What I Learned in January and February

Winter 2014 will go down as the coldest and hardest we have had in a long time. Now, I understand hard is relative- what is hard for one isn't necessarily hard for another, so I'm not trying to say my life was the hardest in comparison to everyone else.....just hard for us. But in all of this hard, I did learn or discover a few things.

1.  Sedating an injured dog can be kinda great.  Especially when said dog is 100 lbs.  The sedated whine of being out of it is pretty funny.

2.  We gave the dog his meds in a spoonful of peanut butter. Those olfactory glands worked overtime as he anxiously awaited to begin licking. Those glands also produce lots of dog slobber which drooled itself into puddles onto the floor. Even funnier than the whine.

3.  But really would have been the funniest is if I hadn't caught myself, while taking my antibiotic, that I actually had the dogs sedative in my hand instead.   Can you imagine explaining that?  " what's wrong with your mom?"  "Oh, she just took the dogs sedative.  She will come around in a while."

4.  It is possible to get so far behind on life to have to run to the store for toothpaste.

5.  Technology and innovation are cool- my son has a removable, moldable hard cast that has a button and wires to tighten it. This very fortunate for him, since he decided to go and break his arm during championship swim season.  And he has had some of his best swims....with a broken arm.  Go figure.

6.  "Wicked" is just awesome!!  It was the Christmas gift that kept on giving.  Such a fun night with my girls!!

7. Slightly obessesed would be what the boys in this house would say.  And then we run into a display at a mall when we were out of town.  How cool!  But, how uncool....how grown-up my girls are.  Sigh.  And the big girl got her braces off.  Sigh.

8.  The girls and I were also obssessed with Frozen. And the songs.  I also try to make everything into "Let it Go" so I have an excuse to sing it.   It is a lot of fun.  My children think I'm nuts.   Don't like that you have a test?  Get over it and "let it go, let it go, don't put it off any more".  "Let it snow, let it snow,". See, isn't it fun?   I think I need to get out more often.

9.  Being a spectator at a swim meet, or swim practice, or any other covered, humid or chlorinated area is not nice to my hair.

10.  Homeschooling, hammocks, and nice weather make for great days.

11.  Nice weather also brings out the snakes.  First one we have ever seen in our almost ten years of living here.  Bear showed him to us.  I feel more protected now that he is looking out for the critters outside.

12.   Meeting Taylor Swift's best friend was a major highlight of our championship swim meet weekend.  Our sweet girl was totally prepared for the moment, sporting her Taylor Swift concert t-shirt.  

13.  No swim practice (which equates to extra energy) + snow = extra hyper and bored kids.  Boredom at its finest.  Certainly a proud mom moment.

14.  I have decided no household is complete without a Chia Willie.

15. This year, the Girl Scout cookies won.  I have been so good the last few years, but this year, I just couldn't do it.  My feelings were hurt, though, when I pulled out my tube of thin mints.  It was dwarf size.  But then, I could justify eating the whole thing.  Don't worry- I shared.

16.  Library fines for overdue books should just be a budget line item.

17.  I am sure there are many other things that I learned.  But, I have promptly forgotten them. 

18.  My family enjoys calling me Dory.

19.  Speaking of Dory, I enjoyed the Oscars this year.  Totally entertaining.  Loved the pizza delivery guy.  I may have been so terribly entertained because we had just driven home, in horrible weather, from a long swim weekend. And I may or may not have eaten my entire piece of cheese cake from the cheesecake factory on the way home.  I may or may not have been in a comatose state.

20.  That is all for now.  Happy Spring!!!

Recovery Mode

It's not my computer or any of of our other technological devices that is in recovery mode.  It's me.

I know I'm supposed to be doing a post "Who Am I?" but that is going to have to wait.  It is half started and I will get there eventually, but I am in recovery mode.

From what you ask?

Well, currently it is bronchitis.  I am entering week 3 of being sick.  And I mean, mostly in the bed sorta sick. Fortunately, it could be much worse.  Alot worse.  As in the flu. As in the death stomach bug I have had. Twice.  But it is enough sick that it has put this momma down.

And unfortunately, I was in recovery mode when I got sick.

From what you ask?

Oh, you know...the fall season, Christmas, life.

See, around here from August until mid-January it is just plain nuts.  Seriously.  Happens every year.  You would think by now I would see it coming.  And I do, it's just I can't plan enough for it.

Here is what happens....August rolls around:  I am frantically lesson planning, looking forward to a "normal" schedule, not a summer schedule, seeing peace in the school routine.  And that is good.  Change is good.  But then, my husband's busy job season begins.  Phone rings off the wall, working dawn till dusk planting, getting land ready to hunt, eager hunters seeking advice.  So we are both pretty busy, but manageable.

Mid-august comes around and I begin looking at the calendar and dang it, wouldn't you know, the kids birthdays are coming around. Again.  Ha.  My man-child's birthday comes "first" in our birthday season. Then baby of the family is next, 40 days later.  The almost grown girl has hers a mere 3 weeks later.  It just about kills me folks.  So, mid-august I start getting into birthday gear.

This happens every year, but then this year....throw in a 10th birthday and a 16th birthday.  Yeah.  Ok, totally into panic birthday gear.

Take those events and add in....swim meets, the typical homeschool mom October panic- "I can't do this anymore!", hubby working dawn till dusk, hubby and son on a few out of town trips,  Christmas shopping, Thanksgiving, Christmas parties, wrapping, Christmas decor, panic again over spending, etc, etc.  You get the idea.

