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It’s Not Unusual
I like this house best when it is laughing. And I cannot seem to escape the fact that I live with seven funny people. And I think you might laugh at this little tale as well. One sunny afternoon in our very recent past we set out to battle the heat with two plastic pools. Two plastic pools. (Six kids.) But the kids were satisfied. Two pools suited them just fine. They declared the larger one a pool and the second, much smaller, pool was labeled a hot tub. (Their logic was sound. Less water + sunnier location = hotter pool = hot tub.) I watched them jump from hot…
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The Thing With Feathers
Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I’ve heard it in the chilliest land And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me. – Emily Dickinson Oh Emily. You might have been a tad eccentric. You were probably lonely. But you know a thing or two about hope, don’t you? Hope. It’s a bit of a dangerous thing really, isn’t it? The thing with…
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Summer time . . . and the livin’ is easy
It’s true around here. Summer time . . . and the livin’ is easy. A little too easy, actually. A lot too easy in fact. Remember our schedule? I think I forgot that it served a purpose. A really good purpose. I am okay with summer. I like it, in fact. A big fan, really. We all need a little summer. But as for our family, maybe we have been letting summer have us a little too much. I’ve been letting it all slide. I forgot to fix eggs for breakfast for the last three Wednesdays. Which is not at all serious. I know. Eggs are not the issue. (They…
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And The Answer Is . . .
These are the kinds of questions I get asked on any given day. All day. Can we go to the dollar store? Does Jesus have a head? What are we going to eat for breakfast? Where is my dragon? Can we watch a show? Can we go swimming? What are we going to eat for lunch? When is lunch? Why do I have to wear a seat belt? What does “insatiable” mean? Can you kill this spider? What’s for dinner? Can we eat macaroni & cheese? What is a hornet? Can you scratch my back? Why do you think God made me so hungry? What does a turtle eat? Can…
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What I’m Hoping For
This year’s summer staff includes a set of siblings. And I was watching the brother and sister pair recently. They were chatting. Laughing. And before they parted, the brother gave his sister a hug and a hair tousle. Something motherly (or whatever) went off inside of my heart. Watching Andrew and Erin made me think of Berg and Piper. Or any other combination of siblings at our house that you want to toss about there. I just want them to like one another. To know one another. To be involved in the lives of each other. So I love it when I see Bergen and London cuddling on the sofa…
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my diet
Disappointment is my daily bread. Yes. You guessed it. This post might just be a downer. Click somewhere else if you want. I’ll never know. But today . . . I don’t have anything to offer. No weird vomit tale with which to regale you. No everything is spiritual epiphany. Only a ranting. I just don’t feel like suffering in silence today. That’s all. It’s seems I keep moving back over to that edge. On the verge of tears almost always. Sure – for big reasons. And for smaller ones too. It just seems lately that I fall asleep to disappointment and then I wake up to disappointment. It sits…
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Can Someone Please Define Normal?
Yesterday was a normal day. I have a lot of those. I’ll just go ahead and highlight three examples of events or conversations that contributed to the normalness of the day. Just three, mind you. Three examples of normal. (Except maybe I am not entirely sure what normal means anymore. That’s possible. Indeed – probable.) Example One: Disclaimer: Some of my children may be rapidly approaching the age when I can no longer share these stories unless I use an alias for them. So we had better all enjoy this while it lasts.) Piper Finn and Otto Fox were napping. Riley was reading a book. (Wait – that can’t be…
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grateful.
Grateful. I am. When you leave a home that includes six children, five of whom are still under six years of age, for several days, it’s kind of big deal. Shoot, when you do anything at a home that includes six children, five of whom are still under six years of age, everything is kind of a big deal. (Or at least it feels that way most days.) So when the idea for an adventure with Beth was just in the beginning stages, I immediately started planning what to do with kids 1 through 6. Kevin wouldn’t be away from home, exactly, but his job at a camp makes him…
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Steady
Sometimes keeping a house remotely neat or tidy when eight people share that house is a nearly impossible task. Nearly. Impossible. And there are days when I feel as if all I do is clean one room and then move to another room. And the second I exit the clean room some inanimate object explodes and destroys all of my productivity before anyone can even rejoice in it momentarily. Really. The other night I took Wilder out of his booster seat at the kitchen table where he had just dumped his bowl of peaches on the floor (peaches = sticky madness) plus his container of chicken and couscous. I carried…
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there & back
It is always late when I write this blog. And I am usually sleepy. But I might be even more sleepy than usual. Because I’ve been adventuring – you know? Against all odds, my pal and former college roomie Beth and I met together in the mountains of North Carolina for some Girl Adventures. I feel confident that I will revisit this experience in future posts, when I am less sleepy and it is less late. I happened to arrive at our rustic-chic resort before Beth and I found myself with some things I am not very familiar with. Alone time. Silence. Freedom of choice. (I know I will delve…
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a little bit of this
Honestly, I am just a little bit too busy right now to complete a full post tonight. What with a little bit of this in the morning and some of this in the afternoon and maybe a game or two of this in the evening. But don’t worry. This adventure ends soon and I will be back with all the details of said adventure. So until then hold your horses.
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I-95: I Am Your Pupil
Last Friday five of my children and I spent basically an entire day inside the confines of our Suburban. (Berg was the missing Keiglet. He’s spending another Boys Only visit with Aunt Emma & Co.) It was a very long day. (Can you say that sentence slowly and with emphasis and while heaving a heavy sigh?) But the trip was not in vain. (Well, of course it was not in vain. We needed to get from Tallahassee to South Carolina and our choice was to live in Florida forever or to drive home.) This is what Florida to South Carolina on I-95 taught me. 1. Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber’s ridiculous…
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it sure is a good thing
This is what London said to me once . . . “Mom. It sure is a good thing you have so many kids. They can help you do all these chores.” What I thought but did not say in response – Yeah. That’s right, London. And the reason I have all these chores is because I have all these kids. I did not say that. I did not say that because six-year-old children do not generally interpret sarcasm well. But maybe, just maybe, that little London gal is on to something after all. Here’s two ways I think I can secretly (well, not now, of course) get away with using…
