Pumpkin Carving!

Travel Plans

During a recent family dinner, we were discussing our plans for travel next year.  Normally, we travel to Florida during the school Easter break to enjoy time on the beach with family and soak up some much needed sun.  But this year, Easter comes awfully early and a week in Florida at the end of March is risking some rainy weather.  (And there is nothing worse than traveling to Florida to watch the rain.  Nothing.)

I mentioned that for next year there is one thing I would really like to do.  I would like for our family to take a family vacation - just the five of us.  While we have traveled a few times a year as a family, it is almost always a vacation that involves other people and family.  We are blessed to have a terrific extended family that we love dearly, but it would be nice to try a vacation with just our family of five.

All at once the boys exploded with excitement talking over each other at the thought of a trip for us to plan together.

"You know what I really want to do?  Really, really?"  Brennan asked us.  "I really want to stay at a hotel.  That would be so cool."

Chris and I laughed, but then realized that our boys have only stayed in a hotel once.   ONCE.  We couldn't believe it.  But anytime we travel, we have done so to a family member's house or condo.  We are fairly lucky to be such professional moochers.

"You know where I really want to go?"  Griffin shouted to be heard.  "New York City!"  We all agreed that NYC would, indeed be a great place to visit, but we could easily tackle seeing it by staying an extra night on our way to or from the Hamptons when we make our annual trek in the summer to visit (read: mooch) Seth and Tennille at their beachside abode.

Aidan was thoughtful as he listened to everyone shouting their hopes and wishes for our vacation in 2013.    Finally, he jumped in.

"You know where I think I would like to go?  Pennsylvania!"

"Pennsylvania?"  I asked.  "Why?"

He shrugged.  "It just sounds like there is a lot going on there.  It's interesting."

I have a feeling that this may be a group of travelers that are fairly easy to please.

No final decisions have been made for project family vacation 2013.  Chris has mentioned camping (shudder) as his choice, but I think I like Brennan's ideas of a hotel better.

Sweet Love

Flu season came a knocking last week and whipped me with an awful cold.  A cold, that to this day, refuses to go away.  I am a sniffling, coughing, sneezing, red nosed eyed mess.  (Who may have developed a serious addiction to Nyquil.)  Unfortunately for me, work has been a bit busy, so I couldn't afford to take a day off to wallow in my bed and sleep it off.  I did throw up the white flag though one day last week and take off a few hours early because the pounding in my head had reached epic proportions.

I went home, thanked my mom for staying at my house to keep the kiddies under control, and promptly put  myself to bed under a mountain of covers.  I dozed off quickly. At some point during my nyquil induced sleep, I felt a small hand smoothing back my hair and patting my back.  I felt this every so often, off and on, for the next few hours.  When I finally awoke, the boys greeted me with concern.  

"Did you feel us checking on you Momma?"  Brennan asked, worry evident in his big brown eyes.

"I rubbed your back!"  Aidan said as he gave me a huge hug.

"I did too!"  Griffin yelled.

"We kept checking on you to make sure you were okay."  Brennan told me.

My sweet boys.  

After hugs were given all the way around, Griffin was bursting to tell me about his day in school.  

"Today, we got to pick a present out of the treasure chest if we had been good all week long.  And I was good!  And I picked this!  For you!"  He said, smiling, as he presented me with a yellow bead bracelet.

Oh, the love.  Instead of picking a fun toy for himself to celebrate a great week at kindergarten, he thought of his mom instead.  My heart aches with his sweetness.  Just aches.

I wore it to work the next day.  Anytime I felt a pang of sadness (because my job can be a total pain in my behind) or I missed my boys (always) or I was dying under the force of my awful cold, I simply looked down at my wrist and my badge of sweet love from my five year old boy.

(Ignore how hairy and unattractive my arm/wrist looks in this picture and instead focus on the cuteness of the yellow beads.  Okay?)

This is what it is all about.  For me, this is it.

Green Eyes

Chris has the best eyes.  They are greener than green and still make my heart skip a beat when I look into them.  I always secretly hoped that one of our children would inherit Chris's green eyes because beauty like that deserves to be passed around a bit.

Aidan and Brennan have my brown eyes.  But Griffin got his Daddy's green.  Oh, those eyes.

Snuggles

All my boys are cuddlers.  They love to snuggle and hug.  If I sit down on the couch, I am immediately joined by at least one, if not two, but almost always three of my boys around or on me for some snuggles.  (And usually the dog is trying to figure out a way to get himself in there for some cuddles too.)  But Brennan, is the most (ahem) demanding of the cuddle time.  He almost seems to need it a little bit more and he makes sure, sometimes by negotiating with his brothers, that he gets a prime spot to snuggle up next to his momma.

We were discussing his love of a good snuggle before bed one night as he was wrapped up in my arms.  I told him that even as a baby he loved to snuggle.  I remember as a newborn how if he was laying next to me in bed, he would turn his whole face into my shoulder as if he needed to breathe in his mommy's scent.  It was if he wanted to bury himself into me.  It always made Chris laugh to wake up and see Brennan's little nose tucked into my arm, my side, my shoulder.  All before he could even manage to roll over or sit up.

I told him all of this, describing his sweetness, even as a baby.  After I finished, I smiled and said, "You are still like that aren't you B?"

He smiled back at me and said, "I always will be."

My B.