The Place Where I Come From

I graduated from Clemson University in 2000 and left school with my diploma in my hand and never looked back. But, all those years of school changed me. I grew up at Clemson and became the person I am today. I learned and grew, not in the scholarly way (well, maybe that too), but learned about life. There were so many hard lessons and it felt good to close that chapter of my life. Sometimes in these eleven years, I've been wistful about that time when I was on the horizon and the sun was rising and my possibilites seemed endless. I really wanted Firoze to visit Clemson with me, but for some reason, we just never did.

Well, finally after our trip to Greenville, it just made sense. We were heading home in the same direction and Clemson is literally 10 minutes from the highway. It just made sense to go. We had the boys in the car and I felt like I wanted my family to see the place where I came from, the place where I became myself.

It's hard for most people to understand because they probably lived it up in college and partied every weekend. But I was different. I had this drive and it literally pushed me to the breaking point. I wanted to be an engineer and be "better than the boys." I wanted to work full time and pay for things myself. I wanted to take risks and push myself, figure skating full time and rowing crew and learning Russian. I pushed and pushed until I was mentally and physically done. There were so many amazing and wonderful moments, but at the same time, it broke me down. It's hard to describe because I loved it and hated it all at the same time. That's why going back had my stomach in knots and my heart was beating fast.

But we went and for a moment, I was 18 again and time seemed strange.



I was in this same spot on my first day on campus. I had so many questions about my life. Now I have the answers to those questions. That's what I was thinking.



As we were driving up to my old dorm, the marching band literally spilled on to the street in front of us. It brought back those warm memories, of orange and purple, of school spirit, of the fun in being young.



Sitting outside my dorm, it was surreal. I lived there for almost seven years. It was exactly the same. The trees were the same and the branches that I looked out on were in the same spot. The only new additions were my husband and kids next to me. It was amazing to be back in that spot and to show Firoze where I lived and where I walked every day. It felt good to walk those paths again.



We walked down to Death Valley and it was so amazing to show Firoze and the boys around campus. He finally got a picture of the images I have described to him for years.



When I told Firoze, "I can't believe it's been 11 years since I have been here." He said how fast time flies and said "in another 12 years, Devon will be ready to start college." I think I got weak in the knees. What if the next time I'm here, Devon is starting college? You just never know. That's what is so amazing about life. It always surprises you.



Maybe Devon or Dean will follow in my footsteps and go to Clemson. I would rock my orange and purple and be so proud. Proud and happy!



And I'll tell them all about the place I came from. The time at Clemson when I learned about life and grew up and became myself.

Passing the Torch

Back when I was a kid, the best memories I had involved two things... either swimming at the pool or celebrating a holiday with lots of family all around. Swimming was just about the most fun we could possibly have as kids. I even got excited when my Mom would drag out the suitcases for our trip and I would unzip them and inhale the beautiful smell of chlorine. Chlorine meant fun. Chlorine meant games of marco polo and my Dad catapulting us into the pool, over and over for hours. We were little fish and we could stay at the pool for 8 hours if they would let us.

And then there were holidays. The days we spent at my Grandma and Grandpa's house at the lake. There was my Grandma, making the huge pot of mashed potatoes in the kitchen. My Grandpa was always putting on a cool record, like Elvis or Dean Martin. And cousins were everywhere! There was always an awesome friend to play "paint the turtle's back" (not approved by PETA), or "let's try on all Grandma's jewelry," or any number of amazingly fun cousin related activities.

Anways, back to the point... We surprised my Dad with a family reunion for his 60th birthday and for the first time in my life, I felt like I was passing the torch. Devon was so excited about being with his cousins and swimming in the pool that I knew he had finally got it! Even though it took a lot of planning, we all wanted to make Dad's birthday extra special this year and it was worth it in every way.

All my Dad really wanted was for us all to be together.





