Nostalgia

This country girl got to spend part of the holiday weekend outside of the city, which was a true treat.  We headed to my folks' house on Sunday and spent two days with them in Warsaw, which is the very tiny town where I grew up(actually, it isn't a town.  It's a village).  I love going there.  Nothing really changes.  That's one of the things that makes it so special. 

Everything about Warsaw is nostalgic for me.  I can go back and show you where the little make-shift footbridge that crossed the creek to the park used to be.  I used to sneak through three back yards and over a fence to get to it and then hope I didn't fall off as the bridge bounced along under my feet.  If a certain neighbor caught me, I always got scolded, but, I must admit, it didn't cause me to make a better choice.  His scolding just caused me to be sneakier (is that a word?).  It is no wonder to me that when the bridges were washed out by a flooding, rushing creek a decade ago, that bouncy little footbridge was never replaced.

The annual Memorial Day parade was much unchanged.  It seriously lasted about 20 minutes.  It was led by the National Guard.  Joy Padgette, the local politician who thankfully is not part of my district, handed out little flags to anyone who wanted one.  One farmer and his family rode their horses and even coaxed a colt along.  Another, my science teacher for three years of high school, led a group of llamas through the parade.  They were beautiful, of course.  We saw them at the county fair last fall, and, if I remember correctly, one of them is named Batman.  I'm guessing that his now teenaged son is really pleased with himself for naming his llama Batman when he was a young boy.

One of the favorite parts of all parades held in Coshocton County are the Canal Days Queens and Princesses who ride atop sports cars dressed in their pageant finery.  There is a Canal Festival in Roscoe Village every August, and there are always pageants.  Girls from preschool through high school compete for various titles according to their age, and they all wear canal era dress.  The gowns are not fancy to our modern eyes, but they are beautiful and so much fun to see.  There was also a little guy who was probably four years old who apparently won a title last year.  We walked past him sitting on top of a convertible waiting for the parade to start.  He was so very adorable and made sure we noticed him and said hello.  Instead of offering the perfect royal wave during the parade, he was shouting hello to everyone, and I mean really shouting.  It was so stinking cute.

The parade ended with a stream of emergency vehicles.  Perched on top of the last truck was my dear friend Scott who I haven't seen in ages.  His daughter is my godchild, and we were in each other's weddings.  Even so, we have managed to lose touch.  He and his wife mean the world to me.  Isn't it crazy how sometimes we let life get in the way of some of our most important relationships?  You can bet that I'll be giving them a call.

Warsaw is a quiet, safe, little village nestled in the Walhonding Valley.   It is serene in so many ways and allows for nostalgia and reflection to pour over your soul.  Sitting on my parents' porch watching the stars that I can't even see when I sit on my own porch in the city was simply amazing.    There is something to be said about spending time in a quiet place.  As I sat on their porch, it felt like God was breathing fresh life into me, speaking to me in the silence and the gentle breeze.  I know that he is here in the city, but I left the countryside longing to return again soon to spend time with my Father in the gentle solitude of His creation.  I know it is possible to hear Him in the midst of the noise if we are listening, but, for me, it felt amazing to be still and quiet and have the opportunity to simply hear His voice.

Milestones

It has been almost 9 months since I joined the blogosphere.  I figure that, at this point, most of my readers know that I am sappy, and those readers who don't care for my sentimental meanderings have wandered away to one or more of the many less emotional, probably more creative, blogs that are in endless supply on the net.  I am not hurt by any loss of readers since I mostly write this blog for myself and my family and to keep in touch with my friends and loved ones near and far.  It serves primarily as a place to store and share memories, which are very important to this melancholy girl, and I try to put down an intelligent thought or two from time to time.  So why should I not share with you the milestones my precious little ones have crossed today?

Ava rode her bicycle this evening.  She actually won a beautiful, purple bike with sparkly streamers and a cute little white basket on the front at our church carnival last July.  It was taller than she was at the time.  The purchaser was very kind and offered us the receipt for the bike when they saw how tiny Ava was (she was only 2).  We went to Wal-mart and exchanged it for a smaller, more appropriate bicycle for her tiny legs, but she still couldn't ride it last year.  The motor skills just weren't there.  Today, she definitely used those always improving motor skills.  She hasn't perfected it yet, but she'll be cruising with Dora (it is a Dora the Explorer bicycle) in not time flat(maybe I shouldn't use the word flat since we're talking about bicycles)!

