Happiness is...

Storm clouds rolled in during the night, so we woke up to gray, looming clouds.  Of course, they didn't really effect the temperature, so it felt like a humid tropical night except the day was just beginning.  I love this type of weather when my skin just soaks up all of the moisture and revels in the fact that wind and sun aren't drying out its surface.  It's during this time of year that chapped lips, runny noses and fuzzy socks are put away for the year and sunscreen, golden skin and beach towels become the new normal. Weather in the Brazos Valley can change on a dime, so after a furious down pour complete with claps of lightning and rolls of thunder, the sun asserted it's power and the clouds rumbled away.  Blue skies smiled down on us, and the rain became a swift, distant memory.

Hmm...just had to go over the sentence about three times to fix all of the grammar.  I'm still not convinced that I got it right.  Oh, well...that's why I'm not an editor.

I treated myself to a solitary lunch in a corner of Barnes and Noble and finished reading,  Journey to the Center of the Earth.  I was surprised that it was my first Jules Verne that I had managed to read all the way through.  Considering that I like reading H.G. Wells and cult-sci-fi like Ender's Game, this is truly remarkable. I guess I'll have to remedy that a little more thoroughly.

Reagan had her very first dance lesson today.  We decided that it was time she got to do some extra-curricular activities.  I think by the time Kate was that age, she had already had soccer lessons, ice skating lessons, voice lessons, dance lessons and Chinese lessons.  Oh, and we'd tried violin lessons, but that didn't work out so well.    I'm pretty sure these lessons are way over due.

Reagan was absolutely ecstatic when I picked her up from dance.  She talked about Sashay's and leaps and showed me all of the great stretches that she had learned.  She was radiant.  I think that's what I like best about her.  Nothing is ever just a normal happening.  Even when you ask her about her day...her eyebrows go up, her eyes look off to the right and she gushes, "It was amazing, Mom!  We went outside, and I went down the slide!"  Her head will nodded up and down vigorously.  "AND I went UP the slide, too!  It was sooo kewl!"  And yes, she says "kewl"  gotta get that southern accent in there somehow!

After lessons I took the girls to Red Mango for frozen yogurt, are as Georgianna calls it, "ice cream factory!"  They had rock candies, gummy worms, those red, squishy balls that spurt juice in your mouth when you chomp on them and Mochi for toppings.  I think Mom was the hero for about 1/2 an hour or at least until we got home and I made them put their shoes away!

This week has been a little tougher without Tanner.  The girls aren't weepy anymore, but I can tell that they're just a bit frustrated that Daddy isn't here.  They fight more and seem to be little short tempered with each other.  Georgi just can't understand why Daddy won't pick her up when he calls, and of course it's hard for them to "share" the skype time, so they squabble over that as well.

On the other hand, they pulled together today and vacuumed the  house, dusted, swept, mopped, did a load of laundry and cleaned the kitchen while I was at work!  Amazing little girls.  I think I might read them the story of Little Women because that's what they are right now.

We made it through the pinch period!  Tanner will be able to drive home to visit us for the weekend.  We are very thankful and glad that God used this time to show us how to live humbly and to trust Him.  It enlarges our hearts and teaches us compassion for those in even greater need.  He is even faithful to show us how to help others during our own time of need, so that we aren't consumed with self-pity.  He surrounds us with the beauty of His creation, the peace of His power and the joy of His love.

Long days and nights

Tuesdays are long days for our little family.  I start work at 8:00am, finish at 5:00pm, start teaching at 5:30, finish at 8:00pm.  The girls are showing amazing fortitude on days like this.  They keep the front room picked up, wash the dishes, sweep the floors and generally keep the squabbling down until the last student leaves.

I try to treat them with some fun mommy time right before bedtime.  Sometimes we watch corny musicals while munching chocolate chip cookies.  Sometimes we skype with Tutu or with Daddy.  Sometimes we karaoke at the top of our lungs.  Whatever we do, it's fun and keeps them going for the next day.

