Improvising

If we had had the extra cash and the extra space, we may have entertained the idea of putting in a slide. But it seems the boys can get around that and improvise just fine.

And then Hero Daddy comes out...

...and has an even better plan.

Do you see anything missing from the playground?

Right, the slide.

Pool Fun

My little Princess has turned into a bug...a pool bug! She decided she wanted to try one of her sibling's goggles. As delicate as she likes to pretend to be, I thought the goggles would pinch her face and we'd end up with a big poolside meltdown. However, once they were on, she refused to take them off, and...they actually boosted her confidence in the water! She's now enjoying putting her face in the water and even doing some paddling minus the ring with only her wings. We might have all 4 swimming by the end of the summer!

Jacob has been swimming now for about a week and is doing great!

Sea Monster!

OK, so I'm not a contender...

Yep. Definitely not getting the Mom of the Year Award after today. And I can't say I'm particularly proud of what I did. However, I did very much enjoy my relaxing hour all to myself. We had school today--we're making up for the couple of weeks I took off when I was preparing the house to sit on the market, generating absolutely no interest. We concluded our day by beginning a unit on healthy eating and the food pyramid. I explained each part of the pyramid to them, ending with the straight facts on good fats and bad fats and, of course, sugar. Following this, our discussion turned to exercise and the importance of daily activity like swimming and riding our bikes.

After school was over, I had a brilliant idea. Despite the sermon I had just delivered about junk food and exercise, I promptly bribed rewarded them with popcorn, candy, and a movie. What's worse, when they were all comfortably settled, popcorn in one hand and candy in the other, eyes glued to the screen, I carried out the rest of my master plan: I snuck out to the pool ALL BY MYSELF! And, oh, it was glorious! Lying there on my raft on the quiet water, disturbed only by the gentle ripples produced by the jets; the sound of the peaceful breeze interrupted only by the melodious songs of a multitude of birds, tunes I have never noticed over the squealing, shouting, and bickering of 4 children.

I knew it couldn't last for long, but I savored every moment of it and was lost in the rays of the sunlight. Just as I was drifting off, a loud rapping noise awakened me from my reverie. The knocking came from the window in the upstairs media room, a room which, unfortunately for me, overlooks the pool. I had been discovered. And it wasn't but a few moments until the movie was forgotten and 4 children were piling on top of me in the pool, turning my placid calm into delightful chaos.

So since I'm not vying for any super mom awards, the evil mama in me had to pause to pose this one question: Is this what it would be like if all the children were in school? I mean, I know they would be on vacation right now, but would my Mays and Augusts consist of hours of lazing around the pool ALL BY MYSELF. Not having to bribe reward. Not having to hide. Just me? Hmmm....On this I shall have to ponder!

Tag Team

I know every parent thinks they have the cutest, brightest, best kids in the world. But I really do. Yesterday I reluctantly promised the kids a pool day. Reluctantly because it's still a little chilly. I did finally make it in up to my waist, but I didn't last for long. So that left 4 children in the pool with me lifeguarding. I'm not sure how it came up, but Alex decided she wanted to teach Jacob how to swim. I watched with interest for over an hour as Alex very patiently worked with Jacob! "Watch me, Jacob, then you try." "First try it out of the water, then get in and give it a try." "You're OK. I'm right here if you need me." "Here, grab my hands. I've got you."

While Alex was working with Jacob, Audrey was floating around in her wings and ring. Michael decided to take her under his wing by leading her around, each of them holding on to the end of a noodle. She just ate up the attention from her big brother, and he was so gentle as he took her on an imaginary trip and communicated with her. " Now we're going to just pull over here for some gas, OK?" "Alright, all filled up. Let's go!"

It was so sweet to watch all four of them. Michael shone as a sweet big brother. Alex did such a great job and was a wonderful teacher. And...Jacob learned a lot! He's so close to swimming now and will venture into the deep end with just his wings rather than his wings AND his floatie ring. At one point, Alex asked me if we could go out for ice cream once Jacob has learned to swim. I said of course we could, or maybe we could even go to Chuck E. Cheese. That incentive got them so excited, I'm quite sure they're going to be begging for another pool day today.

