A Great Gift

I planned to painstakingly attempt to write today about Mouse. But after reading Juliana's blog, I'm sure there's nothing more to add. Check it out here:
http://junebugdramaqueen.blogspot.com/

I did go back and look in her baby book today, the one I started when she was born that has four pages finished in it. Hence, the need for this blog where I might actually preserve some memories.

This I wrote about her birth:
Carolina Rae Jones came into our lives at 11:19 pm on September 28th, 2005. She was tiny and angry and beautiful. She made a triumphant entrance amidst medical concern, and entered into our family. After she was thoroughly checked out, all of the medical people left and it was just the three of us...me, Birch and our new daughter. How can we ever be thankful enough for this blessing? I held her as the whole city was dark outside our window and memorized her. I inhaled her. She smelled of the ocean. She clutched at my finger with tiny fingers that seemed impossibly strong. She knew me and I knew her. It was as if it was the way things had always been.

Mouse Day

I was afraid Carolina's birthday party was going to be a casualty of the floods. Monday was the day that Atlanta and surrounding counties flooded so badly, and we had torrential rain again on Saturday. My parents were coming from Birmingham right through the worst of the flooded zone.

But, by 6 pm there was sun.

We had asked Carolina who she wanted to come to celebrate her birthday and she immediately named Juliana's friends. Both my little ones adore Kaylee and Emily and, I believe, think they come over to see them.

She also wanted her Abbott friends to come, Gramma and Big and John John and Lora. We missed Nana who was at home recovering from neck surgery and Pop who was taking care of her.

I ordered for her a Mouse cake and Juliana found her a tiny stuffed mouse that will clip onto her backpack for school.


The funniest moment came when she opened the Tinkerbelle wand that accompanies the costume that Gramma bought for her and mistook it for something else. "It's a vacuum cleaner!", she shrieked. How could anyone be that truly excited about a cleaning device? Trace this genetic marker straight back to my mother. Check out her excitement:

By far, the biggest hit of the gift stash was the CARD my in-laws bought for her (this further substantiates the "playing in the box the gift came in" theory). It had princesses on it and played a song "Happy Birthday, Princess" that we have all now come to memorize. She would go from person to person and open the card and sing the words. After a while, she added dance moves. I believe Big Daddy even got in on some of the moves. You'd have to ask him.

It's really hard to believe that four years have passed since she has been my girl.

'Shrooms

I have learned to find beauty in fungus. This has been difficult, understandably, if you'll recall the Syrup of Ipecac/mushroom incident with Holt back in '04.

There have been quite a patch of them growing across the street. They starting out by looking like golf balls on a stick. Then they lost some of their shape at the bottom and after all the torrential rain, they have seemingly sprouted umbrellas! There was literally a river that passed this way in the last couple of days, and today when I came upon them, it was as if a gnome had slid open the top to stay dry beneath. Quite an amazing little science project.

September Birthdays

Every September for the last several years, our family has gathered to celebrate the many birthdays. We do so mainly to honor the matriarch and patriarch who this year turned 96 and 93.

The cake bore the names of all the celebrators. Grams, Gramps, Bailey, Don, Lora, John and Carolina. The numbers in front read 353, the combined total of years.

Bailey surprised Carolina with a gift she picked out of her room after looking to find what she thought someone turning four would enjoy. Truly a gift from the heart. Here she is showing Carolina the card she made for her and Carolina and Lora finding all the tiny pieces in her new pet shop purse.


We ate lunch and cheered on (well, most of us anyway) the Vols as they lost to Florida. The boys spent all their time trading DS games.

Uncle Don and Carolina

What a gift to have all of us together!

Nirvana

2 tickets to the Braves game
+ 2 cokes
+ 1 dog as long as your arm
+ Daddy all to yourself
__________________________________
= Nirvana

If only he could have also taken a whizz outside, it would have been absolute perfection.

Mighty Mustangs

Last night Holt played in his first pee wee football league game. The Mighty Mustangs opened against the Fighting Armadillos. I'm embarassingly grateful that my boy is not a fighting armadillo. There have been numerous practices up to this point. Daddy is the head coach and on the field during the offensive plays, and the assistant coach is on field when we're on defense.

