Summer fun

Wow.  Hello June and goodbye June.  I knew that this month would be busy considering I'd be away for a week at school, but this month has really flown.  Hubby T is keeping himself pretty busy so I'm trying to come up with creative ways to fill the days and keep the boys from tearing the house apart while we wait for it to sell.  (Status update, in case you're wondering: one month on the market, two bites but nothing has worked out yet.)  

Painting with Baby P is infinitely easier in the bath tub.  I squirt little piles of paint into their hands and let them go to town.  As long as the paint stays in the tub, we're all happy campers!

Why eat breakfast inside when you can eat it outside with the flowers?!  After I took this picture he probably started asking to "water plants?"  He is obsessed with watering...

Let's play dress up!  With beach towels!  And old Halloween costumes!

And again we ask, why eat inside when we can eat outside?!  We even bring the computer out for a little ambiance music (i.e. Toddler radio on Pandora).

And of course there's our favorite old stand-by: CW.  Yesterday Baby P and I were walking around and stumbled across a sheep being sheared!  I love when I can show my kids things that they read about in books but don't often see in real life.  This was especially poignant for me because four years ago or so, shortly after I first started taking care of Baby D, we saw a sheep being sheared and I remember thinking it was a shame the boys were too young to understand or appreciate what they were watching.  I haven't seen it again since then so when we came across this yesterday, it felt like I'd come full circle.  The sheep shearer also told us that this particular sheep was actually only in CW for "summer camp" and belongs to a museum/farm up in Delaware.  Maybe we'll come across him again in our wanderings once we've moved!

We've had plenty of trips to the beach thrown in there, the library's summer reading program, and time on the "pad" at whatever strategically allocated points in time when I need the boys occupied.  And oh yes, Baby P turned 2!  I finished work for one school course this morning and the other will be done by early next week, which is great because next week brings family playtime!  I'm infinitely grateful for all the ways that our family and friends and opportunities to play are filling our days as we live in this time of waiting.    Happy summer!

My head hurts

I've been trying to think all week of how I want to write about this week.  At this point all I can say is that my head hurts (in a good way, if there is such a thing).  I have spent every afternoon all week sitting in class with about ten other fantastic and inspiring women wrestling our way through to understand the first five books of the Old Testament.  There are sweeping narrative stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Moses in Genesis and Exodus.  There are strange, detailed rituals in Leviticus.  There are seemingly archaic, confusing laws in Numbers.  Quite honestly, at this point, I can't even remember what Deuteronomy is about.  There is so much to learn and so little time in which to learn it.  Even after attending and learning in church my entire life, and reading and studying for hours and hours upon hours for the last four semesters, I basically feel like I know next to nothing.

And then there's the rest of my life, which I have blessedly had a break from for the few days, as Hubby T and the boys are staying with his parents up north.  As nice as it is to come home, make a quiet, simple dinner, and watch Once Upon a Time until I'm ready for bed, there is a huge hole in my heart and my arms feel incredibly empty in the absence of my two little ones.  And we're still waiting for the house to sell.  And eagerly anticipating but not yet planning all the other pieces of a new life that we will have to figure out once we can move forward.

So my head hurts.  My weeks on campus leave me exhausted and exhilarated and inspired and humbled. Thank goodness that in every way I am not alone in this grad school journey.  Thank goodness tomorrow is the last day of class.  And thank goodness that in the midst of all the overwhelming confusion, one message shines through.  God loves God's people.  God loves me.  And for tonight I think I will just rest in that.  

A Summer of Something

Tonight I read an article about a woman who designates every summer the Summer of Something, like the Summer of Pies or the Summer of Homemade Jams.  The point of the article was that summer can be a time to take time to try something new and enjoy the journey (and it doesn't have to be about food although that sure sounds fun to me!).  As I read the article I knew, without even having to think, that while doing something new would be fun, there won't be any time or energy to do something too specific because my coming months have already been designated as the Summer of Moving.

A "For Sale" sign goes up in our front yard tomorrow.  Hubby T and I have been working non-stop for the past month to de-personalize our house, pack up anything that could be considered "clutter," repaint, spackle, clean and generally whip our home into the best shape possible so that it sells quickly.  I will need to keep the house in this pristine condition so that we can clear out with relatively little notice whenever someone wants to come see it, and I'm sure you can imagine what a piece of cake that will be with Little B and Baby P underfoot.  The good news is that they love all the newly open space in the house and running around shrieking keeps them occupied for quite awhile.  The bad news is that even with half the house packed away,  they still find ways to make incredible messes everyday.

So if this is going to be my Summer of Moving, how can I do it well?  I'll admit that I'm a bit apprehensive about making that happen.  For the next 5 weeks I will also be juggling into the mix finishing my school semester, which is no small feat.  Hubby T and I will be separated much of the time.  And with preschool now over, I'm back to entertaining both boys for approximately fourteen hours a day, seven days a week.  Does that sound like a lot?  Because it feels like a lot.  And at some point, hopefully, I'll add in coordinating the actual move away from this house when it sells and participating in choose and buying a new one (in a different state).  Despite the bright and exciting light at the end of the moving tunnel, from where I'm standing right now, I have a lot of drudgery to get through.  I'm hoping it won't be as hard as I anticipate.  I'm hoping I figure out how to have more fun with the boys than I think I'll have.  And I'm really hoping that I don't have to live in this in-between state of being for too long.  I'm going to try and blog about how things are going once a week or so, just to keep myself connected to something and to help myself process all that is swirling around me.  So hang in there with me.  New adventures are on the way, and so is summer...