As I look at my 8-year-old, 65-pound son sitting in our 11-inch plastic pool in the front yard, I just can't help but laugh out loud. I think I now know why my neighbors hate me.
Some of my neighbors have nice, in-ground, $30,000 pools with the works...lights, landscaping, volleyball nets...the whole sha-bang. But not me.
I have a turquoise blue, plastic pool that currently holds about 8 inches of water. I mean sure, it has some mildew stains and an old, orange towel that we got from Ken's grandmother's estate plugging the water in, but it's not THAT bad. I got it at a garage sale back in 2001 for $3.00. I'm pretty sure it was a dog pool before I lucked into it. No worries, though. After a complete bleach overhaul, it's decently clean and ready to go again for another season at the McCreary house.
I thought it was a great find until I see my neighbors drive by and shake their heads in disbelief. Yep, it's official. They hate me.
In my defense, however, I never really had neighbors until I got married, so I'm learning as I go. I actually give those lucky people that happen to live next to me quite a few things to hate me about.
Number one...I planted my garden way too close together this year, so instead of looking neat and orderly, it looks more like a tomato jungle. It's not pretty. Scary, really.
Number two...we open our windows in the spring and fall to save money. This way everyone up and down the street can hear me yell at the kids and whistle at them when dinner is ready. Oh, yes, and I also sing at the top of my lungs without even knowing it. Good stuff.
Number three...my dryer went out a few months back, so I was forced to dry my clothes on the back deck until we got a new dryer. OK, I even think that's white trash, so I'll give 'em that one.
I could go on and on, but I'll spare you all the messy details. Maybe we should just move and start over with a new set of unsuspecting strangers, but quite frankly this is much more entertaining :)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Soaking in the Silence
If you were sitting in my dining room with me right now you would undoubtedly be able to hear some noises I don't often get to hear: my coffee pot clicking, the humming of the air conditioner (thank God) and a couple of my neighbors zooming off to work. It's quiet in here. Really, really quiet.
Ken's mom called on Thursday and said she wanted the kids for the weekend. After giving myself 0.25 seconds to think it over, I gladly agreed to the unexpected visit.
The boys LOVE going to Gran Gran and Paw Paw's house. They get to do fun stuff that they can't do here...swim in the creek, feed the cows and horses, and just be boys. Ken's dad is even teaching Levi to drive the Ranger.
I never really liked going to my grandparents house when I was a kid. Of course, my grandmother tried to make us sit still and watch Donahue, The Price is Right, and The Young and Restless, in that exact order. I'm pretty sure it was the equivalent of kiddie prison.
It seems like my parents and Ken's alike stop their lives and try to have a good time with their grandkids. Ken had similar experiences visiting his grandparents when he was a kid, even though they lived more than 5 hours away. He tells the coolest stories of the things they did, the places they went, and the themed birthday cakes his grandmother would make to celebrate his or one of his siblings birthdays. His grandfather would even tie wagons together and pull the kids around the yard with the riding lawn mower. They called it the "Paw Paw express." My grandfather, on the other hand, would sit in his easy chair and yell out, "LISTEN" every time sports or the news would come on. I mean I know I'm loud but what kid wants to "listen" to the news? I just never got that.
So, needless to say, we have had a quiet weekend. We had a couple of dinners out and even went to a movie last night. I like the silence and the break, but I also can't wait to see them this afternoon. I really can't imagine my life without them.
Vacation Bible School was last week at church. The kids had so much fun and invited some of their friends to join them throughout the week. When I asked Benjamin what he had learned he says, "God." I asked him what else and he said, "Jesus." I said what about Jesus and he said, "Jesus died on the cross." OMG, I mean shut-up because I just about lost it. That's a pretty big deal for him. I know I say this all the time, but I am really proud of him.
My job was teaching Bible to preschoolers. I thought that would be a low-key, easy job as preschoolers don't seem to have many expectations. I liked it, but if anyone has any ideas on how to teach Pentecost to preschoolers, I'm all ears.
I had quite a few girls in the different classes, and I always think it's funny observing how different boys and girls act even when they're little. One of the all-girl classes decided to draw numbers to see who was going to be the line leader. That ended up with 2 of the girls crying and one of the girls absolutely refusing to be at the end. Boys would have just shoved each other out of the way and been done with it.
Compared to the rest of the summer, we have a relatively slow week planned. We only have 4 weeks until school starts, so we'll try to enjoy what we have left.
Ken's mom called on Thursday and said she wanted the kids for the weekend. After giving myself 0.25 seconds to think it over, I gladly agreed to the unexpected visit.
The boys LOVE going to Gran Gran and Paw Paw's house. They get to do fun stuff that they can't do here...swim in the creek, feed the cows and horses, and just be boys. Ken's dad is even teaching Levi to drive the Ranger.
I never really liked going to my grandparents house when I was a kid. Of course, my grandmother tried to make us sit still and watch Donahue, The Price is Right, and The Young and Restless, in that exact order. I'm pretty sure it was the equivalent of kiddie prison.
It seems like my parents and Ken's alike stop their lives and try to have a good time with their grandkids. Ken had similar experiences visiting his grandparents when he was a kid, even though they lived more than 5 hours away. He tells the coolest stories of the things they did, the places they went, and the themed birthday cakes his grandmother would make to celebrate his or one of his siblings birthdays. His grandfather would even tie wagons together and pull the kids around the yard with the riding lawn mower. They called it the "Paw Paw express." My grandfather, on the other hand, would sit in his easy chair and yell out, "LISTEN" every time sports or the news would come on. I mean I know I'm loud but what kid wants to "listen" to the news? I just never got that.
