Bringing Out the Best and Other Ramblings...

     I know it's only been a little over a week, but it feels like FOREVER since I've written a post...boy, if that didn't sound like the opening sentence in a sixteen year old's diary!

     Well, here is where I'll spare you...I won't share every little detail about my life over the last week, and you definitely won't be hearing about crushes and broken hearts...I gotta tell ya, that's one of the best things about being married-- you no longer have to live out all of that boy related drama...although, I suppose there is new male/female related drama once you are married...but it is WAAAYYY better than the old drama...I swear!

     So, what have we been up to? Well, I've decided to start practicing a better "evil eye" look for all the unsolicited advice that seems to come my way (more about that in a minute!), and my children are just as adorable and just as nutty, making me just as full of love and adoration and ready to pull my hair out at any moment as usual.

     Well, that sums that up, huh?!

     I'll tell you about the girls first...I'll just use today as an example.

     I came home from the class I've been teaching all week at about noon...I put them both down for naps at 2 because I couldn't fathom for one more second having enough energy to chase them around all afternoon.

     I had all of these great plans when I came home today...I had had a great week teaching, really enjoyed my lessons and the kids I got to work with, and had all sorts of great ideas of things to do with the girls after lunch; hang out peacefully in the back yard, take a nice leisurely stroll down the street, just enjoy the beautiful day.

     Apparently there is something about my presence that brings out the worst... er...um...best qualities in my children...like suddenly falling all over themselves, screaming at the top of their lungs, peeing on floors and smudging red ink all over their hands...

     Caitlin (their aunt who watched them all morning) said, Lis, they've been fine all morning...they always do this when you get home. 

     Why does it feel like this isn't the first time I've heard that line.

     Within 5 minutes of my walking in the door, Ava had slipped and fallen on the patio near her wading pool and started screaming (because EVERY fall in this house deserves a good scream no matter how big or small!), and Ella was streaking through the house naked flinging fishy pretzles all over the floor and then attempting to push them into the slot of a toy I had just picked up from a garage sale.

     Cool.

     We finally get everybody settled down and fed, I start cleaning up the kitchen and tell them in 10 minutes we're going to take a walk. I set them up with some new rubber stamps and paper in the hallway (they've used the stamps before, so this was not a new thing).

     Six minutes later, I hear "Mommy, I peeing!"

     Crap! That only means one thing. That somehow, despite the diaper, pee is making its way onto the floor.

     "Ella!"

     I don't mean to scream, but I'm so surprised that it just comes out. At which point she gets upset and starts crying and is unable to hold the rest of the pee, so I carry her crying and tinkling pee all over the floor to the bathroom, at which point I pull her pull-up down (which she had put on backwards by herself  1/2 an hour ago, which led to the dripping) and she finishes by peeing ALL over my hand.

     Meanwhile, Ava is already in the bathroom cleaning red ink off of her hands because she decided that smearing the entire front and back of her hand with red ink would be WAY more fun then just using it to make the appropriate stamps on her paper...

     "YOU are not using stamps for the rest of the weekend...GET IN BATHROOM AND CLEAN THAT OFF YOUR HANDS NOW!!" I had just finished saying ever so gently to her.

    Ever so gently. I swear.

     So...as she is cleaning red ink off her hands I bring tinkling little Ella into the bathroom and we manage to find ourselves standing in a MAJOR puddle of pee...

     "Ava, out of the bathroom. Ella sit there until I can find something to clean you with!" I say as I run to the kitchen to find paper towels, suddenly remembering how much potty training a child can sometimes feel like potty training a dog and why we are SO not ready with Ella yet.

    "But MOOOMMMM! There is PEEE ALLLLL OVER the floor....I AM NOT stepping in PEEEE!!!!" Ava shrieks from the bathroom.

     I get back in the bathroom, carry Ava out and set her in the hallway. I tell her to go upstairs and find something to clean in her bedroom (there is ALWAYS something to clean up in her bedroom).

