Fairy Roses

The strawberries are doing great - too bad we may not get to eat any of them! At least the rabbits will get fat!




This is a "before" picture - you can almost see the snow carpet beginning to creep.



The blossoms on the fairy roses are bigger than I remember from last year. Aren't they beautiful? It's awesome to think that this little bush was a tiny potted plant last year that Lee bought me. I didn't expect it to last.

St. Theresa's has a Perpetual Adoration chapel - a place where you can go spend time with Jesus anytime of the day or night. I have wanted to visit it since I first started going to St. Theresa's almost a year ago. But I couldn't get up the courage to go - doing something the first time always scares me. Just like the first time I went to Mass, I had to work up to it. I have spent the last week walking or biking down to where I thought the chapel was. There's a beautiful garden outside, with a memorial stone for the innocent victims of abortion, a statue of Our Lady of Grace, and of St. Theresa, of course. Last week I rode my bike and sat down in the garden, just being quiet and knowing that Jesus was near me - in a special way. On Memorial Day, I walked down in the rain and stood outside the door for half an hour. Then yesterday I rode my bike down early in the morning. School was just getting started, so the parking lot was crowded and I didn't want to park my bike. Too many witnesses! :) So I drove away, intending to go home. But I didn't want to get home. So I looped around the neighborhood, prayed, and drove back. Sure enough, the morning rush was completely gone - school was already in session. So I pushed open the doors and went in.



The chapel is beautiful and almost completely silent. I spent half an hour praying. I listened to God for awhile - yes, he talked to me, of course, 'cause He likes me :) He told me that he is the source of silence that I have been looking for and that if I spend time with Him, I will have the resource to be a better listener to Lee and have more energy for my kids and house. I am refreshed.

Yard Sail-ing

Yes, I spelled it wrong on purpose.

I only went to one yard sale because it was a last minute plan. But it was very profitable. For 2.65 I got a Magic School Bus book (wow are they cool or what!), a Berenstein Bears chapter book, a Steven Cortney cassette tape for the car, a Spiderman coloring book, and a new Booster seat - Elijah has one but we have been meaning to buy one for Liv. Now I'm really glad we didn't buy one yet.

Then we went to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. I'm not going to say anything about it because I don't want to give it away - but it was very good. But remind me not to go to the theatres. (Actually don't bother because its Lee's decision and he likes to go). What a rip off. You pay an exorbitant amount for seats and a large drink - and they refuse to refill your soda. Hello, people. RIPOFF! Of course we went to a matinee and we had a coupon so the soda and the popcorn were free but STILL!!!!! RIPOFF!!

I'm done now.

A Trip in Pictures

This is Lee and Boo at Grotto's pizza in Rehoboth. We are just outside of the regular season, and it was not the weekend yet, so we had to drive to three different Grotto's to find one that was open. A friend told me that we had to try there, so I was determined, and the whole Bostwick family was behind me on this one, even though they said that I was up for disappointment. I love this picture because it shows the bond that is growing between Boo and his Daddy. The other day Lijah told Lee that he was his best friend - that melted Lee's heart so much and made me just grin and grin. I like it when my boys love each other.

We stayed in a cabin with 9 total people, including babies, but we had our own private room with a door that closed and almost locked. There were two bunks in our room. One was a loft with a full bed on the bottom and a single on the top. The other side of the room was a regular bunk bed. Obviously Lee and I slept in the double, then we put both kids in the single on top of that. Why? Because if an evil bad guy came into the room, they would have had to step on Lee to get to the babies. And Lee had his bowie knife just in case ;) This left a whole empty bunk in our room, which some people weren't thrilled about, and threated to take over. But I need my family to have our privacy. So I threw my clothes all over the bottom bunk ;)

On this day, everyone was sleepy in the afternoon, except for Aidan. So Lee and I watched all three babies in our room for a couple of hours so everyone else could have a nap. Poor Jackie is four months pregnant and Mama to an 18-month old. Talk about exhausting!

Here's my family, sitting around the campfire. Lee was so happy about having a fire that he wants to go camp at Pinchot on the weekends, just for the pleasure of having a fire. Jackie and I were especially enthusiastic about making Smores.


This is the magical beach where Livvy and I had our tryst. There is an inlet just out of sight where the guys like to fish. But we can go off to the beach and pretend we are by ourselves. When it is actually tourist season - after Memorial Day - it will not be so empty. But I want to remember that it is one of my favorite places.

