Life With a Side of Crazy

Boy, here we are.  Near the end of August.  I'm grabbing a minute to write because I know I won't have much of a chance for the next couple weeks.  The summer is wrapping up with a sprint to the finish.  Here are just the highlights:

~ My boy celebrated a birthday this last weekend.  For accomplishing the amazing feat of surviving for eight years in this family in this world, he was rewarded with copious amounts of Legos, Nerf guns and cash not to mention cake, ice cream sundaes and root beer floats.

~ My husband's 20th year high school class reunion was the same weekend.  For not having gone to the same school and only knowing a handful of folks who did, it was a pretty nice time.  Every one was very friendly and chatty and the food was good.  I was really hungry by the time the food was brought out and let's just say that if I'd been a heavier gal, folks would have been whispering about the amount of food and/or the number of trips I made to the buffet.  In my defense, I had run that morning and hadn't eaten much all day because of trying to get to the reunion on time.  So buffet time came, and I dove in.

~ We're approaching the start of our first year of truly homeschooling.  I was feeling a bit of anxiety about it, considering I had NOT spent the summer gathering curriculum as I intended, but then I ventured into a local store that is chock full of not only homeschool curriculum, but a plethora of teaching aids, workbooks, games, and classroom supplies (i.e. bulletin board stuff!!) and my fears dissolved.  I had to firmly steer myself away from the pretty bulletin board decorations and other classroom wall items into the homeschool section.  And I'm so glad I did.  Within an hour, I had chosen our curriculum for the year and breathed a sigh of relief that it included a Teacher's Manual.  Hallelujah!  I don't have to try to figure out how to explain what a conjunction is, or how to multiply fractions!  The book basically has a script for me!  Needless to say, I feel MUCH better about our upcoming school year.  Not only do I get to buy school supplies (times two actually - some for school, some for home) but I get to buy workbooks and flashcards and pretty things for our walls!  It'll be like playing school!  But for real.    {gulp}     Uh oh.

~Running is going well.  I've been out several times this last week but only for about 3 miles at a whack.  I need to start upping those distances considering the next 1/2 marathon is in about four 1/2 weeks.  I'm definitely not going to be trying to PR this one but I really want to do it.  So I will and we'll see what happens.  Overall, it just feels great to be back out running.  I'm hoping that once the school year starts, I can get back to some kind of regular routine instead of just trying to squeeze in a run when I can.

~ My daughter's 5th birthday is Labor Day weekend.  We're thinking of heading east to the rodeo and to see family.  Although I think if that happens we may come home with pink cowboy boots.  (No, they wouldn't be for me.  Mine would be RED.)

All in all, it's been a full and fun summer.  We've hung out with friends, met some new ones, carried on some traditions, discovered new places and events, and basically just grabbed hold of life and held on for dear life.   And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Crazy suits me.

Summertime

So, it's finally summer!  Or at least, some days it is.  Our weather has been so wierd this year but we're soaking up the sunshine when it's here!

We invested in a pool this year and got it set up, hoping that we'd have some heat to warm it up.  A couple days was all the kids could wait before they HAD to get in it.  They didn't stay in very long because it was COLD, but when the temperatures finally got about 70° it warmed up and they've been having a ball ever since.

Ahhh....how I love summer.

Dog Days of Summer

Ouch. A month has slipped by with no new post from me! Well, it's summer, don'tcha know, and summer = BUSY. So here's a bit of what we've been up to...

We picked strawberries:


We've been playing in the water:
And relaxing in the shade:


We celebrated my birthday: And then there's this girl:
Who we already adore... And who is enjoying her new life with us...

So far, it's been a fun-filled, jam-packed summer and it ain't over yet!

Sunny Days

The other night I was coming home around 7:45pm and was treated to this view. As soon as I walked in the door, I grabbed my camera. All around me was dusk, but the mountain was basking in the last rays of the day. It was stunning.

