Taking care of mom

October 2, 2012Leave a comment

What did I do after work before M&M? I thought about that question a great deal tonight as they watched Ben Ten before bedtime. I have been fighting a nasty cold that has my head pounding and my nose bright red and raw and when 5:00 rolls around all I want to do is go to bed.

But then I walk in the door to two kids that squeal “Mom!” and wrap their bodies around me and suddenly my head and nose play second fiddle. “Mom” is needed and no pounding head or raw nose can stand in the way. There is no time to feel bad for myself, to slouch across the recliner and veg. There is dinner to make, homework to review, and baths to prepare (who am I kidding – we are lucky if we get baths in every other day! They’ve probably added two years to my life span with the way they keep me moving.
This morning Mario jumped in bed at 6:30 am and begged for a stroller ride. Ri pounced on me a few minutes later. And we were off by 7 am to Stauf’s for black russian bagels and cream cheese. Ri was not happy with my purchase at first; she wanted a chocolate chip scone. But when she had no choice, she ate the bagel and to her chagrin, loved it. She felt bad for raggin’ on me and took the stroller telling me “she’d help her old lady stroll Mario.” Mario, meanwhile took down his half of the bagel and then my entire bagel on the ride to school. I about passed out – my Mario would never have accomplished that feat. We are usually lucky to get him to take a bite. He must be going through a growing spurt.

It was pouring rain on my bike ride home tonight, and as I pulled up to our driveway, Mario and Ri stood on the grass waiting for me. Ri had a blanket that she draped over me and Mario had a glass of water for me inside. My caretakers.
I asked them what they wanted for dinner and Ri begged to go out to eat. I ignored her for a bit as I watched Mario play Wii but then she approached me with a hat full of papers.
“Pick one, mom.”
I reached in and grabbed a piece of paper that had “Jason’s Deli” written on it. She also had Bob Evans on one, Home, and Knotty Pine. A little game to get me excited about dinner out. Mario begged for Bob Evans so Ri made me draw another piece of paper until I chose Bob’s.

I think the gods were trying to tell me something by making it so difficult to select Bob from the group; after dinner my stomach joined my head and nose in pain. Luckily, my girl found some Tums for me.

A week in review

September 28, 2012September 28, 2012Leave a comment

Jon arrived on US soil this afternoon and will be waiting for me when I get home tonight. Ahhh. Feels great.

The week without him provided much laughter, a bit of stress, some crying, and a boatload of hugs and kisses. The run-down:

1.Wii tournaments with the neighbor kids who have gotten comfortable enough with us that they just walk through the door and yell “hi, anyone home?”

2. Mario made a new buddy – Quinn, one of the neighbor kids. Quinn has a head of strawberry curls and reminds me of Huck Finn. Mario stopped him on his bike Monday night to ask him to play at our house. Quinn said he wanted to ride his bike. Mario threw down his football and stomped up the yard to me to announce his displeasure. “He doesn’t want to play! I don’t like him!” After explaining why he may want to take a breath and re-think his proclamation against Quinn, he gently approached Quinn again and asked if he could come over after he rode his bike. Quinn agreed and they’ve been playing Wii ever since!

3. Maria strengthened her friendship with Sophie, the 3rd grade neighbor kid. I like Sophie because she never wants to play barbies and she loves being outdoors.

4. Mario got his first flag football picture taken on Tuesday night. What chaos! Forty 5 and 6 year olds running frantically around the park, tackling and wrestling each other. Mario may be tiny but he is mighty. He warmed my heart the way he wrapped his arms around his team members when the group picture was taken (you could barely see him in the middle – his little pea-head only popping out!).

5. We took two morning walks in the stroller and witnessed an extravagant sunrise one morning. We turned the corner onto First Avenue and BOOM, the oranges and peaches and reds hit us. No talking, no movement (except for my feet pressing the pavement). Just admiration of nature’s canvas.

