Beating the Oil

We returned from a wonderful vacation at Florida's gorgeous beaches this week. I don't know how we did it, but we beat the oil and the beaches were still pristine. As you'll see in a picture below, JD did find one tar ball in the ocean about the size of his fist. I know a lot more is coming and I'm glad we got to experience the beach one last time before the nastiness hits.

My mom and stepdad came with us and braved a week with the "terrible two" (no, they're not 2 years old, but there are 2 of them and they are most definitely terrible!) We had a great time playing in the sand, boogie boarding in the ocean, swimming in the pool, eating ridiculously over-priced seafood, and playing games late into the night.

In a week and a half, we are headed back to Cincinnati for Kai to have more surgery. This is a much simplier operation than he had last year and we will hopefully be back home within a week. We are also bringing Ash with us to Cincinnati so he can be evaluated by the amazing Dr. Levitt (yes, I may be just a little bit in love with the man.) It should be a very interesting week with Kai in the hospital, Ash undergoing testing and David and I trying to keep our sanity. Please keep us in your prayers. I'm sure we'll need them.

Do I Look Pretty Now?

Last Saturday morning, David and I were lying in bed. We had asked the kids to please be quiet so we could sleep a little longer. We quickly learned that “quiet” to Kai and Ash meant anything less noisy than a jet aircraft taking off. So as we were cozily wrapped up in our sheets, trying to get another 20 minutes of slumber, this is the conversation we overheard:

Ash: “Do I look pretty now?”
Kai: “Nope.”
Ash: “How about now?”
Kai: “Not yet.”
Ash: (obviously irritated) “Well, do I look pretty NOW?!?”
Kai: "Yes!”

I knew something odd was going on but I just wasn’t sure what it was. I looked at David and he didn’t seem to be as concerned as I was. With dread in my heart, I dragged my lazy body out of bed and found this –

And just in case you were wondering, it was red Sharpie, not lipstick!

15 Minutes of Fame

Yep, that's me. And no, I didn't get paid a penny for my 15 minutes of fame.

About 3 years ago I was asked by my employer if I would mind having my picture taken for a recruiting campaign. I said okay - assuming that no one would ever see the resulting photos. Honestly, who would be interested in a photo used to recruit female police officers? Well, I still don't think anyone is actually interested, but I can tell you that anyone living in Birmingham has seen my face plastered on a billboard on the side of the interstate or on the internet. The billboard has been up since December but a friend just let me know today that my picture is also being used on a job hunting website. I copied the ad so one day my kids will actually believe I was a kick-butt police officer (and if any of my former cop friends are reading this - stop laughing!)

A Magical Place

Our front yard is a magical place. Yes, it's small and it's off limits to the little boys unless someone is outside watching them. But when we all head out to play, our modest front yard transforms into pure heaven. Our little patch of grass is often used to play football, baseball, kickball (our favorite summertime after dinner activity), soccer, frisbee, badminton (we do have 2 Asian kids, you know!), croquet, Bocce, and a number of made-up games that the kids almost kill themselves playing. I hope when the kids grow up they have as many wonderful memories of our front yard escapades as I do.

* I should note that the photos above were taken before JD's fractured patella!

True Heroism?

Can you say acute patellar fracture? JD can - and he can also tell you exactly how it feels. Last week JD and I sat in our friendly (and way too often visited) orthopedists office and heard his doc utter those exact words.

Tuesday after school, JD and his little brothers were outside playing soccer. Kai kicked the ball into the street and Ash and he raced to see who could get it first. A UPS truck, driving much too fast, came around the corner towards our house. Just as it was about to hit Ash and Kai, JD came to the rescue by pushing them out of the way. The little boys were safe but JD was not as lucky. He landed straight on his kneecap and tore the poor thing to pieces.

I promised JD that I would tell that story. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a shred of truth in it. JD tripped over a cord in the band room at school and fractured his kneecap. Not very exciting or manly and definitely not a good enough story to tell the kids at school. I told JD that the best "injury" stories involve saving a puppy or a baby; thus came the tale of his heroic actions in saving his little brothers from sure death.

I'm having trouble finishing up this blog post. Publishing a story about my children's supposed "near-death" experience just seems wrong - kind of like swearing on their lives. It just not something that a mom should do, right? Well, let's be honest - I've never claimed to be a genius and I don't believe in tempting fate. Now excuse me while I go and find some real wood to knock on...

Another Trip to the Big "D"

Over Spring break we once again visited the happiest place on Earth. As cheesy as it sounds, I think Disney may actually be the happiest place on Earth for our crew. No work, no cooking, no cleaning, no tests - just 24 hours a day of unabashed fun. Deep down I know that if we lived in Orlando, Disney would become ho-hum, even boring. But while we're there it's hard to believe that. We're truly crazy about Disney and therefore, all of our vacation money has gone there (or to China) for several years.

David has formally made the declaration that next year we will deviate from the norm and vacation in Washington, DC. Yes, our kids are actually going to learn something on our next vacation! What a novel idea. I can't wait to see how Kai and Ash do after a few hours at the Smithsonian. It could prove to be very, very interesting.

Catching Up - Piper's Big 1-0

I'm am really, really behind in my blogging - like 2 birthdays, a major vacation and Easter behind. And since I use this blog to chronicle our lives instead of filling up photo albums, scrapbooks, or journals, I feel pretty bad about my laziness. So here goes my first attempt to catch up on 2010.

Piper turned 10 in February. Her birthday was actually the day after I returned from Ethiopia. Since I was still in jet lag la-la land, we had a small family party that day and over the weekend, she had a big slumber party bash. It was a little crazy, but we all survived and Piper had an amazing time. I guess that's all that really matters anyway.

I can't believe my two big kids are both in double digits now. It seems like just yesterday they were babies, toddling through the house, leaving complete destruction in their paths. I recently came across the picture above - Piper was 6 months old and JD had just turned 3. They were so sweet back then and they loved each other so much. They have always been best buddies. I used to feel so lucky that my kids didn't fight. Boy, God sure is getting back at me big time! Ash and Kai definitely have a love/hate relationship. They are either hugging each other and holding hands OR driving each other stark raving mad (and in the process, driving me stark raving mad too!)