I always get in a pensive mood when my baby is gone. David took Joel on a father son camping trip. Amazing to think we’ve been married long enough to have a little son old enough to be thrilled to go camping with his daddy! Pandora is playing my Michael Buble station and my golden dining room is dimly lit and a chocolate pup to keep me company and remind me that it’s past my bedtime! Speaking of bedtimes, when will my kids get the memo that summer sunlight doesn’t mean they get to stay up the entire evening? I remember lying awake as a kid on many hot summer nights thinking I’d never fall asleep and sheep never helped! I need to find a deeper reserve of energy to continue parenting these extra hours of the day. I question my mothering skills and stamina so much these days. I guess it’s good because it forces me to look to God and I always need Him whether I’m thinking about it or not. Joel believes I’m a good mother. He told a friend that I’m a very nice mommy because I gave him a really good hooker. Yes, a very good hooker indeed! :) My little feller has a deep-seated love of connecting things like water bottles to other things like puppies or railings or trees or chairs. My pink metal hooker was just the thing to do the job!
July has brought good things. Is it really possible that my baby sister Kirstie has turned the bold age of 18 today?! She has become such a dear friend and a beautiful talented young woman. July also gave me my favorite twin sister friends, Jen and Amy. My own daddy was born the day before we celebrate America’s freedom, and lovelies Eden and Emily also were born in this happy summer month. I’m glad that our move to Frederick has not dominated the entire summer. We’ve been in our new home just over a week and are already enjoying a more settled-in feel. We were surprised to find that our pictures “just happen” to perfectly match some of the wall colors we selected for our home. Hmm. wonder how that happened! Our neighborhood is fun to run with Grisham and our park is such a nice extension of our backyard to give the kids some exercise and a diversion. Our neighbors are all so nice and neighborly. My backroads drive to the lake is so much shorter than before. And Frederick library ranks in my kids’ eyes because of its parking garage elevator! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to walk through that library without shivering in recollection of Joel’s 3-year-old action of pulling the smoke alarm system and the additional librarian who made it her duty to assure I felt sufficiently humbled by the offense! Anyway, Aria finds the nearby river-walk fish fascinating almost as much as Hailey enjoys sampling the cigarette butts on the sidewalk. :(