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Saturday, September 29, 2012

I Smiled Today When...

...I happened to glance out the window this morning and saw our next-door neighbors, who happen to be Old Order (horse & buggy) Mennonite, leaving their house to go to Granddaddy Shank's for the draining of the shrimp pond and harvesting of the shrimp that was happening today.  A tractor with a wagon attached to the back pulled into their driveway, and they all strolled across the lawn to it and climbed up into the wagon. I'm not sure how many others were in the wagon, too; but I could see quite a row of bonnets in it.  I guess that's the Old Order equivalent to a stretch limo.  ;)

I also smiled today when...

...Tobin wanted to hold Moriah after I fed her some rice cereal this morning.  I sat with him on the couch while he happily held his baby sister. We started talking about what he wants to be when he grows up, and I discovered that he wants to work at the barbershop and "do all the things that Dad does." He'd like to have 12 children; and when I asked what he'd like to name a son, he shrugged and said, "Maybe Jack." Then I asked, "What would you name a daughter?" He paused...smiled...then said, "Sweetie." ;)

I smiled at lunch when...

...all the boys were being so goofy and silly and laughing so much together; and then I heard Tobin ask, "David, would you like to have a house on your head when you grow up to be a dad?"  What???  :)

I smiled again when...

...we had our neighbors (yes, the Old Order ones) over for supper tonight, and part of the way through the meal, David--who, for the first time, did the vacuuming in preparation for guests coming over--must have looked down at the floor and noticed how dirty it already was because he said, "I just vacuumed this floor, and look at it now!"  I thought to myself, "Aha!  You're starting to understand."  ;)

I smiled a little later when...

...my neighbor Wilma was holding Moriah on her lap; and, although Moriah wasn't fussing, she did look a little startled when she looked at Wilma.  However, whenever she looked at her Grandma Fisher who was sitting next to Wilma, Moriah got a big, beautiful smile on her face and started cooing.  I think Moriah has her grandma wrapped around her little finger; they certainly have bonded during this visit.  ;)

I couldn't help but smile also when...

..."Aunt Carolyn," (who isn't related to us at all, but who is the aunt of our neighbor so we call her Aunt Carolyn, too) brought a little gift for Moriah this evening.  I held Moriah on my lap, and we opened the package "together," since five-month-olds can actually help to tear wrapping paper (and then they try to eat it, of course!).  When we got it open, was I ever surprised to find a baby plate and silverware set, decorated with DISNEY PRINCESSES!  How funny that an Old Order Mennonite, who has never owned a TV or computer or gone to the movies or anything like that, should be the one to give Moriah her first Disney princess merchandise!!!  :)



Friday, September 28, 2012

A Few from Day Two

Whew!  

I am not finding the time I had hoped for to sit down and get the vacation posts written like I'd intended to.  I'm not stressed about it or feeling pressured (much) to get my memories down on paper (uh...on computer keys?), but I did think I'd be further along by now.  Oh, well...  There's always tomorrow (which is looking mighty full, so I'm not sure it will happen tomorrow either...but maybe I'll find extra room in the schedule somewhere?...ha!...a girl can always dream.)  :)

For now, I'll only take time to post a few pictures of Moriah on her playmat that I took along with us to the Outer Banks.
 When traveling with a baby, one often ponders just how much of the baby's paraphernalia must be taken along, too!
I tried to pack light for all of us--Moriah included.  But I did think it would be helpful to have this playmat.
And so it was.  :)

Thursday, September 27, 2012

OBX 2012: Day 1

Sunday, September 16.

The day I'd been waiting for.

Ever since we chose the date for this vacation and I marked it on the calendar, I'd been eagerly longing for this day to come:  the day we were finally returning to the Outer Banks after five years away.

The days and weeks leading up to our departure were filled with the usual pre-trip tasks; but along with the increased workload came increased excitement, and even the drudgery of packing (and the inevitable thoughts of "I can't believe we need THIS MUCH STUFF!") were made enjoyable because of the purpose of the work.

