Sneakin' Around

So pretty much three days a week I work from home in my office on the third floor. On Tuesdays & Thursdays, the girls are home by 11:30 a.m., Alan feeds them lunch and puts them down for naps & then I pray they will stay asleep as long as possible so I can continue working, because Alan leaves to teach at the Community College around 1pm.

Inevitably, there is a reason I have to come downstairs for something. Well, let's temper that--often I WANT to come downstairs for something--and today it was an oreo. When will I LEARN that no matter how hard I try to tiptoe silently from third floor to first, Evelyn ALWAYS wakes up. I managed to have more than one oreo before she was pretty much in my lap in the kitchen begging to share. She actually startled me, and I have no idea why, because I should have expected it.

Now she's here begging me to join her in the back yard. It is beautiful and so is she, and I suppose the work upstairs will just have to wait.

Flower Child

Yesterday, in Evelyn's book bag a craft came home where the students filled in the blank at the end of the following sentences:

"'Come follow Me,' said Jesus. Evelyn will follow Jesus to __________."

Where will Evelyn follow Jesus? To the flowers.

Toilet Humor

I guess farts, poop, pee, burps, and butts are just funny. We've even taken to giving the girls time-outs for their incessant use of potty words and for their own rip-roarin', unsuppressed farting and burping.

Last week my dad watched the girls at their house and he heard them laughing ridiculously. He peeked into the dining room to find them with their pants pulled down just below their back sides, chasing each other around the table guffawing about their exposed "beetie bottoms" (I have no idea from whence came their preferred term for their nude gluteous maximi.)

Last summer at RVR day camp, Evelyn was nicknamed "Stinky" because of her constant farting. She LOVED the attention (of course I was quite angry & upset...all I could think of was that one of Evelyn's first social experiences was going to teach her that people would "like" her if she farted a lot, not realizing they were actually making fun of her.)

I was given a lot of loving advice about the day camp experience, including this from John and Jolene, (said very sensitively), "Maybe you could lay off the beans in your diet."

Raining Pink

The pink petals don't last long, especially when the wind and rain come. It's funny--I remember feeling invigorated by windy, stormy weather as a kid, and Evelyn's response to this blustery evening brought back those memories. Check out the "storm" of petals blowing around.

Theological Omission

Today in the car the girls were singing "This Little Light of Mine," and they got to the verse, "Don't let Satan 'whoo' it out, I'm gonna let it shine! Don't let Satan 'whoo' it out, I'm gonna let it shine!"

Suddenly Evelyn stopped and said, "Mommy, who's Satan?"

After I got over wondering how we could have missed this one, I started with Lucifer the beautiful, fallen angel, after which it went all over the map, with questions like this one, which came from Amelia, "So people can get INSIDE snakes and TALK?"

I think I actually answered, "Not PEOPLE, sweetie, DEMONS."

It's been a really, really long week. But I'm truly glad that our daughters have given me the opportunity to wrestle with these things myself so that we can keep having these kinds of conversations, even if I stumble about. I'd rather stumble about WITH them and do it honestly, searching together for the truths, and in that way fellowship with them as we seek the Lord together.

Note to Self:

Always weigh the possible physical hazards before acquiescing to go down a big, plastic, twisty playground slide on your stomach with your five year old riding on your back.

Crazy Hat Night

Every so often AWANA club has a theme night, and about 50% of the time I remember the theme in time to participate. Right after Easter was Crazy Hat Night, & Evelyn was totally up for it. A hot glue gun turned some Easter baskets & plastic eggs into an "Easter Hat," and the thing lasted about 30 seconds longer than the judging before it toppled over and spewed all over the gymnasium floor. She still won (although admittedly, we did put a loose egg on top w/a sign "For Mr. Norris"--our AWANA leader & judge for the competition--that had a chocolate treat inside. I'm afraid we bribed our way to the prize.)

Amelia was very excited to wear her cute sun-hat, which had made a recent reappearance with all of our spring and summer things. When I asked her if she wanted to make it crazier (being "crazy hat night" and all), she simply said, "No."

Family Hygiene

We've been trying to teach the girls increased independence, which has included them brushing their own teeth every other time. This morning, when I got up with Evelyn (the ever-ebullient-early-morning-riser), she was bouncing around the bathroom giggling. She looked over at me and said, "Guess what, Mommy! Last night, Meme and I used YOUR toothbrush and DADDY'S toothbrush instead of ours!"

Oh for gross. I guess a lot of things increase along with independence.

Seeing Pink

Ah--these ever-so-fleeting weeks of blossoms on our ornamental cherry trees! I took these pics last Saturday after my neighbor and I had a successful yard sale.

I think I've figured out why I really like doing yard sales. Of course, I love getting rid of stuff and having fewer things to shuffle, sort, and store. But I actually love the sale itself--once I get everything outside and priced, all I do for hours is visit w/my neighbors, talk to people, and hang out on the OUTSIDE of my house without a thought in the world to all the things in need of doing on the INSIDE. The wad of cash in my back pocket is just a bonus (we added $60 to the family pot, which would be a pitiful hourly wage if you included all the prep, but it's icing on the cake for my relaxing morning of hanging out.) And at the end, everything that didn't sell went straight to Goodwill. Beautiful.

I was so refreshed after the whole thing. Alan watched the girls during the sale, and then I simply hung out with them outside (riding bikes in the parking lot across the street and collecting what they called "textures," a pretty impressive assortment of interesting objects, trash, sticks, and rocks) until it was time to come in and throw together a very satisfying pot of homemade soup.

My neighbor wants to do another yard sale next month, and I'm IN! The trees won't be pink anymore, but I'll still be refreshed afterward.

Easter Memories

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Sorry for the blogging lapse--believe me, I'm feeling it, too! This is such a great place to sit and review all the things in my life that make me smile. Blogging lapses happen when there are so many things in my life making me smile that I don't have time to sit down and review them. :)

Easter was deliciously pleasant and low-key. The girls had dyed eggs the day before, and Alan had done a lot of the cleaning. Mom and Dad, Jon & Courtney & the kids, Shelley, and Esther came over (each contributing to the meal) & we ate, laughed, took a walk to the playground, and even had a concert by the family bottle-blowers. (See video...if it decides to load. Been having trouble loading videos lately.)

The kids looked adorable in their matching Easter outfits from Mom, and she, Dad, Jon, and Alan enjoyed hiding the eggs in the back yard for the hunt. Mom had special Easter cards for the kids, and I love the pics of them surrounding her. We wore Aidan out, and he fell asleep with the men watching golf (not the first person who's ever fallen asleep watching golf. )

All in all it was supremely LOVELY--a day to celebrate that "We serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today. I know that He is living, whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I feel His voice of cheer, and every time I need Him, He's always near."

Overheard this morning

I've been talking a lot to the girls about the right and wrong ways to be competitive in the games and races they make up with one another and with other kids.

This morning Alan heard them arguing in the hall:

"I want to be the gracious loser!"

"NO! I want to be the gracious loser!"

...and on and on. So I'm trying to figure out if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Introductions

March was an introduction to warm weather, with the initial digging of the garden, the first meal on the porch (can I just say I LOVE eating al fresco?? Maybe it's because I grew up eating on the back porch for about four months of the year. Mom and Dad probably did it to survive in Baltimore w/out central A.C., but I just remember loving it. It is so frustrating to me that our own back yard gets so rife with mosquitoes we can only enjoy eating outside for a few weeks.)

We also had an introduction to Puppet Shows in the girls' bedroom. The new-to-us desk from Aunt Barbara has a perfect spot for puppet shows, especially propped in a corner, and last night Evelyn gave her first one.

Just before the show itself, Evelyn announced, "If you have a cell phone, this is the time to turn it off. If you have any electricity, turn it off now, please." After laughing, Alan and I decided that must be said at the beginning of chapel services on Thursday mornings at school.

Coolest room in the house!

So I've loved this room--the library--ever since we created it a few months ago when the piano was finally able to join all the other musical instruments on the third floor, but I REALLY love it now! Aunt Barbara and Uncle Diego are downsizing, so Alan, Shelley, the girls and I drove to NC to help by making a trip to Goodwill, taking some of their hand-me-downs and (in the case of the library) buying some of their nicer stuff at a very reasonable price. Aunt Barbara designed this cool sofa and chair/ottoman thing, and I've already moved all the girls' books in here and tonight we read together on the sofa. THANK YOU, Aunt Barbara and Uncle Diego! There's lots more re-shuffling going on, but no other room looks quite as put together as this one yet.

Wish I'd taken some pictures of when we were down there, but we were pretty busy. Alan did take one picture on my phone of me, Shelley, and the girls in the hot tub the day we left, and if you're wondering why it's not here, well, I have four words for you: wearing swimsuits in March. Highlights of the weekend included a rousing game of Catch Phrase, Uncle Diego's guacamole, and going to church on Sunday (I don't think I've ever waved palm branches with such freedom and joy as I did in that service. It was wonderful!)