If these walls could talk

As we prepare to leave this house, the walls are talking to me, reminding me of all that has happened over the eight years that we have lived here. This is the house where O learned to ride a bike, swing a bat, and kick a goal. From here we went to Gymboree, Kindermusik, library story time, soccer, baseball, Tae Kwon Do, swimming lessons, Cub Scouts, choir, Chess Club, auditions, rehearsals, and plays. We spent our summers at the FOHA pool, VBS, Camp Invention, baseball games, Cub Scout Day Camp, and in backyard sprinklers. In this yard, we enjoyed toasting marshmallows on our firepit, slip & sliding, playing ghost in the graveyard, and planting watermelon seeds. It was here that we laughed so hard when Uncle Chris hit Baba with the waffle ball on Gumpa’s 60th birthday. And it was in this house that we cried together when Gumpa was diagnosed with cancer.

In this house, we all grew up. O celebrated eight birthdays here, with friends & family, magicians, water balloon fights, Blue, Thomas, the Rescue Heroes, and Star Wars. Here he had his last bottle, ate his first Oreo, and eventually learned to pack his own lunch. I don’t dare estimate the number of boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese I’ve cooked in this house! O lost his first tooth here, and he also grew old enough to know there was no Tooth Fairy. Or Santa. P & I became thirty-somethings. P went through the adult right-of-passage of losing a job, and after three months of “free agency” took the leap of faith that has now grown into an amazing career. I ran a creative business that I enjoyed at the time, only to later find my true calling working with preschoolers. We joined an amazing church, where we grew in our faith and learned the true meaning of the phrase “church family.”

In this house we celebrated nine Christmases, our 10th wedding anniversary, the birth of our niece, and the promise of our nephew. We dyed Easter eggs, Trick or Treated, and made Valentines. We hosted gatherings of PEOs, Butterflies, KDs, the McIntosh Clan, MOPS, playgroups, and many dear friends. We mourned the loss of beloved relatives, friends’ pregnancies, and a few marriages. In this house we have laughed, cried, eaten, drank, and played with some of the best friends we’ve ever had. And we have faith that those friendships, firmly planted here, will continue to bloom no matter where life takes us.

This has been our house, but SPandOLand is wherever we are together. And as I say goodbye to this house, I will look forward to hearing what the walls of our new house will have to say to me.

Something(s) Beautiful

Until I logged on this morning, I had no idea how long it had been since I’d blogged. Halloween? Wow... so much has happened since then that was certainly blog-worthy, but lately I struggle to be quippy and light when many days I cannot shake off the lead boots of life-as-it-is-now. And who wants to read downer blog posts? I don’t want to write them, so I can’t imagine anyone wants to read them!
But this morning’s after-run cool-down playlist offered a burst of inspiration. The Killers “Smile Like You Mean It” was my anthem through the holidays, reminding me to try to find the sweet in the overwhelming bitter-sweet. This morning as I listened to the song again, I thought that maybe I could reenter the blogosphere with some of those sweet things. So, here is my list of some of the many beautiful things I was blessed to encounter since Halloween…

• Fighting my way back after bronchitis to be a stronger, faster runner than I was before I got sick. The old me would have given up.
• An Indian Summer day’s hike in the Cleveland Metroparks with very good friends
• A visit with my dad’s sisters, who I don’t see nearly enough, and listening to the three siblings reminisce over a giant stack of old pictures
• Drinking champagne in a limo as we rode downtown to see Wicked for my dear friend Jill's 40th birthday
• The Christmas Eve services at church and being keenly aware of the love of that church family for my family
• Having Jill’s husband, who is a pilot, so calmly arrange for P to fly home the weekend of O’s school play, when I-90 was closed. I completely lost it, but Doug was the calm in my storm.
• Watching O in that play, so confident and comfortable, so happy on stage
• My friend Sue's Split-Pea Soup, which is deliciously seasoned with love
• My sister-in-law’s baby bump…. And my mom’s reaction to learning the gender of that bambino
• Being the respite & refuge for my brother-in-law, his wife, and my sweet niece while they mourned the loss of Erika’s grandmother the week after Christmas

But nothing topped the beauty of my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. My brother & I contacted as many friends & family as we could find, asking them to send anniversary greetings. It was a gift just to see the love pour in from near & far, past & present. But to be there with mom & dad on their anniversary while they opened the box-of-love that we had assembled, well, that was one of the most beautiful things ever.

