Corbinpalooza continues

I know Corbin has been getting a lot of attention on the blog lately, but watching him play with his dinosaur costumes ($12 very well spent at the Walmart associate's store) is just so cute.  And since I can't freeze time I need to immortalize my little triceratops right here.   

I can't stop. Here are a few of T. rex too. 

Corbin is FIVE!

Corbin's birthday kicked off with a song in Primary on Sunday. Look at that adorable cupcake child. 

He woke up to a balloons and streamers over his door. I was a little worried they'd freak him out but he loved them! 

I "cooked" a fancy Birthday Breakfast. 

 Soren inhaled his own donut then quickly reached for Corbin's. Sweet big brother had only taken one bite and surrendered his special treat over to baby. What a nice brother. Soren was delighted and ate Corbin's donut as quickly as the first.  I bought Corbin a new donut and this was Soren's response over the injustice. 

Halfway through that donut, Corbin caved and handed it over to baby, who dove in fave first.  It was a funny sight and I love that Corbin was as humored as I was and my mother heart was pleased by Corbin's eagerness to share. 

Corbin requested a birthday party with his pals at the zoo. 

The closest zoo is in Tulsa. Dilemma. 

I bought a too-expensive-but-totally-worth-it boquet of wild animal balloons and delivered them to Corbin at his parents day picnic. The look on his face was priceless. He was the birthday king and he knew it. We plan to hit the Wild Wilderness Drive Thru Safari with a friend or two this weekend. Ta-da! Zoo party. 

Aaron has been out of town all week and I would be straight up lying if I said it's been easy. I married well and I know it. School activities are in warp speed right now and every morning there is somehow a mini crisis as one of the children remembers they need a costume for something and someone has a field trip and Corbin needs 2 dozen cupcakes for his class friday because his teacher was planning on his birthday covering snacktime butbthey moved it to Friday so it wouldn't overlap with the parent picnic on Wednesday (his actual bday) and it's also carreer week and its just sort of been an overload of ridiculous scrambling to find the missing library book and funny hats or Sunglasses for the furst grade ABC end of school countdown and by-the-way Reese needs a spider costume for the wax museum next week and both girls need mom volunteers for fun and field days and the blowing springs picnics and the book fair warehouse sale is this week and the boys have well visits and shots today and ward conference is Sunday and visits are tonight and my VT's come at noon when I get back from the dr with the boys and we have piano from 3-4 and Aaron gets back in town late this afternoon but needs to go to a store reset tonight from 8pm until 1am but I will be at ward conference visits so we need to find a sitter to come between when he needs to leave and when I get home and is this all one sentence yes yes it is. 

Breathe. 

Thank goodness for these wonderful children who for an entire day stopped caring about everything else on the agenda and just focused on their cute brother's birthday. It was the only thing of real importance to anyone. Yesterday was a day to breathe. 

Dinnertime rolled around and I looked at the kids in the middle of their imaginary playtime and decided that ordinary is overrated. I got in the van and we totally went to Frozen Tung and had shaved ice for dinner. Who needs nutrition? 

When we got home, a few helped themselves to yogurt or instant oatmeal and I made a bean burrito for another and no one complained a bit. 

It was certainly a birthday dinner to remember! 

Dearest Corbin. You really rocked my mother world. You came to me 100% you and you changed my life. I love being your mother and I love life so much more with you in it. Like a remote control that adjusts volume, you crank up the laughter and excitement everywhere you go and amplify all of the good and simple things to be experienced in life. If I could freeze time, I would do it now, because I am completely smitten by 5 year old you. The day we put the rest of life on hold so we could spend it celebrating you was one of the best days ever. Happy Birthday, Corbin. You are a special spirit and one of my best little friends. 

Nursery time

My little Soren stayed in nursery for the first time on Sunday. Thank you to Kasey for volunteering to orchestrate the drop off and to these sweet ladies for keeping my baby guy happy and helping him over his traumatic tears of separation. Later, I stood outside the door and listened in as they had music time and it was just as cute as can be. Thanks to the nursery and music leader team for the great job they're are doing to make jr nursery a happening and happy place! Here's hoping for even less tears from my Soren when he goes next week! 

Hear

Quincy had her follow up with the audiologist and ENT this morning. Unfortunately, her hearing has not improved and ears have gotten much worse, rather than better, and now her tonsils are infected as well.  Miss Quincy will receive her first set of tubes sometime in the next couple of weeks. 

