suz-mae

Adjustments

2013-05-21T15:58:00.001-06:00

Adjusting back to life in America has been easy at times. Hard at other times. And just plain funny at others!

Today we’re going to focus on the funny.

It’s comin’ to you in list form cause I like lists and this is my blog.

1. When riding in the car, my children would ask “Why does this car have music?!”. They were confused because our vehicle in Africa was so old it didn’t really play music. We could have listened to Arabic radio, but frankly that wasn’t so fun. So we usually listened to nothing. Since January they have adjusted to this and now Sweet N often asks us to turn on the music!

2. When we arrived it was cold outside. Brrrr. We’re desert people, not snow people really. One day I asked Hudson to please put his coat on because it’s cold outside. He came into the living room proudly dressed in his jeans, socks and his winter coat. No shirt on underneath! He had a big grin because he was so excited to wear his new puffy coat but he had forgotten that he was supposed to be fully dressed UNDER his coat. Ha!

3. I had a hard time driving the speed limit. As in… I would be driving slooooow. I’d often look at my speedometer on the freeway and I’d be going around 50mph and cars would be flying by me. Ooops! Our city didn’t really have any freeways and we often drove on dirt roads or terribly damaged paved roads so we were rarely ever going more than 30 or 40 mph. 50 felt so fast!

4. I also still find myself thinking how inconvenient all the road rules are. It’s more more convenient (and fun) when you get to make up your own driving rules. I miss that.

5. I had to explain what a closet was to my children! Built in closets were a very rare thing in our country, so even though we would have them when we traveled, my kids were still somewhat unfamiliar with the concept and the word. We had a little lesson and that straightened them right out.

6. Once on a preschool field trip the kids teacher came back excited to tell me how well the kids did so well in the crowd, didn’t have fear of being amongst so many people and weren’t afraid to be a little pushy to get up to the front. Ha! That’s what African ‘lines’ will do for ya…

7. When I stick my foot or arm out from underneath my covers at night I still occasionally have the though “Uh oh, I hope the mosquitos don’t get me!” Funny, since there’s hardly a bug in our new city at all…

8. I am so thankful for my refrigerator light (among a thousand other small luxuries). When I open the fridge at night it’s so bright I can actually see things in there. It’s amazing!

9. When Mike traveled to South Africa in February I wondered if diapers were cheaper there and if I should ask him to bring some back for me to save money? Ha! We used to do this all the time whenever someone (anyone, really) was traveling outside of our country in north Africa, but I’m pretty sure things aren’t really cheaper many places in the world than where we are now. Hard to stop that kind of thinking after so many years!

10. In Africa we threw our toilet paper in a trash can instead of in the toilet. This causes some confusion upon coming back to America. I get confused myself and so I can’t blame the kids! Hudson had one instance of throwing his toilet paper in the bathtub soon after arrival. Ha! I blogged about that here.

I’m glad I made notes of these things, aren’t you? Such a funny thing transitioning from one lifestyle to another, especially with wee ones…

Happy Helpers

2013-05-17T17:10:00.001-06:00

Today I needed to clean the floor. Last time I needed to clean the floor N wanted to help me and I ended up getting super frustrated cause we had to share the squirt bottle which slowed me WAAAAY down and I just wanted to get done and off my knees!

So today I filled three squirt bottles with vinegar and water and got out three rags before I even started.

I’m such a genius.

The kids got really into it and about five minutes in I left my rag on the floor and went to get my camera. This had to be documented.

H offered to clean under things that are hard for me to reach (and then that led to cleaning under that things weren’t a problem for me to reach, but hey… that’s okay!). He’s a very thoughtful boy.

N offered to clean the bathroom floor. Whaaaat?

They just kept going.

And going.

This girlie was NO help, however. :)

Not bad, eh?

Then they moved onto their bikes.

And the play kitchen on the deck.

H tackled the inside and the outside of a set of sliding doors.

N sprayed some of her Daddy’s books (ooops! Shhhh, don’t tell) before we had a conversation about what we do and don’t spray. Then she moved onto the kitchen island.

