Birthday Week

I love this Moe's take-out bag. Each new day, a new chance to grow, and learn, and shine. Each new year, another chance to give and to serve.

As the calendar dictates that Thursday will be a day of driving the kids to and from 3 piano lessons, a guitar and violin lesson, a reading lesson, and a visit with a physical trainer, I have decided to observe and cherish the many moments of "birthday week", and not expect too much out of any one day. I want to savor the fun moments and not get bogged down in the six hours of carpool. They exist side by side, and I want to focus on the sweetness.

I delight in cut-up peaches with cream and sugar for breakfast.

I cherish: time with my husband. We tried paddle boarding together Sunday afternoon. He was not a fan, but I loved it, and I appreciate his willingness to do something with me simply because I found it fun. We drove to dinner by water, simply because I never had before and always love the idea of trying something new.

I enjoyed a complimentary light Starbucks birthday coffee and time with my older-wiser mentor friend after a church meeting.

I'm thankful for lunch and a salon date with my teenage daughter.

I'm touched by the sweetness of my mom, who still wants to make me a cake and bring it to me, even though I am grown.

The sweetness of my husband and mother-in-law to bring me flowers. Handmade cards from our kids.

A happy birthday serenade on the violin.

A pot of jasmine tea

Being able to take the family to a restaurant that I like (instead of a kids pizza joint)

Spa night with my girls in our jammies

 

The hope of being able to gather my women together tomorrow in support of friends who are adopting.

I'm happy from the inside out, and from the outside in. (Psalm 16:9)

 

Beauty Shop

Laurel and I are curly girls. This is what we look like when we get out of the shower. Bing. And, like the laws of the universe, if you have curly hair, you sometimes feel like having straight hair (and vice versa). To celebrate "birthday week", the week sandwiched between her birthday and mine, we went on a mother-daughter date. Last year, I treated her to a manicure. This year, we hit the salon.

 

Ooh...aahhh. Since I was a little girl, I always loved having my hair brushed. Laurel is just the same.

I had coffee with an older and wiser mom-friend yesterday evening, and she reaffirmed the importance of making time for one-on-one time with my young daughters as they enter their teen years. I pray that these days spent together will bring smiles for years to come.

 

 

The 4th of July

Patriotic down to our toes

The girls worked together baking poolside picnic treats. I didn't lift a finger. (Awesome!)

Nothing says July 4th like a low-carb burrito - combatting our festive cookie consumption

Lazy poolside hours spent with friends

 

Seconds after the grand finale, the Sunday School fellowship digresses into "everybody get in the car!" It's full-on every man/family for himself racing to exit the shopping center.

 

The 4th of July on the 5th

Today was one of those beautiful cooler mornings where I loved being on our screened porch. Being outside on a beautiful day fuels my soul. What made it even sweeter is that my man brought me breakfast and kept me company.

We then joined our families up at the lake for our family 4th of July celebration, complete with another fireworks candle cake. We ate ourselves silly American picnic style (no burritos today), and then hit the water to exercise.

Michelle and I took the kayaks out on the lake, hugging the shore to stay clear of the bigger boats. We were advised that we didn't need life-jackets since small plastic kayaks were not big motorized boats. Apparently, DNR thinks differently and we were pulled over and given a warning instead of a $110 ($220) fine. My husband, who grazed by us in the boat at top speed, was given a verbal hand-slap, but no official warning document. He finds this hilarious, and considers himself the golden boy when it comes to dodging tickets. I find this unjust. How is it that the dangerous party sails on by while the slow-mo paddlers are pulled over for questioning? We did get two free plastic safety whistles to tie onto the kayaks for the next inspection, so all is not lost.

Cutest grandparents ever. I don't think Andy and I own any matching shirts.

Mom-and-me selfie

Siesta

The gift of a lifetime friendship

My people

Granddaddy is always up for a boat ride

 

 

Waiting and finding

Today we hung out for hours at several of our local libraries. The first hour and a half round (and branch) was while we were waiting for the girls to finish up piano lessons. The second round (branch) was while one was getting her fit on at the gym. During the wait, I was very nearly beaten in checkers by an eight year old. An hour later, we were at a draw with five kings each. I was impressed at my little one's developing logical thinking. She is gaining skills...and I am getting rusty.

While we waited for various things, we had reading lessons. We practiced math. We finished summer reading books. We practiced writing. It's every kid's nightmare to be stuck in the car for hours with a former school-teacher mom in the middle of summer. And yet, there still seemed to be plenty of time left for tv-via-Netflix, and hand-held electronics, and card games, and patriotic decorating, and festive cookie-baking. It's the thing I love most about summer: the ability for the boys to go out and play with neighbors at 5:30 pm when the temps are finally dropping and there is still plenty of sun to be found.

