What a week!

It's been a hell of a week. Full of emotional ups and downs, tears of joy and of pain ... I'm exhausted and it's only Wednesday.

The fun started Saturday night. First there was this:

Watching, from the comfort of the upper deck, a wedding at a venue that friends of mine own. Isn't that an awesome campfire pit? Once the wedding was over, we went down and roasted marshmallows ourselves. Awesome.

Then it was time to go home. As I was walking back down the stairs, I tripped. And now, this is how I spend my days:

With a broken foot.

We spent Sunday morning in the ER (because I refused to go when I got home Saturday night). The orthopedist doesn't want to see me until next week, to let the swelling go down. That's all I know. It sucks. But the pain is lessening, so that's good.


So then Tuesday rolls around, and this happened (as you may have seen on facebook, twitter, yesterdays blog post, or even the Times):

which was pretty freaking amazing. I feel I've gone on quite a lot about this in various forms of media, so you all get the drift there.

Not to be out of the spotlight for long, the tween had his own way of getting attention. After two eight hour days of intense soccer camp, he came home Tuesday afternoon not feeling well. We'd stocked him up, we thought, with Gatorade and water and the right kind of foods (this is not our first rodeo folks), but he was clearly dehydrated. We were on him the rest of the night about drinking more fluids, but at that point it was too late. About twenty minutes after he went to bed he started violently vomiting and off he and hubs went to the ER.


Which, by the way, just about killed me. Damn broken foot.


So today, recovery for him looked like this:

Follow up doctor visit. No camp. Note the messy hair, bags under his eyes, and the two ER bracelets on his wrist. Conclusion - either a stomach bug or dehydration. Presents the same. Treats the same.

Quite a week. Let's hope it settles down a bit. I'm not sure how you top watching your kid meet the President. And let's not even think about how it could be worse - we just know that it is possible and hope the good mojo stays and the bad juju goes far away.


Cheers folks. I'm ready for bed.

Chatting up the President

Holy hell you guys! Tonight I sat on my couch (with my broken foot elevated ... more on that later) and watched my son, on live TV, shake the presidents hand and talk to him.

You guys!! My son. Met. POTUS!!

Who does that?

My son. The teenager. Did I mention that?

From the Seattle PI footage

He got to watch Air Force One land at Boeing Field. Then he got to walk onto the tarmac (!!!!) and wait at the bottom of the stairs (!!!!) as Obama debarked. He shook his hand, chatted a bit, laughed. They had a moment.

Here is some raw video footage, he's at the 1:20 mark. The angle sucks, I'm waiting for another news channel to post with a better angle. But still. Holy hell.

And what, you may be asking, did they say to each other? From his facebook page:

I thanked him for his support of marriage equality. He told me absolutely, that it was a "priority issue."

You may also be asking HOW he got to be part of this group. It was a thank you from the Obama for America (OFA) campaign for all his hard work - the whole group on the tarmac were campaign volunteers.

Sweet!

I don't remember the last time we were all together around the tv, watching something. Okay, granted one of us was actually ON the TV, but it counts as a significant family moment. The toddler kept waving at the TV, calling his name. The tween actually wished he WAS his brother (um, wow). Hubs and I held hands. I choked up a bit.

Eek!!

What a surreal day.



PS I'm trying to buy a copy of the above picture, it's the best one I've found online (though I've seen lots). I'll probably want multiple prints, so don't be surprised to see it as a magnet on the side of my car. Or on the back of my t-shirt. Maybe as earrings. Ooooh, on my flask even!

Recapping the Presidential visit

The Seattle Times posted an article this morning about Sue Black (the teen's bio teacher) introducing Obama at the Paramount yesterday afternoon. Other than the fact that they got the teenagers details wrong (he actually IS part of the campaign), the article is informative about Sue and her journey. Read it here.

At the event itself, the teen didn't get to meet the POTUS, but it was an amazing day, and to watch his teacher experience such a monumentous event ... he was a bit like a proud parent. It wouldn't have happened without his intervention, without him interviewing her in the first place. Talk about a proud parent ... he was this catalyst to a once in a lifetime experience for her. Holy wow.

He took a bunch of pictures and left the files on my computer. So I stole a few to share with you all. Enjoy.

Yeah, that would be Dave Matthews. Singing before the president comes on stage.

A very fitting picture of Sue Black, she has a lot of energy.

Holy cow, she's hugging the president! So cool!

Press craziness!

What a crazy adventure! So proud of this "kid" and all that he is experiencing!!

Hanging with the President, part 2

A couple months ago the teenager submitted a blog post on one of his teachers, Suzanne Black, to the Obama for America website.

