Au Revoir!

Here it is, 7:00 pm and in 8 and-a-half hours I will be waking up to get to the airport by 4:30 am to begin our trip to Pennsylvania. I've had a lot of people ask me if I am excited. And truthfully, the airplane ride is usually so horrible that I can't be excited until we actually touch down in Pennsylvania. Until then, it is a day of pure hell. I kid you not.

Our Memorial Day has been a good one. I ran a few errands. Chris had some one-on-one time with Jonathan - they went to Target and then got a treat together. Then, we all went to a city pool and went swimming. A lot of fun! Then, we got so hungry and treated ourselves to Waldo's BBQ. Since then, we've been chillin' out here at home. I've been packing up odds and ends. We're pretty much set.

I know we'll have a great time in PA, but knowing that my little family is not all together makes me sad. But, that will make our reunion in a few weeks even more special.

So, until then, au revoir! Have a great summer! See you soon!!

School's Out!

Yesterday was Carena's last day of first grade. I know it was hard for her to see it come to an end. She had a wonderful year. I could not have asked for more than that. Carena's teacher is incredible. This year she taught the children above and beyond my wildest expectations. They learned about cerebral palsy, through a book called Petey.

But, not only did they learn about it, but each day, a different set of students in Carena's class got to go to Room 24 and play with and become friends with students with special needs. I think this was the highlight of Carena's year. Her day to visit her friends was Thursdays and each week she waited in anticipation of Thursdays. She couldn't wait to go and see her friends!! I loved hearing about the students in Room 24 and the connection Carena made with them.

Another highlight was a visit from Ruby Bridges. Carena's class read about Ruby Bridges and learned what amazing courage a 6 year-old could have:

In spring 1960, Ruby Bridges was one of several African-American kindergarteners in New Orleans to take a test to determine which children would be the first to attend integrated schools. Six students were chosen; of these six, two decided to stay in their original schools, three were assigned to McDonogh Elementary school, and only Bridges was assigned to William Frantz. Her father initially was reluctant, but her mother felt strongly that the move was needed not only to give her own daughter a better education, but to "take this step forward ... for all African-American children."^[1]

The court-ordered first day of integrated schools in New Orleans, November 14, 1960, was commemorated by Norman Rockwell in the painting The Problem We All Live With.^[2] As Bridges describes it, "Driving up I could see the crowd, but living in New Orleans, I actually thought it was Mardi Gras. There was a large crowd of people outside of the school. They were throwing things and shouting, and that sort of goes on in New Orleans at Mardi Gras."^[2] Former marshal Charles Burks later recalled, "She showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn't whimper. She just marched along like a little soldier, and we're all very proud of her."^[3]

As soon as Bridges got into the school, white parents went in and brought their own children out; all but one of the white teachers also refused to teach while a black child was enrolled. Only Barbara Henry, from Boston, Massachusetts, was willing to teach Bridges, and for over a year Mrs. Henry taught her alone, "as if she were teaching a whole class." That first day, Bridges and her adult companions spent the entire day in the principal's office; the chaos of the school prevented their moving to the classroom until the second day. Every morning, as Bridges walked to school, one woman would threaten to poison her;^[4] therefore the child only wanted to eat pre-packaged food. Another woman at the school put a black baby doll in a wooden coffin and protested with it outside the school, a sight that Bridges Hall has said "scared me more than the nasty things people screamed at us." At her mother's suggestion, Bridges began to pray on the way to school, which she found provided "protection" from the disgusting, hurtful comments yelled at her on the daily walks.




Can you imagine your 6 year-old being so brave? So, after reading and learning about Ruby Bridges, a student in Carena's class went to his mother and said, "I wish she would come to our school." They did some research, contacted Ruby Bridges and she made the trip to Carena's school! Not only that, she met specifically with Carena's class. They sang her a song and visited with her. Carena got a hug from Ms. Bridges and talks about that amazing hug still. We received a DVD with Ms. Bridges' classroom visit on it and it gives me the chills and brings tears to my eyes to see this wonderful woman, who once was a little girl who was so brave, visit with Carena's class.

There were many many fantastic things that Carena learned and experienced for her first grade year. But, I think what made it such a memorable year was her teacher, Mrs. Struble. What an amazing teacher. I will forever be grateful to her for making Carena's first grade year a great experience and one that Carena didn't want to end.

Happy Birthday Colt

Dear Colt,

Today is your 5th birthday. I do not know where the time went! Papa took the day off so that he could be here for your special day. Carena woke you up early by singing Happy Birthday to you. She wanted to give you her present before she left for school. She got you a fun toy that has these "helicopter" things that you flew all over the house. She also got you a fake snake. When you came out to the kitchen this morning you were surprised at all of the decorations that Papa and I had set up for you. Lots of streamers, balloons and Happy Birthday banners. For breakfast you wanted a donut - the one with white frosting and sprinkles. But, you only ate a few bites because you were too excited about your birthday. You wanted to open more presents, so you got to open one more. It was a GameCube game. You wanted to play that the entire morning, but we convinced you to come with us to run some errands. We went and got Jonathan's haircut. You could see that I was sad about that, so you played a game with me while Jonathan got his haircut. Then, we walked through some nice model homes - you liked running up and down the stairs the best. By that time it was lunch time. We asked you where you wanted to go for lunch and you requested Burger King. That was fun!


It is tradition that you get to pick what you want for dinner. This year you wanted macaroni and cheese. We also had ham, peas, and orange smoothies. You got an oreo cake for your birthday cake. You made a wish and blew the candles out. You nibbled on your cake until we told you you could open the rest of your presents. You got another GameCube game, an alarm clock, JumpStart World, window chalk (from Jonathan), walkie talkies, new clothes, a few bucks, and some posters for your room (SpongeBob and Cars).


