They have each other

I have always prayed that my children remain close as they grow up. I have thought about how perhaps I am TOO close to my kids in some ways as we get along very well. Well, duh.......that is not so bad. My kids know how to party with each other. They also actually usually like each other. The boys went to visit Anna in the spring and it was so nice to see how happy they all were in the pictures they took (I wasn't there). My older kids take remarkable care of the younger ones and talk to them like they are human and not just annoying little siblings. I suppose I can hold out hope that they will continue to get along as they grow up and go their separate ways. I have the oddest conversations with them. We talk about the younger kids endearing qualities and things seem to strike us funny at similar times. Perhaps we are too easily amused. I have worried we are too close too at times like I said before so obviously this is not all bad. My friends growing up were almost always outside of my family so perhaps I wish my kids spent time more with other people their age. I'm just thinking out loud here so this is not pointed at anyone locally - take heart - this is just something I have observed about this bunch of kids of mine. I'm just puzzling out what is different about their child hood. I did love having girls to talk with and commiserate with as a young person and then the guys...........well, I just got along with them and did not have lots of deep conversations with them. I guess facebook sort of does this for them and my kids have made some hilarious, close friendships there. Friendships don't have any particular recipe so I'm grateful for the times they have with other kids no matter how it happens. It doesn't matter where I am going with the kids, we always have a great time. Sure there are the serious times too but usually we are laughing. So..........I am thankful for all of these things. It is good.

Balancing act

I have totally been feeling like a juggler on the home front. Yes, my kids are truly the most helpful kids a mom or dad could ask for but they also have a life and should have opportunity to spend time with friends etc. I do think people assume that I can not spare them at home so do not invite them to do things very often but of course that is not true either. I CAN spare them and get a little sad that they don't seem to have much friend interaction. I'm not sure what I can do to help in that department. I feel like the summer is going to flit by and it disturbs me a little that yet another summer will be remembered for all the work we did at home. "We" is everyone not just the Mom and Dad. We will most likely quit the fair after this summer especially where animals are concerned so MAYBE next summer can be a little more free to have fun together as a family or with friends. I can start to feel a little panicked for being the glue to keep everything together and running as smoothly as possible but still take things one day at a time.

Later this month is my parent's 50th anniversary so will be at least getting together for a dinner out. That should be nice.

My brother has worked for about eight years on a wooden boat which he has made in his garage. He has invited us to the launching of the boat near Chicago so will have to decide if we are all going or just some of us. At that point I will be in my ninth month so may keep the youngest kids home while Charley goes with the older kids. I hope someone will take pictures though.

My dad and Charley's dad played dueling little strokes in the last two weeks. They are both fine but have had medication alterations. Being eighty something is tricky. We need to get to Illinois for a visit to Charley's parents so will have to work that out. Perhaps he and Anna can go with a few of the kids when she plays in Chesterton in a few weeks.

I personally am feeling fine in the pregnancy department and sort of forget that is even a factor. I'm grateful that things have settled down in the false labor department. I SO want to get SO much done in the house that I have to remind myself and Charley that the reason I might be tired might have something to do with being close to baby time. Every moment seems busy with getting stuff done so down time is appreciated but few and far between.

Purging

I am TOTALLY ruthless now thanks to a little help from the daughter dear. I suppose someone could criticize such ruthlessness but it is completely true that I am no different than my children. I wear my favorite clothes A LOT and then the clothes that might work once in a while just........sit there in the closet and take up space. I usually am weeding through those clothes to find the same clothes that I wear all the time anyway. Same as the kids...........Benjamin, haven't you had that same shirt on for four days???? Okay, I'm not that bad but there is a quick turn around with the laundry.

Then there is 'stuff' and stupid papers. Today you can all beam at me as I threw away.......are you ready????? The ridiculous notebooks from "Marriage Encounter" which I would NOT want my children to find when I am dead AND have no intention of ever reading again and I seriously doubt the hubby will either. No I did not consult him. What does one write at one of those conferences ANYWAY?????? Nothing that we will cuddle up on the couch and read again together someday. I threw away one of my diaries from my childhood too as it only contained the most selfish, weird information anyway. Anne Franck I am not!!!! No poetic remembrances either. Not even anything deep!

The hard part is coming in the next few days. The unorganized, piles of papers MUST be tackled. We will have to have a bonfire if it ever stops raining to burn all the bank statements from the 90's on. How about all those old Sunday School materials which might be useful someday (NOT) or........all the kids memorabilia which guilts me in the containers. I will be the old woman in the nursing home with the baby pictures lined up to finally put in albums. Someday........

