Old friends are gold

Wow... It's been awhile. Tomorrow I'm off to visit my sister- I'm really looking forward to the trip. Uh... Well... Looking forward to spending time there- the actual trip could be an adventure. This will be the first time traveling with Hannah so I'm hoping she decides she really does like her carseat afterall. She has not been a baby who loves her carseat- she's such an easy baby otherwise- calm and happy much of the time- but unlike Jack, she has never been to excited to be in her carseat. She wants to be sitting up where she can see everything that's happening around her. So... It could be interesting to be in the car with her for 8+ hours. That and the fact that Lydia is so excited to go see her cousins she could barely get to sleep tonight.

Yesterday evening I got the chance to get together with some friends I don't get to see that often. We went out to eat and had an excellent time catching up with each other's lives. So much changes as we all grow up and become who we really are... There was a few minutes of our lives in which we thought we'd never go months (years?) without seeing each other. There was even one summer when one of my friends moved away and when it was time for her to come back, my other friends and I camped out on her porch steps waiting her arival... (She decided to come back the next night instead, but that's a different story.) The point is- we devoted so much of our lives to each other at one time that it wasn't conceivable to think we could spend so much time apart. And now we do go months and years without seeing each other. And I don't camp out on their porch steps anymore, but I still look forward to seeing them all the same. We all grow up, live our lives in different places, and can still connect when we do get together. Such a good thing to have old friends.

Anyways. It will be another week before I post again... And at that point school will be starting back up for me. Aaaaiiiee. Wish this three week break could last all summer, but that's life. Gotta keep moving forward.

Take care.

Project time!

Well... Garage saling Saturday was a success. A couple impulse buys, some clothes for my oldest, and good times. My deals-of-the-day were an old chair and a dresser- both which are in need of a facelift. (I'll post pictures... Perhaps tomorrow.) But I plan to recover/paint the chair and paint the dresser. I have to get on those projects quick, though, because there's a trailer in my yard full of stuff headed to the dump... And if I'm not careful my husband might just sneak these two latest furniture additions right in there.

We're going to be doing a bit of remodling around here in the next couple of weeks. When we moved in here, my husband so nicely built me a massage room right as you enter the house. Four years and three kids later we're getting a bit cozy in our tiny living room (There's about enough room to take one and half steps between the furninture). And since the majority of the massages I do are home visits- it seems like it would be more useful as living space than a massage room. So... The walls went up and now walls are coming down! I am a bit nervous about the whole project. I keep asking Ryan- "Are you sure upstairs isn't going to... like... cave in or something?" And he keeps assuring me that it won't. I'm not convinced. (We're taking down more walls than we put up, you see.) Anyways. I'm heading out of town when the project begins. I don't want to be anywhere near this place when the walls come tumblin' down!

It will be exciting when it's done though!- As you can see I'm already buying the furniture to fill the extra space... Will I even notice the missing walls??!

Garage sale season has officially started... Lace up your running shoes!

Tomorrow kicks off garage sale season for me! Yay! I haven't been to any yet because the weekends have been kind of taken up but tomorrow I'm off to find some great bargains. I hope. I'm feeling like a kid on Christmas eve. Oooh! What great finds await me? What kind of junk will I haul home this year? No matter what, it's always a good time when I go with my mom & sister. Lots of laughs. (Mmega sale anyone?) In a couple of weeks I'm off to visit my other sister for a long weekend of garage saling & good times. Yep. I'm a little addicted to this stuff. Cheap therapy. So to all of you other garage salers out there- May you have great luck and find lots of useless junk. Let the hunt begin!

A memo to my brain... yep.

Memo

To: My Brain

From: Self

Date: 5/14/08

Re: Slacking on the job

There seems to be an issue with remembering lately. Car keys, events, names, and, dates are all being forgotten at an alarming rate. I'm expressing my concern because it seems that every time I go to pull out something from a file in my memory it's all muddled and blurred. Post-it notes have been doing the job to an extent, but my family is growing weary of this practice. They're not always too practical either. For example- a note stuck to the baby's onesie that says, "Diaper last changed: 8 a.m." could fall off within minutes and leave me changing a soggy diaper at 3 in the afternoon trying desperately to recall if she'd been changed at all that day. Also- unless the info needing to be remembered is readily on hand, they don't work, which totally defeats the purpose of them in the first place. Like trying to recall memories from five or six years ago. (Yes, I'm quite aware that this is not all that long ago...) If I remembered in the first place, if you, brain, were doing your job, I wouldn't have to stand there shrugging my shoulders with a washed out expression on my face apologizing for my lack of remembrance as someone embarks on yet another "remember when" story.