We had meals together and lots of fun moments, but I was busy wrangling Dean and letting our family click with the shutters of 3 cameras. So, I'm missing the photos from almost all the major events of this weekend, but I'm sure Court will post on her blog and Rebecca will post on facebook and they'll share more of what happened.

But, I did capture the happiest memory from the weekend...

Devon and Judah were holding hands all weekend. Holding hands walking to the restaurant. Holding hands walking through the parking lot. Sharing giggles and talking about dinosaurs. Having that feeling of "I'm with my cuz and my cuz is so cool!" That is what Courtney and I dreamed of when we both had tiny little bundles and we thought "one day these kids are going to love each other." And now it has happened and it was so fun to watch.


Judah - it's ok, boys will be boys. ;)


Can you tell who the brave one is?

Even Quinn was part of the pool jumpers and it was so cute to see them all jump together.



But the best part was seeing Devon learn from his cousins that jumping into the pool and being brave is easy and fun and by the end of the vacation, he was jumping with abandon!


Seriously, how handsome is this boy?


YESSSSSS! Brave boy.... finally!


Court - Love you sooo much and your two little cuties too! Can't wait to meet the one on the way!!

So, Happy Birthday to my wonderful Dad and I couldn't say it any better than Courtney. She wrote the most beautiful blog post that made me cry and was the perfect way to sum it up...

A Life Worth Celebrating

The torch has been passed and now Devon will be remembering how much fun he had at the pool with his cousins and years from now, he'll think back on these days as being the happiest memories of his life.

P.S. No one in the world could possibly be happier at this moment than Guillermo... about to take his first bite of the world's biggest burrito!!!


"Man vs. Food! Man vs. Food!" - Seriously, the restaurant started chanting. :)

One thousand and one reasons to love him...

Before I had Devon, I didn't know how much love my heart could hold. The moment I saw my precious baby and his beautiful eyes and long eyelashes, I was smitten. There are a thousand and one reasons why I love him, but here are just a few...

He's such a good soul.



He is so kind hearted and caring towards Dean. If we make a joke, like "should we put Dean out with the trash?" he immediately gets upset and says "No! I want Dean to be with me!" When he sees the way I act towards Dean, he copies me and tries to teach him and care for him in the same way. Lately, he's been teaching Dean lots of words and helping him whenever we walk up the steep hills in our neighborhood.



He is so responsible and mature. I know he can help me follow a recipe (and he'll even remind me if I miss a step that we watched on Barefoot Contessa). He always keeps an eye on Dean for me and will warn me before disaster strikes. He can organize his own playroom and can remember who bought him every single toy and book in the entire house.



He's completely adorable and melts my heart with his beautiful smile and sweet disposition. He made me love him so much that I just had to have one more...


Do I have another heartbreaker here, or what?

Devon is loyal to his best friend to the end...Baby! Baby has been everywhere with us, from London to Sri-Lanka and he has to be with him for every nap and every night since he has been old enough to ask for him. And now Baby has a baby too... baby Panda! :)



He's so smart that he just blows me away. Sometimes I don't even know how he knows the things that he knows. Really. He can't read yet, so how can he possibly know 200 dinosaur species? Just look at his drawing - he told me what everything was and I had to notate it for him. This is what I came home to one day and he said "Mama, I wrote my first word with no help..." And the word was:

Eudimorphodon

Seriously. I'm not even kidding. He's almost 5 and his first written word without me hovering over him wasn't car or cat, it was Eudimorphodon. Can you spot it?



I feel like I could go on and on, but out of all the thousand and one reasons why I love him, the newest reason is because...

He can secretly be a little naughty.

After months of not hearing a peep out of his room during nap time, many days he would say "I didn't sleep at all... I was reading my books" (and by "reading," he means looking at pictures of dinosaurs). Well, one day we pulled back the curtain and found that he had secretly, Shawshank Redemption style, piece by piece... broken his vinyl blinds in a perfect "window" to let in the light so he could read in his dark room.



He's my little angel though and I love him more than all stars in the sky and fish in the sea and dinosaurs that ever lived!

