More Summer Sweetness

Free snow cones at VBS thanks to a family whose new business was postponed while waiting on all the right licensing. Super nice of them to turn their problem into our blessing.

Bringing home a car load of kids from VBS while they sang at the TOP OF THEIR LUNGS:

I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves

Everybody's nerves

Everybody's nerves

I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves

And this is how it goes

Bom, bom, bom

I know a song that gets......

REPEAT

REPEAT

REPEAT.....

for 8 miles. They tried especially hard to annoy me as the driver, of course, but I just played air guitar to their singing and put my fingers in my ears to make them laugh. What they meant for my harm, God turned for the good. (Genesis 50:20) Hee hee. They have no idea I was having "a moment."

A day out with our "littles" doing all the stuff our oldest has grown out of. He was away at a camp out.

Riding around the neighborhood at midnight with my hubby in his new toy.

The neighbor dog coming over (and over and over) to "call upon" our lady yellow lab (through a hole he dug under our fence.) Explaining some things to our kids as a result.

Running into four of our teachers (separately) in one day in their "normal people" casual looks.

The day before that, our neighbor took our offer to lunch with us while she was coincidentally making a sales call to the restaurant where we were eating.

A glimpse of my daughter's golden silky hair reflecting the sun and flying in the breeze.

An impromptu visit to my parents' and their unconditional love and hospitality while there.

Watching raindrops on their pond on a sad day with only the sound of a few birds and rustling trees. Staying dry under the roof of their dock.

Hearing my 6-year-old son and my 85-year-old grandma singing "Jingle Bells" together wearing shorts in June. And having lunch with her at her place.

Standing in my dad's shop late at night looking out over the mementos that represent a lifetime of memories. Illuminated only by the glow through the doorway to the adjoining room, I saw the pool table we hauled from Missouri to south Texas on the sagging roof of an LTD company car (oops!), the old shop stool where I used to sit and talk his ear off while he woodworked, the painting by his college room mate that my brother and I teasingly dubbed "Dookiestick Sunrise," and my brother's old dirt bike. Somehow it reminded me of the truck he bought with his buddies for $50 and got running. He always got to keep the old electronics at our house because he had a knack for restoring them to working condition. Hard to imagine I'm not 10 anymore.

This conversation with my dad as I FROZE on his couch:

D: Punkin (his pet name for me), why're you all bundled up?
Me: Because I'm not used to living in a meat locker!
D: (teasingly) Oh, I just think you're getting OLD and lack the circulation you had when you were YOUNG.
Me: No. I'm actually going to stay this age forever since you're freezing me alive in your own personal cryogenics lab!
D: (Laughs) See? That's why we're planning our retirement in Colorado. Texas (where I grew up - my parents are originally from Missouri) is just too hot!
Me: (through chattering, while he sits comfortably in a short sleeved t-shirt) Well, when you two go furniture shopping, skip the bed and buy a hammock. I think you'd be most happy sleeping in the snow!

Swimming with my kids for three hours by the flickering pool light under a million stars.

A lost tooth, a bullfrog stampede and round-up, my daughter's first time in high heels, cannon balls in the swimming pool, and a power outage all in the span of twenty four hours.

Sitting in church with some of my favorite people in the world, despite all our bad hair due to the power outage.

The joyous glee and pride upon my son's face because his drawing was picked to appear in a magazine!!!

Laughing until my sides split with a group of new friends/fellow parents as we watched a 6-year-old tee ball game! Oh. My. Goodness! I had to go speak to my son frequently to alleviate the frustration. This was the only league available this summer and most of the players are very much new to the game, but they are so stinkin' cute to watch in their utter oblivion!

Watching my daughter and her cousin destroy the kitchen concocting 47-item ice cream "treats" in their PJ's.

Welcoming home our newest little neighbor, a baby boy born to the ridiculously adorable young couple across the street. Knowing that beyond this blissful moment await times they will wonder if they can possibly make it through. And knowing that they will - and they will love him even more then than they do right now.

The predictability of one of our children, who unfailingly "trumpets" the arrival of each new day! (If you read between the lines, you'll know what I'm referring to.) It's so funny that they each have their unique personalities - and their own special "talents." You can set your watch by this one.

Realizing that at least for ONE MORE DAY, we are still in the first half of summer break! I am off to make the very most of it!!!

The Newbie

The following is an actual conversation with a new waitress at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants:

Older Son: I'll have the single item cheese and onion burrito combo, no sides and no onion, please.

Me: (giggle)

Waitress: O.K. And what for you little guy?