This is my sister's family (plus Liv). Her boyfriend Danny is a solid, steady boy who works hard and is good at what he does - he is a cook and a trainer at Olive Garden (my favorite restaurant!). He is devoted to Jackie and Aidan, and I am sure that he will be a good Dad to baby number two, as well. I am glad that they are staying together, and I pray that they will be a family forever, and become happy together, and while I'm praying, I pray that they will come to know Jesus. I have a deeper appreciation for my sister now than ever before. I'm not actually sure if she likes me or not, so I will try to be nicer to her in the future. I feel like we are on two completely different planes of existence - we have nothing in common except being Moms. But when I think about what she has been through and how strong she is, it makes me love her so much. I used to babysit Aidan once a week, but then both our schedules changes and it wasn't necessary. But I know (okay, hope!) that the new baby will bring many opportunities for me to reach out to her.

Dad and Uncle Jerry, in their natural habitat. Dad loves fishing more than anything else. He's the one with the hat.

There were two nice things that I was too busy enjoying to have fun. First, the whole family went mini-golfing together. That was neat. It was one of those really good mini golf games with working water falls and a volcano and bush plane. We paid for Boo to play, but he just sort of dinked around the course. We did not keep score - too complicated with three kids and 6 players. But I was certainly the worst player :) :)

Another thing that was fun was a big carnival ride place on the Boardwalk at Rehoboth. Tickets were not too expensive for the little ones to get on a whole ton of rides - a carousel, little boats that go in a circle, fire trucks, etc. All three of the kids were able to go on rides, and even some of us big kids went on the "Gravitron" which spun you around in a circle so hard you actually though you were upside down. Jackie said that it would make me laugh so hard I would cry, and she was right.

Home and Safe

We are home and safe. I will post pictures after we are unpacked. It was a nice weekend, with no fighting. I will write more later. I am posting two vignettes that I don't want to forget about.

**

Olivia and I spent an hour - maybe two - playing in the waves to say goodbye this morning. It was too solitary for Boo, he wanted to go back and fish with Daddy. Livia and I kicked off our shoes and waded in and out of the surf. We picked seashells up off the sand, held hands, and walked in and out of the water. We got deeper and deeper each time, laughing at the force of the waves coming to "get" us. It was a perfect, free, clean, beautiful moment. Livvy is very much a Daddy's girl, but I know we are going to be best friends. We had fun together. It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

**

Lee's father gets upset at Lee for reading while they are supposed to be fishing. Lee had just finished a book "The Dragon and the Djinn", another book in a series of books that Lee and I are both reading. I was excited because there was a part in it that I wanted to talk to him about. As we enthusiastically discussed the end of the book, Lee's family, packing their fishing gear into the cars around us, got quiet and were watching us, then starting shaking their heads and laughing. They were looking at us like we both had two heads. "Shut up, both of you," Dad said. "You're perfect for each other."

"Perfect for each other," Lee's sister agreed.


**

Will write more later.

Beach Bound

Hey Everybody,

Lee and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon for the beach, so I will be absent for a week. This is our longest vacation ever, and we are trembling with anticipation. WE LOVE THE BEACH!!!! I will return with lots of pics. Love you guys, say a prayer for our safety if you think of it.

Look up!

I spent Mother's Day at my Mommi's house yesterday. It was really nice, beautiful weather and a calm, calm afternoon. It was good to spend some time together - female-bonding-therapy. I got to hear my dorky brother (I love you if you eve happen to read this, Dave) on the phone. He sounded older and more mature. Yikes. He's the youngest of the "first generation" of the Beaver kids, so in some ways he is my baby brother.

I got up in the wee hours this morning to do work. For work, I mean. We are having a kids summer reading program starting in June. We are going to do prizes and a Pizza Party. I volunteered to be in charge of it because I love books and it gives me a lot of work that I can do from home - advertising and design. I enjoy that sort of thing and absolutely any work I can do with the kids around me is a good thing. After that, I actually went to work.

After work tonight I took the kids for a spin in the neighborhood on the bike. We went up hills and down hills - that takes the wind out of me but its a good stretching feeling.

Then this evening we spent three hours in the yard. We did a science experiment. I read in a devotional book that if you trap a bee in a cup, he will look for a way out - but only at the bottom of the cup. Even though the top is open, he will never look there. I wasn't sure if I believed that or not so we tried it today. I caught a Bee in an empty juicy jug. After he was settled into it, I turned it with the open side up. Sure enough, we could peer down in at his handsome body, listen to him buzzing angrily, and he would never come out. We even left him alone for ten minutes to see if he would get the courage to come up. NO! He didn't. When we went back, he was laying down dejected in the bottom of the cup. I felt so bad that I tipped it over onto our stairs. We admired him some more. Livvy was enchanted. She almost wanted to touch him - almost. He sat on the steps, his body pulsing back and forth as if he were catching his breath. I thought for a few minutes that he was going to die. Then suddenly, ZOOM! he flew away in a flash.

