Couch Tent 101

Day 50 something of summer and my children are bored. If summer lasted until Labor Day like it used to (in the good old days) we would be signing up for some kind of half day camp or art classes. This morning to occupy our time, the kids have taken over the bed spread which is drying over the 'little couch' after washing day yesterday (too wet outside to dry anything out there)
When making a couch tent, these are the items you will need:
1. a couch. preferably one that is almost 10 years old and squishy and lumpy in all the right places. Honestly the 'little couch' as we call is actually has been well protected from life these past years b/c it seems to be the landing spot for laundry out of the dryer. This is a vicious cycle.
2. A large blanket, sheet or bed spread.
3. a flashlight is of the utmost importance. the sun is shining outside (or attempting to on this gray day) but it is very dark under the tent.
4. books. Lots and lots of books. And it also helps to take in your big sister who can read. If you are a 4 year old little boy, the older sister might try to teach you to read under the tent. But really you just want to sit and listen and make faces into flashlight.
5. NO food at all under an inside tent. This is very important. As I am almost 8 years into this parenting thing, I am still far from being an expert, but I do know that a plate of cinnamon toast freshly made is not good snack to eat in the darkness of the tent.
6. Enjoy your tent

There are no words for that...

 So Jamey and I have pretty much been apart from each other about two weeks now. I was out of town for work, came home, and then about 12 hours later he left for a week.

but he comes home tonight.

My mom asked me how I was doing. She gets it. My friends Shannan gets it. They both understand that I am just better when he is around. At least when he is in the same part of the state I am in. We have been married 10 and a half years. My mom always says she knew it when I was a teenager - that she would watch me marry him one day. I just do better with him here. I understand that many, many people are separated from their others for extremely long periods of time. I am sure they think me nuts for thinking two weeks is a long time. But to me, it is. And I can't help how I feel.

"When does daddy get here?' Stephen asked today.

"He is coming tonight." I said. "Isn't that good news?"

"Yes." said Stephen. "I guess we will have four whole people living in this house tonight."

Yep - four whole people. We are whole when we are together.


"I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that."
— Brian Andreas (Story People)

Are you a coffee drinker?

If you are, and if you are in the mood to help out a really sweet family, click the link below. Read their story and click on the Coffee link on the right side of their page for more information.

Tori and Ben and their super cute son Gabe will soon add a new member to their family - a son from Ethiopia. But getting them over there to pick him up and getting him back here is quite a financial undertaking. So if you feel led, check our their story. You just might be a little piece of the bridge that helps them bring their son home from an orphanage in Ethiopia.

http://spiritofadoptiontheposeyfamily.blogspot.com/

 Have a great night, yall!

Say what you need to say.

So I have people reading this blog that I don't know. Well, duh I guess considering it is on the internet with no password restrictions. But with that comes emails from others - mostly mamas. And a few questions, which is sort of bazaar to me, but I am going with it. A few have said they want to record life, their kids, their thoughts - on a blog - but don't know what to say or don't have time. Well, here are my thoughts on such topics: (Ready or not)
Heard that song by John Mayer called Say what you Need to Say? A good song - even if he seems rather an arrogant guy in real life (not that I have ever met him so I suppose that is a little judgemental on my part)
One line of the song is "Its better to say too much, than to never say anything at all."
And that is this blog I suppose. I try to say things - in words, pictures, quotes. Life is not perfect by any means (my sweet neighbor Kelly pointed this out tonight by saying that she NEVER minded coming to my house, because my house always looks 'lived in') My house is rarely clean 100%. Even if I invite you over, I most likely have a secret and morbidly embarrassing hiding spot for stuff not belonging in one specific place. And guess what? I let my kids play in the LIVING ROOM. (gasp) I mean - they can bring toys in here. And play. And play dress up. And put on a fantastic pirate play complete with a princess who does NOT in fact need to be rescued, but is actually a wizard from Hogwarts in disguise. (Is that not a wonderful story line?? I know I was on the edge of my couch seat during this 6 minute long performance. The lights were even dimmed before the play so that I would know it was time to stop loading the dishwasher and get to my seat in a timely manner. I was also asked to leave my cell phone in the kitchen ("It is RUDE to text Ms. Jill during our play." Ansley whispered loudly to me.)
So what does all this have to do with blogging? Well - here is my connection. My house is messy. My children are currently watching a movie and I am sitting with them blogging. I could be doing laundry, I could be looking for that dang Netflix movie I need to mail back so that I can tell Netflix to go sit on a tack concerning their recent price hike. But I am writing instead about this fantastic play. And later, I can read this and remember. That, to me, is what blogging is about. Who cares if you are the only one who reads it. This blog is for me to remember this time in my life. I am writing more than  I need to probably so I don't forget. When children are ages 4 and 7, they change every day. I feel as though sometimes I am running next to them, watching them grow up while I am gasping for breath and holding on for dear life. One day they are teeny things that have sippy cups and pajamas with feet. And then I hear them using words like "actually" and "apparently" and asking if there are really time limits for computer time for kids written into the constitution (I may or may not have made it sound as if our founding fathers found it prudent to limit screen time for children - I am going down fast with this one due to the thinking face of one freckly little girl)

