August Swimming...Lessons?

The kids and I headed to the pool again this morning, for Montgomery and Johngideon's swimming lessons. It was nice that everyone "wanted" to go...or at least they did by the time they got there.  ;o)  While Montgomery had her lesson, Maia continued with her water exercises, and the boys threw each other around in the shallow end, or rather the youngers attacked Job and he delightedly threw them around. I got to sit and chat with a friend I'd been trying to connect with for a couple of weeks, but we'd been delayed by things like life and the stuff of schedules.

After Gommy's lesson was over, it was Johngideon's turn. I think because it's August, a good number of families are on vacation, so Johngideon's lessons this week have so far worked out to be private affairs. Which would be a delight for a family of seven, such as ours, on a reasonable budget, such as ours, to have paid for group lessons yet wound up with private ones, except that Johngideon decided today (as he'd done Friday) that it was too chilly for swimming lessons, so spent quite a lot of time on the side of the pool, huddled into himself, while his two -- yes, I did say TWO -- instructors stood over him trying to cajole him back into the pool. (Needless to say, his mother was not amused.)

See, there he is above, the small bundle of red miserableness at the far end of the pool, between the two -- yes, I did say TWO -- instructors standing on either side, promising him all manner of things if he'll just get back in the water. (Meanwhile Maia is peacefully and thankfully obliviously swimming her laps.)

And again, hunkered down into a small ball this time (to the left of the lifeguard this time...who is watching this scene in amused disbelief), having brought one of his instructors to her knees (I think the poor girl just gave up!) (oh, for a better zoom camera to capture the expressions on their faces!)...

True, there was a bit of a wind today, but it hadn't seemed to bother him too much thirty minutes earlier when he was joyfully and shriekedly being thrown all over the water WWF-SmackDown-style by his big brothers. Hmmmm.....

While Johngideon was causing his instructors to think it would probably be easier to have a class full of twelve kids instead, Montgomery was snuggling under a big towel on a lounger by her other brothers, enjoying a little sun-warming time while they tossed a wet towel at each other.

When Johngideon finally had endured the full-length of the excruciating 30-minute(!) (really?!) lesson, he dragged himself (shivering violently for effect) back to a lounger and "thawed out" in the sun...which was exactly what his older brothers were up to by now. Isn't it funny how the boys' feet hang through the threads on the loungers...

Job was actually just trying to stay on the thing, I think, because he seems to have grown longer than it! Montgomery, meanwhile, had headed off to the kiddie pool to play with some new friends.

Speaking of Montgomery, Craig has been teaching her to swim all summer long, and wow, has she learned! She went from a kid just walking around in the shallow end, to a bonefide deep water dogpaddler! Last week in South Carolina, she was sliding down the slide all by herself and "swimming" to the ladder. And late last week at swim class (her first professionally taught lessons in months), she jumped off the diving board for the first time in her life!...

and "swam" to the side...in 11-feet-deep water!!...
(Maia was a super-smiling big sister watching from the water, you know, just in case.  :o)

and then Gommy lined up (chilly but proud) to do it all over again, and again, and again, and again...

(even though she was completely submerged with each jump)

until after the lesson ended...and again...and again...until we had to practically force her from the deep end!

I love it!

Take Care. Much Love.

 

Sunday Evening Snacks

Early morning service at 8:00 a.m.

Hours of "Risk", the board game Josiah fell in love with this past school year during Games Club :~)

Great long-overdue catch-up conversation with Auntie Joanne...
and lots of oogling her new car.

Three hours of SAT Prep Class for Maia.

Lots of hours of college shopping for Job with Craig.

A little reading of The Paper Bag Princess,
a neat zany girl-power book, with Montgomery

..

A couple of joyful kid-soaked, mosquito-laden, sword-fighting, scooter-riding 

hours of fun outside with seven little neighborhood friends...

one dressed like a ballerina-princess, another like a cat.   :o)

A couple more hours of such inside, but with only four friends this time...

and a baby brother and a mom.

One extended over-tired Gommy meltdown.

A little bit of the (non-animated) 101 Dalmations movie.

And finally,

 a big tray of slightly unorthodox Sunday evening snacks

for an impromptu showing of Hoodwinked Too! with favorite next-door buddies.

