I Take It Back – Thar She Blows.

So last night the Hubs took the girls around the neighborhood to see all the amateur neighborhood pyrotechnics' at play.

Might I say the temp was a bit nippy. So I stayed home with the boys and we watched from the front porch.

The booms, and grand sha-bangs went on and on and on from late afternoon to midnight.   Around dinner time we had to chase our noise crazed dog down, actually a generous spirit brought her to our door.  Poor Itchy can’t stand the Fireworks and I forgot to bring her inside when the Crackers started to be lit off around the neighborhood in the late afternoon.

For dinner we loaded the kids with Watermelon, Corn-on-the-Cob, Chips, and Hot Dogs!  You know, real healthy patriotic food.  Hope loved it and was proudly displaying her gorged stomach right before walking around the neighborhood with Dad.

When they came home we sent the kiddo’s to bed but let Hope crawl in bed with us as we watched the Big City’s display on our little, itty-bitty TV screen. 

Then came the real show.  Prince Erik started yelling something incoherent dealing with my name and by the time I turned my head in his direction I caught the tail end of Hope empting her dinner all over him and our bed.  Oh (Sarcastic) Joy!  Have to say that I’m a bit glad he was the target and not myself.

Well, Prince Erik has told me I have to eat my words.  See a couple of weeks ago I had to mention that our 4–year–old was a better sickie than he was.

This much I can say, I didn’t hear it coming.  So she definitely is a quieter sick person than my husband.  And even though she had us up nearly every hour last night, you know, with losing more out of one end or the other – she always made it to the bathroom after the first initial explosion. 

So I say it’s a draw.  That and her up-chuck doesn’t smell nearly as bad as Prince Erik’s, nor does she complain as much.  So I’m not going to eat my words just yet.  But it did make for a very sleepy day today.  Thankfully I got a nap.

A Different Kind of Fourth

When I first heard that the Fourth of July was on Sunday this year, I have to admit, at first I was a bit down.  Our family loves the parades, fireworks, picnics and everything associated with this holiday.  However, it being a Sunday and the only local parade being around the same time as our Sunday services we had a choice to make.  Which to go to?  It wasn’t a hard choice at all. 

We went to Church and I’ve been in gratitude all day for the blessing of living in such a great country.  A place Founded by Men of Faith, upon principles of honor and integrity. 

The Prayer at Valley Forge

The artist responsible for this painting of George Washington at Valley Forge passed away this last week.  Arnold Friberg was a National Treasure.  His talent will be missed.

Yes, we’re still having Watermelon, corn-on-the-cob and many other yummy treats.  And I’m sure we’ll watch fireworks from our back deck this evening.  But I’m grateful for the chance to have a more simple, peaceful, and prayerful 4th of July.  So grateful to my Heavenly Father for the Freedom’s I’m granted by living here.

Thank Goodness That’s Over

I ever so happily put the Valentine Decorations away today.  It’s never been a favorite holiday of mine.  Any other day of the year,  I’d love to receive flowers from my man.  But something about the 14th of February just takes the romance out of it.  That and my husband knows that chocolate is a banned substance for me as it brings on my tremors.  So the guy can’t win when his wife says no to flowers that die or chocolates that make her rock and roll.  Prince Erik tries but I just don’t dig it.  Last year my dear gave me 14 days of Valentines leading up to the big day.  It was one of his brighter moments, and he did a great job.  This year he teased that because he did 14 days of Valentines last year he’s covered for the next 13 years.

So you must imagine my overwhelming joy when I got this sweet child’s Valentine on Sunday.

And he threw in a  work retreat art project that his team got to do.  They went to a warehouse and blew glass.  So I got a paperweight from my big guy.  And no I’m not taking wagers on how soon it will get broken. 

 

He told me that he thought of me the entire time he was making it, and that his turned out the best of all his co-workers, as theirs looked like lumps of poop.  I didn’t dare mention that the coloring of the inside of my magical little paperweight bore a striking resemblance to the innards of chickens I helped my dad gut when I was a farm girl.   I did like all the little bubbles and wisps of blue (my favorite color).  Almost magical. 

