Geneous Heart

I woke up thinking about this adorable picture of my nephew (stolen from my sis's blog :) and one of my favorite moments from last weekend visiting my parents'! We attended the puppet show for this guy's big brother. At the end of the program, the church invited everyone to place a donation in the a crazy, psychedelic Barbie van--rollin' straight from the 70s--located in front of the stage. L ran over with a pants-pocket full of coins his Grandma had given him. He saw Brennen and Graysen in their spot near the row we sat in and said, "Hey guys! Do you have any money for that van?" My boys said "no" and this little punkin' of a boy dug deep into his pocket and produced a handful of coins. "Here you go, have some of these! Now we can all go put money in the van." Oh that precious boy! He stole a bit more of Auntie Jess's heart with his sweet generosity.

Jury Duty

Yes, that's right . . . I got called to jury duty, yet again. Only this time, they gave me flowers! :) Our friends' daughter (and our girls' good friend, E) had a mock trial with her Classical Conversations school (she's homeschooled, but also does this coursework once a week). Her mom, my friend S, asked if I'd be on the jury, and I said I would :) It's hard for me to say I'll do things, because we always have weird stuff come up that makes it challenging to honor commitments--I know that sounds crazy, but saying yes stresses me out for that very reason. Here's what happened today:

1. Brennen started moaning at 5 a.m. Just moaning. At 5:30, I was awake enough to go see if he needed anything. Well, that stupid weather change rocked his world and his allergies are going nuts :( He's coughing like crazy, had a terrible headache in his sleep, sneezing, light fever this afternoon--a mess! I gave him some children's Tylenol and he finished his night with hopefully better rest.


2. The kids awoke to find out their newest little critter passed away last night. I awoke to G$'s loud expression of grief. Caelan is not as sad, she said, "He was very cute; but I didn't like him very much." 19 days and probably as many blood-drawing bites. He was very cute, but boy did he bite a lot! This was a different cause of death. Buck thinks Strider/Aragorn wasn't able to digest something. I won't give any more details than that :(

3. After a rough night, everyone (except Gabby) is coughing, sneezing, Caelan's got back pain . . . we made it through school; I did my treadmill time, then headed up to get the kids moving on lunch. By the time I'd finished a shower, B was still sitting at the table slowly sipping soup. Oh boy! After a series of challenges getting him moving and to the vehicle . . .

4. We discovered some (de)construction guys had torn up a huge section of the road leading into our neighborhood--sometime after Buck left for work, so he couldn't warn me. One lane (there's only one way into our neighborhood and it also serves as the one way out), noone directing traffic, just a couple of guys in hardhats a giant earth mover, and a huge hole. Next, the nutty light that is so dangerous--was on four-way blink (more construction). Then we passed lanes shut down for building construction AND utility work (we also hit every red light for miles). There were more guys fixing the bridge we had to cross and then a 6?-block section of road missing to complete our journey (in one dusty, not very well marked lane).

5. When we finally got close to our destination--a university campus I've never been to before-- and my phone shut off! Randomly, shut itself off and restarted. Well, that phone was my GPS. We had 7 minutes to find the university, find parking, and find our court room. We left 45 minutes early and it was supposed to be a 17-minute drive. Yikes!

6. GPS turned back on, my printed map was not very helpful in finding parking. We made several wrong turns, but finally after backing out of a parking cave (love that new back up cam!). I said, "God, you're going to have to get us there on time, because I've done all I can and this is out of my hands." He did :) We parked. I loaded the kids up with Kleenex and cough drops and we asked some befuddled college boy where the courtroom was--I plopped into the jury box ONE minute before the trial started!!! The kids sat with the court audience and their friend F and the trial began.

The CC kids did an excellent job--it was the first time I've enjoyed jury duty--and when we were done, they gave me flowers! It was a good experience for our kids to see the court process and how mock trial works, because our girls have their first mock trial tomorrow night with their homeschool teen group (the boys and I may stay and watch, because it's all done in 1930's attire and could be pretty fun to witness; and despite their ailments, both boys found today's proceedings interesting, which gives me hope that tomorrow might be the same :)

After all that, we cruised over to get our groceries. Wow, did we fill the cart! With Easter, company, birthdays, and celebrations on this pay check . . . well, there were a lot of supplies to collect. I was a little nervous, since we've never packed the new van--but whoohoo! We stacked everything up, used the cargo net like champs, and nothing spilled out when we opened the hatch! That was super rad!

