You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, blessed be the name of the Lord!

The fire. Not mentioned in my previous post but a big enough part of our life now that it deserves some attention. On a cold night in March, Hubby came home from work at about 3am and an hour later an SUV drives down our driveway honking and yelling Hubby's name. He goes out onto the porch and the SUV drives announces that our apartment building was totally engulfed in fire. When I was able to finally get to the scene at about 9am, I learned that it was not as bad as previously thought. There were four families living in the building and everyone was safe and sound. The two bottom floor apartments sustained the most damage. Leaving out all the boring details and fast forwarding until July, our contractor told Hubby that the cost that we were responsible for to get the apartment building back to code was not going to be worth the money. The way the insurance was going to depreciate the building, it was not going to be cost effective. The contractor also told Hubby that he had a friend who loved buying buildings like ours, as is. All I can think of is...is his friend crazy?! Here's where the blessing comes in. The insurance money could go directly to us after we paid the contractor and paid the mortgage off. Amazing! So fast forward to today. The way it stands now is that we have no debt! The friend who loves building stripped to the studs wants to buy the place. If that isn't a blessing straight from Heaven above, I don't know what is! Something that man meant for harm, God intended for good!

It's been a long time!

Gasp!  It's been 11 months since the last blog.  So much for my good intentions of chronicling this family's adventures.  So, the Reader's Digest Condensed Version?  Okay!  Fall went by nicely, Christmas came and went way too fast but finally the days started to become longer.  We spent a week at Disney, I love that place.  I started spending all days on Thursdays at Ariel's school where Belle was welcomed in the classroom all day.  Belle's speech therapy went very well and she was deemed "cured"!  Then spring was upon us.  We had a beautiful spring!  The mud season didn't seem to last too long and I don't recall anyone getting a vehicle stuck.  An amazing feat in these here parts of the woods.  Summer was beautiful, just amazing, especially compared to last summer and all the rain we got.  Hubby would call while he was hard at work in June and ask what we were up to where I would hesitantly reply, "sitting by the pool, watching the kids swim".   I had a great tan going before July hit.  Oh, my, what a whirlwind!  We had a blast visiting my parents and cousins while hubby was doing his army thing at West Point.  That sounded irreverent.  I'm very proud of my husband.  He is a battalion commander in the Army Reserve.  He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel a year early this past January.  His battalion instructs at West Point.  Their mission has changed recently, but I don't seem to be up on all the details.  But while he was away, it was nice to have some r&r at mom & dad's.  All of August we were out and about having fun and soaking up the sun.  It all came to a screeching halt when we pulled into the driveway the night before school started.  School cramps our style!  I could have had at least another month of summer vacation.  All the good intentions of having the kids do worksheets to keep school in their heads went by the wayside mid-July.  Now that they are back into the swing of things, I don't think they are any worse for wear.  Ariel started 3rd grade.  Eek!  I was reflecting back on September 11th of 2001 and in the midst of the heartache going on, I felt Ariel kick me for the first time.  What an amazing miracle God gives to us.  I still don't know how I deserved to be blessed with two wonderful, healthy children.  There is so much to be thankful for.  Belle started kindergarten and fell asleep on the couch while watching Wipeout at 6:30.  She woke up in the morning and told me she didn't remember going to bed.  We all got a good giggle out of that.  I asked her how she liked her first day and she says, "That was not my first day!  I went to school last year!"  I guess her one day a week in the classroom while I volunteered got her all prepped for school!  I am so thankful for our school and the teachers.  Not only do they care how my kids do academically, they truly love my kiddos and care about how they are developing emotionally and spiritually too.  I'm a lucky girl.  Having two in school three days a week leaves me with lots of time home.  Of course it has only been two weeks and I haven't made it through all my closets with my organization goals, so it's not quite awful, but it's awful quiet and lonely.  I'm glad to get all my stuff done so that when they come home I can focus on them.  It's made days not so chaotic.  So, here's to another new beginning, a new school year and a renewed sense of wanting to keep up with our adventures!

Road Trip!

I love road trips.  Call me crazy.  I love my Jeep, the way it rides, the comfy seats, my moonroof and Sirrus Radio.  I look forward to 3pm when Dr. Laura comes on.  Sanity for my insanity.  I'm usually driving down the road, yelling at the caller.  Phew....rabbit trail...  Ah, yes, road trips.  So, referring back to the insanity comment made earlier, I buckle my kiddos up and set out for my parents' house.  Alone.  With kids.  It's about a 6 hour - ish drive and usually pretty uneventful.  The drive is pretty and mostly interstate, thankfully since Ariel gets car sick easily.  So after many are-we-there-yets and a few disagreements from the back seat, we arrive safely.  The good thing about coming here is the mini mom-vacation.  Of course all they want to do is hang with the grandparents and vice versa, so I'm left with little to do but, well, blog.  We've been here for about an hour and already the girls, including my mom, have hit the hot tub.  I volunteered to get dinner going while dad is napping, like all grandpas do around this time.  Nothing much changes here in this tiny town they live in.  My mom grew up here and they live in her parents' house.  Good memories for me are everywhere.  Seeing my kids doing things here makes me think of all the fun my brother and I used to have.  I hope that my kids can make lots of memories here and carry them with them like I do.  So even though the ride seems long to come here, it's always worth the trip, even when the when-are-we-gonna-get-theres are waiting for the return trip.