Side track… cute hairdo? IfIdosaysomyself…

Also, this girlie was making up her ‘tweaning song’ as she was working. I started typing as she was singing. I had to work pretty hard to not laugh…

Well I dinent (didn’t). Well I dinent. Well I dinent do dis (this) jobs before…

I never did doing jobs. I never did doing jobs. I never did doing jobs…

All da time.

I never did doing jobs betause it is my first time doing my job. It is my first time doing my job. It is my first time doing my job…

Soooo I tan(can) do my job when I tan do my job if I tan do my job. If I can do my job (repeat?)

If I caaaan.

I didn’t ever do my tings that my mommy and daddy say. [Is that so?!]

Yes I don’t det (get) my jammies on all da time. [Uh huh. True, my dear firecracker girl.]

So this is not dooood. So I get in twouble (trouble) for not letting me cwean da sings (things). [At least she shows this is ‘not dood’! This is something, right?]

I never did tweean (clean) my sings (things) and Mommy and daddy clean my things. [Yes. Yes we do sometimes. It’s often easier than waiting for you to do it.]

Mommy and Daddy twean my sings (things) and I never do it all da time. [I was just waiting, HOPING for her to sing an explanation of WHHHHYYYYY she doesn’t obey and why she prefers the battle of wills that ensues when she doesn’t obey!!! But alas, she never did.]

SO I used to have a “Thank you God for giving me the sings I need” [What? How does this relate? Preschool brain side-track, I’m sure. Or maybe she knows she needs the training and discipline we give her to help her learn to obey and she was thanking God for that? I think this is what I’ll choose to believe…]

For I never did the sings (things).

(Do you know a working song that I am singin?) [Talking to her brother for a minute…]

and singing on…

I never did the sings (things)…

And on and on it went.

Oh my goodness she cracks me up! I love hearing her songs. I learn so much!

Big sister is singing and cleaning away and this one is still snoozin’. Still no help. Except the fact that she wasn’t crying. That WAS helpful.

This cleaning went on at least an hour. H used up over two bottles of cleaner. N figured out her bottle could spray about eight feet. Her rag was DRIPPING wet. Everything smelled like vinegar and the kids were so stinkin’ happy. I practically had to pry the bottles from their hands and force them out the door to go play in the hall.

I fully realize that this was probably beginners luck. But maybe, just maybe this will occasionally repeat itself and the spots can get off my floors without ME doing it? Maybe?!

They really did help me! Job well done kiddos!!!

Ten Little Fingers

2013-05-14T12:06:00.001-06:00

Ten little fingers,

Ten little toes,

Two little eyes,

One little nose.

Put them together and what have you got?

A baby oh so sweet, ready or not.

The Great Outdoors

2013-05-13T22:01:00.001-06:00

We went camping a couple weekends ago. It was a bit cold, but o-so-fun! We actually ‘camp’ in a cabin with beds, a heater, kitchenette and toilet. That’s how we roll these days. Maybe when our youngest is four we’ll try tent camping again? Maybe?

This is our latest family photo. I love it.

Here is my littler girlie grinnin’ at her Daddy. And yes, we played shuffleboard. And yes, I annihilated my husband and that was one of the many highlights of our night away.

She’s just so stinkin’ cute all bundled up! First camping trip at two and a half months… not bad!

A First For Us

2013-05-10T14:20:00.001-06:00

Um, it looks like we may have a thumb-sucker on our hands! This has never happened to us before. I am not quite sure what to do!! I’m inclined to try to encourage her toward her cork and discourage the thumb… but she’s just so darn cute…

Whew!

2013-05-09T19:13:00.001-06:00

Weaving and bobbing the crowds in with an oversized cart, two preschoolers, a baby in her carrier and lots of groceries through Costco= My exercise for the day.

Whew!

But let me be clear… don’t let this mislead you to think that I will not sleep at night unless I’ve done something for exercise. I wish it were the case but it is FAAAAR from the truth. But I did buy double spinach… so that is good, right?

Quote of the Day

2013-05-08T14:22:00.001-06:00

The other day I showed this old photo to my kiddos. It’s Mike with his sister, several (okay… MANY) years ago.