6. Mario and I devoured two long john donuts for breakfast (each!).

7. Maria got to stroll Mario to school for the first time ever and she was charged! Mario usually flips out whenever Maria takes the reins but he was either too tired or in a magnanimous mood on Wednesday morning. Maria kept looking up at me in sheer delight. When Ri walked into school, Mario looked back at me with a sullen face and said “I wish Ri could stroller me all the way to my school.”

8. We met Grandma and Grandpa Ionno at Polaris Mall to deliver a Mario package to them. Mario ran to grandma as soon as he caught his eyes on her. He said “Gracias Amigo” to her to show her the extent of Spanish words he knows. When grandma replied “do you know any more Spanish words” he looked at her in deep thought and finally said “come on amigo!”

9. Ri and I had a girls night on Thursday and strollered to Orange Leaf at 8:30 pm when it was pitch black outside. We worked on Maria’s blog on the way – she wrote about horse back riding and how you have to concentrate when you ride. My darlin’ horse lover.

10. And now we end the week with Maria having her buddy over for a play date. Two feisty gals to contend with all night but I hope the park and bike riding will wear ’em out!

Salons and DQ

September 20, 2012September 20, 2012Leave a comment

I had to get my hair colored last night. I try to put it off as long as possible because I hate going to the salon. I hate having to chat it up with a stylist about plans for the weekend or the latest movies or best restaurants. Maybe if I had a stylist who was a friend it would be ok. But I always go to different people because I make appointments at the last minute in accordance with my last minute schedule. I also hate having to sit around in a salon for two hours when I could be outside enjoying the park or a bike ride. It just seems like such a waste of time for simply … hair!

But as you can witness from the pictures above, my daughter does not share in my dislike of salons. She rather enjoys the idea of putting your feet up and getting pampered. Jon dropped Ri off at the salon while he took Mario to football practice. She made herself right at home chatting it up with the stylist about her tattoos, hair color and the reasons for different types of brushes.

She asked if she could get her hair done while I waited for my color to soak in and I agreed. She got the royal treatment – shampoo, head massage, cut, and blow dryer. She loved sitting under the blow dryer while reading Elle and Vogue. She perused the newest fashion (always opting for the mini skirts or tight pants, of course).

But just as I gave up hope that she was truly my child, she walked over to me as I was getting my hair blown dry and asked “can we go yet?!”

Yes! She is my daughter! She can only handle so much salon life before she’s ready to hit the road. We headed out to the 65 degree weather and walked home together talking about where we should go for dinner and if we should stop at DQ for dessert. Now that’s definitely my daughter taking after her mama!

Hamburger helper fix

September 11, 2012September 11, 2012Leave a comment

Yesterday Jon and I came home from work to two wild, spazo kids. Maria and Mario were both hyped up – Maria from her first Brownies meeting and Mario because David picked him up early during nap. Maria screamed every word she said in pure excitement; Mario zipped from one room to the next like a pinball. Ahh, nothing like relaxing after a long day at work. But they do keep us going….

I made Maria’s new favorite dish, hamburger helper (at least I used 98% lean meat)! While eating, we discussed Maria’s laws as a new Brownie. As part of her homework, she had to write down which law applied best to her family. She chose “respecting each other’s words” over courage and helpfulness and kindness, among other laws. She picked it, she said, because she thinks it’s important for us to always listen to one another. I loved that.

Of course, Mario chimed in at the tail end of her explanation to stand up on his chair and make some funny face. He then told us how eight girls had crushes on him. One in particular, Viv, told him she thought he was cute because of his tan. There’s that tan reference again! In order to get him off the girl fixation, I asked him what he loves about his family since that was Maria’s next project.

He said he loved his mom because “1. she feeds me food; 2. she tells me she loves me; 3. she respects what I say; and 4. she reads me books.” Not too bad, I thought. He then leaned to Jon and said “and so does my dad!”