A few weeks ago, some of the higher-ups in the Washington state chapter of the campaign were discussing who should introduce Obama at an upcoming local fundraising event. Suzanne's name was thrown into the mix because of the blog post Austin wrote. They called Austin to get some more information about her and eventually she was picked.

Today, Suzanne Black will be introducing Barack Obama at the Paramount theater. Dave Matthews will be performing as well. And the teenager will be there to take it all in. With his camera. Wearing his brand new suit that "he" bought to wear to prom.

Earlier this week, when he finally got the approval from the higher ups to be at the event, we had the following conversation.

Teen: I got approved! I get to go see the President again!

Me: Do you think you'll get a chance to meet him?

Teen: Maybe

Me: If you do, you better get a picture.

Teen: I'll try

Me. Um, no. There is no try. If you meet the president and there is not a picture to document it, I will not pay for college.

Teen: (LoLing) Okay! I'll make sure someone takes a picture.

Me: Good. Now get your head out of the clouds and go do the dishes.

The teen, with the Governor of Washington state last month. No big deal.

What a ride this kid is on. He's only 18. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Teenager saving the world

The teenager has a crazy cool to-do list these days.

For one, he's working with the Washington chapter of Obama for America, and recently had his first interview published on their site. His next interview should be up soon (he's working on it now), he interviewed one of his teachers. I'll put up a link to it when it's posted, it's a really powerful piece. Tomorrow he will be covering (and live tweeting) the Obama For American Regional Team Convention (to help organize the volunteers).

Taken at Boeing, in the press area, when he went
to see the president speak a few weeks ago.

He's also working with his high school GSA chapter, helping them organize the Day of Silence both at his school and at the district level (!!!).

In his spare time he is helping to launch an anti-discrimination campaign in the district. He's meeting with various junior high principal's over the next week to start GSA chapters at that level. Next week he's speaking at a staff meeting at his school to inform them of plans for their Day of Silence as well as meeting with the other high school organizers in the district so they can all be on the same page.

As a personal request from his principal (who is seriously impressed with him these days), he'll be attending a school board lunch as a reporter, to write a story for his high school paper.

Oh, and we are getting college acceptance letters in, he's prepping for his IB tests in May, and trying to keep up on his daily studies.

So, yeah.

That's an impressive, crazy cool, overwhelming to-do list for an eighteen year old.

My agenda for tomorrow? Run a 5K in the morning. Drink beer after. Nap. Go to the Sounders season opener. Drink more beer.

Have a good weekend!

The teenagers ten year plan

Teen: Mom, I've come up with my ten year plan.

Me: Okay. Let's hear it.

Teen: Well, I have to show you. It's on youtube.

Me: ????

Teen: Just watch.



Me: Umm, I don't understand. How is this your ten year plan?

Teen: I want to be the Emperor. I love how all the storm troopers are lined up to serve & protect him.

Me: Sigh. It's good to have goals honey.

To be fair, he did show me another video first. It was of a light saber battle. I think, before he becomes Emperor, he wants to stage some sort of coup first. With light sabers.

Because that's realistic.

The teenagers first byline

This is where the teenager talks about going to see the President speak. His first byline outside of his high school paper. We will find out shortly if it also goes to their print version.

Pretty cool stuff. Click on the picture to go to the article:

Proud mom.

Hanging with the President.

The teenager has had an exciting few weeks with his press pass from his high school paper, attending some pretty major events in Olympia.

Picture borrowed from the teenagers fb page. I believe he borrowed it from TVW. Taken just after Gov. Gregoire signed the Marriage Equality Bill into law in Washington State on Feb 13, 2012.

Tomorrow (Friday) said teenager will get to attend a speech given by President Obama. With press access. Cleared by the White House.

That is all.

Senior pictures teaser

The teen and my favorite photographer got together yesterday for senior pictures. They started at the UW and then moved down to Pike Place Market; I'm happy to get the Seattle vibe in these pics since the teen plans to move far away next year. I'm so excited to see the results (over 500 shots taken!!), but wanted to share the teaser pic that Craig texted me yesterday.

Tell me, again, when did he get to be an adult? *sniff*

Saying goodbye to my soccer team

In a few hours we will head out to the very last soccer game that I will coach with my 18 year olds.

That's me. Doing my coaching thing.

I'm having a hard time with this. I've watched these kids grow up. I've coached them for five years, but even before that I hung around at practices, scrimmaged with them when they needed extra players, cheered them on from the sidelines.

Most of these kids have been part of my life for a very long time. And it's almost over.

