5 Miles

“Mommy, what’s that white and black thing?”

“That’s our iron, Alex”

What’s worse is, I wasn’t even using it for clothes, I was using it for a craft project!

A Solo-Soccer Saturday! (James was still at the HS Youth Retreat and gone all weekend). I tried to make lots of fun plans for today to help us get through. 

First, we had to do some chores. The boys had to clean their room and I needed to clean up the kitchen and fold lots of laundry and put it all away. We got that done and had an early lunch and then we were off to the soccer fields.

Will scored TWO goals–one for his team and one for the other! I’m glad he’s with a group that either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care with something like that happens. He knew it was wrong and laughed about it. He was thrilled that he got the goal and that he kicked the ball OVER some of the kids heads.  It was tricky to watch both him and Alex so I missed Will’s kick over the other kids heads. With all the rain we had last week (we had some kind of rain every day from Sunday through last night) I didn’t want him playing in the dirt/mud pile (where I can easily watch him + the game) because we had big plans for the afternoon.

Yesterday was a free day at several local museums. We printed off a coupon to get 2 people in free to Conner Prairie, a local “Living History” museum. I’ve wanted to go since we moved here (4 years now!) and this was finally our chance!

We started in the Indiana camp area, this is Alex in a wooden canoe that was not completely carved on the bottom (meaning the bottom looked like a log, not a typical canoe, I think it was to show how the log becomes the canoe. But wtih paddles right next to it, it was obvious you were meant to climb in! The kids didn’t sit in it because it was wet/muddy on the bottom). This area had cool things to do but there were a LOT of kids there so the boys moved on pretty quickly.  We got to see a trading post and feel beaver, skunk, bear, deer, river otter and mink fur.

Then we went to the Animal Encounters Barn, where the kids got to brush a cow, pet a baby goat, pet this larger goat and see some sheep. We walked across the path to see the William Conner Homestead (yes, name sake of the place).  We got to walk through the downstairs of the brick house, see the spring house, loom house (shed), and I got to have a glance at the gardens as we walked by (the kids wouldn’t let me stop).  After the tour of the house, we went around back…

…where there was a GREAT hill for running/rolling down. We had to stop and try that. I just had to laugh. Alex told James today “We rolled down to the tippy bottom!” (That would be the area behind the small bushes/trees you see in the background.)

Then we walked down to the next major section, skipping the candle making hut (I would have loved to have done that but they were NOT intersted and there was a large group there. So i didn’t push it.)

This is Prairietown, a typical 1836 village, in the school house (there is another one in a different part). We learned the kids only went to school for 3 months (Jan-March) and the parents had to pay, so not many kids went to the schools. They went 6 days a week! After this we visited a few other houses but the blacksmith barn, where a blacksmith was working on making a trigger guard for a rifle, held the boys attention the longest.

Part of how I sold doing this to Alex was telling him how there was an old-fashioned baseball field there. Of course it was at the FARTHEST point out, so he kept asking about it as we explored. Finally we got there, in the portion of the park that is set in 1886. (Here there was another school house, a church, a large farmhouse and barn and the baseball field/covered bridge you’ll see below–I wish we had more time to explore this area!)

There were already some older kids playing and the boys watched them for a bit (while I enjoyed sitting a bit in the shade).  The kids were really nice and gave Alex and Will a chance to bat, and kept pitching to them until they each it. Both boys had fun running around the bases. Alex would have like to played more, but I told him the bigger kids got to have a turn. We went over to a house that had a croquet set. He was going to play that but another activity was more exciting–

–a working well, with actual buckets to fill! Each kid got to fill some up and then we went to water the horses!  Alex didn’t help fill the first time (he was playing croquet, but obviously he had to come with us), so he helped the farmer carry his big bucket.

Pouring water in for the horses.

And heading back to the pump (Alex picked up some buckets other kids left). The kids then took water to the cows and then got to help feed the chickens. Then it was getting close to time for the park to close. There is an indoor play area for smaller kids and the boys wanted to visit that on the way out, so that was our incentive to head back to the main entrance. 

Farmer Alex, planting some carrots.

