Unsettling dreams, calorie burn and summer camp

I've had dreams before (as I'm sure you have) that were playing out just as I would want things to in real life. I never want to wake up from such a sleep. But last night my dream was so awful that I was afraid to wake up. It was a really bizarre experience like being stuck between consciousness and unconsciousness. I sorta kinda knew I was only dreaming, yet I was unwilling to allow myself to fully wake up until things resolved themselves and ended well. SOOOO weird. Oddly, I managed to stay asleep enough to see the dream through to a halfway happy ending. However, I woke up with my stomach in knots and started my day completely stressed out. I'm really hoping this never EVER happens again!

Yesterday I let Micah try out my BodyBugg. Had to do a little rigging to get it to stay in place on his arm, but he is LOVING it. He didn't put that thing on till lunchtime, but he met and exceeded all my goals for the day before bed. He is using it again today and the boy is seriously cracking me up. He'll sit down for a few minutes and then remember he has that thing strapped to him. Suddenly I'll see him jump up and sort of start pacing to get more steps in. This child is obviously a calorie incinerator (as he's been labeled on Wii!) but he is determined to blow my record calorie burn for a day out of the water!! We'll see!

Staying active is getting harder and harder for kids these days. There are so many electronic gadgets readily available and happy to suck up their time. Yesterday Nikolas asked me to help him come up with a fitness plan that he could stick with. I told him to first put down the things he could think of and some time frames for them to be done in and then let me look at it. I was very surprised to read it and see how well thought out it was. But the best part was, IT IS PERFECTLY DO-ABLE! He chose things that he can do anywhere. It'll get him outside and moving more and conscious of his activity level. By morning Alex had been bit by the bug and had devised his own plan. I love this concept!

Summer camp has started around here. Some of the staff arrived about mid-week with the rest coming in tomorrow. This year my little Hannah is actually the age to be a real camper! She is so excited. Her week of camp doesn't start for 7 days but she is already planning. We moved here when she was not quite 3 and she has spent every summer since watching her big brothers be apart but not being able to herself. This year she leaves Abby in the realms of the under 7 crowd to embark on her journey. Sort of like a rite of passage. Thankfully I have two more years until my youngest child can be initiated into this exclusive club!

Well, I'd better get to bed. I started to write this post hours ago and just got so distracted so many times that I never actually finished it. I need to be up early tomorrow to go running at 5:45am. And I'm already way too late getting to bed to get up at that hour. And then I have so much I want to get done tomorrow. We'll see how that to-do list goes! Life can be exhausting. Sometimes you might even get so sleepy that you forget to actually close your eyes when you sleep. And then you'd look a little creepy like my sweet Abigail...


Good Night!!!!

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A pause to appreciate

As I sit down to type I have two little girls in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and rearranging my cupboards. I'm not sure that they are going to actually arrange things the way I would (in fact, I'm fairly certain they will not!) but it just made my heart swell when I came in from lazing in the hammock to find them conspiring in the kitchen to "surprise Mama". I pretended not to notice what was happening!

Sometimes one or another of the kids will sneak in to make my bed. Now unless it is Micah who does it, you can bet that it will be less than perfect. And if it is Micah, it will be TOO perfect! :) But my bed wears those wrinkles and uneven sheets peeking from under the top cover like a badge of honor and love.

You see, when it comes to certain things I am a "just so" kinda girl. I've made huge progress over the years and have learned to be a bit more relaxed about sharing my house with real live people who don't just sit on the couch looking cute. They are lively and loud and at times messy. It has taken years of near panic attacks over sticky floors and smudged windows and toothpaste spatters on mirrors to realize that life is so much more than a clean house. The days where my house is all perfect and everything is "just so" are very lonely days indeed. It means that my children are not with me. That there are no giggling girls planning their next meal for their dolls, no wild and crazy boys brainstorming their next invention or experiment. Soon enough, that will be my everyday. I am told that when the time comes I will accept it and enjoy my newfound freedom. I suppose I hope so, since it is inevitable that they will indeed grow and start on their adult journeys. But it is honestly hard to imagine right now.