     I manage to clean up Ella as best as possible and tell her to head up towards the bathtub, or, as Scott likes to say, she was going to small like a Porto John for the rest of the afternoon.

    I look up at the clock...1:30...So much for our walk, but at last nap time is only 1/2 an hour a way.

    You can make it for another 1/2 hour Lis. A 1/2 hour is nothing! 


    These are the kind of pep talks I give myself throughout the day.

     Ava wants to know if she can take the clothes off her new Tangled doll and take her in the tub...I have to tell her she is not going in the tub because it causes too many fights. I send her out to the wading pool in the back and leave Ella in the tub upstairs, and even though I have to run back and forth to check on the two locations, it's way better than refereeing fights.

     We make it till naptime. Hooray!

     I know having Ava take a nap will cost me later (because she won't fall asleep until after 10!), but today it is WELL worth it.

     I bribe her by telling her she'll be able to stay up later and that Daddy will make a fire and we'll make smore's.

     She likes that idea.

     So...that was my day...just a slice of the life. I'm sure all of you mommas have similar stories...

     It's like that quote I referenced a couple of weeks ago from my former pastor..."I got problems. You got problems. ALL God's children got problems."

     Only I think we should revise to say..."My days are nutty. Your days are nutty. All God's mommas got nutty days."

     And that's that.

     I'll tell you about the unsolicited advice in a post on a later day...

Summer Lovin'

“Sun is shining. Weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancing feet.”          ~ Bob Marley

I had one of those heart swell, my kid is the cutest kid in the world, I am so fortunate to get to spend this sunny day with you moments earlier today.  (Right before she pitched a fit about going to bed for her nap of course...I mean, she is 2 after all...).

It was just Ella and I. Ava is with her grandmother (aka Nanner) in New Jersey until tomorrow, so I'm getting some much needed one on one time with my two year old.

We wandered out into the backyard, under a brilliantly clear blue sky. First, I pushed her in her swing, and then we sat on the stoop of her swing set in the shade and ate watermelon. I sat on a small, lime green stool and she crawled on top of the large rubbermaid container that holds all of our balls and outdoor toys.

"Ella I know a song about watermelon," I said, knowing she'd want to hear it.

"Sing it!" she demanded, as only Ella can (if you know her you know that everything she says comes out in a rather commanding tone, as if she's getting an early jump start on her role as a future drill sargeant).

So I sang:
"Watermelon, Watermelon, 
How it drips, How it drips
Up and down my elbows,
Up and down my elbows,
Spit out the Pits
Spit out the Pits"


"Again mommy. Again!"

This time she tried to do the required spitting sounds at the end and managed to actually spit chunks of watermelon all over her shirt.

We both sang it together a third time, and right on cue the watermelon, sure as anything, started dripping down her arms.

I wiped her off and asked if she'd like to help me water the flowers.

She was pumped!

Usually her big sister is around and attempts to take over on all tasks...And when I say ALL and TAKE OVER, I mean ALL and TAKE OVER...I don't think I was ever as bossy an older sister as little Miss Ava is (we love her dearly, but I think she drives her sister nuts!!!)...She's getting ready for her own future role as leader of something...she has the big sister "I'm the boss" thing down pat! I try to intercede as much as possible, but if often just ends in grunts and fights with me doing whatever was supposed to be done.

Today, it was just me and Ella and she got to do it all alone.

She watered those flowers with all of her little 2-year old might.

My heart swelled.

It was one of those "I wouldn't want to be doing anything else in the whole wide world right now besides watch my daughter water flowers" moments.

I know this all probably sounds a bit mundane, and it is, but that is the beauty of becoming a parent...it's your opportunity to see life through the eyes of a child all over again. To have moments where the mundane becomes the marvelous and your heart swells.

It's kind of cool.

I'm making the most of my marvelous mundane moments. Trying to remember every minute of them, because I know they are speeding by.


Here are a few photos of our super sweet summer so far and some of the fun days we've had!