So by Christmas time I am looking forward to Epiphany.  You know the actually 12 days of Christmas thing, that begins Christmas day.  Those are my relaxing days.  The hub-bub is over, not many places to be, hot chocolate, games in front of the fireplace, etc.

Which I did get to enjoy this year.  I post-Christmas sale shopped.  I painted.  I baked.  I cooked.  I read. Went on dates.  Took each of the kids somewhere.  Went to a bowl game.  I enjoyed it, knowing that the first weekend in January was a weekend swim meet, we were taking that Monday off and between that and an early ending meet on Sunday I had plenty of time to get everything together to start school and make a grocery store run.  A day and a half people.

Sunday...I got sick.  During the meet.  The whole swaying sort of thing, where you come home, get straight in your pj's not caring where your other clothes landed.  At noon.

So, that is the start of our semester.  Of my January of not too busy.  Of finally getting caught up from the fall.  Ha.  Ha ha.

Here it is, the end of January is in sight.  And I am still in recovery mode.  From August.

The upside to a busy fall work season for hubby is that January is that it is slower for him.  So he has been around.  Doing the driving, the grocery store runs, the picking up playdates, etc.  While I stayed at home and made him to-do lists.

I am in recovery mode.  From being sick.  Which put me behind from the holiday recovery.  Which started from behind cause of birthdays.  Which is just crazy cause it's fall. But, this too shall pass onto another crazy schedule.  Which actually comes in about a week and a half.  So I better get to catching up.  And lowering my expectations.  And realizing it could be worse.  Way worse.

So, I will start this Monday thankful.  Thankful that I have eggs, bisquick, venison, and old milk.  I can do anything with those.  That I am in recovery mode.  Not still very sick mode.  Well-mode would be nice, but hey, you can't have everything.

Thankful for sweet friends for my kids to play with.  Especially the kind that fit in so well you forget that they aren't even yours.

Thankful for great swim meets for big kids out of town and for great times and for hard work paying off.  For chances for championship meets.

Thankful for a husband who loves me unconditionally, snot, phlegm, coughs and all.

Thankful for a God who floods me with grace.  Each and every day.

And for dogs who are cuddly.  Annoying, but cuddly.

Who I am not....

(Note:  This was started a few days ago before my head cold turned into a chest cold and my brain checked out.  I believe it is beginning to revive, but I didn't want to go and change everything date-wise that I had already written.  So keep in mind that I didn't actually start this post this morning, just finished it.)

I was up early this morning, keeping up with my teenager driving herself to practice (thankfully still able to stay in bed), trying to wake up with what I am sure will be my first, not only, cup of coffee today.   I was catching up on a few blogs I follow and came upon one of Emily Freeman's posts about living small
(She seems to be a theme this week for me.  See yesterday's post).

Anyway, it got me thinking about living small.  Versus living big. How do we exactly do that?  My mind went to things I thought would be living big for me- I came to the conclusion that living big for me would be trying to do things and be someone that wasn't me.   I am not referring to things that The Lord leads us to do out of our comfort zone.  But trying to do those things that just aren't who He made me to be.

Then I started thinking- who am I?  What am I like?  What are my strengths, etc?  And, I should add...at this stage in life.  After all, we do shift and change, become wiser, etc.

Sometimes it's easier to start with who I am not, so I am going to start there.  Don't worry- this isn't a deep philosophical thing, just a thought thing.  Then for fun, I'll go next time with who I am, then who I want to be.  
So, who (or what) I am not....

1.  I am not Type A.  At all.  And as is typical, God has a great sense of humor.  I was raised by one, married to one, gave birth to a couple with those traits, am good friends with a few.   Yeah, it can be pretty bad and funny all at the same time.  So many of the other things I am not fall under this category that I am going to add a couple of subpoints to this one-

• I am not detail oriented.  Generalities are perfectly okay with me.  Ketchup goes in the fridge- does it really matter what shelf it goes on?    Dishes go in the dishwasher, but is it a requirement that they have to go in a certain place in a certain way?  
• I am not organized.  Well, I am in my own way.  I can generally tell you where something is, but I cannot necessarily describe in detail where it is (see subpoint above).  Add to this my dear friend who organizes peoples house for pay.  And my other dear friend who actually enjoys organizing her file cabinets each January, and color codes her clothes in her closet. 

2.  I am not a fruit person.  I am not fond of fruit.  I will occasionally have a strawberry, a grape or two, a slice or two of apple, but for the most part, I bypass the fruit for the veggies.  Now, don't even get me started on fruity desserts.  Really, why ruin a good thing such a dessert with fruit?  My grandfather would always buy those chocolate oranges at Christmas.  Blech.

3. I cannot iron.  I really don't even try anymore.  The other day I actually had to iron.  I had the tv on just to pass the time (cause really folks it takes me a long time to iron).  Afterwards I plopped on my bed exhausted to finish watching whatever it is I was watching and David came in and asked what I was doing.  I told him that I had ironed.  He laughed, but said nothing because he totally understands.  You see, it all started long long ago. My mother, rightly so as her role of training me to be a homemaker, had me iron.  Alot.  To get good practice.  For any of you who do iron, you realize that it is a detailed process, what with pleats, cuffs, button holes, seams, etc.  And we all know how I am about details.  But, I really did work at it. I promise.  But to no avail.  Fast forward to our early years of marriage.  My preface in this is that I married a detailed man whose grandmother used a can of starch a day.  Seriously.  Blue jeans, undershirts, you name it - it was ironed.  One day, My Man needed a shirt ironed.  I decided to bless him in that task and iron it for him so he wouldn't have to do it.  I worked, I starched, I pressed.  For about 30-40 minutes.  Yes, seriously.  It takes me a long time.  I iron wrinkles into wrinkles.  So, I worked and proudly hung the freshly pressed shirt on the laundry room door.  He came home, walked down the hall, saw the shirt and commented (probably unaware of my slaving away on it) that he would need to touch it up before he wore it.  Enough said.  I quit that day.  And really folks, a fluff in the dryer can do just as well.