We're home now (we got gas in the van for the first time and traffic was insane!). The little critter is buried. Unfortunately, Graysen missed with shovel somehow and stuck the shovel handle straight into his own stomach. Brennen looked up the hill and said, "I don't think Graysen is doing so good." So, he and I hiked up to see what was the matter. Poor kid, just trying to bury his buddy and gets a punch to the gut :( I've actually never been up the hill before--and it is wicked steep, so I may not again :)-- so I took a picture of their little cemetery. Graysen used some of my jury duty flowers to pretty up Strider's final resting place.

Seriously, what a day.

Farewell to Winter

Such a weird winter! Maybe two "big" snows, never even enough to build a snowman :( We bought full-sized carrots in December for noses (Graysen's request) and threw them out in February.

So, I decided I couldn't stand tripping over the boot bucket while the (muddy, not snowy) snowclothes cluttered up the kitchen corner, anymore. It's amazing how much lighter the house feels with all that winter stuff put away--and when the temps upstairs were dancing in the near 80's I knew I'd made a good decision for an ENTIRE day's effort . . . until the next day, when the temps dropped 45 degrees and I could see my breath outside!!! Today it's in the 80s again, so I'm still thinking it was wise to get the spring party started ;)

Our collection downsized a bit via hand-me-downs to the neighbors and a give away pile for charity (I don't garage sale, I've decided this firmly, ha! :) I've also decided that I'm thankful for space bags, because I can cram so much more in those plastic tubs that line our garage like a fortress wall :) I still haven't reintroduced all of the summer gear, but little bits and pieces have been exclaimed over like long-lost friends. "I remember this shirt!!! Are those my pajamas now? Mom, where's my . . .?" (Hopefully the latter didn't go out with last year's downsizing, lol!)

No Test Drive Required

You've seen our adventures in vehicle shopping, since the a/c went bye-bye on the original Kia. You've seen our line-up of test driven vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and colors. But now, what do your wondering eyes reveal? The newest member of the family fleet--Celia, Sea-lia? 'Cuz it's blue. We're still working on a name, ha!

I know it doesn't look blue in this picture, but that was one big deciding factor for me. I've seen this color in the brochures, but never in person. I'd decided to settle for used with low mileage. I'd even considered--burgundy. In fact, it was a used burgundy model that led us to the same place we began with Kia . . . all those years ago.

It was spring of '05, I was expecting our third child while carrying the second in the infant car seat, as the three-year-old first-born ran in circles around the lot. Lol! I won't go that historic, but that's kind of what happened. We had that big, old beautiful truck that we'd leased--and then regretted leasing. We couldn't afford it, and we couldn't get rid of it . . . until Kia stepped in and said, "We have this modern-day covered wagon for you; if you take it (since next year we're going to trick these things out with all kinds of sweet features), we will buy out your lease and send you away in a Brand, NEw, CAR!!" It might have been Bob Barker, I can't remember for sure ;)

For 12 years, we've driven Bessie, here--there--and pretty much everywhere. We've dented her with bicycle handles, crunched her plastic interior with a load of lumber, melted crayons on her seats, stuck stickers to her windows, destroyed her carpets (thrown away her rugs), moved appliances and furniture--with the entire family in tow, but she kept right on running for us (well, until the whole a/c thing, but we'll consider that a temporary concern, since we don't have to concern ourselves with it until we want to now :) I've changed diapers in the back, packed picnics in the front. I've nursed babies while sitting in a child-sized car seat (I can't remember why, but I remember I did :) We've driven it to CA, AZ, NYC, MN, TX, OK, GA, NC, SC, TN, Chicago, the moon . . . seriously, I bet half the 50 states we've driven to or through in this vehicle! It's amazing to think of it--four car seats for years!!! Rotten bottles under the seats, ice cream cones melted into backseat consoles, a GPS that disappeared for nearly a year only to reappear under the passenger seat in plain view. Christmas trees on top, guitar stacks and karate bags in the back, house plants in the front seat when we moved to a new house--but still the Kia came with us. Whew! A lot memories in this beat up, stinky old van :)

Just look at that historic dashboard--no touch screen, no digital delights, no cooling glove compartment to store drinks. We were excited to have a c.d. player and remote entry on our key fobs! My brothers would climb in and not know how to close the doors--because you have to do it yourself! Well, not anymore, my young fellows! You can now push buttons and secure yourselves for a ride, lol ;)

