Home is Where Your Story Begins

A couple of years ago I bought this little bird house at 90% off at CVS.

It was after July 4th and I think it was all of 50 cents. I thought it was cute, somewhat Americana and let's be honest, it was just 50 cents. I have had it in a box for the past couple of years and when we moved to our new house I pulled it out and just stuck it outside on the back deck. I was actually just procrastinating throwing it away because it seemed kind of out of place out there. But then this little one started showing up.

We have watched this bird for hours come and go and each time the bird would bring a worm, drop it off in the house then go off for another one.

This repeated countless times over the weekend. And each time the bird was so very cautious to watch her surroundings before flying into the house.

Yesterday we were sitting out on the deck after dinner watching the boys play and Chris said he thought for sure he could hear chirping. He asked if I thought there were babies in the house so I took a peek. And sure enough, I saw at least 5 baby bird beaks wide open chirping for their dinner. Precious. It reminded me of when the children were infants and they would start to "chirp" when they were hungry. I used to ask them if they were singing for their dinner. Their little mouths would start going like baby birds until they were happily eating.

I told Chris it doesn't matter how big your house is. How much you paid for it. How much it is worth now. A family makes a home. And I am sure this momma bird is so very proud of her babies, just like I am of mine. How exciting it will be to see them each fly out of their home when they get older. And to know my little clearanced bird house is where their story is beginning.

Family

When Chris and I met I had no idea what impact his family would have on me over the years to come. I didn't know at the time how many children he and I would go on to have. How those children would touch my life; change my life and in turn draw me closer to his family. I had know idea the ways I would grow. How my heart would stretch. How I would come to learn the depths of love in a family. Not that I didn't experience love in my own family. But as my life has evolved since my mother passed away my definition of family and love has also evolved. I think my mother would be so very pleased with where I am in my life right now. I think she would be thrilled with the new family I have now in my in laws, whom I really don't consider in laws. Aren't the words in laws used to describe those brutal mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationships that make for very bad Hollywood movies? I don't know anything about those types of in laws. Mine are fantastic.

Last night Chris was baptized at our church. It was a wonderful moment for me to experience and even more because his mother and father drove down for the occasion. 6+ hours one way only to turn around the next day and drive back home. That's what family does. They are there for the big events; the weddings, the births, the funerals, the baptisms. Because it is important. They are there when you think no one else will be. They can bring the feeling of home to you when you can't get home. I am so very grateful for this gift of family.

I do TOO, know about Star Wars

A few weeks ago Ethan came home from school with his feelings hurt. He said his friends were making fun of him and telling him he didn't know anything about Star Wars. And of course, they knew sooooo much. I mean, they are 5 years old and all. I tried to explain to him that it isn't important how many Star Wars characters you can name. And his reply was "I do TOO, know about Star Wars!" So try explaining to a 5 year old boy the lack of importance of his knowledge in Star Wars and I am sure you will learn just like me that when you are 5 your friendships can hang in the balance of how many Star Wars characters you can name. I tried to console him to no avail and Chris's answer was to have a Star Wars marathon and by golly we will learn them ALL! Not even George Lucas will be able to name a character that we will not have already known about. Well, the Star Wars drama came and went. The tooth fairy was sure to bring Ethan a t shirt with no less than 15 Star Wars characters on it and I am sure his friends thought he was the coolest. At least on that day.

Fast forward to today. Ethan comes home talking about Avatar. I had to pause and say, "what did you just say?" And Ethan politely said "Avatar." Hold on......

Me: How do you know about Avatar?

Ethan: Andy told me. (it should be noted that Andy is also the omniscient Star Wars guru of the kindergarten class)

Me: What does Andy know about Avatar?

Ethan: He saw the movie.

Ok - hold on a second. This is where the conversation turned to Chris and I. Avatar is rated PG-13 and last time I checked there aren't any 13 year olds in KINDERGARTEN! This is precisely what I am up against. I am trying to have my children hold onto Tom and Jerry who quite frankly can be a little violent at times. I mean really, Jerry takes sledge hammers and bashes Tom's head in for goodness sakes and there are children in Ethan's class who are going to see movies that are rated PG-13. Seriously people! Is it just me, or does this seem like a problem for anyone else? No wonder our children are growing up too fast, parents are LETTING them. Not only letting, but encouraging them! It blows my mind. These are the things that make me want to head for the hills and be a homeschooling family. Ethan will find more value in learning to take care of goats than he will in a James Cameron movie. I can promise you that.

Lazy Day

After church today we spent the majority of the afternoon outside. The boys were very active, using their imaginations, playing and overall getting along wonderfully. Life without video games is turning out to be great!

They started out playing golf, which led to hitting the balls into the woods.

I think that is Ethan, but I can't be certain. Nope, the above picture is Owen. Ethan was wearing a blue shirt.

Ethan also pulled another tick off of him tonight. Ick!

Eliza stayed on the deck for the most part and played with whatever she could get her hands on. Here she is with lips that go with a straw that Aunt Jan sent Owen.

So serious with her possessions.

She did this a lot....

so we put up this.

Ethan asked me how he and Owen were going to get back on the porch and I told him they were going to have to sleep in their log cabin tonight. He said but it is dirty and I told him he better start cleaning it. He had a look on his face like he wasn't quite sure if I was serious of not. But of course, I told him I was kidding and he let a little smile shine through.

We played monkey in the middle.

And Eliza was the cheerleader.

You probably noticed a sudden change in her clothing. She was doing ok until she found one of the boys dump trucks full of water and started splashing around in it. She was soaked, so we striped her down. She didn't care.

Yay for Sundays!

Trouble

We have permanently done away with letting the boys play video games and tv time has been cut to a bare minimum too. Their behavior tends to be way better the less screen time they have - isn't that what psychologists have been saying for awhile? So tonight we are playing games.

Owen is still learning how to play games. He is not a good listener, except when he wants to be a good listener. Which is rarely ever.

He wants to do his own counting and even when he counts wrong and I try to help him put his game piece on the right space he argues with me.

He isn't old enough to understand how to cheat. But Ethan, oh dear, Ethan.

Ethan knows exactly how to cheat but he isn't really sneaky about it.

I like my children so much better sans video games and sugar.

Funny Dialogue

For those that may not know, Chris is being baptized at our church next Wednesday. He was saved and sprinkled as a child but now as an adult has decided this is something he wants to do as his next step. So next Wednesday it will be. I have told the boys about this and really want them to be there to watch so that I can explain what is going on. Their biggest concern right now is what is going to happen to daddy's glasses when he goes under the water. The following is part of a dialogue that Owen had with Mimi last night on the phone.

Owen: Daddy is going to be baptized.

Mimi: (he was on the phone, so I really don't know what she was saying back, but I imagine she was asking him questions).

Owen: The Creacher is going to dunk him under water.

Ethan: His name is Preacher.

Owen: The Creacher is going to dunk him under water.

Me: His name is Preacher Keith.

Owen: Creacher Keets is going to dunk him under water.

:-)

Final Kindergarten Field Trip

I was able to get some pictures from Ethan's field trip earlier this week. They walked to a local park from the school, which is really only about 1/8 of a mile and it connects to the back of the school. They met a science group there, HighTouch, HighTech and did some outside science-y type things. (Science isn't really my thing either!) Then they had a picnic lunch at the park and was able to play for awhile.

This is Ethan with his friend Nathan. I have mixed feelings about their friendship. They tend to get in trouble quite often and I am not naive enough to think it is always the other kid and not mine. Believe me when I say I know what my children are capable of. But I also think they fuel each other. However, Ethan talks about Nathan quite often.

And this one is of several children in his class. I honestly don't know them all, which is a shame considering I have volunteered there many times. It is the girls that I get confused with. They are all very pretty little girls, and many of them have long blond hair.

I think, from left to right, it is Savannah, Sydney, Nathan, Eliza, Julia (you can just barely see her head), Nicholas T, Ethan and Caden. To the far right is half of Cristian. And Mrs. Cooke is in the background. But see, just from that picture, how many of the children are blond, including the boys. See why it is hard?

And here is a bunch of silliness. :-) I think Ethan had a great time.

Farm Fresh

I signed our family up for another CSA this year, this time with Hill Top Farms and we had our first pick up today. I am really excited about this farm because they are all organic so when we leave the pick up site and the boys want to eat something they can just grab whatever and I know there are no pesticides on it. This is what we got today.

Still lots of winter type veggies, well, I guess winter type - lots of lettuces and greens anyway. There were 4 types of lettuce, onions, spinach and strawberries. Yum!

For dinner I put down a layer of spinach in a casserole dish, then about 1/4 cup of chicken broth, then the chicken breasts sprinkled with salt, pepper and some type of spice (I am so not a cook!). Then cut up grape tomatoes and the onions and sprinkled on top. Baked for about 45 minutes and it was quite tasty.

And since I had so much lettuce, I made a really yummy salad. I used a bit of each of the greens that I had and added strawberries, apples, cucumbers, grape tomatoes and blue cheese crumbles.

With a side of baked acorn squash, I would say tonight was a very successful and healthy dinner. And the boys loved it. They tried everything and Owen even wanted seconds and thirds of the squash. For dessert Chris made vanilla pudding and even put them in my cute little triffle bowls.

And for the pictures I know you really come here to see. :-)

She has started sticking her tongue out. Not really towards anyone, just sticking it out and keeping it out.

Eliza tried a few new things tonight too.

Apples, cucumbers and vanilla pudding. Last night at church she tried lasagna for the first time and loved it. She was covered in sauce. All over her face and in her hair.

But tonight, I am fairly certain her favorite was the apples and the pudding.

She also practiced walking tonight a little more.

Not bad considering she is on the hardwood floor which tends to make the walker travel a bit faster than the carpet.

One That is Not Ours

I went to my bible study tonight and Chris was responsible for getting the children in the bed. I gave them all baths before I left so he would have one less thing to do on his own. He said after he put Eliza to bed, he and the boys were playing in the play room and Owen said he was thirsty. He asked Chris if he could have some orange juice and Chris said no (three cheers for Chris!), then he asked if he could have some milk and Chris said no (three more cheers for Chris!), then he asked if he could have some water and Chris said yes. So Owen headed downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink of water. I have put their tupperware tumbler cups in a cabinet where the boys can get to them precisely for this reason. They are ALWAYS thirsty. So Owen was downstairs for awhile and the following dialogue took place.

Owen: Daddy can you come down here?

Chris: No, why?

Owen: Daddy I need you to come down here.

Chris: Owen, why?

Owen: There is a different cat down here.

Chris: What do you mean?

Owen: One that is not ours.

So Chris went downstairs to see what he was talking about and Owen had let Kenny (one of our neighborhood cats that we feed) inside. So there sat Kenny and Harry staring at each other, I am quite certain getting ready to brawl. Harry took off around the corner and Chris kindly escorted Kenny back outside. Owen insisted he didn't let Kenny in the house, he was only trying to feed him.

I am laughing until I am crying. One that is not ours. Owen is hilarious.

Sorry to say I still haven't taken any pictures the past couple of days. Ethan did have a field trip yesterday and Chris went instead of me since I had my doctor's appointment, but he didn't take any pictures. One of the other parents did, but we can't figure out how to download them from Kodak Gallery. I need to email the parent and ask.

So there's your chuckle for today. Hope everyone had a great Tuesday!

Ahhh.....Breathing a Little Easier

What a day! It started with my sweet friend Glennon writing this post on her blog and then all her our friends posting these wonderful things they were going to do today to put more positive energy into the world in the hopes that we would really get God's attention today. Because you know, and this is one thing that is hard for my human mind to wrap around, God is everywhere. But just in case, I just didn't want to feel like He was over in China today. I wanted Him right here in NC. And He was. All day. I felt His presence. As a matter of fact on my drive to the doctor today, this is the song that came on the radio.



My appointment went well. I still don't have a definitive answer as to what this thing is but the surgeon used the word cyst. And I tell you, I don't know that I have heard a more beautiful word in a very long time. I have an appointment to go back next Monday to have it removed and he is going to send it off for a full pathology report - and let me stop there to ask, why do people say a full pathology report? Shouldn't a pathology report alone be the full pathology report? Anyway.....after he gets the results from that, which he is confident are going to prove that this is nothing more than a cyst, he wants me to have a follow up mammogram in 6 months before he will fully release me. And I am completely ok with that. I felt so much love today from so many women. My sweet, sweet friend Shannon way up in Pennsylvania who adorns my dear Eliza with all her bows. A wonderful friend named Carol in the UK. A lovely friend named Rebecca who sat at dinner last night with her family and prayed for me. And there's a woman down in Texas who likes her bows as big as I do that I know she has been praying for me. Each of you have just helped my faith to grow a little deeper and a little stronger. You each inspire me to be better. Thank you.

And another praise - Eliza is feeling much better today and her cough is subsiding.

As my friend Glennon said when I told her the news:

"and all God's children said AAAAAMEN!"

Really Not Too Much

Eliza hasn't felt well today so I haven't bothered taking any pictures. The boys were outside this afternoon climbing trees and I thought about what a nostalgic blog post that could be. I loved climbing trees when I was little, but didn't bother coming inside to get the camera. I have started reading a new book.
I haven't gotten far enough into it to really talk about what it is about yet, but I will eventually.

Not sure if Eliza will make it to day care in the morning or not. I may be home with her and end up taking her to my doctor's appointment with me. We will see how she does tonight and in the morning. She has thrown up a few times today, but not because of flu like symptoms. She has a lot of drainage and gags easily so gets to coughing and ends up gagging herself. Unfortunately that means I end up covered in regurgitated milk. Yuck. Yeah, I stink. Having a sick baby can really put you in a funk.

We have a busy week coming up, well mostly next weekend which I am very excited about, so things will turn around. I just know it.

Here's to a full nights rest.

Busy Day Saturday

Busy. That about sums up our day. It started with soccer this morning, then a birthday party. Eliza is sick so when we got home from the birthday party we took her prescription to CVS to be filled. Whoever thought to put blood pressure machines at pharmacies was a genius and I would like to hug their neck. That is the only thing that helped me keep my sanity during our 20 minute wait for the prescription to be filled. Eliza is sleeping for now, but I have a feeling we aren't going to get much sleep tonight overall. She is coughing so hard she is throwing up so if she wakes up at all and starts coughing tonight, we are in trouble.

I got a letter from the radiologist today. I have known for a few days now what the next step would be but something about getting that letter today kind of threw me. Maybe the all bold print where they tell me my mammogram and ultrasound was abnormal and I need to see someone immediately for a follow up. I knew this. My doctor called me on Tuesday afternoon and her voice was a little, well, like there was something she needed to talk to me about but she was uncomfortable doing so. So she beat around the bush a little and said the results from the radiologist were inconclusive so she wanted me to see a surgeon. She had already called them and they would be contacting me about an appointment soon. My appointment is Monday. Like I said, I knew all this on Tuesday but something about that letter today was not comforting at all. So, that's what I know. Hopefully the doctor I see on Monday will tell me everything is fine and we will just move on.

Nothing planned for tomorrow. Eliza will most likely skip church tomorrow since she is so snotty. Not sure yet if that means Chris will take the boys or me. We will see. Other than that, nothing on the agenda.

They Are Precious in His Sight

Earlier this week I was in carpool line waiting to pick up Ethan and as with every day there is a young teacher that stands at the corner of the school on the sidewalk and watches a little boy as he walks across the crosswalk, down the sidewalk, crossing another crosswalk and then makes it to his home. Ever since Ethan started school last year, I have seen her watch this little boy.

This little boy is gorgeous! I have never seen him not smiling. He waves at every car that drives by. He has a bounce in his step. He is joyful and happy and everything mothers want to see in their children. He also has down syndrome. Maybe your heart just dropped like mine used to when I would see him. I would think to myself how could his mother allow him to walk from school to home every day unassisted? How does she know he makes it? And if she is in the home waiting for him, why doesn't she meet him at school and walk home with him?

Over the past couple of months, I have been introduced to Kelle Hampton. Well, not literally introduced, but have been able to follow her along her journey of becoming a mother for a second time via her blog. She had one daughter, Lainey and was eagerly awaiting the birth of her second child. When her second daughter was born and everyone was oohing and ahhing over the new baby, Kelle sat there stunned looking at her new daughter, Nella. No one would say anything, and Kelle panicked looking around the room for ANYONE to say something about what seemed so obvious to her. But no one said a word. They just kept on oohing and ahhing. Kelle sat there, seemingly in a world all her own, trying to comprehend what was going on. Nella was born with down syndrome. I highly recommend you visiting Kelle's blog to read her story. I promise you, despite her rocky start with Nella, she adores her to pieces. There are absolutely things that Kelle continues to mourn for the life she thought her daughters would have and particularly the heart ache that the outside world will inevitably inflict on her family as Nella grows, however, Kelle is a mother first and foremost. And mothers protect their babies with a fierceness unknown to anyone else. And there is no doubt in my mind she will do the same for Nella.

So, earlier this week, I jumped out of my car and ran over to the teacher that stands at the corner of the school each day and watches the little boy walk home. I told her, I don't know how you know this little boy, but it is obvious he means so very much to you. I don't know his mother or him, but what you are doing for them is wonderful. So from afar, I thank you for blessing me each day. She smiled and said his name is Ben. He is wonderful and if you see him out, say hi to him and tell him your name. I promise he will never forget it.

Ben and Nella have opened my eyes to children I have always felt sorry for. My own ignorance, I admit. Ben and Nella are beautiful and happy. They smile. They love. They will have dreams. And they will fulfill their dreams. They are no more or no less than my own children in God's eyes and now in my eyes as well. These parents that I used to think how do they do it? Now I think, how could they not do it? They are all precious in His sight.

Please visit Kelle's blog and get to know Nella. I know you will fall in love with her just as I have.

Week of the Young Child

This week at preschool they are celebrating the week of the young child. Each day has been a little something fun for the children. Monday they had a parade; Tuesday was pajama day; Wednesday was wacky clothes/hair day; and today was favorite team day.

Even the littlest Bordman is going to have some 'Eer gear.

I am pretty sure this outfit came from Amber.

She is just a ham isn't she? She took a step tonight without holding onto anything. Hard to believe.

I volunteered in Owen's class this morning for an art project. I had all these hopes of doing something really fantastic with the children. But I have to be honest with you, having 3 kids and working full time is kicking my tail. So instead of staying up til 1am cutting out butterflies to make a mobile, we did finger painting. And I think the children loved it. Plain ole messy fun. Nothing fancy.

Speaking of kicking my tail, I think the dryer just went off. Better go fold the laundry so I can start the 3rd load tonight.