4.  I do not like to be tickled.  When I was young, I vividly remember having tickle sessions with my dad.  This is how it would go.  "Daddy, will you tickle me?"  "No, because you always cry".  "I promise I won't this time, Daddy."  "Ok".  Tickle, Tickle, Tickle.  Sobbing..."Daddy, stop, stop tickling".  My entire family knows that they take their life in their own hands if they try to tickle me.  I have been freed from the responsibility of my actions when I am tickled because a vicious monster comes out of and I will defend myself at all cost.  I will not say whether I have actually wounded any of my family members in such episodes, but will say they rarely try it anymore.

5. I am not a planner by nature.  I really enjoy things most when they are spur of the moment, spontaneous moments of joy, fun, etc.  Unfortunately it is hard to run a household, homeschool, etc without planning.  I do my best and realize that some level of planning is necessary for some things, but still relish in the spontaneity when it happens.  Maybe it is because when things are planned, there is some level where the planning doesn't work out, then I am disappointed when something doesn't happen?  Some sense of failure when things don't go like I planned?  Hmmm, something to think about for sure. 

6.  I do not like shopping.   I really don't.  For someone who is not detail-oriented the details totally overwhelm me.  Does it fit?  Is it the right color?  Can I find this cheaper somewhere else?  Will it be on sale soon?  Do I really need it?  Does it break the budget?  What are the ingredients?  Is that healthy?  But is it convenient?  Do I have this already?  etc.   Whenever my other faults are glaring throughout the day, I am quick to remind My Man that he should be thankful that the details overwhelm me as it saves him a whole lot of money.  Deep down he knows it is true.  

7.  I can't work buttons, as in buttons for electronic gadgets and things.  This is a recent discovery, one that now that I am aware, I feel free.  A situation occurred recently that made me more aware of this in my life and had me deeply thinking about this deficiency in my life, and I discovered it was just buttons all together.  You see, I cannot work a stopwatch.  This can be somewhat of a problem when your kids are swimmers.  For years I tried to convince people that I couldn't do it.  My kids had one and would want me to time them running across the yard, living room, holding their breath, whatever.  And I really struggled.  When I would mention this to people who asked me to time, they would be so encouraging and tell me that I would get it.  It's easy.  So finally, I caved and began timing.  And now, I am officially banned from timing at swim meets.  The day after my last timing adventure was daylight savings time.  After I spent about 15 minutes trying to change the time on my watch then finally giving it to my son to fix for me,  I realized maybe it is just buttons.  When I turn on the windshield wipers, I couldn't begin to tell you off hand which direction to switch it.  I just keep switching until it turns off.  My watch... I just push buttons until it does what I want.  The timer on my iphone....can't work that either.  I tried from the bleachers at the last meet.  Completely turning off my phone, as in restarting it....yep, David is always having to remind me how to do it.  He does it with a loving and understanding smirk smile on his face.   (Mentally I keep referring back to my first point...really people, it defines who I am not...details, details.)

And in one last effort to show you who I am not, I will grace you with this picture.  This is definitely who I am not.  Ha.  But, it sure is fun.....

Grace and a Cold

I am reading a book that was indirectly recommended to me by my teenage daughter.  A while back she and her posse of friends passed around a book (longed for it, craved it) called Graceful, by Emily P Freeman.  It was geared for teenage girls, but was written after her book for women called Grace for the Good Girl.  In a nutshell it is about giving up trying to be "good" and be who God made you to be.

Google's first definition of grace that pops up is this (1) simple elegance or refinement of movement (synonyms being elegance and poise).  (2) (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

Don't we all need grace?  I desire an elegance about me as I go about my day, not a flubbing up of conversations which need me to seek forgiveness afterwards, a confidence in my decision making and not a perpetual worry of some sort that my brain dreams up.  I need to be looked upon as only God can look upon me - with free and unmerited favor.  That there is nothing I can or cannot do that is going to change how God sees me or feels about me.

And so that brings me to today (or rather the last several days).  The end of last week was spent getting the house back in order after the holiday chaos bliss and fun, which included fun baking, making, wrapping, traveling, football, freezing, swimming and friends.  The house all in order to start school this week.

It doesn't take much for all of that order to go down the drain.  A simple upper respiratory funk.  That's all.  Not the flu, or anything.  But enough that the house is back in dissarray - school books out for my unfinished planning, dirty dishes continuing to get stack and rotated in and out of the dishwasher, dirty laundry sorted on the couch, clean laundry ice cold from spending a few days in the dryer (thankfully dry), blankets strewn across the living room floor because of the polar vortex we are experiencing, going back on my pledge this week that screen time (ie movies/tv/computer/ipad/ipod/etc) will be dialed back to almost nill,  and mom (that would be me) laying around not caring one whit about any of it.  Ha.

That's what a simple cold will do for you.  But the fact that I can lay almost completely guilt free about any of it is what Grace can do for you.

My family is extending the extra hands and a heaping dose of free and unmerited favor Grace to me.

Then I try to remember and feel and experience the Grace God extends to me and my life.  All I have to do is crawl up in His lap and sit.  He's got this thing covered for me. After all, He made me.  Exactly as I am. And for that, I am thankful.

