First Zoo Trip

In my last post I mentioned the "LUCK" of having had such gorgeous weather for the St. Patrick's Day Parade...well, the luck continued into this week and so we took full advantage of it.  It is time to introduce Jackson to our long standing tradition of the monthly zoo trip!!!  After the first months of his life, carefully tucking ourselves inside our home to help prevent serious illnesses that can be associated with "winter babies" (and thank goodness all was well!), it was time to air ourselves out!  What better place than the zoo?

It was a fun day, slow and easy, we didn't over do it.  Jackson slept through a lot of the jaunt, but it was wonderful having him with us.  The last visit we made to the zoo, for the Christmas celebration, he was nearly here but the trip was hard on me.  Now, I've got all my boys. 

What a fun first trip!

Lynn

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

The Luck of the Irish was on our side on this gorgeous day, it topped in the mid 70's today...in March!  It was sunny, gorgeous, perfect day for a parade!

This year I was lucky (ha!) enough to be co-room mom with a friend, she and I put together a really fun parade with the help of Cary and Miss Kymberli & Miss Lori.  The kids had a blast at their St. Patrick's Day Party in school and were such good sports donning their Leprechan beards made by Alice and me.  Cary had the day of the party off from work so the whole family was able to attend this very fun day.  Cary and I helped the kids with the party craft and enjoyed taking lots of pictures.

After the party, we were hard at work crafting a rainbow made from pool noodles.  Yes, you read that right.  A pool noodle rainbow.  We had Jackson in the stroller, napping peacefully and McKinley bouncing back and forth between helper and the backyard playtime of a 4 year old.  I'm quite certain our neighbors spent some time at their windows wondering what on Earth we were up to now...those crazy Vernon's are always up to something!

Anyway, we finished it and it is pretty fabulous!  We got a good night's sleep and then were up and at 'em bright and early for the Irish Dash.  Mom, McKinley and I participated.  I say participated because we didn't run.  Ha!  McKinley and I had recently recovered from a respiratory infection, I'm still recovering from the C-section and Mom was trying to keep us going.  Clearly, Cary should have been doing this too, but he was home taking good care of Jackson and that is great! 

After McKinley received his medal, we rushed back home to prep for the parade.  We had to be there early, deliver the rainbow to the owners of the truck we were using, get lined up, painted, dressed in all our green and open those crazy candy bags!  Like clockwork everything came together.  The truck looked great and was made even better by our precious preschoolers.  Cary, Mom, Jackson and I walked while McKinley rode in the back part of the way, walked and threw candy some as well (especially when he saw Savannah...he had to get out!).  Many of our friends came to watch again and McKinley was so excited!  I think I say it every time but what an awesome opportunity to be a part of a parade!

That evening we were supposed to go to the annual party, then to our friends' home.  However, we got home from the parade, the four of us cuddled up in our bed and fell asleep for four hours!  I woke up at 7pm, called our friends and apologized all over myself for sleeping so late.  We were done.  Awesome weekend but we. were. done.

Below are some of my favorite photos from the two day celebration. 

 

We love wearin' our green!

Lynn

 

 

Sweet Little Moments

Below the title of our little blog is my favorite quote. Over the years it has grown to mean different things for me. At one time it was healing, now it try to live the quote. Lately, there have been lots of these breathtaking moments in my life. As my little family has grown, my love for all these men in my life grows as well.

This morning, as I end my first week as stay-at-home-mom-of-two-boys-who's-hubby-has-returned-to-work-after-paternity-leave, I'm getting McKinley ready for school when Jackson wakes, hungry. McKinley said, "Mom, I'll go see him!" Okay, so I make a quick trip to the living room to drop backpack, coat, etc. I come back to find McKinley, on his stool, standing over his baby brother. I peeked inside the crib and found a very quiet and transfixed Jackson, who was obviously hanging on his brother's every word while studying his face. That did very good things for my heart. Thankfully, I thought fast enough to grab the camera and snap a few photos of the moment.

Camera by my side lately, I've also snapped these cute shots of moments that are precious to me.

Jackson, trying to enjoy his bath (we're getting there!), he discovers the faucet sprayers and loves to touch it with his toes. TOO CUTE!

