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Thursday my house was full of noise … joyful noise. 5 extra kids spent the entire day with us and 3 spent the night. Everyone got along beautifully. I wish I had gotten a picture of all of them together but they were so busy the entire day, I don’t think they would have wanted to stop playing and pose.
The girls always love crafts.
Little Miss K
“Hmmm. Pick a color, any color.” : )
#3 loves strings. She LOVES strings. She fiddles with different strings to help her hands stay busy and then her mind can stay focused. Well today at Publix she tied a special string (hot pink shoe lace) to the buggy. I forgot it was there and so did she until we were pulling up to the next stop at Kroger. I hear, “Mommy!!!! Did you get my string off the buggy???” She then panics and begins to tear up. “Mommy we have to go back. We HAVE to.” I don’t have my cooler bags and it’s like 100 degrees out. My cold stuff from Publix is already in jeopardy and I still have one more grocery store to shop. I am not about to drive back over to Publix for a string. She begins to sob. I mean sob. #2 tries to console her but she is beyond being rational. I don’t fuss, argue or get irritated. I just get out of the car and enter Kroger with a crying 6 year old. She decides she is too upset to walk. She needs to sit in the big (not baby) part of the buggy. We pass the bakery. She rejects the free cookie. We approach the produce section and I notice she is pinching her arm over and over. I am shocked! Why would she hurt herself? She explained it to me with big tears rolling down her cheeks, “Landon says if you pinch yourself and you can feel it, you aren’t dreaming.” I reply, “Honey, are you that upset about your string that you wish you were dreaming so you wouldn’t have really lost it?” She just silently cried and nodded yes. My heart was broken. Immediately I knew what I had to do. I headed down the sewing baking, school supply, hosiery aisle and thank goodness that smack dab in the center of all that random junk, Kroger had shoe strings for sale. She didn’t notice me grabbing 3 laces off the shelf. I held them out and said. “Sweet girl, you may pick one.” Instantly A HUGE grin spread across her face. She picked out the laces with rainbow colored stars. Five minutes later she was out of the buggy playing with her siblings. Everything in her little world was at peace and so was mine.
See that engraving on the gun? That is right … it’s an official Red Ryder BB gun.
This was taken early yesterday morning. He ate his breakfast on the porch with his gun loaded and ready by his side.
I love my boy!!
I love these two. I don’t know what I would do without them.
It’s so fun having girls. I love the way way they depend on each other. I love the way they play together. I love how they lay in a single twin bed some nights and read to one another. I even love reflecting back on some of their biggest fights. They can get so aggravated at each other and then it amazes me how fast they make up.
My favorite thing #2 has ever said about her younger sister was one night after they had a huge disagreement/shouting match. I had them both on the couch talking through how I wanted them to love one another. #2 started to cry. She said, “Mommy, it’s so sad you don’t have a sister. I need Sydney mommy, I really need her.” She was so sincere and her tears were so big, it just melted me that she felt such a strong connection to her sibling.
We were finishing up our science lesson outside when the girls climbed on the big pot and started to play. They were so super cute. I had to go and grab my camera. I love catching candid moments of my kids.
I woke up and it was still dark. I was surprised at how alert I felt. As I lay there anxiety set in. I always get anxious on yard sale days. Do I have enough change? Remember to get things out of the hall closet. What will I do with everything that is left over? Will anyone even show up? Thinking it was probably only just around 3 a.m. I rolled over and glanced at the clock. It read 6 a.m. There was no point even trying to go back to sleep. My alarm would soon go off. I began to creep around the room to get ready. Next I heard little foot steps. My youngest was standing there all groggy complaining about a bad dream. I sent her back to bed. I was heading out the door to ride around and hang up signs when she appeared again, “Mommy I want to go wherever you are going.”
We rode around and I put out the signs and soon we were home. She ran inside, threw on play clothes and came out to help. Right at 8 a.m. I hung the sign on the mail box. Our yard sale was open. Still picking and putting all the misc. crap, I heard the craziest sound. It was a fox. He has recently visited our yard and screamed his bizarre call right near our chicken coop. Sure enough, that is where he was again. #1 came flying out of the house with his B.B. gun ready to hunt. The girls tagged along. An hour later we had a few more sighting of the fox but #1 was grumpy and stating “The girls can never hunt with me again. I will never get the fox with them following after me!”
A steady flow of people made it’s way up and down our drive way. I didn’t pre price a single thing. Someone would ask me how much and I came back extremely low. Hardly any haggling and in the end I sold almost everything. It always fascinates me who all shows up at a yard sale. Today we saw the old, the young, missionaries, those with no teeth, Indians, flashy and wealthy, blind and mentally handicapped, Hispanic, extremely skinny and old, bald heads, pastors, Black, gray hair, old men with colored hair, veteran homeschoolers, White, poor, military. There was a lady who could barely hear and I felt terrible because I had to seriously yell every answer to the questions she asked me. A haggler who fought over the price of a phone with an answering machine built in. I was selling it for a DOLLAR! I threw down some serious attitude with an gentleman who was insulting me and the price of an antique silver tray. An old class mate showed up. I barely remembered him and I am so thankful he didn’t want to play the game – do you remember this person and remember this class with that teacher. Some people loved to talk and I really thought this one man would never shut up and leave. Others seemed bothered like they were forced to get out and shop our sale. The one thing though that blew my mind was how much complaining I heard from people about walking up the hill (which is NOT very steep or LONG) to get to all our goods. One lady was like, “I am just so tired of walking up that hill, I just don’t think I even have the energy to shop.” REALLY! SERIOUSLY! Someone told me they heard a person talking at a nearby sale saying they didn’t even think they wanted to stop at our house because they would have to walk up that hill … Lazy. There are some crazy lazy people out there. And anyway, plenty of people took the easy way out and just drove up and parked. Silly. Silly silly people.