If we don't sell the house...

The kids are a lot more warm-blooded than I. That's why they were able to dive into a 74 degree pool on an 80 degree overcast day. I watched from the patio. If we don't sell the house, we're putting in a heater!

The boy moves too quickly to get a focused picture of him!

"If we don't sell the house." That's been the quote of the day around here. If we don't sell the house, let's put in some shrubs there. If we don't sell the house, let's paint this. If we don't sell the house, let's move that here. With the housing market down, we aren't holding our breath that we're going to sell this house.

If we don't sell the house, we will have the opportunity to enjoy more perfect days like today: splashing in the pool and then lunch out on the patio...featuring ribs from the grill, sweet potato fries and regular fries, baked beans, corn salad. You can't ask for time more well-spent with the family.

Of course, if we DO sell the house, there will be new moments to capture, new perfect days to create with each other. And if we DO sell the house, the best thing is that the only really important things from our current residence will move with us: one sweet, cuddly, adorable princess; one tender-hearted, affectionate, sweet-loving boy, one mischievous engineer with a fantastic sense of humor; one compassionate, thoughtful academic; and the love of my life who also happens to the be the gourmet chef of this household!

So whether we do or don't sell the house, the things that really matter are known. And together.

Mother Nature and Pool Parties

"So, you're having a pool party, eh?" Mother Nature asks with a mischievous laugh and a twinkle in her eye. Weather-wise yesterday began beautifully. And I had a real sunny spot at church. I have mentioned that still, even 11 years away from my teaching days, I run into students. While parents don't have favorites, I'm here to tell you that teachers do. Chris was one of my favorites. Well, there he was at my church yesterday! All grown up, married, and working in youth ministry with our Youth Pastor! It was fun to see him.

The sun continued to shine yesterday right up until about an hour and a half before our small group was to arrive for a pool party. I looked at the weather radar after the storm began and wouldn't you know that not a speck of green or red covered the whole state except for one long band right over us!! Of course! It rained for a couple of hours and stayed gloomy the remainder of the day. When the guests arrived, the kids naturally cared little about the weather and enjoyed the pool in spite of it. We ended up having a great evening of food, fun, and fellowship. (Take that, Mother Nature!)

Today is supposed to bring another pool party, this one with my homeschool group. However, it's gloomy once more. Add that to the fact that I am not sleeping because of my back, and I think we're going to opt to spend an hour at my new Dr. Quack's office rather than at the pool. I'm guessing as soon as I make that call to cancel our RSVP at the pool party, Mother Nature will gently blow the clouds away. Just to tease me of course.

Enough Visitors. Really.

This little guy whom we found enjoying the pool was admittedly very cute. But my first question was, "Where's his mama?" He arrived after a storm, so I'm not sure if he was blown in or came of his own volition, but there he was very competently swimming in our pool.

I grew up on the Dark Continent, so I've seen my share of snakes and even come face-to-face with a cobra, but I really don't like them in my backyard where my kids play! I guess this drought is driving them to the pool and to the dog's water dish. I was pleased to note this little guy was very bashful. Everytime I tried to photographically capture his lithe little reptilian frame from the front, he would dive way under and take off...fast! Mark caught him no problem with the net, though.

I think I found him on the internet under Brown Water Snake, a harmless snake common in this area and often confused with the poisonous Water Mocassin. In my online reading, I came across many authors who implored the readers to stop misunderstanding and mistreating our reptilian friends and killing them needlessly. You know what? They're snakes! I don't want them in my yard. I don't want them around my children. If it weren't for one very infamous snake and one very luscious garden...well, you know the story. And I'll tell you...as pertaining to this cute little guy, I was not very understanding and, upon my request, the Valiant Snakekiller mistreated him to his death.