Blog. Or take pictures. Or scrapbook. Or all three. If you have the desire, try it. Just jump in. Try it. And then Say what you Need to say.

Rain

While there are MORE than enough things I could be working on inside of this giant mess -  I mean, house, we decided to go out and play in the rain a bit today. Here are the pictures from the rainy day outdoor play. Ansley wanted to model her rain gear as you can see. Stephen just wanted to race his car through the puddles. I am working on my picture taking still. I can't get my lighting right. I either seem to get the aperture right and then the picture is either too dark or too light. Oh well. I am still working on it.

**Disclaimer - If, when looking at these pictures, you think. "Wow - her back yard looks like a wild, untamed jungle" -  fear not - we have just been out of town for almost a month. We have not, in fact, moved the children to the amazon. And the grass/weeds/craziness should be taken care of sometime this week. If it ever stops raining that is.

Picture Overload:

The Many Faces/Moods of Stephen are as follows:

Uninterested in me completely.

Add caption

Are you really taking my picture again?

Really, mom. Really.

Staring at the garage door for some reason.

Ok - I will smile. Is this good enough?

Still Smiling. Still Cooperating. Miracle.

Hmmm...not really sure what this was.

This is what I think of THIS.

No words needed really.

Done.

Ready for action.

Being Popeye AKA PYE-PYE

Home again, home again

Very glad to be on MY couch in the house I share with my favorite three people: A giggly little girl, a sweet little blonde haired boy and the man I love who is about to cook some breakfast for dinner. Learned a lot this past week. A LOT. Very thankful for a great week of learning and fun. And very thankful for the kid made poster and beautiful flowers I received at the airport after being gone for a week. Saw lots of strangers smiling in the airport today at the site of LOTS of kids running to their mamas who had been gone this week.

On a side note - anyone out there on Twitter? I am slowly posting more there and less on FB for a few reasons. So if you are interested in following me (and the blog), feel free to add me!
You can simply click the twitter link over on the side of the page to follow us.

my name on twitter - lettiebelle16

Oh - and show Jamey some twitter love too: hillbillydew

Tuesdays on the beach

 I guess since this is my own blog, I can complain if I want to - so here is my rant. Which is catapulting me in the category of grumpy old person I know - but here goes anyway. Why, why, why, why, why do people assume that I want to listen to the music THEY are listening to? I suppose it makes people feel super 'vacationy', super young and fun to blast Kenny Chesney and or the Zach whatever his name is band music from their truck or boat, but it makes me grouchy! Life is short, I know. I should not worry about such things. But when I am sitting on the porch, I don't WANT to hear toes in the sand 400 times in a row. So label me a grump.
Now back to this regularly scheduled post:

So today was very nice as Tuesdays go. We slept in (last night 4th of July party at the house of some good friends - where they had homemade blueberry cheesecake ice cream - wonderful!) and then went to the estuarium. The kids enjoyed seeing and touching all the marine life. I learned that shark corneas can be transplanted into a human eye!
This afternoon we napped ( I know, I know - we are keeping ridiculous sleep schedules) and then headed to the beach to swim and lay around (something we seem to do very well these days)

The waves were pretty big today and the water was fairly clear. We could see fish in the swells of the waves. They were bigger in size than ones we have seen lately. The kids love the waves. They use floats and ride them up and down and then when the current has carried us down a ways, we get out and walk back to our spot and start again. A lovely way to spend the afternoon.
The fish were also jumping a lot. Jamey said I probably didn't want to know why they were jumping so I will just leave that alone.

After a fabulous dinner tonight of grilled chicken (Jamey said he burned it but he absolutely did not - it was wonderful) we are now watching, brace yourself, 101 ways to leave a game show. This show is pure ridiculousness. As it is vacation, and I really don't have to get up and do chores and prepare for the next day, we are watching it. Back in our real life, I would have shut this show down a long time ago.

