A scare.

I took the girls on a walk today with the dog. We went down to the dog park, then walked back. The girls know to stay on the inside of the sidewalk and not to cross any roads without my permission.

We came to a wide driveway and I said, "Cross." Beth turned and started to cross the road! There was a car coming and I yelled at her and she came back and in reality the car was traveling at the speed limit (a wonder, since no one ever does--it's 25 but people zoom through here like it's the Daytona 500) and she was fine but I saw her little life snuffed out in that instant.

My baby walked in front of a car today.

I don't cry as easily as I used to, but I broke down today, and again when we got home. I prayed to God and thanked him for saving my Bubby's life, for giving her another day.

Day 4: making a pie.

Step 1: Add the dry pudding powder.



Step 2: Add the milk.



Step 3: Mix.



Step 4: Lick the beaters and spatula while waiting for the pie to set.



Step 5: Enjoy the fruits of your labors!

Hi!

I can't think of the last time I did a real update.

Jon is still in love with the new (to us) organ at the church (we just got one in PA a few weeks ago--he's been praying for a new organ for years!). He fixed one of the pedals (it kept sticking) and figured out how to get the chime unit to work. OH! I keep forgetting to mention this! A few months ago, we got hand chimes (similar to hand bells, but way cheaper). We just have two octaves right now, but Jon'd really like to have three. Anywho, we played a couple weeks ago and it went really well! I was super nervous (my stomach was in knots), but I prayed and prayed and only made two mistakes (and both of those were not playing as opposed to the worse crime of playing the wrong note at the wrong time). It was the best I'd ever done, and I really think it's because God helped me. The piece we're working on now is easier, at least for me. I'm enjoying it.

Speaking of playing, I'm almost done with my piano book! My friend Kerrie encouraged me to finish it, so I told her I'd be done by her birthday (late next week). I have three songs left and I think I'll be done. It's just that the last two are really hard for me. It's going to take some real practice. I'd love to play in church before the end of the year, too, even if I am just at a beginner level. Maybe a duet with one of the girls?

Writing is going okay. I've been sending 500-ish words a week to a friend, and I think my story's coming along better than it would otherwise. I'm also doing it differently; every story I've ever written has been written from beginning to end, but this story, I'm skipping around in. I'm still writing the events in chronological order, but I feel less pressure this way.

The past few days have been hot, hot, hot! I guess a lot of the country had a major heat wave. Jon and I were given a a/c unit (just a window thing), and we used it every day for three or four days! So while the upstairs was baking, we enjoyed being cool downstairs.

Oh, and we signed up for huluplus. I don't like it as much as Netflix (it's not as user-friendly [should there be a hyphen there?]), but it has shows Netflix doesn't. And it's the same price as Netflix, so we're paying about $16 or $17 combined for a ton of shows and movies that we could even get if we had cable. Also, we're thinking of getting a good antennae and seeing what we can pick up. I would love to have CBS!

Anyway, so Jon had vacation these past few days. We took the girls to the beach (it was crowded and I discovered I'm even more introverted than I used to be) and they had a blast. I discovered I put on sunscreen better than Jon, though. I coated Kate, but he did the other two. Jill didn't burn, but Beth did on her shoulders, and I did all on my shoulders and back. It wasn't too bad, but I think I'll be doing the applying next time! :Þ

We've decided not to get a wading pool this year. Instead, I'll just take the girls over to Mohegan Park's beach two or three times a week. I know they'll enjoy that. :) And we have a sprinkler and a Slip 'n Slide for when we're home.

Next month promises to be crazy busy. Jill has camp, and there's also VBS (I'm super excited about that--we didn't do it last summer and I really wish we had).

Oh, and I just made a pudding pie with the girls a few minutes ago, but that's one of the 31 Days of Fun, so there'll be pictures later.

Day 3: water balloon fight.

What do you do when the pegs from your daughter's Slip 'n Slide are missing? Why, fill up water balloons, of course!

