Monkey See Monkey Do

This little monkey... 

Is such a climber! She's always on top of something! The counter, the table, the piano, the sofa... She's like a baby chick trying to roost. It's both funny and nerve rattling. Today, she made it to the top bunk. With markers. 

I think she may have had some help.  ;) 

Soren Can Snap!

Soren learned how to snap his fingers today and is very proud of his new skill. I love this picture for so many reasons: the half winky face, the bird, and that Soren is wearing a pair of Aaron's jammies from the 70's. They're totally threadbare in the bum, and I love Lynda so very  much for saving them for so long. Soren is ready to join the Snoopy RoudUp!

A Date With Corbin

I was lucky to have this little dreamboat all to myself tonight for some one on one time. We made a quick candy run (chocolates for me, starbursts for him)  and then walked from the grocery store over to the little Bella Vista movie theatre. We were in line for a loooong time, but it ended up being an exciting adventure because Corbin spotted a "Bella Vista Ar Rocks" Rock at the edge of the movie counter! We posted our find on the FB page and Corbin is sleeping with his rock tonight and dreaming about which of our favorite Bella Vista special spots to re-hide it, tomorrow! Such a simple and fun thing. The delight on his face was absolutely found treasure. I'm rich! 

The movie was cute. A little weird, but Corbin's movie laugh is priceless and contagious. A movie date was a good idea, Corbin. 

After the movie, we had a good talk about the new school year (starts in 9 days!) and he expressed concerns that he will get the teacher who yells. I'm honestly a little sick in my gut with worry over it, too, but I'm putting on my optimistic mom face and singing "Que Sera Sera" to the children. I told him, "It will all work out, because you are such a good boy! You will set a shining example for your friends just like the sunshine on that rock you found tonight. You're a light. Any teacher would be lucky to have you, and you will be just fine."  And then he smiled and held my hand and I had a rare (with him) comforting confirmation where I just knew that he really heard me, and that he believes me.

And I believe in him. You are such a good boy, my Corbin Mac. 

Baby T-Rex Problems

Soren in the Pool

After weeks and weeks of patiently watching and waiting while his brother and sisters have swim team practice and swimming lessons, this week was finally his turn in the pool. His older siblings were not so patient during their turn to wait, but Soren made great progress at his lessons! Coach Lisa is a dedicated and gifted teacher. Great work, Soren! 

Meg and the terrible awful no good very bad week

Isn't it just so cute when I say naive things like, "I can't wait to just have a lazy week and relax!" Do you all just read it and laugh? 

Camp wild was amazing. The following week was disastrous.

It started with a very sad phone call that just days after the wonderful Willardson reunion at the cabin, our dear Uncle Bruce collapsed unexpectedly and died. We are stunned, since Bruce was only 63. Bruce and Stacey lived in Concord, and their proximity to my family offered us a lot of opportunities to visit them. Our wedding luncheon was in their backyard. 

Bruce was an amazing man, mentor, creative and talented spirit, sentimental, funny, and devoted father, grandfather, brother, and uncle. He will be missed. 

I can thank Bruce for my love of salmon. I refused to even try it until one evening when Aaron and I were having dinner at Bruce and Stacey's house. I think Reese was around 1. He brushed it with garlic butter, grilled it to perfection and pushed a bowl of lemons across the table to me. Oh my. It was delicious. Grilled salmon m covered in fresh lemons is my go to favorite dinner order to this day when Aaron and I go out to dinner at any steak or fish house, Thanks, Bruce. 

 I think Aaron is a bit shaken. Bruce died from a pulmonary embolism.  

Factor V is prevalent in the Willy family, as was discovered in 2004 after Aaron spent 8 days In the hospital with two pulmonary embolisms (emboli?), and unexpected deaths are always a reminder that we never know when we will be called home. 

It's been a crazy week. 

Seeing my fairly empty calendar and feeling the need and ability to serve, I volunteered to babysit for four friends this week. The kids loved the week of play dates. 

And then I was sort of a mess when we realized one of our little play dates covered in chickenpox (Ahhhhh!!!). 

Then the capacitor for the upstairs air conditioner blew on the hottest day of the year.

Then the front breaks on the van gave up.

Then our countertop installation date was pushed back 2 weeks. 

Then we discovered that the tub from the girls' upstairs bathroom had leaked through to the ceiling below. Plumber and Drywall Guy were here the next day. 

