Odds and Ends

What I would really like right now is an icy frappuccino (no idea how to spell that).  I tried one a couple of weeks ago and ever since, hot coffee on a summer afternoon has no appeal to me.  Iced coffee, on the other hand, perfect.  It's a good thing Starbucks does not have a drive thru.  I will not drag four children in just to indulge myself so it's ice water for me.  Healthier anyway.
This week is Summer Bible Camp, our church's VBS.  One morning down, four to go.  All the kids seemed to have a great time.  I'm the only one that seems tired...
We just got an old piano, for free!  I am excited about it but am wondering how to make it work in this room.  We'll have to do some more rearranging, which I like but am not particularly good at.
One story:
Last night I reminded Jack to brush his teeth just as he had settled down with a book.  He only had a few minutes until lights out.
"Mom!  Reading time is precious!"
Tell that to the dentist, I thought.

Hope you have a relaxing afternoon!

Chatterbox

When I was little I had a t-shirt with a picture of a television on it.  The t.v. had a big happy face on it and under it, the word "Chatterbox."  Apparently I was one.  
I think we have another one in the making.
Here's a sample of what we've heard this week from Lucy:
"I want more milk."
"I see Grandpa."  (looking at a picture)
"I sit here."  (while at Custard Corner eating ice cream)
"I want banana please."
This is in addition to her normal jabbering.
Give the girl a calculator, and she's got a cell phone.  Talks and talks.
Turn on some music, and she's singing.  No music?  She's still singing.
I know I'm her mama but I'm pretty impressed.

Getting a Taste

Those popsicles are looking pretty good.

Just a taste...

...one more...

Could she ask for a better big sister?

Blueberries and Swings

We found a new blueberry farm this week.  The kids and I picked well over a gallon of blueberries.  I'm not sure how many Lucy ate along the way but it was plenty.  We're getting a head start on freezing berries for the winter.
There were also snap peas so we got a lot of those as well.  Amazing how much better food tastes right off the bush!
It seems like the kids have spent the rest of their time out on the new playset- for which we are most thankful.

What else would you do on a swing besides read a good book?

A perfect place for an icy cold popsicle.

Grandma and Hummingbirds

I can't look at our hummingbird feeder without thinking of my Grandma Pearl.  I don't know if she always had several feeders hanging by her front porch but I know she did when I was a teenager and an early twenty-something.  She loved those birds.  There weren't just a couple of birds.  There were a good  15 at least.  It seemed they were constantly darting around, fighting each other for some of that sweet water.  Their humming was a dull background noise to our porch conversations.  Once, when the evenings were turnning cool, too cool for  a little bird who had hung around too late in the season, Grandma found it outside and brought it in the house to warm.  It did warm up and spent the night inside with her and Papa.  She sent it on its way the next morning.  I think she loved that.
Recently she said to me, "Remember when you used to be afraid of those little birds?"
Those little birds that fluttered about a little too aggressively for me?
I had forgotten that.
Now, we don't have near as many hummingbirds at our feeder but we still love to watch, waiting for a glimpse of just one, maybe two.

Little Treats

Sometimes...it's not easy being the little brother.

Sometimes...you need a little treat, just you and mom.

In secret.

The Watching

"The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow."  Unknown

Why is it that the best part of having a garden is in the watching?

The everyday looking to see what's new, what's grown since yesterday, what needs doing today.

That familiar, "Let's go check out the garden."

It's one of our favorite things to do.

Growing Up

This gift of loving and raising children stirs up conflicting emotions, more than I ever counted on.  What else would I want for these young ones than to grow up to enjoy God and His world?  But there's that pull between what's coming next and what you're leaving behind.   That growing and changing sometimes feels like more than my heart can bear.
I know you can't always have a little one to hold but oh it goes so fast.
Lucy is putting two words together.  Sometimes a little slurred but those words are there.
"My papa."
"Where's Daddy?"
"Me, too."  (parroted from her siblings)
She may be 18 months now but she's still my baby girl.
Walking her own way one minute and raising those little arms to be held the next.
Playing with her big brothers and sister then looking for a shoulder to rest on.  And it doesn't have to be mine or Daddy's.  Depending on her mood, anyone will do.  I love to see Sammy trying so hard to care for his little sister.
Bending down to her level, "Woos, hey Woos, you want me, yah?  Yah?"
Sometimes she does, sometimes it's a loud, "No!"
I know there's so much ahead of her, and all of them, but for now, I like having all my young'ins around, to hold, to listen to, to laugh with.  Even when I want to pull my hair out.
It's just a little easier on my heart.

