She'll be coming 'round the mountain (cause the van's too heavy to go up!)

Today we packed…and packed and packed and packed. I think my kids believe that because we are actually bringing the kitchen sink in a camper behind our van, that they should be able to bring everything else.

They are trying, but I am resisting. The kids are bringing every pair of shorts, flip flops and tank tops they own, because they’re Texans and simply don’t believe they won’t need them. They can’t seem to understand that in the mountains it might actually be cold. It is a shocking thought, but I assure them it is the truth.

So the packing goes like this…they pack the summer tank tops, swimsuits and shorts, and I pack the jeans and jackets. So we basically have every piece of clothing they own…all four of them…in one pull behind camper. We have also filled this small pull behind camper with enough groceries to feed my family of 6, (that eats like a pack of wild dogs). And now my poor little ford E350 12 passenger van is going to have to pull it up the mountains…and quickly. Actually not necessarily quickly, just quicker than my husbands brothers are doing it, because they are not competitive or anything.

I have to tell you that the week before vacation is quite possibly the main reason a mother looks like she NEEDS a vacation (or a sanitarium) by the time the get out the door.

The time has come...

We writers are a strange lot. I include myself in the ‘we writers’ group, not because I think I am actually legitimate enough to consider myself a writer, but because I write, and I am definitely strange.

I haven’t really told a lot of people in my real world that I have this blog. I started it thinking it might be a nice way to keep my parents updated on what is going on with my family, but then I never told them about it. I don’t know why, I think it has something to do with the fact that the people in my real life may, you know, have opinions and judgments, and tell me about them.

I love to write, the more I do it, the more I want to do it, and I think in some small way, the better I get. However, if I think someone I know is going to read what I write I freeze up. I can hardly get the words down because every time I type something I think what is _____ going to think of me if I write this? So I can’t flow, I am stilted. I am stuck.

I don’t do well with criticism. I don’t know why. I know who I am in Christ, so why does it bother me if someone corrects my spelling or tells me that the last sentence I wrote is totally grammatically incorrect, or a good writer would, you know, not use ‘you know’ and ‘totally’ in a sentence.

So here’s the funny thing. When I started writing things about my life and my family and putting it out there for all the Internet to read (because you know everyone is dying to know what this Texas, homeschooling mom does with her time) I knew it would get out to those that I know in real life, I just didn’t think it would bother me so much.

But in the end, secrets are bad, and I outed myself anyway.

Sometimes when I write something I think my family and friends might like to read, I copy it and send it to them via email. I know, you’re thinking just give them the link you dork, but you see, then they could read everything I have written, and you know, have opinions and judge. So I just sent them the email.

Know what? When you cut a blog entry and past it into an email, you ARE sending the link to your blog, right there in the title of the entry!

So there it is. My friends and family have probably been reading all along. I’m sure they have opinions and judgments, but they have yet to share them with me.

Time to steal myself…I CAN handle criticism. I am certainly not perfect, I do things wrong, spell things wrong, use ‘you know’ too much, and am often grammatically incorrect.
Hopefully, to know me is to love me anyway.

An Uncommon Kindness

I saw something today that restored my faith in humanity just a little bit.

I was sitting in a little burger joint, next to a gas station that does state car inspections. Getting my car inspected is one thing in a long, long list of things I must get done before we leave on our 2 week camping trip to Colorado. We are going on this trip with two of D’s brothers and their families. It will be a great fun family time, providing we all survive the preparation phase of this little adventure.

So, back to the restoring my faith in humanity thing. I was sitting in this little burger joint watching the mechanic across the street hook up my van up to various machines, and frantically jotting down notes in my spiral notebook that is holding not one, but three of my to do lists, when I noticed a man hop up and open the door for an elderly lady.

But let me set the scene a little better, first off, this man was a bit grungy. He was obviously a construction worker just coming off a job site for lunch with his buddy, and equally grungy construction worker. They had their food and were eating and talking about whatever grungy construction workers talk about at lunch.

Now this lady was a classy looking older lady, here in TX that means big hair, nice seersucker pants and a purse that matches her shoes. She had her hands full of her meal sack and drink, plus her nice purse and keys.