“Kids… who is this?”

H glanced at it and said “I don’t know.”

A minute later… “Wait. Let me see it again.”

Looking hard: “Is it Daddy… with a wig on?!”

Bahahahaha!

Lessons

2013-05-07T14:07:00.001-06:00

Start ‘em young, that’s what we believe around here!

Our ‘lil A has already had quite a few lessons from her big brother and sister. She gets read to regularly by her big sibs.

I just love this.

He CAN actually read to her!

N makes sure she can see the pictures.

This day she got a lesson about the globe from H and some little friends.

And this day she had a special trip on an ‘airplane’ that was created just for her. Don’t worry, I was right close by and she didn’t perch there for long…

I think they’ll be really excited when she can actually interact with them in a more meaningful way. She is mostly stares with some smiles mixed in at this point and they still enjoy her so much!

An Experiment

2013-05-03T10:46:00.001-06:00

During the packing up process our things were obviously being sold, given away or were in a big messy pile of things we wanted to bring home with us. Naturally, this meant that all the kids’ toys and books were no longer in the house for them to play with. This was an experiment in toylessness and it was AMAZING.

For the most part the only thing around for the kids to play with up in our home were a bunch of boxes that I had saved (for gift wrapping, organizing, etc) that Mike had always made fun of me for keeping…

Well, touché Mikey, cause these kids played with these boxes for hours for several days in a row. They were SO stinkin’ happy! This one instance they were building a tall tower and had so much fun.

Better Late Than Never

2013-05-01T21:49:00.001-06:00

I recently posted just one picture of us at Christmastime. I always meant to post more cute ones of the kiddos, but never did. But now I am.

Better late than never, eh?

There’s a bunch of them. I liked them all and didn’t feel like editing…

(Kissing the baby in my belly… they have ALWAYS doted on their baby from the very start!)

These Days–April

2013-04-30T22:07:00.001-06:00

I’ve got some random photos for ya. They don’t have anything to do with anything… they are just too good not to share. And I get to be the judge of what is ‘too good’, okay? Okay!

Melt my heart. Daddy and daughter. This is perfect.

Booktime is a total fav around here. With extra friends this time… even better!

Blurry phone pick of a silly girlie trying on Mama’s glasses.

Mama’s little companion. This evening she snoozed on my lap while I got some work done at the table. I can’t get enough.

My kiddos help me tote laundry up and down the hall each week. This genius solution came to me after H was complaining about getting the full basket down the hall. String a pair of pants through the handle and voila! Something to pull. He loved it and I felt so resourceful.

N’s selfie.

The kids had a special day in Kindergarten and Preschool to make the parents a special dessert to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day coming up. Here is H presenting me with his…

And goofy N with hers.

They were so cute, and so proud and the tarts were SOOOOO delicious. I wish I could have eaten them both!!

Be still my heart.

I need more French braid practice. My Mom and sis were the French braiders growing up and now my lack of practice is clearly showing…

Sometimes my littlest one just wants to be held, but Mama wants to get something done. Once again the Ergo Carrier saves the day.

What in the world is all this stuff?! Ha!

My boy found a plastic holder thingy that I bought apples in in the recycling, rigged it with string and went around selling clothes pins. I love this boy and his imagination.

We had snow in mid-April, and we might have more tomorrow… on May Day. Oh my… Colorado!!! I’d like to have a few choice words with you…

We popped into the library a couple Saturdays ago and they happened to be doing a presentation on turtles. We happily joined in and my big kiddos sat like this for awhile.

I.Can’t.Take.It.

I love my family.

The Swaddle

2013-04-29T21:21:00.001-06:00

For some reason, at the age of two months, my daughter is now diggin’ the swaddle.

Here is some proof. More proof than you need. But proof that this Mama loves to show you cause my sleeping baby is just so dang sweet. Right Mom? Right!

And this sleeping grin… oh. my. word.

And just ‘cause, here’s one of my bright eyed girl wide awake and well rested from being all tied up in her swaddle…

Quote of the Day

2013-04-28T20:24:00.001-06:00

“Your hair smells very nummy Mommy! Nom nom nom. I ate you Mommy. You are a gummy bear Mommy!”