(And exactly what I need to remember to extend to one of my offspring as I go unstop the toilet, which said child seems to clog up most frequently. And yes, this just happened as I was typing this post.  God has a grand sense of humor.)

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

If you read title of this post, I am sure you will be singing "do-re-mi" all day.  Sorry about that.  I think. There is nothing wrong with a little Julie Andrews/Maria to fill your winter days.

After a year hiatus (how does that happen- oh, yeah, life), I am going to attempt this again.  Many times throughout the last year I would think about blogging, write posts in my head while I was doing something else, even do an initial draft.  But I never would post. Sigh.

So, here I am again.  Wrapping up an entire year, beginning a new one.  Maybe my thoughts will actually make it to a published post this year?

Before I start at the beginning, here are some words to describe our 2013- busy, swimming, chlorine, high school, drivers license, beach, painting rooms, hunting, contentedness, tired, knoxville, nashville, Taylor Swift, chlorine, swimming, food, growing children.

Here is what 2014 looks like from the beginning- an extra driver, car insurance, Wicked, 20th wedding anniversary, another learning driver, state championship swim meet, another one in high school, looking up to talk to my children, figuring out what God wants from us on a daily basis.

Speaking of 20th wedding anniversary, I thought I would actually start at the beginning.  I mean, none of what I am doing now would be happening if it weren't for that.  So here it is in a nutshell.

In the fall of 1992 (a really long time ago), I met a boy.  A cute boy who, through various circumstances, began hanging out at our apartment.  And we started hanging out alot with mutual friends.  On Oct 1 of that year (which was a Thursday) David and I went to the Miss State/Florida game.  It was the ESPN game of the week...that's how I know it was a Thursday.  Anyway, the most significant thing you should know is that this was the opening day of hunting season in Mississippi.  To this point in his life, this sweet boy had never missed an opening day afternoon of hunting, so you have to know that this was a big deal.  We went to the game and kept hanging out.  Nothing more came of it except a deep friendship until February, a few months later.  It was Valentines day when we realized that this was developing into more than a friendship.  We got engaged the following year, and married in August of 1994.

So now we are bearing down on August of 2014- three kids, a house, a few vehicles, one dumb but lovable dog, lots of hunting gear, lots of Mississippi State stuff, a plethora of swim caps and goggles.

I wonder what 2014 will hold for this great ride we are on.

Happy New Year!!

The times they are a changin'.......

I'm not exactly sure where my little children have gone.  They are no longer here.  Instead, I have some very grown up, getting bigger every day children.

Here is my oldest, who is practicing getting her driver's license, attending high school dances (yes, homeschooled kids do these things too), attending late night parties, qualifying for state swim championships, looking all grown up.

She is also alot of the reason I spend most of my day in the car, cannot keep enough food in the house, why there are usually alot of baked goods in the house,  have learned to love One Direction (you have to admit, they are better than Bieber), why I sit on metal bleachers for hours on end.  Totally worth it.

Below, in the maroon shirt you will see the worlds up and coming best photo bomber.  He has lots of practice with having two sisters.  He is the middle (which is obvious), all boy (again, very obvious), and about to be taller than his sister.  He is another reason why I spend alot of time in the car, why I have learned how to work an xbox, why I think nothing of blood and guts, why most of the time it is necessary to order an entire pizza just for him.

He is also a teeanger and again, all boy.  Which is why I didn't make him get his school picture done.  He isn't much into pictures of himself these days (unless he is photo bombing - when did this become a word anyway??).  His rooms smells of chlorine, which I believe I will take, considering the alternative.  He cannot get enough of independence, thrill rides, challenges, and bugging his sisters.

Here is the baby.  Wait, that doesn't look like a baby.  How did this happen???  She looks way too grown up, but then again, she is forced to grow up a little faster being the youngest and all.  She is the reason I still get to cuddle on the couch and read aloud, get to pick out cutsie clothes, why I keep straws in the house (because it is more fun to drink with a straw).

She is also the reason we still have Barbies, lots of books, watch alot of animated movies.  She has learned to hang out with the big kids at youth events and swim meets.  She knows more swim jargon than I do.  She still needs and wants her momma and daddy, but we are now very capable of embarassing her.  She has learned to become independent quickly and I have learned to let her (sending her off to ride roller coasters by herself!!), but has the best teachers (a brother and sister who will take her off with them on adventures without us).

Yes, these are different days.  But I like them.  I really do like teenagers, the independence that comes with it, the stuff they get to do, the fun they can be.  

 Even though it means lots of driving and lots of food.
 Lots and lots of food.

Twas two weeks before Christmas.....

Twas two weeks before Christmas and all thru the house,
was a mess so atrocious, for even a mouse.
The stockings had been hung by the chimney with care
But the tree topper laid on the floor, not so bare.
Two children nestled studying for exams on their beds,

While visions of Disney still danced in their heads.
The third child she snuggled on the couch with a temp
and watched movie after movie, laying so limp.

This Mother run ragged, not sleeping at night,
wondered if the holidays would become merry and bright.
She looked down the week and at her house with dismay,

Wondering if ever there might be a calm day.
What with unpacking, then finals, parties and swimming galore,
and then the young tikes kept asking for more.
But, "Not so," said the Mother and Father with love so strong
this hustle and bustle has gone on too long.
It is time to settle down, give us a break,

By golly, the cupboards are bare, for goodness sake.