Things are cooling off a bit here.  We're suppose to be in the low 80's for the weekend.  I'm thinking...blueberry picking time...or maybe blackberry picking!  If we go, pictures, pictures, pictures!

saying goodbye, again.

Even though it is hard to say goodbye for a whole week, I am glad that it is only for a week.  Today, I think of all the wives and mothers and children that have to say goodbye to their soldiers for months, years and sometimes for a lifetime.  It makes my goodbye a little less bittersweet.

After such a tough couple of years, this internship is such a welcome break.  Is it odd that we find the goodbyes, long weeks and short weekends far less stressful on our family than a semester at school?  Tanner remarked that he has seen his family far more in the last week than he would during a month of school, and I agree.  We've had time to play cards with the girls, go to the park, take walks and splash in the pool.  We've had time to do projects around the house together rather than one person doing part, leaving it to go to work or to study, and then the other person picking it up and finishing it (if we were that lucky).  It feels so strange to have the time to watch a movie together after the kids are put to bed or to have a cup of coffee with each other.  There actually came a point this weekend where we didn't really feel the need to grab a few minutes of alone time.

I hadn't realized what a hardship school has been until this last week.  We're so use to an almost overwhelming work load.  Tanner mentioned it this afternoon before leaving that if we'd known just how hard the number three engineering school in the nation was gonna be, we might have been too scared to try.  Like the song Garth Brooks sings (I'm sorry for the country reference, peeps, but I am in Texas), "I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end, the way it all would go...I would have missed the dance."  I guess if you're a school and you're competing with MIT (number 1) and Sanford (number 2), you've gotta have a tough curriculum, but Tanner has been talking to other interns this last week, and he has realized just how much more challenging the curriculum is at A&M than at other schools.

One story he had from work was from a safety meeting.  The instructor was explaining some material, and both Tanner and another school-mate from Texas A&M both knew the answers to almost every question while interns from other schools had absolutely know idea what was being discussed.  The instructor actually went so far as to say that he "loved it when we get interns from A&M.  No training needed."

Not that we are on the homestretch for school.  Tanner still has to make it through materials and kinetics which are two major hurdles for many engineers.  We've heard that a lot of students save kinetics for the last semester, after they've received their job offers so that they only have to make a "C".  All I can do is shudder.  I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to that course, and I don't even have to take it!

So, how are the girls doing?  Well, I numbed the parting of Daddy with movie night and chocolate chip cookie baking time.  That seemed to do the trick.  My goal is to give them little distractions even though I know that their hearts are sad.  They're looking forward to their "babysitter" coming tomorrow, and then there is choir on Wednesday, the pool on Thursday and Friday, and then hopefully, Daddy will come home! I say hopefully because we're not sure that his paycheck will come in time for him to get gas!  I told him if that happened then I would drive the girls down Friday evening.  I'm trying not to because we have to be back Sunday afternoon for a Girl Scout meeting which is mandatory for Kate to attend camp the following week.  It would mean a shortened visit, but a short visit is better than no visit.  We'll see how it goes, I guess.

brrrrr...it's cold!

For all my friends in the lovely, lush, green valley called the Willamette, I want to warn you that my children would never survive a summer there.  I think our lowest temperature this week has been 82, and that's during the coldest part of night.  Summer is creeping steadily closer, and I can feel the anxious anticipation for the days when the air conditioner is never turned off and popsicles melt if you are foolish enough to think that you can transport them safely home in the middle of the afternoon.

Last fall when popsicles went on sale I bought over 40 boxes or about 480 popsicles.  I am down to my last 2 boxes and summer hasn't even officially started.  But I digress from the main point of this post.

