Some Anniversaries are Tough to Observe

I cannot, for the life of me, believe that it's been almost two whole years since the day that changed so many people forever.

I wonder if June 28th will ever cease to give me a little pang in my heart.

I doubt it.

So much has happened in two years.

Little kids got bigger.  Big kids got older.  Grown-ups aged just a little bit more.

And some amazing people pull together to make something magical.

I have always loved reading.

My husband might call me a nerd, I love it so much.

My ALL TIME favorite type of fiction is magic realism.

Especially when it involves food.

Those stories that are so fantastical that you don't think they could ever happen, yet you want to believe it's true with all your heart.

I think that for the past two years, I've been witnessing a little magic realism.

I have watched one of my dearest friends in the world transform in a magical way.

I believe that it's a little bit of the magic coming straight from heaven working its way through my sweet friend.

Of course she's always been talented, funny, and an adventurous cook.

But over the past two years those talents have been magnified and grown

like Jame's Giant Peach.

Not only has she been able to whip out the most amazing creations you'd ever want to eat

ever dream of eating

ever not-wanted-to-stop eating,

she's galvanized a whole army of people to help her make her dream a reality.

Each person eager to help.

She's transformed a formerly cold, minimal art gallery space into a warm and inviting place where people will want to linger for hours.

It's cheerful

it's bright

it even has some sparkle to it.

It's the amazing Sweet Charley B's Cupcake & Candy Shop.

It's beyond my wildest imagination.

But she had a vision and held fast to it

and it's out of this world.

This is the getting ready- I haven't had a chance to see the final- but I will for the grand opening on the 28th.

A little visual of the magic- she's there watching over everything.

Much like "Water for Chocolate" and "Chocolat" now Sweet Charley B's find a little magic working its way through delectable sweets.

It's amazing what can be accomplished with inspiration and sparkle.

I no longer worry that my friend won't find her sparkle again.

I now understand that tears sparkle too, so does sugar, and laughter, and friendship, and magic shining down from above.

My sweet friend has done something that doesn't seem possible to most people- and made her dream a reality.

Granted it involved a lot of blood, sweat and tears- but a good dose of magic too.

On June 28th, she opens the doors to her shop dedicated to a spunky little soul who touched so many people in her short time with us.  It gives us something to celebrate on that day we will never forget.

My sweet friend turned one of the hardest things you could imagine ever having to live through, into a way to celebrate.

With sweetness and cheer we all will celebrate Sweet Charley B (and her mama, daddy, big brother, and little sister) with each and every irresistible bite.

Brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen, that place is magical.

You're going to want to nestle in and stay.

And come back again

and again

and again.

Mixed Up Words & End of School & Birthday

We've all done it.  Called things the wrong name, mixed up words in a song.

My famous one is from Welcome to the Jungle.  I thought it said, "we've got jungle seeds."  Mark was quick to correct me that it's, "we've got your disease."

Not that he's one to talk.  "Ahh-oooo werewolves of thunder" (uh silly boy it's werewolves of LONDON) and "now you're messing with, a size advantage!" (instead of "now you're messing with- a son of a bitch!"

Another funny one I remember seeing a comedian talking about this and catching a buddy singing, "Bingo Jed had a light on."  Supposed to be "Big old Jet Airliner..."

In church I read and recited the Nieceed Creed I don't know how many times growing up.  It wasn't until I was in college that I realized that Pontious Pilot was a person not a disease.

Humility.

It's all about humility.

Last night Carl was reading a book to me that mentioned something about fingers.

He paused and said in a know-it-all voice, "That should say 'thingers' only babies say it 'fingers.'"  

Hmm, I must be a baby because I've always called those useful didgets fingers.

So silly.

He even argued with me that I was wrong.  It's really "thingers."

And speaking of "thingers" little Charlie was playing with a new toy that has a pull string (with a plastic ring on the pull end) and launches a fun flying disc in the air.  Poor little buddy pulled away and that plastic ring snapped back making the most nasty looking pea sized good egg on his knuckle.  It was instantly black and blue and popped out so fast, before he could even run to me with his noiseless cry.

I thought that we might have our first broken bone on our hands.

Hear me knocking on wood?

It's funny, I was just thinking that I can't believe we haven't broken any fingers, toes or collar bones.

I hope that we stay so lucky.

It's a big week in our house.

