Bits & Pieces

One of my facebook friends quoted a few verses from Psalm 37 today. {There are several in this passage that I love!} So I decided I'd revisit the psalmist's words tonite. I had several lines already underlined with my notes penned into the margins. It's funny how the same passage of Scripture can mean different things during different seasons of life. These words stood out to me and seemed so very relevant to some things God's bringing us through right now:

           Trust in the LORD and do good.

                Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. {vs. 3}      

           Take delight in the LORD,

                and he will give you your heart's desires. {vs. 4}

           Commit everything you do to the LORD.

                Trust him, and he will help you. {vs. 5}

           Be still in the presence of the LORD,

                and wait patiently for him to act. {vs. 7}

               (not one of my strong points;)

           .... but the LORD takes care of the godly. {vs. 17}

           .... He delights in every detail of their lives. {vs. 23}

           .... for the LORD holds them by the hand. {vs. 24}

Promises to claim!!!

Great {Summer} Expectations

Summer is in full swing here in Hosmerville. Two weeks in and counting. And I am determined that we Hosmers are gonna live it up this summer!:) Last year was pretty much "The Summer That Wasn't" and I definitely do NOT want a repeat.

First there was my brother's wedding. (Ok, maybe I do want a repeat of that;) For the first month of the kids' summer their vacation revolved around mommy's preoccupation and busyness with all of the wedding preparations. They'd ask to do something fun and my standard reply was, "we've gotta do such~and~such (for the wedding). Just wait till after the wedding and we'll do it." On top of the whole fam being in the wedding party, I helped plan, prepare, and serve a rehearsal dinner for 30+ family and friends. But it was all good. I woke up the day after the wedding and thought, "now that was fun! Let's do it again next weekend":)

Except the next weekend my grandpa died. (More on this later. It's still hard for me to even think about it, so we'll see if I can get some words down eventually.) After his death I spent the rest of the summer trying to help my kids cope with their grief of losing their papa and being available to help and support my grandma, from settling her into her new retirement community to doing an estate sale for her, all while functioning through a fog of the deepest, rawest emotions I have ever experienced.

So yeah, this summer HAS to be different! We've settled into a laid back routine of sorts already. Most mornings, the kids head to grandma's while I clean. I'm usually there by lunch time to pick them up so we have the afternoons with each other. Here's our summer bucket list:

1. sign kids up for the summer reading program through the library
2. send kids to basketball camp at Columbia Central (Yes, although basketball is Austin's "thing" I wanted the girls to get in on some ball action, too. This is what the kids are doing this week and so far they are all having a ball:)
3. send Austin to basketball camp at SAU. This camp is an all~day camp for 4 days with a more structured and focused program. He goes every year and loves it! 
4. send Austin to camp. 5 nites away. First time ever. 
5. send the kids to VBS thru our church. This year vacation Bible school runs Sunday nite thru Thursday nite. The staff always does a super job and Tom and I get 5 date nites in a row!
6. this Friday the local pools open for the summer. The kids can't wait to swim! Austin is ready to take the swim test and conquer the "big kid" slide that goes super fast and dumps you out into 9 feet of water. I would love to go at least once a week. We'll see how the weather cooperates.
7. I'm really hoping we get lots of invites to beach it up with my girlfriends and their kids {*hint, hint*}. We did this several times last summer and it felt like my only escape from reality. Looking forward to soaking up the sun with my bestest girlies.
8. take the kids to Lake Michigan. We usually do an end~of~summer mini vacay and take the kids to Grand Haven for a couple of days. We spend the entire time on the beach and in the pool. We will probably have to condense it down to a day trip this year because of our busy August calendar (see #'s 9 & 10). But some way, some how we'll go to Grand or South Haven.
9. Thomas Family Reunion. Tom's mom's dad's family. Got that?;) First weekend in August, somewhere in Southern Illinois.
10. Hosmer/Stafford wedding. Tom's middle brother and his fiance:) Second weekend in August, somewhere in the gardens of Southern Herb Farm.
11. if we can sneak in a trip to the zoo, I would love to take the kids to GR and visit John Ball. Their penguin exhibit is my absolute favorite!
12. finish the kids' school workbooks. Last year the kids brought home their unused pages from their spelling, math, Bible, and handwriting workbooks. I had high ambitions of having them work through the rest of their work throughout the summer.. We didn't pull the books out once. This year, same thing: spelling, math, Bible, and handwriting. So far, we've done 2 pages. There may be hope. (On a side note, I am not doing this because we are overachievers here in Hosmerville. I just explained to the kids that this is a way to keep their brains working and it keeps them occupied while I'm making lunch:)
13. plus there's a WHOLE bunch of ideas I pinned on pinterest. If we have time and materials and money we'll do these fun little projects, too. (If you follow me on pinterest you can find most of these ideas on my "with the kiddos" board.

