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Showing posts from August, 2011

So Tired

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Too many late nights have finally caught up to me. My creative juices are completely stifled, my brain is sluggish, my body is protesting and my eyes are refusing to stay open... and my teeth taste all sticky (does your mouth get like that when you're sleepy or is it just me?) I think I will take a nap this morning whilst my munchkins watch TV. That sounds very nice.

Danny Boy Archives #2

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Dear Ralexwin, I swear, you have the orneriest bunch of kids in the world. Nothing is easy enough to just do. They whine and cry and moan and rend their clothes and cover themselves in ashes when I ask them to do something as normal as finding socks. Your nephew is visiting this week and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if, when he gets home, he says to his parents... "I'm glad no one cries like that in our house." It's exhausting! Today Vicbowin was running late on her morning chores. When she discovered that she only had five minutes before the ETD (estimated time of departure) for school she broke down. "I still have to vacuum! I'm going to be laaaaaaate!" So, for the following five minutes your mother and I had to try and convince the child to do her work. Which, of course, then made her run even more behind schedule so that she didn't leave for school until five minutes AFTER her ETD. --interject here to say that it only took he

School Zone Survivial 101

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The ten things every parent needs to know in order to safely manage a school zone pick-up. 1. Never get there on time. There are only two sets of happy pick up parents -- the early arrivers and the late comers. 2. Don't be a late comer, your happiness will vanish the second your child gets in the car. 3. Have a pre-determined get away plan. Unless you know how you're going to leave, you'll be there until hell freezes over. 4. Watch for magic children. The first sign of these is when they appear out of nowhere directly in front of your car. 5. Two tires are better than four-- at weaving between deadly obstacles. 6. If the mom in the car behind you gets out and starts walking your way, roll up your windows really quickly and pretend to have no peripheral vision. 7. Friends are a parents worst enemy. If you see one attached to your child, expect the worst and whatever you do, DO NOT hope for the best. 8. The buses don't care how long you've been wa

52 Photos #12

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This is the position Vicbowin decided to sit in during an afternoon conversation with me. It was slightly distracting, but she thought it was fun so I kept quiet. Sometimes being a mom means making sacrifices for your children's happiness.

Motherhood

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Yesterday was a monumentally trying day. I woke up at 4AM because of Remewin.... bless her little rotten soul... and it all went down from there. My glasses broke (Remewin), which required me to dig around in my makeup case for that last pair of contacts. Which meant that I had to go to the store for contact solution (and eye-drops because my eyes dry out lickety split with contacts in). Then I forgot to buy that one thing I'd been meaning to get for a week (ear buds to replace the ones the Mischievite ATE after his older sister left them lying around). Which meant yet another night of no Netflix. But that was okay, because that box of checks came in the mail FINALLY.... after waiting for two weeks.... but then I had to use the checks. Not the most fun part. Then, Albowin and I needed to have a little sit down concerning the completion of his Bobcat for Cub Scouts. This requires a conversation with your child about sexual abuse. Which isn't such a big issue for me t

Danny Boy Archives 1

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First 'I Miss My Husband' tear-fest last night--23 days in, that's got to be a good sign ... right?

Give Me Land Lots of Land

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Everything that runs along the horizon line of these photographs belongs to Ralexwin and his siblings (roughly). Nearly 600 acres. So... what do you suppose a person does with something like that? How does one use an inheritance of land? Because we sure can't camp on every inch of it and somehow it feels wasted if it's not used (is that American or what?) What would you do?

Just an Observer

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One of the things I love (kinda hate) about kids is how absolutely unconnected they are with the world. They never notice anything, or rather, they never care about the things they notice. Take this photo for instance. A simple, "Hey mom, the babies asleep," would have been appropriate at this point... but does anyone mention it to me? No way! This TV show's way to interesting to be bothered by little things. Admittedly in this case I was more than okay with her falling asleep since it was bedtime, but the image of moments before this picture was of three older siblings crowded around her completely oblivious to the fact she'd nodded off. Even a little, "Hey mom! Great photo opportunity, come see!" would have been nice. But no, Perry the platypus was saving the world, and that's much more important. Of course, they all looked adorable cuddled up together on that couch, regardless of which ones had fallen asleep. I love seeing my kids peace

52 Photos #11

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Remember all those buttons I told you about ? This week I've added all of my own buttons to the mass and the result is better than this. I am in button heaven. Now all I need to do is figure out where to display them.

