Wild Animal Kingdom

My children are nurturers.  And I suppose they get it naturally- I mean after all, if I could somehow bring every single orphaned living item into my home I totally would.

They were beyond themselves excited to discover this gorgeous butterfly in our yard and immediately went to work building it a habitat, giving it a name and preparing gormet meals for it.

 And who could blame them?  Although- that red furry part makes me think it might be a vampire in disguise?

 And at the air show office- a momma duck who innocently laid her eggs in a quiet removed area (that quickly became a sea of beeping trucks and screaming men) managed to have all thirteen of her baby ducks hatch just two days before the show.  And I could hardly wait to show the kids- because I knew they would just die inside like I was.  And they did.  And them momma duck took her babies and happily marched them off far away from the air show- and I was standing on a pile of mud screaming to bring my babies baaaack.

 So imagine my surprise when Friday one of the volunteers brought in a baby bird who had been found alone in the grass in the parking lot.  They had watched it all day and no momma was coming back for it and it way dying.  And so I agreed to let it live under my desk and every hour on cue I would stop everything to carefully feed this baby bird a mixture of ground up hot dog and water (what- you are surprised I couldn't kill a worm?)  And that night, when my kids came out to the show, I introduced them to the most beautiful little baby creature and instructed them how to take him home and care for him.

And so they built a bird retreat in the garage and learned the art of feeding a squaking bird every couple of hours.  And they named him Binny.  Binny got to where he was walking around, squaking, eating well, starting to fluff up.  He seemed to be doing okay.

Until all at once he wasn't anymore.  He got weak, quit moving around, and just kind of laid while opening his mouth repeatedly.

Saturday night, Binny died.  And I will forever hate myself for making a huge rookie mom mistake by letting them care for this tiny creature that probably didn't stand a chance in the first place.  Because they were all crying, and I was crying.  And late that night we had a funeral for Binny, said prayers and placed flowers.  And I held all three of my children as they learned  a hard lesson in life.  And I kicked myself for creating their pain in the first place.

And now I am fighting the urge to get them a puppy.  Because the LAST thing we need in this house is anything else alive.

I'M BACK!

If you may have been thinking that I'd hung up the old blog, no such luck.  It was just a hellish sort of week that involved working over 100 hours in 7 days (that is not an exaggeration- it is for realz), lots of stress sweat and tears.  But it's over, and I'm back. 

This week will still be nuts as everything that has been borrowed, rented or used has to be returned to wherever it came from.  And although I can't help with it all, I get to tie up the loose ends, cut down banners, and start to put everything that lands in the office back in it's home.  Needless to say my energy is gone, so I'm gonna have to suck it up and do the best I can.  I just hope my feet quit hurting sometime in the near future.

Last night- I was able to leave work and head home after just 13 hours of work.  Some unwanted rain forced a closure of the air portion of the show and crowds dwindled early and before you know it, most everything was shutting down.

So- at 8pm I decided to head for the hills.  I tried to call my home- but my emily wouldn't let me speak to her dad and asked that I just talk to him when I got there.  Being tired, and hungry, I picked up a pizza before arriving at our homestead.

I was giddy to get home in time to actually see the children, AWAKE.  And as I came through the garage door my heart was singing to see Dan waiting for me.  And out of his mouth came "Do you have dinner for everyone?".

And TAG- just like that- I got my job back.

I'm glad to be back, I'm glad we all survived, I'll be glad when the house is back to my normal.  I'll share more tomorrow- but I gotta go wake children and begin our day (Dan is sleeping in : )

I ain't yo momma!

 This morning- I awoke with the chickens to shuffle our eldest out the door for school, prepare our youngests donation envelope for his magical Wonder Walk today and dig up a dollar for the middles hat day.

 And then I started writing a list of stuff for Dan- our current Momma- to try and accomplish today.  Just basics like go to the bank- return these shoes- feed the children- children's activities and times- and for the love of all things pretty wash me some dag gone clothes would you puleeze.

 Last night- when I came stumbling through the door at dag gone near midnight- that same door I stumbled out of at 9am that morning- gallon of milk in hand, Dan looked up and said "well I'm glad I didn't make a special stop to get that".  I'd mentioned in the morning I'd try and get some- to which he didn't argue- so I did.

 I kindly (kind of) pointed that out and then discovered that the pants I put in the washer that morning and asked if he could toss in the dryer at some point were actually still in the washer.  So prior to putting away our groceries- I had to put my pants in the dryer.  And I may have mentioned that I asked if he could help with that.  Really- I was too tired to pick a fight- I was more whining than anything.

 To which he responded about how busy he'd been and hadn't just laid around all day.  No kidding?  You mean this stay at home, raise the kids stuff isn't easy?  Where's the bon bons and the magazines?  Where are the two hour bubble bath soaks?  No fresh mani pedi today?  Huh- strange.

Although, I must admit I would MUCH rather be the momma to this family.  I kind of enjoy it and live for it really.  So I am pretty stoked about breezing through the next weekish and climbing back onto our horse.

On a different, yet strangely similar note:

This morning around 7:30 Sam came running out and said he was dreaming he was in the restroom- except he was still asleep- and he peed his bed and needed a bath.

And for a small brief moment I was hugely relieved that I could just add 'wash all of sam's bedding' to someone elses list for the day.

Looks like Dan won't get that afternoon nap afterall.

Today........

