Lost and Found

My youngest son Ky lost his 1st tooth yesterday. He is 7 years old! What happened to the good old days when  your teeth fell out by your 5th birthday? It was like a rite of passage. Go to kindergarten and take the "snaggletooth" class photo. Not my kids! Their teeth refuse to come out. My soon to be 9 year old has only lost 3 teeth. My 21 year old even has baby teeth!!! What is that all about? Only one of my son's was considered "normal" when it came to their teeth. Actually, that's not true. He lost ALL of his teeth before he was 10! That definitely was not normal. Anyway, my little guy has seen the coins left by the 'tooth fairy' for his older brother MJ and he was really excited about finally getting a visit. And, even though I never raised any of my boys with the stories of Santa, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy, he was adamant that the "Tooth fairy" was coming. Even after MJ told him that I was really the person who left the coins. He looked at his big brother like was crazy! Yeah right, "mommy doesn't put that there". "The little fairy like on tv comes and takes my tooth", he went on to explain. So when he woke up this morning, I was expecting him to come in excited to tell me what a marvelous treasure he had found under his pillow. But, instead of smiles, he was really upset. "What's wrong, honey"? I asked. He said, "my tooth is gone, but i didn't get a present!" Now, I remember putting that coin under his pillow and removing the tooth. Although that was an operation in itself because he was holding it in his tight fisted little hand! I finally retrieved the tooth without waking him and put the shiny "gold' George Washington dollar coin under there. Where could it be? I sent him to use the bathroom and searched all over. I found it all the way at the other end of the bed under all of his covers. I love to have had a camera recording how that could even be possible. I moved the coin a little farther up and placed his sheet over it. When he returned to his room I told him to carefully check his bed. Success! He came out of the room with a smile and proclaimed that he was now rich. I left the boys to study the coin and heard MJ telling Ky, "You know mommy is the tooth fairy don't you?" Uh uhhn, you're wrong", was the reply from the very serious Ky. Then, something unexpected happened. MJ said, "Wait, you're right Ky, the tooth fairy did come and leave you the gift, then she gave your tooth to mommy. I will show you all of the teeth in her drawer later. She has a lot of them!" My boys. Gotta love em.

The Best Date Ever!

I took my soon to be 7 year old son on a "date" tonight to celebrate his upcoming birthday. I was given two passes to a private screening of Cars 2 at the Showplace ICON in Chicago and I knew he would enjoy it. We were not disappointed at all.  It was an amazing movie! The graphics were superb. And the story was intriguing. I wasn't sure it could top the 1st one, but it was really good. I can't tell you anything specific, but I would highly recommend going to see it. Now, on to the REALLY great part of my evening. After the movie was over, I discovered a walkway that overlooked the skyline. In case you didn't know, Chicago has a breathtaking skyline. We were looking up at the Sears Tower(I refuse to call it by any other name), when my baby boy turned to me and said, "this would be the perfect place to kiss". I wondered if i heard him right and we turned to walk away. Just then he said, "Mom!" I looked down at him to see the sweetest little lips in full pucker mode! I bent down and gave him a quick kiss. I swear I could see actual hearts floating off of his head. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. I almost cried. We walked back to our car hand in hand. After he jumped in his car seat and we both were buckled in. He said to me as we drove out of the parking garage, "Mom, this was the best date ever!" Yes Ky, I agree. It was definitely the best date ever!

Funny Funny Funny

My sons are so funny! All of them make me laugh. The oldest one can seem very serious and stern, but he has the softest heart. He loves animated movies and he has always loved his musicals. He definitely takes after me and his uncle. My teenager has the craziest sense of humor. He is the one that turned me on to the Colbert Report and the Jon Stewart show. He is very aware of the world and is very quick witted. My 8 year old, loves cartoons and he quotes them  to me all the time. We call him Chowder, because he can imitate that cartoon character so well it is scary. My baby boy thinks everything is funny! He finds the humor in everything. I fear that this may cause a problem when he goes back to school in the fall. I love it when we are all together watching a good show on tv and we are all laughing together.Those are the time I wish that I had a video camera so I could play it back over and over again. They make me laugh until tears flow. I love those moments! I cherish those moments. I feel very blessed to be able to share so many good times with them. Life can be so serious and rough at times. But, if we just take the time to laugh. It makes the tough stuff easier to bear.

If only it wasn't a dream

I dreamed of my daughter, Camara last night. I dreamed that she awoke from a long illness and was on the mend. I was able to see her smile and hear her coo. I was able to hold her in my arms and feel the warmth of her body and smell her sweet baby smell. It felt so real the tears streamed down my face and I begged God to let me not wake up. I wanted to stay in that moment forever holding my beautiful daughter. But, I did wake up to the realization that I will never hold her again. It has been almost 12 years since she passed away from Group B strep meningitis. Taking her last breath, while I held her in my arms with my husband by my side after 4 grueling  weeks. I had never dreamed of her before.If I had, it was never as vivid and real as last night. I miss her so. I miss what could have been.

Summer is coming

School is almost over and now comes the fun part. Keeping the boys busy! We have a ton of great museums and attractions in Chicago and we hope to take advantage of most of them. We would do the summer camp thing, but to me there aren't enough affordable, high quality day camps available. My darling husband and I would love to take them to a farm and show them what a day in the life of a farmer is like. They could use some video game free days. There are also the plethora of summer movies that we just have to see. Cars 2 is number 1 on the list of family friendly movies. The little guys want to see the new Transformers movies, but they usually have some pretty colorful language in them. So between the zoos, amusement parks and city fairs,  I think we will be able to keep them occupied. We just have to make sure we grab a few date nights for ourselves as well.

Blessings A Plenty

I woke up giddy this morning. It is my birthday! I have gotten wonderful hugs and kisses from all of my guys this morning and I am feeling on top of the world! I am laughing right now watching my husband try and teach our 8 year old how to swing a heavy garbage bag into the outside cans. The bag is as big as my son and I can just imagine garbage flying everywhere! I don't have any birthday plans today, other than trying to stay cool in this crazy Chicago weather. We are expecting record breaking heat today, so I won't be doing any heavy lifting. My little guys say a cake is mandatory, so they are handling that. Lemon Fluff from Wolf's Bakery is always a wonderful thing. Well, I am off to take the 1st of what may be a couple of showers today. Hope your day is as happy as mine has already started out to be. Share a smile with someone today, Peace!