Here is the view from section 3, row 61, seats 3 & 4 in Memorial Stadium. Being up high definitely has its advantages. We can see everything! We are in love with our first "real" season tickets and to top it all off, our best friends Andrew & Amanda have season ticket seats just 10 rows in front of us! Amanda sent me a text message during the first quarter and asked where our seats were. I replied with our location and a minute later Drew pops up right below us! It was hysterical.
The install job in in progress, but I thought I would give you a sneak peak! I am SO EXCITED!
Finn is mastering the fork. I love how he starts to use his hand but then changes his mind. You can definitely see him thinking...
My niece was born on August 27 of 1996. I had been at KU for like, maybe a week when I got the call from my mother telling me Lauren had arrived. I can still remember driving from Lawrence to Leavenworth to see her in the hospital. She was a beautiful baby.
I cannot help but associate her birth with my entry into college. With every birthday celebration she has, I am reminded of how long I have been out of high school. Normally I am like, "Holy crap! I graduated high school eleven years ago?!" This year was different. This year I said, "Oh. My. God. Lauren is 12 (going on 18) and has become a beautiful young lady over night." She will definitely be giving my brother a run for his money, that is for certain.
Happy Birthday Lauren. We hope you have a most wonderful day.
Aunt Megan & Uncle Wade
This past weekend I introduced Wade and the kids to my hometown's annual festival, Tiblow Days. We met up with my Mom, Dad and Lil' Granny on Saturday morning and enjoyed the parade together. Thankfully the rain stopped in time. Now I might have a jaded memory, but I am pretty sure the candy thrown out during a parade now-a-days is WAY better than candy I scrambled for as a child. They even pass out goody bags for the kids to collect it in. Genius! I do not know why, but we were obsessed with having Cecilia pick up every last bit of candy thrown her way - "Ceci get that piece. Ceci, look over there...." Then we go home and limit what she can eat. Poor thing is going to have a complex I am sure.
After the parade, Wade and I walked the kids down to the carnival and dropped 17 bucks for a wristband allowing Cecilia to enjoy unlimited amusement riding fun. Her favorite by far was the carousel. Her least favorite was the Black Pearl - basically a fun house decorated to look like a pirate ship. Even though she ran its course 3 consecutive times [hence the beauty of a wristband] she informed us later that she did not like it because of the"Wet Pirate Balls."
**UPDATE**
I feel like I should clarify. The aforementioned "wet pirate balls" actually describe the multi-colored plastic ball area in which the kids had to crawl through. It rained that morning, so they were wet.
So, Momtourage has received quite a bit of interest and excitement. Woohoo - I am not alone in my desire to converse with adults of the female variety! I will be sending a detailed email soon to everyone who replied with interest, but for now mark your calendars for Saturday evening on September 13. Can't wait!
Have you ever yearned to be apart of the book club or Bunko group you hear other people talking about? I do. Some of these groups are even challenging to join! One of my co worker's Bunko group actually has a waiting list. Seriously.
Everyone knows these groups were created so one has a good excuse to get together with like minded women and just talk. It is amazing how good you feel after talking with other women. I miss this type of mindless release - reminds me of college when my roommates and I would sit around and just talk for hours. Now when I have a random spare moment to chat with a good friend I notice awkward pauses that were not there before. Did we talk so much in college that we do not have anything left to talk about, or maybe I have become boring?... Na! I am just out of practice! That HAS to be it. I blame my problem on sitting at work on the computer emailing all day, then going home to two young children and a husband. Do not get me wrong I love my family dearly, but we all know the type of conversations a women usually has with her family is totally different. It is often one sided. My husband would call this type of conversation "nagging." There are also the funny conversations, which are nice, but they do not make any sense... except for in a four year old's mind. An example from today:
"Sister and I went fishing today and then a leg came out of the TV and I was like, Actually, I don't think so." Cecilia's response to "What did you do today?" Wade's grandfather would call this type of conversation "Dutchy."
So in an effort to curb my "nagging" and therefore increase the positive vibes in my life I have decided to build my own group - a Momtourage to be exact! I got the idea from this great blog written by the writers at Parents magazine - GoodyBlog.
Here were some of their start up suggestions:
So, what do you think? Interested in joining a Momtourage? I am tentatively thinking of having the inaugural event at my place on Saturday, September 13. Nothing grand. Just good snacks, good spirits and good conversations. Send me an email, call me or post a comment if you are game.
**UPDATE** Non moms. soon to be moms, women in general are welcome! I just really liked the name Momtourage, but now I am worried about what it implies! Sorry to confuse. The childless however should beware of a series of labor stories as well as multiple comments on the gross things that come out of children's bodies.
I came across this neat website last night and I just have to share it with my fellow working mommies. I love the term they use to describe us - "Stay-at-Work Moms."
http://www.mommytrackd.com/
Wade has been working six days a week, 12 hours a day. Yeah, holy moly is right! His current foreman happens to be his Uncle Gene. No nepotism here as Gene treats all the guys exactly the same...except for when it comes to cupcakes. Gene's wife, Aunt Kim, felt sorry for the guys and made them cupcakes. Gene let Wade take the leftovers home for Cecilia and Finnegan.
The kids loved them and here is the proof...