McKinley & Cary, on their way out for some Man Time at the ISU basketball game. At that game, the boys caught a little basketball from the cheerleaders. McKinley was thrilled! He had a blast with his Daddy.

The boys aren't the only ones who give me precious moments to capture. Valentine, our beloved white cat (and the only other source of estrogen in our home) loves her boys so much she cannot decide where she wants to spend her time. So, she floats back and forth between the two rooms all night and all day. This morning I went in to wake McKinley for school and found this: Valentine back to back with McKinley, both sound asleep. After I woke McKinley, she sauntered into the nursery to lay under the crib for an early morning nap. What a life...

Love these sweet little moments in my life,

Lynn

Mamaw

Today we received some sad news.  Cary's beloved Mamaw has passed.  She hasn't been well for a long time but she was so strong through her battle with dementia.  Mamaw adored Cary and all of her grandchildren.  Ever since I met Cary I've heard funny stories of Cary and Mamaw's relationship and the things she did for him.  She threw him pitches in the back yard rain or shine, heat and snow.  She lovingly washed the uniforms - scrubbed stains out with a tooth brush.  She made pie after pie, and none since have lived up to hers in Cary's eyes.  She wasn't keen on the idea of Cary's permanent move to the Haute, therefore she wasn't exactly keen on me for a while.  Understandably, my Grandpa was never keen on any boy I dated (though he never met Cary...).  She eventually came around to the idea and after we were married she was immediately asking for Great Grandchildren from us.  When McKinley was born she was quite taken by him, and he was quite taken by her as well.  He was drawn to her.  I remember it brought tears to my eyes to see them together.  She was too deep in her dementia to know about the baby, but we know she will always be with us and her Great Grandsons in spirit. 

Cary, his brother and cousins are all so very, very lucky to have the gift of a Grandmother well into adulthood.  Some of his cousins are in their 50's and are Grandparents themselves!  It doesn't quell the grief, but I do hope it gives them some consolation to know they were so blessed. 

Today I'm praying for my husband and so very sorry for his loss.

I love him with all my heart and wish I could take away his pain.

 

Lynn

Change of plans...

So, a five weeks ago we had our sonogram to see our Baby V. After a long look around our sonogram tech gave up trying to figure out if we had a boy or a girl and asked my OB to come in to weigh in on who was growing in my belly. He came in and in no time, with 98% certainty announced that we were having a baby GIRL.
Okay, no way.
From day one I've always felt that we had another boy. I'm not suggesting I have esp or anything silly like that...but sometimes a woman knows!
Cary and I both shook our heads, my Mom was stunned and McKinley happily announced, "Mom, I KNEW it was a girl. I told you!"
When my doctor saw our disbelief he offered to have us come back in for a repeat sonogram five weeks from that day. See our baby again? You betcha! In the meantime though, he said, go ahead and buy pink. It's a girl, you'll see.
Oh will we?!
The day came, McKinley and I headed off to the appointment without Cary - why would he need to be there again, it's a girl, right? My Mom met us there. We went in and got started. The tech barely put the wand on my belly when she grabbed my arm and said, "OH MY GOSH, I am SO GLAD we did this. IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!"
I was a little surprised but at the same time, not so much. It was strange. An odd mix of feelings (aside from the "oh crap we've got a lot of pink stuff to take back" that suddenly bubbled up in my head). My Mom - she stood up and was huddled over me, staring at the tech in a blink. McKinley was happily playing a game on my phone, I was thankful he didn't hear. He'd really been counting on a girl.
The rest of our time there was a blur. I got us in the car and just sat for a few minutes, thinking again of all that pink to take back from Ohio to Colorado. Oh my God. But another boy! What a beautiful blessing! No girl. Another cuddly, sweet, baby boy. I drove to meet Cary on his route. I said nothing, just handed him the sonogram photo with the word "BOY" above the proof. Cary stared at me, started laughing and said, "Oh! This is a joke!"
No. No joke.
Oh, okay.
So, Plan B...Plan BOY! hahahaha!
Return pink stuff, scratch girl names, nix the "I really am trying to convince myself that I want a BLUE girl nursery" and dig back into the BLUE!
We're having a BOY and there's NO denying it!
And, in hindsight and for the record...we have NO idea how our beloved OB and his tech ever saw a girl. Umbilical cord in the way or not, we know what we saw!
Full steam ahead with the blue!
Lynn

Birthday Party #4...Golf!

