ROLL(ersk8)ING into 35!

Last night my friends and family made a childhood dream of mine come true...

By joining me at Skateland for a rollerskating birthday party!!! It was awesome. Very nostalgic for this 90s kid. Tuesday night cheapskate has never been so fun.

I will admit that I felt pretty lame planning my own party and buying all the party supplies. But I guess that's just life as a middle age-ish adult. I sent Joe a picture of the cookie cake from the grocery store as I was buying it. His response was "You are buying your own cake and you put those numbers on it?" For a second I panicked thinking I had the wrong age. Maybe I wasn't really turning 35?? But nope I am indeed 35. Joe just thought I would be embarrassed to admit to my age.

Not embarrassed at all. 35 is looking pretty good right now. I've got 4 amazing kids. Great friends. A loving and supportive extended family. And a rockstar husband who is *almost* done with residency and a very exciting move in the near future. Nothing to hide. Just lots to celebrate!

I was quite impressed with Grandma Donna's roller-skating skills! As were her granddaughters. They loved skating with her.

This girl made sure to tell the DJ that it was my birthday so I got a shout out from him. She's a good friend like that! I did NOT get to ride in the giant roller skate like the birthday children but I sill had fun:)

My birthday gifts were VERY state themed. A Minnesota cutting board and a "Howdy Y'all" inside of Texas cup. And I love them both!

15 Years

Last week Joe and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary by taking a kid-free trip to Mexico! We returned to Playa del Carmen where we honeymooned. Well not the same resort but the same town. The original resort closed...we think. But WE are still going strong:) Our honeymoon was 10 days and this trip was 5 days. I’m thinking it should have been the other way around. We couldn’t have possibly needed 10 days of rest after our wedding, right? But we certainly could use that much rest a decade and a half and four kids later! Regardless we are SUPER grateful for any amount of time away together.

This entire trip was made possible by a) my parents’ willingness to watch our crew and b) moonlighting. 

My one and only requirement for our resort was that it had poolside cabanas. Because if you know anything about me it’s this: I like to sleep. And I wanted to be able to go from my bed in our room to a bed next to the pool. I love sleep THAT much. 

Turns out THIS guy was a really good sleeper on this trip. For the first two days every time I turned around he was “resting his eyes”. Years of sleep deprivation will do that to a person I guess. Because normally he does NOT nap. But in Mexico he was a pro napper:)

Poolside or beachside. He didn’t discriminate. Naps all around!

Naps and lots of pictures together. Thank goodness for the selfie mode and self timer on phones. Fifteen years ago our Mexico pictures looked like this...

Joe. 

Bear. 

But not Joe & Bear. 

Ok. That’s not completely true. And here is the proof. We re-created a rare Joe & Bear together picture from our honeymoon on this trip. Here’s the result:

Yes. That’s the same dress. Still fits thanks to lots and lots of stretch. I felt silly bringing it and wearing it again but in the end I’m glad I did. The results make me smile. I love seeing us then and now. So much has changed in the last 15 years. But so much has stayed the same as well. Plus the re-creation process was funny. I wore the dress on the night we had hibachi reservations. Which means we ate at a hibachi counter/table. Not a real table. Meaning the picture would be totally different. Oops. We persevered. After hibachi we went to the buffet and insisted on a 4 person table despite the hostess’ insistence that we needed a 2 person table. In the end we got the table, the picture and a second serving of dessert! Win. Win. Win!

This next picture is also a honeymoon picture re-creation. Except I don’t currently have the original. It’s packed and ready for our move THIS weekend! 

Joe gave me that skirt as a gift for our honeymoon:)

Admittedly I napped a bit too. Mostly poolside and on the beach. But our last night there I did fall asleep during the Mexican fiesta/market. Oops!

I know I already said this. But the time away was so good. Just to be us. Together. Alone. No responsibilities. No distractions. We got to talk uninterrupted. Multiple times each day. Every day all day if we wanted. I feel like it’s the first time we’ve sat down and really talked in a long long time. Lots of verbally processing the last seven years (medical school + residency). The good. The bad. The ugly. All of it. Plus talking and dreaming about the future. Because we are finally on the brink of being done with training. So much to talk and think about. 

Admittedly there was a little bit of guilt involved with leaving the kids for a (school) week. It was a busy week. And we missed some important events with them. Isaiah’s 5th grade award ceremony and party. Charlotte’s award ceremony and dance dress rehearsal and pictures. Hannah’s kindergarten graduation (we FaceTimed for that one!) But my parents did great and the kids loved having their grandparents at the special events. I think overall it was good for everyone. 

I’m hoping we don’t wait another 15 years before we get away just the two of us again. 

Soccer

Every year or so I get the itch to put my kid(s) in soccer. It just seems like the right thing to do. Or maybe just the thing to do. Right or wrong. It’s a thing. And I get all excited and register a kid or two. Buy all the necessary gear. Socks. Shoes. Shin guards. Soccer ball. I/we start out strong. Enthusiastic! We are going to do soccer. This is our thing.

And then reality hits. Practice multiple times a week. Putting on and off the ridiculously difficult soccer socks and shin guards. All those laces to tie. Finding and filling water bottles. Searching for soccer balls. Saturday morning games. MORNING GAMES. As in multiple games before noon because multiple kids means multiple teams. Add in the fact that I’m doing 90% of this solo with extra (non-soccer playing and not excited) kids in tow. And well I start to doubt that this is our thing. It’s a whole thing. But maybe just not OUR thing. 

Just tonight during the first five minutes of practice I was ready to call it quits. But I didn’t because if there is one thing having four kids has taught me it’s this: sometimes you just have to laugh when you want to cry and quit. Laugh and keep going.  

We had of course rolled up to the soccer field  a minute or two late. And the street was already lined with vehicles so I parked (backwards) a mile away from our practice field. Ok not really a mile. But not close either. Even before I had the van completely parked I told the girls to hop out and run to practice. I sent Isaiah with them while I worked on unloading the van. Because a one hour practice requires no less than one stroller, two chairs, a blanket, a bag of snacks and a bag of toys. 

It quickly became apparent that Levi was NOT going to be able to control himself so he was put back in the van for some time to regroup. No big deal. This I could handle. As Levi throws his fits in the safety of the van I work on gathering our stuff. But of course this is when Hannah decides she must go potty NOW! And the only bathroom...a port-o-potty is on the opposite side of the field. Levi is not calmed down yet so I holler for Isaiah to come back to the van to supervise timeout while I take Hannah potty. I quickly run across the field with Hannah to the potty and then return to the van. Upon my return I discover Levi has calmed himself down. And had an accident inside the van. So I start the changing and baby-wipe bath process. 

All of this within 5 minutes of arriving at soccer practice. 

Spring soccer season is now over. And while it was a lot of work. Incidents like I just described were the normal all season long. It was also also a good season. And not just because the Sting Rays won more games than they lost. It was a good season because my girls learned a few soccer skills and a lot about teamwork. They learned sportsmanship. And trying their best. And we did all of this while surrounded by church friends. Our own little community. We cheered on each other’s kids together. We carpooled. We passed around snacks and babies. We took turns taking the younger siblings to the playground. We talked and laughed and shared life together. All at the soccer field. Maybe soccer is our thing. Or at least it was our thing for a time.