Dear Toy Story,

You are a life-saver. Let's start at the beginning...

Today has been a very busy day, beginning around 3:30 when the rain and wind woke me up. I had to tee-tee. Once back in bed, I couldn't go back to sleep. Wes was tossing and turning. Neither one of us could go back to sleep. I had asked him to wake me up this morning at 5:45. So at 5:00 right when I was beginning to doze again, he shook me and said, "Didn't you want me to wake you up at 5:00?" Ummm, no. So we tossed and turned until I finally got up at 6:15.

I had 14 sandwiches to make this morning for JA's Harvest Party. And since we were trunk-or-treating, I thought it would be fun to make pumpkin muffins for the grownups.

At 7:00 the kids woke up. At 7:23, Wes asked me what time we needed to leave. I told him no later than 8:10. I think his head spun around three times. All of us were still in jammies and the kids were just sitting down for breakfast.

Snow White had to get dressed and her mother could not go dressed as the "mean old hag" from the book. And as much as Jack wanted to wear his Woody costume, his class wasn't dressing up. That took some serious convincing this morning.

We were in the car pulling out at 8:12. That was good enough.

So after the trunk-or-treating and the Harvest Party, I went to get an oil change in my car. I waited for almost 1 1/2 hours. Hungry. Mentally making a list of everything else I needed to do. Reading an "In Touch Weekly" from back in February. Talk about old news.

Went to Walmart to start Christmas shopping. And I seriously couldn't concentrate on what I was shopping for. Amazingly, Strawberry Shortcake had a Spider-Man body. And the Hot Wheels were riding on My Little Ponies. All the lights were brighter than usual, sounds were louder. I had to get out of there. I took a detour to the magazine aisle, got a Christmas magazine instead and took myself out to a quickie lunch until the 2:00 pickup.

After we got home and sorted through the 12 lbs. of candy accumulated this morning, I got out our dear friend, Toy Story. Bless you. We laid out a pallet, put on our pajamas and snuggled up for about 45 minutes. Woody and Buzz, you allowed me to close my eyes for some sweet peace.

I think I would have fallen asleep had it not been for a foot to the face when the mean dog came on.

PS: I think all Toy Story merchandise should come with a GPS option. I would upgrade in a second so that all our Woodys could be located with the push of a button. They're just that important at our house.

Who Needs Deer Camp?

Why go to deer camp when you can wake up in the morning and see signs that a deer has frolicked in your flower bed and snacked on the sweet potato vine?!

A Child-like Perspective

Swimming Lessons - Day One
When JA's teacher walked over to us, I couldn't help but notice how incredibly TINY she was. And tan. And pretty. And when she spoke to JA, she was nice. JA was set. She likes these types. But when Miss Brittany said, "Are you ready for swimming lessons?" I was fully expecting JA's natural reaction to new things: to turn away and bury her face in my lap/legs/shoulder, etc. Not this day. She reached out, took Miss Brittany's hand and didn't look back. My heart jumped for her.

She did everything the teacher asked of her. Willingly. Although, I will admit, she wasn't crazy about being dunked under the water. All three times. But she survived. And when the 30 minute session was over, she said, "Mommy I did it. I'm so proud of myself!!" I was too.

Fast forward several hours to 6pm and it's Jack's lesson. He's in the Water Babies class. All the other children were, in fact, babies. Comparatively, Jack seemed like a first grader. He was the oldest one and most opinionated, for sure. Wes went in the water with him and had a rough time holding onto him. Poor Jack kept saying, "I do it myself." Yeah, he definitely NEEDS the swimming lessons. He's fearless.

But watching my children conquer the water yesterday was very eye opening for me. It all started when JA and I were sitting on a bench waiting for it all to begin. The pool was filled with "older people" going through their daily routine of socializing and pool walking. I noticed a banner on the wall outlining an aquatics arthritis program. These folks were easily in their seventies and eighties, some frail and some still quite active. None of them looked good in their swim suits. Most were wearing rather unattractive swim shoes. None were tan. None were too proud. They just were doing their best to keep going.

So we were watching them. And Jordan Ann leaned over to me and said, "Look mommy at all those big kids. They are having so much fun."

Oh, how I long to be able to look past the surface to see what is truly on the inside. I pray that the Lord will continue to give me reason to have a child-like perspective. What a blessing it was yesterday to hear JA say that, just as a reminder that we all start young and when we're not anymore, we are still young at heart.

Just like all those pool walkers yesterday.

We're Expecting!

Baby birds, that is. {But did I get your attention?}

Several weeks ago, Jordan Ann pointed out that we had a bird in our geranium right outside the window. We watched as the bird assembled a nest, and wondered if we would really see her laying eggs. Days went by with nothing new except the perfectly built nest.

Two days ago, Jordan Ann was doing her regular check on the nest and found a surprise! There were eggs in the nest. Later, we saw the mommy bird tucked in, keeping her eggs warm.

Since then, JA has checked on the mommy bird hourly from the time she wakes up until she goes to bed. Yesterday she asked if she would be able to see the baby birds after her nap.

How long does it take for birds to hatch? Are we going to be checking on birds for days, weeks or months? And if you're a bird watcher and can tell us what kind of bird we have here, leave a comment please. I'm dying to know!

{Does anyone besides me find it ironic that I redesign my blog using birds and am now, days later, making a post about birds in my geranium? Very, very strange.}