Thanking God for a full, rich, blessed Sunday.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

 

Beautiful Charleston Waterfront

We spent a few days visiting family in Charleston, SC, my hometown, and did a few touristy things we don't normally do...like three (yes that's 3!) trips to the waterfront park. Truly one of Charleston's greatest assets (in my opinion, at least), the relatively new waterfront park is a peaceful oasis of water, sky, sun (or moon) on the peninsula's edge, where you can swing on family-sized porch swings, enjoy the cool river breeze, fish from the pier, splash excitedly in the wading "fountain" (not at all what you are envisioning in your mind, but more on that --with photos-- tomorrow), and even see Fort Sumter, the birthplace of the Civil War, in the distance.

We enjoyed all of the above...three times.   :-)

Much Love. Take Care.

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Hanging Out POP

Here's a POP (Post of Previosity) from Thanksgiving weekend 2009.

Our family tries to take an annual Thanksgiving photo and has totally given up on any kind of dresswear. We try to all wear the same color tops at least, to give the appearance of some kind of photo session foresight, but it's truly all about the casual with us. It was a liberating moment for me when I figured out some years ago that photos are about the people, not the attire...from then on I much better enjoyed taking family photos, rather than dreading the process (and pomp) of them.

The photo above shows our hometeam pride...Baltimore Ravens BABY (Craig is a self-described "Ravenoid"...his personal term for a rabid Ravens fan!). The kids were clowning around in my parents' backyard and their grandfather captured this fun shot of them. We used it on our emailed invitation for a 2010 New Years Day gathering, inviting folks to "Come on over and hang out with us!"

That was fun.

Much Love. Take Care.

 

Early Morning Collaboration

I awoke to a beautiful sight early one morning last week. The boys were all up and already outside, working on the treehouse together.

Job had a work-related activity to attend that evening and wasn't going to be able to work on the project after he got home from his camp counsellors job, so they had gotten up early, like 6:00 a.m.(!!) to try and finish the look-out platform's base.

It warmed my heart to see them cooperating and valuing each other's input...and even hearing the youngers so cheerfully following Job's instructions. Everyone had a job to do and was eager to do it. Brotherly love abounded.

In the lulls where there was nothing readily available for an 8-yr-old to do, Johngideon would take a swing break.

Then he'd be right back in business when there was a job for him.

Just awesome.

Take Care. Much Love.

 

 



Beautiful, Beautiful Hydrangeas

These are the flowers gracing my dining table this week. Beautiful late season hydrangeas that are more sagey green than blue. Aren't they glorious!

I used to enjoy the luxury of extravagant hydrangea blossoms overflowing in vases throughout our old home, without even realizing how much of a special treat it was. We had two huge old hydrangea bushes at that house, and they treated us to such a wealth of blossoms!

These hydrangea are cut from the bushes of a neighbor kind enough to let me fill vases as often as I please. So, this season I've enjoyed them in their glorious periwinkle blue-est several times, and now am so delighted to enjoy their sagier late season hues. I'm blessed to have them not just gracing dining tables and nightables inside our home, but also beautifying tables outside on our front porch as well. I'll try to get around to posting those photos also.

Hydrangeas just make me smile...in the summer, that is. In the winter, the poor bushes are so bare and scraggly and bereft I can hardly stand to glance at them. Then again, the huge (and I do mean HUGE) brown spider that crawled from the porch table hydrangea arrangement just after I'd finished handling it nearly made me rethink their benefit to my summer life...

...but then nature's beauty won out. Who can resist the beauty of hydrangea blossoms?

Thanks, Arnice, for the kind, generous sharing of your hydrangea bushes. I am truly grateful.

Next year Craig has promised me bushes of my own...I can't wait.

Take Care. Much Love.

 

Delighted to Have Her Home

Maia returned home this week after more than a month away at two different college summer programs. We were all so glad to have her back, and her siblings rushed her at the door as soon as she and Craig got in from the airport.

The arms you see around Maia's waist are Johngideon's, who is lost somewhere in the middle of the group hug. Wait, here he is...

Her brothers even cheerfully carried her bags upstairs.

It is our comfortable household pandemonium once again. (By the way, Josiah's not injured (thank goodness!)...just having fun with Maia's old crutches.)

