i think he likes me! Happy Savvyversary!

if you used to read My Savvy Boys, you know i've basically given up on blogging altogether. 

life has been busy around the Savvy house since august. 

mainly because i decided to give going back to school a whirl. 

and because ben started first grade, which comes with an hour of homework a night. 

and because of swimming. 

and basketball. 

and the boys' eternal need for nourishment, bath time, and some good old fashioned TLC. 

so, the extras get cut out, and the blog was one of those. 

but each year, i post on our anniversary. 

and here we are again. 

:)

this year i have a huge glop of gratitude aimed right at Bern. 

(i know. glop? odd word choice. at first i wrote "debt of gratitude." but that sounded so dramatic. really, i have a large and amorphous amount of gratitude that makes my heart feel like mush. clearly, a glop.) 

he has taken on quite a bit so that i can work on a PhD. 

let's be clear, he has always contributed in a meaningful way around the house.

as in, i sometimes call him from Kroger to ask where things are in the store. 

or what laundry is in what basket. 

but this year he has taken on the lion's share of running the Savvy-family machine. 

and it means the world to me. 
i wouldn't be able to do the things i need to do to be a successful student without help. 

several people have told me that he "owes" me this. 

back in 2010, he completed an MBA at Ohio State. 

and yes, i spent several years running the household machine. 

and getting attached to a few new television series. 

and, say, starting a blog out of boredom. 

but we had a baby and a 3-year-old. 

my biggest job beyond my. . . job. . . was to feed, bathe, and play with the boys until bed time. 

today, we have a dog. 

a young. terrier. dog. 

and two boys in multiple sports. 

and they have friends to hang out with. 

and SO MUCH MORE laundry. 
and they continue to get hungry. 
regularly. 

so, yes. 

it's his "turn." 

but it's different this time. 

there are more moving parts. 

and, for the record, he isn't doing it because he "owes" me. 

he's doing it because that's the kind of guy he is. 

as my mom always says, "he's a keeper." 

and that's why i feel lucky to have such a wonderful partner to celebrate 12 years with today. 

and many more in the future. 

the majority of which, we know, will not include one of us in school. 

THANK GOODNESS. 

this "phase" will pass. 

quickly. 

how do i know this? 

because we met 14 years ago. 

and we have now been married for 12 of those. 

when i think about all we have done, accomplished, laughed and loved each other through, it MUST have been a while. 

we have two (largely) functional smallish humans. 

but when it comes down to it, i remember late nights at the "graduate student pub" in Bowling Green having "i think this is getting serious" conversations.

and i remember learning how to be married professionals doing the same entry-level job together. 

literally. 

the same job. 
at the same university. 

in the same department. 

at one point managing two sides of the same residence hall. 

i also remember calling my mom and asking exactly how far a newborn could projectile vomit before we should be really concerned. 

i remember a lot of those firsts. 

and they seem like they were just around the corner. 

if i could just turn my head fast enough, they would be right there. 

and that's how i know. 

school will happen. 

it will be a challenge. 

and then, suddenly, it will be a memory. 

and we'll have another handful of years under our belts, but many, many more ahead. 

in the meantime, i'm grateful. 

because my mom is right. 

he's a keeper. 

Happy Anniversary, Sweet Boy!

Left: me. Right: Keeper. 

Left: Keeper. Right: Me. 

clearly, i'm grateful to these two nuggets as well. 

my Savvy Boys

our pup Rocky: lazy or brilliant?

i will present my case. 

you decide. . . . 

EXHIBIT A: 
here is Rocky. 
smack dab in the middle of the stairs. 
because that is the best place to stretch out. 
this is an especially great place to be if either Bernie or Krystyne is trying to transport laundry baskets. 
it's also a great place to chew on his favorite toy. 

EXHIBIT B:
sadly, sometimes that toy is a tricky stinker. 
it's hard to keep one's paws on it. 

EXHIBIT C:
what is a pup to do when they "lose" their favorite toy?
first, we must weep and sulk a bit. 

