Simple Things

Simple things.

Like a girl and her hot dog.



Maybe it was just the way it was such a big deal...and so it became a big deal to me too. Maybe it was the way she took the time to pick every tiny fleck of onion out of the wrapper and place it back on her hot dog.


or maybe it's how she loves, loves dandelion puffs



or how she thinks it is such great fun to scrub potatoes and she doesn't really realize it's not "play"



I find myself almost daily being afraid of missing the simple things. You know...it's the "busy" that does it. The math, science, ballet, errands, housework, shopping, paper checking, laundry...it robs the simple things sometimes. Like playing dollhouse, or reading books without it being a scheduled subject.



Like noticing how much older this one seems lately.
Or how all of a sudden I can joke with her on a new level.
Or how she sits and looks at books for hours sometimes.
Or how she thanks God for "eatin" about three times per prayer.
Or how she has this deep chested guffaw when she laughs.

Or maybe it's the silly things I hear when I listen by her bedroom door at night after she's called one of her big brothers to sneak in and sit on her little bed with her for the ump-teenth time.

Maybe it's my gratefulness that our love has been a work in progress. I am forever grateful that it wasn't an easy road. Because every day that I look into those eyes and see something new there...something that we grew together...I am humbled.

Maybe it's the way she tells me almost daily, "I love all my family."

Maybe it's the way this beautiful girl's birth mother must ache inside every time she remembers...and wonders...

...and the way her pain... has become our joy.

It's not fair really, whatever that is.



Maybe it's the games kiddos come up with when left to do so.
Maybe it's how as soon as the weather hits anything over 65 degrees they are sure they should play in water.

Maybe it's just swinging. It's simple. It's un-busy.



Maybe it's family "extreme croquet"...



in which one thirteen year old, who will remain (ahem)un-named, places the wickets under evergreen trees...








and on steep hills...








Maybe it's my biggest guy turning too old for me to want to admit...and wondering where in the world all the years went.

Maybe it's that my big guy actually likes his momma, and for that I am forever grateful.







Maybe it's boys who have been friends for absolutely ever...



Maybe it's just boys...my boys...so proud to call them mine.



It's the busyness that bothers me because in the rush of it all, I feel like I'm missing things. So I try to soak up the cuteness, and leave myself little notes to "remember" to play dollhouse and such.


Today was our last day of school...can I get a Hooray! So my goal for the summer is to spend more time soaking up the "little things".

I am so glad for the break, but as always, I know that somehow throughout the summer, I will miss the structure of it all in some warped sort of way.

But as the last day of school, today was "Upside Down Day". The kids were the teachers and I was the student. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all...even if my math lesson was a little bit too hard (had to skip the trigonometry question..however, my sentence diagramming was impeccable though, as was my project on the Statue of Liberty)



Matthew took his college placement exam last week and did excellent, Praise the Lord.
Now he can begin taking early college classes in the fall. Let me tell you, I am ALL in FAVOR of half price credits for students who are still in high school...hooray for half price.



A few days ago, Faith and I were digging in the flower bed and she said,
"Have you ever 'goed' to Japan?"
"No, I haven't," I replied.
"Isn't it by China?" she asked.
"Yes, it's by China."
"Huh, I should've 'goed' there while I was in China... I never thought of that."

Faith calls the clothes hamper (that thing that I never see the bottom of) the 'hamburger'. She also calls her underwear 'booty'. The other day she was getting in the tub. She dropped all her dirty clothes in a pile on the floor beside the tub. As she crawled in she said to me, "Mother, can you put my booty in the hamburger?"



Somehow my dad's 200 year old moonshine jug made it into the picture.

Ahhh..outtakes. Family photos are murder ya know.
My brother and his wife, us, and my mom and dad.



This morning we're on our way to the beach.