Last weekend was a busy one: fireworks on Friday night; Karate Kid with Jaiden and Jaylen Saturday afternoon, dinner and Eclipse with friends Saturday evening, a UFC fight after the movie; church, a trip to the zoo (photos forthcoming) and a BBQ on Sunday; and cleaning and swimming on Monday.

I really hated it when Tuesday showed up and I had to return to work. I wasn’t ready.

This weekend we’re going to try to work in another trip the library and Darin has a couple of softball games. I think this will likely be a low-key weekend because my dad’s having back surgery in a few hours and my mom’s going on travel in a few days, so my brother and I will have to take turns checking on Dad.

Then, the following week I have taken a couple of vacation days and we’re planning on going to a cabin in Paris, Tenn. (I think?) too. The next weekend we’ll be gearing up for school to begin (Aug. 5). Such a bummer. Here we are, just trying to enjoy ourselves, and school’s almost back in session. Sigh.

I (big puffy) heart interviews with children and thus I completely loved the Father’s Day gifts the children brought home from school last week.

The answers are sweet and cute and hilarious! One of those “I should have thought of that” things! Loved it so much I had Emma do one, too. Here are their answers:

Jaiden

My daddy is 27 years old.

He weighs 10 lbs. and is 20 feet tall.

His hair is brown and his eyes are green.

My dad loves to relax by the chair and he likes to wear his softball shirt.

He loves to cook sausage, eggs and hamburgers.

His favorite household chore is to fold laundry.

His favorite TV show is baseball and his favorite song is “Superman.”

Daddy always tells me to clean up my room.

It makes him happy when I clean up my room.

When my dad shops, he loves to get drinks.

If he could go on a trip, he would go to Boston.

I really love it when my dad plays with me outside.

—

Jaylen

My daddy is 27 years old.

He weighs 13 lbs. and is 12 feet tall.

His hair is brown and his eyes are green.

My dad loves to relax by the chair and he likes to wear shorts.

He loves to cook sandwiches and ramen noodles.

His favorite household chore is to clean the floor.

His favorite TV show is baseball and his favorite song is “Howl at the Moon.”

Daddy always tells me I love you.

It makes him happy when I give him something.

When my dad shops, he loves to get candy.

If he could go on a trip, he would go to Texas.

I really love it when my dad lets me sit up front.

—

Emma

My daddy is 6 years old.

He weighs 6 lbs. and is 9 feet tall.

His hair is brown and his eyes are blue.

My dad loves to relax by sitting on the chair and he likes to wear his blue shirt and pink pants.

He loves to cook macaroni and cheese.

His favorite household chore is to do homework.

His favorite TV show is carnival and his favorite song is Michael Jackson.

Daddy always tells me a story.

It makes him happy when I clean my room.

When my dad shops, he loves to get apples.

If he could go on a trip, he would go see Miranda Cosgrove.

I really love it when my dad loves me.

—

Jenna

My daddy is 1 year old.

He weighs 12 lbs. and is 20 feet tall.

His hair is brown and his eyes are black.

My dad loves to relax by crying and he likes to wear shorts, socks and a shirt.

He loves to cook rolls and potato soup.

His favorite household chore is to clean up his room.

His favorite TV show is basketball, football and baseball and his favorite song is “Ba Ba Black Sheep.”

Daddy always tells me I am good.

It makes him happy when we are being good.

When my dad shops, he loves to get some food.

If he could go on a trip, he would go on a school bus.

I really love it when my dad hugs.

–

And just, you know, for the record, Darin just turned 29 on Friday (not six!). He’s about 195 lbs. and is 6’2″ tall; his hair is light brown and his eyes are blue. When he actually sits down and stays out of the poison ivy, he likes to relax by lying in bed and watching some kind of sport, any kind of sport. Wait, did I mention sports? He loves to cook anything easy – ramen noodles, sandwiches, soups and, yes, Sister Schubert rolls – and especially sausage and eggs for breakfast. I think his favorite household chore is mowing the grass, but he often blurs the stereotypical gender roles by folding laundry and cooking and cleaning the floors and picking up where I slack off (but I’m getting better at this).

