James' Four-Day Weekend Part Four

Saturday was a busy day. James went to church visitation from 9:30am-12pm. After we had lunch, we left for Lexie Jackson's fifth birthday party at their house in Milton. It was an ice cream party and we enjoyed ourselves hugely.

Joy Alexandar swung Lily in the Jackson's backyard.

Lexie opening her presents

Anna being cute while Lexie was opening presents

This wand was in one of Lexie's birthday cards.

At 5:00pm we went to Ryan's for supper with the church. It was part of the 43rd anniversary of Trinity Baptist Church and the meal ended up being free for us. There were 60 people there and we got to sit with Dad and Mom Bryan at a small table.

After the supper, we went to church for a 6:30pm service with our guest preacher, Dr. Don Jasmin. The girls were super, super tired after all of that!

James' Four-Day Weekend Part Three

The other day when Adam Mitchell came over to play Catan, he offered the use of his jet-ski to us. We took him up on it and met up with Adam beside downtown Milton on Friday. It was too crowded at that park so we went to the Navy Boat docks. 

I have never seen so many people at the Navy boat docks before. There must have been at least 150 people there. It was a Navy training day with four different teachers doing concurrent sessions. The servicemen would go to the next class when the whistle blew. The classes were held in the four pavilions beside the riverfront. I took the girls wading in the beach area with the classes going on behind me. I'm sure we were a distraction to the attendees (the classes sounded boring anyway). 

The jet-skiiing was a blast! Adam took James out while I watched the girls at first.

Anna all dressed for swimming!

 After awhile Adam let James take the jet-ski out by himself. James did a few passes and looked very cool.

There goes James!

A little closer-cropped picture

 Anna got super fussy and when I put her and Lily in the baby swings, Anna fell asleep after seconds of swinging. She fell asleep in my arms and stayed asleep on a towel. That was super awesome because I got to focus on Lily while Anna slept.

Adam sitting the beach chair.

 Lily started playing beside Adam at the edge of the water, so I flagged James down on his way by and got to ride behind him. That was crazy fast! There is a strap for the passenger to hold onto and I made good use of it. Adam's jet-ski goes 70 mph and we opened it up all the way on the straight stretches. My eyes were watering behind my glasses. I was sure my glasses were going to fall off and be lost, but Lily had warped the frame last week so they were tight around my ears. :-) I was smiling in glee, and while we were going 70, I was sure my cheeks would puff out with air like a balloon. It was fast!

Adam watched Lily for me in the water.

 I was ready to leave with the girls at 1pm so they could get their naps because the next day was going to be even busier and they needed the rest! We had brought separate cars so James could stay longer. He was out with Adam when I walked to the car with the girls and realized Anna's car seat was locked in James' car. I walked back to the beach area praying I could catch James instead of waiting for an hour for him to come back by! James and Adam were just leaving shore and I had to whistle four times to get their attention. I'm sure that was even more distracting for the class attendees around us! I caught James thankfully and we were able to get the car seat.

The beach ball looks like a Lily-sized
exercise ball. She is sitting on it like
she has seen me do with the exercise ball.

James and the girls were waiting for their supper to be ready.

James' Four Day Weekend Part Two

Thursday we slept in a little then I prepared to go on errands. I bought milk at the gas station while James watched the girls. I went on to Aunt Pam's for eggs while I was out, then came home.

I started planning an insane amount of errands - I believe it was 12 stops. I left Lily with James and took Anna with me. Three of the stops were to get my concealed carry permit which is an involved process.

Home, then herbal oil to Mrs. Lewis, Police station to check
the car seats installation, farmer's market, CVS for pictures,
City Hall for fingerprint packet, computer store for my poor
backup drive, Helping Hands Mission for drop-off, WalMart
for groceries and gifts, clothing store in Pensacola, Chickfila
for lunch, then finally the Sheriff's department to get my
fingerprints taken.

We went to the Farmer's Market to get
some delicious fruits and veggies.

There was a wreck on Hwy 90 that was
fortunately in the other lanes. There was
an overturned car!

Anna enjoyed the clothing store dressing
room mirrors very much. Or maybe she
enjoyed seeing the cute baby's reflection!

I was super tired when I finished all of that! We had a quiet evening at home because the next day was going to be busy (or at least busier)!

James' Four-Day Weekend Part One

When James has four days off it is usually busy, but this weekend was a record-breaker!

