Fear and Trepidation

Fear...

Berean is more fearful and cautious than any of our other children.  She is afraid of large statues of animals,  in addition to real animals.  In theory she loves dogs and "pink" ponies.  In reality she is afraid of dogs and any pony- even ones with glitter on their hindquarters.

This fear has always been an issue with her, but it became much worse last week.  Last week we were at the Little League Ball Park and she had to pee.  I took her into the bathroom and she looked suspiciously at the large stainless steel toilet.  Finally, she agreed to go as long as I held her hand.  Mid stream she must have moved her little butt just enough to activate the auto flush.  You should have seen that girl jump!  The pee stopped, she jumped off the seat and that was the end of that.  Now she is afraid of public toilets.

A couple of days later she went to the zoo with my sister and some friends.  Somehow she missed seeing the approaching Daddy Orangutan and instead saw him when she turned her head and he was right in front of her on the other side of the glass.  This up close and personal view of a large hairy primate did little to encourage a love of animals.

This last weekend we traveled out to my Dad's hometown with my whole family in order to visit my Grandma and celebrate the town's 125th anniversary.  We had a good time.  Berean peed in the am before we left and did not go again until 6pm.  Good thing she has a strong bladder.  We finally convinced her to go at the nursing home and the hotel, but there is still a huge hullabaloo everytime she has to go.

She also completely lost it while watching people ride ponies, observing the petting zoo animals and upon being told that there would be horses in the parade.

We got back to our hotel and she got onto one of the beds and declared it "Berean's big bed".  She was very irate to have to share it with us and that turned into another fuss.

I had not realized how much I need those 10-12 hours when all the kids are sleeping.  I need that time to recharge and to regroup.  Vacations are nice, but I just don't get that time alone that I crave.

Trepidation...

We are supposed to all go camping later this summer.  Quite frankly both of us are  a little concerned when we think about all of the invisible owies Berean could get while camping, all of the toilets she could refuse to use, and all of the hours of sleep that we may miss.

I guess there is a chance that she may find out that camping is her one love in  life and may embrace the experience wholeheartedly.  But I doubt it.

Sometimes

Sometimes being an adult stinks.  Sometimes being a parent is hard.  Sometimes doing what is right is difficult.  Sometimes explaining what you believe to someone else doesn't work very well.

I am in a little bit of a brooding mood tonight.

So many things on my mind.

So many things on my list.

So many things that I want to teach my children.

I want to teach them that when you claim to know God, that loving people is of utmost importance.

I want them to understand that just because you are trying to love people doesn't mean that you have to give in on your standards or your beliefs.

I want to teach them balance, time management and to prioritize the things that matter.

I want to them to understand that people disappoint, but that God is always faithful.

But I also need to learn all these things myself.

We only have a month left of summer and then the new school year is upon us.

I am trying to figure out what exactly I value, and what that is going to look like in my world.

Uno Partners

Sorry about the poor picture quality- we have been experiencing flash difficulties

Ooo...looks like we got some good ones!

"Mom, he is hiding them from me!"

That's how we play as a team!

All set to win!

She would like to drive

Berean wants to do everything and  tries to direct all activities in the household.  Do I need someone to weed the garden?  She is there.  Mow the Lawn?  She volunteers.  She likes to take care of the dishwasher, help separate and fold the laundry and watch her sister.

"Mine" is her new favorite word.  She also likes to point out what things belong to the other members of the household.  She is quite skilled at distributing shoes, glasses and books to their proper owners.

She also would like to drive the van.  Or so she says.

I don't doubt it.

Dreams

Tonight was the first game of Little League "playoffs".  There are 22 teams in the league, and the top 10 teams (based on season records) were placed in Tier 1, and the bottom 12 teams were placed in Tier II.  Deacon's team was kind of middle of the road.  Some weeks they got creamed, other weeks they did the creaming.

I was hoping that they would get placed in Tier II, just so they could maybe have a little bit of success and not be crushed every game.  It was not so.  They were placed in Tier I and for the first game (tonight) they faced a team that had badly beaten them, not once, but twice.

The kids on this particular team seem larger than most, and their coaches seem awfully intent on winning.  Of course, Deacon did not remember ever losing to this team.  Our 8 year old boy seems to block losing out of his mind.  Head in the clouds, he just goes out and plays with little regard for his opponents skill level.

After some success early followed by a lack luster middle, our team pulled out some amazing defensive plays, followed by some unprecedented hitting, and then finished strong with 3 quick outs.

The crowd was yelling, and the kids continued to be clueless.

Oh well.

Even if they lose the rest of the week, I consider this end of season play a success.

Upsets are always fun- unless you are the other team.