Now it’s the end of the day and I am spent. The girls hung with me all day long. They are like amazing friends to me and the perfect company I needed today. Speaking of crazies, #3 came busting outside late in the afternoon wearing a bikini. She wanted to run through the sprinkler. I didn’t say no. She and her sister had the best time squealing and running around as they could barely stand to get wet. I am now listening to them in the tub. It’s been along day. They are in a love hate mood right now. Fuss, laugh, fuss, push, tattle, laugh a little more. It just makes me smile. (Now they are giggling and laughing as they are conjoined twins wrapped up together in my robe.)
It’s been a good long day.
In my house right now there is a raging battle. Nestled in one cozy base is a green witch and her two female magical cats. Barricaded in another fort in a ninja warrior and a brave knight. When someone sneaks out of their base swords stab, magical spells fly and then someone gets angry and screams, “NO FAIR!” Next they run to me, the Queen of all that is good and fair, to tattle on the person who chopped off their head or captured their sidekick when they didn’t feel like surrendering. I dish out more rules and try to make peace, but this little scenario keeps repeating over and over.
Finally when I am just fed up with the quarreling – divine wisdom falls from heaven into my little queen head. I pull the oldest and bravest knight aside and ask, ” When you battle with other knights of your kind, do you have these same troubles?” Of course the answer is no. Then I try and explain, this is really a battle of boys vs. girls. The boys are so competitive and cunning that they can trump almost every move the girls make. The girls are just defending and when they get caught they feel it’s unfair. They can’t and won’t think to try and outwit in battle the boys. In the girls “base” they have sleeping quarters and place for their animals. It’s a home. Girls like to set up house. The fort’s exterior is tough and inside you will only find every weapon under the roof scattered across the floor. The boys just want to fight. Mix all these differences together and put them in combat – the result is disaster after disaster.
Solution: Put the witch in the forest. Her cat can be her spies. The knight and the ninja are her guard. When the cats spy evil, they inform the boys. Then the boys battle (trees and vines) to keep the magical witch safe.
Bad guys beware! (Isn’t this little ninja just precious?!)
The boys in the house were gone for the night so we made the most of our time alone. First: A good book. While the girls finished their dinner, I read aloud the first 2 chapters in one of their American Girl books. Second: Crafts! #2 was digging through a block of something to find dinosaur fossils. #3 wanted to make lip balm, which is a craft straight from the devil himself. By the end that waxy substance was all over the table, our hands and in our hair and everything we touched from the dining room to the shower. OH, that stuff is so waterproof. I thought I would never get it off. Third and last: Silly Photo Shoot. They were so totally up for it. They came up with EVERY outfit and EVERY pose. It was a blast. I think the boys should get out of the house more and let the girls stay in!
We just got back from a nice relaxing get away in Destin at Eric’s parents house. Well, relaxing for the kids and I, my man worked his tooshy off setting up his mom’s and their friends new computers. But no worries. He eats that stuff up.
The weather was too cold to really do much outside. One day the girls and I got brave and adventurous. We took a golf cart ride and played around on Jolee’s Island in Sandestin. We had a lot of fun just goofing off.
Doesn’t it look like they are the best of friends and would never fight! HA!
Really and truly they are best friends. It really is amazing how well they do get along, but they have their moments!
Just love love love this weather! When we first moved in the mosquitos were so bad that the kids never enjoyed playing outside. Now that it has gotten cooler, those flying little pest have disappeared and the kids have ventured out and discovered a hidden make believe world in the woods by the creek. Today my grandmother came over to paint pumpkins with the kids. After lunch they wanted me to come into their house out in the woods. It was really tough navigating through the vines and over the creek but I made it. They have a library, bedrooms, bathroom, prison, kitchen, elevator and a church. #2 sits on a vine swing in the church and prays “about things, but I can’t remember what they are”. #3 sits on a log see-saw and prays, “about a bunch of stuff”. Then #1 prays about “moving back to C-town when we get done living in this new house.” I really love seeing my kids explore the outdoors. I LOVED playing in the woods growing up and it just gives me warm fuzzies to see them enjoy it too.
Most of Saturday was a girls day. First thing that morning we pushed big brother on my dad (he worked with him at his church’s clothes closet and had a great time) and we headed north to a friend’s ballerina birthday party. Later that afternoon I took the girls to a pumpkin patch. They were super adorable picking out each family member a pumpkin. Next we came home and planted pansies in their old rain boots. (I got this idea somewhere on line.) We put some of our chicken poop to use and mixed it in the soil for fertilizer. My heart was swelling watching them work as a team when planting the flowers. Then to warm up and get the dirt off they took an HOUR long bath washing each others hair and sharing tons of laughs. That night my parents brought our oldest back and we all cooked at our place. It was a great great day!
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