Category Archives: Aaron

Bathing Suit Season

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Ask any woman who isn’t a runway model and she’ll tell you, bathing suit shopping isn’t for the faint of heart. I am in the best shape I’ve been in about eight years and out of necessity, I had to get a new suit. Despite losing over 5.25 inches off my body in the last 10 weeks, it took three days, ten stores and extraordinary spiritual fortitude to find one that wouldn’t scar my kids or shame my husband for life! It was nearly an impossible task. Have you seen the swimwear options out there? They need to have gi–normous boxes of Kleenex in the dressing room or have a licensed therapist on the premises.  Wow!

The reason I put myself through such trauma is because, somehow, (I have no idea how), I lost my bathing suit. I wore it to the gym last Saturday and haven’t seen it since.  The cause for my urgent need for a bathing suit is that I am now taking swim lessons. For over four decades I’ve been an aqua chicken but now I’m taking the plunge, so to speak. 

My lesson started in a matter of hours. My mom was visiting and so we dashed over to the shopping center but couldn’t find one bathing suit even mildly flattering or comfortable. Each store we entered my delusional yet loving mom would hopefully announce, “I just know we’re going to find a suit for you. I just feel it.” Puh-lease! It took only seconds in Old Navy, Kohls, Dicks Sporting Goods, and Target to realize that wasn’t going to happen. Reluctantly I wore an old bathing suit to the lesson. 

However, yesterday, out of shear necessity, I took my middle OS bathing suit shopping with me. The first store we went to was Everything But Water at the mall. Aaron

recalls it as “the most awkward experience in his entire life.” I told him it was Husband Training. We walked into the store and this was the first suit which greeted us. Can you believe it??? 
My guys don’t like it when their mom wears a suit with a scooped out navel.  We left dejected.

But today, rejoice friends, I found two suits at Dillards. Beulah, my saleslady was my swimwear angel.  She was encouraging and positive, I felt like I could trust her. I gave her a big hug right after handing her my credit card.  This is a picture of one of the suits I bought. As many of you know, this is NOT me in the photo. 


Then I came home, ripped off that sani-strip (ew!) and went to the pool and practiced the dead man float and putting my chin in the water.  I showed Aaron and Isaac how I could put my head under water and they were mes-mo-rized, (HA!) 

I’m keeping my eyes on my bathing suits in the future. I hope I don’t have to go looking again for a really long time.

Oh, one more thing, Miracle Suits are miserable! Don’t torture yourself! 

See you at the pool. Look for the hot mama in a sassy suit with the kickboard. It’s me. 

Moving into Manhood

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Today is St. Patrick’s Day and we chose to honor the day in a momentous fashion. Aaron shaved for the first time! Our 13 1/2 year old OS has completed another rite of passage into manhood. Ike and I are now the only ones who do not shave our faces and I’m hoping we can keep it that way for a long time. There are absolutely no plans for me to shave my face, btw! WHEW!

My husband gave Aaron a few pointers as he navigated around his face. Side by side in the freshly tidied bathroom, Mark patiently instructed his son. The peach fuzz has been so much fun to see sprouting but it was time for Aaron to become a clean-shaven teen.

 These are the precious moments that so many boys never experience because their dad isn’t home or available or interested. Proverbs 22:6 says “train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” A father’s influence is important in every way – spiritually, emotionally, physically. I know the Bible isn’t talking about shaving but these bonding moments will shape our son’s masculinity and hopefully he will pass wisdom and character onto his children one day. This is just one simple way my husband is training his boys. We bought Aaron his very own can of shaving cream and a razor and made a big deal about this special experience. One day Aaron will tire of this task but right now, Aaron declared he’s going to shave every day! 


Nate is headed to a short mountain trip with four of his buddies tomorrow morning. They are going by themselves, no parental supervision. Yeah, I’m a little nervous. Ike has a few little pimples on his face and some suspicious emotional outbursts. 
My boys are growing up but I like most of the bittersweet changes.  

My Prince Charming

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P1010543As Spirit Day drew to a close, it was Dress Up as Your Favorite Hero Day and Aaron decided he wanted to be someone extra special and quite appropriate – Prince Charming.

