This morning I stumbled into the kitchen to check the calendar. I was caught off guard when I noticed that Paul's 1st grade open house is THIS thursday. I started to have a small motherly panic attack. As I began getting breakfast ready, the kids skipping from their rooms to the kitchen, my eyes began to water over.
Anna-"mom what's wrong?"
me- "I'm just a little sad about you all heading to school next week."
Anna- "don't cry mom. It's ok. I'm EXCITED about going to school. I REALLY want to go to school. I don't like staying home with you."
The poor thing tries so hard to comfort me, but always manages to say the wrong thing. I guess she gets that from me. I'm always putting my foot in my mouth.
For Paul's 7th birthday he got lots of creature habitats. He is anxiously awaiting his ants for his ant farm and his ladybug larva for his ladybug growing adventure.
Paul -"I can't believe I'm going to be an Ant farmer! I'm going to be a ladybug daddy!"
Anna- "can I be the ladybug Mommy?!?!"
Paul -"sure! good thinking Anna!"
Until the ants and the larva arrive through UPS Paul is creature hunting in the backyard. Yesterday morning he brought in several rolly pollies, put them in the lady bug habitat, and put a bit of water and "food" in for them. That afternoon he solemnly walked into the living room, his two best friends were sitting in the floor, in the palm of his hand was a rolled up rolly polly.
Paul- "guys, you better prepare yourself for a funeral. This little guy got in the deep end of the water."
This morning after breakfast he came walking in the kitchen with his hand palm up.
Paul- "mom I have found the smallest rolly polly I have ever seen in my WHOLE life."
Me- "Paul, honey, that's not a rolly polly. That's a small piece of fuzz."
Paul- "no it isn't. I have to go out and get this litttle guy some food. can you hold him while I go out in the back yard?"
I sat at the kitchen table, holding a piece of fuzz, while Paul, who was only wearing his underwear, went into the backyard to get the "rolly polly" some food, thinking to myself, "so, this is what motherhood is all about? humm interesting!"
I honestly didn't think this day would affect me as much as it has.
Today's the 5th anniversary of my Papal's death.
I miss him.
Everyday I feel that his presence is with me. I feel as if he is right beside me, watching me play with my children, laughing about how I am making sure to raise them in the backwoods type of way right in the middle of what he would call "the city."
I remember when I moved to "the city." I'd go over to his house on a weekend home from college, and hunt him down out in the field. We'd sit in the truck, watchin' the cows, talkin' about life "in the city." He'd laugh so hard at the stories I'd bring home about the "city folk" I'd met in college. He'd get to chuckling so hard that he'd get choked up on his chewing tobacco and have to pat his eyes with his white hanky.
I miss that.
I miss the way his whole body would shake when he laughed.
He LOVED to laugh.
My whole family LOVES to laugh.
I'm pretty sure we all got that from Papal.
He also LOVED to tell stories.
I miss that too.
I miss the magical way that he had with getting people to sit around together and tell stories.
When he got the hankering to talk he'd stand on the porch and wave people down, grab them a chair and have Mamal put on a cup of coffee. He did this with family, friends, employees and random strangers. The man loved to talk, loved to tell stories, and loved to tell people about Jesus.
I miss seeing him, this big strong farmer, get teared up while talkin' about Jesus.
Every year since his death my family has gathered at Golden Corral, the only restaurant that can fit my MASSIVE family, to eat and tell stories about Papal. Mamal rents the whole back room for us. It typically starts off somber. We all walk into the room missing his presence, feeling the void that he left behind. But that void is quickly filled by each of us taking turns to tell some of our cRaZy Papal stories.
Every year the same stories seem to creep in and every year we all pretend as if it is the first time we have ever heard them.
For that small span of time, he is still alive.
He lives through the stories; He has once again waved us down and demanded that we all grab a cup of coffee and sit around for a quick chit chat.
This anniversary I was unable to make it down to the Family Farm to be with everyone.
My husband kept telling me it was ok for me to go, but we have so much going on here at home that the thought of having to drive all the way there, with two kids, all alone, was overwhelming.