The Brits

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So, I have this little quirk about my personality that you may not know about. Actually it's rather new to me, so how on Earth would you know about it? I like British TV shows.... Well, okay, I like the two shows I've watched enough to dig around for more. And no, I'm not talking about British humor shows, I'm talking Law & Order: UK (even though I don't like any other Law & Order shows) and MI-5 (Spooks). MI-5 is what I'm watching now, it's like a spy show... or more like an FBI sort of show, except that they are way more secretive than any FBI agent I've ever known (and I've known a few). Anyway, so I've been watching this show and there is this one character named Ruth that so reminds me of my friend Cari it's a bit weird. Last night, as I was watching my allotted daily intake of 2-3 episodes (this is what wives of soldiers do when their men are away... we watch lots of TV), I tried to figure out what it was about Ruth that

Kids Say The Darndest Things

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Me (bowing deeply): Oh, my goodness! Your Highness! Mischievite: Mom, will you stop saying that. I'm not a prince. Me: Then what are you? Mischievite: I'm just a kid in a prince outfit. -- Albowin: Your eyes are the color of green pickles. -- Grandma: I didn't know all that about frogs and toads. Albowin: Did you even go to school? -- Albowin: Grandma, why is one side of your hair white and the other side yellow? Grandma: It is? -- Mischievite (after every time that his sister bugs him): That's why we shouldn't have a baby. -- Neighbor Girl: Mom! He just put his chocolate ice cream in my pretty blonde hair! --- Mischievite: Mom, he just hit me with his head. --- Albowin: Except, I just have one single question. -- Mischievite: Mom, Mom, I have some bad news.

Flash

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Yesterday, as the kids were heading off to school and I was trying to take that most important of yearly pictures, I discovered something. My camera is broken. I can't even explain to you what's happened to it, because I don't know. One minute it was working just fine and the next it was making everything supernova bright. Then when I went to change the lighting settings it inverted the lighting. So no pictures of my kids first day of school. :( Then, last night, after our first of many exhausting days to come, I woke up to the sensation of spider fingers  across my chest. Except it wasn't spider fingers... it was a cockroach! Go ahead.... digest that for a moment... I'll wait. ..... ..... ..... I had a hard time falling back to sleep after that, which isn't really that surprising is it? I'm very tired today, and I still don't have a picture of my kids going off to school. And does anyone want to complain about the price of schoo

Left Behind

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Today the Irish Twins head off to their first day of school, leaving me with my little munchkins for another year. This will be the Mischievite's last year home before he starts Kindergarten, and I have to tell you, I have no interest in sending him to pre-school. I love, love, love having him around and am more than willing to horde that time. In fact, I wish I'd kept the Irish Twins home as well. BUT, the munchkins will be sad. First their dad leaves to go play soldier then two weeks later their big brother and sister go away to play students. That's the sort of thing little people have a hard time adjusting to. Even if they can't see through their hair well enough to notice any changes. :)

52 Photo's #10

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Just before we left for our trip to Grandma's house, Vicbowin and I had the honor of being invited to a Navajo Wedding. My best-friend's sister was getting married and T (my best-friend) saw it as a great chance to get together with me and show me a little more of her fantastic culture.. After the ceremony was finished and the food was consumed T decided it was time for that fated picture I'd been trying to avoid. I graciously informed her that, although I loved her dearly, posing for photos with her felt a lot like getting my picture taken with Helen of Troy.... no matter how good I was looking, I was bound to be overshadowed.  T just rolled her eyes. But one can never feel self-conscious around her for very long because her love and kindness quickly drown out any self-doubt in those she's near. (Note: T's son is the younger of the two munckins in this picture.)

Home in Idaho

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Now that I've been talking about the house I grew up in all week, I'll bet you are wondering what it looks like. If it were me reading these posts, I know I'd be curious. So... here it is. The home of my childhood. My mom's property sits on 2 1/2 acres but behind that is more open land that eventually turns into National Forest. We had the wilds at our doorstep and used every inch of them to grow up. It's the sort of freedom that I think every child should enjoy. Wide, open spaces to run around in for hours on end. The escape that all that land allowed me is quite possibly the reason I survived my childhood with only a medium sized need for counselling. If you look closely at the photo you would see that the upper most set of windows open onto a floor. That's the loft that we jumped from. Also, the deck, where my darling Vicbowin s standing, used to be a great place for dangerous adventures as well. We used to climb over the rail and shimmy around the

lifelong

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This morning we are all just lounging around watching "The Prince of Egypt." Going to visit family is sometimes so exhausting and very little sleep is had. Last night I woke up on the floor next to Remewin and I'm still not sure how I ended up there. Clearly I'm overly tired. The kids are not much better. Today I'm going downtown to see a friend I've known since I was in elementary school. There aren't many of those friends around here anymore. Families have moved on and there are very few lifelong acquaintances to visit around here. There's something about people you've known all your life that makes them special despite any differences you may have. Having the same history, the same memories, the same past... that's almost how siblings are made. So I'm going to see the last of a dying breed...it ought to be fun.