And in the off chance that Prince Erik does read this post.  I Love it dear.  Memories of  the present and past all in one peculiar little glass ball. 

See I can’t complain all I got him was a card.  Our budget was that good. 

Honestly we’re saving our pennies because in a couple of months we are going to try to remember to celebrate a couple of decades of wedded togetherness.

So back to packing up Valentines.  I did it first thing this afternoon and pulled out decorations for one of my favorite holidays.

I can’t wait for St. Patrick’s Day. 

It’s magical around our house.  Lots of Irish stories, crafts and food.

And a visit from the Wee Leprechauns themselves.

I have a feeling it’s going to be a great month.  I’m still begging for a new computer.  Turns out, my laptop was mostly dead, which means it wasn’t all dead.  The monitor is beyond resuscitation, but the darn noisy core still works if you hook it up to an external monitor.  Since I’m computer challenged I couldn’t figure out how to do it.  So Prince Erik graciously hooked it up for me this evening.  So I guess I’m still plugging away on a half dead beast.  I know, I know, yes I am grateful that part of it works.

Well, I’m off to see where if I can find where Hope put my new paperweight – She thinks it’s fairy treasure.

Mid-summer Ups and Downs

It has been an emotional roller-coaster day. From a funeral for an amazing young man this morning to a celebration of imagination this evening with my girls.

My feelings are very tender right now but, I wasn’t going to cancel our celebration because I need to seize the happy moments and create and cling to them so my kids know how much I love them.

Please, Please, Please keep Sadie and her family in your prayers. It’s almost time.

I’m finally feeling like my old self – minus the extra energy. But I’m sure it’s not that far off.

So down to the happy news. The day the girls and I were waiting for finally arrived. And we finally had our Fairy Day Party!

First thing this morning, with Prince Erik’s help, I downloaded a bunch of favorite fairy songs from I-tunes and made the our very own Fairy playlist including favorites from the New Tinker Bell movie, the various Peter pan movies, Enya and much more. So throughout the day our ears feasted on fairy music. And when my feet were not dancing, my heart was.

This evening we donned our wings, fairy face paint and took our party outdoors – music and all. Hope the neighbors didn’t mind.

We read fairy books…

Danced to our heart’s content…

Built fairy houses in the garden…

Searched the grass for fairies.

And drank some Raspberry-Lemonade Fairy Berry Punch. The setting was a bit cold and windy at first but then it settled down into a beautiful evening.

Where not even the red-neck pitchfork light pole could distract from the atmosphere.

Such an enchanting evening.

Full of magical fairy lights, music, giggling children and lots of smiles.

I am so making the a yearly tradition.

The wee ones are tuckered out and will soon be tucked in bed. I think however I’ll leave the light’s on tonight and spy through the window to see if the fairies come to enjoy them.

A New Holiday

I can't wait to celebrate this with my family. The pixie dust if freely flowing in our home right now. Who want's to join us?

May Day Fun

‘…sometimes on a sunny day it began even to be pleasant and genial, and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which freshening daily, suggested that Hope traversed them at night and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.’

from Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’

I love May Day. Gardening, Spring Flowers, going outside after a long wet winter. This is only the second year our family has really celebrated May Day, but I can only see the tradition getting stronger.

This year we did everything we did last year. From the flower crowns, to taking around May baskets to our neighbors.

You know to thank them for putting up with us, the screaming kids, and our messy yard for yet another year.

Who cares if they were delivered barefoot. It was a gorgeous day.

I really wanted a May Pole but I wasn’t willing to cut a live tree down. I’m still waiting for one to fall naturally that I can save and decorate. Next year – maybe.

This year I added a bit of whimsy that I found in this fun book.

The writer talks about knowing two old ladies that collected the first morning dew of may and used it to keep their skin flawless.

Yeah, I know it’s a bit Looney, but I’ve found the best way to encourage my darlings to do something drab and boring, like washing with soap, is to add a bit of the fantastical to the chore.

So bright and early this morning I set out to collect some May dew.

Just got a tiny bit.