I opted to stay home.
I didn't expected to feel so emotional today.
I knew I would wake up missing him, feeling a sense of lose that tends to creep back around this time of year, but I didn't realize how much I would yearn to be surrounded by family, to be comforted by the stories.
One of my favorite things as a child was sitting around listening to the grown ups tell stories about "when they were little." I can still see the stories playing in my head like a movie.
They say the art of story telling is dying out. For some reason our generation seems to have lost the simple pleasure of sittin' on the front porch to share a good story. They'd rather facebook, tweet, text, watch tv, or.... blog.
The sappy sentimental mother that appears around this time every year.
This morning was Paul's last morning to snuggle with me as a 6 year old.
Tomorrow morning our little boy will wake up a 7 year old!
At 11:59pm on July 25, 2005 Paul Calvin made his entrance into this world.
holy cow my vein is popping out of my head. push girl. push!
I couldn't believe Roger and I had actually brought a HUMAN into the world!
I could't stop looking at him, rubbing his little cheeks, smiling.
I remember asking Roger, "How did I give birth to a dark haired, dark eyed, tan baby?"
In the weeks leading up to the birth I had mentioned to Roger how adorable I thought little dark haired babies are. He pointed out that there would no way that I could ever give birth to a baby like that, what with both of our blonde hair and light eyes.
I guess he was wrong.
Genes are kinda funny that way aren't they!!
Having a baby a few weeks before my Junior year of College was completely NUTTS but Roger and I were determined to make it work.
And we made some wonderfully unique memories along the way.
guys night out.... with a baby
girls night..... with a baby!
Chilling with Katie
he LOVED going to the LRC with me to do research for class.
Paul at the 80's themed sorority party
helping me study for my Latin Exam
we made it to graduation!!!!!
Paul tells everyone he meets that he's doing school backwards.
"I went to college first! Yep. Graduated from Georgetown College. Then I went to kindergarten."
I love him so much.
future volleyball player
He used to sneak food out of the fridge.
Being his parent is too much fun!
I'd say Roger would agree with me.
"Mom, I'm not going to spend my birthday money. I'm going to put it in my bank account. I'm trying to get to 100.00. Then I'll be rich like you!" -Paul
Update: He got some birthday money in the mail from my grandmother today and he has ALREADY spent it.
This is what we have gotten to enjoy watching this evening.
The child wanted scuba gear for his birthday.
So what, he's a little boy who dreams of being on National Geographic.
Each year we take him somewhere special instead of buying him a gift. This year he has asked us to take him to Big Bone Lick State Park. The boy wants to camp with the Buffaloes.
Man Roger, we have one cool little boy!!
the child LOVES to swim
he's determined that one day he will Kayak with Tyler
at the coffee shop with friends
I was there when the first tooth came in and there when the first tooth came out!
I have some good news in regards to our house situation!
It's not GREAT news, yet, but it's GOOD and any type of good news regarding our 2nd home that has been on the market for over two years, is AWSOME.
Man, that's a pretty long sentence.
Sorry english majors.
Last week, as many of you already know, someone made an offer on the house.
It was a terribly low offer, we made a counter offer.
Today our Realtor let us know that the couple that made the offer is going to meet with their Realtor this coming weekend to make their final decision about the house. (their realtor is on vacation this wk) He also informed us that ANOTHER couple is looking at our house!! It is between our house and another house in town. That couple is set to meet with their Realtor on Wednesday of THIS WEEK to decided which house to make an offer on. I pray they make an offer on OUR house.
Can you believe that we have gone for over 2 years owning 2 homes, with absolutely NO interest from buyers, then all of a sudden TWO families are VERY interested?!?!?
I'm holding out faith that by this time next week we will have a SOLD sign in front of our adorable remodeled 1940's era house. It really is a lovely house!
miss that fire place
It's a good thing we found a home in our new town that is even more ADORABLE!
Or it would have been REALLY hard for me to put up that For Sale sign.