Our second finding activity has been "Who has seen the hamster? Goldie and Muffin have turned out to be quite the escape artists. Once, we found one in the pantry. Once, in the guest bedroom (visiting our overnight guests). And once, inside the bottom drawer of a bookshelf. (That one is still a mystery). Tonight Goldie was strutting about the girls room as if she owned the place.

 

We are thankful for friends who pick up one of our kids for the day and take him off to hi-wire or the pool so that their kid can have more fun than if he were jumping all by himself. We are thankful for neighbors who invite another kid over for backyard s'mores and fireworks. We are thankful for the freedom to celebrate freedom. We are thankful for piano teachers who work around holidays. We are thankful that the libraries have good air conditioning and nice bathrooms when we need some place to go and don't want to eat our way through the afternoon at coffee shops. We are thankful for resources that keep our minds from turning into mush over the summer. And we are thankful for children who pray that their hamsters may come to no harm on their adventures.

 

Thirteen

We officially have a teenager in the house.

The morning began early with light cool-whip for birthday breakfast (upon special request).

Presents from family.

 

A beauty session with her new makeup supplies.

An annual interests survey. Favorite activity: still reading

A second attempt at the dollar Lego movie...singing "everything is awesome" when the kids got tickets this time.

A day off from training at the gym, chores, bed-making, and violin/piano practice

 

A date with Mimi to find a pattern for a Britisth style hooded cloak.

A cake and special sparkly fireworks candle from Grandmama.

 

A one hundred year old laurel wreath pin that belonged to Laurel's great great grandmother.

 

Dinner out to her favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden.

and finally, the return of Mr. Scutes

Goodbye, little girl. Hello, young lady.

 

Moments

I've heard it said that we don't really remember days, we remember moments. I've been trying to observe and savor everyday moments as they come.

* watching a hummingbird flit and hover from my screened porch....opening the porch doors and hoping it figures out how to fly back out

* eating an oatmeal scotchie (that my daughter made) fresh from the oven

* watching the neighborhood boys play in the backyard

* watching our hamster explore every corner of our house in her plastic ball

* listening to my husband open up about his day

* having my older girls take my pilates class at Gold's

 

This morning I picked up my copy of Enjoying the Presence of God by Jan Johnson. She talked about how she used to rely on her awesome four-part prayer notebook to develop her relationship with God. I thought back to my prayer notebook days and wondered if I would return to them again in a different season of life. It's a great methodology to stay organized, but right now I need more than organization and discipline to nurture my love for Christ. Most of my prayers are "help" and "thanks" these days. One right after another.

Circa 2006

Stuffed into the back of my 2006 notebook was an article from Parent Life magazine adapted from an article in Vitajournal (Jan/Feb 2004). It challenged parents to try just ten minutes of something in order to nurture their souls while getting it all done for their families. I think I will try this today:

10 minutes of prayer

10 minutes of reading

10 minutes of laughter/fun

10 minutes of sharing/giving/investing in others

10 minutes of creating: writing, scrapbooking, playing an instrument, art, cooking, etc.

10 minutes of growing...flowers or vegetables, faith, fitness, or relationships

10 minutes of healthy food prep

10 minutes of trying something new/ learning something new

10 minutes of touch

10 minutes of quiet/ downtime/ rest

 

Here's how it turned out:

Prayer- enjoyed an especially sweet quiet time this morning, finding scriptures to share with family

Created- this blog entry, and added some scriptures to a collection I have on index cards to reflect on. We house this in the most spiritual of places...the bathroom.

 

Heathy Food- made double batches of Trim Healthy Mama pancakes so that A could have healthy breakfasts ready to go in the morning before work; made an Aldi run for produce, cottage cheese, and egg whites

Trying something new - made a healthier crustless quiche that only I liked for dinner; appreciated the help of my sous chef daughter who actually enjoys cutting up fruit as long as she can watch videos on her iPod at the same time

Fun- tried to take the kids to see the dollar showing of the Lego movie, but arrived in time to find that it was already sold out. We hit a Redbox rental on the way home and popped our own popcorn, and will try again (earlier) tomorrow. Apparently I still need to work on my angry resting face as both my husband and daughter asked me if something were wrong when I was thinking about what to do next.

Exercise- called in to sub a Pilates class that I wasn't planning on; took the kids to the pool after dinner and swam laps

Reading- Psalm 68, listened to Numbers 33 (audio app on YouVersion), Henry and Mudge Sparkle Days (reading lessons with Will), listened to part of Laura Ingells Wilder's Farmer Boy and wondered what on earth I have been doing all day since I don't shear sheep or card wool or train oxen to yield to a yoke

Touch- holding hands with kids and my man around our dinner table, hugs and kisses, splashing about in the pool

Growing - tried to understand things related to my husband's work and plans for the future

Investing in others- worked on decorating and facebook networking for an upcoming jewelry party in honor of friends who are adopting

Downtime/rest - kicking our young loved ones out of our room after 9pm to have time just for us