Holy Last-Minute Costume, Batman!

Hey, Mom? You know that movie we are working on in G/T?
- Yes.
I need a costume for it.
- Ok. When and what?
I'm Robin in the movie and we film tomorrow.
- Robin Hood?
No. Batman's Robin.
- When do you need a costume?
Tomorrow.
-WHAT?! Why didn't you say something sooner?

This only happened because a few stars in the sky lined up properly.

1. Will already had a cape at school that he made for the costume.

2. I had a red v-neck shirt in the get-rid-of pile. I cut the sleeves off.

3. I had a black shirt in that pile, too. I cut it into a strip for a belt, a strip for the mask, a circle for the "R"

4. I had several pieces of yellow felt in the kids' art drawer. One of them was cut into the circle, R, belt buckle, and chest-laces.

5. Allen played with the kids and got them into bed for the hour and a half I worked on the outfit.

I guess Will wasn't expecting much since knew I didn't even have time to go to the store for supplies, but when he saw the shirt and mask, his face lit up in surprise and excitement. It made all the work worth it! I guess I did have a bit of fun creating this outfit, and I look forward to wearing it next Halloween -- it is MY size, after all :)

Derby Day

Last year, I did such a good job of taking pictures of Will working on his Pinewood Derby car. This year, my involvement was lacking -- lacking photos and mama-assistance. Allen and Will spent many hours of quality dad-and-son time working on the wooden model over the last few weeks, and today was the big day -- RACE DAY!

The Cub Scouts all had fun watching their car races, but come trophy time, there were a few faces that were showing disappointment. Will was a bit bummed that he didn't win a trophy, but he still had a great attitude and he should be proud of his hard work and good sportsmanship. Interestingly, his car's average speed (over four races) was 212.1 miles per hour -- almost like last year's (212.5 mph). Even through the disappointment, Will enjoyed the process and is already looking forward to participating again next year.

A Calming Obsession

I just thought that my obsession with gazing at the birds would end when the cold weather began and the nesters were not nesting. I was wrong. My winter bird-obsession began when Allen helped me hang the bird feeder that Jon gave me for Christmas. It was a bit boring at first, but I still got excited to see a chickadee or house finch feeding. A few days later, word had gotten around the avian circles that free food was available in our garden, and we had quite a busy dive outside our kitchen window. The next time Allen went to Lowe's I asked if he would mind seeing what kind of other bird feeders were available. He came home with a suet block and holder, and another feeder for small seeds and suet or nuts. He also brought home another hook so we could hang the feeders outside the kitchen windows. Just a few days later, we had birds everywhere! I would sit by the window with a good book -- the plan was to enjoy the warm sunshine while I read, but I ended up watching and photographing the birds instead. We have had to refill the feeders each weekend, but it is a small price to pay for the kids, Allen, and I to get to watch these winter beauties.

Part of me doesn't really understand why I am so fascinated by these birds that I have only recently noticed. The other part of me clings to the calm they provide me. The bright yellows, reds, blues, and grays; the stark contrasts on the woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches; the neutral colors on the sparrows and female finches -- the Lord has done a fabulous job dressing them! I watch them and think of Jesus telling his disciples not to worry. Somehow, the birds remind me that Jesus says the same words to me:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:25-34 NIV)

Watching out my window, lost in my thoughts, I almost hear Jesus whispering to me, "Don't stress over vacuuming, dinner, or laundry -- they are not the important things." I like that the kids enjoy climbing into my lap or snuggling into my hugs to watch with me, knowing they must be still and quiet so they don't frighten the birds. I am glad they seem to be catching some of the calm, too.

This week, we identified two new species we had not seen here before: the yellow-bellied sapsucker and a pine warbler (which is a beautiful bright yellow bird.)