We decided to have a weekend of swimming with the girls.  We wanted to make sure that they were thoroughly reacquainted with the concept of pools and water and life jackets, so at around 6:00pm on Friday we took them to the pool.  (I like to make our motives sound so unselfish, but the real reason for going was because I could barely walk and couldn't stand up straight, and we thought some weightless floating in water would do my back a lot of good.  We were right.)  It was a balmy night: about 86F.  Perfect weather with the sun finally beginning it's evening descent where the rays aren't so harsh and the risk of sunburn is negligible.

The girls splashed and played for about an hour.  They cavorted and floated and did all the things little girls should do at a pool.  And then...they began to shiver.  Yes, a unanimous cry of, "It's cold!" erupted in girlish wails as we hurriedly wrapped them in towels and dried them off.  I felt guilty for making them go into the pool on such a cool evening.  We rushed them into the car and closed the doors so that the stuffy heat could warm them up.  Then as we pulled out of the parking lot, I glanced at the thermometer on the building, thinking that the temperature must have dropped drastically.  It was 85F.

My daughters would not be able to survive a summer in Portland.  What would they do on those lovely 76 degree days with a light wind that are considered "perfect" days?  Would they stare in horror, as I remember doing when I was a child fresh from Hawaii, at the pale skinned people walking around in shorts when it was a mere 70 degrees out?  Would they wonder in mute confusion at the crazy people wearing socks, birkenstocks and sweatshirts?  What about the fact that nobody seems to own a decent umbrella?

I realized, this weekend, that my daughters have no point of reference for the crazy, uniqueness that is Oregon. They will grow up and hear stories about how people dress in the Northwest and give nervous chuckles like all the other Texans do.  They won't yearn for spring skiing wearing only a t-shirt and light weight pants.  They won't know what it is like to go camping in the rain.  They won't understand the difference between a drizzle and a shower.  They'll wonder at the weird quirks in their parents: our penchant for "walking EVERYWHERE", our obsession with bikes and helmets, and our absolute refusal to plant blackberries.  

I wonder what their cousins will think as time goes by and the girls develop even more southern tendencies.  Already my girls say, "yes, ma'am" and "yes, sir".  They know to stand up straight and look their elders in the eye.  They know how to knock a boy down if he gets too rough.  And they dream of having pink cowboy boots, a ranch with at least 3 cows, chickens and sheep.  They have difficulties learning some words, and I've heard Georgianna actually figure out how to say the word with a drawl first and then correct it to match my speech second.  It really comes out in the way she says, "school."  It sounds like "skewel".  It's the same for the words tool, cool and good.

I guess only time will tell.  Until then, we'll fill it up with good times and good fun.

Daddy came driving home last night, hurrah! hurrah!

We made it through another long day without Daddy.  Kate had a party at school.  Georgi and Reagan fell back asleep after their early morning.  The house was actually clean when I got home.  Dinner was partly made.  I felt super lucky.  Plus, Tanner was coming home.  They gave him a 4 day weekend.  Not that we're going to do anything remarkable this weekend.  We're still cash strapped, college students, but it's great to have him home.

We didn't tell the girls that he would be coming home early.  They had cans of cat food that they were using to count the days until Daddy came home and they had TWO left.  I knew Tanner was about 15 minutes from home, so I had them busy doing all sorts of crazy stuff: cleaning the kitchen, vaccuming (even though it had already bee done), sweeping floors.  I didn't want them to hear the car pull into the driveway.  Kate was in the kitchen helping Georgi with the broom when she heard a jiggle on the front door handle.  She glanced up.  Saw Daddy, went back to sweeping.  Then her eyes widened and she said, "Daddy?"  She took a second glance and shouted, "Daddy!  It's Daddy!"  Reagan and Georgi came running into the room and Daddy experienced full body tackles from three girls.

Ah, the delights of daughters with daddy.

And it goes, "Boom!"

