On October 16th of this year, Chris and I renewed our vows. I don’t have many pictures from that night, but that is okay by me because the one below is the only one that really matters.
Who knew that after this event, life would spiral downward for both of us landing with a big thunk in December? But I am glad we did this. That we paused to recommit to this partnership right before the shit hit the fan. We are in this for the long haul. This is our life for better or worse. And we are fighting and working hard for it. We believe in each other and in us.
Our marriage is not perfect. I think we got really lucky. The parts that worked seemed to override the ones that didn’t. As we matured, other parts improved. And as we are dealing with the crap of life, we need to lean on each other more than ever. This vulnerability on both sides has allowed us to begin to tackle some of the longstanding issues that trip us up.
It is not important that we get it perfect, but that we continue learning, gaining a deeper understanding of and showing greater compassion for each other.
Who knew that at the ripe age of 20, this boy who I wished was my boyfriend, would become that and so much more.
So continuing on our farewell to the creeks week, we went to Bull Creek and enjoyed much exploration and swimming there. This day I began to realize that Tyler was changing, maturing, growing. I was falling in love with this son of mine all over again.
Oh Tyler.
The way you immediately went off and set about on your mission interested me so.
What really struck me is that later when your dear friend and sister decided to spend a good while sliding down the natural water slide, you chose instead to scuba dive. And for the next 40 minutes you would dive down with your swim mask and swim around near the bottom as long as your breath would allow. Each time you surfaced, you exclaimed, “Mom what rare and beautiful fish are down there!”. Later you would request oxygen tanks.
You had no interest in what they were doing – you were so very much engaged in what you wanted to do. You became more of an individual to me that day. Finding your own passion, finding your own bliss. I so enjoyed watching your exploration of that small pool and loved just how much wonder it held for you.
That was such a good afternoon. And later that night you would blow me away again with a wonderful art creation. You are blooming right before my eyes!
I love you so much my sweet, sweet, boy.
That tiny girl of mine
This kids love exploring here and I love watching them!
Tyler busy catching something
Where he spent most of his time!
He loved this.
Quinn loved swimming and going down the water slide – she had much fun!
These birthday posts are hard for me. Usually I “save” them for when I have the time and energy to sum up the year and say some really profound things about the year. And then the pressure of composing such an important post weighs on me and I never do it. I enjoy blogging about every day life so much more – I think it speaks volumes compared to a summary of the year. And being a Mom my brains can only stretch about two days in any direction anyway. So I will keep this post simple.
People who know me might think that I get really into doing it up for birthdays, and actually, I don’t. I am incredible lazy when it comes to them. I like the small traditions we have at our house, but when it comes to the party part, we just have it at the park by our house with tacos, coffee and cake. The kids play at the playground and the adults chill and talk. My kind of party – I don’t have to do anything! :-p
Traditions
The night before we hang up the birthday flags, hang streamers from the dinging room light and then create a scene on the dining table with a bunch of their toys. The love to wake up and marvel at the scene. This year we incorporate Tyler’s gift from us into it. He looked very pleased.
Party
This year Tyler wanted a Saturn cake. I turned that challenge over to my very talented neighbor who does all kinds of cake creations. She did an excellent job! Especially with the awesome rings! Tyler wore his birthday crown which he was into this year! It had 5 stars on it and a moon that he wanted me to add last year. At the end of the part he was hanging with some friends showing them one of his favorite presents from Grandma Susie.
Kids with Cameras
Some days I get annoyed with the many pictures the kids have taken with my camera. Some days I take a moment to look at what they captured and have a pretty good laugh. Here I think Quinn was trying to take a close-up of one of Tyler’s new car. And we have a picture of Tyler’s new camera sitting on a doll’s high chair. I somehow wonder if his sister was trying to commandeer it..hmmmmm
I am really tired, my head hurts and it is 11:23pm. That early bedtime goal is just a pipe dream. *sigh* I think I took some pretty good pictures today that can tell the story better than I right now! There are quite a few – enjoy! And Happy Birthday to my silly, crazy, sweet boy.
The drawing has seemed to slow down over there – not quite sure why. We have let Family Drawing Night slip and I need to get back on that. But the enthusiasm Tyler showed for our big Valentine card making project has me wanting to make sure I remember to set aside some time to chill and draw.
