Girlfriends

Ellie is a little bit boy-crazy. I have no idea where she picked that one up....

Now I feel my Mom & Dad's pain when all I wanted to do was hang out with boys my whole life.

But she sure has some cute little girlfriends.

I hope we get lots of fun, girly play dates all summer long.

Quotes of the Day:

"I wanna go on the Choo-choo!" - Park @ the Boulder Creek Fest

"I'm totally soaking drenched," - Elle @ the Old Town Arvada fountain park.

"AHHHHHHHH" - Aunt Wendy @ the Slide Park

Old & New

I was counting the other day in my head - as we drove in the rain to pick the kids up from Grandma Barbara's - I was counting grandparents. We had a lazy rainy movie day at the theater down the street from our house. Two movies sandwiched around a quick lunch with my Grandma Lola had me thinking about grandparents. We've got so many grandparents you couldn't throw a stick 10 ft without hitting one...but that would be mean.

Elle & Park have eight grandparents and five great-grandparents. (Two of them they have never met as they live in Washington state but they are more than thoughtful with their long distance cards and gifts.) And three of the great-grandmas live right here in town. Eliana calls Great-Grandma Doris and Great-Grandma Lola "The Girls" as they live in the same building and generally show up together at events, go on trips with us, and she must just think they laugh like girls. And great-grandma Mary lives just up the road in Greeley. She makes Ellie laugh with her stories about me when I was a girl and I think Ellie can hardly believe that they are true. Mommies were never little girls...

In the last few weeks I inherited a bunch of Grandma Lola's linens. This is a big deal. I'm obsessed with tea towels. And real napkins. I love them. So I got to pick through baskets of tea towels she embroidered herself 60 years ago. And napkins and tablecloths she made for teas and luncheons and bridge and other things that I know nothing about. It's a little piece of history I can use everyday.

And I've been asked to write my Grandma Mary's story. Interview her - not a challenge as I could talk to her for hours - and write it down in a book for all of time and history and (okay...more realistically) our little family to enjoy forever. I only hope I can do her justice.

And then tonight, when Mr. Pope came home from getting a haircut and straight shave, Ellie told him he looked "Brand New!!" He hadn't shaved for a month. He was a hairy old beast.

And now he's new.

Geek Chic

I need to brush up on my geek knowledge. After hanging out with Mr. Pope for a couple weeks I'm afraid he's on to me and my recent lack of geeky intelligence. We took the kids to Free Comic Book Day (it's the first Saturday of May every year, y'all.) It was the first outing we'd taken as a family in over a week and was kind of Mr. P's dream come true with his "Avatar: The Last Airbender" loving little Ellie-Bellie and his little boy, Parker.

I know Pope always wanted a son. Someone to share all of his nerd stuff with. Comic books. Video games. And Star Wars. And EVERY superhero movie ever. And Parker pretty much came into the world with the same apparent loves. One of his first words was "Batman" after all.

But upon our return from our happy little outing I was asked to read said free comics. Over and over and over and over. And while Parker already knows who Batman, and The Flash, and Robin are he had a few questions about some of the other guys. And I didn't know their names. For shame, Veronica. For shame.

Parker was shocked, I'm sure, only because he thinks I'm some sort of all-knowing Madonna figure. Hehe. But Derrick - oh, he knows better. And he's not quite sure why I'm so out of the loop. He's not sure why I don't know anything about the "Thor" movie that just came out. (Or is it not out yet? See, I don't know.) And he's not too sure why I'm convinced that the name "Aqua Lad" sounds a little too funny to be taken seriously.

I need to brush up, I guess. Add some extra geeky boy knowledge to the old skill set. Both to improve my much loved comic book reading with my little man and to impress my sexy geek husband.

But really, Aqua Lad??

Flowers & Snuggles

I spend time being grateful. It's important. It's too easy to get caught up in the negative. So this week I'm grateful for my husband and his mostly speedy recovery. And getting the time with him that we've had over the past week and half...even if it's not under the best of circumstances. And I love him because he's not down-in-the-dumps about his situation either. We were laughing and making jokes just minutes before they took him into surgery. He's a brave guy. And he's stronger than I give him credit for sometimes.

And I'm grateful for our moms for helping us so much during the early days when he was just home, on tons of meds, in lots of pain...and I was bolting up to Greeley everyday trying to pretend that I wasn't totally worried about what was happening in my little home.

But we've been reunited for the past couple weeks. And things are as normal as they ever really get around here. I wanted to cry Eliana's "Mother's Tea Party" at her preschool was so cute. The kids served us cookies and punch and made us all sorts of thoughtful presents and even sang us a song that Ellie continues to sing around the house...."I like the way you look, and I like the way you cook! So I just want to say, 'Happy Mothers Day!'" She's just big all of a sudden. We have real conversations about very important things. And she tells Mr. Pope he needs to call her if he needs anything. Very important.

And I'm glad we've taken away that blasted binky as Parker is much more fun to be around without that plug shoved in his face all day and night. He's talking so much too. The other day when Derrick told me Parker said something funny "out of the blue." Parker looked at him all squinty-eyed and said, "No, Dada. It was purple." Hehe. And just today he corrected me while we were playing horses that his was "A baby horse, not a big horse, Mama." He's putting 2 and 3 sentences together at a time. It happens so quick.

And I love the sunshine (now that it's back). And I can't wait to have the family over for Mother's Day Brunch tomorrow even though it involves and evening of cooking and cleaning. But I'm grateful. (And I'm posting this late. Updates to come.)

QOD: "I wanna tell Mama bye-bye." - My little Park

"This taint supposed to be happening to me!!" - My Mister