Maria was a lot less generous. She only had to write one thing she loved so she wrote that she loved my cooking (because of the hamburger helper that night!) and Jon’s ability to fix things.

Speaking of fixing things, later that evening Jon and I found a worksheet she prepared where she had to answer a question asking “when a person is sad, I BLANK.” She wrote in “I try to fix it.” I about fell over. For years, I have talked about the difference between Jon and I when it comes to approaching someone’s problems. I react by consoling the person and listening to them. Jon reacts completely opposite. He immediately gets the wheels turning in his head to try to fix the person’s problem. When I saw Maria’s answer, it affirmed yet again another personality trait she has inherited from Jon. Daddy’s girl.

After dinner, Maria wrote and decorated her Brownie star with what we discussed that evening and Mario wrote letters I randomly quizzed him on (he’s getting much better – yea!).

They both sat still for an entire half hour (must have been the carb overload in the hamburger helper!).

Three Days of Ox

September 10, 2012September 10, 2012Leave a comment

Maria is at a new stage in her life where she gets excited about school festivals because “her friends will be there.”

We had our community annual Ox Roast on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this weekend. On Thursday, she begged me to take her and her friend to the Roast. I had just suffered an atrociously long day at work but I remembered being her age and looking so forward to these festivals to play and hang out with friends. So I agreed.

There weren’t too many other sucker parents down there! But the girls had a blast after spending $25 on “all you can ride” wristbands for them. I drew the line at the $5 games where you try to shoot in a hole or toss a bag in bucket because we rarely win and when we do, the prize is cherished for three minutes and then tossed.

Maria loved rock climbing – she got to the top easily (even in flats!).

She went on the swings because her friend begged her. Unfortunately, she is inflicted with her mom’s intolerance for circular motion at high speed. She looked green after that ride. So we chilled it out with the calm slide and more rock climbing.

When Ri’s stomach was still little queasy, we went real low key with the baby bathtub ride. I didn’t think Ri would ever still go on this ride but she surprised me (her stomach probably begged her). It took me back to when she was a toddler.

I finally dragged them out of there at 8:45 and we grabbed some nutritious fair food on the way.

On Friday morning, Mario found out that Ri had gone to the festival. He cried and cried about not going. So, I promised to take him Friday night. Yeah, I’m a sucker. Ri and Mario and I got on our bikes and headed down to the Roast after I got home from work. I knew that we’d be back on Saturday so I put my foot down on wristbands. I allowed them to ride on two rides each and then they scored a free ride on the slide because of a change in shifts. Mario found the cotten candy booth and they engorged themselves on extra big sticks of goo.

On Saturday, Maria had a party for one of her classmates at 2:00. I thought that she may be tired after that party and want to chill. Yeah right. We came home and her and Mario begged for more Ox Roast. I thought maybe there would be a prize for hitting it three nights in a row but the only prize was spending a boat load of cash on rides and bounceys, and food. Not really, the prize was letting the kids have these experiences, watching them laugh, letting them boost their courage (Mario went down the slide without me for once!), and teaching them that life is what you make it. When I wouldn’t let them play the $5 games, they whined for a minute but then I told them about everything else that was there and they quickly let it go and ran to the swings to play.

I was spent on Saturday night when we got home at 9:30 but it was a good kind of spent like when you run a fast race or work for hours in the yard. Documentation of the fun:

Heile Olympics

August 27, 2012August 29, 2012Leave a comment

My cousin Maggie summed it up the best with a video of my Uncle Ken running around his pool with “the Olympic torch” as we all cheered him on: “Just a typical Sunday with the Heile family. Olympics style.”

