You know how when you get behind with the laundry or the dishes or, let’s get real, cleaning the entire house? And then it’s just so much to do, so overwhelming, that you don’t know where to start? That’s kinda what I feel like when I think about my blog. I am so behind.

I want to share, I promise, but I don’t know what to talk about first. (It’s a good thing catching up on blogging’s not like doing laundry, right? Where you don’t mind folding it, but you HATE, HATE, HATE (!!!) putting it all away.)

So, anyway. The beginning? That’ll work, right?

July 22-25: Time off, Stay-cation, Paris

I miss being a stay-at-home mom sometimes, especially in the summer when the children are out of school and spending the warm summer days in the care of someone else. While we love her, summer is my favorite season and I want to spend it with my favorite little people. I wish we could splash around on the beach, like I used to do when I was younger, but being land-locked kinda puts a damper on that.

I took a couple of days off in July and on Thursday, July 22, the kids and I hung out, more or less. The day before I’d found out someone had stolen my debit card number, so we spent some time at the bank getting a few things straightened out, withdrawing money and depositing Jaiden’s birthday money into her account (oh what a thrill – and she enjoys getting her bank statements because they make her feel like a grown-up!). We had lunch at Subway, then storytime at the library where I had the pleasure of reading “Pirate Jim” to the four dozen or so children in attendance.

They also made pirate hats or mermaid crowns and Jenna, in her four-year-old wisdom, glued a piece of CHALK to hers. Because she thought it was decoration. Wish I had a picture of that. lol.

Is it ridiculous that I remember the kids and I wanted to make breakfast and fruit for dinner, so we went to the farmer’s market and came home to make something yummy? At least that’s how I remember it. That was the first night the book club I have with Dara and Christa met, which we did at Marlo’s, so I can’t say for certain.

And having a dinner date with two awesome ladies mid-week? Fantastic! I can’t wait until we meet again (which was supposed to be this week, but we’ve had to postpone it because life is calling, but I’m very eager for it).

The following day, Darin was also off of work, so we packed the children up and took them to Memphis for a little sight-seeing. We’ve been planning on visiting Mud Island River Park and riding the trolley for a couple of years and finally did it.

The River Walk is awesome! We weren’t expecting it because all we’d searched for was pricing. We knew there was a park, some sort of river park. And when you get there … wow. It’s installation art, my art nerd friends. A 3-D topographical concrete representation of the Mississippi River from start to finish. And more. We walked from the beginning all the way to the end, which is the Gulf of Mexico (minus the oil spill) and a large splash park area. We rode paddle boats and had a picnic and took pictures with the Memphis skyline behind us.

When the kids were good and hot, cranky, wet and ready for a nap, we got in the truck and crossed the bridge from Mud Island over to Memphis proper. And, like little tourists, we got on the trolley. This was always so much fun to do in Nebraska City when I was a kid that I thought our kids would enjoy it, too.

Really, I was there. The problem with being the person with the camera is that you usually aren’t in pictures. Darin has a picture of me, Jaiden & Jenna on the paddle boats, but it’s on his phone. Phooey. Nevermind, I added it!

Anyway, so we rode until we saw the National Civil Rights Museum. I didn’t know where it was, but we saw it was right next to a stop so we hopped off about 30 seconds later. And it took my breath away.

(“Hello, we are cranky and tired and hot!” they say.)

Jenna is a big MLK fan. HUGE. (He is second to Obama for her – she’s a big Obama fan. And yes, she’s 4.) It was awesome to show her that this wreath marks the spot where he was shot and killed. We didn’t take the (expensive as all get out!) tour, but we did venture inside and look around the bookstore. The children each picked out rubber bracelets that say things like Hope and Change. I cried as I read the back of almost every book about the struggle for a group of people to be treated equally, to have the same rights as the white people who for so many years oppressed them. And when I say I cried, I mean I bawled huge alligator tears.

It was embarrassing, but I decided I wasn’t going to be ashamed of myself. Being there, in the very place where Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of Memphis workers carried signs saying “I AM A MAN” was humbling and something I will never, ever forget. And we shouldn’t forget.

After the Civil Rights Museum, we loaded back into the trolley, then into the truck and headed back home. We dropped Emma off with her mother, then traveled from the Mississippi-Tennessee line up to the Tennessee-Kentucky line to Paris. On the way we stopped in Humboldt at a little mom and pop restaurant and I had a DELICIOUS chicken-artichoke pizza that was like HEAVEN. Mmm.

We stayed in a cabin just outside of Paris, on the Tennessee River. On Saturday, July 24, we went to Fort Donelson, the site of a Civil War battle. We were there with Darin’s best friend, his teenaged nephew and two of his nephew’s friends. It was super, super hot out (97 plus humidity) and I wasn’t feeling well, so after our picnic and eagle-watching when the guys all went hiking in the woods, the girls and I sat in the truck. They watched a movie while I read more of To Kill a Mockingbird.