I am embarrassed to admit that I was in the booth closest to the door but did not notice her plight because, as I have previously stated, I was frantically putting very important things on my to do list like “get 1 ply toilet paper for camper” see very important stuff.

I was so proud of this man. He was eating his lunch, he was not right next to this lady, and there were many other able bodied men and women (Hello! ME!) closer to the situation, but he did not wait for someone else to do it. He got up from his meal and did it.

Really, it was a small thing, it took no more than 30 seconds, but it made a big difference to that lady.

I did say to that man, thank you for being gentleman. I am glad to see they still exist. His reply was, “It was no big deal, I just opened a door, anyone could have done it”.

Hummm, I’m sure many would say that too, that anyone could have done it. But only he actually got up off his bum and did it.

That man’s mama raised him right. I pray I do as well with my own sons.

Happy Birthday!

On this day 10 years ago, God blessed me with a girl, a daughter; someone to wear pink dresses and hair bows. Someone who’ll have tea parties, and play in my makeup; finally, someone who won’t love dirt more than their mommy!

 

The boys started early trying to bring you to their side, with motorcycle magazines, and talk of dirt while you slept.

 

 

But I tried harder with books and tea sets.

 

They brought out the big guns and introduced you to motorbikes and mud.

 

 

I brought out the bigger guns and showed you the delight that could be found in a good book, a brand new stuffed dog.

 

They tried video games.

 

I finally won with the girly pink bike.


E, you are growing into a fine, Godly young woman. I am proud of you; I just wish you’d do it a little slower

The boys are back!

The boys made it back home safely. B is 6lbs lighter than when he left and G is without his voice, but other than that, they are all in one piece.


It sounds like they had a great time. They had great things to say about their week at camp and, G came back humming the music from the worship band that was there. He really wants to get the CD. The guy’s name was Scott England.

It is really bittersweet to watch one’s little boys turn into men. They are good boys who love the Lord. I hear over and over from the other adults on their lives, from church and in the family, what great young men they are. I am blessed. Yes D and I have worked hard raising our boys, but it is only by the Grace of God that they are who they are.

It is because the Holy Spirit is working in my boys, and not some great parenting technique that is turning them into the men they are becoming. The Lord has really blessed me with these children I have.

In this culture where there is such a great chasm between the generations, such angst between parent and teen, such complaining and eye rolling. I wanted to put it out there. I love my teens.

Yes parenting is hard, yes it is tiring, yes there have been days that I was ready to throw in the towel and get in my car and just drive away. But sticking in there, working on those relationships, not giving in to the culture that says it is normal for teens and parents to hate each other, well, it has been worth it!

Of course I don’t know what the Lord has planned for the future; I may be singing a different tune before they are all out of the house. I still have two girls to get through the teen years.

Mother Hen

One of my little chicks has come home.

Why is it as mothers, that we feel unsettled when all our offspring are not at home? You know what I am talking about; that feeling that something is off, not quite right.

We can even enjoy their absence for a little while. It is nice to have time alone just as man and wife. But still it's there under the surface, that feeling.

Is this what I have to look forward too when my kids go off to college? Get married? Have their own kids?

I wonder if it will ever feel normal to have my kids away, or do empty nester's just get used to that unsettled feeling and live with it.

Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and we have great plans for when we are alone again, but being alone after kids is so much different than being alone before you had kids.

It really is like a little bit of your heart and soul is out there walking around in the world, exposed.

I can't wait for B to come home tonight. The SR Highers stay one night more than the JR highers.

Tonight I will sleep the sleep of the settled. The sleep of a mother hen whose chicks are all presented and accounted for.

Whatever Shall We Do With Our Time?

D and I have been enjoying having our evenings to ourselves while the boys are at camp. The girls get in bed at 7 and listen to tapes for awhile before they go to sleep. So D and I have all evening to ourselves. It is kinda weird. We haven’t had this much time in the evenings since the kids were little and they all went to bed at 7 and if they didn’t they were infants and not listening, with rapt attention to everything we say.

