Good Moms

I found this in the dollar bin at Target the other day. If you could see the mountain of dishes in my sink and the endless piles of laundry scattered throughout the house, then you would think that I was an absolutely amazing mother with blissfully joyful children. Which, of course, I am...and I have. ;-)

Barrack Academy Field Trip

I got to hang out with Lillian and her kindergarten class on their field trip to the Barrack Academy this afternoon.  With each change of the season they've visited this Hebrew Academy (a Jewish day school for grades 6-12) in Bryn Mawr in order to learn about nature and how its affected by the change in the weather with the different seasons.  Today was the spring trip, but it felt more like summer.  The giant thermometer read 92 degrees when we got there!!  I don't think it was actually that hot (I think it sat out in the hot sun a little too long), but it was definitely in the mid-80's....hot enough to make me wish I put some sunscreen on my neck and bright enough to remind me that I need to get a pair of sunglasses! :)

I had a fun time riding on the bus with Lillian and 40 other kindergarteners, and watching her plant marigold seeds, draw a beautiful picture of the spring landscape, feed goldfish in the pond, go on a little nature walk, and learn about different habitats.  She's a fun girl to be with, and I'm grateful that she wants me to chaperone her field trips.  I'm even more grateful that I was able to do it, thanks to my wonderful friend Ruth who watched Sydney and Liam for me while I was gone.  

Some photos of our afternoon:

Lillian and her classmate F, on the bus on our way to Barrack!  F is a quiet, but very sweet little guy.  He was in my  chaperone group.  Totally random note- the kid in the background has his finger in his mouth to wiggle his VERY loose tooth.  He did it the whole way there and back and I was worried that he would wiggle the tooth right out and we would have a big bloody mess in the back of the bus.  He had at least three toothless gaps in his mouth, which led me to believe that he was a tooth wiggling expert. Despite his best efforts, however, the tooth stayed in for the duration of the trip....thank goodness!

Scooping dirt into her cup to plant marigolds.  The girl on the far left is W- she was the other kid in my little group.  She was not very impressed with the whole ordeal.  She kept trying to jump ship and join another group.  Not on my watch, missy!!

Observing nature and learning about habitats.  Lillian is third from the left. The guy standing in front of them is their "teacher"....a local high school student.  He told the little group of kindergarteners that animals live in habitats and that we have habitats also because we're animals, too.  This confused most of the kids.    

Feeding the fish in the pond.  Each kid was given half a piece of white bread.  Some of them broke the bread into huge chunks and threw it all in at once.  A few other kids broke off teeny tiny crumb-size pieces and threw them in one by one.  At the rate they were going, we would've been there forever if we didn't make them throw in the whole piece so we could go to our next station.

Summer landscape photo that Lillian took during the nature walk.  The kids were supposed to use their school-issued iPad to take photos, but Lillian's was dead.  Her teacher forgot to charge it. :-/  I let her use my phone instead.

Little artists, busy sketching the landscape foreground and background- that was the assignment, anyway.  Most of them just drew whatever the heck they felt like.  For example, Lillian drew a whole row of pink flowers (there were none in sight), and one little boy drew a picture of "a man dying of sweat." LOL!

Bus ride on the way back to school.

Day 1

I'm tired and my brain doesn't have the energy to write anything witty.  I just wanted to confirm that the kids and I survived Day 1 of Bobby's trauma rotation.

Why is that a big deal, you ask?  Well....Bobby left early this morning for a hospital in Baltimore where he'll be working for the next three months.  It's only two hours away, but that's far enough to prevent a daily commute, especially for a guy who normally only gets five hours of sleep every night- you can do the math on how much time that would leave for him to sleep.  We'll probably see him every other weekend here at home, and on some special weekends I'll load the kids up so we can stay with some friends who live in the Baltimore area and we'll hang out with Daddy there as much as we can.  I keep thinking to myself that the time will go by fast, just like his previous three-month rotation did.  I also keep telling myself that by the time he's done this one in June, Lillian would have finished kindergarten, Liam will be a year and a half old, and 2013 will be half-way over.  The best part is that we'll be another year done with residency, with only three more left to go (and only six months away from being half-way done!)

