Happy Belated Birthday Daddy!

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We love you with all of our hearts!

Hubby Gets Hammered

So Daddy is finishing up the sandbox and him and Bubba decide to beat an old board with a hammer. No one thought to look out for innocent little Moosie...little sweet Moosie who tossed a hammer in the air just to watch it fall. His happy dance was short lived.

To be fair, Moosie exclaimed "Eeeee Eeeeee!" [his version of Oopsie!"] after the claw hit Daddy in the head. Thankfully Daddy has a hard head, but he still got a nasty gash.

Days Before Spring

Large wispy flakes float softly outside like dandelion seeds scattered by the joyful dancing of a child. I shudder at the chill of fresh air, afraid that even my warm breath will invade the magic stillness; the snow falling so deliberately even the finch stops feeding to notice.

I glance worriedly at the hopeful buds on a nearby tree, but am quietly called back to the snow, each snowflake pausing to be captured in my memory before continuing on to inspiring nonexistence.

The sharp song of a pudgy robin reminds me of the day's burdens sitting heavily in my chest. With a pressured breath, I turn to go back in and am greeted by the stagnant warmth of hour-old breakfast smells and dirty diapers.

As if time agrees that it too should barrel on in spite of the drudgery, the snow begins falling faster in reckless, meaningless spurts, the finch flies away, and the magic is gone.

The Past

Don’t hurt me again.

Words unspoken
but whispered
through curled lashes
blinked from silent tears

Don’t hurt me again.

Words swallowed
in suffocation
of hovering darkness
lingering in thick breath

Don’t hurt me again.

Words hidden
behind truth
within promises of forgiveness
tangled in uncertain fear

Love me still.

Sandbox

Today we built a sandbox out of scrap lumber. Well, Hubby built a sandbox and I held things when he told me to hold things and provided insight and commentary when he didn't ask me to provide insight or commentary.

The boys are very excited about having a big sandbox in the backyard. Mommy and daddy are excited about having a place where they can safely dig, scoop, and pour.

Next on the list is a raised vegetable garden and compost container. I am getting back to my roots (pun intended) and bringing my family with me (Hubby kicking and screaming).

Cycle Break Once Again

So today starts another cycle break. I made a commitment to be more schedule oriented to help Bubba manage the vast 'unstructuredness' of cycle break. So far so good, except Moosie wants to be doing everything Bubba does, which is endearing, but gets really annoying sometimes. (Note to self: Copy all of Bubba's worksheets so that Moosie has one just like Bubba's during 'morning work.')

So far we've had breakfast, gotten dressed, taken out the trash, picked up toys, and completed a worksheet. We've also had a smashed finger, a choking episode, and 1 near explosion. Thankfully for all, TV time, play time, and chaos are built into the daily schedule and sandwich each undesired task.

So next on the list is going to the bank, meeting friends at the park, and then lunch, reading time, and the library. I haven't gotten any further than yet in the day's schedule, but I have a feeling I am going to be exhausted this evening. So anyhow, my time writing may be shortened over the next two weeks.

Liar

I normally don't have so much faith in cardboard boxes, but this one had contents that were promising. I had bought a marble contraption last fall--one of those construction type things where you drop the marbles down shoots and the marbles do all sorts of tricks and flips.

True to myself, I forgot about wrapping it at Christmas and actually forgot about it until last month when Hubby asked what was in the large bag way up on the shelf. Oops.

So I got it out today. It promised hours of fun. It seemed like a good chaser after the 30 minutes Bubba and Moosie spent flushing the toilet and analyzing how the flapper, floater, etc. worked. I don't find mechanical things so interesting, but apparently according to their squealing and dancing, I'm missing out.

So anyhow, back to the marble thingy. I thought it would be just the thing they would enjoy, but it was more like 20 minutes of me trying to build the marble thing interspersed with a few minutes here and there trying to keep Bubba and Moosie's excited hands from destroying my pitiful progress. Then it was about 10 minutes of Bubba and Moosie fighting over which marbles they claimed as their own, then Bubba throwing and Moosie rattling said marbles. Eventually we played for about 10 minutes dropping marbles and watching them do half-hearted twists and swirls until they jammed at the bottom. And then Bubba and Moosie decided it would be more fun to unjam the marbles and then unjam the entire contraption until it was a primary-colored plastic heap on the floor.

If you count the anticipated 10 minutes I'll have to listen to Hubby regarding his disdain for the marble contraption and marbles along with the pointlessness of me buying such a useless pile of clutter, then we almost got 1 hour of fun out of the durn thing. Guess this is the last time I believe a card board box. I bet if I called the company, they would say that the "hours of fun" was not meant to indicate consecutive hours of fun, but collective hours of fun accumulated over a lifetime of ownership. I should ask them if they have data to prove the validity of their assumption.

Yes, I should spend more time playing with marbles and less time with the special education crap I've been pondering lately. That has suddenly become very clear.

Immortality

Bubba brought home a paper today that forewarned me of an interesting future.

It stated:

When I'm 100 years old, I will not go to work.
I will not play sports.
I will be living with my parents.
I will have 200 dinosaur toys.