zapped

We have had a busy week.

We tore down our old deck,

took a day trip to Washington D.C.,

enjoyed birthday celebrations for friends and family,

babysat for some friends,

wrapped up sewing projects,

had a planning session for my mother’s big, birthday bash,

dealt with the beginning of spring allergies,

and said goodbye to good friends who are moving away.

Hence the following picture…

I am zapped and need more energy!

Whew!

****

Happy Easter



I hope you find yourself

amongst friends and family this Easter!

But for now...

Little vases are lined up on my counter again.

Little, muddy fingers bring in their colorful contents.

Little, beaming faces of love that one day.....their wife will enjoy.

But for now....they are mine to enjoy.

Little gifts of love from above!

plastic cups and brave hearts

my brave, little inchworm whisperer last summer


Things I am thankful for today.

Tall, plastic, transparent cups and brave, little hearts.

My husband decided it was too warm in the bedroom last night. Ha, ha, not that; the actual temperature. So, he decided to open the two windows (our last two old windows) that have ill-fitted screens to let in some cool air. Someone else took that as an early invitation to come inside. Mud dauber wasps!

As I was dabbing some color on my sleepy face this morning I noticed a wasp right next to my shoe on the bathroom rug. I did a triple axle flip out of the bathroom and went to get the fly swatter. The wrong fly swatter was hanging up on the hook. It was a short, flimsy flyswatter, not my long I-don’t-have-to-get-too-close-or-see/hear-what-I-am-hitting-flyswatter. So I went for ‘Plan B’...gently lower a tall, plastic, transparent cup on top of it and let my husband feel brave for rescuing his damsel in distress when he got home from work.

I have to do these things quickly or I psych myself out. Having a creative imagination is great in so many other areas of my life but not this one. Multiple scenarios flash through my brain as I contemplate what could go wrong. What happens if… and another one flies by as I….the cup falls over and I!

I hesitated and bailed.
Great!
Now what?

My oldest left for college already, and my seven-year-old looked leery. I asked him to just set the cup on top of the wasp. He walked in and did the same thing I did; hesitated and bailed.

He is so much like me. Why now?

I sweetly looked at my five-year-old, yes, my Five-Year-Old. I gave him a confident, “You can do it! It is quick and easy!” And he did. My little hero! He beamed and was so proud of himself.

**Important Information: we had these same wasps last year, and the exterminator said, since they were just hatched they wouldn’t fly for a day or so and that they weren’t aggressive at all. Otherwise, my children would not even be close to them. But, you can’t convince that little girl inside me that got chased by her brothers with all sorts of things growing up. **

The boys studied Mr. Wasp safely through the plastic cup. Since I home school, I, of course, turned it into a min-lesson. I ignored the feeling of a twitch starting to form near my right eye and refrained from flinching wildly if something appeared to fly by me.

My husband came home from a long day of work and I told him about the wasp under the cup and that there might be others in the bedroom which I kept closed the entire day.

He won the battle against four wasps and apologized for opening the ill fitted windows. He also sprayed the area outside of our windows.

He is my hero too!

change

Change is painful.

We don’t like.

We resist it.

Nonetheless it is inevitable.

Soon we realize some changes, when accepted,

embraced and worked through can bring about peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:4

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance.

diners

We pop in the Bel-Loc diner from time to time!

We like this landmark diner for several reasons.

It really does feel like you are walking back in time!

It isn’t a mock retro look or feel,

it is the real thing!

They never stop serving breakfast food!

They have mini jukeboxes at the tables!

The service is the fastest I have ever received!

And they serve my husband’s

guilty pleasure food, scrapple.

Not Scrabble, scrapple.

You don’t even want to know what is in it.

I just know it will never be served at our house

and this is one place he can order it!

If your family grew up in southern Maryland,

this was a typical dish that was served at breakfast.

LEGO creatures join us on many outings.

sugar

Stay away from the cute, little bunnies… Stay away from the cute, little bunnies… Stay away from the cute, little bunnies…

Kitchen table fun #2

This is what my kitchen table looks like some mornings.

Even before I have finished my first cup of coffee,

the table can be covered in scraps of something.

I prefer scraps of felt opposed to ants being on my kitchen table.

I love being creative and making things! Thankfully, my boys like to make things too. They come up with some really creative ideas and we run with it. This week I pulled out our flannel board and felt shapes.

As the boys played, they got some ideas of other things we could make to add to our collection. We added, a mountain, some fire, a sword, a shield, stepping stones and a cat.

I found flannel boards to be a creative tool in teaching colors, counting, sorting, and story telling. I bought some inexpensive felt squares in a variety of colors at a craft store to cut out my own shapes. I also bought a flannel board at the craft store as well.

Or you can make your own flannel board.

The times I grumble at these “messes” on the table,

I quickly remind myself to be thankful; that I have a table, the money to buy craft supplies and that I can be with my boys and that they are doing something constructive and creative.

And one day, I may be sitting alone at the same table wishing that there were little boys cutting up felt that covered the table in a soft array of rainbows asking me a zillion questions. Until then, I breathe, relax and take in the moment and enjoy the little things;

felt, ants and all.