Coffee Chat & A Motorcycle Named Bertha

Hi friends! Grab a cuppa jo and join me today for a fun look at the week in review including Lily’s 5th birthday party and a motorcycle named Bertha.

This week Lily turned 5 years old! We just had our follow-up home study for our adoption since we moved, and it struck me again that my baby is 5 and going into kindergarten.

I will never forget the moment I realized that our chubby bundle of cuteness was going to be a handful.

Lily was 11 mos old when she crawled over to 3 yr old Caleb to take a toy. When he didn’t give it up she bit him. Hard.

Before I could reach my sobbing son, I watched as she rose up on her knees, wrapped her little arms around him, and began patting him on the back.

My mouth dropped.

The fact she angrily inflicted pain and then knew how to sympathetically offer comfort left me dumbstruck.

Finally, Caleb calmed down, and she reached for the toy again. The entire story repeated itself.

Mother of the year, I know.

4 years later, she remains equal parts sassy and sweet. Her pre-k teacher (who Lily LOVED) put it well.

“Lily is the beautiful rose everyone wants to pick, but you have to watch out for the thorns.” ?

This was the same teacher Lily kicked in the shins the first day of school. ????

Lily, your amazing hugs, determined spirit, and sassy sweetness will change the world one day.

It has certainly changed mine, and I couldn’t love her more for it.

For the last several months she told me all she wanted for her birthday was a purple minion from the movie Despicable Me.

I scoured the world wide web, and found this ridiculous looking purple minion stuffy that is also a backpack. She wore it all night, and also went to bed with it. Haha.

Lily and great-grandpa!

Both of my lovely grandmothers. For the last couple of years, instead of everyone buying small individual birthday presents for my kids we have organized a large collective gift that everyone contributes to.

Two years ago it was a swing set.

Last year it was a basketball net, soccer goals, and baseball diamonds.

But this year, I asked everyone to gift “experiences.” One, the research is very clear that “experiences” actually make you happier than “things,” and two, the last thing we need in this rental house/storage unit is more stuff.

So each grandparent, great-grandparent, and aunt bought an experience. Such as a day trip to:

Dutch Wonderland
Cherry Crest Adventure Farms
Rides on the boardwalk at Ocean City, NJ when we go at the end of July
Barnyard Kingdom
Bounce Kraze
Barnes And Noble
Movie Theater

We had everyone either contribute the money, tickets, or written notes in an envelope marked with their specific gifted experience.

Saves us money as parents, but more importantly, provides our children with something infinitely more precious than stuff – quality time together!

We had our first sleepover here in the rental house. Movie night and cookies and ice cream sundaes.

Needless to say, I was surprised to find them all asleep up here on the same couch in the morning. Gracie said the basement was way too dark and creepy. Ha.

Remember that time I shared our family bucket lists? Each of us in the family wrote down 10 dream goals that we wanted to see become a reality. You can read them all here.

Owning a motorcycle has been on Zach’s dream list for as long as I have known him, but he didn’t do his dream any favors when he married an emergency department nurse. In the ER we call motorcycles, “donor cycles.” Not to mention the unnecessary cost of a 3rd vehicle.

Well, fast forward 10 years . . .

Meet the newest addition to our family. Her name is Bertha (yes, Zach is thrilled that I’ve named his bike.). Over the last 10 years, Zach has supported all of my wild ideas – like fixing up 3 homes while giving life to and raising 3 kids, while each of us working 2 jobs outside of the home, while each of us getting our second master’s degrees.

When I stepped away from a lucrative paycheck in the emergency department to start my own virtual business, he picked up extra work at school wherever he could. As a thank you for the last 10 years, I surprised him a couple of months ago by telling him that if our house sold for what we hoped it would that he could use the extra funds to get his motorcycle.

One “sold” sign later (and a life insurance policy increase) and we have Bertha.

By the way, he is lovingly admiring Bertha’s chrome it’s not hard to imagine how excited he is.

Are any of you bikers? It is a whole other world! What gear or accessories are must-haves? Any newbie motorcycle tips? Zach would LOVE to know!

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