Turning 7

My baby turned 7 last Friday. It seems crazy to me. How can time go so fast? How can my baby not be a baby anymore? I feel confused.

Poor Wade is just as confused as I am. Somedays we treat him like a toddler and other days we act as if he is a teenager. He likes hip-hop music and talks about who is taking who to homecoming like his teenage brother. He also likes me to read him Berenstein Bear books at bedtime. 

He is such a baby of four kids! We do so many things differently with Wade than we did with Peyton. From bedtimes to routines to shows we let him watch. "I don't really get the jokes in "Blackish"," he told us the other night. I praised his self-awareness and being able to tell us, but then questioned why in the world I was letting him watch it. But it seems way better than what I was watching at 7, "Dukes of Hazard" and "Dallas." I mean right?

A couple weekends ago, we had our first "Home Alone" moment. Tim and I always drive separately to almost every event because we are usually driving and picking up another one of our children. As we left JT's football game, Tim thought I had Wade in my car and I thought he was in Tim's. Luckily we realized it when we called each other to do the van check before we left the parking lot, you know where we ask "who do you have in your van?" I mean thank god we have checks and balances/quality control/somewhat of a safety system because we realized he wasn't with either of us. We rushed back to field and found Wade sitting with a mom he knew who was getting her phone out to call us. He was calm and sort of even a little pissed at us, but he wasn't hysterical. He thanked the mom and got in one of our minivans to go home.

That's the thing about being 7 years old and the baby of four, Wade is this awesome mixture of little kid and big kid. He is snuggly and sweet and will proudly make the shirt with the giant, crooked 7 I made for him to school. He is also pretty self-aware and confident and brave and independent, not to mention forgiving and pretty flexible.

Wade got his first friend birthday party this past weekend and he was psyched. We did little kid crafts (painting pumpkins) and then played touch football games like the big kids.

The great thing about being the baby of four and having two older brothers is that those brothers help organize the game and have friends that can play too.

Peyton was awesome.
I see a possible camp counselor job in his future. 

My feelings on football are the same, it scares me. BUT my boys love it, I mean they really love it. So, duh, I made a football birthday cake. 

The rest of our weekend was packed with football and more football, and bike rides and parties and cross country meets and a visit from grandpa and ahhhh!!!!

This picture is everything. If you look closely you can see JT at quarterback, Wade playing with a buddy on the sideline and Peyton nervously watching the game. Brothers and football!

So proud of Lucy! She got a medal and her team won the meet.
She was so excited.

My dad came up for a visit from Pittsburgh and got to see our busy weekends first hand. And spend a lot of time with the kiddos.

A Decade of JT

JT turns 10 this coming weekend. 

We've always called JT our light bringer because he is full of light, and joy and magic and smiles. He is a fun kid. A sweet kid. An amazing kid.

He's part Huck Finn, part Mowgli, part Matthew McConaughey, part Peter Pan/Lost Boy. Given a choice of inside or outside, it's always outside. He's got a special love for animals. He craves adventure. If he never had to wear a shirt again, he'd be the happiest kid around. 

He's also the kind of kid that is kind to everyone. And isn't afraid to talk to anyone. 

He's the kid who charms the people at the store, the teachers, the coaches, the senior citizens in church. JT loves people and they love him back.

He's the kid who has Celiac disease but doesn't let it bother him. He's never once complained, even when he's had a gluten attack. He's the kid who has ADHD and school sometimes isn't his thing, but he works through it and finds ways to make things better. 







He's the kid that seems sort of magical. He makes you want to believe in magic too. 

JT makes life brighter. He is our light bringer.





It's a tradition around this house that when a kid turns 10, they get a video recap of the their first decade. So here's JT's....



A Decade of JT from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

Old Friends and What I Know For Sure

Last night I sat at a table with two women I've known more than 30 years. Two women I knew when we were girls. Back then we went to sleepovers at each other's houses and talked all night long about the boys we liked and the dreams we had about our lives and probably a little bit about our mothers.  Last night we talked about hormone levels and pre-menopausal symptoms, the men we love, our dreams for our lives and a little bit about our mothers. Some things have changed over the years, some things haven't.  

It felt really good to be laughing and talking with these women. We share so much history but we haven't gotten stuck in it. The three of us were always different in school and now we have very different lives as grown women, and it's all good. We respect each other, support each other and like each other (who we were then and who we are now).  

Even though we live in the same town, we only get together for these dinners once or twice a year because, well, life.  But I'm so glad we do.  It feels good to know them and be connected to our history our growing up years and each other.

It did feel a little surreal because I now have children older than we were when we met each other. My children are making their own friendships, staying up and talking all night about who they like and their dreams.  I hope they keep some of these friends forever because I know for sure that they are some of the most precious relationships around.

Here's What Else I Know For Sure:

• My kid turned 14 and it's kind of nuts. I mean 14, that sounds so high school-y and grown up-ish. I had done so much by 14, so many bad things. Waaaaa! (totally different blog post someday, lol) 

So psyched it was warm enough this week to eat cake and celebrate 14 years on the front porch.

This kid is something special. I love him so much.

• The busy weekends are still kicking my ass, but I love watching all my kids doing all their things.

• All I want for Christmas is a karaoke machine. Seriously. Last week at a Halloween party I rocked out a few songs so hard my wig fell off. I loved it!!!!!!

• I have a serious addiction to my iphone. Not just social media, but the access to all information at any time. While I was serving jury duty this past week, I had to be iphoneless for eight hours. And it was hard. 

• Youngblood is a really, really good football name. No matter how I feel about the game itself, the name is awesome.

• This is my jam this week. It's not new but it's not that old at all. It's from Florence + The Machine. LOOOOOVe it.

  (Click here to watch the video 
and maybe dance in your kitchen to it.)

What do YOU know for sure this week? Tell me here or over on my Facebook page.