Lukas took a shower this evening by himself, well almost by himself.  He had a little help from Daddy who made sure he didn't use too much shampoo.  I must admit that when he asked if he could shower instead of taking a bath, I immediately said yes and tears formed in my eyes.  Is that not ridiculous?  My 5 year old was sitting across from me while we were picnicking on the back patio repeatedly asking my why I was crying and what was wrong.  He has a knack for empathy, which is a trait that I will always treasure in him.  Eric blessed me by telling Lukas that I was okay and that he hadn't done or said anything wrong.  Goodness.  What a sappy mama!  He did tell me later that he thinks he'll still want to take a bath sometimes since he still likes to play in the tub, but he's mostly planning to shower from now on.  Do 5 year olds usually shower?  This was not in my plan for a few more years!

I try to prepare myself for these growing up moments.  I'm always as proud as a peacock when they learn something new or show signs of maturity or good character traits.  BUT...I still can't help but dwell on the "lasts" in their lives.  Firsts are almost always accompanied by lasts when it comes to growing up.  Who knows what we'll be moving onto tomorrow?

Soccer Awards

Lukas had his last soccer game of the season today.  I have loved watching his team improve throughout the season and start to understand more aspects of the game.  Today was the first time that Lukas really got in there and tried to move the ball down the field.  We are really proud of him for trying so hard.  Yes, his coach sometimes had to remind him to stay focused, but hey, he's only 5, and this was his first soccer season.  We're definitely proud of him.

I wasn't able to take photos of the last game.  My camera battery was dead (which was totally my own fault for not remembering to charge it), and I haven't sprung for the $50 spare battery at this point.  I just can't seem to convince myself to spend that amount of money when I really just need to remember to charge the battery.  Right?  We'll see how many times I am left with a dead battery on a soccer field before the final decision is made on that one.

The good news is that I was able to stop by the house to pick up my old camera before heading to the awards and pizza party which were held at our local park facility.  Lukas waited patiently for quite a while until the pizza was served, which made me proud of him again.  He accepted his trophy and posed for pictures, so I of course have a smilebox to share with you all.

You'll find mostly photos of Lukas, but you'll also see a photo of Ava after eating a cupcake that had been decorated with black frosting (the cupcakes were black and white and made to look like a soccer ball).  I cannot tell you how disgusting it looks to see her mouth after eating it!  There's a picture of Ava's little sidelines buddy too.  They sat and watched each game and cheered on their big brothers together each week.  I hope you enjoy the pics!

CLICK HERE!!!

Semi-Fixed Smilebox

Apparently, my previously posted smilebox wasn't working correctly.  It was showing blank boxes rather than photos about half-way through the slideshow.  I've tried fixing it, but to no avail.  Here is the original smilebox that I created.  Some of the photos are sideways, but at least you can see them all.  Let me know if it works!
CLICK HERE

Vacation Smilebox

Here are the promised photos from our trip!  If the captions don't show up, roll over the bottom of the photo.  I've been having trouble getting it to work right, and I've already spent way too much time on it.  I hope you enjoy the pics!

CLICK HERE

Where We've Been

I know it has been a while since I blogged, but I have a great reason.  We were blissfully vacationing in Orlando, Florida.  Yes, of course, we went to Disney World, and we had a fantastic time.  We actually drove to Florida, which was a feat with a 3 and 5 year old in tow, but they did very well.  We were proud of how well they did traveling both directions.  If you'd rather not read all the details of the trip, I'll probably post pics soon.  It'll probably be tonight or tomorrow.  I'm sure this is going to be one of my longest blogs ever!

We spent two days at the Magic Kingdom last week because we knew it would take us a while to see it with little ones.  It was a great decision for us, and we were very pleased that we got to see everything that was age appropriate for our kids.    They had more fun spending two days at this park than we believe they would have at any of the other parks that are available at Walt Disney World.  We could be wrong, but since we had so much fun, we don't care. 

Monday was our first day at Disney, and the weather could not have been better.  We actually wore light jackets in the morning and late evening hours, and it was only in the upper 70s during the warmest part of the day.  We were able to ride many rides, saw some shows, and met Mickey Mouse.   Ava's face absolutely lit up the moment she saw Cinderella's Castle.  When you ask her what her favorite Disney rides were, she'll tell you they were Cinderella's Carousel, the Dumbo ride, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  We debated on taking her on the Pirates ride because we thought it might be scary, but she ended up loving it!  She also got to see Cinderella, from a distance during the Spectromagic Parade, but that was good enough for her.  It was either that or wait in line for 90 minutes to have her picture taken with her.  We can be indulgent parents, but there was no way we were waiting in line for 90 minutes to see the Disney princesses. 

Lukas got to ride his first real rollercoaster.  Daddy took him on Thunder Mountain Railroad, and he has not stopped talking about it.  He also rode Splash Mountain with me, and he loved that he got wet (although, I was on the side that got most of the water).  We were still in Frontierland when a parade started that evening, so we were able to switch and ride these same rides with him allowing both of us to ride them.  It was fun since these are two of our favorite Disney rides.

