Jamie Waters

“There’s no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things
like a, shoebox of photographs
with sepiatone loving
Love is the answer,
at least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? and where do we go?
And how come its so hard?
It’s not always easy and
sometimes life can be deceiving
I’ll tell you one thing its always better when we’re together”
(jack johnson)

chris and i are celebrating our seventh anniversary today. i can’t believe it’s been seven years.
seven years of moving to new places, schools, new babies, lots of dates, inside jokes, lots of laughs, hundreds of books and movies, endless conversations, some heartache, but lots of making up, watching our children grow, watching US grow.
the best is yet to come.

off for her first summer-week away at her dad’s. you think i would be used to it by now— she’s been doing it for over 7 years now… but i’m not. up until the time she’s gone, i plan my events to include her. i try to enjoy her a little more than i usually do. i try and take the time to talk more, to connect more. because i need that bond with her. and sometimes, it’s not there. we butt heads. we argue. we don’t see eye to eye. and as she’s walking out the door, i am thinking, this will be good for us.. it’s what we need… a little break…(reality, sorry)… she gets to go to places like sea world, the wild animal park, ya know- places daddies like to take their little girls. (sorry, but it’s true).
and then i kick myself. hating that she will miss out on things that go on here. hating that she has to go in the first place. hating that she is not WITH me. 😦 and of course– looking back on all of my shortcomings with her. and so i promise… not to take a day for granted. to love her like she needs to be loved. to truly enjoy her. to do my best.

yesterday evening at 6:15 pm, all heck broke loose in the waters house. mom was cooking dinner. cam was bouncing off the walls. kira was running her food network tv show in the kitchen. and caleb was screaming bloody murder.

“i waaaaaaaant to eeeeeeeeat!!!!” (who does this kid think he is?!) “i waaaaaaaant daaaaaaaaadddy to sit next to meeeeeeeee!!!” (ok, if daddy were home, that could be done… but since he wasn’t that just made matters worse.) “myyyyyyy throooooooat huuuuuuuuurts!!!” you get the picture.

needless to say, dinner came… he ate a few bites… and he went to sleep. right there. gotta love when they do that. i finished my dinner in peace. clicked a few pictures. look at those toes.. yummy. 🙂 took him to bed. which is where he stayed until 6:30am the next morning. man, 12 hours of sleep. if only we could get a night’s sleep like that!

look what we found at the library!!! too bad it was 4 months too late!
storm trooper cupcakes!
death star pinata… you hit it with lightsabers!
padme powerbars!
lol- anyways, totally cute. so many cool ideas and really funny pictures. 🙂

there’s something about seeing my kids read that makes me proud. they read all year long, but at summer… when it’s their CHOICE, i am giddy. we go to the library lots. we check out books by the dozens. kira is into chapter books about animals and pre teen girl stuff. cam is into calvin and hobbes and the magic tree house series. and caleb is into curious george, little critter and franklin. good choices i must say. 🙂
we found out today that next march is the application period for kids to volunteer at the library. kira is so excited. i can just see her… her little orderly self… checking out the kids books, stacking them all just so, and being so very helpful. i remember volunteering at the Berkeley Library with my cousin, Amihan when i was about kira’s age. such fun.

the kids are done with another year of school. kira is onto the 5th grade, cam onto the 2nd, and caleb onto his last year of preschool. i decided to stop working after a year of trying it out, and stay at home a little bit longer… to try and savor this last year before all my children are in school 5 days a week… that’s a lot of alone time… the most i’ve had in about 10 years. 🙂 i’ll miss them.
we have quite an adventure planned this summer. chris and i will be going to australia for 2.5 weeks. without the kids. which is why we finally entered the blog world. a way for our kids and others to see what we’ve seen. to stay in touch. because it is oh so far away. and it will be the longest we’ve been apart.

Author: Jamie Waters

seven years

there she goes

so he sleeps

it is so on next year….

reading

and so the summer begins…