Missing this

My baby sister and her family were here for a week. My heart broke to drop them off at the airport yesterday afternoon. I just want it all: an interesting place to live, a job Nat loves, and my family close by. Is that too much to ask?

I have lots to blog about and hundreds of pictures to sort through. But that must wait friends because I have to write/organize the Primary program now. Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday, Carrie!

You were the Dream Girl when I met you twelve years ago, and I love and appreciate you more now than ever.

Happy Birthday Jakob

This is the latest in our series of freezer paper shirts and was made to celebrate the tenth birthday of a very special cousin. Jakob is an absolute blessing in our lives. I have been able to get my kids to do all sorts of chores and tasks by motivating them with Jakob stories. He is kind, thoughtful, tender, fun loving and a perfect older cousin to my boys.

Walking

Isaac has been taking a step or two for a few weeks now. On Monday he really started wanting to walk more. This video isn't his best performance but it's the best we (and by we I mean Nat while I was at the gym this morning) could capture.

Here's to milestones!

I love lds.org and its magical search engine

Today was one of those marathons Sundays. I started at six thirty this morning with the final preparations for the teacher training meeting I have been working on, ran off to ward council while Nat finished baking my goodies, conducted Primary with Isaac asleep on my chest (at least I didn't have sharing time, thank goodness), ran around like a mad woman getting everything and everyone where they needed to be for the training and then taught the teacher improvement meeting with Noah in my arms. He feel asleep halfway through my talk and spilled his glass of water down the backs of my legs. Then I cleaned up the mess we had made and took the kids home by myself so that Nat could go to the stake priesthood meeting. I got the kids in their jammies and went back to pick Nat up. I am speaking at Enrichment this week and in charge of a Primary activity on Saturday. Somehow in the midst of this I hope to make it to the gym, clean my house, do the laundry, and feed my family.

Little Luke got lost in the shuffle today and just starting crying after church when we rushed him off to the provided nursery so that Nat could attend the training and I could teach it. He just sat there and silently sobbed over his cupcake. When I asked him what was wrong he told me, "I am just used to being with you after church. I thought I would get to be with you, this isn't how I pictured it." Oh, my heart just broke for my little boy. He just wanted his parents. And shouldn't a little five year old who attends school for more than six hours a day and then Primary for two hours on Sunday get to be with his parents once in a while? In all the busyness of the day his feelings were looked over. Really, what's more important than his tender little emotions?

After he was put to bed with assurances of our love for him I went down to my balm of Gilead, lds.org. I typed in "children emotions" and this gem popped up. Hopefully, I can slow down and focus on what matters. Maybe there will be popcorn for dinner this week. Maybe we'll just keep fishing for clean clothes in the mountain of unfolded laundry on my bedroom floor. I might not get those pictures hung before Ashley comes to town. A few things are for certain, I will snuggle my big boy, read him Hatchet, and do my best to draw him pictures of dragons.

Maryland Blue Crab

Eating crab on the river at this place and with these people is how I would like to bid farewell to every summer for the rest of my life. It was a perfect day, sunny and breezy-- with the hint of fall in the breeze. The boys couldn't have been happier about having hammers and being allowed to use them on their food. The conversation was comforting and familiar, which I suspect has something to do with the fact that Alexandra and I forged our friendship as South American missionaries with much in common. The children were amusing and, oh so cute. To top it all off Noah started a small flood in the crab tanks (thanks, Brigham for the quick repair). Oh, I almost forgot the overboard Lego man rescued from the river by Nat as well. These little boys are right to assign super hero status to their fathers. Perfect day, right?

There is an international market near our house where I stood around watching the crabs with the boys for close to an hour recently (talk about cheap thrills-- Luke and Noah would have watched the crabs forever). There I learned that the crabs turn red when they are boiled. They go in blue and then you are supposed to remove them as soon as they turn completely red. I am working myself up to actually purchasing and then killing a live animal for our family's consumption.

Ice Cream for I-Guy

Yes, it really does take six pictures to document this experience. I even narrowed it down. There were many, many more. I can't help myself. Look at that happy little mouth, those bright eyes, and his messy face. It's all the joys of a summer ice cream cone personified by this one little guy.

Suggestions?

I am giving a talk at the upcoming enrichment. The topic is reverence, respect, and communication in families. I have found lots of good material but would like to hear everyone's favorites. Are there any talks, books or websites that have formed the way that you communicate and relate in your families?

Bumps in the Road

Because no transition is completely smooth with little people we have had our ups and downs this week. The ups are that Luke loves his teacher and is excited about the things he is learning. I love the peace of my days with just two boys. We all look forward to our walks to and from school. Our days are just generally settling into a very pleasing and peaceful fall rhythm. I almost have all the clean clothes put away-- I tell you this is no small feat. The weather seemed to know that school was starting and has cooperated with temperatures in the seventies and cool, fall breezes. The leaves are even starting to change. We also had a delightful visit with old friends from Madison.

The downs are, unfortunately, a little more pronounced. Noah spiked a very high fever on Tuesday and is now covered in some sort of mystery rash. Luke doesn't love lunch and recess-- his teacher doesn't go out with them and he is terrified of ending up in the wrong place when recess is over. He had himself sick with worry this morning.

So we'll pray and talk and trust-- that's the way to deal, right? Noah seems to be feeling fine now and thankfully the rash doesn't itch. I'll just keep him housebound until the rash clears. Nat is meeting Luke for lunch today. We just deal with the bumps in the road and pray that we can do it gracefully.

And because I can't resist I will subject you to more pictures of Noah sleeping in my bed after his night terror on Wednesday night. Sleeping children always look like angels to me and Noah has quite the angelic look, doesn't he?

Luke's First Day

I had a clingy two year old Luke and was hugely pregnant with Noah three years ago when the school year started. I was helping my sweet friend Rita get her little Aseanti to school that first day. I remember watching a little boy in Aseanti's class cling to his mother and beg her not to leave him in kindergarten. I knew, just knew, that this was where I was headed with Luke. Boy was I wrong. This little champ hopped out of bed as soon as he realized that it was his first day and could hardly hold still to eat, get dressed and head out the door. (As a matter of fact, I would recommend that all parents of two year olds resist the temptation to make predictions about their childrens' future behavior based on what they do as two year olds.) He was thrilled about the prospect of school; excited to be able to eat lunch with the friends he planned to make, anxious to read the Curious George books he saw in the reading corner, and hoping that his teacher would assign him some homework (he's got big plans about the reports he'd like to write).

Can you tell that he was ready to go. I was hard pressed to get the front porch shot before he took off walking.





All the classes lined up in the gym to wait for school to start. When I asked Luke if there was any part of his day that he felt nervous he told me that it was while he was waiting. He didn't see any other boys and wondered if he was in the right class.


Nat's comment to me as we watched Luke leave the gym to go to his class was, "and just like that he walked out of our lives." I responded with, "and into the public school system." It's true in a way, the at home chapter of our lives has come to a close. Instead of the regret and nostalgia I thought I was going to feel I just feel happy and pleased with the little person that Luke has become. Luke and I spent a beautiful five years together. I tried my hardest and I feel I did well at preparing him to participate in the world beyond our home. He's ready. That's a happy feeling.



There were many happy reunions after school. We all missed him and were excited to hear about his adventures.



The report was that he made part of a pinwheel in art class, only managed to eat his apple at lunch time because he ran out of time to eat, made a new best friend whose name he couldn't recall, and played with Justin, the neighbor, at recess. New details emerged slowly and one by one all night as he recounted the day to family members and friends. The only thing that he told me when I picked him up was that school was "great". I can't wait to pick him up today and hear more about this new world, all his own.