Playing Hooky

My heart has been heavy recently.  We're approaching, at ever-increasing speeds, the next phase of care for my mother because her Alzheimer's Disease is getting much worse.  There is information to be gathered and decisions to be made and tears to be shed.  Weighty stuff.

Today I sort of wanted to run away from those thoughts and from other responsibilities, so this morning I called Dad and told him I was going to take a load of things to recycling and then was going to a farmer's market and could Mom please come along?  Of course she could.

The thing is, I was trying to give my dad a break from the 24-7 care he has been providing for my mom; but in the meantime, I got blessed by a joyous, peaceful, memory-making morning with my mom.

As we rode along through the countryside, she commented on the airplane trails we could see in the sky.  Josiah and David played the cow game--the one where you count the number of cows on your side of the car, and whoever has the most at the end of your ride wins; but if you see a graveyard on your side, you have to bury all your cows and start at zero.  :)  We saw an Old Order Mennonite lady hanging laundry out on her clothesline and remarked that her hands must have been cold.  I pointed out houses that I admired, all of which had lovely front porches.  Mom saw horses and exclaimed over them.  She told me--again--how grateful she is to have grown up on a farm, and also how much she loves this area, and also how she's so happy to live in the country and wouldn't want to live in the city--all of which are things I've heard many times, but I didn't mind hearing them all again today.  :)  Moriah rode along quietly and tore a paper napkin to shreds; I don't even know how she got it!  Tobin from his seat in the back of the van sang robustly, "I have a dream!  I have a dream!  I have a dream!"  Shav, who is at the stage of being very impressed by people who can count really high, practiced his counting.  The day was sunny, and so was my heart.

When we got to the farmer's market, the boys climbed into a little carriage behind a horse statue and shook the reins to practice their driving.  :)  We meandered up and down the market, peeking in shops here and there.  I drooled over the lovely (and reasonably-priced!) quilts.  Tobin told me that when he grows up, he wants me to drive him to that market again so he can buy one of the saddles there (since he's going to be a cowboy).  ;-)  In the toy store, we found the neatest carved wooden marble track I've ever seen.  We didn't buy it because it cost about $250.  ;-)  We looked at colorful aprons and wooden treasure chests and little signs with funny sayings on them.  We watched the water wheel turn around, and the boys each threw a coin into the water.  Well, Josiah and David each threw their coins into the middle of the wheel, and we watched them bounce around for a while before they fell out and sunk into the water.  We bought taco seasoning and raspberry jello and apple chips and dried peaches.  We sampled several dips and chose one to bring home and eat with chips for lunch.  The boys asked for bags of candies and other goodies, so I let them talk together and decide which one to choose from the half-off rack; they chose red and green gummy Christmas trees.  :)  We noticed Robert E. Lee's picture hanging on the wall; and as we left, we bought a big bag of kettle corn from the stand outside.

We counted more cows as we drove home, and I played a trick on the boys by turning down a road we didn't need to go on, just because I knew it had a graveyard (my paternal grandparents are buried there) and they would have to bury their cows.  Josiah was jubilant when he saw the graveyard, since it was on David's side and Josiah knew he would gain quite an advantage; but then I pulled past the graveyard, turned around, and came back on the same road.  With the graveyard now on his side, Josiah had to bury his cows, too.  ;-)  We took the back way home, wended our way around Mole Hill, waved to people on tractors, and came up our neighbor Douglas's long lane.  It was a beautiful morning.  A gift.

We didn't do any official homeschooling all morning--and in fact, all day!  The rest of the day was filled with other activities, so we took a true day off from school.  I believe that was exactly what we needed to do today.

Knowing that the time is limited that my mother will still be living here at home, I feel like I'm grabbing on with both hands and seizing these days, trying to make the most of the time we have left before we move on to the next stage.  I'm so glad Mother came along with us today...

...and so glad she had lunch with us yesterday and spent part of the afternoon with us.  Besides eating lunch, she dried some dishes for me, watched an episode of The Andy Griffith Show with the boys, fed yogurt to Moriah, and looked at a photo album from 2007 with Tobin and Shav.

Treasured moments.

As I was thinking about writing this post, I remembered that back in the middle of December, I had begun a post about an afternoon that Mother spent with us up here at our house; but I had never finished it.  Why not finish it now?  :)

On that afternoon, Mother read one of Shav's favorite books, We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, to him.

