Andy & Jessica

“I want a baby sister but God’s not giving me a baby sister.”

“You found my Bat-Man cape.  Now I can fly.”

At 6 a.m. sharp on Sunday morning I got myself ready and then one by one grabbed my 3 sleeping boys who were dressed in their running clothes.  They had been looking forward to the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics’ kids fun run, all the way in White Bear Lake.  It was quite the drive, but we made it there by 7:30 a.m.  The boys were much more interested in getting a participatory medal for running than raising money for children’s cancer research.  They raced their little hearts out and I even had to jump in and run with Asher the last third of the race since he was tiring out.  Jude finished in 3rd place.  After the race, the boys hung around the prize table, waiting for their medals.  But, after being shooed away, I asked and learned that some of the medals for the kids were lost in the mail and they decided not to hand them out at all.  That was devastating for the kids.  Jude was crying, but collected himself enough to say, “How can they call it a fun run when there are no medals?”

Work has been crazy lately and I’ve been working way too much.  I don’t like it and I know the boys don’t either.  They are incredibly perceptive and know when they are getting completely ignored.  For weeks now, as soon as I get home from work, I have to jump back on the computer and work until 11 p.m. or later and then have to work most of the weekend.  Jude said, “Can you get your old job back?  You never have time to play with me anymore.”  Asher noticed the messy house since I haven’t had time to keep it clean and said, “Since our house is a disaster, can we get a new house?”  Hopefully things will get better soon because this is just not working for us.

Jude, who is 7, and still raves about how delicious booger are said, “Boogers, if you don’t pick them, you’re going to have a stuffed nose.”

“I’m Asher’s translator.”

I was excited to tell Jude that we’re planning to go to the Twins game tomorrow.  Given that he is older and playing baseball himself this summer, we thought maybe he’d be finally interested.  When I told him about the game, he yelled out excitedly, “Yes!  I love those hot dogs and chips.  I’m not going to even watch the game.  All I’m going to do is eat.”

This weekend Andy stayed at home to build new kitchen cabinets and the boys and I headed to my hometown for a weekend of fun.  My goal was to get Jude up on waterskis, but instead something very unexpected happened.  After failing to convince Jude to try skiing, Levi hopped right in the skis and said that he wanted to go.  He follows directions easily and looked like he was born to ski while going on the boom right by our boat.  After several runs, with me helping situate him in the water, he was ready for a break.  I tried to convince Jude to go again but then unwittingly convinced Asher (who is still 2).  Before he could change his mind, I threw the skis on him and jumped in the water with him.  As soon as his tiny body hit the cold water, he probably tried to tell me that he had changed his mind, but it would have been too late because I had already gotten his little hands gripping the boom and aligned his skis and told Mike to go.  Asher had a short run, before leaving his skis and me behind.  Super Sara quickly leaped into the water to rescue Asher whose was gripping the bar still like a pro instead of floating in the cold water.  We also tried some tubing, which Jude and Levi loved and Asher wasn’t crazy about and then I went barefooting through chopping water and killed my back.  We also went to a parade and got enough candy to completely fill our candy jar, went to the drag races, an award-winning play land, the beach, a water ski show and a drive through my childhood neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

Levi can be running around like a wild boy but then when the time comes at night to tell him to get ready for bed, he drops to the ground and whines, “I don’t have any energy” and then he says, “I need someone to carry me.”

Jude to me after I surprised him by making him biscuits (which he loves): “Sometimes I think you’re really annoying, but it’s only because I’m mad at you.  But, most of the time, you are way more awesome than annoying.”