Summer Vacation Week Two

I can't believe our second week of summer vacation is already over and done.  It was a great week!  We started off with the addition of a new baby to the Schwalm family - my brother and sister in law welcomed their third child on Saturday.  We're so excited to welcome little Henry to the family.  Poor guy has no idea what he is in for!!

This week was a breeze because my wonderful Mother in Law took the three oldest kids to her church every morning for Vacation Bible School.  Not only did she take them to VBS, but she took them and their cousins out for an adventure every afternoon this week.  They did more in this week than we'll probably do all summer.  And that's good because one day they'll look back and say, "Remember when Mimi took us to VBS and then would take us to a movie or swimming at Joyce's?  We had so much fun!"

I know they will say this because I remember the "adventures" I took with my Grammie (although our adventures usually revolved more around driving to Monroeville Mall and shopping) and I thought those adventures were so much fun.

Their adventure week was great for me too because with only Whit around the house, I had so much time to get stuff done that I don't normally do around here.  Like go to the attic and organize all of the winter stuff I just threw up there in plastic bags two months ago because I just wanted it out of Maggie's bedroom.  The logical day to sort through stuff in the attic was Tuesday because Erik was taking Whit with him to work and the rest of the kids were gone all day too.  With no one to stand at the bottom of the trap door ladder stairs yelling, "Momma!?  What are you doing up there?!  Can I come up?!"  then proceed to come up the ladder for me to say to them, "I did not tell you you could climb this ladder and come into the attic.  GIT (1) DOWNSTAIRS BEFORE YOU KILL YOURSELF OR FALL THROUGH THE CEILING !"  (2)


Footnotes for the above conversation:  (Note, I have not had to use footnotes since my Senior year of High School in Mr. Decker's English Class for my Senior Paper.  No, Mr. Decker, I was not required to use footnotes EVER in any of the papers I had to write in any of the classes I took in my entire six year career of undergraduate and graduate school.  That knowledge was a complete waste of my education and since I haven't had to use the skill in 20 years, I clearly have no idea how to use them properly so I am doing the best I can.)

1)I have noticed that lately when I am shooing things, like children or dogs or livestock, I have adopted the Southern pronunciation of "get" using the "i" sound instead of the "e" sound.

2)  I don't really tell my kids they will fall through the ceiling.  This is just a little jab at my dear friend, Karen, who actually did step right through her bedroom ceiling this week while her husband was away on business.  She patched the hole with blue masking tape.  I told her to at least go get some white tape - or paint the ceiling blue.  Another friend advised her to put a reflective surface on the ceiling and  . . . well,  I won't get into that because this is a family friendly show.  (Although, I do think the other suggestion would go over MUCH better - at least from a husband standpoint.)

Anyway, the heat up in the attic messed me up!  As I was stuffing the bags into the plastic storage bins, I started getting this irrational fear that the ladder door to the attic was going to somehow snap shut and leave me trapped in the attic and I would die of heat exhaustion before anyone found me!  So I started stuffing faster and then it started getting hotter.  Then I discovered that I had BOXES and BOXES of shoes that were in Will and Whit's sizes so I needed to sort through those boxes and find the appropriate shoe sizes and since I was doing that, I might as well just sort all of the shoes into same size categories and organize and relabel the boxes.  The more I did, the more I found to do and soon I was bent over one of our storage bins digging through it looking for pillowcases (somehow we do not have enough pillowcases on our pillows).  As I was bent over, I noticed these drips of water splashing the particleboard floor of the attic.  The conversation in my mind went like this:

What is that?  
Is that water?
Is that water dripping from somewhere?
Did a squirrel just run over my head and pee?
No, it wasn't a squirrel!  I haven't seen a squirrel up here all morning.  It has to be a leak.
How would we have a leak?  It's not even raining!
Where is that water coming from?
Pause with me for a moment as I wipe the sweat from my face.  Realization hits . . .
HOLY COW!  THAT WATER DRIPPING IS COMING FROM MY FACE!  I AM SWEATING SO MUCH IT IS LITERALLY DRIPPING OFF MY FACE!
I've got to get out of this attic NOW!


So, we still don't have enough pillow cases on our pillows BUT, all the shoes are organized and I managed to put all of the winter stuff away and I found some of Maggie's older clothes that I had forgotten to give away or sell, so I posted them on a local classifieds page on Facebook and already sold $50 worth of stuff!

