Packing

I did a little packing for the move. First things first.

Escape From Alcatraz

Yesterday the sun was out and the temps peaked at 50 degrees. Eager for spring to arrive, we donned our rubber boots and pretended it wasn't February 25th. I was hoping a little sunshine and fresh air would solve my end of winter eye twitch.

Within 30 seconds of leaving the front door, Toby was sitting in a puddle, completely waterlogged. Back into the house, new boots, new socks, new pants. Off to the park.


When you aren't even two years old yet, walking in rubber boots up to your hips can be a bit of a problem. It didn't take long to see that it wasn't going to work so little buddy ended up running down the street in his wet socks. I've said it once and I'll say it again. Infact I might as well make it my life's motto. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

A little fresh air. A lot of mud. A warm bath. No more eye twitch. Life is good.

I'm Here. Really I Am.

Oh yeah, that's right, I have a blog. I guess it might be a good idea to update it once in awhile. Preferably more than once a week. No one wants to hear excuses of how busy it's been, blah, blah, blah. School's out. Vacation Bible School is getting closer by the day. (I'm decorations so we've been painting away). And now our town is flooded.

We are high, dry, and safe but so many of our friends have been affected. Basements are full of yicky, sludgy, river water. The water is starting to recede and it won't be long and people will be able to get back into their homes to see what kind of clean up is going to be needed. I feel so helpless to do anything. I want to throw on a pair or rubber gloves and grab a bottle (or seven) of bleach and get in there and start scrubbing.

Oh yeah, the kids.

So I've been doing what I can, letting my friends' kiddos come play here so they can take care of business without dragging their little ones through flood water. What a mess. It ended up being worse than they predicted so most people weren't quite as ready as they needed to be, but I keep hearing stories upon stories of the water being "this close" to the main floor but peaking just in time and not damaging more than the basement.

Watching the flooding was surreal and scary. You can't stop an angry river and it raged and crashed out of it's banks worse than it ever has before. This is the bike trail bridge. A little freaky.

If you look closely in this next photo, you can see the top of a back stop right in front of that building. No baseball games for awhile unless you brought scuba gear.


This next one isa shot down main street. We have movies rented from Family Video, the brick building on the left. I hope they forgive our late fees. I'm not wading through that mess just to return The Land Before Time. I put a little yellow arrow to point out where the river usually lives. It's almost a half a mile out of it's banks.

You can see that the water is receding, even in this photo. As I stood at the edge, I felt an overwhelming desire to release a dove. What we need now is a big old rainbow.

Numbers

School was canceled today due to flash flooding. Let's do a little math of our own.

• Number of worms rescued from the street: at least 40
• Number of pairs of muddy boots on my deck: 8
• Number of times the mud people have had to change clothes: 3
• Number of times I have yelled to keep the mud outside: lost count
• Number of baths taken so far: 7
• Number of loads of laundry waiting to be washed: 9
• Number of timeouts given: lost count
• Number of times the words "I'm bored" has been uttered: lost count
• Number of pans of bars made by a bored teenager: 1
• Number of bars I plan to eat: not telling

For My Records

April 9th

The first worm of the 2008 earthworm season.
Three days later it snowed.

Tuesday

This post is going to rock your socks off.

Really it's not. It's just a list of pretty much nothing. Let's get started.

1. The laundry is reproducing. I'm sure of it. I knew there was a reason to "separate" it, it's really just to keep it from multiplying.
   
2. Three of my children insist on taking their shoes off the minute they sit down in the van. I won't tell you which three. It was tolerable in the summer, even kind of cute. Now that there are socks and boots and sloppy snow/slushy/mud/muck involved, it's really, really annoying. REALLY annoying.
   
3. Toby is catching a cold. He has a well baby check later this week. Kind of ironic I think.
4. Shopping for a winter coat for a 12 year old is a whole new ball game.
   
5. I love my new living room decorated for Christmas. Love it.
6. It doesn't have to be a holiday or a special occasion to eat pecan pie for breakfast. Just in case you were wondering. And once piece isn't enough. Go for the second slice.

In Search of Worms

You know that saying, "Leave No Stone Unturned"?

My boys take that literally.

Trying To Be Positive.

I'm a pessimist.

There. I said it. I got it out there in the open. Now I typically like to wrap it up in a different package and call myself a "realist", but I'm pretty sure that's not a fair representation on the facts. Yesterday, our pastor gave a powerful sermon about how important attitude is in our spiritual lives. Ouch. Thank you to my husband for choosing seats in the front row so that everyone could clearly see me squirming in my seat during the conviction I was obviously wrestling with.