The moral of the story is that if we are in a jam we must always look UP!

Saturday

I got up early and did the dishes from last night. Usually I don't leave the dishes overnight, but I had a lazy night last night. The landlord was over and he saw me in the window, so he called me out to tell me he is going to be painting all the porches this week - because he is on vacation. Haha. His mother gets our rent money but he buys the paint out of his own pocket. I guess it beats paying for a nursing home. I like the family we rent from. They are hard sometimes, but they always mean well. Then I showed him all the places where I planted so that he wouldn't put a weedwhacker to my sunflowers.

I went to work to open the store and took some pictures of the merchandise. We are going to start e-mail advertising very soon, and guess who's in charge of that.

Then when I got home, I watered everything with the fancy plant food waterer thingy Lee bought me. So far everything growing well except the Roma tomatoes - having a bad year there for some reason. I feel good about the sunflowers, though. I will have something really pretty this year, yay! The zukes just today popped their heads out of the ground.

After that, Lee took me out for a Mother's Day dinner at the Philly Steak & Cheese place. It's still my favorite place to eat in the whole world. I have some memories left over of Daddy taking me to eat there when I was a little girl, after I spent a few hours in his office with him. Thanks for the meal, Lee! Then when I got home, the kids and I took a bike ride over to the New Cumberland library. We like to play with the toys there, and it is a great chance for me to sit and read. The kids now listen very well. They are library trained :) With all that running around, Livvy has not had one accident, yay!!

I feel physically tired from the bike ride and that is a good thing!! I have put on just a few pounds from last year at this time - my shorts are a little tight - and I want them gone by the end of the summer. I am not keeping a scale. I don't think that is an unreasonable goal. I will really enjoy the bike riding and I will try to drink more water, especially while riding the bike. I am not keeping a scale because I love myself too much to think about numbers for now. Just being healthy - feeling good, and being able to do what I want without being a slave to my body - is my goal.

I'm Getting Braver

Last night, I told Nan that we will be homeschooling the kids. I have been putting off telling her because I was afraid we would fight about it. Actually, she took it really well. She wanted to know if it was legal - she thought I would need to get permission from the state. Her biggest concern was "it's so hard to keep up with the new technologies and math". I told her I keep up with those things for fun - it's only housework that I have a hard time keeping up with (her specialty). All in all, I am glad she finally knows because now she has some time to get used to the idea. It also pretty well cements the idea in Lee's head that we are doing it - though he ay still insist on doing Cyber school rather than doing it ourself. I am willing to compromise in that way if I have to - so much better than sending them away.




Yes, that's right. I made a Tofu lasagna. And it was good, darnit. Why tofu? Because life is short and I want to try everything :)


Miss Livvy will be potty trained by the end of the month. We have been working on her for about two weeks. She wants to be a big girl - it is time. I am ready for a break from diapers, anyway. Here her royal highness is showing off the fact that she decapitated one of my peonies. Nice, Liv.


I love Boo.

We are now in countdown mode to the beach. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. Some married couples fight less when they see each other less - less time to fight, they say. Well, this does not hold true for Lee and I. We always have just enough time to fight. What helps us stay solid is nice blocks of time together - on a vacation we are like kids in love. It's great. The last real trip to the beach was before Boo was born - I was actually pregnant. Lee was throwing me into the water. It was so romantic :> :> Anyway, I just can't wait.

We watched a movie called Deja Vu. It's not for kids, but I think Daddy would enjoy it. I'm not going to say what its about because it would give too much away, but its a real thinking movie. It also scared me to death the whole way through. We ended up staying up until 3 am bickering about the nature of existence. We have a hard time having metaphysical discussions without fighting. Lee is so interested is thinking about what might be and what could be that he will play the devil's advocate for almost anything scientific - and I am such an absolutist that if something sounds like it goes against my established worldview I get stubborn and refuse to play along. We drive each other nuts. He ends up thinking I'm stubborn and I think he's insane! Oh, but where was I? The movie was really, really thought-provoking and we both enjoyed it quite a bit. I am going to watch it again to look for clues that I might have missed the first time.


