We're done. 'Til February.

Ok, I swear after this you won't hear about a birthday party until February.  Promise. 

William's birthday party was a sweet success.  The definition of success can be rather vague so I'll give you my definition:  friends, family, fun, no one got hurt, good food, happy birthday boy, kickass waterslide.  That actually just kind of sums up the day, really.

We had a lot of family, some of whom couldn't come and we missed every single one of them.  We had most of our beloved family friends, and we were joined by a lot of new friends from William's preschool class.  It was great to get to know the kids and their parents. 

Rather than write, I'll just post a picture summary of the day.  Thanks to all - especially mom, Grandma B, and Bill and Ellen - for all the help, and to everyone who spent your day with us.  It was really such an awesome time!

The awesome, dual-lane waterslide.  This was towards the end of the day when only a few kids were left.  It was steep and faaaaast.

Drew on the slide - first one down.  This is the first of 3 bathing suits she sported at the party, btw.

Playing with his buddy with the gift Uncle Cory gave him.  It's always a great idea to give a little 4 year old boy who has two sisters a bow and arrow for his birthday.

Lunch - a great spread

A few of the cuties taking a waterslide break to eat

Lauren wore a birthday dress in honor of her brother's birthday.  The real reason?  I know it won't fit her come March for her own and I didn't want it to never get worn.

More lunch fun.  Notice the beer bottle front and center?  Niiiiiiice.

Cupcake time!

Love the blue lips

Lauren and Nana (my mom).  Love this picture

Some of the Peters clan

Peters with Grandma Burns

How lucky are my kids to have 3 of their great grandparents and 3 of their grandparents at their house for their birthday parties?

Presents!  That kid made out.  Such generous and thoughtful friends we have...

Love him

Happy Birthday, buddy.  Now stop growing up so damn fast.  I can't stand it.

Thanks to Misty for taking most of these pictures.  You're awesome.

Sleep, where art thou? Washed away by a pill, I think.

I haven't written much about my random bizarre health issues here other than allude to the fact that they are hormone related.  It appears a little more than that may be going on and although thankfully it's nothing serious, it's a pain in the ass.  Well, not literally.  If I'm going to be literal I'd say it's a pain in my shoulders.  And a pain in my hips.  And a pain in my elbows.  I have inflammation throughout my body that has, at this point, an unknown cause.  My levels on all my bloodwork have come back time and time again extremely elevated.  The specific tests for Lupus and other autoimmune diseases have all be negative, thankfully.  Soo, this random inflammation has kept me achey and miserable somedays and just enough to make me cranky on others.  My rheumotologist put me on a 20-day regimen of Prednisone which I began on Tuesday.  Today is Friday. 

 Oh, and by the way?  It's Friday at 5:44am.  I could have written this post at 2:00am because I was awake then, too, but I was too considerate to let the glare of my laptop possibly wake up Chris.  Now I'm over it because I've been laying here awake for nearly 4 hours.  Sleep is my very best friend in the world so when I don't sleep, I know something is up.  Either I'm 9 months pregnant and am awake because it's hard to be like a manatee and be comfortable in a bed OR, apparently, I'm on Prednisone.  BUT!  Here I am, awake to the dark sound of the sprinklers outside, and I. don't. ache. one. bit.

Hmmmmm.  Now.  Would I rather feel a bit jittery, like I could bust out and do the Can-Can at any minute and not sleep or be achey.  The jury is still out  on that one.  I'll report back. 

That's me.  With no aches for the first time in 3 years.  At 2am.

We're not waiting, we're rocking it now

William's 4th birthday party is this weekend.  He's in two different classes during the week at school and I invited both.  That's a total of 28 kids.  Plus the siblings and parents that come along.  Then there are our core group of good friends that are a part of our family and then of course our family family.  Right now the number is at 52, that's if everyone who RSVP'd yes comes.  And that doesn't include the 21 people who chose not to RSVP but may come anyway.  So, I'm calling this William's Sweet Four party.  No need to wait until he's 16, we're blowing this mother out now.  For William's Sweet Four party we're rocking the neighborhood with Kidz Bob 18, a double waterslide, jeeps, play structure, big trampoline, and bikes.  I'm making a shitload of homemade cupcakes and frosting.  We're ordering Costco pizza (a bit ghetto but c'mon), Nana's potato salad, Auntie Jen's green salad, and an enormous plate of fruit kids can grab with their hands and run.  I don't do goody bags, I think I'm the only one I know of who doesn't.  The housecleaner came today, I made 3 double batches of frosting this morning, and all the fruit has been purchased.  Tomorrow is cupcake day and tomorrow night I expect that my mother-in-law and I will sit and frost them all.  
I love having a house full.  I love having a backyard full.  But seriously, this is out of control.  He's four.  FOUR.  I think it's awesome that people want to come play here and want to help him celebrate and I am really looking forward to William's Sweet Four party. 

FYI, it's the only time you'll see a preposition used at the end of a sentence in this blog.

  

I would...

have dinner in the sky.  How awesome would that be?

How may inches wide is a venti nonfat mocha??

