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Wednesday, 04 November 2009

And then things got a tad bit crazy.

Sunday's tale. Continued.

After we'd enjoyed our lunch and chit-chatted and sent the kids and the unmeasurable amount of noise they were making outside, my mother-in-law had to hit the road in order to make it home before dark. The girls said good-bye to Mamaw, and I started in on the dishes.

Meanwhile, my dad had taken notice of the huge crop of hickory nuts we have on our property. He announced that he would like some to take home with him. Then he promptly lay down in the recliner and went to sleep.

Somewhere in the midst of this, my mom looked out the window and said, "Um. There is a huge dog on your porch." We don't own a dog.

"Is it a white dog?" I asked.

Beki walked to the window. "It's a yellow lab, I think."

"Yep. That's Clarence. He's the neighbor's dog. He's very friendly and comes to visit sometime." For the record, Clarence and I are on a first-name basis. His owner, Ed, however, I have never met. Is that strange?

The kids went out to play with the dog. My sister went out to collect a bucket of nuts for Dad, as a dutiful daughter should. One of the twins came tearing through the house to announce that she had taught Clarence a trick, and she insisted we all come outside to watch "The Dog Show." Mom was resting on the couch, Dad still asleep in the recliner, and Phoebe napping. The rest of us ended up outside, watching Clarence fetch sticks and hickory nuts.

As we're watching this, something catches my eye down by the road. "Look. I think a chicken's coming over here." It wandered across the road and made it's way up the hillside. It was met with much love and affection.

Or not.

But guess what? We've answered the age-old question! Why did the chicken cross the road? He wanted to see The Dog Show.

He's an attractive fellow, isn't he?

He's popular with the ladies.

Not so much with the cat.

A little background about the cat. He just showed up one day. I don't feed strays. The theory is that then they will go HOME instead of thinking my place is home. This cat did NOT go home. He just sat at my windows and yelled. Yes, this cat yells. He's the loudest cat on the planet. And he's very lovable. His name is Hunter. We were hoping the fierce moniker would inspire him to control the vermin that come with living in the boondocks. So far he has not controlled a raccoon, a peacock, and now a rooster. He's killed two extremely vicious chipmunks. Ooooh. Scary creatures, those chipmunks.

Phoebe woke up, so we introduced her to all the visiting critters. She ignored Clarence.

This is what she thought of the rooster.

My favorite shot of the rooster and the onlookers.

It's Wednesday. The rooster is still here. He was crowing on my porch at 6:15 this morning. Right outside the window where I have my quiet time.

I told the rooster's owners, and they've been over to claim him a couple of times, but he's more of a free-range chicken, so he just comes over to our place during the day (presumably because we have warmer sunshine on our side of the valley). He mostly goes back to his place to roost at night.

Josie said the other day, "Well, I guess he's ours now." No, Josie. That only works with cats.

We have, however, named the rooster now. Ted. As in "Hun-Ted." It seems to be as successful a name as Hunter.

Monday, 02 November 2009

Yesterday was one of those days I have to treasure up in that special part of my mama heart. My twins were baptized. By their father. While many of their loved ones, biological and church family, watched and celebrated. Two other children were baptized yesterday, too: their friend Annie from across the road and Nathan, our next door neighbor. How fun is that? Four baptisms from one quarter-mile strip of Hwy 524?

Beki graciously served as the photographer for me so that I could just soak in the moment as I watched my little girls declare their faith and obedience to Christ.

Here's Susannah (and DeWayne, of course),

Blurry because Bek was attempting to get a going in and coming out of the water shot, so the camera didn't really have time to focus for the second shot. Trust me...she's wet.

And Caroline's turn...

I love this shot of Caroline. ^^ It is just a classic "Caroline" look, and I know she was a bit nervous about having to talk in front of the congregation. She just doesn't like to be the sole center of attention. I can see her taking a deep breath, calming herself before saying, "Jesus is Lord," in answer to DeWayne's question about what her confession is. I love that this shot captures her nervousness and her complete trust and deep joy, too. I love DeWayne looking down from the corner. It warms my heart.

After the church service, we came back to my house for a taco smorgasbord. While I was finishing the meal prep, my sister gave the girls a card and a little vase filled with blue decorative stones, to symbolize water and remind them of the day. My parents had cross necklaces for them, which they wore to school today with much eagerness.

We enjoyed a celebratory meal together and enjoyed one another's company.

It was a great day, a day of joy and celebration and delight. Coming tomorrow... the rest of the afternoon. The part where it got a little crazy.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Perspective

I was getting ready to write a quick post about what a stinky day it has been. About how I've spent most of my waking hours staring into the mirror of my own wretchedness. About how I've been keenly aware of my faults, my failings, my propensity for being selfish, for being pompous, for being downright ugly. How I need a do-over today.

While I was folding laundry and pondering the nitty gritty of such a posting, Susannah called out to me from the piano. "Hey, Mom! Listen to me play 'O Come, All Ye Faithful'!"

Sure thing, little one.

She played. She fumbled several times, but it was identifiable. It's a fairly new song for her, so I didn't have huge expectations.