This has been my first real moment of "this is it" with the teenager. We've shared soccer since he was on his first team at age five. Thirteen years of memories, and now it's about to be done.

I'm going to be a basket case.

But these are teenage boys and they don't want to see that. I have to figure out a way to hold it together while these goofballs that I love come together on the field for the final time.

I have to figure out a way to laugh and cheer and smile and suck it up. I have to  say goodbye to 17 silly, dopey, funny, amazing kids that have, for the most part, found a place in my "mom" heart.

Yep. I'm a basket case. No way around it. Goodbye's just suck, I have no profound words to get me through it.

*sob*

Update 10:30pm: It's done. It's over.

We had a great game (we won, 3-1), it was a lot of fun. It was a little physical (we drew our second yellow card of the season. Awesome.), the teenager made some AMAZING saves in goal. Some of the guys played in their pajamas, because we made a deal last season.

I made them cookies. They brought me flowers. We had a group hug.

And now we are done.

*sniff*

Life

The varying degrees of my day:

"Mommy," says the toddler, holding a coin, "do you want heads or Veggie Tales?" It took me a minute to understand she was trying to flip the coin and wanted me to call a side. Cute.

It's 35 degrees today. Everyone at school was dressed with hats and gloves and down coats. Not my tween. He was wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt with an under armour underneath. I had to argue with him to get the under armour on. His sweatshirt was "in his backpack."

The teenager has officially applied early action to two schools. Applications have been sent to Georgetown and Northeastern. He is VERY excited.

Proud mama

And for the latest in the teenagers accomplishments: he came home from school yesterday telling us that his principal had nominated him for a leadership award and a national scholarship. He didn't have a lot of information (they are going to tell him more on Tuesday), but we did learn that the principal can only nominate one senior student from the school. He's obviously impressed the administration, which pretty much rocks!

I'll keep you posted!

Nice words from the teenager

It's time to take down the teenagers Mother's Day message on my bedroom wall.

I do it with mixed feelings, but it needs to be done. But I don't want to forget it, because it warms my heart, so I am going to memorialize it here on the blog.


The message on the wall:

THIS MOTHERS DAY

I'd like to take a moment to thank you for everything.

Thank you so much. Thank you for accepting us and thank you for being there.

You've done so much for this family: keeping it together, chasing after the toddler, cleaning up lipstick and nail polish stains, listening to my rants and dealing with my solitude. And all without requiring gratitude.

Today, I hope, can be a day where we show you that gratitude that we oftentimes do not; show just how much you matter!

I hope you have a fantastic day.

Love, *the teenager*

National Merit Commendation for the teen

‎"Oh, by the way mom, I'm a National Merit Commended Student" the teen says, as he's eating dinner and working on his laptop. Because it's not such a big deal or anything.

We are thankful that he at least thought to tell us.

Here is a bit more info on what this means, exactly:

In late September, more than two-thirds (about 34,000) of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT® receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year and is below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. Although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit® Scholarships, some of these students do become candidates for Special Scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.

And just in case the teen is reading this:

Special Scholarships
Every year some 1,300 National Merit® Program participants, who are outstanding but not Finalists, are awarded Special Scholarships provided by corporations and business organizations. To be considered for a Special Scholarship, students must meet the sponsor's criteria and entry requirements of the National Merit Scholarship Program. They also must submit an entry form to the sponsor organization. Subsequently, NMSC contacts a pool of high-scoring candidates through their respective high schools. These students and their school officials submit detailed scholarship applications. A committee of NMSC professional staff evaluates information about candidates' abilities, skills, and accomplishments and chooses winners of the sponsor's Special Scholarships. These scholarships may either be renewable for four years of undergraduate study or one-time awards.

Good job honey! All that hard work, those sleepless nights, the stress and frustration of this IB program, this makes it all worth it, right?


Right?

pictures

I can't get enough of this photo of the tween and the toddler.

I took it after school one day last week. The tween complained the entire walk home from school and I wouldn't let him come in the house until he got over it and left all the 'grumpy' outside. The toddler was trying to cheer him up.

Today, the toddler found my aprons (actually, this one belonged to my grandmother and I love it. Technically it's supposed to wrap around your waist, but she has her own style). She also found her brothers chef hat. And moved her kitchen from the dining room into our kitchen.

She keeps her kitchen as clean as mommy does.

And finally, in case you missed it on facebook or twitter, the new uniforms arrived for the teenager's soccer team.

Senior year insanity

Before Pierre and God come in to the picture, the teenager has to get in to college. And before college, he has to survive his senior year.