I give my Heile clan kudos for letting go of any stress, work issues, family problems, and just having a good ol’ time on the weekend. Jon and I and the kids traveled down to Cincy on Sunday afternoon after the kids pestered us all morning about having to wait so long to leave. They were so excited about heading to Aunt Susie’s and Uncle Kenny’s pool. They have the best of all worlds with me and Jon in the water with them all afternoon, cousins throwing them everywhere, and aunts and uncles acting silly. When we arrived, Susie was busy getting the “torches” lit and putting up the “Welcome to the Heile Olympics” signs. She and Lia planned this Olympics party and came up with a great list of pool and field games. Lia had to go at the last-minute so Susie directed them through the day, and was a stellar emcee. It was H2 versus H3 (the second generation Heile clan versus the third generation). I am always a go-between since I grew up with the H2 clan but I am technically a H3 baby.

We started with the pool games. “Biggest Splash” was the first event. Maria and Mario gave it a try but Jon and Uncle Joe took them by storm. Joe ended up with the win but it was contested by Jon! We moved onto “Chicken.” Maggie got on my shoulders. Maria got on Cy’s shoulders. Konnor got on Joe’s shoulders. Maggie and I were out for the count within a minute. Maria held tight and battled with Konnor. Her little butt clenched up like crazy trying to stay on top of Cy. She is a fighter! And they won! They were so cute together – Cy threw her into the air and they hugged. Her face was lit up like she had won a date with Big Time Rush.

The last event was the volleyball game. God love my aunts and uncles. They range in age from a few years older than me to 60 and they played like they were 23 years old. We whooped on the H3 clan – they couldn’t handle Joe’s spikes and Ken’s slaps and Christina’s, Susie’s and Jane’s strategic moves. Julie and I may have been the weakest link along with Jon who in the beginning of the game belted out a game plan and asked “Who is the weak link of our group?” As a result, Julie and I kept giving him grief each time he missed the ball (but to his credit, he ended up making some killer shots). We took two out of three games and headed to the dinner table for some chicken and brats. Maria “surfed” while we ate; she used a plastic kick board to stand on and try to balance herself. She was pretty good. Mario played cornhole with Papa Rod and baseball with Uncle Kenny. Later, he taught Gracie how to throw a beanbag for cornhole. Watching the two of them out in the yard together was about the sweetest thing ever. He coddles her like a baby (he learned from his sis) and she looks up to him.

While we were taking goofy pictures with my iPad, someone yelled “Is she ok?” We looked over and Gracie was in the pool with water up to her nose. Mario was standing next to her and trying to hold her up as high as he could. Maggie jumped in and rescued Gracie. Mario stood in the water dumbfounded. Someone yelled “Mario, you are a hero!” He looked at me and smiled. And that was it. All night he proclaimed how he “saved Gracie.” When he woke up this morning, he called me in his room and said “Mom, can I skip school today since I saved Gracie yesterday?” He is gonna use that as long as he is able!

After dinner, we moved to the field games. “Best Cartwheel” was first. I got robbed, and lost to Konnor. He had a nice touch but I think mine was a tad more precise. I didn’t put up a fight, though. Trying to teach the kids how to be good losers. Mario got upset when he didn’t win every game; he handled it better than he has in the past but he definitely made each activity a full-blown competition. Susie used stick horses for the equestrian competition and had the competitors run around obstacles “on their horse.” It was hilarious. I tried to keep Mario busy when they announced the winner so that he wouldn’t get upset that he didn’t win.

The last game was “Flip Cup.” I had no interest in the game because it was a drinking game, and I figured I may need to help Jon with the drive home. But the cousins begged me to play since the H2 team was down a person. I agreed. I stood on one side of the table with my aunts Julie and Christina and Susie and my uncle Joe. All of these wonderful people who took care of me when I was little and here I was on their team cheering for them to guzzle beer and flip a cup with enough precision to land it upside down. Gotta love it. We got slammed by the younger generation (who probably plays it every other weekend), and we were not happy about it. We were especially not happy about it after chugging a few beers in a ten minute period of time. In the second round, we were down again, and I was the only one left standing of my team (the youngsters voted everyone else off the island (some type of survivor game they incorporated into the Flip Cup game as well)). Some how, the competitive spirit in me arose (Mario was standing next to me now that I think about it). I chugged all five beers and flipped over all five cups in world record time and got to vote one of the youngsters off the island. I did it the next time, too. And the next. By the time it was just down to Maggie and Laura against me, I was two sheets to the wind. I hurt bad. I haven’t drank that fast in a long time, and not Natural Light. But my boy was staring up at me and telling me I could do it – my inspiration – so I did it! I whooped those girls up and down and won for the H2 generation!