The “relaxing by crying” comment made me laugh out loud! How funny! Also, he didn’t know who Miranda Cosgrove was; Emma’s obsessed with iCarly.

The kids had the store answers nailed. Quite often he drops by a gas station for food, candy and drinks. I nag him about this (he’s a diabetic and doesn’t make the best choices; I nag him because I want to keep him around for as long as possible). lol.

His favorite show is Ghost Hunters, anything that has to do with any kind of sport (except ice skating) and any kind of show like Cops or stupid criminals, etc. Jaiden was pretty close with guessing “Superman” as one of his favorite songs; he also loves Ozzy and various other alternative and classic rock things. He often goes on trips for business and has been to Boston once and Texas twice since October; he loves those places and those guesses were pretty close. He also loves national parks, California and one day hopes to go camping in the Alaskan nothingness, a la Into the Wild.

They were all correct with the “Daddy always tells me” and “It makes him happy when …” answers. Because Darin’s a great dad. And we love him for it! This interview was SUCH a great idea. I’m totally keeping these. We can display them when they get married or something. lol.

Jaylen was so cute – he colored Darin a Father’s Day picture at school and he FRAMED IT when he got home. lol! I love that precious boy.

We spent Father’s Day at my parents’ house with my brother and his family, Dara and Isaac and my in-laws. We ate a ton of food, swam for most of the afternoon and brought home leftovers and sunburns.

Life is good.

Here’s another cross-post from our food blog, an entry from my Cooking with Kids series, which I like to call “I got 99 problems, but a meal ain’t one.”

Like I said, I’m here all week, folks …

When I was a kid, I hated the nights my parents said we were having sandwiches for dinner. It just sounds boring, doesn’t it?

Of course, now that I’m an adult, I actually look forward to sandwiches sometimes; they’re quick and easy and very versatile.

To keep things entertaining, on sandwich nights I try to engage the kids by bringing in an interesting element or having them help with dinner.

Giving them choices

When I was a younger mother, I belonged to a now-defunct message board for mothers. I learned so much about motherhood from that site, but one lesson I use constantly is to pick your battles with your children. They want to have power and control over themselves, just like adults; an easy way to do that is to give them choices and let them make their own decisions (or let them think they are – parenting is just trickery with a more sophisticated name).

To be clear, just in case this is your first visit, I inherited the part of my father that dislikes being a short-order cook. Just like him, I don’t do it. I decide what we’re having for dinner and if you don’t like it, you either shut your mouth and eat or you go hungry.

My pickiest eater, Emma, was taught by her former teacher, “You get what you get and you don’t fuss a bit.” (Ironic considering she usually does the fussing. lol.)

My dad? Well, he’s famous for saying, “This ain’t Mickey D’s!” That will probably go on his headstone.

I usually always stick to this mentality, but sometimes I’ll give them choices. Sandwich nights are always DIY Dinners, meaning you choose what you eat, so they’re already hooked.

Can I take your order?

Last week we had a Lunchbox Dinner – sandwiches, Cheez-Its, string cheese and juice boxes served in their lunchboxes. It went over very, very well!

This week I decided to bring back an idea we tried a few months ago: child labor. I mean, role-playing.

Jaiden, who turns eight in 10 days, enjoys playing waitress and has pretended to run a little restaurant serving snacks several times. Tonight she donned one of my aprons, read the rest of the family our menu (with sandwich options, sides and drinks) and took their orders. Once the cook, which would be moi, finished making the plates, Jaiden also served them.

Not only does this make dinner fun and more enjoyable, but it gives children a sense of pride, self-confidence and makes them feel important when they help.

“It’s fun asking everybody’s order … what they want to drink, what they want on their sandwich, it’s just really fun to be a waitress,” Jaiden said. “Bringing the food out is fun and carrying it up high is fun.”

The other children were jealous and are eagerly awaiting their turn, but having their big sister wait on them was still fun.