And so the decluttering continues. There are only so many weeks left. I am hoping to chase my husband with the hockey stick or some of the trim boards in the hallway, to get the trim up on our bedroom walls, put fresh paint on and get rid of several pieces of furniture. The old broken furniture HAS to go!!!!

I still do not want anyone to give us anything new either. Or at least it would be nice if some discretion is used and NO I can NOT be the clearing house for other people's clothes they can not use anymore. Sorry.......sounds mean but I really can not handle it. I do know some great people that go to the Seminary every once in a while so they clothes can just go directly there......

Daily summer life

I think I have been home long enough from vacation to tackle the yard and more decluttering. When I am sitting around I can just SEE the junk that needs to leave. I find it easier to mow the lawn though than get through the junk around here. Junk is overwhelming. My brain has been doing a juggling act trying to help the kids balance garden work, work their dad wants done and then keeping up with the house and food. The older kids still have math to finish up so that has to squeeze in someplace. Sigh. At least it is not humid and yucky out today so I feel like I can focus on some of these things myself.

Anna found a whole bunch of pictures from when she and Erik were toddlers. Very interesting. We were sorting some of the girls clothes this morning so the clothes we had just gone through were in these pictures. My kids need NOTHING!!!! Neither do I really. As many times as I have seen stuff wrecked I continue to hope that we can pare down Christmas AGAIN so we don't start the vicious cycle over again.

Time to go do some more laundry and fight the good fight.

Count down

I've started to slow down in stores and ponder tiny onesies with no stains on them and how small they are. Baby is not SO far off. Between now and then (about six weeks) the boys have a Scout camp out, Boy Scout camp itself, the 4H Fair (I think we are not doing this again after this year), Anna has Higher Things, and then.......somewhere around that time is baby time. In between these events we want to throw out and give away as many things as we can lay our hands on. So far so good. The amount of garbage we have found laying around in the kids rooms is......well.......is.....remarkable. We now have a plethora of bowls and silver ware safely back where they belong.

I have also very recently been remembering that after other babies have been born I felt so 'mobile' afterwards that it was incredible. Wow. I am feeling pretty immobile now but for some odd reason can still walk behind the lawn mower. The thought of going down the steps to get something from the freezer is far harder to do for some reason.

Stefan and Ingrid have been charming my socks off (it is summer so that is not so hard). Stefan talks my ears off and Ingrid mimics him and her vocabulary is booming! She has been saying the funniest things and even is beginning to dress herself AND the most amazing ability she has observed and acquired is foraging in the kitchen. Amazing. This must mean I don't feed her enough? Or she has a healthy appetite.

Teaching Anna to drive has been way too much fun. We have covered lots of bases with little mishap. We need to hit in town driving a little harder but she has learned A LOT in a short amount of time. We even have a driving cd with spy music she made special for these lessons. I started instructing Charley how to drive Friday night..........he looked at me oddly which meant "no thank you".

Many interesting things going on..........need to turn my lame computer off. But.....got a little update going there.

Anna home

Clearly she is ecstatic to be home. She spent the morning trying to make some more room in her room by throwing things out and asking where to put stuff that she won't need till the fall. Ingrid was delighted to have her home listening to Sesame Street on Anna's laptop. It was sweet. Stefan announced to Anna that he could burp. Cool.

I am tired in the extreme. Muddling through people's math and grammar lessons and oh they love it. I can tell. I am going to become wicked over this whole avoid grammar and math thing. School happens.

Now I need to leave to go get shot. Can't wait. I should also stop and pick up some groceries but only what we have to have as I want the family to eat down the freezer. I will try not to fall asleep on the way to and from seeing the nurse......exciting times as usual.

Too funny......couldn't find my blog

A friend asked for the link to my blog and I couldn't even find it. I suppose the computer being out of commission did that but I figured it out.

Garden Talk is in full swing which is always fun and entertaining. Perhaps I will begin blogging again but perhaps no one will read it since I haven't done this in so long anyway so......it will be a diary of sorts.

Garden......onions, garlic, broccoli, potatoes, lettuce, spinach planted. Check. Need some rain or potatoes are not going to amount to anything. Exciting times. It is supposed to freeze this weekend so have hesitated to plant anything else from seed. So far so good.

I have lost track of how many weeks are theoretically left till bambino. Eleven? Someone mentioned labor and delivery the other day and my brain went "Oh yeah, that." Hmmmm......prayers for upcoming mom and said delivery are always a jolt to the system. Of course praying that all goes well or least as smoothly as Ingrid came. It could be a bad sign it hasn't been on the mind.......just kidding.

