Unconditional Love

I have known what unconditional love is for a long time. Technically. I feel this way toward my parents, inlaws, and of course my husband and children. But ultimately the person that taught me about unconditional love was my son. To this day I remember on my third Mothers Day (it took a LONG time for me to get to celebrate this) I went up to my childrens room to discover A~man had "finger painted" EVERYWHERE...I mean everywhere. Oh and I'm not talking your typical art supplies. I'm sure my jaw dropped to the floor. He was 2 1/2 I believe and this continued until he was probably 7. I have not told many people about that. I have cleaned up a lot of crap literally. ;) It has frustrated me, exhausted me, made me scream on very rare occasion but still I love him to bits and pieces.

Tonight reminded me of that. It has been a LONG day for the hubby and I. For me it was a good day but we spent most of the day outside playing and doing school as we had someone in the house helping finish taking the wallpaper off the kitchen. The kids, hubby and I took off all of it in the diningroom and half of the kitchen. It has taken a long long time! Finally I begged hubby that I wanted it finished and we found some very reasonable homeschool people that finished it. (well we still have to paint but that will be easy)

OK I am off track. At 6:30 we went to Z~girls soccer practice. Originally I was going to stay home and hubby was going to take both kids so I could have a break. On second thought I thought I could manage sitting to watch. ;) Halfway through A~man declares "I need to go to the bathroom." The portapotty was probably 200 feet away. I begged hubby "PLEASE go with him". He was also tired and refused. Finally I just told A~man to go by himself. (we could see it until he went in obviously) Three minutes go by. "uhh hun could you please go check?" "no I'm tired" 5 minutes" You know he's in there picking up the urinal deoderant tablet and he will probably lick it" I bet he just HAS to touch the blue water down below" What if he falls headfirst in there?"    (we have the strangest conversations as special needs parents)  BUT the falling into the urinal comment had me RUNNING to the portapotty like a fool demanding he open the door. He looks at me. I KNOW he has done something. I finally see he has thrown some rolls of tissue in the toilet. I tell him "YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE MISTER!" Yes it was minor compared to the other scenarios and less repulsive but I was tired..and at the end of my rope. In the car I kept turning around looking at him and he hung his head. (I sound so mean huh?) We get home and he showers and brushes his teeth. Then comes the nightly question "how many Slick (our dog) hugs do I get?" Can I have 3?" NO "2?" NO "1?" NO!! and then the words a mom cannot resist "can I have a mama hug?"  OF COURSE YOU CAN!!     Who could say no to a childs request for a hug? I so love my A~man and all that he and Z~girl are teaching me.

Spring has us climbing trees!!!

Ok it has Z climbing trees and me revisiting my memories of childhood. She is such a monkey...always has been...and very coordinated. (me not so much) She was in ballet in preschool...started to try gymnastics (she would EXCELL she has the perfect build for it) but not interested. She is more like her mama and likes to stay in tune with nature. I remember as a child her age climbing up these giant pine trees in my grandma E's front yard (some type of evergreen anyway) WAY up....scarey up....as no one was watching me.

So we had some very warm days here in NC earlier this week and after doing some "school work" (there has to be a better name for it ;) the kids spent several days out in our yard...with me supervising out the window and going outside. I saw Z scaling the tree and HAD to get pictures. For what it is worth this is the first time in forever she picked out a skirt to wear. (she had cut off shorts under btw ; ) She loved wearing the skirt and wants me to make her some for this summer woohoo! I thought she was done with me sewing for her and skirts are so easy.

                                                                            Up

                                                                   Look mama!
                                                                  

She has been HIGHER believe it or not... I just did not get it in a picture.

A fairy drifting down....

Landing!

*giggling*

Most likely I do not need to but before this sordid tale I need to say a bit about our family. (disclaimer) We are a pretty conservative Christian family, we do not watch tv (we do watch movies), we are picky about what movies we allow the kids to watch especially A~man, we do not have any questionable magazines around....etc. All that to say our kids are pretty sheltered. ;) On to my tale~

Today we began a spring scavenger hunt. I have a list of things we are checking off that have to do with spring. We were not able to check off everything as it is still pretty early in the season. When we were finishing up our hike for the day Z runs to me and exclaims "A~man says he has naked woman pictures in his POCKET!!" It took me a moment but I realized what he had. When we go to the store...get a newspaper...get our junkmail he likes to pick fliers out and collect them in his room. In the mail last week I had gotten a coupon/advertisement for Victorias Secrets. It had these coupon cards (sortof like a grocery store coupon card) from Victoria Secrets with ladies in the underwear/bra on it. I remember seeing them but didn't realize he was carrying them around in his pocket. OK I admit...at the time I did not think it was funny...but telling my hubby the story tonight....I couldn't help but laugh. I didn't make a huge deal about it at the time but I did make him give them to me...and I threw them in a trash can. I could just picture at our next homeschool activity (TOMORROW) when he is out of earshot whipping them out to show the boys...or telling them he had "naked women cards" in his pocket. Oh I KNOW that would have happened...... :)

my dark cloud is gone!!

