The lazy days of summer.

This summer has flown by.  The end of May through the beginning of July were really busy.

School got out.

                                                                         We planted our garden.

We celebrated some birthdays.......      










   We went to camp.

And of course, we celebrated the fourth.

After that, things just kind of stop.  At first the breather is a very welcome thing.  There are bikes to be ridden, dirt to be dug in, hoses to play in.   There are cartoons to be watched and video games to be played.  Even a few books to be read.

But after a couple of weeks without the bustle, the kids start to get restless.  We really don't spend a lot of time doing nothing.  My first defense against such things is to clean, or rather, have them clean.  Then to pull out the workbooks and such to wake up rusty brains.  Yesterday, none of that was working for our seven year old daughter.  She and her six year old brother had lost all digital for the day due to a disagreement over Mario Cart.

"Mom, I'm bored."

"Go swing on your swing set."

"I don't want to."

"Play with your toys."

"I've already played with them all."

"Read a book."

"I'm tired of reading."  

At first I didn't understand.  How could anyone ever be tired of reading?  Then I thought about it.  She is in that "awkward" stage between picture books and chapter books.   

"Honey.  Come out on the porch with me.  I have a book I'll read to you."

"I don't wanna."

"Too bad."   

Outside we went.  We both picked a chair on the side porch and I began to read The Phantom Tollbooth.

"There was a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself-not just sometimes, but always......"

At first she was stubbornly set on hating it...but then the tollbooth was PURPLE.  She went in the house, but left the door open.  I kept reading out loud, and she answered back to a question midway through the second chapter.  By chapter three, she was back outside.  By the end of the afternoon we had finished chapter four.  After dinner, she brought me the book and I read her chapter five, this time with her jr. partner in crime playing on the steps of the porch listening.  Today I am sure we will read some more.

Fee payment for the high school would be today, if my high schooler was home.  Fee payment for middle school is next week.  An ice cream social to meet the elementary kids teachers is the week after.  We did it.  We made it through the lazy days of summer.  Come tomorrow, the bustle of back to school has to begin.

Happy Birthday Princess!

Today is Ms. D's ninth birthday!  She is so excited to have friends who are in town and able to go to a movie with us.  At noon, two of her buddies will descend upon our home, and we will go hang out with some 3-D minions.

She has a lot of opinions right now.

"This year mom, I want to MAKE my cake.  I don't want a store bought one."

"Okay honey."

"Mom, there are two books I want for my birthday."

"Okay honey."

"Which cake mix do you want dear?"
"THAT ONE!"  she says pointing to Duff's tie-dye cake.  Oh boy.

Last night, we baked the cake.  It was a learning process.  She was satisfied with going to bed once we had them in the oven.  A bit of foreshadowing about what she'd find this morning.  

1) Mr. Man wasn't real happy with how one of the eggs separated.  He was worried there was too much white left behind. We probably should have put in an extra, and reduced the water a bit.

2) I let the girl grease the pans, but wasn't overly careful about checking them before we added the batter.

3) It was really, really, humid from the rain.

4) It said to cool in pan 10-20 minutes.  I forgot about it for almost an hour.

The first cake came out almost okay.  A little bit tore on the top, but it was on the inside and not too deep.  Nothing a knife couldn't fix.  After the battle with the second my first thought was, birthday rainbow trifle?

Somehow I knew that wouldn't fly with the girl.

This morning, when she first saw it her eyes went wide with horror.  So I did what any mom would do.  I totally bluffed my way through it.

"Don't worry honey.  It'll be fine.  We'll use the torn up one for the bottom layer and make a filling.  If we try to frost the middle it would just shred more."

She calmed down immediately, but was still uncertain.  I was too.  

And that friends, is the maturity peeking through.  The ability to self calm, even when there's still doubt.

Unfortunately that doubt is part of it too.  If she was six, she would have beamed at me, blindly believing I could fix anything.  The time is quickly approaching where she will insist on fighting her own battles alone sometimes, and I won't be "allowed" to save her, nor should I.  The struggle is just part of the "becoming."  Thankfully, that day is not today...and I have a strawberry cream recipe.  Here's hoping she thinks the cake is delicious.

Quiet

This week has been so very quiet.  Ms. D is not a noisy child.  She likes to paint, draw, write and read.  We had an "out day" on Monday, and will have another one tomorrow, but really she's just as happy to stay home.

Last week I thought I had a quiet house with just E1....but he likes to play video games, and watch videos and such, so there was at least background noise.   This week is different, quieter.

Yet I know the quiet I have now will be nothing like when school starts in August.  My baby boy, Si Guy will be going full day this year, since it's all they have for first grade.  I have not been home alone for an entire day in almost fifteen years.  I'm not quite sure what I'll do with myself.

I imagine I will have less time than I think, once I add in some gym time, the volunteer positions I've chosen to retain.  I will work harder at getting the household errands done while my husband is working, so our evenings can be sort of free...as free as they can be with ballet, football, and such.  Maybe I'll even be a better housekeeper?  I doubt it.  Editing my novel, or starting a second one has more appeal than that.

The real question that looms is should I go back to school, or get a job?  Probably not this year.   This year has enough new school beginnings with the children.  Besides the big switch for Si, E1 will be starting middle school, and our oldest son will be a freshman at my Alma Mater...twenty years after I graduated.  The river of time never stops, does it?

