Twenty Two Years of Being Mom

It is funny how time changes people.  When I first married, I cleaned our house every Saturday without fail.  Now I'm lucky to get one Saturday of cleaning in a month.  My first child never left the house dirty.  Ever.  My second child never left the house dirty or unkempt or even mismatched.  Neither did my third. Their hair was always brushed and their faces were always cleaned.   The same applied for me.  Until.

I'm just not sure when it all happened.  When did I stop caring that Seth and Jack only combed their hair on Sundays before church?

When did I stop caring that my children's clothes did not match anymore?

Or even if they wore clothes at all?

Or that they wear their sweatpants backwards because there is a whole in knee?

I think the fifth child was the magic number.  I gave up trying to be all things.  I gave in.  I now let them wear whatever they want.  Look however they want.  I don't even check them before we leave the house.

Eva has worn these same clothes for 3 days straight (although she has bathed in between).

I actually let her wear this out in public today.  I didn't care.  We went to Wally World.  We fit right in.

If you look closely, Joy has left over-spaghetti on her face. 

I'm not quite sure what to make of Ivy's attire?  A couple of sweatshirts?  Why not just wear a coat?  And white ankle socks with Mary Janes and pants too short? 

Even I looked a little rough.  I've been sick since March 8th.  Puffy, itchy, red eyes, a cough, and I have a deep, raspy voice.  It is hard to see in the photo, but even a friend saw me in the store and told me I looked sick.  

But, at least my clothes were clean and they matched.

But, I can get my act together when it counts.  I can get these kiddos looking good and clean.

All hope is not lost after the 5th child.

Spring

Now that spring has arrived, my flowers are starting to bloom!

Right under the 6 inches of snow we received yesterday.

 

"It's fun for a while...but, can I come inside now?"

Forensics

Spring Co Op is half way completed, and all seems to be going well.  Jack is taking a forensics class, which has been interesting.  Friday we had a canine officer come by and shared his experiences with the class.  He brought along his co-worker Baron, who was raised and trained in the Czech Republic.  Interestingly, all the commands were in that native language.

He was the most obedient dog I have ever seen.  He really puts our Moxie to shame.   His actions showed his devotion to the canine officer.

Baron did a "drug search" as a demonstration for us.

The class seemed to enjoy it.  Well, I sure enjoyed it. 

Work Day

As you probably heard, we had a snow storm roll through last week.  We got about 5 inches.

It snowed all night long.

Millie enjoyed lying in it.  But, it didn't last long.  Saturday it was in the 60's.  And that meant work for everyone except for the dogs.

She looks quite happy.  And Moxie lay in the snow that had not yet melted and ate sticks.

The rest of us worked.  And worked.  Trying to clean up the mess from the windstorm/power outage of last July and the heavy snowfall earlier this winter.  Mike We still have lots to do.

We made our children do most of the work (just kidding, although they did quite a bit), but they couldn't handle the chainsaw.  Even Joy was pretty good at gathering the smaller branches and putting them in about 10 piles scattered about the property. 

Mike is still wondering how to get that wedged broken branch down.  He is not too thrilled with the idea of climbing up that tree.

The girls took a break to have a sword fight.  Eva ended up gouging Ivy in the eye.  Not pretty.

One day we will have to sell this property.  I love having all the room and privacy, but the upkeep is a bit much for us old folks.   We now need to get a truck to haul all the piles of branches to the burn pile.  See how large the piles are in the background of the picture above?  We'll be contributing to global warming this spring.

XXVI

 Married 26 years.  I'm still in love.

But I Do

 Joy and I stayed home from church today.  She has been sick for a couple of days with a cold.  Just she and I.  Joy and I.  Just the two of us.  While I did a few chores, she played a game.

She and Max played a game.

While I started fixing lunch, she helped Max feed himself a snack of popcorn and enjoyed quite a bit herself.

A little later, we cuddled on the couch and talked.  She said she wanted to stay in her pajamas all day long.  I said okay.  I told how glad I was that she was home with us and not still in China.  I said, "If you were sick in China, you'd have no mommy to cuddle you.  You'd have no sisters to sleep with at night.  No daddy to love you."  She thought about that for a few minutes, then looked me straight in the eyes with a big grin and said, "But, I do."  And that was that.