L-O-V-E October 20, 2011

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a chance to blog.  I’ve actually had many chances, but between pregnancy, going back to work, and my ever-growing hobbies, blogging has come last.  So I have decided to come back with a bang and blog about life’s greatest achievement: love.

I have been lucky enough in life to never have gone a day without experiencing some form of love.  When I was a child, I remember days of cuddles, nights with goodnight kisses.  We had family time full of laughter, and some days love’s lesson was tough love.

Growing up, I watched Hollywood’s idea of love through the big screen, and I couldn’t wait for my own romantic comedy to begin.  How would it happen?  Would I try to stop the wedding of my best friend?  Would I meet a rebellious bad boy on vacation?  Would I be a famous writer who tried to break up with a guy but then ended up falling in love with him?  When would I get my first “foot-popping” kiss?

I met my Prince Charming in college (first in the dorms, but then truly in a bar).  No motion picture shares our story, and although the events of our courtship don’t have the makings of a blockbuster, it is our story, full of moments that make us us.

Growing older, my definition of love has changed.  Gone is the expectation of fireworks and grand gestures.  However, I found that the small things make lasting impressions.  Here is a small list demonstrating how I am fortunately able to experience love daily.

Love is:

• coming home to dinner cooking when it was my turn to cook

• reserving a weekend for just the three of us

• kissing Charlie goodnight

• an unexpected phone call from a friend

• listening to daddy and baby giggles in the next room

• a note from a student “Mrs. Brisson is the best.  Teachers no everything.”

• a look over the dinner table

• baby babble accompanied by baby hugs

• when my gas tank is mysteriously filled

• a kiss on the belly each night for Baby B

• an ear that truly listens

• family dinners

• having efforts recognized

Even though days are filled with moments that make me feel extremely loved, it wasn’t easy to quickly compile a list.  Perhaps one day, I’ll just make a running list.  I’m just glad that the moments add up enough to help me realize how truly blessed I am.  Take that, Hollywood.

New Life July 18, 2011

Pardon my lack of new entries, but last week I was knee-deep in a Harry Potter read-a-thon (but that’s a blog entry in itself).  So, back to business!

Last Thursday Charlie got a new cousin.  After waiting… and waiting… and waiting, it was such a relief to hear that Baby Talen arrived, nice and healthy.  I have to say I am rather jealous of Charlie and Talen, as I never had a cousin even remotely close to my age (my cousins are about 6-8 years younger or 8-15 years older).  Although the age gap has become less noticeable as I’ve grown older, I always wanted a cousin who was my age: I’d have something to do at Grandma’s, we could have sleepovers… life would have been stellar.  So as I think about C and T, 15 months apart, I can’t help but think of the mischief they’ll get into.  It is unfortunate that they live 3 hours apart, but I hope that they’ll see each other often enough, as we gather together quite frequently.

Visiting the new family in the hospital was amazing.  It is incredible the way such joy can override the exhausting elements of labor.  I could sit and examine itty bitty hands and feet until I was kicked out of the hospital.  I love the way the parents radiate with pride: moms watch as their little monkey is passed to visitors and dads experiment using their new found labor vocabulary.

During this stage of my life, I have noticed that a day doesn’t go by without a picture posted on Facebook of one adorable baby or another.  I love the days of new arrivals, hearing the stats of the new babies and mommies, seeing the squished little faces looking around for the first time.  I always think back to Charlie’s incredible birth story, the emotions of our new family, and the uncertainties I faced as a new mama.

Life is incredible.  I feel so blessed to have experienced life through the eyes of a mother, and I am so excited for all those who are new mamas or expecting soon.

Welcome to the world, Talen– love you bunches!

Charlie, Talen, and their Auntie Amy

The good ol’ red, white, and blue July 5, 2011

Over the long weekend we all celebrated the birthday of our country.  Typically, Jay, Charlie and I would visit my parents’ cabin in Siren to partake in festivities.  However, we are simply tired of always being on the move.  I don’t think we have stayed home together for over eight weeks.  We decided our best plan would be to take a long weekend to spend time with each other in Monticello.

