Wet

This has been a duzie of a weekend, and the week promises to follow suite.

On Friday night, late, there was a CRASH and then shattering glass sounded through the house. Matt and I both jumped up to see what had happened~and quickly discovered that the shelf holding all but two of our wedding presents had killed and mutilated our precious 'wordly goods'. I was SO upset, because those were REALLY sentimental! They were our wedding gifts; beautiful things that I wanted to hand down to my children! Not to mention, I have only a handful of truly valuable things that haven't been thrifted around this house and it HAD to be THOSE things that broke, not the bought-from-yardsale stuff. I am still not quite over it. :-(

The next day, I was in charge of a fruit platter at a baby shower I was attending and had promised a three-tiered fruit 'fountain' made by layering cake plates. But one of my cake plates had been a victim. But silly, stupid me, can't just put fruit on a PLATTER and call it good-oh no. No, no. I always just HAVE to go overboard to be happy. I made a makeshift one using some cups, glass plates and a bowl on top.

I won't tell you how many times it fell apart (with fruit dip AND fruit a'flying) but you can be sure it was more than once. Sigh. Sometimes you just can't win!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rain just keeps pouring on down and the weatherman says to get used to it. Not too awful excited about that...especially since tomorrow I am making the hike to my parents' house 3 1/2 hours away, as a single Mama-all alone. And I HATE driving in rain. And who wants to visit for a week while it RAINS every day? Yep_ I am leaving Mattie for ANOTHER week.

There is lots to do this week while I am away. Hopefully, I will be able to help a few friends in need, if they allow me the pleasure. That is the reason for the trip, after all. Then there is the visiting, catching up, and biding time until I see my Mattie again. And at the end of the week, a thrill. We are going to Oma and Opa's house! We haven't seen them in ages and Miss Corynn is bursting from the seams with excitement. It is she, after all, that prays for them each day at lunch; it is she who begs to visit them nearly every time we go to town-not comprehending how far away it is; it is she who has been brought to tears because she misses them. We are all thrilled to be able to see them, finally.

So~tomorrow I leave. I was supposed to leave today but I had lots of things to finish in order to leave a welcoming house to Matt is my absence. I hate leaving him. Period. Even more so, though, when it is for such an extended time. My only consolation is that my time will be used in worthwhile pursuits, helping those who need it. I hope.

I still have to pack, so I ought to be grateful for the rain. It is, after all, the only thing barring the children from being outdoors all day long. Since the children have been indoors all day, I have also got a bit of a reprieve from tick duty. I have gone on tick alert since the weather turned warmer. This past week alone I've had to pry over a dozen ticks off of the childrens' (and my!) skin. Every night before bed we have inspection. Every night, they each have brought along a pet.

I really feel like a country wife now. I had never seen ticks or dealt with them before, but with tick inspection every day, who would NOT consider me a country gal? Although-the one that was half burrowed into Corynn's leg? I had Matt do that one-so...maybe I am not as far along as I thought...

I'd better be off~ Here's to a safe drive, a fun visit, and a healthy dose of serving others.

PS. Didn't have any new photos to post, so I post a few from a children's museum visit last year. They are WET, afterall.

" A true Christian must be no slave to fashion, if he would train his children for heaven. He must not be content to do things merely because they are the custom of the world; to teach them and instruct them in certain ways, merely because it is usual; to allow them to read books of a questionable sort, merely because everybody else reads them; to let them form habits of a doubtful tendency, merely because they are habits of the day. He must train with an eye to his childrens' souls.

He must not be ashamed to hear his training called singular and strange. What if it is? The time is short,-the fashion of this world passeth away. He that has trained his children for heaven, rather than for earth,-for God, rather than for man,--he is the parent that will be called wise at last."

--J.C.Ryle

A book I am reading by J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, is full of gems just like this. Though written in the 1800's, it is incredibly relevant for today. Proves the adage, there is nothing new under the sun.

I have been devouring this book recently, like the many other times I have taken it from our shelves and yet: each time it is opened, I am given more encouragement, more wisdom, and more biblical truths revealed to me. If you are a parent, you ought to read this book.

And not just once.

Still 10

For Christmas, Corynn got a little Janome Hello Kitty sewing machine from an Aunt in the craft industry and it was declared "the best gift EVER!" She had seen one of these 'baby machines' at the store just a month or so before and wished aloud for it.