Watering the flowers...

Scott, on his birthday...of course both girls wanted to help open all cards! 

and blow out the candles....

and open all of the presents! 

Went strawberry picking and made freezer jam last week!

Our patio was poured...a birthday present to both of us!! 

of course the girls handprints needed to be part of the patio!!!

the garden finally took off...

zuchinni

basil

yummy, yummy lettuce!

beets

cukes...on the side of the house (I planted them by themselves this year to give them more space and they look MUCH healthier than last year!)

As much as I would LOVE for it to be summer all year round, I would miss the Fall, and maybe even a little bit of winter (like the snow on Christmas, but that's about IT!)...How bout 2 less months of winter and 2 more of summer? I may need to have a conversation with God about that?! 

Rewriting the Day

        "Today, I woke up with a smile on my face. I bounced out of bed and greeted the day with a boisterous 'hello' and thankfulness for what it would behold. 

      I woke up early, not to early, just enough to collect my thoughts, make some coffee, consider my day, start some laundry, prep for breakfast and then, most importantly, pray. 

     By the time my cherubic four year old pitter pattered down the stairs and into my lap I greeted her with the warmest hug, the biggest smile and the BEST 'how are you, I love you, what can I get for you' mommy voice there ever was! 

      We sat together on the couch for a while and talked about the morning and about nothing and then I got up to fix her some breakfast and do a couple of "chores" before the day got too busy...

    The rest of the morning seemed to follow suit...calm, peaceful, joyful...Ava said nothing but sweet and supportive things to her sister all morning and their wasn't the minutest inkling of a whine anywhere to be found. 

    I took Ava to tennis and to the library, and then we came home and all happily ate lunch. I had some work on my mind, but felt peaceful because I had a well thought out and perfectly plotted week written on paper and knew that I would inevitably get to each task...and if not, so what?!"

So here's the deal friends...that's not exactly how my morning went. While some of it is true (I did get up a little bit early, though not enough to get all of that done, Ava did snuggle with me on the couch for a couple of minutes and I did take her to the town tennis lessons and to the library), there was plenty of whining, no laundry done, and most importantly, and perhaps most discouragingly, I was not a peaceful momma this morning.

I actually ended up on the floor in my closet crying for about 182 seconds...at which point I heard Ava crying downstairs that mommy was crying upstairs and Scott was yelling that she should stay downstairs and leave mommy alone upstairs, which made her cry even harder...

...at which point I started picturing her in her therapists chair in 15 years talking about her mother on the floor in her closet and decided that I needed to buck up and get back to being momma...my motto always being you can cry for a couple of minutes and then 'ya gotta get on with things!

So, while I was reading the book "Spilling Ink" in preparation for my upcoming creative writing class to 4th, 5th and 6th graders, and came across the following prompt for young writers, I figured it was the perfect writing prompt for me as well:

"I DARE YOU...Rewrite a scene from your life. Think of something that happened today. Something that wasn't perfect-- maybe even something that was downright mortifying--and rewrite it as you would have wanted it to happen." 

I gotta be honest...that was the cheapest therapy I've received in a long time! It felt pretty good to re-write the day...to re-create it the way I would have liked it to go.

But, I've gotta be honest about something else as well...in the process of "re-writing" my morning I  realized that it actually wasn't half bad to begin with. There were a LOT of little moments in my morning that were actually quite wonderful. Ava did snuggle on the couch with me. I had a casual and lovely cup of coffee with my husband out on our new patio while Ava played and Ella was still sleeping. I got to watch her joyfully bounce around a tennis court with a bunch of other pre-schoolers while they skipped over tootsie rolls and threw balls to each other. We went to the library and the power went out while we were there and the librarian had to write all of our movies and books down by hand...it was kind of cool and mysterious...Ava thought it was great!

