Grammar School Car Surfing

It's taken me a while to get used to the acrobatics that Second Darling has perfected in her gymnastics class. I've quit dialing 9-1- and waiting for the last -1 while she's leaping and rolling on the balance beam. I've had plenty of lectures about brain injuries from Darling Man, so needless to say, we're not into high risk activities.

But today, my cheese almost slid off the cracker. I looked out our big glass doors to see her car surfing on the battery powered mini cars that Uncle Jack Sparrow gave the darlings for Christmas. I leaped over tall piles of laundry in a single bound, almost landing on Super Dog, as I ran for the door. Of course First Darling, who was doing the driving, was laughing her head off. (The utter fun that I'm sure this was, was not lost on me; but remember, Darling Man tells me all sorts of hospital-horror-stories.

So, between the sound of the little car running and First Darling's laughter, my screaming like a crazy person was all for naught. I was running behind the car to catch them. Remind me again, Mom, why a big back yard is such a great thing? Little Man, and Fourth Darling were harvesting pecans as they watched me get more exercise than I have in a long time. Once I got the Darlings, they quickly obeyed, and looked at me like "what's the big deal?" Nobody thanked me for saving them from certain fun doom.

After the darlings were in bed tonight, and I told this story to Darling Man, we both agreed we would have done the same thing if we had been given the chance.

The Way Many Americans See Homeschoolers

Aye Carumba

Holy guacamole. My Little Man is driving...with my one year old! Uncle Captain Jack Sparrow, aka Daddy Warbucks, bought two vehicles for his darling nieces and nephew. Needless to say, the jeeps were a huge hit! That's Uncle Captain Jack standing next to Little Man's car on Christmas morning. What you can't see is that he's in his bathrobe, wearing his new combat boots with the tags still on, holding a cigarette. Very suburbanite. The ironic thing is that the darlings are actually getting the hang of these vehicles. I hope they don't run over Super Dog. Actually, Super Dog went for a ride this evening. What a surreal life.

Right now my house looks like one of Santa's elves threw-up. We've just now gotten the boxes and papers out to the alley for trash pick-up. The darlings made a haul, I must say. It was loads of fun watching them Christmas morning.

Try #2

Okay, now the map has been moved to the very bottom of the page. Don't give up on me.

New Feature

Because I'm insatiably curious some would say nosey please find the map on the right margin of the blog and mark where you are so that I can see it!

So Good

Who would have thought the Muppets could sum it up. Those little foam creatures have a lot of wisdom and have said everything I could think to say. Really listen to the lyrics. It's okay if you get teary - I do every time I hear this song.

I doubt I'm going to get Christmas cards out this year, so here's my blog-card. Merry Christmas.

It's a Beautiful Blur

I didn't mean for this picture to turn out this way, but after looking at it, it really captures what I feel like my life is like. It's a blur, but there's a beauty to it as well.

I think, usually, we feel guilty about the speed at which our life passes by - no matter how fast it really is. I'm sure people two hundred years ago felt the same. I can't see a farmer on the frontier sitting back and thinking "Gee, I'm glad we have so much free time." Yet I often daydream about how "slow paced" life back then would have been. I think that's a very romantic daydream, but probably not realistic. I'm going to try to quit spending my energy feeling guilty about how fast life moves, and instead, enjoy my babies, my husband, my friends and family while I can. I guess my picture made me see that even in a blur, there is beauty.

In effort to enjoy "the blur," school has been called off this week so that we can enjoy friends, deliver Christmas baskets and have a good time.

Right now Darlings One and Two are developing their own computer game on a non-working calculator, while the two younger Darlings are on the porch playing with Super Dog. I'm so glad that they have time to be together.