Gone Fishin'

Saturday, in the fog, ^J^ took the kids fishing. They got all suited up in appropriate attire and headed to the lake behind our house. I was overly excited about the cool morning temps and decided to surprise them with hot chocolate when they returned. About 20 minutes later, while I was in the kitchen figuring out how to make hot chocolate with no cocoa (FYI: chocolate chips work in a pinch), I heard them coming up the street preceded by (H)'s cries. I met them on the front porch wondering why they were coming home so soon and found an unhappy, wet, shirtless baby boy. He had fallen in head first. He was totally fine, had held his breath and everything, and ^J^ pulled him out by the seat of his pants. He wasn't crying because he had fallen in, he was crying because he had to stop catching "bish". Poor guy. His Gramps and Grandpa John know how he feels...they don't want to stop "bish"ing either.

The hot chocolate made it all better though. He chugged his while *A* savored every drop, just like her Mommy.

Foggy Mountain Breakdown

It's here, the infamous Sewanee fog. The combination of cooler temps, a slight drizzle, and living 1900 feet above sea level have created our 1st expereince of this local phenomenon. It's really nice, especially on a lazy Saturday when we don't have to be anywhere. I think today's fog is pretty mild compared to what it can be, we've heard it can get so bad that you are advised not to drive.

O.k., twist my arm, we'll stay home. On todays agenda: bake zucchini bread, laundry, watch old movies (^J^ rented The 3 Amigos from the library last night!), start knitting a sock, and if it clears up, a cookout.
Happy Weekend!

Reconnecting...

with myself.

School has started, PMO (the kids' 2 day a week "school")is in full swing, activities, events, etc. are taking over. I've said "no" to some invitations, upsetting people I don't even know. I am struggling to stay involved enough to build relationships for myself and my children, while still feeling like we have enough family togetherness time and "down" time. Oh, and trying to make sure ^J^ has enough study time and home/family time is an additional struggle.

Today a 2nd year seminarian asked if I was getting homesick for civilization and culture. No, I'm homesick for home. This home. Our beautiful mountain-stone home with hardwoods that need sweeping and boxes that need unpacking. Fridays are good though, we have no obligations. ^J^ only has 1 class and we can prepare for a weekend as a family. Of course there are many community events to choose from this weekend, at the top of our list are: Date Night (with free childcare, whoohoo!) tomorrow, A Community Cookout Saturday, and a Prayer Shawl Knitting Group on Sunday afternoon which I am looking forward to attending. I need a knitting shop though, Walmart just doesn't cut it for my yarn obsession. If only there was a Knitch nearby. Actually, that would not be good, my entire puny paycheck would go to high quality yarn.

O.k., back to reconnecting with myself. I've sort of come away from this week realizing it's hard to remember who you are when you are juggling 6 babies' needs in PMO, your own babies' needs, your house's needs, pet's needs, etc, etc. So I'm off to watch the Daily Show, to take care of my need to laugh at irreverent humor and stupid political follies.

Busy Bees

I've not had a chance to write lately because now that classes have started, so have all other activities and social engagements. While ^J^ has been in school, we've had something everyday and every evening this week with Matriculation/Dean's Dinner on Thursday being the highlight.
The laundry is overflowing and I'm starting to realize we're going to have to pick and choose what we want to participate in.

Here's what a typical week will look like:

Monday: Walk, grocery shopping/errands, lunch, naps, daddy home for dinner, a rare free evening (unless I sign up for this Art and Spirituality class).

Tuesday: Parent's Morning Out, lunch with Daddy in the refectory, naps, choir practice, dinner, spouse night. Tuesday nights are "reserved" for spouse events, the seminary doesn't plan any other events these nights. There will either be an outing, or a meeting, or spiritual direction every week.

Wednesday: Walk, Women's Bible Study, lunch, naps, Choir rehearsal, Community Noon Eucharist, Community Lunch, naps, daddy home, dinner, maybe another free night (there is a family Bible Study every other Weds., but this might be one of those things we need to say "no" to).

Thursday: Parent's Morning Out, lunch with daddy in the refectory, naps, *A*'s dance class, Family Evening Eucharist, Community Dinner.

Friday: Walk. Other than this, Friday seems to be our Catch up/Family day. ^J^ only has one hour and fifteen minute class and we have no other obligations during the day.