“It’s fun because I can choose whatever I want that’s on the list,” Jaylen, 6.5, said. He’s often particular about what he eats and is the one who, of all four children, most enjoys having choices. He also enjoys having his sister do things for him once in awhile. “I didn’t have to do everything, I don’t have to get my napkins or my own drink.”

Jenna, who’s four, apparently sees a more compassionate side of her older sister at times like these.

“She’s giving us a lot of good food and good drinks and let us do good things, like coming in her room.” (Because, honestly, that’s what this is all about: going in Jaiden’s room without a fight.)

Waiting on her brother, sister and father also gives Jaiden lessons in paying attention to details and proverbial foot-washing (serving others).

“When you’re doing it, you have to know the right food and give them the right food,” she said. “And you have to do what they ask, like if they want a refill, give them a refill.”

Sounds pretty simple, right?

“Meesaiko, when you wake us up tomorrow, you have to say, ‘Rise and shine, get up!’ …”

The command sounds simple enough, rise and shine. As I dig out clothes for tomorrow morning, I consider saying it in the morning to humor my tiny stepdaughter.

Emma is climbing into bed, plopping down, pulling her covers up to her chest and delicately smoothing the blanket. Jenna is still sitting in the middle of bedroom floor, putting her underwear on and fumbling with a fleece nightgown.

“Emma, you can be Rise and I can be Shine, okay?” Jenna says, matter-of-factly. Then she mimicks the way she thinks I’ll say it, ‘Wake up, Rise and Shine!’, and giggles.

And I giggle too because, dude, how damn cute can you be?

+++

It’s Sunday morning and Darin and I are picking the children up from an overnight at my parents’ house. They have been swimming, using swimsuits that stay at their grandparents’ house so we don’t have to bring them over every time we come. Jenna is wearing a t-shirt.

“Mommy! You fah-gotta bwing my bay-ding suit!” she yells at me, as if I had any idea they were spending the night when we dropped them off 15 hours before (I didn’t). “I swimmed in my shirt!”

Since her birth she has embodied all that is meant by an exclamation point. She is fully of energy! She is bossy and commands your attention! And her eyes grow big with excitement at almost every sentence! Sometimes, when she is upset or embarrassed, she is more like a semicolon and that ray of energy is broken or diverted, but the exclamation point always returns. This day, she is two exclamation points.

Jenna and the others have gone inside to change their clothes; Jenna, however, has been swimming in her ‘pennies’ and they are wet.

“You didn’t bwing me no dwy pennies!”

Wow, excuse me. I didn’t know you would end up swimming in your underoos. My apologies.

My mom takes Jenna’s wet undies and heads towards the laundry room, they need a quick run through the dryer. Ever the boss, Jenna follows her and tells her what to do.

“Gwammy! Put dem in the dwyer, NOT IN THE WETTER!”

The wetter. You know, the opposite of the dryer.

+++

Though he has been in her life since birth, Emma has never fully warmed up to her Uncle Isaac. And it’s become a running joke in the family.

“Emma, give Isaac a hug,” we’ll say. And she run away and hide. Almost every single time.

Jenna, on the other hand, LOVES Isaac. They’re like night and day, those two. (Bada-bing! Thank you, I’ll be here all week!)

Since Dara and Isaac have moved, Emma has decided to thaw the ice princess routine. Dara even has photographic proof that Emma sat next to Isaac one day.

Tonight we all went to watch Darin’s softball game and I tried to prepare Emma beforehand.

“Is Isaac your BFF, Emma? Say yes!” Look at me, forging everlasting friendships. Ha.

“Okay! I’ll say it.”

So fast-forward about an hour. Isaac and Dara show up and I remember our little joke.

“Emma, who’s your best friend?” I asked with a laugh.

She turns around to look for Isaac, then hides when they make eye contact. This is not going as planned.

“Emma, who’s your BFF?”

She peeks out, points at Isaac and says, “THAT GUY!”

+++

We have a free summer membership to the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis, so Sunday we took our first trip. There were a lot of neat exhibits and the kids really enjoyed it. They asked a lot of questions and at one exhibit, Jaylen asked about this funny metal contraption.