As I sat in the conference room filling out the stack of papers that I was handed by the secretary, Anna playing with the toys in the corner, nervous excitement leaked through my hand onto the paper.
I had been anticipating this day for months, well, years really, if I'm honest with myself.
7 years exactly.
At the beginning of March, when it was evident that Roger was indeed going to be graduating Seminary, I began hounding the local preschool, making sure I completed an enrollment application as soon as they began taking them. Call after call, visit after visit, resulted in a "no, I'm sorry, we aren't taking them yet."
The preschool here is State Run; They serve a similar population to the local Headstart that is Federally run. Because of this, it is required by law that the Headstart meet quota BEFORE the State Run Preschool is able to take applications. This causes the Preschool to have to wait until the last few weeks before school starts to take applications, do evaluations and notify parents of an acceptance or decline.
Yes, I know. It is a bit nerve wracking isn't it?
Especially when I am counting on her going SOMEWHERE for the first half of the day so that I can have a small chunk of time to work on Seminary papers/reading.
Not to mention (though I am mentioning it) that she starts kindergarten in 2013 and I am a BIG believer in half day preschool in preparation.
On top of THAT, the preschool that she will be attending (hopefully) is at the SAME school she will be attending Kindergarten.
Once the papers were turned in the secretary scheduled Anna for an evaluation. The evaluation is August 8th, the day after Paul's first day of 1st Grade. I know, can you believe my oldest is 7 and entering the 1st grade? I still feel 16, but I have this son who seems to think that I am his mother. weird!
I guess we will find out whether or not Anna gets into the Preschool shortly after her evaluation. The preschool is set to start Aug 16th. My first day of classes at Seminary is Aug 27. I kinda feel like I am standing in a room full of half cracked windows waiting to be opened.
It's exciting!!
What I LOVE about this new arrangement is that I am still going to be able to be the sole care giver to my children while ALSO allowing myself a bit of wiggle room. My seminary classes are all of Monday so Roger will be taking that day off to make sure the kids are both taken to school, picked up and cared for. The rest of the days of the week I will have the mornings, when Anna is in preschool and Paul's at elementary school, to study. I'll pick Anna up from preschool at lunch and Paul up from elementary school at 2:50. Student time and Mom time!
I know it will not be as simple as that. I KNOW, because I have done it before, not with TWO children mind you, but I have done it before while holding down 2 jobs. This time around I wont have the 2 jobs on top of the school, and the teething infant!! I'm pretty confident in my abilities to juggle at this point in my life.
We haven't even been back from Vacation for a whole 24 hours yet, and here I am forcing one of my good friends to go to dinner and a movie with me. I missed her!
It's nice to be back in Elizabethtown.
Last night we got back into town at around 2am. We made quite a few stops on the way back from Williamsburg, Virginia. On the way there we made hardly any stops, eating peanut butter sandwiches in the car when we got hungry, only stopping to fill the gas tank.
The drive home was different. We decided to stop whenever the urge hit... or we saw something cool.
random snow man on the side of the road in West Virginia
on the campus of Marshall University having a coffee and snack
at our house in Winchester, ky that we can't manage to sell but needed to check on
As we were driving through Georgetown we stopped by to see Roger's little sister Layla and her husband Aaron
While on vacation both of the children learned to swim.
yes, I was shocked!
Especially with Anna.
At the beginning of this summer little Anna was TERRIFIED of the water, clinging to me anytime she got into the pool, digging her nails into my back. The swimming pool began to take on the look of a torturing devise for me. I wanted to avoid it at all cost.
I have worked with her a BUNCH to get her comfortable with swimming (I missed actually getting to swim). While on vacation BOTH of the kids demanded for me to show them how to swim and succeeded in learning. I spent many days after swimming laps in the pool with the kids.
FANTASTIC!!
We chose Williamsburg, Virginia as our destination because we thought Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg would be great fun for the kids. They are at that perfect age in which American History is becoming quite fascinating for them. We had the opportunity to stay in a condo that would normally be out of our means.
