Fou-tay-one

March 31st fou-tay-one years ago, I was born.  A quick glance at my life.  I have had a very blessed one. Good parents, a simple childhood that we had everything we needed but not necessarily everything we wanted (which is a good lesson for today's kids).  A nice, small Indiana hometown to grow up in.  Did well in school and in college.  Have always had awesome friends.  Found an incredible husband and we are in the mist of raising 5 very active kids. Life is good.


I woke up feeling fou-tay-one. I had a bad night sleep, night sweats, achy legs, icky stomach.  My daily reading was Psalms 71 "Prayer in the time of old age".  Oh vay...hope this is not any indication of how 41 is going to be.


My plans to celebrate this one day a year that I should feel special...enjoying the outdoors.  Cleaning up the garden, raking the dead leaves out of flower beds, Fulton wants to jump on my niece's  trampoline (something a woman with 5 children can no longer do).  I might have to come inside a little to do dishes, laundry and tidy up.  After school, Kevin and I will wave at each other on the road while we run kids to their various activities.  Probably not going to have a family dinner together tonight.  Understand now why I long for a simple life?


Or maybe (if even the coffee kicks in and I start to feel better) I will just 'play sick' and lay on the couch all day eating cookie dough.  Oh but that's not me, I will get bored.  Plus, the weather is beautiful.  Maybe I'll just brew another pot of coffee and Fulton and I will make chocolate chip cookies. Cookies are my request in replace of cake, but no one else has time to make them, so Fulty and I will just do it and eat 1/2 the dough!


Having my birthday this time of year it often falls around Easter and a few times, on Easter.   Easter is this Sunday.  I love coloring Easter Eggs.  I adore the imaginations of children. I believe they are true artists.  I am proud of my kids artwork.  More importantly, they understand Easter is not bunnies, chocolate and eggs.  


To get to Easter, we have to have Holy Week.  Thursday the Lord's Supper, Friday the Passion, Saturday waiting in the tomb...then boom SUNDAY! Christ will rise!  One thing I did last year was pull my kids out of school for the Good Friday service at 2.  They loved that.  I encourage parents to do the same. Losing a little school time for the Lord is not going to hurt their academics. 


So, my birthday and Easter and aging body...all in one blog.  My life may not be as simple as I want it, but it is more blessed then I deserve. My fou-tay-one years have felt like I am living heaven on earth, I can't  imagine wait the real place will be like.

Are you living Heaven on Earth?

Simply Playing

Something weird is happening in this family today.  Three of my kids are getting along. And playing. And spent about 3 hours OUTSIDE in the snow/rain sledding and throwing snow balls.  It's a snow day. No school. Well, it was supposed to be an ice day, but looks like the forecasters were a little off (score!).  I have a big window in my living room that looks out into the woods.  I was sitting in  the quiet thinking "I love my kids, especially when I can watch them play off in the distance while I sit  warm and dry on my couch and listen faintly to their scream and laughter."  The woods is hilly so you can see so much wildlife activity when it snows. I was watching a red cardinal and is it blue birds or jays that stay? I can never remember.  I do like snow.  "Sigh"....then all peace is disturbed when they come into the house. It was a nice moment while it lasted.

At least they didn't come barreling in tattle telling like about every day after school when they get off the bus. No, they came in made their own cocoa and talked about playing house. I guess my middle child's "boyfriend" was Bosco, our dog.  They are now in the basement in shorts, not asking.  My kids are normal. They fight. But on those rare occasions when they play well, it makes me proud. I hope they look back and appreciate that they had playmates every day.  We didn't have to call a friend to come over.  I was told once that people in Italy are emotionally healthy because they don't hide their feelings.  They fight like mad but love like crazy.  I would say that our family may be part Italian not German.

Aren't kids imaginations something?  With all of the electronic devices the best toy still is imagination.  Simple play.  Making things up as you go along.  I often joke the best toys are sticks, rocks and mud (legos are pretty good too).

The day started when my dad called and said we better take the buckets off the trees because of the ice and cold temps coming in.  That may cause the buckets to burst.  Which is the reality of using 50 year old galvanized buckets instead of the blue bags on the trees.  With all the extra work, I still love those buckets.  Today probably would have been a good day for the trees to run, but we can't collect tomorrow so later this week we will have to hang them back up.  Oh well, it forced us to go outside and get some exercise.   Good thing the kids didn't have school, we had lots of help (and a little complaining) but it went much faster.  Although, I wouldn't have minded doing it all myself.  A walk in the woods in 10 inches of snow makes for a good and peaceful workout.

I am proud to say I did live simply today.  It was relaxing or I can't decide, maybe just lazy. I even dozed off for 20 minutes!  It was productive. I got what I call 'bare minimum' done: laundry, dishes and tidying up.  I also helped my 6th grader with a cell model.  I didn't run. Maybe that's why I feel lazy.  I think we need the simple, lazy days to rejuvenate our souls even if it is on a Tuesday.  Some schools are going to these e-learning days where the kids have school at home on snow days.  What a shame.  Snow days are needed.   It's a time for simple play, resting, and your kids just might discover that they like each other.

What was your favorite simple play as a child?