Elsa is now FOUR (going on 25).  Officially we are out of toddler years- not that she was a toddler for very long.  The kid quit napping at 18 months.

Yup, it's all boys.  Plus 3 boys who couldn't make it (2 girls were also invited but were washing their hair or something like that...)

Sarina and Carl are off for their very last day of fourth and first grades.

Next year it'll be a kindergartener, second grader, and (eek!) fifth grader.

Here we are on the last day the pre-schoolers are in school.  Does it look like I'm chanting, "Summer's fun.  Summer's fun.  Summer's fun." through clenched teeth?

Seriously, I love those little buggers.

And I agree.  The time goes by so very fast.

Guess what?

I stocked up the liquor cabinet for summer.

It just might make me a nicer mom for the long days ahead.

But while this bottle was sitting on the counter guess who examined it so closely they could tell that the lei didn't exactly cover everything (I'm talking nickels here).

You guessed it.  The same boys who were sporting this combo earlier..

just a coincidence they're wearing them again today

I noticed that during such a sweet moment, I went outside to savor it.

Mark was driving off in the Battalion Chief's back-up vehicle (pretty cool for the boys to see) for some training and the boys ran out onto the porch to wave good bye to him as he drove down the driveway.

They were so cute standing at the top of the stairs waving.

Then I noticed what they were wearing from the back.

In order even.

It's no wonder they like looking at the rum lady's nickels...

Reminder to myself for when all the kids are in school

I think I've said it before

but I'll say it again,

I'm not wishing my babies childhood away.

This littlest one was just perfecting her flips and working toward her penny drops.

In a crazy way I enjoy the satisfaction of traveling around with my own circus.

I kind of like it when strangers ask if they're all mine.

I even enjoy rolling my eyes at the, "Boy you have your hands full!" comment.

When I'm off on my own it feels... empty.

Not nearly as satisfying as when I have to be 100 percent at attention, watching for cars in the parking lot, constantly reminding little ones to keep up, and stay close, "hands on the cart, please".

I know it's way easier to run errands solo.

That's why I often pack a days worth of errands into preschool hours or the few hours when I'm supposed to be working.

I've seen women out there aimless, the day-time empty nesters.

It's true, I'll say it- I envy them from time to time.  But I also see how lost they can look when they have some down time (while I glamorize their freedom in my head).

For this reason, I want to list all the things I fantasize about doing when they are all out of my hair.  Translation, the things I pretend I get to do when the noise level is ridiculous with the "he did this"s and the "she did that"s.

When I'm feeling lost and lonely- trying to find my way as an individual once again, after having little people invading my every tiny molecule of space for 12 years (that's how old Sarina will be when Elsa's in 1st grade).

I will go for runs.

I will clean the house (really clean- not just vacuum and tidy and wipe down the bathroom with Clorox wipes- maybe even scrub the floors).

I will work a complete day and keep up on the business side of having my own business (paperwork).

I will work in the yard.

I will clean out closets.

I will keep on top of doctor appointments for the family (and critters).

I will learn to paint portraits.

I will take a figure art class.

I will peruse antique shops.

And last, but certainly not least, I will enjoy the company of my husband during daylight hours.

I wonder if I'll ever actually do any of the things listed above.  I suppose only time will tell.

There's so much out in that wide wide world.

I hope I don't get engulfed in loneliness and wishes for days past.

I hope that I embrace my new self enriched by the little people that we made from scratch, and the complexities they've added to my life.

Couple of Pictures from this Week

This weekend we had a surprise.

Mark was at work, Carl and Charlie had a last minute invitation for a sleep over with nonna and grandpa, then Sarina headed off for a sleepover with a friend.

That left just me and Elsa, for a whole afternoon and night.

So different from all that chaos to just us two.

We hung out around the house for a while.

Went to the Oyster House for dinner (my Caesar salad is way better but they had crab).

Afterwards I snapped a picture of us outside the Oyster House at the base of Budd Bay.

You can see a tiny bit of Budd Bay behind us, and the coaster she's clutching says, "The Oysters you eat today spent last night in Oyster Bay."  I've read that quote for as long as I could read but only now does it have much meaning to me.

Then we ran an errand for Mark and his crazy sawhorse project (he and a buddy built 6 sawhorses in an evening- you'll see them in the background below).

Mark's been working like crazy on the counters for our friend's shop that's going to open before we know it.  He's so excited to get to contribute to it for her and I'll brag a bit, he's doing such a great job on it- concrete counter tops and the cabinets.

