Adventure and Praise

So Abby and I got up early and went on an adventure downtown to get the school van so I can leave for yearbook camp in an hour.  We parked in the driveway and I went in to finish my hair while Abby blew bubbles in the backyard.  I took my bowl of Cheerios outside just to be near her, and I perched on a wet patio chair to eat.  She was sitting on the cement, smearing bubble soap here and there, and then she said suddenly, "I think we should say a little prayer before we blow more bubbles."  I put my spoon back in my bowl and bowed my head.

May this be your prayer today:

"Dear God and Father, we - we just want to - to thank you for this beautiful earth.  We thank you for - for the green trees and the blue sky.  We just thank you because it's fun.  An - An - an thank you for making the garden grow.  I - jus' - jus' love you.  In your ho-wee name we pray.  Amen."

"Okay, Mama, now we can blow more bubbles."

Stay-At-Home Momhood and Other Tests

We are gearing up (get it?) for a family fishing day today on Spiritwood Lake.  Eric took the day off and left bright and early to snag someone else's boat before they got up and noticed it was missing.  He'll be back soon, and I'm to be packing sandwiches in his absence.  I will.

It's been a summer full of mini-trips here and there for training workshops and visits.  I will get behind the wheel of a van on Sunday to take my yearbook staff to camp for a few days.  Then Eric and I are going to a Twins game for our get-away (no, no kids) next weekend.  THEN it will be the looming arrival of school, which I confess I am looking forward to.  I LIKE being at work for part of the day and then scooping up my darlings and being at home for the rest.  This is balance to me.  It is hard to keep scooping up my darlings with loving adoration and plans from 6 AM throught to 9 PM.  Full-time moms out there, you rock!  I do not have your strength of arm, wit, nerve, or character.

Abby has made neighborhood friends.  A young family is staying next door with parents while they close on a house, and Abby plays nonstop outside with their 6-year-old and 4-year-old boys.  She races in dirty, sweaty, and mosquito-bitten with glowing eyes only to use the bathroom and race out again, yelling, "I'm playing with my friends, Mama!"  She no longer takes an afternoon nap.  She still loves drawing, cutting, painting, gluing, etc.  This morning she stood disapprovingly in the bathroom doorway and said, "Mama.  We can't hear our cartoons with the noise of that blower [blowdryer]."

Adam spends a good portion of the day leading adults to the fridge and pointing up to the basket where the parade candy is stored:  "Handy, handy.  Mama?  Handy.  Dada?  Handy."  He doesn't leave home without his blankie "gmm-gmm" (?) and a tractor "tauck."  We took away his Nuk this past week and it went well!  The first night he woke up every couple of hours, shouting, "Nuk!" and then I would have to go in and try to help him cope.  I felt sorry I had helped to make him so dependent on a piece of rubber and plastic.  At one particular 2:30 call he was inconsolable, and I was desperate, so I climbed in the crib with him.  He was so surprised he stopped mid-yell and just stared at me for the next half an hour, until he drifted off.  There has been a lot more crying this week at sleeping times, so I think he's still adjusting.  He also has a cold and is mosquito-bitten to resemble a high-scoring domino.  Poor baby.

Someone is coming down the stairs to retrieve me.  I will soon be asked for permission to play with friends or for parade candy.  When do they start asking for money?

Summertime Pics

The Multiplying Cereal Bowls

Many photos are soon to follow from our week-plus excursion into the badlands and south to see family...but I just had to relate what we found upon our return:

All eight regular cereal bowls had been used and were lined up on the counter, each with an assigned spoon resting inside.  Following this, our larger serving bowls had been used, spoons resting.  Finally, my Pyrex measuring dishes had been used, with spoons to follow suit.  It reminded me of a multiplication table, about which you might ask your childish listener, "Do you see four cereal bowls with spoons on this side of the square?  What about on this side?  And if you multiply four by four, what do you get?  That's right!  Sixteen dishes and spoons to wash."

Oh, and the cereal cupboard was empty.  :)

Have Kids; Must Travel

(to the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane)

All our bags are packed and we're ready to go;
Diapers and wipes and wedding clothes,
Er can't wait to try out bachelorhood!

We're leav-ing for nine whole days
"Out west" because it's fair time
And because I left that place in 2001...

We're leav-ing - in a Grand Prix
With a bag of tricks beside me...
Old Burger King toys and push-pops
Stickers and crayons and candycorn
We'll start off in the early morn
And see how far we go 'til someone cries...