She begged me not to send her back to school. If she didn't have a test today I would've obliged. We picked up a donut and CFA for lunch and dad met her at the school to eat together. Because sometimes, having good comfort food and your parents around makes everything so much better. She cheered up a bit and returned to class feeling happy and ready to hit a home run on her spelling test. 

Surgery. Yuck. It feels like our best option at this point.  I hope I am doing the right thing. 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was wonderful.
Of course I missed Aaron. That goes without saying. But look how happy he was to be able to surprise his own mother for a Mother's Day weekend!  He surprised her in the chapel at our nieces baptism and just calmly sat down next to her.  The best part is that Lynda was equally as calm. Very quietly, she said, "Aaron, are you dead?"  He laughed and she said, "I thought maybe you were a ghost or something! Is this real? You're really here?!"  It was classic.

Aaron's sister, Janae, was also in town for the weekend, so Lynda had all of her children together to celebrate her on Mother's Day.

Back in Arkansas, we decided to celebrate our own way and headed to Silver Dollar City for some fun before the heat of summer hits us. It was still pretty humid and warm, but we had a great day.

Kasey joined us for the day for fun and moral support and we had a lot of fun spoiling the kids with junk food and going on rides. Kudos to Kasey for carrying the bulk of the weight on the "must have an adult chaperone to ride this spinning contraption sure to make Meg puke" rides. I kept it together for most of the day and only got sick twice.

On Mother's Day, I woke up to Corbin in my face, "Mom. I clogged your toilet with my poop. Wipe my bottom. Happy Mothers Day!"  Such a treat.

Reese's card had a joke on it:

I didn't understand the "pick some a blow out from Frozen" part.  

Then she told me the joke in the voice of Oaken from Frozen:

Big Summer Blow Out.  Hilarious! It's a Mother's Day Card to keep forever.  

Quincy had filled out a Mother's Day questionnaire at school and offered it to me next: I love that my favorite drink or snack is "just crackers" and that I "sleep in" during the day.  Um can you guess how I've been feeling lately?

The primary children sang and the women were gifted Utah truffles at church.  There was a little miscommunication with the Elders Quorum getting all of the primary classes covered but it all worked out. I was pretty stressed out by the end of the day though.  It isn't easy to just hand over responsibility of 120 children and I worried about them the entire time, rather than listening to any of the special mother's day lesson.  I love that the Relief Society served lunch though. How thoughtful!  It was a delightful way to make all of the women feel appreciated and valued and I recognized that someone had put a lot of time into preparing such a nice retreat for the women at church.  Plus, it was delicious.

That evening was what I know will always of the most memorable Mother's Days I've experienced.
It wasn't long ago, that Sue's husband passed away on Mother's Day.  Now, It's as if she has two anniversaries of his passing. The date, and again on Mother's Day.  Knowing it might be a lonely day for her, I invited her to spend it with me.  Sue is prime company.  She is one of the most pleasant and kind women I've ever met. Her stories and knowledge are endless, she is such a good example of selfless service and optimistic cheer.  She talks lovingly and positively of motherhood and filled the dinner conversation with funny stories from her days as a young mother.  I love her and look up to her so much. She was an honored guest and wonderful company to have on this special day.

Speaking of wonderful mothers.  Kasey pulled dinner out of her hat.  It was incredible. No food has sounded good lately and I'm not cooking much because I haven't had energy to or really felt well enough to eat anything but saltines (see Q'a fairly accurate questionnaire above) unless it is prepared and placed in front of me on a plate.  So that's what she did.  Kasey is such a giver.  She mothers my children lovingly, and joined me in honoring one of our favorite mother's and our sweet friend, Sue.  Kabobs, fresh bread, jello goodness, asparagus, fruit, you name it. She brought it.  Even gatorade for me to drink before dinner so I'd keep my food down. I ate more that night that I ate all week, and luckily, it did stay down! Thanks Kasey!  Since Jimmie was working overseas, Sue dubbed us "the Mother's Day Widow's Club" and joked that our other friends would start sending their husbands away just for the opportunity to join our feast.

The children sang me their mother's day song again, and at dinner, I read a beautiful article about motherhood that my friend Valerie had written and emailed me that morning.  It was a beautiful day and I was reminded of all the good that comes to the world from the dedicated service of honorable mothers.  We hold the power to be a genuine source of peace and refuge.

I love being a mother.
Aaron returned home with flowers and a big fat kiss that made the children gag and look away.
I'm so thankful for the gift I have of being a mother. To mother is to love, nurture, serve, uplift, care, heal, show compassion, and serve in countless ways. Doing these things faithfully makes me a happier woman. I am thankful to have been raised by a wonderful mother, acquired a devoted mother in law, and be surrounded by friend and sisters with champion mother hearts to watch and learn from as I try to emulate their fine examples.

Gappy

Another tooth gone from this cute smile! Quincy, stop looking older! Where did my tiny baby Q go? 

Frances' First Mother's Day

We stopped by to see Frances after school today and took her some gifts for Mother's Day. She was very surprised and very happy to see us.  She said she has never been celebrated on Mother's Day before bevause she never had children. Silly Frances, you don't habe to bear children to be a mother. We celebrated her I thanked her for her love and friendship to my children.  

Corbin asked, "but what about your family?" and she answered that she doesn't have a family but she came from a wonderful mother that she misses very  much. She told us about her own mother, Nellie Irene. She told us about quilting with her friends and how she gets bored when it rains because there are no birds to watch out the window, but being bored is part of life when you are 102 years old. 

Frances hugged and thanked each of the children and played a game of catch from her chair with Corbin and the little stress ball we made out of a balloon filled with flour to help strengthen her hands. It was a sweet visit and she asked us to come back and see her soon. On the way home, we decided that it might make her happy to be called, "Grandma Frances". We'll have to test it out on our next visit. 

The food is good but the service is slow.

Too cute not to post. 

I took too long to make his sandwich. 

Piano Students

Reese and Quincy started piano at Miss Carly's piano studio after school, yesterday.  

To say they are excited is an understatement. I went to dinner with Carly last night and on my way out the door, Reese shouted, tell her that we already practiced and did our theory homework!!! My little star students. 

I just loved hearing the uneven timing of plinkety-plunks as their tiny fingers and awkward hands started to become familiar with piano keys. Music. 

A few of my favorite things

Let's hear it for having the best job ever. Like, EVER. Those kids light up my week and I am still laughing at some of the answers they gave to the "tell me about your mom" question segment. I love my students end I enjoy every minute that I get to wear my Mrs Meg hat. I'm sad that the school year is coming to an end. 

I finished this today!

The garden is in! 

We planted 20 tomato bushes, zucchini, yellow squash butternut squash, green beans, yellow beans, broccoli, strawberries, asparagus, peas, lettuce, carrots, beets, spinach, cucumbers, basil, peppers, rosemary, cilantro, onions, thyme, oregano, 2 kinds of watermelon, cantaloupe, and 3 kinds of asparagus. 

I calculated that just the boxes shown above took 4 cubic yards of screened compost, and 1040 lbs of humus/manure, peat compost blend, mushroom compost, cotton burr compost, and sphagnum peat. No wonder our arms are so sore!  I am extra happy I pushed myself to do the other boxes back in February.  One thing is for sure, unless we rent a bobcat for a day, the landscaping rock to go around the  cedar boxes will definitely have to wait until next year! I did the rock at our last house by hand and the memory still haunts me.  Little by little, it is coming together. It sure would be great to get some berry bushes and fruit trees or grapes going this year though. Maybe that will sound like a good idea again once I've had a week to recover from this massive undertaking.  

And in spite of all the land they have to run around and scratch in, these girls still sit on the step by the door, wanting to be let inside. 

How does your garden grow?

 

After a long, sweaty weekend of hard work, the garden is finally coming together. I am anxious to get the chocolate landscaping rock around all of the beds, but it will probably be put off until next year. 3 are now full and the last one is getting there, I'm unloading the last of the compost today, adding manure, mushroom compost, sphagnum and other goodies and then I will finally be able to plant. In May. Ugh I feel so behind this year, but there's only so much you can do to prepare in the middle of winter. The fence, coop relocation and box construction/filling have kept me busy enough. Baby steps. Next year it will really start looking like the garden I dreamed of when we first saw this house a year ago. 

Community

Just a little post about how much I love my little cul de sac in the woods. 

My kids have the greatest friends to play with! Reese just loves having a best friend right next door. There's a friend for everyone. The kids spent a couple hours playing badminton with Kaitlyn after school on Monday. They play basketball and rude bikes and climb on things and play with sticks and Corbin throws a lot of stuff. I am so happy that my children have good friends to play and use their imaginations with. 

My buddy Jacob helped me plant tulips in the fall and the blooms gave us a lovely welcome to spring. 

Every now and then the kids and I stop at  Nita's after school to visit in her beautiful backyard. The children play with Willow and I talk gardening with Nita. Her yard is dreamy and she is so knowledgable. 

Look at that dirty kid. That is a happy childhood. The children kept hopping over the fence to play with each other so finally we just put a log there for them to step on and make the fence hopping a little easier. 

I love where I live.