Birthdays, Bacon, and Break Dancing

Although the sun still seems to be awol around here as of late, that didn't stop us from creating some summertime fun this weekend.  We've been getting over some long nasty colds, so between naps, chicken noodle soup, and the Game of Thrones season finale, we forced ourselves outside and had some fun by the fire, on the dance floor, and underneath the moon. 

  
Highlights of our weekend...
  
Birthdays, Bacon, and Break Dancing
  
Cruz was pretty sick last week with what we eventually learned was a sinus infection and clogged tear duct.  And because Beau's birthday was spent waiting in line at not one, but two Walgreens for antibiotics, we decided to hold off and celebrate when Cruz was feeling back to himself.  We celebrated a couple of nights late with grilled steaks and baked potatoes, Italian pasta salad and peanut butter pie, and relived an annual tradition of a very special gift from Cruz, picked out all by himself with an allowance of $2.42 at Dollar General.  

Cruz perused the aisles of Dollar General for an hour, casually investigating objects and announcing "Daddy wouldn't like it," before setting it back down and finding something else.  He finally decided on an orange hoola hoop ("hoola hoopsie") and a cool pair of shades.  Cruz thought is was pretty neat presented Daddy with his very own gift and immediately proceeded to demonstrate how to use it.
 

Saturday morning started in a way quite typical for the Jorgensen's --- bacon, bed head, and underwear!  Our little monkey is pretty much potty trained, and he's enjoying the freedom and comfort of underwear!  He may kill me for these pictures someday, but I just can't help myself - chicken legs, his baseball t-shirt tucked into his Superman undies, and eating bacon like a piece of candy.

  

Saturday night, we traveled to Allison for a wedding.  For a few years, it seemed our summers were made of weddings; however, they happen less frequently lately and I relish the opportunity to get dressed up, eat wedding cake, and see how two people take such a lovely tradition and put their own unique spin on it. 

 

Cruz looked so handsome on Saturday and got into all things wedding.  He preferred to drink his water from the wine glass at the table instead of the sippy cup we packed, quickly spotted the candy and popcorn table from across the way, and broke in his dancing shoes by creating quite the spectacle on the dance floor.  

He was so funny!  Surrounded by mostly strangers, this little man held his own as he followed the groomsmen's moves, and other times, let them follow his lead!  At one point, I couldn't find Cruz on the dance floor, to which my dad pointed him out in the middle of a giant circle of dancers, taking his turn during Jeremiah was a Bullfrog!  My favorite moment was when I saw him go and wave his hands back and forth in Carly's tulle wedding skirt!  He lost himself for a moment!

Popcorn, Puppets, and New Park Adventures
  
Friday night, we met Jordan, Kelli, Charly, and Hayes for one of my favorite summertime traditions.  Our town does this thing called, Movies Under the Moon a few times each summer.  Families of all ages gather on the grounds at Overman Park, spread blankets, open picnic baskets, and settle in for a night of popcorn, snuggling, and movies under the moonlight.  Friday night was the perfect night for this sort of thing - the weather just right for blankets and past-bedtime cuddles.  We ate pizza out of the box, passed toys and kiddos around, and watched the Lorax with a sea of people.  Stepping back and soaking up the huge crowd was a pretty neat sight.  Small town America at its finest.

 

 

Sunday brought playtime in Cruz's room, stories out of the mouths of puppets, and new parks to explore.  We found a wonderful little secluded one just right for Cruz's size, and he spent a half hour concentrating on conquering the digger toy all by himself.

 

Fish, Forts, Fires, and Farmer's Markets
  
This weekend brought blanket forts (because Saturday morning cartoons are really much better from under a blanket fort), trips to the Farmer's Market to replace some of our rabbit-plagued pepper plants, and backyard fires, s'mores, and books after bedtime.  

And finally, our weekend brought us Sam.  Sam-I-Am to be exact.  We decided Cruz needed a pet, and since my allergies currently prevent any furry friend from joining our family, we went to Pet Smart and let Cruz pick out a finned one instead.  