It's going to be awesome.

Everything about the shop is going to be awesome.

Here he is getting ready to start polishing the concrete counter tops.

Can anyone else hear the theme song of Dexter playing when they look at this picture?  I wish you could see the plastic up around his work area.  Makes it all look a little more authentic.

I love that his apron has "Tool City" embroidered on it.

Hahaha.

Seriously, this is more like it.

He's so happy to be working on a project.

And did you see those cool sawhorses in the background?  They fold up for easy storage plus they can hold huge concrete counter tops.

As long as this is a week in pictures, I need to put in a couple more.

Last week Sarina had her annual eye appointment to make sure her eyelid clears her pupil ok and her vision is still fine (which it is so far).  Plus we make a special detour (from Kirkland to Phinney Ridge) to Red Mill for the best hamburgers you could hope for.

So darn GOOD!

And someone should really tell this kid that grunge is soooooo 90's.

Who knows, if she holds on long enough it just might come back around.

Maybe I need to find a mini flannel shirt to complete the ensemble.

And I should have snapped a picture of poor little Charlie Bear in the quiet room at the dentist today.  He had a filling and was so scared they whisked him into the quiet room (the room of shame) so he wouldn't disturb the others.

If I hadn't been so focused on getting him to cooperate I might have taken a picture as he laid in that chair, "happy gas" on his nose, hands clenched over his belly, me frantically whispering that if he'd open his mouth he could go to Toys R Us to pick out a toy.

Did you know I HATE Toys R Us?  It's my idea of HELL?!  ESPECIALLY dragging two pre-schoolers through it?

Poor little buddy was just trying to protect himself since his mama wasn't keeping that needle and drill away from his mouth for him.

Don't worry.  When we go back in 2 weeks for round two we're armed with sedatives to make it go easier...


Maybe then I can snap a picture.

Think they'd think that was odd?


And it's true, I considered popping those two little magic pills myself as we drove away from the dentist office...  But I realized that really wouldn't be very nice of me.

Fierce 53 Pound Cougar

I'd thought I'd wait forever to sign Carl up for big boy football.

But my friend Mandy had a good point.  At this age they just kind of bump into each other.  And they gradually build up their ability to tackle and get tackled.  Whereas when you wait to sign them up they're thrown in with kids who had that chance to learn gradually and have mastered the tackling game.

So, here I am taking my 53 pound little boy to get fitted for tackle football gear.

It was a bigger deal than I was ready for. 

In a big warehouse filled with equipment all sorted by high school colors.

A team of people weighing, measuring, fitting my little guy who was so happy all he could do was stand there with a big grin on his face.

I'll admit it gave me a lump in my throat.

I'm not sure if it's because I thought he was so darn cute, standing there looking so tiny yet bursting with joy

with excitement

with pride.

Or because I could see how big he's going to be before I know it.

Maybe it was the pride of my little boy wearing the cardinal and gold colors for whom I was lucky enough to cheer.

I want my kids to have the same kind of school pride I had in high school.

That I still have.

It really doesn't take much prodding to get me to bust out a cheer, or snippets of a routine.

I'll gladly sing the Capital fight song for anyone who wants to hear it.

And don't get me started on how it's going to feel when my little girl is bouncing around in a short skirt, clasping her hands in chant and doing her first hurkey.

It's a good thing you can't hear the cheer chanting in my head right now...

C H S, the best, oh yes, C H S...

T A L L Tales

Why do 6-7 year olds tell such T A L L tales?

I see it's a trend, now that I've had two who tried this trick.

I was horrified when Sarina pulled it in first grade.

Keep in mind that at that point I had a baby who was less than year old, a 2 year old, 4 year old and 6 year old- more than enough to keep me busy.

Then sweet first grader Sarina spouts off that I'm pregnant again.

With twins.

I'm not sure what's worse.

That people believed it,

or that she told it.

Because at that point (even now) I'm 99.9% sure I'd run screaming and tearing my hair out if I found out I was pregnant with twins.

Or even pregnant!

We found out when Mark got a call from someone he works with, who's kids went to Griffin and had come home saying, "Did you hear the Schreck's are having twins?!"

Aye ca rumba!

The year before, Sarina had met a girl who told her that she was born a monkey, her monkey mama and monkey daddy died so she was adopted by people and was turned into a person.

Sweet little kindergartner Sarina believed it!