It has come to the point where friends and family are giving me polite smiles when I stutter, "I-I just don't remember..." They're even going so far as to make excuses for me, "The third baby will do it to ya," they say. But I'm sure I can hear them whispering and chuckling behind my back, "Just wait a few years... This is going to be entertaining." Then, they'll go and say something like, "Hey, Sarah- remember when you were ten and... blah, blah, blah," as they're snickering behind their hands- turning red in the face trying to disguise their laughter. Ha. Ha. Seems that I'm the only one not finding this so amusing. My mom tries to be reassuring- she tells me it will get better- but I can't determine if I believe her. At the rate my brain cells seem to be dropping off, I think it's just a matter of time before I need a post-it note stuck to my shirt reminding me what my name is.

So, in conclusion- I'd just like to give you a heads up. (No pun intended). It would be greatly appreciated if you would just complete the tasks you signed up to do so I can once again remember all the things I think I should not have forgotten.

Your cooperation is much appreciated. I look forward to remembering things again.

Happy Birthday to My Little Guy!

Today was Jack's 2nd birthday- although if you ask him, he still insists he's one. He's having slight issues with this age change thing. We had the grandparents, great grandma, and my sister & her husband over for cake & coffee tonight. A "buppy" shaped cake, that is. I'm sure my husband would rather see me constructing his cakes to look like power tools or something more manly, but a puppy it was. Unfortunately the poor kid has a cold and as the evening went on, he was feeling worse and worse. His usual happy, smiley self was replaced by a tired, worn out little boy by the end of the party.

One of the gifts he got was a Jump-O-Lene... It's an inflatable bouncy-thing-a-ma-bobber. It was quite the hit (especially with the three year old). It was a near calamity when we discovered we didn't have an air pump in the house. So.. After a quick trip to the store for an attachment for the shop vac, Ryan blew it up in the kitchen. We quickly discovered that if we wanted to get from one end of the room to the other we'd have to take a detour-bounce right through the middle of the thing- it's rather large- so it was quickly rolled outside. Within minutes, Lydia discovered the easiest way to get in was to take a running start and barrel herself over the edge. And the easiest way to get out? Flip over the edge head first, of course. Who wants to bet we don't make it through the summer without a broken bone?

I'm sure the neighboorkids will really be peering through the fence tomorrow. (yes, we have a slight issue with this...) Today, when I was out raking by the back of the yard near the fence I heard some shuffling on the other side and spotted two eyes peering through the spaces between the slats. "Hey," one of the voices called to me. "Hey, the last time I was here that little girl told me to go away," the voice told me in a whiney, tattle-tale sort of way that implied he had full right to spy on us. Hm. Funny. I was begining to wish his grandmother wasn't standing ten feet away so I could tell him the same thing. No. I don't mean to be mean, really. Reeeaally. And I'm not that rude that I would seriously tell a kid this (just so you know). It's just... I don't like to feel like I'm being watched, you know? So... I did the good mom thing and told Lydia she shouldn't talk like that to people. And they continued to spy on us.

Well, I'm crossing my fingers for no rain tomorrow because I'm going to have two unhappy kids if it does. I just may be squishing the bouncy-thing-a-ma-bobber back through the doorway and into the middle of the kitchen if we do get rain.

Congratulations Mark & Emily!

Beautiful spring day!

Such a beautiful day today! The kids went outside this morning and came in after all of 2 minutes and, oh, I'd say 30 seconds. They just marched in, shed their jackets on the floor and kicked off their boots. Those 2 minutes and 30 seconds were not doing it for me so I'm standing there offering them snacks to take outside, telling them they can leave their jackets in if they want because it's so warm, anything to get them to go and enjoy the nice day. And they just shook their heads. Nothing was working. Okay. It's probably the second warmest day we've had this spring- what's wrong with them? If I were my kid I think I'd be getting as far away from this crabby, tired mom as possible! Hah!

