My "Mother's Day"

Today is my Mother's Day. Which I can officially acknowledge at 10:15 p.m. to mark 28 years since I brought our brown-eyed bandit into the world. Yes, 28 years! Next year will be terribly awkward since we'll both be 29 and I already have twin. Hmmm.

When my oldest sister (whom my "real twin" and I call our "upstairs mother") sent me the above image today, I had to cry. 

It's one thing to love your child and celebrate his existence. But it's a whole new level of pride when you can look at your adult child and realize you did good raising him. I mean we have to take SOME credit, right?

Despite his serious "Thinker" pose above prepping to be the narrator in a grade school play, he has the best sense of humor. A perfect combo of (yes both of us, LOL) his parents' quick wit, clever turns of phrase, and of course, sarcasm.

I love his courage to get a passport and study abroad. Not knowing anyone! But finding a career focus after graduation to work for a company that provides this same opportunity for others like him.

I beam with pride when I hear how much he does for others. His girlfriend's family cannot say enough good things about what he does for them – from physical labor to helping care for people and animals. I'm most proud of you for that, Carter. You have such a big, generous heart. 

You have such compassion. Even at 8 years old you'd be corralling wayward shopping carts in the Walmart parking lot with a "Mom, why can't people just put them where they belong? It takes like 5 seconds!" 😁

And I'll cry typing this... throughout your childhood (even in the sometimes surly teen years), every time I called my mom, you were willing to talk first with a "Hi, Grandma. How's it going?" She just thought you were so kind, smart, funny, and exceptional.

I'm biased. But I agree. 

Thanks for making my "Mother's Day" my best day! 💜

Happy May Day

Happy May Day! The last few evenings have been a whirlwind of spring sports photos (soccer and baseball) and editing them. So no time to blog. 

You didn't miss anything.

But I'm back in time for one of my favorite days. 

Of course, when I was a child, I loved May Day. We made "baskets" from business-sized envelopes – cutting the corners to make a handle, drawing and coloring flowers, glueing ribbon, and filling with a few treats. We'd deliver to a lot of neighbors and elderly, who really appreciated it. And did some hang, knock, and dash baskets where we HOPED the neighbor boys would come out and chase us. And I guess, kiss us? This picture was from 4th grade, so we definitely weren't focused on that! (Er, no?) 

But I was dismayed that my younger coworkers knew nothing of this tradition. Gotta bring it back, folks!

Fast forward to adulthood and my favorite reason to celebrate this holiday!

One of my favorite people was born today! 💜 And I'll forever think of him as my "baby boy" even though he's 26 "I have to get my own health insurance" years old!

My little sharp-dressed brown-eyed bandit when he was narrator for the school play.

And cleaning up pretty good for brother Casey's wedding last fall. Of course, I'm a biased mom and think he looks cute (or handsome, I should say) in every picture. 

Since he's down in the Driftless Region (southwest Wisconsin) this week visiting his GF, I'm celebrating long distance. I will make a suitable cake or trifle upon his return, of course! 

And I wish I would've had time the past few nights to make May Baskets. Maybe I'll just start a new tradition and make June baskets?! I mean, at some point in 2024, I'll have plenty of free time, right?

For now, I'll just enjoy some of the blossoms about town – and my baby boy! 

Happy Labor Day

All this time I thought May 1st was all about flowers, baskets (and usually better than 40-degree temperatures) for May Day. And here it's Labour Day. Well for me... Labor Day. 

Yup, 25 years ago today I was in labor for 13 hours and even though things were slow-going, I told the doctor, "I want a May Day baby." Not that I cared about the date so much as wanting relief!

But it's an easy date to remember. I just can't believe this little T-ball playing boy is a 25-year-old man now!

Mommy and Daddy agree this is one of our favorite pictures of all time. He wore out this Nike cap and the one after that!

And still looks so darn cute wearing his hat backward! Yes, I am a bit biased.

Jim and I tried video calling him with a "Happy Birthday" at noon, figuring he was on his lunch break, but he didn't answer. Assuming the positive, I figured he was on a work call. But then he called us back a few minutes later. 

He had just gotten up.

He took the day off to recover from the weekend and relax.

Oh boy! That's our boy! Just smile and giggle. And realize we probably would've done the same thing when we were turning 25. Or just about any age in our 20s! 

He's in Wisconsin for a wedding this weekend so we're hoping he'll come up and see us tomorrow. The house smells like fresh-out-of-the-oven Hornet's Cake (his request) and we might just have to give him a 24-hour time limit before we cut that first piece.

OK. Maybe 25 hours. One for each amazing and blessed year he's filled our hearts.

