Category - Family Life

My parents went to Hawaii in 1977 and brought back some coconut syrup. I had never tasted anything like it! It was so delicious and thick and I can almost taste it all these years later. I think we used it about twice before it started getting saved for special occasions. But you know what? Those special occasions never happened. One day my mom finally decided that yes, we could use the coconut syrup. Sadly, though, it had gone bad. We had to throw out that wonderful syrup. Now we didn’t get to use it at all.

Has this ever happened to you? Is there something in your life that you are saving for special occasions? Is it special china or fancy table linens? Those expensive, great smelling jar candles? Or maybe it’s your family’s favorite meal? Now I’m not talking about those things that are a part of a specific holiday celebration. Some things really do belong just with Christmas, Thanksgiving or a birthday. I’m talking about those things that you have stored up in some closet that you are saving for “some day.” Well, you know what? Today is some day! Get those special things out and use them before it’s too late.

OK, I know what you’re thinking. Use my grandmother’s good china with my rough and tumble crowd?!? Maybe not so much, I’m with you there. But maybe you and your dh can use the good china once a week, perhaps on Sundays, while the children use the more durable stuff. And while you’re at it, bring out the crystal candle holders. Whether you light the candles or not is up to you, but at least let them decorate the table. I’ll venture to guess though, that if you lower the lights for a candle lit dinner, the kiddoes will be so enthralled that they’ll forget to bicker with each other. They may even eat.

What else do you have stored away? I’m a hoarder of scented candles. But they don’t do me any good at all in the linen closet. They even lose their scent over time. I made a commitment to myself that as part of my morning chores, I would light a scented candle in the kitchen. I am really enjoying my nicely scented house everyday. And now that my candle stash has been significantly depleted, I have no guilty feelings about buying more when they are on sale.

But it’s not just “things” that we save for later. How many times a day do you tell your children “not right now” or “later” or “I’m busy.” I’m right there with you again! I’ve got 3 children at home to care for, crafts that I want to finish, and faithful blog readers waiting breathlessly for my next entry. I’m a busy girl! And my children have a knack of wanting my attention right in the middle of my most profound thoughts. Or when I’m in the bathroom. Or up to my elbows in poopy diapers. Sometimes they just have to wait. But there have been many times when I’m not really doing anything all that important. Or what I am doing can be put on hold. And while playing three rounds of “Pretty, Pretty Princess” may not be high on my list of priorities, it is important to Pumpkin Girl. Just like we put off the coconut syrup for another time, I found myself putting off the children’s requests for another time. Just what am I saving my time for? Is there anything more important than spending time with those you love?

So I have resolved to set some time aside for my children. Not school time or hauling them around on errands or sitting around while they watch a movie. I mean real time. Doing something THEY want to do. Even if it’s playing “Pretty Pretty Princess” or reading “Shrek 2” (ug!!). I try to make a point every day of telling them, “Hey, I’ve got some free time for you, what would you like to do?” They get so happy when I do this! I’ve even started keeping a list of the things we’ll get to “someday.” Craft projects, books to read, games we haven’t played in a while, all go on this list. While these things won’t go bad in the cupboard, my children will grow up and I’ll find that “some day” never came.

What are the coconut syrups in your life? Are they actual things? Or is it your time? Or both? What can you do to make sure you enjoy the blessings God has given you before they go away?

( Epilogue: My husband recently went to Hawaii on a business trip and brought me back some coconut syrup. I used it on my pancakes every week until it was all gone. I even let my children have some, but only a little! It was just as good as I remember it. I’m sorry it’s all gone, but I am glad that I ate it instead of having to throw it away.)

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Well, believe it or not, swimming lessons were a “Go” today! I will spare you my complaints and just focus on the positive. Several of the families that were there yesterday didn’t bother showing up today, so the class was a much more manageable size. Boo and Pumpkin Girl both got into the water without me. In fact, I had turned my back to get Nicholas settled in the shade and when I turned around, they were both sitting happily on the side of the pool with their instructor. They were facing me for most of the class, so I could encourage them with over-enthusiastic clapping and thumbs ups.

I have been trying to get Boo into swimming classes for about 4 years. The first attempt failed miserably. He was about 3 years old and cried and cried. Poor little guy. He was out of the pool within 10 minutes and we were able to get all of our money back. He refused to even try again until this year. With him refusing, it was pretty pointless to try to talk Pumpkin Girl into lessons. I was very proud of him and quite relieved when he joined the class and got into the pool without so much as a glance over to me.