Then Soren swore off diapers, but hasn't had much toilet success yet. Bless his heart. It's been a messy/big laundry week. 

And then something creepy crawly bit my sweet Corbin.  

We traced the red circle with a pen to track it's spreading, gave him Benadryl and decided to just watch it.  

24 hours later things were looking no Bueno. 

It has spread down his arms and legs as well. His neck was covered. Poor buddy!  So off he and Aaron went to urgent care, 

Then, while they were gone, the pump in my washer died and flooded the laundry room! No washer and  baskets of soiled drawers and bedding piled up (and smelled so awful I started to just launder them by hand.) 

Corbin was prescribed antibiotics 3x/day, a serous twice a day, and We were advised told to launder all of his bedding and clothing. The dr suspects a spider, but there's really no way to know what kind since there is no sign of the evil little spider that did this to him. It could have happened a week ago during camp wild, or the day before in our own front yard (or house! Ah!) but bless you, modern medicine, the sings of infection are already gone. We have also discovered that Corbin + prednisone = kind of a wild creature. 4 more days. We'll get through it, buddy! 

Fortunately, we got the washer, the tub drain, the brakes, the drywall, and the air conditioning fixed. 

Fortunately, all of the children are old enough to have received the varicella vaccine (let's pray it's enough after 3 hours of exposure). 

Fortunately, Corbin's infection has cleared up. 

Fortunately, Aaron was able to hop on a plane to join the Willies who are gathered, this weekend, to mourn together and celebrate Bruce. 

Fortunately, Kasey came over this morning and Reese and I got out for haircuts. 

Fortunately, it's Saturday and we made it through this wild week!

We miss you Aaron. 

A picnic at Crystal Bridges and Hammocking and Compton Gardens

With Aaron out of town for the weekend, I was determined to turn around our series of unfortunate events into something good, and took advantage of the opportunity to just play with my children.  On Friday evening, we grabbed Subway and took a picnic to the square for Pickin' on the Square. But when we arrived, the square was so packed with people playing Pokemon Go that we weren't enjoying ourselves, or the music, so we packed back up and headed down the Greeneay trail. We made it all the way to A Street, met a sweet couple who had just become engaged in the trail and took their photo for them, then headed back up. When we reached the backside of the Black Apple tiny house community, we decided to eat by the museum on the sculpture trail, so I carried the stroller down the steps, and we had a perfect picnic between the Pecos Bill and Love sculptures. 

After a little exploring, we took that trail back up past the sky space and cut through to the Compton garden trails. We found a cozy spot, put up the hammoks, and I read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to them while Sloane gluttoned herself on a bag of Cheetos in the stroller. Thanks for being good to us, Arkansas. 

On Saturday evening, the children wanted to "try a new food" and I decided my once-super-picky eaters were ready  to give the greatness of Chinese takeout a try. Quincy was most enthusiastic about this, so she got to go inside Panda Express with me and try some samples. We settled on orange chicken, sweet and sour chicken, chow mein, egg rolls, and white rice. 

And then, because I am no dummy, I slipped into Little Caesars and picked up a $5 plain cheese hot and ready pizza. 

We watched the new American Girl movie, Lea, from redbox, and had a "try everything smorgasbord" and everyone found a few somethings they liked. Soren fell asleep in my lap. 

This is the kind of mom stuff that keeps me fueled, so I can navigate the hard stuff. I despise early mornings, packing lunches, endless hours of homework, 900 emails from the schools, and enforcing the piano practice schedule. None of those things exist in the summer time. It's just me, my people, and places to explore. Sure, we still had a dozen m potty accidents, church commitments, and dentist appointments, to tend to, but I love being mostly in charge of our schedule.  Once school starts, the inevitable over scheduling in order to encourage and enrich everyone's individual interests and talents, will quickly start to eat up our free hours and take over our lives. My kids are getting older and there will be less time for us to just be us.

 And that's ok, because we'll soak up that "less time" and make it good.  There are only 10 days left of summer to savor, and, as usual, I started panicking that I didn't put enough in our tanks to get us to winter break. I'm just not ready for the next season. I don't want to give up  summer or the closeness we feel.

I'm really thankful for last weekend, and our hammoks in the woods. It was Premium Quality Top Grade Mom Fuel.