All the while she envisioned doll clothes, clothes for herself, and sewing alongside me, the only image I could summon was of digits being mutilated.

So, I told her that when she was big enough to reach the pedal, that I would tell her then how to use the machine (knowing full well that she COULD reach the pedal IF I set the machine on something lower than my craft table...) She was bummed (THAT is an understatement!) so I let her sit upon my lap and we worked (on MY machine) and made a doll pillow.

But I haven't heard the end of it since December 25th. I struggled feeling like I was going to start her too early on something she was really too young for while at the same time, knowing that she primarily wanted to sew to be like me and to share my interests. I know that if I squelter those interests and desires, that eventually she will lose them and that would just break my heart. So, I wondered what to do. For a LONG time.

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that the very unlikely, hypothetical finger stabbing I envisioned doesn't measure up to the genuine and REAL encouragement to pursue what interests her. The fact that we can share it TOGETHER makes it all the more wonderful.

So yesterday, we finally brought it out to see the light of day. Before Andrew woke up from nap, we had a little sewing lesson. I taught her the basics, stressing about fifty times to KEEP YOUR FINGERS AWAY FROM THE NEEDLE!!! Then I handed her lined paper to practice following a straight line. After several of those, I let her root through my scrap basket to pick some fabrics and she made a real simple bookmark. Done entirely by herself.

I'm glad I went for it.

Matt's got himself a new project:

...and He is in all His glory.

Silent on the subject

Ever since I added home education into the mix, I have had a terrible time being able to accomplish all that I would LIKE to accomplish.
It concerns me that if phonics and simple math lessons seem to dictate the day, I wonder how it will be to add children and subjects to this mix?!? It is becoming more and more apparent to me just how much of a commitment is made when parents decide to educate their children at home. I also know, there is no more worthwhile pursuit of your time and energies. So homeschooling families are quickly earning my utmost respect.

That said, it is still frustrating when I want to pour out in type all that has been in my thoughts rolling around my head, I want to stitch all the projects laying in wait, I'd like to teach many more things to my children AND to myself, I'd love to be able to seek out beautiful photographs waiting to happen, and I CAN'T.

It doesn't help that most days I head to bed right after the kids because I am feeling ill. A constant feeling with Bunkin, and a new experience from my Boo and Peanut pregnancies.

I am fighting from feeling like a lazy bones, and I make myself sick with pining over my craft room (a room I haven't visited in ages...)

On the otherhand, my voice grows hoarse with story telling (and BOTH children are still unsatiated), puzzles pieces fly together, the rainforest is becoming not so much a mystery, the weather is being enjoyed to its fullest, Corynn is able to read the simplest BOB books (so progress IS being made), we are planting hope along with seeds and playing in the dirt, and have just completed our lunchtime Bible book and have started afresh.

So, in truth, our days are still filled with jewels and treasures, the children are being drowned with quality time and despite not using an actual 'book curriculum' for other subjects, the children are learning MORE than just phonics and math skills each and every day. If I sit and think about it, they are learning TREMENDOUSLY more than that!)

If, for a time, this blog suffers a bit, if my fabric stash doesn't dwindle, the crochet hook lacks it's trademark 'tink', and if I grow in wisdom quietly rather than sharing my thoughts, I'll still be better off-because Life just keeps happening and the truly important things ARE taking place.

Even if I can't adequately share it with the world.

Dizzy spells

* We woke up to a single Canadian Goose in our yard!

*In Andrew's haste to get to the window, he fell face first between the bed and wall, breaking open his lip.

* It's 78 degrees here today, so we set up a new baby pool to splash around in!

* Because Corynn was so excited she hopped around, fell down the steps, skinned up both knees and bit HER lip. (I am raising a bunch of vampires, I tell ya!)

* I stripped all the beds, cleaned the ceiling fans and dusted the children's room (and all their trinkets) !

* While I was preoccupied doing those things, Andrew was trying to cut his finger off with some unnamed object. I don't know what it was, but when I saw blood on the bathroom floor, streaked on his shirt and pants, and beading from his finger, I knew what was what. (It wasn't THAT bad, He never even cried. Er, at least, I didn't hear him...)