“That’s a cowbell,” I say.

Yeah, you know where I’m going with this, right?

A few seconds go by, then I say it, even though I know they won’t get it. It pretty much just stumbled out of my mouth. I couldn’t help it.

“Do you have a fever, Jaylen?”

Puzzled, he looks at me and shakes his head. I continue looking at different items and notice Darin has now joined us. He’s feeling Jaylen’s forehead, but I thought he was just aggravating him.

“Echo, he feels fine,” Darin says. “He doesn’t have a fever. Why’d you ask that?”

Seriously?

“I’ve got a fever … MORE COWBELL! Get it?”

“You are so not funny.”

He always says that, but he always laughs when he does. So I don’t believe him.

+++

We’re sitting at the dinner table, talking and chewing as we usually do. I’m staring at Jenna, trying to determine what’s different about her hair before I realize it was the other four-year-old with self-imposed layers.

“DID YOU CUT YOUR HAIR, JENNA GRACE?!”

I know she saw the fire in my eyes. The cut wasn’t so bad, I’ve seen much worse, but she needed to know it was not okay.

She nodded her head in honesty, letting me know she did, in fact, cut her own hair. And with her brother’s scissors. I’ve already been through this twice with Jaiden (well, three if you count the fact that she cut Jaylen’s hair too) and once with Emma, this is pretty much old news and, besides, it looks like long layers. Not bad at all.

“WHY did you cut your hair, Jenna?” I expected an ‘I don’t know’ but Jenna … well, Jenna’s gonna give it to you straight.

“I wanted to look like Jaiden!”

Well okay then.

+++

“Mom, can you like, set your alarm for 5 o’clock and we get up, get dressed and leave by 6 o’clock?”

This girl cannot be serious, I think. Jaiden is like her father (and her stepfather, for that matter) and loves to sleep. If no one bothered her, she’d sleep half the day away.

“What? No way! Why would you want to get up that early?”

We usually get up between 6:40-6:50 a.m. each morning, then hurriedly begin our day. It’s just how we roll.

“I want to beat Landon to Ms. G–’s house tomorrow. He gets there at 6:30 and he’s always the first one!”

She must be trippin’ if she thinks I’m getting up that early so that they can beat another kid to school. It’s summer break, for Heaven’s sake!

+++

“Stick with me and I’ll teach ya baseball,” my husband tells me before bed tonight, just after he’d spent 10 minutes explaining a play to me. A hidden ball trick, perhaps?

Good luck with that.

I’m the girl who asks about the lines on the football field (What are they, lasers? Can the players see them?) every single season. I really think he’s wasting his time.

My mom says it’s time for an update, so here we go …

1. Sports are killing me – and I’m just a spectator. Well, kinda. Cheerleading has finally wrapped (whew!) and last week all four children started soccer. We have practices on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday (until games start in a couple of weeks).

At the last minute, Darin was asked to coach in the beginners league, the 3-4 age group, and so he and our friend coach Jenna and Emma’s team. At Saturday’s practice there were a few meltdowns and once one or two start crying, it’s pretty much a wave of tears! Ha ha.

Lucky me, I’m team mom of all three teams. Gulp.

Games start in a few weeks and it looks like we’ll be spending quite a bit of time on the field, thankfully it’s pretty close.

Darin is also playing sports – basketball, softball and soccer. All at the same time. Basketball will end in April, then the men’s softball league starts. I swear he’s keeping me busier than the kids do.

One of these days I hope my family cheers me on like I do for them. That would be awesome.

2. The weather is getting more awesome by the day. The temperatures have dipped here and there, but today it was 71 degrees and beautiful. This makes practices and games more bearable, especially for the children who aren’t practicing/playing because they get to play at the playground (yay!). And that never gets old, apparently.