Maggie and Liz grabbed me up after my celebratory dance and told me we were going to do a victory lap around the pool. If I had my senses I would have realized that they were my competition so it would not have made sense for them to do a victory lap but that is if I would have had my senses. I ran with them and within four seconds, I felt a hand shove me into the pool. I was spent. Maria jumped into the pool to rescue me. She carried me over to the steps and pushed back my hair from my eyes. Mario ran over to Maggie and Laura and shouted at them for pushing his mom into the pool. Jon began to throw Laura into the pool on my behalf. My immediate family sure takes care of their mama bear.

I can’t imagine life without this crazy crew. We all have different interests, tastes, political affiliations, styles, hobbies but we all let it go when we get together. We rely on our history together: our memories of times at grandma’s and grandpa’s house playing in their backyard and our times at weddings watching all of the Heile women and girls do the chicken dance and our times at holiday gatherings joking with one another and sharing stories. I am so grateful that Maria and Mario get to experience this crew just like I did as a child. And they love it all as much as I loved it. Who wouldn’t?!

DQ and books = Good Night!

August 23, 2012August 23, 2012Leave a comment

Dairy Queen’s Nutter Butter Blizzard with chocolate ice cream – pure heaven. If I could eat one for breakfast and dinner, life would be even better.

The kids and I biked to DQ last night after Mario’s football practice. Mario got an orange freeze (just like his dad – how can you go to DQ and not get ice cream?!) and Maria got a peanut butter chocolate sundae. I asked the cashier to make it “mini” but she failed to heed to my request and Maria’s eyes burst open when the cashier slid it across the counter to her. I gave her the “you aren’t eating all of that” look and she promptly walked over to the other side of the building and began shoveling it in with the thought she’d eat it all before I paid. But I know her tricks and made her stand next to me and wait to eat until Mario and I had ours.

My nutter butter blizzard hit the spot. Maria impressed me by only eating half of her sundae. Mario didn’t care for his freeze so he traded with Maria. I think we converted him to the ice cream side with her sundae – he chowed it down!

We hopped back on our bikes and could have rode for hours with the sugar we delivered to our systems. Instead, we rode home, took showers, and read books. Mario picked “Tacky the Penguin.” What an awesome book. It’s perfect for Mario who is much like Tacky, himself! Mario absolutely cracks up at Tacky’s songs (“How many toes does a fish have?”) and his cannonballs. And in the end, Mario learns that being unique gives you an advantage in life.

Maria read Junie B. Jones to the end (even though I know she skips some pages here and there!). I’m so happy when I see her curled up on the over-sized chair reading!

We woke up this morning with Maria’s head at the end of one side of the bed, me smashed in the middle, and Mario on the other end with his arms sprawled at on either side of him. What a night!

Three cheers for smoothies!

August 21, 2012August 21, 2012Leave a comment

Maria attended her first cheer leading practice tonight. It made me cry. There she was trying so hard to follow the hand and feet movements, and surprisingly, not doing too bad. She didn’t seem too interested some of the time so I was interested in hearing her reaction to it afterwards.

She loved it. She liked having some other girls she knew on the team, too. She’s excited about wearing her uniform and cheering at games. So far she has picked two sports that I would have never dreamed of as a kid – horse back riding and cheerleading – but I am just glad that she has chosen something extra-curricular.