The first day of our trip was spent meeting up with 2 dear friends of ours that are currently CBF commissioned missionaries in Intercity Danville, Virginia.
At 6pm on thursday we met Jessica and Josh in the basement of the church for a community meal that is open to the homeless population. We then took a small tour of the church that has opened their doors to Jessica and Josh's house church to use for their meal.
As I was walking through the choir loft I fell in the organ.
YEP!
Leave it to me to fall in the..... ORGAN.
Let me explain. It was down in a hole in the choir loft, I didn't see the hole as I was walking in the choir loft and plum fell in the organ. Roger said "Wait, hold on. First, are you ok?" I said yes. He then went on to question whether or not the organ was ok.
Hilarious! I totally fell in an organ.
Who does that?
ME!
On the first official day at the condo we spent the morning chilling, and the afternoon with this lovely woman.
Yes, we did.
We totally signed up to listen to one of those long "you need to buy a condo and here is why" speeches so that we could get 70 dollars in free gas cards!
It was awesome.
Paul got to chill out in the kids area eating Oreos and playing mario cart, while Anna drew a LOT of pictures. Roger and I enjoyed being able to sit in the cool nice room partaking in the complimentary drinks and snacks. It was a win-win situation. We even took drinks and snacks "for the road" as we left.
The psychology major part of me loved observing the psychological manipulation tactics that they use.
I was my own case study!!!!
The next day was Sunday.
While I was in mid sip of the lovely coffee that my husband brought to me on the balcony, I heard "Do you mind if I go to church?" My heart dropped a little bit. the last thing I wanted to do while on vacation was be left alone with 2 children while the preacher man went to church. I was pretty convinced to give him the thumbs up after he said "I never get to GO to church."
The kids and I spent the morning in a wonderful way;
I read my Bible on the balcony, Paul played legos in the living room, and Anna pretended to be a yoga instructor in the corner.
Then we went to the pool!
enjoying their "pool side" slushies
Roger joined us once church was over.
The Jamestown Settlement was seriously INCREDIBLE!
Seriously, it was well worth it. It was intriguing to our children because they were invited to touch and play with anything they saw, as well as interact with the characters. It was intriguing to Roger and I because there was a lot of history to read about throughout.
We were given a heads up about Colonial Williamsburg so we opted NOT to buy the REALLY expensive tickets. (you have to pay to go inside the houses but are FREE to walk through the town and in the old shops) Instead we just walked around the town, snuck into as many stories as we could, peaked in the windows and had a picnic lunch.
It was beautiful!
the carriage driver was kind enough to give us a free ride through the town
archeological dig
This diabetic squirrel ket stealing pieces of Anna's cookie.
We also went to The College of William and Mary, one of the oldest universities in America, to explore. It was beautiful. Maybe Roger should get a teaching job here when he retires! I could open a counseling clinic close to the market square.
Yoga in the Great Hall. Anna's idea.
This vacation was pretty darn amazing!
We had lots and lots of down time since we made sure not to cram too much stuff into the week/day so that we could just BE. We are a family that likes to just BE.
we looked over to see Anna REALLY relaxing in the water
he helps me with the kids AND makes me laugh. I love my pirate preacher dude.
i know, Roger and I look like little kids.
girl time
game night
I like doing random things to make the kids laugh and Roger get wide eyed
every night they made a fort to sleep in
Mom, when I get older can you PLEASE get me this dress and THOSE shoes?
vacation reading. which one do you think is mine?
School starts back the second week of August; Paul will be in the 1st grade, Anna in preschool and I will be back to full time Seminary. It feels so surreal that the diaper days have long been over.
We have CHILDREN now. I have given birth to little PEOPLE.
I'm a tad bit nervous about heading back to seminary this fall.
Stepping back out into the world after 7 years of being the momma at home is a bit intimidating.
Can I handle the work load AND still be an attentive mom and minister's wife?
After this last vacation, all the rest I got and how much fun I had with this bunch, I am pretty pumped up about life! We have a great little existence here in Etown. Who would of thunk it?
