Figure skating class is so much fun.  Yesterday, we learned how to skate backward on one foot and how to do that really cool skating move called a crossover.  I don't look very cool right now, and during class I was an utter failure, but then I came back for practice with a pair of knee pads, and managed to figure out how to do the moves.  I think most of my problem is that I'm afraid of falling and REALLY hurting myself.  After all, I'm 32 and can't really afford to get hurt.  I mean, if I hurt my knees, who is going to carry Georgie, clean the kitchen, vacuum, and take Kate to school?  So, the knee pads really helped.

After a series of very cold days (we barely broke 74) the weather is warming up again.  It is still cloudy outside, but there's a delicious muggy feeling that is typically only felt during the last part of June in Portland.  It's that sensual feeling that drags you out of doors to work in the garden or wish you could go kayaking.  It's the weather that takes you on a picnic to the Rose Garden or a stroll on the water front because you know there won't be thousands of people crowding around only like minded individuals soaking up the rich, moist air.  It's the call of Powell's Bookstore and Illy coffee and a quick trip to the NorthWest district or an even quicker skip to the Pearl.  It's also the annoying reminder that some idiot declared that the Rose Festival had to occur at the beginning of June while everything is damp, dank and rainy instead of sensibly setting the dates for the last week of June.  Here, in Texas, it's the call to open you windows and let the wind blow through the rumpled bed covers, maybe pull on a pair of rubber boots and take a walk through mud puddles, or dust off the seat of the bike and swish along the sidewalks and side roads on the way to the park.

I am sensibly not going to do any of those things because I still have three girls at home with sniffly noses and cute, deep little voices, and I have the ominous itching of the throat feeling.  I think we'll stay at home with just a few windows open to help air the house out, but other than that, this is going to be just a very sensible day, spent doing sensible things like laundry and dishes and general housework since I also have to teach lessons this afternoon.

I am missing the Sauvie Island pumpkin patch right now.  I wish I could just hope on a plane and take my kids to get their traditional pumpkin, hay ride, train ride and maze, but that just isn't going to happen any time soon.  We live in a part of Texas that caters to BIG farms, so there aren't any nearby pumpkin patches.  The closest we have found is just north of Katy, Texas, and it costs $11 a person just to get into the thing.  Yeah, that's what I thought, "11 bucks?!?!"  So, maybe we'll have to figure out another way to get our yearly stash of pumpkin seeds.  That is the whole reason for going to the patch.  Kate loves pumpkin seeds.  If I didn't monitor her intake she would eat cupfuls in a single sitting.  Luckily, I also make a great pumpkin soup, complete with salted pumpkin seeds.  Unfortunately, I really don't care for pumpkin pie or pumpkin bars or pumpkin scones or anything else like that so we end up with a lot of frozen pumpkin.

Here's to happy hunting for me.  I hope I find a pumpking supplier somewhere soon.

Well, thank you for all of your prayers.  I got 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and Reagan's fever broke this morning at around five.  Kate only has a runny nose, and Tanner seems to be on the mend as well.

I feel great.  I went to work at 8:30 and stood in the rain until 2:00 dressed in my costume.  We thankfully packed up early, and I came home, hung my suit out to dry, made lunch, discovered that Georgie hadn't had a diaper change ALL day, and then discovered that my potatoes had rotted and there were maggots.  Gross.  Tanner cleaned it up.  Typical of me isn't it?

Then, I took Kate and Georgie shopping.  We went to Target to get Georgie a birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Howell and Tiffani and David and Talia and Jacob.  She ended up with two hoodies and night clothes and a toy organizer.  Then we swung by a craft store to pick up a hot glue gun and then to Home Depot for a couple bags of gravel.  Home.  Spread the gravel.  Made dinner.  Cleaned the girls room.  Got Georgie ready for bed.  And now, I'm resting.  It feels so good to finally have energy.

The light at the end of the tunnel.

This week has been a test of our fortitude.  Not only did Tanner come down with a full fledged flu, he passed it Kate.  That wasn't so bad, but I had just recovered from a cold, and it hit me at the same time that Kate was puking in the toilet at 3:00am on Tuesday.  I kept thinking that I could make it just as long as no one else got sick, but then last night as Reagan nestled her cheek next to mine, I discovered another case of influenza and almost broke down crying.  I'm not sure if it is swine flu or not, but it's a little late no matter what, so we're just dealing with the situation.

