Catch-up

You would think with the kids all in school I would have more time to write, but somehow I’m finding I have less time. Life has been a blur. 

Waiting for the bus with her faithful friend (who sneaks off when the bus pulls up to rummage in neighborhood dumpsters — then I end up chasing him down in bare feet and pjs. Lovely.) 

I’m hoping that the busyness is due to everything starting up again for fall. It seems like I’ve had a lot of meetings and a bunch of emails and all my free time is spent recovering from exercising instead of doing something fun. 

On Thursday the base held a 5k run to commemorate 9/11 and Caleb wanted to participate. The boys were going to race with their cross country team (and had their driver to take them), but Caleb really wanted to run too so I got up at 5am to get him there. See him in the front row at the start? (green shirt, behind his friend in the gray) I guess racing etiquette doesn’t mean much to an eager 11 year old. He was thrilled, but I was wiped by 11am and ended up taking a 3 hour nap. That’s where that day disappeared. 

Another day I picked Camille up instead of having her ride the bus. As I was waiting around before they were dismissed, I saw her walking across the yard with her classmates. She seems much older since starting school. And much more talkative! Josh and I figure she probably only says 4 words all day so she’s ready to burst by the time she gets home. She barely stops talking between then and bedtime. 

Thursday = fun day, cooking day, and treasure box day (she always picks candy, shocker.)

I was picking her up because all 3 boys were going on the Teen Retreat with the base youth group. Caleb isn’t a teen, but it was for Middle and High School. The retreat was all weekend at a really nice hotel — Caleb and Carter came home talking about how they had a TV in their bathroom and they were taking baths and watching rugby. They all had a great time. It was strange to just be a threesome for the weekend. It was so quiet!

She’s doing great adjusting to her new schedule. We’ve only had a few 6pm, fall asleep in the car episodes. She’s going to bed much easier because she knows she has to get up early. Thank God I can finally reason with her. 

Big girl started basketball, just like her older brothers. She was very excited to pick out her outfit for her first practice. She can’t dribble well and she can’t shoot, but she has a huge grin the entire time, so that’s something. I’m sure she’ll have 3 eager coaches as soon as they watch her play her first game this weekend. 

Camille had today off of school so we walked to the grocery store together. Just like old times. 

We bought her headband the other day when we were shopping for a birthday present for a friend. She loves the multi-colored braid and kept telling her brothers, “I dyed my hair.” I’m sure that phase is coming. 

We walked to our local grocery store to see if they had any of the local lamb for sale so we could grill lamb chops for dinner. They had just gotten in several — we walked past the delivery van on the way in. A regular white van with stacked carcasses filling the cargo area. It didn’t look like any sort of refrigeration was going on, but no worries, as we would be eating it in only a few hours. We told the guy we wanted lamb chops and he cut them out of the whole body. Super sharp knife, cut away both shoulders, then separated the ribs from the body and cut them up for us. Camille was fascinated: “That’s a sheep?” 

I’ve got the lamb, she carries the bread.