So one week before Christmas we awoke, and made a clatter,

And no one seemed to ask “what was the matter”
They finished exams, picked up their space,

Then helped with the rest of the chores with such grace.
And what to my wondering eyes should I see,
but clean counters, and floors, and even a present wrapped under the tree.
I whistled and shouted and called them by name,

Let the party begin, it won’t be the same.
Forward on shopping, and wrapping and baking galore,

Time with family and friends, couldn’t ask for more.

Right then, in a moment, I knew what had begun,
the celebration and joy of the Birth of God’s Son.

Things about me that may surprise you

Every once and a while, I will think about myself and things that I do or have done that cause my family to think I am so weird, or I am so cool.  Alot of times, David will call me a "spy", just because it is so weird.  So, I thought it would be fun to share a few of those things.  Ha.

1.  As a child, I didn't eat syrup on my pancakes.  It made it soggy.  When I was little, maybe around 4 or 5, my Sunday school teachers made pancakes in Sunday school.  The teacher made me eat them with syrup.  I was mad. I think it made me cry.

2.  I tend to hang on the traumatic things about my childhood.  And then proceed to use them as excuses when I am seeming to go crazy.  Ok, I don't use them as excuse.  But, for some weird reason, I hang on to them. 

3.  I eat syrup on my pancakes now.  Too much. Especially with chocolate chip pancakes.  My waistline is proof.

4.  As a child, I also didn't eat milk on my cereal.  You know, the soggy thing.  I began eating it with milk in college.  On a trip.  To Poland.  And for whatever reason, lack of bowls in the dorm where we stayed or something, I used a glass.  Cereal, in a glass, with milk, eaten with a spoon. 

5.  To this day, I still eat cereal, in a glass, with milk, and a spoon. 

6.  David says I make annoying slurping noises when I eat cereal.  I try to avoid him when I do it.

7.  When I fill a muffin tin with muffin cup liners, I count them.   I can't help it.  There are twelve every time.

8. That makes me sound Type A.  I am not.  By any stretch.

9.  One of my dearest friends enjoys organizing her folders every January for the new year.  She color codes her clothes.  I think that there is something wrong with her.

10. I eat and write with my left hand. I use scissors, bat, throw a football with my right hand. Actually, I can throw a football equally well with both hands. Now, you may be thinking equally well means nothing, but suffice it to say, David was impressed

11.  I bungee jumped in college.  I charged it on my parents credit card, then called them later and told them about it.  :)   On the way home from bungee jumping, we walked under the bridge across the Tombigbee River.  Remember my post about being fearful of heights?  Yeah, something changed with childbirth. 

12.  Speaking of children, my foot grew a 1/2 size with each child.

13. Back to the childhood trauma thing- I am not a cat person.  Kitty, my mom's and aunt's cat, did not like the fact that I overtook her queenly roll in the family.  It was so bad that I remember being told often to not look her in the eyes.  I did.  Once.  Under the kitchen table.  Her claws met my face.  Too this day, even kitten's claws make me nervous.

14.  I love dogs.  I love this dog, on most days.  Except when he wants to play keep away with the socks. 

That is all. For today. 

Monday Morning

Monday mornings here can be a bear, or it can run like a dream.  I never really know how it will go until I wake up.   Here is how our morning went today.

This morning I woke up a little later than I wanted.  I don't usually set an alarm, because I usually wake up at the same time.  And, my mom will get a laugh out of this, I already had a text from her about what Jake needed to bring for their math session this morning.   My brain starts working and I realize I will have to run by the store to get something for the kids to take in their lunch tomorrow. We are out of things that don't need cooking.  I hopped up, get dressed, and headed to the kitchen to eat breakfast telling the dog to shush and quit whining.  As I walked into the kitchen, I realized the dishwasher didn't get run last night.  David was working on a leaky faucet and kept having to turn the water off.  I didn't want to start it and then have it turn off, so I would be smart and start it at bedtime.  Hee, hee.  I ignore the stack of dirty dishes awaiting their turn to get clean.

As I ate I realized the dog had some extra energy, so while I drank my coffee, I went outside to throw the ball around with him.  I threw, he just stood there.  By the way, he is a retriever.  Yep.  I found the soccer ball.  He loved that, went crazy, I went inside to begin supper. 

Supper starts in the morning.  This is really a good way to do it, because the bewitching hours of 4:30-6:30 are just that-bewitching.  For us, in this season of life, we are gone most days between 3:45-7:45.  So, we eat lots of crock-pot suppers.  And that means, it begins early in the day.

Apparently, I didn't print off the recipe like I thought, so I had to get on Pinterest.  I caught myself from getting too distracted, found it and proceeded to copy it down.  By copy, I mean write it.  We were just about out of copy paper and I knew the kids would need it for school.  (I was right.  Before 9:00 we were out).  Jake and Katie came wandering in.  Jake told me his molar was hurting again real bad.  I took a look.  I can't tell if it is pushing on a bracket and decided it deserved a trip to the dentist.

I call David to check in for the morning.  He left before we were up and going.  Fill him in, then between the dog barking (he knows David isn't at home) and two children standing in line waiting for me to get off the phone, I end the call early.

I waited till 8 to call the dentist, and they can get us in at 11:15.  I call my mom and reschedule tutoring until after that.  Sara Beth knows we are getting out and wants to go so we can swing by Target and get the new Taylor Swift cd.  Since at this point, I have to go and get copy paper and lunch for tomorrow, I realize why not.  We will all leave, go to the dentist, eat lunch at Grandmas house, go to Target.

