95

Tomorrow is my Pap's 95th birthday. 95! The last few years haven't been easy for him as body started to give him fits even though his mind is as sharp as I remember it being when I was a little girl. There is a cruelty in that, although I have grown in deep respect and admiration of him in recent years as he has taken the weight of difficult decisions about his care by simply taking charge and making the right choices at the right times. I can only pray that I will one day have the same foresight and concern for my family as he does for his. 

There have been a few times over the past few years that we weren't sure Pap would make it to another birthday. And so, for today, we celebrated!  I believe he was very happy today, surrounded by his friends who have been his chauffeurs, his comic relief, his check in point, his go-out-to-dinner gang, as well as all of his family who live locally. If only our Texas/Massachusetts/Caribbean family could have been there. 

The kids were troopers- church this morning and then jumping right in the car to get to Belleville. Joshua was a charmer, discussing Penn state football with Pap and his friends as well as helping to serve cake and ice cream. He is a good boy-- and I love seeing him like that. The girls did very well, too considering they were napless and the nursing home isn't exactly a fun place for kids. Just having each other there was, I believe, a treat for them. 

We stopped at Lib's on the way home to run off some steam before the ride back. Everyone (amazingly) stayed awake on the ride home but it wasn't long til we found Mara like this...

Which is exactly how I envision Pappy Ray right now too!

Happy Birthday, Pap!

Masquerading as a Stay-At-Home Mom

I am on day #2 of my stint masquerading as a Stay-At-Home Mom. Grandma has some surgery on her eye yesterday, so while she is resting and letting her eye heal, I have been staying at home with the kids.  I should first say that I feel incredibly blessed to have the job I do which allows me the opportunity to do this when necessary. I also have team members who work their tails off when I can't be there...and I don't take a second of that for granted.  Being a business owner means that even when you aren't in the office, you're still checking in and keeping an eye on things so I have been checking email and trying to stay in the loop that way. 

I will say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the last few days. I haven't found any time to relax- or even sit down for that matter- but it has been good to catch up on some things around the house. We have been to the vet and made more trips to and from Meadowbrook than I care to count. We have cooked and cleaned and folded until we couldn't do it anymore. 

Today I decided to snap some pictures of our fun. It is mostly the girls since Josh was at school most of the day. 

The pace of things in the morning between 5:30-7:30 is hurried at best, and frantic at worst. I get ready and then wake Josh and Lauren up at 6:30. Clothes, breakfast, backpacks ready, ice packs in lunchbox, vitamins and teeth brushed before they run out the door at 7:35. Mara has been awake for all of this routine the last couple of weeks and insists that she do the same things the big kids are doing. So that means dippy eggs times three instead of two. 

Then starts the time period I call, "magic".  It is just me and Mara who is quite possibly the sweetest little girl ever when she isn't having to fight with her brother and sister for attention or toys or whatever. I love it!  Today we spent about an hour playing babies together.

After that, we did a few puzzles and then headed upstairs to put the clean sheets on all 4 beds. While I did that and put away clothes, Mara used all of our pillows and laundry baskets to make a hideout in our bedroom. She played so nicely in there that I managed all of the beds AND three other baskets of clothes to fold and put away. 

Then we went out to get Lauren picked up at school. She was so thrilled that I got to pick her up again.  I love that smile when she comes running out of class.  

After lunch, I worked on some mini banana muffins (and banana bread) for Lauren to bring to her Thanksgiving party next week. While I did that, the girls were upstairs playing in the hideout and apparently getting ready for the beach. They had their bathing suits on and Lauren was pushing Mara around upstairs in the laundry basket (their boat). 

Then, at 2:30 we left to get Joshua.  I let them play at The Well after school to burn off some energy. They had a blast but I didn't get a picture because they were all running too fast!  All that playing led to this...

Tired kiddos. Who also still happen to be dressed for the beach. Happy Mama.  My cup runneth over. So thankful. 

Once a week...

So, the way I see it, if I get at least one blog post per week posted, I will be doing about 10 times better than I have over the course of the past year. I should also manage to keep those who read this little gem of daily literature from thinking I am deceased. (Hi Rebecca!)  And this should be manageable because I find myself with my phone in my hands rocking a certain two year old to sleep every night at this time. Although I complain sometimes about this nightly ritual, I am ever so aware of the fact that these days are coming to an abrupt halt really soon. And I will miss it so much. 

So here are a few shota from my phone from the last few days. I have to admit that this first one makes my Penn State heart do a few leaps of joy. Joshua decided to graffiti our driveway a few days ago...with all PSU phrases. I especially love the "Penn State Forever- roar lions roar" part. I promise to save this because it will make a great human interest story when he goes there and gets his first collegiate start someday. I am only a little bit kidding. 