Found my sweeties some bud vases at Target, bought some cork tops at the local craft store. I let the girls decorate the tops with glue, gems and flowers. Each vase held a couple of drops of May dew to which I added some body wash.

What better way to get them to wash often than to add some whimsical magic to their routine.

I Love Spring! and cherry blossoms, and flowery scents.

I have to admit it’s finally here. I even got some peas finally planted in my garden. I know I’m a couple of weeks late but considering spring was a few months late I’m hoping I’ll be o.k.

My Husband - The Closet Blogger

So I got a big surprise this morning when this strange blog person left a message on my last post saying that he loved me. A bit mystified, I thought I'd better check out the guys blog before I told my husband about my secret admirer. I also worried that maybe I need to be a bit more truthful in my blogs about all the things I don't do well, as to not confuse strange guys into thinking that I'm the perfect catch. Great now some weirdo thinks he loves me.

Turns out the secret admirer was my husband. Whew! He's been blogging in secret for the past 14 days, getting ideas from many creative and marvelous ladies along the way. All leading up to today.

I was totally surprised. And I can honestly say that this has been my best Valentine's Day EVER!!! All because of the last 13 days leading up to it.

Traditionally Valentines Day has kind of stunk big time for me. All because, back in college, my best friend popped the big question to some other girl. I lucked out and she said no and long story short my best friend finally saw the light and ended up marrying me. But because of that I hated Valentines Day for years. Every year growing more disgusted with the heart shaped box of chocolates and roses. They just seemed like afterthoughts and obligatory gifts and not something truly from the heart of the admirer. My Prince of a Husband tried every year to play the dutiful husband on this day. Some years meeting with more success than others - but I couldn't help myself. I was the Grinch who stole Valentines Day.

Then this year happened and every day he gave me really meaningful little gifts. My favorite was the Nothing day when I had to do absolutely Nothing one morning and he got all the kids up, helped them dress in matching clothes (which is pretty amazing if you know his sense of style), fed them, and sent them off to school.

Some of my other favorite days were where he gave me babysitting coupons during the day, preferably around his lunch hour and with advance notice, where he would watch Miss Hope for me so I could go shopping or see my Young and Gorgeous Counselor. How cool is that. Oh, and the day he decided to do yard clean-up work. Now that was a shocker. Because he's been out in the yard maybe twice in last year. The boy was really trying hard.

My least favorite day was the day when he gave me a game to play with the kids. A game that since then, we've played nearly every day and I quite enjoy it. However my irrational mind was a bit affronted when he handed me a 'Pass the Pig' game. 'Pass the Pig', I thought, ' Was he trying to say I was a pig?' All irrational, silly thoughts on my part because I know he would never try anything ever like that.

So the build up to Valentines day this year has made me feel pampered, loved, needed, appreciated, etc. How lucky am I to have such an awesome guy???

Many thanks to everyone who gave him suggestions, ideas, and encouragement. You all totally rock!

My gift to him was very simple. I secretly took all the kids out and tried to take some decent pictures of each of them. Something that he could take to his office and see everyday. My thanks to him for the six most wonderful Valentines he's ever given me.

Abner,

T-Rev,

Evo-man,

Lea,

Princess and,

Hope!

It hasn't always been easy. The pictures are the proof. Life is normally like this with these kids.

'Fine, I'll look happy for you mom, but...'

'I really hate it when you take my picture. Talk about torture.

Maybe if I pose like Spiderman, she'll leave me alone.'

'Your crazy, you know. This is not a dignified pose for a teenage boy.'

'Which way am I supposed to look?'

'No, I will not hold still. Model's constantly move around in photo shoots.'

'Cheese!'

I can't tell you what a satisfied smirk I had on my face as I walked through the local store today and saw all the other guys milling around the card and flower sections. Patting myself on the back for getting such a great guy. My grin faded away when I realized that I was there waiting for my valentine pictures to print (my gift to him), because I was a last minute kind-of gal this year.

My prince has told me not to expect this kind of wonderful treatment every year. I nearly wore him out. That's O.k., cause I know in his heart he loves me no matter what. That and I think that next year it's my turn to try pulling off the 14 days of Valentine for him.

Love you Prince Erik!