This week, due to a number of foreseen and unforeseen circumstances, I have the pleasure of seeing one friend every day from last Friday to this Friday. It started out as rather amusing and we would joke “what is happening tomorrow?” as we parted innocently thinking there was nothing tomorrow. Then, out of the woodwork, there came another event that we had either forgotten about or was planned last minute. Which brings up a dilemma that only the women out there will understand- we are running out of fresh things to wear that the other has not seen yet this week. Now, if it was a man- he wouldn’t notice and it would be fine to sneak in an outfit twice (or more) in the week. But another woman? This is heavy stuff! We are stay at home, homeschooling Moms- we don’t have an extensive wardrobe to choose from. Plus there are certain things I simply refuse to wear to events like Sports at the Gym. Things like pencil skirts and heels. Except for Church on Sunday these events are of the more casual nature.
What this is leading up to is a question.
What must I do to remedy this sorry situation?
A. Expand my social circles so I don’t see this friend so much.
B. Stop being such a social butterfly.
C. Buy more clothes!
D. Forget it! Wear the same thing all the time!
E. All of the above.
F. A, B, and C.
What do you all think? I am off now to scrounge through my closet to find something new and interesting to wear tonight.
The Children helped me decorate the tree. We have a system down now where I unwrap the ornaments and they hang them on the tree. Then, in an exercise of fortitude, I leave them where they were placed by little, loving hands.
Here is the area where the silver balls ended up.
Over here, not too far to the right, is where the silver bells pile onto one branch. Don’t want them to be alone. (The second bell is hard to see.)
Then all the gold ornaments apparently needed to be grouped together, away from the silver items (you know how they are.)
Last, but not least, the red balls had there own place of honor on the tree.
Overall, the tree looks lovely. It was decorated with love and excitement- so fun to see.
Merry Christmas!
Once upon a time there was a young Prince who fell in love with a slightly older Princess. The relationship had its ups and downs until finally the Princess saw the writing on the wall and made it clear that they were finished. The Prince was saddened and went on alone. A few months later, word came to him that the Princess was with child. What to do? The young Prince knew she didn’t want him in her life anymore and it was not from her that he heard this news. The Prince made the decision to let things be and see what would happen.
Years passed and the Prince met a new Princess with whom he fell in love. He told her his story right from the start. He wondered if and when a child might come knocking upon his door. They decided to wed and managed to wander through their lives together for many, many years. They had children and the Prince would occasionally look into their faces and wonder….
One day, the fairies that are always in fairy tales led the Prince to a message on the Internet which said, “If you are the Prince who knew this Princess, then I would like to talk to you.“ Was this the knock on the door?
Messages were exchanged and the truth was confirmed. Yes, it was the knock of the child, a daughter! Her Mother had passed on into the mists without revealing the true identity of her father, but a kind soul knew a name, only a name, so the daughter wrote it in a place where she hoped that he would find it… and she waited. The Prince and his child are thrilled to get to know each other. The Prince’s other children are excited to have a sister. And the other Princess? She gets to be a wicked stepmother; aren’t there always those in fairy tales, too?
**********
This is not a made up story, obviously. This is the story of our lives. We are thrilled to introduce to you our 24 year-old daughter. I’ll have to think of a good nickname for her. She lives far away but we are looking forward to seeing her in person some day.
And best of all?
We are GRANDPARENTS!!!!
Sunshine was playing in her room and found a coin purse full of coins. She came to me and handed me a dime and a nickel. They were a gift for me.
“How sweet! But are you sure you want to give it away?”
“Yes, it’s for you.” she nodded seriously “I checked, it’s not the special coin Papa brought from his trip.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to keep it and spend it?”
“No.” she shook her head. “I want you to have it.”
I’ve been hearing the coins clink in my pocket all day and it makes me smile.
Col. Panic had promised to take his little Pixie to the beach last year and somehow it didn’t happen. This year it was a priority.
We drove to my parent’s place, spent a night and then headed to the coast. We took The Long Way because that is just how we do things, much to the disgruntlement of the children. They see no sense in it but who said parents had to make sense?
We were all glad to arrive, check out the ocean and find ice cream.
After walking around awhile The Boy decided he would much rather go back to the hotel room, get into comfy clothes and relax. It didn’t hurt that there was T.V. there with a kazillion channels. But no, his parents were still in Torture the Children Mode and insisted on going out in paddle boats.
All safe in lifejackets.
The hotel key fell out of my pocket somewhere out there. The river then became known as “The Lost Key River”. And about every river we went over from that point on was called that- so hard to keep rivers hundreds of miles apart straight. The hotel was very understanding and didn’t charge us anything.
We made those poor children go out to eat and then FINALLY let them go back to the hotel room….and watch T.V.
We did spend time on the beach- stay tuned!
Miss Sunshine has been quite frightened of thunderstorms.
Granted there have been a few unsettling things happen during last years thunderstorms- branches breaking off, eletricitiy going out, trees breaking in half. Stuff like that. But she does go a bit overboard in the frightened department and, in typical for her fashion, will not listen to any reason becuase she is too busy making noise herself.
A few weeks ago we had a thunderstorm roll through the hills around us. We had a meeting in town so the kids and I headed out to the park where the meeting was being held. We looked at the gray skyes and hurried through our meeting as the kids played. There were a few flashes of light in the distance that Sunshine commented on as we drove in.
“What was that?”
What?
“That flashing?” sounding nervous.
Oh, probably nothing much.
We went to see some friends afterwards and a few flashes were seen and a few low rumbles were heard.
On the way home Sunshine’s high voice proclaimed from the back:
“There was a thunderstorm, and I wasn’t afraid!”
Oh that’s good news honey!
“…because I’m five now!”
Makes all the difference in the world.
This shows how far behind I am at blogging but I wanted to share it.
This lovely thing, not the child doing a model impersonation, is my Mother’s Day gift.
It is tuned to the key of A or A minus, I can’t remember. We hung it on the front porch but decided it wasn’t catching the wind there so we moved it out to the bird feeder.
I keep my kitchen window open a bit so I can hear them through out the day.
“The dog has mopped it up so quit wallowing on the floor.”
After the evening performance of the Living Last Supper at Church a week ago the kids were playing outside. Apparently a tree leaped in front of the running Boy and then wouldn’t move. Nasty tree!
Lots of scrapes on the Boy but he seems to be fine. His face gets lots of attention. We tell people that they should see the tree!
Last Sunday, Resurrection Sunday. our little church put on a production depicting the Da Vinci painting, The Last Supper, and the last days of Jesus life. It took pretty much the whole church working together to pull it all off. There was a choir, the twelve Apostles, Jesus, a Narrator, towns people, Roman soldiers and an angel. This is the second year we have done this so we knew what we were getting into this time. Last time it seemed to keep growing on us! It’s a very moving production.
Col. Panic was the narrator and sang a song.
Three of the cutest towns people.
The angel at the empty tomb.
He has risen!