The new dashboard--alight with wonders! I can have text messages read to me aloud. I can answer them back! (Well, kind of . . . I kept saying, "MORE" for more pre-programmed replies, and it kept saying, "Okay, four. Sending, 'LOL' to 'Mom home.'" Noooooo!!!! :) Heated/power adjusting seats, digital information on the amount of gas remaining in the tank and how many miles I can drive before becoming stranded! Not to mention . . . I can have my van tell my phone where it parked, and it will send me a message to help me find it. I mean . . . welcome to the new world of vehicle marvels! :) I'm digging all these new gadgets, even though in general I am anti new gadgets! Oh, and my mirrors fold in with a button push, yup, no rolling down windows and stretching across seats. Oh, and the doors lock automatically! (I can't tell you how many times I've felt bad remembering to lock, because in this town--I lock, at a stop light with questionable people waiting--innocently, I'm sure--to cross the road).

Eight passenger van, yes, sir! With a removable 8th seat for easy dog walking access. Window shades that drop down in the back. Remote start (what?!) Look at all that stow-and-go space!

You might even lose a kid back there! :)

We didn't test drive this vehicle. I simply vetoed the burgundy and said, "Show me any year you have in blue." He had a 2016, told us about a $6,000 decrease for a three-year lease to buy option, and I said, "Okay, we can look at the numbers." In no time, he was back with what we were paying on Buck's car (a little less actually) before it was paid off, and the three-year buy out was less than all the used versions we'd been looking at--we can save that up and pay it off (at least that's the plan :) PLUS--my favorite thing--we have the original 5-year, 60,000 mile/10-year, 100,000 mile warranty that we so enjoyed about our last Kia. (Did I mention the marshmallow, surround air bags, because I'm pretty stoked about those too?!)

It was so easy and relaxed. The sales guy grew up in the same area I did. His family bought the acreage of the veterinarian that lived in my tiny town of 300 people. (I don't know if I was ever a patient, but I do know that because of our little town's remote location, Doc S sometimes got to see the humans in his home-practice location :)

During the wait, Buck's coworkers were texting him, and he told them he couldn't reply because he finally had me in a car sales office and he wasn't going to let anything interrupt the process. They immediately texted back cheering! (I guess this car buying thing has been a topic of discussion for some while . . . :)

I know it took me a long time, but here's the benefit in that. I was willing to compromise. Before, I wanted all the bells and whistles (remote trunk open/close, built in navigation), but it was too much money (unless we gave up all the kids' extracurricular activities :) I was willing to "settle" for used with all the perks. Then God gave us brand new, with a few less perks, but everything we needed. And the story-teller in me loves that it came back full circle to (the dealership) where we started our family travels--back to the beginning to continue the tale . . . with Cealia . . . ooh, that may be the winner!

Family Time

Doctors have this pesky habit of wanting to see their patients every so often (I know, right?) I put it off as long as I could, and then the office delayed the appointment some more . . . and it landed on a great weekend for family events!

This is an aside, but how unique is being a woman? You get to hug the doctor who delivered two of your children while wearing a paper gown. You get to balance a clipboard full of paperwork on that same pink paper gown and shake your head as the window washers thump and scrub the windows outside of your designated room. Yes, there are unique experiences to be had as a woman, lol! (Thank goodness the window washers weren't on scaffolding!)

Initially I was concerned the new appointment date might not have been keyed into their computer, because I didn't get any of the usual barrage of text, call, and email reminders that doctors' offices normally throw at a person. However, they sped me through the process and I was back to my parents' house in time for lunch.

And in time to go swap the boys birth certificates at the Public Health Department. Another, fairly easy process. It took a couple of hours, but this gave Buck a chance to tour a remodel he'd heard about and for us to scour another Trader Joe's for the coconut sticks that seem to be sold out everywhere (sad face). These really aren't very interesting details, so I'll move on, lol!

My dad was back from CA and along with my mom and brothers and our whole family--we surprised my little niece at her spring concert! She helped sing a super fun medley of rock and roll songs . . . and Miss G had a solo! She sang the Beach Boys song that Buck and I used to live in (all those beach names, Surfin' U.S.A.). She's wearing a dress that Caelan wore for Easter when she was this age (aww!) And G's music teacher was amazing! That gal wanted her kids to dance--and she showed them how, no doubt about it! She as entertaining as the concert, whether she knew it or not :)

We also had a little mini birthday party for my nephew, right there in the church aisle. C made him a custom Winter Blooms hat in his school colors--with pom-pom :) I'm told he loves it!