During the class, he did look to me several times, mostly with a big grin on his face, as if to say, “Hey, look what I can do!” Pumpkin Girl looked to me mostly for encouragement. She was a little more nervous about the whole thing and hestitant to try new things. She said she enjoyed herself, though, and is looking forward to tomorrow’s lesson.

They had “free swim” for the last 10 minutes of class and they both seemed to be so much more comfortable and confident in the water. The experience was such a good one that I briefly considered getting them into all the rest of the sessions. But then I remembered that these classes are every single day for 2 weeks. Do I really want to commit to being at the pool every day until September? Not so much. I think that after soccer ends in the Fall, I will look for a local YMCA where they can take additional lessons.

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You know, my summer is just not frustrating enough.  I made the mistake of mentioning on my blog  that Bip is sleeping better.  Well, don’t you know that set the Great Cosmic Gears a-turning and for the last couple of nights he has been downright difficult.  He is probably our worse sleeper EVER.  (there, maybe the Gears will start turning the other direction)  I’m so tired it hurts.  Mostly in my head.

Yesterday I found that the ant colony that tried to hide their eggs under my baby kimchee pot outside twice, and that I killed twice, then moved on to hide their eggs in my geranium pot, and that I killed again, had established residence in my gerbera daisy pot.  I attempted to kill them again.  I probably just killed the plant instead.  I saw them marching happily all over our porch again this morning.  How many times do I have to kill these ants?!?

Also yesterday, we spent the whole hot afternoon driving up and down the state of Virginia looking for school supplies.  OK, maybe not the whole state, but a good portion of Highway 1.  First stop, Target.  Any shopping trip to Target is bound to be a good one.  I picked up some funky socks for an exchange I’m in (Hi, Aunt Peggy!), found cute stickers in the dollar spot, bought a lampshade for the guest room…but no school supplies.  Well, they had school supplies, but no more than they normally have.  And not the Uber Organizing Binder I was looking for.

So off to WalMart.  WalMart always makes Philip and I a little silly.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s all the possibilities for some good consuming.  Plus, we haven’t been in a WalMart in over 3 years.  So we entered the store in high spirits.  That didn’t last long as  Boo spotted the McDonald’s inside and started up about how hungry he was and that fries would hit the spot.  And wouldn’t stop talking about the fries. Then as we made our way down the aisles, I was totally overwhelmed by how overcrowded it was.  Merchandise crammed in everywhere, including shopping baskets filled with stuff waiting to be reshelved. And I don’t mean one basket of a few things.  I mean 2 or 3 baskets, overflowing, in every aisle.  I took one quick pass down what I thought was the school supplies aisle, met up with Philip who had failed to find our favorite WalMart brand raspberry soda, and we left.  Boo expressed in great detail, his desire to return to this wonderful store for a snack of french fries.

On to Fort Belvoir and their PX.  After two tries, we found a gate that was open and made our way through the beautiful tree-filled Army base.  I can’t describe it, but to this Army family living on a tiny Air Force Base, being back on an Army base just feels good!  While we appreciate Philip’s 5 minute commute to work and all the other ammenities that living on our Air Force base offers, we do still miss the Army-ness of things.  Anyway, we found our school supplies, plus those ugly-in-a-cute-way Crocs that everyone’s wearing.  Pumpkin Girl has been asking for some, but they are out at the PX where we live.  They were $18 less than what I paid for them online.  I’ll be able to return the other pair, and even with the shipping, we saved money.  We also found a Thomas Kincade print I’ve been wanting.

Ok, so that wasn’t all bad.  And we didn’t get lost on the way home! 

And then there was today.  Do you know how much work it is to get 2 children suited up, slathered in sunscreen, plus one chubby baby all into the car and to the pool before 9 am?  Well, it’s not that easy.  But it’s ok, because we’re having Swimming Lessons!  Or not, as the case may be.  You may remember my rant about signing up for swimming lessons a while back.  I’ve had a bad feeling about these swimming lessons every since.  My fears were founded as I pulled up to the pool and found it closed.  More families arrived, about 25 in total, and still no pool staff.  Finally, Someone In Charge showed up and informed us that they couldn’t find the pool staff, but he’d be back with more information.  We wait and wait and wait.  The other moms and I exchange stories about how poorly run the swimming lesson sign up was.  The Man In Charge returned to let us know that there were going to be no lifeguards on duty until noon, so no lessons today,but come back tomorrow just in case.  The brave man did not return with an escort of military police, but since he gave us all his cell phone number, we let him live.  He told us to call anytime to determine the status of the swimming lessons.  I’m not holding my breath on this one.