-My Sweet N, who was feeling silly!

Dear Abby

2013-04-27T16:02:00.001-06:00

Dear Abby,

My children have a gift. I call it endurance eating?

Oh. My. Word.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a tiny bowl of cereal or a mountainous Thanksgiving dinner… they can easily at the table for what feels like an eternity. They sit there and do basically anything besides put a bite of food in their mouth, chew, swallow and repeat.

They start out cute and happy. They chat and nibble a little and giggle together. So I initially think “Awww, they’re so happy at the table together, they can just stay there as long as it takes… no problem!”.

But then.

But then they get tired and they starting picking and whining and aggravating and arguing and tattling and it goes downhill fast. Then I find myself thinking “What do I dooooooooooo?!”

What should I do? Have a cut off time and whatever they don’t eat by then gets saved for later? Should I let them eat nothing if they say they’re full after two bites and let them be excused? (But then they come crawling back ten minutes later STARVING again?!). Should I sit with them patiently and calmly (I wish) and keep gently reminding them to please stop pulling each others hair and knocking over each other bowls and kindly take a bite sweet little pookey poo? Should I excuse myself and lock myself in the bedroom ‘til morning? (Please?). Is there something I am missing here? Some time-tested strategy I don’t know about?

Help!!

Sincerely,

Pulling-My-Own-Hair-At-Mealtime

Thank you, I think

2013-04-25T10:38:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I braved the circumstances and took my three children to a sit-down restaurant by myself. God bless kids-eat-free coupons! (Oh, Mike is traveling for eleven days… which explains why he wasn’t with us).

I wasn’t sure how it would go, but it actually went very well. The kids were very well behaved and the baby was quiet in her seat the whole time. I would even use the word ‘fun’ to describe it. Who’dathunkit? I probably should never try it again, however, cause what are the chances that would happen to me twice?!

Anyway, after we’d been there awhile, a lady came up to me who had been in a table nearby with her husband. She told me that my children were very well behaved and she was really impressed. Wow. Thanks so much lady! They’re not always like this but it must be my lucky day.

Then she went to explain that when they watched us walk in she and her husband looked at each other and said “Welp, there goes our quiet evening.”… she continued… “But your children were so well behaved they didn’t bother us at all.”

Um, seriously? Thanks lady. I think?

“Wocks”

2013-04-24T21:51:00.001-06:00

My daughter loves her “wocks” (rocks). It started many many months ago. Maybe you could say in Africa there wasn’t much to play with besides sand and rocks but that wouldn’t be entirely true. Just partially true. They were kind of everywhere and always free for the taking. We’d often have to stand by the gate and wait for her to dig through the sand so she could find the perfect “wittle wock” to bring in the compound. We could have tried to stop her, but frankly, it usually wasn’t worth the fight.

Do you know my daughter? ;)

Anyway.

We found a collection of rocks stashed inside an oatmeal can.

She’d go looking for the perfect rocks when we would visit the tea lady…

…and then display them on the table (and want to take them home).

She’d dig for them at church and carry them around in her shirt.

She’d collect them during her Daddy’s football (soccer) game and put them in an old bottle (which was also scavenged).

When we returned to the States, we discovered several rocks hidden in the dresser drawer.

Recently she dug in rocks outside of church and we still often find her looking for the perfect rock outside the building we live in and find rocks stashed in the pockets of her school backpack and in her coat pockets.

Dear girl. Dear sweet silly girl. I love her. And rocks are pretty harmless, eh?

Packing Up

2013-04-23T11:26:00.001-06:00

This post is one I’ve been avoiding for awhile. But since I started down the road when I posted N’s birthday, I thought I may as well go ahead and do this thing.

So here goes.

This is us packing up and liquidating our dear home of six and a half years.

It was only several days after Christmas when we got word that we’d have to leave. Christmas in Africa was lovely, as always. I always loved celebrating Christmas in our African home. LOVED IT. It was so simple. So quiet. So different from all the commercialization and rushing and materialism that Christmas is so often in the States. Christmas in Africa is a wonderfully simple thing.

