Dandelions

A week ago our front yard looked just fine, and Emily was complaining that we never have any of those pretty yellow flowers. Then, almost overnight, our yard was over-run by those sneaky little weeds. So I went to Walmart and bought 3 dandelion weeding tools and planned a family work project.

I prepared all the kids, and Nathan, for our family work evening - everyone seems to need a little forewarning to be able to handle the stress of family-only-time. After dinner (meatloaf and mashed potatoes - I can't remember the last time I made meatloaf, but it was very tasty) Nathan headed out quick and mowed the lawn while we finished dinner clean up. Nathan is always really careful to mow when none of the kids are around because a kid he knew lost his eye when he was hit by a rock thrown from a mower - be careful!

The troops decended on the dandelions and we had a blissful 20 minutes where Nathan was mowing the backyard, Hannah Sydney and I were plucking up dandelions, and Emily and John were gathering the weeds into a pile. It felt great to work together.

The attention span of my workers was pretty short, though, and soon Nathan and the kids were playing "monkey-in-the-middle" with Sam while I continued to work on the dandelions. I'm not complaining, we were all having a great time!

It was such a nice evening that several neighbors were out walking and stopped by to visit. It felt great to work, play, and talk - I think the backyard might need a little work tonight!

Being the Mom

Here are some things that I love about being the mom.

I love giving and getting kisses to/from my children - wet sloppy kisses, butterfly kisses, eskimo kiss, embarrassed-in-front-of-your-friend kisses, blowing kisses, owie kisses, goodnight kisses.

I love doing little rhymes - head knocker, Johnny Johnny Johnny Johnny Whoops Johnny, itsy-bitsy spider, wind wind wind the thread...

I love reading stories - even the bigs will let me to read to them.

I love baking with the kids - cookies and cinnamon rolls are our favorite.

I love to see them able to cook on their own - No Bake Cookies made by Hannah are the best!

I like getting hand-picked flowers - Emily is sad that we don't have very many dandylions in our yard, but she is able to find some almost everyday to give me. Sydney gave me some lilacs just last Friday and they have made the kitchen smell so lovely.

I love seeing a grouchy kid trying really hard to stay grouchy - but letting a smile slip out anyway.

I like going on a walk and doing that fun trick of kicking the person next to you with a backward kick, and then watching as that little person tries to do it back to you.

I like hearing all about a good day, or a bad day.

I like playing park-tag. Even though Hannah (and probably Sydney, too) is faster than me and can chase me down and make me "it".

I love family clean-up time around the dinner table - when it works, and everyone is doing a job without crying or pouting, it feels great to all work together.

I love how being a mom has helped me learn more about my own mother and what a great mom she is!

I love watching how quickly these crazies grow from wee little ones into big kids with dreams of their own.

Being a Mom is so fun! Happy Mother's Day to me! And to you, too!

Welcome Home Nathan

Nathan flew in Monday evening after 4 long months in Guam. We are so excited to have him home.

Things were a little crazy around here getting ready for him to come home - lots of laundry and carpet cleaning and yard work - you should have seen me using the weed-wacker (how that string stuff works is a mystery to me.)

Monday afternoons are generally a little wild with track and piano and gymnastics. All that rushing around made the day whiz by, but when we got down to the squadron we found that the planes were arriving a little later than we thought. Not a big deal, but as the only wife there with children, I was worried that my kids would get all wound up and drive everyone crazy. Luckily a few other children came, so we went outside and ran races.

When the guys come home on the B-1's it is not a big production like it is when they come home with the big group (it is still special and exciting, but there are a lot less people.) It is just 2 planes with 4 people in each. So as the planes were approaching we were able to take a little bus out on the flightline and watch them land. Then the bus drove us over to where the planes park and we were able to see them climb down out of the plane.

Nathan was the first guy out of his plane, and while I was trying to get John's earplugs in place and climb out of the bus, Emily jumped out and ran right over to Nathan to give him a big hug! John was just fascinated by Nathan and wouldn't take his eyes off him. He hasn't acted shy around Nathan at all.

So it's like a little honeymoon around here, which can be a little embarrassing! It is awkward to have neighbors ask if it is fun to have Nathan home... And yeah, actually - it's great!