EXHIBIT D: 
but, eventually, we must pick up our chins. . . 
but. . . then what?
clearly, this is an unsolvable problem. 
as such, one must sit and wait for someone to walk by and give them back the irretrievable toy.   

so. 

i'm torn.

i can't quite decide if our sweet puppy is smart, lazy, or just kind of a punk. 

not in general.

but in regard to a particular matter. 

sidenote: 

i do, also, still live with two small humans. 

who have been generating some great stories and pictures that must be shared. 

but, incorporating grad school into our lives has been an adjustment. 

an adjustment that pushed blogging straight out the window. 

winter break is just around the corner. . . 

goodbye, warmth.

so. 

it's november 19th. 

and there is snow on the ground in ohio. 

seems like a great time for a post about our summer trip to california. 

mainly to remind myself that there was warmth. 

somewhere. 

at some point in time.

             last august, we wandered off to visit my family in california. 

my sister katie hopped over from kauai to join us.

the last time we went to the beach, anth refused to touch the sand. 

it was WAY too dirty.  

thankfully, we have moved on from that notion. 

the main motivation may have been the opportunity to bury his brother. 

but ben was thrilled with that, so all was good.

ben basically loved everything about the beach. 

especially the sand. 

all the sand. 

i tried to get a cute shot of all of my boys down by the water. 

and then ben did this. 

and then both of them did THIS. 

and then bern got in on the action so i just gave up and chose to embrace it. 

much better. 

until anth made this face. . . 

        

there we go. 

this is the only picture i have in which everyone is upright. 

you will notice anthony is not actually in the frame. 

we must choose our battles in life.

        
sometimes we win. 

katie introduced the boys to sand crabs. 

dear sunshine, 

i'll miss you. 

see you next year. 

heart, 

me.

if i ran a Parenting School

there are many, many things that i would have in the curriculum:
Manners 101
Kindness 102
Honesty 103
How To Keep All The Things Clean 104
Communicating with Tiny Humans 101
How to Take a Deep Breath 405
Learning to Live without Naps 743
you get the gist. . . 

i was reminded of one would-be-class earlier this week. 
Prepping Class Projects 101
i am not yet sure if this should be a single class, or an entire course. 
suffice it to say, this mom could at least benefit from a workshop on "Shoebox Decorating."
because either bern or i find ourselves doing this at least twice a year. 
and each time i am reminded that, though i can wrap a lovely gift for the holidays, there are nuances to shoeboxes that i just can't conquer. 

this week, we needed to prep a box for benny's class, and i was excited to see that we actually had a few tucked away in our closets. 
(new parent? start saving these now.)
and then i was instantly saddened when i realized that ALL of them had attached lids. 
i am sure this is a huge improvement for people working in the shoe industry, as the battle to keep lids on all the boxes must be ongoing. 
however, for me, it just resulted in this: 

and some of this. 

and then negotiating the proper amount of paper to cover the whole box, not be saggy, and still not be too tight for the box to actually close. 
the answer, without fail, to each dilemma? 

apply.

more.

tape.

at long last, i managed to assemble a somewhat respectable product. 

then it was time for benny to decorate. 

he was supposed to decorate the outside of the box, without putting his name on it, so that kids in the class could guess whose it was. 

then fill it with little treasures for Show & Tell. 

these are benny's favorite things. 

as of 7:00pm on tuesday, august 26, 2014. 

pokemon.

pokemon.

those are three swords in black, green and red. (it's upside down for the top.)

and...5 ice cream cones. 

the kid really does love his ice cream. 

on the side, he drew our family. 

apparently i was having a really bad hair day. 

when i asked him if was going to draw our pup, Rocky, he sat quietly for a moment. 

then he declined. 

he thought that would be too complicated. 

so he threw in another ice cream cone for good merit. 

our house is 75 percent Buckeye

you know when you go to write a post about your first day back at school in 12 years? 

and then realize you have failed to post about your kids' first day of school? 