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I got a wild hair the other day and suddenly turned into the love child of Bob Villa and Ciscoe Morris and this is what I ended up with.

It all started a while ago when PW posted step-by-step instructions on how to build these garden boxes and since time was marching on and we were making no progres towards getting our shared garden in the ground, I took matters (and drill) in hand and did my own thing. Hubby helped me with the first one but then I decided one wasn't nearly enough space and built a second one the next day. We dumped in a bunch of topsoil and I got things planted and we are on our way. Next year when we get our big garden going, I can use these boxes for strawberries or my dahlia garden.

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The weather has turned unusually warm for this time of year and I am LOVING it. My housekeeping has gone the way of the dinosaurs because I'm too busy lolling around in the sunshine to care about the state of my floors or the availability of clean underwear. My mind turns to mush when the sun comes out and I am only capable of draping myself lazily on my lounge chair, intoxicated by the scent of suntan lotion. Seriously, it's one of those rare occurences where I am voluntarily still. I just hope we're not getting our summer weather now and will be freezing when it actually is summer. All the more reason to soak it up now, I say!

The Camping Trip

So. Where do I begin.

The trip down was uneventful, if a little long. We left home at 10:20am, stopped for gas & donuts, then stopped again around 3pm for a snack and a little play at McDonald's, and we finally arrived at the campground about 5pm. We got our tent and campsite set up, and spent the evening visiting with our friends.

On Friday afternoon, everyone started arriving and the afternoon was spent reuniting with friends and helping everyone get situated. Sam finally had some friends to play with so he was happy. By the time everyone arrived, I think there were almost as many kids as there were adults. (If I'm remembering right, there were 17 kids and 22 adults that camped.) The woods rang with the sounds of their laughter and various adventures as they raced around, creating new games and storing up memories. Sam seemed to be feeling fine, although Zoë's nose starting running a bit.

Saturday morning Zoë woke up coughing and gagging on phlegm. She was very clingy throughout the day and obviously not feeling well. Fortunately, I had brought Tylenol and Motrin and cough syrup, thinking Sam might need it. So I dosed her up as best I could. But I should have known all was not right when she went and crawled in the tent in the late morning and went to sleep. She was okay thru the rest of the day, although I could tell she was still feeling a bit under the weather. About 5:30pm, Sam went missing and I was about to start to panic when I peeked in the tent and found HIM asleep. He had been playing SO hard and running around non-stop that he'd just wore himself out. I tried several times to wake him up and feed him dinner, but he wasn't interested. I finally stuffed him in his jammies and sleeping bag and let him be, figuring I'd be seeing him very early in the morning.

Zoë and I headed for bed about 10pm and not long after, that's when the real trouble started.

At about 11:40pm, I was awoken by Zoë coughing barking and gasping for air. She was flailing around, crying, gagging, gasping, choking and making the most terrifying noises as she tried to breathe. After what seemed an eternity, she went somewhat limp. I was starting to seriously panic watching my baby try to get oxygen. My sister's tent was right behind mine, so I somewhat quietly called out to her, knowing that Zoë's coughing would have woken her up. (She is an ICU nurse.) But there was no answer. So I scooped Zoë up and crawled out of the tent, feeling panicked and trying to find some help. Now realistically, all I had to do was YELL and everyone would have come running. The woods were totally quiet so I'm sure they heard our commotion, but I was still trying to remain calm and not wake up the entire campsite. I headed for the campfire where I saw some silhouettes, which turned out to be my sister and a friend. I stumbled over to them, saying "I don't know what to do!" and explained what was going on. My sister had indeed heard Zoë coughing and thought it didn't sound good. By this time, she was breathing a bit easier, but still pretty raspy and at a faster rate than normal. Eventually, we went and crawled back in bed. I knew I wasn't going to be getting very much sleep because I couldn't bear to not listen to make sure she was still breathing, however raspy and abnormal her breathing was. I think Zoë finally dozed off around 2am and I allowed myself to sleep around 3am. To be honest, it's all kind of a big blur. I know I was up several times with her, sitting outside in the cold night air, hoping that would help her breath easier. My sweet Sam woke up about 1:30am, and upon hearing Zoë's breathing said "I don't like that sound Momma." I explained that Zoë was sick and had a bad cough. He suggested giving her some medicine, which I explained I'd already done and it wasn't working. When I headed back outside to sit in the cool air, Sam asked where I was going, so I again explained what I was doing. And my sweet boy asked very concernedly, "But won't you be cold Momma?" His concern alone warmed my heart. I reassured him I would be fine. Zoë was running a definite temperature so her little hot body kept me plenty warm.