Things at the office have been a bit of a challenge from a scheduling perspective lately so I didn't manage to figure out groceries during the week. Even doing my online order at Weis and scheduling pickup on Friday didn't even work. So the girls and I took off on Saturday morning to do our shopping. It was a big list. And I am now even more certain that it is worth the $4.95 to have the nice girls at Weis do the shopping for me and just pick it up in the drive through lane. I live. I learn.

Please make note of the outfit Mara insisted on wearing to go to Wal Mart. Oh yes she did wear it in the store. 

After the PSU win on Saturday (not a pretty win, but a win nonetheless) we celebrated by taking our babies on a walk. I dont know what was in Mara's bag but she swore that she needed it around her neck. 

We enjoyed church this morning and then made a special trip to Grandma and Grandpa's this afternoon to see their two new puppies!  They were so sweet!  The kids loved playing with them and they both curled up in my lap and fell asleep. They are beagle/lab mixes, one boy and one girl.  Puppy energy is a far cry from life with our Watson- who can't hear, can't see, and at 15 years old, gets off the couch only to go out three times a day. 

Crazy week upcoming, but we're ready!  Happy Monday everyone!

Home for the Weekend

I am still in recovery mode after the football game at PSU last week. As in...being up that late still has my sleep all out of whack. So when it was decided that Jason's partner was going to be the one to entertain clients at last Saturday's game, no tears were shed. The prospect of being at home for a whole weekend sounded heavenly!

Friday morning started with Joshua's Harvest Party at school. Normally I love being on hand for these parties, and find it helpful to monitor the food situation, but these second graders were WOUND UP!  The noise level was similar to the white out at Penn State and the amount of bodies and hot air inside the classroom made it feel like a sauna. And they wonder why parents stop coming to these things after about third grade!  I don't mean to complain. It really is a blessing to be able to share in the parties with the kids, and everyone seemed to have fun. I was just glad when 11:30 rolled around and we got our walking papers for the rest of the day.  The kids had an early dismissal so I handed them off to Grandma and went to the office.

After I got home from work, it was go time for trick or treating.  We had our annual Halloween supper of mummy dogs (I wonder if they'll still request those when they are 20?) and then began the process of costuming the crew for their night on the town.  After a ridiculous amount of time we were ready to collect treats, and armed with three epi's, a camera and a phone out the door we went.  We had considered going to Christ Wesleyan's Trunk or Treat, but since it fell on the same night as the local trick or treat night we opted out of the 2+ hour wait in line and walked the "city" streets of Turbotville. The kids all brought home bucket fulls of candy, much of which was promptly traded for peanut safe varieties that I had purchased for the switch. The worst news of it all is that anything without actual peanuts in it was saved in a high up bag that only Jason and I could get to- and much of that has now found its permanent home on my hips. The diet has been out the window with blatant disregard in recent days.  I can offer no greater excuse besides my own lack of willpower.  But I will get that turned around.

For Saturday's grand plan, I had it in my head that I wanted to make a big pot of chicken corn soup. So I set to work on that around 8 am and finally finished cleaning everything up for supper. But we now have a bunch of containers of that homemade, soul warming soup to be pulled out throughout the winter months. Well worth the effort, I think.

Sunday we were finally back to church after having been gone for two in a row. It was wonderful!  We are working through a fantastic curriculum in Sunday School and church called The Story, which walks you through the entire Bible in 42 weeks (or something close to that).  It explores the stories of the Bible, the characters and their complexities and has been teaching me oh so much. I thought I knew my Bible stories pretty well, but I had surely never learned or thought about them in these ways before. The neatest part, I think, is that all of the SS classes are doing the same story each week- from toddler to adult. Our Wee Worship and Super Kids Church curriculums are the same as well, so everyone is getting the same material on their own level. It has made for some great conversations with the kids during the week. Pastor Jamie's sermons have been amazing- full of challenge and reality and just the kick I need to apply it.  Mara has been doing well staying with Lauren in her classes, which has allowed me uninterrupted time to study with other adults. What a blessing. I have been bribing her with treats but you know my motto- "Sometimes you've just got tomdo what you've got to do!"

This week's bribe was a new book at the bookstore. Joshua had a gift card that was burning a hole in his pocket, so I thought I was being clever to wrap a bribe into this already promised escapade. After roughly 7 hours inside of the bookstore all three children had found their book and we were on our way home. Sitting through Sunday School and church cost me exactly $57.34...and 7 hours of my Sunday. 

We ended Sunday with the beginnings of a nasty fever for Miss Mara. Sadly much of the week has been spent nursing her back to health.