A Decade in Review

December 30, 2005

On December 31, 1999, we rang in a new millennium.  I celebrated this historic event at a huge LDS singles dance.  I went with a group of friends, including one really cute boy with bright blue eyes named Dan.  My friend told me she thought Dan might have a crush on me.  I was surprised at how happy that idea made me.

December 30, 2000 - Dan and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Washington D.C. Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Temperature for pictures: 17 degrees. We didn't care.  At least the blizzard missed us.

December 30, 2001 - We attended the rehearsal dinner for Uncle Bob and Aunt Ro's wedding. Dan taught cousin Rachel (age 4) to touch her nose with her tongue.  A proud moment for all.

December 30, 2002 - We had a four-week-old baby.  We were tired.  But happy.

December 30, 2003 - We left one-year-old Jake and the dog overnight for the first time.  We saw Mama Mia at the National Theater.  Oh, and did I mention I was three months pregnant? Our family was growing fast - as was my belly.

December 30, 2004 - We were settling into our new home in Cape Cod, MA with two little boys.  We ate dinner out somewhere.  With two little boys.

December 30, 2005 - We said goodbye to our Cape Cod home by cleaning, turning in our key, and visiting Dan's ship in dry dock.

December 30, 2006 - We left two little boys with their grandparents, great-grandparents, aunt, and uncle.  We went out with their other grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  We got mocked for our young age on our sixth anniversary.  It was worth it for the special desert.

December 30, 2007 - We were settling into our new home in VA.  "The Seven Year Itch" was on television.  We watched.  We decided our marriage would make it as long as Marilyn Monroe doesn't show up.

December 30, 2008 - We hung out at home.  We were happy to spend time together as a family.  We knew we wouldn't have much of that kind of time for quite a while.

December 30, 2009 - Dan is in Iraq.  I'm in VA.  We're far apart.  But in love.  And that's really what matters most.

This has been a good decade.  I married the man of my dreams.  We both graduated college. We had two incredibly handsome and brilliant sons, and adopted an incredibly beautiful and neurotic dog.  We moved nine times.  We've begun the adventure of a lifetime, and it's been a great one.  Can't wait to see what the next years bring!

P.S. For next year's anniversary (ten years!), I expect a trip with my husband.  Without kids. You can let him know I said that.

Max and Mayo

Mandisa has a best friend.  His name is Max and he lives next door.  He came to stay with us the weekend before Christmas and the two of them had a wonderful time together.  He taught her to stick her head in the dishwasher.  She taught him to frolic in the snow (Max is from Arizona).  A good time was had by all.  And now that he is back home, well, Mayo is moping.

Thanks, Santa!

Santa was very good to us this year.

Merry Christmas

May we all feel His love on this very special day.

Blizzard of '09

Day 1:

It snowed all day Saturday.  By the time we went to bed we had about two feet of snow! Remember, this is Virginia.  This is Virginia in December.  This is unheard of!  And pretty much the best thing ever.

Day 2:
Please excuse my poor snowman-building skills.  I've never been very good at the art.  But my boys thought our snowman was the greatest one since Frosty himself.  The dogs were incredibly wary of the strange man lurking around our house.

Day 3:
When you're out playing and get hungry, just snack on the snow.  It sure beats the hassle of stripping off the wet clothes so Mommy will let you in the house.  Our diet for the last few days has definitely been heavy on the snow and hot chocolate categories.

Day 4:
Some people think they're really clever.  Yes, I did get hit by that (well-aimed) snowball.  And yes, I did get him back!

Day 5:
We have really great friends and neighbors, who dug us out.  We have a pretty pitiful county who did not plow us.  There were plows.  I saw two go by yesterday.  But they weren't actually plowing.  Just driving along on top of the foot of snow left on the street.

On Day 5, we ventured out.  I would have been perfectly content to stay snowed in for several more weeks, but there's a little holiday called Christmas coming up pretty soon.  And Santa already stowed his gifts at the great-grandparents' house...