By the time we got home, got showers in, supper made and eaten, it as 6:30. The kids were tired! So we read some stories and they went to bed. I realized I’ve not been walking much because all the walking around the park really wore me out as well!  I’m looking forward to taking the kids back when they’re older and they want to hear more of the history from the “characters” (the people dressed up).  Will is interested enough in Little House on the Prairie I know he found it interesting and Alex enjoyed all he was able to do as well. I was impressed with how well they made the park for all ages–it’s so interactive, it’s not a typical “museum”. I was just sad we could only go for a few hours, but it was great how much we got to do.  It was a really fun afternoon!

I got ready to update what we did on Saturday–because Saturday seems to suddenly be the only day we do something fun and different and “blog-able” and realized I should include the previous week as well, if nothing else to help me remember what a typical week looks like right now.  Not that last week was typical…but when is one?

Monday we all got up early..it was James’ first day at the new job and I needed to get things ready to get Will on the bus by 8.  Alex woke up not feeling very good so he stayed home from Preschool. He wasn’t that sick, but had enough of a cold that I felt it was ok to keep him home. Part of me wanted to send him because he sure acted rather chipper (and we PAY for this), but I realized he has the rest of his life to force himself to school or work when he’s sick, why not let him stay home and play right now?  We didn’t do anything that exciting, so he wouldn’t be tempted to that more often.   Monday night the Colts played, so we let the boys stay up late to see the beginning of the game. Big mistake–I didn’t realize it didn’t start until 8:45!  They got to see the first few plays, including a big touch down and then had to go to bed. But we payed for that late night (plus one on Wed.) the rest of the week.

Tuesday was a home day…I can’t remember what we did. Putter around the house, clean up things, make a more involved meal, fun things like that.

Wednesday was a typical Wednesday. Got up early, got Will on the bus, Alex watches Curious George while I read the newspaper, then we get Alex to preschool. Then I get to enjoy a drive to Bible Study in silence! Bible Study last until about 11:15, and I enjoy hanging out with other women until about 11:45 when I go pick up Alex. Then we each lunch, have rest/quiet time and before we know it Will is home and it’s time for me to give out 3:00 snacks, do some picking up around the house and then work on supper!  We usually do a quick supper because we need to leave at 5:45 for AWANA (we pick up a neighbor and take her and her mom, so we go a bite earlier right now for the 6:30 start time). AWANA is until 8 and it’s been about 9 before we get home (I have to stay until all the kids are picked up, tidy up the room, put things back and then drive the friend home.)  That is why Thursday is usually our rest day.

Thursday we “slept in” until 8-ish.  We spent most of the day relaxing and the kids just having free play time.  Iworked on making my menu plan for the next two weeks and my shopping list. Kids went to bed REALLY early but slept very poorly so we were all pretty tired on Friday as well.

Friday was another  busy morning, with Will and Alex both at school/preschool. I did a quick shopping trip for most of our items but had to be at Will’s school by 10:45 to pick him up (it was tight, I was watching the clock as I stood in line at the checkout!).  Then he had a snack and we ran to another store to get some great sale items before going to pick up Alex. Will told me he likes to pick up Alex “because he runs to me and gives me a hug”. I love how close they are!  Friday afternoon we took a meal to some friends who just had their 2nd baby. This is the 4th meal I’ve taken in 4 weeks (we’re in the middle of a baby boom in our church. 2 more babies of good friends are due in Oct, 1 in Nov. then ours in Dec, another 1 or 2 in Jan, one in Feb, and the numbers keep going!!!)  We met James for a quick supper and then he was off for the High School Youth Group Retreat. It was a rainy cool day and I was dreading heading off to soccer practice, but was SO thankful to find out it was canceled! Who-hoo! Kids slept much better but I stayed up too late!

So, days alternate between crazy and boring here…either too crazy or too boring to blog about!   Saturday has photos so it gets it’s own post!

Last Sunday was my birthday… guess I should blog about me for a change!   James surprised me by setting up a girls night out with friends. We had a great time talking and eating good Tex-Mex food. Then I came home and he’d cleaned up the kitchen/dining room and was folding a mass of laundry. What a great, early start to my birthday!

