Clean and Fresh as the Summer Breeze

Jeremy hung a clothes line recently and we are using it most of the time.

I scream, You scream, We all scream...

...for ice cream.

Last week after Samuel's program at school we went to Dairy Queen to celebrate my kindergartener. Samuel got a strawberry lemonade slushy thing and Lucy got a dip cone - but we all shared. How does that ice cream always make it to the nose?

Water, Water everywhere

Most evenings you can find us out back watering the garden (and ourselves). Samuel got a water gun that aids in the watering process and makes it even more enjoyable. The pool from last year is still a hit and our rain buckets are a constant source of fun when filled. We finally pulled out the hose this week to water but until now we've only used rain water. If anyone wants to come a play - be prepared to water, get muddy and have a blast!

Slip-n-Slide

FYI - Slip-n-Slide

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FYI
Topic - New Slip and Slide

1. This is the first official "slip-n-slide" I've ever owned and I think it will probably be the best $9 spent this summer. BUT we may still snag some visqueen from the farm on our next visit (I think I still have some pics of Uncle Casey, cousin Abbey and cousin Justin on the visqueen slip-n-slide on the farm many years ago).
2. If you do get the slip-n-slide - splurge for the 20 footer instead of the 16 footer - or just use those .25 cent table covers you got at the after Easter sale to extend that sucker another 10-12 feet - it adds color and character.
3. If you spray it with water - they will come - the whole neighborhood.
4. 33 year old Mama's should not have to teach their 3 and 4 year olds how to slide on a slip-n-slide but if it has to happen make sure there are no cameras near-by...the neighbors have gone inside...and the kids are watching the first time so there don't have to be repeats, or three-peats, or four-peats. OK - really after the first time it was so much fun I had to try several more times - the grass burns and bruises will fade but the memories will last forever... but not in pictures!

Yahoo - Summer is HERE!!!

Yahoo! Summer is here and so is the fun...go ahead, stick your head in the water and enjoy! (Insert squeals of laughter as background music)

Clowning Around

Samuel's end of the year party was last Friday and Purdy the clown came to visit. The kids loved it and Lucy got to participate too. I've been so grateful that at each party she gets to tag along with the big kids. Samuel and his friend, Kenneth, got their balloon doodlebugs

Animals and Friends

This past week - the children and I went to my friend, Michelle's, for a visit. The children thought they were at Disney - they ran and played, swam at the neighbor's and got to play with all the animals. Michelle's kids were great with my two. Landon and Leisha played with Samuel - foot races, ball and even some water gun fights. Lindsey was a sweet little Mama to Lucy and was so helpful. Hopefully we were more of a help than more work while we were there! Lucy especially liked the dogs - Scout and Belle.

Samuel feeding Emma the goat


Lucy and Michelle feeding Lexi the horse

Family tree

There are times when I see my children do things that I wonder "where did that look come from?" or "where did they learn that?" or "why does that matter to him?" And then there are times when I can clearly see it "You look just like your Daddy." "You get that from your Grandpa Noonan". There was one example lately that I wanted to share about a connection I suspect.

Samuel loves soft/comfortable clothes, he doesn't like buttons around his neck, he would rather have on sweat pants than jeans. Well, several weeks ago we started drying our clothes on the line outside and all of Samuel's jeans were dried in the sun - not in the dryer with dryer sheets. Well, my sweet son pitched a royal fit one morning before school (A day they were having some special thing at school) because "All of my pants are hard, Mama, they hurt my bottom!" I'll admit it had been a rough week and we were all worn slap out but he lost it. All he wanted to wear were some sweat pants with a hole in it and a t shirt. I'll admit I wish I could wear the same all day and get away with it but I don't when I have to leave the house...most of the time.

Anyways, 25 minutes later when he was still pitching a fit, in his "hard jeans" I wanted to say "Doris, I know you want to wear "soft jeans" but we don't have any to wear!" Then I knew - Samuel is alot like my Mema - there is something about those soft clothes that runs in the family! I love you Mema - hope you are warm and cozy at home today in something comfortable.

THEN - this morning. We had another 20 minute fit pitching session. Samuel got some ebay shorts that are plaid and soft. He loves them but there are only a few shirts he can wear with the shorts (ones that match) that don't highlight his German heritage. This morning he put on a soft football jersey with the plaid pants. I know it would have been ok - and most of the time I'm not too critical of his matching as long as he is neat and clean but I just couldn't let him wear this to school.

