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?

Hittin' the road

Tomorrow morning will be here soon and the babes and I will be loading up and moving out. Pulling away from this really great town of Cedar Falls/Waterloo. What a great five weeks we've had. Gonna miss the cornfields...everywhere. Gonna miss the rhythm of our Iowa days.

                            

Moving towards home. Towards family. Towards friends. Towards a fun weekend. 

Be glad these don't speak a thousand words

I have buttons...buttons that trigger emotion ie: relief, anxiety, anger. My children are beginning to discover them...my husband could draw you a schematic. He knows the spot on my thumb that helps diminish my headaches. He knows I don't like being told I'm wrong. He knows. 

My babes seem to like reminding the people closest to them that they have made mistakes. That's a button for me and became their favorite pasttime Thursday. They're just learning, so the first few times, I ignored...the next time, I reminded them their jobs are not to tell people what they've done wrong...but after about the 13th time that day, I'd had enough...so at that point, I got a little wrong.

My bubble burst and out of the rupture oozed my irritation. On the highway at 60mph, no less.

Within a half hour of that eruption, I unloaded on my husband...he hadn't even pushed any buttons...I just wasn't done spewing. Hot lava and ash fell on everyone that day.

I needed to tell him he was wrong because he spent money on something I deemed foolish. He knows now...that regardless of the hard work he does to give us all we need and more, he can't make his own decisions about spending $30. Am I right or am I right?

I really know how to make the most of the little amount of time we get to spend together, donchathink?

So, who's the fool? Who's wrong?
Don't answer that.

Anywho...I found this place near Sweet Man's office that has amazing light at sunset. I planned a little photo shoot.

I don't record videos of the kiddos very much...because instead of documenting the bickering and cajoling... with photographs, I can choose my own idyllic narration. Readers, feel free to do the same...add birdsong or giggling children to the soundtrack...actually, that is what we were hearing in addition to my shutter snapping.  So, I can look at these and delude myself:: we hadn't had a no good, horrible, very bad day...right?

Nope, doesn't work...I will probably look at these and always remember the day Mt. Momma blew her top...again.

Then I remember,

A thousand times I've failed

Still Your mercy remains,

And should I stumble again

Still I'm caught in Your grace.

Empty the brain

::My two boys are shorn. Daddy got crazy with the clippers. Bring on the summer sweat! I still am doing double takes when I see my boy. And with that, the tears from the daily morning taming of the curls decrease by half...still have to deal with Bean's.

::Swimming lessons are going well...as well as week-long free lessons can go. They are both being challenged a little, being asked to do things out of the norm with me or Sweet Daddy or Grammy...their usual swim-help-adults-people.

::      ♬ School's out for summer ♩....almost.          We'll be finished with school in 5 more days...hopefully before we head home. I love summer, you know. I may be more excited than him.

:: We've enjoyed two mornings out...Messy Morning, the weekly fave and then a reduced admission day here. Staying busy.

:: My mood is so much better now that Sweet Man and I have some flags on the horizon....plans with dates attached to them. I'm pushing the limit of metaphors:: I've felt like a marathon runner (ha...never!) who's been in the race for a while, but has no idea how long she's run or how much farther to go. Having a stake in the ground marking a destination in time shores up my motivation and joy.

So, the next flag coming into focus is for Memorial Day weekend when SM has another long weekend. Many decisions to be made about that one...stay here? go home? camp....oooo, I hope so...? Staying here makes me want to go home and going home tugs my heart to stay here. I know...I'm sick in the head. My mind reels with possibilities. Think I'll let Sweet Man make the final decision.

Sunny days are here again

After school, we played in the children's garden at Cedar Valley Arboretum. Then off to swimming lessons at the  YMCA.

I promise

I'll shut up here for a while after this...and try not to be melodramatic and self-absorbed. But I want to share a little struggle with you. Here's a little emotional-thinking-in-writing for you me::

I've felt it sinking in this week...thinking it was the rain and a little hotel fever. Now that the sun's out and I still feel soooo tired and unmotivated...I'm not sure to what to attribute this malaise.

I'm off of caffeine...but could really gulp a gallon or so, right now. Could be that I've been staying up way too late.

I think I'm a little worn out, from being Momma-on-duty while Sweet Daddy works so hard and so much.  And the day he doesn't work, he needs to rest, of course. My kids could use some friends to play with...I think they're pretty sick of me...and sometimes each other.

Wow, my heart goes out again to single parents and armed forces spouses...how do they do it?

I started to do some research for Moms' groups in the Cedar Falls area and found a group that meets 5 minutes away on the 2nd Thursday of the month. Today's the 2nd Friday of the month....bummer. I usually start looking for those groups as soon as we land in a new place...why did I wait? 

Who's trying to teach me that He is sufficient and will supply all my needs? 

Maybe it's homesickness? We've been here 3 weeks and that may be a bit off a mental threshhold for me. 

My own MOPS group is having its last meeting of the year this morning. A couple of weeks ago, I thought we may be back home by now. Our family is missing a wedding, a banquet, a spring tea, and church, all happening tomorrow. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again:: we chose this job and this life and felt sure. We are so thankful for Sweet Man's great position and the privilege for me to be an On-Duty Momma. This life is giving us opportunities we would never have been able to have otherwise. I have the chance to engage in these moments of their lives as we live and learn together.

I have everything I need and more. So, why don't I feel it today?

Okay, enough of that...maybe say a prayer for me. And let me know how to pray for you...I'd love to. I just glanced and I'm seeing fun notes in my inbox...thank you, sweet friends and family. Why should I be surprised that you are hearing God's whispers in your ear?

We're gonna get outta here and go play in the sunshine.

{Update: Our quest to find the best playground in the Cedar Falls area was rewarded today. The kids made new friends, I caught up on some reading...we stayed for 4 hours. We're gonna be okay. But I still miss y'all.}

cRaZY about these people

Faced with another rainy day in this hotel room, I assessed my choices...

#1. Hide in the tiny closet, curled up, sucking my thumb, waiting for the sound of Sweet Daddy's key in the door.

#2. Make a run for it...while the kiddos are lulled unawares by PBS and their crackling rice krispies...leave...them here.

#3. Road trip! Drive 75 miles to the greatest mall evah! Well, at least, in Iowa. Okay, the best in this Cedar Rapids part of Iowa.

Aren't you glad I chose....

{wait for it...}

...#3? We got outta Dodge! {Good call, momma.}

No sense keeping this gripe-fest to ourselves. Let's squabble out in the world! Funny thing is...as soon as we leave the confines of our home or vehicle they begin to behave...some don't quite believe that they can be punks. But some of you have had front-row seats to their mischief, so you believe me, don't you?

{Head's up:: lots of embedded links coming. Just click on them.}

We had a fun day. We're weren't going to just any mall...it is a mall that houses the Iowa Children's Museum and it just may be my favorite kid's museum. Believe me, I've been to plenty...just counting 2009 excursions alone. Remember...see here...my addiction is full-blown.

Some exhibits were similar to some we've seen at The Works, COSI, or other museums. {Sidenote: Licking County peeps:: The Works and Dawes Arboretum are treasures...enjoy them, support them if you can.} Many were  very original and fun. There was a whole aviation room where we built airplanes and rockets out of paper and launched them. We probably spent the most time there and in The Notion of Motion room. ABC Forest was cute. There was a LEGO room...Bug wasn't interested today...which kind of surprised me.

A whole City Works space had an ambulance, doctor's office, dentist's office, radiology room complete with lab coats, stethescopes, crutches, etc. and a grocery store, pizzeria, post office, and TV station. Bean kept wanting to revisit the grocery store, of course. I confess, I found a bench and my knitting on our third go 'round.

And in the mall, there was...{trumpet fanfare}...a Chik-fil-A! We walked out of the museum, turned right, past the open-year-round ice rink {told ya it was the greatest mall, evah!}...had lunch and waddled back into the museum.

The kids would not allow me to go to Eddie Bauer...yea, what up with that? who's in charge here?...but maybe there'll be a next time.

Maybe tomorrow.

Naptime Giveaway

Don't expect anything much out of me today...

rain + hotel + hormones +squirrelly, squabbling siblings + Bug lost all screen time privileges by 8:30 am = rough morning & looooong day

But Naptime always delivers and makes me smile. She's giving away a $50 gift to Initials Inc. Cute stuff...go see her.

I think I'll watch that "Gift of an Ordinary Day" video again....

