Blessings

This is my 100th post. As such, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate the blessings in my life. Also, since I have been a little grumpy about moving lately, and since all the papers are signed and all the money is redistributed and there is no longer anything I can do about it anyway, I thought it would be good to turn over a new leaf of "happy attitude" about our new home and life. So, here goes - my blessings:

:: room for a decent duel
:: room for the kids to have all of their toys out at once, and yet I never have to see them

:: this little boy - all of my kids have a miracle story of coming to our family, but this one . . . yeah
:: my fabulous camera - it was worth every penny (and especially the warranty)

:: living so close to so many play spaces that I can take my kids and all their cousins to fun places at will - no seatbelts required
:: the dear friends we have already made here - thank you for taking us ice blocking, and bringing us goodies, and just including us

Towel Dreams

I woke up Wednesday morning having dreamed about a towel. I have been having very practial life sorts of dreams lately, which is very unusual for me (aside from the very interesting chat I had with Steve Martin the other night about his odd collection of Matchbox car parts). There have been lots of dreams about shopping for school supplies and clothes, things like that.

Back to the story - so I dreamed about this towel. I have had this pink towel sitting in my sewing closet for at least a year and a half waiting to be made into a little hoodie bath towel for Anna. In my dream this lovely pink towel had a lovely little crown appliqued smack in the middle. I thought about it here and there throughout the day (there was not much time to think of such things as we were racing around to sign house papers and dashing to other appointments). When Sean set off for Mutual and basketball, I set off for my sewing room. And . . .

ta-da! A masterpiece! My dream came true! I stitched a strip of cute little edging fabric onto the hoodie part just to tie it all together. Anna was tickled to get it this morning at breakfast. I love watching her eyes get big. She told me in no uncertain terms that the towel was going with her to swimming lessons today. Yippee! Success! ;>

Playing Around

My kids have been on a game-playing streak. They have been playing board games for five days - straight. It's crazy! They play Chess, Othello, Guess Who, Chutes and Ladders, Stratego, and Uno. I'm sure there have been others, but I can't keep track. It is so fun to see them enjoying each other's company in such a calm, relaxing manner. I am also grateful their sportsmanship has improved and we don't have to listen to crying fits when someone loses.

I love it when Anna joins in the fun (or should I say when the boys let her join in the fun). She is a kick and really understands a surprising amount for a three year old. In Guess Who, she can ask identifying questions and give accurate answers, although she needs help knowing which people she has eliminated on her board.

Because the boys have been so buddy-buddy lately with all this "gaming", Annabelle and I have spent a considerable amount of time hanging out together. I guess this is preparing me for when the boys head off to school and it is just me and Anna at home. She is incredibly entertaining, so I am really looking forward to it.

This is her most current form of personal entertainment: singing on the living room table. She wiggles her hips and flings out her arms and sings "loudy". Her favorite song at the moment is: "I Don't Want to Get Off the Table". Like I said, she is extremely entertaining.

Saying Goodbye

I have put off writing this post for a very long time, in the hopes that I wouldn't have to. Sean is very excited for this week. I am dreading it. Within 48 hours my beautiful red front door will no longer be owned by me. Somebody else will own it. Somebody else will walk through that door with all of their stuff and fill up all of their new rooms. Since April 1st I have toyed with the idea of moving all of our stuff back through that door and settling back into our little life in Beavercreek. It was good life. And I miss it.

Everyone is rolling their eyes about now. But your new house is so big. But your new yard is so huge. But your new schools are so good. Blah, blah, blah.

Yesterday morning I woke up and all I wanted to do in the world was go to Beavercreek Ward, and walk into my Primary room and see my beautiful Primary children. I want to listen to them sing, and hear them give talks, and see their little scriptures raised up so high in the air to show that they brought them. I miss Sharing Time and Singing Time and early morning meetings. I miss the women I worked with. I miss the sun filtering through the curtains in that beautiful new room. I miss my friends, my nieghbors, my Visiting Teaching sisters. I miss seeing my brother's family every week. I miss my ward!

Not a week goes by that I do not want to pack this big house all up and go home. In 48 hours that becomes so much more impossible than it was two months ago (and it was pretty much impossible then). I don't want to bide my time here, just waiting to move back. I want to make the most of my time here, because who knows how long it will be. But my heart is still home. And right now it is very hard to say goodbye to my home.

Hurry Up . . . And Do Nothing

Oh, the state of things around these parts - it makes one want to cringe, or cry, or both. What you see in the picture above are prints that we hurried up and got printed, in mats that we hurried up and ordered, surrounded by frames that we hurried up and bought. How long, you might ask, have those lovely photos been adorning the floor of my bedroom? A solid month! Why the rush? Who knows. Why the lack of subsequent activity? Who knows.

The picture above represents another hurry-up-and-do-nothing project. In June we moved the boys out of their room and into the spare room. It is much bigger and better suited to their needs. Their old room is now my craft room. But, as you can see, it is in dire need of paint and organization and style. Not to mention, the boys room has not yet been put together and it is in a state of constant mess.

The bathrooms - ah, the bathrooms in this house. Every bathroom needs to be painted. My bath has had paint samples brushed about on the walls for 4 months. I finally decided on a color for the kids bath (pictured above), moved all of my supplies upstairs and got ready to dig in, when something came up. That was the end of June. Dah!

