Hit the Road Jack

We are hitting the road tomorrow. Jack.

And I want to call everyone Jack the whole way. Just cause Silas Robertson does and he makes my sides split. So it’ll be funny if I do it too right?

I have to say, it has been really REALLY good to be in one place for several months. Is that a long time for us? Ha!

We are leaving Colorado to drive ‘round the country (part of it anyway) and visit with lots of folks that we love and share about all that has been going on and what we’re doin’ now! But then we get to come BACK to Colorado and live in the same house again. That’ll be nice. Real nice.

Just to be sure, earlier today my boy H asked me “When we come back we’re gonna live in the same house, right?” By golly Jack, yes we are!!! And I’m happy to say it’s true. I also have to say that I don’t blame him one bit for checking on that small fact. The boy hasn’t had a normal life…

As I run around the house packing and sorting and getting life in general order, I think maybe I missed packing? The last time we packed it wasn’t so fun. That incident was a little on the rushed and stressful side for my liking. But this is a month long road trip and I’m kind of looking forward to just having what I can fit in our suitcases comes bursting out of our minivan.  However, ask me again how I feel about the roadtrip after I’ve been driving through Kansas in the middle of the night with a jet lagging husband, two kiddos and a lil’  baby for twenty-four hours.

Or don’t ask me. Yeah. Better not ask me. I might have lost my positive outlook by then Jack and I’d hate to be a downer.

We’ll see.

Bring on the open road?!

Quote of the Day

This morning the windows are open, the breeze is blowing and the music is turned up during breakfast.

Sweet N looks out the windows… “I feel like the trees are dancing!”

I love it. I feel like they’re dancing too… my man comes back tonight!

Her First Art

When my kids learn to draw, they apparently perfect one picture before moving on. You can see my son’s budding art here, where he perfected his drawing of him jumping into a pool. I adored those pictures then and I adore them now.

Well, after reading ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ (interesting book if ideas are applied in moderation) I wondered if I stopped praising Sweet N for page after page of scribbles that she presented me with, would she actually start drawing something? I couple times I just said “N, you can do better than scribbles silly girl! You are three years old!” and sure enough… she did better than scribbles.

Thank you Amy Chua.

Next comes violin.

Just kidding.

This may be her very first 'actual drawing. It’s definitely much more than ‘twibbles’, as she would say.

And soon after…

People! With legs! And Hs and Ns. And I think that might be a little pink baby? Not bad!

In this collection she is clearly refining her skill and her art form.

More independent shape studies here.

And just like her brother… I get the same drawing again and again and again! And you get to see it 25 times, aren’t you lucky?!

She can always tell me exactly who these people are! And I promise everyone in her life does NOT look like an alien, contrary to what these may lead you to believe.

I wonder what it is about humans from a preschoolers perspective that makes us have necks equal to the size of our bodies (or no necks?), eyes as big as saucers and straight mouths. As if this girl never sees anyone smile?

Oh my word I love these pictures so much.

They just keeping coming. They are literally all over the house every day.

Some of them have suns in the corner. That’s nice, huh?

They also get delivered up and down the hall. Folded up and placed in envelopes if it’s a good day.

Wait! This one has arms! Coming from his/her ears? Well, it’s a start…

Oh I love my girl. What a joy it is to watch my precious child grow and learn.

Little Reminders

I run across lots of tiny reminders of where we have come from when I go about my daily life. Small leftovers. Remnants of the past. They are pretty silly really, but in any case I will share…

Cheap African pain-reliever. I always carried a bit in my purse and just finished up my last ones recently.

This is my keyboard and mouse that Mikey gave as a Christmas gift just a few days before we started packing. It has arabic script on it and I like that. And this pen is also floating around my house from the hotel that we’d go to to enjoy a coffee and the view.

Thyme I brought back in a re-purposed baking powder container. I went through baking powder like a mad woman in Africa and re-used these containers all over the place. I like that I still have one or two.

Bookmarks from regional gatherings.

My silly plastic plate that we used after almost every meal to slice and share oranges. I brought it back. It has so many memories of sitting with my family around our lil’ table.

A bottle cap from a glass soda bottle that was often served at celebrations. My kids would gather them off the dirt and sort them and play with them. They were little treasures. I just can’t bring myself to throw this last one away.

A date Mamoul cookie. I’d buy these in bulk and pack them in the kids lunches often. One snuck it’s way back hiding in a lunch cooler. Now it sits in my cabinet and I should eat it.  But I can’t.

My trusty metal cup that I used daily on that side of the globe I now use daily on this side of the globe. I’m attached.

And lastly, a note from my staff that they gave me with a gift as I was leaving.

I appreciate my little reminders…

Baby Houdini

Today after her nap my baby pulled her baby positioner out from under her bum and was chewing on it. Whaaaat?

I don’t know how she did it but she was pretty happy with herself.

The Little Things… She Rolled Over

My littlest girlie has been in training for several nights to learn how to roll from her back to her tummy. She’s been ready to roll on her own and the training paid off! She did it! Unfortunately, her faithful trainer (my Mom) was out and didn’t get to see it.

Sorry Mom, that made me sad. Why didn’t she wait for you?!

Here’s the flip!

All the way over, but stuck on that silly arm!

She worked hard to get that thing free!

She did it! Makes her Mama so proud!

Big Sis was also rejoicing. And lookin’ stinkin’ cute today, as usual.