Well, poor thing, when I told him it didn't match and he could wear the jersey OR the shorts he asked why again. I told him it didn't match.
Then he said "Mama, who told you at school that I have to match?" "Who said I have to match!"
OK, he had me - really is that something that has to be mandated and put in the rules - NO - but maybe for my very literal boy it should be. I did tell him he could ask his teacher if he should wear matching clothes. OK - suspecting this family tie is to his Dad - Jeremy has practical taste when it comes to fashion - 1. Is is clean? 2. Does it fit? 3. Will I be hot/cold?

ok - just some hunches about family lineage and where it pops up in my kiddos...

Fly In

We have some friends in our church who live in a "fly in" community. There is an air strip in the neighborhood and each house has a hangar out back. It is only about 3-4 miles from our house and the children love to watch the planes fly around each day. Last weekend the community had a "fly in" and several of us went along. The highlight of the day was the flour bomb drop contest. The planes flew at about 50 feet and dropped bags of flour out their windows and tried to hit a target. The kids thought it was great - we had a great time and were so grateful for the opportunity to sit on the runway and spent time at the Mitchell's - thanks!
My sweet friend Mary with McCully
The gang
Look here they come!

Super Heroes

Super Lucy is our family super hero - she always wears her red hat and cape, always saves the good guys from the bad guys and always puts the silverware away.
Don't let her sweet cuddly side fool you - she can be ferocious when she needs to be.
Super Sam likes to set traps. His latest creation is a trap made out of suspenders. He explained his many ways to use the suspenders as traps - 1. "I can open the clips and when a mouse comes in I can clamp them down and they are trapped" 2. "I can set a trap at the front door to catch robbers...or Daddy when he comes home 3. "I can use these as handcuffs to hook me to the bad guy" 4. "Mama, we can catch anything in these!"

Field Day

Samuel's Field Day was last Friday. Lucy and I went along to help and enjoyed the day with Mrs. Denise's purple team. Lucy liked playing on the playground...

Samuel's class
The little jumping bean...

The sponge fight

Use Your Imagination

The other morning, Samuel and Lucy wanted me to play 'tornadoes' with them. I asked my usual questions to invite myself into their world. "Okay, so who am I?" "Who are you?" "What can we do?" "Where are we?"...I keep asking these questions throughout when I am lost and have no idea what we are doing (they always know what is happening but I don't - makes me think they feel this way about real life sometimes - a world they are learning but still have to listen to the narrator to figure out)

I was the Mama tornado, Lucy was the girl tornado and Samuel was the pet tornado. We ran out of things to do as tornadoes - the usual, eating, destroying things, napping, raining, blowing. So, Samuel decided we should be tornado super heroes. Lucy and I were Tornado Super Hero girl and Super Hero Mama. We could shoot tornadoes out of our hands and our mouths to capture bad guys. Samuel was the Tornado pet Penguin. He could shoot out loud penguin squacks that were so loud they would scare people away. The children could have been in this world for hours but I find it hard to keep it up more than 15 - 20 minutes. I had a great time playing with them...later we were Tigers, dogs, and gardeners. I love seeing their enjoyment in creating stories - that is what make-believe is and I want to foster this as long as I can.

Sometimes I wonder what happens to our imaginations? My children can play for much longer periods at make-believe than I can. I know this is true for most people - why? Is it a good thing? Are our imaginations just shaped more by reality or is there some deeper disappointment and lack of hope in our older imaginations? Just wondering if the loss of imagination as we grow older is good...necessary...inevitable...or worth fighting against.......I'm thinking the latter.

Quotes

Today I picked up Samuel from school and as he was getting in the van I noticed he had grass and dirt in his hair. Here is the conversation that followed -

Mama: "You must of had fun playing outside today - you are dirty"
Samuel: "I was playing on the playground and did a head dive."
Mama: "A head dive?" {Said in a way to mean "Wow, sounds like you had fun!"}
Samuel: obviously he thought I wasn't understanding what a head dive was "Mama, it means I was running and my head plunged into the ground and I got dirt all over my head and big red spot on my forehead."
Mama: "Oh, I see."
Samuel: "I can tell you what a nose dive is if you need me to, Mama..."

This kid has no lack of expression. He comes up with descriptive ways to tell the story of his life - I love it!!! Now it's nap time and I am going to plunge into a book...I mean head dive!

Happy Anniversary

Russ and Doris Ellis "Mema and Papa" - January 1950 = 60 years
Simon and Ernestine Kinsey "Granny and Grandpa" - August 16, 1945 = 65 years
Bobby and Debbie Kinsey "Mama and Daddy - September 15, 1973 = 36 years
Jeremy and Kelly Noonan - May 12, 2001 = 9 years

Today we celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary and I am so fortunate to have parents and grandparents who have celebrated many anniversaries ahead of us. Combined there are over 160 marriage. After many years of time around them I have learned alot about love. I've learned that love is full of joy and sorrow, hurt and forgiveness, frustration and safety, laughter and tears, memories and hope. Thanks to all of you for showing me the commitment of marriage and the tenacity of love.

