Moving on...

I've always kept a big box fan in the hallway between my kids' bedrooms upstairs.  It is so loud that it blocks out just about any other noise in the house.  My kids have gotten used to the sound and it lulls them to sleep.   When they were babies it, more importantly, KEPT them asleep.

Yesterday was our last day in our "dream" house.  One of the last things I packed and sent to storage was the box fan.  It hurt a little.  Almost as if I was packing away all the memories of bedtime stories and babies napping.  Then night came.  Around 1 a.m. I headed to my room to find all four of my sweet babies sound asleep on my floor in their sleeping bags.  My heart ached.  I remembered the first night we slept in that new, big house.  It had taken Craig 1 1/2 years to build it.  He'd slept there most nights on a cot and worked day and night.  That was going to be our forever house.  We were so excited to move in that the first night we didn't even have beds.  It was just Craig, Lizzie, Gracie and I, 7 months pregnant with the twins, on the floor in our sleeping bags.  I don't think I slept more than 20 minutes that night.  But it was the silence that I remember most.  Dead. Quiet.  As my little family slept around me.

Last night was the same.  I lay there in the stillness and listened to each of them breathing.  It was so clear.  So peaceful.  I realized for the first time that the huge box fan, while serving a great purpose, had also kept me from "hearing" my kids as they slept each night.  Their sighs, their snores, their whispering dreams.

As much as I loved that beautiful house and living there, I think that it has been a huge box fan in my life for the past 5 years.  I've been so consumed with trying to keep it and the yard clean and tidy and decorated...while Craig has been overwhelmed with trying to make up for the huge hit his business took with the fall of the economy as well as doing whatever it took to pay for that big house with its big mortgage.   We'd finally had enough of that noise in our life.  It had become necessary, on many levels, to sell.

This morning we rolled up our sleeping bags.  We took one last walk through the house with the kids.  We stopped in each room sharing memories that we'd had there.  We cried and cried.  I will always love that house.  I hope I will not always feel the empty hole for it that I feel right now.  I will add this experience to my little book of "hard- things- in- life- that- I- wish -I -didn't- have- to -experience -but -know -that -I- will- learn -a- tremendous- amount- from."

Yogurt for a Cure!!...Monday, May 9th (all day)

I'm sure many of you know that I have an 8 year old daughter with Cystic Fibrosis.  We are so confident that a cure will be found and we are doing all that we can to help that happen!!  Will you join us?  Tomorrow from open to close 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.  they will donate 20 % of all purchases to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  Just be sure to mention CF...Please come and tell your friends and neighbors.  I'll see you there!

Little notes

I love the little notes I find around the house written by my children.  Of all the things I know I will miss about them, I think the notes and pictures will be missed the most.  Here is one I found on the bathroom door one Sunday.

p.s. The funny thing about it is that Lizzie didn't write it.  Gracie did and signed Lizzie's name. 



Found on the bathroom door by the garage on Sunday, April 17th, 2011

 

Easy like a Sunday Morning

I love Sundays.  We have the perfect church time: 11:00. Sleep in, come home with a lot of afternoon time left to enjoy.  I'm sure our Sundays are not much different than other families with young children but I did some observing today and wanted to record my musings for a day when my children were all grown and not so crudely amusing. 

Before church was pretty uneventful.  Got ready and left about 15 minutes late...as usual.  When we got home Hallie dropped her animal crackers on the floor of the garage and wailed forever about it.  We all got inside the house and I announced I would be making nachos for lunch.  Everyone was happy.  I made the nachos and suddenly 2 of my children had changed their minds.  I put a big dollop of sour cream on top of everyone's nachos thinking this would get them excited.  The first to try them was Lizzie.  She made a disgusting face and yelled, "This sour cream is rotten."  It was all over for the nachos after that.  Nobody wanted them anymore. 

Hallie followed me for most of the afternoon, attatched to my thigh.  Whining, whining, whining. 

I went to the fridge to see what else I could bring out.  I bent down to look in the meat compartment when CJ came up behind the fridge door and slammed it on me as hard as he could.  Awesome.

Hallie let go of my thigh for a few minutes and I heard her from upstairs, "Somebody diarrhead in the potty and its going to get on the floor."  I yelled back that her dad would be up to check it out.  He shot me a glance like, "Thanks a lot." 

We finally got the kids fed and sent them down to the basement to watch a movie while we took our Sunday nap.   Aren't Sunday naps the best?  I'm not sure why they are so much better than slipping in a nap on a Wed. or Sat.  but they are for some reason.  Before we knew it all four kids were back in the bed with us watching a re-run of Chuck.  I told Craig that I really didn't want to make Sunday dinner.  He agreed so instead we had milkshakes for dinner.  It was the best dinner I've made in a long time. 

After "dinner" we played Chutes and Ladders (Gracie, Hallie, CJ and myself) while Craig and Lizzie played Monopoly.  Hallie cried every time someone got ahead of her and wailed when Gracie won.  *Note to self:  Need to start teaching good sportsmanship to Hallie.

All in all, today was my perfect day.  All my favorite little people around me.  My sweet husband that loves me despite my rotten sour cream and milkshake dinners and I can hear him doing 2 days worth of dishes as I am typing.  I heart him sooooo much. 

Life is oh, so good.