So, needless to say, we have had a quiet weekend. We had a couple of dinners out and even went to a movie last night. I like the silence and the break, but I also can't wait to see them this afternoon. I really can't imagine my life without them.
Vacation Bible School was last week at church. The kids had so much fun and invited some of their friends to join them throughout the week. When I asked Benjamin what he had learned he says, "God." I asked him what else and he said, "Jesus." I said what about Jesus and he said, "Jesus died on the cross." OMG, I mean shut-up because I just about lost it. That's a pretty big deal for him. I know I say this all the time, but I am really proud of him.
My job was teaching Bible to preschoolers. I thought that would be a low-key, easy job as preschoolers don't seem to have many expectations. I liked it, but if anyone has any ideas on how to teach Pentecost to preschoolers, I'm all ears.
I had quite a few girls in the different classes, and I always think it's funny observing how different boys and girls act even when they're little. One of the all-girl classes decided to draw numbers to see who was going to be the line leader. That ended up with 2 of the girls crying and one of the girls absolutely refusing to be at the end. Boys would have just shoved each other out of the way and been done with it.
Compared to the rest of the summer, we have a relatively slow week planned. We only have 4 weeks until school starts, so we'll try to enjoy what we have left.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Back in the summer of '83
Ever since Levi started school, it seems like he now has to plan out his days to the minute. "It's 11:00, time for my snack." And somehow, along the way, I have to become an entertainment seeker and scheduler, writing down dates on the magnetic calender on the fridge.
It's funny because I'm pretty sure my mom didn't do that for me and my sisters and brother when we were growing up. Our summers consisted of watching our 3 (sometimes 4 depending on the weather) channels on T.V., riding our bikes up and down the gravel/dirt roads, and going to the lake twice during the entire summer. I lived in the country, so no one ever came over. We even had a party line phone that we shared with 2 other neighbors, so I couldn't even really talk to anyone with one of the old, tell-you-what-I-think neighbors picking up the phone and telling me to hang up because she had "an important call to make."
OK, so I admittedly didn't walk to school in the snow, uphill both ways, but it was a lot different for me when I was Levi's age back in the summer of 1983. And now thanks to that thought, I'll have to fight the urge to continuously sing "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams for the rest of the day. I'm really not complaining, but it was a lot different for me when I was little.
On to real life...Benjamin got his yearly eval last week in speech. He scored in the 3-year-old range on both his expressive language (what he can say) and his receptive language (what he understands). But on his articulation (how much we understand of what he says) he scored much lower. That really didn't surprise us or his speech therapist. She still isn't ruling out speech apraxia for him, but the speech therapy for that is apparently the same as what we've been doing. He has made so much progress this past year, and I'm so proud at how far he has come.
This has been a great summer for him and probably the easiest so far for me. This is the first complete summer he's been potty trained (does anyone else hear the angels singing in the background?) He'll let us go new places and do different things without the fit throwing and constant screaming. He's doing so much better with his transitions. I can even take him to Wal-Mart now for an hour or so or take the boys out to a restaurant by myself and he does great. And I'm quite sure I was the only parent that almost cried when she saw her child walk away with an instructor either of us had ever laid eyes on before for swimming lessons last month. That might seem like a little thing to most people, but it's huge for us.
Rock on, Mr. Benjamin.
It's funny because I'm pretty sure my mom didn't do that for me and my sisters and brother when we were growing up. Our summers consisted of watching our 3 (sometimes 4 depending on the weather) channels on T.V., riding our bikes up and down the gravel/dirt roads, and going to the lake twice during the entire summer. I lived in the country, so no one ever came over. We even had a party line phone that we shared with 2 other neighbors, so I couldn't even really talk to anyone with one of the old, tell-you-what-I-think neighbors picking up the phone and telling me to hang up because she had "an important call to make."
OK, so I admittedly didn't walk to school in the snow, uphill both ways, but it was a lot different for me when I was Levi's age back in the summer of 1983. And now thanks to that thought, I'll have to fight the urge to continuously sing "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams for the rest of the day. I'm really not complaining, but it was a lot different for me when I was little.
On to real life...Benjamin got his yearly eval last week in speech. He scored in the 3-year-old range on both his expressive language (what he can say) and his receptive language (what he understands). But on his articulation (how much we understand of what he says) he scored much lower. That really didn't surprise us or his speech therapist. She still isn't ruling out speech apraxia for him, but the speech therapy for that is apparently the same as what we've been doing. He has made so much progress this past year, and I'm so proud at how far he has come.
This has been a great summer for him and probably the easiest so far for me. This is the first complete summer he's been potty trained (does anyone else hear the angels singing in the background?) He'll let us go new places and do different things without the fit throwing and constant screaming. He's doing so much better with his transitions. I can even take him to Wal-Mart now for an hour or so or take the boys out to a restaurant by myself and he does great. And I'm quite sure I was the only parent that almost cried when she saw her child walk away with an instructor either of us had ever laid eyes on before for swimming lessons last month. That might seem like a little thing to most people, but it's huge for us.
Rock on, Mr. Benjamin.
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