It is so good to have everyone home again.   Such a luxury...and I am grateful.

Take care. Much Love.

     

Working on The Tree House

My children have wanted a tree house since several years before we moved from our old house...and we moved three years ago. We knew immediately which tree it would have been at our old house, and then again knew exactly which tree here at the new...well, three years ago "new." So, with Job heading off to college soon, and with him loving to design and build, I thought it would be wonderful if he built the treehouse for his siblings before he left...as kind of a daily legacy of love to them. Fortunately, he thought so too. So, after a few delayed starts (life, work, you know), he got off to the building, and just this past weekend secured the supports for the swing beam, which will swing no fewer than 4 children! Which is awesome, as there are usually at least four children outside wanting to swing at the same time, between our two youngest and our neighbor friends, and our current swingset only accommodates two.

When the initial framework was finally secured, Job climbed up and gingerly inched along the brace, wanting to make sure it was as sturdy as he thought it was before he got too comfortable up there.

No worries...its rock solid...even by my over-the-top cautious mother standards. Craig is helping Job as he goes with extra hands and advice, as is our highly talented neighbor Todd, who is a builder by trade but an artist by birth. I think for Job the planning and research has been the most cumbersome, especially because his mother keeps saying to him things like, "I just need to know it's going to be safe" and "If you're going to err, err on the side of caution" and "Be careful with that saw...are you sure its turned the right way?" and "The question to ask yourself is will it hold up ten years from now?" and "Trust me, it can never be too strong; I see what the plans call for, but why don't you use the thicker wood instead." Needless to say, I think Job much prefers Craig and Todd's advice. To his credit, despite my running peanut gallery commentary, he seems more determined than ever to finish, and hasn't walked out on the job yet.

These pictures are from just the successful swing beam support structure attaching. Turns out the swing beam itself is a special order piece of lumber, so that will be several days coming. Today, he added on by affixing the first support for the cantilevered platform, which will be a 4'x5' lookout deck on the south side of the tree, and also the highest point of the whole thing, which hopefully will end up with several levels, an enclosed "house" section and a few other goodies. I was on the front porch and heard a shout from him and looked in the backyard to find him jubilantly swinging from the cantilevered beam (not yet pictured here). He was thrilled to have successfully designed and attached it so quickly.

Not that Job will be able get the whole kit and caboodle built before he ships off to school, but I think he'll have some good, solid, playable railed platforms completed, which will truly delight his youngest siblings throughout the fall.

(By the way, its the camera that was tilted here...not the tree and braces!)

Here's to a project well-begun!

Take Care. Much Love.

 

Such Beautiful Skies

Craig and I spent a lot of time this past weekend driving through upstate New York to pick up kids from camps and summer programs. Along the way we saw these most beautiful skies.

They almost didn't seem real.

What a glorious luxury to live with such uncompromised beauty above you. With the mountains ranges all around us, and the air so clear, and the dense and absolutely lush forests at every turn, and the people so straight-forward and sincere, and eventually (when we reached Josiah's camp) the lake so sparkling and expansive, and the breeze so refreshing, I wondered why we aren't all making our way there...to live.

God is truly palpable in this place.

Take Care. Much Love.

Just Ducky Returnings

We've lived a lot of life since my last post 51 days ago.

Children have graduated high school...and Pre-Kindergarten!...prom-ed...
zoo-ed...spelling bee-d...performed...celebrated...cried...won awards...
doctor-ed and orthodontist-ed...headed off to colleges (at least for the summer)...and to camps...mural-ed...berry-picked...pool-ed...
firecracker-ed...firefly-ed...lemonade stand-ed...and even become adults
(Job turned 18 today!)...to say nothing of what the "older" adults have been up to.

Somewhere along the way I lost my blogging rhythm, but would wistfully glance this way every few days with a sigh. I missed you little blogging outlet. I missed the way you slow life down for just a short while each day, and encourage reflection and contemplation. I missed the way you allow me to tangibly celebrate the journey, with all of its wilds and wonders. And so I did return...

There is so much to share...I truly don't know where to begin. So I thought I'd simply start with a front porch evening meal shared with Baby Ducky.

And why not?

Take care. Much Love.