Patient Grief
In May, the Man accidentally scraped a chair over my toenail, leaving a blackish purple bruise that slowly crept closer and closer to the tip of my toe for weeks. Just a week earlier, Oswald had bitten a hole straight through the thumb nail of my right hand while trying to avoid getting his vaccinations updated.
Get After It
This morning, after my run, I sat down with one of the Man's motivational coffee mugs that informed me that I needed to "Get After It". I tried to convince the coffee cup that Getting Up in the morning and Getting Out for a run was enough Getting for one day.
Books for Me, Books for You
It's been a reading summer for us, lots of afternoons curled up on the couch with the Bigs enjoying books out loud...at least until Bruiser starts to interrupt more than every other paragraph, which is when I throw in the towel and make them go play legos.
Summer Meet Ups
We start school this week, which means that our summer days of frantically trying to get settled in but still be as lazy as possible are now drawing to a close. Sure, we smacked a couple of weeks of school in there post move, but most of it has been beach trips and unpacking and hanging pictures and bopping in to see the Man at work while simultaneously scarring the entire squadron with the sight of our children.
Fish or Snake?
I was recently thinking back on my husband's decade in the military (our family's decade as a military family). Ten years, two deployments, five kids, five moves, more short term separations than I can count... Looking back, I see things so differently now than I did then
Pre-Waffle Blurbage
It seems that it's time for a blurb blog, which basically means that there were too many little stories that I'm too lazy to post about separately and actually develop into real stories. I'd apologize but, let's be honest, this is not a surprise to anyone. I've been doing this for years now.
Showing Up
I had big plans to post a blog Thursday night, but then the boys' bookshelves got in and I spent the evening obsessively assembling them and unboxing books. Part of this was that I was sick of the boys' books taking over the floor of our guest room (which has been the dump room for the last month) but most of it was that in my mind I was playing out the part in The Little Princess when Ram Dass transforms Sara Crewe's room while she sleeps.
Bring on the Beach. Bring on the Books.
Florida summer for us is all beaches and books (and setting up the house still but that kills the alliteration--and you don't really want to hear about assembling bookshelves and falling curtain rods, anyway). Here's the thing about taking five kids to the beach: it takes a solid half an hour just to get everyone's sunscreen on.
Where We've Been
I find myself wanting to apologize for it being over a full month since the last time I wrote, and then I realize: no, I have five kids and the amount of stuff we've managed to squeeze in over the last month and nine days is pretty impressive.
Moving Military Kids
April was the month of the military child, and I planned to put up a post about my military kids at some point, but suddenly it’s May. And we're in the middle of another move.
Painting over Paintings
The Man is at the house hanging out with the packers as they box everything up, and I'm at temporary lodging listen to the kids play a very loud game of pretend that involves a set of rolling ottomans and probably imminent death. This is moving.
Before the Bluebonnet Goodbye
We've lived in south Texas for three springs now. The first spring we were settling in, and I thought: next year we should definitely get family pictures taken with bluebonnets, because have you really lived in TX if you haven't taken bluebonnet pictures?
Theology for Your Progeny
The kids and I are studying the theory of evolution this week in science. We spent some time discussing what a theory is, why some people believe in evolution and some people don't, where science leaves off and speculation begins. You know, easy concepts that most six to eight year olds can grasp without any trouble.
Saturday Prayers
In children's church this week, we talked about some of the miracles Jesus performed in the book of Matthew, and then the kids worked to memorize Matt 9:36, which says that when Jesus looked at the crowd "He had compassion on them." My initial reaction was to remember the many times my heart hadn't been filled with compassion towards the suffering, the many times my heart hadn't even been filled with compassion for my own children.