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Well, looks like I’m at risk of being labelled a Bad Blogger! I think this is the longest I’ve gone without blogging.

Bip has apparently decided that crawling is so last month and has moved on to pulling himself to standing with the couch, then cruising along using the couch as support. He’ll use anything and anyone available to help him along. Now that he is highly mobile, we have really made an effort to baby-proof the house. He is also a happier baby than he has been in recent weeks. He often surprises us by peeking out from around the corner as he comes looking for us.

I’ve also made some great progress with his sleep issues. I’ve determined that he needs at least 30 minutes to get himself completely asleep. He doesn’t need to be nursing the whole 30 minutes, but I’d better not try to sneak away! Now that I know how long he needs to get to sleep, I can be better prepared to put him down. He goes to his naps more peacefully and sleeps better, which sets him up for a better night’s sleep.

I’ve been trying to teach him baby signs. He’s not picking them up as quickly as Pumpkin Girl did, but then again, we suspect that Pumpkin Girl is gifted in language. Nicholas is now waving goodbye, shakes his head “no” and can let me know he wants to nurse. We are working on “more”, “duck”, and “up.” The only problem is that he’s so darn cute! If he’s getting into trouble and I say “Bip, no,” he looks at me with that sweet little face and enthusiastically shakes his head “no.” Then I have to try to maintain a serious face, but I can’t help but laugh at his chubby self. Sigh. Not too good for teaching him to obey. Oh well.

And Pumpkin Girl had an eventful night! We were at church, attending the dinner/Bingo night. She had just taken a bite of hot dog when she realized that her loose tooth was finally ready to come out! Philip whisked her off to the bathroom and they returned, tooth in hand and Pumpkin Girl with a new gap in her smile! It is the first tooth she’s lost! Then during Bingo, Boo was getting bored and I was getting irritated at the family that had won 3 times and were still playing, so we were getting ready to leave. Pumpkin Girl wanted to stay one more game, so we did. And of course, she won! She chose a pink teddy bear, no surprise there. She was quite pleased with herself.

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So ends a successful week of VBS. This was a big step for Pumpkin Girl who had never been away from us like this before. She looked nervous that first day when I left her. So did I stick around and make sure she was ok? No way! Focused on the important things, like getting Bip down for his nap so I could get to crafting, I kissed my sweet daughter goodbye and marched right out the door. Don’t worry. Not only was she not scarred for life, she came home happy and excited and eager for the next day. She even told me she was now ready for swimming lessons. Good for her!

Boo, a seasoned VBS veteran who also has 2 years of Religious Education classes under his belt, barely even managed to wave goodbye to me each day.

Today was the closing program filled with fun songs and skits all fitting the theme of “Son Treasure Island.” Following the program was a picnic lunch for everyone. Boo couldn’t believe his luck when lunch included all of his favorite things: hamburgers, chips, ice cream and something sweet to drink.

The children each came home with a grocery bag filled with kiddie crafts that they had been making during the week. See, I wasn’t the only one be crafty. However, I have to be the one to claim responsibility for the glitter in Bip’s hair.

Next week, it’s back to the same ol’ same ol’, then it’s 2 weeks of swimming lessons. Our days are just packed.

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My two oldest children are off at Vacation Bible School this week. I have to admit it, I’m sure enjoying the time alone. The church is all of 3 minutes from our house, so from the moment we walk out the door until Bip and I return only takes me 12 minutes. I’m back home by 9 am! I spend awhile enjoying the peace and playing with Bip, then he’s off for his nap and the rest of the hour and a half are all mine! Amazing what I can get done when I’m alone!

I have reclaimed my craft/guest room. We had guests at the beginning of May, so all my crafting things had to be packed up and stored in other areas of the house. Then the room became overflow storage as we worked to unpack boxes and sort through things to give away and sell. Now the yard sale is over and there is nothing else on the schedule, so I’ve been using the time to take back my room.

First off, I baby proofed it so Bip can join me in there if he’s awake and I’m feeling crafty. Then I worked on clearing space for my craft table to open up and on bringing in the craft supplies. I worked on the room for close to an hour yesterday and this morning I was ready to craft! I made a promise to myself to work at least 15 minutes in that room, putting things away, before I can sit down and craft. Today I moved a big box of office supplies out and combined it with another box of office supplies, giving me one empty box. That box went back to the craft room to hold some clothes I found for Bip to grow into. That box will go live in my closet, just as soon as Bip wakes from his nap. At last, it was time to stamp. I am woefully, pitifully and embarrassingly late on some stamping commitments I had made back when Bip was a napping baby. I got right to work on those cards. It felt so wonderfully good to put stamps to paper again. Ahhh, a quiet house, a craft table all set up, complete with a natural light lamp, just stamping away. I was in my groove! I was very good, though and stopped at 11:00 and came down and did some housework.