Bad, Unobservant Mom

The beauty of this blog is that I have two people that read this. I feel like I can journal my heart out and it can go pretty much undetected. So, please allow me to beat myself up a bit and then pour out my heart.

Belle, my sweet baby, is growing up. It's hard at times to come to grips with the fact that she is not a baby and that since she is my last, I won't do the baby thing again. Bittersweet. So that said, when she started talking a bit later than big sister, I didn't give it much thought. The baby talk began and it was so stinkin' cute. We mimicked her and didn't call too much attention to trying to correct her. Over the past year I have changed my ways and have started to help her talk more like a big girl. I thought that her issues were, in fact, non-issues, just normal speech development that would resolve itself in time. Hubby and I discussed it on many occasions, but always came to the agreement that she is such a smart child that it would be fine. When we started school this fall at home, and I have to thank the Lord that maybe this was His whole reason not to answer our prayers and have a Pre-K at school this year, I realized that there were sounds that she could not make even when I tried coaching her through it. The week that we were doing the letter S, Sandy Sunfish, and she could not, though she tried so hard, make the S sound properly. I called up her ped and made an appointment for later that week. We were referred to a speech therapist and went for the evaluation last week. Belle tested very well, above average in most categories, for language development. Her vocabulary is right on track, if not a tad higher, for her age group. But she scored as having a severe phonological disorder. Severe. I felt like the wind was knocked out of me. Severe. I didn't hear much after that word came out of the therapist's mouth. When I pulled my thoughts together, I had her recap for me, taking notes furiously. She was so kind and very positive. I had told her before the testing that I wasn't sure if she had issues or not, but we were still having trouble understanding her at times and thought we'd be better safe than sorry. She told me she thought we hard work that the problem could be corrected in 9-12 months with 2 sessions a week for a little while and getting down to one as soon as possible. On the drive home, I fought tears. I feel like I knew there was a problem a long time ago and passed it off as age appropriate. Hubby and I had time to sit down the next morning and go over what the therapist said and we both agreed to sacrifice to make this happen. One of the things we discussed at length was to not make Belle feel different or uneasy about what was going on. I have approached the whole thing by telling her that Miss Sarrah is going to help her talk so that people won't have to ask her to repeat herself. Belle seems good with the whole thing, taking it in stride and not being too effected.

Today was our first session with Miss Sarrah. When we got into the car after an hour of her being out of my sight and parenting (this was very hard for me!!) she didn't want to talk about what she did or what was taught. I knew from Sarrah that they had worked on the "s" sound. It took a bit of riding and bribery with hot chocolate from Tim Hortons, before she opened up to tell me. She sounded like she didn't mind it too much and that she had a good time. The therapist was young and pretty and got right down on Belle's level when she came out to meet her for the first time.

It is all about perspective though. Hubby says, hey, she has a speech problem, it's not cancer. Wow. Talk about perspective. I'm thankful that finally I took her for an eval and that we are working on correcting this, even though I'm a bit mad at myself. But thinking that this is something that will be over and done with in a year and not something like cancer was just what I needed to get my brain straight! So next Tuesday morning we'll head back over to see Miss Sarrah thankful all the way that my kiddo is not sick. And knowing that I'm one lucky momma.

SHE sounds like a NICE mom....

We are reading through the Little House on the Prairie Books right now which I am enjoying way too much. I love to read to my kids, not only to give them an adventure through the pages of a book, but to escape into my childhood and see these books that I adored when I was younger as an adult, as a mom, a different outlook on life. So we are reading Farmer Boy and in the story it was dinner time. The school teacher was staying with the Wilders and was in the parlor chatting with Father. Almanzo was remembering that he was able to eat all he wanted at the table, but he was to be quiet. I think the book even added the old cliche, children are to be seen and not heard. When reading this, I put special emphasis on these words. Sometimes at dinner, I feel like I can never get a word in because of the constant chatter of my kiddos. Trying to keep it all in perspective, works some of the time, but other times, it's just irritating! Anyway, Ariel looks at me and says, Mom, do I talk to much? My response is always, no, honey, I love to listen to you chatter. And I do honestly mean it, most of the time. Most, honest. We all started giggling, but I know that they both took it a bit too personally. Belle had her arms crossed and a pouty look on her cute face until the laughter ensued. The story goes on to say that since Father and Teacher were talking, Mother waited until they finished a sentence and politely (read quietly) told them that dinner was ready. Ariel says...WAIT! What?! The mom waited and didn't interrupt? SHE sounds like a NICE mom!!!! I know that after I roared with laughter, I asked what exactly she was trying to tell me. Ariel's response was that she seemed like she was a nice, quiet, polite mom who wasn't loud. She could not get it all out with a straight face and of course I responded with lots and lots of tickles demanding that she take it all back!! I look back to that time period with fondness, mostly. Thinking of the focus of work on the home and not pressures from outside as much as we do today seem welcoming to me. Since I am not the quiet, demure woman that Mrs. Wilder was, I think I'd have some issues with fitting in and not being labeled as the town crier. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but at times I am envious of the lives that were lived way back when. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite content where I am now and I'd be working all day instead of blogging and most likely I'd be half insane with a baby on my hip and 4 more under foot. I'm too much in love with peeing indoors and having a shower every day instead of every week, that I'm sure I'd turn down opportunity given the chance, but it is fun to think about it. So the lesson that I can learn from my dd, is to wait until a sentence is finished before bellowing...DINNER'S READY!! You think I can put that into practice?