A boy and his money....

...are soon buying LEGOS!

What better way to celebrate Presidents' Day than to spend some of your hard-earned Presidents on your very favorite toy in the whole, wide world.

Of course, the only thing better than a new Lego set is a good friend to help assemble all 1000+ pieces of the new Lego set.

Legos: $100. Happy, busy boys: Priceless

A whole half

Eight years ago today, I took this picture of my adorable baby boy.

Today I took this one, as we ate celebratory donut holes with his classmates.

Still adorable, still my boy... not so much baby anymore!!

January Would've Been Kinda Boring if it Weren't for Cub Scouts!

Thank goodness for Cub Scouts. It's been so cold and snowy that we pretty much only leave the house if we have to, and since O has some kind of activity or meeting or outing each week, it's helping prevent complete cabin fever. So how'd we stay busy in January?

P&O baked and decorated an "A-maze-ing" cake for the pack meeting....




And we celebrated O's big popcorn sales at the Lake Erie Monsters' Scout Day at the Q, where we got to do all kinds of fun things like go on the ice and shoot goals...

and shoot hoops on the Cavs practice court....

Otherwise, we kept busy with swimming two nights a week, Chess club, and playing with friends. Inside. We also spent a lot of time remarking at the incredible amount of snow we've received. It is now up to the bottom of the mailbox and holding. We have a couple of snowpeople and an awesome snow fort decorating the front lawn, too!

We had two wonderfully lazy snow days, during which we stayed in our jammies all day long. We also had a couple of not-so-fun days home with a stomach bug, the silver lining of which was that they were perfectly timed so that O got to watch the inauguration LIVE. That was awesome... well, except for the throwing-up part.

But truly, if it weren't for the bevy of Scout-related activities we've participated in this past month, we would've been bored silly by now! Here's hoping for an early Spring....

Holiday Highlights

Oh, I had high hopes of blogging a lot over break, but alas we were just too busy having FUN. This was a great break for all of us, with the following highlights...

• Uncle Chris & Aunt Patty surprising us on Christmas Day
• Christmas eve candlelight service at FCC
• Reading Christmas cards from lots of folks we wish we saw more often! If you're wondering, we haven't sent any yet. I'm thinking about Valentines this year...
• Rollerskating with friends and O learning to skate without holding onto the wall
• Peppermint ice cream & Magic Shell sundaes and Christmas cookies
• Weekend trip to Cincinnati to see the whole McCoy clan, especially the adorable Miss Sophie (no offense to the rest of you, but she is just so stinkin' cute!!!)
  

• Getting a Wii for Christmas and playing it A LOT
• P having two four-day weekends in a row--unprecedented!
• Going to see The Tale of Despereaux and eating movie popcorn for dinner
• Playdates, playdates & more playdates
• Going to the Cavs game on Christmas night with Baba & Gumpa. The view from P's work seats is pretty awesome, or so I hear... I spent a relaxing evening alone at home while the boys and my folks cheered the night away with LeBron & co. This was the ultimate win-win situation!!
• Watching O watch Star Wars III for the first time--pure joy!
• Uh, duh.... presents!!!
• Helping Gumpa put together his & Baba's Christmas present (a grill) and bringing home a really awesome box to play with
• P's delicious chocolate cake... mmm.... which we had for breakfast one morning!
• Finding my grandparents' "Parents' Album" from my parents' wedding (and some other awesome old family photos) in a box that I'd neglected for too long
• Ringing in a new year. I love the anticipation of what the new year will hold, the clean slate, the possibilities...

From SPandO to all our friends... our best wishes for a fabulous 2009!