A Perfect Day

What a great day it was! A day to honor an amazing husband, the father of 4 wonderful kids! A perfect family day. We attended the early service at church and enjoyed the Pastor's fun extras for the men in the congregation (including a basketball shoot-out for coveted spots in the "Man Zone" seats up front). After church we enjoyed some Chinese cuisine (Mark's favorite) and then returned home.

The pool is all finished now, and we have our little outdoor paradise all set up. The landscapers finished yesterday, so our backyard is entirely sodded now. The weather was perfect for the pool this afternoon, and we simply enjoyed hanging out together. The three older ones, I think, will be swimming on their own in a week or two. Alex and Michael actually were swimming underwater in the shallow end this afternoon; they just didn't know it. Alex came up for air after swimming across one section, and I said, "Alex, you do know you just swam, right?" Her face lit up, and she said, "I did??! Let me try again." Then of course Michael had to compete and he too swam. So now it's just a matter of confidence before the two of them will be gliding around the deep end free of floaties.

My parents were also over, so we were able to honor my dad on his day. A Father's Day cake provided a delicious mid-afternoon snack. And then it was dinner outside again. Seems as though we'll be living outside a lot now...I've promised the kids breakfast out there tomorrow morning, and they all kept repeating, "I can't wait until tomorrow morning so we can have breakfast outside!" (It doesn't take much, does it??) Hopefully, tomorrow will be another perfect day!

60% Chance of Rain

I knew it. I just knew it. For days, for weeks, for months, there has been nary a drop of rain. They're calling it a drought. There have been watering bans, fire bans, firework bans. Produce prices are going up because of the drought.

But, as soon as the pool is complete...the skies open up and let loose. The pool was finished a couple of days ago and since then, we have had daily thunderstorms. One day we even had hail--nothing like filling the already-too-cold-for-wimpy-Katy pool with little ice cubes!

I do have to admit that it has been a blessing to have nice weather for the building of the pool (and yes I realize the selfishness of that statement since there really truly has been a drought that has negatively affected so many), and honestly it has cleared up and turned out to be a nice day. I just enjoy the irony of seeing the rain fall the moment the pool is complete. But, really, I've had enough entertainment from life's little ironies; I really want to enjoy my pool now!

Puddle Jumping

We had a great time this afternoon breaking in the pool. We ran the hose all night long and during church, so we had a fairly large puddle when we returned home. The kids had such a good time playing and splashing around in the shallow water that I commented to Mark that they'll probably feel a little let down once it's completely filled and consequently deeper. We probably won't play in our puddle anymore until we get the water truck in to finish the job: because it's not deep enough, the filter isn't on, so the water is a little cloudy, and I'm not sure the plaster remnants are the best thing for the kids to be accidentally digesting. Hopefully, the filling will be complete by Tuesday.

We have a busy week ahead of us, so there's not a whole lot of time for swimming anyway. This is VBS week, and we head to "Game Day Central" tomorrow. I quite possibly will be MIA for the next few days. Despite the fact that VBS only lasts for 4 1/2 hours, that 4 1/2 hours straight with Kindergarteners is exhausting. In addition, I feel mightily unprepared this year. I enjoy VBS and very willingly took on the lead Bible Study Teacher role for the second year in a row. I'm just not as organized this year as usual, so for example, the room decorating this evening took forever and I ended up calling in the reinforcements (ie: Mark and the little ones) to help. Alex was my big helper the entire time. We enjoyed a little girl time and stopped for a little treat on the way to church (don't tell the boys!), and she was such a huge help to me.

In addition to VBS, I'm going to try to sneak in a Girls' Night Out or two this week. Mark generally tries to be here for the week of VBS to help me get out the door with the tribe at 8:15 in the morning as well as be home in the event that we have a sick child; this way my teaching isn't interrupted. So...with him home, it's also a perfect week to reconnect with some friends. Mark will be busy at home as well as the landscaper is scheduled to put in our sod and irrigation system among other things.

Looks like we started a new week with a splash, and now we're ready to dive in. I just hope we can stay afloat!