Big brother too. He adores his baby. And I adore him.

Lil’ A done wore herself out. I flipped her back over, she kicked around some and then she had a nice snoozers right there in that spot.

It’s the little things…

Keepsakes

When my husband is gone one of the things I do to cope with life is organize. It soothes me.

So my Dad just built me two huge built-in bookshelves so that there is finally enough room to unpack all of our (read: Mikey’s) books and I am starting to get them arranged. I was able to dig out the boxes of books from the bottom of Mike’s closet (separate closets is a beautiful thing, FYI) and was looking through them (he trusts me, mostly) and you’ll NEVER guess what I found.

I would have never guessed what I found.

So if I would never guess then I really know that you’ll never guess…

Receipts.

Seems odd, right? I mean, we keep our receipts for awhile but these receipts were from 2003. November. November 15th and 16th to be exact. One O’Charley’s receipt and four gas receipts.

It was at 9:26pm that we got our check at O’Charleys Restaurant in Nashville Tennessee and then drove through the night to watch the sunrise on the shore of Savannah, Georgia. That’s a story I really should tell on this blog.

It was our improptu quickest roadtrip ever. It was the day that we knew we’d be married.

And my husband kept these receipts all those years.

He loves me.

First Crib

Today was a milestone for my baby and for ME.

I set up my daughter’s crib! This is the first crib I have ever had for my children. I am so happy to have a cute white wooden crib the third time around! My first two babes spent their entire babyhood in a pack n’ play travel bed, which was fine. But it’s nice to have a proper crib (a gift!)  with proper crib bedding (scored at a garage sale) too. The bargains make it all the sweeter…

Baby girl doesn’t have her own room. She shares our room and will for quite awhile still. Her crib has a spot right in the corner.

Lately Lil’ A has been lookin’ kinda big to me. She’s my best grower yet, to be sure. She was filling up her bassinet. But now she’s tiny again in her new bed. Glory!

Also, I love how long babies keep their little curly legs. Reminds me that she was in my womb not so long ago. Nine months all curled up inside and not even four months outside yet. No wonder she’s still curly.

She likes it. Fell asleep before 10 without a peep. And I probably won’t hear from her until 6 or 7am. Yeah… she loves her Mama and is more than kind to me at night.

Good night baby. Happy to share this ‘first crib’ milestone with you, my sweet third child!

Goodbye Tours–Our Home

For this one I hardly have words.

Goodbye dear, dear home.

He Needs Me

My man left today for two weeks in Africa. I hate seeing him go… life is just so good with him here! But I’m happy for this opportunity for him and the faces he’ll get to see.

In some ways I’m a little jealous of his trip.  But then I remember that he’ll be sleeping in a mud hut possibly shared with rats and snakes and then I’m a little less jealous. But then I think of a dear friend or two or fifteen that I’d love to visit with and I’m a little jealous again. And then I think of the food that will be served to him and I’m once again a little less jealous. It’s a cycle, obviously.

Aaaanyway, I usually help him pack. But yesterday was super busy and there wasn’t much time. I did the laundry and then threw some toiletries on his half of the bed and that was about the extent of my involvement. He did his packing at who-knows-what-awful-hour-of-the-night last night and I was snoozin’ up a storm so I missed it.

And what happened when I missed it? Serves him right I suppose for his procrastination…

The man forgot to pack a jacket. So he’s quite possibly freeeezing on his transatlantic flight right now and being cold on an airplane is such an awful form of torture that I could just cry if I think about it too much. I want him to be comfortable and cozy warm in a fleece.

He also forgot a flashlight. So when he is lying down to sleep in his mud hut and hears rustling under his bed he will be fumbling with matches and a propane lantern instead of flicking the button on a nice LED flashlight. Ack! I can hardly stand it.

And he forgot deodorant. Which I assure him isn’t a problem because I have never ever known him to be a stinky man with or without deodorant. That one doesn’t worry me like the other two. But generally I think a western man feels better about himself if able to apply deodorant in the morning when in Africa in the summer. On the other hand, it is Africa and he may be the only one for a hundred miles that uses the stuff so I think it’ll be okay.

I just hope he gets a jacket en-route. And a flashlight.

If not for his sake, at least for mine! I hate the thoughts…

So that is what happens when the man packs without me. He obviously needs me in his life.

I love him so. Safe travels babe.

Personal Translator

My kids spend a lot of time together. And my older girlie is three and a half and talks a LOT. A lot a lot.

Most of the time we can understand her. We are her parents after all and we listen to her a lot! But sometimes we just don’t quite understand a word or two here and there of what she is trying to say. SO, if we are struggling to understand, we just ask her older brother, her personal translator, and he can tell us every time what she is saying.

He knows her so well. He understands her so well.

And I love it.

Her Nicknames

There are quite a few names we call our lil’ girlie. What is it about this age that keeps the made-up, silly, endearing names just flow off the tongue? I dunno?! But I kinda love it…

Squeakers

Scooter

Frog Legs

Pirate Eye

Squirmy Worm

Kicker Legs

Peanut

Sugar Butt

Snorters

Sweat Pea McGee

And the one that stuck more than all the rest… Boo Boo Baby.

You are so loved Lil’ A!

How Rude

My lil’ girlie sticks her tongue out at me all day long.

It’s her new favorite thing.

At some point this behavior becomes rude…

…but right now she’s just darn cute.