My allergies haven’t bothered me yet. I’m surprised by this because usually by the end of February I am entirely too miserable. I’ve been advised that taking a teaspoon of local honey (that is, honey produced within 20-30 miles of your home) can help with seasonal and nasal allergies (do you say it in the bee’s voice from the commercial like I do? lol). I’ve tried it. I don’t know if it helps, but I have yet to take my usual Claritin, Mucinex or anything else. I don’t even have any allergy medicine, come to think of it.

3. Not being miserable makes being outside tolerable. And I like tolerable. Because I can do things like playing with my new 50mm lens (used in the flower photos). The above photo was taken after I shot my first wedding of the season – and my first wedding as a pro! That was awesome. I’ve shared some of those photos over on the photog blog.

4. Jaiden is now in the gifted program at school. She’s terribly excited about it and I’m really proud of and for her. Her IQ is 119 according to the testing conducted by the school. She will now attend a special class for two hours every week (one hour per day on Tuesday and Thursday). Last week I had a meeting with her teacher and the special education staff; it was great to hear the teacher say so many great things about Jaiden and give me a little glimpse of the person she is when she is not with me. I kept thinking, “Wow, that is such an awesome person and I gave birth to her!”

5. No DNA test required, these are my children. Maybe. On Sunday it rained and the kids couldn’t play outside, so I sent them upstairs to clean their rooms instead of watching yet another episode of “Big Time Rush” (a horrible show if you ask me). While they were busy, I wasn’t feeling so hot, so I took a nap on the couch. You already know where I’m going with this, don’t you?

They woke me up, telling me that they wanted me to watch their show. This is not unusual – they’re always making up shows. But I sent them upstairs to clean, not choreograph! (My parents and Darin get so frustrated with me because I procrastinate tasks like cleaning my room – I once read the dictionary instead!) These are definitely my children, I thought.

I patiently watched the show and I’m glad I did. Jaylen’s dancing is quite hilarious (especially when you fast forward it!) and Darin and I couldn’t believe how much Jaiden stayed on beat. lol. Lo and behold, when I tucked them in at bedtime, their rooms were clean. So maybe they aren’t my children afterall. And they didn’t get their singing and dancing skills from me, either. lol.

6. All the women who are independent/Throw your hands up at me. All of my girls are struggling with wanting more independence and I’ve been struggling with giving it to them. Jaiden wants to do her own hair and choose her own clothes (she’s not the best at either) and it’s huge for me to just let go and let her do it. HUGE!

I don’t like my kids to look like ragamuffins, so I usually help them chose their clothing and do their hair. I send them back to change if they don’t match or have holes in their clothes, etc. This is natural, right? I care what my children look like when they walk out of this house because they’re a reflection of me – and I want it to be a good, accurate reflection.

Letting go has had some positive results in just a few weeks – Jaiden’s hairstyling is improving and having her friend Emily spend the night and give her a ton of hand-me-downs has helped her make better choices (read that as Emily has encouraged her to match).

Now four, both Emma and Jenna have exerted an increasing need for their own independence. Jenna is more forceful about it than anyone else right now, though. Well, she’s more aggressive than the other three, period. She now wants to do everything on her own, from buckling her own seatbelt (she’s now in a booster seat) to making her own sandwiches or pouring her own juice. I don’t ‘let go’ as much with her as I do with Jaiden simply because a four-year-old has no business pouring juice. lol.

“Nooooo, Jaylen!!!!! I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF!!!!”

This is totally priming us for the teenage years. I think it’s going to be one decade of alcoholism for me.

7. I made a cake wreck that was actually quite tasty. It was our turn to host coffee hour at church this past weekend, so I made a strawberry cake. And used icing instead of frosting. Because it’s made with powdered sugar and butter, icing doesn’t typically hold its shape; it was a mess by the time we got to church. But! It tasted pretty good. The Jewish priest (yes!) that was visiting our church said he wanted to take me home and that I deserved extra blessings! Ha.

It was pretty easy to make, too. I say that even though I had three little ones helping me make it. Check out the recipe over at our food blog, daylicious.

8. Speaking of being daylicious, we’re taking over. Kinda. Last week, Dara accepted the position of head librarian of Munford’s library! I’m so excited for her! Around here, everyone’s related and now I am finally related to someone that a lot of people will know (the rest of my family is pretty low-key). Very cool, right?