To this day I call her friend Monkey Girl.

The latest in this tall tale series is my sweet little Carl.

Ha.

On Monday (June 4th) he told his teacher,

with a straight face,

without batting an eye,

that we adopted a little boy the previous Saturday (June 2nd).

The boy is three.

He is shy because he doesn't know us yet.

And that his name is Barney.

Seriously?!

So much detail!

And the poor teacher had to double check to see if that was true.

She checked with an aide that works in Carl's class (and whose son is on Carl's baseball team).  Thankfully she informed the teacher that she saw us on said Saturday and NO we did not adopt.

Then the teacher had to call to share that fantastic story with us.

It's bad enough that on the questionnaire about mothers (for mother's day) Carl painted a fantastic picture of me.

See for yourself.

How the heck he thinks that could possibly be true is beyond me.

I'm not sure if you can see, but in the middle left square it says,

"My mom likes to..."

his answer "sleep"

just below is, "My mom doesn't like to..."

his answer "wake up early.

Gee.

Thanks buddy.

Doesn't look like I'll win mom of the year, thanks to those ringing endorsements.

But that's not all.

No sirree.

He was on a roll!

He also wrote me a very nice poem.

As if the fact that I like to sleep and don't like to wake up weren't enough,

line two of the poem takes it to the next level,

"relaxing on the couch."

Of course he thinks I'm happy, I just might be if I slept all day and relaxed on the couch.

That mom of Carl's is some piece of work.

Sleeping, laying around all day.

In my dreams!

It's a wonder he gets himself to school each day

wearing clean clothes

with a homemade lunch (because heaven forbid he has to eat something that is slimy, with cheese, or mayo, or chocolate, or butter)...

His teacher must think I'm awesome.

Especially since I haven't had a chance to help in his class one time

because I haven't had a single day to myself to do such an activity.

I hope to God  that Elsa or Charlie have her and I can volunteer so that I can redeem myself and she can see that I'm not as lazy as he made me look.

The cherry on the top of the Mother's Day love was Elsa's estimation of my age.

Can you see?

I'm 100 years old!

All the other kids moms are 3, or 4, one was even 13.

Not me.

I blew them all out of the water.

No wonder I sleep the day away.

Maybe that's why one of her classmate's moms thought I might have taught her younger sister 2nd grade.

Ouch.

Do I really look old enough to have taught my child's peer's mom's little sister in elementary school?!

Kick a girl when she's down.

100 years old.

Likes to sleep.

Doesn't like to wake up.

Relaxes on the couch.

Procreating like mad

then adopting when done procreating (probably to get the welfare checks).

The good news is that I get to look forward to the T A L L tales from the next two.

Maybe they'll add drinking to the list of virtues...

Now, where's that bottle opener...

Oh come on.

I'm kidding!

If you do see me start drinking regularly watch out.

It'll mean I've given up hope.

Now where did I put my dentures when I laid down on the couch to take a nap?

Idle Hands...

Ever wonder what a 3 year old does to entertain herself?

While I composed my last post, it was daytime.  The boys were playing Wii, Sarina was playing with her dolls and I thought Elsa was playing with Sarina.

She came downstairs looking for tape, which I did not show her- because she uses a whole roll in about 2 seconds.

When she went back upstairs I figured she'd given up on that hunt.

Boy did I mis-judge.

She's an impressively inventive little girl.

Rather than playing dolls with her big sister, she was decorating her bedroom door.

She scavenged two Home Depot receipts, a picture of Carl and his cousin at the State Patrol Academy {that Carl took to school for his VIP day}, a "knock" sign she hijacked from her big sister's bedroom door, and here's a kicker- two panty liners she found buried in her closet- why they were there I have no idea.

Now here's where the creativity really comes in to play.

Want to know what she used instead of tape?

Mentholatum.  The stuff I put on my lips when they're chapped and smells so strongly of menthol.

Truly, it was so strong up there that it almost made my eyes water.

So, if you're in need of something to use to stick stuff to your bedroom door, now you know that you can use mentholatum.

And it will clear your sinuses while you're at it.

Then, if you happen to have chapped lips, you just need to kiss your door.

This kid really knows how to improvise.

rapid approach of summertime

I know it's a well used phrase, but I have no idea where the time has gone.

You'd think that year two of delivering kids to pre-school 5 days a week would drag by painfully slowly. 