Which is a good thing because after the kids spent the entire day with Mimi again today, they ate an entire loaf of bread as French toast, the boys each ate a fried egg and Maggie had a bowl of cereal, on top of the grapes they were snacking on all evening as they played in the play house.

That was only dinner.

I put them to bed before they could realize they hadn't asked for dessert!

My Littler Sister

My littler sister, the third Wiggins girl, is getting married in 24 days.

As usual, I'm feeling nostalgic as the big day approaches.  FYI, I'm letting nostalgia take over my other emotions like panic, fear, and STRESS as I still have not found fabric to re-line the dress I bought because it is one of those weird ones that has the lining to the knee but a sheer overlay that goes to the floor, which I DO NOT like but it is the style, color and fit that I love, so I am hoping to fix the lining issue, especially since I want to wear a long dress.

Things I also do not have done:
Shoes for Whitaker
A strapless bra
A slip for Maggie
Rehearsal dinner outfits for any of my family
Manicure and pedicures for me and Maggie
Any remote idea of how I plan to wear my hair for the wedding
Shoes for me
An appointment to get my dress re-lined with a reputable seamstress!

But, that is another story.  Tonight I succumb to the nostalgia as I look at these pictures of my sweet little sister, Enu as our family calls her.

Enu is our blue-eyed baby.  My Grammie called her that from the minute she was born.  She has grown from a shy, mama's girl to a beautiful young woman, inside and out.

Enu with our mama.

She's hardworking, determined and sweet, caring, loving and generous.  She's sensible with a frivolous side and you wouldn't guess it but she has an adventurous side too.  She hides her emotion but they run deep.  She had a rare illness when she was in 5th grade that left her with a propensity to swoon at the sight (or mention) of blood or hospitals.  She loves fiercely and is loved the same.

Sometimes people mistake her and my littlest sister for twins.  For the record, they are not.

She is probably the sister who is most like me.  I should say the sister I used to me most like only because being married to an unpredictable, non-scheduled, "no-one-will-have-a -problem-with-that" kind of a man has stripped me of almost every Type A personality, OCD, organized, thorough and meticulous trait I ever had.  I haven't known what it is to be on time to a function in over 10 years!

She's who I thought I was going to be until I fell in love with a country boy and moved to a farm.  She has it more together than I every will.

We recently had her bridal shower at my grandfather's home in our hometown.  It was a beautiful event coordinated and executed my my little sister (Kate) and littlest sister (Lara, seen above).   Although it was unreasonably hot, it was a lovely day and Enu had a chance to visit with friends and family who were all wishing her the best as she prepares for marriage.  It was delightful to see the groom's family and my family gathering to celebrate Enu and Michael's love.

It was also a lot of fun to see Enu, Lara and their girlfriends hanging out together.  As I listened to them talk about adult things, I couldn't help but see the girls when they were little - it seemed strange to hear them discussing grown up things since it feels like yesterday that they were still playing Barbies and jumping on the trampoline.  I was all grown up through most of Enu's teen and young adult years.  I missed seeing her grow up but I am blessed that I can call her a friend now that we are both adults.

I don't know if she remembers this (probably not because her memory is worse than mine!) but when I was pregnant with Will, I had a lot of trepidation about telling people I was pregnant.  Maggie hadn't even turned a year old when I got pregnant and although I waited a while to tell everyone, I knew the reactions were not going to be as joyful as the previous two.  There was lots of concern over the fact that Maggie and the new baby would be so close together in age.  When I told Enu about being pregnant, she was so happy and told me that she thought that it was wonderful that my kids were going to be so close in age.  She said that sometimes she felt we (us four sisters) missed out because there were such age gaps between us.  Her warmth and affection in that moment was exactly what I needed and I am forever grateful that she was able to give me exactly what I needed emotionally at that time.  Her positivity really helped turn my fears around and reassured me that the closeness in age between Maggie and Will wasn't going to be a problem.  And you know what?  It never was!

Erin recently shared another lovely compliment with me.  I'm not going to repeat it but it was perhaps the nicest compliment anyone had ever given me.   Coincidentally (although there are no such things as coincidences), her words came on a day when I really needed some positive affirmation.

Thank you, Enu, for being there when I really needed you.  I hope that along the line, I am able to give you the same gifts you gave me.   I love you and wish you an eternity of happiness and love.