Posted from the great-grandparents' house.  That's right, we made it!

The Angels Did Sing

We went to our Ward Christmas Party on Friday evening.  It was supposed to be two weeks ago, but got snowed out.  Somebody (it was the Bishop) was listening to the Spirit when he rescheduled for Friday instead of Saturday.  By the time we left the party Friday the snow was falling hard.  Had we rescheduled for Saturday...  well, that just wouldn't have worked.

To be perfectly honest, I had a really bad attitude about the party.  I just wasn't feeling it.  My children were being hoodlums, I was tired and thinking about the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to get up my obnoxiously steep driveway in the snow, and I just wanted to go home and wallow is self pity.  Especially when two other deployed husbands skyped in to read the Christmas story to us.  My deployed husband can't skype.  Bummer.

But then.  Then the children got up to sing.  My little hoodlums (and I'm not using that term loosely here - they really were terrible!) got up to sing.  And you know what?  As the little angels (again, not loosely - they really were angels) sang "The First Noel" I was hit by the Christmas Spirit.  I remembered why we were there.  We were celebrating the birth of Christ. Our Savior.  We were celebrating His love for us, and our love for Him. 

And you know what?  It's okay that my children went right back to their hoodlum ways immediately following the song.  And it' s okay that my car is still in the neighbors' driveway because we slid sideways down ours that night.  And it's okay that my husband can't skype.  God loves me so much that He sent His Son.  A little boy like mine.

And I feel so blessed to spend this season celebrating His birth.  With my hoodlums and my steep driveway.

PS.  I want you all to notice the children's costumes.  Forget the traditional towels draped over their heads.  Yes, there were plenty of those, but my children chose to wear what their Daddy wears in that part of the world.  And I bet you didn't know that Cleopatra came to the First Christmas, now did you?

Cam and the Cow

I have a lot to say; thoughts I've been stewing over for some time now.  But they're not coming out into words.  Seriously, I know it's hard to believe since I usually have trouble shutting up, but this time the words just aren't coming.  Hopefully it'll happen soon.

But I couldn't wait any longer to share my favorite photo from the Kindergator trip to the Children's Museum.  We had a great time, and Camden learned that milking a cow is a little tougher than it looks!

Decking the Halls

Camden loves to decorate for Christmas.

Easy Party, Troubled Mayo

Yesterday, right smack dab in the middle of our first snowstorm of the season, seven little boys descended upon my home.  They were expecting a party.  So I obliged.

I handed everyone a long skinny balloon "light saber" and set them lose on each other.  Easiest party ever (though I think my hearing has suffered irreparable damage).  The boys had a blast, I wasn't stressed, and Mayo...

Well, Mayo may not have enjoyed it as much as the rest of us.  She just can't understand why I don't control those puppies like [she thinks] I should!

I think I redeemed myself a tad when the seven little boys left and I asked her to clean up the floor under the cake table.

It worked!

Last night we went to bed like this...

... so that today it would do this!

Editor's note: We probably didn't need to do the pajama trick, since we had Jake's birthday party scheduled for today.  It always snows on Jake's birthday party.  We do it on purpose to find out who loves us enough to brave the snowy roads!  (Everybody came!  Wow, we're popular!)

Poor FIrefighter Mark

Firefighter Mark: "This camera lets us see in the dark.  It uses heat to make the picture.  See, your mom is hot."

Poor Firefighter Mark.  Jake asked why his face got all red.

Personally, I'm hoping Firefighter Mark remembers that line and pulls it out in a more appropriate situation.  I'm thinking it could definitely work for him.  Just maybe not the "your mom" part...

Seven!

This morning Camden woke up really excited - and really early.  He was ready for birthday presents!  For his brother.

That's right!  It's Jake's birthday!

I sure do love this kid.  Seven years ago he changed my life.  No longer was I Jen.  I became, in one moment, Mom.  For that, I am so grateful.

