Cake Anyone?

This is how much my kids love me. 

They decided to make me a 3 layer cake - one layer chocolate, one layer strawberry, one layer vanilla. Unfortunately, one of the kids got their grubby, little hands on the top layer and was responsible for the demise of that lovely, wonderful cake. 

So my 3 layer cake turned into a 2 layer cake with a couple of cupcakes thrown in for good measure.  William did the frosting between the two layers and Micah did the piping on the side of the cake.

Can you tell she has been obsessively watching Cake Boss?  She wants to marry an Italian, have lots of babies and make cakes when she grows up.

We chowed down on that cake for a couple of days, just leaving a fork next to it and taking a bite each time we walked by.  Our sacred days, where desserts are plentiful. You could always tell who took the last bite by the guilty look on their face.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

35

  That seems like an insanely large number in reference to my age.  Truly, I feel like I am about to graduate high school like my two nieces...I can't be 35 years old yet! 

But I am...and I feel my luck changing! It is a running joke in my family that my brother has all the luck.  He is Mr. Front Row Joe...everything seems to go his way.  Me...not so much.  So imagine my amazement when I won tickets to an Astros game on my birthday! Not just any tickets, either - FRONT ROW on FIRST BASE!

We practiced making faces in case we got on the jumbo screen in the stadium.

We thought Captain America would make us famous.

Unfortunately, we left before the whole stadium was priveleged with this face.

Card Shark

My grandmother, Doe, taught me to play poker at a very young age.  Every time we visited their house in the country, we would get out the penny jar and a deck of cards and play Dr. Pepper, Baseball and 7 card stud for hours at their kitchen table.

I have such fond memories of those times and the thousands of laughs we shared at that table.

Time has passed and we are all older. 

Now, we crowd around on the hospital bed in Doe and Pa's room at the nursing home, with the chips played out before us. 

Now, my three kids learn what is wild and that four of a kind beats a full house.

Now, Doe sits in her wheelchair, fighting dementia.  Trying her hardest to make her mind remember who I am.  To her, I am my Mom, William is Ryan and Micah is me.  She doesn't know who Jude is, but she knows he is her baby and she loves him terribly.

We played three hands of poker, and Doe won every hand.  She is still the card shark she always was.  I was so thankful that William remembered to bring his poker set.

She is still my witty grandmother who speaks her mind.  Every once in a while, the murkiness in her mind clears and she is on spot with what is happening in the present time.  She heard Mike and Pa talking about cars and asked me a question.  She looked in my eyes - seeing my mom and not me - and asked if he got the yellow one that he always wanted.  I said, "Yes.  Dad bought a yellow Corvette."   She smiled and said, "He wanted that - he didn't need it!". 

That's my Doe - always with the last word.

Blessed Beyond Belief

Sometimes I look at my kids and think how in the world did I get so lucky.  How is it that I get to raise these three amazingly different souls?  These three kids that will grow up and change the world each in their own special way.

On Mother's day I asked that we spend the day at Moody Gardens.  I love watching the kids enjoy themselves and learn.  We started the morning at Palm Beach and it was cloudy, overcast and windy.  The water was freezing and I didn't think Mike was going to be able to stick it out.  The kids loved it, smiling through their quivering chins.  Thirty minutes after we arrived the sun came out and made life bearable. 

Watching Jude swim backwards, against the current, in the lazy river was a sight I will not forget. 

Seeing Micah swim underwater without holding her nose - a fear she was finally able to overcome - was the best gift I could have been given.

Witnessing William being a protective and helpful big brother warmed my heart - he is such a sweet, thoughtful guy. 

We spent a long time watching the penguins and the seals as they swam up to the glass.  We hunted out the tropical fish that reminded us of our family and named each of them.  The kids jumped the steps in the the underwater theater. 

Seeing them, really seeing them -  their quirks, their mannerisms, their unique tones - is a blessing.  An amazing blessing that is beyond anything I could have every dreamed of.

Check out my limo...

Micah's girl scout troop sold enough cookies to pool their prizes together and spend a day as a Marine Biologist at the Aquarium in Kemah .  As a surprise to the troop one of the dad's borrowed a limo and chaufferred them to their destination.

When we drove up to the school, Micah saw the ride and was pretty impressed...especially when I told her that she was going to ride in it.  She immediately told me that William has never ridden in a limo before...oh, that sweet sibling love...always trying to one up each other!