"I made a couple of mistakes, but other than that, I did perfect!" She beamed.

I chuckled. Yep. Except for a few mistakes, it was perfect. That is probably a better description of my day than what I had planned, so we'll leave it at that.

Monday, 26 October 2009

Fall Vacation...
at home.

Well, sort of at home. Over the kids' week of Fall Break, we went to Cedarville and pretended Mom and Dad's house was a hotel. Then we went to all the places around there we could think of. And that we could fit in our week's schedule. It was every sort of fun.

We arrived on Friday night, Oct. 16, and went out to eat with my parents while Jason and Beki were chaperoning a youth lock-in at church.

Saturday, we were lazy. Highlights: mom took the kids shopping, and I took a nap. DeWayne mowed the yard for Dad on his fancy-pants mower. Mom was offended that DeWayne didn't get a lecture about not wrecking the mower.

Beki and Jason came over for dinner. They were both tired, but I loved hearing about their lock-in experience. Who doesn't love hearing about rousing games of Underground Church? I remember playing that with my Southgate friends at their lock-ins.

Sunday, we went to church in the morning. We watched some football while the kids didn't nap. Then we loaded up the bikes and went in to the bike path. Four adult bikes. Two kids' big bikes. Two kids' bikes with training wheels. One bike trailer. Shwew. It was lovely.

My poor children have never had the chance to ride anywhere but the church parking lot. Sometimes we even let them ride to the post office. This big ride was a treat for all of us.

Look who can ride a bike. Check out my basket. I know you're jealous.

Some lessons learned on that ride:
- Susannah hates geese. I thought she would wreck when we came across a flock.
- Lily is done riding at about 3.2 miles.
- You can't determine exactly halfway of when Lily is done riding.
- Deciding when to turn around is a crapshoot.
- Taking photographs while pedaling leads to a few oddly composed or blurry shots.
- Beki will take pictures of my rump if I give her the camera.
- My rump balanced on the bike seat did not need to be published on the internet.
We went to the park for a little playing before supper. My niece Phoebe was hamming it up for us. Isn't she darling? For those who are curious, she's 14ish months old.

We went back to Mom and Dad's for leftovers (really wonderful leftovers, actually). This is where I am a failure. I have no pictures of any of us just hanging out with each other. Once again, there are NO pictures of my mother. Note to self: chase Mom around with the camera next time we're together and get a shot or 20 of her.

Monday morning, Beki and some of her friends from their Mom's Bible Study group were headed to the Columbus Zoo. Since the zoo was on the list of of vacation destinations for our family, we all rode up together in her sweet minivan. We arranged to meet the Taviano girls at the zoo. We all moved as a giant pack until lunch, then we split in half which, I think, made it easier to keep the kids moving in the right direction.

L-R, Susannah, me, Josie, Marla, Caroline, Livi (top row, dark pink), Ava (by Caroline), Nina (making the best face ever)

We had to get our favorite souvenir, the squashed penny. DeWayne has been doing this with the kids since the twins were 3. We even have the Penny Keeper collector albums. That's right. We're nerds. But we're cheap nerds!

On Tuesday, we went to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. It was free admission with our Louisville Zoo membership. It was such a fun day for us all! Some highlights:

They had a very fun water table where you could design your own fountain, learn about how river locks work, and use an auger-like device to lift water.

This wasn't really a highlight, but the picture is funny. The girls wanted to get in this truck they had. With no prompting, they decided to take a picture with serious faces. It cracks me up!

They really enjoyed the "animal hospital" area. We played vet and pet owner for quite a while!

We climbed the tower in the middle of the museum to the skylight in the roof. Ta da!

We headed to a nearby park for a snack. The kids played on the playground a little until we decided to walk across the Great Miami River on this pedestrian bridge.

L - Caroline, R - Susannah

We returned to Mom & Dad's just in time for the kids to all go ride the combine with PaPa.

On Wednesday, we headed to the Dayton Art Institute. They had museum guides for little kids to do with parents (you looked for things on display that started with each letter of the alphabet). Josie was quite insistent that she had to fill hers out in order. No putting in that X word until we had the first 23 blanks filled in. She also had to write all the words herself. She's 4. That was a bit laborious, but she was so proud. And she loved the museum.

The twins filled out a treasure hunt guide that directed them to specific works in different rooms and asked questions about it. When all was said and done, we showed our completed guides to the information desk staff and earned a free DAI pencil. Woo hoo!

Josie and Susannah put on a puppet play for DeWayne in the ExperienCenter.

This was not staged! They really paused to look at the art. Especially once we got past some of the modern abstract stuff.

There is a shiny metal sculpture on the museum grounds. This is what we look like looking at it. Sort of.

To a different park for a snack. This one had a great playground. The kids blew off some steam.

Susannah gave Caroline a push on the zip line thingy. (I don't know what you call this piece of playground equipment. I do know, however, that at 90% of the playgrounds I've ever been to that has this thing, it is broken and inoperable. This one worked perfectly. And they hopped right on.)

On Thursday, we took the kids to the Air Force Museum at Wright Patt. DeWayne likes to go there. I like to go there. The kids have enjoyed it in the past.