If you ask Lukas what his favorite parts were, he'll start by saying Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, and then he'll continue by saying, "Oh, and the Aladdin ride.  And the Dumbo ride.  Oh!  And the Peter Pan ride.  And the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor."  And so on and so forth.  It's cute.  Most special to me is that he keeps telling me, "Thank you Mama for planning our trip.  I had so much fun.  You did a great job planning it for us."  Those are priceless words for any mama to hear.

We spent one day at Downtown Disney, which is an area outside of the parks where you can hit an endless stream of giftshops, a movie theater, clubs, restaurants, and more.  We went for the gift shops so that we could avoid shopping at the Magic Kingdom, and we had planned in advance to take the kids to the Rainforest Cafe.  If you have never been to one and have the opportunity, it is a ton of fun.  It's very expensive, but I think most of us splurge when we're on vacation.  Our kids loved it.  We called ahead to find out when the best time to go was so that we wouldn't have to wait long, and we ended up not having to wait to get in at all.  May is not peak season in Orlando, and the entire place was uncrowded.

At the end of our Downtown Disney day, Ava came up to me and with great enthusiasm said all in one breath, ""Mama! We bought you a green thing to wear for when you make us cookies so you won't get all messy and it has Tinkerbelle on it!" It was my Mother's Day gift that she picked out, and it is a Tinkerbelle apron.  Ava is very into Tink and the Disney princesses these days.  It was a sweet moment that I will always remember.

My favorite Disney moment was on the famous tea cup ride.  You're all going to catch a glimpse of my child-like side here.  We were standing in line for the ride when Alice and the Mad Hatter showed up and rode the ride in the cup directly diagonal from ours allowing for perfect pictures.  Yes, I took pictures as we were spinning around in a tea cup, but who wouldn't(this is redundant, there is no need for you to tell me that I am all alone here)?  It was Alice and the Mad Hatter after-all!    My kids don't even know who these two characters are, so they probably thought I was nuts.  Who cares though?  I got great shots of two of my favorite childhood characters!

We had also planned to visit Cocoa Beach for a day while in FL, but Sub-tropical storm Andrea prevented that.  We spent about an hour there and let the kids play in the sand and stand at the waters' edge.  That was on Friday, after the storm was supposedly over, and I had trouble holding onto Ava in the current.  They weren't happy about leaving.  We were happy that they got their first glimpse of the ocean, and maybe they'll actually get to swim in it when they are older.

Our last vacation stop was at the Kennedy Space Center, which is somewhere neither Eric nor I had been prior to this trip.  We will definitely have to go again in the future because we didn't get to see a lot of what there was to see.  Ava was super-cranky, and we needed to drive to Columbia, SC that afternoon.  I had no idea that you could spend an entire day there and still not see everything, but we still liked visiting there.  There was a robot exhibit that Lukas loved.  Eric enjoyed just about all of it, and I was fascinated by the size of some of the vehicles and satellites that were on display.  Notice, I didn't mention Ava enjoying it much.  She pretty much didn't enjoy it, but I think she was just tired.  She did like seeing the rockets.  Exhaustion set in as soon as she was buckled into her carseat.  She fell asleep and slept for 2.5 hours!

All in all, we had a blessed trip.  The kids had a great time, which is what we had hoped for, and we were able to really spend some good quality, family time together.  Vacationing in the off-season was also a treat.  The weather wasn't too bad, the crowds were smaller, and the prices for a lot of things were lower.  Our kids are at a great age to enjoy Disney, and we are so glad that we decided to take them.  They think that we're taking a Disney vacation every year (We're not).  This is the first vacation they have been on, so they will equate vacation with Disney for a while.  I'm so glad they had a great time.  It makes all the planning and exhaustion more than worth it!

Too Fast for This Aunt and Mama

Yesterday, my sister e-mailed me photos of my 7 year old nephew.  One was taken last spring, and the other was taken last month.  They are his spring pictures that are taken at his school each year.  I was struck by the remarkable difference in my sister's little boy, who I remember holding in the hospital not so long ago.  In his kindergarten picture, he looked like a little boy.  His hair was cut short, and his facial expression tentative.

This year, that is not the case.  If it weren't for the two missing teeth right in the front, you would think you were looking at a 13 year old boy.  He is growing his hair out (a la Zach and Cody of The Suite Life), for which his hair is perfect.  It is completely adorable, especially with his sandy blonde hair and cute little nose freckles, but, at the same time, unsettling to think about how quickly they change and grow up.

I'm wondering how long it will be before my own little boy looks that mature.  You know how changes are usually so gradual that you barely notice them until you look back at an old photo?  Lately, I've been looking at him and noticing the changes without looking back.  Lukas is changing and growing up too fast for me.  Sometimes I wish we could put them in a little box and keep them small forever, but then, what would be the point in having them?