In the dark hours of the morning, I groped around for sweats and a t-shirt.  I dressed as silently as possible hoping to give the wee-people a bit more sleep before I rousted them out of bed.  I ran a hairbrush through my hair and snapped it back into a low ponytail.  Brush teeth.  Splash cold water.  Blink.  I finally felt awake.  I woke Kate up first and then Reagan slid out of bed.  Really, she did.  She has slide attached to her bunk, so she slid out of bed.  They both eagerly grabbed blankets, shoes and socks and then huddled near the front door as I got Georgianna out of bed.

Georgi does not like to wake up.  Her usual mode of operation is to fling one arm over so that she rolls on to her tummy, eyes still closed.  Then she fling the other until she has completely rolled out of bed, but managed to not have to wake up.  She ends up lying half on and half off the bed, arms stretched out.  She'll stay that way, too, until you pick her up and carry her to wherever her waiting attire is.

As we opened the front door and loaded into the car, Jonathan stumbled to the front door.  "Where are you going?" he asked in obvious confusion.  "Um it's Thursday," I responded.  He nodded and said, "Oh, yeah," as if I had just clearly explained the matter.  30 seconds later he was hopping into the car with one shoe still in his hand.  The gray of dawn still hadn't touched the sky, but we were up and ready to go.

Those of you who have visited know that Starbucks is just a short hop from our house.  I grabbed a spot and backed the car into it.  Then we all clambered out and made our sleepy way into the store.  A cappuccino, greek yogurt, lemon pound cake, chocolate cake and bacon/gouda sandwich later and we strolled out to the sidewalk running along Texas Ave.  We faced north and waited.  Dawn arrived and we still waited.  More people kept pulling into the parking lot and joined us on the sidewalk.  The white light of morning finally revealed to our eyes the thing we had been searching for -- a gutted out tower about a mile away.

We could have gotten closer, but I didn't want to risk the children.

Firefighters joined us.  Policemen stood in watchful silence on the other side of the street.  A two-way radio crackled, "Two minutes."  People got out their cameras and cell phones.  An eerie silence fell across the thousands of people lining the street.  It was broken by another crackle, "Ten seconds."

And then, a puff of gray smoke shot out of the side of the tower and the magnificent structure began to crumble.  A sound like thunder reverberated across the city as the structure collapsed in on itself and toppled like a jenga tower.  Then we all clambered back into the car and went home.

Another morning, another day

Oh, how I love an early summer, Texan morning.  You wake up blinking in the bright sunlight at around 6:30am.  There's no sleeping late unless you have black out curtains because that big ball of yellow is doing its very best to wish you a cock-a-doodle-do day.  I feel sorry for people staying in hotels during this time of year because they always pull the black out curtains to shut out the early morning, so they miss out on an authentic Texan day.  If you ever come to visit, make sure you reserve at least one day of being awakened by the sun.  There's no stumbling around trying to recover from a bad night of sleep.  It's just, hey!  wake up!, it's moooorrrrning! And you really can't be that perturbed about it because it's that fuzzy, yellow guy up in the sky doing all the waking, and he's real friendly.

That's how this morning was.  No alarm clock, just Mr.Sun.  I opened the doors and windows to let the warm summer air slip through the house.  It wasn't much colder outside than inside, but the outside smells are delicious this time of year.  Practically everything is blooming, wisteria, hibiscus, crepe myrtle, honeysuckle.  The scents perfume the house and prep you for the day.  I'm sure without air conditioning the afternoon would feel oppresive, but that's why I'm glad I live in the 21st century.  I can enjoy the heat and the sun without suffering from it.  I do wonder, in the event of an apocalypse if I would be better of in tropcial climate, but then, Texas is so incredibly beautiful with a largely self-sufficient, we-can-do-this mentality, that I think I'd choose Texas of the Caymans.

Last night I had an evening filled with lessons, so we didn't eat dinner till almost seven.  I let the girl watch Garfield.  I'm not sure why they are so fascinated with that cartoon, but they just love Garfield.  Tanner was busy all evening, so we didn't get to talk to him at all.  He get's this Friday off, so the he'll be coming home early.  The girls don't know, and we're saving it as a surprise for them.  Kate has it in her mind that she'll see Daddy on Saturday.  She'll be pleasantly surprised when Tanner walks in on Thursday evening.

