What is a home without children? Quiet.

I remember when Cam and I were thinking about starting our family. We often pondered what our children might be like. Sweet, docile, content, and beautiful of course. Boy, were we in for a surprise. The beautiful part came true, but the rest was kind of a pipe dream. Allegedly, I signed up for the most strong willed, spunky kids heaven had to offer. I would never change that, but a guide book would have been nice.

Reggie

Reggie is an interesting guy, to make a huge understatement. This kid is all about discovery and creation. He was trained in the Lego school of engineering by his dad, who was equally addicted, and he has taken his skills far beyond what he was taught. If you can dream it, he can make it out of Lego. Right now he is in a Lego Mindstorms Robotics class that is really challenging and fun for him. I'm hoping all this eventually leads to an engineering degree down the line. He is very tender hearted and emotional. His artistic skills never cease to amaze me. I love and cherish this talent that has been passed down from his dad. Sports are another passion, with his best skills being in running. He is an organizer. He loves to make plans and then put them into action with all the neighborhood kids that will follow. When it comes to a sense of humor, he has one of the best. We have a lot of good laughs together. When he tires of Lego and outdoor pursuits, he can be found in the kitchen cooking.

Marin

I always pictured myself having all boys, but what would our family be without this little fireball. I have never seen a kid with a stronger will. She cannot be bribed, cajoled, convinced, or anything of the sort if she has her mind made up. Academics are one of her biggest strengths. She eats up anything school can offer her. To my everlasting delight, she LOVES to read. It is a full time job keeping her stocked with reading materials. She, like Reg, is also very creative. Crafts and card making are some of her favorite things to do. How she came from me, I'll never know. Never thought I would see the day when my house was filled with glitter glue and Stampin' Up supplies. I don't even know how to use that stuff. She is very competitive and loves sports. Most recesses she can be found taking the boys to task in a kick ball game. Did I mention her fiery temper? I wonder where she got that from.............

Cooper

This kid was a dream baby and perfect child-----that is, until he hit the age of two. Our family has never been the same, haha. Complete strangers often come up to me and comment on his adorable little grin. He is all smiles, this guy. After some careful tutelage from his older brother, he has become a Lego master as well, particularly in the Star Wars variety. Coop loves to play outside for hours on end. He brags the fact that he is the only one in our family that will hold worms and grasshoppers. He loves to sing. He sings while he plays, works, travels, just about everywhere. Right now his favorite activity is soccer. Another interesting fact about Super-Coop is that he is a grazer. He never eats a full meal, just grazes incredible amounts of food all the day long. He loves to crack jokes and tease.

Raising spirited children is definitely a challenge; one I hope I am equal to. What a privilege it is to be trusted with these three amazing spirits. I learn so much from each of them and love them to bits!

It's Raining on My Parade

Wouldn't you say enough is enough? Not only were we robbed of spring but now Mother Nature threatens to take summer as well? I have a hard time with grey skies, mood wise that is. Everyone's grumpier when the sun is not shining, including me. This rain is really cramping my style and here is why:

* Track Meets

My kids were getting so stoked for their upcoming track meets. This is an area where Reggie really shines and I hate for him to miss it. He even got some new track shoes and I catch him inspecting and caressing them every chance he gets. We have been out practicing and were so ready. I was going to take the day off to cheer them on in true fatal attraction mom style. It has been postponed indefinitely. Boo! My school's divisional track meet was also this week. It is one of my favorite school days of the year.  Love seeing my students push themselves to the limit. Again, postponed.

* Garden

Last year my garden drowned because I missed the one nice day window during planting time. This year I was all smug thinking I had timed it perfectly and had it in before most people. Pretty sure my peas are rotting in their tender little skins.

* Flowers

Flower gardening is a big passion of mine. There are not many places I would rather be than the green house. On Monday I carefully selected my plants, designed color schemes, and racked up some big numbers on the cash register. Hope those little beauties know how to swim.

*Lawn Mowing

Cam and I used to have a lawn mowing business. We were pretty stupid working full time jobs and then caring for 13 lawns each week. We had the sign language down pat over the drone of the engines. It is actually one of my fondest memories. There is just something about the clean cut lines, the smell of gas and earth, and the satisfaction of decapitating those stray pieces with the weed whacker. This may be an indication of how exciting my social life is, but mowing my lawn is one of my favorite past times. Shame  on you rain  separating me and my beloved lawn.

* Outside activities

I love living outside. Considering I live in Southern Alberta, this is kind of ironic. Supervising water fights, biking, running, soccer, watching soft ball games, weeding, reading on the deck. Definitely hard to do these in the down pour.

* School

Have you ever thought about what junior high lunch time supervision might be like when people have been cooped indoors for days on end. Well, let me tell you, it's not pretty. Picture a zoo break, but with more hormones.

