Remember when you had a MASSIVE crush on your older cousin?  Every little girl did!  I worshipped my oldest cousin Kevin, who was/is over 6′ 6″ and 10 years older than me. It seems my daughter has a similar crush on her oldest cousin, Sean!  Is my little girl in heaven or what?

Know what this is:

Well, yes…obviously it’s a batch of chocolate chip cookies, but more specifically…they’re my insurance policy!  You see, I am so prone to “taking down the network”, “crashing the system”, “deleting the entire 2WD music library” (ok – that only happened twice…but apparently it’s a pretty big deal).  Whenever I create a technical disaster and sheepishly run into the engineers office with my head down and eyes to the floor, they don’t get upset with me because I make them cookies.  A lot.  By making cookies PRIOR to the unavoidable disasters I create, they never, ever, ever get mad at me.  EVER.  Even though they should.  The engineers let me get away with monumental disasters that would cause them to kill someone else. 

Apparently, they know the look on my face before I get to even describe what happened because they’ll lovingly say “Jenna, did you break the radio station again?”…They’re total gentlemen in their attempts to not humiliate me by using non-technical terms.  “Did the thingy break, Jenna?” “It’s okay that you broke the radio station, Jenna.  That’s what we’ve come to expect…you blow it up…we fix it.”   Actually, now that I think about it, they’re actually quite condescending about it!  HEY!!!!!

Regardless…I make them cookies…and then when I “break the network” at 6 am and have to call the chief engineer, Ernie at home and get him out of bed to come fix it – as was the case just this moring – he doesn’t yell at me.

And it’s all because of those cookies!

Is it safe to assume this says “Wash Me” in Arabic?

My first flight was cancelled yesterday so my entire trip was pushed back a day! Argh!

Boarding the first leg now from Philly to DC…so excited!!!

This is exactly what I don’t need to see at 4:45am when I’m walking into the building. Good Lord!!! Scared the &$)#€^ outta me! I literally screamed!

This is dedicated to: Tom Sr., Chuck , Terry, Tommy, John, Don, Ken, Rob, Brian, Perry, Scott, and Clayton.  

I have witnessed firsthand the relentless love and unwavering support you instinctually give your children. Your dedication as fathers will make us better parents, which in turn will make our children better parents and so on. You have changed the face of the world by being available to your children.

On behalf of Diane, Kathy, Tommy, Terry, myself, Charlie, Theresa, Alex, Sam, Jamie, Sean, Kevin, Kalle, Donald, Carter, Jonah, Vitale, Kimberly, Jon, Jeremy, Julie, Jake, Addie, Wes, Liam, Jia & Bella…thank you for being active, involved fathers that make us kind, strong, balanced humans. 

“I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.”  – Sigmund Freud

“One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.” – English Proverb

 ”It is a wise father that knows his own child.” – William Shakespeare

 ”Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, Who loved thee so fondly as he?  He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, And joined in thy innocent glee.” – Margaret Courtney

 “Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.” – Ruth Renkel

“He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.”  ~Clarence Budington Kelland

A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty. ~Author Unknown

 Father! To God himself we cannot give a holier name.  -William Wordsworth

 The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
~Author Unknown

I turned off the mower and in a pretty harsh tone said/yelled “Really, Charlie? REALLY? What are you doing with my iPhone? You know you’re not allowed to play with that if you don’t ask me first!”…to which he replied “Just taking a picture of you mommy. You’re pretty when you mow the lawn.”

Aw, man!

I walked over to him with my head tilted, put my hand on my heart and in the loviest voice I could muster, I cocked my eyebrow and said “Oh baby, you are the sweetest boy ever! That was a very quick, very smart response – so I’m gonna let it slide this time. Now go put it back on the charger & please know that if you take it again without asking, I’ll glue your perfect little fingers together, ok baby?” He giggled, turned around to open the front door then looked back at me with a smirk and said “Yeah, that was a good one, wasn’t it mommy.”

“Yeah, buddy. That was a really was a good one.”

When he becomes a spectacular liar in high school, please remind me of this!

After weeks of ‘figuring it out’ my little area is finally complete!!! The color is a bit off because it’s wet…and there is still sand that needs sweeping, but all in all, I’m quite proud. And aching. A lot.

I grabbed a shovel and did this:

Then I grabbed these people:

And did this:

Then I unloaded my car:

 

so I could have some time to get this done:

(please note the leveled AND graded 1×4 frame…thank you!)

Then I did this:

 And just to be sure…before painstakingly putting every paver in place and positioning it with a rubber mallet, and leveling each one, etc. – I tossed the pavers down to be sure they would fit and to be sure I liked the pattern I had in mind…

I loved the pattern…they totally fit…BUT…I hate the 1×4’s so I pulled it all out and will reframe it today with 2×4’s.  I’m an idiot.  Stay tuned!  I’ll keep you posted!  Two Words:  Girl Power! 

FYI – this whole process has actually taken me weeks…not hours.  And THREE trips to the hardware store…not one.   TRUST ME!