To briefly sum up the day, it was a good one, but a little on the emotional side.  Lillian had a tearful break down after our Tango (video chat) session with Daddy tonight.  We said hello, good night, had a bedtime prayer over the phone, then Bobby sang the kids a song while they were in bed.  As soon as I hung up Lillian buried her head in her pillow and started wailing.  Then Liam started crying, too.  I relocated Lillian to my bed so Sydney could have some peace and quiet.  Thank goodness that girl can sleep through anything because Liam made up for the silence of Lillian's absence.  After getting Lillian's big blue bunny to cuddle with and reminding her that Daddy is only a couple of hours away and that we get to see him this weekend and that we were very fortunate to be able to talk to him and see him on the phone tonight, she calmed down.  What I really wanted to say was quit complaining about it because some kids don't get to see their dads (and/or moms) for months on end because they are entrenched among terrorists in foreign lands or out at see on a Naval military ship....or away at any other number of locations that are thousands of miles away with no cell phone signal.  We are pretty fortunate to have him so close and to have easy access to talk and video chat with him.  For having him be away, it's not too bad.  Not that I would choose for it to be this way instead of having him here, but it could definitely be worse.

Other highlights of the day included getting poked in the eyeball by Liam (totally inadvertently, but nearly 15 hours later it still hurts, is slightly swollen and keeps watering...time to see a dr??).  Also, Liam stuck his hand in the trash can (several times...got lucky enough to fish a few things out) and then stuck his hands in the toilet water.  EWW!!  We were invited to a friends' house for family home evening, where we sang songs in German, learned about Christ's resurrection, and enjoyed cherry and apple danishes.  So many friends have already been so supportive of our situation.  I'm truly grateful for them.

One day down!  Bring on the rest!

Hello, Spring??

March ushered in the first day of Spring Break with a cold and slushy snow storm. The snowy/rainy mix has been falling in full force since we woke up this morning and it isn't expected to stop until late tonight. The forecast is calling for 2-4 inches. So much for March being "in like a lion and out like a lamb." It's more like in like a lion, linger like a lamb for a few days, then metamorphosize back into a lion again. Poor March is so confused. I think it's about time it spoke to a psychiatrist about the identity crisis it's going through.

We're trying to make the most out of the crazy weather. As soon as the girls got up this morning and looked out the window, they donned their snowsuits, boots, hats, gloves, and scarves and headed out to explore the wintery world outside. Lillian got too cold and retreated back inside before I could finish getting Liam bundled up, so I only got pictures of Sydney and Liam.

Now I'm waiting at the dentist office with the two little kiddies for Lilly to finish her check-up. Keep your fingers crossed for no cavities!

"Free Herd Shoop"

Lillian and Sydney have been up to something in the bathroom upstairs.  They told me I wasn't allowed to go up and see what they were doing.  That either means they're doing something they know they're not supposed to be doing, or they're cooking up some big surprise for me.  I decided I didn't have enough energy to go investigate if it was the former, and lucky for me it wasn't!  

I just got back from a little spa treatment.  When they finally beckoned me upstairs I saw this sign on the bathroom door:

Lillian translated it for me: Free Hair Shop by Lilly and Sydney - Love, The Shop.  Then she drew some decorated Easter eggs on it.  The girls were dressed in their fancy summer flower girl dresses and they directed me to sit in a little chair that was on the side of the bathtub.  They had a little towel to put on my neck under my hair and they wanted me to lean my head over the edge into the tub while they poured a big bucket of water over my hair.  Then they would "squeeze the water out of my hair with the towel," as Lillian explained.  

I hesitated for a moment, not only because I didn't want to get doused with water all over my head, most of which would undoubtedly land on the floor, but also because I actually took a shower today and already did my hair.  Having curly hair, it's kind of an ordeal to get my hair wet because it means I have to style it afterwards (if you have curly hair, you'll totally understand).  I explained this to the girls and asked if they could paint my nails instead- I tempted them with the offer by telling them they could even pick out any color they wanted!  They were thrilled with the idea, so I sat down in the chair with the little towel in my lap instead of on my shoulders and the girls busily went to work.  After a meticulous nail painting session, I feel pretty and pampered, and Lillian says the colors make me ready for Easter!

The picture above is our attempt to take a self portrait- Sydney hit the button for us.  Lillian painted my left hand orange and Sydney did my right hand with pink!  I'm so lucky to have girls to take care of me!!