I'm still stunned at having a babysitter/nanny taking care of the girls.  The house was clean AGAIN when I came home.  It makes me sort of wish that I had hired her for every single day of the week.  It's wonderful to come home and not be faced with a couple of hours of house work.  Usually the girls completely wreck the house.  Their toys and food and clothes are everywhere, and it takes me a good hour or two to get it picked up, and then there is all the laundry and vacuuming, dinner and making sure the girls have done their homework and practiced their instruments.  The last few days have been luxurious.  I come home and I can skip all the cleaning part and just launch into dinner, homework and practice.  It's a huge releif.  Unfortunately, she only comes three times a week, so there are the other two days to weather.  This is one of them...I wonder what will greet me at the door.

Tomorrow morning is going to be very exciting.  They are going to implode a building here in College Station!  Whoop!  It's the old Plaza Hotel on the corner of Texas and University.  I think I"ll drag the girls out of bed to watch it.  After all, how often do you get to see a building implode in real time?  Usually I watch them on television, and it's been on my bucket list to watch one in person.  Super excited for the morning, though I'm not looking forward to the traffic once it's all over.  The side streets are going to be crazy since they're closing Texas Ave until 8:00am.  I still haven't figure out how to get Kate to school.

She made me very proud.  She recieved the Class Bookworm Award and the Exceptional Honor Student Award at school.  She has worked so hard this year, and I have been amazed at her progress.  We've got a bit of work to do with arithmetic, but I'm confident she'll get a good grasp of it this summer.

Reagan is still our sunshine.  She is the first to snuggle me when I'm sad.  She's trying to figure out how to tell a joke, and it's hilarious just watching her eyes roll to the side as she tries out a new knock, knock joke.  Unfortunately she gets the punch lines mixed up so she'll say, "knock.." who's there? "orange." orange who?  "knock. knock"  who's there?  "orange."  orange who? knock.  knock" who's there?  "apple"  apple who?  "aren't you glad I said apple?"

Georgi's latest fete in crazy dexterity...believe it or not, nothing.  She seems to have settled down to spinning super fast and out running her sisters.  I'm sure, once summer is in full swing and swimming is part of the norm, we'll have an interesting time of it, but until then, I'm glad for the breather.  She has only cut her hair once this month.  I consider that a huge improvement though she has now taken to cutting paper: every bit and scrap, so if there is something important I have to make sure it is up and out of her reach.

That's the family update so far.  I'm going to have a lovely summer day today.  I might day dream a bit at work since I have a window.  I hope you enjoy yours, whatever the weather, whatever the hour!

One more night...

Continuing the saga from where I left off, work ended smoothly enough.  I gathered my things and headed out the door.  Unfortunately there was no waiting car for me.  I stood around and frowned, wondering...where is Jonathan?  I thought about calling him, but he doesn't have a cell phone.  I pondered for a bit, and then the resourceful me kicked into high gear and I decided to walk home even though it was 95 and I was wearing pants and a t-shirt.  I figured if I could avoid the direct sun as much as possible, then I could make it to Muldoon's Coffee House, grab a cup of ice cold water and an iced latte and then make it up the hill to our houase.

As a side note, Muldoon's makes the best cappuccinos in town.  They taste like the ones you get in Italy in the evening after you've ordered pizza.  Yum.