Situational ethics

Is it okay if ::

:: my barometer for a good church fit is if I cry during worship? If so, then we found another good church this Sunday. Those Vineyards get me every time. I know that true worship can be found anywhere, anytime and frankly, I need to participate in that more often...but there's something about hundreds of people swept up in the Spirit. The kids had a great time in their respective classes, too. That helps.

:: I was so desperate to get a library card in Cedar Falls that I mailed myself something at the hotel address, then spoke to the help desk clerk in couched terms like, we're new to the area and this is our temporary address...? All's fair in the quest for the written word, eh? C'mon...it's a really good library.


:: I drive to Cedar Rapids...about an hour south...to get my fix at the closest (how can it be?) Trader Joe's, Half-Price Books and Chik-Fil-A? I need them...stat.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

We had a great weekend with Sweet Daddy...taking it easy after the big adventure south to the Amana colonies for Maifest. We moved into another hotel across town...bigger room, kitchen, nice laundry facility...it's amazing what makes me happy. Monday & Tuesday:: Uno, swimming, thrifting, playgrounding, and errands kept us busy. And now, he's back to work... boo. Sunday, we'll have another chance to relax with him. After church, of course.

Dazzling day

                                           

Where are we, you ask? 

Happy May Day!

Skyscapes

da..da..dut..da..da..dut...Breaking News

Sweet Man received some news yesterday. He is being asked to take his long weekend break (usually he gets one once a month during deployment) beginning this afternoon. Fine and dandy...we can do that. He will be transferring to another office in town and working here longer than we first expected, which means our middle of May trip home won't be happening...but perhaps an end of the month trip will. And...we will be moving from this lovely hotel to another one...bigger room with a small kitchen. 

All's good...but I have to erase some of my hometown plans...including a crazy-packed Saturday the 15th...and miss all my homies for a while longer. C'est la vie. But you may have inferred that I am really enjoying being in this place for this time. 

P. S. Sweet friends, cancel that childcare SOS from earlier in the week...no longer necessary.

Our day in pictures

Update:: we're stuck inside the hotel on this rainy day...I turned on the TV and happened upon a Little House episode...the kids and I are talking about the characters...who's fictional and who really lived...as I begin to realize that this episode is about Albert detoxing from morphine in glorious technicolor detail. Whaaaaat? I must have missed this one in my tweener years. I'm sorry...tragic, surely...riveting, you bet...I fully support and participate in the recovery process...but safe for a 6 and 4 yo? I get it...that hipster, Michael Landon had his finger on the 1980's pulse and was using the show as a vehicle to address the issues...nice. Where is that rascal Nellie...she's much more my speed. Oy, the questions....

Captain's Log, Thursday, April 29th::
I'm realizing how lame I must sound to some people...but of course, I had to record the events here on my bloggity/virtual scrapbook for myself. By all means, enjoy reading....because I was so excited about what we did today...not because I'm a homeschool mom::I am, but I am many other things, not because I love post Civil War American history::'cuz I don't, but because I loved reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books while I was growing up. Period...unashamedly lame.

I remember watching the TV series, too. Remember the episode of the blind school fire? Riveting suspense. Needless to say, I was disillusioned when today, Tour Guide Steve reminded me that so much of the TV series was really just Michael Landon's fantastic storytelling and embellishment...not biographical.

But the prospect of visiting a former home of Laura Ingalls Wilder...thrilling...even more so, because our family is almost finished reading Little House in the Big Woods. So, this weekend, as I studied the Iowa guidebook, I discovered that we were only 90 minutes away from her home in Burr Oak, where Ma and Pa helped another family run a hotel for a year...couldn't pass it up. We had some other lame fun adventures, too!

Another slideshow by Smilebox

Momma's got her groove back

Oh, how I wish you all were here...we had such a fun day. Cedar Falls is a wonderful place to live:: bike trails everywhere, fun parks, fishing everywhere, friendly people, community activities that are open to everyone.

A little geography lesson:: Cedar Falls sits on the Cedar River which flows south from here to Cedar Rapids...makes sense, right? The falls, from what I've seen, are controlled with a dam and the drop just northeast of downtown is not significant. The small downtown is charming with eclectic and cute shops. It would be a great place to walk around for an afternoon. I keep driving through and threatening the babes that we're going to stop and go into the Crazy Girl Yarn Shop. Actually, not a threat...it's a promise...so buck up, kiddos.