Some of the recent observations from the little people in our world:

1. Harry Potter movie trailer - Ansley : "Um, I like Harry Potter pretty good (she has seen the first movie a few times) but I don't think I will ask you to take me to this one." Me: Yeah - no way that is happening for a while. (which by  the way -   I am still trying to emotionally prepare myself for this last movie - can it really be over? - this is not as traumatic as finishing the last book, but still pretty major)
2. Stephen after seeing a commercial for Dove deodorant:  "There is no way I am ever, EVER, wearing 'beoderant'. As soon as you wear that stuff - the part under your arm starts getting hair on it and that is just gross."
3. Stephen on seeing the preview for Captain America: "Are you sure that is Captain America? That girl was kissing him. I don't think Captain America has a girl kissing him in real life."
4. Ansley on why Jamey and I jumped over the couch, the dog, and the bean bag chair to mute the television when the in-depth preview for the upcoming Jaycee Dugar interview with Diane Sawyer came on: "' Stephen, there are some of these things we shouldn't watch. Like shows about people who kidnap children and other bad stuff. That is why mama mutes everything all the time."

Now back to this ridiculous game show. Happy Tuesday,everyone. :)
(PS - sorry for the rant at the beginning - I actually do like country music, just not blasting from three doors down. )
Now I feel a bit guilty for complaning. I am going to post real quick before I delete it.)
:)

Happy Fourth of July!

Jamey and I are celebrating the Fourth of July by, well, I am a little embarrassed to admit it, but the kids are gone with family and friends today and  Jamey is playing Lego Batman on the Wii and I have shopped online (99% of it window shopping) Heading to another get together tonight (is get together a southern phrase?)

In our defense, we did some major celebrating yesterday with lots of family and friends and all the traditional stuff: swimming, eating, cookouts, fireworks. Dauphin Island did a GREAT show last night that we were able to sit on the beach and watch. We were impressed! It was so long, it started losing the attention of the kids towards the end. We were wondering who paid for it? BP maybe? Whoever it was did a great job.

So it was a great 3rd of July for us.

In closing, here are two of my favorite pics from this past week.
Stephen and Poppy watching old Goofy cartoons in the afternoon.

And Ansley and Nanny giving each other pedicures:

The Braves are playing Tball

Today was the first day the gulf was angry. Lots of waves, rough waves of hot water. There were no cold spots at all. Swimming was less refreshing and more just wet. We have had two really warm days in a row, but I suppose we are in the month of July. The water seemed almost frantic.  A lot of churning and currents running back and forth and against each other. Standing up was a challenge while in the water. As the kids were wearing floats, they stayed on top of most of the action, but it still tossed them around quite a bit. The water was full of tiny fish swimming in large schools. They were agitated. They would swim this way and then that way and then suddenly half of the fish would throw themselves up and their tiny silver bodies would shine quickly in the sunlight. This was more than the birds could handle. They ate and they ate well while we were there today. The smaller birds ate the tiny fish. There were also fish feeding on the tiny fish and those larger fish looked especially good to the pelicans. We watched a feast today from the beach. The water was hot and frantic. The fish were agitated and almost looked panicked. It was a very interesting thing to watch, a bit unnerving with all the elements coming together, but a fun day was had by all.
Some good friends came to visit. We stayed on the beach until the heat drove us back under the house. A supper of steamed shrimp, potato salad, and squash tonight. Braves are on now (playing tball in the words of Stephen)  and the fish are calling us. I think mostly the fish are teasing us, but you never know, right?
Happy 4th of July Weekend, everyone

the world is full of beautiful things (thank you Bobby Darin)

The world is full of beautiful things, Butterfly wings, Fairy Tale Kings, And each new day undoubtedly brings still more beautiful things.

The World Abounds with many delights, magical sights, fanciful flights, and those who dream on beautiful nights,  dream of beautiful things. 

Beautiful days for sunshine lazin, beautiful skies and shores, beautiful days when I can gaze into beautiful eyes like yours. 

You wonder why the nightingale sings, lovers have wings, people wear rings, The World is full of Beautiful things and beautiful people too

Beautiful day of sun kissed showers, beautiful sea kissed breeze. Beautiful nights of moon kissed hours, beautiful dreams like these.

Our lives tick by like pendulum swings, delicate things, butterfly wings, Life is full of beautiful things, Beautiful people too. 

Storm Rolling In

Two of my most favorite beautiful people....