I know I take all the conveniences of my life for granted and when I think about each of the things I use throughout the day that make my day easier and more comfortable, it's really amazing how many there are.  I have an egg slicer for nice thinly cut hard-boiled eggs for my salad, a remote control for my bedroom light so I don't have to get out of bed to shut the light off, and video screen baby monitor so that when the kids were infants I didn't have to wonder what was going on or if they were awake, I could press a button from where I sat and peek at them.  That's why this story is just so absolutely incredible to me.  I think it is to everyone who has read about it but if you really think about what it'd be like...  I'm not sure I'm that strong. 

The 33 Chilean miners trapped 2,300 feet underground since Aug. 5 are living a life nobody's ever experienced — the previous record for surviving in a collapsed mine is 25 days. The men, age 19 to 63, will remain in their cramped, broiling quarters until Christmas, Chilean officials estimate. As they try to stay healthy, occupied and optimistic, here are some details on their "incredible" day-to-day life in 4,500 square feet of "hell":




1. Everything they're sent is less than 3.2 inches wide


The miners' life lines are three narrow boreholes extending down from the surface to their chamber. All rations and supplies — 5 liters of water a day each; 2,000 calories worth of food, including nutrition shakes, bread, fruit, and ham; toiletries; lightweight, fungus-resistant clothing; batteries; medicine; etc. — are lowered in 3.19-inch-wide tubes called "doves." The packages are sent 24 hours a day.






2. The miners have a personal trainer


Starting this week, the personal trainer is leading the men through a one-hour daily workout, via a closed-circuit video feed. This is important to keep them in good spirits, says Chilean health minister Jaime Mañalich, but also because when the miners are rescued, they'll need 35-inch waists, or smaller, to make it out the 2,300-foot hole being dug for them. Most Americans would need the exercise: The average U.S. man has a 39.7-inch waist.






3. They will still have to work


Another reason the miners have to stay in shape: When their escape route's pilot hole breaks through, they'll need to start working to clear away up to 4,000 tons of rock and rubble, in constantly rotating shifts.






4. They have an iPod


The iPod is hooked up to speakers, to encourage communal listening. But since they don't have electricity, they send it up to be recharged. They also have TV and movies piped down to them on fiber optic cable and projected on an improvised screen. (Watch the miners cheer on their national soccer team)






5. Gambling is encouraged


Early on in their ordeal, the miners created a makeshift casino out of a table and dirty red cloth. The games include dominoes and poker. From a video they made, it looks like the miners are "whiling away the afternoon in some darkened gambling dive," says David Jones in Britain's Daily Mail.






6. They're staying in close touch with their families


The miners' family members, some of them living in their own improvised camps near the rescue site, got to see their loved ones 24 days after the collapse, in a 45-minute video the miners recorded on a tiny video camera sent through the borehole. The video included a tour of the shelter and personal messages to family members. Later, a phone system was set up so the miners could speak directly to their relations above.






7. The miners are getting pep talks from the Alive survivors


Four Uruguayan ex-rugby players who made it through ten weeks in the snowy Andes following a 1972 plane crash — a saga recounted in the film Alive (1993) — traveled to the mine in early September to encourage the miners and their families. "They are much luckier than we were because they didn't have to make the terrible decision to eat their friends," noted crash survivor Jose Luis Inciarte, 62.






8. Even underground, day is bright and night is dark


On the advice of NASA doctors and engineers, the miners have created a lighted "day" area and a perpetually dark "night" area, using the two spots to create some semblance of a regular day. A schedule is important for mental well-being amid all the uncertainty, NASA experts say, and Vitamin D supplements will help alleviate the sun deprivation.






9. They're allowed to smoke


Last week, Chilean authorities decided that the chamber's air ventilation system could handle lighted cigarettes, so they started sending down two packs of smokes a day. Previously, the miners had been using nicotine patches to cope with their addictions.

This article can be found here.

6 words

Sometimes when I'm driving I compose haikus in my head about the day or about how I'm feeling or whatever.  You know haikus - 5/7/5?  Is that weird?  Oh, well.  So when I heard about this project I just loved it.  It's a word nerd kind of thing but I really do think that creativity is pushed to a new level when such limitations are given.

The Six Word Memoir is something the people at Smith Magazine began.  They've even published a few books on the topic and with entries from submissions they've received.  You can find one of the books here.  You can also go online here and submit your own six word memoir or read what other people have written.  Now, memoir to me implies that it's a piece of writing to summarize one's life but in this case it can be that, or even just the day or the moment. 

If you had to write your six word memoir what would it say??

Mine would say:  No idea why I'm so lucky.

September 13, 2006

Time has never gone faster than since I've had kids.  I just can't believe that it was 4 years ago today that I birthed a 10 pound bouncing baby boy.  He's an emotional hot mess and such a sweet, sweet love.  I absolutely could not love him one single bit more than I already do.

September 13, 2006

September 13, 2007 - age 1

September 13, 2008 - age 2

September 13, 2009 - age 3

September 13, 2010 - age 4 today!

Once a snuggle bug...

always a snuggle bug.