Blogging takes a time out

So, I had no idea that when I began this, only 5 short posts ago, that the summer would be unbelievably busy and that blogging would take a time out. I'm kind of sad about this because the summer was not documented properly. I'd like to think that all my pictures will be in a scrapbook in the near future, but I do know the reality of life with small children. Guess I'll have to settle for my Facebook photo album for the time being. So the Reader's Digest Condensed Version of the summer goes something like this....

We began the summer traveling to Fort Dix, NJ and then down to Ft. Belvoir, VA, thanks to the Army Reserve. I had some FRG training at Ft. Dix and Mark had to fulfill his duties as the commander and head to Ft. Belvoir for some briefings. We decided to make this into a vacation of sorts too stopping in DC, which was beyond fun for the girlies to see the sight from Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian, and then heading to Lancaster Co, PA, and Gettysburg before heading home. We went to my parents' house with our Jr. High teens for a reward for their accomplishments for a few days. The summer had been pretty rainy, but we did have some nice weather to go see a few sights. The girls and I went to a military kids' camp and had so much fun doing things like archery, rappelling, hiking and other outdoor activities with other kids who parents are in the military. It was good to meet others in the same boat we are. We had a week of camping with my parents at this cute campground with a great pool and nice paths for the kids to ride bikes. Ariel gained much confidence in the water and swims very well now with out her life jacket. She jumps into the deep end, unaffected by the water in her eyes and nose...accomplishment!! Belle is very brave and always wants to keep up with big sister and was doing very well with our her life jacket also. She scares me to a point because she has no fear. Amazing. We finished out our summer by heading to a local water/amusement park and hitting the beach the next day.

School started way too early, in my opinion! I was not ready for summer to be over. My tan was the best ever, due to the fact that one day sitting by the pool I failed to use common sense and got a bad sunburn. It quickly faded to a nice shade of brown, but now it's just plain fading. Ariel is in 2nd grade this year, loves her teacher, her classroom and her classmates and is doing very well. There were not enough students for Belle to attend K-4 at the school, so I am making an attempt to home school this year. I'm in love with it and she seems to be tolerating me well. Today we worked in the letter F and the number 7. She says her favorite part of her day is coloring. I am enjoying seeing her learn and seeing the light bulb go on. It never ceases to amaze me how God created brains and how they work and how they can take information in and process. I am so thankful for healthy, smart kiddos.

Hubby is coaching 1st and 2nd grade soccer again this year. Belle was allowed to join the team so all of them can be on the same team. I was worried about her, and her small stature, being on a team with the big kiddos. Then the second practice came and she went up against the big kid on the team and he ended up on the ground and she scored a goal. Worry is gone. Neither one of them are shy of the ball and both seem to be pretty aggressive. Ariel was playing half back and nothing went past her. Belle handles the ball better that a lot of the bigger girls on the team and does great on the front line. They both amaze me. Their athletic ability is not from this lady...that would be all from their father.

Belle is done her coloring and we are back at it again. Guess it's almost time to wrap up the day.

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's day, a day set aside for moms. As I think back to my mom and the legacy she left for me, the one thing that comes to mind is adventure. My mom could turn anything into an adventure, into something fun. Even if my brother and I were embarrassed out of our skin, Mom was still having fun. I hope I can pass that spirit onto my kids. On the other hand, I'm thankful for my mother-in-law. She is an amazing, kind woman who has accepted me as part of the family. I'm forever grateful for that.

But, now I'm the mom. I have kids to celebrate with and a wonderful hubby that makes me feel very special and spoiled. Hubby bought me a Cricut, something I have been eying for about a year now. I have been fooling around with it and I'm sure that the girls are anxious to get their hands on it. Ariel is obsessed with crafting and this is going to be right up her alley. Hubby preached at church this morning, he has a talent for bring for the Word. I'm so proud of him! We went out for lunch with the in-laws and it was nice to celebrate with them.

Celebrating mothers is kind of, don't get me wrong, but embarassing. We do work hard in our homes, but to me it seems like it is behind the scenes. I'm not much of a spotlight person, I'd rather hang out in the kitchen and do things that are not up front. I do what I do because I love it, most days, I'm not in search of recgonition. It seems strange to have some one bring to light the things I do on a day to day basis, usually with out much thought. It seems to be mechanical and unnoticed. But I guess that's the way it should be.

I'm thankful for my family, for my husband and my kids. God has blessed me beyond what I deserve.