The University of Northern Iowa campus is tucked in between where we are staying and the downtown. Panther fever is everywhere...basketball fans know them as their men's team made it to the Sweet Sixteen in March.

In my community research, I found an activity called Messy Morning, held each Wednesday morning at one of the buildings on campus...thought we'd check it out. The posting described a craft/art hour for 3 to 6 yo's, $5@ kid...perfect, 'cuz I bring some art supplies on the road, but nothing too organized or involved or messy. 

Miss Penny, the coordinator, had 8 stations set up in a big art room...and each station had a least one or two projects to make. My sensory self time-traveled back to elementary school with the black lab tables splattered with paints and clay and the smell of tempera. There was tracing, decoupage, paper crafts to make wands and flowers, bookmarks with stamps and make your own drawing into a puzzle. She had easels set up with paints, a shaving cream table with dinosaurs and trucks, and a table to plant seeds in our decoupaged flower pots. She encouraged the kids to travel the room from table to table or to stay in one place if they fancied.  Bug was more excited than I had seen him in a while, which is a relief...he and I have had a couple of rough days. 

We gathered to walk through the sculpture garden outside and she read Eric Carle's The Little Seed. I became my annoying self with my snappity-snap shutter...capturing moments, shyly explaining that we homeschool and I need to document our art experiences....which I do...but it was a glorious morning.

We said our goodbyes, pledged to be back and traveled on down the road to a park on a sunny hill...biding time until we could meet Sweet Daddy for lunch. Another mom from the class had the same idea and as we chatted, she shared some other community nuggets...playtimes and storytimes and drop-in exercise classes. Those things make such a difference in this life on the road...we could sit in this hotel and stare at each other or get out and soak up the life here.

What a treasure.

Tomorrow, we have a BIG adventure planned...maybe more for me than the babes...so I'll be annoyingly, obsessively taking pictures again.

Small radius

Sweet Man chose a Cedar Falls institution for his birthday dinner. He ordered their famous lasagna...I ordered the special of the season. Delish.

The kids and I gave him a couple of presents and I intended to send him off to a shooting range on his only day off this week, Saturday...but he didn't take me up on it. Instead, he hung out with us, enjoying a slow, puttering day with a walk, a playground, and naps. The man has been working over 80 hours a week...he can nap.

a tree on the trail

starting out strong, as always

a not-so-enthusiastic Sweet Daddy carries the scooter

she's done...yards from the tree they just climbed at the beginning of the path

finishing the path like a champ!

red-winged blackbirds singing over us...beautiful

Zeph. 3:17:: can you imagine Him singing over us?

statue at the Visitor's Center...our hotel in the background on the right

Captain's Log:: Cedar Falls, Iowa

LONG drive to get here. Why didn't anyone warn me? Oh, yeah, you did. 

I used a new navigator, one much more accurate than my last which used conservative, downright generous time allotments. Note to self:: when my Google Maps app says  it's a 7h 57m drive, I will drive every bit of 7h 57 min. Leaving at 1pm is not advised...unless, of course, that time is spent with a 5 day old bundle of joy sleeping on my ample chest. (I may share photos, but forgot to get the verbal waiver from his mom and dad. Update: Got it!!!) By the by, I was no help whatsoever to my sweet friend and her family. They fed us Wednesday and we brought our own drama to the mix. Help, hrummph...I'm a hindrance.

Yesterday, our road trip became a bit harried with the I'm soooo bored...can we watch another movie?...what can I eat? Not gonna lie...I yelled...a few several times. People heard me yell...which means I. had. had. it. 

Much like our drive to Kansas last spring, the views were beautiful, albeit very flat. We passed many, many farms, some of them turf farms...so green through Indiana, Illinois, and into Iowa. We live in a lovely country...especially this time of year.

Today:: cozy hotel room, many smiles, cuddles, books, rain, less yelling. May go exploring this afternoon but it is so nice to just be in one place, for now....

And of course, we will celebrate our Sweet Daddy on his birthday. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa J for raising such a good, wise, curious, calm, crafty, hard-working, zealous, intelligent, silly, strong, tender man.

And here are more pics of the new sweet boy and his adorable big sis and gorgeous momma.