Most people have had the experience of coming across an item, a song, a food, or something else that, in a split-second, whisks them back to another day. (Who said that time travel is impossible? I beg to differ!) For example, if you were to serve me pigs in blankets, or even mention them, my mind would go back to my fourth birthday party, during which my mom served them, and one of my guests got sick (i.e. tossed her cookies) all over her part of the table. I can’t help it; it’s where I go. Every time I hear the Rolling Stones song “Start Me Up”, I think about…
-
-
Fly Like An Eagle, Part Two
Something interesting has happened over the last two years or so: J has grown less interested in scouting than he used to be. Much less. As in, he has decided to leave scouting altogether after his final high adventure trip this summer (to the Florida Keys, for snorkeling!). Jim and I saw this development coming in the early stages, and did our best to try and get J reinvigorated with scouting and all that it entails, but he just wasn’t having it. We thought that maybe, if he decided to do the work involved with achieving Eagle, it might be a great way to breathe new life into this extracurricular…
-
The Big Book Reveal!!!
Today is an exciting day for me. Sure, it’s SATURDAY (always very thrilling), but there’s something else. I am finally ready to reveal the fantastic cover of my book–which will be published in May!–along with my super-awesome book website! Very few people have been privy to sneak-peeks before today, and it makes me more happy than you can imagine to finally put it out there for everybody. Before you check them out, I have just a couple of things to share. The book is called Chicken In The Car And The Car Won’t Go: Nearly 200 Ways To Enjoy Chicagoland With Tweens And Teens. The main title comes from an…
-
We Laughed, I Cried, He Drove.
It’s a funny thing sometimes, how one handles watching a second child reach important life milestones after already watching the oldest child reach them. In some cases, and for some people, it’s easy to make light of the accomplishment, or not document it as much as the first time. I try my best not to be that parent. My younger child deserves just as much attention and kudos for his accomplishments as my older child does, and it’s not only an important part of his general emotional development that I do my best in this area, but also an important part of our relationship. So, I was ready to fully…
-
Sometimes Your Talent Shows Itself Without Prompting.
My boys differ greatly when it comes to lots of things; their affection for children is one of them. D has always been really great with small children: he isn’t intimidated by babies, and toddlers adore him. He babysat often in high school and his young charges thought he was the best thing ever. The five to six-year-old group idolized him completely. I believe that his being the perfect age–starting at three and a half!–to help out with the babies and toddlers in the health club nursery where I worked (and brought both boys along) for several years was partially responsible for instilling something within his personality to have these…
-
Two Cars For One Sixteen-Year-Old
Yesterday was a pretty exciting day around here: J turned sixteen. As you know, sixteen is a huge milestone for a teenager, with the ability to get a driver’s license and all. J will be taking his driver’s test at the end of the month, because he still has about 7 permit hours to go, and the nine-month permit period isn’t over yet. At ANY rate, I thought–especially since we are not the type of parents who would buy our kids a car at sixteen, even if we could afford it–that I would make his traditional rainbow cake in the shape of a car. Taking the idea even further, I…
-
This Is What Sixteen Years Looks Like.
Okay, technically this (above) is what fifteen and a half looks like, since I took the picture in Munich over the summer. But you get the idea. Today is J’s sixteenth birthday. I am once again in total disbelief that this growing up thing is happening. I mean, we’ll be starting his college search in the fall! Hold me. J: I hope you enjoy the rainbow cake I’m attempting to make for you right now. (If it all works out, it will have four wheels and would go “vroom vroom” if I put some kind of sound mechanism in it!) Happy, happy birthday, Dude! I love you! ©2011 Suburban Scrawl
-
As It Turns Out, He’s Way More Accurate Than Nostradamus
D returned home from college for the weekend today, and the first order of business (after he messed around with Roxie for a minute) was to open those two letters from his younger self. The first envelope contained some specific personal goals, like (as I mentioned yesterday) “Be nicer to J”, “Be better at turning in my homework”, and other things that, thank goodness, he has learned to do over the past four to five years. (Did I mention here that his GPA for first semester in college this year was a 3.752? WOOT!) That piece of paper was pretty awesome, but it was the letter in the OTHER envelope…
-
And This Is Why He’ll Probably Never Work For The FBI.
Years ago, our neighbors bought a bicycle for their son Julian, who was celebrating his eighth birthday. It was his first bike, and they asked us if they could hide it in our garage so they could bring it out at his birthday party a couple of days later. We were happy to help, and Jim hid it in the back part of the garage. Jim told our boys, then six (ish) and nine (ish), that we were storing the bike for Julian’s parents, for his birthday. On the day of the party, the boys were playing outside while Julian’s parents were finishing up the decorations and other details. Eventually…
-
The Finals Countdown
The older boy is smack dab in the middle of finals, and preparing to come home for winter break at the end of the week. He has had a particularly heavy class load in his first semester; none of the class subjects would have been overly difficult for him individually, but these classes grouped together provided a tremendous amount of weekly hours full of papers and projects to complete. It all exploded yesterday, apparently. He turned in his final art project–an assignment of epic proportions which had him apparently feeling very hostile about the color yellow, as he indicated in a Facebook status–on Monday, and was busily working on the…