Jenny

We have a friend, Jenny, who has started a blog and I love it. Jenny is the mother of 4, a cancer survivor, a divorce survivor and a wise woman. When she has something to say, I listen as she is close to my age and has experienced more at this point in her life than most people experience in a lifetime. She has lived through some MAJOR challenges and has the best attitude about life. I encourage you to read her blog. She recently said she had over 600 readers. She writes about every day life lessons as well as chronicles her life list of close to 1,300 challenges.
I am writing about her because, as I've written before, I love gaining wisdom from people I respect. I am inspired by these people. She's awesome and you should follow her journey like I am.

Wedding

Meredith's wedding was last weekend. It was perfect. The wedding was up in Coffee Creek. Basically go up Hwy 5 to Redding and head west. The area was BEAUTIFUL and I had never seen that part of the state before. There were mountains and lakes everywhere. They got married at the Carrville Inn, a lovely property that reminded me of a plantation.

We kicked it off with a bridal shower Friday morning. We mingled, ate and drank. It was set up on a patio in the middle of redwoods. Talk about decor! After the shower we worked on the flowers for a few hours. My mom was in heaven as she created centerpiece after centerpiece. There were buckets and buckets of loose flowers and all sizes of vases. They were stunning.

Meredith and Mikey provided an incredible reunion. I loved high school and I loved seeing people who I had some fantastic memories with. Most people I have seen since we graduated but we don't get together. my parents loved catching up with all the 'kids" who used to hang at our house or did sports with us. Everyone was so happy to see each other.

And then it was the wedding day...

We worked in the morning but by noon all the girls were upstairs to hang out and get ready for the wedding at 4:30. We sipped on pink champagne (ummm...loved), relaxed with cucumbers on our eyes, and painted our nails. I got my hair done by a girl we went to school with so we gossiped and laughed for the hour. Everything was light and exciting. No stress. No drama. the Meredith put her dress on and I lost it. I didn't think about the emotional piece of this event. I don't know why. This was my best friend marrying the love of her life. They started dating 18 years ago! Once it started I was a mess. Our relationship is full of laughter and pranks and ripping on each other. She looked at me and gasped, "No! Not you! What are you doing? YOU can't be crying!" She's a beautiful girl and I had never seen her more beautiful.

There's Mikey heading down. He was in pure bliss the whole weekend. I couldn't pass him one time without him stopping to give me a kiss. The man was ecstatic. Plain and simple.

The nuptials took place under a 400 year old oak tree. The spot looked straight out of a magazine. Oak trees along the side with white lights, hung birdcages and glass bulbs with candles. The owners of the property said they have never seen a wedding so beautiful there.

We danced until 2:00. It was a celebration like no other. Cheers to the Ripleys!!!

Health

I appreciate health. That might sound extremely obvious, but I actually try to stay aware of when I'm healthy and how much I appreciate it. I'm thankful for things like the ability to run and dance and have all of my body parts in working order.
I don't take the health of my children for granted either. I have stopped and thought to myself, "Everyone I know and love is healthy. I am so blessed." Haley was up with a fever and vomit last night. I barely got sleep even when she was sleeping. I checked on her and listened to her breathing and felt her head.
I just wrote about how hard parenting can be. On the spectrum of life we have it so easy. I will take our hardest day every day if it means my kids are healthy and strong and thriving. I do not take that for granted.

Family Camp!

We just got from Family Camp. Yes, for the first time, we experienced the fun of the Family Vacation Center in Santa Barbara.  It was recommended by a friend of a friend. So, instead of our normal Tahoe trip with just the 4 of us. we went to camp.

Let's start by saying that the kids had a blast. We opted for the mini week (Sat-Wed) versus the full week (Sat-Sat). Even though we explained this to the kids (aimed at Haley) Haley was not happy to leave. "But on Thursday we have a beach day and Friday is campfire and s'mores and our performance!"

We found the mini week to be perfect. The camp is completely organized and the staff was AMAZING. I loved that there was no forced mixers or other "campy" things for the adults. I feared that I would be forced into a water balloon toss with a stranger. As outgoing as I am, that stuff is not for me. No, everything was offered and you could participate in as much or as little as possible. There were kids groups and activities every day. It took Ry just a bit to warm up, but soon he was happy to ditch us for kid stuff. Haley didn't even wave to us when she joined her friends for a couple of hours.