Next day, my dad took us to lunch at the HuHot--yummy! He and mom offered to take the kids to ice cream and back to their house so Buck and I could continue our vehicle search--with no intent to purchase til the fall, mind you. It was a beautiful, sunny day as we wondered the lots of four different dealerships (I got sunburnt). Somehow, we migrated to the place where it all began--12 years ago . . . I'll get to that story later :)

That evening, we had important business to attend--my nephew's puppet troupe, puppet show! Again, we packed the place (well, along with a gigantic crowd--they had only put out chairs for maybe a third of the number of people who showed up . . . as we walked in, they started getting out more chairs :) The girls and all the little ones went to sit with Maga on one side of the room, dad stood in the back, my boys sat on the floor in front with us, the three big boys stood "Like MEN" against the wall next to us, and we sat next to my sis and her hubby.




The lights went out and the puppets came on . . . the black light scenes were super cool, the stage was hugenormous! And there were sooooo many puppeteers who appeared afterwards--I had no idea it was such an extensive production. My favorite part was the Goliath scene--head run by my nephew himself. When the stone struck the giant, A gave the head a shake and a twirl and it just fell off backwards, ha! Perfect :)

It was super special for our kids to get to see their cousins doing the things that they love to do, while using the talents God has given them. And it was fun to see all of the kids together supporting each others' endeavors. Can't wait til we have a new little one to join the fun this summer (and by we, I don't mean we, I mean they, who are having a baby to join the we of the family in general. Didn't want any misunderstandings after the opening subject matter of this blog post, hee hee :)

Karate Krew

Wow, I feel like this tournament happened months ago :) Our weeks have been so busy with everyday busyness plus special events that I can hardly remember one thing to the next! But for posterity, I will record what I recall of the karate tournament event of the year--or more specifically our only karate tournament of the year :) In fact, their first non-in house tournament as black belts, and the last of the competition year.

We thought this would be an easy one--staging was lined up for 1, 1:30, and 2 . . . we arrived at noon to give that ever so imaginative "hour early" leeway. Yeah right, lol! The kids quickly got bored after learning competition was already at least two hours behind. As soon as the announcer started asking for first degrees and up, they scattered around the gym to do score keeping, time keeping, score recording, whatever and wherever they could! Often, they ended up with instructors from our karate school, which made me feel like they were less scattered. Plus, once they locked into a mat, they were there for a loooooong time!

I think around 3:30 in the afternoon they finally called Graysen to stage. He was super excited! We got to see almost all of his completion before Gabby and Brennen were called to staging. That made it a little less hectic. G got a little turned-around in his form, and didn't place. He and B were actually surprised that they had to perform the black belt form--they thought they were doing the black belt weapons form. So, up until the week of the tournament, they really hadn't gone over the black belt form since before our break in December. And it is long! He wasn't too bummed, but a little.

His sparring matches went better. He advanced to the championship round, then got paired against a state champ kid a head taller and 15 lbs. heavier. G held his own, til the kid kicked him in the head (and subsequently onto the mat) after "break" had been called. The kid pretty much won everything. Graysen said, "He was really bragging about it, mom." Well, that happens.

But G$ received a second place medal and immediately after pictures ran over to have it signed by the Grand Master. Now, my ATA history is a little shaky, but I think he is maybe the founder of ATA in America? Or he is the highest ranked in America? I know his picture is on the first page of every ATA magazine we receive, in full regalia, and fancy golden staff. In real life, he's not a very large man, but he was very kind and friendly. I couldn't have sat there signing belts and medals and bobble-head me's all day like he did without getting a little edge to my conversations. But, he was just as nice to Caelan when she finished at like 7 p.m. as he was to Graysen so many hours earlier.


I told this story on FB, but since J is not on FB . . . there was a signing table and those movie theater line dividers in front of it. G looked at them and at me, and said, "Does it cost money to get these signed?" I told him, "Nope, for sure." And the first thing the Grand Master said as we walked up, "Whew! This is a lot of signing. I should start charging for these. Will you pay me?" Graysen said, "How much?" GM said, "$100." And Graysen's eyes got big, ha! "Do you still want me to sign?" GM asked. Graysen shook his head, "No," and both men at the table started laughing. GM told me, "You have an awesome son, and he looks like you." He was also determined to shake each parent's hand and thank us for bringing our kids to ATA. Pretty cool!

