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This was just a lot fun...

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The sultry days of summer were sliding along when we were suddenly slammed with a cold front. The morning promised a heat shattering afternoon, so Tanner got up early and mowed the lawn. Even with the self-propelled mower, it is still very hot work.

The grass grows in spurts in Texas. You can cut it down to 2 inches, and it will gleefully hibernate at that height until the next rain storm. The minute it rains, you can see the grass wake up and decide that now would be a great time to have a growth spurt. In a few short days the grass will double in length, and then it will double again. Pretty soon, you've got the redneck yard with grass waving above the heads of your kids. It buries the bicycles, canvasses the swing set and mists the front door.

Well, our lawn hadn't been mowed for over a week. It took an hour and a half, and those of you that have seen our yard know that it isn't huge. I mean, it's a nice sized yard, but not something that requires anywhere near an hour and a half of mowing. We geared up for a hot day. I got out the bathing suits, sunscreen and beach towels for Tanner so that he could take the girls to the splash park. I packed a light lunch, bottled water and iced coffee.

By the time lunch rolled around, the temperature had dropped, rain was misting the windows and I was longing for a HOT cup of coffee. I consoled myself with the fact that I had worn trousers to work so at least I wasn't miserably cold. Oh, perhaps a definition for my cold-weather friends: miserably cold is anything under 70 degrees. I think Tanner and I have known each other way to long. Just as I was about to take a quick 15 minute break to dash to Starbucks, he waltzed in with a cappuccino.

So, I made it through my first shift and shivered my way out into the open air. I expected to find it warm and worthy of defrosting my frozen limbs. Instead it was wet. Warmer than the wet in Portland, but it was still wet. I drove home and frowned in disgust that I had to turn on the windshield wipers. Of course coming home did wonders for my mood. I got the pleasure of watching my girls, in sun dresses, splash and play in the rain with their umbrellas. I watched Georgie toddle around outside in a diaper in rain boots. Reagan came running inside. She caught her breath when she saw me and then shouted, "Mommy! You're home! We're hungry!"

A couple of peanut butter sandwiches later, I sat out on the porch letting the cool breezes shimmer around my shoulders when Kate found a pink hair clip and asked me to put it into her hair. It's one of those puffy things. When she wears it she looks so grown up and she knows it. All day today she has been acting very mature.

Reagan and Georgie are playing tag. They should be in bed, but after an afternoon of puddle hopping, they both fell into a stupor and slept for almost 3 hours. Tanner finally shook them awake at 5:30 so that they could eat dinner. I've tried to calm them down. I've read them stories, sung Christmas carols and listened to classic hymns. They are awake and promise to be for a little while longer. I think I'll try warm milk next...

The odd things...

It's strange how a little rain, a little wind, a little thunder can make thankful for the tiny things in life. You know, the things we don't even think about thinking about. Like not being soaked through to the skin. Like not worrying about all the bugs seeking shelter in your shadow. Like not gagging at underarm odor or having diapers or trash service.

I leave out the clean water idea because we seem to have been overwhelmed with clean water movements lately. But really, can you imagine life without trash service. The little storm that swept through here would have been a very icky storm if the trash guys hadn't done their job.

Of course, I appreciate electricity already. We've all gone through snippets of time when our power has flashed off, and suddenly we are faced with the stark reality that we have perishables in the fridge, and then we move to wondering what we will have to do if the perishable melt. Most of us don't go on to wondering what stench will start to hang over the neighborhoods as all the food in the grocery stores and conenience stores start to rot. Yucky thought.

And air conditioning. Tomorrow, I will be sitting outside at a festival all day long, entertaining kids with snow and frostbite and games. I'm wondering how to endure the heat. I wonder how so many people before us managed to endure this kind of heat without air conditioning or mosquito repellent or sunscreen. At leat, I console myself that if I get too hot, I can always go sit in the car with the AC running for a while.

And pools. The kids splashed and played in the pool tonight. I take learning how to swim for granted, but what if you've never seen a body of water any bigger than a bucket?

And then I wonder what I ever find to complain or worry about. I list them and laugh: I'll be late for church (as I'm DRIVING in my AIR CONDITIONED CAR!), it's TOO cold at work, the kids made a mess with ALL their toys, I have TOO much laundry to do!

Luckily for me, I've found my favorite thinking spot, and I've been thinking and thinking and thinking. I feel like Christopher Robin is patting me on the head saying, "Silly old Bear."

Play Dough

It is really too hot for the kids to play outside. If I had time to take them swimming, then that's where we would go, but I don't. I have to go back to work, and their friends from across the street have come over to play, and Georgie is asleep.

What to do? I like it best when they do projects. I like their play to productive, instructive and fun. Not something that I always achieve, but today, I really wanted to achieve it. So we all gathered around the stove, and I taught them how to make play dough.

You should have seen their incredulous stares when I started with 1/2 cu. salt. Then I added 1/4 cu water and a glutenous mass of salty, ickyness emerged. They stirred and stirred as they waited for the mixture to heat up. Then we added 1/2 cu of cornstarch, and they all said, "ew!" We stirred some more. Added some food coloring and presto! I felt like a magician. They thought I was the most amazing person in the whole wide world! We kneaded and pressed and cajoled the color to work its way through the dough, and then they marched out to the living room to play chef, artist, sculptor.