and then realize that you have a draft post about when one of those kids finished kindergarten? 

no?

doesn't happen to you?

well. 

oops. 

so, as it turns out, ben graduated from kindergarten. 

in may. 

there was a ceremony. 

i took photos. 

then, per usual, kept them all to myself. 

seeing as ben is actually quite excellent at sharing, i thought i would try that out as well. 

each of the kiddos had a photo board sharing bits of their year. 

here is a particularly bad photo of ben in front of said board. 

with my two favorite photos behind him. 

allow me to zoom in. 
those are Scrabble tiles spelling out "Ben: A Ninja Can Fight."
(i added the semicolon for flair.)
to the left is a picture of ben and an x-ray of his hand. 
the hand was not injured in a ninja fight, so much as a battle with the school's bathroom door. 
ben does not look particularly pleased about Show And Tell that day. 

also. 
anth.
big brother was there to show is support. 

anth will be taller than me in approximately 3 hours. 

these are "all of the boys that begin with 'B'." 
this is an important distinction in our house. 
mainly for ben. 

ben and his teacher, Leann. 

and Donna!

one of the projects the kids do during the year is sew quilt squares. 
you will note that many of these are lovely scenes depicting birds, flowers, cats, etc. 
ben's is toward the top left. 
being a man who appreciates some good white space in his art, he made the sword. 

the whole event was really cute. 
and then the musical performance portion of the event happened. . . 
there he is. 
in the middle of the whole thing. 
it started out looking promising. 


the kids were even listening to their teacher, standing to the left. 
(also? over half of the expressions in this shot are perfection.)

then. . . we got a little bored. 

then we got TOTALLY bored. 
so we decided to turn around to talk to Garrett. 


but Garrett wanted to pay attention, so. . . 

this. 

suffice it to say, the photos from the event just kind of went downhill from here. 
picture a bunch of kids singing. 
and benny doing more of this. 
for two full songs. 
bless his sweet heart. 

we officially have a kindergarten graduate (who is also now technically a 1st grader. ahem.) on our hands! 
here's to all the Ohio State students that i am joining today in our "first day of school."
may our degrees be just around the corner. :) 

our little beasts in the wilds

oh. 

hey. 

so, apparently, i have a blog. 

i seem to have forgotten that. 

the good news is, i start classes next week, so we should really be on the up and up for the next few years...

anyway. 

it seems as though i went in here a month or so ago and uploaded some photos. 

and then never looked back. 

so, here are some old photos. . . 

in July, we took a little "staycation" and had some fun in the Columbus area. 

early in the week, we also went out to The Wilds and did an open-air tour. 

it was a really great time and the boys had a blast!

look at that mug. 

The Wilds is a conservation center in Ohio, and the tour started out looking a lot like this. 

and this. 

and, when we came upon our first animals. . . this. 

fortunately, the rest of them that day turned to face in our direction. 

there were occasional stops where we were able to get out and explore. 

and even feed the animals. :) 

and, at one point, ben made this face. 
i'm not sure what this particular face is. 
angry? debonair? 
but here you have it. 

me, my grey hair, and the boys. 
ben still looks uncertain about everything. 
perhaps it was the tiger behind us. 

again. 
ben. 
oh, ben.
also: important life updates. . . 
ben, formerly known has benny, has asked to be called ben moving forward. 


that's better. 
this is the smile we usually see. 

too. much. 
love them. 

this was benny's favorite stop. :)
ok. 
for real. 
i just typed "benny." 
ugh. 
this is going to take a while. 

i love some sassy signage. 

they gave us a little guide to keep track of all the animals we saw. 
clearly, anth took the wheel on this one. 

this gem came UP to the bus. 
and started pecking (do ostriches peck?) at the bolts on the outside of the bus. 
neat. 

the giraffe wasn't cooperating. 

while we were off having our family adventure, rocky was off having. . . his own. 
so we picked up our very sleepy, and slightly high, puppy on the way home. 

more summer antics to come. . .

in, like, november.