So as I'm in line with G, Gabby and Brennen get called for staging. I handed them their competition slips as they ran by and Buck made sure the kids got to the right places. Things get a little more challenging when two are in rings, but they were pretty close to each other so that worked out well! Gabby's form looked really nice to me! She didn't get too far in sparring, but I told her it was probably a good thing. The EMT ended up working on three different girls in her ring--one into an arm sling, another on crutches! I think she got out at just the right time :)

Each participant is awarded a medal, even if they don't place (it's called a spirit award). She and several other girls received these--only she didn't! They posed for pictures and she was the only one without her medal. She looked at me all teary-eyed, but accepting. Another competitor she'd made friends with noticed right away and said, "Why don't you have a medal, hey, Gabby needs her medal!" The judges felt so bad! But, she got her medal and also got it signed by GM.


Whew, now B is in the ring. His form looks super sharp! So sharp--he's tied for second. They did a form-off (he almost always ends up doing a form-off :) and because of one wrong turn, he got third--but it was a rad looking third, for sure! His sparring didn't go very far either. He was pretty frustrated/sad. He was called for the very first match, while I think eight others in his group had byes (buys?). He's never seen black belt competition before in his age category, so he wanted to get a feel for it first--well, he didn't have that option. It is a long wait when you're down the first match and everyone else has to spar, then combat spar, then weapons form . . . one kid and his dad from our karate school just went home! They didn't wait for medals or anything (but the judges gave it to me to give to him).

(G$ is in the pic because he was scorekeeper and medal presenter :)

By the time Brennen's pictures and awards were happening, Caelan was called and put in a ring. At the same time, Buck ordered dinner for us (we genuinely thought we'd be home by 5 and had dinner plans at home, but--nope!) That was  busy few minutes again . . . picture of Brennen, visit with GM with Brennen, Buck out to get sandwiches at the door, Caelan starting her form, Gabby and G$ volunteering for rings again--whew!

Red helmet is Caelan

Caelan actually had girls in her age range with approximately her degree for the first time ever! They did have to combine first and second degrees to get a big enough group, which made the competition even tougher. She didn't place in forms this time, but kicked a girl in the face for a third place finish in sparring :)

Presenting . . . Strider!

Here's the new guy :) He's a Syrian hamster (which I guess means super furry and bites like a maniac!) We've had him since about two days after Gandalf left our presence. He's not super friendly just yet, this Strider. Although, Buck has been holding him at night and we think the biting is kind of how he moves around, because he'll leave spit marks on the jacket or sweatshirt Buck holds him in--like he's rearranging the folds.

Unfortunately, he mistook Caelan's finger for a stick yesterday. I was in the bathroom for less than a minute and I came out to find her sobbing and bleeding in the upstairs bathroom. I guess he sank those four viciously sharp teeth into her pinkie and wouldn't let go! Brennen thumped him on the head with a toilet paper roll (a toy we put in the hamster's cage) and that got Strider to release his grip.

Her poor finger is bruised and swollen with bloody pinpricks all around the nail bed. She said she could feel his teeth hit her bone . . . I don't know if that's possible, but if so, ew!! Poor girl! She was so sad because she's been trying to be so sweet to Strider. She said through tears, "I take care of him; I keep him alive! Why would he hurt me? I miss Gandalf!"

Big lesson in love there! I told her he's like a baby that cries--not to hurt you or make you angry or demand of your time, but because he doesn't know any better. He didn't mean to hurt you; he has no idea that he did. You have to keep caring for him anyway, until he learns not to bite. And unfortunately, the only way to teach him that is to keep holding him--rough!

I taped her fingers for karate, but schoolwork was a challenge. She was glad she could still knit, but it doesn't look great that little mangled finger. I told her it's like she caught it in a car door--a car door with tiny spikes. Not fun!

But this is fun . . . Graysen built a play maze for the critters to enjoy! Okay, the hedgehog, he didn't enjoy it so much. I think he's too fat, lol! He couldn't make some of the turns, and pretty much just wanted to sit in the corner and nap :)