The shopping lists this week have been pitiful.  We've made two trips to the store to get chicken noodle soup, 7up, tylenol and dayquil and gypsy cold care.  Then we made a third trip to resupply our house with Robitussin, cough drops and tissue.  Then Tanner headed out for saltine crackers.  I made a trip to get bannanas and applesauce.  Jonathan bought bread so that we could make toast.  Yesterday was the first day that I felt somewhat normal, so I actually foraged for some fruits and vegetables, but no one has the stomach for them, yet.

A woman from our church dropped off a huge crockpot of homemade chicken noodle soup which the kids devoured.  Kate licked her lips and said that she thought it would heal her tummy.

I did have a meltdown yesterday.  I started crying while washing dishes.  I seemed to be the only one capable of washing dishes and cleaning the house while puking my guts out and cleaning up all the kids.  Today was much better with the two guys finally chipping in, and I've only had to wash dishes once, and Tanner cleaned up when Reagan lost her lunch in the living room.  I'm not sure if that was because I was at work or if he would have done it even if I was home, but at least it wasn't waiting for me when walked in the door.  So, we're all hanging in there.  I'm thankful for the cooler weather.  It's much easier to keep a fever in check when the outdoor temperature is 70 rather than 90.  So, now we just have to make it through Reagan, and I'm sure we'll have to deal with Georgie.  Hopefully, Tanner will get enough rest so that he'll recover though it seems to have hit him the hardest and he is not bouncing back very quickly.

If you want to pray, please pray for rest for the adults and health for the kids.  I suppose health for the adults would be good, too, but right now, we need sweet, uninterrupted sleep.

Is it cold?

Today, we woke up to a light, gray drizzle and a chilled house.  I was snuggled up close to Tanner (he is my electric blanket) and discovered that I had three blankets on top of me.  I guess Tanner got up in the middle of the night and got a couple of blankets.  We usually sleep with just a sheet because it is so muggy and hot that you don't really need anything else.  I shivered my way out of bed and to the heater and actually turned on the heaters.  They gave out their first belching, smokey scent and the smoke detectors started to beep, but after a few minutes the smell dissipated, and we are sitting in a newly warmed house.

Jonathan came out of his room wearing socks, jeans, long sleeved shirt over a long sleeved t-shirt.  We're all wearing sweats except for Reagan who has a fever and is contentedly sitting in my rocking chair covered with her blanky.

This kind of weather makes me reminiscent of my childhood, so I opened the jar of gauva jelly today, smeared butter and jelly on a cracker and took a little trip through Portland snow and hot chocolate in front of the fireplace.  And then, my little bubble popped because I looked at the temperature on-line.  It's currently 71 outside...

Sick, sick, sick...

We have got some sort of stomach virus.  Georgie came down with it first, then transfered it to Uncle Jonathan, who gave it to me, and then I gave it to Tanner, and now Reagan seemse to be coming down with it.  That leaves Kate, but today she was saying that her tummy did feel right, so I'm not sure how long she will hold out.

Other than that, our days keep rolling by.  I still have to make bread, granola, breakfast, lunch, dinner, do the laundry, go to work, clean the house, teach violin, study, change diapers, give baths and all that good stuff.  Tanner has to go to work, study, mow the lawn, fix the house and sleep.  I don't know what we would do without Jonathan.  Today, he tagged teamed with me and changed a couple of diapers and handed out drinks and snacks.  Of course, it doesn't seem like much when I write it down, but I am so thankful that he is around to help pick up some of the slack.

Today was one of the gray, rainy days that are so familiar to Northwesterners.  I pulled on a pair of pants and a sweater this morning, but after a mere 1/2 hour, I felt sticky and hot, so I changed into a t-shirt and jeans and finished making the granola.  An hour later, as I wiped my brow, I decided to open the windows to let some cool, fresh air inside the house.  Imagine my surprise when a blast of hot, sticky air hit me.  I checked the sky, and it was still cloudy, gray and raining, but it was HOT.  I closed the window, turned on the air conditioner and found some shorts.  When I checked the weather report this afternoon, it said we had a high of 89.  It never stopped raining, and if the girls hadn't been sick, I would have let them play outside with their rubber boots and bathing suits.

