The world of Skype and itchy butts….

We did it.  We survived finals and our 1st year of law school.  I am thrilled.  We had a wonderful 10 days off together, including several trips to the Zoo (David’s favorite), several trips to the beach, and one big trip to see Bonte’ and Lee.  We had a ball.  I think we gained several pounds each just being at their house with all the good food we ate.  Well worth every lb though.  At least I thought so at the time.  My absolute favorite thing of the 10 days, other than seeing my man, was seeing bub’s band play at a festival.  I was in heaven.  I couldn’t have been more proud, more happy, or had a better time.  He is a machine of a drummer.  It made me miss playing with him, but not in a sad way.  The only thing that would have made break better was if we could have actually hung out  with bub. I miss him. Leon has been histerical as usual.  We were listening to The Paper Tongues last night and I stepped out of the room for a minute and heard the following; “I miss you Aswan”.  I about died to find him hand-over-heart area, saying, “I really miss you Aswan”.  Then we were watching their daily studio video, in which Uncle is talking, and upon seeing him began jumping up and down waving his hand shouting…”hi Uncle, hi!” He thought it was Skype.  Unreal.  You know we live in the century we do when a 3 year old automatically thinks seeing someone you know on a video means you are Skyping. It was too cute.  We really do miss Uncle and many others too.

We have been doing an advent calendar counting down the days first to Aunt Bonte’s and Uncle Lee’s, which has now come and gone and then to Grammy and Pee-Paw’s.  I have been trying to explain the concept of counting down sleeps.  I’m not sure he quite get’s the concept.  He’ll point to random boxes on the calendar and say, “these are my sleeps, and those are yours”.  Oh well, it was worth a try. He is very very concerned aobut Hobes no longer having toys for him to play with.  Speaking of Skype, every time we do with anyone at Mom and Dad’s he wants to talk to Hobes and asks if he can see Hobes room and his guys.  The other day in the car he matter of fact-ly said that maybe Hobes could turn into a little boy again so that he could have toys for him.  Brilliant idea and hilarious train of thought.  He also said that Sol should go to Baby school so that he could turn into a tiny, tiny baby like Daniel (our friends 2 month old baby).  We love that he knows school is for learning, and that if someone needs to learn something, be it turning back into a baby, or learning to be a ninja, that school is the answer.

Sol hardly says a word but gives as many snuggles as Leon’s words if you were to add them up.  He finally said Mama the other day.  We are frequently trying to get him to say things.  The other day we were asking if he could say “bird”. After several times of trying to get him to say it, Leon said, “Sol, can you say Pter0dactyl?” He is un-real.  At Uncle Lee’s after days of crawling on hard wood floors, and cement, Sol’s knees were bruised. He can walk, he just hasn’t fully connected the dots.  So, rather than walking, he resorted to butt scooting.  It looks hilarious.  What was equally hilarious is that Uncle Lee thought his butt must itch.  I laughed so hard.  Too funny. It is a logical thought, but I think bruised knees was the problem rather than an itching butt.  I will keep it in mind though, if in the future it is ever a problem.

I feel blessed and a have felt a new wave of grace this last week as well.  It has been the first week of our summer schedule.  David’s schedule is a whopper for him, and I am daily praying for grace for these 6 weeks for him.  I am thankful that it has been less difficult than I had imagined.

