Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A Quote on Resting

Here is a quote that hit home today.

It was posted by the amazing Andrea. She always writes with such passion and intention.

Love the blog!

Anyway, here is the quote.

""Our culture invariably supposes that action and accomplishment is better than rest, that doing something--anything--is better than doing nothing. Because of our desire to succeed, to meet these ever-growing expectations, we do not rest. Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the compass points that would show us where to go, we bypass the nourishment that would give us succor. We miss the quiet that would give us wisdom. We miss the joy and love born of effortless delight. Poisoned by this hypnotic belief that good things come only through unceasing determination and tireless effort, we can never truly rest. And for want of rest, our lives are in danger."
-Wayne Muller, from his book Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives


Makes me want to read that book!

How do you find time to rest?

Monday, July 12, 2010

Random

***Seren has had some interesting observations on our hot, wacky weather.

"Mom! It is FREEZING HOT out here."

"Today it is really hot and mudgy."

***Wyeth fell asleep with Goodnight Gorilla in his arms. The book.

***Wyeth is a complete joy. He is learning words slowly now. And the world is opening to him. Reading books is fun. Oh, is he ever a love bug. I seriously just sit and stare at him sometimes. Wondering where he came from.

***He also giggles hysterically when he passes gas.

***Actually, living with Wyeth is kinda like living with the stereotypical fraternity brother. He is all about passing gas. He also does things like pour water over his face and laugh manically. Then he will run around naked.

I don't know. I can just see into the future and visualize him doing all of these things in his 20s. And I shudder. It is a lot less cuter.

***Today was a new household record. Seren and Wyeth slept past 7:30. Unheard of! Unprecedented! Tired, tired kids.

Note to Self



Worrying is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Not Our Typical Saturday Night

Our weekends have been so fun and so busy that I never make time to write about them! We have had a date night weekend two weekends ago and then a busy and fun Fourth of July. Complete with days at the park, pool afternoons and a looong parade. I may post retroactively.

This weekend was busy too. The days just blur together.

Saturday we had rain, rain, rain! So we packed the kids up and went to a local fantastic museum. An old favorite: Please Touch Museum. It was a great time!

Then it was home for naps or in Seren's case "rest time".

Then it was time to make a pie, do errands, clean the house and get ready for dinner. I took the kids for a 45 minute sweaty TREK around our neighborhood before we went to our friends' home for dinner.

(Now that it has 'cooled off' to a cool 90 degrees, we are walking a lot more.)

We went to my friends' home for dinner. It was a disaster. My friend, her husband and her darling baby were gracious and welcoming. Our children were terrors! It was embarrassing. And awkward. And I felt horrible about the whole thing.

Seren was excited and didn't have her listening ears on. Wyeth was Wyeth. Part Mountain Goat and all. Climbing on furniture, etc. Ugh!! They were being kids. But still!

Sam and I talked about it after the kids were asleep. Next time we'll prep Seren better. Remind her what it is to be a guest in some one's house. To say please and thank you. To listen to the house rules, etc. We find when we prep her well, she is very good. Very responsive. When we don't? Disaster!

Same thing with stores. If we just go in without much limit setting, disaster. I have taken her out of a store to just regroup. And then she is fine.

Anyway, I left there feeling horrible about my parenting.

And then the car started to smoke.

Three weeks ago, I got the oil changed on Sam's car. He said that ever since then, there has been a slight oil smell when he starts the car.

As we were driving home, we smelled and saw smoke and a THICK oil smell. We stopped at a Wawa and popped the hood. I noticed that the oil cap has blown off. It is sitting right there but oil is all over the place.

In my haste to make the situation right, I touch the oil cap. It is hot and without thinking about it, I drop it.

It tumbles.

In slow motion.

Down.

Bounces in the engine once.

Twice.

Out of sight.

I have just dropped the damn oil cap into the engine.

Visual: 90 degrees. Sam and Megan sweating and cursing at the engine. Two kids around bed time strapped into their car seats. Crying and yelling that they want to get out.

Not good. Crap.

So we start hunting for the damn thing. I pull a long piece of bamboo from a near by woods and start fishing around in the engine. Which isn't smart. It IS kinda Swiss Family Robinson though, right?

I get Wyeth out of his seat and calm him down. I pull Seren out of her seat. I also go and ask the Wawa (gas station/food market) if they have a flashlight. The cashier without giving it a second thought says "no". The customer behind me says to her "You really don't? You aren't going to at least try to help them? Nothing back there?"

Nope.

Sigh. Back to the engine.

I called my friends to see if they could come and help me get the kids home while Sam would wait with the car. I leave a message for her. I call AAA too so that the process could start. Sam continues to look.

I ask another random Wawa staff member about a flashlight who says 'Sure! I have a flashlight'. Score! So now we have light but no oil cap.

A friendly man volunteers to go under our car to look for it. He can't find it. Then the helpful Wawa man helps too. Nothing.

A third guy drives up, sees two kids running around in the grass, two cursing, sweating parents and a guy under our car and offers to help. He has another flashlight and takes one look and yells out, "I see it!"

YES!

By then, my friend had arrived to help me get the kids home. Poor thing!

Sam gets his body under the car and with the help of a coat hanger, we were able to pull the damn cap out of the engine.

We place it back in the car. Cancel Triple A, say Thanks but no thanks to our friend who was there to rescue our children, profusely thank the three men that had helped us, strap our kids back into the car and go on home. They were sound asleep by 9 pm. Wyeth pointed to his crib when he saw it. As in, "Please, Mom. Just put me in there. It has been a long day."

Sam and I looked at each other at the end of the day Saturday and just laughed.

It could have been so much worse!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Kisses

I worry (shocking, I know) that my kids aren't affectionate enough. Seren has never been a big hugger. She is quite mercurial. Hot and cold. Somedays, full of hugs. Otherdays, she has been known to refuse affection.

I am a hugger. I love hugging people. My whole family is a family of huggers.

So it is hard to have a wee one that doesn't come running into your arms every day. It is hard to have to request a hug at the end of the day. She'll give one to you. Eventually.

I should just accept my kids as my kids and move on. Because that is just who she is. But I also think that teaching kids to hug after receiving a gift or snuggling after a long day, is important.

This being said, Seren IS affectionate with her brother. In fact, that is the only person who is guaranteed to get a hug in the wee morning hours. She asks him to come into her bed and she snuggles him. He just lays his head on her shoulder and they hug.

Awesome.

And then there is Mr. Snugglesaurus. Until about mid June, Wyeth preffered my arms to anyone's and would just sit there and snuggle. All of the time. And very recently, he hasn't requested as much time with me. It makes me sad. I'm no longer a mom to a wee baby. I'm working through this. He is 19 months and doing his own thing more often.

But as of yesterday, he is a kisser! I got home to work, said hi to everyone and started playing with Seren. He then walked over to me from across the room and gave me a kiss on my cheek! It rocked!

Then again, this morning I boldly asked him for a kiss. A smile spread across his face and he kissed me on the cheek while making the kissing sound and smiling.

I can't think of a better send off.

And tomorrow is FAMILY day (a weekend day!)

Friday, July 2, 2010

June Fun

June came and went. Sam, my husband and official Director of Daddy Camp, has had a busy two weeks at home full time with the kiddos. He has done some great work at home. I'll post pictures of the Rainforest Theme and the Outerspace Unit he taught.

They also did a lot of playgrounds, walks, hikes and swinging.

Here are some good ones.



Wyeth's first time on a Big Boy Swing:


Dare me? (And no, we didn't let him try...)