A Familiar Scene

This is a familiar scene at our house. Brendan loves to read. He also likes to share that love with his siblings. I totally get him when it comes to books. There are many things he does that I do not understand but I love that we have this in common. He is always hopeful that I will come back from a garage sale or a used bookstore with some treasures for him. I try not to disappoint him. Josh will sometimes say that he has enough or too many books but he and I know there is no such thing. Right now he is reading The Chronicles of Narnia. I had put half his books out in the garage to de-clutter the house and he said he needed to get some of those out because he needed other books to read. He had already read and re-read the stack remaining on his shelf. I suggested a few from our shelf and he chose The Chronicles of Narnia. He has really liked them and is reading them at a pretty good pace. He carries them around with him and even took the next one in the series this weekend in case he finished the one he was on, which he did. He likes to be prepared. Next he says he wants to read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I'm hoping to encourage some independent learning this school year. I'd say he's well on his way.

Opposites Attract

It always surprises me when Josh and I have opposite ideas about something. We usually are very like-minded - I always figured we were the exception to the rule that opposites attract. Of course, there are the common male-female differences. We fit a lot of stereotypes. He likes war movies, action movies, dumb comedy movies; I like drama, romance and light-hearted comedy. He likes to watch just about any sport on tv; I like to watch any home improvement show.

Our goals and visions are often very similar, though. So it was surprising to me today when I wanted to go order new windows and he wanted to just get the house ready to sell as is. I decided to go along with it for two reasons: one, it will mean getting a lot of little things done and that is always good and two, if we don't get any offers right away, we can still get new windows. Notice submission wasn't a reason. I'm not very good at submitting quietly if I feel strongly about something. I usually share what I'm thinking and why I think it's right and why I think he's wrong. But this time, it seems to be a win-win situation.

In spite of this new goal of having our house ready to sell in the next week or two, we didn't really do much tonight. I think I need to make a list and map out some objectives. I think of things that can be done during the day but it'd be easier to do them when the kids are in bed. Then when the kids are in bed, the couch looks so comfy. And my laptop just calls to me. And remember I said before that Rachel and Owen aren't napping in the morning now? That makes my free time at night even more precious. I know if there is a list made, Josh won't rest until things are crossed off. He's opposite of me in that area, too. It's a good thing or we'd never get any projects done. I love starting things but tend to fizzle out about halfway through.

One project that will be fun is the shopping for a few new accessories. I can get motivated to do that all on my own. :)

Practice

There is something to be said for practice. Since writing a few days ago about how hard it was to go places with Rachel and Owen, I decided to start practicing. Last week, Brendan had basketball camp from 9-12 every day. So one day after dropping him off, I went to a store with Tori, Rachel and Owen. Tori pushed Rachel in a cart and I pushed Owen. It went really well! We shopped for probably 45 minutes and no one was extremely cranky, although Tori did complain towards the end about all the walking.


I have also stopped putting Owen and Rachel down for their morning nap. This has gone much better than expected. They are playing well and don't act unusually tired until lunch time. It also helps if we go somewhere to break up the morning. Quite a different way of thinking than what I am used to - before I never wanted to go anywhere until evening. I can see where this will be good for all of us. I can also see where I could get into trouble with this because more often than not, I would choose to go to a store and most likely find something to buy that I did not need. We will also have school starting in another month and I need to be disciplined enough to stay home and get it done. It's a time of transition though. I think as they adjust to not napping in the morning and as I adjust to not getting that break, it will be easier to spend the whole morning at home.


My next thing to conquer with Rachel and Owen is taking them outside to play. It's just easier to stay inside with them when I'm by myself. But they really enjoy playing outside and I know it's good for them.


I felt like I accomplished a lot today. I hadn't done laundry this weekend so that needed some attention. After 4 loads, I'm about caught up. I also took the kids to swimming lessons. Tori had a friend over for the day so I set up the slip-n-slide and a small inflatable pool. They enjoyed that all afternoon. After supper, I took her friend home and then we stopped at Target to do some shopping - another trip out with Rachel, Owen and Tori - more practice! After getting Rachel and Owen in bed, I vacuumed and swept the floors and did some more laundry. It felt good to sit down tonight!


Last Thursday, I went up to my hometown to visit with my 3 friends from high school. It's amazing how we can pick up where we left off. We go back and forth between sharing what is going on currently in our lives and reminiscing about old times. It was a great night. I have a picture of the 4 of us but want to scan one of us from high school and can't get my scanner to work. Hopefully I can get that done soon.


On Friday, my sister came up from Indiana. We went out to a late movie and did a little shopping. Then Saturday, my parents and brother came down for the day. It was so fun to hang out together. We grilled and spent time outside and it just felt like summer. One of the best parts about the weekend is that it was kind of spontaneous - I found out about it Thursday afternoon! As much as I like planning and looking forward to things, I love surprises, too. Sometimes surprises are easier to enjoy because I don't have expectations.