* The patio furniture is outside being ready to be strategically placed in my 'retreat spot'- and the bushy/weedy spot has been taken care of!

* But, because I have been focused on that~ my basement is in SHAMBLES. Literally. No-I will NOT post a picture, thank you very much!

* My in-laws are coming for the weekend! Everyone is excited AND the weather is going to be nice!

* But that means I need to HURRY UP and get this house in order before it's...tooo....late.....

So you see~ it's been an up and down sort of day. Nothing can stay the same for more than a few minutes at a time! My children are bleeding profusely from all parts of their bodies but the sun is shining and we are smiling despite it all. At least for the next five minutes.


Finally~ in other news:

* I got this most amazing package of secret notes, one photo clue to open for each of the next 15 days from-you guessed it, my secret friend. Supposedly, it will help me figure out who this wonderfully insane person this is but I am now on day 9 and absolutely NO further ahead than I was in the beginning! Is it any wonder, with 'clues' like this?!?! "This is what my backyard looks like" for a photo of grass. "These are the flowers in my kitchen", etc. It has been fun, but I am such a dope. Along these secret friend lines, I have a little letter for YOU.

Dear Secret Friend~ Thank you for the GORGEOUS book you sent us! I don't know how you are such a mindreader, but THAT book was on my wishlist and has been ever since I looked up books by the same author as Heckedy Peg. Not only have we enjoyed the book, but Corynn asks to listen to King Bidgood's cd every morning at breakfast. You surely do know us well...

But- you aren't letting me know YOU and you better START or I am going to hunt you down and show you what's what!

Er, wait. How can I hunt you down with clues about TOILETS and socks?!?!

Well, then, scratch that.

But I will cry. Buckets and Buckets of tears. And maybe, stay in the bathtub all day.

The end.

Sickening

A Lovely view, isn't it?

This has been our view since November. (And you wonder why I didn't bother with outdoor lights this past Christmas!?)

I am about sick to death of looking at construction workers, tripping over hose, catching flying bits of insulation, having my grass painted with drywall goo, answering the door to construction workers when they need something, feeling trapped in my own home, and just plain LOOKING at this mess.

Call me crabby, I admit it. I think our landlords should offer us a discount or SOMETHING for all that we have to put up with.

Once, get this!, there were NINE trucks parked our driveway NOT including the big Mack and I couldn't even get INTO MY OWN DRIVEWAY! I had, coincidentally, just returned from a grocery shopping trip and had to trudge, arms brimming for about five trips. I probably walked a mile that day, just getting the groceries INDOORS.

So I have a right to be a crab. Don't I?!?!

Wouldn't you?!? If you had to stare at THIS all day long? It is a far cry from my beautiful patio retreat from last year...that's for sure. Just look!

I mean, WHO wants to wake up to THIS every morning?!? Or rather...What WOMAN would want to wake up to THIS every morning?!?

Certainly not I.

I have had the grumblies about this for a while, but never more so than now. The weather is now warm enough to move my patio set back out of doors and for the children and I to enjoy the sun on a daily basis. It has been made increasingly clear, however, that what has worked in the past for us, is NOT going to work now. I certianly CAN NOT use the patio for my patio furniture, for my plants or for ANYTHING that resembles beauty.

Wanna know the worst part?!

Brace yourselves, people because you might have a heart attack. I nearly did.

The men~those men I have been so kind and smiley toward?! They took all of my potted perennials (with lovely pots-some ceramic!) and pitched them. Smashed them up in the dump truck and threw them out. Without ANY thought to whose they might have been! Many of the perennials had been thinned out by friends, but had I bought them, I would have spent a fortune. And I DID buy the pots.

So~ this year, I have to start fresh. In LOTS of ways.

I need to find a new spot for my patio.

I need to get more perennials, if I want to enjoy my flowers.

I need to buy more pots.

And when I do, maybe I ought to put alarm systems on them this time!

My Only Hope

Well, since OBVIOUSLY our patio won't be useable this year...I needed to find a replacement, if I am to stay sane.

A person who loves the outdoors (in warm weather) as much as I do, just CAN'T be cooped up inside!

