With Summering Friends

My friend, Chelsea, was able to see a dream realized. She and her children are "summering" at the beach. And the best part for us? We were invited to summer with them! Well, for a few days at least. We are so grateful for their generosity in including us in their adventure. Chelsea's girls are pretty close in age to my three. So you can imagine what fun was had.

Linus and Lily enjoyed loving on one another.

Here are the oldest five watching tv the first morning we were there.

Amelie tried out Claire's training-wheeled bike and had loads more success than on her new, much bigger bike at home. She had so much success, that Daddy bought her another new (and smaller) bike while we were gone!

Four girls on the boardwalk. My favorite picture of our time there, I think. There's nothing like a bunch of little girls holding hands!

Linus enjoyed some white chocolate-covered pretzels. Gotta love the Candy Kitchen.

Amelie and Addie had fun with one another.

Claire and Violet did too.

What a sweet, sweet time.

Many thanks to our summering friends!

Contrasts

For months after Linus was born, people asked me if it was different to have a little boy after having had two girls. And I could honestly say that it wasn't! All three of my babies were different from one another in various aspects and they were all similar to one another in certain ways, as well. Since Linus was a relatively late walker (nearly 16 months), the differences didn't start to stand out until the last six months or so.

He is nutso!

Into everything.
All over the place.
Rarely still.
Craziness!

At this point, I can honestly say that I see a definite difference between my beautiful ballerinas-- here pictured on the way to their very first ballet class:

and my messy muddy mischievous monkey--pictured here exactly three minutes after we got home from church.

I need to buy some stock in OxiClean and Zout, I guess. I should suggest that you do the same. I'm thinking it'll pay off.

3,2,1

three peas in a pod
stair steps
a handful
three-ring circus
a lot of work

No matter what you call 'em, I'm so thankful they're mine.

Fishing on Father's Day

The worms?
They grossed her out.

But seeing her sit next to her Daddy fishing on Findley Lake couldn't have been cuter.

What was that? Did she catch anything, you asked?

What a silly question.

Of course she did!

But...surprise, surprise...take a close look at her face...

It grossed her out!

Favorite

Nine years ago today on June 17, 2000, at 9:30 in the morning (yes, 9:30 in the morning) Duncan and I met at the church where I grew up and were married. It was a hot, sticky morning complete with a lot of sunshine. The inevitable June afternoon thunderstorm held off until we were all safely in the reception hall, fortunately.

It was a beautiful day. A beautiful wedding. And more importantly, it's been a beautiful marriage. A beautiful life together.

Shortly after I met Duncan on June 8, 1995, I knew that if he wasn't the man I married, that he'd be just like him. I pined away for him (truth be told) until the Fall of 1997 when we started dating. I struggled through nearly two years of dating a very indecisive man. He broke up with me in mid-June 1999 and proposed just 13 days later. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. We're living proof! We were married just under a year after that proposal and the rest is a wonderful history.

It's been a wild and crazy ride and I'm thankful for (nearly) every minute of it.

And for your viewing pleasure, I've scanned my very favorite picture of my Favorite and I from that marvelous day. I love our wedding photos but this is the only one that's ever been on prominent display. It's also the one that went into the newspaper. I just love it. It shows how truly happy we are! But I love that man in it exponentially more!

Happy 9th Anniversary, My Favorite! Here's to 99 more!

Love,

Many Hands Make Light Work

Really?
Whoever said that wasn't dealing with the five and under set!
However, is including the kids in the housework really worth it? Absolutely! This particular post involves including the kids in kitchen work. And I don't mean those special kid-centered cooking projects, although there's nothing wrong with those. We do plenty of those as well. But I'm talking about including kids in daily food preparation. While there are things that aren't safe for my kids yet (using sharp knives, handling raw meat, using the oven, etc.) there are PLENTY of things they CAN do! Once Linus caught the cooking bug, we've been off and running!

So examples of jobs appropriate for pre-schoolers:
1. stirring
2. kneading
3. whisking
4. greasing the pan
5. cracking eggs (Amelie learned at 4)
6. pouring ingredients out of measuring cups and spoons
7. counting the number of above
8. stirring a pot on the stove (Amelie started at 5)
9. arranging chopped fruits and veggies in a dish

Here's is a non-exhaustive list of suggestions regarding this matter:
1. Don't include kids if you care how a particular dish looks, if you're in a big hurry, or if you don't have time for clean-up after the food is prepared. It will not look like how you would do it, it will take more time than if you did it yourself, and there will be a huge mess to clean up!
2. Lower your expectations of the amount that "stays in the bowl." There will be spillage! I continually, albeit gently, remind everyone to stir gently. However, spillage happens! If the counter was clean to begin with, just scoop it up and put it back in!
3. If you have more than one child, use a combination of "taking turns"(pouring in ingredients, using the rolling pin) and "all hands" (stirring, kneading). Everyone is excited to help and patience will NOT abound!
4. Begin a collection of smaller kitchen tools. We've acquired mini whisks, a mini rolling pin, and even some small baking pans. These double as toys for the play kitchen and are used with play-doh. But as long as they're clean, they can be used in actual cooking as well.


