Everyday Happenings

We are busy every. single. day.  Period.  Some days we have big events that are worthy of pulling out the real camera.  Some days we have unexpected moments that warrant pulling out the iPhone.  Either way it’s our crazy life and we love it.  In recent happenings…we had viewing week at dance.

Sof likes tap, but she’s a hippity hopper at heart!  She likes the move that ends in “what”!

Jazz is Lexi’s favorite, but she does tap and ballet too!

Mark’s Aunt JoAnn and Uncle Bob came for a visit.  We haven’t seen them in about 10 years.  They were shocked to see the kids!  Especially Adrienne who looks and acts so much like Mark’s mother who passed away 10 years ago. 

 

Adrienne and 20 others from her dance group are going to be dancing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I helped with some of the costuming last week, and they are going to look so great!  If they didn’t have a 3am ready time it’d be perfect.  Ugh.

All the girls will have the red dresses on, but we didn’t need to fit some of them because they are using them right now for another performance.  Every four years our studio partners with the local high school to put on “A Christmas Carol”.  When you combine our dancers with the high school vocalists, you get WOW.  Seriously, it’s unbelievable.  It feels like a professional performance with the talent, costumes, and set(which is rotating). 

   

Adrienne is the third from the left, standing with her right arm up!  I’ve seen it twice already and can’t wait to go one more time next weekend! 

     

In other unbelievable happenings, my bestie from 6th grade, Steph, turns 40 this week.  Her sis and mom hosted a surprise party which was great! 

      

             

Ummmm, 40?  Really?  Weren’t we just 11?  There’s a lot of history there.  Best thing about this relationship?  She’s 9 months older than me.  So I have a long time before it happens to me, right?  Happy Birthday my friend, love ya.

       

After all of that scheduled fun, on Sunday we were ready for some quiet Mommy, Lexi, and Sofie time.  Adrienne has a birthday this week(14, gasp) so we had some shopping to do:)  We started with lunch.

 

Then we headed to Michaels to use a coupon to buy Gingerbread houses(foreshadowing to a kick a** gingerbread party coming soon).  They had a craft table set up for the kids to make snowman ornaments.  Bonus in an already great day!

   

Next we stopped at 5 Below.  The girls were allowed to choose one item for themselves and one for sissy’s b-day.  So many choices…

We ended with ice cream(right before dinnertime) because it was a random 70 degrees out and I had that warm, fuzzy, I love my kids feeling. 

   

Hope your week is filled with planned and unplanned warm fuzzies:)

When Time Stops

Back in June we got a call that changed our lives.  Sal told us Don had been diagnosed with cancer.  She didn’t sugar coat it, it was bad.  We hoped, oh how we hoped, that a miracle would come.  It didn’t, and we attended his memorial yesterday.

   Christmas Eve 2011

Several weeks ago Sal called and broke the news that hospice was there.  We rushed out to see him two days later.  It was a shadow of the man we knew, and yet it was still so him.  We took the big girls with, and it was hard for all of us.  We said what needed to be said, and drove home in quiet sobs. 

Christmas Eve 2011

This is the time of year that Sal would usually call to talk about the girl’s dress sizes and when we would get together to exchange them. 

November 2011

It was always an evening we looked forward too.  The girls loved this tradition.  We would get to their house in the early afternoon and not leave until after midnight.  Instead, we stood in their house yesterday, void of joy.  The conversation was light, but the air heavy with grief. 

November 3, 2012

Don had requested a small service, in a luncheon setting, at a restaurant he loved.  A minister spoke, and then Mark and Adrienne spoke.  Mark talked about being the ring bearer in Don and Sal’s wedding.  He recounted several of his favorite memories of Don.  Then he spoke of what a gentleman he was.  He took care of Sal like it was his greatest mission in life.  They loved deeply, and it was obvious.

Christmas Eve 2011

Adrienne struggled through her speech, but did her Uncle Don proud.  Obviously not a dry eye in the place.  I was so very proud of both her and Mark.

    

November 3, 2012

As we sat in Sal’s living room after the service, there was an awkward pause in the mindless chatter we were making.  She rose and went to the kitchen, returning with a gift bag.  Mark reached in and pulled out Don’s Rolex watch.  It was a prized possession of his that he wanted Mark to have.  On that watch, time had stopped. 

  There are no words to express the gratitude of that gesture.  Mark will wear it with the pride and honor Don did.  It smells like Don, his cologne thick on it.  It smells of the man we celebrated with year after year.  He was a class act, a real gentleman.     

Today Mark read online how to reset it, and just like that it began to tick again.  Time moves on and we must too.  The loss of Don’s life will leave a hole that will never ever be filled.  We will not fall in that hole though, we will walk around it to what is waiting on the other side.  It is an unfamiliar path, and we have no map, but we will navigate it together until we find a place we’re comfortable.  Don now lives in eternity, but for us, we still live by the tick tock of the clock.   

Halloween 2012, That’s a Wrap

We came, we saw, we did Halloween.  I always sort of dread the fact that it’s a predominantly nighttime holiday that falls on a weekday.  I think it just makes me ultra organized though.  We started the preparations about a week ago.  The first event was bowling night.  This year we settled on replacement refs as our costume.  Steve’s was the funniest with zigzag lines!

  

We actually printed off the official Professional Bowler’s Association rules and cited people for “breaking” them.  Things like only having one ball, and no balls in the locker room.  You can imagine.  Peanut M&M’s served as our flags.   

We carved pumpkins on Sunday.  Awhile back I bought a cool set at Target for Sof.  It came with a little hammer and clear golf tee like objects.  I thought she would love being able to hammer them in herself, and she did!  Problem was they didn’t light up with a candle, and I couldn’t find a pumpkin light.  Luckily her interest doesn’t last long and she moves on!

  Sof wasn’t sure about the insides at first, but she quickly got over it!

 

Even big girl carved, and don’t let her fool you, she likes it!

Lexi dug in like a pro!  She doesn’t care about slime, and she can even carve it herself! 

The finished product was indicative of each kids personality.

Sof and Lexi both had parties at school.  The excitement that morning was palpable.

  Sof had her party in the morning while I was at work.  Then we headed over to Lexi’s school for her parade and party.  Sof waited anxiously to see her sis, and when she did she went running!

 

She made herself comfortable in Lexi’s classroom finding a book.

Then it was back home to set out sandwiches and chips for friends to come eat before trick or treat.  It was a nasty night, cold and spitting rain, but we had a great time anyway! 

Lexi and Jack coordinated their outfits again this year.  I think they’re too cute to be gangsters! 

Sof totally knew what she was doing this year and wanted to keep up with the big kids!

She did a lot of running that night!

Adrienne had play practice(don’t even get me started on the stupidness of this).  I picked her and 5 friends up at 7, just enough time to get costumes on and trick or treat on our street.  Then like teenagers do, they came back and ate sandwiches, and chips, and fruit until they were about to explode.  Then they dove into the candy!  I loved that they were all at our house!

They’re such dancers!  Get the camera out and they immediately pose!

In the end everyone was full, happy, and candy was plentiful!

The next morning I went to get my Starbucks before work, and lo and behold they handed me a red cup.  Cue the light snow fall, angels singing, and a couple hallelujahs!  Well Hello November, I forgot how much I like you!  I suddenly feel more thankful, red cups do that for me.  Our schedule was different that morning, so I got my Starbucks after I dropped Adrienne off at school, then brought drinks back to Sof and Lexi.  Lexi got all excited and said, “The Christmas cups!”.  Sof responded with, “Santa bought these?”  Ha!   

Happy cozy, homey, crock pot, and red cup season!  Cheers!

The Real Day

Today our Sofie officially turned 4.  The funny thing is she wouldn’t have known that if we didn’t tell her.  To her she already had her birthday.  There’s just something about the real day though that can’t be ignored.

(These poses for the camera are really too much.)

Even if it is inconvenient.  It is a work and school day, Lexi is at 5th grade camp, and Adrienne had a parent viewing at dance I needed to attend.  We made it special despite the obstacles in the way.  She brought muffins to school for her special snack.

She was out of her mind excited about that!  Every morning she waves to me through every window, and at the last one we hold out our arms and say, “Hug”, through the glass.

When I picked her up we had just over 2 hours before I had to be at dance.

We did a quick clothing change(who would have thought it’d be 75 degrees in late October?) and loaded in the car.  We headed up to Chuckie Cheese for one hour of do whatever you want fun.  I’m not generally a fan of Chuckie Cheese, but if you go at 4:00 no one else is there and it’s wonderful!

    

After games, tickets, prizes, and slides we headed to meet the fam for dinner.  Typical Culley style, it started as just 3 of us, me, Em, and Sof.  Between 2 and 5 it ballooned to a table for 10.  It was a hot mess of drinks spilling, babies crying, balloons getting lost to the ceiling, and lots of “get back in your chairs”. 

    It fit Sof just perfectly though, and in the end, she knew today was special.  Not just any day, her day.