Category Archives: Abby

timing

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Way back when my darling husband and I were dating he aspired to be a standup comic. He is a rather funny story-teller and does have a rather wicked sense of humor. Me, on the other hand, I seem to lack the ability to tell a joke. I like to imagine that I am funny but ever since I was a little girl my attempts at humor are usually answered (rather sternly) with, “That’s not funny, Laura!“

:::sigh:::

Bill tells me the key to being funny is all in the timing…and he tells me that in a way that I can’t help but laugh even if I know the punchline too well having heard it for thirty years now.

But yes, good timing seems to be something that I am not always graced with.

In other news…Zoë is here!!!!…Under the Big Top!!!!…ALL WEEK!!!!….SURPRISE!!!!

Oh my glob, everyone here is so happy to have Zoë here because we love and miss our Zoë so much. Driving home Sunday night from Davis, I imagined all the things I would do with my Zoë while she was visiting all week long. So excited over this surprise…so very, very excited!

But I have been sick. I have been barely able to get up kind of sick since Monday afternoon; which is so awesome when it is the last week of school for two of my clowns and my darling Zoë is here to visit. So I tried to power through making my sick tea and toast (as moms must do) taking my kids to school and dance and attended awards’ assemblies that are what happens the last week of school…and I would collapse in a snotty, hacking, feverish heap.

Timing…it is all about timing…

Zoë spent time hanging out with her sisters, her Dad, making lunch and dinner for her nieces and her mom, playing Candyland with her brother and riding her longboard (which one can carry on the plane I have learned). Meanwhile I might have blown my nose so hard that I blew out some brain cells. I might have had an emotional meltdown or two or more as well because I do not do sick very well and I wanted to spend time with my darling daughter who lives much too far away from me. Unfortunately the cold meds and the struggle to just breathe proved to be too much and I slept. I slept a lot. I slept too much.

But today, Thursday, was a new day. Sure I couldn’t breathe and my eyes are red and watery and I feel like a truck ran me down but my fever broke. There’s that. I didn’t get to go out and enjoy a sushi lunch with my only child who will enjoy sushi with me much less share sake with her now that she is 21, but I was determined to spend some time with my girl one way or another before I have to take her to the airport tomorrow. We went to Target to stock up on cold meds for me (and for other family members who now are starting have the same symptoms).

Whoo-hoo!!! We do know how to party!

And, because it is all in the timing, I proposed that my five children gather for a picture. I let them all know Thursday morning that Thursday afternoon, after Hollie came home from work, before Jodie had to go to dance rehearsals, before Abby had to go out with friends to see The Hangover 3, before dinner, they should all be ready for me to take their picture together. No big deal. I just wanted to get a casual picture of the five of them all together.

No big deal.

No big deal my watery eye!

Getting a picture of my circus act is always a big deal. When they were little it was a matter of keeping them all clean and neat and catching them all sitting still together and (hopefully) all smiling.But nowadays it is a matter of planning…extreme planning and making sure that everyone has ample time to be hair and wardrobe ready. Sorry parents of young ones, it doesn’t get easier or better.

But the results are worth it…

once you get them all together…

and lined up…

and get them to stay still.

I’m afraid that is something that will always be a challenge.

Thanks kids for cooperating for all of ten minutes for the mamarazzi. Love you all. Love you all so much.

a cautionary tale

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Parents, isn’t it fun to dress up your little darling children? It is. It is indeed.Oh the oh-so cute little dresses and sailor suits and t-shirts and shoes and hair styles and…if you have more than one darling child…the match-y, match-y siblings look.

A total win! People can totally tell that they are all sisters. And the first born isn’t resentful at all over the fact that she is dressed just like her barely-potty trained sisters because she is a mature, confident third grader and totally trusts her Mom’s fashion choices…like dressing her kids exactly alike.

Heh!

But it gets better. At least Mom imagines that it gets better.

No, we are not match-y, match-y but we are awesomely Gap coordinated. Weren’t the 90s just too stylish?I think so. Hollie, on the other hand, believes that this is just photographic evidence that her mother dressed her funny on purpose.

Whatever!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, Bill is smiling in this picture. He is smiling on the inside. Don’t believe me? Ask him. He’ll tell you.

