a face only a mother could love.....

Ketchup on cheek. Runny nose. Finger in nose. Father behind camera giving instructions to pose for nose-picking picture.

Sigh.....

A young man in the making......

Sam. Nine and a half. Sports lover, particularly football and baseball, but interested in all of them. Inventive. Creative. Fiercely independent. Growing up too fast for his mother, but still hugs his mother. Smile that lights up my day.

He's been at camp this week...having fun, eating root beer floats, playing capture the flag, growing in his walk with God (even if he doesn't realize it! :). I've been at home having fun with the other kiddos and worrying about storms in northwest Iowa. But in about an hour we'll go pick him up. It's just not the same when one of us isn't here.

Tim took this picture at Pine Lake when we dropped him off last Sunday. Once he met his counselor, he was off. But we were still able to sneak some shots of him before we left....is this young man really my boy? Sometimes I don't realize how fast the time goes.....

more questions, questions.....

Okay, let's see if I can remember the stream of questions in the car tonight....it's 9:30pm and we're driving home....

Pete: Is it bedtime?
Me: Yes.
Pete: Did you change it?
Me: Did I change what?
Pete: Our bedtime. Is 9:30 our bedtime now?
Me: Well, in the summer 9 or 9:30 is about your bedtime.
Pete: It used to be 8:30. Did you change it?
Me: Yes, I guess I changed it (not feeling the need to explain that if we get home late, that changes bedtime...not like this hasn't happened a million times before..)
....a few minutes later....
Pete: What are activities?
Me: They are things that you do to occupy your time.
Pete: But what ARE activities?
Me: (sigh)
Janie: (understanding her brother's brain better at this point than I am) Peter, they are things like sports or crafts or playing Star Wars or taking a walk...
Pete: I'm doing an activity right now. I'm blinking my eyes......
Me: (audible sigh)
Janie: (audible sigh)
Pete: (crossing I-74 bridge)Does this bridge ever fall down?
Me: Um, no. If it did......(never mind)
Pete: Why doesn't this bridge ever fall down?
Me: Well, they have people to check it to make sure it's still sturdy...um...
Pete: Do they check it every day?
Me: Well......
Pete: How do tornadoes come?
Me: Well, the weather has to be just right, and they just appear....(stupid answer, I know...I'm getting exhausted by now)
Pete: Can they come to Illinois?
Me: Yes..
Pete: Can they come to Moline?
Me: Yes....
(Now pulling into driveway to find that Tim is not home - had to work late)
Me: Poor Dad, he's still working (it's almost 10pm)
Joe: How long until the end of his shift?
Me: (not sure where Joe got that idea....) He doesn't have a shift. He just works until the job is done.
Pete: I thought a job took five minutes or you get fired.
Me: (realizing that he's thinking of the time I yelled at the boys about slacking off and how when they get a job, if they take an hour to do a job that should take five minutes, then they'll get fired..I think I may have blogged about that...)
Janie: some jobs should take five minutes, like putting away your clothes....
Peter: How many hours has this day been?
Me: (another audible sigh...perhaps a groan) Pete, just go inside and we'll have a bedtime snack...

I walked inside and went straight to the computer, trying to keep this string of questions fresh in my mind. As I was typing, Pete came in and told me he was going to give me an "after bedtime snack hug". And he did. :)

mosaic!!

A woman from our church has taken Janie and I - along with a few friends - under her creative wing. She is in the process of covering every door in her home with the most amazingly beautiful glass mosaic. Woven into her mosaic is a "journal" of her walk with God. They are absolutely amazing. This year, she decided that we younglings were ready to take a stab at it. And she encouraged us to do something BIG. So we did, and four months later, we're still working! She is one patient lady! And very generous, too, because she lets us use all kinds of material in her studio...it's like being in a candy store! And she asks wonderful questions during the class and says things like, "I love to see the colors you choose, because it tells me so much about you!".

I thought I'd share a little of our progress. These were taken a short while back, so we've covered ground since then. The first two are of Janie's. She's covering a wooden "cube" cabinet. Mine are the second two..the top of a dresser that belonged to my sister and I when we were little. It has been so much fun to learn this art...it's like a therapy session once a week! :) We'll post more as we cover more surface! Thanks for letting us share!

mothers day work crew photos

These are a couple of pics from my mothers day work day before my camera battery died....

My weird mothers day gift request......

