Timothy received his Wolf badge last night at Pack Meeting!
I got a mother’s pin. I bought a ribbon on which the boys can place their pins. It is a good idea.
When the Cubmaster tells you to hug your mom, you hug your mom.
Mark was very proud and ran up to give him a hug, too.
There is a movement I have read about recently where women try to take more pictures of themselves interacting with their children. These women set up a tripod and a remote, stand in front of a mirror, or perform other acrobatics to see that there are photos of themselves in the act of mothering. I’m not up to that. However, Richard caught this private moment with his telephoto lens the other day and it reminded me again of how much I love being a mom.
Paige gave this to me in a frame for my birthday. It’s immensely thoughtful and I savor each detail.
I’ve discovered that I can do laundry on my busiest day of errands because I throw in a load as I head out the door and I can fold in the 20 minutes between runs.
As busy as I am, I prefer making dinner to just about any other afternoon activity. It’s therapeutic to chop and saute and it feels good to pull out a steaming dish of something from the oven.
I discovered that Hannibal Smith from the A-Team is the male lead in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I didn’t like it the first time I saw it years ago, and I barely made it 20 minutes before I turned it off this time. I only left it on that long because it made me snicker to watch the boys try to enjoy it because Hannibal was in it.
This week I discovered the joy of waking up to the sun with open blinds. Why have I never done this before?
“There are many of the sisters whose labors are not known beyond their own dwellings and perhaps not appreciated there, but what difference does that make? If your labors are acceptable to God, however simple the duties, if faithfully performed, you should never be discouraged.” -Eliza R. Snow
Here’s the person of the day. He’s smart, creative, athletic, handsome, and carries tools.
I call him Dan Man…even though I don’t really want him to be a man just yet.
Daniel is missing in a lot of our photos because he’s usually blazing the trail for the rest of us. It’s nice to have a boy who is independent but will still give me a hug at night before bed.
He’s twelve and he’s a good boy. I feel so blessed to have him in our family.
The public schools are out today for teacher prep. I’m sorely tempted to take a teacher prep day, but that would mean the boys would have all day to fight instead of just the afternoon, so you know what that means: SCHOOL TIME!
I love those boys. They need action and excitement and outdoor play. Last week we found ourselves at the park…in the afternoon…and we didn’t get heat stroke! Hooray! There is hope for an autumn!
Today we said goodbye to many of Paige’s childhood toys and dress up clothes. Tears were shed. She has kept them around for all the neighbor girls to play with when they come over, but this summer it became clear that we are out of space. Most toys were carefully wrapped and donated to special people and to our church thrift store. Other things were packed away in deep storage for me to pull out and play with when Paige moves out and I’m the only girl in the house.
This photo was taken in 2002.
Goodbye pink Kelly castle with the little dragon.
Goodbye dollies. You are loved.
Goodbye ponies.
Goodbye twirly pink dress up clothes.
I’m crying my eyes out.
Goodbye tea parties with princesses.
Goodbye little things and glittery treasures.
Goodbye baby girl.
Zoomer-Smasher-Dune buggy when I ride my bike?
-Mark, age 4
This is the week that Mark learned to ride a two wheeled bike and picked up a book and read it. Blast. Next thing I know he will be telling me that he is engaged.
Richard bought Mark a bike without pedals because it’s the latest thing in balance theory. (I just made that up.) We’re believers in the balance theory, though. Without training wheels, Mark learned to balance on two wheels in about a day. We live on a hill and he walks himself up and then he glides down the hill. His wrecks are spectacular. I can hardly watch.
Sigh. My little Mark is now “Zoomer-Smasher-Dune buggy.”
And if that was not enough, on the same day he decided to read.
I committed a social faux pas last week when I told two friends who are avid preschool mothers that I haven’t been “pushing” reading for Mark. It seems like everyone wants their preschool children to read. I have known for a while that Mark was ready to read but I hadn’t prepared the little books and incentive program that my other children needed/loved when they were learning. I was waiting for a little prep time before we really got started.
Paige’s incentives were stickers and pizza; Daniel and Timothy ate candy and earned pieces of a pirate ship as they learned their phonics lessons. I was hoping Mark’s incentives would involve sharing chocolates and lots of hugs and kisses.
Somehow without the incentives and the structure he learned anyway. Perhaps his was the most powerful incentive of all: he wants to be a reader like everyone else in the house. I’m not saying he’s reading everything, but yesterday his little readers arrived in the mail and he picked one up and read several pages aloud, commenting that the word “and” was sure used a lot.
So there he goes… our baby(whimper)… off into the big world of high speed and higher education.
Each spring before we attend the General Young Women meeting, Paige and I have our picture taken.