And my final picture today. We have a lovely display area above the front door. The current display boasts platic play-doh scissors, a pirate earring and a pull-up. Yum! That lovely arrangement has been stirring passion within me for a whole four months. It is virtually untouched since three days after moving in. The good news with that one is that my kids (read: Erik) have stopped throwing things up there. The bad news is we've been staring at it for four months and still haven't done anything about it.

This summer has been so crazy. And now that things have slowed down just a touch, I just want to sit somewhere and catch my breath. I have so many great projects and things to do; things that are all ready for me to just walk over a pick up a paint brush, or hammer in a nail, and I haven't done it. I must not have caught my breath yet. I hope I do soon.

Things I'm Loving:

:: that I splurged on these gorgeous lanterns when we moved in
:: air conditioning

:: my swirly, dancey girl
:: a family of full, satisfied bellies from my yummy cooking

:: visions of the future (oh, the places we'll go!)
:: dry floors (oh, the minor floods we've had!)

:: picking up right where I left off on my niece's birthday present
:: and the prospect of sitting up late, folding laundry with my love, while watching classic 80's television online (absolutely loving Simon & Simon)

Fruits and Flowers

Please double click on this image so that you can see it in all of its mouth-watering glory. These are all goodies in my garden right this very second. Baby grapes are growing on a vine which is threatening to overtake my patio. We are eating blueberries like crazy around here, and under-ripe apples (the kids - not me). I am not sure what the fascination is with bitter, hard apples, but the kids can't seem to get enough of them. My father-in-law was very concerned about me thinning the apple tree this year so that the remaining fruit will mature to a large size. Needless to say I did not bother thinning the tree, since I knew (after having three apple trees at our old house) that the kids would gladly do the work for me.

The flowers are a particular joy to me, since I planted them all (excluding the purple hydrangea). The ranunculus were planted this spring from a bag of corms (though, I do not care for the color selection). The roses and echinacea were all planted several years ago in a small rose border at the back of the house. "What?", I hear you say, "I thought you said you planted all the flowers in this picture." I did. Several years ago, Sean and I house-sat while my in-laws went out of town for a week. We decided to put in a small flower border while we were there as a surprise. Now, I get to enjoy beautiful blossoms I planted long ago, never expecting to call them my own.

How can one not be satisfied by all that good, gorgeous stuff?

Anna Takes the Plunge

Swimming lessons began on Tuesday for Erik and Anna (Djeryd said: "No, thanks," which is a good thing because he is at Cub Day Camp this week and does not get home until swimming lessons are almost over). Erik was fine and knew exactly what to do (this is his third year). Anna, however, was worth a story. The forty-five minutes (start to finish) proceeded as follows:

:: Anna is excited to walk across the field to swimming lessons. She dons flip-flops and wraps her pink towel around herself.
:: We arrive at the pool and she freezes, stiff as a board.
:: I gently walk her over to her instructor, with much more stiffness from her.
:: Her instructor offers to hold her. This works.
:: Anna begans screaming "I don't like it!!!!" once the instructor has her stand by herself in the water and hold onto the wall of the pool.
:: Anna continues to scream.
:: I began to sweat. What should I do?
:: The instructor picks her up again and does bobs with her and bubble blowing.
:: Anna starts to cry whenever her head nears the surface of the water, but then stops the second the instructor shoots up.
:: Once Anna is consistantly giggling, the instructor puts her back on the wall with the other children.
:: The screaming re-ensues.
:: The sweating re-ensues.
:: I collect her from the pool.
:: We sit on the bleachers and wait for Erik to finish.
:: The last five minutes, all of the kids start to dive, including Anna's class.
:: This is Anna's favorite thing about the water: jumping in it.
:: Anna decides she wants to jump in with the other kids, but classes are now dismissed.
:: No problem, Anna's instructor lets her jump in after all of the other kids are gone, and before the next class starts.
:: They bond with a high-five.
:: Anna gets out of the water, walks over to me, and then refuses to put her flip-flops on for the walk home.
:: She wants "mermaid hair" (wet). She wants to go back in the pool and soak her head.
:: After a brief struggle, involving a lot of screaming on her end (and, of course, staring parents), I simply pick her up and carry her home.
:: She screams her head off the ENTIRE walk home because she wants wet hair.

Does anybody want to cover swimming lessons on Thursday?

Sights for Sore Eyes

We are all home again, at last, for the first time in seven full days. It has been a long, wonderful week; but boy, am I glad to be back home with my family. We spent Saturday evening getting re-aquainted with the home, garden, nearly-forgotten toys, and one another.

We all wandered upstairs at bedtime, and my boys' messy room has never been such a beautiful sight to behold. I looked around the room, and it was filled with my favorite people, all together, in one space. Sean was reading scriptures and asking lots of gospel questions; Anna was snuggling with her bear inside Djeryd's airplane; Erik was busy pretending the RC ATV had batteries; Djeryd was spelling scripture names/words (Alma, Roman, Jews); I was taking pictures.

It is so good to be home; but more importantly, to be together. At long last.

Checking Out For a Bit

I will be stepping out of the office for a week or so, and wanted to assure you all I did not fall of the face of the earth, as I am sure you will be concerned in my absence. I am heading into a very busy holiday weekend, and then off to a week in the woods with a bunch of 15-year-old girls. I am in the middle of Girls Camp lesson plans, and preparing the house and my children for our separation. As such, blogging is being forced into the back seat. The following week will be pretty crazy, too, involving Cub Day Camp, Activity Days and Swimming Lessons. It may be a couple of weeks before I am back into my groove. But never fear - I shall return!

Wishing you all a happy and safe Fourth (and a happy and safe next couple of weeks). ;>