Anyway, back to the walk.  I made it, as this blog proves.  I walked all the way down Texas Avenue in hopes of seeing a little white van hurtling down the road in justified panic.  No such event occurred.  I crawled into Muldoons and swallowed a copious amount of ice water, and then splurged on an iced latte.  I figured I had earned it.  Then I proceeded to tackle the hot stretch.  The big hill doesn't have any shade, so I knew I'd have to walk 3/4 of a mile in blazing Texan sun.  I was wishing I'd brought my walking hat.  I proceeded in the time honored fashion of all Texans and began to drawl all the way up the hill.  You know, the look...I think of gunslingers.  Kneews slightly bent.  Well paced stride.  Hands loosely clasped.  All the way up the hill, down our street and up the steps into the house.  Where I discovered Jonathan fast asleep, but with dinner made.  Well, I guess that was something, so after making him squirm, I stuck an ice pack on my head as I ate a salad.

I've discovered why people like to hire a nanny for their kids.  No crying.  No bad attitudes.  No strange behavior patterns.  Just your kids waiting for you at home with stories and projects and lots of fun stuff.  I gotta say, I love it.  Not as much as I love staying home with them, but love in sense that I am thankful God has given us a good thing even if it isn't what I consider the best.  There are always blessings surrounding us, if only we would take a look and remember where and what we could be without His blessing.

So, we had dinner, I watched the girls play outside in evening sun, they devoured popsicles and came inside all hot and sweaty.  Kate practiced her splits while Reagan played her violin and Georgi jumped on everyone and climbed on top of our heads.  Then off for bath time.  Imagine their excitement when I called them over to Skype with Daddy.  Super shouts and lots of "I love you's"and air hugs and kisses, and  then Daddy had to go and the girls had bedtime.

We survived another day without Dad.

And he's off!

I wonder if I should retitle this blog, Life Without Father.  Those of you who didn't grow up on old black and white movies won't get the twist of words, by Mom will appreciate them.

Amid tears and moans, we shipped Tanner off to Sugar Land last night.  Of course, I shouldn't be surprised that I haven't gotten a phone call, text or email saying, "Arrived Safely.  Ship has come to rest in harbor," because I'm typically the other half of this team that does that sort of thing.  So, I will pretend that I've heard all is well, and skip over the unknowns to the things that I do know.

Our new babysitter arrived this morning.  I think the girls are going to have a lot of fun with her, but the two little ones were sleeping when I left, so I hope they remember meeting her last month.  I hope they get to do a lot of projects and baking and splash pad stuff while I'm at work.

As with all transitions, money becomes a serious issue.  Especially when you've got deposits and first month rent due before the first paycheck rolls in.  We're lucky to have Jonathan around.  He's always ready to chip in and help out, so hopefully we'll weather this next bumpy transition.

I was happy to sing in choir yesterday and share a bit of our spiritual walk with Mom and Dad Howell.  It was Tanner's farewell choir performance until September, and I'm sure the rest of the Chem E singers will miss him.  He's a little sad to be leaving behind some amazing mentors, so it is nice to know that he will be back!

Kate is suffering the most out of the girls.  She is the most aware of the length of a week, and so, today, when I dropped her off at school she had a hard time putting a smile on her face.  Though, I think the promise of buying a HARDBACK book at the bookfair put some spunk into her.  That single word makes me excited that I might have a fellow bibliophile on my hands.  I try not to get too excited because I know she's got a lot of growing and changing to do before her likes and dislikes will be fully established.  All of that to say, if you feel the urge to pray for our family, please, give a special prayer for Kate.

Reagan and Georgianna had their share of tears, too.  They kept begging for "one last hug", so they are not immune to the departure either.  I hope that I can give them enough "new" adventures to keep them from becoming too morose.

In just a few weeks, Emily will join us and then our summer adventures will take off full steam ahead.  So far we have a Six Flags trip planned complete with a decadent shopping trip to one of the world's largest outlet malls, swimming lessons, bowling, more swimming, a beach trip and at least one visit to Kemah.  Should be a summer with packed weekends.  I read somewhere that between the ages of 4 and 12, mini-vacations make more of an impression on kids than the big, expensive ones, so we're working on taking lots of mini-trips.  It has something to do with memory receptors...I won't bore you with details...so, those our plans in our a little saga of Life Without Father.  I'll let you know how it goes.