wind down. wind up.

It's that time again.

Summer vacation is rolling to a stop. Funny how it starts off with a bang. You move so fast through the days and weeks. And then the final weeks seem to take a little longer as you gear up for the next transition.

My Summer Vacation rocked. Most of the time. I took the kids to the Zoo (twice). We went to the beach. We went to the pool. We completed our Summer Reading Programs at the local library. We went to the movies.

I kept the kids busy, and at the same time we spent lots of time at home. It was wonderful. The kids sleep in until well after 8 most mornings. Every day has started the lazy way. Making our way downstairs and through breakfast. While eating the kids always ask "What are we doing today?"

Some days we had lots to do some days we didn't. To the kids it didn't matter either way. They spent their vacation playing and having fun. But now we are down to the final two weeks of vacation. The school supplies box has resurfaced. Uniforms have been fitted. We are here in the home stretch.

I'm happy for it. Just as I was happy for the start of summer. I am happy for the start of our next adventure. This year will be the first that all four kids will be in school at the same time. I am thrilled beyond measure. I cannot believe that we have finally have come to this point.

I'm hoping for more changes this year. I'm praying for it. Five years ago I gave up my teaching post to stay home with my growing family. It was too much to work full-time with four small children. Day-care was far too expensive. Not to mention the ability to handle the work-load. Now that my kids are older and more independent, I am ready to go back to work. I just wish that finding a job wasn't so difficult.

Going back to work will be a huge challenge for sure. Juggling four school kids and a full time job won't be easy. But I am ready to take that on. I miss being in the classroom. For a long time that wasn't true. I was too busy with my family to want anything else. But my kids are older now. They need me less. I find myself more restless. I find myself wanting more.

It will be a huge change for everyone if I get a job and go back to work. Our lives will certainly get busier. All the things I do during the day will still have to get done somehow. I was a working mom before and we did just fine. I am sure that it will be just the same. Sure it's different. I have four instead of two. But my kids are older and more capable of pitching in then they were the first time I worked.

So here's to transitions. Here's to my kids going back to school. Some for the first time. Here's hoping I find a decent job. Here's to the good life!

9 years today.

I said "I do" 9 years ago today.

10 years ago (not to the day), I said yes to the most important question ever asked me.

I believe that marriage is a calling, in the Church we call that a Vocation. God called me to the vocation of Marriage.

My pathway to Heaven is through Marriage.

He sent me my husband, and when the time was right to full-fill God's plan for us to marry it happened.

We said yes.

And in the last nine years we said yes again and again.

Four times we said yes when we found out we were pregnant.

One time we said yes when we held each other through a miscarriage.

Many times we said yes when we celebrated life's big accomplishments. Buying/Selling houses, buying cars, getting jobs, getting promotions...

Many times we said yes when we sought each others arms during times of hardship. Through deaths of loved ones, day-to-day financial struggles, fear of uncertain futures...

We've said yes on our most difficult days.

We've said yes on our best days.

God promises us that if we have faith we will never be alone. I have never been alone. During the last 9 years I have had the best company. I see God's promise fulfilled in my Husband.

When the days are long and tiring I know that at the end of it Paul is there. I know that he will always be there whether I need him or not. That is the promise he made to me 9 years ago. Likewise, I will always be there for him whether he needs me or not. That is the promise I made to him. We will never break that promise. Never.

I know there are days were I have driven Paul crazy. I have made him angry. I may have even hurt him. But he is always there. He has driven me crazy. Made me angry. May have even hurt me. But I am not going anywhere. Every challenge we work through makes our bond stronger. Every triumph we celebrate brings us closer still.

I give Praise and Thanksgiving that God has called me to Marriage. I thank God for giving me Paul as a husband.

Paul has made me stronger over the years. He has made me more confident, as a wife and mother. There is no one I'd rather be with.

I love what we have said yes to. I love what we have been called to. And I can't wait to see what the next 9 years bring. 

fast updates.

Well it's August. There's truth in the saying "Time flies when you're having fun."

July
We had Catherine evaluated by the Orthodontist. Molds were made, pictures taken and the prognosis is in.
The girl has a tiny mouth and will need lots of metal to make it bigger and her teeth straiter. In my opinion her mouth is plenty big, but from an oral hygiene perspective not so much. In preparation for hardware installation she had to have two teeth removed. So off the oral surgeon we went and 30 mins later she had two less teeth in her mouth.
And like a good mother, I took her the day before we left for vacation. And because I love her so much I took a picture of her mouth full of gauze, and laughed hysterically at her drug induced state. The rest of her orthodontics will take place in the next few weeks. Should be lots of fun.

In the meantime, July flew past us in a daze. We celebrated Paul's birthday. We went to the beach for the 4th of July weekend (though the actual 4th was spent at home). My garden has grown out of control. Everything is growing bigger than I expected and faster than I can keep up with.

The end of July brought us to our family Vacation. This was our third trip down to Myrtle Beach, SC and once again we had a blast. We've been going every-other-year and this year might have been the best yet. Our drive was good (though I can't say that driving through VA has ever been easy), the kids are champs at fast pit-stops. We left the house at 5am and were on the beach by 7pm.

