Papoe

If I could taste Fall it would taste like football

Fall really is the most wonderful time of the year. I’ve always been a fan of summer—with the sun streaking through my hair and the sand writhing between my toes—but as I grow older I have to put on sun-BLOCK and sand is just sandy. There’s a feeling in fall that can’t be matched. James Rohl calls it the new New Year. A time when we can wear long sleeved shirts and sip pumpkin spice latte’s. Football begins, which right now is preceded by Jocelyn learning the Redskins fight song, and baseball ends (we’ve almost taught her Take Me Out to the Ballgame), and we can sit together and root and cheer, free from whatever stress is billowing outside of our living room.

We celebrate anniversaries in the fall, and birthdays, and this year perhaps an almost-birthday (Aja was supposed to be born in late-November, but she had other plans). It’s a few months of love and happiness all rolled into a pumpkin pie. This year we look forward to Jocelyn expanding her vocabulary, Aja getting closer to taking her first steps, and the two of them playing the cat and mouse game that is Sisters. Fall reminds us that we have plans. Since getting married almost three years ago, almost nothing has gone according to plan. This year, I'm sure, will be no different.

What does Fall mean to you?

You have survived this long, so please stop putting small objects in your mouth because I hate to vacuum.

Perhaps teething has caused confusion in Aja’s mind because her new fascination is trying to lick the linoleum floor. Pain will sometimes do that to you. Right now, as I’m typing, she’s trying to get at her sister in the booster seat. Jocelyn finds the whole thing funny and is dripping applesauce from her spoon onto Aja’s face.

It’s a good thing that kids are washable.

I had an urge this morning to write my girls another letter, but then I really only have three things to say.

1. Nights like last Thursday, where both girls woke up in the middle of the night (Aja twice), made Khary and I agree that we are done having children.

2. Aja turning one made Khary and I agree that we’re not sure if we’re done having children.

3. The fact that Jocelyn is (happily) learning the Redskins’ fight song is proof of how vulnerable children are to the crazy in the world.

The most wonderful time of the year

Root Beer Float Day.

Aja got her first taste, and Jocelyn finished her whole cup. We came home with new A's toys and a sugar high that lasted until bedtime. We only have root beer floats once a year for a reason.

The A's won. It was a good day.

Celebration

The picture says it all: YES!

But there’s more to the story. First of all, I wanted to get married in Vegas. Khary said that wasn’t proper, so I agreed to go ahead with the big broohaha whoohaha and do it in San Francisco. It is where we met, so it seemed fitting to the occasion. Since we were doing everything ourselves, and I was finding ways to make the ceremony personal, I suggested that we have Burning Love play during the recessional. Khary’s exact response: “Do you really want ‘hunka hunka burning love’ playing as we walk out?” To which I replied, YES!

I did not get my way, but I soon found a better option. We had already ruled out cliché wedding songs for the reception, but there was one that I had to have: Celebration by Kool & The Gang. They play this song when the A’s win, and we are huge fans. When I first suggested it Khary just laughed. Then he realized that I was serious. He said that he’d only agree to it if I yelled “A’s Win!” when the song started playing.

And so the stage was set. Seconds after we kissed for the first time as man and wife, the music started and  I lifted my arms in the air and yelled, “A’s Win!” No one actually heard me because people were already hootin’ and hollerin’ and we didn’t have a microphone. But we knew, and we laughed.

For some added nostalgia, here it is:

This is the last in the Five for Ten series by Momalom. The topic is YES!

A perfect day for a perfect game

I woke up this morning to two very happy babies and an empty pot of coffee. Okay, so that came later. While sipping my coffee, I was handed a bag with my Mother's Day presents. The best gift? Could it be the smiling faces of my girls? Nope (although there faces are still darling). It was the new A's jersey that says Mama Brown on the back. Khary thinks he's really funny because he had the number 35 put on. I remind him often, as I did in our wedding vows, that I may be older (six whole months) but that means I'm also wiser.

The downside to the day was that Nana had to cancel her visit due to a migraine. So we tossed around ideas of what to do with our day, only to look outside and see that it was raining. Then it stopped, and for a moment I thought we should go to the A's game. Damn me for changing my mind! Hours later as we lounged on the couch we realized that the game on tv was getting kind of exciting. Even Jocelyn had to stop her whining over a toy that I took from her to see what the fuss was about. And then we watched perfection.

The best part of the perfectly pitched game was after the game, when Dallas Braden found his grandmother, buried his face in her shoulder, and cried. She raised him after his mother passed away, and he still lives with her. That's a perfect Mother's Day gift.