Thankfully, most of our moving has managed to coincide with the school years, so she got to do a full year with the same class this year and the last. In each of those classes, she was the tallest girl, and this year she was the second tallest in the school. I’m afraid she’s destined to follow in my footsteps – grow like a weed, passing everyone up until 8th grade and stop. I just hope she never gets teased about it.

Today was a wonderful day, with a ceremony on the lawn of the church, overlooking the mountains in the distance. The kids sang songs, received their “diplomas” and each went home with a present from the school. Afterwards there was lunch and cake and pictures and playing. I watched E running around the lawn with her friends and couldn’t help but feel sad for her. Most likely, she’ll never see any of them again. The seven other girls and boys that were in her class, that she talked about on a daily basis, will all stay here while we probably move on again. Now that kindergarten is looming, our transient lifestyle is becoming more and more troublesome.

But, enough of that! Today was a glorious and happy day, an ending of an era, the first step towards thirteen years of prison . . . err, real school!

Congratulations, Miss E! We’re all so proud of you!

Hilton Head was awesome.

We love it there.

The middle of a rainy May was too cold for me, but everyone else was happy as could be with the non-scorching days.

We’ve spent the last 72 hours wishing we could just move there once and for all.

High tide is the favorite time to swim.

Jellyfish may invade, but apparently don’t sting.

Stingrays feel soft and velvety.

We rented a crib and bikes and that was the most awesome thing ever to not haul those things down.

The beach is super easy when a certain 6 month old hasn’t quite gotten the hang of crawling.

Savannah still feels like home.

Husbands are sexy when they wear the baby.

A frozen daiquiri or two from the poolside bar will lead to cannonballs with the five year old.

Sunset really is the best time to take beach pictures.

Hotwire is awesome for booking an extra day at the super swanky beachfront hotel, but you’ll get the crappiest room they have.

It is totally possible to do the entire 10 hour drive – both ways – with no technology to entertain small children.

]]> http://www.yankeedrawl.com/2012/05/in-no-particular-order/feed/ 5 http://www.yankeedrawl.com/2012/05/in-no-particular-order/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/yankeedrawl/feed/~3/BlA9SfA0xl8/ http://www.yankeedrawl.com/2012/05/through-instagram-from-charlottesville-to-hilton-head/#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 03:13:33 +0000 jayna http://www.yankeedrawl.com/?p=2026 It’s the most wonderful time of the year again! We packed our bags and have headed south. Thanks to a minor scheduling hiccup, I found myself doing half of our drive alone with the kids – including the entire packing, closing up the house and dropping off the cats process.

Fun times, people. Fun times.

To keep it interesting, I captured our adventure on my phone. These are just the handful that made the Instagram cut . . .

Been stopped for 15 minutes on Hwy 15 in North Carolina.Thankfully, only one is awake! Onward, vacation!

The key to a solo road trip? Finding crazy places to stop along the way. (At an awesome lake outside of Raleigh.)

9:45 pm. Dancing on the hotel couch and waiting for the pizza man. Mother of the year, baby!

Nighty night! (fingers crossed as the girls get tossed to the pull out couch!)

Swim, everybody!! Swim so you sleep in the car!!

“When are we gonna beeee there??”

There’s a baby in there somewhere, right?

We’re HERE!!

{I solemnly swear not to be too annoying with vacation crap for the next week!}

And glorious, of course.

But, evil. All at the same time.

Ten years ago, I would have never been sizing myself up against the imaginary Jones up the virtual street. I would have never been dreaming of insane projects that someone else thought up, just to keep up with the imaginary Jones down their own virtual street. I wouldn’t have been envious of my former high school classmate’s new shoes or an old colleague’s adorable puppy. And I most certainly wouldn’t have been keeping myself awake at night wondering why someone can pin and post and browse and comment, instead of pausing to drop a card in the mail for two small birthdays that just passed.

Invisible stalking with no long hours, all handed over in one neat package.

Don’t want to talk to your family members? No problem. Keep up with little Jimmy and Suzy through their mom’s blog! Watch them grow and learn from afar, get to know their interests through wishlists on Amazon, styles through boards on Pinterest, silly anecdotes through Facebook posts, daily routines through Instagram and gaze at their faces on Flickr. You’ll know everything there is to know about them and won’t even have to say hello! And the best part? The very best perk of this sweet, family from a distance deal? They’ll never even know you cared enough to look!!

But oh, they will. Or rather, one of them will.

Sweet Suzy will wonder why you never call and little Jimmy will look through his birthday cards and ask why you never sent one. Their mom will brush it off that you must be so busy that you completely forgot, but she’ll know. She’ll know that you saw the party planning on Pinterest, the big day posts on the blog, the wrapped presents on Instagram, the quick bits of celebration on Facebook.

