A Final Letter to the Fine People at International Delight

Since Sweet Buttercream first came into my life, I've been pondering whether it is truly better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Would the void in my life created by a limited edition creamer be too much to handle? Or should I just be thankful to have shared this sweet time with my new love?

In the end, I'm certain it's been better to have loved, because my life has been infinitely richer for the delicious love affair I've shared with Sweet Buttercream. I'm sure I'll never love another quite the same as Sweet Buttercream, but I'll be strong and move on. Maybe I'll find another flavor, but it'll never quite be the same. I'll sip it and sigh wistfully, remembering the good old days. Mornings snuggled in bed, late nights around the kitchen table, the way he always kept me warm.



The most fabulous thing about this whole love affair is that it was really just a silly topic, but what I love is that so many of you out there have tweeted or commented that you sought out Sweet Buttercream. And! That you loved it almost as much me. THEN, in the apex of my blogging career (just kidding, I don't have a blogging career. Why DO you people read this thing?), I was contacted by someone who works with International Delight (shout out to Heather with Horizon Media!) and last weekend, a package with SIX QUARTS of Sweet Buttercream showed up on my doorstep, along with a handwritten card from the Associate Brand Manager. I didn't even know that it was available in quarts! I never expected anyone from International Delight to read this or even care, yet they've shown that, actually, they DO care about their consumers.

So, Fine People at International Delight? Maybe you didn't arrange that warehouse full of creamer or make it permanent, but you have gained yourself a customer for life. (And if you ever need a product tester? Well, you know I'm your girl.)

You Capture: A Moment

For this week's You Capture, I wanted to capture a moment from each day this week that made my soul sing, alongside the lyrics from one of my most very favorite soul and heart lifting songs. I hope your moments were beautiful and full of music this week, too.

What a beautiful face I have found in this place
That is circling all round the sun
What a beautiful dream
That could flash on the screen
In a blink of an eye and be gone from me
Soft and sweet
Let me hold it close and keep it here with me, me

And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
Love to be
In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me, me

What a curious life we have found here tonight
There is music that sounds from the street
There are lights in the clouds
Anna's ghost all around
Hear her voice as it's rolling and ringing through me
Soft and sweet
How the notes all bend and reach above the trees, trees

Now how I remember you
How I would push my fingers through
Your mouth to make those muscles move
That made your voice so smooth and sweet
Now we keep where we don't know
All secrets sleep in winter clothes
With one you loved so long ago
Now he don't even know his name

What a beautiful face I have found in this place
That is circling all round' the sun
And when we meet on a cloud I'll be laughing out loud
I'll be laughing with everyone I see
Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea--The Neutral Milk Hotel

You Capture: Reaching

Flowers reaching through the still cold ground for the sun. I love Daffodils for how hardy they are, for how they reach up while all the other flowers are still hiding.


Before I took the above photo, I had to get a photo of my little Leprechaun. It was a little hard, though, because every single time I tried to snap a photo, he kept reaching out for me. Every single time.

I love when he reaches for me.

A Follow-Up Letter to the Fine People at International Delight

I know that you haven't yet responded to my first letter. That's okay. I understand that arranging a warehouse full of creamer is not a task that can be done overnight. Please know that I would be willing to travel up to one hour in any direction to access this warehouse.

I am really hoping that you've reconsidered your decision to make Sweet Buttercream a limited edition. See, since I last wrote to you, he's become very despondent over his seeming unemployment. While he used to have such a zest for life, he now sits on the couch all day with his friend, Fat Tire, mouth slack and remote nearby.

When I go to the grocery store where we first met, I'm greeted with nothing but emptiness. An empty spot on the shelf where he once stood proudly, an empty spot in my heart.

I'm asking you to think not just of my beloved Sweet Buttercream, but won't you please think of the children? Yes, the children. We have so many of them, you see, and as a teacher, I know that children need strong role models. With their daddy out of a job and their mother weeping all day long about the day their father will leave her, it's just not creating a very positive home environment. And as I'm sure you know, children ARE our future. Just look at these beautiful, shining faces.

See, fine people at International Delight? No one loves your products more than me. I am almost certainly responsible for any sort of upswing you've had in product sales lately, so the LEAST you can do is repay me by not taking away my one true love.

International Delight did not pay me for my slightly obsessive ramblings. They may be looking into the logistics of a creamer warehouse. Or they may be looking into the logistics of a restraining order.