Younger Son: (Under his breath, annoyed, to me) Why do they ALWAYS call me little?!
(To waitress, flat toned) Pizza please.

(Waitress leaves)

Older son: O.K. Mom, why were you laughing at me?

Me: I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at the look on the waitress's face because she's new. She obviously doesn't know that we're regulars and you always order that. Or that you order a ONE ITEM COMBO, which is not a combo because it's not combined with anything - but it costs less than the a la carte. Or a cheese and onion, HOLD THE ONION because that's the only item on the menu close enough to what you want and you have to specify that particular burrito get everything else in it right. All the other waiters have been here forever and know you and know why you order that way, but she's confused. And it DOES sound funny when I listen from her perspective.

(The waitress returns after my husband has commented again like our last visit that the salsa tastes different.)

Me: (no doubt mortifying the hubby) We've noticed the salsa lately tastes different. Is that because you've had to go to canned tomatoes because of that whole tomato thing?

Waitress: No, we've always used canned tomatoes.

Me: Hmm. I wonder what's changed, then?

Waitress: I don't know. I'm pretty sure it tastes the same.

(I'm pretty sure it doesn't. I've been coming here since we were some of the first customers on the first day and now the owner practically knows each one of us by name.)

Husband: No. It tastes different.

Waitress: Hmmmm. Maybe we used like, part canned and part fresh and now we are only using canned?

Me: Because of the salmonella outbreak?

Waitress: No. Just to make it fresher.

Me: You mean then - or now?

Waitress: Just to change the flavor, I guess.

(What?!)

Waitress: Wait, let me ask my manager.

Us: NO! That's O.K. We were just curious. It's not a big deal.

Me: It still tastes fine. Just different. We just noticed it and wondered if it was because of the tomato thing.

Waitress: Oh, no. That hasn't really changed anything.

(I look down to at my green and white pico de gallo.)

So Far Summer's Sweetest

Edited: A link has been added for BD to explain a "keyhole blouse" (a woman's blouse with a small hole cut out of the neckline. Can be in the front or the back of the blouse.) It's my way of helping out your research so it doesn't "consume the rest of your summer." (I figure watching those home movies with the family is far more important stuff.) But I love your pluck to satisfy the ole' curiosity. I think we have that in common. I'm an engineer's daughter. And you are a lot of fun! :-)

A boy in a dripping wet swimsuit standing the exact same height as his dog on two legs welcoming him out of the water with a hug.

A girl with that same dog running behind her on the scooter.

A meal with my family in the middle of the day.

Late night rented movies while folding the laundry.

Much prayed for and seemingly respectful sweet little friends moving in across the street!

Deep conversation with my daughter while laying on the driveway in the rain watching lightning in every direction.

My dad initiating calling me without my mom just to say "Hi." Especially since I was too disorganized to realize Father's Day was approaching in time to send him anything. He is very forgiving and wouldn't even mention it.

Our backyard swimming pool. Yes, getting it was a mess but it's been a lifesaver for all I have to get done!

The kids laughing hysterically together and genuinely enjoying fellowship after a few months of growing tired of each other.

A back roads evening drive, windows down, music up, while storm clouds swirl and the air turns as cool as fall. (It's usually in the nineties here this time of year!)

Running errands in my green satin keyhole blouse and white Bermuda shorts. Feeling confident for the first time in weeks without my face patches. Yay! (I will continue to have to take time consuming precautions and treat the infection for 2-3 more months. I'm just glad to feel girly again for a day. :-) )

Kids funny ideas - like Popsicles made of pickle juice, tea or Tabasco sauce.

Our very first garden grown red ripe tomatoes, sans salmonella.

Laughing until our sides split after a particularly good hit on the pizza parlor's Whack-a-Mole, which caused the machine to repeat the same phrase for 1o minutes before an employee unplugged it from the wall: "Hit the pad to win a prize.....hit the pad to win a prize......hit the pad to win a prize.....hit the......" You get the picture.

A thousand fireflies over the ridge over the city lights.....Gorgeous!

An e-mail from a friend I haven't talked to in over a year.

Early season fireworks every evening at dusk.

Nixing the rules to cuddle on the couch watching "Jon & Kate Plus 8" with my youngest son past bedtime. He "can't get tired" because he's been sleeping in too late in the mornings.

My hubby's new habit of calling mid-day just to say "I love you."

A friend consistently e-mailing me "dumb blonde jokes" to tease me for not spending enough time with her.

My living room. It's looking great - finally.

Working so hard and being so exhausted that I give myself permission to blog three times in 24 hours. My body needs the break. It will no longer go.