I'm sitting here this morning, feeling like my head is in a cold metal bucket, sinuses stuffed full as to make mouth breathing a necessity, watery eyes, scratchy voice, the whole shebang. The cold took a turn for the worse last night and this morning I am doing my best to keep my dirty Kleenex pile from engulfing the whole house. Trash can? Oh yeah, good idea. The arctic temperatures are not helping the situation and I'm trying not to let my glass half empty tendencies take over my day. So here is my meager attempt at optimism. Baby steps.

My first instinct when I woke up was to grumble to myself that if it was a little bit warmer, the kids could go outside to play. But we as moms all know that ends up being a whole lot more work than we bargain for. The endless trips in and out of the house. The wet puddles inside the front door. The pile of wet snow clothes in the middle of the living room. No. Maybe warmer weather isn't what I really need right now. And then I remembered a day in early December.........

On that morning I was busy moaning to myself that "Why can't we have snow." and "It's not going to feel like Christmas without snow" and " Is the temperature really in the forties in December? Where is our winter?" Again with the pessimism. So I got my attitude together and gave it a talking to and decided to send the little boys outside to play. After all, it was warm enough, they would be fine. They had a great time and I kept checking my posts, peeking out the windows in the front and back of the house to make sure everything was ok and that they weren't getting into any trouble and that trouble wasn't getting into them. And then I didn't see them for awhile. And then my mother's instinct kicked in. And then I knew that this was one of those pivotal moments. I needed to check on them RIGHT NOW. So I did. And once I found them, I wished that I wouldn't have.





It seems that the ground wasn't completely frozen yet. And that means that the garden wasn't frozen. And there was mud. Yes, Jack was putting the mud in his mouth. A healthy snack perhaps?

So see? I'm thankful that it's cold outside. I'm looking on the bright side. The ground is frozen solid and the garden is covered in snow. It's face shatteringly cold out there and the little buggers have to stay in where it's warm, and not muddy. I'm optimistic.

I told you. Baby steps.

Quotes

Today I have been pondering three quotes. I'm sure you will find them to be profound.

The first is one I heard from a mother of 13. Yes, you read that right, thirteen children. She was speaking in refrence to keeping the little ones out of trouble during the day and her advice was to "keep them close". Now I'm sure on some sentimental level, that could mean to keep them close to your heart, they grow up too quickly. But I believe she meant more specifically to keep them close, like within arms reach. Caedmon and Jack are proving her point. At any given time during the day, you can find them "exploring" their limits. Climbing, digging, running, throwing, hitting etc. Indoors. Outdoors is another thing....which leads me to quote number two:

"What are little boys made of? Snips and snails and puppy dog tails." I think there is one ingredient missing in the mix. Mud. It should read, "Snips, snails, puppy dog tails but mostly mud." And they can find it anywhere. We had an afternoon bath today because of their adventures in the freshly tilled garden. Oh, and today's pet was a baby tree frog that Caedmon named Froggy. Jack was feeling left out, so Caedmon found him a pet boxelder bug to carry around. Later on they split a worm and shared it. I must admit, I was thrilled Gemma emerged and was discovered to be a girl. I was secretly hoping against the Three Muskateers. Only because I knew that three boys in a row takes a special kind of mom. I just wasn't sure that I was up to the job. To all you moms of girls out there, I wish you the joys of mud. I know some of your girls are tomboyish and can hang with the best of them. But there is just something about testosterone. To you mothers who have all boys or more than two in a row. (or four in a row, you know who you are) All I can say is bless you. Bless you for raising the next generation of men. And if I can send a crate of 409 your way, just let me know.

Quote number three was somthing I was pondering while making cookies this morning. Chocolate Chip in case you are curious. As you can tell, there is never a day with out sugar around here. Which may have somthing to do with the energy level in my boys? Nah. Anyway. I was eating a bit too much cookie dough while I was baking and was starting to feel guily. And then I remembered the wise words of some wise man somewhere. "Don't muzzle the ox".

Moooooo.

And lest I forget, today's Blideside lyrics:

"I hoist my sail though there is no wind in sight. And I close my eyes to feel the fresh breeze. Paint the inside of my eyelids bright. Fill the sky with Your breath, cause you know I'm out of mine. Let the sky burn and I will inhale without a fight. I hoist my sail and I'll just wait for You tonight."