When Sunday dawned, we did the final preparations and packed the final items; but because we knew we couldn't pick up the key to our rented cottage until evening, our departure was rather leisurely.  It was nice to not have the stress of getting on the road early.  With five young children--and five other, albeit older, people--going on the trip, it just takes time to get everybody and everything ready and loaded; and not having to rush a lot in that process was refreshing.

Once we were all in the van and on the way, I could get past the thoughts of "have I packed everything we need? did I forget anything?" and settle into the anticipation of the delights that awaited us.  Well, and deal with the L-O-N-G car ride that lay ahead; but even that was fun because we were together, we were headed to the beach, and I had brought along lots of fun stuff to make even the hours in the van a pleasant experience.

But before we got into that stuff too much, I had to pull out the camera and start taking pictures.   It might be silly to begin a trip by taking pictures of everyone in the vehicle, but I did it anyway (and it wasn't the first time either).  ;)

Jeff was the driver, like always...
...and my dad sat in the co-pilot's seat.  Jeff's mom was in the first bench seat...
...along with Shav.
When he needed help, kind Grandma Fisher was there to assist him.
Behind Shav was Tobin; and in these pictures he's looking at one of the little surprises I brought along to pass out to the boys from time to time to prevent boredom.
This one was an alphabet book from the dollar store.
Beside Tobin was Moriah.  She slept part of the way, of course...
...and I enjoyed the time to simply watch her.  I noticed things...
...like how, even in her sleep, she still held onto a rattle dangling from the handle of her carseat.
When she was awake, I got to look into her beautiful dark eyes.  What a joy that is!
In the back seat of the van sat David and Josiah...
...and my mom (who has a wonderful smile, don't you think?)  :)
I was in front of my mom...
...and beside Moriah.  I wanted to be able to reach forwards and backwards and sideways to all of my children so that I could be accessible to each of them, and that's why I put myself in the middle seat and made my dear mother climb all the way into the back!  Besides that, I wanted my voice to easily reach all of them because I wanted to be able to do one of my all-time favorite let's-make-the-time-pass-more-quickly activities: reading aloud to the family.  :)

Because we knew the trip would be so long, we planned to take a break for food, of course; but rather than eating in a nice sit-down restaurant, we were hoping for a fast food restaurant that had a playground.  The plan was for the boys to spend our time there playing while the adults were eating; and then, right before we left, we would get the kids' food and let them eat it in the car (to help pass even more time).  When we spotted a Burger King with a playground in Richmond, we were glad to see it, and gratefully traipsed inside.  The boys headed to the playground, and the adults ordered food.

And then waited.

And waited.

And waited some more for the food to be ready.

Apparently several employees had not come to work that day because they were woefully under-staffed and were anything but fast food.  After Jeff had placed our order, he stood by the counter waiting for it, right in the middle of the crowd that continued to gather--all waiting for food which didn't come and didn't come.  It got so bad that when one of the employees called out the name of a waiting customer whose food was ready and there was no response, one of the other waiting customers muttered something like, "They're not here because they already died."  That's how long the wait was.

It was unequivocally the worst Burger King experience we've ever had; and even though we were inconvenienced by it, the people we really felt sorry for were the poor employees who were struggling to deal with such an unpleasant situation. Maybe they were wishing that they had stayed home from work that day, too!  ;)

Needless to say, we did not go through the agony of ordering the kids' meals there and waiting interminably for them.  Instead, we loaded back up in the van and headed down the road in search of another fast food restaurant so we could go through the drive-through for some food for the boys.

One good thing came out of this whole experience, however: some of us had ordered smoothies, and we loved them.  The raspberry smoothie at Burger King is the best fast-food smoothie I've ever had. And it's especially nice when you don't have to wait 30 minutes for one.   :)

After that, the trip continued rather uneventfully, with stops here and there for gas, bathrooms, stretching-of-the-legs, nursing Moriah, etc.  Josiah and David did a lot of reading, I read aloud to the family, we munched on snacks, we played the alphabet game, and, like I mentioned before, every once in a while, I brought out a new little surprise to give to the boys: a $1 dry erase activity board from Target for each of them, for example, or a Magic Ink book to color in.  It didn't take much money or effort to gather some little surprises, and it was well worth it.  I'll definitely do that again, the next time we have a long car ride somewhere!