 With the Flower girls.

 My sisters and mother.

 The flower girls take a break from the shower festivities and put their feet in the pool.

My beautiful  Maggie May.  25 years ago,  this is almost exactly what Enu looked like. It would be my honor and privilege if my baby girl grew up to be exactly like her Aunt Enu.   

Sweet little girls watching the bride open her gifts.

 Livy Lou having a spot of tea.

Unsocial Media

I've been kind of in the doldrums lately and I hadn't really been able to figure out why.  I've been busy getting stuff prepped for summer and doing some things to get ready for my sister's wedding so it's not like I've actually had time to sit down and think a whole lot, so I hadn't really had time to think about my melancholy until today when I was sitting at the laundry mat waiting for all of our camping laundry to wash that I realized what I was feeling was lonely.  Tonight as I was reading some posts on Facebook from my book league friends,  a group of women who have become an integral part of my life, that despite the daily contact I have with them on Facebook, I  hadn't actually seen any of them for any real girlfriend time in a month!

Eighteen months ago, this feeling would have never crossed my radar!  The fact of the matter is that I didn't have many friends that I made on my own.   My only real friend was C, who I met way back in the day, and who has been with me through all of what I consider my "grown up" life (dating Erik, our engagement, wedding, babies and more) and who has been such a generous and loyal friend to me over the years. I wrote a little about her here.

My recent bout of loneliness is as much my fault as it is a result of circumstances.  I like to blame busy schedules and all of the typical excuses, but the reality is that because of Facebook, I was lazy about reaching out to my friends.  I never actually called anyone to invite them out for coffee or to even just ask them what was going on in their lives.  It is so easy to feel like you are staying on top of things - to believe you are "communicating" with people via Facebook, but that's just not the truth.

I haven't seen my friends in a month and I miss them more than I can say.  Being someone who places a great deal of importance on friendship, yet also being a person who has a hard time letting people in, I can't stress the value I place on the friendships in my book league.  I honestly never thought I would have a group of girlfriends that I would be so close to.  I always considered myself a one on one kind of girlfriend.  Sure, I had interaction with groups of girls before, but I never let myself get close with them the way I have with these women.  I've had such a lovely "womance" with these lovely ladies!

These amazing women have changed my life and brought to it a richness and fullness I didn't know I was missing.  I am so very blessed to call them my friends.

This picture was taken almost a year ago and since then our little group has grown even more!  Not only have we added some new friends to our ranks, we've added more children.  I can't wait until we can all get together again and we can take a new picture of how our little GIANT Book League has grown!

Of course, I may just be an oddball and none of the other girls are missing me at all and they will read this and think I must be a desperate loser!  I really hope not because I really miss my friends and I hope they are missing me too.  I'm anticipating the day when all of our schedules will slow down with the end of the school year and we can move into our Summer Swim League schedule again.  I'm counting down the days!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Whittie Scot!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful blue eyed boy!  


You have been such a blessing to us in so many ways and we are so thankful for the gift of you.

It's The End of The World As We Know It . .

and I'm not feeling fine.  (90's kids will get the REM reference).


Today is the last daw we will have a one year old in the house and I am feeling very sentimental.  Mothering babies has been so much a part of my life for the last eight years.  I am truly sad to say goodbye to that stage of life.  We were blessed with absolutely joyful and easy tempered babies so there were never any stressful moments. No mama-drama stories of pregnancy, labor, birth, or early infancy.  My babies slept through the night relatively quickly and were good sleepers ever since.  I loved everything about being a Momma to babies and I miss those moments of infancy that are so unique.  Making faces at a baby and watching them try to imitate you, all the tiny baby clothes and especially the smell.  That smell gets me every time!


It's not that I don't look forward to and enjoy the toddler stage and the new adventures the children growing older brings to our lives- it's just that babydom is so easy.  You can protect them from so much more when they are babies.  Drawing them to you in a hug makes everything better.  As they grow, they will encounter more and more situations where hugs and kisses won't make everything better and while I know that going through some of the typical tween and teen drama is necessary to form the adults I want them to be, I want to spare them any pain we can and that gets harder the older they get.  


I just want them to know that when I look at them I will always see this...


Walker

Maggie

Willie

Whitaker

and that it has been my honor to be their Momma.