End of the Month Review: May

The update on my Areas of Balance - my 2011 theme. In no particular order.

Spiritual: Reading the Bible in a year
Guess I should officially tweak this area since I left the official plan last month and became a rogue reader. I'm going through Genesis now and enjoying a deeper dive into circumcision. I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Physical: at least 3 days exercise
So I brought P90x back into the picture for not even 2 weeks.  I'm convinced Tony Horton is out to get me. To turn me into a big fat failure. So I said, "Listen Tony. We're not friends. You're too hyper and too strong and I like a Coke now and again. We're gonna have to agree to disagree and I'll pull out your Kenpo as needed. You can take the rest and shove.....". And so we parted ways. My new motto is: DO SOMETHING! So I've made sure to DO SOMETHING everyday. Either walking, jogging, P90x, softball or whatever active thing floats my boat. And I feel much less like a failure and much more like I'm DOING SOMETHING! Can I get an amen?

Work: Grace Graffiti schedule
A girls weekend with the GG girls plus our other besties in Savannah was just what the doctor ordered. I believe I loved my kiddos a little more when I returned because I actually had the chance to MISS THEM! Now that I've figured that out, we may need to work in a girls weekend more than once every 5 years!

Family: date day
'Tis the season for beach days. They are a-plenty and we are living my dream of raising kids in a beach community. It is all in my master plan of sending them off to a landlocked college so they spend all of their summers back at home making their city friends jealous, eventually to return for good to raise their own families. That's purposeful parenting right there.

Marriage: date
This one was accidental, but after a long day at the beach where neither Husb nor I could stomach another sandy PB&J, we came home, tucked the little tikes in their soft wooly beds, let the Husb run out for some Five Guys takeout and had us a little quiet dinner at home - which hasn't happened since '05 - followed by a Red Box flick. Oh, it's the little things.

Money: budget
Let's just say we did the happy dance when Mr.Paycheck finally arrived after what seemed the longest month EVER!

Home: order
Controlled chaos. And a few home improvementy projects in the hopper for summer which are always good for the soul. Now, if those would actually happen...

Welcome, June.

Of pomp and circumstance.

I feel like we just started this whole school thing, and at the same time, it feels like we've been doing this school thing forever. I am sure this is the case for all grades, but WOWZA I've seen some big changes in my girl within the last 9 months. I had so much fear and anxiety sending my oldest to school and now I am so excited for the other 3 to go. Can we start that sweet deal asap????

Here she is walking in to the official graduation ceremonies.

Bottom left, next to Mr.Bright Yellow Shirt.

BEST. TEACHER. EVER.

BEST. PARAPROFESSIONAL. EVER.

BEST. BACKGROUND PARENTS. EVER.  (or, at least the ONLY parents she gets. ever. ya better enjoy us sista cuz you can't graduate from us!)

Guess we'll do this again in 2023 with a real cap, a real gown and some tearful parents holding on for dear life.

Childhood.

Everyday we will swing.

And everyday we will see smiles...at least once.

Thankfully they did not get their mama's swinging loathness as I tend to turn green, get sea legs and wobble to my knees ready to barf-o-rama after 15 seconds. I much preferred climbing to the top of our metal swing set back in the day, scraping my legs on rusty screws and broken metal scraps, only to swing off backwards from the knees. Somehow I managed to make it through childhood without a tetanus shot or broken arm.

Just a head full of scars and stitches and that had nothing to do with a rusty metal swing set and everything to do with having big brothers who slammed doors in my face.

Meanies.

Glad my sweet as punkin pie kiddos would never do that.

Baby Days are dwindling.

Tiny Miss can no longer claim baby status.  She's a woman now. She has experienced her first mani/pedi and is just plain smitten with the results. We left her thumb in its original state since it would be in her mouth within 0.8 seconds.

Her toes are green but if you ask her what color they are, she'll tell you "PINK!!!" with complete confidence as she does for everything else.  Another notch in her girlyness belt.

Summer The Stylist works for pretty cheap. She only requires a mani for herself in exchange so Big Sis colored most of her hand a beautiful shade of blue.

Or if you ask Tiny Miss, a beautiful shade of "PINK!!!"

The Circle of Life, Part 2.

While I claim that Mr. Bigglesworth T. Cat would never damage in any way a young baby goose, the fact of the matter is that only 3 remain. They are toddlers now. They've grown bigger, turned grayer and can hop in their getaway car a little faster.

We notice the looks of the neighbors on our walks. The pointing fingers, the hushed voices: "That's the baby goose killer. Can you believe she lets her small children near him? Horrid mother."

So we're trying to stick a little closer to home, keeping Biggs off the streets. We've enrolled him in an after-school program to keep him busy.

Thankfully, our need of caring for little ones didn't end with the baby geese as a new discovery was made last week in one of our hanging ferns.

Just look at those precious incubated babies.  Day one we found just the nest. Day two we found one egg. Day three two eggs, and day four yielded three eggs.

We began prepping for the big arrival. We set up a NICU and began working through adoption papers were they to be left orphans.

And then came day five.

You're dang right you better be hiding under that car, you baby killer!

And so it goes. The Circle of Life. And death. And this cat who's on his 9th life who better start acting more cat-like and eat his Publix brand catfood and quit bothering sweet innocent baby animals before I kick him in face, thus creating a dilemma as he has already wasted his previous 8 lives attacking the neighbor's new kitten and causing damage to multiple birds swimming in a bird bath right in front of the bay windows of another neighbor who likes to sit and bird watch.

