Tuesday, July 31

Conversations with Rachel

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"grrrrr," Rachel growls from the back seat as we're heading out for a play date with the twins.

I look back at her and she says, "I'm frustrated, grrrr."

'"What's wrong hun? Why are you frustrated?"

"You're driving me crazy!" she says.

"Me? What am I doing to drive you crazy?"

"You're freakin' me out!"

"Really?" stifling my laughter.

"Yes. You're a nut!"

I can't stand it anymore & I burst out laughing as Rachel responds again with "grrrr"

(Can you guess where she heard all those phrases??)

**

Sunday, July 29

The Price of Petty

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Sorry for this less than fun post. I've got to get this off my chest and I need a little advice.

**

What do you say to those who spread gossip. Not simple, innocuous gossip - but calculated, misleading information meant to create an angst filled drama complete with petty retributions.

What do you say to those who hear the gossip and so readily believe it, without fact checking or the benefit of doubt. And how do you react to the resulting retaliation?

**

I've wracked my brain for a constructive way to address both parties. But, short of throttling them or cutting them out of our lives entirely (very sad for my kids), each idea has come up lacking. Any suggestions ??

**
**

Sorry for this, less than fun post - but I've got to get this off my chest!

**

*sigh*

What do you say to those who spread gossip? Not simple, innocuous gossip - but calculated, misleading information meant to create an angst-filled drama complete with petty retributions.

What do you say to those who hear the gossip and so readily believe it, without fact-checking or the benefit of the doubt. And how do you react to the resulting retaliation?

*sigh*

The answer is easy - unless it's with your family of origin. Oh - then it's all so much stickier and part of a much, much larger picture that encompasses too many people, too much history, too many issues.

*sigh*

At the heart of this, for me, are my kids and my husband. It hurts and things that bring me pain, by extension, bring pain to my immediate family. It's an ugly, pettiness that I won't welcome into our lives. And, because I won't continue to expose myself or my family to subtle and not-so-subtle abuse and manipulation, my girls will miss out on key, lifelong relationships. It breaks my heart that this petty, baseless retribution comes at such an incredibly high price.

*sigh*

**

Thursday, July 26

These Things Happen

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When Mom forgets to put away her stampin' supplies before getting in the shower, things like this happen;
(Yeah. That's black INK!)

This was how I found her.
I could almost hear her thinking,
"Opps! Now I'm REALLY in twouble."

And this was her expression
once she realized she wasn't "Busted!"


**

Sunday, July 22

The 7th and Final Installment

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(A thoughtful gift from thoughtful Dave)

I just opened the book last night and I'm already enthralled. Not to worry - you won't see any spoilers on this site. Just let me know if you'd like to borrow the book when I'm done.

**

Saturday, July 21

The Hart Vacation of 2007

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Eight adults, 7 kids and a little black dog named Sammy at beautiful Lake Hartwell in North Georgia. AAHH. Away from day-to-day business, emails, bills, and phone calls. Fabulous.

A few photos....,




















**

Keep reading for a few short vacation stories and funny little snippets.

**

Friday, July 20

Day 6: The Queen Bee & Creative Parenting

**

Alex, exhausted from 6 days without enough sleep and memories of the yellow jacket attack, freaked out at ANY flying bug or speck of dust that flew within two feet of her. She was panicked and seemingly terrified beyond all logic. This child, not even afraid of injections, horrified by any little thing flying nearby.

After explaining reality, “Yes, bees sting. It’s not likely that you’ll get stung – you might, but not likely. You’re missing all the fun. I’m sure the bees won’t ‘bug’ you,” she didn’t see the humor. And, as sincerely as I tried, she was not at all comforted by logic or soothing words.

Nope. She was still horrified and hysterical. See for yourself….,


At this point she was beyond consoling. I took her away from the beach area – as much to get her away from the bugs as to stop myself from drowning her & stop the wailing.