In my last post, I talked about a song that means a lot to me right now. This gave a friend of mine an idea to create a cd of songs that have been meaningful to us throughout our life. I love the idea but I'm not sure I can narrow it down to one cd. She said I can do a book of cd's. :) I have been thinking about songs non-stop. I think it will be interesting to see the progression and if my tastes have changed. Don't worry, I'll post my list as soon as I get it figured out! She also asked that we say why the song is meaningful - I'm looking forward to that because I love analyzing things. I wish I could turn that off sometimes.

You're Gonna Miss This

She was staring out the window of that SUV
Complaning, saying "I can't wait to turn 18"
She said "I'll make my own money, and I'll make my own rules"
Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
Then she kissed her head and said "I was just like you"

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her "It's a nice place"
She says "It'll do for now"
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and says "Baby, just slow down"

Cause you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
She keeps apologizin'
He says "They don't bother me. I've got 2 babies of my own.
One's 36, one's 23.Huh, it's hard to believe, but ...

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good timesSo take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this"


I first heard this song by Trace Adkins when I was watching CMT and running on the treadmill. I got choked up, which will come as no surprise to those who know me well. It happens easily and often, especially when thinking about my kids getting older. It is such a struggle for me right now to enjoy the stage they're in, especially Rachel and Owen. They are constantly testing limits and trying new things. I keep thinking about the future and how nice it will be when they're a certain age and can do certain things. But I know this time is precious and will be gone so quickly. I have an 8 year old and a 6 year old to remind me of that. I look at their baby pictures and I wonder how it's possible that they are so grown up now. I literally bawled like a baby at Tori's ballet recital. Not just some tears - sobbing. Biting my lip to keep from gulping out loud. And I didn't even have kleenex. I couldn't believe that beautiful, poised, grown-up girl on stage was my little baby.

So here is a video of the moments I will miss someday. I absolutely love it when the kids spontaneously play together. They were listening to a cd called Philadelphia Chickens by Sandra Boynton and were giggling and having a great time. Enjoy!

Conversations and Book Clubs

I have said different times that I enjoy blogging because it is an outlet for all the conversations I have in my head. Now, instead of conversations, I write blogs in my head! Something is not right with me. Then, of course, when I sit down to write, I can't remember what it is I was thinking about. I'm sure it was deep and profound. :)


I belong to a book club that meets once a month. When we started, we met every other month but after a couple years, decided we were ready to commit to every month. Many of our husbands work together so one of the first rules was "What happens in book club, stays in book club". It makes it a safe environment to share and know that it's not going to be spread around the office. Or anywhere, for that matter.


We had our July meeting last night and it was a great time. We read The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant. It's about Jacob's daughter, Dinah, from the Bible. I thought it was a great book, but there were some discrepancies between the story and the account in the Bible. I had to keep reminding myself as I was reading it that it was fictional and wasn't intended to be fact. Having said that, the story really gave you a feel for that culture and what they valued and how they lived. It also made me more curious about the account in Genesis. So often I read the Bible quickly instead of letting it sink in. I don't question what it doesn't say. I don't picture the scene. This novel made it seem real to me.
We had a good discussion last night about the book. That is typical for our group, though. It's an excuse to get together but most of us actually read the book and sometimes even take notes while we read it. I like reading books chosen by someone else, especially when it's something I would never pick on my own. It stretches me and makes me think. It's also fun to find new authors that I really like.


Here is a picture of the ladies in the book club:

This isn't the most recent but I liked this one better and it's my blog so I get to pick. :)

Halfway Through Summer

I'm not ready to think about summer being over but the days keep going by. This year, I have really felt the urge to be gone from home. To have a summer house on a lake and live there for three months. I'm not sure why I have felt more restless this summer. Maybe because when I'm home I think about getting it ready to sell and that is overwhelming. There is always something that needs to be done.

Maybe I enjoyed our vacation up north a little too much this year. This is a picture of my family up there. I did love being by the lake and always having people around to talk to. I really miss that when I'm home with the kids. I think I would enjoy living in a commune. Depending, of course, on who the other members were. But I loved taking turns fixing meals and eating with a big group of people. I loved how we all just helped each other out with things that needed to be done. And I loved the conversations and the fun activities. How great to be able to easily coordinate a baseball game just by going outside and saying, "Anyone want to play baseball?" I know it's not realistic but it's fun to dream. I'm so glad we decided to do it again next year.

I think I need to start getting out of the house more with all the kids to run errands or go to the library. It is such a hassle with two toddlers and one reluctant 8 year old but it'd probably be good for us occasionally. I haven't been regularly going to the library and I miss that. I know Tori and Brendan would enjoy that - not sure how Rachel and Owen would do there. They're not the quietest toddlers - in fact, they can be quite ear-piercing and I wish I wasn't being literal. But maybe we can start practicing with a couple of quick trips and work our way up. I need to figure out how to make this lifestyle enjoyable for me while also being content in the stage of life I'm in. It is not a stage of life that makes getting out of the house easy or even necessarily enjoyable and yet, if I stay home all day, every day, I go a little crazy. When will it get easier to go places with two toddlers? I thought it'd be this summer but I was being optimistic. Let's see - next summer they will be 2 1/2. They'll listen and hold my hand and not run away and not scream then, right? Just humor me. :) Tell me it's possible.

