I may not be able to take a permanent vacation, but this picture will do until next year.

10 favorite things about my three day trip to the beach in no particular order:

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns - I couldn’t get my nose out of this book. And so I finished it in three days!
2. My iPod - and my favorite tunes at the end of my earphones
3. Jodie - catching up shouldn’t be so much fun!
4. Evelyn’s salsa - recipe to come
5. Hushpuppies - really good hushpuppies. Melt in your mouth gooooood
6. Old friends - nobody’s really changed. Just the stories and situations. But friends are still friends. Again, catching up is the best part.
7. Naps
8. Phone calls home - nothing makes you miss family like being away.
9. A new purse - Life IS Good!
10. Sudoku - completing four puzzles without cheating.

Oh yeah, and number 11 - outdoor showers!

At this time Sunday night I'll be on my all-girls vacation in Holden Beach.
Ahhhhh.
Poetry.






































I'll take lots of pictures
of my friends that I've
missed
terribly
since we moved from
Virginia in 2003.
I'll take a shot of my newly
manicured toes on the
sandy beach.
I'll sleep in and go to
bed when I
please.
I'll eat
fried balogna sandwiches on
WHITE bread.
With lots of
pepper and
tomatoes from farmer stands on the
side of the road.
I'll finish reading the first book in
The Yada Yada Prayer Book series.
I'll start the new book
A Thousand Splendid Suns.
I hope I finish it in
3 days.
I'll pump my tunes through my
iPod.
I'll take
outdoor showers.
I'll promise not to
double dip
Evelyn's salsa.
And I won't.
I'll use
sunscreen, buy
T-shirts, swim in the
surf, learn a new
song, do a
load of laundry
(because I just can't stand
dirty clothes).
I'll laugh till I hurts.
I'll eat hushpuppies
dripping with grease.
I'll thank God for the
blessing
of
friends.
And I'll miss my
boys.
But I'll buy them each a
cool
T
shirt.

I used to be the kind of mom who swore her children would never play with guns.
Or watch Sponge Bob.
Or make farting noises with their hands under their armpits.
I was so sure my children would not grow up to be so devilishly boyish.
And if not for the sheer joy of motherhood, I would have won.
Now, they play with water guns, nerf guns, storm trooper guns.
They play with pirate swords and light sabers.
They watch Sponge Bob the movie, the TV show, and rerun after rerun after rerun of recorded episodes.
And they make farting noises with their hands under their armpits.
I don't think they've turned out quite so bad, though.
They are cute.
Devilishly cute.
And they are nice.
They love God, Jesus, and let us not forget Mary, as Benjy reminds me every night in his prayers.
They care about the earth and about science and about doggies and minnows and bunny rabbits and birds.
They're boys through and through.
Right down to their Underoos, running around the backyard stalking imaginary bad guys and stopping here and yonder to take a sip from their guns.

This is our new Karate for Kids member. Camden tested last night, performing his 17-step form with no help. He nailed his jumps, his pressed uniform made crisp popping sounds with every strike and kick, and he ended standing straight and tall, proud and obviously pleased. Camden and two other Tiny Tigers were promoted and it was a big, big deal. :) Nothing could have hidden the excitement on Camden's face when he was called to stand up and receive the promotion. He raised his hand for permission to speak and then blurted out, "And Karate for Kids gets to get the biggest ATA bag there is!!! My dad already has one for me!!!!!" All eyes fell on a very blushing Curt, whose attempt at bribing his son to practice his form to perfection was outed in front everyone. Well, we call it "behavior modification" around here. Whatever the name, at least it works.

I took nearly 70 pictures tonight of US on the back porch, the quintessential summertime family evening. Here's nine of my favorite shots. (Isn't Emma just wonderfully adorable in this shot of her?!)

Major storms blew through here tonight while we were out to dinner. We went to my favorite local restaurant, the Red Star Brewery where the seared sesame tuna makes my tummy do backflips of happiness. Anyway, we were there when the radio played its beeeeeep beeeeeeep beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep emergency warnings alerting us to the pending doom. The boys and I walked over to the window to watch as the winds blew over potted trees and the waiters ran around frantically scooping up the cushions from the patio chairs just outside the main entrance. Then the lightening began to dance around the city and the thunder rumbled overhead. The lights flickered only a couple of times, but we were safe and sound, happy in the promise of good food.

Camden sat in sophisticated silence as he munched on his pizza. (Yes, I just said that.)Benjy talked the ENTIRE time he was eating his chicken fingers, having a grand conversation with his 11 Star Wars guys that he brought with him in a red plastic cup. These two were total opposites tonight. Camden was so excited to go to this restaurant. He calls it the Train Station because that's what it is - a partially converted train station where Amtrak still picks up passengers and drops them off twice a day. This is Camden's version of a "fancy" restaurant. Nevermind the relaxed, casual elegance and homebrewed beer inside. This wannabe for president of the United States took a bubble bath and put on his amazingly handsome blue oxford shirt with his clip on presidential tie and khaki pants and he was ready. He looked just like Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties.

