My mom will be having both knees replaced this Friday (5/29) at 7:30 AM. Please pray for a sucessful surgery and a speedy recovery! (If you want to leave her a message here, that would be cool. I know it would make her feel better to know there are lots of prayers being offered for her on Friday morning!)
…to this story. If there seems to be a lot of Elizabeth Foss on this blog all of a sudden, it is because I think she’s really cool. And this story is hilarious. Two-year-olds most definitely bring adventures, wherever they are!
She’s sick (again), which seems to slow her down and make her more grown-up in her speech and wittier. Two very funny quotes from this weekend:
Craig arrives in the bedroom, and entices Lucy to take some cough syrup so she can sleep better. She drinks it without protest. We compliment her on her (uncharictaristic) compliance with our wishes. As Craig starts to go, she says, in all seriousness,
“That wasn’t very good.”
The next morning Lucy stayed home from church since she still wasn’t feeling good. Uncle Sean tried to tease her and get her to play, and she responded with a curt,
“Go to work!”
Which Sean quickly did.
I’m looking forward to lots more posts like this. : )
Elizabeth Foss uses this quote from Edith Stein in her book:
“The soul of a woman must therefore be expansive and open to all human beings; it must be quiet so that no small weak flame will be extinguished by stormy winds; warm so as not to benumb fragile buds; clear, so that no vermin will settle in dark corners and recesses; self contained, so that no invasions from without can impede the inner life; empty of itself, in order that extraeneous life may have room in it; finally, mistress of itself and also of its body, so that the entire person is readily at the disposal of every call.”
–Essays on Woman, 132-133 (In Real Learning, 210-211)
That should be an aide to personal growth goal setting…
This post made my day. Craig’s dad is growing strawberries, and we have been the beneficiaries of his bounty for the last month or so. We are exploring new and exciting ways to use them all, but Lucy still likes to eat them plain, preferably daily or twice daily. Craig’s dad has beautiful, neat, raised, mulched rows for his plants, but neglected strawberries for ground cover, now there’s an idea! The book list at the end of the post is great, too. I’m going to have to head to the library for a copy of Jamberry. That was one of my favorites growing up.
Lucy set up a tea party for us this morning. The cups are for Mommy, Daddy, Josh, Ashley, me (Lucy), and “Man” (Elijah?). Only Samantha and I were present to partake, however.
The day’s laundry is already done. This is a good day. : )
And yes, the fat little leg in the corner is Samantha.
Well, I thought I needed more poetry in my life, so I wrote some. (By some, I mean one short poem.) And subscribed to the Writer’s Almanac RSS feed. I’m not done being grumpy with NPR, but it’s hard for me to stay mad a Garrison Keillor for long. In other news, the girls and I have all had a simultaneous cold, but the suffering should be over soon. As should school – two more days and exams for me! Despite how ready I was for the end, it has snuck up very quickly. And without further adieu or any more sentences beginning with conjunctions (don’t tell my English teacher)…here is the poem, incomplete, perhaps, and titleless as yet, but my first in a very long time.
On my hip
is where you belong,
little one.
Between these hips you rode
quietly
for nine long
(short) months;
Through these hips you passed
Turning that long
(short) night
into morning;
On this hip,
now right,
now left,
you sit watching, learning,
reaching with your short
(long) arms
for what catches your eye.
In my arms,
on my hip,
is where you belong,
little one.
…is something I think I need more of in my life. Fortunately, Karen Edmisten puts a little something up every Friday. I thought this one was worth passing on. I’m going to have to look for more of Anne Porter’s work!
We are experimenting to see how long we can survive without air conditioning. I’m shooting for Memorial Day. (We will get a respite on Mother’s Day, since Craig’s parents are coming over and I’m not going to impose this penance on anyone else!) We didn’t use it last month, and our electric bill was less than 1/3 of what it had been. We’ve been spending lots of time outside (in the shade mostly!) and leaving the house open for the breeze. It’s not terrible, just a little uncomfortable, and I have a new appreciation for those little breaths of cool air!
One benefit of being outside so much is all the nature we get to see in our own back yard. We found a frog in the laundry closet! Here is a pic, and we have a video of it making its escape, as well, but it’s too big to post at the moment. These are the sort of things I am really, really looking forward to with homeschooling.
My book list on the side has been updated. I’m on a homeschooling binge at the moment, re-reading Elizabeth Foss’s wonderful book, as well as a couple of new ones Craig decided to order from Amazon rather than get from interlibrary loan.
Our seniors are done with school, and we will be, too, at the end of the month. I just have one quiz and exams left to make!! This is all very exciting, and coupled with the encouraging homeschooling reading, is giving me back some of the energy I’ve been lacking lately.
Here are a few more pictures of the girls doing what they do.
Samantha attempting to eat grass.
Lucy drawing. The Easter eggs she made at Grandma’s months ago have been recycled into Easter season decorations (on the wall behind her). Most of them have now been removed and the stickers rearranged again (and again).
Lucy’s block house.
Samantha is teething like a mad woman and enjoys the pieces of Lucy’s puzzle.
Cutting play-doh
Clearly, it’s been a busy week. : )