Sunday Evening

It is a rare Sunday evening at my house.

John is in bed, and strangely, Scott and Ada are at Six Flags for the afternoon and evening, so I am sitting on the couch enjoying the quiet, and the almost clean kitchen and living room.  Plus,  I am feeling quite rested because John and I took a THREE HOUR nap this afternoon!!  What a lovely Sunday afternoon it has been.

It is almost 7:30, and I would be worried about Scott and Ada, but he just called and let me know that Ada is loving Six Flags, and since this is a once in a blue moon opportunity we are letting her stay out a little later than normal.  Scott's office was having family day at Six Flags, which I don't fully understand how that works.  All I know is that Scott and Ada only had to pay 10.00 total to go to Six Flags for the day and food was included.  Scott loves Six Flags, so he was thrilled to have the chance to take Ada, even if it meant only child rides this time.  As you can imagine, Six Flags tickets are not typically factored into our budget ;)

I have lots that I want to blog about, but life just keeps getting in the way. 

I want to tell you about my birthday present from Scott--what a surprise it was!!  But I don't want to tell you about it without pictures and Scott has the camera, so that will come later.

I also want to let you know that John's neurologist appointment went well.  Again, they really think he is only having "breath-holding spells," not seizures (which is what they were checking for), but they are surprised by his young age, especially since these "spells" started at week one.  Again they predict that he may have a major tendency towards anger--yikes--but I will take it over seizures for sure!!  We do have an EEG scheduled for the 26th, just to be sure.  Again, his young age is throwing them just a bit.  We also have to have a bit of blood work done.  But, we are sure that all of this will reveal what we have known from the beginning, he just gets so angry that he holds his breath.  We are in for a wild toddler ride, perhaps.

We are enjoying/melting our way through these last few weeks of summer.  I know that school has started for everyone else, but not for us.  The heat outside tells me that summer is still in full swing.  In fact, we have a beach trip planned for September--exciting!!  A friend of Steven and Ann's offered them the use of their family beach house, and we are tagging along.  We are beyond thrilled because this will be our first family vacation.  We are headed to Orange Beach, so hopefully the oil won't be too big of a problem.  If so, there is a pool.  We are also hoping that the late date means no summer crowds.  Ada will be sharing a room with Ellie and Luke, and I think she is more excited about this fact than the beach itself.

When we return from the beach, I plan to start an at home preschool curriculum with Ada.  Preschool is another thing that is not factored into our budget at this point, and since I plan to homeschool anyway (and we are making that decision one year at a time), it makes sense to start by doing preschool at home.  I told Ada that we were going to school, and she asked where.  I said, "well, probably in our kitchen."  And she said, "can I bring my backpack?  It's where you keep your paper and your balls."  So, I think she will be packing her backpack each morning to make that long trek to the kitchen ;)

So...that is a long post but a shortened version of what is going on with us.  And in case you don't feel like reading, but you do want to see some pictures, I am stealing a few photos of myself as a baby from my mom's blog.  Do you think Ada and John look anything like me?  Everyone says that John is Scott's twin, but can you see any resemblance?  I am not sure--other than the chunkiness.  I guess he gets that from me.  I think Scott was a skinny baby.

What do you think?  Can you tell he's my son?

On my second birthday

My mom sent these to me yesterday, and I couldn't resist sharing them on my blog. It was 1984, and I was turning two. Ann was three. We celebrated with McDonalds and cake after church--just mom, dad, Ann, and me.

Summertime in the Rhodes' house

As I have mentioned before, I find it fascinating to look back on childhood memories and see them from a completely different perspective now that I am a mom. For so long, summer was my favorite season by far, well except for the part of winter that was taken over by Christmas and all the festivities that go with that season, but, for the most part, summer was the best. I mean, what child didn't think that? School was out, pools were open, and the icee truck was making his rounds through the neighborhood. I realize most people had an ice cream truck, but Scottsboro, in all of its originality, had an icee truck. And we went crazy over it. And I do mean crazy. As soon as we heard the jingle of the truck, my sisters and I would start to panic in fear that we would not get our money in time. We would practically tackle my mother, almost in tears, begging her to hurry. At least that is how I remember it. My sisters may not have been as panicked as me. My emotions have always been fairly strong:) Looking back now, I can only imagine how my mother felt about summer time.

I had two childhood homes. The first I lived in from birth to sixth grade. Then, the summer after sixth grade, having long ago outgrown the first home, we moved a few streets over to the house where my parents' still live. It's crazy how my life was so neatly divided between those two homes. All of my memories at the first house were very childlike. Playing with my sisters, the icee truck, riding bikes, barbies, etc. etc. Then I began Jr. High in the new home, and, well, the drama began. But that's a post for another day. Just know that when I speak of summer in the Rhodes' home, I speak of the first house.

Anyway, here I sit, 25 (almost 26), and now I am the mom, and it is summer, and I wonder what memories I will make for my own children. Now, summer to me means hot, sticky weather, and mostly being cooped up inside with Ada because the neighborhood pool has yet to open. And it no longer feels magical because it's not that different from, well, spring. And I think back to my own mother, and I wonder what those summers were like for her. Her four girls home from school, filling up the rooms in her house, and I am sure she and dad where on a budget. And I am sure they were wishing for some time away. And I am sure she wasn't that excited about the icee truck or the community pool, which was probably dirty. I only remember the water as blue and sparkling. In reality, I am sure it looked quite different. And, looking back, life didn't feel daily to me. And I didn't understand the reality of everything. And I just hope that despite the reality of life, those feelings don't trickle down to Ada's world too much. I hope she just feels all of the magical feelings of summer time. The ice cream and the bathing suits and the grilled hot dogs. And of course, catching lightning bugs at dusk. Because what defines childhood summers better than lightning bugs at dusk?

Late Father's Day Posts

Here I go again, two posts in one day, but I have been meaning to post this, and I am just now finding the time.

First a favorite poem in honor of Father's Day. If you are reading this and are not around other people, I suggest that you read the poem out loud. I love the sounds and the rhythm of this poem. You obviously can't appreciate it as well if you don't read it out loud. Just a little teacher suggestion.

"Those Winter Sundays"
Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

I have loved this poem since college, but I love it even more now that I am a parent. Only now do I even slightly understand all of the things that my parents did for me, while I "spoke indifferently to them." I guess each stage of parenting will allow me to gain a little more understanding, though I suppose I will never fully understand. And I echo this poem, "what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?" I am starting to get a glimpse of those lonely, austere offices.

I also love the picture of the father getting up in the blueblack cold (can't you just feel the cold in the hardness of those sounds?). My dad always started our cars before school on cold mornings. And made sure we had gasoline. And that our oil was changed. So much behind the scene stuff. So much that I just expected him to do. And he prayed with us on the way to school--the whole way, ha, ha. Sometimes, I would open my eyes because I wanted to be able to see a little bit of the scenery. But I am so thankful that he thought it important to pray with us before school. So, daddy, if you are reading this, thanks for all the little details.

And, mom, you know that I know you did a million things too--I will have to do a late mother's day post:)