Pirate Trivia

I keep forgetting to tell you this funny Allison story:

About a week ago Ed went into Allison's room in the morning to get her up for breakfast. She was just waking up and the first thing she said to Ed was: "Daddy, pirates sleep with one eye open. That's kind of tricky."

We don't know what prompted this bit of pirate trivia but she felt inclined to clue us in with her first words of the day. The child sure does make us smile!

This and That

Kind of a low key week. Becky had b-ball camp all week in the morning. Katie had a couple of sleepovers and they had friends over to swim. Mostly we hung around the house, swam, and ate ice cream. Not a bad way to spend the day...

I love this picture of the goose family. The babies are so fuzzy. We saw them Father's Day where we went fishing. So cute.

This is the view all around Onota Lake. As you can see, the water was pretty choppy but it was warm and sunny, and oh so pretty.

We went strawberry picking last week. The berries were SO juicy and red - YUM! We picked about 11 pounds, then came home and made two dozen jars of freezer jam. Katie was so helpful making the jam. She did all the chopping and stirred the pectin on the stove. It was nice to spend time with her that way. Here's some pics from the Strawberry Field.

I tried out a mom trick I read about a long time ago. Yesterday, the house needed to be dusted. I figured that since my little dumplings were home maybe they could help. I dread asking them to do that kind of thing because I'm usually met with lots of hemming and hawing. BUT, when I explained that there were coins hidden among the furniture to be dusted it seemed to be just the incentive to WANT to help. I hid quarters under lamps, behind picture frames, between photo albums, on top of shelves. I even got Allison involved by placing coins on TOP of the baseboards so she could 'find' them while she wiped the baseboards down. They were actually asking for more rooms to dust! So, I got some help, they got some cash, and I think we all made out pretty well!

Next week is pretty busy for us. I'm not sure I'll be posting much but I'll try. We'll have house guests from tomorrow until next weekend. I'm looking forward to visiting. My parents are coming down. It will be good to see my mom. She seems to be doing well. I'll get to see for myself that she's getting better and stronger. Then my brother in law and his family; then 'my friend since fourth grade' and her family. Should be a fun week!

I'm having trouble finding time to do my writing work. I think we need to work on some sort of routine that includes the girls having some quiet time and me doing my writing stuff. When I think about it, the girls really do spend some quiet time in their rooms already BUT instead of working on my writing work I'm doing OTHER stuff like laundry or surfing the web or countless other things that really could wait! SO. Perhaps I need to be a little more disciplined in using the time I have to do what I NEED to do. My next assignment is due Aug. 3. I really need to get it done before we head to Sebago Lake at the end of July. That shouldn't be any problem if I just buckle down and DO it!!

If I don't post before hand, HAPPY FOURTH!

A Boating Day

What a beautiful weekend to be out on the lake. We took Lucy with us. I don't think she'd ever been on a boat before. She didn't HATE it but she seemed a little unsure of the whole thing. At one point she seemed to be enjoying herself but overall I think she could take it or leave it. I just wanted to post some of the pics we took.

It's supposed to be Hot and Humid this week. YAY! Can you believe next week is Fourth of July?! I love the 4th. We'll do what we did last year...parade, baseball game, fireworks. This year Ed's brother and his family will be here so that will make it even more fun.

Rebecca is doing basketball camp this week in the morning. I'm so proud of her. She was so OKAY when I dropped her off and left. Those of you who've know Becky for any length of time know how difficult it's been for her to be independent and away from me. She used to cry and carry on and it was very hard for both of us. Even at the beginning of the school year she insisted that I walk her to her class and she was a little weepy. It seems we've turned a corner. I guess it's proof that those difficulties that we think will plague us and our children indefinitely really do work themselves out.

Fishing

We went fishing on Father's Day. Katie got right into it. She almost worked up the courage to grab the fish and take the hook out but she couldn't quite do it. I don't blame her. I think she caught four or five fish. Becky was not impressed with fishing. She didn't like the fish to be too close to her and she found the whole thing kind of boring. Allison spent the afternoon wading in the water finding shells. She never fished. Ed was enjoying every minute. He caught like six fish and I caught one. The weather was beautiful so it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Here's Katie and one of her fishes.
Notice Becky isn't getting too close.
I had to post this picture of Allison super star! She's raring to go at her soccer game.

Just Stuff

My mom is continuing to get better. She sounds great on the phone! Thank you to all of you who have called or e-mailed me to let me know you're thinking about our family. It means more than you know.

Today is the last time this school year that Allison and I will go to lunch and recess with Becky. The school principal is retiring and Allison will miss him next year. Hopefully our new principal is as friendly to her as this principal has been. She made him a packet of different pictures she drew or colored. I hesitate to admit this, but I think I will miss him too.