He is kind and compassionate.  He is honest.  He is a hard worker who always does his very best. He's an artist.  He's passionate and feels things deeply.  He is wild and busy.  He is loud. He is Jake!

Happy Birthday Seven-Year-Old!  I love you!

Thanksgiving, Day 2

On the second day of Thanksgiving,

I am thankful for extra pillows

and

that my children can sleep through

anything.

Thanksgiving, Day 1

On this first day of Thanksgiving

(yes, around here we celebrate twice),

I am thankful for uncles.

Did you know...

... that I take pictures?

I fell in love with the camera as a sophomore in high school, when I took a photography class simply to fill an elective.  It was one of the best things I ever did!

So, here we are, fourteen years later, and it's time to unveil my new photography blog.  Just a space to post some of my photos.  Enjoy!

Jennifer Read Photography

Best Laid Plans

When one becomes sick or hurt, the most effective place to recover is on Bubby and Poppa's bed.  Just so you know.

Our Saturday Plans included lunch and a photo shoot with the family of one of my oldest friends, baths and lounging at Bubby and Poppa's house, and a fun-filled evening of dinner and a show with the family.  In my humble opinion, a pretty close to perfect Saturday!

Our Saturday Reality included lunch and a photo shoot with the family of one of my oldest friends, a tumble on the playground during said photo shoot, a trip to the ER where we got a CT scan of the five-year-old's head, and a diagnosis of swelling but no bleeding in that cute little noggin.  Followed by happy meals and a movie on Bubby and Poppa's bed.

I'm thinking we probably should have stuck with plan A.

Why We Were Tired

We spent Sunday evening with friends.  Some of whom left Monday morning for Germany.  To live there.  We had a wonderful evening, with lots of chatting and laughing for the grownups and lots of running and blasting for the younger crowd.  Followed by tearful goodbyes.  Tears that, for more than one six-year-old, lasted well into the night.  And that's why we were tired on Monday.

So we planned on getting to bed right on time on Monday.  And things were going perfectly. Right on schedule.  Until Mike showed up at our door right as we were heading up the stairs for bed.  Mike was one of Dan's seminary students.  Now he's got a wife and a cute little girl.  So he makes me feel old.  But we like him a lot, so we stayed up and visited.  And that's why we were tired on Tuesday.

Finally, on Tuesday, I got some boys into bed right on time.  But me?  Well, we got new furniture for the family room last week, and the yellow walls just had to go.  So I painted.  And painted.  It's not quite done, so you'll have to wait a while longer for the after pics.  That's why the boys felt great and I was tired on Wednesday.

But as we all well know, there's no rest for the weary.  So I dragged my tired little (okay, not so little) bum out of bed and into the kitchen on Wednesday.  I hosted the Teacher Dinner at Gatorland, the culmination of weeks of planning, days of shopping and cooking, and hours of setting up, serving, and cleaning.  It was worth it to thank our teachers.  I think.  And that's why we were tired on Thursday.

Today I had a nice long to-do list.  But by the end of the day there were no little checks on it.  That's right, other than a quick ego-boost in kindergarten (I wore pink, and apparently that makes one beautiful to five-year-old girls), I did absolutely nothing today.  It was nice.

But that to-do list will be waiting for me tomorrow.  And it's time to break the cycle.  Good night!

Warnings

I am 29 years old and I am going gray.  Really, I have more than my fair share of gray hairs already.  I'd like to blame it on genetics - my great-grandmother had gone completely white well before she hit 29.  But I don't think genetics is the answer in this case.  No, I blame my five year old.

Camden is a wild man.  He is also sweet and loving and fun.

I believe that the Lord gives us prompting - even warnings - through the Spirit.  And I believe He's been giving me some pretty strong warnings about this boy for quite some time.  As in, since he was a newborn.  I've known since Camden was born that, despite the fact that he was my quiet, calm, easy baby (the complete opposite of his brother), I was going to have to be very careful and protective of him.