Today was one of the best mother's days ever. As of yesterday, we really didn't have any plans, which was kind of nice. So we decided to surprise my mom by attending her church this morning (which also happens to be the church where I grew up). I knew she was going to be a part of a skit, too. She was really excited to see us, as it has been a LONG time since we've visited due to our commitments at our own church. It was an amazing service, and the skit about the seasons of a woman's life made me cry like a baby. We ate at Hungry Hobo afterwards. Yum.

The weird part of the day came when, after many inquiries about what I'd like to do on mothers day, I came up with the perfect thing. I've been feeling bogged down lately by the growing list of things to fix/maintain/upkeep around our house and the lack of time to get any of it done. Soooooooooo, I told my eager-to-make-me-happy family that I would like to have a family work day.

*can you hear the crickets?*

That is honestly and truly what I wanted to do. And NO, I did not sit inside and eat bon bons while they all worked. I'll admit right here and now that I would never be able to enjoy the bon bons because I'm way too controlling about the to-do list and how it's done. I'll deal with that issue later. Besides, I wanted it to be a "together" thing. So, here is the list of accomplishments:

1) moved everything out of garage (crew: everyone)
2) organized scrap wood, tools, electrical materials (crew: everyone)
3) blew leaves, sawdust, and dirt out of garage with leafblower (crew: Tim)
4) recovered from respiratory distress from #3 (crew: everyone, plus a few neighbors)
5) moved #1 back into garage in much neater fashion (crew: everyone)
6) weedwacked (crew: Tim)
7) mowed (crew: Tim, and introducing SAM!! He mowed the lawn!!)
8) Swept, shoveled and bagged about 3 tons of helicopters (crew: Mom, Janie, and Sam)
9) Trimmed unruly dogwood bush (crew: Tim) note: I tried to do this once, and it looked like a four year old had gotten to it with a chainsaw. Thank you, Tim for your trimming expertise.
10) One gutter cleaned (crew: Janie and Sam, supervised by Tim) This job was a bit of a rabbit trail on Tim's part, and I was not excited about J and S being on the roof. So that's why only one gutter was cleaned. The stink was awful. Gutter rot.
11) Huge pile of bricks moved from front yard to back yard. (crew: Janie, Sam, Joe, Pete)
12) cilantro and basil planted (crew: Mom)
13) garden watered (crew: Janie and Sam)
14) dirt under swings watered and mud pool created (crew: Janie)
15) mud tracked everywhere thanks to mud pool (crew: Janie, Sam, Joe, Pete)
BONUS ITEMS:
14) Chocolate cupcakes made from scratch..frosting and all (crew: Janie)
15) Country Style run at the end the day (crew: everyone)

Yes, dessert twice.

Can I just tell you what a lift to my spirits it is to have those jobs out of the way? I know it's not the normal mothers day fare, but it sure made my day. The kids were great workers (I only had to threaten naps and no ice cream a couple of times, and I think that was only for Pete, although he really was a good little worker :). I was proud of them, we had fun, and we got a ton of stuff done. Maybe we'll make this a mothers day tradition. Or maybe next year I'll feel like tea and cucumber sandwiches. I guess that's the sweet thing about mothers day!

apologies..

Sorry about yesterday's post. I apologize if it was uncouth and unprofessional of me to discuss business situations, but you just have to laugh about some things. And it was late, and I was punchy. And, actually, you really should look for that movie scene on youtube. It's stinkin' hilarious.

On to other things....how about a few "Peter-isms" for a Thursday morning? Here you go:

Pete: I'm never going to get my driver's license.
Me: How will you get to work when you're a grown up?
Pete: My wife will drive me.

another...

Pete: Mom, will you read me that story about the cats' mittens?

I think today is going to be a good one. The coffee was brewing nice and early, the sun is shining (which does WONDERS, doesn't it?), and it's a new day. I'm so thankful for that. Yesterday I was a grouch. So grouchy that I gave the following speech to the boys after being ON THEM all day to get their stuff done: "If you don't learn to be diligent and stay on task, and if you're lucky enough to get a job someday, you're going to take an hour to do something that should only take five minutes. Then you'll get fired and won't have any money and won't be able to pay for food or a place to live. Then you'll have to live under a bridge or something." I actually said that to them. I could have said, "and don't come knocking on my door for a place to stay", but I didn't. Quite the character lesson, don't you think? :) (um, no.)

I think I should re-name my blog, "Non-Stellar Parenting Moment Confessions."

So yes, I've got high hopes for today, and I'm claiming God's grace to erase, or at least heal, days like yesterday. I hope you have a great day, too.