So my goal this summer is to live in the moment. To soak up every bit of time I am blessed with young children in the home. And when they are away, and their Daddy is getting the chance to enjoy their sweetness, I want to use that time to refresh and refocus. I don't want them to grow up ever questioning their place in my heart. So the next time I find a counter that has haphazardly been wiped down with love by a little girl too short to reach the center, I will smile. I may or may not sneak and scrub it down myself (anybody who knows me knows that I will!) but either way, I will smile. And I'll remind myself that this season is fleeting and precious.

My Bible reading for today was Esther 8-10. This is a short book, but to me it is symbolic of the fact that righteousness will prevail, though the road won't be covered in roses. Evil (just like Haman and his 10 sons) will be eradicated in the end. Esther's true beauty simply emanated from a pure heart devoted to her Lord!

My home focus today is my kitchen, refrigerator and laundry.

Exercise is an early morning walk/jog (somewhere around an hour) and the Insanity Fit Test.

Wishing you a peaceful evening!

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Last day of School!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the last day of school!!!! While I am so glad for where they spent the school year, I have seriously missed having my kids around. Yes, after about an hour of summer vacation I may be whistling a different tune (just kidding!!) but at the moment I am just so excited. Not to mention that I will get a two month break from shortened work days (read: lost pay), packing lunches, gathering and laundering uniforms, and running up and down the mountain multiple times in a day. I'll feel rich with all those extra hours and money not being spent on gas!! The very thought is making me perfectly giddy!

My home focus today is: Bathrooms and getting laundry folded

My scripture reading this morning came from: Esther 4 & 5. Her courage and faith put me to shame. I find myself fearful often and I allow it to paralyze me. Mostly it is circumstances that bring about the greatest apprehension. Esther knew fear (for her life even), but took it to the Lord and let Him carry her through the rough times. When will I learn to do the same?

Have a wonderful weekend!!

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Thursday...thru the Lens

Two Memorial Day weekend hikes, kids standing in the water in their sock feet (whose children are they anyway??), and our Golden trying out the hiking pack...crazy, fun times!







And I had to add this one just because she looks soooo sweet and proper!!! Of course, the whole bottom half of her dress ended up soaked and she was popped in the tub upon our arrival back home!!


Have an amazing Friday!

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Happy Birthday, Hannah!!!

My little Hannah turned 7 in May! To celebrate she wanted to do something with the girls from school. A week and a half later, we finally did just that! There was a bit of stress when I learned this morning that the bowling alley that I had planned to take them to was now closed on Tuesday's. Plan B was the skating rink. Not an option as they were also closed. Plan C was the park. As I was driving down the mountain toward the school the sky opened up and dumped buckets of rain on that plan as well. Yes, I was beginning to sweat it. Number One on my to-do list is to become more organized. ((I won't mention that it has been at the top of my list for years)) Anyway, the rain didn't last and the sun soon shining as bright as ever. So after school I gathered 6 giggly girls into my van and headed to a park that I didn't know how to get to! Thankfully, a friend--and mother to one of the 3 Hannah's that was along!!--took the lead and got us there without incident. All was going well until some of the girls informed us that the sliding board had been peed on. The bright side is that it wasn't by one of the kids in our group!! When the heat and humidity began to be too much and the playground was just no longer a source of great entertainment, we left to fill our tummies. They gobbled down their pizza, so excited were they all to get into the arcade! It's the little things, you know!

Anyway, all that to say, it sure was fun to get to enjoy those girls for an afternoon. Hannah loved every minute of it even though it was nothing special. I've informed her that the new house rule is that we count backwards from 7. So next year she will turn 6 again! I think it is a terrific plan. Hannah, however, is not so inclined to agree with me!

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