When we got home, she wanted to make a smoothie. My mom has been pounding the goodness of smoothies to me lately so I figured we’d give it a go. All we had were bananas and strawberry yogurt so I found a recipe on line that suited our needs (but substituted bananas for blueberries and Splenda for honey). It has a lot of sugar but at least it has some protein and nutrients, too!

Cheers to better nutrition and cheerleading (Aunt Julie will be proud)!

Weekend getaway

August 21, 2012August 21, 2012Leave a comment

We packed the Volvo full of blankets and pillows and sleeping bags and Red Bulls and chips and chocolate.

All to head two hours east to my folks’ farm.

We had to take the Volvo due to weird sounds coming from Jon’s Yukon. You would have thought the world ended according to Ri who complained about how squeezed she felt in the Volvo. We would expect nothing less from her, however, since she always talks about her first car being a mammoth SUV. My girl likes her space just like her dad.

We arrived at the farm and within five minutes of exiting the car, Mario begged to play badminton. The boy loves this game and could literally spend all afternoon playing it. He looks like a pro out there with his shirt off, hair tussled and tanned body. Maria went straight in the house to help cook and position herself for any sampling of extra food.

We celebrated dad’s and Jorge’s birthdays with cherry pie and cupcakes. Maria snagged a gift for Peepaw from her treasure chest at school. It was a huge pair of clay lips. She wrapped them in a Victoria’s Secret box. Dad was clearly surprised at the box and the lips! Maria explained that the lips were a paper weight to hold down his poems after he wrote them. What a doll.

Dad retired in June after working 40+ years to support his family. He plans on writing in his spare time which Maria overheard during one of our conversations. The girl has my desire to think through presents to the nth degree and make sure they have a purpose. I love it!

We sang the traditional happy birthday song to the boys and watched them make their wishes.

After the celebration, we worked off dessert with a family badminton game. Mario made sure it stayed competitive and Maria made sure we kept it light-hearted! After an hour and a half of competition, Mario, Jon and Peepaw stacked wood to make a fire. Ri and I got the materials to make s’mores and before we knew it we were sitting in front of a blazing fire eating marshmallows and s’mores and telling stories about when Sarah was little. Maria loves listening to stories about the past (especially when she’s able to eat marshmallows!). Mario played with the fire the entire time intrigued by the heat and flames.

Maria enjoyed seeing her horses and got to perform obstacles while riding Taz. She amazes me on the horse. She is so calm and in control, and she knows so much about them already. I love watching her brush them and kiss their noses.

We headed to Mario’s and Vicki’s house on Sunday after gobbling up Sarah’s sweet potato hash for breakfast. We had not been to their house in months and Vicki cooked so many magnificent things, as always! Meatballs, spaghetti, tomato salad, homemade bread, steak, and zucchini bread for dessert! Jon and I could not move for a half hour. When I did finally move, I bounced on the trampoline with Maria. God help me. I can’t believe all that food stayed down!

Ri and I had a blast on the trampoline – we laughed so hard at each other bouncing everywhere. At one point she crawled over to me, laid on me, gave me a huge smooch and whispered “I love seeing you laugh mommy!” My baby girl. Mario and Ri had a good time, too, while Jon and I sat with Mario and Vicki on the porch and chatted. The weather was perfect.

We arrived back at our house in time for Ri and I to take a quick bike ride to Giant Eagle to get food for school and work. We even got sample sheet cake from the bakery ( two pieces each!). Life is good.

Chillin’ with the family

August 5, 2012August 5, 2012Leave a comment

I made the mistake of coming home Saturday morning.

I usually take a long run and hit the gym on Saturday mornings but yesterday I took a short run and only lifted for a brief time so I could hit yoga at 9:30. I ran home to get my bike to ride downtown to class. When I turned the corner of the driveway to head to the garage, I saw Maria and Mario. And they saw me.

“Mom’s home! Mom, will you play soccer? Will you ride bikes?”

