Trying to Catch Up!

Well, it's been awhile. Last year I had about 28 posts while this year I've only 4 so far. That's a significant downgrade, I'd say. I've just been very busy with school. Every year I teach something new so I have a whole new curriculum to learn! I so enjoy the challenge, but a stress-free, putz-around-the-house kind of summer seems to be unattainable for the present. At any rate, Ma always said it's best to be busy than the other way around and generally I have to agree with her (I have a smart mom). And truthfully, I am not TOO busy where I can't enjoy time with my family. Mike and I have been going down the shore every weekend, so I have time to relax then. Just this past weekend Mike and I were down with Jules and the youth group from church. We had a great time. At night Jules played on the playground on the beach and made fast friends with a bunch of kids with big imaginations - right up her alley. The next day, Mike convinced me to go banana boating on the ocean with some of the youth group. Banana boating is when you have a motor boat pull a large inflatable tube that holds up to 12 people. Well, not expecting it to be such a big deal, I went. I was tossed - along with others - off the boat a number of times and simply trying to get back on the boat took a herculean effort! Let's just say that a day later, sore doesn't begin to describe some of my muscles! But it was fun, and I bet in a year I could be convinced to do it again. Mike and I also went on a trip by ourselves to the ocean and spent a night without Jules (thank you, Lora!). It was even better than the last time we spent away from home - sans Jules. This time we went to a winery. Did you know that there are over 50 wineries in New Jersey??? (I suddenly am very knowledgeble about NJ's wineries). It was neat experiencing a wine-tasting. I think we tried 5 to ten different types of wine. I nodded thoughtfully when the owner of the winery talked about the "dryness" of a particular wine or the supposed "fruitiness" of a bottle. Interesting stuff. Then Mike and I bought a bottle - whether fruity or dry I couldn't say - sat out on the wide porch that overlooked the vines, and had a glass or two with some cheese. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We were in a county in NJ that I've never been in and it felt like a different world. At night we went to "Moonstruck", a restaurant in Asbury Park and sat on the top balcony overlooking the river that leads to the ocean. Lovely! And tomorrow it's VBS - vacation bible school. I'm looking forward to it! It's always a little challenging to be organized, but hopefully it will run smoothly like it always seems to do. We had a good reminder in church this morning on why churches should be involved in various outreaches, and it was good for me personally to hear that because it is so easy to get caught up in the minutia (like craft preparation, etc.) and to miss the bigger picture - telling children about God and His Word and asking Him to bless it! Well, that's all for now. Wishing all my readers a blessed week!

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day, and being a firm believer in man-made holidays, Valentine's Day included, Jules and I went out and bought a gift for Mike and gave him a card. Thinking that the whole gift should really be from Juliet, I had her tell me what she wanted me to write in the card. I got such a kick out of it! Here is her message, verbatim: Dad, I love you. Somebody always loves you more than the whole world. The Lord God does. 8 9 10 11 12. Dad's birthday is coming soon. Everyone loves Dad. Goodnight. Love from Jules. I think I will hold onto this card....

Tear Squeezing

It was chore time in my house the other day (I don't actually have a "chore time" but it does have a rather impressive sounding ring to it). I was in my glory vacuuming the house, scrubbing the floor on hands and knees, and generally feeling pretty productive (this is not a normal feeling). To make it all a little more interesting I started belting out a variety of patriotic songs I'd learned in high school. It started out with "God bless America, land that I love! Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with the light from above. From the mountains, to the praries, to the oceans, white with foam, God bless America, my home sweet home, God bless America, my home sweet home!" While singing, I felt a little choked up about the grandeur and feeling behind the words and thanked my stars that it was only Jules to see me and she wouldn't notice, anyway! Some people don't mind to show their emotions, but I certainly am not one of them, due to my stiff upper lip dutch heritage. The general emotion continued while I sang the national anthem and "My Country Tis of Thee". Now here's the question I have. Why can't I squeeze a tear out at other sad events (say a funeral, or some other sad news) while I can easily get emotional over songs?

Spring Break, Sweat Pants, and Breakfast in Bed!

