Monday morning we woke up to reddish orange pouring in through the windows. Matt grabbed the camera. We knew storms were imminent 1. because it’s Arkansas in the spring, 2. because Red Sky in the Morning Sailors Take Warning. Sure enough, most of the way through school work Matt called to remind me to get the loft ready to take cover in. The 2 bigger boys share the loft and it took quite a bit of work to make it where 6 of us could fit in it with blankets, a laptop, and some bottled water. You know, just in case the tornado did hit.
The weather passed us by eventually after very black skies and much fussing from kids. Leaving us with no electricity. I decided since I needed to go to town anyway and the electricity was out we would do our big shop. Which all told with driving times means about a 4 hour trip. Add to that 2 of the kids seemed to completely have forgotten how to obey. And they weren’t the youngest ones. Oh.my. It was a day.
We began the next day normally. Easily even. No major to-dos. I did tell the older 3 kids a couple of weeks ago that they could no longer play any electronics until all of their school work was done for the day (the Wii, PS2, and DS were consuming all our time, leaving us unfinished and cranky). So with that gauntlet laid down they pulled a “get backatcha” on me. They decided to start their work right off and get it done as quickly as possible. Which is awesome except that requires me to teach and “do school” before Matt even leaves for work. Somewhere between 7 and 7:30. I drink my coffee while reading history and writing Astronomy on the board instead of at my computer in relative electronic babysitting quiet. Ah, the sacrifices. But this also means we’re through by noon. So it’s actually leaving me more time for computer, playing outside, and cleaning. Odd, this wise use of time.
School work now amazes me. BigMan learned to write his letter “A” on his own yesterday and was so proud.
My girl, though only 5, really wanted to learn cursive like her older brothers. So we went and bought another Handwriting Without Tears Cursive book and began. She loves it, is doing better than I could’ve expected and begs to do it first each day. Again, odd, but wonderful to me.
Baby got a splinter in his foot Sunday. It was over an inch long and ironically he got it while going barefootin the house. How does that even happen? I pulled (dug) it out. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done while having kids. Poor, poor Baby. But it’s healing nicely now.
Yesterday at naptime while I was reading Joshua 12 to the kids we heard explosions outside. Massive gunshots maybe? I wondered if it was maybe a 7 car pile up on our little country road. It was enough to pull me from my planned naptime and get us dressed to go exploring. I left my friends on Facebook with this message “Wish us luck, I’m getting in the van to go look. I hope this isn’t one of those moments in those scary movies where the audience is yelling at the stupid woman victim” and my friends kept me rolling with their comments afterward. We found nothing except some smoke off in the distance. No news reports, no one acting like anything had even happened. Strange.
After we explored we decided since we were out we’d make the most of it. It was gorgeous so we went to feed the ducks. I noticed how over the years of doing this same thing in the same place it has gotten easier with more kids and not more difficult. The olders know how to act, stay close, and just enjoy feeding the ducks. I watched BigMan near the water and taught Baby how to throw the bread. It was peaceful and fun. I noticed when I gave Baby a piece of bread in his left hand he would transfer it to the right before throwing it. Another “righty”. Then we went to the park where the kids played hide and seek.
And slide pile up.
And generally just ran around looking cute. It was a much different day than the one before.
A couple online friends and I started a mom blogging triangle and we want you to be a part of it. We’re just writing what we know and finding encouragement in a group of moms who share the dailyness of their lives as well. I’m excited about this endeavor, I hope you are too!
I’m gathering photos and ideas for a blog redesign. About twice a year I feel the urge to redesign; to change seasons here too. It’s a lot of work, but worth it to me.
I still have several bigger posts here to do, big neat stories from our Bible reading, from God’s glory in my Middlest’s birth that I was reminded of in Joshua, and how God has used Scripture to shape my prayers for my kids (and ultimately how He’s already begun to answer those prayers) to share with you, but I have to get my thoughts wrapped around them first.
Here’s my girl in her self-designed “flying squirrel” costume. Oh, it’s different alright.
It’s springtime in Arkansas finally and I love it. As strange and wonderful as it is. It fits us to a “T”.
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