It was my anxious mommy heart that got in the way of it all when we got back home...I've struggled with anxiety issues for a number of years now...maybe I'll share more of that story one of these days...the short of it, for now, is that sometimes I get pretty easily overwhelmed...more than the average Joe...or, Josephina (since most of you are women!)...I don't mean to do it...it's not something I like a whole lot about myself...and yes, I've seen counselors, taken medication, read books, prayed about it,  and everything you can imagine in between...it seems to ebb and flow...and sometimes the waves of tasks involved in mothering, along with attempting to precariously balance my desires to write, and read and run just get to be too much and the tide pulls me under..

.....and I end up in my closet on the floor in tears...

But, part of the process is getting back up and back in the game...I suppose that is how we literally get to re-write our days...we can't take anything back, but there is an abundant grace offered from our ever-present creator that allows us to say "God, I need a little help here" and He says, "Lis, I know. Get up, I'm with you", and then we walk downstairs and hug our children. We tell them that everything is o.k. and we move forward...

I'm not beating myself up about it. It's part of life. When I was growing up I attended Eastern Hills Wesleyan church for most of my formative years. It is a wonderful local church and many of you also know Pastor Eastlack. I will NEVER forget him saying one Sunday..."I got problems. You got problems. ALL God's people got problems." 


Ain't that the truth?! That little statement of truth has pulled me out of pitying myself on many a day.

All of this to say...none of us are perfect...but no one is expecting us to be. So when the tide of your own expectation starts to pull you down, remember you can cry for a minute, but then ya gotta get on with things...and start re-writing the rest of your day.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Aww man...it's been a week since I posted last, and nothing but a photo?!

Sorry for the slacking...life has been nutty...

Here is a run down of what we have been up to in the month of June

• Father in law's birthday dinner
• Ava's birthday- small friend party
• Ava's birthday- family birthday party
• my grandmother and uncle's birthday's-- get together at my mom's house w/ family
• sister in law's middle school graduation
• a whole morning at driving school (grrrrr!)
• Ava's end of year gymnastics show
• out of town friends stopping through on a long road trip
• our driveway was sealed
• our patio going in in the backyard
• Father's Day-- 
• a trip to Massachusetts to visit friends
• My birthday (on the day of the car ride home from Massachusetts...fun, huh?!). We did go out to dinner when we got home, which was nice. 
• Scott's birthday is this Friday (as is his brother (his twin!), and my brother's)
• Scott has a 2-day business trip to N.J. planned for next week...
• ...then we get into 4th of July festivities and I'm supposed to start teaching a Creative Writing Class on July 5th....Ack! 

So, anyway, while I've missed you all, I'm running a bit of a social marathon this month...I've often had friends comment that our schedule is quite busy, and it is, but truly, there is so much family stuff going on that it's hard to figure out where to simplify sometimes...If any of you have suggestions or find yourself experiencing the same ebb and flow of events I'd love to hear how you manage it all when things start to feel a little bit hairy! 

Speaking of hairy, ever since Ava figured out how easy it is to take pictures with my i-phone I have been finding the most...um...interesting...photos captured on my phone lately. Like this picture of the back of my head...

or this one of the kitchen floor and Ella's pajamas....

or this one (there were actually 7 of these on my phone before I deleted them) of the wall in our friends' playroom while we were visiting them in Massachusetts last week...

or, my favorite...(I re-sized it to be as small as possible so as not to frighten anyone any more than need be...)

kind of scary, huh?

Sorry to inflict that montage of random photographic images on you...but, just imagine, you're out meeting up with some friends and you go to show them the wonderfully captured pictures of your adorable children on your i-phone...just as you're scanning through those adorable pictures...well, teeth pop up!! 

and, while we're on the subject of teeth...Ava's passion to be a tattoo artist last week has been replaced by a passion to be her sister's dentist this week. 

She got an electric toothbrush for her birthday and wanted to show Ella how it worked!

That's all I've got for you today...Ava's very short nap is over and she is beckoning me in a high pitched voice from her bedroom...momma is off and back to the races!