The sweet smells of...autumn?

The grass in our backyard decided to take off like there was no tomorrow, and in the last week or so, it has grown so tall that if I let Reagan out in it, she would be hidden.  I use to wonder about that redneck joke: what does a redneck security system look like?  Answer: grass so tall you can't see the car or the front porch, so would be burglars would get lost and die of thirst before they ever found their way out again.  I've gained a new appreciation for that little joke.  Once the first autumn rains hit, the grass just takes off like wildfire.  Neatly clipped and groomed lawns suddenly sprout green oceans of grass and slumbering wild flowers wake up and give us nodding blooms.

I was saying that since the grass has grown so tall in our backyard, I've had to send the girls out into the front yard which necessitates my standing or sitting on the front porch watching them.  Most parents in this neighborhood don't do that, so I'm sure that I am considered over-cautious, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.  So, today, I let the girls outside, grabbed a couple bubble wands and we spent an hour blowing bubbles.  It was delicious fun watching Reagan's golden hair whip this way and that as she darted around trying to pop as many bubbles as she could.  Even Georgianna participated.  She stood on the porch and squealed and squeaked and looked pleased that she got to be outside, too.

The late morning and early afternoon were gloriously sunny.  Our concrete porch was warm underneath my barefeet, and the damp smell of freshly cut grass hung in the air.  I heard lawn mowers start and stop and restart like a strange automotive chorus.  I wondered if Tanner would be able to mow the lawn this week, but didn't like to ask him.  I contemplated asking Jonathan, only he hasn't been feeling well lately.  So, I sat on the porch and watched the tip of a thunderhead creep toward our house.

A few minutes later I felt the first splash of rain, and watched all the well trained, texas-native children glance up and then scurry into their houses.  I called to my wandering girls who clambered up the steps with crestfallen faces.  An ominous wind kicked up as I gathered the bubble wands and plastic cups.  By the time I had ushered the girls into the house and closed the door a steady rain was falling and the air was cooling down.  Perhaps the lawn will get mowed one day, perhaps not, but at least an unmowed lawn is giving me days like this, where I take time out of my studying, baking, cooking and cleaning to watch little hands tickling the underbellies of glistening, wet blossoms of bubbles.

The best kept secret about Texas

This morning, I woke up very late.  Tanner and Jonathan had made Kate's breakfast and most of her lunch.  I'm not sure how I manged to sleep through all of the noise.  It might have had to do with the fact that both Georgie and Reagan ended up in our bed last night.  Anyway, I woke up late.  I did manage to pack the chocolate pudidng, fruit snacks and apple into her lunch box.  I was going to let Tanner take Kate to school because it's on his way to his class, but I decided to quickly get Georgie and Reagan ready because I wanted to do some fabric shopping.

For the harvest party this year, we were thinking of dressing our entire family up as "Silver Bells", and I wanted to find some cheap fabric to see if this idea I had would work.

So, I got the little ones ready and myself ready, and hustled them outside.  I came to an exultant, abrupt stop on our front porch, and slowly took a deep breath.  A light breeze was rustling the grass, the hibiscus was blooming in vibrant reds, a faint smell of salt wafted along and I had a deep longing for the sand and the waves.  It was a balmy 78.  I couldn't help but fall in love with Texas all over again.  Who cares about six weeks of 100 degree weather, when the rest of the year is just like this?  This is the time of barbecues and potlucks, of picnics and harvest dances.  I'm curious to see what a pumpkin patch will feel like when we don't have to wear scarves and mittens and worry about the kids being too cold during the hay ride.  I can't wait to bundle up the kids in hats and gloves because it's 68 degrees out and just too cold.

Yes, this is the secret time-- the time to linger on the front porch to exchange greetings with our neighbors or dawdle on the corner with the trash bag and wave to the kids on the school bus or even pause at the trunk of the car before unloading groceries to find out what the neighbor next door is cooking up for dinner.  This is when we soak in the gentle breezes, experience the better parts of southern hospitality and pass from our time into another time when things moved more slowly and people were people not numbers or cars or jobs.