I’ll be able to finish the cards tomorrow, I think. I love, love, love rubber stamping! Plus, having a rare break from the children just makes me appreciate them more. I am happy and smiling again. I’m even willing to listen to their long-winded stories. (I even encouraged them to talk!)

I have often bristled at hearing others say things like “I can hardly wait until my kids go back to school.” I like my children, as difficult as they can be. I enjoy spending time with them. They are funny and smart and challenging. I am glad I don’t send them off to school on a regular basis. But you know what, I need a break. Not just an hour or so of quiet time a day, but an actual break. I think this is the first time ever that both the older children have been gone for any real amount of time. It’s refreshing. I can do whatever I want with the time. I could even get a babysitter to be in the house while Bip sleeps. Cool. For now, I’ll stick to crafting at home.

I’m enjoying this week while I can. My children are really, really enjoying VBS. It’ll be nice when this week is over and we return to being together full time and I am a happier, more refreshed Mama.

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One of the things that I enjoy most about having children is sharing with them the joys of my own childhood.

We recently rented the movie “Annie” from Netflix. Not the one that came out in theaters about 20 years ago, but the made for tv one with Victor Garber that came out about 7 years ago. The tv version comes as close as you can get to seeing “Annie” on stage! As a child, I loved the Broadway play and listened to the soundtrack every week. I can still sing all the songs. I remember the thrill of being able to see it on stage when the production came to our little town. After years of only knowing “Annie” from the album, finally seeing the lights go down, hearing the orchestra start the overture and watching the curtain rise caused my eyes to tear up and my neck to tingle. Just thinking about it now causes the same reaction. Watching the movie all these years later with my own children was magic! They worried about Annie and Sandy, learned to love Oliver Warbucks and hate Miss Hannigan and laughed out loud at the antics of the orphans. As the camera pulled away from the closing scene, I watched my children, transfixed on the tv screen and I found my eyes tearing up again.

I am also a big fan of “The Brady Bunch.” As all the classic TV shows started showing up as DVD collections, I swore I’d be first in line when “The Brady Bunch” was released. Well, it happened while we lived in Korea and somehow I missed it. Not to worry, though, I’ve been buying them season, by season as I can. (thanks, Grandma Honey for the birthday money!!) Boo and Pumpkin Girl caught me watching season 2 in my room as I cleaned up. They came in and got hooked! They asked for “the Brady Bunch” as their evening movie the other day, so I set them up with Season 1, so they would know the whole story. Boo can now sing most of the theme song.

We’re also reading some of my favorite books from my childhood. Little House in the Big Woods is part of our daily reading right now, and we’ve already finished The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Waiting in the wings are Jenny and the Cat Club, The Borrowers, and The Wonderful Journey to the Mushroom Planet (I think that’s the correct title). It’s amazing how many great memories I have of the books I read as a child. Philip does, too. I’ll have to get him to give me a list of his favorites so we don’t miss them. Even many of the easy reader books the children pick out at the library have caused me to smile at the vague memory of reading them way back when. Bears in the Night and A Kiss for Little Bear both made me stop and do a double take. “I remember this one!,” I said. Somewhere in the far recesses of my mind I remember the pictures and the storyline of these wonderful books. I am so glad to be able to share them with my children now. I hope they love these books and movies as much as I do and discover new treasures of their own. Maybe someday they’ll call me up and ask if I still have such-and-such book, so they can read it to their own children.

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Lest you think my life is all pearl necklaces and chocolate macademia nuts, I present to you my morning.

It all started around 6am when The Boy Who Never Sleeps got mad at me for taking away his nummy by daring to roll over. Philip, who got a peaceful night’s sleep, blissfully unattached to anyone, free to sleep in any position he wanted, asked if I might want to nurse the baby, it being only 6:19. “He’s been on me all night. I’m tired and in pain. Go away.”

I’m not at my best in the mornings.

So young son and his dad trotted off downstairs to watch the news reports of last night’s rain. Mudslides on the Capitol Beltway, streets underwater, Metro closed, fish on the bridge…it was a good day to not be commuting. And while watching others being stuck in traffic is always amusing, the boys tired of that and came to wake me up.

“Hon, it’s 7:00. Do you want to wake up?” I tried to pretend to be asleep. “Hon? It’s 7:00. Should I come back at 7:30?”

“Go away!”