Sunday we went to church and then met Mom, Dad and Heidi at the Olive Garden. We all enjoyed a good lunch and went back to our house for cake and ice cream and just hanging out for the afternoon.

This is a sure sign I’m getting old…I’m excited about mixing bowls. Some background– in the last year, we’ve managed to break our largest and smallest of the clear glass mixing bowl set. I’ve been making do because I knew exactly what I wanted to replace them– I wanted a colorful set because we keep them on an open shelf. I wanted stoneware, not plastic.  When I found what I wanted ON SALE just before my birthday, I gave the catalog to James and said “This is it.”  So I was really happy to get those. I also was thrilled with an iTunes gift card from the kids, fun new towels and a shirt from Heidi, and some gift money from Mom and Dad (part of that went for a new purse and part is going for a new long sleeved maternity shirt).  It as a great weekend of relaxing times to hang out with friends and family. A great way to start a year of being 35!

Saturday also included Will’s second game.

  We got to the game early (as we’re supposed to be there 15 min. before game time) and James started playing goalie with Will. Other teammates joined in.

Once the coaches got there, the kids did some warm up stretching. I packed my telephoto lense this time and had fun sitting on the sidelines and getting GOOD pictures. So I’m going to bore you with some of them now.

Alex hung out on the sidelines with us for a bit of the time, but he spent most of his time over on the side, in a big pile of dirt. He’d kick his own soccer ball up and down the hill and just seemed to enjoy playing in the dirt. Can you tell his entire lower body is COVERED in dirt?  He got to hit the showers as soon as we got home.   

Meanwhile, we had a game to watch!   Early one the little girl in yellow scored a goal and Will was SO excited someone on his team made a goal.

 Most of the game is spent with the kids tied up like above.

Will kicking the ball back in (sorry I managed to focus on the ball, not the child, I was so into watching the game through the lense I forgot to watch what I was focusing on!

At the very end of the game, when I’d put my camera away because I’d taken TONS of pictures, Will scored his first goal. I was sad I missed recording it, but I did get to see it and cheer him on.  He was really excited and both James and I are really proud of him.

Each year our town has a Public Safety Day. It’s a chance for all kinds of groups and organizations come out and champion their cause. The local police and fire departments have a large show of all their equipment and do a mock accident/rescue demonstration. The Street Department brings out equipment. The boys LOVE it. It’s much less crowded then other events like Touch A Truck or the Things That Go Rodeo that are also done in the area, so I don’t mind going. Plus, James and I enjoy getting to ask the different workers lots of questions as well. (For example, I learned we have our own SWAT team–all the members are on the police force in other jobs but are trained for SWAT issues…the round-about by our house was built too small and the ladder truck has to drive over it, it can’t make the turn, and the state police have 3 helicopters with infra-red cameras on them that can see the 2×4s in your house from 2000 ft. high–but they have to have a warrant to use it on your house, in case you were worried.)

When we got there we saw where the kids could shoot a fire hose at a wood house and knock down fire flames. This was something new for us! Both boys enjoyed getting to do that.

 Then we got to watch the big wheel races. Each year we’re too late to sign the kids up, and we thought, at first, that was the case this year as well. But I went over and asked, and both kids got to be in a race!

 Will, in the 6-8 range, he’s in the middle.

He was thrilled to finish 3rd (they did 3 laps around).

They had enough kids interested they did one more race of 3-5 year olds, so Alex got to race as well.

He really should have had his seat moved up, he barley reached the pedals. It looked ok when he was sitting, but once he started to go he had problems.

 Here he ran into a pile up in turn #2.  He had fun, even though he got lapped and never got to do his second lap before the girl in front won. All the kids got metals and he was just happy he got to take part in it.

Then it was time to pretend to drive the trucks.

We then watched the accident response demo, had lunch, looked at the helicopters and then headed for home. It was a beautiful day for the event–sunny and warm in the sun, cool in the shade, espically when the wind blew. A perfect early fall day.  We had a nice walk over there and back.