Projects

You know all those little projects you see around your house that need doing?  The ones that feel like a huge weight on your shoulders while they're looming ahead of you but really aren't such a big deal once you get started?  That's been my week.  Things like cleaning off the top of the refrigerator, finally taking the few Christmas dishes our of the cabinets and down to the basement, paring my two junk drawers down to one, filling picture frames that have been sitting around forever, etc...  My Barry Manilow friend even came over to help me paint the bathroom.  (She is my only friend who appreciates Barry and the fact that his birthday was yesterday...) It feels good to get some of these things done.
But... it's not worth it if the kids get ignored all day so, we took advantage of some of the nicer weather.  This is our make-shift sandbox.

Oh yeah

Oh yeah.

Look who's riding with no training wheels!

Week at Mimi and Papa's

After our week at the beach, Brian headed to General Assembly and the rest of us stayed with my mom and dad.  Now there is plenty to love about my parents but one thing is how much they enjoy all their grandkids.

Daddy always gets  himself into trouble with some form of water.

Making smores after dinner

Just a little messy.

In Williamsburg.  Not sure who got who here.

A little craziness keeps things interesting.

Lucy's first tea party with Mimi.  There haven't been very many visits that haven't included tea parties and hats.

I think she liked it.

Church Picnic

I'm getting ahead of myself here but I'll go ahead and post a few pictures from our church picnic.  It was really a wonderful time of fellowship.  The kids had a ball.  Our hosts live way out in gorgeous country.  The pictures will tell more than I can.

Getting ready for a tractor ride

Lucy is with one of her favorite friends.

Part of the view

Jack spent most of the evening right here.

Notice the watermelons in the creek...

...and Lucy in the creek.  She loved it.  I love this picture of her and Geneva.

Kayla swinging over the creek.

Fishing with Daddy.  Sammy caught a pretty big one- I think Brian is working on getting it in.

One last ride.

Just Being a Big Brother

Memory Lane

What started as a 35 minute trip down to my hometown ended up as a close to two and a half hour ride in traffic.  Serious bumper to bumper, accident on the interstate, I-64, peninsula traffic.  Ugh.
Or maybe not.
One of my favorite "friends-who-moved-away-from-Blacksburg" was waiting for me at the end of the ride.
And along the way I did a lot of reminiscing with the help of 2W-D radio, the best of yesterday and today.
I don't know why it amused me so much to listen to the same stations I did as a kid.  But music does that to me, takes me back, makes me remember funny things.  It's a little easier when you are all by yourself in the car.
No one screaming the same things you're thinking about being stuck on the road.
No one to listen to your not so great singing voice as for just a moment, you are 15 again and listening to your favorite songs.
Sometimes there wasn't even a specific memory, just the feeling of a time long passed, places long left.
When all was said and done, I spent a lot of time in the car and not enough time with Jenny but I was glad for both.

Flat Hair

I stepped outside and the air was heavy and thick.
It felt like I took a step back into the summers of my teen years.
The coastal Virginia weather was (and is) always hazy, hot, and humid.
It took no more than the next thought to remind me of all the times Crystal (my cousin) and I ran in and out of the house to fix our flat hair.  We'd wash and curl and spray only to go outside and say, "My hair's gone flat.  Again."  I loved having her there with us all summer.  Or for at least part of it.  And as much as we complained about our flat hair, we had fun fixing it back up again.  I don't know why thinking about that makes me smile but it does.  We were a mess!  How did my brother put up with the two of us??

Some Beach Pictures

We figured out the camera dilemma so here are some of my favorite pictures from the beach.  Too hard to narrow them down, though, so there's a bunch.  I figure this is more of a post for grandparents and aunts and uncles than anything else!

One of the few times he wasn't laying in the sand or building sand castles.

Buried in the sand.

I'm a little partial but I think she's such a beauty.

My beach baby.  She spent most of the time under the umbrella digging in the sand or putting her toes in the water.

Everyone's busy.

Just sweet.

The guys at Jockey's Ridge

The stairs at the lighthouse.  Even the picture makes me a little dizzy.

The crew

and the crew again.

Beach Week in Duck

Her big brother brought her to me after her nap.  Jack loves to get her when she wakes up.  She sat with me outside, her head on my shoulder, trying to wake up.  The wind was warm and salty, mixed with the Johnson's & Johnson's I'd used to rinse the sand out of her hair.  I was reading The Help, again.   I'm not sure what everyone else was up to at that point but it was vacation so I think they were enjoying themselves.
This year we went to Duck on the Outer Banks.  The OBX- one of our favorite places.  We honeymooned there.  I have to say though, as much as we enjoyed it, our week wasn't quite the same as past year when we've gone to Emerald Isle with my family.  Maybe next year?  I have many pictures to post but no camera chord to upload with so that will have to wait.  Some highlights for us:  the beach in the mornings, Jockey's Ridge (sand dunes) in the evenings, hermit crabs- four of them- first pets as I am not an animal person at all mostly due to allergies, Duck Donuts, ice cream every night, climbing the Currituck Lighthouse at Corolla, flying kites, beautiful weather, and probably other things I'm forgetting.
Vacation is always nice but getting back to regular life is good, too.
It's a good thing, huh?