Here's to summer!

Strawberry Sweetness

My grandma and I took the kids strawberry picking on Monday. To say we were successful in the berry patch may be a bit of an understatement. Over~ zealous is a bit more like it. We picked 30 lbs. in about 45 minutes; and I have been cleaning and prepping berries ever since. I am typing with berry stained hands, but our freezer is chock full of strawberry goodness!

• the kids inhaled enough fresh berries to turn their skin pink;)
• 20 half pints of freezer jam
• 2 nites of strawberry shortcake for dessert
• several pounds of plain frozen berries (can't wait to use these for smoothies!)
• and, 2 huge containers of frozen vanilla greek yogurt~dipped berries

Old Soul

Oh, Austin! Bless your black~sock~wearing~with~shorts little heart. Topped off with a navy blue shirt and different blue hued shorts. Today was one of those mornings. Clean laundry was low, desperation was high and I was feeling slightly apathetic about my kids' wardrobe choices. Until drop~off when I noticed Austin sporting the little old man look.

I've Still Got It

My memory, that is. After almost 10 months of not blogging, I still remember my password. Maybe that means I need to get back to blogging. Everything on blogger (and a lot in life) has changed. If I can find my way around and through I'll be back. 

Today's Greatness

~*~ clean laundry ~*~
~*~ walk on the beach and pier at Grand Haven ~*~
~*~ Austin holding a gorgeous macaw on his arm ~*~
~*~ boursin mushroom pizza and blackberry basil lemonade at Kirby's K2 ~*~
~*~ watching my little merpeople in the hotel pool~*~
~*~ time to blog ~*~

The godly are showered with blessings.

~Proverbs 10:6

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Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift~

there is nothing small about it.

~Florence Nightingale

You bless the godly,

O LORD; You surround them

with your shield of love.

Psalm 5:12

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The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions~ the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.

~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Just Like A Fairy Tale

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Micah and Lindsey Moss

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Wow! That Was Some Good Stuff!

This is old news, but I came across this note I had scribbled down back in October to blog, so I thought~ better late than never. The kids all had dentist appointments back at the end of September and the hygienist found 3 cavities in Lexi's teeth. Say what!?! My kids have always had perfect checkups and now my baby had not 1 but 3 cavities! I almost cried as they told me. The whole dental experience has always been a good one for the kids and I didn't want this to ruin everything. I didn't even tell the kids and when I had my own 2 cavities filled a week later I nonchalantly brushed off the whole experience (even though my mouth was numb for hours afterwards and when I did start to regain feeling my whole chin tingled with an itch that couldn't be scratched~ ugh!)

Anyways, the morning of the big day I dropped Austin and Audrey off at school and then told Lexi that we were going to see Dr. K who was going to make her smile nice and pretty. I was SO nervous. She got weighed (to determine how much meds she could handled) and then they dosed her while she was picking out a toy (pom poms to go with her cheerleader outfit). They told me to take her potty and then read to her in the waiting room while the medicine took effect. I knew that she would get loopy but when she started going rubbery and slurring her speech, it was everything I could do to not panic.

At one point, she looked up at me and slurred, "you have 'dis many eyes" and held up 3 fingers. I giggled (nervously). Then she informed me I had 2 noses. She was completely gone. My arms were aching from holding up her limp little body when they finally called us back. I got her settled in the chair and they dismissed me back to the waiting room. She came thru with flying colors but the drive home was rough.

I put her seat back because she was still somewhat incoherent and I didn't want her flopping forward as I was driving. She was coming down from her "high" and this totally irritated her. She somehow managed to get her seat back up but then it was too far forward. And that irritated her. I stopped alongside the road and got her resettled. She hadn't been allowed to eat before her procedure so I had planned to get her a yogurt parfait from McD's as a special treat. She wanted chicken nuggets. I explained you can't get nuggets at 9:30 in the morning. That irritated her. She finally decided on pancakes. We drove thru and took them home.

I had gotten her a new DVD to keep her laying low and she wanted to eat her pancakes in the living room. I told her only if I could feed them to her (sticky syrup + micro suede couch + loopy girl don't mix very well). She wanted to do it herself. I told her no. That irritated her. The smell of maple finally made her relent. She settled in against her pillows like a princess. I fork fed her.

Next time, mommy is asking for meds, too.