Cutie Pa-tutu-tie

Today's Magic Moment is brought to you by Aunt Tara

¡Muchas gracias!

This tutu is extra special because Tara made it from the leftover tulle from our wedding.

What a crafty little sis' I have--who knew?

(Next on my wish list--a scarf to keep me warm in Philly--

You can do it, T--Bring It!)

The One You've Been Waiting For

Back to the beach for a moment...As I mentioned in an earlier post, I took about 600 pictures on vacation.  I've looked through them all and picked a few of my favorites to post here.  I think they tell a bit of the story of our week.  It was an interesting vacation--a working vacation because we spent a lot of time on the tribute video for my parents' anniversary party.  Of course that was a lot of fun in itself and I can now cross "be in a music video" off my bucket list (and if I ever hear the song "Way Back Into Love" again, it will be too soon!)

Top Ten Photos From the Doyle--Kreitzer--Lauderdale OBX Vacation 2009

#10 Treasure Hunters

#9 All Heart

#8 Fun in the Sun

#7 Little Snack?

#6 Too Close For Cousins

#5  A Hole Lot of Fun

#4 Diving Diva

#3 Best Ride of the Day

#2 Bring It!

#1 A Fortunate Encounter

And a couple of runners-up:

Strong Men

Our Twins

Party Planning By The Sea

or "Whatcha doing Aunt Jes?"

"Here's our chance"

BFFs

Beading Beauties

Wuv...True Wuv (x3)

or Woulda' Been Better As A Pyramid

Memorable Moments:  Tara and Grace's awesome karaoke performance, Lawrence's pit and Alex's futile efforts to catch the flying sand,  Chris' latest proposal, Sophie and Matthew's triumphant swims across the pool, David's wet pj party and floating cake,  discussions of belt allergies, dancing in the pool, how many kids can you fit in a hot tub?, pool guy and bubble problem,  champagne in sangría?--not a great idea,  belting it out in a coffee shop full of strangers, watching Dexter for the first and last time (sorry T :), running out of all snacks in two days (how is that possible?), Brendan's courageous leap into the sinking muck, the kids working together to help with chores,  tri-family bedtime prayers and Ryan's "Hail Mary", very good food and even better company.  I can't wait till next year!

Are You Sure It Was My Cat?

Ever since we were first married, Chris has been bringing jokes to the dinner table.  Here's his latest:

One day, a man was driving on a long country road.  He was enjoying the pretty scenery outside his side window when suddenly he spotted a cat in the road.  But it was too late, the man ran right over that cat.

After a few minutes, the man's guilt got the better of him, and he turned the car around to search for the cat's owner.  He drove up to a farm house next to the spot where he hit the cat.  An old farmer's wife answered the door.  

"Hello, ma'am," he began.  "I'm sorry to tell you this, but I believe I just ran over your cat."

"Oh, no, that's terrible!" she replied.  "Wait a minute, what makes you so sure it was my cat?" she demanded.  "What does he look like?"

The man looked at the woman, then did this:

The woman shook her finger at the man.  "No you fool!  I mean what did he look like BEFORE you hit him!?"

The man looked at the woman for a moment, then did this:

It's Official!

A week or two before the anniversary party, Mom and Dad ordered a sign for the house.  My mom has been wanting to name the property ever since they moved in in 2002 but hadn't settled on anything.  In the meantime, I started referring to it as Camp Kreitzer on the blog partly for the alliteration and partly because it is just like a summer camp.  We don't have canoeing or horseback riding but there's a pool, a playground, a trampoline, a creek for wading, fields for softball and soccer tag, tractor rides, cooking classes with Grandma, campfires, cookouts and fireworks.  We've also been known to have family talent shows and field days.  One of my favorite jobs ever was Camp Counselor at CCC in Charlottesville, VA (home of the Dave Matthews Band) and Camp Kreitzer, with all of its opportunities to be a kid again gives me the same feeling.  

When we arrived in Woodstock in July, I told my mom they still had time to change the name if they didn't like it.  Next thing I knew, they had ordered the sign so I guess it's official.  

The day after the party, we had a christening ceremony and Mom and Dad poured champagne all over the sign.  Dad told us he hoped Camp Kreitzer would come to be associated with a lot of fun for us all.  We took a group picture in front of the sign wearing the matching shirts that sport our new family motto "Bring It" and doing the "Bring It" sign.  My hope is that the motto and the big X will inspire the kids to "bring it" in everything they do--most importantly in their faith and their families.  

In my long life, I have observed that things are about as special as we choose to make them and that includes family.  Rather than being the ones we take for granted, they should be the ones we "bring it" with the most--saying what we need to say, forgiving when we need to forgive and celebrating big when one of us has something to celebrate.  God gave us our families first.  We should give them our best.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Alex really knows how to "X it up"

Dave and Jes have been using the sign with their kids for the past few months.

