Summer

I think we all know the cliche of summer.  At the start of summer parents {and kiddos} everywhere are SO DONE with homework, the early morning rush, packing lunches, doing hair, and asking 50 times each morning if everyone has on clean undies.

At the end of summer parents everywhere {not so much the kiddos} are SO DONE with never ending messes, hours of electronics, begging people to do their chores and knowing that no one is wearing clean undies.

Right now, we're over the middle line and on our countdown back to school.  I have mixed feelings.  As summers go, this has been one of my best with my little family.  I attribute it to the fact that the children are getting older.  Some of them have even {GASP} begun sleeping until 8:00 a.m.  Heaven to this mama!!

But there are definitely days when I want to go back to the days of clean-er and quiet-er.  This coming school year will see my oldest three in school all day. It will just be me and JB home together.  It's going to either be paradise, or be like boogers in the oatmeal.  Only time will tell.

Today it has rained all day.  I love summer rainstorms.  I don't love the fact that it turns into Giggle-Fest 2014 when the kids and their accomplices friends are forced to be inside all day.  They are giddy because I gave them the green light on electronics IF they agreed to keep themselves in the basement all afternoon.

So I'm sitting here thinking about our summer, and how I'm going to be starting a job this weekend, and how even though sometimes the kids are like pesky dust bunnies on your furniture, I'm going to miss them when the routine comes back.

In the spirit of celebrating summer, here is a snapshot of what that's been like at our house.

 Yep.  Looks like our summer has been pretty great!!!

Disclaimer:  I have the right to totally and completely change my mind in the next couple of weeks!!!

Future Gymnasts

Well, looks like we've checked another future career off the list at our house.

Gymnast has gone out in a blaze of rope burns and fetal positions.

Today Ms. Els and Cadie Lu had their first class at the local gymnastic school.  Somehow in their brains I believe they have switched up the word "gymnastic" with "spastic" and just think the more they spaz out, the more successful their efforts have been.

When I picked them up - after getting the boys' hair cut and stopping for a drink - they were all smiles and happily reported that they'd had a great time.

"Although,"Cadie Lu began, "I think we've figured out something our family is just not good at."  I won't pretend that I was surprised when she stated that rope climbing didn't seem to be something her and her sister would excel at. "All the other kids would get up to the top, but Els and I would get up like five inches and then just give up."

Yep, sounds about right.

See, even when I was their age, and their size, I've never been able to haul my keister up a rope.  I neither saw then, nor see now, the point.  I've always gone with brains over brawn and been sure to surround myself by men with some muscle. I've been happy to let them scramble up the side of a cliff and then turn to pull me up.  In fact, one time I ended up hanging off the side of a ledge holding on to Hubs's big toe.... ha ha ha... but, that's for another post.

"One time, in gym class, I ended up stuck on the rope climb."  Els piped in.  I asked for a little more info.  "Oh, man, I was SO embarrassed...." she said.  All good stories in my family start with that line.  I'm happy to see her coming into her gene pool so gracefully.  "I got up and then I got scared because a ball accidentally got kicked into me and the rope was swinging around.  Then my hands got all sweaty and it was like they stuck to the rope.  So I was just hanging there, stuck, for a while.  Finally I started screaming and the whole class got quiet and was staring at me.  And then my teacher came in to get us and she yelled and came over to help me down.  Not the PE teacher, my class teacher."

Awesome.  Welcome to the fold Els.  Get comfy here.

"Ya, and one of the teachers today had to help Els get over a bar, " Cadie added.  I gave Els the old one eyebrow lift that says, 'do continue'....

"Well, my legs are really long, but apparently their natural inclination is to ball up close to my chest like this."  She demonstrates by rolling into fetal position in the car.

Before we finish that, I'd like to point out that it's pretty much Sweet Moses that my 10 year old said the phrase, 'apparently their natural inclination'.  I've never been so proud.

"So," she continued, "I kept yelling at my legs, 'straighten out legs, straighten out', but they didn't want to.  So the teacher would come straighten them out for me to get over the bar."

Uh.... nice.  Ha ha.  I am willing to bet that my almost 5 foot tall, size 7 (woman's) shoe wearing, "baby" was about the same size as her teacher.  And she was stuck in fetal position.  Let's also grin for a moment about her shouting at her legs....nothing strange about that!

All in all, a success.  No one tried to catch a bar with their face or ran backwards into a pole.  Although I should share that as I was pulling up to the building they insisted that they are now old enough to go in alone - even on the first day - and would find where they needed to be.  Apparently that involved them standing in a corner crying when it didn't go as planned until Els wiped her tears and said, "This is DUMB!  I'm going to find some help" and she found an employee who guided them to the right place.

Do I feel guilty that my babies were crying in a corner?  Heck yes.

Am I proud that after a moment of weakness that girl got down to business and fixed things?  Double yes.

Now, if only she could use that same stubbornness to get those legs of hers to straighten out....

My Gift to Me

Some of you are probably familiar with my tradition - starting on my 30th birthday - of giving myself a birthday gift each year.

It isn't anything tangible, more something that I give myself "freedom" from that helps make my life more enjoyable.

It started when I was about to turn 30 and I read somewhere that the 30s is your decade of self discovery.  I laughed, because I foolishly thought that at 29 I had myself all figured out, but decided that in an effort to kick off my 30s I would come up with things that I wanted to change.

Some of my gifts over the past years have been:

Freedom from "downer" friendships
Freedom from camping with little children
Freedom from singing solos
Freedom from crafts - ick!

