The Gab Squad: Where Are They Now?

They made you laugh.  They made you cry.  They were in your living room on an almost-daily basis. 

Time to check in with the old gang and see what they're up to now...

You loved him as Shakey, the crazy third grader with a penchant for danger and animal noises.

These days he passes the sacrament at church, spends time at 6th grade Science Camp, and plays clarinet in the school band.

Remember little Lukechop?  You couldn't resist his devilish grin.

Of course, now the grin is missing a few pearly whites, but Mr. Luke is happiest when found at the zoo, on the tennis court or in front of the computer screen.

And who could forget Wedgiesaurus?

These days he can be found roaring at the top of his lungs in the pool and on the playground.  Don't mess with him until he's had his daily bowl of GoLean.

Super-cute Squeege was the blond bombshell who could make her three brothers cry.

Now that she's hit double digits, Em is the beauty behind the piano.  

The one with a killer throwing arm.

Stay tuned for next season...

Progress Report

A little update on things around here:

Pool's cool...

Backyard construction is going so fast that this photo is already outdated.  Concrete has now been poured and the waterfall is halfway completed.  Every day I look out my window and smile at the cute guys digging in the dirt...

(cute girls, too!)

Running rocks...

I am just weeks away from the Big Race and I really do love training.  I'll admit to pining for major body changes immediately--shrinking so fast my clothes would just fall off or maybe waking up with naturally curly hair or something equally awesome.  But, of course, I'm still just me.  Only a lot more sore.  This morning I actually ran 8 miles.  And the word of the day is ibuprofen.

Adolescence Happens...

Jake and Em are both showing signs.  Emotional more than physical.  Lots of mood swings and hating clothes I pick out for them.  Each of them got a puberty book for Christmas and they have devoured them.

Just the other night, I went in to kiss Em goodnight.  Brad was reading to her and she had chosen her new "Girls' Book" for a bedtime story. 

Knowing that Brad would rather walk through fire than the CVS feminine aisle, I gave him a raised eyebrow.  "What?" he grinned.  "We're just learning how to improve our body image."

Big Day

Saturday was a very sad day in the state of Arizona.  

So, it seems slightly inappropriate to post about all the fun we had that day.

And it seems wildly inappropriate that the fun was mostly gun related...

marshmallow gun, that is.

Brad made kits for all the boys and helped them with assembly.


I supplied the ammo.

January is the perfect month for an outdoor party around these parts.

The kids had target practice and played capture-the-flag until the sun went down.

Jake has made so many great new friends here, it was a delight to gather them all together.  They are good, good boys.  Respectful and fun and active and goofy.

We weren't just celebrating Jake's 12th birthday.  It was a day to celebrate the long strides he's made and the buddies who are helping him make them.
 

I've been so sad learning more about the tragedies in Tucson, but I'm also sad when I hear commentators blaming the state of Arizona and calling it a hate-filled place.

Because we have found it warm and welcoming and full of wonderful people.

Happy wishes to my two birthday boys!  I love you.

Jakeover

6th Grade Crazy Hair Day...but, really, isn't every day a crazy one when you're in sixth grade?

The adolescent and I have been doing a little Jakeover in his new bedroom.

Apparently, he has not been loving my decorating techniques lo these many years. Apparently, the preppy Nantucket cottage look is not jiving with his inner rockstar/sk8erboi. So madras plaid and denim are out. Black, silver and leather are in. Yes, there are fake fur throw pillows, which have been a major source of envy among younger sibs. (Pictures coming, once we hang the black-out curtains!)

Jake has grown a lot over the past couple months. I think I tower over him by a measly inch, maybe two. When I talk to him now, I am looking straight into those baby blues. Of course, this does not mean we see eye-to-eye on much.

Bedtimes, computer time, chore time, homework time, mealtime, dental hygiene time. All continue to be a struggle of wills. Life with Jake has never been boring.

My mom and I laugh about the day Jake learned to roll over. The absolute moment he discovered that he could actually muscle his way over that bulky left shoulder and GET AWAY, he started to roll like a demon tumbleweed from one room to another. There was no stopping him. I've been chasing after him ever since. He keeps me humble and very tired.

I am proud of the way Jake has handled the big changes life has brought him lately. Not only does he have a new school and new neighborhood, Mother Nature's starting in on a more personal sort of Jakeover.

Loathe to blog about it. After all, what kind of tween-hating mom posts about curly blonde leg hair or tiny little forehead breakouts? Certainly not me! (Even though both make him look quite manly and, if I were a sixth-grade girl and not his mother, I would totally have a major crush.)

I think adolescence is just as thrilling to watch as a baby discovering how to roll over for the first time.

But twice as frightening.

Life with a Tweenage Daughter

Em just finished my all-time favorite tween romance. Fifteen by Beverly Cleary. Since Salina Gomez got her all pumped about Ramona and Beezus again, she has been devouring all the Cleary books in the house.

I confess, when she reached for my old dog-eared copy, I discouraged her a little. "That's kind of a teenage book, Emmie. About a girl who wants a boyfriend." Well, duh, Mom. She was all over it. A few nights I even tiptoed in to read a chapter with her and it was pure pleasure.

Can I just say Beverly Cleary ROCKS?! I mean, this book was originally published in 1956. It was old-school when my mother read it. The dad smokes a pipe, for Pete's sake. The best friend wears a girdle. No one is texting or online. But the writing focuses on emotions and relationships that are timeless.

When she got to the last page, that climactic moment when Stan finally gives Jane his ID bracelet and a chaste 1956 kiss, Emmie's eyes were shiny.

My little girl is growing up. She is babysitting (a little) and on the phone with old and new friends (a lot). Her moods have always been less predictable than her brothers', but now that she's almost in the double-digits, I find I have to tiptoe even more carefully. Just yesterday, I was teasing her (a little too publicly, I guess) about something we'd always laughed about. But this time, she burst into tears. Yikes.

And that was just the school nurse on the phone, calling to say Em is in her office with a headache. She forgot her glasses. Again.

Time to go. Life with tweenagers is not all a Beverly Cleary romance, if you know what I mean.

China Anniversary

Jumping from one family tree...

into another!

Pretty good yield, huh?

Traditionally, the 20th anniversary is the China Anniversary. You either buy yourself a new set of china or go on a trip to China. We chose instead to buy a leather sectional and have a spa weekend in Scottsdale. Tradition, be hanged.

I feel like I should write something sappy, but if you look through the archives, I've said it all before. All I can say is that I can't believe it's been 20 years. There are lots of things in life that have been hard for me, but marriage has not been one of them. I'm lucky.

**Current photo by Christie...wish she'd been around for the original shots. Early '90s wedding photography should be a federal crime.

Storms and Calm

Last week, Mother Nature officially welcomed us to the Valley of the Sun.

We had been prepared for triple-digit temps, sunburns, parched lips. We hadn't, however, realized we were moving in during the heart of Monsoon Season.

The grill was blowing around the back patio like an old roller skate. I took this photo while hollering at Brad to get out there and DO SOMETHING! Also, our cabinet guys were at my side, laughing hysterically, and saying "Welcome to Arizona." Nice.

I'd heard about Monsoons before and was skeptical. But now? I believe.

Monsoons are like huge Nor'easters in the desert. They come out of nowhere and turn the sky all kinds of crazy colors. The winds are so strong they snap trees, frightening small children and their 40-year-old mothers.

There was so much water that our street became the after-storm swimming hole. It was a good ice-breaker. My kids met a whole gang of new friends as they paddled along in the rainwater.

In other, less stormy, news...

the kids started school last Monday!

It felt sick and wrong to drop them all off at school in the middle of July.

But only one of us cried...me.

The children have adjusted beautifully.

I was very concerned about the quality of schools here. I mean, that's what the East Coast is known for, right? Italian restaurants and great schools. How could anything measure up?

However, we've been very pleasantly surprised. Schools are definitely more casual here. (Teachers in flip flops and tank tops? Cool.) But the curriculum is challenging, similar to our old school district. The teachers have been very friendly and well-organized. All the kids are happy.

Jake is being mainstreamed all day into a regular sixth-grade classroom and it's going so well I could just cry. I wish I had known, way back during his blustery kindergarten days, that there really would be so many sunny moments in his future.

But I really, truly do appreciate the calm all the more after a storm.

I Feel Special

Today I turned 40. I don't feel old or used-up or ugly or miserable. I feel lucky and loved. Phone calls, a sweet post from my sweet mom, presents, birthday cards, treats, emails, flowers, wishes from all corners have made me feel blessed.

Life is good and I'm just getting better at it.

Thanks, everybody.

Club Forty

One of my earliest childhood memories is talking with my girlfriends about The Kindergarten Shot. It was the topic of discussion that summer of '75. Will it hurt? Will you cry? Band-Aid: yes or no? Eyes open or closed?

No one wanted to get the dreaded needle, of course. But without it, you couldn't get on that glorious yellow schoolbus. And, for Pete's sake, what WAS the point of living if you didn't go to school? So, one by one, whether we went to the doctor's office or the county health clinic, whether we bravely rolled up our sleeve or went down kicking and screaming, whether we brought home a yellow balloon or a red lollipop, we got immunized. Shots happen.

Other benchmark moments included losing baby teeth (proud to be one of the first), riding a two-wheeler (definitely one of the last) and jumping off the high-dive (ten bucks from Mom and the loudest belly flop the Canyon Racquet Club had ever seen).

As a tween and young teen, the girltalk turned to training bras, leg-shaving and what the school nurse called Maturation. Oh, how we giggled at those embarassing TV commercials with the butterflies and the girls in white shorts! It was horrible and fascinating.

But, one by one, whether we were ready or not, Old Lady Puberty started in on us. By the end of ninth grade, we all emerged from her clutches, humbled by acne and bad perms. Embarassed-slash-proud that we were starting to look like grown ups.

High school female chatter was all about the driver's license and the junior prom. (Don't ask.) In our twenties, we discussed getting a degree, an apartment, a job, a husband. By my early thirties, I had been to so many baby showers, I could recite hundreds of pregnancy, labor and delivery stories without ever having set foot in a maternity ward.

And when I did finally get my babies, I had all kinds of mommy mentors to guide me. Because girlfriends talk and share and warn and advise.

So, girlfriends. What's next?

In six weeks, I will be 40 years old and I'm not sure what that means. If 5 year olds go to kindergarten and 16 year olds learn to drive, what do 40 year olds do?

If you are a member of Club Forty, I would love to hear from you. I know you have some good advice for me, girlfriends always do. What do you love about this decade? Any books, workouts, products you think a newbie should know about? Any regrets? Any secrets?

I don't know if I want to kick and scream all the way or just take a deep breath and roll up my sleeve. But, I guess, like that dreaded kindergarten needle, forty is inevitable.

Red lollipop, anyone?

Late Breaking News

Luke is officially a man now.

Until last night, he was the only male in the family to have his original, God-given bone structure intact. And I think he was a little embarassed about it.

But, anyone acquainted with Luke knew that his days as a fracture-virgin were numbered. All it took was a late night tee-ball practice, a dare-devil move on the climbing structure and a pair of slippery sneakers.

Snap! Broken humeris and his initiation into the Broken Bone Boys Club was complete.

We're very proud.

In another health-related story, Jake's upper braces were removed yesterday. Fifth-grade girls everywhere are reporting heart palpitations.

(You haven't seen his retainer anywhere, have you?)

And, finally, I am happy to report that Emily won the flower arranging contest sponsored by her school! She will compete in the district competition later this month. Her brothers were not impressed until they heard about the grand prize: $200 cash.

Now they think it's the coolest thing you can do around here...without breaking a bone.

New House Nuptials

Brad and I headed out west this weekend so I could meet the new house.

I confess, I was scared and felt like I was going on the biggest blind date of my life.

Or, more accurately, like I was the bride at an arranged marriage.

Would the new place need a lot of work?

A woman's touch?

Or just some window treatments?


I am happy to report that the new house is lovely.

A far cry from our center hall colonial, but it has the potential for true desert beauty.

I am excited now. But, initially, there was some weeping.

Poor Brad. It was hard for me to explain that the tears weren't just about crown molding and entryway tiles. They were all tied up in leaving friends, baby furniture and peony bushes behind. Turning 40 and sending the twins to first grade. Figuring out the next chapter in my life.

And besides, all brides cry a little. Right?

I'll be just fine.

Now we're home and I'm gearing up for the final trek west.

(But it might not be much of a honeymoon.)

A Window in His Smile

All four of my children have been last among their peers to get and lose baby teeth. This is tough because everybody knows that a gap-toothed grin is the ultimate kindergarten status symbol. So Sam was completely thrilled when his first little chopper came out at school today. Not only did the event totally dominate Circle Time, but he also got to visit the school nurse and received a plastic treasure box, a brushing chart and a sticker! Heady stuff.


Once home, he lost and found the tooth at least half a dozen times. It's hard work keeping such a tiny pearl safe until bedtime.

(P.S. I am very proud of Luke. He has been supportive and hidden his envy well. It must be tough to watch your twin excel in tooth-losing and (worse!) money-getting. Especially when you don't have even the teensiest of wiggles in your own mouth.)

Anyway, I am happy we have some tooth stories on the bookshelf. It's a fun way to make bedtime a little more special.

Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth by Lucy Bate.

A classic. I remember reading it at the dentist's office when I was little.

The Holiday Handwriting School by Robin Pulver

The twins want SO MUCH to believe in the Tooth Fairy even with all the doubtful comments from the sophisticated third- and fifth-graders in the family. What better way to comfort them than a book all about the Tooth Fairy and her buddies, Santa & the Easter Bunny?

Throw Your Tooth on the Roof by Selby B. Beeler

Do you know kids in South America throw their teeth on the roof? African children plant them in the ground. French children leave them for the Tooth Rat to find. Fun and educational. Enjoy!

Big Leagues

Today was Opening Day for baseball and softball.

All four are playing this season.

Li'l Sluggers: Then and Now

Thankfully, the twinks can play on the same team. So we only have three fields, three games and three practice schedules to juggle. Four would be suicide.

Am looking forward to a killer farmer's tan and a lot of hot dogs.