Kind of cloudy, a little bit cool, and VERY muggy today. Yesterday was in the 80's with lots of humidity - my kind of weather. Today is okay. Supposed to be nice again by the weekend, that's when it counts anyway while the kids are in school at least.

Katie has tryouts for fall travel soccer this week. Can you believe that? Her last game for the spring was last weekend and already they're trying out for fall. She'll move up to the Under 14 team where the field is a little bigger, the soccer ball is bigger, and more players are on the field at once. She's ready. I hope she does well. If she makes the team I'm sure they'll be practicing all summer....

In Rebecca's class at school they each get to be the helper of the day periodically. When they are the helper they get to do a sort of show and tell. Beck was the helper on Monday and she wanted to bring in one of the stories I've written. That's so funny to me. I hemmed and hawed and told her she should bring something else but she insisted. I asked why she wanted to bring a story and she said it was because she told her friends that I was writing stories and now she wanted to show them one. Fine, I gave her one to bring in. Funny how excited she was to share it with her class. I was apprehensive to let actual children (other than my own) hear a story I've written let alone the teacher! It made me a little nervous. However, I guess the story got rave reviews and Becky's teacher used it as a teaching aide for their writing exercise that day. Interesting...

I'm supposed to be organizing Allison's closet right now. I went for a LONG walk with Lucy and then I decided to do this, now I need to get upstairs and get to work.

Our Unexpected Weekend

What an unexpected weekend we had. My mom had a heart attack on Thursday morning. Can you believe that? She's 53 years old. She went to the hospital with chest pain but it seemed to take awhile before they actually confirmed that she did in fact have a heart attack. After the docs decided she may have a blockage they sent her to Maine Med to be checked out there. Apparently Maine Med has THE BEST heart facility in New England, anyway, so she was in excellent hands there. They did put in two stents to open up the blocked artery. As test results trickled in it was determined that she did have an attack and some heart damage. Fortunately my mom is in good shape and already watches her diet and she excersises so her recovery will be much easier than someone who has a ton of weight to loose and lots of lifestyle changes to make. She's doing amazingly well and actually went home today, praise God!

I finished the antibiotic for my strep throat on Tuesday morning, YAY! Thursday night I got another sore throat. By Friday night I'd had it and went to the ER for a quick strep test -- it was POSITIVE! So another round of meds! Except this time my meds can't be any form of penicillin. The itchy red rash all over my body seems to indicate that I'm allergic to penicillin! Never had any trouble before! Fun! I will suffer with this obnoxious itchiness until the Amoxicillin is out of my system - great.

So. Now I'm off to unpack and throw in some laundry. I so thankful that our weekend had a happy ending. It's very unsettling to have one of your parents in such a bad way. I didn't like seeing my mom so sick and didn't like seeing my dad upset. I'm glad I was there - there's no where else I'd have rather been. I'm so thankful for the wonderful parents God gave me.

Now a funny Allison story: On Thursday morning Allison and I saw an ambulance. I told her that Memere had to go to the hospital in an ambulance. That facinated her. On Friday evening we were driving to my mother in law's house from Portland. We saw another ambulance and Allison says, "There's the aliens that took Memere." So cute...

Now a funny Mom story: Friday afternoon my mom was moved from the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit to a different room on the cardiac floor outside of the ICU. They wheeled her right out of one room and into the other bed and all, she never got out of the bed. After they got her settled in her new room, mom started squirming around in her bed. "This bed isn't as comfortable as the bed in my other room," she says. Yes, she was serious...

A Girl and Her Dog

I'm becoming rather amazed at the relationship between Becky and Lucy. They are so loyal to each other. Recently at bedtime Lucy was laying in Becky's room. After tucking Beck in I called Lucy to come out of the room and downstairs with me, as usual. She got up wagging her tail ready to leave. Then when she reached the doorway she stopped. It was as if she was unable to leave. I kept encouraging her to come but she'd only wag her tail at me, staying put. I gave up and let her stay in there. The next day Becky was home from school sick...

Lucy was always near Becky while she was sick. Here Becky is sleeping on the couch and Lucy hunkered down close by.

I've told you of Lucy's fear of thunderstorms. Becky's room is where she wants to be when she hears the distant rumbling. Last night was no different. The thunder started and Lucy pitter pattered down the hall to her buddy's room. Becky came to get Lucy's bed and this is how we found them this morning...

Becky had moved all the pillows off her bed to make herself a bed on the floor so she could comfort Lucy. I'm telling you, it's just so sweet. Becky prayed to have this dog and it's as if Lucy knows it. So sweet...