Gardening

Our house has been hopping lately, as usual.  We put in a small garden last weekend and finished planting seeds Tuesday evening.  It seems like we've been doing yard work non-stop for weeks, and there is still more to do.  The yard waste around the garden needs to be bagged, the flower beds need to be mulched (unless we decide to not mulch them this year and save a few bucks), the grass needs to be mowed, and the patio is still a mess.  Amazingly enough, the list of things that I need to do within my house is even longer.  I have to say that I am glad to have a summer break during which I will find my house again amidst the clutter, dust, and homeschool projects (and hopefully, that will happen before the next school year begins in September).

One of the highlights of our past week was having my niece and nephew, Zack and Maia, spend the night last night.  My sister and her husband, Cassie and Ben, needed some time alone, and I was more than grateful to provide it.  I love having her kids here!  We all had a ton of fun!  You can check out pics HERE.

When Cass picked the kids up today, she went out back to check out my garden.  I have to tell you, I was like a kid in a toy store when I realized that my cucumber and squash seeds had sprouted!  I looked closer later and discovered beans and carrots starting to come up as well.  It's my first garden, so I was afraid that nothing would really grow.  Now I just have to manage to keep them alive and well enough to actually produce fruit and veggies!  I'll let you know how that goes later in the summer!

I want to end on this note today...for those of you who know Cassie and Ben (and even for those who don't), please lift them up in prayer.  Their relationship has been through the ringer in the past 9 years.  They re-married this past December, as many of you know, but 4 weeks ago, Ben left again.  He is only home for a visit this weekend, and I have no idea what is going to happen.  Please pray for them if you think of it.  The kids seem to be doing alright, but I know that Zack is having a hard time with this.  Thanks for your prayers, and thanks again for reading my blog!

Sweet Things

1.  Listening to Lukas read our evening family devotional out loud to the family is one of the most precious parts of the day for me.  The book we're using right now is called Tiny Talks, and it is perfect for our little ones.  My favorite part is at the end when Lukas reads the short prayer that is part of the devotional.  He always reads it slowly, three or four words at a time, so that Ava can repeat after him, and she does it!  It is so, so sweet to watch and listen to the two of them during this most special part of our day.  I'm tearing up just thinking about how sweet it is to hear this exchange each evening.

2.  Dirty feet don't really sound like a sweet thing, but when you put things into God's perspective, even dirty feet can be a blessing.  My kids have been outdoors daily for a while now since the weather is warm, and the past few days, I they have been in sandals or, better yet, shoeless.  So, of course, their feet are dirty.  Do I like scrubbing dirty feet every night or the fact that the bath water is gray by the time they are clean?  Of course not, but I love that they are happy, active, playing, discovering, and learning new things each and every day that they spend in our rather large back yard, which is another blessing in itself.  So while the dirt may not look or sound sweet, what that dirt symbolizes is very sweet.

3.  May 1st. is going to be a sweet day for us from now on.  Why?  My husband has just completed his first "tax season."  While he did his best to protect our family time over the past four months, there were still many extra hours to work.  Yesterday marked the end of this busy season for us, and Eric was home at his normal time and able to spend the entire evening with us tonight.  May 1st might just become one of the sweetest days of our year!

4.  Girlfriends are so important to many women, and I must confess, they are some of the most important people in my life.  I have some of the best friends a girl could have, and I can seriously go to them with any question or problem that you could possibly come up with.  I love that they are there for me no matter what, and I love that they know they can always come to me with whatever is on their plate as well.  I can only hope to be as sweet a blessing to them as they are to me.

5.  Fried car stereo speakers are definitely not something that anyone would consider to be a sweet blessing, but today, that is exactly what our van's speaker was to us.  I had asked Eric to have the speakers checked out before an upcoming trip because one of them hasn't been working forever (I'm not exaggerating at all).  Without laying out every single detail for you, I'll just tell you that the cheapest most effective way to get the speaker replaced ended up being at a Ford dealership downtown.  When they drove the van into the shop to work on the speaker situation, they noticed a trail following them.  That is never a good thing.  It looked like an oil leak, but it wasn't.  It was a transmission leak, and it was a major leak.  All said and done, it is going to cost a fortune to fix this problem, but, we aren't going to lose our transmission somewhere between here and FL during our upcoming vacation.  We knew that the van had a slow oil leak, so seeing the completely burnt transmission fluid wouldn't have caused us concern.  We wouldn't have known anything was wrong until we were stranded on a mountain top somewhere in Virginia (I'll bet that sentence brings back memories for any IWU Wind Ensemble alums who are reading this).  I am so, so, so thankful that this is being fixed!

If you made it this far, I commend you.  I know that this is long and that many people don't like to read entries like this.  I love reading blogs that help me to refocus and look for the little blessings in everything.  I hope that at least one person has been challenged or encouraged by reading this entry.  May God show you each something new and beautiful today!