She washed some dishes for me as the bright afternoon sunlight slanted in the window.

Moriah kept us company in the kitchen.  ;-)

Grandma watched a movie with the boys.

Simple things.  Normal things.

Passing things.  :(

While she's still here, I will strive even more to notice and appreciate and enjoy these things.  And who knows?  We just might play hooky again someday, so we can make more memories together.  :)

We Finally Found Something to Fight About :)

On our way home from a date a couple of weeks ago, we stopped to get gas; and when Jeff returned to the car from paying, he had a coffee cup in his hand.

"Want some?" he asked, as he handed me the cup.  "It's salted caramel something or other."

Hmmm...  That didn't even SOUND good to me.  I prefer to keep my salt where it belongs: on baked potatoes, in bean soup, on our icy sidewalk, etc.  ;-)

Eventually Jeff prevailed on me to take a sip.  Wow!  Was I ever in for a surprise!  It was fantastic!!  

Ever since then, we have found good excuses reasons to stop by that 7-11 on our way out of town, heading home--like yesterday when we were finishing up a violin lesson/library/errand run as a family.  "Want some coffee?" Jeff asked as we pulled up to the gas pump.

"Well," I hesitated, thinking I didn't really NEED the caffeine and we didn't really NEED to spend a couple bucks on it, "I guess not."  But then, hurriedly... "Are you getting any?  Because if you are, I can't stand to not have some!"  ;-)

He returned to the van holding a cup of steaming deliciousness...and wearing a smile on his face.

We always get one cup of it--never two (extravagance, you know!).  ;-)  And then we fight over it.  

OK, you know me better than that.  I bet I didn't fool any of you!  ;-)

We share the cup, with Jeff drinking his portion first while it is still hot (if he wants to burn his tongue, I won't stop him; but I'm not interested in scalding my flesh, even for a taste of this goodness!).  :)  I hold the cup while he's driving, because it's a good way to warm up my hands.  :)  And then, when it cools a little, I start drinking it--tentatively at first, because with that first sip, you just never know if you're going to burn your tastebuds off or not.  We pass the cup back and forth; but at some point, Jeff says, "You can have the rest."

I usually say, "Are you sure?"

I usually think, "Hooray!  All for me!!"  ;-)

In this cold, cold winter of 2014, salted caramel mochas from 7-11 have been a welcome splash of warmth.  And the fun of sharing it with my best friend makes it even better.  ;-)

Wordless Wednesday {Tracks in the Snow}

 

 

In the Big Ol' Net, Vol. 2

Some nights, after the kids are in bed, I sit down at the computer, words bursting forth, ready to write and share what's on my heart.

Some nights, I sit down at the computer, my energy too low and my heart too full to bring forth any words.  Instead, I read what others have written and see what others have photographed.  Usually this encourages me.  ;-)\

Some nights, I don't even make it to the computer.  Often those nights involve a good book, a fire in the woodstove, and a comfy couch.  Put those three things together, and I'm a goner.  ;-)

On the nights that I surf the 'net but don't write anything, sometimes I find little gems--things I want to show my boys or come back to for my own benefit.

Things like these.  :)

********

********

On some wintry day that needs a little extra something in it, I want to make these with my boys.  :)

********

I think you might have to sign in (it's free!) to view this, but this gallery is stunning.  S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G.  Really, really amazing photos from around the world.  (And because I looked at these photos, I experienced a first: I actually think it would be fun to visit Iceland!  To say the least, it was never on my list of Places to See before now.)  :)

********

After they saw this, my boys pretty much decided we should live in a house like this.  :)

********

Who knew weather photos could be so incredibly amazingly fantastically phenomenal?  :)

********

If I had a million dollars, I would travel; and you can bet some of these places would be on my list!  :)

********

Changing the subject quite a bit, I was really grateful to read this article about the need for, and benefits of, play during childhood because--true confession time--sometimes I feel like I let my kids play too much.  Maybe they should be doing household chores more, I tell myself.  Maybe we should be tackling other areas of study.  Maybe they should be doing more than just playing for hours on end!  And then I read this article and I think, "OK, maybe we're doing just fine like we are.  Maybe I'll go ahead and let them keep playing."  :)

********

We always need more laughter, right?  :)



(By the way, the first In the Big Ol' Net post is here.)