Caving In

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Throughout my mom's property there are three large storage sheds, full of old family junk, that make every child's imagination run on overdrive. Well, the last time I was here there were three... now there are two. During the last few years (no one's sure when) one of the sheds caved in. I only discovered this when I went to show my munchkins our old fort and happened past the shed. To my dismay no one had gone in to retrieve any of the salvagable's. Grumbling a little about how I have to do everything I trudged in and started picking through things. My little sister watched on in horror, promising that I'd contract the Huntavirus for my troubles. It wasn't until I triumphantly (and with maybe an excess of possessive laughter) pulled an old typewriter out of the mess. "I get that!" she shouted from the doorway. "In your dreams." I laughed. "Whose the one in here? Hmm?" So, the next day (yesterday) my siste

lofty

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My mom and me in Scotland. I am at my mother's house in Idaho for the week. I suppose I could also say, "I am staying the week at the house I grew up in." It's always a little weird being here... Everything is smaller than it used to be. The yard isn't as big as it used to be, the old tree-house isn't quite as far into the tree. The one thing that doesn't fall into this category is the loft. My mom's house has three floors... one is halfway basement, one is the main floor and the last, the top floor, is half loft. Last night, after I ran up the stairs and scolded my Albown soundly for trying to climb onto the loft rail I took a good look at the drop down into the living room below. It was a lot further than I remembered. Which is saying something because when I was a child my brother and sister and I used to jump off that very rail and land on the couch below. We were insane. The mother in me cringes in horror at the idea of my own ch

52 Photos #9

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When we were at the Mountain last weekend Vicbowin stole her fathers knife so she could try her hand at whittling. This was her Coyote. Not 'kie-oat-ee' mind you... but 'kie-oat' like they say it in South Dakota. It might be noted that my fingers were fairly numb, and had a few cuts, by the time she  had whittled down four sticks.

Spider Fingers

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The Mischievite has this habit of waking me up by stroking my face with his tiny little fingers. As sweet as that sounds what it really means is that I wake up nearly every morning to the feeling of spiders crawling across my face. I know I ought to feel this glowing love for my little boy who gently wakes me every morning, but, I'm telling you, it's one of the most annoying feelings out there. Possibly not annoying if I had time to prep myself for it, except when I'm sunk into my subconscious there is nothing aware enough within me to prepare. So, 9 times out of 10 he ends up with me swatting his hand away and snarling "Stop it!" I'd say poor boy, but I think it's all part of his master plan. He knows it wakes me up so he's willing to take the snarl in order to get me up. Maybe it's a little game. He does get his little giggle face going on when I do open my eyes. His giggle look is the thing photos are made of. He scrunches his shoulde

Danny Boy

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O Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling From glen to glen, and down the mountain side. The summer's gone and all the roses falling; It's you, it's you must go and I must bide. But come ye back when summer's in the meadow, Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow. Yes, I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow; Oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so! But when ye come, and all the flow'rs are dying, If I am dead, as dead I well may be. Ye'll come and find the place where I am lying, And kneel and say an Ave there for me. And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me; And oh my grave will warmer, sweeter be, For you will bend and tell me that you love me; And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!

The World

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We spent the weekend up on the 'Mountain' again this weekend.  Ralexwin is leaving for Texas and won't be home for 6 months (except maybe for a vacation). So we took the last weekend we had together and went up to see the views. This is one of those views. These are called 'The Fingers' and can be seen from several points on the family land. They are breathtaking to behold and often make me wish I were an explorer in a strange new world. I can probably come up with a million tiny stories every single time I see these monuments to God's talent, but my favorite story is the one about the boy who fell in love with a girl.  Like most boys, he promised her the world and, even though she knew how hard the world was to catch, she accepted. Life moved along, and the girl forgot about the promise of the boy. She was busy raising his children and cooking his dinners and kissing him goodbye more often than she liked. Then one day he drove h