What A Week

So, here I am, typing away at 2:30 in the morning when I should be sleeping. This week really dragged me down. It started with a really busy weekend, which was fun but not at all restful. Saturday we went to a pancake breakfast in Albany, then took the kids to the bank. We decided that Jordan and Karlye are old enough to have an allowance ($1.50 a week, split 3 ways between church, savings, and spending - woo hoo!) and to start learning to manage their money. In preparation we emptied their piggy banks and had them deposit the money in the "big bank". It was even more fun and educational than I had planned because they got to go in the back with the teller and watch all of their change be counted. Then it was off to the mall to play and eat lunch; then we picked up Marta and Micah and went home. Justin and I had league bowling in the evening, and I bowled my best game ever, a 149, topping my pathetic 91 average by an impressive 50 points. Since it was Valentine's Day, we went out to eat afterwards, and then we came home and crawled into bed. Jordan was up half the night throwing up, but was fine the next morning so we all went to church. Then we drove to Janesville and spent the afternoon with Lydia, Brandon and the boys before dropping Karlye off in Monroe. By the time we got home it was 7 o'clock (bedtime for the kids) and we still hadn't eaten supper. Monday evening Jordan came down with a fever, Wednesday Justin had a root canal, I spent the week fighting cramps, a headache, and a sore throat, and Friday Sasha started sneezing, coughing, and feeling miserable while we were going going going running errands, etc. Friday night we switched Sasha from her crib into her "big girl" toddler bed so that some friends who recently had a baby could have the crib, and that went surprisingly well. She stayed in bed all night, and well after she was awake in the morning, not actually getting out until I went upstairs to get her dressed and she asked for and received permission to get out of bed. Then today, or I guess now it would be yesterday, Justin spend most of the day at Pitcher's Pub participating in Bar Olympics. I had a 3 hour team meeting with a freelance client I've been doing a lot of work for lately, which happened to be at the same time Jordan was supposed to be at a pool party. We also got several inches of snow which needed to be shoveled before I could leave the house. Thankfully my mom was able to come out and watch Sasha, and at the last minute the pool party was rescheduled for next week since the birthday boy came down with strep throat. Tomorrow we're driving to Watertown to help celebrate my niece Hailey's first birthday. All in all, I'm so thankful that every day is a new day with blessings of its own, and I'm praying for an easier week this coming week so that I can relax and start breathing again. Now I'm sending myself to bed, hoping that I'll be able to get back to sleep.

Young Love Update

Jordan's friend Mya came over after school yesterday. Jordan was so excited all weekend about it. Yesterday morning he came down for breakfast wearing a WI Badger sweatshirt. He informed me that he wore that shirt to Mya's when he went there to play, and she loves Bucky Badger and she chased him around all day, so he thought she would chase him around all day that day too. Then he said, "I'm going to stand by Mya in line, and I'm going to sit by Mya on the bus. That's my plan for the day." After breakfast he made me go upstairs with him to see how perfectly he'd made his bed and laid out his pajamas (which he never does) so that his room would be nice when Mya came over. There was a lot of talking and giggling and running around yesterday afternoon. When they finally sat down to color, I overheard Jordan telling Mya that God says you have to love everyone, and that means that he has to love her too.

On another note, I decided that I'm going to read the whole Bible, but I'm going to start with the New Testament. Today I was reading from Matthew 6, and the following passage really spoke to me (as anyone who knows me can imagine it would - since I do worry about money etc. rather a lot): Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?...So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.

Young Love

The person Jordan talks about most from Kindergarten is his friend Mya. This is a picture that she made for him the other day. I think it's too cute not to share. (The back of the picture, in case you're wondering what the arrow leads to, is a graph that Mya drew. Because, as Jordan's recent schoolwork stated, "Graphing is Cool!".)

The day that Jordan came home with a list of all his classmates' phone numbers he asked if he could call Mya. He was on the phone for about 5 minutes, silent most of the time. Occasionally I would hear him say "hello?". When he hung up I could tell he was really upset, and when I asked him what was wrong he broke down and started to cry. He told me that Mya wasn't saying anything so he didn't know what to say. It just about broke my heart, but I still could barely keep from laughing. It turns out that Mya didn't have much phone experience, but since then they've had some succesful telephone conversations.

Jordan was invited to Mya's birthday party, and he spent the ride home telling me the story of how he and Mya became friends.

