{THIS MOMENT}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. ~ Courtesy of Amanda at SouleMama

THE EAGLES HAVE LANDED!

WOW! How lucky was I to see The Eagles, Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban all in the same night and at Soldier Field, to boot?!? I was moved to tears during several songs that mean so much to me. Hey, side note...it seems like there are a lot of tears flowing lately, no? It's a good thing...I promise! WARNING...pictures aplenty ahead. I had trouble adding my videos, so look for them in a future post. I added The Eagles first, out of respect for my elders (them and my mom...hehe)

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MY AWESOME BIL, DAVID, FOR THE TICKETS AND PARKING PRIVILEGES!

I was really close to the stage :)

HERE ARE THE EAGLES
IN ALL THEIR GLORY.

Some of the best guitar playing I've ever heard...









AND HERE ARE MY CHICKS...

They have such beautiful voices!

P.S...Thanks mom for applauding them. Your two fingers showed so much enthusiasm. Would it have been too hard to clap with all ten fingers?








AND FINALLY, KEITH URBAN...

Great voice, cute face, and loving husband who had the audience sing Happy Birthday to his wife, Nicole Kidman!

Sorry there aren't that many pics of him, as we (ahem) got there a little late.



All in all, a fantastic evening was had by all except for a few small things.

The following scents do not mix well in hot and humid Chicago weather and made me want to vomit...
*pot
*patchouli
*b.o.

Oh, and this jerk who enjoyed jumping from open seat to open seat without a real ticket for our section but mostly ending up directly behind me and my aunt whilst spitting his chewing tobacco into a cup and trying to entertain the people around him but just riling them up instead whilst spilling said cup of spit and tobacco several times over my aunt's back. Thanks buddy! Your parents would've been embarrassed by you; I know your friends were...

{THIS MOMENT}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. ~ Courtesy of Amanda at SouleMama

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

Today was a really sad day. It was Nicholas' last day of preschool and it did not go so well. He was tearful all day about his friends that will be "lost" over the summer. I tried to explain that he would find them in a few months, right back where he left them! We went out to dinner to celebrate his summer freedom and ran into some old friends of ours. They had their three beautiful kids with them and I didn't give it a second thought until I asked how old their youngest is. As my friend said "almost two", Joey reminded me that we both kept getting pregnant at the same time...didn't I remember?

Of course I remember.
Of course I remember all the time.
How could I forget what was "lost"?

Seeing their three kids and our two, how could I forget that a little one was missing from our table? Thank God that we were on our way out because I could not hold the tears back for long. The tears were coming hard and fast, just like the horrible rain storm that had just passed. And then, just as soon as it began, it ended as I turned around and saw a beautiful rainbow shining through all the clouds and rain and sadness.

And then I remembered
somewhere over the rainbow,
our other little one was at God's table
and I thought to myself,
what a wonderful world!

Sometimes it takes darkness
to see the light...

SUPER FAST!!!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY FRANCESCA!

I am so sad that you aren't my Baby Pepper anymore. You are my Toddler Pepper and it happened SUPER FAST. If you follow your insane and unrelenting love of animals, maybe one day you will become a veterinarian and become my Dr. Pepper!


We took off early in the day for Lamb's Farm. Do any of you know of it? It is a farm located in Libertyville, whose main purpose is to educate, advance and serve adults with disabilities. We have been going there to support them since I was a kid! What a great way to celebrate and show the importance of always giving back to others! Following a tradition set by my mom, where special one-on-one time spent together is a very valued birthday present, we set off to celebrate. We were hoping to avoid the sun and rain. No such luck. We still managed to overcome 90+ weather, no shade, a rain storm, manure, mud, and two very rambunctious boys and have a great time! P.s....thanks so much Nicole, for handling those two boys!

Francesca's love of any and all creatures was overflowing! Although she enjoyed the train ride, she was pouting because all she wanted to do was go back to the horses! Funny...I think there is a VERY SIMILAR picture (or two or twenty) of me pouting on a train years ago. I had been wondering where she got that frown from. :)


Reason #1 why I believe that even though I am not pushing you into it, you are a true vegetarian at heart...


And reason #2...
Yeah, when you said "eewww...yucky!!!", you took the words right out of my mouth!


Your Grandma was so happy to watch you enjoy your special day! Every single time she takes a ride in her wheelchair, you are right there by her side, holding on and slowing your pace so you can just be there with her. You two have such a great bond! Even though you are a toddler now, you will always be "her baby"!


The peacock was both of our favorites!


What birthday would be complete without a few more traditions? Of course we met Daddy and went to The Choo Choo Restaurant!


You decided to eat nothing but sugar! I wasn't happy about it, but it doesn't happen that often. You ate cake, but you aren't a cake eater! Ha ha..a quick Park Ridge reference thrown in!





After all the excitement and sugar, you were nowhere near ready for bedtime so we took off for our favorite park. For the next hour, all you did was scream "SUPER FAST", as in "push me super fast on the swing, mama!"

And I did.
And I cried.
And the last 2 years went by

SUPER FAST :(
.

{THIS MOMENT}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. ~ Courtesy of Amanda at SouleMama


P.S. Due to my new Friday ritual, Francesca's birthday will appear in tomorrow's post!

LETTING THE DAYS GO BY

I have been so out of sorts since my last post. I have also written about 10 posts that are still in the editing process and not yet to my liking, so please be patient!

Until then, here is a quote from one of my fav books. Stay with the run-on....

"The hardest thing to convey is how lovely it all is and how that loveliness seems all you need. The ghosts that haunted you in New York or Pittsburgh will haunt you anywhere you go, because they're your ghosts and the house they haunt is you. But, they become disconnected, shaken, confused for half a minute, and in that moment on a December day at four o'clock when you're walking from the bus stop to the rue Saint-Dominique and the lights are twinkling in the bateaux mouches, luring the tourists, but still...you feel as if you've only escaped your ghosts, if only because, being you, they're transfixed looking at the lights in the tree on the other bank, too, which they haven't seen before, either. It's true that you can't run away from yourself. But, we were right...you can run away."

Where would we run to?
Does it matter?
Would you miss us?