It was probably the longest night of my entire life. I think I got about two hours of sleep, but it wasn't the lack of sleep that dragged that night out. It was listening to Zoë struggle for air and knowing that we were in the middle of woods, out of cell phone range, and probably 30 miles from the closest hospital. Also, the fact that we were supposed to head home the next day was weighing heavily on my mind. I am a very dangerous driver when I am tired. There is NOTHING I can do to keep myself awake when I get sleepy while driving. Trust me, I've tried everything. In situations where I absolutely HAVE to drive and I'm that tired, I drive with my arm raised in the air. That way when I doze off, my arm relaxes and falls, immediately waking me up. But I knew there would be no way I could safely make the six-hour drive the next day. And I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I do know that I spent a large part of the night praying that all would be okay, that Zoë would breathe easier, that things wouldn't escalate into a true life-or-death emergency. I did take some comfort in knowing that in our group that was camped we had a paramedic (with supplies), two nurses, a former fire chief, two members of the rescue squad, a police officer and a 911 dispatcher. We were flush with emergency personnel.

In the morning, when I stumbled bleary-eyed from my tent, everyone was very concerned about Zoë, having heard her throughout the night. It was more than my exhausted, overwraught and terrifed self could handle and I was reduced to tears each time someone inquired or expressed their concern and support. I am not a weepy person, but having been faced with a very long night of terror and unease was more than I could take. I ended up crying in several people's arms and being on the receiving end, once again, of all the love and support I've been blessed with since childhood. I was slightly embarrassed to be repeatedly falling apart, but it was honest emotion born of exhaustion and fear for my child's health and I couldn't have held it back if I'd tried.

In the end, Lawrence & Linda insisted I go to their house about an hour away, spend the night and get rested up before driving home. That way I could make sure Zoë was doing a bit better before hitting the road and potentially getting into distress as we were going down the highway. We packed up, said our goodbyes to our beloved friends, and headed to my old hometown. I called Josh as soon as I got a cell signal and told him about my night, which brought on a new onslaught of tears. He agreed that the best thing to do was for me to get some rest and head home the next day.

Once we got to town and had some dinner, I decided I probably should get Zoë checked out, so I ran up to the hospital there in town. We were the only patients in the ER (it's tiny!) and in and out within about 30 minutes. I wasn't very impressed with the care, but was at least reassured it wasn't her lungs. They gave her some medication and sent us on our way, without really much of an explanation as to what was going on.

To wrap up a very long story, we got some sleep and headed home on Monday. I still struggled to stay awake a bit towards the end of the trip, but managed to get home safely. Boy, home has never looked so good. I think we ALL were relieved to be home and in our own beds. I took Zoë to the pediatrician on Tuesday to get re-checked and the Dr. said it sounded like croup (which is what I suspected, although I have zero experience with it). She's still coughing a bit and says she doesn't feel good, but hopefully she's on the mend and will soon be back to her silly, happy self.

Even though it was incredibly stressful that last night and day, the weekend was SO much fun. I got to see all my favorite people and catch up on their lives. I came away feeling so renewed and blessed to have such loving, supportive people in my life. We had gobs of tasty food, great conversation, and made a whole new slew of memories. And I'm so eternally thankful that I was with those people, my family, during such a trying time. It would have been so much worse without them.

