What is wrong with me?

Caution: I need to rant. Read at your own risk.

I can.not get it together! What is it, you ask? EVERYTHING! I'm feeling well beyond my years. Or are you supposed to feel like your body is falling apart at 40? And how in the heck am I already 40, for crying out loud!?! Earlier this year, I let the housekeeper go to save some money...mistake, BIG mistake. I like a clean house. I'm doing a poor job of keeping it that way. Speaking of saving some money...the monthly insurance premium went up almost the exact amount I used to pay my housekeeper. ugh! So much for saving money! The whole summer plan thingy has not worked out quite as wonderfully as I had in my head. I just hope my kids have had a little fun despite my lacking and their brains don't turn into mush from too much TV and computer time. The only exercise I have done this month is the few laps I have swum while playing with the kids in friends' pools. Sad, really. I eat like there's no tomorrow, then cry when my gut and backside get bigger. It's pretty pitiful. I told my friend the other day that I think I'm ready to retire as a parent. This is hard, and I'm not sure I'm cut out for it. Some days...well, ok...most days I feel like a complete failure. The kids play like the best of friends one minute and fuss and fight like they hate each other the next. I'm feeling a lot like Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes. You know the scene when she is at the nursing home with Ninny Threadgoode, and she completely breaks down? The one when Ninny tells her she needs hormones? I'm also relating to the scene when Evelyn decides she is going to prove to the young snots who steel her parking place who is Boss and rams into their cute little car. LOVE IT!

So glad I clicked on one of my favorite blogs today. She posted about going to an Edward Sharpe concert and included this song. It made me smile.



So did this...


yogurt + best buddy = perfect day

Cora and her best buddy swimming this morning

 

I read something today that struck a chord. Jen Hatmaker, mom of five, said, "Parenting is like holding up a mirror to your worst self." I completely agree! It's not all bad though. My little dolls are dolls sometimes...more times than not, actually. Like the other day, Carleigh decorated a picture frame with sea shells she collected and asked me to print a photo of her and her sweet friends who took her on their family vacay to Florida. She loved every minute of it. Today we drove over to their casa to give them the frame and pick up her bag that was buried at the bottom of the luggage pile when they dropped her off. I asked her on the way over if she remembered the gift...she had. I asked if she wrote a thank you card...of course, she had. She's so thoughtful that way. She folded laundry and helped cook dinner the day before yesterday...without me asking! Luke is still ALL boy, but I see his sweet side too. And he's growing up so dern fast. Yesterday, he packed all of his clothes for church camp by himself! Just like Carleigh did! But she's almost two years older and has some experience packing. He has never been to camp. I'm a little nervous about him going, to tell the truth. I'm sure he'll have a ball and be fine, but I'm still nervous. Last night he had a bad dream about me. He rushed downstairs and came to my side of the bed, telling me about his nightmare. I tried talking him through it and thought we were good when he headed back upstairs. Seconds later, I heard him sobbing. My heart hurt for him. I went upstairs and just held him, rocking my little man cub. Cora is so full of life and drama. It doesn't take too much to talk her down off her little high horse though, so that's good. She is so sweet. She tells me she loves me and I melt. I love those babies.

SPOILER ALERT! The other night Kelvin and I were watching the episode of Downton Abbey, when Sibyl dies after childbirth. I could.not.believe.it! Anyway, the mother, Lady Crawley, said there could be nothing worse than losing a child. I have to agree. I miss my sweet little angel. I need her. I wish there was no death or disease. I know one day there won't be anymore, and for Emma, she is at that place. A place free from sadness. She is happy and in the presence of her Creator, and that makes me smile. But my heart has a whole in it, and it hurts. One of the ladies in my Hello Mornings Challenge group had twins Wednesday morning. One was born completely healthy, the other was ushered into the arms of Jesus. There are some things I will just never understand.

Well, this is probably a good place to stop ranting. My man is home and we don't have any children to take care of tonight. What to do?! :)

Beach Week

Hey there! How are you? I wanted to get some photos up before time gets away from me. Sunday evening we returned home from a week at the beach. It was so gooood! Cora started crying when she realized we were packing up to go home. She didn't want to leave the beach...neither did I. We had such a good time. We rented a beach house with a long-time friend of Kelvin's and his precious family. I had some serious beach house envy working. I tried hard not to covet the precious house in which we stayed, but I had to ask forgiveness. I miss our beach house. Maybe one day we can get another one. Until then, the rental option will have to do. The kids had a ball digging in the sand and riding the boogy boards in the waves. I had a ball watching them dig, taking pictures of them dig, riding some of the waves myself, and eating like there was no tomorrow. There will be more photos to come, but here are some that I've thrown together so far...

Is there anything cuter than little fingers and a precious little blonde in a hat?!
 Help me!