Shining Star

Well, it's been on my mind. You need to see this kid! My little Dean has gotten so cute and loving. He's been really into kissing lately and one day he gave me one kiss after another for about 2 minutes! But, at the same time... I have never met a kid that requires second by second supervision. If you turn your head for even a second, you are most likely to find him on top of the couch, on top of the coffee table, falling down the stairs, holding a knife in his hand, removing any and all baby safety latches, and doing anything else remotely dangerous. I had to put together a little video of his greatest hits...

Here's my little shining star!

Mr. Brutus... you're the answer to our prayers!

We had a pet turtle once.

His name was Mr. Brutus and he wandered into our lives about two years ago when we saw him in the middle of our street. Firoze built him a little house in our yard and we stocked it with all kinds of turtle treats, like organic lettuce. Devon loved him and held him and visited him all day long.

Well, it lasted about 2 days and Mr. Brutus scaled the cement block walls like Spider Man and he "flew the coop." It was a sad, sad day that we went to visit Mr. Brutus and his little turtle home was empty.

That was almost 2 years ago now and every day since, Devon has prayed for Mr. Brutus and asked God to take care of his turtle. When people come to visit and we say grace before a meal, the prayer always ends with Devon saying "and don't forget to tell God about Mr. Brutus!" Pretty much everyone that has eaten with us has had to pray for Mr. Brutus, whether they even knew anything about that turtle or not.

Well, last week Devon's prayers were answered and Mr. Brutus showed up on our sidewalk and this little boy was literally jumping up and down screaming with happiness (and this kid is not a screamer!).

So, instead of doing all the things I was supposed to be doing to get ready for work (things like brushing my hair and putting on matching clothes), instead I spent the entire morning outside watching a turtle. And it was good.



Obviously Mr. Brutus has been all over Atlanta for the past two years, so he just wanted to take it easy and rest a while in our yard.



And Devon was so happy to crouch next to his friend, not moving and not talking for 45 minutes.



At first Dean was happy to sit and eat dirt and leaves while I took lots of pictures of Devon and Mr. Brutus, until Devon pointed out his cool turtle and suddenly all Dean wanted to do was EAT Mr. Brutus! I didn't take pictures of this because I was trying to juggle my expensive camera, while chasing a toddler and trying not to step on Mr. Brutus!



This was a morning full of JOY all around. God answers prayers people! It was worth showing up to work without brushing my hair. :)

Sidenote...

Earlier this week I gave Devon and Dean haircuts. I cut all Dean's curls off. His beautiful curls were turning into a little bit of a Carrot-Top-fro in this sweltering heat. So, I chopped them off and suddenly, he looked so grown up...





My baby... where did you go? Tear...

Dinner Challenge

Last week I gave myself a challenge...

To make a delicious, fresh, homecooked meal 5 nights in a row.

Ok, here's the thing... I can't do everything 100% of the time. It's easy to read a blog and think "who does she think she is?" and giving your best Martha-Stewart-isn't-the-cat's-pajamas smirk. When I cook, I'm usually a little stressed because there are literally 10 things going on in the house at the same time as dinner preparation. I don't have a cute apron on and my kitchen looks like this:



So before you read about all this amazing food and you get mad at me, let me just be super clear... I can't do it all.

Some weeks I am the perfect mother, whipping up organic pureed baby food. Other weeks, Dean is eating Gerber.

Some weeks, the creativity is flowing and I'm making an invitation to a party, or dreaming up ideas to decorate the house, or I'm taking lots of pictures of the boys. Other weeks, I'm just barely functioning and trying to get from one chore to the next and the list seems to double every time I cross another thing off.

Some weeks, I'm making the world's best paper aquarium with Devon. We are reading 10 books a day and I'm teaching him dinosaur species from morning til' night. And then other weeks, I'm asking him to "please read quietly" and telling him "mama's busy and I can't tell you about that dinosaur right now." And those weeks I see the little bit of dissappointment in his eyes.