Day 2: movie night.

Most Fridays, we have movie night. Jon and I have cut out a lot of TV for the girls, so this night is special to them, and while I use some movies on Netflix, I try to get ones they love or haven't seen from the library. Tonight, they're watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But I thought I'd add a twist to the normal movie night. Movie night in a fort!

Day 1: mini volcanos

Step 1. Gather the ingredients. Step 2. Set up (and make your children say cheese). Step 3. Watch as the water foams! This was fun, but if we do it again, I'll need a lot more baking soda and vinegar, and I'd like to make it so the girls can dump it in themselves. They did have fun watching the water bubble and almost overflow, but I was hoping for more.

31 days of fun.

A friend of mine sent me a link to a woman who had 75 things planned to do with her kids over the summer. As I'm doing an awful job of keeping up with this blog, and summer is upon us, I thought I'd combine the two. I won't be posting 31 days in a row, as Sundays are crazy days, and Jon's days off we're often busy doing stuff. Also, we have a few vacations coming up, so there's no way I could do 31 days in a row. But when I can, I'll do something with the girls, then post here about whatever it was we did. Stay tuned!

1 down, 2 to go!

I just got back from taking Jill to get her teeth sealed. I'm very excited--she has all her canine teeth! Jon is missing his top two, as is his mom. She had her baby canines, but so did Jon. We've been waiting till she was old enough for x-rays to show whether she'd get them or not. We won't know with the other two girls for years, but at least Jill has them!

Life lately.

* Jill's tooth is extremely loose. Do you have any idea how badly I want to yank it out?

* We got a bathing suit for Jill. We looked everywhere, but who knew it'd be so hard to find a modest one piece for an eight-year-old? We looked at Target, Penney's (admittedly, there were some nice suits, but not what we wanted to spend), and were on our way to Sears, when we passed by Old Navy. We decided to look in there and what do you know--there were a bunch of suits (and they were all modest!) on sale for $10. All we had to do was find one we liked! So I had Jill try on all of them, we picked one, and then Jon got her and Kate flip-flops cuz they had a buy two, get 'em for $5 deal.

* Also, since it was recently Jill'd birthday, we let her pick out some books at Books-A-Million (I kept laughing, though, cuz the sign says BAM! which makes me think of a gym. I may have had a little too much fun with the name. ;)). She got Stuart Little, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, and an origami book.

* We had a three days of sun, so I'm trying to be okay with the rain today. It's supposed to rain today and Thursday, but be warm on Friday with only one shower, then beautiful on Saturday and Sunday. I can do this.

* I know there was more, but I can't think of anything. Also, you can thank katharhino for this entry and the one about Boston. She said it's been too quiet around here, and I knew I needed to write, so here ya go. :)

* Oh, and Jon bought me a pretty skirt!

* One last thing: Jill and Beth finally have bike helmets, and Jon's going to take the training wheels off Jill's bike. It's time she learned how to ride that thing. (I apologize if you've already read this on my other blogs--I think right now I'm just going to copy and paste for now.)

Boston!

The trip to Boston was good, in part thanks to Adventures in Odyssey's The Great Wishy Woz. It was a bit much for Jon and me, but the girls loved it and didn't utter a peep while it was playing. I also brought Make Way for Ducklings, two books on Paul Revere, and a book about Boston in general.

Before we got to Boston, all three girls were ready to get out, so it was a relief to actually be in the city. Plus, they knew we'd be parking underground. We'd have gotten there sooner, but we kept not finding the parking garage cuz it seems so many roads are one way! We finally got there, though, and everyone was happy to stretch her legs.

First, we walked over to the Boston Common and everything was gorgeous. The entire day was, and everything was in bloom and green and flowery. We walked around, eventually finding the mother duck and her ducklings from Make Way for Ducklings. And it wasn't long after this that Beth and Kate decided they had to pee. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a place to pee? After much walking and searching, we finally found the place where Paul Revere tours start and there are maps. We went inside, everyone did their thing, then we went to the car to get our lunch (this is when I realized we should have packed a back-pack), then went back to the Common. We enjoyed our lunch, even trying to feed a few birds (who turned their beaks up at our crusts), then took everything back to the car.

