Odds and Ends

Our testing is done!  That is a load off.  It's hard to be motivated to keep going!  I think we are all ready for a break.  To quote a fellow blogger, I will be "dee-lighted" to finish up!
Sammy cannot wait for our beach trip coming up.  We just planned it a few days ago and he's already asking how many more days, several times a day...it will be a long while in his mind.
Thankful the rain is letting up some.  Hopefully it will help with these allergies.  Half of us are struggling with them, all in different ways.  Not to mention these kids are bouncing off the walls!
Hoping for a quiet afternoon.  Maybe I can settle down with one of these many books I have piled up.  Having a hard time getting into any of them.  We'll see!
Enjoy your afternoon!

Spring Flowers

I have been waiting for these lilacs to bloom!  The other morning was so pleasantly cool and the flowers smelled so good.  It was a good way to start the day.
Yesterday was my sweet mom's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is because she would have my head for that.  I couldn't get on blogger yesterday for some reason but since it's up and running today, Happy Birthday again, Mom!
Kayla and I have been so excited to plant some flowers.  Yesterday we finally got around to it.  Planting makes me so happy.  We're starting small because we fear the deer will make a feast of our flowers.  We'll see.
One quick story.  Kayla was looking for a place for her petunias when I heard, "Mom.  There's a snake."  Just like that.  Her voice might have been calm and quiet but she was next to me in a flash.  Sure enough, a long black snake was resting in our periwinkle.  I took a picture but I'll spare you.  So, no flowers there for the time being.  That thing slithered down a hole next to our steps.  Jack's been watching for it to reappear.  We'll see about that, too.  (As I'm finishing this, the snake has just reappeared!)

Yep

On our way to the library this morning we stopped to get the mail.  There was a letter!  A real, handwritten letter full of news from one of my college roommates.  That was a treat.
We came home with bags full of books.  One picture book I get over and over for the kids is Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran.  It's all about kids using their imaginations- wonder of wonders!
I also got a stack of books by Annie Dillard, who was recommended to me over the weekend.  I haven't read anything by her so I'm trying fiction, poetry, and non-fiction.  I'd really like to settle down this afternoon and read but I think that will have to wait.
When we got home, Samuel took his boots off and showed me a hole in his sock.  All of a sudden I remembered hearing something earlier in the morning about scissors and socks.  Click.

"Sam!  Did you cut that hole in your sock???"

"Yep!"

What else could I do but take a picture and make a mental note to learn how to darn socks?

A Nice Moment

I happened upon this nice moment...

Boys

A few questions I, being a girl, don't have an answer for:

Why close a door when you can slam it?
Or why walk around the house in socks when you can stomp all around in your boots?
Why sit calmly next to your brother when you can tackle him instead?
Why sit on a chair when you can stand on it?
Why fold the laundry when you could easily make a fort out of it?
Why climb down out of your top bunk in the morning when you can say hello to a new day with a flying leap from the bed?
What's the fun of a nice quiet bath when you can spray the whole bathroom with the water gun that somehow made it into the tub?

Why not chase your screaming sister and her friend with leaves that you claim are poison ivy?  And then of course roll on the grass laughing about it?

Any answers?  I have none.
But I do love my boys.

Some Reality

Every once in a while it occurs to me that a lot of what us mommy bloggers post on our blogs consist of the good stuff.  Cute pictures of our kids, fun things we've done.  Which is great.  I want to remember those things.  But life, at least at our house, is not always so and I would hate to give a false impression that we are leading the picture-perfect, easy, trouble-free life.  So here goes.

Somedays I feel like Jekyll and Hyde.
I get up, looking forward to a good day.  High hopes.
And then things quickly go down hill.  Not always, mind you.  But some days.
Like today.  And yesterday.
Nice happy mommy turns into angry, mean mommy.
At least that how it feels.
Maybe the house it too messy.
Maybe someone is too needy.
Or too grumpy.
Or feels like being argumentative and disobedient.
Maybe it's just me.
Or maybe it's just a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  (I do smile at the poor little guy in that book.)
I can remember always wanting to be a mom.  To be home with my children and enjoy fun-filled days.  I never would have guessed that I could be quick-tempered and impatient with these young ones that I wanted with all my heart.  Never crossed my mind that sometimes, I might just want to quit.  Or that I would fail to love them well, fail to speak kindly or gently.
And yet I sit here today knowing that I have felt all of those things more times than I care to admit.
So what do we do when the days are hard?  Not with the big things but with the everyday, little things that seem like a slowly dripping faucet.
Well, I wrack my brain trying to remember the truths I have committed to memory from God's Word.
I try to pray.
Prayers of thanksgiving.
Prayers asking for wisdom and help.
Prayers asking forgiveness.
Sometimes I call in the reserves- meaning my praying girlfriends.
I learned from one of them to even ask my children to pray for me,  to let them see my own need of the gospel.
Sometimes I remind myself to watch for those sweet moments that I would miss if I were stewing.  I give an extra hug or listen to someone's laugh (though I might not want to know what they're laughing about!)
Sometimes the day gets better and sometimes it doesn't, but I am thankful that God is bigger than our circumstances, that's He's even in control of all things, and He will use all these things for my good and His glory.
And I try to remember to be hopeful because it's not just that tomorrow is a new day.
It's that His mercies are new every morning.

Those Boots

They are never hard to hear.
The boots cannot be quiet.
They stomp and race through the house often these days.
On cold days, with pants.
On warm days, with shorts.
They are hard to get a good glimpse of.
And they're always on the feet of my spirited, lively, most favorite little four year old.

They are often paired up with a true-to-life cowboy hat.
Sometimes a trusty stick horse.
Maybe even a bright yellow gun that click-click-clicks everywhere it goes.
But those boots always come along with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.