Today I am especially thankful for a husband who would take a weeks vacation just to take over the reins of our home so that I can get through this crazy air show this weekend.

He has become Mr. Mom and is handling piano lessons, softball games, laundry, uniform preparation, lunch packing, and even some of the cleaning. 

And he seems to be doing a good job at hanging in there and keeping it all together.  It makes it all possible.  Yesterday he even called me to see if he could bring lunch to me at work, which made me feel so blessed.   I only wish he would have called AFTER I dropped my lunch on the floor upside down.  Ugh. Having him home takes the huge burdon off of me while trying to work 12 hour days and keep my sanity to know that he is here, holding down our fort.

Well- for the most part anyway.

And then she started coloring inside the lines

Dear family,

I miss you.

Please understand that it is not my choice to be gone 12-14 hours a day right now- and that I would prefer to be home BEFORE you go to sleep instead of always after.  But we're in 'the month'- the one that preceeds 'the air show'.  We've moved from my 'being able to keep up with both home and work kind of in a not really good kind of way' to'fasten your seatbelts and hold your breath- it's almost over'.

I don't know who got their baths last night.  I don't know who's almost out of clean underwear.  Or how much milk is left.  I'm not sure what's on sale at Target, who is having Bosco Sticks for lunch, if we've used up all the ground beef yet, when the rugs were vacuumed last or where I put my car keys when I stumbled home at 10 last night.  I feel removed, distant and lonely.  I would rather be on the INSIDE with you- but instead I am way out here.  And I miss you all so much.

Dan- you seem to be doing a beautiful job keeping up our home front.  At least all of the kids are still alive and I have counted that as a victory more than once.  Remembering to feed and water a living being is a big job- and you are apparently keeping up with it.  Plus you don't look too aweful worse for the ware- so I suppose you are hanging in there?

On the counter in the kitchen- the one where we used to have nice meals and share homework time, but is now apparently where we stack mountains of papers and mail until I return home for realz- I found some of Emily's homework this morning.  And they were the most perfectly colored pictures I have seen in years.  Allyson quit using crayons a while back- and up until this morning Emily still colored like a little baby girl.  I was taken back by how grown up the girl who colored them must be. I apologize for the tear drops on them- they just started falling as I sat there realizing how much I am really missing by not being here at home with you all right now.  And how- just like the butterfly that was colored- every day my children are evolving, growing, changing- and I have missed the past 2 weeks of it and will miss about 2 weeks more.

10 more days and the air show will be over.  15 more days and I will be back home most of the time except when I run into work a couple days a week for a couple hours at a time.  We can totally do that- right?

I was not built for this.  I can't wait to be home and take our household reins again.  Please stop hiding things in the bottom corners of your closet until I do so.

Love,
Mom

Mike

When I was a little girl, probably about 12ish maybe give or take, I remember getting the biggest pumpkin I'd ever seen in my whole life.  It was around halloween time and there was a knock at the door.  It was Miss Penny and Mr. Mike- and on our porch was a pumpkin the size of one of those huge excercise balls.  It was amazing.

And I remember thinking at the time that they had the chance to keep that thing all for themselves, but they gave it to us.  Of course now I know that the glory of a pumpkin that awesome would have been lost on the porch of a home without little kids- but at the time I thought they had given us their entire lottery winnings.

Mr. Mike and Miss Penny have always been a part of our family.  I do remember when they were married, but I swear I don't ever remember a time that he wasn't a part of their home.  Probably because I'm the baby- but they have been married for over 20 years so I suppose I wouldn't remember much of a time without him.

Miss Penny and mom are best of friends.  And Mr. Mike and my dad were too.  I remember when my dad died- I wondered how his friends, his two closest friends, felt.  Mr. Jerry Wayne and Mr. Mike, they were his closest friends.  Jerry died within a couple years of Dad.  And now Mr. Mike has gone too.  Today we will gather to lay his body to rest, seems appropriate that it's a little dreary outside. 

Mr. Mike was a wise guy- always cracking little jokes or making light of a situation.  Always.  He was joyful, happy and just basically pleasant.  I'm not sure the man would have ever met a single person he wouldn't have sat down next to and just chatted.  And (just like my dad) he had this curved little smile lip thing and a bit of a twinkle to his eye right when he would deliver a funny part of a story or whatnot.  He was deeply faithful, an inspiration to all who knew him. He was also a good husband to Miss Penny- she so deserved a good man like Mr. Mike, and I am thankful that the Lord led them together.  Probably a better husband than most because he had like NINE sisters- and I imagine they beat the nasty boy traits right out of him : ) 

He struggled with that nasty beast cancer for the last two years of his life- but he did it with such a grace that you couldn't help but to feel at peace with everything that was happening.  I guess that is what happens when the love of the Lord truly lives inside of you- you behave like Mr. Mike did.

His last words to me were that anyone who brings Tuna Casserole to his wake has to eat it.  I'm thinking I'm might just have to find a recipe in his honor.

If you feel so inclined, please lift Miss Penny and all of Mr. Mikes family up in prayer.  It's gonna be mighty hard to get used to living in a world without that man in it.

How we spend every Sunday the week after Easter- at least up until now

Our children have attended preschool at a local church.  And every year, the first Sunday after Easter, they preschool kids sing during worship.  And I love it.  It's hard to believe this was the last time we will do this.  I absolutely ADORE seeing the children sing out our Lord.