Motley Crew

How many men does it take to plaster a 16x28 ft. pool? Apparently about the same number as it took to frame this 2-story 3300 sq. ft. home! The crew of about 10 descended on our house this morning at 7:30. I could feign irritability at their early arrival, but since the princess had already been awake for an hour, it's all good. They were supposed to come yesterday, but the particular plaster material we ordered didn't come in on time, so I was actually pleasantly surprised to see them on a Saturday.

These are not the normal pool guys we've been dealing with up to this point. Our pool guy subs out two parts of the whole job, and plaster is one of them. This was a rather motley crew: about half of them were clean-cut Hispanics sporting bling around their necks. The other half looked like they dropped in from Woodstock: long hair in ponytails, long beards, bandanas. The boys had a few comments: "Daddy, that man is naked," commented one boy. He wasn't really naked, just shirtless, although he would have been a little easier on the eyes had he pulled his pants up a tad...and put on a shirt. Case in point: Boy #2 added, "And he has a baby in his belly." I'm guessing that if the man really does have a baby in his belly, the baby's name will be Budweiser.

We went out for awhile and came back to find the regular pool guys here completing the final acid wash. This is the last step before we get to the hard part: filling the pool. Yes, I said that filling the pool with water is the hard part. We're on a well, so we can't just run the hose for hours or we might: A) Break the well pump or B) Run the well dry. So...we're running the hose a couple of hours at a time, giving it a break, and then resuming Operation Fill the Pool. We are also having a water truck come in on Tuesday to give us a little help. Of course the water truck not only costs extra, but the guy is also worried about cracking our driveway. We've already had concrete trucks up here, though, so what damage can a water truck do? Anyway, we've promised the kids that they'll be able to splash in the overgrown puddle we will have accumulated by tomorrow after church.

Soon...very soon we can have some relief from this horrible Georgia humidity! Even our Motley Crew commented on the heat this morning, and they're used to working in it!

HGTV at Our House

As you know, we've had a little construction going on in our backyard for the past few weeks. What you might not know is that several weeks ago, Mark and I were seriously considering selling our house. Because we built the house ourselves, there is a lot of equity in it already after just two years. We thought it might be a good idea to sell and use that equity to pay down a new house. We had a couple of agents in to look at the house and we even went out to see what is "out there." We weren't all that impressed with what is out there, so we changed our mind and decided to fix up our humble abode here on Cox Dr.. So, as we have worked hard over the last few weeks to make our house our own little paradise, we have essentially gone from "Designed to Sell" to "Designed to Stay."

I mentioned in a past post that I'm not a process person, and I stand by what I said. I want the dirt to be gone. I want the various boxes of supplies and tools to be gone. I want to be able to close my gate again. I want to be on my own schedule instead of someone else's. And I want to be able to freely use my bathroom again without fearing that a worker will be peering in at me from the backyard. While I like hard workers, the other morning I heard them outside my bedroom window before I had even gotten out of bed and dressed yet. Granted, I had chosen to sleep in on that particular morning, but it will be nice to wake up to the sounds of birds rather than Spanish and the rattling of tools.

The kids, of course, don't mind it all; it's something different and out of routine, not to mention the fact that they know they'll eventually have a pool out of all of this (the hope I hang on to as well). This past week has probably been the most interesting for them. Monday the pool guys came and put in the concrete around the pool. It's always exciting to watch the concrete shoot in from the hose and then watch the men smooth it all out. Yesterday they came back with a saw to cut grooves into the hardened cement.

The day turned out to be a noisy one because the "concrete sawers" tag-teamed the landscapers who came to cut down 7 trees. Now this was entertainment for the whole family! We all enjoyed sitting at the window watching these trees being taken out, quite quickly I might add. The kids really got a kick out of the whole event when the guy had to shimmy up the tallest tree with his belt harness and spikey shoes in order to gradually cut it down.

Our yard looks enormous to us this morning with all of those trees out. It's brighter too with the new sunshiny spots as well as the reflection of the sun on the new concrete. The pool is just about finished, and clearly you can see that we have a little ways to go still with the landscaping, but we're just about "Designed to Stay!" Once we're finished, HGTV, eat your heart out!

A Before and After: