08-10-15 Friendship

My mom and sister watched the kids today at my house. This evening they cooked dinner and invited our dear friend Jeremy over. I measure my friendship with Jeremy in decades, something I can only claim for a small few of my relationships. We first met during our first year of homeschooling. My mother had established a homeschooling group and had invited local families to join us at our house. An introvert to the core, I was nervous about meeting new people, but I realized that not being in public school meant that I would have precious few opportunities to make friends, so that afternoon I decided to step out of my shell and be bold. People started showing up at my house, kids of all ages, and I looked at them and thought, "ok, these are now my friends" and set about the business of getting to know them. (Of course it helped that I had a good friend next to me, that turned into my best friend and eventually my sister in law!)

Jeremy was one of the first kids to walk in. An avid batman fan with a love of Deloreans, it didn't take long for us to hit it off and soon a small group of us were inseparable. We spent every Friday night at his house filming our own version of Batman (which thankfully has never seen the light of day, and hopefully never will unless one of us decides to run for public office!) Over the years our lives have gone in different directions, we've lived in different areas, had different experiences, but when we are in the same room, that same level of ease and comfort exists. We laugh and joke as if no time at all has passed. This evening he even humored C with a game of Candyland, which he won hands down. I'm grateful to have people like him in our lives. We love you, Jeremy! 

08-09-15 Roughhousing

I am well aware that roughhousing is a right of passage for siblings, wrestling and playing on the ground until they wear themselves out, breathless and smiling. My sister and I did it all the time. Unfortunately I'm the kind of mom that sees too many sharp corners and hard surfaces and potential ER visits, so I usually have to walk out of the room when they start. Don't get me wrong, I want them to rough house, I just don't want my mind following every rabbit trail of possibility and in turn ruining their fun. So for now, out of sight out of mind! (That is until they actually do hurt themselves!) 

08-08-15 Me & my crazies

When we got home from vacation late late Sunday night we walked in, put the kids to bed, unloaded the car and dumped it all in our living room before falling into bed ourselves. And that is where our stuff sat all week. So today was cleaning and organizing day. Tim had to work so he left this morning,  which left me and the kids. I ran some laundry, did some dishes, put away about 80% of the stuff, and then like all good procrastinators, I got bored and had to get out of the house. I thought coffee would do the trick, so I packed up my band of crazies and headed to Starbucks. But along the way I realized that it was noon, and my crazies would soon be hungry. So I thought we'd drive through somewhere, get food, and go to the park. But all of a sudden my group of crazies had to use the bathroom, so we pulled into McDonalds and took care of business. Since we were there we ordered food and the kids noticed the play place. Ugh. I hate those things. Germ factories!!! However there were no other kids and it was about 186 degrees outside so I conceded they could play at McDonalds. Shudder. They had fun, I survived, we were all sanitized after we left. 

I still needed Starbucks... But they would want something too... So I swung by Rita's (cause I'm an awesome mom like that) and thoroughly sugared them up during what should have been nap time. With my children consuming unholy amounts of sugar I snuck into Starbucks for my much needed frapaccino. And since caffeine loves company, I picked up a couple of drinks for friends and headed on my way. After dropping off the first drink I took my fully sugared, un-napped van full of crazies to visit Ms. Rebecca. Bearing gifts of caffeine and baby cuddles, we visited for a couple of hours before heading home.

But now I had a dilemma. Too late for a nap... Too early for bedtime. Ugh. Did I just shoot myself in the foot? There were no obvious meltdowns so I opted to keep them up. I made dinner while they watched Baby Einstein. Yes, of all the things they could choose to watch they landed on that. Did I mention they were tired? 

I made dinner. Oh no! Still too early for bedtime. So a walk/bike ride to the 'zagebo' park would do them in. Only one rule... Mom's not carrying any bikes. At all. You want it, you drag it. Off we went. 20 minutes at the gazebo park did the trick. By the time they were home they only required a small snack and a story. Now they are tucked nicely in bed and I am rocking Baby E to sleep next to me. 

It might not have been the most productive day, but I did get coffee and I got to spend a few hours with a dear friend. I'd say it was time well spent!

Playing at the beach last night...

08-07-15 The Last Batch... I think...