Overheard at the clinic

Two elderly women were sitting together at the clinic on one of my recent trips to take Elizabeth in for a well baby exam. And when I say elderly...I mean OLD. Like o.l.d. old.

They were talking to eachother at a decibal that could be heard by all in the waiting room, so I hardly consider the conversation to be 'over-heard' when it clearly was heard by any listening.

Leaning in towards her friend, as if to share a bit of gossip, one said to the other, "Do you know, some days I just can not remember my third great-grandchild's name?! I don't know why--but today is a day that I CAN remember it. It's Gavin."

The other old lady leaned back, away from her friend and said, "No damn wonder you can't remember it. The stupid things people name their kids these days, it's ridiculous! I have a few that are strange like that too...some kind of country western names or something."

At this point I had to use Elli as a shield to hide my laughter. They were cracking me up big time.

The first one responded, "Western? You think Gavin is supposed to be western? No one in our family is a cowboy...at least that I know of."

(No offense to anyone with a child named Gavin. Believe me, their list of 'ridiculous' names would not have ended with that.)

Shade celebrates 5 years!

It has been no secret here on my blog that I heart Shade clothing. I guess I may have mentioned them a few times...possibly coming in second only to my love of my family. For me, when I find a good thing, I like to share it. And Shade is a good thing.

This month marks their fifth anniversary. I discovered them through a small shout out about them in my Faith & Family magazine about 4 1/2 years ago. I was intrigued by the reasons that the owner/creator listed for starting this company---a desire to be fashionable and modest. I like.

Well that was then. My first purchase was probably a long sleeve tee in the bold color palette of black, or white, or nude...who knows, maybe I splurged and bought all three. I can be crazy like that! Those were the options. But boy have they come a long way. Just this morning I purchased myself this vivid little number. It's the 3/4 sleeve cardigan in Harvest.

To celebrate their anniversary, Shade is offering US a present! Isn't that nice? So if you have never tried Shade, here is your chance. If you have tried them and LOVE them go celebrate with a new item. Thirty percent off is quite a gift. But hurry, it only lasts until Saturday!

Just because....

Pilates with a three-year old

"Where's my spine--I can't find it!"

"Mom! Why did she just say to squeeze your butt-ox?"

"Exhale? What does that mean?"

"'Heel to the butt-ox', (hee hee), that sounds funny!"

"Did she just say to glue my tushie to the floor? You wouldn't want me to do that, would you mom?"

Yeah, let's just say that my abs got a work-out, but from laughter...not necessarily the Pilates!

For those who protect me

This upcoming weekend many of us will go about our days in much the same way as we would any other. We will play with our kids out in the sunshine, mow our yards, take in a football game all the while knowing that when next weekend rolls around we’ll be doing much of the same again.

But for some of our residents this weekend will mark the beginning of a farewell, a long good-bye. These parents, playing with their children out in the sunshine on Saturday, will hold them a bit tighter than they did in the past. They will look to memorize the sound of their laughter and imprint the vision of their smiles into their heart. They will hold their spouses hand and let the mowing wait for another day. They will stand and watch their son’s football game, or daughter’s volleyball game and try desperately to keep the tears from rolling down their cheeks.

This weekend our community and those around us, will be saying good-bye to the brightest, bravest, noblest, most courageous, most honorable and most patriotic among us, yet again. They are the best that we have to offer.

Let’s not let their sacrifice go unnoticed. Let’s ensure them that we will be here for the families they leave behind. Let’s promise to stop in, check out, and help their sons and daughters and the spouse left to carry the burdens alone, in any way that we can. Let’s get out and send them off with a pride that can only be felt in seeing the best of our community suit up for the long and difficult journey that comes with wearing an American uniform. We are proud of you! We support you! And we will pray for your safe and expedient return!

Happy feet? I think not.

It seems that I aggravated the tendons in my foot. Yeah, I know. Who knew you could tick off your feet?

