42 posts tagged “family story”
What does 1 big goose-egg on the forehead + 5 face wounds + 1 scraped up forearm + 4 skinned knees + 7 cuts on feet equal?
In kid math, it equals... Souvenirs from a fantastic weekend!
Half of the kids went camping, and the rest of us went to the mountains for a day -- great adventures for everyone! Only Miles returned home unscathed. More pictures and details to follow later....
I had to ask myself: If I'm just now finally getting around to cleaning up a half-empty wine glass from last night, and it's 4:00 in the afternoon, does that mean it's been a really good weekend? Or does it just mean we're being a little too irresponsible and playing too much? Either way, we're thankful for the fun times.
The highlights...
On Friday we had some good play time with our friends the Dickmanns at a park nearby. The kids ran around and played while we adults had some good conversation time. Then we all went for a short hike through the woods, which we always love.
Friday night I was able to go out for awhile. Over 50 of the women from our church went on a retreat this weekend*, but for those of us who could not go, Sandy hosted an "Unretreat Girls Night Out" which turned out to be a lot of fun.
Saturday, we all bounded out of bed to head our separate directions (which is why the dishes did not get done and the wine glasses were not picked up!). Pete took Strider and Rayna uptown to meet Poppa and see the Harlem Globetrotters play. Before the game, the sports league Strider plays in arranged to have the kids get a chance to play on the court, etc., so they loved that. Plus there was both a trolley ride and a train ride, and lunch at a restaurant, thrown into the mix, so all in all they all had a great day.
Meanwhile, I took the 2 younger boys to our neighborhood's annual Kite Day. Colsen had fun making a couple of crafts and seeing all the kites -- although he may have had just as much fun seeing the men with their lawnmowers in the yards we passed on the way walking to and from the field. Then the 3 of us packed up and went to run some errands. It makes me smile to think about how I would have dreaded taking 2 kids to the store with me when I just had Strider and Rayna. But now it seems much simpler-- and even enjoyable. I love the feeling of growing into motherhood. I think I've been a very late bloomer in this arena, but slowly and surely I'm feeling a little more capable as the years go by. :)
Saturday night (just minutes after we finally got the house and kitchen picked up) Katie and Graham came over, bringing Shepherd's Pie for dinner, and a couple games to play afterwards. It was a very fun evening with them... no pictures to show, though.
I was very thankful for a Day of Rest today... though I'm not sure how I should feel about the fact that I needed a break after so much playing!
*As a side note, I always enjoy going to church on the Sundays when all the women are gone -- it's fun to see how the kids show up, if their clothes match or not, and how bedraggled the dads all look! But I have to say, I was very impressed today. In fact, the scraggliest-looking kids were probably my own. So many dads were there with smiles, looking very sweet with their children.)
(This picture was shamefully stolen from my cousin's Facebook page... HE got to have a real Spring Break, apparently!)
Remember when the words "Spring Break" used to be followed up with "Woo-Hoo!"? I have distant recollections of that.
These days our Spring Breaks are slightly different, or really, dramatically different. No beaches, no sleeping in, no staying up all night for fun... Although I did get to clean up sand after my kids dragged it in from the backyard, we did get to be up all hours of the night, thanks to our small children, and we did get to enjoy some beautiful weather... Still, not quite the same as it used to be.
There were some fun highlights this past week, though! Each of the kids got to have special times with just Daddy.... Rayna went to the park to do some hiking, Strider went to the mountains to ski for a day, and Colsen went to Story Time at the library. Colsen has also been displaying a love for all things that involve tools and "fixin' stuff" so he got to do some of that as well. Miles stayed home and worked on his first big trick: smiling. (Unfortunately, we don't have any good pictures of that yet, but he's been making us all squeal with delight.)
And I got to have some "outings" as well... I found great joy in taking a trip to Wal-Mart all by myself, walking to the Town Center to have my eyebrows waxed, and spending a couple hours with some friends at Panera. It was nice to get out a few times! Oh -- and we also spent a day at my parents' house -- which was a treat, especially the food!
So, all in all, a good Spring Break -- and we didn't even need to deal with sticky suntan lotion.
This morning I was awoken by the same words moms all across the neighborhood likely were...