He went with this bright blue beta fish, and I had fun picking out and decorating a little bowl to match Cruz's room.  Sam made it through the first stretch of getting home, as Cruz proudly demanded he hold the plastic container, sending Sam on quite the roller coaster on the way home.  While I was at first thankful for a 14 day guarantee, it looks as though our little fish friend is enjoying his new home.  Now if we can just keep him in the bowl. ;)

It was a pretty good weekend and you know what?  The sun is peeking through the clouds as we speak.  Hoping for a chance to dip our toes into some chlorine this week.      

Untitled...

It's there - 
but it's not.

The bricks, 
the stone,
the hallways.
Even the posters

still fill the walls 
as if eagerly waiting for 
another school year to begin.

New worlds to invent,
New stories to tell,
New faces to love.

Some would say the building was broken,
But I say the world is.

I believe it would wait there forever
to be filled with that life again,
but instead it withers away,
hoping we don't forget.

I miss it all this time of year.
That distinct smell of freshly waxed floors,
and the heat that permeated through its air.
I miss the patchwork carpet in 222,
and the conversations shared inside its walls.

Conversations about mockingbirds and semi-colons
and carousels and dreams.

And just like the building,
we're there - 
but we're not.

Carrying with us its lessons,
its power,
its uniqueness that only us who walked the halls
understand.

And when that last brick falls
and all that was will be, 
we'll stand -
and remember.   

Just Keep Swimming

"I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on my skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink when the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." 
 

I had plans for this week.  Plans to pack a picnic lunch and surprise Beau at work for his birthday.  Plans for outdoor play and maybe an afternoon at the pool to break in Cruz's new swim trunks.  Plans for fires and marshmallows, projects and pictures, and a coconut-scented start to another hot summer at home.  But as soon as I crawled out of Cruz's bed this morning at 6:00 to the sounds of Cruz crying and screaming, "Mommy, I can't see!" I knew we were in for a long one.  And the rain once again falling outside only added to the bad omen that seemed to wake up with me from the wrong side of the bed.

The day wasn't great.  Cruz has been battling some sort of cold/allergy thing for the past couple of days and it seemed to peak this morning when he woke up with his poor eyes matted shut.  His nose was runny, he had dark pink circles around his eyes, and his mood was less than favorable.  He cried when I got the toilet paper from the roll instead of letting him do it himself, cried when we ran out of frosted Cheerios, and cried when I refused to put goldfish crackers in the milk in his cereal bowl.  

Later on, I helped Cruz construct a birthday card for Daddy, to which we was content and happy.  But soon, all hell broke loose when I left him listening to Raffi and looking at books in his room while I went to put craft supplies away downstairs.  First, I tumbled down a few stairs.  I wouldn't call it a fall, but more of a graceful slide.  After attempting to catch my breath, gain my composure, and attempt to figure out what was out of place, I literally heard what could only be one sound coming from Cruz's room.  I walked in to find exactly what I knew I would...only worse.  There was Cruz, standing in a significant puddle of pee, splashing with his feet and grinning from ear to ear.  I was mortified and impulsively scolded him and sat his bum on his potty chair while he cried a mix of embarrassed, ashamed, and apologetic tears.  To which caused Mom to cry a mix of embarrassed, ashamed, and apologetic tears. 

After cleaning up, getting soaked on the way to Hy-Vee to pick up a balloon bouquet for Beau's birthday, and a slow service lunch and mediocre food at one of our favorite establishments, Cruz had a nap and I called the doctor.  

Funny to say, but the highlight of our day was the doctor's office.  Cruz loves the doctor.  After hopping up on our pediatrician's lap, helping him listen to his ears and conning him into reading him a story, we left with a handful of stickers, a lime green sucker, and two prescriptions for antibiotics.  

