Overwhelmed

Jason and I went down to Waco yesterday to pay his deposit for seminary (just a tiny drop in the bucket of what we will soon owe to further his education), go to job interviews, and look at houses.

And we took all three children with us. You can imagine how that turned out.

Honestly, I can only imagine how I might have acted at 4 or 6 years of age if my day went something like this:
* ride in the car for 2 1/2 hours
*go into a building and have to be very quiet and SIT STILL for about 15 minutes
*get back into car
*go into another place, be very quiet and SIT STILL for about 20 minutes
*get back into car
*get out to look at a house. Be quiet and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING
*another 20 minute car ride
*look at another house. Be quiet and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING
*lunch where we had to wait in line for a table for about 15 minutes
*back in the car to drive around while mom has an interview- takes about 45 minutes
*go into a bookstore while daddy has an interview- have to sit still and BE QUIET reading books
*go look at another house. Be quiet and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING
*look at the last house. Be quiet and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING
*eat dinner
*drive 2 1/2 hours home

So to my mom, if you're reading this, please accept my apologies for any day that you tried to get stuff done while dragging me along and I made your life miserable with my gripey, whiny attitude. Believe me when I say I was paid back tenfold yesterday. Your mother's curse worked. You know, the one where your mom says, "I hope your kids act just like you one day." And they mean it not b/c you were acting like an angel, but more like a spawn of satan.

There were a few times yesterday when I threw all parenting principles out the window for the sake of peace and sanity. Like the time I gave my not-quite-2-year-old several sips of my java chip frappucino. She may have had about 1/3 of it. Don't judge me.

Or the time I let her and my 4 yr. old pull all of the stuffed animals off of the toy rack at Popular Chain Bookstore. Yes, I was "that parent." But we picked them all up and put them back before we left. Just be aware that if you plan to buy a stuffed animal at the said Waco store, all of them have been manhandled by my kids.

Or the hours upon hours the kids spent watching videos and cartoons on the DVD player in our minivan. I'm sure the AAP would throw us in parents jail for causing the children's developing brains to atrophy from too much TV. But after the day I had yesterday, as long as I get 3 squares a day and a padded cell, parents jail doesn't sound too bad...

Moving Right Along

I have now applied for no less than 3 jobs at my alma mater, Thee University, of which I have heard back on 0 of them.  I have gotten responses on 2 school district positions out of the 3 I applied for, so that's definitely progress!  One interview is on Thursday and the other on Monday.  When the lady called about the one on Monday she seemed less-than-interested when I explained that I would actually be coming through town this Thursday and would have to make the entire trip BACK to town on Monday, not to mention (which I DID mention) child care arrangements for that day.  So here's to hoping School District #1 is the one for me.  At least for a year.  But here's to REALLY hoping that I get a job at the university.  That would mean waaaaay less money going out on Jason's tuition.  And if I get a residence hall job, that would also mean no house payment and maybe even some kind of campus meal plan.  Because who doesn't love eating in a cafeteria day in and day out??  Personally, I know my kids and I would be in heaven.  Jason the Gourmet, not so much.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

For some unknown reason, Jason and I can never manage to make major life changes in what any normal person might consider a reasonable amount of time.  It's like everything we do ends up being this huge in-a-hurry deal.  Let's just say God doesn't give us much advance notice when He calls us to do something.

It all started when we met.  2 weeks after our first date, we began planning a wedding.  Since there's clearly no need for a long engagement, we were married 6 months after we got engaged.  6 months later, we found out I was pregnant.  Towards the end of my pregnancy, we decided Jason should go back to school (immediately, of course),  which meant moving when Micah was only 5 weeks old.  When we moved to our current house in 2003, it was b/c Jason was called to a church in July of that year and we had to move fairly quickly.  Jason actually signed a contract on our home before I ever had a chance to see it.  

Fast forward 5 years and here we are on the brink of another move, Jason going back to school (for his Masters this time), finding new jobs, selling a house, finding a house, and all the other stuff that happens when you relocate.  But the kicker is that this is not something we've been planning for the last 6 months or so.  That is SO not how we roll.  Oh no- this brilliant idea started all of 3 weeks ago.  That's right, my friends.  3 weeks ago, Jason had a conversation with a friend that set this whole plan in motion.  In 3 weeks' time (one of which we were out of town)  Jason applied to seminary, I applied for jobs in the area, Jason got accepted to seminary, I set up an interview for a job, and Jason has some job leads of his own.  All of this so we can bust-a-move in time for school to start in the fall.  Not fall 2009, which would be what a normal person might be considering.  Fall 2008.  As in, a few short weeks from now.  WEEKS!!!!  And with 3 children.  We must be out of our ever-lovin' minds.  

