersweet at this point, because they're going to have to come to an end soon. Why, you ask?

Because in one month, my little Peyton starts Kindergarten.

ACK! Seriously! One month, give or take a day or two! It's too soon--although I know she's excited to go, and I'm excited for her to start a new adventure, the time has literally flown past my face. Five years! I have no doubt that this will be a good transition. She's ready for it, as am I.

But, even if she doesn't have a problem leaving me to go into her classroom...I know that on the way out, I'll be shedding a few tears of my own. My baby is growing up and growing away from me. It's necessary and even what I want for her, but she's not a baby anymore.

Lucky Number Seven.

Happy Anniversary to Us! (Well, I suppose the accuracy of that statement depends on exactly what time and day this shows as being posted on. Our anniversary is July 7. ;) )

Seven years. We've been married for seven whole years. That's a long damned time! We've sure had our share of ups and downs. Let's see....

We got married:



My dress made me look hip-y. Do you think my dress made me look hip-y? I think my dress made me look hip-y.

At any rate, we got married in July 2002.

In October of 2002, one of my closest friends got married to the man she's loved since High School. And I was too big of an ass to attend her wedding. It's something I'll regret for the rest of my life.



In April of 2003, we lost Eric's father to cancer.



He was a wonderful man, and he's still missed today.

Also in April of 2003, my Mom and Mike got married.



And in June, we found out that we were expecting our first baby. Peyton was born in February, 2004.



At the end of March, 2004 Eric's oldest brother Cary got married in Las Vegas. On the way home in April, I rolled our van.



Thankfully, nobody was hurt!

Things were on a pretty even keel until February 2008 when...

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Our little Charlotte was born on September 18, 2008.



Just six days later, her cousin Ethan made his appearance!



Oh--and in April, 2009, I pulled my head out of my ass and apologized to Claudia. ;)

In between these noteworthy events, there have been fights, make-ups, happy times and cranky times. There have been times when we doubted what we were to each other, and times when we doubted if there would even be an "us" to hit our seven year anniversary. Despite all of these things (and in part, because of them) we survived! We made it through, and though the surface of our relationship might have some pits and divots, it's intact.

I asked Eric tonight if he'd marry me again if he knew the resulting seven years would be as difficult as they had been at times. And without hesitation, he said yes.

He didn't ask me if I'd marry him over again, but maybe he was afraid of my answer. So, here, for the entire internet to read if they choose, and on Facebook where I've put it in my status, my answer is yes. I would absolutely marry you again, over and over again. Even though we're both moody as heck and both bring our share of drama, I'd marry you again in a heartbeat, Eric. At the end of my life, I plan to look back at all of my collected memories of our time together from a rocking chair on a front porch while our great grandkids play in the yard in front of us. I can't imagine another man I would want to spend my life with, and I know there's nobody who gets me as much as you do.

Because, you see, seven years ago today I married my best friend.

Happy Anniversary, Eric. I love you!

Hats Off

Don't I make cute damned kids?

We went to the Renaissance Festival last weekend. When I was a kid and we went there, my Mom always let me get a flowered head wreath, and always let Nate get a little something, too. I'm excited to pass some of the tradition off to my girls--it's awesome to go hang out at a place where it's just taken for granted that yes, you ARE a princess and of course fairies are real.

In fact, you're looked at weirdly if you do NOT believe those things.

Peyton had a BLAST. She loved the hell out of it and got to meet Twig the Fairy. She is now completely convinced that magic is real and that there are fairies who can only speak through a flute. That's

awesome, because I think it's hard to keep kids innocent anymore. I'd like to keep her that way as long as I can manage it. Kids grow up too fast.

Chuck didn't have as much fun, but she did have as much chocolate mousse. And mashed potatoes with cheese. And a bit of Mom's turkey leg. And she did get the most adorable baby hat in the universe. I'm going to make her wear it every time we leave the house. No, seriously. I am. It's just that adorable.

Eric had four interviews last week, one phone interview on Monday and has another in person interview on Wednesday. Hopefully something pans out soon!

Anyway, not much else is going on in my life lately. We've been hanging out by the pool and having playdates with our friends--we went to the zoo with Claudia and Isabel on Monday and had some fun with Ava and Addie on Tuesday. We ran into Erin and her family at the Ren Fest, so we scheduled a playdate for this Friday. Busy week!

Hope everyone's having a good summer so far.