I bought a beautiful crucifix necklace from work. I've been wanting one for awhile. But I run into people at work who are strongly against crucifixes - they think it is a shame to show Jesus in his saddest hour when He has risen and is triumphant. I know that if I decide to wear it to work, I will catch some heck for it from somebody, so I decided to practice my apologetics on Lee - he is a good, honest sounding board. He is open-minded enough to listen to what I have to say, but anti-everything enough to come up with all the objections. Plus I know he will love me even if I sound stupid or can't come up with a good defense - and he likes to talk about serious stuff. I know I can always try again later if I come up with something better. I told him the most common objection (aside from "it's Catholic, so we don't like it, which is never actually stated, just implied") is that Jesus is no longer on the cross, so we shouldn't portray Him there. Lee said he agreed with that. I came back with my easy answer.

"Jesus is no longer in the manger, but we still portray him in Nativity scenes." That didn't work for Lee, he said he didn't care about Nativity scenes, as he doesn't have any - apparently they are all mine. Well, good. I like them.

"Okay," I said, "think about it this way. We have pictures of some of the great battles in history, even though they have been won and are over. We show pictures of soldiers fighting and dying, to commemorate and even celebrate their bravery and their strength. Jesus fought the ultimate battle on the cross - the battle between good and evil. He won. So why wouldn't we commemorate His battle, too?"

If you know Lee at all, you can probably guess that this worked. He started to argue, then stopped mid-sentence. "No - that works. You've convinced me. I get it. It's like the mural of Gettysburg."

So I guess he's not insane after all :) I might still be stubborn, though.

Little Things

Elijah has a big boy bike which he is mastering. We took it for a long ride the other day. It was really boring for me and Liv to walk beside him, but it just felt good to be Out. Lij felt like the king of big kids.

Yesterday, we discussed the fact that when we meet strangers on the street, it is good to say, "Have a nice day", rather than "Hi, my name is Elijah, I am four."

We have a new neighbor to share our yard with this summer. He is two. His name is Noah. He and Elijah were sharing trucks and bikes yesterday. His mother is a single mom about my age, and we talked about kids a little bit. I don't know much about her.

Olivia can be a real bag lady. When we go away, she wants to take everything with her. "Mommy, can I take my pinkie? (blanket) And my other pinkie? (spare blanket?) and Tinkie? (BIG blanket?" and Dora? and my Bible, too, mom??? And Tinkie doll?? Here, Mommy, can you please carry this for me??"

Crankiness

A combination of PMS and small stresses have left me cranky all week and unwilling to write or talk much - poor Lee. The kids get snapped at but Lee gets the brunt of my moodiness. He can sense in an instant that I am upset - but sometimes I just don't want to talk about it.

So yesterday I called Mommi and talked for an hour - thanks Mom :) I do feel better now. Not perfect - just sane! :) I have been outside much of this week and even got a bit of sunburn. Lee has been cooking out for us and took us to the big park in East Pennsboro. It's called the Imagination Station (hah, that should be copywrited by Adventures in Odyssey!) and it was easilyt he coolest park we've ever been in. The kids spent an hour or two there. I wish I would have thought to bring the camera, but I know we will go back.

This is finals week coming up. Lee doesn't seem to be stressed, but I know if we start bickering it will come out.

We are leaving for the beach on May 18th. Lee's birthday is the 20th. We went last year for his birthday and it was wonderful - so romantic. This year it will be a little different. Lee's sister Jackie, her boyfriend, and their 18-month old Aidan will be coming along. Aidan is our only true first cousin, and we love him to little bits. So we are bringing our kids, too. The boys are going to fish on the pier and me and Jackie are going to take the kids to do fun things. We used to get stuck on the pier with the boys, now we have kids so we are a little more free - isn't that funny? We are looking forward to it. Actually, we are counting the seconds. We love the beach. We would be there every weekend - every day - if we could.

Here are some pictures of my baby garden. I heard a frost advisory on a commercial for the news and I am praying that's not true!!!

Baby peas. Peas were a big hit with the neighborhood kids last year as we ate them right off the vine:

Strawberry blossoms - I started the strawberry bed last year, and we are going to see the fruit big time this year. This has been a year that God is teaching me patience big time.

This is a tiny little fairy-rose bush that Lee bought me last year. It was in a pot. I put it in the ground because it was so lovely, and it has doubled in size. I really thought it would die. I will post another picture when it blooms:

Baby tomatoes are not so fun to look at, but I post it fr contrast - I will definitely be posting a picture of one when it is taller than me and bending over with juicy red fruits!!!