The Tooth Fairy

Last Friday, Katie woke me up early in the morning with an excited giggle. "Mommy," she whispered. "Guess what? Guess what? My tooth is LOOSE."

She had a tough year at school because she was the ONLY kid in her class that didn't loose a tooth! All of her "best" friends had lost teeth, but hers had stubbornly refused to even hint at wiggling. She was devastated.

I rolled over to face her, and said, "That's so exciting. Maybe the tooth fairy will visit you!"
She rolled her eyes and said, "Mommy, you are the tooth fairy. I already know that." Then she proceeded to tell me that her friends at school think that Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy are real, and when she explained to them that it was just their mommy and daddy, they looked at her and said, "you don't believe in anything!"

Well, I let the whole thing slide. I didn't mention the conversation again, and just waited for her tooth to fall out. It wiggled and jiggled and bled a little, and then...on Monday afternoon as we drove home from our second blueberry picking trip, she shouted, "it came out!"

She was so excited. She declared that she hoped the "Hawaiian" Tooth Fairy would visit her. I frowned. Huh? Yes, the Hawaiian Tooth Fairy might come because she had some Hawaiian in her, and Hawaiian tooth fairies leave money AND candy!

I told her that the Hawaiian Tooth Fairy might not know to come because she had just a little bit of Hawaiian in her, and in fact the Norwegian Tooth Fairy would probably come. She asked me what the Norwegian Tooth Fairy was like, and I said, "well, the Norwegian Tooth Fairy just takes your tooth and doesn't leave anything." Talk about a downer! Now, before you all start shaking your heads and thinking that I was being a mean mommy, you have to remember that I'd been thinking about this whole tooth fairy thing for an ENTIRE week. I did let her ponder the idea of a Norwegian tooth fairy for a few seconds, and then I said, "perhaps the America Boy or America Girl Tooth Fairy will visit you."

Of course, she asked me about them, and I explained that the American Boy and American Girl Tooth Fairies were the best tooth fairies out there because the left candy or gum AND they left dollar bills. I told her it was great if one of them came, but if a child had been especially helpful and good then sometimes they would BOTH come and then they would leave DOUBLE candy and DOUBLE money.

Now, here I thought she would get so excited and happy, but instead she burst into tears. A little perplexed, I asked her why she was crying, and she wailed, "I haven't been very good!" Interesting, I thought, so I asked her to explain. She said, "I've been lying!" About what? "About hitting Georgie!" I almost burst into laughter. Managed to control the urge, and explained to her that I already knew about that, and that I'm pretty sure the tooth fairies knew about it, but that we also understand how very annoying a little sister can be.

So, when Kate was 2, Joanelle gave me a little tooth fairy box, that I saved and nurtured and made sure it traveled safely all the way down to Texas. So, we filled out the little certificate with a tooth fair summoning pen that sparkled and wrote in golden ink. Then we put the tooth on its satin pillow and tucked it underneath Kate's pillow. The kids climbed into bed and I left the room. I heard Kate say, "Dear Jesus, please, don't let the Norwegian Tooth Fairy come. Please, send the Hawaiian tooth fairy or the American tooth fairies. Amen."

When she woke up the next morning I heard her shout, "Mommy! The tooth fairy came!" and then there was a little silence before she shouted, "I think a LOT of them came!" Lo, and behold the Hawaiian tooth fairy had left a snicker bar and some money. The American Boy Tooth Fairy had left Bubblegum, Junior Mints and some money. And the American Girl Tooth Fairy had left a MONSTER chocolate bar, money and lip gloss. All of them left little notes, written in golden ink to tell her what a nice, helpful little girl she was. Kate giggled and said, "I don't think the Norwegian Tooth Fairy came!" Then she opened her tooth box and out fell a note that said, "I took your tooth. Thanks. Norwegian Tooth Fairy. P.S. You have a lot more teeth to loose, so I'm saving your money for later."

Awards Day at School

Well, Kate had an awards day for Kindergarten. Imagine a room filled with 100 kids under the age of 9 all squirming and squiggling and craning their necks to see if mom and dad had arrived yet. We are lucky that Kate goes to a school where there is heavy parental involvement. Even then, there were kids who received their awards all alone.

It's funny, but having a job has made me just a little more compassionate towards these families. There have been so many things that I've had to miss since starting to work. I'm used to being able to say, sure, I'll do that or yes, I'll be there.

Kate got the Super Reader Award. Now, I know she's been doing very well at reading, but I didn't realize how well, until my mom came to visit. Everyone kept telling me that Emma was learning how to read or Jared was learning how to read, so I assumed they meant just like Kate. I mean, she reads books. Real books. Not things like, "pat. hat. pat sat on hat." That's way below her. She's reading nursery rhymes, the Narnia books things like that. Anyway, when my mom came, she promptly informed me that Kate was reading really well for her age. So, I'm kind of glad to hear that because Tanner and I spend a lot of time reading with her, and it is good to know that perhaps our efforts helped her just a little.

I think my Grandma Durrant would have been very pleased to know that all of the books she sent us for Christmas and birthdays are scattered over the house because Kate reads them to Reagan or Georgianna. Okay, maybe she wouldn't be happy about the scatter part, but the whole reading thing, that would've tickled her pink.