Though the bluebirds do not eat the seeds we leave out, they are regular visitors to the birdhouse and baths we have in the garden. Our everyday visitors include the squirrels, pine warblers (two, so far), downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, house finches, goldfinches, juncos, chickadees, cardinals, wrens, and sparrows. Here is a list of species we have seen in the garden in the last week: American Goldfinch, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Cardinal, Carolina Wren, Cedar Waxwing, Dark-eyed Junco, Eastern Bluebird, House Finch, House Sparrow (and maybe a couple other sparrow species, but I haven't learned the different markings yet), Mockingbird, Pine Warbler, Purple Finch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Yes... I AM hooked... again.

Maddie's Perfect Day

Maddie and I got to spend the day together. She was so excited and every day this week she has asked if it was her "dentist day." Each day that I told her no, she sulked slightly, but then added to her plan for the perfect day.

When she woke up and came down for breakfast, she greeted us all with a cheerful, "Good Morning! Today is a perfect day!" As I made breakfast, she consulted with Allen and made the perfect-day plan for lunch with him. Will and Allen were off, the younger ones ate breakfast and got ready for the day, then we dropped off the little boys. Since we had a few minutes before we needed to be at the dentist, Maddie and I stopped by Toys R Us to consider all the Lego choices -- she had already decided she wanted to spend her Christmas money from Grandma Ann on Legos. Maddie picked up and considered each of the choices and finally settled on the super-girly Butterfly Beauty Shop and convertible car.

Next, we headed to the dentist for her six-month cleaning and check-up. Everything went smoothly and she was thrilled to get a new toothbrush and Barbie sticker. We headed to Allen's office -- because the "perfect day" includes getting to draw on Daddy's dry-erase board. She enjoyed doodling while we waited for Allen to get done with a meeting.

The three of us headed to Cici's for lunch. Though it is definitely not my choice of a great lunch, that is the only place that serves the perfect-day lunch: mac-and-cheese on pizza with a brownie for dessert. Maddie was thrilled and kept reminding us how perfect the day was.

We took Allen back to work, then we stopped by the grocery store for a few things. Again, Maddie was thrilled that life was working out perfectly for her -- there was a kid-cart and she got to push our groceries through the store. (If only I could be so ecstatic about a grocery trip...)When we finished, we went home; I put away the groceries while she got ready to construct a beauty shop. We spent the next hour building a beauty shop and car for the Lego ladies, and, again, Maddie kept telling me it was all so perfect. She and I enjoyed playing with the girly-Legos (I love the little bitty lipsticks and brushes and flowers.)

Soon, it was time to go pick up all the boys from school and she was a bit sad that her perfect day was about to be interrupted. Nonetheless, it was a great day for both of us, and when I tucked her in for bed, she hugged me and thanked me for having such a great time on her perfect day.

Quiet Time

The Bible relays to us the lives of a multitude of amazing people -- I'm the Cat in the Hat (you have met me before). Feet in the morning, Feet at night, Here come clown feet among them women who grappled with the issues of motherhood. Mama, what if I were a big scary ape? Would you still love me then? These fossils are old. They are dusty and worn... You will want to set aside a few minutes a day to find out what more God wants you to know about motherhood. Would you like them in a house? ...if I were a super smelly skunk, and I smelled so bad that my name was stinky face? It all started out so beautifully A princess is kind. Would you like them with a mouse? What if I were a swamp creature with slimy, smelly seaweed hanging from my body? His feet, Her feet, Fuzzy fur feet You may like them. You will see because they were made long before you were born. Though Eve had no human role model to help her in trials, a princess is ready for fun. T. Rex is no kitten I think you should know. I love you, my slimy little swamp monster. A princess is smart. Belle reads lots of books. You may like them in a tree! If I were a green alien from Mars, and I ate bugs instead of peanut butter? God was the perfect role model to her, as He is to all parents who feel inadequate for the task set before them. I love you, Mama. And a princess always lives happily ever after.
And I love you, My wonderful child.