Happy Fathers Day!

   I know I just wrote a post about Mr. Man, but it is Father's Day....and if there is one reason why I will love this man until I cease to have breath and beyond it's because of what he does with our children.  A lot of people react to the size of our family with a "What?  How do you do it?"  Pretty much every time my answer is the same.  "Because I have an amazing, involved husband.  A good man makes all the difference."

Mr. Man is very involved in our kids lives.  Besides the standard "dad" stuff like teaching our kids how to grill and camping and playing video games with them he does many more things.  

• He's in charge of bedtime for the littles nightly.   Because of his example, the older boys have no problem reading stories and tucking in on his basketball night.
• He does laundry and dishes.  This frees up sooo much of my day for the running of the household and leaves me time to do the "fun stuff" with the kids while he's at work.
• This year he worked from home when I had obligations at the school, so I wouldn't have to worry about our half day kindie.
• He is the go-to math tutor for the older kids.  He is so patient!
• He is our family tech support.
• He is my rock, my reassurance, and my sounding board so I can be a better parent.

 He does more too, just instinctively he knows what our family needs.  I thank God for my husband every day.  Happy Fathers Day and every day Mr. Man.  I couldn't do what I do without you.

Mr. Man is 44! (Yesterday.)

Happy Birthday to him!
He went to work.  He grilled pork chops for dinner.  He played basketball.  A pretty typical Thursday.
We had cake.  A chocolate-cherry dump cake made w/ a home-made "pie filling" because I don't do the canned stuff.  It was all I had time for, since we have VBS this week.  (THAT, hopefully, will be a post of it's own later.)

He was good with it.  We'll do something later this summer for our "birthaversarry."  Since his birthday is in June, mine is around Labor Day, and we were married in July it's not unusual for us to combine it all into one "thing" as far as the gift element goes.  We will have a date night soon, very soon, for the individual event.

So, what makes Mr. Man so darn special.

• He does everything he does with his full attention at that moment
• He loves his God and his family unconditionally
• We enjoy the same food style
• We enjoy the same sports (even if we have different favorite teams)
• He is my back-up whenever needed for whatever reason.
• He is human valium.
• He knows how to lead without the follower knowing they are being led
• He knows when we're due for a moment of the unexpected.
• His facial expressions.  They are a language of their own
• He is content with who he is.

And of course, because he has no idea how amazing he really is.  He just keeps on  keeping on, without taking a pause to think about it.  That's part of why I love his birthday.  It gives me an
"appropriate" occasion to remind him.

Sorry sir, you're birthday blog is late just like everything else this year.

As of yesterday afternoon, two teenagers now reside in my home.  What did we get the kid for the big 13?
So far a week of helping with three year olds, and an eighty-two cent drink at his bowling league.
I baked him a gluten and dairy free birthday cake too.
Fortunately, the teachers in my preschool department at VBS are some awesome people.  Both the one in the room he works in, and one of the others gave him a card with $5 in it.  $10 in cash made his birthday awesome, along with free reign over the family computer when he was home...and that eighty-two cent drink.  It really doesn't take much to make this kid happy, just attention....lots and lots of attention.  If he's noticed and appreciated, he feels pretty loved.  It's a good thing.  If his love language was "gifts" he'd be screwed.

In all seriousness, E1 has grown leaps and bounds this year.    He has more patience with people.   He's found a sense of optimism.  He's become more comfortable in his skin and with his gifts.  He handles change better.  This is good, because that occasional crack in his voice reminds us all what big changes are probably right around the corner.

He's also learned to wait.  He has no problem waiting until Friday to get his "real" gift, and sometime next week for his "special" activity, but he definitely appreciated the eighty-two cents I spent on HIS day to show I remembered.

Morning surprise.

"Honey, we have a visitor!"  Mr. Man cheerfully announces walking into our bedroom this morning.
"rrft. What?  Who?"  I grab my phone and look at the time.  Surely I haven't slept that late!  "It's 8:30 am.  Who would just drop in? "
He's grinning wide enough to almost break his face open.  Eyes sparkling, he holds out his hand.  Wrapped around it is a tiny garden snake.   Rarely does my husband play jokes on me like this.  He is altogether too amused with himself and my intial reaction.  I am so relieved it's just a snake.
"Poor baby.  Put it out in the garden where it belongs.  We need snakes in the garden."
"I know that." he replies and takes his captive outdoors where it belongs.  He reports back.  "It's slithered under one of the rocks around the squash bed."
"Good.  He can do some good out there."

This exchange got me thinking, once again, about how we are not really a "normal" or "typical" family.
Usually these reminders come when our oldest son has a friend over for dinner.  Reactions range from a dumbfounded  "we never eat (fish, salad, etc.)  Do you have frozen pizza?"  to "I've never had artichokes.  Can I try some?"

Or blank stares from a group of students when I ask if they saw a play based on the book we're reading.

Sometimes, this different can be hard on my kids socially...because our world is a little different.  Our family is bigger.  We don't have pets.  We garden.  Yet they figure it out eventually.  They don't need lots of friends.  They just need the right ones.  It works out.  In the summer, kids will come by to swing, watch our garden, and eat popsicles.  E2 will reforge his relationships with his "bike buddies." And sometimes, having the parents  that are "weird but nice" is a good thing.  It was really cool for the kids to see a juvenile snake this morning, before he was let loose.