Tag: ice cream

family, humor, kids, motherhood

I Would Walk 500 Miles (T.Puzzle Out)

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Where we live, while awesomely close to downtown, having a yard is unusual.  Giant houses that take up every square inch of their lot are the norm.

I treasure my small backyard.  With so many statuesque trees flanking our streets, songbirds abound.  If I am really lucky, I might see a deer:

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Just kidding.  Our alley is being reworked so the only deer(e) I see cause quite a ruckus.

Besides the mild annoyance of construction noise, where we live is very fun.  We are a few blocks away from excellent restaurants.  We try to walk to meals out as much as we can.

Most of our family loves this.

T.Puzzle hates this.

He hates to walk anywhere.  To him it is slow, boring and ultimately pointless.

Seated at lunch last weekend, the four of us had walked to a new taco joint.  The food was great and the weather perfect for our outside table.

We debated if we would walk to get ice cream before hitting Target (yes! we can walk to Target!).  We didn’t want to push T.Puzzle’s attitude because we know better, and he is only a mild fan of ice cream, weird, I know.

“You up for walking for ice cream?” said Mad Dog.

Silence.

Then, slowly, T.Puzzle formed a response as his shoulders lifted in a slight shrug.

“I guess so.”

I read the meaning behind his words.

“Basically, T.Puzzle is willing to walk with us but he will be super depressed about it the whole time,” I said.  “Did I guess that right?”

“Yep,” said T.Puzzle.

This boy sugar coats nothing.

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children, humor, motherhood

Survival Mode

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We have been incredibly busy as we manage all the ins and outs of moving.  It seems for every action-item crossed off the to-do list, twenty more eagerly pop up to fill its place.  While I have been outwardly focused on all these necessary tasks, a part of me is aware that taking time to smell the roses with my boys is essential.

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Full Speed stopping to smell the roses when he was two adorable years old.

In the midst of this craziness I am making an effort every day to be present for them and to keep up with many of our traditions.  We have made it to the pool, the movies and for ice cream.  These are the pillars of our summer.

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One day, as I contemplated the complicated logistics of our schedule, I had the strangest thought.  A Target run was first-up and I actually wanted my boys to go with me.

Well, that was a first.

I scanned my body for illness.  Then I did a quick mental-health status check.

I seemed to be functioning ‘normally’.

Was this what end-of-days feels like?

I don’t know.

I do know that my boys are so much fun!  They have the ability to entertain me while on errands and sometimes, they are actually helpful!

Truthfully, T.Puzzle is still a bit of a loose cannon when we are out and about, but I can take it.  I survived the terrible twos, threes and fours…

Twice.

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grief, loss of parent, self-discovery

Mother’s Day

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I’m not too keen on celebrating Mother’s Day this year since I no longer have a mother. To counteract my sad little funk I thought I would share a couple of fun pics of my Mom.

This first photo is of her enjoying our last, big family trip to Disney World. The background is dark because we were in the tunnels of ‘It’s a Small World’. She’s smiling because my boys were so into it and because she was happy. Happy to have so many loved ones in one place.

The second is a fun photo of her by a Ben and Jerry’s sign. Ice cream, hot dogs and baseball were possibly the only things she loved almost as much as her family. You could always keep her happy with a turtle sundae or a cone filled with butter pecan.

So, today is Mother’s Day. If you are a Mom I celebrate you for doing one of the hardest jobs in the world. If you still have a Mom, give her a call, a card or a present of thanks. Enjoy your day!

children, health, marital blissishness, mommyhood

Party Pooper

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It’s nearly impossible to surprise your significant other. That’s because your lives are so deeply entwined any time you veer off course their suspicions are raised. It took some planning and discretion but I think I managed to surprise Mad Dog with a cake for his birthday at his family’s Thanksgiving feast. I also made sure that his parents’ house was sufficiently supplied with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream (cookie dough is Mad Dog’s absolute addiction).

The end result was awesome (it even had a picture of the boys on it riding a motorcycle taken at our recent portrait sitting). The cake turned out better than I hoped and was quite tasty. It was red cake with cream cheese frosting which is also a Mad Dog fave. My end goal wasn’t necessarily a delicious treat; it was to demonstrate how much I love Mad Dog. He does so much to care for our little family; I wanted to do something special for him.

After the cake, and let me tell you, it was weird slicing through the picture of my boys’ faces, all the boy cousins set forth in wild play. However, it was obvious little T.Puzzle was not feeling great. The sniffle and sneeze he’s been fighting developed into a full-blown fever topped off with green snot. Additionally, as the evening was winding down, he had an explosive poop which required a shower and a changing of the clothes for him (he was NOT happy).

Well, you know how the saying goes; it’s not really a party until someone has a messy, explosive poop, right?