And yes, it's a good amount of work getting 4 little people up and at 'em early in the morning

let alone heading in to town and doing it all with a cheerful and loving good-bye...

But it's been a quick year.

Elsa has flourished and held tight to her own little personality (like super glue).

She dressed herself the other morning and I rolled with it.

Today she looks like she's lost trying to find her art studio to build her Procession of the Species costume...

She had her last day in the 3's class yesterday.  My last kid in Mrs. Holmquist's class- which is quite a rite of passage.  I can see how the last kid through each teacher becomes a big deal now.

The only reason she wore that skirt is because it looked like swim trunks.

Her last day of class theme was beach party.  She had on her swimsuit under her clothes (which showed off her nickels {nipples}).  

Apparently, she kept taking off her shirt and her nickels were showing.  

My little exhibitionist.  

She got to celebrate her last day with her best buddy Henry at Chuck E Cheese.  His mama is a saint, I tell you.

While they were celebrating I learned that I (at the ripe old age of 37) have the start of osteo-arthritis in my knees.  Which accounts for why I was uncomfortable after running 8 miles a few weeks ago and had to downgrade from the half marathon to the 5 miler this year.  

Not that I properly trained in the first place.  

Looks like I need to follow the rules for training for the next go around.

The group I attempted to train with but could only make it to 2 runs with them.

HS friends from the Capitol City.  What the heck am I doing with my neck?!

Charlie had a field trip to the zoo (Elsa had one too but we combined the two trips and went with just Charlie's class, she's like their mascot anyway...)

Monkeys!

I was tempted to skip the field trip.  

I had memories of trips to the zoo in the past with strollers, roaming toddlers, and one little boy terrifyingly squished in the metal round-abouts to exit the zoo.  

It was Carl's field trip (the first year he did the 4s class) and I had Elsa and Charlie in the stroller trying to push through that darn roundy thing but it was stuck.  It took me a minute to look up and see my sweet Carl trapped in there trying to hold the roundy thing back with all his might because I was pushing my way through and didn't look up and see him there.  

He was so terrified he couldn't make a peep.  

I still shudder every time I think about it.  

I can see his little body shaking to hold it back.  

I don't think I stopped shaking afterwards until we were all the way home.

I have to say it spoiled the zoo for me.

But this trip was wonderful.  

My kids are now old enough to move about on their own two feet.  

They (mostly) listen when I call to them.

And Charlie LOVES the animals.  He absorbed every bit of those creatures he could.

And because it was cool and overcast (but not raining) the animals (which I used to refer to as "poor pathetic caged creatures") were the most frisky I've ever seen at the zoo.  

They were actually entertaining to watch.  

We saw monkeys swinging all over the place, playing catch with their lunch, taunting each other.  We saw polar bears wrestling the way Hunter and Ollie do but on a MUCH larger scale.

It was fun.

Today was Charlie's pre-school graduation.

I cannot believe next year 3 Schreck kids will be bopping onto that school bus (granted it'll only be 2.5 days a week for Mr. Charlie) but that's big time!

Unfortunately, today (during Charlie's graduation) it was also Carl's Read-In.  He read 500 minutes in one month to earn a read-in in his class.  And part of that celebration was to have family read-in time.  When we explained to him that Mark and I would be at Charlie's graduation he cried big huge tears.  Thankfully we have a fantastic grandma who could go and cuddle and read with him  AND a big sister who was able to get out of her class to sit with him and read.  That village sure does come in handy.  Especially when Mama and Daddy have to make some tough decisions.

At the ceremony they sang Kindergarten Here I Come and See How I've Grown and If I Were A Butterfly. And Mrs. Stoddard shared what he said about what he wants to be when he grows up.

I took this photo the other day.  I have no idea when Charlie started to look like he's the same size as has big brother.  They are 25 months and one week apart age-wise but it sure doesn't look like it in this picture of them playing Mario together.

And here's the big guy squeezed into his size 12-18 month monkey costume.  

He and Elsa actually fight over who gets to wear it.  

I had to hide it stop the fighting.

front

Looks comfy doesn't it?

I've been busily pinning free and fun summertime activities on pinterest.com, trying to brace myself for the upcoming kid time.  I wish I was more creative and fun with the kids.  Seems like everytime I want to be fun-mom a chore distracts me or a kid does something to make me grumpy.

This summer will be different.

Time to get ready for the birthdays, the camping, and the together time.

It will be great, it will be great, it will be GREAT!