"Can I go out and play in the snow???"
So, after breakfast and the morning routines, by 8:15, here was the scene:
And by 8:30 am, here were some more scenes:
Alas, by 3:30 this afternoon, this was the new scene:
Of course we Northerners can't help but compare North Carolina "snow days" with the ones we grew up with. For example, here is the house I grew up in -- on NOT a snow day!
In fact, we had many, many days like this each winter, but we were still bundled up and shuffled off to school each morning, walking past many a snow-plowed drift of snow much taller than we were. I remember very few days when school was actually cancelled.... until finally my senior year in high school when we had a huge ice storm. We had no power for 5 days.... so finally the NY school system buckled and said we could actually stay home. :)
But, here in NC we'll enjoy our wimpy snow days -- they're still fun for everyone-- moms included!
This morning as we set out in the car to go visit the greater Wray family, we were all bubbling with excitement. We started to talk about all the things we were most looking forward to...
Strider said he was most excited about the pizza for lunch and the cookie contest. Had he known just how varied the different homemade pizzas would be (Santa Fe BBQ chicken; Spinach, sausage and herb; cheeseburger; katahuna (or something like that?); etc., he might have been even more giddy. And had he known that the cookie contest, known as the "Great Uffle-Off" was going to be as tasty as it was (with entries of mint oreos, mint frosting, peanut butter rice-krispies, and orange/coconut varieties, as well as the original Druffle) he would have talked about that for hours.
I said I'm most looking forward to seeing everyone, and doing the Grab Bag game. Had I known that there was also going to be a big group gift with building blocks that are addictive for young and old, that would also have made my list. And had I known the grandchildren were all going to receive special blessings from the grandparents, that would have been at the top of my list.
But when we asked Rayna what she was most looking forward to for the day, her answer was, "Worshiping God." I'm not sure she really understood what she was saying, but I loved Strider's response: He got quiet and then said, "Good point, Rayna."
And it was a good point. He's the reason for all this celebration after all. :) As we drove home tonight, there was a rare moment of silence in the van and I had time to reflect briefly. I thought about how every year Christmas Eve brings at least a few minutes of calm and quiet that is so mysterious and wonder-full. It may not be much of a Silent Night all the time, but it is always a Holy Night, I think.
So Happy Christmas Eve to everyone!
This morning I've been feeling like George Costanza's dad (on Seinfeld) a lot -- wanting to throw my hands up and yell "serenity now!' over and over. Here are a few jpeg-less snapshots of the past few hours in my life:
--Being awoken at 4:30 am by Colsen (who then went promptly back to sleep) and lying awake in my bed listening to what I'm pretty sure are rodents inhabiting our attic.
--Coming downstairs a few hours later to find the computer desk broken. As I type this, the keyboard is slanted at a 45-degree angle, and the mouse (electronic, not a rodent, thankfully) keeps sliding down into it.
--Trying to do dishes and discovering the garbage disposal is not working.
--Realizing all through our school time that I kept having to have 3 conversations simultaneously, which gets taxing after awhile. At one point Colsen was on my lap making me "read him" a unit study book about dogs, Rayna was on one side of me counting by tens and wanting my approval, and Strider was the other side asking me if 9/15 is 60%.
--Looking outside 5 minutes after "recess" started to find that Strider had taken the other 2 kids into our neighbor's backyard and locked them in their dog pen. (Both of them were yelling to get out of jail)
--Discovering that an entire load of laundry I was taking out of the dryer had what looks to be permanent black marks all over! Every single item may be ruined.
--Looking in the dryer and seeing the tell-tale black streaks throughout. While I'm busy scrubbing it out, I realize I've now over-boiled some eggs on the stove.
--Explaining to Rayna for the 217th time that she cannot wear her footless tights as pants. Then 5 minutes later explaining to her that no, she still cannot wear her too-small patterned pajama bottoms as daytime pants.
--Having a "2-towel" lunch -- one to clean up spilled milk on the rug and one to clean up spilled egg-water when the egg pan tipped over and fell on the floor.
So, Pete just came home and I'm off to do some quick Christmas shopping, but since one of the stores on my list is Wal-Mart, I'm not sensing that I'll be obtaining any serenity there.... Maybe it will be found in the car on the way to and from.