I don't even have to say how wonderful it was to be back on the Outer Banks again.  It was...well...WONDERFUL!

When we crossed the bridge over Oregon Inlet, I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures.  Just the sight of the water was enough to make me giddy.  :)


Unlike all the previous times I've ever gone to the Outer Banks, we stayed in Salvo this year.  Because my parents had friends who owned a beach house in Buxton, that town was always the place for us; but with 10 of us going this year, we had clearly outgrown the house that used to comfortably fit us.  The only downside to staying in Salvo is that I really missed seeing the light of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse at night.  It used to be that we could lay in bed at night and see the rhythmic light flash past, but certainly not from Salvo!  I truly missed that.  Other than that, Salvo was great.  :)

Finally, the journey was over, and we gratefully climbed out of the van to stretch our legs, explore the beach cottage we had only seen online, and start to get settled in.  Jeff almost single-handedly unpacked all of the things from the van and brought them up the steps to the house (nearly all of the houses there are built up on stilts, so you always have to go up steps to get into the house).  After he was done, we had just enough light left in the sky for a quick walk down to the beach (all of us went except my parents)...

...which took longer than we thought because the ocean was further away than we thought!  At Buxton, we had stayed in the second row of houses from the beach; and a short walk over a small dune brought us to the water's edge (which is nice for the vacationers, but not so nice for the homeowners who face the threat of their homes literally being wiped away by a big storm; I'm sure the Buxton beach-side homeowners wish for a wider beach!).  Our place in Salvo was also in the second row of houses, but the walk was much longer...along a narrow path through sea oats and other grasses...over one small dune and then a higher one...then finally across a fairly wide beach to the ocean.  As we raced the fading light that first night and ended up walking home practically in the dark, the walk felt very far.  Throughout the week, we became accustomed to it, and it wasn't a problem.  :)

The other thing that stood out to me that first night was the wildness of the ocean.  When you're standing on a beach, staring out at the water, with maybe a few people to right and left of you, seagulls soaring above, a strip of sand beneath your feet, and the IMMENSE ocean in front of you, it is an awesome thing.  At least, it was for me that night.  In the dusk, I felt very small, and the water felt very big.  Big, and wild.

When we returned from our stroll, it was soon time to get little ones in bed; and big ones followed soon thereafter!  All except me...

I stayed up to do something I really thought I might never do:  I read The Hunger Games.  :)

I could write a whole other post about that because it was definitely a thought-provoking book, but for tonight, my provoked thoughts will have to stay inside my head.  :)

Day 2 of our vacation coming later...

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012

A Whiff of Salt Air

Tonight I'm...

...looking through the roughly 500 pictures I took last week at the beach.

...remembering the fun we had.

...smiling a lot.

...sharing only a half-dozen photos.  For now.

Can you, like me, smell the salt air when you look at these?  ;)







Sunday, September 23, 2012

Where We've Been

It just so happens that we've been away...
 ...gone all this past week to my very favorite vacation spot in the whole world.
 The Outer Banks of North Carolina!
There is much to do as we unpack and settle in from our trip; but I have high hopes that in days to come, I'll find the time to spill my thoughts--and pictures, of course--about our time away.

For now, I need to unpack another bag, do a little more work, put a few more things away.

But while I'm doing that, memories of our vacation will dance merrily through my head.  The joy lingers...  :)

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Clearing the Camera

I tried to use our old camera recently--it's the one that can take short video clips besides regular photos, so I keep it around mostly for that purpose--but the disk was full.  Time to clear it out.  In the process, I discovered some videos I never posted, so...

...better late than never!  The posts on my blog that have these little home videos are probably my boys' favorite posts, and I really should do them more often.  I'll try to remember that.  :)

One night, while Jeff and Josiah were playing a game of chess, Tobin and David were running towards Moriah and making her laugh...  

