Monday, August 22, 2011

It's been a SUMMER!

Today is Monday August 22, 2011.

School starts on Wednesday. Sniff. I can't believe the summer has come and gone already.

What a great summer it's been. In some ways it feels like it has flown. In other ways, looking at the photos of all the things we've done together since school let out at the beginning of June, I realize how much we've grown together as a family. Brian has a facebook account and access to this blog, so out of respect for him, I won't write about him very much - you'll mostly read about Maura here (she can't get mad at me, yet...she doesn't have access to this...)

As I've written about many times on this blog, we're getting married. (Can you believe we're not married yet? We're not! October 8, 2011...47 days from today...and no, I haven't started working out yet, but yes, I still plan to.)

We've had a great summer. We've been to Ohio to visit my parents. That was a terrific time. Maura really bonded with my mom, and both Brian and I enjoyed watching that. They were so cute together, taking off and just hanging out together. My parents live in a smaller town than we live in, and so it's seemingly easier, or maybe just different, to be a kid there. Freer is perhaps a better word for it than easier. She can be outside and running around with less supervision. She can cross the street there without us worrying that somebody is going to steal her or that the perpetual traffic will not stop for her - there isn't perpetual traffic there. We love living in an urban environment with all it has to offer (in fact, where we live is much less urban than where I used to live on my own), but compared to where my folks live, it's much busier. Maura fed their neighbor's cat and helped them catch a raccoon, she stomped around the creek, took lots of walks, visited miniature horses, ran around a farm, and ate lots and lots of ice cream (which she does here - I think she could sniff out ice cream from the bottom of a water well). Brian and I got to spend a lot of time just relaxing and reading together, which was also nice - those are some things that we don't get to do here.

Once back in the Chicagoland area, we got busy on "Camp Christina" - having her friends over once a week for various summer activities and merriment. We tie-dyed t-shirts, planted our backyard garden (of which we are now enjoying the harvest), played baseball, went to the swimming pool, ate lots and lots of popscicles and hot dogs and chips and drank gallons of lemonade, had water balloon and squirt gun fights, and mostly, giggled.

Maura also saw her cousins a lot this summer, which is great. She LOVES her cousins. She saw them on the 4th of July, which was a definite highlight. We spent a great day at her Uncle Rick and Aunt Brenda's house, jumping on the trampoline, eating delicious food, and of course watching fireworks. Allie and Mary came over for an epic sleepover in July, Annie came for a sleepover earlier in the summer and again to Maura's birthday party later in August.

Maura turned 10 in August...double digits. Her grandma from Colorado was here for 5 days to visit us for that grand event during which we went to the city to meet up with Grandma Reilly and see Beauty and the Beast at The Oriental Theatre. Maura also had a friend birthday party/sleepover with 3 friends and her cousin Annie (mentioned above). It was a backwards themed party - everyone wore their clothes backwards, we ate breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast - ate cake first, opened presents - had a scavenger hunt, and then they went wild. There is so much joy in watching kids have fun.

Maura spent two weeks, beginning the middle of July, at Camp. This was a big year for her as she's never been away from home for two weeks before. She did great. She was homesick the first week, but handled it like a real pro. She made friends, and even wrote one letter to a friend she made while away at camp (yet to be mailed, but written nonetheless...).

She's spent the rest of the summer reading, playing Pokemon and dsi, laughing and hanging out with our next door neighbor. Last night Brian and I marveled at the two of them. The next door neighbor, Madison, had spent the afternoon over here playing, as has often been the case this summer. They are very cute together playing their creative play. It was time for Madison to go home, so she went. The three of us sat down to eat dinner. As soon as we finished eating, Maura called Madison, and they positioned themselves in the front windows of each of our houses, windows up, shouting at one another through the open screen windows, continuing their play, until bedtime. It reminded us of the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks. When it was time for bed we heard, "Good night Madison, talk to you tomorrow..."

As a family, we've cooked and taken dinner to the PADS shelter in Oak Park, and cooked and served dinner to the ladies at The Joshua Center, that was a real highlight for me, and really meant a lot that the three of us were finally able to do that together. I got a bit teary watching both Brian and Maura in their hair nets and plastic aprons at the Joshua Center serving like that.

We've also learned how to laugh together, a lot, how to tease each other, how to give each other the necessary space each of us needs at times, and how to talk to each other.

I've definitely learned a lot about what it means to have a family, what it means to be a wife (even though, officially, I'm not there quite yet...) and am learning what it means to be a parent - that seems to change somewhat as Maura grows and her needs change, but some of the basics never do - love her consistently no matter what.

The summer has been a lot of fun, and has also been very challenging at times too. So many times I doubt myself in these two new roles. I never doubt the love I feel for them, nor the love I feel from them. I never doubt that we were brought into each other's lives for a reason.

Fifth grade starts in 1 1/2 days. We're ready - school shoes (a ladie's size 6 1/2, can you even believe that for this kid?) have been purchased, school supplies are in the backpack all zipped up, the uniforms fit, the hair has been cut and looks very sassy, the summer tan is perfected, fun has been had, the math packet is complete, luckily boredom never set in...

Now...back to wedding planning!

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