All these things have made my life more enjoyable and helped me realize that, indeed, I am free to choose the things that will make ME happy and not try to fulfill a list given to me by the outside world, or even given to me by preconceived notions of how I thought my life would go.  It's been lovely.  I always encourage my friends to do this and it's kind of a joke now.... what do we want to be free of in the future.

Well, this year I shocked even myself with the direction my gift took our family.... in fact, I didn't see it coming until about two weeks before my birthday.

This year I'm giving myself the gift of freedom from debt.

I'm the money handler in our house and so I get the pleasant task of working the finances.  It's such a bummer job. Anyhow, I started looking over student loans, surprises that have come up {all new HVAC} etc. and realized that if I just keep trucking along doing minimum payments we won't be done paying off all our debt (obviously some things aren't included in that) for about 6 more years.  Eliana would be going on 17 and Jasec 8.

Say WHAT??!!

Then I began thinking back on my childhood - all those family trips taken as a teenager that cemented my bond with my family.  Braces, my first car, dances, music, sports....And I realized that I'd miss out on all that as a mom if we remained in the trenches of debt payments.

It really hit me that we are coming up to some pretty crucial years in the lives of our children.  Years where we want to be "free" to go and do and see and experience before we send them off to create families of their own.

So, after much pondering on my role as a mom, and crossing illegal options off the list, I went out and got me a job.  I will now be the newest employee at....

Drum Roll....

Target in Centerville.  (It was that or McDonalds - I think you see that my choice was made for me!)

I'll be working part time nights and weekends doing sales floor stuff and some cashiering starting the first week of August.

So, if you're out shopping and you see me, come say hi.....

And don't forget to wish me "happy birthday" and "good luck" with this year's gift :)

{Also, wish Steve luck as he'll be taking on Daddy duties those nights and weekends!  It seems I may have given myself TWO gifts this year.....}

My Birthday

It's 10:45 p.m. on my 36th birthday.  My sisters keep reminding me that I'm now on the downhill slope to 40....so thanks for that.

Although I've been slacking on the blog lately = BIG TIME = I wanted to take a moment tonight and wax nostalgic a little bit.

You see, when I really get to thinking about why I've stopped blogging, when I wipe away the excuses of "too busy", "nothing to share", "no one blogs much these days", I realize the truth of why I've stopped writing. I think the truth is that I have too much to share.

My 35th year of life was a doozy, friends.  More went on in our household than most people know about.  In many ways it was a year of suffering....physically, emotionally, mentally.  And I think that part of me wanted to share it, to vent about it, and to have a place to put my thoughts down.  But another, bigger, part of me was too overwhelmed by all that I was carrying, and I didn't know where to start, or IF to start.

So, here I am, 36.  I am The Girl Who Lived.

Not only did I live, but I learned.  And I grew.  I stretched and bent and swayed.  I grew some more.

I laughed, I cried, I loved.... I loved deeper and harder than I realized I could.

I prayed to love even more.

As I sit here eating my birthday sugar cookie, the house quiet with sleeping beauties, I want to make my birthday wish.

For my 36th year I wish....

To live more honestly.  To stop telling myself that any choice I make will have no consequences.  To stop lying to myself about the effects my choices make on others.

To love more.  To be gentle with those in my world.

To keep laughing.  Laughter is SO SO important.  Mark Twain said, "Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand."  Where there is laughter there is hope, and courage, and strength.  Laughter can unite and comfort people.

To keep fighting for my children, my family, and the good life we have.

I can't wait to see what this next year brings.  While I can't anticipate or change what the future holds, I can face it with determination and a sense of humor....

And I can LIVE!!!

It Heats Things Up

It's really no secret that I'm a huge fan of the comedian Brian Regan.

See....

Best date of the year....every year!!!

He does this bit about fridge shopping and how "This model is $900 and it keeps things cold.  This model is $1200 and... it keeps things cold..."  and so on.

I had a glorious conversation with Ms. Els the other day that reminded me of that bit. It brought me great joy.

Our "new" home is only new to us.  It was built in 1977.  By some miracle of machinery {not ruling out witchcraft} the original double oven is still in the house.  And functioning.  Except for the clock.  But I figure twice a day it's right, right?

Please see below photo and try not to be overly jealous of my "vintage" hipness:

Anyhow, the first time we fired that baby up Ms. Els was sitting at the counter and we had this little chat.

E:  I'm not sure I can eat anything that comes out of that.
M:  Why?
E:  I just don't think I can.
M:  It works just fine, what's the problem?
E:  It's old.  It might taste funny.
M:  Um, it's an oven.  It's job is to heat things up.
E:  But what if it makes it taste weird.
M:  But, it's only job is to heat things up.  It makes things warm.  That's it's job.  
E:  Ya, but it's old.
M:  But....it heats things up.  It's been heating things up since 1977.  It doesn't infuse things with taste.  It just...
E:  I get it.  It heat things up!!!

So then I started thinking about how funny it is that I would like to replace it, when all I really need is something that will make things hot, which this does.

To continue this thought process, as I was folding laundry today I began to ponder on fashion and how if we apply the same concept to fashion maybe I'll be having this conversation with her someday.

E:  Um, I can't wear that, it's from Wal-mart.
M:  But it covers your nakedness.
E:  I'd rather have something from {insert place where teenager would shop}.
M:  Well, that shirt can cover you up for $55, or this shirt can cover you up for $15.  It's only job is to cover you up....which this shirt does just fine.

I'm going to have to draw the line somewhere, though.  'Cause, I mean, technically a 99 cent chocolate Easter bunny should get the job done....but I'd much rather delight in the creamy, chocolaty goodness of a Cadbury confection.

Just don't tell Ms. Els I said that.