Duck Duck Moose

So...today was a normal day. Which is exciting because sometimes I go weeks without one of those! We had school (around the dining room table in case you wondered) and for the most part it was calm. Youngest son tends to make a lot of monkey noises while he studies which I suppose is better than other noises he could be making so I won't complain. Much. While the 3 still-at-home kids were working diligently (well, that may be a slight exaggeration), I worked on flyers for our new Pioneer Club year and actually got quite a few done. The rest of the day just kind of flew by. We went to the library, Dollar General, the post office...all very exciting places but not worthy of an in-depth homeschool field trip since we've already been there, done that.

This evening I decided that since it will soon be Fall and time to take the pool down, I was going to go for a swim. We don't have a big pool so going for a swim isn't as exciting as it sounds, but still, it's water and it's deep enough to float around in so it's all good. Actually I've discovered that I can float in pretty much any depth. What I don't seem to be able to do is sink...I don't think I want to know why. Surely it doesn't have anything to do with the Cosmic Brownies I've been eating... Anyway, I was enjoying the slightly chilly water...until my two youngest got in and decided we should play Duck Duck Moose. No, that isn't a typo. I'm guessing Youngest Daughter made this up, it sounds like her. It was a cross between tag and Duck Duck Goose and, you guessed it, if you were it you had to pretend your hands were antlers and make bellowing sounds while trying to tag someone. Which really wasn't hard considering it's not that big a pool. After awhile I got into the spirit of things and proceeded to try to drown the two of them in an effort to tag them. It was actually quite fun. Next time you're bored, remember...Duck Duck Moose! You're it!

A beautiful day

It's a beeeeeeeeautiful day in the neighborhood! It has gone from being in the 100's to being in the 80's and I am LOVING it!! Nights have been in the 50's which is awesome sleeping weather. After running the AC all summer night and day, this is a wonderful switch.

My garden isn't quite as happy with these cool evenings. Things have kind of sloooooowed to a stop. Oh well, once we start school, I don't have much time to spend in the garden anyways, so it's not all bad. My little veggie stand didn't do quite as well this year as it did last year, but the teller at the bank yesterday said she's heard that from a lot of people, that their gardens didn't do as well. Only in a small town do you go to the bank to get the village garden report!!

We continue to miss Oldest Daughter, but she is having a blast at college, so we're happy for her. We're also happy for her because her boyfriend is going through her town to see her on his way to HIS college. But we get to see him first as he is coming over tonight after he gets off work. I really like that boy! Apparently they are celebrating their '3rd monthiversary' today. I need to get a package together to send to Oldest Daughter, she needs lots of supplies for her art classes! I'm thinking as much as you have to pay for an education these days, they could throw in some colored pencils! Oh well...

Did I mention my baby sister had her third little girl yesterday? That makes 14 grandkids for my mom, 7 boys and 7 girls! So, congratulations, Anna! I bet she's a little dolly! Wish I could see her!

Have a good day all!

15 years in the middle of nowhere

We are coming up on the 15th anniversary of my husband taking the church here. That is hard to believe! 15 years in the middle of nowhere Kansas!

When we first moved here, we lived way out in the country. It was such a peaceful place, so different from the big city of Wichita. I loved it! We had a 3 year-old, a sixteen-month old, and one on the way, so I needed a little peace in my life. No one was in school yet, so we spent our days playing and pretending. The double seater on the swing was our vehicle to many places (while singing Barney songs), and a big hollow log was our boat, spaceship, you name it. We still have that log, it has moved with us 3 times. It's falling apart, but I have a hard time parting with this old friend of ours. I do tend to get attached to strange things...

We had a landlord named Bo, not Little Bo Peep mind you, but Bo the Farmer, although for all I know they might be related. He was (and is) a great guy, except when he'd come into the kitchen early in the morning to get water to mix a calf bottle and scare the daylights out of me. There was another time he wasn't such a great guy. There was this stump you could see from the kitchen window, and if you squinted just right, it looked like the Statue of Liberty! I loved showing it to visitors, although for some reason most of them had a hard time squinting just right. Bad eyesight or something... Anyway, one day I looked out the kitchen window and...GASP! My statue of liberty was gone! Apparently Bo the Farmer thought it was a nuisance so he hooked a chain to it and pulled it out of the ground! Totally ruined the place for me. Can you imagine getting rid of a national monument like that?? After that there was nothing left to do but move. Ok, we did move, but only because Bo the Farmer found himself needing a place to live. Otherwise I might have put up with the change of scenery a bit longer.