Our poor library is still stuck in the dark ages – physical card catalog still in use and the library is not computerized at all. Dara hopes to come in and change that! And the library committee has confidence in her.

Dara Gonzales: Change we can believe in!

(We’ll wait while you finish barfing over that last statement, Dara.)

She finishes her masters in May and will start here in June. She and Isaac are, of course, relocating. It will be great to have them close, but I know they are really going to miss Texas. Beach, barbeque and, most importantly, their friends and family down there. Hell, I miss their friends; they rock.

9. I am rocking this Lent thing. I gave up chocolate. Wednesday (tomorrow) will make 35 days since I’ve had any chocolate whatsoever. No Thin Mints. No brownies. No sweet, heavenly bite-sized Milky Way Midnights. No Twix. And did I mention no Thin Mints? No chocolate ice cream. No chocolate milkshakes. Not one chocolate chip cookie.

It’s been a struggle, no doubt. But it’s getting easier. I just sigh, poke my lip out and continue on my merry way. I can’t cheat on Jesus, dude. He died for me, I can go without chocolate for a few weeks.

I think my dad is torturing me, though. He knows I gave up chocolate. He likes to bring me cakes at work (YES!); sometimes I come back and find he’s left one on my desk. (What can I say? I think he gets bored when my mom’s out of town.) Yesterday I came back after lunch and a horrible accident/breaking story to find the cake carrier sitting on my desk. Inside? A yellow cake! Covered in milk chocolate frosting. Sniff. Darin is enjoying it, though. (Dad makes great cakes.)

Next weekend, though, I will get some chocolate! The end is nigh, my friends. (PS – I’m pretty proud of myself for sticking to it and learning to resist temptation, which is what this is really about.)

I’ve also been fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, eating fish or vegetarian instead of red meat. I go for at least two meals without red meat, but I do sometimes give in and have beef. I’m sorry, Jesus. Please forgive me (and see the previous four paragraphs about my much bigger sacrifice and how GREAT! I’ve been doing at resisting temptation!).

10. Better than crack and totally legal. I recently tried the spinach and artichoke cream cheese and I am IN LOVE. It is delicious! I find excuses to eat toast or bagels. Mmm.

11. It’s just a number. I know I always freak out over turning 30 this year, but my sweet Grannie has quite a few decades on me and I have never heard her complain. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is her birthday!

The number would make you think she’s an old, old lady, but she’s not; she gets around better than some people 20-30 years younger than she. She’s probably older than some of her “old ladies” she took care of when we were kids, but you wouldn’t know it.

Anyway, we all love her like crazy and feel so blessed to have her in our lives!

Grannie, you’re the best grandmother ever! We hope you have a great birthday!

Last night I tucked my three-year-old Jenna in for the last time, kissed her little three-year-old lips for the last time and hugged her once more as a three-year-old.

And this morning, I met the four-year-old little girl. I’m eager to see what this year has in store for her, but I am not being honest if I don’t say how much I will miss three. Three is fun and exciting and unexpected. You don’t know what three has in store; it is worse than two, but also better than two. I am sorry to see it go.

I can’t describe in words what she means to me, what she’s brought to my life.

She is one of the most nurturing people in the world, one of the bossiest, but one of the best.

She adores this doll, one she picked out a year ago with Christmas money and named Jonas. She would bring "Joanie" everywhere if you’d let her; she most often makes Jonas have circle time and take a nap. lol.

For her birthday she said she didn’t want anymore babies because she already had a hundred of them. lol. And she didn’t get one baby doll at her party. I know the “baby” days will be over soon enough, which makes me sad, but I’m still grateful to have the opportunity to enjoy them, to enjoy her.

We love you, Gracie Giggles, and wish you the happiest of birthdays!

Sometimes you know a lifelong memory before it even happens.

A first date, a first dance, a first soccer game.