Well, it's Spring Break here and I am enjoying it!!! Me and my beloved sweat pants are becoming acquainted with each other once again. It really was a hard separation. It's not that I'm against wearing skirts (I wear them to school every day), I just hate wearing them in the winter when I have to wear stockings and then have to make sure I'm wearing a slip, etc. It seems that I've never properly invested in a number of GOOD tights so I'm always feeling uncomfortable in ones that are too tight, aren't quite long enough, or they stick to my slip, etc. Besides, I don't want to pay twenty dollars for a pair of tights that will promptly get holes in them! Sorry, Mom, I just ain't that into skirts. Men have it easy, in my opinion. Mike rolls out of bed, grabs a pair of jeans and a dress shirt (which never gets tucked in), and off he goes.... Though, now that I think about it, if that is all I have to complain about, I've got it easy. And somehow this post went off on a tangent because my intention was to write about how Mike made breakfast for me in bed and here I am writing about my sweat panted attire. ANYWAY, (ahem), I woke up to a nice surprise this morning. It was 8:30, a wonderful time to wake up to in the morning, and the strains of some classical music were making their way into our bedroom. Then in came Mike with a baking tray carrying my oh-so-necessary mug o' tea, a toasted english muffin with butter and light brown sugar melting on top, and a lovely bouquet of forsythia! And that was a great way to start the day, don't you think? Since then, its gone considerably down hill, but I have a lovely memory and I've come to the conclusion that Mike wins in the spontaneity department. Gulp! From an incurable romantic, this is a bit of a blow, but perhaps I'll recover from it....

"Bad" People

I'm writing this down so I don't forget. I was out with some friends the other day and was amazed at how well some of the moms remembered the cute things their children said, and here I could think of nothing funny or clever that Jules had said recently (horrors of horrors)!!! So I thought to myself, "Jules childhood will be one big blank if I don't start writing some of this stuff down!" Well, here is her most recent:
I was reading Jules her nightly Bible story and though I can't remember who the story was on, it was on someone "bad." Well, after hearing the story, Jules declared, "But we're not bad, mom! We aren't like that man."
Thinking I had a teachable moment, I responded, "Well, Jules, we are all bad. We're sinners!"
Jules - "Well, not BAD like THAT man in the story!"
Me - (trying to provide some concrete examples) "Sometimes we're bad when we're cranky, or we say something mean, or hit people!"
Jules - "Well, I DON"T hit people, Mom!"
Me - "You don't??? You just hit Laina this morning!!!!"
Jules - pause.... "Well, hmmm....." And that ended the conversation swiftly!!!

Changes

The other night I went Christmas shopping. Like a good and frugal Dutch wife, I had received a coupon to JCPenny, and who am I to not use a coupon??? Especially when you only had to spend ten dollars in order to get ten dollars off! I don't ignore those types of deals. Anyway, so I meandered over to the toddler department only to find that I no longer was in the right department. Jules no longer fits 3T clothes, so I had to find out where the next size up was located. After some searching, I found it. It actually made me a little sad... It was time to admit that my baby really wasn't a baby anymore and there was no more shopping in the infant section. Life keeps on moving whether I like it or not!

Central Park

I'm catching up on blog posts, in case you haven't noticed. I received a scolding from my sister, and who am I to ignore a scolding? So, lest I forget some of the fun things Mike and I have done this past fall and winter, here goes. Our small family made our annual trip to Central Park this past November (or was it October???). Anyway, it was a beautiful fall day. The sun was shining, the trees were showing off their fall colors, and Mike was making fun of me for wearing my coat - yes, I was the only one wearing a winter coat in the entire park. Some things never change. We went to our Green Cafe, ordered sandwiches, and found our old picnic spot under an evergreen tree somewhere in the vast park. Our lunch was delicious (isn't it always better when someone else makes it?), and then it was exploring time. Mike and Jules wandered around wisely climbing rocks out of my eyesight. I've come to conclude that I'm a real chicken with pretty much anything slightly dangerous. I used to get heart palpitations whenever I took Jules to the park - I'd imagine terrible things happening - constantly. In my mind I'd see her falling off the slide and I would constantly be following the poor child around and telling her to "Be careful!" As I was saying, Mike is wise enough to do things where I can't see. After some rock climbing, it was time to go for a walk. We checked out the statues of great literary figures (can't believe I've never seen them before) on the promenade (I think that's what it's called), and then we watched all sorts of people doing all sorts of antics in order to make a buck. There was the bubble man who made ENORMOUS bubbles. A hit for Jules! Then we listened to a variety of classical and not-so-classical music. Then off to the ice cream stand to make Niccy happy. We checked out some...interesting modern statues, and tried to determine what the artist was aiming at. Some determinations are better left unsaid. Anyway, what's a trip to the city without getting crapped on by a pigeon? Thankfully, it wasn't me who got hit. Yours truely, Jules, seems to be taking after her mom in that department. Thankfully, it was more of a slight splatter than a full birds eye strike. Sigh. Next year we might make it to the zoo... We'll see. There's just so much to see and do when it's a gorgeous day in the city...