Happy 9th Anniversary, Jeremy! What an adventure it's been and I know we have many more years of adventure ahead.

Family

The children with Grandma when she visited last week - thanks grandma for everything - We love you!

Wyatt with his Daddy...what a stinker (Uncle Casey)...and what a cutie (Wyatt)!Papa with his tractors. One of Daddy's dearest friends passed away several weeks ago and he was given this old Ford tractor. Daddy was very honored to get the tractor and has loved using it lately.

Books

I read this quote from one of my friends who was talking about reading – I think it describes my experience so often with reading (for pleasure, of course, I am painfully aware of every word when I’m reading for school).

“I would argue that "reading" Alice in Wonderland on the iPad/Kindle isn't reading at all-- it's a new kind of multimedia experience. To me, hard-core reading is that moment of zen when you are no longer looking at words on a page, but the words are flowing straight into your imagination, where the author’s language is a framework and fuel for you as you paint your own pictures and visualize the setting and characters your own way. A good reading experience is when I suddenly “come to” and snap back to reality, realizing that there are words on a page in front of me, and that the world I was just in doesn’t actually exist.” – S.H.

I am looking forward to reading for joy this summer – getting into another adventure, another world, another part of my mind that is tapped when I read good books. I had several people ask me about some of my favorite books. I have books I’ve read at certain times that were enjoyable and helped inform me about the people, places, history and culture around me – Some I remember off the top of my head - A Fez of the Heart, while I was traveling in Turkey - Balkan Ghosts, How I Survived Communism and even Laughed and Hole in the Flag while living in the Balkans. Wild Swans, Red China Blues and several other books about China before traveling to China. Loved them all and enjoyed the perspective from a literary/story point of view not just a travel book or history book.

But some of my all time favorites are older books – I’ve read some recent fiction – like the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers and I really like some of Michael Crichton’s books. My brother-in-law gave us Super Freakonomics for Christmas and it was an interesting read – plenty more to mention but here are some of my favorites – though it’s hard to pick just one.

1. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (I liked it better than Brother’s Karamazov but both are great books)

2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

3. Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

4. Armadale by Wilkie Collins (I also read Moonstone which is supposed to be his best work but it was my least favorite)

5. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit by Tolkien (I’m not usually a fantasy book reader but these are amazing – truly a must read)

6. Exodus by Leon Uris (Historical fiction about the forming of the nation of Israel)

7. Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis (love this blogger's thoughts on the book)

8. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (These are my all time favorite Lewis books – Til We Have Faces is one you have to read all the way to the bitter end and then you just sit silent for a while - the Great Divorce is probably the book I think about the most when I’m trying to make sense of things – good word pictures and easy to read )

9. Jane Austen – who doesn’t like her stories and characters

OK – I could go on but I’ll stop there…

On my reading list for the summer are Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Home, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I’m also considering reading the Harry Potter books but then once I start I have to read all of them – not sure if I should make the commitment. OK – enough about my reading for the summer. Let me know what you are reading this summer or what you have read that you would suggest…I need some more suggestions for my summer reading list!

Happy Mother's Day!!

My children greeted me with breakfast in bed this morning - all Samuel's idea. Lucy pulled the orange pieces apart and Samuel got the grapes. They also got me flowers and a balloon - all Lucy's idea. I loved it and I'm so grateful to have two such amazing kiddos!

Happy Mother's Day to my Mama too!! I love you and I'm so grateful for all you do!

Community Garden

Our garden is growing and we are spending more and more time out back. Jeremy has turned into a real gardener and Lucy especially loves to help. Samuel loves to play in the mud and whack the weeds. We also have had several neighborhood kids who have helped in the garden - here are a few of them helping us last week.

When all of the kids are over we don't have enough watering cans BUT we always have plenty of containers in our recycling bin....Samuel loves to create something.

Jayden - watering the okra.
Dasia and Jordyn getting water out of the rain barrel. They were amazed that we catch rain water!
Keirsten double watering the watermelons and canteloupe
Our ever watchful scarecrow.

Lucy has really enjoyed growing her flowers in the front. She got seeds for her birthday and has LOVED watering them and watching them grow. We also have a few strawberries growing and have gotten to eat 3! Can't wait to actually see some flowers bloom.