Friday, April 22, 2016

Capturing moments

I visited my grandma about a week ago. We sat at her dining room table sorting through old photos of all the grandkids and putting them in piles. She was determined every photo was the spitting image of Baby Johnny. Thank God she is blind as a bat. I was an extremely odd looking baby. Nevertheless, it was fun to pull together all these old memories of when I was the age of my boys.

So I came home all "inspired and crafty".

:: also known as "ready to make a big flippin' mess." ::
 
The first thing I did was get our wedding pictures developed after damn-near a year and put them into an album. That felt amazing. They are seriously beautiful. The weather was perfect. Somehow we managed to capture the rings, the family, the toasts, the food, the cake, the first dances...all before Mr. Harper broke his arm in the jumpy... Oh yeah, it happened. Never a dull moment. Kirk took off with the little guy and my beautiful sister stood in and pulled my garter like a champ before I headed their way too. A story for the books, for sure.
 
:: There is nothing cuter than little boys in wedding attire... There is also no one more anxious to take off their wedding attire. ::
 

 
Next project.... Kirk's childhood photos... I have a confession... I am entirely obsessed with my husband's baby pictures. He's like.... if you took the gerber baby... and just, like... smashed it with a box of puppies. BEAUTIFUL.
 
 
So yeah, I went through them all and made him a baby album. It went all the way up to his senior photos. He urged me to leave out the pre-teen years.
 
:: um... yeah right ::
 
You don't go from a gerber-puppy mash to GQ senior photos. Nope, sorry babe. I need at least a two page spread of the chubby, brace face, medallion necklace wearing, Kirk. That's just how this is going to work. You married me. Deal with it.
 
:: He was ok with this era, though... I am pretty partial to it myself. ::
 
 
And our boys... theirs will be worse. Every bad haircut... Every goofy outfit. Every time they let me braid their hair... In fact... I will intentionally plan the blackmail photos. Because I am the mom and one day I will be too tired or frail to make them do what I want.

 
...So I will wait... I will wait  until that first girlfriend is coming over.. and ever so subtly say "Son... does Sally like baby photos?"
 
:: and then I will slowly spin my chair to face them while I grin and pet the cat who is conveniently resting on my lap ::
 
 
Thank you, Grandma, for the inspiration!

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Nerf guns and super heros

Lately the reality that I am the "lone ranger" woman of the house is incredibly apparent. As my husband would say, "The cheese stands alone."

This household is constant. Testosterone flies back and forth with nerf gun fights and super hero dolls being chucked across the room. Correction... Action figures. One kid has homework, one has a broken leg, and the baby is hungry. Ironically the broken legged three year old tends to need to poop at the same time the baby is hungry. What are the odds? It's insane. It's beautiful, but it's insane.

Little boys need constant entertainment... that is, if you want to keep them from tearing your house down to the bare studs. I grew up with a sister. We didn't tear the walls down! We merely tore your souls down with our words. Much easier...

** love you, mom. **
 
...So... Spring break was fun.
 
** for them.**
 
For the parents it's a little more like:
"Um... no... you absolutely may not drag your broken legged brother around the house by a costume boa."
"HOW did you two POSSIBLY empty every DAMN dresser drawer in the time it took me to grab the mail?!"
"Is that your brother's valentine's candy on your face?... Where have you even been hiding that?!"
"No. No you can not have any of mommy's ice cream. Daddy got that for her to keep her sane. It is strictly for after you are all in bed... Yes, I know I'm mean."
 
It was fun. It was fun and now it is done. Back to the normal routine.
 
And it's all a blur. Another annual spring break down from their speedy little childhoods. Another two month old moment that I will never have again with any more of my kids. It just keeps ticking away, moving louder and faster by the day. Louder and faster... and just as precious as any moment before.