Bravo to my husband, Dave, for being dance dad of the year!  Every Monday night all school year he and Thomas took Charlotte to her half-hour hip hop class when I was at work.  He watched her do the recital routine week after week leading up to the big performance.  Of course he knows the other moms much better than me, as I made it to a grand total of one class.  We have never seen Charlotte without bangs since she was a baby, so it was amusing to attempt the “no bang” and “bun” requirement for her hip hop routine.  Thankfully a neighborhood friend and Nana helped make this look happen for the dress rehearsal and actual recital respectively.  I was impressed with the performance.  A spectacular production and execution by the little girls with lipstick and a lot of hair gel.

For 40 years, my mom has juggled a lot of balls in the air skillfully.  Already an elementary teacher when she had Sara and me in 1978 & 1973 respectively, Jo Ann Thomas managed to work outside the home and still pull off a Martha Stewart routine for her family.  Cooking and entertaining came naturally to her.  When my parents put an in-ground pool in our backyard in 1976, our house became the hot spot for summer get-togethers and birthday parties.  I have seen my mom walk out of the back of the house balancing birthday cakes, hot appetizers and trays filled with cool drinks for decades.  It’s what she does.  She never sits down and always puts her family and her guests comfort above her own.  When she completed her doctorate in education at Illinois State, my mom was still teaching and cooking and cleaning all with two girls and a husband demanding her time and talent.  She never let us see her sweat, so to speak.  Always well-dressed, my mom has the innate ability to pull off a fashion statement for any occasion no matter how casual.  Now she devotes the same energy and enthusiasm to her four grandchildren.  All the while well-dressed and organized.  Here’s to you, Dr. Jo Ann Thomas, this Mother’s Day!  Thanks for setting the bar so high with love and devotion.

I am an aunt again!  Monday morning at 1:52, Ava Mae arrived after a pretty rough few hours of delivery for my sister.  Sara, my only sibling who’s five years younger, gave birth to my 3-year-old nephew early as well.  Though she came 3 1/2 weeks ahead of her due date, Baby Ava weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and did not need medical intervention.  Thankfully.  Like her brother, Liam, she was 19 inches.  Sara’s plan to finish out the school year teaching her second graders did not happen.  In fact her baby shower set for this Saturday has to be rescheduled.  The same thing played out when Liam was born–he came days before the shower!  So much for my plan to be in Peoria for the birth.  It takes over three hours to drive there and when Sara started having contractions Sunday night and went to the hospital she was already dilated to a 4.  So Aunt Tara will have to wait to hold the chubby-cheeked beauty until the weekend.

I can read Dave so well the slightest comment or mannerism might tip me off something’s up.  Well I thought that until last night.  The man pulled off the biggest surprise of my life when some 50 of our closest friends and my parents managed to secretly plan and execute a surprise 40th birthday party for me.  I was stunned.  It never entered my mind when out for dinner that a friend’s call inviting us to stop by a local nightclub was scripted beforehand.  I fell for all of it and was clueless when Ron Steele and Rick Coleman asked about my weekend plans–something male co-workers rarely do.

When the stream of guests started parading out singing Happy Birthday moments after we arrived, it was like an out-of-body experience where the room went silent and I mentally tried to connect the dots.  My parents, Dave and our co-workers, Bible study and neighborhood friends… why were all these people here at the same time and same place?  Admittedly I was crabby this week when to really throw me off Dave suggested I help pick out my present!  Seriously the guy had to sneak numbers from my phone, enlist others’ help to set up a private Facebook party page and reschedule the whole thing when a work event was planned the same night.  Let’s just say his awesomeness quotient went up a thousand points.  Best. Husband. Ever.

“Hi, Tara Thomas, my name is (name withheld) and I’ve always enjoyed you and I hold you quite high as a news anchor but today you have outdone yourself.  I know you’re coming to the end of the line with your time at the TV station but you look terrible today and you can do much better.  You’re a wonderful news anchor, sorry to say that to you, but I think better for you.  Goodbye” 

And to think with a spray tan and coral jacket on, I thought my look was an improvement over last week!

Hi Tara I am thinking you are a relatively conservative dresser. The shirt and jacket were crooked. Maybe not a big deal praying for you.

My thought:  Devote your prayer time to more worthy subjects and circumstances! LOL

It has to happen at some point after weeks of trying to convince yourself your children have to be more responsible for keeping their rooms clean.  You cave and do a complete overhaul behind their backs.  Let’s see I found Charlotte’s TV remote zipped up inside a little make-up bag stuffed in a bin with papers and broken crayons.  I think before it was over I carried 6-7 bags of stuff (junk) to the basement that I still have to sort through a second time to determine what stays downstairs in their play room and what goes to the garage sale stack. 

I refuse to let her room, or her brother’s, get that way again.  Because it took me four hours to make it presentable outwardly and inside every nook and cranny.  I can’t stand cluttered drawers and closets.  Now she has fewer square feet to cram her stuff into because the bottom twin bed that goes with her bunk has been returned since her brother has a new bed and no longer needs that part of it.  Thought later how stupid of me not to show you the before pictures since I only captured the afters.