It’s a rainy, dreary day here. The house is perfectly quiet except for the hum of the computer. Not even the washing machine is buzzing this morning. The boys are off to school after a wet drop off and I am sitting down to catch up here a bit! Owen is one month into preschool and LOVING it! He has gone to bible study with me as well as Sunday School, etc. so we weren’t worried but there is definitely a whole different rhythm to school! So far he bounds out of the car and is eager to get into school. He chatters the whole way home and spares no detail. He is learning new things so quickly I feel a bit guilty for not having tried to teach him more sooner. This week he asked me to teach him to write his name…and he did. Jackson just had such different interests at this age.
According to his teachers Owen has made some little buddies, one in particular that we hear about often. His name is Noah and his family happens to live in our neighborhood. We met them at a neighborhood picnic last week and learned that the boys were born on the same day, just after the huge Snowmagedon storm. And when put together these boys certainly act like they are two peas in a pod (or maybe two monkeys in a tree…peas in a pod sounds way too passive). As we drove away from the picnic I told the boys that we always pray for them when they start school that God would give them a special friend and it has been so apparent with both of them that friends were picked especially for them!
Owen’s class is the caterpillar class and they recently learned a song about The Fuzzy Caterpillar…he’s a little goofy in front of the camera but you get the idea.
The best news is school wipes him out! He is ready after his busy morning to settle into a great nap most days!
Owen is looking so big these days and very eager to become a big brother. He is my sidekick on non-school days so I imagine it will be an interesting adjustment for all. He and Jackson are enjoying play time together and while the battles are intense the times of peaceful playing are nice to observe! I can’t wait to see the dynamics when sister comes.
Seth flew the coop last week and has since been in Lima, Peru for work. The day before he left Jackson asked if Seth was needing to go to work in Peru so he could have some peace and quiet to get some work done…this after a very stressful day of Seth attempting to telework amongst the boys. Truth is, I bet the peace and quiet have been nice!
A couple days into Seth being gone my aunt offered to come hang out and help out with the boys. Those of you who know me well know that I am really bad at accepting help but being big pregnant and with Seth away I decided her company would be a lovely diversion to a tough week. She helped enormously with cooking meals for the freezer for upcoming days of desperation, doing homework with Jackson, helping me rearrange furniture (shhh! seth doesn’t know about this one yet), stayed with Owen during a dr’s appt for Jackson, and on and on. Seriously, she knocked my socks off. Maybe I should accept help more often. More on “Aunt Ruby” later.
So why the title about flip flops? I went to the school to get Jackson, skipping the loading and unloading of Owen because my aunt had him, I was picking Jackson up solo. I must have had an extra spring of freedom in my step having only one child to care for and as I stepped out of the car my darn flip flop busted. Ummm, freeze. How do I pick Jackson up in front of the school with one shoe? Or do I take them both off, look silly showing up barefoot but not as silly as only one? Or do I put it on and figure out exactly how to hold my foot so it stays on temporarily? (this is impossible by the way) Oh wait, I have gum in my purse. good thinking. Quickly, I pop the gum in my mouth, get it good and ready and press it into the whole where the flip part attaches to the flop?! following me. No luck. Now had it worked there would have been the dilemma of walking to the school with the feeling of a wad of gum under my flip flop. Soooo…I decided to carry my flipping flop and that way it would be obvious to all curious minds that my shoe had just broken and I just needed to pick up my kid, for crying out loud. I semi hid behind the bush hoping Jackson would see me before I had to tell my story. He spotted me and we darted back to the car. Feeling like 2 first graders with a shoe dilemma. When I asked about his day he told me it was terrible because his shoe laces kept coming untied and he was tripping over them. Seems it was a bad shoe day.
And then because flip flops have so much to do with freezer meals I thought I would roll this all into one post. Here are the recipes we decided to use…..
I only had one can of chili’s so we drained a can of rotel tomatoes and chili’s to make up for the rest
We also made Cinnamon rolls… but I don’t have the link for that at the moment!
The freezer is stocked…not so much for once baby arrives but more for the coming weeks when we have to keep up with soccer, school, bible study etc and I am worn out!
After leaving Seth’s family we headed on to see my family in Ft. Worth. My brother and sister-in-law had just welcomed our new niece Grace into the world the week before so we arrived just in time for some great cuddles! Graham and Tina are wonderful parents and seem to be taking parenthood in stride! Grace is a sweetie pie and loved to be held and admired! I didn’t get nearly enough pictures of Grace since I was normally trying to hold her. The weather was HOT while we were there so we made the most of indoor activities for the most part, aside from a few pool outings! At the end of the week my grandmother flew in from Florida to meet Grace! We lucked out and got to see her as well.
Lots of my pictures are still on my phone but here are a few to get started!
We spent the first week of July with Seth’s family having a reunion with the whole gang. It had been years since we had all been together so it was fun to catch up! We have added kids and continents. We packed the week with lots of fun at the beach, family farm and in between.
The thing our little family needed to do differently throughout the week was to find some balance with some times just as a family, removing the boys from the crowd and helping them to have some quiet! Even an extrovert like me was in need of some down time in a clan of 16 around the clock! You live and you learn.
Here are some picture highlights from the fun trip!