I heard from Mya's mom that Mya likes Jordan because he's nice but sometimes when she goes over by him she sometimes doesn't know what to say. Jordan tells me constantly that everyone makes fun of his last name, except for Mya.

Jordan came home from school one day in December with two pictures of reindeer that another friend had colored for him. One had green eyes and one had brown eyes. He told me that one had his color eyes and the other had Mya's color eyes.

Jordan was extremely excited to spend a day at Mya's house over Christmas vacation, and can't wait to have Mya over to our house to play. Good thing he's got two sisters so he has plenty of practice playing Barbies, My Little Ponies and dress up!

No Fear

"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Romans 8:15-16

The other night I was having a panic attack. It was one of those moments when I realize clearly how sidetracked I have become by the insignificant details of life, and my fear for the future (my own and that of my loved ones) becomes overwhelming. I was sitting in the bathroom crying, hyperventilating and praying when I found these words.

And so I've determined to let go of fear. Fear that if I'm myself people won't like me. Fear that if I don't maintain control of everything and everyone around me life will fall apart. Fear that I'm making the wrong decisions every step of the way. Fear of so many other things. I want to change the way I live my life. I want to do what I know is right and trust God to take care of the rest.

Look Before You Leave

Today was one of those on-the-go days, the kind where you can barely catch your breath and grab a drink of water between errands. It started off, as so many of my days now do, with me fighting with Jordan about the amount of breakfast he needs to eat to be prepared for school. This morning he thought that should be none, and I thought some would be better. I gave my usual running countdown til bus arrival time, while he threw an even bigger fit than usual. Finally at 8 minutes and counting he wolfed down his breakfast, speed-peed, threw his shoes and backpack on and ran out the door. (Nope, no time for proper dental hygiene today). Then I went upstairs to get Sasha, who was saying "Mama, fick it fick it" (fix it) over the baby monitor. I replaced the offending pillowcase, picked out her clothes, changed her diaper, got her dressed, and gave her a bowl of cereal. Then I carried on a non-stop conversation with her, along the lines of "mama's coming, eat your cereal, ooo nummy cereal, I'll be right there, we'll go bye-bye after you eat your breakfast, Daddy's at work, yes, Jo-Jo took the bus to school, you'll see him after we go to Mommy's work, Mommy will be right there, eat your cereal, just a minute, Mommy's getting dressed, etc." while brushing my teeth, straightening my hair, and throwing on some clothes. Then I washed Sasha up, cleaned off the bib, high chair, and counter, packed the diaper bag, and we were off. I had 2 hours to make the 15 minute drive to Stoughton, go to St. Vincent's, the co-op, and the resale store, and drive back home before I had to make lunch, change Sasha, repack the diaper bag and drive to work. When I got home from running errands (15 minutes later than planned) I happened to glance in the mirror, and it was at that point that I realized my shirt was on inside out. Now, I'm going to give myself the benefit of the doubt and assume that I put it on wrong at St. Vincent's when I was trying on clothes, and that I didn't put it on wrong two times in one morning. But still, I can't believe that no one felt the need to tell me that my shirt was on inside out. Geez!

Summer, Don't Go!

I really don't want summer to be over, ever. We got a postcard in the mail yesterday with the kindergarten registration dates. I'm going to miss Jordan so much once he starts school - all day Monday through Friday. Sasha and I will be lonely and bored, I think.

Anyway, these water bottle holders, which I can only describe as awesome, totally say "summer" to me. I have to have water with me at all times, and I hate hate hate carrying it with me when I walk. These really come in handy for walking, running, biking, fairs, craft fairs...any time you want your hands free but you might get thirsty. They also work as a great insulator for your drink on a hot day.

I crocheted them myself using cotton yarn. Although I got the idea from a book, I made the pattern myself. I can make them in any color, and I can make the strap any length. I got some great pictures of my sister Miriam modeling them too.

I think the best thing about these water bottle holders is the reaction they get from older women at craft shows. They don't know what they're for, and their first reaction seems to be that they do something naughty, judging by the giggling. So apparently they have multiple purposes. In any case, they're for sale in my online store at http://www.rainwaterlily.etsy.com/.

