Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Wedding

You guys, I have the most embarrassingly lame problem to admit:

My new camera is too fancy.
I like it, I covet it, and as such, I don't want to throw it in my purse to capture 'potential' moments! I don't want to throw the strap around my wrist and drag it with me onto the playground. I worry about carrying it around, because it's too nice to get dropped, scratched, or bumped.

Anyway, this is a long way of saying that I went to a wedding in Ohio last weekend, and all I got was just a few pictures.

Trying out the lighting on my poor daddy  :)


 The first dance between bride and groom!


My grandparents, the longest married couple on the dance floor! 60 1/2 years!!! And still madly in love, I aspire to be in a relationship like theirs!


Buddy dancing with the bride for the "dollar dance"

Cheesy smile.

Buddy's older cousin proving that "slow dances can be fun too!"

My dad (the one with the cheesehead) may have had a few beers by this point :)

Anyway, the wedding was fun, especially the dancing, and although the 11 hour drive to (and from) Ohio sucked, I think I had a good time!

...I only say "I think" because we left Wausau during a thunderstorm/tornado (storms are one of my anxiety triggers) and then had to sit in a car (driving is another trigger) while following the storm for quite a while, and then I got sick on the drive down... which made me feel miserable and cough-y and exhausted and tense for way too long once we finally got to our destination! And the ride home, though not quite as bad, was still painful.

...but I should say, Buddy was a champ for the horrifically long drive! He was pretty much polite, kept himself entertained, and slept well when it was time :) last year's drive was WAAAAAY worse!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Sunny Days

   We've had a great week here, weather-wise. I feel like I've been being spoiled! And good weather always makes me want to get outside and do things.

Like, last week I picked up Buddy from school and we had an impromptu picnic at the 400 block (a downtown gathering place). The new fountains were on, and Buddy quickly decided he needed to run through them!

Of course, the breeze made it a little chilly, afterwards. Notice the face paint, it was 'green day' at school and all the kids wore green clothes and helped clean up the playground, and their teacher promised them green face paint in exchange!

It's been pretty windy too, which means perfect weather for kite-flying. Buddy loves it, he giggles every time the kite sweeps or swoops, he loves to watch the kite climb higher and higher.


After this last kite excursion, the kite was totaled. The 'fins' were both ripped to shreds and the cross piece poked through the body of the kite. Guess it's time for a new, more heavy duty kite!

We leave on Thursday night to go to Ohio for my cousin's wedding, but first we have Buddy's graduation! Both of those things are going to be really fun, I'm looking forward to it all!


Saturday, May 19, 2012

Haircut Woes

So, if you follow me on facebook, you may have seen a lot of this already. But you guys, Buddy got his hair cut this week!
So Buddy has been talking since last summer about wanting to get his hair buzzed with Uncle David once it got to be summer. And this week, it finally hit the 80's! So David texted me, let me know that the heat had gotten to him and he had shaved off his winter mop... and that immediately made Buddy want to get his hair shaved too.


So, Uncle Dave started shaving. And Buddy was fine... for about the first two lines of shaven hair. Then, he started to freak out. Uncle Dave and I tried to hold him to calm him down...

But it was too late. The kiddo had absolutely lost it. He was seriously freaking out to an extent that I had probably never seen before. Crying hysterically, clutching onto me for dear life, not capable of speech... if you didn't know better you would think we were torturing him! (With a haircut that he begged for, no less!)

Anyway, so I had an appointment that afternoon so I had to leave Buddy with Uncle Dave. At which time we gave up on the haircut for awhile, and let the kiddo calm down.



Here you can see the wonderful half-shaved head that we thought we might be stuck with! See how he's perfectly cheerful as long as the clippers isn't next to his head :)

Anyway, somehow while I was at my appointment Uncle Dave (possibly known henceforth as "The Miracle Worker") convinced Buddy that it would be good to surprise his mom with a fully shaved head.

So... voila!!!


after a few good hours of worry, tears, hysteria, etc... his hair got buzzed. And he thinks it's awesome looking. And I won't have to fight about trying to brush tangles out for a few months, and all the summer sports and swimming and stuff have suddenly gotten easier.

Was it worth it? Still not sure. We'll see how he reacts next summer!



Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Traveling Red Dress

You guys, this is amazing! I read a lot of blogs in my spare time, and two of my favorites are The Bloggess and Girl To Mom. Anyway, the Bloggess has this Traveling Red Dress, it gets shipped around the country to make other women feel beautiful and amazing for a day. And ever since she started the project, more and more people have joined in.

Recently Girl To Mom started sending out her own dresses. AND I'M GETTING ONE! I'm so excited, this is amazing.

I do need someone to volunteer to do a "photo shoot" with me in my dress, because I want to get some really great pictures of me feeling beautiful and deserving and awesome. Anyway, that's all for today, but wow this is amazing!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Look what I made!

My cousin Laura taught me how to do some basic things with wire and beads a few months ago, and since then I've been doing that kind of stuff as an art activity at the BGC every so often.

Usually, I end up making myself a bracelet, which shortly thereafter I get begged for: "But Amanda it's so pretty! I don't have the patience, it's just my size, those are my favorite colors, you made one for so-and-so..." Until I give the bracelet to one of my kids.

But today I kept my creation! I think it's pretty, though not too fancy or anything :)


Monday, May 7, 2012

Backhanded Compliments

My child is a sweetie. And he loves me very much. But sometimes he says things that aren't... well... flattering. For example, in the last week:

(As he's touching my face sleepily before bedtime) "Mommy, you have a really soft face. Except your forehead, that's all wrinkly."

(On talking about healthy eating) "But Mom, you're not going to get skinny are you? Your tummy makes a really comfy pillow!"

(After seeing a woman breastfeeding her newborn, and the discussion that followed) "No fair Mom! How come you get to be like a cow but I can't?"

Thanks kiddo. I'm a wrinkly, pillowy cow. The worst part is he meant them all as nice things!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Kick the Coach!

Ok, so you guys all have heard ad nauseum about my horrible anxiety. Well, one of the things I really wanted to  do but was too nervous to actually try was coaching Buddy's soccer team. So my wonderful father agreed to coach with me! He's the head coach and I'm the assistant (at least for this year) and it's been really great so far!

Of course, since I'm coaching I don't have as much time to take ridiculous amounts of pictures of Buddy. But we're having a great time! Buddy's favorite drill/game thing is called "Kick the Coach" which means they dribble the balls around and try to kick them at us, the moving targets! We also have run ones involving animal noises, one where the kids pretend to be pirates, and some fun 'monkey in the middle' games.

It seems to be working well, since today in their first game our team (the Wingers) scored 4 goals! Oh, and did I mention which teammate scored those goals? That's right, my Buddy!!

Next week I'll get pictures of him in uniform, but in the meantime here we all are at the skills clinic last week!