So, back to the present...here we are, 15 years in this place God put us in, and I still love it. I love the church people, I love the small town-ness (is that even a word?), I love the wheatfields at harvest time, I love how people know your name. I'll be honest, I didn't want to move here in the beginning because I thought I'd make a rotten pastor's wife (after all, I don't even play the piano!!), but thankfully God didn't listen to my reasonings and knew what I needed. And for that I will always be thankful!

How should I behave?

Two blogs in one day...I must be bored...

Actually the reason for this blog is because I'm confused. I'm now the mother of a college freshman. I've never been that before. I've been the daughter of one, the sister of one, the aunt of one, the...well, you get the picture! So my question is - how am I supposed to behave? What is considered acceptable? I know what I'm NOT supposed to do - things like showing up on her campus wearing Minnie Mouse ears and yelling "MY BABY, MY BABY." But what CAN I do? Will I be annoying Oldest Daughter if I call her? Should I just text her once a month? Should I only contact her if she receives a letter that she won the sweepstakes? Is it ok to ask her how her day went or if she is getting any sleep? I want to let her grow up, I want to give her freedom (ok, I'm just lying on both those, but I'M TRYING so that should count for something, right?). I want her to know I miss her. But I don't want to smother her (you notice the word mother is in smother...). Sigh. The things parenting books don't tell you!

I came back from vacation to a bazillion tomatoes and peppers. Well, maybe not quite that many, but a lot. Peppers don't seem to sell and I've already frozen enough for a year so I'm not sure what to do with the rest...is there such a thing as green pepper jelly? Green pepper cake? Green pepper chocolate? Hey, I could make millions off that! I shall have to do some research on this!

Today is our first day of school. Already there is one little boy with a stinky little attitude. Aaargh! Time for an attitude adjustment!! Because otherwise it is going to be a very long year for both of us! Today is also the first day they go to band at the public school. Not the first day ever, but for this year.

I miss my oldest terribly. Not only is there an empty place at the table, an empty place in school, an empty place on the pew at church, but there is an empty place in my heart. I've never seen a parenting book that told you when your children leave, a big gaping hole is left. However, let's look at this positively...there will be no more confusion about whose socks and underwear I'm sorting! There, I knew there was a bright side to this! And less laundry because Oldest Daughter likes to wear layers and change frequently...Hm, things are looking up already...On the downside, I have to do the ironing now until I get the other kids trained. Maybe I'll just teach them all at once and when the laundry is done, just have everyone line up for their turn at the ironing board. Sounds like a plan to me! And while I'm at it, they can make my bed and clean the house and I shall sit around eating bonbons and reading. Yep, I'm good with that! Oh Darling Kids, I have some new chores for you...

Our amazing/depressing vacation...

So...we left on vacation/dropping off oldest daughter at college and spent a couple of good days in KC with SIL and BIL. Science City was...well, not quite what I expected! It was good, just not really for teenagers. 12 and under would be a good age for it. Out of my 4 kids, only one is that age! But the others survived. Brave 2nd daughter rode the SkyBike, I thought she was incredibly courageous!

On to Branson to Silver Dollar City...only we discovered on Sunday morning that Silver Dollar City was closed this week - and this week only - until Friday. And we had to leave Wednesday morning. And Silver Dollar City was the whole reason we went to Branson. They were, however, open Sunday afternoon...and had some friends of ours known we wanted to go, they could have gotten us in free for the day. I should explain that with six of us on a small town pastor's salary the only way we were even going to SDC is because someone else could get us discounted tickets during the week...so we were all a tiny bit (ok, make that a whole lot!) disappointed. And with no idea of what to do in Branson. Because everything costs a million dollars when you have four kids who no longer qualify for children's rates. There were a couple of shows we thought we were going to get to see, but those fell through too or were sold out!