I was a bit disappointed last night because it was so hard to see. There's a pretty dense fence in front of the bleachers and the kids are far off down the field. When I wasn't looking at the plays through the zoom on my camera, I could barely see. I may be the geek with binoculars next time.

Holt played quarterback through most of the game. He did a great, if nonchalant, job. He seems to not be sold on the whole "reach under the center's boohind" part of the job.

I love this picture. It looks like he is calling a play. I have serious doubts that that is truly what was happening.

And this one with his daddy in the huddle makes me sniffle.

And when we were leaving, these fans caught my eye. I can't believe dogs exist that are this trained. I've certainly never been owner of one.

After the game, Birch asked him if he had fun. "Eh, not really", he said. "I'm in it for the trophy."

Townsend Retreat

For Birch's graduation from seminary last December, my parents gave us a gift certificate to a bed and breakfast in Townsend that we "cashed in" last weekend. We stayed at the Richmont Inn which is a gorgeous b&b (and my first one ever) that also breeds and trains Westies. I can't describe how relaxing it was to be in such a quiet place. I'm not used to any form of quiet, not even grey shades of the definition.

After my favorite meal ever, fried green tomatoes and sweet tea (if I ever end up on Death Row, this will be my request), we took a drive through Cades Cove. Even the weeds there are pretty. We decided that we have officially become middle-aged. We were right there with the old timers getting our nature pictures. Birch said we're not too far off from bird-watching.



We got to see a daddy bear amble across the field. I grabbed my camera and got out of the car as he grabbed the tree nearest me and made his ascent. When he got to the top, he began to throw things down. I thought this was a funny sign of aggression since he was, after all, a bear and could have ripped any of us to shreds. A mile or so later, we were alone on this stretch of road and got the biggest treat of all. Mama and three cubs crossed right in front of our car. I, of course, opened the car door and stood on its ledge and tried to get some decent pictures. It was dusk and my flash is not as strong as my lens, so most were rather blurry. This happy family literally walked right past our car, less than 8 feet from where I stood. It was the highlight of our trip. The top picture is the cub and underneath is daddy.


A special shout-out to my parents who offered to take the kids and got the dog as an added bonus. We always like to give a little more than what is expected. Thanks, Gramma and Big for a wonderfully refreshing weekend!

Crawford Remembered

A year after we lost Crawford, Juliana wanted to do something special for me. She is, after all, a pretty special kind of girl. She brought the laptop into the kitchen after Holt's game last night, and pulled up a recipe for homemade pancakes. Now, for definition purposes, I consider homemade to mean that I went to the trouble to mix the egg and milk into the mix that comes in the red box. But she actually did crazy things like measure and mix the flour, baking soda (or powder... see! I really don't know) and whatever else it called for and made them from scratch. Miracles like that happened in my kitchen last night!

And, I'll tell you, I know now that homemade pancakes, the really homemade kind, are not interchangeable with the kind you make from the red box. Sadly.

She just had to do something to "make it better." And I love her for that.

And a year after we lost Crawford I cheered on my living son in his first game of football.

And a year after we lost Crawford, I called our county's DFACS office and registered us for the next foster/adoption-through-fostering information meeting for October.

We remember.

When Birch suggested Holt wiggle on his loose tooth, he got the reply, "I'm going to give my body the opportunity to let it fall out on its own." I love that.

the nest

Holt came home from football practice tonight (Okay, let's just give you a minute to absorb that. Holt. Playing football. As my mom said, "Holt could be the football) and he was completely eaten up with sadness. The shoulders-shaking, drool-forming kind of crying. I wrapped him up in his comforter in the bed and tried to find the right things to say about a subject I am clueless on. Boys.

He is playing in the 5 and 6 year old flag league. Next year he would move up to tackle. Tackle. As in, you can weigh up to eighty pounds and sit on my kid. It will be a small miracle if he breaks forty by his seventh birthday.

He's one of three quarterbacks on the team. I know, you need another moment here. Just remember, quarterbacks aren't the biggest guys on the team, they're the smartest. Yes, that was really revolting of me to say.

