rhubarb and nostalgia

my senses have been taking me all sorts of places lately. 

hearing old songs, uncovering troves of pictures and letters and memories, touching this big belly of mine, smelling strawberries and rhubarb baking that instantly remind me of my grandma and her farm.

it's been nice having small reasons to stop and slow down during these busy and hectic days...

old friends and even more root beer

 me and max got to spend the day with my best childhood gal niki and her little lady today.

we loved on each other over hot dogs and more root beer (it's a root beer kind of summer!) and danced to elvis on the jukebox. 

it was a real treat!

times like this are terribly few and far between...but it was so good to be together with our little ones...seeing them play and dance and shove and boss...she and i remembering each other at that age and wondering how time flew so fast.

it was the perfect start to our july and a full and happy weekend!

 

have a happy one, friends!

xoxo

little old lady at the pool

 we spent the day at the pool yesterday...lounging around and getting some sun. 

combine chlorine, sunscreen, and good people watching and i'm all in.

the place we take the kids to has so many bells and whistles for a public pool though....it always brings out the little old lady in me...preaching tales from back in my day when pools were rectangular with a shallow end and a deep end...end of story. no water slides or shady lagoons.

max is never interested.

he's too busy being lured in by a giant water-dumping bucket. 

oh well. 

i'll just keep mumbling the story to myself under my breath while staring at people and crying over comments.

happy thursday!

reunion

my 10 year class reunion was saturday night!

a small group of us met up downtown at coco's for dinner and drinks and a chance to catch up and tell stories on each other...to meet spouses and dote on pictures of our little ones.

there was a moment while we were all sitting together eating that i looked around and really realized that we were in the same room again...these beautifully familiar faces that have barely changed yet are so new all at the same time.

we're married, engaged, divorced, parents, pregnant, doctors, artists, professionals...spread out and planted all over the place.

that's a strange thing to grasp when you forever remember each other being 5 in a tiny country town.

and really one of the gifts of growing up in a small town...of graduating with 45 people that most you've known since kindergarten...is that they become family.

so saturday was really more like a long lost family reunion...a chance to be around just a handful of the ones that really and truly know why you are the way you are...the ones that get your roots because they are their own.

 the ones that saw you fall down the stairs at the assembly in jr high, taught you how to kiss behind the shelter house, know why you were in marching band, saw you through your sweat suit phase, danced with you at homecoming because you didn't have a date...the ones that lived life with you.

it was a measuring stick kind of night...how far we've come and where we're going and who has saw you all along the way.

i have more photos on my facebook...

here's your chance to see a rare glimpse of bar-hopping katie cut loose with her shirely temple!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1798497719856.2095945.1162141043&l=4e69a030c7

an ode to my sister

today is my amy's birthday!

our beautiful summer baby.

this gal is the love of my life and my world's best friend.

we don't know our lives without the other. 

and i owe her mine. quite literally.

(our parents were content with just our two older sisters. then, while under kitchen remodel stress, they accidentally had amy...and finally, while under new amy stress, accidentally had me)

 we've been in cahoots ever since.

and despite only a 17 month age difference, she has been my favorite teacher and guide.

she is beyond vibrant and lovely and beautifully effervescent.

everything makes her laugh and ache and her heart is a strong one. 

she is full of talents with humility to match.

she is kind. uncomplicated.

she is an amazing mama and wife. 

and makes everyone around her want to be just that much better...funnier...more compassionate.

 she has gotten me into more trouble than i can even count.

and she has always been everything i've ever wanted to be.

happy happy 30th birthday, my girl. 

i love you always and ever, 20x3

growth, change, and more root beer

our guy finished up his last day of kindergarten...and my goodness does it taste semi-sweet.

it's such an amazing gift to get to watch your little one grow up and take on the world, but the mama in me has a little bit of a selfish ache for the everydays spent at home with my tiny friend...sweet baby max belly-scooting around on the floor like a little sea turtle...eating paper and rolling up in the chunkiest ball when you chugged his cheeks. 

the road from eating paper to reading and writing on it went a little too fast for my liking. 

i'm sure i've said this before, but as much as i miss those days with him, the good news is that the stuff 6 and 7 year max is made of is just as sweet and wonderful yet beautifully different in all the ways that change is refreshing and needed. 

and i guess i say all of that to say this new and simple truth about myself: i'm not done being a mama.

i want more babies someday and to see my guy be the biggest big brother.

there was a time when i couldn't see any of that..but life keeps nudging and dissolving the absolutes we set around ourselves.

 good change brings about even better change.

 and that's that.

so in the meantime, we're celebrating the present.

trying to live wholeheartedly in what is right now and all the fullness and contentment that can be in it.

and for us, that's living it up with our one and only kindergarten graduate...taking him out for greasy diner food and shopping at the costume store (which is a tradition we started last year)

...drinking, yet another round, of root beer floats 

(i need to be stopped)

and enjoying our little company of 3.

garden party

the rain stepped aside just long enough last night for me and max to finally get our vegetable garden planted.

 i was bursting all weekend for him to get home to me and our seed packets and starts.

we're growing lettuce, asparagus, peas, corn, tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs, pumpkins and a sunflower this year. or rather, that's what we planted. i've learned that there are no guarantees when it comes to my gardening skills.

gardening together has become a tradition for me and max and it's one of the greatest joys of my life.

(see tiny max with our first garden here)

there's something about watching buddy and his little fingers poke and pat at the soil...really caring for and nurturing something.

he still sees seeds growing into plants growing into vegetables as magic and i have my fingers crossed that that never changes. 

i kind of see it that way too. or anyways, he reminds me of that.

 so even though there was crying over spilled seeds and we may have a little bit of everything growing in each square...if he's learned anything from his old ma it's that deformed carrot pants and chaotic gardens may be even more magical than the ones that actually predictably yield something.

it's getting your hands dirty that really counts.