Your Marmy and Guy called you to wish you a happy birthday and so did Uncle Christopher. You had fun talking to them on the phone.

Colt, I can not believe you are five. You are an amazing person and I am privileged to know you and humbled that I get to be your Mama. You are such a sweet spirit and my heart is full with love for you. Happy Birthday, Bud. I love you with all my heart forever.

Love,
Mama

A Little Big Boy

Today Jonathan got a haircut. There were two reasons why it was time. The first was because it got a bit tiresome correcting everyone when they referred to him as "she." The second reason was because it's getting hot out and we thought it would be more comfortable for him. Good reasons, right? Then why did I cry when they cut his hair? I had them save every last curl and I took them home in a baggie.

The Simple Things

On Saturday Colt woke up not feeling well at all. It appears that he has a stomach bug! Poor little man. He was quite unhappy. Chris was gone most of day at a scout function and without the tag-team efforts we often employ, I was left to my own devices to cheer up Colt and to save our sanity.

By late morning, he was feeling a little bit better so I suggested we all go for a short walk into the desert. Carena, Colt, Jonathan and I put on our shoes and headed out. There is a nice path behind our community that we like to traverse. It ends at a small mesa that we "hike" up and then we can look over our community and have a great view of a small mountain to ther north. But, more than half way through our walk, Colt started complaining that he was too tired to walk and that he just wanted to go home. I was about to turn us around when something in the bushes on the other side of the mesa caught my eye. It was green. It was floating. It was a balloon! I told Colt that there would be a surprise once we got to the other side and so he trudged on.

And it wasn't any balloon - it was a big fancy FROG balloon! I untangled it from the bushes and clipped it onto Colt's pants. He smiled.

What a difference a simple balloon made! What a sweet treasure to find in the desert for a sick little boy. He held on to that balloon the rest of the day. When he fell asleep on the couch, it was right by his side. As soon as Chris got home, Colt pointed to his new balloon with a proud smile on his face.

Simple small things make a difference. They don't have to be fancy or expensive. Just getting a little something unexpected in a day makes it special. I remember, as a little girl, coming home from time to time to find a little picture that my mother had drawn during the day, sitting on my bed with a small caption such as, "I love you!" on it. It made my day, just like this balloon made Colt's day when he needed it the most.

Mother's Day Thought

Yesterday was Mother's Day. At one point Carena came over to me and said, "You are the best mother I could ever ask for." What a sweet precious thing to say! But, after she said that, I thought to myself, "Am I?" And so, I began reflecting on the kind of mother I am. Am I the best that I can be? Am I the best mother my children could ever ask for? I approached these questions in a positive way - so as not to belittle the efforts I do put forth. But, I could do better. I could do much better! And so I approach this year with the desire to earn Mother's Day next year and to respond with, "Yes I am!" when my children tell me I am the best mother they could ever ask for.

The Countdown Begins!

There are 20 days until we'll be in Pennsylvania. Pretty exciting, isn't it?

Each summer, the children and I go to Pennsylvania for a month or so. Living in Arizona is hard for me, so having this time in PA is vital for my sanity. It's also so nice for the children to be with their grandparents and to actually spend their days outside!

This year we will be there for 2 months. I am happy to be able to spend so much time reconnecting with my roots, but at the same time, it's a long time to be away from Chris and so I'm really experiencing some good old-fashioned stress and anxiety about being away so long. I feel really bad about it. Typically, he'd come out for a week or so but this year he is really lacking on vacation days from work, so it looks like he won't be able to come out. :(

I've been asked quite frequently what we do when we're in PA. And honestly, I do a whole lot of nothing. We stay with my parents who live on 100 wooded acres. Their property also includes 3 ponds, a stream and part of a river! It's not an unusual sight to look out the kitchen window at night and see a black bear staring back at us! But more often than not, we see deer and turkey (there is a big bin of corn in the garage to throw out for the critters). At night we've seen possum, skunk (they are cute!), fox and a few stray cats. My parents have seen coyote walk around the house, too! One day my mom saw a sheep wander through their property. Yeah, strange!

Carena and Colt watching for wildlife:

Anyway . . . back to what we do when we're there. For the most part, I sit on the huge front porch and watch the children play. They have a swing set that gets used quite a bit. There is an ancient stone wall that runs along the driveway and the kids love walking along that. Carena's favorite activity is taking walks and overturning rocks looking for salamander and other critters. Many nights my father will make a campfire in the fire pit and we'll sit out beneath the stars chit chatting (and yes, eating marshmallows). It is serene there. It is home to me.

This year we'll be taking on a few more activities. Carena is signed up for horseback riding camp! Colt will be taking karate classes. I'm hoping to get out in the kayak this year and also plan on picking some wild blueberries. Keep your fingers crossed that it's a good blueberry season!

In addition to my parent's house, we also spend time at Bear Lake, where our ancestors have built a cottage and passed it down through the generations. Taking walks around the lake is a favorite past-time, as is blueberry picking, and row-boating and kayaking. Oh, and swimming! Although it is a bit chilly much of the time!

Bear Lake cottage - lake side:

Path around Bear Lake:

I Knew This Would Happen

When I was first debating whether to start a blog or not, I considered not doing one because, truthfully, I don't have much to write about. My life is pretty mundane and event-free. So, here I am: I Knew This Would Happen. I knew at some point I wouldn't be able to come up with anything witty and entertaining or thought-provoking. Hopefully tomorrow something amazing will happen - a bag of money left on my doorstep, maybe I'll meet someone famous, or perhaps I will be discovered (yes, as a Joe Pesci look-alike).