This life we’ve been given with the instant accessibility and constant tracking is on a very fast moving, two-way street. I see you and you see me, but we’ll both pretend it never happened. I’ll keep on, sadly knowing that all the pictures in the world won’t be as sweet as a little girl’s hug or a baby’s laugh.

I don’t know which is worse. Never knowing and assuming we’re forgotten or knowing we’ve been tossed aside for prettier pictures and strangers.

linking up with just write

Cast of Characters: A Happy Family, just completing their night of shopping

(The mother waits with three tired children, balancing shopping bags, as the husband pays for the last purchase of the night. She snaps a picture as one of the children dances in the mirror.)

(Together, the family exits the store. The mother holds the younger girl’s hand and cradles the baby on her chest, while still balancing a full purse and three shopping bags. The father scoops up the older girl and they all stroll through the mall.)

(The younger girl runs ahead, skipping happily, and the runs back to take her mother’s hand. The mother turns her head to look at the husband.)

MOTHER: “Look at that dress. Think that wooo—-”

(The younger girl lets go of her mother’s hand and darts in front of her, bending over to fix her shoe. She stops directly in front of her feet, just out of the mother’s view over the baby on her chest.)

(The mother stumbles. She attempts to catch her balance, but stumbles again as her foot lands on the younger daughter’s hand.)

(The mother sails through the air. Forward. Over the younger daughter’s head.)

(Three shopping bags and a purse fly violently in all directions.)

(The mother cradles the baby’s head and continues to sail through the air. One hand hits the ground and then she twists over the younger daughter and crashes to the ground, knees and then butt.)

(The younger daughter cries.)

(The husband stands in shock.)

(Fifty onlookers gasp in horror from inside the packed children’s soft play area.)

-end scene-

*okay, so maybe it was only twenty-five people. but still.

*and no. no babies were injured during this scene. miraculously.

There was a piece of grass on the perfectly scuffed toe of her left cowboy boot and I had the audacity to tell her to remove it herself.

Welcome, Terrifying Threes, welcome. We somehow skipped your cousin, the Terrible Twos, and I fear the wrath has been unleashed. Thankfully, I’ve been seasoned and skilled over the years thanks to the other child’s Terrible Twos, Terrifying Threes and Fearsome Fours. However, the combination of these new Terrifying Threes and the new Fresh Fives may just do me in.

*****************************

As of 7:20 tomorrow morning, our crazy little firecracker will be three.

Unbelievable.

It’s hitting me even harder with MJ just how fast time is passing. I swear it was only yesterday that I was arguing with nurses and defending the fact that she really was so impatient that she was born in the bathtub. I’ll consider that 2 hour labor and 30 seconds of pushing as her gift to me for the rest of her life. Especially so, considering how she is so impatient with life that she still can’t manage to sleep all night.

Lesson learned #1: Do not bite off more than you can chew.

Pinterest is evil and most likely led to me wanting to pull my hair out in the days before the party with all the folding and cutting and decorating. All of the mothers were terribly impressed, but then *poof* it was all over, covered in crumbs and trampled. This is my public cry that I will never dive in this deep for a party again.

Lesson learned #2: That adage for inviting the number of kids for how old the birthday is for – totally spot on.

In other words, ending up with twelve kids when five would have been perfect is really, really stupid.

Lesson learned #3: If you live in a tiny, tiny house and have invited way too many kids, the weather will turn badly.

We spent the entire week up to the party watching the weather reports. Day by day, we saw the chance for thunderstorms get higher and higher. By the night before, it was up to 80%. Thankfully, everything held off until exactly 43 minutes after the party ended. Then, the skies turned black and the downpours began.

But *whee* we had a party and it was fun!

Yay for rainbows!

We had over a dozen of those big bouncy balls in all the colors of the rainbow. We lined them all up to begin with, let the kids run crazy with them and then sent them home with them. Ultimate party favor.

Best idea ever.

About twenty minutes into the party, the husband and I looked at each other and wondered how on earth we were going to keep these insane kids busy. Eery once in a while the boys would all spontaneously start to beat each other up and the girls would take off shrieking and run circles around the yard.

Second best idea? The pinata.

Not only did that sucker take up a big chunk of time and allow them to whack out a tiny bit of their energy, but it made for the most hilarious pictures. Some of the kids were so into it, leaping off the ground.

And then, of course, there was cake.

Good cake, good fun and good friends.

Miss E thinks we should have a birthday party every weekend.