Yes, the blog is still here. We just had some technical problems….after taking a few weeks off. I’m trying to keep things in order, so as you scroll down you’ll see things in reverse order (or you can go all the way to the bottom, about Will’s birthday, and then go up).  Here are the highlights of the last few weeks if you don’t have time to go look at all of them.

• Will offically turned 6. We had a small celebration the weekend before, and then that day I ate lunch with him at school, he got to pick out supper and we had cupcakes. We kept it simple after the family party we had the weekend before.
• The next week we found out we’re expecting Boy #3! We were also very happy to find out the baby is healthy and developing well. I’m feeling more and more kicking as a reminder that this is real!
• Labor Day weekend was spent visiting my mom and dad, and enjoying the small town celebration (mainly the parade).
• Alex started preschool and is loving it.
• During the whole time James was in the process of applying/interviewing for a new job. He’s been looking for a job in computers for awhile now (over a year) and nothing seemed to pan out. A friend of ours works for Charles Schwab and James has been interested in money/finance for a long time. He had thought about going into that in the past, but we were sticking with what he knew…and it finally became obvious God was closing that door for us.  Within the last two weeks James applied, took several tests (personality and skill tests), did a phone interview, a face to face interview and then passed the background check to be offered a position to be trained to be a Broker.  He has accepted the job and starts training next week.  We didn’t want to say anything about it while we were in the process, so I know for some of you this is a shock!  Once the ball went into motion, we were shocked at how fast it all went.  Your prayers would be appreciated as we adjust to a pay cut, new job and new schedule. We’ve been blessed in the last 4 years to have James working right across the street. While he was on-call all the time, he had very flexible hours. Now it’s going to be a bit more rigid and longer hours that he’s actually gone (instead of working in the evenings once the kids are in bed).

So, that’s a general update. Below you’ll see more pictures, funny sayings and mundane things I would normally put up!

Remember how we got a new couch a long time ago (July 25, Christmas in July sale)? It finally came in! Saturday James picked it up–

I’m trying to decide which pillow combo I like more….colors are odd b/c I was trying to not use a flash and it was getting dark out.

The soccer game was right during nap time and it turned out Alex needed a bit of a rest.  He and Will were watching a show and James he turned around and Alex was out.   This also gives you a better idea of the color of the couch. The old couch is already being used in the Youth Room at church.

Last Saturday was Will’s first game. He kept calling it “My Big Game”.

   

We’ll just say it’s good they don’t keep score at his level. They play 3-on-3 and have 2 games going on at the same time, so the kids get to play a lot. But, some play better then others. Will played with 2 other boys…one who wanted to be goalie (so didn’t go in and help move the ball–and they’re not supposed to have goalies) and the other tended to hang back most of the time. So the two kids next to him in purple were rather good and made several goals.   Will was sad no one on his team made a goal, but then he saw on the other field they made several goals so he seemed a bit happier.  He had fun and that’s what matters!

FINALLY, the day Alex has been waiting for, HIS turn to go to preschool! He’s been part of dropping off/picking up Will for the last few years so he’s very familiar with the school. With Will gone each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he was really starting to look forward to his turn to go.

It was quite foggy that morning. He told me “This is the first time I’ve gone to school in the fog” as we were driving to school. He clung to my leg when we met the teacher for the first time (we had to miss the Open House because James and I both had meetings we HAD to be at). But he got interested in the toys and was off playing before I knew it. I was more surprised he was as clingy as he was.  Once I dropped him off, I drove to Bible Study and enjoyed peace and quite in the car that I haven’t had in a while!  

He had a fun first day. He was telling me they got to have TWO recesses, first they played basket ball in the parking lot. Then the other kids left the playground and his class got to play on it. He was telling me about the boys in his class and that his name is on a race car and he kept his car on the track the WHOLE day, he didn’t get it moved to the pits or the garage (We’re assuming that’s a discipline method like green, yellow and red lights, and the goal is to stay on the track, like staying on the green light).  He found it quite funny one of his classmates was named George (”Like Curious George, the monkey!”) and told me they didn’t read a Bible story that day but did read another story.  So far it sounds like he’s really enjoying it! And it’s fun to hear what stood out to him.