I took her to the picnic table, covered her in t-shirts to ‘protect her’ and told her that I was off to talk with the Queen Bee to “work something out.” As I left she started SCREAMING again and didn’t want to be left alone.

Less than a minute later I returned and explained my ‘deal’ with the Queen Bee. “The Queen agreed to talk to her kids and tell them not to sting if Alex would stop screaming and scaring her kids. In exchange,” I explained to Alex, “I promised the Queen that we would leave a small bowl of sugar on the deck for her later that day as a thank you.”

Well, this was agreeable to Alex and off she went to have fun in the water with the rest of her cousins like nothing ever happened.


Five hours later, as the girls were getting ready for bed, Alex reminded me about our deal with the Queen. We prepared a special bowl of sugar as promised and left it on the deck for a royal midnight snack.

**

Kids Say the Darndest Things on Vacation...,

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4 out of 5 girls in the bathtub and Maggie announces, “Look. Rachel’s havin’ fun with her vagina!”

**
“Come on, let’s go up to the waterfall.”
“Yeah, and maybe we can slide down. Maybe naked!” Alex, one of my little nudists!

**
A random statement made by little 4 year old Callie, “I don’t have a penis!”

(Fascination with body parts. That's what happens when you get little girl cousins together with little boy cousins.)

**
While taking a short ride on the boat after dinner, Rachel takes hold of Aunt Dorreen’s wrist, looks at her watch and exclaims, “Hey! It’s six o’clock. It’s time for DANCE PARTY!!”

“OK,” and Aunt Doreen stood up and started dancing.

“No. No. You sit down. We’re dancing.”


**

Thursday, July 19

Vacation Snippets

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After one day with all five little girls, the in-laws, and the Yellow Jackets, Dave and I escaped. We arrived at the lake house ready for two days of secluded bliss before the rest of the gang joined us.

Ahhhh. Relaxation.

……, hmmmm.

Still relaxing.

Now realizing that I’m not actually all that good at relaxing. Seems like I should be doing something ….

“Ah. Dave…?”

**
Saturday morning – a night to ourselves and a morning w/out little ones crawling into our bed (something I LOVE BTW) and the ability to sleep VERY late and lie in bed snuggling and daydreaming.

**
After a day of exploring the local waterfalls, Dave and I called the girls to say good night and Rachel said, in the sweetest little voice ever, “Good night mommy. I’m just going to go to bed without a hug.” My heart melted.

Alex, having too much fun to be bothered, simply yelled “Good night” from the other room.

They grow up too too fast.

**

Tuesday, July 17

Day 1: Attack of the Yellow Jackets

**

Alex discovered a nest of Yellow Jackets. Or they discovered her – not sure which. But they were NOT happy. She was stung twice and I came running when she started SCREAMING! She had no idea what it was but she was in pain and wanted it to stop. When I got to her Dave was pulling one off of her shoulder. She had taken a sting in the arm and one in the head before I rushed her into the house (Calling over my shoulder, “Could someone grab my coffee?” OK – clearly I wasn’t panicked.)

Once inside – I began rinsing her with cold water and, as I went to get ice discovered one of those nasty little bugs had found its way up my floor length skirt and I took a sting to the upper thigh. While I was hopping up and down, shaking my skirt trying to free the little bastard, Dave also got stung.

CRAP! These little buggers were pissed and were letting us know it. Grandma got two stings too – thus sealing the fate of the yellow jackets.

That night Dave and Doreen poured gasoline down the hole containing the nest and that was the end of the yellow jackets! That’ll teach them to attack UP the evolutionary chain!

**

Thursday, July 5

Two Kids on a Plane....,

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Lesson learned?

The traveling DVD player is like an epidural during childbirth. Anything that takes the pain away that effectively can't be a bad thing!

**

Wednesday, July 4

Vacation

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And we're OFF!! Our annual trip. This year it's two weeks in GA with the in-laws. Good times! Enjoy and we'll tell you all about it when we get back.