SO, how's your summer going? What have you been spending your time doing? Reading anything good? I'm so excited to be reading a real book right now. I will finish it soon and can't wait to start another. I miss reading. It's been a long time since I read anything for fun...well, besides magazines, anyway. Hope your days are full of love and laughter. xo

Weekend and beyond

Now that we're half-way through this week, I guess I'll post about our weekend. ;) (Always a day late and a dollar short!)

I'm so excited we are finally in purge mode around here. Whoo to the hoo, baby! I started purging the kids' game/toy cabinet Thursday and Friday. Kelvin and I spent Saturday and Sunday cleaning out the garage. Friday morning I cleared some stuff out of my closet. I found a little braided bag of which I was going to cut off a strap. The scissors and I got a little tangled. Let's just say the scissors won, and I found myself in the urgent care room getting my arm glued closed! GRR! and double GRR! Anway, we've been chipping away at the piles of stuff. Hopefully this morning I'll get in the attic and drag out some stuff. I'm pricing like a mad woman, and Saturday we're opening the driveway for our second-ever Garage(guess I should call it Yard) Sale! I really prefer just taking stuff to Goodwill or Purple Heart and getting the tax receipt, but there's too much to load this time. We might need to make this an annual affair. It's a pain in the hiney to do, but I'm SOooooooo tired of the clutter and stuff. A yearly purge would be so much easier than waiting five or six!

We had big plans of going to Palm Beach at Moody Gardens in Galveston on Sunday after the early service at church, but when we about melted going from the church to the car, we decided to stay home and continue working on the garage. I know, great Father's Day celebration. Oh well. I went to the grocery store and bought some shrimp, corn and potatoes, and we had a little shrimp boil on the back porch. I set up Cora's little wading pool, and I swear, she played in that thing for five hours! The big kids hopped in and out of it too. We had a good day, even though we changed the plan.

For Make It Monday, the kids and I made a coconut cream pie from scratch (except the crust. I know, don't shoot me. I'll tackle homemade crust next time.) It was a first for them and me. I've never been much on baking. I don't know why. I kind of think I'm afraid of messing up whatever it is I'm doing. Well, this summer one of the things on my personal bucket list was making a coconut pie and a chocolate pie. The coconut pie came out beautifully, even if I did have to scrape out the filling because I forgot to bake the pie crust first. Coconut pie is one of my dad's favorites, so that was his Father's Day gift. :)

Luke was the carrier. He's sporting a short "do" for summer. It's finally not a sore subject.
Carleigh and I made the cute little "Happy Father's Day" banner.

The kids and Papa (not sure why I write it like this. It's pronounced "pawpaw."

My dad and me :)

Part of the summer plan for the kids and me is a bit of a schedule. We're doing Make It Monday, Take a Trip Tuesday, Wet and Wild Wednesday, Thinking Thursday and Friend Friday or Fresh and Fun Friday (do something fun we found on Pinterest.) I'm also encouraging reading daily, and doing a small journal entry and some math facts at least a few times a week. We're into our second week. They've done pretty well. Next week is VBS at church, so we'll probably put the schedule aside. I think they've enjoyed knowing there is sort of a schedule, but we're flexible too.

Yesterday we took a trip to the library, and they stocked up on books. :) I remember going to the library as a child and loving it. I've always enjoyed reading. I still remember my third, fourth and fifth grade teachers reading aloud to us. One of my very favorite books was Summer of the Monkeys. Mrs. Hearn and Mrs. Albright, my fourth and fifth grade teachers, read it to us. LOVED it!

Hope summer brings with it many memory-making moments for you.

Awards and summer

We are in our first week of summer vacation at our house. It's been so nice doing a lot of nothing. The kids were pretty worn out with the end-of-school hullabaloo. We are so proud of the big kids for the great work they did this year. They both learned so much and did so well. They both received multiple awards in their classes.

Carleigh's 5th grade awards/graduation ceremony with her principal

I'm so proud of her!

Most of these girls have been together since they were babies in the church nursery!

Luke and his teachers

Luke and his buddies...I am so proud of him!



This week Luke and I got haircuts, Cora started swimming lessons, and I took the kids bowling. Gotta love those "Kids Bowl Free" passes!



Waiting...patiently

Hmm, I don't know about this one!



Do I see a spare in your future?

Shera, princess of power!

Great form!


 



This is what you get after Carleigh accidentally hits Luke in the head with the bowling ball. Keepin' it real!

 

Fearless!







Hope you're having a good week! What are your summer plans? I think we'll hit the library tomorrow.

Birthday Girl

Way too many candles on this homemade cake!