I thought it seemed like a nice idea (at the time). I put out some quilts, gathered a few pillows, and laid down to read a book. I needed some sort of encouragement to get through this cold cloudy day. I wanted to have a 'good mom' day with the kids all getting along, with enough quiet moments to call it peaceful, without me losing patience before lunchtime. I announced that we could all read quietly together; the kids gathered a few books and started to get comfortable as Shadow found some warmth laying close to me. It started out perfectly, but by the second sentence in my book, the buzz started as Ben, Maddie, and Jon started to read out loud. Will flipped through the pages of Boys Life, the little ones read a variety of books, and I struggled to pay attention to what I was reading while being interrupted to help the five-year-olds sound out the longer words. I did finally get to the end of my short chapter, but I really couldn't tell you what it was about. Our "quiet reading time" lasted about thirty minutes, and now the kids are all playing with Legos. Here is some of what we were trying to read: Mothers of the Bible Speak to Mothers of Today (Kathi Macias); Oh Say Can You Say Di-no-saur (Bonnie Worth); I Love You, Stinky Face (Lisa McCourt); The Foot Book (Dr. Suess); Green Eggs and Ham (Dr. Seuss); and What is a Princess? (Jennifer Liberts Weinberg).

Right Now

RIGHT NOW
... it is 3:23pm on a Saturday afternoon
... I am sitting in my yellow chair in my living room next to the window
typing on the computer
... Tico is snoozing between me and the armrest
... Allen is on the couch playing Wii Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
... The dryer is tumbling
... The kids' unfolded laundry is in four piles on the couches and chairs in here
... The sun is shining outside and I can see birds in the feeder
... Shadow is pacing and his tags are jingling
... The kids are supposed to be napping, but I hear them jumping upstairs
... I should be thinking about dinner: tortilla soup or chicken spaghetti?
... I should be reconciling my bank statements
... I could be getting the mail
... I could be reading one of the many books on my nightstand that I've started: Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours, 30 Days to Taming Your Stress (stress seems to be related to children not minding), What is the What, Sons of Encouragement, my Bible
... Our Christmas tree is still up and I'm okay with that
... I am sipping Coca-Cola from my purple cup from Ema
... I am wearing a blue sweatshirt, my comfy Levis, and my cozy purple slippers
... Jon and Maddie came downstairs and are working on folding their laundry
... Maddie is trying to fold clothes while holding her baby doll
... I am chuckling at the truth she speaks as Maddie is complaining, "It's too hard to do laundry with my baby!"
... Jon keeps getting distracted by the video game
... I am procrastinating by writing about this not-so-quiet quiet moment when I'm comfortably not doing much
... But, I'm content.

Santa's Helpers

At the beginning of December, Will's second grade class wrote letters to Santa. This is what Will wrote:

I saw the letter at school when I visited for his class party on December 16th, and I hoped Santa would be able to help with the sweet request for chickens for the "Uganda orfans." Santa did not disappoint us, and he left Will a letter on Christmas morning.

My Dearest Friend Will,
I was so encouraged to read the note you left ... It brings my heart, and the hearts of your parents, great joy to see a boy acting so selflessly. A good friends of mine has been given the chickens to be delivered safely, and a picture of them will be sent back to you in the coming weeks. Continue to be the good boy that I have seen in you this year. Be of good faith and good cheer, for you have a good heart.
With Love,
Santa

Last week, a friend from church who is part of Parental Care Ministries (PCM) went to Uganda with a team of veterinary students, and they sent us some pictures of the chickens that Will asked Santa to help get. When I showed Will the PCM blog, he thought it was so neat that his Santa letter was on the blog, AND that he knew Justin (seen in the photos), AND that the kids in Uganda were getting chickens. I was excited to watch his joy as he read the story and realized what happened with his unselfish request. You can read their story here: http://www.parentalcareministries.org/wordpress/?p=5987.

I was delighted to know people who could help Santa bring him one of the things on his list. I can't thank Christie and Justin with PCM enough for helping with this lesson on giving. As a parent, I have loved watching Will open his heart to others in the world. My cup runs over as I see the smiles on these children's faces, but it pales in comparison to the light in Will's eye as he sees the photos.

If I understand correctly, the top picture is of a family with four children who live with both their parents. That family received five chickens which they will be able to raise for eggs to sell for additional income or to feed their own family. The following pictures are of some of the orphans in PCM's Mbarara school with some of the chickens they received.

