Sacrafices must be made.

I'm sure I've never mentioned it because I carry my burden so well but, being a parent can be quite the beating. Take Friday night for instance; Chad and I took the kids to the Halloween Spooktacular. 

We buy tickets, drive thirty minutes, wait in a loooonnng line to park, traverse a long dusty walk to the entrance, buy additional tickets for kids' friends, lose children, find children, buy additional tickets for bouncy houses, spend $75 dollars on gross fair food, share back-washed water with Jack, use a porta potty, get smacked in the face with a play axe by Luke, tell Lily to stay with us fifty-eight thousand times, carry Jack seven and a half miles, get smacked in the arm with a play axe by Luke, take forty-eight photos that yield about eight photos that make it almost worth it (taking the porta potty bit out of course).

   
Peace fingers? I die.

Notice the shared smile? A bit blurry, but perfect.

 This is possibly the most accurate depiction the evening, especially Luke.

Happy Memorial Day!

For Memorial Day we did our patriotic duty to have as much fun as possible. We also impulsively purchased a US flag at Costco the weekend prior so that we could finally be legit. Ten years of home ownership and the Mead's finally broke down and bought a flag. God bless America!

Against all reason and logic we thought it would be a good day to introduce Chad into my world of paddle boarding. One billion drunk, and somewhat slow, people looking for a good time? Yeah, lets go where they are. Chad used my board and I borrowed a friends, being 6 feet 5 inches tall is not without its own set of challenges. When you stand that much higher than the water it proves to be quite the challenge to actually doing the standing portion of the stand up paddle boarding.

Being the stud Mr. Mead is he did some slight modifications to the sport and we were our way. Chad enjoyed the general beauty the river provides; even if it was littered with the dregs of society (and their aluminum cans).

Three hours later and we're still in love!

The kids and I went to a Memorial Day party where my friends nudged me to cut Jack's hair for the first time. Jack was sporting the world's tiniest Donald Trump comb over. His hair was short and long and wavy--all at the same time. Jack was quite sad to see it go.

He would only be happy if I agreed to be covered by his precious hair too.

Here's the result! Jack spent the entire party hanging with mom and her friends, looking on at big brothers and sister swimming, and emptying Shelly's purse (over and over again). Good times! USA! USA! USA!

Baby boy Owie

Have I mentioned here that Owen was 12 lbs 4 oz when he was born (two weeks early I add)? Well, he was! I was mighty uncomfortable.

Owen pictured above receiving his Arrow of Light award -- the highest achievement in Cub Scouts.

Baby Owie turned 11-years-old on Friday. His Dad and I got him a BMX bike and his grandparents gave him money for a dirt bike.  The whole family went to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner and Owen's friend Garron came along. After, Dad took the kids to Iron Man 3, while I took Jackie home. Luke bought Owen a green Freedom shirt with his own money.

It wasn't a big production but was very nice day. Papa called and sang Happy Birthday! to Owen  and Dad and I made waffles and sausage for birthday breakfast. I brought doughnuts for Owen to share with his class (and I followed the specific instructions "maybe . . . you could just leave them in the office with a note and I can come pick them up." He's getting older).

We sure love this boy. Owen is a great first child; he genuinely wants to do good and make peace (unless your name is Luke--then he wants to tease you incessantly and push all your buttons). But seriously, Owen, we love you so much. You make us proud every day. You're into soccer right now and are pretty good! You're independent and a determined--once you set your mind to something we had better watch out. I love this about you.

*Sigh* You're getting older. You recently told me about a girl that you think is cute (I won't say her name here, *cough* Tatum Pile *cough).  And coincidentally, you've started wearing deodorant -- though you don't need it yet -- and an occasional spritz of cologne. You've also learned how to tie a tie. If I want something done, you are my go-to kid. You work hard and handle things that life throws at you with grace. This year you've started taking insulin regularly. You're our easy-going, happy spirit and we couldn't imagine living our lives without you.

We love you Owen. Happy Birthday!

Pinterest style

Warning: this party is ghetto.

Chad had a birthday. I can't remember how old he is. 38? I don't know, or really care very much. Is that bad?

But, we did have a party!! And, it was pretty awesome. I tried to think; what would Chad like, what would he want, what decorations would he like? Then it came to me! Chad likes saving money (boooring) so that's just what we'll do. The kids got home from school at 2:30 and I told them that we couldn't use any lights because it was dad's birthday and daddy likes saving electricity. So, we seriously didn't use lights (the kids immediately knew dad would love this one).

Next, decorations, I told them that again, dad wouldn't want to spend money on decorations so we came up with a ghetto party idea. Toilet paper! Owen, Lily and Garron took charge of this one(Luke was busy crying on the couch in the kitchen. I told him that he was too old to not know how to tie his own shoes and that he couldn't get up from the couch until he had learned). And, yes, I already know, I'm a bad person.

They hung T.P from the ceiling and wrote Dad is awesome on paper and then taped it to their shirts. I made beef stew (one of his favorites), bought him a bundt cake (and even gave a slice to a friend who stopped by and needed a slice).  We kept a lookout for his car and ran to hide then we jumped up and shouted happy birthday when he walked through the door.

He was happy. He felt loved. Mission accomplished.

And yes, we even re-used the T.P.

Happy birthday, indeed.

We know how to do back to school.

The day before school started we had a back to school party. It was a blast! I decided to have some games and teams (usually I just leave the kids to their own devices). We had three teams: Venezuela, Mexico and Michigan. These teams were chosen because Chad happened to have shirts that represented these countries/states (except Mexico was represented by a Spongebob shirt). Obviously.

We had quite the competition but Venezuela managed to bring home a first place finish (and no, dealing drugs, being dirty or anything to do with large insects wasn't even part of the competition)! I know! It was probably a wash for who had more fun; the kids or the mama's (we also know how to party).

A genius party tip: make it a competition for clean up. We had over 200 water balloons dead bodies to be picked up. Chad and Owen managed to part with their chess trophies (see. . .win/win) and some medals to those who gathered the most water balloon bodies. Clean up? Done in ten minutes. Bam.

Back to school--good good times.

Double digits.

We continued the tradition of the crown against this birthday boys wishes. :(  He wore it for the photo and then immediately took it off and tried to hide it.

 For his tenth birthday we invited over his six best buddies and Luke's best buddy Pierce. We had a swim party at our house, Chad picked up two gigantic pizzas from Costco (which was completely eaten!), blew out candles on a bundt cake and then went to the bowling alley.

 Guess who won? This girl, much to the dismay of seven boys.

Owen had permagrin ear to ear the whole night. We celebrated him and the wonderful boy he is. He is quick to smile, has a kind and tender nature, is determined, genuinely wants to serve and choose the right. He's a great big brother who LOVES to laugh and tease... He loves chess, soccer, basketball and spending every free moment with friends. HE LOVES PEOPLE, people. We're loving seeing him grow and develop into such a sweet boy.

The money hunt, 2012