Josh took a surf lesson while I ran the campus trail along the ocean. Another day we took 2 hours to ocean kayak where we saw 2 dolphins about 20 yards away and a sea lion popped up an arms length away from our kayak. They offered yoga, tennis, hiking, mountain biking, wine tasting, a night on the town, and on and on. We swam at the pool and played games on the grass with the friends the kids made.

There was a family carnival with simple toss games. Like I said, so organized yet so flexible. For us it was the perfect combination of relaxation, activity, family togetherness and alone/couple time. We stayed in the dorms suites (2 bedroom and living area).

All food and drink was included in the price. one day they brought in a BBQ, but mostly we ate in the dining commons. My, how college dining commons have changed. They had organic food and many many options. Hot food, cold food, a made to order station, a Korean style BBQ, and wood fired pizza. We were for sure done with it by the end, but it was nice to have fresh choices every day.

And now for my favorite story of the trip. One lunch we were in the commons during a freshman orientation so the place was PACKED. Josh was taking our dishes to the busing station so his hands we full to the max. At the last minute Ryan decided he wanted to go with him. He ran over to Josh and jumped up and grabbed the top of his basketball shorts and pulled them straight down. This was no plumber's crack show. This was most of a full moon. My jaw dropped and I immediately started laughing. Here's Josh with his hands full and his pants down with hundreds of people all around. Let me say now that i did not get up to help. I did not run to his aid. This was not on purpose just simply not in my thought process. I saw him struggle with what to do. He balanced all the dishes in one arm and pulled his shorts up, but many seconds had passed. He turned around to find support from his loving wife and all he saw was me crying as I was laughing so hard. He bused his dishes and I sat and laughed (out loud) in his absence. I am sure people thought I was nuts. It was just too good. In fact as I write this, I am laughing out loud.

So not much of a camp story, but my favorite story from camp.

We had a great time...all of us. 

This Blog

I love having this blog. These two little faces are the reason I have it. I first started it almost 4 years ago when I learned I was pregnant with #2. The purpose for creating it was to have a permanent record of our adventures of being The Russell Four. I have a baby book for each child that I keep up to date (now Haley's is a school age book) but this is different. It's not just milestones or accomplishments. It's capturing our family.

For me, one of the most disappointing things about becoming a mom was that every other mom wasn't automatically supportive. I still don't understand it. We are all enduring this incredible job and we all know what it's like, yet it seems to not be acceptable to talk about how really hard it is. My last post is a prime example of days we ALL have, yet few people feel ok to admit it. I am one who is guilty of it. I posted on this blog knowing that the whole world doesn't read it, just people who've I told that this blog exists.

I remember my first year teaching I walked into the staff room and heard a teacher totally venting about a  challenging student. I was mortified when she said, "I just need a break from him. When he is absent it gives me a bit of relief." I thought to myself that this teacher was old and grouchy and how could she not love all of her children? Then I got some teaching experience...
That teacher was not old and grouchy. She was feeling tired and defeated. She was a teacher because she loved the job. This one student was giving her a run for her money. She felt safe to share in the staff room. She was not being inappropriate, she was being honest.

I had no idea what parenthood would be like. It has changed my life and completely for the better. I include posts like my previous one so that I am taking an honest snapshot of our life as a family. I opened the blog the other day and cringed a bit at what I had written, but how I would LOVE if more moms would express the real frustrations and toughness of this role. How freeing would it be to know that when you have days like that you are not the only one? Some people only blog or post on facebook about purely the joys of each day. We all feel the need to assure everyone that we love motherhood. Of course we do. We all know the magic of watching our children grow in all ways and knowing we made these little people. But whenever another mom, especially one I admire, speaks honestly about being a parent, I feel validated. I feel normal.

I looked at old posts and I feel it's pretty accurate. Most entries have to do with great things- funny stories or adventures. But sprinkled in there are those moments or days that were just plain hard.
That's parenthood for you- at least it is for me these past 6 and 1/2 years.

Day Be Gone!