But I digress…

Parents, while it is truly, truly fun to dress up our children not unlike the way we used to dress our Barbies…or our GI Joes.

Did boys dress up their GI Joes? I don’t know. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t.

Whatever…

Parents, be careful how you dress your babies because it will come back to haunt you with all of your babies’ judgement and angst and bitterness when they are all grown up.

This.

This is evidence enough.

 

it’s all fun and games until someone farts and throws up

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Oh photo shoots with families…large families! They can always be fun.

Right?

I try to imagine that. I mean if I close my eyes real tight and think on it real hard it will be so.

Right?

Yeah, but no.

But they can be fun.

They can definitely be fun when your friend is taking the pictures…and what is this with the shot of my ass? My friend has a wicked sense of humor.

We agreed to help my friend, Marie, out with a special project she is doing for the March of Dimes WalkAmerica and NICU Reunion featuring NICU graduates. Actually I agreed. You know how it is. Mom says so and so it is. But this project of Marie’s is a good thing and we manage to get some pictures of most of the family circus. I gave her some pictures that I have of Zoë with her favorite little brother, Daniel which will be included in the poster. We would much rather have Zoë here but life, job, school and bills happen when you are a grown up living on your own more than 330 miles away from home.

We miss you like crazy Zo-zo!!!

Act natural she said.

Relax she said.

Just be yourself she said.

And so we did. Perhaps we did just a little bit too much because yes, someone farted and we all reacted as expected…which Marie documented in several frames. Of course she would because she is the kind of friend who will take a picture of her taking a picture of my ass.

Love that girl!

Thankfully she didn’t document the throwing up.

Oh family photo shoots!

I can’t wait to see what she does with all of this.

the best thing

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Passing the time in the dance studio while waiting on Jodie to finish teaching her class and Daniel to finish his hip hop class I did what I usually do.

Hello Twitter!

And while reading through my peoples tweets I came across this:

Good ol’ cousin Joe. No, we aren’t really related. Then again…perhaps…maybe…

But I digress…like I often do…Bill complains often how exhausting conversation with me can be because I go off on crazy tangents all the time.

Whatever!

Wait! What was I talking about?

Oh.

Yeah.

Cousin Joe wants to know what was the best thing that happened to me today.

I start to scroll through the answers other people share with him…

…holding new babies for the first time
…good news from the doctor, no cancer!
…hugs
…safe travels home
…band concerts
…praise from a student’s parents
…birthdays
…breakfast dates
…dinner dates
…ice cream dates
…song writing success

And then I try to think again what was the best thing that happened to me today…

I’m stumped.

No, it wasn’t a bad day or a horrible day or a dark day. It was just a day. A day where I took Jodie to school then took Daniel to school. It was a day where I sipped my coffee while watching the Cardinals take their oaths before they were to begin the papal selection process. Then I did the dishes and scrubbed the baseboards upstairs. I tried to explain to Abby why popes always seem to be really old guys; followed by a discussion of what I learned from Anatomy & Physiology. I wanted to ask her if perhaps she was reconsidering her plan to be the next E! reporter and on air personality and maybe following her mom into nursing but she had to go tanning.

Yeah.

Soon enough it was time to go pick up Jodie from school then pick up Daniel. Then there was homework and dinner prep and more homework followed by taking Daniel to hip hop class. On the way home from dance, I debated with Daniel the merits of taking a shower and washing every part of his body, including his hair.

Eleven year olds and hygiene is just too challenging…and no, it is not just a “boy thing”…trust me.

I help Daniel blow dry his hair then kiss him good night and here I am…trying to figure out what was the best thing that happened to me today.

…?…

Um…

Well my hair looked good.

There is that.

It is very important to look good when one is scrubbing baseboards, chauffering kids and working on 4th grade homework.

Too shallow?

Sorry, Cousin Joe. Today my life was boring. Perhaps THAT is the best thing about today.

watching the paint dry

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Ever have one of those days where nothing much gets accomplished? Frustrating isn’t it? Especially when it is like December 11 and there are things to do. But the most ambitious thing accomplished is getting your nails done.

Getting your nails done all fancy-like.

And you watch and wait and watch while your pretty, pretty pink nails dry.

Yeah, that happened here under the Big Top.