Bed In Summer

One of my favorite children's poems.

Bed In Summer
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?"

- Robert Louis Stevenson

The Waiting...

Today, I reqeusted several books from the library. 2 Claudia Mair Burney books, 1 Ann B. Ross and 1 Dean Koontz. Now, I wait......and try not to think about the fact that my mother has read one of the books already and has another waiting for her at the library when she gets home. You see, I introduced her to Ann B. Ross books. Now she's hooked and ahead of me. Unfair. Shortly after my girlfriend introduced me to Claudia Mair Burney books, I also introduced mom, and now she's hooked. And shortly, she will be ahead of me there, too.

Again, unfair.

Yes, it's petty and very junior high schoolish of me.

Still....unfair.

YEEEEEEEEEEE-HAW!

Oh my goodness, we got a dog!!! Yay! My super awesomely incredibly great and wonderfully kind husband picked up a sweet mutt from the Animal Shelter today. Her name is Darcy...here she is.

SUMMER!!

Today is the first day of Summer! As a kid in New England, Summer was my favorite season. Summer meant days at the beach, drives to New Hampshire, playing in the sprinkler, cookouts, collecting seashells and beach glass, camping and best of all, NO SCHOOL!


Summer still means no school for me, for the most part, but other than that, it pretty much means "sweat." Summers in the south are a little more intense than on the coast of New England. Although it gets REALLY humid up there, it's much hotter here. And unless you're in the desert, you can just forget about "dry heat." That just a myth Northerners make up about the south. When you tell a Northerner that summers in the south are hotter than up north, you will most likely hear them say, 'Well, yeah, but it's a dry heat. You guys don't have the humidity." Wouldn't that be nice? We do have "the humidity." Granted it's not as much as on the coast, but guess what? 40% humidity at 100 degrees is just as hot as 50 or 60% humidity at 92 degrees. Sad, but true.

OK, on with the good things about summer.

Blueberries * Tomatoes * Beach trips * VBS * Youth camp * lots of green * swimming in the lake * cool libraries * summer movies * needing a blanket while watching the summer movies because of the ice cold AC * FREON * Sonic drinks * BOPS frozen custard * watermelon * shooting stars * gardening * Ben's birthday * our anniversary * July 4th celebrations * Wyatt's birthday * red winged blackbirds * end of summer vacations to the Smokies * minted tea * grilling * hearing stories of summer before AC * reunions * corn on the cob * fishing * rose gardens


I'm sure there's more, but trust me, this was work! I am a cool weather gal, if I don't stop now I'll just be lying.

Happy Summer!

Dolphin Watching at Gulf Shores

This weekend we ventured south to Gulf Shores, Alabama. It's about 150 miles from my inlaws house in Petal, so we left here Friday night and spent the night with them. Saturday, we all drove down to the beach...through rain, thunder and lightning. We stopped for lunch in Foley. The rain died down and the skies were looking promising, so we continued to the beach. It was still sprinkling when we got there, BUT stopped shortly after we layed out the blankets. And the beach was practically empty, which is always a plus! We enjoyed several hours of splashing in the waves and playing in the sand before we packed up and headed back to Petal. Yes, we drove 300 in one day to go to the beach. We did not rent a room down there...have you ever stayed overnight in a hotel with 5 kids? Not cheap, no sleep.

Here are a few more pics.

Abby was ok as long as Daddy was nearby. She really preferred the sand.
Sam liked playing tag with the waves.


Ben kept his vest on just about the whole time!


Lizzie LOVES the beach and spent most of her time in the waves.


Wyatt took a break from the water after a few jelly fish stings. ARGH!!!


Although we only got to see the dolphins from a distance, we did see a few jellyfish close up. The boys decided to play in the sand after a few stings.

Righteous Dog

For Eric

My husband has one sister, Joy. She and her husband Eric are expecting their first child in November. Since Father's Day is right around the corner, I thought I'd post a little sisterly advice for the Father-to-be.

Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again. ~Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby, 1968

VBS

Today is the first day of VBS...vacation bible school...at 1st Baptist Church in Florence. My kids go every year. This year is Ben's first...he was pretty pumped! They will be there every morning this week, from 9-12. That leaves me with only Abby and Sam. Plenty of time to blog, nothing to say. Typical.

