Megan and Edward

Earlier this year, Megan had a plant (or a tree or something with roots) growing in her window well.  I wanted to pull it up.  She wanted to save it.  I let her save it.

What I didn't know was she had named the plant Edward.  Because it watches her sleep.  (No, Megan.  That's not creepy at all... )  

A few days ago we were cleaning up outside and I happened to notice that Edward had grown quite tall, and was starting to outgrow the window well.  Leaves were growing out of the window well cover.  I told her it was time to pull her plant (which is when I found out the plant had a name and had been watching her sleep all summer).

So Edward died.

I killed Edward!

Megan, I only have one thing to add...  

The End.

This story will one day be known as Edward, the creepy stalker, or How to kill a summer fling.

(And for the record, neither Megan or I have read Twilight.)

Holy Cow!

We saw this idea online somewhere, so one day earlier this year when Joie and Gabby were fighting, we had them put on one of Tim's old shirts and read something together.

They were laughing so hard I don't think there was much reading going on, but at least we were all entertained (yes, we're that easily entertained), and the fighting went away (mostly).

Really, they're not horrible about fighting.  They mostly argue, which is annoying, but they also talk and share secrets (and sometimes share each other's secrets with the rest of us, which is also fun).  They also hang out together with friends around the neighborhood, and Joie actually only ditched Gabby once...  Oh, and they share a room, which can also lead to fighting, but also to a lot of secret sharing and talking, so it seems to be working out for everyone.

So yesterday they were arguing.  I'm not sure what the argument was, but you know when arguments get to that point of arguing for the sake of arguing?  They were there, and this was the real conversation at that point:

Joie:  Holy cow, Gabby!
Gabby:  Hey, I'm the only one who can say, "holy cow" because I'm from India.
Joie:  I was saying "holy cow" a long time before you even knew there were holy cows in India.
Gabby:  So?  It's my word, and you can't say it.
Joie:  You can't tell me what to say...

And so on.

Yes.  That was a real conversation.  Apparently, "holy cow" is now Gabby's word.  I'm predicting this story will one day be known as:  The private licensing of the phrase, "holy cow."  It may also one day be known by Joie and Gabby as, "Did we really say that?"

Random Acts of Kindness...Has It Really Been Six Years?

It's that time of year again...  A time of year that can be really difficult, even after six years.  But through the increasing participation of friends, family, and complete strangers in what has become known as Random Acts of Kindness Day, the feeling of warmth and generosity that surrounds us as we see August 18th approaching is so different than the feeling of empty sadness that used to fill our hearts on that day.

Of course we still miss Joie's family, and always will, but the loss is swallowed up in the feeling of uniting with thousands of people to celebrate kindness in memory of Ruth, Nick, and Audrey, and to honor all those who were so kind in reaching out to us during that difficult time.

To join us in the Sixth Annual Random Acts of Kindness Day, go here, and select "yes" or "going" to confirm, then help us spread the word by sharing the invite with your friends.  Spread the word!  The event was created on facebook as public, so anyone can join.  Joie's goal is 3,000 participants this year.

Also feel free to share Joie's video.

And like us on our Random Acts of Kindness facebook page to read and share experiences of that day.

You can also visit the Random Acts of Kindness page on this blog to read more about the evolution of this day.

And no mention of Random Acts of Kindness Day would be complete without reference to the original random act of kindness, when complete strangers gave of themselves to protect and rescue Joie from the devastation of the accident she was in.

(Note:  This is a new blog because I needed some inspiration to keep recording fun family moments.  Several of the links in this post link back to our original family blog.)

Mother-Son Gym Date?

This is a real conversation that took place a few nights ago:

Nate:  Can I go to the gym?

Me:  Sure.  Can I go with you?  (I was all ready to go anyway, and had been trying to convince someone to go with me.)

Nate said nothing.  He didn't have to.  The complete silence and traumatized look of horror on his face said it all.

Me:  But you could show me how to do weights.  (What 17 year old son wouldn't want to be in public with their mother demonstrating weight lifting, right?)

Nate, after another moment of stunned silence:  Uh...  I think I just want to go to the gym.

Me:  Ok.  I'll go with you, but I won't hang out with  you.  I won't even say anything to you.

Nate was back to silence again.

Me:  I'll go with you and wait in the car for 5 minutes before I go in.

Nate:  Uh...  I just want to go by myself.

Me:  So can I go in a separate car?

Nate was moving closer to the door, hoping just to escape.