I think the next place we went was the top of the Prudential building. Totally not worth all the money we forked over, but at least we know better for next time. We're thinking we want to go on one of the duck boats that goes on land and water. We saw a couple while we were there and I love them! We know the girls would really enjoy the ride. Or maybe one of the swan boats. Jon and I were shocked when we saw it's actually a person who propels the boats; we hadn't known that before. Anyway, the Prudential building: really tall, great views, but not much else. Then we went into a really old church and looked around, and by this time the girls were pretty tired. We went for a last look at the ducks and I got a pic of all of them (I hadn't been able to earlier in the day because they'd been swarmed with kids), and Kate got to sit on the mother.

We had planned to go to an ice cream bar that Jon loved from his childhood, but he didn't know what it was called, only the street it was on. We ended up going to Friendly's, and the girls had sundaes. Kate made a mess of herself! All in all, a great day. Pics coming, I promise! (You guys should be glad I've forgotten so much about our trip to Boston. I might've made this super long otherwise. ;))

Over the river and through the woods. (early April)

We drove to Jon's grandma's house after Yankee Candle. I had the girls take naps; I don't remember if they did or not, but they rested at least. When we got there, Stella had some muffins for the girls to munch on since the pizza she'd ordered was going to take a while. After everyone ate, Jon showed the girls where they could play outside (Stella has a huge sloping backyard where she grows lots of flowers, though not as many lately). Stella gave me a huge bag of books, and we sat around talking till the pizza came. Everyone had several slices, then the girls went back outside to play. Our trip there was uneventful, which was nice, especially considering that Stella can be a very unpleasant person. She's finally getting old and realizing that she doesn't have as many people as she wishes (she had knee surgery a few years ago, and has a hard time with her leg). We drove home, loaded up with goodies and snacks and books and money (which Jon put in the girls' savings account--I'm very glad we've opened one for them!).

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The next day, Saturday, we drove to IKEA in the evening to buy some bookcases. We ended up with three really nice medium brown ones, as well as a smaller one for me to organize my school stuff and some boxes to hide the girls' loose papers in. We had fun walking all over the store looking at things we liked and would like to get one day.

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Monday, we went with friends to see The Hunger Games. I'd give it a B. I thought they did a good job with it, but I didn't really have a connection to any of the characters. I teared up mostly when it showed how District 11 acted when you-know-who died. :/ Also, while I didn't have any clappers, I had a lot of laughers. They laughed every time a tribute died, and during the scene where Katniss is hallucinating. I don't think I'll be going to see the second or third in theatres, though I'll probably watch them when they come out on DVD. Yesterday we went to Boston, but that deserves an entry of its own. :)

Yankee Candle, early April

I rolled out of bed at 6:24 yesterday after deciding to sleep for "just a few more minutes" (I had planned to get up at 6). I came downstairs, sorted the laundry, then hopped in the shower. We actually got out of the house before 8, and that's even with me having to go back in the house for my purse. The trip to Deerfield, MA wasn't too bad; I read to the girls, and they read independently as well. We made good time, getting there before 10, when they opened. So we drove around a bit, planning to go to a bookstore and a candy store after Yankee Candle.

The grounds were beautiful--tulips and daffodils and lupines and a few other flowers decorated many flower beds, the grass was green, and of course the Yankee Candle store was picturesque. A wooden porch ran the length of the building on all sides, and there were several benches just right for pictures. A very helpful woman greeted us when we went in, telling us all about the different stores, and told us of a butterfly garden just minutes away, the same garden I've wanted to take the girls to for years. We'll probably go back later this summer.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun looking around. Santa's there, and so much of the store is Christmas themed. Big Santa dolls are everywhere, as are winter scenes. One room even snows, and the girls rushed over to catch the snowflakes on their tongues. Two women kindly offered to take family pictures, and I was so thankful. It's not very often all five of us are in a picture together! The best part, though, was the room where you can make candles and hand molds.