What an awesome day and a labor of love for all of us since JANUARY. Yes, January. That was when I offhandedly asked what kind of birthday party McKinley wanted this year. He instantly answered, "Golf! I want a GOLF birthday party, with a real golf course and a golf cake and lots of golf balls." Immediately my brain went into overdrive. Honestly, I don't think on the way home (we'd been out for dinner) I was able to think of anything else. I set out to brainstorm and search the internet for unique ideas since McKinley had chosen such a unique theme - which I LOVE. Suffice it to say, I didn't find much. I did find golf ball cake pops and eventually a back yard mini golf course, courtesy of Martha herself. Cary and I discussed our plans and moved forward with them. It was such a joy to create a day like this for McKinley, we were all so excited for the theme and McKinley loved having input on everything! My favorite thing has to be the invitations...I had a vision of what I wanted and was able to execute it with the help of a graphic designer in California. What she put together was exactly what I asked for. I could not have been more pleased. I was so happy in fact that she and I worked together to design the printable paper products (signage, etc) for the party and I'm so happy with how it turned out. The only problem was I was so excited for the entire day that I never took the chance to snap photos of the decor or set up or anything. I'm so upset, but that wasn't the point anyway...McKinley, our friends and family all had a wonderful time. Seeing the smile on that boy's face was enough to make me have a party like that every single day. But, oh, would we be tired...

As guests started to arrive the kids immediately took to the 'make-your-own station' that I always enjoy putting together. This year it was a golf visor...apropos, no? And all the guests were invited to take a guess as to how many golf balls were inside the candy jar. We chose one adult winner (who won the Caddy Shack DVD) and a one 'youth' winner (who won a big selection of toys and games chosen by McKinley). Brent (my Godfather and McKinley's "Papa") won the Caddy Shack DVD when he chose the EXACT number of balls inside the jar! I was shocked when he won because I have fond memories of watching that movie (parts of it...) in my Godparents home on a particular visit. Brent always loved that movie, so I was tickled that he won. Our nephew Logan was the 'youth' winner and was pretty excited with McKinley's little bag of goodies.

We asked Brent to lead us in prayer again this year, it's a nice little tradition and we so enjoy the efforts made by our friends and family to share this day with us, so it's nice for us to be thankful for that as well. We had a golf club-ish lunch of "Club" sandwiches, pasta salad, chips and veggies and dip.

As everyone finished many of our guests - especially the kids - played in our little back yard golf range. We had a putting range and a chipping range and clubs for everyone! While they played we got the piece de resistance ready...McKinley's AWESOME golf cake (that he picked out himself!) and the adorable cake pops that were truly the most difficult thing to find (mold ordered from amazon, turned down by 3 local bakeries, turned down by cake pop maker in Indy, quoted $100 for 12 by a cake pop maker in Memphis, Tn., and finally able to place the order four days before the party with a new cake pop maker in Indy --Sticky Sweet Cake Pops--, shipped the mold to her, had my Godmother pick them up from her home and drive them here! They were NOT $100...Ha!). Cary had been the one to pick up the cake from Baesler's and he could NOT believe the attention this cake had gotten. Apparently the entire bakery had been enthralled by this cake as it was being made and decorated, so much so that they even took photos of it and the owner of Baesler's himself carried it out to Cary's truck. It was awesome, more awesome than I had pictured...when McKinley said he loved the photo I'd found he was certain it's what he wanted. When we walked out with that thing there was no doubt in my mind he was happy. He couldn't stop smiling! He was squealing with delight! It was a good moment...

I think it was the photo booth that really brought out the humor in everyone though. We always enjoy taking photos with McKinley and his guests and I've recently become obsessed with photo booths, so we put together an array of mustaches and other "on a stick" items along with props and a chalk board. I LOVE how they turned out! We have some really creative friends and family!

We sang Happy Birthday and McKinley watched his candles (that I had to continuously light due to the stupid wind...) and his cake with intent. He blew his candles out after making a wish and everyone dug into that yummy cake! Oh it was so good.

Things began to wind down as McKinley opened his gifts and we once again brought a special birthday to a close. It truly is the happiest day of the year for Cary and I - and so worth the absolute exhaustion from the weeks and weeks of work we lovingly put into it.