To make a long story short, later that day we ended up at the river, swimming. And I don’t like swimming in rivers, so I read about another 100 or so pages in my book (which was super fantastic, by the way). The next morning, the boys all went fishing in a pontoon boat, then the girls and I and one of the teenagers joined the rest of the group. They all had a blast jumping off of the boat and into the lake.

And then? The weekend was done. We made the three-hour trek back home, I finished my book (and shed a little tear) and reality began again. So sad.

I feel like I am living for the weekends right now. Work has become just that: work. Not fun, not thrilling, not something I’m passionate about any longer. So the weekends are what I’m after (which is a horrible way to live because we should savor each and every day).

The next weekend we celebrated three birthdays (my sister-in-law Katie and both of my parents) and my parents’ anniversary. Katie and Tyrel had a housewarming/birthday party, my dad turned 60 and a few days later my mom turned 51. We had a cookout and swimming at their place the day after the housewarming.

On Saturday, July 31, I met up with some people from church and we packed meals for Haitians with the Stop Hunger Now campaign. It was incredible and a great bonding experience for us as a church family. And beyond that, it was a wonderful experience as a Christian, and humbling to pack small little meals that would serve six people. One cup of rice, one cup of soy, one scoop of dried veggies, a seasoning packet. We throw more than that away every single day. I will never forget it and plan to do it again. More pictures are up on the church’s Facebook page.

Here are Christa and I enjoying the wind in our hair nets. When we were posing for this I thought she was doing some sort of gangsta pose with her plastic-gloved hands. When we were done I asked what sign she was doing, “I was just showing my gloves off!” Oh. My bad! It’s a good thing I didn’t bust out with a sign myself, right? Ha.

That night was the housewarming/birthday party at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. My mom requested pictures of some of her other grandchildren in white clothes and in a field of sorts as her birthday present, so that night I took some. And Darin helped.

We had the boys (Caiden and Caleb) dress up in Jaylen’s baptismal outfit, Khloe wore the dress Jaiden wore in my first wedding and Emma and Jenna wore Jaiden’s baptismal dress. They turned out pretty cute, despite the fact that it was 95 degrees out, we were losing daylight (it was about 7:30 p.m. or so in this one) and we were in an itchy field. Oh, and they’re all between 18 months and 4.5 years old (blah – I’m not a fan of child photography lol).

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So I kept going and going and going with the update and realized it was getting entirely too long to read in one sitting, so come back tomorrow and we’ll talk all about the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year and why I was furious with the school system and whatever else I come up with!

PS – It has been RIDICULOUSLY hot here this summer with heat advisories every day for about three weeks or so. We haven’t had much relief until this week. It’s amazing how WONDERFUL it feels when it’s only 90 degrees out, right? The humidity is so crazy, basically stealing the air from your lungs when you walk outside (even in the mornings). It’s been exhausting, that’s for certain, but autumn is on the horizon again, so that’s making everyone happy. I think this is the second hottest summer on record here.

Thanks for reading and always know you can keep up with me on a day-to-day (or up-to-the-minute) basis on Twitter and Facebook (if we’re friends). Hasta manana!

When you tell people you’re going to take three children on a trip (the fourth went ahead with Grandma), they get a little nervous for you (and they pray to God, thankful they aren’t on our flight!). The “I don’t know how you do it!” definitely comes into play. Most people are frightened just by having three children because it can often be a logistical nightmare, but our trip really wasn’t too bad.

Traveling with children doesn’t necessarily have to be a nightmare. It’s all about planning ahead, knowing your children and meeting their individual needs. If you know one is anxious about flying, try to find a way to make it fun. Jaiden was nervous about the plane, so I promised she could listen to my iPod (I have High School Music albums – yay!). She’s also very much into science this school year and her class has been studying clouds, so I explained that we would be able to see the clouds from the inside and the top, not just from the bottom, and also told the kids they could chew gum on the plane. From this point on – the iPod, the clouds, the gum – she was excited! (more…)

So finally, a chance to breathe.

We have been super busy – busier than normal – for the last several days. Thursday and Friday we put out papers, our busiest days at work. Thursday night I had to scramble to find something to wear to my cousin’s wedding. And, thankfully, I did find a pretty dress; it’s brown and cream, looks like cream with big brown banana leaves. Brown satin peek toe pumps. A cute necklace. Anyway. Friday night after work, Darin, Jenna and I left for Missouri (my older two left with my parents Friday morning since Jaylen needed to be at rehearsal and Jaiden was out of school). We made it to Grannie’s house at about 5 a.m.

We got up about 8:30-9 a.m. Saturday morning and got ready to meet my nephew, Ryder, and see my brother and sister-in-law that we rarely get to see. It was really nice. Ryder is a DOLL, of course. My nephews are the cutest!

There was already snow and ice (lots!) on the ground when we got there – it’d snowed Friday and there was an ice storm before that. The gravel road Grannie lives on was pretty much a thick sheet of ice. Unfortunately for me – because I’d brought short dresses and because I DETEST cold weather – the high was supposed to be at the freezing mark all weekend. Yay. At home it was supposed to be unseasonably warm – 68°F! It started snowing at about 10 a.m. Joy of joys, I hate freakin’ snow. I mean, it’s pretty and everything, but damn the snow for being cold.