The kids get started on school work.  Sara Beth throws in a load of laundry as I start browning meat for supper.  I am browning several pounds at one time so it will be in the freezer ready to go when I need it.  In between turning the meat, I grab clothes to throw in the laundry as well, to make a full load.  While I am browning meat and doing laundry at the same time, I am instructing 3rd grade cursive writing, clarifying 7th grade geography assignments, letting Sara Beth know that several emails have come in from her honors biology teacher,  wondering what my afternoon will look like if I end up having to take Jake downtown to the orthodontist, mentally planning what I will get at the store, what to-do's I will need to take for my 3 hour sit at swim practice and pleasantly realize, I can get grading and a grocery list done.That is if I stay focused and can do that while I visit with other swim moms.  My social outlet of the week.

Meat has been browned, I have assisted in 3rd grade helping verbs, dirtied up several more dishes and realized the kitchen won't get clean today.  I now must go "put my face on", saute onions and bell peppers, do third grade school work, smile as I think about all my kiddos watching their Latin video together, call and let my mom know we will all be there for lunch, not just Jake, put everything in the crock-pot before we leave at 11, let the dog out of the kennel, put clothes the dryer.

Hmm, I think that about covers it.
It's only 9:30.

(Disclaimer: No children or dogs were harmed during the publication of this blog.  It was done a few sentences at time and  made the mom feel much better, and that despite the fact the house will probably stay a mess for the entirety of the day, she has accomplished much already)

Summer Trip

 

As part of our Southeastern Championship swim meet, we decided to tack on a few days at the end and make a vacation out of it.  So, during the days at the meet, we began to research where we would go.



 

 Back in the days before we had kids, we tended to be somewhat spontaneous in our adventures.  We would take off driving and see where it would land us.  With the addition of children, it began to be a little more complicated- naps, kids supplies, food, etc.  Now that they are older, we decided to venture out a little. 

 

You have to understand that for some in our family that brings some excitement, but for the planner in the family - who just has to know- it can be quite the challenge. 

 

After the meet, we packed up and headed out.  We ended up in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area and began searching for a hotel room.  Ummm, apparently, the area was quite busy and that took much longer than we anticipated.  But we found a room and decided to hang out and stay there for a few days seeing the sights.

 

Bright and early the next morning, we headed out for the big kids and David to white water raft with the older group from our swim team. They had a blast.  Katie and I hung out with another sweet mom, her daughter, and one of the coaches.  The girls swam, feet up, collecting shells at a nearby beach. 

 

After that, we did all of the fun touristy stuff.  The mountain chair lift (which Mom did not do- more on that in a minute), the aquarium, the shops, Bubba Gumps shrimp, etc.  And one huge event at the end- but you must keep reading!   Before I go on, I must say that having older kids is fun.  When they were little, everything seemed to surround around nap/rest time, early bedtimes, etc.  Now, we just go with the flow, and throw all schedules to the wind.  Poor Katie- being the youngest she is alot of time along for the ride.  But out of our kids, she needs the least amount of sleep.  Which makes it so much easier.  

 



The Aquarium



There are two things I must address before I get into the next set of pictures.  David has a great sense of adventure.  I can only imagine what his life would be like if he didn't have us to feel responsible for.  Maybe we just keep him grounded.  For example, he would love to go sky diving.  Umm, not me,....which comes to my next point.  Since having children, I am truly afraid of heights.  Which is terribly unsual considering some of the things I have done.  (Post coming later on that.)  Heights creates in me this horrible feeling.  I do put on a good face and put forth good effort for my kids sakes, but it just ain't fun. 

So, when David started researching ziplines, I knew I was out.  He found this great one called Canopy Works, which ziplines you for two hours through the Smoky Mountains.  Despite the cost, he was hooked.  And so were the kids, even Miss Katie.   So, late one afternoon, I drove them all to the place, dropped them off, then had a break in the hotel room.  They had a beautiful time covering the tops of trees.  They had a blast and it was so worth it.  Katie didn't even miss a beat, seeming to be the bravest of them all.  Because of her age, she had to ride with a guide, but she didn't mind.  Here are a few pics of what I missed. :)
 

Flames in the kitchen and other records of the week

1.  I am proud to say that I made it 18 years of marriage without catching the kitchen on fire.

2.  Also proud that the first flames in the kitchen were small, caused no damage, and that I hadn't left the room.  Otherwise I would be posting something different.

3.  David's truck wins the record of still plugging along, after many resucitations along the way.  Unfortunately, that streak is about to end, this weekend.  That call came not long after I put out the flames.

4.  There is probably no computer that has been in the shop more often than ours.  Seriously.  It crashed again early this week, after only having it home for a week. 

5.  Our laptop is on its last leg as well.  The rugged built laptop, made to endure drops on rocks, weather, etc has not been able to withstand the use of our children.  The computer guy says they have never had one of those break.  My kids broke their record.  Currently, we put masking tape on the screen to hold it together while we are using it.  Not kidding.

(See, we are on a roll of a record breaking week around here.)

6.  While that was going on we were figuring out how best to handle the wildlife that has taken residence in our attic.  It has been approximately,  6 or 7 years since this has happened.

7.  $$$ = the amount of money it will take to get rid of such critters, as we need to do house repairs, etc first.   It was on the list to do anyway, but we were waiting until we caught up on our budget after the summer.  Umm....

8.  The dishwasher has been resucitated  many times as well.  I believe it is also giving up the ghost.  We are still using it, and just rewashing those items that don't get clean.  I believe, as the mom, I will be handwashing dishes for a while, leading another section of home economics to my children as they learn to appreciate a dishwasher while handwashing dishes.