In contrast was Benjy, a smiley face shirt about three sizes too large and camo shorts from Target paired with his green Crocks. A little ragamuffin who might at best hope to sleep on the White House lawn one day. It wasn't until they were nearly finished with their hot fudge sundaes from McDonald's an hour later that these two actually resembled each other. Ice cream dripped down Camden's tie and shirt. Hot fudge was smeared all around Benjy's mouth and his yellow smileys had a patina of chocolate. They both giggled and pretended to fight half of the way home. They playfully poked at each other, pinched each other, tickled each other, stuck their feet in one another's faces. And still they laughed and and sang and howled. All Curt and I could do was crack up at their silliness, the utter UNpresidentialness of it all. Someday when my son's president and I'm staying over at the White House, I'll have to remember these days. Now, I'm wondering which one will actually be presidential material.

The hookie dookies are a little two-person acrobatic trick my sister and two friends and I came up with when we were kids. One person lies on her back, legs straight up in the air at a 90 degree angle to the floor. Another person lies on the person's feet facing the floor so that the feet are on their tummy. Is that clear as Mississippi mud cake? Not terribly original, I know, but a fun little way to pass the time when you're around 7 years old.

Well, the hookie dookies were hands-down our favorite thing to do next to disco dancing to the funky beat of the Bee Gees and KC and the Sunshine Band. The best place to do them was in Kim and Karen's basement on the orange shag carpet right beside the hobby horse. It was always better to be on top, sort of like soaring atop an amusement park ride at the county fair but cheaper and only a tad less thrilling. Somehow, decades after Kim and Karen moved away and Michelle and I grew up, I have never forgotten the hookie dookies. (Nor the bootie bill for that matter, but that's another story for another time.)

Camden spent his toddlerhood climbing up on our feet for hookie dookies, pretending to be an airplane or Buzz Lightyear. Benjy does it now. Only he isn't satisfied with mere jets. His solid little 40-pound frame sits propped on my feet like a mini Hindenburg. He holds my hands until he's ready to let go, then he thrusts his hands straight out to his sides and then quickly grabs for my hands again. In all, he's perched on my feet hands-free for maybe 3 seconds tops. This is the essence of the hookie dookies, but it's not the highlight for him. It's what comes next. "Mom, do the snow walker!!!" Here, I have to add a new step to the basic hookie dookie - I have to somehow move my feet back and forth with his tummy balanced on them while moving my hands back and forth. I look like a beached snow walker on its back with its back legs tied together. Benjy is howling at this point, oblivious to the awkwardness of this ordeal. He's deleriously happy playing snow walker. He's Luke Skywalker. He's got the force, Man!

And that's the magic of the hookie dookies, I suppose. They're kinda timeless.

My summer vacation has begun.
Now, to start on my things to do list:
* Reread The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins
* Be a better observer of life and take pictures of the cool things I observe
* Start a journal, not just here, but a real paper journal with room for doodles, art, painting, and sketches
* Finish my rag rug for the bathroom
* Make a rag quilt from Benjy and Camden's flannel baby blankets
* Scrapbook again
* Paint and collage a few canvases - no idea what of, but it's just so much fun

OK, that's it for now. Wonder how much I can get done tomorrow......

Memorial Day, 2007
Camden: Can we go to a cemetery today to put a flag on a soldier's grave?
Curt: Sure.
Camden: OK. Let's go now.

What I have learned in first grade:

Today is our last day of school, the last day of my first year at my Christian school with 12 first graders. I had a wonderful year. And it had so very little to do with school stuff. Instead, if was God stuff.

* I learned that if I keep my eyes on God, then I will know what to do in my classroom.
* I learned that God has gifted me with the ability to teach, and that I am using that gift in my school for Him.
* I learned that the better we are at using God's gifts, the more the enemy wants to squish us like bugs.
And that's exactly what could have happened this week. But we were so in tune with God and his blessings. We never gave the enemy a chance to slip in and take our focus away from God's work. We met every challenge with God's word, praised him even when we were beginning to feel weary, and rested in the peace of knowing whose magnificent side we were on.
* I learned that even when life hands you letters such as the nasty one handed to me this morning by a former parent, God holds us up, gives us safety, and promises to be greater than this world. Not even this letter filled with hatred and bitterness can move me from where God has placed me.
* I learned that when I need Godly people around me, God puts them there. Mrs. K. and Mrs. M. were both right there today when I read this letter. They both reassured me that I am exactly where God wants me to be. And I know they are right. God has blessed me immensly with ALL of my sisters in Christ. He has placed me in this school and given me the ability to be a great teacher. I intend to live up to God's plan for my life. Thank you, Jesus, for your peace.
* Psalm 4 (New International Version)
1 Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.

2 How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Selah

3 Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD will hear when I call to him.

4 In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah

5 Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.

6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

7 You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.

8 I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety.