One of the Two of Us

Adam and I posed for a picture together recently.  When was the last time we'd done this?  The last one I can remember was at a wedding while I was pregnant with Mason.  Just like everything else, it's easy to neglect couple photos when there are kids around.  We try to get pictures of daddy with the kids and every once and a while I ask for a picture of the kids and I.  But for the most part our pictures are of the kids only. 

So what prompted this one?  Well, it's kind of a sad story actually.  Mason has suddenly become preoccupied with death.  After attending four funerals last year, two belonging to close family members, he got a taste of death a little earlier than we were prepared for.  Trying to explain to a six-year-old the difference between the body and the soul and what happens to those components is difficult at best.  Yet we did our best as these deaths occurred to reassure Mason it was okay, it was a part of life, and those people that are gone are in heaven looking down on us.

After all these conversations, Mason continued to ask questions...
     Who will take care of me and Mya if you and daddy die?
     Well Auntie MeMe and Uncle Dan of course.
     So we'd get to live with Julia?
     Yeah.
     Oh, that's okay then. 

And then...
     When you and daddy die, will you think of me and Mya all the time?
     Of course Mason, we will be angels in heaven and we'll watch over you.

And then the discussion that prompted the picture...
     I want a picture of you and daddy to put in my room in case you die.
     Well sure, would you like a picture from our wedding, when mommy's in her princess dress?
     Yeah, let's get one.
     Or how about we take a picture of daddy and I on your phone, so it's a new picture?
     Well, how would we get it out of the phone?  I need to hold it.
     I can get it out of the phone.  How about a picture of the whole family?
     Yeah, that's a good idea!
     Well maybe next summer we can have Miss Shelby take some pictures of us all.
     Yeah! 
 
I'm sobbing through that whole discussion, and Mason asks if I'm crying happy tears.  (He's also recently enjoyed trying to make me cry happy tears.)  So I explain that no, these are sad tears because I don't want to die and leave him and Mya behind.  Then I hugged my two babies, and Mason did all he could to make me cry happy tears with all kinds of I-love-yous and you're-the-best-mom-evers.

And so Mason took a picture of Adam and I.  A frame of this picture is now sitting next to Mason's bed, just in case.  

Remembering Grandma Pete

My Grandma Pete passed away Tuesday night, 93 years young.  We all knew this day was coming and knowing it's inevitable makes you start thinking back on the memories.  I was initially feeling sad that I didn't really have any vivid childhood memories of my Grandma.  But the more I thought about it, the more I started remembering little things, and all these little things make up a big memory of my Grandma. 

So I remember picking green and waxed beans with her in her garden.  I remember tinsel on the Christmas tree and trying to sneak snowballs when it wasn't desert time.  I remember crossword puzzles and Harlequin romances.  I remember the bumble bee noises she'd always make at the little ones, including my own. 

And mostly I remember her sitting in her rocker recliner, just watching all the craziness going on around her.  She's now got the best seat in the house for that.

Mason's 6th Birthday

Birthday party planning is an art. After seven parties between the two kids, I thought I'd figured it all out. 

Step 1: Pick a theme.  This should be relatively easy.  Mason loves Super Mario and Mario Kart these days so a Mario party seemed like a really good idea.  And he happily approved it.  One trip to the party supply store and I quickly realized a Mario party wasn't going to be so easy after all.  For some reason none of the stores had Mario party stuff.  No favors, no plates, just some expensive candy.  So I made the invites myself, which actually turned out pretty cute.  And just had to make do with favors in the primary colors of Mario.

Step 2: Pick a date and time.   Again, this should be easy, but as soon as the invites went out we found out we had a problem.  We decided to invite Mason's closest friends from school this year, and wouldn't you know it one of those friends had scheduled her birthday for the exact same date and time.  We'll have to coordinate next year, but for this year we ended up being able to change the time.  Crisis averted, and all the kids were still able to come.

Step 3: Pick a place.  September is hit or miss with the weather.  For his first four birthdays, the weather was beautiful and we had indoor parties.  Since we'd gone four for four, last year we had an outdoor party and while it didn't rain, it was cold and gloomy.  So we reverted back to an indoor party and held it at the bowling alley.  (Wouldn't you know the weather was beautiful, but the party was super fun none the less.)

Step 4: Invite friends.  Because Mason's party was so early in the year, he didn't have time to make friends with the new kids in his class so we just invited his closest friends from Kindergarten and daycare.  This ended up being probably the easiest of choices, and he was so excited when each one arrived. 

So we had Mary, Bradley, Lyle and Raina from school.  Zoe, Blake and Emma came too and of course Mya and Julia and the whole Rowe family.  It was a full group of kiddos - somehow we managed to wrangle a few of them for a picture. 

I will say, adding a bunch of kids to the mix definitely made it more of an adventure.  But I think they all had fun, and I know Mason loved having everyone there to celebrate with him.

Step 5: Eat cake!  We've done some pretty exciting cakes in the past.  But after we ordered cupcakes from the Meijer bakery for Mya's party and found out how easy and cheap that was, I'm not sure we'll ever do anything different again.  No matter intricacy of the cake, the excitement of singing and blowing out the candle is still there. 

In the end, we had another successful party in the books.  Yes there were bumps along the way, but as long as the birthday boy is happy, I feel like I've done my job.

Here's hoping for many more wonderful birthdays for our sweet little guy.

Welcome to the Family

It doesn't seem that long ago I was posting about meeting baby Julia for the first time.  So it's no wonder I'm feeling a little twinge of nostalgia when writing this post about meeting Mason & Mya's newest cousin, Jackson.

The kids and I ran up for a quick trip to my sister's house to see Jackson for the first time.  He was sleeping peacefully when we arrived so both kids peeked at him and ran off to play with Julia.  I can't blame them - Julia was certainly much more fun for them than a sleeping baby.

And since they didn't care about holding him, it just meant more auntie snuggle time.  The thing that always strikes me when I see a brand-newborn is how small they are.  I know, I know, of course they're tiny.  But they always seem so much smaller in person, swimming in their newborn-sized clothes.  As Megan reminded me, they'll blink and all of sudden the newborn clothes won't fit anymore.  

Eventually, Jackson woke up a little bit and Mason decided he'd like to hold him.  He did surprisingly well, and the two of them sat and watched the Lions play football.  It's nice to add another boy to the mix.  Poor Mason was getting a little overrun by estrogen with a sister and three girl cousins.  Now he'll have a kindred spirit to pass on the legends of Sodor and Radiator Springs. 

As we were lying in bed this evening talking about the day, Mason paid sweet little Jackson the highest compliment.  He said he wished Jackson was a part of our family.  Another baby definitely isn't happening for us, but I think we're going to have fun watching our cousin grow.

First Day Jitters

It was the night before Mason's first day of first grade, and as I got ready for bed I couldn't shake this uneasy feeling inside of me.  At first I thought I might be getting sick so I started thinking about what I'd eaten during the day.  Then it hit me - I had a serious case of the back-to-school jitters. 

I'm still not totally certain what brought this on.  Maybe it's because our bedtime routine was thrown off and I didn't get a chance to read him "The Night Before First Grade" like I'd planned.  Maybe it was just genuine excitement for my kiddo.  And maybe, just maybe, it was that not-so-tiny perfectionist voice inside me wondering if I'd done enough to keep the summer brain drain at bay. 

I don't recall parents having to be so involved with their kids school work back when I was a kid.  I'm sure my mom helped me with homework when I needed it, but I don't really think she had to encourage me to do my homework.  I liked to do it, and I liked to do well on it.  (I'm also sure I didn't have very much of it, if any at all, back when I was in elementary school. Certainly not the weekly packets Mason had last year.)  I don't know if other moms are feeling this way, or if it's just self-imposed pressure, but I feel like how my child does in school directly reflects my momhood.  I'm hoping this is something that will wear off once Mason is old enough to be accountable for his own homework. 

It's the first day of school, and this post is about me - when it should be about my adorable little first grader.  So with that in mind, here's what's up with Mason these days:

• He lost two teeth this summer!  Sorry, no posts on this subject.  Teeth and especially the pulling of loose teeth creep me out.  I did save the teeth, which is also gross, but I couldn't bear the thought of throwing a part of my child away. 
• He is going to play soccer again this fall.  While I'm not certain he really liked it in the spring, he agreed to give it another try.  This time he's on a team of 1st and 2nd graders from his school and one of the second grade teachers is his coach, so maybe it will work out a little better this time around.
• He is getting better about having his picture taken.  (Evidence above.) There will eventually be a post about this turn of events.  I'll keep you all in suspense until then.
• The kid loves video games.  On his phone, on his dad's old phone that he inherited, on his dad's tablet and even on our old game systems.  Mario Kart is by far his favorite - imagine his surprise this summer when daddy got out the Nintendo 64 and showed him how we can play it on the big TV.  And the thing is, he's good at them!  He's legitimately beaten us both at Mario Kart and he's significantly better than me at Super Mario Brothers for SNES.  He's also been playing an Angry Birds RPG game on his phone, and at last check he was at a higher level than his dad. 

So that's a snapshot of our little guy these days.  Our little first grader.  To quote Mason, when I think about how quickly this time has gone all I can really say is "What. The. Heck."

2nd Annual Mattens/Burr Camping Adventure

Last year's camping adventure was such a success, we decided to do it again this year.  This time we stayed at Wilson State Park in Harrison, MI.  We stuck to two nights again like last year, and given the kids' ages I think that's still sufficient to let them have fun without the parents going crazy.  The kids had a few rough moments, but thankfully we all made it out of 'wilderness' with our sanity.

I'm going to take the liberty of speaking for Megan and Dan and say we do this trip for the kids.  Sure they see each other about once a month, but only for a few hours usually.  This gives them the opportunity to spend tons of time with each other and make memories that will remain with them forever.  Adam still tells stories of the times he spent with his cousins at the lake and Megan and I talk about camping trips we went on as kids.  We've mixed those together, combining camping and cousins, to get one fantastic weekend. 

So the highlights from this year: playing for hours at the beach ~ teaching the kids how to build drip sand castles (grandpa would've been so proud) ~ watching the girls play together ~ eating s'mores ~ Adam burning his mouth on a campfire pizza (because he just. can't. wait.) ~ seeing Barney riding a bike around the campground

Next year we'll have one more Burr cousin to add to the adventure.  Though I don't know how Mason and Mya are going to be able to wait a whole year - they're already asking when we can go camping with Julia again!

Saying Goodbye to Broad Street

For ten years we lived at our house on Broad Street.  We spent ten years grumbling about the decline of the neighborhood and about the parts of our 1940's house that just didn't work for our lives.  All the while we were complaining, we were building our little family and making memories.

It was an easy decision to move.  It was much more difficult to leave this house behind.  You see, it wasn't just us that had lived on Broad Street.  Adam's grandma had raised her kids just a few blocks down.  When we decided to put an offer on the house, we didn't even know this.  How, in a city with hundreds of streets and thousands of homes, we ended up on the same street just 16 houses down from where Adam's mom was raised is a crazy coincidence.  I think Adam's grandma felt proud we lived there.  She often asked whether people still lived in certain houses, referring to the houses as so-and-so's house instead of by the house number.  That's how it used to be in this neighborhood - you didn't live at an address, your family had a home there.

Obviously a lot has changed on Broad Street since Adam's grandma lived there.  The schools and the homes have declined, even since we moved in.  I once said that the city wouldn't get better unless good people moved there.  And so we stayed, much longer than we wanted to, out of necessity thanks to a terrible real estate market.  We sought out other schooling for Mason.  We learned what time to take the kids to the park so as not to expose them to things they shouldn't hear or see.

And it made me sad.  The neighborhood used to be so much better than this.  Ironically, it was the passing of Adam's grandma that afforded us the financial opportunity to move from the street she'd raised her kids, and from the street we'd started to raise ours. 

The day we moved I went with the first truckload to our new house.  I stayed there to direct furniture traffic while two more truckloads were brought over.  I went back to Broad Street to fill up the truck one last time.  Our house was empty.  And it made me sad.

On Mason's wall still hung the decal we put up before he was born "From small beginnings come great things."  We weren't able to take it with us.  And it made me sad.  I cried, and my dad reassured me we were doing the right thing - the new house is so much better, with a bigger yard, in a much better neighborhood with much better schools.  "But we had our babies here, and I can't take that with me," I cried.

But he was right, and the memories will go with us.  In thinking about this post, I thought I'd add a picture of the house.  I scrolled through the last six years of photos I've got saved digitally, and couldn't find one of the house. All of the pictures are of us, and of the memories we made.  All of these pictures and albums and images in our minds will go with us, and the shell of our home is all that's left behind.

Even though everything around us kept going down, our little family kept getting bigger and better.  "From small beginnings come great things."