The best {and worst} moments all wrapped up in one adventure

The kids and I made a poster board size school count down.

The poster is divided in half.

One side is the actual countdown

The other side is a small list each kid made of things we want to do before school starts.

I snuck one on the list: Secret bike ride.

About 9:30 last night I told the kids lets go outside.

They both stared at me with their mouths open cause we still go to bed, most the time, by 9, even in the summer since they still have to get up and go in the morning. 

I broke out some glow sticks and told the kids 

"Lets do a nighttime GLOW bike ride"

Oh man were they excited!

You know how sometimes you plan something that you think will be "So fun!"

and it's an epic fail....

The kids cry.

Someone doesn't want to.

There is whining.

Yeah.

Not this time!

It was a BIG HIT!

It was "MOM THIS IS AWESOME!"

"MOM WATCH ME!"

"MOM WATCH THIS!"

So I was all caught up in my "mom high" 

and decided that I would race Cohen down the circle drive.

I was pedaling my bike faster than I have rode a bike in like 25 years!

The glow sticks on the tires....just a blur...

Wind blowing the hair...

Houses whizzing by....

So close to beating Cohen.......

push harder...just a lil faster!

When for, I am not sure what reason,

I hit my hand brake.

HARD.

Like the definition of stopping on a dime...hard. 

which...

Resulted in the front tire stopping immediately,

the back tire leaving the ground 

and

me propelling over the top of my handle bars 

my body skidding to stop on the street...

OMG.

"Road rash" on the palms,

skinned up bleeding knee,

huge swollen lump of a bruise on my thigh..

Classy.

Mom high over.

Cohen came flying back and was quite concerned and offered to walk my bike back to the house.

*I got back on.*

Gotta get back on the horse that bucks ya off right!

Something like that!

Kadence brought me the spray we put on owies to keep them clean.

The spray that I promise doesn't hurt if you blow on it.

*I secretly hate and fear that stuff 

so I assured her that there was no dirt in my bleeding knee or palms* 

Lets just avoid the obvious question:
Why power brake when riding super fast?

So night time glow ride:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Proper safety gear advised!


When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. ~HG Wells
~perhaps Mr. Wells has not seen me on a bicycle...just sayin

All hands on deck...summer bucket list revival time!

We come with beautiful secrets

 

We come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls.

 

We come to every new morning with possibilities only we can hold.

 

Redemption comes from strange places, small spaces

 

Calling out the best of who we are

 

I want to add to the beauty

 

To tell a better story........

*I do not know the author

I do not want my story to be:

get up...hustle bustle, work, pick up kids, hustle bustle, home, supper, hurry up play, bath, bed. Repeat.  

This is not the story I want.

 

This is not the "storybook childhood" that I want my kids to reminisce about some day.

When my kids are all grown I want something like the smell of fresh cut grass to take them back to a time and place of pure happiness, where memories come flooding back of "good times" traipsing  through a sprinkler in the front yard or of under doggies in the back yard.  I want them to be able to sit around after I am long gone and say "remember when...." which would then end in smiles and a lot of laughter!

 

So this is my story right.

This is my kids' story.

I am the author.

I am writing this story and I am going to try to add some new chapters again this summer.

We've been in survival mode thus far but it is time to shake things up a bit!

 

Change can be very hard, so I may not accomplish everything but change can also be invigorating....its go time baby!

You make me wanna roll my windows down and cruise...

1. Make smores over a camp fire.

2. Go jet skiing or at least get back on a tube behind a boat!

3. Trip to the zoo

4. Salt Dogs Game

5. Get to the pool once a week (That's setting the bar pretty high!)

6. "Jack-up" the swing set.

7. Throw a summer bash/bbq

8. Have spontaneous weekend get togethers (we did one! Whoop!)

9. Take the kids on a picnic (any good ideas on where?!)

10. Make homemade ice cream.

11.Find a summer dress that "works" (I may need back up on that one)

12. Surprise ambush water fight on the kids!

I feel compelled to maybe add or edit but I seem to lacking some mojo or something....

I need something with a lil more "bang"....

hmmm

Maybe I need to start an adult bucket list and then a family bucket list!

perhaps...

perhaps...

If you read this you better leave a summer bucket list idea

I am so not above stealing someone else's idea!

*insert sly smile here*

'tis the season

I don't see myself as beautiful, because I can see a lot of flaws. People have really odd opinions. They tell me I'm skinny, as if that's supposed to make me happy.

Angelina Jolie

It's that time of year.

You know the time...

the time when you are suppose to expose more of your mom body than any other time of the year.

Mother Nature was more than kind this year,

allowing me to wear cardigans and layers into June!

God Bless you Mother Nature!

Delaying the inevitable.

Shorts.

Tank tops.

Heck even t-shirts (no joke)!
AND

*Gasp*

Swim suits!
{collective moan}

Let's be honest its not like I ever had some rockin hot model body

but the three baby belly bulge...

lil not cool!

(Spare me the lectures on diet and exercise that's a whole other post! As well as the lectures on "you just had a baby give yourself time" Puh-lease! Tell that to the wet spandex clinging to my body! )

Any summer (not just this approaching one)

I have to gear up mentally.

A recent discussion got me back on the mental prep bandwagon!

I vowed after having Cohen that my kids would not miss out on summer fun

like swimming because of my insecurities.

When I think back to my childhood....

my parents were always the ones who got in the pool

and swam with us!

I can remember seeing other moms

just sitting on the side and thinking to myself

"how boring."

I vowed not to be that mom!

To this day....my parents still make the choice to

dive in

*literally*

Moments captured at Leah's birthday party just last year!

Kudos to you mom and dad!

I am sure they could both make a long list of "valid" reasons why:

1. They don't swim

2. They do not do the diving board.

Instead they both continue to make the choice to say

I'm going to jump in!

Live this one crazy beautiful life I've been given.

Why not?!

Do you think someday when reminiscing my kids will care

what Grandma looked like in her swimsuit?

I highly doubt it!

I cannot ever once remember thinking...gee mom/dad should not wear that swimsuit, she/he should just sit on the side of the pool.

So that is where my mental summer prep begins...

when post belly bulge doubt creeps in

I say to myself...

will my kids remember the squishy tummy

under the suit

or the fact that you were the "the" mom that got in.

Sitting on the side in clothes that hide my insecurities,
hair and make up in tact...
that doesn't make memories.

In the happiest of our childhood memories, our parents were happy, too.  ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

Self talk
self talk
self talk

so
close your eyes and
....and jump in!

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself.  There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth.  So what the hell, leap.  ~Cynthia Heimel