Me:  So I can't even go to the gym?  (Wait...  Was I asking my son if I had permission to go to the gym?  Hadn't this conversation started out the other way around?)

I ended up going to a beautiful walking trail instead.  I guess Nate and I have different ideas of mother-son bonding time.  This story will one day be known as:  Lessons in teen mother-son bonding 101.

Mom, the iPod Theif

I'm confessing that it was me who took Gabby's iPod.  (But she already knows that.)

I drove into the driveway a few days ago to find Gabby's iPod sitting on top of Nate's car (not really Nate's car, but the car Nate drives).  Gabby was inside the house.  No one was looking...

In a moment of brazen thievery, I slipped her iPod into my purse.

And forgot it was there.

Until about five minutes later when Gabby came inside asking for her iPod.  "Where did you last leave it?"  I asked in complete mock innocence.  The thief in me was now a liar.  (Really, I wanted her to figure out that driveways on top of a car aren't great places to leave iPods but I hadn't really thought my plan through out or figured out what I was going to do next, or how I'd give it back to her, so I was stalling...  And now I'm justifying.)

I left for work a few minutes later.  As I left, I heard her asking the other kids if they had seen anyone walking past our house.  I felt a little knot in my stomach, knowing Gabby would probably be questioning all the neighbors who had walked past our house that afternoon.

But she didn't.  Instead she turned to the "find my iPod" option on her iTunes account.

It worked.

Sort of.

Several hours later when I arrived at home, Gabby met me in the driveway to tell me she still hadn't found her iPod.  I smiled.  She suspected...

But being the lying thief I am, I tried to maintain my innocence for a few seconds longer.  About then, her iPod found it's wireless network and started beeping (that high pitched, echo-y beep that only a lost iPod can give).

Busted.

But Nate still hasn't figured out that I stole a CD from his car, even though he knows I stole one he ordered in the mail.  Actually, Jeran stole the one from Nate's car, but I asked him to do it.  You can call it thievery if you want.  I call it screening content.

And while I'm at it, I'll also confess to stealing clothes from the laundry room when I change the laundry, especially if the clothing items in question are old, worn out, too small, or ugly.  Trust me kids, it's for your own good.  And don't worry.  The clothes are now in a special clothes heaven called the donation bin where they will live happily ever after on the back of another child.  This story will one day be known as:  Our mom, the kleptomaniac.  It also may one day be known as:  Why all the Jarman kids need therapy.

Note To Self About Grocery Shopping

Note To Self:  Avoid taking all the neighborhood teenagers grocery shopping with you.  Even if they want to tag along.  Even if they're super excited and you want to say no, but just can't because of the poor puppy dog look in their eyes...

The story:  We have a summer girl gang in our neighborhood.  Our yard crosses the street into another yard, which has a gate that opens up into another yard...all with teen and pre-teen girls.  A few other girls live around the corner and a few more around another corner, and a few more around another corner and down a few streets...  You get the picture.  It's actually pretty fun, but if teen girls tell you they don't like to eat, don't believe them.

Today, part of the gang was here at our house when I was going grocery shopping.  When they wanted to tag along, I could hear myself saying yes, but wanted to scream, "Nooooooooo!"  There was a marker fight in the car while they were waiting for me to leave...  I was nervous.  I remembered the days of shopping with toddlers and wondered what I'd gotten myself into.

It actually wasn't horrible.  I quickly figured out that (unlike shopping with toddlers) you can play a live version of Where's Waldo when you're shopping with teens.  They found me every time they wanted to put something in the cart.  At one point (when I was hiding on the canned foods aisle) there was a screaming toddler somewhere in the store, and right as I was thinking I was glad I really wasn't with toddlers that day, a man walked past me with his own cart and jokingly commented he was glad it wasn't his child.  I laughed and said, "It's not mine either."  Then I added,  "But the gang of teenagers running around the store is mine, and I'm hiding from them right now."   He laughed, and I went back to my game of Where's Waldo.

The catch was this:  My girls quickly figured out that whatever mom usually says no to in the grocery store can make it into the cart when friends are in the picture.  What can I say?  After all these years I still cave to peer pressure.

You're probably thinking it couldn't be that bad, but take a look again at the picture at the top of this post.  Add pizza to that, and it would be the food consumption of the neighborhood gang this afternoon.  This story will one day be known as: that day when we played Where's Waldo with mom in the grocery store and won so we got to take home all the junk food in the store...the end.