Camp Clothes......Can They Be Saved?

My son has been home from camp for well over a week now, but I am still working on the state of what he brought back with him. What DO they do at camp that gets them and every. single. blasted. thing they take with them so very dirty???!! Our car - where the clothes have remained whilst they wait their turn in the washer - smells like something died there. So while one sweet little boy came back from camp knowing he is forever saved, I am not so sure the camp clothes can be.

My son's reports, though, give hope that perhaps his ruined duds were all worth it. He seems to have learned some fabulous lessons through daily studies of the life of Joseph and well as some spiritually profound camp songs:

Everybody's doin' it - doin' it

Pickin' their nose and chewin' it- chewin' it

Thinkin' it's candy, but it'ssssssSNOT!

Really, though. For $85 bucks, he got sound Bible teaching, a week of memories that will evoke laughter with his buddies for the rest of his life (because I KNOW they will still sing this song as grown men; I live with one), and whatever fun physical activities that were rough enough to ruin his camp clothes. I'd say that was one heckuva bargain!

My Boy Is No Longer My Baby

There has been SO MUCH going on at our home as of late. There has been so much reflection on life that would lend a lot of context to the serenity I experienced tonight. Hopefully I will remember it from that stance when I re-read this post in the years to come.

Tonight was my turn to watch the baby nursery at church for our evening service. I always love this time. Though it occasionally may make me a bit sad to realize it, I nevertheless feel at peace in the knowledge that we have likely expanded our family as much as we ever will by natural means. And so each time I get to spend this hour and a half with the children of those I have known since they were my own students in Youth Group, I enjoy it immensely. I soak up all the silliness in their nonsensical games, the feel of their tender rolled skin as I hold them in a hug, the "baby smell" that nestles especially in their newly washed hair. And then I go home glad for every single vivid memory I have of my own kids in those moments and yet equally happy that they are who and what they are at this very moment. What they now lack in innocence as compared to these young ones, they make up for in accomplishment that these kids don't yet even dream of. I have thanked God often that for every loss in a particular stage of childhood growth, there seems to be an equal blessing that wasn't there before.

As I went to tuck the children into bed tonight at 11:00, because they ARE getting older and wanting to stay up late as big kids do, my son made a request. "Mom, will you lay here with me for a little while?" He didn't have a bad day (in fact he told me thank you three times for letting him stay and play with his lifelong buddy though I needed to come home and pay bills - again.) And he wasn't scared. As he quickly approaches his last pre-teen birthday ever, I realized that he just wanted my company. And truth be told, with all I have had to accomplish lately, I have been desperately missing his - and his siblings'. I lied down and we talked for a little while about a few different everyday things until his words became softer and less frequent. Then I rubbed his back until I heard quiet but distinct snoring. He never did that as an infant or toddler. I couldn't help but notice, as he struggled in his sleep to pull the covers ever tighter around him (a quirk he gets from me and not his father) that he is beginning to develop the slightest little cut of tricep muscles. His tousled hair and dirty fingernails both need to be trimmed. His once chubby pink cheeks have morphed into a chiseled jowl and his tiny turned up baby nose is now straight and tanned and freckled. So I just lay there, immensely grateful, and took in his smell. It seemed like a mix of saw dust and faint sweat. Almost manly. Almost. And tonight I can honestly say.......it was even sweeter than that brand new baby smell.

Ambiguous

Hi, all. It's been difficult lately sitting down to type anything coherent. Life feels very out of control right now and some of the explanations don't feel right describing in every tacky detail. Also I have been concentrating on keeping a positive attitude. I think we all have our periods of like this. I am certainly no saintly exception. I have developed a staph infection that is on my face, of all places, and while I do like to think I have been pretty good about not being TOO vain about it, I would be lying to say that wearing giant patches on both cheeks from my eyes to under my chin is not bothersome. Especially in this unrelenting heat. And knowing that there are circumstances that may make it harder than usual to attack. (They expect it to take all summer and then some.) However, this is the first time in my entire life I have had to take an antibiotic or go into public looking "different" and face stares and I still have all of my abilities as far as what I can accomplish in a day and for these I realize I am EXCEEDINGLY blessed. My family has had so few health issues and I know that is not something very many people can take for granted. This is so minor in light of the thousands in more precarious health every single day of their lives. I do realize that.