Hopefully all the Kreitzer cousins will become very familiar with it.

The Doyles and the two Kreitzer families made a trip up Woodstock tower 

at dusk Sunday night after the sign christening.  In this photo, you can see 

the back of the shirts we had made for the party.

Here's the front.  Girls got pink, boys got blue.

Last photo till next year :(

Grandma's Ride

Jack and Barbara did a little shopping while we were gone...

Jiggity Jig

There are some things that I can only appreciate from an outside perspective.  For example, I don't think much about my bed on a regular basis but from 1200 miles away, it looks like the most comfortable thing in the world.  We were all sad to say goodbye to Camp Kreitzer on Monday morning and Sophie lobbied hard to stay behind with Grandma and Paka but as we crossed the border into Texas, we all cheered and counted the minutes until we pulled up in front of Casa Doyle.  Jack and Barbara have been warning us about the heat but it feels just right to me which goes to prove that we human beings are capable of adapting to just about anything!

 So yes, I'm glad to be home in Texas and at the same time, I'm already missing Camp Kreitzer and my "peeps".  It reminds me of something my brother David said a few years ago.  He was on a business trip and called mom and dad's to talk to Jes who was staying out there while we were visiting.  Before passing the phone to Jes, I said, "I think you have the wrong number Dave, this isn't your home".  Without missing a beat, he said, "home is where the Jes is".  That quote is in the top five most romantic things I've ever heard anyone say (surprising given that double-Es aren't known for their poetry) and how true it is.  For me too, home is where I find the people I love.  So I have several "homes" both near and far but of course Casa Doyle--wherever it is--will always be the one I come back to.

Happy Belated Birthday, Little Sis'!

Because of all the hoopla surrounding my parents' anniversary party on Saturday, I am a little late getting this post up.  One of the things that was obvious as our whole family came together to celebrate was that we were not only celebrating my parents' 40 years of marriage but the fruit of their marriage--our big and amazing family--which isn't perfect but is incredibly special. 

The next day, Sunday, was my little sister Jamie's twenty-sixth birthday and this post is for her.

Sisters are different flowers from the same garden.

Anonymous

Because Aunt Jamie is a favorite with our kids, I turned to them for some help with this post.  Here are our answers to the following "what ifs":

If Jamie were a flower, she would be:

Madeleine:  a pink tulip because it reminds me of spring

Sophie:  a blue flower because that's my favorite kind and she looks like one

Alice:  a rose

Chris:  a sunflower

Maggie G:  a daisy because it's pretty 

Mia:  Queen Anne's Lace because Mommy, me and Grandma Kreitzer like that flower

If Jamie were a movie, she would be:

Mia:  Snow Buddies because I like that movie

Madeleine:  The Princess Diaries 

Grace:  Wall E because it's funny

Chris:  Anastasia because of Anya

Alice:  The Smurfs because she'd make a perfect Smurfette

Sophie:  Happy Feet because she's happy

If Jamie were a song, she would be:

Gracie:  Brickhouse because it's my song and I like it

Mia:  Ain't No Mountain High Enough because it makes me think the voices are hers and Jonathan's

Chris:  Let Them Be Little because she loves the babies

Madeleine:  Don't Stop Believin' because she likes to have fun and is optimistic

Alice:  She because it reminds me of her

Sophie:  Who Let the Dogs Out because Jamie has a lot of dogs

If Jamie were a holiday, she would be: 

Maggie G:  Valentine's Day because I could send her a card

Chris:  Valentine's Day ("poor" Jonathan)

Mia:  Easter because one year Easter was on my birthday and that was special

Madeleine:  Christmas because she's always baking cookies and giving presents to everyone and she has a really good Christmas spirit

Alice:  Christmas because I would make sure she joined me and David and Neil for one of our middle of the night junk-food-eating, present-peeking parties

Sophie:  winter because that's my favorite holiday

If Jamie weren't a full-time mommy to Anya, she would make a great:

Alice: chef

Mia:  dog trainer

Madeleine;  interior designer

Chris:  beer wench at a golf course 

Grace:  cleaning the dishes?

Sophie:  someone who can play with me

I love Aunt Jamie because:

Grace:  she always lets me pet Roo Bug and Pumpkin

Madeleine:  she's generous, fun to talk to, has an awesome daughter and bakes endless amounts of Christmas cookies

Mia:  she always calls me "Mia Muffin" and she loves me

Chris:  for her seven layer dip

Sophie:  she flips me over

Alice:  for lots of reasons--she's thoughtful, kind to the kids, funny, has a great laugh, is a good sport (the 5K walk right in front of the police car comes to mind)--mostly though, I love her just because she's my little sister.  I think that's reason enough.

So, Happy Belated Birthday Jamie!  Lots of love from all the Doyles!