I already can't wait to go back next year. Truly.

Happy Campers

Here it is Tuesday already, the 22nd of July. How did that happen?! This summer is FLYING by. Too dang fast. This happens every year! I run around like my hair's on fire for three months, then suddenly it's October and I'm left standing there, wondering where the heck the summer went. Throw in a little building project and life starts assuming speed-of-light velocity. To be honest, that's probably why summer is my favorite time of year. The days are long and warm, there are multitudes of fun to be had, FAIR WEEK, berry-picking, BBQs....need I go on? I LOVE being busy and on the go. Especially in warm, sunny weather.

This last weekend we went berry-picking. The raspberries and blueberries were ready so I packed up the Hubby and the kids and we met Brooke and family at the farm for some picking. The kids all had a great time climbing on the tractors, eating ice cream and even picked a few berries.

When we got home, there was a message from Josh's cousin, Rob, informing us that he and his girlfriend had just bought a house out in our neighborhood and saying that we should get together. Josh called him back and ironically enough, it turns out that Rob & Meg live practically in our backyard. To drive to their house, it's about 1.25 miles, but as the crow flies they are just up the hill behind us, through the trees. Anyway, Josh talked with them and they invited us up. We whipped up some guacamole, grabbed some beers and headed over. I've only ever met Rob & Meg maybe twice, but we had a great evening, laughing and telling stories. Once Zoë started to melt down from being away from her beloved blankies, kitty and "poke" (aka pacifier), we invited them down to our place to continue the evening. So they grabbed their cooler and followed us down and the party continued. We laughed and talked until 11pm, then promised to get together again soon. It was a surprisingly nice way to spend a Saturday evening, considering they were virtual strangers to me. But strangers no more!

Tomorrow I will be doing some final preparations for our upcoming camping trip. Every summer, a bunch of families that I grew up with in Eastern WA get together and camp over the weekend. We started this annual campout 10 years ago and it's always something I look forward to. I'm especially excited because we didn't get to go last year, so it's been two years since I've see this part of my "family". And they truly ARE my family. We all were such a tightknit group in my growing-up years - we met thru our church, and most of us kids attended the little two-room church school next door to the church. My parents and many of the other "adults" agree that it really was a special time in their lives, and they've never had such close friendships since. We all formed such a strong bond because of our similiar situations: small kids, single income, and simple life-styles. Just good Christian people living a simple, country life. It really was rather idyllic. So to go back and reconnect with these people, and spend some quality time is just so special. I catch myself smiling contentedly for days after coming home, and just have such a warm, peaceful feeling after being with these special folks. I'm reminded of where I came from and what's important in life.

Linda & Lawrence, in particular, are the organizers of this tradition and two of my favorite people on earth. Their son and I were the same age (I had an ENORMOUS crush on him for years) and our families spent alot of time together, and even though we moved away when I was 14, I've always kept in touch with them. I consider them as my second set of parents and they consider me one of their kids. They've known me since I was 5.5 so to now be able to have my kids spend time and get to know them is priceless. I talked to Linda the other night and it's hard to tell who she's more excited to see: me or my kids!

The kids are practically turning themselves inside out they are so excited about going camping. Unfortunately, Daddy is staying home because we're leaving on Thursday and he has to work. I started pulling out all our camping stuff on Sunday and going thru it and every day since, I get asked repeatedly by my short people "Is it time to go camping?". We were driving home from Costco today and Zoë asked "Is this the path to camping?" M'kay, first of all, what kind of almost-3-year-old uses the word "path"? And second of all, how many times do I have to explain that we aren't leaving for "two more sleeps". Sheesh. I sounds like a broken record.