Wednesday was quiet if I recall correctly.

I fed Anna in my bed and she fell asleep.

She started sucking in her lower lip.
It looks funny!

"I'm not up to something - of course not!"

Daddy was tired when he came home from work.

Wednesday night we went to church then came home and crashed.

Violin Lessons and Catan

This was supposed to be a toes picture.
Anna and Lily have identical toes - long pinky toes
that are just like their Daddy's.
I had both girls on my lap and snapped a picture.

 Yesterday was the start of violin teaching in Florida! My two students arrived at 2pm and had their lessons for a half hour each. Actually I went over time with both of them, so poor Mrs. Alexander had to stay until 3:30pm. There is a lot to cover when you are learning how to pick up a violin for the first time and learning what strings are which and everything! I had to do some cramming to review what to teach a rank beginner yesterday morning. There is a lot I had forgotten in my three-year teaching hiatus.  The nervousness I felt yesterday before we started reminded me of when someone asked to take lessons from me in NC - I had only been taking violin for two years at the time and I had no idea how to teach an instrument. I am glad for a detailed Suzuki method book that pretty much walks you through it! As I teach, all the instructions Katie Lawton poured into me come back to mind. It is like taking her lessons again to remember it all. It makes me enthused about my own violin playing too.

I have so many ideas of what we could do with our new students - playing at the nursing home, touring the violin shop, going to a PCC Master's concert for violin, going to a concert, playing in the strings ensemble at church, finding a local violin teacher and doing a group class with her students so my girls can see other players, and doing a group lesson with the two girls, James and I with quartet music (I have a resident cello player in James). I'm sure more ideas will come to mind - I am excited about starting lessons again.

It will be great to have Lily grow up with music and music instruction in our home. She will see the value in good music, possibly be inspired to learn an instrument, see good examples of hard work in practice, have older girls as an example to look up to, get to be around Mrs. Alexander and Mrs. Harvey, and she can't be the center of attention during lesson time.

One student's bow hold was so perfect,
I had to take a picture.

 Emily called and set up supper and a game of Catan here with them and Adam Mitchell. Supper was good and the game was great. It was the craziest game of Catan I have ever played! You could technically say there were four winners of that one game. Steve reached the victory point goal first, but we raised the goal to 15 and kept playing. Then James would have won if he had noticed that he had all the points before Steve took a point away from him. So James was the second winner. Then I had a massive handful of knight Development Cards that would have gotten me the largest army card from James and made me win, but I wasn't allowed to play them due to a "house rule." I count that I was the third winner. Then eventually James won for real with 15 victory points. It was a three hour game!

Explaining the game to Adam.
Lily enjoyed setting out my white pieces.

The babies were well-behaved.

We played Fisherman of Catan with fish token.

Cleaning up afterwards with an
impressively built-up game board!

Gardening, Mother's Day, and Bedtime

This is a memory game - can I remember what we have done this past week? 

I have tried to add gardening/watering/mowing/outside playtime to my morning routine. Lily is napping better because she gets some exercise and sunlight, and the garden is prospering. Our backyard is looking better with attention too.

I cut the hard crusts off of my fresh bread for Lily,
but she grabbed them and started eating the crusts.

Lily said, "I got it." and helped me push the wagon
with the blueberry bushes in it for planting.

My garden a week ago - the plants are slightly bigger now.
Many thanks to Aunt Pam for the fertilizer!

Playing with Daddy after their
Saturday night baths

 Sunday was Mother's Day. James had to work that morning so I got the girls ready and went to church. Danielle had asked me to pick up a cake from Publix for Nathan and Justin's birthdays. I have discovered my new favorite cart! I can put both girls and the groceries in it!

Best cart ever!

 The girls and I went to the Smothers' for Mother's Day lunch with Grandma Damewood and the Bryan clan.

Anna enjoyed their back patio chair.

Lily enjoyed their pieces of  tubing and the tire swing
- and the chickens!

Lily found it more convenient and fun
to use the doggy door.

After James came home, he presented me with cards the girls had drawn. Anna had to have some help to draw on hers. :-) He also gave me something that I've been wanting and had requested. Purple Rags from the FlyLady shop. Monday I got the chance to try them out on the side door, the side door glass, and the kitchen windows.  I have since enjoyed using them in our shower, on my glasses, the guest bathroom, on James' car windows, and on the patio door windows. They are awesome! I can get streak-free clean glass with just a damp cloth. I love the view of our backyard through clean glass. The glass really, really needed to be cleaned.

