EKjourney Backup

My parents have two side by side raised ponds at their house. They are only about 3 feet deep but I tend to be quite protective of my children around water, cars, or any other hazards where they could seriously injure themselves or worse. The ponds have been a concern of mine from the get go. Even with 5 adults within view, Sawyer still managed to strip naked and climb up on the ledge of the pond. Phil heard him scream as he slipped scraping his side, arm, and leg and land teetering on the ledge dunking his face in the water. Thankfully, he only endured a good scare and a good scrape. This happened once before (quite awhile ago) when my parents were standing right there with arm’s reach of him. Needless to say, I was not pleased. Phil was really great about the whole situation. I think it really opened his eyes to the importance of keeping your kids close at all times. He took complete responsibility and laid down the new law: no more playing at Grammy and Grampy’...

It’s just me and the girls today. Phil and my Dad traded a work day so he took Sawyer over to their place early this morning to help them make on a new woodfire oven. I am SO glad that they went before Sissy woke up. She would have been absolutely devastated to watch Dad and Sawyer drive off without her. I know that the kids need to learn to deal with disappointments but being left behind is such a hard one! Sigh, they only left 10 minutes ago and I am lonely already. With company coming and a birthday weekend, I have a lot to do. I should be able to get a lot done today with only two children to care for. Sawyer and Sissy are great friends but the majority of their training involves getting along together – respecting boundaries, sharing, controlling emotions easily stirred up by each other, etc. When they are alone (as rare as it is), they experience a little more independence. Sawyer can play on his own and enjoys not being interrupted but poor Sissy wanders ...

I had a conversation yesterday during an appointment. It went something like this…I admire you moms that can stay home. I couldn’t do it. When I leave my job the real work begins. My days off are about all I can handle. There was more but you get the gist. What was so sad was the underlying message that while this person undoubtedly loves her children, they are not necessarily a joy and a blessing to her. I find myself becoming more and more passionate about my calling as a mother, keeper of my home, and supporter of my husband. These types of conversations can be so awkward because I want to share my faith and the Lord’s calling but I am petrified of coming off as self-righteous and offending people. I tend to just nod along and smile because I don’t know what else to say. I was thinking today about large families and how each of our children came to be. Sawyer was conceived shortly after a miscarriage. If our other baby had lived full term, we wouldn’t ha...

Good grief it is HOT!! Going from 60’s to 99 degrees is shocking to the system!! My poor plants have all wilted and much of the new growth has turned black or shriveled up. I have been watering constantly (one hose, many gardens) but it just isn’t enough. The ground is watered but the leaves are losing too much moisture. Poor Evie hasn’t fared much better. I am a bit embarrassed to say, but she cannot sleep without being swaddled. I can swaddle a pretty mean swaddle that even strong babies can’t escape. She has a hard time sleeping when her arms are flailing about and she just can’t help but chew on them if they come anywhere near her mouth. She has been up hours after her bedtime crying and crying. We were finally forced to swaddle with a light weight blanket just around the arms of which I had to redo several times in the night. The kid’s rooms stay pretty cool (relatively speaking) but our master bedroom is about 15 degrees hotter than the rest of the ho...

We have some sad news…Helen didn’t make it. She lasted a week and was doing really well. I had even seen her eat and drink. Perhaps she had other ailments besides her blindness or maybe she wasn’t able to eat and drink enough. We let Sawyer hold her and talked with him a little about it. He kept wanting her to wake up. It was very sad. Our happy news is that Sookie had another kitten. The following morning there was a little white kitten in with the others. How very strange!! We figure that it must have been in a different placenta because it was born 24 hours after the other 3. The hard part is going to be finding GOOD homes for all the kittens. My parent’s neighbor might take one of the boys. I haven’t been successful in talking my parents into taking one. Tina doesn’t know it yet but I may try and convince her. She doesn’t care too much for cats so this may be a challenge. Maybe I will try a guilt tactic….(just kidding Tina, btw, would you lik...

Yellow Day We wore yellow shirts, had bananas and fresh squeezed lemonade for a snack, read Curious George (you know, the man with the Yellow hat), colored a picture of the sun, dug for yellow treasures in a split pea box, and searched for yellow hexagons (pattern blocks) that were hidden in the livingroom. I took pictures and plan to make a color book for each color day we do. Yellow t-shirts My blanket has yellow Making lemonade Yumm! What is hiding in the box? A yellow bead! Sorting legos Yellow socks I found yellow hexagons Yellow on my blanket. On mine, too Grandpa's Visit Grandpa (aka Gampa) Zane came down for a visit. He brought lots of fun toys. We played ALL day Saturday. He had to go home on Sunday. We wish he could visit more often. We had such a good time!! Mother's day What a day packed with a little of everything! In the morning I got my Mother's Day surprise, two hanging baskets and a stand. I can't wait to get them planted!! Grandpa...

It has been a strange two days…Phil went to a technology conference and was gone Wednesday and Thursday night. We rarely are apart so it doesn’t feel right when he is gone. Wednesday, I kept myself really busy house cleaning. I swept, vacuumed, did dishes, changed all the bedding, packed Phil and the kid’s bags, and folded 13 loads of laundry. I was on a mission to get caught up because I planned on heading up to the conference with Evangeline sometime on Thursday while the other two spent the night at my parents. I decided last minute that scrambling to leave and driving an hour and a half during rush hour wouldn’t really give Phil and I much time to hang out so I stayed home instead. Phil was really busy and didn’t have any down time so this was a good decision. My parents still wanted the kids to stay over so it was just me and Evie. Now that was really weird! It was a good reflection time for me. First, I realized how busy I am. With my two older ones ...