Things that Happen in the Night

Like so many children do, my boys love to hear me tell stories about them--things which happened when they were young(er than they are now).  So tonight, while I waiting for Tobin to finish brushing his teeth and helping Shav get his pajamas on, I told them the following (true!) story.

Once upon a time, when Tobin was about a year and a half, he started crying a few hours after being put to bed for the night.  Since he was such a great sleeper and rarely did that, I knew something must be wrong; and when I checked him, I discovered that he was wet--really wet.  I picked him up and got ready to change his diaper and clothes; I took his pajamas off and started to take his diaper off, only...  There was no diaper!  I looked inside his pajamas, assuming it might have come off there--but no diaper.  I checked all areas of his crib, thinking Tobin might have somehow taken it off--but no diaper.  The simple fact was: there was no diaper!  If my memory is correct, this happened in the period of time when Shav was a newborn; and with two little ones in the house (as well as two bigger ones), sleep deprivation was a fact of life.  Apparently on this particular occasion, tired Jeff had gotten Tobin ready for bed, and he forgot one crucial step: the diaper.  :)  I don't think he--or I--ever made that mistake again!  :)

As you can imagine, Tobin and Shav thought that was hilarious--the idea of Daddy forgetting to put a diaper on Tobin!  After I read stories to them tonight, hugged and kissed them goodnight, and turned on a lullaby CD for them, I left their room, my mind spinning about other, shall we say, unique night occurrences.  Like...

Back in the late summer of this past year, one night I went into Tobin and Shav's room like I often do before I go to bed.  On that night, Jeff was already in bed, asleep (since it takes him approximately 1.72 seconds to fall asleep, and that's when he's having an attack of insomnia! seriously, the man is gifted at going to sleep!).  ;-)  One of their windows was slightly open; but since the air was on the cool side, I decided to close the window--the only problem being that that particular window sticks like crazy and is very difficult to close.  It made a terrible screeching sound as I managed to nudge it shut a little; and about that time, Tobin stirred in his sleep and called out--not an unheard thing for him to do.  The combination of those two noises, however, woke Jeff from his sleep; and he was instantly on the alert, thinking that an intruder had come into Tobin and Shav's room through the window.  He RUSHED into their room, full-speed; and I, hearing him and knowing instantly what was going on, tried to alert him that it was just me!  It all happened so fast that there wasn't time for my voice to penetrate his consciousness.  As he raced into the room, he saw me and tried to stop, but he was literally going so fast that the only way he could stop his body before he tackled me was to apply his "brakes" and sit down HARD on the floor.  I felt SO bad that I had scared him in that way, but I have to admit to being really grateful that he had taken the painful fall instead of me.  True love is sacrificial, and he demonstrated it vividly that night.  :)

The other remembrance that came to my mind tonight didn't make me laugh like the first two; as a matter of fact, it made me wince.  I can't remember when exactly it happened--a couple of years ago by now, I think?  We had been gone on a trip; and when we returned, some of Jeff's toiletries got unpacked and put on his nightstand.  In the process of cleaning up one day, I put them away; and one particular item, I decided to put inside the nightstand.  It was an oil for cleaning teeth; since Jeff really and truly hates toothpaste (it makes him want to throw up, but he does use it sometimes anyway) ;-), this particular oil (including a strong peppermint oil, I think?) was a good way for him to clean his teeth.  I didn't think much about it when deciding where to put it; but since I knew he already had some toothpaste in the bathroom, I popped it into the nightstand and didn't give it another thought.

But then...(my insides are already aching as I write this)...one night he awoke, his eyes dry and scratchy.  I was awake, sitting in the rocking chair nearby, typing on the computer, so I saw all this happen...although I wasn't paying enough attention to realize exactly what was going on until...but wait, let me tell you what happened.  He groggily stretched his arm towards his nightstand, pulled open the drawer, reached inside, grabbed a small bottle, twisted off the lid, and put several drops in his eye.  And then...(oh, this makes me sick to write)...he felt pain like he'd never felt before.  Rather than the cool, soothing eye drops he was expecting, he had put that toothpaste oil in his eye!  You see, in my efforts to be helpful and clean up from our trip, I had unwittingly placed that little bottle in the corner of the nightstand where he usually keeps a bottle of eye drops.  I HAD NO IDEA.  I nearly wanted to gouge my own eyes out when I saw him writhing in pain.  There are really no words to describe how HORRIBLE I felt.  Really. No. Words.