Your clock is ticking, Mister.

The Circle of Life, Part 1.

My 3 youngest and I went on a walk the other day to check on "our" baby geese living in our neighborhood lake.  We had previously kept an eye on their nest and were there the day 6 little fluffy yellow geese were born so we had become a bit attached. We saw it as our duty to keep the neighborhood thugs at bay and protect these little guys until they could protect themselves.

Mr.Biggles (full name: Mr. Bigglesworth T. Cat) joined us on this walk, as he does most days. The neighbors dub him "the dog dressed up like a cat".  We don't call him or put him on a leash; he just comes and goes as he pleases on our walks, always catching up at the end.

After checking on the geese and giving them their daily bread, we head home. Biggs stays a while longer. Neighbor who speaks very broken English comes flying out of her house with a broom screaming and hollering and shooing him away. "DIS CAT! DIS CAT! HE GONNA KILL ALL DE BEBES!"

I glance back, notice the hoopla, turn back around and say, "C'mon kids." "But what about Biggy?" they say watching the robed lady swat at him.  "Ah, he'll be alright," I say. "WHO'S CAT IS DIS? I NO LIKE YOU CAT!! WHO'S CAT IS DIS??"

And so we walk away.

When the story gets told to Daddy with much drama and arm waving and worried exclamations, he looks at me with disgust and says, "You just denied our cat?"

"Why yes, yes I did."

"Well, how does that feel PETER?"

"I'm sorry, did you just compare me to Peter?  That would mean you just compared Biggles to Jesus."

"Yeah, so."

And so I am Peter. I denied my cat, not once, but thrice. I only hope I have not hindered the salvation of other kitties.

To be continued...

Happy Mommy.

We've had a lot of birthdays around our house over the last month. 3 out of 4 kiddos, me, a niece, a nephew, and an aunt to name a few. So we have sung a lot of birthday songs over the phone and in person and on skype. Tiny Miss still doesn't quite have the words down, but she knows the tune and she just adds "Happy Mommy" into the song over and over.  We're a week past my birthday and I'm still getting sung to. This may just go on all year and that will be perfectly fine as long as it accompanies myriads of presents.

Cuz I'm selfless.

On my actual bday weekend, the 'rents came to town to see their grandkids shower me with presents. So we showed them a good time around town and took advantage of our ocean living to rub it in their face allow them the chance to smell that salty air.  Which is somewhat better than the smog smell they get in the ATL.

We spent the day at the park, had a picnic and then walked the 4 steps it takes from there to the ocean.

And since it was my birthday (we'll claim that was the excuse, at least!), we had to round out the picnic with a little sweetness from Moo Cow Ice Cream.  Oh. My. Word. They have ice cream with real bacon in it. Don't judge. It will make you kiss the floor and do a happy dance.

Then we jumped aboard a sunset cruise on Jekyll to go see us some dolphins.

They did not disappoint and they joined alongside us for the majority of the ride. This particular one is Flipper.  He swam here from Hollywood.

My padre was tempted to go swim with them, but we needed all hands on deck to keep the babies from jumping in.

Wild Man considered it.

Tiny Miss weighed her options. Swim with the dolphins or fly with the bald eagle?

Happy campers = Happy mommy.

Not a bad way to end the evening.

End of the Month Review: April

Whoops, I missed the March update so we'll just sail through the April lowdown.

The update on my Areas of Balance - my 2011 theme. In no particular order.

Spiritual: Reading the Bible in a year
So I threw this one out the window.  Not THE BIBLE, silly!  Just the reading it straight through in a year plan. I got so caught up in Acts, then had to move along to Romans where I got bored so I went back to Acts to read it again.  And again. This is NOT in the read-through-in-a-year plan.  No time is allotted for going back and digging deep. So I leave you, dear plan, but you helped me find a spot I needed to sit in for a while.

Physical: at least 3 days exercise
I have 2 softball games a week. End of story. Much needs to be done here. Month of May? I'm counting on you. Thinking about bringing back P90x. I'll decide right after I finish this "sharing size" bag of peanut M&M's (which I'm not sharing, by the way).

Work: Grace Graffiti schedule
We have had one of our bigger months of "production" and that has been a blast. We get together 1-2 times during each month, and work via email and google docs the rest of the time. I've got a good system of naptime and nighttime "creativity" and can't believe I get to call this a JOB!

Family: date day
A week in Sanibel, FL. Ready to go back. Like yesterday.

Also had a date with extended family taking a sunset boat ride with dolphins swimming all around us. My parents were in town for my birthday so it was the 8 of us. Didn't want that ride to end.

Marriage: date
A good friend of ours came to town and we were able to secure some last minute babysitting and go have a cuppa joe at Starbucks to catch up with him. It only lasted an hour or so but we were in the car by ourselves which NEVER happens and we got to have adult conversation. Splendid. Cost: $4.

Money: budget
Thanks to our 4 little dependents (and boy are they ever dependent little boogers!), Uncle Sam returns some moolah back to us. Now to get it to last longer than 3 days.

Home: order
Oh heck, this home will never be considered "orderly" though it works for us. If only the laundry fairy would do her job.

To May we go...