Monday, August 29, 2011

Summer of Carly


Today was a sad day in the Ames' household. Carly left to go back to Idaho. I feel like I lost a friend today. :( Okay so that was way too dramatic. Of course I didn't lose a friend....there's still texting, yearly visits, etc. But it was a joy to have her around and she will certainly be missed. I've decided to name this summer in honor of Carly's visit....the Summer of Carly. Last summer was the Summer of the Twins...they ruled our lives. The summer before that was the Summer of Building our New House. And the list goes on. Anyway, here are some fun memories from this summer and things I will miss.

1. Carly watching movies with Daniel and I and NEVER failing to fall asleep. You can count on Carly to sleep through just about any movie.

2. Carnival rides at Grady's that Carly is still young enough to handle while Daniel and I have decided we can no longer stomach rides such as the Tilt-a-whirl. The kids were grateful to have someone fun to ride with them. Here's a picture of fun times at Grady's.

3. The time Carly and I went to McDonald's and thought it was so cute to see Max and Henry drinking from a big person cup. I said it was awfully nice of Carly to share her drink with them...and she said that's your drink right?....We both looked at each other in horror. Fun times. A picture of this momentous occasion. The boys with a complete strangers slobbered on drink. :P

4. When Carly went with me against all rational thought to Ashley's school on the first day of kindergarten and consoled me after breaking down in the office. She assured me everyone has embarrassing breakdowns. Sooo glad she was there but then maybe I wouldn't have gone if I didn't have Carly with me to watch the little kids in the van while I went in. So of course a part of me blames Carly for the whole incident. ;)

5.The time(like 24 hours ago) when Carly sweat buckets with all 5 of our children so that Daniel and I could go to the Temple together. It was HOT outside. We are very grateful to her for that. We all also learned that our family is not ready to be in public yet! :D

6. Carly and I were also in the church nursery together every week. We got to hear some pretty crazy stuff from some of the kids. One kid assured us his parents aren't married and he's allowed to lick himself at home whenever he wants. Carly also got to hear many solos by me during singing time and lots of interruptions during songs with me saying "Sit in your chair" or "Please don't pick your nose".

7. One night Carly, a date, Daniel, and I had a double date at our house. We played frisbee and Daniel pegged me square in the forehead with it. Everyone had a good laugh and then we all played Beatle's Rockband. Daniel and I took turns singing and I'm pretty sure I'm the worst singer on the planet.

8. Also, for anyone who doesn't know...Carly can sleep through anything. We'll have fond memories of the blaring alarm clock going off on Saturday mornings...and afternoons for that matter. Carly tells me she has to set like 5 alarms just to make sure she gets up. She was never late though to her multiple babysitting jobs. Amazing.

9. We all went to visit Stephen one weeknight and went out to eat at Monical's. Max and Henry were both like Godzilla at times during the dinner...climbing around and trashing the place. It was fun but mostly stressful. Here's Stephen, Carly, and Daniel in the parking lot outside.

We had so many good times this summer. We'll miss Carly.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Not my finest hour

Over the last hour or so I've managed to do a lot of things that I'm less than proud of. In fact, I'm mostly horribly embarrassed of. At least I could share these moments with my SIL Carly. That way not only will I always remember it....she will too.;)
Today was the first full day of school for Ashley. She's not the oldest so I didn't think much of it. As she was packing her lunch this morning though I started to worry a little bit. She packed 3 things that needed to be opened...usually by me...not today though. But whatever she grabbed her lunch and hopped on the bus without a tear....from either of us. I'm not one of those moms who cries on the first day of school. Anyway, round 11 I started worrying that she wouldn't be able to open her food and since she's shy, she won't ask for help. Yes there's help I know...but I also know Ashley and that she doesn't like talking to unfamiliar people. At 11:30 I called and asked Daniel if it'd be crazy to stop in to make sure she got her food opened ok. and "Yes...it would be crazy". "She'll be fine...there's lots of help...are you really that worried about her?" silence. And cue the tears. I started crying and said we'll talk later. Should've stopped there but no I asked Carly, my SIL, to go with me to the school so I could stop in. 5 minutes later I'm walking in the office. Everything would have been fine if I could have gone straight to the cafeteria...but no I have to stop and explain why I'm there(I do appreciate their attempts to keep out crazies). I say "Hi...hi...hi" followed by breakdown. Great now I'm crying in the office....they're used to that...5 year-olds come in all the time crying. Problem....I'm not 5. I'm supposed to be an adult who can pull myself together and not show up like a loony to my kids first day of school crying in the office. It was surreal. Right out of a movie...a horror or a comedy?....still undecided. How did they react? They said oh are you ok?...do you want to go to a conference room in the back?(aka please hide yourself before you scare everyone). I managed to pull myself together and say I just wanted to check on Ash and I'm so sorry for crying. They directed me to the playground where she would be playing in a few minutes. Lunch was over....and I was a wreck. So I quietly walked back to the van and told Carly the whole embarrassing story while heading to Mcdonald's to drown my sorrows in saturated fat. Pretty sure not many moms can top that embarrassing story.

The truth is...it's hard to watch your kids grow up. I will always miss their sweet baby faces...their sweet little voices....their sweet little hands and feet. I'm happy they get to do new and exciting things but I'm sad that someone else gets to spend more time with them than me. I know they drive me nuts a lot....but I love them and can't stand the thought of them being hungry or scared at lunch....hate to think that some kid will say something to make them feel bad today, or tomorrow. A line from a song I really like goes "It hurts to grow up"...and it sure does. It's hard having to be the grown up and putting on a brave face...I obviously failed at that today. I'm not embarrassed about being that sad, but I'm embarrassed about not keeping it together when I needed to. I made one good decision today.....not to go and visit Ash when I knew that I'd just cry. Anyway, here's hoping tomorrow I can be a little more grown up.