“Guys, I am heading to yoga but will be back in an hour and we can do all of those things.”

“Not fair, mom. You took a run and now you have to stay home.”

When I continued to get my bike, they both boycotted me. “Don’t talk to her, Mario,” Maria demanded. I biked away with the both of them staring me down. When I got home, they were camped out on the floor under their blanket fort watching Tom & Jerry.

“Hi guys.”

“Hi mom!” It’s as if nothing had occurred an hour earlier. Gotta love kids.

We dragged Mario out in his pj bottoms to the grocery to get icing to decorate brownies for the family get together at Jon’s niece’s house. Nothin’ like having your four year old kid in the grocery cart with only his Sponge Bob pj pants on – no shoes or shirt – eating a lunchable snack from the deli meat aisle. Hey, I gotta pick my battles, and this wasn’t one of them.

We came home and decorated brownies and then took off for Sherri’s house. All of Jon’s brothers were in attendance – a feat that only happens a couple times a year since they live in different states. Poor Josh and Peter and Matthew and Morgan. As older kids, they get all of the fondling and torment of the younger kids. Maria and Alana and Emi were teasing Josh and Peter incessantly. But being the good sports, they hung in there with them (it probably helps that they only have to deal with it a couple times a year!).

And it was comical that the little girl who copped a serious attitude when I went to yoga had no desire for me to be within 10 feet of her at Sherri’s house. Mario was almost as bad except that he wanted to wrestle later in the day and no one would agree except good ol’ mom.

Maria loves being around her girl cousins, and I welcome them all into her lives. She adores Emi who is always running out to greet her and Mario when they come over. She is the organizer of all activities and makes sure everyone has what they need to participate. Maria also enjoys Eli who is much more reserved and introverted but will lie on her bed with Ri for hours answering Maria’s questions. They are the big sisters Maria never had. Then there is Dagmawit who could be Maria’s twin. She is assertive and bold like Ri and they both have strong, muscular bodies. I wish Dag (as Maria calls her) lived closer but she gives us a reason to head to Savannah. Alana is a staple in Maria’s life since she lives close by and her and Ri are so close in age. They were excited all afternoon at Sherri’s house because they knew they were heading to Patty’s house for a few days (Patty calls them the Bickerson Twins because of the way they bicker with each other when they stay with her). And finally there is Morgan, Amy’s daughter, and Asma, Zach’s daughter. who we rarely see because Morgan lives in Savannah and Asma lived out of town until recently. They both blend right into Maria’s life when they are around though because they are Maria’s family and to Maria, that’s all she needs to know to welcome them into her circle.

Jon and I enjoy these family get-togethers because the kids go off and play and we can chat with adults. We got to catch up with Kevin and Margie about life with Dagmawit. They told us how Dag wanted to be a swim coach (since she is so good in the water) and the adult coaches allowed her. Before they could turn around, she was directing kids around the pool. When a parent picked up his child, she stopped him and said “Your child had a good practice today.” Love it! I told you Ri and her were twins. We also got to laugh at Micah’s antics and talk to Amy, Sherri’s sister who is my fellow runner in Savannah. Jon chatted with Debbie and Michael about Peter’s college and work. It was a pleasant Ionno gathering full of delicious food, much laughter, and good chats.

When we came home, Mario questioned where why Ri wasn’t with us. We told him Grandma’s house and he got so angry. “That’s not fair!” We explained to him that he’s gone to Grandma’s a lot more often than Ri. It didn’t matter to him. Grandma is a hot commodity and he needed to voice his displeasure. I calmed him down by watching a Ben Ten with him on the couch. He curled up on my lap and I scratched his back. Within fifteen minutes, he was snoozing away. It took me back to his baby days when I’d lay with him and watch him sleep – his tiny lips barely open and his sweet breath sending out the most wonderful, calming smell ever.

"MOM!"

Adventures in the Life of a Working Mama

Category: Food