“OK, I’ll come back at 7:30.”

I did manage to haul my poor sleep deprived body out of bed. I found all the children awake and Super Dad making pancakes! Great! I can eat them with my coconut syrup! Philip also informs me that he has made extra coffee, in case I need a little caffeine. Sweet man.

Breakfast is good, the syrup is wonderful, all is well. The morning progresses.

After a bit of miscommunication, the children and I are getting ready to start out for our daily trip to the park. We got 5 inches of rain last night, but the park has that soft spongy covering, so it’ll be wet but not muddy. And we have a semi-informal play date there every morning. So we’ll head out anyway. If our friends aren’t there, we’ll go walk along the rain swollen Potomac, since it’ll be high tide, just to see what it looks like. We’ll take the Wonder Baby with us, since he’s fussy but not sleepy, in hopes that a little time outdoors will soothe him.

I’m explaining all of this to Pumpkin Girl  as she puts on her shoes. You know how you have to explain things very carefully to 5 year olds so they don’t pester you with quite so many questions later. I get to the part where our friends might not be there this morning because we got so much rain and it’s very wet. And then Boo interrupts me mid sentence. “No, they won’t be there.” So now I have to stop.

“Boo, how do you know they won’t be there?”

Silence.

“Did they call you up and tell you they weren’t coming?”

“No.”

“OK, then you don’t know. Was I talking?”

“Yes.”

So then I go into Lecture #59: Why One Does Not Interrupt When An Adult Is Talking Unless There is Blood.

Number One Son stares at me blankly and I can literally see the words go into one ear and out the other.

So out the door we go. I resume telling Pumpkin that our friends may or may not be there. Boo interrupts again. “I thought we were going for a walk.” THAT’S IT! I send him back to the house. We are going to have to take drastic measures with that boy and his interrupting. Charlotte and I continue to the park. We can already see that no one is there and there are storm clouds a-brewing. We returned to the house.

I spend some time checking the garden for storm damage. When I come inside, Philip reminds me that he’s going to go to the commissary during school time. I sit down to prepare the shopping list and notice there is a fly in the house.

Now Philip happens to be a champion fly killer. Armed with only a rubber band, he can kill a fly on the first try. He has even been known to shoot the heads right off.

So there I am, innocently writing out my shopping list. I’m not hurting anybody. I’m just minding my own business. Here comes Philip, rubber band cocked, death in his eyes. The doomed fly lands on the back of a chair next to me. Philip takes aim, facing me, about 2 feet away.

“Don’t you shoot that head onto me.”

Thwap! Something hits me in the face then falls to my paper. THE FLY!

I’ll admit it. I’m a girly girl. I like to look pretty. I wear makeup every day. I don’t go camping. So this fly in my face at the hands of my up-to-this-minute dear husband pretty much unglues me. Shopping list and pen go flying and I go screaming up the stairs. I think I’m going to vomit. I need to wash my face! No!! I need another shower. I toss my fly splattered top into the hamper and get into the shower.

My no-longer dear husband comes to the door and tries to apologize. I’m not having any.

Several minutes later, I come down, freshly scrubbed and in clean clothes.

I sit down to have school with the children. I’m reviewing chores with Boo while we’re getting settled. I tell Pumpkin to sit down. I settle into the couch with our books, and where is Pumpkin?

“Pumpkin Girl?”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” uh oh.

“What are you doing?”

She reappears. “I, uh. I was. Nothing.”

“What did I tell you to do?”

“I forgot we were having school!” She starts crying.

“I told you to sit down! If you had obeyed me…”

I’ll censor the rest of it for sensitive eyes.

…When I was finished with Lecture #3: Obeying, I leaned forward, clasped my hands together and closed my eyes. “Lord, please, stop testing me!!!!” I waited several moments, trying to settle myself. I got up to go get myself some of the coffee Philip had made me.

The coffee pot was empty, clean and drying in the rack.

I started to cry. Between the Boy Who Can’t Be Quiet, the Girl Who Won’t Obey and The Baby Who Won’t Sleep, not to mention getting a fly shot into my face by the man who I swore to love and honor in front of God and everybody…well, who can blame me.

Phil tried to console me, I’ll give him that.

“Don’t touch me, Fly Boy!” I said in a voice that may need an Exorcist later. Ok, I didn’t really call him Fly Boy, but I was thinking it.

He quietly got the shopping list.

“Take them with you!!!!”

And that, my friends, is how I find myself in an almost empty house, a warm cup of chai and a cookie in my belly and a freshly scrubbed face.

I need to go dry my hair.

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