BUT....we usually find some fun and this time was no exception! We went swimming in Table Rock Lake (seriously warm water), went on Ride the Ducks (thanks to the above mentioned friends who found complimentary tickets for us!), walked around in Branson's Landing and saw a neat, albeit short, water show, bowled at Hillbilly Bowling (yee haw!), rode the trolley around the Landing, went to Ripley's Believe it or Not. Tuesday we also went to the Titanic Museum because they have a great deal on a family pass. Unfortunately some of us came out of there extremely depressed. Especially me because I have this weird imagination where I get so into things that I could feel the people's terror and sadness. Plus my person (they give you a bio at the beginning of the tour) died. Sad day. So that may not have been the best thing to go to. The day got better though when we went out in a pontoon boat on Table Rock Lake and had a great time. The pseudo-daughter I've mentioned in other blogs came out for the afternoon, so that was awesome. And that evening some friends came and we went out again. I wondered what we would do out on the lake for several hours, but the day just flew by. It was great!

Then came Wednesday...the day we had to pack up and leave our oldest baby at college. Everyone was tired and sad and oldest daugher was nervous and cranky! Especially when I didn't let her drive her own car on the windy roads... We cleaned the house we were renting and headed out. If you've never left your daughter at college, well, let's just say it's a hard thing for sure! I did pretty good, until we got home a couple of days later and I walked in the house and started bawling and couldn't stop. One day later I'm down to sniffling so I'm making progress. Anyway, back to Wednesday...no, that was a depressing day, so let's move to Thursday! We left the college town and headed for Wichita to see my husband's family (the ones that don't live in KC). It is always fun to be with them, and we had some great food at my SIL's house there. My youngest son got to spend the night with his cousin so he was happy.

Friday, we headed home, and I think everybody was depressed about leaving oldest daughter, so we were glad to stop for lunch with some friends and spend a couple of hours laughing.

So...I guess you could say it was the best of times and it was the worst of times. We didn't get to do the things we planned, but we did get to spend lots of time with friends and family! So, no complaints...except that I miss my baby. But she's happy and having fun, so it's good!

Ok, I'm done rambling! Have a good weekend!

On our way

So, we are on our way to dropping off oldest child, but first, a little vacation! We left home yesterday right before noon and are now in Olathe, KS to spend a couple of days at my brother-in-law's house. Last night we just hung out and ate spaghetti and brownies (yum); today we are going to go to Science City at Union Station in Kansas City and then go visit some friends for the evening. Should be a good day since we'll be INSIDE out of the heat for the most part!! I'm just hoping all the stuff in my daughter's car doesn't melt or explode in the heat since it will be in there for a week!!

They drive me nuts...but I'd be lost without them!

Sometimes my family drives me insane. Literally. Not because they are misbehaving, but because they are behaving strangely. Very strangely. Tonight for instance. I foolishly thought that with the oldest leaving soon, we should have a game night. Like most families, we have learned what games NOT to play. Apples to Apples is enjoyed by the kids...but NOT the parents. Phase Ten reduces everyone to whining. We thought Skipbo and Yatzee would be safe, and if someone hadn't put 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou' music on, it might have been. Instead it seemed like whoever's turn it was had to be up doing some hillbilly jig...or breakdancing (how you can breakdance to THAT music is beyond me, but they manage). Sigh. The noise volume just kept getting louder and louder until I was afraid the police would show up to see what kind of wild animals we keep in our house. Then my oldest added ringtones to it. Or maybe the ringtones started it all. I of course sat there quietly, at least until I got a Yatzee on my very last turn. I may have screamed a bit at that one since I never get a yatzee. Not that anyone heard over all the noise.

So...they drive me crazy. But when they are gone, the silence is deafening. No armpit noises, no loud music, no foot-stomping and toe-tapping, no giggles, no laughter.

Maybe sanity is over-rated?

Goodbye, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu

Most nights I wander around the house wondering how other people (namely my husband) can simply lie down (or is it lay down? Hm, should I really be homeschooling if I can't remember the difference? Then again, it is midnight) and fall asleep. It is a mystery to me. I am an insomniac. So I either drive myself crazy trying to fall asleep or I wander around. And if I'm going to wander around, I might as well be productive. My family probably wouldn't appreciate me vacuuming at midnight, so I will blog instead. This is me, blogging...and rambling...and wishing I was asleep...

We had a farewell party for my oldest baby tonight. She is heading off to college this week. It blows my mind that we have arrived at this point so soon. Wasn't it just yesterday that she was born, a big 10 1/2 pound baby, purple in the face? Wasn't it just yesterday she had to have her stuffed Barney in order to sleep? Wasn't it just yesterday she was heading off to preschool, heading off to camp, heading off to her first job? Wow. I am amazed when I look at her. I never imagined when she was little that this day would come so soon. But I also never imagined that she would grow up so beautiful, so confident, so hard-working, such a wonderful blessing almost every day of her life (you notice I said ALMOST--she's had her moments haha). She heads off to college with a poise that is still lacking in my own life. What can I say...I am proud as punch of her, of all my kids. I'm so thankful to God for them, but most of the time the words don't come to tell them so. Unless it's midnight...

