That is all.

Chilax-en

Are you a little bit uncomfortable?

I mean seriously, can we take a bad photo?! Well, at least Owen and Chad look good.

Owen and the girl.

From Coronado beach.

Being the only girl inevitable makes you cool (I'm not biased or anything either, being as I was also an only girl). But, seriously, IT tots does. We may miss out on a lifetime of having a built in best friend who knows you and your story better than anyone and also someone who can give you a little heads up about oh I don't know THAT WHOLE pregnancy and childbirth stuff. Being as we miss out on those gems it's only fair that our consolation prize is that we are cooler.

For instance, just a few moments ago Lily walked into the room and I asked her if she had just used the bathroom. To which she replied, "oh yeah I did. Ha! Just kidding I prank you mom!"

And! When she plays dress up she almost always has some sort of weaponry adoring her princess dress. A light saber, sword, hand cuffs, a plastic machete. . .you know, for safety. My kind of girl; she will look beautiful while delicately hacking her victims to a slow and painful death.

We are carefully preparing her for the dating scene. Delicately placing jewels in her arsenal like, "boys have a special private place where you can incapacitate them with one direct hit."

To which she replies, "what's incarp ac it gate?"

Missing.

At the sight of these pictures I could die a happy woman. That and the memories of Luke eating corn on the cob this summer.

Awe Luke. He keeps growing up on us, in second grade now, Mrs. Zima's classroom. Playing chess and soccer; coming home every day dripping in sweat so that he can blow through his homework and get over to Pierce's house ASAP.

Last week during the decorating for Chad's birthday party (I'll post pictures of that later, some truly brilliant ideas that even Pintrest hasn't thought of) Luke sat on the settee in the kitchen and cried and wailed and cried some more while he was forced to sit there and learn to tie his shoes.

After much (an hour) of hissy fit throwing I told him to take a walk around the house to "cool off" and then come back and sit down and try again. Wouldn't you know that, that walk would be the last time Luke the boy who couldn't tie his own shoes would walk the earth. At the hour and ten minute mark he sat down and tied his own shoes like a boss. No longer asking the girls in his class to tie them for him, (true) he ties them masterfully.

. . .then the snake goes around the bunny ears and chokes them to death and then he goes back into his tiny hole full from his dinner of bunnies.

How't that tasting, Jack?

It's amazing to me how music can just take you right back. Still to this day every time I hear Annie Lennox's song, Why I am immediately transported back to sixth grade. My best friend's (at the time :)) mother had just passed away. We would lay on her bed, stare at the ceiling and drown sorrows as we listened.

Today I was doing dishes, (yay!) and on came Adele's song Make you feel my love and I remembered, one year ago. . .

 I would listen to this song and feel so many emotions for my Jack. Such a random bouquet of emotions too; sadness, fear, love, hope, pride. I loved this baby so much; but I worried, would he be able to know and to feel of my love for him?

I played this song over and over again as I slowly indulged all of my emotions.

Hearing it today reminded me of those hard days, not in a factual remembering sense but more of an emotional remembering. I remember the feeling of how much my heart was literally hurting. Those same feelings came rushing back to me and it was strange; here they were but they were, how do I say?...out of place. Not in step with the emotions of my life as it is now.

The song played on as I finished up my dishes, washed Jack's hands off from his lunch and gave him a huge raspberry in his neck. As soon as my lips touched his neck he begins to giggle. Then once the vibrations of the raspberry spread he explodes into belly laughs. He is unable to contain his joy. Oh, how I want to bottle this moment.

He can feel my love.

Which, is going to be awesome for him, because there is mountains of it.

The man of the house.

This year for fathers day I got my crafty on.

I donned this shirt and the kids and I whipped up a delicious breakfast of pancakes and BACON. Bacon is capitalized due to it's paramount importance for Mr. Mead. A breakfast without bacon would have been a slap in the face. It's absence would have silently stated, "you're family hates you and is trying to ruin your life."

It's true.

Thankfully we negotiated that landmine and got the day off to a great start. Upon seeing me emerge in the morning the kids went crazy for my shirt. We showered Chad with breakfast, gifts and homemade cards. What gifts you may wonder? Only the worlds most amazing car sun screen money can buy! Six bucks at Costco no less!

. . .in my defense Chad did pick it up and say, "wow! this is just what I need."

I subtly took a mental note and a short few weeks later I made my man's dreams come true. Later in the day I made a chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake that rivaled the franchises Nothing Bundt Cakes chocolate chocolate chip cake. Probably most importantly I kept children at bay and didn't ask him to help with anything for an entire 12 hours!!!!

Upon the close of the day Mr. Mead announced that it was possibly the greatest fathers day in memory. This leads me to why I am posting about it here; so that next year when I put on a grungy shirt with a heart and a single letter a and forget the bacon he'll have this memory to cling to.