(Overall, though, I know this has been a very good day and we have much to be thankful for. Sometimes you just have to laugh at all -- or blog about it all -- so you don't go crazy!)
As I type this, the kids are all upstairs (finally), supposedly in bed, and this is the scene by our fireplace. And "dreams that St. Nicholas soon would be there" are likely running through the kids' little heads.
We've had a fun evening celebrating this "Santa" holiday again this year, with some friends joining us for the festivities. Before dinner all the kids enjoyed making little gingerbread ornaments (gingerbread is something like a delicacy the real St. Nick likely handed out in his day), and then after we had our Middle Eastern dinner (food St. Nick would have likely eaten), we all gathered to hear the story of St. Nicholas, read by Mr. Timberlake. Right when the story ended, there was a mysterious "ding dong" of the doorbell, so off everyone ran to see who was there....
No St. Nicholas showed his face, but he apparently left some little goody bags for the kids, which they all enjoyed. But the best part of the evening, in my opinion was when Pete shared with everyone about some kids we had just heard about who are in need this Christmas, who won't have any stockings unless people give them to them. When he asked if any of the kids would like to give away any of their new things they had just received, every single kid -- even the 2-year olds -- enthusiastically brought forward items to put in the new stocking to give away. Just like St. Nicholas would have done!
Now we'll just have to wait and see what St. Nicholas might bring the kids this year while they sleep... And then all of our "Santa" stuff goes away after tomorrow -- and we focus only on the Baby in the Manger now.
So, happy St. Nick's day to you, and to all a good night!
The season of hope and waiting has now begun and we are happily celebrating here at the Frank house. We enjoyed having Bud and Jane here for the first Sunday of Advent, and we used the day to make our wreath and Advent chains -- some of our favorite activities.
Then on Monday we went on our first big outing of the season -- a field trip to the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child distribution center here in Charlotte. Each year they have an annual Family Day, during which they shut down all the processing activities so they can explain to kids what exactly happens there. We were very impressed by what we all learned there: the Charlotte center is the biggest one they run -- and this month alone 2.1 million shoeboxes will be going through this building! Over the 2 hour tour, they took the kids through all kinds of stations so they could see exactly how their boxes would be processed, which countries they would go to, how kids react to receiving them, etc. Mom and Dad joined us for this trip, and I think we adults enjoyed it as much as the kids did!
And it was fun to even see a familiar face -- our friend Mr. McManus!
After our tour, we headed into the city to see some of the decorations and have some dinner. We had hoped to see the animatronic singing bears we always like to see...
Alas, they didn't start their concerts until the next day. :(
But we still had a fun evening anyway... dinner with Nonna and Poppa and dessert with Graham and Katie...
A very fun way to kick of the Christmas season!
(I made the pictures small since this is such a long post, but if you want to see any of them larger, just click on them!)
One of our adventures while Bud and Jane were here was our trip up to Lazy 5 Ranch -- one of our favorite places in this area. The main feature of this ranch is a 3.5 mile drive through a park in which there are over 700 animals of all different types (from 6 different continents!). It's amazing to see them all just roaming around together. And not only do they come right up to your car, but many of them are so aggressive (because they know you probably have food for them) that they will come right IN your car if you let them! So it's quite the safari adventure. Bud and Jane kept comparing it to the real African safari they have been on in Kenya -- and they said this one has better roads and you can get much closer to the zebras here. :)
The kids, of course, loved it once again. This was Colsen's first experience there and, after getting licked by a huge creature who put his head in our window right as we started, he quickly recovered and decided he loved all the animals. He kept leaning out the window (when there wasn't an ostrich right there trying to get in) and yelling, "Hey animals! Whatcha doin' guys? Hey dude!" etc.
Here are some pictures from the adventure:
Afterwards, we went around the walking part of it and saw some of the other animals -- they even have lemurs, camels, and what I think were kangaroos now.
Later that day we went to Mom and Dad's house for some more wild adventures.... including a fantastic dinner featuring Dad's new "signature dish." We all came home that night exhausted, but unanimous in our opinions that it was a very fun day.