Of course, that was the case this Friday, but I ended up taking the kids to the park and playing and chatting for 2.5 hours instead of doing laundry. The first Friday of the month the Spouses of the Seminary group sponsors a Date Night and provides free childcare, so we're looking forward to that!
Last night we wanted to go to a local Contra Dance but we couldn't find a baby-sitter because the seminary was sponsoring a lock-in for the older seminary kids. So we had movie night instead which is a recent family Friday night tradition. We try and get a movie we will all enjoy (free from the school's extensive DVD collection of course), last night it was The Water Horse. It was good, very E.T.esque. Then after the kids went to bed, we watched a "Mommy/Daddy movie" as Ava says. We saw The Squid and the Whale. Great movie.
Today we have a picnic for the whole seminary community so I need to go wake everyone up from naps. Tomorrow we're going to try church at All Saint's Chapel, the big beautiful chapel on campus.


It's not a long weekend for us, but if it is for you, enjoy it!

Rainy Monday

Some afternoon tea, a good book and knitting project...a perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon while the kiddos nap. We're getting the effects of Fay here today and tomorrow and it's nice to see rain again. We've had no rain for about 3 weeks so we really needed it.
Today ^J^'s orientation continues with a CREDO workshop for seminarians. CREDO is typically something the church pension fund sponsors for priests, a holistic wellness program, but they are doing a pilot program for seminarians and Sewanee is one of the 4 seminaries they chose to participate. Spouses are encouraged to attend and they are providing childcare. Today's session is all day, until 8:30 p.m., so I opted to attend the morning session and then get the kids for naps and be home the rest of the evening.
We're going to go meet Daddy for dinner at the hogwarts-ish dining hall for dinner. I'll go to the final part of the workshop tomorrow morning too. After tomorrow, he registers and classes begin Wednesday! Our school-year schedule is busy but good. We have lots of events to keep us busy and we'll probably get to see ^J^ more once he's in a regular class schedule. O.k., I'm off to enjoy the rain and a few free moments.

Invasion of the Undergrads

So they've slowly been trickling in; a big group on the lawn here, a bunch of matching t-shirts there, more cars, more noise. Ah, Orientation, such fond memories. I loved freshman Orientation as an undergrad, so much so that I decided it would be a good idea to do it 3 more times as an Orientation Assistant. The silly games, the sharing, the free food and t-shirts, the hypnotist. It was all so fun and carefree.

It's a little different looking at this event now, as I walk by pushing my double stroller trying to keep my 1.5 year old from biting his sister who's shoving her arm in his face pointing and shouting "Here come the green shirts Mommy!". I walk by these students envious of their freedom and their chance to get to go to school here, but mostly I'm sizing them up for who might be a responsible babysitter...maybe I should become an Orientation Assistant here just so I can grill them on their childcare skills. I've still got some of the t-shirts, I'll fit right in!

Sundays are nice...

Today feels like a Sunday, it is a Sunday, but it really feels like one.

It's been kind of a lazy day: cleaning, cooking, crafting and walking. The air is warm but not humid...fall is coming. I can feel it.


Nana (my mom) was here to visit and she and I went shopping Saturday. It was nice to go exploring in the local shops and we were surprised to find a really cute clothes store. They had all these trendy name brand things and luckily there was a sale so we found some really good deals on nice, but super-soft, comfy clothes(thanks mom!).

We saw 4 deer in our compost today, they weren't bothered by *A*'s loud feet or (H)'s tapping on the window, they just wanted our leftovers.

The kids have missed ^J^ this week, so it's been nice to have him here this weekend. (H) has missed him most, they're buddies. Actually (H) is everyone's buddy unless you work in the nursery at church, he hates them. Apparently after we dropped him off (after much dabating and trying him in the service) he stood at the door with his back to the rest of the group with his arms crossed across his chest waiting for us to return.

We're starting to become part of this community. We see people we know everywhere! Tonight on the way home from dinner with friends (who we ran into at the playground) we saw 5-6 cars of people, or people walking, that we knew. Plus, while we were at the local campus eatery, we saw 4 sets of people we knew AND our bishop...in a t-shirt and jeans on vacation here for a few weeks. So we're starting to get an idea for how small this place is. We've only been here a month and we're already feeling like locals: people wave as they pass on the street or look out for our children on the playground. It's nice, real nice. It's also really cool that we live in a place where people come to vacation or visit. We met a couple in their late 60's Saturday at the farmer's market who come up here to their cabin about 10 days a month. He went to seminary here and then got his doctorate and now they own a cabin up here. That's just how this place is. Come see us and you'll feel it too.