Fourth birthday party down, one happy, happy boy as a result...and two parents full of love for their precious boy!

So...too early to make plans for #5??????

Lynn

Spring Recap

Today is the first day of summer, so an appropriate time to recap our crazy spring! And crazy it was, between soccer, school, social engagements, gardening and a surprise, whew!!!!!!!

Soccer was a riot! McKinley's first crack at a team sport proved to be a real treat to watch and a lot of energy-releasing fun for the entire team of 3 and 4 year olds. We are blessed to know the coaches of McKinley's team, they live on Cary's mail route and their daughter is in McKinley's preschool class. We could not have asked for a better experience for our boy and his first go-round, he learned a lot, he played hard and most importantly --- he had a LOT of fun! Below are some of my favorite photos:

School was a really wonderful experience for our entire family. We've again been blessed to be introduced to such a wonderful group of people in the St. Patrick's community and McKinley isn't the only ones to reap the benefits. The Spring was easily the busiest time for school, it kept us on our toes! I think my favorite day was McKinley's 'pretend' Birthday (since he's a summer baby they all get to celebrate before the school year ends! Hello, JEALOUS! I never got to do that!), not only was it "his" day, it was also water day for the entire class. When we picked McKinley up he was soaking wet from all the water play, it was really a funny sight. We also discovered that the strawberry smoothie pops I made for his birthday snack were a big hit combined with water day and the heat. I was glad. I really enjoy making a healthy treat that makes the kids happy...

Another project we've embarked on is a bigger garden than we've ever made happen at home. And I've learned that apparently we are now called "URBAN FARMERS". I love the term. Makes us sounds WAY better at it than we are! So, my URBAN FARMER hubby and I set out to create a few small raised garden beds - another wonderful find from ana-white.com. They were pretty easy...and in my opinion they look fabulous! I'm SO proud of what we (mostly Cary) did. And yes, Cary may have done most of the 'putting together' of the awesome new beds, but I did my share as well, tending to the new little seedlings we were growing. McKinley is really enjoying watching a seed turn into a plant, turn into something we can pick from our little back yard garden and use in the kitchen for dinner!

We chose tomatoes, sweet peppers, summer squash, lettuce, carrots, chives, basil and cilantro. It sounds like a lot but it hasn't become more than we can keep up with thus far. I just CANNOT wait to see what happens! I'm seeing some pesto and some guacamole in our future and I cannot wait...those are two of my faves!

Here is some of the process, updates to come!

Another Spring project (yes, totally bit off way more than I could chew, but worth it) was a Lenten project called 40 bags/40 days. I found the idea on a blog I follow, the author experiences something much like me...she just doesn't get much out of giving the typical item away during lent, so she does this: makes a list of 40 areas in life that need physically cleaned out. Gather 40 bags, do one projects each day and reflect on how releasing that space of its clutter, physical or psychological makes you feel and how it connects with lent, Easter and God's love. I did it, thought truth be told I did not complete all 40 of my areas by Easter but I've continued to work on the ones that were not yet finished and I'm pleased and a bit overwhelmed with how I feel. I loved having the opportunity to better organize our keepsakes, newspaper articles and photos and other things of McKinley's. I'm so proud of how beautifully everything fit into two small archival boxes. The most awesome thing for me was the reorganization and cleaning out of my shoes. I like shoes. A lot. Almost as much as bags. And no, bags were NOT on my 40 days list. Nope, not budging on those babies! The shoes were not well organized and I could not stand it. I knew what needed to be done and I knew what I wanted it to look like upon completion. So, I chose to do it while McKinley napped...and when he awoke several pairs hit the growing donation pile, a few hit the trash can and a few friends were reunited...and they are so lovely together on their beautiful new shoe tree. Anyway, it was quite liberating and I think I truly GOT more from this lent project than anything I've ever done for lent. It was awesome! Below, photos of some of the beauties who got to stay for the party:

Finally, the social engagements nearly knocked us right off our agendas this Spring, but so fun! We enjoyed everything from zoo trips and egg hunts to weddings and impromptu gatherings with old friends.

Hooray for Spring and the good times and beautiful weather it brought, and hooray for Summer and all it has to bring!

Lynn