Lazy Days

 

July has produced many, many days of doing nothing. In fact I’m quite sure it’s the first time in a long, long time that I haven’t felt overwhelmed by life. Know what? I really like it..... A LOT. Sure we’ve had errands and grocery shopping, there’s been this and that, life has not come to a complete stop but I have to say I’m enjoying summer.

Here’s what we have been doing, and I’ll start with me.

Working on fall schedules. These lazy days will end.

I officially have a child in every department of our church. I decided that I would volunteer the 2nd weekend with early childhood and elementary. Our high/middle school leaders all have children. Last year they started providing child care during their events so on the second Sunday evening I will be there. Whewwww. That was easy. Point there: Don’t call me the second weekend of the month!

MOPS is getting ready to start up. I have a new position this year and I’m motivated and curious to see how God will work here. I am partnering with another woman and we will train small group leaders. I won’t be attending the MOPS convention this year but that’s ok. I feel so blessed to be able to have gone the two years I did. My MOPS girlfriends are so dear to me. I love our steering meetings because even during planning and discussion there’s such a great feeling of fellowship.

Then there’s Tuesday this week..... My first day of training at my new job. New staff meets Tuesday and then next week we have 3 days of training. There are various dates throughout August and we start the Wednesday after labor day. I’ll be in a classroom M/W/F with 4/5 year olds.

On kind of the same lines of work there’s the issue of what I’ll wear. Well nothing fits, this mama has been home for over 4 years and has really no need to keep those dress pants working. Are they too small? NO~ I’m to big.  Working on that. It’s really not going to bad, I hate to say the word diet because it always manages to send me over the edge. I have been watching what and how much I eat, walking/jogging on a more regular basis and drinking enough water to float a boat! LOL It’s working, slowly but that’s ok. Anything fast will come back.

Last Monday Rick and I had a date.  We golfed and went out to dinner. I can’t even remember the last time we golfed together. I sure miss those days but I’m patient for them to return. Having those days just means our kids are bigger and I’m not ready for that yet. I had some good shots and even some good bad shots! I only had to pick up on 1 hole and that is really good for me! When I started golfing with him I was just a beginner. I took a lesson and was beginning to improve but needless to say Rick couldn’t be in a hurry when bringing me with. It was fun and I’d like to get out with him one more time this year.

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Kayla

My miss Kayla is leaving for California on the 9th. She was invited to go with a friend and her family. They will be in northern California for 13 days, site seeing, hiking in the mountains, going to the ocean. She was born in San Jose which is just 40 minutes from where they are flying into. I’m hoping they will get a chance to explore the old neighborhoods a little. I know she’s going to love it. I still remember the palm trees. They are so tall! Also the ocean, I would love to go again and see the ocean again. I was 20 the last time I was there and Kayla was with me. I remember wondering what she thought of it at the time. I will soon get to find out.

I received the newsletter already for her High School. 10th grade. 10th GRADE!

How is it possible that my baby girl will in just 3 short years be done with high school. It’s really sobering if I think about it too hard. Am I teaching her what she needs to know? Is she going to be prepared? Will she learn so many lessons the hard way? Some days I listen to her talk about future plans, about college and I’m sure her head is not only in a cloud but stuck in a bucket! Oh my where she gets some of her ideas. Of course she is a 15 year old girl and she is a dreamer. Good example is the talk about her future vehicle. She will be taking drivers ed soon. Next summer at this time I will be here begging for prayers as she ventures out to somewhere. Well in her mind she will be venturing out in some fancy newer car, like a...... hmmmm a mini copper..... or maybe a truck with a fancy paint job. She has places to go you know, you would think one place would be her job but she "just doesn’t want to work somewhere she doesn’t like" ha ha ha. Let me know how that one goes my dear. I sound like I’m the big pin in her balloon, I will say I cause slow leaks. Part of me hopes that she knows this is not reality, part of me knows she knows. I wish I had a manual for this, I’m hopeful as I know God has a plan for her, even in times that she may not be seeking it, as long as she has breath she will live and learn. I want her to learn, I want her to love, I so desire her to seek her creator and place him before anything. I will keep praying for her and loving her. There comes a point when you realize that what’s happening in the life of your child may have nothing to do with you as the parent. God does not have grandchildren. I must move over and not interfere. Easier said than done that’s for sure.

I certainly hope I didn’t give a wrong impression of her in my last paragraph. Kayla is wonderful. As a parent I think we’re given eyes that see more than we maybe want to at times. In the newsletter we received Kayla was listed in the 3.5-3.9 honor roll. Boy am I proud of that. She does well in school and without me harassing her. Her sense of humor is great. She loves music and reading and all the normal stuff. I can’t complain about that can I?

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Jordan

Jordan just returned from a another camp. This one was only about 20 minutes from Rochester. It’s called Camp Victory and it’s on all new property this year down by the Zumbro River. I’m not sure if we’ll do this camp again as I don’t think he connected as well there as he did at Ironwood Christian Ranch. He wants to take servants training next year at Ironwood and I think if that’s his desire it’s not a bad thing to put his heart into it. He glowed when I picked him up at Ironwood, He looked worn and down when I showed up at Camp Victory. I’m sure it’s a great camp. Jordan mentioned they keep them really busy and it’s from 7:15 to 10:00 at night. With the heat this week I’m sure he was worn out.