Our sweet girl turned 11 today. This morning she got a little gold ring with a "C" momogram that used to belong to my dad. She's requested chicken pot pie for dinner...Yum-O! When Kelvin gets home we'll let her open another little something we got for her room from one of my favorite bloggers' etsy store, Lemonade Makin' Mama. Carleigh has grown so much the past year (over 6 inches to be exact!) she looks sort of like a clown in a circus on her bike nowadays. She asked for a new bike, and she's getting the prettiest purple cruiser! I know she's gonna love it. I hope we can take a spin around the block before bedtime.

At 11, Carleigh is full of life. She has a huge laugh. She is a smart girl, sings like a bird, has a style all her own, and is sweet as sugar. She is a great help for me, and I appreciate her. She is considerate and thoughtful, always making a card or craft for a friend or family member. She is talented too. Carleigh is a beautiful ballerina. She can hardly wait to grow up, (which she is doing extremely too quickly) and is looking so forward to junior high school next year. I love her!

Where art thou?

I cannot beLIEVE this is the first day of June! (Well, it was when I started this post anyway!) It's been a month since I last posted. That's terrible! May was a good month, full of fun and memory-making moments. It started with Carleigh's recital, which was my last post. The week after that, Kelvin completed his last final exams ever! Yeehaw! I cannot even begin to explain how proud I am of this man of mine! He is AMAZING! The next weekend was Mother's Day. The kids and Kelvin made me feel special...as always. Carleigh got up before the chickens and made me breakfast. She is such a doll. We went to church and then headed down to one of our favorite restaurants on the water.

The very next day, Kelvin and I headed out for four days by.our.selves! It was WONDERFUL. We stayed at a sweet little place in Fredericksburg and took in the sites like we've never done before. We ate at a couple of really great places, hiked Enchanted Rock, and went to the Nimitz Museum. We also swam in the pool and sat in the hot tub one afternoon, took a nap before bedtime, and got in a run one morning. It was heavenly. Then we came home...back to reality. ;)

Shera, Princess of Power!

 



When we returned, it was time for graduation! We were all so excited...especially me! Kelvin may have been a little bit more excited than me, but I don't know. I had to make some signs so he could spot us in the stands. The kids were totally psyched to see themselves on the jumbotron screen at Minute Maid Park. Before the ceremony began, there was a Twitter feed scrolling on the screen. Luke thought it was very cool to see my tweet, "So proud of our UHDad! {heart}, Carleigh, Luke and Cora


One of the cutie pies he saw in the stands.

Processional--Kelvin sees us in the stands and gives us a big smile and wave. :)

 

Photo op with the president of the Univeristy of Houston-Downtown

So happy together



Our University of Houston-Downtown Dad

 

1. Kelvin and his grandma 2. Kelvin and Andrew & Priscilla, his niece and nephew 3. Kelvin and his mom
4. Kelvin and his Uncle Gene 5. University of Houston-Downtown School Emblem 6. Kelvin's Aunt Carol & Uncle Tommy
7. Cora giving some graduation kisses 8. Kelvin and Luke 9. Kelvin and Carleigh 10. Kelvin and his delicious chocolate cake--You are the MAN!

 

After graduation, Kelvin started a new job at Lubrizol. He is now the supply chain manager. He also had a birthday in May. He's kinda like a fine wine...just gets better with age.

Carleigh had her 5th grade play day at the local water park. I got teary-eyed watching her and her friends she's had since preschool having a ball celebrating the end of elementary school. I also got to go to her final choir festival the next day. Hopefully I'll find time soon to post some pics and more details about her 5th grade events.

Tomorrow, Carleigh turns 11. She graduates from elementary school Friday. I'm just stunned. It doesn't seem possible. I remember like it was yesterday being pregnant with her!

I love blogging. Hopefully this summer I can figure out a good system for staying consistent. I like having a place to chronicle our days, meals and projects. I'm looking forward to summer. Hopefully, I don't have my hopes set too high for all I want to accomplish (and what I want the kids to do). ;)

How was your May?

Ballerina Girl

Last weekend, Carleigh danced in her recital. She was so beautiful. The curtain opened, and she was front and center, face beaming. She danced so sweetly. I got tears in my eyes. I can't stand how fast she's growing up. You're not going to believe this, but I didn't get a single dern picture of her in her outfits! We weren't allowed backstage, and we weren't allowed to film or photograph during the performance, so I couldn't get a picture of her in costume. I didn't think about taking any pictures during dress rehearsal. I got video though. I'll try to post it. Here are the pictures I took after the recital. She was in her finale outfit...jeans and a t-shirt. The make-up is heavy, I know, but believe it or not, if it's not that heavy, the girls look totally washed out with the stage lights.

 

I'm so proud of her. She will be 11 in a few short weeks. She's so excited about junior high. I could do without it, thankyouveramuch. Life goes on. The days rush by, and before we know it, we have beautiful ballerinas and soccer stars. I'm trying to soak it all in. I wish there was a way to slow it down just a bit.