Schools Out...for summer

So what does that mean exactly? It means I have 5 kids all day long -- AHHHH! I heard that in NYC you have to have a day care license if you have over 4 kids in your day care. Geez, where does that put me? It's wierd that you get so used to dealing with 3 kids and to add in the extra 2 is such a change - even when they are the oldest and can help the most. Its hard to keep the older ones busy and they are the ones that could watch tv or play Wii all day. Oh, why do I have to be a responsible parent?!

Thursday Morning Blues

Wow, am I dragging today. It is 8:20am and if I drank coffee I would have downed a gallon already. The weather isn't helping either. Its gray and overcast and going to rain all day. It's the kind of day that when you drop your kids off in the carpool line and one of their teachers comes to the car to say 'good morning' to you, that after the embarrassment of them seeing all of the cracker crumbs, shoes, papers etc. in the plastered on the inside of your mini-van, you look up in the rear-view mirror to realize you still have a pillow crease in your face. At least I think its a pillow crease, maybe its a new permanent wrinkle. But those generally don't run vertically on your face. It's a good thing she wasn't on my side of the car I would have stunned her with my breath. It is the kind of morning where I could crawl back into bed and not care if anyone missed me. Heck, I probably wouldn't care if the house fell down around me. But instead I'm trying to balance a baby on my lap ( keep him from typing a blog of his own ) and try to successfully type with one hand. Instead I'll probably bundle everyone up, pray it doesn't rain on us and take a walk. A miles worth of fresh air is worth a gallon of coffee anyway.

The Calm After the Storm

Sorry, I'm not talking about the tornados. Sadly enough, I didn't even realize there were tornados in the Atlanta area until Roger and Alice (Steve's parents) called to see if we were all right. Anyway, I'm talking about the dual party weekend we had. Steve's 36th birthday was Saturday and Sunday, of course, was Mother's day. I organized a "virtual birthday party" for Steve (and if you are reading this you probably were 'invited') but essentially I just asked our family and friends to send him a birthday email. I truly couldn't have asked for a greater response - from our friends and family and from Steve as he read the book that I assembled for him. There were laughter and tears (on both of our parts) and I realized, once again, that having an impact on someone's life is the whole purpose of life. That thought (Hymn #223), "Have I done any good in the world today, Have I helped anyone in need" kind of stayed with me throughout the day. I felt that I had done something to make Steve feel good and as we were reading comments from people I realized maybe we have had a positive impact on some people. It made me want to do it more...lots more. Service has been on my mind a lot lately anyway. Then my mind got crazy with 'okay where am I going to fit it into my day' ? You know, those grandiose thoughts where I open my own soup kitchen and knit booties for every child in Africa. But I quickly realized that wasn't where my thoughts began. I began at 'touching the one'. Just reaching where my span of influence reaches. That making a positive impression on ONE life is enough. And that person might be my niece, my friend, a neighbor. Hopefully everyday it is my children and husband. So maybe I will go clean up my kitchen and knit Jake a pair of booties :)

Should I tell him they are pink?

Tyler thinks Aubrey's boots are SOOO cool. There is something about that clipping and clopping around that makes a 2 year old feel like a big kid. He doesn't quite have his handle on colors yet though.

Parents Day

Today was Parents day at school. The 1st graders had a little program and then we went to the classrooms where Hayden presented us with the cute gifts he had made. Of course you will really have to look closely for him in the sea of 1st graders. As part of the program they had a slideshow of pictures with each child in their family and for some reason they really zoomed in on our picture and scrolled from left to right. Our picture seemed to go on and on...kid after kid after kid and people started to chuckle. Personally, I was just happy to see we aren't the only family that has more than 2 kids. Way to go Hayden!!!

What is not bird..

This guy just sat and stared at me for the longest time. He wanted to be famous, obviously.

For the birds...

My new fascination is BIRDS. Am I getting old or what?! Isn't 'birdwatching' for older folks? Okay, I know I am old, in fact my husband believes I am old as "dirt", but I just never pictured myself being all that interested in birds. I am thinking it is because Utah has 2 kinds of birds - robins and seagulls. So it has been interesting living in the South. Birds actually fly here, instead of flying away. It is really the Cub Scout thing I guess. Trying to help my son with all of his cub projects got me stuck interested in the variety of birds that fly to our deck. Well, the birdseed helps. Anyway I took my fancy new camera out, snapped on my telephoto lens (that I thought I would never use) and got some cool shots out our kitchen window. We saw a tufted titmouse yesterday...but I didn't get it on film. I'm still waiting for that bluish-orangy bird to come back.