Around … 11:30-ish? Sometime late Saturday morning Darin and I were in the basement, I was watching as he ironed his shirt for the wedding and Jaylen was up and down the stairs, having to tell me this and get his apple juice and tell me something else. They have been trained to keep the door closed because here at home, when you open the upstairs door you are greeted by a flight of stairs. But Jaylen did not, in fact, close the door and a curious little toddler named Jenna fell about 3/4 of the way down them. Having been through this with Jaylen when he was 11 months old, I knew what to check for. Checked her reflexes and looked her over for bumps and bruises and blood and guts, and she was pretty much okay. She was shaken up. Darin and I just so happened to look up at the same time for some unknown reason and saw her mid-fall. He was more upset over it than I was, honestly. Jenna was fine, just sported a bruise on her forehead over her right eye. It wasn’t too bad at all, though. Luckily.

I was supposed to be taking pictures of my cousin’s fiancee (now wife) while she was getting ready, before the wedding photographer came, so Darin and I left and made our way down the interstate. The roads were still really bad as it was still snowing pretty hard. The meteorologists were calling for 3-5 inches. More fun. Reminds me of why I like to live where it rarely snows more than a dusting.

Anyway. Pre-wedding photos. Wedding. Post-wedding photos. We finally left the church after five hours. I got some REALLY good shots of Jaylen in his tux while we were there! I made him go to the pew by two large windows and look out at the snow. Being a soon-to-be four-year-old (he turned four yesterday!), he is not so still, but it worked out perfectly. The snow had finally stopped when we left for the reception. But brown satin peek toe pumps? With cute little gathers and a cute little bow on top? Do not mix so well with several inches of snow and ice and it being 16°F outside. I had jeans and a sweater that I wore down there and wanted to change to avoid the cold, but whatever. I wanted to look cute, too, since I rarely get the chance to dress up. And let me tell you – it was COLD. And I had bare legs. lol.

My other cousin’s fiancee’s car got stuck in the snow, so we gave him a ride to his house to get some CDs; a large section of I-29 was closed down due to a 40-car pileup and the DJ was not able to make it. The reception was really nice and we had a pretty good time. We left to come home around 9 p.m. – we were SO tired. I think we were all in bed around 10 p.m. or so. I know I slept like a rock that night.

Sunday morning we had church and Caiden’s baptism. Darin, Katie’s sister, Patti, and I are his sponsors. After church we went back to the house, ate and had cake and presents for Jaylen! I can’t believe he’s four already. Goodness. He opened only a couple of presents and I saved the ones from his dad and I until we got back home, that way we wouldn’t have to haul them up there and haul them back with such limited space.

At about 2:45 p.m. we hit the road, headed back to Tennessee. It was a long, long, long trip with three kids in such close quarters. The DVD player crapped out, so it was not such a pleasant trip. We got home around 12:30 a.m. this morning and went RIGHT to bed. This morning I let Jaylen open his presents from me and his dad and we have just been hanging out so far. I have some last-minute shopping to finish up once my mom gets back from HER last minute shopping, then we have Christmas Eve service at 5 p.m. and I have presents to wrap.

I did upload a gazillion photos this morning: http://flickr.com/photos/echoleigh/archives/date-posted/2007/12/24/. The pictures from Jaylen’s birthday and Caiden’s baptism are on another camera, so I’ll have to upload those tomorrow.

I never did get my Christmas cards out this year – there just wasn’t enough time. I didn’t even get Ryne’s Christmas present done and mailed to him and I have been planning it since September. Ugh. I’m just emailing my stuff around this year and printing for those I know don’t have email. If you’re someone I regularly email, look for it later on.

Tomorrow is Christmas day. Doesn’t seem like it, though. We usually have ham, but after having ham three different times while in Missouri, Mom’s looking for other suggestions. But not turkey. lol. Should be interesting.

Anyway. Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brings whatever it is your little heart desires!

(First a little Jaidenism, then on to my regular nonsense. I call this little ditty Four-Year-Old Logic.)

While we were at the Casey Jones House and Railroad Museum I didn’t get much into the history behind everything because, well, they’re little and I don’t even know everything about it. (I tried to read little things, but then the kids started fighting over Thomas while playing at the wooden train table, so there went that.) I know a few basic things, so I tried to explain those to Jaiden later on. I told her that Casey Jones was the engineer, or driver, of the train, there was a wreck, and Casey Jones died trying to save people.

“Like Jesus?” she asks.

“Um, well .. not really like Jesus ..” I said, laughing.

“But he died to save people, like Jesus ..” she tells me. “That’s what we learn in church ..”

Um, yeah, well she has me there! But really, I am impressed with this. Maybe she does actually listen and absorb these things. (Something to tell the ladies down at Wrinkle City, Grannie!)

(And now back to my regularly scheduled stuff, which is a little boring, I’ll admit.) (more…)