Thank you God!

Here I am!!

It's been awhile since I've blogged! I've just been in a bit of a funk all around. I do not like to do a post and complain, complain, complain. It's just one of those times when you realize your attitude is out of whack all around...where you would just like to crawl under a rock for awhile till something positive happens. Of course when I look at the big picture...life is good...I just hate experiencing the potholes of life all at once. Most likely it's time for ME to make something positive happen. :)

I have started back drawing...so that is a plus...I need to start back sewing too as those things tend to make me smile. (well as long as the sewing machine is cooperating) I have so many things to finish sewing though that it weighs me down.

Not sure if this happens with other homeschool families but now is the time when I start thinking...."hmmmm you know what? I have not done nearly enough______. " fill in blank with a subject or two. Or worrying about the fact a child is behind in one subject. With ds he naturally is but it is so darn discouraging when I think he's GOT something...and a month later it's gone. Or worrying that dd (who doesn't have sn's) is behind a year in a subject or two (well if I would have put her in her "grade" as one of the youngest in her class).  Then I catch myself looking at their many positives. Despite the fact my son fails to think before he speaks (I say with a giggle...most times) the child can talk to ANYONE. When he is done talking to them they are visibly touched by HIM...and the way he is. (I CERTAINLY do not have that affect on many people as I am quiet.)  Well...there are a rare few that are just irritated by him but they are rare and far between. And my dear daughter. I've thought about trying to compile a list of every book this child has read. (in my spare time har har) She honestly reads between 2 (not often) to 4 or 5 hours a day.  This has been going on for 4 years and she is 9. SERIOUSLY. I'm not talking piddly books...she has read every age appropriate classic (and many for older kids), every Boxcar children book, Nancy Drew, you name it...she has READ it and sometimes more than once. That is HER thing. Math will come....grammer, history....they will come. (and her reading is most likely helping that as she loves books about more than fiction) She has come a LONG way socially this year....I LOVE it!!!

Oh and more than likely...I have PMS (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!) I do not keep track so I do not exactly know. But in my little social world (if you can call that) I am getting flashbacks to 7th grade being the last one picked in PE...and then being pelted in dodge ball. Ok that last part makes me giggle a bit...despite the fact it really happened. (in 7th grade that is...it didn't really happen now ;)

Ok this post has whining, worrying, bragging, and self-pity in it. If you have read this....you deserve a gold star! :)

Tea Party Tuesday!!!

This is something I'm going to try do every Tuesday....Tea with my little lady and a little tea talk here in my blog. I have so neglected my poor blog. But in doing so it means I am more busy in the here and now so that is a good thing right? Now this is not my original idea...I borrowed it from this sweet blogger. Check out her blog as she is a wealth of knowledge and on top of it sweet. (wait I already called her sweet hahah)

Throughout today Z and I planned a tea party for before bedtime. I wish it could have been sooner but with homeschooling, errands and it being the hubby's day off we stayed super busy. Together we made cookies...she picked out some of our cups to use and then she surprised me by putting on a dress and apron tonight! (she rarily will wear a dress anymore) She looked like Alice in Wonderland!

 These are two cups Z and I made this summer at a paint your own pottery store.

On the inside are frogs! I love frogs and like the Fully Rely On God phrase!

We made chocolate chip cookies YUM!! We shared with the boys but they were NOT invited to tea!

We really try with each child to do something one on one with them often. Sometimes A~man can be quite the show stealer and Z just glows when she gets undivided attention from us! Speaking of the not so little man of the house...he was very jealous and ended his night on a very bad note..unfortunately. Being the sibling of someone with special needs can be just as stressful as being the parents of...maybe sometimes more so. Hopefully though she will remember tonight that her mama wanted to spend girl time just with her!

Whoa I did a double take after this one...it looks like a redhead version of ME when I was a child.

I'm going to a tea party!!

Check out one of my favorite bloggers and join us! Donna's tea party