This is the first day all summer that I wanted to scream. It was a tough mom day and my patience was gone completely.
We all woke up on the right side of the bed. Josh left. I made breakfast and we played a bit downstairs. We got dressed and headed out the door late morning to shop for Josh's birthday gift. Now this is a tough thing to do for a couple of reasons. One, I need to look at things and make a decision while trying to keep everyone close and not breaking anything. Two, it's hard to shop with the kids and not have them ruin the surprise of the gift. For Father's Day Josh got a card with a picture inside of what he was getting versus the gift itself and the chance the surprise would be ruined.
The whining began the minute we made our first stop. "Are we going to see any toys? Can I get toys for my birthday?" I told Ryan that we weren't shopping for toys and that he could get something new on his birthday (next June 11th). TEARS. I had him hold something to "help" me and that stopped him at the moment.
The whining ensued again at the 2nd and final stop. "I want to go home! I don't want to go to swim class. I want Daddy!"
We got home and had lunch. Ryan has been potty trained for almost 2 weeks now. He has been doing an awesome job since the start and a few days ago started having one poop accident a day. NOT FUN. Without going into too many details, today he had 2 accidents of each kind for a total of 4 accidents! I cleaned him up both times only to find out that both of our upstairs toilets are clogged. I considered the fact that they didn't overflow a blessing since I was dealing with getting poop off of everything. Plumber should be here any minute.

Swim class= fine.

Rest time. The kids have it every day. The rules are that they stay in their rooms, or each others for 1 hour, and can read, play, lay down, whatever, but it has to be without involving me. Today 2 of the accidents happened during rest time. I think I heard "Maaaawwwwwwmmmmm?" 117 times during rest time today. They fought and cried and complained and needed help and on and on and on. I stood my ground about not going up there (except for the 2 accidents) but it was no fun and my one hour of peace slipped away.

Afternoon. We had a snack and cleaned up another accident (what the beep is going on?) and I tried to work on a few things for Josh's bday. The minute I'd start anything I was needed. "mom?" "mama?' "mommy?"At one point I went into the bathroom just to escape for a minute and the kids were at the door needing something.

This is the first day all summer that I have felt like this. I was counting down the minutes for Josh to come home. This is motherhood. Most of the times it's pure joy. Other times it's just plain hard and tiring and wearing.
Tonight I definitely need to run or swim or meditate...or drink.

Summer!

I have a lot of posts to catch up on this month. This summer has been SO FUN so far. I always love my summers off with the kids, but this year seems different and I am sure it has to do with their ages/stages of life. Easier than ever before.

 Between staying home and doing the summer things like hanging at home, going to the park, going swimming and playing with friends we have been on a couple of trips.

 This last weekend we were in Tahoe with all of the Russells. Family friends were gracious enough to let us have their place in Northstar for the weekend. It was the last time we all got to be together before Lauren and Joe move to New York. The weekend was awesome. The weather was perfect and it was a fabulous time had by all. We SWAM. We swam at the pool and then the lake and then the lake again and then the pool again. Haley is a fish and you can't get her out of the water, especially if it's a pool.

We had been to the beach in Santa Cruz with some families from Haley's school earlier in the week. The kids played in the waves for 4 hours! They even got knocked down a few times and got right back in. In Tahoe, when we said we were going to the beach the kids asked if it was to the ocean. When they learned it was the lake, Haley said, "aaah....the ocean has way more action!" Ryan still jumped the "waves" in Tahoe when it got a bit breezy in the afternoon.

Ryan has a buddy in a classmate's little brother. They ran and chased the whole time in Santa Cruz.

I'll whip this photo out at high school graduation!

And then we had our camping trip. aaahhhhh..... I LOVE camping, especially at Pinecrest. It's just perfect to me in every way. I know it has to do with all of my childhood memories there but I am validated every year when someone who has never been there appreciates its beauty and awesomeness. It has the woods and the water and granite mountainsides. That combination equals complete tranquility for me. I breath in the fresh air and love being in nature. I am so at peace in that environment. Josh does not love camping but he did confess that this was the easiest trip to date. The kids just ran around with each other and there was little to no issues among the kids. We hiked and played at the lake and ate hung out. The families were a great mix.

This summer has had an excellent start and I can't believe it's almost July already! I am soaking in my time with the kids and look forward to writing about more of our adventures.