9.  My ankles pronate (roll in).  Always have.  Two of my children inherited this trait.  Only assuming one had, I took this child to the doctor who then delcared those feet the worst of the week in their office.  Yay.  Later that evening we looked at all of our lovely children's feet, and discovered one other has it too.  If not worse than the other.  Yay. So, now we are looking at high dollar shoes and inserts for these kiddos feet.

(I mean, really - computers, feet, trucks, fires, wildlife- in 5 days????)

10.  The horse dog finally finished off the rose bush.  One less thing for me think about.

11.  $$$$$$$$$$ - amount it will cost us to deal with all of these award winning, record breaking accomplishments.

We have joked, and said to ourselves, "really??",  "seriously??" many, many times to ourselves and each other this week.  The kids are now frantic, and keep asking if we will be poor and broke.  We respond,  "We won't be broke, but we will need to watching our spending very closely and only do and get those things which are necessities. " "Yes, we will." :) 

Then we tell them, but we have each other.  We are still here to pray for our friends who are dealing with much much worse.  We are dealing with earthly things.  Things that won't go with us after we are gone.  We aren't battling cancer, marital issues, hurricanes (well maybe on that one - Sara Beth is headed to the coast tomorrow for a week long sea lab field trip and Isaac is on its way).

And God knows.  And for that we are very, very thankful.

July = Swim, swim, and more swim

Well, it appears that we are officially a swim family.  July was spent at more swim meets than I care to remember, but all resulted in great swims for the kids.  Between that and the olympics, our kids are  more determined and motivated than ever to give it their all. 

So, July was one swim meet after another.  Thursday nights were our fun summer league team, weekends were our competitive team.  

First our fun league.  It's what started all this to begin with anyway.  We have been swimming with this team every summer since '05, with the exception of one year when we took a break.  It culminates with a big city championship meet at the end of July.  For all of those summers, my kids have watched other kids (mostly year round swimmers) receive one of the coveted high point winner trophies.  We just weren't in that league yet, although they each would place well in separate individual events and come home with ribbons and medals.  This year, after a year of long hard work, it finally paid off.  Sara Beth came home with 2nd runner up and Jake came home with 5th runner up.  So proud of these kids and their persistence.   Katie came home with 4 medals (which are awarded 1st-7th place, 8th-16th get ribbons), sad she didn't get any ribbons and suprisingly sad she didn't get a trophy.  We told her if she kept working, it would pay off, and that her siblings didn't get one when they were 8 either.  It doesn't help that the competition is broader at that age as well.  She was none the less happy for Jake and Sara Beth and has her eye already on next summer.

For our competitve league, the long course season (50 meter length pool) culminates with a regional championship in July.  There are qualifying times required to go, so it gives the kids a goal to work towards, besides just bettering their time.  Well throughout long course season, we could see that this was in reach for Sara Beth and Jake.  (Katie is a little young yet).  Jake was so determined, that at the end of June he made a cut for his 100 breast.  He was so excited.  Problems came in when the championship meet was the same week as our church youth group mission trip and he had been looking forward to this trip for several years.  The meet was also a big trip with plenty of expenses.  A tough decision.  He decided that if he could make another cut or if Sara Beth made a cut that he wanted to go.  We were fine with that.  At a meet in early July, he made his cut in the 50 breast.   Whoo, whoo- championship meet here we come.  Sara Beth,  not to be out done by Jake, started working so hard, pushing herself.  The Friday before the championship meet, she had one more chance.  And she did it- she made a cut in the 100 breast.  (For me watching it, was so terribly nerve wracking.  David said it looked like I was about to throw up).   And as a special bonus, the coaches put together a cute little relay team of 8 yr old girls (siblings of some of the older swimmers) so Katie also got to swim in the championship meet. 

Fun facts:

- Our team is made up of great kids and parents.

- Out of town meets are a blast (and also expensive :) )
- Our kids got really motivated to come home and work harder

- They got to swim in the same pool where the Olympians were training a week earlier - way cool
- We are glad that we are on break at the moment. :)

Sara Beth in third lane from the top

Jake coming in with his backstroke in the relay

Katie warming up

What I love.....

1. I love summer because I can wear a t-shirt and shorts anywhere.

2. I love summer because it means no make-up. 

3. I love watching our kids get in such good shape swimming.

4.  Seeing our kids rewarded for their swimming by being in such good shape, being the ones in the head to head races, and bringing home blue and red ribbons. 

5. It is especially fun to see your child have a goal of making southeastern championship qualifying time.  And make that goal last night!  Whoop, whoop, Jake!

6. I love oreo balls.  Thank you, Sara Beth.

7.  I love that June 21 has come and gone.  That means the days are getting "shorter".  Closer to winter time. 

8.  Because I love good winter nights in front of a fire place.

9.  Today I love airconditioning.

10.  I love that I could laugh at the fact that we were so low on toilet paper that I was desperately praying no one got an upset stomach before I could get to the store.  And how I wished I had made everyone go to the bathroom before we left the Y.  You know, to conserve on our meager supply of toilet paper.  (Never fear- I have been to the store and we are now stocked. :) )

11.  I love how I am feeling led to pray for the woman who recently looked at our home.  Praying she makes the best decision for her.

12.  I love how hard my kids worked to get the house in order.  They worked super hard.

13.  I love the deep hard laughs my kids get when we are having fun.

14.   I love our free spirit, "flower-child" Katie, who leaves me sweet notes and treats.  Even though she tells me she did it just because she was bored.

