Chopped liver

last night, it was her and me...girls' night

we giggled 

we snuggled 

we shared ice cream
we talked about babies

we picked out her outfit for the morning

she fell asleep while I read a magazine 

she slept on my side, I slept on his

tonight, it's him and her

they giggled

they shared a bench in a booth

she swam underwater to emerge gasping into his arms

she speeds past me so she can hold his hand
I walk a few steps behind them both

{she's negotiating tonight's sleeping arrangements at this very moment}

o, brother
 where art thou?
(overnight @ grandparents with cousins)

guess i'll go finish my magazine
alone

our fickle hearts

but I wouldn't change anything

he's home!!! 

and we're all tickled about it

Grand Haven

After last week's crazy schedule I thought I might relax at camp...but there was too much to do...not much sitting going on.

Our second trip to Grand Haven was packed with fun. Grandma and Grandpa J joined us and we shared a cabin...definitely the way to go when I am a single momma...which I wasn't really this trip...just keeping it in mind for future. Did I mention that I miss my husband...he'll be home Friday...and with him, my sanity!

Lots going on in this family and in this brain. Not quite enough time to understand or explain it all.


I'm sure once I get my synapses firing coherently, it will help to write these fleeting, floating thoughts. Can't promise if or when that will be.

I'm trying not to be too busy...riiiiggghht ...'cause gosh golly, I am lonesome for my sweet man and partner. If I keep moving and talking and firing, I think about the craziness of this life less.

God is good all the time and He understands it all. So, maybe I don't have to keep trying.

Brag alert

Bug signed up for the summer reading program at our local library last Friday. You know, the kind where he receives a chart and a promise of prizes to motivate reading. They dangle incentives in front of the adults at our branch, too. Not sure what the prizes are along the way, but the grand poobah of it all is a chance at a Coco Key birthday party. Wet and wild.

Bug has read at least 5 hours this week...maybe an hour of that was listening to me read. The rest was him reading...in the car, at the breakfast table, or off on his own. He has devoured our library pile, found some used books at yard sales, and wants to hustle back to the library for more...or maybe he just wants to cash in his chart.

I'm used to seeing the top of his head when he's playing a gameboy or a pick-pocketed phone, Opa,  /: (   . {The amount of screen time our kids are allowed is the most contentious and never-ending discussion Sweet Man and I have.} So, it thrills my soul to see his red locks bent over a book. 

In his stack is our perennial favorite summertime read. I adore the illustrations...we each have our own favorite pages, but it's my blog...I'll show you my favorite.

Other books we are enjoying are the Skippyjon Jones series by Judy Schachner {thanks, Aunt Jenni,} anything by Marla Frazee,  and the Good Knight books by Thomas/Plecas.

Bug's momma, on the other hand, has 3 books running concurrently {including the buzz of the blog world:: Radical by David Platt} and a stack beyond that. When she gets a moment to herself, she turns to a screen. What's happening here? Monkey see...oh, I hope monkey doesn't.

Giveaway!!

Blogaholic alert:: 

A friend turned me on to Sara's Art House. I checked her out today and she linked to this giveaway...a $100 Amazon gift card and the perfect wallet for anyone living on the cash/envelope system...which I try to do...emphasis on try.


Enter before tomorrow morning for your chance to win it. Bon chance!

Happy surprises

The Works is a treasure...I may have mentioned that once or twice.

Once a month during the summer, they hold a free Concert in the Courtyard. So glad a Facebook friend posted a reminder last Friday. I threw a lunch into a bag, the kids in the car, and hightailed it downtown.

Blue Steel, my alma mater's steel drum band was playing really fun music on a beautiful afternoon. We ran into friends. Every which way it was perfect.

Think about enjoying it...next month's is July 9th.

The water is fine

Pool is ready!

{thank you, family, for your help}

So, if you need me in the next few weeks, I'll be lounging here...

...ignoring my phone.


Happy summer!

Sunshine daydream

Missing Iowa...and Sweet Man. He's back there while the kids and I sink our roots in at home. And it's good to be home for a while. I think. I hope.

The calendar is becoming full and there are fun days ahead, but I have been daydreaming a little about our favorite playground in Cedar Falls. Well, actually it's a few miles south of Cedar Falls in charming Hudson, IA. If ever you need a new hometown, Hudson would be a good pick. We discovered its park on a rainy day's drive to a dairy farm and vowed we would come back to play.

We visited several times but one afternoon in particular comes to mind.  Lulled into sunny relaxation as I knit and the babes played, I looked up and had to shake my head a bit to wake up from a scene that seemed surreal.

From my bench in this block-sized park, I watched people pushing strollers, walking dogs. The bell from the school across the street rang and students streamed into the sunshine. Kids on bikes yelled for each other from one sidewalk to another. In one corner of the block, the local high school's concert band was setting up for their spring show and tuning instruments. Ladies were decorating a shelter for a reception after the concert. A pick-up basketball game had started. A little girl called for more pushes on the swings...usually that's my little girl but this day it was someone else's. My kids spun 'round and 'round on the merry-go-round taking turns with newfound playmates. All under a bright blue sky to contrast with the lush green of spring in full burst.

I half expected Mr. Rogers to sit down next to me...won't you be my neighbor?

It sounds like I'm making this up, doesn't it? I promise I am not embellishing...but it was too picturesque to quite believe. Such a nice moment. It felt a little like we were not just visitors and that somehow I'd been there before.

It  took a minute for me to realize I recognized this scene from the pages of a silly little flap book I used to read to the kids...Welcome to My Town. The only thing missing in the real life version was an ice cream truck ringing its bell and stopping for customers *snap.*

I'm thankful for that afternoon. Have to wonder if those moments are rare. Or is it just rare for me to recognize them?