Well, the only remedy I figure is to listen to a bit of UB40 reggae, and do some virtual sunny vacation planning on expedia.

Excuse me, I think I hear my sump pump going off. Be back when the sun shines.

If you want to see me, drop in any time. If you want to see my house, make an appointment.

This post is spurred by a facebook status I just read. Apparently, this person's wife's house is always clean and tidy, the laundry is always caught up, meals are always prepared each night, blah, blah, blah, the list went on.

I have always had a love hate relationship with my house. I love it when it is clean and things are under control; I hate it when it's not. I am under the assumption that most of us are like that. The problem is, spotlessly clean and under control doesn't happen very often around here. I long time ago I read a book that  had a line in it that hit me like a lightning bolt. It was: "I am not my house". As women, we are so duped into believing otherwise. We have been indoctrinated with that notion since birth. That statement was so freeing. I could literally feel the shackles of guilt coming loose the more I decided to believe it.

I'm all for a clean house. Don't think that I'm not, or that I am a slob or anything. But let's be real. Everyone has stuff going on and they have to put it somewhere on the priority list. I will honestly admit that my house isn't at the top of the priority list. It may shock you that it is not even near the top. As a very busy single mom the top spots are reserved for kids, sleep, work, extra-curricular, church commitments, and exercise. If I had an abundance of free time, of course my house would be perfect, but free time is not one the the blessings I have right now.

A wise friend told me recently that it won't always be like this. I hope she is right. One day I hope to not step on a piece of lego once a day, not see my daughter's room scattered with craft supplies, not see a child running through the house with muddy feet and a loaded water gun in hand. Who am I kidding? Of course I am going to miss this stuff. In fact, it will be the stuff I will probably miss the most when they are gone.

If you are really living life the way it should be lived, this will require mess. As a right-brained sort of person, I firmly believe it necessitates mess. Maybe you have time to always clean it up, but I don't.

Soooooooo. Come to my house. Stop in for a visit. You will find lego creations on flat surfaces, partially done pieces of art tacked to the walls, a child cooking in the kitchen with flour exploding everywhere, laundry piled high in the basement, soccer cleats hung on the door knobs---and that's on a good day!

It's the way my house is and I have FINALLY made peace with it.

"I get by with a little help from my friends" --John Lennon

I have been blessed with some of the most amazing friends. Sometimes I am just blown away thinking about the extraordinary people that have walked into my life. I would like to tell you about some of them. This is, of course not a comprehensive list, but these people are the ones who are the regulars. The ones who are there for me day in and day out. In order to protect their privacy I'll label them with pseudonyms. I love each of them to bits and here's why in no particular order.

Butterfly

This girl and I have been together since we were 5 years old. We had a secret club house, hundreds of sleepovers, and common crushes. She knows more about me than maybe she should--haha. She is one of the friendliest people on the planet. I've never seen anyone with such a gift for getting along with EVERYONE she meets. The best part is our friendship has never waned in the 30 years we have known each other. I fully expect to have her as a room mate when we finally check into the old folks home.

Jillaroo

I got to know this lady through Cam. Her husband is his best friend. There is always something magic about all members of the couples getting along. A lot of times after a spouse dies, you hear about the friendship with married people ending. Both of them treat me as much as a friend as ever, even though Cam isn't here and I love them for it. Over the years we have gotten closer and I have loved getting to know her. We have dreams about backpacking in Europe together once the kids are grown. We both love to travel. She is funny, kind, talented, beautiful, and has the BEST laugh I know of.

Fellow Book Bum

We started out as colleagues and graduated to close friends. Books are our favorite commonality I think. Talking about books, trading books, recommending books are what we do. Major trials have made their way into both of our lives and we have been able to see each other through those. She is one of the smartest people I know, an exceptional writer, a phenomenal artist, and a fantastic new mother. One of my biggest jealousies is her beautiful house that she help build and design every square inch of.

Creative Genius

I was fortunate to get to know this lady through work. We are very different, but we get along amazingly. She feels like the older sister I never had. You can find us hitting the pavement at 6am several times a week. Running is a past time we both love. She is addicted to the creative process and is constantly producing beautiful works of art, theatre, clothing, and helping others with all things artistic. Hitting the movies is something we do sometimes, and wish we had more time to do.

Sounding Board

The most interesting fact about this friend is that she is old enough to be my mother. In fact, she IS the mother of one of my friends. I love the gospel and life discussions I have with her. We solve family, community, and world problems during the class breaks at the junior high, often returning to our classrooms brushing away tears.  She is a wonderful confidante, problem solver, scientist, musician, and scriptorian. Love her!