He managed to explain to me that he was doing a "fake right" (I think. I could be making that up. Whatever he said, it was a foreign language) and he swung around and escaped the first "dude", but that two other members of the scrimmaging team managed to come at him from opposite sides making a Holt Sandwich. Flag football. Right. I don't think, No, I know, that this is the very first time my son has been the meat between two pieces of bread and I also know that it won't be the last time. Man, that's hard. There are so many things about having a son I am not prepared for.

What upset him wasn't being at the bottom of this sweaty mess. On the way back to the huddle, boys from his team told him to not run straight into the pile next time. Apparently, they didn't see the sandwich being made, just the end result on the plate. It was like a punch in the gut.

I'm not here to tell you all the wonderful words of wisdom I gave him because I'm sure I was pretty lame. It's just that I think this is some kind of landmark for me. I wasn't even there and I think I've just tasted a little bit of letting go. A little bit of life. Sigh.

Birch came to me later and let me know that he'd been a man from the moment he got flattened until the moment I laid down with him in his bunk. That he had gone there to wait for me. That I wasn't just the Mama Bird, I was the nest. Wow. What a privilege it is to be his soft place to fall. And since we live in a fallen world, I'm gonna need all the feathers I can find.

Exhaustion

You can burn up lots of energy coloring princesses. You think she'd have stayed awake for the Vols game. We must not be raising her right.

Chestatee Wildlife Refuge

Yesterday we went to the wildlife refuge that the science teachers at our co-op organized. We took Emily with us and it was a haul to get all the way up there. Birch thinks we could have been standing on the beach for an equal amount of time in the car.




Most of the animals that arrive there were surrendered by people who had gotten them illegally as pets and could no longer care for them. Their main inhabitants were grizzlies, lions, white Siberian tigers, alligators, elk, emu, wolves, exotic birds, and zebras. There were several animals there from Narnia and Holt proudly bestowed on them their Pair Caravel names.



Our tour guide gave us lots of information about the animals and we were treated to a show at the end of our visit- the highlight of our day. They brought out turtles, snakes, baby alligators, birds (I'm such a naturalist that I can't remember what kind) and a South American raccoon. Birch broke out in a sweat when the snakes made their appearance.




I was so proud of my little ones (especially Mouse) who listened so carefully and touched all of these creatures. And for a day where I forgot the sunscreen and the stroller, it was a madly successful trip.

The Mouth of Babes

Tonight in the car Holt and I had a theological conversation about whether or not God sleeps. Pretty good question for a six year old. His evidence was that on the seventh day God rested. To him, this means an afternoon nap.

I quoted him Psalm 121:3-4:

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

I think I pulled a muscle as I reached so far to pat myself on the back for a) having this deep Godly conversation with my son and b) actually being able to quote the scripture. We didn't have Awanas or Bible Drill when I was growing up.

Then the conversation turned to Mouse's deep desire for a pink princess bedroom. For starters, she doesn't have a bedroom at all. And if she did, I promise she wouldn't last in there five minutes after light's out. Holt was explaining to her that he's six and a half and makes Juliana sleep on his bottom bunk, so no way would she be old enough to sleep by herself. It's scary, after all.

Without pausing, she made the biggest DUH comeback I've heard in awhile. "Well, Holt (draw this out three syllables), God will be in there with me and He NEVER sleeps!"

Touche.

Waterpalooza

I have a love/hate relationship with the water table. My mom bought it for Carolina two years ago for her birthday. We have, for sure, gotten all of her money's worth from it. But, every time you breathe on it, one of the legs falls off and the umbrella actually shredded like a piece of cheese on a grater. Neither of the lids actually fit, so when it rains, it fills up and we became a mosquito breeding sanctuary. I've cleaned that thing more times than I've vacuumed my house (which is a whole other host of issues, just ask Birch).

Holt took all the Little People on a water table field trip today. This entertained him for an unbelievable amount of time. I remind myself of this when I tell myself that asking him to sit still to read for 15 minutes might be too much. Poor guy.

And this is Holt in what he describes as his "professor look". I guess that's better than when he was trying on new clothes today and informed me that he was "hot." It may be time to disconnect the cable.

But, back to the water table.

They will still be playing with it until they turn blue. Cold weather will be well on its way before I will firmly put my foot down and reposition it to the garage for its winter sabbatical.