this week’s insights

i did good marrying the man i did, not only because he is awesome, but so is his family.  they are lovely, inspiring, game changing people.  love them

i just learned that a grande pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks has 7 weight watcher points..holy scheisse…

this summer i went meatless for most of my meals…to the point that i was thinking of becoming a vegetarian.  however, with the cooler weather, i’m craving roast, pork chops, vegetable beef soup, hmmm…maybe i’ll just try to be meatless most of the time

in addition to craving roast, homemade mac and cheese.  you know the real healthy kind that is a bunch of elbow macaroni and hunk of melted velveeta….yum

it’s not good to want that healthy mac and cheese when i haven’t been exercising

i woke up today and want to listen to christmas music so bad.  trying to hold off untill after halloween.  come november 1st, i think i will have it on all the time

loss

we lost Grandpa Bud early monday morning. 

i met Bud 15 1/2 years ago when i took my first trip to independence to meet Jay’s family.  jay had mentioned his grandparents numerous times in our courtship, pete and bud.  you see neither one of them go by there real names, like jay and i.  :)  if i haven’t said it before my memory is really bad so what i remember is little in details.  but i do remember jay kept reminding me that grandma was pete and grandpa was bud and i remember when i left independence, i was in awe of these two people.  both pete and bud welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like i was family, not a visitor

bud and pete built an amazing life for their family of 4 boys and 1 girl.  he was a banker, a horseman, a passionate sports spectator, loved kState, a hero, a fantastic story teller and most importantly he loved his family.  as brooke said, our lives will be forever changed by his loss.

we love you Bud.  Godspeed!

oh fall

oh how i adore you

i will admit i did not want you to come this year.  i was enjoying summer so much. yet here you are and everywhere i go i am reminded why i love you.

color….

the entertainment a few fallen leaves bring

my favorite smells

even coffee tastes a little better in fall.

12 years ago

12 years ago today at 12:31 i became a mom.

to be honest being a mom to you is easy (at least so far) 

you are an old soul in a young man’s body

you are on the verge of another milestone.  in a year you will head to middle school, in a year you will be a teenager.  but those are all a year away and while you like to focus on what will happen next year, let’s first focus on this year.  :)

love you… to the moon and back (are you too old for me to say that?).  i hope and pray that 12 is awesome for you!

 

lady’s man

this story cracks me up

jay and mac are at sportsclips getting their hair cut.  they get to chatting with the stylist and we have a connection in that her niece is in mac’s grade and she has a daughter who is in charlie’s class.  she proceeds to tell jay that the other night she was giving her daughter a bath and while her daughter was playing she mentioned she was making dinner for her husband.  her mom asked, who’s your husband.  “Charlie’ she said. 

so we are concluding that she was speaking about our charlie of course.  really who could resist?

 

‘round here

so we are now down with 3 weeks of school.  we have settled into a pretty good routine.  i don’t really feel like there is much to say.  i downloaded my sd cards so i’ll let the pictures provide the updates.

charlie is playing soccer again this fall.  changes this year include a larger field and goalies.  charlie’s team is green and black which he likes and they chose bulldogs as their mascot.  i am loving this year of soccer so far.  charlie is aggressive and fast…it just feels like your really watching a game vs an itty bitty sport.

 

the boys have been playing a lot of football.  mac has mentioned playing next year which to be honest makes me nervous.  i suppose i will cross the bridge when a final decision needs to be made.

    

fall is coming.  my mums are getting ready to bloom.  all i want are big bowls of soup and warm, crusty buttery bread.

ku home opener.  man i love lawrence, i love being on the hill on game day.

 

remembering

10 years ago it was a beautiful tuesday morning.  i mean beautiful...the perfect fall day, not a cloud in the sky

i had dropped mac off at daycare.  i'm sure i was running late, perhaps thinking about plans for mac's 2nd birthday, coming up in just a couple weeks.

i remember being on I 435 and hearing teresa from 93.3 report that it appeared a small plane had hit a tower at the WTC.  (i don't even think i knew what the WTC was at that time)

after that the details get vague for me.  what started out as a beautiful day turned into a nightmare.  i do remember calling my mom asking her to pick up mac from daycare.  i didn't want him there if  something  happened to us.  i remember huddling in various coworkers cubes throughout the day trying to get as much information as possible as to what was going on.  i remember being engrossed in the media coverage once we finally got home. i remember holding mac and feeling like i could never let him go. i remember thinking how could this happen...here in the US.

today 10 years later i honestly am still saying how could this happen?  the magnitude of the devastation...my brain just can't grasp it.  the thousands of people who lost their lives.  it's too much for me to fully grasp. 

i will never forget.  may peace encompass those who personally suffered the loss of loved ones on 9/11 as well as those men and women who are still fighting today to keep us safe.





image from here