We had a special hot chocolate and cookie night.

We got dressed up for Christmas Eve Church service and took photos.

We had friends over for Christmas lunch.

And we just enjoyed time together in our home Christmas afternoon. Did I mention how much I loved our home? Do you know how long it took me to make it beautiful and cozy? Looking at this picture above, I can hardly believe it. I can hardly believe I was there just four months ago. That my life was there. That my kids grew up there and may never see it again. And it will certainly never look like that again.

Oh my. This post…

Basically, we were in a great swing of things. We were loving life, loving our home and loving the place God had brought us into as a family.

We went from that to this:

In no time at all.

Empty. Ugly.

In the past, families often have passed their homes and belongings onto a new family just coming in. We purchased another family’s entire home of furnishings seven years before. And often times those new families take over the lease of the departing family also.

There is something that would be comforting about seeing your things and your home get passed to the next family coming with a like-mind and like-heart. All the effort that had been put into building a lovely home could be enjoyed by someone else, you know?

However, the situation in the country at the time didn’t allow us this luxury. Many were leaving with us and no one was coming. We had to liquidate. It all had to go. Our apartment wasn’t getting ''passed down’ and so we had to empty it.

It was painful.

And dusty.

Really REALLY dusty.

And humbling.

This is a photo of some friends who came to help carry our big furniture out of house to be sold. Only I hadn’t had enough time to even empty the cabinets, let alone sort. So they unloaded everything out into my kitchen before they moved the furniture. What could I do? The furniture had to go. It was hard. It all happened so fast it was difficult for me to give up my normally ordered and organized ways of packing and watch these friends move all my things for me. It was chaos. We were so thankful for help but it was hard. I had no control. Our departure date was approaching so quickly and there was no slowing it down. There wasn’t time to think, let alone organize and think clearly.

Gone, before I could do anything about it.

We had at least eight huge pieces of furniture that had to be taken out of our place. We were on the second floor (above the preschool) so it had to go over the balcony. It had all come UP over the balcony so that’s how it was getting back down.

Here’s the team on our balcony,

Here’s the team down below, waiting to catch.

Mike and Khamis (a long-time friend that helped us with lots of projects around the compound… a harder worker you never will find) drug a dulaab across the balcony.

They rigged it with ropes and leaned it over the edge.

(Funny story here. The first piece of furniture that was set to go over had been taken to the balcony. He rigged the ropes all around it, tossed the ends over the balcony and told the guys down below to pull. Really? It’s true. And he thought that was a good idea. Mike had to talk him into a different idea of keeping the rope ends up high and lowering the furniture down slowly. He was a dear dear man and a very hard worker, but he maybe wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, Godlovehim.)

And no one ever got hurt. And these things are HEAVY.

And repeat.

Meanwhile my house looks like this.

And I looked like THIS. Lord have mercy. 34 weeks pregnant.

Happy Christmas photo in cozy house to…

Empty room.

Happy kids playing in our living room to…

Happy kids playing in our living room.

Okay… so the kids stayed happy! That was good. But the house looked so awful empty. I hated seeing it like that. Hated it. Still do.

The contrast was so much. So fast. And it was all so final.

Aaanyway, we were blessed to have space downstairs in the preschool to have a sale. Almost all of our things were taken down and somewhat thrown into various piles. For a couple days lots of people came to sort through our things.

My boy took this photo. I spent quite a few hours down there watching our things go out the door. I (obviously) wasn’t able to be on my feet too much and if I was gonna sit it may as well be there. It was a bit of closure. I didn’t mind seeing most of our things go. After some selling, a lot of the things were just given. It was good to see our things blessing so many people. They had blessed us for many years.

The kids did very well at selling and giving their things away. I couldn’t have been more impressed with them. The home and life they had been accustomed to was literally disappearing before their eyes by the hour and they were awesome.

They are such a blessing to me. I can’t tell you how many times during the process of packing and leaving I thanked God with an overflowing heart (and overflowing eyes) that my kids got to come with me. That they get to go wherever I go (at least for now). What a comfort. Thank you Jesus.