Happy birthday, Carter Joe! You were worth every second of labor! 

May Day Wishes

As a child, May Day was all about making, filling, and hanging May baskets. But for the past 24 years, it's been about one thing. Our baby boy.

Yup, Carter is 24 today! And I am feeling major Mom Guilt about not being able to make it a special day. #stupidcovid So I had Jim pick up a "cake" on the way home from church...

For the record, the birthday boy does love Glazers from Kwik Trip, so he was happy at least.

And I'm pretty sure his wish was for a Celtics win today. But the Bucks took them in game one of this playoff series. So the wish isn't unfulfilled just yet.

Since we couldn't do much with him to celebrate, he and his girlfriend met up with his college roommate whose birthday was yesterday. I'm pretty sure they've celebrate at least 4 or 5 of their last birthdays together. Gotta keep the streak alive! They met up for a late lunch over in Oshkosh.

I laid low on my recliner – masked up as I have been for days – and Jim and I knocked out some more final Ozark episodes. Thanks to my house arrest, we only have 2 episodes left. Then it's done forever.

And really, that's about all I accomplished this weekend. Forcing myself to rest is harder than it sounds. But I did pretty good. Unfortunately, the deep coughing fits still visit during the night so I don't know if I'm tired from lack of sleep or tired as a symptom of the virus. Either way, I think the worst is over – all the miserable stuff I felt last week – and I'm hoping I'm on the road to recovery.

Haven't lost my sense of smell or taste yet so hopefully the birthday "cake" lasts a few days, too.

Thanks for all the well wishes for me and all the birthday wishes for Carter. It's going to be a good trip around the sun!

May Day, May Day

It's true. April showers do bring May flowers... tree blossoms at least.

And they bring warm May temperatures... yes, it does say 84 degrees on my phone! 

And May Day also means that handsome man above is 23 years old! Yup, time flies when you're leaping from childhood to adulthood! He's still in Platteville so I'm sure enjoying some birthday time with friends.

We were busy anyway. 

Well yesterday was crazy with softball and baseball both playing at the same time and winning 15-0 in both games. Since softball got done early, I was able to shoot pictures of baseball, too. Then, since hubby and his fellow coaches were in a great mood – first win streak since 2018 – we went out to eat afterward. By the time I got home and uploaded softball pictures, it was too late to do baseball and too late to blog.

This morning I got baseball uploaded right away and then walked around the lake and then went garage-sale-ing in search of some mindless books to read by the pool next weekend in Arizona. Didn't have any luck so stopped at Goodwill and picked up a few. 

Since hubby was golfing, I managed to bond with Mr. Deck Chair for a bit. It felt like summer. And it was awesome!

Tonight we had dinner in Stevens Point. We met up with two of his former co-workers (from long ago in Iola) and their wives. Pretty much sat around talking a few hours and it was kind of like old times. Only now we didn't have little kids with us and 4 of the 5 "kids" between the 3 couples are college graduates. Time flies.

Tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 77 here. But there's an 87% chance of rain. So I don't know if I can squeeze in another date with Mr. Deck Chair. Of course, since it was so nice out today I ignored Mr. Broom and Mr. Vacuum. It might be your day tomorrow, guys. 

We'll see if May showers bring motivation.

May Day, May Day

Since March and April seemed about 5 years long EACH, we can only hope May gets credit for being the good month! It always starts off great for this family anyway.

While most people think of April showers and May flowers or May Day baskets or dancing around the May Pole, we think of this little brown-eyed bandit!

Yup, our May Day surprise 22 years ago! Wow. Somebody is getting old! I realize 22 is not really the cute and cuddly age, but I'll take hugs and cuddles from Mr. Dimples any time. Any age!

We knew we weren't going to see him on his birthday or birthday weekend, but Carter's girlfriend took care of his celebration. She had a little surprise party last night for Carter and his roommate Jack, whose birthday was yesterday. (What are the odds, right?) Notice she found a cute toddler picture of each of them AND made them each wear a button that says, "Birthday Girl." She did pretty good. Ha!

I celebrated his birthday by finally making my way to King Cone! I took the long way. Stopped at Urbans Greenhouse in Rudolph to get hanging baskets of flowers. Then cut over on Hwy. 66 to Point to stop at Dunham's for a sale item they didn't have. But I did get to take part in a strange interaction there...

Walking into the store and an older guy exiting says: "Whoever said Plover doesn't have anything beautiful was lying."
Me: "Pardon?"
Him: "You take my breath away!"
Me: "Uhm, thanks!"

As I walk away with a grin on my face... behind my stinkin' face mask! Wait. What the heck, dude? What just happened?

Maybe I have small-but-pretty eyes. Or maybe I should just check my ego at the door.

Either way, King Cone solves everything! And is the perfect way to celebrate our baby's special day and this hopefully merry, merry month of May.

Sweet and Soaked Sixteen

Even a hundred years ago when I was Carter's age, it was still a big deal to turn 16. And not just because Sixteen Candles was one of my favorite movies.

The age 16 is a huge step from stepping (aka walking) to driving. Not that everyone gets to actually test for their license on their birthday. Carter didn't.

Instead he spend another wet and chilly day at the ballpark. Due to our field conditions at "home," we actually had to travel up to Marathon for today's game. We were glad Lukas had some other plans with a few of his countrymen. It would have been torture if we forced him to sit through another dreary display. Especially how the game went.

Our lead-off batter Brady actually hit one out of the park to start the game so we were encouraged. Didn't do much scoring after that, though.

Carter did his share of base running but did not get an opportunity to cross home plate.

 Here he rounds third but is signaled to stay.

The final score ended up being a cold and drizzling 10-3 loss to still undefeated Marathon. Shoot.

We picked up Lukas on our way home and when Carter got home after 9, we had a quick birthday celebration for him. He'd already gotten dozens of birthday wishes, but we hadn't had our Birthday Pie yet!

Yup. Birthday pie! Lukas bought an apple pie last night since he had never seen an actual round pie – except in movies. So we threw on one big candle for Carter to blow out and then served it with some Schwan's cinnamon ice cream. Yum!

A great treat but not as great as Carter's ultimate TREAT. A new car! Well, new to him. I said we spent a LOT of money getting me a car so he could have (well, USE) the "old" Honda Civic. He was just going to have to be happy with that.

I think we was more excited about the light-up NBA key chain than the car. Of course, that's only because he doesn't have his license yet.

And because he's still a kid! 

And still my baby.

May Day Special

I was on my way home from the grocery store tonight when I heard the song, "Oh How the Years Go By" by Amy Grant. It was still playing when I parked in the garage. I shut off the car and listened.

I thought how appropriate to hear it on my baby's birthday. I thought how different life was 10 years ago today. When Carter wasn't officially "here" yet. Life without Carter?! How empty! Now, it's 10 years later. A decade! Oh how the years do go by!

Carter has been making a big deal about this birthday because it's double digits. "Wait until it's triple digits!" he says. He sure is optimistic about his longevity!

Today was a busy day for him. His birthday treats were a big hit at school. He didn't even bring any leftovers home. He opened a few cards in the mail after school. Then he trotted off to baseball practice.

He wasn't expecting to open any presents today (although he really, really wanted to). We said Daddy's family is coming over for a small party on Saturday so he'd have to wait. But then I started thinking, that's not fair. It's not like he's 3 years old and doesn't know what day it is. He still should get to open up something on his birthday.

So when he got home from practice, we put candles on the little M&M ice cream cake I got from the Schwan's man -- and he got to open his socks and underwear. Hey, that's what he gets for begging to open something today. At the bottom of the bag was a Styx greatest hits CD so he is satisfied until Saturday now.

Since there's no school tomorrow, he was hoping to stay up until his "real" birthday at 10:15 p.m. but we still have to get up early to get him to the sitter's so I said maybe next year. He said, "Sorry, Mom. I bet 10 years ago when I was still in your tummy you said, 'This kid is gonna be annoying.'"

I said, "Nope. I said 'this kid is gonna be my angel.'" I think he rolled his eyes, but still let me hug him and kiss him anyway. That's my baby! Oh how the years go by...

May Day

Of course this day holds a special place in my heart. My baby (he hates when I call him that) turns 9 today! Where does the time go?

May Day was always a special time when I was a child, too. We'd help Mom make May baskets out of construction paper and sometimes envelopes -- she had a trick to folding them and cutting the handle to make them look like baskets. It was some pretty creative handiwork!

And why were we doing this? One of the most popularly known May Day traditions is to hang a basket full of spring flowers and/or other small gifts or candy on a neighbor's doorknob. The trick is you don't want the neighbor to see you! If you get caught, you are supposed to get a kiss.

We only had two houses with boys in the neighborhood. And, as much as we'd love for the Hacker boys to catch us and kiss us, we had to expand our mission. No, not for more kisses! We delivered a lot of baskets to elderly folks in the area who really appreciated the gesture.

Call it a spring act of kindness, if you will. That's what May Day is all about.

That, and a special "baby" who I can kiss every day of the year!