Congrats, Sis

On Friday, my now not-so-little sister, Mercy, graduated high school.


I'm sure that this will embarrass her if she reads this, but I would like to talk just a little bit about how amazing she is.


Mercy, now 18 years old, was diagnosed in utero with a large diaphragmatic hernia. With this hole in her diaphragm, her internal abdominal organs had migrated upward and prevented her lungs from developing. At the time she was diagnosed, very few children with a defect as severe as hers had survived.

Despite physicians telling them that there was no chance she would survive, my mother decided to carry the baby to term.

However, they had gone to the cemetery to pick out a plot and headstone.

When Mercy was born, she cried. It should have been impossible without developed lungs. But that cry showed that Mercy was a fighter.

She spent months in the hospital. She had her lovely dark curls shaved off for IV placements. She had multiple surgeries to rebuild a diaphragm using her abdominal wall muscles. She was on ECMO. She received sheep surfactant to help with her lung development.

She still has significant scars on her neck, chest, and stomach.

But she is alive.

And she's still a fighter.

Now, she loves costume jewelry and ball gowns. She wants to be an actress. She's fiercely loyal to her friends.

I've been there to see her grow up. I was so glad that I got to see her close this chapter of her life, tears and all.



Good luck with everything, Mercy. We'll be cheering you on like always.

Nearly Summer

I love days like today.

Roman got out early, having a four day weekend for Memorial Day.

Instead of having our daily snack at home around the kitchen table, we took advantage of the warm weather and extra time by packing up our snack and taking in to Wheeler Farm. This is a working farm contained within a city park. It is truly wonderful.

We ate our snack of carrots, crackers, and cottage cheese under the shade of fruit trees. Or rather, I ate our snack while Roman and Blaise raced stick boats in the irrigation stream.


Afterwards, the main event. Feeding the ducks. I never throw out bread that is questionable, because it always good for an afternoon out.



We then strolled through the rest of the farm, climbing trees, petting baby cows, and "aww"ing over new chicks.




The day was very warm. I kept thinking that spring just started a few weeks ago (we got snow after Easter) so where has it gone to?

Seeing this made me realize that I have no reason to be
overwhelmed with my two ducklings.
I counted 16 babies, and the parents were running back and forth
trying to keep them from wandering off and
keep people away from them. 16! Whew!
And I thought I was busy!

After a trip back home for a much needed nap for Blaise, we all headed off to Roman's school carnival.

Roman surprised me with his bravery.
Blaise thought about it, but I helped him change his mind.
There were no other two year old's on the equipment.

As the sun set, and the day cooled, we headed home, slightly sticky from melted sno-cones.

When I said, "Thanks, boys, for doing so many fun things with me today," Roman gave me the best reply...

"I wouldn't miss it for anything!"


Neither would I!

A Case of the Grumps

A bad bug has been going through our family the last couple days.

That is...a bad case of the grumps.

The moment I walked into Blaise's room this morning, he started yelling. "I don't want to get out of bed. I don't want breakfast. Go away. Go AWAY!"

If I have the gall to say no to Roman, he has been falling on the floor in tears and screaming, "You don't let me do anything. You are always trying to keep me from doing anything!"

And by saying no, I mean, no, you can't stay up until 11 pm. No, you can't eat that entire package of Reese''s Pieces by yourself. No, we are not going to Disneyland this week.

Blaise's word of the week is "Stupid!" And he has been using it very generously.

Right at this moment he is screaming from his bed that he doesn't want to go to school. It's stupid!

And let's just say that this current bug is slightly contagious. It's hard to be screamed at all day for three days without, um, um... yeah.

I'm not going to deny that there have been very cute things over the last several days.

So, if you'll just all hang tight until I'm in the mood to share them.

Breaking Boards

On Saturday, Roman's karate studio had a large charity event.

The Break-a-thon, an national event, raises money for Break the Chain, a child abuse awareness, prevention, and intervention program.

And when they said that every single student would have the opportunity to break boards, there was no way Roman wasn't going.

After arriving, the students were paired with others of similar height (and hopefully, experience.) Then, they did timed blocks, four separate blocks called off by their instructor's "Ke-yah."

Lining up

Giving it all he's got

Holding strong for his partner

The kid who was holding for Roman struggled a little, resulting in Roman only breaking one board during the actual timed event. (But the other kid only had one break as well, as did most the smaller students around us did.)

Roman successfully breaking a board
with a palm strike.

But then, Daddy to the rescue. Keith held up all the unbroken boards for Roman. And he broke them all!!!

Breaking boards
Way to go!!

I can't really imagine anything cooler for a six year old to say than "I can break a board with my hand!"

Afterward, we watched the black belt students and instructors break more boards and bricks.




















We left, hours later, slightly sunburned, very tired, and for one six year old, much more confident.

Wednesday

I hope your Wednesday was as wonderful as mine...

Okay, now back to my real life

It has been one of the best weekends ever.

Friday: drove the hour down to visit my mom. During the afternoon, we took the kids and had a picnic in an orchard that was in full bloom. During the quiet moments between the squeals of delight, the air hummed with bees.



One of my cousins got married that evening, and the wedding was absolutely beautiful. It took place in my aunt's amazing backyard. The yard was surrounded by lilac hedges that were at their peak. The trees were filled with lanterns. Between the lights, the flowers, the scent, and the great company, it was just magical.

Saturday: My mom, my sister, and I cooked ourselves a Mother's Day Brunch. (Yes, we had to cook for ourselves, but it was worth it). We had delicious pear, watercress, and pecan salad, risotto, citrus chicken, and lemon-berry angel cake. Fantastic.


Sunday: woke up to sweet gifts. And did not cook or clean all day. After a "traditional" breakfast of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and orange juice and a long afternoon nap, we went to dinner at The Mayan. I could have chosen a restaurant with better food or a more refined atmosphere, but I really wanted something that would be fun as a family. And The Mayan fit the bill. Besides quite delicious fajitas and margaritas for Keith and me, the boys were awestuck by the surroundings. After all, isn't it every 6 and 2 year old's dream to eat in a treehouse overlooking a waterfall, surrounded by butterflies and tropical birds. Blaise could care less if they weren't even real. And the cliff divers? Well, it was hard to keep the boys at the table long enough to get two bites of food in. But we didn't worry about having to tell them to be quiet, sit down, stop squirming. Which is what I really wanted.

Ahhh....it was perfect.


Well, now back to Monday.

Best Mother's Day Gifts Ever

My boys have made today the most wonderful day.

Keith got me flowers (without even a hint from me!).


Blaise keeps coming up to me and saying, "You are my best fweind!"

And Roman gave me these.



Priceless. Each one.