Random self-portrait with the girls.

 Below is a video of James playing with the girls at bedtime. A word about bedtime: my older sister Elizabeth gave me a book she had used called "On Becoming Babywise." She used it to put her newborns on a schedule during the day. Putting my babies on a schedule of feedings during the day helped them start sleeping through the night earlier. They were full enough because of frequent eating (every three hours) during the day to not need to eat at night. It also talks about sleep training - letting them go to sleep on their own in their cribs if they are comfortable and full  - even if they have to cry for awhile.

I did the "Parent-Directed Feeding - PDF" well with Lily and she just stays in her toddler bed until she sleeps. I haven't done as well with Anna. We had a rough start because she got formula in the NICU and I didn't produce enough milk at first. After that it was my fault because I was so busy with a toddler. But anyway, she eats on a loose schedule during the day and sleeps all night since she was about six weeks old. But she doesn't calm herself to sleep as well as Lily did.

Walls, Blueberries, and Catan

Wednesday was spent cleaning the house for company. Pastor and Mrs. Ogle from EBC in Kings Mountain were here for James Parker and Stephanie Starin's college graduation so we invited the Ogles over for supper. It was fun to talk about Emmanuel and catch up with each other. I sort of undercooked supper so the new recipe didn't taste all that great in my opinion. It was edible though. My brownies got burned too. :-) Oh well. I choose not to worry about mistakes since they can't be helped.

We arrived at church and I fed Anna (who was kind enough to nap the entire time I was cooking and eating supper). When it was time for the preaching during the church service, Pastor Woody said that he had asked Pastor Ogle to preach! I was surprised and excited - and Pastor Ogle was surprised too - he had three minutes notice that he was going to preach. Always be prepared!

He preached on building a wall with standards to keep from sin from Exodus where God told the children of Israel not to touch the mount or they would die. Any animal or person of any age would die if they touched the mount. I have always thought that this command was extremely tough when I read it in the Bible. Someone Lily's age could accidentally touch the mount and they would die. But it was pointed out that God told them to build a bound to protect people from touching the mount. Pastor Ogle asked five volunteers (including my brave James) to tell him where they would build the wall. The answers varied from 1 mile away, to 5 miles away from the mount. Then he asked them how tall they would build it. Then he asked them how wide, then asked what material they would use. The men were funny in their answers trying to be different from the others with random amounts or materials. Pastor Ogle clearly demonstrated why we have standards - to build a wall or boundary a distance from actual sin to protect our families from disobeying God and reaping the consequences. It also showed why each family's standards can be so different - they built their wall in a different place. Pastor Ogle pointed out that standards aren't Biblical commandments - standards are protections to keep us from sin. He pointed out that "breaking" a standard by climbing over a wall isn't "touching the mount" but it is disobeying your authority. You create distrust in your teens when you teach that breaking an arbitrary standard that is not taught in Scripture is a sin against God. Let me hasten to say that disobeying your Dad's commands for your family is a sin against God's authority, but be clear with your children about the difference between standards and sin. I learned a lot and was excited to hear Pastor Ogle at my church.

The above could be confusing. Let me clarify with one example: how long should your skirt be ladies? I will start by saying that I believe women should dress differently from men. That is taught in the Bible. So with that settled from Scripture, how long should my skirts be? The length of my skirt is an arbitrary bound that can be set within families following Biblical guidelines. My church's by-laws says that the skirt should cover the knee when sitting. Okay. But if my husband likes longer than that for us, that is his bound for me and my girls but it is not a Biblical sin to wear less than ankle-length skirts.

All dressed up for Wednesday church

Thursday was a quiet day - my first really quiet day in three weeks. :-)

Lunch with Lily Thursday

Chatting with Daddy when he got
home from work Thursday

 Thursday evening I left the girls with James while I bought blueberry bushes.

Playtime with Daddy

 I brought home supper and we had a picnic in the living room.

Anna loved the crinkly bag

James wanted to go to the Smothers, so at 8pm we headed to their house. We played Catan with Nate, Grandma Damewood, Aunt Pam, James and I. Ethan and Lily played together and enjoyed themselves too. The game went pretty late - we got home at 11pm. Since it was so late we stopped before anyone reached 12 Victory Points, but I had 10, so we said that I won. Aunt Pam and I kept swapping the longest road card - it changed hands at least four times!