So now until my foot becomes un-aggravated, my regular date time with my tennis shoes, a time I have grown to love, has to be replaced with some alternative form of exercise. Preferably one that can be done in say, flip flops....?? Anyone? Anything?

Table tennis?

The joys of camping...

I realized that I have not written much about our summer activities, like camping. Then I realized it was because we did not have the same type of summer as we have had in the past. But that is okay. There are different seasons of life, when priorities are rearranged. This summer was one of those seasons.

But we did manage to squeeze in one or two in the past several months, and it was just enough to keep us excited for the fun that the next camping season will hold. Fun: you know like the stories I have shared in the past. Only now we have being stung by bees to add to the fun of camping.

As Chad and I were setting up camp, which takes a while with a pop-up and all of our gear, the kids were entertaining themselves in the grove of trees directly behind our site. Within sight, and ear shot. When all of a sudden we heard a scream that sounded like a tract from a horror movie. "GET MOM! GET MOM!" Over and over it was repeated amidst screams of terror and fright. I dropped my armful of supplies and ran the short distance to the trees scared of what horror I might find.

There stood four of my kids in a swarm of bees. "RUN OUT!" I yelled, trying to be heard above the frantic voices. I ran into the swarm along with Chad and ushered the kids out of the trees, only to bring the swarm of VERY angry bees along with us. As I chased down Nicholas, who seemed to have aggravated them the most (imagine that), Chad took care of Andrew, Kate and Olivia.

The bees were covering Nic's shirt, face, arms. And as I tried to swipe them off, I angered many myself and felt the burning of stings on my arms. Amidst all the ruckus (can you even imagine what the other campers were thinking?), a sheriff who had been making a round through the park stopped to help. He suited up and did his best to get Nic under control. I threw the kids into the pickup, shut up all the windows and told them to stay put. We assessed the damages and our options.

Thankfully we were camping only miles from home. So I drove them back into our house where grandparents met us and helped soothe the burning bodies of Nicholas and Andy. Kate and Olivia seemed to have escaped relatively unharmed, and thanks be to God, Elli was no where near the action.

I knew Nic's discomfort on a much smaller level, as I had been stung three or four times myself. But his body suffered the greatest. He took several stings to the face, arms, stomach and back. After a cold shower, pasting his body up with baking soda, some med's, we talked him into returning to the campsite. Thankfully they were able to move us to a new spot and we had no more issues with bees the remainder of the weekend. It turned out to be a lovely weekend for camping.

I was very proud of him, when Saturday morning he suited up for the first time ever to play 3rd-4th grade football. I told him he was tough. Tougher than any hit he might make or take that morning.

The camel's hump

Do you ever wonder what we did with all of our time before we had children?

I finally figured it out.

I refer to that time as the camel years.

Back in that time when rest, relaxation, hunting, shopping, reading, fishing, playing piano, riding bike, laying about lazily, eating at any hour, writing....was a thing to do whenever we wished.

I finally figured out that we do all those things at our leisure and we store the memory of them up, much like a camel stores water in it's hump, for a day when it will be needed. As a parent we draw on that memory of rest instead of actually being rested now.

Some day we will do those things again. At our leisure. Those years will be called retirement.

For now we revel in reading Dr. Seuss, hunting for a bargain online, eating Cheerios from a baggie on a walk to the park, and falling into a bed where we will wake with three extra sweaty heads buried in our armpit.

Meditation. Andrew style.

School Daze 09

So our school year did not start as we would have imagined it would. Sick kids put us all back a bit, but by the official third day of school my kids were all back in it together ready for their second day. Here are the three that made it to day one.

Notice Kate attempting to civilize Andrew?

The clap in of second graders.

Kate looks as though she's about to burst.

Just one of the big kids now.

Does he look excited or what? I may be bias, but he is too cute for words.

Nicholas made it the second day, but the girls did not.

Elli's not sure how she feels about it all.