Vacation week was spent between the beach and pools. The kids love the swimming and splashing in the waves. They are finally big enough to do a lot of it on their own. We only pulled out swimmies for one day. The biggest pool has a large 3ft section which meant all of our kids could touch bottom. 3 out of 4 of the kids discovered they love being underwater. And they all learned to cannon ball into the pool. All in all the week was great. I look forward to going back again.

July gives way to August and I can't believe it's already the second week. The kids go back to school in just two and half weeks. I've done the uniform shopping now it's time to do the supply shopping. It's all so exciting and overwhelming at the same time. This year is a big one. All four kids are going to school this year. I can't believe this day is finally here.

In the meantime I'm still hunting for work. I've sent my resume out several times to no avail. I'm praying something comes up soon. So while I continue my job search I will spend my time on crafting and house work (all fun stuff right?).

I'm hoping to get our dining room project done soon. When it is I will post a picture or two.

observation of the day.

Since the summer started my kids have been playing board games like it's nobody's business. The have been spending hours playing games.
Trouble, Chutes and Ladders, Uno, anything they can get their hands on.

I'm not sure that there is a favorite among the pile of games. It's just whatever they feel like playing.

The other day Paul and I overheard Stephen telling his brothers that he didn't want to play any game because he always loses. Paul and I laughed at the thought and both agreed that this was a wimps way out. Harsh? Nah, it's reality. Only a wimp wouldn't play a game because he's afraid to lose.

Now before you go judging me I didn't actually say this to Stephen, but I would say it if we were in the same room if the conversation goes that way. They need to learn to taking losing as well as winning.

Story Part II
Every other Saturday my kids participate in something called The Lehigh Valley Road Runners. It's a free running program for kids. It's geared at getting kids excited about running and encouraging exercise in a world that doesn't encourage it enough. They break the kids into age groups starting at 3 all the way up to 12 and have them running races.
The last race was the first time that David and Joshua moved up from the 3-4 yr division to the 5-6. In the beginning of the summer David was running strong and coming in the top of the pack. This last race he didn't not do as well. Someone who doesn't know our kids would have no idea what happened. But Paul and I saw it and knew right away why David under performed.
See Stephen is in the 5-6 division as well, and Stephen is not a strong runner. He did cross-country last year and the poor kid try as hard as he did and always came in last. But the thing is he aways did it with a smile. David is fast. When playing outside he often outruns his brothers. I think David somehow got all of the athletic ability in the house. In this last race David was running with Stephen, he was staying one step behind Stephen the whole time. David let his big brother come in ahead of him.

Back to today's observation.
The boys were playing downstairs, and David convinced Stephen to play a game with him. Stephen won. David asked if they could play another game. Stephen declined. David then said, but maybe you could win that game too. Stephen still said no.

What this tells me?
David cares more about playing with Stephen than he does about winning. David is fully aware of how Stephen feels when he doesn't win, and David does what he can to spare his feelings. Sometimes ;)
David let Stephen win this mornings game. This is so that David can keep playing the games he wants to play with Stephen. This fascinates me. The boys are five years old. And they are already fully aware of how to manipulate each other to do what they want.

Before you go gushy.
Just so you know, that while this gesture of David letting Stephen win to spare his feelings is really sweet, David can also be quite the stinker. Like I said, David is willing to give up winning in order to keep playing. He wants to play these games, and he'll do what it takes to play. Yes, he does care about his brothers (and sister), and he does care if they are happy or not. But his motives are always pure. After all this is the boy that is known for hiding puzzle pieces when someone is working on a puzzle. ;)

need your opinion

I have been doing a lot of sewing lately and this is my next project. This is going to be for my husbands aunt. I have a dilemma. Here are my two fabric pallets.

I could go all black and white.

Or I could throw in a bit of color. 

I can't decide what will look better. 

If I throw in the color what do I do with the band around the top of the bag and the straps? If I stick with all black and white that's a no brainer. 

So I can't decide. What do you think?

Found this picture of my daughter. Didn't even know it was still on my computer. Thought I had transfered all of my photos off the harddrive.

It's amazing how small she was. I'd say this was around 1 year old. Not too sure. I know it was before Stephen because when he was born he moved in the the crib and she in a twin size bed.

july garden.

Remember when I was talking albout gardening. I put up a few pics of my piles of dirt. Well here we are. It's July. The soil I ordered was horrible. It's the weediest soil I've ever worked with. Two layers of weed block and I've been weeding since day one. It's also very clay like and clumpy. Not smooth at all. But my plants are still thriving. I had some issues with starting from seeds but that was due to weather not the soil. The seeds would spring up and and die in the heat of June. It was a hot hot month.

Above is the long box filled with celery, watermellon, peppers and tomatoes.

Above is a tomato plant growing taller than the cages. This might be the tallest I have ever seen them grow.

Tomatoes ripening up only a few more days. These plum tomatoes are wonderful. They are coming off the plant crisp and tasty. Soon I will be canning like a mad women. I'd say right after vacation it will be canning time.

Watermellon, a week ago this was the size of a grape today it's the size of a baseball. I didn't know they grew so fast.

This last photo is my small box. We had lettuce but it tasted horrible so I ripped it out. Strawberries are growing nicely though they haven't sent out too many suckers yet. In the back is the cucumber. I have two picklers and one slicer. I'm not sure how I will keep them apart now that they are climbing all over each other. Oh and in the middle there is a sprig of basil. Yummy Yummy