Here is the evidence of our kitchen adventures.

Making pizza:

And cornbread:

And baked oatmeal:
[photo removed: we'll just have to get another baked oatmeal picture sometime=)]

And the ultimate cooking experience: making bread with Daddy!

Linus LOVES to play with the flour! Remember what I said about the mess?

Let me finish by saying that I am by no means perfect in this area. We've had some excellent cooking experiences. However I've failed and lost my patience while cooking with kiddos more than I'd like to admit. We just keep plugging along and they keep getting better and better. I know that one day they'll all be genuinely helpful while cooking.

I've reminded myself of the words of encouragement that Duncan's boss gave him when he heard we were expecting Amelie:

They just want to be with you.

It is oh-so true. And it is why we try, even though not always successfully, to incorporate our children in as many aspects of our daily lives as possible. That being said, I'd better stop putting off the kids and go and be with them already!

Ocean City Vacay: Day 3

So, I know my day three riddle is lame. What I was trying to get at was that we went to the beach at the boardwalk on the third day! They have some jungle gyms in the shape of castles and pirate ships and the kids were dying to play on them each time we went to the boardwalk. They were always really crowded, so Duncan's idea was to bring all of our digging stuff to the boardwalk early in the morning (these photos were taken starting at 9:27am) and hang out on the beach by one of the climbing thingies. It was great fun!

Linus enjoyed the slide.

Violet tried her hand at sliding WITH her bucket. It turned out quite well!

Amelie enjoyed the overall experience!

Duncan was a little tall for the castle, but he managed to police Linus on the ladder just fine.

We has such a great time on this little mini vacation. Our trip home, on rainy day four, took twice as long as it should have, thanks to the traffic from Cruisin' Ocean City. The kids couldn't have cared less! When we pulled into the driveway, the girls climbed into the front seats, Violet driving and Amelie riding shotgun, and pretended that they were returning to Ocean City.
It was that good!
We're thankful that have had this opportunity and look forward to our next trip to the beach.

Ocean City Vacay: Day 2

No vacation would be complete without be awoken at 6:15 by little girls that wanted to go the beach! We were up and at 'em quite early.

These first pictures were taken starting at 7:40 am!

So to answer the riddle of what is plastic, has Elmo and Cookie on it and a long string?

A kite of course!

Amelie and I attempted to fly the kite, but Daddy was the one that got it going!

Amelie enjoyed it a great deal.

Violet got a kick out of it as well.

Linus? Well, he was distressed that Elmo was so high in the air. He kept looking up and saying, "Oh, no Elmo."

He held the kite for a spell, but wasn't super interested.

After our early morning digging session, we headed to the boardwalk again! We got two giant lemonades to share.

And of course we got two ice cream cones to share. (More on that back here.)

Linus savored his ice cream while making friends with the people sitting on the bench behind us.

After a nap, we headed back to the beach for some more digging.

I love this shot of Amelie.

Amelie took this one of Duncan and I.

I forgot my sunglasses and bought the ones you see above for $3 on the boardwalk on Friday morning. Duncan claimed they looked like I was leaving the eye doctor and I tried to explain that it's the current style. But to his delight, they broke a little more than 24 hours after I bought them. So, I'm back to my stretched-out, not-in-style ones again.

Linus liked it when Daddy buried his feet!

It was an incredible second day!

A Day Three Riddle: Beach-boardwalk-condo-beach-condo was the pattern for Day Two. What could it have been for day three?

Ocean City Vacay: Day 1

So many pictures! I just can't decide which ones to share.

I'll start with my favorites from day one.

Yup, all from one day.
And two more days after that one waiting in the wings.

Here we are set to hit the beach for the first time.

We're almost there!

As soon as we hit the sand, Linus kept squatting down to dig. He'd stand up, take a few more steps, and stoop down to dig some more. He and I got pretty far behind the girls and Daddy!

Once Linus realized they were so far ahead of us, he took off in their direction!

We dug, and dug, and filled up buckets, and dumped them out, and dug some more. Did I mention filling up buckets? What about dumping them out?

We got water to make wet sand for castles.

Linus was beside himself with delight. He couldn't decide where it was best to dig. Here? Over there? But what about that spot right there? There was so much DIGGING SAND!

We ended our first day with dinner on the board walk. Dough Roller anyone?

It was a great first day!
A Day Two Riddle: It's plastic, has Elmo and Cookie Monster on it, and a really long string. Any guesses? Check back soon for the answer!

First and Last Days

Amelie's first day of pre-school on

Tuesday, September 4, 2007.

Amelie's last day of pre-school on

Thursday, May 21, 2009.

Kindergarten, here we come!

Hello From Ocean City!

Kohr Bros. only takes cash.
We only had enough on us for two small cones.
Consequently, Duncan was able to shoot one cute video.