15.  I love dog slobber covered van windows.  My kids call it dog art.

16.  Fresh tomato sandwiches.  Enough said.

17.  Saturdays.  I am off to enjoy it!!

May was one very long month

For whatever reason this year, May seemed to go on and on.  With no relief in sight.  But, alas, it is over.   Here are a few of our highlights

Jake finally moved up to the church youth group the first weekend in May.  It was long anticipated.  On that day, after church, is usually lunch and some sort of fun activity.  This year it was a photo scavenger hunt.  One of the tasks was to actually buy a fish (you must have receipt as proof) and take a picture.  It was only one fish per group.  How did the Pritchards get lucky enough to bring home two fish?  Wow.  Here is one of them.  Make note that the 13 cent fish died sooner than the 25 cent fish.  You really do get what you pay for. :)

The Avengers movie was greatly anticipated in our house.  You see, we have a rule of no PG-13 movies until you are 13.  We make a few exceptions, especially when said child is almost 13.  Well, for this movie we made an exception, so the two big kids and us parents went to see the movie.  Sweet Katie gets to live vicariously through us for these movies and can talk about them like she has seen them.  I truly think, though, she makes an absolutely adorable Hulk. :)

            

For Mother's Day, my father-in-law, husband and sister-in-law treated all the girls - Moms, Nana, and the offspring- to manis, pedis, and lunch out.  It was a sweet (and colorful) treat for us girlies.

When we are downtown for either orthodontist appointments or eye visits, we try and make a point to go visit my dad at work. They call him Batz (that story is another post), but anyway, Batz happens to also be our optometrist. Jake needed a check-up, so I took these two for a visit. Here they are in their great sunglasses they got for getting their eyes dialated. The week after this we headed back down their for orthodontist appointments and afterwards swung by Batz's office to eat lunch and wreak havoc. It's always an adventure - raiding his candy stash, making a scene in the deli, and this time all three kids managed to get a ride in the elevator all by themselves. All the way up, then all the way back down. I guess they are kinda glad my dad is retiring soon??




Being the cool mom that I am, and having a cool hubby who also said yes,  Sara Beth dyed a stip of her hair pink.  It was a process- first bleach it, then add the pink.  So proud of her because she did it all by herself.  It's a good thing, because I wouldn't have known what I was doing either.  I would have just been the hovering mom.  

Due to the ever increasing social life of my older kids, Katie and I had alot of time together to do stuff just for us.  Movie watching, ice cream treats, and even a whole bakery's worth of play-doh creations.

Even we are multiple swim teams at this point, the kids still like to swim for fun.  After a long day of working on the house, we took the kids to a friends house to swim. 

                  

Bear is coming along.  He may end up a good dog yet.  If only my mom's dog could teach him to poop all in one spot, then that would be just awesome.  Anyway, the last weekend in May (Memorial Day weekend), I had the lovely chance to clean up dog vomit, not one but two mornings in a row.  That is a monumental occasion because I just don't do vomit. 
But, poor Bear just got sicker and sicker.  Sparing you the gory and gross and foul smelling details, we figured out he had swallowed a large piece of chewable bone, that he decided to gulp rather than chew.    He recovered, after a few calmer days.  Only then to welcome June with a two hour romp through our house while we were gone.  I somehow didn't close the kennel well.  He certainly enjoyed rearranging our items.  Lipstick doesn't look good on him, he doesn't like the Wheat Thins he tried,  the Starburst he loved, and for some reason he decided to rummage through Jake's swim bag and declare war on his goggles.  Bear won.  Well, maybe- we think that the second weekend of vomiting was due to his escapades.  Maybe the tube of lotion didn't settle well with him. 

Cute picture of two sets of sisters, playing Twister, giggling uncontrollably.

Our youth group, which David and I work in and Sara Beth and Jake both participate in, does fun stuff on Wednesday nights during the summer.  This was Jake's first "official" such event, as a true 7th grader.   One of the perks of us helping with the youth is that quite a few of the events can be family friendly, so our other kids can tag along.  They have for years, and now Jake is official, which leaves Katie as the tag along.  The first one was a sock-hop, which was a great one for Katie to tag along.   Doesn't she look adorable?

There was a photo booth, which was tons of fun.  Sorry about the sideways picture.  It happens.

Anyone with a tween or teenage girl is sure to be familiar with Naill, Harry, Zayne, etc from the great new boy band, One Direction.  It is pretty much all that is talked about around this house.  Considering I have a teenage girl, and soon to be tween.  Both David and I confess that their songs are really good and quite enjoyable to listen to.  It's a good thing, too.

For the rest of the days in May, we finished school and achievement tests.  This means that we now have a freshman in high school, a 7th grader, and a 3rd grader.   The kids have had swim practices, with two swim teams.   I have wiped sticky watermelon off the floor numerous times.  Oh, and we put the house on the market.  Yeah.  Maybe June or July's events will included moving?  Praying hard toward that end. 

You Know You're a Swim Mom When

1.  You  know that splits mean something other than stretching your legs as far as they can go.

2.  The fact that your children's skin is covered in pictures drawn by sharpie markers no longer alarms you.

3.  You know that blocks are more than square things you stack on top of each other.

4.  You learn to recognize your children at a distance by bodyshape, goggle straps, and back graffitti (random sharpie drawings, precisely drawn while bored at a meet)

5.  You think nothing's weird about your daughter saying that when she was on the block the timers were reading her back graffitti, asking what a muggle was.

6.   The smell of mildew-ed towels is common place.  

7.   Your kids abs feel like a brick (and you wish yours did).