See, I have nightmares.  Not the kind of nightmares you have after watching a scary movie (I don't do that) or telling ghost stories by the campfire (I'd rather sing silly songs).  No, I have very powerful nightmares, and they are always about Camden.

When he was tiny I used to have dreams of him disappearing from his crib.  I'd go to check on him in the middle of the night and instead of my sweet baby I would be greeted by a scary adult hand coming out of the crib to grab at me.  Or I would hear him crying and I would get up to go take care of him.  Only he wouldn't be in his crib, the cries would be coming from the basement.  And I would know, as I got to the top of the stairs, that somebody had him down there, and I was alone, and if I went down they would hurt me and then I wouldn't be able to save my baby.  Or even let anyone know he was in danger.  I spent many sleepless nights, even after he started sleeping through the night, just watching my baby sleep.  Because those dreams were so scary.

It's been a few years since I last dreamed about Camden being harmed.  But last night my Camden nightmares came back.  Last night, in my dream, I watched him fall two stories to the concrete floor below.  Thankfully, I woke up as I was running to where he would have landed, so at least I was spared the image of my little boy on the ground after that fall.  It was terrible enough as it was.

I can't help but wonder, what does this all mean?  Why do I dream such horrible things about my sweet little boy?  And it's not because I'm a crazy, paranoid parent (I hope!).  Have I ever dreamed that Jake was in danger?  No, not once.  But Camden, all the time.

I think I am being warned.  He is a special little boy.  He is smart and cute and has incredible energy and charisma.  I have no doubt that he is going to go very far in life.  But he is fearless.  He thinks the crime is worth the punishment.  He doesn't believe me when I tell him something is dangerous or will hurt.  He'd rather discover those things for himself.  And I have to watch him like a hawk.  Because he is a great kid and will be a great man.  As long as I can get him safely to adulthood.

Sometimes I worry that I won't be up to the task.  But as much as I hate having nightmares about my baby, I also have to give thanks for them.  As scary as it is to wake up convinced that my little boy just fell two stories, I am grateful that it didn't really happen.  And I am grateful for the warnings I receive, as his mother, to watch and care for this special little boy.  I know that because of these dreams I pay more attention and am more careful to watch and to teach him to watch for danger.

I just wish these warnings would be a little less stressful for me.  My hair can't take it.

A Positive Spin

Tonight, at his soccer team's end-of-season party, Camden got the "Winning Spirit Award."

Because whenever the other team would score, he did this.

P.S.  Yes, Camden is picking his nose while receiving his award and trophy.  There were other "better" shots, but I liked this one, myself.

Trick-or-Treat! Halloween!

We sure did have a fun time this Halloween!  Granny and Poppy came to cheer on our morning soccer games and then we headed off to fill our candy buckets.

First stop, Trunk-or-Treat with all our best buddies in the church parking lot.

Jake and Grant have got to be the cutest clone troopers I've ever seen.  I dare you to disagree.

Camden was much more interested in the hot dogs than the candy.  So while the rest of the kids gorged on their candy, Cam found himself a quiet spot to enjoy his dog.  Sometimes I wonder who's child he really is.

Upon finishing the hot dog, Camden promptly disappeared.  And I mean, he was GONE.  As in, after a solid 15 minutes of an all out search this mommy was getting pretty panicky.  And then a little voice called out from a tree...  That's right, he'd been in a tree.  Seems Anakin is pretty great at camouflage.  Brown jedi clothes + brown leaves = Panicked Mommy.

So, we found the young Skywalker and headed home to get ready for round two.

Jake was astonished (and a bit ticked) at the number of other Star Wars characters we ran into in our neighborhood.  Apparently he thought his costume choice was really original.  I couldn't bring myself to explain to him that his costume choice has been overused every year since before his parents were born.

At the end of almost two hours of trick-or-treating in the rain with a group of very excited little boys, we came home to inspect the goods.

Now, boys are at school and I'm home alone with the candy.  This could be fun...