Last night was open house at the high school. We got to spend 10 minutes in each class, meeting the teachers, getting a quick recap of what the year will be like for them, and hearing things like "you should have already heard about this from your child".

Ummm, no. Teenagers, by definition, do not communicate with their parents.

The teenager, if you haven't been following along, is in a program called IB, or International  Baccalaureate. To quote the Urban Dictionary definition, IB is "A malicious program aimed at the unnaturally brighter population in an attempt to overload their brains, thus reducing them to vegetables without lives ... In an attempt to shove too much information down the throats of students, the program ends up significantly improving the core skill required to succeed in IB: Bullshit." Thus the phrase 'IB, therefore I BS' was born. 

And seriously, that BS thing is pretty accurate.  

We are also in the midst of the college application process at the moment, which is confusing and overwhelming. He's decided to apply early action to Georgetown and U Chicago. He's also looking at applying to Brown, Northeastern, U Maryland, UW, and possibly NYU. At the moment his plan is to major in philosophy with a focus on politics and to get into a pre-law program.

That give me a headache.

Other than college essays and IB insanity, he is also taking an extra period to work on the student paper. We learned last night that 60 students applied to be part of the staff and they only took 18, which makes it pretty cool that he is part of this team. I'm excited to see his first byline!

He is also working one day a week (teaching swim lessons), playing soccer, and on a local swim team. He is even considering joining the high school swim team, which is MAJOR because he has fought us on joining school sports for years. I'm excited to watch him compete. I love watching him play soccer, I get to see a side of him I normally miss (social, competitive, focused on something other than academics).

The insanity that is senior year for IB kids; it's crazy. We are consumed with college essays, his extended essay, IB exams, community service requirements, soccer, (possibly two) swim team(s), his job, the student paper ... and somewhere in there is sleep, family time and a social life he has just begun to embrace. Not to mention grauation, senior prom, senior party, graduation party, his 18th birthday ... it's going to be a crazy, emotional year.

And then it will be done.

And he will leave.

And I will be an emotional wreck.

first day of kindergarten

A day in the life of my teenager

getting his groove on with one awesome cousin

The teenager announced that when he moves out to start his real life (presumably after he completes his two PhD's), he is going to get a chocolate toy poodle and name it Pierre (there's a story, you'll have to ask him). I told him this was unacceptable, we don't DO little dogs. So, after a little arguing, he has amended his statement.

He is going to get a pygmy goat and name it Pierre.

Later we were discussing Chaz Bono (because, you know, he's been a little in the news lately) and I told him that his mother was Cher (which was news to him! How did I neglect teaching him these important pop culture tidbits??). I'd heard that at birth, Sonny and Cher* had actually named their daughter God. This made him laugh and, atheist that he is, he decided this was brilliant and wants to do this too.

But he's not planning on having children. The plan is to get TWO pygmy goats. One named Pierre and one named God.

To keep in his apartment in New York City.

Of course.


*editors note: I've since learned it was not Sonny and Cher who did this. It was Grace Slick who was rumored to have named her child God at birth. According to Snopes, this is a false rumor. See here.

Holiday Weekend Highlights

Three day weekends rock; I have decided this. We should have more of them. So we can have more memories like these ...

Friday night, we went back to my home town for a football game. The hubs and I sat in the bleachers and held hands. For real, we got to hold hands. And sit together. We never get to do that.

Saturday the toddler helped daddy mow the lawn. While wearing her jammies and 3-sizes-too-big, fur lined, Care Bear snow boots. Because that's how she rolls.

Later, we had a campfire with the neighbors. With s'mores. In the backyard. Dude.

Sunday we spent a day at the lake, watching the kids play in the water. And in the sand. And it was relaxing. With three toddlers! Who knew?

Then I got to have drinks with a client. After watching another client play with wedding dresses. Because this is my job, and it rocks.

Monday I spent hours and hours of uninterrupted time pinning and on etsy (for clients, of course) in my jammies. Yay!

Meanwhile, the teen who goes everywhere in a button down and tie, the one who thinks New York City is heaven and will not consider a college unless it's on a coast or in a big city, went to the state fair. And he texted his commentary to me. Freakin'  hilarious.

That's a lot of happiness for one weekend.

Hope your Labor Day Weekend was filled with equally meaningful moments!

Metaphors at the beach

We vacationed at the beach this weekend, just the teen, the tween and I. Hubs stayed home with the toddler to give me a little break. I was under orders to relax and enjoy my “off” time. You know, with only two kids to be in charge of.

Yesterday I decided to take a drive on the beach. This is not unusual in Ocean Shores, people do it all the time. People also get stuck in the sand because they don’t know HOW to drive on the beach. I could hear Hubs voice in my head, “don’t slow down if you hit the soft sand” and repeated it over and over. And over.

So there we were, driving happily along, enjoying the sound of the waves, the ocean breeze, the smell of the water, without a care in the world.

But then the compact sand I was driving on suddenly wasn’t so compact anymore. And I panicked. And I stopped the car. And I got stuck.

I don’t do well in this kind of situation.

I knew enough (ha!) to not keep spinning my tires, this would dig me in deeper. But this is where my vast knowledge stopped and my panic set in. Which freaked out the tween, because he feeds off other people’s emotions (so like me he is).

I looked around for help, and saw a Tahoe driving to a group nearby, filled to the brim with a burly dad and his burly teenage boys. They all jumped out to help, yelling instructions to each other in Spanish. They tried (with my teens help) to push me out, yelling “give it more gas.” This just dug the back tire in deeper. They tried to hook me up to the Tahoe and pull me out, but didn’t have a strong enough chain and it broke. Eventually they gave up and went over to join the rest of their family flying kites.

We called the beach tow truck, cringing at the $250 my stupidity was going to cost us.

And while we were laying on the warm sand, soaking up the sun and wishing the car would dig itself out of its damn spot, a pick-up truck stopped and asked us if we needed help.

Bless this scary looking, toothless, burly man. Who stops to help a woman and her two kids stranded on the beach. With no way to escape.

He pulls a rusty chain out of the truck and hooks it up to my car. The first attempt results in a very scary noise coming from my car. I had visions of the undercarriage being ripped out. At this point, what am I to do? I freak out (in my head. I’m sure I totally played off the calm and collected beach regular on the outside). I glance at the teen and notice his slightly panicked expression. I couldn’t even look at the tween, because I’m that good of a mom.

One of the teens that had tried to help earlier ran over and asked if we needed help; he and my not so burly teenager (dressed in his button down, slacks and vest – yeah, I know) pushed while I GENTLY gave it enough gas to help it move, but not enough to get the tires spinning.

Success! Yay!

I had the teen call the tow truck driver to cancel (because I wasn't going to stop the car again for anything). He had apparently just arrived to the scene and was not terribly happy that we were not still stranded. Big fat bummer for him.

We drove the rest of the way on the beach slowly, but not stopping, as a fog rolled in off the ocean that gave us about 15 feet of visibility. And when we reached the turn off to get back to the real road we all cheered.

I vowed to never again drive on the beach. Or mindlessly spin my tires. Or dig myself in deeper when I know better. I vowed not to curse the people who are just standing around flying kites, because sometimes they can be helpful.

And I was thankful for the ice cold bottle of Stoli I was driving towards.

Fun kid conversations

The highlights of my day; quotes from the kids.

TODDLER
My tween has a bit of a focus problem at times and you can often hear the hubs or I telling him to focus. Apparently we say it a lot because the toddler tells him to focus fairly often as well. This afternoon, while holding her magic wand she kept yelling "focus focus". This, seemingly, is how she has translated "hocus pocus".

TWEEN 
On the way to the tweens soccer practice, I realized I had forgotten to give him his allergy meds. He has hay fever pretty bad and practice is on a grass field, which tends to trigger swollen, itchy eyes. So I told him if they got too bad we would leave practice early. This is what he says:

Tween: mom, you know who Louie Armstrong is?

Me: umm ... yes

Tween: Well, he had a heart attack once, and when he was all better and he left the hospital, the doctor told him he couldn't play his trumpet anymore. And he said that'd he'd rather die than stop playing his trumpet. Well, that's how I feel about soccer, mom. I'm going to play no matter what.

TODDLER
While at the above soccer practice, the toddler called me from the hubs cell phone. Apparently, while chatting with me, she had wandered away from her dad and set the phone down. I kept calling, loudly, "hello?" and finally she answered me:

"Shhh mommy, be quiet." Then the shuffling sound of the phone moving. "Hold still."

TEEN 
The teenager has recently discovered the fashion world. Here are his current fashion icons, with the wardrobe he prefers:

That would be White Collar's Neal on the left, and Glee's Kurt on the right

He's also quite smart and likes to use big words in every day conversations. He prefers to shop at Nordrstrom, but unfortunately we don't live in a Nordstrom world here at our house. So today I introduced him to Ross. I dropped him off so he could do some shoe shopping as he has been needing a pair. He called me to give me an update.

"They have Calvin Klien here. This is monumentous."

If you don't know him that may seem strange, but to those of us that know him, it just made me chuckle and nod. Welcome to the thrifty world honey.