Thought of a few possible middle names today. (Yes....kidding) They could be "What" or "I forgot". So let's say my middle name was "What"....it would be Karin Lisa I Forgot Horner. Has a nice ring to it. I told Charley these possibilities and he has thought up a few more. How about "Time For Dinner"?

School and summer are a challenge. The mere fact that many have avoided their school responsibilities too much just leads to me not knowing what to do with them. I did remind them they have much to be thankful for and we all need to work together on what we simply are given to do. Silence on kids part. It is beautiful outside, they are addicted to playing and it is easier to avoid both school work and mom than do what they need to do. Sigh. Mean old mom.

Anna comes home late tonight or very early in the morning. I am grateful Charley went to fetch her. He is a much more efficient driver and simply moving stuff for him is obviously more efficient than if I were to do it. The summer will be full and interesting I am sure. I know Anna will be glad to be home and to have home cooked meals etc. for awhile.

I could write more but a book is calling my name and hopefully sleep comes soon. Who knows. I may keep this up a little more.

Of course

Stefan pressed the limits this morning and thanks be to God for prelaid plans of dh magically appearing at the communion rail this morning. Not a flinch from dear 3 year old son. I personally was tired and spent and went home from Bible class to tackle life overwhelming. I needed that. Sigh. Ingrid is quietly napping her nose running self and a little progress has been made in the house. This is good. I am not so good at chit chat when I am overwhelmed. There will be many days to come for chit chat so losing one morning in Bible class to find the kitchen counter and feel less overwhelmed is a good thing.

Bedtime with the little people

This is not a topic which is extremely original but in our many trips to church it is glaringly obvious to me that some of my little people have some kinks to work out in their ability to sit still during the service or if they REALLY should be paying attention and participating, not just hanging around their mother's neck or drawing weird pictures. It occurred to me to spend some time at the end of day with them discussing some of these kinks with them. It is really the only time of the day when I have only their attention and I am a firm believer in not underestimating a child's ability to understand what is being explained to them.

Stefan, 3, has been in the habit of beating the pastor's hands off his head when given a blessing. This is what we discussed last night and there was a marked improvement in his behavior at the rail this morning. I simply explained what Pastor was doing to him and discussed why he shouldn't be beating him away. Then, I had a little chat with him about holy communion and how someday he can participate in that way. He listened. I intend to KEEP talking to him about this so he better understands what is happening. Why would I NOT talk to him? Because he is three? He is really quite bright and from other conversation he obviously knows what is happening in other cases so why not what is happening at church. I also figure that at bedtime before prayers is very good time to talk with him seeing as he can then fall asleep thinking about that.

Benjamin, 7, has just fallen into some bad habits during the service which weren't there when he was four. Of course I will chat that out with him. Bedtime has become 'work on your catechism' memory work with mom time too. I am sure it won't happen every night but it too seems an appropriate time to do so even he hears it earlier in the day. I struggle to find time with the little people but this is a way I would love to spend time with them.

If Stefan is drug out of the sanctuary screaming next week I will not see these thoughts as failure. Persevere! Ingrid gets some similar chats. Erik knew much of the Lord's Prayer at less than two so why can't Ingrid hear and understand too.

That is all.........

Knitting and other such

I have not blogged in a while but will attempt an update. I am watching Julie and Julia right at the moment, with the boys. Hmmmm......it is ok. I think I am annoyed they paired the younger actor from "The Devil Wears Prada" with Meryl Streep as husband and wife. A little weird. Will have to check Julia Child's real history to see if she married someone 20 years younger than her.

Knitting........I MUST finish a project. There is a little dress I desperately want to finish for Ingrid before the next baby is born. If I knew it was a boy or girl, I would finish a few other projects which the new little tyke could use. Hopefully my someday grandchildren will get something completed from me. I also have a baby afghan I would love to finish as it is very cute. Focusing is not my forte the last few years in this department.

I am otherwise dreaming of the garden and perhaps getting my fantasy of raised beds fulfilled and I will splurge for the plastic to prevent the weeds and maybe have something attractive to greet people when they come through the gate.

School is struggling along and helping my older kids especially to keep their focus and complete their math and science while the sun is warming things up and tempting everyone to give up, is a challenge. Keeping up is a little wearying but am trying. I think my main role is keeping the little people out of their hair as much as possible so maybe they can focus.

My bees are all dead so need to figure that all out but the kind of bees that come in 'packages' are not the same size as my hive equipment so again.........problem solving. I think I will put off writing an email about that one till tomorrow. Putting that much effort into an email about bees needs a good night sleep and a cup of coffee.

Perhaps I will go buy a friend some flowers tomorrow. She could use some. Sigh. Chocolate might be a good plan too.