Many of the displays at this museum include mannequins. There was no end to the questions my children could ask about the mannequins. Impossible questions to answer adequately. Three questions at the same time. Oh, the agony.

Note the enthusiasm. I'm thinking 3 straight days of museums was probably too much.
By the way, this was the "best" part of the museum for them. *sigh*

No matter where I go, I can't get away from these darn kids!

Just kidding. I loved hanging out with the family for a week. Fall break is a new concept for us, but we really enjoyed the recharging and the break from the routine. I feel ready to face the coming months, with the bustle of holidays and all.

If you're on Facebook, you can see a few more pictures there, but these should be about 10 more than plenty anyway.

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

Newsy-ish

I haven't done a "grandparents" update lately. You know the kind where I detail all that's going on around here, and you'd have to be my grandma to care one iota? So if you're not family, you've been warned. I completely understand if you saunter away in complete boredom.

Shall we begin?

l-r: Susannah, Caroline, Josephine

My sister-in-law, Crystal, and her family came to visit over the weekend. It's the first time her husband Thomas and my nephew Elijah have been to visit. We had a delightful time. They arrived Friday right before the twins got off the bus. We stuck around the house that night, grilled some steaks, and enjoyed brownie babies with peanut butter cheesecake filling. Mmmmm.

On Saturday, we headed to the zoo. It was a great day for it. The zoo has a big Halloween party during the weekends in October, so they were already decorated for that, and we had to be out of the zoo by 4:00, but that ended up working out perfectly.

l-r, Crystal, Thomas, Elijah is in the stroller, Susannah, Josie, Caroline, DeWayne.

For Aunt Bek. You're welcome.

This is what Elijah thought of most of the zoo.

See the cuteness he was missing? What's not to love about some lemurs?

On the way home from the zoo, we stopped at the twins' school, where they were having the annual Fall Festival fundraiser. We bought $20 worth of tickets and watched the kids blow their wad. Josie was partial to the duck pond because, in her words, "I'm really good at that game, Mommy!"

When the festival tickets ran out, we headed for the house. DeWayne and Thomas and my kids were in one vehicle, and Crystal and I were in another car with the baby. DeWayne decided it would be easier for me to pull together supper without the chaos of everyone being in the house, so he took Thomas on a driving tour of the area. Of course, he failed to mention this plan to me. I didn't have a house key with me. So what that meant was that Crystal and I sat outside the house for 30 minutes waiting for him to return and let us in. Supper was prepared in the midst of chaos anyway. And later, to boot. So much for good intentions.

Sunday, we all went to church, and then we packed them up and saw them off around 3:00 PM. It's that time of year when our Sunday evenings are chock full. I went back to church at 4:15 for cantata practice. After that, we have small group Bible studies. DeWayne is leading a men's group, and I'm leading a women's group. Meanwhile, the kids are rehearsing for the children's Christmas musical. Excited does not even begin to describe their enthusiasm for this. Caroline and Susannah will be butterflies, and Josie is a lamb. I think it will end up being quite a treat for us all!

We had a visit from Tammy and Billy Cowan a couple weeks ago. They are such dear friends, and my children adore them. They brought a special gift, a Paula Deen kids' cookbook. I can't tell you how often the kids have pored over the pages, selecting menus and planning treats. Last night, they prepared supper, Pigs in a Blanket. They were so proud of themselves, and they did a great job. It was super fun watching them work alone on this. Maybe in about a year, I'll have a night off once a week!

Caroline and Josephine facing the camera. The back of Susannah's head.

l-r, Susannah, Caroline, Josephine. Don't mind the cold medicine in the foreground. It was not included in the cooking.

The weather has been a little nutty lately. It rained and rained and rained on October 8-9. Our poor neighbors' driveway flooded again. I hate that for them! It doesn't last long, but it is still such an inconvenience for them.

We're planning the twins' baptism, tentatively, for Sunday, November 1. They are looking forward to it, and so am I! I am trying to decide on some ways to make the whole day one of celebration. Meanwhile, they are out of school October 19-23, so we're going to slip away for some sort of vacation in there. Not sure where we'll be going or for what days, but I know this. Josie would LOVE to go back to St. Louis! That's what we did last year on fall break, and she loved it. We're floating a few ideas around, and I guess we'll have to come to a decision pretty soon.

DeWayne has been working heavily on his doctoral research. I know it is a big job, but he's already laid it out so well, I don't think it will be to difficult to just keep on chugging it out. I guess that means I need to get my editorial hat back on, so I can check it over for proper footnote format and all that other stuff that is not really important, but can sully his hard work.

I think that about covers it. Except for the fact that I have developed a cold. No fever. Not even feeling really, really bad. I'd say, if 10 is my normal health, I'm at about a 6 or 7. So I am pressing on with my daily activities, but I don't want to. I want to sit on the couch and read a book and a take a nap whenever it sneaks up on me and sip herbal tea. Josie doesn't agree with that plan. Neither does the laundry from the weekend. So I will go to plan B. The "get on with it and pretend you feel OK" plan. Yep, that's just what we'll do.