It didn’t feel like a natural time to be uprooting to me. Duh. This baby and me. We went through so much together. Strong girl I had there in my belly.

The whole process was nine days beginning to end.

One day I felt like we had it all. We had dreams and plans and joy and homemade hot chocolate. And then we suddenly only had some suitcases and some airline tickets. And we had each other. And we had Jesus.

We boarded a red-eye flight and that was it.

Just like that. Six and a half years. Over.

Do I sound dramatic and sensational? I guess so. I try to talk myself down from being dramatic and sensational, because I don’t want to make it something it was not. But when I really think about it and I realize it was dramatic. And surreal. And crazy fast (although some had even less time than we did, God bless them). God poured out His grace and strength to walk through those days. They were incredibly difficult and painful. Confusing and exhausting. But He brought us through and covered us in grace in the midst.

And that was that.

I still can hardly believe it sometimes.

N’s 3rd Birthday (Flashback)

2013-04-17T16:33:00.001-06:00

So my older daughter turned three several months ago and I never posted about her birthday. Poor girl’s special day got all caught up in the drama of getting kicked out of our country on the other side of the globe.

The night before her birthday was actually the evening we sat together with friends and prayed and cried and accepted the fact that we had to leave our country and fast. It was an emotional and unreal evening. On top of that, we had a house-guest staying with us. Someone we had never met before who didn’t have much understanding of our situation.

I don’t know how I remembered late that night to make preparations for her birthday morning traditions…

Surprise balloons in the bedroom to wake up to,

hanging the birthday banner,

setting a special place setting for breakfast and wrapping gifts.

N didn’t know that her little world was about to change. “I’m free (three)!!!”, she is saying here.

After she ate she plopped on the floor to open her gifts.

And our new friend plopped down with her once he actually realized what was happening (which was awhile). It was all very odd. I sat there on the floor taking photos of my daughter on third birthday thinking ‘We have to leave. We have to leave.” And this new friend (read: virtual stranger) is sitting here sharing this special birthday moment and has no idea of the scope of the decision we just had to make the night before. Over breakfast he was telling all kinds of stories to us. In my head I am counting the hours left in my home and beginning to formulate a plan to liquidate our lives of six and a half years. And he is still just telling stories while sipping coffee. Oh my.

It was a very VERY odd moment. It was a ‘my life is weird’ moment.

Just now when Mike looked at the photo above, he bust out laughing. This morning was just so very very weird. I don’t know what else to say.

In any case, N opened her sweet gifts!

Because we immediately started packing and giving things away, N tried to give this skirt away as soon as she got it. She loved giving her things away. But I couldn’t let her… it was just too cute! So it came back with us.

Luckily I had ONE piece of cake in my deep freezer and a bit of icing. It saved the day. I am not sure I would have been able to pull off a birthday cake that day.

We all shared that one piece of cake in the evening.

Happy Birthday N, almost five months late! Your third birthday was a memorable one, to be sure! Love you so!

Lil’ Fashionista, Again

2013-04-16T15:14:00.001-06:00

I posted at least once before about my lil’ fashionista. Apparently, this is an on-going thing.

This first one was when we were still in Africa (hence the warm-weather clothing). Prints and prints. That’s what she likes.

Flower skirt again. With heart leggings and flower shirt. More prints. She feels beautiful in any case, can you tell?

This is a hat I bought for her to keep her warm that I never thought she’d like so much. When my parents were here she wore it quite often. It’s charming, isn’t it? Her baby’s bonnet is also a bit peculiar…

Aaaaand flower skirt and more prints. With Dora boots. And a knitted hat and butterfly sweatshirt. Overload!

Skirt under dress is also one of her trademarks. Oh my.

I am trying to teach her that if you wear a print on top, then you don’t wear one on bottom, etc. It’s a slow process. I am also trying to teach my boy that matching doesn’t mean wearing the same color pants as shirt. Before I was a parent I never thought about having to teach kids how to match/coordinate clothing! I guess they have to learn somehow. Unless I want my lil’ fashionista to keep her unique touch forever…

My Mantle

2013-04-15T20:33:00.001-06:00

If you think because of that title that this is some spiritual post about ‘the mantle’ of whatever that God has given me (have you heard that phrase?) you’re wrong…. it’s about a plain old (fake) mantle… where decorations go! I’m deep like that.