Tobin and Shav were racing around the living room and kitchen; and Moriah, seated at floor-level in her Bumbo, watched them go by.  I loved how her eyes followed them.  :)  One note of explanation: at the beginning when Tobin is getting ready to start the race, he doesn't just say, "Ready, set, go!"  Instead, he adds a bunch of other words before he finally gets to "go."  He does that because sometimes, when Jeff and I in charge of starting a race--usually between Josiah and David--we try to be tricky and make them think it's time to start when it's really not.  For example, we might say, "Ready...set...GOLDFISH!"  They start sprinting, and then a split second later they realize that we never said "go" and they have to come back and start all over again.  It doesn't sound very funny when I write it out like this; but trust me, they think it's great. :)  Tobin has seen us do that, so he was trying to imitate that; but rather than choosing a word that sounds like the beginning of the word "go," he was tossing out completely random words that popped into his head but which had nothing to do with "go."  Shav didn't seem to mind.  :)

Moriah's hair lays down more often these days and looks less like a fauxhawk than it once did.  On this particular day however, it was standing up enough to catch the breeze as she was swinging.  :)

A behind-the-scenes look at how we got ready for Moriah's four-month photo shoot.  Video by David.  :)

Another one by him.  He and Tobin were being so distracting that I couldn't get Moriah to look where I wanted her to.  Oh, well, I'm just glad they love their little sister so much.  :)

Ever since Shav learned his latest memory verse, he is liable to start saying it at any time...particularly if someone begins to argue or says something about a "foolish and stupid argument."  Who needs a conscience when Shav is around?  ;)

David wanted a turn to say that memory verse, too.  :)

Shav's version of jumping jacks...  :)

One afternoon during quiet time, I discovered Tobin sitting in a chair he had pulled into the living room from the kitchen.  He was just watching Moriah.  So, so sweet.  :)

Fun with tricycles and roller shoes.  David loves to wear those shoes...
...and then hitch a ride with whoever is pedaling by.  :)


Watching these short little clips reminds me again of a simple truth:

I am blessed!!!


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Just Ducky

Moriah has a sleeper...
 ...that has duck prints on the feet...
 ...and two ducklings on the front.
 When I tried to smooth out her sleeper so the ducks were visible in these pictures, this cutie pie grabbed my finger and started to eat it.  ;)
 Someone thought that was hilarious.  ;)
Sweetest little duck.  :)

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday {No Ribbon, But...}

Entered this in the fair.  Didn't win a ribbon, but...
...I still like it.  :)

Monday, September 17, 2012

The Egyptians Weren't the Only Ones...

...who built pyramids.  As a matter of fact, I happen to have some pyramid builders who live in my house, too.  :)
 Every once in a while, Jeff gets out a hunk of clay and lets the boys use it to create whatever they want.
 He helps them, of course, but also gives them a lot of freedom in what they make.
 And so, sometimes they make...
 ...pyramids.
Just like the Egyptians.  ;)

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Making Time for Games

I love playing games.  

But I realized recently that, despite the abundance of choices in our game closet...
...I very rarely play games with my sons.  Well, that's not right.  Clearly something needed to change.  ;)

As I thought through my schedule--both daily and weekly--I was searching for a spot...a chunk of time in which to incorporate games as a regular part of my routine.  Because you know, if I don't carve out that time and plan it, it's not going to happen.

"What about Sunday afternoons?" I thought to myself.  "After naps and quiet time, wouldn't it be nice to take some time to play a game or two with the boys?"  

"Yes," I answered myself.  "It would."  ;)

So that's what we did.
And it was fun.

And I'm looking forward to continuing the tradition and building happy game-playing memories with my sons.

And Sorry takes longer to play than I thought.

And that's all.

The End  ;)

Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Answer Is "Of Course"

Whenever my boys do or make something that they feel is particularly noteworthy...
 ...they are quick to ask the familiar question:
 "Mom, will you take a picture of this?"
The answer is almost always...
 ..."Of course!  I'd love to take a picture of that!  Just wait a sec while I get the camera."
And then another question comes: 

"Mom, will you put this on your blog?"  ;)