So. After I fed them lunch, my husband came home for his lunch (sometimes this meal-thing starts to feel like an all day ordeal. Prepare food, eat food, clean up food, prepare food again for the next person or the next meal... Argh.) Anyways... He says to them, "Why don't you guys go play outside? It's so nice out there." And out they went. Just like that. Nevermind that I had been suggesting this to them all morning. I hauled out some of their outside toys from the basement and now they're happily running around the backyard. AND now that the baby's asleep, I think I'll go join them. It's much too nice of a day to think of doing anything else!

Enjoy your day!

Princess Shoes

Doesn't every little girl need a pair of these to be a princess in? It brings back memories of Emily & I playing wedding and because her wedding is quickly approaching, I was indulging in a little reminicing over a cup of coffee this morning. We had a box of old fancy dresses and we'd raid my sister's house for silk flowers to use for bouquets. I think there's a point in most little girl's lives when the fascination with weddings is just magical. In a sense it never really changes. Weddings are such a beautiful time- more than the fancy dresses and princess shoes. Entering into a union of two, the begining of a family, a lifetime of experiences together. I love watching the bride and groom- so happy and crazy in love- with sparkling eyes and smiles that won't leave. In that day, in those moments, life is perfect and so beautiful.

Here's to getting to play "dress up" with Emily one more time this weekend. She's going to be a beautiful bride and I'm so excited and happy for her & Mark.

What... just happened there?

Whew. What a day!
I shipped the older two kids off to my mom's this morning to get a start at cleaning this house. Around 9:30 my sister called and asked if I wanted help. I laughed. "No- but thanks for the offer," I told her and we hung up. The thought of someone else sorting through my piles of junk literally made me shiver.

Well, as soon as I hung up the phone the baby woke from her very short nap. Oh. So this is how today is going to go, I thought. As I'm sitting their rocking her wondering how I'm ever going to accomplish a thing, someone knocks on the door and in flies my sister with her cup of coffee in one hand, and in the other a sign that reads, Please excuse the noise & mess... The kids are making happy memories. She tells me she couldn't resist buying one for herself, my other sister, and me. Perfect. It's going up right away.

"I know you said not to come," she tells me, "But I'm here anyways." And before I know what's happening she's spinning circles around me wiping down cupboard doors, scrubbing the chairs, washing the woodwork in the entire downstairs.

I'm left stammering, "Uh- you don't have to-Oh...Well-I guess...really, you don't... I mean... if you want..." I finally let go trying to convince her she didn't have to help me clean and simply told her there was more coffee in the thermos as she began emptying out the fridge.

A few hours later, my house smelled for lemon cleaner and bleach and was sparkling. Just like that. We had buzzed through the house, she held the baby between washing the windows and attacking the toy room. So as she's leaving, there's an astonished me standing there speachless wondering what in the world just happened.

Now that was the way to clean. Thanks, sis. Amazing. I'm still somewhat speachless.

A Promise To My Children

Today I will look right away when you say, “Mommy, watch me!”
I will let you splash in the bathtub until you are ready to get out.
Today I will not hurry you along when you show your growing independence
by climbing into the van and into your own seat by yourself.
I will let you pick out your own clothes, even if it doesn’t match.
I will not scold you for little things like forgetting to pick up your blocks,
and I won’t ask you to “go play” when you want to help me cook supper.
Today I will sit down with you on the floor and play with your toys with you.
You can show me how.
I will let you play with your play-doh even if it makes a mess all over the kitchen.
I will read “one more” story when you ask me to instead of rushing off to something else.
Today I will not worry about getting the clothes washed, the dishes done, the floor swept.
Instead, I will spend that time listening to you.
I will take the time to really see the way your eyes light up when you’re excited,
the way your smile comes so naturally.
Today I will not get annoyed if you spill your cereal all over the table at breakfast,
and I will not tell you once to, “hurry up.”
I will let you take your time and I will learn to slow down with you.
I will remember that the lessons I learn from you are just as important
as anything I can ever teach you.
I will cherish the little moments that make today so beautiful instead of
thinking of tomorrow or next week or next month.
And tonight, when I check in on you before I go to bed,
I will linger a moment or two longer and just listen to you breathe.
I will notice how your eyelashes gently curl against your soft, rounded cheeks,
how your little arm curls around your blanket, hugging it securely to your chest.
And I will know tomorrow I will try to do the same as I did today.
This is my promise to you.
Love, Mom