For Anna

Adam and the Ants: Stand and Deliver

Momisms

Today, at the zoo with my girlfriend(who shall remain nameless) and her kids, I said a momism. Something only a mother would say. Something so completely ridiculous that only another mother would understand what you mean when you say it. I told my children not to drink the water I had given them because if they got thirsty I would NOT be buying them a drink.
Now I ask you, what on earth does that mean? "Here's some water---don't drink it." Does drinking water make you thirsty? And if they get thirsty, I will NOT be buying them anything and they had better not drink that water I gave them!
Well, although my girlfriend (who is a mother of 7 and shall remain nameless) laughed mercilessly at me (ok, i laughed too) for the rest of the zoo trip, she knew what I meant! SEE! Only another mother, folks!
What I meant was, of course, "Don't drink ALL your water at once. You need to make it last. If you run out before we are finished with the zoo, you may get thirsty because it is so hot, and I don't want to buy more drinks since they cost a small fortune here." But who is going to say all that? By the time you get all those words out, the child has finished the water. That's it...over! Conservation of words, people! Economy of speech.
Anyway, I tried in vain to come up with other momisms I had heard from other moms. I came up empty. Even now, all I can think of is a part of Bill Cosby's stand up "Himself" when he's talking about things moms say when they're angry. He imitates a mother scolding her children saying, "Now when I ask you a question, you keep your mouth shut!" I understand that.

All day today

I'm not a career gal. I love, love, LOVE being home. I don't miss working in an office. I know some moms do, but not me. I am the embodiment of "homebody". I border on antisocial. Some days I plunge over the border and wallow around in my antisocialness. (new word) I do get out every now and then...I have 5 really good reasons not to stay locked away in the house all day. These 5 reasons are also 5 laundry makers, homewreckers and dish dirtiers and eaters. They basically go around all day undoing whatever I do, so at the end of the day the house can look worse than it did before the day began, yet I'll be exhausted from cleaning it. Then I walk around thinking, "How did this happen? I know I did something today. I know I did. I know I washed the towels today....why are we out of clean face cloths? Where are all the handtowels?"

"How many times am I really expected to answer this question? Must we have this exact same conversation every blessed day?"

"Help, me Lord."

"Why am I sticking to the floor I just washed?"

"What day is it?"


and I say things like this:

"What do you mean you're out of underwear? I just washed put 3 pairs in your drawer last night! You've worn all 3 between bedtime and waking up?"

"I know I put shoes on you before we left the house. How could they disappear between the house and Walmart?"

"We're out of milk?? How can that be? I just bought 2 gallons a few days ago."

"Where is Ben?"

" I just told you NOT to pour yourself a drink, and that I would do it for you. I tell you that everytime you open the fridge....I know you hear me...I know you hear me....stop! Hello!!! Am I talking???"

You get the picture. After a few years of this, the question "What did you do all day?" is really offensive. After more than a few years of this, I no longer know the answer. It's all a blur, really. So today, I wrote things down. Partly for my own sanity, partly so I would have something to blog about tonight. So here it is...what I did all today.

Coffee in bed
Make breakfast for Abby
Write grocery list, plan dinner. (this will change at least 4 times before dinner)
Bathe Abby
shower
Make breakfast for Ben
Move potted pants to sunny area of the yard.
Put Abby down for a nap because she is terrorizing her older brothers.
Check email. Blog a little.
Breakfast for Wyatt Henry...sweep floor
Clean yard
Iron clothes
Get Abby out of crib...no, she never fell asleep.
Lunch...Sweep floor
Vaccumm
Prune rose bush
More gardening
Pick Blueberries
Water Berry bushes. Water kids.
Abby goes down for a real nap.
check email
shower...again...realize I forgot to put on sunscreen
Breif visit from brother-in-law and his father-in-law
2ND CUP OF COFFEE TIME! (do a little dance)
Read to Ben. Alot. Like, 3 really long stories.
Do toe nails.
Make snack for the boys...popcorn!!
Skip sweeping the floor, dinner is right around the corner.
Get Abby up from nap.
Grocery shopping
Plan a trip to the zoo
Unload groceries
Eat dinner...Wyatt makes dinner for the kids cause he is so completely AWESOME.
Pick up Lizzie and Sam in Collins
Yet more coffee...
Read article in People magazine
Pick up shells and broken glass (Sammy's shell collection)
Check email
Pray with kids
Blog.

Somehow, that filled up my whole day. Doesn't look like much, but that's becasue today was an ironing day. It would look more impressive on a regular laundry day because then I would have written "wash clothes, dry cloths and fold clothes and put clothes away" about 4 times. Well, not really...i never get it all put away. ever. Plus, I cleaned the bathroom yesterday, so we're good till tomorrow.

This is the lamest aricle I've ever posted.

For Father's Day

If you are looking for a great way to honor your father this Father's Day, check this out. Children's Hope Chest is an oragnization that brings aid to orphans. You can make a contribution to this organization in your dad's name and your dad (or husband!) can be a father to the fatherless. Think about it!

Just so you know...

There are only 203 days until Christmas.
Seriously. Check it out!

Home again, home again.

I'm heading back to the ol' stomping ground at the end of August.
I heard this song the other night and it made me remember TONS of older Bon Jovi songs from my high school days.