Today the kids and I spent the afternoon at Lawrence Gymnastics Academy (LGA). They hosted a free open gym to celebrate the Olympics and to advertise for their gym's fall enrollment. They had a demonstration on each area, a moonwalk and free hot dogs & lemonade. I love getting to do fun stuff with my kids. I love it even more when it is free. I have taken Cecilia to LGA once before. They have open gym a couple times a week. They normally charge a few bucks per kid and then allow them to come in and play around on the equipment for a few hours. I wish they would have an adult open gym so I could jump off the trampoline into the pit of foam and then play on the uneven bars. [don't they look fun?]
The kids had a good time and even won two medals...
Aye...we went to a swashbuckling good birthday party yesterday. Captain Ceci and the rest of me hearties even dressed up for the occasion. Because she had the cool black hat, according to her we were just "mateys." Nothing like being demoted by a four year old pirate.
Blimey...look out! It's Cap'n Ceci!
Poor matey, he's been run through. Now he's shark bait.
The wee one even got his first tattoos. One on each arm, Popeye style.
My brilliant husband, and our equally brilliant neighbor Andy, decided to race their lawn mowers a couple of nights ago. That's all I have to say about that.
I have just about had enough. Every time I turn around I make people laugh with the words I say. For instance, today at daycare I was playing beauty shop with Ms. Rita and I hit my elbow on the corner of a shelf. Man did it hurt. Ms. Rita checked it out and said it would be okay. She thought that if I stretched my arm in and out a couple of times I would be able to "shake it off." I told her not to worry about it, and that I would just put an ass pack on it when I got home. Apparently, she did not understand me because Ms. Rita giggled and asked me to repeat myself. So I did.
"Uh, Rita. I said don't worry. I'll just put an ass pack on it when I get home."
This made her laugh really hard. Ms. Rita even repeated this story to my mommy when when she came to pick Finnie and I up. I don't know why, but my mommy laughed so hard she snorted. Argh. I wish I knew why putting an ass pack on your elbow was so funny. I don't laugh when my mommy takes one out of the freezer to put on her sore back.
~ Cecilia
Some of my very best friends [Amanda & Andrew] are expecting their first munchkin. Mini Drew is set to arrive around September 15 and I can hardly wait to meet him. A couple Sundays ago, a group of us threw Amanda a baby shower. I volunteered to do the invitations and the cake; my two favorite things about any kind of social gathering! Getting an invitation in the mail is so exciting, I don't care who you are. Knowing you were thought of when someone was creating a guest list creates such a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Unfortunately, I am an invitation snob. It is my first impression of an event and I can always tell if the invitation was an after thought. You know the ones. Usually an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper with cheesy clip art hap hazardly placed with at least five different fonts used on it. Yuck. Two fonts at the most people. Please.
The invitation I chose for this shower is perfect. Amanda is the most stylish pregnant person I have ever known. She still wears high heels people. I have a hard time wearing heels period, let alone when with child. When I saw this invite with a chic pregnant chick wearing heals I had to use it.
...And here is Hy-Vee's current display cake, even labeled as their "Jayhawk Princess" cake which sells for $44.99! The Baker said someone brought in the photo of Ceci and her cake from the newspaper. She still has it hanging on the wall in her office. It was so popular they decided to make a display of it. Cool, huh? I do not know why I am so proud of these two cakes. I did not make them and could never come close to creating something like them. Kudos to the Hy-Vee Bakery on 6th street in Lawrence! You make me look good.
I guess making baskets just was not enough for Mr. Finn. He needed to accomplish more this weekend. This morning I could tell he had found his courage to walk. He was letting go of things and attempting to take steps on his own without encouragement from anyone. I figured he was never going to walk if I was constantly making him try to do it, so I found a little courage of my own and just let him be. He needed to figure out that he did not need me to do it. I sat down at my computer and let him wander the house by himself this morning... after I put the cat food up and closed the bathroom door of course. He was still pretty much glued to me, but occasional he let go.
I think [okay, I know] our house is just too small. He does not have far to go to find something he can grab for support. Our 888 square foot house had become his crutch. It took the wide open spaces of Big Granny's living room to do the trick. Luckily I had my new handy dandy Canon digital camera in my purse. I got a couple seconds of video before the 32MB memory card that came with my camera filled up. I bought a 2GB card, but had not opened it yet. Doh! Wish I had. He was zooming all over Granny and Gramps house and he was pretty sure of himself by the time we left. Even though it is such a short video, I still Meganized it. What do you expect?
Finnegan has always like playing with balls. From about 6 months of age he was able to play catch with us, and for a freakish amount of time if you ask me. Most babies get board with something after a minute or two, not him. He could play catch all day [stopping for food breaks of course]. He would even play catch with himself if no partner was available, throwing a ball out in front of himself and then chasing it. Wait, that sounds more like fetch. Either way, it was hysterical to watch.
Well, this weekend his talents have extended to include making baskets and of course we got it on video. I love how he looks for his daddy's praise after he makes each shot. Oh, and by the way...his sister is the one who designed his outfit. She is also the one you hear serenading us in the background.
I finally did it.
I purchased a digital camera. Shocking, I know. My cute little Canon PowerShot SD790 IS was delivered to me today! I plan to still use my film camera, but will carry this little bad girl around with me in my purse for those moments you just cannot plan for. It's battery is charging as we speak so get ready for a barrage of FourCottrell Photos!