He’s in his last week of summer school. His days are short there, 8-11:30. Thank goodness because I’m quite sure there’s no air there. Imagine a handful of kids wanting summer vacation and then overheating them. Can’t be good.

I went school shopping last night. I came home and laid out Jordan’s clothes, some new jeans and new shirts. He looked at me and said "Your getting better at this".... excuse me but you could come with!!! Jordan isn’t a shopper AT ALL.... he’ll say yes to something just to get us out of there, he hasn’t been invited for awhile! Besides Kayla is the shopper of the crew, she’s a great assistant and don’t tell Jordan this but she gives me the thumbs up or down with his clothes!

On top of school this week he’s got a trip up to Valleyfair. It’s Tuesday and hopefully it will cool down a bit. I’m sure the water rides will be well visited if the heat continues.

The 13th Jordan leaves with the youth group from church for his final camp of the summer and his final summer camp with the middle school leaders. Next summer he’ll be in the HS group with Kayla. They are going to Northern Wisconsin to a place called Fort Wilderness. They really had fun there last year. They slept on the beach of Lake Superior one night. I believe there was cliff diving there also. ( I just don’t like to think about that part! )

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Eric

Eric as adapted well to no sleeping schedule! He’s up too late and sleeping too late. He’s going to be in shock when I have to get them up early next week for my training. Yesterday I had this bright idea that we would start getting to bed early and since he got up early yesterday. Ha ha mom. At 10:45 last night I was in their room for about the 4th time telling them enough was enough. They did finally decide mom’s voice was getting that tone and quieted down but my goodness. On a funny note Sam came in our room about 1/2 hour after we first put them to bed and said "Eric said he wanted a drink of water". I said "So Eric told you to come tell Mommy and Daddy that he wants a drink?" Sam says "yep" What a smart boy, He sends brother into the battlefield to cover him in case of heavy fire!  Too funny.

Eric is still a little Uno addict. He loves to play and will even play by himself if there’s no one around to play with. He’s really hooked. I think before long we’ll have to teach him how to play cribbage. Rick will have yet another person in the house to loose too!

Yesterday before I went shopping I went through the kids clothes to see who needed what. Sam is good, there’s enough from big brother that he really doesn’t need anything. I did get him a fire truck shirt as they are his favorite. Now Eric was another story. If he had any pants left that weren’t too short for him they had holes in the knees from all his days of playing the puppy. His arms sprouted so his sweatshirt’s all went to Sam and he was left with one - same story with his shirts. He has graduated out of the "T" sizes. He’s wearing regular boys sizes and not little guy sizes anymore!  How sad is that. His jeans I bought him were a 6 slim and they look too big for my little guy. Do you think he’s really not that little anymore?

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Sam

Sammy Boy is doing better still this week. He’s still not ’regular’ but we’re working on it. He has been eating better so that’s a good sign. I was really getting concerned there for a while. The glasses were finally back last Tuesday. As soon as they called I went over to pick them up. There’s more to that story but I’ll get to it in a minute. We had a few issues at the end of the week with behavior but all in all I think it was a better week.

Saturday brought the "big theater". A local church and the Christian Book Store made had a premiere of Larry Boy and the Bad Apple on the big screen. The boys have been counting it down this week and the big day finally came. It was a cute video and as usual I think I took more from the theme then they did! Why does it work like that? At the end of the movie they gave away some door prizes. We were sitting there and then there it was "SAM EAGEN" Oh how fun he won something! We traveled down to the front and he was sooooo excited to claim his prize. It’s a Veggietale movie that we don’t have. That was fun.

Also on Saturday I went and met a friend for a cup of coffee at Barnes and Noble. Well somehow we ended up in the Disney Store and I found Sam and Eric some Mickey Mouse socks. They are knee highs but were on clearance so I picked them each up a pair. I walked in the house and Sam didn’t miss a beat, he spotted that bag and asked what was in there. I took out he socks and needless to say they were a hit. He and Eric have watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the weekends so they have a new love for Mickey. I’m glad he likes them but again I have a sock issue with my one of my boys. He has them pulled up as high as he can stretch them (over his knee) they are BRIGHT yellow with a picture of Mickey on them and they are an interesting match for the plaid shorts he wore to church on Saturday night! LOL I wish I could say he’s taken them off but they are still on (it’s Monday now) Oh brother...

The glasses..... ARHHHH. Last night during a disagreement in Uno Sam got frustrated and was sent to his room. When he came out he was holding both pieces of his glasses! The other bow broke. I could just kick myself because I noticed the one that was fixed was nice and tight and the other one was loose and I thought I would just get them tightened next time we were at that store. (instead of making a special trip) Oh I hope they don’t have to send them out again but it’s the same kind of break as the last time. I’m tempted to get a spare pair, looking for some cheaper frames to just have around because this can’t keep happening. He needs his glasses. So today we’re making a trip to the eye department again. I might just try to get different frames anyway as we’ve only had these 6 months and I can’t tell you how many times his managed to break them. I think I need rubber frames. Do they make them?