a busy summer week

Am I the only one that thinks that life races to warp speed once you have children? I can hardly believe that another week has flown by. It feel like I say that every week though.

On Tuesday some old college friends came into town to visit the aquarium. Beth was my big sister in Delta Gamma and I always enjoy being around her. She is one person that can make me smile. She and her husband, Jim, live in Northwest Alabama and have two children. They brought their oldest child, James(age 6.5), on the trip. On Tuesday night they came out to the house and we went swimming with the kids. The original plans had included a visit to the Varsity downtown, but I think we had more fun playing with the kids and eating takeout. It was great to see the kids having so much fun together. Here they are at the end of the night:



No one had camps this week so we tried to get some projects done around the house. Unfortunately while we were cleaning out Jordan's room on Wednesday, Grace had a bookend fall on her head. This resulted in a huge lump on her head and a trip to the doctor's office. All was fine in the end, but it was an eventful day which resulted in no clean room. The bookend that hit Grace's head was a large resin Noah's Ark someone gave us when Jordan was a baby. Jordan had put it up on the third shelf thinking that would keep it from Grace's hands. Miss Grace is getting quite handy nowadays and got ahold of it anyway. I saw it happening, but couldn't get to her in time to prevent the injury. I'm thankful for her quick recovery.

We had just gotten home from the doctor's office and all the fiasco involved with that. Dave came home to check on Grace. He decided to get a coke out of the garage, walked out to find a teenager in our garage getting a drink from our fridge! Can you believe that? The kid said he was thirsty at the pool and just thought he'd get a coke. (Though we are "next door" to the pool it is a good acre away from our garage.) Dave made the kid shake with fear by the time he left the garage. We thought he might have been and immature 12 year old, but it turns out that he is a small 16 year old. He's from our neighborhood and appparently has been known to be in people's garages. I don't know the whole situation, but it appears that he is not exactly the kind of kid that fits in socially with other kids. (I don't mean "fits in" as a status statement -- more that he is unable to interact and deal with kids his age.) I'm soooo glad Dave was the one at home and even more glad that Jordan did not find him in our garage. I have been super-vigilant about our garage doors since this incident.

On Thursday morning we got a call with bad news. Dave's Uncle Bob in Pennsylvania died. This is one of the families that Dave loved to stay with during the summer visits to Pittsburgh. We tried to figure out how we could all go to the funeral, but that would have kept us away until late Tuesday night. Jordan and William both have camps next week so we decided it was best for me to stay home with the three kids. Dave went to Pennsylvania with his father, sister, and niece on Saturday. I'm glad he was able to go be with the family to say goodbye to a favorite Uncle. Here is a photo of Uncle Bob, Aunt Jean (Dave's Dad's sister), and their youngest son Bill at last year's family reunion.



I teased Dave all week with plans to go on a special (delayed) birthday date together. I should do more of this. Just the mere fact that he did not know where we were going, what we were doing, and why he needed to be home at a certain time has driven him crazy -- in a good way. I can't reveal the details here until we've had the date, but I think he'll enjoy it. It's nothing fancy - just a date with some of his favorite things. We changed our plans once the news of Uncle Bob's death occurred. It was more important to get Dave ready for the trip and let the kids have some Daddy time with him. I did think to put a note into his suitcase before he left to continue the mental torture. I suppose I should wrestle up a babysitter again soon, huh?

Today I had one of the most delightful events occur. I had a peaceful, enjoyable meal with my three children at a sit-down restaurant after church. Seems simple right? Well, it's a little daunting to take all three into a restaurant by yourself. It's not that they are bad, but inevitably someone will have a bathroom visit to make or other emergency. To be honest, I often choose going through a drive through and bringing food home to eating at a restaurant when Dave is gone on a trip. (We do eat regular food at home, too!) William is constantly asking me why we can't go in so today I told him that this was a special test of how we could manage to behave when out with Mommy. The little stinker took it all to heart and rose to the occassion. Grace was charming and ate her food calmly. I got to eat my meal in peace. There was no bickering. Good grief, I think I was bursting with pride as we left Carrabba's Italian Grill. A good friend of mine tells her three, "Our goal when we leave this store/restaurant/event is to not have everyone know your name." Laugh if you want, but certain parts of motherhood are like survival training. I suddenly felt like I had changed from survival mode to "thrilled to be a mom" mode today. I suppose that could rate as my mundane magic for the week. A glimmer of hope on the horizon. ;-)