Freeday

Jane and I sometimes talk about how we wish there was a day called Freeday. A day where you could relax and play, or if you had to, you could use it to catch up on stuff you can't do during the other seven days of the week. It would probably fall somewhere around the weekend - Thursday, Friday, Freeday, Saturday - or maybe it would be a floating day that you just insert anywhere you feel you could use an extra day. Today it felt like we got our wish. It was one of our lucky Fridays that we get during the summer when Nate works four 10 hour days and then his office is closed on Friday. We all did some jobs in the morning (as I suppose one would still have to do on an average Freeday), then we got to lazy around the house. I was at the computer, Nate was on the couch with the remote, the kids were in the basement (ahh), and there was nothing else we felt like doing at the moment. When there was a knock at the door, everyone rushed to welcome our guest, Chuck. Chuck is our friends' new puppy who came for a sleepover while his family is out of town. After introducing him to our own doggie and getting him settled in the backyard, we had lunch and stuck Luke in bed for a nap, then we picked up right where we left off with our various diversions. At 3:00 we went swimming at our old house. It was the perfect day to swim. The sun was hot and the water was cool, but not cold. We showed Chuck how to swim and we all paddled around the pool until the clock said it was time to go home. We brought home Sonic burgers and drinks for dinner, then Nate put on some Michael Jackson music (in honor of the late, great) and we danced. Later, the kids and I played outside with the two dogs until the sun went to bed.

Not all of Nate's Friday's off are like this. We probably should have been doing more, and we'll have to make up for it tomorrow (which isn't how Freeday is supposed to be), but it's one of those days that I'll remember.

Jane is getting a few pointers from Dad on her dancing. This is to help her avoid dancing in the style of Elaine Benes of TV's Seinfeld.

Bindi and Chuck walk around side by side and kiss all day. He's too young for her, though.

Slushes

The kids and I have gotten Sonic slushes several times this summer. I'm hooked on the Cherry Lime slush. Jane favors lemon-berry, while Luke and Lucy like the fake grape and watermelon flavors. I'm pretty sure that each kid at different times has used the straw to break up the slush for better drinkability, only to end up poking the straw straight through the styrofoam cup. Why do they all have to do it? Don't they learn from watching their sibling cry and moan over having their dribbling cup snatched away by mom and hurried to the nearest trash receptacle? If they can't learn from each others' experiences, does that mean I will have to teach them each separately all of the same things? Will I have to explain to Lucy and then to Luke, just as I have to Jane about sharing and hitting, about why we don't pray to Santa, why we're not democrats, how the toilet works, electricity, fireworks, thunderstorms? One day I became overwhelmed, thinking about all the things I want to teach them. Isn't it my job to make sure they know everything I know? I started making lists in my head of skills I should pass on like crocheting, photography, sewing, writing, singing...

Then I stopped worrying. I thought about all those things and realized that those are not things I learned from my mother. I picked up most of those things from books or by practicing, just because they were things I wanted to be good at. My mother did teach me how to cook, how to french braid hair, and probably all of the homemaking skills that I have. She also taught me to invite the weird, smelly girl to my birthday party because how would I feel if I was the one who got left out? Then when I was the one who got left out, she taught me that girls can be mean and that the fact that I was the target of their treachery didn't necessarily mean anything was wrong with me. She taught me about Jesus Christ, and about prayer and recognizing the answers when they came. She taught me about faith and obedience, integrity, forgiveness... Now that, I can teach. Those are things that I still work on every day, so it's easy to teach my children as I go along. As long as I teach them how to be good human beings, whatever skills and talents they pick up on their own are just bonus features. And if they end up poking a few holes in styrofoam cups, I guess they'll learn about that on their own too.

Summertime Blues

Isn't summer supposed to be relaxing? We haven't had much time to unwind yet this summer. We moved 2 weeks before Jane finished school, so between unpacking, taking photos, entertaining kids and maintaining 2 houses, I'm still waiting for things to slow down.

Speaking of two houses...Since we have an offer on the house we recently moved from, we have to make sure we keep the weeds and the pool under control.

Like this.

I also have a garden that's still growing over there, so I water it and pick the vegetables every few days.

Before

After!

Last Saturday, Nate and I each had been in and out of the house a few times doing a few jobs. As I was leaving the house with the kids, I hit the button to shut the garage, but it only went down about 2 feet and then froze. "Aw Craaap". I said. I hit it again, and it went down 2 more feet and froze. I got out of the car thinking Great, Nate's gonna be mad that there is yet another thing to fix at this house we don't even live in. I checked the sensors to see if they were aligned. I waved my hand in front of one of them, and the garage went up! That's never happened before. Must be something wrong with the sensors. I ran back and forth between the button on the wall and the button in my car, stepping over the invisible line made by the sensors a few times. But the stupid thing just wouldn't go all the way down. Just as I was getting ready to disengage the opener from the door and close it by hand, I hear "Beep!" That's the pathetic little horn on Nate's truck. He's parked behind my car, just out of sight LAUGHING HIS BUTT OFF with his finger on his garage remote. Hilarious Nate. I laughed/cried/punched his arm a little bit because it was pretty funny/embarrassing/really mean. Then I didn't give him the drink I had that he wanted.

I'm not in the mood to be teased due to my latest project (see below).

I hope to blog more often now, simply because every time I check my blog feeds and see that someone has gifted me with something new to read, I feel guilty because I don't pay anybody back with a post of my own. Hope everyone is having a happy summer!