All That Remains

Can I just say that we had a fabulous Fourth of July? Yes, I know- FoJ is SO last week in the blog world, but behind Christmas, FoJ has become my favorite holiday. And ours was such a fun day that I wanted to share, but I haven't been able to grab enough minutes all at one time to actually sit down and blog about it all. You know, because I've been busy with keeping our house show-worthy at all times which means I'm constantly in clean-mode which is so against my nature that I think my body might blow up at any moment. But that would be too huge of a mess and what if strangers show up just seconds after the explosion and want to see the house?? We'd never get this thing sold. Have I mentioned our house is on the market? It's killing me, people. And it's a slow painful death. Blowing up would be better. But I digress...

Our FoJ day started out with us watching a neighborhood parade from the comfort of Greg and Tracey's front yard. With the temperature just a few degrees below the heat of hell and the humidity at 98%, it was perfect parade watching weather. If you like to experience the feeling of melting while listening to marching bands and ambulance sirens (if you're in our part of Texas, you have to pronounce it sy-reens with equal emphasis on both syllables).

Here's Micah. I happened to be fortunate enough to catch his only happy moment of the morning on film. In 10 years when we look back on these pictures, we'll only remember a happy little boy excited about the day's festivities. For now, I remember the truth- he spent the remainder of the morning whining about one thing or another until he ended up in the house watching PBS Kids. Because nothing is more American than letting the TV babysit your children.

Too bad there wasn't a Little Miss Firecracker contest because Piper totally would have won, if I do say so myself. And since I learned how to make my own tutus, you can bet she'll have one for every holiday! I can't wait to debut her green and gold one for Baylor homecoming!

It really was a fun morning. Tons of people from our church community were there and we also had the opportunity to make connections with people we had never met. Plus, the people who own the local Chick-Fil-A came out and set up CFA sweet tea and lemonadeon Greg and Tracey's front porch. They're awesome people! And CFA sweet tea can almost make you forget about the heat and the potential that one of your children came thisclose to death at the hand of his mother who was fed up with the whining and griping. Almost.

After the parade and lunch at Greg and Tracey's, we all came home for a much-needed nap. After the nap, we headed out to our friends Nathan and Amanda's house for FoJ Part II. It was awesome. Again, many of our "family" from our church community came out. This is the 2nd year we've hung out at Nathan and Amanda's for FoJ and I think it's becoming tradition. At least, I hope it is.

This year, our friends Mike and Abby, who live across ths street from Nathan and Amanda (may I abbreviate? Henceforth, Nathan and Amanda will be N&A. Carry on.) loaned them their huge inflatable waterslide for the kids to play on during the par-tay. And make no mistake, there were a TON of kids. I stopped counting when I got to 17. Because 3 is the new 2 and 4 is quickly becoming the new 3, let's just say that our little church community is doing it's part to be fruitful and multiply. So N&A had the inflatable slide and a small pool and the children thought they had died and gone to heaven. My boys, in particular, couldn't get enough of the slide. In fact, they enjoyed it so much (read: wore themselves out) that they slept until 9:00 the following morning! Thank you, Lord, for the blessed 5th of July miracle!! I think I'm going to let Abby know I'll be bringing the boys over everyday to wear themselves out.

Here's Cade making the hardest decision of his day: to stay in the pool or go to the waterslide.

Here's Piper. Her eyes are begging to go to the slide, but it was for big kids. No way was I going to chance her getting up there and then freaking out, meaning that I would have to heave my oversized body to the top of the waterslide and fetch her down. Uh-uh.

Once the sun started to go down, the pyromaniacs, I mean husbands, had a fine time setting things on fire. We actually had about 20 times as many sparklers as children which meant that every kid who wanted one or ten definitely got his/her fair share. Did I mention that a great majority of the kids were 6 and under? If you've never been a part of the mass chaos of 50 kids under 6 holding sticks shooting fire, then you have not lived, my friend. Mike, of the aformentioned Mike and Abby, had this flame-blowing canister thing he was using to quickly light the sparklers- if he ever decides to become a super hero and super villain, that flame-blowing canister thing can definitely be his weapon of choice. During the Sparkler Extravaganza, the boys tried really hard to "accidentally" set the grass on fire. And succeeded more times than I'd like to recall.

Captain America made a cameo appearance, presumably to save us mere mortals from the "accidental" grass fires.

Micah was a bit unsure of his sparklers at first (note how he's holding it about 10 feet away from his body), but soon began waving them around like a Harry Potter wand. My arm became a victim of his wand at some point.

When it got really dark, the pyros put on a fabulous fireworks display.

Micah saved the best seat in the house for his friend, Katie Jayne.

Apparently, Micah and Katie Jayne were creating some sparks of their own that evening.

After the fireworks display and when the kids were tired beyond belief, we took them back to Grag and Tracey's where they fell asleep and we had some refreshing beverages and great conversation.

Overall, the day was a blast! God bless America!

A Letter to My Blog

Dear Blog,

Although you seem indifferent to my recent absence, I want to reassure you that you are not forgotten. You are the same cathartic therapeutic techno friend you have always been. I'm the one who has changed. It's not you; it's me. I often find myself writing the beginnings of new posts in my head, but I just don't have time to spend composing complete posts with coherent thoughts as often as I'd like to this summer. Thanks for understanding and not judging me. We can be close again. Just not right now.

Yours truly,

Amanda