Pictures!

I realized it's been awhile since I posted pictures. I've been awfully wordy lately. So here are some pictures for you patient people! These are from our camping weekend.

Shelby, Tori and Blake playing in the "house", aka play-yard.

Brendan and Travis with their video games. Nothing like being in the great outdoors!

Yea, Daddy's here! Tori tries to keep the smoke out of her eyes. (It doesn't work)

Blog-hopping

Is blog-hopping an addiction or an illness? Either way, I have it. I love to go to my friends blogs and start looking at blogs off their lists and then looking at blogs off those lists until suddenly I have no idea how I got to where I am. Then I have to save the blog under favorites so I can find it again because I am fairly certain I won't be able to recreate the path that got me there.

Last night I found some great things while blog-hopping. The first was some blogs on saving money and using coupons. I used to do this a lot but haven't made the time recently. I'm going to try it again and see how it goes. I don't have a lot of time to shop and don't like running around to lots of stores so I'm still a little skeptical but also excited at the possibilities. I printed off a few coupons for Target tonight and it was thrilling to see the total go down from $45 to $36.

The second thing I found was the lyrics to this song, Stained Glass Masquerade, by Casting Crowns. I haven't really listened to their music much before but these lyrics just spoke to me. It's so hard to be real and honest and not give a pat answer and fake smile.

Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin' so small
Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they'll soon discover
That I don't belong
So I tuck it all away, like everything's okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I'll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the heart again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation's open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who's been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who's traded
In the altar for a stage
The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart
But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be
Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay

I know there have been so many times when I just didn't feel like going to church. I didn't feel like seeing people and watching everyone be so friendly and happy with each other. I didn't feel all happy inside and didn't want to fake it. I wanted to sit at home and wallow in it. But those are the times I should go. Those are the times I need to focus on God and what He has done for me so I can say, like Dave Ramsey says when someone asks him how he is, "Better than I deserve." I don't need to fake it but I need to change my perspective and my focus and singing praise songs and reading the Bible are the keys for me. Then I can be true and honest and share what I am going through while at the same time say, "Praise God, I'm doing better than I deserve."

I should have combined this with my last post - it's all about perspective. God, I'm trying to learn but I know You'll have to teach me over and over.

Perspective

Yesterday I was having a bad day. At least it felt like a bad day to me. Then today I found out that a friend's husband had decided he didn't think he was interested in fulfilling his vows to be there for better or for worse. Suddenly, my bad day didn't seem as bad anymore. It's all about perspective.

Camping

We enjoyed our short weekend away. The kids and I left my parents house around 1:30 and got up to the campground around 3:30. Rachel slept for about 20 minutes and Owen was awake the whole time. He sat directly behind me in the truck and discovered that he could reach my seat belt so for part of the trip he would pull as hard as he could on my seat belt, forcing me back against the seat and then let it spring loose. He thought it was hysterical. I prayed each time that he would find something else fun to do. He also enjoyed kicking the back of my seat. I learned to not put Owen behind the driver seat.


We got into our cabin and I was a little disappointed. It had a musty odor and had lots of dust and cobwebs. It wasn't really a cabin - more like a cross between a mobile home and a camper. It was fairly spacious so that was nice but it had the same bathroom as a camper - even the toilet. Not fun. It had a window ac unit, which was nice, but the sides to connect it to the window frame were all torn and bugs could come on in. I will be a little more choosy next time I rent a place to stay at a campground.


The campground itself was nice and we were right across from Josh's family. The weather was pretty nice and Rachel and Owen slept really good while we were there so that was great. Josh got there around 9 Friday night. He drove the van to the campsite but couldn't park there because there was only one vehicle allowed so he unpacked and then drove to the overflow parking lot. Tori said, "Mom, is daddy going to live with us?" :) She was a little confused why he came and then left.


Then Saturday night, I used the bathroom and noticed a sewer-gas-type smell. Josh went in and noticed it, too. We got ready for bed and walked by and it was worse so he shut the door. Around 4:30, I woke up and went to use the bathroom and it smelled worse than a port-a-potti in there so I walked across the park to the bathhouse, mumbling the whole time about having to pay $100 a night and not even have a bathroom that works.


Sunday morning, Josh went down to the office to tell them about the bathroom situation and also to see if the check-out time could be extended from 12:00 to 1:00 so we could eat lunch with his family. They were quite firm about the check-out time and said there were no exceptions and then also said that the tank probably needed to be drained for the bathroom. I'm not sure why they didn't do this before we got there. There is no possible way we filled it up the 24 hours we were there.


So we proceeded to spend the rest of the morning packing up instead of visiting with his family and then ate lunch on the way home. Needless to say, we will not be staying there next time. It's too bad because the park was beautiful and there were lots of things to do in the area. It was small enough that the kids could ride around by themselves as long as we knew where they were planning to go.


Laundry calls - the one major downfall of going away. I do love having things to look forward to and am sad that I don't have any more trips planned. It is good to be home again. I just wonder how long I can make it before I start planning something else. :)