This week marks a new chapter in our lives, a new beginning. We will load up her mountain of stuff, haul it all to college for her (taking a little vacation along the way), kiss her goodbye...and more than likely cry most of the way home. But this is the way it should be. You love them, you train them, you give them to God, you send them out the door. But you always leave that door open a smidge so they can visit when they feel the need.

I love you my oldest baby! I will miss you every day. I'm ever so proud to be your Mom :) Fare thee well my child!

Ok, time to go try and sleep again!

Under the Kansan sky

What an absolutely beautiful day! It has been so incredibly hot here, that 87 feels like a nice balmy day. I've been sitting outside snapping beans, waxing eloquently (as my dad liked to say) in my mind so I thought I'd bring the laptop out and do some writing. The sky is so blue with huge puffy clouds...a perfect day for being lazy outdoors. Why is it I have to kick my kids outside to get them to go out? I would much sooner be out here than inside. I threaten them with work if they don't go for a walk! What ever happened to kids spending the summer outdoors, only coming in for a meal once in a while? I don't remember ever being bored in the summer, but my kids are, even with all the electronics at their fingertips. I think their imaginations are bored from lack of use. So now they are outside...somewhere...and so am I. If I had a hammock the day would be perfect. Unfortunately the last time I brought a hammock home it lasted about two weeks because the kids thought it was so much fun to pile it in and swing like crazy!

So, a little about my family...We moved here to the middle of nowhere almost 15 years ago so my husband could take a small church. When we first arrived we lived on a farm 14 miles from town. After living in a big city, it seemed like paradise! We had a 3 year old and a 20 month old, and I was ready for room for them to play. It was so incredibly peaceful out there. Well, except for when our dogs kept getting run over--that sort of disturbed MY peace anyway! A few years later, now with 3 children, we moved to a farm 4 miles from town to a house that had beautiful kitchen cabinets...and holes in the kitchen floor! And the quarter mile from the county road to our house was like a big slipperslide if it rained at all! We'd stop, make sure everybody was buckled up well, say a pray we'd make it, then slide all over until we got to the house! But we loved being in the country! Sadly the condition of the house finally led us to move into town, this time to a major fixer-upper. We spent a few months working on it, then, with 4 kids now, made it our home for a few years. Living in town was a big change, even in a small town. I was afraid my kids would make too much noise and the neighbors would complain! I quickly learned they were no noisier than any other kid. But I sure missed the peace and quiet of the countryside!

About 7 years ago, we finally bought a house. We could have bought the fixer-upper but decided we didn't want to spend the rest of our lives patching cracks. The house we bought was not my dream house although my husband really liked it, but the yard definitely was! A very large back yard for the kids to play in, space to put in a small pond or two, and a separate garden area where I could plant to my heart's content! And...it was NOT a fixer upper. Sure, we've done stuff to it, added a couple of bedrooms in the basement as the kids got older, but we haven't been sitting around staring at hundreds of cracks in the walls! So, if God leaves us here in the middle of nowhere, this is a good place to be!

I'll write more about us another day! Now I'll take a little nap in my comfy chair!

The Wedding of my 'other daughter'

My lands, it is H-O-T here! The heat index is 112!! So, I took the kids and a friend to Glen Elder Lake where the water was refreshingly cool and we had a great time. My oldest daughter got really sunburnt last time, so hopefully this time slathering on sunscreen for 10 minutes did the trick. We'll see. If she looks like a tomato tomorrow I'm going to suggest she stay out of the sun. For good!

I feel sorry for my poor garden out there in this heat. Okra would do fine...only I didn't plant any, so that's irrelevant I guess! Cucumber vines look totally wilted! And that's the garden update for today...I think I should go give the poor things some water.

Well, my 'other daughter' is married now! It was a beautiful wedding--NOT a huge, fancy wedding, but beautiful in it's simplicity. It was definitely centered around the Bride, the Groom, and God. Which is exactly as it should be. Here's a lovely picture of them and MY handsome groom and me:

That's me in the red, not the white...in case you were confused :)