So what did we do with our week long vacation from older kids? We, cooked good expensive meals like grilled steak, baked potato with portabella mushroom sauce. (OH. MY. WORD. That was good)



We also started a new TV series. It is called Robin Hood. (I know, you’re thinking…not new) but this is a new mini series put out by the BBC (quite possibly my new favorite channel since we got satellite, next to the USA network which airs Monk, but that is another post)

D and I have really enjoyed it so far. We are about half way through it. It is not too dark and it has some funny parts. It does not take itself too seriously. I am getting it through Netflix. They aired it on the BBC before we got satellite and they kept running the reruns out of order. I simply cannot start a miniseries with episode 2. Perhaps I am watching too much Monk.

Anyway, I waited until it came out on video so we could start at the beginning. We have even decided it is (so far) okay for the boys to watch when they get home. No bad words, no love scenes, there is a bit of tension between Marion and Robin but nothing over the top so far. There are, of course, some swordplay and shooting of people with arrows but nothing grotesquely violent. In fact Robin’s whole thing is that he does not want to have to kill anyone, even his enemies, if he can help it. That is why he must be so creative to avoid having to kill the Sheriff.

Anyway, it is really good and I recommend it.

I think I have talked a bout the mini series North and South with Richard Armitage before. He is in Robin Hood as the bad guy and bad guy he is. It is almost disturbing to see such a good guy in North and South be such a bad, bad guy in Robin Hood. I suggest if you have not seen North and South you do so before you watch Robin Hood, and maybe wait a week or two before you start Robin Hood. My delicate sensibilities simply could not handle such a rapid change in personality.

Beware of Two Bored Girls.

I should really ground my kids more! They’re so creative when they can’t play with friends, go to the pool, get on the computer or watch tv.

They were disobedient today about cleaning there room. As in, every time I was not in their room with them, they were not cleaning it.

So I grounded them and amazingly, after that, they got it done pretty darn quick. Of course now they have lots of time on their hands and don’t want to play in their room because they don’t want to mess it up.

When they asked if they could play in the bath, I said sure. Because I’m naive and thought they were actually going to get in the bath and, you know, come out clean.

No that is not what they had in mind.

This is what they had in mind.

They took every piece of aluminum foil and plastic wrap in the house, and every Little Pet Shop in existence and made water cities.


They also made a HUGE mess of the bathroom.

Think I’m gonna stop them? NO WAY! They are quiet and getting along. I’ll just make them clean it up when they are done. That’ll take at least half a day. And we’ll start the cycle all over tomorrow.

Ahhh, summer.

Shaving and Baby Snot.

I got a new razor a few weeks ago in the mail. It was a Gillette Venus Breeze. It is the kind where you don’t need any shaving gel when you use it because it has it built in. Sound familiar?



AHHHH the Intuition, she was my first love. A razor that did not cut me and leave me with little, and oh so attractive, red dots all over my legs.

I would never have strayed except that the clever Gillette Company sent this free new razor to my door. I do know that I am not special, and they sent it to everyone. I understand their marketing practices. They send you the razor for free because you’re going to spend what amounts to the US national debt buying the refills.
So my beloved Intuition went to the back of the shelf and out came the new kid on the block.

So here’s the thing, I like it…sort of. It works as well as my beloved Intuition. It does not leave those ghastly little red bumps all over my legs, but it has a problem. A texture problem if you will.

Do you remember when you had little babies? You know that clear snot that seems to be constantly running out of their little heads for the entirety of allergy season, which consequently, is year round in Texas. That is what happens to those little gel bars on the Gillette Venus Breeze. It took me a while, but I finally figured out why I was totally grossed out by that slimy substance I was smearing my legs with, and why I felt compelled to rock it to sleep before I put back in its case.

That stuff turns into baby snot when you get it wet. Don’t believe me? Get a 6 month old baby in Tx in July, now compare it to a wet Gillette Venus Breeze; exact same stuff! If only I’d known the Gillette Company was collecting it. I could have made a fortune. My kids produced the stuff by the gallon.

But sadly, I am out of the baby stage now and I have absolutely no desire to come in contact with anything resembling baby snot.

Goodbye Gillette Venus Breeze, I knew you well.

And Schick Intuition, will you take me back? I’ll never stray again!

And this, my friends, is why all my kids take their science classes at Co op!

I hated science and it was always my worst subject in school. I have to work really hard not to let my eyes glaze over, and my body go into spazm, when my kids are doing their science homework.

Thank Goodness for our Homeschool Co Op!