Should-a-bin-sisters

Interestingly enough, our friendship got started through visiting teaching. At first glance we didn't have much in common. She was single, I was married with children. She was crafty, I was sporty. Through the years we have developed a bond that I cherish above many things. I found out later that she had a sister exactly my age who died as an infant. I feel like her parents have accepted me as a substitute sister for her until they can be together again. We have celebrated joys and heartaches together, worked side by side, and spent many an hour pouring our hearts out. When we go places together many people think we are sisters. Now she is married with children and I am single. She has helped me so much with that tough transition. When there is something big going down she is the first one I call. I am convinced that we knew each in the pre-existence. She is pretty, kind, patient, creative, and is the best listener around.

Couldn't do life without these girls! To quote a favorite line from my favorite musical, WICKED:

"Because I knew you, I have been changed for good!"

Life in the fast lane

There are three things that are kicking my butt right now. They are:

1. Soccer
2. School
3. Kids

I love this time of year when the weather gets warm, but sometimes feel like AHHHHHHHH!!!! what was I thinking??? I'm sure all you moms out there have a wonderful handle on things. I'm not one of them. Oh, sure, on the outside it might seem like it's smooth sailing, but in reality I'm hangin' on by my fingernails.



Let's explore each of these categories in depth, shall we?

Soccer-- Four blissful nights a week. My kids absolutely love it and so do I. Three different sizes of cleats, socks, shirts, water bottles. It is like a wild sports themed treasure hunt that usually ends in a lot of yelling and tears. Then you get to watch the kiddles run around doing drills for the bulk of the allotted time and end with them playing a game for 10 minutes where they might have touched the ball two times.

School-- 150 teenagers in 6 hours. Doesn't that just sound like a dream? Well, for weird people like me it is. I love the kids. They tolerate me. I get to indoctrinate them with the joys of writing and literature to my hearts content. BUT..........then comes the marking. Hundreds of mediocre essays filled with facebook jargon and shallow insights litter my desk. Once in a while I strike gold and am rewarded with reading something that is almost reminiscent of poetry, a piece of writing that makes you want to dance on the table top. Those little gems are what keep me slogging through the mediocracy.

Kids-- Right now one of my children is really giving me fits. Let's call him "evil grin". He looks all cute and cuddly on the outside but now and again a monster so vile is released that it would make you shudder with terror. The monster has been coming around quite frequently this week. Tantrums have been thrown around here recently that would cause many to give up parenthood for good or at least put the kids up for sale on ebay. I have been plotting with my other kids, (Relief Society Pres. and Budding Engineer) about an intervention. We are a little scared but we think tomorrow night might be the perfect night for operation monster kill. If it goes well, I'll share the details, if it doesn't we are all going to pretend it never happened. Wish me luck!

Adventures in Blood Letting

If you know me very well at all, you know I am very serious about donating blood. I didn't start until about two and a half years ago. I don't know why I didn't before. Maybe my deathly fear of needles had something to do with it.  Well-- now I have a reason and I plan on doing it for the rest of my life. My donation history got off to a very rocky start. They even told me I shouldn't come back at one point, but I didn't listen. Determined and strong willed, I stuck with it, and it has worked out. It may sound weird, but I love it. It may be one of my most favorite things to do. What's better, I always do it with my oldest, dearest friend.

She doesn't like needles either. In fact donating isn't a cake walk for her, but she does it for me--because she loves me that much. She'll never know exactly what that means to me. Boy, we have had some adventures at the donor clinic. Ones we like to laugh about now. Ones that involve low blood pressure, and near fainting, and barfing, and wheelchairs, and cold cloths. We know most of the nurses by name and they know us. They know we come as a package deal. They know that she has to sit right by me while I donate. She is my lucky charm.

Today was my 16th donation. 16 is my favorite number for a lot of reasons. I think it was fitting that I clocked my best donation time (6:47) on number 16.

Please consider donating. My husband used 100 bags of blood products in the course of his cancer treatment. I am determined give that many bags. I have a long way to go, I know. But with my buddy by  my side it will happen.

Completely unrelated to the above post, but I thought you would enjoy my favorite Mother's Day video:

Raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways

Lately I have been wanting to conform. It's funny, I've never really considered myself the conformist type. When you live in a small town everyone expects it. It is normal. It is desired by most conservative minds.  However,  recently I have tired of being different. Sure, we are all distinct in many ways, but when it comes to the typical 30+ year old in Cardston, I am different in a lot of ways. I would give a lot to be "normal".

I wanted my kids to grow up in a loving two parent family. I wanted to have the typical experiences of a young mother, not a 70 year old. I wanted to grow old with my best friend. I wanted to never know loneliness. But, as I have learned, it is not about what I wanted. It was about what I needed. Apparently, I needed soul stretching experiences to learn my lessons. Evidently, I needed to be a bit of an anomaly to be the person I need to be. Being different is not without gifts and blessings. I fully acknowledge that.  Unconventional does not always mean bad. Maybe I'm wrong in all the right ways ; ) To all those who feel different, I raise my glass to you.