First, we let each child pick out a wax mold (Jill and Kate picked a butterfly, Beth a dinosaur) and they got to dip it in different colored paraffin. After that, we decided to do one candle that all the girls could share. We got a glass jar and that's when a woman came over to tell us how to do it. She was very helpful and quite liked our girls; she was impressed that they would share one candle, then handed us a golden ticket. That ticket made it so all five of us could get a candle as well as dip our hands to make molds for free! Her kindness made the visit that much more special. :D

It's really cool making candles; you place your glass jar under these huge containers (I think I have a picture) and press a button; out come wax granules. You do this eight times to fill your jar, and the girls had fun going from one scent to the next (there were little bottles so you could smell what you were picking). Then you take your filled jar to the counter, write your name on the lid, and they melt the top layer so it's smooth. The lady who had helped us brought them over when they were done.

Next, the girls did molds of their hands (Jon and I would have, but the line was huge behind us; we got there at a great time). Beth was fearless, but Jill took some persuading. First, you dunk your hand in soapy water for 15 seconds, then in icy water, then hot paraffin, then back in the icy water. You do the water and paraffin four times, then dip your waxy hand in the paraffin color of your choice. After you dunk in whatever color, the woman cut off the wax from the girls' hands and slid it off like a glove. You could pick another color to dunk the other side of the hand in, and voila, you had a hand mold!

After we did all that, the girls were pretty tired. Kate wanted to see the boat again (in the candy store), so we wandered over there, but stopped for fudge first. Then we took them to the candy shop so they could play on the boat; again, I was glad we'd come so early. They'd been able to play on the boat easily earlier and I'd gotten some pictures. When we went that last time, there were kids all over that boat! On the way out, we picked up a really pretty picture, then headed to the car with our treasures. Up next, a visit with grandma!

When my mom married Dale, neither my brother nor I was pleased, but we accepted it as best we could. And when we met our Uncle Howard, we didn't realize what a rock he'd become to us.

The first time that we met him after Mom and Dale got together, he insisted that my brother and I call him Uncle Howard. Jason and I thought it was funny to keep calling him Howard, but he told us that if we did, he wouldn't talk to us until we could show him respect. True to his word, he didn't. It wasn't long before we called him Uncle Howard, and not long after my mom and Dale married that my brother and I realized how lucky we were to have him.

Through the years, he was there for us. When Dale belittled Jason, Uncle Howard cared. When I rode with him in the car, he talked to me, wanting to know about my day. His house was always open to us, and in our awkward teen years, this was even more important. We were accepted and loved for who we were--not because of whose kids we were, or the people we might become, but the changing and growing people we were right then.

So it was to my uncle that I went when I could trust no one else. He loved me despite what happened, and almost two decades later, he's still here.

I've been struggling with my faith lately, not sure of my way or how to find the path again. I've asked the opinion of other people, but it wasn't until last night that I realized Uncle Howard would know. I sent him a text, and he asked me to call him. But before calling him, he wanted me to read chapters 18-20 in John.

I did this morning, then called him this afternoon. It was so good to talk with him again! And I was right, he had some answers for me. He didn't make me feel dumb for not having it all figured out or not knowing what to do. He suggested some things I can read, and even a new way to pray. And he reminded me that some days are hard, some days I'll have questions and I'll even be mad at God and that it's okay. God cares for me and wants to hear everything from me, the good and the bad. Yes, He already knows it all, but He still wants to hear from me.

You know that verse in Romans that talks about how everything works out for good? Uncle Howard is that good. If I could go back in the past and take out all the bad, I don't think I would because intertwined so tightly is my uncle. He was there through it all, and I don't think I would have known how much he loved me if I hadn't gone through what I did.