Since there are men working ALL the time, and lots of them-coming in and out and running about everywhere I am, I wanted to have a place where I didn't have to see them. Is that rude of me? I am not a rude person-I just made them cookies last week, you know! But by golly, if I want to read a book while sipping lemonade and NOT have to be reminded about the construction workers I am sharing my life with...than I ought to be able to. Right?!?! RIGHT!

So: here was the criteria...

1) Had to have a nice view. Nice view=without sight of Mack truck, ladders, hoses, insulation pieces blowing in wind, etc.

2) Had to be private. I want to be able to do whatever I want to do without the scrutiny of fix-it guy eyes.

3) It has to have enough sunlight to be able to grow some plants around it, since I obviously can't house my PLANTS on the patio, either.

This is the spot. Look BEHIND the swingset...

More specifically~ HERE...

And this is the view from the OTHER side of the tree. It is covered on two sides by trees so there is shade and sun. Best of all-it is private for me and protects my eyes from unsightly things like...mack trucks.

It needs a lot of work, in order to make it 'retreat worthy' but it will get there. First things first~ I have to work on THIS area, specifically...

There will be lots of updates, don't you worry.

Noteworthy

* Buds stretching toward the sun

* There is fungus amungus

*the Rhodo is putting in a full days work

* and the chives are already being snipped.

Captured

Matt and I have this tradition of personal chitchat time when he comes home. The kids have to go play while I sit in the bathroom and visit with Matt while he showers. And then, while he gets dressed in our room. Is this weird? Probably. Is that us? Yup.

Anyway.

They don't mind a bit (well, most days) and neither do I, I really enjoy it actually. But this day, talking led to eventual sleeping and I am not sure how. Matt has this ability to sleep anywhere, in any position, at any time if he is so inclined-and on days like this day, he was.

So he fell asleep on my legs.

And I was trapped. Stranded. Tied down. Stuck.

With movement only allowed in my fingertips, I was able to pass the time taking pictures (once I begged Corynn to bring me my camera.)

Longingly, I watched the kids playing farm in the hall. I would have very much liked to have joined them. But alas. Stuck is what I was with a big slumbering bear on my legs, which were quickly getting the tingles of sleep themselves.

I watched the ceiling fan for a while but the dust lining each side of each blade quickly had me disgusted.

I admired the new afghan I got at Sallies for $1.50

I played with my fingers, wiggled my toes to keep my legs from falling asleep, and hummed some tunes.

Then I got REALLY bored.

So I took a picture of Matt's hands.

(They are banged up but they are CLEAN-and that says alot for a cowman whose job it is to stick his hand where the sun don't shine.)

And then, I took Bunkin's first picture. Or not. It's the belly (specifically, mine) the flattest it's going to be for the rest of THIS year anyhow (and TRUST me, that ain't saying much...).

Bunkin is just a little speck.

Funny, how little specks can make you feel so crummy some days...

Pining

A day last week it topped 70 degrees and we took advantage of it by packing a picnic lunch and spending the day at the park. And I mean, the day. Playing on the equipment lasted a while, but we did lots of other things too. We made bark boats and watched them float (or not float) down streams. We went on a walk through the parks and made lots of great discoveries. We held our own concerts. We fed the masses of starved fish.

All in all, we had a ball.

That was, as Wendy (in Peter Pan) would say "The beginning of the end."

Now, I am still a sunburn while also nursing two sick kiddos.

It seems that the warm weather was too fleeting and the mix of the warm and cold has given both children a bad case of the sickies.

Burning temperatures. Horrible, breath-snatching coughs. Vomiting flem. Really pleasant things, like that.

We didn't make it to church this morning for this very reason and my Sabbath just isn't the same.

As a way of escape, I post the rest of the wonderful pictures from that wonderfully warm, blue skied, not-a-care-in-the-world day from last week.

May it's twin arrive soon and might we all be well enough to enjoy it when it gets here.

Saw seeing

Seesaws needn't have two children to be fun. Corynn figured out how to make it fun all by herself.

And she was SUPER proud of herself.

Love the expressions she made as she tried it for the first time, and second, and third...

Every single time the other end plummeted she got this moment of sheer terror across her face. And yet~ she just kept doing it.

It was so funny.

I love to watch my children experience new things, try new things, discover, overcome.

And when they succeed, there is great rejoicing.

And when they don't, they try harder until they do.