Snotty Olives

I, as I imagine most people would be, am pleased any time my children show evidence of possessing interesting or unique talents. Sasha's predilection for squirting pieces of food out of her nose, however, is not my favorite discovery. First there was the fettuccine incident, and now we've had an olive incident. Yes, my daughter somehow managed to inhale several large chunks of black olive into her nasal cavity while eating. She then fussed and cried and said nose nose nose for several minutes, until I finally realized she was saying nose, got a tissue and told her to blow. At this point I saw a little bit of olive poking out of her nose. I told her to blow again, but she's not very good at it yet so that had little effect. Finally I managed to sort of squeeze the olive chunks out of her nose. I can only imagine what she'll get in there next. The only thing I ever had to extract from Jordan's nose was a pea that he inserted himself, in the conventional manner of small children.

In other news, we definitely need to knock down the wasp nests underneath our deck. There are four of them, growing larger by the day. I think they're also building under the kids slide, because Sasha got stung by one the other day when she was over there. Apparently the fact that she can distinguish between flies and wasps and name them correctly doesn't mean that she knows better than to touch a wasp. I had forgotten how much wasp stings hurt, until I accidentally put my arm down on one while hanging up laundry. Thirty-six hours later I have a large red patch surrounding the bite mark on my arm, and it seems to be spreading. I called my mom to ask her if I should be concerned, and she offered helpful advice like "if you can't feel your fingers, then you should be concerned".

I Survived Craft Fair #2

Last weekend I did my second craft fair (in Edgerton). In case anyone couldn't tell by the fact that I've been MIA on any and all social networking sites for the last few weeks, I was a bit busy getting ready. Translated that means, running around like a crazy chicken with my head cut off. But I made it. And I even made some money. Of course, I didn't have nearly as much stuff made as I wanted to/should have, so I didn't make nearly as money as I wanted to/should have. But I did make a small profit after covering my entry fee. And Justin and I had a nice relaxing (ie. kid-free) day together manning my booth. The weather was beautiful and the park where the craft fair was held was very nice. I sold some of my fabulous peppermint bath salts, a cute and cool girl's poncho, one of the water bottle holders I'm so proud of, and a whole bunch of beaded elastic bracelets. Some of my stuff is for sale online at http://www.rainwaterlily.etsy.com/, and I'm hoping to get some of my left over items from the craft show listed soon. If you've got a gift-giving occasion (birthday, baby shower, wedding) coming up and you're looking for something unique for that special someone, drop me a line and I can help with ideas and custom orders. Now I've just got to apply for my next craft show, get more stuff made, and work on getting my freelance writing business off the ground - never a dull moment!

Water, Water Everywhere...

We have tadpoles swimming in our backyard. I really can't believe it. I stand in the dining room and look out into the middle of our backyard and I see what seems like hundreds of tadpoles swimming around, sometimes even leaping out of the water. The kids think it's fabulous and have taken to wading in with Jordan's butterfly net to catch them. Yes, the marsh is now covering about half of our yard, the new compost pile is completely underwater, and the willow tree we planted on what used to be the edge of the marsh is drowned under several inches of water. A family of geese (mom, dad and three babies) has made our yard their home (ie. toilet). Yet I can't find it in myself to be upset. Our home has been spared unlike so many others, and the kids are having a blast. Plus I can get a lot of weeding done in the garden while they're tadpole-hunting. Life continues to surprise me. And speaking of surprises, when I checked my email yesterday, I discovered that I'd made my first sale on Etsy. So exciting! My crafts business is (sort of) taking off. I sold one of my small drawstring crochet cases and am now listing them as a custom item - size, color and type of yarn your choice. Check out my shop at www.rainwaterlily.etsy.com!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I like rain. Actually I love rain. It makes me moody and happy all at once. One of my favorite feelings. I love to watch rain, listen to it, stand out in it, smell it. I just wish my backyard wasn't full of it. The marsh behind our house has officially taken over our yard. Last year's compost pile is a foot under water, and the new one is well on it's way to being submerged. While I was fine with losing about 8 feet of the the thistle field that was the back of our backyard, losing approximately half of the back yard to water is a bit much. Actually the front yard is pretty much one giant puddle too. Ah, well...not much I can do about it. At least we don't have to go far to find wildlife to expose the kids too. Last Thursday afternoon two of my less squeamish sisters came over to play Frog Hunt with the kids. Jordan, Sasha and our neighbor Abby were thrilled to see and feel a toad, a pine snake, several frogs and some giant earthworms. Even I, who as just about everyone knows, am "such a total girl", was pretty excited by the nature extravaganza. Two of the frogs even still had their little tail stumps. So cool. Especially when the girls put one in our (overflowing) rain barrel so we could get a close up look at the frog in action. I just hope that my garden keeps growing and the new willow trees we just planted survive the deluge.