Swimming on Sunday

Today was one of those perfect days, that although very full, was also just blissfully perfect.  Our plans for the day included gardening, a birthday party at the park, swimming with our neighbors, and a movie in the theater.  Although it seemed daunting, everything slowed down in the middle of the day when it was time to swim.  Christian went down for a nap, and Tes, Nick, and I all jumped in our neighbor's pool.  That's right, our neighbors have a pool.

I was a beautiful day, and the water was perfect.  Tessie splashed around with her friends, alternating swimming around on a pool noodle and shooting us with a water canon.  It felt wonderful to stretch out and swim.  We all repeatedly made the comment that we felt ridiculously spoiled, but not even a little guilty about it.

It was finally time to get out, and get ready to head to the movies.  As soon as Tes got out she started shivering, but she still had a huge smile on her face.  The only way the moment could have been more perfect is if Christian had been awake to swim with us.  Well there's always tomorrow.  What a beautiful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Swing With Me

Birthday party season is in full swing, and this evening we attended a party for one of Christian's buddies from school.  We are also friends with his parents, and so it was a fun party for the whole family.  I have a hard time with birthday parties sometimes.  All the kids are running around having a great time, and Christian is with me.  He is usually having fun, but I can't help but get bummed out that he isn't chasing the other boys around.

Our friends have a swing set, and I thought that would be a great way for him to interact with the other kids, but unfortunately, they didn't have a bucket swing, so I knew it wouldn't work for Christian.  But my realization was a little too late, and Christian had already decided he wanted to swing.  Full melt down mode commenced, and I frantically searched for a way out.  Then I saw the hammock.

I convinced Christian to calm down, and tried to get him excited about the other swing I found.  Within moments, he was squealing happily, bundled up in the hammock.  As I was expecting, Tessie appeared at my arm, wanting a turn.  But instead of getting out, Christian asked Tes to get in with him.  That was a little too risky of a situation for her, and she declined.  But Christian begged, and with a little convincing from me, she was in the hammock too.  It didn't take long for both kids to be having the time of their lives.  After a while, Nick came to relieve me, and since he provided a much crazier ride than I did, I was totally off hammock duty.  I couldn't walk away though, they were just too much.

Tessie, although coming out of her shell a little, was getting nervous when Nick swung a little too high or off kilter, and Christian just screamed for more.  My kids are a really good match for each other.  They both encourage the other to move beyond their comfort zone, and act as a support system when they do.  It is truly a beautiful thing to watch.  Especially when it is accompanied by insane giggling. 

My Garden Monster

My dreams of an abundant garden this year have, thus far, fallen a bit short.  Between being a mom, and, well pretty much just being a mom, I got off to a much later start than planned.  And so, here we are, nearing the end of June, and my tomatoes have been getting sadder and sadder, sitting in their pots.  Until today.  I finally finished my tomato bed today, and with Tessie by my side, we set out to put our suffering plants in the ground at last.

Tessie was in a flowing summer dress, which she saw no need to change out of, but did see fit to put on her boots, hat, and gloves.  She looked like something straight out of a Victorian garden magazine.  I just love her.  She stood patiently by, while I explained every step of what we were going to do.  When I said that I was going to crush up egg shells to put in each hole, she volunteered to do the crushing with gusto.  And she did.  She crushed shells, gingerly placed them in each hole I dug, and helped me place each tomato plant.  Then she spread straw over the bed like a blanket.

As I watered the now full bed, she watched me with the look of a proud mother cat, watching her kittens play.  I could hardly keep from laughing out loud.  As we walked in the house she said, "Now Mommy, make sure you water our tomatoes and take good care of them so they grow healthy and strong."  I sure have created a monster, but man, she is a beautiful monster, that's for sure.