Sure, it's a task getting everything ready and organized, and all possible situations and scenarios prepared for, not to mention the 5-6 hour drive it will be, but I couldn't be more excited. There will probably be 30-50 people that camp, including a host of kids, and another 30+ that will come up to the campground on Saturday and spend the day. I'm anticipating coming home on Sunday exhausted, over-fed, smelling of campfire, extremely dusty, and perfectly content.

Busy Days

Man! The days are just speeding by! We've been so busy lately that I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything. Life always seems to speed up in the summer, and with our house-building project going too, we're extra busy (and burning gas like we own an oil field).

Thursday morning the weather turned cold and rainy. I had a full day of schlumping around the house planned when I received an email from my pal Heather, inviting various friends over to hang out in the afternoon. Well, she didn't need to ask me twice! I had a couple errands to run, then we headed over to her house. Brooke and a couple other friends, Maggie and Beka, joined us. We shooed the kids all downstairs to play, and settled ourselves in around the coffee maker and snacks. The hours flew by as we chatted and laughed, and before we knew it it was dinnertime! I tell ya, I have the best friends. What a totally indulgent afternoon it was - several hours to myself to just hang out with friends. Even though the kids were there, they're all old enough now to pretty much play and do their own thing without interrupting us, so it really felt like "me" time. Thanks Heather for opening your doors to us! What a great way to spend an afternoon...

Friday, hubby went out to the property to do a few things while I put the finishing touches on my 4th of July grub. In the afternoon, we headed out to Whitey's house for a BBQ. Another enjoyable afternoon ensued, where we consumed way too much food, a few beverages, and took alot of pictures. When it got dark, we brought out the fireworks and started the show. The kids all got to have sparklers and take turns helping light some fireworks. I think I prefer doing fireworks at home with friends than going to a big show, where you have to battle crowds, parking and traffic. It was really fun and the kids got to participate. Next year, we'll be able to host the party - I'm already looking forward to it!

Today I awoke with a bit of a headache and general icky feeling. Hmmm. Maybe one who is used to drinking 1-2 beers a night should rethink having a cocktail following by 4 beers. Needless to say, I got off to a slow start this morning. But after a couple cups of coffee, some Excedrin and some cinnamon toast, I was about good as new. The kids and I packed up and headed out to the house where Josh was already working. I finished putting the waterproofing sealer on the foundation, as tomorrow they will be backfilling it. The rest of the day we spent at home, relaxing and puttering around the house. I managed to do all the laundry, clean both the kids' rooms, wash the sofa cushion covers, and vaccum.

I have some pictures to post but for now, my bed is calling my name. Tomorrow will probably be just as busy and 5:30am comes awfully early, which seems to be the time when Zoë wakes up and starts calling me, or else wanders into our room and crawls into bed with us. Why can't that girl sleep IN?!

Visions of Summer

With the advent of slightly warmer temperatures and the rapidly approaching end of the school year, my thoughts have turned to summer. I've started making a mental list of all the things I want to do. I live for the summers when the kids and I can be on the go and out of the house. We have our standard activities that we do every year: a trip to the zoo, berry picking, the annual campout of folks I grew up with, 4th of July BBQs, and multiple trips to the local Fair.

My main partner-in-crime, Brooke, is as much a go-er and do-er as I am so over the last couple years we've had lot of adventures together and are already cooking up more for this summer. We are more than ready for some hot, sunny weather and the freedom from school schedules. (We both have been languishing miserably thru this long, cold winter we've been subjected to.)

And this summer our youngest kids, who are only 3 weeks apart in age, will be almost three years old and much more manageable when it comes to our outings. We've been looking forward to this particular summer since they were babies, knowing they would be at the age where they were more independent and easier to drag around. And, like every summer, we'll look forward to "next summer" when they'll be a year older and even more fun. But for now, we'll start dreaming of our lazy days at the lake, picnics at the park, camping adventures and whatever else strikes our fancy.

What are your plans or favorite activities for the summer?