We had to make 42 Valentine’s day cards for his school! It was quite a project. We made them all throughout the day when we had the urge. Sometimes it was Tyler who wanted to get back to it. In the afternoon, Daddy joined us and we had a little factory going. Daddy and I would add a few things and then hand them over to Tyler to add his touch. Tyler talked about getting one from each “factory” (one from Mama and one from Daddy). At one point, he got up to wash the ink off his hands and then returned to the table saying, “back to work”. He took it quite seriously!!
I also had to add a picture of the drawing below as it is one of his first form drawings. The other day Tyler asked what he should draw and Chris told hiim to draw him. We were quite surprised when he started drawing a human form..with a very tiny head! It is so neat to watch his drawing evolve!
Well, Tyler is biking with gusto and Chris and I are both pretty amazed with his endurance. Last weekend he biked the entire Veloway, 3 miles. He huffed up a few of those hills too. Afterwards he wanted to go again, so we opted for a shorter version which added another mile. You would think he would have been pooped, but later that day, he rode in front of house and all around.
Up until now, we have been pulling Quinn in the bike trailer, but could sense she wanted to be more a part of the action. So this past weekend we got a seat that attaches to the back of my mountain bike for her. She likes riding up in her “high seat” and closer to Mommy or Daddy.
This past weekend was incredible. We packed up a picnic, took our bikes and parked over at Town Lake park. I thought we would bike around the hike and bike trail and then return to the fountain area for a picnic. Well, we ended up taking a different route and it worked out wonderfully!
We biked east to the Congress bridge and crossed to the north shore. We continued east on the trail under I-35. Chris kept saying the trail would open up and boy was he right! Wow! This is now my favorite part of the hike and bike trail. There aren’t as many people and the trail is wide open. It runs right next to the lake, there are few buildings, few obstructions, lots of grassy areas, wide-open sky. This is where we will be come Spring – a hike, lots of running around and frisbee…and then throw out the picnic blanket, some books and snacks and just lay around and be in that warm sun!
This day, the lake was blue and shimmering from the suns rays, the light shone through the green foliage that was low and next to the water, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. All this beauty and I had left my camera in the car. As disappointed as that was, I had to let it go and enjoy the moment.
We picked a grassy spot right next to the lake and enjoyed our picnic. Tyler had requested tea from Whole Foods for our weekend fun, so along with our sandwiches, chips and apples, we each enjoyed our Sweet Leaf Tea! Yum!
After our picnic, we biked back to Town Lake park. Tyler was getting tired towards the end, but he made it. We played at the park, biked around a bit more and headed home. We estimated it was another 4 mile trip.
Chris and I are so thrilled that he is enjoying biking so much. It is so exciting to see our son sharing one of our passions. I was telling Chris that even though there are days we wish our kids were more mellow, it is that crazy energy that gives him the endurance to handle a 4 mile bike ride at 4 years of age. That gives him the determination to run one mile and then to walk the remaining 4 miles of the Turkey Trot. That gives him the fuel to hike 3 miles. It is neat to have all these ways to help him channel that energy. He certainly came to the right parents for that!
We have a future athlete in our family. The Holiday weekend started with Tyler running the first full mile (and then some) of the Turkey Trot with me (and then walking the remaining four miles as well). On Sunday afternoon, just one day after we put the pedals on his big-boy bike, Tyler is now riding a bicycle all by himself.
This is amazing to us – Tyler is four years and three weeks old. He received his Trek Float as an early birthday present on November 9th. He has been out learning his balance (the Float allows the pedals and crank arms to be easily removed – the point is that kids learn to ride faster by focusing on balance first without learning to depend on training wheels) for the last three weeks, probably no more than 3-4 times a week. This weekend, he asked to try his pedals, so we put them on and took him out Friday. He and I spent about 10 minutes tops. He did OK – going almost an entire house-length at one point – but was very unsteady and didn’t seem terribly into it. On Sunday, he wanted to try again. This time, within about another 10 minutes of practice, he was consistently going 3-4 house-lengths each time before needing to put his feet down.
Amazing – with basically 20 minutes practice with the pedals, he finished the day zipping up and down the street and around our block. He even learned how to use the end of driveways to give him enough momentum to get his feet on his pedals and moving. Now we just have to figure out how to keep him on the sidewalks and near the house
Here’s the proof: (click the image, may take a while to download):
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That early bedtime goal is just a pipe dream. *sigh* I think I took some pretty good pictures today that can tell the story better than I right now! There are quite a few – enjoy! And Happy Birthday to my silly, crazy, sweet boy.