**

Tuesday, July 3

A few vacation snippets....,,

**

Day 1: Attack of the yellow jackets.
Alex discovered a nest of yellow jackets. Or they discovered her – not sure which. But they were NOT happy. She was stung twice and I came running when she started SCREAMING! She had no idea what it was but she was in pain and wanted it to stop. When I got to her Dave was pulling one off of her shoulder. She had taken a sting in the arm and one in the head before I rushed her into the house (Calling over my shoulder, “Could someone grab my coffee?” OK – clearly I wasn’t panicked.)

Once inside – I began rinsing her with cold water and, as I went to get ice discovered one of those nasty little bugs had found its way up my floor-length skirt and I took a sting to the upper thigh. While I was hopping up and down, shaking my skirt trying to free the little bastard, Dave also got stung.

CRAP! These little buggers were pissed and were letting us know it. Grandma got two stings too – thus sealing the fate of the yellow jackets.

That night Dave and Doreen poured gasoline down the hole containing the nest and that was the end of the yellow jackets! That’ll teach them to attack UP the evolutionary chain!

**
After one day with all five little girls and the in-laws, Dave and I escape. We arrive at the lake house ready for two days of secluded bliss before the rest of the gang joins us.

Ahhhh. Relaxation.

……, hmmmm.

Still relaxing.

Now realizing that I’m not actually all that good at relaxing. Seems like I should be doing something ….

“Ah. Dave…?”

**
Saturday morning – a night to ourselves and a morning w/out little ones crawling into our bed (something I LOVE BTW) and the ability to sleep VERY late and lie in bed snuggling and daydreaming.

**
After a day of exploring the local waterfalls, Dave and I called the girls to say good night and Rachel said in the sweetest little voice ever, “I’m just going to go to bed without giving you a hug.” My heart melted.

Alex, having too much fun to be bothered, simply yelled “Good night” from the other room.

**
And on day 4 we did the stereotypical small southern town thang. (Read w/ southern accent.) We went to the waffle house for waffles, grits, and bacon and then we hauled it over to the Walmart for some shopping.

Our waitress's name was actually 'Red.' She was classic. Chatty, extraordinarily nice, and VERY southern. She called us 'Hun' and 'Sweety' and Rachel and Alex "were just the cutest little things." Pure southern charm.

**
Alex, exhausted from 6 days without enough sleep and memories of the yellow jacket attack, freaked out at ANY flying bug or speck of dust that flew within two feet of her. She was panicked and seemingly terrified beyond all logic. This child isn’t even afraid of injections! And now she was horrified by any little thing flying nearby.

After explaining reality, “Yes, bees sting. It’s not likely that you’ll get stung – you might, but not likely. You’re missing all the fun. I’m sure the bees won’t ‘bug’ you,” she didn’t see the humor nor was she at all comforted by my logic.

Nope. She was still hysterical. See for yourself….,


At this point, she was beyond consoling. I took her away from the beach area – as much to get her away from bugs as to stop myself from drowning her to stop the wailing.

I took her to the picnic table, covered her in t-shirts to ‘protect her,' and told her that I was off to talk with the Queen Bee to “work something out.” As I left she started SCREAMING again and didn’t want to be left alone.

Less than a minute later I returned and explained my ‘deal’ with the Queen Bee. “The Queen agreed to talk to her kids and tell them not to sting if Alex would stop screaming and scaring her kids. In exchange,” I explained to Alex, “I promised the Queen that we would leave a small bowl of sugar on the deck for her later that day as a thank you.”

Well, this was agreeable to Alex and off she went to have fun in the water with the rest of her cousins like nothing ever happened. Five hours later, however, as the girls were getting ready for bed, Alex reminded me about our deal with the Queen. We prepared a special bowl of sugar as promised and left it on the deck for a royal midnight snack.

**