In other news,one of my coworkers posted this blog onto facebook yesterday. This blog is so funny, I laughed outloud for a long time.  This is not a common thing for me- I am not really a laugh-out-louder.  You probably will only think it is funny if you are a nurse (also, there is some bad language in it)- but it rings true on way too many levels.  

Very few people actually understand what nurses do during their shifts.  If people thought hard enough they could probably figure it out, but I think a lot of times people just really don't want to know.  (oh, but they are quick to criticize...)

Deacon came up to our room the other night, complaining of having a nightmare.  We let him sleep in our room and I smugly thought I knew what the problem was: playing Skylanders at the neighbors earlier that day.  He has never really had a problem with bad dreams, and he gets one the night after playing that video game?  Coincidence?  I think not.  The next morning I asked him about his bad dream.  He gets a sheepish look on his face and says, "well, it was scary at the time..."  He goes on to tell me that in his dream we had gone up in a space ship and that Roman had brought too many toys-more than he could carry.  All the toys started falling and some of them floated away, never to return.

I asked him what was scary about the dream. He responded, "I was the one who dropped the toys.  Roman was mad and you guys made me pay for them all!"

Not what I expected.  Apparently Deacon is more afraid of Roman's anger and losing his money than he is about small monsters fighting battles.

Ever is getting big (18.1 pounds at her 6 month checkup!), sitting up and having a good time learning to play with toys.  Berean is somewhat bossy toward her little sister, but they actually get along pretty well.  Everyn can hold a teacup now, and tries to put it in her mouth.  That is good enough for Berean- she pours the tea, hands the cup to Everyn and they have a "tea party".  Berean overlooks the fact that Ever is gnawing on the cup instead of drinking the pretend tea.

Well, that is all for this  morning!  Time to go get breakfast ready before the troops get up!

Family!

The boys love their aunt!

Sisters! (and mom)

Creative director's idea of an amazing picture

Creative Director

Pool Vaulting and Baby feeding

 I know it has been forever since I posted anything.  I really always intend to change that, but it seems like things just keep coming up.  In addition, important things like lawn chair sitting have also come between me and both blogging and running- but, it is a new day and times, they are a changin'.

I hear a train a comin', it's rolling round the bend.

Actually, I don't know where all that came from.

We have been kept very busy feeding the baby solid foods.  If you direct your attention below, you can see pictures of her first bites.  Little Ever had a whole cheering section as she accepted the foreign mush into her  mouth.  This feeding thing has thrown a wrench into my "grab 'em and go" style.  I already spend what seems like a large portion of my day managing food for the family, and adding feeding the baby when she hasn't decreased her nursing at all yet either is taking a toll.

And no, I didn't put a bib on her for the inaugural moment. If I had wanted a bib, I would have had to find a bib, and that seemed like a great deal of work at the time.  Of course, attempting to get rid of stains on onesies is not small task either, but I guess I was just living in the moment.  (side note: I have now found 3 bibs.  I do laundry once a week, so for 3 out of 21 meals her clothes are protected.  Oh, and I feed her breakfast while she is in a topless state, so I guess we are 3 for 14).

She sucks the food down with her fingers.

She seems to really like the carrots, applesauce, bananas and oatmeal.  She will eat the prunes, but they don't seem like the favorite.

We have also been cutting down trees and hauling brush.  Did I mention on my blog that we bought another lot adjacent to our property?  Now we have about .8 acres, and so we have been busy managing sticks and hauling logs.

 Last weekend we cut down and cut up 6 trees and were quite hot and sweaty.  It was at this time that I remembered the new sport of "pool vaulting" that Deacon invented.  I thought I would give it a try:

 And yep, I do wear a running skirt when I help cut down trees.  My job is to climb up the ladder and tie a rope around the tree.  Noah holds the ladder, and I think he likes the view ;)  Oh wait, you aren't supposed to distract the chain sawer?  My bad.

Noah has been making handles for knives and icecream scoops. For reals.

Oh, how I love summer.  I love that it has been in the 90s.  I love weeding my garden and sitting on lawn chairs talking to neighbors.  I love playing Settlers of Catan late into the night.  I love winning Settlers of Catan late in the night.

The kids have been hilarious, saying cute and clever things.  They are tan and muscly from all of the swimming, running and playing that we have been doing.  Yeah, I still have to work.  And Noah has to work.   And we have to occasionally do laundry, and wash dishes.  Sometimes we even have to cook and come up with creative ways to eat our CSA vegetables.  But those things can not put a damper on the awesome blessing that is summer.

More Wedding Pictures

The girl with the one point twenty-one gigawatt smile!

Seriously, this girl's smile is so big she looks like a Muppet.

That's a compliment; I like Muppets. 

-N