Miss you as always.  All my love,

Bep

thick glasses…

I swear, on somedays, much like today, or in weeks like this week, that someone put an invisible pair of thickly lensed glasses on me. These thick glasses make everything look crazy, up close, and glaring.  Either that, or it’s just that somedays in law school I feel like I was prescribed the wrong prescription, so-to-speak. Today, was one of those days.  Unfortunately, for me, during these seemingly wrong prescription days or weeks, I see so poorly, that I often decide it would also be good, to take an up close look and evaluation of our life. The result of these up close evaluations are always terrible and the outcomes quite untrue though they may seem very true in the moment.  So, I am taking a break from evaluating and about to watch Celebrity Apprentice. Hallelujah!!!  But since I have an hour, I thought I would write.  This week has been rough.  Molly left Monday, and my daily buddy, Jamie, moved away Tuesday night. I am still in denial that she is gone and am secretly hoping for her van to pull up and for her to knock on my door hoping to use my toaster.  I think she is probably wishing I was knocking on her door to fetch her for a power walk or to borrow half and half.  I know for sure we both could use a strong cup of coffee and a 20 min chat.  Unfortunately, this is one of the parts of law school I must embrace. With out her, I would not have made it through my first year of law school. Though upon first meeting her, I wrote her off the second I heard she was a 3L, it wasn’t long before we were like old chums.  Enough about that,  here was a glance into my day.  Bringing David to church at 7 to do sound, then bringing the boys back home to get them ready for church, and back to church by 9.  Lunch, nap prep, nap and attempted nap.  My nap consisted of almost dozing into heavy HEAVY nap sleep, multiple times, but being disrupted by #1 son throwing shoes (in the closet in our room where his mattress lies for nap time), coming out to show me boogers, coming out to get water, and such, and such, and such. Not forgetting many swift swats on the buns with a wooden spoon.  Finally, scheming how to get a wink or two, I decided to fetch the shoe thrower, and let him watch Despicable Me, and eat a snack.  (to which later today, he kept telling us, he never gets his way, and that Sol gets his way).  After a stern talking to about sitting still and not being loud so that Sol would stay sleeping, I was off to my bed. As I lay in my comfy bed, I heard in the distant living room, much crinkling of something.  I kept telling myself, I didn’t care, but was not sleeping to such a “peaceful” sound.  Storming out of my bedroom, I come to find, his entire bowl of “snack”, cereal and pretzel chips nicely strewn about the entire living room and his mouth stuffed with, for the second time this week, jelly beans.  Why I tried to sleep again, I am not sure.  It was a bad idea.  Then he came running in in his “inside voice”, which is just as loud as his other voices, wanting to play outside.  This “inside voice” was just loud enough to wake sleeping brother. Just my luck.  Now it was a party.  Taking many a deep breaths I continued to do my motherly tasks which included changing a poop. Whilst changing a poop I notice leon has destroyed my straw to my Starbuck’s re-useable water cup.  I then proceed to throw Sol’s diaper away, and come back to find Leon covered, well at least one foot and shoe, and most of the floor underneath him in my brand new tube of Boudreaux’s Butt paste.  That stuff is amazing by the way.  It really does keep the water out, which made trying to clean up the mess real interesting.  Never thought a spill on a rug could look so new and white!  Then while laying on the ground throwing a small kicking fit, (Leon, not me) he proceeded to kick Sol square in the nose.  Like I said, it was a party!  Wish you could have come.  That was it, I was taking a walk, with earphones on.  So off we went in the 80 degree weather.  I’m not sure if my children were talking, screaming, or sitting quietly on this walk, I couldn’t hear them.  (sorry village friends)  I popped an earphone out every once in a while, just to ensure no one was choking or such.  Then, dinner made and husband home (hallelujah) for a tince.  And, because I have such a wonderful husband, he sent me on my way for one hour alone, out of the house.  Who knew an hour could make one so sane?  I did not.  If I would have known, I would have had a yard sale and hired a sitter much earlier in this crazy week.  This one hour was enough to inspire me to clean my tornado-ed house!  And, it was enough to help me realize that now is not the time to evaluate life.  Finals is upon us.  Our life is insane for the next 2 weeks.  And somehow, this hour made me even have perspective that, though our brand new popsicle molds fell out of the freezer after dinner and 2 cracked, that we still can use the other 4.  That my friend is perspective.  At least for me it is. That is the glass going from empty to at least part full.  I will make it, I will endure.  We are almost through year #1.  Again, hallelujah! I miss you so, much more than you know.

A little saner, than before,

Bep

 

A Ball for the Barrister!

It pays to be a barrister.  What is a barrister you might ask?  Not exactly sure, but they throw a ball for us once a year and although it was more like a high school reunion than a ball, we still had one.   We had the best company!  Two couples, sadly enough are 3L’s in the language of law school.  This in normal human terms means they are leaving us in 2-5 weeks.  This is the sucky part of law school.  Upon first moving here, and so many introductions, my ears were listening for only one phrase…”we’re 3L’s”.  Upon hearing that phrase, it was an almost instant reaction to, erase face, and find some reason you know you wouldn’t get along.  Thankfully, the erase face part, and  the finding reason’s you wouldn’t get along with them part, were both extremely difficult tasks.  So many dear friends, that I will miss dreadfully.  It’s quite the strange cycle of emotional status’.  When you get here you can’t wait to leave, and hope the three years, doesn’t feel like the rest of your life.  But the leaving ones, (wives that is) now are wanting to stay.  I’m not sure I entirely believe them, but heck, I want them to stay too.  Anyhow, back to the ball.  I think all us ladies felt like kids in a candy store: Make up, heels, jewelry, hot dresses, hot dates, child free. (translated into child terms, would be; skittles, starbursts, m&m’s, twix, etc.) We were plain giddy.  While the venue, and food were less than say you, regal, or delectable, nothing was stopping our fun.  Nothing like dancing the night away.  Children somehow don’t get the memo on sleeping in though.  I swear I wrote and re-wrote the memo a thousand times for them.  I guess I forgot they can’t read yet.  Thanks be to God for coffee in the morning and cute squishable bare baby and toddler legs.  In the face of blatant tiredness, somehow these three factors still manage to draw out a grin.  As Leon would say too, “the sun is awake mom, see?”

This is all I can rationally “up-to-date” you on for now.  Maybe after a few more cups of coffee I will muster up the cognitive ability to write more.  Miss you as usual!

Bep

Best part...new bracelets!

I love the back of the bracelets equally.