Day at the Lake

What could be better than a day on the lake with beautiful weather and family? Nothin' I tell ya!

My future's so bright.... I gotta wear NONNA's Shades!

Even better, we had two absolutely exhausted little men who swam their heats out, drove the boat and played so well with their new cousins Macy (9) and Madison (7).

Playing with Pappa, Madison, Macy, Ashley and Jacob on the boat!

Neither dirty nor filthy can fully describe this child in this moment!

Holden's Hot Date and the Schoolyard Rumble

Holden's first day of school behind him, mommy gave him the hook up second day out. With paci, blankie and "Milp" in the packpack, he was ready to go. While he did cry at drop off, his teachers said he did great!

Mommy picked him up a bit early and we went to the library for some books on choochoos and then lunched together at nearby JavaMonkey. On the way to lunch from the library, we had to pass the school. Holden stops dead in his tracks, runs back to me, clings to my leg and says "no mommy- up". He was absolutely certain he didn't want to go back to school that day. I carried monkey boy clinging to me to lunch.

Holden "lunching" with mommy on brie and apples - very shishi!

After lunch, we head back to school to pick up Thornton. Walking up to the playground, we see his old teacher, Ms. Chastain, and wave. I notice that she has Thornton by the hand and says to one of the teachers "Oh, his mom is here. I'll just talk to her".... Uh oh.

She's all smiles on approach, but I walk up to her with a heavy heart.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Well, two of the older boys started getting rough, and Thornton got caught in the middle of a fight."

"Did he start it?" I ask.

"No, but when the fists started flying, let me tell you - he held his own!"

I look down at Thornton and his little left eye and cheek are bright red. I ask him what happened and he says "the big boys were kicking and hitting, then I was kicking and hitting, then we were fighting". I reminded him that we should not play with those boys again, and he said "yeah- they're MEAN"!

Way to go Thornton! Great not to start the fight; even better to stick up for yourself when they started in on you. I'm a proud mama!

Thornton's Varied Sleeping Options

Every night, Jason and I check on the boys, and every night, we wait for the funniness that may be Thornton in sleep. My favorite thus far, is the night we went into his room to find him fast asleep partly in bed and partly in the shelving unit behind his bed.





Tonight was also a good one. Evidently, Thornton needed a costume change. I put him to bed in his Batman jammies, but when I went to check on him, he's wearing full on spidermand costume complete with stuffed muscles. No idea when that even occured or where he even found it. Frankly, I thought we hid the darn thing.

Spiderman in the Daytime

All's too quiet...

20 minutes of three too quiet children = graffiti on 12ft of wall, one hallway carpet, bedroom carpet, all down the hallway banister, and the bathroom tile floor. But, hey, at least they shared.

First Day of School Drama

I have these grand plans to take Thornton on his first day of school. Of course, that's only to drop him off in carpool, but whatever. This morning, I realize that I have a 9am meeting I'm leading and need to have Ms. Pat take him. No big deal.

So, I call Ms. Pat about 9:30 ready to hear how great he did getting into school. Instead, I hear the drama! Evidently, Ms. Pat tells Thornton that he has to go potty before they leave. Thornton states that he already did. Jason confirms. Ms. Pat leaves for school. When they hit traffic and are still a bit from the carpool lane, Thornton announces that he has to go potty. Uh oh.

Ms. Pat tells Thornton that they'll be there soon, but it's a long wait on day 1 of carpool drop off. The teachers go to pull Thornton out of the car, and Ms. Pat tells them that he has to go potty really badly... at which point, the teacher says "I think he already did". Thornton starts crying that he doesn't want to go to school with pee-pee pants and that he's wet. I feel so bad for the poor guy!

Thankfully, I sent an extra change of clothes including undies, so he can change when he gets to class. Hopefully, he'll remember the good, fun parts of school and will forget about the drama of that first moment walking in the door.

But, LORD! First day drama!

Happy Birthday Thornton

Can't believe that three years ago today, Thornton Matthew Kron arrived into the world - and this morning he wants chocolate for breakfast. Sigh. Time flies... HAPPY BIRTHDAY THORNTON!!

Here's what I know about 3 year old birthday parties:  no nap + birthday cupcake sugar high = 3 year old meltdown + complete passout. Now why don't they teach that in algebra?

Loss of a Friend

Death is a hard thing, but it is even worse when it happens to someone in the prime of their life.  We lost my college roommate and one of my best friends after a battle with cancer, but feel blessed to have spent a great weekend of "girl time" with her.

I am reminded that laughter is the best medicine, and my sisters crack me up.... and sometimes there is nothing like talking to your daddy when you need a good cry... No matter how old you are.

I give thanks to the random number generator that gave me my roommate, Coop, and one of my best friends, 15 years ago. Words cannot express how much I'll miss her.

Here were my thoughts spoken at her memorial service:
With apologies to the Cooper family, we, her friends, know Kristen only as Cooper. So, I’m going to call her Coop, because that’s her name in our world.


Fifteen years ago this month a random number generator spit out a combination that gave me Kristen Alice Cooper as a roommate. I remember the first conversation like it was yesterday: I asked what she thought of matching comforters (she didn’t think much of them), and she asked me what I thought of blow-up flamingos (at that point, honestly, I wasn’t sure what to think). That freshman year started a journey for a group of women who were known as “the wall”, and became much, much more. We have laughed, played, danced, cried, mourned, grown and then laughed some more, and 15 years later after boyfriends, weddings, dogs, and children her best friends are at a loss mourning one of us in the prime of our lives.

Cooper lived her life with spirit, and there isn’t a boundary she wouldn’t cross. She would give me complete crap for making some sort of gooey speech that would be too somber and long winded. So, in the spirit of David Letterman’s Top 10 List (of which Cooper was a great fan), here are the Top 10 things you need to know about our very bestest friend:

Number 10: She read the paper every morning front to back. She was the only freshmen I knew that had a paper delivered to the dorm. Calvin and Hobbes was her favorite cartoon.

Number 9: What she lacked in singing ability she made up in enthusiasm. Cooper couldn’t carry a tune, but she sang with gusto and made up the words as she went along. Those words never matched the actual lyrics.

Number 8: She was a lover of cha-tski … the quirkier the better. A hand-made patriotic jumper, maracas painted to look like “Bahama mamas”, a little whizzer, hats for every occasion, and more flamingos than one person should own. These were her treasures; she kept them forever; and she loved to pull them out for random occasions.

Number 7: She loved her degree and her work. She spoke of it with passion and laughed at our nickname of double-oh-coop. Frankly, I think she mostly loved that she could rewire a blender to work off a car lighter so she could have margaritas for buffet concerts.

Number 6: She was known to wear pants that would be perfect should we have a sudden flood.

Number 5: She had a passion for the beach, and the ocean called to her. Cooper was never happier than on a beach or boat, beer in hand and buffet in the background.

Number 4: A video camera was known to be in Cooper’s hands at the most appropriate, or inappropriate times. A punch in the eye, an excellent rendition of “God Bless the USA”, and competitive Christmas present exchanges have become classic moments forever captured because of her filming.

Number 3: She wore panty hose with open toe shoes and couldn’t figure out why we gave her such a hard time for it.

Number 2: She loved her husband from the very first moment they met in the fall of our freshman year. Their love affair was private, but no less passionate, and they define the concept of soul-mates.

Number 1: She lived life out loud, without judgment for herself or others, without regrets and like the Gerber daisy, she enjoyed the simple things in life.
This is our list. Yours may be different, and that’s ok, or it may be the same, and that’s good too. Cooper is and always will be herself. She was quietly confident in her spirituality and her relationship with God. She now knows the secret that we all want to know of the life that awaits us after this one. We mourn not for her, who lived life to the fullest, but for ourselves who wished we had more time with her. I think that she would tell you this: pick yourself up, pull yourself a beer, and toast with her. So, Cooper, in the spirit of a toast that was one of our favorite, we say this: Here’s to you, and here’s to me, the best of friends we’ll ever be. Though you are not here for us to see, we’re ok, and here’s to thee.