Early Gardening

Wow! I never realized how energizing a beautiful weekend could be. Friday, I got a call from the school that Will got in trouble. Had he been older, he may have been given community service as a means of discipline for damaging property that wasn't his. After talking with the principal for a while, then talking with Allen a lot, we decided that Will needed an at-home community-service day. This beautiful Saturday started by me making a home-made window-cleaning solution since we had run out of Windex. Surprisingly, a solution of warm water, vinegar, and corn starch worked great, so I'll probably never need to buy Windex again. Right after our late breakfast, I taught Will how to wash windows, and he spent several hours cleaning the inside of all our windows and the outsides of all the lower floor windows. My sweet husband pulled out the ladder to help with the hard-to-reach spots and now the windows are beautiful. It is surprising how much light gets in when they are clean, but I'm even more excited that I'll be able to get some bird pictures without going outside.

While we were outside, I cleaned out the gardens, getting rid of sticks and dried grass. I would have cut back all the dried and seeded basil, but the pretty goldfinches seem to favor the basil seeds, so I'm leaving that up for now. Ben, Maddie, and Jon were tickle to get to help with all the pre-spring cleaning, so we got a lot done in about half the time it would have taken without their help. When Will finished the front windows, he wiped down and swept the front porch and helped pick up sticks from the front yard. Meanwhile, Allen worked hard at clearing sod from a few new front flower beds. Sunday, we finished most of the projects: we lined three of the four front beds with brick, we planted cabbages and pansies in the front, and I got lots of seeds planted in the back garden. Soon, we will line the fourth flower bed with bricks, too. Most of the seeds for the front gardens are supposed to be planted after the frost, so the pansies and cabbages should help fill in the dirt until the sprouts start showing.

The weather was sunny and around 70-degrees and working outside was the perfect pick-me-up that I needed after the cold, miserable temperatures. On the inside, the cats and I are delighted to get to look out the clean windows and watch the wildlife. The windows are so clean, that I can't tell that my photos were taken through two layers of glass.

Peer pressure

Several friends from book club got together to learn to crochet from another member who is about to move to Chicago. I was not interested in playing with yarn, so I didn't go. A few weeks later, Ema (who also didn't go) and I were talking about Christmas gifts just a few days after Jennifer and Simone were trying to convince us to join the crafty fun. Ema was frustrated because she had a few more gifts she needed to get and didn't have any ideas. We laughed that we didn't crochet or she could make scarves, or hats, or blankets, or shawls, or ornaments, or... or... or... the list kept going. When I realized the possibilities, I was ready to find a you-tube video, go buy a ball of yarn, and find a crochet hook.

One afternoon, when I had all those things handy, Will watched over my shoulder as I tried to work on the yarn by watching the video. Two minutes into the four minute show, I got frustrated and quit. Not permanently, but I quit watching the show until I could figure out how to get my loops to work in my clumsy fingers. A few days later, I figured out the basic stitches and I picked up a $2 booklet at Hobby Lobby to figure out how to read patterns. I got another skein of yarn and started a scarf for myself. All four kids asked if I'd make them one, and with three weeks till Christmas I aimed to get them done for gifts. The kids each chose their own yarn, so it wasn't really a surprise.

If you look closely, you might be able to I was just learning, but now...I'm HOOKED! I made a couple mini scarves for Maddie's dolls, and I finally figured out how to make a little hat for one. Since Christmas I've started another scarf for me -- this one decorative, rather than warm, and I've started a fuzzy wrap I can wear at home when I don't need a blanket. Nothing like sitting in my rocker crocheting a shawl to make me feel old, but it is fun to swap ideas and encouragement with my buddies, and I don't feel too bad about that kind of peer pressure.

Unprepared

I usually welcome a new year. I'm usually excited to have a clean slate to start healthy habits and attempt to break some that aren't good for me. I'm usually excited enough that the house is mostly cleaned up and I'm ready to face the new schedule head-on. Not this time. Nope. I'm not ready.

Maybe I will be tomorrow. Until then, at least the black-eyed pea salad was a really tasty lunch, and the posole for dinner is smelling really good.

Happy New Year!