Besides how absolutely remorseful I felt, what I also remember is how free from anger and bitterness Jeff was.  He forgave me immediately.  Even while his physical body was still suffering from extreme pain, his spirit had already released me from the burden of wrong-doing.  He realized it was simply an accident; and although he certainly wasn't laughing about the mix-up, he wasn't shooting fiery darts of "how could you's" at me.  I was ready to shoot some darts at myself, but he wasn't.

And that...

...is...

...LOVE!

A Fierce Battle on the Snowy Heights

Who would have guessed that yesterday in this peaceful corner of the world, on a day when temperatures were bitingly cold and the snow which fell a few days ago couldn't manage to shiver itself into melting a bit, a fierce battle raged?  It's true, it really did!  See for yourself!  :)

I'll let my favorite eight-year-old narrator fill you in on all the heart-pounding action.  :)

First, these guys are patrolling in waist-deep snow because a messenger said that there had been some strange noises on the mountain, so now they're patrolling the mountain. 

Then suddenly they see two black figures in the snow (black was the color of their enemies).

            

(Sorry about the faces in the back; it's just how they made them. I tried to cover the faces in the back up with snow, but it didn't work.)

                                                            Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now they're in battle! 

Who will win?

After many longgggggggggg hours through many hardships... 

the good guys win!!!!!!!!

And the bad guys lay dead.

The good guys reign over the kingdom again!

Here's a clue to who made this: his name starts with a D and he made the handprint. :)

For a behind the scenes look, check out the blog of the creator of this action sequence.  :)

I Don't Entirely Trust This Thermometer...

 ...which is to say that even though it showed 12 or 13 degrees below zero last night, from its perch right outside our kitchen window, I don't think it actually got quite that cold.

Regardless of its accuracy, that would explain why I cannot seem to get our house up to a satisfactory level of warmth, despite my filling the woodstove as full as I can get it all throughout the day and even late into the night, too.  It's just cold, and there's not much I can do about it but wear my warmest sweater and shiver when I walk into any room besides the living room.

It's just cold.

(Beautiful though.  Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE the snow?  How I feel like a winter that doesn't bring sizable accumulation is really a waste?  How I never get tired of seeing the beautiful white blanket covering the earth?...)

Repeating the Experiment {Colorful Ice Balls, Take Two}

I haven't been making much time this week to blog.  My excuse has been different every evening; tonight I'll mention that I didn't have much time for blogging because I was busy tackling a mountain.  A paperwork mountain, that is.  It was getting higher by the day and was threatening to topple over and attack me--if not my body, at least my mind.  Isn't it something how peace of mind can be so easily stripped away by nagging, undone tasks?

I didn't succeed in dismantling the mountain entirely, but I chopped it down to size and will (hopefully) make more time tomorrow to pound away at it, one piece of paper at a time.  But now, on to happier, more cheerful thoughts!

It's been cold here recently, like single-digit cold, occasionally even 0-degree cold.  A couple of days ago, God gave us a gorgeous snowfall, and now our ground is beautiful and white--my favorite color to see in the wintertime.  :)  This cold snap reminded me of something we did in the last cold snap, a couple of weeks ago by now, I guess.  The boys reminded me of our ice ball project that we first attempted last winter; and since they were so eager to do it again, I said, "Why not?"  We learned a few things from that original endeavor--first, to use a lot of food coloring if we wanted the colors to be dark, and second, to leave the water in the balloons for a very long time before cutting off the balloons because the water takes much longer to freeze than we first thought it would.  What I SHOULD have learned, but DIDN'T, was to use rubber gloves when doing this project.  I can't believe I FORGOT, but indeed I did, and my wildly colorful hands (even more vivid than the last time!) bore testimony to my mistake.  Tsk, tsk.

Stained hands aside, here are the results of our cold-weather-is-good-for-something project!  :)

After the balls had been laying out on the grass for a while, I went out to check on them again and noticed that, similar to last time, the color was beginning to drain from the top.

I had a little helper with me.  :)

We enjoyed looking out the front window occasionally at the ice balls to see how pale they were getting and how much they were shrinking.

And then they were gone.

But I wouldn't be surprised if, come another cold spell, we make them again.  After all, they're so easy, even Miss I-Am-Not-a-Crafter-AT-ALL (uh, that would be me) can do them!

I just have to remember the gloves...  :)

Wordless Wednesday {Beauty in the Bathtub}