Sláinte!

 

Changes Changes Changes

Joseph just got his braces on. Rubber bands off, braces on. Six weeks and then they tighten them again. I can’t believe how old and grown up he looks. My life is moving way too fast. 

I recently ruined Tommy’s life when I trimmed his hair. He can’t forgive me or move on. He wore a coonskin cap for four days straight, I believe, just to punish me. He hates his new haircut and can’t wait for it to grow in. 

This is his face after I told him he looked handsome. 

I finally finished Esther’s scarf...just in time for spring. 

Sigh. 

Anyway. I look at Looch in this picture and wonder what in the world happened to the last two years. I spent Sunday afternoon putting away her 18 month clothing. I cried. 

It was SO SO SO SAD. 

I’m working on embracing where I’m at now, but it’s still hard to let the baby years go. I knew I would miss them. I just didn’t know it would ache like this. 

Speaking of growing up, Lucy is now in the trundle bed. I’ll get some better pictures soon of the girls’ room all cleaned up and pretty during the day. But this is what it looked like while I was trying to get Lucy dresses for bed last night. 

Operative word: TRYING. 

Danny is especially embracing his new haircut and experimenting with his own sense of flair and style. 

He’s a wild one, that boy. 

 

Happy Babes

 

Childhood

Dearest Babes,

    As a parent, I often think about what you will remember about your childhood when you are grown. I, mostly, ponder this because my own siblings and I share stories every week about our childhood and how absurd/stupid/fun/sad/painful/happy it all was.

    We can make legend of quotes that our parents *barely* said (Like when Papa got his new glasses at the mall and walked out to a Suburban full of us and Honey, in the front seat, whistled aloud and said how hot he looked- much to the horror of all of us)!

    We retell horrific moments with zest and laughter (like when Uncle Matt sat on Uncle Rob's arm during the rosary and broke it beyond recognition and Honey had no other thought than to scream "Jesus! Mary! Joseph!" and run his arm under ice-cold water...apparently, and miraculously, re-setting the bone and healing Uncle Rob). 

    We poke fun at silly times (like when Uncle Matt gave Papa a bloody nose during a friendly game of SPUD at Roberts).

    We recall new life and the memories surrounding births (like how all of the kids got to play video games until they got sick when Uncle Mark was born because Honey wasn't around to police the screen time).

    We talk about Uncle Tim’s epic birthday party in the basement and the *newly finished* wall somehow getting a person-sized dent in it, how Aunt Teresa met Uncle Mike and smashed ketchup on him during their first date, how Uncle Bill...well...literally did EVERYTHING the funniest and best, how Uncle Matt was the first of all ten of us to call Honey by her first name ("Nancy, CALM DOWN!" We are most grateful that he survived.), how Uncle Peter can remember wallpaper from a single hotel room that we crammed into (illegally) over 20 years ago, how Uncle Rob could charm the hearts of all people (including our stoic violin teacher, Sister Helen Ann Barry), how Uncle Steve could never leave a trophy un-won, how Aunt Ellen once ate an entire bag of Hershey Kisses and hid the wrappers in a heating vent in our bedroom, and how Uncle Mark brought more joy and love to our family than we ever thought was possible (probably by finishing the job we all began and breaking the very last of Honey down-- to the point of making him "eggs-light and fluffy, with cheese" in the middle of the night and bowls of sugar cereal on demand).

    All these memories come flooding back to me when I sit and think, for even just a moment, about my childhood. And I wonder what you, my own children, will remember about your own childhood.

    Will you remember the days where I could barely function and fell asleep while reading to you from your History lessons? Will you remember "Morning Meetings" at 5am- conjuring up your plan of attack for the day with your very best friends? Will you remember the daily rosary at 7:15a? Will you remember your dad staying up late and playing video games with you? Or how you shut off all the lights in the basement and played cards by the light of his headlamp? Will you remember when you finally got old enough to stay up later than me...and how you'd come lay on my bed and talk/sing/laugh/jump while I would try to sleep? How Tommy rode his tiger bike through my kitchen and asked me for "cookies to go!"? Will you remember pitching tents in the basement and having sleepovers together? What about the ditch  pond you dug in the back yard? Or how you loved to play in the rain and ride your bikes through mud puddles? Wrestling matches with Daddy before bed? Reading Little House in the Big Woods as a family?  Riding down the stairs on mattresses? Playing dress-up for the month before and the month after Halloween? Daddy coming downstairs when he worked from home and yelling "SOMERSAULT" to gather you all together and run outside, rain or shine, to flip over in unison? Putting on dance recitals for me and dad multiple times a week? What about the time the chickens got loose and ran through the back yard at Belleholm? Or when Tommy sat directly on the porch railing I had just put the finishing touches of bright, white paint on? How Joseph referred to himself as an "Urka-Hai" for the six months following his first viewing of Lord of the Rings and tried to speak in the Black Tongue until I threatened to ground him from everything for the rest of his life and maybe beyond? How Nate could touch his tongue to his nose and rip schoolbooks in half during fits of rage? How Danny was always getting into scrapes and blaming other people for wetting his pants? How Sarah believed she was a legitimate deer and refused to stop wearing clothes that were too small for her? How Esther made herself a fake internet celebrity and power influencer and would record hilarious videos on my phone? How Charlie used to go to the bathroom and scream "MOOOOOM! I POOP-TED!" and how he would rejoice when it was time for family somersaults?  Or how Lucy was constantly trying to harm herself and test her guardian angels?

    I hope you never forget. I hope you always remember. I pray that you hold tight to these memories and share them with your own children someday. I hope that when you are older, you will get together with one another and talk about these times. I hope you laugh. I hope you cry. I hope these will be the times that bond you tightly together and hold you close forever. 

    You are ALL the greatest gifts we could have given to one another. Each and every single one of you. You have blessed us. You bless each other. 

    Hold on tight to your siblings- they are your first, and very best, friends. 

Love, 

Marms