Amelie's thumbs up is about the ice cream.
I'd say it also applies to this, our first family-of-five vacay.
Fun stuff. Majorly fun stuff.
Thank you, Lord, for generous friends with beach condos!

On Mental Health (Part 2)

Thank you so much for all of your encouragement to keep posting on this topic! I must say that I've doubted myself many times over the last week, as I've thought about my next post. I'm not shy, at all, when it comes to talking about how I've suffered and do suffer from anxiety and depression. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'm on medication and have been for years. I'm even not ashamed to talk about how helpful counseling was or to admit when I have an appointment with my psychiatrist. However, I don't usually go into details about the specific subjects of my anxiety. This is because I know how irrational my mind is being! I'm thankful for the ability to recognize this truth. But, I just can't help the cycle that goes through my brain, regardless of how irrational and ridiculous I know I'm being. And my fears can be, well, embarrassing.

So, I'll swallow my pride and plow on, regardless. To pick up where we left off, Linus was born and my life was full of all of the anxieties that go along with having a brand new baby. This baby spent a week in the NICU, was my smallest baby, and seemed more fragile than either of the girls. So, I worried when his temperature was too low, when he had a stuffy nose, when he didn't seem to be nursing enough, when Amelie sat on him accidentally, when Duncan fed him formula that might have had a broken seal (long story), when he slept too long...should I continue? I think you get the picture. And then, about a month after he was born, my main source (as I said before, there's always a main source for me) of anxiety shifted.

Let me back up to the summer of 1996. Some of you faithful blog readers lived through that time with me. I was a camp counselor at Pine Springs Camp and was admittedly fearful that I'd have to deal with a puking camper. I had always been vomitaphobic. (There's a real term, but I think mine sounds better.) And wouldn't you know? I had to deal with vomit, in some way, shape, or form, nearly every week of that summer.
Fast forward 11 years.
I'm a mother of three. No longer a camp counselor. And while I had dealt with vomit in my own kids, it hadn't been anything major in my three and a half year stint of motherhood.
And then,
it happened.

We came home from a weekend away. And Violet threw up out of nowhere. And thus began my new focus for my anxiety: I was afraid that my children would throw up. Since October 2007, this has been the main focus of my anxiety: vomit.
Are you kidding me? Isn't dealing with puking kids a badge of motherhood? Isn't it something that happens to everyone? And I'm AFRAID of it? Yep. All of that is true.

When I admitted to Duncan what my problem was, his response was simple.
"Good."
"Good?"
"Yeah, good. It's something that will happen (as opposed to aliens landing in your yard or dinosaurs running around your house--two honest-to-goodness anxieties that some personal friends have had) and I've seen you deal with it in very appropriate ways. So, good."
Well, thanks, I guess?

So what does this anxiety look like?
It looks like lots of hand washing. Making sure my kids eat healthy foods that have been washed and prepared properly. It means more hand washing. It means that every sound I hear over the monitor at night could mean someone is throwing up. (I've seriously considered pitching said monitors.) It means eating out in a restaurant with the kids is a struggle for me. It means that traveling is a real struggle--rest stops, public bathrooms, restaurants, etc. It means cleaning hands with wipes when we can't get to a sink. It means that I make sure my kids stay on their sleep schedule, because being well-rested helps the immune system. It means that I make my kids eat a lot of yogurt. It means I pick up toys and books that are in and around their beds, and all along the path to the bathroom so that there is a clear puking path. It means that my stomach drops whenever I hear of someone with a stomach bug--immediately thinking of whether or not we have a physical connection with them. It means fewer trips to the library upon finding out how disgusting books are from there. It means incredibly dry hands for me and the kids in the winter. It means avoiding play dates or at least a struggle with wanting to avoid a play date. It means making my kids put their hands on their heads while waiting in a public bathroom, so they don't touch anything. It means constantly thinking about these things, pondering how I can keep my kids healthy, keeping them from getting germs that could cause them to vomit. Always. Thinking. About it.
Exhausting.

So what does this anxiety look like when someone is actually in the midst of vomiting?
It looks like me scrubbing carpets, wiping floors, stripping beds, doing laundry, holding bowls, rubbing backs, holding back hair, reading stories, watching tv. It doesn't look like me running away or hiding in a closet. I think it looks like a pretty normal mom doing her job. Duncan remarks every time at how he's amazed at how calm I am when I face my biggest fear. The only way I can explain it is that for me, the anxiety lies in the anticipation, the possibility of my fear being realized, what will be ruined in the process, how big the clean up job will be, who will be affected, or where it will happen. (It's always a struggle to sleep at someone else's home.) And once someone has vomited, well, it's over! There is no anticipation left. The fear has been realized and it needs to be dealt with.

There's so much more to share...what I learned in counseling, the recent strides I've made and things I've learned, how my faith plays into this whole thing. But those will have to wait for the next post(s). Thanks for bearing with me. This writing process is quite therapeutic in itself. So, I'm fairly certain I'll keep it up.