My 13-year-old OS has the pretty face and the affable personality but lacked the actual costume. We don’t do a lot of dress up in our family of boys but with a little ingenuity, we came up with a pretty cool outfit.

First we went to Staples and got some metallic posterboard.

P1010547I didn’t know they made metallic posterboard so that was quite convenient. We cut a crown design out of the posterboard and I glued a ton of little beads around it. It looked so shimmery and royal. Kind of like real jewels but not really. Check out the artistry…

P1010542I had some satin gold fabric and against all odds, I made my first pair of satin prince pants. My dumb sewing machine was acting the fool so my wonderful friend Michele let me borrow her top of the line machine.

It’s a $1500 sewing machine and man, that baby can purr. I’m not sure I’m giving it back to her, I seriously loved that machine. I have told my husband that if he really loved me, he would get me that machine. I’ll let you know how that’s going…I was definitely not worthy to even use the foot pedal of this fine piece of machinery, I savored every second and stitch.

P1010541After finishing the prince pants, I also made him a fancy slate grey vest complete with gold trim. It was so simple to make but I was really proud of myself! I am totally in the zone when I am doing things for my family. During a quick trip to the Goodwill, I found a nice man’s white collared shirt for Aaron – and then the biggest find of all, I bought a pair of women’s shoes. He wasn’t going to wear them, rather he took one shoe to school as he searched for his lovely Cinderella.

As luck would have it, I had a scrap of red satin fabric to make a little sash. When we put the costume together, he seriously looked like Prince Charming! Even when he was standing next to his best bud Zack aka Peter Pan.

This was a Spirit Day our family won’t forget!

It’s a guy thing, sign of the military life to come

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Foreshadowing of my life to come

Five and a half years later, I discover my blog post. I had long forgotten about it. West Point wasn’t on the horizon when I first wrote this. Nate had graduated from West Point and is in the middle of Ranger School. WOW!

My blog post on December 28, 2007-

I don’t get it and I guess I never will.

While driving to see family in South Carolina, Nate spotted a sign to a store I would have easily overlooked.

“Dad, can we go there?” he inquired and all the guy heads perked up with the mere mention of the store Nathan wanted to visit

Delk’s Army-Navy Surplus

No pretty store window dressing, no eye-catching fashions or thumping music –

just an Army issue green sign which read Military Supplies.

It’s a guy thing I guess because I didn’t have the same reaction as my DH and OS did as we parked our van.

My boys and husband practically skipped into the store, it’s true, you NEVER, EVER skip into a military store but it sounds funny!).

This was probably one of the few stores I have ever entered in my life where I was almost completely sure I wasn’t going to spend any money.

Everything you might ever possibly need regarding the military was there.

We’re talking K-Rations, camo pants, gas masks, resin replica assault rifles which my three OS really wanted, hand grenade candle holders (they wouldn’t match my decor) and more. Parachute jackets, ammo boxes, metal helmets, you get the picture.

The entire store was basically covered in brown, green or black.  I couldn’t find one pretty thing in the building!  This was really man’s land.

Only upon exhaustive searching, did I discover one teeny spot of thin, pink piece of nylon rope which made me feel only a little bit better.

My husband and sons were fascinated, I was ready to go.

We walked down the aisles and when we spotted the plastic military shields for $25, it was almost more than they could handle. I guess the girl equivalent would be like going to Archivers, a scrapbooking store.

I felt like quite a good wife and mom venturing into a place like that but I know that they have gone into candle stores and boutiques humoring me.

In a way, I actually found Delks Army-Navy Surplus store quite interesting but not so much so that I have to go back anytime soon.

As I looked at the sign, I noticed a typo. Can you spot it?

Too bad I didn’t have a machine gun to shoot in an apostrophe. At least now I know where I can get one!

Questions: Have you ever looked back on your children’s interests and seen the signs of their future vocation? If you have younger kids, do you see indication of your children’s future profession in their current obsessions and activities? It’s fun looking forward and backward!