No Going Back

The unthinkable happened today.  We were cut off from technology for almost an entire day.  Last night, a fiber optic cable that delivers Internet and cell service to our county was cut, and so our entire area went without modern technology for most of the day.  The Internet didn't work, all cell carriers were down, and some businesses couldn't even run a credit card.  I hurried in to work, worried that I would find a chaotic mess.  Luckily, it was business as usual.  My main concern, that our credit card machine wouldn't work, turned out to be an unnecessary worry, as it ran through the phone line.  Although we had very little business, apparently people were in a bit of a crisis, we functioned just fine.  There were a couple issues I ran into.  I couldn't check any of our guiding schedules or book an upcoming trip, since all of our data is now online.  I was a little worried, but it turned out that I didn't even get any calls, since apparently no one owns a house phone anymore.  By the time the service was turned back on, I was getting used to the slower pace that a world without technology provides.  But just like everyone else, as soon as Wifi returned, I was on facebook quicker than you could say "Status Update."  As beautiful as a world without social media is, I am afraid there is just no going back.

New Entry

My mom is a gardening genius, as far as I'm concerned.  She can make anything grow anywhere, and her garden always looks exquisite.  I did not inherit her green thumb, and I am trying my hardest not to kill everything in my yard.  As a late birthday present, my mom came up for a few days to help me work on the garden in our entryway.  We had a crazy day of running all over town to the garden center and the hardware store, and even fit a barbeque in with our neighbors.  We ended up getting such a late start, that we finished planting and watering last night in the dark.  But it was all worth it this morning, when I left my house to go to work.  Our entry, although far from complete, looked amazing.  Most of the weeds were pulled, and there was a resplendent red rose bush in the center of the new entry garden.  What a beautiful way to start my day.

A Hard Day's Work

Nick and I have undertaken the task this year of thinning all the overgrown trees and dead limbs on our property. With conditions being so dry, and fire danger high, we are incredibly conscious of the danger of what is basically so much kindling around out house. Nick has been working incredibly hard to cut down and thin trees, while I have assisted in dragging them to a giant pile in our yard. We were intending to chip all the wood once it was piled, but our good intentions have not come to fruition. And what used to be fire danger spread all over our property, has turned into a big dry pile of fire danger consolidated in the front yard.

Several efforts to hire someone to haul it away didn't pan out, and we decided to take matters into our own hands. We borrowed our neighbor's huge trailer, Nick hooked it up to his jeep, and we began the laborious task of loading all the brush onto the trailer. 

Nick started around 8:30 this morning, and I joined him as soon as I had the kids fed and happily hanging out with my mom. It was beyond hard work. We piled the branches as high as we could, about ten feet high, and then strapped them down. Then Nick climbed on top of the precarious pile and jumped up and down to try and compact the branches. Then we repeated the process so we could fit as much as possible on one load. It ended up taking two loads, and most of the day, to get rid of everything. But when it was gone we looked at our empty front yard and breathed a huge sigh of relief. We hopefully made our home a little safer, and that is a beautiful thing.

My New Friend

Tessie has ballet every Monday, for forty five minutes. I usually drop her off, and then run some quick errands, before picking her up and heading home. Today, Christian and I stayed at the ballet studio and waited for her.

Tes walked into the studio, and we looked for seats. The summer program has a much smaller enrollment than the regular year, and so there are also a lot less people waiting in the lobby. I put Christian in a chair next to a boy whose younger sister danced with Tes, and I sat in the chair next to him.  Christian quickly became enamored of the older boy, who was going into middle school. They were both playing games on their mothers' phones, and Christian couldn't believe they were both playing angry birds. "Look mom," he said proudly.  "We're the same!" The young man was so kind and polite, he smiled at Christian and said "You're right, we are " 

The two boys bonded over games and movies. I was tickled pink. Christian hasn't spent much time around older kids, and I had never seen him so instantly attached to someone. He looked like such a big boy sitting next to his new buddy, and talking to him with absolutely no involvement on my part. 

When Tessie came out of class and I picked Christian up to leave, he protested loudly. "I need my new friend!" he wailed as we walked away. My heart melted as the young man came over to try to cheer Christian up with a high five and a promise to see him again soon. I mean, what kind of eleven year old boy is this sweet? Christian didn't stop talking about his new friend all night. I think this might be the begging of a beautiful friendship.