On the way home, we stopped by Walgreens to pick up prescriptions.  It was raining, again, so instead of unloading Cruz I chose the drive thru service.  I said a prayer of patience as I pulled up to the long line of cars at the drive thru window.  After a half hour of waiting and listening to Cruz demand "chocolate milk" as he does every time we go through a drive thru, I was informed that our prescriptions were accidentally sent to a different Walgreens.  I pulled away, drove the five miles to the next Walgreens and waited for another fifteen minutes while I watched my gas light turn on and listened to Cruz continue to request his chocolate milk and attempt to throw himself from the car by unlocking the child safety lock over and over and over again.  Little did he know, I was ready to go with him. 

Oh, and the school where I learned to teach and became part of a truly amazing family was leveled to the ground today.

Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming.  

By this point, I had officially entered survival mode.  That happens sometimes, and you know what?  It has to.  While I wanted to throw the towel in, and came pretty close as I resorted to a diaper on Cruz, chicken nuggets in front of the TV, and a sippy cup of milk to bed, I kept swimming.  It wasn't graceful and it wasn't pretty, but it was grounded.  And sometimes, days like this are important, too.  Because at the end of the day, they help us strip away all the gunk and really see the small little glimmers of good as enough fuel to make it across the finish line.  

Because there are good things in every day, even the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ones.  

Cruz fascinates me at the doctor's office.  He paid attention to everything the nurse and doctor did, and followed directions with an interest and trust that few kids possess in an uncomfortable setting.  From the way he put his hand on our pediatrician's leg as he showed us his charts, to the way he grabbed the nurses hand as she listened to his heartbeat, I melted at his sweetness and innocence and completely forgot about our early mishaps.  

Bundling Cruz in a chair to eat his supper in our cozy house while the rain poured outside.  It's a rare occurrence to eat in the living room, and sometimes the rarities offer a little magic to an otherwise mundane routine.  I watched Cruz eat, tickled his toes from under the blanket, and felt thankful for a warm house and a gentle rain.

Reading books to Cruz before bed.  Because no matter how hard the day has been or how many times I've held back tears of frustration or said silent prayers for patience, the days always end with peace.  Peace in the form of the two of us cuddled in the chair, reading books, snuggling with blankies, and soaking in exactly who he is on a night I'll never have again.  Everything else kind of withers away when we read those books together.  

These kinds of days are inevitable and important in the sense that they keep us grounded, keep us vulnerable, and keep us aware.  I've been reflecting a lot on a quote I saw on Kristin Rogers', one of my favorite instagrammer's feeds: "Each day is, in a certain sense, a complete life by itself.  It has its own duties, its own trials, its own burdens, its own needs.  The very best we can do for the perfecting of our life as a whole, is to live the one day well.  We should put all our thought and energy and skill into the duty of each day, wasting no strength, either in grieving over yesterday's failures - or in anxiety about tomorrow's responsibilities."  JR Miller 

Working hard to live each day as a life.  To laugh through frustration, add one more book to the pile at night, and when all else fails, just keep swimming.    
    

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Stopping in quick today to wish our one-and-only a very Happy Birthday!  We love this guy to pieces and wish he could be here hanging out with us on this rainy day instead of at work!  

Last summer, we enjoyed the warm June morning and painted a banner for Daddy to greet him when he got home from work.  This morning, however, we woke up to rain (go figure), and decided we needed a rain check on any outdoor plans for the day.  We got out the art supplies and stickers, made a homemade card, and swung by Hy-Vee for a surprise bouquet of balloons and Beau's favorite, Hot Tamales, tied as a weight.  

Then, the two of us decided to go surprise Dad at work and take him to lunch.  Cruz definitely understands that it is a special day for his dad, and he looked so cute marching into the Farm Bureau office with a bouquet of balloons and a card he made all by himself.  He proudly displayed the balloons and we were both quite pleased with the look on Daddy's face when he turned and saw our little surprise!  These are the little moments with kids that I couldn't wait to experience.  
 

Happy Birthday, Daddy!  We love our taco-eating, insurance-selling, Big Green Egg-loving, guitar-playing boy more than anything else!