It’s a memory because it’s supposed to be. As a parent, it’s your job to file it away, tucked amongst the other milestones, to savor when your baby birds have left the nest and are growing chicks of their very own. That’s just the way it is, the way it’s supposed to be.

And sometimes, you don’t know a lifelong memory until you’re right in the middle of it, until you’re standing there being saturated in it. Saturdays are sometimes like this.

Before I had even crawled out of bed Saturday morning, I was greeted by a bouncy 6-year-old eager to share exciting news.

“Look, Mama,” he said through his beaming smile. “I have a wiggly tooth!”

He gave one of his bottom front teeth the obligatory wiggle, and he was right. It sure was wiggly. In fact, I would have placed a bet that it would fall out within the week. And I wasn’t ready.

I love this little boy as much as any mother loves her only son. In fact, maybe I love him more because he is better than I am. He is neater, more responsible than I am. His shoes are always put away, his room usually clean. He likes to save his money. Sometimes I wonder who his real mother is and if she’ll show up, but I will gladly raise him in her stead.

“Look at that,” I say, wondering how much longer I have until he joins the group of toothless children running around his school. I feign excitement, but I am not excited. He has such a pretty smile, I have often said to myself, and I will hate it when it is no longer.

For four years I wore braces and refused to wear my rubber bands. His father wore them for two years and so I believe my children are also destined for braces. I have always loved my son’s smile, have always admired the way his teeth chose to behave when they came in. I am sad because of the wiggly tooth and decide to savor the days until he loses it, to steal every glimpse of straight baby teeth I can get.

By late Saturday morning we are back in the gymnasium, watching 7-9-year-olds shoot hoops and 4-11-year-olds with bright pom poms cheer them on. It is the last game of her first season cheering and I am proud.

She is my daughter and thus naturally tires of activities once they’ve lost their appeal. We’ve been through years of dancing and soccer, with neither holding her interest through an entire season. I waited a year before signing her up for cheerleading because I wanted to make sure she really wanted it.

I am proud that she has found something she loves, especially because it has given her a better sense of self-esteem. Her coaches may not realize it, but every time they let her show the squad a cheer she’d made up, no matter how silly it was or how little rhythm it had, they gave her self-respect, pride and acceptance.

I remember being sad the day she was born because I could no longer protect her as much as I could while she was in my womb. Standing over her in the bassinet, hand on my empty belly, I realized there was no stopping life and reality. It was, and still is, terrifying.

Now in the second grade, she is learning more about life than I wish she had to. The good thing about cheerleading is that the girls on her squad have brought some of the good lessons back, the lessons of friendship, of community, of teamwork, of happiness.

Hands on her hips, a smile on her lips, she cheered loud and proud. The last game of her first season. She knew the season was the stuff memories are made of and she passed some of the passion along that day.

“Here, Jenna, you can use my pom poms if you want,” she said, passing the annoying gold poms to her baby sister.

She didn’t know it, but she’d just made her sister’s day. Or maybe she did, Jaiden is insightful.

Jenna turned to find me, then beamed a smile at me.

Jenna, you see, stands on the sidelines and cheers right along with the big girls. At 3, she was too young to cheer. But next season – in fact, on Wednesday (March 3) – she will be 4. And she desperately wants to cheer. For the rest of the game, Jenna sat next to another young cheerleader and together they muddle through the long list of cheers. The other little girl was sweet enough to help Jenna along and make sure she understood the cheers. She knew most of them, though, because little sisters always watch big sisters.

Handing over her poms wasn’t a big deal for Jaiden, but for Jenna, it meant the world.

She was ecstatic and happy and in love.

And so was I. I will never forget that moment.

Not to be outdone, my son had to go and lose his tooth. In a Hot Pocket of all things.

The tooth next to it is wiggly too, much to my chagrin.

Ah, memories. Life is meant to be saturated with them, especially the good ones.

* The tooth fairy accidentally woke him up while depositing his money and he quickly checked for coins under the pillow; she made a quick save by dropping it on the floor and pretending he must have knocked it off of his bed in his sleep.

PS – He says the tooth fairy lives in a castle made of teeth. With robots.