Sometimes it all just seems overwhelming and I have to pick one thing to be really good at. Can anyone really do it all? Hmmm... I think you always have to sacrifice one thing to do another well. Motherhood is trying to balance your efforts and to try and juggle those balls and keep everyone happy.

So, back to my dinner challenge. After eating way too much takeout, I tried to make it a game and to see if I could do all the grocery shopping on one day and to spend less than $100 to feed us for 5 nights. Well, my total came to $74 (and that was including two gallons of milk, breakfast food, 5 days of work lunches, baby food and kids snacks too!) and here is what I made...

Day 1

Breaded Tilapia Tenders with homeade lemon dill tartar sauce (easy sauce: mayo, lemon zest, lemon juice, minced dill pickles, garlic, salt & pepper). On the side, rice pilaf and summer salad (greens, feta cheese, tomato, peppers, onion, and black olives).

Day 2

Chicken Legs, Cuban Style (marinated in Mojo, broiled until Crispy). On the side, saffron rice. Somebody ate my grilled flatbread that was supposed to be in the picture... Oops, maybe it was me!

Day 3

Barefoot Contessa's Raw Tomato Sauce over Angel Hair Pasta. The tomatoes are to-die-for! You marinate them for hours in olive oil, red wine vinegar, sliced garlic, basil, and lots of salt and pepper. Then you toss them with hot buttered pasta and a full cup of freshly grated Parmesan. I added the grilled shrimp!

Please, let's take another look at those tomatoes!


Day 4

I cheated. I fell off the wagon. I called home about an hour before leaving work and Firoze said "do you want me to get dinner?" I didn't even pause. I said "pizza sounds so good." My fav, fav, fav pizza is the very thin woodfired pizza from Shorty's. This one was topped with chicken and served with at least 3 cups of arugula salad. Have I told anyone lately that I am addicted to arugula?

Day 5

Tuscan style navy beans, simmered for hours with fresh rosemary, sage and thyme. Also in the pot... sausage, spinach, onions, garlic, celery, peppers, tomatoes! Seriously yummy! Even better with good wine! For a brief moment, we were fireside in Tuscany, sipping our wine and sopping up the warm garlicky juices with this...


Good bread! Thank God for garlic bread. Mmmmmmmmmmm...

So, my lesson was just to do the best I can. It's possible to cook delicious food for my family, even if I have to attempt to chop vegetables with Dean on my hip, while simultaneously listing dinosaur characteristics. And if I can't do it, it's ok... there's always takeout!

Parades + Pools = Perfect 4th!

We are in the middle of summer and it is HOT.

Sweaty, sticky, icky... HOT.

The only way to truly enjoy the weather is to wake up early and to head outside as soon as the sun comes up.



You can actually breathe outside at 8am because it's only 95 degrees!



In this picture, Devon and Dean look like little carbon copies...



This weekend, we celebrated family because my parents came to town! We had to beat this oppresive heat somehow, so we headed out for a relaxing afternoon at the Piedmont Park Pool.



Rebecca and Will joined in the summer fun!



The boys loved playing in the fountains...







While the boys were having fun out of the pool, Rebecca and Will were chillin' in the whirly-pool!







After spending two days swimming and eating our way around the city, it was time to put on our Red, White and Blue!



We met up with Debbie and Bob for the Dunwoody 4th of July Parade...


We look like a pretty comfy crew, don't we? :)





The parade was the perfect thing to put us in the Patriotic mood. Other than the fact that it was at least 110 degrees, it was family fun all around.

Even Dean got patriotic with his flag waving!



He was too cute for words! He held his flag and waved it and even clapped and waved at everyone in the parade.



And Devon was in awe of all the cars and fun things to look at in the parade.



Happy July 4th everyone!! We hope you did the all-American thing and ate some great food, watched a parade or fireworks, splashed in a pool, and waved your flag! We sure did!!

Happy July 4th and God Bless America!!