You Capture: Shapes

I really love You Capture because it makes me pay attention in ways that I might not otherwise. I love this first shot of my birthday boy in the ball pit, but the main reason I happened to be standing there was because I was thinking, "Hmm...balls are circles....circles are shapes!"

And this one... I love the fun shapes that the pom poms make.

I took this one at my parents' house. I love the shape of the sun flare and the way the tree makes a Y.

And finally, the most delicious shape of all, the shape of a Cadbury Cream Egg. Before taking this picture, I never noticed the shapes the cream eggs have on the side. Mostly because I shove them in my mouth without really looking at them, but thanks to You Capture, this one was taken two seconds before I shoved the rest in my mouth.

Real

I was typing up this post about something cute that Luke does every night, and then I stopped. Not because I don't want to share the cuteness, but because I just couldn't. Not right now.

Instead I want to tell you that three is hard. For most of his twos, we scoffed at the whole terrible two phase. We didn't see any of that. Not even really after his little brother was born. But then he got close to three, and I started hearing the phrase "three-nager," and I GOT IT. Oh, did I get it. Maybe a little too much, because sometimes I hear about other three year olds. About the cute things they do, of course, never the THREE things they do, and I start to think that maybe my child is flawed. Maybe I'm a bad mother. Maybe I'm spoiling him or being too hard on him or maybe I'm just not cut out to be a parent. All of these things go through my head, and you know, maybe they go through yours.

So, I'm going to be real. My child is love and sweet and light. Some times. But then there are times when my child defies me. When he flat out refuses to do what I ask him. When I have to put him in time out to keep from pushing him out the front door and pretending he's not mine. Once he picked up the word "dammit" and decided to scream it over and over. In the middle of a crowded restaurant. He wouldn't stop, until I carried him out of the restaurant with my hand clapped over his mouth. A walk of shame, in which I imagined everyone looking at Tommy and thinking, "Oh my. They bred AGAIN?" And at these times, I look at Tommy and think about how he's sweet all the time, but someday, he'll be THREE.
Sometimes Luke is too rough with Tommy. Often it's unintentional and just the result of a three year old loving too much, but there are times when it is intentional. Once at the park, he pushed Ivy. He gets shy at first in social settings and will try to mask his shyness by doing something crazy, like headbutting me. He doesn't do this all the time, but there are times when Tommy falls asleep in the car, and Luke will raise his voice to try and wake Tommy.

There is so much that he does RIGHT, but when he does wrong, I blame myself. I never think that he's a normal three year old, I wonder what I'm doing wrong. Maybe you have a three year old like mine, and so, I hope you read this and realize that no one has a perfect child. (Or if everyone does have a perfect child, please don't tell me.) And in a few days, I'll share the cute because it is OH SO CUTE, but for right now? I'm feeling good about admitting that sometimes, the cute is seriously lacking and I'm frantically wondering if there are gypsies in Indiana and whether or not they would like to buy my child.

Birthday Bash

Luke's third birthday was wonderful and joyful and oh yeah, did I mention exhausting? In a good way, but oh my goodness, am I tired.

We celebrated here on his actual birthday, and they did an amazing job (with the exception of one very rude employee I encountered at the end of the party). I could not have been happier with how very special they made his special day.

His party started out in the water room, and then moved on to the block room, where Noah totally kicked butt at a game of Red Light, Green Light (while Gray and Ellie built a lego tower in the midst of it all).

My favorite part, though, was in the art room where everyone decorated a page in a birthday book for Luke. Isn't that so special?

After this, we went to the ball room, where the kids all had a loud, sweaty time, followed by Luke's birthday parade to the party room.

Everyone ate pizza and cupcakes, and my birthday boy proved that he eats cupcakes just like his mama.

Luke opened presents, and he was so into that I hardly had time to snap a photo. As you can see, all of the excitement was too much for Tommy.

We stayed and played at Bellaboo's until almost 3, when Luke hit the overtired wall, but what a great day. I'm so thankful and blessed to have so many beautiful friends who helped us to celebrate!

The next morning, we woke up bright and early and went to Shane's parents' house, where Shane's dad had prepared a birthday pancake breakfast for Luke. Luke got to open more gifts, plus play with his cousin Piper. There were so many blessings in my weekend, the biggest of all being my birthday boy.