A bigger difficulty, quite frankly, has been reading blogs about how dirty people's homes are. By comparison with anyone else who CARES what their home look like, I feel certain I could top them and changing that has been exhausting. But we HAVE to. I have lived mid-move since late 2004 (not by choice, but by lot) and our organization has hit rock bottom. Which has messed with my motivation because I THRIVE on organization. So I am afraid the blog must suffer. There are a TON of posts waiting to be written that likely never will. As important as it is to me to maintain this record of our lives, it is right now all I can do to live it well and I have very consciously decided to make that my priority for the summer. So, will I blog anymore? I hope so. But I can't officially announce when or how often or how sporadic it might be. My comments have waned already of late and I am not going to lie and say it hasn't been a disappointment because I enjoy the camaraderie, even if it's in a cyber sense. But I do understand it. I still want to contact a couple of you who live nearby to meet up like we've discussed and I haven't forgotten that. I just know you'll understand me wanting to wait until I have an uncovered face to do it. The Michael Jackson get-up is not my best look. :-)

Other than that, I just want to wish you all a good summer while I get my stuff straightened out. The blog loop I've been a part of is great at relaying all their families' funny antics, so I'll probably drop by now and then when I need a good laugh. That should be fairly regularly.

Now how was that for telling my plans? I guess what I am saying is that I myself am off to figure them out first! Have a safe and happy, lovely summer!

Uni-Boobs, A Rabid Wolf, and Other Assorted Craziness

I have surprising more energy and motivation today than I expected after staying up until 3 a.m. two nights in a row and not sleeping in. For this I am exceedingly thankful. I may have mentioned once or twice that sleep deprivation kicks my rump faster than just about anything else. But a new day, even if it started before bedtime, is a blessing in that it presents a chance to arise and view everything in a new and different way. My house is still a mess - in a bigger way than just "stuff absolutely everywhere" - and our many issues still linger and have been added unto, but I'm feeling ready to tackle it again. Thank you for your prayers, advice and good wishes. Really. It did my heart so much good just to vent and know that I was heard and held up.

My late night was to finish laundry and ironing to prepare my oldest son for camp. (Yes, ironing. Weird, I know. It's not MY idea. :-) ) On the way home from dropping him off, we passed a real live version of his very favorite animal on the side of the highway. I don't know where or remember when his fascination with wolves started, but he loves their strength and beauty (in his eyes.) After almost two years "in the country," I have seen some deer and wild turkey, even a rabbit or two, but I have yet to see a wild wolf. As we passed though, I noticed that he seemed bravely close to the zipping traffic along the interstate. He barely flinched. In fact, I became convinced that he wasn't even real, which completely got my curiosity fired up. Why would someone put a stuffed wolf by the side of the highway? I decided to turn around and find out. As we drove the mile up and back to find the wolf, we spotted him, standing in the same place, but now facing the other direction. Was this some sort of prank born out of summer boredom? I pulled over about 20 yards from the wolf, expecting to scare him safely back into the woods and away from the flying roar of passing rigs. But he just stood there. We stopped and watched, mesmerized. Finally his head turned, leading his body to bobble like a drunkard. The poor animal was standing there nearly comatose for about a minute at a time before he would attempt to move again and wobble just like someone who has consumed far too much alcohol. Then, finally, he lied down and shut his eyes. It was all too much for my tender-hearted daughter, who couldn't stand to recognize the suffering. As I assured her I was waiting for a safe spot to re-enter traffic and leave, he stood back up into his statuesque pose. He obviously wasn't going to make it, but he sure was going to try anyway.

About three months ago, we watched with giggles as a possum chased his own tail in cartoon like motions around the middle of an off-ramp. His speed was like that of someone amped up on a whole case of energy drinks and though we knew something wasn't right, it was easy to distract from that because of his spastic animations. It was less sad and more amusing than with the wolf. In both cases we called animal control. They probably both were rabid, but this was obviously a far more advanced case and very hard to watch. Even so, I still wish my son could have seen the wolf so up close, just without the ugly outcome.

Which reminds me, among the many things we will miss about him this week will most of all be his humor. Last week, we were blessed to take a quick trip to the river with our neighbors and had a wonderful time rafting the twelve miles, picnicking on the banks and digging up rocks. I relished in the moments of recognizing that my hubby and I are still our kids' first pick of company for having fun, though they are growing up quickly. One tell-tale sign that my son is maturing at such a fast rate is his new ability at witty one-liners. As I lay back in the water to cool off and face the sunshine, my t-shirt filled up with air across my chest. "Hey, look Dad!" he yelled to my husband downstream. "Check out Mom's shirt. She's got UNI-BOOBS! She's UNI-BOOBER Kazinski!"

Wasn't it just last week the "UNI-BOOBS" were his primary source of nutrition? Where does the time go?