I’ve never actually had a mantle. And I may never have. But a girl who loves to decorate for the seasons and other occasions has got to make do!

My Dad installed three shelves just inside my front door when he was here. And then later I added one more shelf. It’s the perfect place to switch out decorations (as often as I like) and I love it. Cause I like to switch a lot. And I already want to rearrange the furniture, much to my husbands *joy*. But that is a different topic.

This was the first arrangement. The Welcome Baby arrangement. Flowers, cute subway art, lace bunting, gorgeous photo (ifidosaysomyself) and a lil’ message on the lil’ chalkboard.

Then I did a pretty Easter mantle arrangement, but BAH I didn’t find a picture of it! Boo. It had a super cute little free printed Happy Easter Bunting and lots of other cuteness. I know you’re so disappointed to have missed that.

But, to comfort you, here is a photo of my current Spring arrangement.

Free printable art is the best. So is bunting made from scrap fabric found under my bed and a lil’ burlap birdie purchased for nothing on clearance. And yes, my baby’s pic is still there. I can’t stand to take it down and she’s still fresh and sweet and new… just like spring. So she is sticking around awhile longer.

Quote of the Day

2013-04-10T14:27:00.001-06:00

“There is snow on our bikes. We will have to lick it off.”

-N to H

My girl does loves to eat snow!

Quarantine

2013-04-09T10:36:00.001-06:00

Today is day four of my self-imposed quarantine. I temporarily lifted my self-imposed quarantine yesterday long enough to go to one of those little clinics inside the grocery store to get diagnosed for the miserable ailment that had required this self-imposed quarantine.

The results?

Tonsillitis. And an ear infection.

Well, no wonder I felt like crap. For days.

The nice nurse practitioner happily took my $85 dollars for the visit and sent me out with a prescription for antibiotics. I did a jig. Not really. But I felt like it because it meant there was an end in sight to my various symptoms but also to my quarantine, which is maybe equally as painful as the sickness for a lady who loves to be around people and loves to care for her family and her home.

After two days of bedroom quarantine I have occasionally joined my family in the rest of the house yesterday and today. But not without tying one of my daughters receiving blankets around my mouth and nose first to protect them from my germs. I thought about posting a picture of that sight, but decided against it… it’s absolutely ridiculous. But I am taking all possible precautions not to spread this thing. I can’t imagine how a preschooler would deal with how much it hurts to swallow? My heart would break into a million pieces if I had to watch one of my babies go through that. Taking a sip of water can bring me to tears. It’s just terrible and let’s hope the rest of the family stays healthy and that I can hold onto my sanity for another day and a half until my self-imposed quarantine is lifted!

Tonsillitis is from the devil.

The end.

What Remains

2013-04-05T14:00:00.001-06:00

Remember this cup? (from this post)?

Remember how much my boy liked his lion cup?

This is what remains.

We brought special things like this back with us in our luggage. Little things that would remain constant in my kids’ lives between their African life and their American life. It helped. Their special drinking mugs were among those things. And today it was accidently knocked off the island by my boy and as soon as I heard the crash I knew it was gonna be bad.

I rushed to him and he wept. I held him. And I wept.

I cried because my boy lost something dear to him. I cried because his tender heart was hurting. And I cried because that silly and special lion cup is something from our dear African life that can’t be replaced.

So much can’t be replaced. For this I wept.

Loose Tooth?

2013-04-04T22:23:00.001-06:00

Isn’t my boy too little to have a loose tooth? He seems apprehensive about it. This is new territory for us. I guess it’s time to decide if the tooth fairy is going to visit our home or not. What if he swallows it? Does that happen? Will it bleed a lot? What if he freaks out? Maybe I’m overreacting?

Oh my!

A Bit Untraditional…

2013-04-01T19:27:00.001-06:00

I may or may not have put raisins and Cheez-Its in my kids’ Easter eggs…

Okay. I did. And they might have been a lil’ surprised, but they liked it!