As we all know, life is fast-paced and doesn’t take a moment’s rest.  Lately Jay and I have been trying to bring some old-fashioned ideals into our family lifestyle.  We {gasp} cancelled cable.  We always eat together as a family.  We spend nights on the deck, watching our son play.  On Saturday of our “relaxing” weekend, Jay and I decided we wanted to learn how to can, a skill I consider “old-fashioned” (sorry but I always think of Grandma Addie, now 93 years old).

Jay and I have a vegetable garden.  Well, we used to have one vegetable garden that produced green beans like it was nobody’s business.  We also had peppers, kohlrabi, radishes, and lettuce.  This year, it seems like our gardening ambitions have exploded all over our yard (it’s a good thing we have a huge backyard).  We have one vegetable garden that currently has green beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, tomatoes, peppers, beets, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, and watermelons planted.  We (Jay) also dug up another part of our yard to accommodate more tomatoes and pepper plants.  For mother’s day, Jay bought two apple trees, and we planted them along a fence so the branches would espalier along the wires, creating an apple tree fence.  We also have a perennial  garden with two blueberry bushes, and we have another area with baby raspberry bushes.  Needless to say, with all this produce, we wanted to learn how to can it and make it last through our barren winter.

Over the weekend we visited the local berry farm to pick strawberries to practice canning (our berry plants aren’t bountiful enough to create jams).  We picked about 20 pounds of fresh, juicy strawberries.  As much as I would like to claim that I polished off all 20 pounds, I didn’t.  The berries were washed, stems removed, and prepared for the official canning process.  We read the directions, prepared the recipe, and got to boiling.  It was such a simple process, and I am ecstatic to announce our two batches produced 12 jars of fresh strawberry jam!  I don’t know why we’ve never explored this option before– it was incredibly easy, and we were able to complete it as a family as well.

We’ll see how our vegetable garden turns out.  Could canned salsa be in our future?  More jams?  Tomato sauce?  Pickles?  We’ll just wait and see.  Either way, it was a fun experience exploring a skill that used to be so prevalent in American society– I think we’ll definitely out our new found skills to use.  Happy Birthday, America!  Hopefully we’ll find more ways to appreciate your old-fashioned values.

‘Tis the Season July 1, 2011

Last week I was invited to share in the marriage of my brother (Jeff) and new sister (Ashley)!  As I stood up for the both of them, I couldn’t help but have 18 million thoughts zooming though my head.  It would take a lifetime to share all 18 million, so here’s the abridged version:

1. Holy crap.  My little brother is getting married.  What happened to my cute-as-a-button, cross-eyed (only one eye until about the age of 4), raspy voiced brother?  Here he stands, awaiting his bride, glowing with anticipation.  When did he grow up!?  Kudos to you, mom and dad.  You have raised incredible children (especially that middle child).
2. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t Catholic.  Don’t get me wrong, my faith means a lot to me and I loved my wedding in my childhood church, but what would my wedding have been like if religion didn’t play such a big role?  Perhaps we would have said “I do” on a white sandy beach?  Jeff and Ashley were married in a historic barn in Eden Prairie (made fabulous by Ashley’s creative planning– see #5).  Also, they wrote their own vows.  I almost had tears streaming down my face to hear my brother’s uninhibited love for his future wife (again, see #1).  I am not sure if we could have written our own vows, but the moment was breathtaking as each person read their special something about the other.
3. My favorite material part of weddings are the flowers.  There are so many possibilities, so many beautiful flowers.  I loved the flowers I had for my wedding, but I paid a decent amount for them to be done.  The day before Jeff and Ashley’s wedding, the ladies got together and put together the bouquets and boutonnieres– I made my own.  It was so easy and affordable.  What a great idea!  Flowers say so much about people.

   

4. My husband is my everything.  Yeah, yeah, so corny.  I stood there, reminiscing the moments from our day three years and seven days before, and I honestly don’t know how I would live each day without him.  He gets me.  I couldn’t ask for a better friend or a more loving man.  Oh, and he’s an incredible father.
   
5. I am so glad to have another sister-in-law.  Ashley fits so well with our family, and I couldn’t ask for a better match for my brother.  This event she created was incredible.  She did everything except make all the food (thank you for choosing Buca).  Programs, centerpieces, decorations, candy bar, drinks, flowers… all had cute designer-looking tags and labels.  It was so perfect.  This girl is incredible.  Hugs and kisses, Ash!
   

Congrats to the newlyweds– a lifetime of happiness together!